𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐖𝐀𝐑━︎━︎H. Granger ︎✓︎

❝︎CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR❞︎

▌𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐅𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐲-𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐫 ━︎━︎ 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡 ▌

━︎━︎━︎━︎𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐈𝐍𝐕𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐅𝐎𝐑 Slughorn's party came in and Juniper had stared at the letter for days in complete disgust. Hermione watched her with amusement as Juniper glared daggers at the invitation. She really didn't want to go, in fact, she had practically been begging Hermione to not make her go. She didn't want to be around a group of people that she didn't care to be around. She'd much rather stay in her dorm, covered in blankets, and silently sulking because Hermione wouldn't be there. The only reason she had agreed to go was because Hermione was going to be there.

     "It'll be fun, Jay." Hermione promised. "Plus, you really need to leave the dorm. You've been in here since school has started. You leave only when you have to or when I force you to. It's not healthy."

     "Hermione, I'm fine." Juniper dismissed, moving her hair to the side so Hermione could zip up her dress. After she did, Juniper turned to look at her. "I've gotten better."

     Hermione sighed. "You can be in denial all you want, but I know you. You are not fine. You have not been fine. You have shut me and everyone else out and you've gotten to the point where you're using your humor to ignore how you feel. None of this is healthy."

     Juniper scoffed. "Hermione, I am fine. I've always been humorous. I'm being normal."

     "You have spent six months as this emotionless robot and then one day you wake up and it's like nothing ever happened." Hermione argued.

     "Well, for the first three of those months, I did nothing but cry." Juniper snapped. "I have cried, and cried, and cried, and it has done nothing. It has not brought her back. I have cried all of my tears and I can't sit around and cry anymore. I won't. So, excuse me if I don't want to sit around and mope anymore. Nothing I do will bring her back. I am not sad anymore, Hermione. I am angry. Because she wasn't supposed to die. It was not her time. She should still be here but she's not! I have to come to terms with that, and I have. All I want to do is kill Bellatrix Lestrange and I can't exactly do that, can I? And until I can―︎because trust me, I will kill her―︎I will push aside my rage, and my heartbreak, and try to be there for my friends because they still need me. The world doesn't stop because someone dies, Hermione. It keeps going. Life keeps going. There is nothing I can do to make it stop. So I will stand here, and I will force myself to live because I have no other choice. Is that what you wanted to hear, Hermione? Well, there it is. There's the truth."

     Hermione stood there, mouth slightly agape. She'd never seen Juniper lash out like that before. Sure, Juniper was always threatening someone, and she's been angry before, but she has never snapped like that. Especially not when it came to Hermione. Hermione swallowed. "I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to push you."