A/N: Hey, guys! Thanks for sticking with me thus far. Sorry for any grammar or spelling mistakes. Once I have finished JBCBBD, I will edit and re-edit until the chapters are très, très mieux. NOTE: I do not own Harry Potter or anything associated with it. It belongs to Jo and Jo alone! Also, this chapter will not be such a boring one. I will add a bit of action, to spice it up a trifle! (Sorry. I just really like the word trifle) Also, I know this is going to take ages to be put up, but I've been super busy lately, so please excuse me.
I wake very suddenly to freezing air on my face. I sit bolt upright. Peeves the poltergeist is hovering very close to my face, his cheeks puffed up, blowing as hard as he can.
"PEEEEVES!" I shriek, slapping at him. Peeves cackles, swooping away. I mumble a string of curses after him, but give up after a minute. Sun streams in through the glass window, falling in warm rays across my bed. I stretch and crawl out of my warm four-poster, yawning. I tiptoe to my chest and get dressed. I spot a square of parchment and pause, thinking. I make a decision and grab it, along with a quill and inkwell.
Dear Mum and Dad,
School's great. I'm sorry I haven't written to you in ages. I've been really busy. I've started Quidditch; I'm a Chaser. I've made loads of friends, too. Juli says she loves you. I've only started one new class this year—Ancient Runes. It's loads of fun. I thought about taking Arithmancy, too, but it's supposed to be really difficult and I didn't want to risk being bad at it. Ancient Runes is my best subject, although Potions is probably my favourite. Professor Slughorn is really nice. He told me to say hello. Is it true that Mum was his favourite student? Anyway, I'd better go. I need to get a bit of studying in before breakfast.
Juniper G. Blasnik
I blow on the ink to dry it and fold up the piece of parchment, sealing it and signing the address. I stand up, throwing my warm cloak over my shoulders, and walk out of the dormitory. I go down the stairs at a trot. When I arrive in the common room, I am not surprised to find out that it is empty. The fire has died, but there are a few gently smoking embers. I open the portrait of the Fat Lady and wave at her as I pass.
Humming to myself, I make my way to the Owlery, which is at the top of the WestTower. I pass Nearly Headless Nick, who beams and bows at me. "I would advise taking a different route, Madam. Peeves is just down the corridor, waiting for a stray student to pass. His plans include pelting them with chalk and tipping inkwells over their head."
"Thanks, Nick. See you later!" I wave at him and turn down a separate corridor, stopping in front of a tapestry. I lift the edge and slip through after a quick look around. I sneak through the secret passage, bent low. I emerge at the other end, dusty, my back aching from being in the same position for more than a few minutes. I walk up the winding staircase to the top of the tower, looking around for a suitable owl. I call one down, and it obliges, spreading its wings only slightly for the short flight. It lands on my arm and nips gently at me. I smile.
"Here you go, then," I say, tying it on. I stroke the owl's feathers, whispering all the while, "Now, take this to my mum and dad in Surrey, all right?" The owl blinks its amber eyes at me and takes off, flying through the enormous window. I watch it for a while, until it becomes a speck in the sky and vanishes. I make my way to the window, looking out at the vast grounds. The sky is a cool, clear blue, and the only clouds are small and wispy. I frown, however, as I see a small figure below the tower. Squinting, I make out the form of Sirius. I scoff loudly, watching a skinny blonde follow him. Their figures intertwine and I look away, out towards the ForbiddenForest.
I definitely don't want to see Sirius snogging some wimpy little twig.
"Disgusting, isn't it?" says a voice at my shoulder. I let out a loud shriek and cover my mouth. James appears suddenly, removing a silvery cloak from his shoulders. I peer down at the ground. Sirius and his current whore are staring up at the tower, transfixed. I whip out of sight, my curly hair flying. I look at James. His brown eyes are dancing with mirth.
"His usual girl, I see. Too stupid to rub two brain cells together," James says dismissively, looking at the girl for about a second.
