wildflower wildfire | juniper

[rhys alexander greyback]

i’ll do my best never to turn

INTO SOMETHING THAT BURNS

June 22, 2026
juniper minerva mcgonagall

Rhys let out a heavy sigh, running a hand on the back of his head. Never in his entire life had he walked over to this section of Flourish & Blotts. And to his surprise, only about a hundred books on parenting. Many had pushed him to at least skim through a few books, perhaps quell the growing anxiety that made him snippier than usual. Late the previous year Sage had dumped the news on Rhys, informing him that she was pregnant with his child. Assuring him it was certainly his, and Rhys couldn’t doubt that. Sage hardly held the same reputation as Rhys.

All those months struggling and stuck at home had meant many nights together, when he wasn’t at a pub nursing a whiskey or make a new friend. Earlier in the year Rhys struggled with an overload of work from Gringotts and work with the Order in order to figure out the magical mystery of that island. Somehow Rhys and a few others could survive the place much better, its magic didn’t disturb him although certain side effects lingered far longer than he wanted them too. And then a twist—Vasilia Fortescue. She had encouraged him to find some books, in that calm and comforting way she always did because she knew that Rhys liked to read and learn. Much like a cursebreaker researches prior to a job to remain prepared.

Placing ’The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read’ back on the shelf he crossed his arms, letting his eyes scan the dusty spines on the shelf. No book would have helped Fenrir, that was for a fact. He picked out ’The Simplest Baby Book in the World’ and turned it over to read the summary on the back. Every once in a while the bell rung with the sound of the front door opening. Benny, Nell’s younger brother, had enthusiastically greeted Rhys only backing off after noting the werewolf’s expression. He was reading a comic book at the front. The boy was nearly Rhys’ height now, which he had not expected. Finding out his child would be a girl had made this entire experience incredibly real. And Vasilia reminded him that he would do well as a father because he knew what a worse alternative was. The fact that Rhys hadn’t run away from the entire situation was something. And Merlin knew he had the time as he went through the familiar accident recovery process with Gringotts.

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[juniper minerva mcgonagall]

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A new transfiguration textbook had come out the week prior, and Juniper was giddy with excitement over picking it up. Her preorder of two copies of Transcendental Tales: A Journey of Transformation had been set for months. One for herself, and the second for her Aunt Minerva. According to early reviews in Modern Magic Monthly, it was not only the foremost research in advanced transfiguration techniques, but also included personal anecdotes from the author on high-level human transmogrification. As it stood, becoming an animagus was as far as it went while still retaining full sentience. Supposedly there were groundbreaking experiments listed throughout the book though, and Juniper was beyond interested. At her level of skill, there were very few that were considered equals. Most came from her family too.

For midday on a Monday, she was surprised to see how crowded Diagon Alley was. The combined crowds of workers on their lunch break and families collecting school supplies already was practically oppressive. It seemed like most would be sending their children abroad for the time being, Hogwarts falling to fiendfyre only a month earlier. Juniper had done her best to shake it off, but in her visits to her parents since, the destroyed ruins of the castle had left a sizable hole in her heart. While many called Hogwarts their 'home', both the school and Hogsmeade were quite literally hers. It had never not been there, and her view from her childhood bedroom was marred forever. She hoped that the new book would work as the best kind of distraction.

Popping into Flourish & Blotts she happily greeted Benny Ollivander and mentioned her pre-ordered books. But before she checked out, she wanted to grab a few others. A magical cookbook for one, and a couple of children's books for further work research. On Witch TV's dime, of course. Casually strolling down the aisles, she found the cookbook almost immediately, and pivoted down a couple more rows towards the children section. For anyone that didn't know her, they'd think she was buying books for her own child. As if.

When she completed the turn though, she was met with an odd sight: Rhys was standing there. The last time she had seen him had been...a few weeks ago? Or was it months now? They hadn't actually interacted, she had merely seen him down the street walking hand in hand with a red headed woman that could have been none other than Flossie Fortescue. Juniper had known her old classmate had a thing for Rhys but never acted upon it. Anyone watching hard enough could have seen it back then. Apparently she had finally succeeded. The relief she'd had in that moment had been surprising even for her. Now she wanted to know more.

