▌𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞 ━︎━︎ 𝐌𝐮𝐝𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝 ▌

━︎━︎━︎━︎𝐍𝐄𝐈𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐌𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐍𝐎𝐑 Juniper saw Harry or Ron until Herbology the next morning. Juniper stood there beside of Hermione. The two hadn't really spoken a word since the train and it was because of Juniper actively avoiding eye contact with Hermione. She didn't realize how guilty she would feel when she saw Hermione in person. Part of her was hoping that Hermione wouldn't notice or that she wouldn't care and even if Hermione pretended not to care, Juniper could see right through her. Harry and Ron was standing across from the two.

     "Morning, everyone." Professor Sprout entered the room. She was a short and stout woman with a kind smile on her face and greying hair.

     "Good morning, Professor Sprout." The class collectively replied.

     "Welcome to Greenhouse Three, second years. Now, gather around, everyone. Today, we're going to re-pot Mandrakes." In front of every student was a pot with leaves sticking out from the top. Professor Sprout turned around to grab her own pot before placing it in front of her. "Who here can tell me the properties of the Mandrake root?" Slowly both Juniper and Hermione raised their hands. Professor Sprout smiled at the two before nodding towards Hermione. "Miss Granger."

     "Mandrake, or Mandragora, is used to return those who have be petrified to their original state. It's also quite dangerous. The Mandrake's cry is fatal to anyone who hears it." Hermione explained with a smile.

     "Excellent. 10 points to Gryffindor." Harry and Ron sent Hermione a smile and Juniper focused on her Mandrake. "Now, as our Mandrakes are still only seedlings, their cries won't kill you yet, but they could knock you out for several hours, which is why I've given each of you a pair of earmuffs for auditory protection. So could you please put them on right away? Quickly." They all did as their Professor asked. "Flaps tight down and watch me closely. You grasp your Mandrake firmly you pull is sharply up out of the pot. . ." High pitched crying fell from the baby Mandrake and even with the earmuffs on Juniper had to press her hands to her ears. "Got it? And now you dunk it down into the other pot and pour a little sprinkling of soil to keep him warm."

     The sound of someone falling to the ground made them turn their heads. Neville laid there, passed out on the floor. "Longbottom's been neglecting his earmuffs," Professor Sprout sighed.

     Seamus shook his head. "No, ma'am, he's just fainted."

     "Yes, well, just leave him there. Right, on we go. Plenty of pots to go around. Grasp your Mandrake and pull it up."

Immediately the room was filled with screaming Mandrakes. Juniper glanced around, rolling her eyes when she saw Draco put his finger towards the screaming Mandrake's mouth but smirking in amusement when the Mandrake bit down causing him to wince as he tried to pull his finger free. Noticing her looking at him, Draco glared at her and Juniper continued to smile in amusement. As the class came to an end, Juniper grabbed her things and made her way to the next class.

Class by class went by until lunch time came around and they were headed to the dining hall. Juniper took a seat across from Harry as Hermione sat beside of her, sitting across from Ron who was currently circling his broken wand in tape.

     Ron sighed, the roll of tape hanging down from his wand. "Say it. I'm doomed."

     Harry looked at him. "You're doomed."

     "Hi, Harry!" The sound of a young voice from behind Juniper made her turn only to regret it when a flash from a camera went off and the girl went blind for a solid ten seconds. "I'm Colin Creevey. I'm in Gryffindor too."

     "Hi, Colin. Nice to meet you." Harry carefully said.

     "Ron?" Dean Thomas who sitting beside of Harry grabbed Ron's attention. "Isn't that your owl?" They all looked up when Ron's owl came flying in. The owl landed right into a bowl of chips before standing up, shaking off its feathers, and then handing the letter in his mouth to Ron before flying off.

     "Bloody bird's a menace." Ron shook his head, taking the letter in his hands. Ron's eyes widened in fear. "Oh, no."

     "Look, everyone." Seamus grabbed everyone's attention. "Weasley's got himself a howler."

     "Go on, Ron." Neville encouraged him. "I ignored one from my gran once. It was horrible."

