Gone to the Dogs

by Espeon Master Espo

The Animagus change can lead to a lot of interesting times, and helps you learn more about yourself. After all, it is a form that is often said to reflect the needs of user the best. Though what you need and what you want, are often two different things. Which also means, if something is wrong with the form, is it your needs or your desires that made that happen?

6. Chapter 6

Chapter 06

Found and Lost

The rest of the week continued much as the other days had for Jasmine. Which kind of surprised Jasmine. Umbridge though she was clearly unhappy about Jasmine being around had not done anything yet. Whether this was because the exams were keeping Umbridge and her Inquisitorial Squad busy, or another reason Jasmine was unsure. Even her official room in the guest wing had remained untouched, with no one trying to access other than herself. It did slightly concern Jasmine that Umbridge had yet to make any move against her. Though it simply could have been their plan had worked, and with the unknown that was Luna Lovegood had thrown Umbridge into even greater doubt.

The tests were as hard as ever for Jasmine, Hermione, and her other classmates. She was ever so glad to have not been around the school seeing how the other students were acting. So many of them wound up tighter than she had ever seen them. Stories about how many hours they got in, or needing to take calming drafts were quite common. Even Ron who normally did not worry too much about his exams seemed to be stressing out over these. The tension even during them was such that, she could almost smell their stress as they walked by.

Transfiguration, Potions, and Defense against the Dark arts followed Charms. Jasmine was quite happy in her performance so far. She even cast her Patronus charm, when asked if it could earn her a bit of extra credit. She knew it would not be traced back to her. As Harry Potter, her form had been her father in his stag Animagus form. Now though, it was a much larger version of her own form, a husky, standing nearly tall as Prongs had at the shoulder. Her mothering instincts and determination to protect her children showed off clearly in its new form. She knew the reason for the change as well. Her children were her reason to fight, and through that nature, this form had come to being. Jasmine did enjoy the stunned look that many had seeing her Patronus as it ran about the hall, before curling up at her feet and vanishing.

Friday was different, and rather than devoted to a main course, was instead focused on some of the elective classes. Since both Arithmancy, and Muggle Studies classes at this point were entirely focus on making sure the basics were hammered home there was no real practical or demonstrations on what you could do. It was simply putting knowledge to paper in long answers and small essays on the topic. And while Arithmancy, took much of Jasmine's focus to complete correctly, Muggle Studies left Jasmine filling out each answer portion to its fullest as she not only answered the question but also noted how hopeless outdated it had become. At least with Muggle studies, it was not as bad as Jasmine had first feared, but was still twenty to thirty years behind the times.

As always, Jasmine and Hermione talked afterwards about each exam. Ron had finally begun to joined them, but not for long as though he had been taking studying seriously, or so he said. Even still partly reviewing each test afterwards was a bit much for Ron's liking as he did not want to relive the past hour specially when there were still tests to come. For Jasmine at least, when Ron was hanging out with them, he had stopped staring her as much as he had been, even secretly. He would then leave for his own notes when Jasmine began her own line of questions on the previous exam.

Had he listened and stayed, Ron might have realized this was more to get Hermione off the exams and discussing other topics that might come up later in their schooling. There was only one test that Jasmine discussed at length with Hermione, and that was Muggle studies. This was both because Hermione had not personally taken the exam, and Jasmine wanted a second opinion on her own answers and thoughts. Hermione's reaction to the questions and how the class needed to be updated were rather like Jasmine own ideas.

Hermione felt, that like Jasmine, there should be a class for Muggle born and muggle raised students that talked about magical culture. Something all Muggle borns would have to take. While wizard born and wizard raised should have to take a muggle studies and culture class. This along with a class like Physical Education, to give the wizarding world a better idea what muggle sports were like. As most of their general understanding of muggle culture stemmed from 1850s to the 1940s.

Saturday, saw a nice change of pace for the group as they got ready to explore the Room of Requirements. They had invited Ron, but he said he still needed to get some studying done. He seemed a little odd as he said it, but as Hermione said, it could have just been nerves finally getting to him. From what little they had heard; his grades had taken a sharp down swing after Hermione had left. And chances of him passing most of his O.W.L.s was not looking to great. He was not the only one who had rumors floating about they would be held back a year to repeat their fifth-year exams. As the other two were Crabbe and Goyle of Slytherin house, Ron clearly did not want to share the shame of being the only other student like them. That was even before considering what Ron's mother might say, or what it would be like taking classes with his younger sister.

As such, it was only Jasmine, Hermione, Luna, and Professor McGonagall who entered the 'Room of Lost Items'. Their first impressions of the room were simple and complete awe at the sight before them. The room was every bit as tall as the Great Hall, and it seemed several times the depth and width, packed near to the roof with piles, upon piles of items. Dobby had told Jasmine the room was massive and packed fully, yet those words did not really convey just how truly big and full the room was. Slytherin's Basilisk could have laid hidden in the room, and none of them would have realized it.

"I don't think we could do this over an entire summer, let alone a weekend," Jasmine said as she gazed as the rows of items in amazement.

