4,428Welcome to our last Friday update! Enjoy!
Chapter 112
14 Years Later
Nearly a decade and a half had come and gone since the fall of Voldemort. Jasmine pushed herself away from her desk to stand in front of her office window and admire the snow coating the Peverell Estate. Her long hair was plaited into a neat braid going halfway down her back. The glass around the windows was frosted and Jasmine was tempted to draw along the glass.
They never moved house after the battle. Orion nearly had a heart attack. They were breaking all sorts of Black Family traditions not living in their ancestral home, but Sirius had too many painful memories at Grimmauld Place. Jasmine had double checked with him, just in case he wanted to keep with tradition, Sirius had eventually decided that he would stay here…after he outfitted his wheelchair to fly, of course. The estate had more than enough rooms for all the children and any guests that wanted to stay over for a visit.
They had also fixed the house to accommodate for his chair, and neither of them had the time or the energy to do that to another house.
It was going to be a white Christmas this year. Sirius' joints had been correct when guessing the weather, again. The house had been decorated from top to bottom for the main event in a couple days.
For the first time ever, Sirius and Jasmine were in charge of the Black Family Christmas Party. Merlin save them all.
Orion had officially handed the reigns over to his son. Sirius, decided that he would host it here, just to break tradition.
The Elves were ecstatic.
Jasmine was less so. She had to rework the wards for the entire Estate. She had never been a fan of strangers wandering through her home. Bill thought the entire thing was going to be a lovely bonding experience while he helped her. He was a godsend in his own way and he would stop her from murdering Sirius when she got sick of reworking her wards.
Bill had certainly grown up into a lovely young man these past few years. Maybe she'd leave him with a bit of warding to do on his own. He should be up to the challenge.
She was going to be going robe shopping with Cissy and the girls at her favorite boutiques in Paris, that would give him time to work on a warding project. Though, that was going to be her reprieve from the Black Family madness that was going to take over her usually quiet holiday with the family.
The clock struck noon and a door opening from a floor below could be heard slamming open and then shut. There was some giggling excited shouting involved as various children made it back from the Hogwarts Express.
Lily had sent her a fire message earlier in the day excited for her kids to come home, but also dreading the chaos that came with it. The three Potter children were rambunctious in a way that Harriet never had been. Harry, Sam and Alyssa made her children look like angels. It wasn't as if they were brats, they really weren't. Lily wasn't going to put up with that, but they just had so much energy. It was apparently a Potter Family trait? Euphemia said James was very similar.
And, all three would be over for the Christmas party.
Jasmine was nearly ready to cancel the entire thing.
More giggles could be heard from the floor below. There was going to be a loud crashing sound from somewhere any minute. Whenever the kids were in that kind of a mood, trouble followed closely thereafter. This house was well known for his chaos. Poor Minerva dealing with so many Marauder children.
She just hoped that Sirius wasn't in the middle of the trouble. He did not need an injury for Christmas. As much as Jasmine loved cleaning up blood and magically stitching wounds, she'd prefer to have a mess free holiday season.
Merlin she was getting old.
But the thought of actually getting older brought a smile to her face.
She was still very young an adult witch, she still looked like she was in her twenties, but she was in her mid thirties. It was amazing to her. She had lived through so many different lives, but she'd never made it this far into a life cycle. Death thought her joy over aging was adorable, as the deity watched her children grown into his newest masters.
Bill and Charlie were visiting for the two next weeks to celebrate the holidays. Their jobs were flexible enough to give them each two weeks off for the holidays. Well, Bill worked for Jasmine and she was more than happy to give him some time off. Charlie worked under Newt Scamander on an American magical wildlife preserve.
Jasmine and Newt got along rather well. After Charlie started attending his school they started speaking to one another, one reluctant war hero to another. Charlie quickly rose the ranks as one of Newt's favorites and eventually landed an apprenticeship.
All four of the remaining Weasley boys were going to spend some time with their father later in the week. Arthur had never fully recovered from the attack on his home all those years ago, but he was lucid enough to have an afternoon with his children without dissociating. The progress was slow, but it was still progress. Jasmine had even gotten to speak with Arthur a time or two in the past few years without any incidents.
It was going to be nice. Jasmine was going to have a full house again. It was rare, but always a lovely occasion to have all her kids home. The Weasley boys would always be her honorary children. Bill had officially claimed his title as Head of the Weasley Family a few years ago, but he kept the twins under Jasmine's roof since he didn't have the time to make sure they stayed in line.