      Ron looked back down at the howler and with hesitancy he opened it. "RONALD WEASLEY!" Mrs. Weasley's voice echoed through the entirety of the dining hall. The letter that fell from Ron's hand quickly picked itself up, turning into a mouth as it continued to yell at Ron. "HOW DARE YOU STEAL THAT CAR! I AM ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED! YOUR FATHER'S NOW FACING AN INQUIRY AT WORK, AND IT'S ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT! IF YOU PUT ANOTHER TOE OUT OF LINE, WE'LL BRING YOU STRAIGHT HOME!" Ron nodded with fear and the letter turned its attention to Ginny who was a few seats away. "Oh, and, Ginny, dear, congratulations on making Gryffindor. Your father and I are so proud." The letter turn back to Ron before sticking out its tongue and blowing raspberries before the letter ended and it ripped itself up. Needless to say, Ron didn't speak the rest of lunch.

They made it to their Defense Against the Dark Arts class and it was without a doubt that Juniper was dreading this class because the world is out to get her and they assigned the Gilderoy Lockheart as their new professor for this year. Juniper sat their with a frown on her face, using her hand to prop her head up. At the top of the stairs a door opened and out stepped the infamous man that all girls loved―︎ all girls except for Juniper who still did not understand the infatuation.

     "Let me introduce you to your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. . . me. Gilderoy Lockheart." He proceeded to walk down the steps. Order of Merlin, Third Class. Honorary member of the Dark Force Defense League and five times winner of Witch Weekly's most-charming-smile award." He smiled at them and Juniper rolled her eyes. "But I don't talk about that. I didn't get rid of the Bandon Banshees by smiling at them." Again he smiled and again Juniper rolled her eyes. "Now, be warned. It is my job to arm you against the foulest creatures known to wizardkind." He tapped a covered cage beside his desk with his wand.

     He continued, "You may find yourselves facing your worst fears in this room. Know only that no harm can befall you whilst I am here. I must ask you not to scream. It might provoke them!" He ripped the purple covering off the cage to reveal blue cornish pixies running around on the inside, begging to be let out.

     "Cornish pixies?" Seamus asked.

     "Freshly caught cornish pixies." Lockheart corrected and some of them started laughing. "Laugh if you will, Mr. Finnegan, but pixies can be devilishly tricky little blighters. Let's see what you make of them." And then, much to Juniper's surprise, he opened the gate and let the pixies fly around freely.

      Everyone immediately jumped up from the seats whilst the pixies flew around creating chaos. They destroyed everything they touched and Juniper couldn't help but look at their Professor like he was insane. Has he never studied the bloody things before? Her head snapped towards Neville who was being lifted up into the air by his ears by two pixies, hooking his robe onto the light hanging from the ceiling leaving him dangling there. "Please, get me down!"

     "Bloody hell!" Juniper yelled, turning towards Hermione and groaning when she saw a pixie start messing with her. "Oh no you don't." Juniper grabbed a book and whacked the pixie away. Hermione looked at her with wide eyes but Juniper was too busy focusing on their idiot Professor who's wand got snatched from him and as the pixie threw the bones of an old animal down from its spot hanging on the ceiling, Lockheart ran up the steps leaving the students alone.

     "What kind of Professor is he?" Juniper asked before standing up, grabbing her wand and pointing it at the pixies. "Immobulus!" The pixies stopped flying around, simply floating in the air and unmoving. Juniper put her wand back in her pocket.

     Neville looked down at Juniper, Hermione, Harry, and Ron, who were the only ones left in the room before sighing and asking, "Why is it always me?" They all helped Neville down before Harry had to leave for Quidditch practice.

     "What kind of Professor leaves his students to handle things on their own when he's supposed to be teaching us!" Juniper ranted. She'd been ranting about what happened in Lockheart's class since they'd left. "He's an idiot. We have an idiot for a Professor. My mother would be a better Professor than that imbecile. I'll have to write her tonight and tell her about this."

     "You know who you sound like?" Hermione asked as she, Ron, and Juniper sat on a bench in the courtyard.

     Juniper narrowed her eyes, holding up a finger as she glared dangerously at Hermione. "Don't you dare say who I think you're going to say. I'm nothing like that brat."

