Jade was thankful that Laverna had comforted her in the bathroom. If she hadn't, Jade would have probably been thinking about her parents the whole day, and she had planned to study in the library all day after breakfast. She needed a clear mind, and Laverna had helped lessen the blow.

She found a seat in the library near aisles of bookshelves. Light from the long skinny window on the left poured into the library. It was a small table that could seat four people. Jade placed her bag on the inside seat and claimed the outside seat.

The First Task is coming up, and I need to be ready for it. Jade thought. She briefly scanned the aisles and took a few books that she remembered researching from her years at Hogwarts so far. I won't find out what the task is until the day of. I need to review everything I know.

She started with a Charms textbook. She muttered incantations to herself, recognizing some of the first spells she ever learned. It took her a good hour just to finish reviewing that one textbook. She closed the book with a thud, bringing her hand to massage her forehead. She decided to look at a Transfiguration textbook next, a textbook of her favorite subject, to try to calm her mind from all the information.

As the minutes went on, she became engrossed again in the Transfiguration material, trying to drown out as much background noise as she could.

There are a number of factors a wizard must take into account when carrying out Transfiguration spells. The intended transfiguration {T} is directly influenced by bodyweight {a}, viciousness {v}, wand power {w}, concentration {c}, and a fifth unknown variable {Z*}, as described by the following mathematical formula:

T = (w x c)/(v x a) x Z*

Jade suddenly whirled her head when she heard loud footsteps to her right suddenly stop in front of her. She furrowed her eyebrows, her face morphing into an irritated glare when she saw who had dared disrupted her when she had finally found a rhythm in her intense studying.

Harry Potter was standing before her, staring at Jade through his round glasses. He had a slight frown on his face, his right hand clutching the straps of his satchel tightly, as though he wasn't sure what to say to her.

Jade sat up in her seat. "Something you need?"

Harry didn't say anything for a moment. He set his jaw, as though preparing something to say, but he then pressed his lips together. It was like he was debating with himself whether to say what he needed to say to her or to just move on. Jade continued to stare at Harry, her brown eyes intense. Finally, he stiffly said, "The first task is dragons."

Jade blinked. Out of all things she had expected the Boy Who Lived to say to her, that hadn't been it. She glanced at Harry's fist, which had tightened its grip on his satchel. She blinked again, trying to see why Harry would tell her this. It didn't make sense, the judges had seemed to make it clear that they would find out what the First Task would be on the day of. How would Harry Potter know?

Jade scoffed. The Boy Who Lived was trying to mislead her. The gall of this boy.

She replied, not caring that her voice sounded cold as ice. "Did someone dare you to say this to me?" Harry didn't seem like the type of person to actively think of a scheme like this on his own. She quickly worked through a list of potential people. The Weasley twins, perhaps? She wouldn't put it past them after her mother had called out their father.

"What?" Harry narrowed his eyes. "No one dared me --"

Jade's eyes flashed dangerously, slamming the textbook shut with a loud thud. "I know what you're trying to do, Potter." She nearly spat at him, cutting him off. It was one thing to try to lie to her, but then to deny it to her face when caught in the lie... Jade had to resist the urge to throw the textbook at Harry's face. "You want to mislead me and waste all my time. Is that it?" She added, not backing down.

Harry took a step forward, his teeth gritted in annoyance or anger, Jade couldn't care to decipher the difference. Jade stood up as well, standing her ground. She was in no mood for Harry's games.

Neither of them said anything for a moment, until Harry exhaled a deep breath and said, "I don't actively go out of my way to lie to people, Lin."

"Alright," Jade replied, still not convinced. "Did you find these dragons yourself? Someone showing you is more likely. Who showed you these nonexistent dragons, then? These dragons that we aren't supposed to know about until the day of, I will add." She challenged, exaggerating the word 'dragons' whenever it came up.

