Recommendation: This chapter's recommended fic is "Not the Golden Route" by Romantic Silence. Ron learns at the worst possible moment that Harry and Hermione didn't spend all the time alone in the tent just pining away for him. Very funny one-shot.
Chapter 55 - In the Air Tonight
Sunday, April 11, 1995, Evening.
Adrienne was writing yet another report to the Theledrion about the effects of the Eostre celebration when she heard a knock on her door. After unsealing it, she found that it was Phoebe and Apolline, just returned from the Forbidden Forest.
"Is that the report?" Apolline asked as the two newcomers sat down.
"Yes," Adrienne said. "Even after double-checking the scans three times, I still can't believe it. I don't think that there has ever been a ritual celebration that has made participants healthier, stronger, and taller as it's done to all of us. Granted, the changes have been very small, but that there are any changes at all is amazing!"
Phoebe snorted. "It's annoying, is what it is. My armor doesn't fit anymore!"
Apolline smiled teasingly and said, "Well, that's what you get for insisting on wearing something that fits so tightly. No margin for error! But are you sure it wasn't that extra helping of chocolate pudding I saw you eat last night?"
"What did you find?" Adrienne interjected, trying to forestall another argument between the two.
"Well," Apolline replied, "after visiting the Forbidden Forest, I no longer find it hard to believe that we've all improved physically." When Adrienne raised an inquiring eyebrow, Apolline continued, "The growth of both old and new plants is astounding. Everything is bright green in and around our original circle. The flowers are thicker than I've ever seen them anywhere else. According to the centaurs, there is a marked improvement in growth for about two hundred meters all around our circle."
Adrienne whistled in surprise. "That's pretty remarkable. And you're sure that all of this stems from our Eostre ritual?"
"It looked that way to me," Apolline answered, "but the centaurs confirmed it. Everything started immediately after our ritual and grew very, very fast."
"I'm glad you got a chance to talk to the centaurs," Adrienne said. "Were they accepting of the changes? Do you think they'll allow another ritual, even if it's bigger?"
Phoebe snorted and said, "Allow it? The centaur we talked to brought it up on his own and asked very nicely if we'd consider doing it in their forest again!"
"Really?" Adrienne asked. "And what did you say?"
"I did what I always do when a man wants something I have," Apolline said with a grin, "I flipped my hair back and played hard to get."
"It was a centaur, not a man!" Phoebe objected.
"He was built enough like a man," Apolline said.
"Right," Phoebe responded skeptically, "I think that he'd be a bit much even for you."
"Enough!" exclaimed Adrienne, seeing the outraged expression on Apolline's face and regretting having sent those two out together. "What happened next?"
"Oh," Apolline said, "In the end, I got him to agree to let us magically expand the circle and hold a much larger celebration at Beltane in exchange for them providing protection for three days. He seemed to think that he got the better end of the bargain."
"Based on what you've told me," Adrienne said, "he may well have. My understanding is that this forest is very dark and has been infested with a lot of dark creatures for a long time. If our rituals continue to improve things, we'll be making life a lot easier for residents like the centaurs and unicorns."
"Well, they're absolutely thrilled with us," Phoebe said, "so no worries on their end. I think they may be bringing their entire herd to ring the circle to protect us."
"If the magic of the ritual has improved us physically," Apolline pointed out, "then it's reasonable to suppose that it did the same for the centaurs who protected us the first time. And they'd have noticed it by now, too, so I wouldn't be surprised if they not only brought out their entire herd to benefit, but invited members of other herds, too."
"Which sounds remarkably like the decision of the Theledrion to come and participate," Phoebe said dryly.
Adrienne shrugged. "It's a little surprising, since they've never done anything like this before, but it makes sense. I think it will be a very remarkable evening."
Wednesday, April 14, 1995, Morning.
CRASH!
Bacon, eggs, and sausages flew everywhere as a very old owl plowed into the Gryffindor table with his customary grace.
"Oh, Errol!" Ginny cried as she helped the bedraggled Weasley family owl out of the oatmeal while Ron tried to clean his feathers as best he could. Once they were done, they relieved the poor owl of the package he was carrying, at which point he hoisted himself into the air again and laboriously flapped away, looking like he might careen into a wall at any moment.
Inside the package were chocolate Easter eggs for all the Weasley children as well as for Jasmine and Hermione — except that there was a notable difference in the size of Hermione's. Whereas everyone else got one the size of a dragon egg, Hermione's was the size of a chicken egg.
