The green salve was soft as silk on Juliette's fingertips. She uncertainly applied it to her forehead, her actions was timid as she touched the stain of her accident.
"That looks bad." Megan Jones commented from her bed. She was doing her last minute homework as the others tiredly got ready for bed.
Thanks for pointing out the obvious, Juliette wanted to say. She really did. Her irritable thoughts cheered for her, trying to encourage her to speak up for once but she restrained herself from doing so.
"I know." She decided to say instead. The salve smeared on her eyebrow before she wiped it with her pinky finger.
"Are you going to tell us what happened?" Hannah asked, looking at her with caution as if she was a dangerous threat.
Juliette rolled her eyes without hesitation. She hated how her roommates always tried to ask her questions about her personal life when they weren't even friends. She wished they would quit poking their noses in her business.
"No, I'm tired." She said before putting the star shaped box on her bedside table. Her tense shoulders made their presence known as her headache started to grow stronger.
She lied on her bed with an uncomfortable frown and covered herself with her warm sheets. The other girls didn't ask any further questions, much to Juliette's delight.
She knew her annoyance wasn't completely directed towards them. Truth to be told, she was bothered by the incident she had to live through after dinner. She was upset, disappointed and a little bit confused.
Her eyes closed and the events of the night played before her eyelids, accompanied by a stubborn headache as if it wanted to remind her how stupid her actions were.
"That wasn't uncomfortable at all." Juliette murmured under her breath as she left the Great Hall with Cedric by her side. Her head was still bowed down. She was trying to cover her anxious face with her dark messy hair even though pretty much everyone saw her bruise during the dinner. At least everyone on the Hufflepuff table.
"They only glanced at you. It was no big deal." Cedric tried to assure her but it was to no use. While Juliette sat on the table, in front of her chocolate pudding that was waiting to be devoured by her, she felt countless pairs of eyes on her. They looked at her and examined her face with curiosity, ignoring her pathetic attempts at hiding and isolating herself from other students. She couldn't dare to look up from her plate during the dinner even though Cedric tried to distract her with his meaningless jokes.
"I don't like being glanced at by the whole school." Juliette replied as they climbed down the stairs to the dungeons. The sombre, dark atmosphere around them with the cold walls completely reflected what inside of Juliette's mind looked like. All the anxiety, nervousness, timidity and shyness with the constant worry about everything.
Cedric opened his mouth with a smile, probably just about to make another joke to cheer her up, before an intruder called after Juliette; walking towards them like an uninvited guest.
"Juliette!" She looked over her shoulders and tried to see who was calling out her name. It wasn't an easy task since the corridor was occupied by Slytherin and Hufflepuff students who were trying to go back to their common room.
"Juliette!" There, he called again. She recognised his familiar voice before she saw him. The same voice that always sent chills down her spine every time he recited her name. The same voice that was adorned with his gentle and kind side that he always showed her, but cursed by his arrogance and pride to be displayed in front of everyone else.
She saw his white blond hair in no time. He was walking towards her, pushing people aside as they got in his way with his bag lazily hanging from his shoulder and robe following him like a fog.
Juliette felt something grab her shoulders. Squeeze it and get under her skin before stopping right in the middle of her throat, disabling her from breathing properly. It was panic.
"Oh, no." She said before quickly turning around and coming face to face with Cedric's confused expression.
"What does he want?" He asked with a frown. It was easy to say that he was not in the least pleased nor happy.
"I don't know." She answered even though she had an idea.
"Well," Cedric glanced at Juliette before eyeing Draco's figure that was coming closer towards them. "I'll tell him that you're tired and—"
"No." Juliette interrupted him. She had no desire of knowing what would happen if Cedric proceeded with his idea. "I'll talk to him. Go without me."
Cedric stared at her with annoyance. He had a reluctant look hidden in his eyes. "Juliette—" He attempted to protest but stopped himself as he remembered that they've already argued twice about this particular subject. "Fine. But I'll wait for you in the common room." He stipulated.
"Okay." She agreed and silently watched him reluctantly walk away with others.
She turned around with a nervous sigh. She was almost sure that the reason Draco was coming after her was the bruise on her forehead. He must've seen her at the dinner.
Her eyes locked on him. He walked closer to her before slowing down to stop but Juliette had other ideas. She turned around before he could say anything and walked down the corridor. He quickly followed her with curiosity, confusion and sparks of worry on his face.
Juliette turned around a corner and entered a dark, lonely hallway with quiet portraits decorating the isolated walls. Footsteps of chattering students were inaudible as she stopped in the middle of the corridor, her back still facing Draco.
He slowly walked closer to her, wood creaking beneath his feet, under the gazes of countless portraits, and left a little bit of space between them before stopping.
"Juliette," He called again, quite silently this time. She could swear on everything that she's never heard his voice come out in such a delicate way. "What happened?" He asked, taking a step closer as if he was testing the waters.
She looked down even though he couldn't see her and crossed her arms. In the short time before Draco walked around her to stop right in front of her weakened body, she wondered what Draco's reaction would be. Would he be worried? Concerned to an extent where he would ask countless questions if she was okay? Or would he feel remorseful that he wasn't there to help her?
Don't be ridiculous! Her conscious scolded her for her meaningless thoughts. He doesn't care. He will find you ugly. Don't show him. Don't tell him.
"Juliette." He repeated again. She wanted him to stop. She wanted him to just stop saying her name so she could stop feeling strange, foreign things that she couldn't understand.
"Nothing." She said, not giving him the answer he wanted to hear. Her eyes were still focused on their black, polished school shoes. She could feel the portraits watching their interaction with thrill.
"There's a huge bruise on your forehead, Juliette. Don't tell me it's nothing."
