Chapter Text
Saturday, January 16, 1995, Morning.
Jasmine had been practically bouncing with excitement ever since she got up that morning. It had been months since she had last seen Sirius, and today she'd finally get to see him again. She barely knew the man, but he was a link to her parents that she really, really wanted to get to know.
He had also offered to take her in, back when they thought they could clear his name, which made him the first adult she could remember who had ever expressed any desire to have her in their life. She'd made a couple of friends, sure, but none of them asked her to move in with them — even the Weasleys only took her in for a few days here and there. Sirius, though, wanted to be family — and she'd never had family, at least not that she could remember.
So while she may not have known him very well, she definitely wanted to. That's why she and Hermione were standing across the street from the Owl Post Office, waiting to see how Sirius was going to contact them. His message gave a time of 10AM, but he hadn't indicated any place aside from Hogsmeade. They hoped that standing in an obvious spot would do the trick.
Just when they were starting to get worried about him showing up, a tremendous shout down the street caught their attention.
"There's something going on outside the Three Broomsticks," Hermione said.
"That Merlin bedamned dog just pissed on me!" came an enraged voice from the direction of the commotion.
"Oh, no…" Jasmine said softly. "You don't think..."
Just then, a large black dog came bounding up the street, tongue lolling out and what looked like a happy grin on its face. Stumbling a few meters behind was a red-robed auror, whose very wet robes were flopping about rather than billowing impressively.
"Yes," Hermione said, "I definitely do think…."
Not sure what to do, but not willing to lose Sirius now that they had finally found him, both witches started ducking and weaving through the heavy Hogsmeade crowd, simultaneously trying to keep the black dog in sight while also trying to keep out of the sight of the angry auror. Just as the auror started to catch up to the dog and draw his wand, Jasmine reacted instinctively, her own wand snapping into her hand from the special wand holster which Neville had given her for Christmas.
"Jas..." Hermione said warningly as her own wand snapped into her hand from a matching holster. She doubted that this was a good idea, but she didn't hesitate to back her girlfriend up.
With a flick of her wrist and a whispered incantation, Jasmine cast a fast tripping jinx in between people who were milling about, trying to see what was going on. The already embarrassed auror went crashing down face-first into a large mud puddle, causing the black dog to stop, turn around, and howl in triumph. As the auror sputtered, wiping mud from his eyes and spitting out muddy water, the dog barked then loped off again down the street at a more sedate pace.
Once they had left the crowds behind and were heading out of Hogsmeade, Hermione tried to grab Jasmine's robe to complain, but she was put off by the green-eyed witch saying, "Not now, Hermione, we need to keep up with Sirius." They followed the dog up into the mountainous area around Hogsmeade and into a hidden cave where they found Sirius, already back in his human form.
"Sirius!" Jasmine cried out as she ran into his arms. The two embraced each other tightly, enjoying the affection and human contact — it was something both had had a distinct lack of in their lives. "I'm so happy to see you!" she said, tears welling in her eyes.
"I'm happy to see you, too," Sirius said, also looking more than a bit misty-eyed.
Suddenly Jasmine pulled back and started hitting him in his chest with her fist. "What do you think you're doing, coming back to Britain like this!" Each word was punctuated by another hit. "And even worse, taunting the aurors like that! Are you trying to get caught?"
"It's not my fault!" Sirius protested. "My eyesight as a dog isn't so great. I thought he was just a big, smelly fire hydrant!"
That stopped Jasmine's complaining cold as she tried to process what he said, but when she saw a grin start creeping across his face, she resumed his beating. "That's not funny!"
"Aww, sure it is!" Sirius protested again.
"No, it's not! You can get into so much trouble!"
"Fine, fine, I'm sorry," Sirius said, not sounding the least bit apologetic. "You know, your mother said the exact same thing to me when I first tried that joke."
Jasmine was torn between happiness at hearing something about her mother — teachers loved to talk about James, but rarely mentioned Lily — and anger at knowing that this wasn't the first time he'd done this. "Sirius! Please, I need you free! As much as I love having you around, I don't want you to risk yourself unnecessarily." She started sobbing then, leaning into Sirius for support as the adrenaline left her body while he wrapped her in his arms.
It was only then that it finally sank in for Sirius how much he had worried the young witch and how much he really meant to her. It had been a long, long time since anyone had cared that much about him, and he wasn't used to anyone worrying about whether he was healthy or injured, alive or dead. "I'm sorry, kitten," Sirius said softly, this time genuinely meaning it. "I didn't intend to worry you. I promise I'll be more careful from now on."
