Happy Holidays! There will be update information at the end. Enjoy!

Chapter 71

"You're going on a date with Sirius," James muttered for the fifth time that morning as Jasmine fastened her winter cloak over her robes to face the biting January weather. Her cousin was pacing back and forth across the breakfast nook near the kitchen, hands behind his back in some kind of deep contemplation.

Jasmine let out a long-suffering sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose. "For the last time, it's not a date. He literally wants me there to stab Mikhail if he gets handsy. He probably just asked me to make his father happy."

Her cousin freezes in place. "AH HA!" James jumps pointing a finger at Jasmine accusatorily. She nearly goes cross eyed with her only good eye.

She slaps his hand away from her face. She raises a single delicate eyebrow, waiting for an explanation to his exclamation. "What?"

"His family does want him to marry you! Moody was right! I'm going to kill Padfoot!"

Jasmine smacked James on the back of the head, none too gently and he gave a small yelp. "You are acting like a fool, James. Sirius and I aren't about to get together because his family said so. They confronted me at the party. Sirius and I had a talk afterwards. He isn't about to jump my bones because his family wants little Black and Peverell heirs running around. If you don't think better of Sirius, you should at least think I'm better than that," she snapped, arms crossed over her chest as James rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

He hopped on the counter, resting his head in his hands. "Look, Jazz, it's just I know a lot about marriage contracts. Dad has let me see quite a few over the years that have come through for me. We always reject them, but they are really binding. Some of them have really crazy stipulations. I just want you to be happy and the thought of Sirius somehow guilting you into a marriage contract worries me. You're the kind of person that would do that to make sure that he's happy. You'd marry him to make sure that he doesn't suffer in his marriage."

She wrinkled her nose. Jasmine did have a saving people problem, but she had to draw the line somewhere. "I'm not sure if I would sacrifice myself like that. I saw the contact, there are a lot of obligations I would have to fulfill. It's one thing to be friends with someone. I would need to produce at least four heirs or more if we have multiple girls. It would be a lot."

James whistled, legs swinging back and forth, sock clad feet thumping against the wooden counters below. Euphemia would swat him if she saw him on the counter like this, acting like some common born riffraff. "So, you've thought about it extensively?"

She swore he wiggled his eyebrows. Jasmine felt her face heat slightly, so much for killing Sirius, now he was teasing her about it. "Not in the way you think. When I started putting pieces together I realized which name he had taken off his list and why his family was so angry with him. I tried to figure out why it was such an obvious choice to take my name off besides the whole best mate's cousin thing. The next was the obligation of heirs," she replied with a shrug as she wrapped her favorite grey scarf around her neck. It was soft and fairly shiny. It reminded her of the invisibility she once owned.

James was grinning from ear to ear, "If you say so. Have fun on your not to subtle double date. Stab Padfoot if he starts sniffing around inappropriately."

Ugh, she was never going to hear the end of this.

She met Sirius at the Leaky Cauldron. He was leaning against the far wall near the floo access, more than likely waiting for her, but he stopped paying attention to glare holes into Mikhail's head. Sirius was simmering as he watched Regulus and Mikhail speak to each other near the entrance to Diagon Alley. The two of them were bundled up for the weather and huddled close. "You know if you keep scowling like that your face my stay that way," Jasmine warned and her friend jumped. Sirius swore rather colorfully, a hand on his chest.

"Warn a man, Jazz. Are you trying to put me in an early grave?"

Jasmine grinned, "I wouldn't need to scare you to do that, Sirius, you know that."

Sirius groaned and turned back to see Mikhail and Regulus looking at them. Jasmine waved and pulled Sirius towards the entrance to the alley. She wasn't going to let his awful mood ruin Regulus and Mikhail's day. Her friend had suffered enough in his life.

It didn't take long for the four of them to settle into an easy rhythm. For the most part, Regulus was just showing Mikhail around the area. There was a bit of window shopping involved while Sirius and Jasmine lagged behind enough to give them some semblance of privacy.

She swore she felt eyes on her that shouldn't have been there, but maybe she was just being paranoid. Jasmine pushed her rune vision out and around her and hopefully she wouldn't find anything.

Her friend was on his toes watching his brother grab Mikhail's hand and drag him towards one of the stores to their left.

"You know, James thought that you were asking me out on some kind of Black family double date."

Sirius nearly walked into a light post as he turned an odd shade of red and spluttered something unintelligible. Regulus and Mikhail didn't even notice Sirius apologize to the damn thing before realizing it wasn't a person.

