A/N: Thanks to everyone who has reviewed, followed, and favorited this story. I'm glad that people seem to be enjoying it as much as the first two parts. And of course, a special thanks to Bonnie and Mainsail for beta reading this and thus improving on the original. If you have questions or concerns about what's going on, feel free to include them in a review or a PM — I'll try to answer.
A/N 2: Just in case you weren't aware of it, I've started publishing a second story: "Amy Potter is... Batgirl!" It's a crossover between Harry Potter and the 1966 Batman TV show. More than one reviewer has already expressed their enjoyment of the story despite not being a fan of the show, so you might want to check it out, even if you are skeptical of the premise. It's intended to be funny, fast-paced, and cute.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, JK Rowling does.
Recommendation: This chapter's recommended fic is "Murder Most Horrid" by Useful Oxymoron. Extreme AU where Voldemort never existed, Bellatrix Black is a cynical detective, and Hermione Granger is a suspect in a murder case... who develops a massive crush on said detective. I know, it might sound odd, but I looked forward to it every Saturday morning for well over a year while it was being published.
Italics: a person's thoughts.
Chapter 06 - The Girls Are Back
Monday, August 2 ,1995. Morning.
Jasmine woke up very reluctantly. It had been extremely late by the time they'd all gotten to bed because even after they'd arrived at Sirius' house, she and Hermione had had to relate their stories and answer probing questions from both the aurors and Dumbledore. Jasmine couldn't be sure, but she suspected that people had started looking at her strangely after she'd told them about how she'd been certain that Hermione was in trouble and apparated to her house, despite never having learned how to apparate or even ever having visited Hermione.
Explaining that long before Hogwarts she'd once apparated to the roof of her school to escape bullies seemed to have helped, but she didn't know how much. Even she and Hermione weren't sure what to think about that, but they were inclined to chalk it up to their unexplained growth in power.
That Jasmine had been put in a room with Ginny while Hermione had been put in another with her parents hadn't improved Jasmine's mood at all. She didn't mind being around Ginny and certainly didn't begrudge Hermione being close to her parents; she was, however, coming off of a month of isolation and loneliness, and she was simply not feeling well.
By the time she made it down to breakfast, being sure to step quietly past the portrait of Sirius' mother so as to avoid being screamed at (even though Sirius had whispered to her last night that both his mother and Kreacher would be putting on an act), everyone else was already there — including the Grangers, the Weasleys, and a couple of the aurors she'd met the previous night. Hermione had saved her a seat, and it took all of Jasmine's willpower to not simply lean into the bushy-haired witch and doze.
Mrs. Weasley, of course, fretted over her and insisted on pushing large portions of food in front of her. According to Mrs. Weasley, both she and Hermione were looking far too gaunt after just a month in the muggle world and needed food — lots and lots of food. Jasmine could hardly object after how little she'd eaten in the past week and how much the fight last night had taken out of her. She didn't understand, though, why Hermione also looked a bit gaunt.
After a mug of strong tea and some of Mrs. Weasley's excellent cooking, she started to take notice of the conversations going on around her at the large table.
"So according to Mad-Eye," Sirius was telling the Grangers, "He, Tonks, and Shacklebolt have finished their investigation and cleanup of the scenes. Shack will be taking everything, including his records of his interviews with the girls, to Amelia Bones sometime today. He doesn't think she'll be able to do anything officially, since that will lead to Fudge getting involved. At the very least he'd cover it up, making further progress impossible. Now, though, Bones at least knows what's going on, and muggle authorities have been notified that some sort of gas leak affected your house, so you won't have to deal with that aside from signing some stuff. How are you two feeling?"
"I'm still a bit stiff, but otherwise mostly fine," Lindsey answered. "Emma here is worse off. She's still sore all over and has occasional twitches, but that potion you gave us last night must have helped because she started feeling better almost immediately."
"Good," Sirius said. "You're lucky that the Death Eater who cursed you wasn't particularly competent, otherwise the potion wouldn't have done any good. If you have any more problems, anything at all, just let someone know. We'll get Emmeline Vance in here to check you over again."
Lindsey and Emma both nodded in thanks. "We're going to have to do something about our practice," Emma said. "We can't just not show up."
