chapter four : drowning

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Juniper was sitting with Fred and George under the tree next to the Black Lake when they heard a scream.

"What's that?" June asked, putting her Charm homework away and listening closely.

"Someone who screamed," Fred replied, he, too, put his homework away.

They heard the scream again and the three of them stood up. June looked around them and her eyes widened when she saw someone drowning in the Black Lake. In less than a second, she had pulled off her robe and her shoes before running towards the edge of the lake and jumping in.

"June!" the twins yelled after her, but she ignored it. She swam as fast as she could towards the person, who appeared to be a Hufflepuff, no doubt a first-year. The black haired dove underwater, grabbed his yellow robes and pulled him with her to the surface.

Juniper swam back towards the shore where Fred helped her to get the boy out of the water.

"Get Madam Pomfrey," June said, not bothering to look up as she felt for a heartbeat. There was none.

"Shit!"

She started doing CPR, she placed on hand on top of the other and and clasped them together. She pushed hard in the center of the chest and started counting.

"One . . . two . . . three . . ."

George was running towards the Hogwarts castle as fast as he could. He pushed through the students, not bothering to apologize as he made his way towards the hospital wing.

"Madam Pomfrey!" He exclaimed, breathing heavily. "There's an emergency!"

". . . twenty-nine . . . thirty."

June stopped with the compressions and tilted the boy's head slightly before lifting his chin. She pinched his nose shut and placed her mouth fully over his. She blowed while glancing at his chest and saw that it rose. She did that again before repeating the whole lot.

The black haired was about to lose hope, when the boy coughed up water. June rolled him onto his side and gently patted his back as he started coughing.

As she glanced up at the castle, she could see Madam Pomfrey running towards them, closely followed by George. Juniper stood up and backed away, making room for the matron.

"He wasn't breathing so I started CPR," June explained quietly so that only she could hear it.

Madam Pomfrey nodded, gave her an approval glance before examining the boy closely.

"You'll be all right now, but I want you to spend a couple of nights in the hospital wing, just to be sure and I'll have to alert Dumbledore."

With a flick of her wand, the boy floated in the air and followed Madam Pomfrey back towards the castle, leaving June who was still soaked to the bone.

Fred took her robe and draped it around her shoulders as she took her bag and shoes before the three of them made their way towards the castle.

"You did the right thing," George said. "You saved his life."

"I'm sure everyone would have done that," Juniper replied, shivering slightly, making Fred take off his cloak before placing it around her shoulders, too.

"Not everyone knows how to do that," he replied. "I didn't know," he confessed.

The trio made their way back towards the common room and June was glad to exchanged her wet clothes for something warm. She descended the stairs and saw that George was holding a piece of parchment. Both of them looked up as she approached.

"Dumbledore asked us to meet him in the hospital wing," Fred said.

June nodded. "Let's not keep him waiting then."

The trio walked out of the common room, down the stairs towards the hospital wing. There, they were engulfed in a big hug by a brown haired woman.

"Thank you! Oh, by Merlin's beard, thank you for saving my son!"

George, Fred and Juniper exchanged an awkward glance before patting the woman on her bag.

"It's nothing," June replied as the woman let go of her.

"It's not nothing!" She exclaimed, her eyes wide open. "You saved his life! He could've been dead!" Her voice cracked and her husband pulled her from the trio into his arms.

"But he isn't," he spoke up, "and we want to thank you for that."

"You're welcome," Juniper replied, smiling warmly.

Professor Dumbledore steppes forward. "Miss Black, I'd like to have a word with you, if that's alright?"

"Sure," June said, happy to excuse herself with the boys parents. She felt rather uncomfortable under their gratitude. She gave the twins a smile before following Dumbledore to his office.

"It was a good thing what you did out there," Professor Dumbledore said, once they sat down.

"Thank, you Professor," Juniper replied, politely, "but we only did what everyone would have done."

"You are too humble, Miss Black," Dumbledore replied. "However, that wasn't the only reason why I wanted to have a word with you. I wanted to ask you whether you had heard something from your uncle?"

"Nothing," June replied. "And I want nothing to do with him, he betrayed my aunt and uncle. I'll never forgive him for that."

Dumbledore didn't reply, he just eyed her with a look she couldn't quite comprehend.

"You may go," he finally said and June was quick to get up and leave his office. She strode back towards the common room where she found Fred and George waiting for her.

"How'd it go?" George asked, as he slide over to let her sit next to him.

"He just wanted to know whether I had heard something from my uncle," June replied. "Which I have not."

"Of course not," Fred said, slinging an arm around her shoulders.

"How did you do it, by the way?" George asked.

"Tonks learnt it from Auror training and taught me," June said, shrugging. "She thought it might come in handy."

"She was right," Fred replied, squeezing her gently.

