"Jade, I'd like you to meet West. West, this is my best friend Jade."

Alana was standing in front of Jade in the common room, along with an incredibly short girl in Lammasador robes. The girl, who was apparently named West, had very short, carrot-colored hair, grey eyes, and slightly pointed ears.

"Hi," Jade said, conscious of her messy hair and dirt-stained robes. She'd had a tough Herbology class, digging in the dirt to plant cristalweed and mercurium. Cristalweed was a beautiful flower, with shimmering transparent petals and a stem that curled into three perfect hoops. But mercurim had temperamental roots which would fling dirt every five seconds if not properly buried. Needless to say, she had not buried the roots properly.

"Hello," West said, seating herself in one of the plushy green armchairs.

Alana flopped down on West's other side. "So, Jade, I heard something weird happened in your Divination lesson."

"Oh, yes! I had almost forgotten. Our professor, her eyes glowed green and she gave a prophecy. Something about an intruder. Oh, yes. 'The intruder is coming. This time, they will not fail. Long live the mistress, long live her apprentice.'"

When Jade began to talk, she would grow rapidly more animated as she went, making elaborate hand gestures and sometimes speaking in funny voices or throwing her head back in laughter. This time was no exception. When she repeated the prophecy, she covered her head with her hood and intoned the words in a harsh, dry voice. When she finished, she slumped out of her chair, waited on the carpet for a moment, and then sat up, to tremendous applause from everyone in the common room.

"You should totally try out for Magical Melody Chorus, you'd be the best one in the thing!" Alana enthused, laughing as she said so. West slapped Jade a high five, and Jade surprised herself by feeling proud. She took a bit of a bow, and everyone laughed. 

                                                                             *          *           *

Soon after, the three girls were in a huge wing chair in the school library, propping up a monstrous reference book called A History of Eaglesclaw. It was so big that Jade had to hold it in the middle and Alana and West had to sit on the sides of her and hold the corners. Jade was flipping feverishly through the index, searching for the letter 'I'.

"Why are we doing this, again?" grumbled Alana, shifting her corner of the book in her lap.

"'Eggs, see also omelet; musical, and Rotten.' Wrong place...We are doing this, Alana, because I need to find out what's going on around the castle."

"And why does that have to do with this book?" West asked, sucking on a paper cut.

"Professor Clearwater's prophecy stated that the intruder would not fail...this time. That means that the intruder, whoever they are has been here before. And if anything can tell me all about them, it's this book." Dust floated up into the air as Jade turned the page, and all three girls sneezed in unison.

"Why does it fall to us to figure it out?" Alana asked, sneezing again and covering it with her robe sleeve.

"Because we have an inkling of what's going on," Jade retorted, turning another page. "Ah! Here we are. Intruders, see page 401."

The girls all gamely turned to page four hundred and one, and Jade leaned forward and began to read the story aloud. She had a calm, loud narrative voice, and as she read aloud Alana and West leaned forward.

"'In 1901 at Eaglesclaw School, proceedings on the fifth day of the school year were interrupted when a house elf reported seeing something strange outside. Not ten minutes later, the school was cloaked in darkness. When the headmaster managed to restore the light, nothing was missing- except for the rabbit from Care of Magical Creatures class and a few ingredients from the Potions class pantry.

"'A few days later, the same thing happened. The lights went out, and when they were turned on again just a few ingredients were missing.  The rabbit was returned, and seated in the center of the Great Hall. There was a message in its paws- 'Leave a student under the Meeting Tree- or else'. The demands were not met, and the rabbit disappeared.'" Jade closed the book.

"That sounds strange," Alana said, stretching her legs out in front of her. "Do we have a rabbit at Care of Magical Creatures?"

"We do, I think," West said slowly, and a grin slowly spread across her face.

"Are you guys thinking what I am thinking?" Jade asked, also grinning.

"Let's go find that rabbit!" Alana whooped, and the three girls tore out of the library, leaving the book behind on the floor.