Jeffery Jonathan Juniper
May 2nd, 1998
A body falls from a few stories above and lands smack in front of him. It's mangled with a spear through the thick thigh muscle of the person's right leg. They don't have their left arm and their head hit the crumbled ruins of the castle just at the right angle to halfway detach it from their neck. When they had first hit the ground, the blood splattered out, coating the area and mixing with the other sticky, deep red liquid flowing on the stone floor. It splattered out enough that it coats the front of his Ravenclaw uniform, his face, and small hands.
It's a testimate to what he's seen today that looking at the person's body doesn't make him throw up or send him into a panic. Nor does the blood running down his face and lips, dripping of his chin. He doesn't even feel the lurch of his stomach like it's trying to expel his stomach acid at the sight in front of him. Nothing does anymore. The battle has been raging for the past two hours. He's seen enough to know that the only thing that could make him vomit right now is seeing another person running, clutching their organs into their bloody hands like he did forty-five minutes ago, while he was crucio-ing a person to death.
Amycus Carrow always said I didn't have what it takes to crucio a person.
How wrong that monster was.
With a quick step, he's beside the person laying lifeless on the ground and he gently moves their head to see who they are. He sees the Hufflepuff robes, the yellow stained brown with blood. Glassy eyes stare into his and he looks at Elizabeth Dorey's dead body and gently lays her head back onto the rubble.
He throws up.
He throws up as a memory of the two of them, right before the Dark Lord's forces broke through the shield, enters his mind forcefully. They had stood beside each other in the library, huddled around other first years for protection. All of them were practicing their spells quietly, just in case. Elizabeth had leaned over to him with a scared grin, "We've got this. We were taught crucio by Amycus Carrow himself. Those Death Eaters won't know what hit them."
"It only takes one second though, E." He had whispered in a shaking breath, glancing around at the other scared children and the dusty tomes surrounding them.
"Exactly, Jeffery," She had said, loudly, gathering everyone's attention, "It only takes one second for us to take these...these monsters down. Don't hesitate and we can survive."
He had smiled at her for a second, steadying his heart and his emotions, ready to not hesitate. The other first years were doing the same thing and he had grinned at Elizabeth, his best friend, "We can survive."
Someone should have told them that the library was going to be attacked first.
He stands and slowly leaves his small hiding spot and pushes forward, past the body of his dead best friend. He keeps his back to the wall and his wand out, a 'crucio' sitting on his lips for the first person that crosses him. No one told him that there'd be a battle his first year of Hogwarts. Professor McGonagall had never mentioned it when she showed up to explain to his parents that his magical touch with plants was truly magical.
But here he is, covered in blood that's not even all his, prepared to launch an unforgivable at the first person he sees.
He pushes forward, stepping over rubble and throwing glances over his back to make sure no one is going to attack him from the back. He hears footsteps and crouches down, waiting. About twenty feet in front of him, a person cloaked in dark black robes and a white mask rushes through the turn of the corridor, a deep brown wand in their hand. The man spots him quickly and Jeffery dodges the sticky cutting spell and shoots up, wand ready.
"CRUCIO!"
He screams it with everything in his soul and feels the deep purple fire of dark magic course through his veins. His bright red spell slams into the Death Eater, knocking them straight to the floor. He watches as they convulse uncontrollably, and screams erupt from their mouth. As he walks closer, he pushes his magic further into the spell, sickeningly enjoying as their screams get higher pitched.
"You dare attack the students at this school?" His voice is soft but his words are as sharp as a whip, "You think we won't attack back? You think we will let you kill us without even trying to fight?"
Anger floods him as he thinks about the bodies he's seen on his journey to the Great Hall. So many of his friends are lying on the cold stone floor, their bodies growing cold with lack of blood flow. He kicks the Death Eater's face and watches as the mask flies off and he's face to face with some pale, dark-haired man with a greying beard. A grown man is running around, attacking and killing students. A grown man against children.
He rushes forward the last steps and straddles the man, digging his knee into the man's stomach and presses his wand into the man's neck. He takes the man's wand from him and throws it down the empty corridor, screams echoing in the quiet air. The Death Eater keeps screaming - even as blood flows out of his mouth, his ears, his eyes. He cancels the spell.
The man heaves a breath, but Jeffery uses his left hand and punches him hard in the throat - just like Susan Bones taught him, hearing something crunch, "Hope that wasn't important."
"P-please..." the man whimpers out, blue eyes locked on Jeffery's brown ones.
He can't help but laugh at the irony of this man - this monster - pleading when he has heard so many of his friends go down begging for their own lives. He laughs so hard he cries. Tears mix with the blood on his face and drip off of his chin, landing on the man's face who flinches with each one.
"What's your name?" He says softly, wanting to know the name of the man he's about to kill.