His cheeks were a bright red when he turned towards her. "That wasn't why I asked you to join me!" He nearly shouted, his voice cracking at the very end of his sentence. Jasmine brought a hand up to her mouth to cover the snort that wanted to escape.

He put a hand over his eyes in embarrassment as Jasmine peered up at him. "You never really explained to me why you wanted me here today. I highly doubt you only wanted me here to watch Mikhail like a hawk for you. He's well behaved in public."

She gently took his hand away from his face. They were wearing gloves, so there wasn't any skin to skin contact, which could be construed as highly inappropriate for two potentially courting heirs. Jasmine waited for his response as Mikhail pointed out a book to Regulus in the window of a nearby store.

"I just…thought it would be nice to just be the two of us for once. We don't get to be alone together very often. Prongs and Moony are usually glued to your side at all times. I thought you would like to spy on your best friend's date, just as much as I would love to spoil my brother's date."

"So, you wanted it to just be you and me spying on your younger brother's date? You do realize that many people are going to think that we're on a date as well? If the press get wind of this…it could be messy. Most of Hogwarts already thinks we're dating."

The rumors at Hogwarts had been claiming they've been dating since the moment Jasmine stepped foot in school the prior year. She tended to forget that in this timeline the Black Family was still extremely prominent. The heir of that family dating anyone would be a big headline.

Not to mention that the lost heir of the Peverell line dating anyone would be a headline all on its own.

"I don't really care about that…we've been dealing with those kinds of rumors for ages. It isn't anything new."

"Except that your family has made it very clear that they want me to marry you," Jasmine replied with a sigh and Sirius grumbled something under his breath. That sounded like "meddling bastards" but she could have been wrong.

"I don't want this," he motioned between them, "to be about them."

His fists clenched at his sides once more. It was obvious that there was another reason that he was upset over this. His family sticking their noses into his business wasn't anything new, but having them nudge Sirius towards Jasmine seemed to frustrate him to no end.

"Is there any other reason that you hate that they want you to marry me?"

Right before Sirius answered Mikhail came back over, Regulus on his arm, cheeks flushed. It seemed it was time to give Regulus a bit of a break from her flirty friend.

"Sirius, take a look at this! The new cleansweep just released!"

Mikhail was also an awful flyer, it was probably better that Sirius handled this part of their little trip. Her Russian friend held out an arm for her to take, which she accepted with a grin.

The four of them went towards the Quidditch supply store for a bit. Sirius and Regulus arguing over which model would best suite their styles the best.

Mikhail was all smiles as he watched Regulus passionately defend his position to his older brother, who wasn't giving a millimeter. Eventually Jasmine started talking to him when his smile became tight, which never boded well for either of them. "Your parents must be throwing a fit with you so far away from home."

He shrugged, eyes darting to the left and lingered. Jasmine began to stretch her vision out towards the left. "A bit. My mother is more concerned than my father, but he sees this as a great way of branching out the family business. I'm just glad that I get to pursue my interests here. If my mother had her way I would never leave the house again."

Jasmine could sense a couple different people in her vision, a few of them seemed familiar, had she been right earlier when she felt that someone had been watching them? Honestly, if her hunch is correct…they could be in for a very interesting afternoon.

"Honestly, I sometimes feel that my guardians would do the same thing if given the option." With all the different problems that Jasmine has had over the last few years, she felt that Euphemia wanted to just wrap her up and never let her leave the house. Monty would enjoy the company, but she would be so bored and there was no doubt that Mikhail's parents felt the same way.

Mikhail's gaze shifted a bit behind her and her shoulders tensed a little bit. So, he had noticed as well. She switched to German, "You see them too?"

He gave a tight nod. There was a group of five wizards that had been tailing them on and off for the past twenty minutes. Just watching, they were far enough away that it would seem a bit much for Jasmine to bring it up to Sirius. "They're getting far too close for comfort."

"They're watching Regulus and Sirius more so than us. They're probably here to capture them."

The unspoken "or kill them" went without mention. Orion had been speaking out against the Dark Lord's propaganda at the most recent Wizengamot meetings. It had been causing quite the divide amongst the dark pureblood families. Jasmine felt that it was a rather easy choice, either use dark magic and accept muggleborns or follow a psychotic megalomaniac to their eventual death. The choice seemed obvious, but purebloods almost seemed to enjoy sending themselves to their death.

