Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: Jade and Emma's Story

Chapter 8

Jade glared at the post hanging on the wall. "What the hell?"

"What is it?" Jessica asked, walking closer. Jade pointed to the post and Jessica squinted her eyes. "Decree No. 1." Her lip curled. Jade watched her friend skim through the rest of the order, deeming all groups and clubs be approved by Umbridge.

Jade thought back to the meeting they had had at the Hog's Head with a nervous feeling. She remembered Irene, who had shown up with Luna Lovegood. Jade had tried to tell her she wasn't allowed to join, but it hadn't worked out well. Her younger sister had simply laughed, telling her she was perfectly capable of making her own decisions. "Besides," she had added, "Luna, Ginny, and a bunch of other kids in my year are here. Why can't I be?"

Of course Jade couldn't say, "Because you're my baby sister!" So she had kept her lips sealed as Irene signed up with everyone else. Her stomach flipped thinking of Irene being one of Umbridge's targets.

When Jessica had turned her brown eyes back to her friend, Jade started her rant. "Who does she think she is? She's taking over the school! This isn't a coincidence. She found out."

Jessica knew she meant Dumbledore's Army, and nodded skeptically. "Who would it be?"

"My money's on Zacharias Smith."

Jade and Jessica jumped at Ron's voice as he and his usual three companions joined them. "So you've seen this?"

Harry nodded, his green eyes hard with anger. "This morning."

"I don't think we should start pointing fingers," Hermione chimed in sensibly. "After all, I put a charm on the parchment I had us all sign."

Jade blinked. "You what?"

Hermione blushed, smiling sheepishly. "If anyone had snitched, we'd know."

--

Jade and Jessica walked through the dungeon doors into Snape's room, only to be greeted by Malfoy standing at his desk, waving around a piece of parchment. "Yeah, Umbridge gave the Slytherin Quidditch team permission to continue playing straightaway, I went to ask her first thing this morning. Well, it was pretty much automatic, I mean, she knows my father really well, he's always popping in and out of the Ministry...It'll be interesting to see whether Gryffindor are allowed to keep playing, won't it?"

Jade sighed as she made her way to the her station shared with Draco. "I mean," he continued, "if its a question of influence with the Ministry, I don't think they've got much chance. ...From what my father says, they've been looking for an excuse to sack Arthur Weasley for years...And as for Potter...My father says its a matter of time before the Ministry has him carted off to St Mungo's....apparently they've got a special ward for people whose brains have been addled by magic..."

Jade shot him a glare just in time to see Draco make a grotesque face, his mouth sagging open and his eyes rolling. Grabbed and Goyle, hanging around their station, grunted in laughter, while Pansy Parkinson shrieked with glee across the room. "That's incredibly insensitive," Jade said coolly.

Draco looked down at her, before he grabbed her wrists and began moving her. "Neville, no!" She heard someone yell as he got her behind him. Peeking out from behind Draco's tall frame, she saw as Harry struggled to pull Neville Longbottom back, while Crabbe and Goyle closed in front of Draco. Ron shot forward, and together he and Harry managed to drag Neville to the Gryffindor line.

He was mumbling something about the joke about Mungo's not being funny when the dungeon doors were thrown open. "Fighting, Potter, Weasley, Longbottom?" Snape said in his cold, sneering voice. "Ten points from Gryffindor. Release Longbottom, Potter, or it will be detention."
"I had to," she heard Harry gasp. "Crabbe and Goyle would have torn you apart." Neville walked away, and they began walking to their stations. Ron was breathing heavily, and Jade saw Emma brush her hand over his shoulder. Harry's eyes made their way to where Jade still stood behind Draco. Blushing, Jade pushed him out of her way and took her place at the station. Jade couldn't make herself look at him, she felt extremely awkward, but she heard his deep threat, "Watch it, Malfoy. Next time I see you manhandle her, I'm going to fight you myself."