Daddy Dearest - (No Update, Edit)

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to JKR. All situations are mine. No $$$ is being made from this fanfic.
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Chapter 73 ~ Jasmine's Training

Try as he might, Mathias couldn't catch Jasmine. She was a strong swimmer and managed to stay out of reach. They swam about for almost forty-five minutes playing water tag. Mathias did grab Jasmines ankle once, and she squealed, slipping away frantically, disappearing under the surface for almost a full minute. The witch popped up a couple of hundred feet away from the wizard and heading for shore.

Jasmine was an excellent swimmer and had been introduced to the water as a very small child. Draco also enjoyed swimming and used to carry her deep out into the water and let her splash around. Once she got her bearings, you couldn't keep her away from taking a dip when the opportunity presented itself. The lake was not the ideal swimming hole but the witch found she enjoyed it, despite the presence of the squid and other things the lake contained. A shower would take care of all the ickiness.

Part of Jasmine's speed this morning was based on the fact that a naked young wizard was trying to grab her. Mathias' only intentions were to dunk her a few times, but still. Jasmine didn't want to come in contact with him at all. Andreas was more focused on plain swimming and watching Mathias pursue Jasmine, a grin on his face. The witch easily outdistanced him. He knew his brother was beginning to gravitate toward the witch, though there was still time.

Jasmine staggered to the shore and ran for her clothing. She pulled her wand out of her sweat pants pocket and dried and scourgified herself, then quickly dressed. She heard splashing behind her but didn't turn around as the boys exited the lake, Mathias panting heavily and watching the witch as he dried and dressed himself. Andreas did the same. Jasmine waited until she heard them walking toward her.

"Well, you two might have me beat exercise and fighting-wise, but I can swim circles around the both of you," she said with a hint of a gloat.

They started walking back toward the castle.

"I've just never applied myself to swimming," Mathias responded, his face in a scowl. Jasmine really was a better swimmer than he was.

Andreas didn't say anything. He knew Jasmine could out swim him, but he was fine with it.

"So, when will you start training me to fight?" Jasmine asked the both of them.

"You must work out more, strengthen up. Then we will teach you," Andreas said. "Maybe in about a week, if you don't give up."

"I have no intentions on giving up," Jasmine said, giving Mathias a narrow-eyed look. She knew Andreas was all for her learning to fight, but it seemed like Mathias wanted her to fail. "If you two can learn, I know I can."

Mathias looked at her and snorted. He was in a bad temper because the witch was better at swimming than he was. The wizard was very competitive in nature. Well, when they got into the workout room, Jasmine would learn her place quickly.

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A week went by, and Jasmine showed marked improvement. She had joined them in the weight room and did well. She wore female boxers, a sports bra and t-shirt when working out in the ROR, and her feminine attributes were much more noticeable. Mathias seemed to be in a perpetual bad mood when Jasmine was present and he was very hard on her. Andreas took him to the side after he had browbeaten her for not keeping her arms straighter when she did her bench presses.

"Why are you being so rough on her, brother?" Andreas asked.

"Because, if I'm not, she won't learn. Tonks isn't easy on us," Mathias said to the wizard.

"But Tonks does not insult us. Telling Jasmine she has all the form of a flubberworms is not going to help her confidence. Stick to the facts only, Mathias. She will respond better," Andreas advised.

Finally, the time came to teach Jasmine some fighting moves. She stood in front of Mathias with headgear, elbow and kneepads, five-finger gloves and a chest protector, since her breasts could be hurt. Andreas stood a short distance away, leaning against the padded walls the ROR had generated, watching Mathias with a slight frown on his face.

Mathias' black eyes glinted at Jasmine.

"Come at me," he said, "Try to take me down. Let me see what you've got."

Jasmine didn't have much in the way of skill. She could probably beat up a couple of witches in a girl-fight, scratching and hair pulling, but she had no martial arts skills at all. Still she charged Mathias, gloves extended like claws and went for his eyes. Mathias swept her legs out from under her and she hit the mat hard on her back. He gave her a nasty little smile.

"What were you trying to do? Scratch my eyes out? I'm not a witch, Jasmine. You can't charge me with the intention of pulling my hair out by the roots," he said as she stood back up. "Now, try something else."

Mathias took a relaxed defensive stance.

Jasmine stood there a moment, then ran forward and tried to kick the wizard. Mathias easily caught her foot, again swept her leg and threw her. Once again the witch fell on her back, harder than before. She groaned and lay there, aching as Mathias looked down on her coldly.

Andreas scowled from the sidelines. Mathias was being too rough with the witch.