Jasmine frowned as she looked back and forth at their two eggs, then frowned even more when she saw the hurt expression on Hermione's face. Catching Ginny's eye, she gestured to the eggs and asked, "Uh, Ginny, do you have any idea what's going on with this?"
Ginny just looked bewildered. "I have no idea. That's so bizarre."
"I think it was the Daily Prophet article," Ron said regretfully.
"You mean Skeeter?" Jasmine asked in outrage. "Your mother believed that tripe?"
"Probably," Ron said, looking embarrassed. "She usually believes that sort of thing. Remember what I told you about the kinds of books she reads."
"Well, that won't do!" Jasmine declared angrily. Pulling out parchment and quill, she started scribbling furiously.
"What are you doing?" Hermione asked.
"Writing Mrs. Weasley a letter," Jasmine said. She didn't see the bug-eyed looks on the Weasley faces that surrounded them.
"You don't have to do that for me," Hermione insisted.
"Of course I don't," Jasmine conceded. She lifted her head to look Hermione directly in the eye. "But I want to do it. You don't deserve to be treated like this," she said, gesturing to the small egg she had received. "Mrs. Weasley is just lucky that I don't know how to send a howler yet!"
When she finished, she wrapped up their two eggs in the packaging that they came in, attached the letter, then waited.
A moment later, Hedwig glided into the Great Hall. When she landed, Jasmine attached the package and made a point of telling her familiar what was going on. If the look on Hedwig's face was anything to go by, she wasn't happy either and intended to add her two knuts when she arrived at the Burrow.
Once Hedwig was gone, Jasmine noticed that Ginny had a shocked expression on her face — and it was from the letter she was reading, not the one Jasmine had just written. When it looked like she was done, Jasmine asked, "What's wrong?"
"It's Percy," Ginny said. "He's under investigation. They were finally able to interview Mad-Eye Moody, and he reported that the Death Eater who captured him was Barty Crouch Jr., the son of Percy's boss, Barty Crouch. When the DMLE went looking for him, they discovered that he'd been out of the office for ages, sending in instructions for Percy, but he also wasn't at home. He's disappeared entirely. Apparently Percy ignored all sorts of rules and regulations so he could run the department in Crouch's name. Had he reported what was going on, the authorities might have figured out what was going on sooner — maybe soon enough to save Jasmine."
Ginny looked really embarrassed when she said that. "I'm so sorry, Jasmine. We all knew Percy was a git, but we had no idea that his attitude and ambition would lead to something like this!" The other Weasleys all voiced their strong agreement on all points — especially that Percy was a pompous git.
Jasmine took a deep breath before saying, "It's okay, guys. I can't blame you for how Percy behaves."
Inside, though, Jasmine was remembering all the times she had seen the name "Barty Crouch" in Moody's office when looking at the Marauder's Map, and wondered if maybe she could have saved herself if she'd said something to someone in authority.
Thursday, April 15, 1995, Evening.
Jasmine and Hermione weren't sure exactly why the night of a full moon was an auspicious time to start new journeys and projects, but the pureblood witches raised in the magical community insisted that it was, and so the two Gryffindors agreed to formally inaugurate their new group on the full moon of April. Everyone gathered in the Transfiguration classroom so Professor McGonagall could supervise as seven witches participated in a ritual to symbolically "give birth" to the group.
There were also two wizards in attendance, Blaise and Neville. Both supported the group and would have participated, but Susan argued that while wizards should be allowed to join, witches should be responsible for launching it, and Daphne pointed out that the number seven was arithmantically significant enough to warrant restricting the ritual to just the witches regardless. Neither Blaise nor Neville objected and were content to wait on the side of the room.
The entire process went relatively quickly, with the witches adopting — albeit reluctantly — the name "Society for the Promotion of Equality for Witches" and the mission statement: "We emphasize wherever possible what witches can do — for ourselves, for each other — in staying healthy, healing ourselves, and working for change."
Although the ritual was interesting, Jasmine couldn't help but regard it as a little childish — like children playing house. She knew that it was unkind of her, but after the real rituals she had participated in in the past few months, both dark and light, it was hard not to see this as anything but superficial. She didn't say anything, of course, though she wondered if Hermione was having similar thoughts. She didn't ask because she was too annoyed at how smug Hermione looked over the adoption of S.P.E.W. as the group's name.
