An Unlocked Door Closed

Juniper let out a loud sigh in the hallway. Some entitled sixth year had stolen her homework and hidden it somewhere. ‘Some of these older students are seriously acting the maggot’ the first year Slytherin thought to herself. It seemed like all first years got bullied a bit, but Juniper was quieter and more introverted, this seemed to make her even more of a target. Although her family’s name did give her some protection at least from pureblood Slytherins, even they were starting to realize that she did not align with the traditional pureblood ways. On the hunt for her homework the young witch was wandering the hallways of Hogwarts. Some fifth year student had taken pity on her and mentioned that her homework might be in the abandoned toilets. ‘Abandoned toilets….haven’t been there yet….why are they abandoned?’ she thought to herself. The fifth year had simply walked away from Juniper when she asked where those toilets were located. Annoyed she stomped her way down hallways and up and down staircases, which was tricky at times given their inclination to move around. She had to find her homework, if she didn’t, she would be in so much trouble and that thought gave her major anxiety.

She stormed into a room without really looking at where she was going and found herself looking at a loo, that definitely looked abandoned…and broken, ‘this must be it’ she thought to herself. First, she went to the sinks and checked under and behind all of them but alas there was nothing. Assuming that no one was in here due to the state of the place she began opening the cubicles and checking around the toilets, ‘oh please don’t be in a toilet’, she would probably start to cry if she found her homework in a toilet bowl. She had worked hard on it. She abruptly opened the next cubicles door and instead of looking at her homework as she had hoped she was looking at a girl, startled she backed up away from the cubicle.

“JUMPING BERTIE BOTTS BEANS!” she exclaimed startled and quickly covered her eyes assuming the girl was using the toilet, “oh I am so so so sorry to disturb you on the jacks”, now she was really nervous and rattled on “I thought it was empty….everything seems broken in here so I just assumed…so sorry…I’m looking for my homework, I didn’t mean to interupt, oh Merlins beard, I’m so sorry” , she uncovered her eyes to turn and run away when she realized the girl was crying and not using the loo. “Oh, you’re not using the jacks”, she frowned, she was quiet and was never the first to start a conversation, but she was curious and concerned for the young witch she had rudely introduded on so she asked “are you alright?”

Minnie was abruptly surprised by a girl walking into the bathroom and shouting, "JUMPING BERTIE BOTTS BEANS!" Then the girl proceeded to apologize and say a bunch of other strange things. "Are you alright?" The girl asked. Minnie sniffed, the surprise walk in had made her stop crying.

"I-I'm fine. It's just that some stupid bullies were being mean to me. Calling me a boy for my hair and things like that. My name is Minnie, what's yours?" Minnie turned bright pink because she had started to cry again. Stupid eyeballs. She thought. "Why are you using this bathroom? It's all broken. And I'm really sorry for crying-I'm not weak! I promise. But if I'm overloading you I'm also sorry it's just that I talk a lot when I'm nervous, I'm usually introverted, sorry!" And with that, she dashed out of the stall door.

I am such an idiot. Minnie thought as she rubbed her eyes to make them stop crying. This is why I don't talk to strangers, and why I don't have friends. She looked back at the stall and decided to apologize after the girl came out of the stall. I've already blown it. I just hope I can make it up to her.

As Minnie explained herself and rushed out of the stall, Juniper quickly gazed up and down the cubicle, this bathroom was truly disgusting and very run down. She inhaled sharply as she saw some parchment sticking out from behind the toilet tank, hopeful it was her homework she snatched the parchment up and looked it over letting out a sigh of relief, it was her homework, and it was still in one piece. Juniper grinned widely as she stepped out of the cubicle and held her homework up for Minnie to see, exclaiming “I found my homework; blimey I’ve been looking for this forever, I’ve been so worried.”

Blushing from her outburst she stated quietly “oh sorry, I got distracted by finding my homework. I’m really sorry you’re getting bullied. I don’t know if your bullies are older students, but I find some of the older students act as if they’re related to trolls. That’s why I’m here. An older student stole my homework and hid it here, I’m sure they thought I would never find it; someone did eventually tell me where it was though.” She was rambling again, feeling nervous at the social interaction, she quickly stuffed her homework into her book bag and then looked at Minnie, “Oh and my name is Juniper, you sure you’re alright?” Her parents always encouraged her to make friends especially while at Hogwarts, she hadn’t made any good friends yet though, perhaps this prank that was pulled on her would end up being a blessing in disguise.

Minnie was all prepared to apologize to the girl, when the girl burst out of the stall with a piece of parchment."I found my homework;blimey I've been looking for this forever, I've been so worried." She then said, "oh sorry, I got distracted by finding my homework. I’m really sorry you’re getting bullied. I don’t know if your bullies are older students, but I find some of the older students act as if they’re related to trolls. That’s why I’m here. An older student stole my homework and hid it here, I’m sure they thought I would never find it; someone did eventually tell me where it was though." . "Oh, and my name Juniper, you sure you're alright?" Minnie smiled, happy that Juniper didn't seem to mind that Minnie had fired off a bunch of excuses.

"Hi, yeah I'm fine now. Nice to meet you Juniper. What homework are you doing? I'm sorry for being so awkward. And I'm sorry for having older students pick on you." She replied. The girl had a pale face which had turned red, and had beautiful icy blue eyes. Her hair was red and went past her shoulders and she was quite tall. "So, what do you like to do? And do you want to go to a less broken place?"

