"There you go." Ron smiled as he dumped a load of sweets from Honeydukes into Harry's lap. "We got as much as we could carry." Once they got back to the castle, Hermione and Ron invited Jade up to the Gryffindor tower to see Harry, Jade was excited to see their Common Room and give Harry the treats she got for him, it was better than carrying them around until the feast. Hermione then gave Harry a bag from Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop. "Jade," Ron called to Jade and she stepped to his side, presenting a bag from Honeydukes.
"Sorry, your Common Room is a bit different from ours." She told them. The Gryffindor Common Room looked very cozy. They had red, soft chairs and couches. There were random Gryffindor scarves and hats thrown around the room, opened books and forgotten quills at the tables. The room itself was much warmer than the Slytherin Common Room. "Between what I've got you and what Ron got you, you should be all set for a while." Jade watched Harry scoop up the candy Ron had poured in his lap and put it into the bag Jade gave him. He pulled out a set of white quills and Hermione blushed.
"I told her you wouldn't be interested in anything school-related," Ron told Harry but he shook his head.
"They're wonderful. Thank you, all of you. So, what's Hogsmeade like? Where did you go?" Ron and Hermione accomplished a lot more on their first visit to Hogsmeade than Jade and her friends did. Ron had dragged Hermione to a lot of the bigger shops. Harry watched Ron explain their visit from start to finish.
"The post office, Harry! About two hundred owls, all sitting on shelves, all color-coded depending on how fast you want your letter to get there! Honeydukes has got a new kind of fudge, they were giving out free samples. There's a bit, look." Ron pointed to a piece of forgotten fudge on Harry's lap and Harry popped it in his mouth. "We think we saw an ogre, honestly, they get all sorts at the Three Broomsticks, wish we could have brought you some butterbeer, really warms you up-"
"What did you do?" Hermione asked, she looked anxious. "Did you get any work done?"
"No," Harry said, "Lupin made me a cup of tea in his office. And then Snape came in…" Harry went on to tell them all about the goblet. Ron's mouth fell open.
"Lupin drank it? Is he mad?" Ron gasped. Hermione checked her watch.
"We'd better go down, you know, the feast'll be starting in five minutes." They made their way through the portrait hole that guarded the entrance to the Gryffindor Common Room and into the crowd of students that were also making their way to the Great Hall. Jade listened to the three of them still discussing Snape. "But if he, you know," Hermione dropped her voice, glancing around to make sure no one could hear them, "if he was trying to, to poison Lupin, he wouldn't have done it in front of Harry."
"Poison another teacher?" Jade said, "All for a teaching position?"
"No, there's something else going on," Harry told her as they reached the Entrance Hall and fought through the crowd to get into the Great Hall. It had been decorated with hundreds and hundreds of candle-filled pumpkins, a cloud of fluttering live bats, and many flaming orange streamers.
"I'll talk to you guys later," Jade said goodbye and then made her way over to Blaise and the others.
"Where'd you run off to?" Theo asked as Jade took her seat.
"I was giving Harry his gift." She told them and Draco rolled his eyes. "You should've seen their Common Room, completely different from ours."
"You were in their Common Room?" Pansy asked. "What's it like?" Jade went on to explain the different feel of the Gryffindor Common Room compared to their own. The food was delicious, Jade wasn't sure if she'd be hungry since she helped herself to a large amount of candy before dinner but she couldn't help herself from grabbing a second helping until she was afraid she might get sick. After everyone was done eating, the feast finished with entertainment provided by the Hogwarts ghosts. They popped out of the walls and tables to do a bit of formation gliding, The Bloody Baron popped out of the Slytherin table and swished his sword at the students, a lot of them forgetting that even if the sword did get them it wouldn't do any harm. Nearly Headless Nick, the Gryffindor ghost, reenacted his own beheading, it might've been a bit much considering a lot of the younger students screamed. As they left the Great Hall to return to their dormitories Draco caught sight of Harry in the Entrance Hall,
"The Dementors send their love, Potter!" He shouted to Harry but Harry just ignored him as he made his way up the marble staircase.
"Funny. Very mature of you." Jade told Draco as he watched Harry leave without reacting to his comment. "Come on." Jade nudged him towards the dungeons and by the time they entered the Common Room, Draco's mood had turned around.
"Did you have fun today?" He asked, Jade looked at him suspiciously for a second.
"Yes, you?"
"I got to spend the day with you, what do you think?" He smirked at her and she rolled her eyes.
"You spend every day with me, Draco." He laughed.
"I know, I'm lucky." She spun around to face him, "What?"
"You're being weird again." She told him,
"I'm not being weird, I'm being nice."
"Which is weird coming from you."
"I'm always nice to you." He lowered his voice and took a step towards her. "You're my best friend."
"Well, you're my best friend but I don't act differently around you." She told him and he smiled,
"I'm your best friend?" Jade couldn't help but smile at the pure happiness that spread across his face. It was a rare thing to see Draco express anything other than annoyance or sarcasm.
"Of course you are."
"Not Parkinson?" He asked,
"No, don't tell her that, though." She whispered.
"Not Zabini?"
"No, not Blaise." Draco was enjoying this too much,
"I do act differently around you." Draco suddenly admitted and Jade nodded.
"Why is that?" Draco's smile fell and he seemed uncomfortable. "Draco?" She asked, a hand falling on his arm. She got the sense that they weren't joking anymore and she took a step closer to him, a move that showed their conversation was private to the others in the Common Room. His forehead was wrinkled and his tongue wet his lips, she couldn't tell what was going on in his head. Draco wasn't one to share anything personal with anyone. She remembered when he had told her their first year about his father. She got the feeling that whatever he was going to say now was something difficult for him to talk about. "Hey, you don't have to tell me now." She tried to comfort him, "You can tell me later, whenever." As much as she wanted to know what he was going to say she didn't like seeing him like this. His face was twisted as he struggled with something internally.
"No, it's just-" He started but was interrupted by something over her shoulder that caught his attention. Jade turned to see Professor Snape looking around the Slytherin Common Room.
"Good evening, Professor." Adrien Pucey greeted him after a second.
"Everyone to the Great Hall... now." Snape's voice announced slowly through the silent room, he turned to leave and there was a scuffle as the Slytherin students hurried to follow him.
