It was safe to say that after a few lessons of Defense Against the Dark Arts it was most of the students' favorite class. Draco was the only one holding off on jumping onto the bandwagon.
"Look at the state of his robes," Draco whispered to Crabbe and Goyle during one of Professor Lupin's lectures. But no one else cared that Professor Lupin's robes were old and a little patched. He always made the class exciting, after Boggarts, they studied Red Caps, nasty little goblin-like creatures that lurked wherever there had been bloodshed. And after Red Caps they moved on to Kappas. Creepy. water-dwellers that looked like scaly monkeys with webbed hands that strangled unknowing waders in ponds. But where there was immense fun in Defense Against the Dark Arts, all classes couldn't be that exciting. Professor Snape seemed to be in an even worse mood than usual, which Jade didn't think was possible. The story of the Boggart assuming his shape as Neville's fear and the way that Neville had dressed it in his grandmother's clothes had traveled through the school like wildfire. Professor Snape's whole demeanor changed at the mention of Professor Lupin's name and he was picking on poor Neville worse than ever. Divination was just awful, Professor Trelawney went on in her over-dramatic ways as they all tried deciphering muddled shapes and symbols. Jade didn't like the way Professor Trelawney's large eyes would turn to her when it was her turn to say what she thought she found. The way her dry lips would crack as they spread into a smile when Jade had gotten something right or the way she would tisked at her when she got something wrong. Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown were Trelawney's star students and they quickly picked up a 'better than others' attitude all because they could 'correctly' read wet leftover tea dregs. After every class, it renewed the superior looks on their faces and now every time Jade saw one of them she wanted to jinx the smug looks off their faces, especially when she would eat lunch with Harry and they would come up to him and talk in a gentle tone, as if he were fatally ill and raising their voices might send him off into the afterlife. Even though Jade really liked Professor Lupin's class, Care of Magical Creatures still had a special place in Jade's heart. Nobody else really cared for it now since the Hippogriff accident happened and Hagrid backpedaled to something safer. They were now spending each lesson learning how to look after flobberworms, and compared to the fierce and beautiful Hippogriffs, they were the most boring creatures in existence.
"Ugh." Pansy groaned as she nudged a piece of cabbage with the tip of her wand at a flobberworm; a slimy, brown, ten-inch long, fat worm. "Why do we have to look after them?" She complained.
"Because Draco ruined the possibility of learning something more exciting." Jade narrowed her eyes at her partner and he raised his slung arm in response.
At the start of October, there was a resurgence in everyone's mood. The Quidditch season was approaching, Draco and Harry were busy with practice and when Jade did see them they were often tired.
"Wood's determined to win the Quidditch Cup this year since it's his last chance and he's making sure all of us are ready for the season," Harry explained one day at lunch.
"Gryffindor hasn't won for seven years now." Fred mocked Oliver Wood across the table and Jade smiled, "Yeah, we know, we've been on the team."
"He did call us unbeatable though." George puffed his chest up importantly.
"We'll see about that," Jade told them and both of the twins grinned wickedly at her.
"Just you wait and see, Maddex," Fred told her and Jade felt a blush creep into her cheeks because of the way they were both staring at her. "He's got us practicing three nights a week."
"Doesn't bother us, we know we'll win the cup this year." George clapped Ron on the shoulder and the spoon fell from his hand.
Later that night, a reminder about the first weekend trip to Hogsmeade was posted on the Common Room's bulletin board. A hum of excitement quickly filled the room.
"Just in time for Halloween." Pansy smiled as she continued filling out her star chart for Divination class.
"Where should we go first?" Jade asked as she paused, looking down at her own chart.
"The Shrieking Shack." Draco offered and Blaise looked up from his Arithmancy homework.
"I vote for that too."
"Honeydukes!" Pansy objected.
"Oh, yes. Honeydukes." Jade agreed and then they all turned to Theo to break the vote tie.
"Honeydukes." He called without looking up from his Potions book. Pansy and Jade looked at the other boys smugly.
"Whatever, we'll go off on our own, Blaise," Draco told him.
"No, we all have to stick together," Pansy argued.
"Why?"
"Becauseā¦" Was all Pansy gave as a reason and Jade nodded, locking her arm with Pansy,
"Because," Jade repeated and Draco rolled his eyes, returning to his star chart without another word. Jade and Pansy shared a victorious grin and then turned back to their homework. Jade's dislike for Divination was beginning to grow as she looked down at her star chart where she was positive she had misnamed a few of them. Draco looked up at Jade and noticed the familiar tension in her brow that she often got when she was getting frustrated.
"Here." Draco scooted closer to Jade and showed her his chart. Jade looked between the two of them and then quickly jotted down the missing stars on her chart. There, her brows relaxed. Draco watched the light from the flames in the fireplace dance across her face and peek in between the waves of her hair.
"Thanks." She looked up at him once she was done and noticed how close he had gotten, how their shoulders were brushing against each other, and how he was looking at her strangely. "Is there something on my face?" She asked self-consciously.
"No, why?" He chuckled.
"'Cause you're looking at me funny." She told him and he quickly leaned away and scoffed.
"No, I wasn't."
"Yes, you were. I saw you." Theo said from the seat across the table in between the two couches. Theo smiled at Draco who glared at him.
"You've got something on your face," Draco told Jade quickly as he leaned on the far arm of the couch and Jade anxiously ran her fingers over her face, brushing away anything that might be there.
"You said there wasn't anything on my face!" Jade huffed.
"I lied!" Jade picked up her things and fled down to the girls' dormitories.
"Way to go, Draco." Pansy sighed as she went after Jade. Draco threw his head back on the couch and groaned.
"Smooth, Malfoy," Theo commented and Draco snapped his head up and glared at him,
"Shut up, Nott."
