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Leanne and Lori watched, wrapped in their house scarves, as the Ravenclaw Quidditch team practiced early that morning, the Hufflepuff cheering when her girlfriend caught the Snitch again.
It was a few minutes later when the Eagles finished up and changed from their blue flying robes, Cho being the first to surface from the team.
Leanne wrapped her arms around her girlfriend, pressing a kiss to her cheek, "You did great, babe."
Cho blushed when she saw Lori nodding along, the three of them linking arms and trekking back up to the castle, the sun barely risen over the Black Lake.
Lori winced as a hot pain seared across the top of her leg, before fishing out the galleon from Hermione and smiling at the couple, "Katie's back."
They ran excitedly down to the school gates, waiting for the fourth member of their quartet to come back into their fold. She was with her parents, who both hugged her goodbye as the Aurors began to search her.
Finally, she was allowed onto the grounds, the three of them excitedly rushing at her and enveloping her in their arms, all of them giggling and smiling as they jumped up and down.
"I wasn't expecting a welcoming committee." Katie laughed when they released her, "I didn't come back from the dead or anything."
Lori linked their arms, all of them heading to breakfast, the soft winds caressing their exposed skin. It was halfway up the track when Katie noticed the sad look on her best friend's face and asked, "What's wrong?"
She sighed, "Whoever gave you that necklace made another attempt on Dumbledore's life, this time with poison."
"Anyone we know?"
Nodding sadly, she looked at Katie, "Ron. He's recovered, but we're all still quite shaken up from it. Especially after the Death Eaters burned our house down over Christmas."
Katie gasped in shock as they entered into the Great Hall, moving to take seats at the far end of the Gryffindor table, before Harry interrupted them.
"Katie." he smiled at the Chaser, "How are you?"
The other three took their seats, Lori gently linking her hand with Katie and squeezed it reassuringly as she replied, "I know you're going to ask, Harry, but I don't know who cursed me. I've been trying to remember, honestly. But I just can't."
Katie's eyes flitted past Harry's shoulder, resting on a blond Slytherin boy who had just entered the hall. Harry's eyes narrowed when his eyes fell on Draco Malfoy, walking off after him.
"He's about to do something really stupid," Lori muttered as Katie sank beside her, throwing her toast at her plate, "I have to go."
Nodding, her three friends smiled as she shot from the bench, her cloak billowing behind her as she ran after the two boys.
She caught Snape on the stairs, the urgency on her face and pleading in her voice enough for him to follow in her wake as she listened for the sound of their receding footsteps and went after them.
Water pooled under the door, spreading out into the corridor as Snape slowly pushed the door to the boys' toilets open.
Draco was laying on his back, red blood seeping from large gashes on his chest, swirling with the water and reminded Lori of the pensieve when it first formed memories, only more harrowing and terrifying.
The image of Ron choking flashed before her eyes, Malfoy's body switching between him and her brother.
Lori felt nothing apart from an intense dislike for the Slytherin, but seeing him so vulnerable as he quietly sobbed on the water-logged floor made her heart drop. Her boggart sprang to mind, watching her siblings and parents sprawled out with blood seeping from them, much like Malfoy, choked gasps leaving their lips.
With a muttered incantation from Snape, the blood slowly trickled out of the water, cascading upwards along Malfoy's white shirt, his wound slowly healing, the flesh stitching itself back together.
As Harry passed her, Lori grabbed onto his arm and whispered to him, "Where did you learn that spell?"
"The book..." he admitted as she walked off with him down the corridor.
She sighed, "If you think Malfoy is behind these attacks, then I believe you."
"Seems like you're the only one who does." he replied bitterly.
"Don't mistake my agreement for my condoning of your actions back there. You could have been killed and you're the only one who can stop Voldemort."
Harry was shocked at her saying his name, "You're not scared to call him that?"
"Why would I be? He's been trying to kill you and Dumbledore for years and you're not afraid to say it. He tried to kill you and Cedric in that graveyard and he's not afraid to say it."
Harry nodded in acknowledgment, though some pride seeped in too, "You really love him, don't you?"
Lori smiled at him, "I really do. And I just want to thank you."
They stopped in the corridor, Harry looking at her in confusion as she hugged him, "Thank me for what?"
She released him slightly, a grateful smile curling on her lips, "For bringing him back to me. And I can never be more in your debt for that."
