Juniper avoided the way people spoke about her, keeping her back turned as much as possible. She sat between George and Ginny, two of the few in the room that didn't seem completely freaked out with Juniper being here. The popping sound of her fingers was the only thing heard in the silent room, the trio that called them all here in the first place standing before them. Hermione cleared her throat, "Um, hi."

George handed Juniper a bottle of Weasliper as she took a swig and continued to pop her fingers as Hermione went on, "So, we all know why we're all here. We need a teacher, a proper teacher. One who's had real experiences defending themselves against the dark arms."

"Why?" Earnie, a hufflepuff boy, questioned.

"Why?" Ron looked at him with a glare that made even Juniper feel like she was a idiot, "Because you know who's back, you tosspop."

Harry met eyes with Juniper who looked at him confused, a questionable look in her eye as he gave her a minor nod.

"So he says." Earnie said with a nod of disbelief toward Harry, Juniper rolled her eyes.

"So Dumbledore says." Hermione cut in as a correction.

"So Dumbledore says because he says." the boy went on, Juniper huffed loudly.

"You do know he has a name, don't you?" Juniper snapped at the boy, gasps of fear went at the sound of her voice, a few behind her backing up as she glanced back at the Hufflepuff boy, "And you don't have to speak about him as if he isn't in the room."

George patted Juniper on the knee as she turned back around.

"If Potter could just tell us more about how Diggory got killed." the boy went on. Junipers face fell as her body fell numb, hands tightening into fist as she breathed in. George looked at her, nudging her leg with his hand. Juniper didn't take it, if anything it seemed like she moved away from him. Junipers hand shook slightly as her jaw tightened.

"Shut up." she whispered under her breath. Her hands unclenched, showing the crescent moons her nails dug into her palms.

"I'm not going to talk about Cedric so if that's why you're here, you might as well clear out now." Harry snapped quickly when he saw the state Juniper disappeared into. He rose to his feet quickly, "Come on, Hermione, lets go. They're only here because they think i'm some sort of freak."

"Is it true you can produce the Patronus Charm?" Luna spoke up before Harry had the chance to leave. Juniper crossed her legs as she leaned her elbows on her knee, shoulders spazing slightly but keeping herself controled and in check.

"Yes!" Hermione announcement quickly, "I've seen it."

"Blimey Harry, I didn't know you could do that." Dean Thomas, one of the only boys in the room who didn't jump in fear at the sight of Juniper, spoke up.

"A-and be killed a basilisk, with a sword in Dumbledores office!" Neville announced quickly, eyes turning his way.

"Third year he fought off a hundred dementors at once." Ron praised his smaller friend who gave a grin. Juniper glanced around the room, tempted to speak up as well but didn't want to have everyone jumping and gasping when she spoke.

"And last year he really didn't fight off You Know Who." Hermione said with a knowing look around the room. Harry gave a nod at her words when the room fell silent once again.

"Right. Look, it all sounds great when you say it like that but the truth is most of that was just luck. I didn't know what I was doing half the time, I nearly always had help." Harry listed on. Junipers hand came up to hold the necklace she kept around her neck, feeling around and realizing it hadn't been there.

Juniper never once remembered taking the necklace Cedric got her off, never.

"He's just being modest." Hermione spoke knowingly with a shake of her head.

"No, Hermione, I'm not. Facing this stuff in real life is not like school. In school, if you make a mistake, you can just try again tomorrow. But out there... when you're a second away from being murdered or watching a friend die right before your eyes, you don't know what that's like." Harry's words struck something in Juniper, felt a little closer then they were intended. Why did she feel as though she knew exactly what he was feeling? Why did she have these underwater memories flashing through her mind constantly that she couldn't comprehend?

"You're right Harry, we don't." Hermione spoke up knowing, "That's why we need your help, because if we're going to have any chance at beating... Voldemort."

"He's really back?" Collin asked from the front row as Harry gave a small nod, "And be killed Cedric?"

Junipers eyes shot up the information. She hadn't know anything aside from the fact that Cedric was dead when she took off into the rainy woods. No one said a word when she came back, she knew absolutely nothing about her boyfriends death. Harry's eyes flickered to Juniper before he nodded slowly, her eyes casting down as she breathed out.

"J-" Harry began the second she wrote her name down on the paper, throwing the quill down and hurrying out of Hogsmeade. George took off quickly after her once he got his name down, pulling on his coat in the process while hurrying into the snow.

"June! Juniper!" the Weasley twin spoke as he ran to catch up with her, "Ju-"

"Merlin, George!" Juniper shouted as she spun around on her heels with a stare of disbelief, "What do you want?"

He blinked at her in shock, never hearing her speak to him that way. Juniper was always so gentle with him, so sweet and kind unlike she had been with most other people. The most shes ever snapped at him was when his own jealousy got the best of him in the pottery room, though that was nothing compared to how she was now, "I just- I want to be there for you."

