The next morning, Jasmine took off with Sirius, headed to the goblins to formally inherit the Potter heirship. 'I wonder if she'll receive the Perverell on too, like in those fan fics,' Rigel wondered as he tucked into a delicious honeyed oatmeal and several pastries. Arcturus decided the morning would be his final reprieve before Jasmine returned and training began, so he was determined to relax as much as he could, drinking cup after cup of tea. "Quit drinking coffee like an American peasant," he could still hear from Arcturus's lessons before he arrived at Hogwarts.
When Jasmine arrived with a ruby red ring with the Potter crest and a beaming smile, Sirius dragged him from his couch and into the library, where they would train their occlumency daily. "Rigel already knows most of this, but I'll explain it again for you. Occlumency is the shielding and defence of the mind. This includes your memories, thoughts and emotions. A legillimense, a good body language reader or a Wampus cat, can enter your mind, and learn about you in seconds. Technically, legillemency is a 'dark' art of magic, but that simply means that it was deemed dangerous to public safety and security, and banned from PUBLIC use. The first stage we will practise is emptying the mind, concealing our thoughts from view. After that, comes shielding, in which we defend the hidden thoughts and memories behind a barrier of some sort to protect against a more able legillimense, and more active attacks. By the second stage, you will be better able to retain information, and by the third, active control, one is supposedly able to remember absolutely everything they experience, as well as recall the information immediately." He bore a sad smile looking at Jasmine's worried face, "If you don't go looking for the bad memories, you won't have to worry Jasmine."
Arcturus, who'd sat next to the fire reading a far older occlumency tome, not that that necessarily meant better, asked Rigel, "And where have you gotten up to?"
"I struggled to be honest, so I've only achieved the first stage, concealing my thoughts."
"And how did you envision the thoughts being hidden? Many use fog, mist or smoke to hide, or clear the mind."
Rigel looked across at Jasmine, and lied his ass off, "Actually, I'd heard about invisibility cloaks, but couldn't imagine it, which is why it took so long. But then, Jasmine received her father's cloak and when I saw it in action, it clicked."
"You have your father's old cloak? I wonder who gave you that old thing, it must just be a rag by now." Jasmine, somewhat affronted due to her own misunderstanding defended the cloak.
"It works fine, Rigel and I used it a few days ago." They turned to their son/grandson, who nodded.
"I'm not sure if it is the SAME, cloak, but it does definitely work."
"Why wouldn't it be the same cloak," Jasmine asked.
Arcturus rubbed his silver-haired chin, "Because Jasmine, an invisibility cloak has not been recorded as having survived longer than 15 years. My cousin, Dorothea Potter, mentioned the family had one lying around, and believed they owned a demiguise farm and made matching ones for their heir, carrying them safely to adulthood."
"But my family's dead and no one could have sent it to me," Jasmine reasoned."
"Within Hogwarts? No, probably not," Lord Black agreed. "Anyway, we can discuss the cloak's origins another time, for now, practice." Unfortunately, Occlumency training is almost as boring as Professor Binn's lectures on the Goblin Wars, as it required a lot of meditation, and introspection. Rigel had formed an invisibility cloak around his thoughts, but now came the harder part of the process, developing a shielding barrier to protect against invasion.
'Hexagonal shapes are said to be the strongest geometric shapes, capable of dispersing force better, which is why honeycomb is so strong despite the fragile material, so if I can create a barrier of hexagonal plates, the barrier should be better able to defend than a traditional smooth dome shield. Unfortunately, the barrier can't be several layers, overlapping, as the process would take too long, and the process becomes inherently more complicated….Maybe a natural occlumense might be able to?' And so, Rigel spent his time concentrating on making small, thick plates that would interlink with each other to share and disperse mental attacks and probes. Lunch was relatively light, consisting of warm soup and brioche bread, before duelling practice began.
"How much duelling have each of you done?" Arcturus questioned, "I rather enjoyed the duelling club when I attended Hogwarts, though I heard it was shut down a while back."
"Well, I didn't have the chance," Sirius added.
"Rigel duelled Malfoy, but we've never actually fought in class, since we're covering the basics," Jasmine offered.
"By Merlin, Hogwarts has truly gone to the ghouls," the aged Lord exclaimed.
"Defence is run by a performative stutterer, potions by a master potioneer that can't teach for shit. Charms is excellent, but focused on the basics and Transfiguration is the same. If I wasn't being personally taught by McGonagall, I doubt my transfiguration would be useful at all."
