Title: Jade Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Author: Queen Serenity

Fandom: Harry Potter

Chapter: Eight – Brooms, Studying, and Cerberi

There was something pleasant beside Jade's bed which she had not noticed before, as she had been in such a hurry to get to her classes. There was a small bookcase sitting there with at least fifty books in it. Gazing at it with amazed eyes, Jade picked up a note she noticed sitting on it.

Jade –

Your family wanted to make sure that they got you something this year for your birthday that could go with your new environment… they wanted to get you books, since they know your love of them is so great.

Since they know nothing of our world, they gave me some of their own money to be converted for Galleons and asked me to pick out some books for you myself. Enjoy.

- Professor Snape

The bookcase, she could tell by glancing over the titles, would prove to be heaven.

Jade, as a rule, tried to avoid hating people… it was often just a waste of energy, it seemed to her…

However, there was one person who she came dangerously close to crossing that line with… she found herself taking a very severe dislike to Pansy Parkinson. At least she only had Potions with her, though, so she didn't have to put up with her that much… Jade just ignored her snide comments, most of the time, and at least Malfoy was in that class, too. Also, Pansy seemed to avoid disturbing Jade too much… she seemed a bit afraid of Solluna.

However, it seemed that it was not to last. Jade found a notice on the board announcing that flying lessons would be starting on Friday… Ravenclaw and Slytherin would both be learning together.

Ignoring the fact that Parkinson and her friend, Bulstrode, would be in the class, Jade felt a great bubble of excitement. Flying! Imagine… Since as long as she could remember, she'd had dreams at night about flying, and it'd been so cool. This would be on a broom, and could be hard, but she was looking forward to it more than almost all of the rest of her classes.

The day that they were to have the lesson, Jade found Malfoy behind her when she went to enter the Breakfast Hall.

"Looking forward to another class with you, Jade…" He drawled, and gave his trademark smirk. "Now you'll be able to see that my broom skills I've been telling you about weren't all talk."

At this, Jade smiled and rolled her eyes. "I never doubted you. You're not the only one looking forward to the class, Draco… I've been looking forward to it since I first heard about flying."

Later that day. When everyone had showed up for the lesson, Jade noticed that there was someone extra there, someone clothed in Gryffindor robes… Neville Longbottom, the boy who'd kept losing his toad. When the teacher (who had short, gray hair and yellow eyes, which made Jade privately wonder if she was completely human, or if it was not an unusual thing in the wizarding world to have unusually-colored eyes) showed up, she explained; it seemed that Neville had had an accident yesterday when his house had been taught, so now he was being put in this lesson just for the afternoon.

When they were getting lectured on what to do with the brooms, and stuff, Jade could hear Draco whispering to a white-faced Neville.

"Heard what happened to you earlier, Longbottom. If I were you, I wouldn't bother getting on that broom again… you'll just fall on your fat ass again."

Jade pursed her lips, but said nothing. She couldn't go to bat every time she saw someone getting picked on, after all… just certain people. Other people would need to learn to defend themselves.

Jade got along quite well with the first few commands. When she said 'up', the broom leapt into her hand. When it came time to mount the brooms again, though, a problem arose. Not for Jade… just a problem which slowed down the class in general.

"Longbottom, why are you not mounting your broom?" Madam Hooch looked stern.

Neville was visibly shaking. The poor boy really did look scared. Frowning and looking at the ground, he shook his head.

Madam Hooch sighed, but obviously decided to take pity. "Alright, then. We'll have to have a private lesson later on… go wait on the front steps until class is finished."

Looking positively miserable, Neville reddened visibly and trudged off in the direction of the steps.

The rest of the class proceeded smoothly, and did so well that at the end they were allowed to fly as they wanted for fifteen minutes, provided that they stayed within twenty feet of the ground. In the meantime, the teacher said she'd be back in a few minutes and headed off, obviously to talk to Neville. Hermione stayed within about five feet of the ground, still looking a bit nervous on her broom as she flew unsteadily. As for Jade, she was up as high as was allowed, having fun. As she flew about Malfoy, who didn't notice her, she could hear him joking with the two lugs who always followed him around. He was making fun of how scared Neville had been. Jade frowned, but flew on. It wasn't any of her business.

