Apparitions of Gloom [Claire]

[juniper minerva mcgonagall]

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November 25th, 2028

Christmas was still a month away but Juniper was already starting her shopping. Mainly for herself, since there were always things she needed. The occasional gift was snagged and purchased though, and so far today she was hauling a bag around with a new set of 'fiendfyre proof' potions vials (which she highly doubted but the reviews online were good) for her mother, and a new pair of magic-resistant goggles for her dad, who's current ones were in shambles after years of abuse on the job. Somehow her mother had managed to keep hers in pristine shape despite the two of them working together. Funny how that worked. It said a lot about their relationship with one another.

No trip to Diagon Alley was complete without a stop into Flourish & Blotts though, and ducking inside as a dismal drizzle had begun was beyond perfect timing. She could hang in the bookshelves until the clouds peeled back again, or at the very least, broke long enough for her to make a run for it. The shop seemed to be empty, void of anyone else. Not even Sarah's sister was behind the counter like usual, or Benny Ollivander giving a toothy smile. It was eerily quiet, but perfect for finding the right kind of book.

The bookstore almost always helped generate gift ideas too. There had been years where just scrolling the spines had caused things to pop into her head. Most of the time she just bought the book instead. The McGonagalls were thankfully all voracious readers, except her sister, so it was always an easy gift for most of the family.

First, she had to make her way towards the Transfiguration section to see if anything new had come out. She was on most of the newsletters concerning advanced topics on the subject, apparently now a part of a niche group of witches and wizards that had also seemingly surpassed the rest of their peers. Unlike them, Juniper hadn't dabbled in the theoretical side of things, instead opting to follow in her great-aunt's footsteps with teaching it.

As Juniper rounded the corner that would lead to the Transfiguration books, she was flabbergasted to find that they weren't there anymore. Apparently, the sections had been moved around. In her rush to get where she wanted, her feet had moved automatically. She hadn't noticed the hanging signs above each aisle were now different than they used to be. Backtracking to the front of the shop, she looked around for an employee, finally spotting one off in a corner. "Excuse me?" Juniper asked as she approached the blonde woman. "I was wondering if you could point me to where the Transfiguration section is now?"

Claire Evangeline Slater ● 453

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[Claire Evangeline Slater]

never enough.

FLOURISH & BLOTT'S WAS PERHAPS THE PERFECT place to collect gifts for a paper pushing brother, and a bookish sister. Claire had always enjoyed a perusal of the book and stationary shop, but she especially enjoyed it at Christmas time. They made an exceptional effort to make the place festive, with a Christmas tree erected entirely out of books dominating the front window, and strings of light and garlands hovering above their heads.

A tinkling Christmas tune tickled Claire's ears as she carefully picked her way around the shop, a handful of books teetering in her arms, still dressed in her robes from work. She hummed along, enjoying the easiness of an afternoon spent entirely in her own good company, thinking of which colour scheme she might choose for her gift wrapping that year, it was untroubled and even pleasant. She was stuck near the back when she was interrupted, her stack of books on the ground beside her, wand out to retrieve a stubborn special edition of Ancient Spells of Grave Importance from a top shelf, where it was refusing to vacate its spot.

The querying voice was almost worth ignoring, if Claire hadn't been at the very back of the shop and deeply concentrated. The book slipping from her wand's grip and falling to the floor, causing her to cast an accusing stare over her shoulder. Couldn't the customer ask for help elsewhere? Claire expected to turn and find the person chatting remorselessly with an employee, but instead the woman was staring at her expectantly. She froze, wand aloft and face screwed unpleasantly. "I'm sorry- I- do you think I work here?" She asked aghast, her thoughts not immediately recollecting the face in front of her, which had changed with sharpening age. "I don't work here!"