"I know I've seen you read more complicated books than these," she said to Rhys. Readjusting the cook book in her arms, she stepped closer. The children's section was definitely a surprising place to find him, but anyone that wandered the bookstore long enough would end up here eventually. She had never known of it until she started working at the studio and a coworker made an offhand comment about it. Within the week, Juniper had copies of almost everything Flourish & Blotts had in stock on early magical education. "Clearly you've been doing well. Saw you the other day down the street, you know. I had no idea Flossie had it in her." It was strange though, the last she'd heard of the eldest Fortescue, she was supposed to be out of the country. With the way everything had been lately though, there were just as many old faces showing back up as there were new ones.

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[rhys alexander greyback]

i’ll do my best never to turn

INTO SOMETHING THAT BURNS

June 22, 2026
juniper minerva mcgonagall

A voice entered his consciousness. Rhys looked up before he looked to his side. This was the last person he expected to see in this section of Flourish & Blotts. Unless Rhys really was at that age where all of a sudden, his peers were helping create the next generation. Normally, he might have laughed or thought of something to say, but he was contributing to that effort now. And for that split second, Rhys did wonder if Juniper was seeking a parenting book for herself—in which case, with who? The thought was curiosity—mostly. With Vasilia, Rhys had found something comfortable in a different but good way, enough that he’d blurted out that troublesome L-word again.

”Erm—Juni. Hey.” Rhys struggled to put words together to reasonably explain what she was seeing. ”I was just—uhm—looking through the books…” Clearing his throat, he placed the one he was reading back on the shelf. ”What are you doing here?” At Juniper’s next question, he stared blankly at her. ”Flossie?” He asked, very confused. What did Flossie Fortescue have to do with this? ”What are you talking about?” His brow furrowed. Naturally, he glanced at Juniper’s trademark large frames—perhaps it was time for new ones. He would not suggest that for fear of having a book thrown at his head. Vasilia would have mentioned if her sister had come into town, very well knowing she had gone to school with Rhys and been a friend. But he could hardly recall the last time they’d spoken. Not that any of Hogwarts remained to trigger any memories. ”Is she in town?” Perhaps there was some post about a class reunion he’d missed.

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Merlin, was it really that embarrassing to be caught walking through the children’s section? Sure, the history books they had for kids were…lacking, but that was nothing to be ashamed about. She almost laughed at the way he reacted, except that wouldn’t have been nearly as funny as it was in her head, nor appropriate. Whatever he had been looking at was returned to its location, and she didn’t give it a second thought. Books were books after all. They were meant to be read, even if it wasn’t by their target audience. The same could be said with television, and she had learned quite a bit about the audiences for some of the educational shows she had managed to put up. The numbers about the viewership demographics did not lie.

What was more confusing than finding Rhys in this part of the bookstore was how he reacted to her mentioning Flossie. It seemed like maybe she had been mistaken, despite being absolutely positive that was their former classmate from behind. He didn’t seem to be trying to bluff her either. ”I mean, you were with a redhead. If it wasn’t her, then that leaves like, what? Half a dozen Weasleys?” Which the more she thought about it, was more likely simply by sheer numbers. As long as it wasn’t the rambunctious Potter girl. Juniper had made the mistake of walking into the family-run joke shop a week ago and had both of her ears talked off before she even knew what was going on. Full on auditory assault without any warning. She’d heard things about the youngest Potter. They were all true from her own experience.

”Regardless, how’ve things been? Still training that new sister of yours?” Ironically, Juniper had made almost the exact same mistake with the newly found Greyback too. That one was harder to argue though, because once she saw the eyes, there was no denying that she and Rhys were related. It was almost scary.

