It was dark. So dark, in fact, that she couldn't see where she was or where she was going. The loud patter of footsteps rang all around her; quiet murmurs could be heard from the moving bodies traveling every which way. Large drapes of damp air hung in front of her. A smell that could only be described as rotting flesh crawled into her nose and caused her stomach to lurch.

Trying to scream turned out futile; nothing escaped her mouth no matter how hard she tried. She clasped her hand over her mouth and started running, expecting to collide with the bodies surrounding her. It only took a moment to realize that the impact would never come. It was all so confusing - there were people around her, they were all talking, they were right here.

Suddenly, light. Light! She kept running as fast as she could, her arms reaching out; she wanted the light, she wanted to catch it, and she wanted to feel the warmth. The speck of light got bigger as she approached - she could almost taste it. It was a door, but where did it lead? It didn't matter, she wanted to go outside, and she wanted the light. As soon as her finger touched the handle, she felt a rope pull her back. What? This wasn't possible. She tried to take another step toward the door and was pulled back even further. Hot tears spilled down her face as she continued the struggle toward the light.

It was not going to happen, she was never going to reach the door. Heart broken, she dropped to the floor and wrapped her arms around her bare legs. The flimsy sheet she was wearing stuck to her sweaty body. A garish laughter pierced the air, mocking her tears. The murmuring around her grew louder and louder, the footsteps more deafening. She was in a room full of deranged strangers, nobody could hear her cries, and she had no way of ever getting outside.

"You actually thought you could get out now?" a dark voice rang around the room. She lifted her tear-stained face, trying to listen for the voice again. "You are pathetic. You make me sick." A wicked cackle and a blast of green light came flying toward her.

The piercing light beaming through the window roused Jade from her sleep; she sat upright, her chest falling and rising rapidly. She gasped for deep breaths of air and threw her hand over her chest in an attempt to slow her racing heart. It had been quite a long time since she had experienced a night terror before. Of course, it was only appropriate that she would have one while sleeping at her home for the first night over Christmas holiday.

She collapsed onto her phoenix down pillows and took in gentle and steady breaths. The sweet smell of lilacs danced in her nose. How she had missed her old home - it was perfectly peaceful. Audrey's insistence of keeping lilacs in every room was oddly comforting. There was no doubt that soon enough she would be tucking into her grandmother's amazing home cooking. Jade thought it was adorable that she still insisted upon making dinner, when it was much easier to just let the house elf do it.

The aged grandfather clock in the hallway sounded ten, the deep chimes echoing throughout the halls. She sighed deeply and pushed onto her forehead with the palm of her hand. Who would be the first to annoy her this morning? Dad? Mum? Olfie? A loud groan escaped her mouth, and she prayed to Merlin it wasn't that ragged Olfie. She was not sure how long house elves lived, but he had been alive much too long for her liking.

Olfie was perhaps the ugliest house elf she had ever laid eyes on. That's not to say any house elf is particularly attractive, but he really won the award for being down-right disgusting. Whereas most house elves had large eyes, Olfie's tiny eyes were the size of a mediocre hazelnut. His giant ears nearly fell to the middle of his back, and his skin resembled the colour of a dying tree. Yes, she hoped Olfie would keep his distance from her for the time being.

She slipped out of her warm bed and slid into her silk dressing gown, the fabric melting onto her fair skin. Jade gazed at the trunk that housed her wand longingly. Students with normal parents were more than welcome to use magic when they were home. But, because her father worked for the ministry, he forbade the use outside of school unless it was for scholastic purposes only. Under his ever watchful eye, of course. Conjuring a cup of cocoa would be excellent Transfiguration practice, in her opinion. Sighing noisily, she put on her slippers and trudged out of her room and into the hallway.

Jade had arrived home late last night after insisting to her mum that she could figure out her own way home, which turned out to be a dreadful mistake. Generally the ministry provided an official car to ensure the precious cargo's (Jade) safe arrival home. It wasn't until she'd been splashed by large puddle of melted snow for the eighth time that she realized she would be forced to use Muggle means of getting home. How dare her mother? Jade was mortified when she had to actually take "the tube" to get home.

