xxii. apology
-silks of heaven, chapter twenty two-
SUNLIGHT LEAKED THROUGH THE windows the next morning. Jasmine woke up with a groan and rubbed her eyes.
Suddenly, memories from last night came rushing back and she got out of bed and went down for breakfast. Only Euphemia was awake, already making breakfast.
"Good morning, beautiful!" she beamed as Jasmine walked down. "Could you wake your father and brother for breakfast?"
Jasmine woke Fleamont and James up and sat at the breakfast table. She fiddled with the cutlery while thinking of her new friend.
She heard people outside: laughing and shouting. She sucked on her lips nervously.
"Mum, is it alright if I go cycling with a friend?" Jasmine asked.
"We're your only friends," James said, sitting next to her at the table. "Who would you go out with?"
"Shut it, Bambi," Jasmine shot. "A neighbour."
"Didn't know you were friends with the locals," Euphemia said. "But, yes, of course. As long as you use sunscreen and come back before ten."
"Ten? Brilliant! Thanks, Mum," Jasmine said. "Breakfast first, though, I know," she added before her mother could say anything else.
"Your bike is years old, though," James said, concussed. "How are you gonna go cycling?"
"I'll borrow Mum's," Jasmine shrugged. "I always uses to borrow hers."
James looked puzzled, but his focus shifted to his food as Euphemia laid the breakfast out on the table.
As the family finished their breakfast, the doorbell rang. Jasmine got excited and assumed it was Oli, so she sat up and ran to the entrance hallway to open it.
It's easy to imagine how disappointed she was when she saw that it wasn't Oli at the door, but in fact, Regulus Black.
She stared at him. Partly, because she was shocked, but she also couldn't keep her eyes off him. He looked beautiful with his slight tan, unusual from the normally pale skin. His blue eyes looked especially pretty in the summer ...
"Jasmine ... how are you?" Regulus asked. "I'm not coming in, I just wanted to come over and apologise. I understand why you're mad at me, but I —"
"I don't want to hear it," Jasmine snapped. "Get out of my house."
"I don't want to lose you, Jas," he struggled. "You mean everything to me.."
"I'm not going to repeat myself," she said, shaking her head. "Out. Before I slam the door on your face."
"Remember when you said you wanted to go to France? Well, I don't have enough personal money to get you tickets, but I brought back —"
"Get out!" she hissed.
"Fine, I'll leave," he said, his voice sounding hurt. "But, I need you to know that I do love you. I walked off because I was scared of hurting you. Not because I didn't mean it. I meant it, with all my heart."
She sighed. "I love you. But I don't think I'm ready for that. I don't think I ever will be ..."
There was a moment of silence. She hated to admit it, but she wanted to run into his arms and let him stay. She couldn't.
"Why are you here?" she asked, trying to keep her tone cold, but she sounded genuine.
"We're staying twenty minutes away," he said. "That's where our summer house is. It's on the shore of your local seaside."
"Oh," was all she said. She thought he came all the way over here to apologise to her.
Don't get yourself too excited, she thought. We're supposed to hate him. He hurt you, Jasmine.
"I'll be off. If James wants to see Sirius while he's here, tell him that he's not allowed to, but Sirius has found a way to sneak out, so they can meet at night."
Jasmine pursed her lips as she shut the door and Regulus walked away.
"Who was that, Jas?" Fleamont asked, as she sat back down at the table.
"Reg," she said, making Euphemia and James both look up at her. "His summer house is by the beach that's round the corner."
"That's great, isn't it?" Euphemia said. "James, you can go see Sirius, can't you?"
"Yeah, he said to only go at night," Jasmine said to James. "Write to him before you leave, then Sirius'll sneak out while his parents are sleeping."
"Oh, if only Moon — I mean, Remu and Pete were here," James said, conscious of their parent's presence.
Jasmine heard someone ring a bicycle bell from outside. She ran up to her bedroom and opened her window to see Oli.
"Hey, good morning!" she shouted down from her window.
He stopped cycling and looked up at her, shielding his eyes from the sun with his hands. They smiled at each other.
"You coming down?" he asked, shouting.
"Yeah," Jasmine shouted back. "Give me two seconds!"
She shut the window and pulled her blinds down — you can never be too careful — and got quickly changed.
She ran downstairs, got her mother's bicycle, and took it to the door of the house.
"I'll be back before ten," she shouted to her family and shut the door.
The brunette boy had a grin spread from one ear to the other when he saw her. She pulled her hair up in a loose bun, pulled a few strands to frame her face, and swung her legs over the bike.
"Where first?" he asked her. "You've lived here longer than me."
"I've got a swimsuit under — I was planning to go swimming with my brother later — so we could make our way to the lake," she suggested. "It's only, what, fifteen minutes by cycling."