Jasmine's eyes darted around the area, there was a small café to their right. Sirius and Regulus were oblivious to what was going on as Mikhail nodded. The two of them approached the Black brothers right as the group of five Death Eaters slipped their masks on.

She could sense wand movement as she grabbed Sirius and pushed him to the ground and over towards the café. There was a small explosion above them, a blasting hex smashed into the window of the quidditch supply store. Shards of glass rained down around them. Sirius hissed as something hard landed on his leg, but he kept moving. There were more hexes and curses cast as they made their way around upturned tables and bodies on the ground. Jasmine didn't want to think if they were alive or dead. Mikhail and Regulus were right behind them as people screamed and created general chaos for them to get out of the way.

"They're getting away!" One of the men shouted from behind them as Jasmine helped Sirius down the three steps to the café's door and ushered the group inside.

That was when she noticed that Mikhail had Regulus slung over his shoulder. His head lolling to the side. "The blast knocked him silly. He should be fine after getting looked at by a healer," Mikhail muttered as he entered. Jasmine let out a breath as she locked the door. He was still breathing, so at least there was that.

The café itself was abandoned after the initial blast. It would make evacuating the premises easier. The main room was mostly close off to the outside, with only a small bit of light coming in from the upper level windows. It left lots of tables and chairs for later use. Jasmine bit her lip and grabbed her carving crystal from her back pocket. She etched a few runes into the wood near the lock, which would stave off intruders...it wasn't a strong rune, that would take far too much time. It should hold long enough to get both Sirius and Regulus somewhere a little safer.

"Jazz, what are we doing? We need to leave," Sirius advised, pulling out his wand. He was the only one of them that could use magic outside of school right now. Though, he was limping, a patch of blood was starting to stain his pants around his knee.

Mikhail snorted, adjusting Regulus. "Go ahead and try to disapperate out, there are no doubt wards up against it. Otherwise your law enforcement would be here by now."

Jasmine bit her lip…that sounded about right for a raid…or a kidnapping. She couldn't let the Death Eaters get a hold of the Black brothers.

"Mikhail, now is not the time to be petty about this. Get Regulus to the back room we need to get him out of sight for right now."

Her friend nodded and gently picked Regulus up bridal style and carried him into the back. He was going to need to see a healer soon. Untreated head injuries, even in the magical world, could be dangerous. The fact he wasn't responsive was worrying.

The back room was in better condition than Jasmine thought it would be. It looked like this was where most of the employees spend their breaks since it was comfortable and large enough to accommodate quite a few people.

The door in the front shook. This was turning into a disaster of day.

"If we can't use magic to get out what do we do?" Sirius asked, watching the wood slowly start to splinter, the runes holding on by a thread. Well, Sirius could use magic, but he would be a sitting duck…which would only hold Jasmine and Mikhail back in the brawl to come.

Jasmine could feel the magic of the runes fading. Mikhail waved his hand over his right side and a glamour hiding a rather impressive sword appeared. It was almost comforting seeing him with it. Sirius eyed him warily.

"We fight, Heir Black."

Jasmine pulled out wicked looking knife from her boot. It looks like she was going to use Mikhail's Christmas gift earlier than she'd expected. "You stay here and watch your brother, Sirius. They're after the two of you. Mikhail and I will take care of this until we can't."

Sirius staggered forward, hissing as he put weight on his leg, he put a hand on Jasmine's right arm. "You can't be serious? You two can't take on five adult wizards. I have to help."

Jasmine eyed his bleeding leg, "You can barely walk. Mikhail and I used to fight together all the time without magic. Protect your brother and let Mikhail and I do what we were trained to do for years." It was something that she hadn't really spoken about in detail to the Marauders or the Potters. She had really only discussed this with her Mind Healer…her capacity to kill was disconcerting at times. Jasmine hadn't personally murdered anyone in the ring, but she had come close…she had killed those Death Eaters and the Chesters. As Harriet she had killed to save herself in multiple lives.

Mikhail had been in one death match, but they had both had their share of brutal fighting. Blood shed was inevitable in this fight.

The rune began to fracture, and Jasmine ran out of patience and time. Mikhail had already left towards the front of the store and Jasmine closed the door as Sirius hobbled towards it with a shout. She quickly craved a complicated locking rune onto the knob, trapping Sirius in with Regulus.

Mikhail readied his weapon as Jasmine turned some tables over on their sides to act as cover. "Just like old times. Pit rules?"

