I have important update new at the end! Otherwise, enjoy!
Chapter 52
The rest of the day continued in a similar vein. Theo had introduced himself to everyone on his own terms, shaking hands and speaking through his physical, yet magical, connection. The shocked looks he'd receive no doubt made the draining use of magic worth it. Theo always did have a flare for the dramatic.
Lily had latched onto him to get every detail she could about how his particular brand of magic worked, much to Blaise's never ending amusement. Jasmine had gotten more than one pleading glance from her longtime friend over her roommate's insatiable curiosity.
It was fun to see Blaise and Theo interact with her close friends from this timeline. They were both so cautious when approaching them. It must be odd seeing a bunch of people you knew as dead, standing right in front of you, as teenagers no less. Regulus, Severus, Blaise and Mikhail seemed get along as Theo was passed around the room, since everyone seemed to want to speak to him through his particular magical abilities.
Sirius kept poking him to see how far his ability worked, if it was just concentrated in hands or if it was all of him.
Horrifyingly enough, Blaise struck up a conversation with Monty that had to do with potions. Now, Blaise only used potions for one thing, and one thing alone, mayhem.
Monty seemed to think Blaise was a mad genius when it came to explosives, something Jasmine was truly terrified of. Blaise was already a pyro without encouragement from an adult, something that she and Theo had discouraged immensely over their past nine lives. And, now, he had an enabler.
As Harri she had been the most magically destructive one in the group. Her casting ability could level moderate cities, if given the opportunity. Blaise…was creatively destructive on a scale that worried Harri during her early lives and intrigued her in her later ones. Though, combine his ideas with some of Monty's and the Marauders' and things could get dangerous very quickly.
There were a few hushed whispers between Monty, Blaise and Theo, well, between Monty and Blaise. Theo was gesturing rather wildly, but Monty seemed to be getting the general gist of what he meant.
Euphemia looked as exasperated as Jasmine felt.
The party ended with most everyone going home. Mikhail made a swift exit from the floo to the magical hotel he'd be staying at for the next day or two while his parents finished out a deal with a muggle company. Right before he left Mikhail pulled her aside, "You, me, and your two American friends are going to have fun tomorrow."
She rolled her eyes, and looked over towards Blaise and Theo, who seemed to be listening to their conversation. "We'd be more than happy to show you how to have fun. You Europeans are disgustingly Medieval in your magic arts," Blaise replied with a smirk that only spoke trouble.
Theo gave a brief nod, which got a small whoop from Mikhail before giving her a hug and a small shout of "see you tomorrow" before vanishing into the flames.
Severus was the second person to leave, he made sure that he wasn't the first one to go, but he obviously had been waiting for an opportunity to excuse himself from the party. Jasmine gave him a tight hug and told him not to be a stranger, which caused him to turn an odd shade of red before he made himself disappear.
Remus, who was looking a bit peaky, since it was close to the full moon, took a chunk of cake home with him. Jasmine had made sure the cake was chocolate, just for him. She knew he had been having a rough go of it with his parents as of late. The three of them were always fighting over his career paths. Remus was looking outside of the country for work, but his father wanted him to stay within the country in case something happened here.
Honestly, his father seemed to want Remus to fight in the upcoming war. Jasmine wasn't a fan of that line of thinking at all. No parent should want their child to join a senseless war against a dark lord. Remus was a gentle soul, werewolf or not. His mother seemed to be on Remus' side, she was constantly sneaking him books and magazines about international wizarding jobs. "Come back in a week or two. I miss having your level head around. I can only take so much of Sirius and James' insanity," she teased, giving him a small nudge to the ribs.
The aforementioned Marauders scoffed, hands were over their hearts, clearly insulted. Remus' amber eyes gave them one skeptical glance over. "Just try not to maim them while I'm away. If I survived five years of living in a dorm with them, you can make it a week or so."
Jasmine wasn't so sure sometimes. Sirius didn't even live here fulltime, but Merlin he and James were exhausting when they were together. It was a constant pool of energy between the two of them and without Remus to buffer their more…insane ideas, things tended to get out of hand. Well, James very much takes after Monty in his ability to make just about anything explode without trying and Sirius only eggs him on.
"If the house collapses or bursts into flames, Remus, I will be blaming you," she warned as he exited through the floo with a smile on his face.
Lily and Alice left close to dinner since Alice's mum was going to make sure that Lily got home safe and in a not too magical way. Her parents lived in a very muggle neighborhood. "Well, see you in a week, right?" Lily asked, large green eyes bright and almost pleading. Jasmine couldn't say no to that. Marlene would be there, but Lily was her friend and it was just for a day.
"I'll be there, Lily. I told you that already. You know I want to see Alice attempt to use the metro just as much as you do."
The red head jumped up and down and grabbed Jasmine's hands. "I know. I was so worried that you would change your mind with Marlene being ridiculous and with your guardian getting sick. I'm just glad that I still get to see you."
