Birthday Party
Despite her initial inability to fall asleep, Juliette’s first night at Hogwarts left her well-rested. When she awoke the next morning to the sound of Mary and Marlene bickering about Godric knows what, the fact that she really is back at school finally begins to sink in. Ignoring the two best friends, Juliette pushes past them and into the bathroom. She takes a short shower, rinsing the sleep from her skin, and thoroughly brushes her teeth before changing into her robes and heading to the Great Hall for breakfast.
The house elves seem to have taken pity on the newly arrived students, preparing an array of breakfast foods including toast, eggs, sausages, potatoes, and porridge, as well as a variety of hot and cold beverages.
Juliette approaches the table to find James and Lily already seated and conversing quietly. At the arrival of Juliette, both of them grin widely at her, their moods seeming to improve greatly.
“Morning James. Lils.” She nods to each of them, taking her spot beside Lily. “How was your sleep?” She piles food on her plate, looking up at James for a reply.
“Oh. You meant me.” He blinks.
“Yes, I meant you.” Juliette rolls her eyes. “I already know how Lily slept.”
“I see. I must admit I did not sleep very well.” He sighs. “Sirius was absolutely bouncing off the walls. Probably my fault, though, I was the one to offer him candy.”
“That’ll do it.” Juliette nods. “Do you have patrols again tonight, Lils?”
“No.” She says, disappointed. “Not tonight. I am free of prefect duties this evening. Why?”
“Just wondering.” Juliette shrugs.
“You know, Lily,” James mumbles, his mouth full of food. “I got quidditch captain this year.” He says proudly.
“That’s nice, Potter.”
At that moment, McGonnogal appears behind James, holding a large stack of parchment. She flips through them and hands one to Lily, who practically snatches it from the professor’s hand in excitement. James and Juliette receive their timetables moments later. Juliette glances at her schedule.
“Why do we always have potions with Slytherin?” She groans.
“Because they hate us,” James replies.
“Lily, have you got Ancient Runes first thing today?”
“Yes. Are you in my class?”
“Looks like it.”
“Oh, good.”
“It’s perfect actually. Now I’ll have you to copy off of.”
“Don’t you dare.” Lily looks up, appalled.
“No.” Juliette smiles. “You know I wouldn’t.”
“Oh, good,” Mary says, taking a seat on the other side of Lily. “Schedules are out.”
Conveniently enough, McGonnogal appears once again at that very moment, offering Mary her own slip of parchment. She appears once more when Remus and Marlene arrive at the table, handing them their schedules. Marlene takes her designated spot beside Juliette, Remus across from her.
“Where’s Sirius and Peter?” Juliette asks.
“Peter’s taking a shower and Sirius refused to get up. Pete said he’d wait for him but who knows when Pads’ll roll out of that bed.”
They spend the next few minutes comparing timetables and shoveling food into their mouths.
“Alright, Evans,” Juliette says, standing. “Walk with me to class?”
“I would be delighted, Potter.” She smiles, linking their arms.
“Remus, you joining us?” Juliette turns to face the boy.
“Oh, yes.” He forks another mouthful of food into his mouth. “Coming.” And he stands to follow them.
***
In the days leading up to tryouts, James takes it upon himself to drag not only him and Sirius onto the pitch every day but Juliette and Marlene as well, to the point of commandeering all of their precious free time. Juliette swears he’s lost his mind. If this is how he acts now, who knows how it will be when they start practicing for real. As it is, Lily’s been driving the girls insane about OWLs in the spring, forcing Juliette to join her in the library during lunch every day.
“You can just say no to them,” Remus advises her. “James’ll be annoying about it but he’s bound to understand.”
“And Lily?” Juliette raises an eyebrow. “You know as well as anyone it’s impossible to refuse her. Besides, she’s not entirely wrong, neither of them is. It’s important to practice and to study. I’m praying to Merlin they’ll calm down after a short while. I think they’re just excited.”
