▌𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲-𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 ━︎━︎ 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐎𝐟 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐢𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐬 ▌

━︎━︎━︎━︎𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐌𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐓𝐎 literally drag Juniper out of bed in order for her to go to class. Juniper had been very reluctant, but finally she met Ron and Harry down in the common room whilst Hermione told them to not wait for her, that she would be there soon. Harry and Ron walked on either side of Juniper, talking to her like she was just a normal person and she'd never been more thankful for the two than she had in that moment.

They made it to their Divination class, their Professor being Professor Trelawney. "Welcome, my children." The Professor spoke. Juniper looked at the teacher and couldn't help but think she looked a little crazy, but she wasn't one to judge. "In this room, you shall explore the noble art of Divination. In this room, you shall discover if you possess the Sight." She stood up from her seat. "Hello. I am Professor Trelawney. Together, we shall cast ourselves into the future! This term, we shall be focusing on Tasseomancy, which is the art of reading tea leaves. So please, take the cup of the person sitting opposite of you. What do you see? The truth lies buried like a sentence deep within a book, waiting to be read. But first, you must broaden your minds. First, you must look beyond."

"What a load of rubbish."

Juniper jumped when Hermione suddenly appeared beside of her. "When the hell―︎?"

"Where did you come from?" Ron asked.

"Me?" Hermione frowned. "I've been here all this time."

Juniper narrowed her eyes at Hermione whilst Trelawney asked Neville about the well being of his grandmother, scaring the poor boy into thinking something was going to happen to his guardian. "Broaden your minds." Trelawney told them. She suddenly gasped whilst standing in front of Ron, making him jump. "Oh! Your aura is pulsing, dear. Are you in the beyond? I think you are."

"Sure," Ron swallowed nervously.

"Look in the cup. Tell me what you see."

Ron started flipping through the book. "Harry's got sort of a wonky cross. That's trials and suffering. And, uh, that there could be the sun and that's happiness. So, uh. . . you're gonna suffer. . . but you're gonna be happy about it."

"Give me the cup." Ron did so, handing it to the woman. Suddenly she let out a violent gasp, throwing the cup onto the table and backing up. "Oh, my dear boy. My dear. . . you have the grim."

"The grin?" Seamus asked. "What's the grin?"

"Not the grin, you idiot, the grim." Another Gryffindor boy said. "Taking form of a giant spectral dog, it's among the darkest omens in our world. It's an omen. . . of death."

"Well. . . that's just lovely, isn't it." Juniper mumbled, glancing towards Hermione.

When class was dismissed, the group made their way towards Hagrid's, which was their next class. Ron spoke first. "You don't think that grim thing's got anything to do with Sirius Black, do you?"

"Oh, honestly, Ron!" Hermione scoffed, rolling her eyes. "If you ask me, Divination's a very wooly discipline. Now, Ancient Runes, that's a fascinating subject."

"Ancient Runes?" Ron asked. "Exactly how many classes are you taking this term?"

"A fair few."

Juniper furrowed her eyebrows. "Maybe I'm mistaken, but isn't Ancient Runes at the same time as Divination? You're telling me you're in two places at once?"

"Don't be silly, Juniper. How could anyone be in two classes at once?" Hermione walked ahead of them and Juniper exchanged a look with Harry and Ron before following after the girl. "Broaden your minds." Hermione mocked. "Use your inner eye to see the future!" The girl laughed and the other three did as well.

"That's it!" Hagrid called as the students that consisted of Gryffindor and Slytherin made their way towards Hagrid's hut. "Come closer. Less talking, if you don't mind. I got a real treat for you today." Hagrid placed his hands happily on his hips as he looked at the group of students. He truly was excited for this. "A great lesson. So follow me." The students all did as he asked, following him to an opening closer to the forest. He turned to them. "Right you lot. Less chattering. Form a group over there." He pointed to where he wanted them to go. "And open your books to page 49."

