The rest of the holidays the trio spent out in the snow. That's why when classes resumed; Jacob and Lindy kept sniffling and coughing due to their colds. Poor Lonni came down with the flu and had to spend the first day back in the Hospital Wing.

"I told you too much time in the cold wasn't good for you," muttered Professor Potter after her lesson that Monday.

"I know, I know," said Lindy, holding back a sneeze. She could feel the mucus filling up inside her head.

"Well, at least Professor Poplin has been kind enough to make both you and Jacob a potion," continued Professor Potter, tidying up her desk.

"I'm not drinking anything that man's brewed," protested Lindy, sounding a bit nauseated this time.

"You will too unless you want to go to the Hospital Wing with Lonni," shot back Professor Potter. "Now hurry up and get to your next class."

Reluctantly, Lindy got her bag and joined Michelle and Jacob out in the hall.

"What do you have against Poplin, Lindy?" asked Michelle. "He's not that bad."

"To you maybe," replied Lindy. "What do we have next?"

"Charms, why?" asked Jacob.

"Maybe we can visit Lonni first….."

"No way, you'll be late," answered Michelle.

"Oh, alright," said Lindy, a bit put out. "Perhaps during lunch we could go?"

"That sounds great," replied Jacob, smilingly at her sympathetically. Lindy couldn't help but return the smile back.

Charms class was a bit fun today. They learned alohomora, a spell which unlocks locks. Lindy, of course, was the first one done. It took Jacob a little while longer, but when he finally figured it out, he was able to talk to her.

"Did you figure out what breed it is?" asked Jacob.

"Not yet. I've got it narrowed down to three, and they all seem to be pretty harmless snakes."

"But…..Then what's the point of putting it in the school?"

"Don't know," replied Lindy.

Just then, the bell rang and they headed straight to the Great Hall, wanting to hurry so they'd get more time with Lonni. When they reached the Hospital Wing, Lindy peeked in to make sure Lonni was awake. She was and smiled at the sight of Lindy.

"Lindy, Jacob!" She exclaimed excitedly as they entered in. Lindy handed her all her homework from that morning's classes.

"How are you feeling?" asked Lindy.

"Alright, but sick of the potion Madame Pomfrey makes me take," said Lonni truthfully. Just then, there was the sound of hurried footsteps and hushed voices reaching their ears.

"Quick, under Lonni's bed," said Lindy, grabbing Jacob and pulling him under. The sheets hovered about two inches above the floor so they were covered.

Three sets of feet entered the Hospital Wing. Two she recognized; Madame Pomfrey's and her mum's. The third must be a student's.

"Poisoned, I'm sure," said Madame Pomfrey, a bit frightened. "Did you get a good look at the creature that bit her?"

Suddenly, vomit splattered onto the floor, right in front of the student, a girl judging by her sandals. Wait a minute; Lindy had seen those sandals somewhere before…

"No, but I'm sure she'll tell us when she comes around," said her mum, helping the girl onto the bed. "I'll go tell Andrew about all this and notify the Longbottoms. The second first year to be hurt this year! Something strange is going on. Something's not right."

Her mum left the room and Madame Pomfrey left to get a boazar no doubt, an antidote for poison that Lindy had read about in her potion book.

"Now's out chance to escape," whispered Lindy to Jacob. "We can come back later."

Jacob didn't argue and the two quickly dashed for the door without a glance back. Lonni didn't need to pretend she didn't see them for her attention was focused on Michelle, who lay in the bed across from her.

Once they were sure they were far enough away from the Hospital Wing, the two started to talk.

"What do you think happened?" asked Jacob nervously.

"Isn't it obvious?" she muttered back. "The snake bit her and it was poisonous. It bit her….because it was coming for me….."

"Oh come on, you don't really think-" started Jacob.

However, Lindy continued on, talking more to herself than to him. She started pacing back and forth as she did so.

"All my life, I've been watched by who knows what and I never knew. And surely they all have the same goal. They all want to see me die."

"Well," said Jacob, placing his hand on her shoulder comfortingly. She stopped walking. "As long as I'm breathing, no one is going to kill you. It would have to be over my dead body, and I'm positive Lonni would tell you the same thing."

Lindy turned around and hugged her friend, burying her face in his shoulder as she cried. Jacob blushed slightly, and then suddenly remembered something very important.

"Lindy, we're going to be late for class!" exclaimed Jacob, grabbing her hand and dragging her to the common room.

The Gryffindor common room was empty. Jacob took off up the boys' dorm stairs to get his things. Lindy headed up to her own dorm to grab her things as well. What she found there shocked her. Just as she was leaving a voice came out of no where.

"I told you not to come here," said the voice in a frightened tone. She instantly recognized it as Twinkletoes'.

The house elf sat on her bed, looking at Lindy with an expression of terror.

"Not now Twinkletoes," said Lindy, taking off for her class.

Like she cared what the house elf had to say anyway?

That evening, she stayed up well past midnight. As she'd almost drifted off to sleep, she was stirred back to reality from the dream she was starting to go into.

"What?" she asked annoyed.

Hovering above her was Twinkletoes again.

"I told you n-not to come, b-but you ignored Twinkletoes," said Twinkletoes woefully.

"Yes, I did. Now will you please go?" asked Lindy, pulling her covers up to her chin.

"Now, you must face the consequences, not to mention the debt given to you by your father," said Twinkletoes, "the 'life-long' debt."

And then, with a snap, she was gone. However, Lindy lay awake for quite sometime, thinking what Twinkletoes had said: The 'life-long' debt given to her by her father?

What could it mean? What debt did her father owe? Neither of her parents had ever mentioned anything about a debt of any sort….

