Chapter 22: Chapter 22Summary:Severus and Jasmine bond...
Notes:(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter TextChapter 22
It took a few weeks for Jasmine to get the boys to stop hovering around her. It was sweet, but highly unnecessary. She could take care of herself. Even if she collapsed again, it wasn't going to kill her. Death needed her alive after all.
As it turned out, she had only fainted in front of Remus, no seizures had occurred. So, it seemed the stronger her magic was, the less of a reaction she'd have to being called by Death. Or, Theo being there changed the severity of her collapse. Her old partner in crime hadn't changed, he was still the same Slytherin that she had remembered. She wanted to know what he was going to try to negotiate with Death. If the Deity had made a magically binding promise to keep her, Blaise and Theo together through all her reincarnations…well, things could get interesting.
Either way, that was neither here nor there, and the Marauders weren't letting her out of their sight. Remus was the worst out of all of them, he was being a mother hen. He'd watch to make sure that she ate, that her homework wasn't giving her trouble, even going so far as to walk her to class every day. James and Sirius did the same thing, but not as often. She had never been so happy to be an overachiever, since that meant that she had a few hours a week away from them while in ancient runes, arithmancy and alchemy.
During their training with Flitwick for dueling they were on top of her, watching to make sure that she didn't lose her balance or stumble as they practiced against each other. Jasmine wasn't a fan of people crowding her and that included her friends. Even Lily, Marlene and Alice were treating her a differently. They tended to keep their cattier conversations out of earshot, as if upsetting her would cause Jasmine to faint right on the spot. She wouldn't be surprised if the Marauders told them to watch her.
"We thought that you had died, the way that Remus came dashing into the common room to get Potter and Black. I'd never seen Lupin that scared before. I thought he was going to murder Sirius for upsetting you. We just want to be careful not to have that happen again," Marlene admitted, playing with the end of her ponytail. Lily seemed to keep her at a slight distance, but kept an eye on her. Her red headed roommate seemed to be going through a rough patch of some kind as well, which worried Jasmine. The girl had received a letter from home the morning Jasmine had collapsed and had been quiet ever since.
The only person treating her like nothing had happened was Severus and Jasmine had never looked forward to potions more than she had in the past couple of weeks. The Slytherin hadn't had time to speak with her outside of class since the accident, but he hadn't been delicate with her during dueling practice and for that she was grateful.
"I heard that you almost died," Severus said halfway through this week's potion. It was a complex healing solution that they would be working on through the end of November. The two of them were working in sync, but there was time for talking between steps. So, while they were waiting sixteen and a half minutes for the potion to stew before adding in beetle juice, Severus decided to chat.
"It wasn't that bad. I was out of the hospital wing in less than a day. I hardly call that a near death trip," she replied with a good-natured nudge. Severus staggered slightly and glared at her, but it was halfhearted.
"No, it doesn't seem like it phased you at all," he drawled, brushing a strand of hair out of his face. Jasmine didn't understand why he just didn't tie it up. It wasn't like it was uncommon for purebloods to have their hair bound in some fashion.
"You almost sound disappointed," she teased, twirling her want between her fingers, ever few minutes casting a quick tempus to make sure they weren't getting side tracked. It was nice to have someone who was willing to at least joke about her condition. Everyone else took it so seriously. Though, she supposed that, if she didn't know why she kept having these fainting spells and seizures, she'd been as solemn as the Marauders.
"A few of the students in Slytherin had a betting pool on whether or not you were going to die."
Jasmine's wand twirling stopped. "That's rather morbid. I hope you bet that I would survive the night," she muttered, her arms crossed as she sat back, extremely put out by the entire situation. They'd been having fun up until this point.
Severus rolled his eyes. "You would have been happy to know that I did say that you would make it through the night, on the sheer fact that you've survived far worse. Regulus voted that you would survive as well. I'm not entirely sure what you did to gain his trust, but many Slytherin's follow what he does."
Jasmine rolled her eyes and gave him a small nudge. "Yes, well, I heard he had good counsel on who to talk to." She couldn't say outright that Severus had been the one to push Regulus to seek other means of communication with Sirius. Her friend had a tenuous relationship with the other Slytherins in his house, since he was a halfblood. She didn't want to make things worse for him.
"One as prestigious as Regulus Black needs to surround himself with intellectuals," he replied with a shrug.
"Speaking of intellectuals, have you spoken with Lily recently?" she asked, when the volume in the classroom picked up so that no one would over hear them. Jasmine might have also cast a muffling charm around them, so no one could eavesdrop.
Severus' eyes darted around the room, eventually settling on Lily, whose full concentration was on the potion in front of her. Though, she wasn't nearly as animated as normal and she wasn't even correcting Marlene when she did something that wasn't completely textbook. This was the liveliest that Jasmine had seen her all week. Severus was her friend, he had to have spoken to her.
"Why would I associate myself with a-"
Jasmine silenced him with a glare. Maybe that's why Lily had been writing home, asking her family what to do about Severus' shitty behavior towards muggleborns. Well, Jasmine was going to nip this in the bud here and now. "Finish that sentence in a racial slur and you can consider your negotiations with my family over. I know that you're friends with her. Get your head out of your arse. You're a halfblood, stop treating muggleborns like garbage and have some human decency," Jasmine spat as she calmly added in the last bit of ingredients right on time.
With the charm on around them, she wanted to look as calm as possible so no one would think to look twice at them, but with the horrific pasty white that Severus was turning she was worried that she'd have to walk him to the infirmary.
