Jade was glad Draco didn't come back with them. Rodrick had made it home safely and apparently filled her parents in on what had happened at the match. As soon as they arrived, her parents were pulling her out of the fireplace and her mother squeezed her tightly.

"Oh, thank the gods!" Her mother gasped and Jade tried to move her arms but her mother had pinned them down.

"What the hell happened tonight?" Her father turned on Lucius and Jade pulled out from her mother's grasp a bit aggressively and then turned to see her father furiously standing in front of Mr. Malfoy who looked rather calm in spite of her parents' behavior.

"Father, please. Mr. Malfoy couldn't have possibly known something like this was going to happen." Jade tried to calm him down.

"Oh, yeah." Her brother came in from the kitchen, "I'm sure he knew nothing about the Deatheaters' little gathering." They all knew of Lucius Malfoy's past but to speak on it right in front of him was a bold thing to do. Jade was surprised her parents didn't stop him. Lucius, however, smiled politely at Rodrick.

"I had no idea some of the Dark Lord's old followers would gather and do something like this," Lucius told them. "Did you hear what they did?" He asked Rodrick and he nodded.

"I saw it."

"I would never treat a child like that. Muggle or not." Lucius looked at Rodrick sternly and, surprisingly, Rodrick backed down.

"I'm sorry," Rodrick told him quietly and Lucius nodded.

"It's alright. I understand. Honestly, I do." Lucius looked around the room and then settled on Amelia. "But, I would never have taken Jade if I knew something like this was going to happen. I had no part in it." Jade watched her mother and she watched Lucius for a moment before nodding.

"I know that. I'm sorry, we were all just so worried."

"Don't apologize, Amelia. I knew you would be worried, so I brought her straight home. I thought it'd be better you know she's okay instead of sending her off with the Weasleys." Her mother nodded again.

"Yes, you were right, thank you." Lucius turned and smiled and Jade.

"Good night, Jade. Good night to you all." As Lucius went back to the fireplace her father stopped him and held out his hand, Lucius shook it and then disappeared in green flames. Her father sighed and then joined his wife's side as they stood in front of Jade.

"Are you alright?" He asked. Rodrick sat on one of the couches and Jade took a seat next to him.

"Yes."
"Did you… see what happened?" Her brother asked and Jade nodded.

"Yes. It was only for a moment. Draco and I ran into the woods." She explained. She wouldn't tell them about how she had been scared and freaked out to the point where she couldn't breathe.

"You must be exhausted," Amelia said softly. "Why don't you get ready for bed?" She offered and Jade knew they were just trying to get rid of her so they could talk about the Deatheaters more, but she didn't argue. She rose from the couch and only stopped when she reached the stairs, her hand resting on the railing as she turned back to her parents.

"Can I still go to the Weasley's tomorrow?" Jade asked. Her parents exchanged a look.

"I don't see why not." Her father grinned and with the affirmation that the rest of her summer plans were still intact, she gladly retreated to her bedroom. Her eyes immediately went to Ezekiel's perch but he was gone, he'd already made the trip to the Weasley's. She wondered if he would beat her there. Jade slowly undressed and got into a cotton night slip before getting into bed. Her mother hadn't sent her things yet, she noticed them still in the living room. She hoped Mrs. Weasley still wanted her to come, maybe she wouldn't be in the mood to host after tonight. She wondered if the others were okay, she'd seen Hermione with Ron and Harry but there was no sign of Fred and George, Ginny, Charlie, Bill, Percy, Pansy, Blaise… she shook the thoughts from her head and tried to focus on something more pleasant to drift to sleep, she imagined what the Weasley house might look like. She knew it was small, but it wasn't one room like Pansy and Draco said, Ron mentioned he had his own room. She'd like to talk to Bill and Charlie more, she didn't know much about them.

