Acacia had trouble waiting to summon Jafar and the moment she did, the moment he was fully out, she hugged him tightly.
"Thank you!" she said with such emphatic relief it threw him a bit.
"I take it the training worked?"
"I had the highest score, and aside from a few scrapes and a bit of lost hair, I had the least injuries!" she said.
It was nice being appreciated for the hard work they put in. Acacia had trained her ass off and listened to his instructions properly, which was a pleasant change of pace.
A few scrapes and a much shorter hair cut was a small price to pay to survive that ridiculous task.
When she opened the egg around Jafar, she shut it as quickly as possible. The shrieking was absolutely terrible.
Jafar had an annoyed look on his face.
"Mermaids. First a fire breathing lizard, now those overly romanticized fish people," he said in disgust.
Acacia made a face herself. She barely knew the first thing about how to swim.
Any mermaid settlement would almost certainly be very deep down, and she didn't want to waste a wish over something this minor that she would likely only need once.
As Acacia was trying to think of how to get around this headache, McGonagall gave her news that made it even worse.
"A ball?" she said horrified. Forget swimming, she didn't know the first thing about dancing!
"All Champions are required to attend, Ms. Potter. I suggest you find yourself a date," said McGonagall. If she was trying for sympathy, it failed miserably.
As the dance grew closer, Acacia withdrew more and more. It didn't help that none of the boys in her age range were emotionally mature enough for her to tolerate, and most of them were busy trying to earn favor with every other girl in school. Hell, even Hermione found a date before her.
"This is ridiculous...are all the boys such cowards that they can't handle asking a girl out on a date?" complained Acacia.
Jafar said nothing...he had been invisibly watching the entire mess from the lamp, as Acacia had found a way to discreetly carry it with her everywhere by enlarging a bell, removing the small metal ball inside, and replacing it with a hollow one containing the lamp before shrinking it back to the size it was before and putting it on a necklace she never took off. It was a simple and if he was honest with himself, brilliant trick as no one would suspect she had a genie's lamp literally around her neck.
In any case he had observed the males of this school and those from the foreign one...and had been disgusted at how pathetic they were. The few that had shown interest were subtly warned off by other males or jealous females who wanted them for themselves.
And her 'friend' was so pathetic that he was unlikely to find a date without aid before the event.
"I almost wish I could take you to the ball instead, but that would only make things worse," said Acacia sighing.
"Why not?" said Jafar amused. He was bored after all, and this was the longest he had been outside the lamp since he was trapped inside.
"Well for one thing, you'd draw far too much attention and I'd never hear the end of their questions," she said. "Someone with red skin, pointed teeth and the sheer aura you let off is far too noticeable. Besides, anyone who looks at you will know immediately you're not a student."
Jafar considered this, and while he was musing inside his lamp, an idle thought occurred.
Hiding his nature as a human was a trifling matter to someone like him... he had been able to perform such feats even when he was human. And he knew for a fact that the street rat had once tricked the Genie into saving his sorry hide without a wish.
Turning human for a few hours was nothing to him. Especially since all they were doing was dancing. Besides, it had been ages since he had eaten anything.
In the end, it was her former friend's callous attitude towards his current master's inability to get a date and the fact he finally took note that she was female that decided it for him.
The next time she summoned him (mostly to vent about Ron finally deigning to notice she was a girl in the first place) he decided to act.
Jafar wrapped his magic around himself, and did his best to appear like he did as a teenager. So long as he didn't make himself look too old, it was unlikely anyone would notice.
Acacia paused, and noticed Jafar doing something...and stared.
"What...?" she said baffled.
"I trust this form would be suitable to act as your...date," he commented.
He was handsome. Caramel skin that spoke of an exotic background for someone as sheltered as her, long coal black hair that reached to his waist and barely held back by bejeweled ribbon in a loose ponytail, charcoal black eyes that were so sharp that it almost looked like he wore eyeliner. His clothing looked simple enough, but it was far different than what everyone else wore in magical England that it would draw the attention of all the fashion-obsessed girls in the school.
He had classically handsome features and appeared to be about sixteen to seventeen in age, well within the age range of the school.
And that wasn't even getting into the gold he was wearing. The golden bangles around his wrist were the only sign of his captivity, and there was a golden snake wrapped around his right arm.
In short it took everything in her not to stare and drool, just a little bit.
"Are you sure about this?" she asked.
His smirk...dear Merlin, that smirk would make every girl in that ballroom wet their knickers, house rivalry be damned.
"This is but a trifling bit of my power,"he commented, adjusting his voice a bit so it didn't tip off the teachers or adults that he wasn't human. He had a rather wonderful, rich accent that she wanted to hear more of.
Acacia's mouth ran dry and she didn't really know why that was.
Jafar smirked at her, and gave her a proper bow of respect as he took her hand.
