Happy Friday!

Chapter 88

Euphemia and Monty were both overjoyed to read Sirius' marriage contract for Jasmine. She knew that they'd approved of the Black Heir. They knew him personally and cared for him like another one of their children. It wouldn't be a stretch to think that if James had been born a girl they would have offered some kind of marriage between the two houses.

James was excited, but also a bit grossed out. He didn't want to think about Sirius and Jasmine as anything, but friends, it was like both his siblings had decided to get married and it just didn't sit quite right with him. At the same time, he knew that they had been dancing around each other for years and that they weren't actually siblings. James also didn't think anyone would be able to quite meet his expectations of a marriage candidate for Jasmine the way Sirius would. They were best mates for a reason and if James trusted anyone with Jasmine's safety and happiness it would be him or Remus.

This was the best outcome for Jasmine's marriage prospects, in the Potter family's perspective and honestly, the contract wasn't awful. Sirius had written it up himself, she had a feeling if they saw the one that Orion and Cassiopeia had shown her the year before they would be singing a completely different tune. Jasmine had read over the contract at least a dozen times, looking for clauses and loopholes that needed to be fixed up or written out entirely, there weren't too many.

She noticed that Sirius had extended their courting period and gave them nearly ten years to have the required number, a decent number considering they needed at least four heirs, instead of the six Orion and Cassiopeia wanted, which was a health risk to her. Their primary accounts would all be separated and they would keep their own last names. Their heirs would hyphenate till they were of age and then only keep the house their magic was tied to. Both Jasmine and Sirius would keep their own seats on the Wizengamot and would be allowed to have their own jobs outside of the house. It seemed fair, all things considered. She probably wasn't going to get another offer like this from any suitor.

Sadly, Jasmine didn't get a chance to speak to Sirius before she had to pack up and leave for Japan with the Runemasters and Petunia. After the party she had gotten a fire-call from the Runemasters. Celeste's eyesight had taken a turn for the worst over the holiday and she was determined to see her favorite areas of the country one more time, so they had packed up early and taken the first portkey to Japan.

Though, Jasmine wondered if Celeste would be able to use a pensieve…The runemaster still had access to her memories and as long as the magic was cast properly it could insert her into her own memory which would be in color. It was all about mental perception. Jasmine wasn't sure if she physically had to be able to see for the magic to work and create the scene in her mind's eye. That would be a fascinating experiment to propose. She wouldn't say anything for a while. Celeste was very touchy about her eyes, understandably so and this was completely theoretical. She'd more than likely speak to Simon about it when she wasn't paying attention. He would probably find the topic fascinating.

"I wish we had found you as soon as you got to Hogwarts, Jasmine. We visited so many temples the last time we were here. The old rune work around Shinto templies is something to behold. The stories that I could tell you about the individual runes etched into the wood to keep them from catching fire, all the way to the protective wards against dark arts and malevolent spirits. They were truly something else," Celeste gushed as they rested on some wooden benches outside of a local train station outside of Iniba.

They were in a small countryside village, the weather was cold, but bearable with heating charms. The group was fairly removed from any kind of city, which wasn't abnormal for this internship. Jasmine could count on her hands the days they had spent in a major city. The dangers of the Japanese countryside differed from the ones they faced in the Americas. The small group had been urged to not stray from paths and not to listen to any cries in the night. The mountain area they were exploring, while laded with various old temples filled with runes, was also full of dangerous magical creatures that wanted to steal their souls. Most of them were more interested in killing them than anything else. This was honestly a very familiar feeling for Jasmine. Harriet had spent more time running from an amalgamation of different things trying to kill her at one point or another than she had living peacefully. What was one more magical creature to add to the list.

"Those temples would make for fantastic pictures for my portfolio. Will we be seeing any of those temples?" Petunia asked, taking a quick shot of some of the fauna behind them. She was having the time of her life. She was utterly enamored by the mixture of ancient and modern housing, the landscapes, the wildlife and the magical technology in Japan.

Simon shook his head. "Sadly, we don't have time for that. We will be heading to the Fujiwara residence to check on their warding, staying there for about a week and then heading to South Korea, then India, Mongolia and finally China. For the most part we will only be in the magical areas of these countries. We don't want to deal with the local governments. The magical ones tend to give us preference since we work for Gringotts. The muggles tend to give us strange looks and with Celeste's eyes failing I don't want her in situations that could prove dangerous to us."