     "You're as mean as him sometimes," Hermione said but she had an amused smile on her face. Juniper only rolled her eyes in disgust. The two pulled away from their conversation when the Slytherin Quidditch team and the Gryffindor Quidditch team ran into each other.

     Oliver Wood, the Captain of the Gryffindor team, came to a stop. "Where do you think you're going, Flint?" Wood asked, looking at the Captain of the Slytherin team.

     "Quidditch practice," Flint answered.

     "I booked the pitch for Gryffindor today," Oliver said defensively.

     "Easy, Wood. I've got a note." He pulled a paper from his pocket and handed it to Oliver.

     "Uh-oh, I smell trouble." Ron stood up and the two girls followed after him.

     Oliver read the note out loud. "I, Professor Severus Snape, do hereby give the Slytherin team permission to practice today, owing to the need to train their new seeker." By the time he finished reading the note, the three had made it to them. "You've got a new seeker? Who?"

     The two at the front moved to the side and low and behold there stood Draco Malfoy. Draco walked forwards with a smirk on his face. Harry looked at him in disbelief. "Malfoy?"

     "That's right." Draco said with a smug smile on his face. "And that's not all that's new this year." He nodded towards his broom.

     Ron's mouth fell open. "Those are Nimbus 2001's. How did you get those?"

     "A gift from Draco's father," Flint answered.

     "You see, Weasley, unlike some, my father can afford the best."

     "At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy there way in," Hermione sasses. Juniper smiled proudly at her. "They got in on pure talent."

     "No one asked your opinion. You filthy little mudblood." Draco snarled at her and Juniper's eyes widened before her jaw clenched in anger.

     "You'll pay for that one, Malfoy." Ron said, pulling out his wand. "Eat slugs!" Of course the spell rebounded sending Ron flying. As the Gryffindor team and Hermione ran over to Ron, Juniper stayed in her place in front of Draco.

     "Don't you ever call her that again," Juniper said, her voice dangerously low. She was pissed.

     Draco took a step towards her. "What are you going to do? Tell your father? Oh wait, I forgot, he's in Azkaban where he belongs. How does it feel being friends with a mudblood and being a murderer's daughter?" Without hesitation, she swung her fist. The sound of his nose cracking under the weight of her fist seemed to echo. Draco let out cries, clutching his nose. He looked at Juniper. "My father will hear about this!"

     "Good! Tell him!" Juniper challenged and by this time Fred and George Weasley had made their way over to the girl, practically having to drag her away from the Malfoy boy.

     "Nice hit," Fred complimented.

      "Glad someone did it," George added.

     Juniper smiled at both of them. "Thanks." She left the twins side and ran after Harry, Hermione, and Ron who was taking Ron to Hagrid's shack seeing as he was now the one puking up slugs.

     They made it to Hagrid's quickly explaining the situation and Hagrid let them in without hesitation. "This calls for a specialists equipment." Hagrid said, bringing a giant wooden bucket and handing it to Ron. Hagrid sat down. "Nothing to do but wait till it stops, I'm afraid." Ron threw up another slug. "Better out than in. Who was Ron trying to curse anyway?"

     "Malfoy," Harry answered. "He called Hermione. . . well, I don't know exactly what it means."

     Hermione stood up, crossing her arms over her chest as she walked away from them, her back facing them. She paused for a moment. "He called me a mudblood."

     Hagrid's mouth fell open whilst Juniper's jaw clenched again, anger swelling back up inside her. "He did not."

     Harry frowned. "What's a mudblood?"

     Hermione turned to face them, looking at Harry. "It means dirty blood. Mudblood's a really foul name for someone who is muggle-born. Someone with non-magic parents. Someone like me." There were tears brimming her eyes. "It's not a term one usually hears in civilized conversation." Juniper reached out and grabbed Hermione's hand, Hermione sending her the best smile she could muster.

     "See, the thing is, Harry, there's some wizards, like the Malfoy family, who think they're better than everyone else, because they're what people call pure-blood." Hagrid explained, rolling his eyes at the last part.

     "That's horrible!" Harry frowned.

