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The Fall of Us All	By : bryn Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female Views: 789 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 1-A nap in the sun
- 2-Juniper
- 1
- 2
Juniper
Jones madly packed for her return to Hogwarts. She�d forgotten that it was
today. Pushing her frizzy brown hair out of her face, she grabbed a pair of
freshly laundered robes and threw them into her trunk.

�Juni! Hurry up!� Her mother called.

Juniper cringed and quickly shoved the rest
of her things in to her trunk and grabbed her wand. She tumbled down the stairs
and her trunk landed on top of her.

�Ouch!� Juniper cried.

�There you are Juni,� her sister Gwenog
scolded levitating Juniper�s trunk. �Hurry up, will you?�

Juniper glared at her older sister as
Gwenog dropped the trunk next to her. She got up and brushed herself off. She
grabbed her trunk and dragged it to the taxi out front.

When they arrived at King�s cross their
mother kissed them goodbye, �Now Gwenog good luck at Quidditch and talk care of
Juni.�

�Mum! I�m only ten months younger! Hell, in
a month I�m of age,� Juniper protested. Her mother just gave her a patronizing
nod.

�Just behave yourself, Juni,� her mother
said. �I don�t want to have any owls home about your late night outings this
year.�

Juniper rolled her green eyes and headed
for the train. She found an empty compartment and took out her new Advanced
Potions textbook and started reading. It was interesting, starting with Draught
of Living Death and finishing with much more sinister and complex potions.

�Do you mind if we sit here?� A second year
Hufflepuff asked timidly shaking Juniper out of her reverie.

�I can�t stop you,� She replied mildly
returning to her book. The Hufflepuffs tiptoed into the compartment and quietly
talked about their summers.

The lunch cart came and went and Juniper
was absentmindedly crunching on a chocolate frog as the second years started to
put on their robes.

�Oh. Did the prefect come in?� She asked
them. They flinched and nodded. Juniper pulled her least wrinkled robes on and
went back to a new theoretical potions book by a Jerifin
Roxy. Roxy was explaining
if Boomslang skins� properties were complementary to
a particular ingredient, or better used separately, in the chapter Juniper was
on. The train slowed to a complete stop and Juniper brought her potions book
with her as she stepped into a carriage.

No one joined her in the carriage, but she
didn�t notice as she had her nose buried in the depths of the book. She entered
the entrance hall with the book at her side. Professor McGonagall marched up to
her with a scowl.

�Miss Jones,� McGonagall started. �If I see
you so much as glance at that book during the sorting or start of the year speeches
you will be losing Slytherin 15 points. It�s a little early to start provoking
your housemates isn�t it?�

�Yes ma�am,� Juniper replied looking
sincere, but the moment McGonagall turned her back she muttered. �Silly old hag
thinks she�ll stop me from reading.�

Juniper sat down at the Slytherin table and
brushed her hair out of her eyes. She glanced at the head table and noticed a
new Defence against the Dark Arts teacher; he was an acquaintance of Gwenog�s
and her mother. His last name was Bale and of middling years. Professor Snape
saw her looking his way and gave her less of a sneer than normal. He liked her
for whatever reason, but it didn�t lower his expectations of her.

She spelled her book with a compulsion that
made people think it wasn�t actually there, just in case McGonagall looked her
way. She started back in a particularly juicy chapter on Bezoar derived
antidotes.

The sorting went by quickly. Juniper put an
anti-spill charm on her book after the feast appeared and was so enveloped in the
book she didn�t even taste the food she was eating. When she was just about
finished she overheard a prefect giving the password to a friend. She went down
to the dungeon with her nose in the book. A few third eyes rolled their eyes as
they passed her, but she was oblivious, that is until someone snatched her book
out of her hands.

�Hey!� Juniper cried looking about. �Give that back!�

�Little Juni Jones with her nose always in
a book,� Lukas Flint, a seventh year, teased. Juniper shook her wand from her
sleeve to her hand.