Jasmine was more than happy to stay as the boys guardians until they were of age.
Bill and Charlie were going to spend time, and watch, their siblings while Jasmine and Sirius went for their yearly Wizengamot back-to-back sessions on the twenty ninth and thirtieth of December. They were by far the worst meetings of year, but it they tended to get the most work done.
The British Ministry has finally moved to more away from promoting incest and copious inbreeding and for the first time in nearly two centuries, has seen a substantial population increase. International marriages were becoming increasingly popular, which was pushing Britain out of its self-imposed isolation it put itself in during WWII. Jasmine had spent the better part of these fourteen years fighting for magical creature rights on top of toppling over age old laws regarding blood purity.
It had been hard and bitter work, but it seemed to finally be bearing fruit. It didn't hurt that she had killed a Dark Lord and had befriended most of the surviving Lords and Ladies. And, anyone that wasn't her ally had a very healthy fear of her. Lady Magic and Death could rest easy knowing that she had finally fulfilled her basic duties to both of them. Merlin only knew what else they might ask of her before her death, but or right now, she had finished her major mission.
A knock on her door broke her from her thoughts. Jasmine waved her hand, the handle turned and the door opened. Sirius was leaning against the door frame, his long hair was pulled back in a casual ponytail. He looked quite a lot like his father when he wore it tied back, but it was a safety hazard when he went into the Department of Mysteries without it. She could see that he was wearing the braces Theo had designed for him. After nearly five years of working on different models Theo had finally found one that worked for the unique damage Sirius suffered. They were mostly there to stop him from twisting his ankles or knee. He still couldn't feel much of anything in his legs, but the muscles worked.
Granted Sirius couldn't use them for hours on end, but he would walk around the house or out on a family trip without his chair. It was always amazing to see him walking after years of working on those magical braces and then months of physical therapy to relearn how to walk with minimal feeling in his legs.
He made his way into the room and wrapped his arms around her, his chin resting on her head. "The kids just arrived, if you couldn't already tell. The twins are trying to find all the miniature stags I've hidden in the house."
That was a family tradition they created when Fred and George were around five. It gave them something to do around the large manor that didn't include trying to blow it up with pranks.
"How many did you hide this year?"
"Sixteen"
"How many did you tell them you hid?"
"Twenty."
Jasmine smacked his arm and Sirius just grinned in response. "I'm not going to save you from their wrath when they find out," she warned.
Sirius shrugged and held his hands up. "It will keep them busy long enough for Bill and Charlie to get here. They've already been asking about them. Though, I do have a question. Is Bill bringing his girlfriend this year or not? I've only heard rumors about her and I don't want to ask him if she's real or not."
Jasmine snorted at the thought. Fleur was many things, imaginary was not one of them. That wouldn't go over well with their eldest child if Sirius even implied that he had made up a girlfriend. Bill was very fond of Fleur, maybe even more so in this timeline than the previous ones.
Fleur had found Bill in this timeline as well. Fate had a funny way of working out like that. Then again, veela were very persistent, even young women that were only a quarter veela.
"Fleur is very real, Sirius. She is the French Ambassador's eldest daughter. She was top of her class at Beauxbatons. She has an interest in runes and warding. She applied to my department at Gringotts. Her scores were very high, not necessarily high enough to work directly with me, but she was still accepted in the warding program," Jasmine replied with a wave of her hand as the score sheet pulled itself from one of the many piles of parchment she had littered around the room.
Sirius caught it and read it over and whistled. "Bill knows how to pick them."
Fleur's tests results had surprised her. To be honest, the way that Molly and Ginny had spoken of her in her past lives, Jasmine had thought Fleur was rather vapid and only joined Gringotts to meet men.
Though, that wasn't true at all and Fleur had bright future as warder in the department so long as she wanted the job. Jasmine was going to keep her and Bill in separate sections of the warding teams. She didn't want their feelings for each other to get mixed into a professional environment. Jasmine's department had a reputation to uphold and workplace romance was generally not allowed.
"Well, he hasn't had a serious girlfriend since his sixth year at Hogwarts, I hope that he feels comfortable enough to invite her over."
Sasha Nolan had been an awful girl and Jasmine wished that Bill had never dated her. Sirius chased that suitor away when he realized the girl was only dating Bill to meet with the vanquishers of Voldemort.
Their oldest didn't take the news all that well…Bill hadn't spoken to either of them for four months, which was impressive since Jasmine had to have lessons with him four times a week.
