In a universe where Voldemort never became powerful enough to terrify people for decades after the first Wizarding War, Peter didn't betray his friends, and Remus Lupin fell in love with his best friend's twin sister.
Marauders era
Remus Lupin × fem...
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January 1976
It didn't take people too long to stop caring about the stupid article Rita Skeeter wrote. All they cared about was how cute Remus Lupin and Juliet Potter were.
They would get stared at when casually hanging out together, and it would annoy the girl at first but Remus managed to make her forget about it.
As for our little friends, it wasn't the end of the story for them. The plan was in action, and one Saturday morning, when Juliet walked into the Great Hall, a newspaper that she borrowed from a younger Gryffindor in hand, she immediately walked towards the Hufflepuff's table.
There were seated Amos, Daphne, Pandora, Xenophilius, and Alastor, the Marauders completely turned towards them but still sat at their own table. Standing in front of them with her arms crossed, she stared at her friends with her eyebrows raised, the newspaper in her hand.
They all quieted down, staring up at her with fake innocence.
"Who did it?" She asked, no peculiar emotion in her tone.
"What do you mean?" Daphne smiled softly, her eyes glinting mischievously.
Juliet squinted her eyes at her, unfolding the newspaper, clearing her throat before reading it to them.
"Rita Skeeter, the beginning of spite and widespread apathy among journalists. The party blabla, guests were horrified blabla, Rita Skeeter flirted with a married man blabla, bodyshaming a child blabla, perhaps the reason for an upcoming divorce blabla, homewrecker blabla." She folded the paper again. "Do I need to keep going?"
"I wonder who did this?" Sirius gasped, a fake shocked expression on his face.
"I wish I knew, they deserve a good pat on the back." Amos hummed.
"What great writing skills they have." Pandora nodded, making Xenophilius blush.
Staring between her friends, with a small smile slowly appearing on her lips, she messed the Hufflepuff boy's hair having him groan in annoyance. Taking a seat next to Alastor, still smiling as they were mocking Amos, she turned to the boy with his signature pokerface.
"You were a part of this, weren't you?" She asked him softly, the others too occupied with their own discussions.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Thank you Al'." She grinned.
He glanced at her, staring into her eyes for a second before nodding and turning back to his Hufflepuff friends.
Her eyes roamed around the Great Hall, and met with Regulus Black's, staring intently at her from the other side of the room. He then stood up and left.
Her curiosity awaken, she stood up and left after him, telling her friends she would be back. Rushing through the empty hallways to catch up with him, she grabbed his arm to forcefully stop him. Regulus, however did not waste a second to pull away from her hold and taking a step back.
"What do you want?" He asked her.
"I should ask you that. You looked like you wanted to tell me something." She frowned, glancing at his arm quickly before looking back up at him.
"I have nothing to say to you." The boy replied bitterly.
Sighing, Juliet took a step back, realising how uncomfortable he was with her. "How have you been?"
As if surprised by the question, his eyes widened a bit, before he regained his composure. It had been a long time since anyone asked him that question.
"Fine." He finally responded.
She stared at him, not believing his words. "You read my letter right? I'm still here. I'll always be here."
"I appreciate your concern, but I don't need help." He rolled his eyes.
He needed to leave. If he was to stay just a few minutes longer in her presence, he would be more than tempted to take her offer into consideration. But he couldn't, not anymore.
And even then, he still kept the letter, and read it every day, as if it was the only thing keeping him going.
"I heard you're dating the half-blood." The Slytherin said, changing the subject.
She was surprised, she didn't expect him to make small talk. "Yes..."
Regulus nodded. "Is he treating you well?"
"Exceptionally well." The brunette confirmed with a smile, awaiting a comment on her boyfriend's blood line.
But he didn't say anything about it.
"Good, you deserve it." He gave her a small smile before turning to leave, and she watched him go, feeling as though she has been doing that too often.
His smile was something she had completely forgotten, and though she knew he forced it a bit, it was still such a relief to see any expression other than his lifeless one.
And he suddenly stopped, turning back to face her.
"Be careful, Juliet. Many are unhappy with your newfound lover. Don't trust everything you see." He warned, a glint of worry in his eyes before he was finally out of her sight.
An anxious feeling set in her stomach, his words kept repeating themselves in her head. What did he mean? Who cared so much about her couple? They were just teenagers.
Yet, Regulus knew something he did not fully share with her. Just enough to keep her aware of her surroundings.
That wouldn't be enough to stop what was to come.
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I didn't see it before, but thank you for 300k!!
I absolutely hate this chapter, but I'mpreparing the shit that's about to go down in the next, or maybe two next ones.
