So, this is the first chapter of the third 'book'. You'll notice that their will a few changes in the basic plot (obviously since James and Lily are still alive and such). I hope you will enjoy it nevertheless and I will be waiting for your reviews.

Thanks a lot to my regular and less regular reviewers, your reviews are much appreciated, and I hope you will continue to send them.

Guest: Christopher and Jade do have different friends in a way…Remember that Ron was only Christopher's friend at first, while Hermione was Jade's. They only became a quartet because of the twins. Also, Christopher will be a bit more active during the next years, since he is the BWL after all. But the heroine of the story is Jade so I do like to give her a bit of the spotlight once in a while ^^ (and could you really imagine Christopher killing a Basilisk?)

Jade Potter was sitting on her bed with school books spread around her, a self-inking quill in her hand and piece of parchment in front of her. She finished writing about Wendelyn the Weird and carefully blew the ink dry before rolling the parchment. She quickly gathered her books and placed them in her trunk along with her quill and finished essay. Once she was done she stretched her arms above her head before letting the fall limply to her sides.

Summer hadn't been too bad in the whole. Jade had spent a lot of time playing Quidditch with James and Christopher and having girl's talk with her mother which proved to be more entertaining than she had first thought. She had also been keeping Hedwig busy, sending many letters to Hermione and the Weasleys. Talking of the Weasleys…

The green eyes drifted towards the bedside table where amongst various books, lay a newspaper clipping. It had been sent by Ron along with sneakoscopes for the twins thirteenth birthday. It was an article from the daily prophet retelling how the Weasleys had had a lucky break and won the Daily Prophet Grand Prize Galleon Draw. The Weasleys had use the money to make a trip to Egypt where their eldest son Bill was working. Between the title in bold capital letters and the article was a wizarding photo in black and white, of the Weasley family. Bill and his parents were in the back with one of the twins on each side (they had probably been separated so that they wouldn't cause trouble). In front was Ron holding his rat, Scabbers, and Ginny. All of them were smiling brightly and looked the very picture of happiness. This had comforted Jade as she had feared that Ginny would be having difficulties recovering from last year's events. She looked fine, though, probably thanks to the trip.

The raven haired girl sighed. She envied those easy smiles. She walked to her trunk and fished the Hogwarts letter she had received the previous evening.

'Dear Miss Potter,' it said.

'Please note that the new school year will begin on September the first. The Hogwarts Express will leave from King's Cross station, platform nine and three quarters, at eleven o'clock.

Third years are permitted to visit the village of Hogsmead at certain week ends. Please give the enclosed permission form to your parent or guardian to sign.

A list of books for next year is enclosed.

Yours sincerely,

Professor M. McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress'

She took the permission form and read through it. Hogsmeade was a wizarding village near Hogwarts. She had been very excited about being able to visit it. However, when she had shown the form to her mother before, Lily Potter had seemed hesitant and finally said that they would have to talk about it with James first. Jade knew that something was bothering her parents or they wouldn't have hesitated. It was just the continuation of the strange behaviour that they had adopted after reading one particular edition of the Daily Prophet. Unfortunately, James had been quick to burn the paper as soon as he and his wife had read it and so Jade and Christopher had no idea about what it was supposed to say.

Deciding she might as well go and ask again, Jade took the form and left the room. She walked down the stairs and marched in the living room where her father and mother were reading.

"Mum?" said Jade to catch the red haired woman's attention.

Lily lifted her head and fixed her emerald gaze on her daughter.

"Yes sweetheart?" she said smiling fondly at the raven haired teen.

Jade extended her form.

"I was wondering if you had talked about Dad about…about Hogsmeade." she said, feeling a little nervous.

Her mother's smile vanished. Lily darted a glance at her husband who had also stopped reading.

"Well, your father and I think that it would be best that you didn't go." said Lily slowly.

Jade gaped at her. She looked from her mother to her father and back again.

"But…but why? Everybody will be going!" she said loudly.

Lily looked a bit uncomfortable.

"Yes, well we don't think it will be safe…" started Lily.

"Nothing's ever happened!" cut Jade. "And we'll be accompanied by teachers too!"

"Jade, your mother and I have decided that you wouldn't go and that's final!" said her father sternly.

Jade looked at him angrily.

"But that's not fair! You've been acting weird for the past weeks, telling me and Chris not to go out alone, barely allowing us to go anywhere at all and now you won't let us go to Hogsmeade with everybody else?" she snapped. "What is wrong with you two?"

"Jade that's enough!" said James with a warning frown.

"WHY AREN'T YOU TELLING US ANYTHING?" shouted Jade who was trying to fight back furious tears.

James slammed his book on the table.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" roared James Potter.

Before had time to say anything else, all the windows in the room exploded and shattered glass covered the floor. Realizing that she had been the cause of it all and seeing the blood dripping from the many cuts on her father's face, Jade ran from the room. She bumped into her brother who had been attracted by the noise and ran up the stairs without looking at him. She slammed the door of her room shut behind her and stood breathlessly against it. She remained there breathing heavily, unsure of what to do next. Hedwig's worried hoot made her look up to the owl.

