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🥀 WRECK🥀 XV: Astronomy Tower
"The food here is horrible."
Juniper barely batted an eye as Naveen made a face and spat an appetizer into a napkin. Her eyes lazily moved around the room, trying to distract herself from her dull surroundings.
The end of January meant the annual Slug Club party.
Usually, Juniper didn't mind these parties. Slughorn was perfectly amiable and always complemented her style of clothing, something she was rather bashful about. The parties were often lowkey with dimly light candles and lots of wine, Juniper could usually be found in the corner chatting merrily with Naveen and Atlas as they painted their tongues red with wine. But it was different this time. Atlas was gone and Slughorn was yet to compliment her dress.
It was a pretty thing, in her opinion. A baby blue satin dress with pale green embroidery which fell to her knees quite flatteringly. Juniper liked to think that blue was her colour.
But it wasn't about her dress nor because of the bland food. The reason neither Naveen nor Juniper were enjoying themselves was because of the abundance of Gryffindors present. For Naveen, it simply meant that he had gotten his date stolen, who preferred the company of David Spinnet over Naveen. For Juniper it meant that Peter Pettigrew was in attendance.
"You look tense." Naveen stated the obvious blandly. His date abandoning him had put him in a sour mood. "I have no idea why."
Juniper kept her eyes trained on Pettigrew. "I don't like today's company."
"Ay," Naveen nearly hollered, taking a large gulp of his wine. "I hate Spinnet. He's not even that good-looking. So what if he looks like James Dean? Whoever that is..."
Juniper blocks out Naveen's rambling, taking a sip of her fourth glass of wine. It wasn't ideal but she was in no mood to spend the entirety of the party sober and worrying about Pettigrew.
He was standing as far away from Juniper as possible, choosing to surround himself with the company of Potter and Lupin. Perhaps he thought they could protect him if Juniper were to approach him once again. Or perhaps he was telling them about what happened in the library. And then Jude would know. And Sirius. And then she would be casted away from their lives once again.
The very thought sent a shiver of panic through her chest. She had barely just reconciled with Sirius, and Jude had started to think of her as his sister once again. Juniper didn't want to lose that. They would hate her, surely they would. For threatening their best friend, for conspiring with the Slytherins. For not denying Voldemort's offer.
But even if they knew, even if Pettigrew blabbed, they must know why she did what she did. They must know. There was no other choice, no escape. This was her destiny.
