The kids were still a bit shaken up by Peter's news and chose to just sit together in Sirius' room, not wanting to leave the house.
"This is ridiculous." Juli huffed, falling down back on Sirius' bed. "I don't like sitting around here and doing nothing."
James turned around and tutted in disapproval. "You are not doing nothing. Look at all the difference you will make!"
"For that, the Snake-Man has to call meetings and give me information. That isn't happenning anytime soon. Dumbledore hasn't told me anything either."
Sirius let out a small chuckle, "Snake man? You really hate him, huh?" He said, sitting beside her.
She moved her head into his lap, looking intently at him. "You have no idea." She sighed.
"A few more days and then we are back at Hogwarts." He replied, running his fingers through her hair.
"When's Lily coming?" She asked, turning towards James.
"Dunno. We will have to go for dinner, won't we?"
"Er," Sirius cleared his throat. "I heard Mia saying that they have declined the dinner invitation for now."
James sighed deeply and sat down beside him. "Just bloody brilliant!"
Juli didn't mind being with Sirius and her brother but she wanted to go out. Be a teenager. She felt like the war was taking all this away from her. Voldemort was. She won't let him do this to anymore children.
She suddenly got up and left the room, choosing not to answer James' and Sirius' questions.
She took out a parchment from her drawer and after a deep breath, started writing. She didn't write a lot of words, but she wrote a lie which would get her work done.
Dear Mulciber,
I miss you.
Let's meet.
Love,
Juli.
She cringed internally and after attaching the letter to her owl, went down to the kitchen to help her mother.
* * * * *
Even with Lily in the house, the days seemed to pass slower. Communication with their friends through owls had increased and their actual meetings decreased.
Whenever her friends did meet, Juli was under strict orders from Dunbledore to not. She had to maintain distance from her friends to maintain her facade. Regulus hadn't written to her either and she missed him. He seemed mad at her for lying and she understood. She would have done the same.
She didn't like this at all. She felt alone and scared. Her little walks with Sirius had stopped and she hated every single second she spent inside the house.
She would often snap at others for the smallest of things, not realizing it. Thankfully, they understood her situation but were not sure how long they could let this go on for. The only new and interesting thing would be when she met Mulciber, which she didn't want to.
Despite the fact that she would often slip into Sirius' room at night, she couldn't sleep. She would toss and turn but just couldn't sleep. She would be tired the next day, which only added to her irritability.
She was sitting in her room after one rough dinner, when she had abruptly gotten up from the table when Lily was telling all the places her, James and Sirius had visited with Remus and Peter that day. They had went without her. Again.
She hated it. It took everything in her to not let out a frustrated scream and then cry. Instead, she had just said excuse me and ran back to her room, slamming the door behind her.
She inhaled deeply, not allowing her self to cry over something she considered stupid. She then picked up Mulciber's letter and went through for the 10th time, familiarizing her self with the date and place they would meet.
She had to prepare herself for small talk but that wouldn't be an issue since he loved to talk. All she had to do was pretend to listen and laugh at the appropriate time at his very inappropriate, racist jokes.
She changed into a simple track and Sirius' t-shirt and not caring about the danger, she put her wand in her pocket and left the house. She knew she had to be back soon and promised the same to her parents.
She ran as fast as her legs could carry her without the sense of direction, trying to let out her frustration. She didn't stop to catch her breath. She stopped after what only felt like an hour when she thought she would throw up and pass out.
When her breathing had evened and her panting somewhat lessened, she looked around and realized she was in the woods. She knew her way around since they were not far from her house and started making her way back.
Her run had helped only a little, but with runs like these everyday, she would be able to channel her feelings the right way. She shook her head and concentrated on the way back.
As she walked further, she became aware that she couldn't recognize the place anymore. The path on the ground between the grass had started to fade. It felt like an unknown territory.
She took a shaky breath and held out her wand. She closed her eyes and focused on her home, waiting for the sensation of being pulled through time and space.
The pain took over her body in an instant and she opened her eyes to find her t-shirt wet from the side. Her hand clasped to her painfully splinched waist as she fell to the ground, crying out.
The realization hit her like a ton of bricks. It was sunset and she was deep in some unknown forest, injured, scared and with no way of going back.