They reached the castle quickly, and they squished themselves through the crowd of people that was now outside. Apparently it had gotten even more stuffy inside so people had decided to leave and catch some air. The boy pulled Julie inside and as if it was their luck playing a new dance was about to start, so the boy turned to Julie. "Would you mind?" He asked, holding out his hand, which mere seconds ago he'd let go.

"Not at all." Julie said, and she took his hand again. He pulled her towards the center of the decorated hall. The Waltz was a quick one, with them twirling and swirling around. Every now and then the boys would lift the girls, and each time Julie's dance partner would she'd get a funny feeling in her stomach, the kind where a part of you is afraid of everything but the other part feels invincible.

The dance felt as though it was taking forever, but in a good kind of way. Not the 'my god Charms is taking so long I looked at the clock two hours ago and it's only moved a minute'-kind but the 'wait we've only been here for an hour?'-kind. Julie was smiling like a madman, and so was the boy with the dark mask. Around them, though they didn't notice, Olive was dancing with a curious boy with dark hair, and Lily was dancing with someone who seemed more than happy to dance with her. Lily's earrings were glistening in the light of the hall. Alice and Frank were nowhere to be found, but everyone who knew about their... thing knew what they were doing. Marlene was talking to some other people, and some of the Marauders still had not been spotted. Not as far as Julie knew, anyway. She was too fixated on her mystery dance partner.

The Waltz stopped and Julie was panting. "Are you thirsty?" The boy with the dark mask asked, and Julie nodded. Still holding her hand, he made way for the drinks table. "You're a great dancer, you know. Did you use to do ballet?" He asked, and Julie nodded.

"Too much, actually." She wanted to add 'at Beauxbatons', but no sound escaped her mouth. Probably because it would reveal who she was too much. "Silly masks. I can't say everything." She said, and the boy nodded.

"I had that. When asking for your name. I wanted to ask it, but no sound escaped me." He said, as he handed her a glass. "It's Pumpkin Juice." He said, and Julie thanked him shortly. She took a small sip as she wondered who the boy with the dark mask could be. The music of the next waltz had kicked off again, and it was a slow one, but Julie didn't feel like dancing, for she was very tired from the last one. She took another sip of her pumpkin juice as she saw Olive passing, still dancing with the guy who had offered her olives. The classical music reminded Julie of the ballet concerts back home. Home. She'd always called France home, it hadn't been otherwise. But now it seemed so far away, like in a completely different world. As if she was now in a fictional world, one where all of the sudden the people are nice and the boys are sweet instead of rude, and where adventure strikes at the smallest notions. She didn't realize she'd finished her Pumpkin Juice until her mystery company for the night had taken the glass from her and replaced it with his own hand.

"Penny for your thoughts?" he asked, and Julie shrugged.

"I was thinking about how weird all this is." She answered with a chuckle, while shaking her head.

The boy looked at her. "All what?" He asked.

"This. The dance. You. Everything. I mean, it's just odd. But a good kind of odd." She said, a smile creeping on her face.

He smiled too, and pulled her a bit closer to him. "The kind of odd where you don't know what you're thinking anymore?" he suggested, and Julie nodded. That was it. She didn't know any better way to describe it, except for that far-too-cliché description of that flutter in your stomach. She had never before experienced it, really. With no one, not even Louis. And she'd really thought that was real. But it was an interpretation of what other people called a crush. A flutter, a giggle, finding him funny, finding him pretty. Especially the last one, because she'd never believed in the fact that what you see doesn't matter. Obviously one had to like the looks of someone too? Right? It had never crossed her mind that one could learn to love the looks. In her memory, all the guys she'd ever liked, which were quite some, they'd all been pretty. Their hair styled, wearing jumpers or pullovers. Now, with an unknown boy next to her, confusing her mind, the looks didn't matter. Nothing mattered, except that she wanted to talk to him and dance with him and see the stars with him all day. Okay, maybe she wanted to know who he was too, but honestly, she couldn't care much less. This guy made her smile, he gave her goosebumps just by touching her. "Are you alright?" he asked, concerned.

"Oh, yes. Yes, yes, I'm alright. More than alright. I'm doing perfect." She said in a squeaky voice. "I mean, I'm having a really great time, I mean, the drinks are good and the music's great, and... Gosh it's getting a bit stuffy in here, isn't it?" she rambled, then chuckled. "I'm chatting nonsense, aren't I? Was my Pumpkin Juice spiked?" she asked, and the boy shook his head, amused.