It was more than an adequate answer. Dealing with muggle governments and officials was never fun. Even if they knew about magic, which most of the lower level officials didn't, they usually wanted something from them. It tended to end up with someone getting their memories wiped or with someone getting arrested. Jasmine had bailed Blaise out of prison more times than she would like to admit during her tenure as Harriet. "We will just have to come on our own, Petunia. We can even drag Lily along. We could make a two to three-week trip out of it. No boys allowed. James would lose his mind."

Petunia snorted. "Sirius would as well. That boy is head over heels for you. It's almost sickening," she paused for a moment, her finger hovering over the button on the top of her camera. "No, wait, it is sickening. It's tooth rotting is what it is."

"Ah, are you finally dating that young man that enjoys calling you on the mirror?" Simon asked as Celeste elbowed him in the ribs.

Jasmine let out a small breathy chuckle at their behavior. "Didn't I tell you that he shared a marriage proposal with me that he wrote himself. He seems to think that we're getting married sometime in the future."

Everyone's attention snapped towards Jasmine. Hadn't she told them that Sirius had essentially asked her to marry him over the holidays? She bit her lip. Thinking back on it, she might not have told them yet.

Well, it was too late to go back on that now.

Petunia put the camera back around her neck and turned to Jasmine, her hands on her hips. "You didn't mention that to me. Not once since we started traveling."

"You hadn't said anything to be or Simon either. Were you talking about Sirius Black? That's the young man that you've been speaking to?"

And it didn't even seem that they were aware of who Jasmine had been speaking to about possible marriages. The Black family was open about their interest in Jasmine, but then again, the Runemasters weren't all that interested in political affairs if it didn't concern the warding community. They had a very small window to fill the position that Jasmine would hopefully be filling.

"Yes. Heir Sirius Black handed me a personally drafted marriage contract over the holidays. I am looking it over and I will more than likely be handing it back to him and accepting his proposal at the end of the school year," she replied, her cheeks flushing towards the end. While she hadn't really decided when she was going officially say yes, she had picked her answer. Jasmine wasn't going to let a chance at finally settling down go. It wasn't often that someone gets to marry someone they consider one of their dearest friends.

Petunia groaned, her eyes narrowing at Jasmine. Her arms were crossed, just below her camera. "Please don't let her start daydreaming about him. She's already bad enough without anyone bringing him up. I understand that he's attractive and she's apparently marrying him, but I don't want to deal with that faraway look in your eyes. It's tooth rotting sweet and I don't want to be a part of that."

Yes, Jasmine had noticed that a sweet romance wasn't something that Petunia wanted. Her and Theodore Nott were having a very traditional romance…save for the start of it where she punched him. He was sending her courting gifts and letters and was accepting them with all the grace and poise of a proper noble woman, even though she held no rank or title. Theodore was treating her with the upmost respect and seemed to be completely enamored with her. Even if their mode of conversation seemed a bit cold at times, Jasmine had read one of the letters and it was hopeless romantic and rather passionate for a Slytherin, but it wasn't sweet or tooth rotting in nature.

"I'm aware, Petunia. I'm sorry that I didn't inform you of my potential change in marital status. I thought I had mentioned it, but maybe that's because you tease me about Sirius so often that I thought that I had mentioned it?"

Her friend groaned and rolled her eyes. "Yes, well, we can't change the past. When is the next train supposed to come? It might just be faster to walk to the Fujiwara residence at this point."

The Celeste let out a small huff of a laugh. "If only I had your stamina. No, these old bones are going to wait for the train. We're going to have one of their staff members meet a few stops south of here. I wouldn't want to have to travel all that way on foot. Portkeys don't work on their grounds, they don't have a floo network in Asia, and apparation is only for family members. So, for now, we will be waiting for the train."

It was strange that floo seemed to be a purely European mode of transportation. It wasn't that popular in the United States or Canada. Mexico and all the countries south didn't use floo at all, just an extensive portkey system that made Jasmine's head turn.

Though, she supposed that most of their homes didn't have traditional fireplaces which would made having a floo network difficult. It could also be that it fell out of fashion around the time that the Ministries in the Americas were on the rise.

As she was about to answer the ground began to shake and the shriek of a train whistle sounded in the distance. It seemed that their ride had finally arrived.

