Hey, happy Friday! I'm updating on time again! =D

Chapter 36

To say that Madam Pomfrey was horrified that Jasmine showed up, pale as death, with Bellatrix Black carrying two more unconscious students on their backs, was putting it mildly. Honestly, Jasmine had never seen the Matron move so fast, in any of her lives. She panicked when Jasmine told her that they had all been exposed to dementors and might need to sit down. The nurse immediately took James and Sirius from them and put each of them in their own beds. Bellatrix slowly sat on the bed as the nurse bustled about the room. Each time the older witch made a move to get up Madam Pomfrey would send a glare her way that had her sitting down without a second thought. The Matron wasn't going to be letting anyone out of her line of sight anytime soon. Not that Jasmine minded, she wasn't feeling all that great herself, she felt chilled to the bone, her ears were stilling ringing as unpleasant thoughts kept coming to the forefront of her mind.

Bellatrix flopped on the bed in the most unladylike of fashions and just stared blankly at the ceiling, not really focusing on anything. The young woman was fingering a pendant around her throat. She didn't seem to be in a talking mood, Jasmine could understand that. Dementors tended to make people a bit introspective, since they made them relive their worst nightmares, and all. Jasmine was somewhat used to them, after nine previous lives of having them wreak havoc on her psyche.

She could hear the dying screams of her friends from her many lives in the back of her mind. Jasmine pulled the pillow from her bed and forced it over her face.

It didn't take more than five minutes for Euphemia to arrive in the infirmary flanked by two senior aurors. One of them was Amelia Bones, the other, was a young man that she didn't recognize, poor bloke probably dies in a raid sometime soon. She was closely followed by Orion Black, who was shouting at her, arms gesturing wildly left and right, for someone, who Jasmine had always assumed was composed in any and all situations, he seemed rather distraught.

Jasmine sat up, removing the pillow from her face, at least this was real screaming. Her guardian made her way into the room, each step she took was echoed by her dragonhide boots. Euphemia had bags under her eyes and her cheeks were a bit hollow, she looked tired and drawn out. She needed to eat more…Jasmine didn't want her to stop taking care of herself and get sick. It would lead to an early death for both her and Monty if that happened. Euphemia's eyes scanned the room and when they landed on James, unconscious on the bed, Jasmine could tell that she was holding back tears, if the glassy expression of her eyes was any indication. She took her son's hand in her own as soon as she got close enough.

Amelia moved to the far left of Bellatrix's bed and quietly began asking her questions. The woman had a piece of parchment and a floating quill for notes as she took Bellatrix's statement.

"How could you let this happen, Auror Potter?" Orion demanded as he made his way over to his son and niece. Amelia stepped away from Bellatrix, who had an eyebrow raised at Orion's outburst, but he had nearly lost his heir today, so Jasmine supposed that he had reason to be angry. Not that she enjoyed seeing someone try and intimidate her guardian. It wasn't Euphemia's fault that Hogsmeade got attacked.

That was more than likely Voldemort's fault.

Euphemia straightened herself up, not allowing herself to be cowed by Orion's temper. Jasmine recognized the way that she jutted her chin out, it how James looked when he was about to take a nonmoving stance on something.

"How could I let this happen? The control of magical creatures isn't my department! Take your anger out on the Diggory family if you have quarrels about the dementors escaping. My people were on the seen within five minutes of the attack happening!"

He scoffed, Jasmine resisted the urge to join him. Her Aurors were more than likely out there five minutes after they were told about the attack. Jasmine would bet gold that someone was blocking the destress messages from Hogsmeade. "Hardly. The damage done out there indicates that the dementors had been there for at least a half an hour, at least."

"I'd say they were there for about twenty," Bellatrix interjected, stopping the argument cold. She shrugged, pulling at a strand of curly hair absentmindedly. "I was there for the entire thing. The wards around Hogsmeade need to be updated, or something like this could easily happen again. It's a good thing Peverell was around, otherwise you'd be missing you heirs today."