"No, it wasn't. I didn't do it, anyway. Would you like to go outside again? If you're feeling a bit hot?" he asked, but Julie shook her head. She didn't want that, she mostly just wanted to dance again, get her nerves out. "Are you okay?" He asked again, and Julie nodded. She looked up at him and the candlelight shone in his eyes, and Julie saw they were green with grey specks in it. Suddenly a voice broke through.

"Hem, could I borrow your dance partner?" Julie didn't recognize the voice, but when she spun around she saw that it was Peter. "Umm, Miss, may I have this dance?" He asked, and he nudged his head as if he wanted to talk.

"Sure. Sorry, I'll be back soon, just dancing with my... friend over here." Julie said quickly, and she left her mystery 'date', and started dancing with Peter. "What is it?" Julie hissed at him.

"You know it's me, right?" He said, and Julie nodded. "Well, I just wanted to dance with you and-"

"No, you obviously wanted to talk to me about something. Now what is it? And be quick about it, I'd like to get back to- to-" She said, not knowing his name.

"To who? Who was that guy anyway?" Peter asked, "Well, I don't mind. Actually I did want to talk to you, because I haven't seen any of the others all night, and I wondered if you'd seen them. They were gone before I'd returned to the common room earlier this evening, and I'm scared they might do something stupid." Peter said, and Julie nodded slowly.

"D'you know what they're wearing?" She asked, and Peter shook his head.

"I didn't come with them when they went dress robe shopping because I had to do a detention with McGonagall for stealing food from the kitchens. I've done it more often so I don't get why I got caught, but that's not important right now." Peter said. "What is is that we don't know where they are and I'm like ninety-nine percent sure they'll do something stupid." He said, and Julie nodded.

"Sounds reasonable. But you don't even know what they're wearing? Because if you don't there's no way we'll find them here. But wait, you haven't seen Remus either?" Julie asked, and Peter shook his head. "Hm. I'd've thought he'd be here-" and dance with me. She thought, but she didn't voice her thoughts. Her mystery 'date' had taken her thoughts off him, and now he occupied her mind in a completely different light.

"Well, I haven't seen him yet. He might be here, mingling in the mass of people, but I thought I'd've recognized him then." Peter said, and Julie nodded, then winced as he stepped on her toe again. "Oh, sorry. I'm not really the best dancer out there."

"It's okay." Julie said, as she looked towards the drinks table. Her mystery 'date' saw her and smiled lightly. "Umm, Peter, I-er, I have to go. I-I'm sorry." She stammered, and let go of Peter to walk towards the drinks table. "Hi." She said, "He just wanted to ask me something, and I answered, so- I'm back again." She said, and the boy smiled.

"D'you want to go outside again? I don't really like it here. I prefer outside." He said, and Julie nodded. "If you get cold I'll lend you my jacket, but I really have to he outside for a minute."

Julie followed him outside and shivered. It was cold. The boy looked at her and chuckled. "You're already cold, aren't you? Here, have my jacket." He said, and took off his outer dress robe, revealing the waistcoat he was wearing under it. Julie only then noticed his bow tie was a bit crooked, so she reached up to straighten it. "You have dark circles around your iris." He said quietly, and Julie chuckled.

"My best friend calls them stupefying." She said in a near whisper as she finished straightening his bow tie. She was about to let her hands drop again when he reached up to them to hold them in place.

"Somewhere during this night the masks will disappear." He said, as he stroked her hands with his thumbs. Julie felt like reaching up and just kissing him, but she didn't know what to do really. She'd never actually kissed someone, what if she did it wrong? What if she was incredibly rubbish at kissing? This guy gave off the impression that he'd kissed loads of times before, but she hadn't! She'd only half-kissed Peter once, which was more like Peter kissing her and her freaking out and pulling off. "You know," The boy broke through her train of thoughts. "Before the masks disappear, I really want to do something." He said, and with that he slowly moved towards Julie, and his lips touched hers. Julie's entire body freaked out, her mind the most, but at the same time, she relaxed entirely - although that caused her to shake massively. And at that instant, as soon as their lips touched, while her eyes were closed, she could feel the mask dissolving, but she didn't want to look. She didn't want to ruin it, she just wanted to kiss him and have this night never ever end.

After Merlin knows how long the two of them broke off and Julie opened her eyes to see who she had been kissing. When she did see, she freaked out. As did her no longer mystery date.

***

Alright guys, first things first, I'm giving up on updating every week, so expect an update every 2 weeks!

Now secondly, I'd like to apologize for not updating on time, but I hope you'll forgive me in due time.

Who's Juliette's Romeo?

Who's Juliette's Mystery date?

I hope you liked this chapter and if you did please comment and/or vote because that would make me a very happy person.

Love,

Florence