"Now... be warned! It is my job to arm you against the foulest creatures known to wizardkind! You may face your most profound fears in this room. Know only that no harm can fall on you whilst I am here. All I ask is that you remain calm."
In spite of herself, Jade looked around her pile of books for a better look at the cage on his desk. Lockhart touched the cover. Dean and Seamus stopped laughing. Neville cowered in his front-row seat.
"I must ask you not to scream," Lockhart said in a low voice. "It might provoke them."
The whole class held their breath as Lockhart whipped off the cover.
"Yes," he said dramatically.
Whatever Jade thought it was, this was not it. Inside the cage were cute, but ferocious-looking blue fairies.
"Freshly caught Cornish pixies." Seamus Finnigan couldn't control himself.
He let out a snort of laughter that even Lockhart couldn't mistake for a terror scream.
"Yes?" He smiled at Seamus.
"Well, they're not... they're not very... dangerous, are they?" Seamus choked.
"Don't be so sure!" said Lockhart, waving his finger annoyingly at Seamus. "Devilish tricky little blighters they can be!"
The pixies were electric blue and about eight inches high, with pointed faces and voices so shrill it was like listening to many budgies arguing. The moment the cover was removed, they had started jabbering and rocketing around, rattling the bars and making bizarre faces at the people nearest them.
"Right then," Lockhart said loudly. "Let's see what you make of them!" And he opened the cage.
It was pandemonium. The pixies scattered in every direction like rockets. Two of them seized Neville by the ears and lifted him into the air. Several shots shot straight through the window, showering the back row with broken glass. Several shots shot straight through the window, showering the back row with broken glass. Jade almost screamed at the sound of broken glass but kept her mouth covered. The rest wrecked the classroom more effectively than a rampaging rhino. They grabbed ink bottles and sprayed the class with them, shredded books and papers, tore pictures from the walls, upended the wastebasket, grabbed bags and books, and threw them out of the smashed window; within minutes, half the class was sheltering under desks and Neville was swinging from the iron chandelier in the ceiling.
"Come on now... round them up, round them up, they're only pixies," Lockhart shouted.
He rolled up his sleeves, brandished his wand, and bellowed, "Peskipiksi Pesternomi!"
It had absolutely no effect; one of the pixies seized his wand and threw it out the window, too. Lockhart gulped and dived beneath his desk, narrowly avoiding being squashed by Neville, who fell a second later as the chandelier gave way.
"You're a fucking idiot!" Shouted Jade, stunning everyone in the room, as she seemed to be the calmest and most respectful of them (towards the professors).
Even the Pixies stared at her briefly before causing mayhem again.
"How could you release these potentially dangerous- according to you- pixies onto your class when you don't even know how to deal with them, yourself?" Her voice turned shrill as she yelled at him.
When Jade saw the pixie's stunned and pained expression, she decided to take advantage of the distraction from her voice. She cast a powerful hot-air charm. It blew hot air around each pixie according to how she moved her wand hand. She guided the hot air around the room until most of them got dizzy and were forced out of the broken window. However, not all of them got dizzy and ended up escaping being thrown out. The bell rang and there was a mad rush toward the exit. In the relative calm that followed, Lockhart straightened up and caught sight of Jade, Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who were almost at the door.
He said, "Well, I'll ask you four to nip the rest of them back into their cage." He swept past them and shut the door quickly behind him.
"Can you believe him?" roared Ron angrily as one of the remaining pixies bit him painfully on the ear.
"He just wants to give us some hands-on experience," said Hermione, immobilizing two pixies at once with a clever Freezing Charm and stuffing them back into their cage.
"Hands-on?" inquired Harry, who tried to grab a pixie dancing out of reach with its tongue out.
"That's a load of... what's the British word for crap?... Bullocks I think... yeah, that's a load of bullocks..." Jade said glaring at a pixie that had bitten her as she shoved it into the cage.
"Hermione, he didn't know what he was doing..." said Ron as he grabbed a pixie.
"Rubbish," replied Hermione. "You've read his books... look at all those amazing things he's done..."
"He claims he's done," Ron muttered.
Jade couldn't believe she agreed with him for once. "Personally I think he just ripped his stories off some poor sap."
Just before all four left the classroom, Ron pulled Jade to the side and out of earshot of Harry and Hermione. He told her he couldn't meet her at the black lake that night because he and Harry had to serve detention with Professor McGonagall. Jade who was seething with rage on the inside, played it off as if he'd not said anything. She soon came up with an idea to surprise him with her answer at dinner that night in front of the entire school.
~time skip~
"So why did you change your plans from the black lake to the Great Hall?" Draco asked as they headed to the Great Hall to put everything in motion before supper.
"Because he told me he has detention so he won't show up there, and I'm tired of waiting to put my plan in motion," Jade said bitterly, as she pulled out Ron's letter to her and cast a spell to make copies of it.
