Empty Gold • d.meadowes

-11-

The pale moonlight shining though the gaps in the wall lit up the corridor enough for Dorcas to see where she was going. Maeve and Silver followed close behind her, the former's hand rested over the back of her shoulder in an encouraging manner, pushing her to get over her inhibition and meet Juliet at the hospital wing. She was grateful to her friends for being understanding, and once they reached the bottom steps leading up to the wing, they stopped and Dorcas turned to look at them.

"We'll wait for you back here," Silver said to her with an encouraging smile. "Good luck."

"You don't have to," she replied, shaking her head. "I'll go back on my own."

Silver opened her mouth to argue, but Maeve interrupted her. "It's okay, you go back to the dorms. I'll patrol the corridors and then come to pick Dorcas up."

Silver agreed to this with a nod and left. When Maeve had wished her a good luck, Dorcas took in a deep breath and climbed up the stairs to the hospital wing.

The room was large and dimly lit, with rows of beds on either side. The moonlight shining upon the white bedsheets added a bluish glow in the room, and she flitted her eyes around to look for Juliet. Three of the beds were occupied, one with its curtains drawn. On one of the other two was lying Juliet, tangled in bedsheets and staring up at the ceiling. She hadn't notice Dorcas's arrival.

Dorcas slowly walked over to her bed, and upon reaching it, cleared her throat to get her attention. Juliet jerked up and looked at her with wide eyes, before relaxing and falling back on the bed. "Hi," she greeted her, sounding surprised. "What are you doing here?"

Dorcas hesitated for a moment. "Sorry for coming in here like this," she muttered, speaking very fast. "I just wanted to see you." Her cheeks immediately turned a bright red as she realised what she had said. "I mean, you weren't at the choir and you never seem to miss it, so I asked your friend and she said you're here. You're probably surprised, but I wanted to see if you were okay, and I'm sorry if I'm disturbing you. I now feel weird coming in here like this and I'll leave if you want me to."

"Dorcas, stop," Juliet said with a low laugh. "You're rambling. I am a bit surprised, but thank you for coming. Please sit down. How did the practice go?"

Sitting down on the side of the bed, Dorcas lowered her head and allowed herself to catch her breath. "Amazing," she answered with a smile, feeling her inhibitions fading slowly. "Professor Flitwick assured us that we would be able to complete the whole song in a month, so we would have enough time to study for NEWTs after that."

Juliet sighed, turning her head to look up at the ceiling again. Dorcas noticed how dull her eyes looked, though she couldn't quite make out whether this was due to the dim lighting of the place or due to her illness. Her normally elegant blonde hair was fastened messily into what could be called a mix between a bun and a ponytail, and the pale strands lay around her face on the pillow haphazardly. A faint blush was visible on her smooth cheeks, probably from the makeup she had applied earlier in the day but had forgotten to remove. Despite the exhausted state she was in, Juliet was still as breathtaking as Dorcas had always found her, and she had to sudden urge to place her hand over Juliet's, which lay limply over her stomach.

"NEWTs," she laughed mockingly. "Really lives up to its name, doesn't it? I'm probably going to fail all subjects."

"Don't say that," Dorcas chided lightly. "If you work hard, you will accomplish your goals, and no one can stop you."

She pressed her pink lips together and looked at Dorcas. "Well, if your parents and older brother are set on making you forget about your goals, it becomes quite hard to focus on them."

A frown climbed up to Dorcas's eyebrows. Whatever she had expected from this conversation certainly wasn't this. Juliet had always seemed so perfect to her, so incredibly beautiful and talented that Dorcas felt she could make the world go round according to her desires. The fact that her parents would try to stop her from following her dreams when she was so obviously meant to charm the whole world with her voice, was quite unfathomable to her. The mere idea of Juliet pursuing a job other than singing was ridiculous.

Dorcas had never seen her parents, but she had met her older brother. Caradoc Dearborn was two years above them, and she could easily imagine him playing the strict parent role, forbidding Juliet from pursuing her dreams. With dark brown hair that strikingly contrasted Juliet's light blonde one, a large physique, and a reputation that placed him in high regards among all of the teachers, Caradoc was easily one of the most intimidating students of Hogwarts. He was a skilled beater, an exceptional painter (as long as he did it merely as a hobby) and Dorcas now felt surprised at herself for never having imagined Juliet facing difficulties at home regarding her career choice.

"What's Caradoc doing now?" she ventured to ask, feeling like it would be awkward to offer sympathising words, when this was only their first proper conversation. Juliet didn't seem to mind.

"He is an Auror. He finished his training just a few months back."

"And he wants you to be an Auror too?"

Juliet sighed again and shrugged. "I don't know. He wants me to be something that would bring honour to our family, to our parents, and I don't see how singing wouldn't do that."

Dorcas remained silent for a few minutes, while Juliet tapped her fingers on the side of the bed, humming a tune to herself. Her eyes kept on flitting over to Juliet, roaming over her body, taking in her appearance, but she kept them under control with some effort.

"So what happened to you?" she asked finally.

"I passed out in Defense Against the Dark Arts today," she answered nonchalantly, as though passing out in classes was a perfectly normal thing for her. "I had stayed up late into the night completing a few essays, and I guess the sleep deprivation caught up to me." She paused, chewing on her lower lip. Suddenly, her eyes widened, and slapping a hand over her forehead, she exclaimed, "Oh Merlin! I have a Potions test tomorrow and I haven't studied anything. I'm surely going to fail Potions in the NEWTs."

Dorcas remained silent and gazed at the girl as she listened to her ranting about the upcoming exams.

"Slughorn took a surprise quiz that day," Juliet continued speaking, and Dorcas allowed her soft, ringing voice to wash over her. "And I got only three questions right. I don't know what is happening to me – I got quite good marks in OWLs, but now I'm struggling so much. Especially in Potions."

"I could help you," Dorcas blurted out before she could stop herself. Biting her tongue, and eyes widening, she looked at Juliet, anticipating her reaction. She merely looked confused.

"Help me?" she repeated.

By now, Dorcas had composed herself. Clearing her throat, she said, "Well, I'm not an expert in Potions, but I can maybe help you understand the subject?"

Dorcas wasn't sure how it had happened, but somehow they had both agreed to form a schedule where Dorcas would help her with Potions everyday and teach her the techniques in brewing them. When she left the hospital wing sometime later, her heart was soaring and her mind was buzzing with thoughts.

Her interactions with Juliet had always been limited to choir practices, for in the few classes they shared, there were too many distractions to notice her properly, and it felt odd to see that she had other things to worry about apart from singing. She had learnt to associate Juliet with the choir, and the idea of her being a student just like them, with weak subjects and fear of exams, had only crossed her mind briefly, too vague to last, and the image of Juliet singing to a crowd with a proud smile on her face had already begun to fade.

Juliet wasn't destined to be a singer as Dorcas had always imagined her to be. She was an imperfect human with an imperfect life, and she had to overcome obstacles just like the rest of them.