the Romeo & Juliette

Chapter 7: A Werewolf?

Julie watched the professor run to save the two boys. Although, Julie wasn't sure if she was going to try and get Remus the werewolf out there, too. He was less of a threat if he was in the Shrieking Shack. And, now she thought of it, maybe the Shrieking Shack wasn't haunted unless Remus was there. That would explain why he was there, to be a werewolf. Whatever the case, Juliette turned on the spot and started walking to the common room, worried about Sirius, who, in any case, had saved her life.

When the portrait hole swung open she saw that Peter, James and Olive were sitting on the couch, while Lily was pacing through the room. When the redhead noticed Juliette had entered the room she immediately ran up to her and hugged her. "Oh, my wand, I thought you were going to die! I knew Remus would transform today, I'd made him the potion, but then Sirius and the others forgot, they were supposed to practice! They thought full moon was only next week! God, Juliette, are you alright? I hope he didn't hurt you, and if he did- wait. Where's Sirius?" Lily let go of Julie with a worried look.

"He saved me, but then I had to leave him but then I ran into McGonagall who's going to save him." Julie said, and Lily bit her lip.

The others behind Julie still looked worried, though Peter looked mostly angry. Then Julie remembered she was still holding the little piece of wood. "Peter, I-er, I brought you something." she said, and handed him the little piece. "To say I'm sorry for hurting you. I- I didn't realize." she said, and Peter smiled at her. It wasn't a genuine smile like the ones he used to give her, but it would do.

She dropped herself next to James, who was fiddling with a little piece of thread in his hand, probably to reduce the stress of knowing if Sirius would be okay. "So..." Julie said, "He's a werewolf."

James stopped fiddling and looked at her. "Yes, he is. And we were so close to helping him. So close." he said, "We'll probably be able to next month."

Julie frowned. "How are you going to help him?" she asked, and James took a deep breath.

"Peter, Sirius and I... We're almost unregistered Animagi. Remus won't be able to hurt us because we'll be animals." he said, then quickly added, "but don't tell anyone. We're unregistered." he said.

Julie nodded. "I won't." she whispered.

After a long time of waiting the portrait hole swung open, and McGonagall entered. "He's alright. He's currently in the Hospital Wing. Both of them are alright. You can all go to sleep now," she said, and Julie jumped up, but the professor coughed. "except for you, Julie." she said, and Julie stopped. "Why were you in the Shrieking Shack?" she asked, and Julie debated with herself if she should tell the truth.

She didn't, not entirely. "I wanted to go there, because I wanted to have been there. Sirius said I wouldn't dare, so I did." she said, and McGonagall narrowed her eyes.

"Alright. 10 Points from Gryffindor, but you'll get off easily. For now." she said, and Julie thanked her, then followed Lily upstairs.

*

The next morning Julie woke up early. She was still very dazed from the previous night, but it didn't stop her from getting up. She rolled over and saw that Lily was already awake, reading a book. She decided to talk to her. "Psst, Lily!" she whispered, and the redhead looked at her.

"Morning, Julie." she whispered back. She got up and dropped herself on Julie's bed, right next to Julie herself. "D'you have a dress for the Masquerade ball yet?" she asked, and Juliette shook her head. "Want to go down to Hogsmeade and get us one? I still need one too." she said, and Julie nodded.

"Sure. I'll get dressed, then. Suppose we want to be there rather early?" she said, and got up. Lily got up too, and both got dressed. After a short while they both started walking downstairs to the common room, where they found Remus, seemingly debating with himself, or at least in deep thoughts. When he saw the two girls come down the color drained from his face, and he got up from the couch.