Hi! Hi! Sorry for the delay everybody! I was on an overnight trip to London with my school-we went to see the Lion King and Warhorse-both had fantastic seats and both were superkalifragilisticexpialladocious!

Anyway, I may have broken the promise to get the next chapter to you in a week, I misjudged time and word froze up when I was trying to upload. But, I did keep my promise to have Stein in here, so enjoy and relish-he'll be in the next chapters too! \(^-^)/

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Soul Eater or any energy.

Chapter 8: Friendly faces

"Soul! What has she done to you?" Maka cried, grabbing Soul's hand and peering at it. The back of his right hand was a bright red; Soul pulled his hand away abruptly.

"It's okay Maka, it doesn't' hurt that much," he said, turning away.

"That bitch! I'll get her." Maka hissed, following Soul as he headed up to the dormitory. "Did she do that to Harry too?"

"Yeah, but he doesn't want Ron or Hermione to know, so don't tell them." Soul carried on, heading over to his bed in the dormitory. Once again, the plain silver moon and the diamond stars glinted at them through the window. This time, though, they weren't alone. Neville, Seamus and Dean were already asleep; Maka could hear them snoring slightly and knew it was safe to continue the conversation.

"I have to." she whispered back, frowning. There was a silence where Maka sat herself on Soul's battered old suitcase, which was placed at the end of his bed.

"...I think she's a witch. The raising-Kishin kind. Like Medusa." Soul stated slowly, Maka winced at the mention of Medusa. She had almost fallen into madness due to that witch. Twice. And their friend Crona. Crona was hurt the most by Medusa's action.

"So that means we have two suspects."

"What's the plan of action?" before Maka could reply, the dormitory opened again and Harry and Ron came in.

"Picked up a stray then, Soul?" Ron joked, oblivious to the two tortured boys in the room. Soul laughed good humoredly in response and Maka forced a small smile. Harry glanced around the dormitory, looking at the three sleeping forms of boys before heading to his own bed.

"So, did you learn anything knew for your mission." he whispered, Maka bit her lip and turned to Soul-"Stein's coming."

"When?"

"ASAP. So for him, tomorrow."

"Who's Stein?" Ron hissed,

"Our teacher!" Soul hissed back.

"You're teacher's coming? What good's he going to do?" Harry said, raising an eyebrow. Soul burst out laughing, but quickly stifled it so as not to wake anyone up.

"Stein is the best meister ever to have studied at the DW-OW!" Soul turned to Maka midsentence, feeling her elbow in his gut-"what was that for?!" Maka just gave a stern look. You're giving information away!

"The DW-what?" Ron stood up, looking from one to the other, Maka sighed, shooting daggers at Soul.

"DWMA. Death Weapon Meister Academy." she admitted, her tone of voice making it clear that she was not giving away anything more. Maka sat by the window, not looking at the boys as they got ready for bed, she needn't say that she was staying with Soul tonight. As she sat there, she looked out at the glassy black lake that she had sailed over on two days ago. It was the same dark as last time, though now the yellow lights reflected on the surface made it look as though there were diamonds floating on the surface of the water.

"If your teacher's coming tomorrow, then you'll have to find a way to get off school grounds and sneak into Hogsmede." Harry finally whispered, Maka turned, her blonde hair swinging around with her head.

"How would you suggest that?"

There was another excruciating pause as they all thought as to how to manage such a thing, not being allowed to leave after curfew and not being able to apparate within the grounds.

"I've got it." Ron whispered, then grinned as he started to speak about his plan, "I'm a prefect remember? Me and Hermione both. We'll open the doors for you, you can wear Harry's cloak-It makes you invisible-and then it's just a matter of crossing the grounds."

"And the gate's not enchanted at all to stop anyone getting out?" Soul raised an eyebrow and Ron's ears turned red as her looked down.

"If it is, I'll fly you over on my broom." Harry offered, lying backwards on his bed. Maka noticed his grimace as his cut hand touched the clean pillow. Then she caught Soul's gaze and shook her head slightly-don't tell him about the flight thing.

