Jasmine took a wistful look back up the beach towards the large villa.
"We can come again next summer," Daphne promised, seeing Jasmine's reluctance to leave.
"Plus, Don't you need to meet Hermione and Ron?" Tracey asked.
"I guess," Jasmien said with a sigh.
She would miss the beautiful white sand beach, the hot sun, and being able to relax. Not to mention, it would mean moving back to the Potter Manor and not spending every day and night with Daphne.
"Hurry up, the portkey won't be valid for use in an hour," Sirius warned.
They all gathered around a large metal hoop and took hold. The hoop glowed a light blue moment before Jasmine felt something hook her behind her nose, and everything turned into a spinning blur.
Jasmine's eyes started watering in the wiping wing, and she closed her eyes. Soon, the roaring of the wind vanished. "Get ready to let go," Sirius called out.
Jasmine felt her hand let go of the hoop, and she quickly plummeted towards the ground and landed on her back with a thud. Jasmine gasped as the wind was knocked out of her and gasped desperately.
It was a few desperate gasps before she felt air flow back into her lungs and started coughing. Jasmine let out a groan as she watched the rest of the group float down towards the ground. Some with amused looks on their faces, and others looked worried.
"I said get ready to let go, not to let go," Sirius said, shaking his head as he waved his wand to clean Jasmine's clothes.
"I heard let go, and so I did," Jasmine said, blushing in embarrassment.
"Well, we should be getting back," Sirius said.
Jasmine looked over at Daphne, reluctant to leave. She had really enjoyed the last month of summer and spent each day with Daphne and the rest of the girls.
"Don't worry, we can talk via the mirror and meet up when we need to buy our stuff for school," Daphne promised before kissing Jasmine.
Jasmine blushed at the wolf whistle that Sirius was doing during the kiss. Breaking apart, Jasmine gave one last quick kiss before pushing an amused Sirius towards the living room and the fireplace.
Once they had returned to the Potter Manor, Jasmine made her way back to the potion lab and, hopefully, to where her grandfather was. He had made potions for people's hair that were still used today and very well-liked, so hopefully, he would be able to come up with some kind of potion that could be used in the spa.
Rushing into the potions room, Jasmine grabbed a cauldron and filled it with water before placing it on a stand. Jasmine looked up at the painting, and her grandfather was looking down at her with an intrude look.
"Making a potion," he asked.
Jasmine rolled her eyes. What else would she be doing in a potions lab?
I was thinking of opening a spa business, but I need something to draw everyone in, and I was thinking of some kind of skin or potion? Jasmine said.
"Hmm, maybe you should start with the beautification potion then?" Fleamont suggested.
"I feel like there must be some kind of drawback to that potion?"
"Yes, it doesn't actually make you look better. It's more like love or mind control potion, making people think you look better than you actually do. And it's only really effective on the non-magical people as magical people can feel the effects easily.
"That is why it's not really used, though girls used to use it while I was at school."
"So it won't be a good option for a spa, then?" Jasmine asked.
"True, so we will use that as a base and then start tweaking and modifying it to see if we can make it suitable."
"Err, what book am I looking for?" Jasmine asked.
"Book of potions grade 2, and you're looking for version 2 of the book," Fleamont said.
Jasmine walked over to the bookcase before searching for the book she wanted. She grabbed the book and opened it, flicking to the beautification potion page.
The potion required 4 Fairy wings, 2 drops of Morning Dew, 5 Rose Petals, 2 Lady's Mantle, 1 strand of Unicorn hair, 100g of Ginger roots and 10g of Boomslang skin.
"Err, I don't think we have any of this?" Jasmine said awkwardly.
She looked at the shelves on the other side of the room that housed all the ingredients, walked over, and pulled the drawers open, only to find most of the empty items inside rotten.
Scrunching her nose, Jasmine closed the drawers again and sighed. Grabbing a piece of parchment and a nearby quill, Jasmine started to make a list of every ingredient on the drawers.
