( chapter )
four
JULIET DAWSON HAD NEVER BEEN the best student, even before she came to Hogwarts she clearly excelled in the few subjects that didn't involve sitting in a class room or reading and writing for hours on end. This didn't mean that she didn't try in those lessons where she was in a classroom, as she did, she just didn't really care about them and wouldn't put in as much effort as she perhaps should have.
Her mum had received several letters home about her behaviour in school, but seeing as he grades were usually above average, Marie didn't really see a problem. As she always said, 'What is school without a little bit of mischief?' However, upon receiving Juliet's O.W.L. results in the middle of the summer, both mother and daughter came to the agreement that Juliet had to try harder in school — by this, they had had an hour long shouting match which resulted in Juliet being grounded for the rest of the summer and having to do school work to catch up and she just had to grin and bare it if she wanted to be ungrounded by Christmas.
Juliet wasn't a bad student by any means — she handed all of her work in (albeit maybe as few days later than she should), she paid attention in class (when she wasn't sat near any of her friends), she followed the instructions and tasks that teachers had set (only after being told several times) and she engaged in several different extracurricular activities outside of class (when her detentions didn't get in the way.)
"While I gather your homework, I would you all to read the extract that has been placed on your desk." Professor Slughorn spoke from the front of his classroom. "And then make the correct corrections to the Draught of Living Death instructions— there should be enough for one each!" He quickly added as James and Sirius both tried to snatch the same piece of parchment in which the instructions were written.
It was the last week in September, the days were quickly becoming shorter and the warm weather was dropping temperature with each passing day. The leaves on the trees were slowly beginning to turn different hues of brown, orange and yellow and a light fog blocked the mountains around the Castle from view. There were still lovely, warm days mixed in with those colder days when the sky was clouded with grey clouds and the sun hidden from view.
Students had all settled back into school life quickly and it wasn't long before it was like they had never left for the summer at all. Juliet would never admit it, but the work her mum had made her do over the summer had made the transition back into school so much easier.
Juliet gulped slightly as Slughorn began to make his way around the dungeons, having small chats with students as he gathered their homework and answering the questions of those who raised their hands.
"Lily, my wonderful red-headed friend, the most beautiful girl in the entire world—"
"No." Lily didn't even look up from her work as she answered the girl sitting opposite her.
"I didn't even ask anything!"
Lily only looked up for a moment before shaking her head and continuing to do her work.
Juliet let out a small 'humph' before turning to Remus, who sat next to her, with a flattering grin on her face.
"Rem, my wonderful brown-headed friend, the most beautiful boy in the entire world —"
"Now, if you said I was most beautiful boy in the entire universe then I might help you."
"Rem, my wonderful brown-headed friend, the most beautiful boy in the entire universe, please may I have your homework for a short moment?"
"No."
"I hate you both." Juliet grumbled as she pulled her half completed homework out of her bag and tried to smooth out the wrinkles in her parchment. She tried to glance at Lily's homework, that was completed and placed on the desk, but she couldn't quite make out the writing due to it being upside down and the writing being tiny.
Slughorn usually loved Juliet, she was a regular in the 'Slug-Club' and he more often that not spoke to her about how he knew she was going to be a Quidditch Prodigy and when she was how she had to invite him to all of her matches. But he had warned Juliet that the next time she didn't hand in her homework, he would have to speak to her Head-Of-House.
"Remus please. If you say no again , I will have to turn to drastic measures." Juliet begged, watching as Remus turned away from his work to look at her with a small grin on his face. "I will have to ask Snape."
The two of them quickly shot a look to Severus Snape, who was sitting on their table next to Lily (who had shuffled her chair as far away from him as she could and ignored him every time he tried to speak to her) as he wrote something down in his Advanced Potion Making book.
"Jules, I'd love to help you, but James and Sirius currently have my copy of the homework."
Juliet looked at Remus with a confused expression on her face, her eyebrows were furrowed as she glanced over at James and Sirius who were copying down Remus' homework onto their own pieces of parchment,
She turned away from Remus, but not before sending him a dirty look, to which he only chuckled at. It was silent amongst the table for a few minutes, Juliet thinking over what she would say to Slughorn while neglecting the work that she was meant to be doing before the professor arrived at their table.
He took Snape and Lily's homework while sending a grin at both of them, then he turned to Remus and Juliet.
"James and Sirius have my homework, sir," Remus said with a sincere smile, "I forgot it this morning so they went back and got it for me during their free period."
"You filthy liar." Juliet mumbled so that Slughorn could not hear her. Remus kicked her shin under the table without turning to glance at her.
"Such thoughtful boys." Slughorn said as he looked over at said boys to see him stabbing each other with the tips of their quills. "I'll make sure to take it from them when I get theirs— and yours, Miss Dawson?"
She pulled a face while slowly sliding her work across the table to the Professor, he took it from her and a small frown took over his face.
