The light poured into the Hufflepuff dormitory as a majestic owl glided through the chilly February sky. The rain gently pattered down on the glass and as it did so a rainbow formed, causing the first years to excitedly scamper to the window, eager to see the colours.

Upstairs, there was a different atmosphere.

Stephanie jerked back into reality, her clothes clung to her body, drenched in sweat, her cheeks were damp with tears and the blankets had been kicked into a pile at the end of the bed. She tore off her sweaty garments and jumped into the shower. She let the hot water run over her body and hoped the steam would clear her thoughts. After her shower she couldn't be bothered to dry herself with a towel so she used her wand to transfer the water from her naked body into a swirling ball which the plopped back into the bath, a handy trick her mum had taught her.

Her wand was nice enough; 11 inches, made of Hazel and with a core of unicorn hair. This was the perfect choice for Stephanie as there had been many times, at her best friend James house, that his parents had tried to get her to perform dark magic; the unicorn hair made it harder to produce dark spells and Hazel wood is famous for reflecting the emotions of the user, and so held true to her reluctance. Hazel wood wands were also supposed to detect water underground and emit silvery, tear drop shaped puffs of smoke when passing concealed springs and wells. So far this ability had not proven useful and only caused embarrassment as sometimes her wand would let out a trial of smoke behind her as she hurried down the corridor.

She hurried down to get some breakfast in the Great Hall while attempting to remove some of the biggest clumps from out of her hair. "Hey Steph!" Came a familiar voice. "Over here!"
Steph smiled in relief, it was her friend Dana. She really didn't like to stand and search for her friend in the great hall. It made her feel awkward. Out of place. And it really didn't help that everyone seemed to sneer at her.

Dana was cool; they had become friends at the start of the year when Dana has just moved from Africa. She had dark skin and black hair which was shaved at the sides and left a single, but rather fat, braid that rand down the centre of her head to the bottom of her neck. Dana had attended a really rough wizarding school in Africa and so could handle herself in most confrontations, she made Stephanie feel safe; Dana was the strong one, Stephanie the kind one.

"Thanks," Stephanie smiled and started to load up some food on her plate.
Dana grinned with a mischievous glint in her eye. "Did you see Jacob today? He's so hot!"
She pretended to feather herself. Steph rolled her eyes at her friends antics. Usually she would feel insecure whenever others spoke of Jacob, because she never felt good enough. However, she knew Dana would never go after him as according to her, Jacob was "soo not her type!"
Besides; Dana already had her eyes on the scarred Ravenclaw seeker, Brutus Maximus. He was an amazing seeker but unfortunately the rest of the Ravenclaw team preferred to spend time reading and studying, meaning they usually came last in tournaments.

"I haven't actually." Steph replied, returning to the subject, but her reddening face gave away her lie. It had become a habit of hers to always scan every room to check if he happened to be there.
Dana raised her eyebrow disbelievingly.
But thankfully she was in a merciful mood and let the subject go.
"So what do you have first period?" Dana questioned,
Steph's reply was cut short by a huge yawn
"Hon, didn't you get some sleep?" Dana asked worriedly. "Have you been having those dreams again?"
Stephanie smiled sheepishly and nodded.
Dana had been the only person she'd told, except James and Drew obviously, but she had only told James the true scariness of it all and about the shadow-man.

Drew was Stephanie's older cousin, he was in the last year even though he was 19; he had been kept behind a year in year 4 as he wasn't the smartest. He had light brown hair that was throw back off his head in a sort of 'T-Birds' style. Drew was huge, like ginormous, he was build like a house... a brick wall on legs! In fact the only person in the school that was taller than Drew was Rubius Hagrid respectively, but even that was only a close call and to be fair, Drew was equally as wide, if not wider that Hagrid. He used to be a beater on the school quiddich team until he beat the referee sensless after a dispute. Now he helped Hagrid with the beasts and helped in the 'Defence against the dark arts' department. Drew had hoped to be an Aurora but he had failed the exam and now the incident with the referee had made the opportunity even slimmer.

Dana pursed her lips worriedly. "You can take the day off and rest if you like," She suggested. "Ill let you borrow my notes."
"They come even in broad daylight," she stated quietly while staring at her buttered toast. "But thanks,"

They ate there breakfast in a hurry as they were rushed for time. Once finished the two of them ran to their first lesson, defence against the dark arts. Stephanie managed a quick peek at the boys in quiddich practise in hope of seeing Jacob but to no avail. They barged through the big double doors into the main classroom, which was more of a hall really; a large square room with a wooden floor and blue tinted windows that let in a lot of light. She saw James looking sheepish and waltz over.

"Hey James!" she said excitedly, eager to talk to her best friend in the whole world. James murmured something that she couldn't interpret. She tried to talk to him again but got the same quiet response.

"I've been trying to talk to him all day!" came a voice from behind her. She recognised that voice... but surely it couldn't be her, could it? Stephanie turned around horrified.

"You..." was all she could manage. Her blood froze and her heart stopped, no it couldn't be her.

There, in front of her, stood Gabriela.