The Fujiwara residence was as opulent as one would expect from a major noble family that had hundreds of years' worth of history behind them.

The flooring and paneling of all the wood in the house was exquisite and must have taken time and effort to create, nevertheless have them individually warded and interwoven to keep the house's internal magic keyed into the members of the household. The rune work surrounding the entire building screamed that they came from old money. The age of the main grounding stones were nearly five hundred years old. But, the moment that Jasmine stepped onto the property she could feel that the central wards were weak compared to the rest of the house. If the frowns on Simon and Celeste's faces were anything to go by they agreed with her assessment.

The Runemasters and Jasmine were seated at a small table in a common area off of the kitchen. Petunia was with Lady Fujiwara in the gardens. They had given Petunia a pendant with a translation rune on it to make sure that she could communicate easily with the locals. The necklace matched the ones that Jasmine and the Runemasters were wearing for the day. Their hosts could speak English, but it was very limited. Jasmine's Japanese had improved since arriving in the country, but it wasn't good enough to help here. Celeste could speak it, but Simon couldn't and he was the one writing things down. The runes were the best option and would no doubt continue to be so as the traveled around south east Asia.

Lord Fujiwara greeted them warmly as he sat across from them. He was dressed in muggle attire, he worked in a major law firm that deals with mostly magical creatures and those fighting for their rights as sentient magical beings, but he also work directly with the muggle government and was expected to appear as a muggle to the outside world.

"When was the last time you had these wards looked at, Lord Fujiwara?" Celeste asked as her fingers trailed over the gold coated runes etched onto the table in front of them.

A stern frown appeared on his face, his arms were crossed and Jasmine could swear that she felt the house's magic create pressure around them. He pushed his frameless glasses up his nose. "We had an expert from one of our local villages come and check on the grounding stones and the surrounding wards a few months ago. We were assured that everything was in order. It wasn't until we had a kitsune break into the greenhouse that we realized something was wrong. I didn't focus my studies on runes and warding, so I wouldn't even know where to begin looking for a problem, but these mountains are dangerous, I don't want malevolent spirits making the way into my household."

Celeste nodded as Simon and Jasmine took notes. Their pens scraping across their notebooks. "It's good that you contacted us. Gringotts personal warding is more suited to these kinds of problems. Familial homes tend to have very temperamental rune work. I would like to remind you that we take our client's privacy very seriously. Nothing of the way the warding works will be made public."

"Just make sure that the wards work. My daughter has spoken high praise about you. It isn't easy to impress her. If her magic sensed your potential, who am I to question destiny," He said as he glanced at his watch and his brows furrowed. "If you will excuse me, I have another meeting to prepare for."

It was a clear dismissal and Jasmine fought the urge to roll her eyes. One thing that rarely every changed, no matter the decade, was how uptight nobles were. The higher up on the food chain they were, the larger the stick up their asses got. Lord Fujiwara seemed nice enough, but he didn't truly have time for them.

For most of the afternoon, Jasmine and Simon mapped out the locations of the ward stones and attempted to find where the wards were the weakest. "The warding work in the main stones seemed to be in working order, which meant that something had to be wrong in one of the equations surrounding it.

Petunia was entertaining Lady Fujiwara. Apparently, the woman doesn't get to leave the estate very often due to her spiritual duties and wanted to get a muggle perspective on the trip that the four of them had been taking around the world for the past few months. It seemed that she was also extremely interested in Petunia's camera. Celeste and Simon were happy to leave Petunia to socialize. Jasmine had an inkling that Lady Fujiwara was some kind of magical creature, but was far too polite to ask.

The Lady of the house only spoke to Jasmine for a moment, a servant had just poured her tea, a coy smile on her face, "Destiny has brought you to our door, Jasmine Peverell. The hands of fate have loosened their grip around your neck, allowing for new endings to be written. Destiny has never been this unpredictable. There have never been so many paths available."

Jasmine felt a cold sweat break out as shivers went up her spine. Her voice echoed strangely and there was more than a hint of power in her tone. "I hope that isn't a problem for you," Jasmine replied as the lady of the house took a sip of tea.

The Lady Fujiwara was a known fortune teller, a master of the art of tarot reading in particular. She held up a delicate hand and laughed into it. "Oh, child, you have only made my life more interesting. Now, so many of clients have paths that can lead them to future prosperity. Before there was only death and ruin. You've created more opportunities than you know."

