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Chapter Two: Little Sisters Are So Embarrassing

Juniper stood in front of the stone wall that served as the entrance to Diagon Alley yawning. Her sister was resting her head on her shoulder practically asleep. She knew she shouldn't have attempted that essay last night. Juniper had finally gotten to bed at about five in the morning, and was woken up at around seven, meaning she was going on abou two hours of sleep. As for Jaenelle, well, Jaenelle just didn't like getting up early to begin with. Suddenly, Juniper felt herself being clapped on a shoulder and a loud voice boomed, "Look alive!"

The twins nearly jumped out of their skins and turned in unison to round at the culprit, their father. Juniper merely glared at him.

"Did we really have to wake up this early?" Jaenelle pouted. "The shops aren't going anywhere. We could've gone after lunch."

"Stop complaining, Jaenelle," their mother chastised as she put a sheet of parchment back into her purse, then tapped the correct bricks with her wand. They began to shift and rearrange themselves to form an archway. Together, the family of four stepped into Diagon Alley.

Even this early in the morning the streets were bustling with activity. Juniper stepped out of the way of a harried witch hurrying past. Despite running on just fumes right now, Diagon Alley had that certain charm that she loved. Even Jaenelle's expression seemed to brighten a little bit, but that could've been because a group of seventh year boys walked past laughing about something. Of course, a trip to Gringotts was in order first. The girls filled their sacks with an assortment of Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts.

"Right," Mr. Clayton said once they were all back outside again. "You girls know what you need to get. Your mum and I have a few things to pick up, ourselves. So, we'll trust the two of you to go off on your own. Remember to get only what you need and nothing more."

Juniper nodded and Jaenelle said, "Got it, Dad." Once Mr. and Mrs. Clayton were gone, Jaenelle turned to her twin. "Well, I'm going to see if I can find those boys again. Want to come with me?"

Juniper wrinkled her nose. "No thanks," she said. Jaenelle smirked knowingly. "What?"

"You just want to find James, don't you?"

"No!" Juniper cried frantically.

"Hm...okay, sure. One day you won't be able to deny it." Juniper watched as her sister flounced away. Juniper's shoulders slumped. She would never have the confidence that her sister had. They might have have shared similar faces, but they were as different as night and day. Tugging at the sleeve of her black and yellow striped Quidditch jumper, she headed towards Flourish and Blott's. She quickly found The Standard Book Of Spells Grade Four and stood facing the bookshelf, flipping through it. She was unaware that someone was sneaking up very silently behind her. Juniper then felt a pair of hands grab her suddenly and tickle her sides. She shrieked and dropped the book hearing a familiar laugh. Juniper turned and found herself face to face with James.

"Why are you so jumpy?" he grinned cheekily. Juniper scowled up at him. "You know I don't like that," she muttered.

James reached forward and gave her ponytail a light playful tug. "Sorry," he said bending down to retrieve Juniper's book."

Juniper took the book and clutched it tightly to her chest. "Er...we just sort of got here." She looked up on one of the higher shelves and saw another book she needed, but it was too high for her to reach, even standing on her tiptoes.

"I got it." James, who was much taller, stretched his arms slightly and grabbed the book.

"Thanks, where's the rest of your family?" she asked.

"Mum took Lily to buy some new robes, Dad's in the Leaky Cauldron, and I think Albus was headed to the Apothecary last time I saw him. I need to get my books from here then head to Eeylop's to get some more Owl Treats for Socrates. Still can't believe Lily named him that," James added under his breath, but loudly enough for Juniper to hear.

Juniper laughed lightly. "Can't you change it?"

"Nah, he won't answer to anything else." James paid for his books and waited patiently for Juniper to make her purchases as well before the two of them walked out of Flourish and Blott's.

Juniper went with James to the Owl Emporium, even though she didn't need anything from there. Juniper had never really had a pet for herself, unless one counted Ferdy, but that was more of the family owl and didn't accompany her to Hogwart's. While James was looking at the different Owl Treats, Juniper was perusing the different species of owls.

"Maybe your parents will agree to let you have one," James said coming up behind her, clutching a bag of mouse shaped treats in his right hand.

She tore her eyes off of a rather beautiful Tawny in order to look up at James. "I seriously doubt it. I can barely get through Transfiguration and that's ten times harder than taking care of a pet."

James reached forward, past Juniper's left shoulder and stroked the owl's breast. The Tawny hooted with pleasure and lightly nipped the Gryffindor's hand affectionately. Juniper tilted her head upwards to look at James, a very soft pink tinge on her cheeks. Her throat went dry as he was rather close to her. The shirttail of his open button up that layered over the red t-shirt underneath brushed lightly against her arm. Juniper struggled to regain her composure before James caught her looking at him, but he gave her a rather faint smirk just the same.

"Hey, why are you blushing?" he teased lightly poking the tip of her nose.

Juniper frowned and brushed his hand away. "It's just a little warm in here that's all," she lied as convincingly as she could, but her heart skipped a beat when he grinned impishly before stepping back.

"Well, I'll just pay for these. Where do you have to go next?"

Juniper was glad when he didn't tease her more. That was another thing she liked about him. He didn't pressure her when she was uncomfortable. She dug the list of school supplies from her purse and looked it over. "Er...even though I think I'm still good on Potions ingredients, I should probably stock up on some more."

"Well then, I guess we're headed to the Apothecary next."

"What do you mean we? You don't have to come with me." It was embarrassing enough as it was that she couldn't keep herself from blushing.

"Because we promised to hang out together when we were in Diagon Alley, remember?"

