This chapter is a stepping stone is the H/J thing.
Title: Trouble Minds and Desperate Times
Main Characters: Hermione, Harry, Ron, Draco (in later chapters), Jasmine, and a few others
Summary: There's a new girl at school, but is she friend or foe? And this time has Harry fallen a little to far in? Dumbledore is still with them and Ron & Hermione are hiding a secret.
Spoilers: Everything.
Other: Set in the 7th year. Dumbledore is still alive and Harry is forcing himself further and further into the ground. Will the new girl pull him out? Or will she step on his head! The first few chapters are quite short, but then they get longer.
Disclaimer: If you recognise it, it's because it isn't mine. I only own Jasmine and Salvius, and maybe one or two other characters.
Chapter 5
The Ultimate Christmas
Harry and Ron woke up at about the same time. "Presents!" Ron exclaimed.
And both boys scuttled to the bottom of their bed and haled the presents onto their beds. "Ready, steady, go!" they both chanted diving in.
Harry got yet another jumper from Mrs. Weasley, a couple of odd socks from Dobby, a selection of chocolate and joke presents from Ron. From Hermione he got a scarf and gloves, with the message: You'll be needing these.
"How weird is this!" Harry said, passing the message to Ron.
"Hmmmm I always knew she was odd in the head!" Ron replied, with an evil glint in his eye.
Harry looked down to find, amidst the empty wrapping paper, there was only a card left. He ripped the envelope off and read:
Dear Harry,
Merry Christmas!
Love Jasmine
P.S. I'll be giving you your present after breakfast. And bring Hermione's present, you'll be needing it!
"What's wrong?" Ron asked, seeing Harry's perplexed face.
"Look," Harry said, throwing the card at Ron.
"Ah, maybe Hermione isn't mad. But I have some bad news."
"What?"
"I reckon your girlfriend is."
Harry glared jokingly at Ron. He also had that annoying male thing at hearing the word girlfriend. "I reckon we better go downstairs, I'm starved. And I've run out of presents!"
They pulled on clothes and went downstairs to find very few people there. They sat down in the middle of the Gryffindor table. "I've seen these plates somewhere before. English breakfast!" Ron told the plate, and suddenly a full English breakfast appeared.
"Wow, English breakfast," Harry told his plate.
Just like Ron's and English breakfast appeared.
"Merry Christmas!" Ron and Harry turned to see Jasmine and Hermione, both grinning from ear to ear.
Jasmine was wearing the necklace, "I love the present!" she said, and kissed Harry on the cheek.
Immediately butterflies erupted in his stomach. He turned to Hermione, who looked different in some way. Instead of her normal, pretty grubby trainers she was wearing midnight blue pumps and had a hair slide in, that grasped her hair back and somehow made it look a heck of a lot less bushy.
They all sat down and ate, while trying to interrogate Hermione and Jasmine into telling them what Harry's present was about.
"Right, you need to put everything on this list in a rucksack and I'll meet you in the hall at eight fifty. Glückliches Weihnachten!"
"Huh?"
"Navidad feliz."
She was greeted by two vacant stares and a smug Hermione. "Natale felice!" she told them, "Joyeux Noël!"
"Ahhh… Merry Christmas!" Harry said, but Ron still looked rather like a rabbit in the headlights.
Harry looked down at the list:
Gloves,
Scarf,
Long, thick socks,
A coat,
Wear comfortable shoes and clothes.
See you at eight fifty!
Harry and Ron went round the dormitory collecting these items. "I reckon she's kidnapping you and taking you to the North Pole," Ron said, with such a deep pan voice that Harry burst out laughing.
"Oh, it's quarter to; I better go, see you later. I hope at least!"
Harry walked off to the entrance hall. Jasmine was already there. She was leaning against the wall, wearing a blue polo shirt, Harry's necklace, jeans, Converse and a long fitted coat. "Ready?" she asked, looking up at him.
Harry nodded, "right, follow me."
