Dumbledore smiled at the students dancing before him before standing and exiting the Great Hall. Snape and McGonagall were waiting for him outside the doors.

"She has escaped?" he said. Snape nodded.

"I went to her office to see if she would like an escort to the ball and found it empty with the door open," he explained as the three teachers made their way onto the grounds and towards the forest. "Her blood supply was gone."

"I doubt it was the work of a student, Albus," McGonagall said. "You know as well as I how heavily she Charms her locks."

"Who else could have done it, Minerva? There is a good amount of clever students in Hogwarts these days, and I know a number of them find that their skills lie in breaking and entering," Dumbledore replied.

"Anyone you had in mind, Headmaster? Perhaps a Gryffindor?" Snape asked, thinking immediately of Hermione Granger, though he knew the girl would never do something like that.

"Actually Severus, I was thinking more along the lines of a Slytherin," Dumbledore said almost casually. "I'm sure you know who I'm talking about."

"Dumbledore, do you really think it fair to involve Mr. Malfoy without any evidence?"

"I'm not involving, Severus. I'm inferring," Dumbledore said firmly. "Although the time to involve may have come."

"What do you mean, Albus?" McGonagall asked.

"Think about it, Minerva," Dumbledore said. "Why would someone want to deprive Lamia of her blood supply? To, of course, set her loose upon the students. Or perhaps a single student in particular."

"You don't mean Potter?"

"I do, Minerva. I had thought that by bringing Lamia to Hogwarts I might have protected her from Voldemort's influences, but it seems I merely made her more vulnerable to them," Dumbledore said heavily.

"Well, how does Sarah Riddle fit into all of this?" Snape asked.

"I don't know, Severus, but I have a few theories," Dumbledore replied. He was about to speak again, perhaps to explain one of his theories, but all three were distracted by a dark figure shooting past them towards the school.

---------

Lamia discarded the shriveled carcass of her meal and glared at it. Centaur blood had never been her favorite type. She wouldn't be satisfied by it.

She wanted human blood. Her instincts had nearly taken over her completely, and while the blood of a creature might have satisfied her sane self, human blood was necessary for the ancient disease within her.

She growled and began to run full speed from the forest. She spotted three of her colleagues walking towards the forest, presumably to look for her, but she simply ran past them. They were too old...she wanted young, fresh blood. She'd seen a few ripe looking first years in one of her classes....

The ball was where she wanted to be. All those emotions running high- the students' blood would be absolutely saturated with endorphins, which in turn would give Lamia a sort of high, and that was always the best kind of blood.

She grinned and licked her lips at the thought.

---------

Harry stood, transfixed by the disgusting display. How- why? Had Malfoy put a spell on her, or was it really out of her own free will?

He felt anger rise in him...at Malfoy...at Sarah...at himself. He was angry at Malfoy for obvious reasons. Sarah earned his wrath because she had flirted with him, allowed him to love her, then gone and agreed to go with Malfoy, and now she was kissing him! But mostly, he was angry at himself, for believing that Sarah was his, for believing that she felt the same way about him, and for allowing himself to get that close to her anyway.

Hermione grabbed Harry's arm gently and attempted to steer Harry away from the door to the Great Hall, simultaneously trying to stop Ron from entering said Great Hall and attacking Malfoy. Ron ended up occupying most of her attention, allowing Harry to wriggle out of her grip and go in.

Sarah and Malfoy had since stopped kissing and Sarah was excitedly waving her hands about as she told Malfoy about her endeavors of the past week. Malfoy was sitting there listening with a slightly uninterested expression on his face. Harry walked up behind Malfoy, who was closer to the door, and tapped him on the shoulder. Malfoy turned around and glared, but Sarah grinned.

"Hi, Harry," she said. She cocked her head innocently to the side. "What's wrong? You look kind of shaken up."

"Yes, Potter, do tell us why you're bothering us," Malfoy drawled. Harry scowled down at him and addressed Sarah.

"Sarah, I was- erm- wondering if you'd like to dance with me," he asked, a barely noticeable pink tinge creeping up his neck.

Malfoy stood up, his face indignant.

"She is my date, Potter," he said vehemently. "If you want to dance with her, you need to ask me."

