Cursed

Chapter 16

During the holiday, Ominis and Sebastian made a combined decision to make an effort to keep an eye out for Juniper and her whereabouts, which turned to be highly unnecessary seeing that Juniper spent most of her time with Anne within reasonable boundaries of Feldcroft. Sebastian had not yet shedded the concern that had plagued him the night of the ball, but he still could not remember what was concerning him to begin with so he decided to ignore it as much as possible.

On a particularly cold day where the house needed more wood for the fire than usual to keep warm, Sebastian spent a fair amount of time chopping wood, answering many of Juniper's questions about how his body became so toned. She kept looking out of the kitchen window, pausing every chance she got.

"Does he know he can enchant the axe to do the work?" She asked Anne, who needed to sit down after a wave of cursed pain.

"He likes doing it himself, says it helps keep his hands busy." She took in a deep breath, relived that pain subsided. "Not that you seem mind."

Juniper gave her a sharp look before smiling back at the gentle girl. She wasn't lying. She cursed under her breath.

"Looks like we're out of some ingredients for dinner. Where is Ominis?"

"He's sleeping. He chopped a few logs before leaving it to Sebastian. Good thing he's a wizard. It would be a tough life as a muggle with those hands." Anne laughed as she grabbed an apron. "The vendor in town might have what we need, I'll continue if you want to go. You could ask Sebastian, but he won't be done until dinnertime and hates unfinished work."

Juniper nodded in response and grabbed her coat. She passed by Sebastian, who was deep in thought, chopping an uncut log. He had removed most of his layers except for a fleece long sleeve shirt that he unbuttoned at the top, leaving his neck exposed, tensing with every swing. His warm breaths came out in foggy puffs, and his hair slightly stuck to his damp brow. His large hands were definitely on display, wrapped around the axe handle.

"Manual labor suits you." She said coyly.

He wiped his brow. "Not always. After Uncle Solomon..., well, you know. There was no one left to earn a living, so I took up whatever odd jobs the towns people gave me." He looked her over, noticing her warm clothing and her broom in hand. "Where are you off to?"

"Just to the vendor, we ran out of some ingredients for dinner, but I'm planning to go to Irondale just in case." She held the broom up as evidence to her statement.

"Could you get black tea and cinnamon while you're there? I noticed we ran out this morning." He reached in his pocket and took out a coin purse.

"Don't bother, I can pay for it. We're the reason you're out of supplies anyway."

He chuckled. "You can't make a living with loose galleons you find in caves forever."

"Do you want to bet on it?" She shouted from a distance, making her way into town.

As she feared, the vendor did not have everything they needed. In fact, the vendor was not even open. A note nailed to the stand read: "Closed for restock." She guessed everyone needed something all of a sudden.
She bundled her scarf tighter and jumped on her broom, staying close to the ground in an attempt to keep the cold air from bitting harder. About halfway through her trek, she wanted to kick herself. Why did she just floo her way there? There were stations in both hamlets! For Juniper, who liked the the freedom that flying on a broom brought, traveling by floo powder was a last resort. She used to carry a jar on her, but that habbit was quickly lost with the amount of times she would rather fly. She slowed her broom to adjust her scarf and coat for what felt like the millionth time when she heard aggressive voices.

"Bloody hell, why did we agree to this job in the first place?" A deep, raspy voice cut through the low howling of the wind.

"For the same reasons we do everything job. Gold. And the promised for this one is a hefty sum." A shrill voice answered.

Poachers, Juniper thought. Lovely. It had been a while since she had a bit of excitement. He irises flashed blue, her power simmering under her skin. She was going to have fun with it.
She approached the camp, not even bothering to conceal her presence. She counted two individuals, might as well make it last.

"You! You'll regret coming here." The owner of the shrill voice hissed. She turned herself into her wolf animagus.

"Now, this will be fun." Juniper's smile widened. She didn't even bother to pose in an attacking stance. She flicked her want towards the other poacher.

"Glacius."

The poacher, mid attack, turned into a solid statue of ice. The other growled in anger and pounced towards Juniper. She did not even flinch. She shielded herself, the animagus bouncing off of her perfected Protego.  As soon as the animal hit the ground, Juniper rushed in a gust of light and pinned her down, a hint of wickedness in her smile. She placed her hand on the fury beasts chest and chanted.

"Maledictio Dissocio."

The area where her hands touched became a blazing light. The wolf melted away into its human form in an instant, the power leaving the animal soaked into Juniper's skin, her glowing eyes intensified. The poacher blinked rapidly, looking up to Juniper towering over her. She stood up, the malice gone from her eyes and replaced with confusion. She scanned her surroundings as if not sure where she was. She looked back to Juniper.

"We were supposed to capture a rare colored Hippogriff." The woman explained herself. "But... I don't want to anymore. I don't want to keep hunting animals!" She began to cry, leaving the camp.

That was... interesting, Juniper thought. She turned to the remaining poacher who broke free from her ice trap.

"You're going to pay for that."

Without the necessity of her wand, Juniper pulled the man with her ancient magic, levitating him mere centimeters from her.

"I guess not." She replied before fisting her hand and turning the poacher into a puff of smoke.

She rubbed her eyes, the glow diminishing from her irises. She pulled out a leather bound booklet from her pouch and used her wand to write.

"Female Poacher. Animagus. Returned to human form. Ran away crying."

She looked back on the pages, turning them over and reading their logs. Death. Deformed. Screaming in pain. Death. Pulverized. Confusion but no change. Extraction of feelings. Several pages worth of sentences on previous curse removal attempts gone wrong. She let out a disappointing groan. Her progress wasn't nearly as quick as she needed it to be, and she was running out of time. She looked to the clear sky, tainted with just a few roaming clouds.

"Cinnamon and black tea." She rubbed her face with her hands. She better make her way to Irondale before it becomes late, and Sebastian or Ominis came looking for her.

Back at Felcroft, Sebastian finished the last of his wood chopping before Juniper returned with a basket of the needed ingredients tied to her broomstick. She was greeted by an annoyed Ominis.

"What took you so long?"

"Good morning." She said sarcastically. "I went to Irondale." She answered while dismounting, removing her basket of goods.

"It doesn't take that long to reach Irondale." He countered.

Frustration picked at her core. She masked it. "I had to make frequent stops. The wind was already dreadfully cold without flying against it."

Ominis was not entirely convinced, but he felt an ominous aura warning him not to push further. Sebastian was standing to the side of him, an air of caution looming from him. Ominis took the hint and dropped the subject.

"Right, I'm sorry." He finally said. "Come inside and warm up. Anne is waiting for the last of the ingredients."