It was the worst experience of her life. What was her mum playing at by forcing her to travel that way? She could not wait to let her father know that Mum had forgotten to book the car for her and she had been forced to be around filthy Muggles for more than an hour. The dirty scoundrels kept looking at her and one of them asked if she wanted help with getting her trunk onto the train! Rude little beings, those Muggles.

She had given up after only ten minutes into her attempted journey and hazardously called for the knight bus on a busy street full of Muggles. If her father caught wind that she'd done something so careless, he would certainly make sure that she would be miserable for the holidays and the next summer. Jade wished she could make her mother miserable for the rest of her life. She might have insisted that she could find her own way home if she'd known; she never for a moment imagined that her mother would neglect to provide her with a car. It was too bad Malfoy was still bitter with her; she would have loved to share his car.

She tiptoed into the hallway, determined to not make a sound that would alert a single member of her family that she had awoken. There would not be many more silent moments during the holiday and she would like to savour what little quiet time she did get. The large windows in the hallway revealed the heavy snow falling silently on top of the rolling hills surrounding her home. A chilled draft touched Jade lightly and sent a shiver up her spine, and goose pimples protruded from her skin.

Cinnamon and maple lured her to the top of the winding staircase that led to the main floor. Chairs and tables flew across the floor and she could hear her father's loud voice directing the furniture rearrangement in the lounge. A large smile slithered over her face and she quickly descended the stairs and tapped her father on the shoulder.

Acton Sterling was much taller than his daughter, by at least a quarter of a meter. His full head of brown hair always looked perfect, not a single strand misplaced. The most brilliant wizard Jade knew. He beamed at the site of his daughter and scooped her up into his arms and twirled around. Jade squealed with glee as she flew in circles; her father had a way of making her feel like a young child. He set her down and placed his large palm on top of her head.

"My darling girl!" he said before leaning in and kissing her in the middle of the forehead.

"Daddy! I've missed you, you never write!" she pouted. Acton patted her cheek lightly.

"You know that I've been terribly busy lately, missy! Work, work, work!" He threw his arm over her shoulder.

"I'm busy, too, you know!" She stuck out her bottom lip. "Mummy never replies to my owls, either. I'm beginning to think you don't love me. She's only sent me one new quill this year." Acton laughed and pulled his daughter more closely.

"I will see to it that you have the best Christmas any fifteen year old could ever wish for!"

Jade's smile was rather smug as Acton led her into the kitchen. Her mother glanced over her coffee cup at her daughter.

"Welcome home." she muttered before taking a long drink from the cup.

"Welcome home, indeed! I had the most difficult time getting home last night!" Jade huffed and shook her head.

"What do you mean? You were supposed to have had a car... Audrey?" He looked curiously toward his wife. Audrey pointed at an article on the front page of the Daily Prophet sitting on the table.

"Oh! Look! Ember has another article on the front page today! 'Muggle celebration interferes with local quidditch practice.'" she scoffed and shook her head, "Disgusting!"

"Speaking of disgusting Muggles, mum," Jade whined. She looked back toward her father, attempting to look pathetic. "Mum didn't get me the car, and I had to get on the train! With Muggles!"

Acton raised his eyebrows and stared at his wife. "Audrey, is that true? It was one simple phone call, and you couldn't make it?"

Audrey had suddenly become interested in the local quidditch league. "Sure, whatever you think, Acton," she mused absentmindedly, taking another deep swig from her cup.

Acton sighed and shook his head. Jade noticed the look of disappointment on her father's face and frowned. "It's okay, Daddy. I'm home safe," she whispered placidly to her father before taking a seat across the table from her mum.

Jade instinctively looked about the kitchen for her grandmother. She had been living with them after Grandpa died from dragon pox; she had gone a bit nutty in the past five years, but Jade adored the old woman.

"Where's Grandmum Jade?"

"She's gone to London for the day, not sure why, said something about unicorns in the Thames. We called the Knight Bus for her and I assume she'll forget where she's going and will end up right back here after growing tired of sitting on the bus all day," Acton said calmly as he stirred his tea.

"We'll be having dinner with the Malfoys tonight," Audrey blurted, not taking her eyes away from the paper.

