Two days went by in the blink of an eye. Juliette didn't even notice when the days started and ended. She didn't notice students passing by her anxious and tired self. Her shoulders got bumped by others as she walked around aimlessly in the corridors, trying to get to her classes. She didn't acknowledge Neville when he happily sat down right next to her with a good morning.
She also didn't see McGonagall walking towards her table during the class.
"Miss Avery, I believe I asked you a question." Asked the professor before fixing her glasses. Her tone was anything but delighted.
Juliette's emotionless eyes were focused on the old desk's wooden surface. She inspected every scratch like she was trying to memorise it. Her mind was almost completely empty, the unpleasant memory of Trelawney's assertion being the only thought she could think about. Involuntarily, of course.
Neville nudged Juliette's shoulder while everyone turned to look at her when she failed to answer.
Juliette, startled by Neville's sudden touch, sent him a strange look and noticed how he was motioning McGonagall with his eyebrows.
Juliette looked up. The Transfiguration professor was standing before her with folded arms and a displeased frown. She was wearing her scolding face.
"I'm sorry, what?" Juliette asked, her voice sounding like she just woke up from a deep sleep. Her classmates snickered, which got ignored by McGonagall.
"I asked you a question ages ago," McGonagall said. "Would you like to answer now or should I give you more time to decide?" She asked sarcastically.
Juliette felt a blush creeping on her cheeks. She averted her eyes, feeling embarrassed, and focused on the desk surface again. On the right corner of the desk, right next to where Neville's hand was resting, there was a couple of scratch marks which gave her the impression that someone was trying to draw what looked like a broomstick.
"I didn't–" She started but her voice came too weak and raspy. "I didn't hear the question."
Minerva McGonagall gave her student a dissatisfied look, showing her disappointment even though Juliette's eyes were occupied with something else entirely.
"Oh, I'm well aware." The professor said, turning around and walking towards her desk with her head held high. "Pay attention, Miss Avery."
After that Juliette tried to listen to the lesson as much as she could but it was almost an impossible task. There was an invisible barrier, blocking her mind from reacting to anything going on on the outside world, forcefully trapping her in a dark and small room so she couldn't escape from her thoughts, memories, dreams, visions...
She was so closed off that she couldn't even see the curious look Hermione was sending her from across the room. Or Harry's suspicious eyes. Even Neville's concerned expression went unnoticed by Juliette, who was sitting right next to him.
▬ ▬ ▬۩▬ ▬ ▬
Towards the end of the day, Juliette walked to her Potions classroom which was her last period for the day. She was surrounded by Hufflepuffs and Slytherins but anyone who took one look at her could see how lonely she looked.
She couldn't really remember the last time she had a decent talk with someone else. It wasn't with Cedric, that was for sure. She's been ignoring him, trying not to see his face so she could eventually forget about her visions... or prophecy as Trelawney would call it.
Prophecy! Juliette scoffed silently. It was impossible. She was no Seer. She has never even been able to predict something during Divination classes or read tea leaves. She's never seen anything unusual via her crystal orb up until now. It had to be something else. It had to be something else.
"Hey! Watch where you're going!" An unfamiliar voice snapped at her. Only then Juliette realised that she had bumped into a Slytherin, finally noticing the older student.
"Sorry..." She murmured while rubbing her shoulder, which took the hit when they collided.
The older student that she's definitely seen before but didn't know the name of, rolled his eyes and continued on his way without saying anything.
Juliette shook her head and took a deep breath before doing the same. What was happening to her? She had to get it together. Sulking over everything wasn't going to help her situation.
When she finally reached the gloomy classroom, she realised that almost everyone has taken their seats, waiting for Snape to dramatically barge into the room.
Juliette hesitantly took a step in, feeling surprised by her lateness since she was always careful to come in earlier than the others. She liked being able to choose where to sit freely with so many options in her hand.
But now, only a few seats were available.
Her eyes scanned the room and focused on the desk she shared with Draco throughout the year. He was there, sitting at the table by himself. Juliette could see the bright colour of his hair. His hand was resting in his left palm, while his other hand was occupied with turning the pages of the 4th year Potions book with lazy movements.
Juliette almost smiled at the empty seat next to him, waiting for her arrival.
