Chapter 37: Chapter 37Summary:And the death toll rises...
Notes:(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter TextChapter 37
It was later that evening when Jasmine found herself dozing in front of the fire in the common room. The chill from that afternoon still hadn't left her bones and the fire was one of the only things that she found that truly warmed her up after a dementor attack. She'd told Lily as much when her roommate had caught her sneaking back downstairs. Jasmine was glad that Lily didn't push for further details, she just wasn't up for her inquiries today. "Just make sure that you're awake in time for breakfast," Lily warned, before Jasmine descended the stairs with a grateful smile and a halfhearted wave.
It was nice when Lily knew when to give her space. It was leaps and bounds better than the beginning of term. Jasmine hadn't been in a talking mood this evening, barely giving anyone more than grunts after she left the infirmary. She more than likely should have stayed, but Pomfrey was overwhelmed with the volume of students she had to take care of, not to mention identify the husks of a few students the dementors had feasted upon. So far two first years had died, neither had lived to see Harriet's future as far as she knew. Fate took them one way or another.
Dumbledore and Brightbark left her alone, after the deaths started being reported. She proved her innocence for the time being…until they found something else to blame her for. The headmaster had more pressing matters to attend to, sending letters out to families regarding the death of their children was enough to even stop Dumbledore's scheming in its tracks. Jasmine hoped that they find whoever destroyed the warding on Hogsmeade.
Jasmine doubted she'd sleep at all tonight. The screams of her dying friends over the span of nine lives filled her ears constantly and grisly images of wars yet to come swam in her vision. She hoped the kids that lost their lives found peace in the afterlife. Death owed them that much for having their souls taken so young.
The quiet cracking of fire did little to calm her as she shifted on the sofa, her winter robe only just covering her sock clad feet.
So, here she was, the Master of Death, shivering in front of a fire, afraid to close her eyes. She knew that it would be some time before she could truly access her powers, but it still made her feel useless and cold…
"You couldn't sleep either?" a voice croaked from behind her. Jasmine jumped her wand pointed and ready, but it dropped rather quickly when she realized that it was just Sirius, clad only in a loose muggle t-shirt he had to have bought to piss his mother off and thin sleep pants. Not something an heir to ancient and noble family should be wearing, at any rate.
Much like Jasmine, he had been released as soon as he had eaten some chocolate and checked on Remus. The werewolf had been properly panicked by the time both James and Sirius had made their way shakily over to him. The three of them then had a manly cuddle puddle together on Remus' bed until Pomfrey shooed them out.
Though, looking at him now, shaking and twitching, Jasmine wondered if that had been a good idea on Madam Pomfrey's part to let him out. Sirius looked worse for wear and Jasmine saw him after he had almost been paralyzed in a duel. His eyes were a dull, haunted grey and he looked as cold as Jasmine felt, even though he had a comforter wrapped around his tall frame, he was shivering. Maybe both of them should have stayed in the hospital wing…
"No, dementors tend to have that effect on people," she replied patting the spot next to her on the couch. Honestly, she felt like she was calling a dog.
He shuffled over to her and stretched out over the majority of the cushions, leaning against Jasmine like a pillow. He wiggled around to get comfortable. "You're not very soft," he muttered, after five minutes of constant fidgeting. His hair getting in her mouth as said this.
"I'm not stuffed full of feathers, Sirius," she grunted patting his long, rather curly, hair out of her face.
"You're bloody corded muscle is what you are," he grumbled shifting against her side until he found a more comfortable position. He draped the blanket he'd brought over both of them. It smelled like his aftershave, he must have pulled it right off of his bed.
"I'd hope after all the combat training I'd had that I gained some muscle from it. Sorry that I don't make a good pillow for you," she replied, pulling her feet up and under the blanket. At least she wasn't cold anymore between the two of them they should be able to chase away some of the dementor's chill.
This wasn't a very comfortable position, they were rather squished, but they knew that there was another person in the room at all times. Human contact was the best cure for this kind of emptiness.
"It's a shame is what it is, but I wouldn't have you any other way."
She rolled her eyes and lightly knocked her head against his. "Good to know…how are you holding up?"
The attack had to be the last thing that either of them wanted to talk about, but it was a conversation that they needed to have. Jasmine knew Sirius would rather never speak of it again, make jokes about it, but it wouldn't do either of them any good. She was mature enough to realize that. Jasmine also knew from experience that Sirius would brood on this if she left him alone. "Awful. Prongs is off sleeping like nothing happened, but I…just…"
"Keep reliving the worst moments of your life over and over again?"
He nodded, sighing against her shoulder, rubbing his forehead into her arm.
"It's what dementors were created to do. They are attracted to those who have been marked by trauma and death. Your mother's treatment of you would have drawn them to you like a moth to a flame. As soon as I entered the area they swarmed me."
He shivered against her, she could feel his hand twitch against her arm, a phantom pain from his mother's torture no doubt. "How do you know so much about dementors?"
Jasmine honestly had never come in direct contact with a dementor, but Harriet, knew them too well. So, she decided to merge her lives a little bit. "My patrons…they trained me using boggarts…my greatest fear is fear. It always takes the form of a dementor. So, when they would train me, I'd feel the effect of a dementor, but have none of the actual soul sucking. I had to learn the patronus charm at a young age," she explained, running a soothing hand through his hair as she told her story.
