"You know what day it is?" Pansy yelled, waking Jade up, and a second later she felt something hit her square in the face. "It's your birthday!" Jade opened her eyes to find Pansy beaming smiling down at her like a madwoman.

"Every year you throw that pillow in my face," Jade grumbled as she wiped her eyes of sleep.

"Technically, this is a different pillow." Pansy corrected her. "Now, come on. Get up, get dressed, and let's open your presents."

"For my birthday this year, I'd like to just relax and do some work." Jade sighed as she got out of her bed and flicked open her trunk.

"No, that's no way to spend a birthday." Pansy shut down her request. "We've got your presents in the Common Room," Pansy told her as she slipped out of their room. Jade knew better than to ask if Harry and her other Gryffindor friends were up there. This year the bitterness between the Houses was so intense Jade was worried at every class they shared another duel would break out. Very different from last year, where they put their differences aside to hang out with Jade on her birthday. She dressed quickly in a sweater and a pair of trousers and made her way up the stone steps to find her friends under a makeshift 'Happy Birthday' banner behind a table stacked with presents.

"Happy Birthday!" They cheered in unison. Jade felt strange, this year she just wanted to get through the gifts and go on about her day as if it were normal, she wasn't in the mood for celebrating. She thanked her friends after every present and they sauntered up to the Great Hall for breakfast. She was doing her best to look excited when Ezekiel came with a package from home but Draco could tell something was off, he watched her closer than the others so he didn't say anything to them when they didn't notice. He stood suddenly, interrupting Theo's story.

"Are you okay?" Pansy asked.

"Fine, just gonna go for a walk." He looked at Jade, who was poking her oatmeal with her spoon. "Maddex." He said, and she looked up. "Wanna go for a walk?" Her cheeks blushed a pretty shade of pink.

"Okay." She agreed and then hurried to catch up with him as he left the Great Hall. "Everything okay?" Jade asked, joining his side.

"You tell me."

"What do you mean?" Draco gave her a side glance as he started down the stairs to the dungeons.

"Something's bothering you, obviously."

"I… I don't know, I'm just not in the mood."
"Not in the mood for what?" Draco asked but all he got back was a shrug. "I love your birthday."
"Why?" Jade asked with a quizzical glance.

"I'm going to see how many gifts I can get you to wear before you're decorated like a Christmas tree." He said, noting the necklace around her neck that he had gotten her last year and the silver emerald bracelet he had gotten her this year. This pulled a laugh from her.

"The bracelet's a bit much for everyday wear." She told him. He let out a small 'hm'.

"Seen Potter recently?" He asked and there was a very noticeable pause before she answered.

"Not since you jinxed Hermione."

"You mean since he jinxed you?"

"He didn't mean to."

"Neither did I."

"I know." No one was in the Common Room when they entered, everyone was still at breakfast. Jade followed Draco towards the couch but then he passed it and stopped at the top of the stairs leading to the boys' dormitories.

"What?" He asked when she had stopped walking with him.

"Where are we going?"
"To my room?"

"Why?"

"So I can grab my wand?" He asked again, pretending to not understand why she'd be nervous to get caught in the boys' dormitories.

"What if someone-"

"No one goes in my room except for me and Blaise, and he's not going to rat you out." She hesitated for a moment and then walked towards him again and he smiled as he turned to go down the stairs. "I'm not going to bite." He taunted her as they started down the identical hall until they reached his room and he opened the door for her. She stepped inside and watched him as he went over to his bed, grabbed his wand, and showed it to her. "See?" He twirled his wand in between his fingers as Jade walked around the room. She wasn't surprised that the room was just as neat as her own was. She walked over to Draco's writing desk and looked at his homework stacked in the corner. The top had small trinkets lined up. "How is Granger?" Draco asked.

"Better. Madame Pomfrey was able to shrink her teeth down. More so than normal actually, she had Madame Pomfrey go a bit more on her front teeth."

"No more beaver teeth?" Draco chuckled and Jade turned around and shot him a glare. "It was a joke."

"Do you collect small things or something?" Jade asked, addressing his impressive lineup and grabbing a silver ring with a large M on it.

"No." He told her, coming up to her side. "Just things that remind me of home." He watched her turn the ring over and over with her fingers as she looked over at Blaise's side of the room. "You can have that if you want." He said and she stopped fiddling with the ring. "It's too small for me now." He held up his hand and Jade noticed the ring on his middle finger, it had the Malfoy family crest stamped into the metal.

