This was the first trip to Hogsmeade that Gretta joined the rest of them but unlike their normal visits, they were on a mission. The girls separated from the boys and beelined for Gladrags Wizardwear. They'd arrived early, being some of the first students to make it to the village, but the shop was already filling up and girls were pulling dresses off of the racks and trying to get into a dressing room. Luckily, the owner of the shop was prepared. Jade wished she could partake in the dress searching but her mother had promised she'd found the perfect dress for her so she gladly took on the role of the supportive, honest, best judge for Pansy and Gretta.

"Jade?" She heard Gretta's voice coming from one of the dressing rooms.

"Gretta?" Jade asked, looking between the two dressing rooms where she knew her friends had slipped into.

"How are you with corset tying?" She heard her say on her left and Jade swished open the curtain. Before Jade could even focus on the back of Gretta's dress, the color of it stood out to her.

"Before we tackle that, no pink." It clashed horribly with her red hair and her pale skin, and the pink was an obnoxious attention-stealing shade. Pansy whipped open the curtain next to them and popped her head around the corner, clutching the top of her dress to her chest since it was still unzipped at the back.

"Merlin, Gretta, no!" Pansy sighed, coming out completely to join Jade's side and examine their younger friend in the mirror. "Can you zip me up?" Pansy asked, dragging her hair over one shoulder. Jade did as she asked and then Pansy stepped to Gretta's side to admire herself in the mirror. "See the difference?" Pansy asked. Gretta reminded Jade of herself when she was younger and would play in her mother's closet and step into her fancy dresses. Pansy was another vision altogether, she looked older than she was and held herself up with an intimidating sense of elegance.

"I can't look like you," Gretta said quietly, uncharacteristically irritable.

"Sure you can," Pansy told her. "Wait here." She slipped between them and Jade noticed how Gretta's head fell once she was gone.

"What's wrong, Gretta?" Jade asked, watching her in the mirror.

"I feel like I don't belong here." She admitted after a few seconds.

"Why? Because you're a third-year?" Gretta shook her head.

"I feel…" She started. "I'm not as pretty as the rest of you."

"Rubbish." Jade disagreed instantly. "That dress might make you think you're not pretty but-"

"Pretty," Gretta repeated angrily, she finally looked up and Jade could see the tears shining in her eyes. "You're not pretty, Jade. You're… and Pansy's…" She struggled.

"Hey," Jade stepped towards her and placed her hands on her shoulders. "Stand up straight." She told her and she gently pulled back. "Raise your head, allow yourself some vanity." Jade's hands pulled up her hair to get it away from her face so the red couldn't distract from her soft features, the perfect spray of freckles on her cheeks, and her high cheekbones. "Just have some confidence." She told her as she watched Gretta's eyes scan her reflection for imperfections.

"I'm back!" Pansy shoved herself inside the small dressing room and held up a periwinkle blue strapless dress with a high slit.

"No." Jade shook her head immediately.

"What? Why not?"

"Because it's my job to help, not yours," Jade told Pansy, grabbing the dress from Pansy. She didn't want to tell her that the dress was ugly, because it wasn't, Jade just knew she could find something better. "Go try on your other dresses."

"You don't like this one?" Pansy asked, stepping back so Jade could get a full view of it.

"It looks good, just like the other ones," Jade said and Pansy groaned as she retreated into her own dressing room. Pansy didn't want good, she wanted amazing. If she couldn't get Jade's jaw to drop then she wouldn't get Blaise's to either. "I'll be right back, get out of that," Jade told Gretta and then moved the curtain back into place. Jade maneuvered past a group of girls and a few others as she searched for something that would make Gretta feel good about herself. She found one she really liked but it didn't matter, it mattered if Gretta liked it. Jade grabbed it off the rack and began her way back to the dressing rooms.

"Struggling to find a dress for the ball, Maddex?" Ava asked as Jade passed her. She was with Daphne, like always.

"Already found my dress, Lane." Jade went to keep walking but she thought a little chat wouldn't hurt. "Who'd you make ask you? I know you were hoping Draco would but he had someone better in mind." She smirked. Ava's eyes narrowed.

"Cassius." She answered shortly.

"Cassius Warrington?" She knew the older Slytherin, he was a chaser for the Quidditch team. She had no idea why he'd agree to go with Ava, she'd never even seen them interact together. "Why?"

"Because." Was her answer and Jade nodded and then turned to go but before she did she called back to her.

"Purple's really not your color, Lane." Jade peeked into Gretta's dressing room and presented her with a royal blue floor-length dress. "Try this on." Gretta took the dress from her and looked it over, unsure. "Here, come on, I'll help," Jade said eagerly, wanting to see her in it. The dress had a high neck with small black and silver jewels while the rest of the dress remained untouched. Once it was on, the dress hugged her body comfortably and Jade held Gretta's hair up again. "We can put it in a bun, like this. You can borrow some of my earrings and we'll find you some heels." Jade had it all planned out.

"Yeah, I like it," Gretta said finally and Jade sighed in relief.

"Really?"

"Yes, honestly," Gretta said, turning slightly to see the back.

"Feel better?"

"Yes." Gretta smiled.

"Okay, what about this one?" Pansy asked, walking into Gretta's dressing room again and examining herself.

"Is that velvet?" Jade asked, watching how the light caught her dress differently.

