Summary:
"The security at this school is b-"
Hazel is quickly cut off by Percy, who makes a great show of covering his ears and, before he decides that it is better to hold his hands out beseechingly. "No! My baby cousin can't swear!"
Rachel, never one to pass up an opportunity to stir the pot, stage-whispers. "You've corrupted her!" Percy wails dramatically, Annabeth rolls her eyes and Rachel joins him. Juniper just smiles indulgently. Laughter is good for demigods.
—
"So…" Naomi Smith prompts, leaning unfortunately close. Juniper plasters herself against Hazel's side. She might not know the other girl that well and she is Roman and a daughter of death but she is also a demigod. Right now, that means everything. Hazel herself has a tight grip on Juniper's hand and the dryad tries to let the contact soothe her, even as her anxiety flares. The bubbliness that so easily came out when it was just her, Annabeth and Hazel lurks deep below the surface, resulting now in a racing heartbeat and unsteady breaths.
Juniper musters a weak smile and squeezes Hazel's hand. For her part, the demigod looks more unfriendly than anything else - her face is decidedly cold and her lips are sealed shut. This does not deter Naomi Smith, who thankfully does not lean in any clos- who does somehow manage to lean in closer, well and truly cornering them.
Dryads have been outrunning gods for centuries. Demigods have been fighting monsters for centuries. Juniper is a dryad. Hazel is a demigod. They just press closer together and wait.
"Where are you from then lovelies? Got any boyfriends? I know quite a few single people round here who would absolutely lov-"
"Naomi, darling, don't steal all the air."
"Shut up Diggory." Naomi returns but she does lean back and give them some space. In some ways, it is a loss for Juniper who as a tree spirit, breathes in carbon dioxide and out oxygen. In other, bigger ways, she much appreciates the ability to spread her limbs out now.
Diggory laughs. Behind him, girls giggle and Naomi rolls her eyes. Juniper thinks he's kind of pretty - he has grey eyes and dark hair and skin and when he smiles his teeth gleam. Diggory might be prettier than Grover but Grover will always be more beautiful so she blinks and gives them both a shy smile.
Hazel's grip loosens. Juniper is grateful that she does not let go. The demigod's hand is calloused from training, from fighting and she is sort of draining Juniper's energy a little by virtue of being Pluto's daughter but she makes Juniper feel safe.
"No thanks." He turns to them then, grey eyes sparkling, so different from Annabeth's despite being the same colour. "I'm Cedric Diggory, nice to meet you. What're your names again?"
"Hayleigh." Hazel says firmly. "This is June."
"It's nice to meet you too." Juniper adds, quietly. She is overwhelmed at the moment and not keen to engage in a conversation with people she has only just met.
"Not really talkers, are you?" a voice asks from further down the table.
"Sam!" Naomi hisses. Juniper quietly laughs. When she looks across at Hazel, the demigod is smiling.
"Not right now." she acknowledges.
"So when?"
"Sam!" the boy next to her hisses. "Don't- stop-"
Sam raises both eyebrows, "Stop what?".
"You know exactly what!" he chides. Sam silently waits.
"Ignore Sam and Mike over there. They just like to argue. It's the only thing they draw pleasure from in their sad, miserable little lives."
"I heard that!"
"Good!"
Juniper relaxes slightly at these interactions, reminded of Camp. Hazel, on the other hand, remains stiff and tense. When the demigod catches her staring, she ducks her head slightly and tugs her hand out of Juniper's, bringing both hands up to cover her ears before bringing them back down. Juniper nods.
Hazel is hardly the first demigod to dislike loud noises. Hermione was the same, even as a legacy. Worse even, if Juniper remembers right. It was many human years ago.
Unaware of the turn her thoughts have taken but recognising the faraway look on Juniper's face, Hazel squeezes the dryad's hand. Usually, physical sensations are most effective when grounding demigods.
It works.
"Me okay." Juniper quietly mumbles in Latin, having refused to relearn the language until recently. She has picked up quite a few phrases now, in the spirit of friendship and is progressing quite fast. It is much easier to learn the second time around.
