Happy Friday! Enjoy!
Chapter 51
All arguing aside, the party progressed rather nicely…for about an hour. Lily, Remus, Alice and Severus managed to have a few civil conversations, most of them revolving around dueling, charms and quidditch, though Lily and Severus were far less engaged when the sports talk began.
Eventually, James and Sirius took over that conversation with as much animated hand movements and exaggerated sounds effects as one could imagine.
The group had moved to one of the smaller living spaces off the kitchen. It was cozy, with two couches and a set of stuffed arm chairs all in varying shades of red and silver. Sirius, Remus and James dove for the sofa on the far right, while Lily and Alice each took an arm chair. The Slytherin's and Mikhail stayed clear on the other side of the room as the sports talk continued. Jasmine was moving from group to group, not wanting to look like she was picking a favorite. Mikhail and Severus were entertaining Regulus with various stories from the dueling tournament. Mikhail's tall tales had Regulus howling with laughter.
Lily was sticking close to Alice as she took in the sight of Potter Manor in all its glory. It was large and spoke volumes of James' wealth. It was obvious to Jasmine that the doe eyed Gryffindor was overwhelmed, so, at least while James was nervously talking about magical sports teams in an attempt to engage Lily in conversation, Alice could distract him with quidditch updates.
Jasmine touched Lily's arm and she jumped at the contact. "Are you alright?" Jasmine asked, perched on the arm of the red head's chair as Sirius mimicked a feint he had seen while he had been traveling this summer with his father. Naturally, he jumped onto James, which led to the two sprawled on top of Remus. The werewolf was not amused crushed between those two morons. A devious grin poked at the corner of Remus' mouth.
Jasmine had an idea of what he was about to do.
He shoved both of them onto the floor, leaving Alice helplessly giggling. The four of them completely distracted from Lily and Jasmine for the time being.
Lily bit her lip and picked at the chair, as her glass of water magically refilled itself on the oak table next to her. "I've read about manors before, but I hadn't actually seen a magical family manor, or a muggle one for that matter. I keep forgetting how different my life is compared to most of my close friends. Marlene talks about her summer villas in Spain and in the Caribbean. Alice said her home is very similar to this…Sirius's family has multiple properties… My parents work modest jobs to support both me and my sister. How are you all going to come to my house next week? It will seem so…muggle. It's the first time that my parents have agreed to let my friends from school visit. I just worry that it won't be what you expect."
Jasmine supposed that it was something that some people tended to worry over. She hadn't needed to worry about money in any life…not really, not after entering Hogwarts. She supposed while she lived at the Dursley's she had felt poor and ashamed of herself quite often, but once she had learned about her family, a sense of pride replaced that. Jasmine had always had the Potter fortune to fall back on if something didn't work, though she rarely wanted to waste a penny of a fortune she hadn't earned herself.
"No one thinks any less of you for living in a house without magic. My aunt, who helped raise me for years, was a squib. We didn't have a large house, I lived in a small cottage without magic for years, Lily. Trust me, when I say I have a really good idea about what I'm going to expect from my stay at your house and it isn't going to be anything negative. You worry far too much over what people think."
Her red headed friend grimaced, arms crossed. "My sister says that people's opinions matter when it comes to being a good host and future wife."
Jasmine pretended to gag, that sounded like Petunia. That got a laugh out of Lily. "Your sister needs to get her priorities straight. You should always be happy with yourself first. Everyone else can go and stuff it."
Lily fidgeted in her seat, eyeing James out of the corner of her eye, he was gesturing wildly about some odd trick he and Sirius had been attempting to pull last week on their brooms. Though, his rendition didn't include the crash or cuddling that later ensued when both of them passed out on the couch, but who was Jasmine to judge. Remus was the one with the pictures to prove it and by the smirk on his face, he was about to pull them out as verifiable proof.
Lily worried her lower lip between her teeth, "but there are some people whose opinions could be important to me. I don't want to seem like I don't belong more than I already do."
