moth to a flame | juniper

[juniper minerva mcgonagall]

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It sort of made sense to her that Diagon Alley would have residents of some sort, aside from the shopkeepers and their families. Whether or not that meant the average witch or wizard could find a place to rent was certainly up in the air though. Most shops had floors above them, though she assumed they were residences for store owners or ancient warlocks that were essentially part of the furniture now. Live long enough and no one was going to tell you how to go about life. Hogsmeade obviously had an accompanying town, which was weirdly forgotten about quite often by the students and school. While there were very few residents, they did still exist. The McGonagall family had been there for close to a century now. So in a way it would make sense if there were places to live in the shopping district. Mighty convenient too...

"Maybe more in Horizont...it's so much emptier over there," she commented on the neighboring alleyway. There were a few relatively interesting storefronts but also an equal amount of empty ones. Just looking at the rent signs in the windows, there was a reason no one was clambering to open up a shop there. Which was a shame, because Diagon needed a ton of its traffic pulled away from it. Thankfully the apothecary wasn't nearly as bad as she'd seen it in the past.

Walking in first as Rhys held the door open for her, Juniper immediately produced the list of ingredients that they were going to need this year. She'd forgotten about one of the distasteful items they were required to get: sloth brain. "I know where all of these are, except this," she pointed at the rather disgusting ingredient, "And the Valerian root." She was not saying sloth brain out loud. It made her gag a little every time she looked at it. "They're for the draught of living death, I believe..."

rhys alexander greyback ● 322 ● Song by Artist

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[rhys alexander greyback]

right here with me

where it truly lies

August 29, 2017
juniper minerva mcgonagall

Rhys had made an initial walkthrough of Horizont on his second day. He’d marveled at the spelling since it didn’t feel natural, but who was he to comment on the naming of such places? ”There isn’t much there…it’s a bit creepy.” Sort of like wandering the dungeons alone at night. You could hear every small noise, every drop of water from the walls—just everything. Rhys wasn’t sure who decided such a place was excellent for student dorms. But with the lack of foot traffic maybe it would be less expensive to find a place to live there. Rhys made a mental note, though it wouldn’t be an issue until much later.

He frowned. Sloth brains were as disgusting as they sounded. How anyone had discovered this as a potion's ingredient was beyond him. Valerian root was an ingredient Rhys was more familiar with. As a boy, he’d been given calming draughts and draughts of peace while he adjusted to his new life as a werewolf and new surroundings among strangers of various ages. As he got older, he required it less, but every now and then, it was a willing visit to the Hospital Wing. ”I don’t think they keep the brains in the front.” Rhys thought aloud, though he wasn’t looking forward to buying that particular ingredient either. Nobody was.

”I’ll look in the back. I need to get vials.” Rhys had gotten most of his supplies already, but the Apothecary had run out of Valerian Root and other ingredients. The restock was the day before, he believed. He walked toward the back, skimming the handwritten labels on the higher shelves as he went. Sometimes he still felt awkward being so much taller now, especially when he could still clearly remember struggling to see what these labels had said before. But, it was less of a problem for him now than for Juniper. There were a few familiar faces in the shop, but nobody he was close to. From a distance, he recognized the root and approached the bin.

A girl was standing right in front, chatting away with another girl. Rhys recognized both from Slytherin and the same year. But they’d never given him the time of day before, so he just cleared his throat. ”Excuse me…” They both turned to look at him, pausing before suddenly looking at him with giant smiles. ’Oh, hey Rhys.’ Rhys smiled awkwardly. It would have been safe to assume that if his last name weren’t so infamous, most people would not even know it. Rosier and Dolohov, those girls were inseparable. Rhys nodded and focused on getting the Valerian root so he could be on his way. ’That’s for the draught of living death, right?’ Dolohov asked Rhys just as he was finishing up. ”Yes, I think so.” Rhys knew it was, but he’d also never had a conversation with either girl in the entirety of the last six years.

Rhys finally made his way back to Juniper near the front of the shop. While he wasn’t the most social person, he still wasn’t blind or dumb. Those girls had definitely stood far too close, and their questions had been silly even for them. So the sooner he could put distance between himself and them, the better, plus he wasn’t keen on ‘helping’ them in potions anytime soon. Clearing his throat to announce himself, he stood next to Juniper as she looked at her list. ”Only valerian root back there.” No sloth brains, or at least none that weren’t inside the skull of a teenage girl batting her eyelashes, but he wouldn’t mention any of that. The vials hadn’t been back there either, though Rhys hadn’t really looked.

