"I bet Potter will win," Jade exclaimed as she approached a group of students from different houses, the bets were being run by the Weasley Twins.

"Okay," Fred said a bit surprised. "It's..."

"And I also bet Fleur won't even finish the task."

Jade usually got involved in bets, something her brother was against, mostly because she was socializing with other houses.

"Wow, you sound pretty sure," Jordan Lee told her.

"Well, Fleur has shown she's weak and not up to the task. And we all know Potter is the boy everyone loves and wants to protect. It's kind of obvious to me what will happen."

"Okay, then," Fred said. "It's forty sickles, twenty for each bet."

Jade paid Fred and then she walked away, going to meet Draco outside. Both of them had just finished their exams for the day and were free now.

"How did you do?" Jade asked him.

"I think I did good," Draco told her. "You?"

"Not bad," Jade said.

Before she started her third year, Jade had chosen to take three extra class in addition to the compulsory ones. Arithmancy, Care of Magical Creatures, and Divination but she was thinking of dropping that class as she had realized it wasn't what she expected. At first she wa a bit tempted to choose Muggle Studies, as she really didn't know anything about Muggles except that they had no magic. So, how did they do stuff? But then she thought about how her parents would react and decided it was better to not take the class.

The next day Jade had the Potions exam and Herbology. She was extremely good with Potions but not Herbology. So she was a bit concern about that class. That one and History of Magic were her worst classes while Arithmancy, Potions and Care of Magical Creatures were her best ones.

The students had four days completely free after exams were finished. Jade used those days to sleep in as much as she could and to finally relax a bit. If she could, she would go play Quidditch but that wasn't an option now, the Quidditch field was now being transformed for the third and last task. But to keep in shape she went on runs around the Hogwarts ground, usually alone.

"What are you going to do for the holidays?" Jade asked Draco as they sat outside, it was a sunny and nice day.

"I don't know yet," Draco said with a shrug. "And you?"

"We have two trips," Jade told him. "We are going to Greece for my mother's birthday and we are going to America for three weeks."

"Wow," Draco exclaimed.

"With The Perseuses," Jade added with a face. "Cassius and his parents... I was looking forward to it until Lex told me about it."

"Is Lex going too?"

"Yes, that's why we are going to America. His fianceƩ and the girl's family live there. They are both going to graduate this year, so I guess my parents want to make a family trip before they get married. There's no date yet or even an official announcement but I don't think they are going to wait that long."

Lexion's fianceƩ was a wealthy Scottish girl named Olisca. She started Hogwarts and was sorted into Slytherin, she was expelled during her second year and luckily her dad got a job abroad and they all moved to New York. Lexion and Olisca had only seen each other twice since their second year and now we were all going to see them during the holidays.

"I don't even remember her," Draco said. "I know it was quite a scandal when she got expelled. I wasn't in school yet but I remember your parents talking about it a lot."

"Yeah, their arranged marriage was almost broken, my father was offended that his son was going to marry someone who got expelled. But they did something, probably paid a lot of money and it's not on her record. We know because we remember but if you look it up, it will say she didn't finish the school year because she moved abroad."

Later, the day became cloudy and the temperature dropped. That night the last task was going to take place and everyone was excited to know who was going to win. The Champions were nervous but looking forward to it.

Jade sat next to Draco and Blaise. They were surrounded by some Bulgarians. The third task was a maze, they had to look for a cup and whoever found it first would win. And even Jade had to admit that it looked pretty scary. It was foggy and who knows what kind of dangers could be found in there. There was this weird feeling that night, like if something was wrong.

"You okay?" Draco asked her.

"Yeah, I'm just cold."

Draco put an arm around her and pulled her closer to him, action that didn't look odd as they had always been close. Blaise and some other Slytherins didn't mention anything about it. Everyone knew they were best friends and had always been that way. But of course that none of them saw the tiny kiss on top of her head that Draco gave her, or that would cause quite a scandal.

The two Hogwarts Champions had the first and second place so they had the privilege of going inside the maze first. A few minutes later Fleur and Viktor could go in and right after that the maze closed itself so no one could get out.

As with the previous task there was a commentator as the fog didn't let people see very well. Most of the time people could only know where a person was because the maze, which was made of some kind of plant, moved in certain parts. And sometimes people saw flashes coming from spells used by one of the four champions.

People knew two champions had bumped into each other when they saw many flashes coming from the same place. It seemed they were dueling, what they didn't know was who were the champions.

At some point there was a bright red ball of light going up. That meant one of the champions was retiring from the task, only seconds later Fleur appeared in front of everyone. Jade smirked.

"Well, it seems like I'll earn some money tonight," she said.

"What do you mean?" Blaise asked her.

"I bet she wouldn't finish," she said with a shrug. "But seriously, I'd have been a better champion than her. She is quite weak."

"Why so arrogant, Lias?"

Jade turned to look behind her and saw Cassius smirking at her. Jade's smirk vanished for a second or two but then it was back.

"It's not being arrogant, Cass. I'm just telling the truth, or do you think I'm not good enough?"

