Sweet Juliet
Chapter 7: Talks with Friends
(A/N: Sorry for the somewhat slow update. Strangely...I've been writing all of my Harry Potter stuff listening to the soundtrack for Lion King 2: Simba's Pride. Has anyone else noticed that pretty much ALL of those songs seem to fit into Harry Potter somehow? Strange, right? Anyway, here's chapter seven, so enjoy and review! Chapter eight should be up tonight.)
Juliet chose not to eat breakfast with her father that morning. She was still far too angry at him. She couldn't believe he had said all of those things right in front of Harry! If Harry had been unsure of Snape's dislike for him before, it was completely certain now. Juliet had never been so angry at her father in her life. Not even when he originally refused to let her go to Hogwarts.
She got up and dressed, heading down to the common room with a scowl on her face. Just as she entered the room, the portrait hole opened and Hermione came in. Her face lit up when she saw Juliet.
"Oh, Juliet!" she said, "I was just looking for you. Professor Flitwick is ill this morning and they couldn't find anyone to cover his class, so Charms is cancelled for the day. Are you coming to breakfast?"
"I suppose so," said Juliet. "Thanks for the news Hermione. I feel bad that you had to come all the way up here, though."
Hermione shrugged. "It's all right."
"Are you going back down to breakfast?" asked Juliet.
"I don't think so," replied Hermione. "I haven't written my parents since we got here, so I think I'll take a letter down to the Owlery for them. Want to come?"
"Sure," said Juliet. It was best that she avoided the Great Hall, where she knew Harry would be. She didn't want to make her father even more angry. Plus, Harry would probably ask for an explanation for the things Severus had said, and she wasn't quite sure how she could give one.
When they reached the Owlery, they nearly collided with someone coming out of it. Juliet's face reddened, part from embarassment, and part from anger.
Hermione blushed as well, uncomfortable with being stuck in the middle of it. "Hello, Professor Snape," she said politely, trying to break the tense silence.
"Granger," he replied cooly, not taking his eyes off of Juliet. The latter simply stepped to the side and looped her arm with Hermione's, proceeding silently. Hermione glanced over her shoulder to see Snape proceeding down the stairs as though nothing had happened, though his shoulders were more tense than before.
"What was that?" asked Hermione once they were a safe distance away. "Did you two have a fight or something?"
"I'd rather not talk about it, Hermione," said Juliet stiffly. Hermione sighed as they entered the now deserted Owlery. She quickly found a spare owl and attatched her letter to its leg. Juliet leaned her elbows against one of the open window sills.
"Are you coming, Juliet?" asked Hermione from the doorway.
She shook her head. "I'll catch up with you in a bit. I just need some time to think."
"See you in a bit, Juliet." Hermione left, and Juliet listened to her footsteps getting quieter and quieter as they retreated down the stairs. She sighed, resting her head on her hands.
So much had happened in the space of just a few days. She wasn't speaking with her father, a man with whom she rarely fought, because she loved him too much. She had lost the boy who she thought was her best friend for the last three years, just because of the house she was put in. She was now spending all of her time with the group of people she had always thought were arrogant and stuck up, but turned out to be kind and welcoming. She could barely sort all of it out in her head.
She felt a tear roll down in her cheek as she thought of Draco. She really had thought they were best friends. They always signed their letters with "love", and they told each other everything. She thought he would welcome her with open arms when she finally came to Hogwarts, regardless of what house she was placed it.
"I guess you just don't know people as well as you think you do," she whispered to herself, another tear slipping out.
"I guess not," said a male voice from behind her. She whirled around to see Draco leaning against the doorway of the Owlery. His gaze was cold, and she quickly wiped her cheeks to try and erase the evidence of her tears. She knew that he saw them though, because he looked away, trying to keep up his cold composure.
"Can I just ask you one question, Draco?" He said nothing, so she pressed on. "Why can't you at least try to stay friends with me? You've been my best friend for three years, Draco, I don't want that to change. My house shouldn't matter so much to you."
He pushed off of the doorframe, walking closer to Juliet. She looked into his grey eyes, searching for something that would remind her of the Draco she knew from the letters.
"It's not that simple, Juliet," he said. "Gryffindors and Slytherins don't usually get along. What makes us any different?"
"My father said one of his best friends from school was a Gryffindor," she said quietly. "Maybe we can be like them. I just don't want to lose you, Draco. You were the one who got me through those years of home-schooling. Without your letters, I probably would have gone crazy." Draco kept silent, staring at the ground with his arms crossed, so she continued. "Think about it, Draco. You know where to find me." She walked past him without another word, and it took all of her effort not to look back at him.
He didn't follow her.
Just as she was about to walk down the stairs leading back to the castle, she heard a voice behind her.
"Juliet," he said. She stilled, but didn't look at him. "What's your last name?"
She turned, looking into his eyes. "Draco..." she sighed. "It's Snape." Without another word, she turned and ran down the stairs, leaving him alone. She didn't know if he would ever speak to her again.
When she reached the castle, she ran up to her dorm and grabbed her bag, and then made it to Potions with five minutes to spare. She sat in the back next to Hermione, who shot her a concerned look.
