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CHAPTER FOUR
— herbology homework
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FORTUNATELY FOR JULIET, Defence Against the Dark Arts lessons became increasingly better after the first one and soon became everyone's favourite lesson.
After boggarts, they studied Red Caps, nasty little goblin-like creatures that lurked wherever there had been bloodshed: in the dungeons of castles and the potholes of deserted battlefields, waiting to bludgeon those who had gotten lost. From Red Caps they moved on to Kappas, creepy water-dwellers that looked like scaly monkeys, with webbed hands itching to strangle unwitting waders in their ponds.
In Juliet's last Herbology lesson, Professor Sprout had introduced a new term-long partnered project they had to complete. It sounded very fun and exciting to Juliet up until Professor Sprout mentioned that she had assigned their partners already, much to the class' disappointment. Juliet was content with being partnered up with Harry, but she couldn't tell from his expression if he was as well. They hadn't decided about anything to do with the project yet.
Caleb was less fortunate with his pairing, as he was put with Hannah Abbott. There wasn't anything wrong with Hannah, Caleb liked her, she just seemed to like him a little... too much.
However, the rest of Juliet's lessons were only growing duller. Hagrid seemed to have lost his confidence after his first, very disastrous, lesson and were now spending all their time learning how to look after Flobberworms, which, in Kate's opinion, were 'the most boringest creatures on planet earth'.
Divination was even more boring than Care of Magical Creatures. Will had been right: Juliet and Kate felt their sanity and will to live chipping away every minute they spent in that stuffy tower. It also didn't help that Trelawney always felt the need to comment on Juliet's supposedly 'intense aura', which spooked Kate out every time.
Potions was the worst of them all: Snape's anger and moodiness had multiplied by tenfold ever since the news spread of his new fashion sense. This then meant that Snape's hatred for Juliet had increased ten times as much as it was before, and that he took his anger out by treating her more horribly than the rest of the class. He had failed Juliet three times in the past three lessons for 'not getting the potion right' because it 'didn't look right' from where he was standing. The third time that it happened, Juliet had had enough and stood up for herself.
While expected but still incredibly unfortunate, this led to a week's worth of detentions, which Juliet had seen coming due to the fact that her 'confrontation' consisted of calling him a 'greasy twat' and a 'useless abomination'.
Despite this, Juliet's spirits stayed high as she now had Quidditch to occupy her. She and Callum tried out for the team and while Juliet was successful in becoming one of Hufflepuff's chasers, Callum unluckily only qualified as a reserve Keeper. Their new Hufflepuff Quidditch captain, Cedric Diggory, welcomed them both kindly and Juliet began training hard through the month of October in all types of weather with her new team.
On Halloween, Juliet, Kate, Will, and Callum were all excitedly chattering about their trip to Hogsmeade, which they were finally able to go to now that they were third-years. They waited in the line with their permission slips in hand where Filch the caretaker and Professor McGonagall were checking off names and collecting the slips in.
Soon it was their turn, and Kate, Will, and Callum were all approved to go, but when it was Juliet's turn, McGonogall pulled her aside.
"I'm sorry, Miss Blanchard, but it's been advised that you don't go into Hogsmeade this year."
"What?" cried Juliet, a little too loudly as people passing by turned to look at them, "But I have my permission form right here!" she said in a lower tone, pointing to said permission slip in her hand.
"I understand, but with the recent events the Headmaster has suggested–"
"Professor Dumbledore said this? But–" Juliet protested, but Professor McGonagall cut her off.
"Yes and his decision is final, and I'd also appreciate it if you wouldn't interrupt me, Miss Blanchard."
"Sorry, Professor." Juliet grumbled, and made to turn back to the castle.
"This is for your own safety," McGonagall said in a softer tone, looking down on her with a pitiful expression, "You should be able to go by next year,"
Juliet just nodded and walked away to go break the news to her friends that she wouldn't be able to go. They were as disappointed as Juliet was and promised to bring back lots of sweets from Honeydukes for her.