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The flustered response that Juniper received from the bookstore employee thoroughly confused her, and to some degree, slightly annoyed her. The fact that the woman she had just asked was not employed by Flourish & Blotts hadn't really crossed her mind at all. There had been no one at the front of the shop, and aside from herself, this seemed to be the only other person currently there. It only made sense that she worked here. Apparently, Juniper had assumed wrong. Which she hated, because being wrong now meant that she was going to have to apologize and find the real employee. That was such a waste of time on her end too.

"Oh...sorry about that then. You just looked like you were reorganizing the shelf is all..." Juniper said as she stared down at the book that had fallen. The poor woman really didn't have that great of a grasp on levitation charms, did she? Trying to gain wisdom from a book like Ancient Spells of Grave Importance wasn't going to help her at all with that either. Bending over to pick it up for her, Juniper held the tome out. It was freakishly heavy, gravity bending her wrists as she maintained her weak grip. Maybe she was wrong about the levitation bit. This was far more difficult to hold onto than she initially believed.

"But you wouldn't happen to know where that section is now, would you?" she asked anyways. She felt like her parents when she took them to the muggle supermarket, asking any normal person where certain items were regardless of if they worked there or not. "Or where an employee might be? No one was at the till when I came in..." Considering who the normal workers were, they were probably screwing around in the back and not even aware that there were customers. Mina and Benny, while fun to a degree, weren't the picture perfect examples of what a responsible adult should be.

Claire Evangeline Slater ● 328

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[Claire Evangeline Slater]

never enough.

LOGICALLY, CLAIRE UNDERSTOOD THAT IT WAS an easy mistake to make. She had been trying to finagle the stubborn, charmed book from the upper shelf. And she supposed, with the stack of books at her feet paired with the nondescript, neutral set of robes she wore, but Claire's first instinct was to lean toward offence. "No," She replied shortly, unable to stop the slight sneer on her face when faced with the woman's expectant accusation. "It's a special edition." As if that were a perfectly reasonable explanation for her behaviour.

There was a niggling at the back of Claire's mind as she watched the customer bend down to retrieve the edition Claire had dropped to the floor in her distraction. Did she know her?, her thoughts wondered, leaning back against the stack behind her as she straightened and offered the book in an almost friendly, olive-branch gesture. Reluctantly, Claire took the proffered item, hissing when it rippled with a protection spell that stung the tips of her fingers. She swapped hands and shook the static out of her fingertips as it settled.

"I mean-" Claire found herself struggling to admit that yes, she did in fact know exactly where the section was. It was as if admitting to her knowledge of the shops layout was sort of like admitting that she was an employee, which she absolutely wasn't. "I don't work here," She said again, emphasising the phrase with the dip of her chin. "But... the transfiguration section is in the back left, next to the books about animagi... I think."

She let out a gusty sigh, her eyes fluttering over the woman's face as if to catalogue why her features were so familiar. The glasses, the messy arrangement of her hair. "Juniper." Claire said without really meaning to, having started to crouch down for her own stack of books. The thought shot into her brain like a stunning spell and she paused with her hands outreached. Tilting her head up to double take, realising that it was indeed Juniper McGonagall. Awful, smart-mouthed, cunning Juniper McGonagall. A feeling of unsteady insecurity opened up in Claire's gut, a feeling she hadn't experienced since she had been fifteen, it left her dizzy. 

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Juniper didn’t really understand what the book being a special edition had to do with a poorly timed levitation charm, but she could let it go now. It wasn't any of her business with how people struggled with different areas of magic. Personally, she was superb in all of the practical kinds of magic, though always grew bored when it came to subjects like Astronomy and Divination. She didn’t need to see a future that she already knew she had the power to create herself. No amount of tea leaves, crystal balls, or tarot could change her mind on that.

The book, which seemingly disliked being touched by the woman, reacted rather violently when she took it back. Which probably had to do with a protection spell that only effected the one that removed it from its spot. The bookstore had quite a number of interesting spells like these in place, all of which could be avoided by merely putting them behind a lock and key. But wizards were going to wizard.