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The mention of brains again had her stomach lurching, and for a moment Juniper was glad that they'd pushed off getting ice cream until after their shopping was complete. She was pretty sure witch vomit wasn't a viable potion ingredient, but knowing how batty some of the elders were, some freak would scoop it up in a heartbeat and abscond with her sloth brain mess. Letting Rhys locate and handle it was absolutely fine with her, as she didn't want to have to see it until they were slapping it into their cauldrons for class.

Rhys headed off towards the back to look for it as well as to grab vials, and that left her to getting everything else she needed. All of the ingredients for Wolfsbane were on the list, which she knew without actually knowing that they'd be brewing it this year. They'd gone over it before, she and Rhys, and she now knew one simply couldn't add sugar to it to make it taste better. Apparently it bungled it all up and rendered it useless. Nevertheless, she located the aconite as well as everything else needed for the draught of living death and veritaserum. The apothecary always looked like a mess to the untrained eye, but over the years she found that everything was where it was for a very specific reason. To say that it got easier to find difficult ingredients would be an understatement. But the bucket of beetles? She had no clue where that was today. Sometimes it was by the door, sometimes by the counter. One time she even found it wedged between two shelves of cauldrons.

After a brief moment of collecting what she needed, Juniper turned back to her list and began crossing everything off until all that was left was the sloth brain and Valerian root. Which was perfect timing because Rhys had found her and had the latter ingredient in hand. She looked up and past him towards the back of the shop where he'd just come from, making note that Rosier and Dolohov were standing very obviously in the way of several shelves. They were whispering behind their hands for some reason, looking in her direction, though it was impossible to tell if that was really where they were focused on. "I'm still surprised they even know how to mix a potion," Juniper pointed at the two Slytherin girls with her pen before reply crossing out Valerian root from her list. "But apparently they let anyone into NEWT-level Potions these days. Maybe that's where all the sloth brains went," she caused herself to gag again slightly.

rhys alexander greyback ● 438 ● Song by Artist

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[rhys alexander greyback]

right here with me

where it truly lies

August 29, 2017
juniper minerva mcgonagall

Rhys was tempted to look back if only because he felt their eyes on him. He could usually tell when someone was staring at him, an old habit at this point. The interaction hadn’t bothered him, but it had still been strange. It also hadn’t been the first time such a thing had happened, and all in the span of his arrival at Diagon Alley. Even the previous year, he hadn’t thought about it since his focus had been on avoiding Bagman and his goons, and then his focus had also shifted to his relationship. Juniper noted the girls, however, as Rhys approached.

”They always get someone else to do it for them.” Rhys commented. ”First lesson last year, when we were assigned random pairs.” He began as he tried to scan the opposite wall for wherever the vials could be. He swore they were always near the front. ”Dolohov—she didn’t help with the wit-sharpening potion except for grinding up the scarab beetles.” And barely if he was being honest. ”I don’t think the potion had much effect on her…” It was a harmless potion to test, but he hadn’t seen much of a difference. Then again, he could have sworn she hadn’t recognized him when they were first paired up.

But he smiled a bit. It was amazing how some survived the NEWT courses or how they had even achieved a high enough OWL level for it. ”Have you seen the vials?” Rhys asked Juniper. Maybe she’d seen them from whatever side of the shop she’d come from. Merlin, he just hoped they weren’t back by the Valerian root. Even before this small interaction, Rhys hadn’t liked either. Their voices always pierced all the noise in the Common Room, and they were simply annoying. Dealing with their sudden attention and stupid questions did not appeal to Rhys whatsoever. If Nell were there, she would have had a similar sentiment.

