AN- I know it's been forever. Work has been hard for me for the last few months. This chapter is a bit shorter than I planned but I wanted to get something out. In general, would you guys prefer shorter more frequent updates or longer ones that take longer to get out? Also, I have the free version of Grammarly now so hopefully, spelling and punctuation will be better.
AN- n7kairos thank you :). I have plans for the twins I think a peek at Juniper's memories might just convince Wanda that she's playing for the wrong side. Hey worked with Ultron right? Well in reverse but it worked.
BioHazard82 thank you so much.
ElyseSyrova oh wow that sounds rough. Hope you're not having to go through that still. Hope you're still reading and enjoying.
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Chapter 44
"I could have shrunk that back down you know." Juniper told Bucky as he followed her into their rooms her mum's trunk in his arms Alpine sitting on it surveying her new surroundings like a princess with her new realm.
"Yes, but then I wouldn't be able to show off for you." Bucky told her teasingly.
"You don't have to show off for me Buck. I already like you." Juniper answered giving him a sweet smile.
Bucky smiled back putting the trunk down then reached out taking her hand and tugging her closer. "Are you okay doll? You've had a lot thrown at you today." Instead of answering Juniper just stepped closer sliding her arms around his waist and leaning into him. Bucky wrapped his arms around her one hand stroking her hair lightly. "You have a real family now. Tony, Pepper, Peter, The Weasleys, Hermione, and Mrs. Figg. I know it's hard to let go of your childhood but I want you to remember they were wrong. You are loved. You are treasured. You have a future. One we are all going to fight to make sure you get to enjoy. Two weeks relaxing, after all, this is over remember. I promised."
"I know. It's just...I guess when you hear the horrible things over and over they just work themselves into your mind." Juniper said softly.
"Then I'll just have to tell you as often as possible how smart, powerful, kind, and beautiful you are until my voice replaces theirs." Bucky said softly. Juniper raised her head and looked up at him with that sweet almost shy smile he loved so much. She lifted her hand and gently caressed his cheek. His eyes closed for a moment as he turned into her touch. "Everyone is waiting for us downstairs." He reminded her his voice going rough.
"Are you reminding me or yourself?" Juniper asked a hint of laughter creeping into her voice.
"Both." He answered opening his eyes and looking at her loving the amusement in her eyes chasing away the sadness. "Let 'um wait?" He asked with a grin of his own.
Juniper groaned softly. "I need to catch Draco before he starts drinking."
"Connect the dots for me doll." Bucky requested.
"The Slytherin trio will be heading back to Hogwarts tomorrow. We need Draco's firepower there in case of attack before we arrive and Pansy leading the Slytherins in the dorm. But I need to beat Draco in a duel, disarm him, and I need to do it before he gets drunk." Juniper answered.
"Right. Master of Death." Bucky almost groaned. "How are you gonna goad him into a duel?"
Juniper gave a slight shrug. "Really wouldn't be that hard. Black temper ya know. But I think just framing it as a practice duel to show the muggles what magic is capable of would be a better approach."
"Would a practice duel be enough? I mean I would assume that practice duels and even formal dueling competitions are commonplace so wands would be frequently 'won' by other witches or wizards." Bucky said.
Juniper's mouth opened as she started to say something then she took a step backward a look of puzzlement coming over her face. "Oh, bloody hell. I think I need to talk to Hermione. Maybe Loki and Leta to I can't afford to mess this up. Can you distract the others long enough to keep Draco sober?"
"I'm sure I can think of something." Bucky assured her. "I may have to endure his little boyfriend's presence though I think I may need a kiss for motivation."
Juniper smiled and stepped closer reaching up to caress his cheek lightly sliding her hand into his silky dark hair and going up onto her tiptoes tugging his head down to meet his lips. Gentle, sweet. Bucky pulled away slightly before the kiss could heat up and rested his forehead against Juniper's for a moment before kissing her neck lightly.
"Feeling motivated?" Juniper asked him her voice breathy.
"Motived to lock the door and pretend we are the only people in this house." Bucky answered with a grin.
"Don't tempt me." Juniper sighed.
