The Triwizard Tournament was all anyone talked about for the next week. Jade either heard classmates talking about possibly ageing themselves a couple of months so that they would be seventeen, or wondering how the champions would be chosen. All this talk about the Triwizard Tournament made Jade not want to think about it.

She had received her O.W.L. results that summer. Outstanding in all her O.W.L.s except two Exceeds Expectations in Herbology and Astronomy. Not that Exceeds Expectations was bad, but it certainly wasn't as good as if she had just gotten Outstanding in everything.

Jade was grateful of the results. If her grades had slipped, her parents would have blamed it on her being in Slytherin House. She gave a sigh. After all these years, she knew her parents still wished she had been sorted into Ravenclaw. They just stopped saying it after she proved to them she could still score well on tests.

"Gibbons," Jade suddenly heard Professor Snape call sharply in Potions class. She snapped her head up as he asked, "Tell me the ingredients to prepare the Draught of Living Death."

Jade gave a quick glance to the girl across the room. Caitlin Gibbons, or as everyone called her, Cait, nearly jumped out of her seat from Snape's outburst. Her quill fell out of her hands and dropped to the ground.

Cait gave a wince before starting. "Um, water, powdered root of asphodel, Infusion of Wormwood, Valerian root, and..." She trailed off, most likely blanking on the last two ingredients.

Snape gave a sneer. "Ten points from Hufflepuff. Doodling in my class won't get you anywhere in life, Miss Gibbons."

Cait hung her head, immediately turning to apologize to her House mates sitting next to her. From where Jade was sitting, the Hufflepuffs seemed very understanding.

"Lin." Snape turned his attention to her. "Perhaps you would like to fill Miss Gibbons in on the remaining ingredients."

It wasn't a request. Jade gave a small frown, knowing that Snape wanted to use her, someone from his House, to humiliate Cait even further. She didn't respond for a moment. Cait wasn't stupid, as she wouldn't be in Snape's N.E.W.T. level class if she hadn't passed the Potions O.W.L., but Jade presumed that Snape couldn't pass up the opportunity to make his own House appear more knowledgeable.

As she didn't respond immediately, the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws seemed to take this as she didn't know the answer to Snape's question. The Gryffindors started to smirk at her, while some Ravenclaws raised their hands to answer instead. The other Hufflepuffs just stayed silent, not wanting to deal with Snape after his attitude towards Cait.

Jade scoffed lightly to herself before answering, "The remaining ingredients to prepare the Draught of Living Death are a Sopophorous Bean and a Sloth brain."

Satisfaction welled inside her as the Ravenclaws slowly lowered their hands. It meant she was right. The Gryffindors seemed to notice the Ravenclaws silently admit defeat, because their stupid smirks were wiped off their faces.

Professor Snape briefly narrowed his eyes at Jade for her scoff, who stared back at him evenly.

He gave a small huff before turning away. "Ten points to Slytherin." Some of her Housemates grinned at her and gave her a thumbs up, but Jade merely shrugged.

Snape shortly sent them off to work in pairs, emphasizing that when he meant pairs he didn't mean a random group of three. Unfortunately for Jade, Adonis didn't take a Potions O.W.L. The other Slytherins also had their own best friend to pair up with.

Jade was about to say something, when she heard from the other side of the room. "Does anyone not have a partner?"

Jade turned to see who had spoken. It was Cait. Her dirty blonde hair was in a high ponytail, similarly to how Jade first saw her on their first day. Jade raised her hand. She noticed Cait flinch for a moment, but finally made her way over to join Jade.

"Hello," Cait said, starting to blabber. "Sorry, I know you'd rather work with someone from your own House." When Jade raised an eyebrow, Cait stammered, "Uh... not that you don't want to work with a Hufflepuff. I didn't say that." When Jade raised her other eyebrow, Cait finally said, "I'm going to stop talking now."

Jade managed to keep her stoic expression, but inside she was laughing a little. She replied, "Jade Lin." She extended a hand.

Cait looked at Jade's hand warily, as though it was a snake that would bite her. After a few moments, though, she finally took Jade's hand and gave it a gentle shake. "Caitlin Gibbons, but everyone calls me Cait."

