You're Not Alone-Hermione Granger(Currently Editing)

Seventy-Seven

Juniper takes a seat in the Great Hall, sitting beside Summer, her expression unreadable. Draco takes a seat across from her and beside Lucas but he was watching Juniper closely. Summer and Lucas seemed oblivious to the whole thing, chatting amongst themselves and greeting the two like usual but Juniper was stuck in her own mind. It takes Summer a second to realize it, elbowing Lucas who had tried to launch into a conversation with Juniper.

"Everything okay?" Summer wonders, watching Juniper closely. Juniper glances up then, plastering on a smile. "I'm all right" Juniper shrugs, looking back down at her food then. Summer sends Draco a confused glance as Lucas finally seems to catch on to something being wrong. "How was Defense Against The Dark Arts?" Lucas wonders. Juniper frowns down at her food then, her grip tightening around her fork slightly and Draco bites his nails.

Juniper feels a hand on her shoulder and turns to find Mad-Eye Moody stood there. Draco jumps up then, sneering at the man. "Oi, move along now! We don't need you traumatizing any more of us!" He snaps. Moody ignores him though, his eyes on Juniper. "Come to my office with me, lass?" Moody says gently. Juniper didn't know what to think. Go to the office with Moody? What did they need to talk about? Was he gonna ask about her reaction? Juniper wasn't so sure she wanted to get into it.

Juniper glances at the other three, all of them watching her, Summer and Lucas confused, Draco concerned. Juniper stands, gathering her things then before following Moody back to his office, neither of them saying much to one another. Juniper wasn't sure how to feel. She hadn't been in many of the professor's offices.

She went to McGonagall's first year after Draco dragged her out of bed to get Harry in trouble with a dragon. She went to Snape's last year when her and Harry got caught at Hogsmeade and she spent a lot of her time in Remus's office as well but that was about it. She was about to be completely alone with this man who brought back traumatic experiences of her childhood and she wasn't exactly sure why she even agreed but she wasn't in the best mindset after the lesson.

She heads into his office, decorated differently than what Remus had. There wasn't even a piano in there anymore. She reckoned the piano was put there by Remus considering Remus liked to play and he knew Juniper did as well. Moody motions for her to sit as he clunks his way around to sit behind his desk. Juniper hesitantly sits and Moody starts to brew some tea. "Your Godfather, Lupin, said you always seemed to calm down from this tea. Left me some" Moody starts off.

"Oh..." Juniper nods. Moody watches her closely and she shrinks under his gaze, slightly. "I was told the subject earlier...it would be a hard one for some of you. I should've taken into account how hard it actually would be." "I'm fine" Juniper clears her throat after saying so. "You don't have to hide it from me, Rosewood. These spells can be tough for some." Moody hands her some tea.

"It's not-" "I hear you like creatures" Moody brings up, cutting off her excuse. "Sure" Juniper nods. "What's your favorite one?" He inquires. "That's a hard one, sir. Each creature is unique in it's own way. Each one has it's own features." Juniper points out. "That's an interesting take, there" Moody nods, sipping his own drink. "What about you? What's your favorite? A ferret?" Juniper brings up. Moody lets out a gruff laugh, a genuine laugh Juniper wasn't expecting.

"I like all kinds of things. Hagrid and I have that in common" Moody smiles. Juniper nods, taking a sip of her drink. "Speaking of..." Moody sends her a smile and Juniper doesn't know whether to feel scared or relieved. He starts digging around before pulling out a book and blowing off the dust. He hands it to her, seemingly proud. "Turning Into an Animagus?" Juniper says, confused. "I had a talk with McGonagall, said she heard you were interested. Said you'd need to be older and all but I thought I'd help make things go easier. I feel bad after...earlier and all" Moody explains.