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[juniper minerva mcgonagall]

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The snort that rolled out of her at the thought of the wit-sharpening potion doing nothing was loud, and Juniper couldn't keep herself from looking back in the direction of the two girls. They were still staring, for Merlin knows what reason, and Juniper returned their glare with her own. Was it that strange to go school shopping together? They were doing the exact same thing, or at the very least seemed like they were. "Tell me about it. That's who I was stuck with when the accident happened," Hearing the endless false apologies from Dolohov after the fact was honestly worse than Nell's incessant worry. Always saying how she was sad it happened, but glad it hadn't ruined her favorite pair of shoes. Because standard school shoes were more important than the green acid burn Juniper ended up with. "I still don't think either of them know what my name is." Being 'you' was easy enough. Juniper knew she made them feel intellectually inferior, mainly because they were. That wasn't completely her fault.

The fact that the vials weren't in the back was certainly interesting. They were almost always there, unless the shop decided it would be easier to find them in a higher trafficked part of the store. But where that was, she didn't know. "I'll go ask," she decided for him, immediately making her way across the store and towards the counter where a family with what looked to be an incoming first year was close to finishing up. The starter cauldron looked absolutely ridiculous in the child's hands, and he could barely see over the lip of it. Even more impressive was that he was able to hold onto it. She certainly hadn't been able to at eleven. Before she had the chance to get help from the employee though, her eyes wandered over to the adjacent wall, which looked like it was stocked with back to school supplies. And with it, a large rack of vials. "Rhys!" she called back loudly through the now almost empty store, and pointing at the wall aggressively.

rhys alexander greyback ● 348 ● Song by Artist

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[rhys alexander greyback]

right here with me

where it truly lies

August 29, 2017
juniper minerva mcgonagall

Rhys grinned slightly, his eyes lingering on Juniper for an extra moment. She was inadvertently adorable without trying. He wondered if the girls had heard her, but did it really matter? Now, Rhys was still a teenage boy, so he wasn’t blind. The pair—Rosier and Dolohov were pretty girls, and he’d noticed that when meeting them in first year and in the years after. But, it didn’t redeem their terrible personalities. Though he supposed someone might give them a chance one day, many of the boys in his year had, but only because they ended up in clandestine conversations in broom closets and empty classrooms.

Juniper had given Rhys a chance—if you could call a forced arrangement in Potions class that. But it turned out for the better. If you had told Rhys in his earlier years who he’d be dating at the start of his seventh year, he wouldn’t have believed it. But she’d needed the change just as much as he did. And the shock wasn’t that he was dating Juniper necessarily but that he was actually happy. Rhys raised an eyebrow. Well, that explained a little bit. ”Oh—Sarah can’t stand her.” And if Sarah and Nell were at the table next to Juniper and Dolohov, that was more explosive than a poorly brewed potion. Nell also steered clear, but the girls didn’t get along with many other girls, focusing on the boys instead.

”They’ve been calling Nell ‘Mel’ since the sorting ceremony.” It was annoying for a while, but there wasn’t any correcting them. Rhys wondered if they were related to Bagman in some way since, apparently, that entire line shared a single brain cell. But all they could do was focus on their own things, and Rhys still needed the vials for class, which Juniper offered to go and find. In the meantime, Rhys scanned the rest of the shop for the final disgusting ingredient. But he heard his name loudly from across the small store. A few of the remaining heads turned, and Rhys awkwardly made his way over. Rosier and Dolohov walked perpendicular to his path, conveniently crossing in front of him slowly. He just walked around them the best he could before reaching Juniper. ”I think the last thing was on the other side.” Not even Rhys was not looking forward to lugging that around, but hopefully, outside of NEWT level potions, it was an ingredient he would never have to encounter again.

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[juniper minerva mcgonagall]

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As much as she disliked Sarah and being around her, the mutual distaste for Dolohov and Rosier was welcome. Being stuck in classes with those two was always a headache and she constantly worried that the professors would tell her to help them with their work. While that was a slight boost to her own ego, she knew that they could care less about their studies. It was all about the looks and who they could snag into the empty classrooms to shag. Juniper wasn't a prude nor oblivious to how they'd acted the last several years of school. The fact that she wasn't the only one with her name completely changed was nice. It was probably worse for Ollivander since they were all in Slytherin together. She didn't know what was worse though: having roommates that actively disliked you so they ignored you, or ones that purposely got your name wrong.