The rhythmic motion seemed to calm them both somewhat. "Your patrons were bastards, I hope you know that."
Jasmine grinned, feeling the scar on her lip curl slightly. The rune next to her eye stung at the reminder of her lovely former life. "I'm more than aware of that, Sirius, but I'm glad that you feel the same way about them as I do."
He hummed something in reply and his breathing eventually evened out. He had fallen asleep half on top of her. Jasmine sighed and leaned her head back against the couch. She wasn't sure if she was going to be able to catch a wink of sleep, but she closed her eyes and hoped for the best.
~*~
The feeling of little paws pushing into her face was first thing that Jasmine noticed as she was waking up the next morning. "Ro, it's too early for your nonsense," she muttered, as her mind cleared up enough to register that there was a large weight on top of her. It took a moment for her to realize what, or rather, who, that was. She nearly shoved Sirius off of her, the mutt was snoring rather close to her ear, it was a miracle he hadn't woken her up on his own.
She let out a quiet groan, Jasmine couldn't believe that she had fallen asleep in the common room. By the looks of things, it was still early in the morning, maybe around six. Students were going to start waking up soon and Jasmine didn't need more rumors than there already were about her and Sirius circulating around the castle.
Sirius, ever the graceful sleeper, had his mouth slightly agape and quiet snores were escaping every few breaths. His normally wavy hair was a mess of curls around his face and neck. "Sirius, get up," she whispered, shaking his shoulders with just enough force to get him to crack an eye open.
"What? I was having a lovely dream…" he replied, sitting up, his hand on her leg as he righted himself. Jasmine gave him ten seconds before she picked his hand off her thigh. As his mind caught up with where they were his ears began to turn red and his hand moved when he realized he wasn't touching the couch.
"Bloody hell, I'm sorry," he apologized, springing away from her. The comforter sliding off the two of them. Jasmine was wearing loose fitting flannel pajamas, her sleeping robe had untied itself during the night. It was nothing revealing, but at the same time, it was a lot more intimate seeing her in her nightclothes after using her as a pillow the night before.
This was also a large no-no when it came to propriety in Pureblood culture. Sirius may be the playboy of Hogwarts, but he knew better than to actually take a woman to bed. That would be seen as signing a marriage contract. Luckily, Jasmine wasn't one to care too much about propriety, nor had she actually been taken to bed. Bed had come to them and neither of them had been invested in anything other than sleeping.
She waved her hand before using it to rub some of the sleep out of her eyes. "Don't worry about it. At least we have the day off due to the attack. Everyone is more than likely sleeping in," Jasmine replied with, a yawn passing her lips. "I'm going up to bed for another few hours of sleep. I'll see you in a few hours."
Jasmine got up, and shuffled towards her soon to be five flight climb to her bed. Sirius grabbed her wrist before she could make her assent up the stairs to the girl's dorm. "Look, I shouldn't have stayed the night down here. It isn't right for you to just brush off such a blatant act of disrespect. You saved my life yesterday and-"
Jasmine put a hand to his mouth to cut him off. "Sirius, you don't need to worry about my virtue. No one saw us down here, and if anyone says anything, we deny it. We both just needed someone who understood the pain of a dementor attack. Your options were limited, don't fret over this."
Sirius was grinning now, canines poking through. "So, we just keep acting the same as ever then? Drive the rumor mill crazy?"
She shrugged, a small smile blooming on her scarred lips. "Let them all drive themselves mad. We don't need to do anything, but sit pretty."
"So, nothing difficult for the two of us. You know, we've really taken the pressure off of Prongs and Evans. They had been the talk of Hogwarts rumors for years. I know Evans hated it, she seems a bit calmer now," Sirius said, suddenly introspective. Jasmine wondered if he was fishing for information for James.
"Well, I'm glad that I could help give Hogwarts a proper show of how baseless rumors can be," she said with a roll of her eyes.
"I hope that you know what you're doing, Jazz. I don't know if Lily is the right girl for Prongs and ever since you got here, and calmed him down, she's been paying more attention to him. I don't want my best mate getting hurt because you somehow pushed them together," Sirius warned before letting her go.
"Sirius, the last thing I want is for James to get hurt. He's some of the only family I have left in this world. I'd do just about anything for my family," she replied, her voice never wavering. She'd go to the ends of the Earth to save the Potter family. Sirius knew that, or at least, she was reaffirming it.
The Marauder gave her one last nod before he left her to wander up the stairs to her bed for the rest of the morning.
Jasmine happily went towards her room, her pillows were begging for someone to sleep on them and as soon as her head hit them, she was out like a light. All thoughts of the dementors gone and in their place were thoughts of family.
She could feel herself being pulled into a dream like state. It was nothing like the times that she had passed out, but she could still feel Death's cold magic washing over the area. She looked around to find herself at an indistinguishable park, just generic oak benches, a concrete pathway and trees lining the area. It wasn't long before she noticed that she was Harriet again, her soul reflecting who she really was on the inside.
"And here I thought that I was going to be the only one here," a familiar voice commented dryly.
