The Dreamers
Chapter Five
Jasmine was sitting in a chair in what she somehow knew was Dumbledore's office, but there was no Dumbledore present. She was fiddling with something in her hands, but her conscious self couldn't make her subconscious self look down to see what it was.
Suddenly, there was a shout down below, the password to get into Dumbledore's office. There were footsteps hurrying up the stairs, but the voice was not that of the old Headmaster, and neither were the footsteps. Startled at the furious knocking on the door, Jasmine quickly put what was in her hands (a chain or a necklace, she now saw) around her neck and ducked under Dumbledore's desk, holding her breath as the door was thrown open.
Jasmine heard a growl of frustration from the person who had obviously needed Professor Dumbledore very badly to have made such a commotion just to get up to the office, and then they turned and stalked out of the room, slamming the door shut with such force that the portraits of the previous Headmasters on the wall began shouting indignantly and calling the man a fool for being so careless.
When Jasmine thought the person was safely down the stairs and on their way, she crawled out from under the desk and was about to take her place in the chair opposite Dumbledore's empty one again when the Headmaster himself came bursting through the door, grabbing Jasmine's arm and pulling her to the door.
"Where are we going?" Jasmine wondered aloud, but trusted Dumbledore's judgment and followed him down the stairs.
"We must hurry and get to the Hospital Wing." Dumbledore said before muttering something else, "It is very important that you are with her now."
"Who?" Jasmine questioned, and then her heart sank and dread filled her entire body. Delia! "What happened to her?"
Dumbledore didn't reply, but Jasmine could see that he was quickening his pace as they neared the Infirmary. Jasmine was stepping right beside him now, and as they reached the door, Jasmine pushed it aside and ran right into Madame Pomfrey.
"Where is she?" Jasmine asked.
Madame Pomfrey did not respond, just pointed in the direction of the bed closest to them, a curtain pulled tightly around the person inside. Jasmine gripped the edges of the crisp curtain and pulled them aside to see in…
Jasmine awoke with a little jump. She waited until her heart slowed to a normal rate before reaching to the small table beside her and pulling the chain to turn on the light. The room was immediately filled with a faint purple glow, as the light had a purple glass shade covering the bulb.
Jasmine reached over to feel for Delia, but she wasn't there. Jasmine sat up straight and searched the bed and the floor, thinking maybe Delia had fallen out of the bed while she was sleeping, but the little girl was nowhere to be seen.
"Delia!" Jasmine shouted, hopping out of the bed. This was not happening. She was not going to lose her sister.
Just then the door to the bathroom opened and Delia emerged looking pale and tired. She turned off the light to the bathroom and slowly walked over to Jasmine, who was standing at the end of the big bed and staring down at her small sister.
"Honey, what's the matter?" Jasmine asked, pulling Delia into her arms the second she was close enough to reach. She then put her hand to Delia's forehead. It was burning hot.
"I don't feel good." Delia murmured, swaying a little when Jasmine released her tight hold. "I got sick."
"Oh, baby. Come on, you need to get back into bed. I'll get you something to drink." Jasmine guided Delia to the bed and helped her under the covers before leaving the bedroom and drifting into the other room in search of a cup.
Jasmine found nothing of the sort lying around, and after she'd looked everywhere and was about to give up, she turned and saw on the coffee table in front of the green couch was a pitcher of water and two glasses. Jasmine frowned, knowing that had not been there a moment ago. She shrugged her shoulders and filled one of the glasses with water to take back to Delia.
When she got to the bed, though, Delia had already drifted off to sleep. Jasmine didn't want to have to wake her up, but she knew it was impossible to avoid. She had to know what happened in Delia's dream. Hers didn't make sense without knowing what Delia saw. She softly shook her sister awake and handed her the glass of water.
"Drink this, baby." Jasmine whispered, pulling Delia gently into a sitting position while she drank the water. When she finished, Jasmine set the glass on the table and took her wand. "Accio pitcher!" Jasmine called, and the pitcher of water floated into the room and was set down on the table beside the empty glass.
She then turned back to Delia and said, "Now, I need to know what you dreamt about just before you woke up, okay?"
Delia shook her head no. "What do you mean 'no', Delia? It's really important. I have to know what happened to you." Jasmine was frustrated at her sister's lack of cooperation.