Jasmine rolled over to her hands and knees, and rested a moment before she got up unsteadily, staring at Mathias, who smirked at her.

"Ready to quit?" he asked her.

"No," she replied.

"Well, you'd better come up with something better than that," the wizard said.

Jasmine took a deep breath. Fine. She'd punch him then.

Jasmine took up what she thought was a defensive stance, then inched closer to Mathias. He let her. Finally she got close enough to take a swing at him. She was slow and weak. Mathias slipped the punch and gave Jasmine a truly vicious blow to the side of the head that dropped the witch to the mat. She saw stars, and struggled to get her bearings, scrambling around on the mats. Andreas ran forward.

"What are you doing?" he said to Mathias.

"Teaching her what happens when she approaches a better fighter," Mathias said, looking down at the witch, who was sitting up and holding both sides of her head in an attempt to keep it from spinning.

"You hit her too hard," Andreas seethed at him.

The two wizards stared at each other, their eyes hard.

"Who is teaching her, Andreas…you or me?" Mathias asked him.

"From now on, me…at least until she gets her basic skills," Andreas said evenly.

"Tonks didn't give us any breaks when we came at her," Mathias said as Jasmine slowly rose, still disoriented.

"Yes, but we had basic skills, Mathias. We already knew defensive moves…how to block and dodge blows as well as how to deliver them. Jasmine doesn't know any of that. She is like a baby when it comes to fighting," Andreas said.

"You are going to baby her, Andreas. She's not going to learn anything that way. Jasmine needs to want to avoid getting knocked down all the time," Mathias said. "And she needs to know what it feels like for real."

"She needs to learn the basics, Mathias. Blocking, punching and kicking exercises first. How to fall properly. Then she might have a chance to dodge a blow like that, or land an effective punch or kick, " Andreas argued. "You're just beating on her."

Mathias looked at Jasmine. Her eyes were wet, but she looked determined.

"Who do you want to teach you, Jasmine? Andreas or me?" he asked the witch.

Jasmine looked from one wizard to the other.

"I thought you both would teach me," she said slowly. She didn't want to choose one over the other.

Mathias scowled at her, then looked at Andreas.

"We can settle this, brother. Three strikes. The winner teaches her the basics," he growled at Andreas, whose dark eyes glinted at him.

"Fine," he said, going to the bench and putting on his gear, his face set.

Jasmine watched Andreas gear up, then looked at Mathias anxiously.

"What's three strikes?" she asked him.

"We fight full contact and the first one to land three effective blows, wins," Mathias said, stretching and watching Andreas approach, punching his fist into his hand. The wizard looked positively murderous. He put his mouthpiece in.

"Go sit down, Jasmine," Mathias said, his dark eyes resting on his opponent.

Mathias and Andreas were very close, truly like brothers…but they were competitive too and had many full contact battles. They were very closely matched. Whenever they met like this, both were deadly serious. Bones were often fractured and noses broken. But both knew healing spells and mended each other when they finished.

Jasmine hesitated, then walked over to the bench and sat down. She felt bad she had brought the boys to this. She had been dazed when they were arguing but caught some of what Andreas had said…and she agreed with him. She didn't really know the basics of fighting. It wasn't fair of Mathias to just beat her up. She'd remember this though. He'd pay for it one day.


The two boys paced off about ten feet and bowed to each other, then took their stances, Mathias' hands slightly curled, his feet in a t-stance, right foot forward. Andreas echoed the same stance. They stared at each other a moment, then charged, throwing a flurry of hard kicks and blows, blocking each other with arms and legs, circling as each wizard tried his best to break through the other's defenses.

Mathias got through with powerful front kick that staggered Andreas back. He wasn't hurt but the younger wizard scored.

"That's one for me," Mathias panted.

Andreas regrouped and let Mathias advance on him. At the last minute, Andreas dropped and locked both legs around Mathias' and twisted, throwing him to the ground.

"And one for me, brother," Andreas grinned at him, jumping up.

Mathias scowled and rose to his feet, pretending to brush off, then charging Andreas, running into him. The boys began to grapple, attempting and breaking holds, their legs shuffling as they wrestled. Andreas managed to twist Mathias into a full nelson, but the wizard threw his weight forward and slung the black wizard over his back so he landed hard on his back.

Jasmine winced. They certainly fought each other ferociously to be such good friends.

Andreas got up slowly.

"That's two for me," Mathias gloated, "One more, then Jasmine's little ass is mine."

Jasmine raised her eyebrows at this.

"Go Andreas! Kick his arrogant pale ass!" Jasmine shouted from the sidelines.