Both Harry and Ron fell asleep almost instantly when they lay down, leaving Maka and Soul alone in the darkened dormitory. Maka ran her hands through her hair, "looks like it's going to be a big day tomorrow."

"We've had bigger." Soul had crossed the space between them and was standing close to Maka. She smiled softly at her weapon partner, before lacing her hands around his neck and leaning close. There was a moment of hesitation before Soul placed his arms around Maka's waist as well. "I guess it's going to take a while to get used to this." He whispered into her hair, making her laugh slightly.

"How are we going to tell the other's about this? My father?" she replied, smiling widely, her words made Soul snort. There was a moment of silence, where Soul tucked a lock of hair behind Maka's ear, his lips curving into a soft smile.

"You really do look nice with your hair back like that." he muttered, Maka shook her head.

"Imagine keeping it looking good when I'm swinging you around." they both shared another laugh. Then, Soul leaned forward and rested his forehead on Maka's, one of his hands stroking her hair. Maka didn't hesitate as she leaned forward to kiss him.

It was not just a sweet little kiss this time and when they pulled away they were both breathless.

"You should go back to your dormitory," Soul whispered through smaller kisses, Maka shook her head.

"I'll sleep on the floor."

-Time lapse-

The weak sunlight trickling through the window was what awakened Maka the following morning. She bit back a groan as she rolled out of the bundle of duvets she had been sleeping in, her back aching. The stone floor had not done here any favours.

As she groggily rose to her feet, she heard a tapping at the window and glanced over to see the same barn owl from the previous night. Hurriedly she undid the latch and received the letter.

Soul and Maka. Marie and I have arrived in Hogsmede and we need to rendezvous-how soon can you get to us?

~Stein

In a rush Maka wrote one word on the back of the paper. Tonight. Then, she readied herself for the school day ahead and started down the spiral staircase in order to get first pickings at breakfast. She was halfway through her second croissant when Hermione joined her. She leaned across the table and said in a stage whisper "Harry told me your plan."

Maka raised an eyebrow. "Gee don't make it obvious." she muttered, slightly grouchy due to the multiple aches all over her body, making Hermione blush, "no one else's meeting them either, so don't get any ideas."

They both fell silent as a certain pink-clad person approached. "Morning girls-aren't we up early this morning." Umbridge chirped, Hermione nodded slightly, but Maka went rigid. Her fists were clenched under the table, unfortunately Umbridge noticed. "Something the matter, dear?" Maka winced as she felt Umbridge's hand on her shoulder. This was the woman who had hurt her partner. Her best friend. And now, her lover. Her teeth gritted in her anger and it was all she could do to politely nod her head.

"Stomach ache." Hermione covered for her new friend, Umbridge nodded understandingly and headed up to the teacher's table. As she was out of earshot, Maka sighed, attempting to relax.

"What's up? I mean, I know she's horrible but you seem overly annoyed." Hermione asked, frowning as she took a slice of toast from the oak table.

"Haven't you seen what she did to Soul and Harry in their detention?" Maka hissed, Hermione shook her head, suddenly concerned. Maka was about to tell her about the toad's torture, when someone flicked one of her pigtails, she turned angrily to see the Weasley twins passing her, desperately attempting to look innocent.

"So girlies, what's up today?" George said, slipping into the seat next Maka, whilst Fred sat next to Hermione.

"I hope you're not planning on trialing your ridiculous sweets out on the first years again." Hermione scowled at the twins, who both put a hand over their hearts, looking offended.

"Hey, we never said they had to-" Fred started,

"It's not our fault they wanted money." George finished, Hermione raised an eyebrow, still looking unimpressed, "Maka, it may interest you to know, two more students have fallen ill. It looks like whatever killed that girl last time."

"Who were they? Give me houses and genders."

"A Slytherin boy and Hufflepuff girl." Fred answered, Hermione leaned forward,

"Both the Slytherin and Hufflepuff dormitories are below the main floor. That means whatever's causing this has to be on ground level." She revealed, causing Maka's mind to spin.

