Happy Friday! =D Enjoy a very long awaited confrontation!

Chapter 25

Dumbledore's office was a hornet's nest of activity. The room was filled with aggravated voices and desk pounding, giving Jasmine's already aching head more of a reason to pound. All the Heads of House were crowded around the Headmaster's desk shouting over one another. McGonagall was the one with her hands slamming against the polished desk. Euphemia was standing in the corner of the room, looking like she was about rip someone to shreds. Madam Pomfrey was next to the entrance and Jasmine was dreading dealing with the fussy matron. Dumbledore, in bright lilac robes, didn't seem to know what to do as he tried to calm the four different Heads of House with peaceful hand gestures.

Lily was nowhere to be found. Jasmine hoped that she was bringing her assailants here while Jasmine dealt with the adults.

All eyes turned to the group of teens as they came in, most of them zeroed in on Sirius, who was still carrying Jasmine. She knew that she still looked worse for wear, no doubt bruises were forming on her face and the cuts that were visible were bleeding a bit sluggishly. Her ribs were still aching something fierce and even if her shoulder was back in its socket, it still hurt like hell. Euphemia was the first to break the silence, "Jasmine, what happened? I got a fire call from James saying that you had almost been killed in a fight?"

Jasmine sent her cousin a glare before he shrugged his shoulders with a sheepish grin. Leave it to James to exaggerate the entire thing to get everyone up and arms. Then again, fighting soon to be Death Eaters in school, even if they were in training, was an ordeal to overcome.

James rubbed the back of his neck. "Evans came running in panicking, what was I supposed to think?" He gave the most innocent bat of his eyelashes as he responded. What a little liar. Lily might have a temper, but she was level headed most of the time and wouldn't have told James that she had almost died.

Jasmine hadn't even come close to dying. Merlin, she was a few moments away from maiming those to idiot Slytherins before Lily, Frank and Alice stepped in on her behalf. Euphemia started to tap a foot impatiently.

Jasmine figured that this would be a good time to explain what happened before her guardian hurt someone. "While, I did get into a fight. I wasn't near death. Avery got a lucky hit in with a blasting hex. I was pushed into a wall rather forcefully, which caused most of my injuries," she began, but she got some confused looks…maybe she started at the wrong moment in the story. Sometimes it was best to start at the beginning. "Okay, I'll start again. Right after dueling practice I was attacked by six students claiming to follow the new rising Dark Lord. I had already rejected an offer earlier in the year and he took that as an insult. Avery and his friends were attempting to teach me a lesson, though, they are far more damaged than I ended up," she replied levelly, attempting to keep her voice calm and even, though she could feel a wheeze starting in her voice as she spoke, hopefully her rib hadn't punctured her lung. She was far too tired and stung-out for that.

The Headmaster looked positively delighted behind his spectacles. This could be what gets her kicked out of school. Jasmine wouldn't put it past Dumbledore to attempt to expel her over this.

"Madam Pomfrey, Jazz is having a bit of trouble breathing, can you take a look at her?" Remus asked from her left. Traitor.

Pomfrey came bustling over to her, wand raised, a potions kit attached to her hip. The matron had come prepared to deal with far worse. "Mr. Black, hold her still for me while I do a quick medical scan," she told Sirius with her no-nonsense tone that left no room for argument, and Jasmine resisted the urge to roll her eyes. It wasn't like she was in any position to make a run for it, no matter how much she disliked medical treatment. Sirius, the other traitor, obeyed without protest.

Jasmine felt Pomfrey's wand tap her head and she shivered as the matron's magic scanned her for health complications and injuries. She heard Pomfrey tut as the results appeared somewhere next to her. "Two fractured ribs, a recently reset shoulder, a sprained ankle, bruising to your arms, legs and the majority of your left side. You're very lucky that there were no internal injuries."

Euphemia visibly paled at the list and turned towards the Heads and Dumbledore. "I want the names of those that attacked my ward, now," she ordered, McGonagall put a hand on Euphemia's shoulder, who forcefully brushed her off. The Gryffindor Head of House backed up a little bit, her posture stiff, but respectful of Euphemia's space.

Jasmine's guardian was in no mood for dealing with any of Hogwarts' nonsense.

"I agree, these children need to be punished. If what Ms. Peverell said is true, we have students willing to nearly kill another to appease this new Dark Lord," McGonagall hissed, she sounded more like her cat Animagus, her inner animal spilling over. This wasn't her friend Euphemia Potter right now, this was the Head of DMLE and she was pissed.

Pomfrey motioned for Sirius to bring Jasmine over to a nearby stuffed armchair, her hands rifling through her bag for the appropriate potions to administer. "I left them in the hallway where they attacked me, stunned. I didn't want them getting away, some of them were sixth and seventh years that I don't know by name," Jasmine informed them, which started another round of shouting as she was gently lowered into the chair with more care than Jasmine thought Sirius capable of. The armchair was softer than she expected, and Jasmine wondered if someone had conjured it. She didn't remember seeing one this shade of moss green in this office before. James hovered over her left side, Sirius on her right and Remus at her back. The adults were shouting at one another and Jasmine couldn't really be bothered to interfere.

