Hello to all who've read or are currently reading my series of Skulduggery Pleasant fanfictions! In this series of one-shots you will find chapters that did not make it into the final two stories. I hope you enjoy! Be sure to favourite, follow and comment to let me know what you guys think of this! It will be being updated when I finished a few more, so don't worry, it's not as short as you think. ;)

September 3rd

Approx. 3 months after leaving the Sanctuary

Stephanie sat back in the armchair, rubbing her eyes. Mornings were rotten. The morning before you leave for University, now that was the worst. She was amazed anywhere had even accepted her, but Galway seemed like a good choice (until the acceptance letter came through the post she hadn't even know the reflection had applied to University). It was close enough that she could get home quickly if she needed to, and far enough away from Dublin to let her relax a little and forget about… things.

Melissa came down stairs with Alice in her arms.

"Morning Steph. How did you sleep?"

"Fine thanks," Stephanie smiled tiredly. It was a lie, of course, Darquesse still frequented her dreams like the plague, cursing her, making her pay for leaving magic behind. Like she said she would. Desmond and Melissa had noticed how Stephanie was always tired at the beginning of the summer, a week or so after she'd got back from Hogwarts. Since then 'how did you sleep?' had become a regular question.

Alice ran up to her and jumped up onto her lap, waving her arms in Stephanie's face.

"Are you excited for tomorrow?" Melissa asked with an excited grin of her own. Stephanie shrugged.

"Nervous," she answered. Melissa smiled and walked over to her eldest daughter, placing a gentle kiss on the top of her head.

"You'll be fine."

"Yeah, you're right," Stephanie said with a slight smile, although she was pretty sure that she didn't believe herself. Alice grunted in displeasure as she realised Stephanie's attention was not on her, and fidgeted in her lap.

"Stephanie!" Alice demanded impatiently, "Stephanie!"

"What is it, little monster? Huh? Little monster?" Stephanie grabbed Alice and tickled her ribs as her sister squealed delightedly.

"Alright, trouble, let's go and get some breakfast. Would you like some, Steph?"

"No thanks, I'll get some later," Stephanie replied. Alice, on the other hand, appeared to be very hungry, jumping off Stephanie's lap and running into the kitchen almost in the same second the word 'breakfast' was mentioned. Melissa rolled her eyes and followed the giddy two-year-old into the kitchen.

Stephanie sighed. How could she have thought she could tell her family anything about that place? About those people? They would never have been able to cope with that kind of knowledge. It was better this way, even if it meant she could never see her friends again, and her demonically evil other side would haunt her at every moment of her life. Yup. It was definitely better this way.

She looked at the floor glumly and sighed, thinking of what Skulduggery, Tanith and Ghastly might have been up to at that particular moment in time. Tanith and Ghastly would probably be making up for the time Tanith spent as a remnant. Would Skulduggery be working on a case?

That thought made her even more depressed – Skulduggery on a case without her. Or, just maybe, was he trying to think of a way to persuade her to come back? But, he hadn't talked to her since that night. She hadn't seen him since either. No phone call. No nothing. She didn't know whether she was pleased or insulted – pleased that he'd taken her seriously, insulted that he valued her so little. A little bit of both she suspected.

The doorbell of the Edgely estate made her look up, a little startled. Who would call this early? Could it be…? No, no, it wasn't. But, still, until she looked, she couldn't be sure…

She jumped up from the armchair.

"I'll get it!" She called so her voice would carry through to the kitchen as she hurried to the door, trying not to be too quick. If it was him, if it just happened to be him, he'd be able to hear her approaching, and she didn't want to seem too desperate.

Desperate? Where had that come from? She wasn't desperate. Sure, she wasn't happy either, but she wasn't desperate. Her family was safe – the objective of leaving had been completed, and would only continue to be completed as long as she was as far away from the sanctuary as she could possibly be. Still, she found herself running a hand over her hair to make sure it was presentable, and making sure all the sleep was out of her eyes, the bags underneath them as obscure as possible, before she opened the door.

The sight that faced her wasn't the one she'd been expecting, or even hoping secretly for. Two tall ginger-headed faces grinned at her, accompanied by a very tired looking teen with dark hair.

"Sorry," Seamus said immediately "they woke me up this morning and wouldn't leave until I brought the here."

"That's ok," Stephanie said with a smile "That's great, in fact. Come in." She held the door open to let Seamus, Fred and George into the house. "But, no magic, guys. My parents are in."

