CHECK YES JULIET ▷ JAMES POTTER [1]

𝟐𝟐. 𝐓𝐎𝐎 𝐒𝐔𝐃𝐃𝐄𝐍

(22 : TOO RASH, TOO UNADVISED. . .
TOO SUDDEN, TOO LIKE THE LIGHTNING)

✧࿐ ཾ✧

      I LIKE THAT I MIGHT even love her.

I like that I might even love her.

I like that I might even love her.

Like a broken record, James Potter's drunken declaration played in Juliet's mind through the night. It felt too sudden and Juliet knew she couldn't return his feelings, even if she wanted to.

Juliet knew many things — Golpalott's Third Law, how to make Bloodroot Poison, the properties of moonstone — but she didn't know what love was. Until she was fifteen, she had wholeheartedly believed in love being about blows and bruises because the only relationship she had ever known was her parents'. At seventeen, she now knew that wasn't love. Juliet had kissed boys plenty of times and they all made her stomach feel fluttery — she didn't think that was love either. If nobody had ever told what love was meant to be then how would she know what she had with James?

     It was easy to imagine being with James. Forehead kisses and knitted jumpers, handholding and butterbeers, the constant smell of broom polish and dinner with his parents. But she didn't need to be a seer to know that wasn't her future. Instead, Juliet was destined for bloodstains and bleach, empty beds and one too many glasses of red wine, the constant fear of the Dark Lord and stuffy balls with Death Eaters.

     But, was it really wrong to want more?

    Never had Juliet thought someone could love her — she was unemotional and said the wrong thing a lot — but James seemed to think he did. In doing so, she was being given the chance to break away from the life she had been groomed for. An escape from the sinking pureblood ship. If only she was brave enough to dive into the icy water and grab the life preserve he was offering with both hands. Yet, she wasn't nearly as brave as James thought.

Almost mockingly, his jester hat from Halloween sat next to her on the bedside table. Things were much simpler when they hated each other.

     "You in here, Juliet?" queried her roommate, popping her head around the open dorm door. "There you are! I was on my way back from breakfast when someone asked me to give you this."

     Holly handed her a rectangular package that was poorly wrapped in brown paper. Unsure of what it could be, Juliet searched the package for some kind of tag or note. Nothing. Although, she certainly had her suspicions about who it was from.