Chapter 55: Chapter 55Summary:Shopping time!
Notes:(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter TextChapter 55
Lunch, despite Lily's best efforts, was still awkward. Marlene, to no one's surprise, was not in the mood to even attempt to be civil. Mrs. Evans had ventured back off into the kitchen while they ate, not wanting to disturb her daughter and her friends any more than she already had. That seemed to be the only thing holding Marlene back from truly insulting Jasmine's honor too loudly, lest their host hear her. At least the girl had some concept of manners...or she didn't want to see which parent Lily got her temper from.
"You know, Jasmine, you were right," Marlene began after she patted her face with a paper napkin, eyeing Jasmine's entire wardrobe, which was honestly very muggle and very practical. Marlene's dress was a nearly a decade out of date and the frills on her wrists had never been in style. Jasmine wasn't even going to comment on Alice's choice in clothing. Lily had obviously redressed her in pleated skirt and top, but it didn't fit right, and Alice looked less than comfortable in it.
Jasmine let out a long sigh over a forkful of pasta. She'd respond, if only to see what tripe was going to come out of Marlene's mouth. "What was I right about this time?"
Marlene's grin was positively feral. "That even with makeup on, you could still see the scars on you face. I'm surprised Mrs. Evans didn't have a heart attack when she saw you," she replied in a sickeningly sweet tone, and then, for a moment, looked thoughtful, "Though, I bet that Lily prepped her. Telling her to expect a minorly deformed teen to come in, tell her to keep the neighbors away for the day, don't want them to think their daughter is associating with the wrong sort."
If Harriet hadn't been treated like this at the Dursley's for multiple lives, she'd think Marlene was making that kind of mindset up when it came to the neighbors. For a moment, Jasmine thought that stabbing her sounded like a great idea.
In through the nose.
Out through the mouth.
Deep breaths.
She was not going to take the bait. She wasn't. No matter how tight the grip on her knife got. Murder wasn't going to solve this. In the moment it might feel good, but it would only set her plans back, maybe even cause a full restart. Jasmine couldn't have that, no matter how much pleasure it might give her.
There was a loud clap from the other side of the table that brought Jasmine out of her rage. Lily had slapped Marlene, hard enough that it echoed. Lily's face was beginning to match her hair and Marlene looked positively shocked at her friend's behavior. Jasmine had only seen her this angry when dealing with the Marauders. "That was uncalled for, Marlene! Jasmine looks fine and she is not deformed. Who the bloody hell do you think are you talking to her like that?"
Marlene scoffed, flicking a piece of blonde hair out of her face with a perfectly manicured hand. Even if the red hand mark was taking away from her little stuck up aesthetic. "You and I both know that's a lie. Everyone is going to run away from us while we're in London because of her face." She even pointed the path her scars took on her mouth for emphasis.
What a bitch.
They had even been friends in the beginning of the year. It was odd to think that things had changed so much and Jasmine still wasn't exactly sure what had triggered Marlene's intense hatred for her.
"That's enough, Marlene," Alice snapped, smacking her hands on the table, much to everyone's surprise. It wasn't often that she got involved in any kind of conflict. This must be the woman that Frank had fallen in love with, a young witch with a fire in her eyes when a friend was in need. "I've sat back long enough. You are taking things too far. I get that you wanted to date Sirius and that didn't happen, but Jasmine isn't dating him either. She had nothing to do with you being rejected a year before she started Hogwarts. You need to grow up or we'll leave you here."
"Oh, please, you've seen the way that she throws herself at the Marauders. She's probably slept with at least one of them. If only for some kind of confidence boost. Merlin knows she probably needs it with her looks."
Jasmine could feel her magic begging to break something. She could feel her power burning in her veins. Sitting back and taking insult after insult tended to get old very fast. It was one thing to attempt to ruin her image, but Marlene did not get to bring her friends into the mix without consequences. "You do realize you're taking about my cousin and his friends, right? Just because everything revolves around sex and boys for you, doesn't mean that it does for me. I have more important things to worry about than who I'm going to marry. There is a war brewing outside of Hogwarts and I don't intend to become a casualty. So, if that means that I fight and get scarred up, fine. It's obvious that my looks are so staggering that no one in their right mind would want to look at me anyway. But, Marlene, I'd like to ask you, out of the two of us, which one has nearly a dozen male friends that I can actually hold a conversation with and not just push them into a closet to snog them, because that's what I heard you do."
Marlene opened and closed her mouth, not once, but twice before she turned her nose up with a sniff. "At least someone wants to snog me. You're just the female perspective they need to get a girlfriend."
Jasmine pushed herself back in her chair. "You do realize that dating someone and a quick snog in the broom closet aren't mutually exclusive to one another? Because I haven't seen anyone attempt to do anything more with you over the year I've been at Hogwarts. Actually, all I've seen you do is try to convince your friends into marrying straight out of school, which if they want to, that's fine, but if they don't you push."
Alice and Lily were still standing, watching and waiting till either and Jasmine or Marlene made a move to force the conversation further.
Marlene rolled her eyes, a sneer curling at her lips. "Look, marriage secures your place in Pureblood society as a witch. It might not have been done that way in Austria, but that's how things are done here. I want what's best for my friends."
Jasmine scoffed her lip curling back slightly. "There are plenty of witches that have full careers without marrying and high society expects something out of their witches other than good breeding. You aren't a pureblood Heir. What the bloody hell would you know about what is expected from one of us?"
Sure, her father had been an heir to a minor house, but he mostly worked in business, not politics. Her mother had been a muggle. Where she was getting these outlandish ideas from what beyond Jasmine. Sure, there were quite a few stereotypes associated with female purebloods, but as long as an Heir was secured within ten years of the marriage, usually the witch got to live a full life outside of the home.
