When Jade saw Adonis at the Slytherin table on early Thursday evening, she plopped down into a seat across from him.

"Hey, Jade." Adonis greeted, swallowing some of the food that was in his mouth. "Haven't seen you since Moody's class. What'd you think?"

Jade gave a shrug. "Same old Moody." In all honesty, Moody was an interesting professor, but something about him just gave Jade an abnormally strange feeling. Professor Lupin from last year had been better, in her opinion. "How was your uh... night yesterday?" She asked.

Adonis gave a small, pursed smile, averting his gaze as Jade saw his cheeks flush a light shade of pink. "Oh, uh... it was nice. We just... sat and talked a little in the kitchens."

Jade couldn't help but snort. "That's it?"

"What were you expecting, a kiss?" He snapped his eyes back to meet hers.

Jade tried her hardest not to double over with laughter, but failed. "So you admit you wanted to kiss her?"

Adonis blinked a few times as Jade held her stomach from laughing so much. "Lin, I swear -"

"Right right yeah okay. Owl me when you're planning the wedding." Jade waved her hand dismissively, reaching over at Adonis's plate and sticking a fry in her mouth.

Adonis rolled his eyes, but eventually started laughing at their ridiculous conversation. "What are you doing the rest of the evening?"

Jade glanced up at the ceiling in thought. "Just going to do some studying with Cait, Preethi, and Laverna." She saw Adonis's eyebrows raise slightly at the mention of Laverna's name.

"You're studying with Laverna?" He then brought a hand to his chin in thought. "Huh, Gibbons and Patil too."

"Yup. Kind of an unexpected group of friends, I know, but going to give this study group thing a try." Jade nodded. She crossed her arms and gave a slight smirk. "Just us four only."

Adonis put a hand over his heart and made an exaggerated hurt expression. "I'm offended, Lin."

"Please, as if you actually want to study with us." Jade sarcastically replied.

"It's cool. I'll just chill with Adrian and Cassius, just us three only." Adonis shot back with a grin on his face.

Jade stuck her tongue out and stood up from her seat, grabbing her satchel. It was heavier than normal as she had decided to carry around the golden egg. She had caught one of her meddlesome roommates snooping around the other night, trying to 'look for her lost earring', so Jade had decided to carry the egg around until her roommate chilled out.

"I'll see you later." Jade waved and headed out towards the library. Adonis merely raised his hand as he plopped another fry into his mouth.

--

"Thanks for waiting for me." Jade set her bag down and massaged her shoulder. "When did you all get here?"

Cait gave her a bright smile and waved as Preethi responded. "About five minutes ago." She then glanced at Jade's shoulder. Preethi knit her eyebrows slightly. "What were you carrying? Your shoulder looks hurt again."

Jade gave a small sigh as she took a seat on the open end of the square table, in between Laverna and Cait. "Don't worry, I made sure not to use the shoulder I injured during the first task." She replied to reassure Cait's worried expression. She reached into her satchel. "I was carrying this thing temporarily until my roommate finds her earring."

Laverna straightened in her seat, mouth dropping open. "Whoa! Fred and George told me that Harry came back with a golden egg, but I hadn't seen it for myself yet. I heard Harry say that it holds the clue for the second task."

Jade nodded. "Yeah. I haven't had the chance to open it yet. Snape recently assigned our class a lot of work."

Cait clapped her hands together in thought. "Lucky we finished our work in class today, let's open the egg now, then!"

Jade shrugged. "Alright." She pried the lid of the egg open and watched the golden sides unfurl. She was expecting to see some piece of paper inside, but it was hollow and empty instead.

Then, the most horrible screeching noise erupted through the library. Cait, Preethi, and Laverna nearly fell out of their seats from the loud noise. Jade instinctively covered her ears, but then immediately removed her hands to force the egg shut.

Another group, who was sitting on the other end of the library, called out a nasty remark that Jade didn't completely hear, as her ears were still bleeding from the sound.

She barely heard Cait cry back. "We're sorry!"

Jade stuffed the egg back into her satchel. "Well, that was fun." She then pulled out the first textbook she felt with her hands. "So, History of Magic, anyone?"

--

They flew through their shared subjects one by one. Preethi and Laverna seemed to prefer Charms, while Cait seemed very enthusiastic about Muggle Studies and Defense Against the Dark Arts.

