Chapter 20: Until Next Year
A/N Well, this is it. That last chapter of a story I have wanted to write for a few years now. And man has it been such a great feeling hearing how much you all enjoyed it. It has truly inspired me to actually write more and publish/upload some of the other fanfiction that I have written for myself over the years as well as finish the ones that I never finished. So, I want to say thank you guys for the support and encouragement that has come from your words or you just following and reading my story. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this last chapter and the rest of the story as much as I enjoyed writing the whole story.
Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter characters or anything Harry Potter related. I do own the OC Jasmine and the plot of this story.
Jasmine didn't forget about what Sirius had mumbled a few days ago about for once being useful. She couldn't have forgotten it even if she tried. It had been plaguing her mind ever since. And she really wanted to talk to Sirius about it, but they had been so busy with their ideas and homework she still hadn't found the right time to bring it up to him.
Three days had passed before Jasmine finally found her opportunity to confront Sirius about what he had said. She was finally able to get him alone, not a single one of the other boys in sight, even Peter. Peter not being around wasn't exactly new, but Jasmine hadn't realized he was gone a lot of the time recently until a couple of days ago. It made her wonder why he was gone so much. "Maybe he's the one with the secret." Jasmine thought about it and realized that Peter had been spending a lot less time with them. But she put a stop to those thoughts because even if Peter did have a secret, she couldn't worry about that right now. She would figure it out after confronting Sirius.
Anyway, Jasmine finally got Sirius alone in the Marauders' dorm. And there is where she confronted him. "Hey, Pads," Jasmine greeted gently.
Sirius was lying down on his bed attempting to read a book (which he was failing at) when he heard Jasmine's voice. He immediately closed the book and sat up on his bed. He gestured for her to come and sit down on the bed too. "Hey, Mare. What's up?" Sirius glanced at her face and knew something was wrong. "Oh, no. What's wrong, love? Did I forget an anniversary or something? It hasn't even been six months yet. Did you want to celebrate three months because I'm sorry if you did and I missed it?"
Jasmine just managed to get a word it over Sirius rambling worry. "Pads, Padfoot. This has nothing to do with our relationship, at least I don't think it should."
Sirius immediately stopped his rambling. "Really?" Sirius let out a sigh of relief. "Thank God. I was worried there for a minute that I forgot something. I really thought I had somehow messed this up."
"Aww, Pads." Jasmine snuggled into Sirius to comfort him and show him that she was still here. "Something like that would not be the end of this relationship. I really like you Sirius and that won't be changing any time soon." Jaz gave her boyfriend a big smile and a kiss on the cheek. Which resulted in a blush spreading across Sirius's cheeks and a grin appearing on his face. "Anyway, what I really want to talk to you about Pads, was the fact that the other day when Remus and I were explaining why we told you the secret I heard what you said under your breath. And I hope you know that is in no way true. You, Sirius Black, will always be needed by me. You are the only one who really understands and gets what I went through with my mom, so whether we are dating or not, I will always need you in my life, Sirius. You are not useless."
Tears sprung up in Sirius's eyes during Jasmine's speech. He hadn't meant for her to have heard that when he said it, but he was glad that he had. It really helped him to know that he wasn't actually useless like his parents claimed that he was. He meant something to at least someone.
Soon, Sirius pulled Jasmine into a hug on his bed as he cried into her shoulder. They were like this for a while, at least until James came waltzing in the room. The couple didn't seem to hear him when he entered. Though when James saw that his best mate and practically brother was clearly upset, he made his presence known. *Ahem*
Upon hearing the noise, Sirius lifted up his head from Jasmine's shoulder and turned toward the sound. Jasmine, who had been resting her head on Sirius's shoulder (opposite of her own) also looked up toward the sound. Jasmine gave James a soft smile in acknowledgment. Sirius meanwhile tried his best to give his best mate a smile but failed miserably. Rather it came out as more of a frown smile. It was a watery smile at best, though by this point Sirius had stopped crying. The tear tracks on his face were still clearly visible though. So, it wasn't hard for James to see that his brother had been crying.
