The May flowers had bloomed. Snape seemed to get more cranky again as May went on, maybe from seasonal allergies. Well, Snape was cranky no matter what the weather was, but he hated snow and flowers, that was for sure.

"Miss Lin." Snape grumbled when class ended. "You are to head down to the Quidditch pitch at nine o'clock."

Jade furrowed her eyebrows as she packed up her stuff. She gestured Cait to go on ahead without her. "Why?"

"Information about the Third task." He snapped back.

She nodded, but rolled her eyes at Snape's tone before she left, muttering a half-hearted thanks.

That night, Jade climbed the steps from the Slytherin Dormitories dungeon staircase and started down the halls. Since Quidditch was cancelled this year, she hadn't been to the Quidditch pitch since the last time Adonis had a Quidditch game.

"Lin." She heard a familiar voice from behind her.

Jade turned as Harry caught up with her. "Potter." She offered back.

"A bit late to get information for the last task. Hermione had to practically kick me out of the dormitories." Harry ran his hand through his messy dark hair.

"Mhm hmm. It would have been more convenient if they had just done it right after classes ended." Jade grumbled in agreement. Who would have thought... Potter and I agreeing on something.

She glanced at Harry. Jade knew she was one of the shortest people in her year, so she wasn't surprised that Harry was a few inches taller than her even though he was a few years younger.

They somehow slowed their pace, as though neither of them were in any rush to get to the Quidditch pitch. Jade found that she didn't mind. Harry was staring at the ground, thinking.

"What's on your mind, Potter?" She decided to ask.

Throughout this year, Jade had grown more respect for the Boy Who Lived. They had some rough patches, but she got to interact with him more and more this year because of the tournament. She remembered how disgusted she'd initially been when she'd overheard Harry reject the idea of a Slytherin champion. He hadn't apologized for that, but she could tell that Harry had also became more civil as time passed, especially after Preethi's birthday.

She heard rumors about Harry's performance with the dragons, but Jade got to witness first hand how honorable he'd been during the Second task. He could have just taken Ron and left the other hostages behind. It was a tournament, getting Ron to safety and winning should have been his priority. But Harry had stayed. Some people might call him foolish, but actions spoke louder than words.

I guess she wanted to say that they both ended up surprising each other even though they weren't close. Their relationship was like a mutual understanding of one another, was what she wanted to call it.

Harry sighed, finally answering her. "I still don't know who put my name in the Goblet of Fire, but this tournament has given me a lot of trouble. Besides the Yule Ball fiasco, Ron and I actually fought over it for a long time right after my name was called. He actually thought I would go behind his back and enter without telling him about it."

Jade raised her eyebrows. Wow... they fought?

He gave another sigh. "We're fine now, but I still think about it sometimes. I never would have thought he would be angry that I got caught up in a tournament that I didn't even enter myself." He then added. "I almost lost a friend over something so stupid. I just don't want that to happen in the future."

Jade shook her head. "I've seen how close you two are. Friends fight. It's going to happen. If your friendship is strong, an argument like that shouldn't break it." She shrugged. "At least he knows now you didn't put your name in. That was a crazy night."

Harry nodded, turning slightly to glance at her. "So... why did you put your name in? No offense, but you don't seem... happy? I mean, for Krum and Fleur, they seem like they're having fun with this tournament. But you look like this is, I don't know, another assignment you have to do."

Jade gave a scoff. "For the record, I never look happy."

"You know what I mean." Harry went on. "You look like this tournament is almost an eyesore for you. I was forced into this, but you entered by choice. So... why would you put yourself through all that?"

She met his gaze, unconsciously slowing her pace a bit more. Might as well tell Potter. It's not like I'm keeping it a secret. "I come from a family of Ravenclaws, but as you can see I'm a Slytherin. That shouldn't matter, but for some reason it matters to my parents' bosses. I know I'm the odd one out, but people think my parents raised me with Dark ideals to have me end up in Slytherin." Jade clenched her fists as anger welled inside her. "My dad got demoted, and people think my mum had an affair with a Dark wizard; just because of my House. It's bloody ridiculous, but people are idiots."

She wasn't sure how Harry would react, but he didn't say anything. His eyebrows were furrowed in thought.

Jade went on. "I didn't see it before when I was younger, but I can tell that they're having a hard time at work. They're gradually suffering mentally and financially, indirectly because of me." She stared at the end of the hall with fierce eyes. "So when I win, I'm going to give the prize money to my parents, and they'll also get the respect they deserve. Not a lot of people have a child that won a Triwizard Tournament."

When Jade glanced at Harry again, he looked like he wanted to say something. He gave a slow nod as his green eyes seemed to soften a bit. He opened his mouth to comment, but before he could say anything they had reached the Quidditch pitch. Another familiar voice called from across the field.

