𝐏𝐎𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐍 ! [ draco malfoy ]

twelve

     IT WAS FAR PAST seven o'clock when the Gryffindor Quidditch team's practice came to a halt. Harry had scheduled it for Tuesday and Jade couldn't have been happier when she told Slughhorn to inform Malfoy that she had to cancel their tutoring session.

     It was Dean's first practice with the team, as he had replaced Katie due to her still being at St. Mungo's. He worked pretty well with his girlfriend and ex-girlfriend, surprisingly. Jade was a bit worried the three of them would have a difficult time working together but they made an amazing trio. Harry, of course, was perfect, and the Beat­ers, Peakes and Coote, were getting bet­ter all the time.

     The on­ly prob­lem was Ron. His inconsistency, exacerbated by nerves and a persistent lack of confidence, emerged like a shadow under the looming prospect of the season's opening game. Jade recognized the old insecurities bubbling to the surface, casting a pall over the otherwise vibrant atmosphere.

     After letting in half a dozen goals, most of them expertly scored by Ginny and Jade, Ron's technique devolved into a chaotic frenzy. His movements became wilder with every attempt to block the Quaffle until, in a moment of sheer frustration, he unleashed a punch directly at the oncoming Jade Rosier.

     "It was an ac­ci­dent, I'm sor­ry, Jade, re­al­ly sor­ry!" Ron shout­ed af­ter her as she zigzagged back to the ground, drip­ping blood everywhere. "I just—"

     Jade landed on the cold, unforgiving ground, instinctively reaching for her stinging lip. Blood oozed from the fresh wound, coating her hand. As she touched the injury, her vision blurred momentarily, and for a haunting second, she felt transported back to the presence of her mother.

     "Pan­icked," Gin­ny said an­gri­ly, land­ing next to Jade and ex­am­in­ing her swollen lip. "You prat, Ron, look at the state of her!"

     "I can fix that," said Har­ry, land­ing be­side the two girls, point­ing his wand at Jade's mouth, and say­ing "Episkey. And Gin­ny, don't call Ron a prat, you're not the Cap­tain of this team —"

     "Well, you seemed too busy to call him a prat and I thought someone should —"

     "In the air, ev­ery­one, let's go..."

     Jade was grateful for their bickering because it honestly kept her from disassociating and allowed her to continue to practice. The heated exchange between Ginny and Ron grounded her in the present and allowed her to focus on the Quidditch practice. She wasn't sure how well she'd do on a broom if she were in the middle of a panic attack...

     "Good work, ev­ery­one, I think we'll flat­ten Slytherin," Harry said brac­ing­ly.

     Jade knew he was trying to boost the team's morale after the state that Ron was in. He wasn't wrong, everybody had been doing exceptionally great except for her redhead friend.

     As she walked up to the castle, Harry and Ron jogged to catch up with her.

     "Jade! I'm so sorry again for hitting you, I really didn't mean to," Ron apologised, genuine concern etched on his face.

     Grinning, Jade replied, "Next time, Ronald, I might have to punch you back."

     Ron chuckled, relieved by her lack of anger.

     By the time they reached the second floor, Ron was look­ing marginal­ly more cheer­ful about his abilities after some much-needed confidence boosting from Jade and Harry.

     Har­ry pushed open the tapestry to take their usu­al short­cut up to Gryffind­or Tow­er and they found them­selves look­ing at Dean and Gin­ny, who were locked in a close em­brace and kiss­ing fierce­ly as though glued to­geth­er.

     Jade thought it was a bit bizarre to witness her ex-boyfriend immersed in a passionate embrace with his new girlfriend. Oddly, though, the sight failed to ruffle her composure. After all, who was she to cast judgment when she had shared a heated kiss with Blaise just a few days prior?

     "Oi!" Ron shouted.

     Dean and Gin­ny broke apart and looked around.

     "What?" Ginny's voice, sharp and defensive, pierced through the awkward stillness.

     "I don't want to find my own sis­ter snog­ging peo­ple in pub­lic!"