Marlene seemed to think that the women of pureblood households had to stay home and tend to their children.
A throat was cleared from the kitchen doorway. Mrs. Evans had her hands on her hips.
"So, when do you want to head out towards London?"
"In a few minutes, mum," Lily answered with a wobbly smile. She probably heard that entire fight. Lily was going to have to explain quite a bit to her mum later this evening after everyone left.
"Is your sister coming?" Jasmine asked, turning towards the staircase Petunia had stomped up not that long ago.
Lily shrugged, green eyes dull at the mention of her older sibling. "Tunie probably doesn't want to come. She isn't a fan of magic."
An understatement, though a lot of her experiences with magic hadn't been positive…thanks Severus and the rest of her resentment had to do with jealously more than anything else. Jasmine gave Lily's shoulder a squeeze as she stood up. "Let me go and talk to her. We're going shopping, no magic involved. I'm told I can be rather convincing."
Lily rolled her eyes, but didn't tell her to stop, so Jasmine took that as all the encouragement that she needed as she made her way up the stairs. She couldn't help but notice all of the family portraits on the wall and how much they resembled how Petunia would decorate Privet Drive. Well, the portraits here had more life to them, but they were placed in the same spots. It seems that even though Petunia never spoke about her parents, she did honor them in an odd way. It was interesting to see Petunia looking genuinely happy in most of these pictures. Vernon had made her so cold, or maybe the death of her parents and sister had numbed her?
Jasmine would never fully know. She'd never wanted to know her aunt and that hadn't really changed. The woman that she knew in the future was awful and would continue to be, but the girl that was locked in her room, who had almost been attacked today, she wasn't that far gone yet.
Jasmine reached the landing and turned to the left and nearly burst out laughing. Petunia's door was decorated with a plethora of keep out signs and a few different chipped hand painted flowers underneath. Merlin, Petunia was one of those teenagers. Jasmine knocked more than loud enough for her to hear. "Go away, Lily. I don't want to talk to you or your friends. They'll just make me feel stupid."
"Well, I hope I haven't made you feel stupid, considering we just met. Is there a reason that you're hiding from us?" If there's one thing she figured would piss Petunia off more than anything, was admitting that she was afraid of magic and the people that cast it.
Jasmine heard stomping as Petunia made her way towards the door. It was wrenched open with significantly more force than necessary. Her blonde head poked out, her face a bit red, her eyes were slightly puffy. Had she been crying? "I'm not afraid of you. I'm just older and don't want to deal with my sister and her bratty friends. What do you want?" She hissed, her pale face not far from Jasmine's. She was close enough to see the flecks of green in her blue eyes.
She opened the door a bit to squeeze herself out and make sure that Jasmine couldn't look in.
"I was going to ask if you wanted to join us on our trip to London. Marlene and Alice are going to taking up most of Lily's attention asking obvious questions about everyday non-magical life and I wanted someone to roll my eyes with. It's far better to do with company then by yourself."
That got a small grin out of the furious girl. As much as Jasmine loved Alice, she was just as much of an airhead as Neville tended to be, with all the enthusiasm that Mr. Weasley had in regard to muggle things. Marlene might have grown up as a half blood, but she lived her entire life in the wizarding world, only hearing bits and pieces of muggle life from her mother.
"You know about normal everyday things?"
Jasmine let out a small snort, but nodded all the same. "I grew up in a small town in Austria. I had a house much like this, my parents drove a car to get to work. We went to the cinema occasionally. I had a normal childhood with my parents. We had magic, sure, but we didn't live isolated like English witches and wizards. Mental, the lot of them."
"You lived in Austria? What's it like? I've never been outside of the UK," she asked, her eyes went wide for a second realizing she had asked a question.
Jasmine gave a small smile. "Well, the language is different, and the population is far more condensed than I'm used to, but so far, it's seemed rather nice. If you want, when I go and clean out my family's cottage in the spring, you're welcome to come."
Petunia seemed genuinely surprised for a moment before a small blush blossomed on her cheeks. "I'll think about it, for now, let's just go shopping. You seem to be the only friend Lily has ever made that has any sense in fashion." She told her, eyeing her outfit before turning around, leaving the door open ajar enough for Jasmine to see inside. It was a modest room, decorated in light blues and purples, the furniture was made a decent dark wood. There were some posters hanging on the wall as well as quite a few different first place ribbons. Jasmine couldn't read what they were from her minimal vantage point near the crack in the door, but Petunia seemed to be good at something. There were floral patterns on her bedspread and rug, there seemed to be paint stains littering the wooden floor. Petunia grabbed a small handbag that had been hanging on the post at the foot of her bed and slung it over her shoulder.
"Ready to go? Lily probably thinks you've murdered me. She seems quite scared of what you'll do to me."
Petunia grimaced, her fingers picking a loose thread on her bag. "Yes, well, someone had to show Lily that magic isn't all powerful."
Jasmine rolled her eyes. "Yes, so terrify your younger sister until she fears you. Seems like that completely had to do with magic, and nothing to do with jealousy on your part," she muttered towards the end. She didn't need Petunia running back into her room and hiding. She seemed like a bitter kid, but so far Mrs. Evans had been doting on Lily and ignoring Petunia when she was obviously upset, but then again, Lily is only home for two and a half months a year. There was only so much time they could spoil her before she went back to school.
"It wasn't always like that," she grumbled as they made their way towards the landing. Lily, Marlene and Alice were waiting. Lily's eyes went wide when she spotted Petunia. The red head bounced up and down.
"Mum is in the car waiting! Let's go!"
~*~
No matter the time period, London was always rather crowded. It was easy to get lost and honestly, Jasmine could live without it. Alice was horrifically overwhelmed by the magnitude of the whole thing, but she was still enjoying herself. Lily was in her element explaining all the different landmarks to Marlene and Alice, who were barely paying attention as something nonmagical would pass by and distract them.
Petunia had remained rather quiet, pointing out a few dresses here and there, or a nice pair of shoes. Mrs. Evans was watching them, well, more Alice and Marlene, than Petunia and Jasmine. She had seemed to be enjoying watching her daughters have a good time going out with friends.
"You know, I didn't quite mean what I said before," Petunia admitted while they were trying on clothes while Lily attempted to force Alice into a skirt.
"How so?" Jasmine replied, turning the price-tag over on the dress and scowling. This top wasn't coming home with her.
"I treat Lily the way I do because I want magic too."
Jasmine let out a small sigh. This was the bitterness that would eventually warp Petunia Evans into Petunia Dursley. "I can understand wanting magic, but treating your sister like rubbish isn't going to change anything."
She grumbled something under her breath. "I know, but there is so much she can't tell us or show us. All mum and dad do is talk about her. It's hard living in the shadow of someone who is only home for barely three months a year."
Ah, and there was the biggest problem. Her parents found Lily's magic more interesting than Petunia's mundane accomplishments, which Jasmine found utterly ridiculous. She had seen similar situations a few times throughout her career in magical law enforcement. It was no wonder that Petunia grew to resent magic the way she did and why Lily never understood why her sister hated her so much.
"Have you told Lily this?"
The older girl's lip curled, her fists tightened at her waist. "No, she wouldn't understand. Mum and dad are perfect in her eyes. I don't want her losing that. Summers would be even more unbearable if she was fighting with them."
Jasmine pinched the bridge of her nose. "Parents can be rather dense when it comes to their children. Maybe you should say something to Lily. If she notices it, maybe she can approach your parents about it, if they are favoring her, she can point it out a lot more safely than you can."
It was the only alternative that Jasmine could think of. It wasn't often that muggle parents would push their non-magical child away in favor of the other. Then again, Petunia seemed to be in a rebellious phase, and it might just be easier for the Evans family to leave her to her own devices. Though, Jasmine had seen the outcome to that, and it wasn't pretty.
Petunia's thin shoulders sagged a bit as she leaned against the wall. "You might have a point," she replied, her eyes drifting towards the storefront where Lily was chatting with her friends, her mother watching over the younger girls, then back towards Jasmine, her nose scrunched up, "that top is hideous."
Jasmine couldn't agree more.
It didn't take long for them to rejoin the group outside. Marlene and Alice were pointing at various muggle things and whispering to each other in hushed voices about the oddity of it all. Lily looked exhausted by it all as she sat on a bench with her Mrs. Evans, who was watching the scene with a small smile.
"Did you girls find anything?"
Petunia shook her head, her hair falling into her face. "No, we saw a few tops here and there, but it was far too overpriced for something we'd more than likely only wear once or twice."
"Well, we didn't find much either. Alice and Marlene seemed to find everything far too interesting to focus on shopping."
The two girls looked up at their names. Alice at least had the decency to blush at the comment. "Sorry. I've never seen stuff like this. I've only read about it in books."
"My mum talks about it every now and again, but she never bothered to take me into London or really outside of our manor homes. It's all rather foreign."
Lily rubbed at her temples, her mother seemed to understand that this little adventure was coming to an end. "As long as you all had fun."
The ride back to Lily's home was quiet. Marlene wanted nothing to do with Jasmine, who was sitting in the front of the car with the other girls squished in the back. "You have nice taste in our type of clothing for someone from the wizarding world, Jasmine," Mrs. Evans commented after Marlene and Alice had nodded off in the back.
Jasmine let a small smile creep on her face. "Yes, well, I grew up in the muggle world for years with my family and for a while my aunt, who was born without magic."
The woman gave a nod as they pulled into their neighborhood. "Yes, well, I'm glad that everyone had a good time today. Petunia needed to get out of the house for a bit…who are those boys on the porch?"
Jasmine had only one guess as to who could possibly be on the Evans family lawn. And, when she turned to look, her suspicions were confirmed when she spotted two trouble makers. She was going to murder them.
Sirius had the audacity to wave as they pulled up. The two were dressed in muggle clothing, period accurate muggle clothing. They blended in fairly well, but sitting on someone's lawn wasn't, not in muggle world and not in the wizarding world either.
"Potter?" Lily hissed, her hand on the door handle that would get her out of the car. Her cheeks were a bit red and Jasmine had to refrain from rolling her eyes.
"I'm going to kill them."
"Who are they?" Petunia asked, eyeing Sirius' leather jacket, Jasmine would bet money that it was dragon hide.
"That would be my cousin and his best mate. I warned them about coming over here," she grumbled as she got out of the car. She approached the two of them with her hands on her hips. "What the bloody hell are you doing here?"
James held up his hands. "Mum got held up at work and dad is still quarantined to the house for another few weeks. So, I was told to come and pick you up. Sirius was over so he tagged along…Remus decided that he didn't want to intrude, so he stayed home and watched dad while we're here."
It was a valid excuse, one that she was going to have to check with Euphemia later that evening, but for now she would let it go.
"Muggles have fascinating ways of travel. I hadn't seen a motorcycle in person until a couple minutes ago," Sirius said, grey eyes dancing, "but now I want one."
Notes:School is just ugh.
Writing a thesis is hard.
Leave your comments and kudos below.