Jasmine pulled her head back and sniffed as she looked up at him, her eyes a bit red. "Promise?" she asked.
"Marauder's honor!" Sirius said with a smile, and Jasmine noticed that the wild look that had been in his eyes disappeared for just a few moments then.
Hermione had been standing discreetly to the side, not wanting to interrupt their time together despite desperately wishing that she could help her girlfriend beat some sense into the crazy man. Looking around the cave to see how Sirius had been living since his return, she wrinkled her nose at what she saw.
"Sirius?" she asked, "Where are you getting food?"
"Oh," he replied, "I go to Hogsmeade as a dog and people give me scraps. Sometimes I can catch a rat, too."
Jasmine and Hermione looked at each other with equally disgusted expressions. "No, that won't do," Hermione announced. "Winky! Dobby!" she called out, and two sharp pops heralded the arrival of the house elves. "Yes, Missy Hermy? Yes, Missy Jazzy?" they said together. Their already wide eyes got even wider as they saw the disheveled man standing in the cave with them, holding on to a sobbing Jasmine Potter.
While Sirius was snickering at their names for the girls, Hermione quickly informed them that Sirius Black was Jasmine's godfather and was, in fact, innocent of the crimes he had been imprisoned for, thus saving him from being torn apart by a couple of angry elves. She then told them that he needed their help. Not looking entirely convinced but willing to trust their mistresses, Dobby volunteered to get him clothes while Winky offered to fetch food from the Hogwarts kitchens.
Once the elves were off doing their tasks, the three humans sat down to talk about what had been happening. Most of the way through Jasmine's explanation of how the tasks had been going, Winky returned with a feast fit for a king. The picnic basket she used was expanded on the inside to hold far more than it should be able to, and it was protected by elf preservation charms to ensure that the food didn't spoil before Sirius could eat it.
"Thank you, Winky. You've done a wonderful thing here," Hermione told her. "Are you and Dobby able to listen for Sirius calling for you, even though he isn't part of your family?"
Looking up at her mistress with big, bright eyes, she said, "Yes, Missy Hermy, if you be wanting us to, we be listening for Doggyfather's calling."
"Excellent, Winky. Please do that," Hermione responded. "We'll tell Dobby the same when he gets back."
Sirius was chuckling again, thinking it was hilarious to hear Hermione being called "Missy Hermy," but his amusement faltered a bit at being called "Doggyfather" himself.
Just then, Dobby popped back with a pile of clothing for Sirius. All of it was clean, warm, and fit him reasonably well. "This is fantastic, Dobby — where did you get it all?" Jasmine asked.
"Hoggywarts be storing lost clothing for many, many years," the elf explained. "Dobby be taking and cleaning old clothing that nobody be wanting anymore."
"That was really smart, Dobby," Hermione praised the elf. "We've already asked Winky to listen for Sirius calling for help, and we'd like you to do the same, OK?"
"Yes, Missy Hermy," he replied, vigorously nodding his head. "Dobby do!" And with that, he popped away.
"Those have to be the happiest and most cheerful house elves I've ever seen," observed Sirius.
"That's because we treat them well," Hermione said pointedly. "We've made them part of our family, not just slaves."
Sirius nodded in understanding. "My family always treated house elves like disposable beasts, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that they were much more mean spirited. But enough of that — what are you doing for training?"
The girls explained how they had commandeered a spare classroom for practice, but Hermione lamented how difficult it was to track down really useful spells, even in the Hogwarts library.
"The problem is," Hermione explained, "there are so many books filled with information, but most of it just isn't very useful for what we need. All those thousands upon thousands of spells, yet hardly any for real combat or self-defense. I have to sift through dozens of books to find just one or two spells that might be powerful enough to put a dent in whatever Jasmine is facing."
Hermione was clearly frustrated, and Sirius sat looking at her thoughtfully before responding. "Part of the problem is that so many of the really effective combat spells are a bit dark — or grey at best — and you won't find them to be easily accessible in Hogwarts, if they can be found in any books there at all."
"Why is that?" Jasmine asked.