The sound of Draco's voice burned Juniper's ears, an immediate look of disgust falling on her face causing Hermione to smirk in amusement. "Exactly how do we do that?" Draco asked, holding up his monster book that had no doubt tried to eat him once before.

"Well, just stroke the spine, of course." Hagrid answered, looking at Draco like it was obvious.

The sound of Neville's yells made Juniper turn her head, watching the boy fall to the ground as his book started attacking him. Of course, Draco had to make a comment. "Don't be such a wimp, Longbottom."

Hermione placed her book on a nearby rock, turning to look at the other three. "I think they're funny." She said with the most straightest face Juniper had ever seen her make. Juniper cocked an eyebrow at her.

"Oh, yeah. Terribly funny." Draco agreed from his spot where he stood leaning against a tree, Crabbe and Goyle flanking his sides as per usual. "Really witty! God, this place has gone to the dogs. Wait until my father hears that Dumbledore's got this oaf teaching classes." His goons laughed at this and Juniper rolled her eyes.

Harry walked towards him. "Shut up, Malfoy."

Draco laughed in amusement, handing Crabbe his bag. He sauntered up to Harry before his face shifted into that of pure fear, looking at something behind Harry. He quickly pointed to the sky before yelling, "Dementor! Dementor!" The students all let out gasps as they quickly turned in the direction Draco had been pointing in only to see nothing there. Draco laughed before he and the other Slytherin's threw their hoods on their heads, wiggling their fingers and making ghost noises.

Hermione was quick to grab Harry, pulling him away and sending a scowl towards Draco. "Just turn away, Harry." She pulled Harry with her as she walked away, grabbing Juniper's hand as she passed the girl and pulling her away in case she tried to punch the Malfoy boy once again. Not that Hermione wouldn't mind seeing that, but Juniper already had a lot going on right now, and she didn't need to add more to her plate.

Hagrid cleared his throat, grabbing the students attention. He held out his hand, making a trumpet sound as he motioned towards the animal that stood there. Juniper stared at the Hippogriff with a small smile. She'd read about them before. "Isn't he beautiful?" Hagrid asked. He fed the animal a squirrel. "Say hello to Buckbeak."

Ron spoke up first, nodding his head towards the animal. "Hagrid. . . exactly what is that?"

"That, Ron, is a Hippogriff." Hagrid started walking towards them. "First thing you want to know about Hippogriffs is that they're very proud creatures. Very easily offended. You do not want to insult a Hippogriff. It may just be the last thing you ever do. Now. . . who'd like to come and say hello?" All of the students stepped back, leaving Harry to stand by himself. In Juniper's defense, Hermione had pulled her back with her, having yet to let go of her hand.

Hagrid turned back around and smiled at Harry. "Well done, Harry. Well done." Harry turned around confused. "Come on." Ron moved forwards and shoved Harry slightly forwards, making the boy walk towards the creature. "Now, you have to let him make the first move. It's only polite. So, step up, give him a nice bow. Then you wait and see if he bows back. And if he does, you can go and touch him. And if not. . . well, we'll get to that later."

Harry bowed low, grabbing Buckbeak's attention. The animal stared at him for a moment before flapping his wings. Hagrid quickly whispered for Harry to back off and the boy took one step back, a twig snapping under his foot. Hermione jumped, her other hand grabbing onto Juniper's arm, fear for their friend swirling in her eyes. After a moment, Buckbeak bowed back. Hagrid fed him another squirrel whilst telling Harry he'd done well.

"Right." Hagrid nodded. "Now I think you can go and pat him now." When he saw Harry hesitate, he said, "Go on. Don't be shy." Harry crept forwards, too fast, making Buckbeak raise his wings again. Hermione let out another gasp and gripped Juniper's hand tighter. It was in that moment that Hermione realized she hadn't let go of Juniper's hand. Juniper turned to look at her whilst Hermione quickly dropped her hand, avoiding her gaze as a blush started to form on her cheeks.

