Happy Friday!
Chapter 90
"Now, my young followers, show your devotion to me and earn my mark by killing your mudblood and halfblood classmates! Show them the superior casting form of dark magic!"
The hall erupted into pure chaos. The graduates were a scrambling around. It was difficult to see exactly what was happening, but from what Jasmine could tell there was definitely fighting going on between the student body. Did any of them really have the guts to murder someone?
Well…there was at least one Carrow and Mulciber, so more than likely at least one person was willing to kill over blood status in Voldemort's name.
"You are aware that you're declaring war? There is no turning back from this," Dumbledore asked, raising his wand as Tom cackled behind his mask bringing his arm down in a dramatic arc to attack the headmaster with what appeared to be a very strong severing hex.
People around Jasmine were screaming as a barrier was erected in front of them. Euphemia was quickly pulling the muggles behind her and a few other law enforcement officers attempted to break the runes down. If the Death Eaters were going to attack any of the adults it would either be the Minister or it would be muggles. They also couldn't be certain that there weren't Death Eater sympathizers in the crowd of parents that would be willing to kill some muggles for fun while the Aurors weren't looking.
No one dared move as they waited for someone to cast spells within the barrier.
No Death Eater had attempted to breach the wards or hurtle any spells at them. They seemed to be content to stand outside the wards and watch. The transparent walls were a dark mauve and pulsated every few seconds with renewed energy. Jasmine had seen something like this in Western Mongolia. She slipped her glasses on, which revealed the formulaic properties of the ward they were all contained in.
"Do you see anything worthwhile?" Petunia asked from behind, she sounded almost board, but Jasmine could hear the underlying panic lacing her tone.
Jasmine's eyes narrowed as she turned towards her friend. Her hands firmly holding her knives. "Shouldn't you be with Lady Potter?"
Petunia didn't need to die here. It was too dangerous for squib to be unprotected. "No one has even attempted to touch the barrier, just fling spells at it. I figured you would more than likely have a better idea on how to handle it and get us all out?"
Jasmine did, somewhat. It was a rather basic anti-apparition barrier, the runes were German in origin, but used in a way that modern Chinese wizards have adapted some western spells. In other words, someone thought they were being clever with runes, but just made a real mess. These wards were barely functioning and Jasmine just needed to knock out a few Death Eaters and the entire thing would fall apart.
The anti-apparition wards that surround the Ministry regularly tended to be stronger and more discrete in nature. They were based around a focal point in the Department of Mysteries and then grounded with Gaelic runes. The Death Eaters surrounding the wards were powering it with their magic, which explained the pulses. The Aurors flinging spells at it were only making the wards stronger.
Jasmine knew that she could break out of here fairly easily. Her animagus form tended to help with escaping situations like these.
Luckily, Dumbledore was with the students, which was a blessing. While he was a spineless coward when it came to finishing an opponent off, he was very protective of his charges. Though, he had an awful track record of protecting the students from each other and Jasmine knew there was already fighting occurring amongst the graduates.
Which meant that Jasmine should probably assist in helping everyone escape. "I can probably break out of here on my own. If I knock enough men out that are feeding this barrier their willing magic it should just dissolve."
"You can get out of here?"
Jasmine let out a small chuckle as she reached into her magical core and pictured her animagus form in her mind. She winked at Petunia as her body began to heat up and in a small flash no brighter than a camera lens she was on the rafters of the ceiling, above the wards. Her friend was rubbing her eyes as Jasmine kept herself perched on an exposed beam above all the commotion. A strand of her hair was singed, but other than that, she was unharmed. Jasmine was still perfecting this mode of transportation in his body. It was more effective than apparition, since Jasmine still had yet to find a ward against "flashing" as she had coined it five lives ago.
She'd need to prefect it, she had a sinking suspicion that she was going to need this ability far more often in this life than she ever did in her other ones. Tom was using anti-apparition frequently as a way to trap his captive audiences. Jasmine didn't do captive well.
A thump sounded from below as a Death Eater collapsed and began having a seizure on the floor in front of the barrier. It seemed that his magical core was tapped out. The mauve barrier wavered for a moment, but the ward didn't fall. There were still two other Death Eaters circling the barrier, but they sagged as their friend collapsed. It would be a matter of minutes before they would do themselves in.
Jasmine needed to knock out the six between her and the graduates. She didn't have a wand, but she could make due.
Dumbledore and Tom were having some kind of staring contest with one another as the dueled across the main stage. It was a constant exchange of spells, whether they were offensive, defensive, transfiguration, or charms. Neither of them was giving an inch. Dumbledore favored transfiguration while Tom was using offensive dark arts spells that were more than likely banned from common use hundreds of years ago.
Jasmine would let them have their little tiff, but she needed to make sure that the future of the wizarding world didn't die out at this graduation. From her vantage point on the ceiling she could see that some of the graduates had others at wand point. Quite a few Slytherins had other students in choke holds with wands to their heads. Though, it wasn't only Slytherin students declaring their allegiance to Voldemort, there were quite a few Ravenclaws and even a handful of Gryffindors joining in and maybe one Hufflepuff.
