Chapter 52: Chapter 52Summary:The end to Jasmine's birthday...
Notes:(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter TextChapter 52
The rest of the day continued in a similar vein. Theo had introduced himself to everyone on his own terms, shaking hands and speaking through his physical, yet magical, connection. The shocked looks he'd received no doubt made the draining use of magic worth it. Theo always had a flare for the dramatic.
Lily had latched onto him to get every detail she could about how his particular brand of magic worked, much to Blaise's never ending amusement. Jasmine had gotten more than one pleading glance from her longtime friend over her roommate's insatiable curiosity.
It was fun to see Blaise and Theo interact with her close friends from this timeline. They were both so cautious when approaching them. It must be odd seeing a bunch of people you knew as dead, standing right in front of you, as teenagers no less. Regulus, Severus, Blaise and Mikhail seemed get along as Theo was passed around the room, since everyone seemed to want to speak to him through his particular magical abilities.
Sirius kept poking him to see how far his ability worked, if it was just concentrated in hands or if it was all of him.
Horrifyingly enough, Blaise struck up a conversation with Monty that had to do with potions. Now, Blaise only used potions for one thing, and one thing alone, mayhem.
Monty seemed to think Blaise was a mad genius when it came to explosives, something Jasmine was truly terrified of. Blaise was already a pyro without encouragement from an adult, something that she and Theo had discouraged immensely over their past nine lives. And, now, he had an enabler.
As Harri she had been the most magically destructive one in the group. Her casting ability could level moderate cities, if given the opportunity. Blaise…was creatively destructive on a scale that worried Harri during her early lives and intrigued her in her later ones. Though, combine his ideas with some of Monty's and the Marauders' and things could get dangerous very quickly.
There were a few hushed whispers between Monty, Blaise and Theo, well, between Monty and Blaise. Theo was gesturing rather wildly, but Monty seemed to be getting the general gist of what he meant.
Euphemia looked as exasperated as Jasmine felt.
The party ended with most everyone going home. Mikhail made a swift exit from the floo to the magical hotel he'd be staying at for the next day or two while his parents finished out a deal with a muggle company. Right before he left Mikhail pulled her aside, "You, me, and your two American friends are going to have fun tomorrow."
She rolled her eyes, and looked over towards Blaise and Theo, who seemed to be listening to their conversation. "We'd be more than happy to show you how to have fun. You Europeans are disgustingly Medieval in your magic arts," Blaise replied with a smirk that only spoke trouble.
Theo gave a brief nod, which got a small whoop from Mikhail before giving her a hug and a small shout of "see you tomorrow" before vanishing into the flames.
Severus was the second person to leave, he made sure that he wasn't the first one to go, but he obviously had been waiting for an opportunity to excuse himself from the party. Jasmine gave him a tight hug and told him not to be a stranger, which caused him to turn an odd shade of red before he made himself disappear.
Remus, who was looking a bit peaky, since it was close to the full moon, took a chunk of cake home with him. Jasmine had made sure the cake was chocolate, just for him. She knew he had been having a rough go of it with his parents as of late. The three of them were always fighting over his career paths. Remus was looking outside of the country for work, but his father wanted him to stay within the country in case something happened here.
Honestly, his father seemed to want Remus to fight in the upcoming war. Jasmine wasn't a fan of that line of thinking at all. No parent should want their child to join a senseless war against a dark lord. Remus was a gentle soul, werewolf or not. His mother seemed to be on Remus' side, she was constantly sneaking him books and magazines about international wizarding jobs. "Come back in a week or two. I miss having your level head around. I can only take so much of Sirius and James' insanity," she teased, giving him a small nudge to the ribs.
The aforementioned Marauders scoffed, hands were over their hearts, clearly insulted. Remus' amber eyes gave them one skeptical glance over. "Just try not to maim them while I'm away. If I survived five years of living in a dorm with them, you can make it a week or so."
Jasmine wasn't so sure sometimes. Sirius didn't even live here fulltime, but Merlin he and James were exhausting when they were together. It was a constant pool of energy between the two of them and without Remus to buffer their more…insane ideas, things tended to get out of hand. Well, James very much takes after Monty in his ability to make just about anything explode without trying and Sirius only eggs him on.
"If the house collapses or bursts into flames, Remus, I will be blaming you," she warned as he exited through the floo with a smile on his face.
Lily and Alice left close to dinner since Alice's mum was going to make sure that Lily got home safe and in a not too magical way. Her parents lived in a very muggle neighborhood. "Well, see you in a week, right?" Lily asked, large green eyes bright and almost pleading. Jasmine couldn't say no to that. Marlene would be there, but Lily was her friend and it was just for a day.
"I'll be there, Lily. I told you that already. You know I want to see Alice attempt to use the metro just as much as you do."
The red head jumped up and down and grabbed Jasmine's hands. "I know. I was so worried that you would change your mind with Marlene being ridiculous and with your guardian getting sick. I'm just glad that I still get to see you."
It wasn't like Jasmine was dying, but then again, many magicals tend to forget their more muggle friends during the holidays. Jasmine wondered how often her magical friends blew Lily off in favor of going somewhere with less muggles. Jasmine wasn't going to be that person.
Regulus and Sirius were the last to leave, much to Regulus' chagrin. Sirius was giving James his fifth hug goodbye when the Regulus grabbed him by his ear and dragged him towards the floo.
"Father expected us home over an hour ago. I don't feel like having him storm Potter Manor because you can't let your friend go."
Sirius held his hands out towards James, but let himself be dragged back by his younger brother. "Happy Birthday, Jazz! Prongs, I'll never forget you!"
