(12 : WOMEN MAY FALL WHEN . . .
THERE'S NO STRENGTH IN MEN)

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BETWEEN JAMES OPENING THE FRONT door in reindeer slippers and Sirius — in a gesture of uncharacteristic kindness towards the Slytherin — offering to pay the muggle taxi driver, Juliet was overwhelmed. All she wanted to do was get into a hot shower and burn off Lucius Malfoy's touch, scrubbing her bruised skin until it was red raw. Yet, she knew that she owed James an explanation for showing up unannounced. A part of her wondered if his invitation from the Astronomy Tower was insincere and he didn't really want her to spend Christmas with his family.

Speechless, Juliet stared at James. Even if the silencing spell had long worn off, she was struggling to find her voice as she waited for him to say something. Whilst she always thought of James as someone who wore his heart on his sleeve, she couldn't quite pin the expression on his face. It was haunted by a memory — a similar situation having taken place when Sirius Black knocked on his door more than a year prior. 

     "Did you run away?" asked James softly.

     No sound came out when she opened her mouth, only a wince. Luckily, she was saved by the arrival of two elderly people. She assumed they were his parents, he possessed the same hazel eyes as the man and the same sharp cheekbones as the woman. Although, she had never realised exactly how old his parents were. Wrinkles were already lining their features, silver streaked their hair, but the couple still moved with the elegance and grace of purebloods.

     "James," the woman sighed, "I told you Dippy would —" As if noting the state of their guest for the first time, Mrs Potter straightened and sharply asked, "Who's this?"

     The man interjected, "Ah, red hair! Why this must be Lily Evans, Mia. Our boy has finally done it at last."

     "Mum, Dad, this is Julie." Even in her absentminded state, Juliet managed to send a sharp elbow into the bashful Potter's stomach upon hearing the nickname. "—et. Juliet. This is Juliet Fawley."

     "Fawley?" echoed Mr Potter. "As in Arin Fawley? Why that man —"

     His wife silenced him with a swift glare. "I'm so sorry about the mix up, dear," she apologised on her husband's behalf. "James talks about Lily so much and how beautiful she is, so we simply assumed —"

    Juliet weakly replied, "It's fine."

    "I'm Euphemia Potter, but you can call me Mia. This is my husband Fleamont." The couple shared a loving glance before she added meaningfully, "And we don't care who your parents are here."

"Otherwise I'd have had an excuse to boot Sirius out long ago," chuckled Fleamont.

Euphemia — well, Mia — rolled her eyes before pushing the front door open an extra inch. "Ignore him, Sirius is practically a son to us at this point," she told her. "Now, how about you come on in and explain what happened over a cup of tea?"

     Hesitant, Juliet looked between the small family that were eager to welcome her into their home without expecting anything in return. Juliet was accustomed to people wanting something from her, so it was hard to adjust to their kindness. However, the hopeful hazel eyes of James made her soften considerably. Like she had told him in The Three Broomsticks, he was so good — not in the most conventional way if you considered all of his pranks and detentions — but his heart was indisputably golden.

"Could I have a shower first?" probed Juliet.

    "Of course," Mia agreed, her voice dripping with a maternal warmth that the redhead had never known. "Whilst you do that, James will find you something to change into and I'll fetch Dippy to make up the guest room, then we'll reconvene in the parlour."

"Come on, I'll show you around," enthused James, reaching to grab the girl's hand only to be brushed off.

With a lowered gaze, Juliet mumbled her gratitude to Euphemia and Fleamont before trailing after James. No matter how many times the boy tried to cheer her up, she didn't react and James found himself loathing the impenetrable barrier of silence between them. Even when they were rivals at Hogwarts, it was never awkward between the pair, making him wonder what had changed in ten days.

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Stepping out of the shower, Juliet dressed herself in the oversized Appleby Arrows t-shirt and plaid pyjama pants that James gave her beforehand. Her ball gown sat in a heap at her feet and she wished she had her wand so she could set to the fire to the fabric. Since that wasn't an option, she quickly towel-dried her hair and walked out of the bathroom without facing her reflection. Having spent her entire life appreciating what a well-crafted facade could accomplish, she didn't want to look at the bare bones of herself, the ghost of a girl that was left when someone stripped back her confidence and quips.

Upon leaving the en-suite, she immediately jumped and clutched her chest. "Shit," she cursed at the sight of Sirius Black sprawled out on the bed. "You scared me."

For a brief moment, Juliet contemplated if she was usually so anxious in an unfamiliar environment or it was a recent development.

"And you scared me," Sirius countered, albeit a little childishly.

Furrowing her brow, the redhead uttered an extremely confused, "Huh?"

"Knocking on the door like that," he snapped. "You looked half dead, Juliet. Merlin's beard, you still don't look much better."

Deep frown lines formed on her forehead at his unexpected aggression. "This isn't some kind of heart to heart, right? Because no matter what you think, we're nothing alike," she bluntly informed him. "Not to mention you hate me. I know you do, so I'd rather you not pretend otherwise."

"I don't hate you," he promptly defended. "I hate what you stand for. Or stood for. That's what I'm trying to figure out." Sirius pushed up from the bed, feigning interest as he plopped his hand under his chin. "So, are you about to be a member of Blood Traitors Anonymous, or are you still a prejudiced git?"

Grinding her teeth, Juliet spat, "Not wanting to be blasted off the family tree doesn't mean I'm prejudiced."

"S'pose not, but it does make you a coward," he countered. "You're still attending their fancy balls and dinner parties, reaping the benefits of your family name without doing anything worthwhile. Saying nothing is worse in some ways, at least prejudiced gits aren't scared to voice their opinion."

