The Slytherin Gem

35

The following day Jade woke up super early, she was going to tell her big secret to Snape. And she hoped he could actually be trusted.

Jade could barely pay attention to class during the day, how was she supposed to start? She only hoped she wouldn't be sent to St. Mungos for madness or Azkaban for doing something illegal... she still didn't know if it was illegal or not. Trespassing minds should be illegal.

After lunch, she went straight to the dungeons, and found Snape. He had a free period but she didn't.

"Aren't you supposed to be in class, Miss Lias?" Snape said in a cold tone.

"I need to talk to you," Jade said, sort of avoiding the question. "It's about something that's been troubling me for a few months now and as my head of house I thought I could trust you."

"What is it, Miss Lias?" Snape said, his voice changed a bit. He almost seemed concerned but he didn't look up at her, he kept grading some essays.

"I want Miles Bletchley out of the team," Jade said and suddenly she felt stupid. That wasn't a good start.

"Is that it?" Snape asked, he sounded bothered. "As captain you have the right to do that without my permission, if that's all, I think you are already late for your class and I suggest you to go."

"Uh, that's actually not everything. I'm telling you about him because I don't want him to come to you and being granted to return to the team," Jade said still not going to the chase. "The thing is that Miles Bletchley wants to lose on purpose so I can stop being the Captain, I know that because I heard him..."

"Miss Lias, just get a new keeper... now, if you excuse me..."

"I know because I heard his thoughts," Jade said in a shaking voice. "After I woke up from the coma I started hearing what people think and it took me two months or more to realize they weren't actually speaking. I don't know if this is bad... if it's illegal or if it will just go away or stay with me forever... I just don't even know what I have."

Snape finally looked up at her. He stopped grading the essay in his hands and sighed loudly. Jade bit her lip and looked down to the ground. It was said now and she couldn't take it back.

"It's not illegal... but it's highly dangerous. Only highly skilled people can do such a thing. Miss Lias, please have a seat."

"Dangerous how?" Jade asked as she sat in front of Snape.

"You can be used as a weapon. If anyone finds out about this, they can use you for their advantage." Jade gulped.

"I think they'd be disappointed... I can't actually get into someone's mind when I want to. It just happens at random. I've tried and when I do that I go days without listening to anything. It's weird."

"Yes, but you could be trained to be able to get into someone's mind at will," Snape said.

"Can I get rid of it?"

"It's very unlikely," Snape answered. "If it had only been a few times for a short amount of time I would guess it would go away, that it was just some kind of aftereffect from the coma and the spells you were hit with, but this has lasted for months and it doesn't seem to be fading."

"On the contrary, it seems like it gets sharper... like I can now tell the difference between thoughts and actually words spoken outloud and I not only hear thoughts... I also see them... it's hard to explain. But if someone is thinking of something I can see it and the images have gotten less blurry with time."

"So... it was you then? The one who got into my mind the other day?"

"It wasn't on purpose," Jade said quickly. "And I couldn't even see well... it was all blurry."