Once she had everything down, she turned and looked up at her grandfather. "We can make potions after I have gotten a fresh supply of ingredients."
"Hmm, I would get some new cauldrons as well, given they are at least 30 years old by now," Fleamont suggested.
"Will do," Jasmine said as she left the potions lab and returned to the living room and to the large fireplace with small green flames burning in its arch.
"Sirius, im off to buy some potion ingredients," Jasmine called out.
"Okay, but don't leave Diagon Alley," Sirius called back, echoing through the house.
Jasmine grabbed a handful of Floo powder and threw it into the flames before stepping in and shouting, "Diagon Alley."
With a woosh, Jasmine vanished and came stumbling out of the fireplace in the Leaky Cauldron. She was thankful that she hadn't fallen over, as Jasmine was sure that she would make it around the Hogwarts rumour mill.
Brushing the ash from her clothing, Jasmine walked towards the back of the closet and out into a little courtyard. Counting the bricks like Hagrid had shown her on her first visit, she tapped the secret brick, and the wall slowly opened.
Jasmine was surprised to see that Diagon Alley was quite busy, given that the Hogwarts letters hadn't gone out yet. Maybe this was the best form of entertainment that kids had over the summer holidays or just a safe place to meet up?
Jasmine walked down the large alley until she got to the Slug & Jiggers Apothecary. Walking inside, she did her best not to make a face at the smell. There were only a few people in the store, and none of them were very young.
"Hi. Can I pay using the key here?" Jasmine asked.
"Of course, what are you looking for?" the shop assistant asked.
"Everything on this list," Jasmine said, passing over the list to the shop assistant.
She quickly read the list before looking back at Jasmine. "Are you sure this will be quite costly?"
"Yes, everything in the potions lab needs replacing. Oh, and I need four standard cauldrons as well."
"Pewter?"
"Yes, please," Jasmine said.
"Okay, right, let's get your ingredients then," the shop assistant said as a large glass bottle started floating down.
Unsure how much to get, Jasmine just randomly guessed how much she wanted and winched at the cost of some of the ingredients, such as ground Unicorn horn, which was 21 Galleons per 10 grams.
Or the snake fangs, which cost 2 Galleons per four fangs. With over 23 different types of magical snakes, the bill for snake fangs quickly added up.
"Right, so that comes to 4210 Galleons," the shop assistant said after calculating everything at the till.
Jasmine gulped as she realised she had spent nearly half of what the Potter family earned in a year on just potion ingredients. Using her vault key Jasmine paid the bill and the shop assistant placed everything in a bag that had and expanded charm so everything would fit.
As she walked out of the shop, Jasmine noticed that many people were crowded around Quality Quidditch Supplies. Curious to see what everyone was looking at, Jasmine slowly made her way through the crowd.
She glimpsed a new broom erected on the podium which her Nimbus 2000 used to be on. Now mounted on there was one of the most magnificent brooms he had ever seen in his life.
"It's the fastest broom in the world, isn't it, Dad?" squeaked a boy, grabbing his father's arm.
"Apparently, so. I hear all the teams have ordered them for the World Quidditch Cup," the dad replied.
Jasmine took a closer look and found a plate below the broom.
** THE FIREBOLT **
State-of-the-art racing broom, each one handmade with its own registration number. The Firebolt has an acceleration of 0 to 150 miles per hour in 10 seconds and has an unbreakable braking charm.
Price on request only.
Jasmine gulped. Seeing the last part, she could only guess how much it would cost, and while she could afford it, she knew that it would be a waste of money to buy one.
Turning around, Jasmine made her way back towards the Leaky Cauldron so she could return to the Potter Manor and start brewing potions with her grandfather.
She was rather excited to be able to do something with family, even if it was only a portrait. She also needed to send Hermione a letter so that she could come around and visit.
Stepping out of the fireplace in the Potter manor, Jasmine managed to avoid stumbling and grinned to herself as she made her way back down to the potion lab.