Spreading them out on each table. Later on when everyone gathered for their meal, Jade thanked her lucky stars Dumbledore didn't show up for dinner. When she heard whispers across the room about why there were papers all over the tables, Jade knew it was officially too late to back out. She continued to wait till Hermione, Harry, and Ron sat at their table with confused looks. When Ron looked at her though she gave him a nasty smirk and walked to the center of the room. She cast an enhancement spell on her voice to make it loud enough that everyone could hear her.
"As I'm sure most of you are wondering what that letter is for," Jade began. "It's so I can properly tell Ronald Weasley who's been apparently secretly in love with me..." She sneered at this just before walking up to him.
"You have no chance with me." She laughed, but when he asked 'why' she put her hand up to shut him up. "If you want to know why... just sit... watch... and listen," Jade said as she walked over to Snape and whisperingly asked if she could borrow his chair, which he gave gladly once he realized her plan was to embarrass Harry's friend.
Then she walked up to Lockhart and blackmailed him into giving her his chair as well or risk her telling Dumbledor about the pixies and losing his job. She then transfigured them into instruments and cast a spell so they'd play without her touching them.
Liz Phair- Why Can't I?
"Get a load of me, get a load of you... Walking down the street, and I hardly know you (hardly know you)"
Pansy and Daphne helped her with certain parts of the song. They knew it pretty well since she had let them listen to her sing it earlier.
"It's just like we were meant to be... Holding hands with you when we're out at night..."
Jade sang looking at Ron who smiled like the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland.
'Obviously, he wasn't listening when I said no.' She thought with a smirk of her own.
"Got a girlfriend, you say it isn't right (isn't right)"
Daphne sang, with Jade and Pansy singing backup vocals.
"And I've got someone waiting, too... Problem is this is just the beginning..."
Pansy sang smirking at the Weasley who obviously had no idea what Jade was planning.
"We're already wet, and we're gonna go swimming... Why can't I breathe whenever I think about you?"
Jade sang. She saw their confused faces get more intense and heard them murmuring about what this was about.
"Why can't I speak whenever I talk about you? It's inevitable, it's a fact that we're gonna get down to it... So tell me..."
She paused after hearing someone say:
"I wonder if she really feels for him?"
"Or maybe Potter, she spent plenty of time with them last year!"
"Or maybe the song is for Draco, she's almost always with him anyway?"
Jade rolled her eyes and continued.
"Why can't I breathe whenever I think about you?"
She finished, as she felt the rest of the song was too inappropriate to sing in front of the entire school.
"Now to clear things up... I'll tell you why I sang that song," Jade explained as she changed the instruments back into their original form. "I. Won't. Date. You. Ever." She replied slowly, looking Ron in the eyes as he approached her with a confident smile that fell as soon as she said it.
"For several reasons, really but the most significant one is that I can't stand you most days and I know without a doubt you didn't write that letter." She smirked.
"What, of course, I-"
"Don't try to lie to me Weasle" She spat coldly. "I know whose handwriting it is and I am quite certain she thought you would send it back to her." She said glaring at him.
"Anyway, I'm not interested in dating anyone right now... And if I receive another letter similar to that one from anyone... well let's just say they will not see me being this kind." She added as she walked out of the great hall, leaving everyone stunned.
As soon as she was in the hall she headed to the Slytherin common room and sighed.
'Well... I didn't embarrass him, but at least he'll look like a fool in all four houses.' She thought to herself with a smile as she walked into her room and cast a spell to remove makeup from her face. 'I truly hope I never have to wear that again...' She thought as a shiver of disgust ran down her spine.
~Timeskip~ that weekend
Jade was woken up early by Draco's excessive knocking on her door.
"Jade wake up!" She heard just before opening her dorm-room door.
"What?" She hissed groggily.
"Oh yeah, I should have warned you... she's like a dragon when she gets up," Draco said to Crabbe and Goyal, laughing.
"Draco bloody Malfoy I will hex all three of you if you don't tell me why I'm up before the sun." She said in a deadly-calm voice but glared at them.
"Ah, yes... well, as you've probably heard... I've been made a seeker for the Slytherin team as of today thanks to Father buying the team new brooms." Draco said proudly.
"What? Really? When's your first practice? I wanna watch!" Jade said excitedly, now fully awake.
"Practice starts in fifteen minutes, which is why we came to wake you, Draco thought you might want to see," Goyle answered matter-of-factly.
"Ok, give me ten minutes and I'll be right back out," Jade said, closing the door to change into her school robes.
'Skipping a shower this once should be okay, right?' She thought to herself before walking out. 'I don't smell terrible, so it should be okay...'
~Tiny time skip~
As Draco led her and their friends closer to the pitch more Slytherins gathered behind them.