It wasn't like Jasmine was dying, but then again, many magicals tend to forget their more muggle friends during the holidays. Jasmine wondered how often her magical friends blew Lily off in favor of going somewhere with less muggles. Jasmine wasn't going to be that person.
Regulus and Sirius were the last to leave, much to Regulus' chagrin. Sirius was giving James his fifth hug goodbye when the Regulus grabbed him by his ear and dragged him towards the floo.
"Father expected us home over an hour ago. I don't feel like having him storm Potter Manor because you can't let your friend go."
Sirius held his hands out towards James, but let himself be dragged back by his younger brother. "Happy Birthday, Jazz! Prongs, I'll never forget you!"
The two disappeared into the fire. Jasmine could swear she could hear Regulus' eyes rolling.
"And you wonder why people think you two are dating each other," Jasmine muttered just loud enough for her cousin to hear.
She could see his neck turning red at the snickers from everyone else left in the room.
"They aren't dating? You could have fooled me…" Blaise muttered and Theo was silently laughing next to him.
"He has a very obvious crush on Ms. Lily Evans, though, she won't give him the time of day and it's been slowly driving him into Sirius' arms for years," Euphemia replied with a smirk. James squawked and threw himself dramatically on the sofa nearest him.
"You're all traitors!"
It was later that evening when Blaise and Theo snuck into Jasmine's room. Ro was napping on the windowsill overlooking the backyard. The moon was nearly full, only another two days, but it was still bright enough to give some light to her rather dim room. Jasmine didn't need light to see with her rune vision after all. Blaise waved a hand and the candles in the room lit themselves.
Show off.
"Euphemia was watching us all evening to make sure we didn't do anything untoward. She's rather overprotective considering you could probably kill a grown man with your bare hands. It's adorable to see an authority figure dote on you," Blaise commented, silently closing the door behind him. Theo was carrying two small wrapped packages in his hands. He held them out to her a small smile playing at his lips, pulling at the rather gruesome scars running from his chin down his throat.
He had told her that a vicious fight had taken his voice from his original host. It was a fight that originally killed both Theo and Blaise's hosts, but Death had granted the twins a twisted boon in order to get revenge on the people that murdered them. Sending two of the most powerful wizards of the next century to finish a blood-feud, well, one couldn't really ask for more.
But, as Theo fidgeted with a small wrapped package it was hard to remember that he could kill someone using a spell without uttering a word.
"Happy Birthday. We'd been meaning to hand you your real presents all day."
Jasmine resisted the urge to laugh. Yes, their original gifts that she opened with everyone else's were all rune-based books, and a very well-crafted warding crystal, but they weren't very Blaise and Theo like gifts. Those tended to either be very intricate or very volatile, and mostly illegal.
Theo tossed her the first one, it was light, and it rattled gently from within with packaging. She gently tore the paper away to reveal a small box, inside was a dreamcatcher, simple enough in its design and it seemed old, she didn't have nightmares like she used to. It only took a moment for her to feel it, but there was magical rolling off the small trinket in waves.
She raised an eyebrow at the two of them. "The original way to make them is a secret, but it's a long standing, but dying art. It was considered witchcraft by colonizers, but this will ward off any unwanted intruders while you sleep. You mind will always be safe from harm when you are at your most vulnerable. Dreamers were powerful enemies to our tribe at least. Magic works a bit differently in the states," He replied, sitting at the edge of her bed, his scarred hands running through his hair.
Theo shuffled a bit from her right and signed as he spoke. Jasmine wondered if it was out of habit or in hope that she would be able to pick up the language faster. "What Blaise isn't saying, is that he made it with you in mind. It will only work for you. The magic behind its creation is sacred, something I don't have the ability to do any longer. It was an interesting process to watch."
Blaise jabbed his thumb towards Theo, leaning back on the bed, a picture of ease. "He's just upset he didn't get to help, it required actual speech. The second gift was all him."
The next gift was much heavier, but in the same sized box. What slid out was slab of expertly carved gemstone in the shape of a hawk in flight. It was multiple shades of a deep amber. Jasmine could see hundreds of runes etched on every surface. She had never seen anything like it, she didn't recognize any of the runes, but she could feel the magic. It was pure and very powerful.
"What is this?" Her fingers traced the patterns on its wings reverently.
"That is what is going to find the horcruxes, since so many of them could be anywhere right now. The worst thing about living in the past, we have no idea where over half of those blasted things are," Blaise answered with a toothy grin, and Jasmine bit her lip. She hadn't really been focusing on the horcruxes yet. She didn't find a point in attempting to steal any and tip of Tom that someone knew what he had done. Though, to have a device that could locate them…It would save so much time in the years to come.
They had tried everything to find or create a device to locate horcruxes in the past, to no avail. To think, they had needed to go to the past the entire time.
She pulled them both into a loose hug, her arms barely managing to wrap around both their shoulders. Theo perched himself precariously close to the edge to make sure that Jasmine could wrap her arms around them. Blaise made no effort to move.