They walked through the doors, "we need to get out of Hogwarts so we can apparate."
"Where to?" he asked her, hoping that maybe she would tell him.
"Ah, now that would be telling!"
They walked for about fifteen more minutes. "Hold my hand, I'll apparate us, as you have no idea where we're going."
Suddenly they were lifted off the ground and forced into a small, from what Harry could tell, dressing room. "Where are we? Harry asked looking round. He caught a look of himself in the mirror and automatically tried to flatten his hair.
"Ralph Lauren." Jasmine replied.
"Isn't that a designer?" Harry said, once remembering Uncle Vernon showing off because he'd bought a shirt from there, wore it for weeks Wana get my money's worth don't I he'd said when questioned. "Yeah, the owner of this branch is a wizard and he owes me a quite a few favours. We better go find him," Jasmine said, pulling back the curtain and walking out.
Harry followed her. Then suddenly from behind them someone said, "Jas! How are you darling?"
Harry and Jasmine turned to find an older looking man with greyish hair. He was very well dressed and smiling at both of them. The man stepped forward and kissed Jasmine on both cheeks. "Thomas, how are you? You look well. Oh gosh, not another pair of Guccis?" Jasmine said.
"Well, you know me, not getting any younger! Loafers are my babies. So, who's the boyfriend?" Thomas asked, turning to Harry, "my God! Harry Potter! Jasmine you didn't tell me you were going out with Mr. Potter?"
Jasmine looked unsure what to say. She looked up at him and smiled, "you always were a big man with the names. One day you'll learn that there's more than that."
Thomas raised his eyebrows. "I doubt it; I have an eye for Harrods and a bank account of Woolworths. You remember how much you used to annoy Isabella, with all your deep stuff. You really brought the meaning to 'not just a pretty face.'
"Eugh, I couldn't stand her. If you weren't talking about shoes she couldn't care less," she turned to Harry, "Isabella and I were forced to do a lot of jobs together. You see we made an interesting look apparently. I was the tall, dark, deep one and she was the petite peroxide queen with the intellect of a fish. Oh, and the emotional capacity too. She had more men than there were days!"
"You never did like each other. But, you've had your fair share of men! Sorry Harry, nice to meet you," Thomas said, shaking his hand, "right well what will it be today? There's a new collection in the store Jas."
"Thanks Thomas, but we're here for Harry. Will you be okay with Thomas for like, 20 minutes?"
Harry nodded. "Right, we'll be fine, luckily for you Ralph took a liking to you! Let's you take what you want!" Thomas said.
"See you soon!" Jasmine waved, walking away.
"Harry there's something I'd like to show you before we begin," Thomas told Harry and they both stepped into an elevator, "Harry I expect you think Jasmine is pretty good- looking."
"Er… yes," Harry said, wondering if this was a trick question.
Thomas continued, "Well you see she if my muse. I am being modest on her behalf. Harry what I am trying to say is that she is very important.
Harry frowned, wondering if he'd been left with some sort of mad man.
They walked into, what looked like the entrance to the shop. Harry looked around. Suddenly he realised that all the walls were covered by enormous photos of Jasmine. Harry had thought she was very pretty, but in these photos she looked beyond stunning. In the middle of the shop, above the counter, was a monochrome photo that stood out the most. Her eyes looked very dark. She was sitting on the floor, with crossed legs and leaning forward. Her hair was loosely tied and she was smiling gently. She was wearing a dark dress that was tight round her waist and puffed out like a ballerina skirt from her hips. "I don't understand," Harry said at last.
"See, the thing is. Jas is a very important asset to me. And I'd lose a lot of money if she, say, died."
"I'm not a murderer if that's what you're insinuating."
"No, I know, I just don't want you putting thoughts into her head that she can defeat Salvius. Miss. Bailey has a certain way of finding trouble when even she's not looking for it."
"Oh… okay."
"Good. Well, I'm glad we sorted that out," his face morphed into a smile, "now let's go get us sorted."