What happened next, though, was her business. At least she considered it as such. Pansy Parkinson and Millicent Bulstrode had obviously noticed how inept Hermione was on the broom, and had started taking turns dive-bombing her, trying to cause her to fall, yelling out mocking insults as they did so.

"Maybe you should shave your bird's nest, Granger," Parkinson called out. "Then you could actually see to fly!"

Bulstrode gave an ugly grin. "She probably doesn't wanna fly higher 'cause she doesn't want any birds to land in the nest!" She chuckled nastily.

The look on Jade's face was thunderous.

Give them a taste of their own medicine, Jade. You know you want to… Madam Hooch is still talking to Neville…It was obvious that Solluna, watching from the ground, had seen what was happening.

Giving a malevolent grin that only those closest to her had seen, Jade, working on instincts alone, pulled her broom up sharply and headed up way further than the twenty feet that was allowed… when she'd reached an elevation of maybe about sixty feet, she leveled out and circled a couple of times, looking down on her prey. Below, all of the other students were so caught up in concentrating on flying (or, in certain cases, bullying) that they didn't notice her above. The only one that was watching was Solluna, her crimson eyes focused upon Jade, her expression unreadable. The only thing indicative of her mood was the way her tufted tail was flicking in anticipation.

After a couple of circles, Jade pushed down sharply on her broom, going into a steep, steep dive, aiming carefully. She plunged through the air, her robes whipping wildly around her, the wind in her hair, diving much like a bird of prey going in for its meal.

She gripped her broom tightly as she collided with Bulstrode shoulder-first, knocking the heavier-set girl off of her broom. Next, before Parkinson could react, she grabbed the girl's black pigtails and yanked sharply, causing the other girl to let out a sharp squeal and grab onto her hair with her hands. Both hands.

It turned out that Parkinson wasn't as sure on her broom as she had acted. As soon as both of her hands had left her broom, her balance was lost and she tipped sideways, falling the five feet to the ground in an unceremonious heap.

Hermione was gaping at Jade in surprise. Jade winked at her and, leaning over on her broom, grinned smugly down at Parkinson. "You really shouldn't have your hair in pigtails, Parkinson," she said. "It makes you look even more like a dog than usual. But if you like having dog ears, it's up to you… come to think of it, they go nicely with your dog face."
Parkinson glared, standing and brushing dirt off of herself. "You look so smug now, Potter… but don't think we're not telling."

It was Hermione that spoke then. "No one else saw what happened, Parkinson, so it'll be you and Bulstrode's words against ours. No reason for Madam Hooch to believe you."

Parkinson considered this for a moment, then went back to glaring. "Fine. I challenge you to a wizard's… I mean, witch's duel. Wand against wand. Tonight, in the trophy room."

Jade knew what these were, having read about them. She shook her head, flying in slow circles around Parkinson and Bulstrode, so that they had to keep turning their heads occasionally to keep their eyes on her. "Nah. I have nothing I'd gain from it but being tired tomorrow… I have no reason to prove myself to anyone. Besides, you'd probably do something bitch-like, such as tip off Filch that there were students out of bed in the trophy room. I can't see you doing anything as uncowardly as fighting a fair duel."

Parkinson, who was by now back on her broom, glared at Jade, along with Bulstrode, but said nothing, as the teacher had just returned. Silently, she mouthed to Jade… 'I'll get you.' Jade just smirked.

After that, the last few minutes of class were uneventful, except for when Jade heard Solluna's mind murmur.

Hehe… well done.

One day, when Jade and Hermione, were having one of their regular study sessions in the library, a familiar face which had usually only been seen at lunch came in… a very miserable-looking Ron Weasley.

When he saw Jade, he turned around and started to go to another part of the library.

"Hi, Ron," Jade called out.

He turned around. "Why would you be talking to me? I thought you were friends with Draco Malfoy…"

Jade shrugged. "So? What does that have to do with anything?"

"Well, usually anyone who'd be friends with someone like that wouldn't want to be friends with someone like me." He avoided meeting her eyes.

Jade rolled her eyes. "I thought you understood what I was like back on the train, Ron. I consider Draco to be a friend of mine, true… but I also consider you to be one, too, unless you don't want that. I choose my friends, other people don't… and I don't see people through the eyes of others, but rather through my own."