And she was right. After a week or so, Lily slowed down on the studying, only going to the library every other night to revise, and she no longer requires Juliette to join her, though she does it out of pity anyway. And once tryouts are passed, though they continue practicing, James stops pulling them out of bed at 4am.
***
“I absolutely despise potions.” Juliette groans, not looking forward to this particular midday potions lesson with Slytherin.
“It’s certainly not my favorite,” Marlene confesses. “Though I don’t plan on dropping it next year.”
“Why not?” Lily asks, leading them around a corner and down the stairs to the dungeons.
“I want to become a healer,” Marlene explains. “I’m required to take potions in order to do that. So, while I may hate it, I love medicine more.” She shrugs.
Juliette had never heard Marlene discuss becoming a healer before. She’d never heard her say much of her future plans at all. She just assumed she meant to join the Cannons or some other professional Quidditch team after Hogwarts. Now that she thinks about it, though, she can’t say she’s surprised. The idea of Marlene becoming a healer and working for some great hospital like St. Mungo’s feels right. The thought causes Juliette to smile.
“I think you’d make a wonderful healer Marls. When did you decide all of that?”
Marlene opens her mouth to respond but is interrupted by the imposing presence and irritating voice of Dorcas Meadowes.
“Well, well, well. Look who we have here. A mudblood and her muggle-loving friends. Lucky we should happen upon your little group, isn’t it Evan?”
“Quite.” The blonde boy replies. “It’s fate. Almost like we were meant to do something about them.”
“My sentiments exactly,” Dorcas smirks.
“Don’t even try with us, Meadowes.” Juliette rolls her eyes, stepping to the front of her group, placing herself between the Slytherins and her friends. “You know you’d lose.”
“Do I?” She looks past Juliette eying Lily and Marlene. “McKinnon looks like she’d lose to a first-year in a duel. You’ve got something on your face, by the way. Probably left over from licking dung.” Dorcas raises an eyebrow, seemingly very proud of her insult.
“Back off.” Juliette orders through gritted teeth, her hand slowly reaching for her wand. “I could hex you into next week faster than you can say Quidditch.”
“Mmm.” Dorcas eyes Juliette closely. “While I would love to stay and see that, I have better things to do. Come on Evan. Wouldn’t want to be late to Potions.” She eyes the trio of Gryffindors one last time, looking them up and down before turning and walking away.
“Godric I hate her.” Lily breathes.
Juliette watches the Slytherins go, not letting go of her wand until they’re completely out of sight. She turns to face Marlene.
“Are you alright?” She catches Marlene’s eyes.
“I’m fine.” Marlene shrugs but her eyes convey something deeper.
At the beginning of their third year, Juliette had been walking to Divination with Marlene when they’d been jumped by Dorcas and a couple of Slytherin girls. It was obvious that Dorcas was after Marlene and once the altercation was over Marlene confided to Juliette about an ongoing issue between her and the Slytherin girl. In the years following that day, Juliette’s been keeping tabs. Dorcas’ attacks are predictable. She has impeccable timing, always approaching Marlene when she’s alone or with a small group. She glares at her from across the Great Hall and whispers about her to the other Slytherins in class. There have even been times Juliette has had to draw her wand to defend Marlene or prevent potentially dangerous interactions. When Marlene says she’s fine, Juliette knows not to prod, not in front of Lily, but she vows to question her about it later. She takes Marlene’s hand, and the two of them make the rest of the trek to potions in silence, listening to Lily recount the story of last night’s patrol.
***
In the days leading up to Mary’s sixteenth birthday, much of Juliette’s time is spent in preparation for the upcoming party.
“James, please. You always throw parties for us and the boys, why not endorse Mary’s with some of your Marauder popularity?”
“Look, it’s not me you have to persuade, it’s Sirius. He won’t have anything to do with you lot unless one of you would be interested in snogging him. That seems to be the only thing on his mind at the moment.”
