𝐁𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 ━━ 𝐃𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐨 𝐌𝐚𝐥𝐟𝐨𝐲 (REWRITING)

𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚎

Juniper Fawne was never one to stray away from confrontation, but as she stood a few feet away from Harry, Ron, and Hermione, she contemplated not speaking to them at all. She knew she didn't owe them anything, because if they were really worried about her being distant, they could've tried to talk to her, but they hadn't. Instead, they went straight to Dumbledore and tattled on her.

But Juniper also knew that if she just apologized to them and forgot about it all, they wouldn't worry about her as much. Besides, she still considered them her friends. Sighing, Juniper approached the three Gryffindor friends who were talking together in the hall.

"Hey, mind if I join you?" Juniper asked, shoving her hands into her pockets and rocking back and forth on her feet.

Hermione nodded and half smiled.

Juniper wanted to break the awkward tension in the air as soon as possible. "I'm sorry I've been distant. I guess I didn't even realize I was doing it."

"It's okay." Harry said and turned to look at her. "What about the book?"

"I got rid of it." She lied. "I knew what it was as soon as I saw it and got rid of it the same day."

The group of fourth years walked together toward the Great Hall for their study period.

"I'm sorry too." Harry added, looking over at Juniper as they walked. "I meant to tell you about the dragons but I got distracted by Ron being an idiot and a load of other things."

"It's okay, I understand." Juniper smiled.

When they entered the Great Hall, she decided to join them at their table. Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat together on one side of the table while Juniper shoved herself into the spot between Fred and George on the other side.

"Hi friends." She smiled at them, earning a glare from Snape. "Oops."

Fred and George moved closer to her, almost crushing her between them, and smiled back at her. "Hello Juniper." They said simultaneously.

"Silence." Professor Snape whacked them on the back of the head with a book. He looked down at Juniper and scrunched up his nose in disgust at the sight of her tie. "Miss Fawne, if you can't learn to dress yourself properly I will give you detention for breaking the dress code."

"I don't know what you mean, Professor." Juniper looked down at her tie—which was tied in a loose hanging bow—and back up at Snape, a smug smile on her face. "The dress code says I have to wear a tie, it doesn't say how I have to wear it. Technically I'm not breaking any rules."

"Don't get smart with me, Miss Fawne, or I'll give you and all your friends detention." Snape threatened and walked away.

Juniper laughed quietly, exchanging mischievous looks with the twins. She knew if she were to ask what he'd give them detention for, he'd probably say something along the lines of 'for being insolent brats.'

"This is mad. At this rate we'll be the only ones in our year without dates." Ron pouted, looking around the room at the other students. He winced when Snape walked passed again and aggressively shoved his head back toward his books.

"Well, us and Neville!" He corrected himself.

"But then again, he can take himself." Harry laughed, looking across the table at Neville.

"It might interest you to know that Neville's already got someone." Hermione said, leaning closer to the two boys as to not draw any attention to them.

Ron let out a shocked gasp. "Now I'm really depressed."

"Oh come on, Ron. I'm sure if you just asked her, she'd say yes. I heard you guys have quite the chemistry." Juniper winked at him.

Ron furrowed his eyebrows at her. "Who?"

"Professor McGonagall." She said, earning a laugh from the twins who were still crushing her between them. She'd noticed they had absolutely no concept of personal space.

"Seriously?" Ron asked, looking incredulously at his brothers. "You told her?"

"No, no, of course not." Juniper gave him a fake smile. "They told everyone."

Fred scribbled a note that read "GET A MOVE ON OR ALL THE GOOD ONES WILL HAVE GONE!" on a piece of paper and tossed it to Ron.

Ron read the paper and looked behind him to check if Snape was near before throwing the paper back at Fred. "Who are you going with then?"

Fred crumpled up a paper and tossed it a short distance down the table at Angelina Johnson. Looking up at him, she gave him a face that meant "What do you want?"

Fred mimed the words "will you go to the ball with me?" while acting out them out.

"The ball?" Angelina whispered. "Yeah, alright." She nodded and smiled.

Fred sent an exaggerated wink at Ron before looking back down at his schoolwork.

"Well Hermione, you're a girl." Ron started, turning to look at her.

"Oh, well spotted." Hermione said sarcastically.

Harry, upon noticing Snape had stopped pretending to read a book and was heading in their direction, grabbed at Ron's arm and tried to make him stop talking. Juniper watched with an amused look as Ron kept talking, causing Snape to hit him and Harry in the head with a notebook.

"Come on. It's one thing for a bloke to show up alone. For a girl it's just sad."

"I won't be going alone because believe it or not someone's asked me." She stood and walked over to Snape, handing him her notebook, before returning. "And I said yes." She said, a harsh tone in her voice as she grabbed her books and stormed off.

"Bloody hell." Ron said, turning his attention back to Harry. "She's on her own."

"You two know absolutely nothing about girls, do you?" Juniper laughed, crossing her arms and leaning on the table. Looking to her left, she noticed Draco looking over at her. She smiled and sent him a flirty wave, causing him to smirk before looking away.

"I guess it's just us three who don't have dates then." Ron sighed, gesturing to Juniper and Harry.

"Three?" Juniper asked, raising her eyebrows at the ginger boy across from her. "You think I don't have a date?"

"Well, yeah." Ron shrugged his shoulders. "You haven't said much so I just assumed you're embarrassed that no ones asked you."

Juniper scoffed and gathered her books as she noticed Snape pulling up his sleeves to hit them again. "Multiple people have asked me actually." She stood and leaned over the table to whisper to Ron. "Including your brothers." She smirked, earning a disgusted look from the boy, but he still didn't believe she had a date.

Although what she said was true, there were also many students at Hogwarts who didn't like her. She wasn't sure why but she guessed it could be because of a variety of different things. It could be because she's a Slytherin, or the fact she was friends with Draco, or it could just be the fact that she had the type of personality that tended to rub some people the wrong way.

Juniper picked up her books and left, just as Snape shoved the two boys heads toward the table. She walked a few feet away and sat down next to Draco. She threw her arm over his shoulders and let out an exaggerated sigh.

"Gosh, Gryffindors are so exhausting." She said dramatically. "Imagine if I had to date one of them."

Draco scoffed, grabbing her arm and removing it from his shoulders. Juniper scrunched up her nose, slightly offended by his actions, but smiled when she noticed him put his arm around her. Her heart fluttered for a moment and Juniper tensed. It had never done that before and she wasn't sure why it was doing it now. Draco and her were just close friends, so why would her heart flutter because of something he had done at least once before?