The storm had passed during the night but it left a residual gloomy feeling outside. Jade personally liked gloomy weather, she didn't mind storms either, it was the cold that she didn't care for. Draco nudged her with his elbow and she looked away from the gray clouds swirling around the ceiling of the Great Hall and focused on the piece of parchment that Professor Snape had dropped in front of her. She grinned at Professor Snape thankfully as he continued down the table but he didn't give her a second glance.

"Starting off the morning with Transfiguration." Blaise nodded appreciatively. He really liked Transfiguration and Jade knew he admired Professor McGonagall immensely.

"Care of Magical Creatures after that," Jade added, Hagrid's class was one of her favorites, she had a natural draw towards magical creatures so it was a subject she enjoyed learning about.

"With the Gryffindors again," Pansy sighed.

"We're with them after lunch, too." Draco groaned. Pansy stabbed the eggs on her plate with her fork before eating them angrily.

"However will you two survive?" Jade gasped. Unlike the rest of her Slytherin friends, she didn't mind some of the Gryffindors… but the rest were just infuriatingly dull and annoying.

"Should've dropped Divination and taken up your offer on joining Arithmancy, Blaise." Draco talked into his goblet before taking a drink. "Double Divination." Draco groaned after swallowing. He was more annoyed by this than the fact he had a class with the Gryffindors. He didn't care for the class at all, he only agreed to take it because Jade was. There was a sudden rustling noise above them and a moment later, hundreds of owls came flying through the open windows, carrying the morning mail. After a few seconds of owls flying right over their heads, they all seemed to have found their owner and Ezekiel swooped down gracefully in front of Jade. Jade took the letter from Ezekiel and gave him a scratch on the back of his neck, he pushed into her touch and then waited patiently for a treat. Jade offered him a piece of bread but he ducked around her finger and took a sausage link and flew off before she could catch him.

"Bad manners!" She called after him but she smiled as he disappeared out the window. She turned to find Draco's large eagle owl, Hunter, perched on his shoulder and peering into the bag he had brought Draco. Draco reached inside and handed Jade a toffee. "Thank you." She unwrapped it quickly and popped it into her mouth, rocking side to side on her seat happily as the sweet taste flooded her tongue. Pansy held out her hand expectantly and Draco rolled his eyes before dropping one into her hand.

"You always give me one," Pansy said as she unwrapped her candy.

"Yes, but it seems you've forgotten how to ask, Parkinson," Draco smirked.

"You always give me one." She emphasized again. "Besides, Jade didn't ask and you still gave her one."

"That's because I like her more than I like you." He quipped back jokingly but Pansy just looked at him and then her eyes slid to Jade and she turned back to her food with a quiet 'hm'.

"What? Jade asked, interested in why Pansy had let his comment slide by.

"Nothing." She hummed again and busied herself with draining her goblet and then over-enthusiastically finishing her plate. "Let's get to class shall we?" She asked, rising from the table, and the others quickly gathered their things to follow her.

The first Transfiguration lesson was nothing new. Jade had sat next to Blaise, like she always did, she listened to Professor McGonagall recap everything they learned last year and summarize everything they'd learn this year. They'd only begun to learn about the Hedgehog to Pincushion transformation when the bell rang.

"Alright, finish reading the history of the Hedgehog to Pincushion transformation and be ready to start practicing tomorrow." Professor McGonagall told her class before they left. Jade slid her book back into her bag and grabbed Pansy from the desk next to her.

"Do you think it's still warm out?" Pansy asked as she removed her cloak and stuck it in her bag, "I think it is." Pansy answered her own question a second later. It was warm outside, there was a constant blow in the air but it barely brushed the hair from Jade's shoulders. They took the familiar trek down the sloping lawn towards Hagrid's small wooden cabin, which stood on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Hagrid was standing outside his hut, one hand on Fang's head as he smiled broadly at his approaching students. The Gryffindors had beat them down there and Jade could see Harry, Hermione, and Ron standing closer to Hagrid than the other students, they were talking to him about something. As they got closer, Jade could see several open wooden crates on the ground and she began to hear a weird rattling noise and every once in a while there was what sounded like a small explosion.

"On'y jus' hatched!" She heard Hagrid say and they finally reached the Gryffindors. "Blast-Ended Skrewts! Yeh'll be able ter raise 'em yerselves!" Jade hadn't heard about Blast-Ended Skrewts before but she excitedly peeked inside one of the crates. Her smile dropped instantly.