"People....p-people call me - Nott," The man grunts and he can see the blood on the man's teeth, "P-please. I-I have a son."
"Yeah, you do?" His voice is venom, striking the man in the face, "I'm someone's son. Fuck you, Nott. Crucio."
He holds on tight, determined to see the life leave the man. The poor Death Eater screams more, throat tearing at the force. It takes only a few more minutes for the man's screaming to cut out into a gurgle as he bleeds more. Jeffery stares at the red blood drippling out of the man's mouth and into his beard. The man's eyes turn glassy.
He hears more footsteps and jumps up quickly, rushing in the opposite direction.
"Wait!" He hears a female voice call after him, but he doesn't stop and just keeps running. He flies past corridor after corridor, door after door, abandoned classroom after abandoned classroom. He only stops when he slams into a corridor, his fists punching the wall of the dead-end he ran into. His vision narrows and his chest heaves with his heart pounding faster and faster. New tears streak down his face and he can't stop the sob that claws its way out of his mouth.
"Stop please!" That same female voice calls and he turns quickly, his crucio finding its mark.
"Expelliarmus!" A new voice yells into the corridor and his wand flies into the wall. His vision clears enough to look up and see who is going to kill him.
Harry fucking Potter is standing in front of him, huffing from the run and helping the girl off the floor, who he realizes now is Hermione Granger. His mind flashes with stories he's been told of the Wizarding World's hero and his two sidekicks - the bushy haired girl and the ginger Weasley. Speaking of the ginger, Ron appears behind Harry and grabs Hermione to check her over, briefly glaring at him.
"Are - are you okay?" Harry asks gently, "We're gathering all the children to the Great Hall, come with us. We've got you."
Gently.
He marches forward, tears still dripping down his face. Harry's wand sits in his hand relaxed, obviously not seeing Jeffery as a threat. Big mistake. All it takes is one second and Jeffery has kicked the Boy-Who-Lived in the dick hard enough that Harry drops to the ground, gagging on the pain. Susan would be proud.
"What the fuck?" Ron yells at him and Jeffrey turns to him, marching forward. Must be shock that Ron doesn't move even a little and ends up on the floor beside Harry, clutching his dick. He decides not to kick Hermione purely because he'd already crucio'd her once.
"WHERE THE FUCK HAVE YOU BEEN?" He screams, emotions he's been blocking exploding out of him without permission, "WE'VE NEEDED YOU. ALL FUCKING YEAR. WE NEED YOU RIGHT NOW. MY FRIENDS - MY FRIENDS ARE FUCKING DEAD."
Hermione comes close and gently grabs his shoulder, but he pushes her off, "Don't comfort me. Fuck you. Fuck all of you. I've been told since I got here that you would save us. Does this look like saving to you?"
Maybe he's being unfair, but he's tired, dirty, covered in blood, and all of his friends are dead.
"Fuck you," He spits, watching his saliva land on Harry's forehead. Hermione starts crying and Ron opens his mouth, but Jeffery doesn't hold back, kicking Ron in the dick again.
"I - I..I'm so sorry," Harry says softly, "You have no idea how much I regret what is happening right now."
"Your regret is not going to bring my friends back; you piece of shit." He kicks the boy in the dick again, feeling satisfied as pain crosses his face.
"I never wanted this," Harry snaps from his crouch on the floor, "I never wanted to be a hero."
"Well, you fucking are," Jeffery screams and starts crying hard, sobs and hiccups echoing in the hallway, "I'm being u-unfair. I-I know. It - it's just e-everyone told me - us that - that you would save us. I've been praying for you to come save us and help me."
Harry's face falls - like a mirror on concrete - and shatters, "I'll help you. I'll help you; I promise."
Instant relief floods his body and with all the might he has a tiny eleven-year-old, Jeffery crawls onto the boy-who-lived lap and breaks down. He's choking on his tears and he's filthy and he just wants to see his mom, but this strong older Gryffindor is going to help him.
"Shhhh, sweatie, shhh." Hermione is rubbing her hands through his blood-matted hair, not even wincing at how gross it is.
"Come on," Ron says after a second, "Just carry him, Harry, but we've got to go."
"I'm not a baby," he mutters into Harry's shoulder, pushing away from the Gryffindor and standing up, facing the corridor entrance to the group's back.
As he looks up, he watches a Death Eater materialize right in front of him and behind the group with a loud crack and a deep black wand twist in his direction. He's screaming. Harry's trying to grab him and pull him back and Ron is yelling 'Protego' as loud as he can. Hermione is grabbing his shoulders, helping Harry shove him back.
Nothing stops that green spell from slamming into his chest though, stealing his breath and sending his soul flying from his body.
-
Jeffery Jonathan Juniper
June 17, 1987 - May 2, 1998.
Magic blesses you.