Acacia was digging through all sorts of books. Ever since Hermione had mentioned Jafar and Aladdin, she had wanted to learn more about him...but she was too scared to ask him directly.
It took her ages, but she finally found a book on magical fairy tales.
The more she read of this...Aladdin, the more horrified she became. No wonder Jafar had such a low opinion of him!
Jafar took one look at the book, and the more he read the harder he began to laugh. He honestly couldn't help it.
"Where on earth did you get this?" he asked, wiping tears of amusement from his eyes.
"The school library. Why?"
Jafar's amusement was almost contagious.
"While this does have some truths, this isn't how it went down at all," he said amused. "For one thing, that street rat had no parents at all, and he wasn't so blatant about trying to marry the princess. Also, Jasmine may have had many suitors, but she was never actually engaged to one of them."
"Can you tell me more about this Agrabah place?" she asked hopefully.
Seriously, how did this child not know the effect those eyes had on people? He was good at hypnotizing, but she had a charisma that outdid any master he had previously.
"Sure," he said, trying to hide his blush. He wasn't a teenager, so why was she affecting him like this?
When the second task came, Jafar had entirely too much amusement at the expense of the fools who called themselves mages. Apparently they thought they could force him to act as the hostage for his master...instead they had to go with a lesser choice in Ron.
Acacia's face when she saw him floating past her was hilarious and rather adorable, in his opinion.
Her expression clearly said it all.
"I'm an immortal genie...I don't need to breath," he reminded her with dark amusement. Her glare was amusing.
The mermaids clearly sensed his presence, but kept their silence. After all, he was the sort of being that it was a bad idea to piss off, and it was obvious he was following the youngest challenger.
Well...that and the old fool only told them to watch for the challenger...not any immortal beings following them for whatever reason.
Acacia dumped Ron on the mediwitch, and accepted the hug from Gabrielle for rescuing her as well.
The moment Fleur had a chance, she whispered... "I know what your companion is."
Acacia stiffened. Fleur said nothing, but when they had a chance the three girls found a quite spot to have some tea.
"I must admit, this is the first time I've seen an actual genie...much less one that has hung around this long."
"How did you know?" asked Acacia.
Fleur sniffed.
"Wizards wouldn't noticed it, but we are part Veela. We operate on a different magical spectrum and it took a bit for me to recognize the signs of a genie nearby," said Fleur.
Acacia winced.
"It's not my secret to tell, and obviously you've hidden his lamp. My only question is why is he hanging around still? Most people would make their wishes and be done with it," said Fleur.
"I don't have anything I want that I can't earn myself, I don't have anything I need that he could grant, and honestly he's a better conversationalist than the majority of the castle," she admitted. "Why waste a wish I could actually use for something important later?"
Fleur and Gabrielle stared at her, just a bit.
"That...is the most sensible thing I've heard from one of you Hogwarts students all year," said Fleur.
Gabrielle nodded.
"So what would you wish for?" asked Gabrielle.
"I honestly don't know," said Acacia.
"I would like to hear that answer as well," said a voice from behind.
"Ja..mil!" said Acacia, recovering just in time.
Jafar chuckled, and noticed how the two Veela were observing him. There was an oddly knowing look on Fleur's face.
"In any case I'm surprised you had to ask a genie of all things to be your date," said Fleur.
Acacia slumped, causing the other girls to frown.
"No one would ask me. It wasn't until Ron realized that the dance was almost here that he even registered I was a girl and asked if I had a date. Jamil was nice enough to change his form so I had a real date instead of a pity one," said Acacia miserably.
Fleur frowned at that. She had noticed how appalling the younger red head was, but she hadn't realized his emotional depth was that shallow.
Acacia's appearance wasn't terrible. If she changed her glasses out, fixed her hair up a bit and maybe added a bit of make-up she could be quite beautiful. And the less said about her clothes, the better.
"What sort of beauty routine do you do every morning?"
The owlish expression on Acacia's face said volumes. Considering her bookish friend had only dressed up for the ball, it was becoming painfully obvious that Acacia didn't have any proper female role models to help her learn the essentials.
Fleur planned to rectify that immediately. It was the least she owed the girl for retrieving Gabrielle even though she didn't have to.
Hermione was incredibly suspicious when Acacia started hanging out more with the French girls.
"What is going on with you lately? First you have a foreign boyfriend, and now you're spending an incredible amount of time around the Beauxbaton's girls."
"Boyfriend?!" said Acacia, blushing profusely.
"So you're not dating? I mean you two seem suspiciously close. I just don't want you to get hurt," said Hermione.
"Hermione, Jamil wouldn't hurt me...not in the way you're thinking anyway," said Acacia. She relaxed a bit at that, onto a safer topic. She wasn't sure if genies even could sleep with humans. "As for why I'm spending time around Fleur and her sister...she heard why I had to ask someone who wasn't a student to be my date and offered to teach me how to use make-up and style my hair properly so it's not such a mess."
Hermione blinked.
"Why not ask Lavender and Parvati then?"
"Because they don't wake up as early as I do, and honestly I don't trust them with the sort of talks I have with Fleur and her sister. Anything I say around them is liable to be spread around the great hall in a matter of days, if not weeks," deadpanned Acacia. "Fleur and her sister don't go here and have no reason to spread gossip around. Besides, if I did that then you'd feel excluded."
