"Bee, I'm telling you, he's innocent!" Lola exclaimed in frustration as she sat next to her friends at lunch break, soaking up the last rays of summer sunshine before the bitter Scottish cold settled in the coming weeks. Beatrice Rousseau and Camille Martinez exchanged dull looks of exasperation before gazing back at their indignant friend with boredom and disdain evident in their sharp expressions.
"Lola, babe, he cheated and he clearly used dark magic to accomplish this" Camille, the kinder of the two, stated simply as she placed a delicate hand on Lola's shoulder. Lola shook her off with a look of pure frustration and agitation on her face. She didn't understand why everyone had so easily turned against him, but she was fed up with listening to the entire school attack him, even if he was the-boy-who-lived.
"Cami, I know he didn't do it, I can tell," she insisted as she stood up, refraining from stomping her foot like a petulant child. It wasn't often that Lola was riled up about anything; she was generally meek and mild-mannered, avoiding confrontation like the plague. But she really didn't like how the entire school had turned against him, did they really think a fourth year was capable of tricking the Goblet of Fire?
"And how do you know, Lola?! You don't even know this guy! For all any of us know, he could have received some or all of the evil from you-know-who through that vile scar!" Chris Gregory interrupted; his identical twin Connor nodding eagerly in agreement with the statement. Their long fringes swaying slightly from side to side with each movement they made to emphasise their point. Lola didn't particularly like the twins; they were duller than a bag of hammers and even less appealing to look at. She knew that Beatrice simply liked having them around to intimidate people, but Lola wasn't like her. She wasn't like any of her friends really.
"Guys, I know how it feels to think the entire school is against you and like you don't have a single person on your side, it wasn't his fault that his name came out, and he should know that not everybody hates him," she hissed pointedly before slinging her bag over her shoulder and turning away from her gobsmacked friends. She really did need to find some nicer people to associate with.
She had maybe only spoken to Harry twice in the past three years; once when he had asked to borrow a quill in Transfiguration and once when Ron had accidentally knocked her over at the beginning of the year. She hadn't thought much about what she was going to say to him, she just thought he ought to know that not all Hufflepuffs were against him. He deserved at least one person to believe in him.
Ever since his name had come out of the Goblet of Fire a week ago as the fourth champion; he had been completely ostracized in the school and in Gryffindor house; He seemed to receive dirty looks from all four houses and the whispers of disdain followed him all through the day, and he had to deal with Ron's grumbling come evening. For once, it wasn't just Professor Snape that thought he was the scum of the earth; he had even gotten a glare from Professor Sprout during Herbology.
At present, he was sat on one of the stone benches in the courtyard, tucked away in the trees and hidden from the gaggles of Hufflepuffs and Slytherins who seemed to derive the greatest pleasure from tormenting him, his shoulders were slumped over as he actually compared himself to Hermione; usually on a day like today, he would have spent his break with Ron, and probably Seamus and Dean, goofing off near the black lake, but instead, he was reading a thick and somewhat dull book on the rise of Barty Crouch Snr. Sirius' comments from their last night had stuck with him and he kept them in the back of his mind as he read about the imprisonment of his son ten years ago, as well as the horror that it had caused his wife.
He had only been there for a short amount of time, maybe ten minutes or so, when he felt someone's eyes on him and prepared himself for a confrontation. Bracing himself for the worst, he was stunned when his eyes landed on the prettiest witch he had ever seen before, all thoughts of Cho vanished as he soon saw this girl. Her skin was pale, even for a British person, and her long hair hung in ringlets around her shoulders, but his expression immediately hardened as he became aware of the Hufflepuff tie hanging loosely around her neck.
"What?! Want to tell me how pathetic and evil I am or that your precious Diggory deserves the crown because let me tell you-"
"Harry!" the beauty snapped at him with a scowl, "I came over here to tell you that I believe you, I know you didn't put your name in the Goblet of Fire," she explained coolly, her pale arms crossed over her chest daintily, "But if you want, I can go back to my friends who think you're the spawn of satan and leave you all by yourself, again," she finished, turning on her heel to walk away from him.
"NO!" he said, a little louder than was probably necessary, "Erm, it's alright if you stay …" he offered awkwardly, smiling shyly at her. She gave him a small smile and took a seat on the bench next to him, "What's your name?" he asked awkwardly as he tried, and failed, to break the ice. Girls didn't approach him, unless they were Hermione, Ginny or one of the girls off of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team.
"Lola, Lola O'Reilly," She told him, her Irish accent slipping through the cracks slightly and causing him to smile at her. She was endearingly shy and reminded him a little of Hermione, without the sisterly vibe that he got from his best friend.
"I don't mean to be rude, Lola, but why would you believe me? You don't even know me," he asked, peaking at her curiously through his glasses. Not one of his friends, besides Hermione, had believed him. Those were people who had known him better than anyone else for the past three years, and they didn't trust his word. Yet here was this petite little Hufflepuff who believed in him. It didn't make an ounce of sense.
