Holy crap guys! A bunch of reads and a review within only a couple hours. I definitely apprecitate it! I would tip the glass of wine I'm drinking to you, but I'd most likely spill it. Carry on!


The boy finally broke off their staring contest by rolling his eyes. He reached down a hand, presumably to help her up. She took it and he pulled her up in one yank. She brushed her short hair out of her eyes and smiled. He didn't return it; instead he was still eyeing her with a strange and almost distrustful look. Her smile faltered and she was definitely wondering if she had made a very bad decision. She dug her hands into her pockets and looked down at the ground. There was a small puddle forming around her feet. She looked up when she heard him closing the door. She was about to protest about the beer being left in the rain, but she saw that he had already moved it into the house.

"So, you're lost?" He asked. He was standing with his arms crossed, still looking at her like she was insane. She was feeling very uncomfortable and the strange house wasn't helping things at all. There were weird portraits whose eyes she could swear were watching her and some kind of ugly heads on the wall. She tore her eyes from the décor and brought them back to the boy. She nodded, biting her lip.

"I'm sorry. I must look a mess. I don't know where I am. I was just at home at my flat with my roommate and I decided to go get some booze," she took a break from her tangent and motioned to the disintegrating box on the ground. "Then it started to pour and I was lost and I don't know how to get home and I forgot my phone and-" He cut her off by waving his hand. She thought she saw a tiny smile pulling at the sides of his mouth.

"Slow down," he said. "I don't know if I can help you very much." At this, her face fell. She nodded and walked towards the door.

"That's alright," she said, running a hand through her wet hair. "I'll just be off then."

"Wait," he said. She stopped in her tracks and turned to look at him. He was silent for a few seconds and looked very torn. "You can stay until the rain stops," he said. She grinned.

"Thank you so much! I won't be a bother, I swear!" she said, beaming at him. He nodded and sighed.

"Well, this way then," he said, motioning to one of the doorways. He walked into the room and she quickly followed, making sure to grab her beer. He led her down some stairs and into a large room, which was obviously a kitchen, but it wasn't like any kitchen that she had ever seen before. Everything in it was very old fashioned and she didn't see anything resembling a microwave at all.

"You're house is very big," she said, spinning around so she could see all of the enormous room. He nodded and pulled out a chair at the large wooden table in the center of the room. She simply watched him for a moment before he rolled his eyes and motioned to the seat.

"Oh, thanks," she said, sitting down. She placed the mushy cardboard case on the table and watched as he took a seat across from her.

"I have a few questions," he said, folding his arms on the table. She frowned, but nodded. She was intruding, so she guessed it was the least she could do to answer some questions.

"Ok, shoot," she said, leaning back in the chair. He watched her for a moment with the same strange look from before.

"How did you find this house?" He asked, watching her every move. She raised an eyebrow.

"Well, this was the only house with lights on, so I decided to see if someone was home. I have no idea how I managed to go down this street. I must have overshot the street I take to my flat," she replied.

"And you didn't notice anything strange?" he persisted. She shook her head.

"I didn't see the lights here at first. I figured someone had just turned them on when I was looking the other way," she said. "These are rather weird questions, aren't they?" she asked. This was definitely becoming a strange and uncomfortable encounter. He blinked in surprise.

"I'm sorry," he said. "It's just that we do not usually get visitors off the street."

"Oh," she said, looking down at her hands. She abruptly stood up and grabbed her box. "Well, I really should be going," she said. He stood up as well and she began to feel a little panicked. "So sorry to bother you." She quickly walked towards the door, but she was stopped by a hand on her arm.

"I'm sorry, but I can't let you leave yet," he said, reaching into his pocket for something. Juniper didn't want to wait around to see what it was. She pulled her arm out of his grip and dropped the beer to the ground. She wasn't very concerned about it at this point.

"Don't touch me!" she cried, attempting to sprint towards the front door. Unfortunately, she slipped on the puddle of water she had created earlier. She fell onto the floor, her head hitting the stone floor quite hard. Her vision was swimming, but she knew that she had to get out of the house. The boy had caught up with her and was now pointing a small stick at her. 'Why does he have a stick?' she asked herself through her panic. 'A stick? Seriously? What does he think he is, a wizard? What have I gotten myself into?'

"I'm not going to hurt you," he said, rolling his eyes again. "I can't let you leave here without modifying your memory." She immediately stopped her cowering and stared at him.

"What?" she asked, her voice cracking slightly. She hastily wiped the tears from her face. She had no idea that she had been crying.

"You are obviously a muggle, and I can't let anybody just run around knowing about Grimmauld Place," he said, lifting his wand. She simply stared at him, her mouth hanging open. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she was sure she looked like a fish.

