Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: Jade and Emma's Story

Chapter 3

Jade struggled to fit all her books in her arms as she made her way from History of Magic to Potions. "Need some help?"

There was no mistaking the voice -
she had struggled to avoid him in their previous class. "Nope." Her cheeks flushed crimson as she felt him following her down to Snape's room.

The classroom was dark, and Snape stood ominously at the head of it. Jade made her way to an empty station, happening to stand next to a table with Hermione Granger and the Emma girl. Next to them stood Ron Weasley and Harry Potter. She set her stuff down, and saw a tall boy standing at her station. "Malfoy, what do you think you're doing?" she asked warily.

"Just helping out the loner," Draco drawled with a smirk.

"Isn't there anyone else you can annoy?"

His stare was intense, but ruined by the infuriating smirk on his face. "But I like to annoy you, J."

"Only Irene calls me that. You can call me Jade."

"I don't like that as much."

Jade gritted her teeth and began to follow the directions for the Draught of Peace potion they were supposed to be making. This class had always been simple for her, and she was completing the task with ease. The same couldn't be said for the rest of the class. Hermione and Emma were intelligent, so they were doing well, they just lacked a certain knack for potion making. Ron and Harry were in dire need of help. "Is it supposed to look like this?" Ron asked.

Harry's eyes were full of complete confusion. "I have no idea what's going on."

"How are you doing that?" Draco asked, his potion bubbling and fizzing.

Jade sighed. "I follow the directions, Malfoy. "

Snape walked around the room skeptically, throwing nasty rebukes at Neville Longbottom as he went. He stopped at Jade's station and looked at her potion with a mix of surprise and approval. "Good job, Miss Baem. You two pass."

Jade almost snorted at Snape's obvious favoritism as he ignored Draco's complete failure of the assignment. He completely ignored Hermione and Emma, and went straight to Harry and Ron. "Potter, what is this supposed to be?"

"The Draught of Peace," Harry answered.

"Please read the third line of directions for me." Snape's voice was calm and dark, as usual, but it was making Jade uneasy. Harry read it off, and Jade saw his face gloom over. Jade's stomach turned. "Did you complete all of these directions, Potter?"

"No...I forgot the hellebore."

"I know." Snape flicked his wand across the cauldron and Harry's potion disappeared. "For those who have managed to follow the instructions, get a sample of your potion, label it with your name, and set it on my desk for testing."

Jade scooped her potion into her vile and corked it. She saw Draco go to steal some of hers, and she slapped his hand away. "Don't take credit for other's work. Besides, you know Snape's going to pass you anyway."

"True."

Jade went up and set her vile on Snape's desk, turning just in time to see Draco push Hermione aside. "Watch it, Mudbloods," he hissed at her and Emma on her side.

"Back off Malfoy," Ron Weasley snapped, moving closer to Emma.

Draco sneered, and then his eyes met Jade's. "Well you understand, don't you Baem?"

Jade blinked. Malfoy and a few other Slytherins were looking at her expectantly - while Harry, Ron, Hermione and Emma stood watching her curiously. Instead of answering (which would either make her an enemy of her fellow Housemates or a typical Slytherin to the Gryffindors she envied and looked up to) she decided to just walk out.