"Good." Hazel returns firmly in Ancient Greek. "Need? Gru?"
Juniper shakes her head. "I need space."
She speaks too quickly for Hazel to understand or maybe she just does not know the word because she shakes her head once, definitively. Juniper is far too worn to remember how to repeat it in Latin so she presses herself even closer, as impossible as it seems.
"I need space." she repeats and at once, Hazel's face smooths out in understanding. It is not, however, something she can really give Juniper right now.
"Were you there for that week Beth and Pete kept judo-flipping each other randomly?"
Juniper vainly tries to hold back her snort. "Chi- Cherry had to ban them from making any deals involving violence with each other. No one wanted to spar with Peter for a week because he kept using that as his last move and bragging about Beth and her teaching skills."
Hazel wiggles her eyebrows. The wizards would never believe her capable. Juniper knows better, particularly after that stable incident this morning.
"That's probably a good thing. We nearly attacked Beth when she judo-flipped him when they came over on the Argo."
"Hay-Hey!"
"It's not like we knew about the deal! And she did take him down quite hard!"
"Oh yeah, we thought he was still invincible before the Second W-fight. Did he ever tell you about that?"
Whatever Hazel is about to say is forgotten by Naomi's eager interruption.
"When you say Beth and Peter, do you mean those two over there?" Juniper follows her finger to see Rachel and Grover, heads bent and whispering, and shakes her head.
"It's the other two?" Naomi asks absentmindedly, her tone strange.
"Why?" Juniper bites out, suddenly uncomfortable once again.
"Just wondering how long that'll last."
Hazel responds before Juniper can, demands as casually as possible what makes Naomi say that. What does she see that they do not?
It turns out that the wizards take their houses seriously because apparently Gryffindor-Slytherin relationships are a no-no. Juniper wishes them luck trying to enforce that.
"What about Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws?"
"Well Ravenclaw boys are smart but they can be a bit arrogant too. They're kind of well-suited to Hufflepuff girls because of that, who tend to be more humble but quite hardworking. Opposites attract right? Although Hufflepuff boys are also a good match, sometimes it's better to have someone more like you."
"Okay." Hazel ventures. It is the wrong thing to say.
Naomi takes it as encouragement and it is only after they have passed the barrels at the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room and been sent up to their dorm that they escape her well-intention but questionable dating advice.
Juniper's sleep is… disturbed and she wakes the next morning far from well-rested. It does not help that Hazel and her took shifts.
She has slept on human beds before but that was different. That was with someone else, sometimes outdoors and never so far from her tree. She can no longer connect to her roots, planted in the soil of Camp Half-Blood.
Most of the campers respect the earth, particularly after having to fight a war with it. None of them are particularly keen to have Gaea rise again for disrespecting her.
Speaking of rising… Juniper forces herself to get up to change. Knowing how scared humans appear of bodies lately, she does so in the privacy of the bathroom, unhappy with the restrictiveness of robes.
Perhaps she can persuade the weaver of their group to do something about that. Juniper is more of an embroiderer. Either way, these robes need to be battle adjusted.
"I've never missed togas before." Hazel mutters unhappily as they head over to the Great Hall.
It is around five in the morning and usually they would meet outside to train but it is their first day in a new place and they have to discuss what to do next. Annabeth sent them a message last night, tied to the foot of an owl and sure enough, she is already there, limbs locked around Percy's.
The son of Poseidon looks to be asleep but a small shake by the apparently not asleep daughter of Athena rouses him. He reluctantly rises from the floor, just in time to smile at them and at Rachel and Grover who are just arriving. He looks like he has not slept at all. Actually, Annabeth looks the same.
"What time did you get here?" Juniper demands suspiciously.
Annabeth shrugs. "Can't remember." Percy adds casually.
"Per- Peter!" Grover bleats, likely sensing something through their shared empathy link. He point blank refused to even think about breaking it and when she pointed out Grover had a longer lifespan than demigods, he said nothing.