~SugarPhantom
Chapter 56: Chapter 56Summary:James and Sirius sticking their noses where they don't belong...
Notes:(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter TextChapter 56
Marlene and Alice were still asleep in the car as Mrs. Evans got out with Petunia behind her. The older girl was glaring at James and Sirius as if they had personally offended her with their mere existence. They looked like regular teenage boys, dressed in basic muggle clothing, nothing too glaringly wrong. Jeans and band shirts were acceptable. Lily's face was nearly as red as her hair as she marched towards them and Jasmine just wanted to smack them both.
"So, you boys go to school with Lily?" Mrs. Evans asked, more than likely not realizing that James was the Potter boy that Lily had no doubt been complaining about for the past five years.
She had told them not to come, but if Euphemia actually told them to come and pick her, she couldn't really yell at them. Jasmine had promised that the Marauder's wouldn't cause Lily trouble at home.
James nodded his head and took the woman's hand, a picture of outdated courtly manners. "Yes, we're in Gryffindor together, Mrs. Evans. Lily has only ever spoken fondly of you, we're glad to finally make your acquaintance," James replied, kissing the back of her hand with all the grace that only years of pureblood training could create.
Lily's mother actually blushed, her cheeks flushed a pale pink at her cousin's antics. "Well, I'm glad that my daughter has made such well-behaved and gentlemanly friends while at school."
Jasmine mouthed the word gentlemanly towards Lily, who looked positively murderous. She appeared to be biting her cheek to stop herself from saying anything. Poor girl was going to bleed something awful if she didn't calm down.
"Ah, yes," Jasmine started, tone flat, her gaze pointed, "these two are the epitome of gentlemanly manners, coming uninvited to a friend's home because they were curious about the muggle world." She wasn't even going to mention James' crush on Lily. It would be a little to awkward with her mother right there.
They had the decency to look towards the ground and shuffle a bit. It wasn't quite apologetic, but it was at least bashful, which was better than outright smug.
Though, Mrs. Evans was giving Jasmine a strange look as she reevaluated the boys a bit. "James…that name sounds familiar…Lily have you spoken about him before?"
Jasmine doubted that Lily really ever used James' first name in front of her mother. Now, if she had called James "Potter" that might have gotten her angry. No doubt Lily had told some heinous stories about the Marauders to her parents.
Lily let out a sigh, her cheeks regaining their normal pallor. "It's fine mum. They're Jasmine's friends-"
"Isn't James that Potter boy you always complain about, but secretly like?" Petunia interjected, speaking up for the first time. All heads turned towards her, her blonde hair fanning in front of her face to hide the blush creeping up her neck at the attention.
"Tunnie!" Lily shrieked covering her face with her hands. Petunia's smirked at her sister and for the first time, Jasmine could really picture this young woman in Slytherin house. The older girl had waited till the perfect moment to drop that tidbit of information, like any good sibling. She would have been a force to be reckoned with if she had magic. Maybe it was for the best that she didn't, the world was a slightly safer place.
"That Potter boy, eh? You talk about me at home a lot, Evans?" James teased, finger wagging at the red head with a shit eating grin plastered on his face.
So much for bashful and apologetic. James was going to be talking about this day for the rest of the summer.
Lily started to be become red in the face for an entirely different reason. Her mother frowned at the interaction and eyed Sirius who was bouncing from foot to foot watching his best mate flirt with a very flustered Lily Evans.
"Then you must be Sirius Black. Lily has told me a lot about the two of you and your little band of troublemakers, though less so this year," she eyed Jasmine, "for some reason I have a feeling there was a bit of an outside influence there."
Jasmine shrugged and slung her arm around Sirius' shoulders, bringing him down to her height. "Not that I want to take all the credit for them growing up at a more appropriate rate, but it was mostly my fault."
He scoffed, but didn't shrug her off. "In your dreams, Peverell, my maturity was all natural," He replied with a flirtatious eyebrow wiggle.
Jasmine rolled her eyes, "Ah, yes, the same mature fifteen-year-old that groped me the same evening we met."
Now it was Sirius' turn to flush a bright red as he spluttered at the accidental fall at the Potter's manner over a year ago. "That was an accident and you know it!" Mrs. Evans and Petunia wore the same concerned expressions on their face as Sirius stammered out a response. So much for that perfect pureblood façade.
"Sirius? What are you doing here?" Marlene's half-asleep voice asked from just outside of the car. Her hair was a bit of a tussled mess, but she made it look attractive in an almost sultry way, if a sixteen-year-old could truly be sultry. Jasmine had hoped she would stay asleep long enough for the three of them to slip away. Sirius and James still hadn't quite forgiven Marlene for the rather malicious rumors she had spread about Jasmine earlier in the year.
Sirius stiffened next to her. His fingers squeezing her shoulder just a little bit harder than strictly necessary. "Marlene, what a surprise. James and I were just here to pick Jazz up," she could hear the forced cheer in his voice and she could bet there was a strained smile on his face.
Though, Marlene seemed not to notice it as she bounded over towards them, but she scowled when she noticed Sirius arm touching Jasmine's, who resisted the urge to roll her eyes. This was going to get ugly if they didn't get away from Marlene soon. Sirius and James wouldn't let her get very far insulting her, but Jasmine didn't want Mrs. Evans or Petunia getting the wrong idea about the boys.
Jasmine turned to her left, catching James' eye. "We were just leaving. James stop flirting, you will have plenty of time to do that when we start up school for the term.
Her cousin grinned and waved towards Lily with a playful gin. "I suppose Jazz is right. We have to celebrate Brightbark being sacked and our OWL scores. Apparently, getting near perfect grades is an occasion for a party."
