Chapter 16: Chapter 16Summary:Quidditch!
Notes:(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter TextChapter 16
It was the near the end of the first week in October when James approached Jasmine at breakfast. The boys had been waiting to ambush her all morning, but Lily had been sitting next to her with Alice and Marlene, and the Marauder's didn't want to deal with the fifth year Gryffindor girls before noon. Lily was not a morning person.
Small mercies, Jasmine supposed. At least she was able to finish her porridge before the chaos ensued.
As soon as Lily left to get some studying done the boys descended. Jasmine had been reading the morning paper, as well as a letter from Gringotts when James sat down across from her. Sirius plopped down on his left and Remus sheepishly sat down on the right. "Jazz, I know that you've been getting used to Hogwarts, but I think it's time to show that you really are my cousin."
Jasmine raised an eyebrow over the rim of her tea cup and put her paper down. "And, how do you propose that I do that?"
James and Sirius wore a pair of matching grins that had Jasmine a little bit worried about what she was going to be forced to agree to.
"Well, as you know, I'm captain of a certain team this year…and you have a particular set of skills that would help Gryffindor win a quidditch cup that I've had my eyes on," James began, and Jasmine resisted the urge to groan.
This is what all their scheming had been about?
"You want me to join the quidditch team?" Jasmine asked, her voice incredulous, but it shouldn't have been. She knew how much of a Quidditch nut that her father had been. Sirius and Remus had both told her about it in all of her lives. James had seen her fly multiple times during the summer, which had probably been a mistake. He had sworn that he would convince her to join the team, or he'd die trying.
James scoffed, "of course I want you to join the Quidditch team! You're a natural flyer and a fantastic seeker. I've seen your skills and you can easily pass the tryouts. If you don't agree, Sirius and I won't leave you alone till you do."
Jasmine's gaze drifted towards Sirius, who looked like the cat that had caught the canary. He was going to enjoy harassing Jasmine if she didn't agree. She let out a huge sigh, loud enough to draw attention from the other students at the table. Some of them edged away from group, worried about what the Marauders were going to do. Jasmine had been able to handle her cousin's nonsense so far, but everyone was waiting with baited breath for when she would fall for one their tricks and snap.
As much as Jasmine would love to drive Sirius and James crazy by saying no, the trouble it would bring wouldn't be worth it.
"Fine, when are the tryouts?" She asked. She had been trying to get back into shape when no one was watching anyway and it was slow going. Jasmine would rather not have people watching her train, which mostly consisted or running, minor weight lifting, and core exercises every other day. None of her dorm mates had caught on yet, which was hilarious. She'd disappear to the room of requirement for about an hour and half at a time.
Marlene had asked her what she had been doing once in early September and Jasmine had just shrugged and said exploring the castle. She believed her and there had been no inquiries since. Jasmine was waiting for Lily to begin asking questions now that they were talking. The girl had been watching her constantly and asking questions since her apology. Though, the questions had been about pureblood culture more so than anything else.
They had a lesson tonight.
"The tryouts are in about two hours…give or take five minutes," James answered with a shrug.
Jasmine's heard swiveled to face her cousin. "Two hours? You didn't think of telling me about this earlier?" She hissed standing up and slamming her palms flat against the table, drawing the eyes of just about everyone in the Great Hall, especially Dumbledore who seemed worried at her outburst.
Sirius stood up, putting his hands on the table and moving in close to her. "We figured you'd somehow get out of it if we gave you more time," he replied, barely a hair's breath from her, his grey eyes dancing. The Great Hall wasn't breathing as they watched this interaction.
Sirius was loving all of this attention.
The bastard.
She'd play his game.
Jasmine pulled Sirius in just a little bit closer by the front of his robes and she felt him startle at her touch. It was her turn to act smug. "I suppose that I'll just have to start warming up then?" Jasmine teased before pushing him back, grabbing her legal documents and making her way back to her dorm room.
She saw the shocked faces of everyone in the room and she grinned, flipping her long hair behind her back as she moved towards the exit. Jasmine took one last look back at Head Table and swore Dumbledore was turning an odd shade of purple.
Jasmine hadn't made it halfway to the common room before she heard someone approaching from behind. She reached a bit with her sight and realized that she recognized who it was, but they had never bothered to speak with her before. She pretended not to notice him and hoped that he would go away.
"Peverell, wait! I need to talk to you!"
Jasmine turned around and come face to face with familiar hair on a slightly unfamiliar face. The grey eyes and dark hair were the same, but the nose was all wrong.
It was Regulus Black.
Why was he approaching her?
"Can I help you? I don't believe that we've met before," Jasmine answered politely, reaching out with her sight to make sure that she wasn't about to be ambushed by a group of Slytherin's. That would just make today perfect.
But, there was no one, just the young Black-Spare-Heir.
Regulus fidgeted under Jasmine's gaze, something that she didn't quite expect out of the young pureblood. Didn't they teach them not to squirm? Sirius certainly didn't tense under the glare of others, he thrived in it.
Eventually, Regulus worked up the courage to speak to her, "I'm Regulus Black, no doubt you recognize the similarities between me and my brother. I'm inquiring about my brother…Severus said that you were a decent Gryffindor to speak to…so here I am."
Jasmine raised an eyebrow. This was a surprising turn of events. She and Severus had gotten along really well during class, their potions were always top notch and the two had somewhat of a quiet comradery. Not to mention the letters she was going to be ferrying between him and his Grandfather. Jasmine kept Sirius and James away from him, which was enough to gain some of his trust it seemed.
"I was under the impression that Sirius was cast out of the family. Why would you want to speak to him?"
Regulus ran a hand down his face in what she assumed was an uncharacteristic display of emotions. But then again, maybe this was normal for him. "Mum blasted him off the tapestry, but father is the only one who can disown him, and he doesn't want to. Sirius is the heir he wants, the heir he trained from birth. He's been demanding that I speak to Sirius, but my brother is stubborn, and I can't get him to talk to me."
Jasmine could believe that. She had seen Sirius burning letters in the morning that had bore the Black crest during the summer and during the school year. Had Sirius really been ignoring his father's desperate attempts to reach out to him? In all the lives that she had lived, Sirius had never mentioned making amends with his father. He'd only ever told her that his father was a stern, cold man that always sided with his mother. Had Sirius been wrong about his father?
Jasmine ran a hand through her hair and leaned against the castle wall. "Do you think that he'd listen to me?"
"Potter listens to you. If you can get that headstrong Gryffindor to listen to reason and leave Severus alone, then you can get my brother to read a letter from our father," Regulus pulled out a piece of parchment with the Black seal on it, but Jasmine made no move to grab it. The Slytherin looked insulted.
Jasmine pulled out her wand with an easy flick of her wrist. "Did you really think that I would just take a potentially cursed letter out of your hand?"
Regulus chuckled, "Severus was right about you. A Slytherin in Gryffindor attire, indeed. Just tell my brother to come and talk to me. You can even come with him if he feels threatened. Father really needs to speak with him."
Jasmine nodded. She could always use the favor of the House of Black. Sirius had never been sure of what happened to his father. Officially, Lord Black had died in his sleep, but her godfather had always suspected something more sinister. There were rumors that he was slowly poisoned by his wife and she took over the family from there, dragging them fully into the Dark Lord's madness.