Therefore, James, being the sweet and loyal best friend that he was, immediately came over to the couple who were still sitting on Sirius's bed. James questioned, "Pads, what's wrong? You hardly ever cry."
"It's nothing Prongs. At least nothing that you should worry about," Sirius responded.
James wasn't about to take that as an answer, so he turned to Jasmine to get the real answer to his query. With one look from James, Jasmine knew he wasn't about to drop the matter. She ended up relenting and telling him. "The other day, I was telling Sirius how useful he was when he was helping me with this one homework assignment. Sirius then told me how glad he was to be useful and then I happened to hear him say 'for once' under his breath. He hadn't meant for me to hear it, but it greatly concerned me that he thought he wasn't useful before he had helped me. Therefore, I decided to confront him about it and here we are now. I made my own speech about how useful he is to me and how much I need him, but if you have anything you want to say on the subject, Prongs, I think it would really help him understand just how much we need him."
James stared at his best mate in shock. He had no idea that Sirius felt that he wasn't always useful to them. And because of this new information (in addition to the tear tracts on Padfoot's face), James decided to share something that he hadn't told anyone, not even his parents (or Sirius) about yet. "Well, damn Pads. I had no idea. If I had, I would have told you this a long time ago." James paused for a moment to think about how he wanted to phrase what he wanted to say before continuing on. "See, Pads, you're a big reason as to why I've actually matured a lot this year. Ever since you showed up at my doorstep all bloody and injured, I realized that you didn't need the immature prankster me to get you through that difficult time. You would need someone who could actually be there for you. That was also the night that I vowed to protect you no matter what, so next time you feel like this or anything like this come to me or Jazzy because we will be there for you. We need you just as much as you need us."
Sirius was smiling by the end of James's speech. This time, though, the smile was actually a smile. James who had been standing in front of them was now being pulled down into a bro hug, or what was supposed to be a bro hug but ended up being more of just a regular hug.
Meanwhile, Jasmine tried to stay out of their way, but the bed was only so big. Thus, she ended up having to just get off the bed and let the boys have their moment. Initially, Jaz had been stunned by James's admission, but as it sunk in, it all began to make more sense, especially the sudden change in the boys that occurred over this past school year. Then after she shook herself out of her surprise, she found that the boys were still hugging. And at this point, she started to feel out of place. She actually started to feel that she was intruding on a moment between them. It was such a James and Sirius moment if anything.
It was several moments later before the boys released each other from the embrace. Sirius spoke first. "Thanks, Prongs. That really means a lot coming from you. That really made my day." James responded with a wide grin that was now plastered on his face.
Jasmine was tempted to actually walk out of the room at one point. She felt that she was intruding, but the boys didn't say anything about it. Actually, once they remembered that Jasmine was in the room, both boys pulled into a group hug amongst the three of them. It was a moment that Jasmine would always remember.
A few days passed and nothing of any interest really happened. The Marauders (including Jasmine) were all focused on not completely failing their end-of-term exams, or if you were James and Sirius planning their end-of-term prank. The school was wrapping up nicely, or so they thought.
It was during those few days that Jasmine had decided that she would try to pay closer attention to what one Peter Pettigrew was doing. She wasn't about to let her suspicions about how he was keeping a secret just drop because the term was ending. Something was going on with Peter, and Jaz was determined to find out what that could possibly be. Sure, she had her suspicions, but what were suspicions without cold hard facts or at the very least some kind of proof. Thus, until Jaz got some kind of proof, she wasn't going to share any of her suspicions with the others. She didn't want to cause Peter any unnecessary trouble. After all, it might be nothing and Peter is just feeling left out, so he found other friends to hang out with. Jasmine hoped that was it. Or alternatively, she thought that maybe Peter was just going off to see a crush of his or something. Whatever it was that Peter was doing, Jasmine was determined to find out.
The problem though was that Jasmine still didn't want to fail her end-of-year exams. She really preferred not to fail. And because of this, Jasmine didn't have much free time to try and figure out where Peter was going. When she did have free time, though, Peter seemed to sneak away without her even noticing it. He was rather good at escaping from them without drawing attention to himself. And if Jasmine was being honest, it was a bit impressive given how observant she was trying to be.
