Juniper sat in a quiet corner of the common room, head turned so she could watch the fire mindlessly. She had a book for the astronomy class she didn't care about resting uselessly between her chest and her legs that were brought up in front of her, feet resting on the cushion. As she lazily wrapped her arms around her legs, squishing the book gently, she simmered.

She had read and reread Riddle's letter dozens of times in the last few hours, getting more and more irritated each time she did. The thoughts buzzing around her head ranged from 'How dare he?' to 'I ought to punch a hole right through his pretty face.' Simultaneously, and perhaps more confusingly, the same thought kept coming to the forefront of her mind over everything else: 'Why do I care so much? I'm not even supposed to be here, I never should have met him, I'll hopefully be leaving soon and never speaking to that prick again. So why do I care?' Huffing softly, she tightened the grip on her legs, bringing them closer to her still.

What she had to do was focus on the future - both the immediate and the long-term. She had another meeting with Professor Dumbledore this evening after dinner. There, they would hopefully get to the bottom of who her potential attacker could be. After that? She could focus on getting back to her job.

Wait.

Wait.

Juniper's head spun with the sudden thought, immediately feeling incredibly stupid.

Did it matter how far in the past she was? The diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw would still have been centuries old at this point. Why couldn't she find it now? Destroy it now? She still didn't know what was so important about the diadem that it would change the outcome of an entire war… But she was mentally kicking herself for not even thinking of the idea sooner. It had been two months. Closing her eyes tightly, she sat back in her plush chair, head tilting up towards the ceiling as a new set of thoughts raced through her brain. She would have to run the idea by Professor Dumbledore- he could help. But-

But wouldn't it be wrong for her to mention specifics about the future? Or would this small seeming detail really matter? Opening her eyes again, she rubbed her cheek harshly with one hand, mulling it over.

"Hey, Juniper?" a voice asked from next to her chair causing her to jump slightly. Placing her feet back on the ground and closing the astronomy book in her lap, she held a finger between the pages to keep her place. Looking up, she saw Orion standing next to her.

"Oh, Rion," she looked at him curiously, trying to calm her thoughts and bring herself back to reality. "What's up?"

"I just wanted to thank you for your help this morning, and um…" he held his wand gingerly between his fingers, twirling it slowly between them, looking almost embarrassed. "I think I have one more question… If that's okay. It's kind of a psychological question, though…" Her immediate thoughts of 'Why can't you just ask your professor' came with a sharp pang of guilt for even thinking it. Clearing her throat gently she gave a quick smile.

"Of course, shoot."

"So, when you turn an animal into something, like a goblet, do you think it knows when it's been transfigured? Or do you think it remembers being transfigured afterwards? Would it be the same with a human?" Juni's eyes had drifted back to the wand in his fingers as he spoke, watching the way he spun it. It had a delicate, complex pattern on the hilt that she couldn't help but notice. She hadn't really taken notice of people's wands in this time period - were they always so detailed? The more she looked, the feeling of familiarity crept up. Maybe it was a design or something she had seen in one of her ancient runes classes?

Noticing her staring, Rion stopped his twirling to tilt the wand slightly, as though showing it off to her.

"Nice, right? African Blackwood," he offered with a quick smile before putting the wand in his cloak in a smooth, practiced motion. "Only the Black family really has this type. Real expensive." She thought about it for a moment, left with a sour taste in her mouth at his 'humble bragging'.

"Anyway, uh, so what do you think?"

"Oh, sorry, um," furrowing her eyebrows she looked back up at his face, finding him watching her expectantly. "I don't know which would be better, honestly," she laughed softly, almost apologetically for getting distracted. "I would like to think that they don't really… have a consciousness while transfigured, I guess. It seems more humane that way, you know? There's probably some text somewhere about humans that have been transfigured, though. Maybe it's something worth looking into?" Juni gave him a half-hearted encouraging smile, but Orion watched her, the hint of concern on his face.