Jasmine was more inclined to believe that Wulberga poisoned her husband, it just fit so much better with everything that Jasmine had heard about the woman. And, here Regulus was, asking for a neutral family's help to bring his family back together. No doubt the young man was terrified of his mother. "I'll do what I can, but I make no promises."
She pushed herself off the wall when he didn't reply right away, assuming that the conversation was over, but before she could get too far away, she felt him grab her left arm. Jasmine turned around and noticed that Regulus was shaking. His hands were clammy, and he looked tired. "Peverell, don't let my family down."
Jasmine cocked her head to the side. "Don't worry, Regulus Black, I won't let your family kill itself," she promised before Regulus released her. He skittered off down the hall as if Death itself were on his heels.
Regulus had no need to worry. The Black line would continue, she would make sure of it, even if she had to personally find a witch for Sirius to settle down with. Jasmine smirked, just thinking about forcing Sirius to go on blind dates.
It wasn't long before Jasmine was at her room. She moved past Lily to grab her broom from her trunk. She didn't have that much time before she needed to be on the pitch. She saw Lily's nose crinkle at the sight of the broom. "What?" Jasmine asked as she pulled out a change of clothes. She needed trousers. Jasmine didn't fancy wearing a skirt to tryouts.
"Are you going to try to make the Quidditch team? I thought that you were smart enough to avoid a sport that is known for hard hits to the head?" Lily responded as she marked the page she was on and turned her full attention to Jasmine.
"James and Sirius threatened to harass me unless I tried out. I figured it would be better to just to get it over with. I much prefer my sanity. One hard hit to the head and I'll quit, but having Sirius barking in my ear for the next two years and I might end up committing murder."
Lily snorted, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "I've made it five years without kill either of them. I think that you'd be able to make it for two."
Jasmine rolled her eyes at her naivete. "I live with both James and Sirius during holiday breaks. At least you get some kind of reprieve from them. Trust me when I say that they would not let it go. Not even for a moment," Jasmine said as she pulled on sportier muggle clothing that she had transfigured to make look more modern. Jasmine had realized that the muggle fashion of this era was questionable at best, so she stuck to black spandex, easy to move in and didn't look ridiculous like many of the…outfits that women tended to wear.
Lily's eyes widened and gave Jasmine a once over when she saw what she was wearing, "Isn't that a little risqué?"
The tight clothing could be considered risqué, but, if James and Sirius were going to be harass her about joining, she'll dress however she damn well pleased. She had also seen the team outfits for the quidditch players in this era, they weren't all that different from the tight ones she wore in the nineties. The jerseys were a bit baggier, which led to the illusion that no one had a bodily figure underneath.
"Let them stare. If they want me to join their team, I'm wearing whatever I want," Jasmine grumbled as she grabbed her broom and made her way back towards the door. She'd be damned if anyone was going to stop her.
It didn't take long for Jasmine to realize that she was getting quite a bit of attention from various students as she passed them in the hallway on her way to the pitch. She caught her reflection in a well-polished suit of armor and nearly didn't recognize herself. Jasmine tended to forget that she was in a completely different body this time around. As Harriet, she had always been rather flat. Now, that was due to malnourishment, but even in the few lives that she had lived away from the Dursley family, she had never gotten a full figure. Jasmine on the other hand, was curvier than she was used to being and it drew attention from other people. It was in these moments that she really felt like an intruder in a body that just didn't belong to her. She shook her head and pushed forward, dwelling on that would get her nowhere.
The pitch was crowded when she arrived. There were about two dozen people milling about all over one spot on the team. Though, quite a few of them were second year students and they would more than likely be eliminated rather early on. Jasmine recognized a few fellow fifth year girls, many of them watching the Marauders and whispering to each other.
Harpies.
Jasmine saw James and Sirius at the far end of the pitch. Sirius was chasing James around with his beater's bat. The two of them were in their quidditch uniforms and seemed to be the only two members of the team present. Remus was sitting off to the side on a box with a book in his lap. Every now and then he would look up to make sure that neither of his friends had hurt each other before going back to his reading.
The group of girls giggled and pointed towards Remus. Jasmine rolled her eyes and made her way towards the Marauders, much to the annoyance of her peers. There was a gasp as she approached the boys and she had to resist the urge to gag at their tween attitude.
Sirius had finally cornered James, his bat raised threateningly. Or, as threatening as someone can be when their nearly doubled over laughing. "Is there a reason that you are trying to take off James' head with that bat? Not that I blame you…"
The two of them froze and turned towards Jasmine and Sirius' jaw nearly hit the floor when he saw what she was wearing. James grabbed the beater's bat out of his friend's hand and wacked him over the head with it. Sirius yelped at the contact, drawing the attention of just about everyone on the pitch.
"This prat was chasing me around for no reason."
Sirius growled and snatched the bat back. "No reason? You were talking about Evans, again. I was only trying to smack some sense into you!"
Jasmine heard Remus snort from behind her. Why did she put up with these three? Honestly…
"Well, as much as I'd love to see some sense knocked into James' over inflated head. Don't you need him to Captain these tryouts?" She responded, leaning on her broom and pointing to the mass of students behind them. She could sense that the group had clustered together to watch whatever mayhem the Marauders were known for to unfold. It seems that Jasmine might have spoiled that for them.
The two Marauders looked sheepish for a moment before James straightened himself out, pulled out his wand and pointed it at his throat. "All right, you lot, all second and third years are out on principle. We already have backup chasers and beaters on this team. There is only one position open this year and I want experienced flyers only. Sirius and I have personally asked four flyers to tryout. Everyone else can leave."
Jasmine hadn't realized that this was a closed tryout, and by the looks of the other students, they didn't either. Then again, she hadn't heard anything about it until this morning. The Marauders have been keeping this under wraps. She wouldn't have run a quidditch tryout any other way. As the chosen one, when she had been made quidditch captain in her many lives, each time she had become stricter with attendance policies.
As Jasmine expected, that announcement didn't go over well and many of the second years started whining, not mention the other fifth year girls started shooting Jasmine some rather heated glares. Some of the sixth year boys didn't find this entertaining either. "Potter, she can't even see out of both of her eyes. How, the bloody hell is she supposed to catch a snitch?" A burly sixth year asked, getting into James' personal space and grabbing the front of his uniform. Jasmine wasn't sure of his name, but he bore a striking resemblance to Katie Bell…but with an added horrific attitude. She hoped that he treated Katie and her mother with more respect than he was showing James.
Sirius, who, while being nearly a head shorter, got between the two and push them apart. "Mate, I've seen Jasmine fly before, and she's a natural in the sky. One that is only born every few generations. You weren't picked for the tryout because you've tried to make the team every year since I can remember, and you still aren't good enough to play even the backup chaser. You certainly aren't built to play seeker."
There was a brief moment of silence as the boys sized the other up. Jasmine could almost taste the testosterone in the air before the sixth year backed down and left the pitch, leading the mob of unhappy students with him. This left the three Marauder's and the four people trying out for the position.
James clapped his hands, gaining the attention of the small group. "So, now that I have your attention, I'd like to thank you all for showing up. I don't want this to take too long. It's a Hogsmeade weekend after all and many of us have other places to be. I want to see the four of you fly ten laps around the pitch. Sirius and I will monitor to see how well you fly."
