"You should tell him, you know," a familiar voice softly said from behind her. "I know you love him." "Remus," she began turning around to face her friend, "You know I can't do that. He's my best friend, and h-he's in love with his perfect Lily-flower," Elsie sighed as tears began forming in her eyes. "But, Elsie... you don't see the way he looks at you, he-," his sentence was cut off by the girl with tears running down her face. "I don't see how he looks at me, but I see how he looks at her! And, t-that's enough to know that I will n-never be good enough to be with h-him," she snapped through stifled words. "But why don't you just tell him? Why don't you let yourself have a chance at happiness for once?" he asked stepping forwards, wiping her cheeks with his thumbs. "Because...loving him is a losing game. Either way, I'm the one getting hurt," Elsie whispered, falling into the arms of the boy in front of her. SLOW BURN {extended summary inside} (All characters, plots, and aspects of this story belonging to the Harry Potter Universe are credited to JK Rowling.)

Juniper Matthews was the girl who would put on one façade after another, desperately trying to please every person she came across. Because of this false personality, nobody ever stopped to think about what happened behind her closed doors. Yet, that was undoubtedly what she needed most. To the residents of their snobby town, she had a loving family, genuine friends, and a great future ahead of her. Except, that couldn't be farther from the truth. All the people in her life pulled her by her limbs every which way, and she allowed it. She was so naïve and blinded by manipulation, it began destroying her mentally. However, when Juniper started to become closer to a mysterious boy along with his friend group, she changed her life forever. Confidence, acceptance, and rebellion can be used to effectively describe this friendship. Though it would soon bring on backstabbing, blackmail, and utter chaos in her life. Would this friendship still be worth it if in the end, all Juniper had was them?