just for me ⚘ a Fred Weasley Fanfiction

71. blood vs. water

"Where did you come from?" Mrs. Weasley stood in the kitchen, dumbfounded, watching Juniper clumsily tumbled into the Burrow's living room from the fireplace. "I thought you were in bed."

"She's been at our place for the past two days." George said, lifting Juniper back onto the feet. He and Fred had entered the room much more gracefully than she had, but they were much angrier. George went to give his mum a hug, while Fred stayed at Juniper's side, brushing the black soot out of her white-blonde hair for her.

"Where are the others? We need to talk." He grunted, not looking over in his mother's direction. The anger was evident in his tone, and he was much less forgiving than his brother, especially when it came to Juniper.

"Did you want some tea?" Mrs. Weasley asked with a huff, her own frustration shining through. Juniper thought that now, with the stubborn both Mrs. Weasley and Fred were wearing, they looked more related than they ever had.

"Mum." Fred said firmly. Mrs. Weasley stepped away from the kettle, turning back to the fireplace.

"Your father is at work, as he has been for a majority of the past two months." Mrs. Weasley looked at him with a frown. "And the kids are all upstairs-."

"I'll get them!" George butted in, racing up the stairs to escape the tension. Mrs. Weasley, Fred and Juniper sat in an awkward silence, listening to the group upstairs groan about being interrupted, their footsteps slowly entering the living room. Ron, Harry, Hermione and Ginny all sat on the couch together, looking up at Fred impatiently. Mrs. Weasley eventually stood behind them, sipping on her tea.

"Before anything gets said," Juniper started quickly, wanting to make a good impression on the group before Fred ripped into them on her behalf. "I want to say thank you to you all for letting me live here, and I..." She looked to Fred beside her, his eyebrows were pulled together, questioning what she was doing. "Just please don't hate me."

"What's happening?" Hermione asked, her head tilting to the side. Instead of answering, Juniper sank into an armchair, her attention on the twins standing in front of the fireplace.

"We know how smart you guys all are, we've seen you do magic and your grades-."

"It's summer, we don't need a lecture about school. Especially not from you two." Ron cut Fred off, getting a quick laugh out of Harry and Ginny. Hermione was still looking at Juniper, anxiously chewing on her lip, trying to figure out what was about to happen. "No offence, or anything."

"We think you might need a lecture, Ron." George said, shocking everyone, including Juniper.

"Because none of you seem to be able to recognise when someone has been cursed." Fred finished for his brother, his arms crossing over his chest. "Or you can, but you're just too inconsiderate to help."

"What?" Ron, Harry and Ginny mimicked Hermione's confused look.

"Do I really need to repeat myself?" Fred asked, his eyes focusing on Ron.

"Oh. Oh." Hermione's gasp was filled with horror as she turned to Juniper, her eyes wide with shock. "Oh no..."

"Yeah." Juniper smiled shyly, tucking her hair behind her ears and sinking further into the chair.

"What?" Ron, Harry and Ginny repeated.

"Juniper was cursed in that big battle at the Department of Mysteries." Hermione began explaining.

"It actually wasn't even in the battle." Juniper admitted, her cheeks flushing as everyone turned to her. "It was before the battle, when we were in that circle with Bellatrix and Nott and... Lucius." It was still hard to say his name without having a physical reaction.