"Later. For now, I'll go distract cousin Draco while you consult your advisory board. Then we'll drink and play games and make nice but afterward..." He leaned closer to whisper words in Juniper's ear that had her blushing fiercely a soft moan escaping her throat.
"Who's the tease now?" She asked when she'd recovered.
"Considering you know what that sweet little moan does to me I'd say we're even." Bucky answered with a smirk then slid one hand from her shoulder to her hand linking their fingers. "Come on doll let's do this."
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Once again Bucky was a bit surprised and amused by how well the trio communicated without words. As they entered the downstairs game room where Kreacher was setting out a feast Juniper glanced at first Ron and nodded at Loki then a door to the downstairs parlor, then the same with Hermione nodding at Leta. Both nodded and approached the god and witch having quick whispered conversations with them.
"You three are impressive." Bucky told her.
Juniper shrugged. "Seven years of reading each other's minds. Sometimes we literally had nothing but each other." She stretched up kissing his cheek. "Have fun with Draco." She gave him a bright smile before disappearing into the parlor.
Bucky gave a deep sigh and approached the sharp-featured blond who was talking to his two cohorts. "Malfoy."
"Barnes." Draco replied looking a bit uneasy. Bucky wondered if it was because he was a muggle, a former assassin, or his cousin's boyfriend. Maybe a bit of all three. "I wanted to ask you about something. It seems to be important to Juniper and I don't quite understand it. I would ask Ron but he and Juniper seem to disagree on it."
Curiosity flashed in Draco's eyes. Almost more at the news that Ron and Juniper had disagreed about something than anything else. Except for one brief span of time during the Triwizard tournament the golden trio had seemed a united front that stood together on everything. "I could attempt to aid you." Draco allowed. After all, Barnes was a muggle and everyone knew most of them weren't nearly as bright as magicals. It was likely there were many things about Juniper's life the man would never be able to understand.
Bucky tried not to snort in amusement. The boy may be careful what he showed Juniper but when he was faced with just a muggle his thoughts were rather obvious. He needed to make sure the boy spent some time with Tony and Peter they would blow his expectations of muggle intelligence to powder. "Quidditch," Bucky said. "Especially which team is the best. I've been told by different sources that it's The Harpies, The Chudley Cannons, and Puddlemore United."
Draco's face lit up just as Juniper's always did when the subject came up. Blaise looked amused and Pansy rolled her eyes as Hermione always did when Juniper and Ron started on their teams. "All of those are wrong the only correct answer is The Falmouth Falcons." Draco told him and started extolling the virtues of the most fierce and violent team in England. Bucky just nodded as he listened trying not to sigh again. The things he did for Juniper.
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"You needed to speak to us? Perhaps you wish us to return to your relative's home and grind them to dust?" Loki's tone was calm but there was still anger in his manner. He was furious the humans had dared to attack him. He was even angrier at himself that he'd fallen for their tricks. He would be happy to have someone to take it out on. Someone besides his brother. He had snapped at Thor to get away when he'd tried to take care of him and had of course felt guilty afterward which increased his anger. Thor's wounded puppy dog look always had that effect on him.
"No, this is about something totally different." Juniper glanced at Hermione and Ron. She didn't know how much she should actually tell the two. Leta had shown no lust for power but she was a Slytherin and these were the Deathly Hallows. Loki on the other hand had attempted to control objects of power before but she wasn't sure if the Hallows would hold any value for him. After all, he didn't seem to use what he'd termed wand magic.
"I need to ask a question. I know a bit about wandlore but I don't know if Ollivander ever mentioned to me the mechanics of winning another wizard's wand. I know it can't be as simple as just disarming your opponent otherwise a lot of duels would result in wands shifting allegiances as would just teaching the disarming charm." Juniper asked.
Leta looked at her suspiciously then she gave a soft gasp. "That crazy bastard did it didn't he?"
"I hate Slytherins." Juniper muttered under her breath. No Gryffindor would have made the leap that fast, Ravenclaws would have studied the information available but would conclude they could not come to that conclusion without more, Hufflepuffs never would have wondered they would just have answered the question as well as they could happy to help.
"Who did what?" Loki asked raising one eyebrow.