"Are you sure she's not being paid, though? I mean, even idiots know Sirius is a jerky snotrag." I lean against the wall of the Owlery as I say this, crossing my long legs and raising a lone eyebrow at James. He grins.
"Well, maybe that's exactly the point. Think about that. I'll see you at breakfast, J." James winks and puts his silvery cloak around his shoulders once more. "You're gonna like this one," he says, grinning. Then he disappears. I let out a shout.
"Oh my—bloody hell," I breathe in an undertone. I walk around the spot where he's disappeared for about a minute. Then I stretch my arm out, as if to take his cloak off. "He's gone," I whisper. My hand catches nothing but air. I grin widely and walk out. I hope I don't run into him, I think.
A few minutes later, I am sitting down at the Gryffindor table, inhaling some bacon. I look up, however, when Lily sits next to me. Her fiery hair is braided all down her back, and her green eyes are sparkling with mischief.
"Oi, where've you been? I woke up and you'd left!" she says, whacking my head lightly. I stick my tongue out at her. She grimaces at the sight of my chewed-up food. "You are such a child," Lily says primly. I cross my eyes and resume eating.
Sirius comes in a few minutes later, his hair artfully mussed, his dark eyes roaming the Hall. They rest on me and I quickly look away. Lily is chatting on about something. I try to tune back in, looking politely interested. I see Sirius out of the corner of my eye, deep in conversation with the pretty blonde girl from this morning. The girl is pouting slightly, sticking her chest out as far as she can. I stifle a laugh as Lily talks on.
"So, where were you this morning anyway?" she asks suddenly.
"The Owlery. I was mailing a letter to my parents. I hadn't written them yet, so I figured I might as well. Peeves woke me up really early. And guess who I saw snogging some girl?" I whisper the last part. Lily leans closer, looking eager.
"Who?" she whispers.
"Sirius…" I murmur back, barely moving my lips. Lily grins.
"When isn't he off snogging some girl? Know who she is?"
I shake my head. "She looks sort of familiar though. Might be a Hufflepuff…I can't tell, she's not wearing her tie and she's facing the other way…"
Sirius and the girl part ways, the girl looking upset, Sirius unconcerned. He greets James, Remus, and Peter and sits down, wolfing down some eggs. Lily and I follow the girl with our eyes. She sits down at the Hufflepuff table.
"HA!" we yell, high-fiving. I look up. Everyone in the Hall is staring at us. We look at each other, grinning a little.
"Er…that is all," I say loudly, to the general public. At once, people return to whatever they were doing beforehand—reading, homework, eating, chatting. Lily winks at me, and I grin.
"And what was that all about?" murmurs a voice next to me. I jump and look into Remus' smiling face.
"James and I saw Sirius macking on a Hufflepuff girl this morning," I mutter out of the corner of my mouth, barely moving my lips. I hear a low chuckle.
"Flavour of the day. Damn. Sorry, that was rude." Remus looks at me, half-amused, half-ashamed. I roll my eyes at him and continue eating. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Sirius looking over at us curiously. I give him a half-smile and open Intermediate Potions, reading each page carefully. It's grubby and worn, because it was my mother's, but I don't mind.
"I really hope we get to do something fun in Potions," I say to Lily, who nods enthusiastically. Potions is her favourite subject, as well as mine.
"I heard Professor Slughorn saying something about it to Professor McGonagall, but I couldn't understand what they were saying."
"Potions? Who cares about Potions? We need to do something fun!" says James, slouching forward. "Hey, Remus…" he looks meaningfully at Remus, who blanches slightly.
"No. No, James."
I look curiously from one to the other. "Why don't we just sneak out?" I ask, leaning over a blurry sentence in my book. I feel everyone's stares on me and look up, slightly embarrassed. "What?" I say defensively.
"You're suggesting we sneak out? You? Little Miss Perfect? Blimey." James looks surprised and mildly impressed. "Well, then. I say we go for it. Say, about…midnight? All right then. C'mon, Peter, Remus, Sirius. We've got to get some practice in before next week's match. Juniper, you coming?"