     Ron threw up another slug, Harry rubbing his back. "It's disgusting."

     "And its codswallop, to put it. Dirty blood. . . why, there isn't a wizard alive today that isn't half-blood or less. More to the point, they've yet to think of a spell our Hermione can't do. Come here." Hagrid held out a hand towards Hermione and Juniper let go of Hermione's hand so that she could walk towards Hagrid. Hagrid placed her hand in his, covering her hand with his other one. "Don't you think on it, Hermione. Don't you think on it for one minute. Hey?" Hagrid gave her a smile and a pat on the hand.

Once Ron was cured from the rebounded curse they left Hagrid's hut. Juniper's hand throbbed with pain and she subtly glanced down to her hand and winced when she noticed it was starting to bruise. As soon as they reached the castle, McGonagall had been quick to find and serve her with detention for punching Draco. Gladly, she followed McGonagall. Until late into the night she sat with McGonagall and if she was being honest, it was probably the best detention she's ever had. All they did the entire time was talk and it didn't take long for Juniper to realize why her mother respected McGonagall so much. 

     As she was leaving, she turned her head at the sound of footsteps. Her eyes furrowed when she saw Harry, Ron and Hermione. "Hey, guys." Harry quickly started walking past her and Juniper furrowed her eyebrows, looking at Hermione who nodded for her to follow. "What's happening?"

     "He said he hears a voice and that it's going to kill someone," Hermione explained.

     Juniper rose her eyebrows, looking at Harry. "I think maybe your detention with Lockheart has gotten to your head." The group came to a stop when they saw a line of tiny spiders crawling into a broken whole in the window. "Or maybe we're all just crazy. Is anyone else seeing the spiders?"

     "Strange. . ." Harry frowned. "I've never seen spiders act like that."

     "I don't like spiders," Ron had fear in his voice. They looked down at the floor, and in the reflection they saw what looked like red writing. "What's that?"

     Quickly they all looked up and Juniper's mouth fell agape. On the wall were giant words written with what looked like blood or runny dark red paint. Juniper was praying that it was paint. Hermione read the message out loud, "The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir, beware."

      "Aw, at least they were being poetic about it." The group all looked at Juniper. "You know? Cause it rhymes? No? Alright."

     Hermione rolled her eyes and went back to the message. "It's written in blood."

     "You don't know that." Juniper said and Hermione looked at her. "It could be really runny blood colored paint."

     "Is this your way of being optimistic?" Hermione asked.

      "Yes. Is it working?"

      "No."

     Juniper sighed. "Can't say I didn't try."

     Harry, ignoring the two girls, found himself walking forwards and staring at Filch's cat that now was hanging dead beside of the message. "Oh, no. It's Filch's cat. It's Mrs. Norris." 

     "Enemies of the heir, beware." Draco read before his eyes snapped over to Hermione. "You'll be next mudbloods."

     "We're really do this shit again?" Juniper growled, moving towards him only for Hermione to grab hold of her keeping her back.

     "What's going on here?" Filch's voice grabbed their attention as he began pushing through the students. Juniper closed her eyes in anticipation. This was not going to be good. "Go on, make way, make way." He came to a stop in front of Harry. "Potter? What are you. . .?" His eyes fell behind Harry, landing onto his cat. "Mrs. Norris? You've. . . murderer my cat."

     Harry shook his head. "No. No."

     "I'll kill you." Filch calmly said before grabbing onto Harry. "I'll kill you!"

     "Argus?" This time it was Dumbledore's voice and immediately the students gave him a path. "Argus, I―︎" Dumbledore stared at the scene before him. "Everyone. . . will proceed to their dormitories immediately." They all turned to leave but his voice stopped them again. "Everyone except you four." He pointed to Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Juniper. "She's not dead, Argus. She has been petrified."

     "Ah, thought so. So unlucky I wasn't there." Lockheart said and Juniper scoffed at him. "I knew exactly the counter curse that could've spared her."

     McGonagall and Dumbledore both gave him a look and Juniper smirked in amusement. Dumbledore spoke, "But how she's been petrified I cannot say."

     "Ask him," Filch nodded towards Harry. "It's him that's done it. You saw what he wrote on the wall."

