Title: Jade Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Author: Queen Serenity

Fandom: Harry Potter

Chapter: Twelve – Deals and Clues

Jade stayed true to her decision, and for the rest of the Christmas Holidays the cloak stayed folded neatly at the bottom of her trunk.

When Hermione and Lisa came back from the holidays, Jade took it out and showed it to them. They each were delighted, and tried it on in front of the mirror, laughing at how it looked to see their heads floating above the ground. After that, it was returned to the bottom of Jade's trunk.

They each thanked each other for their respective gifts.

Whenever classes weren't in session, Solluna wasn't with Jade… she was trailing Snape, as Jade had requested.

Later, Jade was tracked down by Draco.

"I wanted to ask you about something," he said. "I spoke with my parents this summer, and they have given me permission to extend an invitation to you to come visit our household for a while this summer. My father is to be taking me to a professional Quidditch match, and I want you to come along. So… will you come visit me?"

Jade smiled. "I'll tell you in a minute. By the way, thanks for the gift, Draco," she said. "I'll enjoy it… a lot."

Draco nodded. "Speaking of gifts…" a bewildered expression came over his face. "What in the blazes were those things you sent me? I've never seen anything like them…"

Jade smirked at this. "They're what are called video tapes. They're a sort of muggle contraption, where you watch stories on something called a TV. There are many types, for all ages and all preferences. The three I gave you are three of my favorites, and I wanted you to see them. Which brings me to my answer to your request. I'll go, on one condition…"

"What?"

Jade dropped the bomb. "You have to come stay one night with me before-hand. At my muggle relatives' house. When you do, you can bring those tapes I gave you and you'll be able to see what's on them."

Draco's eyes bugged. "You have GOT to be kidding. Me, associate with muggles? Ridiculous. Do you know what most people would give to be invited to Malfoy Manor?"

Jade shrugged. "That's the condition. I'm not saying I wouldn't enjoy visiting you, but I'm saying that you have to visit me, too, or you can just forget it. It's up to you."

Draco looked pained. "I… well…" he swallowed. "If my father allows it, then I guess I'll endure one night there. No more, though!"

Jade grinned. "Good. I promise you, Draco, it won't be as bad it you expect it to be. And we'll spend most of the evening in my room, anyway, watching the video tapes I gave you. Oh, and one other thing… when you are around my aunt, uncle, and cousin, please don't be rude. Please."

Draco simply glowered.

Later, Jade ran into Neville Longbottom in the hallway. He was hopping rather pitifully, obviously suffering from the Leg-Locker Curse. Rolling her eyes, Jade ran over to help him and performed the countercurse on him. His legs sprang apart and Neville got to his feet, trembling. He shot a tentative smile towards Jade. "Thanks."

The set of Jade's face was grim. "Who did it?"

"Umm…" Neville scratched the back of his head. "You don't wanna know."

Jade pinched the bridge of her nose, eyes closed, then spoke. "It was Draco, wasn't it?" She opened her eyes to look at him.

Neville nodded. "He was wandering around outside the library, looking really irritated. He said he'd been looking for someone to practice on, and then he did this to me."

Jade immediately felt a stab of guilt. It was obvious what he'd been irritated about… it had been because of her. And he had taken it out on poor Neville.

"You should have defended yourself, Neville."

Neville looked at her, pleading. "You're one of his good friends, I hear, Jade," he said. "You could tell him not to do this stuff, couldn't you?"

Jade shook her head. "First of all, I'm his friend, not his mother. Second of all, Neville, there's not always going to be someone there to defend you. You have to learn to take care of yourself… don't wait for a hero, but be your own."

Neville looked even more pitiful. "But I can't."

Jade sighed and shook her head, and turned to walk off. "Then you'll always be everyone's doormat. I know that if you really put your mind to it, you can do anything. I believe in you… but that's not what matters. You have to believe in yourself. It's your choice," she called over her shoulder as she left him to stand there.

Ever since she'd heard the name from Hagrid, Hermione had been attempting to find some information on Nicholas Flamel. Lisa helped her sometimes, but wasn't as obsessed with it as Hermione was. She'd tried to get Jade to help her, but Jade had refused to. She saw no reason right now to pursue it.

One day, when Jade was going through some of her stuff, she got a surprise. She was glancing idly over the cards she'd collected so far from Chocolate Frogs, and came across the first one she'd gotten, Dumbledore. Reading it, a certain part caught her eye: Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the Dark Wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicholas Flamel.

Grinning, she showed it to Solluna, Lisa, Ron, and Hermione, who remembered something from a book she'd been reading from the library, and brought the book out to look at. When Hermione found the part she'd been looking for, they were able to find out that Nicholas Flamel was the only known creator of the Sorcerer's Stone, and to find out exactly what the Sorcerer's Stone was.

So that was it.

That was what was hidden under the trapdoor, obviously.

Jade listened to Ron and Hermione going on about how Snape probably wanted the stone to use for himself, and that he was trying to get it.

But Jade had her doubts. The pieces were all starting to come together in her head, and she was starting to figure out what was going on.

One night after a Quidditch match, Solluna woke Jade up in the middle of the night.

Jade.

Jade blinked sleepily at the werecat, who was laying casually on Jade, her eyes inches from Jade's.

Hmm? What is it?

Tonight, I observed Professor Snape. You may have noticed that he and Professor Quirrell were not at dinner. Instead, they were meeting each other in the forest. From the conversation I heard, Snape arranged the meeting.

She proceeded to tell Jade the exact wording of the conversation.

When Snape left, Quirrell looked petrified.

Thanks for telling me, Solluna. Your dinner is by my trunk.

Yes, the pieces were coming together.

Earlier that day, when the Quidditch match had been taking place, Jade had stayed behind and read in the dormitory.

When Hermione and Lisa had got back from the match, she found out that Ron and Neville had gotten into a fight with Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle… that Ron had gone against Malfoy, and that Neville had taken on Crabbe and Goyle all on his own, or tried to. He was still knocked out in the infirmary.

When Jade got to dinner, she'd found Malfoy sporting a black eye. She'd went over to him, smirking, and told him that she loved the look before returning to her seat.

When they'd been alone later, she'd ranted at him for being foolish, and then he got her laughing when he started ranting about how the idiotic Gryffindors had won against the Hufflepuffs.

She'd grinned and made him feel better by pointing out that the Slytherins would surely win, still, that she was sure of it.

QS: Sorry that it's so short, but I am, as I said before, putting my chapters with the Harry Potter chapters. Jade is currently less involved with Quidditch, and so Quidditch chapters are automatically shortened. And the reason certain parts of it were simply summarized, is because it's parts that were originally in the book, and I try to avoid directly quoting.