It was mid-afternoon halfway through summer break and Sylvie Morgans was walking down the center of the town. It was a difficult task, but being raised in London, she was used to the busy streets. She walked in the small corner store. The manager greeted her by name, as she was a regular customer. She purchased a new backpack as hers was old and worn from five of her school terms. She looked at it as he put it in a plastic bag. It was green; she figured it would go well with her blonde, curly hair, pale complexion and deep green eyes. Yes, Sylvie thought to herself, It is going to be a good day.

She slung the white, crinkled bag over her shoulder and decided to take the scenic way home, through the park. She ran across the road outside of the corner store and snuck through the tall bushes to enter the park. She looked at the bushes behind her and smiled to herself, she never went through the main gates, she didn't want anyone to know she had entered, so she wouldn't have to leave when they locked up and emptied the park. She looked at her watch, one-half hour to closing time. That should give her time to find a good tree to sleep in.

Sylvie Morgans was an orphan, her dad didn't know she was born, her parent's weren't married, and Sylvie's mother died during her birth. Sylvie had been transferred again and again between orphanages and foster homes, until one orphanage was so horrible she ran away. That was when she lived in the United States, but once she ran away from the horrid place, she knew it was time to travel far away, very far away. She was out on the street and a very wealthy looking man passed by. She nicked his wallet and ran. He didn't even realize it was gone until he had gone home.

She knew from her street-smarts that she was near the airport, although she was only seven years old, she was remarkably intelligent and had a photographic memory.

She walked through the airport doors and paid a beggar to buy her a ticket to London. She had lived there ever since.

Sylvie climbed her favorite tree and settled herself in. This tall maple had the best view of them all and was one of the easier to climb. She began to doze off thinking her day over and making plans for the next when she heard the gateman walk under her tree, looking for people, as it was closing time and everyone must leave. She held her breath and prayed her silent hope, that once again she would not be discovered. The man walked away and a quarter of an hour later, Sylvie heard the large metal gates close.

She jumped from her hiding place to search for left over scraps of food before the raccoons would find them.

That's when she saw him, tall with white-blonde hair that fell in his golden-green eyes, the nearby streetlights illuminating his lightly tanned skin. He had the most unusual clothes on; they looked like a black cloth, draped on him, yet all connected. That's when she began running with fear.

She didn't know where she was going but she knew she had to get there fast, and lose her follower on the way while doing so. She was a runner, at fifteen years old, she knew what she was doing, yet the young man didn't fall behind. She ran and ran, until the tightening within her chest was too much to bear. She was starving, out of breath and dehydrated. She had now guessed that the young man was a new park ranger, and now she was in trouble, going to be sent to another orphanage, no doubt. At least she had given him a hell of a fight, but it was now time to surrender.

"Fine!" she yelled in desperation, "You've won! I'm leaving! Just do me a favor and take a long walk of a short dock and…"

"Why did you run?" the young blonde man asked innocently.

Sylvie looked him in the eyes and suddenly felt incredibly stupid. "You aren't a park ranger, are you?"

"Er, no… actually, I'm a… um… how would you say 'homeless' in a nice way?" the young man asked.

"I don't know, I guess it depends if it was your choice or not, as I chose to live the way I do, I am simply homeless and stupid, though if you had no choice in the matter, one would suppose you could be called stranded?"

"Well, one things for sure and that is that I am not 'stranded'. I chose to run away and now that I have, I think it is the proper thing to do to introduce myself to my new neighbor. My name is Draco Malfoy and until this morning, I was not homeless."

Sylvie thought this over, she was utterly repulsed by the young man who claimed to be named 'Draco', but yet she didn't trust him either.

"Come, let's head back to the centre of the park, it is much less visible to a passerby, than our current location; next to one of the fences. I am just curious, but where were you planning to go once you reached this fence?"

"I shall answer your questions on the way back to the centre if that is where you truly wish to go; but firstly, my name is Sylvie Morgans and I am not stranded either.

And I was planning to climb the fence until I remembered the barbed wire along the top of it, I figured scaling the fence wasn't worth my life," Sylvie explained.

"Yet you were willing to sacrifice yourself to a park ranger, and give up your… um… home without a second thought? It seems to me that you had a feeling that a good thing couldn't last forever".

"Yes, I did feel it was coming, so when you startled me my fear worked ahead of my mind and I ran. My thought was that if I could run away, I might be able to lie about my age, get a job and search for a new home, which would end up being some park similar to this, but then I saw the barbed wire, completely lost my mind, turned around, and felt entirely stupid, when I realized you are much the same age as me and therefore couldn't possibly be a park ranger," Sylvie got out with the same breath. They had reached the centre and were now underneath her tree.