The woman reiterated that she wasn’t an employee, but she also seemed to know where the Transfiguration section was now. Juniper could feel her eyes perk-up at that. Had she been in her animagus form, her ears would have done so instead. She thought about that often in situations like this. These were the kinds of nuances that she had started to catalogue in a journal, hoping to maybe one day write a research paper on all of it. There wasn’t nearly enough information about how humans changed after learning to become an animagus.

Her eyes followed the direction in which the woman was indicating and started to turn her body to go that way. ”Thanks-“ she cut herself off as she heard the woman say her name. ”Err…yes?” Did they know one another from somewhere? With how many new students she’d had, and not to mention colleagues at Hogwarts, there were times where she had to be reminded of names. But she didn’t recognize this woman at all. She racked her brain hard for a few seconds, wondering where they may have interacted, but nothing was coming up. There were a few different options she could choose to go with, though wasn’t sure which one to settle on. ”I’m uhh…I’m sorry. I think I’ve forgotten your name. You were one of the interns a few summers ago at the studio, right?” That sounded right to her. But Merlin, it was embarrassing to forget someone that worked under her for a couple of months. Whoops.

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[Claire Evangeline Slater]

never enough.

OF ALL THE WITCHES IN WIZARDING ENGLAND, Claire could think of fewer she'd like to encounter less than 'Juni' McGonagall. The sight of her, carefree and with the kind of pretty face that looked effortless, Claire was violently reminded of memories of said witch in a train compartment. Her smarmiest expression setting Claire on such a spiral that she'd almost jeopardised her prefect badge just to try and get one over on her. She also felt a prepubescent urge to shout how little she fancied Rhys Greyback suddenly.

Swallowing harshly, Claire stood with a stiff and straight back, her stack of books forgotten as she narrowed her eyes suspiciously. Juniper didn't appear to recognise Claire half as quickly as she had, her expression blank and otherwise 'friendly'. It made Claire's skin crawl, her jaw squared as she waited for the other Knut to drop. And then she said it, like they were passing acquaintances who just happened to forget. Claire didn't need Juniper to remember her, and yet her ego seemed to smart just a little at the complete lack of recognition. Not even a hint? She almost said it, her name on the tip of her tongue, before she paused suddenly.

"I wasn't your intern!" She snapped, insulted by the insinuation. Whatever Juniper wasted her days doing, there wasn't a hope in hell that Claire would ever be the lackey that brought her her coffee. "I work for the Ministry, I'm Auror." She explained, refraining from giving her name and bursting the bubble of anonymity. She almost added that she was in the Order, as if that would soothe her bruised ego, but stopped herself by force of will alone.

"It doesn't matter anyway," She said in a huff, feeling suddenly restless with the desire to get as far away from Juniper as possible. "I have gifts to buy." She stooped down, collecting her stack of books with a hurried hand. The large collection was twice its weight with the Charm book on top, and just as she stooped low to pick them up, the protected tome let out a final zap of protest that sent a zing! up Claire's arms and slackened them so the entire stack tumbled to the floor.

"Fuck!" She cursed, red in the face as she got down on her knees and pulled her wand out angrily. Pressing the to the leather binding and hissing, "Finite Incantatem!" The pages fluttered at the disruption, snapping together to let out a noise like a blown raspberry in retaliation before going sinisterly quiet. "Bloody, fucking book... isn't worth the fucking extra 4 galleons..." She ranted under her breath angrily, incited by Juniper's appearance and her utter lack of decorum.

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The physical recoil that splashed across her face as the other woman violently rejected the idea that she’d ever been an intern at Witch TV was not hidden in the slightest. It had been a long time since Juniper had felt this sort of insulted noise out of another person. She used to get it a lot in school, back when she had a bad habit of telling others how often they were wrong when it came to lessons or magical concepts. To be fair, they were wrong, and she was right most of the time. Her teenage self knew no boundaries when it came to correcting classmates or younger students. ”I’m sorry,” she responded, flabbergasted by how much she had angered this poor, levitation-inept woman. Clearly, she was taking that failure and transferring it onto Juniper now. She could understand that a bit.