Apparently she'd been loud when calling Rhys over to her, because even the kid holding the cauldron looked. That wasn't the important part though. As he crossed over to where she was, Rosier and Dolohov walked directly in front of him. While she was admittedly oblivious to why they were staring earlier, it now made a lot more sense. Something primal took over momentarily as her brain processed it all in slow motion - the realization that those slippery eels were trying to flaunt themselves in front of Rhys instantly made her blood boil. Juniper reacted before thinking, her wand sliding into her hand so she could stealthily cast a small puddle of water directly in front of where Dolohov was stepping. She wasn't proud of it, but she could make a show out of them if they really wanted it. Dolohov's right foot planted itself firmly into the center of the wet spot and she slipped just as Juniper anticipated. The best part was that she didn't fall, but instead did a sort of sliding dance where her arms shot above her head in a cartoonish manner, causing the incoming first year that had witnessed all of it to launch into a fit of giggles. Juniper felt vindicated by it, even if her villainy remained unknown.

"Sorry...what's on the other side?" she asked, having only caught the second part of whatever Rhys had said as he approached. Hopefully not the sloth brains. She'd rather not carry that around with her whilst eating ice cream.

rhys alexander greyback ● 407 ● Song by Artist

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[rhys alexander greyback]

right here with me

where it truly lies

August 29, 2017
juniper minerva mcgonagall

The thing with living in an orphanage with so many other kids of various ages was that you met all kinds of personalities. So Rhys was already familiar with girls like Rosier and Dolohov, not that they ever gave him the time of day in the past. They’d always been so quick to turn up their nose at him, ready to simply look down. So this sudden change in which they looked up at him curiously instead was strange, but he didn’t think much of it. And Rhys had stayed away because the thing with living in an orphanage was that word spread faster than a fire in a small village. He knew their antics and wasn’t keen on being a notch in their bedpost.

Not that Rhys had ever been incredibly straight-laced, he was simply shy at times. But some girls liked that. He supposed Juniper taking a permanent spot next to him in Potions had also saved him from partnering with either of those girls ever again. Their professor had avoided random pairings ever since that incident. Rhys spoke but then heard a laugh behind him. A small boy holding a cauldron about half his size and one of the girls waving her arms wildly in the air. It was quite a sight because it was not a scene that belonged in an apothecary. ”I—um—“ Rhys had forgotten what he was talking about as he kept looking for an extra moment. One of the employees had come over to see what the commotion was about and was speaking to the girls.

”Nothing.” Rhys turned back around. Aside from losing his train of thought, he didn’t want to walk back in that direction as long as those girls were around. Plus, looking forward, he saw the vials he’d been looking for. ”Vials.” Rhys grabbed the handful he needed. Renfri and Nell had finally told him to get his own. It only took them six years. ”I think that’s everything.” Rhys looked at the items he’d picked up. At least they could get that ice cream now. Rhys was definitely hungry, but that shouldn’t have surprised anyone as he was always hungry. The boy with the cauldron was still at the register, so they would have to wait a few minutes anyway.

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'Grey, stop staring,' The woman at the counter said loudly to the soon-to-be first year, who was clearly finding the slipping incident hilarious. There was an even smaller child standing behind him, whom Juniper hadn't even noticed due to the cauldron blocking the view. The little girl seemed equally amused, and their laughs helped to drown out the rising complaints coming from Dolohov. Something about the employee being useless for allowing someone to spill water on the ground and how she almost died from stepping in it. Basically she was blowing it out of proportions. Rhys seemed perplexed by what was going on, though it seemed like he had failed to notice her quick casting. Which was perfect, because it meant she could get away with it again if either of them started to encroach on her territory again. Juniper didn't want to be one of those types of girls, but she knew exactly what Rosier and Dolohov were capable of and she could easily put them in their place if need be. Still, it would have been funnier if she'd fallen and gotten herself soaked. There was something to look forward to at school now.

