Dom made her way outside the Great Hall with Billy, Lottie, and Peggy. They made their way to the path outside the school grounds with all of the other students. As they walked down the road, the girls chattered on about the day ahead.

"Ugh," Peggy sighed, "This trip could not have come soon enough. I think I might just die if I have to brew another potion."

"It'll be nice to have a day away from school," Billie said, "won't it Dom?"

"Yeah," Dom said simply.

"Look at her," Lottie squealed, "acting like everything is normal."

"Where is he meeting you?" Peggy begged.

"I'm supposed to meet him outside the Three Broomsticks," Dom said blushing.

"So you know we're gonna follow you once you're together right?" Billie joked.

"You'd better not. Billie, I mean it," Dom pleaded.

"I'm just teasing," Billie said, "I promise not to ruin your date."

"That's not what I asked," Dom said pointedly.

"Fine," Billie smiled, making a big show of sighing, "I promise that we won't follow you around Hogsmeade or interfere with your date."

"Thank you." At that the girls broke into fits of giggles. They laughed as they approached the small village. Dom noticed Victoire a short distance away shooing a group of students away from herself.

"Hello dear sister," Victoire cooed.

"Hey Vic," Dom said politely, "are you meeting Teddy?"

"Yes," her sister beamed, "he has come all the way from Spain just to see me. He's working down there to help move magical artifacts across countries. His work is so very important, but he cares about me so much that he took time off to come see me. That is why I love him so." Billie, Lottie, and Peggy were captivated by Victoire's love story while Dom listened half heartedly and unimpressed. "That is why our relationship works, because even though we are both doing important things we take time out of our schedules for each other. You are welcome to join us for a while Dominique. I'm sure Teddy would love to see you." Victoire stared at Dom, who realized that her sister actually wanted a response. Usually, Dom assumed Victoire's invitations were empty and didn't pay attention to them.

"Um, yeah," she stuttered, "maybe later, I'm actually busy right now though." Victoire gave her a confused look and just as she was about to defend herself, she saw Angus waving to her from the front of the Three Broomsticks. Victoire turned to see what had caught her sister's eye and beamed and waved at Angus before turning back to her sister. Victoire had a confident smirk on her face as she opened her mouth to speak. Dom beat her to it.

"I'd love to see Teddy, but I have to go. I'm meeting someone." Dom smiled at her friends, who all gave her reassuring nods. Then she swiftly walked over to where Angus stood. She could feel Victoire's eyes on her as she approached him.

"Hey," he said as he draped his arm around her shoulders and kissed her cheek. She blushed furiously as he led her across the street and around the corner. Before she was out of sight, Dom caught a glimpse of Victoire's face complete with dropped jaw and eyebrows raised up to her hairline. As they rounded the corner, Dom turned to Angus who was looking over his shoulder and laughing.

"Alright," she said angrily, "is that what this was about? To use me to make my sister angry… You didn't want to see me. You just wanted to make Victoire jealous… Merlin's Beard, how could I have been so stupid?" Dom walked away furiously. Tears threatened to fall, but she refused to make even more of a fool out of herself.

"Dom, wait," Angus ran after her, "please let me explain." Dom stopped and listened, still refusing to face him. "You're right, I did want Victoire to see us together, but that's not why I invited you. How could I have known she would have been with you now when I invited you? I took the opportunity as it presented itself, but that doesn't have anything to do with you and me." Dom turned to face him.

"Why'd you do it?"

"She thinks that everyone worships the ground she walks on and I wanted to prove once and for all that I don't."

"Well, at least it was for a worthy cause," Dom replied with a small smile.

"Forgive me?" Angus asked.

"Ok," Dom said. She looked away, and after a long pause asked, "so where are we going?"

"Well, I thought we could go look at the Shrieking Shack, unless you have a better idea," Angus said.

"Sounds fine," Dom said as they headed towards the edge of the village. The pair walked along the fence around the shack. They talked about themselves, their lives, families, and school.

"My dad's a demolitions expert. He went to school with your uncle I think," Angus said.

"Yeah, a lot of their class became aurors. My Uncle Harry, my Uncle Ron, Mr. Thomas …"

"Not dad. He always had a talent for destruction. My mum has worked for a lot of professional quidditch teams. Right now she's in charge of press for the Holyhead Harpies. She wanted to play, but I think she would have missed dad… and me of course," Angus smirked.

"Of course," Dom laughed, "my dad is a curse breaker for Gringotts and my mum dabbles in just about everything. She worked for Gringotts for a while, then she tried medicine, now she spends most of her time decorating for those wealthy enough for her 'talents'."

"I see. So I take it you are not keen to follow in her footsteps," Angus guessed.

"No I… I don't really have a plan," Dom muttered.

"Come on," Angus smirked, "there has to be something you want to do with your life."

"Nothing my family would approve of."

"Well what wouldn't your family approve of?"

"I paint." was her simple response. Angus looked at her for a moment.

"Show me." A canvas appeared next to her with a small paint palette. Dom was amazed at Angus's response. She sat dumbstruck for a moment until he held out the brush to her. She carefully took it and dipped it into the paint. As soon as she began, she was lost in the painting. Angus watched in awe of her connection to her work and her attention to detail. She finished hours later. They sat in silence, looking at her work. It was a branch. Just one. But, it was beautiful. Then, Dom reached out and touched the middle of the painting. A ripple started and moved out toward the edges of the canvas. It never stopped.

"Amazing," Angus declared.

"It's a charm on the canvas," she explained.

"I meant the painting," he said, "I love it. Can I keep it?" Dom blushed.

