Only a week after school started back, we had our Quidditch match against Ravenclaw.

Alex was nervous about playing, but the three of us got rid of his nerves by insisting that he was going to lose, which then brought him into an argument.

We argued all the way to the pitch, where we went our separate ways – Alex went to the Ravenclaw team, Blaise went to the stadium and Anja and I went to the Slytherin team.

The Ravenclaw team only had two girls – the Seeker, Cho Chang, and Holly, who was a Chaser.

When the game started, a Bludger flew at Alex and Anja hit it away at some other Ravenclaw.

“What was that for?” I demanded. “He’s a Ravenclaw, for Merlin’s sake!”

She shrugged. “And he’s Alex.”

“Really?” I asked sarcastically. “I had no idea.”

Blushing, she replied. “I mean that he’s my boyfriend!”

I rolled my eyes and flew off to defend Draco from a Bludger.

Holly flew over to me with a grin on her face. “Hey, Jade.”

If Holly was grinning, it generally meant she was in Mischief Mode, so I decided to be very cautious. “Hi, Holly…”

Alex flew past me, holding the Quaffle. A Bludger was coming past, so I hit it at Alex. He ducked, dropped the Quaffle and glared at me. “Hey! What was that for?”

I smirked. “For you to drop the Quaffle.”

Unfortunately, Holly dropped a few feet and caught the Quaffle.

She and Alex passed it back and forth, eventually scoring.

The game took a while, but Ravenclaw was ahead of us.

Our only hope was Draco catching the Snitch.

Which he succeeded in doing.

We won, much to the annoyance of Alex and Holly, as well as the rest of the Ravenclaws.

***

Holly and Kaya didn’t seem too worried about their loss in Divination.

Kaya sighed. “Gryffindor’ll win the Quidditch Cup. You know why?”

Holly and I shook our heads. “Why?”

“Because Harry Potter is in Gryffindor.”

I frowned. “That’s an interesting explanation…”

She sighed. “He’s a hero, isn’t he? And the heroes always win.”

That was such a profound statement, yet it didn’t seem true.

“What about my mother? She was a hero – she died to save her son. And she didn’t win, did she? She died,” I repeated.

“And yet You-Know-Who was still defeated,” she argued.

I suddenly realised that I was practically arguing for Voldemort’s side.

I guess that’s what happens when you have a Death Eater for a father, I reflected.

Holly looked at me. “You’re thinking.”

“Always the tone of surprise,” I teased, grinning.

***

In Arithmancy, at the same time, I still sat next to Hermione. Alex and Felix sat at the desk behind us, as usual.

Alex tapped the back of my seat.

I turned around and he pressed a piece of parchment into my hand.

I opened it, frowning.It was unlike Alex to pass notes in class.

We should have won! Did you cheat? – Alex and Felix

I scribbled a response on the back of the parchment.

No! Focus on your work! You two are distracting me and I’ll probably end up missing some vital information! – Jade

I passed it back and heard the quick scratching of a quill on parchment.

Honestly, you’re more obsessed with your work than we Ravenclaws are! – Felix

No, I’m not, I’m just taking more subjects than you are! – Jade

How many? – Felix

All of them. Now can you STOP DISTRACTING ME?! – Jade

Okay… – Felix

I handed the message straight back without writing a response and continued taking notes on what Professor Vector was saying.

“Boys,” I muttered, so softly that only Hermione could hear me.

She grinned at me.

***

We now regularly visited the grounds at the front entrance of Hogwarts, playing with our Patronuses. However, the topic today was Quidditch.

Blaise frowned. “We didn’t win by that much, which gives Gryffindor a bigger chance to win.”

I told the others about what Kaya had said.

“Wait, when was your Divination lesson?” Alex asked, frowning.

“First class today,” I answered succinctly.

He gasped. “But Arithmancy was first today!”

I glanced at Anja and Blaise. They looked just as bewildered as Alex.

Alex grabbed my timetable from my bag.

“Okay. That’s impossible. You can’t do Divination, Muggle Studies and Arithmancy all at the same time! That’s ridiculous!”

Anja came over to look at the timetable. “But you’ve never missed a Divination lesson!”

She looked expectantly at Alex. He shook his head in confusion. “I don’t understand. You’ve never missed an Arithmancy lesson either! This doesn’t make sense.”

I sighed. “Look, it’s all fine, okay? I sorted it all out with Professor McGonagall. Please don’t go on about my timetable! Expecto Patronum!”

As usual, my owl appeared and sat on the ground in front of me.

The others dropped the subject and we sat there, talking quietly about Quidditch.

I finally decided to tell Anja and Alex about seeing the Grim, or whatever that dog was.

“Well,” I began, “I told Blaise about this already on Hallowe’en. I would have told you then too, only you were…um…asleep.”

They looked at each other, faces suddenly bright red. They clearly remembered the night.

When I was finished talking, Anja gasped. “You saw the dog right after that girl saw it in your cup?”

“Holly,” I clarified. “And yeah.”

All of a sudden, the Maine Coon and wolf evaporated.

That meant they were worried.

Blaise and I let our Patronuses fade too.

Right then, I had a sudden realisation.

I stood up.

“Where’re you going?” Blaise asked me.

“I’m going to see Father.”