Happy Friday! Enjoy!

Chapter 79

A horcrux's death was always loud and filled with the screeching anguish of the soul trapped inside. For whatever reason, the diadem and diary were always the loudest. Jasmine supposed it had to be due to the fact that there was at least half a soul in the diary…and more than likely Tom was especially pissed off after Dumbledore denied him the Defense Against the Dark Arts position, which he poured all that hate into diadem. It was surprising how loud a thirty-second of a soul could scream in agony.

By the time Tom had gotten to Harriet in the eighties he only had a thirty-second of a soul left before he ripped it in half again accidentally that fateful Halloween night. The fact he didn't even notice he had split his soul at all was a testament to just how inhuman and fractured he had become. Not to mention he did it again after he resurrected to make Nagini a horcrux, by that point Tom only had a one hundred and twenty eighth of his soul left.

But, here Tom was, writhing on the ground at her feet. Death loomed over her shoulder waiting for the moment the visage of the self-proclaimed Dark Lord noticed the presence of the one thing he truly feared. With so much ambient magic in the air the Deity had become visible to her without their presence being dangerous.

Death moved forward as the venom ate straight through the metal and into the gem in the center. Tom started to disappear. The once fairly opaque visage of Tom was slowly fading from the physical plane of existence.

The infamous scythe, that Death liked to pretend doesn't exists, materialized in one skeletal hand. "You owe me something, boy." The Deity murmured, their hood pulled down over their face. "You are one of many abominations, but at least you are a part of the whole. I can't wait till I taste the first two large sections of your soul. They are always the sweetest."

Tom made an unintelligible noise as the scythe came down in a long arc and beheaded the soul fragment. It turned into a pathetic white wisp that Death grabbed onto and vanished into the night. She could almost feel the Deity's excitement over having a piece of Tom Riddle's mutilated soul in their clutches.

One down four to go. Hopefully, Jasmine would be able to make headway on the location of the other ones soon enough. The ring she could find. The cup, diary and locket were going to be hell to track down. She had a feeling that at least one of them were in vaults in Gringotts. They were more than likely hidden inside his followers' vaults. It would be the safest place for them. But, that would take time to procure with a lot of favors she didn't have with the goblins at the moment.

Theo and Blaise were planning on helping her somehow. Though, Jasmine knew that Blaise would probably be busy with American nonsense for the foreseeable future. Theo had been pushing for some kind of travel year through Europe to his elders. She hadn't heard if it had been approved yet.

If he got the okay for the trip he would be horcrux hunting while she was interning for the Runemasters. Theo would be studying during the summer as well, not just trying to find horcruxes, but it was the thought that counted. Despite their knowledge of future events, which was slowly becoming harder to predict with the ever-changing timeline, they still needed to make sure they secured themselves jobs and connections in various political fields. Defeating Tom was only the first step to stopping a much larger problem.

For now, Jasmine was happy with the Death of the first horcrux. It was the first of many to come.

The remainder of the school year rushed on, like it always tended to at the end of the year. Exams and revisions took up nearly all of Jasmine's time and energy, as well making sure the James was alright after his birthday. The Potter Heir had been tired and dazed for nearly a week afterwards. Harriet had gone through her seventeenth birthday alone multiple times, it wasn't something enjoyable, but she had never been as tired as James seemed to be. The Potter family didn't serve a deity per say, but Lady Magic demanded a lot of the family. She tended to ask for selfless sacrifice and absurd acts of creative genius. The Potter Family had been expelled from the Sacred Twenty-Eight for decades because they wanted to protect muggles in the first world war. It took Monty gaining a fortune and well-planned political maneuvering to get their seat and title back. Jasmine had a feeling that Lady Magic asked Monty to figure a way back into the Sacred Twenty-Eight.

So, Jasmine was making sure that James was eating during meals and actually doing more than staring at his textbooks while the rest of them revised. Lily helped when she could, but she was engrossed in her own revisions. Jasmine wasn't going to fault her for that. Sirius and Remus were more in tune with James, but even they were struggling with their workloads. Jasmine had taken most of these courses a few times and could split her focus a bit without worry.

It was interesting, acting like a sibling. Or, at least, she assumed this is what a sister would do for her brother if he wasn't feeling all that great and she had the power to help, even just a little bit. He had been there for her after she had nearly died a few weeks back, and even if he was a bit overbearing, she knew he just wanted to make sure that she didn't faint again, or have someone attack her when she couldn't use her magic.

"James, is everything alright with you? You've been out of it since you got back," Jasmine asked quietly one evening after everyone had left the Room of Requirement. The Marauders had wanted a private study session with her where Sirius and James played around with their animagus forms. Eventually, they decided to quiz her about transfiguration principles, so they could at least consider what they were doing studying. They did have an exam on Friday.

He blinked up at her for a moment, his hazel eyes distant for a second before he swallowed rather hard and shook his head. "I'm not sure. I don't even know how to approach the problem I've been given to solve."

That sounded ominous.

