The next day, the day after that, and for the following week, Jayden went out of her way to avoid Ben. No one needed to know how poor her family was. It was another day in Potions when it happened.
He stormed in, and plopped down next to Jayden. Before she could get up, she realized that all the other seats had been taken, and saw Ben's friends sharing conspiratorial glances. She turned red and looked down at her notes on how to fix her Draught of Living Death.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get all in your business at Halloween," Ben explained.
"Doesn't matter now, does it? You know the truth, don't you?" Jayden asked bitterly.
"I don't care!" he cried. "I don't care how rich or poor, or how many brilliant things you can do! I care about you!"
Jayden felt heat flush to her cheeks.
"You think I do brilliant things?"
"Of course I do!" he cried. "You're really smart, and really talented, Jayden. Of course you can sew on top of all that! I'm not trying to be the bad guy and hurt you! I just want to be your friend."
Jayden couldn't help but smile. Only a month ago, almost two, Bensabiel Prince would've never said so many good things about her in one sentence. . . Yet now. . .
"I know," she admitted with a heavy sigh. "It's just. . . You don't understand!"
He just blinked, his blue eyes on her.
"You're right," he said with a voice struggling to remain calm. "Explain it to me."
"You don't understand why someone might be embarrassed that they're poor?" The snarky statement fell out of Jayden's cherry-red lips and she clapped a hand over her mouth. She was such an idiot!
"Okay, you might be onto something," Ben admitted with a bit of humor in his voice. "I'm sorry I hurt your feelings-I should've known better."
"I forgive you," she said, and in that moment she felt some sort of relief along with the feeling of thrill and fear, like she was walking alongside a cliff side.
"Good, so you'll talk to me again?" he asked excitedly.
Jayden rolled her eyes and swatted him on the arm, although she couldn't resist a grin.
Even in the D.A., where she'd signed Granger's stupid contract saying she wouldn't snitch, suspicious eyes always had her locked in their gaze. She wasn't stupid. Ben. . . Ben belonged there. Jayden did not. She tried to remain cold, remain proud, remain pureblood. But that was never easy, sticking out in the silver and green like a sore thumb.
It had been a cold, rainy day when Jayden came up with a plan to stop the staring, to stop the whispers once and for all. She convinced herself that Ben wouldn't mind, after all, he belonged with the other Gryffindors and wouldn't miss a thing.
As soon as she stepped into the room, she realized it did in fact work. No one seemed to recognize her face if she wore Ben's Gryffindor sweater, despite being slightly too big and still wearing the same face.
"Jayden!"
She inwardly cursed Ben's enthusiasm as she stomped over, now recognized and gaining attention.
"Is that my sweater?" he asked when she came over.
"Yeah," she replied, looking anywhere but at him. "So what?"
"I was wondering where it had gotten to," he admitted, looking her over. "Looks nicer on you than it does on me. This is Megan Jones, from Hufflpeuff."
"Nice to meet you," Jayden said immediately, faking a smile as she extended a hand to Megan Jones.
"Likewise," Megan replied with a bright grin. "I love coming, don't you?"
"I'm still making friends," Jayden said, trying to be purposefully vague.
"I'd imagine, being the only one from your house," Megan said sympathetically. "I know you're here for the same reason all the rest of us are."
"That's good to know," Jayden admitted. "I'm sorry my house is a bunch of dirty Death Eaters."
Megan chuckled. "Not your fault. You're a muggle-born, aren't you?"
"Yeah," Jayden admitted.
"Cool," Megan said as a red-haired girl in a Hufflepuff sweater came over. "Susan, what's up?"
"Had to get away from Ernie, poor fellow's already stressed to London and back about the O.W.L.s," Susan said. With a feeling of free-fall, Jayden recognized Susan as a girl who Crabbe and Goyle had attacked.
"You're Susan Bones, aren't you?" Jayden realized aloud.
"Yes, probably heard of my parents or my auntie," Susan said with a modest blush. "What's your name again?"
"Jayden Conolly," she said.
Susan's face split into a grin.
"That's right, I've been hearing about the Slytherin in the D.A.," she said. "Welcome, sorry I haven't talked to you personally-you just seemed so shy and I thought maybe you had social anxiety and I didn't want to upset you, especially if you'd had a a bad day and-"
Jayden's eyes widened at just how nice Susan Bones was. How nice Megan Jones was.
How nice Ben is to me, despite everything.
Friendship, Jayden was discovering, made all the difference. There was a certain camaraderie that came with being rebels, defying the very Ministry in and of itself. Jayden enjoyed being able to smirk with Ben or Susan or Megan or Potter in the middle of Umbrige's crap-saccharine lessons and know that she was only growing in her own power.
It was sitting with Lauren in the Harry Potter Expulsion Club and enjoying a few minutes' peace while they enjoyed stringing Umbridge along. It was lying in the grass by the lake with Ben, swapping music on his radio. It was talking to Susan Bones about muggle culture and realizing that she wasn't alone.
It was against everything her mother had taught her, and Jayden loved every second of it.
