Hello, thanks for commenting! – Ellie, and anonymous guest!
Here's another chapter.
I've uploaded a picture of Jade to my profile – I'm not sure if you can see it somehow? Or do I need to add it directly to the story? – I have no idea how that works… anyway, here's another little chapter, I hope you'll like it.
The library was huge, and girls loved it. Sitting by the window, which was high, all the way up to the ceiling and casted awesome bright daylight on the tables standing alongside the wall. It was perfect place for homework, and Jade could already see herself spending afternoons here, writing all the essays and assignments they would get during the year.
It was almost lunch-time and Katie, Maddie and Sue decided to head down to the Great Hall after they finished the essays.
Jade still had a couple of paragraphs she wanted to write so she stayed behind. There were more awesome books about history than the one recommended by Deric and they were actually interesting.
Jade wanted to put some work into this homework, she knew there won't be time later to pay this much attention to other assignments but she had time now, so why not do it properly.
Joyce stayed sitting on her chair opposite Jade, telling girls she needs to finish hers too.
"So?" Jade looked up at Joyce, before she turned the page of the book and scribbled few more pages down.
"You want something. Your essay's finished. It's been finished for a while now." Stated Jade calmly and put down the quill, rolling her parchment and carefully placing it in her bag.
"Yeah, I just…" started Joyce, looking uneasy.
Jade just smiled at her encouragingly.
"We are friends, right?" asked Joyce looking Jade straight into the eyes.
"Sure we are. Do you need my help with something? Or…if you just need to talk to someone, we can hang out more, maybe go for a walk if you want to discuss something private?" asked Jade, trying to guess what was the matter.
"That's actually what I wanted to offer…you know, if you ever need to talk to someone, about anything, you know…you can talk to me." Said Joyce suddenly looking shy.
"Well, …ahem… thanks, I guess." Said Jade a little bit confused.
"It's just that,…can I ask you something personal?" whispered Joyce.
"Yeah?" – said Jade slowly, not really knowing where this was going.
"Well, Fred and George Weasley are your brothers? And, you are…" started Joyce,
"…adopted." Finished Jade, looking at her friend, expecting her to be shocked, but she wasn't.
"Yeah," continued Joyce as if that wasn't the reason of this strange conversation.
"I just, I noticed you kept your last name, and I know this is none of my business …oh this is really lame, I shouldn't have started it, you don't even know me that well, why would you want to talk to me." Mumbled Joyce and looked down on her hands.
"No, I mean, that's alright, I knew people would notice, after all, I don't really look like Weasley, do I?" smiled Jade pointing to her short hair.
"Well, I just thought that if you ever wanted to talk about something, I can listen really well, that's what my mom says, and I won't tell anyone if you don't want to, you know." Explained Joyce still feeling a little bit awkward.
"I never really talked about it, not even with Fred and George." Said Jade, "but, it's not really a secret. I just wanted to keep the last name because it's the only thing I have left from my parents. I don't even remember them, you know. And Molly understood, because after all, last name isn't what makes you belong to a family. Weasleys can be my family now even if we don't share the name." said Jade, proudly, realizing just now, how much truth those words were hiding.
"Yeah, that's not what I meant, I just thought that if you're sad sometimes or miss someone, or just want to talk about …something, I'm here." Said Joyce.
"I know you are, and thanks for saying it. You really are a good friend and one day I might take you up on that offer, just… not yet." Said Jade and walked around the table to hug her friend.
They walked down to lunch together and soon conversation turned to lighter topic.
Fred and George walked over to them, both dressed in identical sweaters and jeans.
"We've been looking for you sis." Started George,
"ready to go to Hagrid's place for a cup of tea and rock-hard piece of cake?" laughed Fred and they both pulled Jade out from the bench, dropping her down between them.
"Yeah, sure, just let me put my bag back to our bedroom…" started Jade but Joyce took it from her.
"I'll put it on your bed, don't worry." She smiled at Jade.
The girls stayed behind after lunch, sitting at the table and discussing the latest gossip they heard about teachers and lessons they'll have next week.
"Alright then, see you later. And thank you!" Called Jade as boys pulled her out of the castle.
