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"Hello shorty," Malfoy came up with Goyle and Crabbe. "It's so hard to find you, did you know?" he smiled devilishly.

Steph smiled, and continued to walk.

"I needed to give you something yesterday but like I said, couldn't find you."

"Oh?"

He pulled out a teddy, with a heart saying "will you be my valentine?"

She chuckled, "Been hit by Cupid have you? Or was it Peeves? You know I think I have seen them around somewhere."

"What?" he asked, his companions getting testy.

"Me of all people, that is a joke."

"Why?"

"Because... I'll talk to you later." she changed the subject.

Draco sighed and followed her wanting some info.

*

Transfigure class...

The students looked at the array of throw pillows, which were once pets.

"When do we get to turn them back?" Dawn raised her hand.

She stared at the once salamander.

"That's for next class, ms. Summers." McGonagall said.

"But Earendil will be ticked at me." Steph whispered to Dawn.

*

Easter came quickly and the school thinned out once again. Harry and Steph were the only ones left from their group of misfits.

Steph was against Harry in a chess match, when broke the silence. "May I ask you a question? Not that you have to answer it..."

"Sure."

"Why didn't you go home this time?"

She gave a heavy sigh, "My parents sent me an owl not that long ago that said they'd be in Canada for a few weeks and couldn't pick me up."

'An owl hasn't visited her since Christmas..' Harry said to himself and moved his rook to take out one of her lonely pawns. "Oh."

Steph made her knight take out his rook. "May I ask you a question?"

"Uh, sure."

"Are you thinking of going serious with Dawn?" she laughed.

Harry blushed, and tried to make a moved but was quite too flustered. "Uh, well.. hey what kind of question was that?!"

Stephanie continued to laugh at Harry.

*

Harry was the only one up looking over a text book he was meaning to read. Soft foot steps were heard coming down the stairs. Harry tried to shrink himself in his seat. A small sigh was heard and a body plopped itself onto the couch. He slowly looked at the figure on the couch, Stephanie.

"Are you not tired?" he asked putting the text on a table.

Steph looked over, "No not at all, I just wanted to stretch my legs while I wait for Earendil to finish her bug catching. Were you studying?"

"Yeah, a bit." Harry was noticeably not tired and seemed very bored. An idea struck him. "Are you as bored as I am?"

"I have no clue."

"Do you want to come for a walk with me, since you need to stretch your legs?"

"Uh, sure, but how? The curfew..."

"Hang on." he left running up the stairs coming back with a blanket and a piece of wood.

She looked suspiciously at him. He smiled at put the blanket over his figure, he was gone.

"Shit! Where did you go?!" she hissed.

"It's an invisibility cloak. I've used it twice this year to see Hagrid." Harry came back into the seeing world.

*

They walked together under the cloak, looking for nothing in particular. Harry told Steph to keep an eye on the marauders map, incase a teacher, student or Peeves comes into the picture.

"Do you think Earendil is back?" Steph looked at Harry in the dim light.

"I wouldn't know, how long does she fly for?" he whispered.

"Well the owls come out around--" she was interrupted by a loud sound.

Harry jumped, almost out of the cloak. They both checked the map for a person, but no one was there. The sound was heard again, Harry still jumped, but Steph stood still, close to brinks of laughter.

"What was that?!" he hissed.

"Me... seems I am hungry." she snickered.

"You want to take a stop at the kitchen before you go get your bat?" Harry stopped, noticing he was alone. 'Where did she go?" he looked around and saw no one. He checked the map.. "S. Vampire." was moving toward the teacher's dormitories... He looked over everything, only that one name was moving. 'Spike? Okay but where is Steph?'

Harry moved closer to the kitchen, no sign of the "Stephanie" He then walked toward the teacher's dormitories, nothing. He ran back to the Gryffindor tower to find no sign once again, assuming she could have fallen asleep, walked to the boy's dormitories. But kept half a mind on the where-a-bouts Stephanie could be.

*

In the morning everyone was back and it was Monday. Earendil was testing her abilities on Crookshanks, teasing the cat until it quit and yowled to Hermione. Earendil perched herself in Ron's hair, Harry explained Steph's disappearance.

Neville came and tapped Harry on the shoulder.

"Uh Harry.... you guys um you are wanted outside." he looked a bit spooked but he always did.

Harry and the others got up and walked through the portrait hole and looked around to see Malfoy. He got up from leaning on the wall. "You know I wouldn't come to you guys unless it concerns me, right?"

Harry looked in shock, "Yeah, that's what we thought."

Hermione, Dawn and Ron were behind him, looking at Malfoy in a pissed off air.

"Yes, well this is about Stephanie... she somehow got the Slytherin password, and woke me up. She rambled about something that she had done, then I told her a solution trying to make her feel better, and now she is gone. I can't find her." he told them, then a flashback occurred in his mind.

**

"Draco, Draco, Draco Malfoy get up." I felt my side being poked.

A yawn escaped my mouth and I opened my bleary eyes, "What?" my eyes cleared and looked straight into bright red eyes which were dimming down to a light purple-blue.

"I did something horrible." she whispered. "It's been getting worse, every since... well perfect moons don't help either but..."

"Wait a second, girl." I pulled himself from the warm covers and squared myself with Stephanie. "Could you please be more specific, I am not ready to think."

"When are you ever?" she tried to make a joke but it didn't work. "I hurt him, I really don't want him dead but..."

'Potter I hope.' I smirked. "Okay what is it with all these buts?"

"They're ifs... sorta."

"And who was it?"

"A Slytherin I was told to kill...."

I felt my eyes going huge, my mouth fell but soon I got my composure back. "Told?" I squeaked. 'who would want to kill a Slytherin?' "Okay, okay, could you please start at the beginning?" I rubbed my temples.

Steph looked at me, "I don't remember much of it, but whenever I get hungry I can't control myself. Last year I think I was at a meeting and saw Harry Potter.. but it could have been a dream. I kinda had control once I got the acceptance letter. Then at Christmas when I was told I had nowhere to go at the moment, because of a horrible accident... I simply lost control, and I think I went over board."

I sat down, in shock. "Control, meeting, accident..." summing everything up, I looked up at the sad figure. "My dad's been talking about them in death meetings.." I whispered.

Hearing a small whimper, I look up again. Fear was in her sad blue eyes, like a rabbit or any of my dad's captors. She stared at me then fled, I tried to catch her but the Portrait hole slowed me down.

**

Malfoy shook his head, "Do you think you could help?"

"What exactly did you say to her?" Dawn asked narrowing her eyes.

"I said nothing! She spilt that her parents are dead, and I suppose she thought she had said too much." he turned around, 'Shoot, just as I did!' he swore at himself.

"What?!" they said at the same time.

"What about her sister? Is she gone too?" Dawn asked, remembering Steph hoping her sister would come to Hogwarts also.

"I don't know." Draco sighed, "But could you just --"

A scream echoed throughout the castle. Soon a bellowing voice came out of the air, "STUDENTS MUST RETURN TO DOMITORIES IMMEDIATLY, FOR FURTHER INSTRUCTION."