Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. J.K. Rowling does. This was merely written for entertainment purposes. And the title is actually a song by Hoobastank off their self- titled CD. I don't own that, either!
Chapter Three: I Got A Heads Up
After the feast and congratulating Hagrid on his new job as the teacher for Care of Magical Creatures, Harry joined Ron, Hermione, and the rest of the Gryffindors on their way to Gryffindor Tower. On the way, he'd accidentally knocked over another third-year girl and stopped to apologize.
"Sorry. Are you okay?" Harry asked. He'd never before noticed this girl until now. She was quite pretty (though not as pretty as Cho Chang) for a Chinese girl, with very straight black hair down to her shoulders and blue colour-dyed bangs. She was a bit shorter than Harry, but only by a few inches.
"Oh—that's alright. Hey, you're Harry Potter!" said the girl.
"Er—yes, I am. And you are?"
"I'm Jade Rinaldi," she replied quietly.
"Your last name's Rinaldi? Why—But you look—" Harry stammered.
"—Chinese, yes. I was adopted," Jade hastily explained, as though she'd had to repeat the answer numerous times. She brushed her bangs out of her face and touched her lower arm nervously.
"Well, we'd better go," she pointed out. They were a little behind the crowd of Gryffindors and hurried to catch up. When they went through the portrait hole, Jade walked calmly to the girls' staircase while Harry went to his.
When he reached his circular dormitory in the tower, Harry found Ron already waiting on his four-poster bed.
"Where were you?" Ron asked.
"I went back to apologize to some girl I pushed," Harry answered.
"Such a gentleman," muttered Ron as he pushed the covers back to sleep.
Harry did the same and took off his glasses while the image of Jade was in his head. Why had he never known she'd existed until now, except to find that he recognized her somehow? He must have had classes with her; after all, Jade was in the same year as him. But he didn't tread too long on this thought and drifted off to sleep remembering his first Divination class tomorrow...
When Harry, Ron, and Hermione went down to the Great Hall for breakfast the following morning, Harry spotted Malfoy retelling his tale of Harry and presumably spreading rumours that Harry had fainted on the train. After all, wasn't it meant to have happened?
"Hey, Potter!" shrieked the Slytherin pug-faced Pansy Parkinson. "Potter! The dementors are coming, Potter! Wooooooooo!"
"Your face is worse than the dementors, I'll bet," muttered Jade beside Harry. Ron and Harry laughed in agreement while Hermione grinned at her. When she passed them, Jade gave Harry a small smile and sat next to a Gryffindor girl with a long blonde braid.
"Who was that?" asked Ron.
"The girl I bumped into yesterday," Harry said curtly.
"You don't know her, Ron? She's been in our classes since first-year," Hermione commented.
"No. Who's that other girl?" Ron questioned, jerking his head to Jade and her friend.
"Jade and Matilda Rinaldi, sisters. Jade's adopted," replied Hermione. It was obvious who was adopted, because the surname "Rinaldi" didn't sound Asian.
Just then, George passed over the schedules.
"New third-year course schedules," said George.
"Ooh, good, we're starting some new subjects today," Hermione gushed while examining her new schedule.
Harry remained quiet for the rest of breakfast and suddenly recalled the incident that would happen in Hagrid's first class with the Slytherins; Malfoy would be the root of causing Buckbeak to be almost killed if Harry didn't rescue the hippogriff using Hermione's Time-Turner (he'd have to rescue Buckbeak again). Harry couldn't decide whether he was thrilled to be able to ride Buckbeak as a demonstration for the class or if he was irked by Malfoy's frequent malicious smirks.
After breakfast, Ron, Harry, and Hermione trudged up to the North Tower for Divination with Professor Trelawney. She was a dramatic teacher and Harry was always quite annoyed with her frequently predicting his death, even more so when Harry knew well that the feared Grim in his tea leaves really resembled Sirius Black. He didn't need tea leaves to tell him of things he already knew.
During Care of Magical Creatures, Harry caught a glimpse of Jade and her sister Matilda before Malfoy agitated Buckbeak. He was sure he'd seen her before, just not at Hogwarts, because he recognized the face.
"Looks like Jade dyed her hair differently," Hermione said, making Harry jump. It was as if she'd read his mind; he also didn't know she had been beside him.
"What d'you mean?" Harry inquired.
"Last year her hair was streaked with red highlights. It looked pretty neat," recalled Hermione.
"No wonder. Her face was familiar..." Harry mumbled. Despite that, he couldn't help but wonder that there was something peculiar about Jade. She usually had a somber expression while she was alone but made what looked like exaggerated faces when spoken to, as if trying to force herself to be happy.
At that moment, Draco Malfoy let out a high-pitched scream and was laid sprawled out on the grass, his robes filthy with his blood.
"I'm dying! I'm dying, look at me! It's killed me!" Malfoy yelled.
The Slytherins gathered around him, but he was taken to the Hospital Wing to have his cut mended. Still shouting about Hagrid, they headed to their common room in the dungeon while the Gryffindors went upstairs to Gryffindor Tower.
During Potions on Tuesday, Malfoy staggered in with his arm in a sling.
"Thinking of trying to catch Black single-handed, Potter?" drawled Malfoy while they were concocting their Shrinking Solution.
"Why would I?" Harry asked absentmindedly.
He saw Malfoy's mouth curve into a mean smile.
"Of course, if it was me," he said in a dangerously soft voice, "I'd have done something before now. I wouldn't be staying in school like a good boy, I'd be out there looking for him."
"What are you talking about, Malfoy?" asked Ron savagely.
"Don't you know, Potter?" Malfoy said while his pale eyes narrowed.
"It's not what you think," said Harry.
"Is that right? Well, I'd want revenge if it was me..." Malfoy drawled.
He thinks Sirius betrayed my parents. And now he's trying to lure me into his trap, hoping that Black's going to kill me, thought Harry. But I know the truth already. The person I'd want revenge on is Peter Pettigrew...
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Err... third chapter in one day! W00t. Okay, yeah. It was short. I'll make the others longer. :P