Chapter 74
Being back a Hogwarts after the winter holidays always felt like it was a calm before the storm. The more life-threatening adventures were always just about to begin, and Jasmine knew that she was going to need to figure out a way to destroy the horcrux in the room of requirement without causing too much damage to the school...and not to mention that Dumbledore couldn't find out what she was doing.
So, here she was in the library, her charms homework spread out before her in an attempt to draw her mind away from the looming task before her. It wasn't doing much good if she was being completely honest with herself. Her mind kept wandering back towards the serpent in the bowls of the school and all of the different ways it could end her journey in this timeline with a single glance of its deadly eyes.
Jasmine decided basilisk venom was the best way to solve the horcrux problem, but that meant that she was going to have to slay the serpent roaming around the basement and that was always a tossup for whether she lived or died. Second year and fourth year deaths had been a running issue in her life cycles. For all the nine lives she lived she barely made it past fourteen in more than half of them.
There were just so many variables in those years...but here she would be in completely new territory. Jasmine figured she could always kill the basilisk with a rooster. Ginny wouldn't have killed them all, not to mention that Jasmine knew more than enough transfiguration to just make one, have it crow and have the bloody snake drop dead. She had done that in two different lives and had been successful. She also died twice before the stupid bird would do anything.
Fawkes wasn't always there to save the day if she went a day too early or is she tried to take care of the problem a year too soon.
Though, she still had a few months to plan this. Jasmine didn't want to run into the chamber wands blazing and hope for things to work out. That was far too Gryffindor of a plan and she still needed to work out more than a few kinks in her plan.
"You seem to be glaring a hole into your charms book. Did you finally find a spell that's causing you trouble?" Remus asked settling down across from her. He was paler than normal and if her memory of the lunar cycle was correct, he'd be transforming in the shack in a couple of days.
Jasmine turned her gaze to her messy work. It wasn't due for another week, but she always liked being ahead of her assignments.
"I just have a lot on my mind."
Remus let out a small huff of a laugh, as he pulled out his potions book. They had a six-foot-long essay on love potions due at the end of the week. Jasmine had already finished it. She had dealt with more than her fair share of those horrid concoctions as Harriet.
"It certainly seems like it. You're usually very organized when it comes to your work. Do you want to talk about it?"
She did, but it just wasn't possible to share it with him at this point in time. "Life is just catching up with me. Everything is just moving so quickly..."
Remus put his quill down and his eyes moved away from his textbook. "Is this about the marriage proposal with the Black Family? If it is, Jazz, you didn't sign anything, they aren't going to force you into something."
She laid her head down on the table, twirling her quill between her fingers. "It doesn't have to do with that. Sirius and I talked about it and came to an understanding with one another."
"If you're sure. I know that things can seem complicated. You dealing with marriage proposals and leaving home for an internship after the summer holidays...all of it has to be stressful. I can't imagine what you're feeling, but you're going to do great. The Ward Masters have to know that they picked the best candidate they could find. Jazz, you're brilliant with runes and anyone would be lucky to have you."
Jasmine felt her cheeks heat up at Remus' earnest compliment. He always seemed to know what to say to make her feel at ease. "You're such a sweet talker, Remus. Whoever catches your fancy will be very lucky to have you."
It was his turn to flush as he averted his amber eyes. "Sure, and with the baggage I have with my health they'll be turned away just as fast."
Jasmine rolled her eyes and took his scarred hand in hers. It seemed that their homework would be taking a backseat for the moment. "Just because you have a furry little problem doesn't mean that people don't love you for who you are. James, Sirius, Lily and I are proof of that. If I'm brilliant than so are you. You manage to corral James and Sirius on a regular basis, get them to pass all their classes, and keep them from doing most of their more dangerous pranks. You also did the majority of the engineering of the Marauder's Map, which is some of the most advanced and creative magic I have ever seen. Remus, you have international job opportunities that are going to come to you in spades if you apply. Don't sell yourself short."
His eyes were boring into their joined hands. His palms were a bit sweaty, but he tightened his grip instead of pulling away. "It's thanks to you and the others that I even started looking for jobs elsewhere...you know, Sirius and I spoke about how he hid that you were at the top of his marriage list the other day. Prongs brought it up and I couldn't believe that he kept it a secret for so long."
It had been odd for Sirius to hide things from his friends, and to manage it so successfully. "How did that conversation go? I know it had to be shocking to know that Sirius could hide something that important without telling you. He seemed rather earnest when we spoke about it...to see how things played out."