It was only much later, when she was alone in bed, that Jasmine remembered that the ritual Voldemort used to come back had also been held on the night of the full moon — and that he had probably picked it for the same reasons.
Despite insisting very hard in her mind that she was not a victim and would not continue to be victimized, she couldn't hold back the sobs as she pressed her face into her pillow, hoping not to alert Hermione to her distress.
Thursday, April 15, 1995, Night.
Albus Dumbledore looked around at the houses along Privet Drive and wondered at the sameness of them all. He respected muggles (even if he didn't want wizarding traditions to be overwhelmed by muggle practices and methods), but he could never understand how any of them could live in such bland, unimaginative surroundings.
He briefly considered whether growing up in such an environment might have negatively impacted Jasmine Potter's psychological development, but quickly pushed it aside as being ultimately irrelevant now. His current mission was to improve the protections around Miss Potter's home, something he probably should have done sooner but was determined not to put off any longer. He'd failed her miserably this year so far and had vowed to do better. She deserved nothing less than his best.
Once he had extinguished all the lights and was standing in front of #4 Privet Drive, he pulled out his wand and began to inspect the wards, immediately despairing at the poor state of the blood wards he'd erected so many years ago. He had already known that they were weak — he had gotten that information from one of the devices in his office — but direct inspection revealed that they were much worse than he had realized.
Since they were powered by familial love, he had to wonder where the weak link was: did the Dursleys lack the necessary love, or was it Jasmine herself? The latter could prove disastrous, and would be consistent with the hate he saw in her eyes before the second task. Given that the rest of the Dursley family was still together, he doubted that they lacked love. I'll have to investigate this further when I'm back at Hogwarts, he decided. For now, I need to get to work putting protections in place.
Dumbledore then proceeded to install several new protection wards as well as warning wards that would notify him of anyone magical and not keyed in if they came within a hundred meter radius. Finally, he installed a special ward against house elves. He had been meaning to do that ever since Jasmine reported during her second year that she'd been accosted in her home by a house elf — an elf that had proven clever enough to even steal her mail! Should a Death Eater figure out how to send an elf on a more nefarious mission, Miss Potter would be dead before Dumbledore could even receive a warning. Now, though, no house elves would be able to get anywhere near the Dursley residence.
He was tired from the effort he'd expended, but he couldn't rest yet because he wasn't done — he still wanted to put similar wards around the Granger residence. He could not in good conscience protect Jasmine while leaving her close friend vulnerable. After a short walk he apparated to Crawley, where the Grangers lived, and got to work once again. It would be very late indeed before he was able to return to Hogwarts.
Friday, April 16, 1995, Evening.
Adrienne read and re-read the reply she had just received from the Theledrion regarding her latest report about the effects of the recent Eostre ritual celebration. A knock signalled the arrival of Apolline, so she unsealed the door and let the other veela in.
"Is that the response?" she asked before she even sat down. "Already?"
Adrienne nodded and said, "You're going to have to go back to the centaurs to see if they will let us expand the circle even more."
"Why?" Apolline asked with dread in her voice.
"Now it seems that the entire Theledrion is coming."
"That's not so bad," Apolline responded. "That isn't very many more participants."
"With most of their families," Adrienne said. "And a good portion of the upper echelons of our Amazzi, including almost all of our elite units."
Apolline's eyes widened in disbelief. "Sweet Morgana! They can't!"
"Oh, they can and they will," Adrienne said. "They are not only increasing the number of other prominent members of our society, but they will also be talking to select witches from France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Germany, and Bulgaria. There will be researchers, healers, and even some government officials, I think."
"How are we going to accommodate them all?" Apolline asked desperately. "And what will the British say?"
"They are bringing six more carriages like this one," Adrienne answered, "all with far more extensive expansion charms. As to the British, they are creating a cover story by arranging meetings with representatives of the British Ministry over the incident with your youngest daughter."
Apolline barely suppressed the appearance of feathers along her arms at the reminder of what she had nearly lost. It had been necessary to hold her back from storming into the headmaster's office and burning everything to cinders, and while she'd been promised that justice would be done, clearly it wasn't going to happen immediately.
Once she got herself back under control, Apolline said, "We are going to have to protect our two English witches." When Adrienne gave her a questioning look, she explained, "We don't want them mobbed by dignitaries and strangers. Miss Potter in particular seems sensitive to large crowds. It was easy to protect them when the rituals were small, but with a crowd this large it will be far more difficult."