"Okay, we will start with the basics; accuracy, speed of casting, and footwork," Sirius said, his experience as an auror and member of Dumbledore's bitchsquad revealing itself. "Which is more important, removing an enemy, or avoiding being hit?" he asked, focused on Jasmine, as he expected his son to know anyway.
"Dodging, I guess? I can always hit them after I dodge." 'Not bad reasoning,' Rigel figured, 'Considering she's unaware of combat apparation, and portkeys.'
"Generally it depends, but it's wise to consider your own safety first," he said, then turning to his son. "What is the best method of defence against a spell?"
"Not being where the spell is, usually by dodging."
"It's hard to dodge a spell," Arcturus noted.
"Then conjure or transfigure a physical barrier as you move, it's quick, and also protects against the unforgiveables." The two older wizards darkened slightly at the mention but acknowledged his correct thinking.
"If you are as talented at transfiguration as your letters claim, it should be possible yes, but for most, transfiguration requires a great deal of effort and concentration." The two Hogwarts students were told to target some dummies that Kreacher brought down to the basement, striking the called-out areas as quickly as they could with certain spells. Sirius worked with Jasmine, hoping to build up a mentor relationship with his new ward quickly, further pushed by the relationship he held with her parents. Arcturus was far less kind.
"Four months and I could have taught you more myself in this time. Your accuracy is good, but the wand motions are too slow. An expert can cut the wand motion nearly entirely, but until that point, you need to get faster. Tuck your elbow in, you don't need to move your whole bloody arm boy. Use the wrist and elbow, not the shoulder. Don't extend your wand so much, a retraction spell or disarming spell is more likely to succeed if you leave it out there." Rigel was a quick study, but he had to admit that working under a teacher was FAR easier than trying to learn from books, and apparently, more effective too.
After time spent on charms, jinxes and minor hexes, the group turned to transfiguration. "If your transfiguration isn't as good as you've been claiming Rigel, I'll lock you in this damned basement until the end of the break," the old man spat, though a twitch in his lip revealed his bluff to Rigel. Jasmine was surprised, but not horrified, having LIVED in a room less than a 100th the size of the room, and without magic. "HEART," he called, and three stone spikes shot from the ground, spearing through the dummy's self-repairing chest where the heart had been drawn. "Silent casting a transfiguration spell…I suppose that shows some level of talent," he said dismissively, his nose upturned. "Left knee," he called, and a heavy, wide column burst from the floor, shattering the knee and causing the dummy to collapse to the ground. "Finish," he spoke again, and a somehow fluid-moving section of flooring wrapped over the dummy's neck, squeezing like a vice for just under a second before the head was removed with a "SNAP."
"Very good, what about defensively?" He spoke, turning to the young heir, his words all the warning the boy would get before he cast a stinging hex. Rigel crouched, bringing up a thin wall as tall as Arcturus's waist, but enough to duck behind, using it as cover to retaliate with a stinger of his own. "Excellent. There's little point in dodging if you don't retaliate. Your knowledge and understanding of charms and basic curses and jinxes are acceptable but need work. Your transfiguration, on the other hand, is excellent." The two repaired the flooring to how it stood originally, and returned to charms, seeing no reason to worry about transfiguration.
During a short break, Arcturus called for, noting the young heir's mental and physical fatigue from channelling magic so quickly for so long, they watched as Jasmine cast curses, jinxes and charms. "She's slow and inaccurate," Rigel noted, "she overreaches and telegraphs her actions." His grandfather only nodded. "She's strong though, the force behind her spells is comparable to my own."
"Both are blessed, and her drive for revenge could in turn power her development and magical potency. An adversary gives someone a purpose like no other."
"Good thing I have two then."
"Well, only one of them's alive," the old man commented thinking on his grandson's description of the mirror of Erised's illusions.
"No, they both are," the boy said confidently, his listener whipping his head with speeds unthinkable for a man his age.
"What do you mean? The lackeys remain, but their master died."
"Not saying he didn't," the boy said mysteriously, "just that it wouldn't be the first time a wizard came back from the dead."
"You know something. More than you're telling me. I didn't see anything when I looked through your memories when we first met, and yet, you know something." Rigel would have been offended by the blatant lack of trust, had his grandfather not been Lord Black, or if he hadn't already suspected, and agreed with the man's actions.
