A/N: All characters belong to JK Rowling with the exception of Jade, who is almost completely my creation (except for her real last name if you want to get technical). No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

This story takes place in the summer after GoF. Hopefully, you don't need to be reminded what happened in the previous school year.

Please note that this is rated R for violence, sexual situations and disturbing content.

Chapter 1: Distraction

She came to him in the middle of the night. She flew on her Swiftstick Z28 to Number 4 Privet Drive, hovered outside his window and knocked gently on the glass panes so as not to wake the rest of the house.

Like so many other nights that summer, Harry had been lying awake in his bed, preferring his own tortured thoughts to whatever new horrors awaited him in his nightmares. Nightmares of his last year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry at the end of which, the Dark Lord Voldemort had returned to power. Open for a distraction, Harry went over to the half opened window.

Harry recognized her as a student from Hogwarts but he'd never actually met her. She was Harry's age but something in her eyes made her appear older. She was wearing a ripped t-shirt with a short black skirt. Her long, dark brunette hair fell about her face in straight, wispy strands and she wore way too much makeup for a girl her age. She batted her eyelashes at him. "Well? Aren't you going to let me in?"

If Harry didn't know better, he would have thought she was a veela. She had a way of sitting on her broomstick that he'd never seen before. It was ... suggestive. Harry could tell right away that she was trouble. It would be very stupid of him to let a strange girl into his bedroom in the middle of the night. He moved his hand around to his back and felt his wand sticking out of his pajamas.

He always had his wand, even when he got up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night; it had become second nature to him. Every morning, he would grab the wand from underneath his pillow and hide it somewhere so his Aunt and Uncle wouldn't see it. Stuck in his sock, underneath his too long jeans. Safety-pinned with a string to the inside of his sweater sleeve. Or, on warmer days, stuck in his belt loop hid easily under a large T-shirt. He was mildly surprised that he had automatically grabbed it just to get up and go to the window.

Harry thought of Ron, Hermione and then Sirius, wondering what they would advise him to do in this situation. Of course, he knew what they would say. But he let her in anyway.

She said her name was Jade but Harry knew her real name was Bernice. When he mentioned this, she waved her hand dismissively. "Bernice?" She seethed. "What a boring name." Seeing that he didn't believe her, she changed the subject. "You're a tough person to find, Harry."

"How did you find me?" Harry said suspiciously.

"I looked in all the Muggle directories till I found them," she said proudly. "Vernon and Petunia Dursley, Number Four Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey."

"How did you know my family's name?"

"Well, it was printed right in the Prophet, of course. Didn't you know?"

Harry shook his head.

"I saved all the articles they've ever printed about you. That first one about you becoming the Triwizard Champion... well, they had everything about you. Don't you ever read your own articles?"

"No," said Harry who was still carefully watching her as if she was about to sprout fangs. "Aren't you in Slytherin?" he asked.

"Yes," she said. "What of it?"

"You're probably friends with Draco Malfoy, aren't you? And this is some big joke?"

Jade frowned at the mention of Draco's name. "Puhleeze. He's a snobby little wanker who thinks he's too good for anyone." Suddenly she grinned. "And he really hates you, doesn't he?"

"The feeling is mutual. Come to mention it, I've never met a Slytherin that I've gotten along with."

"Oh? Are you prejudiced against Slytherins?"

Harry didn't say anything.

"We're not all the same, you know."

"I didn't say that," Harry said a bit too defensively. This time, it was he who changed the subject. "So, what do you want?"

Her eyes sparkled as she licked her lips. "I just wanted to meet you. The enigmatic Harry Potter. I've been trying to work up the nerve to talk to you for ages," she said coyly.

Harry strongly doubted if she had ever been shy a day in her life. "I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed."

She moved closer to him and looked deep into his eyes.
"I believe...that we're soul mates destined to be together."

Harry tried not to laugh at the absurdity of it. "What are you playing at? Soul mates? You don't even know me."

She turned her head down shyly and lifted her eyes to meet his. "It's just a feeling. An instinct. I feel like I've known you forever. It's like ... it's like magic at its deepest." She moved still closer to him. "Haven't you ever had a feeling like that, Harry?"

"No," Harry said coolly.

She smiled. "Hmm, I think you have. You just don't want to admit it." She started to close her eyes as she leaned her face up to his.

There was no doubt about it, she was going to kiss him.

On instinct, Harry grabbed her wrists and held her away from him. Shocked by the sudden movement, she stared at him fearfully. They stood there for a moment; Harry surveyed her to determine the sincerity of her emotions.

Suddenly, she smiled. "So that's how you like it, huh? Rough? I knew you weren't a total pouf..."

Horrified, Harry let her arms go and backed away from her, "Uh... it's late and I don't want you to wake up my family. You'd better leave."

She seemed delighted to have hit a nerve. "Boy, you are paranoid. If this is the extent of your romance skills, no wonder you don't have a girlfriend."

