𝐸𝑉𝐸𝑅𝐺𝑅𝐸𝐸𝑁 𝑀𝐼𝑆𝑇 || 𝐷.𝑀.

twelve

As Juniper allowed herself to unwillingly get closer with Blaise, she couldn't help but feel bad as if she was using him. She wasn't happy, even when she was laughing or seemed happy, she wasn't. Blair had been convinced that Juniper was done with Draco, completely unaware that her own friend was still wishing she fought harder. What was it about him that drove her crazy? Why was she hung up on some arrogant boy that couldn't even be bothered to be nice to her?
Draco spent the next weeks watching Juniper and Blaise, seeing him make her laugh and smile, not knowing she was wishing it were Draco making her laugh. He tried his best to bury his emotions, to keep his feelings suppressed, and he managed this by being cold and rude to Juniper even when it would seem to kill him doing so. He hated making her upset and worst of all, he hated the Blaise was the person she'd go to talk to about it. Draco watched as she would walk away from him, calling him an arrogant or ignorant ass, it varied day to day, and go to Blaise to talk, causing Blaise to shoot him looks. If it kept Juniper away from him and preserved her from getting hurt by him, he'd allow it to happen.
Juniper was rather excited for today as she'd finally be able to go attend a Quidditch match. She'd been so busy with homework that she had missed most of the games, but finally she'd be able to go. She'd always enjoyed Quidditch, she found the game exciting and it always made her sit on the edge of her seat to see what would happen. Even though Draco Malfoy was the Slytherin Seeker, she certainly was not going to the game just to watch him, that wasn't her intentions at all. In fact, she was simply going to just support her house against the Gryffindor team.
Before the match, Juniper laid in Blaise Zabini's bed with him, the other boys of his dormitory were out at lunch before the game, leaving them to have alone time. She tried not to make it terribly obvious that she was yet again disappointed in Blaise's inability to satisfy her, not wanting to hurt his feelings. As Juniper laid there, she kept flashing back to the one time with Draco in the bathroom, remembering exactly how she felt and feared she'd never capture that feeling ever again. Blaise was completely oblivious to her disappointment, which made her quite happy that they weren't dating, no, they were simply just friends with the occasional benefit, the benefit that only benefited him now.
"If you don't get up we'll never get to the match." Blaise told her as he tossed her shirt to her. Juniper was silent as she sat up, nodding her head and sliding the shirt over her head. "You alright?" Blaise questioned.
"Yeah, sorry, I'm just tired I guess." Juniper lied. Blaise gave her a smirk as he stood over her, leaning down to kiss her, to which she reluctantly let him.
"We could stay here." He offered, but she stood up as she shook her head.
"No, I havent been to a single game at all this year so I'm definitely not missing this one." Juniper said. "Do you not want to go?" She asked him.
"Honestly no, I'm not terribly into Quidditch." Blaise said. Juniper nodded her head as she put her shoes on now.
"You don't have to come." She told him, hoping he'd stay here.
"I'd feel bad if I didn't." He told her. "Don't want to leave you alone."
"Blaise, we aren't...together. You know we're just friends, so you don't have to come." Juniper reminded him, making Blaise sigh rather loudly.
"We could be together." He told her as he rubbed her arms.
"No, no, I'm not in the right mind for that." Juniper shook her head as she went to open the dormitory door. "I'll see you later." She said as she left, feeling even worse as she knew she was leading Blaise on. She didn't want to, but the distraction from another Slytherin boy was helpful to her, except that distraction never lasted quite long. She walked her way to the Quidditch stadium, sitting in the Slytherin section and getting there just after the match started.
"Surprised to see you here." She heard Blair say as she scooted closer to Juniper. "I feel like I haven't seen you in ages." She said loudly over the cheers.
"I know, I'm sorry!" Juniper shouted over the announcement that Gryffindor scored ten points. "Do you want to come hangout in my dormitory tonight?" Juniper asked, hoping Blair would say yes so she could have a healthy distraction from Draco. Blair wasn't entirely a distraction as she loved hanging out with her, she was her best friend and felt bad for not spending enough time with her.
"Yes, of course! I'll bring the latest Rita Skeeter article so we can make fun of her." Blair said giving her a nudge, making Juniper laugh as she agreed. They watched the match together as Gryffindor scored another ten points, putting them twenty points ahead of Slytherin.
"I swear to Godric if Malfoy doesn't catch that bloody snitch I'm going to hex him!" Blair shouted as they groaned when Gryffindor got up to forty points now. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to mention him." She said immediately.
