The Last Peverell

Chapter 51

Chapter 51

All arguing aside, the party progressed rather nicely...for about an hour. Lily, Remus, Alice and Severus managed to have a few civil conversations, most of them revolving around dueling, charms and quidditch, though Lily and Severus were far less engaged when the sports talk began.

Eventually, James and Sirius took over that conversation with as much animated hand movements and exaggerated sounds effects as one could imagine.

The group had moved to one of the smaller living spaces off the kitchen. It was cozy, with two couches and a set of stuffed arm chairs all in varying shades of red and silver. Sirius, Remus and James dove for the sofa on the far right, while Lily and Alice each took an arm chair. The Slytherin's and Mikhail stayed clear on the other side of the room as the sports talk continued. Jasmine was moving from group to group, not wanting to look like she was picking a favorite. Mikhail and Severus were entertaining Regulus with various stories from the dueling tournament. Mikhail's tall tales had Regulus howling with laughter.

Lily was sticking close to Alice as she took in the sight of Potter Manor in all its glory. It was large and spoke volumes of James' wealth. It was obvious to Jasmine that the doe eyed Gryffindor was overwhelmed, so, at least while James was nervously talking about magical sports teams in an attempt to engage Lily in conversation, Alice could distract him with quidditch updates.

Jasmine touched Lily's arm and she jumped at the contact. "Are you alright?" Jasmine asked, perched on the arm of the red head's chair as Sirius mimicked a feint he had seen while he had been traveling this summer with his father. Naturally, he jumped onto James, which led to the two sprawled on top of Remus. The werewolf was not amused crushed between those two morons. A devious grin poked at the corner of Remus' mouth.

Jasmine had an idea of what he was about to do.

He shoved both of them onto the floor, leaving Alice helplessly giggling. The four of them completely distracted from Lily and Jasmine for the time being.

Lily bit her lip and picked at the chair, as her glass of water magically refilled itself on the oak table next to her. "I've read about manors before, but I hadn't actually seen a magical family manor, or a muggle one for that matter. I keep forgetting how different my life is compared to most of my close friends. Marlene talks about her summer villas in Spain and in the Caribbean. Alice said her home is very similar to this...Sirius's family has multiple properties... My parents work modest jobs to support both me and my sister. How are you all going to come to my house next week? It will seem so...muggle. It's the first time that my parents have agreed to let my friends from school visit. I just worry that it won't be what you expect."

Jasmine supposed that it was something that some people tended to worry over. She hadn't needed to worry about money in any life...not really, not after entering Hogwarts. She supposed while she lived at the Dursley's she had felt poor and ashamed of herself quite often, but once she had learned about her family, a sense of pride replaced that. Jasmine had always had the Potter fortune to fall back on if something didn't work, though she rarely wanted to waste a penny of a fortune she hadn't earned herself.

"No one thinks any less of you for living in a house without magic. My aunt, who helped raise me for years, was a squib. We didn't have a large house, I lived in a small cottage without magic for years, Lily. Trust me, when I say I have a really good idea about what I'm going to expect from my stay at your house and it isn't going to be anything negative. You worry far too much over what people think."

Her red headed friend grimaced, arms crossed. "My sister says that people's opinions matter when it comes to being a good host and future wife."