"I'm not scared," she hissed, folding her arms. "You wouldn't understand."

In response, Sirius let out a bark of laughter as if saying 'try me.'

"You wouldn't," she repeated. "You're a man, Sirius. Maybe you know a thing or two about pureblood family honour serving as more of a noose than anything, but what happened to me wasn't related to my family. Stop trying to relate because you can't. You never had to worry about being married off to a man that might hurt you, or having to give up all your ambitions to be a wife, or being viewed as disposable after providing a male heir." Like a knife, her voice was sharp and pointed. "Even if I gave up my title, my name, it doesn't change that I don't have friends like James that I can rely on, or a reason to think I'm worthy of real love when I was a wretched person for the first thirteen years of my life. Every slur and hex is still catching up to me as tonight proved!"

    Juliet's breathing was heavy and the room was spinning around her. All the emotions she had been bottling up were starting to leak out and she was desperately trying to force them back inside their glass cell. In truth, she wondered if Lucius' actions were karma, a sign from the universe for her to step back in line before she fell from the pureblood pedestal.

    Stunned into a brief silence, Sirius blinked up at her. "If you showing up on my best friend's doorstep looking like Moaning Myrtle had nothing to do with your family, what the bloody hell happened and why are you here?"

     Juliet opened her mouth.

     "Let me guess," he declared, making a show of standing up on the bed and throwing out his arms in a dramatic manner. "Death Eater initiation?"

    Juliet blanched, but stayed quiet.

    "Failed muggle torture session?"

    Juliet shivered, not liking his tone.

    "Even worse," mocked Sirius, "I bet you broke a nail."

    Her body turned stone cold and her voice was unfaltering as she forced out a laugh that was void of all humour. "You're a real arse, Sirius Black."

     "You were in the shower for two hours," he pointed out shrewdly. "You're hiding something and the Potters — the Potters are the most open and loving family you will ever meet. I'll be damned if I let a snake like you take advantage of their hospitality. For some reason, Prongs likes you. I can't fathom it, but he does, so that makes it my job to look out for him when he goes around blindly trusting people."

    One thing Juliet swore she'd always respect was honesty — especially the brutal kind. And even if Sirius' preconceptions of her being a cruel, shallow Death Eater hopeful chilled her to the bone, she respected him all the more for it knowing it was out of gratitude and loyalty to his chosen family.

    "I came here because I didn't feel safe at Malfoy Manor," she admitted, focusing her line of vision on a blank wall. "I did something that made Lucius mad, so he thought I needed to be reminded of my place. By putting his hand up my dress, that was."

     Sirius faltered. "Juliet —"

     "I couldn't tell him to stop," she said without much emotion. "He silenced me and took my wand. Your brother tried to warn me, but I didn't listen. I — I saw him in Hogsmeade and I made some suggestive comments, so it was my fault really. I know I have a provocative reputation and I used that to my advantage. What goes around, comes back around, right?"

    "It was not your fault," insisted Sirius. "And those things I said before, I — I was trying to provoke you, but I didn't really mean it."

     "Yeah, you did," she whispered.

    He couldn't refute it. Sirius assumed the worst, despite what Remus told the group about what he had overheard during the battle at Hogsmeade.

     "You didn't deserve to hear it then, not tonight." Defeated, Sirius ran a hand through his hair, unsure how to cope with a traumatised sixteen year old girl. "Do you want me to tell the others? They won't mind if you go straight bed, you know."

    Fingering the hem of her borrowed t-shirt, she answered, "I'd appreciate that."

    "Mia's like a mum to me, a real great listener too," he continued to ramble. "And she says she always wanted a daughter. If you ever needed someone else to speak to, I mean. You'll even be lucky enough to witness one of her feasts since tomorrow's Christmas. The Potters have a house elf — Dippy — but Mia still cooks herself. Prongs has even got you a present, so it'll be a good day without —"

"James got me a present?"

"Yeah!"

"I didn't get him one! What do I do?" she panicked, now distracted. "He didn't even know I was going to come here."

Sirius shrugged. "Then he would have owled it, I guess."

"You owe me for what you said before," she blurted out, resorting to manipulation even if Sirius might have agreed without such tactics. "Soooo, you need to help me figure out a gift for James. Something he would actually like. I showed up at his house in the middle of the night, I need to get him something."

Quirking his lips, Sirius was relieved by the change in topic. "Maybe tomorrow, Fawley," he suggested, trying to resume their normal rapport. "You need to sleep."

As Sirius was about to leave, Juliet stopped him. "Sirius?"

"Yeah?"

Biting her lip, she questioned, "Do you think there's something wrong with me?"

"What? Why?"

"I haven't cried yet. Not once." Juliet didn't think this was normal. "I don't know if I'm broken, or —"

"The first time I cried after I ran away was when Reg caught the snitch in the first match back," he immediately cut her off. "That was almost two months after I left. When you're as emotionally fucked up as we are, I think it's fine to process things a little slower than others might."

"Thank you, Sirius," she responded quietly. "For giving me the best blackmail a Slytherin could ask for, but I appreciated everything else too."

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A.N: I said this was going to be a happy chapter, but it started getting really long and I didn't want to miss out the aftermath of what happened, so happy stuff will come NEXT chapter instead. I did end up liking this one though because Sirius and Juliet are kinda friends now — even if Sirius was an ass initially. I thought it was important it was him and not James who spoke to her. I will say I'm working like crazy over the festive season from here on (retail, am I right?) so I'm not sure if I'll be able to keep up with daily updates anymore. The next one will be within a week though.