The two disappeared into the fire. Jasmine could swear she could hear Regulus' eyes rolling.
"And you wonder why people think you two are dating each other," Jasmine muttered just loud enough for her cousin to hear.
She could see his neck turning red at the snickers from everyone else left in the room.
"They aren't dating? You could have fooled me…" Blaise muttered and Theo was silently laughing next to him.
"He has a very obvious crush on Ms. Lily Evans, though, she won't give him the time of day and it's been slowly driving him into Sirius' arms for years," Euphemia replied with a smirk. James squawked and threw himself dramatically on the sofa nearest him.
"You're all traitors!"
~*~
It was later that evening when Blaise and Theo snuck into Jasmine's room. Ro was napping on the windowsill overlooking the backyard. The moon was nearly full, only another two days, but it was still bright enough to give some light to her rather dim room. Blaise waved a hand and the candles in the room lit themselves.
Show off.
"Euphemia was watching us all evening to make sure we didn't do anything untoward. She's rather overprotective considering you could probably kill a grown man with your bare hands. It's adorable to see an authority figure dote on you," Blaise commented, silently closing the door behind him. Theo was carrying two small wrapped packages in his hands. He held them out to her a small smile playing at his lips, pulling at the rather gruesome scars running from his chin down his throat.
He had told her that a vicious fight had taken his voice from his original host. It was a fight that originally killed both Theo and Blaise's hosts, but Death had granted the twins a twisted boon in order to get revenge on the people that murdered them. Sending two of the most powerful wizards of the next century to finish a blood-feud, well, one couldn't really ask for more.
But, as Theo fidgeted with a small wrapped package it was hard to remember that he could kill someone using a spell without uttering a word.
"Happy Birthday. We'd been meaning to hand you your real presents all day."
Jasmine resisted the urge to laugh. Yes, their original gifts that she opened with everyone else's were all rune-based books, and a very well-crafted warding crystal, but they weren't very Blaise and Theo like gifts. Those tended to either be very intricate or very volatile, and mostly illegal.
Theo tossed her the first one, it was light, and it rattled gently from within with packaging. She gently tore the paper away to reveal a small box, inside was a dreamcatcher, simple enough in its design and it seemed old, she didn't have nightmares like she used to. It only took a moment for her to feel it, but there was magical rolling off the small trinket in waves.
She raised an eyebrow at the two of them. "The original way to make them is a secret, but it's a long standing, but dying art. It was considered witchcraft by colonizers, but this will ward off any unwanted intruders while you sleep. You mind will always be safe from harm when you are at your most vulnerable. Dreamers were powerful enemies to our tribe at least. Magic works a bit differently in the states," He replied, sitting at the edge of her bed, his scarred hands running through his hair.
Theo shuffled a bit from her right and signed as he spoke. Jasmine wondered if it was out of habit or in hope that she would be able to pick up the language faster. "What Blaise isn't saying, is that he made it with you in mind. It will only work for you. The magic behind its creation is sacred, something I don't have the ability to do any longer. It was an interesting process to watch."
Blaise jabbed his thumb towards Theo, leaning back on the bed, a picture of ease. "He's just upset he didn't get to help, it required actual speech. The second gift was all him."
The next gift was much heavier, but in the same sized box. What slid out was slab of expertly carved gemstone in the shape of a hawk in flight. It was multiple shades of a deep amber. Jasmine could see hundreds of runes etched on every surface. She had never seen anything like it, she didn't recognize any of the runes, but she could feel the magic. It was pure and very powerful.
"What is this?" Her fingers traced the patterns on its wings reverently.
"That is what is going to find the horcruxes, since so many of them could be anywhere right now. The worst thing about living in the past, we have no idea where over half of those blasted things are," Blaise answered with a toothy grin, and Jasmine bit her lip. She hadn't really been focusing on the horcruxes yet. She didn't find a point in attempting to steal any and tip of Tom that someone knew what he had done. Though, to have a device that could locate them…It would save so much time in the years to come.
They had tried everything to find or create a device to locate horcruxes in the past, to no avail. To think, they had needed to go to the past the entire time.
She pulled them both into a loose hug, her arms barely managing to wrap around both their shoulders. Theo perched himself precariously close to the edge to make sure that Jasmine could wrap her arms around them. Blaise made no effort to move.
"You two actually managed to figure it out? We've been looking for this for six…no seven lives and you managed to find it in less than a year? Even better, you two know how to make them" She whispered, just in case her cousin was listening outside her room.
James was nosy on good days and horrifically invasive on others. She didn't need him overhearing their conversations, family or not. She wasn't supposed to tell people that she was the Master of Death, other than her closest confidants. It tended to end badly for her or for the people involved. Death was rather possessive.
"Yes, well, despite Death being less than helpful in separating us. Having Blaise and I as part of a culture we'd never had access to has opened our eyes to an entirely new branches of magic, which I'm pretty sure died out by the time we were born not too far down the road," Theo responded, rubbing the back of his neck a bit sheepishly.
Yes, the plight of the magical Indigenous People in the Americas hadn't been something Harriet Potter had really paid attention to until she realized how deep their magic went into repelling and banishing dark forces. "Modern" witches and wizards considered the practices to be archaic and inherently evil. As Harriet she had disagreed, but there wasn't much she could do, she had only just gotten into the international scene and she only wanted to know more about their magic.
Which, looking back on that now, seemed rather shallow and seeing as how her two best friends are going to be fighting for their right to exist for the rest of their lives, Jasmine was going to need to help them in every way she could. If that meant getting involved in international human rights movements, so be it.