Harry opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it. Jade narrowed her eyes, but Harry still didn't respond. She scoffed, taking his silence as he didn't have a good enough cover story to back up his claim.

She sat back down and finally said in a seething tone, "Go find something else better to do with your life than waste my time."

Harry took a step back from from her coldness before giving a scoff of incredulity. Jade didn't care that she was being extremely rude. She was pissed at the moment, and the Boy Who Lived had the irritating ability to set her off at the worst times.

Jade snapped her gaze to Harry's right, his friend, Hermione Granger, coming into view. She was carrying a small book in her hands, but judging from her face Jade could tell she had overheard the last parts of their conversation.

Hermione's eyes were angry, perhaps just as angry as hers. She opened her mouth to say something to defend Harry, but Jade gave her a glare as well. Harry just muttered quietly. "Don't, Hermione. It's not worth it."

Finally, something we can both agree on. Jade thought, her eyes still on Hermione. She waited for Hermione to say something in case she decided not to listen to Harry.

Suddenly, they heard brand new footsteps from down the aisle. Jade turned her head to the right to see Viktor Krum, slouching his way down the aisle. Harry and Hermione followed her gaze.

Hermione relaxed slightly, her attention no longer on Jade. She gave a small huff and turned to Harry. "Oh no, he's back again, why can't he read on his stupid ship? Come on, Harry, we'll go back to the common room... his fan club'll be here in a moment, twittering away..."

Harry sighed, shooting Jade one last unbelieving glance before following Hermione out of the library. Jade rolled her eyes, finally relieved from the Boy Who Lived. She was about to shift her body so that her knees would be under the desk, but then she paused when Viktor slouched past her.

He glanced at her in greeting, casting a surly look towards Jade like he did with everyone. Jade returned the favor, but her eyes then landed on the books in Viktor's hands as he passed by her.

All of them were books about dragons.

Viktor continued his way down the aisle, settling on the table in the corner of the library. Jade narrowed her eyes. Why would Viktor be reading on dragons? She normally wouldn't care, but Harry had tried to mislead her by saying dragons just a few minutes ago.

Was there a small chance that she had been wrong, then, and Harry had been telling the truth? It still didn't explain how he and potentially Viktor had known about them before the First Task.

Jade gave a small grunt that what Harry had said was indeed redirecting her from reviewing the rest of the Transfiguration book. Whether he was telling the truth or not, we'll find out in a few days. She stood up and scanned the bookshelves for books about dragons.

--

Jade returned to the library after classes the next day. If she didn't study for multiple days, the information she absorbed would sometimes just slip out of her mind like putty. As she searched for a place to sit, she saw a familiar face at one table.

Preethi was writing something on parchment, most likely for Professor Binns's History of Magic assignment. Preethi seemed to notice Jade, though, because she looked up and smiled.

"Good afternoon." Preethi greeted, her voice light like dandelions flying through the wind.

Jade slowed her pace and stopped at where the seat across from Preethi was. "Good afternoon."

Preethi's smile turned more sympathetic. "Listen, I heard about your Howler from my Housemates. Laverna also told me today that you looked upset when she saw you. I hope everything is alright."

Jade's eye twitched, but she gave a nod. "I'm fine now. Thanks for asking." She then tilted her head skeptically. "When did you talk to Laverna?"

"Today, in Charms class." Preethi responded, though it wasn't defensive. She then set her quill down. "That reminds me. We also thought it would be a good idea to start studying together for our N.E.W.T.s next year. Do you want to join us? We can form a study group."

That seemed even more skeptical. She blinked before saying. "Are you kidding? You and Laverna don't need to study that much for N.E.W.T.s."

Preethi brought her hand to her mouth to resist laughing from Jade's blunt statement. "I'm flattered, Jade. We all just planned on reviewing. It doesn't hurt to start this year."

Jade pressed her lips together in thought. She wasn't usually the type to study in groups, but she found that a part of her wanted to give it a try.

