𝐉𝐔𝐍𝐈𝐏𝐄𝐑 𝐋𝐘𝐑𝐀 𝐁𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐊, born to Lyra Potter and Regulus Black, is Harry's older cousin, 1/3 of the Prankers Trio and niece to mass murderer Sirius Black.
Life at Hogwarts was fun, relaxing and normal. That's until her younger cousin sho...
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chapter ten : aboard the Hogwarts Express
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There was a definite end-of-the-holidays gloom in the air when Juniper awoke on September 1st. Heavy rain was still splattering against the window as June got dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt; they would change into their school robes on the Hogwarts Express.
She, Hermione and Ginny had just reached the first-floor landing on their way down to breakfast, when Molly appeared at the foot of the stairs, looking harassed.
"Arthur!" she called up the staircase, "Arthur! Urgent message from the Ministry!"
Juniper flattened herself against the wall as Arthur came clattering last with his robes back-to-front, and hurtled out of sight. When they entered the kitchen, they saw Molly rummaging anxiously in the dresser drawers — "I've got a quill here somewhere!" — and Arthur bending over the fire, talking to the flaming head of Amos, who was talking very fast, completely unperturbed by the sparks flying around it and the flames licking its ears. Harry, Ron and the twins were staring into the fireplace.
". . . Muggle neighbours heard bangs and shouting, so they went and called those what-d'you-call-'ems — please-men. Arthur, you've got to get over there —"
"Here!" Molly said breathlessly, pushing a piece of parchment, a bottle of ink and a crumpled quill into Arthur's hands.
"— it's a real stroke of luck I heard about it," Amos' head said. "I had to come into the office early to send a couple of owls, and I found the Improper Use of Magic lot all setting off — if Rita Skeeter gets hold of this one, Arthur —"
"What does Mad-Eye say happened?" Arthur asked, unscrewing the ink bottle, loading up his quill and preparing to take notes.
Amos rolled his eyes. "Says he heard an intruder in his yard. Says they were creeping towards the house, but they were ambushed by his dustbins."
"What did the dustbins do?" Arthur asked, scribbling fantically.
"Made one hell of a noise and fired rubbish everywhere, as far as I can tell," Amos said. "Apparently one of them was still rocketing around when the please-men turned up —"
Arthur groaned. "And what about the intruder?"
"Arthur, you know Mad-Eye," Amos' head said, rolling it's eyes again. "Someone creeping into his yard at the dead of the night? More likely there's a very shellshocked cat wandering around somewhere, covered in potato peelings. But if the Improper Use of Magic lot get their hands on Mad-Eye, he's had it — think of his record — we've got to get him off a minor charge, something in your department — what are exploding dustbins worth?"
"Might be a caution," Arthur said, still writing very fast, his brows furrowed. "Mad-Eye didn't use his wand? He didn't actually attack anyone?"
"I'll bet he leapt out of bed and started jinxing everything he could reach through the window," Amos said, "but they'll have a job proving it, there aren't any casualties."