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[rhys alexander greyback]

i’ll do my best never to turn

INTO SOMETHING THAT BURNS

June 22, 2026
juniper minerva mcgonagall

A redhead. Rhys’ brain legitimately went blank for two seconds because it all clicked. ”Oh—Vasilia?” He asked a question, but it was not a question. Definitely not a Weasley, although Vasilia knew quite a few of them, as did Nell. Who knew how many Weasleys actually existed at this point. At least that family was not discovering new siblings left and right as the Greybacks seemed to be. Thinking about it, Vasilia and Flossie resembled one another quite a bit. So he couldn’t fault Juniper for making the mistake. ”Last I heard she was in the States.” Rhys added candidly, though confused as to why Juniper would assume it was her. He lightly shrugged. ”I suppose they sort of look alike…” The red hair, of course. But Vasilia didn’t have those clear blue eyes, and Flossie didn’t have Vasilia’s golden eye color.

Rhys hesitated to answer, although Juniper fortunately gave him a starting point. ”Somewhat—she’s not a trainee anymore.” Two years had flown by. Despite the gap between the Hag’s Fever quarantine and Dahlia’s brief suspension, she qualified easily. ”We usually work together. But they stick me with other trainees from time to time. She’s in Egypt at the moment.” he didn’t mind some of which he never wanted to see again. A few test his patience, but Rhys pushed forward because he saw something in them. Well, one came to mind—another redhead with an equally fiery personality.

It had taken Rhys a month or so to realize what it was—this trainee reminded him of Saffron. The impulsive energy, confidence, blatant skill. Still, the kid required discipline if she was to stay alive. And Rhys knew he was one of the best in the field, so they put up with one another. ”I’ve been home for a few weeks—taking a break.” He supposed that was one way to phrase he ended up in St. Mungo’s again with memory loss again. At least this time, it was the trainee’s fault, not the Purifiers. ”How’s Witch TV?” The handful of times Rhys had seen Juniper, she did seem much better without the Ministry job. At least, he was sure it was part of it.

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Vasilia...? There was a lightbulb in Juniper's brain as she realized in the moment that while she had initially guessed wrong, she also wasn't too far off the mark either. Vasilia was the middle Fortescue, and while Juniper knew very little about her, it made sense that she would have confused the two sisters. They did look scarily similar to one another from a distance. Merlin, apparently that meant two of them had a thing for Rhys now. What were the odds of that? Was there some unknown connection between werewolves and ice cream? "See, that's what I heard too," Juniper stopped her train of thought by agreeing on Flossie's current whereabouts. "So that's why I was confused about seeing her. But it makes sense though..." At least it wasn't Dolohov. There were so many worse alternatives of who he could be dating. If that had been the case, she would have personally stepped in and set that straight. But a Fortescue was perfectly fine.

The conversation shifted towards the sister, Dahlia was her name right? And how she was no longer in training and was now off to Egypt to work her own jobs. A scarily similar memory popped up of the first time Rhys had been away for a job that wasn't for training or had a senior cursebreaker looking out for him. That had been a long first week on her own. He'd never seen the state she was in the whole time. It was honestly amazing that St. Mungo's never prescribed her calming draughts, because there were definitely instances where she should have been taking them. None of that was healthy of course, but at the time she thought it was normal to worry herself to sleep.

"Its good...I've been busier than ever. Our producers think a lot of parents will homeschool their children now after what happened. So they want me to start coming up with content that's targeted more towards older kids. I'm not really sure why they think that would work when most textbooks are better at explaining magic, but it's my job so yeah..." Like most 'ideas' pitched by the executives, everyone would play along and run with it right up until it was essentially time to storyboard episodes, and then the project would wither away. In this instance, a new school would be built before they managed to even produce an episode. "Its definitely not boring though. I'm sure you've seen Vivian Jordan's Potterwatch? That's basically taken over the entire office in the past year. It's madness."

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[rhys alexander greyback]

i’ll do my best never to turn

INTO SOMETHING THAT BURNS

June 22, 2026
juniper minerva mcgonagall

Well, the matter of the mystery redhead appeared to be solved. It was probably one of their recent outings, a late birthday celebration since Rhys had spent a few days in Hospital and another week recovering at home. That incident with his mother’s photograph had unsettled him greatly, not to mention left him sleeping for two straight days. Again, Rhys lightly shrugged. ”Yea…she runs The Violet Hound now.” He added, continuing to speak on instinct again. ”I’ve—we’ve been seeing each other for a few months now…” Was that weird? Telling your ex that you were seeing someone? It felt weird.

