Days passed quicker than a ray of light following the disaster at Halloween. Lola heard a million different versions of what had supposedly happened in the boy's bathroom that night, all stories suspiciously aggrandising Ron's input in the epic take-down of the twelve-feet Mountain Troll. It seemed so that Ron, who had rarely gotten the chance to have a glimpse of the limelight being one of seven siblings, decided to go along with the flow, even extending his hospital stay a week more than necessary to make things seem more dramatic. It wasn't until the 9th of November, a very bright and cold day, that Ron had finally felt "ready" to be discharged.

Interestingly, this was also the day that the first match of the Quidditch season would be played – Slytherin versus Gryffindor.

Lola did have an interest in sports – she had played tennis and volleyball for a number of years and was a locally praised ballet dancer – but Quidditch, which seemed like the magical equivalent football, did little to pique her interest to say the least. Then again, she had nothing else to do that breezy Saturday morning, and being a huge Quidditch fan, Fay would definitely be at the games.

Lola had attempted to speak to Fay a number of times, none of which had ended well. The first time she was completely ignored, twice she was told off, and once Fay even simply walked away with a huge sigh. It also didn't help that the people around her, usually Hermione, Lavender, Padma or Parvati, had made it their mission to whisper furiously or usher Fay away whenever they saw Lola approaching. But Lola was determined: this had to end today.

There was an even more pressing reason why Lola felt the need to attend the dreaded Quidditch match. After realising how horrible she had screwed up by forgetting about Quirrell's troll, Lola had spent every night ever since trying to remember every single other trick Quirrell was to have up his sleeve which could somehow be prevented, even making a little list for herself. Since it was so insignificant in the grand scheme of things, it had taken Lola a while, but she had finally remembered Quirrell's aggressive attempt at trying to knock Harry off his broom at his first Quidditch match. It was difficult to admit, but Lola had changed the course of destiny within the Harry Potter universe in just a few months – Hermione was not even friends with Ron or Harry – and Lola had already begun thinking of ways to correct her mistakes. But for now, she had to acknowledge that such changes made Harry extremely vulnerable to the likes of Voldemort, and she had to do something about it.

Lola was determined to fix it all by midnight.

So she calmly walked into Snape's office, who was hunched over a sack of Potions supplies.

He jumped when Lola cleared her throat to make her presence known. "What is it?" he snapped angrily, fixing his robes with urgency.

"I don't know how to say this, but… Harry's life is in danger."

Snape's eyes widened with concern. Of course, Lola knew this wasn't because he cared so much for his students – or particularly for Harry for that matter – but because he had an obligation to protect him based on his deal with Dumbledore.

"Potter?" Snape asked sceptically. "In danger?"

Lola nodded confidently. "I can sense it. You must attend today's Quidditch match. And you must not allow Professor Quirrell to have direct eye contact with Harry's broom."

"His broom…?" Snape looked conflicted. His contempt and distrust for psychics was battling with Lola Allen's already proven track record with predictions. She did sound completely insane, but then again, it would be foolish of Severus to put anything past Quirinus. "I… okay…" he began to mumble.

Hearing the confirmation she was looking for, Lola immediately turned for the door. She was scared of being bombarded with questions – questions which could expose her wealth of knowledge about things that were yet to happen. She stormed off quickly, feeling lighter than ever before – if everything went according to plan, she would finally be a step ahead of Voldermort.

Little did Lola know, fate had other plans.

"I don't think it was that bad," Padma was saying, but Fay was too concentrated on the beautiful fish that swam the Great Lake. With their golden pink sheen and mesmerising motion, these magical fish filled Fay's heart with incredible joy.

"Hush," Parvati warned her sister quietly. "You weren't there."

But Padma seemed set on speaking her mind. She waved her hand to illustrate her disregard for Parvati's comment. "It's not like she seriously injured anyone – or even killed. You guys don't even know her reasoning. Maybe it was an accident? Maybe she heard the spell somewhere and didn't know what it did? Maybe she was played by someone? Have you guys even spoken to her about it?"

The girls quickly turned their eyes to the ground in shame; they all knew that Padma had a point, but being so wrapped up about that morning's events and being personally traumatised, demonising Lola had been easier than trying to be empathetic.