It took him a few moments to collect himself. "I don't know what your life was like before coming back to the UK, but the politics here are different. If I want to survive in Slytherin, I need to act and speak a certain way," he began, but Jasmine wasn't going to let this argument start. Theo had attempted this one in her second life, before he could keep his memories. It never worked with her, for obvious reasons.
"No, you don't. The politics here are outdated and archaic in some areas. The way that you treat muggleborns is criminal. Now, do I agree with extreme light wizards on removing everything that has to do with dark magic and its rules, no, but everyone that has magic deserves to be treated as a witch or wizard. Slytherin House is only going to be in your life for another two years, then houses no longer exist. You will keep some of your friends from your house, that I have no doubt, but the idea of being a bigot because your friends tell you to be one is a really stupid argument," she responded, her hands resting on the table, waiting for his rebuke, but it was as if someone slipped a rug out from under him.
Severus fidgeted in his seat for a moment, his lank hair draping his face to hide the slight blush decorating his cheeks. "I don't want her to get hurt because I'm seen with her."
A partial truth, one that Jasmine could see right through. "You care for her and you don't want to be hurt by your peers or her. You avoid her because you don't want those dumbasses you associate with to think your still friends, which hasn't worked. Everyone knows that your childhood friends. And, you don't want them to beat the living shite out of you for being near her. This forced separation is more for you than for her."
"You have no idea what you're talking about," he hissed. "You've only been going to school here for a few months."
Jasmine rolled her eyes. She knew more than anyone in this room. She was the bloody Master of Death. "I live with Lily. I hear her, Alice and Marlene gossip all the time. You would be surprised to know what I know about you, just from hearing them chatter for hours. You not talking to her, is killing her," she told him.
"It's better this way. I don't call her a mu- well you know."
"It doesn't excuse you if you refrain from it once in a blue moon and only for Lily. You're her closest friend and from what I understand, Lily doesn't have a lot of close friends. She got a letter from home a few days ago and she's been depressed over it. I had thought it was because you two had a fight or something and she was writing to her family about it…" But, with how distant Severus had made himself, Jasmine wonders if it was something else.
She didn't know much about the Evans family. Both of her grandparents had died a few years before Harriet Potter had been born. They had been victims of Voldemort in his quest to destroy all trace of muggleborns off the face of the map. He couldn't find Lily, so killing her mother and father had been the next best thing.
It was one of the many reasons, Jasmine had eventually found out in her fifth life, that Petunia never forgave her sister.
Severus put his head on the table, not near enough to the fire to burn his hair, but it was close. Jasmine sighed at his dramatics. "It could be something from her sister. I really should speak to her…"
"Apologies go a long way after you've been a git," Jasmine suggested with a shrug. She wanted Severus to make up with Lily. Honestly, they were good friends, and despite everything that Snape had done in the future, Jasmine knew this younger version wasn't the cold bastard of man that she knew. This Severus was still hopeful and that was all that Jasmine could ask for. Lily could change things for him, if they stayed friends, though Jasmine wasn't sure how that would work out if she started to date James. The red head had been sending James some doe eyed glances recently. Jasmine would tease her, but she didn't want to get hexed.
"I suppose you might be right. I'll need to be careful about meeting her. Crabbe and Goyle watch me every moment I'm out of the common room."
Jasmine rolled her eyes. She felt that the answer was rather obvious. How Severus had missed it as a Slytherin appalled her. "Regulus owes you for getting him into contact with me. Just ask him to either tell the guard dogs to stand down or just distract them for you. The two of them are dumb as dirt. It shouldn't be too hard to lock them in a room that they can't get themselves out of for a few hours."
He tapped the cauldron twice. Severus gave her his most scathing glare as he brought out his vials to store their potion in to show its progress. The color was perfect as was the constancy. At least they'd be getting another perfect score on their potion.
Later that evening Jasmine was in the dorms with Lily. They were the only ones in the dorm tonight. Marlene was tutoring seconds years in charms in the common room and Alice was "secretly" meeting with Frank in a broom closet on the fourth floor. So, the two of them spread all the books out on a rug that Lily added cushioning and a minor heating charms to and Jasmine had commandeered some snacks and transfigured some small objects into cutlery for Lily's impromptu dinner table quiz later in the evening.
Lily was pouring over another book about pureblood politics before they moved back to manners. The book that she had chosen was a pureblood favorite for their children. The book was simply called: "The Dos and Don'ts of Pureblood Culture" by Amel Gailson. The six-hundred-and-twenty-page novel was long and dense, but it covered a lot of what Lily was going to need to know about the wizarding world outside of Hogwarts. And, if she was still going to end up marrying James, she was going to need to be prepared for the role of Lady Potter. She hadn't needed to be prepared for a title in her past lives, James and Lily had died before any of that could happen in all Harriet's past lives.
Theo had suggested that she this read during her second life when she let the hat sort her into Slytherin for the first time. Theo, and eventually Blaise, had spent hours with her going over all sort of political and social skills she should have had mastered by the time she entered Hogwarts. Courtly grace and mannerisms didn't come naturally till some time in her fourth life. She drove her two pureblood friends up the wall, especially when they would come back and she would be clumsy again. It brought a smile to her face, not that Lily noticed, she was too busy reading about the different hierarchies of pureblood culture.
It was interesting teaching Lily. She was receptive to the basic rules and a lot of her questions weren't overly horrified at the way purebloods were expected to act. She respected the idea of pagan magic rituals, even if she didn't like them herself. She thought that the government was a mess, but so did Jasmine, and the two joked about the archaic laws surrounding women.
