Disney!Aladdin cross with HP. The pairing is FemHarry/Jafar, and the events of "Return of Jafar" never happened...his lamp just kept getting sent to random places far away rather than in the hands of the merchant, and Genie has a habit of tracking him down to insure he's not causing trouble again.
She had noticed on her very first trip to her vault that there was a lot of old junk in her vault.
Closer inspection before third year revealed what she had taken to be 'junk' were really antiques. One of the stores had quite a few stories of her mother and the countless hours she'd spent going over their wares looking for something new to buy. Apparently it was her mother's favorite hobby, and she had kept it up even while pregnant.
One item in particular caught her eye the moment she laid eyes on it, so much so she removed it from her vault. It was an odd lamp, one that wasn't full of oil and had a mysterious aura.
It was the sort of item that Petunia might have shown off, but only after it had been cleaned thoroughly.
She put it in her trunk to clean later, and almost forgot about it. With the mess that was Sirius Black and the dementors, she never thought about the lamp.
Fourth year was another story.
Acacia was having a rough year, but that was normal. The way everyone turned against her after her name came out...even Ron had turned against her...it all just pissed her off.
She needed a project. Something to distract herself.
As she was digging out some books, she found the lamp.
Project found.
Acacia managed to track down some potions to help clean the worst of the dirt off, an old piece of cloth she could sacrifice to the cause, and a room where she could lock the door and be guaranteed some privacy. Hermione knew of the lamp, knew of the stress she had been in for weeks now and the past few years, and agreed it was a healthy way to keep her mind off things. That being said, she handed the map to the twins temporarily so they could find her if something came up.
Almost immediately, the cloth became pitch black as she started wiping off the dirt and grime off. It took her several times of cleaning off the old cloth before any real progress could be made...it was that dirty.
The metal was black...a pitch black that was almost hypnotic to look at the more you stared at it. Her hands worked on autopilot, as she was well used to this sort of activity while cleaning Petunia's prized silver set. She loved to brag about it, but claimed there was never an 'important enough guest' to serve tea out of that particular pot.
Either way she had her niece clean it until it shined immaculately every time there was a hint of dirt or grime on it.
When the room began to darken, she started to put up the cloth and potions. Her arm brushed up against some of the metal that she had at least managed to clean off properly...and then something latched onto her magic.
She did not expect something to come out of the lamp.
"Who dares to disturb me?!"
Acacia said the only thing that seemed to sum up her luck.
"Bloody hell... of course a random lamp my mother picked up would have a genie inside it," she said face-palming.
The genie had dark red skin, a goatee and sharp teeth. There were matching golden bangles on both his hands and he had a rather cross expression on his face at being woken up. All in all, he had a rather evil aura, and would likely act as a monkey's paw if she attempted to make any wishes.
"I apologize for waking you up," she said sincerely. "I had no idea the lamp had a genie inside, or else I would have been far more careful about cleaning it."
The genie still looked annoyed, but not murderously so.
"What are your three wishes? Just to be clear I am forbidden to kill someone, force them to fall in love or resurrect the dead."
Well that ruined two of her possible wishes right off the bat.
"First off, what is your name?" she asked.
The genie blinked.
"I was once known as Jafar," he said calmly, surprised by the question.
"My name is Acacia Potter," she said calmly. Something told her this...Jafar...hadn't had a decent conversation in a very long time. And she couldn't really fault him for being crabby if she had just woken him up.
"What are your wishes?" he asked again.
"What happens once I make my three wishes? And what are the limitations other than the three you've mentioned?"
"Once you make the three wishes, I go back into the lamp and it's transported to a random location. It's the only reason I managed to escape that blasted Genie who turned me into this," said Jafar annoyed. "As for limitations...there really aren't many outside the three I outlined. Though from what I can tell, the no killing aspect only applies to a wish specifically made to kill another, not an indirect or broad range wish."
Well that was considerably more useful information.
"What about the no bringing back the dead?"
"From what I was able to discover the one time someone ignored that particular rule, while the soul is brought back, the body itself is kept in the same condition it's currently in."
"So basically a walking corpse...explains why you immediately advised against it," she said.
Jafar was starting to like this girl, against his better judgment. She seemed to be far more sensible and was asking intelligent questions, unlike his last 'master'. Oh how it grated him to be forced to serve weaker mortals.
"Is there a particular time limit on wishes?"
"Not as far as I am aware, only that there is a limitation on three...and you can't ask for infinite wishes," he replied.
"What about summoning you just to talk?" she asked.
Jafar blinked. He had never had that particular question asked before.
"Rub the lamp...it automatically summons me," he replied after a moment.
Jafar disappeared, unsure what to think of the young woman who summoned him from the lamp. Most made their three wishes and that was it. None of them had bothered to actually talk to him before, or ask sensible questions.
