The Last Peverell

Chapter 71

Chapter 71

"You're going on a date with Sirius," James muttered for the fifth time that morning as Jasmine fastened her winter cloak over her robes to face the biting January weather. Her cousin was pacing back and forth across the breakfast nook near the kitchen, hands behind his back in some kind of deep contemplation.

Jasmine let out a long-suffering sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose. "For the last time, it's not a date. He literally wants me there to stab Mikhail if he gets handsy. He probably just asked me to make his father happy."

Her cousin freezes in place. "AH HA!" James jumps pointing a finger at Jasmine accusatorily. She nearly goes cross eyed with her only good eye.

She slaps his hand away from her face. She raises a single delicate eyebrow, waiting for an explanation to his exclamation. "What?"

"His family does want him to marry you! Moody was right! I'm going to kill Padfoot!"

Jasmine smacked James on the back of the head, none too gently and he gave a small yelp. "You are acting like a fool, James. Sirius and I aren't about to get together because his family said so. They confronted me at the party. Sirius and I had a talk afterwards. He isn't about to jump my bones because his family wants little Black and Peverell heirs running around. If you don't think better of Sirius, you should at least think I'm better than that," she snapped, arms crossed over her chest as James rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

He hopped on the counter, resting his head in his hands. "Look, Jazz, it's just I know a lot about marriage contracts. Dad has let me see quite a few over the years that have come through for me. We always reject them, but they are really binding. Some of them have really crazy stipulations. I just want you to be happy and the thought of Sirius somehow guilting you into a marriage contract worries me. You're the kind of person that would do that to make sure that he's happy. You'd marry him to make sure that he doesn't suffer in his marriage."

She wrinkled her nose. Jasmine did have a saving people problem, but she had to draw the line somewhere. "I'm not sure if I would sacrifice myself like that. I saw the contact, there are a lot of obligations I would have to fulfill. It's one thing to be friends with someone. I would need to produce at least four heirs or more if we have multiple girls. It would be a lot."

James whistled, legs swinging back and forth, sock clad feet thumping against the wooden counters below. Euphemia would swat him if she saw him on the counter like this, acting like some common born riffraff. "So, you've thought about it extensively?"

She swore he wiggled his eyebrows. Jasmine felt her face heat slightly, so much for killing Sirius, now he was teasing her about it. "Not in the way you think. When I started putting pieces together I realized which name he had taken off his list and why his family was so angry with him. I tried to figure out why it was such an obvious choice to take my name off besides the whole best mate's cousin thing. The next was the obligation of heirs," she replied with a shrug as she wrapped her favorite grey scarf around her neck. It was soft and fairly shiny. It reminded her of the invisibility she once owned.

James was grinning from ear to ear, "If you say so. Have fun on your not to subtle double date. Stab Padfoot if he starts sniffing around inappropriately."

Ugh, she was never going to hear the end of this.

~*~

She met Sirius at the Leaky Cauldron. He was leaning against the far wall near the floo access, more than likely waiting for her, but he stopped paying attention to glare holes into Mikhail's head. Sirius was simmering as he watched Regulus and Mikhail speak to each other near the entrance to Diagon Alley. The two of them were bundled up for the weather and huddled close. "You know if you keep scowling like that your face my stay that way," Jasmine warned and her friend jumped. Sirius swore rather colorfully, a hand on his chest.