"How does it work?" Jasmine was itching to look for references to each and every rune carved into this figure.
"One of us will need to be present. It requires a special brand of magic that is taught to our people." Blaise said with a shrug that gave no room for argument. Jasmine understood, there was magic that she learned in ring that she would never teach another person unless they had lived in the same circumstances she did.
Theo wiggled a finger with a teasing smile gracing his usually stoic features, "No outsiders."
She resisted the urge to scoff at the fact that these two were just as much outsiders as she was, but decided to just roll her eyes instead. She placed the little trinket on her nightstand, which was warded up and down to keep people and an assortment of magical creatures from touching anything on top of it.
"I'll keep in close. Are you two excited to see what Mikhail has planned? I doubt it was the first thing on your mind when you came to visit. I know Mikhail and he probably just wants to have some kind of duel," Mikhail had honestly surprised her as well when he asked to come back. She wouldn't be surprised if he challenged them to a duel.
Blaise sat on her bed, running a hand through his dark hair. "It's hardly the first thing we're usually asked, but I don't find it an unpleasant thought to duel against a worthy opponent. Mikhail seems talented, I just have no idea what rule set he would want." They wouldn't know any of the rule sets that her friend did. The rule set that Mikhail and Jasmine were familiar with were rather old and rarely used in even when they were new.
She bit her lip. Jasmine had forgotten to explain what the rules would mean for them. "Yes, he'd probably want pit rules. It was what we all used during practice matches when we were back in the dueling ring. Magic and weapons are permissible, but no wands allowed and no one is aiming to kill or maim. Drawing blood is alright, but not enough to permanently damage anyone. It's a bit more violent than the tournament, but that's the way the pit was. Mikhail is an expert with swords and throwing knives. I'd watch for those," she replied, rubbing the back of her neck as the two of them just stared at her.
It seemed that they forgot what the original Jasmine Peverell went through. Their shock was obvious, by their widened eyes.
"That sounds…like an interesting challenge. Will we be fighting against you and Mikhail?"
Jasmine pursed her lips. While that would be the obvious choice, that didn't seem fair to either party. Blaise and Theo had their twin thing going on and Mikhail and Jasmine had known and fought together in the ring for years. She honestly didn't trust herself or Mikhail not to get overly violent if they fought on the same team. They hadn't been away from that life long enough. She didn't want to hurt Blaise or Theo because she felt like she was back with the Chesters.
"No, I think we're going to need to mix things up to make it fair and that is going to make the duels just that much more interesting."
Blaise put his head in his hands, a Cheshire like grin adorning his face. "Tell me more about the teams for tomorrow."
Merlin, this was going to be a hassle to pull off without the ministry knowing.
Notes:I hope you enjoyed!
Leave your comments and kudos below!
~SugarPhantom
Chapter 53: Chapter 53Summary:Magic and lore...
Notes:(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter TextChapter 53
Jasmine had ended up speaking with Blaise and Theo fairly late into the night. It wasn't often that they got to speak face to face and every moment mattered. Though, around one in the morning, they figured they should call it quits, there was no point in being exhausted in the morning, for whatever Mikhail had planned for them. Not to mention that she didn't want her guardians catching her alone with two boys in her room. That would cause a bit too much trouble for her tastes.
It wasn't long after Jasmine closed her eyes, did she wake to the feeling of ice-cold fingers caressing her face. It only took a moment for her vision to adjust to the dimly lit street lamps in this nondescript park and for Death's hooded figure leaning over her to come into focus. Both of her eyes were working here, her hands ran through her hair, it was cut short, how she had always kept it as Harriet Potter.
She was dreaming or convulsing in her bed, either one was a distinct possibility.
Death had come to speak with her personally. What a great way to spend her night.
The Deity had a candle in one hand that he held out towards her face. There was no cake underneath, it was just a plain, melting, white wax candle.
The gesture clearly signaled 'blow it out' especially when Death nearly stuck the bloody thing under her nose. There was no heat to it, there wasn't a moment where Jasmine was worried she'd be burned, signaling that she was, indeed, dreaming.
She let out a quick sigh, snuffing the flame out. The candle disappeared into the void a moment later. Death was satisfied with her response, for the moment.
How kind of him to remember her birthday.
"Humans usually bring a cake along with the candle," she reminded him, sitting up on the bench she had been laid out on. Death's cloaked figure remined a looming presence next to her.
"I've been to enough birthday parties to know how they're supposed to look. Though, no one is smiling when I'm in attendance. There is usually a lot of screaming and crying," Death replied, their tone was flat and held room for no arguments.
She let out a small huff of a laugh. "How morbid of you. Is there a reason you brought me a candle? You've never done it before."
There was a barely perceivable shrug, just the barest of movements in their shoulders. "I wanted to congratulate you on saving at least thirty family lines in a year. It is an impressive feat considering what you are up against."
Straight to business then. "Ah, so you're giving me a candle for something I've been doing for nine other lives?" She asked, her bottom lip protruding in a put-out pout.
"You've never done your job well enough to warrant a gift of any kind, such is my failure of a master."
She shot forward, finger pointed at the Deity's chest. There was a lot Death could have insulted her with, but her work ethic was top notch. As Harriet she had tired over and over again to save as many people as possible and, granted, it didn't work because of the short time frame, she did not deserve that kind of talk from Death.
"You and I both know that's a bunch of shit. Now, explain why you called me here," She snapped, as she stretched her arms over her head and away from the unmoving Deity. Her sixteenth birthday was always a special one. Most witches and wizards are presented with their family's magical history and responsibilities. There's usually some kind of rite of passage ritual from the head of the family to the heir. Though, families lucky enough to have a Deity involved with their family affairs have a slightly different version of this rite.