Juliette frowned. She didn't like how he confirmed her thoughts about the bump being too big.
"It's not— It's not that huge." She said, her voice sounding too unsure and insecure that it almost put a smile on Draco's face.
"I can still see it." His voice was low, calm and gentle as he tried to make her as comfortable as possible so he could get an answer out of her. She didn't need to be a genius to see his cunningness.
Juliette stayed quiet. This carpet looks kind of nice, she thought to herself. Her eyes were focused on the patterns under her feet.
"You didn't come to class today." He tried again, leaning down to catch a glimpse of her timid face.
"I was sleeping." Her answer didn't seem like a valid excuse until he came up with another question. "At the Hospital Wing?"
Juliette started to nervously play with her fingers.
"Will you just look at me?" Draco's left hand was twitching. It seemed like he wanted to reach for her face and lift her chin so he could look into her eyes.
Juliette couldn't describe how uncomfortable she was feeling even if she tried. His voice, his questions and demands were pressuring her to an extent where she wanted to vanish from his view.
"I don't— I don't really want to. It looks ugly."
She heard his tired sigh and then felt the warm breath gently caress her face before vanishing into the darkness.
"It's not ugly." He objected. She didn't believe him.
"Draco," She looked around without lifting her face. Curious faces of the paintings were still watching them like intruders. "It's late and I'm tired. I think—"
"Why don't you tell me anything?" He asked, slightly raising his voice in exasperation.
Juliette closed her eyes for a moment before hesitantly lifting her face with caution. She wasn't sure what he was going to think about it, she didn't even know why she cared so much about his opinion but she had no desire to get an answer to either of the questions.
Draco looked surprised for a moment when she finally looked at him. He immediately, and involuntarily, glanced at the bruise on her forehead. It was red, swollen and completely unworthy and not good enough to settle on her beautiful face.
"Tell me what happened." He said, not bothering to ask nicely this time. He wanted to know. He needed to know who or what hurt her.
"It's nothing important. I just wasn't paying attention to my steps."
Draco carefully studied her. She kept playing with her fingers and averting her eyes. With the messy hair, heavy eyes and painful looking bruise of hers, she looked completely and utterly drained out of energy. Draco's hands kept twitching, fidgeting, doing anything to free themselves from his conscious to reach towards her.
"You're lying." He accused, earning a bewildered look from Juliette.
"No, I'm not." She lied again.
"Why do you always hide things from me?" He asked with his familiar scowl. She didn't like being the direct target of it.
"Draco, I'm not hiding—"
"Is it because you're friends with Granger now?"
Juliette looked at him with disbelief as he took a step towards her. "Am I not worthy enough for your time now that you've found some friends?"
"Stop! You're doing it again! Stop acting so childish, it has nothing to do with—"
Draco interrupted her again, his tone getting harsher every second. "I'm not doing anything! I just want to know who did this to you—"
"No one! I told you I wasn't paying attention to my steps! Why are you making such big deal out of this?" She asked, involuntarily raising her voice. She hated how he calmed her thoughts in one moment and then confused and irritated her in another.
"What happened to you at detention?" He decided to ask another question, thinking that it was okay to interrogate her out of nowhere. "Snape talked to you about it, didn't he?"
Juliette could feel the cruel pounding coming back. Her bruise was starting to throb, trying to tell her to get away from him. Everything became too alarming for her and she didn't know what to do to stop it.
"It's none of your business, Draco." She blurted out the harsh words, not meaning them to come out as rude and unfriendly as they sounded. She watched Draco's face fall before he covered it up with a deep frown. She could see the distant look in his silver eyes.
"I'm sorry." She muttered quietly. All she could hear now was their breathing and a ringing noise in her head now that it was all silent. Her headache kept sending vibrations through her skull. "I didn't mean to be rude but I don't have to tell you everything."
"It doesn't mean you have to hide everything from me." He said still sounding annoyed.
"I don't understand why you want to know everything. We're not even friends." She watched his face become blank, free of all facial expressions and emotions, completely empty.
She deeply regretted her words as soon as she spoke them. She was completely clueless if he even wanted to be her friend or not, it was true, but she didn't mean for it to sound like she didn't see him as a potential friend. She liked his company. She felt more comfortable than she should and she had no problem with it. She wanted him to be her friend. She wanted him to mean something to her.
"Draco, I'm..." She started but couldn't finish her words since her mind was empty. The pounding on her head distracted her, distanced and isolated her from thinking any way of apology.
"You're right." He said with a blank face. There was no trace of his concern, worry or care that he showed her moments ago. "We're not." And then he walked around Juliette, slightly bumping into her shoulder as he passed her and attempted to leave the dark corridor as soon as he could.
"Draco, I didn't mean to—" She tried to apologise, find an excuse for her words, do anything to stop him but he didn't bother to listen. He simply left her alone in the hallway and completely vanished from her view.
Her shoulders slumped in defeat. She bowed her head and tiredly closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose as she tried to relieve herself from her headache.
"You better apologise, girl." Someone said from behind. She turned around with a startle only to see an empty corridor. Her eyebrows furrowed with confusion.
"What? No way! He shouldn't have pressured her like that!" Sound another voice, very feminine but angry this time.
"He had every right to act like that!" Commented an unfamiliar voice.
It didn't take her long to realise that the portraits were talking to each other, discussing her argument with Draco. She rolled her eyes as the voices of the portraits turned into shouts, starting a heated argument over something that didn't even concern them.
She started to walk away with a shake of her head. There was no doubt in her mind that even if Draco wanted to be her friend before today, he didn't want anything to do with her anymore.
Good job, Juliette, whispered her consciousness while patting her on the back.
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I kinda hate the fact that they're not even 16 yet lol