She could see the Marauders attempting to fight back, but without wands they were at a disadvantage.
Jasmine sighed, squared her shoulders and peered down at the Death Eaters below her. They were walking in a routine path around the barriers, three of them seemed to be supplying the barrier with power-make that two as another one passed out-and the other three were bunched together chatting as the graduates tried to murder each other.
Jasmine cast a multilayered transfiguration spell at the floor beneath them. The wood groaned and opened up into a pit of rotating pieces of shrapnel. They began to scream as they slipped down into the razor-sharp jaws below.
Many baby Death Eater heads turned to see their comrades slowly be eaten alive by the floor. Their eyes widened as the searched for the source of the curse. Many of them turned towards Dumbledore, who was still locked in combat with their dark lord.
It gave Jasmine ample time to flash herself down and launch herself at a few of the Slytherins that thought it would be a good idea to murder their classmates. Though, no one had actually had the guts to kill anyone yet, just terrify them.
She landed on the shoulders of a Carrow siblings, knocking him to the ground. She stabbed him in arm for good measure and ducked as blasting hex whizzed over her head. The two Hufflepuffs that had been his captives kicked him for good measure before one picked up his wand and went to assist a few of their friends. Jasmine danced around spells that were being thrown at her from various students. She would disarm and occasionally stab the various graduates that were attempting murder. The hexes and curses they tossed around varied, but none were more original that the piss poor attempt at a killing curse that hit someone behind her and gave them a nosebleed.
Jasmine didn't know the Slytherin's name, but the kid looked terrified and angry as she approached. "Don't you know, you really have to mean it to use that curse," Jasmine nearly purred before punching the idiot in the face, breaking their nose and knocking them out.
Jasmine was attempting to make her way over to the Marauders, who were in a heated fist fight with a couple of Ravenclaws. She brought the base of her knife to the side of one of their heads as James, Sirius and Remus held down another while Lily wandlessly hexed her classmate into submission.
"Congratulations on graduating. How does it feel to finally be adults?" Jasmine asked, slightly out of breath as the four of them realized just who was standing in front of them. She quickly sent out a transfiguration spell at the chairs behind another group of students causing the legs to wrap around them and force them to the floor.
"Jazz? How did you even-" Sirius was cut off by a series of loud explosions, one from the stage and another where the containment ward once stood. Bella and Amelia were leading a charge against the remaining Death Eaters that had escaped Jasmine's pit trap and hadn't realized she had infiltrated the student body.
The stage was covered in ash and Dumbledore was nowhere to be seen. Was he dead? Did she really take her eyes off that old goat for five minutes just for him to die?
Tom sent a blasting curse towards the students and the quickly advancing Aurors causing most of them to be pushed back and fall to the ground. Jasmine managed to stay mostly upright.
Naturally, that brought attention to herself.
"Dumbledore has been reduced to ash and who do we have here? Jasmine Peverell? How did you escape your pen?"
She held her ground as the Dark Lord approached her. His skull mask gave no emotion away, but the confident swagger down the steps to the stage spoke volumes.
"I got bored. I figured since I could take out a group of grown Death Eaters without my wand last year, I could do even more damage a year later to a bunch of idiotic graduates trying to kill their classmates. Your little test was a waste of time. No one died."
Except maybe those two Death Eaters that lost a few limbs to her rotating blade pit.
"Oh, you foolish child. Those children will become my followers whether they killed here or somewhere else. I was talking about you."
Jasmine gripped her knives tightly. "I will never follow you. You've asked at least three times, and I've given the same answer, no."
He chuckled over the moans of pain from injured group of people before her. "In what world was I truly going to give you a choice whether or not to follow me. You are going to whether you want to or not," he raised his wand, "Imperio!"
To be honest, his Imperious curse was stronger when he was completely mental in the future. Jasmine barely even felt Tom's presence routing around in her subconscious before she pushed him out. The barest whispers of kill them all floated around, but it wasn't anything that she felt she needed to act on. Then again, maybe after ten different lives of megalomaniacs attempting to control her mind and body she's just gotten used to throwing off this curse.
There was a collection of gasps from the crowd surrounding her. It wasn't every day that the Lady of an Ancient and Noble House might have their free will compromised within stabbing distance of a bunch of recent Hogwarts graduates.
"Kill them, starting with the Black Heir. If anyone interferes I'll kill at least two more children."
No one moved, save for Jasmine, she flexed her fingers around the hilt of her blades and rolled her shoulders. She wasn't very far from Sirius and she could see the honest panic written across his face as she made eye contact with him. She winked before turning towards the preening Dark Lord.
"I won't be killing anyone."
Jasmine could only imagine the look of twisted rage that would be gracing Tom's face. Honestly, the mask he's wearing is such a letdown. She missed his murderous expression from her blatant disrespect. It always spiced up their duels a bit.
"I order you to kill him."
There was commotion from the back of room. Though, she didn't dare take her eyes off of Tom. He did have a wand pointed at her. It would only take him a moment to point it someone else.
"I don't take orders from some grandstanding Dark Lord. No Peverell would dare bow to someone like you. What kind of Dark Lord has a seventeen-year-old do his dirty work for him?"