     "This was a de­sert­ed cor­ri­dor till you came butting in!" said Gin­ny.

     Dean, caught in the crossfire, wore an expression of embarrassment that painted his face in varying shades of red. His shifty grin directed at Harry went unanswered, and he cast an awkward glance in Jade's direction.

     "Er... c'mon, Gin­ny," said Dean, "let's go back to the com­mon room..."

     "You go!" Ginny's retort was unyielding. "I want a word with my dear broth­er!"

     Dean left, look­ing as though he was not sor­ry to de­part the scene.

     "Right," said Gin­ny, toss­ing her long red hair out of her face and glar­ing at Ron, "let's get this straight once and for all. It is none of your business who I go out with or what I do with them, Ron—"

     "Yeah, it is!" Ron said, just as an­gri­ly. "D'you think I want peo­ple say­ing my sis­ter's a—"

     "A what?" Gin­ny shouted, draw­ing her wand. "A what, ex­act­ly?"

     "He doesn't mean any­thing, Gin­ny—" Har­ry said au­tomati­cal­ly.

     "No, go on, Ron," Jade said. She was much closer to him than Ginny, but she was always on the girl's side when it came to these things. If he dared to call her a name, Jade would make sure he regretted it.

     "Oh yes, he does!" Ginny said, flar­ing up at Har­ry. "Just be­cause he's nev­er snogged any­one in his life, just be­cause the best kiss he's ev­er had is from our Aun­tie Muriel—"

     "Shut your mouth!" Ron bellowed, by­pass­ing red and turn­ing ma­roon.

     "No, I will not!" Gin­ny yelled, be­side her­self. "I've seen you with Phlegm, hop­ing she'll kiss you on the cheek every time you see her, it's pa­thet­ic! If you went out and got a bit of snog­ging done yourself, you wouldn't mind so much that ev­ery­one else does it!"

     Ron had pulled out his wand too. Jade and Harry stepped swift­ly be­tween them.

     "You don't know what you're talking about!" Ron roared, trying to get a clear shot at Gin­ny around Harry, who was now stand­ing in front of her with his arms out­stretched. "Just be­cause I don't do it in pub­lic—"

     Gin­ny screamed with de­ri­sive laugh­ter, try­ing to push Har­ry out of the way.

     "Been kiss­ing Pig­wid­geon, have you? Or have you got a pic­ture of Aun­tie Muriel stashed un­der your pil­low?"

     "You—" A streak of or­ange light flew un­der Har­rys left arm and missed Gin­ny by inch­es. Har­ry pushed Ron up against the wall while Jade stepped over to Ginny's side.

     "Don't be stupid—"

     "Har­ry's snogged Cho Chang!" shout­ed Gin­ny, who sound­ed close to tears now. "Jade's snogged Blaise Zabin and other blokes! And Hermione snogged Vik­tor Krum! It's on­ly you who acts like it's some­thing dis­gust­ing, Ron, and that's be­cause you've got about as much ex­pe­ri­ence as a twelve-year-old!"

     And with that, she stormed away. Har­ry quick­ly let go of Ron, the look on his face was mur­der­ous. The three of them stood there in silence, un­til Mrs. Nor­ris, Rich's cat, appeared around the cor­ner, which broke the ten­sion.

     "C'mon," said Har­ry, as the sound of Filch's shuf­fling feet reached their ears.

❦ ❦ ❦

     That Saturday, break­fast was the usu­al ex­citable af­fair. The Slytherins hissed and booed loud­ly as every mem­ber of the Gryffind­or team en­tered the Great Hall. Although Jade noticed when she entered, they were a bit more quiet. Probably Daphne's doing.

     The Gryffindor table, a vibrant sea of red and gold, erupted in cheers as Jade approached. Har­ry and Ron sat down next to her soon after she began eating her breakfast.

     "Cheer up, Ron!" called Laven­der. "I know you'll be bril­liant!"