"It felt good," Juniper admitted, staring into the fire. "Saving the boy, I mean."

They were interrupted by Harry, Ron and Hermione who fell down on the couch in front of them. Juniper raised her eyebrow at their expressions.

"What's the matter?"

"Buckbeak attacked Malfoy," Hermione said, looking worried.

"The little git finally gets what he deserves," Fred sneered.

"I just hope his father doesn't press charges," Hermione sighed. "Hagrid could lose his job for this."

"I'm sure Dumbledore won't let that happen," Juniper said, but she was worried nonetheless. The black haired knew how much influence Lucius Malfoy had in the Ministry and there was a small part of her that feared for Hagrid. She stood up. "I better go and see him myself. Perhaps I can prevent him from writing his father."

"Yeah, good luck with that," Ron said.

Juniper left the common room and headed for the hospital wing. There she saw a group of Slytherins surrounding a bed in the front. Madam Pomfrey seemed quite surprised to see her.

"Miss Black, is everything all right?" she asked in a worried tone.

"Yeah, all fine," June replied, before her eyes darted over to her cousin. "How's he?"

"It's just a scratch," Madam Pomfrey sighed. "I don't get why he makes such a big deal of it."

"Leave that to me," Juniper replied, striding over towards the Slytherins. "Draco, can I have a word?"

Draco looked surprised to see her. With a nod, he dismissed his friends and sat up straighter in his bed.

"If you're here to tell me —" he started, but June interrupted him.

"How's your arm?"

Draco looked at her in surprised.

"It hurts like hell."

"It's just a scratch," June pointed out.

"It's a big scratch. Why are you even here?"

"Because believe it or not, I care about you," Juniper said. "And maybe I don't show it enough, but I do. You are my family after all."

"You — you do?" He sounded surprised, a little emotional even.

"Of course I do," June said, smiling slightly at him. "Now, I would like to ask you not to write to your father about what happened today. You could get Hagrid in serious trouble if you do and we both know it wasn't his fault."

Whatever smile had appeared on his lips fell off. "I already did. Besides, that half-giant should pay for what his monster did to me!"

"Language, Draco," June said coldly. "From what I heard, Hagrid was very clear about not disrespecting Hippogriffs but you did it anyway."

"And who told you that? I bet it was Potter." He rolled onto his side, showing her his back. "You always favor him."

"You're hard to favor if you call Hermione a Mudblood, bully Ron about his family and Harry about —" I stopped abruptly. "Why don't you like Harry? He has done nothing to you and neither did Hermione and Ron."

Draco didn't reply, nor roll over. After what seemed like forever, Juniper sighed and stood back up. She opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but closed it again, deciding against it.

"I'll see you around," she finally said before turning around.

"Wait."

June turned around again. Draco had rolled over, facing her now.

"Could — could you stay?"

Juniper didn't reply, instead, she laid down next to him, her eyes staring at the ceiling.

"I'm not sure if you know but I remember holding you as a toddler," Juniper said quietly. "You had quite a bit of blond hair and big grey eyes that reminded me of my dad . . . They still do." June turned her head to look at him. "I do care about you, Draco, and I'm sorry if I have ever given you the idea that I favor Harry, but he has no one. I'm the only family who cares about him. You have both your parents who care immensely about you."

Draco casted his eyes down. "I'm sorry about your parents."

"It's okay, Draco, I just wanted to tell you that things could get worse for people. Anyways," she added, more amusingly, "what's this I hear about you and Pansy Parkinson?"

Draco sighed irritated. "She's all over me."

"And you don't like that?"

"No."

"Is there perhaps someone else?"

Draco looked at her horrified. "No!"

"Relax," Juniper said, laughing. "I was just asking."

"Do you like someone?" Draco asked, looking up at her.

"Not that I know of."

"Not even one of the Weasley twins? Or Diggory?"

"We're just friends," Juniper assured him.

"Do you believe in true love?" He quietly asked.

"Sometimes," June hummed before ruffling his hair. "What's with all these serious questions?"

Draco ducked away.

"Hey!"

"Oh, shut it. I know for a fact you like it."

"I don't."

"You do."

For a moment, they looked at each other, not moving. Then they burst out laughter.

"It's been a long time since I laughed," Draco admitted quietly. "At home everything is so . . ." He searched for a word to explain it.

Juniper placed her hand on his shoulder. "I know."

"They have this perfect picture of me," Draco sighed.

"You mean your father has this perfect picture of you," Juniper corrected. "I only met your mother a handful times but she seemed nice when she's not around him."

"She is," Draco agreed. "She's the best."

Juniper glanced at her watch. "I've got to get to my Prefect rounds, I'll see you around okay?"

"Yeah," Draco said, nodding. "Thanks for staying."

"You're most welcome, my little dragon."

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Published 02.09.2020

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