A/N: Here you go. I'm introducing a new character and part of the story earlier than I thought would happen. It also may not be what you were expecting because it wasn't what I was expecting either, but it works. In fact, this could change some of the main story. But I don't think it will. Only time will tell. Please remember to keep reviewing!

At the end of his first month at Hogwarts, Blake had never felt more exhausted. Between his lessons and homework, he wasn't sure how he was keeping up, but he was. He spent his days in classes, his evenings doing homework or practicing spellwork, and his nights were spent in the common room with his fellow Hufflepuff friends. Twice, he had received an invitation from Albus to join him for a trip down to see the half-giant groundskeeper, Hagrid, and twice now, he had gone with Albus and James Potter and Rose Weasley.

Although he had been extremely frightened of Hagrid at first, after the hour he had spent with him the second Saturday had proven to Blake that the half-giant was extremely friendly, even if he was a little wild. Hagrid had given them rock cakes that had nearly broken his teeth when he tried to eat them and served exceptionally strong tea that Blake couldn't get sweet enough to actually enjoy. These meetings seemed, to Blake, to be his relaxation time. He got to spend it with his close friends Albus and Rose, and even got to know James a little better, while in the comfortable hospitality of Hagrid's Hut.

Blake almost never woke up early, but one particular Saturday morning, he did. He laid in his bed, his eyes shut, willing himself to go back to sleep, but it was no use. He lay there for a few minutes, hoping that he would drift back off, but gave up and started getting ready for the day. The others in his dormitory were still sleeping – Sam snoring softly – so Blake dressed in silence and headed out for the Great Hall, hoping to catch some breakfast and maybe head to the library so that he could start on the essay that Professor Corner had assigned them on sleeping draughts.

He had just exited the common room's barrel exit and was thinking about the breakfast smells that were wafting through the corridor when he bumped into someone.

"Oh, I'm sorry," He muttered, taking a step backwards, and realized that he had walked right into a Slytherin first year, who eyed Blake like he were something unpleasant. Blake had only one class with the Slytherins, Charms with Professor Macmillan. What was he doing down here?

"Avis, right?" the boy asked, watching Blake with his grey eyes. He was tall for most other kids his age – almost as tall as Derrick Peterson, who lived in Blake's dormitory. He was slim, very pale, and the emerald green of Slytherin on his robes complimented his sleek blond hair.

"Uh, yeah. You're Scorpius Malfoy, right?" Blake asked, and the Slytherin nodded. "What brings you down here?"

"A message from Professor Macmillan; he wants both of us to report to him in his office as soon as possible," Scorpius said, holding up a piece of parchment for Blake to see.

"He doesn't say why," Blake noted as he finished reading the note and handed it back to Scorpius. "Any guesses?"

"No," Scorpius said, but Blake noticed his ears turned pink. "But I haven't had breakfast yet, so if you don't mind, I'd like to eat first."

"That is just what I was about to do," Blake said as the Slytherin turned around to head up the corridor.

"Your point?" The other boy asked him as Blake caught up to him.

"My point is, if Macmillan wants to see both of us, we could go together,"

"You don't get the idea of the Houses separating us do you?" Scorpius sighed.

"What does it matter which House we're sorted into? We are allowed to talk to people outside of our Houses," Blake argued.

"Fine." Scorpius said after a few moments when they had made it to the Great Hall, a reluctant tone in his voice. "I will wait for you in the Entrance Hall when we're done eating and then we can go see him."

As Blake sat down and started eating, he thought about Scorpius and the Slytherins. He knew that for some reason Slytherin House always had a bad reputation and tended to stick with themselves rather than making friends with the other Houses. Perhaps that was one of that House's downfalls. He ate quickly and when he saw Scorpius slip out of the Great Hall, he followed him. True to his word, the Slytherin stood by the stairs in the Entrance Hall, his arms folded, and a stern look on his face. And yet, to Blake, he seemed cute with that look of consternation. Wait… did he just think that Scorpius was cute? He shook his head and neared Scorpius.

