The Slytherin Gem

50

The next day Jade got two letters, one from Ron and the other from Fayette. She woke up to the two owls waiting for her at the window. She fed them after she took the letters and then they flew away.

Dear Jade,

Thanks for the money, I'm only taking it because I need it. I will pay you back as soon as I can. I'm taking Gérard to the doctor this morning and buying his medicine. Cassius still hasn't replied to any of my letters.

Thanks, Fayette.

Then she opened Ron's.

J,

I thought something had happened to you, but I'm glad you're ok. I will let H know you owled me. I can't really answer your questions, I don't know how safe it is but I'll tell you when we see each other again. Please take care and keep in touch, R.W.

Jade didn't bother to reply to any of the letters, not even to her cousin in Greece, who had written to her the day before. He was just asking how the Quidditch went and asking about Lexion. They were thinking of visiting but Jade doubted they would want to be involved with the drama.

She carefully folded the letters again and put them in a drawer, and she locked it afterwards. A simple alohomora wouldn't open it, Jade made sure of it.

Before they went home, Ron, Harry and Jade had discussed how to keep in touch. They couldn't explicitly say who they were as they didn't want to get Jade in trouble.

Harry came up with the brilliant idea of using their second names and their mothers' maiden last name, so for Harry, it would be James Evans. And Ron was okay with it but Jade said it wouldn't be hard to know who they were, so she then thought that using initials would be good enough for the time being.

Then Jade thought of naming each other after their patronuses, they didn't talk enough about it so they didn't use them but it was a good idea. No one would know Doggie, or 'Jack R' from Jack Russel, which was Ron's patronus, would mean Ron Weasley. Maybe she could use those names in her next letter, they would eventually understand as they had already discussed it.

Being home wasn't as bad as Jade thought but it wasn't nice either. She could hear several people talking to her mother about Lexion. Olisca pretty much lived there and she also talked to those people, who were most of the time either Death Eaters or from the Ministry or just noisy people. Her father was barely home, she heard him coming one night past midnight but hadn't seen him yet.

One night Jade lied down on her bed but couldn't sleep, she kept thinking of all the choices she had to make and all of the possibilities and consequences those choices could bring.

Staying would mean being forced to join Voldemort one day, get married at seventeen. Probably being punished for protecting that prophecy if someone recognized her and as Draco once told her, never making her parents proud no matter what she did.

Running away with Draco would mean not being part of the Lias family anymore. Becoming their enemy as soon as she escaped. Probably, they couldn't go back to school, ever. Her Quidditch dream would be over, most likely. Being captain was going to be over as well. But it meant freedom from everything. Her parents, her future husband, Voldemort in a way and his Death Eaters.

Her parents wouldn't just be disappointed of her but they would even loath her and reject her, which was to be expected, so it wouldn't hurt as much. Or so Jade tried to convince herself.

Maybe with a few years they wouldn't be outcasts of the Pure-Blood community. After all, they both were Pure-bloods, right? Maybe just maybe they could disappear for a few years and then Wizards and Witches like them would be more accepting.