Jade nodded, already knowing who Cait was. They had briefly interacted two years ago, though they never exchanged formal greetings. She didn't expect Cait to remember. It had been after the Halloween feast in their fourth year.

Jade had been leaving the Great Hall when she had accidentally bumped into Cait, causing Cait to drop her plate, which had then shattered on the floor. Pansy Parkinson, a second year at the time, had witnessed the scene and had called Cait a 'mudblood', telling her to watch where she was going. That year had been really rough for the Muggle-borns, as it had been no secret that they were mostly getting targeted and Petrified. Cait had looked so disheartened from Pansy's statement, and before Jade knew it she had told Pansy to mind her own business.

After Pansy had left, Jade had helped mend the plate while Cait had apologized profusely, claiming that she had knocked into Jade when both of them knew it had been the other way around. Jade had never encountered someone so pure, but Cait had grabbed the plate from her and walked away before Jade could say anything else. They never had classes together until this year, but as they were both sixth years now, Jade had overheard Cait's name one time when she had seen Cait talking with Cedric Diggory, her cousin's crush.

Jade then sensed some of her Slytherin classmates turn when they recognized Cait's last name from conversations in passing from these six years together. Jade instantly could tell what they were all thinking.

Muggle-born.

Jade honestly couldn't care less about blood status. Blood was blood. It was the same color for everyone. Even though she didn't care, she knew other Slytherins from renowned pure-blooded families did. Jade's parents were also both wizards, but at least they understood that blood didn't define a person. It took Jade a good number of years to finally make Adonis get past his ignorance slightly, as he was raised to hate Muggle-borns like his father. He wasn't all hugs and kisses about it, but at least he didn't call Muggle-borns 'mudbloods' to their faces anymore. Jade assumed it was the best she was going to get for now.

Jade turned her head to look at her Housemates, who then turned away and returned to their work. Turning to face Cait again, she gave a nod and said, "I'll get the ingredients. You can calculate how much of everything we need to prepare." When Cait didn't say anything, Jade added. "We're going to rock this potion."

She noticed Cait relax visibly that Jade didn't say anything mean to her. "S-Sure," she nodded enthusiastically, giving Jade a bright smile.

Jade gave a faint smile before brushing past her.

As class went on, she found that working with Cait was actually quite enjoyable. She wasn't bossy like some of her other Housemates, and she didn't try to make her mess up something as a joke like Adonis would. Seeing Cait's reaction to the finished potion as well was very sweet. She looked like someone who won the lottery.

It was nice, and they indeed rocked the potion.

--

Cait ended up being Jade's permanent Potions partner for the rest of the year, as Snape lectured two Ravenclaw students for trying to switch partners a few weeks later. They also found after their first day working together that they also shared Muggle Studies class.

"Are you seventeen yet?" Cait finally chirped.

Jade looked up from the cauldron, seeing Cait's beaming face. "I turn seventeen in two days actually."

Cait's brown eyes lit up with excitement. "Wow!" She exclaimed. When some classmates turned to give her and Jade weird looks, she whispered an apology before lowering her voice. "Happy early birthday!"

Jade cracked a small smile. "Thanks. When's your birthday?"

Cait sighed. "I have to wait until May." Jade gave a small nod when Cait then asked, "So are you going to enter the Triwizard Tournament, then?"

Jade stopped cutting her ingredients for a moment. The last time she had talked about the Triwizard Tournament with Adonis was a few days ago. Every time Adonis had brought it up, however, her mind had been so focused with the amount of school work the professors were piling on them at the beginning of the year. She ended up just changing the subject. Usually the professors gave more work at the beginning of the year than the middle of the year because everyone was still in their summer vacation phase, and the professors wanted them to get back into the 'school phase' as soon as possible.

Surprisingly, though, Jade felt obligated to answer Cait. She swallowed before saying, "Um, I haven't really thought about it yet."

"What?" Cait nearly exclaimed again. "I think you should enter."

"Why?" Jade questioned. She then glanced at Cedric Diggory on the other side of the classroom. "Besides, aren't you and your other Hufflepuff friends rooting for Diggory?"

Cait turned to look at Cedric, who was laughing with his partner. Cait turned back to Jade. "Of course I'm rooting for Cedric, but I also think you could make a good Champion."