"Have you looked into my destiny?"

"I tried and failed. Your destiny is constantly forking off into different ever-changing directions. I do have some advice for you. Keep your friends close. You're going to need them for your trials to come."

With that Lady Fujiwara pivoted and in a graceful sweep of her indigo robes, left the room, the slight jingling of her jewelry faded as she made her way back to the gardens. Fate, Death, Lady Magic, and Destiny were all watching and waiting for her to make another move.

No pressure or anything…

Despite that interaction, Jasmine still had a job to help complete. Jasmine and Simon scoured the grounds for a weak point in the wards, which could be just about anywhere on the property. It was a much larger space than any of them had time to explore. It would take them weeks to do that, if they were lucky. Though, with the specialized glasses they wore for assignments like these they were able to pinpoint the general area where the wards were the weakest.

"I want you to see if you can find the error in the ward work. I have an idea on what might have caused the problem and I am going to check my theory with Celeste, but I want to see if you are thinking like a master warder or not. Consider this a test of sorts," Simon said after thirty minutes of going over the runes etched into the stonework around one of the outer walls of the estate.

This wouldn't be the first random test that Jasmine had been given by Simon. He tended to want her locate issues when he didn't have the energy to, or sometimes he really did want to test her, but after spending an entire morning speaking to Lord Fujiwara, getting dismissed and then being forced to wander around the estate grounds searching for essentially, a hole in a very large and old fence for hours. Jasmine had a feeling that he wasn't going to be saying anything to Celeste and he was just going to see if Jasmine figures it out.

He'll check her work when she's done, but he more than likely has no idea what the problem actually is. Celeste more than likely know more and she hasn't even looked at the damn thing. But, then again, Celeste has one of the best magic senses that Jasmine had ever seen. The woman could walk in a room and be able to tell who cast something an hour ago just but the magical residue that was left over.

Jasmine let out a small sigh, watching Simon sit down next to Celeste, take her hand and quietly speak to her as she runs her hands over the runes beneath. It was sad that she really couldn't admire this work in its full glory.

She gave her neck a brief stretch in both directions, cracking her knuckles and squatting down to get a better look at the mess of runes in front of her. It didn't take Jasmine long to figure out what the problem was with the runes. "Incorrect layering. Someone had tried to edit them to make them stronger, but it had the opposite effect…" she mutters tracing her hand over the sloppy patch job. She would need to speak to Lord Fujiwara. If he knew who was supposed to be working on the wards, he could tract them down to see if their signatures matched. If so, the idiot should lose their job.

No rune master would ever let their work cause so much damage to a set of wards this old. An expert should have been called in for this. There was no doubt some artisan that had created this estate. They should have had contact with someone who had worked on the wards in the past, even if the family hadn't needed the wards touched in months. They should have known someone that knew the original warding company.

"They are sloppily added layers to this ward. I'm not sure who had worked on their wards in the past couple months, but they had to be either amateurs or saboteurs. No master would mutilate an ancient ward like this."

Celeste gave a hum of approval as she slowly walked towards Jasmine. She let her fingers train across the ward in question and frowned when she realized that Jasmine was right.

"No, it seems someone was attempting to break the warding down gradually. I wouldn't be surprised if we find this in various corners of the estate. I have no doubt that this family has many enemies. Now, the next part of your test is to see if you can figure out how to repair the wards without destroying the entire network of runes around it."

Jasmine rolled up the sleeves of her work robes. It was going to be a very long afternoon. Though, she could feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand up every time Lady Fujiwara passed by and it put Jasmine just a little bit on edge. It seemed another Deity was watching her. She really didn't want another one to add to the collection.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter! I love the Fujiwara estate. If any of you can figure out what was wrong with the warding you get a cookie! Next chapter is a surprise! More magical hijinks to come. I love that Jasmine just forgets to tell people she might be engaged. Like no big deal, she might be getting married, might not be. She thinks she is.

This chapter turned out much longer than I intended it to, which isn't a bad thing. Had a bad health week though. Migraines are the worst. I'm glad that I got the chapter out on time. I'm gonna go and rest now. =3

The next update will be October 2nd.

Thank you for all of the favorites, reviews and follows!

See you soon,
~Animerocker