"Ew!" Pansy squealed and then took a step back. They looked like… pale, shell-less, slimy, very deformed… lobsters? Maybe? Jade couldn't find a head on the creature and it had legs in odd places, sprayed out randomly, she didn't know how they could walk, but they weren't really walking, they were more so moving like slugs. Hagrid had about a hundred of them in each crate and with a bunch of them in one small space, they gave off a strong scent of fish that had been left out for days. Every now and then, sparks would fly out of the end of a skrewt, and with a small phut, it would be propelled forward several inches.

"Thought we'd make a bit of a project of it!" Hagrid smiled encouragingly down at Jade and she stiffly nodded her head. She didn't want to get any closer to them, they were smelly and ugly and disturbing.

"And why would we want to raise them?" Draco asked in disgust at her side. Hagrid looked at him, confused why they didn't find them as fascinating as he did. "I mean, what do they do?" Draco sighed. "What is the point of them?" Hagrid opened his mouth to answer but there was a pause for a few seconds before he said,

"Tha's next lesson, Malfoy. Yer jus' feedin' 'em today." Hagrid turned to the rest of the students. "Now, yeh'll wan' ter try 'em on a few diff'rent things. I've never had 'em before, not sure what they'll go fer. I got ant eggs an' frog livers an' a bit o' grass snake, just try 'em out with a bit of each." Hagrid gestured towards where he had the food options set up on the side of his cabin and students hesitantly walked over to them. Jade looked in each box for what felt like a long time before grabbing a handful of ant eggs.

"This feels like the least horrible option." She told Pansy, who looked into her hand. Pansy nodded and then followed her over to the last free crate.

"They look like huge maggots with legs." Pansy whimpered as Jade sprinkled some ant eggs into the crate. The skrewts nudged their way over to the food, climbing over one another and pushing others out of the way. "You're so strange for liking this kind of stuff." She told Jade.

"This wasn't exactly what I had in mind. Actually, far from it." Jade mumbled. "I like Hippogriffs, and dragons, trolls, and centaurs, things like that… not Blast-Ended Skrewts." She ended in a disappointed sigh.

"Ouch!" The girls looked to the left to find Dean Thomas clutching his hand and looking at it closely.

"You think it bit his finger off?" Jade heard Theo chuckle behind them. Draco and Blaise smiled as they looked over at Dean from their crate.

"It got me! Its end exploded!" Dean Thomas yelled and Hagrid came over to look at his hand.

"Ah, yeah, that can happen when they blast off," Hagrid nodded.

"Ugh, Hagrid, what's that pointy thing on it?" Lavender Brown asked from the other end of the crate Dean was at.

"Ah, some of 'em have got stings," Hagrid told her enthusiastically without coming to look at what she was concerned about. Lavender quickly took her hand out of the crate. "I reckon they're the males. The females've got sorta sucker things on their bellies, I think they might be ter suck blood."

"Well, I can certainly see why we're trying to keep them alive," Draco said sarcastically. "Who wouldn't want pets that can burn, sting, and bite all at once?"

"Just because they're not very pretty, it doesn't mean they're not useful," Hermione snapped back at him. "Dragon blood's amazingly magical, but you wouldn't want a dragon for a pet, would you?" Draco cast Jade a knowing glance and she turned back to her crate of skrewts.

"They seem to like the ant eggs," Jade noted as she poured the rest of them into the box. "They better, because I'm not touching those other things." She added as she dusted her hands off and Pansy nodded.

"I'll let you handle them." She smiled, "Since you're the Magizoologist."

"Funny. You can feed them next time." Jade told her and before she could object, Hagrid addressed the class again.

"Blast-Ended Skrewts are a hybrid creature. They come from Manticores an' Fire Crabs." He explained. Jade couldn't remember what a Manticore looked like but she knew it was a large creature, and she knew a Fire Crab was not nearly as big, so how the two mated together and made the thing they were now in charge of caring for was hard to picture. "Ne'er successfully bred 'em together before now, so I'm excited ter learn along with yuh!" He said in conclusion. "Class dismissed! Have a nice day!"

"Is it wrong of me to hope they die overnight or something bad happens to them?" Pansy asked as they began their climb up the hill for lunch.

"Yes," Jade answered after a shameful second of debating if it would be such a bad thing.