Jade raised her eyebrows. "Which leads me back to my original question... why?"

Jade saw Cait's cheeks redden. Cait rubbed her hand against the back of her neck awkwardly. "Well..." she started, sounding a little embarrassed. "You kind of remind me of Mulan, that Chinese warrior Professor Burbage lectured about in Muggle Studies, and... you probably don't remember but you stood up for me two years ago."

"You remember?" Jade blinked in slight surprise, raising her eyebrows. Cait only nodded. Jade didn't know what to say at first. She hadn't expected Cait to remember. After all, it had only been a brief interaction two years ago, but Cait didn't break Jade's eye contact. Jade cleared her throat, deciding to ask about what Cait had said. "So I remind you of Mulan because we're both Chinese..."

"Well, yes, but it's not just that." Cait clarified, her lips morphing into a smile. "Mulan was a great warrior, and looking at you... there's something about you that just speaks 'inner warrior' to me."

Jade gave a light laugh. "You think so?"

Cait nodded. "She was also willing to do whatever it took, even breaking the law, to protect her family. It was the whole reason why she disguised herself as a man in the first place." She scooped a few ingredients into the cauldron. "I know we've only really met this year, but you just seem like the type of person that would do anything for your family."

Jade scoffed before continuing to cut up more ingredients. "I'm sure there are many other people who feel the same way."

Cait shook her head. "Feeling the same way and thinking it is easy. Actually doing it is a different story. Not many would immediately dive into harm's way."

"You're underestimating other people's devotion, Cait." Jade replied in a clipped tone, tightening her grip on the knife.

Before she could make another cut, Cait gently laid her hand on Jade's tense one. Jade glanced up and met Cait's friendly gaze. "Perhaps, but most of the other people you're referring to are probably too young to enter the tournament."

Jade set the knife down, seeing Cait's point. She withdrew her hand from Cait's touch to cross her arms. "You really think I should try entering?"

Cait nodded before giving a nervous laugh. "I mean, you don't have to if you don't want to. Headmaster Dumbledore did say it would be dangerous. But again, Mulan did great things. If you remind me of her, I'm positive you can be great too." When Jade gave her a questioning look, Cait hurriedly said with an awkward smile. "I mean, not that you're not great now, I just meant..."

"It's fine." Jade cut in, trying not to smile too much from Cait's adorable awkwardness. "Thanks, Cait." She then remarked in a curious tone. "I'm a little surprised you're being open with me."

"What do you mean?" Cait chirped.

"Well, normally Hufflepuffs aren't this open with me, since I'm a Slytherin and all that." Jade replied.

Cait gave another light laugh. "Honestly, I was a little intimidated when I found out we were going to be partners. Not just because you're a Slytherin, but I also know you hang around with Adonis Carrow a lot."

"Ah, understandable. Adonis tends to scare people away." Jade then asked, "So what changed your mind?"

"Well, you haven't called me a mudblood yet, first of all." Jade glanced down at her chopped up ingredients before Cait continued. "I don't know how to explain it, really, but I think we get along well. Don't you think?"

Jade looked back up at Cait, who was giving her a hopeful glance. Giving a small smile, Jade nodded. "Yes, we do."

Cait returned with a bright smile of her own before returning to her work. Jade finally scooped her chopped up ingredients into the cauldron. Even though she dropped her smile, Jade felt a little elated inside that after all these years, she finally made a friend who wasn't a guy or a Slytherin, as the only other people she hung out with were Adonis and sometimes his friends, Adrian and Cassius.

She thought about what Cait had said. In all honesty, Jade's mind was mainly focused on doing well in the beginning of the school year. Once she fell behind it would take even longer to catch up, but usually the beginning of the year was the biggest hurdle for Jade. After she got back into the groove of things she wouldn't be as overwhelmed. She knew her parents still expected her to do her best in school.

However, she also realized that everyone was trying to find out who was trying to enter Triwizard Tournament, most likely to compare. One explicit thought of possibly entering would just add to the circulation of rumors of all the other candidates entering. If she did decide to enter, having to deal with that drama before the champions were even picked would just make her more stressed. She still had some time left before the delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang arrived.

But until then, she wasn't going to worry about the Triwizard Tournament.