Rhys grabbed the vials he needed in the interim and it looked like the two of them were all set with their shopping at the apothecary. The distraction of their classmates was finally dying down and they were leaving, freeing up the employee once again so they could resume checking-out the family that had been patiently waiting. "I'll ask about the sloth brains when we get up there. I wouldn't be surprised if the professor is keeping them in the storeroom just to save us all from the smell." Juniper was almost fine discussing the ingredient this time, the exposure therapy over the last several minutes assisting greatly. But something about thinking of the smell made her feel like she needed to gag again. Merlin that potion was going to suck. "I really don't want to keep it with the rest of my belongings," she groaned.

rhys alexander greyback ● 342 ● Song by Artist

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[rhys alexander greyback]

right here with me

where it truly lies

August 29, 2017
juniper minerva mcgonagall

Rhys glanced over at the kid who was giggling and another child lingering around. Their mother appeared less than amused. There was something familiar in the haughty way she overextended her spine to stand up straight, but Rhys looked back to the girls who were now giving the employee a hard time. It was a very random series of events but so had just this short time in the apothecary. It still baffled him how these girls had hardly given him the time of day, especially Rosier. Dolohov had spent the better part of sixth year trying to work with Rhys again in potions because he knew what he was doing, he presumed.

But even if Juniper had been unavailable for some reason, Nell would have made her way over to his table first. But he had his vials now, and then she brought up the sloth brains. While it didn’t entirely gross him out, it didn’t make the thought anymore pleasant. ”We can always come back for them. They aren’t going anywhere.” It was just a tad warm outside—no need to stress out this disgusting ingredient more than it needed to be. They queued up behind the family. The mother took some time as she ensured they were not charged one more knut than what was necessary. The boy seemed slightly exasperated, as if he wanted to crawl inside his new cauldron. The little girl was eagerly reading a pamphlet on Quidditch broomsticks that looked like she had been picked it up off the floor after many people walked on it.

Finally, they concluded, and he let Juniper go first since she had more items. In the meantime, he readied his coins. It looked like sloth brains were plenty in stock, but just as Juniper had suspected, they were kept in the back. The employee mentioned an incident the day prior where the container had been knocked over in a scuffle between two small kids, which led to quite a mess. They would come back for them later. ”I wonder who decided that a sloth’s brain would make a perfect potion’s ingredient.” Rhys wondered out loud as they exited the shop. He put his gold away, something he was still growing accustomed to. The last thing his mother had left him apparently, and now he was seventeen, he was allowed what gold and possessions she’d left behind.

Rhys heard that woman again, the mother from the apothecary, as they turned a corner with someone else joining them. Though Rhys hardly saw who it was before they turned the corner. Slipping his hand through Juniper’s, he led them through a thinner crowd toward Fortescue’s. Now they could just spend some time together and make up for the last couple of months since the school year ended.

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Thank Merlin they'd decided to shop today. After hearing of the brain spill the day before, Juniper had no problem coming back at a later date to grab the ingredient. She absolutely preferred having to deal with Rosier and Dolohov to the smell of embalming fluid and sloth brain all over the shop. Focusing on handing over her money helped keep the nausea at bay. Sooner or later she was going to have to get over her disgust of the brains, as they were expected to handle it during class. That was what Rhys was for though. And if he failed, levitation charms would do the trick. But a whole classroom filled with that stench...

Standing off to the side as Rhys finished with his purchase, Juniper stared at some of the smaller potion-making trinkets the store had for sale. If they had been stuck in line any longer, she probably would have grabbed the vial stand for future, post-Hogwarts use. Thinking of that, she realized that she probably wouldn't be doing too much potion making after school. She didn't have very much drive to become a potioneer, despite excelling in the NEWT-level class. Buying pre-made potions was the way to go these days. That still left her with the dilemma of figuring out what she wanted to be doing for a career this time next year. It was sort of annoying because there were tons of options, which made it that much more difficult.

"I hope they're sourced ethically..." Juniper commented as they made their way out of the shop. "Though I suppose not many are used because of how difficult it is to brew the draught of living death," she tried to reason to herself. Supposedly it was unbelievably hard to get everything done correctly in the allotted class time, so she wasn't looking forward to a success here. At this point in time, these insane potions were just to weed out who was and wasn't cut out to be a potioneer. That was the impression she'd gotten at the start of sixth year, at least.

