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

Chapter 18

"Do I have to go," Harry groaned. "Charms and Herbology weren't that bad, but I'll be lucky to get a P in Potions. Good thing I did well in Defense Against the Dark Arts."

Jade gave him a sympathetic squeeze - their hands were already locked - not being able to empathize. She was very good at Potions and was sure she'd manage an Outstanding - but of course she wasn't going to brag about it to her Potions-impaired boyfriend. Not to mention she wasn't as confident as he for their Defense Against the Dark Arts exam. While she'd done fairly well in her previous D.A.D.A classes, Umbridge's new hands-off approach didn't exactly help in her fifth year of learning. She'd missed quite a few D.A. meetings due to the Inquisitorial Squad and she lacked Harry's obvious and natural talent. She was crossing her fingers for an "Exceeds Expectations" mark.

She decided to change the subject. "So...You never told me what happened. You know, with the whole Umbridge's fireplace deal."

"Oh, right..." Harry was quiet for many long moments. "It went alright, I guess. I just...I wish I'd never seen that memory." Jade gave him a questioning glance, so he continued, "I just don't see everything the way I used to."

"By 'everything' do you mean your parents?" Judging from Harry's expression, Jade guessed she was right. "Harry, I know it's hard, but...Don't turn everything around because of one memory. Maybe your dad bullied Snape, but - they were fifteen. Your mom married your dad and they were Aurors. And look how Snape turned out."

Harry sighed. "You're right. I'm being stupid."

"Isn't that how it usually is?" Jade joked. Harry laughed as they came up to the door. She pecked his cheek. "Don't stress and go ace this exam, okay?" He squeezed her hands before walking into the testing classroom.

Jade took her seat for the written portion of the exam. She found it extremely easy, Snape had gone over everything on it sometime or another in their five years. She felt like it was common sense. Finishing quite early, she looked to see her friends. Emma and Hermione looked pretty confident. Ron was struggling, but he mostly just looked angry. To her disappointment - and slight amusement - Harry looked extremely confused.

After the written exam was done, they were given cauldrons and told to create a Sleeping Draught. Ingredients appeared in from of them. She saw many struggle to even begin the potion. With a little laugh, she began preparing her ingredients and adding them. She began heating her mixture, and saw a couple people try to blindly follow that step. She stirred it and waved her wand over the cauldron to finish it up. She stared down at her perfect concauction and waited until the test giver told them to step away from their cauldrons.

***

Tuesday afternoon, Jade walked away from their Care of Magical Creatures exam feeling a big disappointed. "Well, we knew we were going to fail that one," Ron muttered. Jade couldn't help but agree. Nothing Hagrid taught them had prepared for their O.W.L. She hoped her reading on the subject was enough to have gotten her a passing grade.

As she looked back at the forest, she saw a familiar skeletal body flying over the trees. "Thestral," she whispered. Yet again, she wondered just why it was that she could see them. Eyebrows furrowed, she said louder to her friends, "I've got to go do something. See you later!"

She ran to the castle and up to the Owlery, panting. Grabbing parchment and a quill from her bag, she wrote a hasty letter to her mother. She didn't know why she felt compelled to do it, or why she felt like her mom had something to do with it. She handed the letter to one of the Hogwarts owls and whispered, "Could you take this to Baem manor for me?" She pet its head before it flew off.

She took a considerably less amount of time to leave the Owlery, and bumped into another person in her daze on her way to the Great Hall.

"Miss Baem?" She looked up to see Snape. "Shouldn't you be at your Care of Magical Creatures exam?"