Two vials were pushed into her bloody hands. She downed both of them and shivered as they went down, making sure not to gag at the horrendous taste. A bar of dark chocolate was placed in her trembling hands as soon as the vials were taken. "For the aftertaste," Remus muttered from behind her. He had even remembered that she wasn't a fan of overly sweet things and gave her some bitter chocolate.

How kind of him.

She reached back and gave the hand next to her head, which she knew was Remus' a light squeeze. He flinched at the sudden, and unexpected, contact, but didn't pull away. Jasmine could feel the exhaustion of the day starting to catch up to her.

"We haven't even gotten the entire story from all the witnesses! How do we know that there wasn't some kind of misunderstanding?" Slughorn asked, and Jasmine swore that Euphemia was going to light his hair on fire.

"There is nothing to misunderstand, Horace. Those students cornered my ward and attacked her. Two of your Slytherins pinned her to floor and were about to do Merlin knows what to her if Ms. Evans hadn't intervened!"

Jasmine cleared her throat loud enough to draw the attention of everyone in the room. She wasn't going to let their stares shake her confidence as she spoke. "As lovely as it is to be spoken about as if I'm not here…I'd prefer it to be known that if my attackers aren't removed from the school, I will be filing an injunction with the board of governors. I will not have Death Eaters in training running around the school threatening other students. Not many of them could defend themselves as well as I did," Jasmine promised. This was for Marlene, who Avery had mercilessly attacked during the dueling tryouts, for all the racist slurs he'd thrown at Lily, and for all of his future victims. Even getting rid of a few Death Eaters was a victory. Their families would lose political prowess if their kids didn't graduate from an accredited school. They could hire all the tutors they wanted, but Jasmine would make sure that everyone knew that they were expelled for assaulting another student.

Everyone seemed speechless at her admission. She supposed that it wasn't often that a student was willing to take her assailants to court…or threaten to sue their school for not following through in expelling them. Dumbledore had gained that blasted twinkle back in his eyes. "My dear, would you really ruin the lives of so many people over a silly fight?"

Why in the bloody hell does he want DEATH EATERS in this school? It always baffled her as Harriet when she knew that he knew who was a Death Eater in training and never expelled them for terrorist actions against the government. It seemed that the Headmaster enjoyed watching the light and dark students in his school duke it out against each other.

Then it hit her, Hogwarts was a training ground for soldiers. If he kept violent students willing to kill Dumbledore would have an easier time picking his newest Order members. If some kids got hurt in the crossfire, that was just the cost for the greater good. If they strayed to the dark side, it was the students fault for falling prey to Voldemort.

"Yes, when someone tries to kill me, I generally don't let that go," Jasmine retorted, forcing herself to sit a bit straighter in the chair, her ribs protesting the entire time. She could see Euphemia's fists clench from across the room. "If you don't believe me, I'd be happy to tell you the events under a truth serum. I'm sure that my attackers would be able to corroborate if given the same potion, if it has to come to that."

Jasmine would go to Daily Prophet if she had to. Removing Death Eaters from the school is only a small step to changing the future. Dumbledore didn't seem pleased, a frown was etched on his face. She was very tired of the Headmaster questioning everything that she said because she came from a grey family that had always remained neutral in every war. While Jasmine planned on fighting against Voldemort in the future, it wasn't going to be for the light side with Dumbledore running the show.

She knew better than that.

"Are you sure that they were trying to kill you? With your history, it might be difficult for you differentiate between a prank and an actual threat."

She wasn't going to kill him…she wasn't going to kill him…

She felt her magic threatening to destroy everything in the office.

Jasmine would show him a real threat…

"Headmaster, are you insinuating that Jasmine isn't mentally sound?" Sirius asked, his voice quiet and dangerous. He stepped in front of her, James and Remus on either side of him. It was the first time that Jasmine had really ever seen him furious in this life. She'd found him distraught, angry and frustrated, but never blindly furious. This was the hotheaded Gryffindor she'd been told about in various lives. One that tended to make really stupid decisions without any thought on the consequences.

"Sirius, my boy, I fear that young Ms. Peverell has had a hard life and that has skewed her judgement on certain situations. I highly doubt that a group of students planned on killing her tonight."

Jasmine could feel the angry dark magic radiating from Sirius. "Sir, I mean no disrespect, but she had multiple broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder and has severe bruising down her sides. That's no prank, I know pranks, they don't leave injuries like this. Even if they didn't try to kill her outright, they were still going to hurt her irreversibly and that's inexcusable. Not only is she a student here, but she is also an heir to one of the oldest Noble Houses in Great Britain," he replied, putting his hand on her shoulder, his fingers getting caught in her hair.