Jade threw her head back and groaned. "Mum, I don't want to see them! I hate Abraxas, and you and his mum can't be together without hinting at some sort of relationship. Please don't make me go! Please, please please!" The last thing she wanted was to be forced to sit across a dinner table from Abraxas and listen to their parents talk about how attractive their future children would look.

For some unknown reason, Audrey had always assumed that Jade would marry Abraxas. In fact, she acted as if they were already engaged. Constantly cooing about Jade's wedding dress, what she would do with her hair, what foods they would have, and who would be invited.

Audrey could go on for hours talking to herself about how exciting it was that Jade was going to marry such a nice pureblooded man. Despite her daughter's very plain and obvious resistance to Abraxas, she was convinced that one day she could steer her daughter in the right direction.

"You know, young lady, Abraxas Malfoy is a very wealthy young pureblooded man. There is nothing wrong with marrying him." She stared at her daughter while spinning the spoon around in her cup.

"Mum! I refuse to talk about marrying him. You never listen to me!"

Audrey glared before bringing the paper back in front of her face. Jade looked longingly up at her father, who waved his uncaring hand at the table before marching back out into the lounge.

Perfect. This was turning out to be the most miserable holiday she could have asked for.

"Oh, by the way, some pathetic looking owl dropped off a letter for you this morning, the ruddy thing got my floor wet," Audrey mentioned while she turned a page of Daily Prophet.

"Is it from Dahlia?"

"I don't know, I don't read your personal mail, girl. Go look at the bloody thing yourself."

Jade scoffed at her mother before grabbing the letter from the kitchen counter. The scrolled writing on the envelope made her heart skip a beat. She quickly ripped the envelope open and caught the small piece of paper as it fluttered toward the floor. Her mouth dropped.

Jade,
I was rather disappointed to see you'd left for the holidays, you didn't even tell me you were going home. I hope you have a lovely Christmas; I'll be seeing you soon. I have something I think you'll like!
Yours,
Tom

"Mum! I can't breathe!" she shouted as she tried to pull on the boned corset.

"Well, perhaps I should get some better food owled to school to you every day instead of that bollux they feed you! Maybe then your waist could actually fit into your dress robes!" She pulled on the laces of her daughter's sapphire corset tighter. "Just let me know when you can't breathe. You can't be looking like a cow around Abraxas. Merlin, girl! How much weight have you gained?"

Jade coughed and gasped for a breath of air, "I don't even want to see him! And I'd appreciate it if I could," she gasped as the corset closed even tighter around her ribs, "breathe so I can keep consciousness around him!"

"Shut up, Jade. You don't even know what you want for yourself." Audrey gave one last tug and tied the strings in an intricate bow and stowed them into her skirt.

"Mum, I went with Abraxas once, remember? It didn't work. I shouldn't have to explain myself to you every time I come home." Her breath was laboured. "Really, mum, this is much too tight, I can't breathe."

"It's perfect if you can't breathe. That's the point." She reached up into the skirt of her daughters dress robes and adjusted the suspenders adhearing her lace stockings to her panties. "You look fine, and you're going to impress the Malfoys. Let's be honest, Jade, you can't live off Acton's money forever." Audrey didn't say another word before she swept out of Jade's room.

"Yeah, because you want it all to yourself, you ruddy bitch." she mumbled to herself as she tried to relieve the tight laces.

"Ma'am. I is thinking you look nice in your dress." Jade scowled down at the house elf that stared up at her.

"You are disgusting. Get out of my sight."

He smiled widely at her and bowed so low that his nose nearly touched the ground. "I do as my ma'am wishes!"

What a miserable existence. Sucking up to anybody who walked through the threshold of this house would certainly be a difficult task for Jade. She couldn't imagine how tough it would be for somebody who wasn't recognized as a living creature by 99% of the people that came to their home.

She stared at the reflection gawking back at her. Her soft fingers glided over the boning in her corset. It was tough to admit, but maybe it wasn't that bad.

She quietly snuck toward her trunk and pulled out her black wand out of a velvet bag. With a quick swish, her bedroom door closed. "Just in case." She pulled up the skirt to the top of her thighs and tucked her wand inside her stockings. It was better to be safe than sorry. Her father would forgive her if some sort of life or death situation came up; like Malfoy trying to place his fingers anywhere near her.