Jasmine raised an eyebrow. This didn't sound like a Marauder tryout. Hell, this sounded too easy. They were up to something, more than likely, they were going to unleash whatever was in the box Remus was on, but Jasmine would play along for now. That tended to make things more enjoyable for James and Sirius at least.
She mounted her broom and shot into the air with ease. Jasmine always felt free in the air and even on a slower broom she twisted and turned in the air with little to no problem. She was lapping her competitors, who seemed bored flying in circles. It wasn't until she sensed a bludger coming at her head from behind did she swerve out of the way. It missed her by millimeters.
Sirius cackled from below, his bat in hand as the bludger swung around and unseated a seventh year and sent them hurtling towards the ground. They never hit the earth. Remus was at the ready and used a levitation charm to make sure that the young man didn't die at ripe age of seventeen.
James had his wand to his throat as he took to air. "Now, to the real part of the tryout. As a seeker, other players are going to try and unseat you and take you out of the match so that they can win by default. So, today, Sirius and I are going to be pelting you with bludgers. The last person on their broom will get the spot."
"But what about actually catching the snitch?" A sixth year girl, Patty something or another asked.
James rolled his eyes. "I know that each and every one of you here can catch a snitch. I've seen you at tryouts before. I want to see how well you all can dodge projectiles. The matches that we've had trouble with in the past had to do with injured players due to bludger accidents. We're going to be playing Slytherin in a bit more than a months' time and I want us to be ready to take them on."
Jasmine bit back a groan. She was going to be very sore tomorrow morning. So, the tryouts continued in that fashion. James and Sirius were happily beating bludgers into the field. There was no competing against each other. It was just three people attempting to keep themselves up right and in the air. Jasmine had never seen a tryout like this and she was honestly upset that she had never thought of this herself…then again, she never had to worry about bringing in a new seeker. She had the position under lock and key from the moment she entered Hogwarts in her old timelines. It was odd actually needing to try out for the position in the first place.
Every few minutes James or Sirius would add another bludger into the mix from their box. It wasn't long into the tryouts that Patty was unseated, but by this point there were about six bludgers in play and Jasmine was planning how she was going to murder the Marauders for talking her into attending the tryouts. This just left her and another fifth year Jacob Heartly. He had been doing well, but Jasmine could tell that he was beginning to feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of chaos that was around him.
Maybe Lily was right-
Jasmine ducked and spun to the left as two bludgers tried to take her out simultaneously. Were the nasty buggers working together to kill her now? She wouldn't be surprised if they were charmed to do that by the lovely group chuckling on the ground. It wasn't a moment later that Jasmine heard a loud crack and grunt as Heartly was knocked in the ribs painfully by three different bludgers. One had at least broken his arm, if not shattering it completely. That was going to be a bitch to regrow later.
Jasmine winced for him as he went down like a sack of bricks. "Now what?" Jasmine shouted as one bludger after another came at her. James and Sirius were waving their wands attempting to bring the little monsters back to their home inside the box next to Remus, who was checking over Jacob.
"Well, you got the position!"
She dodged another bludger and it rammed itself into Sirius.
The Marauder went flying and landed on the ground with a loud thud that had him sliding across the ground as the bludger dragged him across the pitch.
There were still quite a few bludgers left flying around and Jasmine realized that she was going to need to help clean this mess up. Otherwise, she was going to be late for her lesson with Evans and that would lead to one hell of a headache. She pulled out her wand and took a page out of Hermione's book, "Immobulus!"
Notes:Thanks for reading!
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~SugarPhantom
Chapter 17: Chapter 17Summary:Dueling club begins...
Notes:(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter TextChapter 17
Severus took about two weeks to write up a response. It was the same day that Professor Flitwick had decided to hold dueling trials for his fifth years. It was mid-October and the pre-winter chill was setting into the castle grounds and walls. More than once Jasmine found herself cold at night, wrapping herself up in some extra blankets, just enjoying the feeling of bitter chill in the air. The weather was still nice enough to have most of the students outside when classes weren't in session, which is why the tournament was being allowed in the first place. Dumbledore seemed less than pleased that they were even attempting this kind of event.
Kill joy.
The little makeshift tournament was being held in a transfigured version of the Great Hall. It was very reminiscent of an even that hadn't happened yet in this timeline, but had happened to Jasmine on nine different occasions when Lockhart had been a professor. Though, Severus didn't look nearly as murderous here as he did in the future. Right now, he looked rather docile, if not a bit peaky from nerves. He had been escorted into the hall by those seventh years again before he shooed them away. As soon as they were out of sight he went over to Lily to start an awkward conversation of some kind. Jasmine could see their friendship breaking apart and she was honestly worried about them. She knew that her mother held nothing romantic towards Severus, who was madly in love with her. The real issue had to do with his friends in Slytherin trying to push him into the arms of a Dark Lord.
At least she had convinced him to talk to his family. This way Severus might have a way out of his abusive household that didn't have to do with a man so obsessed with snakes that he turns himself into one and then attempts to murder a fourteen-year-old and fails.
A large group of faculty members showed up to the event as well. Brightbark was there, naturally, he was the defense professor and was more than likely going to give pointers to the students as they dueled each other… probably the first time in their lives. The headmaster had also shown up, wearing the loudest shade of lavender Jasmine had the misfortune of seeing. Actually, all the Heads of House were present, no doubt they had made an appearance to award house points or take their charges to the hospital wing if things got out of hand, which they more than likely were.
The sixth and seventh years had already competed and there had been quite a few injuries. No one had gotten permanently injured over anything, so there was that. But, the younger the duelists were, they better change there was of some kind of accident happening that no one would have foresaw, or, at least, that's what Jasmine had noticed. She figured that it had to do with accidental magic being more prevalent in younger children, causing their dueling to be based more off of feelings and reactions more than anything else.
It was going to be interesting to see who was going to end up in the top five in the year. Jasmine figured that she would be up there, but the other four spots were up in the air.
James and Sirius had convinced Jasmine to join the competition late last night. She honestly hadn't wanted to compete. She knew that she would win and that made things extremely boring for her. Jasmine wanted a challenge. Duels weren't fun if she didn't have some kind of a fight. Maybe Flitwick would duel her if she asked nicely.
Remus was absent, dealing with his monthly problem. It was disappointing that he was going to miss the matches. Remus had a talent for spellcasting and his reflexes were unnaturally quick, but his illness was going to keep him away from standing out too much. The two remaining Marauders were excitedly talking about the different ways that they were going disarm and fight the other competitors. Jasmine wanted to interject multiple times about the flaws in their plans, but she refrained herself.
She was going to need to duel those two eventually, as well as Lily, Alice, Marlene and Severus. They were all potential opponents. It would be easy to defeat them, they were young and stood no chance against someone who had spent the majority of her childhood dueling against people older than her. Though, only James and Sirius really knew the truth of where Jasmine came from and her…particular set of skills. Jasmine was going to hate getting on Lily's bad side again after they had finally made up. Evans hated to lose.