Truthfully, he had not meant to add that fact, but it rolled out with the other information, and Rhys was sure how he felt about Vasilia Fortescue. She calmed him in a way he’d been missing for some time. Not that the stresses in his life ever decreased. Merlin knew every day of this month or the next would only increase his blood pressure until his daughter was born.

But stress seemed to be the of the world. At the mention of Hogwarts, Rhys could only nod while shifting his weight to the other foot. He had not been present, but The Order and Rivera’s entire department were on hand. They said Elaine was finally dead, and Purifiers now filled the cells of Azkaban, but Rhys didn’t know what to believe truly . It hurt to see such an integral part of his life represented as a pile of smoking ash and rubble. Not to mention the incredible relief of finding Max after the fact. ”Still doesn’t feel real.” Saying the words, Rhys knew the fact to be true—Hogwarts was gone. However, beyond that, it was like his entire being refused to accept reality. ”Nell’s been busier than ever replacing wands…” All his memories felt somewhat sacred now that those places only existed in his mind.

”I’ve seen a bit. The trainees like to watch it.” It wasn’t often he sat down in front of the television for very long without dozing off. Something with resting at any available moment learned during his training and insomnia mixed with whiskey, and hangovers meant Rhys might as well have turned his living room into his bedroom. However, he thought more about his friends and his recent run-ins with familiar faces. Flossie was definitely not in town, but many people seemed to have come home after what happened at Hogwarts.

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[juniper minerva mcgonagall]

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"Ahhh..." Juniper trailed off as he explained further. A whole lot of puzzle pieces were starting to fall into place correctly. Juniper hadn't really been to the Violet Hound much outside of stopping over for a quick lunch order. More often than not, some poor intern was sent to collect everyone's food. So for as much as she'd eaten there, she hadn't actually been inside the pub more than a handful of times at odd hours. The perfect combination of not seeing Vasilia Fortescue, while she probably still would have confused for Flossie from behind. That was an inevitability really. The stranger part of this though was that Rhys was dating the girl. Who's sister had very obviously been head over heels for him for almost all of school. Juniper supposed that if the elder Fortescue was still in the States, then what she didn't know didn't hurt her. Still, that would be an awkward Christmas...

Shifting gears to work was honestly better. Their small talk over the last two years had mostly revolved around that, making sure that neither of them brought up any of the inciting incidents that self-destructed their relationship both times. In a way, Juniper was happy that they had both moved on. It was hard, there was no denying that, but with time, she became better at accepting the fact that this was how it was supposed to be. That despite them trying for lengthy periods of time both times, it wasn't meant to be. Coming to that realization hurt a lot. The way things were now was healthier though.

"She has her work cut out for her," Juniper said frankly as she shifted the book around in her hands and produced her new wand, courtesy of Nell Ollivander. "I managed to get this from her right before everything happened. Has both demiguise and unicorn hair in it. Supposedly better for transfiguration." There really was no supposedly about it. The combination of cores was beyond rare, and it made casting incredibly fluid. Prior to this, she had no idea magic could be this easy. Plus the rich darkness of the ebony wood...it was a gorgeous wand.

Rumor had it that Potterwatch was going to try and do a cursebreaker special soon. That was one-hundred percent an in-house secret and she had to keep it to herself for now. But she knew who she was going to point Vivian towards if she went around asking if anyone had any connections. "Yeah, it's popular." Which was a gross understatement on it.