"I didn't dream anything." Delia answered.
"You didn't dream anything." Jasmine repeated slowly. "How can that be?" She then remembered the spell Sean had told her earlier so that Delia wouldn't have a bad dream. The spell must have continued while Delia was sleeping this time too because the dream was bad. It had to have been bad, otherwise why would Delia have been in the Hospital Wing with a curtain closed around her bed?
Jasmine suddenly felt uneasy and took a seat on the edge of the bed. Delia frowned, seeming a little better than before now. She asked, "Why? What happened in your dream?"
"I was in Dumbledore's office," Jasmine began, a faraway look in her eyes as she saw the dream flashing before them again. "Dumbledore was not there, but I think I was supposed to be waiting for him. I heard someone coming up the stairs and I hid because it wasn't Dumbledore and I didn't want this person to know I was there. He left and then Dumbledore came and told me I had to come with him to the Hospital Wing. You were there. You were in a bed, but the curtain was pulled around it. I went to open the curtain and then-"
"No, don't tell me! I don't want to be dead!" Delia interrupted, her eyes wide with fright. "Why did you dream that about me, Jassy?"
"Then I woke up, Delia." Jasmine finished. "I don't know why I dreamt that. I don't know what happened to you, or what you were doing. All I know is what I saw because you weren't dreaming. If you had been, then I'd know what happened to you."
"I'm sorry." Delia said. "I didn't know I wasn't dreaming until I woke up."
"That's okay. I was just worried. I don't want to dream about you being hurt." Jasmine told her.
Delia yawned, nestling down into the blankets and pulling Snowball close to her. "I'm tired, Jassy. Can I go to sleep now? I'll dream this time, I promise." Delia said, trying to keep her eyes open.
"Yeah, hon, go to sleep." Jasmine climbed into bed beside her little sister and pulled the light chain which turned off and engulfed them in darkness once more. "Goodnight Delia."
"Goodnight Jassy. I love you." Delia said, asleep the second the words were past her lips.
"I love you too." Jasmine whispered to the small girl who was now breathing softly into her neck. Jasmine pulled the warm sheet over her shoulder and closed her eyes to fall asleep once more. She hoped Delia would dream this time.
The room was completely dark, and very small. Jasmine could stretch her arms out and feel the sides of the walls. She didn't know why or how she happened to be in this space, but she couldn't seem to get the door open. In fact, there was no door at all. When Jasmine realized this she began to scream, but no sound came out. She couldn't get enough air, and then she…
Jasmine sat up in a bed that was not her big purple bed, and was not being shared with Delia. It was a large bed with white cotton sheets and a checkered homemade quilt which she was lying under. She threw the blankets off her legs and swung her legs around the side of the bed to rest upon the floor. Where was this place?
She stood up and explored the room. There was a chest in the corner of the room, but try as she might she could not get it open. There was a big window with sheer white willowy curtains blowing from the wind, but when she tried to look out, the window slammed shut and the curtain could not be pulled aside. Jasmine gave up on trying to find a way out of the room when suddenly a wailing was heard from outside the door, coming closer.
"I don't want to go with you! You're mean! Let me go! I want my sister! Jassy!" The last word rang through Jasmine's head when she finally realized that the small screaming child was her sister!
"Delia! Hey! Come back here with her!" Jasmine shouted, banging her fists on the locked door when she heard the fading screams of her little sister.
"Jassy?" Delia questioned, sounding as if she were getting closer. "Jassy, please, where are you?"
"I'm in here!" Jasmine beat on the door, trying once again to get it open. "Delia, I'm in this room! The door's locked!"
"Jassy, I can't get it open." Jasmine heard Delia's voice just on the other side of the door now. She was pleading. Pleading without saying the words, but Jasmine knew Delia wanted her to find some way to get to her because she was scared. "He's gonna come back. I just know he is. He's gonna come back and take me."
"No, no he's not. Not if I have a say in the matter." Jasmine reassured her small sister. She saw four tiny fingers appeared under the door, wiggling to catch her attention. Jasmine bent down and touched them with her own.
"It is you." Delia said, sounding like she was on the verge of tears. Suddenly the fingers were pulled back out and Delia's breathing stopped for a moment. "He's coming. Jassy, hurry! Please come out! You have to get me. I don't want to go with him again."