"I do, but I can't do much about it for at least another year or two before we act on it. I don't want to spook him into hiding." Arcturus wasn't quite sure whether his grandson was right, but the confidence he held was unquestionable, and ignoring the possibility was now dangerous.
"Dragon dung. Does she know?"
"No, nor do I plan on telling her yet. You can tell her next year."
"Are you a seer?"
"Merlin no. But imagine one set of events, from here to the next 7 years. That's what I can see, one possible set of events, which have already been altered by my existence and my father's freedom." Rigel could have tried to hide all of this from Lord Black, but it would have made working with him significantly harder and might have slowed the support given to him in the coming years. He'd spent a lot of time making the decision to be relatively transparent with Arcturus. He needed the man's trust and support, as not only was he an excellent teacher, but a powerful wizard in his own right.
"Yet, you have no proof," the old man commented.
"You were meant to die this year."
"Of dragonpox, I assume," Arcturus noted thinking of the dragonpox cure Kreacher bought under Rigel's order.
"I know that Flamel's stone is in Hogwarts, or at least a copy, I can't be too sure. I know that one of my teachers is possessed by the disembodied spirit of a dark wizard thought dead. I know the same teacher will hunt unicorns soon, and that the groundskeeper will be given a dragon egg that he will care for and hatch, which reminds me. Do we have a place for a dragon?"
"Uh, yes. A large dragon sanctuary in Germany under our name. That's a lot of information to take in. And you're sure of this?"
"Again, slight variations are possible, like I expected Jasmine to be a boy, but the rest is remarkably similar." Arcturus rubbed his face in his hands, unable to wipe away the confusion and approaching headache.
"Kreacher, firewhiskey. Now." Sirius heard the snap and was surprised to see Arcturus drinking so early in the day, not that Rigel looked much better with a tired and apologetic look on his face.
~~~
Just under two weeks passed following a similar schedule, though both Rigel and Jasmine were forced to learn basic pureblood etiquette and skills, such as documentation and dancing. Both were heavily stressed as young heirs of their house. Jasmine had mastered the first stage of the occlumency training and now understood why everyone looked at Ron weirdly at mealtimes.
"Finally!" Rigel shouted, collapsing back on the couch. "My mental barrier's been formed." The dome was made of literally thousands of small, but thick shapes, predominantly hexagons, with triangles and pentagons around the base to form the geodesic dome shape. Arcturus smiled and brought out his wand, entering into his grandson's mind. To find the memories, you had to find the invisible dome, which took a lot of time, and made doing so subtly or quickly impossible. After several minutes, he found the dome, though only after being guided to it, and came upon a dense, highly compressed barrier of interlocked shapes. Beginning slowly, he met the barrier, but regardless of the effort he placed on it, the barrier held firm. He attempted again, using force and speed, no longer attempting to be subtle, but ramming against the shield, sending multiple probes to look for weaker spots, such as the shift in shapes. Regardless, the barrier held for five minutes, though Rigel looked positively exhausted from being mentally invaded. "Good enough?" he panted, a cheeky smile on his face.
"Beyond what I expected Rigel. I'm so proud," the wizened wizard said, clutching his heir to his chest.
In combat classes, Jasmine had grown rapidly, her accuracy far better than it was, and her speed although not up to standard, was far beyond first-year standards, casting basic spells with the fluency of an average second or third year. She found she specialised in curses and hexes, though didn't struggle particularly with charm work either, much to Sirius's delight.
The two were being introduced to duelling, as a form of practice against single opponents, though Sirius insisted on changing the terrain where they trained every fight. From a flat smooth duelling platform to a short, round ring like muggle wrestlers use. Obstacles and cover were occasionally added to provide, 'realism,' as he called it, though he noted one-on-one fights were very rare in reality. The two heirs would fight each other for an hour every day of the second week, and then spar both Arcturus and Sirius themselves for another half-hour, rotating mentors each time. Sirius had a well of combat experience from fighting supernatural creatures, criminals and dark wizards, but Arcturus had lived through two wizarding wars, and had the schemes of a mastermind, planning ahead and placing traps on the duelling stage.