"You two actually managed to figure it out? We've been looking for this for six…no seven lives and you managed to find it in less than a year? Even better, you two know how to make them" She whispered, just in case her cousin was listening outside her room.
James was nosy on good days and horrifically invasive on others. She didn't need him overhearing their conversations, family or not. She wasn't supposed to tell people that she was the Master of Death, other than her closest confidants. It tended to end badly for her or for the people involved. Death was rather possessive.
"Yes, well, despite Death being less than helpful in separating us. Having Blaise and I as part of a culture we'd never had access to has opened our eyes to an entirely new branches of magic, which I'm pretty sure died out by the time we were born not too far down the road," Theo responded, rubbing the back of his neck a bit sheepishly.
Yes, the plight of the magical Indigenous People in the Americas hadn't been something Harriet Potter had really paid attention to until she realized how deep their magic went into repelling and banishing dark forces. "Modern" witches and wizards considered the practices to be archaic and inherently evil. As Harriet she had disagreed, but there wasn't much she could do, she had only just gotten into the international scene and she only wanted to know more about their magic.
Which, looking back on that now, seemed rather shallow and seeing as how her two best friends are going to be fighting for their right to exist for the rest of their lives, Jasmine was going to need to help them in every way she could. If that meant getting involved in international human rights movements, so be it.
"How does it work?" Jasmine was itching to look for references to each and every rune carved into this figure.
"One of us will need to be present. It requires a special brand of magic that is taught to our people." Blaise said with a shrug that gave no room for argument. Jasmine understood, there was magic that she learned in ring that she would never teach another person unless they had lived in the same circumstances she did.
Theo wiggled a finger with a teasing smile gracing his usually stoic features, "No outsiders."
She resisted the urge to scoff at the fact that these two were just as much outsiders as she was, but decided to just roll her eyes instead. She placed the little trinket on her nightstand, which was warded up and down to keep people and an assortment of magical creatures from touching anything on top of it.
"I'll keep in close. Are you two excited to see what Mikhail has planned? I doubt it was the first thing on your mind when you came to visit. I know Mikhail and he probably just wants to have some kind of duel," Mikhail had honestly surprised her as well when he asked to come back. She wouldn't be surprised if he challenged them to a duel.
Blaise sat on her bed, running a hand through his dark hair. "It's hardly the first thing we're usually asked, but I don't find it an unpleasant thought to duel against a worthy opponent. Mikhail seems talented, I just have no idea what rule set he would want." They wouldn't know any of the rule sets that her friend did. The rule set that Mikhail and Jasmine were familiar with were rather old and rarely used in even when they were new.
She bit her lip. Jasmine had forgotten to explain what the rules would mean for them. "Yes, he'd probably want pit rules. It was what we all used during practice matches when we were back in the dueling ring. Magic and weapons are permissible, but no wands allowed and no one is aiming to kill or maim. Drawing blood is alright, but not enough to permanently damage anyone. It's a bit more violent than the tournament, but that's the way the pit was. Mikhail is an expert with swords and throwing knives. I'd watch for those," she replied, rubbing the back of her neck as the two of them just stared at her.
It seemed that they forgot what the original Jasmine Peverell went through. Their shock was obvious, by their widened eyes.
"That sounds…like an interesting challenge. Will we be fighting against you and Mikhail?"
Jasmine pursed her lips. While that would be the obvious choice, that didn't seem fair to either party. Blaise and Theo had their twin thing going on and Mikhail and Jasmine had known and fought together in the ring for years. She honestly didn't trust herself or Mikhail not to get overly violent if they fought on the same team. They hadn't been away from that life long enough. She didn't want to hurt Blaise or Theo because she felt like she was back with the Chesters.
"No, I think we're going to need to mix things up to make it fair and that is going to make the duels just that much more interesting."
Blaise put his head in his hands, a Cheshire like grin adorning his face. "Tell me more about the teams for tomorrow."
Merlin, this was going to be a hassle to pull off without the ministry knowing.
So, next chapter is going to be a bit of showing off fun new magic! I'm excited about it. I like introducing new ways of using magic that wasn't really touched on in the series. I also feel like American magic is just a little bit different from European magic and with that different ways to fight and all that. So, be hyped for that.
Onto less fun news, I don't think I'm going to be able to update this fic until April, I know, it's only March 1st. I work in an accounting firm and well, it's tax season. I have to work a lot of overtime until mid April, which includes weekends and later week nights. I need to be able to work out and that is going to eat up what little writing time I have, so yea...self care is necessary. I should be able to update again around the 5th of April. I should still be writing while all this madness is going on, but I won't have time to edit, so I don't want to give you all subpar content by rushing.
Thank you all so much for the reviews, favorites and follows. They really make my day.
If you have any questions about what's going on, PM me.
See you all on the 5th of April,
~Animerocker
