CHECK YES JULIET ▷ JAMES POTTER [1]

𝟒𝟔. 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐍 𝐈𝐒 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄

(46 : TORTURE AND NOT . . .
MERCY : HEAVEN IS HERE)

✧࿐ ཾ✧

JEALOUSY HAD JULIET IN A chokehold and she didn't like it. Lily and James had been 'dating' for six weeks and Juliet couldn't help but punish herself by overanalysing their interactions — like how she would slap his arm whenever he made an inappropriate comment as he walked her to class, or the way he would always offer her the last chocolate croissant at breakfast before they ultimately decided to split it. For the first time, Juliet wished she hadn't been sorted into Slytherin. Maybe then she wouldn't be stuck pining from afar.

Admittedly, Juliet knew she was being irrational. Lily had told her she didn't like James as more than a friend and — even when balancing a fake relationship — James had been as doting as ever. Whenever the two Gryffindors claimed they were on a date, it would actually consist of James meeting up with Juliet whilst Lily remained hidden with her homework in the Room of Requirement. As long as nobody got too close, they would catch a flash of red hair with James Potter and assume it was Lily. There had been one or two close calls, but Juliet could blend in as successfully as she could stand out.

     Some days were worse than others though. There were some days Juliet would blankly stare at the Gryffindor table and fail to snatch James' attention because he was animatedly talking to Lily. It was those days that made her falter, made her wonder if she was about to become a blood traitor for a temporary thing.

     "I don't know whose face looks worse. Yours or Snape's," commented Regulus.

Juliet glanced down the table to see Snape sneering at the pretend couple. "It'll be yours when my wand meets your face if you put me in the same league as that obsessed little twit ever again."

"Just an observation," he claimed, shrugging like they were discussing the weather instead of someone she cared deeply about. "Maybe you should distract yourself. How is your progress with the Dark Lord's task? You're graduating in less than three months and you might not necessarily have the same facilities available to yo—"

"What do you think they're talking about?" Juliet interrupted, narrowing her eyes at the pair when James leaned over to whisper something in Lily's ear.

Regulus pinched the bridge of his nose. "Salazar knows what those Gryffindors talk about, presumably muggleborn rights or something equally as dim witted."

Her head snapped towards Regulus. "Muggleborn. You said muggleborn."

It was the sign she needed from him. Regulus Black may have been a willing Death Eater, but that didn't mean she wanted to leave him to drown. If there was any hope he might abandon his duties in the same way she was going to and his brother already had, she would help him. Slytherins had always been loyal to their own, but her hope for him was born out of something more than that — he was a friend. After rudely thrusting himself upon her and her life, Regulus had become her best friend and she could only hope to be his James, to be the one who showed him that they really did have a choice in who they eventually became.