Jasmine was finishing off a small bowl of crisps when she heard Lily snort derisively, "Ladies are expected to make heirs and run the family home, while her husband makes all of the decisions?"
"I suggest that, if you do marry a pureblood lord, make sure that he doesn't expect that from you," Jasmine told her jabbing her crisp in Lily's direction for emphasis. "Merlin knows I'm not marrying until I know that I get to keep my family name and seat among the Wizengamots. I'll settle for nothing less."
Lily rolled her eyes and reached for small chocolate tart. "According to this book, you're never getting married and your line will die with you," she replied before sticking the tiny tart in her mouth.
Jasmine sighed. She had managed to marry in a few lives and those had always been her terms. No one was taking away whatever power she had to change the world with. "Well, I have no intention of letting someone tell me what to do and if that means I never marry, then so be it," she said with a shrug and Lily gave her a skeptical look, her green eyes disbelieving.
"You don't want to get married and have a family?"
And here was where the difference in time periods changed perspectives. The world might not be quite ready for Lady Jasmine Peverell, but Merlin damn it, she didn't give a shit. Jasmine was going to be the strong independent woman that she always was and if that made her seem mad, then so be it. She'd like to see someone try and stop her. She couldn't wait till she was old enough to enter the Wizengamots. They wouldn't know what hit them. "There are more pressing matters than settling down. My family has a magical obligation to settle with rising Dark Lords and Light Lords."
Lily looked confused for a moment before grabbing for a book that outlined family magics. Jasmine put her hand on the cover to stop her scrambling. "Certain families have to carry out duties that magic herself gave them to carry out. It is no secret that my family is known to be Lord Slayers. The stories like to claim that we were sent by Death himself to keep the balance of light and dark magics." Jasmine grinned as the next sentence left her lips, "while I find that to be a bit crazy, I know that all the Peverells of old have fought against many Dark Lords and Light Lords."
"So, you're going to fight against this rising Dark Lord…the one that's been killing muggleborns?" The poor girl looked terrified for her, but there was a determined glint in her eyes.
Jasmine nodded. "Naturally. I would be a failure to my family otherwise. I might be from a pureblood neutral family, but I don't condone shunning muggleborns and I'd rather end my own life than kill a muggleborn for their mere existence. Many of the laws that I want to change revolve around the way that muggleborns and halfbloods are treated," she admitted, playing with a strand of her hair and twiddling it between her fingers.
Lily rolled onto her back, red hair fanning around her like a pool of blood. Jasmine swore that there were tears at the corners of her friend's eyes. "I'm not sure how much you know, but I've been having some issues discussing my future plans with anyone, whether it's here or at home. Alice and Marlene tell me that I should be getting good grades, but looking for a husband. They've never lied to be about what I needed to do to fit into this society, but it just seemed odd to me. I haven't spoken to a lot of other girls with ambition to be something outside of a powerful witch with a powerful Lord as her husband. A career was always second to that. I want to be more than that. I want to a powerful witch, who has a career, a husband and children, in that order."
Jasmine wondered if she was going to steer Lily off the path of marrying James right out of Hogwarts, but then again, when she spoke to Sirius and Remus in the future, they had always said that got married because of the war. Her mother had been in the process of getting her charms mastery between order missions. It seems that her mother never stopped fighting stereotypes.
She rolled on her back next to Lily. "Then don't look for a husband," she said with a shrug, though it didn't really translate well when she was on the floor, "graduate at the top of your class, get a job and prove everyone wrong. That's what I plan on doing."
"You make it sound so simple."
"If I make it too complicated I make it seem impossible," Jasmine told her plainly. Lily swung herself up from her position on the floor.
"Let's do the impossible," Lily said a little breathlessly.
Jasmine held back a laugh at her enthusiasm. "First things first, groundbreaker, tell me how and when to use the flatware is transfigured."
Notes:I hope you enjoyed!
I should be able to post another chapter either later this weekend or next Friday.
I am cross posting this fic from my accounts on FF and Wattpad, where the work is complete.
Thank you to all the concerned fans that message me asking if this story has been stolen from various other platforms! =)
Fear not, it's me, animerocker646, I just use a different username here!
See you soon!
Chapter 23: Chapter 23Summary:We have some family drama up ahead.
Notes:(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter TextChapter 23
It wasn't until the last week in October that anything interesting occurred. Of course, it all happened on Halloween, everything bad always happened on the thirty-first. Jasmine swore that she had to be cursed. Well, she was already cursed by Death, but she supposed that Fate more than likely had a hand in the misfortunes in her life as well…
Everything had been normal, one could even say that the day started out great. Jasmine had finally received letter of thanks from both the Prince family and the Black family. Lord Prince's letter was a formal acknowledgement that he owed the House of Peverell a large favor, which she could use whenever she found convenient. Lord Black's letter was somewhat unexpected. She expected some kind of acknowledgement from the Black family eventually. She figured it was going to come from Sirius, never from Lord Black himself. It was dropped off by the Potter family owl, so she knew it wasn't cursed. Euphemia always made sure her mail was free of anything dangerous. The letter was written in a neat, unfamiliar, cursive:
Heir Jasmine Peverell of the Ancient and Noble House of Peverell,
I thank you for bringing my errant heir back to his senses. It has been sometime since our family has needed a neutral house to assist in personal matters, but your service will not be forgotten. The Peverell line is just as old as the Black family and we welcome you back to your homeland after nearly fifty years away.
Sirius, of course, had conditions to reestablishing his link to us and conditions for contacting you. He wouldn't be a Black if he didn't know how to negotiate the best possible deal. One of these conditions was to respect your house's neutrality as a grey family and avoid any desire to turn you to a darker way of thinking.
