It is important to remember that we all have magic within us -- Fall 1986?

I rolled my eyes at my daughter.  "The fact that you both were involved means you both are getting punished, Juniper," I said.  "Now go to your room... you will get your punishment." I needed to think of the best way to punish the two of them.  Juniper would get the worse of the punishment due to her having been doing the act, but Draco would still be punished as well.  He had been involved.

"But I asked him to guard the door, I made him!" I knew I was pushing my luck but I had to get my brother out of trouble. I hated when he was punished and I was glad he wasn't here to say it was his idea again. He was always looking out for me, this was the least I could do. "Please don't punish him Father."

I was livid.  Both children had wanted to be stubborn today?  And it had been turning into quite a nice little evening.  I put a hand on her shoulder, squeezing tightly, forcing her out of the room.  "Bedroom.  Now, Juniper, do not make me have to tell you again," I warned.

I had my ear pressed against my bedroom door, hearing what Father and Juniper were saying to each other.  She really needed to stop arguing with him... it only made things worse.  I wanted to go out and find Mother, to see if she could make Father realize that we were just kids... I was tired of being told to act like the old man he was.  I was only a little boy!  And Juniper, a little girl!  This was mental.

"Ouch." I said as I maneuvered away from my Fathers grasps. He had been squeezing my shoulder to tight and it hurt. I ran few steps ahead before turning back towards him. "Just don't hurt him. You can hurt me, not him." Then I ran to my room before my Father said anything more. I knew I would get in more trouble now, I was the one that stole the goo, I ran in the house and I hardly talked professionally and politely to Father. The only time Draco slipped was when he was trying to protect me which I hoped Father would blame me for. I knew Draco would still get punished but I would get the brunt of his anger. And that was fine by me.

As far as punishments went, I did try not to hit the children... but Juniper's mouth made me want to hit her right then.  Instead, I went out towards where Narcissa was.  I figured that she should at least be informed of their insubordination and that they were going to be punished.  I might even let her weigh in on how that should be done.  "Darling, the children were misbehaving as usual... they were attempting to steal and broke into the potions area of the house.  In addition to lying and trying to keep us from finding out and talking back to me," I explained simply.  "I just thought you ought to know before I went about to the punishment."

I nodded as Lucius told me what the children had done. I knew they would be punished, that had broken the rules, but they were after all just children. My husband won't see it that way though. He wanted them to act and talk like little adults, properly and politely, not like the children they were. And what was I supposed to say to him? "What will their punishment be?" I asked. I figured Juniper would be more severely punished then Draco as I was pretty sure it was she who was in the positions area. She always seemed to be getting into more trouble then Draco although he usually attempted to take some if not all the blame for what she was doing, saying it was his idea.

I grabbed my walking stick that had my wand in it.  Was I planning on using it?  Of course not.  They were too young for that punishment at the moment.  But it was intimidating to them.  "I will keep the two of them separated from each other -- except at meals as we eat as a family -- since they seem to feel the need to scheme when they are together," I said firmly.  "And, since Juniper was the one stealing, she will be doing some of the house elf's chores.  Not that Dobby is allowed to be slacking off," I added, glaring in the direction of our house elf.  But I wanted to make Juniper feel lowly doing things that an infidel like a house elf had to do.  It would definitely make her think twice before stealing again.  Draco had just been in on the scheme part and lookout, he need not be punished as severely.  Besides, he did learn to wield some magic today.  That did count for something.

I nodded in agreement. "That all sounds reasonable. We'll just have to find some other things for Dobby to do to occupy his time." I said as I looked over at our house elf as well. The punishments did seem reasonable. I knew it would hurt them, the twins didn't seem to go anywhere without the other, but Lucius was right, together they schemed and it wasn't like we were separating them forever, just a few days I was sure. Juniper doing some of the household chores sounded good as well. Nothing hard, just enough to teach her a lesson. I nodded again.

I was glad that we were in agreement.  I was growing weary of our children misbehaving.  When would they learn?  "Would you like me to handle the both of them?  Or would you like to handle one and I the other?" I asked her, speaking of our children more as things rather than children.  But that was because they had disappointed me so today.  Normally I took care of all the punishment, but Narcissa was their mother.  She could help if she would like.

"You seem to have everything under control. You can deal with both." I tended to stay away when Lucius was dealing with punishments. I was afraid I would be too soft on the twins and they would misbehave again, disappointing Lucius. If they learned the first time, they didn't have to be punished again.

I smiled slightly, grateful that Narcissa agreed to that.  I would hate to have the children misbehave again due to lack of severity.  I left the room and went to our daughter's room first.  I walked in and looked down at her, filling my voice with disdain.  "Juniper, I am highly disappointed in you," I started out.  "Except for at meals, you and Draco are not to see each other.  Even at suppertime, conversation will be limited and monitored.  And since you were stealing, you will also have additional punishment -- you will have to take over washing the filth off of the plates like a common house elf."  I could barely get the last part out it disgusted me so.

I had been laying on the bed, talking to Draco by tapping the wall with a code we had made up when Father came in. I stood up as straight as I could and didn't interrupt him. I wanted to protest our punishments, I had to see Draco after to make sure he was okay. I noticed Father had his walking stick with him which I knew had his wand. He had never used that against us before but I feared it wouldn't be too long before separating us wasn't punishment enough. I nodded at the punishment, happy he had said I was getting more since I had been the one to steal. With any luck, Draco would only get separation. "How long will the punishment last Father?" I asked as properly and politely as I could. "Until you say otherwise?"

"Right you are, Juniper," I said, pleased that she had added the second part to her question.  "I will not tolerate this kind of behavior anymore, young lady.  You are getting to the age of knowing the difference between right and wrong.  You will handle this punishment for as long as necessary to get that difference in your mind."

When Juniper stopped tapping on the wall I pressed my ear against it.  I could hear Father's voice, but not what he was saying.  That meant that he would be coming over to my room soon.  I stood up from my bed and got myself presentable the way he liked me to be and waited.