A/N: Another quickie in less than 24 hours - as promised, the updates will be flowing like water. Make sure you add the story to your favourites/follows so that you never miss an update. Also, consider leaving a review if you are liking/disliking the story so far. Thank you for clicking! In this chapter, as the title reads, an important detail has been overlooked by our Lola, with severe consequences. Stick around for next chapter, where we find out what those severe consequences actually are.

In all her life, Lola would have never thought she could ever be miserable at a place like Hogwarts, but she had been for the past two weeks.

Her dorm-mates still refused to communicate with her, which made waking up every morning very awkward. It didn't help that Hermione had been assigned as her partner for Potions; Lola sometimes felt like the girl was ready to snap and attack her at any minute. Her relationship with Fay had gotten even worse than that – the two times that Lola had indeed managed to corner her alone, Fay had simply shaken her head and stated that she wanted nothing to do with Lola. Even Percy avoided her at all costs.

As if all this hadn't been bad enough, Lola had also begun having terrible nightmares – filled with horrifying images of Quirrell ambushing her in the Forbidden Forest and keeping her captive somewhere secluded. She always woke up breathless and sweaty, in the middle of the night, to find Fay tossing and turning in her bed – writhing in pain.

Not even the delicious scent of baked pumpkin filling up the corridors on Halloween morning was enough to cheer her up. In fact, it reminded Lola of her mother and her home. She tried hard not to burst out crying – she hadn't realised how much she had missed her family. She would give anything – do anything – to be at home that morning. Hogwarts had become nothing but a depressive prison for her, with her life being under constant threat.

What did cheer her a little, though, was Professor Flitwick announcing to the class that they were finally ready to 'swish and flick' their wands for real. No matter how bad her mood, Lola had no choice but to get excited at that news – finally, she was going to start learning things that she had come to Hogwarts for in the first place.

Professor Flitwick began putting them into pairs. Wanting to avoid being paired with Hermione at all costs, Lola quickly walked over to Harry; Lola had come to the conclusion that Harry was perhaps the only decent person in the room at the minute. But before she could open her mouth to ask him if he wanted to be partners with Lola, she heard Ron ask the exact same question – to her.

Lola turned around to find a pair of bright blue eyes belonging to Ronald Weasley give her the puppy stare

"I'm sorry, Ron," replied Lola quietly. "I wanted to work with Harry for this lesson if that's alright…"

She could see that Hermione was eyeing Harry too, and Lola couldn't risk her talking rubbish behind her back to the Boy Who Lived. A prospect of having a meaningful friendship with Harry was the last thing that kept Lola from going insane.

Unfortunately, this made Lola do something very insensitive. She walked past Ron, without even looking at him, and asked Harry the exact same question that she had received only moments ago, who, unaware of everything happening around him, kindly accepted Lola's offer.

Crushed, Ron continued to stand in the middle of the room, glued to the spot. He only moved when Flitwick paired him with the only person remaining without a partner, Hermione Granger.

Neither of them seemed happy with this arrangement.

Thanks to Hermione's famous tip about proper wrist movements and pronunciation, Lola managed to be the first person to have her feather floating in the air within minutes. Behind her, Hermione had turned a dangerous shade of puce.

Professor Flitwick was the first one to clap, followed by the rest of the class. Lola felt her cheeks heat up.

"Wow!" Harry said after everything died down. "That was very good."

"Thanks!" Lola replied softly.

"How did you do it? I can't seem to have much luck."

Within the following five minutes, Harry's feather also rose off the desk in front of them, right after Hermione's.

"That was amazing!" Harry exclaimed at the end of the class as they started walking towards the door. "We must be partners in every class now!"

Someone bumped into Lola from behind – she saw a few moments later that it was Ron. He seemed angry – no, furious – and on the brink of tears. Lola looked at Harry, who seemed just as perplexed, and shrugged.

When Ron didn't turn up to the following class, Lola did, in fact, end up as Harry's partner once again. A part of her did feel horrible, did feel responsible somehow, but she was desperate – she needed something positive and Harry had been the only good thing to have happened to her so far at Hogwarts – minus her brief but sweet friendship with Fay.

As they were walking towards the Halloween feast, Harry, who was beginning to feel very uneasy, asked Seamus and Dean if they had seen Ron.

"Yeah, we did," replied Seamus in a hushed whisper. "He's throwing a fit in the boy's bathroom and wants to be left alone."

Lola saw the cloud of hesitation pass through Harry's face – she had to do something before she lost him – they could become a great duo together… if Ron and Hermione were out of the way…

"I'm sure he will turn up for the feast," she said reassuringly, prodding Harry to keep walking towards the Great Hall. "Everybody in their right mind knows you can't miss a festive feast. And I saw him, Ron knows how to eat; just give him some time to be hungry."

After a moment's consideration, Harry decided that Lola was right and followed her through the double doors. The magnificent Halloween decorations were more than enough to keep their minds off of Ron.

As they clinked their glasses of pumpkin juice and enjoyed their honey-roasted turkey bites, Lola realised she was having the time of her life. Seamus and Dean were a funny pair, occasionally throwing in a few jokes which made everyone crack up. The Weasley twins, who Lola hadn't properly met until that point, also pulled a few pranks on everyone. Even Parvati and Lavender seemed to be enjoying themselves around Lola – and Percy was once again speaking to her. For the first time in weeks, Lola felt warm inside.

It was at that moment, that had Lola realised what a massive idiot she was being.

It.

Was.

Halloween.

The sound of her falling fork startled Harry, who looked back at her with concern.

"You okay?" Harry asked her with a frozen smile.

"The Troll…" Lola whispered, without realising she had spoken out loud.

Harry felt very confused. "What?" he asked calmly.

Instead of replying, Lola stood up suddenly. She had to warn someone, let them know what was being planned in the shadows. She looked up at the teachers' table and was relieved to see that Professor Snape was sitting there, enjoying some baked potatoes and half a glass of mulled wine.

But before she could even move an inch, she saw Quirrell burst through the doors, screaming about a troll in the dungeons, and instantly knew the damage was already done.

Panic erupted in the Great Hall. Dumbledore tried to calm everyone, to organise the chaos, as Lola began slapping herself in the forehead repeatedly; how could she have been so incredibly stupid.

"Hey!" Harry suddenly grabbed Lola's arm. He had an unreadable expression on his face. "Do you have something to do with this?" he asked angrily.

Taken aback, all Lola could muster was "What?"

"How did you know about the troll?" he pressed sharply.

The realisation of her slip-up slapped Lola in the face. She needed to remove herself from this situation instantly until she could find a good enough answer to Harry's last question.

"Don't be ridiculous – of course I didn't! I'm leaving now, and I suggest you do the same!"

With that, she turned on her heels and quickly ran towards the pool of first-year Gryffindor's in front of Percy. She was dying inside, knowing how badly she had messed up, knowing how easily she could've prevented all of this.

But that feeling was nothing compared to how her heart dropped once she realised the full extent of her actions that day.

Ron Weasley, who was stuck in the boy's bathroom all alone because of Lola, was the only person in the entire Castle who had no clue what the hell was going on.

A/N: Thank you for reading! You won't have to wait long for the next update; promise! See you then...