CHECK YES JULIET ▷ JAMES POTTER [1]

𝟐𝟒. 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐈𝐑 𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐔𝐌𝐏𝐇

(24 : AND IN THEIR TRIUMPH . . .
DIE, LIKE FIRE AND POWDER)

✧࿐ ཾ✧

      JULIET FAWLEY WAS NEITHER A lover or a fighter; James Potter was both. When James didn't show up after their argument, Juliet felt like he had knocked her sword from her hands, leaving her defenceless and bleeding. It was that feeling — the feeling of being stripped of her armour, the feeling of her castle walls crumbling — that ignited a spark of determination in the redhead.

     Instead of returning to her dorm, Juliet found an abandoned classroom. She didn't hesitate in mimicking the spell Regulus had cast around his room all those months ago —muffliato — and then she swallowed deeply. Juliet wasn't leaving that classroom until she knew what she felt for James because she needed to know whether he was worth the fight or not.

     With an unflinching resolve, she raised her wand into the air and very clearly said, "Expecto patronum."

     Nothing happened. Not even a smoky wisp of silver light.

     "Expecto patronum!" she cried again.

     Once again, nothing. Juliet was the only one in her class to not have accomplished casting even a non-corporeal form. All her memories didn't seem to be strong enough — had she really never been happy? Each time, she thought of the innocent days of her childhood where she would steal her mother's red lipstick and dance in circles with her father. Yet, all the memories had seemingly soured with age. Her home was not a happy one. Any pleasant memories only brought an onslaught of bad ones too.

     Then, almost like she was afraid to know the answer, she closed her eyes and thought of James. A comforting warmth seeped through her body as she pushed memories of the boy to the forefront of her mind.

"Do I want to know why you know the mooncalf mating dance?"

"Why? Is it a turn on?"

     A faint silver vapour burst from her wand, but it quickly died.

"A pinky promise?"

     "It's a muggle thing. Like an unbreakable vow . . . with less death."

     "Oh, so it's boring?"

     "Juliet —"

     "Fine. What are we promising, Potter?"