"I don't suppose you have a phone?" Lindsey asked.
Tonks smiled sadly and shook her head. "Sorry, but muggle electronics don't function well when surrounded by magic. People in the muggle houses on either side can have electronic devices, though they might not always work quite right if they are too close to the shared walls; but deep inside the magic of this house, they won't function at all. There might be a pay phone in the neighborhood, though."
"We'll need to cancel appointments for today, at least," Emma said to her husband, "then get replacements to come in for a few days while we sort out what we're going to do. We can easily use the cover story of what happened to our house to justify that." Lindsey nodded, and the three of them began discussing likely places in the area where they might find a phone they could use.
Not being very interested in the rest of that conversation, Jasmine looked to her other side at Ron and asked, "How long have you and your family been here?"
"We came in last week," he said between mouthfuls. "Sorry we weren't able to write to you, by the way. Ginny and I tried, but Mum stopped us — said Dumbledore had forbidden it. He later said that we were vulnerable at the Burrow and that we'd not only be safer here, but we'd be helping the Order."
"Order?" Jasmine asked.
"Yeah, Order of the Phoenix," Ginny answered. "It's a group that Dumbledore organized to fight You-Know-Who the last time he was around." In the background, Kreacher shuffled by, mumbling about blood traitors defiling the House of Black.
"Mostly we've just been cleaning the place," Ron complained as he scowled down at Kreacher. "And we can't even use magic to do it! It's just nasty — and boring, too." Jasmine made a sympathetic noise while privately thinking that she would have been thrilled to clean a magical house if it meant she could have spent time with friends and family. "We can't even get any help from Kreacher. He's the house elf that just walked by. All he does is skulk about, muttering insults under his breath. Completely mental, he is."
Just as the elder Grangers were getting up to leave, two owls came in bearing letters for Jasmine and Hermione from the Ministry of Magic. Upon reading them, Hermione got a horrified look on her face while Jasmine's expression was simply resigned. "Oh, look," she said in a bored tone. "I'm expelled for using magic outside school. Again."
"So am I!" Hermione cried. "This is outrageous! They can't do this!"
Everyone started talking at once, though while the Grangers worriedly read over their daughter's letter, Jasmine simply went back to her breakfast. "Jasmine," Hermione said heatedly, "why aren't you more upset about this?"
"Why should I be?" Jasmine asked. "This is the second time in a little over two months that this has happened to me — both times when defending myself and people I care about from dark wizards. As far as I'm concerned, this sums up how British magical society works: protect criminals while prosecuting those who dare defend themselves. Is it any wonder that I've been thinking about abandoning this island?"
All the arguing abruptly stopped when people heard that comment, with most of those present gasping in surprise. Jasmine wasn't done yet, though. "Expelling me just means that I don't have to make the decision anymore — they've made it for me. All I need to do is empty my vault, get a passport, and I'm out of here."
Hermione leaned into Jasmine, trying not to sob, and neither noticed how everyone was staring at them with horrified expressions on their faces. Tonks' jaw had hit the table — literally, without her having to move her head. Only Sirius and the Grangers didn't look upset, though for different reasons.
"Jasmine!" Molly Weasley said. "You wouldn't really leave, would you? Where would you go?"
Jasmine shrugged. "Except for the Weasley family and a very few friends, there's not much holding me here, Mrs. Weasley. I've got no roots in the magical community because Dumbledore ensured that I didn't grow up in it, and I have no love for the muggle community because no one there ever protected me from the Dursleys. As to where I'd go... well, wherever looked good, I guess. Someplace I'd be free and able to live my life the way I want."
Arthur wanted to argue that there were lots of great things about magical Britain, but after reading those expulsion letters, he was hard-pressed to think of any just then. Instead, he said, "I'd better go let Albus know before I go into work. He'll know what to do about all this."
Sirius reached out and put a hand on Jasmine's. "Kiddo, I understand how fed up you are with things here. Merlin knows, I'm not going to defend our Ministry. But this isn't the way you want to go out — it will only make things worse."
"What do you mean?" Jasmine asked with a frown.
