(38 : DRY SORROW . . .
DRINKS OUR BLOOD )

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     THE DAY AFTER THE BREAK up was thankfully Juliet's last day at Potter Manor. Any sadness from the night prior had numbed, leaving only raw hurt behind. Of course the cutting remarks James made weren't new to her — she was acutely aware of what people thought of her — but she couldn't seem to shake the feeling of betrayal. It was different coming from him, someone she trusted against all her logic and instincts.

     On the other hand, the rational side of her knew he was hurt as well. James Potter was steadfast with his morals and too proud to admit when he was wrong. People could be more than one thing — nobody was solely good or bad in the world. Juliet's view of the world shifted at Hogwarts when she began to realise that muggles had their own form of magic in what they wrote and what they created. But, it wasn't an easy process for someone as stubborn as her. Now it was James' turn for an epiphany and she could only watch from the sidelines as he fought against the earth-shattering realisation that sometimes good people do bad things.

     All that being said, heartbreak was the furthest thing from rational.

     "Incendio," she said, pointing her wand at the annotated copy of Romeo and Juliet that James had gifted her.

     Her bedroom door burst open and Sirius entered without an invitation. "Right, since I'm such a good friend, I'm refusing to let you wallow in here fo—" The Gryffindor snorted, taking in the scene. "I'm not sure if this is better or worse than if you were sobbing into your pillow. Clearly we have some issues to work through."

     Smirking, Juliet fixed her gaze on the flames and the blackening pages. "I'm fine, Sirius. You should be talking to James, you're his best friend, not mine."

     "Sure, the pyromaniac says she's fine and I'm meant to believe that," he muttered under his breath, a stream of water shooting out of his own wand to extinguish the fire. "This is how it's going to work, we're going to go out and deal with . . . whatever is going on with you. Remember that conversation we had about being emotionally stunted? Yeah, I think the fact your immediate reaction involved fire is not exactly a promising sign that you've improved much." When she opened her mouth to protest, he held a finger to her lips. "You're right, James is my best mate, but I'm not what he needs for once. I can't hold his hand through this. I spoke to him last night, but some things can only come from him and nobody else."

     If anyone understood that James needed to want to change his mindset before it could happen, it was the two purebloods. No matter how often they were told their old blood purity views were superficial or cruel, the change in their opinions ultimately came from themselves and nobody else. Some people might have nudged them in the right direction, but only an individual could be responsible for their own growth.

     "I don't even have the energy to argue," she sighed. "Are you going to tell me where we're going or are you going to sit around and psychoanalyse me all day?"

     He cocked his head to one side. "Have you ever been to Muggle London?"

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Last minute Christmas shoppers filled the streets and Juliet tried not to cringe every time someone bumped into her. In truth, she had never been around so many muggles before. However, Sirius appeared unbothered as he dragged her through the bustling crowds, animatedly talking about what he usually liked to do in Muggle London. Whilst she vaguely understood some of his references from when she took Muggle Studies, most of the things were foreign and alarming.

"Merlin, that's a really big needle, commented Juliet as she peered through the tinted glass of the shop window in apprehension. "I still think you should do it the magical way. I know there's a place in Knockturn Alley, maybe I —"

"Because going into Knockturn Alley is much safer than a tattoo parlour in Muggle London?" Sirius mused, laying the sarcasm on thick. "Come on, we're going in. And, bonus, you'll get to see me with my shirt off!"

Not deigning his remark worthy of a response, she pushed the shop door open without waiting for Sirius. He must have expected her to hold the door for him though because he yelped when it swung back and hit him in the face, causing her to burst out laughing. The boy gave her the middle finger before pasting on his sweetest smile as he spoke to an employee — she was a pretty woman with pink hair and several tattoos dotted over her body. All the while, Juliet was stiffly perched on a plastic chair.

Within a few minutes, her friend returned with a large binder full of designs. "You know, I might get the Dark Mark," hummed Sirius, poking his bare forearm, "do the whole matching tattoo thing with Reg."

     Juliet rolled her eyes. "Hilarious."

      "James would have laughed," remarked Sirius, studying her reaction.

     "Just hurry up and pick a design or the next thing I'll set on fire is you."

     Sirius dropped the book in her lap. "Actually, I brought this over for you. I picked what I wanted weeks ago," he told her, the excitement clear in his voice. "Imagine how badass it will be when Prongs finds out you have a giant cobra or something equally as cool tattooed during your inevitable, hot make-up sex."

     "First, we will not be having make-up sex," she corrected, slamming the heavy design portfolio into his side, "and second, I'm not getting a tattoo. And if I was, it most definitely wouldn't be a cobra."

     Flipping through the book, he lay it open on a random page for her. "Come on, Juliet. Be a little reckless for once."

