Disclaimer: In a perfect world, I still wouldn't own Harry Potter, because I couldn't make it nearly as awesome as J.K. Rowling did. And I don't know who owns the rights to Clueless, but it certainly isn't me. (No, seriously people I don't know... Anyone who does know, let me know, ya know? okay, that was an unnecessary amount of 'knows' er, sorry 'bout that).
Authors Note: I know that seven reviews isn't a lot to some people, but it means the world to me. Since I don't know who the guests were, I can't thank them personally, but just know that it's you guys who keep me writing! There's an itty bitty time jump, but don't worry, we're not quite Hogwarts age yet. Oh, and Jasmine's eyes are green for a reason, though I know they're supposed to be blue, if the painting in the movie is any indication. Oh, and I really am trying for weekend updates, but I was in rehearsal all day Saturday and visiting my grandmother in the hospital on Sunday. And next weekend is the show, so this is tech week and it's just a mess, but I got this chapter out as soon as I could! Onto the story!
Chapter 2
Gradually, Harry got used to life in the Horowitz home. He was a little wary of them at first, because even though he had seen them in the mirror, he wasn't as familiar with them. Two years passed, and he started to be very comfortable with them. He grew used to having Lucy clean up his messes, Cher using him as a dress up doll. Mel's impromptu lessons on bargaining for what you want, Jasmine's structured lessons on the world in general, and how they had to keep their magic a secret. Of course, Mel, Cher, Lucy, Jose, and Ricky were all magical, so they didn't have to keep it a secret in the house, but outside they did.
Harry also learned how to lie, because he was the most important secret of all- Harry James Potter. Of course, everyone was told he was Hadrian Lawrence Alexander, and that his parents died in a car crash.
But Harry knew the truth, and he often had terrible nightmares because of it.
It broke Jasmine's heart that her sister's child, who was quickly becoming as precious to her as her own, was hurting so badly. But if she thought things were bad after the unbinding, they were even worse after the purifying ritual. The destruction of what they now realized was a horcrux, was awful. The spirit attempted to possess the healer, and she almost died before someone had the good idea to trap it in a bracelet, which was then destroyed by Jasmine via an extremely controlled fiendfyre.
Jasmine was very relieved that it had worked, for she wasn't sure that even fiendfyre would work on such an evil object. Once that was over with, she was relived, but she then had a traumatized toddler on her hands, and still had no clue whether the bastard had made any more of those things.
Still, that was a year ago, and three-year-old Harry's nightmares were getting better, even if they were still really bad. During the day, he managed to still have some fun, especially with Cher. She had always liked dress up dolls, and one that could move around by his/itself was even better. And as Harry got older he could even add his own opinions, a quality that Cher also appreciated. Harry was becoming quite the fashionista, and how could he not considering he practically worshiped the ground that Cher walked on. He would do anything to please his big cousin, and tried to copy everything that she did, as children are prone to do. And since Cher did everything her mother did, for the exact same reason, Jasmine had a lot of influence over both of them. Harry also admired Mel to a certain extent, and he knew that Mel loved him in his own way, but he wasn't as good at showing it as Jasmine and Cher were. Given, they showered him with more affection than most people know how to deal with, but Harry needed it. Harry got everything he had ever wanted.
Except his parents back.
To say that Harry wasn't pleased when he discovered that Cher was starting Kindergarten and he still had to stay at home is a massive understatement. Similarly, Cher was not exactly thrilled herself. Considering that they had hardly been separated in the three years since Harry's arrival, it shouldn't have been that surprising to Jasmine. Sadly though, it was.
"I'm not leaving Harry."
"And I'm not leaving Cher."
The respective four and five year olds were not backing down, both with scowls and arms crossed.
"Well what do you propose then?" Jasmine asked with a bemused smile.
"Alter Harry's age records so he can come to school this year. I know you can, you have enough magic to fake the records. You're the smartest, prettiest and most wonderful witch in the world, not to mention your are a superb mother and have a fabulous fashion sense," Cher smiled sweetly.
"That's a nice try, but lots of people already know that Harry is only four-"
"Actually, they don't."
Jasmine jumped when she heard her grandmother's voice, and sighed at her ghost.
"Care to explain?" Jasmine asked Melinda, who was slowly floating around in circles.
"I may have convinced Mel to change Harry's birth year to 1979 instead of 1980," Melinda replied innocently.
"And what else have you been up to as a ghost for the past four years? I didn't even know that you were still a ghost!" Jasmine exclaimed.
"I was haunting my brother and his wife. I even managed to save his life, Venomous Tentacula's aren't pleasant, but I got him help in time so that he didn't die. His wife was ever so thankful. They had only just gotten married three years ago. Poor woman, I doubt she could survive another heartbreak. If you ever go back to Britain you should visit them, they have a nice little cottage in Hogsmede, and they just recently adopted an orphan and had their nephew stay with them for a year, along with his mother," Melinda told them sweetly.