"And the rest, Miss Dawson?"
"I was thinking that I could give it to you in two parts?" Juliet said with a hesitant smile. "You know, to keep the suspense going?"
A small smile took over Slughorns features for a short moment before it was replaced with a frown once again.
"Please stay after class, Miss Dawson."
･・･☽✥☾･・･
"What the actual fuck Julie! It's our first match and you've been banned from playing?" Juliet jumped out of her skin as James started shouting from right behind her.
She had just left McGonagall's classroom only minutes before and was just telling Dorcas and Marlene about the punishment that she had gotten from Professor McGonagall — the two of them had thought the whole ordeal was hysterical, but Lily had thought the opposite and had gone off to find Alice as soon as they had left Slughorn's classroom.
With her hand on her heart Juliet turned around and narrowed her eyebrows as she looked at James with a frown.
"Don't listen in on my private conversations Potter."
"You're literally talking to Dorcas and Marlene as if they're both fucking deaf."
James was looking down at Juliet as if he was a mother scolding his misbehaving child. His arms were placed on his hips and he had his eyebrows furrowed as he glared down at her.
He scarily resembled his mum, the similarities between the two uncanny.
"You got banned?" James asked.
"Only for this one match— and you can't be mad at me! You were the ones who stole Remmy's homework which meant I couldn't use it!" Juliet exclaimed and James pinched the bridge of his nose with a deep frown.
"Maybe you should have done the homework then!"
"Maybe you should have done the homework then!"
James shook his head while grabbing Juliet's shoulders. He began to shake her back and forth vigorously.
"You are the captain, you are banned."
"I'm only banned for one match—"
"That's one too many!"
"And I'm allowed to commentate."
Juliet grinned mischievously as she looked up at James. The look of disappointment disappeared from James' face just as quickly as it had appeared and was quick to turn one into of regret.
"Who— Who in their right mind would let you commentate? Maybe it's time old Minnie retired."
Juliet shook her head as Marlene and Dorcas laughed once again, she walked past James and threw a 'Bye Potter!' over her shoulder. The three girls were halfway down the corridor before the realisation hit James and he cupped his hands around his mouth and called out:
"You're the reason I'm going grey at 16!"
･・･☽✥☾･・･
In every friend group of four, you always had two groups of two. Two groups of pairs of best friends that joined together to create a group of four. Nobody meant for it to happen, but over time it just did.
It wasn't that you had anything against the other two in your group, it was just that you connected better with one of the people in your group.
For Juliet, that person was Marlene.
And obviously it didn't mean that she loved or was friends with Lily and Alice any less — while Mary was their friend, she also hung out with Hesita Jones and Pandora Rosier more than she did with the other four — but she just had a closer friendship with Marlene.
Alice and Lily were the complete opposite of the Juliet and Marlene, which made them closer. And that was okay, it was going to happen.
Juliet and Marlene both enjoyed Quidditch, they both watched and played the sport so much that a lot of people thought it was the only thing that either of them could do; they both enjoyed the same taste of music, Queen being the first ever record that both of them bought; they both enjoyed smoking and drinking no matter the occasion; they both enjoyed doing whatever they wanted, not caring about the consequences; they could both swoon to each other about girls (Marlene only liked girls and Juliet liked both boys and girls) without fearing resentment from the other one.
"If I could rearrange the alphabet, I'd put U and I together."
It was three in the morning and both Marlene and Juliet were high. They were sharing a blunt and kept passing it to one another as they spoke about everything that came to mind.
Juliet was only in her underwear, having gotten too hot only a few minutes after she got her first hit. The set was black and lacy — it had made Marlene blush and playfully growl. She didn't need to worry about covering up as they were staying in the girls dorm and all three of them had seen her naked at one point or another.
Lily and Alice had gone to sleep hours ago, but Juliet and Marlene were whispering (albeit very loudly) as they both sat on the laters bed so they didn't wake up their roommates.
The girls had gone from a conversation about Sirius, Juliet's ex, and Dorcas Meadows, Marlene's girlfriend, before beginning to tell the other pickup lines for no reason.
Marlene shook her head, all of her movements were sloppy and slow. Her eyes were slightly closed and her pupils dilated as she raised her hand to press against Juliet's lips.
"No, no, baby." The girls took a moment to giggle at the pet-name before she continued. "You'd put S,E,X together and then giggle."
Juliet nodded vigorously as she took another drag of the blunt before passing it to Marlene. "You know me so well— why couldn't I have dated you instead of Sirius?"
Marlene blew the smoke from her puff into Juliet's face with a sleepy grin.
"Out of the window you dickhead." Juliet muttered while using her hand to remove the smoke from around her face. Marlene only blinked lazily and nodded, but she didn't show any indication that she had understood properly what her friend had said.