It was rather sunny, with few occasional clouds, lazily swimming on the blue sky. The lake looked even darker and there was definitely the scent of autumn in the air.
"Congratulations again!, so you're going to be beaters?" asked Jade, almost running to keep up with her brothers.
"Yeah, Wood was pretty excited, we'll have a nice team this year, we just lack someone good for seeker but that's ok for now." They explained.
The wind started to blow harder and soon they couldn't hear each other, so they run towards the cottage and Fred knocked loudly on the door.
Hagrid opened it just enough for them to get inside, while he was trying to block the way for Fang, who was trying to escape.
Once the door was closed, the dog stopped jumping up and down and settled down next to Jade, licking her face all around.
"He remembers ya alright!" laughed Hagrid and turned around to pull the kettle down from the fire.
"want some peppermint tea, you lot? I go the best peppermint leaves from Madame Sprout." Said Hagrid proudly and poured four cups of strong tea. Well, it was more like buckets, but the tea was delicious, sweetened with wild dark honey from the bees living in Forbidden forest and softened with milk.
"Here's some cake, help yourselves." Smiled Hagrid and pushed a plate with a loaf of cake sliced into big chunks forward.
While George and Fred chatted about their newest inventions and were asking Hagrid if there's some way how they could get through the whooping willow, Jade sat at the end of the bench, patting Fang with one hand on his head, while trying to keep the cake out of his reach.
It was rather hard, but there were lots of raisins in it and it wasn't too bad with tea.
"So, did you get in trouble for yer swimmin'? asked Hagrid pushing away Fangs, who noticed his master taking a slice of the cake, but the dog returned back to Jade after he saw the cake disappear in one second.
"No, just a lecture from McGonagall, " said Fred,"she couldn't be really mad after we told her you were there with us." Finished George and slipped his hand under the table, where Fang gladly inhaled the piece of cake George was giving him.
"Jade, you're doing alright at school?" asked Hagrid, trying to include shy Jade to their conversation.
"It's alright, I suppose." She shrugged, scratching Fang behind his huge ear.
"Don't you let these two keep you from studying. First year is hard." He nodded n her direction.
Jade just smiled, feeling quite happy, just sitting there and looking at all the interesting things Hagrid had inside.
But Hagrid knew a lot about the school grounds, and soon Jade was pulled into the conversation, asking questions herself.
They didn't even notice how time flew by so Hagrid had to remind them it's time to go back to school for dinner.
The sky was dark grey, with black clouds on the horizon – great, another stormy night, thought Jade.
She met with girls in the Great Hall, and they waited for her before starting the meal.
Students were coming and going, and there was a lot of noise so Jade didn't even notice Deric until he was standing directly behind her.
"Hi, Jade?" he nudged her shoulder.
"Hey Deric! Oh, let me introduce you to my friends – Joyce, Maddie, Sue and Katie, girls, this is Deric." She smiled, pointing at everyone as she introduced them.
They all said hi and then got back to their conversation.
"So, I was thinking if you wanted to hang out some time tomorrow?" asked Deric sounding unsure.
"Yeah! That would be great. We could have breakfast together again and then we can do whatever you want." Suggested Jade.
"Alright, I'll be here at 8?" asked Deric.
"Sure, it's ok with me." Agreed Jade and they said their good-bye and the Hufflepuff left the great hall. Jade couldn't help but think there was something sad on him.
She'll have to find out tomorrow.
Girls walked back to their room, feeling sleepy after dinner, but it wasn't quite time to sleep yet.
"I got a package from mom this morning." Maddie informed Jade. "She sent me some things to decorate our room." She announced happily and unwrapped the brown package on her bed.
There was small yellow rug, some candy and a couple of folded posters.
"We have to have the best room this year!" cheered Katie and pulled out her own stack of posters which still needed to be hung.
Girls started decorating, Sue helped to move Jade's bed to the side, so it was now standing against the wall, and that created space big enough for the new rug.
Then Sue decided she wanted her bed against the wall too, and they all moved the beds a little. They were now standing alongside the wall, in half-circle, leaving huge space in the middle.