Preethi seemed to notice her hesitation, because she kindly added. "If you don't want to or don't have time, we understand, as you're probably busy with the tournament."

Jade met Preethi's warm gaze. She thought about it for a few more moments, and then nodded. "I'll join." Preethi's eyes lit up. "Were you or Laverna planning on asking anyone else?" She asked to clarify. "I know that I wouldn't study well with certain people." Besides the Weasley twins, Jade couldn't picture having a meaningful study session with Adonis and his friends.

Preethi laughed. "Same with me." Her brown eyes glanced at the ceiling in thought as she tapped a finger on her desk. She then faced Jade again and said, "No more than four people would be best. It's easier to find a square or circular table that fits all of us."

When Jade heard the number four, she immediately provided a suggestion after Preethi was finished talking. "I want to invite Cait."

Preethi flashed a wise smile, clasping her hands together. "That sounds great. We can all ask her in Potions next time." A dreamy look then flashed over her face as she glanced at the ceiling again. It looked like Preethi was in love. "It's a unified study group."

"Unified?" Jade asked, not quite getting it.

Preethi met her gaze. "We're all from different Houses." She clarified. "It'll be interesting. I'm very excited."

Jade blinked, finally seeing what Preethi was talking about. "Oh," Jade nodded in thought. She would have realized it even though Preethi hadn't mentioned it, but hearing it said out loud made Jade really analyze it. "Yes," she agreed after giving it some thought. "It'll be interesting."

--

Jade returned to the Slytherin dormitories late that day. Studying had taken her longer than she had expected, and she was exhausted.

Adonis was sitting in the common room. "Hey, champ. Where have you been? I didn't see you at dinner."

Jade moaned back in reply. "I was studying in the library, for the First Task."

Adonis bulged his eyes. "Weren't you studying yesterday?"

"Yup."

"Bloody Hell, Jade. You need to take a breather. At the rate you're going, you're going to kill yourself before the task even starts." Adonis exclaimed in concern, leaning back in the armchair.

Jade slowly made her way over to the chair next to Adonis. "I told myself I would win. To own up to my words, I need to be ready."

Adonis gave an exasperated sigh. "You don't need to prove anything to anyone. The goblet chose you, remember? You beat Cassius, Diggory, and Johnson."

Jade rubbed her eyes tiredly. "I don't intend to prove anything to anyone, but I need to prove to myself that I can handle this. I'll feel better after the First Task is over, but right now I don't know what to expect." Dragons... not dragons... I'm too tired right now. She wanted to go up to her dormitories, but she felt like there was something she still needed to say. Then she remembered. "I ran into Laverna, by the way."

Adonis's hand seemed to twitch in startlement, not expecting Laverna's name to come up. "Laverna?"

"She says hi to you," Jade bluntly said.

Jade tilted her gaze from the ground to see Adonis's reaction. He was blinking rapidly in surprise, trying to process what Jade had said. He bit his lip in thought. Jade couldn't tell in the dimness if Adonis was currently flushed, like Laverna had looked when Jade had mentioned the broomshed incident.

Adonis blinked a few times again before leaning back in the chair, his eyes directed towards the ceiling now. "I haven't had the chance to talk to Laverna much over the years." He murmured.

Jade couldn't help but say with a tired tone. "You should go up and talk to her just to see how the Weasley twins would react." She had a sense that one of the twins probably had a crush on Laverna. After Adonis and Laverna had walked off with everyone's brooms, Jade had seen one of twins staring after them for a few moments before walking off in the opposite direction with his brother. That had been in their first year, though. Whether that was still true or not, Jade didn't know.

Adonis burst out laughing, holding his hand to his stomach. He finally hoisted himself up and waved at Jade.

"See you tomorrow, champ." He then said to himself as he walked off. "Oh, that was a good one."

Jade scoffed as Adonis went up to his bed. She stood up and headed in the opposite direction for the girls' side.

She slumped into her bed, sighing as her head hit the pillow.