Jade had woken up behind schedule the next morning in a bad mood. She didn't get to sleep until late last night. She was too angry, too hurt, to sleep. Her argument with Ron kept replaying in her head. She thought of different things she could have said instead, told him to get over it so they could continue on, tell him that he was right and stop being friends with Draco, told him she didn't want to be friends with him anymore and leave on her own terms instead of being thrown out of the Gryffindor Common Room like a… well, like a Slytherin. Jade threw on her uniform and hurried down to the Great Hall to grab some breakfast. She cast a glance over at the Gryffindor table as she made her way over to her usual spot. Harry caught her eye for a brief moment before Jade turned and realized someone was in her seat. To make her mood worse, Ava Lane was sitting next to Draco and talking to Pansy. Jade's eyes narrowed and she cleared her throat, she had gotten her friends' attention but Ava continued unaware. Jade rolled her eyes and shoved Ava aside, satisfied with the distance Ava stumbled down the bench, before claiming her seat.

"Excuse me!" Ava huffed as she yanked her cloak out from under Jade.

"You're excused," Jade noted casually as she reached for a muffin.

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning." Draco chuckled but Jade gave him an annoyed side glance. "Sorry." He told her, waiting for her to say something but she didn't. She was mad at him, she'd lost three of her friends because of him. A part of her knew that she had made her decision and now she had to live with it but that didn't mean she couldn't be petty about it.

"Hi, Gretta." Jade smiled at her friend who had joined them for breakfast.

"Hey!" Gretta smiled after swallowing the porridge in her mouth. "Did you sleep alright?" Gretta asked, concern shining in her eyes. "You're rarely late to breakfast." She added after Jade took a moment to decide if she should tell them what was bothering her or not.

"I've had better," Jade told her. "I couldn't sleep last night because I got into a fight with Ron."

"About what?" Pansy asked.

"What do you think?" Jade glanced at Draco for a moment before taking a drink from her goblet.

"Why?"

"Because he's an obnoxious sod." Draco glared at her.

"I'm fine, by the way." He told her. "Being thrown around the Entrance Hall as a ferret was amusing."

"I'm glad you agree," Theo smirked and Jade smiled as Draco glared at him.

"So, what happened?" Pansy asked Jade and she shrugged.

"We're not friends anymore." She said simply and she didn't like the silence that followed. She didn't want to tell them how it made her sad, she didn't want them to pity her and dote around her to make her feel better, she just wanted to go to her classes, get her work done, and keep herself busy until the sting of missing Ron, Hermione, and Harry was gone.

"Let's get to Herbology," Theo told them, rising from his seat. Pansy hurried around the table and looped her arm through Jade's, a comfortable and familiar motion.

"Don't worry about it," Pansy told her. "You won't even remember them 'cause you'll be too busy having fun with us." Jade gave her a forced smile as they traveled across the vegetable patch and into greenhouse three. Their first lesson in Herbology was an unpleasant one. Professor Sprout had a large batch of Bubotuber plants that she needed to be squeezed. They were ugly, large, black, slug-like plants that slowly squirmed in the soil. Each plant had big shiny swellings on them, and their duty was to pop and drain these swellings to collect the pus for Madam Pomfrey. Even though Jade was set on doing the disgusting task with Pansy, Draco pushed Pansy out of the way and smirked at Jade's side.

"I think Blaise needs your help with something." He told Pansy with a pointed look and Pansy rolled her eyes as she angrily walked over to Blaise's side. "Unpleasant task, isn't it?" Draco grinned down at Jade who was getting on her dragon-hide gloves and looking at the plant in front of her. Jade reached forward and grimaced as she squeezed on the largest swelling. A slow stream of thick yellowish-green liquid fell down the plant and Draco held a glass bottle underneath the pus to catch it. Jade paused, hiding her nose in her arm for a moment as the smell of spoiled milk attacked her nose. "I can do it," Draco said, noticing her discomfort. He was making a face at the smell too but he extended the glass bottle out towards her. Jade ignored him and continued to squeeze at the swelling. Draco quickly set the bottle under the draining bump and he sighed. When they finished with the plant, Draco nudged her out of the way. "Stop being stubborn." He told her as he set the full glass bottle of pus on the table and Jade put a cork into it before she grabbed another one and they moved onto another plant. He watched her, Jade was ready, the bottle under a swelling on the side of the plant, but Draco hadn't moved. She looked up at him to find him grinning down at her. "What, you're just not going to talk to me?" Jade's mouth turned up slightly in the corners as she stared at the plant. "Fine." Draco sighed, finally pressing on the plant. By the end of class, Draco and Jade had filled four bottles of disgusting-smelling pus, Professor Sprout was happy with their work. Charms class went by quickly, she had missed Professor Flitwick, this year's list of spells they would learn looked fun, she was excited to try them out but that day was only a lecture. Draco tried and failed to pull a conversation out of Jade at lunch and during Potions to the point where even Professor Snape wouldn't ignore him constantly whispering, Potions ended with Slytherin losing three points and Gryffindor losing five points because Neville had kept burning through his cauldron.