Ron frowned, then shrugged. "If that's the way you think of it… is anyone sitting there? He gestured to a seat across the table from Hermione and Jade, and the two girls shook their heads.

When he moved to sit down, Ron let out a light yelp when he saw what was curled up in the chair next to the one he'd chosen… Solluna. "Bloody hell, Jade, do you take that thing everywhere with you?"

Jade just smiled in reply. "Why'd you look so miserable when you came in, Ron?"

Ron seemed to be reminded of something, and the utterly miserable look made its return. "Oh, yeah… the classes are a lot harder than I expected, especially Potions. There's a load of stuff I don't understand, so I came here to try and study, though I doubt it'll do any good…"

"Well, we can help you with that," said Jade brightly. "How about that?"

"Thought we won't, of course," added in Hermione, "actually do your work for you. You will have to put in some effort, Ron."

This seemed to brighten up Ron considerably, and they all set to work.

By the time they had finished studying for the night, and had had to now leave the library since it was closing, it was late. Very late. Too late, in fact. It was past curfew, and Filch would now be out prowling the halls… but Hermione and Jade had promised that they'd walk Ron halfway to Gryffindor Tower, at least. Hermione seemed to be nearly having an anxiety attack, she was so scared of them getting caught and getting in trouble. She absolutely hated breaking rules, even when it was accidental.

As they were trying to find their way to where they would split up to go to their respective House locations, they ended up accidentally taking a few trick staircases and ending up hopelessly lost… and ended up in a hallway with a single door at the end.

It was then that they heard footsteps…

That is Filch, Jade, said Solluna. I can smell that pitiful cat he keeps around him.

Jade's eyes widened. "Solluna says that Filch's coming," she whispered frantically.

They ran quickly but quietly the only way they could, to the end of the hall where the door was… only to find that it was locked.

The footsteps came nearer.

Jade whipped out her wand. "Alohomora!"

They quickly went through the now-unlocked door and closed it behind them, pressing their ears against it to listen. They heard Filch walk rather close to the door, and then turn around and walk away. They sighed in relief.

A moment later, Solluna let out a rather feline yelp that was rather unlike her, and disappeared into her shadow, completely vanishing. When Jade turned around, she found out why… and she also figured out instantly where they were, and why the door had been locked.

They were in the forbidden corridor on the third floor, and it was obvious why it was forbidden.

Before them was a monstrous dog which made Jade think immediately of the dog that guarded the Underworld, the one she'd read about in several books on Greek myths, Cerberus.

It was humongous.

It was horrifying.

It was looking at them like it hadn't eaten in a very, very long time.

It was… standing on a trap door?

They were out of there like bats out of hell, running.

Out of the room, out of the corridor, and they kept on going to the point where they split up and on to the portrait of the reading girl. "Password?" she mumbled, distractedly, not even paying attention to how out-of-breath Jade and Hermione were.

"Chaotic tranquility," Jade gasped out, and they were let inside.

In the main room, both girls flopped down to catch their breath. When it was caught, they set to chatting.

"Did you see what it was on?"

"Uh huh, a trap door."

"Obviously, it's guarding something… I don't know what on earth it could be, for them to drag a beast like that in here to guard it."

Jade thought hard. She kept silent, but she thought she knew what it could be… well, sort of. It was most likely that package that Hagrid had withdrawn from Gringotts. What could it be, though?

When Jade made her way back to the dorm, leaving Hermione reading in the common room, she found a rather abashed-looking werecat.

Jade frowned. "I was wondering what happened to you, Solluna. You just seemed to sorta… disappear… when we saw that dog."

I am truly sorry, Jade. My species, as they mature, develop a power to be able to travel through shadows… if there is even the smallest shadow, even as small as a pea, a werecat can disappear into it and reappear at any other location with a shadow… it starts out relatively short distances, such as within a mile or two, but develops into greater distances with practice and age. I had never done it before, Jade, and so, when I was startled, that was what happened… and then I could not seem to figure out how to do it again. Oh, and by the way, that was a very, very big dog. Are you all right?

Jade nodded. "I'm fine… We got out of there pretty much right after you. I knew all that about werecats, I've been reading up on your species. Don't worry about it… just don't ever do anything like that to me again, alright?"

Alright.

QS: I recommend that you all stop by and read Lunalelle's "Abyss". It is by far the best story I've ever read on this site, although it is very dark.