Death was a particular force of magic, it was a power that was all consuming in its finality, but horrifically empty at its core. If it's magic is left unchecked and untethered for too long, plagues break out, dementors are created. Lady Magic created a human "master" for Death to remind it of humanity's fragility, resilience and power. Death shares some of its power with a worthy member of the Peverell family line.
The Peverell family and then later on the Potter family are given a fraction of Death's abilities in turn for granting Death a glimpse into their humanity. That power sharing starts on their sixteenth birthday and will continue throughout the year until it peaked on their seventeenth. Jasmine was already a powerful witch. It was going to be interesting to see what having a bit more power was going to affect.
Despite how pissed she was at Death, there was no point in fighting them. This was their realm, she was just attempting to stop the world from collapsing. Despite what the muggles think, the world does need magic to keep it alive, even if they can't perceive it.
Death loomed over her sitting figure, the pointer finger of their left hand lifting up her chin. She looked up, only meeting darkness from under the hood. She wasn't permitted to see what was under there. No one was. She was determined to think that Death didn't have a face, just a mouth and hands. "You know the ritual by now. Close your eyes."
It was more an order than a question, but she acquiesced, there was no point in fighting this.
Death tilted her head back just a little bit farther, she could hear a rustling of fabric and moments later cool lips were pressed against her forehead, right where Voldemort's scar had been placed on her head as Harriet.
It had always been Death's mark. The deity had claimed her from that moment onwards. She had cheated Death, though it wasn't for selfish reasons, she had been an infant. Harriet Potter had intrigued him like no other. A child who escaped dying over and over again through sheer luck and cleverness, but had been unlucky enough to collect all three hallows completely by accident.
She felt Death's magic pulse for a moment, it tingled as it spread from their lips to her forehead and downwards. A kiss of Death was a powerful feat of magic and it always felt awful and more than a little awkward.
She felt herself begin to fall into darkness as her body absorbed his power, but she could hear Death's last message to her, "Happy Birthday, my chosen one."
~*~
The next morning, the sky was clear, nary a cloud in the sky. It was perfect weather for spending the day outside. Not to mention that Euphemia and James would both be out of the house and Monty would be supervising, but he had a bad habit of wandering off to his lab. He knew about the meeting between Mikhail, the twins and Jasmine, but he had no idea exactly what they were doing.
He said not to get too rough, which Jasmine translated to: "Don't hurt each other and don't break anything." Euphemia hadn't said anything against Jasmine and her friends potentially "dueling" against each other, since she probably didn't know how destructive they could be without wands.
Blaise and Theo had been having silent conversations all morning. Blaise had a grin on his face, which only spelled disaster and Theo was glaring at him. Jasmine had pulled out a pair of daggers that she had commissioned a few months ago. They were Goblin made and then enchanted by a professional runemaster from Japan. They were deadly, and she wouldn't be using them today. She pulled out the training pair she had underneath, which were made of dulled steel, still sharp enough to cause some cuts and remind her opponent that they were fighting, but not enough to slice through tendons or bones.
She knew that Mikhail was going to be bringing his best weapons. His Patrons had been obsessed with watching their charges take out their enemies with expertly crafted blades from around the world. It was a show of monetary power as much a physical strength of their charges. Mikhail had been one of the best, but then again, the Chesters had been the same way with her. Jasmine was crafted by them to be a perfect weapon. And, while Jasmine and Harriet both hated the Chesters, she hoped that she managed to live up to their training standards after being a civilian for a year. She had kept up practicing, but it was different actually fighting people to running drills.
Jasmine hadn't managed to actually fight someone with her blades yet. The opportunity to legally stab someone doesn't really come around that often.
So, she went out as early as she could and crafted a moderately sized arena using warding runes, which would intercept any wayward magic from getting out of control. It hadn't gotten to hot out today and she hoped that the heat would hold off until after their little spar of sorts. There was nothing worse than worrying that you're going to faint from heat stroke in the middle of a match.
"This is where you've been all morning?" A slightly amused voice asks from behind.
Jasmine turned, to come face to face with Monty, who is looking down at her warded stones that created the area's boundaries.
She nodded, her hair falling into her face as she did so. She'd need to tie that back in a few minutes. "I wanted to make sure that the chaos is contained."
He frowned and worried his lower lip between his teeth. "What do you expect to do without wands at your disposal?"
She cocked her head to the side. "You do know that the duels that Mikhail and I fought in didn't allow wands. We fought with our fists or whatever weapons our Patrons provided for us. My American friends assured me that they would have no trouble keeping up if we were using wands or not and I'm inclined to believe them."
Monty furrowed his brows, his messy Potter hair falling into his face. "Just be careful. I don't want Euphemia coming home to you all in pieces."
Jasmine had to bite back a laugh at the mental image that painted. Merlin, she'd hired a necromancer to bring them all back so she could kill them all again.
"Don't worry, that's what the wards are for. You're more than welcome to watch. Mikhail has been itching for a chance to show off for a while. The two of us were quite the competitors back in the dueling arena." They had lived in the pit for so long, some habits were hard to break. Jasmine to a certain extent missed the rush that the dueling rings provided and the free feeling of getting to use her magic in whatever fashion she could. Being constrained to a wand being traced for any and all use of magic outside of school was annoying and honestly not something that Jasmine really felt like putting up with for another full year. Sirius and James were going to be flaunting their trace free magic in less than a year. She was the youngest out of all of her friends.
"Professor Flitwick mentioned that you had dueled against each other in your tournament. You beat him rather soundly from what he told me."
