Chapter 2
The dark was supposed to be my thing. Being the Mistress Of Death and all, yet still in my head, so open to the light, my eyes that are as bright as the constellations above seem dimmed; my stardust atoms bathe in the light of my dreams, not seeking the stars for once.
“You can’t be sure!” A woman's voice exclaimed. I blinked, tipping my glasses so that they fit my face and looking around in confusion. It was an empty room, not dirty but not exactly clean either. Regulus and Snape were there too, shackled in iron chains. I gasped as I tried lifting my hands, only to see the same shackles on my wrist. Why the hell are there chains on my wrist, I whined.
“There are clear dark marks on their forearms Lily!” A faintly familiar voice drawled but there was clear anger in his voice. Since when do I have a dark mark on my arm? I scoffed. I then yawned, but my hands couldn’t move. I sighed, these chains were really becoming a bother. However, they were easily removed, I noted that they weren’t really high tech. Then again, this was 1980 after all. Just then, everything from last night came streaming through my head. Regulus. Time travel. Snape. The Prophecy. Dumbledore. Blue Light. Well, 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘵.
“The girl doesn’t!” The woman's voice argued. No- Lily’s voice argued.
“Didn’t you hear Dumbledore?! Or did you seem to forget the part that she was clearly with them! Regulus means nothing to me since he joined that side, I suggest you do the same with Snivel- Snape!” I froze for a moment. Regulus. Sirius. Lily. Snape. Oh. Oh. And of course, Dumbledore would say that. That sick bastard.
Lily sounded affronted; her voice was shaking with rage, “You dare bring that up?! This- this has nothing to do with before. So don’t you dare ever try to think that my last friendship will make me allow a death eater to hurt people like me!”
Sirius sighed, his hand massaging his temple. “I know, I know, it’s just- you can’t be sure these days. I’m sorry.” Lily broke her exterior, shaking her head as she sighed.
My stomach growled hungrily. When was the last time I had eaten? Far too long than necessary. I got up, taking one last glance at Regulus and Snape and tiptoed out, quietly closing the door. Where was I? I had never seen this place before but I quickly navigated my way around, taking a hallway where there were two bedrooms and from the right, a big open kitchen. I visibly beamed, “Well, well, take a look at that!” My eyes scanned the place, landing on a cabinet which I opened to find sugary sweets. I took one bite of a sugary pasty and moaned in ecstasy, my feet tapping to make a happy dance. I tried searching for the ingredients to make pancakes, scratching my chin in thought. There was a loud pop behind me as I turned around defensively, looking down at the source of the noise. There was a tiny house elf with her hands on her hips, eyeing me with displeasure. Probably at my weight. Or lack, thereof.
“Why was Mistress in the kitchen without Tipsy?!” Tipsy’s eyes then fell onto the opened cabinets and jars and she yelped, gripping down her ears as I scratched the back of my neck. It wasn’t that big of a mess, right? “Mistress opens tiny doors?! Without Tipsy?! Mistress tries to cook?!” She says the last part in astonishment.
“I’m not your Mistress Tipsy, and besides, I was trying to make pancakes but- I couldn’t find the ingredients.” I explained sheepishly.
“Tipsy knows yous are her mistress. Tipsy lives to serve the Noble House Of Potters. Tipsy shalls make your pancakes. Mistress toos skinny.” She said firmly as I looked at her in surprise.
“Oh..uh, well, thank you Tipsy.” I thanked as her ears flapped happily, beaming at me, “...but I want to make it with you.” She dimmed a little then raised up her rather upturned nose snootily, “If mistress insists.”
The next thing I knew, we were dancing happily and bonding over the silliest of things like pancakes. I didn’t know how Tipsy knew about my heritage but I didn’t question it. House elves’ magic could be really powerful most times.
“Master James likes chocolate chips with his pancakes too!” Tipsy exclaimed excitedly, jumping around. I raised my eyebrows in amusement and shook my head fondly. “Does he now?”
Tipsy just nodded her head enthusiastically and continued to rant about the most adorable of things, getting an occasional nod and encouragement from me for her to continue.
“And what is going on here?” A deep voice demanded- no, James demanded, his wand raising slightly at me. I choked on my coffee as Tipsy rolled her eyes at his attentive antics at the wrong person. He looked so much like me. My heart sang.
“Master should not forget to wear his warm bunny slippers! Its is cold outside!” James’ face reddened slightly and hid his feet as he softened, but his wand didn’t budge. Lily and Sirius followed right behind. Sirius. My Sirius. Alive. I snapped out of my trace and sheepishly grinned.
“What’s wrong Ja-” Her eyes dropped to me as Sirius fell into a protective stance, his wand pointed at my face from far away. Lily hesitated, then raised a questionative glance at me. Sirius glared at me, “How did you get out of there?”
I placed down the cup of coffee and clapped my hands together, “Uh..hi?” I sheepishly grinned, raising up my hands as a surrender, “It wasn’t really hard, just a few tricks here and there. And I was hungry. And the kitchen was like right there. And tipsy was like really nice and the food was just so...welcoming. Oh come on, I promise not to hurt you. I don’t even have a wand, see!” I emptied out the pockets of my jeans, and removed my flannel shirt, leaving a crinkled ABBA t-shirt with a bunch of random bracelets on me.
Apparently, my awkwardness relaxed them as they lowered their wands slowly. Sirius spoke first, threatening me. “If you do anything that tells us otherwise, I will not hesitate to use my wand.” I raised my hands in surrender once again, my messy hair coming in my face as I tried to blow it away with my mouth. Tipsy sniffed before walking away and ‘accidentally’ stepping on Sirius’s foot. Sirius yelped but held his glare towards me. James reached out to Sirius and gently touched him on his arm. “Hey there now, everything is fine. 3 against one, what are the odds?” He joked and the atmosphere loosened. Lily walked over to me.
