Title: Jade Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Author: Queen Serenity

Fandom: Harry Potter

Chapter: Ten – Quidditch Excitement

When they got into November, that was when the weather started to turn really cold all of a sudden.

Jade discovered something interesting… when she thought directly at Solluna, the werecat could hear her.

A lot of excitement was mounting in the school… that game that Jade had learned about, Quidditch, was about to have its first house match of the year. It would be Slytherin against Gryffindor.

Jade personally found it a little comical… Whenever she was around Ron, he was always going on and on about how Gryffindor would beat those slimy Slytherins. Whenever she was with Draco, he would always be going on about how Slytherin would beat those stupid Gryffindors. It was just funny listening to each boy brag.

She did find herself getting caught up in the excitement, though. She wasn't going to take any sides, though, because she knew that if she did she would have one friend or the other ticked at her.

The day before the match, Jade and Draco were walking around the courtyard outside, shivering, Solluna trailing a couple of feet behind them. Most of the other students were inside because of the cold, so it was nice and quiet as they chatted about the upcoming match. They were carrying something Hermione had loaned Jade; a jam jar with a magical blue fire in it. It helped to keep them warm.

When they had stopped to take a breath from walking, Jade noticed Snape crossing the yard. "Hey, look," she said to Draco, pointing. She could see that Snape was limping. "Professor Snape," she called out.

Snape stopped limping and saw her. He waited as they walked over to him. Before he got to them, Jade could hear Solluna.

I can smell blood…

Jade looked concerned. "What's the matter with your leg, Professor? I saw that you were limping…"

Snape frowned. "I'm afraid that that's none of your business, Miss Potter." He limped away.

Jade closed her eyes for a minute, focusing her thoughts towards the werecat behind her. Solluna.

Yes?

How are you doing with your shadow diving?

I have improved.

Can you follow Snape through the shadows without him noticing you? I want to find out what's wrong with his leg… you know, make sure it's nothing serious. Please?

As you wish.

The werecat disappeared into her shadow, and Jade opened her eyes once more to notice Draco giving her an odd look. She smiled as though nothing had happened and started talking to him again as they went ahead and headed inside.

Later that evening, when Jade headed for bed, she met up with Solluna in her dorm once more, waiting on her bed.

Well?

I was able to find out what happened to it.

And?

The injured leg was, as I said, very bloody… and it appeared to be a bit torn-up. For some reason, he did not go to the nurse, but rather had Filch helping him a bit with fixing it up. Listening to his conversation, I found out that it was that blasted dog which harmed him.

Hmmm… I wonder why he would be in there with it? Was he trying to get past it…? For some reason, I think he has a reason for whatever it is he's doing… I'll stay out of it. For now, at least. Whenever you see him acting suspicious, though, do me a favor and follow him. Even adults can get themselves into trouble, I know…

The next day, Solluna stayed behind when Jade left for the match. The werecat didn't want to be around all those noises. The Quidditch match wasn't going well for the Gryffindors. Not well at all. It wasn't really because the team sucked, though… most of them were pretty good; especially the Weasley twins, Fred and George, who worked together as excellent beaters. Their only real problem was that their seeker sucked… from the sound of it, they had failed to find a decent seeker this year, so they had had to settle and hope for the best. The seeker was far from the best.

It was a bit funny, though, listening to Lee Jordan's remarks voicing his personal opinion as he announced what was happening in the game… and even funnier to hear McGonagall, who was sitting next to him, admonishing him.

Hagrid even showed up to join them for the game, which was surprising. He brought a pair of binoculars with him to better see the game.

About maybe fifteen minutes into the game, when the Slytherins had made a goal and everyone was either booing or cheering, Jade could feel the excitement of the game wash over her. She was so excited, it almost felt as though it was hard to catch her breath.

Wait a second…

It wasn't just because she was excited. It felt as though breath was getting harder and harder to catch, as though something were constricting around her throat.

Jade reached up and could feel the choker that Snape had given her digging into the tender flesh of her throat, and could feel it tighten slightly even more beneath her trembling fingers.

As the Slytherins almost scored another goal, but were blocked, Jade could feel panic welling up as the crowd around her, including her friends, sounded out again. They were so caught up in the game, no one seemed to notice that Jade was slowly suffocating.

Her eyes teared up, she elbowed Hermione, who glanced at her distractedly, then looked back a second time in alarm. "Jade!" she gasped out, seeing Jade clawing wildly at the choker. It had stopped shrinking, but was cutting off her air supply.

Hermione tugged on Hagrid's arm to get his attention and set to trying to help Jade get the choker off of Jade's neck. She pointed her wand at the choker, and muttered something, but nothing happened. She tried another incantation, but still nothing happened. Hagrid tried prying at the choker, but his large fingers couldn't get a grip on it.

Something dawned on Hermione's face. "Wait, isn't that the choker…" she grabbed Hagrid's binoculars and turned them to the stands where the teachers were sitting. "I knew it!" she exclaimed. "He's doing it!"

Jade was disbelieving. Even as spots swam in front of her eyes and she felt lightheaded, she pulled away from Hagrid, who had been trying to help her, and yanked the binoculars from Hermione so that she could see for herself.

