We are quickly approaching the end of the first book. I hope that you will enjoy this chapter and I am already working hard on the next. Also the first part of this chapter will be a major break down from Jade so if you are faint of heart please skip it! I don't think anything too traumatizing though, but it is a bit depressing.
The exams started and with them Jade found a way to escape the nightmares that plagued her. She buried herself in her studies, barely stopping to eat. Every night, she dreamt of the green light, the baby crying. Oh, she knew; she knew what it was. She knew it was her memories of the day Voldermort had tried to kill her brother. But they were memories she was not supposed to have. At the time she had been too small to understand what was happening, so how could she have remembered?
She didn't want to remember, she wanted to forget. And that was what she attempted to do by working. Work enabled her to forget about the nightmares, and to shut that nagging little voice that wouldn't shut up. Voldermort. Voldermort. Voldermort. It was driving her mad.
Every night she woke up yelling madly, her body covered in sweat and her fingers clawing at her eyes. She also knew why she was trying to rip her eyes out. She had understood the first morning. She had been standing in the bathroom and she had seen her reflection in a mirror. It was then that she had realized for the first time in her life that her eyes were not Lily's eyes. Her mother's eyes were so much darker than hers, how had she never seen it? Her eyes were not Lily's, they were the color of an Avada Kedavra, the killing curse. And so the green flashing light, followed her like a curse everywhere she went. A curse set in her eyes.
She had not told anyone about her nightmares, or about her eyes. Hermione knew she had nightmares, of course, and she had told Ron and Christopher about it. But Jade had refused to tell them anything about the nightmares. It was a secret she wouldn't tell. She couldn't tell. She hated her eyes, they felt like a stain on her. What would they think if they knew? Nothing probably. They would say it was stupid, that she had lovely eyes. They would say it was nothing like the killing curse. But they had never seen that green light. Jade had, and she knew that her eyes were the exact same shade as the curse and how she hated it.
She did perfectly on her exams. She knew she had. She would have even without working that much. She knew she was bright, in a different way from Hermione though. The bushy haired girl had an amazing ability to store what she read in books. Jade understood. It was a different kind of intelligence but effective all the same. The only exam she had done badly on was Potions. Not that it came as a surprise. Potions were the one thing she could never understand.
As soon as the exams had been over, Jade had lost her reason to study. She had lost her only anchor to sanity. As she left the Charms exam, ten minutes before the others, she wandered the corridors aimlessly. Her eyes were glazed and if anybody had seen her in that moment they would have thought her insane. And maybe she was. But nobody did see her and she walked through corridors she didn't recognize to a place she didn't know of. Her steps took her to a bathroom. The irony of it! She was trying to escape the curse and here she was in the one place where she was faced with it no matter where she looked.
The thought made her laugh, it was horrible laughter. Bitter and broken, the laugh of a madman. It rang through the empty bathroom, filling everything around her. She laughed and laughed, a laughter without joy, a laughter as broken as her mind. She laughed until her throat was soar. She stopped and gazed at her reflection. She was pale; there were dark shadows under her eyes. Her eyes; they were still as green, they still held the curse. She banged her knuckles on the mirror in front of her. She didn't see the blood flowing out of her torn skin. All she could see was her eyes. The green flashing light that was death itself. And she held death in her very eyes. She glared at her own eyes, seeing her own anger reflected in the emerald orbs. How she looked ugly in that instant! But she didn't see it; she could only see her eyes.
She didn't know how it happened. She didn't know when it started but heavy sobs were shaking her body. She slid to the floor. The cursed eyes were swimming with heavy tears. The room which had rung with her broken laughter just moments ago, now echoed with her sobs. Her sobs were like her laugh; bitter and broken. As her tears fell down her cheeks, the nightmares, the agony, the pain, the fear, it all flowed out.
She felt a hand on her back. She didn't know whose it was; she didn't care. It was warm and it was all that mattered. She heard a voice that she didn't recognise soothing her. She didn't understand the words, she couldn't see the person's face through her tears, but she knew there was another human being there and it was all that mattered. She was cursed but there were people around that were still willing to look at her and offer comfort. They were still willing to offer her the warmth she suddenly lacked; and it was all that mattered.
She woke up in the Hospital Wing. She recognized it immediately by the amount of white surrounding her. Jade sat up in the bed and looked around her. The room was empty a part from her. It was quiet and Jade found it incredibly relaxing. Her thoughts were much clearer now, than they had been in the past week.