"They just hatched, too," Blaise said next to her. "Imagine what they'll look like as they get older, how big they'll get."

"I'd rather you not put that image in my head before we eat," Theo said.

"Hear what Granger said about dragons? Draco asked as he came up on Jade's other side.

"Yes," Jade replied simply.

"Still think having one would be a good idea?"

"When are you going to apologize to her?" Jade asked, "You said you would."

"And I will." He nodded.

"When?"

"Next time I talk to her."

"You rarely talk to her, unless it's shouting something rude at her." Draco smiled at first but then corrected himself when Jade caught him.

"Well, next time I have the urge to say something to her, it'll be an apology."

"Really?" Jade asked and Draco nodded. "Fine, I'll accept that." Jade didn't have much of an appetite after their lesson so she took out her Transfiguration book and began reading on the Hedgehog to Pincushion transformation. It was currently her only homework but she might as well get it done now. She finished by the time the bell rang to signal their afternoon lessons and she started up the stairs towards her Divination classroom with a revitalized focus. Her legs had forgotten the long climb up to the North Tower and when she finally got up the steps and then the ladder into the classroom, she found the nearest and comfiest looking pouf and dropped on to it. The room was just as she remembered it, mismatched chintz chairs and poufs sat on each side of a small table spread about the room. A fire was going in the fireplace and the faint but constant wisps of smoke clouded the room slightly. The curtains over the tower's windows were drawn closed, as usual, throwing a red dim light over everything as the sun tried to shine through. Draco took the other seat at Jade's table and unlike last year, when they had to wait for Professor Trelawney, she emerged from the shadows behind Harry's and Ron's table almost immediately after everyone sat down.

"Good day." Professor Trelawney said in her signature misty voice. Harry jumped slightly in his seat and turned to see her. "You are preoccupied, my dear," She said mournfully to Harry. "My inner eye sees past your brave face to the troubled soul within. And I regret to say that your worries are not baseless. I see difficult times ahead for you, alas, most difficult. I fear the thing you dread will indeed come to pass… and perhaps sooner than you think."

"Here we go." Draco sighed quietly next to her and Jade smiled. Professor Trelawney swept past them and seated herself in a large winged armchair before the fire, facing the class. Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil, who annoyingly admired and ate up everything Professor Trelawney said, were sitting on poufs very close to her.

"My dears, it is time for us to consider the stars," She continued. "The movements of the planets and the mysterious portents they reveal only to those who understand the steps of the celestial dance. Human destiny may be deciphered by the planetary rays, which intermingle-" Jade checked out of her usual dramatic speech on things, Jade didn't even know why she signed up for Trelawney's class again. It seemed like they would just be learning what they already learn in Astronomy. She didn't know how the two were different, nor did she care. Draco nudged her gently when he caught her messing with the table cloth that was thrown over their table. "Wouldn't you agree my dear?" She heard Professor Trelawney say and she looked up quickly, hoping she hadn't asked her a question. She didn't. She had asked Harry something but he looked even more checked out than Jade was. He was openly staring at a certain spot on the floor, not even trying to hide that he wasn't listening.

"Harry!" Ron hissed next to him.

"What?" Harry asked, blinking away from the floor.

"I was saying, my dear, that you were clearly born under the baleful influence of Saturn." Professor Trelawney repeated, a faint note of resentment in her voice at the fact that he had not been listening.

"Born under… what, sorry?" Harry asked. Jade was confused, that's what she got for not paying attention. She cleared her head of her thoughts and tried to refocus.

"Saturn, dear, the planet Saturn!" Professor Trelawney explained, even more annoyed this time. "I was saying that Saturn was surely in a position of power in the heavens at the moment of your birth. Your dark hair, your mean stature, tragic losses so young in life, I think I am right in saying, my dear, that you were born in midwinter?"

"No." Harry said, "I was born in July." Jade bit the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling, quiet laughter bubbled up around the class and then died when Professor Trelawney cast a look around her classroom.

"Today, I will be giving you a chart, I'd like for you all to find and identify the positions of the planets at the moment of your birth." She told them as she passed out a complicated-looking circular chart. It was tedious work, requiring Jade to flip back and forth between her timetables and her textbook, trying to figure out calculations of angles for each planet. Professor Trelawney stalked around the room, peeking over her students' shoulders and tisking quietly or giving a reassuring squeeze of their shoulders. Jade got the latter, she wasn't sure she was doing any of it correctly but she had come to the conclusions that Professor Trelawney liked to see so she continued, she was able to complete her chart, which couldn't be said for most of her classmates. Ron and Harry shared the same confused expression for the rest of class but Lavender Brown smiled broadly and said,

"Oh Professor, look! I think I've got an unaspected planet! Oooh, which one's that, Professor?"

