Jade was on another midnight ride a few days later, swooping and soaring. The stars were out again, but it wasn't raining this time. She was in a thinner cloak, and her hair was back in a ribbon.

Alana let her go out on the broomstick whenever she wanted, and as a result, Jade had been out nearly every night. Rainy or clear, cold or warmish, dark as ink or surprisingly light, alone or accompanied, she would head out in her cloak and boots to clear her mind. Tonight, Draco was with her again, and they were having an incredible time, teasing and laughing, playing chase and practicing Quidditch moves.

"This is amazing," she crowed, looping around the top of Gryffindor tower. "I feel so free."

Draco laughed and shoved her good-naturedly. "You've been saying that every single time."

"I'll stop saying it when it stops being true," she retorted, beaming. The first task of the Triwizard Tournament was coming up in two days, and she needed to relax a little. Stressing over what it might be and giving herself a headache, while what the other champions were most likely doing, wasn't useful. Scary as it might be, she needed to let herself breathe. Whatever happened was going to happen regardless.

"Let up on yourself a little, Pevensie," he said. "The first task isn't for another two days. You're going to give yourself gray hairs." He tilted his broomstick down and dove, headfirst, towards the ground. Not to be bested, Jade's reckless nature got the best of her, and she shot after him.

There was light coming from somewhere close to the ground, large, writhing shapes pointed towards the sky. Jade flew closer, and saw a reptilian face, a set of leathery wings.

"A dragon," she hissed, reaching for the wand she had hidden in her boot. "Draco, those are dragons!"

He grabbed her arm to steady her. "How many? What kinds?"

Jade did a mental count. One, two, three... "Four. There are four. A Chinese Fireball, a Swedish Shortsnout, a Welsh Green, and...oh, goodness!" She yelped as her broom dropped a few feet, bringing her closer to the dragons.

Draco pulled her up. "What? What's the matter?"

"Draco, that- that's a Hungarian Horntail. They're the most dangerous dragons in Great Britain. And there are four dragons..." She did the math. "One for each champion."

"You have to fight one of those? They're probably harmless. Watch," he said as he flew in closer. Draco prodded one of the dragons on the top of its head with his wand. "See? Harmless- AAARRGH!"

The dragon he had poked had just blown fire up at him, and the edge of his robes, as well as one foot, were now in flames. Jade screamed and grabbed his arm, trying to fly while shooting water out of her wand. Eventually, they neared the ground and the two stumbled to the ground.

*********************

In the Hospital Wing, Jade wracked her brain for a good excuse for their presence.

Madame Pomfrey came bustling over. "Well, what happened to you two?"

"We...I was walking to the girl's toilet, and I heard a scream. His cloak got caught in a candle, and coming here I tripped over a potted plant and got all scratched up."

Madame Pomfrey clucked her tongue at them. "Not a very good state for a Champion to be in, all scraped up and singed."

Jade looked down at her feet self-consciously. "Yes, ma'am."

"Now come over here and lie down before you catch an infection!" She led Jade and Draco over to two of the cots in the corner.

It turned out that Jade was mostly alright, apart from a couple of small cuts and scrapes. The tips of her curls were burnt, but apart from that she was fine. Draco, on the other hand, had a burn on his leg and some angry-looking red marks on his cheeks. Madame Pomfrey gave them both a cooling salve and a strict talking-to.

Jade wasn't sure what happened next, mostly because she was asleep in the blink of an eye.