"Yeah, 'cause you shot up like a damn tree." She smiled as the sound of his laughter filled the room.

"True."

"What would people think if I wore a Malfoy ring?" She asked, she knew that people would assume that they were dating and the corner of his mouth twitched up slightly.

"Doesn't have to be a Malfoy ring." He said simply, the hint of a smile still playing on his lips. "It could be for Maddex." Jade slipped it onto her fingers, testing which one it fit best on. "Or it could stay a Malfoy ring, whichever you prefer." He winked at her. "But I think that makes us something of an item, then."

"Oh, really?" She smiled.

"I believe so."

"Well-" But before she could get out the rest of her sentence, the door opened and Blaise walked inside, eyes flickering between the two of them for a moment.

"What?" Draco asked, annoyed to be interrupted and to not hear what she was going to say.

"Interrupting something?" Blaise smirked.

"No," Jade told him quickly and Draco rolled his eyes. Whatever she was going to say was lost now.

"There's someone who wants to see you upstairs," Blaise told Jade. "Well, two someones, people, two people." He corrected himself.

"Who?" Jade asked.

"The Weasley twins," Blaise said with a tick of irritation. "You'd better hurry and get them out of the Common Room."

"Fred and George?" Jade asked as she quickly left their room, Blaise turned and they both hurried to catch up with her as she practically ran down the hall towards the stairs.

"Know any other Weasley twins?" Blaise asked her. Draco didn't say anything, he was annoyed how eager she was to see them. They all stopped at the top of the stairs and a few Slytherins were lounging about, all glaring at the twins who were standing near the entrance and loving the attention. George tapped Fred on the shoulder and they both saw Jade coming towards them.

"What are you two doing here?" She asked before Fred wrapped his arms around her and lifted her off the floor.

"Come to celebrate your birthday, of course!" Fred announced to the room and Jade went red in the face as he set her down.

"Keep it down!" She hissed at him.

"Not here, Jade!" George added. "Not in this depressing old Common Room!" He said loudly, earning a few more glares.

"Come on, let's go," Fred told her, turning towards the door.

"Where are we going?"

"The Gryffindor Common Room, obviously." He smiled. She looked back at Blaise and Draco, both watching the twins with clear dislike on their faces.

"Fine, okay, let's just go." She practically shooed them out of the room and when they got into the corridor she walked quickly to keep up with their long strides. "How did you two get in?" She asked.

"We know which brick to poke to get inside," George told her.

"Did you have to make a show of coming inside?" She sighed and they shared a devilish smile.

"Of course we did."

"Had to pick me up like a ragdoll?" She narrowed her eyes at Fred and he shrugged as they crossed the Entrance Hall and began climbing the marble staircase.

"Go big or go home." Was his answer. "Balderdash," Fred told the Fat Lady who guarded the entrance to the Gryffindor Common Room. She glanced down at Jade for a moment before swinging open the portrait and allowing them to pass inside. Unlike the Slytherin Common Room, the Gryffindor Common Room was full of people. Harry and Hermione were sitting on one of the red couches near the lit fireplace and Hermione smiled when the three of them joined them. "Should've come with us, Harry."

"Slytherins would've loved that." George chuckled.

"Sorry. Just given the circumstances-"

"Don't worry about it," Jade told Harry and he smiled appreciatively.

"And I'm sorry about what happened in the dungeons." He added.

"Harry, it's fine. It wasn't your fault."

"Oh, Ezekiel returned last night." He told her.

"I saw him this morning, he brought me something from my parents."

"I didn't see a package when he-" Harry let his sentence hang in the air as his eyes flicked towards the twins who were sitting on the opposite couch and slapping each other's hands in some sort of game. "Right… happy birthday." He grinned and handed her a present.

"Thank you." She began picking at the wrapping paper, "How are you, Hermione?" Jade asked and gestured towards her mouth.

"Oh, much better." Hermione smiled at them, showing off her teeth.

"Hey there, Ron," Fred stated and Hermione, Jade, and Harry all turned around to see him standing at the landing of the stairs leading to the dormitories. Ron looked at each of them in turn, Jade offered him a small smile, she didn't know if he would try and throw her out but he looked like he wanted to say something.

"Happy birthday," Ron told her quietly as he passed them and left the Common Room.