Jade was woken up by a rough shaking and she jumped a little at Pansy's wide eyes. The sunlight poured in through the window between her and Pansy's bed and she was worried she had slept in past something but she couldn't think of anything they had to do today. It was the day after the exams, they had a week to relax before they had to do anything else.
"Why are you-" Jade started sleepily and a little angry that she was woken up so abruptly.
"Harry Potter's in the hospital wing." Pansy interrupted her and Jade's face eased from her irritated expression and she rose into a sitting position on her bed.
"What?" Jade asked and Pansy nodded, Jade could now hear the many voices down in the Common Room. "What happened?" Jade asked as she got out of bed and quickly started getting dressed.
"I heard that Harry and Professor Quirrel were fighting in the dungeons."
"I didn't hear anything last night," Jade said as she quickly threw on some socks. "Harry fighting a teacher?" Jade questioned and Pansy nodded eagerly,
"I know." Jade passed her and headed towards the Common Room, the Common Room was full of students talking in groups. Each group had a new theory about what happened during the night, "Where are you going?" Pansy called behind her and Jade maneuvered her way through the crowd to reach the door,
"I'm going to go see him," Jade said obviously.
"Why?" She asked and Jade turned around to face her, "What?"
"He's my friend." Pansy's face softened and she nodded, Jade made her way quickly up and out of the dungeons towards the hospital wing. In the halls, she saw Hagrid talking with Dumbledore.
"How is he?" She heard Hagrid ask, attempting to keep his voice down.
"He's resting," Dumbledore whispered.
"Alright, when'll he wake up?" Hagrid asked and Jade took a few steps towards them, they still hadn't noticed her even though it was just the three of them in the hall.
"Madame Pomfrey isn't sure."
"Why-" Hagrid started but then Jade decided to make herself known and walk up to them, "Oh, hi there, Jade."
"Hi, Hagrid." Jade smiled politely and then turned to Dumbledore. "It's true then, Harry's in the hospital." Dumbledore nodded slowly,
"My, word travels fast." He chuckled lightly and Jade just stood there awkwardly and let out a light laugh. "He's resting," Dumbledore repeated,
"May I see him?" Jade asked and Dumbledore placed a hand on her back and walked her towards the hospital wing.
"Madame Pomfrey wants him left alone to rest, but I think you could see him if you tell her you're just checking on your friend." Hagrid had given her an encouraging smile as they stood outside the door.
"Thank you, Professor." Jade looked at the door and felt nervous about going inside but then without hesitation, she entered the room. The hospital wing was empty besides one boy that Madame Pomfrey was helping, she looked up at the sudden entrance Jade had made.
"Excuse me, but visiting hours are around lunchtime." Madame Pomfrey moved to shoo Jade out of the room,
"Wait, please." Madame Pomfrey stood in front of her, "May I just check on Harry?" She opened her mouth to object, "I won't wake him or anything, I just want to make sure he's okay." Jade tried again and Madame Pomfrey closed her mouth and a small sympathetic smile graced her lips.
"He's back there." She pointed to the bed a few down from the other boy. All the beds looked the same, they all were very uniform with white linen sheets and a pillow exactly in the center of the top of the bed. Jade grabbed the chair at the end of Harry's bed and slid it to the side before sitting down with a sigh. She looked him over, she'd never seen him without his glasses on. There was a cut on his eyebrow and he had bruises on his face and what she could see of his arms. Jade grabbed Harry's glasses from the side table by his bed and gently put them back on his face.
"There you go." She smiled sadly to herself. "What were you thinking?" She wondered as she brushed a strand of his bangs out of his eyes. "Fighting a teacher?" Jade could hear the halls slowly filling with children's voices. "I'll bring you something back later today." She told him and gave him another glance before thanking Madame Pomfrey and then sliding out into the hall. A group of Hufflepuffs walked past her talking about what had happened to Harry last night. She had a feeling that would be the gossip for the day.
To Jade's surprise, the school hadn't talked about anything else for the next three days. Draco was annoyed about it, to say the least, Jade felt he was holding back with his insults though, she wouldn't ever ask him about it but she had a feeling he never wanted any real harm to come to Harry. He even left Hermione and Ron alone when they had passed them in the halls, only throwing dirty looks. The big end of the year feast was that night and their school year was coming to a quick end. Jade was enjoying the final days of her first year, she missed her parents and her brother more with each day that passed but then she would miss her friends once she got back home. Jade gathered Pansy, Blaise, Draco, and even Crabbe and Goyle to all sit together as they had for most of the year and they made their way to the Great Hall. Jade had feared that they'd been late because the Great Hall was already full of students. The familiar roar of chatter filled the large space. In honor of Slytherin winning the House Cup, the Great Hall was decked out in Slytherin colors of green and silver to celebrate winning for the seventh year in a row. A large banner showing the Slytherin serpent covered the wall behind the High Table where the Professors sat.