Jasmine frowned, eyeing James and Sirius. "You and I both know you didn't get a nearly perfect score. Did you open my mail?"
James laughed, "Mum did. She didn't want to wait for you to get home. Congrats, by the way on the near perfect score. Apparently, you missed a question in charms or only got partial credit for something, so it wasn't perfect, but it was really close."
"Are you sure she didn't cheat?" Marlene snipped, not one to stay out of the center of attention for too long.
"Considering all the anti-cheating wards and spells on every paper and pen that we had to use, I doubt it's really even possible" -it was completely possible, she had managed it as Harriet twice, for research purposes- "Not to mention that Brightbark was looking at any excuse to kick her out," James replied, sticking up for Jasmine before she could jump to her own defense.
"As fun as it would be to attempt to figure out how get around the anti-cheating spells, I just studied instead. I know that it is a rather foreign concept for you, Marlene, but that's what I did. I also helped everyone is this little circle of friends here pass their exams by tutoring them when they asked for help. It isn't surprising that I did well," Jasmine replied, voice flat as Marlene's cheeks heated up at the insult.
"I studied and I did rather well for myself! They aren't Lily's grades, but they were good!"
Petunia scoffed, nose up in the air, "That certainly wasn't what you were whining about this morning. Didn't you say something about needing to pull your grades up so your father would get off your back?"
Jasmine was going to need to make sure she stayed friends with sassy Petunia and steered her away from Vernon. This young woman, while still a bit bitter, was significantly more fun to watch than Harriet's aunt ever was.
"What do you know about wizarding world test scores?" Marlene snapped and Petunia flinched. The young witch had crossed a line and it seemed like Lily had enough. She put a hand on Petunia's shoulder.
Her green eyes were alight, almost glowing. "Petunia knows plenty. I've always talked about what I'm doing in school with her. I never wanted her to feel left out of this crazy adventure I've had to take without her. She knows quite a bit about how our grades work at school, so stop talking down to her."
Jasmine made eye contact with James who looked like he wanted to be anywhere but between Lily and Marlene. Sirius had edged out towards the sidewalk and out of the line of fire.
What brave Gryffindors.
"As fun as this is… I think that it's time for James, Sirius and I to leave. Euphemia and Monty are going to wonder what you two did if we take much longer."
James rolled his eyes, "What makes you think they would blame me or Sirius?"
"As if they would blame anyone else for causing trouble when left unattended," Lily muttered just loud enough for the rest of them to hear. Jasmine snickered, gave a quick hug to her friends, leaving a wide berth for Marlene. Mrs. Evans led the rest of the girls into the house, save her oldest, who was standing on the front steps to the house, bouncing from foot to foot. It seemed like she had something to say to Jasmine, but she didn't have all day. She even gave Petunia a good squeeze, leaving a slip of paper in her hand.
It was her mailing address. "If you ever want to complain about someone or just talk, write to me," Jasmine explained was a small smile, holding the older girl's hands in her own. Petunia looked stunned, her blue eyes wide.
"You'd let me write to you? How will the mail come back?"
"You send the first one via post and I will send my owl with responses after that. If you need to take a little longer than usual, send it in the mail again. I'll see if I can come up with something a bit more practical…"
That made Petunia smile, which was something that lit up her entire face. Honestly, Jasmine felt that she had never seen a genuine smile on her aunt's face before. It was a rather pretty sight.
"Thank you. For treating me like someone normal. Whenever Lily talks about her magical friends, they always seem so other worldly. It was nice to know that even under all that magic you can still be a normal teenager. It gives me hope that Lily won't abandon this family completely."
Ah, and there was the main problem. Not only was Petunia jealous, but she was worried that her sister would abandon her family for the wizarding world. In Harriet's timeline Lily did leave the muggle world, though it didn't seem to be by choice, but then again, Petunia seemed to turn that into a self-fulfilling prophecy by pushing her sister away to harden her heart for the day when her baby sister would leave the family.
"Hey, Lily would never abandon you. She talks about you all the time in the dorms," Jasmine wasn't going to tell her it was mostly complaining about how awful Petunia tended to be towards magic and then to a further extent Lily herself, but it was the thought that counted. "And I won't forget to write either."
The older girl nodded, eyeing Sirius and James who were keeping themselves busy by looking elsewhere and rocking back and forth on their heels. "You know, if those boys are as much trouble as Lily claims they are, you deserve a medal for dealing with them."
Jasmine let out an unladylike snort. "You have no idea how much trouble these two have caused me," she replied before giving her hand one last squeeze before heading off towards her trouble making duo.
"Come now, Jazz, it's time to go home! Mum wants to spoil you for a bit, might as well not let her down."
~*~
Euphemia did throw her quite the little surprise party. Mind, the only people that were there were immediate family and Sirius, but it was still nice to enjoy an evening where she was given cake and her grades were paid hefty compliments. "A letter came from Gringotts with your scores as well as something from the Malfoys," Euphemia mentioned as the meal concluded. Both James and Sirius were watching as she picked up the letters and examined their contents.
Jasmine's good eye widened at the contents from Gringotts. She honestly felt a little breathless. "A wardmaster would like to discuss a potential apprenticeship with me. He thought that my essay on ancient warding techniques were a breath of fresh air." There hadn't been any wardmasters left in Harriet's time. At least, none in Gringotts. After the second Wizarding war Gringotts had closed its warding business down due to the deaths of so many prominent families that used that service.
"They want you quit school?" James questioned, reading over her shoulder like he tended to do at Hogwarts.
