A/N: Me again! Thank you for your kind and excited reviews; they mean so much to me. Truly. For those of you wondering, I will not rest until this story is complete, so you don't need to worry about it being abandoned. Updates might slack from time to time depending on my uni work, but you can count on me to always be back. I have an epic ending planned! But you'll just have to wait and see (favourite or follow this story if you don't want to miss that). This chapter will hopefully give a bit more insight into Fay's backstory. She will truly become a central character in this story (as you might have already realised) but no other chapter will concentrate as much on her I don't think. Next chapter, everything will come together (?). Stay tuned, and thank you for the continued support; you rock!

"- and apparently that's why she wasn't sent to Azkaban and that's why there was a troll in the boy's bathroom on Halloween."

When the last word rolled off of her tongue, Fay looked up at Healer Mary, the counsellor she was appointed to when the first incident with Lola had taken place. She had never thought she would be back at her office ever, her incredibly strong pride preventing her from even considering the idea. She was a strong girl who had been through a lot, dealing with most things on her own; why would anyone think she needed any help? But after being sat down by Lola to be told a crazy story about overhearing Quirrell plotting at night and becoming a target for destruction, she needed to share everything on her chest before she went insane. Could it really be all true? Even the incredibly sceptical (and frankly, outright scary) Professor Snape was apparently on board with everything.

Mary felt the same way - it certainly made some sense. Sure, the idea of a Hogwarts Professor being a secret psychopath was a bit hard to swallow, but then again, how likely was it that an eleven-year-old could produce the Cruciatus curse? When put into perspective, Lola Allen's story did explain a few inexplicable things.

She shared this opinion with Fay, whose eyes widened with disbelief.

"But psychics don't exist. They're frauds!"

"Fay," said Mary patiently. "We live in a world of magic. There are unicorns roaming the Forest outside, moving staircases within this very Castle, and you are sceptical about someone being psychic?"

When said like that, Fay had to accept it sounded plausible.

"But let me ask you a more important question. Last time you were here, you gave off the impression that you never wanted to hear from Lola Allen ever again. What changed?"

Fay bit her lip. Did she even want to go there? Not really. But looking up at Mary's stubborn gaze and the thumping headache she was developing from keeping everything inside convinced her otherwise.

"She… she said something about my sister."

Without realising, Mary's breathing shallowed. The compact office immediately felt ten degrees colder, though the fireplace to their right was blazing merrily.

"What did she say?" asked Mary delicately.

"She kept going on and on about wanting to speak to me. As always, I brushed her off. But then she said… that this is nothing like what happened to Freya."

Mary waited, but Fay didn't say anything. "And?" she prompted gently.

"I… I was curious. I had never told her anything about Freya, you see. To anyone." Not even to you, Fay thought inwardly. "How could she have known about her? How could she have known about what had happened to her? It was almost like she… she…"

"Read your mind?" asked Mary, slightly amused.

Fay glared. "Something like that."

Of course, this was far from the truth. The real story was not that impressive at all. Fay's parents had sent Dumbledore a letter before her arrival at Hogwarts, detailing what had happened to her twin sister and marking their concern for their daughter, asking the Headmaster to keep an eye out on her. This had been the main reason for Dumbledore's appointment of a Mental Healer from St. Mungo's to the Hogwarts infirmary following Lola's attack. Dumbledore had shared this information with all of Fay's teachers, to ensure her safety and mental stability. Thinking it might be related to why Quirrell targeted Fay, Snape had then shared this information with Lola the day she had been rescued by him.

It hadn't taken Lola long to put two and two together and realise that Fay had drawn parallels between what had happened to her sister and what "Lola" had done to her.

"Why would Lola say such a thing"? asked Mary, fully aware of the fact that it was extremely unlikely for Fay to open up about it.

Surprisingly, Fay decided to answer that question, though with a very short answer. "My sister died at the hands of someone she trusted with her life."

"Care to elaborate?" asked Mary as she turned a new page on her notebook.

Fay closed her eyes. She still remembered that day like yesterday.

The doorbell was loud and annoying. Fay hated it so much. She never rang the doorbell when she came home. She always knocked. That's how her mum always knew it was her at the door, not somebody else. Freya would ring the bell. She liked the melody. Fay would always knock. This was just one of those little quirks that distinguished the two twins. Otherwise, they were exactly the same.

Fay opened the door. It was Freya, like she knew it would be. Like she felt it would be. But she had company. Candice Matlock, their neighbour and Freya's best friend.

Fay hated Candice. She had bright blonde hair and big, green eyes. She always smelled of strawberry shampoo and cigarette smoke. She was four years older than Fay and Freya and smoked cigarettes she would steal from the Muggle shop downtown. Candice would never go without having cigarettes or a boyfriend. Fay never understood what Freya saw in her. It must have been the excitement.

