Happy Friday!

Chapter 50

Familial revelations aside, Jasmine continued to live her life as normal, finishing her summer work and helping Monty whenever he asked for anything. Honestly, the entire family was coddling him, but when someone nearly dies, that tends to happen.

It was a little less than a week before her birthday and two away from when she was going to visit Lily. Euphemia had asked her what she wanted for her birthday, she was turning sixteen after all. She was finally going to have some kind of say in public affairs with a proxy as a sole heir. That in itself was a gift enough, but that didn't seem to please her guardian all that much.

Jasmine had never been good at figuring out what she wanted for her birthday, it wasn't that she was being difficult, it was more along the lines of having everything she could want and not having the desire to ask for more. It just seemed so superfluous. Living with the Dursley's over multiple lives had conditioned her to never want for more than she already had and being grateful to her caretakers for just providing shelter for her.

The Potters were far better than that, hell the Chesters were better caretakers than the Dursleys, but some habits and ways of thinking are hard to break.

There was also the fact that she didn't like asking people for anything. She had lived far too many lives where asking something could get you smacked with a frying pan or locked away for days at a time.

Nine different lives of Dursley induced trauma and abuse to contend with made birthdays difficult. As Harriet, she had never quite shaken all of the different verbal abuse they had flung at her over the years. Even as Jasmine she feared asking Euphemia and Monty for anything, and she knew they weren't going to hit her or lock her in a cupboard without supper for three days, but the inborn fear was still there. She doubted that it was going to go away anytime soon. She had talked to her Mind Healer about it, claiming that the Chesters had done it and, they had reminded her, that she wasn't behaving abnormally and it would take time for her to feel comfortable breaking out of the habits that her abusers had ingrained into her. Jasmine doubted that she would ever truly push past this fear. Not without a lot of prompting first and Euphemia was always pushing Jasmine to ask for something.

Jasmine was aware of the problem, knew what it was now, but that didn't make the anxiety go away, or the self-hatred, when she realized what she was doing to herself, again. The Potters were nothing like the Dursleys. Jasmine knew this and yet…it still took her nine hours to talk herself into asking Euphemia for a gift.

It was later that evening after Euphemia had come home that Jasmine worked up the nerve to ask her guardian for a gift of sorts. Her aunt was resting in the sitting room, quietly reading over a report from work. The fire crackling a few meters from her. She looked so much like James it was crazy. James had his father's build, but he had his mother's aristocratic features, it was especially prevalent in their faces.

Jasmine cleared her throat, no backing down now. Her guardian paused, a pair of gold rimmed reading glasses slid down her nose as she looked up.

"I have a few friends that I met during my time at the dueling tournament that wanted to visit for my birthday, as well as a few friends from school. Would that be alright as a gift?"

Euphemia put her report down gently on the coffee table in front other her. She was quiet for a few moments and Jasmine was worried that she was going to say no. She really needed to see Blaise and Theo. They found something and needed an excuse to come overseas for a few days to help her set some kind of spell up. Her birthday was a good cover to get them across the pond.

Monty had been cleared by the healers, for the most part. He wasn't really allowed to go out into crowded places until they could guarantee that his immune system was back up to its usual lower than average, but still functioning levels. He was starting to crawl the walls with energy being trapped in the house.

Jasmine bit her lip as her guardian's face lit up. She clapped her hands, all the exhaustion was suddenly gone from her face. "Just give me the list of people you'd like to come. I'd love to meet your friends!"

She was going to regret saying that after she met Blaise and Theo. The two of them could be infuriating at the best of times, especially with Theo silenced. Blaise was no doubt having a field day getting them into constant trouble. Theo's silver tongue was usually what had gotten the duo out of more scrapes than Blaise's considerably more…theatrical methods.

It would be interesting to see how Euphemia deals with a mute wizard. It wasn't often that people in the wizarding world meet someone with permanent disabilities. She was sure that Monty was going to have a field day with the trouble making Slytherin duo, communication issues aside. Theo would make his needs known, even if he has to throw something to get someone's attention.

He had mentioned as much when in a recently shared dream. He claimed that was how he got Blaise's attention more often than not. Said it was easier than expending his magic through the earrings.

Lazy arse.

Jasmine looked down, scuffing her sock clad foot on the floor. "So, it's alright for them to come over? I know with Monty sick and you being busy at work…I didn't want to be a bother."

Euphemia's eyes softened, she put a thin hand on Jasmine's shoulder. "Jasmine, you are just as much welcome to invite people over as James is. Remus and Sirius have been visiting on and off all summer. You are more than welcome to invite people over, even if they are from half way across the world. Magic makes traveling that distance much less of a hassle than it is for muggles and we have more than enough room to accommodate a few extra people. And, don't worry about Monty, he'll enjoy the extra life in the Manor. He's going stir crazy as it is. Seeing new people might perk him up and get him out of my hair for a few days," she replied, with a kind smile that almost broke Jasmine's heart. This woman was too kind. It was a shame that she had never gotten to know her in her past lives.