"Smaug's treasure hoard is probably smaller than this mess," Hermione said, looking stunned.

"Smaug?" Luna asked curiously.

"A fictional dragon that hoarded an entire dwarven kingdoms worth of gold, silver and jewels," Hermione answered.

Jasmine pointed to a mound of jewels nearby, "Well there is the gems, now we just need the gold and silver."

"That would seem probable," Professor McGonagall said, finally recovering from her own surprise.

"A galleon we find a dragon egg in here," Jasmine said.

"I fear it is not matter of if, but when," Professor McGonagall said, glancing around before her curt voice returned, "Okay, Miss Granger, Lovegood, Potter we need to be careful, and no wandering off alone. If you see something you would like to look at, wait till we are ready to move on. Or at least do not go out of sight, there is a good risk of getting lost. And while I don't foresee us running into anything to dangerous, one can never be too careful with a mess this old and varied."

Jasmine, Hermione, and Luna all agree at once. With that they set out to explore the room. To say they could find anything was indeed not a question, but a simple matter of time it. At least one of every conceivable item seemed to have made its way into the room. Pet skeletons, eggs, books, old brooms, full and empty potion bottles, desks, torn paintings, papers, adult magazines, gems, gold, silver, statues, armors, swords, wands. And still many, many more items they came across. Some they had a clear sense why it had been left in the room, such as the blood-stained set of daggers. Others a complete mystery, bits of old parchment without a hint of magic on them. They did not of course touch a single item till they had all cast several different magical detections spells on said item.

The first real items of note they found, outside the pile of jewels, was a selection of old brooms. Some were clearly old handmade ones, before the current companies had gotten their start. Yet there were several ones that were clearly the first of their kind. All of which would be worth a fortune to the right collector. Assuming the school decided to sell them rather than display them in the trophy room. The broom that looked in the best shape, had bristles and handle that were a soft silver color, while its name was etched in gold on the handle. 'Silver Arrow.'

"Madam Hooch would give anything for this broom I bet," Jasmine said, remembering what their flying instructing her said, the first time she had a chance to see Jasmine's new firebolt, and how she had compared it to this broom.

"She would not be the only one," Professor McGonagall said, studying the broom that Jasmine was carefully holding, "I know a few people, who would empty their vaults to get their hands on that. Even if the enchantments have faded. IF they are still good, it would be worth more than fleet of Firebolts."

"Is it really that rare?" Hermione asked surprised at the worth suggested.

"Silver Arrows were one of the best brooms out there at the time. Everyone owned and flew one, and they were often handled down and used by the family for everything. So very few survived to this day in age in anywhere near good condition, let alone this nice. They would still be around today but Comet and the Nimbus Companies replaced them with better over all models that were cheaper. Yet those of us who had a Silver Arrow, remember their brooms fondly." Professor McGonagall said, a smile on her face, "I learned to fly on one myself. And the school brooms are likely the last remaining working models, at least till you found this one."

"It seems perfectly fine to me," Luna said studying it, "Probably still works perfectly."

"Well, we need to come back for these brooms if nothing else," Jasmine said, smiling as an idea stuck her, "Maybe after I get out of school. I can use my fame and bring the Silver Arrows back, update the spells to modern standards, and soon everyone will be on the Arrows again. With other companies competing with team brooms, a family broom will have a good chance of cornering the market. I am sure Madam Hooch would not mind bunch of hard working brooms to teach on again."

Hermione looked at Jasmine in surprise, but a grin spread across her face at the idea, "I think that could be a lot of fun."

"Don't need O. or N.E. to open your own store, though the knowledge would help a lot," Jasmine said, grinning, "at the very least, it will be fun flying every day to test out our brooms."

The group smiled as Jasmine then carefully returned the broom where she found it. And they continued their exploration of the room. As they moved along Jasmine kept an eye out for the source of a scent she had smelled since she had entered the room for the first time. She had smelled the scent the first time she had stopped before Hogwarts and realized what she had been smelling was magic. Yet now in this room, the scent was much stronger. It held clear hints of decay and dark magic, though they had yet to get close to its source.

But they did not see it, not before McGonagall said it was time for lunch, and they returned to the entrance area where they had space to sit down and eat a meal. Jasmine decided it was best to call Dobby to bring her something she might need. He responded quickly to her call the moment she stepped out of the room, and brought her a thick dragon hide bag, along with a fresh pair of Dragon Hide gloves. Once she had these items in her, she returned to the room to enjoy her lunch.

After they had finished eating, Jasmine insisted she take the lead. She did not tell them why, only that she had scented something that she wanted to find before they did anymore exploring. They all doubted anything she could smell was still alive, but agreed to stay a good few paces back allowing Jasmine to lead them. Far enough back, that if something happened, they would not be caught in the crossfire of any spell or trap. But also close enough that they could respond quickly to help Jasmine.