With all this focus Jasmine was putting on Peter, she almost missed out on helping James, Sirius, and Remus plan their annual end-of-year prank. She didn't want to miss the planning and pulling of it, so she decided, in order to not miss anything, she would put the Peter hunt on hold. By the time Jasmine had finally found time to sit down and plan with the boys, they had only gotten out a few ideas when she was finally able to join them one afternoon on the weekends. There were several ideas like charming the food to start floating when anyone tried to grab anything at the end-of-term feast. Then there was the idea to just start a food fight, but they all decide they would save that for another time. They also came up with the idea to clog all the toilets in the school (except Moaning Myrtle's of course), but they decided that would be too much for them what with end-of-year exams coming up so soon.
The prank they did end finally agreeing on was a combination of an idea that Jasmine had suggested and one that James had thrown out there on a whim. It was a great combination, and they felt that it would be an amazing prank. It would be an amazing prank to end their school year.
They decided that they were going to pull the prank at the beginning of the last week of term, just as exams were going on and finishing up. It would be the perfect time to pull their brilliant prank. They all couldn't wait to see just how this prank turned out.
There was a downfall to them pulling this prank, though. It was going to take a lot of time and effort to put their amazing idea into action, especially if they planned on not getting caught. That would be the hardest part of the whole prank. They were determined to not get caught though. Thus, what ended up happening is that Jasmine was so focused on getting this prank right as well as doing well on her exams that she forgot about Peter. So, Jasmine ended up not finding out what Peter was up to or what his secret was (at least not until the very end of term).
It took the four of them several weeks to perfect the spells they needed to cast as well as get everything in order. None of them even bothered to question why Peter wasn't helping them out with this prank because they were all way too absorbed and focused to even notice his absence much. It wasn't like Peter really did much to contribute to their pranks anyway. He usually was the one going down to the kitchen and grabbing them snacks and such. They all tended to get single-minded (particularly James and Sirius) when they were planning a prank. Therefore, they would sometimes forget to eat or would need nutrients to be able to continue with their planning.
When they finally perfected the plan and were ready to implement it, it was already the last week of term. It was lucky that they had finished just in time. So, on Saturday of that week, they all snuck out late into the night, and with the help of the Marauders' map and James's invisibility cloak, no one saw them. They snuck outside to the Black Lake where the Giant Squid was currently residing. It seemed to sense that they were coming and popped one of its tentacles out of the water as if it were waving hello at them. They all waved back even though they weren't sure if the squid saw them or not. Then they got to work on their prank.
Basically, for the prank, they were using the Giant Squid. Using the Giant Squid was James's idea. Jasmine's part of the prank that was her idea was the main part of the prank. She had come up with the idea of casting a time-sensitive spell where the object (in this case the Giant Squid) would burst into song when people were around the object. So, they were casting a spell on the Giant Squid so that when students came out here to relax after their exams, the squid would just start singing some random song. It would be amazingly funny if they managed to pull it off correctly.
It didn't take them very long to get everything done that night. They managed to do everything that needed to be done at the Black Lake before it got too late. So, they didn't come across too much trouble as they snuck back into the castle. There was a time when they almost got caught once when they were heading back up to Gryffindor Tower, but they managed to avoid Filch. Once they were all safely back in the common room, they all let out a sigh of relief. Then they gave each other all high fives. Their celebrating was interrupted when someone coughed to get their attention.
They all turned their attention in the direction that the cough came from. They were surprised to see that Lily was sitting in one of the comfy chairs. She seemed to have been waiting for them to return. "So, what's the prank this time?"
"None of your business, Evans," Sirius retorted.
"I'm making it my business, Black, especially since it involves my cousin. I would hate for her to get in trouble at the end of term." The threatening tone in Lily's voice made the Marauders think twice about teasing her back or even just refusing her. So, they ended up just telling her about the prank, after making sure she wasn't going to tell anyone.
"Fine, but you have to swear you won't tell a soul about our prank. We don't want anyone else having insider information about what we have planned for this upcoming week," James explained.
