Juliet stood alone in the long hallway that was known as a corridor. It was dusty, even though it was supposed to be new. It was dead quiet. The kind of quiet that you only hear when somebody dies. Juliet didn't like it. She wanted to scream just so it wouldn't be quiet anymore. She had been quiet, thinking, for so long. She was ready to say something.

Of course she wasn't supposed to be here alone. There was a certain boy, a certain Devin Terrey, who was supposed to meet her here. She knew she was early for she had come here instead of going to breakfast. And now she was mad at herself for making the meeting so early. She still didn't know how she felt about all of this.

She looked at her watch. It was almost that time. She turned her head towards the window and waited.

Devin approached the dusty first floor corridor, nervous as could be. He turned a corner to find Juliet waiting, standing. Staring out the window.

She looked so nice... but he wasn't sure if this was a good thing for him to think. He wasn't sure if he wanted something with her, or if he was just going to let it go, and be friends. They were so young... besides, she was younger. It was already five days after term started, and he had turned sixteen a couple days ago. He had to assume she was still fifteen -- and probably would be for a while. He wasn't comfortable with this.

"Hey," he said quietly, walking towards her. Then he just waited, silently...

Juliet had barely heard him approach because her heart was beating so loud it washed out every other sound. She thought that he might have said hey but she wasn't sure. And then when she turned around, he was standing right next to her. She could tell that he was nervous too. He was always nervous if she was nervous.

She thought that she might just start the conversation off with some small talk. Maybe that would get both of them out of their funk. "So I heard that you're birthday was a couple of days ago. I didn't get the chance to say Happy Birthday. Mine's not until September 23. That's still a couple of weeks off." she said.

It didn't help. She was still nervous.

Devin was fairly surprised that Juliet knew it had been his birthday. But he nodded, cordially accepting her well-wishing. "Thanks," he replied, and had to almost bite his lip to stop from saying Happy Birthday back. It would sound stupid. Her birthday was not for seventeen more days.

Oh! So she wasn't that much younger. She'd be sixteen, too. That wasn't a problem, then. But it hadn't really been much of one in the first place. It had just been a distraction, a pretend problem. They both knew it didn't matter.

"Do you, uh, have any plans for it?" he asked carefully, not knowing where he was going. Small talk, he decided. That was all.

Juliet grinned at him. Know how did she know that he was going to ask that? Maybe it was because they'd had a sixth sense for each other ever since they met. Which was what, a week ago? Well, that wasn't that long ago but people had done more things in less time. Juliet was over whatever fears she had had before. It was all up to Devin now.

She shrugged though. She had now idea what she was doing for her birthday. "My dad is probably sending me a present of some sort. Usually me and Dom do something since it's his birthday too but I don't think that's going to happen this year." she said squirming. She would rather get her mind off of that part of her life.

"Why? Did you maybe want to do something then?" she asked. It was already leading away from small talk and onto why they were here.

The question caught him off guard. Do something? He squirmed. His other self laughed at his patheticness.. he sighed inwardly. What a sad picture. "Um.. if you want to..." This was not small talk anymore. That was clear.

"Uh... okay. I mean we can hang out or something..." He tried not to show his eagerness, though he didn't know why it was hidden. Everything was hidden...

Juliet sighed inwardly. Why did boys always have to be like this? Why couldn't they just say they liked you and be done with it? I guess that was boys for you. But of course, Juliet knew how weird this was for Devin. It was the same for her.

She nodded. It was time to get to what they came for. "Listen, have you decided? If you think we should wait, I'm perfectly fine with being friends." she said though she didn't know if that was true.

"If you have decided something else, I heard there was a Hogsmeade day the day before my birthday. If you wanted to go."

He bit his lip. It was the moment. She had asked, finally.

But he wasn't ready. And yet... well, he knew what it would do to Juliet if he said no. He couldn't do it, it would ruin everything. And besides -- it wasn't as though he'd be all so happy either. "Yeah," he said quietly, finally. "I do want to go with you."

There; it was out there; it was over. Now she would take him or leave him. Take him or leave him...

Juliet smiled. She knew he wasn't ready for a relationship yet. And who was she kidding? Neither was she. But they both knew darn well that they wouldn't be able to stay just friends. It would be too hard, no matter how much they denied it. But Juliet did not know why just yet.

Juliet reached her hand out for his. She held it like they did in the greenhouses. She didn't know how this would work, but if anyone could go from not knowing each other to going out in less than a week, it was Juliet and Devin. Now it was all up to Devin and Juliet, fate, and maybe even a little bit of luck to keep them together.