She noticed a tremble in Neville's voice that said he wanted to keep his feet perfectly planted on the ground. Madam Hooch then showed them how to mount their brooms without sliding off the end. She walked up and down the rows, correcting their grips. She even told Draco he'd done it wrong, who looked mortified.

"Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard," said Madam Hooch. "Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet, and then come straight back down by leaning forwards slightly. On my whistle, three, two-"

But Neville, who was nervous, jumpy, and frightened of being left on the ground, pushed off hard before the whistle touched Madam Hooch's lips. All the Slytherins, including Jade, laughed at him.

"Come back, boy!" Hooch shouted, but Neville rose straight up like a cork shot out of a wine bottle, twelve feet, twenty feet.

Moments later Neville ran sideways and fell off as he hit part of the building landing with a loud sickening crack. His broomstick was still rising higher and higher and drifting lazily towards the Forbidden Forest and out of sight. Madam Hooch bent over Neville. Her face became as white as his. Jade couldn't hear what she'd just mumbled, but after glancing at Harry and Ron she could tell Harry had and it wasn't pleasant.

"Come on, boy, it's all right, up you go." She turned to the rest of the class. "None of you move while I take this boy to the hospital wing! You leave those brooms where they are or you'll be out of Hogwarts before you can say "Quidditch". Come on, dear."

Neville, his face tear-streaked, clutching his wrist, hobbled off with Madam Hooch, who had her arm around him.

No sooner were they out of earshot than Draco burst into laughter. "Did you see his face, the great lump?"

The other Slytherins joined in.

"Shut up, Malfoy," snapped Parvati Patil.

"Ooh, sticking up for Longbottom?" replied Pansy. "Never thought you'd like fat little cry babies, Parvati."

"Besides isn't he always holding your house back from getting any points for your house?" Jade asked with a look of boredom on her face.

"Look!" said Draco, darting forward and snatching something out of the grass.

"Is that the stupid thing Longbottom's gran sent him?" Jade asked loud enough that Draco heard and smirked at her.

The Remembrall glittered in the sun as he held it up.

"Give that to me, Malfoy," said Harry.

Everyone else stopped talking to watch. It was then that Draco turned to Harry and smiled nastily at him.

"I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to collect. How about up a tree?" "Give it here!" Harry yelled, but Malfoy leapt onto his broomstick and took off.

He hadn't lied, he could fly well, hovering level with the oak branches.

"Come and get it, Potter!" He taunted.

'Saw it coming.' Jade rolled her eyes.

Jade spent a lot of time getting to know Draco and Daphne, especially on the weekends, when they had no classes. As a result, she could almost predict how he would behave around certain people, especially Harry and the Weasleys. Draco's insistence on taunting Harry with the item he had stolen was typical behavior for him - one that Jade had come to expect.

"I bet five galleons Potter will be rewarded just for being a Gryffindor," Jade said to Goyal.

"I'll take that bet," Goyal said, unsure.

But he agreed to the bet as he didn't want to be proven wrong and shook her hand. Jade smirked knowingly. Later that night at dinner they all heard Potter telling the Gryffindors he would be playing on their Quidditch team as the youngest person to play.

Jade smirked and said to Goyal:

"Pay up." She said it so cheekily that if he hadn't been friends with her he'd attempted to hex her for it.

"Fine." He grumbled as he reached into his pocket and paid her.

She laughed. "Don't worry I'm sure I won't always win our bets." But she knew he wasn't really mad about that.

Quidditch is everyone's dream except hers. For Potter to get on the Gryffindor team before anyone else in their year was a kick in the teeth for them. Jade watched as Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle walked to Harry's table.

"Having your last meal, Potter? When are you getting the train back to the Muggles?" Draco taunted as though he'd not heard Harry was in the Quidditch game earlier.

"You're braver now you're back on the ground and you've got your little friends with you," said Harry coolly. Witch made Jade scowl at him from her seat.

"I'd take you any time on my own," said Draco. "Tonight, if you want. Wizard's duel. Wands only, no contact. What's the matter? Never heard of a wizard's duel before, I suppose?"

"Of course, he has," said Ron, turning around and lying to cover for his friend. "I'm his second, who's yours?"

Draco looked at Crabbe and Goyle, sizing them up. "Crabbe," he said."Midnight all right? We'll meet you in the trophy room, that's always unlocked."

When he left, Ron and Harry looked at each other, and Harry asked questions.

"I'm coming with you," Jade said as Draco sat back down at their table. "And don't argue with me. I've been waiting for a reason to see Weasley get his arse kicked, even though that may or may not happen. It'll be fun to watch his face when you beat Potter." She smirked.

"Wow, I thought Draco was evil... You're just as terrible, if not worse." Daphne said playfully shoving her arm.

Jade smiled a bit, not sure if she believed that or not. Draco laughed.

"What?" Jade asked confused.

He leaned into her ear and whispered. 'I was never intending to go. Might tip 'em off to Filch, though.'