"Okay, calm down. Don't make any noise, just stay where you are, I'm going to get us out of here." Jasmine stood and raced around the room trying to find a way out, or to get out, but there was nothing.
Then Jasmine remembered something her mother taught her. Jasmine rushed back to the door, pulling her wand out of her pocket. She pointed at the door and said, "Alohamora!" There was a click.
Jasmine reached for the doorknob. "Jassy, where are you?" Delia whimpered. Jasmine turned the knob and the door opened. She breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of her sister crouched at the door, pleading to get in. Jasmine grabbed her around the waist and pulled her inside, shutting the door behind them.
"It's okay, it's okay. We'll get out of here now." Jasmine promised. Squeezing Delia tightly, she headed for the window and repeated the spell to unlock it, but this time it didn't work.
Jasmine let out a squeal of anger before picking up a chair set beside a small table and throwing it at the window. The window broke, sending glass flying everywhere. Jasmine protected Delia behind her back, shielding her eyes from any pieces. Then she turned back around and kicked the rest of the glass away. She leaned out the window and looked down.
"Perfect." Jasmine said as she spotted that they were on the third floor, but there was a giant lake right outside. "Let's just hope the water's deep enough. And we can jump that far. Whatever."
Jasmine held out her arms for Delia to climb into and she perched herself on the edge of the window. "You ready?" She asked her sister.
"Not really." Delia replied, looking uneasily down at the water.
"Well…" Jasmine thought for half a second if there was another way out of the room. Nope. She stood real quick and propelled her and Delia off the side of the house and out to the water, she hoped.
Delia screamed and pushed her face into Jasmine's chest so she wouldn't have to see. Just before they hit the water, Jasmine yelled, "Hold your breath!" She took a big gulp of air and held it in.
They plunged into the water. It was cold and dark, and Jasmine couldn't seem to get her and Delia back to the top. Her air supply was running out and she was sure Delia was about to burst. In a flash, she was pulling off her shoes and socks and doing the same to Delia. That was less weight, and she could kick them up to the top faster, but it was still taking too long. She could see a faint light in the distance that was the sun and the air. Jasmine pulled off her sweatshirt, first taking her wand and holding on to it tightly, kicking one last time as they emerged from the water, both girls gasping for air. Jasmine and Delia swam to the far side of the lake, the one away from the house they were just enclosed in.
"Jassy, I can't swim, I keep sinking." Delia complained from a few feet behind Jasmine.
"Take off your jeans." Jasmine suggested, treading water while Delia caught up.
"What?" Delia asked huffily. "I can't just take my pants off, or I'll be in my underwear!"
"And your tee shirt." Jasmine pointed out.
Delia tread water in front of Jasmine, her eyebrows raised.
"Oh come on, I will too. Okay?" Jasmine offered.
Delia thought about it for a second and then nodded. "Fine, but you first."
Jasmine rolled her eyes, but unbuttoned her pants and kicked them off, then pulled her shirt over her head and let it sink to the bottom of the lake. She was now treading water in a bra and underwear, gripping a wand in her left hand. She had thought the idea was a good one, but now she was praying they wouldn't meet up with anyone.
Delia's eyes widened before she took off her own pants. She left on her shirt though and they started swimming again. "I cannot believe I am in my underwear." Delia announced.
"Yeah, well, at least you've got your shirt on." Jasmine said.
"I didn't tell you to take yours off." Delia laughed. "We're almost there, aren't we, Jassy?"
"Yeah, we are." Jasmine agreed, her feet beginning to graze the sand at the bottom. When she could reach, she began walking up the shore, Delia doing the same.
"Where are we supposed to go now?" Delia questioned her big sister.
Jasmine shrugged, "Anywhere but back to that house."
"Whose house is that?" Delia asked.
"I don't know, Delia. Who was trying to take you?" Jasmine asked an important question before Delia asked another.
Delia looked straight into her sister's identical green eyes, "He was very bad." That was all she said.
"Okay…" Jasmine accepted this answer, until she could get a better one out of her. "Let's go this way." Jasmine began walking in the direction of woods.
They walked in silence for a few minutes, until they heard voices that were not their own. "Jasmine…" Delia said.
"I know, I hear." Jasmine replied in a whisper. She put a finger to her lips to show Delia not to speak, and then she ducked in between two very large trees which were growing close together. She pulled Delia tightly to her and whispered, "Don't say anything, okay?" Delia nodded her head and they waited.