“Good morning, what’s your name? I’m Lily Potter, the wife of this idiot.” She asked smoothly, gesturing to James after taking a bite out of an apple.
I smiled warmly, before taking a sip of the coffee and replying. “My name is Harley… Harley Jasmine.” I grimaced, I wasn’t completely lying, my name was Harley Jasmine Potter. It’s a good thing Tipsy had left, she would have slipped out my full name no doubt.
Sirius looked at James, “Do we know a Jasmine?” James shook his head unbotheredly while taking a seat next to Lily.
I smoothened out the crinkles in my t-shirt and replied shortly, “I’m… a halfblood.”
He snorted, gesturing towards my t-shirt, “Yeah, I figured as much.”
I shot at him, “Then why’d you ask?”
“Easy there lightning.” He grinned at me. I rolled my eyes playfully. We sat there for some time, in a soft and comfortable silence, Lily reading the newspaper and glancing at me occasionally. A thought just hit me and I stood up immediately.
“Shoot, I forgot. I’m gonna take some of the pancakes and go.” I got two plates and piled on pancakes with syrup. A bit of the syrup landed on my finger as I licked it happily.
“You sure you can eat that much?” James asked, ruffling his already messed up hair. My eyes fell on the two plates as I lit up in realisation, “Oh! Oh no! This is for Regulus and Snape. I thought that they might be quite hungry too.”
Sirius touched the back of his pocket and shot the both of them a glance. I hated that. “I told you they were all buddy buddy. Dumbledore was right.” I raised my eyebrows at him, unimpressed.
“So… since I don’t want random people who I don’t even know to starve, I’m now a Death Eater?”
He fired at me, still suspecting me. “No one mentioned the Death Eater part. How did you know we were talking about that, hmm?”
I tapped my feet impatiently, “Look, you're fighting with the wrong person here. Down there, are people. People that made mistakes. People who made the wrong choices. People that you know. Yet, you're willing to let them starve and anyone who doesn’t want them to is now considered bad too. We’re not out to get you, you're not that special. So take all your accusations and shove it up your sorry arse.” I shook my head and flipped him off before slamming the door shut and walking towards the room. My eyes fell at the sight of the two men in concern. Snape was cruel and mean but… his ending was right. Was brave. We would need someone like him in the war. And Regulus. He was a forgotten hero. Something about that was just so tragic and beautiful. His ending too, was brave and seeing from our encounter, he wasn’t a bitter bastard like Snape but completely good-natured and sweet. He didn’t deserve his ending. And I was here to stop it. All the while, a nagging voice of Hermione situated in me, tried to stop myself. I looked at them determinedly. Smiling to myself, I shook them awake gently while freeing them from the chains.
“You.”
Snape’s voice filled the room as I rolled my eyes and remarked, “No. Merlin and Morgana.”
He sneered at me unhappily, “Here to take us to the Order?”
I sighed, “You're at the Potter Manor, and no, I did not take you here, I was tied up too. I just got some pancakes for you. The both of you. Your welcome.” I wiggled my fingers at them and pushed the plates towards them, sniffing snootily as Regulus looked at me warily before taking a small neat bite with the utensils on the plate. “Thank you Harley.” I beamed, looking at him before turning to a bitter Snape and glaring. Just because I was going to save him from tormenting future Hogwarts students does not mean I have to like him.
They both finished it quite quickly before Regulus asked me dryly, “So, what are they keeping us here for? Lost and found? Waste? We’re probably here for questioning about The Dark Lord's Plans.” I opened my mouth but no sound came out. Even I didn’t know that. There was a pin drop silence before Snape’s voice dropped down to a whisper.
He said, eyeing me critically, “Why did you scream?”
I was taken aback by his bluntness but I regained my composure, “Wow, talk about straightness….𝐼 𝑐𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑖𝑡..” I muttered the last part softly, chuckling to myself.
“Answer the question.”
I scoffed and turned to look at Regulus for help but he was just staring at me to continue. I sighed and replied, “I… I guess I don’t know. I just panicked. It looked like you were doing something you would regret.” Damn me. It was like Dumbledore and his riddles.
They didn’t push it any further before the door opened, and Dumbledore, the asshat, looked me straight in the eye. His eyes were twinkling, like always as I tried not to scoff. Yes, okay, fine. I was still bitter about our last encounter. “Harley, please come outside. We have important matters to discuss.”
I raised my chin defiantly before challenging him, “Whatever you want to say, you can say here.” I know that I probably sounded like a child making temper tantrums but I didn’t really care.
The twinkle in his eyes brightened, “I think not Miss Jasmine.” I felt a swerve in my head. An interruption as my eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Dumbledore. Oh, that traitorous cockroach. James, Sirius, and Lily followed behind him.
I twirled the fork in between my fingers before looking at him straight in the eyes, smirking, “Y’know Albus, looking inside someone's head without their permission is kind of illegal. ” Everyone’s eyes widened before looking at Dumbledore for reassurance. He at least had the decency to look ashamed while looking at his feet.
“My apologies Miss Jasmine, it is hard to trust people these-”
“Doesn’t mean you look inside their thoughts and personal things. It’s not very liked. Even if it’s for the Greater Good. Wouldn’t want anyone to look inside your head now, would you?” Serves that old codger right. I still felt a rush of guilt for doing that.
“Very well.” He said smoothly, getting up and looking down at me from his half-moon spectacles. “I need to know whether or not you are in leagues with Voldemort.” Most of them winced at the name while Dumbledore shifted uneasily at the lack of information he had, for once. No. Not this time. They were going to do things ℎ𝑒𝑟 way.