The Slytherin Champion (The Four Maidens of Hogwarts #1)

Chapter Three

"Happy Birthday, Jade." Adonis remarked as he took his seat at the Slytherin table across from Jade.

Jade returned a quick smile. "Seventeen..." she drawled. "What a weird age."

"Sixteen felt better, didn't it."

"Eh."

She glanced upwards when she saw the flurry of owls fly into the Great Hall. She made out her family owl, Xue, as he landed where Jade was sitting. Jade petted his soft white feathers, light and pure as snow. She tugged the letter attached to Xue's talons before giving him a tip.

Opening the letter, a Chinese red envelope fell out onto Jade's lap. She picked up the red envelope and set it on the table before reading her mother's cursive handwriting.

Hello, dear,

Your father and I hope all is well for your sixth year. N.E.W.T. level classes are much harder, so make sure you focus on your studies. Less hanging out with your friend and more studying for your exams.

We wish you a happy birthday, dear, and study well.

We love you.

Jade sighed, noticing that the ink at the word 'friend' looked firmer than the other words. The quill had most likely almost teared through the parchment when her mother had written the letter, as though it had pained her to write that word.

Since her first year, her parents weren't fond of her friendship with Adonis in the slightest, but it wasn't like they could come to Hogwarts themselves and force Adonis to stay away from her. After her first year, they tried not to make it too obvious that they still disapproved, but Jade wasn't stupid. Her mother didn't even bother to write Adonis's name in the letter, as though she dreaded it.

They seemed to think Adonis was a bad influence on her and was holding her back from 'her true potential'; that if she had been sorted into Ravenclaw instead of Slytherin she would never have become friends with him, and that if she hadn't become friends with him she would have obtained the highest marks within all her peers.

Maybe her parents were right. Maybe if she had been sorted into her family House, she would have beaten Cedric Diggory, or maybe even achieved the same marks as Laverna McGonagall from Gryffindor and Preethi Patil from Ravenclaw.

Jade wasn't sure how exactly Laverna and Professor McGonagall were related. She heard from someone after she was sorted that Professor McGonagall didn't have any children, so Laverna must've been some sort of grand-niece or something. Preethi had two twin sisters in fourth year with the... famous Harry Potter.

Since first year, Laverna and Preethi were tied in first when it came to grades. They got perfect marks in everything, and everyone knew it. They didn't arrogantly boast about it, which was good, but most of the professors certainly liked to comment on how well both of them have excelled in their classes.

Though Jade didn't really prefer Gryffindor company, she admitted that Laverna was at least respectful. Most of the time, Jade found some Gryffindors quite obnoxious, especially the Weasley twins. Everyone thought they were hilarious, but Jade figured she just didn't have the sense of humor to laugh at their pranks and jokes. It was that or she just found them annoying for some other reason she couldn't think of at the moment. Jade didn't have much reason to interact with Laverna, but she remembered that in their first year Madam Hooch appointed Adonis and Laverna to gather everyone's brooms and put them in the broomshed after class. Jade had waited for Adonis to come back after flying lessons was over, but he never did.

Jade finally had gone to look for Adonis to find that they had somehow managed to lock themselves in the broomshed without their wands. She had let them out, and they all had agreed to keep the embarrassing incident between themselves, as Laverna had said Fred and George wouldn't let her hear the end of it if they had found out. To this day, Jade still didn't know what had happened in the broomshed between Adonis and Laverna, but Jade clearly remembered both of them blushing slightly when she had found them.