"Well," Sirius answered, "combat requires you to hurt people. Any spell specifically designed for that purpose won't be very light. There's a difference between a spell that can merely be used to cause harm and a spell crafted for the sole purpose of causing harm to a human. Then there's the fact that you can hurt someone more if you cast a spell fueled by negative emotions and a strong desire to cause injury. That makes a spell grey at the very least. This doesn't make the spells evil," he hastened to add, "but hurting a person — even someone who truly deserves it — is not a nice thing to do. It may be appropriate and necessary, but it's hardly good."
Jasmine nodded and said, "I guess that makes sense. But what am I going to do? The other students have more experience than me. I'm sure Viktor Krum has had access to darker spells in Durmstrang, and I have no idea what sort of education they get in France. I think I really need to learn some spells like that."
Sirius sighed in resignation and offered, "Well, I should be able to get access to my family home. I never wanted to go back there — it's a nasty place with even nastier memories for me — but it has a well-stocked library with lots of books on darker magic. I'm sure that there's material there you can use, though I'm reluctant to send you anything really dark." He hadn't ever wanted to go back to that house, much less while he was still suffering from the aftereffects of Azkaban; but if it meant helping his goddaughter, then he'd do it. "I learned more than a few such spells, but that was a long time ago, and I doubt I'd be able to teach them very well. It'd be best if I used some books."
"That would be wonderful, Sirius!" Jasmine exclaimed, not noticing the increasingly troubled look on Hermione's face. "You don't have to send us anything that bothers you, but perhaps if you could look through some books and write down spells that seem reasonable?"
Sirius found that agreeable, saying, "Sure. I may not want witches your age looking through an entire book of dark magic, but I think I'm responsible enough to pick out spells that aren't too dark for you to use — especially if you promise to use them for self-defense or situations like the tournament. I don't want to hear about you hexing fellow students in the halls with darker spells that were designed for combat!"
"We promise, Sirius," Jasmine said. "We have no interest in doing anything like that. Honest, I just want to survive this stupid tournament!"
"Wait a minute," Hermione said, finally stepping into this part of the conversation, "I'm not so sure about this. Do we really need to start learning spells that are designed to hurt people? It would be bad enough to have to use violence at all, but to deliberately set out to learn it… I'm not sure I can support that, Jasmine. It sounds too much like you're going and looking for trouble."
Clearly frustrated, Jasmine responded, "Hermione, we've talked about this. Like I told you before, my life is dangerous. I may only be fourteen, but I've already faced so much… and it's just going to get worse." Sirius had heard about Jasmine's dangerous adventures last year when she rescued him, and he wasn't happy to be reminded about them now.
"We both know for a fact that Voldemort isn't dead," Jasmine continued. "We both know he wants to come back. We have to assume that, sooner or later, he'll find a way. When that happens, he'll be coming after me, and I won't be able to defeat him with logical arguments, or simply hit him with a disarming spell and call it a win. I'm pretty sure I'll have to kill him in order to stop him — and I won't deny that part of me wants to do it, too, to avenge my parents."
Jasmine shifted sideways so she was sitting right up against Hermione and put her arm around the increasingly depressed-looking witch. "And that's not all," Jasmine said. "Voldemort was only as much of a threat as he was because of his followers — wizards and witches who were not only willing to rape, torture, and murder, but eager to do so. Many of them never went to prison; instead, they went on to achieve influential positions in society — people like Lucius Malfoy. They'll rejoin Voldemort when he returns, and they'll encourage their kids to do the same. Do you think kind words and logical arguments will help me avoid fighting them?"
Hermione silently shook her head, accepting Jasmine's statements but not quite willing to accept their implications.
Sirius stepped forward and knelt before the two witches, unshed tears in his eyes. "You have no idea how much it kills me that the two of you have to even debate this. Merlin, this is a war that James and I were supposed to finish. You two should have been able to grow up in a time of peace where the most difficult thing you had to deal with was deciding which bloke to date!" He didn't notice the look the two witches shot each other as he dabbed at his eyes.
Catching Hermione's gaze, he said, "As much as I hate to admit it, Jasmine's right. She's already had to fight far too much, and she'll have to fight again. It's horrible and it's not right, but it's also reality." Turning to Jasmine, he said, "Hermione's right, too, kiddo. Hurting someone in a fight is one thing, but deliberately learning spells that have no purpose other than to hurt people is another. It's much worse. You're asking for spells that are normally only learned by aurors, hit wizards, and mature adults in similar professions."
