After the visit from Genie, Jafar sat Acacia down for a serious talk.
"As you know, genies are immortal and ageless. However something they don't talk about is that they are generally sexless," said Jafar.
She blinked.
"But you clearly have masculine features and demeanor. Even Genie gave off the a distinct feeling that he was a male."
"Humans cannot have relations with genies. They aren't equipped for it, even if they do have the features to distinguish gender," said Jafar. He tried to find a good way to explain, before remembering their recent movie night. "Remember that movie where you nearly choked on popcorn because one of the angels bore a disturbing resemblance to your potions professor?"
"What about it?" she asked.
"Same issue, different origins," said Jafar.
Acacia took a second to register this, before her face turned bright red.
"Wait...are you telling me genies don't have reproductive organs?" she said, her voice nearly reaching a high pitch from shock.
"There's a reason our bottom halves become smoke when in our genie form," he said dryly.
Acacia's face was bright red, as she vividly remembered all the...girl talk...Fleur had subjected her to.
"Why are you telling me this now?"
"Genie's parting comment before he dealt with that parasite. I have no idea if the situation is the same for freed genies, but those who are still bound cannot have relations...no matter how we might wish to," said Jafar.
Acacia would have replied, but her brain processed that last tidbit first.
"Wait...are you saying that you..." she said slowly, not daring to hope.
Rather than reply vocally, he kissed her.
"Until that final wish is made, I will stay by your side," he said.
Acacia didn't dare hope that maybe this was real. That her affections for him were being returned, even if they had no idea when they would be forced to leave each other.
"Finally! You two have been dancing around each other for ages now! It's about time you got a girlfriend!" squawked Iago.
Jafar shot him a dirty look for interrupting their moment. Acacia was blushing too hard to care.
"I know we can't do...that. But we can still cuddle, right?" she asked hopefully.
Jafar blinked before a smirk appeared on his face.
"As my mistress commands," he replied.
She glared at him, but her blush remained. Cuddling against Jafar was the best moment of her life.
Fleur had a knowing expression on her face.
"You want to know how to word one of your wishes so that you are not parted from your lover," she said.
Acacia blinked.
"Is it that obvious?"
"I knew from the moment I saw you two that it would likely come to this. I also know you have something to do with that utter mess in England at the moment. Well played, by the way."
"I don't know what you're talking about, and if I did, then those bastards had it coming," said Acacia automatically.
"Oh I'm not upset... whatever you did has the fools taking themselves out and providing endless entertainment for everyone else. I particularly approve of the fact it took out that wretch hag of a woman," said Fleur with dark satisfaction.
All Veela who had the misfortune of meeting that woman hated Umbridge with a passion. Knowing she died in agony was a delight to them, honestly.
"So about this wish..." said Acacia, changing the subject.
"Tell me about the parameters you wish to meet and then we'll work on the wording," said Fleur.
Acacia beamed at her. Best of all she had hidden the lamp, so Jafar wouldn't hear about her second wish or know what was coming.
She wanted to surprise him with it.
As her sixteenth birthday drew closer, Sirius made his own visit to France. Things were becoming rather dicey in England and he wanted no part of it.
He wasn't the only one. Several families were discreetly moving to safer areas by going to their lesser used villas to get away from the infighting. Those that remained would inevitably fight over the vacuum that had been created, and eventually a new order would settle in.
Either way, Acacia wasn't going back to Hogwarts next year. Or any year really.
"Happy birthday pup!" said Sirius cheerfully. Remus was there with him, and the two were happily celebrating her sixteenth. That she had made it this far was a miracle considering her track record and they finally had a chance to properly celebrate it.
Acacia was smiling broadly, she couldn't help it.
It didn't hurt that "Jamil" was going to stay in his human form all day, and that he had gotten the unofficial approval of Sirius and Remus. They knew he wasn't human, but they still had absolutely no idea what he was other than that.
Considering he was likely the reason their pup had gotten away from the mess in England and was happy, they didn't need to know.
However Acacia was still a Marauder's daughter, and thus she had a few tricks of her own to play on them.
Namely to get rid of that pesky werewolf curse Remus had.
Remus looked at the antique lamp in his hands, then at Acacia. He had been curious as to why she pulled them aside in a quiet room and silenced it from anyone trying to hear them outside.
"This isn't what I think it is, is it?" he asked.
"Go ahead and try it," said Sirius, eagerly. This would explain what happened to the Death Eaters and it was clear Acacia was planning something big.
Remus' hands shook, just a bit. There was really nothing to lose at this point.
"I wish for those cursed to become werewolves to become true wolf shifters," he said after a moment.
It was a good thing he was sitting down, because "Jamil" revealing his true nature as a genie would have made him fall down in shock.
"As you wish," he said ominously.
Remus felt something inside him shift and change. The inner beast he had always kept in check howled from the sudden freedom, and the exhaustion he felt from the moon drawing close had turned into a burst of energy.