"If you're expelled before taking your OWLs," Sirius explained, "they don't just snap your wand, they bind your magic in order to deny you further access to the magical world at all. Well, they'll do that with Hermione, at least. They don't typically do that with pureblood students and instead let them try to get into a different school abroad. In your case, though, I wouldn't be surprised if they did try it."
The Grangers' outrage was even greater once they learned this, and Jasmine started getting angry that anyone would try to take magic away from her or Hermione. It was only the latter putting her hand on Jasmine's shoulder that calmed her down at all.
"I'd better contact Mad-Eye to let him know," Tonks announced. "He'll probably want to talk to Madam Bones, since she's having those incidents quietly investigated." Turning to the Grangers, she added, "Once I've done that, we can go out and look for a phone, okay?" The Grangers nodded and people started going their separate ways, though each had similar thoughts about what must have been happening for the Girl Who Lived to be so apathetic about staying in magical Britain.
Emma Granger had more reasons than most to be intrigued by Jasmine Potter's possible willingness to leave the country — she now knew that Jasmine was the reason her own daughter objected so strongly to doing just that. Given what she saw the previous night, if Jasmine left, then Hermione would want to walk out of Britain right by her side.
Emma still hadn't come to terms with what she had seen — not by a long shot. She was shocked that her daughter might be romantically involved with another girl, relieved that she now understood so much of her odd behavior recently, disappointed that her daughter hadn't confided in her, concerned about whether this was just a phase, upset that her daughter would do something that seemed so unnatural, and a whole host of other emotions that she hadn't even identified yet.
All that was complicated by the fact that she and her entire family had not only nearly died in a vicious attack the night before, but also owed their lives to the actions of the very girl her daughter was involved with.
And she still had no idea how or when she'd explain all of this to her husband.
Albus Dumbledore stirred sugar into his tea as he thought about the recent events surrounding Jasmine Potter. First there was the dementor attack, something which shouldn't have been possible with the blood wards he'd erected around the house back when he originally left her with the Dursleys. Apparently, they had been far weaker than he'd realized when he'd gone there to reinforce the the house's magical protections.
If dementors could enter, he considered, then sooner or later anyone else wishing her harm might have been able to as well — including Tom! I wish I knew why the blood wards were failing so badly... and I really should have returned to Miss Granger's home to reinforce the wards I put up there. I didn't realize that they would fall so far, so fast, in the absence of ambient magic. It was fortunate that the alarm ward lasted just long enough for me to send help.
He had to put that problem aside, though, because Miss Potter had been kicked out of the house, and what little was left of the blood wards had fallen soon after, so it was a moot point. A more immediate problem was the violence the two young witches were engaging in — and their apparent ability to deliver violence on a high level, too. I'd hoped to begin turning her away from her violent path, he lamented. With Tom back, guiding her to a path that's less focused on violence and conflict was going to be critical, but now she and Miss Granger have shown themselves to be far more violent than I ever realized.
Dumbledore understood that when defending yourself, you couldn't always ensure the safety of others. Shacklebolt's initial report, though, indicated that the dead Death Eaters had been taken down with brutal spells that were used when one intended to maim or kill. He sighed and shook his head in despair.
If I can't turn Miss Potter away from this dark path that she's on, he thought, then even if she manages to defeat Tom, the fate of the wizarding world may not turn out much better than if she were to fail. We need her to follow the path of light if she's going to become the leader that I know she can be. We need someone like her — a heroine, a symbol, and a powerful witch — to ensure that our way of life is preserved and passed along to future generations.
On top of all that, the brutal spells that they had used had been cast with more power than Dumbledore would have thought possible. There are few enough adult witches or wizards who can cut bodies into pieces with single spells, he thought. If neither of those two have been using dark rituals to empower themselves — and that seems highly unlikely — then how did they get to be that powerful? Come to think of it, how did Miss Potter apparate like that?
He stopped to consider some of the things he'd witnessed about Jasmine Potter in the last year — the slight glow behind her eyes just before the second task, the spells she used to escape the graveyard, the exploding hedges during the third task, and now events last night. She's either been holding back, he concluded, or she's grown in power. Either way, she's quite a bit stronger than any fifth-year witch should be. But why? And is it just her, or is Miss Granger affected as well? If it's just Miss Potter, then I'd have to consider whether the soul fragment is doing something to boost her magic, which means it likely would be corrupting her too. If it's both... then I have no idea.
