UNDER THE tree, Jade went through all of her realizations and tried to think rationally as Mandy and Luna talked.

1. She was madly in love with Luna Lovegood.

2. Anthony was doing everything to impress Mandy. He was madly in love with her.

3. The boys she had befriended were stupid.

As Jade contemplated these thoughts, Professor Sprout came running out of the school as fast as her legs could carry her.

"Don't you dare throw that in there Michael!"

Jade looked up and saw Michael had one of the Weasley products in his hand, ready to toss it into the lake and disturb the Giant Squid. He threw it behind him, putting his hands in the air and backing away from the lake slowly.

Professor Sprout wagged her finger at the boys, then walked away, hobbling back to her greenhouses. The three approached, and Michael had his Weasley product back in his possession.

"She said we were lucky she was nice." Terry huffed, collapsing next to Mandy in the grass.

Anthony sat on the other side of her, and Michael sat next to Jade, tossing the box back and forth in his hands. According to the text, it was a box of their Puking Pastiles. Jade looked at Michael and raised her eyebrow, to which he shrugged.

"We didn't know if the squid could vomit."

She rolled her eyes, punching Michael on the arm.

"You're an idiot."

Jade then turned to Luna, who was twirling a flower stem in her fingers. Luna was delicate, like the flower in her hands, and she reminded Jade of the old porcelain dolls her aunt collected. They were innocent looking, with the big, yet soft, glassy eyes and the small features. A doll could be based off of Luna, she had the small nose and the wavy, thin platinum blonde hair. Sometimes her cheeks got really rosy too, and her eyes were big and gray and beautiful.

She was so in love with her, it was almost unbearable.

Anthony said something ridiculous, something about waking up the Giant Squid with fireworks, and she saw Luna smile. She threw the flower stem at Anthony's back, shaking her head.

"Wouldn't fireworks kill the squid?" Jade asked.

"I mean... maybe it would. Then we'd know for sure it existed if it died."

"Anthony, that's the worst idea you've ever had."

Mandy giggled and elbowed Anthony in the side, her face growing more and more red.

"It's not his worst." She said, grinning at him.

"Mandy, you're just saying that because you're madly in love with him." Terry replied, ruffling her hair.

She shot him a death glare and rolled to her side, avoiding his aggressive ruffling.

"You messed up my braid, jerk." She muttered quietly.

"What was that Mandy? Was that a confession of love?" Terry asked, stretching out the 'o' in love for as long as he could.

"Shut up Terry." Michael warned, wagging his finger at him. "Don't piss her off."

Luna moved farther back from the group, her eyes scanning the group as tensions continued to rise. Jade moved back with her, sitting down and watching the group slowly grow more heated.

"It's not my intention to piss her off, they've been in love with each other for months! Years, even!" Terry exclaimed, standing up. Mandy followed suit, crossing her arms tightly across her chest. "The amount of tension between them is almost unbearable! I just want Anthony to finally get with the girl he's been trailing after for years."

"We already told each other our feelings! We've just been waiting for the right time." Mandy yelled back, throwing her arms, and her books, in the air.

"That almost sounds like someone else in our friend group." Terry replied snidely, turning to face Jade.

She stood up, following suit of the others, ready to defend herself.

"I don't rush into things Terry." She said, getting closer to him. "You, of all people, should understand what it's like to rush into things."

"What's that supposed to mean Jade?"

Jade closed her eyes and took three deep breaths. She didn't want to bring up anything that would truly upset Terry, that was the last thing she wanted to do. She stood there, knowing that every eye was on her, and slowly opened her mouth to speak.

"You know damn well what I mean Terry."

Her eyes opened and she saw Terry sit down, his eyes facing the ground. He had dropped his arms to his sides and looked defeated, he avoided looking at any of them. Mandy looked confused, but sat down next to him, also dropping her arms to her sides. Michael and Anthony both turned towards Jade and nodded at her. They knew what she was talking about, Mandy and Luna did not.

"Are you okay, Terry?" Mandy asked, putting her hand on his upper back and rubbing it. "I'm sorry."

"I'm fine." He stood, moving his limbs and joints like a machine, and slowly walked away from the group, leaving his papers and Weasley products on the dried, dying grass.

Everyone left not long after, with Luna pulling Jade down a corridor she didn't frequent and into a room she didn't know existed.

"This is an old classroom. Not much is down this corridor anymore, so I figured this would be the most private area for us to talk about what just happened." She whispered, shutting the wooden door carefully behind her.

Jade pulled up two old chairs and sat them across from each other. Luna muttered "lumos" under her breath and lit the classroom up. There were cobwebs dangling from the ceiling, and dust coating each piece of furniture in the room. A lone bird cage hung in the corner by the door, the door to it broken off and its golden color muted by a thick layer of dust.

"I come down here a lot when I need to think, it helps clear my mind." Luna explained, sitting down across from Jade and smiling at her. "What happened back there?"

"Terry hasn't been alright since the end of our fourth year," Jade began, rubbing her hands together nervously. Luna noticed and reached out to grab them, holding them tightly. "Cedric was one of his best friends, he was never really involved in our group, but we knew him. It really, really took a toll on him seeing his dead body like that. He was one of the first people to comfort Amos, he was one of the first people in the Great Hall for the memorial."

"Is that why he lashed out? Do you think it was bothering him even more today?"

"I don't know. I know he also had a really rough relationship that ended right before Cedric's death last year. She was a seventh year Gryffindor, and she treated him so badly, we tried to get him to end it around the Yule Ball, but he refused. She was very emotionally abusive towards him, I didn't know what to do."

"Do you think that bothers him too?"

"I do. He never really talked about it with us. He doesn't cope well, if you haven't noticed. And he's really liked Marietta for the longest time, but he refuses to go after her because of his last relationship. I was the only one that knew about his crush on her until now." Jade sighed, letting go of Luna's hands so she could stand and walk around the room. "He rushed into the last relationship, and she used him and molded him like clay."

Luna got up and followed her to the back of the room, wrapping her arm around her waist and pulling her in close.

"I shouldn't have used that to insult him, but he shouldn't try and force people into situations like that."

They made eye contact and Luna gave her a small smile.

"But you did, and that's okay. Everyone makes mistakes, even perfect people like you."

Before Jade could react, she felt Luna's lips on her forehead and a blush spread across her face.