Juniper wasn't sure what sparked the sudden thought, maybe it was because they were standing in the children's section of Flourish & Blotts or because whenever she saw Rhys now she was immediately reminded of Saffron, but she had seen their friend's twin the other day. Just like with Rhys and Vasilia, it had been from a distance, but there was no mistaking Sage Grimstone. "Oh! You know who I happened to see the other day? Sage. I could be wrong, but it looks like she's pregnant," Juniper commented. "Good for her." This was some solid small talk.

rhys alexander greyback ● 524 ● Song by Artist

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[rhys alexander greyback]

i’ll do my best never to turn

INTO SOMETHING THAT BURNS

June 22, 2026
juniper minerva mcgonagall

uniper didn’t ask any probing questions about his relationship, and Rhys didn’t further offer any information. It felt like a good balance for their conversations these days. He didn’t know what stopped him from sharing. He was typically reserved with personal information. However, when it came to those closest to him, he shared more. Well—he supposed that told him where he and Juniper stood. Friendly, but clearly (even to Rhys) avoiding certain subjects. Still, Rhys would rather keep the peace than hit a nerve, knowing she would find one right back, and it would all begin all over again. Dating had started to open Rhys’ eyes to the power one gave other human beings sometimes.

Two years was a long time. They both changed in different ways. The thought of dating another had not so blatantly stuck to the forefront of his mind since Juniper. Then again, as often noted by his female friends, he needed specific facts shoved in his face to be realized. Rhys easily agreed. ”Yea…” He had seen Benny helping Nell, clearly caffeinated with headphones in his ears and in his own little world. But Rhys had stopped and watched him work for a few minutes while Nell retrieved Rhys’ new wand, and the kid had the skill and ability to do what his sisters did. The Ollivanders were just born with it.

His eyebrows went up a bit. A better wand for Transfiguration? ”Merlin—you were pretty damn good with Transfiguration before…” Perhaps the name had something to do with it, or so people would say. But Rhys had seen firsthand how hard Juniper worked, especially in that subject. It was all well-earned and sure to make her Aunt proud. Reaching into the inside of his jacket, Rhys also retrieved a brand new wand. Unfortunately, that last accident had taken not only some of his memory (and sanity) but his wand as well. His wand holster had survived, still the same as when he began training. ”Just picked this one up earlier this month.” While he still mourned the loss, this new wand Nell had told him this wand would work very well for Charms. And after handling the new piece, Rhys felt the difference. Only then did Nell reveal the core—Werewolf hair. ”She said it's suitable for Charms.”

And suddenly, they turned a metaphorical corner. Rhys froze, returning his wand to its home while trying not to let his body completely tense up from the sudden anxiety. However, he couldn’t stop the blush creeping onto his face. Sage Grimstone. The twin sister of their dead best friend. Rhys had not thought about how to handle this particular situation. ”She is—“ He blurted out, shifting his weight awkwardly on his feet while crossing his arms. Though he slumped a bit in his stance rather than make himself look even taller as he did so. Briefly, he entertained the idea of changing topics and not admitting his part in that pregnancy, but Rhys also couldn’t imagine hearing such news secondhand with all they’d been through. ”She’s—I—erm—“ This throat felt dry. ”She’s due in six weeks…early August…” Speaking those words aloud to Juniper now only reminded him how easily this could have been her, instead. Merlin knew the pair had not always been careful, especially at Hogwarts, or impatience after Rhys finally returned home from work. But Rhys’ life was far more complicated than ever.

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[juniper minerva mcgonagall]

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Her Transfiguration skills were a proud point of her post-graduate life. While it had always been her top class, having so much free time after school was done had really lended itself to her. Becoming an animagus was only the start for her. While complicated for most, she had aced it in one go due to careful planning. From there, it was like trying to find her next fix. Which was why she was here for that preordered book. Still, hearing someone else say that they'd always thought she was decent at that branch of magic made her happy. "Its too bad there aren't many careers for it," she commented. There was teaching and...what? Personal transfigurations? She'd thought about going the private tutor route but that seemed rather annoying and it would take up too much of her free time to be worth it. At this point, it was all or nothing on teaching. The only problem was that there wasn't a school to teach at anymore.

