The hour was finally over, and Jade jumped up to rush out of Umbridge's room. "Jade!" a familiar voice called out. She and Jessica slowed their pace to wait for Emma to catch up, Hermione, Ron, and Harry following behind her cautiously. "You look about as eager to leave there as us."

"She's a monster," Jade said bitterly. "And she obviously has a bias against the Gryffindors."

"I wouldn't think a Slytherin would mind that," Hermione said honestly.

Jade smiled slightly. "I'm not exactly one of them."

"You've always done your own thing," Jessica piped in. "That's why I liked you."

Jade beamed at her friend. "You're the only one I can stand. Though I somehow don't consider you a 'Slytherin' either." She looked back to her Gryffindor acquaintances. "I've always had a bit of an identity crisis," she joked. "I don't dislike being a Slytherin, exactly. Just being grouped with those who give our House a bad name."

"Like Malfoy?" Ron spat.

Jade nodded grimly. "He's a jerk. I feel I should apologize for his continued cruelty along with the detentions he earned you today, Ronald."

"You should be wary of Malfoy. Being friends with him could get you...in some bad situations," Harry told her.

She felt her cheeks burn. "He's not my friend! More like my stalker."

Emma laughed. "He does drag you around a lot. Has he always done that? I feel like I've never seen you around...and I would have noticed if you were hanging around Malfoy...?"

Jade shook her head. "No. He talked to me for the first time this summer. And ever since then he won't stop harassing me."

"Over the summer?" Harry inquired. "How did you see him then?"

Jade looked at the ground. "He's my neighbor."

"Draco Malfoy is your neighbor?" Ron shook his head in what seemed like pity. "Man, you hit the jackpot, huh?"

"That seems about right."

The Gryffindors groaned at the sound of Draco's drawl, but Jade merely narrowed her eyes. If he was here to drag her away again, she was going to be pissed. He walked around until he was standing before them, hands in his pockets and his eyes glazed with boredom. "And I wouldn't call it harassment, Baem. Merely a protective instinct."

"I think she needs to protected from you, not us," Harry said coolly.

Jade blinked. Of course it was probably to annoy Draco, but it sounded like Harry was sticking up for her - or at least trying to keep her away from him. Her stomach flipped. "What's it to you, Potter? Baem is my Housemate and I need to keep her away from you troublemakers. Don't want her ending up in detention, do we?"

Ron started for a fraction of a second before Emma put her hand on his shoulder and he relaxed. "We don't care about you, Malfoy," she said, her usually friendly voice turning cold. "Just leave Jade alone."

Jade smiled inwardly at Emma's consistent acts of friendship. Draco looked like he was in a good mood, because he only grinned. "You seem to think I care about your opinion." Like many times before, his fingers wrapped around Jade's wrist.

"Really, Draco," Jessica snapped. "Let go."

"Thaw out, Ice Princess."

Jessica scowled at the nickname, and Jade just grabbed her hand. "We've got to go," she told the foursome apologetically. "He's just going to get more annoying if we tell him no."

Draco smirked in triumph, ignoring the insult in her comment. "That's right."

"See ya!"

"She won't."

As they walked down to the dungeons, Jessica pulled Jade's hand away from Draco's, challenging him with her icy stare. He just looked forward, leading the way. Jade chuckled. Jessica's reputation was even known to Draco - it was funny that such a gentle, easygoing girl could intimidate the biggest jerk in the school solely on her stony resting face.

As they trudged into the common room, Jessica announced she was going to rest and retreated to the dorms. Jade tried to make her way to a secluded seat, but found Draco's hand on her shoulder preventing her movement. She looked around, and tried not to let her heart beat too fast upon noticing no one else was in the room with them. "What is it now?" she tried to sound stern.

"You have to stop getting mixed up with Harry Potter."

Jade would have just ignored another frustrating attempt to get her away from the Gryffindors if she hasn't seen the urgency in his eyes. "Why...?" she questioned hesitantly.

"The Dark Lord's back." Jade froze. She had heard the stories, of course, and Harry talked about it insistently. However, hearing Draco confirm it and call You-Know-Who 'The Dark Lord' made her blood chill. "And Harry's the target. Obviously. Don't start hanging out with the losing side. You're going to get yourself killed."

"You..." Jade found herself paralyzed. "You said...he's back..."

"Hey - don't be scared." Jade's eyes widened when Draco wrapped his arms around her. She was trembling too much to push him away from her. "Even if you weren't already in the loop, I would protect you."

"What?" she breathed. "What do you mean by 'in the loop'?"