�Please return
my book immediately and desist this childish behaviour,� She repeated calmly.

�No wonder I
hear you�re frigid. You�d rather bed books than a warm body,� Flint continued. �What a disgrace it must be
to have a sister in Ravenclaw. Why aren�t you in that house? All these years in
Slytherin and you have yet to prove yourself.�

�This is the
last time I�m asking, give me my book back and stop teasing me,� Juniper
drawled in an eerily calm voice with a lazy look in her eyes.

�Oh? And you�ll
do what exactly?� Flint
questioned unimpressed. �Throw your��

�Subnecto Cruris,� She
yelled. Flint�s
arms and legs were tied together and Juniper�s book fell to the floor.

�Thank you,�
Juniper smiled picking up her book and starting to walk away.

�Miss Jones,� an
icy cold voice quietly hissed. She turned on her heel and saw the cold eyes of
Prof. Snape. �I�m not taking any points off of Slytherin, but you know magic is
strictly forbidden in the hallways. A detention tomorrow night should remind
you of that fact. Eight pm, my classroom.�

�Yes, sir,�
Juniper managed to look ashamed, but in reality she was very proud of what she
had done. She wanted to protest, but she knew that Prof. Snape wouldn�t accept
excuses.

�Mr. Flint, you
are old enough to know better than to bully someone just because they are
different from you. If I catch you acting like this again you shall have
detention for a month with Mr. Filch,� Prof. Snape reprimanded. �Now straight
to the common room, I haven�t the time to mediate petty squabbles.�

He left with Flint still in knots.

�Oh Lukas, do
you need some help?� Juniper asked batting her long dark eyelashes.

�Yes!� Lukas
replied indignantly. �When did you learn that?�

�This summer,
funny how people can change over such a short period of time,� Juniper smirked
and waved her wand. �Finite Incantatem. Best tell
your mates.�

Juniper left for
her room while Flint
still had his mouth agape. She had her nose in her book once again and was
quite happy despite her detention.

The next morning
Juniper had gotten up early and got a new book from the library that she was
reading at breakfast.

�Miss Jones,�
Prof. Snape said scathingly, �Your schedule.�

�Thank you,
sir,� Juniper said snapping out of her reverie. She glanced over the schedule.
�Sir, I think there is a mistake. Shouldn�t I be in sixth year Advanced
Potions?�

�Yes, you
should,� Prof. Snape responded coldly. �Unfortunately the Ministry seems to
think your O.W.L. was good enough for you to skip a year ahead in Potions. You,
of course, will have a lot of work to catch up on, but we�ll discuss that
during your detention.�

�Yes, sir,�
Juniper replied sinking lower in her chair. She picked her way through her
breakfast and headed to D.A.D.A. early.

She had known
she was good at Potions, but she never thought she was that good. It was a lot
of catching up to do, but she wasn�t worried. She really loved potions. Juniper
had gotten Outstanding on all her O.W.L.s�Potions, Transfiguration, Charms, Herbology, Astronomy, Care of Magical Creatures, and Arithmacy�but she didn�t have the same drive in those other
subjects as she did in Potions.

�Jones,
Juniper,� A voice called. She looked and realized class had started. �Juniper?�

�Sorry, sir. I�m present,� Juniper
apologized unrolling a parchment and inking her quill. He finished role fairly
quickly and started in on the lesson.

�I have a short
quiz to gauge what you know so I can better prepare you for your N.E.W.T., with
such an assortment of professors I have no idea what you�ve been taught,� Prof.
Bale said handing out the quiz. �You have one half of an hour to complete this.
Please start now.�

Juniper looked
at the quiz. It wasn�t difficult at all. She had three feet of parchment
written by the time Prof. Bale called, �Quills down everyone!�

He glanced at a
couple of the shorter exam papers saying, �Good� good�I can see that defensive
magic has been missed with this class. How you passed your O.W.L. is beyond me.
But we�ll correct that. Please open your text to page 378, chapter 9, Counter
Spells and their uses.�

The class
finished shortly before lunch, after a few demonstrations, not so few notes,
and an essay on the counter spell of the student�s choice. Juniper grabbed a
sandwich and sat in the Slytherin common room reading her potions book until it
was time to go to Transfiguration. She walked up the stairs slowly not excited
to sit through a class in which Prof. McGonagall would glare at her.