Flitwick was standing on the center of a long vertical wooden stage. He was waving his wand and directing students to stand in front of the stage. He signaled for silence and after a few loud shushes from different students, the room was quiet. Flitwick stepped forward, Brightbark stayed back, his arms crossed. "Welcome, fifth year students. Today we will be determining the top five duelists in your class. They will be the ones that will represent the school in an international dueling competition for your age group. Professor Brightbark and I will be here to make sure nothing gets out of hand and everyone follows the first set of 1957 international dueling guidelines," Flitwick told the group of fifty students or so students.
The duels started without much further prompting. The professors were calling different students up. The pairings were chosen by the professors, Flitwick had a rooster in front of him. Jasmine had the feeling that Flitwick had meticulously picked who was going to face whom. The first one was between a Slytherin and a Hufflepuff. Both seemed nervous being the first to duel. They didn't even know to bow to each other before the round started, not to mention that their forms were awful, and it made Jasmine cringe to watch how they only used basic offensive magic and barely existent defensive magic. There was no creativity to their movements, barely any use of other schools of magic besides DADA.
This was going to be a long afternoon.
It took nearly forty minutes before Jasmine was called by Brightbark. "Peverell, Goldstein, you're up next."
Brightbark was glaring at her, daring her to do something against the rules. International guidelines forbid maiming dark magic, but that's about it. Brightbark had proven through various classes that he was against anything that wasn't light magic. She was more than happy to prove that grey magic could be just as potent as light magic.
She pushed herself off the wall where she was leaning next to Sirius and James. The two gave her a thumbs up and she rolled her eyes. This wasn't going to be a problem. Jasmine pulled out her wand and rolled it between her fingers. This was the first time in this life that she was going to duel with a wand. In the dueling ring she had been a part of, wands weren't allowed…Her attacks were going to be powerful and the duel was going to be easy. Her opponent was going to be sore tomorrow.
Jasmine hopped onto the platform and stood on the far left and waited for her Ravenclaw opponent to get ready. This was the first time in a long time that Jasmine felt truly calm, this was familiar to her. Getting ready to fight was something that his body knew and her muscles fell easily back into a formal dueling stance. Her wand was raised over her head in an arc, her other hand was pulled forward in front of her for their bow, which would take place when Goldstein settled down on the other side of the platform. Flitwick gave her stance a once over, and nodded. She was the first to not receive some kind of criticism on her form from the diminutive professor.
Goldstein pulled his wand out and nearly dropped it as Brightbark adjusted the way he was standing. The Ravenclaw had attempted to copy Jasmine, but the angle of her wrist was difficult to copy from across the room. Jasmine grinned and bowed correctly, Johnathan Goldstein doing the same, but significantly more jerky, his eyes focusing on her wand instead of her body, which as soon they straightened, shifted to the left and she moved forward.
The…duel, if one could call it that, began. It was more Goldstein waved a shaking wand in circles and Jasmine quickly and succinctly attacked him with offensive spells. He had more talent than quite a few of the other students that had come up, but he wasn't on par with Jasmine. He was too nervous and even though his spells were correctly cast, there was no strength or imagination behind his them.
Dueling was solely about creating the best advantage for yourself with all the spells in your repertoire. Jasmine was an expert with transfiguration, she had proved that more than once in class and she was going to show this entire Great Hall how to win a duel with little to no DADA spells.
Johnathan threw a few stunners at her that she dodged easily with quick side steps to the left and right, not even bothering to use a shield charm as the spells flew past her blind side. Goldstein was smart to try and use the lack of vision on her left to attempt to unbalance her. The rumor going around Hogwarts was that she had lost her eye early this summer and wasn't used to seeing without it. Jasmine let a small grin peek through her battle-ready façade. She had to love the inaccuracies of the Hogwarts rumor mill.
Jasmine noticed that her opponent was barely moving. Every now and again he was take a small step to left. Maybe he assumed that he had her beat because she wasn't attacking him in rapid spell succession. Instead, she used a few well-placed transfiguration spells around his feet, causing a laugh amongst the crowd.
"Is that all you can do, Peverell?" Avery sneered from the ground below. She ignored him and let her magic do its work. The best form of transfiguration is the kind that takes a few moments to warp and change. The panels underneath their feet were made of wood, easy to change the shape of slowly around her opponent's feet. There was a small gasp from someone on her right as roots started to form around Goldstein's shoes. When a wildly wrapping root touched the skin of his ankle he jumped and looked away from Jasmine.
That was the only opening that she needed. Honestly, she could have ended it the moment the fight started, but she didn't want people seeing her true potential and getting information back to their Dark Lord, not until it was too late for them. She fired a quick stunner that had him falling to the ground in a paralyzed heap. The roots releasing their prisoner as she canceled the spell, so he didn't break an ankle on the way down. The Ravenclaw fell to the floor with a loud thud, his wand went flying off the platform and into the crowd. Jasmine stood over him, her wand pointed down towards his throat.
"This match goes to Ms. Peverell," Flitwick shouted as she hopped off the platform to where the other winners stood waiting. Flitwick then went into a long explanation as to what Johnathan did wrong and everything that Jasmine did correctly. Severus was there, as well as Lily. It wasn't long before James, Sirius and Alice joined them. Marlene had lost to Avery, and was in the hospital wing for curse damage. The Slytherin had been disqualified for using dark magic against her. Marlene had only entered because Lily had asked her to join them that morning and now Lily was near tears, blaming herself for her friend's injuries.
The red head eventually made her way over to where Sirius, James and Jasmine were. "Potter," she said with a small sniffle, no wand in sight as she approached.
James raised an eyebrow, not sure how to respond to Lily.
"Evans?" he replied questioningly.
"This goes against everything I've ever said to you, but can you give Avery hell for me?" She asked, not quite meeting his eyes.
James jumped from the floor, Sirius following like his shadow. "Is the rule abiding Lily Evans asking for some Marauders brand revenge?" Sirius questioned, grinning like the cat that had caught the canary.
She crossed her arms defensively in front of her. "You saw what that prat did to Marlene…and the way that he spoke to your cousin…as much as I loath to admit it, you know your way around the castle better than anyone else," she said eyeing James.
The lead Marauder tapped a finger against his chin in an almost mocking manner. "Well, Evans, this is a tall order you're giving us. Remus is going to be out for a few more days and Peter still isn't speaking to us…"
Jasmine loved that Peter wasn't speaking to them anymore. The rat hadn't forgiven them for "going dark" and avoiding the main group of Marauders as much as possible. It was odd seeing them as a group of three. In Jasmine's past lives she had really only seen Sirius and Remus attempt to work together as a fractured duo, and Remus was barely ever around. It had always been Sirius that had been there for her and the ghost of her father.
Though, Lily didn't seem to care about who was there to carry out the revenge. She just wanted it to happen and knew that James and Sirius could easily get away with it. "Can you do it or not, Potter," she growled, giving a small stomp of her foot.
By the matching grins of James' and Sirius' face were any indication of the way the conversation was going to go, they weren't going to give Lily an answer anytime soon. Jasmine elbowed her cousin in the gut, giving him a very pointed look, daring him to continue to aggravate Lily. The prat liked the girl, she was asking him for help…and he was giving her a hard time. Merlin, were all boys this dense?
James sighed, running a nervous hand through his hair, a habit he was, more than likely, never going to break. Honestly, Jasmine was beginning to wonder if it was hereditary since Monty did the same thing. Jasmine had the habit of doing it herself in the first few lives she lived. Eventually, she trained herself out of it…somewhat. "You'll have your revenge within the week. We need to wait till Remus gets back. We're working on something with him and when we're done with Avery, you won't even recognize him."