Jasmine let out a sigh, it was a common issue with muggleborns to force themselves to fit into a certain mold. It never worked. It certainly hadn't help Hermione at all, in any life they lived. "Lily, changing yourself, for anyone, isn't worth it. If this person," Jasmine had to refrain from rolling her eyes at the obvious way the red head was pointedly not staring at her cousin, "wants, or expects, you to be someone other than yourself, they aren't worth the trouble."
Lily was about to respond when Sirius wrapped an arm around Jasmine' shoulders and hauled her off the arm of the chair. "Jazz, enough serious talk, that's my job, Sirius talk…" he snickered at his own joke and Jasmine let out a long sigh before he continued, "it seems that Alice doesn't believe that you can do near fatal feint on your broom. Now, I've bet two galleons that you can…"
Merlin.
"I'm going to go and make sure that Mikhail hasn't accosted your brother, then I'll try not to break my neck, if only so you won't lose any money on an ill placed bet."
One thumbs up later, and Sirius was out of her hair for a few minutes.
So, she made her way over the Slytherin side of the room, it was far quieter and far graver.
For the most part, Severus avoided speaking to James and Sirius and gravitated towards Regulus, who was happy for a buffer against Mikhail.
Her old dueling rival was nothing if not persistent. If Regulus returned Mikhail's affection, it would explain why the poor boy hadn't wanted to be the Heir to the House of Black. The Black family was all about blood and lineage. Regulus would have needed to get married and then have children in order for the line to continue. If he had no interest in women or having children with them…it might explain just a little bit about the urgency to get Sirius back, a young man who had no trouble with women.
Though Severus kept distracting Mikhail by asking him about his dueling forms and where he picked up a few of his tricks.
There was a loud knock from the main hall.
That should be the guests of honor.
As she passed, she got to hear a snippet of Severus' and Mikhail's rather serious discussion. "You should really ask Jasmine most of these questions. She is going to be one fierce woman in a few years, Severus. I've never beaten her before. My forms may be impressive and lean towards aggressive, but hers are far more versatile," she heard Mikhail saying as Jasmine made her way to the front door.
Jasmine gave a nod of her head to Regulus, motioning to follow if he wanted. Mikhail could be a lot to take in at once. The fifteen-year-old leapt at the chance to leave. Her old friend did nothing to hide the fact he looked hurt. Severus only rolled his eyes before continuing their conversation.
The walk to the main foyer wasn't that long, but it was enough time for the young man to regroup. "Mikhail a bit much for you?"
Regulus muttered something under his breath. "Nothing I can't handle. He just doesn't give up."
That was Mikhail, passionate and stubborn to a fault.
"He just knows what he likes, he always has. It's not easy to gain his attention. He must really see potential in you for him to be pursuing you."
Regulus puffed himself up a bit, every bit the pureblood he was supposed to be, "Of course I have potential, I'm a Black. We're born to attract the masses. They're only supposed to look, not pursue."
She hummed as they neared the door. "Well, Mikhail's family is about as well known as yours is in Russia. The Medvedeva's are known for taking what they want, they have for hundreds of years. Though it didn't seem like you didn't enjoy his attention. Mikhail is a nice guy, if you give him a chance."
Regulus' cheeks heated up and he turned away as Jasmine pushed the door open. She was nearly face to face with Blaise's tan fist.
Theo and Blaise, the two dressed in average muggle jeans and shirts with European style wizarding robes lazily thrown on over them. Their hair was long and pulled back and out of their faces, which was the most put together part of the entire ensemble. The two of them looked horrifically out of place in the entrance of a manor.
She had missed these two.
Blaise had a grin on his face that only spelled trouble and Theo was brooding behind him, arms crossed, a firm frown in place. It seemed that his brother might have caused some mischief on the way here. Theo could only put up with Blaise's brand of chaos for so long without strangling him. Jasmine was surprised he hadn't killed him already.
Before Blaise could get a word in Euphemia made her way to the door, she was beaming at the two new comers. Both boys straightened themselves up in the presence of a Lady. She held out a hand. "Ah, it's so nice to finally get to meet you. Jasmine has mentioned the two of you a few times and only with the fondest of compliments."