Juniper nervously played with her hair. "Yes, but...don't you have other things you need to get?"

"Yes, and Potions ingredients are one of the things on my list as well. You're not trying to get rid of me, are you?"

She shook her head frantically. "No, no, no! I just...um...I mean...well..." she spent about fifteen seconds stammering, trying to come up with a good excuse as to why he didn't have to come with her everywhere, but could find none.

'Face it, you're just afraid of your crush on him getting so out of control that you won't be able to contain your feelings.'

'It's not like that! I just don't want him to feel like he has to accompany me everywhere and watch over me."

'I doubt he feels that way. He seems perfectly eager to be by your side. You know what that means, don't you?"

'It doesn't mean a thing! We're just friends.'

'Says the girl who can barely stop blushing each time she looks at him.'

'That doesn't mean I like him!'

'Keep telling yourself that. You won't be able to hide it forever.'

"Juniper?"

She was torn away from her mental argument with herself when James said her name. "Oh, right, the Apothecary." She didn't realize that she had been walking while she was having her internal conflict, but now James and she were in front of the small shop. He held the door open for her, allowing her to walk in first.


James caught a whiff of Juniper's scent as she walked past him into the Apothecary and silently cursed. Why did she have to affect him so? These feelings hadn't really surfaced before the middle of last year. He would admit, he only first started to really talk to her because she had joined the Hufflepuff Quidditch team and was surprised at one of her practices. How could someone as awkward as her be such a natural on a broom? In ensuing Quidditch Matches against Hufflepuff, she definitely kept him on his toes, but the strange part was that she didn't seem to be trying too hard to score any goals, and when she did, she didn't react very much. The only thing she cared about was flying.

He would soon learn that there was more to her than just Quidditch. Yes, she had a very shy and awkward persona, but she would sit and listen to what he had to say, sometimes giving her input. Over the curse of her third year and his fourth year, the two of them had grown closer and closer until they formed a rather strong friendship. The fact that she seemed so natural was what sparked those feelings. She wasn't superficial like a lot of the other girls. James found it to be a breath of fresh air. James found himself drawn to her shyness.

He often teased and flirted with her, enjoying her reactions. Yet, there was a large part of him that wished their friendship could evolve into something deeper. But he would do nothing to force Juniper into anything until he was absolutely one-hundred percent sure that she felt the same as well.

Albus wasn't in the Apothecary, James assumed that his younger brother had finished here and traveled somewhere else. The fifteen year old stocked up on different ingredients including asphodel, flitterbloom, herbaria, and leech juice, among many others. He looked over at Juniper who was measuring snakeweed. Her back was turned to him, so he was able to stare without her seeing. He grimaced, why did she have to be so cute? Realizing that he was most likely being a creep, he turned back to his ingredients and finished measuring them out.

The door to the Apothecary opened and James heard the familiar chatter of his younger sister.

"But Muuum! Why can't I have the purple dress robes? They would have looked so good on me!" she whined.

"I told you, Lily, they're too revealing for any thirteen year old," Mrs. Potter admonished. "The green dress robes I got you are just fine." She stopped talking when she saw James. "Hi, son. Have you gotten many of the things on your list so far?"

James secretly prayed that his mother wouldn't do or say anything to embarrass him in front of Juniper. "Just a few more things to get."

"Hey, Juniper!" Lily called out, waving to the fourteen year old. Forget his mother, his sister would be more likely to say something embarrassing.

"Hi, Lily," Juniper said with a shy, yet friendly smile. "How've you been?"

"Great! Guess what? I'm going to try out for Quidditch this year! I can't wait, I hope James lets me onto the team."

"If you're anything like your two brothers when it comes to flying, you'll be just fine," Juniper said reassuringly.

Lily grimaced. "I hope so, because I don't know if I could join the Frog Choir instead."

Juniper chuckled. "They don't seem that bad. I joined last year, briefly, but I couldn't carry a tune in a bucket."

Lily frowned and looked up at James. "I thought you said that she had the voice of an angel."

James moved quickly covering his younger sister's mouth and laughed nervously. "Okay, that's enough out of you. You should really lay off the chocolate. It's messing with your brain a bit."

"James, be nice to your sister," Mrs. Potter scolded lightly before smiling at Juniper. "Hello, dear. How are you and the rest of your family doing?"

Juniper tugged lightly at the hem of her jumper. "They're fine."

"That's good. Tell them I said hello."

Juniper nodded. "I will." All the while, James was making jerking motions with his head, silently trying to hint to his mother and his sister that they should go away.

Mrs. Potter seemed to take notice of her son's hints. "All right, we'll just leave you two alone. We just came in here to get some valerian root."

James sighed in relief, glad that they were going to leave without him being embarrassed too much, save for that earlier statement by his sister.

But Lily just couldn't resist one more. "Hey, Juniper? If you dated my brother, I'm sure he'd be very happy."

James ground his teeth. "Yes, thank you for that, Lily," he muttered.

The thirteen year old smiled cheerfully and followed her mother out of the Apothecary. In the course of five minutes, he had been thoroughly embarrassed by his little sister. Why, oh why couldn't his parents stop after they had Albus? He lifted his glasses up slightly and pinched the bridge of his nose sighing.

"So...er..." There Juniper was again, playing with her ponytail and biting down nervously on her bottom lip.

James quickly regained his composure. "So, how about some ice cream," he said, hoping that she wouldn't mention anything about what his sister had said.

"Sure," Juniper said smiling lightly. The two of them made their purchases before heading out into the cool air and traveling the short distance to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour.