Jade waited the next few days for a response from Fred. When he wouldn't answer, she turned to Ginny who was reading her own letter from him.
"Is he ignoring me?" Jade asked seeing Ginny frown.
"He isn't ignoring you; he's just scared of saying something you'll probably get mad at." Ginny said.
"He never said that!" Jade said. Ginny pushed the letter towards Jade.
"He writes: 'I hope Jade doesn't think I'm ignoring her. I just don't know what to say without making her get mad! What should I write? If I joke around, I know I'll offend her, if I try to be romantic, she'll think I'm full of shit and if I sound neutral, she'll think I don't care.'" Ginny read.
"That's not true! I'm not a complicated person at all! He only needs to stop making fun of my parents and the way I sound during sex!" Jade said out loud. Everyone around the breakfast table quieted and looked at Jade who slowly moved her eyes towards them. Hermione walked towards them and sat down, looking frustrated.
"What's wrong?" Ginny asked as Hermione flipped her potions book.
"Nothing." Hermione muttered, looking over the pages. Jade and Ginny exchanged strange looks and shrugged. "It doesn't make sense how this is all true! It's not even fair!" Hermione mumbled to herself. Jade looked up to see Harry staring at Ginny. She had been catching him looking at her ever since school started and wondered what he was thinking about. He had been a lot quieter after Sirius's death and she hardly put in a few words with him ever since the Battle of the Department of Mysteries.
"Hello sweetheart." Dean said, kissing Ginny's cheek. Ginny smiled and turned towards Dean, chatting about her classes. It was as if someone stuck a pile of rotten garbage under Harry's nose when he saw Dean.
"Pookie! I mean, Janie!" Cormac said, walking towards Jade.
"What-" Jade stopped when Cormac hugged her from behind and kissed her cheek.
"Did you miss me?" Cormac asked, still hugging her.
"Terribly, now go away." Jade said, trying to wrestle away from him. Cormac laughed and pushed Ginny aside, making room for himself next to Jade.
"You're such a funny doll. Listen, Pookie, we need to talk." Cormac said.
"You can't say excuse me?" Ginny asked.
"Friendship never needs an excuse." Cormac said.
"You're so full of shit, since when were we friends?" Ginny asked.
"Excuse me; I have to go find a tower to leap off of." Jade said, taking her books and running off.
"No, I'm not friends with you. You're a horrible little devil." Cormac said.
"Excuse me?" Dean asked, getting up.
"Dean sit down!" Ginny ordered as Cormac nodded.
"I mean, you're pretty and all but you're not as nice as Pookie. Pookie's so beautiful on the inside. You need to learn how to work on that." Cormac said.
"I'm trying my hardest, you have no idea." Ginny said dryly.
"Pookie! Don't leave without me!" Cormac called, running after her. "Slow down Pookie! We need to talk!" Cormac said.
"What do you want? I'm a little busy here!" Jade said, still walking to class.
"Let me walk you, silly girl!" he said, catching up to her.
"Cormac, don't you have any other friends? Any male friends to talk to?" Jade asked, turning around.
"Of course I do…but I like talking to you!" Cormac said softly.
"Oh please don't start-"
"Why do I need anyone else when I have you? Every time I feel down, I close my eyes, think of what makes me happy and all the memories of us, the both of us come to my mind. Then I open my eyes and I find the biggest smile on my face and think, my Pookie makes me so happy, I wish there could be something I can do to make her happy too." Cormac said.
"Cormac…that's…it's so depressingly sweet." Jade said, feeling guilty. She put an arm around him and put her head on his shoulder, hugging him gently. He put an arm around her and laid his head on hers as they slowly walked to class. "So what did you want to talk to me about?" Jade asked.
"Well first of all, my Uncle Tiberus owled me to invite you to Christmas dinner in Bali." Cormac said.
"Bali? Where is that?" Jade asked, letting go of him.
"Indonesia. It's beautiful, I've been there. It's spiritually fascinating and we'll visit temples that have been there for hundreds of years and oh…the green hills and the warm waters would be so perfect for a Christmas vacation." Cormac said.
"I don't know Cormac. I usually spend Christmas with my family and-"
"Your mother and father are also coming! Don't worry about that." Cormac said, slinging his arm around her shoulder.
"I also spend Christmas at the Burrow too. With the Weasley's." Jade said.
"Why would you want to spend Christmas there? Oh, that redhead of course. Then just tell her that you'll be doing something different! When will you ever get to spend Christmas in Bali? You go to that pile of shambles all the time but I'm your friend too." Cormac said.