"This is nice!" Jade smiled at the green center table cloths and the gold utensils had been replaced with silver. They weren't late apparently because the feast hadn't been served yet. "A proper-" Jade started but then stopped when the room quickly fell silent. Jade looked up at Professor Dumbledore, thinking he was about to speak but everyone else was looking towards the entrance. Jade turned around to see Harry standing in the doorway. He'd finally woken up. She watched as he quickly made his way over to Ron and Hermione. He looked better, not as fragile as when she'd seen him in his hospital bed. Most of his bruises were beginning to fade, Slowly everyone started whispering together till there was a constant hiss in the air.
"He lives," Pansy muttered and Jade rolled her eyes,
"Well, he wasn't going to die." She told her and Pansy rose her eyebrows,
"I'm sorry, I didn't see him. I thought he was all bruised and broken, barely clinging to life when he was in the Hospital Wing."
"I told you it wasn't that bad."
"Another year gone!" Dumbledore's voice suddenly boomed out and everyone turned and fell silent once more. "And I must trouble you with an old man's wheezing waffle before we sink our teeth into our delicious feast." Dumbledore chuckled lightly, "What a year it has been! Hopefully, your heads are a little fuller than they were"
"Debatable," Blaise mumbled towards Crabbe and Goyle and Jade smiled at his remark since Crabbe and Goyle hadn't heard him.
"You have the whole summer ahead to get them nice and empty before next year starts." Dumbledore continued, "Now, as I understand it, the house cup here needs awarding, and the points stand thus: in fourth place, Gryffindor, with three hundred and twelve points." Jade looked over at the Gryffindor table as they hung their heads. "In third, Hufflepuff, with three hundred and fifty-two. Ravenclaw has four hundred and twenty-six and Slytherin," Dumbledore turned to face them, "Four hundred and seventy-two." Jade cheered loudly with her house and clapped her hands in celebration. Crabbe and Goyle stomped their feet and Draco was banging his goblet on the table. "Yes, yes, well done, Slytherin." Smiled Dumbledore, "However, recent events must be taken into account." The Slytherins' cheers slowly faded as their smiles were replaced with a look of confusion. Jade looked around, the other houses were just as confused. "I have a few last-minute points to dish out. Let me see. Yes," Dumbledore said looking around and then finding the front year Gryffindors at the end of their table. "First, to Mr. Ronald Weasley." Jade looked to Ron who had turned as red as a tomato. "For the best-played game of chess Hogwarts has seen in many years, I award Gryffindor house fifty points." Gryffindor cheers nearly knocked over their table as they stood up. Dumbledore didn't speak again until their cheers quieted down, "Second, to Miss Hermione Granger, for the use of cool logic in the face of fire. I award Gryffindor… fifty points." Hermione buried her face in her arms, as much as she seemed like she knew it all in class, she seemed to want none of the overbearing attention that was just thrown upon her. "Third, to Mr. Harry Potter," Dumbledore continued and the room fell silent, Jade now looked at Harry who was looking up at Dumbledore quizzically. "For pure nerve and outstanding courage. I award Gryffindor house sixty points." The Gryffindors erupted once again and Draco was glaring over at them as whispers from their own table floated up and down.
"They've tied with us." A second-year a little down the table had said to her friend.
"What just happened?" Another boy asked Goyle and he just shrugged.
"We're tied with Gryffindor, genius." Draco spat at him and Goyle told the boy who had asked him the same thing. Dumbledore raised his hand towards the loud hall,
"There are all kinds of courage." Dumbledore smiled, "It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends."
"What's he on about now?" Pansy grumbled with her arms crossed over her chest and Jade shushed her.
"I, therefore, award ten points-" Dumbledore continued,
"You've got to be joking." Draco groaned as he knocked his goblet over on the table.
"-to Mr. Neville Longbottom."
"Long-" Jade began to question but was cut off by the three other tables' cheers. She'd never heard the Great Hall so loud before.
"Which means," Dumbledore called over the storm of applause, "we need a little change of decoration." He clapped his hands and Jade watched as the green table cloth turned a deep red and the silver utensils turned back to gold to represent the Gryffindor colors. The huge Slytherin serpent vanished and a towering Gryffindor lion took its place.
"Not our banner," Pansy whined.
