Malignant ••• George Weasley

Chapter 41 - Right Under Her Nose

Juna's Polyjuice was now completely worn off and she looked like herself once again. Because of this, she made quickly for the door of The Black Pixie before anyone could recognise her. She stepped outside into the cold, dark night. The moon attempted to illuminate the street through the clouds, but ultimately failed. In its place, dim street lights cast a yellow glow that earned more shadows than light.

Juna's head swivelled this way and that, searching for any sign of movement or better yet - any sign of Fred. Her mind was full of punishing words at herself for letting her infatuation with George get in the way of her job. The moment they had just shared was all she had been dreaming about for the last few weeks, but it was a mistake. Now she had to start her process of removing him from her life all over again.

She walked quietly down the street, her senses on edge at every flicker of a light or scurry of a mouse. Her gut told her to keep her guard up, but she had no idea why.

"Hello, Juna." A deep voice seemed to slither off the surfaces surrounding her.

"Don't be a pussy, show yourself." Juna snarled.

She shifted her eyes around to try and locate where the voice had come from, the stupid street lights were good for nothing but illuminating barely two metres in front of the poles. The shadows all seemed to move when looking for something in particular.
Suddenly to her left, Juna saw a dark figure, unmistakably Perseus, stepping out from the shadows. A toothy grin echoed across his face macabrely.

"Where's Fred?" Juna demanded, craning her neck to look around him.

"You're not as smart as you pretend to be, are you?"

"What the fuck are you talking about? What've you done with him?" She had her hand gripped tightly around her wand in her pocket, ready to pull it out at a moments notice.

"Fred's not here. He never was."

The smug tone of his voice only fuelled the fire in her stomach.
"Don't play games fuckwit. What do you want? Why are you even here?"

Juna heard him sigh dramatically, she still couldn't see him properly through the dark.
"You see Juna, I'm bored. That's what it comes down to!" He began pacing slowly. "My followers are fine and all, they will do whatever I tell them to do. But what is my goal? I guess you could say... I'm having a mid-life crisis."

Juna almost laughed out loud at the ridiculousness of it.
"What're you playing at?"

"A few things. I like to play, mostly with you. You're easy to get a rise out of. You have no life, no friends, hardly a family."

She said nothing as he spoke, willing herself not to do what he wanted her to do - react.

"It's all too easy to ruin your life." He continued. "George is easy to manipulate - that must be why you like him so much. You have such a soft spot for him, the only light in your life, it was just too tempting not to fuck with."

"Don't speak about him. He has nothing to do with this!" She said through gritted teeth.

Perseus laughed a shrill, menacing laugh.
"Oh but Juna! He has ties to you! So he has everything to do with it! He's a means to get at you!"

"Why do you even give two shits about me? Every agent in the fucking MIU is after you! What's so special about me?"

"Nothing is special about you. But no one else makes themselves as accessible to tampering with their lives. No one else is so young and hostile. No one else is as coveted as you at the MIU. Your reputation precedes you, yet I have no idea why. You seem intensely average on all accounts, they may send you to kill my best men, but that means nothing. My followers are mostly idiots, keen on some kind of glory, leftovers from Voldemort's days who have nothing to do now their old boss is gone."