"We could ask one of the older girls if they know how to make the rug bigger and we could place in here to the middle of the room. It would be perfect for sitting down on it when we'll have girl-nights!" exclaimed Maddie and run out of the room, holding the rug in her hand.
The rest of the girls just looked at each other surprised, but it didn't took long and Maddie stumbled into the room, dragging huge yellow rug behind her.
"The seventh year girls said it's no problem and look!" she exclaimed happily, spreading the rug in the middle of their room.
"And they have even better bedroom than us. You should have seen all the decorations!" she added. "We still have a long way to go."
The room looked much bigger now, but also brighter and Jade really liked it, she was just a little sad looking at her bed standing next to bare wall.
She looked at her nightstand and there it was. The letter she wanted to send to Molly! She panicked and run out of the room, still in her PJs with an old flannel shirt on top, quickly explaining her friends, she needed to sent the letter.
Fred and George weren't downstairs, but Jade found Percy, sitting by the fire with books all around him.
"Hmm Percy?" she asked quietly, but still startled him and he jumped out of the armchair.
"Merlin's underpants! You scared me." He whispered looking around to see if anyone saw the incident, but common room as almost empty.
"I just,… could you show me where the owls are? I'd like to send a letter to… home." She said, looking at him. "please?"
Percy glanced at the clock, they still had an hour before bedtime. "Alright, let's go."
Jade followed him in complete silence, he looked tired, probably from all the studying, she thought, but didn't dare to ask. Percy didn't like when people acknowledged how tired he looked.
"Did you have nice first day?" she asked, interrupting the silence as they climbed up the stairs in some tower where Jade wasn't before.
"It was alright, what about you?" he smiled shortly.
"Alright." Nodded Jade.
"Is that a letter for mom? She'll be glad you're writing her. I've sent my letter yesterday, of course, but she's always happy to hear from all of us.
Fred and George never find time to write her, sometimes McGonagall writes mom sooner than them, complaining about their pranks already." Said Percy, opening door on top of the tower. There was a breeze and light smell coming from the room and when Jade came in, she saw hundreds of owls sitting in small shelters all around the walls. Windows had no glass in them and the owls could come in and out whenever they wanted.
Jade felt a little bit guilty. If McGonagall wrote to Burrow yesterday, complaining about their swimming adventure, she would have written to Burrow sooner than Jade.
"Here, you can use any of there, they are school owls." Percy interrupted her thoughts and pointed to the wall full of brown birds.
One of them flew down and landed on his outstretched hand.
Jade tied the letter to it's leg and the owl flew out of the window, looking excited to have some job.
They walked back to the common room together, but Jade finally found enough courage, just before they stopped in front of the entrance and asked:
"Percy? Could you show me where's the hospital wing?" she whispered, quite embarrassed.
"Now?" Percy was really surprised. "Eh, sure, are you alright?" he asked carefully looking his sister over to find something wrong with her, something that would need medical attention.
"Yeah, it's just the nightmares." Said Jade blushing as they walked through the corridors.
"Is it that bad? I thought they stopped." He said, sounding really concerned.
"They kind of did, but yesterday, with the storm and everything… I'd just want to be sure that I'll sleep through the night without getting up at midnight and staying awake till morning, That's all." Jade shrugged it off.
"Here's a bottle of dreamless potion. Take one teaspoon before you go to bed. It should help. There's enough for four nights but I'd like you to come back on Wednesday so we could talk about it. Dreamless potion is never a permanent solution, you'll have to go through all your feelings eventually." Said Madame Pomfrey, smiling sadly.
"Thank you." Whispered Jade and Percy walked her back to their common room.
"Good night then." He said and hugged her lightly. It wasn't a bear hug, like Fred and George gave her, but it wasn't as awkward as you'd think.
Percy was a Weasley after all and they have hugs in their blood.
"Good night." Repeated Jade and jogged up the stairs.
Girls were already in beds when Jade came back. She quickly brushed her teeth and turned off the Christmas lights which were still on, before climbing into her bed.
The wall was nicely warm, there had to be the chimney behind it, and she fell asleep, within minute, knowing there will be no nightmares that night.