Something about going to the Underworld on your first quest must mean you die together because they will go together. Juniper will be gone whenever the seeds of her current tree can no longer grow, whenever there are no more descendants or revitalisations, when ever single part of her no longer lives. It will not be for some time.
"Around midnight." Annabeth states flatly.
Juniper believes her. She could admonish the two of them for breaking curfew but the truth is that none of the six of them care. A little rule-breaking is not going to jeopardise the mission. The dryad has heard that many demigods end up blowing their cover and just about escaping anyway so they will be fine. Hopefully.
"Information?"
"Limited, star-crossed lover 1."
Percy and Annabeth both groan as Rachel laughs uproariously. Grover's lips twitch uncontrollably and before long, the satyr is loudly bleating which sets Juniper off too. Hazel does not join in on the laughter but she does smile, a little reserved thing that Juniper thinks is absolutely adorable. That she would ever say that about a daughter of Hades- Pluto, maybe the difference matters? She never guessed that she would say so of a daughter of Hades. Not that she has known many daughters of Hades, something she should perhaps remedy if the Big Three can convince the Styx to revoke their oath.
Annabeth eventually clears her throat expectantly and the laughter dies off. Grover's quest it may be but Annabeth is their strategist. Or, in Percy's simpler words, when Annabeth starts planning, you start listening. Juniper is quite good at listening.
"So, we have our petty house rivalries. And?"
Juniper coaxes everyone into forming a tight circle before she speaks (except Grover who circles the group, keeping a careful eye on the door and this is why they are together).
"You enter the Hufflepuff dorms by tapping the barrels. I can show you later."
"Really? You just need a password for the Slytherin ones."
"Same for Gryffindor. The Prefect said it would change every week or so."
"You just need to answer a riddle to enter Ravenclaw."
"The security at this school is b-"
Hazel is quickly cut off by Percy, who makes a great show of covering his ears and, before he decides that it is better to hold his hands out beseechingly. "No! My baby cousin can't swear!"
Rachel, never one to pass up an opportunity to stir the pot, stage-whispers. "You've corrupted her!" Percy wails dramatically, Annabeth rolls her eyes and Rachel joins him. Juniper just smiles indulgently. Laughter is good for demigods. Willow says that at least if they are laughing, they do not weep. He is right.
"What?" Hazel asks obliviously, "I was just saying that it's barely present." There is a twinkle in her eyes that speaks of mischief and Juniper wonders, not for the first time about the girl's origins.
"Okay." Percy commands, clapping together his hands, once more the leader that Camp Half-Blood follows in to battle and even more so when he turns towards Annabeth, a gentle expression on his face. "Wise girl?"
The strategist nods grimly and whatever battle spirit resides in Juniper's heart snaps to attention.
Magic, human magic, is… just human magic really. It would be fine if Juniper were not a dryad. Herbology is good, as expected, and Potions is fine but History eludes her thus far. Hazel, expected to be the best of them as both half-human and favoured by Hecate, struggles less.
Nevertheless, Hazel's own magic is deep and strong and brutal. What these people seem to lack in power, they make up for with versatility. The Mist is simply illusion, belief and this magic has rules, structure. The Mist does not need to be adhered to.
Surprisingly, their presence among the First Years help them blend in rather than stand out. It could be a little galling that Juniper, who has been alive since before the fall of Troy, is below the level of eleven year olds but if there is one thing she has learnt over the centuries, it is patience.
The other thing she has learnt is to swiftly and uncompromisingly defend those who are hers. So when Hazel and she are sat at the Hufflepuff table for lunch and there is suddenly an unfamiliar presence leaning close, Juniper prepares herself. Last night she was out of it, acted like a child. Today, she is ready.
"Yes?" she demands expectantly before anything can be said, not trusting that glint in the boy's eyes. He gives her a dismissive look and zeroes in on Hazel.
"None of your business, Greenie."
"Excuse me?"