On Thursday, they had their first Defense Against the Dark Arts class. There was a lot of anticipation as word traveled from other students who had already been to Professor Moody's class and stories from his past came up. Students had lined up outside his classroom before the bell had even rung.

"Alright, come on!" Professor Moody growled as he opened the door. The students hurried inside and immediately separated onto either side of the room with the rest of their House. Draco quickly took the seat next to Jade and she glared at him.

"Do you not want me to sit here? Why don't you tell me to go away?" He cocked an eyebrow, trying to bait her into speaking to him but instead, she reached into her bag and took out her copy of The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self Protection. Professor Moody's distinctive clunking footsteps made their way back up to the front of the class and he looked around the room.

"You can put those away, those books. You won't need them." He mumbled. Jade did as he said and Professor Moody took out the class register and began to call out names, his normal eye landing on each person he called out as his magical eye surveyed the rest of the room. "Right then, I've had a letter from Professor Lupin about this class. Seems you've had a pretty thorough grounding in tackling Dark creatures, you've covered boggarts, Red Caps, hinkypunks, grindylows, Kappas, and werewolves, is that right?" Jade could see Harry and Ron at one of the front desks at the front of the class, Hermione sat behind them with Neville. "But you're behind, very behind, on dealing with curses," Professor Moody continued. "So, I'm here to bring you up to scratch on what wizards can do to each other. I've got one year to teach you how to deal with Dark-"

"What, aren't you staying?" Ron interrupted and Moody's magical eye spun around to stare at him, after a moment Moody smiled, it did little to soften his heavily scarred face, it would've looked like a grimace on anyone else.

"You'll be Arthur Weasley's son, eh?" He asked. "Your father got me out of a very tight corner a few days ago. Yeah, I'm staying just the one year. Special favor to Dumbledore, one year, and then back to my quiet retirement." He gave a harsh bark of laughter and then clapped his gnarled hands together. "So, straight into it. Curses. They come in many strengths and forms. Now, according to the Ministry of Magic, I'm supposed to teach you countercurses and leave it at that. I'm not supposed to show you what illegal Dark curses look like until you're in the sixth year. You're not supposed to be old enough to deal with it till then. But Professor Dumbledore's got a higher opinion of your nerves, he reckons you can cope, and I say, the sooner you know what you're up against, the better. How are you supposed to defend yourself against something you've never seen? A wizard who's about to put an illegal curse on you isn't going to tell you what he's about to do. He's not going to do it nice and polite to your face. You need to be prepared. You need to be alert and watchful. You need to put that away, Miss Brown, when I'm talking." Lavender jumped and blushed. She had been trying to show Parvati her completed horoscope chart under the desk. There was no way Moody could've seen it but his magical eye was stuck on the spot where Lavender's chart had been, Jade wondered for a moment if his eye could see through the wood, she wouldn't be surprised, she'd already witnessed him being able to see behind him when his eye rolled back into his head. "So, do any of you know which curses are most heavily punished by wizarding law?" Jade wasn't surprised when Hermione's hand shot into the air but she was when Ron's hand rose slowly. Moody gestured towards Ron, though his magical eye was still fixed on Lavender.

"My dad told me about one… is it called the Imperius Curse, or something?" Ron told him quietly,

"Ah, yes," Moody nodded. "Your father would know that one. Gave the Ministry a lot of trouble at one time, the Imperius Curse." Moody opened his desk drawer and took out a glass jar. Three large black spiders were scuttling around inside it. Jade noticed Ron lean back in his chair, he hated spiders. Moody reached into the jar, caught one of the spiders, and held it in the palm of his hand so that they could all see it. He then pointed his wand at it and muttered, "Imperio!" The spider leaped from Moody's hand on a fine thread of silk and began to swing backward and forward as though on a trapeze. It stretched out its legs rigidly, then did a backflip, breaking the thread and landing on the desk, where it began to cartwheel in circles. Professor Moody jerked his wand, and the spider rose onto two of its hind legs and went into what looked like a tap dance. It was cute, everyone was enjoying the show, even Ron. "Think it's funny, do you?" Professor Moody growled and the laughter faded back into silence. "You'd like it, would you, if I did it to you? Total control," Moody went on quietly as the spider balled itself up and began to roll over and over. "I could make it jump out of the window, drown itself, throw itself down one of your throats… years back there were a lot of witches and wizards being controlled by the Imperius Curse," Everyone knew he was talking about the days in which Voldemort had been around and Jade's eyes flicked to the side, Draco was leaning back in his seat, looking annoyed at Professor Moody. She didn't know if it was because it was also common knowledge that his parents were some of those people Moody was talking about or because he personally didn't like Professor Moody after the ferret incident. "Some job for the Ministry, trying to sort out who was being forced to act, and who was acting of their own free will. The Imperius Curse can be fought, and I'll be teaching you how, but it takes real strength of character, and not everyone's got it. Better avoid being hit with it if you can. Constant vigilance!" He yelled and Jade jumped in her seat, Moody let the spider be and then returned it to the jar. "Anyone else know one? Another illegal curse?" Hermione's hand flew into the air again and so did Neville's. Neville never voluntarily participated in class before. "Yes?" Professor Moody asked and both of his eyes focused on Neville.

"There's one… the Cruciatus Curse," Neville's voice was quiet but certain. Professor Moody looked Neville up and down.

"Your name's Longbottom?" He asked and Neville nodded nervously, but Moody didn't ask anything else, instead, he turned back to the rest of the class as he reached into the jar and pulled out another spider, unlike the first one, this one didn't automatically try and run away, it was like it had seen what the first one went through and was too afraid to move. "The Cruciatus Curse," Professor Moody cleared his throat, "needs to be a bit bigger for you to get the idea." He pointed his wand at the spider. "Engorgio!" The spider inflated to three times its normal size and was now larger than a tarantula. Ron scooted his chair backward until it hit the front of Hermione's desk. "Crucio!" The spider's legs bent in upon its body, it rolled over and began to twitch horribly, rocking from side to side. It looked extremely painful, spiders couldn't make noise but Jade imagined the creature screaming, begging for the pain to stop. Jade waited for the demonstration to end but it didn't and the spider began to shudder and jerk around violently.

"Stop it!" Hermione objected. Jade could only see the back of her head but she wasn't looking straight ahead at the spider, her head was turned towards Neville, whose hands were clenched on top of their desk and his head was bowed slightly. Moody finally raised his wand and the spider relaxed but its legs still twitched.

"Reducio," Moody muttered, and the spider shrank back to its proper size. He put it back into the jar and paused before looking back at his class who was now watching him with unsure expressions. "Pain," Professor Moody spoke softly, "you don't need thumbscrews or knives to torture someone if you can perform the Cruciatus Curse. That one was very popular once too. Right, anyone know any others?" There were three Unforgivable Curses and the last one rang loud in Jade's mind as she looked at the last spider. Hermione's hand rose into the air once again but this time she hesitated. "Yes?"

"Avada Kedavra," Hermione whispered. Several people looked uneasily around at her even though they knew it would be the last one.

"Ah," Moody nodded. "yes, the last and worst. Avada Kedavra, the Killing Curse." He put his hand into the glass jar and placed the last spider upon the desktop. It tried to get away the second its legs hit the wood. Moody raised his wand quickly, "Avada Kedavra!" He roared. There was a flash of blinding green light and a rushing sound, as though a vast, invisible force was soaring through the air… the spider rolled over onto its back, unmarked, but still dead. Jade tore her eyes away from the spider and focused on Moody as he watched their reactions. He swept the dead spider off the desk onto the floor. "Not nice," He spoke quietly. "Not pleasant… and there's no countercurse. There's no blocking it. Only one known person has ever survived it, and he's sitting right in front of me." Professor Moody looked down at Harry and everyone turned to look as well. Harry probably knew everyone behind him was staring at him but he met Professor Moody's eyes and waited for him to move on. "Avada Kedavra's a curse that needs a powerful bit of magic behind it, you could all get your wands out now and point them at me and say the words, and I doubt I'd get so much as a nosebleed. But that doesn't matter. I'm not here to teach you how to do it. Now, if there's no countercurse, why am I showing you? Because you've got to know. You've got to appreciate what the worst is. You don't want to find yourself in a situation where you're facing it. Constant vigilance!" he roared after his gentle lecture, and the whole class jumped again. "Now, those three curses, Avada Kedavra, Imperius, and Cruciatus, are known as the Unforgivable Curses. The use of any one of them on a fellow human being is enough to earn a life sentence in Azkaban. That's what you're up against. That's what I've got to teach you to fight. You need preparing. You need arming. But most of all, you need to practice constant, never-ceasing vigilance. Get out your quills, copy this down," They spent the rest of the lesson taking notes on each of the Unforgivable Curses. No one spoke until the bell rang and Moody dismissed them, as soon as they got into the hallway, there was an eruption of chatter.

