There was only one day left of break and all of the students slowly started coming back through the day. Pansy had returned during the morning and told Jade and Blaise about her break.

"My father had too much to drink on Christmas and kept trying to get me to dance with him." Pansy groaned but Jade gave her a look,

"Yes, that sounds horrible." Pansy smiled, "You danced with him didn't you?"

"It was fun." Pansy stated, "Until he threw up on my bare feet." Blaise groaned and Jade laughed. "I had an awful time trying to do all my work," Pansy said, changing the subject. "It took me all break, I was worried I wouldn't finish it all." Jade was surprised Pansy finished it in the first place, she was half convinced Pansy would come back with a stack of work she needed help with and they'd spend the rest of the day helping her complete it.

"Blaise and I spent most of the days working as well." Jade told her, "And that was with each other's help, you did it all on your own. I might have you help me with my work." Pansy rolled her eyes,

"Don't patronize me."

"I'm not!" Jade smiled and Blaise laughed at the two girls going back and forth. Blaise had been sitting next to Pansy while playing wizard's chess with Jade. Jade didn't know how to play well, Blaise had taught her over the break so he had someone to play with but currently she wasn't much competition. "Personally, I'm ready to go back to class. I want to learn new stuff." Jade had been Wingardium Leviosa-ing things through the break and she was still getting used to it, she'd get giddy every time something floated towards her.

"Well, the rest of us are going to die trying to keep up with you."

"I'll keep up with her." Blaise pointed out and Jade smiled at Pansy narrowing her eyes at him. Blaise glanced at Pansy after moving one of his knights. "Just stating facts." Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle entered the Common Room laughing about something but Draco stopped when he saw Jade. He made his way over to her and sat down next to her on the couch,

"Maddex." He grinned at her and she moved her queen and Blaise tsked at her and she looked up at him for a brief moment before moving it back and moving one of her rooks instead and Blaise nodded.

"What's so funny?" Jade asked Draco without looking up from the chessboard. Draco shared a smile between him, Crabbe, and Goyle,

"Ran into Longbottom, threw a leg-locker curse at him." Crabbe and Goyle began laughing at the memory and Draco stifled a laugh himself,

"You haven't even been back a whole day and you're already bullying other students." She told him and instead of having a nasty comment to throw at her, he simply leaned forward and moved one of her knights for her and took Blaise's bishop. She watched him as he leaned back on the couch,

"I thought you didn't like Longbottom," Draco stated and Jade turned to watch Blaise rethink his play before making a move again.

"I don't." Jade paused and turned her full attention to Draco, "Thank you for the present." She said thankfully. Draco seemed caught off guard and his eyes flicked towards Crabbe and Goyle.

"I didn't want it. Might as well give it to someone who might use it." He explained and Jade smiled at him. Draco looked uncomfortable and rose from his spot on the couch, "See you later." He said absently and then left with Crabbe and Goyle following him.

"He got you a present?" Pansy whispered to Jade and Jade looked at her cautiously,

"Yes?" She asked, "Is that odd? You got me a present." She pointed out and Pansy smiled,

"Draco doesn't seem like the giving type." Jade didn't understand why Pansy was smiling at her like that, Jade moved her king absently as she kept her eyes on Pansy.

"Check," Blaise stated and she turned her attention back to the game again,

"What? How?" She asked and Blaise pointed to her king. "Wait, let me do it again." She said frantically and Blaise laughed at her,

"No, you took your hand off of the piece."

"So?" Jade asked,

"So, it stays." He explained and Jade moved her king again as her next move and Blaise moved one of his pieces. "Check." Jade groaned,

"How? I moved it back." Ultimately, Blaise won again which didn't surprise her. He'd told her she was getting better, she was actually able to take some of his pieces this time.

