Yay started on the next installment lol took a while to get up the last chapter, but we were both swamped with school work and stuff so sorry for the inconvenience…and please don't forget to review! We really appreciate you reading our story, but it'd mean more to us if you would review, no matter how much or how little you really have to commentate on, it's just so we know that we're not putting it up for no one to read…and thanks to Graham lol… gotta love his comments grins impishly and no more threatening for updates lol! shakes fist it takes a while for us to write it all out by hand then retype it all and edit it cringes lots and lots of pages….ne who, enjoy!

Disclaimer: we keep forgetting these, but we know you guys are smart enough to know we own none of J.K. Rowlings characters

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Chapter 9

The next morning was dark and cloudy. When Steph woke up to her alarm, she quickly got dressed and grabbed her broom. Today the Quidditch challenges would happen. Hopefully the rain would hold up long enough for her to get her deserved position. She didn't want to completely get on Draco's bad side. His father after all had been in Voldemort's inner circle, or so the rumor went.

Voldemort had been defeated the year before by the Order of the Phoenix. She was worried that he had been raised with those morals and that he would end up being evil. Being on his good side was a good idea. Luckily, the rules for the new challenge tryouts were that the losers would become back-up players.

She grabbed a piece of toast from the dining hall and ate it on her way to the pitch. The house teams were already there.

"Hey there Malefice," called a voice from behind her. She turned around to see none other than Malfoy walk up to her. "You're not honestly trying out for the house team are you? That's a laugh! The Slytherin team does not believe in female players."

"Well maybe you should start; maybe you would win for once." She mocked.

"We always win, unless we're playing Gryffindor." He shot back defensively.

"And they have, or had, three female chasers." She pointed out, "I stand correct."

"Whatever, you only get n if the Captain thinks you're good enough." He snarled. "What position are you challenging anyway?"

"Yours." She stated simply, waiting for his reaction.

"What? Sorry I must have something in my ears; I thought I heard you say you were challenging my position."

"Well you are the seeker right?" he nodded slowly. "Then you heard right, I'm challenging your position." She smiled innocently at him. "Don't worry, I promise to go easy on you." Before he could answer, she turned and walked off towards the challenge table to register.

"Dracky! Darling!" cried a very high pitched voice. Draco flinched in recognition. He was suddenly hugged from behind. "Dracky, my poor darling" He groaned inwardly. "Did that whore say something mean to you precious?"

"Pansy, get off!" he ducked out under her arms. "I told you never to call me that." He said through clenched teeth. Pansy Parkinson was a very annoying Slytherin. She was ugly, with the hair the color of mud and eyes to match. She was short and stubby and her nose was squished inwards, giving her the look of a very ugly pug. She looked at him as if she hadn't heard him.

"I'll rip her eyes out my love. No one insults my Dracky-kins and lives." She growled animalistically.

"I highly doubt you'd be able to do anything." He laughed to himself. "Go ahead then." He told her with an evil glint in his eyes. "Go and rip her eyes out."

Pansy's face lit up with happiness. "Oh really Dracky? You want me to do that for you?" she asked.

"Do what you want, just as long as you leave me alone."

"Oh precious, I know you don't mean that, you're just upset because of that slut. But I'll defend you my love." She grinned, revealing yellow and crooked teeth. She ran off to confront Stephanie.

Draco shook his head; he couldn't believe she used to actually be slightly pretty. But when her father had died, a sudden change had occurred. Her looks had faded to reveal what she was now. It would seem that her father couldn't tolerate to look at her so he bewitched her to look pretty. It was really quite sad. He looked over to watch the action that he knew was about to break out.

"Hey bitch!" yelled Pansy. Steph looked up. "Yeah, I'm talking to you whore!" Stephanie snorted and went back to her book. "Hey! Slut look at me when I'm talking to you!" Sighing, Steph put her book down and leaned back into her seat, casually looking at Pansy with a bored gaze.

"Well?" she asked. "Now that I'm looking at your ugly mug, you can at least hurry up and tell me what you want so that I can go back to my book."

"Hmpf." Pansy squared her shoulders. "I heard what you said to my Draco. I'm here to teach you a lesson."

Steph's eyes widened slightly. "Your Draco?" she asked glancing over at him. He was watching with a smile on his face. "You two going out?"

"Well no." said Pansy slowly. "But we're very much in love. We're just waiting until school is over before we get together. We're going to get married." Steph looked over at Draco again to see him pretending to gag. She laughed out loud.

"Well I wish you luck, I'm sure you'll both be happy. But what does that have to do with me?" she encouraged.

"You upset him with whatever you were talking about. No one is allowed to insult my baby!"

"Oh that…I just said I was challenging his position as seeker today. No harm done. Have a nice day." She picked up her book and started to read again.

It took Pansy a few minutes to understand exactly what Steph had just said when it finally sank in. She realized Steph was threatening her dream boy. "Hey! You're a threat to him! I won't allow it! Stand up and prepare to duel for his love."

"Duel for his love? I'd rather not, you can have him, I just wanted his spot on the team." Steph said slowly.

"Stand and duel whore! Stand and duel." Pansy shrieked. She looked as if she was becoming hysterical.

"Oh for God's sake, shut the fuck up! You can have him! Just get out of my way!" With a quick wave of her wand, she pushed Pansy to the side, picked up her broom and kicked off of the ground. Once she was out of Pansy's voice range, she stopped her ascent. She once again took out her book and began to read in peace at least for the moment. She had barely begun a new chapter when a cold drawling voice whispered in her ear.