Adrienne nodded in understanding. After taking some notes on a fresh piece of parchment, she said, "I can ask Phoebe and Areto to stay close to them; I'm sure your daughter Fleur was going to do that anyway. I'll also write back to the Theledrion to make sure they understand that those girls need to be treated respectfully."
After a few moments thought, Adrienne added, "We may also have a problem with their reaction to the Beltane ritual."
"How so?" Apolline asked.
"Beltane is much more intensely sexual in nature," Adrienne reminded her. "I could tell both were flushed with magical energy and excitement after Eostre when I escorted them out of the forest, and it will be much, much worse at Beltane. We know that they are romantically involved and that they have a bond which will be encouraging the development of their relationship — not just emotionally and psychologically, but also physically and magically. If you add all that together..."
"The result will be that if they aren't already sexually active, then they will be before Beltane is over," Apolline finished. "And I'm sure that they wouldn't be comfortable doing something in public view, whether it's their first time or not."
"So that's two concerns," Adrienne said. "When Fleur invites them tomorrow, she needs to warn them about the power of the sexual energy that will be affecting all of us that night. They shouldn't come if they aren't willing to accept that — and we can't pressure them, either."
Apolline sighed. "I can at least get something to create a bit of privacy if they do decide to participate and if they can't make it out of the circle in time. Maybe a magical emergency shelter? We can offer them that much, at least."
"Good," Adrienne said. "Tell Fleur about this and then grab Phoebe so you two can go talk to your centaur stud again. I've got to work on a new letter to the Theledrion." She smirked as she turned back to her desk while Apolline swallowed back an outraged objection and hurried out of the office.
Saturday, April 17, 1995, Morning.
When Jasmine and Hermione met Fleur in their training classroom, they weren't expecting to get invited to yet another holiday celebration. "You enjoyed ze last two, oui?" Fleur asked.
"Yes, absolutely," they both answered.
"Bon," Fleur said, "zen we would love to 'ave you come to ze Beltane celebration on ze thirtieth." Although she had invited them to other celebrations, she was nervous about this meeting because Beltane was a lot more intense than the other two had been.
"OK," Jasmine said, "that would be great." After a moment's thought, she added, "I don't suppose that any of our friends from the study group and now SPEW" — she heard Hermione mutter "S.P.E.W." under her breath — "could be invited as well? I think they'd enjoy it."
Fleur's eyes widened. "Ah, non, I don't zink zat would be a good idea, and for reasons zat I need to discuss with you anyway. You know what ze others were doing after you left ze ritual circle on Eostre, oui?" When the other two nodded, Fleur continued, "Ze magical and sexual energies will be much stronger on Beltane because ze date eez much more about fertility. And zere will be more people zere, also increasing ze energies. Your friends may 'ave trouble 'andling it, not 'aving participated in any similar rituals before."
Jasmine and Hermione looked taken aback. "You two must also zink about zis," she went on, "and whether it eez zomething you are comfortable with. I cannot say 'ow strongly ze magic will affect you, but it will probably be stronger zan on Eostre. If you 'ave not been intimate with each other before, you may not be able to resist becoming intimate at Beltane."
"That's... pretty serious," Jasmine said slowly. She looked at Hermione to see what she was thinking, but unusually she couldn't — she looked just as conflicted and uncertain as Jasmine felt. "Maybe you could give us until Monday morning to think about it? I can send Hedwig with an answer."
"Zat eez fine," Fleur said, not having expected anything else. Even with their special bond maturing them at a faster rate than their peers and encouraging their relationship to develop, they were still only marginally old enough for an event like Beltane — and that was only because the veela were more accepting of physical intimacy than most other cultures. Gabrielle, who was a year younger than them, hadn't been allowed to stay after the previous ritual and probably wouldn't be allowed to stay after this one, either, though she was sure to protest that.
If the goddesses want them to be there, then they will be there, Fleur concluded. And if the goddesses will it that they participate, then they are old enough.
Saturday, April 17, 1995, Afternoon.
The first session of defense practice for the core members of S.P.E.W. was awkward and confusing — neither Jasmine nor Hermione had ever even considered teaching a class about anything, so despite Hermione's best efforts to be organized and plan ahead, it was still rough going at times. Nevertheless, everyone got something out of it and proclaimed it a success. The fact that Professor McGonagall had volunteered to supervise helped a lot, too.