"Yep, Seamus here has us well informed," Fred said with a nod. Stephanie closed the door behind them against the chilly air.

"And remember, it's Stephanie now, ok?"

"You got it, Steph," George winked. Stephanie sighed, and then hugged the three of them simultaneously. Although seemingly a little startled for the first millisecond, they all hugged back with as much sincerity as she thought was possible.

"We'll probably have to go somewhere private to talk. I'm sure Gordon won't mind if we use his study. In fact, he'll be in there. You can meet him."

"Steph!" Melissa called from the kitchen "Who's at the door?"

"School friends!" Stephanie replied.

"Do we get to meet your mum?" Fred asked with a mischievous grin,

"Ummm," Too late, her mother walked in from the kitchen, a little smile appearing on her face. "Oh, hey mum. These are some of my friends, from the school I went to in England last year."

"Oh wow," Melissa smiled "and Seamus too. How are you doing, dear?"

"Fine thanks, Mrs Edgely." Seamus said politely.

"Mum, this is Fred and George Weasley. Fred and George, this is my mum, Melissa." Please God don't pull a prank. Please God don't pull a prank. Please God…

"We've heard so much about you from Stephanie," Fred said, stepping forwards to shake Melissa's hand.

"But words can only say so much," George finished, also stepping up to shake Melissa's hand, who looked slightly bewildered. Oh God please tell me they're not going to pull out a pick-up-line, please tell me they're not going to politely flirt with my mother… Stephanie could see it now, one of them was bound to kiss her hand or something stupid like that, or say they looked like sisters.

"Yeah, Steph never mentioned how identical you look," George grinned,

"You could be sisters,"

"Twins in fact,"

"Ok, that's enough for now!" Stephanie said, hurrying forwards "We'll just go upstairs and catch up. Bye mum!" She grabbed the twins and pushed them away, Seamus rolling his eyes as he followed.

"Ok," Melissa said, in a slight daze, "If you want anything, I'll be in the kitchen!"

"Ok!" Stephanie called back as she dragged the twins upstairs, and then took a moment to glare furiously at them before shaking her head.

"Really?"

"What?" They asked simultaneously, both grinning identically.

"If she wasn't downstairs, I'd be kicking both of your asses by now," she scowled, "anyway, Gordon's study is this way. Follow me." She turned and walked down the hallway, passing door after door.

"Your house is huge," Fred exclaimed.

"Well, we are on an estate. This is Edgely Manor. My uncle Gordon owned it before he died, and then left it to me in his will, along with his fortune and all his assets. But, I don't really consider it mine."

"Whoa,"

"So, are you just rich or what?"

"My uncle was a writer, and he was fairly rich, although it never crossed my mind for a second that I would get anything in his will."

"What kind of things did he write?" George asked.

"Horror novels mostly. Bestsellers. My mum wouldn't let me read them when I was twelve, but I did anyway." She shrugged, and then turned to the bookcase and put her hand on a lever that was disguised as a medieval torch. Oh, Gordon. She pulled the level down with a slight smile on her face and the bookcase slid open to reveal Gordon's study.

"He was very… melodramatic."

"Still am, thank you." Echo-Gordon said curtly. Stephanie grinned.

"Guys, this is my Uncle Gordon. Uncle Gordon, these are my friends from Hogwarts: Seamus, Fred and George."

"Are they intelligent and humorous?"

"Very."

"Glad to meet you, boys," Echo-Gordon grinned "I'd shake your hands, but that always gives me a turn. Still not used to it."

"Do you mind if we use the room to talk Gordon? It's just mum's downstairs, and I'd rather she didn't hear anything."

"Not at all. I was going to take a nap anyway. Just tap the cradle when you're done."

"Thanks," Stephanie grinned as echo-Gordon stood, stretched, and then tapped the cradle on his desk. He disappeared instantly, returning to the echo-stone.

"Come on in," Stephanie said, closing the bookcase door behind them.

"I thought you said he left you the manor in his will?" Fred said,

"Yeah. There's this thing called an Echo-stone where a living person can imprint a part of themselves so that they can leave a part of them behind when they die. Essentially, they'll live on, but the imprints aren't actually alive."

"So, he's a ghost?"

"Something like that."

"Cool." Fred smiled,

"A manor wouldn't be complete without its own ghost," George agreed. Stephanie sat down and gestured to the other chairs in the study.

"So, what brings you to Ireland?" She smiled, but Fred and George glanced to each other.

