The ground crunched softly under their feet as they walked through the ruined remains of their former school. Fallen pillars laid abandoned, stairs collapsed, a fine layer of rubble covering nearly every floor, ledge, and free surface. The small group was quiet as they walked, each member taking in the scene before them, though they didn't have to. They had all three been there the night the school had been destroyed. There was Hermione Granger, George Weasley, and Juni Nott. As they walked, they eventually came to a large doorway, its wooden door long-since gone. Walking into the room, Juniper felt a knot forming in her stomach, almost as though someone had stuck their fist straight through her gut. There was a thick layer of white dust and two shattered windows at the end of the room, but other than that, the old Defense Against the Dark Arts room seemed to be untouched by the devastation just through the doorway. The old wooden chairs still arranged perfectly at their desks, a stack of books at the front of the class by the cabinet behind the professor's desk… The room had somehow become a perfect shrine to the memories each of them still held dear.
Continuing to the front of the room and doing their best not to disturb the dust, the three of them stood in a circle between the professor's desk and student desks. The air felt thick and hot, despite the windows behind them being broken through and a soft breeze occasionally seeping through them. Juni felt her palms begin to sweat.
"It's still good to see the classroom not covered in pink," George commented offhand, glancing around the room. Juniper had almost forgotten that the last DatDA professor he had was Professor Umbridge. She gave him a small smile and the group was quiet for a few moments before Hermione cleared her throat softly.
"I spent last night calculating about a hundred times the exact number of spins it should take to get you there," she insisted for what felt like the hundredth time itself, getting straight to the topic at hand (as usual). Her hands were trembling slightly as she took out the now-dulled chain from her bag. The wind blew through the windows, catching the pendant at the end and causing it to swing gently. Despite its age, and only for a brief moment, the time turner still seemed to glisten and sparkle in the sunlight shining through the windows. All too quickly, the clouds moved in overhead causing the room to dim once more, the pendant returning to its dulled golden color. All of the known time turners were supposed to have been destroyed several years earlier, but Hermione had managed to hold onto this one following the battle: found in Professor McGonagall's robes after she died. When they were moving her body to a more secure location it had fallen out and Hermione had taken it upon herself to hold onto it and keep it safe.
"It should take exactly 58 full turns and one one-quarter turn to get back to May 2, 1998," Hermione went on, pulling more of the chain into her palm as though to keep it from moving as though a soft breeze would cause it to turn. She began to go into detail as to how she had gotten to her exact calculation, but Juni cut her off.
"I trust you," she gave her a soft laugh, putting a hand on Hermione's arm, though she wasn't sure whether she was trying to comfort her or herself. "I've never known you to be wrong about anything."
"With your brain behind the wheel, she'll be fine," George agreed, a small smile tugging at his lips. He was eager for this mission, too, having tried to convince them all to let him go with Juniper. She had never been particularly close to the Weasley family while they were in school, but the twins had always made her laugh. Following the battle, she had grown closer to George, him being one of the few who had believed in her and trusted her from the start. For just a moment, she could see a flash of pain behind his eyes, and she knew what he was thinking of. Juni didn't just have to find and ensure the destruction of the diadem. She had to find a way to save Fred, too. They'd had to keep it a secret from the rest of the group - Hermione especially. By now, they had gone over it countless times through many sleepless nights in preparation for this trip. She was going to May 2, an hour before the start of the battle. She would hide (as best she could) until she saw Harry, Ron and Hermione run past, knowing that they were headed towards the Room Of Requirement. According to the official plan, this was her cue to follow them close behind and ensure that the diadem was found and destroyed.
