CHECK YES JULIET ▷ JAMES POTTER [1]

𝟓𝟒. 𝐁𝐔𝐓 𝐓𝐑𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐌𝐄

(54 : BUT TRUST ME, GENTLEMEN . . .
I'LL PROVE MORE TRUE)

✧࿐ ཾ✧

TRANSFIGURATION WAS NEVER ONE OF Juliet's better subjects, so she resorted to hiding her distinctive red hair beneath the hood of her cloak when she entered St Mungo's. Juliet's pace was brisk and she kept her eyes trained on the ground as she approached the receptionist, finding out the Potters were staying in 'Room 202' with the help of a discreet 'confundo' and 'oblivate.' Of course Juliet knew she was risking a lot by being there, but Sirius had once told her she could choose her family and she chose the Potters.

Even once she was past the front desk, her posture remained stiff and her wand was ready to be used in case anyone recognised her. Nobody really spared her a glance though, the healers in their lime green robes were far too busy tending to patients to take notice of her. Upon reaching the second floor, her footsteps slowed in front of the door that read '202' on a golden plaque. Peeking through the open door, she stilled at the sight she was met with. In a rickety chair, James Potter was hunched over crying as he clung to his mother's wrinkled hand.

     "James," she muttered, her voice soft like silk as she gently tapped on the door. "Is it alright if I come in?"

     As if scared she would be a hallucination, he lifted his head up slowly. His hazel eyes were bloodshot and his hair was matted — not in the artfully messy way she was accustomed to either. The usually confident cadence of his voice had been replaced with something unfamiliar and far more breakable as he rasped, "Ju—Julie?"

     "I'm here, James," she assured him, uncertainly entering the room and wrapping her arms around the boy. "I'm here."

     James parted his mouth to respond, but he choked on the empty air instead and violently shook under her hold. The boy — for he most certainly looked like one in that moment of raw vulnerability — sobbed until her cloak was soaked, newly weighed down by the heaviness of his free flowing tears. For a split second, it almost didn't matter that they hadn't seen each other in seven months because they were together and that was enough.

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     Newspaper still in hand, Fleamont eventually fell asleep. From the bed opposite him, Mia observed her husband sadly before sending her son away to eat a proper meal and perhaps shower. Even when she was on her death bed with her skin pockmarked and green, Euphemia Potter was a force to be reckoned with, a true lioness.

Mia noted that Juliet kept checking over her shoulder. "You know you can always speak freely with me. What's on your mind?"