Lily poked him in the chest, her green eyes boring into his. "I'll hold you to your word then." Jasmine could see James' neck heating up.
Once Lily was out of earshot James slumped against the wall, a look of awe on his face. "I'm going to marry her one day."
Sirius and Jasmine shared a look and rolled their eyes nearly in unison. They weren't going to hear the end of this any time soon. He was going to be talking about Lily for hours, if not days. At least Jasmine didn't have to live with him, poor Sirius.
"What project are you waiting on Remus for?" Jasmine asked as she watched the next match. It was going to be another long one where the contestants circled each other for ten minutes before actually firing a spell.
"We're making a map," James told her before Sirius covered his mouth with his hand, making sure his lovestruck friend didn't give away any vital information. It wasn't like Jasmine was going to go and shout their plan to the world. But, then again, Sirius tended to enjoy teasing her, so this just might be his way of doing that.
"Well, if you need help with some spell work, you know where to find me," she replied as Sirius jerked his hand away from James' mouth.
"Did you just lick me?"
Jasmine turned her attention back to the matches.
So, the bouts continued, and Jasmine became rather board. All of the duels were predictable and very controlled. There was nothing for her to do, but watch children duel poorly against one another. Flitwick was purposely matching people that would weed out the truly undeserving of the coveted five spots. Round two ended in much the same manner as the first. Flitwick let the final two in the group, Severus and Jasmine stayed till the next round since they had finished their matches in the fastest time, leaving eight students: Jasmine, Severus, James, Sirius, Lily, Alice, Theodore, and a female Ravenclaw she didn't know the name of. She reminded her a bit of Luna and wondered if this was her mother.
Alice and Sirius were the next two that were called up. The duel was rather vicious. Sirius knew a lot of different kinds of curses from his time in the Black Household and Alice was trying to impress Frank, which seemed like a great motivator for her. In the end, it was Sirius' repertoire of curses that guaranteed him the win. Though, after Alice lost, Frank rushed over to her to make sure she was alright. For some rather obvious reason, Alice didn't seem all that upset with losing to the grinning Marauder after that.
James gave Sirius a high-five before he was called up to duel the Ravenclaw girl. James had decent form when dueling. It was obvious that he had been trained a bit in the art of dueling. Euphemia no doubt was the cause of that. James was creative when it came to his spell-work, more so than anyone else she had seen. He used a mixture of transfiguration and defense spells to aggressively bring himself closer and closer to his opponents. It wasn't a bad strategy. James had the height and the muscle mass from quidditch to overpower an enemy physically if he managed to get close enough. It was something that most magical folk would avoid at all costs. The match ended up with the girl in tears and a dislocated shoulder when she tumbled off the ledge of the platform. The leader of the Marauders didn't seem phased by her reaction, nor the reaction of Flitwick, who gave an approving nod.
Lily was paired up against Theodore Nott. And, oh, boy, did Lily Evans go straight for his throat. It was no wonder that in a few years she'd escape Voldemort three different times with her father. Out of everyone, Lily moved as she attacked, keeping herself out of harm's way while inflicting damage with accurate and powerful charms and hexes. Nott didn't stand a chance against an enraged Lily Evans and was eventually blasted off the podium with a well-placed reducto.
It wasn't long before Jasmine was called up to face Severus. She had seen him in the first round and he was quick and efficient in a way that none of the other students were. This was something he might practice on his own time out of classes. He had always had an affinity for the dark arts. Jasmine was going to enjoy this fight.
They bowed to each other and quickly began to fire spells off. Severus was using spells that borderline on dark, but never crossed the line. Jasmine grinned as she conjured a small fleet of birds at him, causing a small bit of laughter from the crowd. He immobilized them and stepped out of the way of her next stunner that missed him by a hair. Severus scowled as Jasmine grinned, twirling her wand in a slightly mocking manner. The next spell had an irony that was lost on Severus as he summoned an extremely poisonous serpent to fly out of his wand.
Many in the crowd shouted as the snake slithered its way up Jasmine, who was completely ignoring it. No snake would harm her, she knew that on a magical level. Despite not being Harriet Potter, her skill as a parselmouth had yet to disappear. Also…the snake was pissed, and she could understand everything it said about them.
Fucking humans…
Not a fan of people, then again, not many conjured snakes liked humans. The snake curled around Jasmine's leg as she was firing spells back at Severus, who's eyes were widening more and more as the snake slithered up her body more and more. Jasmine used this distraction to blast the floor around his feet apart and as he stumbled backwards. She stunned him easily, her want pointed down at his throat. The snake was by her face, on her blind side. She could feel its tongue poke her face before she carefully disentangled the snake from her body and placed it on the floor ad banished it back to wherever it had come from.
Jasmine straightened, noticing the shocked stares. "What?" She asked, hopping off the platform. She hadn't even spoken to the snake, she just let it do what it wanted. Snakes usually aren't that aggressive naturally.
"Snake?" Sirius croaked.
"There was a snake. It's gone now. I don't understand what the problem is," Jasmine said, her Austrian accent coming through extremely strong.
She looked over to the professors who seemed to be just as shocked as everyone else. While she could speak to snakes, she hadn't actually said anything. Brightbark in particular looked like he wanted to murder her. Was just ignoring a snake that much of a surprise? Wizarding Britain was disgustingly backwards…
She saw Severus getting up from the other end of the platform. He gave her a small nod before he went back to his fellow Slytherins. It seemed that there were no hard feelings. Flitwick seemed to work his way over to her, a bright smile on his face. The whole snake thing already forgotten. "Well done, Ms. Peverell! Ten points to Gryffindor for your impressive dueling skills and for being brave in the face of angered snake."
She shrugged and put her wand away. At least one professor was taking her unflinching behavior about the snake alright. "Thank you, professor. I look forward to dueling for this school," she said and gave a small polite bow to Flitwick. It was a common gesture in dueling circuits, at least the ones that she had seen.
"This child is not representing Hogwarts!" Brightbark shouted, marching over to her and Flitwick, who puffed his chest out, daring the Defense Professor to challenge him further. If he was smart, Brightbark would back away, but this man wasn't an intelligent man and he kept moving forward.
"Ms. Peverell won her match, Angus. I don't see why she wouldn't be allowed to compete for the school."
"She is a rising dark witch! That snake didn't even attempt to bite her as it approached! She has to be a parselmouth! She's a descendent of Slytherin, a monstrosity that should have be taken care of before she gets out of hand!" He shouted in front of the entire Great Hall, his finger pointing directly at Jasmine.
Jasmine pushed past Professor Flitwick. She wasn't going to let anyone accuse her of becoming a Dark Lady. "I'm a Peverell. My ancestral line is full of Dark Lord killers. We are a true neutral family and never pick sides. What you are insinuating is highly insulting," she told him, her hand ghosting right above where her wand was located in case he tried to kill her.
"You are an Austrian orphan that was stolen and used a dueling slave to a dark English family! You are no Peverell! You're a little girl who is taking a name that you have no right to use! The only reason you're free is because of this new Dark Lord murdered everyone and some mole told them that you and all your little dueling slave friends were trapped in a basement!" He snarled, and Jasmine felt some of the blood drain from her face. How the hell did he know what happened to her? He had too many details. Nothing in the papers mentioned dueling slaves, just kidnapped children.