They walked off to the men's area of the shop. "You're free to roam around."
Ten minutes later and Harry was once again in the dressing room. He was trying on various clothing items and starring at himself in the mirror. "Harry, you in here?" he heard Jasmine call.
He opened the curtain and walked out. "Gosh! I love the look. Suits you!" she walked over to him so they were both viable in the mirror.
She grinned at him and he couldn't help but grin back. "Right, what am I getting you then?"
"Oh… isn't this gonna cost you loads?"
"No, not at all. When you're the face of a designer you get a lot of stuff free. They like the advertising."
"Any scents?" Thomas asked, suddenly appearing.
"Sounds good." Jasmine said, and both her and Harry reached forward to pick up a bottle each from a tray Thomas was holding.
"Good choice."
"Thanks Thomas, this was really kind of you, being Christmas and all."
"Don't worry about it, anything for you babe."
"Come on Harry, we have a train to catch." Jasmine told him and they walked off clutching their bags.
Harry, after finding out that the clothes were free had salvaged most of the men's department. But who could blame him after years of Dudley's hand-me-downs. "Right, I thought that we should do London the non-magical way today, so we're catching a train," Jasmine told Harry, as they walked into the underground.
Harry would never have said it out loud, but the idea of going on the underground seemed pretty cool. He remembered how Dudley had rubbed it in his face how he wasn't allowed.
They bought their tickets and got on the train, which was virtually empty. They sat for a few minutes talking, when Harry suddenly exclaimed, "We actually are underground!"
Jasmine laughed, "Yep, why did you think it was called the Underground?"
"Err, I guess I thought it was just a name."
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, that sounded so stupid! He looked over at Jasmine, but she seemed to be grinning at him, "What?" he asked, laughing slightly.
"You're kinda cute," she smiled.
Hmm… he wasn't sure if he wanted to be cute. But if she found his awkward geekiness endearing then he guessed that was good. "Oh, here's our stop."
The train came to a halt, and they both got off. "The thing is, as we're going to miss lunch at school, I thought we could go out for some."
They sat down at a table next to the window, with a stunning view over London. A waiter came up and they both ordered a Christmas Lunch. Harry couldn't help but notice the stutter of the waiter as he spoke to Jasmine. Or the way she got looks everywhere they'd been. Somehow she seemed completely oblivious to this. "So…urm…what do you get in a Christmas dinner?" Jasmine asked timidly.
"You've never had a Christmas dinner before!" Harry said a little too incredulously.
"No, I've never really had a Christmas before. Well, mother tried but I'd just end up in my room and they never got any presents."
"What about your Godfather?"
"It wasn't a good time of year for him. I wasn't even allowed to mention Christmas."
It was weird. At that moment he felt closer to Jasmine then he'd ever felt to anyone before. Three months ago Harry felt like the person in the world who understood what he was going through. Like in Harry's fifth year when he was kept at the Dursley's and he had no idea what was going on. He found this so unfair that he couldn't explain. Hadn't it not been him who had saved the Philosopher's stone? Had it not been him who had killed the Basilisk in the Chamber? Had it not been him who was forced to go through with the Tri-wizard Tournament? But, now, here was Jasmine. She had to fight off Salvius every year, like clockwork, as did he with Voldermort, but she'd never had the help of Hermione or Ron. Or the guidance of Dumbledore. "I heard all about the Tri- wizard tournament. You must have been so brave," Jasmine said, smiling up at him.
Harry smiled back, trying to be modest, but failing quite miserably. Jasmine had said he was brave. Maybe he could forgive her for the 'cute' thing earlier. When, suddenly, their food arrived. There was tons of it. It spread all across the table. There was everything you could imagine. Harry looked across the table in amazement. He heard Jasmine laugh. "What?"
"Your face, you look so amazed."
Harry had liked Cho but he'd spent a lot of time feeling guilty or stupid when he was with her. But with Jasmine he felt different. She liked him with all the stupid things he did. "Tuck in," Harry exclaimed.
