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's insane how nothing changes, yet looking back a few years back, everything is so different.
A week passed, and Juliet skipped her classes. McGonagall knew, she let it go this one time, but insisted on the girl returning the following week.
This time, Juliet did not completely shut down. She still communicated with her dormmates, but had trouble leaving the dorm. The slight idea of being surrounded by the people who had so many opinions of her made her nauseous.
The anxiety seemed to have gotten worse. She had nightmares again. Though she was no longer agitated and a crying mess, now she was simply numb. The scenes kept repeating themselves in her mind, and she kept trying to remember what happened while she was in her poisoned trance, but nothing came to her mind.
And that scared her.
Because what if something happened to which she wouldn't have consented in her normal state?
However, the thing that brought Juliet out of her room was happy news.
The mandrakes fully grew that week, and the potion was finally ready, allowing the matron to wake the few petrified children in the Hospital Wing.
The Potter girl did not waste time before running to the common room the second Mary barged in, telling her that Lily was awake.
And, indeed, there she was, the redhead being warmly welcomed by her Gryffindor peers near the entrance.
The reunion was lovely, and though everyone was shocked of both Lily and Juliet's reappearance, no one mentioned a word about it.
The Marauders attempted to get Juliet to talk about the fight, but she wouldn't answer them, she avoided the subject at all cost.
On Sunday afternoon, Juliet made her way to the common room, where she found her boyfriend calmly reading on the couch.
"Look who decided to come down." He stated with a small smile, his eyes not leaving the page.
"Why are you alone, where is everybody?" She looked around the empty room swiftly.
"Hogsmeade, celebrating Lily's return."
"Right, the girls tried to drag me. Why didn't you go?" She walked over to sit next to him.
"Babysitting duty." He shrugged.
The brunette girl stared at him blankly before looking around once more and back at him. "You're a terrible babysitter."
Chuckling lightly, he glanced at her. "I disagree. You're in front of me, aren't you?"
Gasping, she sat up straight. "You're babysitting me? Me?"
He nodded, a small smile on his lips as he finally closed his book. "Everyone's worried about you, you know?"
"I know." She sighed. "I'm sorry."
"You have nothing to be sorry about." He shifted so he was facing her. "But, you know you don't have to pretend to be fine, right? Not in front of me at least."
"I'd be a mood killer." Juliet whined, leaning back, her head turned towards him.
"You expressing your feelings doesn't make you a mood killer. And even if it did, who cares, you're hurting and we should be supporting you." He paused. "And I feel like I haven't been doing much of that, I'm sorry."
"No, what are you even saying." She denied, shaking her head.
"This entire week you've been hurting and I didn't know how to approach you or how to make you feel better, I just let you isolate yourself."
"Remus, it's okay."
"No it's not okay, you're not okay." He sighed, almost frustratedly. "And I want you to tell me when that's the case."
Staring into her eyes, he felt himself melting because of how innocent she looked, and he was furious, knowing why she was hurting.
"You're not mad at me?"
"What?"
"Not that I personally acknowledge it as such, but wasn't that... considered cheating?" She looked away, fiddling with her fingers.
"Juliet, you were poisoned." He raised an eyebrow at her. "It's like, me blaming you for doing something under the Imperius curse."
"I guess." The twin girl shrugged.
"Hey." He called softly, getting her to look back at him. "I'm not mad. And I have no right to be either. I was a bit hurt when I didn't know what was going on, but I should have known better, and I should have reacted better. I should've been there for you and I wasn't. I was thinking about me while you were going through something terrible."
Juliet took in every single one of his words, not truly knowing what to reply. Though she was appreciating their communication, she couldn't help but agree that it hurt her to see how passive he had been while everything was happening, and especially what happened in the Great Hall.
"Did you tell them?" She asked him instead.
"Who? What?" He tilted his head, confused.
"The others. About what Crouch really meant. What he said about me."
"Oh. No, it's not my place to tell them something like that. I've been enough of an arsehole lately, didn't need to make my case worse."
The last comment had his girlfriend let out a small chuckle as she stood up, walking back towards the staircase leading to her dorm.
"Juliet?" The werewolf called.
She halted in her movements and looked back, seeing him also standing and facing her.
"I might be acting selfish again, but I want you to be happy. I want you to feel fine again. I care about you and I hate seeing you hurting, Juliet, I love you."
"Remus, I'll be fine." She reassured.
"Tell me how to make it better, please, I'm here." His voice held so much emotion, she knew he meant every word.
Slowly making her way towards him, she softly brought her hands to his cheeks once she was only a few meters away.
Leaning in to leave a kiss on his lips, she didn't linger too long, knowing she wouldn't be able to let go if she did. When she pulled away, he unconsciously gave her a puppy stare, having her lean her forehead against his.
"I just need some time and space. Is that alright?"
"Anything you need." He whispered against her lips, complying to her wish.
Juliet pecked his lips once more before completely pulling away from him and leaving the room, with an unaccomplished desire to turn back.
* * *
do not fret, friends, this is not the end of our couple
COVER 2 HAS WON AROUND 30 VOTES VS 8 Thank you to all of you who voted!!