Disheartened, she made her way back inside the castle, where she walked past Harry Potter saying goodbye to her friends like she just did. Ron waved at her excitedly, and she waved back. Juliet had barely made it to the marble staircase when she heard her name being called from behind her,
"Juliet!" Harry called, and Juliet stopped to let him catch up, "How come you're not going to Hogsmeade? Did you not get your permission slip signed?"
"I di-" Juliet began, but stopped herself, "Yeah, my mum forgot to sign it."
"I didn't get it signed either, my aunt and uncle are muggles and are quite strict," Harry explained as they walked through the corridor together.
"That sucks," Juliet replied sympathetically.
"Yeah, but I'm glad I'm not the only one having to stay here." Harry replied, "Not that I'm happy you don't get to go! I just mean–"
"It's okay, I know what you mean," Juliet assured him with a smile. Harry's cheeks flushed slightly, and he turned away so that Juliet wouldn't see.
"What are you going to do now?" Harry asked her.
"Probably some homework," Juliet sighed, and it quickly reminded her of the Herbology project they hadn't started yet, "Hey, now that we're both here, why don't we get started on the Herbology? If you're not busy, of course,"
"Yeah that's a good idea, let's go to the library," Harry said, nodding.
"Let me just go grab my stuff, I'll be right back," Juliet said, soon disappearing through the corridor.
It took longer than Juliet had anticipated to find all her things in her dorm, and she wasn't surprised when she couldn't find Harry again. She just made her way through the gaggles of first and second-years to the library to begin on the project anyways.
Almost two hours had passed when Juliet looked up to see Harry rushing towards her in the library.
"I'm sorry, I got caught up with Lupin, and then I couldn't find my Herbology books, and I forgot we were meeting in the–"
"It's okay," Juliet just smiled at him and looked back down and continued writing.
Harry was caught slightly off-guard by this reaction: was she actually mad at him but pretending not to be? He took a seat across from her and set his bag down. It was when he had grabbed his own things out of his bag that he had really absorbed how much Juliet had already done for them. Harry glanced around the table and saw Herbology books and pages of research sprawled out around them and his chest tightened slightly: he felt guilty that he hadn't been here to help.
"I'm sorry, you've done so much," he apologised again sheepishly.
"It's okay," she repeated, but looked up to see Harry still looking guilt-stricken at the immense workload around them, "Honestly, it's fine Harry, I enjoy Herbology and the work took my mind off the fact everyone's having fun at Hogsmeade. You can start working on the growth stages drawings while I finish this last page of notes."
And so they did. It was a peaceful silence and Harry had never felt more comfortable doing work, with the warm ambience of the candlelight and the sounds of their quills scratching the paper.
The two classmates were now both working on the drawings, and it appeared that Harry was struggling with his third drawing, Juliet hearing the sound of the quill puncturing the paper and Harry crumbling his paper up and chucking it aside every few minutes.
The fifth time it happened, Harry let out a groan of frustration.
"I can't draw the stupid stem bit of this stupid plant for this stupid project!"
Juliet giggled at his face, all scrunched up in an irritated expression.
"Would you like me to help you?" she offered with a grin.
"Yes, please." Harry sighed in defeat.
Juliet stood up and walked around the table and leaned over from behind him and Harry showed her the part that he had had difficulty drawing. He thought that she was just going to draw it for him, so Harry was surprised when Juliet placed her hand gently over his and began guiding his hand and his quill smoothly over the paper, perfectly drawing the stem that he had spent the last ten minutes trying to do half-decently.
"There you go," Juliet said happily once she had done, pulling her hand back. Harry's hand almost felt cold when the contact had stopped, and had to repress a shiver going down his spine.
"Thanks," Harry told her gratefully, still looking at the place Juliet's hand had been moments before. Juliet just nodded with a smile.
The two eventually decided that they had done enough work and packed all their things up and began making their way to the Great Hall: the rest of the school must have been back from Hogsmeade by now.
It was a long way from the library to the Great Hall, leaving Harry and Juliet lots of time to talk and joke and laugh. Harry didn't think he could feel so friendly and at ease this fast with someone who wasn't Ron or Hermione, but Juliet's outgoing manner made it so easy for him. Juliet was laughing about a comical joke Harry had made about Snape and it made him feel as though he could say anything to her.