"Hey, umm," he crouched down next to her chair, hesitating before lowering his voice, "that letter I delivered… It wasn't anything awful, was it? You seem… Really distracted." He sounded as though he hadn't wanted to ask at all, but clearly she wasn't acting as normal as she thought.

"No, it-" she cut herself off, glancing away from him as she felt her blood boil again at just the thought of that arrogant little-

"I'm sorry for bringing it up," Rion told her quickly, "Or I guess giving it to you at all. I didn't mean to make you mad, I mean I didn't think-"

"It's okay, Rion," she gave him a small smile, feeling guilty about his clear concern. "You couldn't have known what it said. I don't blame you at all." Considering this for a moment, he hesitantly returned her smile before tilting his head down, the smile remaining on his lips.

"You're a neat girl, Juniper," his voice was quiet. "I can see why Riddle is always-" He cut himself off abruptly, pressing his lips tightly together, as though realizing too late that he had spoken too freely. For a fraction of a second, his expression tightened—not in embarrassment, but in a seemingly contained frustration. Then, just as quickly, it was gone. He straightened to a stand, avoiding her gaze. "I have to go. Thank you again for this morning." Before she could even begin to question him, he was gone, leaving Juniper with possibly even more questions than she had had before he walked over.

'Why Riddle is always…

…what?'

Juniper sat into a soft cushioned chair in front of Professor Dumbledore's desk. There was the soft click of the metal handle as he shut the door to his office, leaving her alone as he quickly attended to a student's question outside in the classroom. Looking around curiously, she examined the objects covering every shelf that surrounded the room. There appeared to be countless books, little odd trinkets she didn't recognize, as well as a small assortment of potions next to an empty bird perch. She contemplated for a moment on whether this bird perch could possibly be for Fawkes, the phoenix he had when she knew him 50 years from now, but she wasn't sure if even phoenixes could live that long. Maybe she'd ask him if she remembered.

"Sorry about that," Dumbledore announced his reentry to the room after a few minutes. Closing the door securely behind him, he locked the door. "Only locking as a precaution. We don't need anyone barging in again." Juni gave a halfhearted laugh as she nodded. Making his way over to the opposite side of his desk, the professor sighed heavily as he sat down.

"I am grateful that, despite our lack of any headway on who may have been your attacker and our inability to find time to discuss it further," he began, getting to business right away. "That you seem to be okay. I trust there weren't any follow up incidents I haven't heard of in the last two weeks?"

"No, sir," Juni replied, more relief in her voice than she intended.

"Good," he smiled softly at her, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his desk, hands clasped together. "Now, as far as how our last meeting ended: you were about to tell me the person or persons you had ruled out thus far."

"Oh, um," shifting in her seat slightly, she avoided eye contact. "All of the prefects as well as head boys and head girls can be ruled out, I think, sir. They were all in a meeting with Headmaster Dippet at the time."

"So they were," Dumbledore nodded slowly, as though running the list of people through his head. Pausing, he examined Juni carefully. "Are you… unsure about one of them?"

"I… Don't… I don't think so, sir," she chewed gently on her lip, still avoiding his gaze but feeling its weight all the same.

"Alright," he moved on after a moment, "then perhaps we can focus on who it may be. Do you have anyone who's been outrightly hostile towards you? Or suspicious in any way?" David Avery's comments from the other week flew to the front of her mind, immediately demanding her attention.

"Um, David Avery, sir," stealing a glance at the professor, she noted his expression and quickly clarified. "Not meaning that he's been hostile or mean to me at all, no. He just… Knew too much? I don't know how to explain it more than that… He knew that I had been in the hospital, which was odd at first. But then he said something about 'going for a swim in all my heavy clothes'... How would he know about that? I had only told thr-" she stopped herself quickly, shaking her head. "I had told hardly anyone exactly what happened."

"Three people?" Dumbledore's eyebrows were raised as he watched her, one of his thumbs rubbing the side of the opposite hand slowly. "Juniper, you realize the more people know about these sorts of things-"

"I know, Professor," she cut him off, trying her best to hide any impatience. "I didn't mean to. It was just… A little stressful."

