PEREIRA, JADE MARIANNE

[Jade Pereira]

[presto]

TWENTY-FIVE

FEMALE

BUSINESS EMPLOYEE

HALFBLOOD

HETEROSEXUAL

LAUREN COHAN

[/presto]

JADE MARIANNE PEREIRA

So, here she is. The infamous Jade Pereira. Twenty-five and a steady employee at Madam Malkin's robes for all occasions, she couldn't ask for anything better with her life. Or is it really like that? Well, to know that we really should start at the beginning. Her parents were, to begin with, not particularly parenting. Her father, Leslie, was a Muggle who owned a clinic and a very qualified doctor. He was very dedicated to his job, and somewhat of a workaholic - in years that followed, his wife would often say that he was married to his job. He and Jade's mother, Jude Burnham, met under circumstances that weren't particularly unusual - his few friends, deciding that he was rather too fixated on his job, sent him out on a blind date with her. They both clashed a lot at first - Jude had an incredibly dry wit and a tendency to snark a lot - but there definitely were some sparks there, and so they planned another date. Things went smoothly from there, with them growing closer, starting to go steady and finally getting married. They hadn't planned to have any kids, simply not having thought about that situation, but Jude did get pregnant in mid-1998. They decided to keep the baby, not wanting to let go of it now that they'd been given the chance. And thus Jade was born on June 23, 1999. However, Jude hadn't informed Leslie that she was, in fact, a witch of Muggle-born descent, who had attended Hogwarts and then gone on to study at a Muggle university for her diploma. When Jade later questioned her on why she'd never told him, her only answer was "It slipped my mind." After her birth, Leslie retreated back into his work while Jude, who'd never planned for children and so didn’t really know how to take care of them, was somewhat bewildered. She took six months' leave from her job as a history professor in a Muggle university and brought up Jade to the best of her knowledge, but then she, too, went back to work and Jade was left to be taken care of by a babysitter at home. She didn't actually mind this state of affairs, since this meant she had free rein over the house (the babysitter was a harried teenager in desperate need of money, and didn't actually do much sitting, just telling Jade not to do this and that if she saw her making mischief) and could do whatever she liked. She often made a right mess of the house, and was told off by her mother when she returned from work. Jade had a very active imagination and a tendency to make up imaginary friends and worlds to play in. however, when she once mentioned this to her mother, she was cut off in the middle of her rambling with a 'Jade, grow up. These things don't exist. Do we need to take you to the doctor?' Thereafter, she still did have vivid thoughts and dreams, but she stopped telling her mother about them. In fact, really, she stopped telling her mother about most things soon enough, as her baby brother was born when she was six. Neil quickly became her favorite companion and the imaginary friends disappeared as fast. While Jude went through the same routine of taking six months' leave to take care of Neil and then going back to her job, Jade was now very attentive to her brother. She’d take care of him and make sure he didn't get into trouble or danger. If he made a mess, she'd mop it up. If he would get hurt, she'd clean his wound and comfort him. She generally acted very motherly and loving to him and was quite overprotective of him, a tendency that's gone on into her adult years and has also spilled over to his friend Will, who lives with them now. She was always an incredibly clumsy child, so most of her accidental magic was easily explained away by her parents as results of her clumsiness. However, when she got her Hogwarts letter, many questions were raised in the house. Her two normally stoic, emotionless parents got into a huge fight and really scared her. She locked herself up in her room, along with Neil so he wouldn't have to hear the fighting. Finally, when the fighting had died down, her mother came to her and told her that yes; she was going to Hogwarts and she better get ready. She was so happy at this news that she actually hugged her mother. And for once, her mother hugged her back - one of the rare times she'd ever demonstrated affection towards her. However, she did notice that her father had withdrawn into his shell even more - earlier, he would at least attempt conversation with his children, however awkward he may have found it. But now, he practically stopped talking to them both and essentially cut them out of his life. She travelled to the King's Cross station all on her own, her mother reasoning that she was now old enough to take care of herself. She was very, very quiet on the train, knowing nothing about this strange new world she was entering into, and drinking in all the sights and sounds. She talked to nobody, sitting silently in a corner and playing with the few wizarding coins her mother had given her. She didn't buy any sweets from the cart lady either, even when people sitting next to her tried to reassure her that they were nice and not poisonous. She shared a boat with one or two other boys and girls who she didn't know the names of, and was still quite nervous. Someone told herabout the houses and who went where, which only served to increase her trepidation - she was sure she was going to be in Hufflepuff, since that was where people who didn't belong went, or so she'd heard. She wasn't very smart, or brave or particularly cunning. Her nervousness only increased when she was standing in line, and when she put on the hat, she was too afraid even to think any thoughts at it, telling it where or where not to put her. Finally it put her in Hufflepuff. As she walked to the table, she felt rather disappointed