     Ron, in his characteristically moody disposition, chose to ignore Lavender's attempt at encouragement, prompting a burst of laughter from Jade.

     "Tea?" Har­ry asked him. "Cof­fee? Pump­kin juice?"

     "Any­thing," said Ron glum­ly, tak­ing a moody bite of toast.

     Not wanting to stick around for more moodiness from Ron, Jade bid her farewells and strolled down towards the pitch.

     "Hey, Gin," Jade greeted the girl as she walked into the changing room.

     Ginny shot a smile at Jade, already in her Quidditch robe. "Sorry about the other night, Ron just infuriates me."

     "No worries, I understand what it's like having a brother. But at least mine's far away from the castle so his nose isn't in my business of who I shag," Jade joked.

     Ginny laughed, "Well, Ron seems to have zero self-awareness when it comes to his own feelings it's not fair he projects his insecurities on me."

     Jade began to change, pulling on all her gear. However, Ginny's question made her freeze. "Are you nervous to play against Zabini?"

     "No," Jade answered simply.

     Throughout the last few days, Jade had deliberately limited her interactions with Blaise. Whenever he neared, she made sure somebody else was there or she would avoid him. She knew he wanted to talk to her about their kiss and her swift exit but Jade wasn't ready to talk about it.

     Jade wasn't sure if Blaise had feelings for her or not, but she was deathly terrified of the possibility that he did. She knew she loved his company and their banter, but she didn't think she had real feelings for the boy.

     Rejecting someone wasn't alien to her, yet the prospect of shattering any potential feelings from Blaise held an unappealing weight.

     Ginny continued, "Are you guys together or?"

     Jade swiftly dismissed the notion, injecting a touch of playfulness into her response with an added wink. "Not together, just having fun."

     Harry and Ron walked into the changing room after Jade finished pulling on her boots.

     "Con­di­tions look ide­al," said Gin­ny, ig­nor­ing Ron. "And guess what? That Slytherin Chas­er Vaisey—he took a Bludger in the head yes­ter­day dur­ing their prac­tice, and he's too sore to play! And even bet­ter than that—Mal­foy's gone off sick too!"

     "What?" said Har­ry, wheel­ing around to stare at the redhead girl. "He's ill? What's wrong with him?"

     The mention of Malfoy sent an unsettling shiver down Jade's spine. The room seemed to lose a bit of its colour as the weight of his absence sank in. Memories of his cryptic words in their Potions session resurfaced, and a sinking feeling settled in her stomach.

     The vibrant anticipation turned into a muted apprehension. Why would they claim he was sick instead of revealing he was off the team? Was he not even present to witness the game?

     "No idea, but it's great for us," said Gin­ny bright­ly. "They're play­ing Harp­er in­stead; he's in my year and he's an id­iot."

     "Fishy, isn't it?" Harry muttered. "Mal­foy not play­ing?"

     "Lucky, I call it," Ron said, look­ing slight­ly more an­imat­ed.

     Jade walked over to the door to wait with the rest of the team, she had no interest in thinking or hearing anything about Malfoy. Out of sight, out of mind.

     They walked out on­to the pitch to tu­mul­tu­ous roars and boos. One end of the sta­di­um was sol­id red and gold, the other being a sea of green and sil­ver. Many Huf­flepuffs and Raven­claws had taken sides too amidst all the yelling and clap­ping, Jade could dis­tinct­ly hear the roar of Lu­na Love­good's fa­mous li­on­topped hat.

     Har­ry stepped up to Madam Hooch, the ref­er­ee, who was stand­ing ready to re­lease the balls from the crate.

     "Cap­tains shake hands," she said, and Har­ry had his hand crushed by the new Slytherin Cap­tain, Urquhart. "Mount your brooms. On the whis­tle... three... two... one..."

     The whis­tle sound­ed, Jade and the oth­ers kicked off hard from the frozen ground and they were away.

     A voice that was jar­ring­ly dif­fer­ent to the usu­al com­men­ta­tor's start­ed up.