The faint voices had grown louder, clearer, closer. The leaves and twigs were crunching and snapping under their heavy footsteps as they approached, seeming to head in the exact direction where Jasmine and Delia were hiding, but not knowing this. Delia whimpered through Jasmine's fingers which were covering her mouth and she pressed her little body against her big sister's as tightly as she could.
"It's okay." Jasmine whispered as quietly as she could, wrapping both of her arms around her small sister's wet and shivering body and trying to comfort her as best she could.
"Did you hear that?" One voice questioned another. Jasmine had figured out there were only two of them, both men.
"No, hear what?" The second one snapped at the first. Jasmine cocked her head to the side, listening intently.
"I thought I heard…something. Never mind." The first one replied. These were not men. They were boys. Jasmine frowned, trying to pick out where she'd heard these voices before.
"Let's just go get those two and get the hell out of here." The second voice told the first. "I'm sick of that old windbag sending us out to save their asses when they don't even need saving. They've probably escaped already."
"Don't call Dumbledore an old windbag." The first scolded.
"Don't tell me what to do, Weasel." Jasmine gasped when she heard this. The two voices were Sean and Malfoy! Malfoy continued, "Besides, why does that old man think that I'm going to listen to him? I'm a Malfoy, not a secret keeper. I don't need to stay here and take his every command like a good Dumbledore man. I'm not. I am a Malfoy."
"Shut your face, you don't even know what you're saying." Sean said, and Jasmine knew he had that 'I-don't-even-care' look on his face like he did on the train. "Look, do you see that?"
"Do I see what?" Malfoy was obviously offended by Sean's previous words.
"There's water on the ground. Do you see it?" Sean took a step forward and Jasmine and Delia could see half of his body, his arm pointing at the ground.
"Yes, idiot, I did see that." Malfoy sighed. "Which means what, smart one? Have you figured that part out yet?" Malfoy paused for Sean to say something, but he didn't. "That's what I thought. Let me fill you in. It means that they got out of the house, swam across the lake, and are in the woods right now hiding from us."
Sean said, "What," just as Malfoy came up behind Jasmine, blocking her from ducking out of the trees and running, which was what she'd been thinking of doing for the last five minutes. Sean turned to see what Malfoy was doing and spotted Delia and Jasmine. He frowned and asked, "Why were you hiding from us?"
Jasmine let her arms drop from around her small sister, as she was pulling away to run from Malfoy and see Sean, and instead wrapped them around herself as a blush crept slowly up her cheeks. Sean saw this and glanced down before turning red himself, his mouth dropping open to form the word 'oh'. Delia saw the awkwardness and explained to Sean, "I couldn't swim, so Jasmine said I should take off my pants, but I wouldn't do it unless she did, so…yeah. That's what happened."
Jasmine tried to turn around so she could stop blushing, but found herself staring into the smirking face of Malfoy. He just crossed his arms over his chest and smirked at her for a moment before taking off his green Slytherin robe and handing it to her silently. She quickly slipped into it before saying, "Thanks." He shrugged and looked away.
"Jassy…" Delia started in a warning tone.
Jasmine glanced down at her sister, who was glaring at her, and then…
Jasmine woke up at the same time as Delia. The sun was sliding under the curtains of the windows and settling the room in a warm morning glow. Jasmine stretched her arms and legs before getting out of the big purple bed and retrieving the red and pink journals for her and Delia.
"Here sweetie, we have to write down our dreams in these every morning, okay? Dumbledore said he's going to have to read them at the end of every week to check everything out. So you have to promise you'll write down all of the dreams you have in this pink journal." Jasmine said, handing the pink journal and a sparkly pink pen to her little sister.
"Good, maybe he'll have your head examined once he reads about the way you were talking to a Malfoy in that last one." Delia said, taking the journal and pen without even looking at Jasmine.
"What are you talking about?" Jasmine questioned, sitting down beside Delia and beginning to write down the dreams she had the previous night.
Delia huffed and then said, "Don't you even. I can't believe you would actually take his robes. That's disgusting. It was probably diseased. You're going to turn evil now."
"Delia, honestly, it was just a dream. I wouldn't take anything from him really." Jasmine assured her sister.
