The days quickly flew by and soon they were at the beginning of September. The two of them rose up early as usual, and they took the first bus to King's Cross. They entered the hidden station and Jasmine saw for the first time in more than a decade the familiar scarlet train. It looked almost brand new, sparkling with warm and comfortable magic that invited them to enter. They both boarded and chose a compartment in the middle of the train. They let the curtains open and the door unwarded as they knew that it was the best moment to introduce themselves to the rest of their classmates.
Jasmine knew that it was better if they met with the scions and heirs of more noble houses now because Violet was a Slytherin to the bone and the house had a particularly high concentration of purebloods. Mostly because they already had big ambitions that had been cultivated since they were born. Contrary to the much more nebulous ambitions of muggleborns, they didn't even know they were magical for even a month and Jasmine had already promised Violet that she would follow her as she did with Hermione and Ron in her last life.
They spent the next few hours in comfortable silence as they reread their potions textbook. Jasmine knew that Slughorn wasn't Snape, but it was better if they made a good first impression with the well-connected man. The train slowly filled itself up, and it didn't take long for someone to knock at their door.
"Come in," said Jasmine politely. A platinum-haired boy dressed in delicate silk robes entered accompanied by a tall girl with curly black hair with aristocratic features wearing a finely made summer dress and her long hair loosely braided.
"Good morning, I'm heir Abraxas Malfoy. This is my fiancée, Miss Dorea Black. Would you care to share the compartment?" he said with a small polite smile on his face. Jasmine had to contain a gasp at hearing that name. In her previous life, her paternal grandmother was Dorea Potter née Black. She finally understood why Sirius always said that she was the spitting image of Dorea. Her features as Holly had been softer than hers but other than that and her mother's eyes, she looked eerily similar to her old self. And she was betrothed to Abraxas Malfoy in this universe, she had to fight back a grimace thinking that she and Malfoy may in the future share a grandmother.
"Good morning, I'm heiress Jasmine Potter, this is my dear friend Miss Violet Riddle, it's a pleasure to meet you of course you can sit with us." she said while gesturing towards the empty seats.
"Heiress Potter? It has been quite a long time since we had any news from the Potter family. Please let me give you my most sincere condolences for your late father, he was a remarkable man not many become Aurors so young." said Malfoy with sincerity before taking his seat.
"Thank you for your kind words, heir Malfoy."
"Now since introductions are out of the way, would we go past formalities?" proposed Dorea with a friendly smile.
"Of course, if we are going to be classmates for the next seven years it would be better to get to know each other more personally." responded Jasmine relieved that they wouldn't have to play the posh game for the rest of the journey.
"I'm glad you agree, so where have you been hiding for the past four years?" asked Malfoy with curiosity sparkling in his eyes.
"Oh after my parents' burial, I was sent to an orphanage in London, that's where I met Violet." she explained, preferring to rip the band-aid off at once.
"In a muggle orphanage! Wasn't there any family who could foster you?" asked Malfoy incredulously.
"Sadly both of my grandparents died when I was young and both of my parents were only children so I don't have any close family." she explained trying not to show the melancholy she felt when she thought of her late family.
"Oh my dear, Jasmine, can I call you Jasmine? I'm so sorry for your loss. But you have Black blood don't you, your great-grandmother was Elliadora Black no? Then you are my cousin, can I call you cousin? I can talk with Sirius, maybe you can stay with us." said Dorea, taking her hands, seemingly distressed over her tragic tale. Jasmine wasn't sure if her great grandmother had been a Black or not, she had never had the opportunity to learn her family tree, however the opportunity to leave the orphanage would be really enticing.
"Of course, you can Dorea and I would love to live with the rest of the Blacks if the opportunity arises. However, I couldn't leave Violet alone. She is a dear friend of mine and she helped me a lot these last few years. I don't know what I would have done without Violet."
"Oh, you knew you were a witch too?" asked Malfoy incredulously.
Violet faked a happy smile happily although Jasmine knew her enough to see that she wasn't pleased by the condescending tone.
"Indeed I knew, I'm a half-blood, my mother was a witch and she did explain to me a few things before her untimely death." lied Violet, they had decided that it was better to directly kill any rumors that she might be a muggleborn before they surfaced, being a muggleborn in Slytherin wouldn't have been easy especially at this time and claiming to be the daughter of a half-blood should be enough to pass under their suspicion.