�Hello class,�
Prof. McGonagall greeted them severely. Her hair was pulled back tightly into
an orderly bun that was just starting to be more grey than brown. �The next two
years are going to be hard work. You have N.E.W.T.s
coming up sooner than you think and studying should be your main concern. So
without any further ado, let�s start!�

They didn�t drop
their quills until the end of that class. Everyone was glad they had the rest
of the afternoon off. Juniper didn�t though; she was heading to the dungeons
for her double Potions class. She stayed up until the wee hours reading her
text trying to get ahead. Hurrying past her year mates she was the first
student in the classroom, so she started to re-read the part of the text that
she was sure Prof. Snape would start today.

Professor Snape
was an interesting man. He had a brilliant mind for potions, but there were
substantial rumours that he would much rather teach D.A.D.A. A pardoned Death
Eater who was said to have been a double agent for Dumbledore, he had only been
teaching at Hogwarts for five years, this being his sixth. Juniper didn�t
understand how such a young man, only twenty-eight, could be so cynical and
look so sallow.

�Juni!� A voice shook her out of her
thoughts. �Why are you in this class?�

It was Gwenog.
Juniper replied, �The ministry thought I ought to be in seventh year potions.�

�Discontinue
talking and take your seats,� Prof. Snape commanded walking to the front of the
class with his black robes billowing behind him. Gwenog quickly took the seat
next to her sister. Snape continued, �Now look at the person next to you. This
person will be your partner for the rest of the year when we do group work, as
we are today.�

Juniper gave
Gwenog a death glare while Gwenog gave Juniper a confident smile.

�Now please get
to work with the potion on the board,� Snape finished sitting at his desk
looking over what appeared to be homework from the summer. A lock of dark,
greasy hair fell in front of his right eye and he brushed it away behind his
almost elfin ear.

�Gwenog, if you
would please go get the ingredients, as well as two sprigs of mint, I�ll set up
the equipment,� Juniper quietly delegated. She took out the equipment and
double checked the directions of the potion. Gwenog returned with the
ingredients and looked disdainfully at the pewter cauldron that Juniper had set
up. She spoke up by saying, �Juni the board says we should be using an iron
cauldron.�

�Don�t worry
Gwen,� Juniper soothed. �This will encourage our potion to turn colour in a
more efficient time frame. The mint will negate the side effect of drowsiness.�

�Oh,� Gwenog
replied unsure. She stared at her sister in awe, knowing that she had always
been knowledgeable when it came to Potions, but never knowing that she could
practically apply her knowledge. She tore her attention from her sister and
started to chop up the frog spleen.

�Yes Miss
Jones?� Prof. Snape asked forty-five minutes before the end of class.

�Gwenog and I
are done our potion and we�d appreciate it if you�d double check it for us,�
Juniper replied humbly. Professor Snape came over and examined the potion.

�You may hand in
a vial and clean up,� He answered. �Five points to Slytherin.�

They handed in a
dram of the potion and cleaned up. Juniper quickly jotted down the homework
assignment off the board and left the classroom.

�Juni, wait up!�
Gwenog called after her sister who was unsuccessfully trying to escape to her
books.

�What?� Juniper
asked slightly exasperated.

�I just wanted
to thank you for being my partner in Potions,� Gwenog replied. �I�m glad I have
someone competent.�

�How�s
recruiting for Quidditch going?� Juniper asked.