"Got everything?" Fleamont asked as she walked into the room.
"Ya, I never asked what are the differences in cauldrons?"
"Bronze and copper allow you to brew potions quicker, but they are not something that a novice should be using, which is why you are taught using a pewter cauldron," Fleamont explained.
Jasmine walked over to the cupboard and started pulling out the boxes, cleaning them with the cleaning charm, and then placing the new ingredients inside.
Once everything was put away, she grabbed what she needed for the Beautification Potion as well as the herbs for a potion base and walked over to the large work area.
Jasmine used a water charm to fill the cauldron and then added the potion base, which was just a mix of natural herbs. Under the cauldron, she lit a magic bunsen burner and waited for the solution to start to boil.
As she waited, she grabbed a pestle and mortar before throwing in the wings of three fairies and slowly crushing them. Once she had a fine powder, she poured it into a porcelain bowl and cleaned out the pestle and mortar.
Going over to the book, she looked at the other steps to see what prep work needed doing and started to grind the ginger root. After that, she chopped up the dried Lady's Mantle.
With everything ready, she looked at the potion base and could see it starting to bubble slightly around the edges.
"Try adding an extra drop of morning dew and then some more rose petals," Fleamont said.
"Why?" Jasmine asked curiously.
Snape had never really explained why they used the ingredients. He simply told them to follow the book. It was one of the things she hated about him and his so-called teaching. After all, when it asked for things like three stirs clockwise and then one anti-clockwise, there had to be a reason for it.
"The morning dew is what makes the skin look better, and the rose petals add a rose scent to the drinker, so let's try and boost that first, and then we can look at trying to remove the magical compulsion aspect,"
Jasmine nodded. "One extra drop or two?"
"Start with one."
Jasmine nodded and looked back at the potion to see if the base was ready. She could see the characteristic rainbow shine of a ready potion base. Jasmine poured in the fairy wing dust and then grabbed a glass stirring rod.
She slowly stirred clockwise as she waited for the potion to turn a very faint pastel pink. Once it was a shade that Jasmine thought was pastel pink, she added the two drops of morning dew and watched as the potion turned almost translucent.
Jasmine started to stir clockwise vigorously and turned up the heat. Soon, the potion turned back into pastel pink, and Jasmine grabbed the rose petals and dropped them in one at a time, stirring till they dissolved.
"Don't rush. It takes to take for them to dissolve," Fleamont said, seeing Jasmine looking a little impatient.
Jasmine took a deep breath and slowly dissolved each petal, which took five minutes per petal.
After that was done, she added the chopped dried Lady's Mantle to the cauldron and slowly stirred the potion before waiting. After waiting for five minutes, she dropped in a lock of unicorn hair and stirred vigorously as the potion turned a startling white.
Jasmine didn't stop until the potion slowly started to turn a rose colour again. Once it was the colour of a rose, she added the powdered ginger root and then turned the heat down till it was just a bare simmer.
"Have you thought about how you are going to apply the potion?" Fleamont asked.
Jasmine froze as she realised she hadn't. Drinking a potion wouldn't feel very luxurious. No, it would be better to use some type of oil, moisturiser or body cream, but she had no idea how to do that with a potion.
"Hmm, we can try a few things, but they may cause problems with the potion effects," Fleamont warned.
"Well, I am going to write a letter while we wait for the potion to finish simmering. Then we can work out how to make it into a moisturiser or body cream."
Walking over to the bench, Jasmien grabbed a piece of parchment and dipped her quill into the ink. Jasmine quickly wrote a letter inviting Hermione to spend some time at her house.
She had wanted to invite her over for the last two weeks of the summer holiday, but she knew that Hermione didn't have much time to see her parents other than in summer.
With the letter done, Jasmine left it to dry and walked back over to the potion. "So any ideas?" Jasmine asked.
"Hmm, Arnica root sap would be my best suggestion, given how late in the potion creation we are."