Of course, he reminded himself, none of that will matter if I don't find some way of extracting the horcrux without killing Miss Potter in the process. I still haven't made any progress on that, and with Tom's return... hmm... I don't suppose his use of her blood would change things? I might get some insight into that from reading….
"Albus! Albus!" came a frantic shout from his fireplace.
Immediately setting aside his contemplations in favor of this new emergency, he strode over and saw Arthur Weasley's face, clearly upset. "What's the matter, Arthur?" Dumbledore asked. "Has something happened at headquarters?"
"Yes," Arthur answered. "Letters from the Ministry! Jasmine and Hermione have been expelled!"
"What?" Dumbledore asked, horrified. "Come through right away and tell me what happened."
Shortly after breakfast, Jasmine and Hermione snuck off with Sirius, who showed them to the Black Family Library. Once the girls had been granted access and they had sealed the doors, Jasmine threw herself into his arms for a hug. "Hey, kitten," he said, sounding a bit confused, "is everything okay? I thought we hugged and said hi last night."
"We did," Jasmine responded, still holding him tightly, "but with so many people there, it felt like I was acting or something. It... it didn't feel quite honest because I kept having to watch myself so I didn't give something away. I don't know, I just felt that hugging you now would be for real."
"Well, that's fine with me," Sirius said as he pulled her in a bit tighter. "I'm always up for a hug from my favorite goddaughter. I did miss you a lot." He then reached over and pulled Hermione into the embrace as well. "I missed you too, Hermione. I can't begin to tell you how worried I was when the call came in from Dumbledore for all available Order members to get over to your house. He couldn't say what was wrong, he just knew something bad had happened, and he couldn't get there himself because he was already dealing with a problem at Jasmine's."
"Thanks, Sirius," she said as she hugged him and Jasmine back. "I think we were safe by the time the Order members got there, but it was nice to have help anyway. Especially a Healer to check on my parents. I wasn't sure what I was going to do to help them.."
"So," Sirius said as he pulled back from them. "I told you last night not to worry about Walburga. She has to keep up the screaming banshee act so no one suspects what might be going on here. Don't try to talk to her, she'll just yell at you and insult you. The same goes for Kreacher and the insults that he mutters… except in his case I'm not always sure how much of an act that really is. Um, let's see… don't forget that all of the portraits in the house are on our side. They are keeping an eye on things and report to me. If there's an emergency, tell one of them, and they'll get word to me or my mother's portrait."
"This is the headquarters for Dumbledore's Order, then?" Jasmine asked. "How did he convince you to let him use your family's old house?"
"You, actually," Sirius answered with a wry grin. "In his letter, he claimed that he needed it to help keep you safe. Of course," he added, his face darkening, "he then refused to let you actually come here — he and I have had several arguments about that, in fact. I suspect he was going to keep you with your relatives until the last minute."
"That won't be a problem anymore," Hermione said. "They kicked her out, so she has nowhere else to go."
"That's great!" Sirius cheered, picking up Jasmine and spinning her around. "As far as I'm concerned, this is now your home." Once he put her back down, he added a little hesitantly, "That's assuming you still want to."
"Of course I do!" she responded, pulling him into another hug. "I wouldn't want to live anywhere else!"
"Good," Sirius said. "This will always be your home, so long as you want to call it that. I'd give you your own room, but for appearances sake you'll have to share with Ginny."
"That's fine," Jasmine replied with a shrug. "I don't mind. Ginny's cool."
"Is there anything else we need to know about the house?" Hermione asked.
Sirius thought for a moment, then said, "This library is probably the best room for you to talk privately. Right now, only people I give permission to can come in here — and that's not many. So you can talk, catch up with each other, study, or whatever. The worst books, though, are in a hidden section that's sealed off, so don't even ask."
"Thanks, Sirius," they said in unison. Jasmine stepped forward to give Sirius another hug while Hermione gazed around hungrily at all the old books she now had access to.
Monday, August 2 ,1995. Afternoon.