Her working eye trained on Dumbledore who had moved to the far end of the hall. "Professor Brightbark, you are out of line!" McGonagall shouted grabbing the professor by the shoulder and, with more strength than Jasmine thought she had, moved him away from Jasmine.
She honestly felt numb as she watched people whisper and point at her. Whatever Brightbark hoped to accomplish, he more than likely did it. James put his arm around her shoulder and helped move her out of the hall and Sirius followed behind, pointing his wand at anyone that looked at them funny.
Notes:Sorry for the delay in content. Life has been very busy and I don't have too much time to reformat each chapter. I will continue to update when I have time.
Chapter 18: Chapter 18Summary:To the Headmaster's Office!
Notes:(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter TextChapter 18
"I want Professor Brightbark fired! How dare he verbally attack my ward! For the past month I have been told by my son that he has been singling out the students he claims, using an illegal detection charm, are dark or grey and giving them more work than their peers. Now, I don't know how he learned about Jasmine's past, but if I find out that someone here shared information about a confidential case, you'll be hearing not only from the DMLE, but from the board of governors. This girl has had enough suffering in her life, now she has to deal with her peers thinking she's some kind of dark lady in training and all of this was decided because a conjured snake didn't bight her? The snake was conjured by a fifth year, it might not have been as rabid because of a conjuring error! It also wouldn't matter if she was a parselmouth, the main Peverell line is connected to the Slytherin family. There is a chance that she can communicate with snakes, but this ability is not seen as dark in other countries and shouldn't be by anyone in the wizarding Britain!" Euphemia took a breath, her tirade coming to either an end, or it could have been just beginning, Jasmine wasn't sure at this point. Her guardian had been yelling at Dumbledore for quite some time, and she had to fight to keep the grin off her face was the Headmaster paled at the mention of the board of governors.
Jasmine had been called to the Headmaster's office the morning following the snake fiasco. Apparently, James had contacted his mother about what had happened in the Great Hall the previous day. Jasmine had elected to avoid the entire school. She had learned her lesson throughout her various lives that children were cruel, and she didn't want to listen to the whispered rumors about her. It was a Saturday after all, and she really didn't need to show up for anything other than meals, which she called on a house elf to bring to her.
Lily, Alice and Marlene were being supportive, at least. Lily had already figured out where she had come from and, while Lily hadn't been friendly, had never used her past against her. The whole snake not attacking didn't really bother them all that much. Marlene thought that it was wicked, and Lily didn't really understand the connotation of what being a parselmouth in Britain meant. The three of them told her that they didn't think she was a dark lady in training. Ro, on the other hand, was the true evil mastermind in the dormitory and stole the left shoe of anyone who harassed Jasmine.
It had gotten a laugh out of Jasmine, but she still didn't feel up to going outside and talking to anyone. She hadn't liked the glares that the other students were giving her. She had never been a fan of this kind of childish behavior. As Harriet, she had been treated like this on a regular basis and she had almost killed herself in her first life. The only thing that had stopped her was Sirius and Remus sending her letters and Theo, Blaise and Hermione distracting her. They liked to remind her that someone wanted her alive.
This time it was different in certain aspects. Jasmine wasn't alone in the same way Harriet had been. James was willing to contact someone on her behalf. Jasmine had adults willing to help her. Euphemia was there defending her, a supporting hand on her shoulder as she sat in front of the Headmaster. She was shouting at the headmaster and demanding that something be done about the way that this professor was treating her. No one had been able to do this for her before. Dumbledore seemed hesitant to say anything to the head of the DMLE. Jasmine had experience with the way that Dumbledore "handled" bullying with both his students and teachers, which was more along the lines of he ignored it and hoped that it sorted itself out. Screw the consequences, even if it left students wandering the halls with no shoes, or allowed James and Sirius free reign of the school with barely any kind of repercussions.
"Euphemia, I can't just fire my Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor. We're over a month into term. If you feel that Jasmine isn't having an adequate time at Hogwarts, she can always withdraw."
And there was the true motive of hiring this wanker of a defense professor. He was here to make sure that Jasmine didn't stay at Hogwarts. Euphemia's hand tightened on her shoulder. "Albus, Jasmine worked all summer to make sure that she was ready for Hogwarts. It was more work than any other student had ever had to complete to transfer in, I checked with the school records and contacted old professors to make sure. You are attempting to force a student to withdraw from your school for reasons unknown," Euphemia growled, her rage barely contained.
His eyes were giving off that infuriating twinkle. "Euphemia, that would be amoral. Professor Brightbark cannot leave for the good of the student body. I was worried that Jasmine wouldn't be able to handle the stress of being in a social environment after being attacked by Voldemort."
Neither woman in front of him flinched and Jasmine was tired of being quiet. "Sir, I find it insulting that you think that I find the social aspect of this school too stressful. I have friends in both my house, and out of it. If you look at my grades I am at the top of my class in nearly every subject. I am handling Hogwarts without a problem. Professor Brightbark crossed a line. He is openly discriminatory towards students who aren't magically aligned with natural light magic. It isn't possible for everyone to be light leaning. He has no right to dictate if I represent the school in a dueling tournament. Nor did he have the right to tell anyone about my past. It is supposed to be classified information, bits and pieces have been leaked and not everyone had put the pieces together yet. I've already began receiving threats," Jasmine told the Headmaster with a scowl. Her hands clenching into fists. She could feel her magical swirling about begging to escape and destroy everything in its path. In a past life she would have let it consume the room.
"Ms. Peverell, while I can agree that Professor Brightbark was out of line to bring up your past, everyone was going to find out eventually…"
Bull-shite.
Euphemia stood from her seat next to Jasmine her hand shaking slightly in rage. "That information was classified, Albus. If you told him about what happened to Jasmine this summer, you could lose your job," she threatened, her right hand hovering over her wand. It was obvious that someone was going to do something they were going to seriously regret in a few minutes if Jasmine didn't do anything. And, quite honestly, she was tempted to let Euphemia do whatever she wanted, but then again, she didn't want her guardian getting hurt by Dumbledore. The man, despite his grandfatherly appearance, was a fierce duelist in his own right.
"Headmaster, you brought me here today to discuss not only Brightbark's unnecessary confession of my past, but also the validity of his claim that I can't compete in the tournament. My grades meet the qualifications and Professor Flitwick thinks that I can get Hogwarts the victory that it had been robbed of a few decades ago," Jasmine pleaded, making her eyes a little wider than normal. Despite the weird coloring, she knew that her pleading look resembled that of a kicked puppy, so maybe, if she switched tactics she could stop this whole argument from creating an even larger mess.
The Headmaster pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a long sigh. "I have spoken to Filius and he was furious over Brightbark's claim as well. I suppose that I will have to let you compete, but I can't fire your defense professor over something so trivial in the grand scheme of things."
Euphemia straightened her robes fluttering around her, ready for battle at a moment's notice. "Albus, if you say that my ward's safety is trivial one more time there is going to be an injunction and papers will be filed. You have treated my family well the past few years, but I will not stand for you openly discriminating against any student. I've heard whispers from historically Slytherin families about blatant favoritism, but I hadn't believed it. You're pushing my hand, Albus," she warned, her voice laced in venom.
