just for me ⚘ a Fred Weasley Fanfiction

64. unlikely duos

Juniper waited for Fred and George to make their grand return to Hogwarts, expecting them to barge in the doors of the Great Hall during a meal, making however big of a mess that they could. But they didn't turn up at dinner.
Or at breakfast the next day.
Or the next day.
Or the next.
Students had erupted into chaos, vandalising the school, breaking each rule Umbridge had previously put into place, working the Inquisitorial Squad to the bone.
Eventually an entire week had passed since Fred and George had left. And in their absence, an anonymous prankster had emerged. The windows had been shattered, and repaired, and then shattered again. The legs of all the chairs had been shaved down, making them several inches shorter than what was comfortable. And all the parchment in the school had disappeared. Everyone had their own suspicions and theories of who it was, most of which ended up being Peeves the Poltergeist, but there was no way he could've done all of that by himself, especially when he was being just as, if not more, annoying and unruly as before, in front of everyone.

"Of course it's not Peeves. That's too obvious." Hermione rolled her eyes at Ron from across the Gryffindor table as they theorised. "I think it's someone that flies under the radar."

"Yeah? Who's that then?" Ron rolled his eyes back, talking through his mouthful of food.

"I didn't say I know who it is." Hermione shrugged. "Maybe... the Creevey brothers. No one would suspect them."

"Ha! The Creevey's. They're unsuspicious for a reason, Hermione." Ron laughed at her. "It's probably Harry and Luna, off frolicking together in the middle of the night."

"We don't frolic together." Harry turned his nose up at Ron. "It's probably Peeves and another ghost. Fred and George were friends with all of the ghosts."

"No they weren't." Hermione and Ron said together.

"Geez, sorry." Harry mumbled sarcastically.
On the Slytherin table a few feet away, Juniper stood from her seat, trying to hide herself in her robes as she headed for the doors. The three sat in silence as she passed them, neither parties looking at each other. Harry lowered his voice to a whisper once she was gone. "Maybe it's Juniper. Doing a solid for Fred now that he's gone."

"I don't think she'd be doing him any favours right now." Ron laughed at Harry. "She hates him now. He broke up with her on Valentines day, dyed her hair pink again, and then left school without warning her."

"Plus, I don't think she's that stupid. She's on the Inquisitorial squad, she's not going to make a mess just to end up fixing it." Hermione added. "Although..."

"Uh-oh." Harry and Ron grinned at eachother, watching Hermione spin off on a tangent.

"That's what I would do to make myself look not suspicious." She thought out loud to herself. "But maybe she knows that other people would do that, so she's not..."

"Prob-."

"OR!" Hermione jumped up in her seat. "She knows that people would know that she knows other people would do that, making other people not suspicious of her!"

"Aright, you lost me." Ron said.

"I was lost at the first mention of Juniper." Harry said, staring straight at the table.

"You brought her up." Ron reminded him, earning a weak shrug in response.

"Juniper is so suspicious that it goes back to unsuspicious, which makes her even more suspicious." Hermione simplified for the boys, still receiving blank stares. "When it comes out that it's Juniper, you'll understand."