Jasmine was half asleep while her transformation professor drawled on and on about some law about the amount of magic needed to perform a transformation of a living being. To be honest, the theory behind transfiguration is fascinating and something that she enjoyed learning quite a lot during her first life. However, revising for a second time proved to be quite a chore especially due to the boring lecture that her latest professor was giving.

It didn't help that Eileen, Violet, and her had spent most of yesterday's night finally finishing their little project. The purses they had been able to make were truly magnificent even better than the version she had created for Samhain. They were able to hold an absurd quantity of objects and were so stable that Jasmine was pretty sure that they would hold their enchantments for years to come. Jasmine was sure that if they were going to sell the purses they would be quite interesting for many parties. However, the method they had settled on using depended on the presence of a specific constellation, the Eagle, which wouldn't be visible again until July. So they would be unable to create more until the next year unless they made a major redesign of the runes involved.

At last, the bell rang and people quickly started to exit the classroom. Jasmine quickly caught up with Violet who had bolted out of her seat the moment the class ended. If Jasmine was often bored with the normal classes Violet downright loathed wasting her time on them. She usually occupied herself by reading a book or practicing theory a few years above what was expected from them. However, today she had finished her book before the class ended so she had to suffer through at least part of it without any distraction. She clearly wasn't in a good mood after wasting over half an hour of her time just listening to her teacher talk without end.

They quickly went to the Great Hall and started to eat their dinner made even more delicious by how hungry Jasmine was after a long and tiring day. Soon the rest of their classmates caught up with them and sat around them.

"You two were hungry today." commented Abraxas lightly.

"It wasn't so much that we were hungry but that this one here wasn't willing to stay in the transformation classroom one minute more than necessary." said Jasmine pointing toward Violet who only glared at her.

"Yeah, today's lesson was especially boring, don't take me wrong I love transformations but it was better last year. This year it seems as if we are only doing theoretical practice time after time." nodded Abraxas.

Their conversation was interrupted by the hoot of a few owls that entered the Great Hall, dropping by the late evening mail. Abraxas had the bad chance that his copy of the Daily Prophet was dropped right over his head.

"Damn those bloody owls I'm sure they are doing it on purpose." he said while he picked up the newspaper.

Nott and she glanced towards the ruffled paper where on the front page in big bold letters was printed 'France declares war on Germany' with a picture of France's Premier Magistrat. Jasmine's eyes grew wide and had to contain the urge to scream in frustration the war has started in earnest. She suspected that their Muggle counterparts had also declared war on each other as well. The war was already shaping up to become the devastating conflict that she knew and she couldn't do anything to stop it.

She had been expecting it, during the last few months, one of the things that had become as routine as the ticking of an old clock was the morning papers detailing the ever-growing escalation of the so-called Eastern War. With Russia getting officially involved the Commonwealth had started to struggle more and more. The Russians may have a reputation of being brutes but they were numerous brutes and the divided and fragile Commonwealth had proved to be unable to pierce their newly claimed territory. She knew that this was coming but seeing it with her own eyes hit her differently.

" 'This afternoon the Premier Magistrat of the French Government, Lord Burgundy, has declared war on the German federation during a public reunion of the French Assembly. He claimed that Germany had been secretly helping, indirectly and directly, many of the splinter states that have been forming since the start of the war.' " read Abraxas aloud for everyone to hear. "Damn, the French even had photos of German citizens and even some important officials of the German government in the headquarters of some of the largest separatist movements. What were they thinking sending their own men to the frontlines where they seriously thought that they were going to be able to keep this up under the radar permanently? There was only one possible outcome for this kind of outrageous behavior war." asked Abraxas, completely scandalized by the news.

"They probably thought that between their help and Russia much less discrete intervention the Commonwealth was going to be forced to capitulate against the smaller nations and let them be. Their fruitless tenacity must have been quite a surprise even for Grindelwald himself." said Theodore grimly.

"If they expected a sovereign nation to just let separatist groups pop up and win they are only fools." scoffed Violet with disdain.

"I would guess that they expected them to ignore them more so than them accepting their independence." said Jasmine while she picked up the paper to read aloud about the earliest reactions from people present at the event, mostly by French intellectuals up to the Beauxbatons headmaster. "There's almost certainly more to the story. This declaration was definitively not a spur-of-the-moment idea, they even had already asked the opinion of many intellectuals and important figures who were present during the announcement."

Her friends turned to look at her clearly confused by her statement.

