Pre Edit Count – 2,737 Words

Song I listened to for this chapter: This Life by Josef Salvat

Previously:

She breaks in his arms and he holds her. He can feel the emotions in her and can only imagine the pain she has been living with. She can never give up. She can never lay down her burdens.

Yes. A curse indeed.

Now:

Later that night, Jasper sits in a chair just outside her rooms, grateful he can still affect her and is careful to keep her asleep.

The light flickers and a dark shadow appears in the chair across from him. Jasper frowns as he smells nothing, nor can he see who the person is.

Peregrine stares at the man before him. He finally tells him, “My Lady has named me Peregrine. I am her knight, as are those you have met so far.”

Jasper snorts. “Sorry. This life is nothing I have ever lived. I was from Texas… I died in war, bred to war and raised to do war in this life. I suspect that I am to deal with more war in my future if I am to keep her safe.”

Peregrine stares at the man before him. “She loves deeper than any other. For this, I will do anything to save her. I cannot allow any to know who I am until it is all over. But I am hers. Are you hers as well?”

Jasper sighs. “I get the Ice Prince. He is so deeply in love with her I am shocked he can bear to leave her. The dark bat guy is in the same boat. I don’t buy her story about him, but I will keep my silence. The dude that was a dog also loves her along with the wolf. Is there none in this group that is not in love with her?”

The man chuckles. “She is easy to love. She is loyal, will do anything for those that she considers hers. She sacrifices all to do the right thing. She has never had an easy life, fighting all the time for what is right, even if the rest of the world is who she battles against, trying to save them from themselves. What is there not to love?”

Jasper nods.

The man asks, “And you yourself, Shield?”

Jasper’s head lays back. “I thought I found my mate, but it was not to be. Then I felt this pull to Bella and was mystified. I thought she was my mate, but instead, you have an explanation for it. Let me just say this: I would not protest her being my mate and will protect her as I care for her as one.”

The dark shadow looks to the side. “Is she sleeping?”

Jasper nods. “The potion that the Dark Guy sent didn’t do it, but thankfully she allowed me to send her the cocktail that works for her.”

Shifting, Jasper can sense the curiosity in the shape of the robes. “I am what is normally called an empath, but there are other connotations that fit under different names. Telempathy, for instance; physic navigation, empathic healing and so on. If it can be done with emotions, I have the ability to do it.”

A slight intake of air was heard, then the man in shadows asks, “Can you sense mine?”

Jasper smirks. “No. That spell is a good one.”

There comes laughter. “Bella does excellent work.”

Jasper lifts his head and looks at the shadow. “She made that one?”

The shadow nods. “She is particularly gifted in the area. Voldemort craves her with an intensity that actually scares me. Dumbledore tries to undermine her. Both underestimate her and her followers. That is how I’d like for it to remain. However…”

“She won’t do it if the alternative is for someone else to get hurt.”

Peregrine steeples his hand in front of him. “Exactly. That is part of the reason I encouraged her to call for you. The more people she has to guard her means the more chances to keep her safe, keep them unknowing of her powers. There is much they have no idea about.”

“Please just get straight to it. What all do I need to know?”

“Everything,” Peregrine sighs.

Leaning his head to the back of the chair, he senses his Lady in the other room sleeping… finally. “There is so much more to this life than any of us could imagine. She has so many feet in other worlds that most have no idea about. The very few she lets in all the way treasure that and guard it zealously. The hurt your so-called brother did to her has all of us thirsting for his death. Tell me. Why her?”

Snorting, Jasper tells him, “She is his Singer. She is also silent to him.”

“A challenge.” The voice is flat…dangerous to Jasper’s mind.

Jasper nods. “And one I was hunting him for. I was sure that he killed her. It enraged me to the point my demon was completely out.”

Peregrine snorts. “You may want to talk to Lupin. He, too, has a demon inside of him. The wolf. He is a werewolf.”

Jasper jerks up. “And you let him near her?”

Peregrine just laughs, keeping a finger of his magic on his Lady to make sure she does not waken. “Let? You do not know Lady Swan much do you?”