"Yep." Pansy smiled hopefully, glancing at Jade through the mirror. It was a strapless dress, hugging her body tightly and showing off her curves. "I really like it," Pansy added, hoping to lock in Jade's approval.

"You should, it's the best one." Jade smiled at it again. "Blaise will love it." Pansy's smile grew and she clapped quickly before calming herself down.

"Okay, okay, good. Gretta, you look fantastic." Pansy added, "Let's get some shoes and get out of here." Shoes were the easy part and they walked back out into the cold gratefully, the shop was unnecessarily warm. Gretta and Pansy held their dresses with both hands, careful to not let the long bag it came in to protect the dress touch the ground.

"Where's your dress, Maddex?" Draco asked when they joined back up with them to return to the castle.

"Already got mine, Malfoy." She told him, she didn't, but she was putting all her faith in her mother to send her one equal to the beauty of Pansy's and Gretta's.

"Stop that!" Pansy swatted away Blaise's hand as he tried to get a glance of her dress inside. "You boys will just have to be patient."

Term was over and there were only six days before Christmas, more importantly, the Yule Ball, but that didn't stop the teachers from assigning their usual heap of work to do over the holiday break. Jade was in no mood to work before Christmas but she tried to get at least a little done, the problem with this was the number of people. Almost everyone had stayed this break and the Common Room was always loud and full. The Slytherins were definitely much more lively than normal, not a care in the world about the work they'd scramble to do the last few days of break. Jade had been studying for only ten minutes and she had read the same paragraph three times over. She was distracted, not by the volume in the room, although that didn't help either, but because out of the corner of her eye, she could see Draco staring at her.

"What?" She asked and he blinked but didn't look away.
"What do you mean what?" He smirked and she peeked away from her book.

"You're staring at me, why?"

"I like watching you study." He explained simply.

"Why?"

"It's interesting."
"Hardly." Jade scoffed in disbelief and returned to her book.

"I like how your eyebrows knit together when you're concentrated." Jade raised her book to block her face and he chuckled.

"Stop it." She chuckled from behind her book and he relented, casting a glance around the room. She'd gotten some of her Charms work done and told herself that was enough for the night.

She took to working in small segments the next few days and it had worked to her advantage, Draco and Pansy were currently trying to concentrate on their readings. They'd gone to the boys' room, it was easier to concentrate there rather than the Common Room or even the library. But Blaise and Jade, who had been responsible students, had given themselves a day off and were throwing Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans into each other's mouths.

"Okay, ready?" Jade giggled as Blaise took a step back and stood at the end of his bed. She hooted happily as Blaise caught the bean in his mouth. "What'd you get?" She asked.

"A headache," Draco grumbled. "Can't you two play your little game somewhere else?"

"Sh, Malfoy, focus on your Transfiguration," Jade told him, knowing it would irk him further and she smiled.

"I'm trying, but you two-"

"I got carrot." Blaise interrupted him. "You ready?" He asked, taking another step back and practicing his arched throw. Jade nodded and waited anxiously with her mouth open. He threw it and Jade leaned forward slightly to catch it. Both of them let out another round of cheers and Pansy jumped slightly from her spot at Blaise's writing desk.

"I got… earwax." Jade shuddered.

"Good," Draco grumbled quietly.

"Let me go again," Jade told Blaise and he picked out another one. "Get a blue one." She told him and he reached back into his pouch.

"Okay, here we go." Draco turned around in his chair and watched.

"Miss it, miss it, miss it." Draco hissed as the bean flew through the air but Jade smiled proudly as she caught it in her mouth.

"Yeah! That's what I'm talking about!" Blaise cheered.

"We should enter a tournament!" Jade told him.

"A tournament of catching things in your mouths?" Pansy finally added to the conversation.

"We're quite good." Jade shrugged.

"I don't think that's a good thing. Hi there, I'm Jade Maddex and I can catch whatever you throw in my-" Draco started but Blaise and Jade cut him off with more cheers as Blaise caught another bean in his mouth.

"Okay!" Draco yelled over them. "Let's just go to dinner." He pushed himself off his chair.

"Yes, please. It'll get them to stop screaming every few seconds." Pansy added.

"Come on!" Blaise followed after them.

"They're just jealous," Jade told Blaise, looping her arm with Blaise's as they followed behind the other two.

"No, we're-" Pansy looked back and saw their arms interlocked. She stopped and yanked Jade out of Blaise's hold to take his spot. "That's our thing." She told her seriously and Jade nodded, amused by Pansy's possessiveness.

"Right, I'm sorry." Jade smiled. "Hey, I've been meaning to ask you something." Jade lowered her voice as they got up into the Common Room. "Could you help me practice the dance?" Jade asked her quietly and Pansy smiled proudly.

"Of course I can. I remember it exactly."

"Thank you."

After dinner, Jade and Pansy retreated to their room, giving the boys an excuse of wanting to study some more.

"Okay, I'll be Draco." Pansy straightened her posture and wore a nasty sneer on her face.

"He doesn't look like that." Jade chuckled.

"Oh my gods, Maddex, you're so beautiful. Would you do me the greatest honor in the whole wide world of-"

"Okay!" Jade cut her off and snatched her offered hand. They practiced well into the night until Jade was positive she wouldn't miss a step, they even succeeded in doing the lift, they did it each time in a fit of laughter but they did it nonetheless.

"I'd say you're ready, better than ready. Good at it, actually." Pansy told her after they finished the dance for the last time before bed.