�Juni,� Gwenog
responded rolling her eyes. �I�ve only been back a day. I do have the poster on
the Ravenclaw bulletin board though. You should try out for seeker on the
Slytherin team. Actually, on second thought, I�d like to win this year.�

�Well one
amazing player out of seven can�t always win,� Juniper teased. �I�ll think
about it. I�d have to get Mum to send my broom. Also Prof. Snape is going to be
dousing us with homework, especially me. I don�t need something else to
monopolize my time.�

�Well, I hope to
see you on the Quidditch field anyway,� Gwenog smiled. �See you next potions
class.�

�Bye,� Juniper
replied wandering back to her common room. She ignored her year mates who were
still talking excitedly about their summers and headed into her dorm. She had a
single room with a large, dark wood desk. The desk had a matching straight-back
chair and a couple matching shelves on the wall above it. The shelves were
stacked heavily with books and the desk�s drawers were filled with rolls of
parchment. On the opposite wall there was a large four poster bed made of the
same wood with crisp green bed curtains, silky green sheets, and a downy black
comforter.

Juniper dumped
her books on the chair and flopped backwards onto her bed. There was an hour
until dinner and then at eight she had her detention. The owl post had not
brought her a howler, so she assumed that Professor Snape did not send an owl
to her mother about that incident.

�Maybe a nap,�
Juniper mused to herself looking over at her nightstand alarm clock to set her
alarm. There was a simple silver frame on the nightstand that held a family
picture of her mother, father, Gwenog, and herself. It had been taken twelve
years ago. Her grandmother gave it her when she was eight, the day after her
son, and Juniper�s father, had been laid to rest.

�Never forget
him,� Grandmum Jones said pressing the frame into Juniper�s chubby little
hands. �He was a good son, a good husband, a good father, and a wonderful man.�

After Juniper
was sorted into Slytherin her mother�s parents refused to have anything to do
with her. She was a quiet eleven year old who didn�t know what to make of it,
so she did her best to visit her other Grandmum for a month every summer. Her
grandmother was still a potions mistress at the ministry, fairly high up too.
Juniper would follow her grandmother around the house, into the potions lab,
the kitchen and the library. She learnt early that she could learn so much from
this maternal mentor if she just listened to what her grandmother had to say.

Juniper took
after her grandmother in more ways than just interests. They shared the same
brown hair that had the tendency to frizz, the green eyes that always held a
sceptical look and the tall, lanky frame. Her father had looked like them too.
She remembered playing airplane with him in their big, green backyard and
sitting on his knee as he brewed potions.

Death Eaters had
gotten him. He had refused to brew potions for them as he didn�t believe in
their inhumane ideals. He died for the rights of muggleborns, but he didn�t get
an award or a commendation.

A shriek of
laughter came from the hallway and Juniper looked at the clock. It was time for
supper. She brushed her hair into a ponytail and washed her face and hands in
her ensuite bathroom.

She sat down at
dinner and played with her food. She picked at her salad, but she wasn�t that
hungry so she returned to her room. It was too late to start studying, but
there was just enough time for her to write a letter.

Dear Grandmum,

Thanks for the
new potions book. You were right, Roxy�s theories on
ingredient replacement seemed too good to be true and they were, but I thought
her ideas on temperature change versus time in calming brews were well founded.

Don�t tell Mum,
but I put that hex you suggested to good use. I got a detention, but I think it
was worth it. I�m sure they are going to be leaving me alone this year.

The ministry
advanced me to seventh year potions this year. Gwen�s my lab partner though.
She thinks I should try out for Quidditch, but I don�t think I�m good enough.

Lots of love,

Juni

She sealed it
with the green wax and monogram stamp her mother gave her for Christmas.
Changing into an older set of robes, just in case Prof. Snape had her do
something messy, she put the letter in her pocket with a spare roll of
parchment and a self-inking quill, just in case he had her do some notes.

In the Owlery
Juniper searched for Gwenog�s owl, Plumpton. He was named after a famous seeker and was a fat
barn owl. Plumpton was no where to be found, so she
used a grey school owl. She sighed and turned around for her trip back to the
dungeons.
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The Fall of Us All