Forty-Six

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Juniper sits on the couch in the common room, having given up on sleep hours ago, Jasper in her lap. She had a lot of things on her mind and it wasn't just the whole thing with Hermione. A good thing about the daily exercises her parents imbedded into her mind is it helped her blow off some steam. She usually exercised when she was angry or upset or when no one was around.

As she talks to her cat, she hears someone coming down the stairs with a yawn. "Morning" Ron takes a seat across from her. Ron had stayed? Maybe to give Harry company. "I didn't take you as a morning person" Juniper brings up curiously.

"I didn't take you as one either" Ron adds, which for Juniper was true. She was a heavy sleeper. And when she was tired, she was tired. It took her a while to get up and out of bed in the morning. Of course, her parents didn't like that fact, them being morning people themselves, so Lucas would be the one to wake her up before she got in trouble.

"Couldn't sleep" She shrugs. Ron just nods, digging candy out of a bag and opening up a chocolate frog, looking over the card. "Always the same ones" He sighs. He looks over at Juniper. "Want it?" It was one of Rowena Ravenclaw. She already had a ton of those but this was a rare occasion that Ron was actually being nice and everything so she took it anyways.

"Thanks" She smiles. He nods, taking a bite of the frog. Hermione comes down as well, carrying Crookshanks in her arms. "Good morning, Juniper, Ron" She greets them. She takes a seat beside Juniper, pulling things out of her bag as she sets Crookshanks down. Ron watches the cat cautiously as it sniffs at Jasper before hopping off the couch and relaxing near the fire. Hermione stayed as well...good to know.

Hermione starts working on homework, which wasn't really surprising and Ron continued to snack on candy. Lastly, Harry comes down, looking pretty tired as well. "Harry, you- you look terrible" Hermione comments as she notices him. "Where is everyone?" Harry yawns. "Gone! It's the first day of the holidays, remember? It's nearly lunchtime; I was going to come wake you up in a minute" Ron explains.

Harry looks around, noticing Juniper sat, staring at the fire. "Juniper? You stayed as well?" Harry asks confused. "Uh, yeah. I didn't feel like going home" Juniper shrugs. Hermione frowns over at her. "You stayed last year as well" She brings up. "I did." She nods. "You went home first year though...after that Howler" Ron suddenly looks at her suspiciously. "I don't know what you're implying" Juniper shrugs.

The three share a look as she turns to look back at the fire, petting Jasper. Ron and Hermione turn to look at Harry who has moved to the chair beside Ron, slumping in it. "You really don't look well, you know" Hermione brings up as she looks him over. "I'm fine." "Harry, listen, you must be really upset about what we heard yesterday. But the thing is, you mustn't go doing anything stupid" Hermione starts off.

Upset? Harry cried for like a half an hour into Juniper's shoulder. He was more than just upset. "Like what?" "Like trying to go after Black" Harry shakes his head as Juniper nods, contemplating whether to go upstairs and leave the trio alone. "You won't, will you, Harry?" Hermione asks hopefully. "Because Black's not worth dying for" Ron adds. Harry turns to look between them. He glances at Juniper before turning back to look at them.

"D'you know what I see and hear every time a Dementor gets too near me?" Ron and Hermione shake their heads. Juniper thinks back to what Harry told her in the hospital wing. "I can hear my mum screaming and pleading with Voldemort. And if you heard your mum screaming like that, just about to be killed, you wouldn't forget it in a hurry." Juniper couldn't help the thoughts running through her mind.

She wouldn't care if her mother died. Did it make her feel guilty? It should have. But...Juniper tries to get the thoughts out of her mind. She couldn't think like that. "And if you found out someone who was supposed to be a friend of hers betrayed her and sent Voldemort after her-" "There's nothing you can do!" Hermione cuts in. "The Dementors will catch Black and he'll go back to Azkaban and- and serve him right!"

You're Not Alone-Hermione Granger(Currently Editing)Where stories live. Discover now