It felt refreshing to have everyone back at school, the Great Hall was filled with voices once again during meal times and the next day, when classes started again, Jade was practically giddy. Professor Flitwick was the most excited of her Professors that classes were back. Before break, Jade had learned Lumos, Nox, Wingardium Leviosa, and Incendio. She practiced every day during the break and was anxious to learn more. They started learning the Severing charm, Diffindo. She'd been able to perform it, kind of, she was having trouble cutting through bigger things. Flitwick had them practicing on parchment and she had no problem cutting that in half and then again and again. But when she showed that she didn't have a problem with that, Flitwick moved her and Blaise on to a block of wood and Jade was only able to cut through it halfway. Flitwick said it was a matter of concentration, wand movement, pronunciation, or timing. Jade was a little irritated but she didn't let it get her down because she was still ahead of the rest of her class. Potions was the same, Draco tried to get on Harry's nerves and Snape kept bullying Harry. Her marks had improved in that class since she paired up with Draco so for that reason she didn't try to stop Draco as much as she normally did. Her other classes were going well, McGonagall had seen her struggling and offered her some help when she started getting frustrated with Blaise telling her to 'just concentrate'. The other thing Jade was excited about was the Quidditch match later that day. It was Gryffindor against Hufflepuff and Snape for some reason was refereeing instead of Madame Hooch. Jade had made her way high into the stands with her friends and peered around the stadium. All of the stands were full, the whole school was out there, she looked over at the Professor's box and saw most of the teachers and even Dumbledore came to this match.

"Ouch!" Jade heard and looked down at the person in front of her, she hadn't noticed that Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger were beneath them. The match began and both teams flew up into the air.

"Oh, sorry, Weasley, didn't see you there," Draco smirked and Jade rolled her eyes. "Wonder how long Potter's going to stay on his broom this time? Anyone want a bet?" Draco turned to look at Jade but she was giving him an annoyed look, "What about you, Weasley?" Ron didn't answer him, he was trying to ignore him. Snape had just awarded Hufflepuff a penalty because one of the twins had hit Snape with a Bludger. "You know how I think they choose people for the Gryffindor team?" Draco asked Crabbe and Goyle when he knew Jade, Blaise, and Pansy wouldn't support his bullying. Draco started again when Snape awarded another bogus penalty to the Hufflepuffs. Gryffindors were starting to object from the crowd. "It's people they feel sorry for. See, there's Potter, who's got no parents. Then there's the Weasleys, who've got no money."

"Draco." Jade snapped at him, "Enough." Draco just gave her a smirk and looked down at the row below him,

"You should be on the team, Longbottom. You've got no brains." Draco finished and to Jade's surprise, Longbottom actually turned around to face Draco.

"I'm worth twelve of you, Malfoy," Longbottom said quietly and Jade raised her eyebrows, she never expected Longbottom to stand up for himself.

"Longbottom," Draco said, trying to speak through his laughter, "if brains were gold you'd be poorer than Weasley, and that's saying something."

"I'm warning you, Malfoy. One more word-" Ron stated, Jade could see the tip of his ears turning a light shade of red.

"Ron! Harry-" Hermione hit him gently on the arm to get his attention,

"What? Where?" Jade looked around the stadium and found Harry diving towards the ground and cheers sprang from the crowd.

"You're in luck, Weasley, Potter's obviously found some money on the ground!" Draco laughed again and Ron spun around and tackled Draco. Jade gasped and stumbled out of the way. Longbottom turned around in his seat and leaped to help Ron. Hermione apparently hadn't noticed because she jumped in her seat and cheered for Harry. Draco and Ron were rolling around while Crabbe and Goyle were trying to control Longbottom's flailing arms and legs.

"Blaise! Do something!" Jade hit Blaise on the arm and he rolled his eyes. He scooted past Jade and got in between Ron and Draco, cautiously grabbing Ron off of Draco and pushing him away. The stands erupted and Jade looked up in the air, Harry was floating there, with the Golden Snitch in his hand. Jade was surprised, it felt like the game had just started, it was the quickest quidditch match she'd ever seen.