Sirius grabbed one hand from each girl in his own before continuing, "Most wizards and witches go their entire lives without learning such spells. They live peacefully and happily, never having to seriously contemplate how to use their magic to best harm another human being. And that's a good thing. If only everyone could live like that! But they can't: the only way that most can have such lives is if a small number pay the price of learning how to wield violence as a tool for protecting the innocent. Learning how to use your magic to harm others changes you, and it's not something you can ever unlearn.
"I suppose it's tough for muggles, too, but it's especially hard on magicals because our magic is tied to our souls. This means that learning how to use your magic to harm others affects your soul, not just your mind. That's why most wizards and witches wisely stay away from such spells, even to the point of finding it very difficult to harm others in defense of themselves. James and I paid the price of learning them — and we did so in the expectation that you never would. Certainly not at the age of fourteen!"
"I know, Sirius," Jasmine said, giving his hand a squeeze before he finally let them go. "This isn't something that I'm eager to do for its own sake, but I don't see that I have any real choice. If I don't learn how to fight — and not merely fight to survive, but to win… to stop those who want to harm me and others — then my only other options are to hide or roll over and die."
Sirius nodded and said, "I wish you weren't right, but I think you are. That's why I'm willing to help you find the right sorts of spells — spells that will help you get the job done but won't twist you too much. I know you've already killed and will probably have to kill again, but I don't want it to damage you any more than it has to."
Hermione had been silent this entire time, thinking about how police officers and soldiers volunteered to use violence to protect society and thus make it possible for people like her and her parents to eschew violence. Is that something I can do? she wondered. Can I pay the price of learning violence in order to protect myself and others… to protect Jasmine? Put that way, it hardly seems like much of a choice, does it?
Nodding, Hermione said, "I understand what you're saying. I just... I'm not sure if it's something I'm cut out for. I was always taught to talk things out or to get help from others, not to solve problems violently. I guess I'm just not used to being faced with violence like that." Turning to Jasmine, she continued, "I'll have to think about it. Is that OK, Jas?"
"Of course," Jasmine said as she rubbed her girlfriend's back soothingly. "Just because I have to walk this path doesn't mean that I'll force you to do the same." Turning to face Sirius, she said, "Regardless of what Hermione decides, I'll still want those spells."
"Not a problem," Sirius responded, glad to finally be able to offer some real help to his goddaughter. He stood back up and returned to the rock he had been sitting on before saying, "Now, what can you tell me about the Yule Ball? I think I read in the paper that you attended with Neville Longbottom. I knew his parents — good people. So, how long have you two been a couple, eh?"
The last was asked with a lewd wiggling of the eyebrows, something that really didn't go over well with either of the witches. He didn't notice this, however, and managed to dig himself even deeper by turning to Hermione to say, "And the same reports showed you with that Durmstrang bloke, Viktor Krum. Is there anything going on between the two of you?"
"No! Sirius, please! Get your mind out of the gutter," Jasmine complained. "Neville and I only went as friends. Nothing more. There never has been and never will be anything between us, I guarantee it!"
Surprised at how emotional Jasmine was, and how quickly she got that way, Sirius said, "You sound awfully upset for someone who only went as friends. What was that muggle phrase Lily taught me? Oh, yeah: Methinks the lady doth protest too much."
Jasmine just had a horrified expression on her face, so Hermione interjected, "The reason she's so upset, Sirius, is because Neville's gran saw the same newspaper reports you did and got the bright idea to try to fix Neville and Jasmine up with a marriage contract. And since we fear that Dumbledore has been acting as her magical guardian, we couldn't be sure that he wouldn't sign it on her behalf."
After giving him a moment to let that sink in, Hermione continued, "We all had a really bad scare for a couple of hours before we got word that she had burned it. Oh, and for your information, Viktor and I only went as friends, too. There's no more going on between him and me than there is going on between Jasmine and Neville."
Sirius blanched as he heard that explanation. "A marriage contract? I knew Augusta was a staunch traditionalist, but I'm surprised she'd go that far. It almost smacks of desperation. And why are you so worried about Dumbledore?"
"Actually, Sirius, the situation with Dumbledore is potentially quite bad." Reaching into her bag, Hermione pulled out a stack of parchment. "Here is a copy of the notes we've taken on problems we've seen with Dumbledore. I'll leave them here for you to read. Oh, and here's some extra parchment along with a quill and some ink. If you think of anything to add, it would be helpful if you could write it down. We're gathering as many stories and as much evidence as we can, just in case we can use it in the future."
