our universe

- S C R E A M -

Victoire held true to her word. In the span of a week Juniper had her ears double pierced, refused to get a tattoo on her wrist, much to Victoire's disappointment, and snuck into an ancient castle past closing.

The last one was Juniper's favorite so far. Her and Victoire had run around the dark grounds of the arched masterpiece for hours, giggling and stargazing. The piercings had hurt like a bitch, but Juniper even admitted she liked how they looked.

Christmas was an all night affair in the Delacour-Weasley abode. Juniper felt as if she was being weighed down by rocks she was so jetlagged. It didn't help that Victoire dragged her out of the house at all hours of the night and then proceeded to sleep during the afternoon. Juniper's sleep schedule was a mess to say the least. Juniper was currently wishing that she'd taken Fleur's offer to have a glass of champagne, anything to keep her self awake and buzzed, even just for a short period of time.

Finally, Bill had mercy, obviously catching on to the fact that Juniper was struggling to keep her eyes open. He picked up his very intoxicated wife, who was well into a bottle of wine, and carried her upstairs. Drunk Fleur was a sight to see, she was much more loose. Juniper didn't mind. Drunk Fleur and Victoire actually got along. In Juniper's time in France, she had been privy to not one, but two all out screaming matches between the mother and daughter. Complete with glass smashing, door slamming, and water throwing.

"You ready to go upstairs?" Victoire asked, breaking Juniper from her thoughts.

"Yeah." Juniper nodded, letting Victoire yank her up to standing.

"C'mon sleepyhead, Victoire chuckled, as they climbed the staircase, I need you alert for tomorrow."

"Why? What's happening tomorrow?"

"All in good time ma chéri." Victoire winked, changing into her pajamas. Juniper followed suit.

"You realize you could just tell me." Juniper pointed out, snuggling into bed tiredly. Her eyes were drooping as she fashioned a single braid down her back.

"But where is the fun in that?" Victoire was rummaging around in her boudoir for something, "These packages arrived this morning by owl, I forgot to tell you." The blonde piled four parcels on the bed between them.

Juniper got an array of Quidditch gear from her family, plus a few clothes from her mum and Vanessa. She giggled out loud when she saw the vintage set of puking pastilles and canary creams the boys had gotten her, and a book about Quidditch for good measure. Probably Leo's personal addition. But there was one more present she hadn't opened, She furrowed her brow in confusion, counting people off on her fingers, "Who else is there? Who would that one be from?" She wondered aloud.

Vivian shrugged, "It doesn't have a label."

Juniper unwrapped it warily, half expecting something to jump out at her. Instead she found a fuzzy red and gold knitted blanket wrapped around a delicate silver whistle engraved with her initials. The whistle was beautiful, perfect for coaching. But who could have known- a small slip of paper fell out of the blanket. Juniper unfurled it, Victoire peering over her shoulder to read it too.

The paper only had two words written on it.

I'm sorry.

"Guess that solves the mystery of who it's from." Victoire said, inspecting the whistle and whistling lowly, "This looks pricey, sounds like someone's feeling pretty guilty."

A year ago, hell even a month ago, Juniper would have been overjoyed to receive a present like this from Teddy. But now, now it felt almost as if he was trying to bribe her. Buy her off in some way. Normally, she wouldn't have even considered this, but given recent events, she didn't know what to think. Is this what he did to all those girls he shagged and never called back? She wasn't sure what she was supposed to feel in this moment.