CHECK YES JULIET ▷ JAMES POTTER [1]

𝟑𝟎. 𝐅𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐓 𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐃 𝐅𝐄𝐀𝐑

(30 : A FAINT COLD FEAR. . .
THRILLS THROUGH MY VEINS)

✧࿐ ཾ✧

      ARMED WITH ONLY HER WAND and a stolen vial from Slughorn's class, Juliet slipped into the shadows with relative ease as she crept through the corridors and across the castle's grounds. Upon reaching the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest, the teenager hesitated, wondering if she was about to make the biggest mistake of her life. Nobody knew where she was — not even Regulus. No doubt he would've have wanted to help if he knew of her plans for the night and she really didn't see the logic in damning both of them.

     Everything had a price. It was said that murder ripped apart one's soul and it was also said — according to common lore — that anyone who dared to slay a unicorn would live but a half-life, a cursed life. Yet, the cost for doing the right thing would be her own life. If Juliet didn't take the unicorn's blood, she would die. Would a half-life and a shredded soul be any better than no life at all? Juliet tried not to dwell on such questions because everything had risks and benefits in the same way everything had a price.

"Lumos," she whispered into the night.

A cold gust of wind pushed her towards a moonlit path, cementing her decision. Hopefully she would find a unicorn and nothing else lurking in the forest.

✧࿐ ཾ✧

     Juliet walked for nearly half an hour, moving deeper and deeper into the Forbidden Forest, until the path became impossible to follow because the trees were so thick. It was so thick that a whole other world could've existed beyond the overgrowth, so she pushed through the trees with more determination than she had ever known. As if warning her to stay back, the tangled branches snagged on her clothes. Eventually, she forced her way through the foliage with such vehemence that she landed unceremoniously on her knees by the edge of a large clearing. In the middle of the clearing, a creature startled at the sudden noise.

     A unicorn.

     "Immobulus!" cried Juliet, not giving the unicorn a chance to flee.

Frozen, the unicorn could only blink at her in confusion. A rush of emotion washed over her as she ran to the creature's side, resting her forehead against its body as she began to rub soothing circles into its pure white coat. It was such a beautiful creature and the thought of shedding its blood pained Juliet.

Her voice was muffled by the fur. "I—I'm so sorry. I had to do that, I hope you understand."

Although the unicorn was incapable of responding, Juliet imagined the creature cocking its head. Alongside being known for their innocence, unicorns were regarded as having a great capacity for empathy. Juliet wanted nothing more than to break down then and there — to confess all her sins to the animal, to tell it how much she was struggling to make sense of all her new emotions, to express how scared she was to let James down by being the villain all along. Instead of doing any of that, she stepped back, closed her eyes and shakily raised her wand.