Stephanie arrived late at breakfast. Everyone had already been served. She had stopped in Madam Pomfrey's office. All she found was her assistant, Vera.

"What happened?!" Vera had demanded.

Stephanie tried to think up something smart to say. She had already used "falling down the stairs" on Pomfrey, as well as "stage combat" and "class mistakes." Vera must have seen the file. Stephanie thought hard.

"I.fell out of bed.and there was this.stack of." She trailed off, judging by the look on Vera's face, she definitely wasn't buying the story.

"Look sweetie, I think I know what's going on here."

"Y-you do?"

"Look honey," Vera hopped up on a nearby bed; she crossed her legs and examined a nail. "Believe me, I've known a lot of men in my day, and I've been through the exact same thing. Tell me who the jack-ass is."

Stephanie shook her head. She could no longer feel the searing pain in her side, she had forgotten about her swollen eye, and no longer noticed the blood drying to her forehead. Vera stared into her eyes, "Look, I know its tough kid, but the only way to save yourself is to tell someone else, or it will just keep going on!"

Stephanie trembled and took a deep shaky breath, "actually, a friend of mine saw it happening, so he knows." Vera raised an eyebrow. Just then, Madame Pomfrey bustled in. She dropped an armful of bandages and rushed over to Stephanie.

"What happened!?" She cried. Vera continued looking at her nails.

"Some jack-ass" she said, sounding bored.

"Vera! What did I tell you about your language in front of the students? Not the place!" The nurse scolded. Without another word, she stitched up Stephanie's forehead, placed a spell on her eye to bring the swelling down, gave her a pill for her side, and sent her off to breakfast.

Now she looked around the large room looking for an empty seat. She saw one across from Harry and at another table there was the empty seat that Tyler always saved for her. Casting a disappointed glance at Harry's group of friends, laughing and joking around, she headed over to Tyler who was surrounded by other football players. After seeing Harry, Tyler's table seemed to be sitting in the shadows.

She held her head high, and with a confident smile, she walked over to Tyler's table. Upon sitting down, Tyler feigned a worried look and asked what happened. Smiling, despite the intense anger she felt toward Tyler, she tried her previously mentioned story again, with a few variations. "I fell out of bed this morning, and I landed on a glass vase, you know, the one my mom sent up with me?"

Tyler smiled sympathetically and clicked his tongue. "What am I going to do with my little klutz?" He laughed. Stephanie forced a laugh, and took a bite of her eggs.

Later, after breakfast, Tyler's friend Peter came up to her. "Hey Steph," He said slowly. "Look," He pulled her aside where Tyler couldn't see her, "You don't gotta cover for him, we all know what he does."

"Peter," Stephanie played innocent. "What are you talking about?" Peter reached into his robe and pulled out his wand and a small orb. He tapped the glass ball and said some incantation. It began to glow, and there was the scene this morning, that had gone on between Tyler, Harry, and her. Stephanie began to tremble, and before she could stop them, tears washed out over her cheeks. "Oh Peter," she said, weeping. "He wrapped his arms around he and she began to cry harder, her mascara dripping offer her cheeks onto his light blue robe. Just then Tyler appeared. He smiled at Peter and clamped a hand around Stephanie's elbow.

"What's going on? Peter, I think I can handle this," He pushed Peter aside and gripped Stephanie's arms harder than necessary. Peter took a few steps back, but remained at a close distance. Trying to get rid of him, Tyler practically dragged Stephanie out of the dining hall into the entryway, where he immediately began to chew her out. Just as Ron and Parvati walked in.