3. Salem

On the first day of September Astoria had to go back to Hogwarts. Jade let her keep her golden gobstone and the younger Greengrass sister wasn't scared. Daphne was nervous all morning and didn't shut up until they arrived at Hogwarts. Astoria didn't listen much and went to one of the tables where she sat next to Draco Malfoy. "Can I ask you something?"

"Hmm"

"You know we will marry in some years and... your father fights on the side of the Dark Lord. What about you? I like to know on which side I will be" Astoria saw other heads turning towards them while Draco refused to answer and waited for the new headmaster's speech. Severus Snape wasn't a man of many words and let the students leave early.

Astoria watched many of her classmates leave the Great Hall while she held Draco's hand and didn't let him go. She wanted her answer and could feel how cold his skin was. Draco must be scared if he didn't try to escape. He waited with her until they were alone. "Why do you talk to me now? You never talked to me"

"I think it's important I know this. Friends of my parents sent her daughter to us. My parents will find a suitable husband for Jade but she doesn't want anyone. She won't say yes because she has to. Jade knows what she wants and I want it too. I want to take own decisions even when we are married"

"Decide what you want" Draco's answer surprised her. He didn't even try to fight her. Draco was weak and Astoria didn't like this about him. All the years in Hogwarts she had thought he is a feisty boy who makes his own rules but now he was a coward who didn't want to choose a side.

"Fine" Astoria walked away and couldn't wait to write Jade how angry she was in this moment.

Jade's dark hair was almost black. She looked at Scabior who had agreed to meet her at Malfoy Manor. The Malfoys and Greengrass' watched them from afar while Bellatrix Lestrange walked around them and didn't care about whether she was wanted or not.

Jade was amused by the older witch while her maybe future-husband was not very impressive. Scabior looked like a street rat and had not even brushed his teeth this morning. His wand in his hand he looked prepared in case she attacked him which Jade had no intention to.

"They say you are a Salem witch"

"Yes, and a proud one" Jade noticed Bellatrix frowned and looked suspicious. "Are Salem witchs not welcomed in Britain anymore? We practise magic like you do but we do more experiments and new ways to use our magic"

Jade dropped a bean on the floor and a dirty orange plant grew from it towards Scabior. Flowers in all colours grew and created a smell which Jade didn't like. "This marriage is cancelled. If I marry I want a man who respects me and not this dirtbag who stinks like garbage"

Hermione had worked out a list of places with Harry where they could start looking for Voldemort's soul pieces. On the list were the houses of known supporters of the Dark Lord and it won't be easy to sneak in. They had no idea how these special pieces looked like and how to destroy them. Hermione was reading her books every night but there was no information to help them. "All I read about is Salem, a wizard school in America. They create soul pieces and detection for it with a special magic but there is no word about how they do it"

"Salem? Where they burned witches?"

"Yes" Hermione nodded and put a heavy book back into her small bag. It was Ron's turn to get the Daily Prophet from unknown wizard and when he came back he had news. "Hey, remember we know how one piece look like? The necklace... here, it's on the picture"

Harry read the article before he found another one that interested him. Somebody called Jade was still writing daily articles about where she was looking for Harry Potter and his friends. Every article ended with her question of help to find the boy who lived. "This Jade could get us in trouble. What if she really finds us?"

"She is always looking at the wrong places" Hermione knew this wasn't exactly true. Jade was good detecting houses of Harry's friends and supporters. One of her articles was a long interview with Xenophilius Lovegood who used his Quibbler to publish information for Harry's supporters. Jade had even detected Hermione's parents and interrogated the Weasley family. "What is her newest article about?"

"About my parents..."

Hermione and Ron looked to Harry who was pale before he tossed the newspaper away. "I can't stand this woman anymore. Hermione, do we know anyone who went to Salem? If not, then let's get this necklace and let's go somewhere were Jade will never start looking for us"

Astoria spent her free hours in the libery away from Daphne, Draco and most of the other students. First she read books for class or hid in a corner to admire Jade's gobstone but today she wanted to know more about it. The young Greengrass started looking for books about gobstones but all were about how to play gobstones matches.

She still thought about it when she had to go to class and passed the forbidden section of the libery. One of the books was moving and Astoria could read the name on the back of it since it had golden glowing letters.

Salem – Magical Institute and new experiment on old-fashioned traditions

During day Jade worked on her articles and researches. Her publisher was pleased with her since her writing helped to prove Harry Potter was the enemy. She was allowed to choose her interview partners herself and went through a list of missing students this week.

Some of the half-bloods and muggle-born didn't return this year. The pure-blood students were mostly on their own which made Jade smile. She didn't have to meet any new maybe husband for the rest of the week but through an arrangement with Bellatrix Lestrange Scabior delivered an updated list of missing people and caught runaways every morning before her shift started.

The nights Jade spent reading Astoria's letters. The girl sent one every week and had now decided to learn more about gobstones and Salem. "Eager to learn" Jade grinned and looked over to her own golden gobstones.

All of them were glowing bright tonight and Jade was more than pleased to see her plan worked.
"A soul only speaks the truth... good night, Astoria"