"Well, I'll always be here to help, we're family after all." Jasmine told him, in what she felt was comforting gesture, but James paled a little bit and rubbed his eyes under his glasses' frames.

"Jazz…what I was told…it affects you too. I've been trying to figure out a way to bring it up. I suppose now is a good a time as any."

Jasmine raised an eyebrow and leaned back against the stone wall behind her. "Is this something you can share with me?"

Technically, her soul would always been bound to the Potter Family in some way, but her blood wasn't. She didn't want to get into any weird political issue of family magics.

He nodded, wringing his left wrist with his right hand. "I-well, that is to say-Lady Magic, she told me about you."

Jasmine felt faint for a moment and was glad that she was already leaning against something. She narrowed her eyes. Did he mean, what she thought he meant by that phrase or was he told something else about Jasmine. "What is there that you don't already know about me, James?"

She'd make him spell it out for her. He took a deep breath. "That you've come a long way to stop this rising Dark Lord. My family has been called to fight alongside you, or I am anyway."

"That's what took you so long to tell me? I thought you were already planning on going into law enforcement to help fight against the threat?"

James ran a hand through his hair. "She might have told me exactly where you came from…on a more spiritual level. She mentioned that you have been essentially reincarnated to help save magic?"

Jasmine bit her lip. It seemed there were many details omitted from Lady Magic's explanation. It was more than likely for the better. "I can't really tell you much, quite a lot if it has to do with the Deity my family serves."

"So, I was informed. Lady Magic was very specific on what I can and can't ask you about, which is essentially all of it. Can't risk the timeline, whatever that means. All I know is that you've been sent to help stop something from destroying magic."

"It is better that way. You shouldn't have been nervous to talk to me about my mission. I hope that you aren't mad that I wasn't up front with all of you about it. I know that we're family, but there is only so much I'm allowed to share," she replied as her cousin leaned against the stone wall behind him.

"I'm not mad at you. I guess it explains the perfect grades…why you seem to effortlessly write essays, and master spellwork like it's nothing," he grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest, a pout threatening to from on his lips.

Jasmine had to hold back a laugh. "Don't get too upset, the curriculum is much more difficult now than it was in my time. I'm learning quite a lot here. Naturally, there are fields of spellwork that I have painstakingly mastered in other lives that I have carried over here, but Jasmine had been a prodigy and would have easily kept up with you all regardless."

"You're talking as if you and Jasmine are two different people… I thought that you had been reincarnated as Jasmine."

Well, shit.

She played with the end of her hair as she thought of an appropriate response. "The Peverell Family has an interesting relationship in regard to our souls. They don't necessarily solely belong to us. I have been reincarnated nine separate times in the same body at age eleven. I kept failing my task, nothing was working, so a different body in a different time period was chosen, the only catch had to be that they died via the killing curse and met all the appropriate magical qualifications our Deity demanded. There was only one in recent memory, Jasmine. She was offered a boon, to get eternal rest, something Peverells are rarely given. All she had to do was give her body and all the memories it came with to me. I wasn't aware of the boon until after it had all been arranged by higher powers. I know and remember every experience that Jasmine Peverell ever felt. I know the thoughts that went through her head when she lost her left eye or when she thought the Chesters were going to order her to kill Mikhail in their next match after his Patrons nearly betrayed them."

James let out a loud sigh. "Essentially, you are both Jasmine and this other person mashed into one body?"

"Somewhat. Jasmine's soul is at rest in a place far beyond our reach. I just have her memories. I'm not holding her soul hostage or anything. She is at peace while I do all the work here," Jasmine grumbled through gritted teeth. She swore she heard Death chuckle, but that could have also been her cousin, who was snickering behind his hands.

"Jealous?"

"You have no idea. I've died nine times. I'm ready to finally die for good once this is all over. Dark Lords and inbreeding are difficult things to stop, you know."

There was a beat of silence before both of them were laughing. James seemed to have made some kind of piece with whoever Jasmine was. "I will keep that in mind when I try to help you in whatever way I can."

She walked over to him and squeezed his hand. Her smile ever wavering. It was nice to have people to count on that she knew wouldn't betray her. "You don't have to change much of anything, James. Just continue to fight against the Dark Lord and his push back against his ideals."

"I think I can do that."

The two of them walked back to the common room in near silence. James made a beeline of Lily, who was on one of the couches near the fire.

"Is Prongs going to be okay?" Sirius asked as he came up behind her, resting his chin on her shoulder and wrapping his arms around her waist. The common room was deserted save for James and Lily. James was sprawled out on the sofa closest to the fire, dozing as Lily played with his unruly hair.

Jasmine sighed, leaning back against him. "He should be. I imagine something may have been asked of him during his inheritance ceremony. I can't go into much detail, but he'll be fine."

Sirius rested his head on her shoulder and hummed in reply. "You were talking in there for a while. Mooney and I got worried. Thought one of you finally snapped. Or that some kind of magical beast possessed Prongs and decided to fight you."