Moira O'Connor raised her eyebrows in surprise when her boss cast several privacy spells on her door after she and Rufus Scrimgeour entered and got seated. Turning to the head of the DMLE, she asked, "Is this what we were waiting for?"
Amelia Bones nodded as she handed over several pieces of parchment to the other two. "Last week two separate tips came in about Sirius Black. The first placed him back in Britain. The second claimed that he was buying books and supplies for dark rituals. Fudge learned about this during the weekly DMLE report to the Minister's Office and demanded that we make finding Black a priority because, and I quote, 'he must be responsible for what happened to Potter.' Due to the changes that have been imposed on us recently, following up on these tips will force us to drop everything else."
"Clever," Rufus said with grudging admiration. "We're forced to direct all resources away from investigating what happened to Potter, but Fudge can claim that we are still working on the case. What's more, he keeps stoking people's fear of Black, making it harder for him to get a fair hearing later on."
"Who brought in the tips?" Moira asked.
"Both were brought to me by Auror John Dawlish, though at separate times," Amelia answered.
"Dawlish's father is friends with Fudge," Rufus observed, "but not close friends."
Moira smiled predatorily and said, "His mother, though, is very, very good friends with someone who is close to Fudge." Pausing for dramatic effect, she concluded, "Undersecretary Dolores Umbridge."
Amelia leaned back in her chair. "Ah-ha! That explains it. Yes, I can see her hand in all of this now."
Rufus nodded. "She's almost fanatical in her devotion to tradition, the Ministry, and Fudge personally. This sort of interference is something she'd do, if she thought it were necessary to defend one or more of those."
"Even worse," Moira added, "is that I don't think she has a conscience. I doubt that there's much, if anything, that she won't do in defense of one of those things."
Leaning forward again, Amelia asked her two friends and top advisors, "Have you worked out a way to keep up with other investigations while officially focusing on this? Especially now that we have two new cases to unofficially investigate — the attacks on the Grangers and the Dursleys?"
"I believe so," Moira answered, but before she could continue Rufus put in, "Actually, I think we can do a bit better. I think we can assume that Dawlish will report what's going on to Umbridge. If we keep him busy enough in the hunt for Black, we'll have a bit more resources to divert towards our unofficial investigations."
Amelia smiled. "Good idea. Just be sure to check anyone involved. Dawlish might not be the only informant we have in the department."
"We'll take care of it," Moira said, then she and her colleague left while Amelia spent some time considering the Umbridge problem. She also gave some thought to who else in the DMLE might be slipping confidential information to outside interests.
After lunch, Jasmine and Hermione spent the rest of the day in a corner of the library, trying to catch up with each other and reconnect. Jasmine laughed at the Grangers' experiences with nude beaches while surrounded by veela, but after a few minutes she started blushing when she thought about doing that with her girlfriend. Hermione, in turn, hugged Jasmine when she heard about how isolated and alone her girlfriend had felt all month. In fact, she had to spend some time reassuring Jasmine that she hadn't been deliberately ignoring her — something Jasmine had known intellectually but still had trouble accepting emotionally under the circumstances.
They both knew it would take a little time for them to get back to where they had been at the end of the previous term, but they were looking forward to being together again, and especially to training together again. The previous evening had been a graphic lesson on how important their training could be, and they vowed to redouble their efforts.
At one point Hermione got the idea of asking their elves to help with the cleaning — she felt a little bad that the two of them weren't helping Ginny and Ron, though not bad enough to give up on her private time with Jasmine. After a few minutes passed without getting a response, the two witches concluded that their elves hadn't returned from their trip yet.
"Oh!" Hermione said abruptly, "Wait here!" She ran out of the library, then came running back a short time later. "This was sent to me in July. I didn't open it, though." She handed Jasmine the packet that she'd received from Gringotts.
Jasmine took a deep breath and steeled herself for what she might find. Slowly, she opened it up and started reading. And reading. And reading.
"Well?" Hermione asked, getting a bit impatient.
"Well..." Jasmine said slowly. "There were a number of accounting irregularities over the years." Hermione sucked in her breath as Jasmine continued, "So they've deposited into my trust vault the fourteen galleons, five sickles, and two knuts that they say they owed me."