"I am sorry that I startled you, but I don't know how to live on the streets, and when I saw you I hoped you would be able to help me; but if you are unable to, I understand perfectly," Draco said in a modestly calm fashion.

"Yes… I believe I can help you, but once the summer is over, I must return to my studies at the local public school, but until then, I shall help you in whatever way seems most beneficial to your new life."

"Thank you very much, and I must also return to my school at the end of the summer, but I believe I will have learned a great deal from you by then," Draco said in a very thankful tone.

"I am pleased to be of assistance, but first, I have some questions."

"Alright, ask away, but if it's not to bold, I must say that you seem to manage to ask a lot of things in a very short amount of time… not just simple questions, either, no doubt you have a strong judge of character?" Draco asked innocently enough.

"Yes, I do have a strong judge of character, but it seems to me that you are avoiding my questioning of you; which of course means that you have something very important to hide. No doubt it has something to do with the fact that 'until this morning you were not homeless'. Of course that would make perfect sense, as you must have robbed someone or someplace and gotten caught, so you ran away. This would also explain your clothing which would of course have been a costume so as you wouldn't get caught, but your plans were foiled, you got caught in the act so you ran; and the nerve you have to ask me for help! You obviously think that I'm some common criminal, but believe me, I have never stolen a thing in my life, thus my living condition, but at least my conscious is clear," Sylvie lied.

"I believe that you have wrongly accused me of many things, but you were on the right when you said I had something to hide. Though, I too have never stolen anything from anywhere or anybody. Now, I believe that a few of your questions would have this mess untangled in no time."

Sylvie wasn't one who took being in the wrong very lightly, it highly offended her and she had serious issues admitting that she wasn't always right. But the way the boy stood calmly, looked her in the eye with respect and didn't raise his voice while defending himself, made her thing that maybe she wasn't right about him, maybe he's just a teenager trying to make his life better, just like her. She decided it was a chance she was going to take, for as he had voiced, she had a strong judge of character, and her questions would indeed uncover the truth, or if not, reveal the lies.

"Okay" she said, "I'm going to take your word, but if I find any reason not to trust you, you must leave and find your own park to live in." Draco smiled at her as she said this; this was definitely a girl you wouldn't want to double cross.

"Alright" he said, "Ask away."

"Well, firstly, as I imagined you would have guessed, I want to know why you ran away this morning, and why it had to be this particular morning."

"Okay, well…I think I have to ask you one thing… um… first, otherwise and if I get the answer I expect, I shall leave and find my own park, agreed?" Sylvie nodded her head in agreement; she wanted to see where this was going.

"Are you a muggle?" Draco asked.

Now this was an unexpected turn in the situation for Sylvie, she had found out exactly what she was the summer when she was eleven years old. She had received a letter, that had been addressed to her tree… she had been so scared she discarded it, only to find another in its place. When she read it she had discovered that she had been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She had no choice but to take them seriously, but she also had to choose to turn them down. She was not ready to go someplace that would most definitely reveal secrets of her past, and she had a nagging feeling that her past was not a pleasant one and that it would be better if she knew nothing of it. She thought that by "muggle" he meant non-magic person. She had seen some men dressed just like him use the term, suddenly it all fit.

"I umm… don't know exactly what the term means…," she began.

"Just as I thought," he said and began to walk away.

"Wait! I don't know what the term means, but I am a witch if that's what you were asking," Sylvie held her breath and hoped she was right about him being a wizard.

Draco turned around and looked her over.

"You don't look like much of a witch to me, and you said that you went to the nearby public school, there aren't any wizarding schools near here and none of them are public. You also dress like a muggle."

"Are you going to tell me what the term means?" she asked in desperation, "I don't have all night! And I was accepted to a wizarding school, but I turned them down, as I like the one I already attend, and I'm not a big fan of changes, especially those of drastic sorts," she explained.

"Muggle means non-magic person. I used the term exclusively because only those of the wizarding world say it. I knew that if you were a muggle, you wouldn't know what I was talking about, but as it turns out, I should have been more direct with my question."

"That's what I thought it meant, but I wasn't entirely sure, I saw some men dressed like you walking about in London, and they used the term while I was listening, so I followed and tried to figure it out from the context. May I continue to ask you my questions now?" Sylvie asked.