Rhys produced his own wand, also new and from Nell. It seemed like specialization was what their old classmate was really focusing on. That made sense, considering Ollivanders only made basic wands for basic witches and wizards. Juniper had never liked the elder Ollivander, though that mostly came from secondhand stories. "Brilliant work by her to be honest. I wish I'd gotten one earlier," she commented as she returned her wand to her pocket.

Juniper thought she was making an innocent comment about an old friend. She really did. But the way Rhys reacted and answered was...off. Obviously she was never as close with Sage as she'd been with Saffron, and had sort of always assumed it was the same for Rhys. But two years was a long time without really looking into things, and the way he knew specifics of her supposed due date. The math was adding up and his general demeanor was screaming that something was up.

And then it clicked. Her eyes shot over to the bookshelf that he had just returned the one in his hands to. Baby books. Juniper felt her brain start to buzz as the realization set in. He was the father. Of course he'd know when Sage's due date was. Then she remembered he'd just finished saying he was dating Vasilia Fortescue for the last few months. "Oh..." Was all she could mutter out as it connected bit by bit. What the fuck was going on?

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[rhys alexander greyback]

i’ll do my best never to turn

INTO SOMETHING THAT BURNS

June 22, 2026
juniper minerva mcgonagall

Suddenly, Rhys felt the urge to apologize. But why? And Juni’s response did little to help that feeling. Truthfully, Rhys’s life has changed more over the last year than ever. Between relationships, work, and lingering curses, he really had seen it all now. He kept quiet, wondering what to say and allowing Juniper time to think. Now that she was in front of him, Rhys thought through all those hopeful moments when he believed he’d start a family with Juni one day. The idea terrified him then as it did now, but she had been his rock for so long that it felt feasible.

His relationship with Sage was not something either had ever planned on defining. Just some convenient fun. Two people mourning similar things and looking for a distraction. Rhys didn’t love her. Sometimes, he wasn’t sure she really even liked him all that much. They got along well enough, which would have to do for now. Clearing his throat, Rhys shifted again. ”We’re not—we never—“ How awkward. He took a breath to steady himself. ”We never dated or anything like that. We just…” Just what? Hung out for the sex? Merlin, this conversation weighed more on Rhys than when he told Vasilia earlier in the year. Still unsure how to continue, Rhys again blurted out the first thing that came to mind. ”It’s a girl…”

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Juniper knew she wasn’t owed any sort of explanation. That was beyond unreasonable. She really didn’t even know what to say or do right now. So this is what people meant when they said time flew by. While she had been busy adjusting into a new career, Rhys was out here fathering a child. Her head hurt now. There was no one wrong in any of this obviously. Rhys still seemed to be trying to give her a reason behind it, about how he and Sage had never dated. She really didn’t care. None of that mattered. It was well after their relationship had ended. He was free to do whatever he wanted. But it was still a shock to suddenly be hearing all of this.

And then there were the what-ifs that immediately popped into her head. If things had never soured between then, would that have been her instead? They had had those conversations, but it never seemed reasonable with Rhys being gone for as much as he was with work. Juniper much preferred being around other people’s children than thinking of having her own at this point in time. It was all so weird. She didn’t know what to think, because it was a sudden bombardment of different thoughts and feelings.

He then suddenly said that the baby was to be a girl, and she paused to think. All she had done for the past year was work on daytime programming for children’s shows. The convenience of them being where they were in Flourish & Blotts meant she could help, in a way. Turning to the shelves next to them, she scanned through what they had and started to pluck books off. The more popular children’s books and ones for little girls. ”You’ll want these then,” she said as she held them out for him one by one while she continued to grab more.

rhys alexander greyback ● 317 ● Song by Artist

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[rhys alexander greyback]

i’ll do my best never to turn

INTO SOMETHING THAT BURNS

June 22, 2026
juniper minerva mcgonagall

Part of Rhys felt some relief. He had no alternate plan for sharing this news. It had taken him months even to inform Max and Dahlia. Telling his close friends like Nell or Sienna had also taken some time, but where did Juniper fall on that scale? Asking to be close, even as friends, felt like an impossible ask. They had moved on in their careers and lives, but much lingered in the past. Merlin—Archer had stared at Rhys blankly for at least three minutes before asking Rhys to repeat himself. The man was convinced he’d been confounded briefly when hearing those words. Not to mention because Sage was Saffron’s sister.