She led them deep to near the heart of the room before she finally spotted what was making the worrying scent. A taira sat on a bust near a broken cabinet. Nothing seemed particular dangerous about the taira, no dark malice or hints it was really dangerous. However, its scent was clearly that of dark magic and decay to Jasmine's nose. She knew better than to touch it, and every detection spell she cast on it seemed to turn up nothing. She did not buy for one second it lacked magical powers, something had to be blocking her charms. And though she could not place the scent, outside the first-time outside Hogwarts, it seemed a lot more familiar than that.

"That looks like the Diadem of Ravenclaw," It was not till Luna spoke up, did Jasmine's mind suddenly click where she first smelled the scent before.

Diadem of Ravenclaw. Jasmine mind pounced on this as her talks with Dumbledore from months earlier suddenly sprang into her mind. Horcruxes and what Voldemort had been wanting to use as items. The scent, was also suddenly familiar. The locket had a similar smell to it, though she had barely noticed it at the time, having been to focused on destroying it to heed what her nose was telling her. Suddenly her pulse quickened as it all clicked into place. Voldemort had somehow found Ravenclaws Diadem, and had hidden it in the school on his last visit here, he had found this room and believed that it would be soon lost among the many other items.

Jasmine's ears twitched as she heard Luna coming closer, and Jasmine's voice came out as a sharp command, "Stay back!"

"B-b-but that is the diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw," Luna said, sounding surprised at the command in Jasmine voice.

"It is much more than that, do not touch it or get any closer. Look at its magic, and you will understand," Jasmine said feeling very grateful that she had thought to call Dobby earlier, and pulled on the gloves, before opening the pouch up.

"Look at its…" Luna said, then paused, when she spoke next it sounded as if she was going to be sick, "What is that thing!"

Jasmine could hear Luna clearly backing quickly away, pulling Hermione and Professor McGonagall with her. She was clearly worried now, as she added, "Jasmine you need to get away from that right now."

"Oh, I will, once I have done this!" Jasmine said, and pulled out one of the basilisk fangs before stabbing it right through the diadems front most gem.

There was a piercing hiss, and Jasmine quickly retreated, dropping the fang to the ground as she did so. The reek of decay grew stronger as did the dark taint. Jasmine watched as the stab wound she had caused in the gem began to leak inky blackness. The gem slowly melted away as if acid was eating at it. Then a sharp crack was heard and the diadem fell to the ground in two pieces. Jasmine waited patient, now safely by the others as the black goo flowing from the gems and metal slowly faded, till only the ruined pieces remained.

"One more down," Jasmine said before, slowly moving forward.

She carefully picked up the fang, the pieces of the diadem before then placing them all into her bag. Her gloves jointed them, inside the pouch before she carefully sealed it shut. Dobby would remove each item later, and dispose of or clean gloves safely. The pieces of the diadem would be given to Dumbledore to confirm to the best of his ability if had really been a horcrux. Assuming it was, that meant one less item keeping Voldemort tied to the mortal realm.

This done, Jasmine knew she had questions to answer. Luna was still looking like she was going to be sick. Professor McGonagall, on the other hand, looked torn between angry and impressed. Jasmine spent the rest of their time that day, explaining what she had done and why. This also ended up including a brief description of the locket they had found and disposed of earlier that year. Jasmine asked them both to not breath a word of this to anyone. Luna promised in seconds, the entire thing clearly revolting her to the core, especially as she now realized what that dairy Ginny had had, really was. Professor McGonagall on the other hand, promised that she would not speak to anyone but Professor Dumbledore as he clearly needed to know about this as soon as possible, and she accepted that Dobby would alert Dumbledore as soon as they could get out of the room.

They decided that after this, it was best if they take the rest of the day off. Though they could have explored more, none of them really wanted to anymore. Nothing from the room after all was likely to leave anytime soon unless they went in and removed it themselves. Jasmine agreed mostly because the stench of the item still hung heavy in the air, and she doubted it would clear anytime soon.

So, as they finally left 'The Room of Lost Items.' They decided it was instead better to get some studying done. The Room of Requirements, soon became the room Jasmine had been using for her stay, and it seemed that these rooms at least were untouched by the effects of what had happened in other versions of the room. Which meant they had a peaceful and safe place to study while Professor McGonagall decided to grade some of her students tests to calm her nerves before she left the school to talk to Dumbledore. Dobby had been summoned again, and had assured McGonagall and Jasmine, that Dumbledore would be waiting for McGonagall's arrive at Sirius's house in a few hours.

So, with one thing an another that happened, the day ended on rather dule and normal note. Though compared to what had happened, Jasmine felt that was a good sign. She had not heard yet how the talk with Dumbledore had gone, but she had no doubt they were one step closer to being free of Voldemort for good. In the meantime, while she waited for curfew to tick around, and Hermione to finally return back to the dorms. She listened Hermione and Luna bicker good naturedly over magical animals Luna believed in.