"Did you see it twitch?" Pansy asked, coming up to Jade's side.

"Some lesson, huh?" Draco nodded.

"Intense, yeah." Pansy agreed.

"I've got a lot of work to do." Jade told Pansy, "I'll see you at dinner."

"See you!" Draco called after her retreating figure and he sighed when she didn't turn around or respond. "What's her deal, Parkinson? He asked.

"Even Maddex has a point where you push her too far, Malfoy." Theo clapped him on the back as he walked up to his open side. "You should just leave Weasley and the others alone."

"What? You a Gryffindor supporter now too?" He scoffed.

"No, I just don't be a dick to them because I know Jade would get upset, and then I'd be where you are." Theo quipped back.

"Why don't you just apologize to her instead of annoying her hoping for a reaction?" Pansy offered with a fake smile. She'd meant it as a jab but it gave him an idea.

"No… I'll do something better." He spotted someone further down the hall and left the others to try and catch up with them.

Jade let her bag land on her desk with a heavy thud and began pulling out her books for the classes she had homework in. She set them in a stack on the corner of her desk and grabbed a roll of parchment and her quill. But as she pressed the tip of her quill to the parchment she slumped and stared at the large candle on her desk. She was awful at getting into the mood to do her work, she grabbed the candle and brought it to her nose, a rich cinnamon spice scent filled her nose and she took a deep smell before setting it back down. The candle was a deep red that she always associated with Gryffindor house and that train of thought brought her to Ron. She'd looked at him numerous times during class but he never made eye contact with her, never even looked in her direction. She scribbled a poor starter sentence on the parchment for her Potions essay and then paused again. He was being immature about it really, since he was mad at her, Hermione and Harry probably felt obligated to take his side since they spend all their time together. Hermione had tried to come to her aid in the Common Room, she could separate her feelings for Draco and her feelings for Jade, and Harry, she didn't know what Harry was thinking. She hoped he didn't agree with Ron but it wouldn't be surprising if he did. A small flicker of light caught her eye and she looked up to find the candle lit. Jade looked around the room to see if Pansy had come in and lit it for some reason but she was alone. Jade watched the small flame grow and then begin to sway slightly. The flame was still growing taller, taller than a normal candle's flame and she quickly blew it out. A thin wisp of smoke coming off of the now black wick. Jade stared at the wick, wondering how it could've started, maybe she had done it unintentionally, that was the only explanation. It was known that when witches and wizards became emotional their magic could act out. The candle lit to life once again and Jade blew it out almost immediately.

"What the…'' Jade grabbed the candle and brushed her parchment out of the way as she set the candle in the middle of her desk. She lowered her face level with the wick and focused on it. The candle sparked to life again and Jade leaned back in her chair. She didn't know what was going on, she hadn't said Incedio, she'd only imagined the candle lighting again. She was surprised with herself, witches didn't cast any nonverbal spells successfully until they were much older with much more experience and focus. Jade focused on her quill, picturing it lifting into the air but there was no quick reaction like the candle, she tried again but the quill remained still. Jade got up from her seat and grabbed the lantern from the end table they had between their beds and looked inside at the candle. She was sure there would be a flame so she waited for it… she waited several minutes but nothing happened. She put the lantern down and sat back down at her desk, grabbing the candle in both hands and bringing it up to her face. The flame seemed to wave at her and she blew it out again and waited for it to relight… it didn't. Jade jumped as the door to her room opened and Pansy walked in.

"Hi… what are you doing?" Pansy asked when she noticed her friend clutching the candle so close to her face.

"Oh… nothing." Jade set the candle back to its original spot.

"Working on that Wit-Sharpening Potion essay?" Pansy asked as she glanced over Jade's shoulder and Jade nodded.

"Yeah." It must've been a fluke. Jade opened her Potions book and skimmed through the pages until she reached the page on the potion she needed to research.

"You know, the library has a good studying atmosphere," Pansy told her from her bed.

"So does our room," Jade told her as she began copying down some useful facts. "We could work on it together." Jade offered, turning around to look at her but Pansy shook her head.

"I'll do it later." They sat in silence for a few minutes, and Pansy sighed loudly, Jade put her quill down and turned around again.