Just then, Fay realised what the conversation had turned to again. It seemed like she was the only person intent on laying Lola's wrongdoings to rest. With an incredibly calm and serene expression, Fay withdrew her gaze from the beautiful fish and looked up at Padma.

"None of what you said excuses what she did to me. Would you feel so bad for her if you were the one on the receiving end of that curse? It's called an Unforgivable for a reason Padma…"

It was exactly at that time that Lola appeared from behind a close by tree. She had been there for the past twenty minutes, waiting to hear of something useful, to pluck up enough courage to walk up to the group of girls. But when the conversation turned to her, she knew she couldn't wait any longer.

Lola cleared her throat as she approached the girls. "Actually, if you would guys let me explain –"

Startled, "Oh!" screamed Hermione as she stared at Lola's approaching form. "Have you been listening to us? How incredibly rude!"

"Yeah," nodded Lavender furiously, wrapping both her arms around Fay's shoulders. "Let's go. I'm allergic to snakes."

"Wait!" Lola shouted desperately to their retracting backs. "I need to talk to Fay! Alone!"

Fay had just had enough. How many times did she have to say no to this girl? How many times was she going to ruin her day? Boiling with fury, Fay turned around quickly, her hair flying in the air like little bullets.

"You might want to speak to ME. But who said I want to speak to YOU?"

Her voice was cracking and high-pitched, and her cheeks were pink with anger, but Lola was so thankful to have finally gotten a genuine reaction out of Fay. She strode quickly towards her, wanting to savour this opportunity, but felt her heart break into million pieces when she saw Fay flinch with fear. It was at that moment that Lola realised, Fay didn't want to have anything to do with Lola, not because she didn't care, but because she was scared to death.

Realising this, Lola immediately took a step back. Not only did she not want to push her luck, but an intense feeling of guilt and sorrow washed over her again and again. How stupid had she been to not realise this before; Quirrell had traumatised this poor girl, had taken every ounce of trust and belief in her bones and crushed it to pieces. It was easy for Lola as a seventeen-year-old to think that this was something to get over easily, but Fay was only eleven – a child attending a boarding school far, far away from home. She had simply trusted someone she had seen no reason not to trust and was brutally attacked for it.

Slowly but confidently, Lola reached into the depths of her robes and pulled out her wand, trying to ignore the momentarily terrified expression on Fay's face. She quickly lifted the wand above her head, opened her palm and let it drop on the floor, assuring Fay of her innocent intentions with the pleading look haunting her deep blue eyes.

"Please, Fay," she begged. "You've been tricked. We've all been. There's so much you don't know -"

"Sorry, no," Fay cut her off, preparing to turn around and keep walking. "I'm pretty certain I don't wish to speak to you right now-"

Lola was fed up. There was so much she wanted to say but would rather not spill it all out in the presence of so many prying eyes and ears. But she knew exactly what to say to capture Fay's attention without giving too much away. It was time to bring out the big guns.

"This is not like what happened to her!" she shouted. "You can trust me on that!

Fay stopped dead in her tracks. Lola watched apprehensively as all blood withdrew from her pale face. She quietly mouthed "Freya?" without almost moving her lips, so that nobody else but Lola would hear or understand her.

Lola simply nodded.

"How... How do you...?" Fay stuttered.

"I told you," sighed Lola. "There's so much you don't know." Finally, she had the upper hand. Finally, they were going to have a conversation.

Finally, she was going to have her friend back.

Lola had a momentary heart attack when Fay turned her back without saying a word. Had she gone too far by bringing up her sister? Could she have upset Fay that badly? Instant regret began washing over her.

But she quickly regained her composure when she heard Fay say "You guys go. I'll catch up with you in a moment," to her friends.

The girls, except for Padma, protested at once, but stopped when Fay waved her hand.

"Just go," was all she said.

Hermione, who was staring at Lola like she was a ready-to-explode bomb, asked "Are you sure?" one last time.

"Yeah. Pretty sure."

And with that, they were gone.

Lola realised there and then that she actually didn't know exactly what she really wanted to say, or how to say it. She tried to form a comprehensive account of everything that had happened since that morning in her mind, but it sounded absolutely insane.

Fay crossed her arms in front of her chest with a difficult-to-read expression on her face. "I'm listening."