"I agree with Ms. Peverell and Mr. Black, Albus. These students shouldn't be allowed back on Hogwarts' grounds when they tried to maim a student or worse," McGonagall said, her accent thicker than normal as she tried to reign in her temper.

A knock on the door disturbed the tension in the room. "Come in," Dumbledore said just loud enough for the visitors on the other side to hear. Lily came in and floating behind her were three of the perpetrators, Alice and Frank were assisting in escorting the rest of Jasmine's attackers into the room.

Lestrange was awake and shouting, but it seemed that there was a silencing charm on him as he screamed himself horse. Jasmine waved, each finger curing towards her palm, a vicious grin on her face. She swore he began to froth in rage, rolling around suspended in the air.

Didn't he paint an insane picture to the professors.

"These are the students that attacked you?" Flitwick asked, his eyes narrowing at the two Ravenclaws among them, disappointment clear on his face.

Jasmine nodded. "Yes, though, I'd have Madam Pomfrey check on the Ravenclaw on the left, Avery hit him with some kind of curse that knocked him unconscious and I know that it wasn't a stunner. The color was all wrong," she told Pomfrey, who immediately came over to the Ravenclaw, his skin was a pasty oatmeal color. It didn't take long for the Matron to give a gasp of horror. "Albus, I need to get this boy to St. Mungos, now! His organs are failing, and his blood is boiling."

That sprung the teachers into action as the activated Dumbledore's floo network. Madam Pomfrey and Flitwick ran through with the dying Ravenclaw hoovering between them. They were gone in an instant and that was when Euphemia turned back to the Headmaster, face red, her eyes alight, and nostrils flared. "I want these students conscious, so I can speak with them. They are all under arrest for attempted murder until I get a clear picture of what happened tonight. I will not let Hogwarts become a battleground for rising Death Eaters to try new spells."

Slughorn stepped forward, until Euphemia turned on him and he took a large step backwards. "If that's the case, then your ward should also be put under arrest until further notice, we don't know if what she's saying is true. For all we know, she could have been the one throwing around dark magic," he said, voice trembling under Euphemia's rage.

"Are you claiming that Ms. Peverell, Ms. Evans, Mr. Longbottom and Ms. Lancaster's testimonies will be to the contrary? That my students are lying about an obvious assault?" McGonagall snapped as she squared her shoulders daring the potions professor to disagree with her.

Jasmine took a deep breath. Maybe it was time to bring some reason back into the room.

"Just test their wands. Look at the spells cast. Mine are all stunners and one or two blasting hexes to keep them away from me. It's concurrent with the injuries they sustained. If you check their wands, there will be blood boiling curses, melting curses, and loads of other dark magic. I will not have my place at this school threatened," Jasmine stated as she waited for her guardian to test each and every wand including her own.

The picture of the attack was slowly becoming clear and that Jasmine hadn't been lying. She had been unjustly attacked by six students and hurt badly in the process. Dumbledore looked like he swallowed something foul when he realized that he was going to actually have to do something about the way that his students acted. As much as a beloved headmaster that Dumbledore had been in Jasmine's many lives, she never found him to be that good at his job. He was too passive. He never did anything to those that broke the rules. Honestly, he never really did much to prevent the rise of Voldemort. Dumbledore to a certain extent seemed to encourage him, which was something that she didn't understand. The supposed, all powerful, headmaster waited for a child of prophecy to be born to get rid of the problem he created in the first place. The Order did all of the work for him while he sat here and played chess with people's lives.

Jasmine just hoped that she was steering James and Sirius away from what could be the final nail in the coffin them. She wanted to keep her dear friends away from Dumbledore and his Order. She was setting up Hogwarts to be a place where bullies wouldn't reign as kings of the school and this wasn't a training camp to two different sides of a war to come.

We're finally getting to a tipping point. How long with Dumbledore stay in complete control when there is someone challenging his authority at every turn? It was a great feeling to finally see Jasmine take a stand against the constant victim blaming that Dumbledore seemed to partake in during the entire book series.

As a student who went to a school the brushed bullying under the rug and was one the of the victims that never got justice, this chapter is very cathartic. More often than not, in the school I went to, the victims were blamed for why the bullying was occurring. Trust me when I say that I wish that I had some kind of power to stop it. I'm glad that I can write a story where someone might be able to change something. I always found it awful that bullying was a constant thing during the books series, whether it was to Harry, Hermione, Luna...Snape. It was all normalized and the Professors and Dumbledore it was going on, but did nothing about it.

So, Christmas had to be moved to the next chapter because otherwise this chapter would have been too long. Like way too long, 3000 words too long. Next chapter you're in for a cute happy chapter with all the Marauder fluff.

Thank you all so much for the reviews, favorites and follows this past week! Keep them up!

See you soon,
~Animerocker