Moony had gone from a feral beast to a proper wolf.
Sirius looked to his pup in amazement. Remus' next wish was for him and Sirius to regain their physical health that had been lost after the death of James and Lily.
Sirius looked at himself stunned, before hugging his friend. Remus quietly handed the lamp back to Acacia who was grinning.
"How long have you had that?" he asked seriously.
"Since third year," she admitted. "But genies can't bring back the dead, so I kept him in reserve until I actually needed a wish that could be granted."
Jafar just looked smug. She was vastly superior to his previous masters by far.
"You know what this means? Time for karaoke!" said Sirius.
Jamil found himself pulled to the stage by Acacia and he took one look at the song she picked before he smiled at her fondly.
"I'll start it off and you sing the other part."
"Agreed," he said, even though the other half was sung by a woman.
"You know I want you
It's not a secret I try to hide
I know you want me
So don't keep saying our hands are tied
You claim it's not in the cards
And fate is pulling you miles away
And out of reach from me
But you're here in my heart
So who can stop me if I decide that you're my destiny?
What if we rewrite the stars?
Say you were made to be mine
Nothing could keep us apart
You'd be the one I was meant to find
It's up to you, and it's up to me
No one can say what we get to be
So why don't we rewrite the stars?
Maybe the world could be ours, tonight
You think it's easy
You think I don't want to run to you
But there are mountains
And there are doors that we can't walk through
I know you're wondering why
Because we're able to be just you and me, within these walls
But when we go outside
You're gonna wake up and see that it was hopeless after all
No one can rewrite the stars
How can you say you'll be mine?
Everything keeps us apart
And I'm not the one you were meant to find
It's not up to you, it's not up to me
When everyone tells us what we can be
How can we rewrite the stars?
Say that the world can be ours, tonight
All I want is to fly with you
All I want is to fall with you
So just give me all of you
It feels impossible (it's not impossible)
Is it impossible? Say that it's possible
How do we rewrite the stars?
Say you were made to be mine
Nothing can keep us apart
'Cause you are the one I was meant to find
It's up to you, and it's up to me
No one can say what we get to be
Why don't we rewrite the stars?
Changing the world to be ours
You know I want you
It's not a secret I try to hide
But I can't have you
We're bound to break and my hands are tied"
(If you haven't guessed, it's "Rewrite the Stars" from The Greatest Showman. Acacia is singing the part of Zack Efron and Jafar is singing the part of Zendaya.)
The chemistry between them was undeniable. Sirius had to admit the two made a cute couple.
Later that night, as she was cuddling with Jafar she told him she had something important she wanted to say for his ears only.
"I know making a wish is tricky business...which is why I asked for Fleur's help regarding the wording," said Acacia.
A feeling of dread filled him. Every wish she made would result in them parting that much sooner.
She pulled Jafar down and whispered something so that no one else could hear. Jafar blinked at the odd wish, but granted it anyway.
That was when she dropped a bombshell on him.
"Jafar...I wish for your freedom," she said.
Dead silence as shock filled his features.
The lamp, bound by ancient contracts older than magical civilization itself, heard and obeyed her wish. Black smoke wrapped around Jafar as the spells that bound him to the lamp for eternity were removed. The shackles that had bound him as a genie fell to the floor with a loud clank that felt thunderous in the silent room.
Without thinking too hard, he shifted into his form as 'Jamil'.
"You...freed me?" he said. He couldn't believe what was happening...after centuries of torment and suffering, he was finally free?
"There was a reason I waited to use that third wish. I planned to free you from the very beginning. However after I fell for you, I knew I didn't want to leave you out of something as silly as old age or disease, so I had to have Fleur's help in wording the second wish correctly as you would be unable to grant it unless you were still a genie."
Jafar was still in shock. After centuries of being trapped in that wretched lamp, he was finally free of it. Free of the shackles he had been tricked into wearing.
Seeing the love and trust in her eyes, he knew exactly what he had to do next. Honestly, it didn't take much thinking for what he did next.
Jafar pulled her close and kissed her thoroughly.
(Further inspection later revealed certain 'parts' had been restored with his freedom.)
Elsewhere in the world...
A young woman looked up from her cauldron as she sensed the ripples of greater magic. Another idiot made a wish on a genie.
Except one of the devices she had retrieved once her old body was too old to withstand the magics she held and deliberately reincarnated began to shake and eventually cracked right down the middle.
Alarmed, she finished her potion and immediately began pulling down the old tools of her trade. She wanted to know whether someone had destroyed the lamp and with it, her brother.
Jafar wasn't dead, which was a relief. However something had happened to his lamp and him. She hadn't thought of that blasted parrot in centuries, but she could use the familiar bond to track down the lamp as he had been trapped in it long enough to contain traces of it.
Time to find that damn bird again.