in herself - Hufflepuff was for losers, she kept telling herself, and if she was in it, that meant she was a loser too. She wrote to her mother soon after regular school started, and got a stiff-sounding letter back from her. Jude had been a Slytherin, with traits exhibiting the best of that house's qualities, and Jade couldn't shake off the feeling that her mother was probably very disappointed in her. Initially, she never bothered much about her studies. She would make mischief and create havoc around the school with her friends, , not bothering to really study, turning in assignments shoddily done at the last minute and only sitting to study in the last few weeks before exams. She was rather good at a few subjects like Herbology and Potions, though. Her results reflected her neglect of studies, with her constantly getting terrible marks. Her mother was terribly disappointed in her, and Jade was even more upset now - her fears were confirmed. She began to work harder at school, but try as she might, she was finding it very hard to cope up. In her fifth year, she finally became extremely frustrated with her constant poor marks and asked a boy in the year above her to tutor her. The boy happened to be Teddy Lupin. She found him quite attractive and over the time she spent with him, found herself developing a crush on him. The crush lasted well into her adult years, and in fact, even now, after hers and Teddy's relationship ended disastrously (more on that later) she has a soft spot for him. She struggled through her final three years at Hogwarts, managing four owls and three newts. Needless to say, her mother was extremely angry, asking her how she even thought she'd get a job now, and what was she supposed to tell people she knew? To make matters worse, Neil had just begun with his first year of Hogwarts when she'd begun her seventh, and he was already bringing home exceptional marks. He was also sorted into Slytherin, their mother's old house, and she was much happier at this news than she was at hearing about Jade being in Hufflepuff. Now, Jude constantly compared Jade to Neil and put her down, which upset Jade a great deal, more than she let on in front of her mother. She began job-hunting eventually, because she knew she wouldn't get a good job at the ministry or St Mungo's or the prophet or any of those high-profile places. She did various odd jobs, finally settling on waitressing at both the leaky cauldron and Muggle pubs so she could earn a substantial amount. She continued with waitressing for about five years until, in early 2022, she learnt about a job opening at madam malkin's robes for all occasions. She’d always loved fashion and designing, and so she took up the job at the store. However, her thrice-damned clumsiness was a horrible hindrance to her at first. If not for her tendency to trip over things, drop them, stumble at places where people didn't normally stumble, et cetera, she'd probably have been a great employee. She slowly became better at her job, eventually being promoted to full employee status by June 2022. Her pay increased considerably now, and she began to seriously consider the idea of living on her own. By now, Neil was entering his seventh year, and had become far more rebellious, aggressive and boisterous than he was earlier. They were still as close as ever, though, and she didn't want to be away from him. They were discussing it when he said that he'd like to live with her too - he was also frustrated with his parents' constant comparing of the two siblings. So they informed their mother about it. She didn't actually mind jade going - insofar as she cared about it, anyway - but she didn't want Neil to go, especially as he wasn't even of age yet. However, he was determined that he would get his way. So, a long discussion later, when Jude still forbade him from going, it only seemed to make him more adamant on going. He returned to Jade and told her that whatever their mum said, they were going house hunting from the next day. They began scouting around for flats, but were unable to find ones within their budget and suiting their location preferences. After about a month of searching, they found a decent flat in London, located near enough to Diagon Alley to be convenient for Jade. They were getting a decent allowance from their parents, along with Jade’s pay, and so were able to buy it, as its rent was comparatively lesser than other flats of its size. She decided to move into the flat with Neil, and packed all hers and Neil’s things up, despite the protests of her mother. Finally, Jude cracked. She started yelling at Jade, saying that wasn't it enough that she was disgracing her; now she wanted to take her brother down too? She began to blame Jade for everything Neil had done wrong - the failing on purpose, the smoking, drinking, drugs, sleeping around. And for the first time, Jade yelled back at her mother - she told her that she was moving out, with Neil, whether she liked it or not, and to get her facts straight. she stormed out of the house with all hers and Neil’s possessions, and moved into their new apartment that very night, the 14th of July. They were only just settling into their flat and had been there for about a week, when one day, Neil suddenly disappeared. He’d gone out drinking and hadn't come back the next morning, by when he usually came back. She worried herself sick, owling every one of his friends that she knew. He didn't come back for about three days, during which she grew increasingly worried. On the night of the second day, though, Neil’s best friend Will knocked on the door of their flat, and asked if he could crash there for the night. She agreed, wondering what brought him there (as he had no knowledge of Neil’s whereabouts, either). When he stayed there the next night, too, she asked him what the matter was, and he confessed that he needed a place to live. She’d always had a big sister