All eyes turned to Jasmine, who pinked slightly under their stares. Why did Bellatrix have to turn the conversation to her? "Jasmine, what did you do?" Euphemia asked, her other hand covering Jasmine's scared one.

"I cast a patronus and sent them away. It wasn't anything special," she mumbled, not really enjoying the extra attention. Jasmine wasn't sure how she felt about parental attention like this, it made her feel queasy…well, that could also be the dementor exposure.

Bellatrix snorted and waved a hand in the air. Her mouth was set in a fine line, her cheeks pale. "Don't be modest. The blasted thing was huge, what form did it take? I'd never seen anything like it before."

"You wouldn't have seen it before, it's a threstral, you can only see them if you've seen death." Her patronus had been one ever since she became the Master of Death. She quite liked it, though. It fit her title rather well.

Bellatrix whistled and wiggled her fingers at Jasmine. "Ickle Jazz-i-kins has power in spades."

Orion cleared his throat, cutting his niece off before her more eccentric behavior started up. "Are you claiming that you can produce a corporeal patronus that can take a magical form? At your age?"

He sounded skeptical.

Rude.

Well, Jasmine couldn't have that. She pulled out her wand and with a flick of her wrist and a quiet, "expecto patronum" her bright white threstral sauntered out of her wand. It was docile, not sensing any danger in the area, kept its head down and nosed a few people. The patronus wandered about the room for a few moments before dissolving into mist.

Orion was left speechless, it was a good look on him.

Or, at least, Jasmine thought so.

Making a Black stop talking was a feat that should be recorded. It's a shame that Sirius wasn't conscious to see it.

"You have got to teach us how to do that," James croaked as he forced himself to sit up on shaking arms. Euphemia placed a hand on his shoulder and forced him back down on the bed. James groped for his glasses. His hand wasn't even on the right bedside table.

"You almost lost your soul today, James Potter. So, help me, you will stay in that bed or you're going to wish they had finished the job!" She snapped, those tears threatening to fall again. James was her miracle child after all, her only chance to be a mother. She grabbed his glasses from the table next to them and gently put them on his face.

James' nose scrunched up at the sudden clarity that invaded his vision.

"Mum!"

Bellatrix cleared her throat. "Madam Potter, your son and my cousin were just trying to save the kids in the area. These two were getting the younger kids inside the buildings while anyone who could help fend off the dementors stayed outside to help. Your son was a true Gryffindor today."

She managed to make the word Gryffindor sounds like something foul, even if it was masked with praise. How Slytherin.

Euphemia groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. "James, why can't you just leave things to the adults?"

"They were all hiding inside," he replied with his arms crossed, his jaw clenched. "We tried to go to them first, but there wasn't much time and I didn't want any kids kissed by one of those rotting beasts."

An apt description of dementors if Jasmine ever head one.

"Do you have any idea how the dementors entered Hogsmeade? I thought that there were wards in place to stop something like that from happening?" Jasmine asked, pulling the conversation away from heroics and off to something a bit more problematic, if only just.

Her guardian let out a sigh, she ran a pale hand through her salt and pepper hair. "No, we don't. Those wards have a very specific location in the village, only someone with intimate knowledge of the area and access to dark magic could dismantle them."

Great… "So, the rising Dark Lord then? I heard that he is a master at the mind arts. At least, that's what the more reliable papers are saying about him," Orion muttered, running a soothing hand through his sons tangled mass of hair. He didn't even stir. Sirius didn't seem like he would be waking up any time soon. With all the torture that his mother put him through this summer, the dementors more than likely feasted on his trauma. He'd need to see a mind healer after this. Jasmine needed to see her mind healer after this.

"Do you think that he used the imperius curse or did it himself?" Bellatrix asked, sitting up in her bed, suddenly interested at the mention of good old Tom.

Jasmine barely resisted the urge to snort. Voldemort? Do something on his own? Merlin only knew how long it had been since he had done a damn thing without someone else doing all the dirty work for him. Even killing her parents in her past lives had required him to use Peter. He could have just researched more about the fidelius charm. There were ways using Lithuanian ward crafting that could destroy the charm in minutes.