"Don't call me Juniper," I growl at him. "It's June or Juni, okay?"
"Okay, Juniper," teases James. I half-rise from my seat, glaring daggers at him, and he looks terrified. "Please don't hurt me!"
"All right, see you later. C'mon, Lily, we've got to go to the library." I wink at James, shove my things back into my bag, gesture to Lily, and leave the Great Hall. Lily is chortling, pointing back at James.
"You scared him out of his wits," she says, still laughing.
I shrug modestly. "I know."
Lily grins and we make our way through the wide corridors to the library, which is empty except for Madam Pince, the crazy librarian. She stares at us suspiciously, her rather vulture-like appearance enhanced even more by her beaky nose.
"Morning, Madam Pince," I say meekly. She sniffs and turns away, scribbling something on a large piece of parchment.
"Let's go over there," Lily suggests in a whisper, pointing several shelves away. We tiptoe off, glancing over our shoulders every few seconds. I drop my bag onto the wooden table and slump into my chair, yawning widely.
"Well, we're here. I suppose we'd better do the work now," I say, grimacing slightly. Lily grins. We work for a few minutes before someone coughs behind me and I jump about a foot, spilling ink all over my essay. I curse angrily, mopping it up.
"Tergeo," Lily mutters. She looks up and her eyes widen. "Sev! What're you doing here?"
I turn around. A thin, sallow boy with greasy black hair and a hooked nose is looking back at Lily, a small smile curving his thin mouth. "Just thought I'd…come and study."
"Well, thanks for ruining my essay," I say sarcastically, and I roll up the semi-clean parchment, sticking it in my bag. "Got to go, Lily, I told them I'd be there in a bit."
"Er—sorry-" the thin boy started to say.
"It's fine, it's fine. I'll see you later." I rush off, still shoving things in my bag. I deposit my things into the dormitories, and grab my broom instead.
"Hi, Juni!" calls Alice, waving. I smile at her and stop walking.
"Hey, Alice. I'm just going down to the pitch for some Quidditch practice."
"Would it be okay if I came? It's so nice out."
I shrug. "Sure, that's fine. Do you need anything from upstairs?"
Alice shakes her head, jumping up and throwing her bag over her shoulder. "Do you know…er…if anyone else is going to be there?" Alice blushes furiously as she says it. I grin knowingly.
"I'm not sure if Frank's going to be there. I'll get him if you want."
"No-no! That's fine…" Alice blushes an even darker scarlet, smiling sheepishly. I smile at her, pat her arm, and walk over to the other side of the common room.
"Frank, want to come watch the practice?"
Frank looks up. He smiles, but his eyes are on Alice, not me. "Sure…sounds fun. I'll be there in a bit, okay?" I nod and join Alice, who mouths wordlessly at me, a strange croaking sound emitting from her throat.
"There you go. Now, c'mon, Sirius'll go nuts if I'm not there soon."
"There you are!" James' shout reaches me from across the pitch. He's flying about fifty feet up, clutching the Snitch tightly in his right hand. I roll my eyes and mount my broom, kicking off of the grassy ground. Instantly I feel free, diving down and coming up at the last second, swerving around the stands. I catch the quaffle when Sirius throws it to me, streaking across the pitch and throwing it through the middle hoop. I hear muffled cheering and look down, grinning, to see Frank and Alice sitting together.
Remus and Peter are also present; Remus is reading a large book and Peter is cheering James on as he zooms around, chasing the Snitch.
"WATCH OUT, JUNIPER!" Sirius bellows. I look around and see a bludger speeding towards me like a bullet. I stupidly raise my arms to protect my face and hear a sickening crack as my arm breaks. I am vaguely aware of someone with warm, strong arms catching me and bringing me safely to the ground, someone yelling to get Madam Pomfrey, and a girl screaming before I black out.