A chuckle rumbles out. “There is not much you could tell the girl to do if she has a mind otherwise. I take it that it’s worse as she is now?”

Leaning forward, Peregrine tells him, “She lives. That alone is a testimony to her will power. The power that courses through that small body is enough to blast half the world off the map if she loses control. Do you know she is the first person since the founders that the castle answers to? To whom it has made a Founder? This is her House. There are only four others who ever did that.”

Shrugging, Jasper asks, “How old is this place?”

“Over a thousand years old.”

Frowning, he leans back. “How does she know how this Salazar person thought?”

Peregrine cocks his head to the side. “I’m sorry?”

Thinking, Jasper raises a hand for a moment.

Peregrine smiles to himself. Yes, this man will be a worthy addition to the Knights surrounding his Lady. He will guard her with everything he has, and from the research he has done in the short amount of time, he knows she will be well guarded. This man in front of him was the God of War himself.

Who else better to protect the Lady than a man who brought death to millions, if his records were right. He was very intelligent, having raised himself to the rank of Major in the Civil War. No…there is not many who Peregrine could pick better than the man in front of him to guard his lady, to be her companion through her long life.

Jasper is sorting through the memory trying to find what is bothering him. “The way she talked about this Salazar person sounded like she knew him personally.”

Chuckling, Peregrine told him, “She might. You never know what all has passed in her life. The Lady can keep her secrets better than most. Nothing would shock me more.”

He rises, and hands Jasper a brooch and tells him, “Until we know more, this will be your call. If possible, Bella will have the Owl marked on you which will allow you to know when the call goes out. As much as I wish she would never leave you, I know her.”

Jasper chuckles. “I expect you do. I have my brother and sister coming. Whitlocks, not Cullens. I wouldn’t trust the Cullens as far as I can toss them. But these two were hunting the family with me. Peter said he is coming, saying she has more than her that needs to be protected.”

Peregrine pauses, his thoughts musing over this opportunity. “This would be good. Even better if one of them is a Shield for Potter. That would be perfect and will out rule her.”

Jasper shrugs. “I have no idea. But I know they will be here, if you can let the others know. Is there anything else I need to know?”

Staring at the blonde, he tells him, “Bella says there is a doppelgänger of Edward in her house. Just so you’re aware. Other than that, I will remind her to allow you access to the library as well as her personal library in Swan Manor.” He pauses, then asks the castle, “Can you please send him some books to start out with?”

There was a pause until an elf appears bowing to the two of them. Leaving a stack of books higher than the elf on the table, the elf disappears.

Jasper frowns, then nods. “I am not sure what to do about feeding…”

Peregrine waves his hand. “The elves will be able to conjure what you need. Never fear. My only question – is what type?”

Jasper smiles. “Human. I think I will need everything to be on full power to deal with Bella.”

Peregrine smirks as he nods. “I will pass it on. Good night, Jasper. Happy reading.” With that, the man disappears.

Jasper settles himself back in his chair, then lifts an eyebrow as a goblet appears. He sniffs it. Smelling blood, he smiles and grabs a book to start reading. He has much to learn, he suspects.

The next couple of days are quiet, Jasper merging into the group seamlessly.

He, in fact, was very amused when Bella introduced him to Hermione. The little know-it-all, as Severus calls her, is a very good tutor in magical studies. Though Bella also assigned Harry and Draco to the group too.

The reasoning she gave them all was that Draco knows the pureblood world better than any and all three needed to learn the lessons that he can impart to them. In return, he needed to learn that what his mother taught him was not right.

She also plans for her house to have real lessons in Muggle and pureblood societies. The classes taught for Muggle studies is a joke.

She sat down at the first lesson and frankly told the foursome, “I need you four to really talk. Draco, you are needed to tell Harry what he will need to know as the next Lord Swan. You also need to tell Jasper what he needs to know as my Shield. Hermione needs lessons because she is as lost in this world as Harry.”