Jasmine rubbed the back of her neck, a shy smile gracing her lips. "We've known each other for years and I know how he fights. He's never been able to beat me in a one on one with only magic at his disposal. This isn't necessarily a duel like that. It's more of a show of magical prowess. We're going to be showing off some tricks."
Mikhail has never beaten her in a fight, but he could be really flashy. She had the raw power that he lacked when it came to spell work and now she had nine lives worth of battle experience and spell knowledge crammed up there. She was planning on showing them some rather interesting tricks this afternoon.
"I might watch you all, just to make sure that no one gets hurt."
"We're going to have an audience?" Blaise asked, they both jerked to their left, his voice startled both of them. She hadn't heard him approach, had he put a silencing charm on his feet? Jasmine strained to see if his shoes made any noise as he walked closer to them, they didn't.
Clever trick, though he might have ruined those shoes. Charms like that tended to cause the materials to fall apart faster. Magic charms, while helpful, tended to wear at basic materials to the point where they unraveled. Those trainers probably weren't going to last through the summer, but she doubted that Blaise really cared. He was more than likely basking in the fact that he surprised her.
Jasmine loved Blaise, but his habit for showing off can get a little tiresome. Honestly, Theo deserved a medal for all the nonsense that he puts up with on a daily basis.
Jasmine grinned, her fingers trailing over the sheaths of her practice daggers. "It looks like it, you're going to need to make sure that you live up to the expectations you've set out. You were one of the best duelists in the ring last time around. I suppose we're going to see if it was a fluke or not."
Blaise's lip curled back, a hand over his heart. "You know, sometimes I wonder why I befriended you. To question my honor as a warrior and general troublemaker like that. Your friend got a lucky shot in and it ended the match. Any other time and he'd have been flattened by me."
Theo clicked his tongue in a scolding manner as he signed something quickly to Blaise that had the older boy scowling. "You know, I really don't think it was luck. Sirius knows a lot about dark magic. He might have actually recognized some of the spells you were combining and knew he needed to stop you before you got out of control…"
Blaise grumbled something under his breath.
There was a small intake of breath next to her. Monty had gone still, his lips thinned. "Wait, were you the duelist that almost paralyzed Sirius?"
Her friend cocked his head to the side, brows furrowed. "Paralyzed? What are you talking about? The two of us got knocked out from an explosion."
Jasmine bit her lip. He hadn't been told about Sirius' injuries, then again, it wasn't any of his school's business what happened to any of the Hogwarts students. To top things off, he had been knocked out as well. Sirius' injury was from his landing, not from the initial impact from the blast. Blaise hadn't intended to really hurt anyone in the duels.
Monty didn't seem pleased by his response. "Your little tricks with spell layering exploded and almost cost Sirius his ability to walk."
Blaise squared his shoulders, which were much wider than Monty's rail-thin form, even though he was only sixteen. "Look, Lord Potter, I didn't purposely hurt the Black Heir. He knew I was layer spells and he still came after me and unraveled it. He knew the consequences of throwing in a random spell in hopes of stopping me. It was stupid on his part and it blew up in both of our faces. I never intended to permanently injure anyone. If anything, his injuries came from a bad landing, which wasn't my fault."
Her guardian didn't move, his lips tight, and his arms crossed. He was nearly half a head shorter than Blaise, who, while still being only sixteen was going to be monstrously tall…well he was going to around a hundred and eighty centimeters, if not more. But, her friend was starting to fidget under Monty's glare.
Jasmine put a hand on his thin shoulder. "Monty, it was an accident. No one was meant to get hurt that badly in the ring."
"I'll be watching your little...whatever this is."
Jasmine shrugged, it didn't bother her either way. She just had to wait for Mikhail to arrive.
~*~
Mikhail naturally took his time arriving, though to be fair, he was suffering from jetlag and Jasmine couldn't blame him for wanting to sleep a bit more. He strolled in nearly fifteen minutes late, dressed in breathable muggle exercise attire with his favored swords hanging from his belt. Blaise and Theo had decided to lounge on the grass. Theo was pointing at different clouds and signing what magical creatures they looked like. Monty was glaring a Blaise from the patio. He had brought out a potions journal with him, but it didn't seem that he would be writing in it anytime soon.
Jasmine could understand that he was upset with Blaise for nearly hurting Sirius, if it had been on purpose. Blaise wasn't a coldblooded killer. Granted he, Theo and Jasmine had all killed their fair share of people of their lifetimes, but it was always in self-defense. The last person that Blaise would attempt to hurt would be someone they had known from their past that hadn't treated them poorly.
Blaise and Theo rolled to their feet. Theo silently stretching as Blaise gave him a wave. Mikhail gave them a quick once over, obviously noticing their lack of weapons. "What exactly are your friends going to be showing us today? I thought we agreed no wands?"
Blaise rolled his eyes and stepped into the ring. "My brother and I don't need wands to show off our magical ability." He clapped his hands together twice, Jasmine could feel magic building in the air as he brought his left hand down to the ground. There was a faint rumble as a thick arm of rock clawed its way out of the dirt followed by the next couple meters of its body.
Blaise had been holding out on her. That was a fully functioning golem. Powerful and extremely difficult magic went into creating and summoning them. To just call it forth like that…what were they teaching them over in America?
"Shit," Monty swore from behind them. Maybe he was reconsidering allowing them to compete with one another.
Theo was the next to step into the arena, not one to be out done, he gave a sharp whistle as his magic conjured up something, more than likely just as absurd. A gust of wind rocketed towards the earth in a bundled-up mass of magical limbs. An air golem and an earth golem. Jasmine wondered where this little magic show was going.