"Whatever." Lily rolled her eyes. "I just want to know what the prank is, so I don't have to suffer through it," Lily lied. That lie evaporated quickly after the look that Jasmine gave her cousin. "Mina, will you stop?" She didn't, so Lily relented. "Fine. I'm just curious. You guys, when you're not being toerags and bullying others, pull off some brilliant pranks."
The compliment stunned James and Sirius, as they never considered that Lily ever paid much attention to some of their other pranks to actually think they were impressive or anything. Mainly they thought that she saw them as immature and stupid, which they were most of the time, but that didn't mean that Lily couldn't find them at least somewhat interesting. Well, really, she was amazed more not at the prank itself, but at the amount of effort, they would sometimes put into their pranks. There were pranks even before Jasmine came to Hogwarts that were impressive feats of magic. So, really how could Lily not be at least slightly impressed at the Marauders and their magical skills. And nowadays, since becoming friends and closer with the Marauders, Lily had become increasingly interested in their pranks, especially after squeezing out of Jasmine how they had done a few of their pranks over the years. Thus, here they were now, with Lily sitting in a comfy chair in the common room trying not to look so eager about wanting to know about their prank.
The stunned figures of James and Sirius stayed that way for several more minutes, but Remus and Jasmine didn't wait for them to break free to continue their conversation with Lily. Instead, Remus offered his gratitude for all of them. "Why thank you, Lily. I think I can speak for all of us and say that we appreciate that you think some if not all of our pranks had some level of interest to you."
Lily blushed slightly in embarrassment. She wanted to lie about her true feelings on the pranks, but she knew that Jasmine would never allow that now, so it was pointless. "What can I say? It's some impressive magic that you guys do sometimes. I can't imagine it is all that easy either."
Remus smiled, as did James and Sirius who were no longer surprised by Lily's sudden revelation. None of them spoke up though. Rather it was Jasmine, and she only spoke to get them back on track to Lily's original question. "Well, Lils, if you really want to know what prank we just pulled, you are going to have to come up to the boys' dorm. I don't really trust that no one will randomly come down here while we explain it to you."
"Seriously?! Again?" Lily complained. "Why does it always have to be their room?"
Jasmine gave Lily a look. "What, you want to go to our room where any of the girls could wake up? And then they will be wondering why the hell there are 3 boys in the dorm. That's the way that rumors start Lils, and I know you don't want those kinds of rumors roaming around the halls of Hogwarts."
Lily's eyes widened in fright. "No!" She exclaimed. "That is not what I meant. Plus, how would they even get up the stairs without them turning into a slide?"
"Oh, we have our ways, Lily," James said suggestively.
A shiver went down Lily's spine. "Whatever. Let's just go up to their dorm. I want to hear about this prank that had you sneaking out in the middle of the night to set it up."
"Actually, most of our pranks are set up in the middle of the night," James commented.
"Not helping James," Jasmine said as she pushed him toward the stairs.
Once up in the dorm, they told Lily all about the prank. They told her about having to learn the music spell and about luring the Giant Squid to the surface so they could pull off the prank. But they only told her about the planning of the prank and how they accomplished it. They did not tell her, nor were they planning to tell her, about the Marauders' Map and James's invisibility cloak. They weren't morons after all. They couldn't give away all their secrets. That would be ridiculous.
By the time that they had filled Lily in on what they had been doing (prank-wise) the past several weeks, it was getting really late. The girls needed to really get back to their dorm or those rumors Jasmine had frightened Lily with might actually end up starting anyway. Therefore, the girls quickly said their goodnights to the boys and rushed to their dorm room, where they fell asleep quite quickly both thinking about how the prank would turn out tomorrow.
The next morning was the first day of exams and the premiere of the Marauders' annual end-of-term prank. Everyone had been waiting weeks to see what it would be this year. Several students were anxious about it because there were times when they would target a specific house for this last prank (*cough* Slytherins *cough*). Besides that, though, some students were more anxious to just get these exams over and done with (particularly the 5th years and the 7th years).