Juniper gave the blonde haired girl a small smile and stated, “I’m glad you’re doing better. I’m working on my Potions homework. Oh, and there’s no need to apologize, I’m also awkward sometimes, I find meeting new people a little difficult, especially when some of them are bullies. Just you wait though Minnie, once we’re second years and have learned more magic then we’ll be able to stand up to the bullies….I hope.” She ended her sentence with a shrug of her shoulders. Thinking about her interests, she frowned a bit, they were pretty boring so she thought about lying but then thought better of it, ‘ you can’t make friends with lies’, so she replied honestly “I don’t do much, but I like to read and fly on my broom. I’m pretty disappointed we weren’t allowed to bring our broomsticks to school. I also love to eat, especially sweets” She bit her lip as she tried to think of how else she spent her time but besides homework and studying nothing else came to mind, so she asked, “what about you? What do you like to do?” While waiting for Minnie to answer she eyed the lavatory they were in, it had poor lighting and was so unclean with everything worn and cracking. “I wonder why they don’t tear this place down and replace it or refurnish it” she thought out loud and then decided “We should go somewhere else; this place is a wee bit eerie. I was on my way to the courtyard to get some fresh air and finish up my homework, do you want to go there?”

“I don’t do much, but I like to read and fly on my broom. I’m pretty disappointed we weren’t allowed to bring our broomsticks to school. I also love to eat, especially sweets. I wonder why they don’t tear this place down and replace it or refurnish it” Juniper said. “We should go somewhere else; this place is a wee bit eerie. I was on my way to the courtyard to get some fresh air and finish up my homework, do you want to go there?”

Minnie smiled at Juniper's answer. "I love to read as well. I haven't had much of a chance with flying, and I don't like heights, but I'm sure that's fun. I really like baking and acting. I occasionally fenced with my siblings, but I usually just do things with my plants." She blushed. Who likes to hang out with plants? she thought bitterly. "And you're right, we do need to get out of here. What homework is that?" She continued. She smiled again. Perhaps I've made a friend out of this.

She stepped gingerly out of the broken bathroom, her eyes finally clearing. "Thanks for being nice, I think that now I can stand up to those bullies no problem. And-" She nervously cleared her throat. "And maybe I could help you with your homework?"

At the mention of baking Juniper smiled widely “Baking….well that’s just wonderful seeing as how much I love to eat sweets. I have no idea how to bake. Maybe you could teach me how to bake and I can teach you how to fly, we can start really low down and don’t ever have to go that high if you don’t want to. We can just do what you’re comfortable with. But flying is a good skill to have and maybe once you’re used to it, you’ll be able to get over you fear of heights. Plus eventually we have to take Broom Flight Class, I can help prepare you for it.” She took a pause to get a breath in, she was getting excited at the prospect of a new friend and had started speaking rather quickly. “It’s Potions homework, it's an interesting subject but the homework is a bit dry. Is your favourite class Herbology then?” Juniper asked referencing Minnie’s mention of her plants. Juniper followed Minnie out of the bathroom and looked around, the hallways were quiet save for a few portraits that were chatting down the hall. The young Slytherin was relieved to be out of that bathroom and heading elsewhere. Facing Minnie, Juniper scrunched up her nose and stated, “I definitely think some fresh air is in order, the smell of that gross loo is stuck in my nose.”

“Baking….well that’s just wonderful seeing as how much I love to eat sweets. I have no idea how to bake. Maybe you could teach me how to bake and I can teach you how to fly, we can start really low down and don’t ever have to go that high if you don’t want to. We can just do what you’re comfortable with. But flying is a good skill to have and maybe once you’re used to it, you’ll be able to get over you fear of heights. Plus eventually we have to take Broom Flight Class, I can help prepare you for it.” Juniper said.“It’s Potions homework, it's an interesting subject but the homework is a bit dry. Is your favourite class Herbology then?” They walked a bit farther away from the bathroom. “I definitely think some fresh air is in order, the smell of that gross loo is stuck in my nose.”

Minnie laughed at what Juniper had said. "Thanks Juniper! I would love to learn how to overcome my fear of heights! And I will definitely teach you how to bake. It's so easy and fun! And also, I don't mind some dry homework. I think it will probably give me another fact about Hogwarts!" Minnie smiled. "And that bathroom is so gross. Do you want a little treat to wash it away?" She smiled mischievously. Then she pulled out a little orange cake. "I made it. It's a Pumpkin juice pie or cake. I want to do something with baking maybe someday."

I can't believe I'm making a new friend! A really cool and funny one too! Minnie thought ecstatically. "So. Juniper, do you umm." She paused, uncertain. "Do you maybe want to be friends?" Well that sounded pathetic. She thought darkly. Minnie blushed. "I mean if you want to. No pressure or anything like that." She held out her pumpkin juice cake as a peace offering. "Here, take this."

Junipers eyes widened as they landed on the orange cake, grinning ear from ear the young witch accepted the cake from Minnie. “Wow! Thanks Minnie, this will definitely help wash the stench away. I love pumpkin flavoured foods!” Taking a big bite from the cake, Juniper chewed, the cake was delicious, full of flavour from the pumpkin juice and spices, and it was moist, “this is amazing! You know, I definitely think we can be friends! ”Juniper exclaimed and then continued “in the future you should be a baker, you could open up a shop in Hogsmeade, you’d make a fortune from all the students that visit”, she gobbled up the rest of the cake and brushed her hands off from any crumbs. “Let’s go to the courtyard, we can talk and maybe do some homework if we don’t get too distracted”, she giggled a little, running off of the euphoria she had from making a friend, while she walked in the direction of the courtyard, with a little skip in her step. Her older brother would be so happy for her and relieved to know she wouldn’t be alone in Hogwarts. Her father would also be pleased, although a bit less so since Minnie was in Hufflepuff, but it wasn’t her father who was in this friendship it was Juniper and the young with was very pleased with the situation unfolding.