Apparently, the woman worked for the Ministry as an Auror, and a tiny lightbulb went off in Juniper’s brain. That was where she recognized her from! Back in her own days in the Ministry! She’d probably walked by the blonde dozens of times throughout those years. ”That must be where I recognize you from then. I used to work in the Ministry too,” Juniper explained. ”Again, I’m sorry about getting you mixed up. I’ve had so many different colleagues over the years…” She felt like she was cut off by the woman then going on to say that she had gifts to buy, and Juniper started to take a few steps back. Even though the Transfiguration section wasn’t going anywhere, she didn’t know if there was going to be more to this conversation. She did feel bad for the woman, especially because she seemed to remember Juniper, but not the other way around.

The protected book struck with a vengeance again as she tried to pick the entire stack up, leading to a vulgar explosion and subsequent counter-spell to take care of it. At least she knew how to use that one well. Juniper stayed where she was, silently observing the entire one-sided exchange. ”Would you like help bringing it to the front? I noticed earlier that you were struggling with the levitation charm, and it looks like it’ll be heavy carrying all of those…” she offered.

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[Claire Evangeline Slater]

never enough.

CLAIRE FOUND THE APOLOGY AS OFFENSIVE AS the insinuation that she'd ever worked for Juniper. And she believed it to be more an exclamation of surprise than of sincerity, plus she wouldn't trust a shred of kindness offered from the other woman on principle alone. It all seemed to leave a nasty taste in her mouth and she floundered for her composure once again. Claire couldn't recall what it was Juniper had gone into after school, she had applied a vested effort into denying the woman's existence for some time. This made their interaction even worse, because Claire could not simply acquiesce her curiosity and leave, no she had to watch her flit between solutions like a clock moving hands methodically.

"We were not colleagues... I can assure you." Claire said with a huff of cold laughter, a haughty lift to her chin. Though she knew it was a terrible idea to remind Juniper who she was, Claire couldn't abide by the insult that they had worked together with even slight amicability. It was the principle of the slight on her younger self, it just wouldn't do to mend a bridge that Claire had burned down so many years before.

Dropping to her knees, Claire had every intention of gathering up her books and fleeing to the cash desk before Juniper could say something as equally offensive as she had already. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, she had garnered Juniper's clockwork attention and somehow, no matter how cold she was, the woman wouldn't bloody get lost! The book blew its nasty raspberry, but went quiet as the incantation muted its protestations for the time being. Her wand pressed tight to the cover, Claire's hair created a barrier between herself and Juniper, and she hoped she would take the hint. Her voice cut like a knife through the tension and landed like a slap on Claire's face. Her head lifting so quickly that her neck might have cracked with the speed, face dropped open with a narrowed shock and insult.

"Has anyone ever told you that you can't take a hint?" She hissed with a clinical tilt of her head, rising onto her haunches and hefting the stack of books despite her muscles protesting. "If I had wanted your help, I'd have asked for it." She grumbled, shifting the weight of the stack onto one arm as she situated her wand and tried to walk at the same time. It set her slightly off balance and she cursed as she almost rammed her shoulder into Juniper's.

"Fuck-" She humphed, shaking her hair free and turning her back as she cast a quick and hasty lightening charm on the books. "And there's nothing wrong with my levitation charms, McGonagall!" She snapped over her shoulder, the apple of her cheeks red and her nose wrinkled in anger and disgust. "You were always such an insufferable know-it-all..." She hissed under her breath, casting a sharp look of keen dislike over her shoulder as she made to escape through the stacks. 