By the time the exams for the day were done, several people were heading out to the Black Lake to take a breather before they went back to studying. There were others (the Marauders plus Lily) that were just heading out there to see if their prank would go off without a hitch. They wanted to see just how everyone reacted to it as well. And what they saw was absolutely brilliant (and hilarious). Now there weren't many students hanging around the Black Lake that day, but that didn't matter because this prank would last all week long until they left Hogwarts for the summer.
The five of them (James, Sirius, Lily, Jasmine, and Remus) all hid behind some overgrown bushes to watch as the students heading to the Black Lake go the surprise of a lifetime. And boy, were they surprised when suddenly, out of nowhere, the Hogwarts school song started blaring out of the lake rather obnoxiously. When they heard it, all of the students jumped and looked around trying to find the source of the sudden noise. They couldn't seem to figure it out, that is until the Giant Squid started to come closer to the surface of the lake. When it did, the song only got louder, which freaked the kids out even more. They seemed to realize this too as they ran away screaming in confusion and fright, which James and Sirius found absolutely hilarious. Jasmine also found their reactions rather funny and was laughing with the two boys. Though, she didn't necessarily find it funny that they had managed to frighten the students. She knew they hadn't frightened anyone too much, or else they would have been frozen in fright. It wasn't like the Giant Squid would hurt them or anything, either so really Jasmine didn't mind that they might have scared them a little bit. Lily and Remus also found it a bit funny, but not nearly as much as the other three had.
By the end of the week, students were avoiding the Black Lake like it was the plague or something. By now everyone had heard about the prank, or at least experienced the prank for themselves. And most of the students were just rather annoyed by it rather than frightened. And for this reason, everyone wasn't going outside. So, this caused everyone to be "stuck" inside unless they wanted to go outside and endure the singing of the Giant Squid that only seemed to know the school song of Hogwarts, which made it even more annoying.
On the last day of term, before the feast, the Marauders decided to be nice and remove the spell a day earlier than they had originally planned. They were all kind of tired of being cooped up inside all day. So, on this last day, the boys and Jasmine were hanging out around the Black Lake. James had snatched a snitch yet again and was tossing it around. Remus was relaxing, reading a book. Peter was still nowhere to be found, and Jasmine had actually forgotten about him for the moment because she was spending some quality time with her loving boyfriend. The couple, therefore, was lying down in the grass by the lake wrapped up in one another. It was pure bliss for them. They were just enjoying each other's company for the time being before they would have to spend most of the summer apart. Though, they weren't really upset about that given that they both agreed that they need this time apart. They couldn't constantly be with each other.
Anyway, Sirius was lying right next to Jasmine with his hand securely interlaced with Jasmine's. And while Jasmine was looking up at the clouds in the sky, Sirius was looking right at the girl beside him, the girl that he loved.
Jasmine turned her head away from the sky after feeling Sirius's gaze on her for several minutes. She turned and looked right back at him. "What? What is it, Sirius?"
"Oh, um, nothing, I just like admiring your beauty, Love." Sirius could feel the heat rising to his cheeks. He tried to push the blush down, but he knew he was failing miserably.
Jaz gave Sirius a quick kiss on the cheek. "I love it when you call me that, Pads."
Sirius cocked an eyebrow and smirked mischievously. "Oh, really? Is that so, Love?"
"Well, not if you are planning on calling me that all the time. Part of the charm of it is that it's only an occasional name that you call me. It's what I love about you calling me that."
"Oh, yeah. Well, what else do you love about me then." Sirius was reaching for some compliments and Jasmine knew it.
"I'm not going to stroke your ego, but I do have something I've been meaning to tell you."
"What's that?" Sirius asked. He was curious to know what his girlfriend had to say.
"I love you, Sirius Black." Jasmine sealed her declaration with a peck on Sirius's lips.
Whatever Sirius had possibly considered that Jasmine had wanted to tell him at that moment, it was not that. But despite that, he was elated that she had been the one to say it first because Sirius didn't know if he could have been the one to say it first. He knew though that he could say it back. "I love you too, Jasmine Dupont." And instead of sealing his declaration with a quick kiss, Sirius pulled Jasmine in for a passionate kiss that ended up turning into a full-on snog session. Their snog session, though, was cut a bit short when James pulled them apart.