With the sloth brains physically behind them and left for a day closer to leaving for school, it was finally time for ice cream. The crowd had lessened during their time inside the apothecary, as brief as it had been, making it easier to traverse the cobblestone alleyway. "I can't wait until next year. We'll finally be able to try the fall flavors they have," Juniper said excitedly, referring to the ice cream parlor's seasonal theming that she'd missed out on since turning eleven and being subjected to Hogwarts. Fortescue's almost always still had the summer flavors out, even though late August started to stay cooler longer in the mornings, and had crisp evenings. Not that she'd ever want ice cream at either of those times, but the fact she couldn't have fall and Halloween themed ice cream made her want it even more. Only two more terms and another summer separated them from that...

rhys alexander greyback ● 503 ● Song by Artist

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[rhys alexander greyback]

right here with me

where it truly lies

August 29, 2017
juniper minerva mcgonagall

Rhys hadn’t thought of how the Sloth brains were procured. Nor did he want to. It was like some of the more obscure wand cores that Nell would fawn over. Though Rhys thought more of how that item was retrieved rather than its wonderful magical properties. Once, she had gone on a tangent for about twenty minutes on how useful Werewolf whiskers, hair, saliva, and nails each did well with different subjects. Whiskers for Transfiguration, Hair for Charms, and things like that. It wasn’t until Sarah loudly interrupted that Nell realized who she was preaching to.

He hadn’t asked how they got some of these items. Hair seemed easy though nails did not. ”Doesn’t seem high in demand.” Though, why would it be? It didn’t make sense they had to brew it, and it seemed dangerous for a bunch of seventeen and eighteen-year-olds who had a tendency to knock their cauldrons over. ”Do you think anyone gets it right?” It was the challenge of NEWT Potions, though not as daunting in Rhys’ mind as the Veratiserum antidode. He’d rather hold a sloth brain in each hand at this point.

But their shopping was done, which meant they could spend time together rather than look for things in shops. And Rhys had looked forward to this since the last school year ended. So far, all their time together had been limited by Hogwarts and Hogsmeade. Well—whatever weekends he could attend when not in detention or in the Hospital Wing regrowing some new fracture. Technically during the Christmas break they’d been unsupervised, but this was different. ”Right, I haven’t tried those.” Rhys had forgotten that some flavors were seasonal. For the life of him, he couldn’t remember what the fall flavors were outside of Pumpkin. But that was only because it reminded him of Halloween.

Waiting for the crowd to die down had been a good idea. Only a few were in line as Rhys and Juniper entered the queue. Behind the counter were the friendly and smiling faces of who Rhys assumed were the Fortescue's. Matching red hair gave it away, though he assumed a few others were random employees. His eyes scanned over the small handmade labels. There was the Cadaver Coffee that Juniper mentioned before. The Fabulous Firewhiskey Rhys had tried earlier in the week. The small grey pieces in the Rocky Road suspiciously looked like actual rocks. He frowned at that one. And then he decided what he’d get, Carnivorous Cookie Dough. The pieces of cookie dough had been made to look like sharp teeth. But the girl behind the counter had started helping Juniper first while Rhys was deciding. But an older man helped Rhys, and then he waited at the register for Juniper so he could pay for them.

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"There's what, a dozen of us in the class? Plus or minus a few each year, and I wouldn't be surprised if students were the only ones trying to brew it these days..." Rhys's point about anyone actually being able to brew it was a good point. Such a test wasn't worthwhile for those in the class that weren't planning on ever needing it again. It was sort of like muggle mathematics. Not everyone needed the knowledge past a basic level. The trick going forward was definitely going to be finding out if she'd ever need to brew the draught of living death again. Probably not unless she got mixed up into some sketchy business and needed to disappear for a while. That only happened in fiction novels though. "I've heard that every couple of years somebody gets close. I'm not sure if even I could manage it though." She knew her limits. And since it came with properly handling sloth brain, that meant she was getting very close to that point.

Getting in the line for ice cream was agonizing, mostly because she wanted it now. Even with their wait being short, watching all the customers ahead of them walking out with their cones made her sink into Rhys's shoulder in annoyance. All she wanted to do was get off her feet and eat ice cream at this point, even though they'd barely done much so far today. Eventually it was their turn though, and she ordered her Cadaver Coffee that she'd heard so much about. Asking a few extra questions about the caffeine content of it while she waited for Rhys to make his selection, it seemed like she had maybe been led on about how strong it actually was. But there was definitely still caffeine in it, and more than in the average cup of coffee. Or ten. It would definitely energize her for the rest of the week. "What'd you get?" she asked Rhys, leaning over his arm to try and see what it was.

