New beginings...where to start..tbd

I nodded "And if Father ever did find out we lied, we'd both get in trouble." I finished for him. "I don't want that. It's my fault, not yours. You shouldn't be punished." I knew Father wouldn't see it that way but I could hope.

Why did Father always try to put us in situations like these?  "But I don't want to be the reason you get in trouble for it, June," I said.  I hated being the one who caused my sister to be found out and to be punished.  Of course the root reason was for her to be misbehaving anyways, but still... to be the reason Father found out killed me every time.

I knew he hated telling on me but Father didn't really give him a choice. "I know." I assured him, looking at him in the eyes. "At least you gave me a week." I pointed out. "That's something." I tried to look on the bright side for his sake, small as it may be. "You could be telling him right now. And you could be adding in about Black."

"To be honest, I dunno who would be more upset about talking to Black -- Mother or Father.  She hates that part of the Black family as much as Father does it seems," I said, shaking my head.  "Maybe I'll be nice and let Father find out on his own... no one knows you told me except for the two of us..."  I knew that if he found out we both were lying to him it would make things worse for both of us.  But then again, Juniper and I were good at keeping secrets.

"That's true." I knew Mother wasn't found of the Blacks just like Father. I smiled at my brother. "Father won't find out. We're good at keeping secrets." I knew he was thinking the same thing. If Draco didn't tell Father, I doubted he would find out at all but I was still worried about what would happen if he did. "So are you going to tell him?" Usually I could read my brother pretty well but with the potential consequences, I couldn't be sure.

I bit my lip, sighing.  "So long as you promise not to keep fraternizing with them, I won't say a word," I said, wondering if this would come back to bite me later.  "It'll be yet another skeleton in our cupboard."  We had many things we kept hidden away in the figurative cupboard that Father and Mother did not know about.  Well, that was obvious anyways.  And since we did not get punished for them, we were sure things were still secret.

"I promise." I said, wondering how I would manage. I put that out of my mind for the time being as I ran up to my brother and gave him a one armed hug, my books still in the other. "Thank you." I said sencerly. I pulled away and smiled at him. "We have enough skeletons to fill this castle." I joked. "Father has never found out before and if he did, I'd just tell him you had no idea." It was a simple solution and ensured only I would get in trouble if he ever did figure it out.

"No, we'll both take equal punishment for this if he finds out.  I deserve to get into the trouble for not telling him," I said simply.  I was not entirely sure how this would all play out, but I figured that Juniper deserved a chance to show that she was able to keep up with the Malfoy expectations and whatnot.  This was what we had been in training for while growing up -- there really was no other way to put it.

"We can cross that bridge if we come to it." I said. I hoped Father would think Draco was just trying to protect me and wouldn't believe that he could keep something like that from him but again, we would figure that out if it came to it. "I promise to try to stop talking to them Draco, but can I at least say goodbye and tell them I can't see them again?"

I looked at her and nodded.  "You still have that week," I assured her.  I was not completely heartless, even though I wanted to be in this situation.  I knew she only meant well, but with a family like ours... being soft hearted was not a good thing.

"Thank you." I said sencerly. "You're a great brother." I assured him. I knew Father and to an extent Draco expected me to act in certain ways but I didn't always understand why. It was almost like I had to be heartless, which I liked to think I was far from being. "I'll try to harden my heart a bit, for both of our sakes."

I shot my sister a second glance and shook my head.  "Don't change who you are for anybody, June, not even Father," I told her.  Of course, I really should follow my own advice.  "You have the opportunity to be your own person... a perk of being the 'inferior child.'"  I put one handed quotes around the last two words since my one hand was occupied holding June's books.  I never thought of Juniper the way Father did, but it at least gave her a chance to be herself as much as possible.  Not entirely, but a lot more than I could be myself.

"You should take your own advice." I told him, "Inferior child or not." I sighed, "I'm always getting us in trouble with Father though. I'm not acting like I should, talking to whom I should be, being like I should. I may be the disappointment but he still does care if I uphold our reputation." I didn't bother putting air quots, why should I when it was true.

She was right about that; Father cared about our reputation even with Juniper the disappointment.  I shook my head.  "I'm better at giving advice rather than following it... but even then, I dunno if I would listen to my advice seeings as most of hte time it's rubbish," I joked, wanting to lighten the mood slightly.  "And you only get in trouble because you get caught."  I winked at her playfully.

"Are you saying your twin isn't good at covering her tracks?" I asked after a look of mock hurt. "Were you not just saying how many skeletons you both had in your cupboards?" I put my free hand on my hip and raised my eyebrows at him. I spoke I third person to show I knew he was joking. Apparently we both wanted to lighten the mood.