Jade leaned back in her pillow and started thinking. She thought about the shadow she had seen the night of the detention. She thought about how she had seen Snape threaten Quirell. She thought about smuggling Norbert…Norbert? How had Hagrid gotten Norbert in the first place? Oh, right, the dragon egg had been given to him in the Hog's Head by a man wearing a hood. Jade froze. Hagrid had told the man how to get passed Fluffy! How had she not seen it before? It couldn't be a coincidence that Hagrid met a man willing to give him a dragon egg when Hagrid had always wanted one. The man had done that to get information out of Hagrid!
"I see you are awake."
Madam Pomfrey had arrived and was standing next to the bed.
"Yes, er, hello." said Jade hesitantly.
"Well it was a surprise when that nice young man came and brought you here." said the nurse starting to examine Jade.
"Who was it?" asked the raven haired girl.
"I'm sorry dear, but he asked me not to tell." replied the woman with an apologetic glance. "Well, it looks like you're all right now. I still have Dreamless Sleep Potion if you ever need any."
"Thank you." said Jade swinging her legs over the side of the bed.
She got up carefully and grabbed her clothes from a nearby chair. Madam Pomfrey left her, closing the curtains with a flick of her wand as she went. Jade stripped from the white pajamas she was wearing and put her robes back on. Once she was changed she hurried over to Gryffindor Tower. She found her little group in the Common Room.
"Jade! Where did you go?" asked Hermione when she saw her friend.
"Hospital Wing." muttered the raven haired girl evasively. "But listen, I realized something. It couldn't be a coincidence that Hagrid met a man with a dragon egg. And Hagrid told the man how to get passed Fluffy. That must mean that whoever it is, is going to try to get to the Stone."
She hadn't said it was Voldermort trying to find the Stone. She vaguely felt that she didn't have enough proof even if she was pretty sure she was right. She just couldn't think of anyone else.
"We've got to tell Dumbledore." said Christopher.
This time nobody argued. The four children hurried to the headmaster's office. They nearly collided with Professor McGonagall who was coming of Dumbledore's office.
"What are you all here for?" asked the woman surprised.
"We need to see Professor Dumbledore." said Jade panting.
"The headmaster is in London Miss Potter." horrified expressions appeared on the students' faces, which Professor McGonagall noticed. "Surely it couldn't be that important?"
"It's about the Philosopher's Stone. We think it's going to be stolen." said Jade hurriedly.
The Transfiguration Professor looked stunned for a few minutes.
"How you learned about the Stone is beyond me, but I can assure you that it is quite safe." she said shaking her head. "Now I believe you all have classes."
Dismissed, the four students dragged themselves to their class.
"What should we do now?" asked Christopher as they approached the History of Magic classroom.
"We should go to the Stone ourselves, tonight." replied Jade firmly. "We can't let him have the Stone."
Her friends were a bit taken aback by her determination but they didn't enquire further as they thought she was talking about Snape. During the day, the quartet took every chance to plot their adventure. At lunch, the whispered excitedly to each other. Jade was a lot more serious than the others. Of course, her friends understood that they couldn't let the Stone be stolen, but none of them knew who they were really going up against. Only Jade knew.
Night came and the four Gryffindors gathered in the Common Room. Jade had taken the flute that Hagrid had given her for Christmas and Christopher had the invisibility cloak.
"Are we ready?" asked Jade, she received nods of affirmation. "Let's go."
"I won't let you!" cried Neville who appeared from an armchair.
"Neville." sighed Jade in frustration.
"I won't let you lose any more points. You-you'll have to pass through me first!" said the boy stuttering slightly.
Jade sighed. Of all times the boys could have chosen to be brave, it was now.
"Neville, we really don't have time for this." said Christopher trying to coerce the other boy into moving aside.
"You're right, we really don't have time for this." said Jade taking out her wand. "Soo forgive me for this will you? Petrificus Totalus!"
The full body-bind hit the boy squarely in the chest and he fell, frozen, to the floor. Jade ignored the shocked expressions of her friends and led them out of the Common Room. They squeezed under the cloak and made their way, as fast as they possibly could, to the third floor. They were lucky not to meet any staff member and got to the room where Fluffy was. Hermione opened with Alohomora as she had done the previous time. Jade placed the flute to her lips and Christopher opened the door. As soon as it saw them, the three headed dog started to growl. Jade started blowing in the flute, playing a random tune. It seemed to work as the three heads yawned. The cerberus lied on the floor and fell asleep. Ron, Hermione and Christopher marched towards the trapdoor. The dog had kept one of his massive paws on it and the three of them had to push the furry paw out of the way. It took them a lot of effort, and all the while Jade had to keep playing.