rhys alexander greyback ● 339 ● Song by Artist

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[rhys alexander greyback]

right here with me

where it truly lies

August 29, 2017
juniper minerva mcgonagall

Rhys nodded his head in agreement. One benefit of NEWT courses was the class sizes. But that was the one downside of NEWT courses—class sizes. You couldn’t hide in the back anymore and hope the Professor didn’t call on you. Rhys had been happy for so many years to simply do the best he could, which was usually pretty good, but not be the center of attention in any way. Now that was more difficult since Juniper was usually the first to raise her hand when a question was asked. ”I bet if someone did, they’d have a job waiting for them after graduation.” Like some start student prodigy with all the job offers. Something Rhys could only dream of.

That had been on his mind lately—what to do after this year. But he didn’t want to think about it right now. Juniper had fidgeted next to him the entire time they were waiting. He didn’t mind. While Rhys avoided crowds as if they had the plague and didn’t like many people in his space—he didn’t mind with her. Though for obvious reasons. Finally, they were able to choose their flavors. The younger girl behind the counter happily answered Juniper’s infinite number of questions about the coffee ice cream. ”Cookie dough.” He answered, handing the man sickles and knuts to pay.

It had proven to be quite a nice day. ”Want some?” Rhys offered, though he’d already eaten quite a big spoonful, almost risking a brain freeze. He had definitely missed this. Her company and presence. It was calming for him. ”You know…we can leave this stuff up in my room, so we’re not carrying it around.” Rhys offered casually, eating another spoonful. There was something extra magical about Fortescue’s Ice Cream. It was no wonder the line was always out the door. But that wasn’t what was actually on his mind. Now, if Juniper wanted to stay out here, he would be okay with that. But Rhys hoped for a little bit of alone time. It was easier at Hogwarts, and it gave them time to talk or not talk, whatever they were in the mood for. Rhys missed that, so he was hoping she’d get the hint. ”How’s the coffee?”

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[juniper minerva mcgonagall]

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If only she had a job waiting for her immediately after graduation. That was literally the dream. Juniper would be lying if she said she knew what the rest of their classmates were going to be doing, so aside from Nell Ollivander entering the family business, she really didn't know. Rhys was the only person she talked to as she still felt that his friend group was icy towards her. Things were getting better by the end of the previous school year, but it was still a work in progress. All on her part, of course. Having a job just fall into her lap if she perfected the draught of living death would be awesome, even if she didn't want to be a potioneer. It was a foot into the door and got job experience. Unfortunately there weren't too many careers focused solely on transfiguration outside of teaching, and eighteen year olds weren't allowed to do that at all. So self-study it was on that front...

School and career talk could come later. For now, she felt like she had to make up for the last couple of months of not seeing Rhys. With school shopping essentially done (sloth brains aside), now they could just spend time together. Being at Hogwarts had taken up the majority of their relationship thus far, and aside from Hogsmeade weekends it felt like everything simply stayed at the school. Plus, she was always sort of worried that her siblings would see her with Rhys and start asking a million questions. She was positive they knew something was up but not with who or for how long. Her freedom to do whatever, like today, definitely irked her sister more than anything. To be fair, she also overstepped way too much way too often. It was better this way, for now.

"Sure," Juniper took the offered cookie dough ice cream. She immediately knew why it had the title of 'Carnivorous', because her taste buds told her immediately that she needed more. Eating both her own and Rhys's ice cream would lead to a stomach ache though, so she backed away from it while eyeing the remainder of his. Forcing her own spoonful of caffeine-injected ice cream into her mouth, the combination was less than desirable, which sort of surprised her. "Both are better on their own, to be honest," she answered, making a face at her own as she swallowed it. As they ate, Rhys also offered up the option of leaving their purchases up in his room at the Leaky Cauldron. She nodded her head in agreement as her mouth was full. "I've always wondered what the rooms were like there," she commented, holding up her own ice cream to him in case he wanted any. "My sister always ends up there during New Years because she stays out too late and can't apparate home..." She was such a goddamn mess that it wasn't even funny anymore. It sucked being more responsible at seventeen than her sister was in her mid-twenties.

rhys alexander greyback ● 506 ● Song by Artist

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