Jasmine nodded and walked over to grab the sap, and added a few drops to the potion. Almost instantly, Jasmine could feel the potion start to get thicker.
"Pour it out, and we can see what it's like," Fleamont said.
Jasmine grabbed a glass bowl, poured the potion into the bowl, and saw that it was like a syrupy consistency, which disappointed Jasmine. It wasn't anything like the body cream consistency that she was hoping for.
"It may change as it cools down. Send your letter off and then come back in about an hour, and we can see if anything has changed." Fleamont advised.
Jasmine nodded as she grabbed her letter, left the potions lab, and walked back upstairs.
"Hey, you been down there for a while?" Sirius asked.
"Trying to make a potion for my spa idea," Jasmine said, folding the letter over.
"Ah, well, Fleamont is the best help you could get," Sirius said.
"Well, I need a potion tester?" Jasmine asked.
"No can do. I'm still on a regulated potion regiment from my time in Azkaban," Sirius said with evasive eyes.
Jasmine felt her mouth twitch in amusement before she made her way to her room. The manor had an owl tower, but given that she only had one owl, Jasmine had never been to the tower, and she doubted that Hedwig would want to roost there either.
Walking into the master bedroom, Jasmine spotted Hedwig perched on a large metal pedestal. It was something that Hedwig had fallen in love with from the moment that they had moved in.
Jasmine promised herself that she wouldn't allow her to go back in a cage ever again over the summer like she had been when she had to stay with her aunt and uncle.
"Hey," Jasmine said as she rubbed her fingers into Hedwig's neck, getting a soft hoot.
"Do you think you can deliver this letter to Hermione?" Jasmine asked.
Hedwig let out an indignant hoot and nipped Jasmine's finger.
"You sure? I am not sure if she is back in the UK yet," Jasmine teased.
Hedwig stuck out her leg and ruffled her feathers. Jasmine giggled and attached the letter to Hedwig's legs, and with a finally affectionate nibble, she flew off out of the window and towards the sunset.
She wondered if they could get a phone installed, but with all the wards around the manor, she doubted it, given they didn't have power or the internet.
Making her way back down to the potions lab, Jasmine was relieved to see that the potion did look much thicker. Using her glass rod she gave it a poke and frowned.
The potion had turned into a very hard goop.
"Well this was a failure and there is no way I am eat what ever this things is now."
"I wouldn't let you. While the effect should have changed, it's still not worth the risk."
"Well, this is a problem for tomorrow and the rest of summer," Jasmine said with a sigh.
She vanished the so-called potion and then dragged her equipment over to the sink and slowly cleaned the cauldron and the glass stirring rod before she placed them back on the bench.
"What are you doing today?" Sirius asked as they ate breakfast.
"Good question," Jasmine said as she paused to think about what she wanted to do today.
"Daphne is busy for the next few days, so I can't invite her over. I will probably make potions again or read books in the library about duelling spells. Unless Hermione replies back and she is free to meet,"
"Oh, I could teach you some if you want, and we can duel each other if you want?" Sirius offered.
"Really?" Jasmine asked with slight disbelief.
"Sure, I wish I could promise to always protect you, but that would be a lie. It's a shame that most wizards are too cowardly to protect themselves. That was a big problem in the last war; people would rather run away than fight," Sirius said with slight bitterness.
"Okay, then, this afternoon?" Jasmine asked.
"Sure, after lunch, there is a duelling room in the manor we can use."
As Jasmine got up, she saw Hedwig flying into the room with a letter on her leg. Hedwig landed next to her plate and let out a hoot, then pulled the letter off her leg and held it out for Jasmine.
Jasmine picked up a slice of bacon and took the letter before feeding Hedwig the bacon. Jasmine pulled open the letter and read it slowly.
"Everything okay?"
"Ya, it's a letter from Hermione. She said that she could meet today in the afternoon as she is going to be at the Leaky Cauldron."