"I'd ask the same question." She replied with a shrug. "But I'm happy with Dorcas."
"But—" Juliet paused and let out a loud laugh as she shook her head. "Okay, next question." She snatched the blunt from Marlene and took a drag before giggiling so loud that Marlene had chuck a pillow at the girls face to try and get her to shut up.
It had the opposite effect and only made both of them of them laugh louder than they were meant to be.
"Shhhhhhh."
"No. You shhhhhhhhhh."
They both giggled again.
"Both of you. Shh." Lily exclaimed from her bed, sitting up with a frown on her face and her hair messed up from her sleep. Lennon let out a meow from Juliet's bed, as if he was agreeing with her and wanting the two of them to shut up.
However this only set them over the edge yet again and they both burst out into laughter at the sight of the red-head and also began simultaneously shushing each other as they did so.
Marlene and Juliet didn't fall asleep for a few more hours.
･・･☽✥☾･・･
"So y'know how mozzies drink our blood?"
"I'm scared on where this is going, Julie."
"I don't care, Rem."
Remus and Juliet had just finished their rounds for that evening and were once again sharing a cigarette as they wondered aimlessly around the halls.
It was a lot colder that night and it was obvious to everyone that Autumn was now here and here to stay. Leaves were quickly turning different shades of brown and falling from the branches that they rested on, creating a carpet that hid the grass and paths from view. Grey clouds covered the sky more often than not and stayed for days before being blown away by the constant breeze. The sun was setting earlier and revealing the dark sky which hardly ever let any stars shine. A thin frost was often covering the grass in the morning and it stayed for a few hours until the sun finally warmed the earth below it enough to melt.
Remus had gotten out of the Hospital Wing a few days before and Juliet had attacked him in a hug before realising that he was still recovering and apologised profusely without letting go. The smile hadn't left his face for hours afterwards and it only seemed to grow every time that he saw the girl— even if it was only as they passed each other in the corridor. i'd
"Y'know how mozzies drink our blood?"
Remus took a long drag of the cigarette before he responded with a hesitant:
"Yes?"
"So Marlene told me yesterday told me that her older brothers girlfriend told her that her step-sisters mum's dad told her—"
"Julie?"
"Yes?"
"Just get to the point please."
Juliet nodded as she quickly took a puff of the cigarette.
"Marlene told me that mosquitoes use our blood in their eggs so technically we're the parents of like a million fucking little mosquitoes babies or something."
Remus paused with the cigarette halfway up to his lips. He frowned slightly before turning to Juliet.
"Well," He said as he carried on as if he hadn't paused, "I hope none of them are expecting to go to college."
"I'm just praying that their parents don't want any bloody child support." Remus looked down at the girl with the cigarette placed firmly between his lips. "I can hardly afford to help myself survive. Never mind a bunch of kids I don't want—"
Remus placed his hand over Juliet's mouth and looked around suspiciously at the air around them.
"You can't be saying that. What if they hear you and then come back to suck your blood?"
"That's fucking insect." Juliet said, her voice was muffled by Remus' hand, but he heard what she had said and let out a loud laugh.
"I know I dated one of the Blacks but I'm not into all that— fucking my cousin isn't on my to do list."
Remus let out another loud laugh and had to remove his hand from Juliet's mouth to rest it on his knees while he laughed.
"Right, Remus, it wasn't that funny."
Juliet trying to get him to calm down only made him laugh harder and it was only a few moments later that he was gasping for breath; the cigarette between his lips falling to the floor.
"Oi! That was my last ciggy you bloody wanker."
Remus calmed down slightly and look a deep breath while he watched Juliet walk over the cigarette that lay on the floor. He took a few steps back as she stood almost directly on top of it.
She frowned and said a little prayer in gibberish before she raised her foot and put the cigarette out.
Juliet then looked up at Remus with narrowed eyes and she pointed a finger at him accusingly.
"You owe me another pack."
"I'll buy you two."
"You're an actual life-saver Remus Lupin. I thank whoever let you and your bloody long legs into my life."
･・･☽✥☾･・･
"Will you stop ignoring me?"
Sirius called after Juliet as she ignored him yet again and left their Defence Against the Dark Arts class without so much as a glance in his direction. Professor Flitwick, the Charms professor who was a very short man with dark hair and a curly moustache, had sat the two of them next to each other while he covered their lesson — Professor Jones, the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, had been absent for the day.
Juliet really wanted to kick his short, little body out of the window. But she restrained herself with much difficulty.
She sped up once she heard Sirius calling her name again. Her bag hit her hip vigorously as she walked and she was praying that nothing inside fell out. Juliet pushed past the sea of students who were all coming out of their classes (she had to apologise to the Prewett twins when she pushed past them both as they attempted to speak to her.)
"Juliet!"
Merlins left tit — did he ever give up?