All you had to do was kill the secret keeper, and honestly, that would have saved everyone so much trouble if Voldemort had just murdered Peter out right.

Madam Pomfrey came bustling back into the room, hot chocolate for everyone floating around her. The mugs had mermaids swimming about on the cup.

"Do you think that a student did it? One of the many that are trying to win favor with this rising Dark Lord?" Jasmine inquired, as she grasped the cup of hot chocolate that was floating in front of her. The first sip might have been scalding, but it made her feel so much better. She always forgot how much dementor attacks take out of her mentally every damn time she runs into them for the first time in a new life.

"I'd hate to think that any student would want to kill the Black Heir for some Dark Lord's agenda," Bellatrix grumbled and Orion's head swiveled to her.

"Are you insinuating that someone sent dementors after my son?" He snarled, a protective hand was placed on Sirius' limp forearm.

James ran a hand through his hair, grimacing when he caught a knot with his fingers. He managed to knock his glasses askew. Euphemia brought a hand up to fix them, but James beat her to it. "Now, that you mention it, the attack was coordinated in an odd way. Padfoot did seem to be the focus. The dementors were swooping about, looking from student to student until we came out, but why target him? He isn't a criminal and he doesn't have anything to do with the war?"

If only that were true. "He has everything to do with the war. Killing an heir to powerful family is a great way to push the balance of power from one hand to another. The pureblood community knows about my decision to keep Sirius as my heir and banish my harpy of a wife. Not everyone was happy with me and felt that the Blacks were straying from true pureblood ideals having a Gryffindor take over the family. They're worried that we are going to side with Dumbledore in this war…with the light side," Orion sneered as a door swung open to reveal Dumbledore and Brightbark. Speaking of the light side. The two were quickly making their way into the infirmary.

The headmaster frowned when he saw Orion sitting next to his son's bed. "Lord Black, I didn't expect to see you here."

Now, if that wasn't a great insult to start off this conversation with, Jasmine wasn't sure what else he could have lead with. It was right up there with: How's your wife?

"And why wouldn't I want to check on my son, who had just suffered from extreme dementor exposure?" Orion snapped, a protective hand over Sirius' shoulder.

Dumbledore gave him a winning smile that Jasmine wanted to slap off his face. He was going to say something incredibly stupid, she just knew it. "From what I understand you aren't on the best of terms."

Merlin, Dumbledore was gusty. He had no right to call Orion out on any of this in public. If Dumbledore had said this a few months ago, he would be right, but Sirius was working things out with his father.

Orion looked like he was going to light Dumbledore on fire. His grey eyes were burning, the back of his neck was turning a bit red, and his wand was clenched tightly in his fist. "Sirius and I have settled our quarrels with one another. He has been welcomed home with open arms and is going to be the heir the Black family needs."

He isn't necessarily what anyone wanted, but that's another matter entirely.

"Your line of questioning is inappropriate Albus, why are you here?" Euphemia asked, her voice strained, but it held authority that the situation needed.

"I've come to question Ms. Peverell on her whereabouts this afternoon. We're questioning students to try and figure out who had tampered with the warding around Hogsmeade and quite a few students said that you went missing right before the attack."

Bloody hell.

He was trying to get her sent to Azkaban.

Why would she even want to set dementors loose on Hogsmeade? She barely understood Voldemort's strategy for targeting the village. Sure, it would scare people and show that he wasn't afraid to kill children, but everyone already knew that. With an act this large and obvious, he was going to be declared a terrorist of the state sooner rather than later. And, while killing Sirius was a great way to really get the war going, it wasn't going to really tip the scales in his favor.

"Is there a reason that you're questioning where I was? I thought that this attack was done by the new rising Dark Lord?"

Dumbledore's damn eyes were twinkling. "My dear girl, it seems that a student tampered with the warding stones and your talent with ancient runes is no secret amongst the staff. We figured that we'd start our investigation from the most likely candidate."