Tom snarled, and Jasmine felt an invisible force pushing her towards him. She dug her feet in, but was still slowly being pulled towards Tom. "If you are so insistent on dying today, girl, then so be it. If I can't have the power your family wields then no one will get the opportunity."
Sirius grabs her hand and fires off a blasting hex. The tugging stops for the moment. "Don't touch her, you bastard!"
She hears Remus and James filing in behind her.
"It's this adorable, you think you can actually stand a chance against me. I do intend to make you my servant, Peverell. One way or another you will bend to my will."
She narrowed her eyes, meeting his though the mask. She felt him push into her mind before she nearly collapsed against the boys. Tom was a remarkably powerful legilimens. Even with years' worth of training made he was difficult to fight.
She could feel James' hand on her arm as she staggered, her eyes never leaving her enemy.
Jasmine was ready to die for these three. She hadn't been prepared to fight Tom here and now. She hadn't destroyed all his Horcruxes. She didn't have a wand, but she had two knives, she could do some damage, maybe force him into an incorporeal state for a few years…or he'd just kill her and she's need to start over again…for the eleventh time.
Tom was using the prolonged eye contact to his advantage. He was pushing at her thoughts, aiming for a crack in her mental defenses. It was an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object.
"Let me in, you know it would be simple to just to give in. It will make the pain stop" His voice whispered throughout her thoughts.
She gripped the side of her head, but her gaze never wavered.
Jasmine pictured a pure white landscape. No thoughts available for his personal perusal. Just Jasmine standing in the center of black storm that was Thomas Riddle. This was a battle of wills. Tom was going to try to destroy her mentally. He was going to attempt to ruin the defenses in her mind and essentially possess her. She would be a puppet for him to control and bend to his will.
She smirked as he materialized in her mind. He was so confident, so sure that he knew what he was doing in her mind. The second he touched down a wall appeared between the two of them.
"You are trapped with me, child. Did you really think that you could compare to someone of my brilliance? I am Lord Voldemort."
Jasmine mentally cocked her head to the side "Who do you think this wall was here to cage, Dark Lord?" It was then that the wall began to enclose Tom. He pushed back, so the walls never crushed him.
"Cute, you know something about occlumency. More than someone your age really should."
For a moment, Jasmine felt the presence of Death at her shoulder and the Dark Lord took a momentary step back against the wall of his "cute" mental prison. "How does it feel to be trapped in a prison with a Lord Slayer standing in front of you? I will ask you once before I use excessive force, get out."
It seemed that Jasmine's message didn't fall on deaf ears, because moments later he had vacated her mind.
"What are you?"
A loud screech fills the room as a Fawkes enters the room, Tom for a single moment takes his eyes off of Jasmine. She quickly fires off a powerful banishment charm that she learned in Mumbai. It would send the object of the cast as far away as her magical core could conceivably allow. She couldn't send him far away, but it was enough that his followers that still had their wands apparated out the second their lord vanished from the battle.
The Aurors were moving quickly now that Dumbledore had returned with reinforcements. Many of the Death Eaters had been captured, hopefully a lot of them would be questioned and then locked away.
Jasmine could hear Bella cackling behind them as she descended on the last of the Death Eaters. The woman was a menace, but she was one of the best duelists Jasmine had ever witnessed in her nine lives.
Euphemia was shouting orders to various law enforcement officers and many of the graduates were scrambling towards their parents. James and Remus had been jostled around. Lily called for James, who quickly made his way over to his girlfriend.
Jasmine nearly collapsed, using all that magic in such a small amount of time had been taxing. There was something wet rolling down her face. She moved to touch it and realized that it was blood. When had her nose started bleeding?
"Jazz! Are you alright?"
Sirius was facing her, his hands on her shoulders. "I think so. I haven't used that much magic in a while. I suppose this is better than seizures."
"He wanted you to kill me. You resisted the imperious curse and refused to kill me in front of a Dark Lord, who was more than happy to murder you himself. Are you absolutely mad? There are better ways to show you care."
Jasmine felt a grin tug at her lips. "What other kind of marriage proposal could I possibly give you?" She slid an envelope out of her robes. "I had been meaning to give this back. Now, it wasn't going to be nearly this dramatic, but I think I made my point."
He gently took the letter from her and pulled her into a tight embrace. She could feel the blood on her face drying. She was must have been a horrific sight.
"You are insane, Jasmine Peverell."
"You're the one that wants to marry me, Sirius Black. We're all mad here."
And part 2 of the story has officially ended! I'm so excited to get to the last chunk of this story. I've been writing this for so long and I can finally see the ending. I think you're going to be surprised when the next chapter starts. Just know, that it's the beginning of the end! Mind you, that I plan at least another 20-30 chapters, so there's still plenty of twists and turns coming.
So, does anyone know Jasmine's animagus form now? =3
UPDATE NOTES:
Nothing should change. Next update should occur on 10/30.
I have 3 writing submissions for graduate school to complete for my admission submission, so there might not be a chapter if I get stuck.
Thank you for all the favorites, follows and reviews! You guys are the best!
See you soon,
~Animerocker