"Very smooth Malefice."

"Ack!" she yelped in surprise, nearly toppling over sideways. She would have plummeted to the ground if not fro two strong arms that grabbed her and steadied her.

"You ASSHOLE!" she yelled furiously. "You could have killed me!"

"Sorry." He replied sarcastically, rolling his eyes, "I didn't think you were so jumpy."

"I'm one hundred feet in the air; I didn't really expect to have someone whisper into my ear." She shot back testily.

"Right." He drawled nonchalantly, "I just meant to congratulate you on your excellent handling of Pansy. Although I do believe you made a new enemy…"

"I wasn't trying to make a friend." She interrupted.

"Didn't say you were. Oh and you need to report on the pitch in, say, ten seconds or you lose your chance at the team." He said evilly.

She didn't hear the rest of his sentence she was already diving towards the ground. She felt as if she must have broken a record for diving speed. She landed hard and raced to the center of the pitch. Once there, she made her book float over to her bag and tucked her wand into her cloak. Madame Hooch smiled at her as they lined up on the pitch.

"Mount your brooms," she called, "The challenge is for seeker, Slytherin student Stephanie versus Slytherin current seeker, Draco. First to the snitch gets the position." She raised her whistle to her lips, "On my whistle then." And she blew.

The teams rose quickly into the air. Steph immediately saw the snitch duck behind one of the goal posts. She slowly flew into that direction, trying not to attract attention to herself. She flew under the pretense of scanning the pitch. Just as she reached the end of the field, the snitch darted off, she did a full one hundred and eighty degree turn and pressed her body close to the handle of the broom and shot off after it. She followed it closely, expertly weaving through the other players.

"Shit," She thought. "It's flying right towards Draco." She urged her broom to go faster. She was right behind it….so close. He'd noticed! He quickly turned his broom and flew in her direction. Gritting her teeth, she pushed ever closer to her broom, her slim body making it easier to flatten herself.

He was ten feet away…five feet…two feet. With one last desperate attempt, she reached out her arm and stretched her fingers. One foot separated the two seekers. The crowd below gasped. They were going to crash into each other, they were too close. Time seemed to stand still as the rest of the players stopped to watch.

"Forget the snitch!" cried a member of the audience. "Dodge! Dodge!"

At the very last possible second, when anyone else would have crashed, Stephanie pulled her broom up and soared over Draco's head. Draco swerved slightly and drew to a stop. The crowd held their breath. Both seekers shook their heads. The snitch had disappeared in the confusion.

"Nice flying Malefice, next time watch where you're going."

"I was, the snitch was where I was going. I think they sped it up dramatically. The average snitch is easily out flown by a firebolt, let alone a firebolt five thousand." She said pensively.

"Excuses, excuses." He said slowly, circling her like a vulture. "If you can't catch it, you might as well just give up."

"Well it flew straight at you, why didn't you catch it?" she smirked. "Or could you not see it right in front of your face?"

"Just stay out of my way whore." He growled.

"My pleasure." She shot back. She quickly performed a back flip and dove back into the game. The snitch was hidden from view again, so Steph scouted the field. She'd have to trick the snitch next time. Draco was following her closely, like most people she knew, he was hoping to let her find the snitch so that he could catch it. This was what her favorite technique was made for. She dove…

With a startled yell, Draco quickly followed. She suddenly saw the actual snitch. Instead of completing her move, she pulled out and raced for the snitch. Draco pulled out of the steep dive with some difficulty and flew after her. They raced neck in neck for the snitch that seemed unaware of them. Steph was tired of their game; she flattened herself to her broom and shot off like a bullet.

Her fingers closed around the snitch as Madam Hooch blew her whistle. She'd done it, she'd gotten the seeker position.

Draco floated to the ground dejectedly. How the hell was he supposed to prove himself if she bested him in almost every aspect. He watched as the Slytherin team reluctantly welcomed her to the team. They'd never had a female player before. The only one who seemed even remotely happy was Stephanie and she was containing it well. He sat down in the stands to watch the rest of the challenge.

He had gotten changed quickly, wearing muggle jeans and a black t-shirt that hugged his firm chest. When the last challenge was just ending, he stretched out his arms and came into contact with flesh. Startled he turned around sharply and came face to face with a girl about his age.

She had red eyes and gave off an evil aura. She stared at him, her black hair some how flying wispily in the air, even in the absence of a breeze. When she spoke, her lips didn't move, instead he heard her voice in his head, as a hollow echo of a voice. It was very soft but strangely eerie.

"Draco." She whispered.

He stared at her in shock, unable to utter a word. He looked around him and saw Steph coming out of the dressing rooms wearing hugging jeans that sank low on her hips and a black halter that complimented her honey blonde hair. She saw him and began walking towards him.

"Do not fear Draco, she cannot see me. I am only a vision, seen only by you. I only wanted to see you. I've been watching you for so long. I watched you grow up, but you've never seen me. It's been my goal to one day meet you."

"What do you mean, you watched me grow up? Who are you and what do you want?" he asked softly, finally regaining his voice.

"Your father can answer those questions." She smiled softly, making her features soften, yet making her appear cold and cruel at the same time. Suddenly Steph showed up in front of him. The young girl looked from Steph to Draco and dissolved as if she was only made of smoke.

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Well now that that's done with lol, might as well start on the next chappy. Hope you guys liked this one and please review! It means a lot to us! Well yeah…umm back to typing lol.

Ja ne,

Aries and Kie