just for me ⚘ a Fred Weasley Fanfiction

40. Fred's wand

Now that everyone had Harry back completely, Juniper tried to stay out of their way, committing full days to polishing a single piece of furniture, or getting started on a room on the opposite side of the house, away from everyone.
On the very last day of the holidays, she was polishing every single piece of cutlery in a cabinet she found in a room at the very back of the house, the room she was in mustn't've been occupied in years, she couldn't help but cough every few minutes from the dust alone. She had finished the spoons and was moving onto the forks when there was a sharp knock on the door behind her. She half jumped, half spun around to see who it was. It was Ron Weasley, holding a bunch of envelopes.

"Booklists came." He muttered very awkwardly, sifting through the envelopes, looking for Junipers.

"Oh, thanks." Juniper replied, just as awkwardly, taking the envelope he was holding out to her.

"No problem." He smiled, before quickly. The room was so quiet that she could hear him below her. "Booklists are here!" He said excitedly, followed by a sarcastic cheer from Harry and Hermione.

Juniper opened her booklist gently. Over the past few weeks she had shoved the very thought of going back to school way into the back of her mind, accepting a life of cleaning this half-abandoned house with very little human interaction. Maybe Sirius would let her stay if she pulled the 'dead grandmother' card.
As she pulled the sheet of paper out of the envelope, the was a very slight thud, more of a tap, at her feet on the carpet.
Please, no. Please. No. She thought to herself, squeezing her eyes shut as though that would help. She ignored it by reading the booklist, but right there, first line it read:

Congratulations! You have been chosen as Slytherin house's Fifth year female prefect!

She wanted to rip up the paper then and there. No way she was going to be a prefect, she didn't even know what they really did, and she want to find out. She could pretend to go insane, get sent to the hospital for the entire school year, and in July she'd make a miraculous mental recovery. No, she didn't want to be away from Fred for that long. Maybe she could ask Remus how to revoke it, he was a Professor and had to know the way around it, however brief his time teaching was.
She kicked the pin on the ground, just to make sure it was there. Yep. There it was.
She didn't even read through the rest of the list, she was too pissed off about her new prefect status. She'd never be able to fly under the radar now. If only she knew who the male prefect was.

"Juniper, honey." Mrs. Weasley poked her head into the room she was in. In a miraculous turn of events, Mrs. Weasley eased up on Juniper, whether it was the amount of cleaning Juniper was doing, or if Mrs. Weasley's initial guard had dropped. Juniper didn't mind. It wasn't bad having somewhat of a mother figure again. Mrs. Weasley dropped the basket of laundry she had in her arms, stretching her back quickly. "Give me your booklist, I'll go into Diagon Alley this afternoon and get everyone's books. Oh! Did you want to come, and visit Gringotts?"

"Um..." Juniper inhaled sharply. She hadn't made up her mind about the scroll. "No thankyou. I think I might wait until Christmas." She watched a sad expression flick over Mrs. Weasleys face, before she handed her booklist to her. Mrs. Weasley took it in her hands and quickly skimmed over it.

"Oh, you got prefect for Slytherin." Mrs. Weasley said, the last word coming out a bit strained. Still, she put on a warm smile. "Congratulations, dear."

"Thankyou." Juniper forced out a smile, turning back to her polishing.

"Come down, you've done a lovely job on this room, and I'm sure the rest of the kids would love to hear that you're a prefect." Mrs. Weasley said from the hallway. Juniper bent down to grab the pin off the floor, shoving it deep into her pocket, trying to hide it from herself.
Mrs. Weasley opened the door that all the other kids were in, inviting Juniper to follow her in. She took her spot on the bed, awkwardly sliding next to Fred, while Mrs. Weasley took everyone's booklists. Fred leant back on the bed, Juniper felt his hand on the other side of her resting on her hip, his very subtle, family-friendly way of putting his arm around her. He didn't look at her or say anything about it, instead he a comment about Ron's own prefect badge. Mrs. Weasley squealed at the news, rushing around the room, talking about buying him a gift and getting to Diagon Alley as soon as possible. Once she left the room, planting a kiss on Ron's cheek, Fred and George let out loud laughs.