The other point Rhys had wondered about was how in Merlin’s name did the stars align for this one? Hindsight typically let Rhys breathe a sigh of relief (before Sage’s announcement) that nobody had gotten pregnant in the past. It was not until Rhys and Juni moved into the flat that summer that precautionary measures were taken more seriously. And that was not exactly early in their relationship. Not to mention any of Rhys’ earlier flings. But here he was, sweating and picturing everything he could possibly do wrong as a father because he had no idea what it meant to be a father.

Suddenly, a book was shoved in front of him. Grabbing it, Rhys then grabbed the other that appeared. Juniper quickly scanned the shelves and kept handing him books at an alarming rate. ”Hold on—“ Before both his hands were full, Rhys reached for his wand and summoned one of the baskets from the front. It zipped neatly around the corners, floating near Rhys so he could drop the stack of books in there. Now, he could sort of read the titles on the spines. ”Erm—am I supposed to read all these in the next six weeks?” Where was she coming up with these suggestions? ”How do you know about all this?” Rhys wondered, genuinely curious.

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Juniper didn't hear him as she continued to pull book after book off the shelf. She was deafened by a mixture of sadness and anger, and something else that she couldn't really put a finger on it. None of it was actually being directed at Rhys as that was illogical, but suddenly having this information thrust on her had brought up so much at once that simply doing what she was doing was the only course of action she felt like she could take right now.

"No," she answered curtly before adding another cardboard-like kid's book to the top of his rapidly growing pile. That was silly. Most of these were for the first one to two years of the child. But it was better to get a start on reading to her from the get-go. Studies showed that was better. "Some of these are for toddlers and whatnot," Juniper said as she finally stopped. She hadn't realized exactly how many she'd thrown at him until she gave the stack another once over.

Rhys asked how she knew about all of these books, and she shrugged. "All of the Witch TV programming I'm working on is for early education and children. I've read all of these dozens of times because of that," she explained. "I can send you a list of muggle ones too. And shows that they have available on streaming if you have access to any of that." This was all she could do right now. She had no idea if Rhys could be a parent. Obviously with it being thrust upon him so, he was going to have to learn quick. But he was good at that. He lived for danger and had sort of managed to keep himself safe over the years. As much as she hated doing this, taking care of a child had to be easier than cursebreaking. A horrible comparison, but there was no way it wasn't true.

rhys alexander greyback ● 326 ● Song by Artist

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[rhys alexander greyback]

i’ll do my best never to turn

INTO SOMETHING THAT BURNS

June 22, 2026
juniper minerva mcgonagall

Rhys noted the floating basket began to sink just slightly under the weight of the books. While charms were obviously placed to allow someone to maximize how many books they held, weight seemed to play a part in that. As long as Rhys didn’t have to sit there and hold it, he wasn’t too worried about it. ”Right…” He responded, continuing to watch Juniper scan the books and decide which ones to take and which ones to return to the shelf. Of course, he knew she worked within the boundaries of Magical Education despite now working for Witch TV. He knew that.

”Sure—that would be great.” Rhys muttered a response. The awkwardness had not left. He couldn’t exactly describe the emotions brewing inside him. There was one small part that still felt…bad? As if he had wronged Juniper despite her lack of involvement in this situation. Or maybe he was simply grieving what could have been or should have been had he not walked away. Lingering on such a thought was wasteful. It did nothing but add to his discomfort. And there was a reason time was left alone by magic or muggle alike.

”Thank you.” He finally managed. ”For… your help. I’ve been a bit of a nervous wreck.” Rhys admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. There were quite a few books now. He’d have to clear at least one shelf on a bookcase to accommodate these. That would be interesting. For many years, various books regarding his work or personal interests took up all that shelf space. The one part of his apartment where the dust never lingered long because he did manage to use the books often.

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