Jasmine frowned, she would need to look up a little bit more on Ward Master Weston, but the offer seemed sincere. "I highly doubt that, but I wouldn't be surprised if I'll need to take my NEWTS in certain subjects early to begin some kind of tutoring."
"Well, as long as you pass all of your exams, I don't see why this would be a problem," Monty responded with a wave of his hand, "what does the letter from the Malfoy family say?"
After a cursory glance Jasmine smiled. "It seems that they are happy to back my plan to publish my father's research. I've been speaking to the heir to the Lovegood family about his publishing house and he said as long as I have someone to back it, he would print it. The man loves a good story. Of course, I had to get him a date with Pandora, but-"
"The duelist, Pandora? How did that go?" Sirius snorted into his cake, bits of frosting scattered across the table.
Jasmine grinned, as she swallowed her piece of chocolate cake. Pandora might seem like a very unapproachable young woman who would need a very brash young man to keep up with her, but she was rather shy after you got through her rough exterior. "Very well since she had asked me for help asking him out a couple months ago. Honestly, they're a match made in heaven, but very clueless, since neither of them new the other wanted to date."
James pointed his chocolate covered fork at her. "Why was it so difficult to have your father's work published?"
The million-galleon question, which honestly wasn't overly difficult once you read the thesis statement.
"Well, it's about how squibs come about, over saturation of magic in families, muggleborns and basically everything the blood purist agenda hates. There are pages of factual data backing his claims, he pushes for a distinct lack of inbreeding and years of successful trials to prove his points. I'm positive this is what got him, and my mother, killed. Not to mention I had to run it by my allies. I didn't want to blindside them."
Sirius' head snapped in her direction, cake forgotten, fists clenched. "My father knows about this and approves?"
Jasmine shrugged, leaning back in her chair. She hadn't realized that Sirius hadn't been consulted on this. She had gotten word back from the Black family about two weeks ago on this matter. "I didn't ask your father directly. I sent the draft of the book to your Aunt Cassiopeia, who read it and then gave it to him once she approved. She is your father's shadow. She deals in the family secrets while your father makes the decisions, so I dealt with her directly. Figured I'd be killing two birds with one stone."
Euphemia pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes, begging for patience. "You spoke to Cassiopeia Black and weren't cursed?"
Jasmine cocked her head to the side.
"Was I supposed to be? She seemed to like me well enough at the Christmas party and her response letters to the book weren't threatening. They were skeptical, but she knows more about the squibs and the muggleborns that have come through the Black line than most anyone else alive right now, so she saw the truth in what I was saying."
Sirius let out a long sigh, "Jazz, my aunt is a nightmare. She's known for cursing and potentially maiming people she doesn't like, and she always gets away with it. It's her job not to get caught. The DMLE has been trying to catch her for years to no avail. The fact that you're talking to her and she seems to approve of you is terrifying."
"She has good taste in allies and in literature. I see nothing wrong with that."
Notes:I hope you enjoyed!
Leave comments and kudos below!
Hope to post another chapter soon!
~SugarPhantom
Chapter 57: Chapter 57Summary:Back to Hogwarts...
Notes:(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter TextChapter 57
The last few weeks of the summer flew by in a typical fashion. Jasmine spent most of her time at Potter Manor in the main sitting room or in the library.
James was attempting to finish all of his summer work within the last week, asking for Jasmine's help with potions and charms. Which was how she found herself in the library most afternoons supervising her cousin's homework. She'd respond by telling him which page numbers the answers might be on and rolled her eyes when he'd get frustrated because she lied. Though, every now and again she would help him, there were a few questions that were tricky and purposefully misleading in potions. Jasmine knew Slughorn was trying to see if they could apply what they had learned in the previous terms to a new, but similar potion. Adaptability was important in potions.
Most students couldn't manage this on the first try, not without help and once Jasmine framed the problem that way to her cousin he didn't need nearly as much assistance…as for charms, James just wasn't great at theory. Actually, he was rather terrible at the theory in charms. Which made no sense to Jasmine, he was fantastic at transfiguration, and that was significantly more complex. James usually had Remus or Sirius help with charms, but it was Remus' time of the month and Sirius was having some kind of Black family gathering before he went back to school.
The poor thing must be suffering.
Gringotts had gotten in contact with her about the apprenticeship interview that morning. The Ward Master was away until the middle of October, so it was being put on hold until then. Jasmine was fine with that, as much as she would love to have an excuse to leave Hogwarts early to begin hunting down Horcruxes, sixteen was a little too soon. She still wanted to spend some time with her friends before they all had to wander off into the soon to be war torn battle grounds of the United Kingdom.
There was a loud smack against the wall behind her. She turned to see a textbook lying on the floor. James was glaring at the book he'd just thrown, as if daring it to get up. Jasmine put the notes she had been reading down to raise an eyebrow, her left hand motioning to the object on the floor.
He glowered, leaning back in the plush loveseat with his arms crossed. "Bloody thing deserves the floor."
Before they knew it, they were both on the train back to school. Euphemia and Monty, who had finally been cleared to leave the house, wished them a fond farewell at the Hogwarts Express. Monty had made sure that they got there early and gave them extra-long hugs before they had to rush onto the train. She hadn't seen him this excited in months.
James dragged her to his usual compartment, Remus wasn't there, but he had prefect meeting and Sirius was sulking in the corner. He was curled up rather tightly on the seat, and his hair was covering his face. His clothing was a little baggier than Jasmine remembered.
Jasmine sat next to him after she hefted her luggage onto the racks and her cousin sat on the seat directly across from his best mate hoping to illicit some kind of response from him. When none was forthcoming, and the train started to move James decided enough was enough. "Sirius, Padfoot, are you okay?"