Slowly Buckbeak came to Harry, allowing Harry to press his hand to the animals beak. Hagrid clapped and so did other students. "I think he may let you ride him now."

Harry snapped his head towards Hagrid. "What?"

Hagrid picked Harry up, putting him on Buckbeak's back. Harry met Juniper's eyes, pure panic racing in them. Juniper sent him a reassuring smile, hoping that would somehow calm his nerves. Hagrid hit Buckbeak and the animal went up on his back two legs before taking off and flying. As the watched Harry fly from a distance, Juniper turned her head to look at Hermione. She leaned closer to her ear and whispered, "You didn't have to let go of my hand, you know."

Hermione's eyes widened and the blush on her face deepened. Juniper sent her a smirk before turning her attention back towards Harry who was now flying overhead. Hagrid let out a whistle and Buckbeak landed, making his way back over to Hagrid before bowing and allowing harry to slide off of him. Students were shouting well done to Harry, clapping for him, and of course, Draco was disgusted by it.

"Oh, please," Draco scoffed. He stood up and confidently strode towards the animal. "Yes. You're not dangerous at all, are you, you great ugly brute." He got too close, offending the animal, causing Buckbeak to rear back on his tow legs before swipping down and slicing Malfoy's arm. Draco fell to the ground dramatically as Hagrid drew the creature away. "Oh, it's killed me! It's killed me!"

"Calm down, it's just a scratch." Hagrid attempted but Draco wouldn't listen.

"Hagrid!" Hermione yelled, moving forwards. "He has to be taken to the hospital."

"I'm the teacher. I'll do it." Hagrid leaned down and lifted Draco up from the ground and into his arms.

"Oh, you're gonna regret this." Draco whimpered.

"Class dismissed!" Hagrid called, walking away from them.

"You and your bloody chicken."

"If only it had killed him." Juniper sighed in disappointment. Ron, Harry, and Hermione all exchanged amused looks with one another. "Anyways, everyone ready for our favorite class of the day?" She looked at all of them with sarcasm.

The group all sat there, doing their work, Draco could be heard telling the Slytherins how he could've lost his arm had it been another second or two. Juniper rolled her eyes, choosing to ignore the boy. Ron scrunched his face in annoyance. "Listen to that idiot. He's really laying it on thick, isn't he?"

"Yeah, but at least Hagrid didn't get fired." Harry spoke up from his spot beside of Juniper. She nodded her head in agreement.

"Yeah, but I heard Draco's father is furious." Hermione told them. "We haven't heard the end of this."

"If I had a son like Draco I'd be furious too," Juniper muttered.

"He's been sighted! He's been sighted!" Seamus yelled, running down between the tables and placing the Daily Prophet on the table right beside of them.

"Who?" Ron asked.

"Sirius Black!" Seamus answered and almost immediately Juniper shrunk in her seat. She placed her head in her hand, keeping her eyes focused on the table.

"Dufftown?" Hermione questioned with a frown. "That's not far from here."

"Y-you don't think he'd come to Hogwarts, do you?" Neville hesitantly asked, not really sure if he wanted to know the answer to that question or not.

"With Dementors at every entrance?" Another Gryffindor questioned.

"Dementors!" Seamus scoffed. "He's already slipped past them once, hasn't he? Who is to say he won't do it again?"

"That's right." The Gryffindor spoke again. "Black could be anywhere. It's like trying to catch smoke. Like trying to catch smoke with your bare hands."

Harry stared at the picture of Sirius Black, the insane moving picture. He didn't understand why Juniper thought her father was innocent when all the signs pointed to the fact that he was far from it. He turned his head to look at Juniper and a frown formed on his face when he realized that she was gone. Harry stood up straight, looking around the room in hopes of finding her but there was nothing. Hermione must've noticed too because she met Harry's eyes and they were filled with worry.

Their next class was Defense Against the Dark Arts, and when Juniper didn't show up, Harry became even more worried, especially since this was her Uncle's class. She hadn't stopped talking about how excited she was to have Remus teach her DADA this year, and now she wasn't here to learn it.