Tell him he’s far more likely to find someone to snog at a party, when everyone’s been sipping firewhiskey, than on any old day. Besides, whatever you say he’ll eventually agree to. They all will and you know it.”
“I won’t disagree with you.” He says, taking a moment to consider her request. “Fine. We’ll help you. But only if you’ll promise to let Sirius pick the music. That’ll be his incentive.”
“James, my favorite brother, you’ve got yourself a deal.”
“Right then.” He nods. “Hold on, I’m your only brother.”
“Unfortunately,” Juliette replies, turning to leave.
The birthday itself is a great success. The girls wake Mary to an impressive rendition of happy birthday, offering her the gifts they’d gotten a week prior. At breakfast, all four of the boys wish Mary a happy birthday, even Sirius, which made the girl particularly happy. After the week’s lessons had finished and Friday night’s feast was over, Juliette, Marlene, and Lily dragged Mary to the Gryffindor common room.
“I forgot my jumper.” Lily lies. “And I’ll need it when we’re on the fifth floor. It’s always colder there than the rest of the castle, have you noticed?”
“Not really,” Mary replies, but she follows without question.
They approach the portrait of the Fat Lady, Juliette offering the password and gesturing for Mary to enter the tunnel first. They spill into the common room as everyone leaps out from hiding and shouts “Surprise!” Mary jumps, a brief look of surprise on her face that immediately turns to joy. She covers her mouth with her hands, her eyes wide, turning to face the three girls behind her.
“Thank you so much.” She opens her arms, practically tackling each of them into a hug.
“Of course,” Lily says. “You’re our friend.”
“Our best friend,” Marlene adds.
“Exactly.” Juliette grins widely. “Now go be the life of the party.”
Mary nods, blowing Juliette a quick kiss before turning and joining the already booming party.
Before doing anything else, Juliette approaches her brother, pulling him into a big hug. She can feel his delighted laugh as she squeezes him even tighter against her.
“I know, I know.” He smiles as she pulls away. “I’m the greatest. Don’t have to thank me.” His smile drops. “But really, I wouldn’t mind a thank you. This has been taxing stuff.”
Juliette rolls her eyes, giving her twin a soft punch on the arm. “As much as I hate you, I do appreciate what you’ve done. It’s perfect. Exactly the sort of thing Mary deserves.”
“It does suit her, doesn’t it?” Juliette follows her brother’s gaze, her eyes landing on Mary as she dances with a large group of girls, a wide smile on her face. When she turns back to face him, his eyes have wandered slightly, and Juliette doesn’t have to look to know he’s watching Lily, though she turns back around anyway. And there she is. She’s part of the gaggle of dancing girls. She has her arms in the air, her head bobbing from side to side, throwing her hair around with it, her eyes closed. Juliette smiles at the sight of her friend. She looks so free from worry or stress. She looks more like herself than Juliette can remember seeing her for quite some time. She looks beautiful.
“Hey, you two!” Marlene approaches a drink in her hand. “Maybe you’d care to join the party instead of watching it.” She smirks at them, giving James a knowing glance.
“You know what Marls, you are quite right.” Juliette takes the drink from her friend’s hand and offers it to James, who takes it gladly. She pulls her hair back into a ponytail, catching Marlene’s eye as she watches the motion rather closely. “Let's go.” She smiles, taking her friend’s sweaty hand. “We can’t have them having all of the fun without us!”
Juliette leads Marlene into the large group of dancers, taking both of her hands and pulling her into a casual dance, jumping up and down to the beat of whatever song Sirius is playing. She watches a smile spread across Marlene’s face as she slowly gives into the fun.
After spending some time like that, Juliette squeezes her way out of the now even larger group to take a seat on one of the sofas for a break. She’s joined quickly by Lily, whose cheeks are all flushed, her hair full of whispies. Juliette reaches out to try and calm them to no avail.
