(17 : SOME CONSEQUENCE . . .
YET HANGING IN THE STARS)

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     THE MARAUDERS SAT CROSS-LEGGED on the floor of their dorm. All of the boys were watching in apprehension as Peter tested how long it took for an acid pop to burn a hole in someone's tongue. According to Remus, it wouldn't be safe for Honeydukes to tell something that dangerous, so Sirius made a bet on Peter's behalf. Within seconds, Peter's eyes began to water, but he took the challenge in stride.

"52 seconds," James declared, looking up from his watch when Peter stuck his tongue out. Sure enough, there was a hole.

"Ha!" snorted Sirius in triumph. "Pay up, Moony."

In a mixture of fear and amazement, Peter pulled at his tongue in attempts to get a better look. "Wait, someone heal my tongue first," begged Peter. Due to the fact he was still holding his tongue, this came out as more 'waht somwon hel meh ton firs.'

Unamused, Remus fixed up Peter's tongue and handed a few galleons to his other friend. As if only just remembering something, he turned to James and said in a very noncommittal manner, "I had an interesting conversation with Juliet Fawley earlier today."

"You spoke to Julie?" Remus nodded. "And she didn't run in the other direction?"

"I'm not the one she's avoiding," the werewolf reminded him. "Well, she might start. I reckon she thinks I'm half mad now."

James straightened, shifting closer to the sandy-haired boy. "What did you talk about? Did she mention me? How is she —"

"You don't have a crush by any chance, Prongs?" teased Sirius, wide-eyed and faking innocence.

Levelling his best friend with a glare, James stuffed a cauldron cake in his mouth — the four had made a Hogsmeade dash earlier that evening — and insisted, "I like Lily! That really hasn't changed. But Juliet's different. Special, you know. It takes a while but once you get past her hard shell, she's cool." In contemplation, he stared at the sweet in Peter's hand. "Like chocoballs! A little hard on the outside, but soft underneath."

"Are you saying she's your special friend then?" Peter wiggled his eyebrows. "And, to be fair, you haven't mentioned Lily in ages."

Smacking Peter upside his head, James blocked out the teasing and focused his attention Remus. "Go on. Finish the story."

"First, don't talk with your mouth full," Remus scolded. "Second, I caught her after Defence because something she said — actually multiple somethings — makes me think she's your mystery girl. I can't be 100% unless we show her the book and ask, but . . ."

In an instant, James' face brightened. Remus had expected him to be hurt or upset, so seeing his face light up with excitement was a pleasant surprise.

Resting his chin on his hands, Sirius smirked. "You mean Juliet is his Juliet? Who would have thought?"

"I think so," placated Remus. "That night when she caught the three of us after hours I heard her muttering about how much she hates Gryffindors. It was a quote from the play. Except, she changed it to express how much she hated us." The boy winced at that part. "And when someone insulted her in Defence, she used 'a word and a blow,' which is a common muggle saying, but is rooted in Romeo and Juliet. Not to mention she knew who Shakespeare was when I spoke to her."

     Admiring Remus' breathless state, Sirius remarked, "You really got all this figured out. I'm impressed. Pete and I were only pretending to help."

     Remus tossed the thing nearest to him — a pillow — at Sirius in retaliation.

    "In Hogsmeade, she called me Romeo too," James recalled, remembering her whole 'I'm a cold-blooded snake' spiel. "B—but would a pureblood really know muggle literature? It's not exactly easy to find in Diagon Alley and her parents are staunch purists."

     Peter scrunched up his face. "Why does it matter if it's her book or not? I'm not her biggest fan, but if you fancy her, then go for it instead of wasting time on a random bird you bumped into months ago."

     "It doesn't," James refuted. "I still want to be sure though."

     Deep down, he knew Juliet reading muggle literature would mean something though. It meant that even when playing the obedient daughter, a quiet rebellion was simmering beneath. And that reignited the spark of hope in his chest, the one that had died out after three months of being ignored.

     Observing his friend's changing emotions flitter across his face, Sirius spoke up, "I think it's time we tried to talk to Juliet again, Prongs."

    "I tried. I really don't think she's going to change her mind."

     "Uh oh," commented Peter, "I don't like that smile."

     "Oh, she will. If she doesn't want to talk to us, fine, then we won't give her a choice," prompted Sirius as he ushered the group closer together. "Now, here's the plan . . . "

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"James Potter, I am going to murder you!" shouted Juliet, leaving the History of Magic classroom in a huff.

     Regulus was waiting outside for her and was caught off guard by her fury. After three months of their showmance, the pair were starting to get along and the boy now waited outside Juliet's classes so they could walk to dinner together. "Not that I'm opposed to Potter's murder," he began, tugging the redhead back and throwing an arm around her shoulders, "but you need to calm down."

     Juliet tried to wriggle out of his arms. "Let me go!" she demanded petulantly. "I'm going to march right up to him and —"

     A knowing eyebrow was raised. "I thought you were giving him the silent treatment?"

    What started as awkward hugs and camera flashes quickly grew into something real for Juliet and Regulus. Despite Juliet lacking romantic feelings for the younger student, it was a relief to know she would be marrying a friend when their wedding came around. All the time they spent together saw Juliet telling him about what happened over Christmas — although, he already had his suspicions about Lucius — and in turn, Regulus expressed how trapped he felt now that Sirius had been disowned. As the new heir, he was under a lot of pressure.

     "Ohhh, they're good," she said in realisation. "I suppose I'll have to make a quick murder and not talk then. It's a shame really — I already had my villain origin speech prepared."

     "Somehow, I don't doubt it," snickered Regulus and they made their way to the Slytherin table. "You've peaked my curiosity though. What exactly did my brother and his band of idiots do this time?"

