Ravenclaw played Slytherin a week after the start of term. Slytherin won, it was close for a while but ultimately, they did. Even though Slytherin won, Oliver Wood was still in high spirits, he was constantly doing the math to how they would possibly come in second or win the Quidditch Cup depending on who won the next few games. Harry was constantly busy with Quidditch practices and his lessons with Professor Lupin but he was somehow managing it better than Hermione, whose work from all of the classes she signed up for, was slowly starting to get out of her control.

"How's she doing?" Jade asked one morning at breakfast, Hermione hadn't sat with them that morning, she sat further down by herself with books opened around her and several pieces of parchment in front of her.

"I think she's slowly going mad," Ron told her quietly, Hermione was further away but he still lowered his voice in fear she would snap on him. She had become very irritable the past few days. "We're not sure how she's even doing it."

"Doing what?" Jade asked as she took a bite of her oatmeal.

"Getting to all her classes!" Ron said obviously, "I heard her talking to Professor Vector, that Arithmancy witch, this morning. They were going on about yesterday's lesson, but Hermione couldn't have been there, because she was with us in Care of Magical Creatures!" Jade thought back to yesterday and she definitely remembered Hermione standing next to Harry's side. "And Ernie McMillan told me she's never missed a Muggle Studies class, but half of them are at the same time as Divination, and she's never missed one of them either!" Harry rolled his eyes as if he's heard Ron ramble on about Hermione's class schedule a few times now and Jade smiled.

"You might just be misremembering things, Ron," Jade told him.

"Or you've been thinking about it so long you've mixed up your thoughts," Harry added.

"I have not!" Ron looked at them both.

"Why do you care so much about what Hermione's doing with her free time anyway?" Jade asked and Ron's face turned a slight red.

"I don't." He scoffed and then took an angry bite out of his toast.

"How's quidditch practice?" Jade asked Harry, letting Ron sit and sulk over his thoughts.

"Fine. Long, but fine. I just wish McGonagall would give me back my Firebolt. She won't even give me a time when she might give it back to me."

"She's just making sure it's safe," Jade reassured him once again. "Have you thought about maybe getting another broom? In case it turns out something is wrong with the Firebolt?" Harry's face screwed up,

"Why should I order a broom when I already know it's not going to be better than the Firebolt?"

"You could get a Nimbus Two Thousand and One." Jade offered.

"I'm not buying anything Malfoy thinks is good." Harry said and then gave Jade another glance from his empty bowl, "Sorry."

"Draco's not the only one thinks the Nimbus Two thousand and One is good. It's the next best thing."

"Yeah, but I had the best thing." Jade gave up after that. Harry wasn't budging and Jade felt like she was wasting her breath.

January faded into February and Harry still hadn't gotten his broom back. Gryffindor's match against Ravenclaw got closer and closer but Harry refused to get a new one. Jade now steered clear of any conversation about Quidditch because it just made Harry uneasy and from what he told her about his lessons with Professor Lupin, he wasn't making much progress there either.

"What do you think's under a Dementor's hood?" Jade asked absently one night while she studied with her friends in the Slytherin Common Room.

"Why would you put that picture in my head?" Pansy groaned as she leaned away from her Astronomy book to rub her temples. Blaise, however, found the question interesting.

"No one really knows."

"If it's anything like its hand, I don't want to know." Theo grimaced from the chair he was lounging on, his Potions book laying in his lap.

"They only lower their hood to perform a Dementor's Kiss," Blaise stated and they all looked up. "It's what Dementors do to the absolute worst criminals. Which, I suppose there must be some kind of mouth under there... they clamp their jaws upon the mouth of the victim and suck out his soul."

"Do you mind?" Ava Lane hissed over at them. "Some of us are trying to study."

"You? Study? Not bloody likely." Draco scoffed at her and Theo chimed in with a gesture to the large mess of books and parchment in front of them.

"Well, what the hell do you think we're doing here then, Ava?" She didn't respond to their jabs but instead narrowed her eyes at them and huffed as she turned back to her friend.

"That's how they kill?" Gretta whispered, making an effort to keep her voice down after being called out for being too loud.

"Oh, no," Blaise said in a regular volume, casting another look over at Ava but she didn't look behind her again. "Much worse than that, you can exist without your soul. As long as your brain and heart are still working. But you'll have no sense of self anymore, no memory, no... anything."

"That's cheery, Blaise." Jade stretched from her folded position on the couch and a yawn escaped her mouth.

"You asked."

"I read that they're gonna do that to Sirius Black," Pansy whispered his name.

"Where'd you read that?" Jade asked.

"The Daily Prophet, it came this morning. The Ministry permitted the Dementors to do it if they find him."

"If they find him." Blaise pointed out.

"Well, he'll get caught eventually," Pansy argued back and Blaise shrugged.

"Hear the news?" Crabbe and Goyle came up to them and Draco looked up from his essay on Wideye Potion.

"What news?"

"McGonagall just gave Potter a Firebolt." Anyone nearby who heard Gyle say this immediately turned around.

"She can't do that!" Pansy yelled.

"She didn't," Jade told her.

"Yeah, she did. We just saw her on the Grand Staircase." Crabbe told Jade.

"No she had it and then she gave it back, but she did not buy it and give it to Harry."

"Who got it for him? I doubt he could afford it himself." Draco smirked.

"He doesn't know," Jade said and then looked around the room, realizing she wasn't just talking to Draco but to everyone in the Common Room. "It was sent to him anonymously."

"Anonymously?" Goyle asked.

"It means he doesn't know who sent it," Jade repeated.

"I know what it means." Goyle grumbled.

"A Firebolt." Draco spat. Jade knew he was just jealous, angry that the attention would once again turn to Harry during the next Quidditch match. "Unbelievable."