Mathias turned to look at her in shock and Andreas kicked him in the side of the head, taking him down.

Jasmine covered her mouth with her hands at the sneaky blow. Andreas looked over at her.

"Thanks, Jasmine," he called to her as Mathias got up off the mat, his black eyes narrowed. His nostrils flared.

"That's two for me," Andreas said, grinning darkly.

"Dirty blow," Mathias hissed.

Andreas shrugged. He said one word in response.

"Slytherin."

Mathias wiped his nose and nodded. He knew what that meant. Expect anything from a Slytherin who wanted to win. He should have known better than to look away. Andreas was no fair-play Gryffindor.

Mathias feinted, then charged, leaping into the air with a flying front kick. Andreas spun at the last minute, dipped and caught the wizard with a nasty elbow in the face that burst Mathias' nose open. Blood flew as he landed and rolled to his feet.

"And that's three, brother," Andreas said with satisfaction as Mathias wiped at his nose, his palm full of blood.

Jasmine had screamed when the blood burst from Mathias' nose and now raced to him, towel extended. She moved his hand and tilted his head back, holding the towel to it and scowled at Andreas, who looked amused at her anger.

"Why did you have to hit him so hard?" she asked Andreas.

"He was going to kick my head off," Andreas replied.

"But you ducked. You could have pulled your blow," she said.

"No. Mathias never pulls blows, as you should know," Andreas said, rather testily now, "However, if you think I've won unfairly, you can let him continue to teach you."

Jasmine looked at Mathias. Even with his head tilted back, she could see a bit of malice in his eyes. He would continue to kick her ass if she went on with him.

"No. I think it would be better and safer if you taught me, Andreas," she said, leaning Mathias' head forward slowly and checking the towel and his nose. The bleeding had stopped but it was rather purple. Mathias took the towel from Jasmine and dabbed it to his nose again, to make sure the bleeding had stopped.

"Fine, Andreas. You have one month to train her in the basics," he said, walking for the exit door. "Then, I'll test her. If she hasn't improved, then she's out. It won't make any sense to continue."

Mathias exited the ROR. If he had been wearing robes, they certainly would have billowed.

Both Andreas and Jasmine looked after him a moment, and then at each other.

"He really wants to get me, doesn't he Andreas?" Jasmine asked the wizard.

Andreas shook his head.

"No, little sister. He really wants you to learn. He is just…overzealous in his methods. Mathias, although he is my brother…has violent tendencies because he has such anger inside. He contains it for the most part but it seems he lets off steam physically. This is his only outlet. When he becomes older…he may find other ways."

"Why is he so angry?" Jasmine asked Andreas.

Mathias was angry because of the Dark Lord's threat. He felt time wasn't moving fast enough, and wanted the wizard dead yesterday. The boy was frustrated. If Mathias had his way, he would try to kill the Dark Lord now, and would most likely be killed. For the time being fighting, hard physical contact was the only way he could relieve the pressure and frustration. Possibly later on, when he matured…he would find a hardy witch and follow his father's example of relieving stress. A far more pleasurable way to be sure. But Andreas couldn't tell Jasmine that.

"I can't say. I just know he is. Mathias expects everyone to be the best they can be, and to work hard at it, and be able to pass any test they are given. When he goes for you a month from now, you are going to have to make a decent showing, Jasmine. I will train you, but you are going to have to do a lot on your own, especially the exercises. I am going to teach you the basics, and give you a pensieve of my own training sessions when Mathias taught me. You are to emulate everything you see, copy the moves in tangent with my movements almost like a dance. I will teach you how to hit, kick and block with power. Also how to fall properly. All you need do is take Mathias down once, and he will concede you have learned something. Then we will both train you. Are you willing to do this? If you aren't, then it is better we don't waste our time."

Jasmine didn't have to think twice. Mathias had really put it to her. She would love to take him to the mat, preferably painfully and more than once.

"I am very willing, Andreas," she said, her ice-blue eyes narrowed with purpose. Andreas shifted to aura view and saw deep rich green of determination permeating all of her auras, which was a good sign of someone who was committed. This was a different hue of green than that of ambition, but very close.

Mathias might have quite an exam on his hands.

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Jasmine continued to grow stronger, going out with Andreas and Mathias to workout every morning. She was sort of an outcast with the witches now, though no one had the nerve to confront her about the way she had changed over the summer. Her disappearances during the evenings and on the weekends were a subject of interest. Her fellow Slytherins knew she wasn't with Mathias and Andreas, who left the grounds with the Professor a few nights a week and on weekends, but they never knew where she went.