Harri launched herself at the young man, tall and broad shouldered, dark skin poking through his button-up shirt. He caught her with a practiced ease that spoke of lifetimes of experience. It was Blaise, she had missed him. It was so different seeing him in this odd in between realm that Death had created for them.
"How are you here?"
"I'd assume the same way that Death manages to call us all here," Theo replied as he materialized next to them. It was great to hear his voice again. Death had been rather cruel to silence him. She knew that the deity had done it on purpose, Death could be that petty when it came to Theo.
"It's good to hear you speak again," Harri commented and Theo rolled his eyes, not appreciating her humor at all. How ungrateful.
Blaise hummed, still hugging Harri. It didn't seem like he had any intention of letting go anytime soon. "I'm not sure that I agree. I really like this new mute Theo. It lets me make the rules. I've never gotten to do that before."
"Yes, and we've almost gotten killed twice. So, please, be my guest and continue to not listen to damn thing I tell you."
Harri could imagine the shit eating grin of Blaise's face. He was the most daring out of the three of them. He'd died the earliest out of the three of them in most of their lives. He'd rather go down in a blaze of glory than stay at home and plot like Theo.
"Trouble in paradise?" The chilling voice a Death asked as the deity appeared right over Theo's shoulder, causing the usually stoic young man to jump.
Harri cleared her throat before her good friend could start a fight.
"Is there something that you needed?"
The cloaked figure in front of her only cocked their head to the side and smiled under their hood. "I just wanted to see how you reacted to me summoning all three of you at once. It doesn't seem to take near the same amount of magic as it did with just you, myMaster," Death replied, ever emphasizing their possessiveness over her.
"We figured that would happen when we agreed to enter those other bodies. We did this to take off part of the magical burden from Harri, it shouldn't be surprising, Death," Theo snapped, stepping between Harri and Death.
It was touching that they had entered new bodies just to help her manage the power that came with being the master of Death.
"Is there a reason that you placed Blaise and Theo so far away from me? The three of us have always worked well together, it's significantly more difficult having them across the pond," Harri questioned from Blaise's arms, though he finally seemed to find it in him let her go. She pouted when she slid back down onto the ground.
Theo groaned and ran a hand through his hair. His brown eyes glaring daggers at Death. "He seemed to think it would be better if we could gather some international assistance, but he has no idea about social conventions in MACUSA, so Blaise and I are essentially outcasts to the American wizards."
Blaise shrugged, a smug grin plastered on his face, "amongst our own little conglomerate of magicals we're quite popular. We killed quite a few nasty MACUSA Aurors when they invaded our land and lived to tell the tale."
Of course that's what Blaise was proud of.
"MACUSA started to kill native magicals in the Americas again?"
Theo snorted, his wavy locks falling in his eyes as he cocked his head to the side. "They never stopped. They don't like the way that we practice magic, so they're trying to eradicate it. We're fairly well hidden, so they haven't found us yet. Our original hosts want us to help stop MACUSA from attacking their people."
"Well, I think I can help with that, I've got some international pull. If you help me with my horcrux hunting, I can help you both with your social issues. I need some fancy dark magic detecting objects and I'd heard rumors a few lives ago that you might just have some answers to that," she replied, a large grin making its way onto her face. She rocked back and forth on her heels in anticipation.
Blaise tapped her nose with his pointer finger. "Oh, Harri, do we have a story for you."
Notes:I hope you enjoyed!
I've loved reading all the comments and theories you all have.
I should be updating again soon!
~SugarPhantom
Chapter 38: Chapter 38Summary:The fall out from the dementor incident...
Notes:(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter TextChapter 38
Naturally, by the time that she made it downstairs for breakfast a couple hours later the rumors around Hogwarts of her daring adventure were already circulating. Jasmine had apparently defeated over a hundred dementors at once with only a single spell, saving all of Hogsmeade. James and Sirius were mentioned in a few as helpers who attempted to assist Jasmine, but ended up needing their witch in shining robes to save them.
She wasn't all that fond of the story. Jasmine didn't need to get James and Sirius riled up over nothing and Merlin knew those two had some serious pride issues. The rumors seemed too farfetched, even if it was fairly close to the truth. None of them mentioned Bellatrix, which was rude, since she did most of the saving.
Jasmine wasn't one to brag about the different ways that she saved people, that just caused trouble. Lockhart level trouble. Honestly, she could write a book about the hundreds of ways that her hero complex has gotten her in awful situations she's had to spell herself out of, and it was nothing to be emulated by the younger masses.
Jasmine beelined it towards the Gryffindor table, sitting between Sirius and Remus, who seemed to have left a spot open for her. Remus seemed worse than the night before, though, he wasn't flushed with fever. It was a full moon tonight and Jasmine doubted that he would last the full day. He was lucky it was Sunday, he could take most of the day to just rest, maybe get a little bit of revising in. OWLS were nearly upon them and Jasmine had seen him studying when his two trouble making friends weren't looking.
"Good morning," she greeted with a yawn. James gave her a small wave from the other side of the table, but there wasn't much enthusiasm in it. He seemed paler than normal. Maybe the dementors bothered him more than Jasmine had initially thought. She'd need to talk with him about that later.