In reality, she would wait for a short while, but leave the room much earlier than they had agreed upon, knowing that Fred had met his fate shortly before the fiendfyre had ever sparked. Thanks to Percy, she knew exactly where to go, too. From this classroom, it should be out the door and to the left, down the corridor past the bend, up two flights of stairs, down another corridor, to the right and then down a flight of stairs. Simple. All she had to do besides this was… Not die in battle (for a second time), ensure she never ran into herself (though she was positive that she had been somewhere in one of these hallways nearby during the start of the battle), and then convince Fred that he had to come with her. George had trouble thinking of a good enough reason for Fred to leave Percy and Harry behind in the moments leading up to his death, but Juni hadn't. If she told him that George might've been hurt nearby, she knew that Fred would follow her. Even more than that, according to how Percy had described the incident, she knew that him and Harry would still be safe without Fred there.
Of course the real difficult part would be ditching Fred and then running off to find Harry, Ron and Hermione in the Room of Requirement. Even worse was finding the diadem inside it while an unquenchable, raging fire blasted through the room.
Taking in a deep, stale breath through her nose, she blew it out as quietly as she could, as not to give away any tremble in her breath. She knew that she wouldn't be coming back from this. Did it honestly matter anymore, though? With the state of things… She supposed the only good things about the present reality were growing closer to Geroge and Hermione as well as two of her best friends from school surviving the initial fallout from the battle. How long would it last, though? If she didn't do this now… For all they knew, they could be found out tonight even. Everyone would be either tortured, questioned, killed… She couldn't be selfish. Juni knew that she had to do this, even if it meant she was going to die in the process.
"Juniper?" George questioned softly, causing her to jump slightly, quickly looking between the two of them. "A… Are you ready?" His eyebrows furrowed slightly as he looked at her in growing concern. "If you don't want to do this…" George's voice trailed off as he glanced towards Hermione for some sort of alternative.
"No," Juni interjected quickly before Hermione had the chance. "I'll do it. Sorry, I was just… Going over the plan again in my head." She gave a small smile to the pair in front of her. Hermione didn't bother to hide the anxiety in her face as George returned Juni's smile. Putting both of his hands on her shoulders, he squared up to face her directly, giving her a kind but fixed look.
"You can do this, Juni," he assured her softly, his smile faltering for only a fraction of a second before returning. She had seen it though, and despite her best efforts to convince herself otherwise, she knew what it meant. Though no one had actually said it outloud - at least not with her around - they knew. They all knew. Juniper wasn't coming back. As she felt her own expression slip, George's mirrored hers as he brought her into a tight embrace, which she readily returned. After a moment, she heard a sniffle from beside them and looked over at Hermione, who was gently brushing under one eye. Leaning away from George slightly, Juni grabbed Hermione's arm to pull her into the embrace as well, George shifting so that the three of them stood together, arms locked together.
After what felt like both an eternity and simultaneously less than five seconds, Juniper took another deep breath in, this time letting it out slowly through pursed lips, not caring if they heard any weakness.
"It's time," she announced softly, knowing that they shouldn't stall too long here. If it wasn't Death Eaters randomly stalking the grounds, looking for stragglers, it was wild and often dangerous animals. As the three begrudgingly broke their embrace, Hermione held out her hand, the time-turner sitting in her open palm as the chain dangled, swinging gently in the air. Taking it from her carefully, she pulled the chain over her neck and held the time-turner between her now trembling fingers.
"58 turns?" Juni looked at Hermione, who's expression was now unreadable.
"And one quarter turn," she nodded, hands finding their way to grip the strap of her bag too tightly. "To make up for the time spent in this last hour of our time." Juniper nodded once, looked between her two friends sadly and began to turn the small hourglass inside the once golden pendant, knowing that even if she did survive this mission, not only would her friends not know her as well anymore, but that no one would know or remember her for her sacrifice. She couldn't think about that right now, though. There was too much at stake.
Counting softly under her breath, she watched as the sand in the hourglass shifted with each turn, the tiny grains falling over one another. Almost pausing for a moment, she forced her fingers to keep turning as she inspected the glass of the hourglass itself. There was a small, almost unnoticeable crack in the glass on one side. Mind immediately racing at the potential dangers of this, she forced it quiet as she counted, quickly deciding that it was likely due to general wear and tear of the physical object itself, rather than the magic, and that Hermione would never have given it to her if she didn't know that the time-turner itself wouldn't be safe.