"Is she going to be okay?"
"She'll be fine, Madam Pomfrey said so. That sure would've been nasty if she hadn't blocked it."
"Shh! She's waking up. Juni?"
I blink and open my eyes. Six anxious faces are peering down at me, their faces slightly blurry. I sit up, rubbing my eyes. "Where am I?"
"The hospital wing," says Remus. His sandy hair falls forward slightly, framing his features. Sirius is grinning down at me, his dark hair curlier than usual. James is messing up his hair, as usual. I guess my survival made him forget to be worried. Alice, Peter, and Frank are all smiling, still looking sort of upset. I grin at them all.
"I like you and all, but…"
"Oh, shut up!" Alice cries, hugging me tight around the middle. "I thought you were dead, you big dummy!"
I pat her back, my arm at an awkward angle. Sirius and James are fighting back laughter at this spectacle, but I make a face at them and they quickly turn away.
"Ow," I say suddenly. Pain is shooting up my left arm. It is wrapped tightly in gauze, but it looks normal, for the most part.
"You'll be fine by tomorrow," says Remus. "Madam Pomfrey said you'd better stay tonight anyway, though. She said it was a really bad break, but she's mended it up well enough. You've got to wear the gauze until next week, so your bones can mend straight."
"Cool. Where's Lily?" I ask, sitting up straighter. I throw the blankets away and start to stand up, but I am pushed back into bed by one of the boys. The doors to the hospital wing bang open and Lily comes bursting through, running and out of breath.
"Oh, my God!" She rushes over and hugs me, knocking the air out of my lungs. "I'm so sorry! Nobody told me until five minutes ago! What happened?"
"Li-ly…geroff…me…" I wheeze, but she ignores me and plows right on, now looking angrily at the surrounding boys. "Did one of you do this? Did you?"
"No!" the angry exclamation comes from both Sirius and James. I gasp for breath, massaging my lungs as Lily loosens her grip and air floods into my lungs.
"Lily…I got hit by a stray bludger. It's not a big deal."
Lily jumps at my voice and looks down. "Yeah, but it could've been! I'm so sorry I wasn't there! You could have died!"
"Sirius warned me, though," I point out gently. "And it's not your fault. I'm fine, Lily." I smile reassuringly and lay back on my pillows. Lily walks around and hits Sirius, who jumps.
"What the hell was that for!" he yelps, rubbing his arm. "She just said she was fine!"
"You could've warned her earlier!" Lily shouts.
"I didn't see it!"
"Uh-huh. Sure."
"SHUT IT!" I bellow. Alice puts her hands over her ears, wincing. Frank smiles slightly. Both Lily and Sirius jump about a foot at the sound of my voice and look over. I breath heavily, trying to steady myself. I get slowly out of bed, grimacing in pain when I move my left arm. "Now, listen here," I say when I get in between Lily and Sirius, "this needs to stop. I'm not going to have any of it. You're both being ridiculous. I. Am. Fine. And Lily, Sirius basically saved my life. I could've gotten much worse than a broken arm, but he warned me. Sirius, stop being such a prat. Now, if you two are going to be good little children, nod your head and say with me: 'I promise to stop being an idiot and listen to Juni who is pretty cool and awesome.'"
"'I promise to stop being an idiot and listen to Juni who is pretty cool and awesome,'" they recite back at me, both rolling their eyes.
"Good. Now, somebody help me back into bed, I think I'm going to black out." I wobble slightly and James and Frank rush forward to catch me. They help me into bed and I pull up the covers, smiling slightly as my vision went black once more.
A/N: Hey! Sorry it took so long. I know I've been ages, but I worked all this week and I finally got it up to a reasonable length. We got a glimpse of Severus! Also, I think I'm making Juniper left-handed, like me. DYK: Being left-handed used to be a sign of the devil. I'm really glad it isn't anymore…I'll try to update with the fifth chapter in….maybe two-three weeks. Thanks for staying with me! :)