That was one of the odd things about Luna, that did not seem to come entirely from her loneliness or her increasingly insane father. She believed in a lot of the creatures that her father had supposedly seen before his wife's death had begun to cost him his mind. He still tried searching for them, but his decreasing grasp on reality, made that job slowly harder and harder. Small details that were needed to find the rare magical beasts were slowly slipping through his fingers. Yet they turned up in odd ways in the Quibbler, which was one of the few reasons Luna studied her father's magazine so closely.

Jasmine could not make up her mind, if Luna hoped that finding one of the creatures would help her father's mind. Or if by finding one of them, she could prove to not only herself, but others that he had not been at one time as mad as he was now. She really did pity Luna and her struggles, though it seemed since meeting them, just the idea that they would be her friends was enough to give Luna strength. Hermione for sure found the girl engaging and was rapidly on her way to becoming a very close friend.

Luna and Jasmine's relationship seemed to swing between that of sisters and a mother daughter dynamic. Jasmine just really wanted to see Luna have a chance to actually grow into someone, rather than chasing the dream her visions had been feeding her for years. She knew she was hoping for a lot for that change, but she had changed a lot herself so knew it could happen. It also did not help that she was indirectly correcting a number of Luna's bad habits she had gotten into since her father had slowly lost his mind. Though Jasmine did admit, the pout se got when she cut the amount of puddings Luna was allowed to have to three, was shocking cute.

Sunday, turned out to be much of the same as Saturday evening, with a lot of studying. Luna was helping them review, by asking them the questions. This worked out well as she could predict when Hermione was going to reach out for the book to try and grab it to double check herself. And would as such, lightly slap Hermione's grabbing hand without looking rebuffing the older girl. It was that evening though that before Hermione left for the dorms that Luna caught them both a little off guard.

"Jasmine," Luna said as Hermione put away their study books, "I think it might be best if you leave your necklace with Hermione or myself for the next week."

Jasmine blinked a little surprised by this statement before her mind caught up with what Luna was saying. It seemed Luna had finally a solid vision of a possible future, one where she somehow lost her necklace and parents rings. She was not sure how such a thing was possible without her being killed, as the magic made it impossible to remove them without the owner willingly taking the necklace off.

"What is going to happen?" Jasmine asked, slightly concerned.

"I don't know for sure. I see you as Harry again, helping Umbridge and Fudge because they hold those rings. I see help coming too late for you, and you being lost, estranged from your children and Hermione. I see Voldemort killing you," Luna said sounding more confused than scared, before her tone took a darker edge, "I also see Hogwarts burning to the ground in your wrath. I see your family fearing you after you kill one of them. I see you become a dark lord worse than Voldemort ever was, a true dark lord."

"I… how?" Jasmine asked taken aback.

"I am not sure," Luna admitted, "Something is coming up, something big, or maybe small that could change your future."

"And you think you or Hermione keeping my necklace will prevent these futures?" Jasmine asked a little taken aback.

"I am not sure, but keeping the rings safe will keep you safe from Umbridge and Fudge. I think. Yet I am not sure how to prevent the other just yet. I am searching, trying to guess what could lead up to this, but I don't know enough to help yet," Luna said letting out a sigh of annoyance.

Jasmine nodded, as she reached up and lightly fingered the necklace she wore constantly. It was very important to her despite being so new to her person. But it being the soul reason she followed Umbridge and Fudge did not make sense. There was no way she could be convinced to stop being the mother to her children, which was what was needed to become her male self again. As for the second future, what could cause her to burn Hogwarts, or even kill one of her own kids. Such a future seemed laughably impossible. But if those were to the two possibilities, she already knew what she would take.

"For now, I shall hold onto it," Jasmine said, surprising both Luna and Hermione, "Yes, estrangement can be bad. But I rather be strangers with my own family then them dead, even if by accident."

Luna looked more worried, while Hermione looked unsure. Jasmine knew Hermione had come to the opinion that most if not all prophecies and visions of the future were either fake or guess work. Her meeting Luna and Luna's own brand of seeing the future had not changed much it to much. Even though Luna could persistently predict Hermione's movements such as with grabbing the book, Hermione was still not giving in.

"Jasmine are you sure…" Luna said, but stopped as Jasmine met her eyes.

"I am sure, but I also want to take precautions. If neither of you hear or see me for more than six hours, summon the map. Find me, then find the rings," Jasmine said with a hint of command in her voice, before it softened as she spoke directly to Luna, "I know you are worried. But without more details, just taking my necklace might trigger the very thing we fear. Be ready for anything, and if you cannot find me, get Hermione."

Luna nodded, still looking worried as Jasmine turned to Hermione, "I know you don't believe in these things like Luna does, or myself. But I want you to take this seriously. Even if Luna had not made the prediction, we know Umbridge would love to cause me trouble if she could be sure it was really Harry Potter she had caught in her trap. If you noticing anything odd, or Luna comes to you and tells you to do something, no matter how odd I ask you to please listen to her."

Hermione, held Jasmine's look, knowing what she was asking for. Faith in something she did not truly believe in. Yet, it was also faith in one of her friends, who believed these things to be very real. Hermione however knew even if she could not have faith in those abilities that had such far proven to be somewhat useless, she still had faith in her friends. She just hoped it never came to the point she would have to act on those commands.