She gave Remus' shoulder a quick squeeze as she grabbed her favorite tea and small bowl of porridge. "I hope you didn't have any plans this afternoon…" Sirius grumbled, his head in his hands. She raised a confused eyebrow before Sirius handed Jasmine a folded-up note with more flourish than necessary and a dramatic sigh to finish it off.
As it turned out, she needed to go to the Headmaster's office with James and Sirius where Amelia Bones would be taking their final statements about the events from yesterday. Jasmine really didn't think that it would be healthy for James and Sirius to continuously relive the trauma of yesterday without a mind healer present to do the questioning. She had one the few times that Euphemia had asked her about the Chesters, but then again, dementors aren't really criminals, as much as actual monsters.
Jasmine shivered slightly at the thought of the dementors. She might need to see her mind healer again. This body had seen far too much violence and suffered too much at the hands of other witches and wizards. It was easy to have set backs and a dementor attack might just be enough to leave Jasmine reeling a little bit.
"Are you alright there, Jazz?" James asked from across the table, his glasses were slightly askew from all the times he had more than likely ran his hands through his hair this morning. He was wearing two different layers of jumpers. Jasmine dropped a few chocolate chips into her porridge in the vain hope that it would make her feel a little bit better.
Sirius pretended to vomit when he saw what she was doing. "Are you honestly going to eat that?"
She glared. "Yes, chocolate is a good thing after dementor exposure. The symptoms can last for days, even weeks if not treated properly," she replied, shoving a bit of food in her mouth. It didn't taste too bad, just really sweet, but the chocolate did help. After she swallowed, she pointed her spoon at them. "You two don't seem to be doing much better than I am."
Sirius scowled before putting his head back down on the table and groaned. Today was going to be a long day and Jasmine knew that Sirius was going to be a drama queen the entire time, just because he could.
James flicked some cereal at Sirius' disarray of fluffy hair. "Mum sent a letter this morning, the Board put their foot down after the attack. They're going to be changing the rules about who can and can't go to Hogsmeade on weekends. There was something about raising the age requirement and getting something signed," her cousin explained as Sirius began to growl at him, brushing food out of his hair.
Ah, so this was how the age got bumped up to third years and older going…well, it how it would eventually lead to getting changed to what she knew as Harriet. Though, in the original timeline this attack happened during that Marauder's seventh year.
"My father wanted me to tell you that our family owes you another debt," Sirius grumbled, as he pushed some food around his plate. "He's getting really tired of saying thank you to you. If you could find something for him to repay you with that be great."
This was a good time as any for Jasmine to make her next political move. "If he can get me a meeting with Abraxas Malfoy, consider one of your debts repaid."
Sirius crinkled is nose at the request. The Malfoys were a business family, they hadn't quite reached their political peak yet and wouldn't for another few years. Though, Jasmine wanted to warn the family before Abraxas was murdered. It would cause a whole slew of other problems when the patriarch of that family died.
"Why would you want to talk to them?"
"I have a good source that tells me that Lord Malfoy's life is in danger. I'd prefer to save him before the prophecy comes true."
Sirius dug through the bag next to his feet, which happened to be Remus', and pulled out some parchment and a quill. With an elegant script, that only years of practice could achieve, he penned a quick letter and rolled it up right as breakfast ended. "You better be right. Cissy is marrying into this family and it wouldn't be good if, her mother, who is accused of trying to murder my father, loses the head of another family, bringing her husband to power."
That would be quite the mess.
Jasmine hadn't even thought of that. Merlin she was creating an awfully complicated mess in the past, so many things that never happened were beginning to occur and she wasn't a fan of this. The Butterfly Effect was a bitch, but then again, at least she was changing things. She just hoped it was all for the better.
~*~
The meeting with Dumbledore started better than Jasmine had expected, considering he wasn't in his office. Amelia Bones was there instead with Bellatrix, who was lounging on the Headmaster's desk as the Auror spoke to her in hushed tones. They were rather close, heads only a few centimeters apart from each other. There were small grins at the corners of their lips. It seemed like they were on friendly terms.
If Jasmine remembered her timelines correctly, the two of them would have gone to school together, but it seemed unlikely that a Hufflepuff and a Slytherin would associate with each other. But, then again, stranger things had been known to happen…like forced reincarnation or mastering Death.
Neither of them noticed when the three of them entered, nor when their smiles faded into raised voices. They were having a rather heated discussion, Bellatrix, still horribly pale from yesterday, fists curled up around the edges of the desk to the point that Jasmine worried for the wood's wellbeing. Amelia was staring her down, hands on her hips, her professional Auror robes were flared out around her. Jasmine couldn't hear what they were saying, but it seemed serious.
Jasmine cleared her throat, loudly, and both women turned to look at her. Bellatrix honestly looked relieved and Amelia's gaze went to her watch. "I hadn't realized that it was so late in the afternoon, already. Come in! I just need your final statements and we can put all of this behind us," Amelia said ushering them further into the room with a wave of her hand. Her parchment floating behind her, the quill tapping impatiently in the air next to her.