"Oh I'm sorry for your loss, at least you two had each other for the last few years, I'm sure that Sirius would be open to fostering you both." said Dorea now directing her doe eyes towards Violet while branding a small smile.
"We would thank you with all our hearts if you could talk with him." Jasmine said, hoping that the old lord would be open to the idea.
"Well at least now you both return to your home, are you excited about coming to Hogwarts?" asked Malfoy.
"Of course, we have practiced as much as we could since we got our wands. But I can't wait for the witchcraft classes, they were much more difficult to practice back there." explained excitedly Jasmine.
"Oh, personally I prefer the classes in wizardry, my mother has quite a talent for transfiguration, she will probably get her mastery now that I'm at Hogwarts." said Abraxas making Jasmine think of the similarities with another Malfoy.
"I can safely say that Violet will shine in the wizardry courses, she was able to perform all of the spells in the books for our year. She even learned a few from a few years above us." bragged proudly Jasmine.
"Have you really, could you care for a demonstration?" asked Dorea, curiosity shining in her eyes.
Violet picked her long elegant wand and pointed it to the book that lay on Jasmine's lap she said "Accio book." immediately the book flew from her lap towards Violet's open hand
"Oh wow, to be able to summon objects before even going to Hogwarts, call me impressed not even I can do that and I'm in third year. I'm sure your talent will also shine in witchcraft too." said Dorea, clearly impressed by the display.
Of course she didn't know that neither of them needed their wands to do so. However, they both had a long discussion, in regards to how much magical prowess to show, thanks to Jasmine's tutoring they both were far ahead of what was expected from a first year at least on Charms, Transfiguration, and DADA. Jasmine didn't have any doubts that Violet would shine just as bright in Potions, Astronomy and the rest of the courses. However, having a first year casting four and five years spells wandlessly and in some cases silently was a bit too much, for someone who shouldn't have received any instruction before arriving at the school, even for a prodigy of Violet's caliber, having two of them would be way too much. So they had decided to restrict themselves to mostly first and second spells with the occasional third and fourth year spell that could prove to be useful such as Accio.
"So which house are you aiming for?" asked Abraxas, clearly interested.
"Slytherin of course, and yourself?" answered Jasmine without any hesitation.
"I do look good in green." said Abraxas with a smug smile.
"Perfect, everyone to the serpent dent." whined Dorea.
"Oh do we have a little lion in the serpent dent?" Violet asked playfully.
"As if, my mother would kill me. No, I simply would have liked more variety. I feel like all my friends are little snakes." chuckled the black haired girl.
They spent the rest of the journey amicably talking to each other and the time flew by faster than what they could have hoped for. Soon they announced they were approaching Hogsmeade so Abraxas left the compartment, while the ladies changed into their uniforms.
They arrived at the station, and it was the first time since she was reborn Jasmine saw a big difference between things she knew from her past life and this one. In her past life, the station was nothing but a humble wooden building clearly built more so for practicality than anything else. However, now it was an impressive stone structure, imitating the same style as the rest of the castle, although it clearly was much more recent than the old fortress.
Soon they heard someone calling for the first years, it was definitely weird for Jasmine to see someone else other than Hagrid in that role. Dorea said her goodbyes before taking off towards the carriages, Jasmine noticed that she once again could see the Thestrals pulling them and wondered if Violet could see them too.
The three of them shared a boat and Jasmine had the wonderful opportunity to see Violet gaping at the sight of the school. She had already seen the castle in many of her memories but it was definitely different seeing it in person. She would make sure to share the memory when they arrived in their rooms, it wasn't every day that you saw Violet Riddle gaping like a fish. She felt the ancient magic of Hogwarts greet her with familiar warmth. She was home.
When they arrived at the hall before the imposing wooden doors that Jasmine knew led to the great hall, they saw the figure of Dumbledore wearing one of his usual extravagant robes, this time it was a bright yellow and orange. She noticed how his gaze danced around the students until he met eyes with her. She felt once more, another try at Legilimency much more subtle than the one he did at the orphanage. Once more, Jasmine cleared her mind from any straight thoughts, presenting him only the image of Violet and their tree. It was subtle but you could notice him narrowing his eyes before beginning his speech.
