just for me ⚘ a Fred Weasley Fanfiction

44. isolation period

"Where do you live then?" Theo asked in the group's bubble of silence. They were huddled at the end of the table during lunch, trying to draw as little attention to themselves so Juniper could explain why she had disappeared.

"Theodore!" Matilda backhanded him over the head before Juniper could begin. "Is that really the first question you ask?"

"What am I meant to ask then?" Theo shrugged, rubbing the back of his head.

"I don't know, how about 'are you okay?' or, 'how are you coping?'." Matilda sneered from across the table.

"She found her grandmother's body in the kitchen, of course she's not okay or coping. " Theo sassed back. The two began bickering at each other while Blaise eyed Juniper, not totally convinced with her story.

"Do you know who did it?" He asked, silencing the other two. Matilda's face burned red, ready to cuss him out. "Or did you just find the body and leave?"

"No I don't know who did it." Juniper lied, unknowingly holding her breath. "I alerted some Aurors from the ministry and got out of the house as soon as I could. I haven't heard anything since."

"There wasn't anything about it in the paper. Theo did you see anything?" Blaise continued to question, ignoring the death glare he was getting from Matilda. Beneath the table she grabbed onto Juniper's hand, giving it a sympathetic squeeze, she was ready to leave as soon as Juniper wanted to.

"I don't recall seeing anything." Theo said, a bit more afraid of pissing Matilda off further. "But you do have somewhere to live during summer, right Juniper? Because I can ask my dad if you-."

"No! No, no." Juniper cut him off quickly, shutting that idea down quickly. The last thing she wanted to do was move in with a Deatheater, again. "I'm staying with a friend. Muggle."

"That's why you're not getting any letters or news." Matilda added for her.

"Yes. And why I know who Blueday is." Juniper continued, squeezing Matilda's hand back.

"Greenday." Matilda corrected, clearing her throat.

"Greenday." Juniper loudly repeated.

"So if you're not getting any letters or news from us, does that mean you don't get any from Hogwarts?" Theo asked, copying Blaise's questioning look, as though he was coming up with an idea.

"No, it's hard to explain how owls are delivering letters addressed to my exact location, given the Statue of Secrecy." Juniper said, quite proud of how her lie was playing out. She was sitting up straighter, looking more confident and feeling better, which she wasn't expecting to happen so soon.

"Does that mean you can skip all your classes and get as many detentions as you want, without a letter being sent home? You won't get in trouble by the Muggles you're staying with, at all?" Theo asked, a contagious smile creeping onto his lips.

"Pretty much." Juniper copied his grin, laughing along with him. "I mean, they can send the letters, but there's no one for them to go to."

That made Theo laugh harder.

"That sounds like a dream. I'd be skipping all my classes." He continued to laugh to himself, getting up with Blaise once the bell had signalled for them to go to their final classes. Matilda stood up to leave, looking down at Juniper, who was still sitting.

"Will you be alright in Dark Arts? I heard the new Professor is a bit... different." She asked, slowly edging away. "Juniper? Hello? Sprout will kill me if I'm late to the first Herbology class of the year."

"Go on then! Don't want your parents getting that letter." Juniper stayed in her seat, shooing Matilda away. "I'll get to Dark Arts just fine."

With a final, unconvincing glace, Matilda left, leaving Juniper with the final few straggling students in the Great Hall.
'They can send the letters, but there's no one for them to go to' replayed in her head, along with the smile Theo had when he suggested skipping classes. It wouldn't really matter if she stayed at the table for a few more minutes, the worst that would happen is she'd get a detention from the new Professor for being late. Even better, she could skip the class entirely and just not receive a detention.
So Juniper got up and went straight to the Dungeons, and sat on a leather black couch in the common room until classes were finished for the day. And once students filtered back in, she escaped to her dorm to avoid questions, skipping dinner and going to bed instead.