"Grindlewald. The Deathly Hallows he was obsessed with them. He found the Elder wand didn't he." Leta asked. "Oh, Merlin did he find them all? Don't tell me Grindlewald is the Master of Death."
"No. Leta take a breath." Juniper said putting a hand on the woman's shoulder.
"The Deathly Hallows are real?" Loki asked raising an eyebrow.
"You've heard of them?" Ron asked sounding a bit surprised.
"Of course, The Peverell brothers were descended from Slytherin and the descendants of the founders were always interesting enough to look up on my brief visits to this realm." Loki answered.
Juniper's eyes had gone wide and she looked over to Hermione who had the same look. "Well, that cinches it then."
"What?" Ron asked glancing back and forth between them.
"The Potter family tree doesn't go all the way back to the founders but it does go back to Ignotus Peverell. His granddaughter married a Potter and as she was the only child she must have inherited the cloak." Juniper answered. She looked back at Loki. "No one ever knew the names they were just always the three brothers in the stories."
"I assumed the Peverells managed to create some unique magical objects and the story was just a bit of gloss." Loki said.
"No. When I died Regulus directly mentioned becoming the Master of Death." Juniper informed her disgruntled tone bringing a smile to his lips. The child was the most adverse magical to gaining power he'd ever met. Perhaps that made her the most worthy.
"Juniper do you have the cloak?" Leta asked.
Juniper considered lying but she wasn't very good at it and Leta deserved the truth she and Loki had fought for them earlier. "Yes. The stone as well." She admitted.
"Does Grindelwald have the elder wand?" Leta asked obviously trying to be calm.
"No. He had the wand but when Dumbledore defeated him the wand became his." Juniper answered. "He used it for years but as far as I know no one ever knew it was the Elder Wand. No one except Grindlewald of course."
"And now?" Loki asked.
"Snape killed Dumbledore but before that happened Dumbledore was disarmed. By Draco." Juniper answered.
"So your cousin is the master of the elder wand and you wish to relieve him of that burden before anyone realizes it?" Loki asked sounding amused.
"Pretty much yeah." Juniper answered with a nod.
"Where is the actual physical wand?" Leta asked.
"Dumbledore's tomb. It was buried with him at his request." Juniper answered.
"That was...unwise. But then I expect he probably never expected Grindelwald to be free again." Leta said softly.
"He tried to rob Juniper of her chance to be Master of Death." Loki said sounding cold.
"I don't want to be Master of Death." Juniper answered.
"Even if that's true it's your birthright and your choice." Loki answered.
"Far be it from me to defend Dumbledore but it's not like he hid it as well as he might of or destroyed it." Ron pointed out. "He left enough breadcrumbs for her to find it if nessacary."
"Can we debate the ethics of Albus Dumbledore later?" Hermione asked. "The question at the moment is how to get the wand to transfer to Juniper without having a real duel and blowing up the new alliance with the Slytherins."
"Well some wands are much more loyal to their masters than others but the elder wand is not one of them. It is notoriously fickle and extremely likely to transfer to a more powerful witch or wizard. I am assuming you are more powerful than Draco?" Leta asked.
Juniper grinned. "Oh yeah, that part is not a worry." Loki couldn't help a small smile himself making a mental note that although she didn't seek more power she was proud of what she had.
"It will probably want to unite with the other Hallows as well. If it was created by death it should be able to sense you have the other two." Loki told them. "Not to mention there is enough rivalry between you and your cousin that any duel you have is likely to be very personal to both of you. I'm pretty sure if you can disarm your cousin the elder wand will transfer its loyalty to you. You will know when it happens. It should feel like when you linked with your current wand."
"It won't interfere with my link to the wand I have now will it?" Juniper asked.
Leta shook her head. "Quite a few magicals have more than one wand. Usually one is an official registered one and the other is a wand used if they need to...shall we say cast spells they wouldn't want others to know about if their official wand was checked. Is usually an old family wand."
Juniper glanced at both Ron and Hermione seeing that both were as surprised by the news as she was. "Must be a Slytherin thing."
Leta smirked slightly. "Must be. Either way, you should be fine to challenge Draco to a duel and take mastery of the Elder wand before he even knows he has it. I must say it's quite a Slytherin move."