"How about I think about it and let you know?" Jade asked.
"Fair enough! It's a good thing we're just friends, Pookie. So many girls would be so jealous of you spending Christmas vacation at an exotic place with me." Cormac said, stretching himself out, expanding his chest and making himself look taller.
"I'll try not to tell anyone. Bye Cormac!" Jade said, going to walk into the Potions room.
"Hang on a minute! Aren't you forgetting something?" Cormac asked with his hands on his hips.
"What?" Jade asked. A sly grin appeared on Cormac's face and he stretched out his arms to invite her for a hug.
"Come give Cormie a nice big hug!" he said.
"That's not really necessary." Jade started to say but Cormac engulfed her in a hug.
"You smell like cherry blossoms." He breathed.
"Um…" Jade said, trying to pull him off. She saw Ron appear and he stopped, watching them curiously.
"Can you guess what I smell like?" he asked, still holding her tightly.
"Cormac, let me go! I'm late for class!" Jade said pushing him.
"Okay then, you can tell me another time! Bye Pookie!" Cormac said, waving his fingers. He turned and left, leaving Ron and Jade standing outside the Potions room alone.
"Ginny forgot her book." Ron said slowly, handing the book over to Jade.
"Cormac's just a friend. Please don't tell Fred about this." Jade said seeing Ron nod.
"Of course not." he said.
"I mean it Ron." Jade said.
"I know! I won't tell him!" Ron said.
"Okay then…bye." Jade said, walking into the room.
Weeks passed and Jade found herself becoming isolated once again from Ginny's attention gravitating towards Dean. Hermione and Ron had enough tension growing between them and Harry grew obsessed with a Potions book, isolating himself from his best friends and everyone else. Jade had a chat with Harry after the disastrous Quidditch tryouts where Cormac nearly tore him into pieces after not being chosen. As much as Jade thought Cormac was annoying and destructive for Gryffindor's team, a very tiny part of her didn't think it was fair for Hermione to confound Mclaggen in favor of Ron.
"Sorry Pookie, I can't go to Hogsmeade with you because of my date. She's incredibly gorgeous isn't she?" Cormac asked, nodding towards a nice but equally air headed Hufflepuff sixth year. She had long brown hair and brown doe eyes.
"Do you want to join us, little girl?" she asked.
"Little girl?" Jade asked.
"Oh how cute is that?" Cormac asked.
"Excuse me?" Jade asked.
"Pookie's not a little girl, Annette. She'll be sixteen like the rest of us in a few short months, isn't that right Pookie?" he asked.
"Is your name really Pookie? It sounds like a pet's name." Annette said.
"It is a-forget it. Have a nice date." Jade said, walking away.
"One second!" Cormac whispered, holding up a finger for Annette who smiled. He ran after Jade and caught her arm. "Pookie, are you mad?" Cormac asked.
"Annoyed. Which shouldn't surprise anyone. What?" Jade asked.
"If it really upsets you, I can tell her to bugger off." Cormac said.
"I'm not upset. I'm not, believe me." Jade said but Cormac pulled her towards his carriage.
"I'll tell her off for calling you a little girl! Don't worry; I didn't like her that much anyways. No one patronizes my best friend and gets away with it!" Cormac said.
"Cormac! I said it's all right! I don't care what she said!" Jade said, pulling against him.
"We both are going to have a wonderful time in Hogsmeade together! Just you and I. Let me just-"
"There you are!" Harry appeared from a line of carriages.
"Harry?" Jade asked feeling Cormac let go of her. Harry hugged her tightly and patted her shoulder.
"I've been looking everywhere for you! Ready to explore Dogweed and Deathcap?" Harry asked. Jade looked confused and Harry smiled, continuing to pat her shoulder.
"Dogweed and Deathcap?" Cormac asked.
"Toad…stools. TOADSTOOLS! Brilliant! Yes! Harry and I will be in a pool of toadstools. Good riddance!" Jade said, feeling an enormous amount of gratitude towards Harry.
"Why toadstools? How come I wasn't told about this?" Cormac asked.
"Herbology assignment. Professor Sprout and her toadstools. You're allergic to them aren't you?" Harry asked.
"Yes but you and Pookie aren't even in the same class or year!" Cormac said.
"Harry and I were in detention for Professor Sprout and she told us to help Dogdeath and Weedcat-"
"Dogweed and Deathcap." Harry interjected.