"It is Uranus, my dear," Professor Trelawney told her after a moment of examining her chart.

"Can I have a look at Uranus too, Lavender?" Ron asked and Dean and Seamus, who were sitting at the table next to him, laughed. Ron should've kept the comment to himself because when the end of class came, Professor Trelawney gave him and Harry homework but none for the rest of them. She assigned them a detailed analysis of the planetary movements in the coming month and how it will affect their lives, all to be handed in by the next Monday. Jade returned to the Common Room momentarily to put her things down and then joined her friends for dinner. They reached the Entrance Hall to find a large line of people waiting to get inside.

"Well, that's annoying." Pansy huffed as they slowly inched their way closer to the Great Hall. "What's that you got?" Pansy asked, blocking Draco's view of the copy of the Daily Prophet in his hands.

"It's just the paper for-" Draco started but then stopped when he found something interesting and a smile brightened his face.

"What is it? Jade asked, stepping closer to take a peek herself but Draco had stepped away from them and began looking up and down the line.

"Weasley! Hey, Weasley!" He yelled towards the end of the line and Jade rolled her eyes. Harry, Ron, and Hermione turned.

"What?" Ron asked shortly as Draco left his spot in line to meet up with them.

"Your dad's in the paper, Weasley!" Draco continued loudly. "Listen to this! 'Further mistakes at the Ministry of Magic. It seems as though the Ministry of Magic's troubles are not yet at an end, writes Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent. Recently under fire for its poor crowd control at the Quidditch World Cup, and still unable to account for the disappearance of one of its witches, the Ministry was plunged into fresh embarrassment yesterday by the antics of Arnold Weasley, of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office.'" Draco looked away from the paper. "Imagine them not even getting his name right, Weasley. It's almost as though he's a complete nonentity, isn't it?" He went on. Jade moved closer to Ron and Harry, not wanting to be seen with Draco while he made his big obnoxious scene. Draco didn't notice, he straightened the paper with purpose and read on: " 'Arnold Weasley, who was charged with possession of a flying car two years ago, was yesterday involved in a tussle with several Muggle law-keepers ("policemen") over a number of highly aggressive dustbins. Mr. Weasley appears to have rushed to the aid of "Mad-Eye" Moody, the aged ex-Auror who retired from the Ministry when no longer able to tell the difference between a handshake and attempted murder. Unsurprisingly, Mr. Weasley found, upon arrival at Mr. Moody's heavily guarded house, that Mr. Moody had once again raised a false alarm. Mr. Weasley was forced to modify several memories before he could escape from the policemen, but refused to answer Daily Prophet questions about why he had involved the Ministry in such an undignified and potentially embarrassing scene.' And there's a picture, Weasley!" Draco flipped the paper over so they could see and he pointed at the picture and smiled. "A picture of your parents outside their house, if you can call it a house! Your mother could do with losing a bit of weight, couldn't she?"

"What is wrong with you?" Jade hissed, she noticed how Ron didn't say anything but he was shaking slightly beside her.

"What?" Draco asked innocently.

"Get stuffed, Malfoy," Harry said dismissively. "C'mon, Ron."

"Oh yeah, you were staying with them this summer, weren't you, Potter?" Draco sneered. "So tell me, is his mother-"

"I was there too, Draco. Why don't you ask me your questions?" She interrupted him. "Since I'm the only one with the patience or interest to hear anything you might ever have to say." She glared and he narrowed his eyes back at her, annoyed that she would so publicly try and take a jab at him.

"You know your mother, Malfoy?" Harry added. "That expression she's got, like she's got dung under her nose? Has she always looked like that, or was it just because you were with her?" Draco's face went slightly pink.

"Don't you dare insult my mother, Potter." Draco took a step forward but Harry turned away with a final,

"Keep your fat mouth shut, then." Jade went with her other friends, ready to do damage control when there was a loud bang. Several people screamed and Harry flinched and ducked to his left.

"Harry?" Hermione called to him, taking a step closer to see if he was okay but he whirled around, a hand in his pocket and pulling out his wand until a second loud bang interrupted him.

