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

Chapter Twenty Two

The May flowers had bloomed. Snape seemed to get more cranky again as May went on, maybe from seasonal allergies. Well, Snape was cranky no matter what the weather was, but he hated snow and flowers, that was for sure.

"Miss Lin." Snape grumbled when class ended. "You are to head down to the Quidditch pitch at nine o'clock."

Jade furrowed her eyebrows as she packed up her stuff. She gestured Cait to go on ahead without her. "Why?"

"Information about the Third task." He snapped back.

She nodded, but rolled her eyes at Snape's tone before she left, muttering a half-hearted thanks.

That night, Jade climbed the steps from the Slytherin Dormitories dungeon staircase and started down the halls. Since Quidditch was cancelled this year, she hadn't been to the Quidditch pitch since the last time Adonis had a Quidditch game.

"Lin." She heard a familiar voice from behind her.

Jade turned as Harry caught up with her. "Potter." She offered back.

"A bit late to get information for the last task. Hermione had to practically kick me out of the dormitories." Harry ran his hand through his messy dark hair.

"Mhm hmm. It would have been more convenient if they had just done it right after classes ended." Jade grumbled in agreement. Who would have thought... Potter and I agreeing on something.

She glanced at Harry. Jade knew she was one of the shortest people in her year, so she wasn't surprised that Harry was a few inches taller than her even though he was a few years younger.

They somehow slowed their pace, as though neither of them were in any rush to get to the Quidditch pitch. Jade found that she didn't mind. Harry was staring at the ground, thinking.

"What's on your mind, Potter?" She decided to ask.

Throughout this year, Jade had grown more respect for the Boy Who Lived. They had some rough patches, but she got to interact with him more and more this year because of the tournament. She remembered how disgusted she'd initially been when she'd overheard Harry reject the idea of a Slytherin champion. He hadn't apologized for that, but she could tell that Harry had also became more civil as time passed, especially after Preethi's birthday.

She heard rumors about Harry's performance with the dragons, but Jade got to witness first hand how honorable he'd been during the Second task. He could have just taken Ron and left the other hostages behind. It was a tournament, getting Ron to safety and winning should have been his priority. But Harry had stayed. Some people might call him foolish, but actions spoke louder than words.

I guess she wanted to say that they both ended up surprising each other even though they weren't close. Their relationship was like a mutual understanding of one another, was what she wanted to call it.

Harry sighed, finally answering her. "I still don't know who put my name in the Goblet of Fire, but this tournament has given me a lot of trouble. Besides the Yule Ball fiasco, Ron and I actually fought over it for a long time right after my name was called. He actually thought I would go behind his back and enter without telling him about it."

Jade raised her eyebrows. Wow... they fought?

He gave another sigh. "We're fine now, but I still think about it sometimes. I never would have thought he would be angry that I got caught up in a tournament that I didn't even enter myself." He then added. "I almost lost a friend over something so stupid. I just don't want that to happen in the future."

Jade shook her head. "I've seen how close you two are. Friends fight. It's going to happen. If your friendship is strong, an argument like that shouldn't break it." She shrugged. "At least he knows now you didn't put your name in. That was a crazy night."