CHECK YES JULIET ▷ JAMES POTTER [1]

𝟓𝟔. 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑-𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐒𝐒'𝐃 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒

(56 : A PAIR OF . . .
STAR-CROSS'D LOVERS)

✧࿐ ཾ✧

     THE FIRST THING JULIET DID when she woke up was return to Potter Manor. Without Euphemia or Fleamont, the once lively place was cold and empty. Her heart wrenched at the thought of James spending his nights alone there. At least now that the rest of the world believed her to be dead, she would be able to stay with him. Just like she was always meant to. Except, James wasn't home when a somber Dippy invited Juliet in.

It was on the seventh day of no James that she grew worried, wondering if writing a letter to Sirius would be worth the risk. Juliet was dipping her quill into the ink pot when she heard the creaking of the front door and the scuffing of the shoes against the welcome mat. For a second, she couldn't move and her body locked up. Sometimes, her relationship with James felt like a mirage — like one day she would snap out of a daydream and still be sitting across from her father at Fawley Manor. It was Dippy with her flour-stained cheeks that broke Juliet's paralysis as the elf disapparated with a crack to greet her master.

Before she even realised it, she was up and running towards the foyer. "Hi," Juliet greeted in a soft, breathless tone as she finally found herself face to face with her boyfriend. "I told you I'd survive, huh?"

"Prove it." James automatically pointed his wand at her, his voice sounding far steadier than the erratic thumping of his heart at the sight of someone seemingly wearing a dead girl's face in his own home. As Moody always rambled, constant vigilance. "Tell me something only Juliet would know because if this is some kind of sick joke —"

"Not a joke, Jamie," she replied carefully upon noticing how crazed he looked. "You bought me a compliment quill the first Christmas I stayed here —"

     James scoffed. "I said only Juliet."

     "Let me finish," Juliet said pointedly as she held back an eye roll. "You told everyone it was because I don't believe in myself enough, but you didn't tell them that it was also because you still feel guilty for making that quill explode in my face during our Third Year. You don't like to tell people, but you learnt to play guitar because Lily Evans said it was cool. You talk in your sleep. You want to move to Godric's Hollow one day. You want two or three kids and —"

     James cut off her tirade with a passionate kiss, rushing forward and spinning her around by the waist. His hands roamed as they kissed, bunching the fabric of her shirt out of fear she would disappear like the ghost she was meant to be if he released her for even a moment. Juliet was startled by the intensity of the kiss, but smiled into it as she returned the gesture with equal vigour, wrapping her hands around his neck and melting into him. However, as soon as she went to deepen the kiss, he untangled himself from her and it was then she knew something was wrong.