"Welcome to Hogwarts. I'm glad to see so many of you tonight, and although I know you all just want to get inside and dig in I have a few words to say before. As most of you know, Hogwarts is divided into four houses, Gryfindor, Hufflepuf, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Before the banquet, each of you will be sorted into one of these prestigious houses. These houses will be like your family for the seven years you stay in this castle. And like a family, they will only triumph or fail together. While you are at Hogwarts, all your achievements will give your house points and your misdemeanors will make you lose them. This is true both inside and outside of the classroom." Once again his eyes wandered towards Violet and I. "Hogwarts not only searches to make the best wizards and witches of the nation but also to raise exemplary men and women. No rule breaking or bullying will be tolerated. At the end of the year, the house with the most points will be awarded the House Cup. Now the sorting ceremony will begin in five minutes." he said with a gentle smile before entering into the Great Hall.
Immediately, chatter began as the students began to discuss where they wanted to be sorted. However, someone screamed when a horde of ghosts appeared from a wall. While the different ghosts presented themselves, Jasmine had to think that this must be really boring for the poor fellows doing the same routine year after year. Finally, the doors opened and the group of students entered inside.
Jasmine was barely able to suppress the urge to gape at the sight. The Great Hall was even more massive than what it was in her time. The four tables extend the length of it. There were at least five hundred more students than when Holly attended. She felt a profound sadness when she realized that the two wars that would start in a few years were the cause. At least she knew that she had stopped one of them already.
The Great Hall was as magnificent as always, and at the end of it, there were two large tables. Much like the Great Hall itself, it seemed that the faculty was considerably bigger than when Holly studied here. Soon the sorting hat began their song, it seemed that they were as bad at it as always. Immediately after, Dumbledore started to read from a roll of parchment the names of the different students.
The sorting went on without any incident, Abraxas going to Slytherin as he predicted. Soon it was Jasmine's turn, it was truly outstanding the difference between the hushed whispers and stares that followed her first sorting, compared to the barely controlled chatter and complete disinterest that she was experiencing now. For the first time since she returned to the Wizarding World, she realized that she was no longer the girl-who-lived. A small smile and a sense of relief formed at the thought. Once again, the transformation teacher put the sorting hat on her head.
"Now what do we have here?" asked the echoing voice of the sorting hat in her head. Despite the fact that you could clearly hear the four voices that compose it, the voice seemed to come from a single being.
"Hello again." she thought while she let straight thoughts wander back into her mind.
"Oh you don't have to worry about those, Salazar wouldn't have allowed me to sort the students if simple Occlumency was able to block my sight. It is not often I see someone with more than one life like you, my dear girl." they said with amusement in their voice.
"So I'm not the first one?" asked Jasmine, curious if someone else had been reincarnated before.
"Indeed, it isn't frequent but you aren't the first one from this world or another to live a second life. I see that it has already begun better than the last." Jasmine hummed in agreement, despite the incident in the cave, this life was much better than the solitary and harsh childhood she had to endure at the Dursleys, at least now she had Violet.
"Now where to put you, I see that I was right when I said you had plenty of courage and you have cultivated your mind well above my expectations, your hopes for the future are ambitious indeed but now there is something else that overshadows it all." Jasmine was left astonished by the comment she had never thought the hat would consider any of the other two houses
"Oh, it is funny how often people forget about Helga's noble house, however, you have shown great loyalty to your friends in your past life and I see the same in the future for this one." Jasmine almost laughed at the thought, loyalty, with how much she has doubted Violet since she met her. Hadn't she kept information from her and doubted her intentions at every turn, how could that be called loyalty?
"Yet you are ready to confront the mightiest wizard of the era for her. Loyalty is not the absence of doubts, it is to persevere despite them."
"That's why I have to go to Slytherin. I won't be able to help her in Hufflepuff." The hat actually chuckled at this, clearly amused by the situation.
"Trust me I know what may come if you don't follow her there. So you will ignore my advice once again?" they asked seemingly amused by the irony.
"Sorry to disappoint."
The hat actually chuckled at this before shouting out loud "Slytherin!"
It didn't take long for Violet to be sorted in Slytherin too, although curiously the hat seemed to take more time than what Jasmine would have expected. She seated herself just beside Jasmine. Then the headmaster who seemed to be even older than what Dumbledore was when he was headmaster rose up from his chair and with a chirpy voice, he said.
"Welcome, I wish you all a happy school year! Now dig in!" With those words, the usual banquet appeared in front of the students.
"Good evening heiress Potter, I'm heir Theodore Nott. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." said the boy seated beside her while offering his hand, he had a narrow face with dark brown hair.
"Good evening heir Nott, the pleasure is all mine." she said, shaking his hand.