After pulling them apart, James said, "Get a room you two. I do not need to see that, especially right now. I know you two are all happy and everything, but could you not do that while I'm around."
Sirius gave James a dirty look, while Jasmine just sighed. "Fine, James, but when you get with Lily, I don't want to see you doing this with my cousin." Jasmine then turned her attention back to Sirius, who she pecked on the lips again, before standing up. "I've got to go pack a few more things, so I will see you later, Pads." Jasmine waved goodbye to the other boys before making her way back to the castle.
On her way back to Gryffindor tower, though, Jasmine happened to spot Peter. She was about to shout to him, but he had disappeared into around a corner before she could. It was at that moment that Jasmine remembered that she had suspected Peter of having a secret. Thus, in that one moment, Jasmine decided to follow him and forget going to pack up the last of her things for the moment. She cast a spell to make herself invisible and went to go see where Peter had gone. Upon turning the corner, Jasmine froze in her tracks. There she saw Peter talking with some Slytherins. And Jasmine recognized some of these Slytherins from the ones the boys pointed out as who they suspected to be messing around with the dark arts. They also suspected that their families and them would be on what they considered the wrong side of the upcoming war that was being waged by this Dark Lord.
Jasmine didn't understand what she was seeing. She didn't understand why Peter would even be talking with these people let alone secretly meeting with them. It just didn't make sense to her at all. When Jasmine suspected that Peter had a secret, she was not expecting anything like this. She was thinking it was more a crush that he was hiding. And that's when Jasmine saw Peter get a kiss from one of the girls in the group. So, it appeared that she was still right about Peter hiding a secret crush/girlfriend, but really there was so much more.
Jasmine didn't stay for long. She knew if she did there was a likely chance that they would eventually spot her, and she couldn't let that happen. So, she calmly walked back around the corner (still invisible). Once she was clear of the corner, Jasmine, still invisible, ran all the way up to Gryffindor Tower. It was only once she reached the Fat Lady that she reversed the spell that made her invisible.
Once she was safe in the common room, Jasmine sank down into one of the comfy chairs. All of her adrenaline had left her and now she was just left with her thought on what she had just seen. Jaz really didn't know what to make of it. She didn't even know what to think about it. Really, Jasmine didn't even know what she saw except that Peter might just have a girlfriend or crush on the wrong girl. It all could have just been Jaz misreading the whole situation as well. And for that very reason, Jasmine wasn't sure if she should tell the others what she saw.
The rest of the evening went by in a blur. It went by so fast that Jasmine couldn't even believe that it was already time for them to board the Hogwarts Express back to Kings Cross Station. She had still not decided what she was going to do about the whole Peter situation, so for now, she would just leave it be for the summer. If it was still happening next school year, then she would figure out what was really going on and make her decision about telling the other. For now, though, she was just going to try and have the best summer she could possibly have before everything went to hell.
As Jasmine got on the train, she was excited for summer but also worried about what was to come. After seeing Peter hanging around the bad crowd in Slytherin, she didn't know what to think anymore. All Jasmine knew was that her final year at Hogwarts was sure to be an interesting one if not a dangerous one as well.
A/N That's all folks, at least for this story. I finally finished this book and it's over 100K words. I'm so happy and proud of myself to have finally finished this. I really hoped you liked this last chapter (as well as the little cliffhanger) and I can't wait for you guys to see what I have planned for the sequel. Though, I will probably be taking a bit of hiatus for this book universe before writing the sequel as I want to finish my Percy Jackson Tratie fanfiction that is currently only posted on my account. Once I finish that, I will start the sequel. I already have some ideas that I want to include in it that I am excited to write about.
Until the sequel,
Knk6700
P.S. My readers, I would like to know if you think that it could be possible that Harry could go to Jasmine instead of Petunia like he originally did. I had been looking into it, but I'm not sure since although Jasmine is a blood relative of Lily's she isn't the closest blood relative like Petunia was. So, do you all think that it would be possible for him to live with Jasmine instead of Petunia, but with the protection from his mother's sacrifice still being effective? I've been tossing the idea around for a while, but I'm still not sure whether it would fit within the already canon storyline. Let me know what you guys think.
