The Slytherin Gem

75

Once back in Wiltshire, at her house. Jade went straight to her room instead of joining her parents for breakfast. When she opened the door, she glanced at every corner of her room and she knew that it looked exactly how she left it. Some of her possessions were gone, things that she had taken with herself as they were important to her, but no one would notice those subtle changes. Her parents never went inside her room so they had no idea what she had or didn't have. Maybe the house-elves, who were the ones in charge of the cleaning of her room did notice but they wouldn't tell anyone as it wasn't really any of their business.

Jade put her backpack on her perfectly made bed. Inside of it, there was the object Dumbledore had given her, a book about being an Animagus, and all the ingredients she needed for that. She also had some of the special, meaningful things that she had taken with her since the last time she had been there. Those things had been inside that bag all year plus the gifts she got last night. She took those out and put them on the bed.

Being outside of Hogwarts made Jade think more about Harry's mission and wondering where he could be at the moment. Wondering how many Horcruxes he had found or if he had found any and if he had found a way to destroy them.

She also worried if he and Ron and even Granger were okay. She assumed that if she hadn't heard their names they were doing fine, or that's what she wanted to believe as anything could be happening out there.

In Hogwarts she worried about keeping her friends safe and teaching them things that could be useful, maintaining a friendship/relationship with Draco, there still wasn't anything official as none of them had actually talked about the topic yet, and trying to find a way to escape together. She also was pretending she still cared about Quidditch and classes so no one could suspect she wasn't there to study.

She kept herself busy at Hogwarts, she had so many things to do that she barely had time to think and wonder about Harry and Ron, but now that she had a bit of time for herself, she couldn't stop thinking about them.

That reminded her of other worries. She sat down at her desk and got out a piece of parchment. Jade wrote a letter to Draco, she knew that her time was approaching and if she needed to escape alone, she wanted to explain some things to Draco and tell him she would go back for him.

Jade's birthday was a bit more than two weeks away and being back home and having a brief talk to her mother about the wedding only reminded her that she had to escape and she had to do it soon. The letter was about three parchments long and she even wanted to say more but she decided it wouldn't be a good idea to say everything in case someone could get the letter before or even after Draco did. She called Ilvie into her room and she appeared a moment later.

"Ilvie, take this, hide it outside of this house in a safe place. If I'm forced to leave without Draco Malfoy, you must give him this letter. Only to him and make sure no one sees you," Jade told her, giving her the letter. "Keep this safe."

"Yes, Mistress Jade," Ilvie said and disappeared with the letter.

Despite having a very nice Christmas, the following days weren't as enjoyable. Jade actually laughed at herself for thinking things would still be good, but she was just being naive. Her mother talked every day about her future wedding and showed her pictures of dresses and decoration.

She claimed that she wanted everything perfect as her little perfect daughter was getting married and there couldn't be a single thing wrong. She would be the bride and as a Lias, things had to be impeccable, fancy and big... She wanted the wedding of her daughter to be remembered by everyone.