"I don't need you to be there for me, it's not any of your concern." she said with a stare of disbelief before hurrying away from him. Juniper hadn't meant what she said and immediately felt guilty for it, but she felt over whelmed, like she couldn't breath. She'd just escaped the Shrieking Shake and learned how and who killed her boyfriend within the past hour.

Juniper paused as her head throbbed, becoming dizzy as she held it in pain.

The rain.

The Gazebo.

Green.

Graveyard.

The three images flashed through her mind as she stumbled, seeing each of them flash three times before she slowly regained some form of balance. The pain in her head slowly melted away as she stood still a moment. As Juniper glanced up again she met eyes with Umbridge who smiled as her, "Are we ready to corporate?"

Juniper hesitated before giving a very faint nod of her head.

"What in merlins name are you doing?" Pansy asked as she walked into her dorm to find Juniper throwing stuff around the room, looking through everything she left in the dorms from the previous year.

"Believe me, i'd rather boil my eyes then stay here with you." Juniper said to her with a scoff, continuing to look through everything she found, "I'm looking for something."

"You don't have to go." Pansy tried to say as she stood awkwardly in the door way, "Look, i'm sorry for what I said last year about you and Cedric."

"No you're not." Juniper scoffed as she looked as her in disbelief, "What? You think all that guilt will melt away now that you apology? You really think I believe you, Pansy? Because I don't, I see right through that pig nose of yours and I can see that you're just feeling guilty because he's dead now. You don't fool me."

Juniper shoved past her as she headed out of the dungeons, remembering she spent a lot of time sleeping in the hospital wing after her and Pansy got into their fight in the common room. Juniper barley made it out before she ran into her cousin.

"Juniper, I heard you're back in school." Draco said, his hands on her forearms, "Have you remembered anything?"

"Merlin, Draco. Maybe bother just saying hello before questioning me about the accident." Juniper snapped as him, not being able to remember a time he hadn't immediately questioned her since she got back, "Not that it's any of your business but no, I don't remember anything! Nothing! My minds a complete blurry!"

Juniper walked past him quickly, her shoes hitting the ground as she hurried away from her. Draco huffed as he entered the common room with the password, waiting for his cousin to return.

Juniper had to roll her eyes as she listened to people talk about her as she walked by, passing groups of students who were headed in before curfew. Juniper wanted to hex them all, just once. Her hands shook slightly as she yanked on her hair, "Stop, stop it."

When she entered the hospital wing, she sighed in relief when she saw no one there. Juniper began searching the bed she usually laid in, tearing it apart in search of the necklace that hadn't been around her neck. The bedside table was pulled apart as she searched through it, the loud noise catching a certain Gryffindors as he passed by.

Juniper looked up to see George peak his head around the corner. When he noticed she saw him, he went to leave. Juniper sighed as she hit herself in the face, "George, wait!"

The younger twin turned with a minor shake of his head, "I'll leave you alone."

"No." Juniper said sternly as she rose to her feet, "I don't want you to."

"Just a few hours ago you said-" he began with a frown of his eyebrows, stopping when she cut him off.

"I know what I said, and i'm sorry. I just needed to be alone. I keep feeling like everyone is so worried about me that i'm just being crowded, it's getting to be a lot." Juniper spoke as he nodded his head slowly at her words, "I know you're just trying to help and i'm truly thankful for it, but you can't keep trying to save me from the world. Sooner or later I'm going to have to face all of this on my own."

George hesitated as he walked into the room, "I just don't want to loose you again."

Juniper felt a pang of guilt as she stared at him, "You won't. I'm done running. Cedric is dead, and it hurts so bad. But I can't keep letting myself think he's not, I can't just keep acting like what happened to me didn't happen!"

George shut the door when he noticed she started to yell and give a hard yank at her hair, "Why can't I remember anything? Why does everything feel so lost?"

"June-" George began before she cut him off.

"I'm going insane! I feel like i'm not even here! Like I don't even exist!" she shouted in disbelief, eyes bulging from her head as her hands flew around violent, "Like i'm lost."

"I have to show you something." George spoke as he took hold of her arm gently, "I wanted to hide it from you, because I was scared how you'd react. But I don't want to lie to you anymore, i'm sorry, June."

Juniper watched as he unwrapped the wrap around her forearm, slowly pulling it off as a gasp left her lips at her arm.

The Dark Mark.

•

kylie speaks

ugh, i'm so
in love with
this book i can't
even express how
exciting it is to
write for june.
she's just a
complex
character and
i love expressing all
her emotions and
her good and bad
side.

i've edited her a
few times on my
insta if y'all want
to go watch!
@/wheeler_blossom