Mikhail gave her a side long look, as he pulled a sword out of its scabbard. "Did you know they could do that?"
Jasmine let out a sigh and shook her head. "No, no I did not, but that's why we're not going to be fighting each other. I thought we could duel, but I had a feel that might be a bad idea. Merlin only knows what other nonsense they have up their sleeves," she replied as she stepped into the rings on the same side as Theo. Blaise waved from atop his golem and Mikhail rolled his eyes, but made his way over.
"While you two have shown us a lovely bit of magic," those golems were a sight to behold, "I think it's time for Mikhail and me to show you some tricks we learned while fighting in the pit."
With a flick of her wrist her daggers were in her hands and Mikhail's sword was unsheathed. Jasmine ran a finger down the rune inscribed blades as the magic hummed to life under her fingers. The blades turned a deep red and she held up a piece of paper to the and let it touch the dagger hilt, igniting it instantly.
Mikhail's blade had multiplied and spun around him in a sort of shield. Though, Jasmine knew from experience, that only one of the blades was real and that this trick was very taxing on him.
"Okay, while that is rather interesting, we totally win for best trick. You can't take out a golem with knives and swords," Blaise taunted from above, a smirk on his face.
Jasmine grinned in reply, her knife pointed right at him. "Why would I aim for the golem? I would just throw this at you. While your golem is powerful, you need to focus to control it, if I were to impale this blade into your body at any point, there would be a good chance that your golem would collapse and you would lose."
"It was still a better trick."
And the arguments continued in that vain for over an hour a half as Monty just watched more than a little horrified at the various ways that these four teens knew how to kill.
Notes:I hope you enjoyed!
Please leave your comments and kudos below!
~SugarPhantom
Chapter 54: Chapter 54Summary:A new challenger approaches!
Notes:(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter TextChapter 54
The rest of the week went by rather quickly. Blaise and Theo had to say goodbye on Friday morning to catch their portkey back to the states, but they promised that they would talk soon. Jasmine always hated saying goodbye to them, it always felt so final. Her friends had always been close by, easy to call in during an emergency, but now she was mostly by herself. Sure, she had her cousin and his friends, but they didn't have the experience that Blaise and Theo had and, really, she was mostly an outsider to them, a fringe friend, or at least, that's how she felt on occasion.
Now, her three closest friends, Mikhail, Theo and Blaise all lived outside of the UK. Magical transportation was great, and made things easier than traveling the muggle way, but it was still a hassle. It wasn't the same as just flooing over or apparating to someone's house. There was an international portkey, magical immigration and customs, not to mention occasionally dealing with a language barrier, depending on where someone was traveling to. Jasmine was not a fan of separating herself from them, but she knew it was for the best. She would get into far too much trouble with the three of them if they were always together.
"You'll see them again soon, Jasmine. Maybe next time you can go to America. You'll be coming of age soon and that would mean that you could travel outside of the country without an adult. Not that you would be unsupervised the entire trip. I have no doubt that their parents would keep you a respectable distance from-"
She cut Euphemia off with a grateful smile. "I understand the sentiment, but I don't know if I would be welcome into their home. Things work a bit differently across the pond when it comes to indigenous magical communities."
And by that, Jasmine meant that they were rather segregated and completely secret to outsiders. They had been nearly wiped out by the European wizards over the last few hundred years. It wasn't worth it to risk any of their settlements to some random witch from England. Well, she wasn't really all that random, she had a rank and title and that was more than enough of a reason to keep her out. Blaise and Theo had subtly mentioned that more than once when the topic was brought up by either one of her guardians. Though, Theo had mentioned something about hosting her once he had settled into a job. Her friend had told them over dinner he wanted to go into medicine.
It had been Theo's dream since she's known him to open up his own practice. He hadn't been given the chance since the name Nott had always been associated with Death Eaters. No one would even admit him into their medical training programs. They all thought that he was Death Eater, even after it had come out that he had helped defeat the Dark Lord.
During her first life as Harriet, Theo had never fought on Voldemort's side. While he didn't take an active approach in defeating him in that life, he had never opposed her, which is what had drawn her to him in the first place. He just seemed like a shy and quiet kid, which he was, but Theo was also a genius in his own right.
Then there was Blaise, a neutral loud mouth from a family of French assassins. Who was now slated to run their tribe back in the states. There was some secret stuff about why he was being chosen, but that was the role that he was destined to take on through some ritual or another. Jasmine prayed silently for America because Blaise leading anything was a terrifying thought.
"I don't see why they wouldn't allow them to have their friends visit," James grumbled after they had left. He had enjoyed having the two other troublemakers in the house. They had been showing James a few different tricks he could do without a wand and it was driving Euphemia mad. Monty was enjoying the pranks and silly tricks.
Jasmine let out a sigh. "They don't want outsiders seeing what they have or don't have. You have to realize that their communities were nearly destroyed by everything that happened over there. European settlers didn't agree with how the Natives practiced magic, so they tried to "fix" the Native magical population, and then when that didn't work, the settlers stole their children or killed them. They don't want to risk that happening again, which is something I can see being a real fear."
James grunted and flopped onto the couch in the sitting room in response. It was the same reply she got every time he asked about visiting them. She figured that her cousin wanted to visit the twins almost as much as she did. He rolled on the cushions for a moment before hanging his head off the end, his legs in the air. "When you are leaving to see Lily?"
Ah, yes, she still had to pack her last few items for that little adventure about to take place. "In about two hours, why?"
