just for me ⚘ a Fred Weasley Fanfiction

11. celebratory kisses

Hermione kept her promise to Juniper and didn't tell anyone about what Draco did. But that didn't stop from finding out. From the fingernail-sized bruise he noticed had quickly formed below Junipers eye when she walked out of the bathroom, to Hermione holding her breath whenever Draco was brought up at the Gryffindor celebration. He connected the dots pretty quickly. Once Hermione sat back down in an arm chair with a cup of water for the 6th time, Fred headed towards her. She tried her hardest to blend into the couch and draw as little attention to herself, even ignoring Fred the first few times he said her name. It wasn't until he was sat on the arm rest of the chair, that she turned to face him, hiding behind her water as he leant in to whisper.

"What happened?" He said, eyeing her up and down suspiciously.

"I got some water." She said quietly, her eyes turning to her shoes.

"With Juniper." He said sternly, leaning over her slightly.

"I can't say." She shrugged slightly. "Even if I could, she doesn't want to do anything about it."

"Oh, bullshit." He scoffed a bit louder than he intended, earning a few suspicious glances from around the room. He hushed his voice again and continued. "You know what that means? His family is in on it."

"Of course they are." She rolled her eyes, slowly becoming less and less intimidated by Fred towering over her. "But it's not like we can do anything. We don't know what he's threatening her with, there's obviously a reason she's not speaking out."

"So what do we do?" He cleared his throat, hoping that Hermione would have a plan and answer for this problem, too. She looked up at him hopelessly, disappointed by what she was about to say.

"Nothing."

"We can't do nothing!" He defended, getting to his feet and placing his cup of Firewhiskey on the table in front of them.

"We can't do anything! She doesn't want to and we can't make the decision for her." Hermione argued back, aware of the attention they were drawing from the room. She let out a quiet hiss. "Now let it go."

"Let it go?" Fred asked loudly, astonished by how lightly Hermione was treating it. "Let it go?" He scooped his cup back up and heading towards the stairs to his dorm, muttering to himself.

⚘

Since Juniper had to spend even more time around Draco, she tried her hardest to get along with him, and at least try to act like his girlfriend. She endured long, long, conversations about Quidditch practise, the people his father had over at his house from time to time, and how amazing he was doing in potions. Juniper sat there in almost silence, nodding along and acting interested, making up conversations in her head so she didn't fall asleep in the middle of his rants. She hoped that because she was spending more time around him, the crush she had would ignite once again. She really hoped it would.
Draco was just happy that someone was listening.  He had always felt like he could talk for hours, and now he had someone to talk to. He was able to sit as close and touch her as much as he wanted, without her slapping his hand away or yelling at him. He was so contempt, it made him oblivious to the forced smile that Juniper wore  constantly, or how tense she was around him, always ready to run if she had the chance. He didn't even notice the genuine grin that was spread across her face when Hermione bitch-slapped him after he insulted Hagrid and made fun of Buckbeak's trial.

The sound echoed.

"What the..." Draco hissed at Hermione, holding his hand up to his cheek and staggering back slightly.