"Yes, but I haven't gotten around to answering your first few yet. I ran away because my father is a dark-wizard. He is a follower of the darkest wizard of all time; he is merciless and wants to take over the entire wizarding world, and then probably this one. He hates muggles and thinks that they should all die. He has already killed many, and he and his followers take great pleasure in torturing them. He was put out of power about fifteen years ago, but he has recently returned. I ran away because my father thinks that it is time that I follow in his footsteps, but little does he know that my mean and crude behavior is a mask, because I am a double-crosser, and I pass information to a organization of good wizards who are trying to defeat the darkest wizard. No one knows I'm a double-crosser, except those in the organization, and you. The stress was just too much for me to handle, I couldn't do it all, I mean really, I'm only sixteen and… I have enough to do just worrying about my own life, much less living two and lying constantly to my father, seeing him use my mother as nothing more than a title for his own benefit. For the Dark Lord respects pure-bloods who marry other pure-bloods. So I thought that the only way out that wouldn't end in immediate death would be to run away," Draco explained patiently.

"Wow… I had no idea it was that complicated, I'm sorry that your life has been so demanding and difficult. But, I'm still me, and being myself, I still have more questions," Sylvie said in her usual dignified manner. "What school do you go to; I assume it's a wizarding school?"

"Yes, it is a wizarding school. I attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I will begin my sixth year on the first of September," Draco informed her.

"That's the school I got accepted to! But I had no idea about the trades you can enter after attending that school, and I was already planning a future in the muggle trade of criminal justice. I suppose you have something like that there, like the organization you were talking about. What is "the darkest wizard of all's name?" she asked with high curiosity. Draco looked her in the eye for a long moment, as if debating what he was about to say was of good judgment.

"His name…." he began in a whisper, "is Voldemort, but don't ever speak the name aloud, it will bring you bad fortune, you never know if he can hear you… just bout everyone in the wizarding world calls him "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named". I recommend that be what you call him as well," Draco finished by turning around to make sure there were no spies listening.

"Wow, okay, what made 'He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named' the darkest wizard, I mean, what did he do?" Sylvie asked.

"Well, he's a half-blood. That means that he was the child of a muggle and a wizard or witch. His mum was a witch and his dad was a muggle. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was really named Tom Riddle. So was his dad. His dad left them, I think, and I heard his mum died when he was real young, or when he was born. Over the summers Tom Riddle lived in an orphanage, and it seemed as if he never knew of his fathers own relatives. But then one year, everybody in the Riddle household died, the muggle-police couldn't find out the cause, and Tom Riddle had vanished from the orphanage. Everyone in the wizarding world knows he killed them, but we don't know why. Later, his dad also died, and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named wasn't suspected in your world, but everyone knew what had happened in mine. He was a cold-hard-murderer. And way back when he attended Hogwarts, he killed a girl, she's a ghost in the castle now, always moaning about, so she earned the nickname: Moaning Myrtle. He's horrible, and when he decided to gain power, he gathered his followers and the organization I'm with now, was formed and began fighting against him. The Potters had defeated him several times. They were a young married couple named Lily and James, and were known as very kind people. They had a little baby boy named Harry. But when Harry was a year old, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named killed Lily and James, and tried to kill Harry. But somehow, Harry lived, and the curse was backfired upon the Dark Lord. No one had ever survived that curse before, so Harry is famously known as The-Boy-Who-Lived. But recently, the Dark Lord has regained his power, and his followers are quick at his side. We must stop him, or both of our worlds will be doomed," Draco explained.

"Whoa, umm, that's umm…. that's umm… really scary. How old is Harry now?"

"He's in my year at Hogwarts, so I imagine he's either 15 yet, or turning 16 very soon," Draco said.

"Oh, I nearly forgot, I'm sixteen as well, I remember you mentioning that while explaining why you ran away," she said

"I guessed so, but I have a question for you," Draco said in mock amusement, "I've noticed you seem to have a bit of an accent, which gestures that you are not a native-born Brit, so of course, I want to know your story," Draco said.

Sylvie told him, and the two soon realized that they were not as different as they first assumed, they were of same age, had similar life problems and both could use a friend in this time of need.

"Come on," Sylvie said after completing her life-story, "I'm bored just standing here, It's nearly sunrise and we should go for a walk," she said.

"There's just one problem," stated Draco, "how are we going to get over the barbed wire fence? As you remember, that's what got our conversation started in the first place."