mentality towards all of Neil’s friends and perhaps that was why he didn't have a problem confessing what had happened to him. She asked him if he wanted to live with them from then on, and he took time to think about it but he finally agreed. The day after that, Neil came home. Jade shook him by the shoulders and asked him where he'd been and what the matter was. he told her that he'd gone to France and all that had gone down there. She could hardly process everything - who was this Brianna McLaggen and why hadn't she heard of her and why did Neil ask her out immediately after sleeping with her? She was rather upset; this was Neil’s first serious relationship and she'd gotten used to her being the most important girl in his life. So she felt alienated and distanced herself a bit from him until he was ready to go back to Hogwarts. The day after Neil boarded the Hogwarts express, she got a letter dropping the bombshell. Brianna was pregnant with Neil’s child. Jade was in a state of shock for hours after she got the news and as soon as she recovered, wrote back to him, asking if it was really true and if he was sure. When he confirmed it, and told her not to tell anybody else, she was placed in a dilemma. She had no idea how to cope with this. All she could do was reassure Neil that everything would be all right, though she knew subconsciously that nothing would be all right anymore. Fast forward a few weeks and she got another shock, though a pleasant one this time. None other than Teddy Lupin entered her shop to have his robe mended. He vaguely recognized her, and they had a brief conversation, which contained lots of blushing and giggling (from her side) and flirtation (from his side). As he was leaving the shop, he paused and asked her on a date the next weekend. She was conflicted over the fact that teddy had once been engaged to her friend, Victoire, but since Vic was in France just then, she found no harm in accepting the date. The date went off well. Teddy took her to a Thai restaurant, and they talked a bit more, then ended up going on a walk through the streets of London at one o'clock in the morning. She was exhausted but happy, and realized that her feelings for him had just increased tenfold. Over the next few weeks, the two saw each other often and it almost became a routine for one to visit the other's workplace at least once in two days. One day in late September 2022, jade had gone to Ollivander's to meet teddy as usual. They had their usual chat, but in the middle, Teddy surprised her by kissing her suddenly. She was embarrassed and overwhelmed with all sorts of feelings. The two spent some more time together, and as jade left the shop, she realized that she'd just been asked out by one of her best friends' ex-fiancée. Of course she knew she'd never match up to Victoire, as she'd been reminded uncomfortably when she saw the picture of Teddy and Vic hanging in the small office teddy called his own. However, she reflected that the two had probably had time to work their issues out and Vic had moved on too, and so said 'yes' to Teddy. The two started dating, and it was the best relationship she'd ever had, especially as it was the first one she'd had since she'd gotten out of school. The next few months passed without much event, with her quite happy and content in the relationship. She was still worried, though, about how Neil and Brianna were handling her pregnancy, and when she wrote to Neil he replied that there'd been no word from Brianna and lately she wasn't to be seen at all around the school. She tried writing to Brianna two or three times, but she could never bring herself to send the owl - she didn't know the girl at all, and what was she supposed to say? In January 2023, there was a world of change once again. Toward the end of the month, teddy sent her an owl telling her he was breaking up with her. He covered it up with plenty of apologetic words, sure, but it left her devastated. She knew the breakup was coming sooner or later - she had prepared herself for it - but she hadn't expected it to be done this callously - by owl, not even in person! Had she really meant that little to Teddy? She kept a brave face on, though, and tried to find ways to cope. when she was in school and later on, her feelings for teddy were just a crush, a schoolgirl thing, or so she thought. over the course of their relationship, she found herself falling even harder for him, and that just made it worse when he broke things off so abruptly. She definitely still has a soft spot for him, but she’s trying her very best to push those feelings away. She got a letter from Neil in mid-March, telling her that Bri had aborted the baby without his knowledge. He was quite upset about this, and she was understandably shaken too, but she put on a brave face and encouraged Neil to do the same. She knew it was something easier said than done, but she really didn’t know what to do beyond that. The year after that passed without much event. Neil and Will graduated and began working, and though neither of them had got their desired jobs, they still seemed to be reasonably happy. Neil also got into a relationship with another girl, Ade. Jade disliked her at first, but now that she’s gotten to know her, she doesn’t think she’s quite so bad. Quite frankly, she’s just happy that Neil finally seems content. She also tried to reconnect with her mother several times during the past year, but she never once received a reply to the numerous owls she sent her. She hasn’t told Neil about this, though. Jade’s done a lot of growing up over the past few years, and is now much wiser and less naïve than she was. Currently, she’s staying focused on her job and on making sure that everyone she cares about is happy, and doesn’t really want anything more out of life. Well, a little excitement would definitely be nice… KITTY FIFTEEN GMT+4

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