It was an interesting condition, one that was out of the question, regardless. He obviously respects your stance as a neutral family and your ability to walk the line between light and dark. I see no reason to upset a family that has maintained its neutral status since its inception centuries ago.
The other conditions, you can discuss with my heir.
My youngest has only spoken in your favor, claiming you are a snake in lions clothing, I hope to see this attitude in the coming months. The Most Noble and Ancient House of Black owes you a debt that we will repay, in full.
Best Regards,
Lord Black
Sirius had contacted his father after all and it seems that things hadn't blown up in his face. Honestly, Sirius seemed happier these past few days. Maybe being the heir his father wanted would make Sirius a slightly less hostile person if he wasn't under the impression that his entire family hated him. If anything, he'd at least be able to help her pass laws in the future. Between her, James and Sirius, they'd be taking Wizarding Britain by storm in a few years.
"What's got you so happy this early in the morning?" Marlene asked from across the table. Jasmine looked up from her reading.
"Oh, just some new business arrangements and family alliances that are falling into place," Jasmine replied coyly. She didn't want her private affairs going around the Hogwarts rumor mills. No doubt the Slytherins had seen at least one of the House Seals that were on the some of her letters. Jasmine would purposefully show family crests of those that she knew owed her money for those family to see. She liked making them sweat, but Jasmine didn't want anyone knowing about her tenuous alliance with the Black House, not until the timing was just right.
"Always so secretive," Alice teased from her right. The girl knew better than to even glance at Jasmine's legal work and letters. They all had encryption spells weaved into their parchment. All it would do would give her a headache.
"It's what keeps my affairs just the way I like them, private."
Lily was about to say something when she was interrupted by a bang from down the table, from the Marauder's end. Remus had stood up and stormed out, leaving behind a half-eaten breakfast and two confused friends. Both Sirius and James looked shocked as they watched Remus go.
Jasmine excused herself and made her way over to the boys. They both looked confused, but she knew that one of them had to have done something and she really doubted that it had been James. She had one hand on her hip. Her eye boring into Sirius because if anyone said something offensive enough to make Remus leave it would have been him. "What happened?"
Sirius put an insulted hand over his heart. "I'm going to pretend that you're not insinuating that this is my fault."
Jasmine raised an eyebrow, waiting for an explanation to the contrary.
James broke first. "It really isn't his fault, Jazz. Remus was just sitting there!" James exclaimed, hands motioning towards the crumpled copy of the Daily Prophet and a piece of bacon, half a slice of toast and a cup of lukewarm tea. Jasmine picked up the newspaper and waved it in front of the two Marauders.
"Could this have been what was upsetting him?"
Sirius wrinkled his nose. "Remus knows that the Daily Prophet is mostly rubbish. I doubt a gossip column would upset him."
Except, there wasn't gossip news on the front cover. It was a picture of Fenir Greyback. As Harriet, she had killed him more than once and she'd always relished his death.
The monster.
Jasmine read a bit of the article, trying to figure out if there was something else about this that set Remus off. Greyback had been spotted in Whales attempting to bite a young girl a few days ago. Greyback, even in the future, would cause Remus to storm out of a room and sulk for a few hours. His sire was a very touchy subject.
"Could this be what upset him?" Jasmine asked, turning the picture of a deranged Greyback, blood dripping from his maw and a sadistic grin on his face. It would strike fear and hatred across the UK and laws against werewolves would get stricter as Greyback caused more damage. Though from what Jasmine remembered from the future, Greyback was supposed to be training a new pack right now. He had gone into hiding for a few years and came out with one of the most powerful packs in European history. The monster had managed to accumulate a large group of children and turn them all sometime during the summer and fall months of this year. That didn't seem to have happened if was still trying to turn children.
Something had changed. Something she had done by existing…maybe Voldemort changed plans and needed his loyal dog to do some fear mongering. It wouldn't surprise her.
"Ugh, Greyback always gets Moony worked up. Want to help us talk to him, Jazz? You tend to put him in a better mood," James asked, as he stood from the table. It was nice to see the Marauders going to comfort each other. Jasmine enjoyed seeing what her father was like when he wasn't being an absolute prat.
She nodded, folding up the paper and placing it neatly back on the table. She gave a small wave to Lily, Marlene and Alice before excusing herself to go off with James and Sirius. "Sure. I'd hate to see Remus upset. He has enough to worry about on a regular basis."
She could feel a weighted stare at her back. It wasn't Severus, he'd left breakfast early…Regulus was further down the table and only paying attention to what was on his plate. She stretched her sight out and found that it was Brightbark. It was as if he was waiting for her to turn into a dark witch right in front of him. As if that was even possible.
The door to the hall closed and the two whipped out a very familiar piece of parchment the second they knew they were alone. It seemed that they had finally finished the map. "Is this they mysterious project that you had been working on?" Jasmine asked as she saw the map of Hogwarts materialize on the parchment.
The two grinned at her, "My dear, Jazz, feast your eyes on the greatest invention in Marauder history! This amazing creation has been appropriately dubbed "the Marauder's Map" see how Moony, Prongs and I made it. We figured that it was time that we showed you, since you're of our honorary fourth after Worm-Peter left our ranks."
Jasmine felt touched that they thought to include her in this. She knew what this map meant to them. "Does that mean I get a cute nickname too?" She couldn't help but tease and Sirius rolled his eyes and shoved her. His face heated up a little bit.
"We show you our greatest invention and you go and ruin the moment. Told Prongs we didn't need a girl in our group."