And so he did.
"I think Snape's trying to mess with Lupin," he told her.
Juliet's smile faltered. "What?"
"You know, earlier, when I told you I was caught up with Lupin?" – Juliet nodded – "Half-way through Snape came in and gave him a goblet of some sort of potion. Lupin said it was for some sort of sickness – but you know the rumour about Snape wanting the DADA job so bad he'll do anything... what if he's trying to poison him or something?"
Juliet didn't say anything for a moment, and Harry thought he had freaked her out. In reality, Juliet's mind was going a thousand miles a minute to try and think of an explanation that could squash any suspicions about her uncle's werewolf identity.
"I don't think Snape would try to poison Lupin..." she said slowly, choosing her words carefully, "As much as I despise Snape, it's highly unlikely he'd try to do that, especially under Dumbledore's nose. Besides, Lupin's a family friend. I've known him forever and he's ill quite often."
Harry nodded, slightly crestfallen at the fact Juliet didn't seem to suspect Snape as much as he did, but he brushed it off. He also brushed off the fact the way Juliet's words came out so articulated, like something was holding her back, but he didn't make too much out of it though.
The two had now reached the Great Hall for the Halloween feast, the usual decorations scattered around, making Hogwarts seem a lot more eerie than it usually was.
"Oh, I see Kate, Will, and Callum... so I'll see you later?" Juliet said, stopping to turn to Harry.
"Oh... yeah," Harry nodded, taken aback by the fact that their conversation had ended so suddenly, and he found himself wanting to talk to her more.
And as Juliet waved goodbye with a smile and began making her way toward her friends, she found herself thinking the same thing.
———☆———
After lots of jokes, laughter, and a glorious feast, which involved Juliet tasting every single one of the sweets that her friends had brought back for her to try, Juliet and Callum made their way back to the Hufflepuff dorms, their stomachs bursting and hearts full.
Neither of them, along with numerous other Hufflepuffs, did not want to go to sleep after all the celebrations, and instead the two decided to create a game of muggle cards with Susan Bones, Michael Corner, and Hannah Abbott – Hannah blushing profusely when Callum asked her if they could join them.
But before the five of them could even begin the game, the portrait door to the common room almost burst open, and Athena Tarvis, a fifth-year who had recently been appointed prefect, scrambled inside, followed by a black-haired fourth year called Blake Morley. Blake Morley was olive-skinned and was a fellow chaser on the Hufflepuff Quidditch team, alongside Juliet. Athena was tall and had deep cherry red hair and green eyes that were now frantically darting around the room frantically.
"Listen up everybody!" she cried, but her voice didn't seem to catch many people's attention.
"Quiet!" Blake bellowed, but his voice also had a trace of panic in it – the whole room fell silent.
"When I say this, I want you all to stay calm, and do as Morley and I say," Athena began, looking far from calm, Juliet and Callum exchanged confused looks, "The Gryffindor portrait, the Fat Lady, was slashed just now."
A few people gasped and mutters began to travel through the room.
"Merlin!"
"Is she alright?"
"Who would do that?"
"It isn't safe right now," Blake said loudly, and everyone else fell silent again, "Professor Dumbledore has asked us to escort you all down to the Great Hall and he'll tell us more."
"Grab everyone from their dorms and follow Weasley and Peters," – the head boy and girl – "down to the Great Hall, go!" Athena told everyone, and they all began to scatter, going up and down the stairs to let their friends know to come. Many first years were looking terrified.
Callum went up to Blake, who seemed to be trembling ever so slightly, and asked him.
"Did you meet any Gryffindors on your way here?"
"Yeah," Blake replied, letting out a breath.
"Who are they saying did it?"
"They're saying..." Blake began, but he couldn't bring himself to say anymore, so Athena finished for him.
"They're saying it was Sirius Black."
———☆———
author's note!
dun dun dun!!!!!!!!
I'm quite proud that this update isn't tooooo irregular
hope your enjoying it and don't hold back from commenting and voting, it really makes my day!
published: 14th february 2024