Fully awake again, she sighed and drifted down to the common room from her bed. It was empty as she preferred it when she had a ton of thinking to perform. She sat on the scarlet couch near the fire. Her cinnamon brown eyes gazed intently into the red hot flames. In her mind thoughts swirled around, trying to connect to one another. Something mysterious was going on around her that she wasn't aware of.

Just then she heard a rustle coming from a corner behind her. She turned to see a house elf starring at her.

"Twinkletoes, I told you-"

"I not Twinkletoes miss!" squeaked the house elf. It had bulging green eyes and bat like ears, clad in an attire of a strange sort. "The names Dobby, Dobby the house elf at your service miss."

"Oh, I'm sorry," said Lindy apologetically. "I'm Lindy Potter."

"I knows, miss. I've been watching you for sometime now. Might I add you are quite similar to your father?"

"I am?" asked Lindy. Many people had told her she resembled her father, but not that she was 'like' her father.

"Oh yes," said Dobby, walking over to her and sitting down on the couch beside her. "Brave; unafraid of danger! Anyway, I've come to warn you to beware of Twinkletoes, miss!"

"Why?"

"Oh no, someone's coming! We shall talk again some other time," said Dobby.

"Wait, don't-"

She was too late to stop him. Just like Twinkletoes, Dobby disappeared with a snap. Lindy blinked, and Nick stood where Dobby once was.

"Can't sleep?" asked Lindy, her right eyebrow rising slightly.

"Actually it's you who can't, right?" he asked. He then chose to rub some sleep out of her eyes.

She couldn't help but blush slightly. Who knew he'd care?

"You don't have to stay up on my account. And anyway," she said, getting up, "I'm heading back up to bed anyway."

Nick nodded and managed to smile before yawning.

"Goodnight," they said to each other before heading their separate ways. As she headed up the stairs, she thought she vaguely heard a male voice in her head saying, "Not yet."

A few days later, Lonni was healthy and as good as ever. Soon enough, January was nearing an end and it was time for Lindy's first Quidditch match. It would be against Ravenclaw, and their seeker was pretty good.

Anxiety was in the air. The Ravenclaws and Gryffindors refused to associate with each other. The only people talking to each other from the two houses were a girl and a boy. The girl (from Gryffindor) had light brown hair. The boy (who was in Ravenclaw) had dark brown hair. Most students of the two houses resented them for that fact. The trio didn't really know them and therefore didn't particularly care. And of course, Lonni continued to drool over the first year boy in Ravenclaw she had a major crush on.

On the day of the match, Lonni and Jacob kept saying positive things to Lindy to help her nerves. When it was time to head down to the locker room, Nick met her at the entrance hall and the two walked down together.

"Nervous?" he asked coolly, but not as coolly as usual. He voice contained a hint of nervousness.

"No, not really," she said with a waver of her voice. She'd lied, of course.

"Hey guys," said Kiara, meeting up with them. "Good weather for a match if you ask me."

And so it was. Slightly chilly, the sun streaming through the gray clouds above was great considering it was still winter. Lindy and Nick both nodded in agreement.

Inside the locker room, Melissa gave a pep talk to get the motivated.

"Even though we're the underdogs," she began, "doesn't mean we don't have a chance. We need to stick it to those Ravenclaws and show them who the better team is!"

Everyone gave a whoop of excitement. When they calmed down a bit, Melissa continued.

"Chasers, I want as many points as you can give me. Lindy," said Melissa, turning toward her. "Since this is the first game for us, I have no strategy for you. Just catch the snitch as soon as possible and end the game. No need to wait around."

Trying to take in everything, Lindy managed to nod. Just catch the snitch; got it. The team was silent for a few minutes before Melissa said, "Alright! Let's go!"

The whole team, all in uniform and clutching their brooms, walked out to meet the crowd. Every student was screaming at the top of their lungs. Lonni was already red faced and the game hadn't even started yet. It appeared a second later she was arguing with someone. That someone was Jade Malfoy. Lindy rolled her eyes and looked down at her Midnight she was clutching rather tightly.

"You can do it," said a voice in her head. She glanced over at Nick, who was smiling at her. She nodded and returned the smile. Butterflies were filling her stomach. However, when she turned they were gone. It was time to focus.

"Mount your brooms!" exclaimed Madame Everglade, holding her whistle to her lips.

All the players on the field mounted their brooms. Lindy eyed the Ravenclaw seeker, who seemed to be in great condition. 'Get the snitch before him,' she mentally told herself.

"3, 2, 1! Go!"

She hadn't realized it, but Madame Everglade had already released the bludgers, the snitch, and the quaffle! Yet, she managed to speed off on her broom in the nick of time and started searching for the snitch. Instantly, her trained eyes found it and she spurted off to catch it. She was too fast for even the other seeker to notice.

Carefully, she balanced herself and reached out to catch it. A broad grin spread on her face when she realized she was clutching the snitch. The game was over and Gryffindor had won.

"That had to be a record time," said Melissa in the common room that night.

She was thrilled everyone was happy, but something bugged her. Grabbing her broom, she dashed back out to the pitch. She was going to get down to the bottom of this.

Quickly she mounted her broom and sped off, not nearly as fast as earlier today. She also had no particular destination, just something she really needed to check. The night airs whipped through her hair, causing it to wave and create a bristling sound. There wasn't a cloud in the sky tonight. The stars shone brightly, and the moon was almost full.

"Now, let's see," she said. She focused on her broom, magic flowing from her into it. Sure enough, the broom went even faster than before. "So, I'm using the special magic I have to speed the broom up?"

She was a bit disappointed. So she wasn't doing it on her own? Defeated, she headed back up to the castle.

Yet, she had a strange feeling that she wasn't alone.