Jade was practically bouncing with excitement the next morning, she'd woken up early and, of course, it was the one time she was up before her parents. Jade got herself ready and then went down to the kitchen for a quick breakfast. She wished she could use magic outside of school, it was a stupid rule that they couldn't. She'd be eating magnificent feasts every day at Hogwarts soon enough. She made herself some toast and chewed on it with much effort. She wasn't hungry, she just wanted to get going but she knew her mother would ask if she'd already eaten and if she said no her mother would've spent more time making a proper breakfast before they could go. She peeked around the wall towards the stairs at the sound of footsteps but it was only Rodrick. She sighed and turned back to her small plate of toast.

"Good morning to you, too," Rodrick smirked as he rolled up his sleeves.

"Are they up yet?" Jade asked impatiently.

"I think I heard mum shuffling around a bit," Rodrick told her as he snatched a piece of toast from her plate.

"Are you coming with us to the Weasley's?" Jade asked and Rodrick paused a moment to swallow.

"Afraid not. It'll just be you and mum."

"Do you have to go to work?"

"No, but I have plans with Maeve, she says hi by the way." Jade gave a thin smile.

"I'm sure she does."

"You've met her once." Rodrick sighed. "You should get to know her before you judge her."

"I didn't say anything!" Jade told him innocently.

"Right." Rodrick snorted and the sound of heels clicking down the stairs grabbed Jade's attention. She smiled when she saw her mother dressed and ready for the day.

"Can we go now?" Jade walked up to her mother and Amelia smiled at the eagerness in her tone.

"Yes, did you eat?" She asked and Jade nodded. "Alright." She peeked into the kitchen. "Say hello to Maeve for me, dear."

"Will do." Came Rodrick's reply and Jade bounced over to the fireplace and grabbed her trunk only to set it down a moment later, perhaps dragging it would be easier. "Have fun." Rodrick leaned against the wall to send her off. "I'll see you at the train station."

"Sounds good," Jade told him as their mother grabbed some floo powder atop the mantel. Her mother called for the Burrow and she stepped through.

"Watch those boys!" Her brother called after Jade as she followed her mother, struggling slightly with her trunk.

"I got it!" She called back to him but she didn't know if he caught the end of it as she was whisked off her feet and up.

The first thing that grabbed her attention when she landed was the smell. Apparently, it was time for breakfast at the Weasley's. Then she noticed the furniture in front of her, she looked around, it was a small area. She found everyone in the kitchen, which she could see the whole of by just turning her head right of the living room.

"Ah, hello there!" Mrs. Weasley smiled as she made her way around the large dining table that took up most of the kitchen. She was a short, plump woman and Jade couldn't help but smile back at her as she came and gave her a hug. "We haven't been properly introduced yet, Jade. I'm Molly Weasley, Ron's mother." Jade had only seen Mrs. Weasley once before at the bookstore in Diagon Alley.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Jade smiled, "This is my mother." Jade added stepping to the side slightly and Amelia smiled.

"Molly." Her mother greeted her before meeting her halfway to a hug.

"Amelia, it's been too long."

"You two know each other?" Ron's voice came from the kitchen and Mrs. Weasley led them towards everyone else.

"We went to school together." His mother gave as an explanation. "Jade, you know Ron, Harry, and Hermione, of course, then there's Ginny and the twins but those two on the end are my eldest sons, Bill and Charlie." Mrs. Weasley pointed everyone out, Jade noticed Percy and Mr. Weasley were missing, probably already went off to work.

"Nice to meet you." Bill smiled at her and Charlie raised his hand in greeting. Jade's cheeks warmed as they all looked at her. Bill was very handsome and very different looking from the rest of the Weasleys. He had a large scar that went from the end of his right eyebrow, across his nose, and to the bottom of his left cheek. He had long hair that he had tied back in a bun and what looked like a feather dangling from his ear.

"Nice to meet you." Jade nodded. Charlie was equally as handsome, the twins winked at her as they met her eye and she found herself wondering how they all could be so attractive, minus Percy, when her mother's voice brought her back to the present.