It didn't stop spinning for most of the day, even though she and Soul had started to encounter problems. It seemed in every class, excluding Defense Against the Dark Arts, History of Magic and Divination. Thankfully, most of the other students were struggling with vanishing charms too, so even though it was more homework than they needed, it was better than avoiding suspicion.

The whereabouts of the Kishin was what Hermione and Maka were discussing that evening whilst waiting for the boys to come back from detention. Ron was nowhere to be seen again, which concerned Maka-this was three nights in a row he had disappeared. Could he be the one behind the Kishin?

"Where do you normally find Kishin's, Maka?" Hermione was scratching down notes as they talked.

"Well it depends. Humans that are corrupted and turning evil are normally lowlife thugs or thieves. Like Jack the Ripper. Powerful Kishin's...the kind we're searching for...I've only ever seen one. The first one. Azura. And he wasn't a normal case."

"Why? Where was he?"
"Under our school. Our headmaster sealed the Kishin in Azura's skin, in doing so; Lord Death tied his Soul to the city."

Hermione looked both shocked and disgusted at the story Maka had told her. Maka herself shrugged and carried on righting her dream diary for Divination. A tedious task; she chose to make up her dreams instead of writing her real dreams. That would have worried Trelawney.

-Soul's POV-

Soul gritted his teeth as he and Harry walked out of detention. He glanced over at Harry's right hand, it was nowhere near as inflamed as his; he supposed it had something to do with him being a weapon and Harry being a human.

They met up with Maka and Hermione in the common room, Ron right behind them, caked in mud. "Where've you been?" Harry asked, Ron shrugged,

"Fancied a walk."

Soul wondered if that was really all there was to it, but as Maka threw Harry's cloak over their heads, he decided to trust Ron. He hadn't done anything bad, just sneaked out a couple of times-Weren't they sneaking out now?

His train of thought was interrupted as he realized that what Ron had said the night before about Harry's cloak was true. Neither Ron nor Hermione had a clue where the weapon and meister were now standing.

They followed the prefects down into the cavernous hall, their hearts elated. There was barely anyone to catch them anyway; there was only a few ghosts floating by-which reminded Soul to find out more about that.

As they reached the tall doors, Hermione and Ron stopped, "this is as far as we can take you. Opening the door in three...two...one..." Ron swung the door open for a second, acting surprised as he looked out to see if anyone had opened it from the outside. There was no need for this escapade as no one was around. Maka and Soul quietly slipped out the door and stumbled down the stone steps.

"When are we ditching this thing?" Soul hissed to Maka, who shrugged,

"As soon as we're out the gates."

They headed across the wet black grass and finally reached the stone winged boars that flanked the huge gates. Maka pulled the cloak off of them and examined the gates. "We could probably shimmy under it, looks to be enough room. You'll take up less room as well, what with your flat chest and all."

Maka glared at Soul; "You transform into a scythe and I'll push you under. Then I'll climb under after you."

Soul nodded, then focused, within seconds turning into a scythe, the blade had a diagonal pattern of black and red, and where the blade met the handle was what resembled an eye.

Maka proceeded to slide the scythe under the iron gate, "careful!" he protested, before carefully climbing through after him. She found Soul's human hand waiting to pull her up. She accepted gratefully, feeling the need to hug him, but resisting-this was no time for romance.

They started heading though the small, yet warm village. All the shops or houses had thatched roofs and some of the windows were light on the outside with pale candles, lighting the street with a pale glow. They walked slowly down the cobbled street, keeping an eye out for their white haired professor.

They were in luck as they saw two dark figures standing outside a pub, a sign over its thick wooden doors claimed that it was 'The Three Broomsticks.' As they neared they heard a female voice say "this is the closest place we can stay to the kids. We have to stay here."

"Or we could hide out in the grounds of the school-Spirit said there was a forest we could hide in." A male voice snapped back, a laugh filled the air.

"You must be joking! I'm not roughing it out in the woods! We're staying here."

"I think I found them." Soul muttered, making Maka laugh. The sound alerted the pair, who turned for the first time so that their faces could finally be seen in the yellow light.