Her eyes bugged out and she lightly punched his shoulder.

"Ow." He grumbled while rubbing his shoulder and smirking at the unsuspecting Gryffindors.

~Time skip~

After being at Hogwarts for two months, Jade had finally come to terms with the fact that Mr. and Mrs. Green didn't want anything to do with her. As far as she could tell, not a single letter had been sent to her. Sure it still made her feel heartbroken to think about it, but she refused to let it get to her again as it had before.

'I'm planning to visit them during my holiday. If they tell me they don't want me around, fine, but they will hear my feelings on the issue before I just give up.' She thought to herself. 'Besides, even if I don't have a family to love me... I've made great friends.'

She smiled as Draco, Daphne, Pansy, Crabbe, and Goyle all walked out of their rooms and into the common room to greet her.

"How are you awake before all of us?" Pansy asked playfully since Jade was usually the one to sleep in till someone woke her. Jade sighed.

"Had a hard time staying asleep, and gave up at three this morning." She answered honestly.

"Are you okay?" Pansy asked.

"Yeah, I just had a night full of... issues that should be solved soon," Jade told her not really wanting to tell her.

Pansy looked at her with a worried expression but didn't say anything as they all walked to breakfast. Pansy put an arm around Jade's shoulders and hugged her warmly. Jade smiled, grateful for her friend's support. They continued walking in comfortable silence. Later that day, Professor Flitwick announced in Charms that he thought they were ready to make objects fly. This was something they had all been dying to try since they saw Neville's toad zoom around the classroom because of him casting a spell on it. Professor Flitwick divided the class into pairs to practice. Jade's partner was Hermione Granger as Flitwick thought it was smart to mix houses. Pansy, however, worked with Ron.

'At least I dodged that bullet.' Jade smirked.

She looked over toward Draco, who was paired with Luna Lovegood. He seemed to enjoy it as she hadn't heard him yell at anyone or look up to see what Potter or Weasley were doing. Jade smiled as she refocused on her task.

"Now, don't forget that nice wrist movement we've been practicing!" squeaked Professor Flitwick, perched on top of his pile of books as usual.

Hermione who noticed Jade had yet to pull out her wand kept telling her to use it and even when she'd told the girl she could do wandless magic, the girl was a nag and didn't believe her so she huffed and did so just to make the girl quiet.

"Swish and flick, remember to swish and flick. And saying the magic words properly is very important, to never forget Wizard Baruffio, who said 's' instead of 'f' and found himself on the floor with a buffalo on his chest." It was very difficult.

Jade swished and flicked, but the feather they were supposed to send skyward lay on the desktop. Ron got so impatient that he poked it with his wand and set it aflame. Pansy had to throw it out. Harry, at the next table, had the same fate.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" he shouted, waving his arms like a windmill.

Draco made his float in one go, as usual.

"You're saying it wrong," Jade heard Hermione snap at Ron. "It's Winggar-dium Levi-o-sa, make the 'gar' nice and long."

"You do it, then, if you're so clever," Ron snapped back at her.

Hermione rolled up the sleeves of her gown, flicked her wand, and said, "Wingardium Leviosa!"

Her and Jade's feather rose off the desk and hovered four feet above their heads.

"Oh, well done!" cried Professor Flitwick, clapping not noticing Draco'd already accomplished it before her.

"Everyone see here, Miss Granger's done it!" Ron was in a very irritable mood at the end of the class.

As Jade was about to leave the classroom she overheard Ron and Harry talking about Hermione.

"It's no wonder no one can stand her," he said to Harry as they left. "She's a nightmare, honestly."

Jade saw Hermione bump into Harry as she hurried past them.

"I can't believe you! All she'd ever done was try to help your sorry ass and what does she get in return?" A growl reached Jade's lips, and her anger grew at their disloyalty to one of their own. "You talk about her behind her back and make her feel ashamed of herself. I don't know why anyone would befriend you if this is how you treat your friends."