     "Well, there they go, and I think we're all sur­prised to see the team that Pot­ter's put together this year. Many thought, giv­en Ronald Weasley's patchy per­for­mance as Keep­er last year, that he might be off the team, but of course, a close per­son­al friend­ship with the Cap­tain does help..."

     These words were greet­ed with jeers and ap­plause from the Slytherin end of the pitch. Jade quickly glanced toward the com­men­ta­tor's po­di­um as she chased Vaisey. A call, skin­ny blond buy with an up­turned nose was stand­ing there, talk­ing in­to the mag­ical mega­phone that had once been Lee Jor­dan's. Jade recognised him as Zacharias Smith, a Huf­flepuff play­er whom she hearti­ly dis­liked.

     "Oh, and here comes Slytherin's first at­tempt on goal. It's Urquhart streak­ing down the pitch and—"

     Jade set her sights on Urquhart and sped over to him.

     "—With a close fumble thanks to Rosier, Weasley saves it! Well, he's bound to get lucky some­times, I sup­pose..."

     With half an hour of the game gone, Gryffind­or was lead­ing six­ty points to ze­ro, Ron hav­ing made some tru­ly spec­tac­ular saves, some by the very tips of his gloves, and Ginny hav­ing scored three of Gryffind­or's six goals. This ef­fec­tive­ly stopped Zacharias won­de­ring loud­ly whether the two Weasleys were on­ly there be­cause Har­ry liked them, and he start­ed on Jade in­stead.

     "Rosier catches the Quaffle from Weasley and is speeding to an attempt on goal. Rumour has it her and Slytherin's Chaser Zabini have been getting a little too friendly."

     Jade wanted nothing more but to hurl the Quaffle at Zacharias, but she tried to calm her temper as she neared Slytherin's goals. She could feel two of the Slytherin Chasers on her, so she sped up, shooting the Quaffle through the hoop before the Slytherin keeper could even stop it.

     "Rosier scores earning another 10 points for Gryffindor! I suppose she's a good flyer, but then there's the Gryffindor Beaters. Of course, Coote isn't re­al­ly the usu­al build for a Beat­er," Zacharias said lofti­ly, "they've gen­er­al­ly got a bit more mus­cle—"

     "Hit a Bludger at him!" Har­ry called to Coote as he zoomed past, but Coote, grin­ning broad­ly, chose to aim the next Bludger at Harp­er in­stead, who was just pass­ing Har­ry in the op­po­site di­rec­tion.

     It seemed as though Gryffind­or could do no wrong. Again and again, they scored, and again and again, at the other end of the pitch, Ron saved goals with ap­par­ent ease.

     Jade's attention shifted to Blaise, who skillfully caught the Quaffle from Urquhart's precise pass. She flew after him, her attempts to make him fumble the Quaffle a ballet of feints and dodges. His swift manoeuvres narrowly avoided her strategic assaults.

     With a mischievous grin, Blaise taunted her, shouting, "Now who's avoiding who!" before launching the Quaffle toward the hoop.

     Ron blocked the ball and began to pretend to conduct the crowd as they sang a rous­ing cho­rus of the old fa­vorite "Weasley Is Our King."

     Jade followed Blaise. She yelled at him, "I am not avoiding you!"

     He slowed his broom, flying beside her as they circled the pitch, "Yes, you are, and you know it. We kiss once when drunk and you disappear."

     She wasn't sure how to respond. Blaise was right and they both knew it.

     "Fine, we'll talk after the game, yeah?"

     A nod from Blaise, and she darted away, streaking toward Urquhart just as Harry's voice pierced the atmosphere.

     She observed him hurtling back to the ground, the golden Snitch triumphantly gripped in his hand. She wheeled around, diving down to meet Harry on the ground.

     As the crowd re­al­ized what had happened, a great shout went up that al­most drowned the sound of the whis­tle that sig­naled the end of the game.