"Intriguing, isn't it?" Remus asked, coming to stand in front of the class who had all been staring at the moving wardrobe. "Would anyone like to venture a guess as to what's inside."

"That's a boggart, that is." Dean Thomas answered.

"Very good, Mr. Thomas." Remus nodded his head towards the boy. "Now, can anybody tell me what a boggart looks like?"

"No one knows." Hermione said as she suddenly appeared beside of Ron, making the redhead look to her in confusion.

"When she'd get here?" Ron asked Harry, confused.

Hermione continued, "Boggarts are shape-shifters. They take the shape of whatever a particular person fears the most. That's what makes them so. . ."

Remus cut her off, "So terrifying. Yes, yes. Luckily, a very simple charm exists to repel a boggart. Let's practice it now. Uh, without wands please." As Remus Lupin taught his class the riddikulus charm, even letting them go up one by one to attempt the spell, he couldn't help but notice the absent of his favorite niece. His favorite person.

Neville went first and Snape came out of the wardrobe before Neville successfully used the charm and Snape was changed into Snape wearing a grandmother's clothing. Next was Ron who pictured a giant spider before casting the spell and making the spider have roller skates. Pavarti went next and her fear was a giant snake before she transformed it into a giant clown. And then it was Harry's turn, and his fear turned into that of a Dementor.

Remus' instincts kicked in as he threw himself in front of Harry. The boggart changed to the full moon and Remus stood there for a moment before quickly casting the spell and sending the boggart flying back into the wardrobe. Remus dismissed the class before looking at Harry who stood there alone for a moment.

Remus walked up to the boy, glancing towards Ron and Hermione who had been waiting for the boy. He motioned the two over and they did as he asked. "Harry, Ron, Hermione, do you happen to know why Juniper wasn't in my class?"

The three exchanged a look with each other before Hermione answered, "We might have a faint idea." Remus looked at her expectantly. "He was in the Daily Prophet again." She whispered the words and Remus looked down to the floor, closing his eyes as he sighed.

"Alright." Remus nodded his head. "Off you go." Remus put his hands in his pockets, watching the trio leave. When they did and his class was empty, he made his way up to his office and just as he had suspected, Juniper was sitting there.

She had her homework out, sitting there indulged in her work whilst she had one of Remus' muggle records playing softly in the background. She didn't notice Remus walk in, closing the door behind him. She looked up only when he took a seat in front of her.

"Want to tell me why you weren't in class, young lady?" Remus kept his voice soft.

Juniper went back to her work. "Something tells me you already know why."

"Juno, look at me." Remus watched as she stopped writing, placing her quill down as she looked at him, but she didn't quite meet his eyes. "You can't let this stop you. I know that it's a hard thing to overcome and ignore, but you and your friends are safe here at Hogwarts."

"Are we?" Juniper asked. She met his eyes this time. "Can I ask you something? And can you answer me honestly?" Remus nodded his head. "Is my father a bad person?"

Remus hesitated for a moment. He knew that Juniper's mother had taught her to believe otherwise, but even Remus who had been one of Sirius' close friends couldn't help but feel like Sirius had done it. "I don't have all of the pieces, Juniper. It doesn't make sense, I'd never thought Sirius to be someone to betray his friends, his family. But looking at the facts. . ."

Juniper felt her shoulders slump, her last ounce of hope diminishing. "He really did it? He really betrayed them? He really is the reason Harry almost died?" Remus said nothing. Juniper nodded her head. "Alright. Good to know." She stood up from her seat, collecting her things.

"Juniper. . ." She turned to look at him, hoping he would take it back, but the sadness in his eyes made her frown. "I'm sorry. I can't give you hope, I really wish I could because I'd like to believe he didn't do it. Deep down I do believe that, but I don't have proof, and I wish I could give it to you."

Juniper forced a smile and nodded. "It's alright." With that Juniper walked out of his office, closing the door with a little more force than she had intended.