Sarah stood up behind him and took his hand. Malfoy turned to her and she granted him with a pointed look.

"It's alright, isn't it, Draco?" she asked. "Harry's my friend. You won't mind if I dance one song with him, will you?"

Malfoy gained the expression of one having a terrible inward battle, but eventually scowled at Harry with a look that clearly said, "She's still mine."

"You have my permission," he spat. Sarah smiled and kissed him on the cheek.

"Thank you, Draco," she said. She slipped her arm through Harry's and pulled him out onto the dance floor.

As they danced, Harry refused to open his mouth. His original plan had been to confront her about kissing Malfoy, but he didn't want to seem overtly jealous and whiny. Besides, he was having trouble with the dance itself, because obviously Sarah expected him to lead and he had never been the best dancer.

Halfway through the song, Sarah pulled him off the dance floor on the opposite side of the room, so that Malfoy couldn't see them. Harry was about to ask what she was doing when she spoke.

"You want to ask, Harry. Why haven't you?" she said with uncharacteristic briskness.

"Ask about what?" Harry asked spitefully, trying to play dumb.

"Fine, then. I'll just tell you. Yes, I kissed Draco. Yes, I enjoyed it," Sarah said, her tone harsh and her face drawn. Harry glared at her, abandoning his game.

"What's wrong with you? How could you kiss him? He's evil, prejudiced and big-headed! He doesn't care about anyone!" Harry said.

"How do you know?" Sarah asked, returning Harry's glare. "Have you ever wondered whether or not there was someone he cared about, just maybe not you? Have you ever seen him interact with his fellow Slytherins, or his family?"

"Well...no," Harry said viciously. He was put-off by the fact that she was winning their argument, but he still tried to stand firm on his point. "But he's still prejudiced and big-headed!"

"Everyone has their weak points," Sarah spat. "Besides, you know what his family's like. Don't blame Draco, blame his ancestors."

"But he could choose to be different!" Harry protested.

"Could you suddenly choose to hate Muggle-borns after you've been taught for years that they're not below purebloods at all?" Sarah asked, her eyebrows raised. "Could you believe that you were of a higher sort than they when you hear your parents discussing the opposite view of the situation?"

Harry glared at her, not responding. Anything he said would only get him in deeper. Instead, he studied her, because she appeared quite different than usual. In the short time frame of their discussion, she had gone from her usual cheerful self to a snappy, exhausted girl who rather reminded Harry of Hermione after one of her all-night study-fests.

"What's the matter?" he asked quietly. Sarah looked over at him, surprised.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"You look anxious," Harry commented. "Like something big's about to happen." He eyed her carefully. "Nothing big is about to happen, is it?"

Sarah faltered a bit before shaking her head and laughing- a high-pitched, nervous laugh.

"No, of course not, Harry!" she said.

Even as she spoke, the doors burst open, sending a wave of cool air from the outside over the students. A loud, resounding crack was heard as the large doors fell of their hinges and crashed to the floor. Several students screamed and pointed in horror at the figure standing in the exposed doorway.

It was Professor Teres, but she looked far different than the Teres they knew from class. Her cascading black hair swirled around her, as did what appeared to be the remnants of black silk dress robes, now tattered and stained in several places. Her pale skin seemed frighteningly glossy, and looked like something out of a horror film as it reflected the red glow of her typically black eyes.

She hungrily looked around the room as the shocked teachers regained their senses and moved in. She bent her knees, ready to leap over them into a large clump of first years when a high, cold voice infiltrated her thoughts.

Potter...get Potter...

She felt a force greater than her will turn her body, so that she was facing the place where Harry and Sarah stood, both of them fearful but for different reasons. She didn't fight it. Blood was blood, as long as she got it.

She pushed past the teachers and anyone else in her way, dodging Stunning Spells and the like in her effort to get to Harry. Soon, she only had the teachers behind her. The students in her path had thrown themselves out of the way, frightened half to death. She had a clear shot to the boy.

Sarah's eyes widened and she placed herself firmly and directly in Lamia's path, pulling out her wand.

"Not yet, Lamia! Not yet!!" she screamed, pointing the wand directly at the vampire.