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Merlin, Juniper was certainly striking out left and right today with her assumptions on where she knew this woman from. With the tone her voice had, it was now obvious that they had never once worked together. Which only left Juniper with more questions. Why was she being so confrontational? If not for her saying Juniper’s name just a moment earlier, she would have thought maybe the woman had her mistaken for someone else. Maybe that was still possible. Everyone knew that when rumors went rampant in the Ministry, it was harder to quell than it was to eradicate an infestation of chizpurfles. No one was safe once the rumor mill started either. And while Juniper was positive that she had never done anything negative or to make herself look bad during her time there, she wasn’t one-hundred percent positive either. The odds of her having a bad day and being rude to this poor woman years ago was certainly a possibility.

Still…she was taken aback by everything that was going on right now. All she wanted to do was offer her help and that was apparently the wrong thing to be doing right now. The woman had managed to get her stack of books propped up in the meantime and was chastising Juniper for apparently not understanding that she didn’t want the assistance at all. As harsh as that was to hear, one only needed to look at the way the poor blonde balanced the books to know that she absolutely couldn’t handle it all on her own. She nearly toppled into Juniper as she walked, off-balance by the weight of the tomes she’d chosen.

Juniper opened her mouth say that she’d still seen a poor result from the previous levitation charm but decided against it. Now that she was being called a ‘know-it-all’, and an insufferable one at that, the woman did have a point. She hadn’t been like that since school though. While there were definitely times now where names and faces no longer matched up with those she graduated with (and the years around her), she did try her best. But this one in front of her? There was nothing. ”But I don’t even know who you are?” she said as much, a hint of exasperation in her voice. She really was hoping she’d remember, but no names were coming to mind at all.

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[Claire Evangeline Slater]

never enough.

JUGGLING THE STACK OF BOOKS, CLAIRE VERY nearly decided to abandon the whole venture and leave the shop empty handed. Unfortunately, her pride simply wouldn't allow it. Juniper had questioned her competency, whether she meant it it or not, it left Claire with a sour taste in her mouth. She couldn't drop the stack on Juniper's toes either, despite the fact that it would fill her with a sick joy. Instead, she was forced to stop her swift exit and manoeuvre her wand, pointing it at the stack and charming the pile a good five pounds lighter.

The ache in her arms eased ever so slightly and she sighed in relief. However, that relief was short lived as Juniper finally decided to speak again. Claire lifted her head, a curtain of bright blonde hair swishing angrily at the force of the movement. "Oh, come off it, McGonagall." Claire snapped, her eyes narrowed. "The whole ignorant act," she waved her wand at Juniper's confused figure, "It's not as cute as you think it is." Claire snorted unattractively, a scoff from the back of her throat as she turned on her heel and made to march out of the stacks. She just couldn't leave it there though, and she spun back fast enough that she felt a bit dizzy.

"Perhaps that's why Rhys was so interested." Claire crowed meanly, smiling in a coldly as she tilted her head and held her books. It was sort of reminiscent to a version of Claire she had long since left behind. Juniper had that effect on her, drawing out that mean, insecure teenager, belittled by someone much older and likeable. "He always seemed to like the ones that played dumb." The smile dropped, and Claire felt just the edging of regret in her belly as she turned back and marched between the stacks of books. This time, she did not turn back. 

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Juniper truly didn't know who this horrendously offended woman was. If she had the time to actually think for a moment, she knew she'd be able to dredge some kind of name up. But in the moment it wasn't going to happen. Especially not when this lady was losing her mind over such a silly little thing. The nastiness was unwarranted, even if Juniper's assumption about the woman's inability to use a simple levitation charm was incorrect. Whatever had happened between them previously was apparently bad enough to lead to this reaction.