Blaise took her hand and shook it firmly, "the pleasure is ours. Jasmine has spoken about you many times over the past few months to us. I'd let my brother introduce us, but…" he motioned to his neck and made a chocking noise. Theo pushed him into the nearest wall hard enough for a loud thud to echo. Everyone stopped to stare, not quite knowing what to make of the two of them or how to respond to Blaise's comment. Jasmine knew that their interactions more than likely seemed a little odd. Theo was more than likely talking to Blaise in his head.
Theo walked up to her rather shocked guardian and shook Euphemia's hand. Her eyes went wide for a moment and Jasmine figured that he had greeted her with his unique form of nonverbal communication.
"It's very nice to meet you as well," Euphemia replied with a small smile and nod. Blaise was grumbling as he pushed himself off of the wall.
"You were the one that knocked Sirius out in the dueling tournament!" Lily suddenly blurted out, drawing everyone's attention.
Blaise was suddenly very interested in everyone else in the room, his eyes sweeping over both James and Lily before settling on the red head. "I did. Though, we ended up knocking each other out of the competition. Your friend messed up a spell I was layering and it blew up in both of our faces. From what I understand you got the worst of the explosion, Black. That should teach you to be a bit more careful about mixing spells with foreign magic you don't understand," he said with a bored shrug, his lazy grin returning.
Jasmine caught Theo rolling his eyes. He was holding a small gift in his left hand. It was neatly wrapped with a green bow on top…that figured. Once a Slytherin, always a Slytherin.
"We figured we needed to bring something other than a bit of magic that finds horcruxes. That would be difficult to explain to your Aunt. You keep interesting friends. I hadn't realized you were close with Regulus Black as well."
He was signing enthusiastically as he was speaking to her, albeit a bit slower than he would for Blaise. They had been trying to teach her bits and pieces of their personal sign language for a few weeks. Theo thought it could make their communication seem more realistic, but Jasmine was just finding it difficult since they had made most of their signs up. She had no reference for most of what they had created. It was impressive, what they had come up with in such a short amount of time. It was a cross of languages, for objects that had nothing assigned to them, like horcrux, which had elements of the sign they had made for snake and another one for death.
She took the small parcel out of his hands, her fingers brushing his scarred hands, he was covered in them. His throat had long scarred over gashes. "Thank you for the gift. I'm sure I'll like what you got me."
"I'd open it in private. Blaise picked it out and you know how his gifts can be."
Yes, they were either very well thought out and kind gifts that you would never expect, or they were explicit gifts that would make you red to your ears. Either way, Jasmine was not going to be opening gifts in front of people. It would only embarrass the givers. Jasmine was planning on opening them later after everyone had left.
"I'll keep that in mind. Is there anything that I should know about Blaise before I let Sirius and James get him into trouble? Sirius is still out for revenge from the dueling tournament."
Theo bit his lip, there was something then. Blaise seemed to hold more responsibility between the two of them back home. They were supposed to be a part of some kind of magical hierarchy back home. Blaise being the oldest of the two was an heir or some kind.
"We've run into something of a road block, but it isn't a problem that we can't handle. Blaise has figured out a way to solve it, not that I approve…" He signed with a slightly exaggerated flourish at the end. Blaise snorted from behind their left.
"You rarely approve of anything Blaise does."
"I'm right here, you could at least have the decency to look at me when you are signing about me!" He complained as the others watched on confused. A small smile teased its way onto Theo's face as he took in his audience. He had been excited to meet everyone from the past when we weren't pinned against each other on a dueling platform, though they didn't seem to really understand him. No one besides Euphemia had made a move to introduce themselves.
Jasmine tried not to roll her eyes and moved both Blaise and Theo in front of her, moving them into everyone's full view. "Everyone, this is Chatan and Tahatan, most of you have met them, or at least heard of them, but I don't know if you got their names during our time at the tournament."