James, Sirius and Jasmine quickly made their way in and settled down on the seats around the Headmaster's desk. She wondered if Dumbledore was going to make a surprised entrance, just for hell of it, but she figured that wouldn't be the best move for him politically at the moment. He didn't need to further infuriate Orion and Euphemia. Having the House of Potter mad at you was one thing, they were a powerful family, but they were light oriented, with just a few words, he could ruin Fleamont's business with the other light families. The Black family was an entirely different matter altogether, they had nearly the same kind of pull as Dumbledore, but just in the opposite direction of the magical spectrum. If Dumbledore pushed Orion too hard, there would be no power on the British Isles that could stop him from attempting to destroy the Headmaster. If there was one thing that she knew about the Black family, it was that they held long lasting grudges.
"Now, tell me what happened yesterday morning?" Amelia asked, settling in for their official statements. It wasn't long before both James and Sirius started talking, since they had witnessed the entire attack.
"We were just walking through Hogsmeade looking for Remus and Jasmine. We had split up earlier in the afternoon and had lost track of them," James began, picking at the hem of his robes as he recalled what happened.
Sirius picked up the story for him, "we were outside of The Three Broomsticks when the temperature dropped…well dropped even further than normal. I was like all of the happiness was sucked out of me. I had a good idea about what was happening and so did James. My dad had warned me about dementor attacks with this rising Dark Lord acting out. It wasn't a moment later the wards along the shops started to act up, warning people to get inside before they locked down. The two of us started pushing the kids into different stores. We didn't get all of them and we got locked out as the dementors started attacking. It seemed like they were looking for someone in particular, it wasn't until they saw me, did they focus their attack..." Sirius trailed off with a shiver.
"We didn't really know how to conjure a patronus, but we did our best to defend ourselves with what we could, but it wasn't enough. The dementors ended up surrounding us. We lost consciousness sometime after that," James supplied, not quite meeting Amelia's gaze. He seemed somewhat ashamed of himself for not being strong enough to fight off the dementors on his own. Jasmine put a hand on his shoulder squeezed. He didn't shake her off.
Though, dementors are creatures that tend to create self-doubt, since they make a person relive their most feared moments. Jasmine wondered what the dementors made James recall.
Amelia put a hand on James' chin and lifted his face, so his eyes met hers. "You did your best, James. Not many people could stop such a large group of dementors on their own without years of training."
Bellatrix cleared her throat as Amelia removed her hand from James' person. Her gaze trailed over to her. "As touching as that statement was, I'd like to get this meeting over with. I'm tired of being a suspect in this case. I was planning on meeting my younger sister for lunch at The Three Broomsticks and apparated into the village, only to find it overrun with dementors. I saw the Heir to my family being attacked and attempted to save him. To me it looked like coordinated attack against him. I lasted as long as I could, eventually, Peverell came and stopped them all with a single patronus."
Jasmine resisted the urge to sigh, there she goes again, turning the heroics over to Jasmine to deal with.
"Please explain why you had gone back to Hogsmeade, Ms. Peverell," Amelia supplied as Bellatrix grinned like the madwoman that Jasmine knew from the future.
"I had gone back to the school to walk Remus to the Hospital Wing. He was running a high fever and I didn't want him collapsing in the middle of Hogsmeade. I knew that Remus would have liked to be with James and Sirius for the rest of the afternoon, so I went back to the village to remind them that their friend would do anything to make them happy, even make himself sick so they could have fun. When I got outside, something felt horribly wrong and cold," she shivered, "I knew it had to be dementors, nothing makes someone feel that dead inside. I knew how to fight them, so I ran towards the village, there's no fate worse than getting kissed by one of those things. Bellatrix had done an impressive job holding them off, but she was fading, so I cast my patronus and sent them away."
"And about how many dementors did you see? And what form does your patronus take? I heard the accounts yesterday, but I would like to hear it again for the official record."
"There were well over a dozen dementors. They usually travel in groups, so it wasn't unusual to see that many clustered together, but it was odd to see them focusing on a single student that has no criminal record…and my patronus takes the form of a threstral," Jasmine recalled with as much clarity as she could muster. She wasn't a fan of reliving the attack over and over again. It wasn't healthy. They all needed to move forward from it and attempt to figure out who was behind the attack.
Jasmine really hoped that it was Voldemort behind it, if not, she might have to stop two different enemies and that wasn't going to be easy, since she had no idea how this one even came about. She was creating quite the butterfly effect during this time jump. Jasmine could only image what Blaise and Theo were doing across the pond. They weren't known for their subtlety when they were together.
"Is there anything else that you need to ask us, Amelia?" James asked as he pushed himself up from the chair. It was obvious that he was hoping that they were done, but she held her hand up to stop him.
"We're trying to figure out who disabled the ward stone and tried to kill the Heir to the House of Black."
Jasmine pinched the bridge of her nose. "Was it the rising Dark Lord?" she asked, Voldemort should have had control of the dementors by now. Jasmine wasn't sure if it was publicly known that he had taken some of them away from their prison.
Amelia shrugged. "I'm not at liberty to say much, but he is one of our main suspects at the moment. There isn't much that we can do to find him, but once we figure out who he got to disable the wards around Hogsmeade, we might be a step closer in catching him."