He shrugged. "I wanted to know what time I should invite Sirius over. It gets quiet in this house without someone my own age to talk to. Dad is great, but he tends to mutter to himself about potions and business strategy and I can only stand so much of that before I go mad."
That Jasmine could understand. Monty was a great man, but Merlin, he enjoyed talking about monetary figures and abstract business strategies. And, while it could be interesting, it tended just to bore her and James to sleep.
"You and Sirius better not do anything stupid."
Like follow her to Lily's house in an attempt to crash the party, because she knew that they were stupid enough to try it.
James bat his eyelashes at her. His hazel eyes were wide and overly innocent. "When would we ever do anything stupid, Jazz? You know that Sirius and I are extremely mature for our age."
If she could push him off the couch she would have. "You're an idiot," she muttered, more than loud enough for him to hear, which earned a scoff from James and Jasmine leaned over the sofa, "and if I catch you in London stalking us, you will find yourself lost and confused on a deserted island with no idea how you got there."
He gave an audible gulp and nodded.
~*~
It was around eleven in the morning when Euphemia dropped Jasmine off on Lily's street, which was average by all accounts, before apparating away. Her guardian had a last-minute meeting with an anti-terrorist task force she was in charge of, there had apparently been an incident she had to handle.
This left Jasmine to wander down the street on her own, her trainers lightly scraping against the concrete below her feet. It was a warm day. Thankfully, it was overcast, so it wasn't overbearingly hot. Jasmine had dressed in muggle jeans and light blue blouse. While a dress would be more fashionable for the time, she wasn't in the mood to wear one. Honestly, the less scaring she showed the better. Jasmine's body was covered in them, so the more skin she hid the less questions she'd be asked in the long run. She had even gone so far as to put a bit of make-up over the scaring on her face. She didn't want to make a bad impression on Lily's parents.
With a quiet hum and small skip in her step, Jasmine made her way to the Evans household. The neighborhood was modest, the houses were all fairly upkept. There were children playing on multiple front lawns. No one sparred her a second glance as she walked by, which was a welcome change from the whispers of the wizarding world.
There was a squeak from her left as she passed a lightly wooded park. It was one that she recognized from Professor Snape's memories and there was a familiar figure sitting on the ground rubbing her arse under a swing. A head a blonde hair and pale blue eyes glared at the offending piece of metal, she mumbled a string of curses under her breath. It was Petunia Evans, at least, Jasmine was nearly positive that it was her.
"Are you alright?" Jasmine asked, entering through the slightly rusted gates to make sure that she wasn't injured.
The young woman's head swiveled in Jasmine's direction, a pale blush creeping up her face at being caught on the ground. "I'm fine!" She snapped, her voice going a bit shrill towards the end.
Jasmine held her hands up in a peaceful gesture. "Okay, okay. I was just making sure you weren't hurt."
Petunia bit her lip, giving Jasmine a cursory glace over. Her eyes lingering on the faded scars. Obviously, Jasmine needed to brush up on her cover-up technique if Petunia was able to notice it. "As I said, I'm fine. You don't need to pity me. Who are you anyway? You don't live around here," she nearly shouted, her tone accusatory and defensive.
Jasmine resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "I'm here visiting a friend during the summer holidays. I was on my way to meet them. Is there a particular reason you're in a park alone on the ground?"
The blonde bit her lip. "My sister has friends over and they're all annoying. They ask the daftest questions. As for the swing, I fell off."
"I can understand having to deal with family inviting annoying friends over. I live with my cousin and he always has his two best mates over. They make a racket all day long. I'm Jasmine by the way," she replied, sticking her hand out. The older teen looked at it for a moment and Jasmine thought she was going to push her away, but she took it, thin fingers gripping her callused ones.
Petunia had always been alone, in all her timelines. Maybe Jasmine could make a small difference here, prove to her that the magical world wasn't out to get her. Lily, from what Jasmine understood, had always attempted to keep her muggle and magical lives very separate, but sometimes things needed to overlap. Perhaps explaining the magical world to Petunia could stop her from becoming a horrifically petty bint.
"My name is Petunia. It's nice to meet someone else with a flower name outside of my family." There was a small smile on the older girl's lips. It was enough to make her look fairly attractive and less standoffish. It always made her wonder why she settled for Vernon. Petunia hadn't been stupid and had done fairly well in school. Why would she want to settle for a man with a stick so far up his arse it was coming out of his mouth?
Before Jasmine was able to respond a distinctly male figure came stumbling out of the tree line. The stench of booze permeated the air rather quickly. The gaunt face of Tobias Snape came into view as he approached. Petunia scrambled to get up off the ground and pulled on Jasmine's arm, moving them towards the exit.
"Now, where-" he swayed, "think-you're-goin? You're one of those Evans whores-what did you do with my son?" He slurred, covering ground rather quickly as the two of them attempted to reach the entrance before him.
The drunkard managed to reach it first and Petunia frantically looked around for another way out. That was when Jasmine noticed the broken beer bottle in his hand, sharp shards of glass glistening with remainder of his early morning drink.
"I think you need to calm down. We haven't seen your son," Jasmine replied, putting an arm in front of Petunia. She wasn't going to let her get hurt, she was Lily's sister, even if she was a bitch in the future.
He pointed a dirty finger in her face. "You don't get to tell me what I can and can't do! My wife and son are gone! Vanished! Like bloody magic!" He shouted, chuckling to himself towards the end at his own joke. "And these Evans girls no doubt did something! And, now I'm going to do something back!"
