Jade Evans, Death Eater {Jade Book 4}

Chapter 10

Apologies for my incredibly slow updates.

Chapter 11 should contain the first Triwizard Task, unless this chapter gets too long. Ah well, it should work out.

Thanks all of you for your support (and constant "please update!" posts) that helped me to keep going even when I decided that I hate Severus Snape (as an adult, not as a kid) and Snily (apart from small child fluff) is pretty gross.

Dedicated to all of you readers who have stuck with Jade and me since Book 1. Ily all :)

***

The next morning was, well, tense.

As I got out of bed and picked up my uniform to go get changed, Anja was just waking up. I wanted to say something, but from the cold glare she was giving me, I could tell she wasn't interested in conversation.

Evangeline told me softly in the bathroom that I looked tired and angry, and asked if there was anything wrong.

I replied that there was nothing, and left the bathroom quickly.

At breakfast, Anja sat down with Pansy Parkinson and Millicent Bulstrode, further down the table. Blaise sat down on my left, looking a bit confused as Evangeline took the seat on my right. Blaise bent down (he was a fair bit taller than me) and whispered in my ear, "What happened with Anja?"

I didn't really want to explain to Blaise the circumstances of our argument, so I just told him, "We just had an argument last night. Anja's a bit annoyed...I guess she doesn't want to talk. It's okay," I explained and faked a smile onto my face. Then I grabbed a piece of toast from the Slytherin table to avoid further questions.

He nodded, and looked across at my sister. When she caught his gaze, she frowned, and Blaise glared back. "She's so irritating," he muttered, and I couldn't help but laugh.

Across the table, Theodore Nott (how had I not noticed him until now?) leaned forward, a nervous smile on his face.

"Hey, Jade."

"Hi, Theodore." I smiled back at him at him, and when we made eye contact, my stomach flip-flopped.

Theodore swallowed and glanced up the table before returning his gaze to me. "Um, can you meet me near the Whomping Willow after Potions class?"

I nodded wordlessly, shocked into silence. "Uh-sure."

Is this some kind of date? I asked myself. The start of a date?

***

The first class for that day was Transfiguration. McGonagall seemed to be in a really good mood, because she didn't give us any essays to write or spells to practise.

"Today, we will be covering the object-to-animal spell." She demonstrated the spell by turning a candle on her desk into a little owl. Professor McGonagall explained the Similarity Index and its purpose in detail - comparing the features of the object before and the animal after the transformation.

After about six attempts, I managed to turn my candle into an owl. The only problem with the owl was the fact that there was a whole lot of wax sticking to the top of the owl's head and a slightly blackened-looking piece of string sticking out of the wax.

Oops...

I cursed under my breath. How had I been so lax as to forget that there was wax and string on the candle? I thought that I'd been focused, and yet I'd still messed up.

My distraction couldn't have been because of Theodore... I'd tried to keep my mind off our meeting.

This isn't good enough, I told myself angrily. I have to focus better. I have to keep my mind off distractions.