JULIET {remus lupin}

EIGHTY NINE

January, 86

Sirius was dragged shouting out of his cell.

"Nice chats," he shouted as he was removed.

Juliet sighed, feeling a little more lonely than she usually felt. 

On New Year's Day 1986 Juliet allowed herself to think about James and Lily for the first time, and for the first time in her whole five years, she cried. She sobbed for an entire day, thinking about first the Potter's, then her friends, then Regulus, and finally, Remus. Her mind block had not allowed her to realise how alone he would be. His friends were all dead. She didn't know if he would be the same wizard anymore, and she didn't really want to know.

Remus Lupin sat on his doorstep at midnight on New Year's Day. Anne had taken him to a village party, and he'd made ridiculous small talk with muggles, but she had been a little too close to him, and he knew the muggle traditions of New Year's, so he had left at half-eleven, making sure she wasn't following him. New Year's only reminded him of Juliet, he couldn't be with another woman, not then.

He knew the muggle girl liked him, she pestered him constantly about doing things, about why he never phoned her, with questions about Juliet, and he felt awful. He was presenting a lie to her, but soon, soon he'd leave, and maybe take all her memories of him as well.

1986 meant it was the final full year of her sentence, it had been five years since he had seen her, or indeed Sirius. Time was flying but at the same time it felt like it just stood still. His life was repetitive, he worried about money, he debated going to Gringotts, he practiced magic occasionally to ensure he could still do it. And he thought. His mind was full, constantly. 

April, '86

Dumbledore had written to him, once again offering a job and he had considered it more seriously than he did five years ago. He sat on a wall in the village with Anne, smoking a cigarette as she fed her horses.

"Been offered a job," he said to her.

"Oh?" She asked, "Do you not have one now?"

He laughed, "no, been living off savings."

"Where's this job?"

"Scotland," he sighed. 'My old school. Teaching."

"I see," she smiled. "Are you going to?"

"I'm not sure."

"What's stopping you?"

"I'm not sure. A lot of memories there. Would be weird going back."

"Did you know Juliet there?"

Remus grinned in spite of himself, "yeah, I did."

Anne grimaced a little, he always smiled whenever he heard her name.

"Was she Scottish?"

"What?" He laughed, "oh- no. It was a boarding school."

"Oh, didn't take you as a fancy man, Remus."

"Ah, there's a lot you don't know about me, Anne."

"Was she in your year?"

"Below me," he said. "Got moved up a year in pot- er- philosophy. That's how we got close, I suppose."

"Smart girl."

"Yeah, very."

"What does she do now?"

"I'm not sure, I haven't spoken to her for five years."

"Jesus, and you're still thinking about her."