The shorter of the two, Marie, had golden hair, which stopped in a wave at her shoulders; her hair was parted evenly, boldly showing the black eye patch that covered her right eye. Her left eye, however, was a soft brown, filled with concern for her students. Marie was wearing a black blazer over a white blouse and yellow skirt that arrived at her ankles. She greeted the two by smiling and giving them a brief hug.

Stein however, merely nodded. He was taller than her seemed, at least a head taller than his companion. He wore his customary grey turtleneck, black trousers and lab coat; it was obvious they were all sewn crudely together. The stitching on his clothes was not as obvious as that on his face, however. From the middle of Stein's forehead, to his left cheek, ran a row of thick black stitches. The eyes behind his round glasses were a pale green, and he held a cigarette balanced in his mouth. None of these things were the most startling thing, indeed, it was the giant screw that appeared to go through Stein's forehead. It had unnerved Maka when they had first met on their second extracurricular assignment, the way he had screwed it back and forth, adjusting it. They had definitely come a long way since then.

"So I assume you two have some clue who is raising the Kishin at Hogwarts?" Stein asked, slouching back with his hands in his pockets. Soul nodded,

"Yeah, two of them in fact."

"And how many people has it affected now?" Stein took the cigarette out of his mouth, and trod it into the floor.

"Three."

"Any idea of where it could be hidden?"

"Well the people it affected sleep below ground level, so we thought somewhere in the grounds."

"So, what's the plan?" Soul asked. It felt comforting to have someone to help them come up with a plan-to lead them. Soul didn't like to think it, because it wasn't exactly cool, but he had been scared to have as big a mission as this all to himself.

"Keep investigating. Find out as much as you can. If you have any definite suspicions-as in your 99% sure that they are the culprit-write me an owl." Stein said, suddenly Marie turned.

"I thought I heard someone here." Marie muttered, turning back to the group, frowning.

"Is it possible someone followed you?" Stein demanded, Soul and Maka shared a glance-could anyone have followed them here? It wouldn't be hard for Ron or Hermione to follow them out the door and under the gate.

"Unless someone followed us, Stein." Marie paled, as she glanced around at the darkened street once more.

"Hey you! What gives you the right to spy on these people!?" A sudden voice yelled, and a boy jumped out from hiding behind a stout stone chimney. He was Maka and Soul's age, with bright blue hair sticking up around his head making a five point star. He was wearing clothes resembling that of a ninja's. His green eyes flashed as he pointed to the shadow cast by the pub, near where the group was standing. Maka sighed, Soul however, grinned.

"Black«Star!" He called out to his friend, who was holding chain scythe in his hands.

"Black«Star-what are you doing here?" Stein yelled, Black«Star himself, however, just shook his head.

"Never mind that-there's someone behind you!"

They all turned to see two people step out of the shadows.

"Well we just had to see 'the best meister at the DWMA ourselves.'" Ron smirked, the bushy haired girl by his side looked down-ashamed as they took in Stein and Marie. Stein turned to Maka, who blushed.

"What part of 'don't give your identity away' didn't you understand?!"

Heheheh, I just love leaving cliffhangers for all of you! I can start doing little recaps at the beginnings of each chapter if it's hard to remember-just let me know and you're wish is my pleasure!

After reviews have trickled in (thanks so much for those by the way), I will present to you the list of things in the next chapter:

-Stein Vs Umbridge-for definite since SkittleZ is just dying to see it happen.

-Maka and Malfoy scene-a guest requested it, and I thought it would throw a spanner into the works of Maka and Soul's relationship. =u=

-Maybe some Stein X Marie, I ship it, but we may have to wait until I can fit it in. (I haven't read all the manga, but I've heard a rumour they get together in it-can anyone vouch for it's truth?)

AND of course, some plot.

This next chapter may be a LITTLE longer than the others, maybe 5000 words as opposed to 3000, as the rest of them are, because I really want to focus on the afore mentioned scenes.

Also, I normally write on the weekends, but these time I have family round, I'll try to write as much as I can, but you may have to wait a little longer than a week this time. Sorry about that. ^^"

Last thing before I go-thanks for all the follows and favourites! Thanks for all reviews and keep 'em coming so I can evolve into writermon.

See ya!