"Thank you." Neither mentioned the tears in Jasmine's eyes.

Jasmine was quietly running through her morning workout routine with Ro watching from the comfort of her favorite windowsill over Jasmine's mahogany desk. She felt that she had been getting lax these last few months when it came to constant training and she didn't want another attack on Hogsmeade to catch her unaware. Hell, next time it could be Tom leading the charge against the school.

She needed to be ready to face him. Seeing him at the trial had reminded Jasmine that she needed to keep herself in top form. Her body was already well muscled from years of fighting and practicing forms after she had been released from the ring. Quidditch during the school year helped keep her stamina up, as well as dueling club, but the summer had made her a bit lazy and she could feel herself getting a bit soft around the edges. She was not quite as defined as she was a week ago, so that left her training in her room.

Jasmine didn't fancy training with James or any of the Marauders. They'd tease and, more than likely, go easy on her in any kind of physical fight. They enjoyed challenging her to magical duels to see how they'd improved, but she doubted that any of them, even Sirius, would fight her in hand to hand combat. She'd keep to her shadow boxing. She pivoted, her eyes catching the small collection of letters on her desk, acceptance letters for her party.

It had been interesting sending out invites to her birthday for the first time in ten lives. Jasmine didn't have that many friends, but she was expected to send some to her allies. This wasn't going to be a large party, it was only for people her own age, which was better than a large-scale ball like monstrosity that other purebloods would throw in their children's honor. She had been to quite a few of those over her last couple lives, and they were all awful…well except for the time she and Daphne Greengrass managed to lock Crabbe and Goyle in that cupboard with Lucius Malfoy's most irate peacocks.

That had been an evening to remember for lives to come.

Jasmine highly doubted that many people would want to come. It was last minute, and James lived here, which would scare away more than enough people by itself. Severus didn't seem like the party going type neither Pandora, but the invites went out regardless.

Surprisingly, quite a few people responded that they would come. The Marauders would all be in attendance, as well as Lily and Alice. Pandora was in Greece for the summer, but she sent a small gift and a card. Severus was planning on attending, but he wanted the Marauders on their best behavior. Jasmine made no promises on that front, but Euphemia would be monitoring, so they wouldn't get too out of hand. Regulus was coming along with Sirius, as some sign of good will amongst the Black and Peverell house. Apparently, Sirius didn't count since he spent so much time in Potter Manor as it was.

Mikhail would be arriving at the Manor a few hours early since his parents had business to attend to in London for the week. Theo and Blaise were staying for a week, there was something about international portkeys having odd rules for how often one can travel over international waters. Jasmine didn't mind, it meant that she got to spend time with some of her favorite people, without Death needing to drain her magic dry.

"JAZZ!" A loud voice called from the floor below, breaking her concentration. James wasn't one for subtly. Jasmine moved away from her desk, someone must have arrived. Ro stretched and curled up in a rare patch of sun, it seemed that she would be sitting out this party. She had worked hard this morning, watching Jasmine exercise must have taken a lot of out of the cat. Merlin knew Jasmine was tired, it must have been truly exhausting for the poor feline.

"JAZZ!" A second voice called out, this time Sirius.

Though, he sounded a lot closer than her cousin and it wasn't a moment later her bedroom door was being pounded on. "Jazz! Your friend Mikhail is here and your favorite Marauder in the entire world has arrived as well!"

Jasmine pushed the door open, Sirius was standing there, hair curled, eyes alight, robes pristine. She looked over his shoulder, a confused look on her face. "Where's Remus?"

Sirius held a hand over his heart, her face crumpling in mock despair. "You mean to tell me, that I'm not your favorite Marauder?"

He was ever the drama queen as he wiped away a nonexistent tear. Jasmine nudged him with a grin and a roll of her eyes. "It's nice to see you, Sirius. Is there a reason that James sent you up here instead of coming to get me himself?"

"Mrs. Potter wanted him to talk to your friend. I ran off to get you while Regi worked interference. I called it training for his future role in the house of Black." Which meant to keep Sirius out of the line of fire while he did stupid things, like barge into the bedroom of a known dueling champion, an heir to a powerful family, all without a chaperon.

Daring indeed.

Some would even say foolish.

Jasmine hoped that Sirius had given his younger brother pointers on running interference. There was an art to it, one that Sirius had mastered over the years doing the same thing for the Marauders…to varying degrees of success.

"Well, you found me, escort me to the main hall?" She asked, arm out and Jasmine could have sworn she saw Sirius redden ever so slightly. It wasn't like this was an official event or anything, but it would amuse James, and more than likely, Regulus, who she owed at least a laugh to for dealing with Sirius' schemes this early in the morning.