He held a hand out in front of him in a peaceful gesture. "I understand Euphemia. I just worry with this new Dark Lord's rise that those inclined to darker magics will follow him unless pushed in the right direction."
That bastard. It's like fifth year all over again except Dumbledore was doubting her allegiance, which wasn't something that she was used to.
A bottle exploded on the table in front of Jasmine and the two adults in the room turned to look at her in shock and horror. Maybe her magic wasn't as reigned in as she thought it was.
At least she got their attention. "Sir, do you think I'm working for the Dark Lord that attempted to kill me? Is this why you're so adamant about having me withdraw?"
She could tell that Dumbledore was uncomfortable with the question, but Euphemia seemed upset. The headmaster swallowed hard for a moment before giving Jasmine a once over, focusing on her eyes and scars. "You are the only survivor of the upper level of that manor. Voldemort is very thorough. There would be no way for you to survive unless he wanted you to."
"Albus! We found her nearly dead from her wounds. We thought she was dead before we found a weak pulse. It took hours to even reverse part of the worst curse damage from her system! If we were moments later she would have died and none of us would have been the wiser. Her survival was a miracle. Don't flatter yourself and think that she is here on the order of some Dark Lord to ruin your school."
Jasmine stood from her chair. This conversation was going nowhere. Dumbledore had made up his mind and it wasn't going to change anytime soon, but before she left she was going to have the last word. "Not to mention that what you're saying is insulting to my ancestors. The Peverell line is one of Dark Lord killers. We are a pure grey family and will not be swayed from that. To even insinuate that I would side with a man that murdered children with a smile on his face is disgusting. I am no man's pawn," she told him her eyes meeting his and for the first time he didn't seem to see her as something dark, but something even more terrifying. Jasmine was a pure grey witch. There was going to be no swaying her and she was going to be powerful when she grew up unless something was done about it.
Jasmine knew that graduating on time was going to be an uphill battle if Dumbledore had anything to say about it. She wasn't what he'd want graduating Hogwarts. He either wanted to have all his Slytherins be evil, just to make a point about dark magic or have them all step away from dark magic and embrace the light, which was against their nature and basically impossible. Jasmine was creating a third option, one that she hoped would change the wizarding world for the foreseeable future.
~*~
Jasmine saw that Remus was waiting outside of the Headmaster's office. He had been leaning against the wall, charms book closed with a feather sticking out of the end, no doubt marking his page. He seemed healthy. The full moon was two days ago, and he seemed alright, comparatively to a few other days after she'd witnessed from him. He didn't have any new scars on his face, nor were there visible bandages. Jasmine wondered what he was doing here. He hadn't mentioned that he had a meeting with Dumbledore. Though, he didn't seem surprised that she was coming out, so maybe he had been there for her.
"How did your meeting go, Jazz?" He asked, pushing himself off the wall, his sandy hair flopping to the left as he tilted his head.
Jasmine let out a long groan and thumped her head against the cold stone of the castle, drawing a chuckle from Remus. "That bad?"
A low whine left her throat before she turned to him. "Worse. But, I am allowed to compete in the tournament, so at least there's that. Dumbledore thinks I'm the next dark lady and wants to expel me," she complained, sounding rather defeated. Dealing with Dumbledore on a daily basis was tiring. She liked it far better when he thought that she shat out rainbows as Harriet Potter. She felt a hand settle on her shoulder, feather light, as if it could disappear at any moment. Remus really needed to get over his touching people thing.
He seemed conflicted, his other hand wringing the book in his grip. "Are you sure that Dumbledore is the one making these kinds of assumptions? I mean, I get Brightbark, he's a bit of a prick, but Dumbledore has always been so kind…"
Talking to Remus was always easy. In any life she had lived he had always been trustworthy, but he was still a child here, naive. It was going to take time for Remus to realize that Dumbledore wasn't perfect, even if he allowed a werewolf, who, should be allowed to attend a school, come for the first time.
"He made it rather clear that he wants nothing to do with grey magic and that he sees me as tainted with dark magic," she replied slowly and carefully, watching Remus' reaction, which was closed off. That was understandable…Jasmine supposed.
"I just can't believe he would treat you like some kind of outcast. Dumbledore has always been so kind. It is just strange to think that he is against you, you're an ideal student...you haven't done anything to warrant that kind of distrust."
Jasmine shrugged. "Circumstances of my survival were…odd to say the least," she replied, rubbing the back of her head. She decided to change the subject. "Is there a particular reason that you're waiting outside of the Headmaster's office? I know that you've been sick the past few days, but I doubt that your illness has made enough of an impact that you'd need to see the headmaster about your grades…"
Remus nearly dropped his book at her question and his face heated up slightly. "I was waiting for you. James and Sirius have detention and we figured that someone should be around to walk you back to the dorm. Hogwarts students can be fickle and none of us want you to get hurt," he responded, completely avoiding her questions about his health problems. She wondered when she could bring it up. It wasn't like Jasmine hadn't been exposed to werewolves before…her aunt had been a werewolf. Maybe she could bring it up sooner rather than later, because Remus' horrifically lame attempts at avoiding the topic were starting to grate on her nerves.
"James just doesn't want his new seeker to be damaged before the game next week," Jasmine commented with an exaggerated roll of her eyes and Remus let out a breathy chuckle. Denial was clearly written over his features, but there had been a few too many accidents happening around Jasmine recently. A few too many competitors had nearly knocked her down the stairs, nudging her into spells during class or, some going as far as to cast a few bone shattering hexes at her. James and Sirius assured her that his was more than normal for Hogwarts Quidditch rivalries especially before the first match of the year, which was always against the Slytherin team.
They both started walking back towards the dorms, no point in standing around and waiting for someone to attack her. She had dealt with that feeling too often in this life and in her past lives.
Jasmine fought the urge to turn back to the Headmaster's office. She wondered what Euphemia and Dumbledore might have finished talking about, but she could worry about that another day. Her guardian would fill her in on anything that the Headmaster said. Right now, she was just going to be a student trying to weasel out some information from a friend. "There might have been something about quidditch thrown into his explanation as he was leaving the dorm," Remus admitted, a grin poking at the sides of his lips.
James' infatuation with Jasmine's quidditch abilities was all over the school and it was putting the other teams on edge. They had never seen her play and James was keeping the practices very secluded and private when it came to Jasmine. He wanted a secret weapon and was doing a great job of creating one. Jasmine was the metaphorical cat in the box, she could either be the best or worst quidditch player, but the fact that she existed and James Potter cared so much about her skills is what made her a force to be mentally reckoned with.
It was driving Lily up the wall. The poor girl was not all that athletically inclined and could care less about flying in a broom and chasing balls, but that's all anyone was talking about. Even Alice and Marlene would question Jasmine about the practices that she went to and whether or not her seeker skills were real or fake. Jasmine hadn't given them a straight answer. She usually just took a shower and passed out on her bed, drained. James was a slave driver on the pitch. She had thought that Oliver Wood had been a demon during practice, but if that was the case, then James Potter was the devil himself. Honestly, James had enough skill to more than likely go pro if he wanted. He was an amazing chaser, which only inflated his ego more so, but it wasn't a skill that had been exaggerated in Harriet's timeline. And, James wasn't insufferable when he played quidditch or when he practiced. It was off the pitch he'd brag. If the fun loving, team oriented and competitive James Potter would come off the pitch and into the school, Lily would probably like him more.