Once they got there she whispered to Draco; "Are you practicing with the Gryffindors?" She asked confused.
He shook his head slightly. "No."
"Why's that first year taking pictures? I don't like it. He could be a Slytherin spy, trying to learn about our updated training program." She heard Oliver Wood say about Harry's fan-boy who was sitting in the stands snapping photos with some weird-looking thing that resembled a muggle camera.
"He's in Gryffindor," said Harry quickly.
"And the Slytherins don't need a spy, Oliver," added George.
"What makes you say that?" asked Wood testily.
Jade smirked, before whispering to Crabbe and Goyle; 'I'm heading to find a seat in the stands, good luck!' They nodded letting her know they heard her.
"Because they're here in person," said George, pointing at them.
"I don't believe it!" Wood hissed in outrage. "I booked the field for today! We'll see about this!" Wood shot toward the ground, landing harder than he meant to in his anger, staggering slightly as he dismounted.
Harry, Fred, and George followed him.
"Flint!" Wood bellowed at the Slytherin Captain. "This is our practice time! We got up specially! You can clear them off now!"
Jade's eyes widened after hearing Wood practically order Flint and his team to leave.
'Wow... and I thought the Gryffindors were the goodie goodies of all the houses.' She thought, silently snickering to herself. 'But it turns out they are just stupid-brute types.'
Marcus Flint was taller than Wood.
He had a look of cleverness on his face as he replied, "There is plenty of room for us all, Wood."
Angelina, Alicia, and Katie came over and stood with Wood. There were no girls on the Slytherin team, who stood shoulder to shoulder, facing the Gryffindors, each leering at Wood.
"But I booked the field!" said Wood, spitting out with rage. "I booked it!"
"Ah," said Flint. "But I've got a specially signed note here from Professor Snape.
'I, Professor S. Snape, give the Slytherin team permission to practice today on the Quidditch field owing to the need to train their new Seeker'."
"You've got a new Seeker?" said Wood, distracted. "Where?"
And from behind the six Slytherins before them came a seventh, smaller boy, smirking all over his pale, pointed face. It was Draco. She almost cheered when he was introduced, but cheering wasn't her usual style so she just sat as still as possible with a smile instead.
"Aren't you Lucius Malfoy's son?" asked Fred, looking at him with dislike clearly in his eyes.
"Funny you should mention Draco's father," said Flint as the whole Slytherin team grinned wider than ever before. "Let me show you the generous gift he's made to the Slytherin team." All seven of them held out their broomsticks.
Seven highly polished, brand-new handles and seven sets of fine gold lettering spelling the words Nimbus Two Thousand and One gleamed under the Gryffindor's noses in the early morning sun. Jade could no longer contain her excitement and clapped her hands loudly.
"The latest model. Only came out last month," Flint said carelessly, flicking a speck of dust from the end of his own. "I believe it outstrips the old Two Thousand series by a considerable amount. As for the old Cleansweeps," he smiled nastily at Fred and George, who clutched Cleansweep Fives. "sweeps the board with them."
None of the Gryffindor team could think of anything to say for a moment. Jade smirked alongside Draco who looked like he couldn't be happier.
"Oh, look," said Flint. "A field invasion."
Ron and Hermione crossed the grass to see what was happening. Jade saw them talking to Harry but because they were whispering and she was still in the stands, she couldn't hear anything they said to him. Ron asked for something, then pointed at Draco. Jade knew what he had asked by the expression on his face.
'Why's Malfoy here and why's he wearing Quidditch robes?'
Jade's smirk widened.
"I'm the new Slytherin Seeker, Weasley," said Draco smugly and loud enough that Jade could hear him. "Everyone's admiring the brooms my father bought for our team."
Ron gaped, open-mouthed, at the seven superb broomsticks in front of him.
"Good, aren't they?" said Draco smoothly. "But perhaps the Gryffindor team will raise some gold and get upgraded brooms, too. You could raffle off those Cleansweep Fives; I expect a museum would bid for them." The Slytherins all howled with laughter.
"At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in," said Hermione. Jade frowned. "They got in on pure talent."
The smug look on Draco's face flickered. "No one asked for your opinion, you filthy little mudblood," he spat.
Jade knew at once that he'd said something really inappropriate because there was an instant uproar at his words. Flint had to dive in front of him to stop Fred and George from jumping on him.
Alicia from the Gryffindor team shrieked, "How dare you!" and Ron plunged his hand into his robes, pulled out his wand, yelling, "You'll pay for that one, Malfoy!" and pointed it furiously under Flint's arm at Draco's face.
Which caused Jade to jump to her feet and cast a counterspell immediately. She'd learned to do it wordlessly over the summer. A loud bang echoed around the stadium and a jet of green light shot out of the wrong end of Ron's wand. It hit him in the stomach and sent him reeling backwards onto the grass.