She tightened her grip on the strap of her bag and took a step forward. But then...
"Miss Avery." The voice Juliette's been dreading to hear sounded from behind her, stopping her movements immediately.
She slowly turned around and the other students' attention turned to them.
"Yes?" Juliette replied timidly, looking up at Snape's expressionless face. Her nails were threatening the leather strap of her bag to tear apart so they could dig right into her palms.
"You're late." Snape stated in a monotone as his eyes scanned the classroom, noticing that his students were watching them. Chatters slowly dying down as they realised that the Potions Master's presence.
Juliette looked at her professor with confusion. She wasn't late. Well, she wasn't late late. There were still a few absent students and she arrived before Snape anyway.
"But," She nervously looked around. "I arrived before you did. So technically, I'm not–"
"Detention after class." Snape interrupted her with a careless glance and brushed past her to walk towards his desk.
"What?" Juliette exclaimed, her voice full of surprise and confusion. She couldn't possibly be getting her second detention in a year. And in front of the whole class as well.
Snape paused before slowly turning around to face Juliette once again.
"I apologise, was that unclear?" He asked mockingly. "I said, detention."
"But–" She tried to protest, only to get interrupted once again.
"One more word and you will lose points." Snape threatened and walked towards his desk without another glance.
Juliette stayed there for a short moment with her mouth parted as if she had a lot to say. Words didn't make their way past her tongue though, and she didn't have any choice but to accept her faith and walk towards her seat with a flounce.
"Take out your books." Snape ordered as Juliette took her seat next to Draco. "We will keep learning about poison antidotes. Although you will not be practicing it this year, you will be covering it in sixth year. I suggest you listen carefully."
"What the hell was that?" Draco whispered to Juliette while everyone busied themselves with opening their bags to take out their books, losing interest in Juliette's tardiness.
"I don't know." Juliette whispered back with a sigh, wondering what made Snape more temperamental than usual.
The lesson started and before long, the other late students started to come in after hesitantly knocking on the door. Two Hufflepuffs and a Slytherin walked in one by one. Snape took 5 points from the Hufflepuffs, each. He only scolded at the Slytherin, but didn't give detention to anyone despite the fact that they were later than Juliette.
"Seriously?" She murmured angrily, hoping Snape couldn't hear her.
Draco bit his bottom lip, trying not to laugh at Juliette. She knew he found it amusing but appreciated the effort anyway.
She reluctantly took out her book and turned the shuffled the pages, trying to find where they've left off.
Juliette was confused by Snape's behaviour towards her. She wondered if she'd done something to anger him somehow but nothing came to her mind.
What if he talked to Trelawney after their short session where the big reveal took place? But why would he be annoyed with me? Juliette wondered. Maybe he doesn't believe Trelawney's words either and thinks that I wasted his time with all my vision stories.
She was absentmindedly examining the pages in front of her, Snape's voice explaining the importance of brewing the right antidote for the right poison in the background, when a small piece of paper entered her view.
Draco subtly pushed it towards her, his eyes never leaving the professor. He could see Juliette grabbing the paper and unfolding it from the corner of his eye, like they've done a thousand times before.
Lunch in your secret chamber tomorrow?
Juliette tried so hard not to smile, but she just couldn't help it. Her heart fluttered when she read the words and she didn't know what to think of the strange feeling that was creeping up in her stomach.
She folded the paper and hid it in her fist, like she always does.
Draco turned his head slightly and sent her a side-eye look with a raised eyebrow, waiting for her answer.
Juliette gave him a nod, beaming at him despite her anxiousness that's been constantly following her around for the past two days.
The corner of Draco's mouth lifted with a faint grin before he turned his attention back to Snape, actually listening to what he's saying unlike Juliette.
She averted her eyes from him, not wanting to stare too long at his features and only then did she realise that her left hand was dived into her hair, playing with the strands like a shy schoolgirl. Which she was, by the way.
The end of the lesson arrived and Snape dismissed the class much to everyone's delight. Except for Juliette's. She enviously looked around the room, watching her classmates gather their things to leave and rest a little bit before dinner.
Draco stood up, grabbed his bag and leaned down towards Juliette with a mocking smile.
"Good luck." He said, earning an eye roll from Juliette before leaving the room with his little gang.