"And yet here we are," Jasmine said with a smirk.
James gave a quiet chuckle. "Enough, we need to focus on Mooney. The map says that he's in the astronomy tower. The prat is more than likely brooding up there."
"It isn't like you don't spend your Fridays up there thinking about Evans," Sirius quipped and James turned a lovely shade or red.
"Shut up, Sirius."
"What? Worried that your cousin is going to go back to the dorms and report your very obvious crush on Evans? A girl who you've asked out numerous times only to be rejected at every turn? It wouldn't be that surprising that you pine over her in your spare time as well," the Black heir replied with a shrug.
James' shoulders slumped a bit at the mention of Lily's constant rejections. Lily had been coming around to James' more mature attitude recently. "James, don't listen to Sirius. He enjoys being a git. Now, you didn't hear it from me, but Lily thinks that this new more mature James Potter is rather attractive. If you keep acting like a normal human being she might just ask you out. Now, let's find Remus."
There was a spark of something akin to hope in James' eyes for a moment before his cocky smile returned in full force. Jasmine dearly hoped that she hadn't made a grave mistake. "Jazz is right, let's get Moony."
It didn't take them long to find Remus. He was slumped over on the floor, head in his hands on the astronomy tower floor. His shoulders were shaking with near silent sobs. It didn't even seem like he noticed them come in. Jasmine felt her heart break, just a little bit. There weren't a lot of things that got her protective instincts going, but Remus was hurting, and no one hurt her friends.
The three of the made there way over to him slowly and his amber eyes lifted from under his fringe. They were red rimmed and he rubbed at them quickly to get any stray tears. Jasmine caught his hand first and pulled him into a hug that James and Sirius quickly joined. One of them lost their balance at one point and sent the four of them to the ground in a heap of limbs.
"Moony, mate, you should have said something," James complained in a strained voice as Sirius attempted to crush everyone from the top of the pile.
Remus pushed himself out from under James as Jasmine wiggled free. "There wasn't much to say, Prongs. That…monster…is still turning children into werewolves and there's nothing that I can do. He just continues to ruin people's lives and make people hate werewolves more than they already do. I already have no future, once I leave Hogwarts, that's it. No one is going to hire me. All of this," he motioned to the castle around him, "will be for absolutely nothing. No matter how good my grades are, everything I've done will be pointless because I have a furry-little-problem."
James and Sirius seemed left with nothing to say, but Jasmine wasn't going to allow this pity party to continue any longer. "Then don't work in the UK. There are plenty of other countries to work in that allow werewolves employment. Spain, France, Germany, and, surprisingly, The United States all have health care and job access for someone with your affliction. Has anyone spoken to you about those options?"
Remus shook his head and bit his lip. "I'd been told that I'm not allowed to leave the country."
Jasmine would bet money that Dumbledore told him that to keep a powerful, yet helpless ally at his disposal. Bastard.
"That's rubbish. There's no law forbidding you from leaving British soil. Whoever told you that is an arse. I'll figure out a way to get you the proper paperwork for a magical passport if you want. This way you don't have anyone asking you question about why someone your age would want one. I have some connections that wouldn't say a word about your illness when pushing the paperwork forward," she told him, pulling out a spare piece of parchment from her pocket and a muggle pen.
"What are you doing?" James asked, watching her quickly and succinctly write a letter of inquiry to her source. She knew that the goblins could easily get their hands on the paperwork. She had made a lot of money in the past few months for them and had already began inquiring about old vaults that owed her money. She had also laid the groundwork for quite a few soon to be worthwhile investments. The goblins liked her, as much as they could like any wizard or witch, so they'd be more than happy to help.
"I'm doing what no one else has ever done. I'm securing Remus a future. Merlin, you lot are dense if you think I'm not going to attempt to help a friend when I know how," Jasmine muttered, finishing her letter off with a flourish. The parchment magically folded itself when after she signed her name and disappeared.
"Jazz, you could get in a lot of trouble for this!" Remus exclaimed scrambling for where the letter used to be.
"Why would I get into trouble for helping you? You've done nothing wrong and I certainly haven't done anything go warrant suspicion. The forms should come in the mail in a few days. I'll have you fill them out," she replied. She wasn't taking no for an answer. There was no way for her get in trouble over this. The worst thing that could happen was that the ministry would never properly file it and Remus could never leave, but there were ways to move things forward.
"Jazz, call it back."
"Moony, enough. Jazz is helping you and I'm inclined to agree with her. I've never heard of any law binding magical creatures to their homeland. I'll go through back channels to get those papers pushed through. I'm the Heir to Ancient and Noble House of Black. I might as well use that title," Sirius interjected for once the serious heir that he could one day grow up to be.
James cleared his throat. "If you need anyone in the legal department to approve anything, my mum could speed the process up a little bit. She thinks of you like a son, Remus."
Jasmine could see Remus tearing up again. "You guys are ridiculous. You could be socially ostracized for associating with me."
Jasmine scoffed. "Please, with the amount of families that are in my debt right now, no one would dare touch me."
The three boys gaped at her and she gave them a mischievous smirk. "What do you think all those letter from Gringotts are about? The goblins aren't just giving me bank statements."
"Families owe you that much?" Sirius asked, brows furrowing, waiting for her to respond.
She nodded. "Yes, quite a few prominent light and dark families attempted to screw mine out of their money when Grindelwald rose to power. Suffice to say, all the assassins they hired didn't end my family line and now I'm here to collect, with interest."
James sucked in a breath. "How are you doing to be calling in these debts?"