“Thanks for trying.” Lily pants. “But I think the curls have been kept at bay for too long. They’re trying to break free.”
Juliette laughs. “I bet it doesn’t help that you’re all sweaty.”
“No,” Lilly giggles. “I bet it doesn’t.” The sound of her laugh brings warmth to the center of Juliette’s chest.
“You seem like you’re having fun,” Juliette observes.
“I am,” Lily says with a slight tone of surprise. “I know this is Mary’s party but… I think it’s done me some good, too.”
“It helps to let go for a bit.” Juliette agrees.
“Yeah.” Lily breathes, leaning back against the sofa. “It sure does.” She closes her eyes, letting out a slight hum of content before opening only one of her eyes. “You gonna join me?”
Juliette smiles, leaning back on the sofa as well, her head just touching Lily’s shoulder. The other girl leans into it, and they both just sit there for a while.
“Oi, Evans.” James has appeared before them. “Not taking a nap in the middle of a party are we?”
Lily doesn’t even open her eyes. “For your information, I am simply taking a break. I have every intention of returning to the festivities.”
“I see. And what about you?” He turns to Juliette.
“The same.” She shrugs.
“Well, I hate to break up your little girl time, but I need you.”
“You need me?” Juliette quirks her eyebrow. “Why?”
“We’re the center of a bet, you see. And I simply must prove to Kingsley that I can beat you at an arm wrestle.”
“Oh, you can?” Juliette questions, her interest piqued.
“I don’t like that look.” James frowns.
“What look?”
“The one where you get all determined and smirky,” James answers.
“I don’t have a look,” Juliette argues.
“Oh, you most certainly do.” Lily interrupts.
“What? Who’s side are you on?” Juliette says, affronted.
“Yours, darling, always. But James is right. You’ve got a look.” She’s still got her eyes closed, but Juliette catches the faintest smirk.
“So, Jules? You coming or not?” James asks, his hands on his hips in that silly way of his.
“Of course. I’d never give up an opportunity to beat you.”
“That won’t be happening,” James states, giving her a hand off the sofa.
“We’ll see about that.”
See about it they did. After what Juliette thought must have been the longest-lasting arm wrestle ever, James eventually won, eliciting great applause. Juliette offered him a congratulatory handshake and shrugged the loss off, as though it mattered very little to her. Once she’s finally escaped the frenzy of boys that had taken to watching the bet, she found Remus, who had temporarily taken over the music selection so that Sirius could take a break. Remus was much more open to taking suggestions and had been talked into playing some of ABBA’s greatest hits, much to his own chagrin.
“I see they’ve put you to work.” Juliette smiles at her friend’s misery.
“If by ‘they’ you mean Sirius then yes. It seems I am the substitute DJ this evening.”
“How’d you get that job?”
“It seems that I am the ‘most boring Marauder’,” Remus air quotes, “and therefore have less to lose than the others by agreeing to work.”
“Ah. I see.” Juliette smirks. “How rude.”
“Indeed,” Remus grumbles. He fingers through the collection of vinyl records at his disposal, pulling a rather ‘well-loved’ Bowie album from the mix, prepping it for when the current song is over. Juliette watches as the boy lets his eyes wander over to the group of dancers Juliette had recently abandoned. Sirius has taken up court, somehow managing to dance with all of the girls at once. They watch as Mary, a look of renewed confidence on her face, steps towards the raven-haired boy, taking his face in her hands and kissing him, just as the song comes to an end. Remus, whose mouth is agape, not paying any attention to his appointed job, lets it end without replacing the record. For the first time that evening, there is no music, and when Remus fumbles uncharacteristically with the arm on the record player, it scratches the record, making an absolutely horrid sound that earns the annoyed attention of every single party-goer. For a split second, Juliette just stares at him. Sensing his struggle, she takes the record from his hand, replacing it with the Bowie disc he’d been planning to play, causing everyone to return to their own individual fun. Sirius is back to sucking face with Mary, something Juliette has no intention of watching. Instead, she eyes Remus warily, watching him watch them, hurt written plainly on his face.