"Did you eat well?" Blake asked, and the Slytherin glared at him before turning on his heel and marching up the stairs. "…okay then." He muttered before following Scorpius up the stairs.

The winding staircases of Hogwarts would have been confusing enough on their own, as they stretched intricately through the seven floors, but the fact that they moved on their own and seemed to have minds of their own made it impossible for Blake to keep up with where they were going. He had been late to their first Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson because he got turned around and wound up three floors above where the class was supposed to be.

They finally arrived outside of Professor Macmillan's office, and Scorpius knocked, the loud bang echoing down the corridor. As early as it was on a Saturday, hardly anyone was awake, making the castle feel eerie and empty.

The door to the room opened, revealing Professor Macmillan dressed in deep blue robes, his eyes sparkling.

"Good morning! Come in, come in. I'm sorry to be calling you here on your Saturdays, but it's rather important," He said, ushering them into the office. He settled behind his chair and steepled his hands, looking at the two students over them.

"Professor, if you don't mind my asking, why are we here?" Scorpius asked.

"Oh dear boy, you should both be aware," Macmillan answered, raising an eyebrow.

At this, Blake turned to look at Scorpius, whose ears had turned red as though with embarrassment. Thinking back on their month of lessons, Blake had noticed that the Slytherin's Charms work was rather shoddy. It reminded Blake of his own failures in Herbology. In that class alone, he had sustained more injuries over the course of one month than he had in his entire life. Professor Longbottom had started taking precautions in allowing him to actually work with the plants and instead had him take notes from afar. The professor was unsure, as was Blake, as to why the plants seemed to be so vicious toward him. Scorpius Malfoy had caused half of the charms they had been practicing in class to backfire somehow. Twice now, he had set his robes on fire.

"To put it mildly, Mr. Malfoy, you are in need of some… extra instruction. Mr. Avis, you seem to excel at Charms; therefore, I want each of you to start meeting once weekly with me and we will do some extra instructional work. Perhaps Mr. Avis can lend you some pointers, Mr. Malfoy," The professor said. To Blake's astonishment, Scorpius's ears had turned even darker, as though they were bleeding, and he had a definite pink tinge to his usually pale face.

"I don't need help," He began stubbornly.

"Mr. Malfoy pride will not help you here. You will meet in my office weekly, Saturdays at this time. Whether you choose to inform your classmates about this is entirely up to you. You may go now; we shall begin next week."

The two boys left the room silently. Blake was afraid to say anything to Scorpius in case the boy went off. When they rounded the corridor, Scorpius pushed Blake against the wall with his forearm, his elbow digging slightly into Blake's underarm, and his wand in Blake's face.

"If you mention this to anyone, I'll curse you into next year. Understand?" The Slytherin hissed, his eyes sharp, and his tone angry. Blake had never been more terrified.

"I won't! I promise!" He said, attempting to hold his hands up in surrender. This seemed to put Scorpius at ease. He put his wand away and stepped back from the smaller boy, looking down at him.

"I may as well get used to using your name then, Avis," Scorpius said.

"Well then, you shouldn't use my last name," Blake argued.

"Blake, then," Scorpius muttered, his gray eyes flashing. Once more, his face had turned pink. The Slytherin backed away. "I… guess I'll see you, then." He said, before disappearing around the corner.

Blake stared at the wall where the Slytherin had disappeared, wondering about the morning and the events that had just taken place. For some reason, he thought that Scorpius was cute. He had agreed to wait for him after they finished eating so that they could go see Professor Macmillan together. He would be doing weekly lessons with Scorpius to help improve his Charm work, and the Slytherin didn't want anyone to find out.

Shaking his head, Blake headed for the library to start on the Potions essay that he had ultimately been setting out for to begin with.

XXX

Nearly a week had passed before Scorpius and Blake saw each other again. The taller boy stared at Blake as though daring him to say anything to him as they entered the class for their Charms lesson. Blake took his seat next to Josh and Sam and as they began work on the levitation charm that Professor Macmillan put out for them to work on, Josh took the chance to speak. Charms was a great class to hold conversations due to the general mayhem and loud talking that was already happening.