"It's alright, I'll help you hex him." Juniper laughed to make Blair feel better. They continued watching and luckily before Gryffindor got terribly far ahead, the scores were one hundred to seventy, Draco got the snitch before Harry, leaving Gryffindor extremely disappointed as it was no secret that Harry Potter was a better seeker.
"I'll see you in the common room later, I promised Poppy I'd help her pull a prank on Crabbe after this." Blair said as she stood up quickly to leave the Quidditch stands. Juniper watched people leave around her, the air was getting colder and she went inside the castle. She got dinner before heading toward the Slytherin common room, running into someone on her way there.
"Juniper..." She heard Draco say as he stopped to look down at her, he was leaving the Prefect's bathroom, his hair still wet as he'd obviously just showered from the match. She could smell the body wash and shampoo he'd just used, enjoying every second of it.
"H-hi." Was all she could manage to say. They hadn't actually spoken to each other in nearly two months. "Um, congratulations on winning the match today against Gryffindor." She said as she took a step back from him.
    "Thank you," Draco said quickly as he nodded his head, "how have you been?" He asked her, the tension in the corridor was so high at this moment. Juniper thought for a moment, knowing it would be best to lie to him and say she was great, but she didn't want to lie to him. Regardless if it would hurt him to know that she was doing terrible, she couldn't bring herself to lie to him.
    "Honestly, Draco...I'm miserable." Juniper said with a laugh as she ran her fingers through her hair. "Blaise is painfully and annoyingly all over me and I feel terrible for leading him on, but I don't like him, in fact I rather loath him and how incredibly boring he is. I'm just not happy." Juniper didn't mean to blurt out all her feelings into one long rant to him, but she did anyway and immediately started to laugh again, taking a few steps back until she was leaning against the in between the open windows of the corridor. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to just dump that on you." She said as she attempted not to cry. Draco didn't hesitate to walk over, in fact he didn't even realize he was until he felt his own feet moving quickly toward her and pulled her into his arms, holding her tightly against him.
    Juniper would've most likely pushed him away on any other day, but she couldn't bring herself to not allow herself to stay there in his arms. She wrapped hers around his waist tightly, one of Draco's hands was pressed firmly against the arch of her back while the other held her head into him. The light scent of his cologne was intoxicating; she could tell it was a mahogany teakwood and a mix of bergamot, she never wanted to leave it, she felt so incredibly comforted by him in this moment.
    "I'm so sorry you're not happy. I never wanted that for you, I only wanted you to be happy." Draco said softly, his words slightly muffled as his cheek was resting against her head.
    "Are you as unhappy as I am?" Juniper asked him.
    "This doesn't change what I told you, Junebug." Draco sighed. She moved her head away from him, loosening the hug between them so she could look at him.
    "Why not?" Her voice was stern now and full of confusion. "Why can't that change anything? What are you so bloody afraid of?" She wanted to yell at him so badly now.
    "There are things you don't know, Juniper." Draco sighed as he moved his arms away from her, resting his hands on the open window. "Things that will get you hurt or worse, killed." He looked down at the grounds of the castle as Juniper stood next to him.
    "I don't believe that." She was acting so stubborn which bothered Draco, he didn't know how much more he could reject or deny her as he didn't want to in the first place.
    "You don't believe there are things in my life that'll get you hurt? Seriously? Don't be so naive." Draco scolded her, making her scoff.
    "Is this about your family? About Voldemort?" Juniper blurted out quickly, making Draco shoot her a look.
    "Don't say his name." He demanded, which surprised Juniper a bit.
    "Draco, I saw the Dark Mark on your arm in the bathroom, you think I wouldn't notice it? You think I don't notice you rubbing your arm because it hurts? I'm not naive, I'm observant. I've known since before we were even at this school that your father was a Death Eater and I knew he would be when...You-Know-Who returned. I saw the Mark and knew you were too, but I still tried to be with you." Juniper snapped at him, trying to drill it into his head that she did indeed care about him and know his situation. "I know damn well what I'm getting myself into, but I also know you're not the same as them." Them was referring to the Death Eaters and Draco knew it. He was completely shocked by her small rant of realization, not realizing himself that she already knew about it.
    "How do you know I'm not like them?" He asked her quietly.
    "Well for one you won't even say his name," Juniper said as she let out a bit of a laugh as she turned to face him, he still looked out the window, "but also I just have a feel about you." She said, which made him finally look at her.
    "You'd be willing to risk your life based off of a feeling?" Draco asked her. He watched as Juniper nodded and he wanted to kiss her immediately, but was still hesitant. "Why?"
    "I don't know anyone else who'd promise to catch me when I fall. I truly believe that you would." Juniper said to him, the room filled with silence as they both stared at each other. She was right. He would catch her and they both knew that if anyone else tried to, he'd get there first.