"Sorry girl, I'm just a bit upset with my parents." she said soothingly, walking to the owl's perch and caressing the bird's head.

She gave the snowy own an owl treat and petted her for a few minutes longer. Then she heard a tap against her window. She turned to it and caught sight of the eagle owl waiting there. Frowning, as she didn't recognize the owl, she cautiously opened the window and took the envelope that the owl was holding in its beak. She gulped and opened it.

Miss Jade Lily Potter,

We have received notice that underage magic had been performed at Potter Cottage, Godric's Hollow. By the Decree of the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Wizardry such actions are passable of punishment. As it is your first offence, we shall only be sending a warning. However, please note that a second breach of the decree will be followed by your immediate expulsion of Hogwarts School of witchcraft and Wizardry.

Yours truly,

Mafalda Hopkirk, Improper Use of Magic Office, Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Ministry of Magic.

Jade crumpled the letter angrily. It wasn't like she had wanted to break the windows!

Taking a sudden decision the young girl started placing all her belongings in her trunk. She had Hedwig enter her cage and placed it on top of her trunk. Once she was done, she gave her room a last glance. She grabbed her trunk and left the room silently. She was thankful that she had asked her mother to cast a permanent Lightness Spell on her trunk as it would probably have been insanely heavy otherwise.

She arrived downstairs and paused listening intently. It seemed her parents hadn't left the sitting room as she could hear murmurs behind the closed door. She swept past it and opened the front door soundlessly. As soon as she was outside she quickened her pace so as to get as far as possible from the house. Once she was at a safe distance she stopped, sighing deeply. She dropped her trunk on the floor beside her and rummaged in her bottomless bag for her wand. She usually put it in her pockets but she didn't wear robes during the holidays as she felt more comfortable in jeans. Unfortunately, jeans destined for females had very small pockets in which it was absolutely impossible to fit a wand.

The sound of a branch cracking made her spin around. She squinted her eyes to see what had caused the noise in the relative darkness. When she saw it she froze. It was a tall black hound, standing amongst the trees behind her and staring at her intently. Jade was not superstitious, she was not, even though she had reasons to be. She was not superstitious, therefore she would absolutely not believe that that hound she was seeing was the Grim; she would not!

Not taking her eyes of the unmoving dog she grabbed her wand and held it in the air. A second later, a loud BANG announced the arrival of the Knight Bus. Jade hurriedly lifted her trunk and climbed in the bus. She looked back at where the hound was standing, but he had disappeared. She gulped; no, this hadn't been a death omen, it had not!

"Welcome to the Knight Bus." said a conductor in purple uniform. "Emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. Just stick out your wand hand, and we can take you anywhere you want to go. My name is Stan Shunpike and I will be your conductor this evening."

"Yes hello, er, Stan." replied Jade quickly. "I'd like to go to Diagon Alley, please."

"Right 'choo are, miss! That'd be eleven sickles." announced Stan.

Jade rummaged in her bag and handed the young man some silver coins. Stan took the money and led her to a seat inside the bus. Once she had settled, the bus left with another loud BANG.

"So woss your name?" asked Stan who'd sat just behind the driver's seat.

The raven haired girl peered at him suspiciously.

"Jade." she said after a minute.

"Right, I'm Stan and that's Ernie Prang, our driver." replied the young man.

Jade refrained from telling him he had already introduced himself and nodded politely instead.

"Best go wake up Madam Marsh, Stan." said Ern. "We'll be in Abergavenny in a minute."

The young conductor obliged and disappeared through a wooden door. He came back a minute later, followed by a slightly greenish witch. Ern slammed the brake just as Stan and the witch reached the doors which flung open.

"'Ere you go Madam Marsh." said Stan happily.

The witch placed a handkerchief in front of her mouth and tottered out of the Bus. Stan threw her bag after her and the bus departed once more.

The sudden turns and lurches of the bus were starting to make Jade slightly sick. She rarely took the Knight Bus as her parents weren't partisans of it. She'd forgotten just how bad it was…

Stan was sitting on his seat again and had taken out a copy of the Daily Prophet. Jade glanced at the front page and read the bold black title: BLACK STILL AT LARGE. She frowned, strange she'd heard nothing about a 'Black' who from the looks of it was an escaped convict, and she had read every single copy of the Daily Prophet they had received except the one her father had destroyed.

"May I see that newspaper?" she asked the conductor.

Stan looked up, looking mildly surprised but gave her the newspaper nonetheless.

BLACK STILL AT LARGE

Sirius Black, possibly the most infamous prisoner ever to be held by Azkaban fortress, is still eluding capture, the Ministry of Magic confirmed today.

'We are doing everything we can to recapture Black,' said the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, this morning. 'and we beg the magical community to remain calm.'

Fudge has been criticised by some members of the International Federation of Warlocks for informing the Muggle Prime Minister of the crisis.

'Well, really, I had to, don't you know,' said an irritable Fudge. 'Black is mad. He's a danger to anyone who crosses him, magic or Muggle. I have the Prime Minister's assurance that he will not breathe a word of Black's true identity to anyone. And let's face it, who'd believe him if he did?'

While Muggles have been told that Black carries a gun (a kind of metal wand which Muggles use to kill each other), the magical community lives in fear of a massacre like that of twelve years ago, when Black murdered thirteen people with a single curse.

Sirius Black…Jade could have sworn she had heard this name before. Well, he did seem like a celebrity in his own field. But she didn't think she had heard the name coupled with either murder or Azkaban, after all, it wasn't like he had appeared on the news since twelve years ago. And twelve years ago she had barely been a year old, so she couldn't have remembered it from then.

"Scary lookin' fing , inee?" said Stan noticing what she was looking at.

Jade nodded absent-mindedly.

"He murdered thirteen people with only one curse?" she asked giving the conductor his newspaper.

"Big trouble it caused, dinnit Ern?"

"Yep, and in broad daylight too." said Stan. "In front of witnesses an' all. Big trouble it caused, dinnit Ern?"

"Ar." said Ern darkly.

"Black wos a big supporter of You-Know-Oo." added Stan.

Despite the heavy atmosphere, Jade nearly laughed. You had to admit that the way Stan said 'You-know-Oo' was pretty funny.

"So he was close to Vol…You-Know-Who?" asked Jade.

"Yeah, that's right. Very close to You-Know-Oo they say….anyway when little Christopher Potter put paid to You-Know-Oo all the Death Eaters was tracked down, wasn't they Ern? Most of them knew it was over with You-Know-Oo gone , and they came quiet. But not Sirius Black I 'eard he thought 'e'd be second in command once You-Know-Oo 'ad taken over. Anyway, they cornered Black in a street full of Muggles an' Black took out his wand an' 'e blasted 'alf the street apart, an' a wizard got it, an' so did a dozen of Muggles what got in the way. 'Orrible, hey? An' you know what Black did then?" asked Stan in a dramatic whisper.

Jade shook her head.

"Laughed!" said Stan. "Jus' stood there and laughed. An' when reinforcements from the Ministry got there, 'e went wiv 'em quiet as anyfink, still laughing 'is 'ead off. 'Cos 'e's mad, inee, Ern? Inee mad?"

"If he weren't when he went to Azkaban, he will be now," said Ern slowly. "I'd blow meself up before I set foot in that place. Serves him right, mind…after what he did…"

Jade leaned back in her seat shutting off the two men's voices. Where had she heard that name before? And in what context? She couldn't quite imagine either of her parents talking about a mass murderer to their children. She didn't discuss such things with her brother; it couldn't be help, he'd been a real wimp as a child and he would have had nightmares. She didn't think she had heard of him at Hogwarts…but that didn't leave many options…

"'Ere we are Jade!" called Stan bringing her out of her thoughts.

The raven haired girl got up and climbed the steps onto the pavement. Stan gave took her trunk out of the bus for her.

"Thanks." said Jade taking the trunk from the conductor. "Bye then."

The Knight Bus was gone in a loud Bang and Jade was left alone in a dark Diagon Alley. Thankfully she wasn't far from the Leaky Cauldron. She hurried down the street and was soon inside the pub. A stooping figure carrying a lantern appeared behind the bar. It was the tootheless landlord, Tom.

"Er, good evening." greeted Jade approaching the bar. "I was wondering if you had a room for me?"

The innkeeper nodded.

"Room eleven's free." he said.

Tom took the trunk and heaved it up the stairs. The raven haired girl followed him up the wooden staircase to a door with a brass number eleven on it. The innkeep unlocked the door and opened it. Jade followed him inside. There she discovered a rather comfortable-looking bed, and simple wooden furniture.

"Here are your keys, Miss…"

"Potter." supplied the girl. "Jade Potter."

tom raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. There weren't many Potters so he had probably guessed whose daughter she was. It didn't matter, though.

"Well, Miss Potter, I'll be on my way now, don't hesitate to call if you need anything." said Tom leaving the room.

"Thank you, sir. Good night." she called after him.

Once the man was gone she walked over to her trunk and opened it. She pulled out a pair of pyjamas and changed for bed. She was about to get under the covers when Hedwig started making a racket in her cage.

"Oh, sorry Hedwig."

The raven haired girl went to open the cage. The snowy owl flew onto her shoulder and started nipping her ear fondly. Jade giggled and caressed the bird's feathers. She went to open the small window, and the owl flew off with a last hoot. Jade quickly shut the window again, there was a fire in the room but it was no reason to make it colder.

She got to her bed and slipped under the warm covers, wondering if her parents had noticed she was gone. They probably had, and she would be hearing about them tomorrow.