"Is that from this morning?" She asked, Jade saw what she was looking at. A copy of the Daily Prophet lay in the middle of the table. The title read; SCENES OF TERROR AT THE QUIDDITCH WORLD CUP. Below that was a large photograph of the Dark Mark twinkling high in the sky. "May I?" She asked Mrs. Weasley. She nodded and then placed a hand on Amelia's back.

"Mind staying for a bit and catching up?" Molly asked with a knowing look as she handed Jade's mother the paper.

"I have some time." Her mother agreed.

"Right then. Ron, could you help Jade carry her things up to Ginny's room?" Mrs. Weasley turned with another smile and Ron got up from the table, shortly followed by Hermione and Harry.

"We'll help," Hermione added and the boys worked together to pick up Jade's heavy trunk and take it upstairs. The stairs themselves were narrow and they spiraled up to where the bedrooms were. Jade listened as Ron pointed out everyone's room.

"Mine's up there." He gestured towards the second set of stairs that were much shorter. "Harry, Fred, and George are staying with me. Bill and Charlie are using their room." He explained. "Hermione is with Ginny and her room is right here." They let the trunk land with a heavy thud and moved it with their feet until it was inside the room. Ginny's bed laid in one corner while another makeshift bed laid on the other side of the room and an empty one was set up horizontally at the end of both of them.

"You'll be right here." Hermione smiled, excited to have another girl in the house full of boys. Jade helped shove her trunk under the bed and then she stood up and looked outside the window to find the sun high in the sky.

"Oh!" Jade turned to Harry. "Did you like my mum's cookies?" She asked. She remembered how Harry wrote to her and told her about some terrible diet his aunt was trying to force him into. The next day, she sent Ezekiel off with a small package of cookies she and her mum made.

"Yeah, they were great!" Harry smiled. "Thank you. She was serving quarters of grapefruit for breakfast."

"Anything else?" Jade asked and Harry shook his head. "How's Sirius?" She asked quietly.

"Let's go to Ron's room," Harry told them after a moment. Ron's room was crowded, four beds propped up combined with the boys' things left little space to stand about. A small cage that sat on the end table near one of the beds caught Jade's attention. Ron went to the bed in question and sat on it.

"Ron? Who's that?" Jade asked, stepping over a bed to get a closer look at the tiny owl.

"Oh, that's Pig." Ron rolled his eyes as the owl flew around its cage. "He's a bit mental."

"You named him Pig?"

"He's real name is Pigwidgeon but he won't respond to it, he only listens to Pig." He was a cute little thing and he hooted up sweetly when he realized Jade was coming close to give him attention.

"Where'd you get him?" She asked as she stuck a finger in and rubbed the feathers on his chest.

"Sirius." Ron told her, "What were you going to say about Sirius, Harry?" Ron asked and Jade turned her attention back to her friends and sat down on the bed opposite Ron's.

"There's something I haven't told you." Harry started. "On Saturday morning, I woke up and my scar was hurting again." Hermione gasped and started making suggestions of what he should do, from reference books to speaking with Dumbledore.

"But, he wasn't there, was he? You-Know-Who? I mean, last time your scar kept hurting, he was at Hogwarts, wasn't he?" Ron asked.

"I'm sure he wasn't on Privet Drive," Harry told him. "But I was dreaming about him, him and Peter. I can't remember all of it now, but they were plotting to kill-" Harry looked around and noticed all of their faces twisted with worry, "someone." He finished.

"It was only a dream," Ron muttered quietly, more so to remind himself than to reassure Harry. "Just a nightmare."

"Yeah… but was it, though?" Harry said, looking down at the floor. "It's weird, isn't it? My scar hurts, and three days later the Death Eaters are on the march, and Voldemort's sign's up in the sky again."

"Don't say his name!" Ron hissed through gritted teeth.

"And remember what Professor Trelawney said?" Harry went on, ignoring Ron. "At the end of last year?" Professor Trelawney was their Divination teacher at Hogwarts. Hermione's terrified look vanished as she let out a snort of disbelief.

"Oh Harry, you aren't going to pay attention to anything that old fraud says?"