"Oh no you don't, laddie!" A gravelly voice roared through the Entrance Hall. They all turned to find Professor Moody limping down the marble staircase. His wand was out and it was pointing right at a stunning white ferret, which was shivering on the stone floor, exactly where Draco had been standing. The hall went quiet as Moody approached them, he stood in front of Harry, who had a pink streak on his cheek but was otherwise unharmed.

"Did he get you?" Moody growled.

"No, missed."

"Leave it!" Moody suddenly yelled, making Jade jump.

"Leave… what?" Harry asked but Moody's other eye was pointed towards the back of his head.

"Not you, him!" Moody growled, jerking his thumb over his shoulder at Blaise, who had straightened from his bent-over position to try and grab the Draco ferret. Moody hobbled over to Pansy, Blaise, Theo, and the ferret, which gave a terrified squeak and took off, streaking toward the dungeons. "I don't think so!" roared Moody, pointing his wand at the ferret again and it flew ten feet into the air, fell with a smack to the floor, and then bounced upward once more. "I don't like people who attack when their opponent's back's turned," He growled as the ferret bounced higher and higher, squealing in pain. Jade winced slightly but didn't interfere, Draco certainly deserved it. He promised her he would try to get along with Harry and the others but he had made little to no effort, choosing to continue his troll-like behavior, well, this is what he gets then. "Stinking, cowardly, scummy thing to do." The ferret flew through the air, its legs and tail flailing helplessly. "Never do that again," Moody said, speaking each word as the ferret hit the stone floor and bounced upward again.

"Professor Moody!" Professor McGonagall's unmistakable voice called, she was coming down the marble staircase with her arms full of books.

"Hello, Professor McGonagall." Moody greeted her calmly, bouncing the ferret still higher.

"What… what are you doing?" She asked, her eyes following the bouncing ferret's progress through the air.

"Teaching,"

"Teach-? Moody, is that a student?" She shrieked, the books spilling out of her arms as she began to run down the stairs.

"Yep."

"No!" She argued and pulled out her wand; a moment later, with a loud snapping noise, Draco had reappeared, lying in a heap on the floor with his sleek blond hair all over his now sweaty pink face. He got to his feet, wincing. Jade quickly looked over him, no major injuries, she then looked back at Professor McGonagall, refusing to meet his eyes. "Moody, we never use Transfiguration as a punishment! Surely Professor Dumbledore told you that?"

"He might've mentioned it, yeah." Moody nodded once, "But I thought a good sharp shock-"

"We give detentions, Moody! Or speak to the offender's Head of House!"

"I'll do that, then," He then turned to Draco, looking over him with great disdain. Draco glared malevolently up at Moody and muttered something about his father.

"Oh yeah?"Moody limped towards him, the dull clunk of his wooden leg echoing around the hall. He must've caught what Draco said better than she had. "Well, I know your father of old, boy. You tell him Moody's keeping a close eye on his son, you tell him that from me. Now, your Head of House'll be Snape, will it?"

"Yes," Draco grit out.

"Another old friend." Moody sighed. "I've been looking forward to a chat with old Snape. Come on, you." He grabbed Draco by his upper arm and dragged him off toward the dungeons. Professor McGonagall stared after them for a moment and then waved her wand at her fallen books, causing them to soar up into the air and back into her arms.

"Don't talk to me," Ron said quietly to them as they sat down at the Gryffindor table a few minutes later,

"Why not?" Hermione asked quietly.

"Because I want to fix that in my memory forever," Ron told them with his eyes closed. "Draco Malfoy, the amazing bouncing ferret." Harry and Hermione both laughed but Jade just smiled. She didn't know if she was just imagining it or not but she felt like he was ignoring her.

"He could have really hurt Malfoy, though," Hermione said. "It was good, really, that Professor McGonagall stopped it-"

"Hermione!" Ron groaned, his eyes snapping open, "you're ruining the best moment of my life!" Hermione sucked her teeth and then began shoveling food into her mouth.

"Hungry, are you?" Jade asked and Hermione's cheeks flared momentarily as she straightened from her hunched-over position.

"Don't tell me you're going back to the library this evening?" Harry asked.

"Got to," Hermione said, her mouth full of food. Jade's comment only did little to slow her down. "Loads to do."

"But you told us Professor Vector-"

"It's not schoolwork," Hermione said and within five minutes, she had cleared her plate and departed.