"That…and to perform community service to the surplus amount of toadstools being supplied." Jade said.
"Why don't you ask that fat cousin of hers? Isn't he good for that?" Cormac asked.
"He's on a date with Hannah and mind your manners." Jade said seeing Cormac redden.
"Well the carriages are about to leave so…shall we?" Harry asked Jade.
"Of course. Bye Cormac! Have fun!" Jade said, leaving. Harry pulled her towards a carriage and they hopped inside, closing it. "Harry Potter, you're a miracle maker!" Jade said, hugging him tightly.
"I saw a woman in distress and I knew I had to do something." He said. Jade grinned and took off her gloves and cloak.
"Thank you so much! As much as I think Cormac can be a wonderful friend at times, he can be so overwhelming to deal with." Jade sighed, falling back on her seat.
"He seems to care about you a lot. A little too much actually. Is he…" Harry trailed off seeing Jade look confused.
"Is he what? Gay? He's actually a homophobic metro sexual narcissist." Jade said.
"Well obviously. I meant is he interested in you?" Harry asked.
"Interested in me? Are you high, Harry? He would remind me of how plain faced and un-dateable I am. He constantly compares me to every single pretty girl he sees and tells me how we'll always be just friends. Breaks my little heart you see." Jade said, faking a sob.
"That's such an obnoxious thing of him to do. You're dating Fred and you're probably one of the prettiest girls in the school." Harry said.
"That means a lot to me Harry thanks…but I think I'm okay with Cormac believing otherwise. I would love to play his ugly friend any day." Jade said.
"Does Fred know about how close Cormac is with you?" Harry asked seeing Jade shake her head.
"I only told Fred about Cormac's harassment here and there. He just doesn't know how worse it's gotten." Jade said.
They spent a few minutes, asking each other about school and Harry danced around the subject of his newfound love for a book that Hermione had been complaining about. Harry spoke about Malfoy, confiding in her and making her swear not to tell anyone else about his suspicions. Jade listened intently, fearful that whatever happened in the compartment with her and Astoria might have related to Malfoy's plans for this year.
"How about Astoria?" Harry asked as they got out of the carriage. He turned around to see Jade sigh and put on her gloves.
"To be honest Harry and I haven't even told Ginny but Astoria came to into my compartment on the ride back to Hogwarts the very first day. I think she wanted to say something to me about something that was bothering her but I was too pigheaded about myself and yelled at her for coming back to speak to me after almost a year of ignoring me." Jade said.
"I understand how you must have felt." Harry said. He looked at Jade, seeing her tear up, feeling immensely guilty for her treatment towards her former friend.
"She came in for my help and I turned her away, making fun of her for something she was concerned about." Jade cried. Harry put an arm around her and Jade sobbed into his shoulder, feeling him trying to console her.
"You didn't know it at the time. It wasn't your fault." Harry said.
"She would have never turned me down regardless of whether or not we were speaking to each other." Jade said.
"It doesn't matter what she would have done. We both and Astoria know that you never meant to harm her. And that's the only thing that matters." Harry said. Jade pulled back, wiping her face. "Don't be too hard on yourself. She's the one who wanted to date Malfoy." Harry said.
"Ough…that pig. He's making her miserable and she's too in love with him to let him go. I don't blame her though. It's too hard to see things straight when we love someone." Jade said. They walked towards Honeydukes and spoke about Fred.
"Heard he pissed you off?" Harry asked seeing Jade smirk and nibble on a powdered red jelly.
"When does he never? Ew, this tastes like cough syrup." Jade said, handing it to Harry who sniffed it.
"The twins are fantastic, maybe when the joke's not on you of course." Harry said.
"When have you ever been a target of their jokes?" Jade asked.
"Mostly never…but they're just boys having fun, right?" Harry asked.
"And Ginny?" Jade asked, watching him pop a chocolate frog in his mouth.
"Ginny…Ginny?" Harry asked quickly. He saw her raise an eyebrow. "What?" he asked quickly.
"What? You didn't think anyone noticed?" Jade asked.
"I wish I had an idea of what we were talking about." Harry said.
"Ginny? You like her, don't you?" Jade asked.
"That's ridiculous, Jade." Harry said.
"No one knows except for me, you know. I haven't even mentioned it to Ginny." Jade said. Harry gave Jade a long look, his cheeks burning from embarrassment.
"How long?" Harry asked.
"It first itched at my curiosity during the first or second day of school. Then you were repeatedly staring at her, smiling and looking a little head clogged every time you saw her. I think it's cute." Jade said.