"I believe it is safe to say that I am one of three," he counted, "Ruth Abbott would likely make two. If you didn't tell David Avery and now suspect him because of his inappropriate knowledge of the situation… Do you believe this third person may have told him what happened?"

Juniper couldn't help but let out a sound that was somewhere between a laugh and a scoff before quickly regaining herself and apologizing.

"No, sir, I don't think they would," she told him, but the more she thought about it, the less sure she was. David and Riddle… were friends, after all, weren't they? "He… Isn't the gossiping type…"

"But now you aren't so sure?" Dumbledore prodded, seeming to once again read her mind. She mentally kicked herself for the second time today, this time for being so easy to read. She would have to work harder at that.

"Well, sir," she said, almost uneasily. "He is friends with David. I don't know, maybe it… Came up somehow?"

"Who?"

"Tom Riddle, sir." At this, Dumbledore visibly stiffened for a moment as he watched her, before relaxing again.

"Sir?" Juni started to get a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach at his reaction. She knew she didn't like him, and Rue didn't like him… But as far as the teachers went, they usually were eating out of the palm of his hand. So why did the professor react as though the name was both a shock and completely expected?

"Tom Riddle," he repeated the name almost thoughtfully. "You trust Mister Riddle's discretion?" Juniper hesitated. It wasn't necessarily an odd question, but something about the way it was worded made her stomach flip.

"I… I mean, I don't like him, but I don't think…"

"No, I believe your initial thought is accurate," Dumbledore interjected, flashing a small smile. "Mister Riddle is not one for gossip. Perhaps David Avery simply overheard you talking to Ruth? Or do you think maybe she mentioned something to him?" Juni shook her head.

"She was the one who suspected him first," she recounted. "She pointed out that he shouldn't have known where I was. Then later is when he mentioned the 'swimming' part."

"Hm."

The two sat in measured silence for a few moments before Dumbledore leaned back in his chair, lifting his folded hands off the desk and into his lap.

"Let us assume for a moment," he contemplated. "That Miss Abbott did tell him. Why would he repeat it back to you in such a way? What purpose would this serve?" Juni looked away from him, considering what he asked. She hadn't thought of it like that. If he knew that she was attacked, why bring it up like a taunt? And thinking about it again, it wasn't like she was with Ruth the entire day that day… Maybe she did mention more of what happened when Juni wasn't around? The very thought set her mind a little more at ease… But wouldn't Ruth have told her that? Probably. Though, she did have a minor melt-down immediately after he revealed what he knew… So maybe she forgot to mention it. They hadn't really spoken a ton about it since then.

"I think it's best to consider all options. Perhaps you can ask her if you're unsure?" Dumbledore pointed out and Juni nodded.

"Yeah, you're… You're right. I'll ask her when I get back to the common room," she said, the words feeling almost heavy in her mouth. She would ask Ruth, but for the first time, she wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer. The whole thing just felt… Off. But she couldn't pinpoint the exact reason why. Maybe asking Ruth would clear it up. Maybe… It would make things more messy.

"Is there anyone else that you have reason to suspect?"

Juniper's mind wandered to her classmates, trying to think for about the thousandth time if one of them had dropped clues that they hated her. She thought back to her interactions that morning with Orion, suddenly remembering the diadem.

"Say, professor…" she began cautiously, deciding her words carefully. "I… Thought of something this morning that I wanted to run by you." Dumbledore motioned for her to continue with his hand as he watched her, propping his ankle on the opposite knee.

"Do you remember I told you how my, um, 'mission' was to go back a few months and destroy something? And that in doing so, I would change the outcome of the war?" He nodded, his eyes studying her as he listened. "So, this… Thing… Is actually sort of a historical artifact. I think that um, I think that if I found it even in this time period and destroyed it, that maybe it would still…"

"Have the desired outcome?" The professor offered and Juni nodded.