Silence.
Very carefully Jasmine touched his robe clad shoulder. Sirius flinched and his head turned towards her slowly and he thunked his head on her shoulder and let out a small whine. "I'm not okay," he muttered, wrapping his arms around Jasmine's waist. Well, at least she knew he wasn't feeling too awful, he was still the same clingy dramatic little shit he'd always been.
"Padfoot, you're manhandling my cousin, tell us what's wrong before someone thinks that you're courting, again."
Sirius groaned, kneading his head into her side. "That's the problem, Prongs, courting. My father gave me an ultimatum, either I pick a fiancé within the next couple years to a woman on a list he gave me, or he's choosing one for me. I have till I'm nineteen to pick someone."
Jasmine's hand tightened around Sirius' and James sagged against the seat behind him. "Pads, that's-"
"It's bloody stupid. He gave me a list of foreign-born purebloods that are held in high regard and told me to pick or he would do it for me." The Black Heir snapped, cutting off any response from James
Jasmine bit her lip and ran a calming hand through Sirius' hair. "It could be worse, he could have chosen one for you and told you to deal with his choice. At least you can go through the list and contact these girls, maybe court one or two of them if they seem like decent matches. Depending on where they're from, I could see if Mikhail knows them or if I met a few of them in my early childhood."
"You know, this is mostly your fault, Jazz. That stupid book that you're publishing has my father worrying about the family bloodline. He wants to make sure that we're not going to have any chance of a squib showing up, so he's looking as far as Japan for a bride for me. I don't know Japanese, Jazz! I understand French, Italian, Spanish, Latin, some Russian and a handful of words in Portuguese. I've never studied Japanese."
James snorted, lurching forward in his seat. "Pads, you have three years till your dad calls this in. Let me and Jazz look through the list, we might be able to figure out which witches might be a good fit for you. Merlin knows you have awful taste in women. We might as well make sure that you don't end up with someone who you only chose because of her looks," he teased, ruffling Sirius' wild locks.
"You don't get it. I wanted to fall in love, or at least figure out what love feels like before I attached myself to someone who I would be married to for the rest of my life. Prongs, you have been in love with Lily since she cursed you in first year and she finally seems to be showing interest in you. You're going to get married one day, to someone you love and had the chance to fall in love with. I was given a bloody list of women, and told to pick one, like they're some rare breed of horse. It's insulting."
Jasmine really couldn't argue with that. She had never been a fan of purebloods treating their girls like prizes to be won. Though, if Sirius' father gave him a list, it must be well thought out and they had to be magically powerful. "It is insulting, and he shouldn't have blindsided you with that before you went back to school, but we can all work through this. Let James and I look through the list and figure out which witches seem a good fit for you. James knows you the best and I will look at the situation through a political standpoint, this way we have a full picture on what you're getting yourself into. We're a team. I'm not the honorary forth member of the Marauders for nothing."
She could feel him grin into her shoulder, "I thought I told you there were no girls allowed in the Marauders?"
Jasmine rolled her eyes. "James said you had been out voted by both him and Remus. Speaking of, what are you lot planning for the welcome feast?"
That broke Sirius out of his moping and had him pulling out a large piece of parchment with a detailed plan of how confetti cannons were going to appear in the great hall after the first years were sorted, followed by a short dance from the silverware and finished off with head table's food being laced with a color changing potion that would have their hair flashing from one color to another for twelve hours.
It was a large-scale prank, but they always had to one up their prank from the year before. She wasn't entirely sure how they even managed to pull this off, but Jasmine swore they used the Hogwarts house elves to do most of their bidding for them.
The elves must have thought it was all in good fun or they bribed them with butterbeer.
It wasn't too much longer till Remus made his way into the compartment, Lily not far behind. She was red in the face, matching her hair, which had been pulled back into a tight braid. "Lily, is everything alright?" Jasmine asked, shoving Sirius off her shoulder, whose shout of dismay she ignored, as her roommate made her way inside.
"I had a disagreement with the Slytherin Prefect. He made a rather derogatory comment about allowing muggleborns to take part in leadership positions in the school, even if they were appointed by their Head of House."
"I can challenge him to a duel and kick his arse if you'd like?" Jasmine offered, which did gain a small grin from Lily. Remus snorted, making Lily flush an even darker shade of red.
"No need, McNair is already sporting quite a few different hexes and curses, curtesy of Lily, not to mention she punched him in the face. Bloke fell over in a heap, I'm positive she broke his nose."
There was a beat of silence before they all burst out laughing. Jasmine was doubled over. "Merlin, I'm an awful influence on you. I love it."
Sirius had laid himself out over the entire seat, head in his hands, "Who would have thought you had it in you, Evans! Maybe I was wrong about her, Prongs, maybe she can keep up with us."
Lily squared her shoulders and put her hands on her hips. "Black, I was just defending myself. I will not become some thrill-seeking prankster like you and Potter!"
"I don't know, Evans. This new side to you is rather appealing. Though, not that I mind, but why did you come back with Remus. I doubt that we're the group you wanted to be sitting with on your way back to Hogwarts."
Now, that was an excellent question and the laughter died down rather quickly. Sirius sat up, allowing enough space for both Jasmine and Lily to sit down, though he reattached himself to Jasmine's shoulder.
The prat.
Lily twiddled her thumbs for a moment before taking a deep breath, "I usually ride with Sev, but he is with his Slytherin friends this year and Marlene and Alice were talking about marriage proposals. I didn't want to hear about how I ruined myself for marriage from either of them for punching someone."