"57… 58… and one quarter," Juni held the time-turner delicately between her fingers, making sure that they didn't let go or let the pendant move in any way. Sighing deeply, she looked at her friends one more time. "I guess this is it," she smiled softly, trying to reassure them.
"Stick to the plan," Hermione nodded at her, returning the smile at last. "Be safe. I know you can do it." George took a step forward and planted a soft kiss on Juniper's forehead, his eyes closed as he whispered to her.
"Be brave." Juniper felt her cheeks flush gently as George stepped back. Giving them one last smile, she let the hourglass slip between her fingers.
All at once, they were gone, having walked backwards through the door. Within seconds, she saw the hallway through the door reconstruct itself, and the desks surrounding her lost their dust. The door had returned and the windows behind her were fixed. A few more seconds and she felt the chain of the time-turner heat up in her fingers and around her neck. Wincing in pain, she instinctively went to yank it off, but the chain itself wouldn't budge. The world around her was a blur, making her dizzy. The sound of wind screamed past her ears from what felt like every direction and her head began to spin and she felt herself sink quickly to her knees, dropping the time-turner. Instead of falling with her, it remained in the air, floating in front of her chest where she had held it. Continuing to spin furiously, a soft hum began to emanate from it. The classroom around her had become a dark blur of images and flashes of light and dark. The chain was burning hot into her skin as she continued to try and remove it. Tears forming in her eyes, she shut them tightly as her fingers began to burn from her efforts. After what felt like an eternity, she finally was able to rip it from her neck and throw it across the room as it had finally stabilized around her.
Taking several deep and shaking breaths, she forced her palms onto the cool stone ground below her, her eyes still shut tightly as she tried to make her head stop spinning. After a few moments, she slowly opened her eyes, her neck and fingers still burning from where the metal had pressed against them.
It was dark in the classroom, only one torch at the end of the classroom by the door was still lit. Sitting up on her knees, she looked around at her surroundings. It was the same classroom, the same desks… There were no longer random papers or books by any of them, though. Turning her head to look at the Professor's desk, she stared at how different it had looked just seconds earlier. Instead of the plain wooden desk she had seen only moments before, now sat an elegantly carved dark wood desk. Each of the carvings looked as though it had been done with magic - which she suspected was the case - as they all had a very faint golden glow to them.
As she slowly rose to her feet, she inspected a stack of old books that she didn't recognize at all sitting on top of the desk. Squinting slightly in the dark light, she quickly shielded her eyes as the door to the professor's office at the top of the stairs opened, bathing the otherwise darkened classroom in a bright orange glow. Shielding her eyes from the sudden assault, she saw a man come through the door and stop midway towards the steps.
"I'm sorry, my dear," a soft, almost kind voice began. "Did you need something from me? I didn't hear you enter." Eyebrows furrowing slightly, Juniper struggled to search through her brain as to why the voice was familiar. Slowly lowering her hand and squinting slightly to see the shadowed figure in the light, her eyes adjusted.
There stood a middle aged man with auburn hair beginning to grey at the ends, a short, well-kept beard covering his chin. As he stepped down the stairs and walked towards her, she could see the calm confusion on his face as he looked at her with the brightest blue eyes she had ever-
Her heart lurched and her breath caught in her throat. Stumbling backwards slightly, she took a step back directly into a desk, causing a loud scrape of wood against the stone floor.
"Is something the matter?" He asked quickly, moving forward as though to help her, his eyebrows bowing up in concern before slowly furrowing together as he looked at her. Stopping his attempts to help as he began to take in the situation. "Do… I know you? Are you a student here? How did you get here? My name is Prof-"
"Professor Dumbledore," Juniper let out in a hushed tone, staring wide eyed at the man in front of her.