"You weren't there," Harry said. "You didn't hear her. This time was different. I told you, she went into a trance, a real one. And she said the Dark Lord would rise again . . . greater and more terrible than ever before . . . and he'd manage it because his servant was going to go back to him, and that night Wormtail escaped." She remembered that night, she still had nightmares about it sometimes. Ron picked at a small hole in his Chudley Cannons bedspread, Hermione was the one to break the uncomfortable silence.

"Why were you asking if Hedwig had come, Harry?" Hermione asked. "Are you expecting a letter?" That reminded her, she had to ask Mrs. Weasley if Ezekiel had made it yet. She wouldn't be surprised if he didn't but he should be turning up soon.

"I told Sirius about my scar," Harry shrugged. "I'm waiting for his answer."

"I'm glad you told him." Jade gave him a small smile. She was glad he was sharing with them, it was something serious, and if Harry was right, potentially dangerous. But, he seemed hesitant at first, and she didn't want him to think it was best not to share with them, to spare them of worrying.

"Yeah, good thinking!" Ron's expression began to lighten. "I bet Sirius'll know what to do!"

"I hoped he'd get back to me quickly," Harry muttered.

"But we don't know where Sirius is." Hermione reminded him. "He could be in… Africa or somewhere, couldn't he? Hedwig's not going to manage that journey in a few days."

"Yeah, I know," Harry agreed but he didn't look anymore at ease.

"Come and have a game of Quidditch in the orchard, Harry," Ron suggested, also noticing Harry's mood. "Come on, three on three, Bill and Charlie and Fred and George will play. You can try out the Wronski Feint."

"Ron," Hermione objected, she obviously didn't agree with this idea but Jade thought it might be fun.

"Harry doesn't want to play Quidditch right now. He's worried, and he's tired-"

"Yeah, I want to play Quidditch," Harry interrupted her suddenly. "Hang on, I'll get my Firebolt." Harry went to the other side of the room and began digging through his things.

"Could I play too?" Jade asked, rising from the bed and they all looked at her. "What?" She asked quietly.

"You ever played Quidditch before?" Ron asked.

"No," Jade admitted and she thought since she didn't have experience they wouldn't let her play but Ron's face split into a large smile.

"That's okay! Come on!" Ron started out of his room and Jade followed quickly, Harry picking up behind her with his Firebolt in hand, and Hermione closing the bedroom door behind them. They all hurried down the stairs and Jade feared for a moment the staircase was shaking but once they reached the end it still looked very much in place.

"Fancy a game of Quidditch?" Harry asked the still full table of people and they all agreed enthusiastically. "Hermione? You wanna play?"

"No, thank you," Hermione told them as she grabbed a book from an empty spot at the kitchen table. "I'll just keep reading on-"
"Ginny? Wanna play?" Ron interrupted Hermione and Ginny nodded. "Jade doesn't know how to play, think you can teach her the basics?"

"I haven't got a broom." Jade noted as they all began getting up from their seats to head outside.

"That's alright, you can use one of our old ones. Come on." Ginny told her and Jade followed Ginny outside. Jade looked up at the house, it might not have been big in the wider sense but it was very tall. The Weasley's had a lot of land around their house. Ginny took her towards an old shed. "Dad has his collectible stuff in here," Ginny said as a warning before pushing open the doors. "He collects a lot of Muggle things." Ginny bent down and moved a box labeled 'batteries' to grab a few brooms. She went back outside and laid them on the ground. "These used to be Fred's and George's. They were a bit rough with them." Ginny explained, the two brooms on the left were long and had a few splinters in the wood, the metal around the end frayed out slightly, the twigs at the end were different lengths, they looked sparse, as if they were missing quite a few twigs that made up the full end of the broom. "But this one," Ginny picked up the broom in the middle, and that one looked like it was in much better condition. "is my old one." Ginny smiled. "Got a new one when we won the lottery and haven't used it since." Ginny handed it to Jade and picked up the other brooms, threw them back in the shed, and then led Jade to where the others were. "You know how to fly, right?" Ginny asked.