“I uh…” he wipes his cheek and sniffles, his voice cracking. “I have to go.” And he turns and leaves, climbing the stairs to the boys’ dormitories without so much as a glance towards Juliette.
Juliette catches James’ eye from across the room, and a silent conversation passes between them before her twin turns and follows Remus up the stairs.
Juliette spends the next thirty minutes or so doing Remus’ job, picking a random assortment of tunes, sure to include some nice dance beats as well as well-known songs everyone could sing along to. Of course, almost all of it was muggle music, so there was a bit the purebloods did not know, but after a few years of Marauders' parties, they’d caught on to some of the better stuff.
“Hey.” Marlene sidles up beside her, her face glistening slightly with sweat. She runs a hand through her choppy, dyed-blonde hair. “Think I could steal you for a bit?”
“Believe me, I’d love a save, but it seems I’m on impromptu music duty.” James returned shortly after leaving, shrugging and saying that Remus had locked himself in the bathroom and refused to speak with anyone, leaving Juliette to take over.
“I think I’ve got a solution to that,” Marlene says with a mischievous smile. “One moment, please.” Juliette watches as she marches over to Sirius, yanking him from the mix of dancers, and practically drags him over to her.
“Here.” She shoves him to the record player, Juliette moving out of the way just in time. “Do your job so Juliette can have fun.”
“I was on a break.” Sirius protests, a big, unattractive pout on his face.
“For forty-five minutes? Yeah, no. Time for you to get back to work. Or I’ll start playing Chicago. And we all know you don’t want me to do that. Don’t we?”
Sirius shakes his head vigorously, draping himself over the pile of records protectively.
“That’s what I thought. So, Jules?” She turns to face a proud Juliette. “Are you ready for a break?” She reaches out a hand.
“Definitely.” Juliette takes it, following her friend away from a frowning Sirius and towards the dancing.
The group has gotten even larger, and the two girls have a hard time dancing in the chaos. Marlene takes Juliette’s hand once more, mouthing that they should go somewhere quieter, and pulling her from the chaos. Lily, who is still seated on the sofa, rises at their approach, but Marlene is leading them past the sofa and towards a different seating area, a little more removed from the party.
“Hey, Jules, I wanted to talk to you about something.” Lily stands.
“In a bit, Lil.” Juliette apologizes. “Marlene and I need a minute.”
“Alright.” Lily eyes the two girls curiously before returning to her seat. “No rush.”
Juliette and Marlene flop onto the slightly less comfy sofa towards the back of the common room, away from all of the commotion. Juliette is glad for the break from the noise, always down for some peace and quiet. Marlene, however, seems a bit nervous and fidgety.
“Some party, huh?” Marlene asks.
“Yeah.” Juliette chuckles. “I think Mary’s having fun.” She tries not to think of Remus’ reaction to the kiss.
“I’ll say. I’m bloody proud of her for finally going for it. She’s been hung up on Sirius for much too long.”
Juliette hums her agreement.
Marlene takes a long, deep breath. “Seems like everyone always gets together at parties like this.” The mood of the conversation seems to shift suddenly, and though Juliette remains in her comfortable position, she sobers quickly, her back stiffening ever so slightly.
“Yeah.” She says. “It does seem that way, doesn’t it?”
Marlene clears her throat softly, nervously. “What about you?” she asks.
“What about me?”
“You never seem to talk about that sort of stuff. Boys, I mean.” It’s both a statement and a question, and Juliette’s not sure she’s ready to answer, so she doesn’t. She just waits patiently for her friend to continue. “I guess I just wondered… do you feel that way about anyone? Any boy?”
