At breakfast, owls swooped down from the ceiling in a storm, carrying letters and packages. Jade was busy heaping brown sugar onto her oatmeal and arguing cheerfully with Alana.

"It's okay that I borrowed your broom last night, right?"

"Why? Think one of the challenges is about Quidditch?" Alana grabbed six pieces of bacon from a nearby platter and shoved two of them into her mouth at once.

"No, I just like flying, that's all." Jade took a swig of pumpkin juice.

"Flying with anyone special?" Alana stole Jade's toast.

"You know Jack and I had a fight." Jade took her toast back from Alana.

"That's not what I mean. I've seen how you look at-"

But who Jade looked at, she would never know. At that precise moment, a large eagle owl swooped down and dropped a small package in her breakfast.

"Expecting something?" Alana asked, trying to pet the owl.

"I wasn't. What is it?"

Alana opened the package and gasped. A necklace fell out into the plate of eggs, and she grabbed it and cleaned it with a napkin. Jade peered into the napkin and her jaw dropped.

The necklace was beautiful. It was a simple silver chain, with a hollow glass orb on it. Inside the orb was what looked like a minuscule star, dancing and emitting a soft silvery light. There were star-shaped crystals hanging around it. The necklace was beautiful, and when Jade put it on, it sent shimmers of light all around her.

There was a note in the package, too, and Jade read it silently, lips moving.

You said last night that you wished for a star to keep beside you. I asked the Astronomy professor, and she helped me bottle this one. Enjoy.

Jade grinned as she shredded the note and dropped the bits into her pumpkin juice. There was no way on earth she was going to let Alana (and West, by extension) to read that, ever. The two of them would have an absolute field day.

"Jade has a secret admirer! Jade has a secret admirer!" Alana catcalled, beckoning West over from the Gryffindor table. West raced over.

"Wow, Jade, someone must have a big crush on you," West said, fingering the necklace. "It's so beautiful."

"It is pretty, isn't it," Jade said, a coy smile flickering across her face. She gazed off into the distance- and froze.

Jack was with the blonde Beauxbatons girl again, and this time she had her arms around him. Jack was making no efforts to remove her, and he whispered something in her ear. She giggled and kissed his cheek.

Jade could feel tears prickling into her eyes, but she ignored them. Jack wanted to be that way? So be it. Two could play at that game. She had always stayed in the background, letting her problems be problems. But now was the time to fight fire with fire- literally.