"I don't believe that you haven't told her yet. I mean…it can just mean that whatever I'm feeling is brotherly. It can be completely innocent." Harry said.
"Or you can be in love with her like a normal being. It's okay Harry, I won't tell anyone. Your secret dies with me." Jade said.
"And your boyfriend? What about him?" Harry asked.
"Fred has a big mouth and an even bigger mouthed twin brother." Jade said.
"And the biggest mouth of them all; my best friend Ron." Harry said.
"Does he really?" Jade asked.
"Ron doesn't have the ability to keep secrets at all. Sometimes he'll just forget it was even a secret and blurt it out." Harry said.
"So telling him about Ginny is absolutely out of the question, right?" Jade asked seeing Harry snort.
"Forget about him keeping secrets. He's her brother and he won't think twice about knocking a fat one to my face." Harry said, checking his watch.
"Do you have to go?" Jade asked seeing Harry frown.
"I have to meet Ron and Hermione around Zonko's." Harry said.
"Have fun then! I'm going to enjoy my coconut ice and nougat!" Jade said.
"Why don't you come with us?" Harry asked seeing Jade shake her head.
"Trust me, I'm fine. I need to explore this village a little more since I rarely come here." Jade said as Harry wrapped his scarf around his face.
"Good luck. The weather is unforgiving." He said.
After Harry left, Jade paid for her sweets and tried walking through the small and beautiful snow covered village. Within a few minutes and the wind picking up speed, Jade ran towards Dervish and Banges. She opened the door and was met with a man ramming into her. Jade fell hard on her bum, spilling her bag of nougat. She looked up, open mouthed at Fred who looked equally surprised to see her.
"My nougat!" Jade yelled at him.
"Gesundheit! What are you doing here?" Fred asked, still standing over her. Jade gestured around.
"I felt like taking a fall in Hogsmeade." Jade said. Fred smiled and bent down to scoop Jade up to her feet.
"You never go out to Hogsmeade. Are you on a date with someone else?" Fred asked looking around.
"Do you see anyone else?" Jade asked. Fred looked behind her shoulder.
"I dunno, that bloke over there with a pipe looks a little shady." Fred said. Jade turned around to see a very old man trying to smoke his pipe as he stood against his cane. She turned towards Fred and started hitting him with her bag of pink coconut ice.
"You-never-responded-back-to-my-letter!" Jade said through her teeth.
"Ow! Ow! I didn't know what to say!" Fred said.
"Of course you didn't!" Jade said, whacking him again. "But you had so much to say about my bedroom habits!"
Whack.
"I was so worried because I never heard anything back!"
Whack.
"I was trying to say sorry!"
Whack. "
You could have at least had the decency to say it was okay, or not!"
Whack.
Jade sighed and looked at Fred who stood there with flakes of pink coconut covering his head and his clothing.
"Will you say something or should I beat something out of you?" Jade asked, seeing him open his mouth. "And by the way, if you ever make jokes about me seeing old men, I'll kick you in the arse so hard, you'll be shitting out my leg after a few years, is that understood?" Jade asked. Fred's eyes widened.
"Yes Madam!" Fred stuttered out.
"I told you I missed you and I loved you. I said I LOVE YOU! What did you do? You never sent me a response! You still would have kept your owl warm and your ink bottle full if I didn't see you here. Shut up! Not when I'm talking!" Jade snapped when Fred tried to speak again.
Fred was terrified but enjoyed it just as much, seeing her screaming at him and occasionally hitting him with her bag of pink coconut flakes that had been fluttering everywhere, every time she would hit him with it. He stood there and couldn't help but smile when time started slowing down. As annoying as it was, a man who was truly in love with another woman wouldn't mind standing in front of her as her eyebrows grew close, her nose wrinkled, teeth baring and lips curling as she cursed the daylights out of him. He didn't hear any words, just her shaking her head, her arms expressive, her brown eyes blazing and her nose red from the cold. Her expression slowly turned into annoyed curiosity and her lips read an equally slow 'hello'.
Her hand came up to his face and within a snap, Fred was thrown back into his reality again.
"Are you all right? You're smiling." Jade said. Without a word, Fred took a step forward, grabbed and pulled Jade against him. Before she could say anything else, Fred kissed her. Jade smiled, wrapping her arms tightly around Fred's neck. Students and villagers walked by, thinking that only crazy people would snog each other in freezing temperatures like this.
"Feeling better?" Fred asked.
"No. I ran out of candy." Jade said.