So, she was at a loss for words. How could she defend herself from this? The accusations of putting on an act were completely false, as she truly didn't know why this woman wanted from her. And then she had to take it a step further and drag Rhys into it. It was like that was the final piece to the puzzle, except Juniper hadn't know it was one until just now. This woman was either some jilted ex or jealous wannabe. That made so much more sense. Juniper wasn't stupid; she'd seen the looks he'd gotten over the years both before, during, and after they had been together. She'd been right there amongst most of them, right up until she won out. And not just once, but twice. Maybe even three times if what was currently going on between them counted. That fact alone had to make others squirm, knowing that she was always there, lurking in the background.

A haughty expression came over her as she stood proudly amongst the bookshelves. Living rent-free in this woman's head felt amazing, even if she was still lightly confused about how it all came to be. "Better to be dumb and liked than whatever it is you are to him," Juniper called after the woman as she tried to retreat immediately following her insult. Bringing herself down a peg and acting childlike was beneath her, but if they were going to resort to petty insults, she may as well get a jab or two in. Made all the confusion worth it.

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[Claire Evangeline Slater]

never enough.

CLAIRE THOUGHT SHE WAS DONE, SHE HAD SAID her piece. And yet, Juniper McGonagall was like a dog with a bone. Claire bit, but unfortunately Juniper liked to bite back. She had turned her back and was intent on marching to the register and leaving McGonagall to stew in her ignorance alone. However, it was one thing to insult Claire's intelligence, but to insinuate once again that she was inherently 'unlikeable' to her friend, while maintaining her haughty superiority pulled Claire to a halt.

When she turned, this time it was slowly. A spin on her heels, the books almost hovering in her arms as they were spelled lighter. Claire's expression was frightfully blank, only her eyes blazing as she paused briefly before very deliberately closing the space between them once again. Each step was pointed, the anticipation of tension and conflict cracking in the air between them. She stopped just short of 'too close', her eyes flickering over the disdainfully ignorant plains of Juniper's face. There was yet to be a single shred of recognition.

"You really have no idea who I am." Claire muttered, not a question, but an angry revelation. "I suppose it's a compliment, really." She said, her voice dangerously level and steeped in fury. "I suppose it means I've actually grown some," She mused, almost privately. "Meanwhile, you remain to be the same irritating, egotistical extension of Rhys's raging libido." Claire looked down her nose at Juniper and finally broke the flat anger on her face to offer a small smirk.

"Can I buy my books now, or would you like to spit in my face next?" She asked, with a forced pleasantness. 

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This woman was nothing compared to some of the executives that peddled their poor ideas at Witch TV and expected everyone to jump for them when they asked. It took quite a bit for Juniper to be unnerved by another person, especially one that was inherently whiny. Clearly this woman thought Rhys meant something to her and viewed the McGonagall as an enemy – which was silly because if she knew Rhys, then she knew Juniper was always there somewhere. Even in the time they didn’t see one another, she was sure her presence towered over others. Being with him the longest had that sort of weight with it. And now that she was skulking around him again, she was apparently right to assume that others would take issue with it.

She sucked her cheeks in when the woman made the astute observation that Juniper had no clue who she was. Though she disagreed that it was a compliment. Those that were important had their names memorized. Even her former coworker at the Ministry, Marina, whom Juniper absolutely despised, was remembered. This blonde bimbo barely registered on that scale of importance. It didn’t matter if the woman tried to intimidate her by getting uncomfortably close or spout off more assumptions that barely made any sense. This interaction wouldn’t even be remembered by the time she sat down for dinner later, that was how insignificant it was.

The attempted jab at her sex life with Rhys made Juniper furrow her brow. What was the point of that? That literally told her this entire thing was about jealousy and that this woman was as dry as her personality. How unattractive. Arguing with an irrational person would get her nowhere, and while she knew that before her last immature outburst, it didn’t stop her then. What this last comment from the woman did do, though, was make Juniper secure in her smugness. A wry smile formed on her face as she crossed her arms in front of her. ”Please do,” she said in response to the woman wanting to buy her books. ”The only one stopping you is yourself.”

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