"Okay, for you. I will listen to Luna's commands, as long as it is not food related," Hermione said, her voice holding both a bit of seriousness but also a joking tone.

Jasmine stare as Hermione lighten the mood quite a lot before both Luna and Jasmine began to giggle at the joke. Soon they were laughing and Hermione was giving them a knowing smile. Luna in the little time they had known her had very odd eating habit, that neither of them wished to sample. And though Hermione would promise any number of things, giving Luna free reign over her dinner choice was not one of them.

The calm and more cheerful mood resorted, Hermione once again promised she would do what she had to if Luna came to her. She then hugged them each once, if her hugs were a little tighter longer, or the kiss with Jasmine a little deeper, Jasmine knew better than to comment. Though Hermione did not have faith in Luna's or anyone's predictions, she still knew this week would be much more tense than the last one. Umbridge would be running out of time, and that might make her desperate. Just one more week, then they would head home, and leave Hogwarts behind.

Though as the exams resumed, Umbridge did make a move, just not against them. It was Monday night, during their astronomy exam that Umbridge made a move to remove Hagrid from Hogwarts. She went into his cabin half way through the exam, before some sort of argument happened. Jasmine heard only a little more than the others as the distance and thick walls of Hagrid's cabin muffled anything that was said. But she heard all the shouts and actions of everyone once the fight spilled outside.

It was a fight, and Hagrid showed why it was unwise to underestimate him. His giant heritage made him hard to take down, he took at least three different stunners at different times without even slowing down. One blow from his hand was enough to knockout whoever was helping Umbridge, as she yelled at them to stun Hagrid. Hagrid likely would have won and left the entire group out cold on the ground, had Professor McGonagall not shown up. Though she tried to stop the fighting, the remaining people still standing each fired a stunner at her, blasting her off her feet.

Jasmine had only ever seen Hagrid angry as he became now once. It was terrifying, even at this distance, for rather than reacting to the attacks, he charged them. Two were taken down before the rest took off running and even Umbridge fled. Hagrid's yells of cowards followed their hasty retreats, before he grabbed up Fang who had been stunned earlier in the fight, and fled as well. Likely guessing that Umbridge would be back with a lot more people the second time.

The exam ended with everyone much more interested in what they had seen, than finishing the exam. Each house common room, was soon full of people talking about what had just happened outside the castle, while Jasmine was the one to inform Luna what had just taken place. It made her worry that, Umbridge had targeted Hagrid as to get to herself, not that Hagrid knew anything about Jasmine. Jasmine also now worried that McGonagall would be in much worse shape than she had been. While most people could handle a single stunner or even two. Four to the chest was enough to cause some serious harm, and Professor McGonagall was not as young as she had once been.

Though as Tuesday passed without incident, and became Wednesday. Jasmine hoped things would keep this new tense calm. Wednesday passed soon followed by Thursday. Without any sign of aggression from Umbridge or her squad. Jasmine, Hermione, and Luna were on high alert, but nothing they saw seemed to hint at something to come. No sign of Jasmine's necklace trying to disappeared, nor has she suddenly developed any new desires to give up her family.

With that, Friday finally came. All that was left was for their Ancient Runes, and History of Magic exams. Something Jasmine felt was designed to just be evil, by making the hardest tests, also the last. Thankfully, Jasmine would not be taking History of Magic this year keeping with her disguise, but she would be taking her Ancient Runes test in the morning. A subject which could be just as bad, as unless you knew how to translate the runes, you would fail the test with a perfect "0".

The test was as long and tedious as she or Hermione had expected. Long scripts of runes were written across the paper, with each one needing carefully translated. Several lines required two different answers, and not just one due to certain runes twin meanings. It was one of the few tests that no one, not even Hermione, finished early and they were all writing right up till the last moment making sure they had read each line of Runes correctly. Jasmine was not the only one who left the hall after that exam feeling a lot more drained than she had after any other test.

Jasmine though was rapidly regaining her step as she realized that that was the last exam for her to take this year. She was free, or at least as free as she could have been. No more hard tests till next year, though she did wonder if Hermione would get her way, and they would be N.E.W.T.s rather than the standard sixth year tests. They had covered and entire year's worth of material in only three months, and had reviewed everything into the ground by their fourth month. They could possibly fit two years of study into the next twelve months, especially as they had already gotten a head start. So N.E.W.T.s next year was a for sure possibility.

Hermione on the other hand, looked a little worn out, as she knew what was coming next. History of Magic, which was one of the hardest tests out there, as it was sheer memorization of the text book. And much like Runes, you could not just guess and make it, you either knew the material or you didn't. Jasmine stayed with Hermione for the next hour, quizzing her girlfriend one last time to refresh all the material in her head, before they went to lunch.