Jasmine bit her lip. She was the most likely candidate? The girl that had been here for a couple of months. Who did Dumbledore think she was? Jasmine had a feeling that she remined him of Gellert...they came from the same country, but that didn't give him a right to treat her like a criminal.

She had never been near the warding stones to know too much about them. After nine lives they'd never been something she needed to care about. Jasmine bit her lip, she didn't have anything to say to them. "Albus, this is a DMLE matter, not one of your witch hunts," Euphemia interjected, her eyes alight, rage seething out of her every pore.

"Ah, but the ministry has asked me to look into the students that we worry might have been fooled into helping."

Jasmine fought the urge to scoff. She wasn't someone who could just be tricked into helping Voldemort. He couldn't even use the imperius curse on her.

"This was the first time I've ever been to Hogsmeade, so I wouldn't even know where these warding stones you're talking about are located. I was with Sirius, James and Remus for most of the morning. I separated from them to buy some stationery and then went back to the castle. I brought Remus to the infirmary since he was sick and then I ran into my friend, Pandora, she had a question about the dueling club. Then I made my way back out to Hogsmeade because Remus wanted his friends with him since he wasn't feeling all that great. Then to my great surprise, the town is covered in dementors," she snapped, her fingers digging into the mattress. Jasmine was not in the mood to be questioned by anyone. She had saved the entire village, damnit.

"Yes, well, how did you and Ms. Black not get kissed? If I recall correctly, dementors are drawn to damaged human beings. They must have seen a feast in you," Brightbark remarked, not hiding his sneer.

Euphemia made a move to stand up, but Jasmine motioned for her to stay sitting. She was tired of other people fighting her battles for her.

"I used my patronus to banish them."

Brightbark smirked, his yellowing teeth peaking out from under his lip. "And how did you conjure a patronus, Ms. Peverell? No dark witch or wizard can produce magic that pure…"

Was he honestly this bigoted? Even Dumbledore looked confused by his statement. "Thaddeus, you're speaking out of line. That theory has been disproven on multiple occasions and you know it."

Jasmine pulled her wand out for the second time that evening with a long-suffering sigh. Both Dumbledore and Brightbark tensed up as if she was going to attack them. She rolled her eyes and conjured her patronus with practiced ease.

Her threstral was out and about again, this time with a larger audience. Its hollow glowing eyes narrowed at Brightbark, who was openly gaping at it. "As you can see, I can cast a patronus with ease, Professor. When I saw what was happening in Hogsmeade, I cast my patronus and sent the dementors on their way. I didn't want them kissing anyone. No parent needed to get a letter saying their child had their soul sucked out of their body."

Orion stood up and made his way over the headmaster, his arms crossed, back squared. He was ready for a confrontation. "Though, it seemed that the attack was focused on my son and heir. Albus, you and I need to chat privately about security here. This new Dark Lord has made an enemy of the Black Family and I will not stand for any of his supporters attempting to murder my child."

Well, that took care of which side the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black would be fighting in the war. Somewhat…Jasmine doubted that they would side with Dumbledore. They would never be as passive as the Headmaster preferred his little Order to be, so the Blacks would more than likely be neutral.

It felt great when Voldemort ended up making her life easier.

I hope that you liked the chapter. There is fluff coming in the next chapter, the last few have been a bit heavy. I don't think that we've really had enough fluff. And, finally, the war is beginning! I mean, we aren't going to see too much of it yet, Jasmine is still in school, so there's only so much she can do. Also, Voldemort is going to make his appearance soon! Seven more chapters and he'll be here! No one has guessed how yet, but oh he'll be here and it will be a grand entrance into this story.

Anyway, thank you for all of the reviews, favorites and follows. You guys are amazing!

I was wondering if any of you would like me to make some kind of playlist for this story because I found the perfect song to describe Jasmine's future relationship the other day. I'm not going to say what it is, because every time I mention any kind of artist on this site, for some reason, the fic gets taken down. So, PM me if you want to know. XD

See you all soon,
~Animerocker