Everybody left soon enough and the classroom was empty except for Severus Snape and Juliette. Misplaced chairs indicated that they've been occupied by students a short while ago.
"Take a seat at the front desk." Snape ordered coldly, moving towards his own table.
Juliette did what he's asked without a question, not wanting to annoy him further.
She took a seat at the chair which was right in front of Snape's desk. She folded her hands together on her lap and nervously waited for him to speak.
"Do you know why you're here?" Snape asked, looking at her without blinking which rendered Juliette uneasier than before.
"Because I was late." She answered, her voice sounding like she was asking a question.
"No." Snape raised his voice a little bit, leaning forward to his desk with a disapproving look on his face. "You're here because of your extremely idiotic behaviour."
Juliette's eyebrows shot up with surprise. She wasn't expecting to hear an insult, at least not so soon.
"I'm sorry?"
Snape placed his hands on the table, leaning further as if he was getting ready to suddenly stand up.
"You come here and beg me to help you with your visions and nightmares but when a helping hand presents itself, you turn it down and run away."
Juliette opened her mouth as soon as he stopped talking but she couldn't utter a response. She was grasping Snape's words slowly and carefully.
"So you've talked to her then? Professor Trelawney?" She said, finally understanding why Snape gave her a detention. He's found out about what happened and wanted to have a word with her but obviously, he couldn't do it in front of the whole class. He was the one who advised her to keep it a secret after all.
"Of course I have. You're so pathetically emotional to handle this by yourself." He replied with an insulting tone.
"I'm not–" Juliette intended to object but her inner voice interrupted her, Yes you are.
She sighed and decided to ignore his previous words.
"She thinks I'm a Seer." She admitted, assuming that Snape already knew about it as well since he had a talk with Trelawney.
"And you fail to realise how important that is." He said slowly as if he was trying to make Juliette understand each and every word.
Juliette shook her head, looking ready to deny everything he had to say about her possibly being able to see into the future.
"She doesn't even know what I see. They could all be meaningless. She can't just declare me a Seer without investigating and observing to make sure–"
"Then let her." Snape interrupted Juliette's rambling. She was getting too worked up because of her anxiety, as usual. "Let her work with you, ask you questions and guide you. You're the one who wanted answers, no?"
Juliette averted her eyes, looking up at the ceiling and taking deep breaths to prevent her eyes from tearing up. Even she didn't know the reason of her emotional situation that exhausted her to no end. Why couldn't she just accept it and move forward?
"Yes, but not like this." Juliette answered, her voice coming out no louder than a weak whisper.
"I've been having parts of the same vision for almost the whole school year. Seeing it in my dreams are terrifying enough. What if it actually comes true?" She continued under the attentive eyes of Snape. "What if he actually comes back? Is that even possible?"
Snape leaned back in his chair, the wooden object cracking under his movements. All the disapproval, annoyance and anger disappointment from his face, leaving their place to a blank expression.
"All the more reason to let Professor Trelawney train you. Prophecies may not always come true, but having the knowledge of what might happen in the future is a great and a rare power. Keep that in mind."
Juliette paid close attention to his words, knowing deep down that he was right but still feeling apprehensive about where that knowledge could take her one day.
"Now," Snape intertwined his fingers under his chin. Juliette sensed that he was getting ready to give her orders. "Professor Trelawney will call you for sessions. You will work with her and when she confirms that you are indeed a Seer, you will let her guide you without complaining. And most importantly, you will not tell any of this to anyone."
Juliette looked down at her own fingers. They were fidgeting, her nails scratching the skin on her knuckles now and then.
"Is that understood?" Snape asked while Juliette thought about how sure and confident he sounded about her being a Seer.
"Yes." She replied, not speaking of her thoughts. She would some other time, but not now. Not when she didn't have the energy nor the interest to prolong the conversation.
"Good. Now get out."
Juliette stood up immediately and grabbed her bag as if she was impatiently waiting for Snape to release her from the invisible chains that forced her to sit tight and take orders from her professor while also witness the disapproval on his face because of something she couldn't help.
She quickly left the classroom and took a deep breath, feeling content of finally being alone in the deserted corridor. Even her thoughts that always gave her headaches left her alone for a moment, letting her to just breathe.