     "I was in a secret relationship for six months with a known blood traitor whilst publicly engaged to your brother under the guise of being the perfect pureblood," Juliet reminded him dryly. "That's plenty reckless for me, thank you."

     Raising his hands in mock surrender, Sirius returned to the tattoo artist who was preparing her work station. Once Juliet was certain he was distracted, she began to flick through the book and soon found her eyes getting drawn back to one particular design. A small pair of antlers that reminded her all too much of James. Maybe one day she would . . .

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"I hate to tell you this, but I think you got ripped off." Juliet squinted at the ink through the saran wrap — above his heart, there were now four sets of animal footprints. No doubt they represented a dog, a stag, a rat and a wolf. "It isn't moving."

"Muggle tattoos don't move." He threw his shirt back on and winked at the pink-haired woman as they left. "I like the permanence of them, knowing they'll never change."

The redhead flashed him a soft smile. "Where to next then?"

He steered her towards a thrift shop across the street. "Well, I'm technically not meant to know this, but the Potters bought me a bike for Christmas. A motorbike, that is, which is kind of like a car except —" Sirius caught her confusion and added, "It's hard to explain, so I'll have to show you it one time. Point being, I'm going to grab a leather jacket to complete the whole look. Then, we're going to get so pissed in the pub that you won't even remember why you were sad to begin with."

Juliet shoved him. "I'm not sad."

"And I'm not attractive," Sirius scoffed, already tearing through the clothing racks in search of a leather jacket to round off his whole rebel without a cause act.

The Slytherin turned up her nose at the muggle clothing. It didn't take long for Sirius to register her discomfort, thus he turned it into a game of who could compose the ugliest outfit. At first, she was resistant to expose herself in such a ridiculous manner and publicly lower her walls, but the boy's enthusiasm was infectious. Somewhere between Sirius parading around in crochet poncho and neon green flares, she surrendered to his wishes.

    "How do I look?" Juliet tossed her hair back in a faux flirtatious manner as she turned around in a pair of metallic sunglasses that were shaped like disco balls and a floppy straw hat.

     Grinning, Sirius said, "Like someone who's going to be alright after all."

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Hours later, the two were already half-drunk in a pub called The Red Lion. Sirius had loudly sang along with some patrons to a muggle song called Sweet Caroline and even taught Juliet how to play darts. When he realised that arming a scorned Slytherin with a sharp weapon wasn't his smartest idea, he suggested pool instead. It was going well until Juliet became increasingly competitive and Sirius ended up losing five times in a row. After that, he quit in favour of introducing her to muggle alcohol. Muggles had a much wider range than wizards — the latter usually being restricted to firewhisky or elf wine.

     Sirius brought a tray of shots over and Juliet hesitated before grabbing one that was coloured a bright purple. A playfulness danced through her companion's grey eyes and he shook his head. "We should cheers."

"What's there to cheers to?" Juliet asked, her tone rather sour. "My father's dead and I have an ex that now hates me."

"Exactly!" shouted Sirius, standing up on his chair. "It's not like your dad was winning any Father of the Year Awards. He was an arse that's better off dead than alive. There's no shame in admitting that." He snatched up his own shot — a glowing red one — and extended his hand to Juliet. "You're still bottling it up, Juliet. You're used to watching what you say and hiding how you feel. I saw it today with how you acted around muggles. You didn't speak up once about how unsure you were and you endured it like I would be mad if you said something. It's time you embrace your emotions and if someone doesn't like it, screw 'em."

     Her jaw tightened. "Get down," she hissed, "everyone is staring at us."

     Sirius hopped from the chair to the table. "Nope because I want you to stand on this table and scream exactly what you're feeling right now to everyone in this pub."

     "No."

     "Yes."

     "No."

     "You're such a chicken, Fawley!" accused Sirius. "None of these people know who you are. You won't see any of them ever again. What have you got to lose?"

     The redhead snapped back, "Uh, my dignity?"

     "Can't lose what you never had," he taunted, drawing glares from several customers as he began to make obnoxious clucking noises.

Irritated, Juliet knocked his offered hand out of the way and stood up by herself, taking a deep breath. "FUCK YOU, ARIN FAWLEY!"

Amused, Sirius clinked their shot glasses together. "And cheers to dead dads."

"And cheers to dead dads," she repeated, downing the funny liquid that made her throat tingle before they were both escorted out of the pub.

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A.N: This was such a fun chapter to write. I loved having Sirius trying to coax the more reckless and brave side out of Juliet and Juliet venturing amongst muggles. Also imagining her watching Sirius sing Sweet Caroline, clueless, makes me laugh. Next chapter is finally the Malfoy Wedding too, which I am very excited for. In other news, I also published another James fic and I can't wait to start writing it, so updates might start to slow on this when I begin updating that too.

Question, what is the one song that always gets you up singing/dancing when you're out?