"Scorpius Malfoy keeps glancing this way," Josh said quietly, waving his wand. The feather in front of him gave a half-hearted twitch.

"What?" Sam asked, both he and Blake glancing across the room. Sure enough, though he was trying not to make it noticeable, Scorpius Malfoy kept glancing up and across the room and back down to his feather.

"I wonder why?" Blake asked, hoping that he wouldn't sound conspicuous.

"Beats me. But it looks like he's looking at you," Sam said, turning his attention to his own feather.

Blake turned his attention to the feather in front of him, did the swish and flick movement that Professor Macmillan had been teaching them, and said "Wingardium leviosa!"

The feather went up in the air, much to Blake's own delight. It hovered for a moment, and then he let it drift down onto the desk.

"How do you do that?" Sam asked, frowning at Blake.

"It's simple. Just think light an-" A loud explosion cut Blake off and as he glanced up, Scorpius Malfoy was staring at the ashen remains of his feather, his face tinged with pink, his ears red.

"Well that's unfortunate," Blake said.

"Mr. Malfoy," Professor Macmillan sighed, waving his wand so that the ash vanished and in its place was another feather. "Do be more careful!"

"I wonder what he keeps doing wrong," Blake muttered more to himself than to the other two, who were roaring with laughter at the sight of Scorpius, who was now turning red in the face as well.

"What do you mean?" Sam asked after he finished laughing, turning to Blake.

"Nothing, nothing," Blake said, turning his attention to the other two. "Now your feathers – just think light and airy. Will your feather to lift into the air."

By the end of the class, it appeared that only half of the class managed to get their feathers into the air. Much to Blake's dismay, three more feathers exploded – including Scorpius's second feather. The poor thing really was awful at Charms.

Over the next few days, Blake wondered how on earth he would be able to help Scorpius Malfoy. It got to the point that Josh snapped his fingers in front of Blake's face as he stared into the fire, contemplating how someone could be so rubbish at something.

"What?" Blake asked, stirring out of his reverie.

"You were staring into space again," Josh said, indicating the fire place. "What's got you so distracted?"

"Nothing… Just lots of work," Blake tried, shrugging. Not to mention that he would be meeting Scorpius the next morning.

"Maybe you should get some sleep," Josh suggested. "You've been tossing in your sleep lately."

"Have I?" Blake asked, looking confused.

"Yeah, it's kind of loud when you're tossing every five seconds," Josh smirked. "Having nightmares or something?"

"I… don't think so," Blake said, looking down at his half-attempted Transfiguration essay.

Now that Blake thought about it, he had been having a nightmare about getting into a duel with Scorpius Malfoy, getting transfigured into a pinecone, and being stuck that way. "Maybe you're right. I should get some sleep."

That night he dreamed about being a pinecone again.

He woke early the next morning once again and headed out to get breakfast, once again finding himself bumping into Scorpius outside of the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room.

"Good morni…" He stopped, staring up at the blond who was glaring at him like he had committed a crime.

"Did you tell anyone?" The boy demanded.

"About this?" Blake asked, indicating the two of them.

"About the… ah… lessons," Scorpius hissed quietly, as though afraid someone would hear.

"No," Blake said, wide eyed. "Why would I? Especially since you threatened to curse me into next year?" This seemed to calm the Slytherin, and they fell in step heading up to the Great Hall for breakfast. The Slytherin seemed warmer than the last time they had met like this.

"You're friendlier today," Blake said, when they reached the Great Hall.

"Excuse me?" Scorpius asked, staring at the Hufflepuff.

"You heard me," Blake grinned, before entering the Great Hall.

When Blake got up, he saw Scorpius getting up out of the corner of his eye and he waited for the Slytherin at the stairs in the Entrance Hall.

"I am not being friendlier," Scorpius said as they climbed the stairs. "I'm just being more civil."

"Whatever you say, Scorpius," Blake said, grinning.

"Stop grinning,"

"Don't tell me what to do,"

They made the rest of the climb to the Charms Corridor in silence.