Juliette squeezes her eyes shut. She knew she’d be forced to have this conversation at some point. She knew it was odd, her never talking about cute boys or romance the way the other girls did. She knew one of them would call her on it, ask her about it. She had hoped to have a plan for a situation like this. Some way out of answering anything but the truth. She’d hoped to be able to tell James first. He was her brother after all. And she knew he’d support her no matter what. But something always seemed to stop her from bringing it up around him.
“Jules? You there?” Juliette opens her eyes, realizing she must have gotten lost in thought.
“Yeah, I’m here.” She sighs, sitting up and turning to face Marlene, who watches her eagerly. “Do you want to know the truth?”
“Of course,” Marlene answers. “If you’re willing.” It’s that small sentence that gives Juliette the confidence she needs. That reminder that she doesn’t have to say anything, that Marlene would let her lie. Juliette is suddenly very glad that of all people, Marlene was the one to ask.
“No,” Juliette answers. “I haven’t felt that way. Not about boys.” She searches her friend’s eyes for any betrayal of thought. Some flicker of joy or… relief flashes across her face.
“I know.” She says.
“You know?”
“Or… I hoped.”
“What do you mean?” Juliette is confused now. She feels like she’s missed an important piece of the puzzle.
“I… I feel the same way you do. About boys. And… and I guess that lately I’ve been feeling the sort of thing I guess I should feel about boys… but for someone else. Someone who’s not a boy.” Marlene looks down at her hands.
“Oh?” Juliette waits for her to say more.
“I wondered if it was possible that she felt the same. For a while, I wasn’t sure, but… now I have hope.” She glances back up at Juliette pointedly. Marlene fumbles with what to say next, and Juliette is slowly starting to catch up.
“Merlin, I wish I could just say it like Mary does.” Marlene sighs, looking up at the high stone ceiling. “I’ve been feeling things for you, Jules.” Oh. She looks like she wants to say something more but doesn’t. She just lets it sit there, hanging between them. “Please say something.”
“I…” Juliette is speechless. “I don’t know what to say. I… you-”
“Say you feel the same way. Say yes. Say… something. Anything.” The way Marlene looks at her, with such vulnerability, such openness, such hope. Juliette wonders why she never saw it before. Why she never figured it out.
“I… you really like me? Why?”
Marlene looks affronted. ‘What do you mean, why? You’re amazing! You’re kind, you’re smart, you’re a fucking beast at Quidditch, you’re gorgeous, do I need to keep coming up with reasons, or…?”
“No, I think I get it…” Juliette smiles despite herself. “I guess I never considered you’d feel that way about me.”
“Well…” Marlene says. “I do.” She gets nervous again. “What about you?”
Juliette considers it. She could picture herself with Marlene, holding hands, laughing, playing Quidditch together, holding hands under the blankets while sharing a four-poster. She never had before, but she could see herself happy. She wonders why she hadn’t considered it. She loves Marlene deeply. They’ve shared so much together in the last four years. Perhaps…
“I… I think maybe I do. Or I could. I hadn’t really let myself think about it before now.”
“I know what you mean. It’s scary. Like you’re giving yourself false hope.” Juliette isn’t sure that’s exactly it, but nods anyway. “Juliette?” Marlene’s voice is different. Juliette looks up. “Can I kiss you?” Instinctively, Juliette looks to see if anyone can see them. “There’s no one here,” Marlene assures her, inching closer. “It’s just us.” Juliette watches her eyes flit between her eyes and her lips.
“Yeah.” Juliette finally answers, licking her lips instinctively. “Yeah, you can kiss me.”