She had resisted the urge to roll her eyes, if only just by the smallest of margins. "And you didn't go back into the room to find out if I was okay? Some Gryffindors you two are. It's fine. I promise, James is going to be fine. He just needed to know that his family was there for him. He's never had a sibling that wanted to look out for him before."

"I suppose that's true. I look out for Reggie even if he really doesn't want me to. Merlin knows he's thrown fits when I've been," Sirius made quotes with his fingers. "too overprotective, and don't give him enough space to live his life. He's such a drama queen."

Jasmine snorted before pulling away from him. "That must run in the family," she made her way towards the stairs and winked at him before headed up to bed.

It wasn't long before Lily followed. They both had an exam in the morning, it would be their last second to one for the year. She looked like she wanted to say something to Jasmine in their room, but decided against it.

Jasmine and Lily were resting by the Great Lake when her friend ripped off the proverbial bandage. The two of them had been revising for their transfiguration exam on Friday. "You could have told me that the rumors were true."

Jasmine looked up from her reading, she put her quill down, marking her page for the time being. "Which one? Marlene creates new ones every day and I tend to lose track."

Lily shut her book with a thud, her green eyes narrowed. "I'm talking about the ones about you and Black. The rumors that have been circling the two of you since you started Hogwarts a year ago? Do those ring any bells?"

The did, but Jasmine wasn't sure why she's be asking about it now. "What?"

"I saw you and Black last night. He's usually handsy, but you're not like that. The two of you are playing a dangerous game. I haven't heard of any kind of courting contract in the Prophet, so that can only mean that you are hiding it from both your families. Are you two even thinking of the consequences of your actions?" She hissed, her pale hands were curled into tight fists on her lap. If she wasn't careful she was going to draw blood.

Jasmine ran a hand through her hair, her finger catching a tangled curl. And here she thought that Lily had been too absorbed with James to notice the brief moment they had shared the night before.

She figured honesty was more than likely the best policy with Lily. "This is a very recent development. The two of us wanted to know if we'd work out as a couple. His family is going straight for a marriage contract between the two of us. There would be no courting period. I read the contract. They would want to make sure that I would marry him within a year of signing, and we wouldn't be allowed to back out. Neither of us wanted that so we're breaking some rules. We aren't doing anything horrifically explicit, since that would get us into more trouble than any moment of pleasure would be worth," Jasmine replied nervously with a light blush staining her pale cheeks.

Lily started to grin at her friend's embarrassment a teasing lit entered her voice. "Are you going to sign the contract? You seemed cozy last night. Even if it only was for a moment. Are you going to start writing Jasmine Black in the margins of your essays?"

"I'm not going to be taking his name and I'm not sure about the contract. I'm going to be leaving the country for a year. That isn't really conducive to a romantic relationship. It was why I was hesitant to start one, besides the fact that if we're caught his family would kill me and Euphemia would flay Sirius alive." Jasmine admitted pulling at the grass under her hand with a bit more force than necessary.

"It isn't like you to be impulsive about anything. Are you sure this is what you want? I know that you're close with all the Marauders and you trust them, but Sirius has a reputation and his family seems to be very overbearing."

That was an understatement if Jasmine had ever heard one.

"His family has their eyes set on me. I know that this seems like I just randomly decided to jump into this, but it had been building for a while."

"Does James know?"

A question that Jasmine wasn't sure she had the correct answer to, but she would give Lily the response she felt was true.

"I honestly don't think anyone other than you has realized anything is different between the two of us. I mean, everyone in the entire school thinks were together except our friends, but now it's essentially an open secret between the two of us. Sirius has always been tactile with all his close friends, it's what started the rumors about us in the first place."

Lily nodded, "But it was when you reciprocated that I realized something was different. I suppose that you and Sirius aren't all over each other. It wouldn't be proper."

Jasmine felt a bit of color return to her cheeks when she remembered their kiss. Lily's eyes widened at her reaction. "What did you two do?"

Jasmine avoided eye contact, staring at the ground. "We shared a rather heated moment a few weeks ago. It didn't get too out of hand, but…there was tongue."

Lily squealed in delight and kicked her legs in excitement. She demanded details and Jasmine wasn't going to deny giving them to her. She needed to talk to someone about this and Lily wasn't going to tell a soul. The redhead also owed Jasmine for the hours' worth of time she spent detailing every aspect of her time with James. Jasmine would make sure that was the case. It was a nice change of pace, acting like a sixteen-year-old for a change. Harriet rarely had the chance to talk about dating. Theo held no interest in sex at all and while Blaise was always ready to talk about sex, he wasn't interested in relationships.

Girl talk was nice to have for a change.

And the plot thickens. =3 Will Jasmine's lies and half truths start to catch up to her? Who knows? Well, I do, but I'm not telling. The Hogwarts era is finally over! It only took 2.5 years of writing, but I did it!

Onto the final third of this story! =D I've been planning this section for almost a full year. I'm so excited to finally start writing it!

Thank you for all your reviews, favorites and follows! You guys are the best!

See you all soon,
~Animerocker