Jasmine resisted the urge to scoff. Tom Riddle wasn't stupid. He didn't leave a trail back to himself. If he thought that his mole on the inside was going to get caught, they would already be dead. So, that meant that the mole had to be someone well trusted amongst either the village, or within the school itself that had enough knowledge of the layout and of warding to know where it was and how to take it down.
That made the search broad, it could be anyone from a townsperson, a faculty member, a student or an alumnus. It wasn't going to be easy finding this person, if they ever figured it out.
"This Dark Lord was definitely behind it. Alecto Carrow was in too good of a mood when I saw her this morning for anyone else to be behind it," Bellatrix growled, her arms crossed over her chest, the medallion she had been playing with the day before resting over her robes.
Amelia let out a sigh and pulled out a different sheet of parchment. "Is Alecto Carrow a part of this terrorist group as well? Do you have any proof?"
Bellatrix just gave the Auror a flat look. "I could give a long list of Death Eaters, Auror Bones, and they would all be prominent purebloods that you wouldn't be able to touch. They all have alibis and cover stories waiting for when they get caught with something and you know it just as well as I do. There is no point in even trying to arrest them. Even looking into them could lead to your death. The Carrow family is especially dangerous. The don't have the same pull as the Black family amongst the Dark families, but they have reach internationally that we just don't have."
She was one to talk…Bellatrix was one of the most dangerous Death Eaters to have ever existed during her different lifetimes. It was odd seeing her so put together and powerful in a completely different way. Jasmine knew that this Bellatrix was still dangerous, but she would defend her family. She just wished that she knew what drove Bellatrix to insanity. What was that tipping point? Jasmine didn't want to have to kill her in this life.
The floating parchment snapped closed and the quill tucked itself into the small loop the paper made, fitting snuggly into the bag that Amelia had next to the desk. "Thanks for the tip, Bella, I'll give the name to Director Potter personally," she replied distractedly, before she turned to the three students, still sitting in the chairs, "stay out of trouble. I don't want to have to need to do this again."
It wasn't more than a minute later Amelia was gone and Sirius snorted. "She calls you Bella?"
His cousin hissed, her head snapping towards him. "Don't say a word, Sirius."
He raised his hands up, his face anything but repentant, "I just want to know why you're so cozy with a Hufflepuff woman from a historically light family."
She hopped off the desk, her violet eyes murderous. "You mention this to anyone and the next time you're in trouble, I'll let the dementors take your soul," she threatened, poking her pointer finger into his chest.
Sirius audibly gulped before she backed away. "It was great seeing you again, Ickle-Jazzikins," Bellatrix said, patting Jasmine on the head lightly before turning back to her cousin, "I'll talk to you soon, Sirius."
She left a moment later and Sirius slumped against the chair he was in. "Merlin, I hate it when I find out anything about my family."
"Why was she so upset?" James asked. "it isn't like they're publicly friends. If it's just behind closed doors it shouldn't be a problem."
"Well, it isn't really behind any door now that Sirius knows," Jasmine replied, drumming her fingers on the leather chair she was sitting in.
The cat was out of the bag, there was no going back now. "Bellatrix gets like that sometimes. She's very…territorial about her friends and potential lovers. If she had been seeing Amelia during her time at Hogwarts…that could really cause a political stir amongst different families and Bellatrix wouldn't risk our family losing any prestige over her love life," Sirius murmured, as he sagged against the seat.
"It could also work out in your favor. Two prominent families putting their differences aside for love. Cliché, but it works. The romantics in both groups would eat it up," James supplied. He was one of those hopeless romantics and all three of them knew it.
"Yes, and the rest of them would spit it out like old gum. I'd rather not see that happen," Jasmine commented, Sirius nodding his head in agreement.
"I still think it would be nice for people we care about to be happy…" James grumbled, and Jasmine thought he might have been talking about himself more so than Bellatrix.
Notes:I hope you enjoyed!
Leave your comments and kudos below1
~SugarPhantom
Chapter 39: Chapter 39Summary:Late night conversations...
Notes:(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter TextChapter 39
It wasn't until April that things began to spiral out of control in a way only Jasmine could manage. Sirius had asked his father to send a letter to the Malfoy family on Jasmine's behalf two weeks ago. She hadn't heard anything from them, which was worrying. There was a short window that she had to save Abraxas Malfoy and it was closing with each day she didn't hear a response. She had never met him in the past as Harriet, the man was long dead. In the few lives she had gotten to know Draco, he hadn't had anything to say about his Grandfather. From what she had gathered, Lucius never spoke about him. She wasn't going to know how he'd react to her. It was something else she was going to need to navigate without any kind of reference.
Fate had been too kind to her recently…minus the dementor attack…Jasmine had a horrific feeling of foreboding settling in the pit of her stomach. Voldemort still hadn't made a physical appearance in her life yet, which felt odd. One can't live while the other survives and all that rot.
For once, Jasmine was living the life of an average student. Well, a somewhat normal student, since Jasmine couldn't be normal or average, even if she tried. OWLs were coming up and she was more than prepared for them. She had taken them nine times already, if she didn't know the material yet, she was truly doomed to never defeat Voldemort. Merlin, she was taking these exams for the tenth time. The only thing that she hated more than taking the exams was prepping for them and doing all of the course work over and over again.