Sirius was surprised at the extent of the notes the girls had put together. It looked like he had some reading to do, and that was before he even thought about going to the library at Grimmauld Place. He definitely wasn't going to bring up her date with the Longbottom boy again, though. That seemed to be a real sore spot.
"I guess it's a good thing I didn't let him know I was coming back to Britain, then," Sirius said.
"Were you supposed to?" Jasmine asked.
Sirius shrugged. "Actually, I wasn't supposed to come back at all, but I couldn't stay away with you in danger. I had planned on contacting the old man at some point, but now..."
"We won't say anything to him," Jasmine promised.
"Speaking of Neville, though," Hermione started again, "He is a friend and has become a much closer friend over the past year."
"Yeah, especially when Ron bailed after my name came out of the Goblet," Jasmine put in.
Hermione shook her head in disappointment over the Weasley boy. "He's gotten better, but it will be a bit before we trust him as much again. Anyway, Neville has gotten close and so has Ginny Weasley, ironically. They've been helping us get Jasmine prepared and have even been keeping our secrets, like the existence of those notes I gave you."
"So we were wondering," Jasmine said, looking a bit hesitant, "what do you think about us telling them about you? You know, about how you're innocent and how we prevented you from being Kissed?"
Sirius considered that. "I think it's fine if they know I'm innocent," he said eventually. "I can hardly object to that news being spread around, now can I? But I wouldn't tell them that I'm back in Britain. No matter how trustworthy they are, they could still have that information taken from their minds without their even realizing it."
"What?" Hermione cried. "People can read our minds?"
"Yes," Sirius answered as he nodded. "It's not true mind reading, strictly speaking, but that's a close enough description. The skill is called Legilimency, and the defense is called Occlumency. Both are difficult to learn, so not many people become very skilled at either one. Well, it's not too hard to learn enough to at least detect an intrusion, especially if the person doing it isn't a master or trying to be really stealthy, but in general it's difficult to get very good at defending yourself."
"How common are these skills? Do you think anyone in Hogwarts has them?" Hermione asked, now very worried.
Sirius thought about that for a moment, then said, "Dumbledore can do it. I can't remember for sure if he's a master, but it wouldn't surprise me." After another pause, he added, "And now that I think about it, I would suspect Snivellus, too. If he has spied for either side, he'd need it."
"Snivellus?" Jasmine asked.
"Yeah, that's a nickname your father and I used for Snape back when we were all in school," Sirius answered.
"Ugh, he's such a horrid teacher," Jasmine complained.
"It's true," Hermione added. "For some reason he seems to target Jasmine and Neville. Well, he's horrid to almost everyone outside of Slytherin, but Gryffindors most of all. With Jasmine and Neville, though, it's a whole new level of meanness."
Sirius looked rather contrite at hearing that, causing Jasmine to ask, "Do you know why he hates me so much?"
Reluctantly, Sirius answered, "Unfortunately, I might. Long story short: James, Remus, Peter, and I didn't treat Snape very well when we were all at Hogwarts. Some of it may not have been entirely deserved, but he was clearly a fan of the Dark Arts right from the beginning and we hated dark magic, so a lot of it was definitely deserved. At the same time, though, he was close to your mother, Jasmine. In fact, I think Lily was his only friend. And since James got it into his head early on that he was going to date Lily, well... that just made the conflict all the worse."
"Snape and my mum were friends? Ick!" Jasmine exclaimed.
"Yes, she was his only friend, I believe." Sirius thought a bit more, then continued, "Actually, now that I think on it, I strongly suspect that he wanted to be more than friends…"
"Double ick!" Jasmine said in a strangled voice and started making gagging noises.
"Yeah, no kidding," Sirius said. "Your father had a similar reaction, I think. Anyway, during fifth year James did something childish to Snape, I don't remember what; and Lily tried to defend him like always, and Snape lashed out at her, calling her a mudblood. That wasn't the first time he'd said something foul like that, and it certainly wasn't the last, but I'm positive that it was the first time he said it to Lily. After that, she ended their friendship completely. The following year, James started getting his act together and Lily started to treat him better, eventually leading to them dating and marrying."
"If Snape liked Jasmine's mum so much, shouldn't he treat Jasmine better since she looks so much like her mum?" Hermione asked.
