Harry's aunt

~12~

~Some time later~

Jasmine walked over to a seat, laughing as she sat down, Cedric sitting in a seat beside her.

“That was not funny,” Cedric said, trying to keep a straight face, eventually laughing as well.

“You nearly knocked Snape over. He looked like he was ready to give you detention for the rest of the school year,” Jasmine said, laughing.

“Yeah, that would have been a disaster,” Cedric said, chuckling.

“Yeah, it would have. Have you figured out your egg yet?” Jasmine asked.

“Yeah, have you?” Cedric asked.

“Not a clue,” Jasmine said.

“Bathe with it,” Cedric said.

“What?” Jasmine asked, a bit caught off guard. “Bathe with it?”

“Open it under the water. There is a message in the egg,” Cedric said. “I can get you into the prefect bathroom.”

“You’d do that for me?” Jasmine asked, looking at me.

“Of course. I wouldn’t want you to get hurt in this. Don’t worry I’ll tell Harry too. I owe him the favor,” Cedric said.

“Thank you,” Jasmine said, before hugging Cedric, as he hugged back. They eventually broke from the hug and looked at each other, moving a little closer until she heard yelling.

“DIGGORY?!” Jasmine turned to see Fred walking over to them with George, as she moved away from Cedric. “You went with Diggory?” He looked a bit shocked.

“Uh, yeah I did,” Jasmine said. “Is there something wrong with that?”

“No, not at all,” Fred said, smiling a bit. "Just wanted to bug you a bit."

“You could have done better though,” George said, earning a small nudge from his twin.

“You goofs. Where are your dates?” Jasmine said, chuckling a bit.

“Our lovely ladies are on the dance floor,” Fred said. Jasmine nodded, as she took off her heels and rubbed her sore feet.

“Must be nice. I couldn’t get past the second dance, not in these ankle killers,” Jasmine said.

“Why’d you wear them then?” Fred asked, laughing a little.

“Because it’s a formal occasion and I wanted to look pretty,” Jasmine said.

“Well you’re pretty every day,” Fred said, earning a nudge from George.

“Aw, thanks, Freddie,” Jasmine said, giggling softly, before hearing a slow song begin to start.

“Well, I believe you owe us a dance,” Fred said.

“Right,” Jasmine looked over at Cedric. “You don’t mind, do you?”

“Not at all go ahead. I'll watch your shoes,” Cedric said. Jasmine laughed a little and got up from her chair, leaving her shoes underneath the chair.

“You coming, George?” Jasmine asked, seeing the younger twin sit down on the chair she had just gotten up from.

“I think I’ll sit this one out. I’ll catch you at the next dance,” George said.

“Okay, we’ll be back then,” Jasmine said, walking to the dance floor. The dance floor was practically empty at this point, except for Neville and Ginny as well as a few other couples, who were slow dancing. Fred held out his hand for Jasmine to take. She took it, resting her other hand on his shoulder. Fred rested his hand on her waist and began taking the lead. “Aww, you’re leading,” she teased, earning a chuckle from Fred.

“I am. Got some good practice in,” Fred said, looking down at her, giving her a soft smile. Jasmine looked up at him and smiled, as they continued to dance slowly. Fred gently pulled her closer and rested Jasmine’s other hand on his other shoulder, resting his other hand on the other side of her waist. Jasmine blushed lightly and rested her head on Fred’s shoulder and continued to dance slowly with him.

‘He smells nice,’ Jasmine thought, closing her eyes. He was wearing cologne with strong notes of sage and cedar, and hints of lavender, which seemed to relax her a bit. It seemed to make her forget about all of her worries for a brief moment. She felt oddly safe in his arms.

“This is nice,” Fred said softly, rocking her carefully.

“Mhm...” Jasmine hummed, her eyes still closed. She listened to the music fade as she began to slowly slip out of focus.

~A few days later~

Jasmine turned on the fountain-like faucet for the bathtub in the prefect bathroom and carefully sat her golden egg on the edge of the tub, near her clean change of clothes. She then took off her clothes and moved them away from the tub. She had had a long day and thanks to Cedric, she got some time in the prefect bathroom. She carefully climbed into the warm tub that was filled to the top with vanilla scented bubbles. She let out a sigh of relief, leaning back against the tub, letting the warmth engulf her sore body.

“Oh...this is immaculate,” she said. She then looked over at the egg and picked it up carefully, before looking at her reflection through the golden outside. She stuck the egg into the water and opened it, before taking a deep breath and sticking her head underwater, hearing a melodic voice singing from the egg, the voice singing:

“Come seek us where our voices sound,

We cannot sing above the ground,

And while you’re searching, ponder this:

We’ve taken what you’ll sorely miss,

An hour long you’ll have to look,

And to recover what we took.”

Jasmine lifted her head above water, taking in a few breaths of air, as she closed her egg, and pulled it out of the water.

“A riddle...good thing I’m good with those,” Jasmine said.

“Oh! Oh...it’s just a girl,” Jasmine heard a high-pitched voice say, followed by a disappointed sigh. Jasmine looked over at a stall to see the local bathroom ghost, Moaning Myrtle, who was sitting on the floor by the toilet.

“Oh, hi Myrtle,” Jasmine said. “Is it wrong that I’m here?”

“No I guess not. I was waiting for Cedric to come back though. He’s such a nice boy,” Myrtle said, floating over to Jasmine.

“Yeah, he is,” Jasmine said.

“Step back, Missy. He is mine,” Myrtle said, pouting.

“Um...okay?” Jasmine answered, sinking back into the warm water, leaving only her head to stay afloat. ‘I just want to relax. Can’t she go into another bathroom?’ She thought, not wanting to be bothered. She had to make a plan for how to get through this next round, but first she had to cypher the riddle. “I’m sure Harry can get through this round by himself...” she mumbled to herself, closing her eyes.