They sat at the Gryffindor table that day, as Jasmine had been switching where she sat day to day. Mostly as to hide any possible preference of being with one set of students or the other. She was supposed to be a foreign witch after all. A glance at Umbridge, as they talked, and Jasmine noticed that Umbridge seemed to be staring back at her. A feeling began to form in the pit of her stomach that Umbridge was going to make her move. A second glance, and Umbridge instead appeared to be looking at a different set of students.

Jasmine carefully fingered her parents wedding bands where they lay hid under her shirt. She glanced over at Luna, wondering if it would be a good idea to give her necklace to Hermione. She knew she had to be careful, yet she could not see how Umbridge could use the wedding bands as leverage for Jasmine to give up on her children. Yes, she valued her parents' rings above nearly everything else she owned outside maybe her father's invisibility cloak, and map. But she would happy burn all those item if it meant keeping her children safe.

She sighed her mind made up as she very carefully reached up, as if rubbing the back of her neck and undid the magical clasp that held the necklace together. Bringing hand carefully back around, she gathered up the metal chain in her hand, and then grabbing the rings and three pendants carefully removed the entire thing from her neck.

"Hermione, hold this for me," Jasmine said, as she lowered her hand, and slid the necklace into Hermione's pocket, "I might just be paranoid, but I agree, something is going to happen soon."

Hermione glanced over at Umbridge before checking her own pocket. Jasmine could see a determined look come over Hermione's face, "I shall keep it safe."

"Thanks," Jasmine said, softly as he began to wonder if she should just leave the school while she had a chance.

Officially speaking, she was there till Saturday morning as was Hermione. But there was nothing to stop her from walking right out the front door and through the gates now that her tests were done. Well outside raising the suspension of Umbridge without having to do so. The reason for her act was entirely for appearances sake, so the Ministry of magic would not put in anymore effort than they already were to tracking her down. Hermione and Jasmine planned on leaving together as they planned on vanishing along with Hermione's parents and Jasmine's children at the same time. At least till they were sure that the Granger's house had not be compromised by their desire to take their O.W.L. exams. It was a small risk, but a risk none the less.

Problem was, depending on how well Jasmine's acting had been. And how willing everyone was to believe she was Jasmine Evans, rather than former Harry Potter. Her leaving the school would either trigger Umbridge to make a move on her friends or give chase. Jasmine had spent time with Hermione yes, but it was more a new student trying to figure out the school than a former student hanging with a friend. Her time with Ron was limited, which would have been odd as he was supposed to be Harry's best mate. And the addition of Luna who was not a known friend or even acquaintance to Harry had made the act that much more believable. Though it was only with Hermione that Jasmine had really had to act the new student, to avoid making more affectionate gestures. Jasmine and Ron were still on odd terms, which showed well enough.

Jasmine however was not sure if it would be enough. If Hermione and Jasmine escaped without issue, and Umbridge realized who she was too late, or found out. Umbridge might make Jasmine's close friends' live much harder till she got what she wanted. Ron, Luna and even Ginny were possible targets, for the worse Umbridge could think of. As such Jasmine was going to leave the communication mirror, she had brought with her, with Luna. Luna was used to staying hidden, and could stay out of the way long enough to get a message to Jasmine or someone close to her through the mirrors. Jasmine would then let the Weasley twins know they were needed. The pair was more than ready to storm the castle to rescue Ron, Ginny and now Luna as well. They just hoped this plan was not needed, as it would mean several of them would have to go into hiding as well, not just Hermione and Jasmine's families.

"I will see you soon," Jasmine said, as soon as she finished her meal.

"Stay safe," Hermione answered much quieter.

Jasmine could hear it in her voice. Hermione was wondering if she would be coming to save Jasmine soon, that this might be really the last time she saw her. It was clear, even if Hermione did not believe Luna's prediction, they were still haunting her thoughts. Jasmine almost did not leave, as she looked down at her now closest friend, and the closest person to her heart. Hermione was one of the pillars at her center, and leaving her distressed like this felt wrong. Yet any action to comfort her closest friend would do more harm than go.

Though she hesitated and stood longer than she should have, Jasmine did finally turn to go. Glancing over at the Ravenclaw table, she saw Luna watching her. Her face was impassive as ever, but the normal dreamy look in her eyes, was replaced by worry as she tracked Jasmine's own movements. It was quite clear, they all expected something to happen. Jasmine knew though, all she had to do was reach the fifth floor and she could escape. As she had been using a nearby secret passage to hide from sight before she would pull on her invisibility cloak to escape up to the Room of Requirements. And once under the cloak, with her map out, no one could catch her.

Jasmine's walk was a little faster and more hurried than it had been all these previous times she had walked through the Halls. She did not want to get caught out by anyone even if it was perfectly fine for her to walk about right then. She passed a few students, noting their robes as she passed to be from Ravenclaw. Lunch was an hour long in Hogwarts, allowing for the over thousand students plenty of time to get to their dorms and back, as they could be anywhere on the school grounds and a long trek was not uncommon. So, it was not surprising to see students who had already eaten visiting in the upper halls.

