▌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."

     "We don't even know this Tom Riddle." Ron said with a frown, clutching his books tighter in his hands. "He sounds like a dirty, rotten snitch to me."

     "The monster had killed somebody, Ron." Harry stopped, turning his head to look at his best friend. "What would any of us had done?"

     "Look," Hermione grabbed their attention, "Hagrid's our friend. Why don't we just go and ask  him about it?"

     Ron scoffed. "Well that would be a cheerful visit. 'Hello Hagrid, tell us, have you been setting anything mad and hairy loose in the castle lately?'"

     "Mad and hairy?" The sound of Hagrid's voice behind them made Juniper jump. "You wouldn't be talking about me, now, would you?"

     "Merlin, Hagrid." Juniper placed a hand on her chest. "A warning next time."

     At the same time Juniper said that, the other three said "No." in unison.

     "Sorry, Juniper. Didn't mean to scare ya'."

     Juniper smiled at him. "No worries."

     Harry pulled his attention to the object in Hagrid's hand. "What's that you've got, Hagrid?"

     "Oh, it's flesh-eating slug repellent. For the Mandrakes, you know? Now, according to Professor Sprout, they've still got a bit of growing up to do, but once their acne's cleared up, we'll be able to chop them up and stew them, and then we'll get those people at the hospital un-petrified. In the meantime, though, you four had best be looking after yourselves. Alright?"  

     The group all nodded and then Hagrid walked away. Juniper turned to look at them with disbelief. "What was that?" The three looked at her. "You lot are really awful at being discreet."

     Out of nowhere, Neville came running up to the group, out of breath as he tried to get Harry's attention. "Harry, I don't know who did it, but you'd better come. Come on!" Neville went running at the group quickly ran after him. Neville led them up to the boys shared room and Juniper let out a gasp.

The room was completely destroyed. Feathers from the pillows and mattresses were everywhere. Clothes were askew, the mirror was broken. Nothing in the room was how any of the boys had left it. Hedwig, Harry's owl, sat perched out of his cage and on the night stand that Juniper assumed was beside Harry's bed.

     "It had to be a Gryffindor." Hermione told him as Harry made his way over to his bed where all of his books lay, torn. "Nobody else knows our password. Unless it wasn't a student."

     Ron shook his head. "Whoever it was, they must've been looking for something."

     "And they found it." Harry sighed, turning his head to look at them. "Tom Riddle's diary is gone."

     "Of course it is." Juniper sighed, running a hand through her hair. "Well until we find it, there's nothing else we can do about it. You have a Quidditch game coming up in a few hours and I have a letter to write to my mother."

As they all went their separate ways, Juniper went up to her room. A sigh fell from the girls lips as she pulled out her paper and quill. She pulled her lip between her bottom teeth, trying to think how she was going to start this letter. Although Juniper had went home for Christmas, she had been worried about her friends the whole time and could barely focus on the holiday. Anastasia and Remus had been slightly worried about the girl and after she explained to them what had been happening and Anastasia had almost threatened to keep her home.

Her mother had made her promise to write her a letter as often as possible, just to let her know that she was okay. Her mother worried a lot, but Juniper loved her for it. She sat there for a while, trying to figure out what to say. She didn't want the letter to just be a simple "Hey mom. I'm okay." She huffed, putting down the quill and paper. This was pointless. She looked at the time and realized that it was almost time for the Quidditch game to start. She would hit herself if she knew she'd missed one of Harry's games. Juniper was Harry's biggest supporter.

     She put her scarf around her neck, stuffing her hands into her robes as she prepared herself for the cold. However, she didn't make it past the Gryffindor common room before she saw Harry and Ron standing with McGonagall. Juniper frowned, her footsteps coming to a slow. "Um. . . . hello. Why are you here and not at the Quidditch game?" Her question was directed towards Harry. "If this is because I was late, I was just headed that way―︎"

     "The game has been cancelled, Miss Black."

     "What?" Juniper frowned. "Why?"

     McGonagall sighed and there was a look that crossed her face that Juniper couldn't quite decipher. "Follow me." The three of them did, the whole time they kept exchanging looks with each other, silently asking each other if they had any clue what was going on. Another question Juniper had. . . where was Hermione? As they grew closer to the hospital wing, Juniper's stomach dropped and filled with dread. They entered the hospital wing and McGonagall glanced at them. "I warn you. This could be a wee bit of a shock."

A gasp fell from Juniper's lips, a hand quickly covering her mouth. She came to a stop, her eyes wide. As Harry and Ron approached the hospital bed, Juniper was frozen in place. Hermione Granger was laying on that hospital bed, and she was petrified. She was frozen, not moving, a look of fear frozen on her face, it made Juniper's heart clench.

     "Hermione. . ." Ron whispered in shock.

     "She was found near the library." McGonagall softly spoke before picking up a mirror. "Along with this. Does it mean anything to any of you?" Ron and Harry shook there heads whilst Juniper continued to stare at Hermione in silence. Harry placed his hand over Hermione's frozen one. "You can head back to the Gryffindor tower."

Harry and Ron hesitantly turned and walked away. They both looked at Juniper, exchanging looks with each other before walking over to her. Harry gently grabbed onto the girl and turned her away, walking beside of her and keeping an arm around her shoulders. Ron walked on the other side of her. The group made it back to the Gryffindor common room which was filled with Gryffindor students. Every student had been called back to their common rooms. Juniper took a seat on the step and Ron and Harry stood right behind her. She hadn't said a word since seeing Hermione petrified. Harry wished he knew how to comfort her, but if he was being honest, he was still in shock from the news himself.

     As it grew later and more Gryffindor students joined the common room, the painting swung open and in walked Professor McGonagall. She had a scroll in her hand as she looked at the students. "May I have your attention, please?" The students grew quiet as they turned to look at her. "Because of recent events, these new rules will be put into effect immediately: all students will return to their house common rooms by 6:00 every evening. All students will be escorted to each lesson by a teacher. No exceptions. I should tell you this. Unless the culprit behind these attacks is caught. . . it is likely the school will be closed." With that she turned and left.

     Whispers echoed through the Gryffindor common room. Harry quickly turned to Ron, saying quietly, "We've got to talk to Hagrid, Ron. I can't believe it's him, but if he did set the monster loose last time, he'll know how to get inside the Chamber of Secrets and that's a start."

     "But you heard McGonagall." Ron said with a frown. "We're not allowed to leave the tower except for classes."

     Harry thought about it for a moment. "I think it's time to get my dad's old cloak out again."

     Ron nodded before glancing at Juniper. "What about June?"

     Harry looked at the girl for a moment before nodding. "We'll bring her with us. I don't want to leave her alone in her room.  Besides, she should hear what Hagrid has to say. She won't admit it, but Hermione is her best friend, she's going to want to know how to stop this." Ron silently nodded. Harry moved to sit beside Juniper. "Meet us in the common room tonight."

     Juniper finally turned to look at him. "Where are we going?"

     Harry placed a hand on her shoulder. "To get answers."