Draco stepped back, and they stared at each other for a few moments. "You really don't know," he broke the silence after a few devastatingly long moments.

He turned to the boys' dorm. "Come back!" Jade cried, once believing she would never utter those words to Draco Malfoy. "What do you mean?"

Draco looked back at her, a truly sad expression taking the place of his usual sneer. "There's a reason you don't know. And even if there wasn't...I think not telling you is my way of protecting you."

Jade stood there, watching mutely as he walked up the steps. Part of her wanted to know what he was saying...what 'loop' she was in. But another part told her ignorance was bliss.

Emma sat restlessly on her favorite chair near the fireplace in the Gryffindor common room, her homework done, leaving nothing to distract her. Emma had decided to wait up for Ron, as he would be returning from his first detention that night. Harry and Hermione had tried to stay awake, but Hermione has retired to their dorm a bit earlier and Harry was snoring from his arm chair. Emma was so worried for Ron, Umbridge was power hungry with her position as High Inquisitor, and her punishments were barbaric. Harry's hand had been torn up by Umbridge's quill, and it oddly worried Emma more to think of Ron undergoing the same.

"I can't take this," Emma huffed, jumping up from her chair.

"What?" Harry asked, jerking awake.

"I'm going to meet him in the hall," Emma decided, marching towards the portrait hole.

"Don't- Umbridge will get you, let me come with you," Harry sighed, climbing from his chair. The pair climbed silently from the common room, heading towards Umbridge's office.

"I think we should stop here," Emma whispered, staying around the corner from the defense against the dark arts classroom. "I don't want her to see us."

"I should have brought the cloak," Harry sighed.

"It's okay, he should be out in a minute." Emma leaned against the wall. "I'm sure no Slytherin will ever have a detention.

"It was all Draco's fault," Harry agreed. "And did you see how he jerks Jade around?"

"He's such a jerk," Emma answered, peering around the corner.

"She's different," Harry continued, peaking Emma's interest. However, the sound of footsteps caused her to jump.

As if on cue, Jade's voice hissed, "What are you two doing here?"

"Waiting for Ron," Emma replied. "What are you?"

"Prefect patrol, Ronald was supposed to go tonight but he's in detention," Jade answered simply.

"Where's Draco?" Harry asked casually.

"In his room, thank god," Jade laughed quietly.

"Harry was just-" Emma was cut off by the sound of a door opening. She peaked around the corner to see Ron emerging from Umbridge's classroom, looking pale. "I'll be seeing you tomorrow night, Mr. Weasley," Umbridge said from the doorway.

Ron scuffed his feet away from the door, only responding with a grunt. As soon as the door closed, Emma shot off towards Ron, throwing her arms around his neck. "I was so worried!" she gushed into his chest. "She kept you longer."

"It didn't 'sink in,'" Ron answered bitterly. Emma released her friend and took his hand in hers, examining it gingerly. The words I must control myself were etched into his pale skin. Emma's heart sunk.

"Oh, Ron." Emma put his injured hand to her cheek, wanting to comfort him. Suddenly, she remembered Harry and Jade, who were standing silently behind the pair. "She can't get away with this."

Harry nodded. "She's going to destroy our school."

"And how are we supposed to defend ourselves from You-Know-Who?" Jade whispered. "She's leaving us defenseless."

Emma looked to Jade, a bit shocked she would be worried about Voldemort. "Even a Slytherin is worried."

"I say we do something," Ron answered, glancing down. Emma followed his gaze and realized that she was still clutching his hand. She dropped it immediately.

Emma looked to Harry. "It has to be you. You have to do something."

"What should I do?" Harry asked helplessly.

"You can teach us how to defend ourselves," Ron suggested.

"You have fought off you know who yourself," Jade added, receiving a kind look from Harry.

"Harry, why don't we have a sort of club, where we can practice defending ourselves, you can be the teacher," Emma continued, looking hopefully to Harry.

"But it was all luck," Harry insisted. "I was only lucky."

"No, you have skill that none of us do," Jade said sincerely. "No one else would have been able to survive that night in the graveyard."

"I don't want yo- anyone to get in trouble," Harry sighed. "Umbridge is forming an Inquisitorial Squad."

Jade's face brightened. "I have an idea, don't worry about Umbridge."

Emma raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Well then, Harry, what do you say?"

Harry couldn't help but to grin. "When do we start?"

"We need others, Jade, you could bring your friend," Ron started. "Hermione, Neville, Luna, Ginny, lots of people will want to join."

"Let's spread the word and have our first meeting in two days."