"What's she up to? Jade asked, specifically to Ron and he shrugged.

"She won't tell us." Hermione had been gone for maybe two minutes before Fred came and took her seat.

"Moody!" He smiled. "How cool is he?"

"Beyond cool," George agreed as he took the seat next to his brother.

"Super cool." Lee Jordan nodded, sliding into the seat beside George, Lee Jordan was the Quidditch commentator and also the Weasley twins' best friend. "We had him this afternoon," He said.

"What was it like?" Harry asked. Fred, George, and Lee exchanged looks.

"Never had a lesson like it," Fred told them.

"He knows, man." Lee agreed.

"Knows what?" Ron asked, leaning forward.

"Knows what it's like to be out there doing it," George said excitedly.

"Doing what?" Harry asked.

"Fighting the Dark Arts," Fred noted.

"He's seen it all," George added. Ron dug into his bag for his schedule.

"We haven't got him till Thursday!" He groaned, Jade peeked over to see that she would be in that class with them. After dinner, Jade followed the boys back to the Gryffindor Common Room. Everything was going normally, Hermione arrived later once everyone went to bed, the boys were staying up to try and make some progress on their DIvination work.

"But why'd she only give you two homework?" Hermione asked.

"Because Ron tried to make a Uranus joke," Jade told her and Hermione gave him a disappointed look.

"It was funny." Ron defended himself. "Hey, on Thursday, why don't you sit with us in Moody's class!" Ron told Jade and she smiled,

"I'll probably have to sit on the Slytherin side, Ron."

"Says who?"

"No one, that's just how classes are."

"Yeah, but why would you want to sit with them?" Ron continued.

"Because they're my friends," Jade said simply and Ron looked up from his chart.

"Still?"

"Yes?" Ron rose from his seat.

"All of them?" He asked and Jade knew he was talking about Draco specifically. Jade rose to her feet as well.

"Yes."

"Why? After what he just said!"

"Yeah, he said something vile and so did Harry and then he got bounced all around the Entrance Hall as a ferret." She told him.

"It's what he deserves! He doesn't deserve to have a friend like you."

"Calm down, Ron," Hermione told him as she watched him begin pacing back and forth,

"No." Ron objected loudly, his anger growing with every step. Jade flinched, she'd never seen Ron this angry, his face had turned redder than his hair. "I'm tired of it! Malfoy's a little shit!" He turned to Jade, "He is! Don't try to deny it!"

"I know!" Jade yelled back at him, her face burning as Harry and Hermione watched silently.

"Yeah, you do, that's the thing! He insults my mother, a woman who's welcomed you with open arms despite being friends with the most repulsive family there is, and what do you do about it?"

"I've talked to him about it." Jade's voice fell as shame and guilt tightened her chest, to tell them that Draco had told her he'd try to be respectful towards her three Gryffindor friends would be useless as he showed them that he had never even tried.

"You've talked to him about it." Ron scoffed. "How much influence do you really think you have over him? 'Stop it, Draco.' 'That's enough, Draco.' Everyone always talks about how he's different around you but he seems the bloody same to me!" Jade's defensive character refused to let her back down and just listen to Ron vent his issues.

"What do you want me to do, huh?" Jade asked, exasperated. "Tell him what to do like I'm his mother? Stop being his friend?"

"Yes!" Ron exploded and then they just stood there, staring at each other.

"What?" Jade asked quietly after a moment,

She was waiting for him to say he didn't mean it but it never came.

"Stop being his friend," Ron repeated.

"That's not fair."

"Not fair? I think it's plenty fair, he won't respect your decision to be friends with us, so get rid of him." Jade never wanted to be in this situation, and to be honest, she always thought it would be Draco to push her to this point if it had come.

"...No," Jade stated and then looked down, shrinking in Ron's blazing gaze. Draco was the first person she became friends with, he was her best friend, and she didn't know if it was just because Ron was forcing her to make a choice, but the thought of not being friends with Draco was unacceptable. Sure, she was currently mad at him, often annoyed with him, and he irritated her beyond belief with his behavior, but when it came down to it, it still didn't change anything.

"Fine then, get out." Ron's voice was hoarse from yelling.

"Ronald-" Hermione started to object but he shot her a glare and she sank back down into the couch.

"Fine." Jade grit through her teeth and balled her hands into fists at her sides to stop them from shaking as she left the Gryffindor Common Room.