Petunia flinched at her last name and Jasmine watched his every twitch, waiting for the moment that he would lash out. She reached around with her magical sight, hoping to find something she could use to disarm him. She doubted that he'd be very accurate with his aim, he was very drunk, but his blows would hurt. Jasmine didn't fancy getting glass imbedded into her skin. She really didn't want a trip to the emergency room.
That was when she noticed a pipe behind him, if she could just get around him. There was no way that Jasmine was going to use magic, she'd get her wand snapped in an instant. It didn't matter if it was an emergency, with Dumbledore not wanting her at Hogwarts and quite a few purebloods against her, she'd be out on the streets the moment she stepped out of line. So, muggle fighting was the only way out, not that she wasn't over familiar with it.
She could feel Death's magic in the back of her mind begging for release as well, which made her want to roll her eyes. Jasmine feinted left, passed Tobias as he dove the wrong way and she kicked the back of his knee in, causing him to double over. She gripped the pipe that had been lying on the ground just as he brought up the bottle to retaliate and she smacked him rather hard in the head, not enough to kill, but she used enough force to knock him out.
The remainder of the bottle shattered on the ground next to Jasmine, who looked towards her left to see Petunia with a hand over her mouth. "Are you alright?" Jasmine asked, straightening herself out and putting a stray piece of hair behind her ear.
"You hit him?"
She turned towards the very unconscious form of Tobias Snape and shrugged. "Yes, I did. He was going to attack us. I figured I should stop that from happening."
"You don't even know me! I could have deserved that!"
"No one deserves to be beaten with a broken beer bottle. Did he say your last name was Evans?"
"Tuni? Jazz?" A confused voice called out from down the street. Lily's head of bright red hair was quickly approaching with Alice and Marlene in tow. The two were dressed in muggle clothing, though Alice's fit her oddly, which more than likely meant they were Lily's. Marlene looked like she had swallowed a lemon when she saw Jasmine.
Petunia's entire demeanor changed has her younger sister approached. Her eyes dulled and the line of her mouth hardened. Jealously was an ugly emotion on Petunia Evan's face. Her gaze drifted towards Jasmine as she mouthed the word Jazz and she was more than likely putting the pieces together, of just who Jasmine was here to see today.
"Hi, Lily," Jasmine replied with a wave as she stepped away from Tobias, pulling Petunia along with her, even if she was reluctant to follow.
"You're one of them?" She hissed, yanking her arm away after they were out of striking range from the unconscious man.
"One of what?" Jasmine asked, playing dumb. She couldn't know that Petunia hated magic yet. Lily hadn't even told that about her sister and they had been living in the same dorm for a year already.
Before Petunia could say something she regretted, Lily barreled into both of them, throwing her arms them. "We were so worried. Mum asked me to come and find you! Lunch is going to be ready…" she trailed off, her eyes catching Tobias' prone form on the ground. "Is that Sev's dad?"
Jasmine cocked her head to the side, her eyes widening. "That's Severus' father…no wonder he was so happy to move in with his grandfather. His father is unconscious now, so he's harmless."
Alice bit her lip, she was fighting a grin. "We can't leave you alone for a couple minutes without you getting into trouble, can we, Jazz? I think the Marauders are rubbing off on you."
Marlene scowled at the comment, nudging Alice, who was giggling to herself.
"I suppose not, though, I was getting into trouble far before I met my cousin and his best mates. This isn't my first time fighting someone with my fists, probably won't be the last," she replied with a shrug, as they walked towards the house.
Petunia's stomach let out a loud growl as they entered, but the older girl made a beeline for the stairs, pushing past her mother, who had opened the front door for them.
"Ignore her, Petunia can be a bit overwhelmed with a lot of new people."
Rosemary Evans was a beautiful woman, her dark red locks were perfectly curled to frame her face, her blue eyes bright as they landed on her youngest daughter and her friends. Her gaze lingered on Jasmine, taking in her mismatched eyes and the slightly visible scars on her face.
"You must be Jasmine. Lily has told me so much about you!" She came forward, a pale hand reaching towards her on her blind side.
"Mum, we went over this!" Lily hissed as she moved her mother's hand towards Jasmine's direct field of vision.
Jasmine let out a light chuckle before taking her hand in both of her own. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Evans. I hope that Lily has only you good things about me. We got off to a rather rocky start."
Rosemary bit her lip and nodded as she stared at Jasmine's sightless eye. It wasn't something many noticed at first, not until it was pointed out. The older woman shook her head, a smile on her face once more, "Lily has only been singing your praises. Apparently, she finally has some competition with grades."
Jasmine rolled her eyes, a playful grin making its way onto her face. "Lily, you know that James, Severus, Sirius and Remus are right behind us when it comes to grades."
Lily's face heated up, her cheeks turning a rosy red color. James would lose his mind seeing her this flustered over him.
"Speaking of classes," Marlene interrupted, arms crossed, "did you hear that Brightbark got sacked? The board of governors, spearheaded by Lord Black and Lady Potter, demanded he be removed. It looks like they're going to need to find another DADA teacher. I didn't mind Brightbark all that much, at least he taught us something."
Rosemary excused herself as the four girls made their way to the kitchen for lunch. "All Brightbark taught was how to hate each other for our magic. It destroyed friendships," Jasmine retorted as Marlene scoffed.
"I didn't see you complaining when the Marauders adopted you into their group when Peter left."
"Peter called Remus a monster," and that in itself was unforgivable. Remus was a great person and he didn't deserve to be treated like that, not by anyone. "That rat deserved what was coming to him. Regardless, I wasn't a fan of all the extra work that he gave anyone that wasn't oriented. I hope that we get a good teacher this coming year."
Notes:I hope you enjoyed!
Leave your comments and kudos below!
~SugarPhantom