"Oh, I guess we can do the duelling another time then," Sirius said.
"We can do it later in the afternoon," Jasmine said.
"Okay," Sirius said with a grin.
Jasmine let out a sigh as she poured her potion out of the cauldron and into bottles to cool down. Under her grandfather's tutelage, Jasmine had spent the morning learning the basics of potion-making.
Her lack of knowledge of the basics angered Fleamont, given that she was going into her third year at Hogwarts, which meant she was just two years from her OWLs.
He had gone into a rant about how inept the so-called "potion master" that she had for the 1st two years must be. Jasmine took a small amount of delight in the rant as she imagined what Snape's face would look like.
Fleamont had spent the morning teaching Jasmine the very basics, and even after the entire morning of learning, she had only covered the very basics. And Fleamont promised more lessons before the end of summer.
Jasmine stepped out of the fireplace, and with a wave of her wand, she got rid of the ash on her jeans. Jasmine looked around the Leaky Cauldron for Hermione. However, the pub was mostly empty.
"Hey, Tom, can I get a butterbeer," Jasmine said as she walked towards the bar.
Jasmine was surprised to learn from Sirius that things like butterbeer weren't really classed as alcoholic due to it only being 1% and their magic making it harder for them to get drunk.
"Sure," Tom said as she poured the drink and slid the glass over to Jasmine. Jasmine took a sip and licked her lips as the rich taste of caramel and cream filled her mouth.
It was one of the best drinks that she had ever tasted. Quickly, the butterbeer vanished almost as if by magic. Jasmine placed the glass back down on the table with a sigh.
"I didn't know you had mastered the vanishing charm," a familiar voice said from behind her.
Jasmine spun the stool around with a large grin on her face. "Hermione," Jasmine said, jumping out of the chair and hugging her friend tightly.
"You have a foam moustache," Hermione said, pulling a tissue out of her pocket and handing it to Jasmine.
Jasmine blushed as she watched the foam moustache from her top lip. "How was your summer trip?" Jasmine asked as she pulled Hermione over to take a seat at the bar as she ordered two more butterbeers.
"It was really interesting to explore both sides of France. They have their own version of Diagon Alley called Allée magique, which literally means Magic Alley.
"I also went to a magic beach which was really fun as well."
"Magic beach?" Jasmine asked intreged.
"Yep, it's not that different other than everyone using magic, which led to some amazing sand castles. They also had Hippocampus to ride in the sea." Hermione explained excitedly.
"Hmm, maybe next summer we could go together?" Jasmine suggested. "Done with your drink. I can't wait to show you my new house," Jasmine said excitedly.
"Sure, let's go," Hermione said.
"Here you go, Tom," Jasmine said, sliding a galleon over to him. "Keep the change," Jasmine called as she and Hermione walked over to the fireplace.
"Keep a good grip on me," Jasmine said as she grabbed a handful of floo powder. "The Potter manor," Jasmine said quietly as she threw the powder into the fire.
The flames turned a dark green, and together, they stepped into the fire and vanished with a woosh.
"Wow," Hermione said as she stepped out of the fireplace and looked around the large entrance room. "Yes, this is what I would call a manor."
"Want to see the library?" Jasmine asked rhetorically.
"You have your own library?"
"I guess, but it's nothing like the one at Hogwarts," Jasmine warned.
"Who cares? Come on, lead the way," Hermione said, grabbing Jasmine's arm excitedly.
Jasmine smiled fondly at Hermione. "Come on this way, and maybe my grandmother will be there as well."
Jasmine led Hermione into the library and saw her eyes almost drop out. Hermione rubbed her eyes as she spun around, looking at the sheer amount of books in the one room.
"Wow, do you have a spare room for me to move into?" Hermione asked as a joke.
"You are free to borrow books as you wish. So tell me more about France?" Jasmine asked as she took a seat in one of the large, comfy leather chairs.