     The Gryffindor team met Harry in midair, engulfing him in a hug. Gin­ny sped right on past them un­til, with an almighty crash, she col­lid­ed with the com­men­ta­tors po­di­um. As the crowd shrieked and laughed, the Gryffind­or team land­ed be­side the wreck­age of wood un­der which Zacharias was fee­bly stir­ring.

     Jade heard Gin­ny say­ing blithe­ly to an irate Pro­fes­sor McG­ona­gall, "For­got to brake, Pro­fes­sor, sor­ry."

     All animosity forgotten, the Gryffindor team departed the pitch arm in arm, their jubilant cheers piercing through the air, punch­ing the air amid wav­ing to their sup­port­ers.

     The at­mo­sphere in the chang­ing room was ju­bi­lant. "Par­ty up in the com­mon room, Sea­mus said!" yelled Dean ex­uber­ant­ly. "C'mon, Gin­ny!"

     Jade, Ron, and Harry were the last three in the changing room.

     "I need to talk to Blaise. See you boys in a bit," Jade declared as she headed purposefully towards the exit.

     "Zabini? Is it true what Ginny said? That you snogged him?" Ron asked incredulously.

     "Yeah, what's it to you." Jade replied, turning around to face her two best guy friends.

     "It's for the Malfoy thing, right?"

     Jade scoffed, "No, it's not for the Malfoy thing. He happens to fancy me and he's very charming."

     Ron rolled his eyes, his disbelief apparent. "I thought you hated that lot."

     She felt the surge of irritation bubbling within her, ready to explode. She was on the verge of unleashing it on Ron when Harry smoothly intervened, stepping between them like a shield.

     "Have you made any progress with Malfoy?" He asked gently.

     Jade shook her head, "Sorry, Harry. I'm doing what I can but he's insufferable. I'm not even acknowledging he exists since another fight of ours last Saturday."

     Harry nodded, "Don't worry, Jade, I understand. We'll see you in the common room."

     She smiled at him, thankful for his kindness, before turning to glare at Ron. She wasn't sure what was wrong with Ron lately but he had turned into a real bitch.

     The air outside the changing room felt refreshing, a contrast to the tension within. As she walked out, Blaise Zabini leaned casually against the wall, waiting for her. The dim light highlighted the contours of his features, and his dark eyes held a spark of amusement.

     "You said we'd talk after the game," He reminded her as they began walking slowly back up the grounds toward the castle.

     As Jade walked beside Blaise, she took a deep breath, preparing herself for the conversation ahead. The post-match euphoria was still buzzing around them, but there were things that needed to be addressed.

     "Yeah, we need to talk," she replied, looking straight ahead.

     Blaise nodded, his expression serious. "I get it. I wasn't expecting you to just leave like that after... you know. But avoiding me all week?"

     Jade sighed, her gaze focused on the castle in the distance. "It's not about you. It's about me. I'm not used to... this," she gestured vaguely between them. "I mean, kissing you was... unexpected."

     Blaise raised an eyebrow. "Unexpected in a bad way?"

     "No," she clarified quickly. "Unexpected in a way that I'm not quite sure what I'm doing. I'm not good at dealing with... emotions."

     He chuckled. "Who is, really?"

     "Fair point," Jade admitted, a small smile playing on her lips. "But seriously, Blaise, I'm not looking for anything serious right now. I enjoy spending time with you, but I can't promise more than that."

     He nodded, seemingly understanding. "I appreciate your honesty. I'm not looking to complicate things either, Jade. We can take it as it comes, no pressure."

     "Exactly," she agreed, relieved that he wasn't making this more complicated than it needed to be.

     They walked in companionable silence for a moment before Blaise spoke again. "So, about the game. You were brilliant out there."

     Jade smirked, a hint of pride in her eyes. "Well, what can I say? I'm a natural."

     Blaise laughed. "Modesty suits you."

     As they approached the castle, the cheers from the common room echoed through the corridors. The Gryffindors were celebrating their victory, and Jade couldn't help but feel a sense of accomplishment.

     "You should go join the celebration," Blaise said, glancing at the distant noise.