"Everything all right, Juliet?" she asked.
Juliet bit her lip. "I'm not sure. Bring your lunch to the trees by the lake, I'll explain everything there. Oh, and I was going to ask Luna Lovegood to eat with us too. Is that okay?"
Hermione nodded and turned back to the front of the room as Snape came out of his office, looking as though he was in a considerably bad mood. Well...worse than normal, anyway. They spent the class going over the previous day's potion, and Hermione and Juliet were given—somewhat grudgingly—ten points each for Gryffindor for having the best potions.
After their last class before lunch, Juliet told Hermione she would meet her by the lake, and went to find Luna. She found the blonde girl leaving the Ravenclaw common room, apparently on her way down to the Great Hall for lunch.
"Luna!" called Juliet, running up behind her. "How are you?"
"Oh, hello Juliet," she replied in her dreamy voice, a distant smile on her face. "I'm very well thank you. And you?"
"Oh, all right, I suppose. Would you like to come eat lunch with Hermione Granger and I out by the Black Lake? I was just thinking, it's such a nice day out, and we should spend as much time as we can outside. What do you say?"
"Sure," said Luna. "Walk with me to the Great Hall to get food?" Juliet nodded and they proceeded to gather their food quickly. Juliet chose to just get hers from the Ravenclaw table with Luna, so as to avoid Harry as much as possible. She didn't want to get in deeper with her father.
"What's it like?" asked Luna as they exited the Entrance Hall and made their way toward the lake. "Having Professor Snape as a father, I mean."
Juliet froze. She had told Neville not to tell anyone, and he had said he would relay the news to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. How had Luna found out?
"Luna?" she asked slowly. "How did you know that?"
Luna shrugged. "I could tell from the first time I met you, on the train. I've had Professor Snape as a teacher for three years now. The two of you have the exact same eyes. I was going to say something, but you chose not to tell us your last name, so I figured you didn't want anyone to know."
"Well," said Juliet, smiling now, "it's not necessarily that I don't want anyone to know, I just don't want to shout it from the rooftops either. You know what I mean?"
Luna nodded. "Of course."
"You're so observant, Luna." The aforementioned blonde smiled, and Juliet continued, "I mean it. It's a relief, really. I told Neville, Harry, Ron, and Hermione, and I told them not to tell anybody. I thought one of them told you."
Just then they came to the trees, under which Hermione was sitting in wait, her nose in a thick book. Juliet threw her bag down in the grass next to the bookworm and sat down, her little bag of food in hand. She pulled out some bread and cheese, an apple, and a slice of banana bread, along with a shiny Muggle bottle she had filled with water.
"Hey, Hermione," she said. "What are you reading?" Luna sat down next to Juliet and she too looked inquiringly at Hermione.
"Hm?" Hermione looked up. "Oh, hello guys. This is just my Arithmancy textbook. I thought I'd get a bit ahead on the week's materials. Hello, Luna, how are you?" Hermione closed the book, smiling, and set it aside.
"Just fine," said Luna, biting off a piece of her watermelon.
"So, Juliet," said Hermione. "You promised to explain what was going on with you earlier. Do tell."
Juliet sighed. "Well, it's three things, really. First, last night Harry walked with me to my dad's office to drop Felix off, and my dad got really angry and said some nasty things about Harry. He gave me detention for tonight at eight o'clock."
"Just for walking with Harry?" asked Luna, confused. Juliet nodded.
"What kinds of things did he say?" Hermione said, biting her lip.
"He said 'given everything you know, I would think you would be smart enough to avoid Potter at all costs.' I told him to let go of the past and I ran out."
"What does that mean, Juliet?"
"I'd rather not go into it. Just personal family stuff. Although you probably know that Harry's dad and mine didn't exactly get along splendidly in their school days."
"But there's more, isn't there?" said Luna. Juliet nodded, but they knew she wouldn't explain any further.
"Not only that," she continued, "but I've been avoiding Harry since so I won't get in even worse trouble with my dad, and he probably thinks I'm angry with him or something."
"He most likely understands, Juliet," said Hermione sympathetically.
Juliet simply shrugged and continued. "To top it all off, Draco's being worse than ever."
"Draco Malfoy?" asked Luna.
"Yes," said Juliet. "We've been pen pals since we were eleven and I thought we were best friends, but ever since I got sorted into Gryffindor...he's different. I tried talking to him today, but I'm not sure how well it went..."
The girls talked for what seemed like hours, but was really only an hour of lunch. When the bell rang signaling them to proceed back to class, Juliet pulled Hermione and Luna into a tight hug.
"Even if Draco and my dad are being difficult," she said, "I have you guys. And Harry, Ron, and Neville." Hermione and Luna smiled, and the three walked arm in arm, Juliet in the middle, back to the castle.
She would be all right.
(A/N: Sorry for the little filler chapter, but I'm kind of in a hurry. Chapter eight will be much more interesting, I promise! It should be up around 7:30 tonight. I just wanted to give you guys a little something to make up for my absence the last few days. Also, The Guardian and At the Beginning will be updated tonight as well. Take care!)
ChasedByTheShadows