"We've been in classes together for the past three years, Harry, I've seen the way you act towards people. You can be impulsive and temperamental, especially when a Slytherin is involved, but you're not evil. You're a good person and you haven't done anything to counteract that, people just like to jump to conclusions; besides that, I just have a feeling that you're innocent, can't really explain that one," She told him, a faint pink tinge colouring the apples of her cheeks as she went on.
"You'd have to be the only person who believes that – even Ron thinks I cheated," He muttered, casting his gaze to the grass they were sitting on, she smiled at him sympathetically and chewed her bottom lip thoughtfully.
"Ron and you are more alike than either of you realise, you're both stubborn and irrational at the best of times but you know what's right – even if it takes a while to get there – he'll come around eventually," Lola told him, and he looked up at her hopefully, reminding her of a puppy who had been lost on his way home. Lola had to remind herself that he probably hadn't ever had a conflict with Ron, this was probably incredibly difficult for him.
"How do you know all of this?!" he questioned her incredulously and raising an eyebrow, causing her to turn red once again. He was more than curious where she was getting this information from. He had never even spoken to her before, yet she seemed to know all of these intimate details about him and his friends and he wanted an explanation.
"Hermione confides in me a lot," she shrugged, "We're actually pretty close. She spends so much time helping you two that she has to talk to someone about it all. Or sometimes she just needs someone to be there for her so we'll study together or something like that," She explained and it did make sense, Hermione would often disappear for a couple of hours after having it out with Ron and it would make sense for her to be with Lola.
"Ah! Speak of the devil!" She grinned and Harry turned his head to see Hermione standing there before them him, a curious and suspicious look on her own pale face. Unsurprisingly, there was also a large pile of books in her arms.
"Hello Lola, Harry, what might you two be up to?" she asked, her curiosity shining through her tone as she stood there with her hand on her hip, her sharp eyes flickering between her two friends suspiciously, she didn't know that they even knew each other.
"Oh you know, the usual, I'm just spilling all your secrets to Harry, couldn't keep them all to myself anymore," Lola grinned brightly up at her best friend, she trusted Hermione more than she trusted any of her other friends, but she was way too fun to mess with, and she never disappointed.
"Brilliant," Hermione deadpanned, although unable to wipe a matching grin off of her face at the interaction with her friend, before turning to Harry. "Professor Moody wants to see you, apparently it's urgent," She informed her other best friend, scowling slightly. Lola suspected that Hermione was still upset with the professor for using unforgivable curses in a lesson last week.
Harry frowned slightly at the break being cut short and turned to look at Lola, "Guess I'll be seeing you around then" he half-grinned at her before walking away with Hermione, both of them talking very quickly and animatedly as well as in a manner that appeared to be quite abrasive. Lola could only imagine that Hermione was now quizzing him on what he and Lola had been talking about.
As she moved to get up and join her friends, Lola's eyes landed on the book Harry had been reading, her small hands picking it up to read the cover; The Rise and Fall of Barty Crouch Snr.
Why was Harry reading about the Head of the Department of International Magical Co-operation?
[&&&]
Meanwhile, Harry and Hermione were deep in discussion as they made their way to the office of their eccentric Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, both of them talking a mile a minute and trying to speak over one another..
"Come on, Harry! Just admit it!" Hermione pressed him agitatedly as they walked up the stairs, something was different about Harry and she knew it had something to do with her shy confidant. He had been flirting with her for merlin's sake! Hermione didn't even think Harry knew how to flirt!
"I don't know what you're talking about, Mione!" Harry replied, attempting to be evasive as he trained his eyes on the lines of the steps leading up to their odd Professor's office. He didn't know why Moody wanted to see him, but he could only imagine it had something to do with the first task, which he still knew nothing about.
"Merlin, Harry! You were hitting on Lola so hard that you were almost breaking out a sweat!" Hermione exclaimed as they came to a stop in the corridor that held both their DADA classroom and Moody's office, Harry still refusing to respond to Hermione's accusation, and further agitating her.
"Hermione, you're being ridiculous. I only met the girl not even an hour ago, how can you even begin to suggest that I was flirting with her? It was just a conversation. You know it is possible to associate with a person of the opposite sex without there being any sexual tension, even if you and a certain Weasley can't manage that," He smirked, consequently getting shoved into the stone wall by Hermione in retaliation.
"Ronald Weasley is such an insolent, self-centred git! I would never stoop that low, even if my life depended on it. He can go shack up with Millicent Bulstrode, or better, Moaning Myrtle, for all I care. His entire attitude towards you in the past week or so has been arguably the most idiotic and moronic thing I have ever seen him do – even more so than getting hit in the face with a broom in first year flying lessons. He's just so-" She began her rant about their red-headed comrade, even though he had been anything but friendly towards him in the past week.
"Granger, if you're quite finished with your teenage angst-filled rant about Weasley, I'll be talking to Potter in my office now," Moody's abstract figure appeared in the door way, looming over the two fourteen year olds in an intimidating fashion, and rendering Hermione absolutely silent.
"Oh, um, yes, Professor, of course. Harry, I'll see you in Transfiguration" She stammered slightly before beginning to walk away in embarrassment.
Harry bit back a smirk before shouting after her, "Who said I was talking about Ron?" and ducking into Moony's office just in time to dodge the hex which she had hurled at him.