"Why are you so sure they already knew their opinions." asked curious Abraxas.

"Would you let important people who you don't know what their opinions are be interviewed? No this was calculated." said confidently Jasmine while mentally trying to untangle the situation.

"So you think they staged the reactions, therefore they want to sell a narrative." said Theodore thoughtfully

"What narrative would they even want to sell, it's pretty clear what happened." said Abraxas slightly confused.

"They may not be the only ones with dirt on another country." said Theodore. "They may very well be trying to beat Germany to the punch before they try to sell their own version of the events."

"Then Germany must have a lot of dirt on them for them to go as far as go to war to assure that their narrative isn't heard." said Jasmine.

"I doubt that's France's main objective. France has always been a bit wary of the new superpower and Germany actively destabilizing another great power doesn't paint a pretty picture for their future. They probably thought that war was inevitable." responded Nott with shrug.

"But France doesn't have the same kind of problems that the Commonwealth has. It won't break into a million pieces with the slightest of pushes." protested Malfoy.

"Thanks to their generous centralization program I'm sure." said Violet sarcastically.

"The bloody history of France's less centralized territories aside, he's right France is a much more stable position, their wizards have much better training and they wouldn't be fighting a war on so many fronts." said Jasmine. "This war is going to be a meat grinder, they are going to keep throwing wizards at each other trying to undermine the other's position."

"Has the Commonwealth already declared war too?" asked Violet.

"It probably already has but the news hasn't reached us yet." said Theodore flatly. "This war is going to be massive in scope."

"Are you still sure we won't join." asked Jasmine with a bit of trepidation.

"It's almost guaranteed that we won't at least until a new minister gets elected who tries to convince the Wizengamot that war is the best option. The channel protections should prove to be more than enough to block anyone trying to apparate from the continent to here, so the war probably won't be seen as a danger to us."

"How are you so sure that that protection would hold?" asked Violet intrigued.

"It isn't a certainty, but when wizards as strong as Dumbledore aren't able to pass the wards that have been feeding of the natural magic of the isles since the times of Merlin; I doubt any force of significant strength would be able to do it either. From the Ministry's point of view, it would be as simple as to stop giving Portkeys and the danger would be completely stopped." explained Theodore.

"I find it ridiculous that the rest of the Wizarding World is going to war and Brittain just will stay there waiting for the result." said Violet.

"Britain hasn't intervened in any conflict on the continent for hundreds of years I'm not surprised this won't change even with a conflict of this scale." said Abraxas with a melancholic tone.

"One can only hope that the ministry decides to surprise us and decides to intervene, this war may be more important than any other before." said Eileen timidly from the other side of the table snapping the attention of the four of them toward her. The poor girl shrank into herself and her gaze got firmly pointed toward her food. Jasmine had almost completely forgotten that she was there. Although even with her weak grasp of history knew that the outcome the girl was proposing wasn't likely.

The conversation died down while they digested the news. War was coming toward them and Jasmine was sure that even Abraxas and Theodore were able to feel it. After dinner, they went to the common room where Jasmine started to help the other two with their transfiguration homework.

The junior professor they had was quite fond of long detailed essays that were a true pain to write. Violet silently worked on her own while Jasmine gave a few pointers here and there to the two boys. They had improved substantially since last year but they still committed some frequent errors.

That's when Dorea and a group of six other tired players entered the common room. Despite the snow falling outside, none of them left any mud on the ground. Every one of them had learned their lesson when the Bloody Baron haunted their rooms for a whole month the first time they left the common room muddy. The ghost took the image they presented even to themselves quite seriously.

"Is Byrne still torturing you each training session?" asked Abraxas with a slight smirk clearly amused by how tired his fiance looked.

"Shut up! At least I do something else other than sitting around for the whole day!" exclaimed Dorea dropping down in one of the nearby chairs completely exhausted.

"It isn't my fault that Hogwarts doesn't have an equestrianism club. It would be fun to try to race you in one of my Abraxans again."

Jasmine had to admit that she was surprised by how good of a rider Abraxas was. The boy was able to ride his favorite Abraxan almost as well as he could walk. They had done a couple of races while they were at the Malfoys for the Holidays and the Malfoy heir had destroyed them completely.

"Maybe it is something we should bring up to Dippet, he may be interested. Who knows maybe Jasmine may finally learn how to fly." said Violet with a teasing smile, Jasmine only huffed, she wasn't that bad.