And she does. At Juliette’s words, Marlene swiftly closes the minimal distance remaining between them, crashing their lips together. For a moment, Juliette is too stunned to respond, she imagines she looks extremely awkward and stiff just sitting there. But as she leans into the kiss, her body kicks into gear. This is it, the moment every girl dreams about, her first kiss, and she’s not about to let it go to waste. Juliette surges forward, taking Marlene’s face in her hands, leaning further into the kiss, their lips moving in tandem, working together to tell a story. It’s a bit sloppy, wetter than Juliette anticipated, but that’s to be expected. Neither of them is particularly skilled. From what Juliette knows, this is Marlene’s first kiss as well. Something about that comforts her, that they’re learning together. When they finally pull apart, Juliette has to catch her breath but for the rapid beating in her chest. They stay like that, their lips not even inches from each other, foreheads touching. Marlene giggles, actually giggles, Juliette bites her lip nervously.
“That was…” She’s not quite sure what to say.
“Amazing!” Marlene breaths. Whatever Juliette was going to say, she’s not sure it was that. “Godric, you have no idea how long I’ve been wanting to do that.” Oh.
Juliette can hear people cheering back in the direction of the party, but it feels a mile away. She is only vaguely aware of the music coming to an end and the noise slowly starting to die down. There’s a thumping tightness in her chest.
Marlene entwines their fingers, looking at their hands in her lap. “We should probably get back out there.” She says softly, like a whisper. “Lily will start to wonder where we are.” She chuckles.
Lily. Juliette pulls away a bit. “You’re right.” She says. “I think she wanted to talk to me about something.” Juliette makes to stand but Marlene holds her in place.
“Wait.” She takes Juliette’s face in her hands. “Just one more.” They kiss again, and the knot in Juliette’s chest tightens just slightly. She smiles softly at the other girl, following her back to the party, their hands entwined.
“Hey, Lils!” Marlene exclaims cheerily. “Looks like we missed the end of the party.”
“Yeah.” Lily smiles. “It wasn’t much to miss, just James shouting ‘oi, Evans’ and jumping off the banister.”
“So nothing out of the ordinary.” Marlene laughs.
Juliette just stands there, unable to bring herself to say anything. Lily catches her eye and she has to avert her gaze. Lily will know something’s up right away. They’re just that close.
“Hey, ladies.” James approaches just in time. “Care to help us with the mess?” He gestures at the absolutely trashed common room.
“Sure!” Marlene agrees, finally dropping Juliette’s hand and following the boy.
Lily and Juliette stay there, frozen, maintaining perfect eye contact, both daring the other to speak. The silence is broken when James returns.
“You don’t think you’re getting out of helping do you?” He taps Juliette on the shoulder. “This whole thing was your idea. You talked me into it.” He points an accusatory finger at her. “That means you’ve got to help with the aftermath.”
Juliette smiles at her twin, both because of his ridiculousness and his uncanny ability to rescue her without knowing it. She nods, pushing his hand off her shoulder.
“Alright, loser. I’m coming.” And she follows her brother around the common room, taking down decorations and scourgifying puke and other messes.
“You should probably talk to Remus,” James says softly, keeping his voice low in mixed company. “He’d listen to you, I think.”
“I don’t know.” Juliette sighs. “He was really upset. I’d probably hide in my dorm for a week in his shoes.”
“But he’s Remus. He wouldn’t do that.” James chuckles, likely thinking of something silly to say. “He couldn’t bear to miss any school.”
Juliette chuckles softly at that. “Yeah. He won’t hide. Not like that at least. But… he will hide.” She was sure her brother would know what she meant. The boy would hide within himself, putting up walls and being extremely discriminatory about who he lets in.
"You’re right.” James sighs. “Of course you’re right. But we’ve got to do something. He’s our friend.”
“James,” Juliette stops, turning to face him, “I know. I’m worried about him too. But sometimes the best thing to do is give someone space to figure out how they feel before rushing in trying to save them from themself. He’s smart. Not just book smart but emotionally. He’ll let us know when he’s ready.” She looks into James’ eyes to drive the point home, and she watches as his look of persistence gives way to defeat.
“Alright, Jules.” He hangs his head. “I trust you.”
“Good.” Juliette smiles. “I am always right.”