Hermione was at least partially right. Snape was doing something… his dark eyes were fixed directly on her, and it looked as though he was muttering nonstop under his breath. Despite the cold, Jade could see sweat beading his brow.

But she knew that wasn't all to see. There had to be something else… she knew bad people, and she knew Snape wasn't one.

Bad people…

As the idea came through her oxygen-deprived brain, she turned the binoculars to see Quirrell, she saw that he was doing the same thing. The look on his face was like nothing she'd seen before… pure, unadulterated hatred.

She took down the binoculars only to find that Hermione was gone, as was Lisa, who had been sitting with them, too.

Her last thoughts before she passed out was wondering where they went, and she could hear the crowd sounding even louder than ever.

It was only maybe five minutes later when she found herself awakened once more. She found herself looking up into the wizened face of Professor Dumbledore.

"Ah, Jade, you're awake… you had all of us worried," Dumbledore said, then handed her her choker. "I have returned this to its normal size… there was nothing wrong with it; it simply seems that someone had a bad sense of humor, and thought it would be funny to cast a minimizing hex on it as you sat there. You should thank your friend, Miss Turpin… as soon as she saw what was happening, she went to fetch me, and I as able to counteract against it. Hopefully, we'll be able to eventually find out who the prankster was, exactly."

Jade smiled wryly. "Thank you, Professor." To the astonishment of those watching, she re-fastened the choker around her now-bruised neck.

When she exited the stadium later, Jade found Draco waiting for her. "Are you alright?" he asked, looking concerned for once.

She shrugged. "I'm fine, nothing to be done about it now." Quickly, she changed the subject to the Quidditch game; turns out that just as she had passed out the Slytherins had caught the Snitch and won the game. "I'll tell you, though, what I did get to see of the Quidditch wasn't as good as I thought it would be. The Gryffindor seeker sucked, so it made it too easy for the Slytherins."

Draco grinned. "The professional games are much better. Tell you what… I promise you that I'll take you to see one sometime… alright?"

"Alright." Bidding him goodbye, she went ahead and caught up with Hermione.

Hermione looked anxious. "Jade, I don't care what you say, Professor Snape's bad." Jade frowned, but Hermione continued on, "I swear to you, I could tell he was hexing you. Think, the choker was from him. I saw his eyes were locked on you, and he wasn't even blinking as he was muttering. That's how you jinx people, Jade."

Jade shook her head. "No, I don't think so, Hermione… think what you want, but I won't believe it." She didn't bother telling Hermione about Quirrell; as stubborn as the sure-of-herself girl was, there was no way she'd believe Jade. She'd probably blame it on being imagined from lack of air, or something absurd like that.

A couple of minutes later, Ron had found them, and they told him what had happened. When Hermione voiced her opinion, Ron loudly voiced his agreement.

"Come on, Jade," he said. "You can tell it just by looking at him… Snape's a slimy evil git."

At that moment, Hagrid found them, and they found themselves not long later at Hagrid's cabin, sipping some strong tea upon Hagrid's insistence that it would do Jade's throat some good. They continued the conversation there.

Jade frowned. "I know he's not evil. I can tell when someone's bad, most of the time… he's not. He's cold, but not bad. I won't even say I don't think he's up to something, because I know he is, but I know he has a reason for whatever it is. I mean, when Solluna told me he'd been trying to get past that big three-headed dog-"

Hagrid dropped the teapot, interrupting Jade.

"How do you know about Fluffy?" he said.

"Fluffy?" Jade was incredulous. Why in god's name would Hagrid name that thing Fluffy… unless it was sort of like one of those big biker dudes being named Tiny.

"Yeah – he's mine – bought him off a Greek chappie I met in the pub las' year – I lent him to Dumbledore to guard the – "

When Hagrid didn't finish, Jade gently prodded. "You were saying?"

"Don't ask me anymore. That's top secret, that is."

Hermione spoke up. "But Snape tried to kill Jade, Hagrid. And he's trying to get that object, whatever it is, that the dog's guarding."

"I'm tellin' yeh, yer wrong!" said Hagrid hotly. "I don' know who did that to Jade's choker, but it was obviously just a bad joke gone wrong. Snape wouldn' try an' kill a student! Now, listen to me, all three of yeh – yer meddlin' in things that don' concern yeh. It's dangerous. You forget that dog, an' you forget what it's guarding', that's between Professor Dumbledore and Nicolas Flamel – "

"Aha!" said Hermione, looking excited, "so there's someone called Nicolat Flamel involved, is there?"

Poor Hagrid looked furious with himself.

QS: I would really appreciate if someone out there would try and do some fanart of Jade, it's be really cool of them. Maybe even with her friends, or Snape?

I meant to tell you guys. Let's say that someone wanted to write a story about Jade (let's say sort of a Jade Potter fanfiction), then, no matter what type it was (except for making fun of Jade), I wouldn't mind on two conditions: 1 – I must be told. And 2 – I must be given full credit for creating her in a disclaimer. But let's say someone wanted to write a fic with an older Jade, or a fic pairing her with someone, or anything, it'd be no problem. Just follow those two conditions. K?

BTW, if anyone has time, could you please stop by and check out some of my fics that have less than ten reviews, and leave reviews? Please?

PS: Was it just me, or did Book 6 feel far too short?