"That's a good idea, I should write to my mother tomorrow. I'm sure she would like the idea."

"Well either way horse lover, do you know who we found coming here?" asked Dorea excitedly. "Heiress Augusta Longbottom was roaming around the dungeons like a chicken without a head, apparently she was looking for you two." she said, pointing toward Violet and her.

"Who?" asked Violet, confusion clear on her face.

Meanwhile, Jasmine had been left frozen in shock at the mention of that name, she hadn't even realized that Neville's grandmother was already at Hogwarts. She shuddered thinking about her last meeting with the old woman in her past life.

"Did she tell you what she wanted?" she asked shakily.

"She wanted to join your study club. It seems that she's having some trouble with Potions and Slughorn recommended her to join." explained Dorea. Jasmine had to contain her shameful first instinct of immediately saying no.

"And she went all the way to the dungeons to look for us? Doesn't she have any classes with us?" asked Violet. Jasmine also wondered why would the proud woman go to the point of searching for them in the dungeons for their help.

"Well, she told me that she was in her first year. I suppose that's why you don't know her. Although, she seems to have heard quite a lot about your little club already. But, I don't think she would have asked you if it wasn't for Slughorn, she seemed to really hate the idea of asking for your help. She was always such a prideful bitch at parties."

"Well it isn't as if we are a secret club or anything, it is pretty much an open admission." shrugged Jasmine trying to act as if it was any other student. "I'm going to search for her during breakfast tomorrow, do you remember which house she was in?"

"She had a Gryffindor tie so I think that you should search in that direction, she was rather small and a bit chubby." Jasmine snorted at that description, an image of a short chubby boy clear in her mind. She tried to think about that boy not wanting to mix in the thoughts about an old grandma chewing out her grandson and humiliating him publically. Not wanting to hear more about the theme she stretched up and got up from the couch.

"Okay, I think all that was quite interesting but I'm getting quite tired. Good night everyone." she said before going towards her room.

"I think I'm going to go to bed too. Good night." said Violet not even two beats afterward.

Jasmine hadn't even been able to find her nightgown when Violet entered her room.

"Why were you so surprised when they mentioned Longbottom?" asked Violet.

Jasmine looked up from her expanded trunk with her nightgown in hand. "It's nothing important, I knew her from my past life. She was the grandmother of one of my friends back then." she shrugged dismissively. "It's a bit funny that she is so bad at potions, her grandson was much the same and she didn't fail to mention how much of a disappointment he was. I wouldn't expect her to actually ask for help." she said, scoffing slightly.

"I suppose you weren't her biggest admirer." ventured Violet.

"I have no love for abusive people for obvious reasons." she said, letting out a bit of venom in her voice.

"She was abusive?" asked Violet harshly clearly surprised.

"She threw him out of a pier Violet, just because he hadn't done any accidental magic." exclaimed angrily. "To be honest if it was for me I wouldn't let her come to our study club, god knows that she deserves much worse." she said before sighing. "But I know that she hasn't done anything yet, it would be unjust to punish her for things that she may very well not commit."

Violet frowned slightly at that and took the hands of the smaller girl and squeezed them comfortingly.

"You know you don't need to accept her in the study club if you don't want to, right? You're doing her a favor, you are perfectly able to decide under which terms it operates."

Jasmine sighed once more pulling Violet towards the comfortable bed and putting her head on her lap. She smiled fondly when Violet absentmindedly started playing with her wild black curls.

"I know that. Rationally I know that I don't owe her anything and that there isn't any reason to help her, but that doesn't change the fact that I feel guilty by simply thinking about leaving her behind." she groans.

She hated that the thought of not accepting the poor girl into the study group had even crossed her mind but she couldn't help but think about Neville. She remembered that day in one of those stupid balls the ministry had done during the war to try to gather international aid. She had seen the old woman wearing that god-awful hat admonishing the poor boy for dropping a glass of juice. The things the old woman had said made her blood boil.

Neville had mentioned in passing how his family treated him. How they ridiculed him for his love of plants, how they threw him out of a balcony, how he was reminded time and time again how much of a pale imitation of his father he was. By that point, Jasmine had realized that what the Dursleys had done to her wasn't just depriving her of their love and she couldn't help but see the parallels between her and Neville. She had exploded against the older woman not caring a bit about the scene she was making.

Yet here she was, asking for their help on the same subject that had caused her friend so much distress. Having the gall to be arrogant about it.