Jasmine kept moving, reaching the third floor without issue. But soon she spotted a large group Slytherin students ahead, nearly all of which were part of Umbridge's squad. On edge like she was Jasmine decided to backtracked a moment and take one of the secret passages to bypass them to the next floor. Only to find her path blocked by an equally large group of students was coming up behind her. They were nearly all Slytherin's as well, and they all had Umbridge's Inquisitorial squad badges on them.

"Miss Potter, you are to come with us. Headmistress Umbridge wants to see you," one said.

"Name is Evans," Jasmine said, her voice rather calm.

Though she had been nervous about being caught, now the trap had sprung her nerves settled. Her body was no longer tense, but ready for action, her ears alert for the tell-tale sound of whooshing from a spell. She knew she could escape from this group as long as she got a little lucky. Twenty on one was not great odd, but with the amount of spell fire that would happen if they all cast spells at once, they would be just as likely to be hit by their own spells as well. And even Slytherin's were normally not that dumb.

"You can drop the act. We know who you really are Mr. Potter," Another Slytherin said in a sneering tone, while the one who had spoken first rolled his eyes.

"Mr. Potter…" Jasmine said, sounding doubtful, "I am not sure if you noticed but I am female. I know the robes hide a lot, but not that much. I know Slytherin are supposed to be cunning, but how cunning can you be if you don't even notice the obvious."

It was an uncalled for remark, Jasmine knew, and probably not really wise in most situations like this. However, it was clear to her as she studied the group, that a few of them were ready for a fight. If she could get them to fire spells before the others were ready, she might be able to counter attack using their own spells before they could react. She already knew she was going to have to fight her way out of it.

The one who had spoken first spoke up again, "Miss Potter, I do not doubt your appearance. But you will come with us to see Headmistress Umbridge or you will be forced to come with us."

"No," Jasmine answered.

"You might want to reconsider that," the first guy commented.

"Nah, I have never been impressed by Slytherin's before. If you really need twenty students to take just one in, it really makes one think. Where is all that Slytherin power? Are you really so weak that you need to follow the Hufflepuffs playbook? Or maybe you don't think your blood is pure enough to face down a muggle raised child like myself," Jasmine returned dryly, showing her lack of concern towards the large group at hand.

"You little. Stupefy!" another student yelled right behind her.

Jasmine grinned and sidestepped the spell before it even left his wand. It flew right pass her and towards the group below her on the stairs. She spun and returned fire, not holding back in anything but the power of her spells. Corded binding spells and stunners flew out rapidly. Towards the Slytherin students bent on capturing her. She had three down before they could even react, a fourth as the first stunner from the Slytherin hit one of the students below her.

She threw up a shield at the expected counter attack came. Four stunners splashed over her shield, as she kept moving letting her shield fall before it broke to dodge the rest. They were clearly not expecting her to be this good as she returned fire again. This time at least they shielded or tried to dodge. She got another two down, before they returned fire again. She shielded again, and tried to dodge the rest. She would have gotten away to, if it was not for three impacting the same area. They bounced off each other, and one headed right towards her unexpectedly. To late she remembered that possible outcome with this many spells. A red light struck her form and her world went dark.

Jasmine came to, in a classroom. She felt rather sore, as her mind quickly caught up as she remembered the attack. It seems they had gotten her after all. She was sure her wand had been taken from her, though she could always change to escape as a husky since she was much smaller in that form. She would not do that yet, as she wanted to see just what it was that they would try on her.

"Yep, she is awake Headmistress," a voice said, and Jasmine was sure it was the same Slytherin who had spoken the first time.

"Good. You did well Mr. Travis," A voice said, Jasmine knew to be Umbridge's own.

"She was a lot better than we had thought. We got lucky," Travis said, in a rather professional tone, "Be careful with her, and do not take any risks. I doubt we would get this lucky a second time."

Jasmine almost smiled at that. It seemed Travis was a rather level headed Slytherin if he knew she had only been taken out by a lucky spell bounce. It made her wonder how he had gotten mixed up in all of this. There was the obvious answer of course, he did it just to keep himself safe by having the position, but had been smart enough not to use it. Only getting chosen to capture her out of sheer luck, or Umbridge's favorites currently taking their exams.

"I doubt we will have to worry about Mrs. Potter escaping," Umbridge said, saying Jasmine's name with some contempt.

"Headmistress, she took out seven of us. And we only got her by luck, had she…" Travis said, sounding concern that Umbridge was taking this to lightly, but she cut him off.

"That is quite enough Mr. Travis. Leave while I deal with Potter, and make sure to pass on the message to the others," Umbridge said her voice taking on a warning tone.

"Yes Headmistress," Travis said, and then left the room the door closing behind him a moment later.

"Well, I finally have you Mr. Potter," Umbridge said, sounding far too happy for Jasmine's liking.

"The name is Jasmine Evans," Jasmine commented dryly.

"You might believe that, but we both know the truth. Underneath that ugly half-breed form of yours, you are really Harry Potter," Umbridge said as she slowly came into Jasmine's view, "Now, you are going to answer some questions for me."

