Orphic » Sirius Black

Chapter 33 - The Blood Traitor And The Death Eater's Heir

There wasn't a day Juniper didn't think of Marcius. He showed up in her dreams, making her doubt. In most of those, it was just the two of them, sitting in a room filled with darkness, and Marcius laughing, calling her a fool. In others, he would appear in Hogwarts, walking beside her, or towards her.

"My little June," he said in all of her dreams, right before killing her. It terrified her.

Not even the news of Marcius having been sentenced to Azkaban stopped it. Along with him, he dragged to prison a few young wizards who were found in the scene with him, and of course, her uncle Deimos.

On Friday morning, after asking Remus for Lyall's response letter and receiving a, "haven't gotten it, yet," for an answer, a third year boy approached Juniper, scared, and handed her an invitation from Dumbledore, asking her to come to her office that same day at five in the afternoon, saying it was urgent. The boy ran away from her as soon as she received it, and Juniper didn't find a reason to not have done the same. Her presence was repellent to almost everyone by that point.

The day ended with professor McGonagall assigning an essay on human transfiguration. Juniper passed by the Library to pick a book she knew could help, and went straight to Dumbledore's office. When she reached the top of the stairs, she knocked, and once Dumbledore let her in, she saw him talking by the windowsill with Alastor Moody.

"Good afternoon, Professor Dumbledore. Hello, Moody," Juniper greeted shyly, slightly bowing to him as they shook hands.

"Good afternoon, Juniper Callister," greeted Moody, "it's good to see you're fine." Juniper nodded once, finding it hard to get her eyes off a big, fresh scar on Moody's face, above the jaw and right below the left eye. He pointed at it with a sigh, "Deimos was a tough one. Resisted for a bit. Marcius surrendered as soon as we got there."

Juniper swallowed the knot in her throat, the name of her father and uncle being mentioned so casually in a sentence in front of her. "Is my mother back at the office?"

"Not quite yet. It's a long process, I give it at least three additional months until she's back again."

With that, Dumbledore smiled at both of them and sat down, the other two following his action.

"Thank you for accepting my invitation, Juniper," the Headmaster began, looking her in the eyes, "I know this is still difficult for you. Professor Flitwick has mentioned that your grades have been a little low in the last month."

Juniper guessed it could be true, since Remus and Judson hadn't been helping her with her schoolwork anymore. She had thought she would be able to do it herself, but apparently she was wrong. She nodded slowly to him. "I'll do better."

Dumbledore chuckled, but his expression became earnest again. "You may have already known this is not the reason I called you here. Alastor has brought something the Ministry needs to show you. They need proof and confirmations to close Marcius's investigation. Are you comfortable with it?"

"Well, it depends," said Juniper, her eyes knitted together, "what is it you're going to show me?"

Dumbledore pointed to a vial resting atop of his desk. Juniper resisted rolling her eyes. "Bits of Marcius's trial."

Juniper slumped back on the chair, her heart throbbing. "I'll do it."

Everything seemed to speed up as Dumbledore and Moody explained the legal part to her, as she signed a couple of parchments and Dumbledore brought the Pensieve in. She just needed to confirm Marcius wasn't free anymore. The first and most important truth laid on the small flask, in front of her—the truth that could help her, finally, rest at night.