He agreed and they set off.
Jasmine tried to speed her bike up so that she'd be faster than Oli, but he noticed, and sped his up, going ahead of her.
"Slow down, you bastard!" she laughed, forcing her legs to pedal faster, but he was still seconds ahead of her.
They went down a hill, at which Jasmine finally caught up to him, and they were out of breath by the time they made it to the bottom.
"Down here," she said, setting her bike to a path in between trees. "Don't worry, there's no bloody Dementors down here," she added, catching the uneasy look on his face.
They slowed down as they went through the trees and Jasmine started up conversation.
"You don't go to Hogwarts, do you?" she asked.
"Nah, my parents homeschool me," he said. "See, my dad's Muggleborn, so he's too scared to send me to Hogwarts with all the Death Eaters and shit."
"I dated one," Jasmine huffed. "Don't worry, I'm not with him anymore."
"It's scary how many there are nowadays," Oli sighed. "You can't blame my dad for being worried."
"You're right," she responded, "but what's even scarier is that some kids are forced to become what they don't want to become because of their family."
"Purebloods," he scoffed.
"Hey! Watch your mouth," Jasmine snapped, playfully. "My family are the Potters."
"You guys are exceptions." Oli stopped cycling. "Is this the lake?"
Jasmine looked up: there was a lake of water in front of them, the water dark because of the trees above which hid the sun. It was almost crystal clear and the surface was as smooth as it could be.
"Are you actually going in?" Oli asked her, eyebrows raised.
She smirked at him as she pulled her shorts and shirt off. He stared at her body, only covered by a two-piece swimsuit. She laughed and jumped into the middle of the lake, splashing Oli.
"Oi!" he shouted, now soaked. "You — I'm coming in."
He threw his shirt off and jumped in. Before he could splash her, Jasmine pushed herself under the surface of the water and went back over.
"You cheat!" he said, splashing her with his hand. She swam over to him and pushed his head under the water. While he was under, he pulled her leg and she went under with him.
They both reached the surface again and started to laugh at each other. Their laughter died down soon after and it was silent, apart from the sound of birds in the trees and the slight breeze.
He didn't think twice before swinging his hands around her waist, pulling her closer, and kissing her. She didn't move for a second but then she rested her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss. She parted her lips and allowed his tongue to slip inside.
Suddenly, guilt washed over her and she pulled herself off him, moving backwards in the water.
"No, this isn't right," she said. "I'm sorry, it's just that I'm not over ... someone. And there's already the rumour of me being —"
"Jasmine!" he said. "It's alright. You don't owe me anything. I shouldn't have kissed you, I'm sorry, I just think that you're beautiful. But you're right. Can we still be friends?"
"Of course," she said, smiling. "Come on, let's get out of here, I've got so many places to show you."
They climbed out of the lake and dried off. Jasmine put her shorts back on, chucked her shirt in her bicycle's basket.
"Come on, bet I'll beat you up the path."
WHEN NIGHT FELL, JASMINE and James stayed out in the garden until late.
He rolled a joint for each of them and lit it when they were sitting outside. Jasmine brought a light fleece to throw over herself because of the night breeze.
"James ... how'd you get over past exes?" she asked after many moments of silence.
"I never liked any of them enough for it to break my heart," he replied, inhaling deeply. "Why'd you ask? You seem like you're already over Regulus."
"Pfft," Jasmine laughed. "I can only wish."
He didn't say anything after that, and they both smoked together in silence.
"I have advice," he said, minutes later. "If you want."
"Thank you for offering, but it won't work," Jasmine scoffed. "Let's change the subject. How are you and Lils?"
"I'm in love," James said dreamily.
"Yeah, I know. Anything new?" she asked.
They heard the door to the house open and panicked.
"Shit, shit, shit," Jasmine said, throwing her fag onto the floor and stepping on it before either of her parents could see. James already hid his under the chair he was sitting on.
It was Fleamont; he walked next to them and sat on the third chair, next to James.
"Oh, you don't need to hide that from me," he said, chuckling.
"Thought you were Mum," Jasmine laughed. "Oh, now I regret throwing away a good joint."
"I'll buy you some real cigs tomorrow, eh?" Fleamont said. "As long as you don't get addicted like your old man once did."
Jasmine agreed to this. "Don't worry."
They both laughed, as James stood up.
"I'm going to bed," he said, hugging them both. When he walked in, Fleamont changed the subject.
"So you and Regulus ain't friends anymore? Shame, he was nice."
"Emphasise on the 'was' part," scoffed Jasmine. "It's a long story, Dad."
He shrugged, "I've got time."
"Right, then."
***
author's note:
we love fleamont and euphemia
potter! i wish they could be my
parents D:
remember to vote bbys<3