Harry's aunt

~21~

~Time Skip~ (In the Room of Requirement)

Jasmine looked around at the crowd of students in the room.

“Wow, there’s a lot more people today,” she muttered, earning a nod from Harry. “Okay, everyone. Welcome to your first day of training as Dumbledore’s Army. We will start off simple. Today we will be learning how to disarm your opponent,” she explained, pulling her hair up into an afro puff. “Harry, would you help me demonstrate?” Harry nodded and walked onto the platform and pulled out his wand. Jasmine walked into the platform with her wand and stood. She then made a flicking motion with her wrist. “Expelliarmus!” she yelled, causing Harry’s wand to fly out of his hand. “This spell can be used for any weapon your opponent has. Okay, everyone. Partner up and practice. If you need help, call for me, Harry, or Hermione.” She climbed off of the platform and walked around as students partnered up and practiced the spell. She noticed that Neville didn’t have a partner and walked up to him. “Do you need a partner, Neville?” she asked, Neville looked at her and nodded shyly. “Okay, you can be my partner then. Wand out.” Neville took his wand out of his pocket gingerly. “Just flick your wrist and say it clearly.” Neville nodded and pointed his wand at Jasmine. After about an hour, Jasmine still stood there with her wand in her hand, after Neville repeatedly failed to cast the spell.

“I’m a failure,” Neville said sadly.

“No you’re not, Neville. If it makes you feel any better, I was in your shoes once. You just have to keep practicing and say it with feeling. You’ll get it,” Jasmine reassured, patting his shoulder. “Okay everyone that will be it for today. Let’s meet here at the same time tomorrow. We’ll work on this spell some more, and then we'll start another. Good work everyone, just keep practicing, and we’ll be ready in no time,” Jasmine announced. “Fred, George, check to see if the coast is clear.” The twins nodded and checked the hall.

“All clear,” they both said.

“Great, let’s go, before Filch finds us,” Jasmine said, taking her hair down and shaking out her curls.

~Weeks later~

After a few weeks of training, the army grew. Students had begun to believe that Jasmine and Harry were telling the truth about Voldemort being alive, due to stories from the press not adding up. While Dumbledore’s Army grew, so did Filch and Umbridge’s suspicions.

“We need to get Filch off of our backs,” Jasmine said. “Do you guys still have some of your products here?” she asked, looking up at the twins. The twins looked at each other and grinned mischievously, before looking at Jasmine.

“Perhaps,” they answered.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, and don’t tell your mom I let you both do this, but...I need you guys to get Filch off of our path,” she said.

“Leave it to us,” they said.

“Great, but for now let’s get to class,” she said. The three of them began heading to class, ignoring the ridiculous rules Umbridge had put up about boys and girls being separated in the halls.

~Time Skip~ (After the last day of training before Winter break)

“Expelliarmus!” Neville yelled, finally disarming the puppet.

“Great job, Neville. I knew you could do it,” Jasmine praised.

“Thanks, Jasmine,” Neville said, smiling at her. She pat his shoulder and walked over to the board in front of the students.

“Okay, everyone. We did great these past few weeks. I couldn’t be more proud of all of you. Just keep practicing over break, and we’ll be working on some more Defense spells. Have a good break and great job ladies and gents,” Jasmine said, earning applause from everyone. “Okay, I’ll see you all after break. Happy holidays.” She walked over to the door, checking to see if the coast was clear. “Okay, quickly everyone.” She waved everyone out, wishing them a happy holiday on their way out. Once the room was completely empty, Jasmine walked over to the billboard with Cedric and the original order’s pictures. She stared at both pictures and let out a soft sigh. “We’ll make you all proud,” she said quietly, feeling a lump form in her throat. “You wouldn’t have died for nothing.”

“Jasmine?” she heard someone call. “Are you coming? We have to pack up, if we want to catch the train in time.” Jasmine cleared her throat and tried to regain her composure.

“I’m coming,” she said, turning to leave the room. She walked with the twins to the Gryffindor common room, the trip being strangely quiet.

“Are you looking forward to spending Christmas with us?” George asked, finally breaking the silence.

“Yeah, I’ve never really spent Christmas with anyone else. Remus wasn’t as busy as he is now,” she said.

“I’m sure you’ll love it,” Fred said, giving a small smile.

~Christmas Day~

“The tree looks amazing,” Jasmine said, looking up at the decorated tree in awe.

“Thank you, dear,” Molly said. “Here’s Daddy!” she said gleefully, wheeling a bandaged up Arthur, who was still in recovery, after having a run in with Voldemort's snake, Nagini in the Department of Mysteries. The Weasley children clapped, happy to see their father.

“I’m glad to see you recovering well, Arthur,” Jasmine said.

“Thank you, Jasmine. All thanks to Harry. I wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for him,” Arthur said, raising his glass to him. Jasmine smiled and was surprised when Molly set a neatly wrapped box in her lap.

“Oh, thank you, but you didn’t have to get me anything Molly,” Jasmine said, holding her present.

“Nonsense! It’s tradition for everyone to get a gift,” Molly said, trying to give the twins their gifts, switching them, before giving them the presents. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out,” she said, sitting back down. Jasmine giggled softly, watching the twins switch their presents and open them. She then opened her present and gasped happily.

“Molly, awww,” Jasmine said, pulling out a maroon knitted sweater with a beige ‘J’ knitted in the front.

“Do you like it?” Molly asked.

“I love it!” Jasmine said, hugging it close to her chest. “I couldn't have asked for a better gift.”

“Well, I wish Ron had your enthusiasm,” Molly said, chuckling softly.

“Oh! There’s another gift for you, Jasmine. Remus dropped this off before he left,” Arthur said, setting a box on the table. It had holes poked in the top and seemed to move a little.

“Oh? I wonder what it could be. Hopefully it’s not another boggart,” Jasmine said, as Fred handed her the box. She opened it and nearly screamed from excitement, as a small white ferret head poked out of the box and looked around. “He got me a ferret. It’s so cute,” she said, trying not to scare the ferret with her excitement. She picked it up carefully and set the box down, before petting the ferret. It looked up at Jasmine and sniffed at her carefully, before climbing up Jasmine’s chest, and burrowing itself inside of her shirt. “I think I’m going to cry. I never got a pet before, no matter how much I begged Remus for one.”

“What are you going to name it?” George asked.

“Milo,” Jasmine said, almost cradling it, so it didn't fall all the way into her shirt. “I’ve had the name picked out ever since I’ve wanted a pet. Well that or Lilo.”

“Why Milo? Why not pick Lilo?” Ron asked.

“Because he’s a boy,” Jasmine said.

“How can you tell?” Ginny asked.

“Boy ferrets have larger heads and have a bigger body. Girl ferrets are more slender in build,” Jasmine explained, petting the ferret through her shirt while he slept.

“Ooooh, neat,” Ginny said, smiling a bit. “Well he looks really cool.”

“Yeah, I will have to thank Remus as soon as possible,” Jasmine said, folding her new sweater, planning to wear it after her new pet woke up. This for her might have been the best Christmas she had ever had, the only thing that would have made it perfect was if Remus was there to celebrate with her, like they did every year.