Two days later two very big announcements were made. Hogwarts was now obligatory, no one could be taught at home or abroad and you had to prove you weren't a Muggle-born. Ginny and Jade, who were the only ones who had to go back, frowned at it. They both knew Hogwarts would be torture, literally, that year.
That day, Ginny finally remembered to change Jade's eyes back to hazel. And Jade decided to keep her hair red, at least for the time being, she liked it and they were being watched. Every house that belonged to someone from the Order was being watched so she preferred to pass as a cousin than just a friend.
"Are my parents back home?" Jade asked one night around mid-August to Mr. Weasley. She felt like she had overstayed.
"Your mother stays a few days at her house and then leaves. She knows you had to be collected and taken to a safe house because of no adults being at the house for a few days and for suspicion of being linked to You-Know-Who, she asked where you were but didn't make any attempt to reclaim you," Mr. Weasley told her. "Your father was released a week ago and just disappeared. He went to his house one time and hasn't been seen since then."
"What about Rabastan Lestrange?"
"He's been spotted more often but no one has managed to catch him, your house has been secured with dark magic, by the time the Aurors manage to break those enchantments, if they do, Rabastan is gone, or well hidden."
"Should I go back...?" Jade asked unsure.
"Like I said, your mother hasn't reclaimed you, it would be unethical to take you back, knowing you might be in danger if you go back to that house. So, you and another trusted Auror will go to your house a few days before school starts so you can get whatever you need but won't stay. You will be taken to King's Cross by someone else, as you know, we're being watched, so it's better if you are not seen with us. You might get in trouble."
"And you too," Jade said quickly.
"What can they do to us? But you... you might be treated as Tonks' mother or Tonks herself. You were with her when we moved Harry, you saw how much her aunt hates her and how ruthless she was. That can happen to you too just for being with us. Better not to risk it."
The Weasleys went to Diagon Alley, the twins went along with their parents and Ginny. The five of them stayed together the whole time. Diagon Alley now seemed dark and unsafe. It seemed more like Knockturn Alley.
There were Death Eaters on almost every corner, if they suspected there was a Muggle-Born in there, things would get ugly and dramatic.
The five of them hurried from shop to shop, trying to spend as little time as possible in that place. They were Pure-Blood, but they were considered Blood Traitors, which was probably just as bad.
Luckily, people didn't wonder or suspect anything when they bought books and utensils for a sixth-year student, who was there with them, and additionally, things for a seventh-year student. Most people knew they had a son going to his seventh year in Hogwarts.
What they didn't know was that those books weren't for Ron, but for a Lias, who had stayed in the Burrow for the safety of everyone. Her parents or brother could be the one behind the mask of any Death Eater there, things would get extremely bad if they saw her with them or on her own.
Two days before going to King's Cross, Jade was taken to the Lias Manor by two trusted men, one was Kingsley Shacklebolt, she walked in and called a house-elf, the oldest one of all the house-elves working for the Lias family appeared in front of her.
"Is my mother here?"
"Mistress Raven isn't home, Mistress Jade," he said.
"And my father?"
"No, Master Finley hasn't been home for several days, Mistress Jade."
Jade went to her room, Kingsley stayed outside of her room, giving her privacy but stayed closed just in case. She got her Hogwarts trunk and a backpack. She put all school related things inside the trunk and then grabbed the backpack. It was enchanted to be able to fit everything Jade wanted. It already had many valuable things, including some money. She put inside more clothes, a picture album and some gifts she had gotten from different people. She also put inside a goblet that had the crest of the Lestrange family that had been given to her when she was born.
Jade then went to the bathroom and called Ilvie in there, in just two seconds the thin house-elf appeared in front of her.
"Ilvie, I forbid you to tell any of this to my parents, my brother, Olisca and my uncles and aunt, okay?" Jade whispered and Ilvie nodded. "I might not come back here, ever. You belong to me so when I'm gone I want you to come with me. I don't know where I'll go but you can find me, right?"
"Ilvie can and will find Mistress Jade."
"This will be after school is over. We might have to hide for a long time, okay? And I might need some of my belongings that I will now leave behind. If my bed is gone my parents will know something is up. Okay? My parents have this picture in their room, it's of me and Lexion. I'm about two and we are just outside in the garden, make a copy of that and bring it to me when we go away."
"Yes, Mistress Jade. Is there anything else Mistress Jade wants Ilvie to do?"
"Not for now. I have to go now but if I think of something else I'll let you know. I'll send a message through another house-elf from Hogwarts or something like that. Now I'll go. Good luck, Ilvie."
Jade walked out of her room with her backpack on one shoulder and pulling her trunk with the Slytherin crest on it, something Kingsley disapproved of, Jade could tell.
The following forty to forty-five hours were spent together. Ginny kept whining and begging her parents to not send her to school but that wasn't possible. They knew they couldn't hide her anywhere and now that school was mandatory, they didn't know what to do. They didn't want to send Ginny or even Jade to school.
To keep her mind occupied, Mrs. Weasley spent the time baking and cooking. She had made several cakes and biscuits. The twins and Arthurt didn't mind, of course, but even they ran out of space to eat more. Arthur Weasley even took several pieces of cake to his work, to not waste so much food and in an attempt to make the atmosphere at work a little bit more cheerful.