The most important accomplishment was getting everyone to understand the importance of regular practice. "If you're studying for a test," Jasmine told them, "then it's fine to practice a spell a few times until you know you can get it right when the teacher asks you to do it and then move on. That doesn't prepare you for a fight, however." She fixed them all with a very serious look. "To have any chance of coming out of a real fight in one piece, you have to be able to use offensive and defensive spells as if they were second nature. You can't spend time thinking about proper wand movements or incantations — you have to do it and then just as quickly move on to your next spell."
She waited a moment to let that sink in before continuing, "That means constant practice. It means you cast the same spells over and over and over. You practice for accuracy. You practice for speed. You practice until you can cast spells while whispering or even silently. The more often you do it during training, the easier it will be to do when others are attacking you. Or when you're injured. Or when your friends are injured."
In hindsight, trying to hold the first session in a classroom hadn't been a very good idea, but the Gryffindors hadn't been sure if they wanted to reveal the secret of the Room of Requirement just yet. It wouldn't be possible to continue with defense lessons without it, however, so Jasmine, Hermione, and Neville agreed to go ahead and do that next time.
They also agreed with Susan's suggestion that they adopt a new name for training. Hermione objected at first, fearing that her beloved S.P.E.W. was being replaced, but Susan assured her that it was simply to prevent anyone from thinking that the witches' equality group was involved in raising an army. So they christened their defense practice club the "DA" or "Defense Association," something relatively innocuous sounding — or so they hoped.
Although it was rather late in the term for a group like this to provide a great deal of benefit, they all still agreed to switch one of their two weekly study sessions to a defense practical session. Jasmine and Hermione would teach while Professor McGonagall would supervise and ensure that no one got hurt. Given the looming threat of Voldemort, it seemed like a wise trade-off.
Sunday, April 18, 1995, Afternoon.
Because of the important decision they had to make, it was only natural that they would consult Professor McGonagall about the subject when they met for their weekly tea. As it turned out, the people in her village had celebrated Beltane when she was very young, and she had enjoyed all of the different things the community did during the day. Due to her age, however, she hadn't been allowed to take part in the festivities after a certain hour.
"My Bonnie and I bunked together those nights," Minerva explained with a wistful look in her eyes, "but instead of going to sleep like we were supposed to, we'd go into the loft area above the bedrooms, then climb out on the roof so we could watch. Oh, it was terribly dangerous for us to be out there at any time, much less in the dark, but we never gave any thought to that."
She took a sip of her tea and was quiet for a moment as she reflected on happier memories. "Growing up in a community that raised livestock, we were no strangers to sex. We couldn't be — not with it going on around us all the time. But it was still odd seeing our parents and the other adults we knew doing the same things. And yet somehow it wasn't the same: in the midst of all the swirling magical energies, it was also completely different."
She almost seemed to blush a little when she said, "Even at a young age, I was affected by those energies. I didn't really understand it, and I don't think Bonnie did, either. We never talked about it, but I know I felt tingling and had a powerful urge to do... well, something. I had no idea what at the time, but of course I do now." After another sip of tea, she added, "It's no wonder that we were excluded — we simply couldn't understand or act on those urges and feelings."
"So people below a certain age shouldn't participate?" Hermione asked.
"Not in certain Beltane activities, no," Minerva said. "Even watching from a distance is problematic because the magic will reach and affect you. But once you reach an age where you can understand and handle what the magic does to you, then it's an option." She looked at both of them carefully and said, "That doesn't mean it's for everyone, because it's not. It's just an option."
"We have been invited to a Beltane ritual celebration, as you probably guessed," Jasmine admitted, "but we haven't decided whether to accept."
"That's why we're doing the research," Hermione added. "We would have been eager to go, given how much we enjoyed Eostre, but we were warned by Fleur that there would be more people, much more sexual energy, and that we might not be able to avoid being... well, uh, intimate." She blushed a bit when she said the last, not entirely comfortable yet talking about that topic with her professor.
Minerva nodded. "Granted, my experiences were quite a few years ago, but I would say that sounds about right. Is it something you're prepared for?"
"That's the question," Jasmine said, looking down at her lap. "That's what we're trying to figure out."
"Well, it has to be your decision," Minerva said. "I would caution you not to rush into intimacy. It's not something you want to regret because you did it too soon, when you weren't ready. On the other hand, you don't want to avoid it in the expectation that there is some sort of 'perfect' time or situation. It's something wonderful and beautiful if it's with the right person, and only you will be able to determine if you are truly ready. If you are, and if you're with the right person, that is what will make it perfect."
Sunday, April 18, 1995, Evening.