Jasmine hadn't really commented on her own skills, which her roommate liked, but James was, of course, making things tense by never shutting his mouth. "You'd think he'd stop talking about it. It isn't like I've actually won a match against another team or anything," Jasmine whined. She was tired of people trying to hurt her for her potential quidditch skills. At least Death Eaters tried to kill you to purge the world. They had a reason…quidditch sabotage just seemed so juvenile.
They were playing a long con here and Jasmine just hoped that it payed off for all of them.
"You will and that is what he is counting on. I've seen you fly before, Jazz. You're great," Remus told her, his face reddening towards the end. Jasmine elbowed him in side, causing him to stagger slightly. She was stronger than she looked and she grinned at his shocked expression. It wasn't every day that a girl could nearly knock a werewolf over.
"Flatterer. Is there a reason that you don't fly, Remus?"
The werewolf turned a bit green at the thought. "I get rather motion sick flying. I can watch it just fine, but actually getting on a broom." He shook his head and Jasmine let out a quiet laugh.
"I understand. I got seasick as a child. Never stepped on a boat again after that." Not that she had been giving an opportunity to get on one after she was kidnapped, but it was the principle of the matter that counted. She couldn't handle boats as Harriet either, just the thought made her queasy.
"So, you are human after all? You get ill just like the rest of us?" Remus asked playfully and Jasmine frowned. Had she come off as invincible? She supposed that surviving and attack by a homicidal group of pureblood fanatics could do make it look that way…She was honestly fairly normal, compared to her life as Harriet Potter anyway. Then again, that wasn't a normal life by any stretch of the imagination.
"Yes, and I'm also awful at any kind of art. Anything in a draw looks like it was made by rampaging hippogriff or a really angry toddler."
Remus snorted. "I'd love to see one of your drawings one day, just as proof."
"There's no bloody way. If Sirius ever sees one he'd never let me hear the end of it. The prat would most likely frame it somewhere extremely public."
"I'd like to say that you're wrong about that, but I feel that Padfoot would more than likely never let you forget about any kind of mistake that you made. Merlin knows that he doesn't let me, or Prongs, get away with anything," Remus admitted, ruffling his hair a little bit, his neck was turning red.
Jasmine could sense a juicy story just waiting to be told. "You can't just not tell me what kind of dirt Sirius has on you to garner that kind of reaction," she teased, nudging the werewolf a little with her elbow again and getting close to his quickly reddening face.
He shot her an annoyed look before letting out a strained sigh as his face heated up more. Jasmine's grin grew, and Remus seemed to be at a loss at what to say. "It honestly isn't worth mentioning and it happened years ago," he replied with a dismissive wave of his hand. Jasmine pouted, but let him drop it. The story more than likely had to do with his furry little problem and she knew that it was a sensitive issue until he decided to share it with her, if he ever trusted her enough.
"Fine, keep your secrets," she teased, sauntering a little farther and walking backwards the face him, "I'll find out eventually. I bet Sirius would be more than willing to share if given the right incentive."
"Padfoot was sworn to secrecy. I doubt that he would betray the Marauder's code of trust, considering he came up with it in first place," Remus countered, and Jasmine didn't have much to say to that. Sirius more than likely would take whatever happened between the two of them to their graves.
Shame that Peter already betrayed them. The rat hadn't made a move to make up with the rest of the Marauders, even weeks after James had punched him. Everyone in Gryffindor House knew better than to mention within hearing distance of any of them. A few seventh years had made some rather unpleasant remarks and later ended up hexed up to their ears. Everyone knew who the culprits were, but no one acted on it, there was no proof, as per usual with the Marauders.
Jasmine let out a long-suffering sigh. "Fine, Remus, you win-" she stopped herself mid-sentence when she sensed someone reaching out to grab her from behind. She pivoted right under his arms, leaving him grabbing at nothing as she kicked him in groin hard enough to send him to the floor writhing in pain.
Remus sprinted over wand at the ready, Jasmine had hers in her hand as well, knuckles white. It was a Slytherin from their year. Something Simmons, pureblood, not really all that magically talented, but a devote follower of Tom Riddle at a young age if her knowledge of the future was anything to go by.
"Mathias Simmons, what do you think you're doing? You're a prefect and you're attacking a fellow student?" Remus hissed as the young man on the ground attempted to right himself. Jasmine hoped it took him hours to recover. No one got away with trying to hurt her.
"I was going to attempt to talk some sense into your little neutral family Gryffindor. I have a message from that Dark Lord."
Jasmine flipped him off not wanting to hear any more. "See this," she indicated to her middle finger. "That's all I have to say to your Dark Lord. I don't speak to people that use children as means to an end." It was why she had come to distrust Dumbledore so much. No one should use children, even if some half-baked prophecy said that it was destiny.
Simmons was beginning to turn a hideous shade a purple and Remus had gone a ghastly shade a white. Jasmine supposed that it might seem a bit odd to give that kind of a response to a Dark Lord. Simmons wouldn't actually convey her message in the exact manner that Jasmine replied with, he'd be killed otherwise, but she wasn't one to bow down to anyone.
No Peverell, nor any Potter would ever let Tom Riddle dictate their lives. Not after her first life, anyway. She was going to end this war before it even began. She already had the Prince line in her back pocket, she was going to attempt to bridge an alliance with the Black family once she brought their heir back and then she was going to need to somehow to bring the Malfoy line to her side of the war before Abraxas was assassinated next year.
So much to do…
Simmons squirmed a bit as he staggered his way to a standing position. She saw his hand go towards his wand.
But, first…
She lunged, grabbing his wrist and twisting it into a rather unpleasant position. Jasmine was centimeters from his face. "Now, Simmons, either you leave right now, or I break your wrist and you can attempt to explain to Madam Pomfrey how you got injured, because I'd love to tell her exactly what you just told me. She'd no doubt have to tell the Headmaster, and you know how he feels about Dark Magic and Slytherins," she told him, her voice sweet as honey, but laced with the deadliest of venoms.
The fifth year Slytherin pulled his hand from her grip and sprinted off in the opposite direction. He never once turned back, and Jasmine put a hand on Remus' wand and lowered it, letting the messenger run.
"You could have stopped him. He's a Death Eater in training! He's running errands for their Dark Lord!" He nearly shouted, his voice echoing off the stone regardless.
"Yes, but he could also go back to his common room, tell them what happened and that I spared him. He knows I can ruin him with only a few carefully placed words, Remus, and he'll tell all of his best mates that are training to be Death Eaters to avoid me. Then I'll know which ones they are when they actively run from me. He's is putting targets on all of their backs. You can't always win the war being a Gryffindor, sometimes, you need to play Slytherin to win a battle or two," she replied with a shrug. It took a moment for Remus to stew over her words and Jasmine, for a moment, worried that she had scared one of her few friends away by using politics and mind games.
"You're bloody terrifying. I'm glad that you're on our side," Remus muttered, more to himself than to anyone else, but Jasmine grinned, relieved.
"Oh, I know and I hope that you don't forget it."
Notes:Thanks for reading! I will hopefully have more time to post soon?