They both dived in. "I can't wait until we learn the Circide Charm!" Jasmine told Harry.
"The Circide Charm?"
"Yeah, you basically electrocute your opponent."
"Ah, sounds like fun."
They didn't talk much for the rest of the meal as they both seemed pretty adamant on eating as much as they can in as shorter time as possible. Sounds like Christmas. They both took a last mouthful and sat back in their chairs. "I'll get the bill."
She called over the waiter and he brought the bill. "I'll get this," Harry said, reaching for the bill.
"No way, this is my treat."
"At least let me pay half."
"Nope."
"But-"
"No buts, anyway I bet you don't have any pounds on you."
"Hmmm good point I only have you-know-what-money."
"You've met your match Harry Potter," Jasmine smiled, in a fake superhero voice.
When they walked out the restaurant it was already getting dark. "How we getting home?" Harry asked.
"Same way as we came, but not yet. We've still got the best to come," she said, smiling cheekily at him.
They got back on a train. "Are you kidnapping me this time?"
"Maybe," she grinned.
Harry's stomach made the familiar twist when she grinned.
They got off the train and came back above ground. All the street lamps where now on. They walked through St. James square and walked down some stairs. Suddenly, Jasmine put her hands over Harry's eyes. "Woah, what are you doing?" Harry asked, panicking slightly.
"Calm down dear! I just want our last stop to be a surprise," she replied coolly.
She guided him for a few minutes and then stopped. "3…2…1, open your eyes," Jasmine said, taking her hands away. Harry hesitated and then slowly opened his eyes. In front of him was basically, a large area of ice. "I thought you said no magic?" Harry asked confused.
"This isn't magic; I… er…used to date the owner. You ever been ice- skating?"
Ohhhh, that's what they were doing. "Wow, that's a lot cooler then I thought. But, no I haven't."
"I'm kinda glad. It'll be fun to teach you. Let's go find Johnny. Hey Johnny!"
There was a small semi- permanent building that they walked into. And behind it was an amazing castle- like building, apparently the Natural History Museum. They walked into a room; containing a dozen benches, a counter and behind that, lots of shelves, containing boots. "Jas! You're here! With your little boyfriend," a tall man with broad shoulders said, placing far too much emphasis on the word little. The man had similar features to Harry, dark hair green eyes, but somehow was more handsome. His hair was slightly shorter than Harry's and although his build was broad he was shorter than Harry and just a tiny bit taller than Jasmine. But the thing which made Harry feel most down-hearted was the fact that the man looked at least 25. "Hi," Harry said weakly, shaking the man's hand.
"It's most unlike you to date someone so young," Johnny said to Jasmine, "But I guess it is Harry Potter."
Jasmine's eyebrow raised and she was staring at him with a glint in her eye. "I wish people would stop saying that! And anyway Harry's the same age as me."
"No, but Jas, darling, you don't look that way."
"Oh, but Johnny, darling I dated you, even though you are vertically challenged."HHHuigiu giugiu gigHuicw
To Harry's surprise Johnny actually laughed. "Haha I guess you have moved up the totem pole."
"Right, now, could you give us the keys. I don't think we need you anymore. And I wouldn't want to keep you," Jasmine said to Harry's great satisfaction.
Johnny walked off and Harry and Jasmine were alone. "Stay here," she said to Harry and disappeared behind the counter.
She reappeared with a pair of ice- skates. "What size feet do you have?"
"Er… size eleven."
Jasmine smiled. "No need to be all manly, size 9, right?"
"Yeah," he replied sheepishly.
She then disappeared again and came back with another pair of ice- skates and then came back to his side of the counter. "This is when you need the stuff in your bag."
"I completely forgot about that."
Harry pulled his socks and ice-skates on. "I know it sounds stupid, but I'll do them up for you," Jasmine said kneeling next to Harry.