Jasmine wasn't going to mention to Sirius that she had met Fleur multiple times already. Though, Bill hadn't introduced her as his girlfriend. Jasmine would wait for them to do that on their own time. For now, she was happy with the small tidbits he would share when they had their one-on-one meeting twice a month.
"I suppose that Charlie isn't bringing a partner this year?"
Sirius let out a laugh his chest vibrating against her back. "Charlie would sooner bring a dragon home with him than another human. Though, he didn't say he wasn't bringing someone this year, so maybe?"
Their magizoologist had tried to bring a magical beast home with him, twice.
He was the only one of the kids living outside of the country at the moment. Charlie was still living in the states even after graduating.
"I wonder if Cassie has a suitor yet?" Jasmine asked with a knowing grin as her husband's face darkened.
This was a forbidden topic…or at least it's one that Sirius said was forbidden. His little girl wasn't allowed to be in the same sentence as the word dating or courting. She was thirteen and a spitfire. Jasmine had already had the talk with her after hearing her gushing about some fifth year with one of her friends over the summer holidays. Jasmine remembered what Hogwarts was like as a teenager in nine different lives. She also remembered what Sirius was like as a teenager and she tended to take after her father. Cassie was the heir to Peverell Family, and there was a certain level of decorum she was expected to keep, but Jasmine also wanted her daughter to have some fun while she was a kid.
"Cassie isn't allowed to date until she's fifty or I'm dead. You know the rules."
Jasmine rolled her eyes as she stepped away from his embrace to look him in eye. "Cassie is turning fourteen in a few months. Courting is going to become a real situation in her life whether you want it to or not."
They were going to need to start looking at marriage contracts.
That was going to be an absolute nightmare to navigate with Sirius. He had taken long enough with his own marriage, she didn't want to imagine what he'd be like with his daughters'.
"Speaking of the kids, did you find out why Minerva wanted to talk to you about both sets of twins? Fred and George are one thing, but Atlas and Castor are first years and not nearly as prank prone as Cassie, Aria or the twins."
Sirius rubbed the back of his neck a bit sheepishly. Oh, this had to be good if Sirius was bashful about it, or he had a part in the rule breaking. "Well, Fred and George were apparently trying to, as Minnie put it, "corrupt both Atlas and Castor". They were giving the boys pointers on pranks or something along those lines. Honestly, Fred and George should just work with Cassie, she loves a good bit of mischief."
Jasmine's lip twitched and she held back a laugh. Yes, Cassandra was much better at finding trouble than her two younger brothers. Some would say she a knack for it. Jasmine would say that trouble found her daughter when she least expected it. It was a genetic trait that was passed down from the Peverell line. Jasmine had always thought it was a Potter thing, but no, it seems to have come from the Peverell family. Cassandra already had her partner in crime, Misaki Lupin, but she was attending school in Japan.
Her children knew how to get in and out of trouble without Fred and George's help. Jasmine had to hold in a laugh. Minerva wasn't even Atlas or Castor's head of house. Both her sons were in Slytherin, though Atlas had confided in her that he had almost been put into Hufflepuff, but convinced the hat to place him in Slytherin. Orion might have had a stroke if the Black Heir had been sorted into Hufflepuff.
Sirius might have had kittens at the idea of any of his kids in Hufflepuff, though he might have rather that than Slytherin. There had been a bet going for which house the boys would be sorted into and Jasmine had won nearly three hundred gold. Everything thought that her boys were going to be in Ravenclaw.
"The twins are a corruptive force of nature, but I doubt that Atlas and Castor would start getting into trouble this early on in the year. They have never been ones to find trouble. They're first years and they're building their reputation in Slytherin. I doubt they'd want their Gryffindor older brothers to bother them or talk to them."
Sirius threw his hands up in the air. "That's what I said, but apparently that isn't good parenting? I guess I was supposed to correct Fred and George? Sometimes it's hard to tell with Minnie."
Jasmine shrugged, he wasn't wrong. She wasn't going to yell at the boys.
It was pointless to try and stop the boys from harmless fun.
"Dadfoot! Jasmum! Are you coming down? Bill and Charlie just got here! Do I need to tell the little ones that you're busy? Please for the love of Merlin, don't be making another child. There are already too many of us in this house!" Fred shouted down the hallway. As she used her rune vision Jasmine could see him walking down with his hand covering his eyes as he reached blindly forward, just to make sure that if Sirius and Jasmine were enjoying each other's company, he wouldn't have to watch.
"To be fair, half of you aren't biologically ours," she called back as Fred came into view. He was in muggle attire, some loose-fitting jeans and a band shirt he had to have gone into London with Lee Jordan to get at some point.