     "Yeah, I should," Jade agreed. "But we'll catch up later, okay?"

     Blaise nodded, giving her a small, understanding smile. "Looking forward to it."

     With that, they parted ways, each heading toward their respective common rooms. As Jade entered the Gryffindor common room, the cheers intensified and clap­ping greet­ed her ap­pear­an­ce. She was soon sur­round­ed by a mob of peo­ple con­grat­ulat­ing her and looked around the common room for an escape. She found Harry and rushed to his side, escaping the fifth-year boys who asked her endless questions about the match.

     Har­ry barely noticed her join him, staring at a corner of the room. There, in full view of the whole room, stood Ron wrapped so close­ly around Laven­der Brown it was hard to tell whose hands were whose.

     "It looks like he's eat­ing her face, doesn't it?" Gin­ny said dis­pas­sion­ate­ly next to them. "But I sup­pose he's got to re­fine his tech­nique some­how. Good game, Har­ry." She patted him on the arm before walking away to help herself to more Butterbeer.

     "Is that—" Jade began.

     Harry looked at her and nodded, "Ron."

     "Snogging—" Jade continued.

     He glanced back at the corner of the room, "Lavender."

     She shook her head in disbelief. "Well, that's... something."

      Harry sighed. "Yeah, tell me about it. I didn't see that one coming."

     The common room continued to buzz with celebration, but Jade couldn't shake off the strange sight. Feeling a bit overwhelmed, she slipped out of the common room and decided to get some fresh air.

     She made her way through the castle, wandering the corridors until she found herself on the fifth floor. Seeking solitude, she entered the deserted girls' lavatory.

     As Jade opened the door, she noticed a faint smell of cigarette smoke wafting through the air. Intrigued, she followed the scent, wondering who else decided to seek refuge in the empty bathroom.

     She discovered Draco Malfoy leaning against the windowsill, taking a drag from a cigarette.

     The moonlight streamed in, casting shadows on his handsome face. He looked up as Jade entered, his stormy grey eyes meeting hers.

     Without saying a word, Jade turned to leave, but Draco's voice stopped her.

     "Stay."

     Surprised by his request, she paused. The tension between them was palpable, the echoes of their recent argument still lingering in the air. She was still incredibly angry with him and had successfully ignored any dirty looks he shot at her throughout the week.

     Malfoy's voice was quiet, almost a whisper. "Sorry."

     Jade's eyebrows shot up in surprise. Was Draco Malfoy apologising? That was something she never expected to hear. Still, she crossed her arms, unimpressed and with her guard up.

     "Sorry? That's it? Just sorry?"

     He took a deep breath, exhaling a plume of smoke, "I know I went too far."

     She lit her own cigarette, maintaining eye contact. "Yeah, you did. Sorry isn't going to cut it, Malfoy."

     He clenched his jaw, frustration evident in his eyes. "What more do you want from me?"

     Jade raised an eyebrow. "How about an actual acknowledgement of what you said? I meant it when I said I was done with your bullshit."

     He took another drag of his cigarette, avoiding her gaze. "I don't do heartfelt apologies, Rosier."

     She scoffed, her frustration mounting. "Typical Malfoy. Can't even apologize properly."

     "And you can't even take the bloody apology," He retorted.

     They locked eyes, each searching for something in the other's gaze. What were they doing? Did she really think she was capable of ignoring Draco Malfoy for the rest of her life? One encounter in a desolate bathroom and she was back in the arena of their battles.

     Finally, Jade spoke, her voice cold and decisive. "We can't be civil with each other. It's a lost cause."

     "Agreed."

     Jade flicked the remaining ash from her cigarette and extinguished it against the wall. "If you ever cross the line again, Malfoy, don't expect me to hold back."

     A ghost of a smirk played on Draco's lips. "Wouldn't dream of it, Rosier."

     With that, Jade turned and walked away, leaving the abandoned bathroom. The castle corridors were silent, and the weight of the night settled upon her shoulders.