Friday's Child // Draco Malfoy

26

Juno was an old soul. She had a way of wording things, and altering one's perspective - she'd known exactly what to say to Remus - and he found that, despite the vast difference in age, he had a friend in Juniper Lovegood - and that felt like something worth smiling for. She was glad he befriended her - he deserved happiness. 

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The run up to Harry's birthday was spent in chaos. Shacklebot and Moody hunched over reams of parchment, inspecting and tweaking their plan to make it as perfect and as seamless as possible. They must have gone over it a hundred times, warned and warned again of the danger they'd face - but hopeful that the plant they had set up for the Death Eater's would be taken, and they could move Harry from Privet Drive to The Burrow safely. 

The Death Eaters were just as aware as The Order that the Bond of Blood protection charm would be broken on Harry's 18th birthday, all traceable forms of transport were being scrutinised, so they had to be delicate with their time and resources. 

On the night of the 27th of July, Juno found herself amongst the members of The Order, bursting into Harry's door. She found the little estate he lived on very strange indeed, and wondered how people were able to distinguish which houses were which - they all looked exactly the same, lined up in neat little rows, grey stones and brown wood on the windows and doors, measly little patches of grass in perfect squares - seemingly the only colour on the street. The only thing to differentiate between them was the metal numbers that hung on the front of the doors. It was much different to her house back in Devon - which sat on a hill, a stream at the base of it, a good walk away from any other house - hers was black and cylindrical, and looked like a chess rook; she'd recognise it anywhere. She wondered if Harry's Aunt and Uncle would be able to recognise their home if she took all the numbers off the doors. Before she'd even stepped foot in the house, she'd decided Harry certainly didn't belong there - and that feeling only increased as she entered. The house was just as uniform on the inside with its magnolia walls, and splashings of salmon and peach - clinically clean and void of any sort of life and warmth. 

Harry hadn't even had the chance to greet them before he was being crushed by Hermione's embrace, arms squeezing tightly round his neck, sputtering as the air was knocked from his lungs. He smiled, relaxing into her hug, turning to greet Ron and Hagrid, before his eyes landed on Juno. He stared at her in shock for a few minutes, before his face dissolved into a look of great fondness, grinning widely at her, striding the length of the room to wrap her up in an embrace. 

"What are you doing here?" He smiled, lifting her feet slightly off the floor. 

"Joined The Order," She shrugged, smiling right back at him. Hermione and Ron followed behind Harry, and they huddled in a small circle. 

"I've missed you lot-" Harry sighed, looking between his friends. 

"Oh, Harry-" Hermione gushed. "We missed you too-" 

"This one hasn't stopped asking after you - couldn't wrap her head around the fact we couldn't owl you-" Ron laughed, ruffling Juno's hair. 

"Really?" Harry breathed, his smile widening, turning to face her. She shrugged, about to respond before she was cut off by George Weasley. 

"Alright, alright - we can plan double dating when we get back. We still have a rescue mission to finish," He teased, causing Juno to step back, rolling her eyes and attempting to hide her blush behind her hair. Harry just smiled fondly at her, embracing the fact his ears and cheeks were tinged pink. 

Moody ran through the plan again, mainly for Harry's benefit. 6 of them were to take polyjuice potion - she and Hermione would be flying on thestral, Hermione as their Harry, with Kingsley tailing them on the broom, the plan was that, if they were intercepted by Death Eaters, they would assume the Harry with two guards, as opposed to one, would be the real Harry. The rest would be in pairs, one order member per one Harry and they each would be taking different routes, stopping at random safe houses before heading back to The Burrow, all with the intention of throwing the Death Eaters off scent.