"You'd think, sure, but Snape was never a very good person. Remember, he was involved with the Dark Arts even before coming to Hogwarts and grew close to future Death Eaters in Slytherin very quickly. I suspect that Jasmine reminds him of how badly he screwed up with Lily. Since he's a bitter, spiteful bully, this may be causing him to take out his grief on her."
"That's so… immature!" Hermione said, barely containing her outrage.
"As if we didn't already have enough reason to dislike him," Jasmine growled. "Basically, he bullies me because my mum refused to be friends with him once he let his inner bigot out to play in front of her."
"I'm afraid that Slytherin's reputation is not entirely undeserved," Sirius pointed out. "Not everyone in Slytherin is evil, but…."
Suddenly, Hermione got a horrified look on her face. "It could be worse, though." At Jasmine's questioning look, she continued somewhat hesitantly, "If he really did like your mum, uh, you know, that way, and if you reminded him too much of your mum, then… then if he had positive thoughts instead of negative thoughts when he looked at you… they might be, uh, you know.…" Hermione trailed off at that point, clearly not wanting to articulate the rest.
She didn't need to.
Jasmine started retching while Sirius turned green. "The very thought of Severus Snape and Lily's child in that way… ugh, I won't be able to eat for a week!" he groaned.
"What do you mean by him having spied?" Hermione asked, desperate to change the topic.
"Well, I don't know all the details," Sirius answered, still looking a bit queasy, "Because, you know, I've been in prison." He smiled at his joke before continuing, "From what I've been able to learn, Dumbledore personally testified on Snape's behalf after the war was over and thus kept him out of Azkaban. Then he apparently gave him a job teaching kids. I don't know what Dumbledore said to convince people either that Snape should be free or that he should be allowed to teach, but claiming that he was a spy for us is the most likely answer."
Hermione bit her bottom lip in thought at this news, but before she could say anything Jasmine decided to pipe up, "Back to the previous subject, do you know what we need to do to learn either Legilimency or Occlumency? I don't fancy either Dumbledore or Snivellus rummaging around in my head." Hermione nodded fervently at that, too distracted by the topic to chastise Jasmine for her name choice.
Sirius thought for a minute before saying, "I'm not sure there is anything in the Hogwarts library...except maybe the Restricted Section. I'll look to see if I can find anything decent in my family library, but books won't be enough. They'll get you started, but you need to work with someone on a regular basis to get good at it. It's like... well, I guess it's like learning to ride a broom: theory's all very well and good, but eventually you have to climb on and get up in the air if you want to get any good."
"I doubt any of our friends knows either Legilimency or Occlumency..." said Hermione.
"No worries," Sirius reassured them. "You do need to work with someone who's already skilled, but you can make some good progress working with each other, too, especially early on. While you're getting started, I'll refresh my own skills. That way, when you're ready, I can practice with you."
The witches looked at each other for a moment, then said simultaneously, "Brilliant!"
Sirius smiled, once again pleased to be able to help his goddaughter. He'd missed so many years due to his rash actions and foolish choices. He really wanted to make up for all that, and now it looked like he was being given the chance.
"Oh, I almost forgot," Jasmine suddenly said, "I meant to say something back when we were discussing Dumbledore. What do you know about mail redirection magic?"
"Mail redirection…" Sirius said hesitantly. "I'm not sure I know anything at all. Why?"
"Apparently, I'm not getting all of my mail. We discovered that when we went to Gringotts a few weeks ago." Jasmine then explained the whole story to Sirius, who just grew more and more concerned.
"That sounds pretty bad, Jasmine," Sirius finally said. "I'm afraid that I don't know anything about magic of that sort, but I'll look in my family library for that, too. And you suspect Dumbledore?"
"He has the power, opportunity, and motive," Jasmine responded. "Really, I don't know who else it could possibly be."
Sirius sighed and said, "I guess you're right, he does seem like the best suspect. And I'm worried about that audit, too. It's rare that goblins need to do such a thing. At least, as far as I know it is. If there are any problems with your accounts, it could mean real trouble."
Jasmine slumped a bit when he said that. She had managed to forget about the audit, what with everything else going on, and didn't really like being reminded of it.
"Whatever it is that's going on, though," Sirius said as he reached over and put his hand over hers, "I promise that I'll be there to help you deal with it. You won't be on your own, I guarantee it."
"Thanks!" Jasmine said, jumping up to hug her godfather. As she squeezed him tightly, she thought back to the discussion with McGonagall about having family that would support her. She might not have been able to tell him about her real relationship with Hermione yet, but even so, his willingness to stand by her in things like this meant the world to her.