"I must admit I was expecting you to be sorted into Gryffindor isn't it a tradition among Potters to do so."
"Maybe between Potters but my great grandmother, Elladora Black, was sorted into Slytherin. She was a Black after all. Luckily for me I do share her blood." she replied with a sweet smile.
"Indeed you do, and I think it will be delightful to get to know you better." he said with his matching smile.
"I must present to you my friend Miss Violet Riddle, she has been living with me since my parents died." she said, gesturing to the girl in question.
"Good evening Miss Riddle, I'm pleased to meet you." he said with a small nod of acknowledgment.
"Good evening heir Nott." replied the girl.
"I see you two are already making friends." commented Abraxas with a slight smirk.
"It isn't our fault we are so delightful." said Violet with a grin.
"Are you already trying to make your little court, Abraxas?" said Dorea with a smile. "I'm so glad you are here, cousin, I will have to take you to show you the castle one of these days." she said, looking towards Jasmine.
"I would be delighted." she said with a friendly smile.
"I also have to present to you the rest of my family. Look right over there, that's my cousin Lucretia and somewhere around here must be Walburga." responded, while pointing with her head towards a stunningly beautiful young woman with long lustrous black hair and a prefect badge on her chest. "Of course in just a few years little Orion will join us, putting us a step closer to our conquest of Hogwarts." she said with a playful grin.
"Then as I'm an eighth Black I demand control over all the Slytherins under fifteen." she replied in much the same tone.
"If we had to share with anyone who had a drop of Black blood we would be left ruling over just the mudbloods. I'm sorry my dear but I want better subjects than that." she told her with mock seriousness. Jasmine hoped she had been able to suppress the shudder she felt while hearing her grandmother say that word. It was really easy to forget that the Blacks were one the biggest supporters of blood purity and that the only reason they hadn't directly supported Voldemort was because of their problems with his methods.
Luckily Violet came to her rescue before an awkward silence could set in. "Did you hear, Abraxas? We have to prepare the opposition, they are plotting against us." she said jokingly. The rest of the banquet was spent in mostly pleasant conversations, the topic of Violet's blood status, fortunately, didn't come up, it seemed that being speaking casually with two heirs of noble houses was enough to prevent any comment about it. When the banquet was dying down, the old headmaster rose up once more,
"Now before you all go to your beds I have a few announcements to make. First, I would like to welcome Henry Farley, who will be working as the junior defense against the dark arts teacher while he works on his mastery on dark curses." a short young man with dark hair rose up to make a short bow at those words, "Also I would like you to give a warm welcome to professor Cuthbert Binns, who will be taking the history of magic position." he said and an old bald man with a long beard rose up to make his own short bow. "Now to the first years, I ask you to carefully read the package that your head of house will distribute tomorrow, it contains your schedule, as well as the rule book, not knowing the rules isn't an acceptable excuse for wrongdoings." he firmly stated, "Now I know that you all are tired so good night." Immediately, a sea of students started flowing as the students of all houses started going towards their dormitories.
"First years, with me." said Lucretia while waving her hand. The rest of the first years gathered in front of the fifth year. Jasmine noticed how much bigger this year was compared to her year as Holly, there were already over thirty students in just Slytherin alone. As the older girl led them down the maze that was Hogwarts, Jasmine just took her time appreciating the beauty of the castle. The castle looked comfortable and familiar; luckily for her, nothing had changed in the fifty years since she had last been here. As they arrived at a section of bare, damp wall, Lucretia made a motion to indicate to them to stop there.
"The password changes every two weeks. It will be posted on the announcement board in the common room. Writing it anywhere else is strictly prohibited, also you can have friends in other houses but you can't bring them here or tell them where the common room is, there is a reason why there isn't anything to show that it is here in the first place. The first password is Runespoor" she explained sternly.
The common room was an extensive underwater room with refined stone walls and finely decorated windows, allowing you to see what lay under the surface of the great lake. The room was decorated by round greenish lamps hanging from the ceiling with intricate chains, a grand fireplace directly in front of them surrounded by chairs, tables, and couches. While the Gryffindor common room was comfy and homey, with camaraderie pouring from its very soul, this one was private, elegant and impressive.
A tall teenager with short red hair and a prefect batch on his chest was waiting for them in the middle of the room, with a friendly smile.