"It's for his own good. Riddle already has reasons to want him dead having the wand would make it a hundred times worse." Juniper objected.
"Of course, it is sweet girl but no matter how nobly Gryffindor your goal the method your choose to reach it is Slytherin. All in all, I would say in this room we have a Gryffindor who has the cunning of a Slytherin." She nodded at Juniper. "Another who has the intelligence of a Ravenclaw." A hand wave towards Hermione. "And the last who has as much loyalty in him as any Hufflepuff." Ron of course. "Perhaps it's time to stop judging people on the strict house lines you have drawn in your head and on what they show you instead."
Juniper started to respond then stopped as if thinking over what she'd said then just nodded and muttered softly. "Yeah yeah. Maybe. Either way, I need to go disarm Draco."
"Excellent I am looking forward to seeing you duel as I missed the fight in the park." Loki said with his slightly psychotic grin. Juniper was starting to suspect he knew exactly how it looked and did it on purpose.
"Alright, then let's do this." She said softly and the group rejoined the others in the game room. She couldn't hold back the small grin that appeared at the sight of Draco talking with Bucky about something. Bucky didn't look nearly as invested in the conversation but as he was nodding occasionally and making a comment here and there it seemed that was enough for Draco.
She couldn't help wondering what Draco was talking about so intently and approached them in time to hear Draco state. "...And Everette Jacoby is the second best seeker ever to fly. Only Krum could beat him."
"You can't really believe that." Juniper protested immediately. "There was a reason the beaters targeted Lila Sterling so hard the last time the Falcons played the Harpies. She ended up with three broken ribs and a concussion they had to bring in a reserve."
Draco shrugged. "Targeting the seeker is a valid strategy. You know that. You once caught the snitch with a broken arm. Seekers need to be tougher than that."
"Rogue bludger. I wasn't being targeted. When I was team captain I never set the beaters on the seekers. Anyway, thats not the point. If the team really believed Jacoby was better than Sterling they never would have taken her out like that." Juniper answered.
"Why not?" Draco asked with a smirk. "Sterling isn't as good as Jacoby but she could have gotten lucky she isn't completely useless. Removing her from the game tilted the odds. Why play fair when you can grab an advantage?"
"Because hurting someone like that when it isn't necessary is wrong." Juniper answered with a sigh not believing she actually had to tell him this.
"Hmm, I can't decide if I disagree more about the use of the word necessary or wrong." Draco mused.
"Draco I know your moral code is more flexible than mine but you can't believe it's okay to hurt someone just to win a Quidditch game." Juniper answered feeling a little frustrated.
"How many times have you tricked me or other seekers into crashing into the ground with your Wronski Feint?" Draco asked narrowing his eyes at her.
"Well to be fair mate you hurt yourself in that one." Ron pointed out cheerfully. "It's not really her fault you overestimated your ability to keep up with her."
"It's also technically not against the rules. It's considered a 'Dangerous Seeker Diversion' but perfectly legal." Blaise pointed out just shrugging when Draco glared at him.
"Seeker-on-seeker tricks are different from beaters intentionally trying to put her out of action and you know it." Juniper said with a gusty sigh. "Anyway, it is immaterial as soon as I take Bucky to a Harpies game he will be an instant fan."
"Of course, he will be. It's much better for his love life isn't it." Pansy said with a smirk.
"You stay out...Parkinson, what are you wearing?" Juniper broke off in the middle of her statement to take in Pansy's outfit in shock. She was wearing her usual Slytherin skirt but she recognized the light grey sweatshirt as one Tony had bought for Hermione.
Pansy scowled at her. "Your stupid house. I was just trying to open a door and it bit me and ripped the arm off my sweater. Now I'm stuck wearing this...this...thing until I can get back to Hogwarts and find proper clothing. It smells like muggles." The last part was said in a wail that nearly had Juniper bursting into laughter.
"You're lucky I loaned you anything. Next time you can just wear your torn clothes." Hermione sniffed. "Anyway, it serves you right. Trying to get into a locked room and then using Alohomora when it won't open. It's rude to snoop."
"Weren't you the one warning Peter this morning to be careful with Black family belongings?" Ron asked.