There was a beat of heavy silence and Jasmine resisted the urge to crawl under the nearest table because no one was saying anything.
Naturally, it was Sirius that broke the tension. "That's how you pronounce their names?" He blurted out with none of the social graces that were expected of an Heir to a Noble and Ancient House. At least Remus had the decency to cuff him on the back of the head. Regulus looked a little put out that he hadn't gotten to do it.
"Can you be more obnoxious, Padfoot?" He hissed as Sirius muttered something mutinously under his breath.
Blaise pinched the bridge of his nose, his fist clenched at his sides. Well, they were in a house full of Gryffindors…they couldn't expect much tact, if any to be present in any conversations.
"Mooney, you don't get it! The announcers at the tournament were awful at pronunciations," Sirius whined, rubbing the back of his head and ducking out of the way of Remus' next smack.
"Shut up, Padfoot," Remus snapped, glaring at Sirius, who was now hiding behind Lily, before stepping forward and extending his hand towards Theo. No one had even attempted to speak to him. They barely even acknowledged him. Jasmine supposed that a handshake is a universal gesture. Remus wouldn't need to speak to get his point across.
Theo grasped the werewolf's hand tightly. In past lives, Theo had been rather close to Remus. Though he was turning out to be a completely different man than the one that they knew from their many different lives.
Theo cocked his head to side, making eye contact with Remus. It took a moment, but the when they made direct skin contact Remus' eyes widened and his arm jerked slightly in Theo's hold. Though, her long-time friend refused to let go of Gryffindor's arm.
The two of them had been kindred spirits, dealing with friends that always took risks instead of playing it safe. It would be interesting to see how Theo would adapt to a slightly less reserved Remus Lupin. While Remus was still the more conservative member of the Marauders, he followed through with many of their more…chaotic plans, if he hadn't come up with them himself.
"It's nice to meet you as well," Remus mumbled, pulling his arm back. Sirius wrapped an arm around his friend's shoulder, eyeing Theo's hand suspiciously.
"Mate, he didn't say anything and he didn't move his hands. I know you have really good hearing, but even you can't hear someone's thoughts"
Observant as ever and yet completely wrong in this case.
"Shake his hand, Padfoot. He's working a brilliant bit of magic using different runes and a bit of legilimency to speak directly into your mind when he touches you," He looked towards Theo for confirmation, but only received a shrug, "or something along those lines."
Jasmine bit her lip and wondered if she should be the one to explain the way that Theo's mind magic worked…but Blaise cleared his throat. "It isn't mind magic in the way that you're thinking. It's far older and very specific to our tribe. There isn't a direct English translation for it, but it roughly means "spoken thoughts" and," he gave Theo his best disapproving look, which landed flat considering he wasn't even paying attention to Blaise, who, not one to be ignored, raised his voice, "my brother really shouldn't be using it too much without a focus point, it takes a lot of magic to use it."
That got a head turn from Theo, who marched up to his brother.
There was a quick exchange of hand movements between the two towards the end of the statement. Jasmine had missed the first half of the conversation, but there was an awful lot of cursing. She had a feeling that Theo was going to use his ability whether Blaise approved or not.
"You always did manage to attract an…interesting crowd," Mikhail commented from her left. A smirk gracing his lips as he leaned against the wall. Euphemia and Monty were only watching the chaos unfold as Theo poked Blaise with one hand and wildly gestured with another. James and Sirius might have started to take bets on who was going to start a fight first. That even sparked Severus' interest.
It was going to be a long afternoon.
Another chapter of birthday chaos is coming up and then we're going to the muggle world! I'm really excited for those chapters, I'm in the middle of writing them right now. I always wondered how Lily felt going to friends' houses, since so many kids at Hogwarts were very privileged. I figured she'd be a little overwhelmed, because hearing about it and seeing it are two very different things.
Anyway, you're in for a treat in a few chapters, I just finished a one and it's nearly 4k words.
Thank you for all your favorites, follows and all the kind words these past two weeks and beyond!
See you all soon,
~Animerocker