All of her friends were becoming balls of anxiety, even the Marauders were beginning to feel the stress of their OWLs. The tests meant a lot for their future and for James and Sirius that meant actually taking the tests seriously. Poor Remus was shouldering all of their stress, not to mention his own. Jasmine knew it grated on them that she seemed to pick up the spell work quickly and she wrote her essays with ease. Though, that came with nine lives worth of knowledge…not that anyone knew that. During her first life Jasmine would have hated herself.
Then there was the issue of nightmares. James, Sirius and Jasmine were still having trouble sleeping, as were other students that survived the attack. Jasmine had gone back to her mind healer on the weekends, just to play it safe, with her magic not quite developed she figured seeing someone was better than an outburst of accidental magic. It was helping, but she would still go down to the common room to try and convince James and Sirius that maybe it was time they tried talking to someone other than each other.
Naturally, they both refused.
~*~
Jasmine was dozing off in the common room. Her near finished charms essay on her lap. The words had started to blur together about half an hour ago. Lily had gone up to bed a few minutes prior, Marlene and Alice had given up around eleven. Jasmine knew she was going to regret staying up this late in the morning when she would fall asleep during Quidditch Practice, but she really needed to get this done.
She felt her head loll against the couch, she'd rest her eye for a minute…
"Jazz, are you okay?" A quiet voice asked, shaking her shoulder just enough to wake her up. She opened her right eye, no point in even bothering to use her left. She caught sight of gold wired glasses, it was James.
"Hm? Yea, what are you doing up?" Jasmine mumbled, rubbing at her eye. The fire in the hearth had gone out, she had to have been down here for a few hours.
James rubbed his arm, not making eye contact with her. "I couldn't sleep, it's nothing serious."
That was a lie if she'd ever heard one. She sat herself up and stretched her arms over her head, her parchment rolling off her lap. She had heard that James had been having trouble sleeping from Remus, but she hadn't heard anything about it for about a week. "James, have you even slept a full night since the attack last month?"
He bit his lip and sagged next to her on the couch. Her cousin was all long limbs with muscle tightly corded together from years of quidditch and mischief making. In another year or so, Jasmine figured he would begin to fill out more. He leaned his head against her shoulder. "No, and I think I'm losing my mind. We have exams soon and nothing I do will stop the nightmares," he groaned, and her eyes wandered to the piece of parchment on the floor. It was due in two days. She wondered if James had even managed to start it yet. She caught him falling asleep in class more often than naught these days.
"James, you need to see a mind healer or just talk to someone about what happened. Sirius is being forced to see one, even if he doesn't talk back to them."
Sirius was more or less seeing one against his will. Orion had made sure that his son's mental wellbeing was being taken care of, even if his son didn't see it that way. Sirius could also talk about his mother's abuse without worrying about judgment. Jasmine was honestly surprised that Euphemia hadn't forced James to see someone.
Her cousin wiggled around, attempting to get comfortable. Merlin, he was just like Sirius. "You're an awful pillow, Jazz."
She blew out a long sigh. "So I've been told," she flicked his forehead, causing him to go cross-eyed for a moment, "stop changing the subject. Why don't you want to see a mind healer? It can only help you."
There wasn't even a stigma in the wizarding world against seeing someone for mental health and wellbeing, it was actively encouraged.
James sighed, rubbing the reddening spot on his forehead. "I don't want to talk about it Jazz. You and Sirius actually have dark pasts that would make dementors want to attack you. All I do is dream about them descending on the village. I was powerless to stop them. Sirius and I almost died," he told her, shuddering at the memory of his nightly terrors.
Jasmine put an arm around his shoulder. "James, this is nothing to be ashamed of. You nearly lost your soul, three kids died."
"I tried to save them. They were just first year students, Jazz. How am I going to become an Auror if I can't handle something like this?" He croaked and Jasmine rubbed his back soothingly.
Jasmine hummed something nonsensical as she thought of a reply. "James, you're fifteen. You haven't been taught the patronus charm. You saved a bunch of kids and Sirius. With another few years of training, you'll be a fantastic Auror."
She still felt like he was hiding something from her. "Is there another reason why you haven't spoken to anyone about this? I'm sure your mum and dad would want you to get the help you need."
James flinched, curling into himself just a little tighter, bringing his legs up and wrapping his arms around them. "I can't worry them. If you haven't noticed, mum has been looking really tired lately, I don't want her getting sick. And, I can't cause dad any stress. His immune system is already messed up from the last war…"
Jasmine had only ever heard bits and pieces about Monty's health problems. There was something about immune system issues, but she had never gotten the entire story out of anyone.
"There's something wrong with Monty's health?" She asked quietly and felt James nod his head against her shoulder.
"Yea, during the last war he got hit with some kind of mixture of dark magic that nearly eliminated his immune system. He barely leaves the Manor and is on a strict potions regiment to keep himself healthy. That's why I've been so worried about mum, if she gets sick, dad will get sick and neither of them are as young as they used to be. I don't want to be the thing that kills either of them," he admitted, a small sniff accompanied the end of his statement.
Jasmine turned herself to face James as he was wiping a stray tear from under the rims of his glasses.