"Oh please, there are plenty of wizards that would like to be in a relationship with a witch that can defend herself, right, James?" Jasmine asked her cousin with a knowing wink. His neck began to heat up at the comment, luckily Lily wasn't paying attention to them, she was far more focused on Sirius.
"Of course! Any man would be a fool to think that you sticking up for yourself was anything other than bloody brilliant."
Sirius mimicked gagging into Jasmine's shoulder. She held back a laugh before she shoved him into the window with just enough force to have him grunt and grumble something rather unpleasant next to her.
"What were you talking about before we got here?" Remus asked across from them.
Jasmine gave a dry chuckle, "Would you believe that we were talking about marriage proposals and courting as well?"
Sirius groaned, throwing himself into the window as dramatically as possible. He put his left hand over his eyes, a scowl on his lips. "No, we're done discussing my potential arranged marriages for the day. I don't want to even think about it."
Remus ignored him and pushed the topic further.
"What does Regulus think about all of this?"
Sirius threw himself across Jasmine's lap, drumming his fingers against his cheek as he used her for a couch. She was sorely tempted to push him off of her and have him fall to the floor, but he hadn't had a good morning, so she'd let it slide, for the moment.
"Honestly, I think he feels a bit bad for me. He can see who ever he wants with minimal restrictions on who they can or can't be. Lucky bastard."
James rolled his eyes, "And yet, he hasn't attempted to really date anyone, while you have had quite a few girlfriends before you officially took up the mantel has Heir to the Black Family. This might actually be good for you, Pads. At least you have me, Moony and Jazz to help pick a bride for you."
The young man in Jasmine's lap let out a grunt of frustration. "But what if I want to choose my own bride?"
"It's too bloody bad for you then," Lily interjected as she stared him down, "Complaining about this isn't going to change the fact that you're going to have to marry someone that your father approves of. Honestly, you're very lucky that you have friends that are willing to help you find someone that would best suite you."
No doubt Lily was speaking from experience. Marlene and Alice had been pushing her towards very wealthy families. It was the best option for a Muggleborn woman, or so they claimed. Jasmine wasn't a fan of that line of thinking. It was simpler, sure, but truly wealthy purebloods would just marry their own to further their wealth and continue the bloodline purity.
"Jazz, why don't we talk about the book you're going to publish? My father says it's going to cause quite the stir when it hits the market later this year," Sirius said, changing the subject rather expertly, since that got Lily and Remus' immediate attention.
"You're going to publish a book? Why am I the last to hear about this?" Remus asked, pouting with his arms crossed.
Jasmine let out a sigh, "It's supposed to be a secret," she grumbled and glared at Sirius, who had turned away from her to face James.
Coward.
Despite the admission, Remus still had that kicked puppy look to him. Lily was vibrating with excitement that honestly worried Jasmine quite a bit. "What is this book about, if it isn't still so secret that you can't tell us."
Jasmine let out a sigh and pulled her wand out. With a quick flick of her wrist and a few muttered spells the compartment was soundproof and locked to the point where only Jasmine herself could open it. "This is top secret stuff that is going to be brought before the Wizengamot in their next meeting. You're going to have to swear on your magic that you won't tell a soul what I'm about to tell you. This information is top secret. James and Sirius know that certain parties are very interested in making sure this book never gets to see the light of day."
Both Lily and Remus nodded and there was a tingling sensation as their magic agreed to the promise. "You both know that my parents died when I was a young child and that I was raised by my aunt?"
"The werewolf squib," Remus affirmed with a nod and a soft smile. He didn't make eye contact, but there was a faint pink tinge to his cheeks. Jasmine doubted that he would ever forget that detail.
"Yes, that's the one. Well, my parents didn't just die, both my aunt and I suspected they were murdered for the research my father had nearly finished proving that muggleborns were actually just decedents from squibs that had been cast out of pureblood wizarding families."
Lily let out a small gasp, green eyes wide, mouth slightly parted. "What?"
Jasmine gave a slight nod to the girl. "I know, it's rather shocking, but my father managed to trace back muggleborn witches and wizards throughout Austria and Germany to prominent pureblood lines in those countries. A squib could happen in any line overly saturated with similar pure magic. It's why marrying outside of the family is important, not just for mental stability, but for magical power as well. If squibs start popping up in families, they need to push their children to marry someone outside of their country, the farther removed the better. Dating and marrying a muggle actually seemed to cleanse and boost the magical potential of some lines."
"That would dismantle this new Dark Lords entire campaign against muggleborns. They couldn't steal magic if it was theirs to begin with, especially if they are related to prominent pureblood lines," Remus murmured, though he was more than loud enough to hear, the compartment was silent.
Jasmine gave a brief nod. "Yes, I believe that the new dark lord had heard of my father's research and had him and my mother taken care of so they wouldn't cause any further trouble. He didn't know my father had suspected someone had been following him and hid all of his research."
She wasn't going to tell them where it was or how to get to it. She loved her friends, but they could be manipulated into tell someone something or it could be tortured out of them.
"That would change everything," Lily breathed, wonder coating her words. "How can you prove this?"
"There are lineage tests that can be run at Gringotts. They don't offer them for free and usually only purebloods use them for family tapestries and such, but if muggleborns started asking for them as proof that they are decedents are magical families, doors could open for them that they had never had before."
Lily's eyes were burning brightly with a renewed energy. "Yes, they could. How would I get one of these tests done at Gringotts?"
And, it seemed, Jasmine may have found her first English case study to bring forth at the next Wizengamot meeting in early November. As Harriet she had never needed to take those tests, but it would be interesting to see who Lily was related to.
Notes:I hope you enjoyed!
Leave your comments and kudos below!
~SugarPhantom