"Hmm, well, the Magic Alley wasn't that different from Diagon Alley, to be honest. There were more clothing and jewellery stores than Diagon had. Oh, they also had stores for enchanting and alchemy.
"You could buy all kinds of enchanted jewellery, some with what seemed like pointless enchantments, but others were pretty cool, like a temperature-regulating enchantment. There was also a ring for detecting poison and another veil for breathing underwater. But they were all so expensive."
"How expensive? Some of them seem to be really helpful?"
"The poison-detecting ring was 300 Galleons, but things like the temperature-regulating enchantment were cheaper at 70 Galleons."
"Do they take mail orders?" Jasmine asked. Given the enchantments, Jasmine didn't think they were that expensive and wouldn't mind seeing some of the options.
"I think so. I didn't take any of their catalogues as I know that I couldn't buy anything from them."
"So, how did your parents react to magical France?"
"Quite well, though they were surprised at the role that we played in WW2."
"Magicals were involved?" Jasmine asked.
"Yep, not that you would know it with how useless our history lessons are. It wasn't so much combat as they would break the statute of secrecy. But things like providing food and, in France, escorting people to safety was common, and the Ministry of Magic's pretty much turned a blind eye to it as long as it was kept secret."
"Hmm, history of magic lessons would be much more interesting if it wasn't just all goblin wars."
"So you spent most of the summer with Daphne?" Hermione asked.
Jasmine blushed when she heard Hermione's tone. "Yes, on a private island," Jasmine said.
"Oh? So have you and Daphne, you know?" Hermione asked in almost a whisper.
"Yes, after my birthday," Jasmine said, feeling her face turning into a furnace.
Hermione got a strange smile on her face before she walked over and jumped on the couch with Jasmine.
"Spill, how was it? Did it hurt?" Hermione asked quickly.
"Hurt?" Jasmine said as she thought back to her first time. "No, it didn't hurt. It felt great," Jasmine said with a grin.
"Oh," Hermione said, grinning.
"It did. Daphne was very nice and made sure I enjoyed it. I did feel a little sore in the morning, but I think that was just a first-time thing as I hadn't felt sore since, even when the sex was a little rough."
Jasmine saw the look of lust on Hermione's face and could see that she was turned on by what she was saying. She got a mischievous grin on her face.
"And on the island, Daphne seemed to really enjoy pinning me down in the hot sun and making me cum my brains out," Jasmine said in a husky whisper.
Jasmine heard Hermione let out a little whimper before she leaned away.
"What time did you tell your parents you would get back?" Jasmine asked Hermione.
"Oh, I said it wouldn't be more than a few hours since I don't live far from the Leaky Cauldron."
"Really?" Jasmine asked, surprised.
"Yep, it's like a 15-minute walk to my house."
"Well, let's go add you to the ward book, and then you can come back whenever you want via the Floo," Jasmine said as she got up.
Hermione gave a conflicted look at the book she was reading.
"You can take it home with you after you are added to the wards," Jasmine said with an amused voice.
Jasmine led Hermione through the large manor and then down into the same basement that Sirius had shown her. The room still had the strange look and vibe to with with shiny walls lit with candles for light.
The ward book and the black quill with red stripes were in the middle of the room on a black pedestal.
"Right, you just need to write your name in the book."
"I just need to write my name in a book?" Hermione asked, sounding a little surprised at how simple it was.
"Well, you need to do it with a blood quill, which uses your blood as that has your magical signature so the wards know who you are."
"My blood?" Hermione asked, slightly disturbed at the idea.
"Yes," Jasmine said, holding up the quill for Hermione.
Hermione tentatively took the quill and looked at the book. With a shaky hand, she slowly started to write her name in the ward book. As soon as she was done, she dropped the quill and started rubbing the back of her hand.
"Perfect, now you can come and go when you want. Just be careful using a public Floo as you did with me. Other people can come with you," Jasmine warned.
"Let's get you some books to take home," Jasmine said as she pulled Hermione from the ward room.