"Promise?" Delia asked, looking up at Jasmine for the first time all morning.
"Yes, I promise." Jasmine said smiling. "But you have to remember one thing, he knows about our dreams now, and Dumbledore said we have to learn to trust him."
Delia rolled her eyes and shook her head. "I can't, Jassy. I just can't. You don't understand. There's something about him that I can't trust. I'll try, you know I will, but I don't know if I ever will."
"As long as you try." Jasmine shrugged, hoping that Malfoy was not as bad as Delia thought he was.
Jasmine finished writing her dreams and said to Delia, "Hurry up and finish. I'm going to take a shower."
Delia snapped her journal shut and left it on the bed as she hopped down. "I'm coming, too."
Jasmine placed her red journal on the table beside the bed and followed her sister into the bathroom. Her green eyes followed Delia's dark head, narrowing at the sight of the ends of her black hair. "Delia…" Jasmine took a bunch of Delia's hair in between her fingers and felt them, "your hair is wet."
Delia pulled her hair out of Jasmine's grip and grabbed on to a chunk of Jasmine's hair. "So? Yours is too." She informed her.
"What? It is?" Jasmine's eyes widened as she felt her own damp hair.
"What does that mean?" Delia asked. Jasmine was too busy trying to figure out how it could be possible that their hair was wet to answer. "Whatever, you're weird." Delia turned on the shower and waited until it was at a temperature she liked before pulling off her nightgown and getting in.
She stuck her head back out to frown at Jasmine and say, "Are you coming? You're the one that has class, not me."
Jasmine snapped out of her daze and took off her own pajamas before getting in the shower with her little sister. She quickly washed her hair and got out, leaving Delia to be slow and sing songs she made up. Jasmine dried off with a fluffy pale blue towel that smelled of baby powder and hurried back into the purple bedroom to dress in her new school robes. She brushed through her curly dark hair and pulled it up into a messy bun.
"Delia, are you gonna come get some breakfast?" Jasmine called to her sister as she made her way to the table beside the bed where her journal lay. She picked it up and turned to the page where she wrote about the dream from the night before and added at the bottom of the page:
We woke up with wet hair.
"Come on." Jasmine jumped at the sound of Delia's voice right behind her. "I'm ready."
Jasmine put down the journal and smiled at Delia, who had put on her new robes to match Jasmine, but did nothing about her unruly black hair. Jasmine picked up her hair brush and ran it through Delia's thick hair before pulling it out of her face and tying it back into a ponytail.
"There, now we're ready." Jasmine agreed.
As they walked down the stairs to the Gryffindor common room, Jasmine remembered the password to their room and told Delia. Delia smiled at this, liking that it had to do with her and Jasmine. Before they entered the common room, Jasmine bent down to look into Delia's eyes and said, "Delia, you have to remember not to talk about our dreams to anyone, okay?"
Delia nodded, "I know, I know."
"I know you know, I'm just making sure you know that you can't talk about our dreams to Sean because other people could hear." Jasmine said as an example.
"I thought Sean could know?" Delia wondered.
"Well, yeah, just be careful where you talk to him about them." Jasmine warned.
"I will." Delia promised. "Can we go eat now? I'm really hungry."
"Yeah, let's go." Jasmine followed Delia down the stairs into the common room and past the early risers who were sitting by the fire speaking in whispers to their friends. Jasmine hoped they weren't talking about her. She looked down and walked right by them and out of the portrait of the Fat Lady and was starting down the corridor when she realized Delia was not right in front of her anymore.
"Jassy…?" Delia peeked out of the portrait hole and motioned for Jasmine to come back.
"What are you doing?" Jasmine asked just as Sean exited the portrait hole along with her little sister. "Oh. Hey."
"'Morning," Sean waved lazily, looking like he hadn't gotten much sleep. After Sean and Delia came out of the portrait hole, there came Sean's cousins, Adam and Jaden, and Jake and Emma. "Are you going down for breakfast?" Sean asked Jasmine.
"Yeah." Jasmine nodded.
"Mind if we join you?" Jaden questioned, catching up to walk beside her.
"Of course we don't." Delia answered for Jasmine as she came up in between her and Jaden.
Sean began walking on Jasmine's other side, talking to Jake and Adam about the new Quidditch team this year, and Emma hung back a little, walking near her brother.