"That's it?" Hermione asked.
"Yep," Jasmine said, "Just a few minor errors that added up a bit over the years because no one was paying close enough attention to the family accounts. On the other hand, the goblins are rather annoyed about something else. Apparently due to the lack of direction from anyone, my parents' account sat completely idle. Someone could and should have been recommending investment ideas; without at least some input, they couldn't move on their own. They're calling it 'lost opportunities' for profit — for me and for them, since they'd have taken a cut. Whoever is responsible will not be treated very well by them for a while... and thankfully, that's not me."
"That's odd," Hermione observed. "Muggle banks certainly don't punish you for things like that."
"I guess we'll need to read up on goblin customs and expectations at some point," Jasmine said, "I mean, if we can be punished for simply failing to do something like that... I'd rather avoid it if I can." Hermione simply nodded. "They'd like me to come in at some point to talk about the accounts and possible investments, but there's no rush. They know I'm at school and all. Hmmm... maybe before school, but that might be tough to do."
"Let's wait and see what happens with the hearing at the Ministry before we make any plans to deal with Gringotts," Hermione suggested. Jasmine agreed and set the packet aside so they could talk about other things.
Monday, August 2 ,1995. Evening.
When the two came down to the kitchen for dinner, Jasmine discovered that the meal had been transformed into a surprise birthday party for her as well. "We're sorry we didn't get a chance to celebrate it with you on the proper day, dear," Molly Weasley said as she gave the green-eyed witch a hug, "But we thought you wouldn't mind doing it again with us."
"Again?" Jasmine said as she tried to wipe a stray tear from her eye. "This is the only time I'll get to celebrate it, so thank you! Thank you so much!"
"You mean your family didn't celebrate your birthday with you this year?" she asked in confusion.
"Of course not," Jasmine answered. "They never have before. And because of Dumbledore, I didn't even get any letters on my birthday this year." She eagerly sat down and began to reach for the serving bowls, not noticing that several of the adults wore concerned expressions.
"Did you find out anything about those letters the girls received?" Lindsey asked Arthur when he finally arrived from work at the Ministry and joined them.
"No," he said, shaking his head, "but that's handled by a different department. I told Albus this morning, and I later saw him several times throughout the day in the Ministry, so I'm sure he's working on it." Accepting the Grangers' thanks with a nod, he continued, "Did you work out things with your detonist practice?"
"Uh, that's dentist," Emma said, "And yes, we were able to make arrangements. Most of the patients today were rescheduled, and we've booked two other dentists to work there for the next couple of weeks while we sort out what we're going to do."
"It may not be safe to go back to work," Sirius said. "If the Death Eaters could find your house, they might be able to find your business, too."
Lindsey nodded. "That's what Emma and I were thinking, but we're not sure what to do about it all. Fortunately our name isn't part of the name of the practice, so the risk should be fairly low — otherwise we'd have to close it entirely, lest we put innocent people in danger."
"Well, no need to worry about it right now," Sirius said. "Let's take care of the birthday girl's presents and be happy for the evening!" Sirius had been giving the Grangers a guided tour of the house for a good chunk of the day, and the three of them had been getting along quite well, so they didn't object to his obvious attempts to lighten the mood.
Jasmine enjoyed all of her presents: some books from Sirius, a broom cleaning kit from the Weasley children, a silk scarf from Fleur, a wicked-looking knife from Gabrielle, and some other interesting things. Her favorite, though, was Hermione's gift of a magically enchanted hair care kit — brush, comb, and mirror. "I got one for myself, too," she admitted. "It helps a lot — and if it helps tame my hair, it should do wonders for yours."
"Yeah," Jasmine said as she reached out to gently touch Hermione's brunette locks. "I thought your hair was looking better — sleeker and a bit more relaxed." She smiled and added softly, "It really looks good." Hermione blushed and looked away, and while others didn't think anything odd about the exchange, Emma had been watching it closely.
Before the birthday meal was done, an owl arrived with a letter from a very unexpected person: Fleur Delacour.