She grinned, her sharp canines poking through. Ah, her plans that were starting to come to light. The government would start to feel the effects of her survival soon. "Most of the families can't even afford to pay me back, so I'll be calling in favors. No siding with or funding the new Dark Lord, if I find that they have been, I'll be calling in their debts in full whether they can pay or not, which would leave them homeless and their heirs would have to forfeit their titles and work for me till I deem their servitude done. The light families will be asked to remain neutral on all formal laws going forth in the Wizengamot. They've been too anti-dark and grey for my liking. If I can put a bit of a strangle hold on the courts I might be able to control what laws can be passed."
James and Remus seemed appalled, but Sirius was contemplative and a bit nervous. He tapped his chin in thought for a few moments before turning to face Jasmine. "I should set up a meeting with you and my father. I think that you two could benefit from a face to face encounter."
Jasmine heard James suck in a breath and Remus was white knuckled at the mention of the Black family.
"Pick a time and date. I'd enjoy meeting your family. Alliances are always better when I can speak to the head of the family face to face."
"How are you a Gryffindor?" James asked, nose wrinkling at the mere thought of a political meeting.
Jasmine shrugged, "The hat claimed the other houses would be too boring for me."
Sirius howled with laughter.
Notes:Thank you for reading!
I hope you enjoyed it.
Sorry I've been busy with grad school and haven't had time to repost.
Chapter 24: Chapter 24Summary:Some conflict comes to a boil...
Notes:(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter TextChapter 24
The autumn breeze slowly turned into a winter chill as October faded into November and then froze into an icy December. Time seemed to pass quickly and Jasmine, for the first time in ten lives, was having a fairly normal term, all things considered. Jasmine spent most of her time revising or dueling, which was fine with her. Every moment spent studying was worth its weight in gold for when she had to start actively fighting Death Eaters again. Though, Christmas was coming up. She had never spent Christmas with her family before. In her other lives she had spent it with Hermione's family, Sirius, and with Theo and Blaise in Italy with his mother, but never with her own biological family. She had already bought presents for all of her friends and could honestly say that she was excited to head home. There was no crazed killer out to get her, nor was there something in the castle trying to murder everyone in sight. She only had to deal with Brightbark's occasional bigoted comment and Dumbledore's glares during meals, but that was it.
The dueling tournament she was supposed to be training for was in the middle of February, so Flitwick was having them practice four days a week in between quidditch practices. Honestly, Jasmine hadn't been this sore in quite a few lives. At least she knew that she was going to be in fantastic shape for the tournament.
She wanted to win this tournament so badly. It would make Dumbledore and Brightbark froth with rage when they'd have to congratulate her. Jasmine also had a few bones to pick with Dumbledore over Remus. There were a few road small road blocks that she had to circumvent to get her friend's visa that shouldn't have existed. The political strings that had been pulled to keep him in the country were astounding, and since only a handful of people knew about Remus' condition, Dumbledore could be the only culprit. She was lucky she was in goblins good graces. The Goblins had been profiting from her investments and had been helping her out in any way that they could, so long as gold kept coming in for them. Jasmine might have recommended another very profitable stock to invest in that had tripled in value in November, so they owed her a favor or two. Remus' paperwork was pushed forward through the bank, and then with the help of James and Sirius' connection, had gone through without a hitch before December even started. The werewolf was now looking outside the UK for jobs and was finding that his future wasn't quite as bleak as he'd originally thought.
"Peverell, keep your head in the duel. I don't care how easy you find this!" Professor Flitwick shouted from across the platform as Jasmine absently dodged another stray spell from Lily, who was attempting to win a duel against her. Evans' form had gotten better and she was a quick study, but there were certain forms that only time would be able to teach her. At least with this club active she'd have a better chance of surviving the upcoming war.
Jasmine sighed and with a side step and a flick of her wrist Lily was on the ground winded. The red head rarely guarded her left side and was always a few seconds too slow when avoiding hexes and curses from that angle. Jasmine had attempted to point it out, but it usually just ended in heated glares.
It was like that with everyone at this point. None of them had been able to best Jasmine and it was beginning to frustrate all of them to the point where they didn't want to even attempt to stand across from her on the platform. It wasn't like she could help it, Jasmine had years of training under her belt and they all knew it thanks to Brightbark, but it seems that actually showing her dueling talent and hearing about it were two different things. Letting them win wasn't going to solve anything either, it would just cause Flitwick to yell at her for not trying.
Lily groaned from the ground and Jasmine offered her a hand, which she thankfully took. "Ms. Peverell, how were you able to disarm Ms. Evans so quickly?"
Jasmine took a deep breath, she wasn't going to hear the end of this for weeks and she knew it. "Lily's left side tends to be open after an attack, so I used that against her. She had been slowing down progressively while I waited her out on my end."
"Thank you for sharing, Ms. Peverell. Next time, don't play with you opponent, it is not only rude, but a waste of everyone's time," he reprimanded and Jasmine did her best to look embarrassed about it. Honestly, she just wanted to get back to her room to pack, just like everyone else did.
Flitwick seemed to realize that no one was focusing. It was the day before they were about to leave for the Christmas Holidays after all. "Why don't you all go to your dorms for the evening. Obviously, none of you are thinking straight."
Jasmine heard Flitwick laughing from her blindside as he watched the mass of students rush to the door. She noticed that he was moving towards her, but she didn't react, couldn't really, he was on her blind side. "Ms. Peverell," he gently touched her arm and she turned towards him, his eyes kind, "have a good holiday, you deserve it."