"If you really want to."

"I do," he said, "I'd like to see more sometime."

"Aberforth has most of them. He's the only one I really show them to."

"You and he are close then?" Angus queried.

"Yeah, he understands me I think. His brother was kind of a big shot too," she said.

"I see, though I don't think your sister is nearly as famous as Albus Dumbledore."

"Oh just wait. She's working on it," Dom replied. At this, they both laughed. By the time they had to head back to the castle the two had each other in laughing fits talking about pranks pulled on friends and siblings, though Angus had none, and other exploits.

"I had a wonderful time with you today Dominique," Angus said as they walked back.

"Please, call me Dom. Everybody else does," she said.

"But I don't want to be like everybody else," he shot back.

"Fine," she laughed, "but don't just lazily shorten my name to something stupid like Nique."

"Or Dom," he joked.

"Hey," she protested.

"Ok," he chuckled, "then we'll have to find a different name. What's your middle name?"

"Oh no, we don't need to go there," she quickly answered.

"Fine, it's ok. I'll just have to get creative," he replied with a slight pout, "how about Nicky?" Dom thought about it for a moment.

"I guess it'll do," she finally agreed.

"Good," Angus said as they came back to the road leading to Hogwarts, "I think I'll leave you here. Your friends appear to be missing you." Dom noticed that her friends were standing not to far away staring right at her and Angus.

"Well, they're never going to shut up about us. Thank you for today Angus. I had a lot of fun," she said.

"I did too. I'd like to see you again," he said.

"Well, I don't have any classes Wednesday afternoon. I'll be in the library most likely, but if you come find me maybe we could find something else to do."

"I'd like that," Angus said beaming. He leaned forward and gave her a kiss on the cheek. They waved at each other as Angus walked away. Before Dom made it back to her friends, she saw her sister, slack jawed, with Teddy.

"Hey Dom," Teddy called over when he saw her, "How are you?" He hugged Dom and she smiled at him and her sister.

"Fine."

"You sure look like you're doing fine. Who was that boy?" he asked with a smirk.

"Angus," she replied.

"Angus who?" he prodded.

"Angus Finnigan," Victoire spat.

"Finnigan, he's a seventh year, isn't he?" Teddy said, "nice work Dom." Teddy was completely oblivious to Victoire's scowl, but Dom was painfully aware of it.

"Thanks Teddy," she said cautiously, "but we were just hanging out."

"Yeah," said Teddy, "hanging out on a date." They laughed while Victoire rolled her eyes. "Well, I'd better be going," Teddy said.

"Yeah, I'll leave you two alone. Bye," Dom said as she raced away. She didn't understand why Victoire was so angry, but she didn't have time to think about it because she was ambushed by her friends.

"So… how was it?" Billie said.

"Give us all the details," Lottie begged.

"We just took a walk out to the Shrieking Shack and talked," Dom said.

"Oh come on Dom you have to tell us more than that," Peggy said.

"There's really nothing more. We just talked about our families and what we want to do after Hogwarts."

"Well then, on a more interesting note," Billie beamed, "Fletcher asked me out."

"Really?" Lottie and Peggy both shrieked.

"Yes, he was very shy but sweet. He offered to escort me to the Hufflepuff and Slytherin quidditch match this week."

"Oh that's so cute. He's so old fashioned," Lottie squealed.

"I thought it was cute too," Billie smiled. The girls chatted about Billie's impending date with Fletcher Thomas.

Billie's date with Fletcher went well, and they became official. Dom continued to see Angus from time to time. He would find her relaxing on the lawn or they would study together in the library. The two were walking into the Great Hall and saw a group of students gathered.

"What's going on?" Angus questioned.

"Carys got an article published in the Daily Prophet about her finding an incredibly rare baby occamy," said Fern Boot said as she, Peggy, and Billie came up behind them.

"Oh, I forgot about that," Peggy said.

"Yeah, it says that she may get an award from the Ministry for it. Her parents are so proud that she'll likely be getting a fortune out of them… Well, see ya," Fern said as she waved to her sister and left. The girls looked at each other warily as they studied the article. They were pulled out of their thoughts when they heard a loud thud. Every head in the hall turned to see a furious Lottie glaring at a group of girls in front of her with her books strewn across the floor. Her eyes darted to her sister who was surrounded by a small crowd of admirers. Carys smirked at Lottie, who turned on her heel and stormed out of the room.

"We should follow her," Billie said. Peggy and Dom nodded as they gathered their things.

"I'll see you later," Dom quickly said to Angus as she left with her friends. Angus nodded and smiled at her as she left. The three girls raced down the hall and stopped when they heard a crash come from a closed door. They opened the door to find Lottie throwing over desks and kicking them into each other. When they stepped into the room, she collapsed onto the floor in the middle of the carnage.

"Lottie?" Billie asked gently. Lottie looked up with tears in her eyes.

"She gets everything," she said as she sat down defeated. Billie and Peggy rushed to wrap their arms around her. Dom followed and simply put a hand on her shoulder.

"That's not true. You get things. You just don't need to showboat like your sister," Billie said.

"You are so much nicer than your sister, and it's the way you treat others that really counts," Peggy added. Lottie locked eyes with Dom. Dom knew that her friend's words didn't mean much to Lottie. They didn't know what it was like to be second to her sister. They didn't know what it felt like to never be good enough. Carys was popular. Carys was successful. No amount of quiet kindness would make Lottie stand out over her. No amount of brains or kindness would make Dom stand out compared to Victoire. The girls sat there embracing Lottie while Dom gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. She knew exactly what it was like.