The dragon reared up on its hind legs and shot a ball of flame at
Jade. The fire spun towards her head, and she ducked it with a yelp. She
was high in the air, heart pounding and eyes shining. She snapped her
fingers, and a sparkling, fizzing nebula of light appeared in her grasp.
She threw it, and the dragon turned its head to follow the light, then
turned back to her. It opened its mouth, drew nearer, she fell out of
the air...
Jade landed with a yelp on the sunshine yellow rug. Her
roommates, Hannah and Mallory, along with Alana, were already up. The
curtains were drawn back, letting in buttery, gorgeous light. Hannah was
dressed, Mallory was brushing her hair, and Alana was making her bed.
The three girls looked at her as she picked herself up from the rug and
adjusted her pajama top.

"You okay?" Mallory asked from the
stool she was sitting on. Her long auburn locks fell around her face as
she tenderly brushed them one at a time.

"Yeah, thanks. I had
a bit of a bad dream, but I think I'm alright now." Jade went over to
her trunk and searched for something that she could wear to battle a
dragon. What would she have to do? Would she have to wrestle it?
Incapacitate it? Surely she wouldn't have to kill it.

Hannah
straightened up and shifted her gray sweater with the nerdy badger
design atop her yellow-striped collared shirt. "That's good. You ready,
champion? It's time to go down to breakfast."

"She is," Alana
butted in, plumping her pillow. "Come on, Jade. Get dressed so we can
go! I'm craving some bacon. And sausages...ooh, sausages!"

Jade
knew for a fact it didn't really matter what she wore. She was going to
use her powers to duel the dragon, and her powers decided exactly what
they wanted her to wear. She did, however, want to try and look
determined, so she took out a pair of black trousers and a fiery tunic
made of a sleek, silky fabric. She put her hair back in a thin dark
ribbon and put on her blackest cloak and most business-meaning boots.
She tucked her wand into the boot, just in case, and splashed a little
water on her face.

"Come on," she said to her roommates. "Let's go!"

************
Downstairs
in the Great Hall, Alana was filling her mouth with waffles and
sausage, pumpkin juice and bacon. Hannah had a big bowl of oatmeal, and
Mallory was buttering some cinnamon raisin bread. Jade, however,
couldn't eat a bite. She was too nervous to think of anything but the
upcoming task.

"You've got to eat something," protested West, who had come to join them at the Hufflepuff table.

"I'm not hungry," Jade protested, as Alana served her up some eggs and West grabbed her a handful of weird salty fish called kippers.

"You don't want to be nervous on an empty stomach," Alana advised. "Even just a bit of toast."

"I don't want a bit of toast!" She knew she sounded like a whiny child, but she didn't care. If she ate anything, Jade knew for a fact that, combined with her nerves, she would end up losing it later.

A blond boy in emerald green pushed his way through the crowd and stopped in front of the place where she sat.

"Malfoy," West said coolly, crossing her arms and glaring at him. "What do you want?"

"Stop jumping down his throat," Jade said, pushing on West's shoulder until she sat down, still glaring. "Hi," she said, turning to Draco.

"I came to wish you luck," he said, frowning at Alana and West out of the corner of his eye. "Remember, you can do this, no matter what. Don't die."

"Thanks," she said, half sarcastic. "I'll try not to."

Another blond boy came over, and, if this was possible, he was greeted with even less of a warm welcome.

"Jack," Jade snarled, not in the mood. "Leave."

"I just wanted to ask if you've met Lise," he said, gesturing to a girl beside him. She was incredibly, unfairly gorgeous, with long, shiny chestnut hair that curled down her shoulders. Her skin was pale and flawless, her eyes a mirthful grey-blue. Her perfect, pressed Beauxbatons uniform, with its cape and chic little hat, made her look like a queen or a model. Her hands, with their long pink nails, were on Jack's shoulders, and her lips were pursed in an expression of extreme distaste.

"We haven't had the pleasure of becoming acquainted," Jade said, her nervousness gone. In its place was boiling, hot-lava rage. She pulled Draco over. "Have you met Draco?"

"I can't say that we've formally met." Jack's sneer would have been visible from the moon. "Lise is my girlfriend."

Jade felt her anger rushing to her head, but she inhaled sharply and tried to calm herself. "Draco is my...my..." She turned to him, confused. "What are you?" she hissed in a whisper.

Draco folded his arms across his chest. "I'm her-" he glanced at Jade, who shrugged. "I'm her associate, who's going to hurt you if you don't leave her alone."

Jack made a little noise like a growl in the back of his throat, and turned away, his arm around Lise.

Jade sniffled. "I. Hate. Him." She slammed her fist down on the table for emphasis- right into her scrambled eggs.

Alana put an arm around her shoulder comfortingly. "Ignore him."

"Yeah," West added, from where she was aiming a loaded spoon of oatmeal at Lise's back. "That boy is making some serious bad karma for himself. It's going to come back and bite him in the-"

"West!" Jade scolded. "Language!"

"I was just going to say butt." West pulled the bowl of the spoon back and released a glob of maple-brown sugar oatmeal goop. It flew (can one say that oatmeal flies?) and hit Lise on the back of her calf.

Dumbledore rose to his feet. "Will the four champions please join me outside?"

"It's time," Alana hissed. "You'll be great."

Jade sighed and put her shoulders back. "I sure hope so." Then she turned and walked out to join Cedric, Harry, and Fleur outside. Let the games begin.