"I don't see why this thing being destroyed 50 years early or a few months earlier than my time should matter…" Dumbledore considered this for a moment, drawing a hand up to stroke at his cleanly combed beard.

"Perhaps," he began. "And this object is at the school, you said? Would it still be at the school 50 years earlier than intended?"

"I…" Juni suddenly felt crushed, remembering pieces of the school's history. "Actually, I'm not sure… It kind of has a, um. Complicated history."

There was a silence as the man decided how to continue forward. Watching her, he pressed his lips together, leaning towards one side. Putting his elbow against the arm of the chair, he rested his chin in his hand, his fingers covering his mouth.

"It's a difficult position for me to be in, you'll understand," he began in quiet, measured tones. "Between my desire to help shape a better future for not only the school, but the wizarding community as a whole, and knowing that interfering directly with the future in a more… 'artificial' way is… Well, a more 'morally grey' area." Juniper felt guilt creeping in as he spoke. She shouldn't expect him to help her like this: his helping her try to get back home was already far more than he ever could have expected or bargained for, it would be selfish to expect more.

"That… Being said," he took another long pause. "I believe that perhaps not attempting to assist in this case would be more on the 'immoral' side of things."

Juniper was at a loss as she looked at him, unsure whether he meant that he was going to help her with this as well, or if he was just deliberating the morality of helping her in general. He studied her for a moment, and there was something unreadable in his gaze—an almost imperceptible shift, as though a decision had been made but not yet spoken aloud.

"I think you're going to have to tell me what this mysterious war-ending object is if I'm going to help you destroy it," he said at last, causing Juniper to look back up at him in surprise.

"Wh-what?" Was all she could manage, dumbfounded.

"I'm going to help you," he reiterated. "Again, it would be… Immoral. Irresponsible of me, even, to not help you and to allow this war to end so… 'unfavorably.'"

Another long silence as the weight of everything Dumbledore had told her thus far shot through Juni's mind.

"Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem, sir," she finally broke the silence, the man looking at her with more surprise than when she had quite literally landed in his classroom two months earlier.

He blinked once.

Twice.

"I…" he began, at a loss for words, which until this very moment Juniper hadn't been convinced was a thing that could happen to him. "I may not be able to help you after all." The words didn't land right. Juniper felt her stomach twist at the way his usual unwavering certainty had suddenly… disappeared.

"Sir?" Juni asked quickly, sitting forward and gripping the arms of her chair without realizing it.

"Juniper, the diadem of Ravenclaw has been lost for centuries. You're saying it's here in the castle, but no one has seen it since the time of the four founders. Perhaps it'll be found in the next 50 years, but…" he trailed off, losing himself in thought.

"I don't understand," Juni protested. "That's what I was told to find and get rid of. They said it was in the castle- in the room of requirement!" Dumbledore considered this, fixing her with another sharp stare.

"I'm not quite so sure that it is," he began, sighing heavily as he rested both feet back firmly on the wooden floor. "But if you're absolutely positive that it is… And that the diadem is the object you were sent to find…" He paused again, screwing up his face in confusion.

"I don't understand how the diadem would help win or lose a war either, sir," Juni sympathised with his confusion. "They all but refused to let me in on the secret." Sighing again, Dumbledore glanced around his office before looking at her again.

"You're a young lady full of mysteries, Ms. Nott."

"Tell me about it," it was Juni's turn to sigh. "All I wanted was to be an average in-the-background Hufflepuff." Dumbledore laughed softly at this and shook his head.

"Juniper, from what I've observed: even without all of this mess, you are anything but 'average.' Nor are you destined to be 'in the background.'"

She didn't know what to say to that. Opening her mouth to reply, she shut it again after she seemed incapable of making any sound escape her lips.

"Now then," Dumbledore stood, glancing at a clock on the wall that looked just about as ancient as the school itself. "It's late. Almost curfew." Quickly standing herself, Juni looked at the clock and sighed. "You get back to your dorm. Ask Miss Abbott about whether she spoke to Mister Avery or not. Should the opportunity arise and the room of requirement presents itself to you, I implore you to begin your search. I'll do the same when I have free time. Though I wouldn't hold out on the hope that we find it here. Again, the diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw has been lost for many centuries. It isn't likely we'll just happen upon it."