"I can do it for you." said Violet tentatively, stopping her angry thoughts. "I'm still at least nominally part of the leadership of the group, even if everyone knows you're the brains behind this whole thing." she said with a slight chuckle. " I can be the one to tell her that right now we are dealing with too many people and that we simply can't accept more. It even is kind of truthful."

Jasmine sighed deeply before shrugging and cuddling deeper into Violet's lap. "It may help." she said tentatively. "But I can't not really, don't worry it doesn't bother me too much." she said getting up on her lap and looking directly at her eyes trying her best to hide her conflicting emotions. Violet didn't seem convinced but she nodded reluctantly. Jasmine smiled at her best friend and hugged her tightly for her support.


The next day Violet rose much earlier than usual, Jasmine always was an early riser and she needed to be sure that she found Longbottom before she came. So she woke up earlier than the sun, took a quick shower, and dressed herself before quickly leaving the Slytherin common room. She didn't know where the Gryffindor common room was so she went directly towards the Great Hall. Unsurprisingly it was almost empty with only a couple of students spread here and there, most writing something at the same time they ate.

Violet approached one of the few Gryffindors that had woken up already. He was eating while doing his homework. It wasn't easy to differentiate between classically trained students, who probably knew some Occlumency, and those who hadn't even heard about bezoars before coming to school. However, Violet was quite willing to waver that if a student was unable to eat like a civilized man his Occlumency was going to be non-existent.

"Hello," she said, smiling sweetly. "sorry I was looking for heiress Longbottom, have you seen her?"

The moment the older boy looked up from his homework and locked eyes with her she immediately sent her magic towards him forming a connection. She was a bit surprised when she saw a regular room, the image stayed there a moment before it wavered. So the fool knew some Occlumency, at least enough to immediately focus on just one thought in case of a Legilimency attack. But the fool was either unable to focus on it for long or he had thought that the Legilimency attack he had felt was only his imagination. Counting that he hadn't even broken eye contact it probably was the second.

Dozens of scattered thoughts and memories passed in quick succession. A lesser Legilimens may have been forced to wait until the relevant memory appeared but Violet was a natural in the art. With a simple thought she forced the memory she was searching in the front of his mind and she immediately knew the way towards the Gryffindor common room. With the information on hand, she quickly ended the connection.

The other student seemed confused for a moment. Legilimens if they aren't subtle make the other person feel and see the memories the Legilimens forced them to see. Apparently, much to Violet's displeasure, she still wasn't completely undetectable when she actively searched for something. Yet, there was an easy solution for this, she moved slightly, and she discretely pointed her finger towards the student and she muttered under her breath.

"Confundus." with a wand she may have been able to cast it silently but she didn't have the level of control over the spell necessary to cast it wandlessly yet. The older student shuddered slightly when the spell hit, but everyone else was too occupied eating or doing their homework to realize that anything was amiss.

"So you don't know where heiress Longbottom is?" asked Violet.

The older boy seemed quite confused for a moment until he shook his head tentatively.

"No, I'm sorry I don't know where she is." he said with a hint of doubt.

"It's okay, thank you anyway." said Violet, smiling honestly this time. With that done she left the confounded student behind, it was time to search for Longbottom. With the Confundus spell in effect on him, he would pick up the lead that Violet gave him and naturally forget about any suspicion he may have.

She followed the path that she had seen in the older student's mind and quickly arrived at the seventh floor, where at the end of it was a painting of a fat lady. She hadn't taken the current password out of that student's mind, but even then she couldn't risk entering the common room either. Especially while she was wearing what clearly was a Slytherin uniform. She neither could enter while disillusioned, it was too risky as someone could see her moving silhouette or stumble upon her. Instead, she disillusioned herself and simply waited unmoving in a dark corner at the end of the hallway.

She stayed there, as immobile as she could be, her disillusionment charm may be strong for her age but too much movement may render it useless. She watched as slowly but surely a few people excited the common room. At last, a quite small chubby looking student excited the portrait alone. Violet was sure that must be her, so she canceled her disillusionment spell and walked towards Longbottom as if she had been walking from a nearby corridor.

"Heiress Longbottom?" asked Violet, the younger girl jolted startled, "Sorry I didn't want to scare you, are you heiress Longbottom?"

The young heiress seemed to have recuperated her bearings and she regarded her with a bit of condescension.

"Indeed I am." she replied sharply.

"Good, I am Violet Riddle," she said curtsying. "Dorea told me that you were searching for heiress Potter and me yesterday at the dungeons?"