When they finally reached Transfiguration, Jade's favorite, Laverna suddenly asked. "Oh! That reminds me, did you use a Transfiguration spell, Jade?"

"Huh?"

"During the first task. I'm still trying to figure out what you did."

"Oh. Yeah, I used a Transfiguration spell." Jade confirmed.

Preethi nodded to herself. "I thought so too, but I wasn't sure until now. I knew that was way too vivid to be a simple illusion spell."

Cait's eyes lit up in wonder. "Wow... so you conjured a dragon that big?" She then looked confused for a moment. "But... how...?"

Jade brought a hand up to scratch the back of her head. "So Dumbledore and apparently Professor McGonagall were wondering the same thing, so they had my blood examined. Turns out I have some traces of Phoenix dragon blood in my system."

Laverna dropped her mouth open slightly, reaching over to tap on Jade's textbook. Jade shifted her attention to Laverna. "I found something about Phoenix dragon blood a long time ago while I was doing some light reading." Jade resisted the urge to snort when she heard 'light reading'. "People with Phoenix dragon blood can have some sick Transfiguration powers."

"That's very incredible." Preethi added with awe.

"Thanks." Jade merely replied. When she looked at Cait again, Cait had a speechless look on her face, as though she was still processing this new fact about Jade in her brain. It was an expression of admiration, and it almost reminded Jade of how Adonis reacted when she had told him the other day. He hadn't said anything for a good ten seconds, and then he was talking so excitedly, almost how he was fangirling about Krum. Jade had to stop him from telling the entire Slytherin dorm about her newfound... blood properties. "Only Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, Adonis, and now you guys know."

Cait finally snapped out of her daze. Her lips formed into another smile as she said, "Don't worry! We won't tell anyone unless you want us to."

Jade felt her heart flutter slightly. It was like Cait knew exactly what she wanted sometimes. "Thanks, Cait. I appreciate that."

--

They agreed to meet up again Sunday afternoon, but as of now Jade had to do her Prefect rounds. She hurried back to drop her textbooks off in her room. She was about to take the golden egg out too, but then stopped herself.

Hmm, doesn't hurt to take it with me. It's not as heavy to carry without all my school books. She sighed, putting a change of clothes in her satchel before hurrying back outside.

Adrian, her Prefects partner, had decided to wait for her outside the entrance to the Slytherin Dormitories.

"You didn't have to wait for me, Pucey." Jade knit her eyebrows slightly.

Adrian turned when he heard Jade's voice. Unlike Adonis, who sometimes slouched, Adrian stood up straight. His hair was also dark, but it wasn't as thick as Adonis's. He used to be on the Slytherin Quidditch team as a Chaser, but he stopped playing a few years ago after Marcus Flint switched him for Cassius. After that, Adrian and Jade usually went to watch Quidditch matches together to cheer on Adonis and Cassius. She liked Adrian and Cassius as friends too, but she only really hung out with them outside of academics because they were good friends with Adonis.

"No problem, Lin." His gaze then shifted to Jade's bag. "What's with the satchel?"

Jade patted her bag, making sure the golden egg was still in there. "I plan to take a bath after our rounds are done."

Adrian nodded as they began to slowly walk through the hallways. "I see. So, how was your study session earlier?"

"It was good. Who told you about that?" Jade suspected she knew the answer, but she still wanted to ask.

"Adonis." Adrian responded. He then tilted his head towards Jade. "I'm a little curious. How did you become so close with people outside our House?"

Jade gave a shrug. It was a little hard to explain. If someone had told Jade last year that she would become friends with Cait, Preethi, and Laverna, she would have told them to keep dreaming. It wasn't because she had disliked any of them, but it was because she had thought none of them would have wanted to take the initiative to talk to her, not that she cared if they had or not. She didn't see herself as that type of person to intentionally start conversations to make friends either. Even with Adonis, he had talked to her first after their Sorting. But now, however it happened, Jade wanted to treasure her friendship, or whatever she had, with her new friends.

"I've had small interactions with all of them over the years, but we all just somehow got closer this year. It just worked out that way, I guess. They all just... supported me in their own way when I was lost or down." Jade explained. Yes, Cait made me feel special when she encouraged me to enter the tournament, Preethi helped me realize why I felt that damn Goblet was my calling, and Laverna comforted me after I got the Howler.

Adrian gave a small grin and nod. "I think that's cool, personally. It's not every day I get to see my Housemates hang out with people from different Houses." He then added as an afterthought. "I've always thought Patil was cool, but I've never talked to her before since she's in Ravenclaw, and you don't usually see any of the other Houses coming to the Slytherin table to chit chat."

