JULIET {remus lupin}

ONE HUNDRED AND TWO

Juliet and Remus met in late August, in an area of Shoreditch she had become familiar with when she and Ophelia used to secretly wander around muggle London whilst her parents had meetings. She sat reading the prophet as she waited for him, glancing up and looking around every so often. As he approached the witch, Remus thought about how ridiculous their meeting must seem to anyone around him. She sat, polished and beautiful, dark sunglasses framing her face and the same JR necklace she had always worn at school. He had a packet of cigarettes in his pocket, his jumper had holes in, and he looked entirely unkempt compared to her. She smiled when she saw him, lifting her glasses and leaning forwards as he kissed her on the cheek. Like adults. He was still twenty one years old when he saw her, unsure of how to act or what to think, still with the same jittery feeling he used to have around her.

"Hello," she mused, sitting down and smoothing her dress.

"Hey," he said, inwardly scolding himself as he went to naturally reach for a smoke. "I've never been around here before."

"No?" She asked, continuing as he shook his head, "Ophelia Rosier and I used to come around here."

"Ah," he nodded.  "You and her were like sisters at school, inseparable."

Juliet smiled, "I was inseparable with most of the Slytherins until your lot started hanging around me."

"We started hanging around you? I remember it being the other way around, Romilly."

Juliet laughed, "well, you've always been delusional, Lupin."

The two looked at each other for a few moments, both subtly smiling.

"You excited for school?" She asked, smiling at the waiter as two glasses of wine were poured. Remus tried to speak as she handed over a couple of notes but she quickly shushed him.

"Thank you," he sighed, tapping his glass against hers. "Yes, I am actually, it'll be a good feeling, to finally have something to do."

"I can't even describe how much it helped me. I'll be forever grateful to Dumbledore."

"How long have you been teaching?"

"This year will be my fourth, I started in '90."

Remus paused, pondering on how many questions he could ask her, or how much she was comfortable speaking about.

"What did you do before?"

Juliet took a sip of her wine and stared at the table, she'd never really spoken to anyone about Azkaban, James Roberts had tried endlessly to make her open up about it, but she never did.

"I was released in '87," she started, stopping speaking.

"I remember, I think I counted down every day," he said quickly, drinking far faster than he should.

"And yet it took us years to speak," she smiled.

"Sorry," was all he said.

"Me too," she replied.

"You sent your patronus," he said, "when you were released."

Juliet looked confused, "no I didn't."

"I've seen your patronus, it's- er- the same as mine. Is it not?"

Juliet nodded and he continued.

"The day you were released I saw your patronus."

Juliet's mouth formed an 'O'.

"When I had my wand again I wanted to make sure I could still do magic, that was the hardest thing I could think of. I suppose I probably was thinking about you."