𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐖𝐀𝐑━︎━︎H. Granger ︎✓︎

❝︎CHAPTER SIXTEEN❞︎

▌𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐢𝐱𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧 ━︎━︎ 𝐏𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝 ▌

━︎━︎━︎━︎𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐍𝐄𝐗𝐓 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆, Juniper sat up in her bed, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Hermione glanced up from her book and looked at the girl, not saying a word as she went back to her book. Juniper sat there for a moment, letting her body wake up before she threw the covers off of her body, frowning when she realized how chilly their room was. She huffed, pushing herself up off the bed and grabbing her clothes to change into. She walked into the bathroom, quickly got dressed, and walked back out. As she was putting her things away in her trunk, Hermione decided to finally speak up.

     "Where did you go last night?"

     Juniper's breath stopped in her throat, her eyes widening slightly. She forced herself to calm down as she turned to look at Hermione, frowning as she looked at the girl with furrowed eyebrows. "What do you mean? I was in here last night."

     "Yes, but not for the whole night." Hermione closed her book, standing up and crossing her arms over her chest. Juniper opened her mouth, ready to spill out a lie that was already forming on her lips, but Hermione stopped her. "Don't try and lie to me, Juniper. I heard you get up and leave last night, and I heard you come back in."

      The lie faded from her tongue as she closed her trunk, standing up straight and placing her hands on her hips. She didn't know what to say. She didn't want to tell Hermione where she'd been sneaking off to. She didn't want to tell Hermione what she did while she was there. Juniper didn't know how to get out of this one. A sigh fell from the brunette's lips. "I've been sneaking up to the astronomy tower at night." Her voice was quiet as she spoke. She wasn't going to tell Hermione about the letters, so instead she chose to say this: "I go there to clear my head. Have you ever been up there at night? It's beautiful."

     Hermione shook her head. "No, I haven't."

     "Maybe one night you'll be willing to break the rules with me and you'll let me take you up there."

     What Hermione wanted to say was, "I'd be willing to break the rules with you anytime." Instead she said: "Yeah, I'd like that."

     Juniper nodded before clearing her throat and grabbing her things. "I'm sure Harry and Ron are waiting for us." She turned on her heel and walked out, Hermione following after her.

Juniper and Hermione made it downstairs, Ron and Harry already there with Harry anxiously bouncing on his feet as he waited to tell them the news he had discovered last night. As they made their way out to the courtyard, Harry explained how the book he had found showed him that it was Hagrid that had opened up the Chamber of Secrets. Juniper refused to believe it.

     "It was Hagrid." Harry said confidently. "Hagrid opened the Chamber of Secrets fifty years ago."

     "Juniper's right." Hermione quickly agreed. "It can't be Hagrid. It just can't be."