Remus let go of her hand and curled his fingers in his robes. "It made me realize that you and Padfoot are in a completely different life path than James and me. The two of us are going to more than likely go down business ventures or take up passion projects. You and Sirius are always going to be dealing with major politics in Wizarding Britain. It isn't something I could ever see myself being a part of and I thought you would have avoided all of that after your time in the ring."
It was bold of him to bring up her time in the Chesters tender love and care. James and Sirius tiptoed around it most of the time with good reason. Remus' blasé tone was a breath of fresh air.
"Someone needs to change the world for the better. It doesn't matter how much I hate the spotlight. Someone needs to stand up for people that don't have voices," she replied with a shrug as she picked at scratch in the old oak desk in front of her.
"That's what I meant. You and Padfoot both talk about changing the world. Prongs and I are just trying to figure out tomorrow."
Jasmine feels a small smile tug at her lips. "Sirius is being trained to take over the Black Lordship. It is no secret that his father wants to step down from being head of the family within the next ten years. He has to learn all he can about politics and the Black family is the most influential dark family in Magical Britain. He needs to think about the future as much as he doesn't want to. I, on the other hand, am reintegrating the Peverell family back into British magical society. It's considered a major grey magical family. I have a duty to my family to uphold the house to certain standards. I have to make alliances with both sides and play the political game. I hope that isn't a problem for you."
"No, it isn't. I just couldn't imagine doing what you two want to attempt to do every day. It's bloody mad."
He wasn't wrong, which got a small chuckle out of Jasmine. "Is there something that brought this revelation on. I understand that you spoke to Sirius, but something else had to be on your mind..."
His cheeks colored again, his amber gaze downcast. "It isn't anything major. Arranged marriages are something I never imaged my friends needing to worry about and then lo and behold, both you and Padfoot are being asked to sign the same one." He replied with a wide gesture. His voice was a bit raised and Jasmine was glad that she had cast a privacy charm around them. She didn't need anyone overhearing their conversation.
As much as she would love for the public to find out about her and Sirius' potential arranged marriage, she didn't need that getting back to his potential bride from Japan hearing about it. Jasmine still wanted Sirius to test the waters with other people. It would be good for him to see more of the world. His family was fixated on her, but she wasn't sure if that was best for the two of them in the long run.
"Let me tell you, it wasn't the most pleasant conversation to have on Christmas Eve," Jasmine replied with as much humor as she could muster, given the topic.
Remus sighed, "I thought as much. Is it odd that I'm worried about you and Padfoot? I know that you two are close...I don't want his family playing with your relationship to ruin that."
Why doesn't everyone and their mother think that they were dating? Just because Jasmine was friends with the Marauders doesn't mean that she wanted to date them. "Remus, Sirius and I are close friends. At the moment we both agree that this is the best course of action."
He let a small, but pained grin, grace his lips. "Yes, well if that doesn't sound like some kind of business deal, I don't know what would. I just don't want either of you making decisions that you'll regret because you're being stubborn one way or another."
That was one way of thinking of the situation.
"Well, I don't think getting married is a smart decision for either of us at the moment. We're too young and I don't want to be his first option because I'm a familiar face and his family is pushing for him to marry me when he doesn't want to. There are plenty of powerful and gifted young witches out there for him to fall in love with."
Remus rolled his eyes, "There aren't many witches out there like you, Jazz. Just, don't lead Sirius on. If you don't want to romantically pursue him, just tell him and his family. I get that you want some kind of alliance..."
Jasmine squeezed his hand, "I know, Remus. I wouldn't string him along. The two of us...well, you know how we are. We agreed to grow up a little bit before moving forward. We'll always be friends first."
He let out a sigh before pinching his nose and leaning his head back. He eyed the bit of work let out around her. "That's what I'm worried about."
Jasmine frowned and sat up a bit straighter in her chair. "What-"
Before she could finish her question, Lily rushed towards them as quickly and quietly as possible. Her fiery hair was disheveled as if she had been running her hands through it. There was a quill behind her ear and a textbook clutched tightly in her arms. "I might need some help with the defense work due in two days."
Both Remus and Jasmine shared a fond look with each other. They would table their conversation for now. Remus was trying to get at something Jasmine wasn't sure he had a right to be digging into. "Sure, Lily. What has been causing you trouble?"
~*~
Jasmine ended up in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom staring at the snakes on the faucets, debating whether or not she wanted to try and kill the beast now or on another day. It had been nearly two weeks since she had spoken to Remus and she figured that she had stalled enough.
All her friends were distracted for the evening, they were either studying or spending time with each other. There wouldn't be too many more chances for Jasmine to get basilisk venom without needing to find it on the black market and that tended to be diluted garbage. She bit her lip, nearly drawing blood.