And that, was that.
Jafar had to admit, her reaction to him being called her boyfriend was adorable. He didn't know it was this enjoyable spending time around young mages. It was like raising a falcon or a hawk.
He would compare her to a cat, but that would lead him to remembering that blasted tiger. As amusing as it was to see Raja chase off those pampered princes, Jasmine really was too spoiled for his tastes.
Honestly, he only pursued her to have a legitimate claim on the throne...she wasn't his type in the least.
Seeing Acacia blush as red as her hair was adorable. He didn't know what the odd feeling in his chest was, but it made him feel more relaxed and at ease, so he was fine with that.
It wasn't until Gabrielle took her new 'big sister' with her to look at fashion magazines that Fleur had a chance to speak to Jafar privately.
"You are honestly fond of her, aren't you?" said Fleur.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," said Jafar.
"You really don't, do you?" she said amused. "I see it in the way you look at her. You're cold and manipulative to everyone else, but when you look at her your eyes change, just a bit."
Jafar was confused at what she was getting at.
"She is my master," he replied.
"You should be careful...we both know that once those three wishes are up, you are unlikely to see her again. There's a good chance it would break her heart when that happens," said Fleur.
It was fairly obvious the two were still oblivious to the truth. As a Veela she was intimately aware of the difference between "love" and "lust". And what was forming between the two was clearly 'love'. The genie showed an uncharacteristic gentleness around Acacia, and the girl was swiftly falling head over heels for him without even knowing it.
It wasn't the love of a father to his child either...this was a romantic love.
It was the sort of thing that if not handled carefully, would only end in heartbreak for both.
Inside the Beauxbaton's carriage...
"It's such a waste, keeping your hair so short!" said one of the French girls.
After it was explained to them that she had little to no female role models to talk to (and the fact she had gone above and beyond to save Gabrielle without asking for thanks) the French girls had taken Acacia under their wing. Unfortunately, she couldn't transfer to Beauxbatons for her fifth year as they had different standards for OWL's.
"My aunt hated the fact I look so much like my mother, so she made me keep it short. And that dragon wrecked all the progress I made with it," pouted, Acacia.
"That won't do!" said Gabrielle enthusiastically. Acacia's hair might look messy, but was the type that if she let it grow out a bit it would take to styling really well.
Seeing the odd gleam in the girl's eyes, Acacia almost backed away.
When Fleur came in, it was to find Acacia with Rapunzel length hair looking both mortified and a little curious on how it would look.
"Girls, go easy on her...and that hair is much too long," said Fleur.
"But big sister..." said Gabrielle.
"With how the tournament has been going it'll just be caught on something. Just past neck length should be well enough," said Fleur firmly.
"Um...I actually don't mind it this length," said Acacia blushing.
Fleur smiled at her knowingly. Jamil...if that was his name at all...had waist length hair. It looked good on him, oddly enough. Most men couldn't pull off long hair like that.
When Acacia left, she looked vastly different than before. It was weird, having older girls who she could look up to. Angelina and Katie tried, but it felt weird asking them personal questions. Mostly because Hermione would likely join and get far too detailed.
Talking with Fleur and Gabrielle though was different. It was easier to let her guard down and actually ask questions she wanted answers to, but was too embarrassed to ask.
Fleur had mentioned something about a 'sisterhood' which had Gabrielle perk up, but she didn't go into detail.
"You look like you had fun," said Jafar.
He approved of the change. Where the meek child had been was a confident young woman. Or at least, she was turning into one. Being around the Veela was benefiting her in ways her 'friends' did not.
Jafar had spoken in length with Fleur about the matter of his master. He wasn't the only one to catch that she had been abused...and honestly, the way the English treated the girl disgusted Fleur to no end.
She would be much better off in France.
"Hey Jamil (Acacia had quickly grown used to calling him that in public)...what sort of girls do you like?" she asked quietly.
Jafar was starting to realize the veela girl had a point. His master was growing attached to him. It could end badly if he handled this wrong.
He had to hide a shudder after the one time he didn't pay attention to those particular warning signs. That had been an absolute nightmare to deal with and he had to get his sister's help to be rid of the woman.
"Jamil?" asked Acacia.
"It's nothing...just an old memory," said Jafar. Besides, that woman was long dead anyway. "And to answer your question, I prefer more...mature...women. I'm not really into children."
Contrary to what Fleur seemed to think his preferences were always to women with a more mature mindset. Physical appearance didn't matter as much to him, though it was a nice bonus at times. He just wanted someone he could connect to, someone who just got him. Besides, all too often beauty hid a viper far worse than any snake he handled for it's venom...or worse, was an utter trap hiding a terrifying true face underneath several spells.
Jafar didn't quite hide his shudder at that particular memory, which was why he was far more picky about his bed partners...his sister never let him hear the end of that mess, as the woman had been an utter nightmare.
If he had known that the worst bed partner he ever had was even worse once the spells hiding her true features had come off.
Even if he had mastered the ability to hypnotize multiple people by the end of it...the price was not worth it.
Acacia...had the feeling it was best not to pry, if his trauma dealing with women was that deep.