"I get the feeling that there is more to this story that you aren't telling me," Jasmine frowned.
"Ah well, you know those feelings, not always accurate of course, but you might be right. Anyway, I should probably explain myself to the children. Good afternoon, Cher, Harry. I'm your great grandmother Melinda! It's nice to meet you! I'd give you a hug, but we don't share the same plane of existence! You can call me Nana, Grammie, Gramma, Grandma, Grandmother-" Melinda diverted cheerfully.
"I'll stick with Nana," Cher cut her off quickly.
"So will I!" Harry exclaimed. "And thank you for making sure that Cher and I could be in the same grade!"
"Well there's only the one thing Harry, and that's that in order for this to work properly, you need to actually be the same age, or else magic won't accept it and when you go to a magical school, you'll still be a year below her," Melinda informed him, and Harry's face fell.
"Well how are we gonna do that?" Harry frowned.
"Time travel! It's quite simple actually! You're going to go back in time and re-live this past year, to the day!"
"Grandmother, what on earth are you talking about? He can't do that! He's only four, and he'll be all alone, with not even letters because I would certainly remember if I got a letter from Harry! And I refuse to be separated from him and-"
"For the love of Merlin will I ever shut up?" Jasmine's eyes widened as she looked over and saw herself standing in the doorway.
"Mommy, why are there two of you and Harry?" Cher tugged on present Jasmine's dress.
"I think that Harry and I went back in time for a year, and that's us," Jasmine replied faintly.
"I'm a genius!" future Jasmine applauded.
"When do we leave? And can Cher come?" present Harry asked.
"No, she's not allowed," future Harry frowned.
"So you haven't seen me for a year?" Cher's eyes widened.
"Yeah," future Harry sighed.
"Oh no! Harry! I'll miss you!" she hugged present Harry.
"But I'm right over there-" present Harry pointed.
"Harry I missed you!" Cher tacked future Harry with a hug.
"I missed you more," future Harry pointed out.
"No you- oh. I guess you did. What have you been up to?"
Just as future Harry was about to say, Melinda stopped him.
"Sorry, I can't tell you until I go back in the past, which should be in about an hour," future Harry shrugged.
"How are we going to go back in the past anyway?" present Jasmine wondered.
"With my old family spell book," Mel explained, walking into the room.
"You knew?" present Jasmine asked.
"Of course I did. How else could both you and Harry spend money for a whole year without my noticing that our bank account was losing money? Any way, it took me a year, but I finally got my hands on the book. You can use the spell to bring you and Harry back in time, and it will bring you to my office, where you will explain everything to me and I'll give you new credit cards for your accounts in England.
"Why England?" present Jasmine wondered.
"Because we are going to go see my brother's wife and their family," Melinda told her as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Which after thinking about it, Jasmine supposed it was.
After a dizzying trip to the past, and an explanation to Mel, Harry and Jasmine set out to England. On their way however, they heard shots from a house along the way. Jasmine ordered Harry to stay in the car as she went to investigate, but Harry ignored this and followed her. Their driver was calling 911 while she walked into the house. The front door was open, so that made it rather easy. As soon as she walked in, she was appalled to see a man crumpled on the floor, as if he had been shoved down the tall staircase, gun in hand. He had a broken neck. Up at the top was a woman, holding onto her side, which was bleeding profusely.
"Help my son, please. I don't care about me. I'm going to die anyway, but my son... he has no one. Help him please," the woman gasped.
"Of course I will, I swear it!" Jasmine was frantic, trying to think of a way to save this poor woman.
"Good, I'll hold you to that." Jasmine was confused until she realized that her hand was also bleeding, and their blood had been shared. The woman died, but not before both she and Jasmine were bathed in a red glow.
"She was a witch wasn't she?" Harry asked quietly. Jasmine's eyes widened with shock. Harry didn't need to see things like that, not when he was already having such awful nightmares.
"Oh Harry-"
"We need to find her son. Before the cops get here. Then fake his death, and bring him to England with us. They'll never let us take him legally, so we need to kidnap him. You heard what Nana said, an orphan was also living with us in England. And if she was a witch, then he's probably a wizard, so we should bring him," Harry reasoned. Jasmine was not happy that Harry was so blasé about the two dead bodies in the vicinity, in fact it terrified her, almost as much as the thought that he was right.
With two of themselves running around, and unable to explain time travel to muggle cops, not to mention that time travel was illegal, or at least heavily regulated by the wizard cops.