"Well my lady, would you accept me as your date to the ball?" he said smugly.
Oh she was going to have fun with this.
Acacia was somewhat nervous. Even with the help of Lavender and Parvati, she felt incredibly awkward. It didn't help she was the only champion there without a date...she could see Draco sniggering about how "Potter never got a real date" and Pansy sneering at her. Hermione kept shooting her worried glances.
And then, it happened. Everyone went quiet as Jafar casually sauntered up to Acacia and said "Terribly sorry I'm late. There was a teacher who was incredibly difficult about someone from the village acting as the date for an active student."
Her relieved smile brightened the room, and she could see all the girls gaping in shock and no small amount of jealousy, while the boys were silently comparing themselves to this mystery male and coming up short.
"I'm just glad you're here on time," she said honestly. Jafar smirked.
Acacia inwardly wanted to cackle at the way the girls looked close to swooning. Even Fleur was giving him approving looks.
Before McGonagall could demand who he was, the doors began to open. Jafar calmly took Acacia's arm, and the two walked into the ballroom.
Jafar had to admit, it looked far better than it had last time he was in here the day before. It was acceptable.
Acacia had a wonderful time, as Jafar not only knew how to dance properly, but was able to lead her without stepping on her foot once.
She really wasn't looking forward to the questions, but fortunately he was more than adept at lying through his teeth and had set up the cover story for how she had snagged him as a date beforehand.
"So...who is he and how did you meet him?" asked Hermione.
Acacia knew that everyone was going to snoop. It was only natural.
"This is..." stared Acacia.
"My name is Jamil, it's a pleasure," he lied easily. Names had power, and there was always a chance someone would recognize his actual name.
"I ran into him in Hogsmeade, he brought up the fact that a lot of girls were buying last minute dresses and when I explained I didn't have a date he asked if he could escort me to the dance," said Acacia.
"I find it beyond strange none of the males in this castle asked to be her date, considering how fascinating she is," said Jafar with a straight face.
"He was more of a gentleman than any other boy in our year or any above it. Frankly if this is the quality of manners the boys in Hogwarts have, then I have serious doubts about whether they're worth dating later," said Acacia with a sniff. "And the less said about how Ron reacted, the better."
Ron, who was obviously snooping, flinched at that. What he didn't notice was the expression on the twin's faces overhearing that.
"So Jamil, do you have any pets?" asked Hermione, trying for small talk.
"I used to have a parrot, but I have no idea where he disappeared to. I'm afraid we got separated for reasons I'd rather not mention," said Jafar.
"Really?" said Acacia, interested.
"His name is Iago," said Jafar.
Hermione scrunched her face.
"As in the talking bird from the Aladdin movies?"
Jafar wanted to growl hearing that name.
"Well he was quite the talker...though sometimes I wish he would shut up," said Jafar.
"Aladdin?" said Acacia.
"It's a Disney movie. An orphan from the streets is hired by the sultan's grand vizier to steal something from a cave, only to be trapped inside because his pet monkey tried to steal something it shouldn't. It later turned out the grand vizier wanted to be the sultan, and when he found out that the orphan had the genie's lamp, he tried to have him killed. The orphan later marries the princess that he was in love with," explained Hermione.
"What was the vizier's name?" asked Acacia, having a sneaking suspicion if the look in Jafar's eyes were any indication.
"Jafar, and his parrot's name was Iago. The princess had a tiger named Raja, and the monkey's name was Abu. The only reason he had a chance with her is because he saved the princess and her father with the help of the genie who's lamp he took."
"Explains why I've never heard of it...my aunt would never allow anything with magical themes in the house," said Acacia.
Once the ball was over (she noticed how miffed Ron looked over the entire thing), she had a quiet talk with the genie she had freed.
"You're the vizier she mentioned," she said.
"I am," said Jafar. "However she left out quite a bit. The sultan was an idiot who had his head in the clouds, the princess was a spoiled brat who whined about not being allowed outside, and the street rat was an uncultured lout who stole from people and caused troubles for the guards all the time."
"And the reason you got trapped as a genie?" she asked.
"The street rat tricked me, playing on my ego and pointing out I was second best to the genie, but neglected to say anything about how genies are bound to lamps and that the cosmic power means that I can't use it for myself," said Jafar bitterly. "I had served that family for two generations, sacrificing a lot. I was sick of dealing with that idiot sultan and wanted to rule myself...as you can see, that failed spectacularly."
He was surprised by the fact that she slid her hand into his. It was small, and her hand was rather tiny compared to his...but it was warm.
On a related note, Jafar noticed she liked his current form so much that he decided to stay in it for a while...at least until she made her three wishes and he had to change his masters.
He wouldn't admit it to himself, but he rather enjoyed holding her hand.
