CHECK YES JULIET ▷ JAMES POTTER [1]

𝟒𝟐. 𝐀 𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐃 𝐎𝐅 𝐇𝐎𝐏𝐄

(42 : I DO SPY  . . .
A KIND OF HOPE )

✧࿐ ཾ✧

AIDED BY A DREAMLESS SLEEP potion, Juliet slept for two days straight. Even as someone who was well-versed in the extremes that stressed students would often reach, Madam Pomfrey had never seen such a severe case of exhaustion in all of her time at Hogwarts. When the Slytherin eventually woke up, she was immediately excused from lessons and ordered on bed rest. The matron kept her in the hospital wing for observation, highly suspicious of how the teenager had lasted so long without sleep considering a diagnostic spell suggested her body had started shutting down over a week ago.

     In a physical sense, Juliet was never better. In an emotional sense, Juliet was a complete disaster.

     Her sleep had been peaceful, void of the monsters that usually lurked in the crevices of her mind, then she woke up and remembered her mother was apparently dead. In a flash, Juliet Fawley had become the heir to her family fortune and the sole survivor of a tragedy that the Wizarding World would never know. It was the collapse of a great pureblood dynasty — one murdered, one suicidal and the other practically doomed.

Outside of the matron, Regulus was the first person who visited Juliet, meaning he was the one who was there for her as she digested the news. However, she had almost mistaken him for one of the school ghosts when he walked into the hospital wing before breakfast. He looked paler than usual and appeared uncomfortable as he approached her bedside, closing the blue privacy curtains around them.

"How?" was the first thing she said. It was only one word, but it was impactful and straightforward. Juliet didn't have the heart to engage in pleasantries with him, not when he knew her mother was dead and had never once thought to bring it up with her.

His posture was stiff and he seemed to have an internal debate before sitting down beside her. "I thought you knew," confessed Regulus, almost ashamed. "Are you feeling better now? I sent you a card —"

"I hope it's a condolence card considering my mother is dead and you knew the entire time," she deadpanned, infuriated by his nonchalance. "You might like to avoid the hard topics, but I don't. I want to know exactly what happened to her. No diversions, no small talk, only the truth."

"I like to avoid the hard topics?" repeated the boy in vexation. "What does that mean?"

Juliet had to bite her tongue. Regulus liked to pretend that he hadn't admitted to having a crush on her. Regulus also liked to pretend he still hated his blood traitor brother whilst using the same penknife Sirius had given him. Although Regulus still liked to pretend, Juliet didn't anymore.