So Jasmine quickly found the boy using homenum revelio, and immidiately hit him with a sleeping spell. Stretched for time, she plucked out a piece of his hair, grew a new (dead) body out of it, complete with a bullet hole in the head, accompanied by a bloody bullet matching the gun. She winced even as she forged the evidence. She was more than a little angry that she had been put in this position, and didn't like that Harry was there for it. She then placed the clone in the arms of his mother, erased all evidence that they had ever been inside, and jumped back in the car.
Ricky made sure to cast a notice-me-not on the car, and since the call had been anonymous and the house had been on a lone road, there were no witnesses. Since she and Harry already had disguises and passports made magically it was easy enough for them to create one for the other sleeping boy, who they supposed was about Harry's age. He woke up by the time they were at the airport however.
"Where am I? Who are you?" he asked, starting to panic. "Where's my mommy?"
"You're in my car. This is the driver, Ricky, my nephew, Harry, and I am Jasmine. Your mommy had to go away, and she wanted us to watch you. What's your name?"
"My name is Christian Stovitz, but you can call me Chris. Is my mommy okay? Daddy said he was going to kill us because we have magic. He hates magic. He found yesterday, and left for the night. Mommy said that he had to 'cool down' but then he came home this morning with a gun. Mummy hid me in a closet and I heard shots and screaming, then whispers, and you found me. Then I fell asleep. Did you make me sleep?" Christian demanded.
"Yes, she made you sleep. Your mummy is dead. But it gets easier, though you will still be upset for at least three years. Maybe longer, I'm not sure," Harry frowned, looking at Jasmine. "Does it get less sad?"
"It doesn't get less sad, but it does hurt less," Jasmine replied. She was uneasy about Christian's silence.
"Are your mommies dead too?" Christian asked quietly.
"Yes. But we have to get on a plane now, so auntie Jasmine is going to pretend that you're her nephew, and she's going to change your appearance a bit, because everyone thinks that you're dead too. And we have to pretend that she's our auntie, just because that's what it says on the passport. Though she really is my auntie. And our last name is, um, what is it auntie Jasmine?"
"Kingston love."
"Yeah, Kingston. So are you going to be okay Chris, or do you have to go to sleep again?"
"I think I want to go to sleep. But will I still wake up if I have a nightmare?" Christian's face showed worry once more.
"I can cast a charm that will make you happy, and then when I cast the sleep spell, it will still work so you'll only have happy dreams, okay?"
"Alright. Can I- I mean if you don't mind-"
"What is it sweetie?" Jasmine prompted him.
"Can I still call you Auntie Jasmine after we get off the plane?" he mumbled.
"Of course love. Now we should get going, especially if I want to get tickets! An overnight flight to London, nonstop, that'll be fun. Especially since the Olympics just ended, all sorts of people are trying to get out of here. Oh well. Not much to be done about it I suppose. It's a good thing you packed two suitcases Harry, that way it won't look as weird for Chris not having one. Oh well, off we go!" Jasmine carried Christian, seeing as how he was sleeping, and still managed to carry her purse and two suitcases, while Harry had his and a backpack.
Once they were on the plane Jasmine placed Christian in a seat and after securing him, made sure that Harry was safely secured, before sitting down herself. Making sure that Christian was still asleep and Harry was happily coloring, she took out an old worn copy of Pride and Prejudice, as she hadn't read it in a while.
This definitely wasn't what she expected when waking up this morning.
Authors Note 2: If you can figure out the mystery of Melinda's brother then yay! I hinted at it last chapter, but no one noticed! Oh well, all shall be revealed... eventually. :) If you can guess though, the first person to get it right gets to know a secret about where the story's heading. And I know that the Olympics were in 1984. Jasmine's just forgetting that it's now 1983. Also, I'm on the fence about whether to kill Jasmine off. I know that in the movie she was dead when Cher was a baby, but obviously this didn't happen here. I could always kill her off later so that Mel could marry Gale and consider Josh a son, but I would have to do it soon, and I like Jasmine, so I'm still not sure what to do. So, advice! A review would be nice! (Hey, I rhymed!) Sooooo anyway, yes, all of this is me trying to get more reviews because, well, I like them. They fill me with confidence and hope, and incentive to write more. :) Happy Pride and Prejudice Day! (It was first published in the United Kingdom on January 28th 1813!) And yes I just made that up! (Er, I meant calling it Pride and Prejudice day... Though it really did come out today in 1813!) And I'm sorry if the little kids don't sound little-kidish. Most of the little kids I know are far to mature for their age, so I'm not sure if I'm getting this down right... Oh, and I stayed up late(ish) to get this out today, risking the wrath of my future self... So I really hope you all liked this chapter. If you didn't, I'm sorry and I'll try harder next time, make sure to leave your suggestions in a review!