Hermione looked at her watch and said, "I'm sorry, Sirius, but we should probably get going. We have an appointment to meet with Professor McGonagall so she can supervise us while we train with some new hexes and curses."
Sirius brightened at that news. "She's helping you out with the tournament?"
"Technically, no," Jasmine answered. "She's not allowed. But she is allowed to help students with classwork. These are spells that are on our syllabus for this year, and she's helping to make sure that we can cast them all correctly. So it falls within what little they told us about the tournament rules, if only just barely."
"Well," Sirius said, "I'm glad she's doing something. She's strict, but she really knows her stuff, so be sure to learn whatever you can from her."
Oh, definitely! Jasmine thought with a private smile. Aloud, she said, "Thanks, Sirius, we will." She reached out to hug him again, and the two embraced for a long moment.
"I was lucky to learn about this Hogsmeade date, but if you tell me the others I can make a point of being here to spend a little time with you," Sirius said hopefully.
Jasmine closed her eyes and rested her head against his shoulder. "That would be great. I wish we could have more time together."
"Me too, kitten," he said softly into her hair. "Me too."
Saturday, January 16, 1995, Early Afternoon.
Just after lunch, while walking to the seventh floor to meet their two Gryffindor friends to discuss the second task, Hermione turned to Jasmine and said, "I thought you wanted to find out what Padfoot knew about veela."
Jasmine rolled her eyes at that. "Really, Hermione? You saw him. What do you think he would have said if we had brought up veela? He probably would have transformed and started humping the rocks!"
Hermione tried not to laugh but wasn't having much success. She could hardly deny Jasmine's observation — Sirius was a great guy, but he did have some problems, one of which seemed to be terminal immaturity.
"I hope he can come through for us with those spells, though" Jasmine added. "Even just a few powerful spells might make a big difference for me, whether in the tournament or the next time someone tries to kill me."
Hermione didn't say anything to that, still trying to come to terms with the conversation they had had that morning.
Once everyone had arrived, Neville went first. "I looked into the possibility of talking underwater while using gillyweed, and it doesn't look like it's something you can count on. You can make noises, barely, but it seems that the human throat can't project language properly through water."
"I guess I shouldn't be surprised," Jasmine said, though her disappointment was clear. "I've placed an order for gillyweed, so hopefully it will get here in time. Until then, I'll have to practice silent casting with some basic spells."
"And not just silent casting," Hermione observed, "but casting underwater as well, because it might make a difference. We can practice that even without the gillyweed." This was said with a sly smile which Jasmine returned as both thought about spending more time in a pool. Together. In swimsuits.
"Speaking of spells," Ginny said, trying to move things away from the looks the other two witches were giving each other, "I found that grindylows are easily frightened by bright, flashing lights. There isn't anything special that works against merpeople, but you do have to be prepared for them using physical weapons."
"Great!" Hermione said. "That means Relashio will be a good spell to use against the grindylows, even over and above the damage it can do. Then Jasmine has the bubble jinx to incapacitate someone or something without harming them… I think we should add Reducto and Diffindo to the list of spells you should learn to cast silently, Jasmine. Even weakened, they'll still help."
Jasmine nodded in agreement. "And if we can make the Diffindo wide enough, it can hit multiple targets. Ginny said the grindylows travel in packs, so I'll need a way to hit more than one at a time."
"OK," Hermione said, "Relashio should do that as well, but two would be better. A wider, longer Diffindo would be weaker, but that might not be so bad. Next up: navigation in the lake. I found an old map in the library which I copied by hand." Hermione pulled out a large parchment with a crudely drawn map of the Black Lake on it. "I don't know if the original was to scale, but this at least gives us the relative positions of important landmarks. If we can figure out where you're starting from, that will help more, but with even a couple of landmarks you should have an easier time finding the merpeople's village."
"Won't the tracking charms take her right to the hostages?" Neville asked.
"Yes, they will," Hermione responded, "but we can't be sure that the tournament organizers won't find and remove them. In fact, those of us who are at risk will need to learn how to cast them so we have the option of doing it at the last minute, if the opportunity presents itself. But we need to be prepared for the possibility that they won't work or will be removed."
Neville sighed. He knew she was right, but it was starting to feel like every problem solved raised two more, and even their backup plans needed backup plans. Hopefully more progress could be made when they met with other champions tomorrow morning...