"She's staying at the Leaky Cauldron," Jasmine explained to Sirius while Hermione reread the letter which had been addressed to her. "Would it be okay to invite her over? Maybe even stay here, if there's room?" Jasmine had never had much opportunity to practice using puppy-dog eyes, but despite that she was able to use them with devastating effect against Sirius.
"Uh..." he said, "I don't have a problem with that, and there's plenty of room; but this house is under a Fidelius charm, and Dumbledore is the secret keeper. He'll need to agree."
"Why is he the secret keeper?" Hermione asked with a frown. "That gives him veto power over who can and cannot visit your own home. That doesn't make sense."
Sirius sighed. "It's a drawback of the Fidelius charm that the secret keeper can't live in the place that's being hidden — if they could, then one of your parents would have been the secret keeper of their house, Jasmine." The auburn-haired witch slumped a bit at this reminder, and Hermione realized that she should have thought of that. "So I needed to pick someone who wouldn't spend too long here — even an extended visit would put the charm at risk. The best choice was Dumbledore. Not only is he the least likely person to give it up, either voluntarily or under torture, but he already lives in the most secure building in Britain, making him very unlikely to seek a room here."
Hermione and Jasmine both nodded in understanding, then Hermione asked, "But you approve of Fleur coming?" When Sirius said yes, Hermione said to Jasmine, "Then we'll just have to convince the Headmaster when he's here next."
"Depending on how things go at the Ministry," Mr. Weasley said, "he may be here tomorrow. One way or another, he'll want to tell you what you need to do with regards to those letters — you won't be able to return to Hogwarts if you ignore them completely."
"I'll write a quick note to Fleur," Jasmine said, "just to let her know how we are. She sounds worried."
Hermione promptly pulled the quill out of Jasmine's hand. "No, I'll do it. If she has to read your chicken scratch, she'll still be trying to decipher it next week." There were several sniggers around the table as Jasmine pouted and Hermione began to write — and, since it was Hermione, the "quick note" turned into a full recounting of events from the night before, filling several pieces of parchment. Not including endnotes.
After dinner, Jasmine screwed up her courage to do something that she'd been thinking about all afternoon — ever since Hermione had told her about the conversations she'd been forced to have with her parents about the dangers she'd been hiding from them. My goal was to help bring them closer together this summer, she thought, but now I find that all the danger I keep putting her in may have made things worse!
Feeling more than a bit of trepidation, she knocked on the Grangers' bedroom door and soon found herself looking up into the eyes of Mrs. Granger. "Yes?" she asked. "Are you looking for Hermione? I thought she was in the library with you."
"Uh, hello, Mrs. Granger," Jasmine said. "I, uh, actually wanted to talk to you. To you and Mr. Granger."
"Lindsey is off with Sirius," she responded. "But come on in." Once they were both in the room, Emma asked, "What's wrong?"
Taking a deep breath, Jasmine began, "I wanted to apologize to you. For everything. I mean, for all the danger Hermione has been in. I always try to keep her out of it, really I do, but she insists on helping me. Not that I'm not grateful for her help — I mean, I'd probably be dead several times over if it weren't for her, but still, I hate it when she's in danger too, and I know that you're not happy about that. Anyway, I don't want you to be mad at her when it's my fault that things happen…."
Her half-coherent rambling was cut short when Emma stepped forward and pulled her into a tight hug. "It's alright, dear," she said. "I understand. We don't blame you, especially after you saved us last night." Emma leaned back slightly so she could look down into the young girl's watery green eyes. "We owe you our lives, and I don't think we've thanked you properly for that."
Unaccustomed to being on the receiving end of so much parental affection, Jasmine looked away and mumbled, "It's no big deal, you don't have to…."
"No, none of that, now," Emma said as she reached out with one hand to gently pull Jasmine's face forwards again. "I could see how your relatives treated you," she continued in a very gentle voice, "and they were wrong. It's not your fault we were in danger, and you do deserve our thanks for saving us. We owe you more than we could ever repay. And I can say that I'm very happy that you're with... well, that you're protective of my daughter. She means everything to us."
Jasmine's eyes started to well up as Emma pulled her back into a hug. "Thank you," Jasmine whispered.
They stayed that way for a while, and for the first time that she could remember, she began to understand the value of a mother's hugs.