The Slytherin Gem

8

Jade was miserable as she got on the Hogwarts express and sat in the same compartment as Cassius and some other Slytherins. They were going to spend New Year with Cassius' parents and then spend two days with her own parents.

She heard from Pansy, who was talking to the twins earlier that day during breakfast, the reason why Draco had taken so long when he left to the bathroom during the Yule Ball.

Apparently, Draco found Cassius kissing one of the French girls that he was flirting with. He broke them apart, and told Cassius how of a fool he was, having someone like Jade. The two of them almost got into a fist fight but another Slytherin stopped them.

'We are free to be with someone else for now...' Jade told herself several times but she was still really hurt.

The few days spent with the Perseus family were a nightmare. Jade was tired of pretending and smiling while she was so hurt at the moment. Having her brother there didn't help either as he forced her to spend time with Cass and him and she only wanted to be on her own.

Finley Lias was a very tall man with red hair and deep blue eyes, he had one of the best jobs out there, that usually required him to travel abroad and was very known by lots of people, in Great Britain and outside. None of his kids had inherited his hair colour or eye colour but Lexion got his attitide from him. And both got their Quidditch talent from him.

Raven Lias, was one of the prettiest girls in school when she was young. Her dark hair was her trade mark, being almost black. Jade also had dark hair but hers was slightly lighter than her mother's. Lexion got her beautiful green eyes while Jade got hazel eyes, some thought that the blue circle that sometimes could be seen in one of her eyes was the same shade as Finley's eyes. Raven had a really good job at the Ministry and was well connected to important people in the Wizarding World.

When they saw their parents after New year, everything was just as usual. Their father asking about their grades, school and about the Triwizard Tournament, while their mother just stayed there listening, she didn't have much more to add and she was usually busy writing letters or checking work stuff. Finley didn't really care about his children but they had to represent well their family name so he was checking on that.

Jade had never seen any kind of affection among her parents, not even a kiss on the cheek or arms around the shoulders, even Cassius' parents were more friendly with each other. They usually joked and laughed, they seemed like friends. To Jade, this seemed like a business meeting.

Finley could be extremely cold and it was hard to impress him but he was even colder towards Jade. Not only, she was an unexpected pregnancy, or that's what Lexion told her once, but she was also a girl and Finley wanted a second son, or that's what she had once been told, he got a little bit more tolerant when she got into the Quidditch team without any help from him or Lex and showed she could be as good as her brother, even when she was younger than him. But being part of the team only represented more responsabilities to Jade and more pressure. She had to be the above a certain standard and at times Finley showed up to watch matches and she had to do good but not better than Lexion.

After a couple of awkward days at their "home" the Lias siblings and Cassius were once again on the Hogwarts Express, except that this time she shared the compartment with Draco. She somehow managed to escape the two older boys.

"How was it?" Draco asked her.

"Splendid," Jade said sarcastically. "My father was so eager and happy to see me and he was delighted to hear how my year has been so far."

"Sounds like my father too," Draco said, knowing it was the complete opposite for both.

"I heard what you did for me by the way..." Jade said. "I appreciate it."