"Oh it's you, yes professor Slughorn suggested that I should join you in your study group." she said with a small grimace. "He said that it would be good for me."

So not only was she a fool she was a prideful fool, yes it is going to be better to do it this way.

"Don't worry, he has recommended our little study club many times." she said with a smile. "Come with me, it's best if we see the details in private." she said while she guided her towards one of the empty classrooms nearby. "We focus on different classes on different days so if you're only interested in potions then it's best if you only come Thursday to the main potions laboratory." she said while closing the door and discretely warding it so that nobody could hear what would come next. "Although Jasmine would insist that I told you that we are always happy to accept more people in the other classes, we generally try to help each other you know." she finished.

The younger girl turned towards her, probably to respond. But before she could, with a lightning-fast movement that showcased the hundreds of hours of dueling practice that Violet had endured, she bound her with thick sturdy ropes.

"What's the meaning of this!" she screeched while she helplessly tried to remove her bindings.

"Don't worry I won't touch even a single hair of you or at least none that you will remember. I have much more important things to do than being stranded in Azkaban for hurting an heiress of an Ancient and Noble House. No, I just need to make sure that you stop trying to enter the club." she said with a wicked smile.

"All of this is because of the Club?" she asked astonished. "If you don't want me to enter just say so. I didn't even want to enter in the first place it was Slughorn who told me that I should." she snarled, trying her best to set herself free, but the ropes were well bound.

"Oh, but I can't risk you coming to Jasmine and tattle on me can I? No, I have to make sure that you follow the script. Also, I have a few spells that I have to practice on live targets yet and this is a golden opportunity."

Longbottom paled slightly at those words but she tried to keep her brave face.

"Do your best, you bitch!" she exclaimed.

Violet frowned and had to contain the urge to try one of her more painful spells right away.

"Such a little mouth for a little heiress don't you think?" she pointed her wand towards the left forearm of the young heiress and murmured. "Corte de Obsidiana." immediately, large rough cuts were formed on the forearm of the heiress making her scream at the top of her lungs. They immediately started bleeding rapidly obscuring the cuts, but with an easy spell, Violet reduced the rate of bleeding to a crawl. She observed the wounds with fascination while she studied the effects of her curse. "It's interesting, even though it is a dark spell, although a quite simple one, the normal intent-based healing spell used to stop blood loss worked perfectly." Violet mused to herself.

Longbottom grimaced and clenched her teeth when Violet started to touch the cut with her wand.

"You are crazy!" she screamed, making VIolet look up from the cuts that she had caused.

"Why do you say so?" she said while pulling back the sleeve of Longbottom's uniform to have more skin to work with. "After all, I'm doing this in the name of science." she explained with a nasty grin, pointing her wand towards the other right forearm while she pointed a finger toward her bicep and she murmured once more. "Corte de Obsidiana." A new rough-looking cut formed on her forearm while a much more straight and narrow cut appeared on her bicep making the heiress scream at the top of her lungs. "What's the difference between this and endangering your grandson trying to make him cast accidental magic?" said Violet while she applicated the same healing spell once more. "One is for the good of your house the other is for the good of magic itself. I just learned that the Mexican dark spell is much quicker when it causes the cut and its cut is deeper than the usual European cutting spell. I think I can even see your tendons here and your fat all around it."

"You're just a sick dark witch! I don't have a grandson!" screamed Longbottom at the top of her lungs.

"You don't have him now of course." drawled Violet as if she was stating the obvious. "But you will have one and you had one in another world, think of this as a way to atone for your sins. To be honest, I would have preferred to sterilize you but that would draw too much attention towards me."

"And torturing the heiress of a Noble and Ancient House won't!" she exclaimed with tears gathering in her eyes.

"What evidence will I leave?" she said while waving her wand lazily, immediately the cut she had done on her bicep healed. "Do you think me stupid enough to practice this without knowing the counter spells?" she said with a nasty grin.

"I will accuse you to Dumbledore, to Dippet, to the goddamn Minister if necessary!" she yelled barely containing her tears.

"How will you do it, if you don't remember it?"

Longbottom paled even more, to the point where Violet doubted for a moment if she was going to faint.

"No…no…please no! Please…" she screamed until Violet placed a silencing spell on her, tired of her begging.

"I wished that I could do this to those muggles too, but I guess you will suffice."

With a quick Tempus, she saw that she still had half an hour before the start of her first class. She could play a bit more.