Fred pouted, but removed his hand from his face as he peered around the door. His shoulders sagged in relief when he saw the respectable couple of centimeters between Jasmine and Sirius. "And here I thought George and I were Sirius' spitting image. Are you telling me that we're adopted?" He replied with a gasp, a pale hand over his heart.
Honestly, the twins could probably pass for Lily's kids instead, but Jasmine would claim these boys were hers until they were stable enough to live on their own.
"Well, I hate to break it to you, but you are in fact adopted. All the red heads in this family are. Though, you certainly inherited Sirius' love for rule breaking, pranking and general chaos," Jasmine replied as she wrapped Fred in a tight embrace. He was well over a head taller than her now. She hadn't seen him in months and he had somehow gotten even taller. She had stand on her toes to wrap her arms around his neck. He and George were in their final year at Hogwarts. They were by no means at the top of their class, but Jasmine and Sirius had made sure that the two of them picked classes that catered to their more whimsical and destructive hobbies.
They still wanted to create and open a joke shop, but this time around they had backing from a large financial source that was more than willing to invest. The only stipulation was that they finish their Hogwarts education before starting. It was so much easier to deal with goblins and get loans if the person asking has passed their NEWTs.
Though, George mentioned he might want to try and go for a muggle business degree after Hogwarts, which would be an interesting career move. Jasmine wasn't going to stop them from following their dreams. She would be more than happy to see George pursue a muggle degree.
"It's nice to be back, Jasmum. Though, Aria has been asking if you were done with your work for past twenty minutes."
The twins had given Sirius and Jasmine nicknames as children, so they didn't replace their own mum and dad. She was Jasmum and Sirius was Dadfoot, especially when their older siblings were around. There was always an occasional slip from one of them. They had been living with Jasmine and a Sirius nearly their entire lives. They were more mum and dad then their own parents had been, but Jasmine didn't want to try and replace them.
"Kid, you haven't been home for twenty minutes."
"Hey, I'm just the messenger, and to be fair, the house elves were the ones that told me that the young mistress has been asking about you. I'm just here to replay it before the elves worry themselves into a tizzy."
Jasmine rolled her eyes, there was no way that the elves really cared if Aria was nervous. They knew that as long as Jasmine's door was closed, they weren't to disturb her unless it was of the utmost importance. That didn't happen often, but it needed to be done today. Aria was well aware that her father was available.
"I suppose it's time to grace the family with my presence. I've spent more than enough time cooped up in here. The runes aren't going to change if I end my day a bit early."
Fred through his arm around Jasmine and Sirius' shoulders. "That's the spirit! Now, let me tell you about some of the pranks that we got away with that Dear Old Minnie would kill us over if she found out we did them…"
Fred talked their ears off as they made their way downstairs. He regaled tales of him and his brother causing all sorts of property damage to the school. Sirius, bless is heart, gave him pointers on how to get away with even more.
"Next time, instead of casting a sticking charm, bolt it to the ceiling. Charms like that tend to wear off too quickly. You don't want something falling to the floor and hurting someone."
"Yea, George mentioned that could happen…" Fred replied as they made it to the main sitting room. The remaining seven kids were all seated around the fireplace. The Castor and Atlas were on the floor leaning against couch. Aria was seated on the arm of one of the chairs, just like Jasmine always told her not to do and Cassie was sprawled out across it. Bill was seated on his own while Fred and Charlie were next to each other on a different sofa. Well, three of the seven were over seventeen, but they'd always been children to Jasmine. Their backs were to entrance. All four kids had pitch black hair that ran on both Jasmine and Sirius' families. Though, Cassie was the only one with curly hair. The others all had the straight Peverell hair. Charlie was showing them pictures of his beasts. That boy loved magical creatures more than anything in the world.
"Now, isn't this just lovely. Nearly all my favorite people in one room."
All eyes turned towards Jasmine.
The children swarmed, their happiness was infectious as they hugged and caught Jasmine and Sirius up on all the pictures they missed.
"Mum, you won't believe the thunderbird that Charlie got to pet back in the states!" Castor exclaimed as he tugged on her arm and pointed towards one of the many pictures in front of Charlie. Though, Newts oldest grandson, Collin, was also in the shot. He was in a lot of the pictures and Jasmine raised an eyebrow at Charlie, who's ears started to turn pink.
That would be a conversation for a later date.