Acacia was fuming. Ron had only started talking to her because he found his brother Charlie was at Hogwarts, which meant dragons. It was as if the now clear threat to her life had 'proven' she hadn't put her name in that stupid goblet in the first place!
She pulled out the lamp, took out some buffering cloth and the usual potions (it was starting to look considerably cleaner these days) and went to her usual hiding spot. She took the Marauder's Map with her, so no one could find her at all.
Jafar was a tad annoyed about being summoned, but kept his silence when he saw the expression on her face.
He had found her a rather odd girl to talk to, as she was rather sensible and actually listened to him.
"What happened?" he asked, while floating around. He didn't mind the fact she would speak almost on autopilot while cleaning his lamp.
"My 'friend'," she spat out the word, "Seems to have finally realized that maybe I hadn't put my name into this stupid tournament. As if I hadn't been saying that very thing this entire time. He only started to come to his senses after learning his brother who works with dragons had come to the school!"
Jafar blinked. From what he had seen of the girl, she was not the type to brag or openly seek trouble without a damn good reason. Entering a tournament and going against what he could only assume was an adult dragon did not seem to be part of her character.
She was not the foolhardy, hot-headed brave type. She was the type who saw the danger, understood the costs and went in only because no one else was going to do so to deal with the problem directly. Someone who had actual courage, not false bravery.
"He sounds like an idiot,"commented Jafar honestly. "Anyone who spends an inkling of time around you would understand rather quickly you're not the sort to jump into danger for the sake of glory, but rather because it's necessary."
Acacia paused briefly, blushing that an ancient genie had picked up on that, but her so called best friend hadn't. Once you got past his scary appearance and acerbic wit, Jafar was actually easy to get along with and talk to.
She found it easy to vent to him and he would offer his advice on things she hadn't considered. He was likely the only adult who wasn't trying to use her for his own ends. After all, they were both trapped in their own way.
"So...how are you going to handle this dragon?" asked Jafar, mostly out of idle curiosity.
"I...hadn't thought that far. I've been trying to perfect my summoning charm, so I could bring my broom to me."
Jafar stared at her.
"For the love of all things sane, please tell me you are not trying to outfly a dragon," he said.
"I'm a decent flier!"
"Most dragons have a large breath attack, especially the older ones! They also won't be on an easily flammable piece of wood!" he snapped.
Jafar paused, as he wasn't sure why he cared at all.
"Well what would you suggest?" asked Acacia honestly. "For all they claimed that they would 'help' me, so far none of the teachers have done a damn thing to keep me safe!"
"First I'd need more information on what the task is supposed to be," said Jafar after a moment. He didn't know why, but he didn't want to see the fool girl killed over something like this.
Acacia paused, then looked at him seriously.
"You actually want to give me advice. Why?" she asked confused.
"If you die, I get stuck in the lamp until some other blithering idiot gets their hands on it. Besides, you're the first decent conversation I've had in centuries," said Jafar.
Which was true, but he knew that wasn't the full reason.
They had their answer a few nights later.
"Mothering dragons...they want us to retrieve fake eggs from a bloody mothering dragon!" she hissed
Jafar had to wonder at the sheer stupidity of these...wizards. Dragons were dangerous for fully grown magicals...what sort of idiot thought it was a brilliant idea to send barely trained children against them?
He thought hard about what she could do...dragons were difficult even for him to deal with when he was human.
"You could always wish for the egg," he suggested.
"Not a chance," she said immediately. "For one thing, that's just taking the easy way out and wasting a wish. But more importantly I'd have to explain how I did it and knowing the headmaster he'd insist I hand over the lamp."
Jafar had to admit, he was surprised at her surprisingly logical rejection. Most people would waste a wish to take the easy way out...especially when it came to dragons.
"No, what I need is a solution that won't get me killed," mused Acacia. Then something occurred to her. "Jafar, you said you were a famous sorcerer before, right?"
Jafar blinked at the question.
"I was once the grand vizier to the Sultan himself. Second only in power to that blithering idiot," he replied.
If that damn street rat hadn't tricked him, he'd still be in power.
"Well do you know of any way to prevent death from dragon fire?"
Jafar blinked and honestly considered it. If he had to retrieve something from a very angry dragon and couldn't use disposable pawns to do it for him, he did have a few ways. He didn't particularly like doing it, but he was somewhat skilled at teleporting.
The problem was that this school had wards against it, good ones.
"If you really want to do this, we'll need a place to practice. Somewhere where you can destroy a lot of things and isn't covered by the wards. Someplace where no one will disturb us or ask questions."
Acacia didn't even have to think twice. She knew the perfect place for that. Even if she'd rather not go back down there again.
At least this time she wouldn't have to slide down that awful pipe again.