"Jasmine, your dad was a Seeker, right?" Jaden asked, getting the boys' attention as well. Jasmine nodded. "You should try out for the Quidditch team this year."
Jasmine shrugged, "I don't know."
"She's really good." Delia talked over Jasmine. "She won't admit it, but Daddy says she's just as fast as he was on a broom, maybe even faster."
"Oh stop it, Delia." Jasmine said quietly.
"Don't be shy about it. If you're good then you're good and you should try out." Jaden told her.
"I guess I could give it a try." Jasmine said with a small smile. She glanced over at Sean to see what he thought of this. He was smiling.
"So Em, where's crazy Cassia this morning?" Jake asked his sister.
She rolled her hazel eyes at her brother before replying, "We got into a fight last night."
"Again? What about this time?" Jake asked, giving Sean a pointed look.
"She just keeps trying to tell me who I can and can't be friends with and I'm sick of it." Emma said heatedly. "I don't want to talk about it to you."
"Yes you do." Jake pushed her for more information.
"No, Jake, I don't." Emma said, her eyes flashing with anger. "So stop bothering me about it."
"It's okay Emma. Don't let your dimwit of a brother get to you." A breathy voice came from behind. "You know he never wanted you to be my friend anyways."
Jasmine, as well as the rest of the group, looked behind them to see Cassia following at a close distance, her cat-like eyes seeming to glow with her anger. "You will always be my friend, though, Emma. You know that, don't you?" Cassia said this sounding like a threat instead of a comfort.
Emma swallowed and nodded her head, "Of course, you tell me all the time." Emma glared at Jake as if to say this was his fault.
"That's right." Cassia confirmed, looping her arm through Emma's and leading her down an intersecting corridor.
"Merlin, she is a scary girl." Adam said once Cassia and Emma were out of sight. "No joke."
"Yeah, and she just won't leave Emma alone. I don't know how many times Emma has tried to tell that girl she doesn't want to be her friend, but every time it's like Cassia brainwashes her or something." Jake told them.
"That's weird. I always told Emma that Cassia is an odd girl." Jaden spoke up as they walked through the doors leading into the Great Hall.
The Great Hall was full of students all wearing their school robes and stuffing their mouths full of delicious breakfast choices. Jasmine and Delia sat with Jaden, Adam, Sean and Jake; Delia, of course, in between Sean and Jasmine. Jaden sat of Jasmine's other side, comparing their class schedules. Jasmine found out that she shared all but one class with Jaden and all classes with Sean and Jake.
"Ugh!" Jaden made a face as she examined her class schedule closer. "Sean," Sean looked over at the sound of his name, "did you see how many classes they put Gryffindor and Slytherin together for?"
Sean shook his head no and reached over to take the schedule from her. He shook his head again as he read it, "That's five out of eight for me, and four out of eight for you. How are we going to manage with that lot on the other side of the classroom almost everyday?" He waved in the Slytherin table's direction.
Adam snickered, "Bad luck for you, man. I've only got two classes with Slytherin this year."
"Shut up." Jake leaned across the table to punch Adam on the shoulder.
At this moment, Emma and Cassia walked into the Great Hall, Cassia looking smug and Emma looking sad. Emma sat down across from Jake, and Cassia sat down next to her.
"Where were you two?" Jake asked, glaring at Cassia.
Emma opened her mouth to speak, but Cassia answered first, "We were just discussing our little argument from last night. We decided it was just a misunderstanding, didn't we, Emma?"
Emma nodded her head in agreement and then looked up to her brother as she said, "I thought she meant something else, but she didn't."
"That's right." Cassia smiled and smoothed down Emma's dirty blonde hair fondly. Emma ducked her head at Cassia's touch, and Jasmine saw Delia straighten up next to her and she knew Delia was about to say something.
"She doesn't like when you do that." Delia said and stared straight into Cassia's unusual yellow eyes as the older girl stared her down.
"How would you know that?" Cassia snapped. "You're just a freaky little baby, who must have some abnormalities if you're here at the age of what, four? And you're trying to tell me you know what my best friend is thinking more than I do?"
Delia didn't even blink, "I'm six."
"Whatever. You still don't know what you're talking about, so I suggest you shut your mouth, or I'll…" Cassia came to an abrupt stop when she saw the look on Jasmine's face.