Sometimes, they could hear Mrs. Weasley cry while she baked. That clock she had, that showed where every member of the family was, each hand pointing to their locations. At some point, some of the hands pointed to "home" or "work" or "school" or "travelling" or even "prison" or "hospital". But now the nine golden hands were pointing at "mortal peril". She kept glancing at the clock at least once every hour, to check if they had changed somehow, but they hadn't moved in days. Jade knew that if she had one hand, it would point the same direction too.
That last night at the Burrow, Jade looked at her backpack that seemed pretty empty. Jade couldn't decide if she should leave her backpack. It had nothing bad but she didn't know if her stuff were going to be searched and she didn't want anyone to see them. She didn't want to leave it behind either.
Almost two hours before going to King's Cross, Jade finally got it. A spell to hide the spell she did on it to fit her stuff and to hide all the things she had inside. If anyone saw it, they would only find a Slytherin scarf, a letter from her grandparents, written in Greek, several biscuits made by Mrs. Weasley and the necklace Cass had given to her years ago. Everything else would be concealed. She put the backpack inside her trunk and she was ready to go.
The second Auror who took her to her house also took her to the station. There, in a public bathroom, the Auror turned her hair back to her natural brown shade. She had to admit red suited her but she also missed her dark hair. The Auror then walked out, Jade claimed she actually needed to use the toilet.
And then she did something drastic. Long strands of brown hair fell down to the floor, she did it the Muggle way as she still was underage and the trace could have been activated, and she didn't want to attract any attention to herself. Her wavy hair that reached her belly button now barely touched her shoulders.
As it was cold, she put on her hoodie, so no one would notice for now. She then moved the hair to a corner with her foot and exited the bathroom. The Auror took her all the way to the train, even waited until she got inside and then left.
She got inside a compartment and looked out the window. Parents were hugging their kids, they all looked scared. Jade could see that the younger children's parents and those who weren't Purebloods looked the worst.
Minutes before the train left, Jade was joined by Ginny and Luna and eventually Neville. No one could have ever thought that Jade Lias would become friends with them or that they would trust her. Luna was odd but cool and Ginny was popular and nice.
Neville... well, she sometimes felt uncomfortable around him as his parents had been tortured by her uncles and aunt and now he knew. But Neville seemed to be okay with her, after all, Jade was only months old when it happened.
"I thought you would be gone with them," Neville admitted.
"I think three people missing school is enough," Jade said with a small shrug.
Jade got out a very big bag full of biscuits, Ginny couldn't eat any more of them but Luna and Neville were delighted. They set the bag in between them and started eating, while Ginny and Jade were in front of them, declining their offers every few minutes. They had eaten enough of them already.
Halfway through to Hogwarts, the train stopped. Death Eaters, including Lexion, got inside the train to look for Harry.
"He's not here!" Neville yelled at one as he kept looking.
The Death Eaters kept searching nevertheless, then Lexion caught sight of Jade. He stopped. He looked so empty. So frail. So not happy. The siblings stared into each other's eyes for a long time until another Death Eater pushed Lexion forward.
Jade had tears in her eyes but not a single one fell. The other three were looking at her. It wasn't hatred, or fear, or untrust, or anything of the sort, it was more like compassion.
Jade was feeling a mix of emotions. She was relieved he was alive and out of Azkaban. She was happy to see her brother again, she still remembered how it felt when she hugged him weeks ago. But she was also afraid of losing him, either by Dark Magic, wrong decisions or death. She felt sick thinking what they could be doing to him to punish him if he did something wrong. She felt hopeless thinking his life could be over before it could start properly.
Jade excused herself to go change into her uniform but in reality she only wanted some time to herself. She closed the door of the toilet and cried for a bit. All those emotions overwhelmed her. Seeing her brother dressed in those black clothes, terrifying people, young people, was too much.
Once at Hogwarts, Jade went to sit at the Slytherin table, she couldn't believe she was back once again but this time her friends were gone. She glanced at the Gryffindor table and not surprisingly, they weren't gone, they weren't the only ones either.
She was in between Timothy, her Quidditch teammate and a fifth-year student. She didn't know her name. Draco was sat further to the front, there were maybe twenty people between them. Their eyes met only once.
It was weird being back and seeing Snape giving the speech in his usual cold voice instead of Dumbledore, who was always very welcoming. He introduced Alecto Carrow, the new Muggle Studies teacher and Amycus Carrow, the new DADA teacher. Jade recognized them as the siblings that were in the Astronomy Tower when Dumbledore was murdered.
Jade went to the common room in silence, Hogwarts didn't seem welcoming anymore. She didn't wait for Draco or the twins. She only wanted to get to bed. It was actually scary to be there and that was coming from a Pureblood Slytherin. Jade couldn't even imagine how other students felt.
Sorry for the lateness guys! I just couldn't bring myself to reread this and check for mistakes.
I had been so busy and stressed, I didn't have the right mindset to come read this.
Also, I'm starting a small story (also Draco Malfoy) and will upload once I finish writing it. I got inspired by one of my videos, sooooo yeah :) It won't be as long as this one (I think) but it will be good, I hope.