They were about to tell her it was none of her business, but she'd smacked them hard across their faces and left to find Hermione. She didn't necessarily like the girl, but she couldn't sit back and do nothing.

~~~Draco~~~

At the end of his class with Flitwick, Draco'd been mad at not getting the recognition he'd deserved. But his anger subsided as he saw Jade yelling at Potter and Weasley. He was about to stop her from getting into too much trouble. However, she'd already smacked them hard enough that everyone in the hall and classroom could hear its echo, then bolted out of the room.

"I don't know what you did to make her mad, but do it again..." He paused for dramatic effect. "And you'll have more enemies than you could handle." He smirked with a promising look in his eyes that they couldn't read and walked off to his next class.

The other Slytherins in the classroom aimed threatening glances at both Gryfindors' faces at that moment, as they walked away silently.

'What the hell? Who exactly is she?' Harry and Ron both thought as they left.

Hermione and Jade hadn't shown up for their next class and Draco hadn't seen them all afternoon. Not that he cared about the mudblood at all, but he was best friends with Jade. On his way down to the Great Hall for the Hallowe'en feast, he'd overheard a Gryffindor telling her friend that Hermione was crying in the girls' toilets. He knew Jade had been talking to her so his worries simmered down after that. A large number of bats fluttered from the walls and ceiling while a thousand more swooped over their tables in low black clouds. This made the candles in the pumpkins stutter. The feast appeared suddenly on the golden plates, as it had at the start-of-term banquet. Draco was just getting a jack o' potato, when Professor Quirrell sprints into the Hall, his turban lopsided and terror on his face. Everyone stared as he reached Professor Dumbledore's chair.

He slumped against the table, and gasped, "Troll... in the dungeons... thought you ought to know." He then sank to the floor in a dead faint.

There was an uproar. It took several purple firecrackers exploding from Professor Dumbledore's wand to silence the room.

"Prefects," he shouted, "lead your houses back to the dormitories immediately!"

"Follow me! Stick together, first-years! No need to fear the trolls if you follow my orders! Stay close to me now. Make way, first-years are coming through! Excuse me, I'm a Prefect!" said the Slytherin prefect.

"How could a troll get in?" Draco heard someone say as they climbed the stairs.

"Don't ask me, they're supposed to be really stupid," he replied coolly. "Maybe Peeves let it in for a Halloween joke."

His arm was suddenly grabbed by a worried-looking Daphne. "I just thought- Jade!"

"What? What about her?" He wasn't comprehending her question as his head was too full of his own worries.

"She doesn't know about the troll." Draco's eyes bulged as it dawned on him. "We need to look for her," Daphne said, almost as if she were close to tears as she'd grown quite close to all the first-year Slytherins.

"Oh, all right," he replied, acting as if he wasn't just as worried. "But Snape'd better not see us."

Ducking down, they slipped down a deserted side corridor near the great hall and hurried off toward the girls' toilets. They turned a corner when they heard footsteps behind them.

"Snape!" hissed Draco, pulling Daphne behind a large stone griffin.

Peering around it, however, they saw not Snape but Dumbledore. He crossed the corridor and disappeared from view.

"What's he doing?" Daphne whispered. "Why isn't he down in the dungeons with the rest of the teachers?"

"Don't ask me." Quietly as possible, they crept along a corridor after Dumbledore's fading footsteps.

"He's heading for the third floor," Daphne said, but Draco held up his hand and made a disgusted face.

"Can you smell that?" Daphne sniffed and a foul stench reached her nose as well, a mixture of old socks and the kind of public toilet no one cleans.

And then they heard it, a low grunt and gigantic footsteps shuffling. Draco pointed at the end of a passage to the left. Something huge moved towards them. They shrank into the shadows and watched as it emerged into a patch of moonlight. It was a horrible sight. Twelve feet tall, its skin was dull, granite grey, its massive lumpy body like a boulder with its small bald head perched on top like a coconut. It had short legs thick as tree trunks with flat feet. The smell was unimaginable. It held a huge wooden club, which was dragged along the floor because its arms were so long. The troll stopped next to a doorway and peered inside. It waggled its long ears, making up its tiny mind, then slouched slowly into the room. As they were about to walk out of their hiding spot and look in another direction for Jade, Draco spots Ron and Harry who hadn't seen them yet.

"What are they doing here?" Daphne whispered. Draco shrugged forgetting Jade was with Hermione.

"The key's in the lock," Harry told Ron. "We could lock it in."

'Well, I guess if nothing else at least Potters got a brain.' Draco thought.

"Good idea," said Ron looking like he'd pissed himself.

They edged towards the open door, hoping the troll wasn't about to emerge. Draco silently hoped it would though. Taking a hurried leap, Harry grabbed the key, slammed the door shut, and locked it in place.

"Yes!" Ron and Harry exclaimed in victory as they ran back up the passage.

However, as they reached the corner they heard something that made their hearts stop. In addition, Draco came out of his hiding spot to punch Potter and Weasley. Two high, petrified screams came from the chamber they'd just locked up. Draco'd recognize Jade's voice anywhere.

"Oh, no," said Ron, pale as the Bloody Baron and ignoring that he'd been punched for the moment.

"It's the girls' toilets!" Harry gasped. "Hermione!" Harry and Ron said.

"We're coming with you," Daphne said as she finally slipped out of the same hiding spot Draco'd come out of.

"Why would either of you care?" Ron asked.

"Because Jade is with her and we'll protect our own unlike you." Draco sneered at him.

Ron said, "Just don't get in our way."

Draco was about to say something sarcastic to him, but Daphne covered his mouth.

'We don't have time to fight with him.' Daphne whispered.

It was the last thing they wanted, but what choice did they have? Wheeling around they sprinted back to the door and turned the key. Harry pulled the door open, and they all ran inside. Hermione and Jade were huddled against the wall opposite, looking like they were about to faint. The troll advanced on them, knocking sinks off the walls.