"Wait just a minute," she said, waving her hands in disbelief. "Grimmauld Place? Does that make you a wizard? And a Black at that?" She buried her face in her hands. "I'm dead!" she cried. "Or dreaming, but probably dead!" She didn't notice that he had let his arm fall back to his side.

"What are you carrying on about?" he asked, his face a picture of utter confusion. "How do you know about this place and my family?" She peered at him through her fingers, her sobs quieter.

"What's your name?" she asked. He watched her warily before answering.

"Regulus," he replied. There was a moment of silence before she fell into another fit of sobs.

"I've gone insane!" she yelled, falling completely to the floor.

"Pull yourself together," he said, moving closer to her. At this point, she was limp on the ground, her arms and legs sprawled out in strange angles. He rolled his eyes for what felt like the millionth time tonight and bent down to her level. "Come on." He stuck his arms underneath her and picked her up. He was very happy to find that she didn't retaliate or punch him. She was still muttering strange things and crying, but he figured it was a start. He walked back down the stairs into the kitchen and deposited her into one of the chairs at the table. She sat there silently, her head down on the table.

"Now you need to tell me how you know all of this," he said. She didn't reply or look at him until she heard a dull thunk on the table. She looked up to see that he had placed two of her beers on the table. "Can you please calm down now?" He asked, almost pleadingly. She sniffled and nodded, grabbing the beer. She twisted off the cap and took a long sip.

"Please don't kill me –hic- or wipe my –hic- memory," she said, looking at him with very depressing eyes. He wrestled with the cap of his own drink for a minute before popping it off.

"Why would I kill you?" he asked, his tone very impatient.

"Because you don't like muggles," she said, still sounding very depressed.

"I let you into my house, didn't I?" he replied.

"You could have been just trying to trap me," she countered. He let out a frustrated sigh.

"Oh shut up," he said, losing patience very quickly. "Now I need to know how you know so much about this place."

"Lots of people know about everything in this world," she said, downing the rest of her beer.

"What do you mean?" he asked. "This world?" She nodded.

"I mean the Harry Potter world, but you wouldn't know anything about him. Where I come from, the muggle world I guess, you and your family and the whole wizarding world is just a story. It's not real. There's no way I can be here. And what year is it? You must be my age at the moment." She rested her head on her hand and watched him closely.

"It is March18 th, 1979. Is this different from what you think it should be?" he asked, very perplexed by the turn of events. She sighed and rubbed her eyes.

"When I left my flat today, it was September 25th, 2010," she replied, her voice low. They both sat in silence for a long while, until he broke it with the question they were both thinking.

"So you've traveled back in time?" he asked. She shrugged.

"I have no idea," she replied. "It's not like I have a time turner or anything. I have no idea what's going on." Regulus simply sipped his beer thoughtfully.

"It seems that I can't just modify your memory and send you back outside then," he said. She glared at him.

"Great. Thanks a lot." Her shoulders slumped and she looked extremely pitiful. Her short black hair was still wet and plastered to her forehead. Her blue eyes were poofy and red. He had to admit that he did feel rather bad for her.

"Here," he said, flicking his wand at her. She jumped, but immediately noticed that her clothes were now dry. She ran a hand though her hair to find that it was dry as well.

"Oh," she said, looking down at her clothes. "Thank you." He nodded and stood up from his seat. She watched curiously as he went to a cabinet and pulled out a large bottle full of some kind of liquid.

"Now, why don't we toss your muggle alcohol and have some of this instead. I still have some questions, but this should help you relax somewhat." She watched as he poured two shot glasses for them.

"Is that firewhiskey?" she asked, eyeing it carefully.

"Yes, it is," he said, quickly throwing back a shot.

"Oh good, now we're moving on to hard liquor," she said, holding up her shot. "Cheers, I guess." She gulped it down and almost immediately regretted it. It went down pleasantly warm at first, but suddenly burned and she choked. She coughed for a few seconds and hit herself on the chest. "That is terrible!" she cried, once she could breathe again. He began to laugh and she stared at him.

"Muggles don't have anything similar?" he asked, still chuckling. She shook her head.

"I mean we have cinnamon flavored liquor, but nothing that extreme. I thought I was going to explode!" she said, gesturing wildly.

"It gets better after the first shot, I promise," he said with a smile. She frowned at him. His smile faltered.

"Why are you being nice to me?" she asked. It was his turn to frown. "You're a Black and you're a Death Eater. Why haven't you killed me?" He looked down at the table in silence.