"What's wrong? Jade asked.

"Nothing, why do you ask?"

"You're sighing loudly."

"I'm sorry. Do you want me to breathe quieter?"

"No, it's fine." Jade turned back around but before she could even touch the tip of her quil onto her parchment, Pansy began humming as she loudly jumped off her bed and walked over to her dresser where she began brushing her already perfect hair. Everything she was doing seemed to be louder than normal and Jade reread the newest sentence she wrote, trying to find her train of thought. Pansy wouldn't let up though and Jade made little progress on her assignment so she moved out into the more populated Common Room, sitting alone on the couch where she usually sat with her friends. Jade flipped open her book and set it in her lap but as she dipped her quill into her inkwell, Draco approached her with a smirk and plopped down next to her. She really wasn't in the mood, she was just trying to finish her homework. Draco was growing tired of the silent treatment, she'd been chipping away at the remainder of his patience all day. She sat next to him but refused to look in his direction. He turned in his seat and focused on her, his eyes taking her in from head to toe.

"I don't know why you're still ignoring me, you made your point." No one else was around them, it'd be different if she had Blaise to talk to or Pansy but it was just the two of them. "Why even be around me if you're just going to disregard me?" She considered this, she didn't want to be around him, she wanted to finish her assignment and it was clear that she wouldn't make any progress with Draco pestering her, she closed her book and moved to leave but he grabbed her wrist. Still, she didn't look at him, only sighed. "I think I've been patient enough and now you've spent it all up. Now you're testing my non-patience." Jade grinned, "You would find that amusing." Draco mumbled and he let go of Jade's arm. She left the Common Room and brought her work to dinner so when she finished, she took Pansy's initial advice and went to the library. She saw a familiar face, one of not many as mostly everyone was going to relax or get ready for bed. Hermione hadn't seen her enter, her head was buried in a large book and a cardboard box sat next to her. Jade approached her slowly until she stood right in front of her and Hermione finally looked up. "Mind if I sit with you?" Jade asked quietly and Hermione thought about it for a second and then nodded. "Thanks." Jade saw many different colored circles in the box, "What's that?" She asked and Hermione grabbed a small circle pin badge made of brass and showed it to her. "Spew?" Jade asked.

"Not spew," Hermione smiled shyly. "It's S-P-E-W. It stands for the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare. I've been researching it for days. Elf enslavement goes back centuries and no one has done anything about it."

"Sounds… interesting."

"I've only just started it!" Hermione went on, starting to talk faster.

"You started the club?" Jade asked and Hermione nodded. "Who's all in it?"

"Me, Ron, and Harry."

"Could I join?" Jade asked and Hermione looked at her with wide eyes.

"You… you want to join?"

"If that's alright?"

"Yeah! It's two Sickles to join, here's your badge." Hermione slid the pin badge towards her and Jade peeked into the box,

"Can I have a green one?" Jade asked and Hermione switched out the pins and Jade carefully pinned it on to her shirt. "There. Can I give you the money tomorrow?"

"Sure, whenever. So, what are you working on?"
"Potions," Jade said simply, but she was no longer interested in trying to get ahead of her work. "Did you finish your Wit-Sharpening potion essay?"

"Yes," Hermione grumbled. "Then Harry and Ron pestered me about it so now they have it."

"Well, that was nice of you." Jade smiled and Hermione shrugged. "How are they?" Jade asked after a pause.

"Good, fine. Harry's fine. Ron's…" Hermione died off and closed her book.

"Is he still angry?"

"Yes," Hermione told her quietly. "But Harry isn't!" She added reassuringly when Jade's face fell. "Neither am I, I don't think Ron should've put you in that position." Jade nodded and Hermione ran her finger over a S.P.E.W badge in her hand.

"Hermione," Jade started. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" She asked, confused.

"For what Draco said at the World Cup. I should've stuck up for you." Hermione still looked confused. "When he called you… that and was just… an ass overall."

"You don't need to apologize for that."

"No, I do."

"No, really, Jade. Draco already apologized." Jade stopped and furrowed her eyebrows. Had she heard her correctly?

"What? When?"

"After Defense Against the Dark Arts. I'm surprised he didn't tell you."

"We haven't really talked these past few days," Jade admitted.

"Oh, is it because of-"

"Yeah." Jade interrupted.

"You shouldn't ignore him for Ron's benefit… he's not in a place to appreciate it." Jade nodded, she knew Hermione was right. "It really shocked me when he did it." Hermione smiled. "It was so strange to hear him say the words 'I'm sorry'."

"I'm just as surprised as you are."