Harry was becoming more and more angry. "You can leave now."

She was suddenly very apologetic, "I'm sorry, Harry. I was just teasing. I do that when I get nervous."

"Nervous? Why don't I believe that?"

"You're cautious. I can respect that. I'm the same way."

"If you've come here to insult me, you'd better just leave the way you came."

She looked at him sympathetically. "My but you're sensitive. I said I was sorry."

"Whatever you're here for, I'm not interested. So, you might as well..."

"Harry..." she interrupted. "I am really sorry." She looked almost sincere. "I've traveled so far to introduce myself to you. I had to go the long way to avoid populated areas. Please don't kick me out so soon. Let me try this again." She lowered her eyes demurely and held out her hand. "Hi. My name is Jade."

Harry sighed, pushed the foreboding thoughts from his mind and stuck out hand.

Over the next five days, he asked himself every day why he kept letting her in. Even more disturbing, even to himself, is why he didn't tell anyone about her. Maybe he was sick of people worrying about him. Sirius had enough to worry about. Hadn't he, Harry, proved time and again that he could take care of himself? Dumbledore had told him to trust his instincts, and that's what he was going to do.

Or perhaps she had somehow enchanted him or slipped him a love potion. But he wasn't in love with her and he didn't feel like he was being forced into letting her in. It was just an instinct. A very strong instinct that he had nothing to fear from her.

Nevertheless, he was constantly on his guard with her. He considered all possibilities and made it clear that he didn't trust her. She was not discouraged. "I don't blame you," she said. "No one is trustworthy in this world. People take what they can get and throw you out like yesterday's garbage."

"You don't leave a lot of room for optimism," Harry said.

"I'm not feeling sorry for myself. Just stating the facts." She flipped back a strand of hair and added condescendingly, "I know this from experience, Harry."

Harry nodded. "Yeah, I've heard you're quite experienced."

Harry had heard stories about her from other boys in the bathrooms of Hogwarts. But Harry rarely listened to these stories. Being the subject of so much gossip himself, he knew that only a small portion of it was usually true. However, the more she visited him, the more he thought the stories were probably not far from the truth.

She couldn't help but grin. "Is that why you keep inviting me back in?"

Harry ignored her comment. "Why are you here, again?"

"To make your life more interesting."

Harry let out a hollow laugh. "My life couldn't get any more interesting."

"All right. How about to make your life more fun."

"What's in it for you?"

"You still don't trust me, do you?"

"No. I don't know you."

"Do we ever really know anybody?" she said dreamily.

"Huh?" Harry looked at her genuinely puzzled. "What are you talking about?"

Her eyes moved to his and her face broke into a grin. "I don't know. I'm just bull shitting. I'm really good at it."

"Your parents must be so proud," Harry couldn't help but smile too.

"They usually get to hear my best stuff," she said.

She had never given him a reason to suspect that she wanted to hurt him. She claimed to not carry her wand with her.

"You can search me, if you want," she had said, on more than one occasion, with a wicked grin on her face. She took great pleasure at embarrassing him with suggestive comments such as this.

The things she did to the Dursleys were certainly entertaining. To alleviate his worries about them waking up, she brought a sleeping potion with her the second night. She explained that her mother takes a cupful on nights when she is particularly stressed.

She had poured some into an empty perfume bottle, snuck into their rooms and sprayed it above their heads so they would breathe it in as they slept.

"No worries, love. They won't be waking up anytime soon." She grinned at him. "We can perform all kinds of noisy activities."

Harry was glad to not have to worry about the Dursleys. But he couldn't help noticing that, when they awoke in the mornings, the Dursleys seemed to be in very high spirits. This was quite unusual for them.

"Are you sure that's just sleeping potion?" he had asked Jade.

She shrugged. "It's my mum's recipe. She uses it to help her sleep."

No doubt seeing how much it amused Harry, she took particular delight in having fun with Dudley while he was sleeping. Harry had to stop her from using a whole tube of Grow-Your-Own-Warts cream on Dudley one night. One little wart on the tip of his nose was innocent enough. But if he had woken up covered head to foot in warts, even Dudley would know that Harry had something to do with it.

Perhaps it was his curiosity that was once again getting the better of him. He really didn't know why she had come to him. He knew that she was not being completely honest. Sometimes, when she let her guard down, Harry could see a profound sadness in her eyes. Whenever she became aware of letting herself appear vulnerable, she would spout off a vulgar comment said purely for the shock value.

Perhaps he didn't mind the sense of danger and mystery she brought into his life because he had become accustomed to it. Danger followed him around, now more than ever. He rationalized that he couldn't escape it no matter what he did, so why try?

When the night finally came that he found out her secret, he found that no matter how much he had planned for it, he was not prepared to deal with it.

A/N: Thank you for reading! If I could trouble you for just a minute longer, I'd really appreciate it if you could leave a review at this time.