The seventh year smiles at Hazel's interruption, something smug on his face. It is not the dismissal that makes Juniper seethe but this, this uncomfortable, inappropriate hunger. And yet, when she glances at Hazel, her limbs relax. The demigod no longer wears the gaze of a lioness pretending to be a doe. Instead, her skin is taut, her lips closed and her eyes glimmer gold, a polished metal. Gold, true gold, is soft and malleable. But Hazel is demi, half, an alloy of gold and something else - diamond perhaps.
So Juniper settles, tries not to laugh as the seventh year begins to become unsettled by Hazel's stare. He has confidence, she will grant him that, but demigods are shaped by blood and death. This boy-man is shaped by magic and love. An insignificant interloper perhaps but an interloper all the same.
"Leave us." Hazel Levesque commands, the power of crumbling caves and unimaginable riches in her voice. Juniper does not laugh. She smiles and her branches loom overhead in the dark, her roots in the perfect position to trip someone up, her thick canopy blocking out any guiding light. She smiles and meets the eyes of those watching, lets them see the triumph in her gaze. Let them all see. They are not here to make friends. They are here because they are cleaning up Hecate's mess, because that is the only purpose their lives have to divine beings. The demigods are here because they were born. Grover is here because the demigods were born. Juniper is here because Grover was born.
"You sure about that sweetheart? Maybe you and I could…" He inches towards her, fingers mere breaths away from her shoulders.
"Don't touch me." Hazel commands.
Arrogant then and clearly not able to take a hint. Juniper waits anyway, assured in Hazel's ability to defend herself. The demigod in question is not even looking at him, has her eyes fixed instead on eyes of tumultuous blue-green. The son of the sea deliberately retrieves a pen from his pocket and slowly tilts his head. Hazel shakes her head ever so slightly, just as deliberately and then looks at Annabeth. The blonde pats her shoulder, a devious look on her face, and Hazel nods.
"Remember yesterday, that week?" she asks Juniper. The dryad darts out of the way, just as Annabeth nods and Hazel grabs the seventh years offending wrist and moves, quicker than these wizards seem to track. It ends with him on the ground and Hazel back in her seat. Juniper extends a comforting limb and Hazel leans in, her left side now shielded by the dryad's body. There is a moment of peace (more shocked silence really).
Then, there is the disapproving Head of House, the wailing seventh year and all of the uproar. Their party watches, impassively, as those around them react. And then, when those around follow Hazel's gaze to Percy's feral smile, there are shivers.
"Miss Levelle!"
Juniper's eyes narrow at the woman interrupting their peace. She does not seem too happy, is sort of flustered and her mouth hangs slightly open in shock. Really, it is quite a disproportionate reaction. If someone tells you not to touch them, you do not. If you do, you have to accept the consequences that come with it. (Unless it is a child. That is different. Usually.)
"I… you! What possessed you to think that physically harming your housemate… Detention, Miss Levelle. I…"
"But professor." Juniper reasonably cuts in. "She told him not to touch her and he still did."
The woman wheedles around to stare at the groaning Seventh year.
"Mister Jonas, is this true?"
He looks set to disagree before he happens to look up at Juniper's sneer. Then, he magically seems to change his mind albeit sullenly.
"I'm sorry Professor." Hazel mutters, looking devastatingly contrite. "He called June 'greenie' and I told him not to touch me and I didn't think he would but then…" She produces a sob that even Juniper would be hard pressed to find fake. "I don't react well when people touch me ma'am."
Their Head of House pauses, clearly unsure what to do here before her eyes land on Juniper's tearful visage. The dryad feels that she may have cracked a root trying not laugh. The kindly woman's visage hardens and before long, Hazel is off the hook 'this time' and Mister Jonas is being dragged off by the ear for a long talk that he will not enjoy.
Juniper high-fives Hazel under the table.
—
Notes:
Trope 9 - Juniper is a sweet, gentle, harmless soul: oops?
Trope 10 - Hazel is the youngest child secretly manipulating everyone around her: go girl!