Okay I know it has been way too long. The last year and more was agony for my family. That's no excuse to neglect my writing and I'm sorry to anyone who has been waiting for this story.

I'll try to do better but I still don't have an internet connection so hopefully you can all be patient and forgiving.

Thanks to everyone who has reviewed. I hope this starts to make up for everything.


We left Jade and the girls in their train compartment meeting Cerberus and becoming friends.


CHAPTER SEVEN: PROMISES


The three girls were friends from that point on.

Lily, having grown up in the muggle world, knew nothing about the Knite family except what her new friends told her. She didn't seem too intimidated by it all. Jade was the girl who stood up to third-year bullies for her. That was all that mattered.

Amaya grew up in America with her mother's people and the Knite's power was felt a little less ferociously there. She knew the stories and she knew that they still exercised their authority from time to time. But her family believed in allowing a person to be themselves and prove themselves. Jade was not her family, as proved by her being at Hogwarts in the first place.

They refused to be scared of Jade because of her family. They were grateful to her for saving them and they respected her abilities. Jade was thrilled to be accepted so easily.

She had been worried no one would be able to see her for herself. Her personality was often lost in the name of Knite.

But Lily and Amaya were willing to get to know her for who she was.


When she had come to the rescue of her new friends, and even those idiot boys, it was her nature. She didn't have to think about it; she just acted.

Her family was full of some of the biggest bullies on the planet and her father was Head Bully. And she was the only one with the power and the courage to stand up to him.


Her mother used to be able to look at her father and he would duck his head like the house elves when they had done something poorly. Her mother would have this little, barest hint of a frown on her face. Her father would apologize.

Her father hadn't apologized to anyone for anything in many years. Not since the day her mother had left her alone with him.


She had learned early on that she was expected to be as mean as her predecessors. She could do it. She had quite the temper. But she had never understood their need to be superior to everyone. She had never quite got the hang of picking on someone because they were having trouble.

When she was nine her father called her into his office to teach her what happened when someone under his command failed him. He belittled the man and yelled at him. When he pulled out his wand the man cowered and begged for forgiveness. Jade told her father to stop.

He was furious. The other man stopped begging immediately. Instead of looking relieved he looked truly frightened. Vladimir Knite turned to his daughter and decided she was the one who needed the lesson.

He lowered his wand on his own daughter. She stood her ground, her brilliant Knite eyes glaring fiercely up at him. He fired the first spell and it hit an impenetrable barrier. The second bounced back at him. The third put him flat on his back unconscious.


The story spread quickly throughout the family. Jade's prowess as the Knite Heir and the greatest magician ever born was known throughout the magical world.

She couldn't make her father apologize with one look. She couldn't make him apologize at all. But no one in her family bullied another person in her presence anymore.


Her philosophy had not changed with her circumstances.

She had seen a group of older kids picking on someone smaller and had acted instinctively. If she had been anyone else, she would have paid dearly for her bravery because she would still never have thought of whether she had the ability to stop them.

She still would have been hit with the unforgivable curse. She had never stopped to consider whether or not she might get hurt or that she was willing to suffer for strangers who might, and had turned their back on her for who she was. Bullying was still unacceptable.


She had promised Albus Dumbledore that she wouldn't hurt any of his students. She was going to have to talk to him about the bully situation in his school. She wouldn't sit by and allow that kind of behavior.

Her experience with her family told her that all it took was one person to make a stand.

She would be that one person.


And her friends would stand with her.


"So, your father really disowned you for coming here?" "Yeah. He said I was disgracing the family name by subjugating myself to commoner customs." "Don't take this the wrong way Jade, but your father sounds like kind of a jerk."

"He is. The whole family is that way. You saw how pure bloods can be, my family is way worse than that. But they're even degrading to each other. No one has ever dared to marry without the permission of the Knite Elder but there are those who just weren't born with the talent our family is used to. They get treated like little more than squibs even though their magic is there and they are all at least as talented as any normal witch or wizard."

Jade was petting the head of her pet and protector as she spoke. When she looked up at her friends they could see the disappointment and frustration with the people she had grown up with.

"Why do they stay and put up with that?" "Because, to be cast out of the Knite family is to die. They raise us to believe that we are set apart from the rest of the world. That we have the power to rule and we simply allow everyone else to reside here. I think my father has plans to use the family to take back the world from the muggles."

Lily and Amaya looked a little hesitant.

"Jade, do us a favor?" "What?" "Don't invite us to meet your father."

Amaya smiled hugely as Lily broke into giggles and Jade gave a little smile of her own.

"Promise."


In the boys' compartment they were discussing Sirius's apparent death wish.


"What the hell were you thinking, Sirius? She could have killed you!" "She very nearly did."

"I can take her." "No. You can't." "Did you see what she did with that unforgivable curse? Bellatrix clearly meant it. There's no way she should have been able to do that."

"You didn't see me crying about a little pain. I can take Knite." "Sirius, I don't think you quite understand the vastly stupid thing you just did." "You just made Jade Knite, the Knite Heir, your enemy." "So?" "So? So! Sirius, if you do anything else, anything at all to piss her off you are going to be a smear on the castle wall." "She can't do anything to me. Dumbledore wouldn't allow her to go around attacking other students." "You provoke her and I'm sure she'll be able to talk her way out of whatever mess you plan to put her in. Be careful."

Sirius was beyond cross. He had been humiliated in front of his cousin and his friends. They didn't think he could stand up to a girl. This would not be forgotten.

It was officially his goal for Hogwarts to make her life a misery.

"Boys, this year is special. This is our first year on our own. We are going to Hogwarts. And we are going to have as much fun in as many ways as possible. We are going to break as many rules as is necessary to accomplish this task. And we are going to make Jade Knite wish she had never come here."

"You're insane. Sirius, she's the most powerful witch ever born. We can't start a war with her." "She doesn't belong here." "Hogwarts should be open to everyone. Even Jade Knite deserves a chance." "Besides, she did just save us from your bitch cousin."

"When she gets put in Slytherin and we get put in Gryffindor or Ravenclaw or wherever, that's when we declare war on her. I won't leave her out of our pranks because of her family. I definitely won't leave her be because she thinks I should be afraid of her and I won't do it so my mother won't be mad at me. I promise, she will be just like every other girl in this school, or she'll leave."


Again, I am so sorry for the long hiatus between updates and for the future length between installments. I'll try to do better but I won't make promises and disappoint anyone.

Thanks for everyone who has kept with us this far and I hope you hang around for the next chapter. It should be a good one.