"Bonjour!" Jade looked over to see Fleur waving enthusiastically at the two of them, but her gaze was on Harry. "Over 'ere!"

Viktor was with Fleur, with eyes closed and arms crossed in a surly way, as usual. Bagman was also there, gesturing them to come over.

Jade would have waved back to Fleur, but she was too busy looking at the Quidditch pitch. "The hell..." She muttered under her breath.

It certainly didn't look like how it usually looked like during Quidditch games. Now, there were low and long bush walls coming from grass field, criss crossing in multiple directions.

Harry seemed to have a similar reaction as her, because he exclaimed. "They're hedges!"

When they joined the rest, Bagman cheerily started. "Well, what d'you think? Growing nicely, aren't they? Give them a month and Hagrid'll have them twenty feet high." Harry opened his mouth to protest but Bagman cut him off. "Don't worry, you'll have your Quidditch field back to normal once the task is over! Now, I can imagine you can guess what we're making here?"

Jade looked at the mass of hedges again, processing it all it. It looks like a --

"Maze." Viktor grunted, finishing her thought.

"That's right!" Jade nearly fell over from Bagman's sudden yell. "A maze. The third task's really very straightforward. The Triwizard Cup will be placed in the center of the maze. The first champion to touch it will receive full marks."

In the center. She mentally repeated in her mind, looking at the hedges again to see how big the maze would grow to be.

"We seemply 'ave to to get through the maze?" Fleur asked.

Bagman chuckled, bouncing up and down. "There will be obstacles."

'Very straightforward', huh?

"Hagrid is providing a number of creatures... then there will be spells that must be broken... all that sort of thing, you know. Now, the champions who are leading in points will get a head start into the maze." He gestured at Viktor, then Harry, then Jade, followed by Fleur. "You'll all be in with a fighting chance, depending on how well you get past the obstacles. Should be fun, eh?"

Fleur and Viktor both nodded, but Jade and Harry exchanged a painful glance. 'Fun' didn't seem like the correct word to describe fending off Hagrid's assortment of creatures.

Bagman clapped his hands together. "Very well... if you haven't gotten any questions, we'll go back up to the castle, shall we, it's a bit chilly..."

They all started back towards the castle, but Viktor suddenly gestured Harry to walk with him.

"I'll wait for you, Harry, shall I?" Bagman offered.

"No, it's okay, Mr. Bagman. I think I can find the castle on my own, thanks." Harry reassured.

Jade and Harry made eye contact again. She offered a small wave that she was going to head back to her dorm and relax. He returned the wave before trudging away with Viktor.

She eventually parted ways with the rest group, heading inside the Hogwarts castle while Fleur made her way to the Beauxbatons carriage. Jade wanted to relax in her Common Room. The hallways were dimmer now, as the castle was getting ready for the long night, but she knew her way.

When she rounded a corner, she slammed into someone. Jade stumbled back from the impact, but she heard something wooden clatter onto the ground.

"In a hurry, are you." She heard a growl from in front of her.

Jade looked up to see Professor Moody, his eye spinning wildly. He was the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor this year. He wasn't a bad teacher, but it was difficult for Jade to understand his lessons sometimes because his natural way to lecture was to growl at the entire class. It was one of the subjects that she, Cait, Preethi, and Laverna spent the most time on during their study sessions because they had to compare notes a lot.

Jade bent down to pick up Moody's wooden staff before handing it back to him. She muttered an apology for running into him, and he growled back a thanks before taking his staff back.

"Where were you coming from?"

"The Quidditch pitch. The champions had to get information about the last task tonight." Jade then gave him a nod. "Please excuse me."

Moody smiled with crooked teeth. "Have a good night, Miss Lin."

Jade didn't like the way he said her name. It was different from how he addressed students in class. She swallowed, pursing her lips as she walked past him. "You too, Professor."

She heard Moody limping behind her, his wooden staff thudding against the floor every time he took a step. Jade rubbed her clammy hands together as she hurried along. She always saw Professor Moody in Defense Against the Dark Arts class with her classmates during the daytime. He was just a teacher.

For some reason, though, she secretly hoped she would never run into Moody alone again. Something didn't feel quite right about him at that moment, and it wasn't his wild eye.

--

"Hey guys, I hear Honeydukes is giving out free samples today. We have to go." Cassius started to lead the way.

Adrian sighed. "We just got to Hogsmeade, Cassius. Chill."

Jade laughed as she followed after them, Adonis a few paces behind her. They passed by the regular shops and taverns. Cassius was the only one who actually had a destination, while the rest of them were just following to hang.

On their way, she saw Preethi sitting on a bench, reading. She looked up from her book and gave a small wave.

"I'm right behind you guys." Jade called.