"Hello, Candice," Fay mumbled at the girl standing in front of her.

"Hiiiiii," replied Candice with a huge, fake smile. "Is anybody home?"

"No," Fay replied shortly. "Just me."

"Great," said Candice, excited, and pushed past Fay to enter the house. Freya followed her sheepishly.

As if it was her own house, Candice entered the kitchen without asking for permission. She rummaged through the fridge to make herself a sandwich. She licked her fingers as she quickly devoured it, savouring every bite. With her other hand, she opened a can of soda. Within minutes, she was finished.

"Let's go," she said. Her and Freya began climbing the stairs. Fay heard her sister's bedroom door open.

Not knowing what else to do with herself, Fay decided to go back to her own room as well. She was planning to listen to some music, maybe play with her miniature Quidditch set. None of that would happen.

As she was passing the hallway, Freya's bedroom door was open, and she could hear the two girls laughing and messing around. She moved a little closer to hear what they were talking about. That's when she saw Candice holding out her wand, laughing.

"It's not like that!" She was saying. "It's harmless! It's only supposed to make you feel a little disoriented. Jacob tried it on me when he first told me about it. It just made me a little confused and dizzy, that's all."

"I thought you weren't allowed to use your wand outside of Hogwarts?" Freya asked tentatively.

"This is not a "registered" spell. So the Ministry people wouldn't get notified if I used it, whether or not I'm at Hogwarts." Candice explained.

"Mum said only criminals use spells like that!" exclaimed Freya, slightly scared. Fay couldn't see her sister from where she was standing, but she was sure fear was etched all over her face.

"Well, stealing is a crime Freya. You know I steal stuff from Muggles all the time, do you not? So what if I make the storeowner a little dizzy? It's probably safer for both of us! He could try to get in my way otherwise. I might even be forced to kill the bastard, who knows?"

Candice was, of course, "joking", but Fay didn't find it funny in the slightest. Candice's expression, the things she was saying, the things she was doing all disgusted her very deeply. How could her sister be friends with such a repulsive girl? Fay could only hope Freya would be smart enough to not get involved in her illicit activities.

"Come onnnnnn!" Candice begged. "It's okay. Let me just try it once, please? I won't do it again if you don't like it."

"No," said Freya after a moments pause. "Please don't use any spells on me."

"Alright, fine," shrugged Candice, but she was still holding her wand behind her. "I'll try it on Jacob again."

Freya sighed, relieved. "Thank you. Now, I was going to show you the new dress that mum got me. Give me a second to find it."

Fay could hear Freya shuffling her closet. Clothes were definitely not Fay's forte. Feeling a bit bored, she considered retreating to her room for a split second. But what happened next would nail her to the spot and become a memory that she would never forget for the rest of her life.

It all happened very quickly. Just as she heard Freya say "Here it is!", she saw Candice point her wand at Freya and scream "Perturbo!"

A moment of absolute silence ensured, before Fay heard a sickening thud. Freya had fallen to the ground.

A nervous laughter broke out from Candice. "Frey?" she called out anxiously.

There was no response.

Candice's palms started sweating. "Frey, this is not funny!"

Fay couldn't hold out for much longer. She barged into the room, asking "What is going on?"

Candice, who had started shaking uncontrollably, didn't say a word. Fay turned her gaze to look upon her sister's lifeless body.

At St. Mungo's, a tired nurse had explained to Fay and her family that a combination of overexcitement, the use of underage magic and the use of an unregistered spell had all been contributing factors to Freya's passing. However, the most pressing reason was the unfortunate fact that the spell had hit her in the chest, stopping Freya's nine-year-old heart instantly. There was nothing that could have been done.

Fay's parents had to bribe many reporters and officials to keep Freya's story out of the Daily Prophet. Fay never contested this. She believed her sister's memory would be tainted otherwise.

They would never see Candice again, or hear of her. She would be sent to a correction facility, and then to a mental institution, purely because what had happened was deemed as an underage magic "accident". But Fay knew, even if she had been given a life-long sentence in Azkaban, even if she had been given the Kedavra penalty, nothing would do much to soothe the deep devastation and sorrow her and her family would feel for the rest of their lives.

With Freya gone, life would never be the same.

"Fay?" Mary called, concerned. "Are you with me?"

Fay came out of her reverie. "Huh?"

"I just asked you whether you'd like to elaborate on your sister's passing?"

"No," said Fay simply. "I really wouldn't."

A/N: If you made it till the end, you're a legend. Stay tuned for next chapter! xxx