Jade held back a laugh, thinking back to the time when Cait had came to the Slytherin table to give her her birthday present. She then nonchalantly asked. "You like Preethi?"

Adrian did laugh, though. "'Like' isn't the word I would use. I barely know her, but she doesn't seem like the average Ravenclaw girl, you know? And I'm not saying that because she's a genius. There just seems to be more to her than what meets the eye, I would say."

"Oh trust me, Preethi is more than average." Jade gave a lighthearted scoff. "I know I've been hanging out with my new friends recently, but I haven't forgotten about Adonis." She gave Adrian a small smile. "He's my first friend. We share a lot of good memories together, and I met you and Cassius through him." She gave another shrug as she pursed her lips in thought. "I guess I've never had female friends before, and becoming friends with them has made me a little happier than I thought."

"You? Happy?" Adrian snorted. "I don't think I've ever seen you smile in front of people outside your friend group. I have to say, 'Joyless Jade' suits you but it doesn't at the same time."

Jade rolled her eyes in a sarcastic manner. 'Joyless Jade' was a nickname Fred and George had came up for her a long time ago, and it would pop up here and there, especially amongst the Gryffindors.

They eventually reached a fork, so Jade gestured her head towards the right hallway. "I'll head this way."

"Sure, see you, Lin." Adrian headed left and gave a small wave while holding his wand as he eventually disappeared down the hall.

--

Jade sighed as she sauntered through the Prefects bathroom. She nearly dozed asleep as she took her clothes off, but snapped awake again when her clothes had fallen to the ground with a light thud. It had been such a long day and night, and all Jade wanted to do was sleep in the bath. If it had been Friday, maybe she would have.

She felt for the taps, turning on two random ones to fill up the tub. When she rubbed her eyes to adjust to the lighting of the bathroom, she noticed that the bath water was now filled with light green and yellow bubbles.

Sure, I'll try this. Jade thought as she hopped in. Oh, my back feels so much better.

She gave a deep sigh, thinking about what she should do to pass the time. If she napped, she may run into the risk of actually falling asleep and then being late for class tomorrow. But she wasn't in a rush to get back to the dormitories anytime soon. She wanted to enjoy this bath for as long as she could.

What can I do to pass the time? Jade wondered, her eyes searched the ceiling, landing on the candle-filled chandelier. I don't feel like counting the candles, though. She then saw her satchel she placed next to the tub that had her change of clothes. Oh right, might as well try to figure out what this egg is supposed to mean.

She hoisted herself up slightly, taking the egg out. The gold covering seemed to shimmer slightly under the candle light. She gave another tired sigh as she unintentionally started to make wet bubbly handprints on the egg.

Maybe I did miss something inside? We were all too busy trying to close it. Jade thought. Taking a deep breath, she opened the egg again, only to be met by the same loud screech as before. Jade cursed when she saw nothing in the egg once more and slammed the lid shut. Great, now I have a headache.

Jade groaned as she leaned back into the tub. She forgot that she was still holding on to the egg, so she ended up dragging the end with her into the water.

Screw it, the egg deserves to get soaked from destroying my eardrums. Jade thought bitterly. Her forehead continued to ache, and her eardrums still seemed to be echoing. It felt like her brain was on fire as well as being hammered on. She couldn't concentrate at all. Her eyes rolled back into her head as she unconsciously began to submerge herself a little lower in the water, so that her ears would be covered.

After a few moments, Jade groaned as she snapped her eyes more alert when she heard it.

"Come seek us where our voices sound,

We cannot sing above the ground,

And while you're searching, ponder this:

We've taken what you'll sorely miss,

An hour long you'll have to look,

And to recover what we took,

But past an hour -- the prospect's black,

Too late, it's gone, it won't come back."

Gasping awake, Jade blinked rapidly from the song. She glanced downward to find that she had somehow opened the egg underwater when she had been about to pass out. Making sure she wasn't just hearing things, she opened the egg again underwater and submerged her head.

The same words repeated back to her in a mystical song.

Jade pumped her fist in the air as she got up from the tub. She could go to bed without having to worry about the stupid egg anymore. It wouldn't matter if her annoying roommate accidentally somehow broke the egg in her clumsiness like Jade had worried before, because she already had the clue memorized.