"Well, we heard that you'd quit your job," George said tentatively,

"We thought something might be wrong," Fred continued,

"So we came to see if you were ok." George finished. Stephanie pursed her lips into a thin line and sighed.

"Yeah. I'm fine. She said shortly "I just, I need to make sure my family is safe from all that. That's all. As long as I worked for the Sanctuary" she paused for a second as she internally winced, "none of them were safe." She finished.

"But, couldn't you balance the two?" Seamus asked.

"I used to, back when I had the reflection. But we all know how that turned out." There was a moment of silence until Stephanie cleared her throat and plastered a smile on her face.

"But what about you?" She asked "How's life away from school? Have you left permanently?"

"Oh, yeah," Fred said with a mischievous grin, although she knew her words would be circulating in their heads as they tried to understand.

"We've got our own business,"

"Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes,"

"on Diagon Alley."

"It's really popular."

"But with you-know-who about,"

"people need a laugh nowadays,"

"a bit of a giggle,"

"and we aim to please." It was almost as if one person were talking the whole way through, purely because the'd just continued to finish each others sentecnes in their identical voices. Stephanie realised with a pang in her chest just how much she'd missed them, but smiled anyway at their news.

"That's great. I'm guessing it's a joke shop or something?"

"Yeah, it's great," George nodded.

"My mam took me to see it last week, it's absolutely brilliant," Seamus nodded. George and Fred shrugged simulateneously, as if their success could not be topped – and they knew it.

"I'd come and see it myself if I could, but I'm kind of busy," Stephanie said apologetically.

"Why?"
"What are you doing?"

"Well, I have to finish packing. I'm going to University tomorrow." The reactions were mixed. Seamus stared, wide-eyed, and then grinned.

"Wow, well done Steph. I didn't even know you'd applied." He said, and she smiled at him. George and Fred, on the other hand, were looking at her with a puzzled look on their faces.

"What's University?"

"Well, it's like, the next up from Hogwarts, but for muggles."

"So, it's school?"

"Yeah, sort of."

"Um, why is that a good thing?" Fred asked.

"Universities are difficult to get into," Seamus explained "you'll only be accepted if they think you're worth their time." He turned back to her "Good luck, Steph. You'll do great."

"I hope so," she said, smiling shakily. "Anyway, how's Harry, Ron and Hermione?"

"Ron's fine," Fred shrugged.

"Hermione turned up at our house a few days ago."

"Yeah, she's alright too."

"But, Harry…"

"He's not doing so well."

"Why? What's wrong with him?" Stephanie asked, sudenly concerned. Had Voldemort gotten to him again?

"He's just… worried."

"And stressed."
"And angry."

"And annoyed."

"And-"

"Ok, I get it. Has Voldem-"

"Don't say his name!"

"Ok, ok. Sorry. Has 'you-know-who', gotten to him again?" Fred and George glanced to each other.

"Not that we know of," George said slowly,

"But it's all very tense," Fred finished "Everyone's kind of watching their backs at the moment."

"There's been a lot of dissapearances,"

"Mum's getting really worried,"

"Especially after Dad got attacked last year,"

"She's getting a bit… paranoid."

"Not that you can blame her,"

"You never know who to trust these days." Stephanie nodded as they looked nervously between themselves.

"There's not been many dissapeareances in Ireland yet," Seamus said to her "But they'll be over here next. Be careful, Stephanie. You-know-who won't have forgotten you that quickly."

"Always am," she smiled gently. "You guys stay careful too." They nodded, and Seamus stood.

"I'd best be going. I told mam I wouldn't be gone for too long."

"Yeah, us too. Mum doesn't like us staying away for too long nowadays." They all stood, and Stephanie hugged them again.

"Stay safe. If you ever need anything, well, I might not be here, but if you just say you're my friend, mum'll probably let you in." She said as the trio hugged back.

"You too Steph."

"If you have any trouble talk to my mam," Seamus said to her, "She'll be able to apparate you to us."

"Right," Stephanie nodded. "I've missed you guys."

"We've missed you too, Steph." They grinned, and then linked arms. Fred turned to George.

"Shall we make our leave, Mr Weasley?"

"I think we shall, Mr Weasley." They grinned at each other, waved goodbye, and then dissapeared with a large 'crack'. Apparating. Stephanie smiled at the spot where they'd been, and then sighed. She reall had missed her old friends. Hopefully, they weren't going to be in too much trouble at Hogwarts this year.