On a less militaristic note, the two had enjoyed the small family Christmas, Arcturus buying them both customised bags of holding, which were able to store anything that could fit within the mouth of the bag. Jasmine's was bright green, the same as her eyes, and the killing curse for the more observant, and held her initials and an animated snitch. Rigel's in comparison, was the same sapphire blue as his eyes, and held a white raven with matching eyes. Each was blood-bound, and thus unusable to anyone but the original owner, and nearly weightless, despite the number of books and other 'useful items,' Rigel had stuffed inside. Arcturus was unsure why anyone would find a magic kettle, 'useful,' but had grown somewhat accustomed to his family's weirdness. Sirius had given the two books on their favourite subjects, which he muttered about as being boring, along with sweets from Diagon Alley. In return, the two heirs, unsure of exactly what to get their new family members, went entirely different, Rigel transfiguring sugar crystals into coloured figurines of them, coloured and in surprising detail and sweetness, while Jasmine had used her experience from the Dursleys to cook the two breakfast, with Kreacher's approval of course. Jasmine and Rigel didn't buy each other anything specific, instead just enjoying each other's company alone for an afternoon, playing games and eating sweets. The evening, however, was ruined by Kreacher, not through his own fault, as he reminded Arcturus at the lunch table about the Malfoy's Christmas event. A party of opulence and ass-kissing, filled with death eaters and greasy politicians Rigel would rather spit on than talk to.
"You're all coming."
"But grandfather surely-" Sirius started, only to get silenced with a hand.
"It will be beneficial for the two of them politically, and besides, the Black family hasn't been present at these events for a few years due to my own laziness and distaste for the guests and Abraxas the whiny toad. I knew of the ball but wasn't certain we would attend. Kreacher send the reply, and fetch Jasmine a collection of dresses suitable for an heir."
"Yes, Master Black."
Jasmine looked horrified, while Rigel smiled broadly, "A chance to grind the cowardly, ferret-faced Malfoys into the ground is always appreciated." He then turned to Arcturus and his smile turned sheepish, "I didn't mean I'd go looking for a fight…just hoped for one."
The three men were dressed in heavily enchanted suits, though Arcturus wore the Lord's robe over the top, as was tradition. The suits were a charcoal grey, the wool from a magical creature known as shroud-sheep, providing a beautiful colour as well as a silky-smooth feel. Acromantula silk was more common, but that's because acromantula can provide a lot of silk, and breed in high quantity, whereas the shroud-sheep are only bred in New Zealand, and are limited in number, despite breeders' best efforts. Each held a pocket square the same colour as their eyes, and the entire suit was more armour than dress ware, and Sirius joked that most physical attacks would be stopped, should they decide for an open brawl. Jasmine came out wearing a soft floral dress in a dark crimson red, covered in a warm matching grey coat of the same wool as the Black's own, her hair styled through magic Rigel guessed, and laughed imagining Kreacher having to style her hair.
The manor they arrived in was beautiful, in a classic, marble and dark wood kind of way. Ice sculptures and music filled the room, as well-dressed and old wizards and witches stood together discussing current trends, market shares and comparing families.
"Apart from political opportunities, why would anyone come here," Jasmine muttered, causing Sirius to snort in laughter.
"Quit it you two," Lord Black commanded. "I don't expect you all to be perfect, but try not to be blatantly disruptive." Jasmine and Rigel headed off to find someone closer in age to themselves, as Sirius was dragged along behind his grandfather, being forced to schmooz up to gold-diggers and brown nosers.
"Is there anyone our age," she asked. "Besides the ferret I mean."
"This will be predominantly Slytherins, though all noble families should have been invited, so maybe a few puffs and claws." Unfortunately, the two couldn't find anyone they knew, with the exception of Bullstrode, who ran off somewhere. "We even arrived late because Grandfather can't stand them, yet almost no one young is here," Rigel complained, having taken residency next to Jasmine on a couch looking across the room. Was it particularly polite? No, but they didn't care.
"What about her," Jasmine said gesturing with her chin, having been reminded earlier today to never point or forget the basic etiquette.
"Blonde and stony-faced. I'm pretty confident I know who she is."
"What about the girl she's talking to?" Another blonde stood next to her, but was far more timid, eyes constantly flickering as if she were prey during a chase.
"Not a clue. Her hair's a different colour though, so I'm not too sure." The smaller girl, who stood talking to Daphne Greengrass, was silver-haired, much like the ferret himself, and that's when the realisation it Rigel and Jasmine nearly simultaneously.
"She's Draco's sister/She's a Malfoy"