"Oh! Silly of me that I didn't tell you yet, we'll simply go through the hedge. There is no gate on either side of it, it works as a fence itself, but if nimble enough, you can sneak through the branches and vines and come to the bordering sidewalk" she explained, "I would have used the hedge to get away from you, but in case you didn't notice, we were on the completely opposite side of the park, so I had no choice but to consider the barbed wire fence. So come on, let's get out of here!" Sylvie said as she began to walk towards the part of the fence that was made of a hedge, which had grown a few feet taller than the actual black-steel fence that towered over them at ten-feet high. Draco followed her, and wondered where she planned to go once they made it to the other side.

As they were walking down the street, Draco was beginning to wonder what his father, Lucious Malfoy, was thinking about right now. Did he know Draco was missing? Did he know that Draco had run away? Did he think Draco had been kidnapped? Did he care Draco wasn't gone? Did the Dark Lord know that Draco was gone? Would he figure out that Draco left by his own consent? Draco didn't know any answers to any of his questions. "Where are we going?" Draco finally asked.

"We are going to a smaller, residential park, there is a boy there and he's your age, and of your…. kind… and, I think you just may know each other, I don't know his last name, and I just can't seem to remember his first, but it's not important, it will be nice for you to have a guy-friend in these times of need," she said as they made a right turn and then began walking faster.

"Well, if he does go to my school, he's not in my house, my father is one to keep track of where all my House-mates live, in case of a party or some such gathering, and I've seen the list, and no such person lives around here. And my only… friends, are in my House, so basically, Slytherins like Slytherins and every other House hates Slytherins. So… if who-ever you're leading me to someone that you think is from my school, than they hate me, and befriending them is not a smart move. Even if the person would be alone, and it would then be two against one, it just isn't worth the risk," Draco informed her with a layer of regret beneath his voice.

"What do you mean by 'house', the school is divided? And your division is hated by every other? Well, if that's the case, befriending him is a smart move. That way maybe you'd be judged as a kinder and gentler person," she said in a what-I-say-goes voice. "Am I right? Why are you just staring at me? Say something!" she yelled.

"Yes, you are right; the school is divided into four Houses. Every year, the first years are sorted into a house. The four Houses are Slytherin, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw. Slytherin is known for turning out bad wizards and witches. There isn't a witch or wizard that went bad that wasn't in Slytherin. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named himself was in Slytherin. The first years are sorted by a Sorting-Hat, it's this magical hat that goes inside your mind, sees your qualities and weaknesses, and sorts you into one of the four houses. The Sorting-Hat sorted me into Slytherin the second it touched my head, but what no one knows, savor you, is that I asked it to. I don't know what House I would have been in if I hadn't have asked, but I know that it is the only reason that I am a Slytherin. I asked to be in Slytherin because I knew that was what my father would expect, and if I was going to be a successful double-crosser, I would need to do what he expected on the surface. But, in order to be a Slytherin, you have to be a nasty little slime-ball, completely egocentric, and ruthless. So, I play my role as a mean, little

rich boy. Now, go ahead and lead me to wherever it is that you wish, but don't say I didn't warn you about it," Draco explained with a layer of anger beneath his tale.

They had reached the small, residential park, and Draco immediately recognized the boy on the swings. The wind was blowing his jet-black hair, and his round-rimmed, black glasses reflected the nearest streetlight.

"Hello, Harry," Draco said in a friendly greeting.

"Malfoy! What the bloody hell do you want?" Harry asked menacingly.

"See, I told you this was a bad idea," Draco said to Sylvie.

"Sylvie, why did you bring this load of scum here? I mean, really, I thought you had a better judge of character than that," Harry said in a pissed-off tone. But no one was more angry at the moment than Sylvie, for she took insults far worse than being proven wrong.

"I HAVE A BAD JUDGE OF CHARACTER? IS THAT WHAT YOU'RE SAYING?" she yelled, "You don't even know him! All you know is lies and you won't even give anybody a chance, you pathetic, little, dog-like…"

"Sylvie, stop!" Draco shouted to Sylvie over her own noise, "Yes, he does only know lies, but you realize that he has been explained nothing, so it would be unfair to expect someone to simply gather all the information from the air. He isn't a mind-reader, and I am prepared to tell him everything I've told you, but I think you need some sleep, as you're umm, just a little cranky. But who's to blame" he added hurriedly, "it's almost 5:30AM; anyone would be tired at this hour, especially after running for their lives earlier. So head home, and sleep, I'll be back when everything is settled, okay?" He asked her innocently. It was Sylvie's nature to object to such proposal, but she realized that she had just heard the entire story, and that she was tired. Draco was caring about her and she decided to show that she took him seriously and trusted him.

"Okay" she said, "I'll see you later then. Bye, guys," she said as she turned around and began walking back the way she came.