She stood up and hoisted Harry up. He stumbled. "Don't worry, you'll get used to it. Oh, yeah, could you put the rest of your stuff on and go through that door; I'll be back in a minute."
He did as he was told and went out the door, which lead him outside to the ice rink. He looked up at the trees, no sooner had he done this but they completely light up. They were covered from root to the ends of the branches in fairy lights. It was spectacular and Harry had to say, quite romantic. He had long forgotten about Johnny. Jasmine came striding through the doors, not stumbling once in the clumpy ice- skating boots. She took his hand and led him onto the ice. He reluctantly stepped on. As soon as his feet touched the ice he felt as if he no longer had control over them. "Hold onto the side, I'm just going to get the feeling back."
Jasmine skated to the middle. If Harry was honest, he could have happily stayed where he was watching her glide gracefully back and forth. She made it look so easy. She jumped and span without even so much as blinking. "Show off," he smiled.
"I've still got a long way to go. Actually I think we need something else."
She pulled her wand out of her pocket, "Datan Musique."
Music started playing from somewhere above them. She skated over to him. "Right, bend your knees slightly, good. Now try not to let your feet get too close together."
She took him firmly by the waist. He inhaled sharply. "Ready, bambi?" she asked.
"Sure," he croaked.
She started to skate backwards. He really did feel like Bambi. He remembered watching Bambi while he was pretending to make dinner. He remembered it well, especially after Dudders started crying at the end!
Then, suddenly, he started to feel his feet. "Excellent," she told him, letting go off his waist and he managed to skate, quite well on his own. "Hmmm…we need a little something," Jasmine said, lifting her wand out of her jeans, "Appero mistletoe."
Between them mistletoe appeared. Harry tried to skate forward but ended up falling, luckily, straight into her arms. She laughed and pulled him back up. He gave her a lop-sided grin and leaned towards her, kissing her softly on the lips. They broke and she said, "Mmm…I'm going to teach you to spin before we leave."
It took Harry another 20 minutes but he managed it. "This is amazing! Almost as good as riding my broom," Harry said, after performing another, very good spin.
"It's a great feeling, gliding across the ice."
She jumped into the air. "But, I agree I prefer the broom. I used to play Quidditch with Ethan."
She took Harry by the hands and spun him round. "This day has been so great."
"Good, I'm glad you enjoyed it. We better go back soon, it's almost, oh God! It's half nine, much longer and they'll lock the gates, we've been here for hours."
By the time they apparated back to the outskirts of Hogwarts it was ten o'clock. They used magic to get their brooms and flew back to school and then they went up to the Gryffindor common room, strangely it was empty. There was probably something going on in the main hall.
"God I'm tired," Jasmine said lying across a sofa.
"Me too," Harry said, lying down on a sofa opposite.
Jasmine turned so she could see Harry. Harry turned too. But, unfortunately fell straight off. "Damn," he muttered, about to get up.
"No, stay there," Jasmine said, rolling off to join him.
They moved closer together, just lying there for a few minutes. Harry could feel Jasmine's hot breath on his face. They leaned in to kiss. They lay there for at least 5 minutes, until they heard someone coming down the stairs from the boy's dormitory. Harry and Jasmine sprung to their feet, just in time to see Hermione and Ron coming down the stairs. "I thought I heard you guys come back," Hermione told them, "Harry, are you wearing lip gloss?" and she looked at Jasmine, "oh, right," she said, looking bemused.
"You had a good time then!" Ron said.
"Ron!" Hermione said, smacking him on the arm.
"So, did you really enjoy putting knife blades on the bottom of boats and then trying to balance on ice?"
"Yeah, it was good," Harry grinned, "I'm quite tired though, aren't you Jas ?"
"Ugh, don't. It was nickname Isabella made up, she knew I hated it so got everyone to call me it. I got her back though. I found out her mom calls her Baby Bella, so pretty soon so was most of the fashioning world!" Jasmine said with a satisfied grin.
"I'm tired too actually," Ron told them, and they all wondered to their dorms.