"Or you'll what, Cassia?" Jasmine questioned curtly, in a way that rivaled her mother's. Cassia didn't answer. "Don't threaten my sister. If there is one thing that you never want to do, it's that."
Cassia huffed and stood up. She hovered beside Emma for a moment, waiting for her to follow, but Emma didn't even look up from her breakfast. "You will regret this." Cassia hissed quietly before turning and hurrying out of the Great Hall.
"It's about time someone did that to her." Adam mumbled once Cassia was a safe distance out of hearing range. He cracked a smile to ease the tension, and soon he was imitating the look on Cassia's face and had everyone laughing.
"We better get going, class starts in fifteen minutes." Jaden informed the group.
"Aw, you always have to rain on my parade, don't you sis?" Adam said with a mouth full of hot cakes, and a drop of syrup dribbling down his chin.
"Don't call me that. I don't want to be associated with you." Jaden replied, turning away in disgust.
"What's wrong with being associated with me?" Adam asked, looking around at Jasmine and Sean.
"You have a little something…" Emma took a napkin and wiped the syrup off his face, "There."
"Well thank you." Adam smiled and then said to Jaden, "See, it was as easy as that. Can you be associated with me now?" Jasmine shook her head and laughed. Adam shrugged, "I give up then. You're not that important anyways. Ask Sean. He said so yesterday."
"Oh will you get over that? It was a joke." Sean groaned.
"Jassy, where am I supposed to go while you have class?" Delia tugged on Jasmine's sleeve.
"Oh," Jasmine almost forgot Delia couldn't come to class with her. "I have to take you back up to our room. We have to go now."
"I'll come with you. We both have History of Magic anyways." Jaden stood up with Jasmine and Delia.
"Okay, thanks." Jasmine smiled.
"Em, you want to come, too? You have Advanced History of Magic with us, right?" Jaden questioned Emma, who was still looking a little sad.
Emma seemed surprised to be asked along, "Yeah, I do." She put down her fork and walked with Jaden, Jasmine and Delia back up to Gryffindor Tower.
Jasmine led the way to the top of the stairs and knocked for times on the wall as Dumbledore did. She then showed the girls up to the other door and asked Delia to say the password so she knew her younger sister had remembered it.
"Jassy, should I?" Delia didn't have to say more for Jasmine to know what she was talking about. She was worried about Jaden and Emma knowing the password to their room.
"It's okay." Jasmine assured her. She told Jaden and Emma, "Just promise you guys won't tell anyone our password, okay? I'm not sure how many people Dumbledore wanted us to tell about this."
"That's okay, we promise not to tell anyone, right Emma?" Jaden said quickly.
"Yeah, I promise." Emma added.
"Dreamers," Delia whispered to the door and it swung open.
Jaden and Emma gasped. "This is your room?" Jaden was astonished. "This is way cool."
Jasmine nodded in agreement. Jaden and Emma wandered about the room, looking at things, while Jasmine showed Delia the toy corner. Delia's eyes lit up with excitement. She said, "All this for me? I love it here already."
Jasmine let out a small laugh before kneeling in front of her little sister and taking her hand, "Stay here, okay? You can't leave this room until I come for you at lunchtime, okay?" Delia nodded to both of Jasmine's questions. "You have lots of nice things to play with, and you can try and write a letter to Mum and Daddy, too. Will you be all right?"
"Yes, I think so." Delia tilted her head to the side and smiled sadly. "I think I'm going to miss you."
"I'll only be gone for a couple hours." Jasmine told her, scooping Delia into her arms and hugging her tightly. "Don't get in trouble. I'll see you soon." Jaden and Emma were waiting by the door, watching the exchange between the two sisters, a smile on their lips.
"I love you." Delia said in her baby voice.
"Aw, I love you too." Jasmine made her way to the door. She turned back, kissed her hand and blew it to Delia. Delia caught it in her hand and held it to her heart. Jasmine smiled and left the room, following Jaden and Emma down the stairs.
None of them spoke until they were out of the Gryffindor common room and walking down the corridor towards the History of Magic classroom. Emma broke the silence by saying quietly, "You and your sister have a real connection, don't you?"
Jasmine nodded, biting her lip, "Yeah, we do." Even more than you know, Jasmine added in her head.