     "It's not true, sir, I swear it." Harry pleaded. "I never touched Mrs. Norris."

     "Rubbish." Filch spat at him.

     "If I might, headmaster?" Snape offered. "Perhaps Potter and his friends were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time." The group of them quickly exchanged looks in confusion and surprise. "However. . ." Juniper nodded as if to silently say 'of course', ". . . the circumstances are suspicious. I, for one, don't recall seeing Potter, or Miss Black for that matter, at dinner."

     "I'm afraid that's my doing, Severus." Lockheart spoke up. "For Potter, at least. You see, Harry was helping me answer my fan mail."

     "And Miss Black was serving detention with me," McGonagall informed.

     "That's why Ron and I went looking for them, Professor." Hermione quickly explained. "We'd just found them when they said. . ." She trailed off, looking at Harry and Juniper.

     Snape looked at her. "Yes, Miss Granger?"

     "When we said we weren't hungry." Harry quickly lied, looking at Juniper who nodded her head. "We were heading back to the common room when we found Mrs. Norris."

     Snape turned to look at Dumbledore who said, "Innocent until proven guilty, Severus."

     "My cat has been petrified." Filch brought the attention back to him. "I want to see some punishment!"

     "We will be able to cure her, Argus. As I understand it, Madame Sprout has a very healthy growth of Mandrake. When matured, a potion will be made, which will revive Mrs. Norris. And in the meantime, I strongly recommend caution to all." With a nod of the head, Dumbledore dismissed them.

     They made their way up the steps and Juniper's hand was absolutely throbbing. She removed her attention away from her hand and towards Hermione when she spoke. "Strange isn't it?"

     "Strange?" Harry asked.

     Hermione spun around to face him. "You hear this voice, a voice only you can hear, and then Mrs. Norris turns up petrified. It's just. . . strange."

     "Do you think I should've told them, Dumbledore and the others, I mean?"

     Ron looked at him in disbelief. "Are you mad?"

     "No, Harry. Even in the Wizarding World, hearing voices isn't a good sign." Hermione turned on her heel and continued up the stairs, Juniper followed after her.

As they made it to their room and gotten ready for bed, Juniper accidentally slammed her hand into the corner of her bedside table, letting out multiple curses as she held her hand tightly to her chest. She closed her eyes tightly as she took a deep breath, waiting a moment for the pain to subside.

     "Are you alright?" Hermione asked, looking at her with concern.

     "Just peachy," Juniper nodded.

     Hermione walked over to her, gently reaching out and grabbing her hand. She frowned deeply when she saw the purple bruises surrounding her knuckles. "Juniper, you should go see Madame Pomfrey about this. She could get you a healing potion."

     Juniper waved her off with her other hand, shaking her head. "I'll be alright. It's just a bruise. It'll be gone in a week or so."

     "This was from punching Malfoy, wasn't it?" Hermione asked. Juniper nodded. "I wish you hadn't done that." Hermione paused. "Let me rephrase that. You shouldn't have gotten yourself hurt for my sake."

     Juniper stared at her and shrugged her shoulders. "What can I say? No one's allowed to hurt your feelings unless it's me kicking your ass in academics." Hermione rolled her eyes and Juniper chuckled causing Hermione to smile. "In all seriousness, he shouldn't have called you such an awful name. No one deserves to be called that. And it was going to happen sooner or later, I just chose to do it sooner."

     Hermione nodded her head. She ran a thumb over Juniper's hand, her eyes tracing the bruises. "Promise me that if it doesn't feel better after tomorrow that you'll get something from Madame Pomfrey."

     Juniper rolled her eyes, "'Mione I've dealt with worse."

     "Juniper, promise me." Hermione looked at her sternly.

     Juniper huffed, "Fine. I promise."

     Finally, Hermione let go of her hand and walked over to her bed, getting under the covers. Juniper began to do the same. "Hey, Juniper."

     "Hmm?"

     "Did you call me a nickname?"

     Juniper paused for a moment, trying her hardest to hold back her smile as she rolled her eyes. "Goodnight, Hermione."

     "Goodnight, Juniper."