Jasmine bowed her head and smiled. "Thank you, Professor. I hope you have a lovely holiday as well," she replied before making her way towards the common room. The walk about was quiet, almost eerily so. The ghosts weren't even mulling about in the hallways. She picked up her pace, every instinct she had was telling her to get away from this place. She stretched her sight out as far as it could reach. There was movement in her blind spot and she could hear more than one person surrounding her.
An ambush then.
She ducked as spell sailed over her head, hitting a set of armor and partially melting the arm. It seemed that someone was trying seriously injure her. Great.
"Peverell, the Dark Lord has a message for you!" One of them called as another hex, a blasting hex, crashed into the wall next to her.
Jasmine straightened, pushing her sight all around her and realized that there was at least six of them and she recognized a few of the as fifth, six and seventh years from all houses. There were Slytherins in the group, one was Rabastian Lestrange and another Avery Sr. There were two Ravenclaws and a Hufflepuff. Jasmine was just happy that she didn't see any Gryffindors, she'd hate to hurt a member of her own house.
"I'm not interested in anything your Dark Lord has to say!" Jasmine shouted back, firing a few of her own curses, blasting back one of her attackers into a wall. There was a grunt and a distinct lack of movement. Hopefully, he wouldn't be getting up anytime soon.
"Do you really think that you have a choice in the matter?" Avery sneered, she couldn't see him with her good eye, but she sensed his wand arm raising to cast a rather vicious curse her way. There were two people directly behind her.
They really should have thought this through better…
So, Jasmine ducked right as a purple jet of light crashed into the blonde Ravenclaw that had his arms out in an attempted grab at her. As she straightened herself, pivoting every so slightly, Jasmine stunned the Hufflepuff girl before she could even blink. A few more curses were exchanged, Jasmine dodging out of the way of all of them.
She was beginning to feel a bit tired. She had been at dueling practice for the past few hours, they'd planned their time of attack well. No one would be looking for her, all her friends would be packing their trunks for the holidays. Lily would look for her eventually when she didn't return right away, but that would be a few hours from now at least, since she'd more than likely assume she was with the Marauders. More than enough time for this little group of soon to be Death Eaters to seriously injure her.
The common room wasn't that far away…she had been so close. A blasting hex grazed her shoulder, sending her skidding a few meters back and into a wall hard enough to wind her. Damn, Flitwick was right, she needed to keep her focus during duels. Jasmine regained her senses in just enough time to duck as a hand reached out to grab her neck.
What was their end goal here? To scare her, capture her, or kill her? "Come here, you little blood-traitorous-whore," Rabastian snarled and Jasmine had to fight an instinctive urge not to stab this man. Jasmine had been a dueling expert with daggers and small knives. The patrons enjoyed watching the children draw blood from their opponents without magic. Jasmine had been very good at that type of combat. She knew that wouldn't be a good idea here. Dumbledore would find a way to expel her over this if he thought that she had driven a sword through any of his precious homicidal students. No matter how appealing the idea was at the current moment.
It probably wouldn't win her any points with the purebloods she needed to woo in her near future either.
She eventually got a solid hit on the last Ravenclaw, which just left two of the most notorious future male Death Eaters to ever live…bloody brilliant.
They were circling her at this point, both of them breathing just as heavy as she was. Two on one had better odds if they could surround and grab her. Jasmine was nearly positive that one of her ribs was at least cracked, if not broken and that her left shoulder was dislocated. She could feel blood running down the side of her face near her left eye. Though, it was more than likely from a shallow cut, head wounds tended to bleed a lot.
They both jumped at her at once. She avoided Avery, but Lestrange went low and knocked her legs out from under her. Jasmine didn't care if it was muggle fighting, she kicked him as hard as she could, anywhere she could, at his face, legs, groin and even his hands, but both of these boys were over a head taller and much heavier.
Her wand clattered to the floor and rolled just out of reach. Which, honestly, wasn't that much of a problem. Jasmine could still use wandless magic, but she didn't want to show all of the tricks that she had up her sleeve.
Lestrange had her pinned at the waist and Avery had her hands restrained. "Now, what do are we going to do with you, now," Avery mocked, grabbing a fist full of her hair and forcing her neck back to look at him. She snarled, not giving him the satisfaction of showing any kind of fear. It wasn't as if she hadn't been in these kinds of situations before.
Jasmine spat at his face, leaving a glob of saliva and blood running down his cheek, which was an apt response, given the situation.
Avery brought a hand up and curled it into a fist. "I'm going to making your face even more undesirable. Maybe this time they'll just put you down like the freak you are," he snapped and Jasmine was about to lash out at them with the fury of a Master of Death scorned, but she was interrupted.
Pity.
"Oi!" A familiar voice shouted and quite a few jets of light came flying down the corridor, one knocked Avery off of her, which gave her just enough movement to kick Lestrange hard enough in the face to break his nose and, as he wavered, she gave him a solid punch to temple, knocking him out.
Three people came rushing down the corridor. One being Lily, another Alice and a third Frank Longbottom. He looked startlingly like Neville in the dim torchlight. Jasmine had never taken the time to really see Frank. She had heard a lot about him from Alice, but other than that, he was a seventh year and Jasmine had little to no interactions with him. No wonder Augusta treated Neville like her dead son, they had the same build and stature, but the face was different…Frank was sharp where Neville always tended to be softer. He got that from Alice.
All three of them were taking in the scene before them. Six, now seven bodies lie unconscious on the ground with Jasmine being the only survivor.