Attempts were made to follow her, but Jasmine was quite gifted with spells now, and would disillusion herself and find a niche to hide in, waiting for her pursuers to pass. Then she would go off to the Room of Requirement where she would be safe from discovery as she trained. The ROR was attuned to the importance of its usage. This was no mere training the trio was doing, but something meant to remove the biggest threat there was to the wizarding world, Lord Voldemort. That was important enough for the room not to allow them to be disturbed by anyone. Possibly, the only ones who could enter the room while they were in it, was Dumbledore or Severus, since they were aware of the training. Neither knew about the degree to which Jasmine was getting involved however. And Jasmine never knew her training was considered important beyond her own personal desire to learn. But obviously, the ROR did.

The ROR was indispensable to the witch's training in another way. When she first brought the pensieve to the room, instead of the witch sitting still and practicing internally while viewing the pensieve, the ROR itself became a reflection of the pensieve, so Jasmine could physically follow Andreas' moves and strategies. It also provided a mobile heavy bag so she could punch and kick as it moved around, following the motions Mathias made as Andreas battled him. This was as close to a golem as the Hogwarts ROR could get…it still helped Jasmine immensely by letting her develop her striking power.

"Oof!" Andreas said, nearly doubling over when Jasmine kicked him in the stomach. He straightened and rubbed his throbbing solar plexus. She had managed to get through his defenses.

"That's quite a kick you've developed," he gasped.

Jasmine smiled at him brightly.

"Well with the running, weight-training and ROR workouts, I've gotten stronger," she said.

"Ok, show me the exercises," Andreas said.

Jasmine took her stance, centered herself and began the "dance" as she called it, first starting with blocks, then blows and kicks, then doing several heavy falls. Andreas nodded with approval.

"Do it again," he said, standing in front of her. He threw pulled blows as Jasmine went through her blocks and she met all of them. Then he threw some that weren't in her regime and she blocked them all as well, very quickly. He raised his eyebrows at her.

"That is extremely good, Jasmine…it's only been two and a half weeks," he said approvingly. Then they sparred and Andreas found Jasmine very hard to hit. The witch actually swept his feet out from under him. The wizard looked up at her and smiled broadly.

"You are a much faster study than I was," he said as Jasmine pulled him easily to his feet. "I think Mathias is going to be in for a surprise."

Actually, Mathias was rather pissed at Andreas, who wouldn't even allow him to watch Jasmine work out.

"You may distract her," Andreas said. "Anyway, we don't want to give away any secrets."

Mathias snorted.

"Secrets? What kind of secrets? The secret of how high she'll bounce when I throw her on her ass?" he asked his brother sarcastically. Andreas only gave him a rather superior smile, which made Mathias even angrier.

One evening he attempted to follow Andreas disillusioned. Andreas turned a corner and Mathias turned it after him, only to be pulled into a tight chokehold by Andreas, who throttled the wizard good before releasing him, coughing and gasping.

"No cheating," Andreas had said, and left the wizard gasping in the corridor, furious.

They worked it out in their next sparring match however. Tonks had to physically separate the two wizards who seemed bent on killing each other. A few hours of heavy workout calmed them down immensely, ending when Tonks laid on her back across both of their backs as the boys did side-by-side push-ups until they dropped.

"That'll teach you to break when I say break," Tonks said evenly, still lying on top of them as the boys panted, sprawled on the floor, exhausted.

Finally, the day of reckoning arrived. Mathias was ready to thrash Jasmine, who had been rather uppity the whole month, walking away from him when he tried to talk to her, saying Andreas had given her strict instructions not to fraternize with the enemy. It was as if they had formed a united front against him. Well, he was going to dissolve that front in a very painful way for Lady Jasmine Malfoy.

He and Jasmine faced each other in the ROR, geared up and ready. Mathias' black eyes washed over her stance. It was certainly much better than he expected. The way she held her hands was different too. She didn't look so much like an angry cat ready to strike. But it was her eyes that showed the most difference. They were cool, controlled. She didn't look nervous at all, and her gaze was steady. She didn't watch his hands and feet now, but met his eyes steadily.

"Ready for a beat down, witch?" Mathias asked her, a dark smirk on his face, "I hope you bought some salve for mat burns."

Jasmine didn't reply to his jibe, but she did reverse her stance in readiness.

Andreas sat on the bench, watching both opponents size each other up.

"This is going to be good," he thought as Mathias charged Jasmine with a yell, hoping to startle her.

The witch stood her ground until the last possible moment...then acted.

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A/N: ooooh. I haven't left an evil cliffie in a long time. So here you go. Actually I'm a bit tired so had to take a break. Please review.