THE LOVER AND THE BELOVED // remus lupin

07. JULIET AND CHRISTMAS BREAK

𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕷𝖔𝖛𝖊𝖗 𝕬𝖓𝖉 𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕭𝖊𝖑𝖔𝖛𝖊𝖉
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7th December 1974

Christmas was approaching. It was an exciting period of the year, and the students could not wait to go home.

Juliet Potter already bought gifts for her parents and all of her friends on an afternoon at Hogsmeade. By the end of the day, she was very glad to be rich.

The brunette felt relatively better after talking to Remus about what happened to her the day before. He comforted her the best he could without making physical contact, which she was very grateful for. She knew she'll come around, that her attitude will be back to normal in a few days.

But she wanted to give herself the time to understand what she went through. Remus told her repeatedly that it wasn't her fault, and she did not deserve it. His words brought her a strange relief. She had been wondering what she could have done for them to think it was okay to touch her. Not anymore.

It was nighttime, the common room was pretty much empty, at the exception of Juliet, and two younger students. Remus and Juliet did not have to patrol that day. In fact, Juliet did not know where Remus was at all, she knew he wasn't in his room because Peter came out an hour ago looking for him.

Juliet was peacefully working on her History of Magic assignment in front of the fireplace. She looked up when she saw the common room's door open and her eyes widened at the sight of Remus' bruised face.

His eyes fell on her and he gave her a cheeky smile while closing the door.

"Remus?!" She exclaimed, rushing to him.

"Hi." He greeted. He watched as she hesitated a bit before softly cupping her face to take a look at his busted lip and the cut near his brow.

This was the closest they have been for a week. Remus liked being close to her.

"What happened?" Juliet winced at the sight of the dried blood.

"It's nothing, you should see the other guy's face." He snickered.

"Moony got into a fight!?" They turned to see Sirius, James and Peter standing with wide smiles. "Oi! Bad boy! Whose ass did you kick?"

"Sirius, don't encourage this." Juliet glared but her head snapped back to Remus when she heard his answer.

"Mulciber and Avery."

While the boys were cheering on him, she slowly pulled her hands away from his face, dazed by his revelations.

"Why?" She murmured.

"I had to make sure they wouldn't dare to touch you again." He said, his voice lower, so the boys wouldn't decipher what he said.

Juliet couldn't identify the look in his eyes. She has never had anybody look at her that way. It was making her somehow nervous and her racing heart was not helping at all. Whatever it was, it was intense.

She didn't know what to say. Remus just got in an apparently violent fight to ensure her safety. Coming to think of it, Juliet never felt unsafe around Remus. Though she was no damsel in distress, it still was nice to feel protected from times to times.

The brunette snapped out of her thoughts when James started to tease his tall friend on how terrible of a prefect he is. Her eyes met with Sirius' who was looking between Remus and Juliet with a wide grin.

"What?" She mouthed. He winked and left with the three other boys to their dorm.

Juliet watched them leave confused.

17th December 1974

It was the time when students went back home for their Christmas break. Walburga had sent Sirius a letter telling him that he was not welcome home a few days prior so naturally, he would spend it at the Potters. When Juliet told Regulus the news, he was saddened that once again he wouldn't have his brother around. She told him he could join them but he denied, claiming his parents would hex him if he did.

Juliet sat with Pandora and Amos on the way to London. The Slytherin did not join them, but it was understandable, anyone could pass by and see them. Juliet was glad her brother nor his friends said anything to anyone about their friendship. She'd hate for Regulus to go through what the Ravenclaw did.

It has been a long time since the four friends were all together, Juliet could tell they all missed it. She thought it was mostly her fault, she was pretty busy, and with the incident she made sure she was busier so she wouldn't think about it.

The ride ended too fast to the friends' liking, they bid each other goodbye on the platform and Juliet went to find her family.

James and Sirius seemed to have already found the parents who were talking with a couple standing by Remus. Wait, were they his parents?

She approached the group with a small smile. "Hello." She greeted.

"Juliet! There you are!" Euphemia embraced her daughter, and Fleamont kissed her forehead before taking her traveling bag. "Meet Lyall and Hope Lupin, Remus' parents."

"Nice to meet you." She shook hands with both of them.

Remus looked like his parents. He seemed to have the same figure and height as his father, and the same smile too. He however seemed to have his mother's eyes. Hope was a very beautiful woman, though extremely thin. Juliet recalled Remus mentioning his sick mother and her heart sank. It was obvious she was slowly dying.

"You too! Remus told us so much about you!" Hope exclaimed with a joyful smile.

Juliet liked that woman.

"Oh, did he now?" Juliet gave him a teasing smirk making him roll his eyes.

"Is she your girlfriend?" The thin woman asked her son whose eyes widened.

Sirius grinned at the sight of both of their blushing faces. James seemed to be too busy talking with his father so the Black's eldest son wrapped an arm around Juliet's shoulders and answered before they could deny.

"Not yet." Both Remus and Juliet kicked his legs making them yelp in pain. "See what I mean? They have so much in common!" He was kicked again.

The parents seemed pretty amused with the scene, which was probably why they didn't make any comment.

At that moment, Remus Lupin realised he wouldn't mind calling Juliet Potter his girlfriend.

But, she deserves better than me. He thought.

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okay so I'm gonna be concentrating a bit more on two of my other stories, but I'll still update this one!