"I have Black blood it's just several generations back. I was just wondering if it was enough to qualify me as family." Pansy sighed.
"Seems not." Juniper said giving her a sweet smile. Maybe she should have been annoyed that Pansy had been attempting to snoop but she was too amused. "You should have given her a Gryffindor sweater to wear." She informed Hermione.
"Better to give her something I'll never wear again. I would hate to wear something that smelled like a racist pureblood." Hermione answered with the sweetest expression at Pansy's outraged sputtering.
Juniper looked over at her friend in surprise. "You've been spending too much time with Natasha." She decided before turning to Draco. "So, Draco since Loki missed the fighting at the playground and the others have only seen a limited amount of magic I was thinking of maybe doing a demo duel for them. Got the courage to volunteer as my opponent without Snape hissing in your ear?"
"Ohh, the lionesses are flashing their fangs today." Blaise said amusement flashing in his dark eyes. He glanced over at Ron. "Are you gonna play too?"
"Don't you know how lion prides work, Blaise? The lionesses do the hunting. I'm just the dumb muscle." Ron said with a smirk. He ignored the looks Juniper and Hermione sent him knowing he would most likely pay for the remark later.
Juniper turned her attention back to Draco as he grinned. "Absolutely. I've been waiting for a rematch since second year."
"Should we start out with me knocking you on your ass and making friends with the snake you try to set on me just so we can pick up where we left off?" Juniper asked grinning back.
"I may have learned a few things in the past 5 years, Potter. You may have more power but I have a wider knowledge of spells." Draco replied.
"Nothing illegal." Remus said firmly. Then pointed at Juniper. "And no using Snape's spell."
"I wouldn't use that in a duel." Juniper protested.
"Yeah because you'd never do anything in the heat of the moment that you regret later." Draco said with a slight sneer.
Juniper made a face at him and then looked over to Remus. "Will you referee?"
Remus glanced at Draco raising an eyebrow and the boy shrugged and then nodded. Gryffindor or not in the time Remus had been their teacher he'd never been less than fair with the Slytherins.
"I'm Juni's 2nd." Ron predictably piped up.
"I'll be Draco's." Blaise offered.
"You have 2nds for magical duels?" Steve asked curiously.
"The magical and muggles worlds developed side by side for years. Most dueling rules are the same. We just use magic instead of swords or pistols." Remus explained as he and Leta raised their wands to weave the protections that would keep the observers safe from stray spells.
"This is safe right?" Pepper asked sounding a bit nervous. "Your not really going to hurt each other?"
"We're both very well trained Pepper. It'll be fine." Juniper assured her.
Ron let out a snort. "What is that supposed to mean?" Juniper asked him looking a bit offended.
"Draco was trained by Death eaters and you were trained by one of the most bloodthirsty Aurors to ever carry a wand. Not to mention you both got the basics from Flitwick who was a world-champion duelist. I expect he was the only one who bothered to even mention restraint or safety measures."
"We're not going to be going for kill shots here Ron." Juniper reminded him. "It'll be fine."
"If your are all done chatting the protections are up." Leta said with a slight smile. She had a pretty good idea of how this duel was going to end but was interested in seeing how it got there.
Draco and Juniper both pulled their wands and faced Remus as he moved into place. "This is a duel to disarm. No dark spells. No fatal spells. 2nds will step in if either duelist is injured and unable to continue before being disarmed. Face each other and bow."
The two turned and faced each other bowing and holding eye contact as they did. "Scared Potter?" Draco drawled a sparkle in his eyes.
"You wish." Juniper answered in the same tone.
"Begin." Remus said stepping back as they straightened.
They both had their eyes locked on each other. The rest of them may of well had disappeared. For a moment the tension rose as both seemed to be waiting for the other to make the first move then they both cast as one.
Neither of them started with Expelliarmus although Draco half expected Juniper too. It was after all known as one of her two signature spells along with the Patronus charm. Instead, they'd both sent stunners Draco deflecting and Juniper sidestepping so neither connected. Then the spells were flying fast and hard.
