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🥀 WRECK 🥀 THREE: Stare
Juniper stares at the back of Slughorn's balding head in indifference. He's droning on about the Draught of Living Death, and nobody but Severus Snape bothers to pay attention — not even Lily Evans. It came as a surprise to the class when Lily chose to sit at the back row with the rest of her Gryffindor buddies, unlike the previous years when she sat next to Severus.
Now, Juniper doesn't really know what happened there, but it had something to do with the incident that happened during the OWLs, when he called her a Mudblood. Juniper can't help but think about how Atlas called Naveen a Blood-traitor — would they too be severed like Lily Evans and Severus Snape?
Before Juniper can ponder on that dreadful subject for any longer, someone shoves her elbow.
She jolts awake from her daydream, her back and arms straightening as if rods had been stuck into them. This reminded her of all the times her mother had warned her about better posture, 'You're bent like a question mark, Juniper. Roll your shoulders back!'
"Slughorn wants us to prepare the Draught of Living Death." Informs Remus Lupin idly, not even making eye contact, as if one look from Juniper and he'd freeze over. Juniper found that rather displeasing, she was not an Ice Princess — that was Narcissa Black's title. She was a human, and the least Lupin could do was treat her like one.
Juniper sighs tiredly, trying to control her irrational anger. "Do you want to get the ingredients or shall I?"
"I'll do it," Lupin volunteers quickly. He's eager to leave this desk, eager for a second away from Juniper. Or perhaps he just wants to chat with his friends on the way back, because all four of them had been thrown into different corners of the room after they blew up their cauldron.
Lupin had almost had a nervous breakdown when Slughorn had assigned him a seat next to Juniper, although he had been very polite to her. He had nodded as he set his books down, and then moved to the very edge of the seat to be as far away from her as possible. All while his friends snuck him sorry glances. They didn't seem to think that Juniper noticed all their regular exchanges and looks — the marauders were oblivious like that, compared to Juniper, who was an avid observer.
While Lupin was away, Juniper takes a long look around the room. Adjacent to her sits Naveen, his partner is some Ravenclaw who plays Quidditch his team. They're having an animated conversation about something, both of them bent over their cauldron as if in conspiracy. The thing about Naveen was that he could the charm the socks off anyone, and he was nice, not like the other Slytherins who kept their snobby acts up with wholly devotion. The fact that Naveen actually seemed to have a heart was what made him the most liked Slytherin. People actually nodded at him in the hallways, or some even waved. And that was enough acceptance a Slytherin had ever received from the rest of the student body.