"Of course I know how to fly," Jade told her, every first-year learned how to fly, granted Jade hadn't done much riding since then, her own broom sat in the corner of her room collecting dust. Jade straddled the broom and kicked off the ground gently, glad when the broom levitated her in the air. Ginny followed up after her and looked back at the boys who were all in the air, hovering on their brooms in a circle.

"We don't have all the Quidditch balls, only a few old Quaffles. We use them as Bludgers too." Ginny explained. "There is no Golden Snitch so there is no Seeker." She added. "You've been to enough Quidditch matches to understand how it's played. So, what position do you think you'd be good at?"

"Maybe… a Beater?" Jade offered. She didn't fancy being bumped into and having balls thrown at her while she tried to make a goal as a Chaser but she didn't want to just sit around at the end of the field and wait as a Keeper.

"Okay! Why don't you just watch Fred or George?" Ginny flew over to join the boys and Jade followed behind nervously. She didn't want to make a fool of herself in front of them.

"Alright, the teams are; myself, George, Harry, and Ginny," Charlie announced. "And Bill, Fred, Ron, and Jade. Question is, do we have two Chasers or two Beaters per team?"

"Two Beaters," Fred answered as if it were obvious.

"No, two Chasers." Ron objected. "Jade's never played before, how's she supposed to make a goal with two Beaters throwing old Quaffles at her?"

"Actually, I was interested in being a Beater," Jade interjected and Fred smirked at her.

"You heard the lady."

"So Jade's your Beater. Fred and Bill will be the Chasers and Ron, you'll be the Keeper." Charlie said with finality, wanting to get on with the game. "George will be our Beater-"

"That's not fair, he's got experience!" Ron chirped up again.

"Fine. Harry will be our Beater. George and Ginny will be the Chasers and I'll be Keeper." He looked around for anyone else's objections but it was settled. They flew to their ends of the large makeshift field and Fred pulled up next to her and handed her the substitute Bludger.

"Usually we use bats." He told her.

"I know, I've seen you play before." Jade teased and Fred grinned at her.

"Watch me much, do you?" He asked and Jade blushed as he flew away to get into position. Hermione walked to the middle of the field, holding one of the Quaffles in her hands. She looked from the right side to the left and then threw the Quaffle as high as she could in the air. The Chasers flew straight towards it and immediately Jade forgot everything a Beater was supposed to do. Was she supposed to follow them? How was she supposed to use the Quaffle she had? Just throw it at them? She saw Harry flying the perimeter of the field and he pulled back and chucked his Quaffle at Fred who flew out of the way and it hit Bill in the leg. It didn't do anything to shake Bill as he leaned to the left and bumped into Ginny who currently had the Quaffle. Bludgers flew around the field on their own but the Quaffle that was thrown just fell to the ground. Before it could hit, George dove for it and started towards Ron. Did the Bludger Quaffles turn into regular Quaffles once they left the Beater's hands? This messed-up version of Quidditch was hard for her to understand. Harry then flew towards Ginny and bumped into her hard, knocking the Quaffle from her hands and Harry quickly swooped under her and grabbed it. "Having trouble, love?" Fred smiled, flying past her and then coming back around to stop at her side. "I know, it's confusing at first but it's really quite simple. Don't think of it as a Bludger. They're all Quaffles. Chasers want them to make goals, Beaters want them to knock people off their brooms." Jade nodded and Fred gestured for the Quaffle in her hands. "Like this." Fred threw the Quaffle at George, who hadn't been paying attention, and he dropped his Quaffle to clutch at his ear where Fred had hit him.

"Hey!" George yelled at him.

"Just showing her how we play, mate!" Fred's voice wavered with laughter and Jade couldn't help but laugh herself. George dove for the Quaffle he had dropped but Fred also went for it and they collided before either of them could grab it. Jade was worried as they fell to the ground and landed with a thud but they were laughing and quickly hopped back on their brooms. A Quaffle flew by her and Jade flew after it and caught it. Harry was smiling suspiciously at her and Jade threw the Quaffle back at him. He caught it with ease and then, not for the purpose of making a goal but for the purpose of because it would be funny, he threw it at Ron, who reached out a leg and blocked the fake attempt.