"I don't know why I would tell you of all people this, but I suppose you already know everything about me, don't you?" She shrugged, but remained very attentive. "I'm not sure if I want to be a part of this any longer." He said. They were silent again. Juniper could hear the firewood popping in the fireplace. "I think you can help me," he said, finally meeting her eyes. Her eyes widened in surprise.

"Me? I can't do magic. I'm rather useless to you, I think," she said, waving her hands. He shook his head.

"That doesn't matter. You say you know everything about this world," he said.

"Definitely not everything," she said.

"Well, maybe enough to help me bring down the Dark Lord. You do know about him, right?" he asked. She nodded.

"Listen, I'd love to help, but I need to go home. The loser is probably worrying about me, thinking I'm dead in a ditch somewhere. He's probably called together a search party…" She said hurriedly.

"You're married?" he asked, looking at her left hand. She rolled her eyes.

"No, and no way would I ever marry that slob. He'll be lucky if he finds a girl who will put up with him the rest of their lives," she said. "He's just a friend that I've known forever and I needed a roommate. But anyways-"

"Listen," he interjected, "I'll make you a deal." She frowned, but listened. "If you help me do this, then I will do everything that I can to get you back home," he said, grabbing her hand. "Please." Juniper stared at him. 'He does look rather pathetic,' she thought. 'And I do know a bit about the cave and the locket.' She sighed.

"Alright, fine." She said, leaning back in the chair. "I'll help you with this little adventure then." His face lit up instantly and she had to try not to smile.

"Wonderful! Thank you so much!" He was almost bouncing with happiness at this point, but he stopped instantly like he had just remembered something. He looked almost embarrassed. "I'm sorry, I never asked for your name." She laughed out loud at that.

"Juniper. My name is Juniper Musetta. You can call me June, Juniper, the loser calls me Gin, but it's up to you. I don't care," she said, grinning. He smiled in return, the first real one she had seen since she had arrived on his doorstep. She grabbed the firewhiskey and poured two more shots. "Alright, let's try this again!" she said, holding her glass out. He knocked his against it and they bother downed them. Once again she coughed and sputtered and he laughed at her.

After about four more shots each, they were both feeling the effects of the alcohol. Juniper was sprawled out in the chair, her ankles crossed on the table top. Regulus was in some sort of similar position.

"So, where is the rest of your family?" she asked, looking around. She hadn't even thought about it before.

"My parents are off on some holiday in France," he replied, twirling his glass on the table.

"Sirius has already left, hasn't he?" she asked, watching him closely. She wanted to see how he actually felt about his brother. She had always speculated, but this was straight from the horse's mouth. Regulus looked angry.

"He ran off a few years ago, off to those blood traitors, the Potters'," he said, dropping the glass on the table. Juniper sighed.

"Do you miss him?" she asked. She wasn't sure if this was the best question to ask, but hey, she was drunk.

"No," he said, angrily. "He left his family behind to go live with those muggle-loving-" He picked up the glass and threw it against the wall. Juniper jumped with a squeak.

"Hey now! There's a muggle in the room, thank you very much," she said. She stood up and put her hands on her hips as she glared at him. She rolled her eyes when he didn't look up and walked around the kitchen, trying to find something to sweep up the broken glass. There wasn't a broom in sight in this house. "How am I supposed to clean that up?" she asked herself. Suddenly the glass flew back together and sat on the ground like it had never been broken at all. She spun around and saw him still sitting in the chair, wand held in his hand.

"There, it's fixed," he said, still looking rather angry.

"That's cheating," she mumbled. She picked up the glass and set it back on the table. "Can we not break anything else tonight?" she asked. He yawned mid-nod.

"Are you ready for bed? We have a busy day tomorrow," he said, getting out of his chair.

"Yes, sir," she replied. She let him lead her up the stairs to the top floor of the house.

"This is my room," he said, pointing to one of two doors next to each other. "And this was my brother's room. You can stay in there for now. I'm sure he has some clothes that you can use. Either his or something he picked up from some harlot or another." Juniper laughed and nodded.

"I'm sure it'll be just fine, thanks," she said, smiling. Regulus stood there for a moment before nodding to her and opening his door.

"Well, good night, then," he said. "I'll be here if you need me."

"Good night!" she said, cheerfully. She opened Sirius' door and wasn't surprised to see the whole room decked out in Gryffindor colors. She opened the dresser in the room and was surprised to see that the drawers were still full. "Must not have taken much with him," she whispered to herself. She dug into the drawer until she found something acceptable. Pulling on the t-shirt and shorts, she threw her clothes in the corner. She was going to have to go shopping if she was planning on staying here. She yawned again and made her way to the bed. It looked very inviting and she didn't hesitate to throw herself down on it and cuddle up underneath the covers. Within moments she had fallen into a deep sleep.