"I want to go to bed." Jade groaned, she was upset they had lost, and not just that they had lost but that they had gone into the Great Hall knowing that they had won until Dumbledore's last-minute changes. "He had to announce it in front of the whole school like that?" Jade asked more to herself but Draco replied,
"Of course he did, he wants everyone to know how great Potter and his friends are." Draco had spit out Harry's name and she could tell his usual malice was back. The feast was grand when Jade was thinking about the food but it was all disappointing overall. The Slytherins didn't talk much unless it was about the nonsense that had just happened and when it was time to go to bed the Slytherins didn't hang around in the Common Room. Jade went to sleep quickly, just wanting to get to the next morning and when it came, she had realized it was their last day of the school year. "Our exam results!" She shouted as the thought wafted to the front of her brain,
"Will be passed out at breakfast," Pansy told her as she opened her trunk and pulled out a black shirt. Jade threw her hair up and dressed quickly. The girls were ready for breakfast and made their way down to the Great Hall where they found Blaise and Draco talking, which was odd because they had rarely talked one on one all year. "What are you two talking about?" Jade asked as they came and sat down by them. Before they could answer, the swarm of owls came for one last time to deliver any possible mail. There wasn't much from what Jade could see and when Ezekiel landed next to Jade she fed him some toast from her plate.
"Ezekiel!" Draco smiled and reached to pet Ezekiel under his chin, he cooed appreciatively. "Just talking about summer plans," Draco explained,
"Which are?" Jade asked and Draco shrugged,
"I'll probably travel with my father when he goes away on business, it's either that or stay at home with my mum."
"I'm relaxing on a beach somewhere," Blaise told them,
"Ooh where?" Pansy asked and Blaise shrugged,
"I don't know but I want to go so I'm sure my mother will take me. If she doesn't, I'll just bring up the fact she left me here at Christmas, and then that'll get her to agree."
"It wasn't that awful," Jade frowned, "you had me to keep you company."
"Yes, the one highlight of my holiday." Jade smiled at Blaise and Draco rolled his eyes,
"I much rather would've stayed here." He told them,
"Me too." Pansy agreed. Just then the Professors came around to all of the tables with large stacks of papers floating behind them, they passed out their results to each student that morning and the Hall filled with chatter for one final time that year as the students looked over and discussed their grades. Crabbe and Goyle had arrived late to breakfast but Jade was thoroughly surprised when she found out that both of them had passed their exams. They all had passed, Blaise and Jade received high marks in every subject and Jade felt the tightness in her chest vanish as she smiled at her grades. She was proud of her marks, Draco had done very well too, Pansy struggled in a few subjects but ultimately did fine. After breakfast, the students were sent to empty their wardrobes. After two hours, wardrobes were emptied, trunks packed away, notes had been passed out to warn students not to use magic while they're gone. Hagrid appeared to take them down to the fleet of boats that they had boarded at the beginning of the year, and then finally they were boarding the Hogwarts Express. Jade had sat in a cab with Pansy, Blaise, Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle. They talked the whole way as they passed Muggle towns and when they arrived at the platform of nine and three-quarters at King's Cross Station they changed out of their robes. They poured out of the train and before meeting with their parents who were waiting for them, they all stood in a circle.
"I'll see you guys next year," Pansy said quietly, she had become upset on the train ride when it finally sunk in that they would be gone from each other's everyday lives.
"It's only a few months," Jade told her as Pansy pulled her into a goodbye hug.
"Right," Pansy brightened then, "I'll survive, I suppose." Jade smiled at her friend and Pansy turned to find her parents.
"Blaise," Jade spoke to her friend and his eyes found hers, "have fun on your beach trip." Blaise smiled and then found his mother in the crowd with her new husband,
"I'll write to you about it." Blaise gave her a nod goodbye before leaving the circle. They heard a few shouts coming towards them and two sets of parents Jade had never seen before were watching them,
"That's our parents," Crabbe explained,
"Well, boys." Jade smiled, "See you next year." The boys smiled back at her and then said goodbye to Draco. Then Draco and Jade were alone, Jade could see Draco's father watching them a little bit away but he didn't call for Draco, "I think your father's here." Jade told him and Draco looked over his shoulder before looking back at Jade,
"Right," He said, Jade didn't know why but an awkward silence had crept up on them. "As you said, it's just a few months."
"Yes, you'll be back to annoying me in no time." Jade narrowed her eyes at him but he laughed at her,
"That's right. Don't miss me too much, Maddex." They stood there for a second, just smiling at each other, oddly enough, Jade didn't know how to say goodbye to Draco. She stuck out her hand and Draco grabbed it and gave it a good shake.
"Bye, Malfoy." She smiled and Draco, feeling their conversation should end there, turned and went towards his awaiting father. His father greeted him with a warm smile and then his eyes flicked back towards Jade before they went into the crowd and she lost them.
"Jade!" She heard a familiar voice from across the station, "Dear!" Jade turned towards the voice and saw her mother, father, and brother standing there with a welcome home sign. Tears sprang to her eyes at the sight of her family, she hadn't realized exactly how much she had missed them since that moment and took off in a run to them. She ran into her mother's arms and was squeezed into a warm embrace, her father kissed her head lovingly. Jade pulled away,
"So, how was your first year?" Rodrick asked her,
"Amazing."