"I'm not saying she is better than you, probably isn't, but she is in seventh year, she probably knows more spells and useful stuff than you."

"Well, it's not just about knowledge. It's about knowing how to use it and being brave. She could know a lot of stuff but she didn't use it to her advantage and I would suggest you to not understimate me. I know more than a normal fourth year."

And it was true. Not only she was educated with extras all her life, as her parents wanted her to be the best but having an older brother helped. She knew some stuff because of him. She sometimes practiced and studied with him and she was clever enough to learn without a teacher and actually remembered a lot.

"I didn't mean it like that," Cass said with a sigh. "I'm just saying she's older, has studied more. Didn't mean anything bad."

"I know," Jade said shrugging.

Despite being in good terms again, Jade and Cassius' relationship wasn't the same. Jade usually twisted his words and made him look as he was insulting her in some way, when he really wasn't. She didn't do it on purpose. Sometimes she didn't realize what she had said and done until it was already said, like now.

Cassius tried hard to get her to forgive him for several reasons. She was his best friend's sister and he respected that. She and Cassius also shared a good friendship and he didn't want to ruin that and he also thought it would be nice to marry someone he liked and was friends with. It would be more pleasant than marrying someone he never talked to or even disliked. And he missed what they had, how close they were despite their circumstances.

He could see the difference between his own parents and Jade's. Her parents were usually cold and spent little time together and they were bitter. His parents on the other hand, were friendlier. They never loved the other in a romantic way but they did care about the other and they usually didn't have to pretend they were enjoying each other's company in public. The difference was obvious, so Cassius wanted something similar to what his parents had instead of Jade's parents. He couldn't imagine living in that kind of hell.

Jade rolled her eyes and took a deep breath when Cassius sat between her and Draco. Her brother was next to Blaise. Draco didn't say anything, he actually looked pretty cool about it, like if he didn't care. It was Jade who looked annoyed.

"What?" Cassius asked, noticing and feeling the tension in the air.

"I think we are too crowded and it's uncomfortable," Jade said, annoyed.

"Look, I'm sorry, okay?" Cassius exclaimed,thinking the issue was what he had said earlier. "I didn't mean anything bad or rude. I talked without thinking."

Obviously.

For the first time, Jade bit her tongue and didn't speak her thoughts. She only nodded at the blond guy. Then turned to look at the maze again but not really paying attention to what was happening as her mind was somewhere else.

"Are you going to miss me next year?" Cassius suddenly asked, interrupting her thoughts.

"Are you kidding me?" she said with a chuckle. "I'll finally be free of the two of you."

"That hurts, you know?" Lexion exclaimed. Jade nodded at him.

"Yeah, I'm looking forward to next year."

The conversation was interrupted as two people appeared in the ground in front of them. The cup was next to them. Music started playing but Jade, who was paying attention, rather than celebrating, noticed there was something odd happening.

"Is Diggory hurt?" she asked, being heard by the four people around her. "He's just lying there."

"Jade... I think he isn't hurt, I think he is actually de..." Lexion started but was interrupted by a female screaming.

It was then when some professors approached them and tried to get Harry off of Cedric but he wouldn't allow it and he was apparently crying. Soon, Harry was taken away by Mad-Eye Moody, the music stopped and Cedric's father, Amos, ran to his son, and he started crying inconsolably.

Lexion took Blaise's place next to Jade and told his sister to not look at him anymore as it was obvious now that he was dead but she couldn't turned away. She was in shock. He was one of the few people from another house that wasn't in her same year that she actually knew, because of Quidditch, and he was actually quite good.

As there was nothing else to do, Lexion actually put an arm around his sister and dragged her out of there. They were followed by Draco, Cassius and Blaise. The walk back to the castle was in complete silence as they were all still in shock an no one knew what to say. Cedric was in the same year as Cass and Lex, so even if they denied it, it was quite a blow for both of them.

"Go to the common room!" Snape ordered them in a cold and hurried tone, making them sort of snap out of their trance. "Now!"

The five of them didn't think much as Snape, who was alone, ran up the stairs and they went down to the dungeons. None of them could take Jade to her room as boys weren't allowed in the girls' room. So, they all sat in the common room. Jade was next to her brother in one couch while the other three were in another in front of them.

Jade fell asleep next to her brother that night and was woken up at least twice from nightmares. She wasn't easily affected by things or news, but seeing someone dead in front of her, especially someone she knew, had affected her deeply. It didn't help that the body was so close to her eyes and she got a good view of Cedric before her brother dragged her away. It had had some big impact on her.

Hi guys! I still remember when I read the fourth book and I read that part like 10 times because I couldn't believe Cedric was dead. The fourth book was the second I read of the series and the second ever (for pleasure) and I had never read about a death! I was about 8 or 9...

Anyway, where I live we are not just in lockdown but for the next following 3 days we CAN'T leave our houses so I might update daily...

And if we do get out we have to do it on foot... but I don't know if that's now or after those 3 days. It's confusing!

So yeah... saying I'm anxious it's an understatement.