Tony's eyes widened as he watched. He'd seen Juniper, Ron, and Hermione fight HYDRA but this was a full-on magic battle. Latin coming too quickly for him to translate came from both. Spells of all colors red, blue, gold, purple, and silver flashed back and forth. But no green. He remembered Juniper telling them that green was the worst one. Green was the color to watch out for. Both Juniper and Draco were dodging some spells and blocking others with shields and other spells. He winced as one of Draco's spells slipped past Juniper's defenses and sliced away a curl as she dodged backward. He expected Remus to call out a warning or something but none of the magicals reacted at all leading him to believe the spell was one approved for dueling.
"That could have killed her." Pepper hissed.
"Unlikely," Leta told her calmly. "It would have to hit her in a way to kill her immediately. Loki seems to have healing powers and I suspect Remus is skilled with healing charms as well. Even if she gets hit it will be fine, but I don't believe she will." Tony kept his full attention on the duel even as he listened to Leta's words. She was right. Juniper was very good at dodging and tossing up a shield at the last minute when she couldn't. Oh, course Draco was just as fast as she was. Maybe it had something to do with the positions they played on their Quidditch teams.
Draco's spells seemed to come in a wider variety the shades of colors more varied while Juniper's seemed more powerful as he could actually see the impact when they hit Draco's shield. Then Juniper cast a spell that seemed to flash a blue flame in Draco's eyes blinding him for a moment and then she hit him with the Expelliarmus. He tried to tighten his grip on his wand but her spell was too strong and it flew out of his hand and into Juniper's.
Ron and Peter let out matching whoops of triumph punching the air as Juniper caught the wand. She had to hide the gasp that hit her when her hand closed around the handle. She could feel the connection the feel of something sliding into place but it wasn't the Hawthorne wand in her hand she was connecting to. It was something older deeper and stronger. She could practically hear it whispering in her head. 'Come get me. Together we will do great things.' She gave a slow smile. Mission accomplished.
Juniper then turned her attention to her cousin to see how he was going to react to her victory. His magic had matured. He was stronger, and his magic more varied than when they were younger but the question was had he grown up enough to accept defeat with grace? His face was flushed pink eyes narrowed but that could have been from the bluebell flame flash she'd used on him as well as anger. She held out his Hawthorne wand to him.
Draco looked up at her then reached out taking the wand but not snatching it away as she'd half expected. "Good duel." He said a bit begrudgingly but honestly enough to bring a brilliant grin from Juniper.
"It really was. You weren't kidding I don't know half of those spells." Juniper told him brightly. "And you really have gotten stronger." His words had Draco relaxing his expression softening.
"I thought I had you for a minute." Draco said motioning to where Kreacher was carefully gathering the lock of hair he'd severed. Hair was after all useful in many spells some not as benign as polyjuice and no good elf would allow something like that to befall their mistress. "That was a good move using the bluebell fire spell like that. Never would have thought about it."
"Hmm, now I have to think of a counter in case we ever duel again." Juniper said brightly making him actually laugh.
Blaise put an arm around Draco's shoulders. "Come on let's eat." He said tugging him over to the food table.
Juniper glanced over to Bucky and amusement flashed in her eyes at the look on his face. She stepped closer sliding her arms around his waist and rising on her tiptoes to whisper in his ear. "Magic duels really turn you on hmm?"
"I think it has more to do with watching my girl kick ass and how much she enjoys it." Bucky answered his hands at her waist wishing they weren't surrounded by friends and family. At this moment he wanted to just scoop her into his arms and carry her back upstairs to their room. He wasn't sure what it was about seeing Juniper beat someone in a duel that heated his blood so fast but then there were a lot of things about Juniper that did that to him. He lowered his forehead to rest against hers. "We need to eat and make nice but we can sneak away as early as we can." He promised.
Juniper let out a sigh. "Being social sucks. When we get our two weeks I'm not sharing you."
Bucky couldn't stop the wicked grin her words brought to his face. "Gonna tie me to the bed doll?"
"Oh, I like the sound of that." Juniper near purred her eyes dancing. "Come on let's get drunk and have some fun."
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AN- Juniper is now technically the master of death but that doesn't mean actually getting physical possession of the wand is going to be so easy. Hopefully, the next chapter will have a lot of fun and games before Loki gives them some bad news. Which they of course handle like adults. In other words, getting stinking drunk.