Post 92:

"Jade!" Remus hugged her tightly for a long time. They were standing in his living room.

"What happened to you? Moody said something went wrong- when they got there- it was all smoke. And they said, the Minister said you were never even there!"

"Fudge betrayed us! He's corrupt! He was there waiting when I arrived at the Manor. They knocked me unconscious."

"Jade, you left to arrest Malfoy eight and a half months ago."

"I know, I only regained consciousness about eleven or twelve days ago; I'm not sure."

Remus sighed and hugged Jade again. "I'm glad you're okay." Presently, he looked at what Jade was wearing.

"What are you wearing?" he smiled.

"It's Narcissa's. Malfoy lent it to me."

"I- I have- I have some of Ophelia's things still, stored away, if, if you want to-"

"If it won't bother you, then yes. I feel disgusting it this."

Remus went upstairs and came down with a long tee-shirt and light drawstring pants. Jade changed into them and reflected on the days when Ophelia, Lily, and James were still alive, when she was still with Sirius, when Peter hadn't betrayed them. Those were the wonderful days.

Jade looked at Remus sitting on the couch. He was unscrewing a cork from a wine bottle, with another one already unscrewed beside it and two glasses full.

"I figured we'll be too drunk to get it open." Remus said, tears already in his eyes.

"Good thinking." Jade plopped down beside him and raised her glass. "To friendship."

"To friendship!"

Jade woke up on the floor; Remus' hand was in her face, hanging over the couch.

"Wake up! Wake up!" Jade stood up too quickly and her head spun. She ran out of his front door and vomited on Remus' only living flower.

Remus got up and walked into his kitchen. He opened up a cupboard and found a bottle that contained a sickly blackish green liquid in it. He took a swig of it and then passed it to Jade.

"Thank you." Jade said. Immediately it calmed her stomach and dissolved her headache. "Sorry about your tulip; I'll clean up the mess." Jade walked back outside and waved her wand.

"We need to talk." Remus said, sitting again on the couch. "I have bad news."
"About Sirius?"

"No. He's fine, he's gone into hiding." Remus looked Jade in the eyes and sighed deeply.

"After this whole incident, Moody decided to arrest Malfoy himself. He hoped that if he was given Vertiseum, he could talk. But… Jade, I'm sorry, when we went to your house to pick up your extra evidence… it was all ashes. Somebody burnt it down."
Jade cried out in horror. Everything she had been working on for ten years, vanished!

"And, when we went to recover the other copy of it within the Ministry, it was stolen. As of now, the Ministry has nothing against Malfoy. And he's been donating to charities and St. Mungo's regularly since."

Jade could not believe what she was hearing. How cruel could life be?

"There is a bit of good news for you." Remus got up and walked over to the front hall closet. "One thing was salvaged from your home." He said, opening the door. He reached up to the top shelf and pulled down what looked like a large brown leather book.

Jade recognized it immediately and stood. Remus walked back over and handed it to her.

"I looked at it. I never knew Sirius was more than an artist that doodled around his notes. It was done at Hogwarts, right?"

"Yes." Jade whispered, feeling the book in her hand. Remus gave her a moment and went to make tea.

"There's something else." Remus said as he handed Jade her tea. "Malfoy has a son."

Jade looked up from her tea. "Yes. Yes, I think I knew that. Draco Malfoy."

"I taught him last year. He's rude, arrogant, the typical Slytherin. And he's always bragging about his father but, I think he's secretly ashamed of him."
"What?"

"The impression I got from him, was that he praises his father because he's too scared to insult him."
Jade smiled.

"Malfoy hates it when people defy him. Imagine how angry he will become when you make his own son."