I finally met one last night. Her name is Madeline LeMastre Veiracque DeTrepere. But I may call her Madeline. I had snuck out that night. It was another sleepless morning, barely past midnight. The air was dark and warm, like fresh blood. Blood. Everything is like blood lately. She was in the park up the street. Waiting for someone. Waiting for me. I didn't ask how she knew that I'd be here. I was afraid of the answer, and I was even more afraid of her. But then she smiled at me, and I stopped being scared. I was a little relieved that she didn't have fangs. She gestured to the bench next to her, and I sat down. "Hello," I said, not at all sure of myself. She smiles again. "Hello, Harry Potter." Then she introduces herself. "I am Madeline LeMastre Veiracque DeTrepere." She says, putting a French accent on each part. "That's a long name," I say stupidly. She looks at me, but not like I'm an idiot. She looks concerned. "Yes, it is." She concedes. We are both silent for a moment. My mind is buzzing too loudly for me to think. I know I'm being stupid, because I have so many questions that need answers. To my surprise, she asks the first question. "How did you know that I am a vampire?" She asks. I shrug. I just knew. I tell her so. "Look closer." She says. So I look at her. She looks around 19, maybe 20 years old, with raven black hair cascading over her shoulders and a serious look to her face. She is very pretty. But there is something else... Her figure, her body, it seemed bordered with black outlines. Dark, thickly drawn outlines. Like some sort of comic book character. "We're all like this." She gestures to the air around her, and she knows I see them too. I am silent again, but Madeline doesn't seem to mind. She is patient. "How did this happen to me?" I blurt out. She purses her lips and looks at me thoughtfully. "I don't know. It could be genetic, latent until it got to your generation, or it could have been a bite, or it could have just-" She searches for the words, "-cropped up. Like magic in muggle families." She pauses again, and I can see her eyebrows arched in thought. She really was pretty. "Though I doubt it was in your family blood. Your cousin would probably also be experiencing it if that were so." She spreads her arms in a gesture of defeat. "Alas, I can only guess." She smiles. "You were the one who pulled that stunt at the hospital a week ago. Very clever. Most vampire cubs die of starvation before we find them." Though it's not cold, I shiver. She doesn't notice. Her voice, carefree since the start, suddenly turns stern. "You will have to be the predator soon, Harry Potter. You will have to kill. We will stand by you, offer you support and teach you the best ways to hunt. But you will have to leave behind everything you love. Your friends. Your school. Your life." "No!" I cry, angry and helpless. She nods. "Yes." Her voice goes from stern to hard and cold. "They will not accept you, Harry. They will not accept a vampire. Because if you're a vampire and you're alive, than you have killed a human. And even if you keep stealing from hospitals, they will not believe you. Or they will fine you. Imprison you. They'll make it so that you have to kill, and then they'll go an eye for an eye." She leans in close, her eyes intense. "There is nothing like a stake being pounded between your ribs, straight into your heart. I have seen it happen before. There is nothing like being publicly executed, and watching the people you once called friends cheer as the stake is driven home. They always cheer. Better to look cold and heartless than to look like an assistant to a killer." Her voice breaks as she finishes, and I reach over to comfort her. She brushes my hand off her shoulder and stands. "And thus ends our meeting. Learn to kill properly, or they will kill you. Goodnight, Harry Potter." And she disappeared, leaving me alone with my thoughts. Twenty-four hours later, and I'm still thinking. My problem is that I don't know what to think. My professors, my classmates, my friends. They'd never betray me like that. Or would they? Maybe some of them would, but I do know one thing. I will not kill. I am many things, but I am not a predator.