Juliet tried to speed up, she was already going as fast as she could without bumping into everyone. She had bumped into too many people and had to keep throwing apologies over her shoulder as she rushed on.
"Juliet! Wait!"
"Just shoot me in the back of the head and call me a nun." Juliet muttered as she turned around with her arms crossed to face Sirius who was now standing only a few feet away from her. He was panting and a look of surprise took over his features when he noticed that Juliet had stopped
Students grumbled as they walked around the pair who had suddenly stopped.
"What do you want?"
"To talk—" Sirius bent over slightly as he took in large gulps of air. His hair had grown slightly since Juliet had last properly looked at him and was now just past shoulder length. "Holy shit your fast."
"About what?"
Sirius looked up at Juliet with a look of confusion on his face and his head titled slightly to the side.
"What do you want to talk about?"
His mouthed formed an 'o' shape for a moment before he stood up straight. The two of them were the same height but both of them kept trying to stand straighter so that the other was intimidated.
It didn't work.
"I don't know? Maybe about the breakup? Forget about that?" Juliet let out a deep sigh and ran a hand through her hair, it was slightly knotted and Sirius had to hold back his laugh as she yanked her hand free.
"Yes. Just like how you forgot our anniversary."
Sirius didn't want to laugh after that comment. He rolled his eyes and waved his hands around in exasperation.
"There you go again. Always making it out that I'm the bad guy—"
"What the fuck Sirius?" Juliet interrupted; she had raised her voice which had caused a lot of the students passing in the corridor to look at her. But she didn't care.
The girl didn't know that it was possible for her to feel more annoyed at Sirius, but he always found a way to make it happen.
"I always make it out that you're the 'bad guy' in the relationship, because you bloody are!"
Sirius let out a scoff as he rolled his eyes again. He crossed his arms over his chest and tried to stand up a little bit straighter.
"I was the one who wanted to try again!"
"I gave you so many chances, the one time I'd had enough was the one time you wanted to try! If I never said anything, neither would you!"
"That's a lie!"
Juliet pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a huff, she then placed one hand on her hip and used the other to gesture firmly to try and get her point across.
"How is it?"
"When you left the house I prayed that you'd turn around and come back to me."
Juliet realised that Sirius hadn't answered her question, but she was more annoyed about what he had just said.
"Fuck you! It was always me putting in the bloody effort and even then you wanted me to come back to you! You couldn't move your fucking legs a few feet to speak to me?"
Sirius shook his head and opened his mouth to speak, but Juliet continued before he had the chance to say anything.
"If you really wanted to fix things with me then, you would've come out there and hugged me yourself."
Students were now slowing down so that they could hear what the old couple were saying to one another. A few of them had even stopped completely.
"I loved you, Juliet!"
"I loved you too! Why do you think I tried so hard to make it work between us?"
Sirius let out a shaky breath as slowly began to shake his head yet again.
"Sirius, I loved you so much that I didn't think that I'd ever find the courage to break up with you." He once again had a look of confusion on his face and it was now Juliet's turn to roll her eyes.
"Loving you was the only thing that kept me from breaking up with you for so long. For weeks I had been thinking about it but putting it off 'cos I was so blinded by the bloody love that I had for you it made me think that you missing dates, brushing off my feelings and overall just being a massive prat was okay and that all those things happened in a healthy relationship. But it wasn't okay and they don't happen."
Juliet had stopped shouting at Sirius. She suddenly sounded tired, just like she had when the two of them broke up, but this time it was clear that the exhaustion was just from their fighting always going round in circles with no end in sight — Sirius didn't realise what he had done wrong and Juliet not wanting to tell him yet again — and not because she was sad.
"We could have tried again, Julie. We could've given it another shot." Sirius was adamant and he kept shaking his head as he ran his ringed-fingers over his face with a deep frown.
"How? Sirius, you need to grow the fuck up and realise that you treated me like absolute dog shit. And if you were to ever do that, which I highly doubt because of how fucking up your own arse you are, then I'd talk to you about being friends again." Sirius opened his mouth to say something, but once again Juliet continued speaking before he had the chance to.
"But seeing as that's not going to happen anytime soon, piss off and leave me alone." She then turned on her heel and began to march in the direction that she was headed in before.
Sirius stood there watching her go with a sad smile on his face — the only thing that snapped him out of his daze was the collective chatter of excitement that came from the students around him, all of them talking about the argument that didn't involve them.
And it was with a shove that Sirius made his way through the crowd, determined to become friends with Juliet once again.
･・･☽✥☾･・･
hii!
how are you all today! i hope you're
doing well!!
i was in the shops all day and then two
of my very full bags split and i
was so embarrassed istg
this old woman have me her bag though
so it was okay
juliet means so much to me
what do you all think of sirius wanting
to be her friend again? id love to hear
some opinions on the whole thing!
i hope you enjoyed this chapter
and until next time
- em x