Myrtle wasn't around either, or at least Jasmine didn't hear her crying in her favorite stall. With the ghost gone and everything quiet there was literally no better time to send herself on a crazy adventure. She let out a long sigh, moving a strand of hair from her face, that was going to get annoying if she had to start running. Jasmine pulled her hair back in a quick ponytail and straightened her back.
Was she a Gryffindor or not?
She focused on the snake before her. "Open," she hissed with the barest hint of a grin as the parseltongue passed from her lips.
The marble groaned and turned as the passageway opened to the dank, moldy bowels running through the school. She sure wasn't going to slide down those pipes ever again, once was more than enough. Tom Riddle sure as bloody hell wouldn't slide down the school's pipes, so, Harriet had figured there had to be some other word to make the travel down to the chamber easier. It had taken some guess work during her second life. She had gone through a litany of words only to find out that the solution was horrifically easy to guess, though it had taken her over an hour to get there.
"Stairs." As it turned out, the word was extremely simple.
Theo stilled teased her about it to this day.
The groaning continued as stairs pushed themselves out and down towards the Chamber of Secrets. Jasmine took a deep breath and started the long decent down the staircase, the entrance sealing behind her with an audible thump. No one could follow her this way...and no one knew where she was, which was a bit terrifying if she was being honest. In most of her lives she had a least one other person know when she was going to do something horrifically life threatening. Jasmine really didn't feel like dying in the chamber, again.
She could feel Death's hand resting on her shoulder in what she assumed was supposed to either be encouraging or comforting. Jasmine wasn't sure which one she'd prefer it to be.
The air around her grew thick with residual magic the further down she went. It left a bitter taste in the back of her mouth. This area hadn't been disturbed since Tom had attended and Jasmine could still taste the dark magic scarring this place.
There was a distinct lack of animal bones and general messiness that the chamber had managed to accumulate by the time Harriet Potter had come to investigate. The sheds that Jasmine had become acquainted with during her different lives at Hogwarts were nowhere to be seen and everything was blissfully silent.
It was odd. Something was very wrong here. Jasmine had affected the timeline, she knew that, but for something this drastic to have changed...she wasn't so sure she was responsible for it. The chamber hadn't been opened or disturbed since Tom had used it back in the forties when she had been Harriet in the nineties. What could have possibly happened within the next ten years to cause the entire place to go to absolute shit?
She quietly walked through the echoing pipes, her head going left and right as she cataloged all the differences, the distinct lack of mold, the fact that the pipes were clean and didn't smell of rotting animals. It was a place that Jasmine could see Salazar Slytherin being proud of hiding under the school. The main pipes still ended up leading to the chamber entrance and with a quiet hiss of "open" the doors moved for her without much fuss, with barely even a groan of protest.
Inside was just as grand, if not more so, than it had been in the future and significantly less flooded. Without something immediately trying to kill her, Jasmine now had a full view of the pillars and columns that were covered in runes from top to bottom. She ran a delicate finger over a few of the, mouthing their meanings until they strung together powerful wards. They were for stability, cleanliness and preservation, which would explain how the area was so clean now, but they weren't meant to last forever. Jasmine could tell the wards were beginning to fray. Ancient runes like this needed to be renewed every hundred years or so, otherwise they start to breakdown.
By Jasmine's best estimate, these runes would begin to fall fail within the next decade or so, which would explain the mess that Harriet would stumble into in the nineties. It would take her a few trips down her to figure out where the central runes were to renew the wards in the chamber, but she'd do it after she dealt with the basilisk. Jasmine took a quick peek around the room with her rune vision and it was nowhere to be seen.
Was she going to need to summon the beast herself? She didn't have any of Slytherin's blood, so she doubted that it would listen to her.
"Great serpent of old, do you still dwell within this place?" Jasmine asked into the echoing room, the hissing bouncing perfectly off the walls and columns.
There was a brief rumble and Jasmine closed her eyes and pulled her wand out. She was ready to fight the beast.
"A speaker? It has been many moons since a true speaker came into my master's chamber," a completely sane serpentine voice replied.
Through her rune vision Jasmine could see the basilisk slither towards her, slowly and with extra care not to be looking directly at her.
"I have come here to ask you about Tom Riddle."
The basilisk let out a pained hiss at the mention of his name. "He has cursed my magic, mind and body. Do not speak of him in my presence unless it is about his demise."
And, suddenly, Jasmine realized that she was going to get along with the serpent, so long as she only spoke about killing Tom, which seemed like a grand idea to her.
I hope you enjoyed!
~Animerocker