"You bastard! How dare you! Detention with McGonagall for five weeks with potential for suspension for all of you. Just wait till she finds out why I gave this kind of punishment!" Lily screamed, as she shoved Avery's now very unconscious body to the ground. Lily's hair almost looked like it was on fire at this point, it was raised about her head due to the magic hanging in the air from her rage. This was not the bookworm that Jasmine had come to know, this was why Lily Evans had avoided being captured by Tom Riddle for so long. She was a pure spit fire when she needed to be, like when her friends were in danger and Jasmine felt touched that she qualified.
"Lily, I don't think he can hear you," Jasmine mumbled as she grabbed her wand from the floor where she'd dropped it, leaned against the wall and let out a long held in sigh of relief. At least that was over. She quickly stunned her group of attackers, if they hadn't been already. She'd want them ready for easy transport and didn't want them getting away without some kind of punishment.
Alice rushed over to Jasmine, her wand pointed at the sluggishly bleeding cut near Jasmine's eye as attempted to mend it. "Oh, we're going to need to take you to Madam Pomfrey," she fretted, and Jasmine heard her slap Frank's arm since he seemed a loss as to what to do. "Help me lift her up."
Jasmine let him pull her up slowly, using his shoulder to rest on for support. She hissed when they jarred her injured shoulder and side. When they tried to start walking to the Hospital Wing Jasmine shook her head. "No, take me to Dumbledore, call the Professors and get James. This was an attack, I'm not letting the Administration hide this," she said as confidently as she possible could as injured as she was.
"What would Potter-"
"James would be able to get my legal guardian to the school faster. He's also one of my only remaining relatives, Lily. Just please don't fight with me right now," Jasmine replied, her tone tired and voice slightly hoarse.
Alice and Frank shared a look over her shoulder, but Lily sighed. "Fine, it's probably best to get these arse-holes to Dumbledore anyway. I'll get the Heads of Houses up here too. Potter and his merry band will join you shortly."
"Lily, I only asked for James."
She snorted. "Well, I've come to realize that they're a package deal, Jasmine. I doubt any of them are going to let you have a moment of peace," Lily replied as she jogged back towards the common room.
~*~
It was a slow walk to Dumbledore's office. Jasmine needed to stop every few minutes to catch her breath. She could tell that Frank and Alice were starting to lose patience with her. The sound of thunderous feet and shouting alerted Jasmine that the Marauders had caught up to her. James was leading the small group, all of them a little out of breath and all had matching looks of concern on their faces, especially as they took in Jasmine's less than ideal state of health. "Jazz! What happened? Lily said that you got into a fight?" Her cousin asked, as Sirius and Remus came up next to her and sized up her injuries.
Frank and Alice were shuffling from foot to foot, obviously unsure of what to do with the three newest members added into this debacle. Jasmine turned to Frank and Alice. "Why don't you two go and watch over the arses that did this to me. No doubt someone is going to come to collect them," she offered and the two gave small nods and left her to the Marauder's mercy. Lily was going to have Alice's head later when she found out, but that wasn't really Jasmine's problem.
"Prongs, we've got a dislocated shoulder," Remus surmised, tapping a finger to his chin in thought bringing Jasmine's focus back to the trouble making trio.
James raised an eyebrow. "Do we now? Sirius, assume the position!"
She felt Sirius grab her around the middle.
What they hell were they going to do?
"James!"
"Stay still, Jazz!"
Her head swiveled to her cousin to snap at him, but an audible pop was heard as Remus, the prat, put her shoulder back into place with practiced ease. With her good hand she smacked James. He had the decency to flinch at the contact. She hoped it bruised. He could have warned her first!
Jasmine let out a small squeak as her feet were swept out from under her and Sirius' shaggy hair filled her vision. He was careful of her entire left side as they made their way towards the Headmaster's office.
Well, she couldn't be more mortified if she tried.
"Put me down! I can walk!" She protested to no avail. She could curse them to hell and back and they knew it, but Jasmine wasn't in the mood to deal with actually walking to Dumbledore's office and up all those stairs with an injured arm and rib.
Instead of continuing to complain, she explained what had happened, what Avery and Lestrange had tried to do, how she had stopped the majority of their little Death Eater in training brigade, and she told them how Lily, Alice and Frank had essentially saved her. She didn't want to talk about her rather impressive repertoire of wandless-wordless magic that almost had its tenth life debut.
"You managed to knock out three seventh years using basic defense spells?"
"You punched Rabastian in the face!"
It was easy to tell what Remus and Sirius focused on during her story. They were such different people and it warmed Jasmine's heart to know that someone thought that her spell work and her hand to hand combat skills were impressive. "Well, they didn't seem to expect disarming charms and stunning spells. Lestrange certainly didn't see that punch to the face coming. The prat probably didn't even think muggle combat could hurt him."
She felt Sirius' chest vibrate with laughter. "If Prongs, Moony and I had been there, they wouldn't have known what hit them," Sirius muttered, serious for the moment.
Jasmine gave him a pat on the chest. "Well, you weren't so I suppose that it's for the best. It would have been a pain explaining how to reverse all the spell damage you would have caused them."
She felt him shrug and heard Remus snort. "You aren't wrong. Pomfrey has asked us for "cures" to our pranks before."
James gave a laugh from her right. "Yea, Moony, remember the itching powder that turned into skin dye the moment that anti-itch paste was applied to it?" James asked fondly, lightening the mood considerably as they reached the gargoyle that would lead them the Dumbledore.
Notes:Sorry for the lack of updates. I have been very busy with school.
The semester is coming to an end.
Thank you for all the comments and kudos recently.
See you all soon,
~SugarPhantom