Atlas had his arms wrapped around Jasmine as he nudged his brother out of his way to get her attention. "Dad lied about the stags. We only found 16 and we checked everywhere!"
"You had George summon them!" Aria shouted over the chaos as the boys chimed in with their denials. She had reperched herself on the couch, not wanting to get elbowed in the face by her brothers. Her short hair was cropped to her chin and looked so much like Bellatrix it was terrifying, if not for Jasmine's eyes she could be mistaken for Bella's daughter. The irony that she was a Peverell did not escape Jasmine.
"You're going to need to take all your complaints up with your father."
"PRANK WAR!" Fred shouted with more glee than someone his age realistically should have.
The house was probably going to be feeling the aftereffects of this for years to come. Pranks wars were no laughing matter.
Cassie waved from behind the excited picture pile that made up her twin boys, both sets of them, and put her feet up on the ottoman, just like she wasn't supposed to. Her grey eyes were dancing with mischief and it was a couple days before Christmas, Jasmine could let it go today.
It wasn't until later that evening that Cassie pulled her aside. Her long curly hair was tied up in a ponytail and she had a bright red and Christmas jumper on that Amelia had knit for her. Her bright grey eyes were darting around the sitting room. There was no one around for the moment. Sirius, Bill and Charlie had herded the younger kids up to bed.
"Is there something you need, Cassie?"
It wasn't often that Cassandra came to her for help. She tended to like to solve problems on her own, even if they only got her in trouble. "I just wanted to let you know that Devin might have asked me Hogsmeade…and I might have said yes?"
Oh, Sirius was going to have kittens.
Though, Devin Nott was a sweet boy. Her daughter could do much worse.
If they end up married Petunia was going to be over the moon. Devin was her one and only baby boy.
"Well, dear, that's great. But, you're going to need to be the one to break this to your father."
Cassie's face paled dramatically and Jasmine had to resist rolling her eyes.
"Mum! Please, you have to help!" She whined, her hands clasped in front of her, begging.
Jasmine ruffled her hair and laughed as her daughter swatted at her hand.
"You are going to handle this like an adult and talk to him. I'll be in the room. I know how your father can be about the thought of your courting so young."
Cassandra let out a long groan, but nodded as she dragged herself towards the stairs to the family wing one dramatic lurch at a time.
Jasmine took a look around the room, from the pictures of magical beasts on the floor, to the schoolbooks and quills lying around. She smiled as she waved her hand and turned off the lights for the night.
There was still quite a bit to do in the world, but for now, Jasmine's mission was over. Death hadn't come around in quiet some time. She figured her cloaked friend would visit when Cassie turned sixteen.
For now, she would live her life and enjoy growing older with the people she loved and watch and wait for the next threat to appear.
Though, now it was time to enjoy the holidays and a goodnight's rest.
Fin
So, that's it. Jasmine's story has come to a close.
After three and a half years of writing, over 4 years of planning, quite a few plot changes, health issues, job changes, getting into grad school, mapping out the end and finally pushing through to writing the last couple chapters, it's done.
I've gotten so many PMs and reviews this past week asking me if I was going to continue Jasmine's story or writing shorts about her. The short answer, right now, is no. I have been working on this for 3.5 years. I need some time away from it. It has been a push to write the last couple chapters and as much as I adore these characters, we need some time apart.
There have also been questions of whether or not I will write anymore Fem!Harry fics, specifically crossovers (Like at least six people specifically asked about crossovers). The short answer, again, is no. Long answer, I have one brewing the back of my mind. It would be a 12K-15K one shot Avengers/HP crossover. I'd need about a month to write it, which I don't have time for due to graduate school. I don't think I'm going to have time for side projects for quite a while. But, there could be one in the future.
Just so you all know, grad school starts in less than 4 days. I could not have planned ending this fic at a better time. I'm just so glad that I can mark this monster complete.
I would also love to thank all my readers, reviewers, followers and everyone that has favorited the story over the years! You've all been amazing and so many of you have been here since the start. I read all the reviews that you guys leave me.
I'm glad we could share these years/months/weeks/days together as the story unfolded. It's thanks to all of you that I even had the courage to apply to a fine arts program. I had been told for years that my writing was only ever good enough to be a hobby and that it would never be competitive enough to get me into a competitive writing program. I took that to heart and nearly gave up, but obviously, with the success of this fic, I changed my mind. You guys gave me the courage I needed to start working on personal projects again.
So, I guess I have to end this A/N eventually. Once again, thank you all! This story has been a journey!
I hope you enjoyed.
Ta-ta for now,
~Animerocker