Fred and George Weasley were sitting alone in a corner of the Gryffindor common room, their heads close together. Their fellow Gryffindors knew from experience that the looks on their faces meant trouble for someone, so they all stayed well away to avoid becoming that someone. It wasn't that the boys were angry, just very… determined. Scarily determined.
"So, uglier brother," said one twin, "that room was in use for most of the day yesterday, and what did we learn?"
"Nothing, eviler brother," said the other, "and all of our eavesdropping charms appear to have been removed. Again."
"It would seem that the ickle witches are cleverer than we gave them credit for," observed the first.
"By quite a large margin, too," agreed the second. "That's not a mistake we can afford to make again."
"Indeed," said the first. "We'll have to step up our efforts to learn their secrets."
"And succeed we will," promised the second, "or our names aren't Fred and George!"
"I thought we were George and Fred?" objected the first twin.
"Ehh," responded the other twin with a shrug, "close enough."
Neither noticed that they themselves were currently the targets of close observation as two sets of tennis ball-sized eyes — one green and one brown — watched their every move while two sets of bat-like ears listened to every word.
George and Fred Weasley liked to think of themselves as creative, but they had yet to learn the meaning of the word.
Sunday, April 18, 1995, Night.
"So," Hermione said as she and Jasmine sat in the brown-eyed witch's bed.
"So," Jasmine repeated back, knowing what Hermione was trying to get at but feeling just as uncomfortable as she evidently did.
"Oh, sod it," Hermione finally blurted out. "There's no reason why we should be so embarrassed like this. Do you want to go to the Beltane celebration or not?"
Jasmine exhaled heavily, "Yes, I think so. I mean, I am pretty nervous about it. I guess I would be a bit nervous regardless, especially if there are going to be more people, but what Fleur said about how intense it could be... I just... well, I don't know. It makes me nervous. But I enjoyed the feelings I got after the Eostre ritual, so I can't imagine that it would be bad. Just, you know, stronger? More intense?"
A look of impatience crossed her features as she ran a hand through her auburn hair. "I dunno. Am I making any sense at all?"
Hermione smiled. "Yes, I think so. And I feel the same way: nervous, conflicted, a little scared, a little excited. But you did understand what Fleur meant about becoming intimate, right?" When Jasmine nodded, Hermione went on, "It may not happen, but I think we should play it safe and assume that it will if we go. That means if we go, it's because we're willing to... no, if we go, it's because we want to take that step with each other. It's not simply something that we're merely okay with, and it's not something that simply happens to us in the heat of the moment. We either embrace it, or we don't go."
"Wow," Jasmine said, "when you lay it out like that, you make it sound so... serious."
Hermione smiled, remembering that Jasmine had already described the situation that way the previous day.
Jasmine continued, "It feels kind of odd, planning something like that out in advance. Shouldn't it, you know, be spontaneous? When it feels right?"
Hermione shook her head. "It does often happen that way, but that often leads to regrets. You're more likely to regret something that you let happen to you in the heat of the moment than something you consciously plan for in advance."
Jasmine smirked a little. "Why am I not surprised that you'd say something like that?"
"But it's true!" Hermione protested. "And it's not something I came up with, I'll have you know. It's something my mother impressed upon me in more than one of our talks. Though to be perfectly honest, she said this in the context of explaining why I should wait for marriage."
"I guess you're not following that advice now?" Jasmine asked.
A troubled look crossed Hermione's features. "I always appreciated the advice my mother gave me on this subject, but much of it seems... irrelevant now. It was obviously given under the assumption that I'd end up with a boy, which clearly isn't going to be the case. Unwanted pregnancies aren't an issue. And then there's the small matter that we can't legally get married…." She sighed. "I guess I'm going to have to discard more of her advice than I ever imagined I might."
"I'm sorry, I..." Jasmine started to say, only to be quickly interrupted.
"Don't apologize, and don't change the subject. My point was, I don't ever want you to regret us taking such a step together." Hermione reached out and took Jasmine's hand in hers before continuing, "I don't ever want you to regret anything we do together, but especially that. I want you to want it, but I also want you to want it for the right reasons."
Jasmine stared down at their clasped hands for a long moment, then looked up at her and asked, "What about you? How do you feel about it?"
Hermione shook her head in tolerant amusement. "No, I'm not going to prejudice your decision. I want you to be able to say what you want on your own."
Jasmine sighed, then smiled slightly before giving her answer.