"I know, sir," Juni conceded.

"But we will search for it," his voice was calm, but something behind it—something unspoken—made Juniper uneasy. "Even if we don't find it, we may yet find something else. Something we didn't know we were looking for." He paused, the unease growing in Juniper's stomach. "In the meantime, we should also continue to search for any additional suspects in your attack. It is imperative that you remain vigilant, Juniper. We'll meet back here next week, same time."

"Understood, sir," Juni bowed her head slightly as she made her way to the door, stopping as she opened it. "Um…"

"Yes?" Juni turned back to look at him.

"Thank you, sir. For all of your kindness." Dumbledore smiled again from behind his desk.

"Goodnight, Juniper."

"Goodnight, sir."

Shutting the door behind herself, Juniper left the classroom and started down the hall. She wasn't sure whether she felt better or… much worse after their meeting. There was just something that seemed… Well, she wasn't sure how it seemed. She understood Dumbledore's confusion about the whole thing regarding the apparent importance of some lost relic. Maybe she was hoping that maybe he would have had some more insight somehow as to why it was important, and she was disappointed when he didn't seem to have any more clue than she did.

Or did he?

Dumbledore was always a cryptic old man. From what she remembered, he loved to talk in riddles. Maybe that started when he was younger. And what did he mean by finding something else? That they didn't know what they were looking for? Rubbing the back of her neck with one hand, Juniper rounded a corner in the long corridors-

She stopped short.

Not a single one of the torches were still lit.

That didn't make sense, though. She had just looked at the clock in Dumbledore's office. She had just left and the torches are supposed to stay lit until after hours- Come to think of it, the hallways she'd seen so far had been… Oddly empty.

Staring down the dark hallway, she began to notice how eerily quiet it was. The sound of her breath seemed to be amplified to the point where she opted to hold it instead, trying to hear anything in the darkness in front of her.

Nothing.

Taking a few backward steps, she looked around the corner of the hallway she had just come from - not a single lit torch.

There was no way it was that late.

Turning forwards again, suddenly more on edge than she had been a few seconds earlier, Juniper dug around in her robes for her wand. Fingers grasping its handle, she yanked it out almost clumsily and froze again.

The silence stretched, pressing against her ears, thick and unnatural. Juniper held her breath still, listening—

Still nothing.

-Or-

-Or had there been something..? A shift of fabric? A breath that wasn't hers? She wasn't sure. She didn't want to be sure. Hand starting to tremble slightly, she whispered.

"Lumos!"

A small, piercing light shone from the tip of her wand as she tried to use it to see further down the darkened hall.

Juniper didn't feel comfortable sighing in relief because there was nothing there. She wasn't sure at this point if that made things better or worse. Everything about the darkness felt abnormal. It wasn't the simple, soft, empty black of an unlit corridor. This was thick, unnatural—like something had reached out and smothered the light. And it felt as though it was pressing in around her.

She had to get out of the hall.

Did she run back to Dumbledore? What if it was nothing, and she was just being paranoid? She'd already put him through enough with all her… Problems.

No.

No, she should get back to the common room.

The light from her wand flickered softly as her hand shook. Pressing her arm and wrist firmly against herself, she pointed her wand towards the air in front of her and the light stabilized again.

Okay. Back to the common room. It wasn't terribly far, she surely could manage to-
The air shifted.
Not a sound, not a movement, but something in the blackness felt… different. Like the moment before a storm breaks.
Her fingers clenched tighter around her wand.
"Juniper!" a voice whispered from the blackness, sounding as though it were coming both from all around her and at the same time right against her ear. The air was suddenly thick, pressing against the back of her neck like the weight of unseen eyes.

Breaking out into a full run, she flew down the hallway, clumsily holding her wand ahead of her to light the way. The only thought going through her head was 'run.'