At last the paw was pushed to the side and it became possible to open the trapdoor. Jade walked forward as well, still playing. Her three friends exchanged uncertain glances. Jade finally had enough and pushed Ron in the hole, she then looked threateningly at the other two who quickly followed the red haired. Finally, it was Jade's turn, she put the flute in her pocket and jumped in the hole before the dog had time to wake up.
She landed on a squashy surface. The 'floor' started moving under her and a tentacle wrapped itself around her body.
"What the hell, is this?" she groaned.
Ron was screaming and Hermione was trying her best to get him to relax.
"Devil's Snare, apparently." muttered Christopher not far from her.
Her twin sounded uneasy though he wasn't as bad as Ron. Jade was starting to tense herself as more and more tentacles wrapped themselves around her body. The raven haired girl tried her best to think. Devil's Snare was a plant that lived in humid and dark places, it didn't like the sun…Didn't like the sun, that was it!
"Lumos." she murmured and a flash of bright light appeared at the tip of her wand.
Christopher, Ron and Jade were released by the tentacles and fell on a hard floor. Hermione was already there waiting for them.
"You know if you had just relaxed, it would have taken you down." she told them.
"Well, it was hard to relax with those things wrapping themselves around us." said Christopher meekly.
"That must have been Professor Sprout's protection." said Jade.
The raven haired girl pointed her wand in front of her. A simple room appeared before her.
"There's a door over there." she said pointing at the wooden rectangle on the other side of the room.
The quartet walked to the door and they entered the next room. It was a room much like the one they had just left, except that one was filled with flying keys. On the opposite wall was a door. They walked up to it only to realize it was closed.
"Well, I suppose that means we have to catch the right key." said Jade glancing upwards at the cloud of keys.
"Yeah, but how?" asked Ron.
"Like this." replied the raven haired girl, pointing to the brooms on the side of the door.
She grabbed a broom and mounted it. She flew towards the flock of keys that had started darting all over the place when she had grabbed the broom, and starting looking around.
"Can you describe the lock for me?" she asked to her friends.
"Er, it's old and it looks like it's made of silver." said Ron's voice from below.
She glanced at the keys around her. She ruled out all the golden keys as well as the one that looked new. She flew around the room twice before she set eyes on a key that fit the description. It was an old fashioned silver key with bright blue wings. Also, it looked like one of its wings was broken. Jade launched forward and made to grab the key. It escaped and she had to fly after it. The key turned abruptly and Jade couldn't turn on time. She swore and flew back to the flock of keys. She spotted the silver a key and rounded on it. She flew in circles around it. The circles became smaller and smaller until she was close enough. She launched herself at the key and captured it. Noticing that the other keys had started darting after her, Jade flew towards the ground and passed the key to Ron before rising again, the keys rushing after her.
"Open the door!" she yelled over her shoulder.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Ron open the door. She waited until Hermione and Christopher had left the room and darted towards the door. Ron banged the door shut as soon as she had gone through and they heard the sound of hundreds of keys banging on the wooden panel.
They now stood in front of a giant chess board. Giant stone pieces were already positioned.
"I think we have to play." said Ron getting closer to the board.
As Ron was by far the best chess player, they let him give the instructions.
"Jade you'll play as a bishop, Hermione you'll be a rook, Christopher you can play as the King." said the red haired firmly. "I'll be a knight."
The three students placed themselves accordingly and Ron climbed on the back of a stone horse. Then, the game began. Jade had never appreciated how violent a game of Wizard's Chess was until she was played as one of the pieces. When a piece was taken, it was mercilessly destroyed by the opposite piece. When the first piece was destroyed, the four students watched the stone statue crumble to bits with a horrified apprehension. Ron continued giving his instructions making sure that none of them got too close to danger. At last, there was only a few pieces left on the board.
"Yes, that's the only way." murmured Ron thoutfully before raising his voice. "Listen, I'm going to move forward. The Queen will take me. Jade you take that chance to checkmate the King."
There were cries from the others but the red haired boy refused to listen to them and advanced. Jade watched with utmost horror as the white Queen glided towards her friends and raised her sceptre.