"Ron! Ron! Where are you? The game's over, Harry's won!" Hermione was cheering and hugging one of the Patil twins. Ron adjusted his robe while glaring at Draco and went back to Hermione's side. Draco stood up and made Crabbe and Goyle leave with him. Jade watched him make his way down the stands but then she turned her attention back to the field where Harry jumped off his broom a foot from the ground and his team quickly followed him to give him pats on the back, their captain grinning from ear to ear. Both teams hurried into their locker rooms and the crowd slowly cleared from the stands.

"What was Draco thinking?" Pansy asked, "Starting a fight like that, he's lucky no Professors saw or we would've lost points." Jade hadn't gotten a good look at Draco before he hurried off but as Ron and Hermione made their way back to the castle Jade left Blaise and Pansy to catch up to them,

"Ron?" She called to him and he turned to see her at his side and he wiped his lip, Hermione was bothering him about the fight.

"Why would you get into a fight with Malfoy?" She was grumbling as she tried to get a better look at it and Ron batted her hand away,

"Are you okay?" Jade asked and Ron glanced at her again, for a second she thought he was going to tell her to leave him alone but he just climbed the hill to the castle,

"Yeah." He told her and then a small smile formed on his mouth and Jade saw the crack on his bottom lip stretch, "I think I got him pretty good." Jade gave a light laugh,

"I'll let you know," Jade told him and Ron smiled at her,

"I'm sorry." Hermione poked her head around Ron, "You are?" She asked, looking at her.

"Jade Maddex." Jade introduced herself,

"Hermione Granger, pleasure." She looked Jade up and down and Jade fought the urge to glare back at her. They made small talk of the quidditch game, Ron and Hermione were talking about how excellent Harry was and Jade told them she wasn't surprised that Gryffindor had won, they had a much better team than the Hufflepuffs. Jade left Hermione and Ron to return to the Slytherin Common Room and found a small group of people huddling around something. Jade made her way over to them and stood next to Pansy,

"Well, look who's returned from hanging out with her Gryffindor friends." There was a tinge of bitterness in her voice that Jade hadn't heard before.

"Hush." Jade rolled her eyes and Pansy practically huffed but didn't say anything else. Jade pushed through the circle a little more and she saw Draco telling a play-by-play of what had happened between him and Ron.

"Longbottom's still in the Hospital Wing!" He laughed and the circle around him echoed with laughter.

"Are you okay?" Jade asked him and he smirked, she could see his eye darkening where Ron had hit him.

"Fine. Not so sure about Weasley." He said to the crowd.

"He's fine," Jade told him and Draco turned at her, his smile gone,

"How would you know that?"

"Because I asked him." She explained and he narrowed his eyes,

"And why would you do that?" The crowd was watching them go back and forth,

"Because he's my friend." Draco stood from where he had been lounging in one of the armchairs.

"Friends with the Weasleys, eh?" He stepped towards her, "Potter, too?"

"Yes, so?" She asked and she saw Crabbe and Goyle pretending to throw up behind Draco.

"I thought you had higher standards than that. What about the mudblood?" Draco spat and now it was Jade's turn to glare at him, "One of the gang are you?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know I could only be friends with Slytherin's biggest brat." Draco just looked at her. She didn't know what his deal was, why was he such a bully? "Maybe I'm being unfair." Jade turned to the crowd, "Maybe they truly did something to you in which I could understand why you constantly go after them. Go on, Draco. What did they do?" They stood there, glaring at each other, and then she watched Draco's expression change from anger to indifference. He pushed his way through the small crowd and left the Common Room. Her fellow Slytherins watched her and she suddenly wanted to leave, not wanting to be the center of attention. "Party's over." One person left, and then another, and slowly she was the only person still standing in the Common Room beside Pansy.

"Draco's a fool." She muttered as she stepped towards Jade, "Don't worry about it. He'll get over it."

"I don't much care if he does or not." Pansy looked like she wanted to say something else but she just stood quietly next to her.