CHECK YES JULIET ▷ JAMES POTTER [1]

𝟒𝟓. 𝐀 𝐖𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐀𝐋𝐄

(45 : A WHISPERING TALE . . .
IN A FAIR LADY'S EAR)

✧࿐ ཾ✧

IN MYTHOLOGY, MEDUSA'S SNAKES HISSED and in Hogwarts, the students whispered. It was all the same to her. Still, Juliet hated it — the rumours, the gossip, the lies — because enough of her life was up for speculation as a famed pureblood. Her name was often splashed across the newspapers, which led people to believe they knew her. Hogwarts was meant to be an escape from that, so she seldom paid attention to the latest scandals gracing the castle.

     Except, it was impossible to ignore the whispers on the 15th of February 1978.

     When she walked into the Great Hall that morning, there was a buzz in the air. Students were crowding the Gryffindor table and nudging each other, daring their friends to be the one to ask something. Juliet even swore she saw some of the professors covertly exchanging galleons under the table as she slid into a seat next to Regulus, frowning. Only a few of the younger years appeared as baffled as Juliet, which immediately made her conclude that something big had occurred overnight.

     "What's going on?" Juliet addressed Regulus directly for the first time in weeks. Usually she avoided conversations with him, but she couldn't ignore the sinking feeling in her gut any longer.

Pity bled into his usually sharp features and the fork in his hand clattered against his plate. "You don't know?"

"The last time you said that, I found out my mother was dead," she muttered, her appetite having disappeared. "Let me guess, the eleventh plague is coming? You can't possibly have more bad news for me."

"I heard from Rabastan, who heard from Vanity, who heard from Patil, who heard from Cresswell, who heard from Longbottom, who heard from Fortescue, who heard from McKinnon," Regulus inhaled deeply as he decided to bite the bullet, "that Potter and Evans are finally dating. She caught them snogging."

     Amidst the chaos of the Great Hall, time stilled for Juliet Fawley.

     No sign of hurt was visible on her face as she began to casually pour herself a glass of pumpkin juice. "Do you know when?"

     "Last night," he said. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry. I know how you felt about him."

     Juliet didn't know whether to laugh or cry in that moment when the realisation dawned on her — Marlene thought she had caught Lily and James outside the Gryffindor common room when it had been her. And now the entire school were ecstatic because they thought their Head Boy and Head Girl were dating after years of cat and mouse. Nobody questioned the pairing because everyone — even she — thought they were perfect for each other. People cared about the prefect and the prankster, not the lion and the snake.