She had no idea that James was this worried about his parents. Nor did she really know how delicate their situation was, it was odd that no one had told her yet. Jasmine knew that she caused Euphemia all kinds of stress. She had seen how exhausted her guardian looked the past few weeks. It seemed that her cousin was feeling the same way. "James, you aren't going to kill your parents. Merlin, that's what you've been fixating on, then no wonder you aren't sleeping," she replied, grabbing one of his hands that was clenched so tightly it was a surprise he wasn't bleeding yet.
"I just can't get the image of their dead bodies out of my head. Growing up, plenty of pureblood heirs enjoyed teasing me about my older parents. I never really took it too seriously until I went to Hogwarts. I wouldn't see them for months at a time and I really noticed how much my mum's job ages her and how pale and tired dad looks all the time. I just don't want to be the thing that ends their life," he explained through some quite sobs. Jasmine reached over to her small bag of supplies on the floor next to her and pulled out a tissue for him.
This is what the dementors made him see, the death of his small family. The three Potters were all that was left of the main branch of the family.
"Hey, don't think like that. If you collapse in class from exhaustion that isn't going to help this situation either. They love you, James, and destroying yourself to make them happy isn't going to solve anything," Jasmine said, her tone hushed, but she was more than loud enough to get her point across.
Her cousin let out a wide yawn, his glasses nearly sliding off his nose. His eyes were fluttering closed on and off. "How do I make the nightmares stop?"
She wished she had an answer to that.
"You need to see a mind healer, or talk to your mum and dad. Part of your fear is that they're going to make themselves sick from either working or catching something from each other. You can write to them and make sure they're doing okay. If we have to, we can confront them together over this after our OWLs. We don't need Euphemia working herself into the ground."
He nodded, curling back up on her shoulder. "You'd do that?" James asked, his voice laced with hope and a bit of disbelief.
Jasmine rolled her eyes. "James, your parents took me in when they had no reason to and have treated me like their daughter. I want them to be happy and healthy just like you do," she replied as he settled down, his breathing evening out.
"Jazz, mum and dad were so happy when they heard they could take you in. They always wanted more than one kid. I'm glad that you feel the same way they do," he mumbled, holding back a yawn.
She smiled, not that James could see, but it was nice to know that Euphemia and Monty thought of her as one of their own. "You know, if you just calmed down a little bit you could probably doze off," there was a snore from her shoulder, "and fall asleep…"
Was this going to become normal for her to deal with? Did the Marauder just enjoy using her as their personal pillow and therapist?
She craned her neck to see James passed out against her. She gently pulled his glasses from his face, since they were digging into her arm and James certainly wasn't using them, and placed them on the table next to her. She summoned her parchment from off the floor and figured that she could at least finish her essay while James slept for a while. She wasn't going to let him stay down here all night with her, but he could rest for a few minutes at least.
It took nearly thirty minutes, but she did finish the last foot or so of her essay. Flitwick would like it. "You're still down here?" A quite voice asked form behind her.
It was Lily.
Jasmine nodded and then pointed to the head of unruly hair that had slid down her arm in his sleep. James slept like the dead. It looked like he was finally going to get some kind of a goodnights rest.
Lily peered over the couch and her cheeks flushed a bit and she pulled her robe tightly around her. "Lily, he's sleeping, I doubt he can see you in your nightclothes with his eyes shut. And, even if he was awake, I have his glasses, he probably wouldn't even be able to tell it was you. His eyesight is that bad," Jasmine commented dryly as she gently patted her cousin's head. He grumbled something before turning over to face the couch.
"He's a lot more manageable in his sleep," Lily muttered, looking James over with an overly critical eye. He wasn't wearing anything out of the ordinary, it was closer to muggle sleep clothes than what most wizards tended to wear, but James had said that Remus had introduced him to it years ago and he could never wear anything else.
"Yes, he's rather tame when he isn't running his mouth," Jasmine replied with a small smirk.
"Are you two seeing each other?" Lily blurted out and Jasmine honestly felt ill by the insinuation.
"Merlin, no, what gave you that idea?"
"Marlene mentioned something about arranged marriages between cousins the other day and I thought that since you two were distantly related cousins that you might have signed some kind of magical contract or something…we covered those a few weeks ago in the lessons that you taught me, but I just wanted to make sure," she rambled as she fidgeted with her fingers.
Jasmine wished that she could scream right now. Marlene was saying that she might be some kind of engagement with James. The mere thought of that made her want to be sick. "Lily, James and I think of each other as siblings. There is no chance that we would ever pursue each other romantically. We were talking and he ended up falling asleep," Jasmine admitted as she packed away her academic supplies.
"That's a relief, I suppose…" Lily mumbled, watching James rest.
Jasmine smirked "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you fancy my cousin, Lily."
Her face flushed, matching her hair. Her should slumped. "I-I don't!" she denied weakly, and when Jasmine raised a questioning eyebrow Lily raised her hands up in defeat, "Sure, he's changed a bit over this past year, but we're just friends. Don't say anything to him."
Jasmine shrugged. "I wouldn't dream of it. Merlin knows that you two need to figure this out on your own."
Notes:I hope you enjoyed!
Leave your comments and kudos below!
~SugarPhantom