Jasmine nodded and poised herself right next to the front door right as the rune finally gave away and the door was blasted off its hinges, and the first Death Eater entered the room. She could hear her heart pounding in her ears. She couldn't mess this up, she didn't want to die here and she couldn't let them get to Sirius or Regulus.

Her grip on the knife tightened, her resolve strong. Jasmine descended on him, her knife plunging into his shoulder. The men were in their full Death Eater regalia, skull masks and all. The man cried out and dropped his wand. Jasmine pulled the blade out as he staggered backwards, gripping the new bleeding appendage. That was for Sirius.

She jumped out of the way as spells began to fly through the air towards her. Jasmine ducked behind a table as Mikhail impaled one of the men. There was an audible crunch as bones grinded under the blade. He used him as a shield for the curses aimed towards him. A common pit tactic when dealing with a large brawl.

The death eater with the sword him in screamed as one of the curses collided with him. His skin begin to blister and burn as he writhed. Someone was going to need to go to St. Mungo's after this.

Jasmine could sense one of them men moving towards her. She kicked out a chair, knocking it into his knees, his wand dropping from his hand as he doubled over. Jasmine slammed the butt of her knife into his skull, knocking him out. She grabbed his wand and snapped it before she was grabbed from behind. Her knife clattering to the floor as she was hefted into the air. He lifted her off her feet with a chuckle. She could feel a wand pressing up against her throat. "Looks like we caught ourselves a Peverell. Our Lord will be so pleased."

Mikhail pulled the sword out of his slowly bleeding out opponent. A pool of blood pooling out under it. There were still two left and one had Jasmine. She didn't have eyes on the second one she could sense him behind Mikhail.

Jasmine knocked her head back into her captor, there was a crunch of cartilage as she broke his nose. He howled in pain as she reached down to grab her knife as she sensed both the Death Eater and Mikhail move towards her. Jasmine's hand closed around the knife as Mikhail drove the blade downwards. Jasmine rolled to the side as the blade went through her enemy and right where she had been moments before.

She stood up and caught movement behind her friend and threw her weapon. The throw was low, but it still hit center mass, just in the fleshy part of his upper collar bone and shoulder. He yanked the blade out with a yelp, though it was his wand arm, which was nearly limp at his side.

The man that Mikhail had just stabbed through the upper arm staggered to his feet, wand held very loosely in his hand.

It was always a good idea to take away an opponents' advantage in battle and while Jasmine and Mikhail were younger they knew how to fight dirty and taking away their opponents' ability to use a wand was always a good tactic in any fight.

Jasmine once again had no weapon her knife was on the floor near the death eater's foot. She was back to back with Mikhail. It was a familiar position that Jasmine had been in many times in the ring.

"You two are going to get it," the injured one spat as he lunged for Mikhail with all the finesse of hippogriff. The other man attempted to fire a killing curse at her, but he could barely lift his arm up enough to get the spell off. The spell went low and to the right.

"LEFT!" Jasmine shouted as the curse went wide. Mikhail dove out of the way right as it collided with the other Death Eater who in his blind rage walked right into the attack.

Jasmine held out a hand and concentrated on summoning her knife, which at this point was right behind the last Death Eater. It wiggled for a moment before embedding itself in his back. The man howled in pain as he attempted to remove it, but it was just out of reach. Jasmine picked up a chair and smashed it over the man's head. The wood splinted and broke from the impact, but the final enemy was taken out right as the sound of disapperation filled the area.

"Better late than never," Jasmine muttered, pulling her knife out from the man's back. She flicked her wrist and the door to the back room opened.

And law enforcement has finally arrived! They always take so long to get to where they need to be. Next chapter we deal with the fallout and then we're back to school.

I saw a few people ask if everything was okay when I didn't update, and while I am not personally sick, complications have come up in real life for me.

Now, as to why I didn't update last week:

One of my dogs is very sick (cancer) with a not so good prognosis, she had major surgery two weeks ago (she had a tumor removed from her intestines and had staples down her abdomen and needed our full attention). She deserves all the time and attention I can give her in case the worse does happen within the next few months. She had her first round of chemo today and the oncologist said that she doesn't have a good chance of surviving because of the kind she has. She just turned 4 three weeks ago, so it was a huge shock for my family to find out that she could pass away within the next few months since she's so young. So, my updates could be a bit sporadic over the up coming months. I will try to get at least two chapters out a month like I have been, but no promises. I like to use writing as a form of catharsis, but sometimes I'm just too stressed to even think about it.

Anyway, thank you for your reviews, favorites and follows.

See you all in the New Year,
~Animerocker