     Sinking into the chair, Juliet let her head drop and mumbled an explanation into her hands.

     "Sorry? I didn't catch that."

     "I said," groaned Juliet, "they burst into my History of Magic class and decided to stage a duel to the death for my love. James and Sirius both declared their undying affection for me. And because they had to humiliate me even further, they then had Peter follow in an auror's uniform!" The girl cringed at the memory. "He had a stupid whistle and everything and tried to break up the fight. Not only was I mortified, all the girls in the class glared at me after that and now I'll be dodging hexes for the next week."

     Regulus struggled to stifle his laughter. "Poor Binns probably died all over again from shock."

     "Poor Binns? Poor me," she moaned. "Dungbombs or hair dye in my shampoo, I could've handled, but I don't know how I'll ever show my face in that class again. And what if —"

     The words died in her throat. An owl swooped in and dropped a bright red envelope in front of the redhead — something highly unusual considering the post only came in the mornings.

     A student noticed and announced, "Fawley's got a howler!"

     Suddenly, Regulus didn't find the situation funny. He watched as Juliet blanched and refused to meet his eyes. For a minute, the girl wondered if she'd be able to make it more than a few feet with the envelope before it exploded for all the Great Hall to hear. Schooling her face into disinterest, the girl thought better of running and opened the letter.

"JULIET ISABELLE FAWLEY! YOUR MOTHER AND I ARE APPALLED AT YOUR BLATANT DISREGARD AND DISRESPECT FOR THIS FAMILY. YOU HAVE ONCE AGAIN DISAPPOINTED US BY BESMIRCHING THE FAWLEY NAME WITH YOUR EASY VIRTUE. HOW DARE YOU INVOLVE YOURSELF WITH KNOWN BLOOD TRAITORS AFTER OUR TALK OVER CHRISTMAS BREAK. WE WILL BE HAVING WORDS WHEN YOU COME HOME. I SINCERELY HOPE THAT REGULUS FORGIVES YOUR INDISCRETIONS, OR YOU'LL BE LEFT WITHOUT ANY PROSPECTS AND I'LL DRAG YOU HOME FROM HOGWARTS MYSELF WHERE YOU CAN WORK ALONGSIDE THE HOUSE ELVES."

     On that note, the envelope disintegrated. The Great Hall was silent. It was rare for any pureblood to receive a howler because the more elite families never wanted people to think they were less than perfect. Never mind the fact that someone had clearly went out of their way to tell Juliet's parents about the prank earlier that day in hopes of her being punished. Not that she'd give them the satisfaction of seeing how much the cruel letter had truly hurt her.

     Standing up on the bench, Juliet shouted, "If you would like to keep your eyeballs in your sockets, I suggest you all look away now."

     "We can go —" started Regulus, already grabbing both their bags.

     "I'm fine!" snapped Juliet. "I—I need a minute, that's all. I'm not going to hide out and let them think I'm bawling my eyes because Mummy and Daddy don't love me. I'm not. My Gringott's vault could buy this stupid school ten times over. What should I be sad about?"

     With her shoulders back and her chin raised, she strutted out of the Great Hall.

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     The instant she was away from prying eyes, Juliet's legs wobbled and weakened until she was forced to lean against the corridor wall for support. Her breathing was uneven and an incandescent rage bubbled inside her. Instead of being upset, she opted to be angry. Juliet hadn't cried all year and she wasn't about to crumble over something as pathetic as her parents being disappointed in her.

     "Go away!" she screamed when she heard approaching footsteps.

     "Juliet . . ." whispered James, apologetic. "I swear if we had known —"

     Her head whipped up. "It wouldn't have changed anything. Your pranks hurt people, Potter. When will you realise this?"

     "We wanted you to talk to us again —"

      "No. You don't get to speak anymore. You wanted me to talk to you? Fine, I'll talk," she fumed, striding towards the boy in red and gold robes with purpose. "You, James Potter, are a wanker. A complete and utter wanker. Did you ever think for a second that there was a reason I decided we can't talk anymore? Because, newsflash, not all of us have a perfect life and parents that love us and your actions have consequences that you never seem to reap."

     James had far worse dressing downs from Lily before, so he stepped towards the Slytherin and looked her dead in the eyes. "If you really want someone to be angry at, then that's fine. Be angry at me! I don't care!" stressed the Gryffindor, more pleading than offended. "But I'm not leaving you alone, Juliet. Not now or anytime soon."

"A wanker would probably leave," said the girl softly.

As he laughed, his curls flew out and framed his head like a halo. "I am a bit of a wanker," he conceded, "but you're hurting and you'll need to do better than that if you want to scare me away. You can push me out of your life as much as you want, but I swear I'll only bounce back harder."

"Stupid Gryffindors and their desire to get themselves killed," she muttered, smiling at the ground.

James swallowed. "Stupid Slytherins and their inability to ask for help from others."

Neither made a move after that, the awkwardness still palpable. All Juliet could do was watch him. In fact, she struggled to tear her eyes away from him as she noticed how he ran his hands through his hair when he was nervous and how his face was still flushed from running after her. The thought was fleeting, but she wondered what it was like being his friend. James wasn't bothered by her defensiveness or mean streak because he saw right through her various fronts. A part of suspected she needed a friend like that. Yet, it could never be.

Juliet thought even Shakespeare might shed a tear at how tragic that was.

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A.N: 10 points to anyone's house who knows what inspired their 'prank' on Juliet. Hint, a scene in a TV show did. Also, Juliet and James are kinda speaking again! But she's not ready to return to before. Remember it has been three months of silence but we had a small time skip after the interlude or it would've been boring to write/read that. More Reg/Juliet is to come in the next chapter as well because their friendship is adorable to me.