"You can't do that!" Ron called at Harry. While he was distracted, Ginny scored ten points for her team.

"Ron!" Bill called back at him. "Focus!" Jade watched as Fred weaved past his siblings and scored, making it a tie. Gaining more confidence, Jade flew towards where the other players were colliding and throwing Quaffles. Bill ran into Ginny, the two players who were taking the match seriously, and she lost her hold on the Quaffle. Jade dove underneath her and caught it. She immediately turned around and aimed for George who had another Quaffle. As the Quaffle left her hand she knew it was a good throw, it hit George in the side and he veered down to the left, bumping into Fred, who hit him back with more force and the Quaffle slipped from under George's arm. Jade went for the Quaffle again but Harry got there quicker, it wasn't fair, he had the best broom in the world. Bill went to score but Charlie blocked it and Jade turned quickly and caught the Quaffle before it could hit the ground. As she straightened up a Quaffle went whizzing past her ear. Harry was laughing as she looked around to find who had done it and when she spotted him she flew after him. Harry jet off away from her.

"We're not supposed to hit each other, you asshole!" She yelled after him and then went against what she just said and threw the Quaffle, it hit Harry on the back and then bounced off towards the ground. A second Quaffle came from the left and hit the end of Harry's broom, sending him into a temporary spin down before he regained control. Fred flew up next to Jade.

"You know what would be more fun?" He asked.

"What?" She smiled, liking the way his eyebrow lifted playfully.

"If there were no rules."

"Agreed." They flew off in separate directions, hunting for any Quaffle that flew midair so they could intercept it. Fred sent a Quaffle at Bill who didn't appreciate him not sticking to his position and throwing it at his own teammate. Jade took a bit longer but she cautiously flew next to George and tried bumping into his side. He smiled at her weak attempt.

"Gonna have to try harder than that, Jade." He told her, looking away to focus on her. Jade swooped away and then, with a much greater force, rammed into George, who swayed and veered down to go with the momentum of her hit and keep control of his broom. Jade gripped tightly onto her broom as her weight started to take her more off her broom than she liked. Jade then went back down to hit George again and his Quaffle slipped from his grip. She recovered it nicely, she knew it was just a fun game but she was wondering if she should try out for Quidditch this year. She went higher and found Ginny, threw the Quaffle and it made contact with the tip of her broom. George recovered the Quaffle and sent it after Jade, Jade screamed as she ducked but Bill came swooping behind her and sent the Quaffle back at George.

"Those aren't the rules, Bill." Jade joked.

"Yeah, but did you see the look on his face?" He chuckled. It didn't take long until they were all just trying to hit each other with the Quaffles. Jade thought she did pretty good, she only got hit twice. One wasn't that hard but the second one hit her hard on the side of her thigh and she was sure it would bruise in the morning. They played until the sun began to set and only stopped because they were hungry. Quidditch had been a nice chance to bond with the older Weasley brothers. They chattered loudly at dinner and Jade felt an overwhelming feeling of warmth and acceptance. She found herself wishing she had a large family like the Weasleys. Honestly, it made her a little sad, she had one brother, and he was so much older than her. The Weasley siblings were all a year or two apart.

"What do you think, Jade?" Mrs. Weasley asked at the end of the table.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Jade asked, she hadn't heard what she asked.

"We were just wondering if you'd want to join us again next year. Bill and Charlie said they'd be able to come home for a bit again and we'd be happy to have you back."

"Oh, yes." Jade smiled. "I would love to." Jade and Hermione helped clean up after dinner but Mrs. Weasley wouldn't let them do much. Once they gathered the plates she shooed them off upstairs, insisting they'd already done plenty. Jade was exhausted, she changed silently and got into the bed they'd made for her. It wasn't nearly as big as her bed at home but it was comfortable. All the girls were quiet, Hermione read a book and Ginny was turned towards the wall. It didn't take long for her to fall asleep.