Bella looks at the three, continuing, “Jasper, you need to inform the three here of everything. Everything that pertains to the vampire world and the rules there. The Kings and I have agreed that our worlds touch in so many ways that the secrecy needs to end. We both have secrets we need to keep from Muggles, and without the other, it will not work for much longer. So I am using you to teach these three what they need to know.”

She turns to Hermione. “You will teach them about the history of this place. I know you know more about the history of magic than even the so-called professor here. Draco would not have been taught what he needs to know. I am also trusting you to teach them Muggle history as well, which Jasper will help you with. He was a Major in the American Civil War and has fought since then. He taught me when I was playing Bella in high school, and he did a much better job than anyone I ever had.”

Then, she turns to Harry. “Your job is to teach them Muggle studies. Hermione and Jasper will help, but you are in charge of the lessons. You need to learn to be more confident and teaching others is a great way to gain this.”

She looks at all of them. “I know that Draco and you two have bad blood, as it were. But I will tell you this: you were all sorted into this house for a reason. You show signs of all four houses and will find no others as alike as you are. The only reason you were sorted into the houses you were in the past is because that is where your mind thought you belonged. So the fighting ends. If you play your cards right, the three of you will find that you are closer than you can ever imagine. With you three, you can take on the world and win. The pureblood, the half-blood and the Muggleborn. It was prophesied. You just had the wrong pureblood.”

With that, she left them.

Jasper raises his eyebrows at the three. “Here it is. I am what you call the Sanginis Wardas to Bella. I will be here to learn, and to teach you, as she requested. But I will not hesitate to correct you three if you aim to be misbehaving. Do you understand?”

The three look at each other and they slowly nodded.

Jasper sighs, and rubs his hand over his face. “Let me tell you about me. I am classed as an empath but much more powerful than that one word says. I can tell you right now, that you will be honest, or I will call you out on it. If Bella wants you to work together, then I will enforce the honesty so that you will know each other better than any others.”

“Lady Swan.”

Dark hair, brunette and blonde turn to the speaker. “What?”

Running his hand through his gelled hair, Draco tells them, “Lady Swan. It is her title, and it is the respectful term for her.”

Harry’s mouth is opening and closing in disbelief.

Sighing, Draco looks up at Jasper. “If we need to be honest, I am confused as hell. I have no idea why I am here, but I get the idea that my father is happy I am here instead of in Slytherin. I was in Slytherin because it was what I thought he wanted of me.”

Leaning forward, Jasper tells him, “What if your father was a different person than you could imagine. What if he did all he has done to keep those he loves safe.”

Looking down, Draco shakes his head. “I don’t understand.”

Harry is frowning, though. “What if your dad had to keep his emotions in check because if he showed them, others will hurt you to hurt him. Who raised you, Draco?”

He looks up, confused and tells them again, “I don’t understand.”

Hermione opens her mouth but the look Jasper gives her makes her rethink her tone. “Who are you closer to, your father or mother?”

Draco blinks, and finally says, “My mother. But why does that matter?”

She leans forward and asks, “Did you ever hear your father telling you mudbloods are dirty?”

Harry and Draco blink at her calling herself the hated name. But looking at the Shield of the Lady of his House, Draco thinks on it. Then he frowns. “But he must have.”

Leaning back, Jasper tells them all. “What you think has happened, I am sure that we are going to find out that it hasn’t. Harry, you are to find out from what I read who you think is good in this world actually isn’t. Hermione is to find out that purebloods have a reason for what they think. It may not be right, but they have a reason. And Draco, you will find what you have been taught is a bunch of lies and truths taken out of context. Unfortunately, there is an example of what this so-called pureblood supremacy being taken all the way in the muggle world. Millions died.”

Both Hermione and Harry wince as they say, “The Holocaust.”

He nods. “And the Civil War and so many other times. When mankind subjugates part of their race, it makes for living people, dying. Some wars are more immediate than others but there are examples all over the place of what can happen. Muggles only have more because there are so many more of them. So let us all agree to make this a place where we are truthful and tell what we know. You never know what can happen.”

The younger people look at each other, then agree. Changing the history of the world in that one moment.

Final count: 2,739

Fairfarren~