"Hello and welcome to Slytherin, I'm Adam Rosier and I'm the fifth year prefect this year. I hope that you enjoyed the banquet and that you learned how to come here from the Great Hall. We are going to be guiding you from class to class for the first two weeks while you learn the layout of the castle. I remind you that it is heavily enchanted so don't start trying to find shortcuts on your own, until you have the time to get lost. Now tomorrow at seven-thirty our head of house professor Slughorn will be giving you your packets with your schedule and rule book. Please don't be late." he said
"Now, thanks to the fact that Slytherin's dormitories are located underground we were lucky enough to have individual rooms. Although the elves will take care of doing your laundry and keep your rooms clean, they are your responsibility, if you break or destroy anything you will have to pay." explained Lucretia "Now behind you are the entrances of the dormitories, girls to my right and boys to my left. Your rooms will be at the end of the hallway. Boys follow Rosier, girls you are with me." she added before leading them towards a dark wooden door, a few meters to the right of the entrance of the room. The door opened to a long hallway with doors to their right every few meters. When they arrived at the end of the hallway Lucretia opened the last door letting them to a narrower hallway with multiple doors on each side.
"Your room has your name inscribed on top of it, the elves must have already dropped your trunks in your respective rooms. The bathrooms are at the end of the hallway. Don't forget to be present at seven-thirty in the Great Hall to receive your schedule, classes begin at eight twenty. Good night." she promptly said before exiting immediately afterward.
Jasmine immediately went to search for her room, luckily they were ordered alphabetically so it was quite quick. When she entered she discovered a room significantly bigger than her room in the orphanage, illuminated by a green orb similar to the ones hanging in the common room. It had a large four poster bed, a large desk with a comfortable chair, and a magnificently crafted wooden wardrobe, her trunk was already waiting for her, under her bed.
Jasmine barely had time to remove her black shoes before someone knocked on her door. She wasn't surprised to see Violet waiting for her.
"Much better than our rooms at the orphanage isn't it? Although I could do without the walk." she said while absentmindedly eying the room.
"Indeed it is, although I prefer walking over climbing the stairs all the way to the Great Hall every day."
"Maybe so, I want to know how much does that fat professor eat if he has to walk so much each day." said Violet while Jasmine sat on her enticing bed.
"Merlin! I feel like I'm sitting on a cloud." exclaimed Jasmine, feeling the softness of the bed. After sleeping for the past four years on the rock-solid bed at the orphanage, she had completely forgotten how it felt to sleep on a comfortable bed. "But, don't call him that in front of him he is our head of house." Violet rolled her eyes as if saying she obviously wouldn't, before laughing fondly at her friend's antics.
"I must say it all went as well as we could expect. Abraxas and Dorea accepted us without much problem and the Black family seems to want to be friendly with me." said Jasmine.
"Well maybe for you, I was mostly ignored by the rest of our classmates, they are more interested in the disappearing heiress, I would guess."
"You passing under the radar was the best we could have hoped for. We can't attract the attention of the Gaunt's just yet and your prodigious magical ability should be enough to quickly gain their respect and admiration." argued the shorter girl.
"Maybe, but it's annoying being dismissed so freely, it isn't as if they were particularly impressive individuals. They were surprised that I was able to summon things from just a meter in front of me, with a wand. I know most purebloods don't spend their afternoons practicing magic but still one would have thought that they were able to at least do that. It is the most convenient piece of magic I know." said Violet exasperated.
"But they also don't have a tenth of our reserves. For most that simple summoning would have been enough to leave them panting, let's not even think without a wand. There is a reason it is a fourth year spell after all." responded the green eyed girl. "Although at least you didn't have to hear your grandmother use a slur as if she was talking about the weather."
"That was your previous grandmother? I was trying to understand why you would make such a face, I didn't know your family was so racist." mocked Violet with a playful smile.
"They weren't! My grandmother basically adopted Sirius after he ran away for being too muggle friendly." exclaimed Jasmine in indignation.
"I'm just messing with you, she will probably grow out of it." assured her.
"Either way it is best to sleep now I'm exhausted, come enjoy my cloud." she said, opening her arms excitedly.
"Jasmine, I think it is better if we each sleep in our rooms. We don't want to lose points before we even officially begin the school year." replied Violet sadly.
Jasmine's smile slightly dropped at that "You are right…but you better wake up early I won't be waiting for you all day."
Violet gave her one small smile before leaving the room. Jasmine sighed resigned before changing to her nightgown and falling deep asleep.