It wasn't long before they reached the main hall and she nearly squealed when she saw her good friend leaning against the banister talking to Regulus who looked small and shy next to Mikhail, who stood over a head taller than the youngest Black.

Jasmine let go of Sirius who had released her arm and she took the stairs at a rather quick pace to greet her host body's oldest friend.

At the sound of Jasmine's muffled squeaks, both teens turned and Mikhail spread his arms just in time for Jasmine to launch herself at her friend. This was the first time that they were really getting to meet outside of the dueling ring, or a Patron sponsored gathering that spelled misery should someone act out of line.

"Jasmine, it is good to see you. Happy Birthday." he said smoothly in Russian into her hair as he spun her around. A quite strength that not many people realized he had, he was thin as a rail after all. It had been one of his largest advantages during his early duels.

She smiled, a mischievous grin plastered on her face. "A good day indeed. It seems that you've met the children in line to The Ancient and Noble House of Black, Sirius and Regulus, as well as my cousin, James." Mikhail's eyes traveled over her friends, lingering on Regulus, who appeared to want to blend into the background, away from her friend's piercing stare.

"You always did bring me luck," he responded with a sultry smile.

Jasmine held back a snort, Mikhail was always a flirt.

Though, by the way that Regulus' cheeks were heating up, this only spelled trouble, but it wasn't Jasmine's place to say anything. Let them flirt, they had countries between them for most of the year. It wasn't like anything was going to happen.

Euphemia was watching their interaction with a large grin on her face, pointedly staring at their conjoined hands. Jasmine had a feeling that her guardian was hoping for romance, but that wasn't going to happen.

They had always been handsy with one another. It was the way that things were done in the ring and it was always nice to know that whoever you were touching was real. Hallucinogens were frowned upon in the circuit, but they were used often enough to make all the fighters warry. Touching someone and feeling skin contact made sure that everything you were seeing and hearing, no matter how horrible, was real.

Jasmine dragged Mikhail over to Euphemia, who was patently waiting for her introduction. "Aunt Euphemia, this is Mikhail Medvedeva. We've known each other for years," Jasmine explained, to her before turning to her friend and switching to Russian, "Mikhail, this is one of my guardians, Euphemia Potter."

Mikhail picked up Euphemia's hand and brought his lips to the back of it. The vision of pureblood etiquette. "The pleasure is mine, Lady Potter. You home is lovely. I'm sorry that my parents couldn't be here to share in this introduction, but they have prior business engagements in the city," he replied, his English was heavily accented, but understandable. Mikhail had never had the best pronunciation out of the dueling ring contestants, but it had always been passable.

Euphemia's eyes widened, more than likely realizing which Medvedeva family Mikhail was from and what a political connection she now had sitting in her home. "It is a pleasure to finally meet some of Jasmine's friends. She didn't tell me that you were such a well-mannered young man."

Jasmine had to resist at rolling her eyes. Mikhail was a flirt and great manipulator. It was one of the ways he worked his way up to the top of dueling ring. He claimed that he could convince just about anyone to do anything, including the patrons. He had managed to get his to trust him nearly explicitly for a time, till they figured out what he was doing and nearly killed him for the insubordination.

"Mikhail is a charmer, that is for sure," Jasmine muttered, her eyes drifting towards Regulus, who was staring at Mikhail's arse.

Sirius came up from behind and slung his arms around the two of them, separating them. "So, you need to tell us all the embarrassing details you have on Jazz, here. She has managed to convince a lot of people that she's terrifying and nearly perfect," Sirius stage whispered with a grin that kept growing as Jasmine's ire seemed to become almost a physical manifestation around her.

There was a matching grin on Mikhail's face. Jasmine pointed a finger at her host body's oldest friend. "If you say anything, I will make sure that they find out about Pip."

Mikhail paled, turning an odd shade of pasty grey. Pip was his stuffed niffler he'd had since he was a child. He had a piece of it on him at all time during their time in the ring. He'd managed to keep hidden from the Patrons for years. Jasmine would bet money that he had a new one created when he got home.

"You wouldn't dare," he hissed, and suddenly, Sirius had stepped away from them.

Jasmine let a smiled spread across her face. "I won't if you don't say anything," she replied, her voice dripping like honey.

"Two can play at this game, Jazz."

This was going to be a long afternoon…

Yea! We're moving through the summer! Blaise and Theo are going to come back into the story! Things are getting serious again! Not to mention that Jasmine is going to go into the muggle world with Lily and nothing could possibly go wrong there.

The next two school years are going to go by a bit faster than the first. I've set up a lot of different things that are going to happen in sixth and seventh years, but I'm not going to need 50 chapters to build it up, which is a relief. =D

So, thank you all for your reviews, favorites and follows!

Just a gentle reminder, I update every other Friday, so for those saying I missed an update last week, I didn't, last week was not an update week. =)

See you all soon,

~Animerocker