Jasmine had to stop herself from either rolling her eyes or replying in a sarcastic tone, "Again, my name is Jasmine."

Jasmine wanted to add more, but she knew it was not best to antagonize Umbridge just yet. From what she understood of Deloris Umbridge, she was not a powerful witch or skilled. However, she did have a lot of political power, and it did not take a lot of knowledge to use already brewed potions. Besides, if Jasmine was careful, Umbridge would be forced to let her go. Assuming Luna or Hermione did not find her before then.

Umbridge did not seem put off by Jasmine's bit of defiance and began her questioning. Umbridge refuse to refer to Jasmine as Jasmine, but always called her Harry. Jasmine likewise refused to answer anymore till Umbridge called her Jasmine as was her name. This led to a bit of a stalemate, as though Umbridge asked Jasmine several different questions, Jasmine chose to pointy ignore her. And slowly, Umbridge's calm begin to give way to her more threatening side.

"If you do not answer me, I will be forced to use truth potion on you," Umbridge warned.

Jasmine however kept her lips shut. While she had no doubt Umbridge wanted to use such a potion on her, Jasmine also doubted she could have made that potion herself. Jasmine knew Umbridge could have requested some from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, but she doubted that would happen. From what Jasmine had found out but their department Head Amelia Bones, unless you could prove a need you were not getting access to one of the most controlled potions in the world. Which left Professor Snape, and Jasmine knew he was not stupid enough to hand over a bottle of truth potion to Umbridge. A bottle filled with water, just to get her off his back, but not a bottle of truth potion.

Umbridge seeing Jasmine was not about to comply, pulled out a small bottle of what appeared to by a clear liquid. Umbridge had a look of almost evil glee as she opened the bottle. She pointed her wand at Jasmine, though Jasmine still kept her mouth firmly shut and only glared at the toad like witch. There was a flash of red light and Jasmine's world went dark once more. She awoke what she felt must have only been a few moments later, as not much had changed, though Umbridge was now looking triumphant.

"Good, now that we have that in you. We shall answer the questions correctly," Umbridge said, a smirk on her toad like face.

Jasmine did not feel any different, and her mind was still clear. It seemed her guess might have been correct, but only time would tell if she was right or not. As it would also depend on the questions Umbridge asked.

"Name?"

"Jasmine Evans."

"Come now boy, I said tell me your name," Umbridge's temper showed at Jasmine's first answer.

"My name is Jasmine," Jasmine answered, having to fight to keep the smirk off her face.

"Fine, you must believe it because your stupid changes," Umbridge snapped her anger quite clear now, "Where is Albus Dumbledore."

"No idea," Jasmine answered in an almost bored tone, all she knew was that Dumbledore had been searching for Horcruxes, but he never said where he was searching.

"How is he going to take over the Ministry," Umbridge pushed, another topic she had tried and failed to get an answer from Jasmine before.

"He doesn't plan to," Jasmine answered again suppressing the desire to roll her eyes.

Umbridge glare at Jasmine, real contempt in her eyes. Jasmine however was left slightly confused by where all this anger was coming from. Though as she thought about it, Jasmine figured she might have a guess. Umbridge hated so called half-breeds or anything that was not a born pureblood witch or wizard. And Jasmine was in many ways was the epitome of those things, especially when her Animagus mishap was added into the mix. Though that did lead to the question how Umbridge had found out about her changes, as including Jasmine there were only a dozen or so people that knew about what she was.

Of those Umbridge had no contact with Remus, Sirius, Kreacher, Samual, Anna, and Molly. Her contact with Hermione, and Dobby had been limited nor would they have betrayed her. Fred, George, Ginny, and Ron while around Umbridge were not about to give out secrets like this. Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall were far too clever to let the information out. Arthur was too loyal and a lot smarter than he looked to let it slip at the Ministry. Which left Luna, and while Luna was many things, she had always been honest with Jasmine. Something Hermione confirmed based on the Luna's Father's articles in the Quibbler, which rarely featured the Ministry in a good light. Several of the more truthful one about the Minister's bad dealings had been penned by Luna herself.

"Very well…" Umbridge finally said, when it was clear she was not going to get what she wanted from Jasmine and pointed her want at her again, "Since you refuse to help, I have a better idea how to get you to behave for me. Since clearly you don't know anything important, getting you back to normal will help me a lot. After all if the Boy-Who-Lived came out in support of the Minister of Magic, it will be a heavy blow to Albus and his schemes. Obliviate!"

Jasmine eyes had just enough time to widen in horror before she saw a flash of light, and her mind went blank.

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(Hi all Espo Here. Another week down... and a cliffy.

Let the Chaos begin... I might also head for my bunker now. Next chapter is a bit of a... doozy.

No Fun facts. But i will leave you with a few extra questions.

Who do you think let slip who Jasmine was, or was it Umbridge just convincing herself Jasmine was Harry?

How would each of the possible future come to happen and why?

As always leaves your thoughts, and comments and reviews down below. Till Next Sunday, Bye for now.)