They turned to see Preethi. Adonis nodded and trudged ahead of her. Adrian turned and looked like he wanted to linger a bit, but Cassius took his arm and practically dragged him to keep walking.

Jade chuckled as she came to sit next to Preethi.

"Hello." Preethi greeted. "Where's Cait?" She then stared at where Adonis had been walking in question.

Jade frowned a bit. "Cait told me she wasn't feeling well. Laverna had plans already with Angelina and Alicia, so I'm just hanging with my friends." She gestured her head, eyes brightening up. "Did you want to join us? We're going to Honeydukes."

Preethi's eyes crinkled a bit in amusement. "No, that's alright. I came out here to enjoy some light reading, actually. The weather is pretty nice."

Jade peered at the book. It wasn't textbook thick, but the text on the pages were small. She furrowed her eyebrows in concentration when she glanced at the title. "Mungo Bonham?"

Preethi smiled. "Oh, this is his biography. He founded St. Mungo's. I want to be a Healer, so I try to research more Healing magic and the like in my free time."

Jade raised her eyebrows. "Nice. My mum is a nurse there." She snapped a finger. "Hey, I can ask her to check if they have any summer openings for students."

Preethi gently shut her book. "Really? You would do that?"

"Yeah, of course." Jade popped her lip. "My mum said that nowadays with a lot of applications coming in all the time, sometimes it's easier for the bosses to hire from connections."

"Is that okay, though? I mean, I know you told me how your mum is doing at work. I don't want to cause her trouble." Preethi asked, her brown eyes flitting with concern.

Jade shrugged. "I don't think it hurts to ask. Trust me, if anyone deserves to be a Healer, it's you." She sighed. "If my mum says no, then well at least I asked."

Preethi took Jade's hand and clasped it warmly with both of hers. "Thank you, Jade. Really." She then let go, before turning to look at someone.

Jade turned her head to the left to see Adonis. "What's up?" She asked.

Adonis gestured where he came from. "Cassius sent me to check 'what was taking you so long'." He made quotation marks with his fingers.

She chuckled. "I was just chatting with Preethi, that's all."

"I can see that." He shoved his hands in his pockets before glancing at Preethi. Adonis greeted. "Hi, Patil."

"Hello." Preethi nodded.

He glanced back at Jade. "Cassius already got loads of free samples enough for all of us. We found this place outside we can hang; thought I should come to tell you versus having you try to look for us in Honeydukes."

"How thoughtful." Jade hosited herself off the bench. "You sure you don't want to join us?" She asked Preethi.

Preethi instinctively glanced at Adonis, who shrugged. "I don't mind. I don't think Adrian and Cassius would either."

From the bench, Preethi continued to look at Adonis before glancing down at her book again. She shook her head. "Thanks, but you guys have fun. We can catch up at our next study session."

"Sure. See you later." Jade waved before heading with Adonis.

Adonis then gave her a teasing smirk. "You'll be 'right behind us', huh?" He said sarcastically, making quotation marks with his fingers again.

"Shut up." Jade grinned, playfully slapping his shoulder.

When they reconvened with Adrian and Cassius, Adrian tossed Adonis a Chocolate Frog. Adonis caught it with ease before extending it to Jade.

"Thanks," Jade said.

"Finally! We're all here." Cassius exclaimed. "Honestly, now that you two have partners, I feel like we don't hang out as much anymore." He gave a small whiny pout before puckering his lips, like he remembered something. "Well, I mean there was that one time where we all ate cake, but you know what I mean."

Adrian sighed as he sucked on some remaining chocolate from his fingers. "Can you believe we're going to graduate next year?" He smiled. "Look at us, it seemed like just yesterday we were all sorted in first year and became friends."

Adonis laughed. "Don't be a stranger after Hogwarts, everyone. I mean it."

Jade smiled seeing the three of them joke and laugh together. It reminded her of the first time they all came to Hogsmeade together for the first time. These were her first friends at Hogwarts.

"Hey, Dad." First year Jade piped up.

"Mhm?" He looked up from the Daily Prophet newspaper.

"Who's your best friend from school?" Jade asked.

Her dad replied back without hesitation. "Your mother."

"Oh, I mean... did you have other friends besides Mum that you still keep in touch with?"

He sighed. "Back when I was at Hogwarts, sure. But people change; life goes on; people get busy and have their own lives. Sometimes it's hard to keep in touch after Hogwarts." He smiled at Jade. "Make sure you get good grades and enjoy school with friends. Hogwarts is the best time to spend time with them."

"Your father's, right, honey. Try to make more friends, not just that boy, okay?" Her mother served salmon and vegetables for dinner that night. "Now eat your vegetables. Good for your health."

Jade smiled. To her credit, she did find some more friends outside her House. It took her some time, but she did find them. She hoped she could stay close with everyone, though.