October 19th, 1995

Moira and Lee jumped away from each other as if they had been electrocuted. Jules stood frozen in the doorway, her mouth open and eyes wide. Her entire brain seemed to have short circuited and she was temporarily unable to form words.

They had seemingly been going at it for a while; their uniforms were dishevelled and there was a tell-tale smear of Moira's favourite lip gloss on Lee's chin. The three of them stood in a mortifying tableau for what seemed like an eternity before she found her voice.

"How long has this been going on?" Jules whispered, feeling her face heat up. Moira and Lee glanced at one another embarrassedly before seemingly becoming very interested in the floor "How long?" Jules asked again, louder this time. The room bristled with tension.

"Remember when you left practice early on Tuesday? You wanted to get back to the Gryffindor common room before…" Moira trailed off, gaze flitting up to Jules who suddenly understood what her friend was trying to say – that night, she had been busily trying to avoid accidentally meeting Fred coming back from Quidditch practice so she and Moira had agreed privately that Jules would fake a homework emergency and leave practice early.

Lee frowned "Before what?"

"Nothing," Jules said hurriedly "So you two have been…" She gestured awkwardly at the empty air "Doing this since last Tuesday? And you didn't say anything? In fact," Jules's eyes widened as a thought struck her "You swore to me more than once that nothing was going on!"

Moira reddened slightly "I didn't know what to…" She whispered, her eyes darting over to Lee, who looked equally as humiliated "… I mean, I didn't know what was going on."

"Oh… Oh." Jules cringed as she realised that she had inadvertently jumped several steps for Moira and Lee, skipping straight to the 'relationship' talk "I am so sorry. I… just came to apologise. For earlier." She cocked an eyebrow at the pair and smiled evilly "But now it looks like I also have to apologise for failing to knock."

Moira stared at her best friend for a moment before snorting with laughter. It wasn't long before Jules joined in and Lee was left, gaze shifting back and forth between the two of them as they giggled.

"Am I the only one here still feeling awkward?"

"Probably," Jules grinned "I'll leave you two alone again to preserve your dignity. Whatever's going on here is none of my business. Besides," Jules shrugged "Moira will tell me everything tomorrow anyway." She sent Moira a hopeful look "Are we... OK?"

Her best friend smiled "Always." After Jules had retreated, Lee turned to Moira "You're not really going to tell her everything that we've been doing... are you?"

Moira levelled her gaze at him "What have we been doing?"

Lee thrust his hands in his pockets and stared at his shoes "I… suppose we should probably talk about this, shouldn't we?"

X x X

October 20th, 1995

"You're going to Hogsmeade next weekend?" Jules stared at Moira incredulously "Together?"

Moira smiled coyly "Is that so wrong?"

They had met between classes in the courtyard where it was pouring with rain to catch up. Jules had saved a cinnamon roll from breakfast which they were now sharing under the umbrella charm that Moira had cast to stop them from getting soaked.

"Not wrong, just…" Jules wrinkled her brow "Weird, is all. I'm still getting used to the image of you two kissing. Especially since Lee's always been so vocal about Slytherin. Does that not bother you? That he hates Slytherins?"

Moira sighed and brushed a crumb from her skirt "Well… I mean, yes naturally it bothers me but I feel like the more we're around each other, the more he can see how stupid it is to make assumptions about other people without knowing them properly. He's not above admitting that he might have been wrong... I like that." They watched idly as some nervous looking First Years made the dash across the courtyard through the rain, squealing as they got wet.

Jules sniffed "Even so, I feel like you could be more outraged by how he's always behaved towards you. I mean, surely years of nasty remarks and treating you like a pariah can't just be erased over the course of a week, can they?"

Moira cocked an eyebrow at her friend "Are we still talking about me and Lee?"

Jules stared at Moira with wide eyes "Who else would we be talking about?"

"How about the redheaded miscreant who you've been avoiding like the plague since he kissed you last week?"

"Moira, I told you - I'm pretending that never happened. Besides, I'm only avoiding Fred because I don't want to give him the satisfaction of thinking I've gone all starry-eyed over him."

"How long are you going to keep pretending that you don't have even the tiniest crush on him?"

Jules rolled her eyes "I don't have to pretend because I don't have a crush on the snob who has spent years treating me as though I don't exist because of who my friends are. He kisses me on one occasion and all of a sudden I'm supposed to start following him around like a lovesick puppy? At least Lee went to the effort of getting to know you and confessing that he might have been wrong."

"Have you considered that Fred might be trying to get to know you and you're the one being a snob?" Moira checked her watch and began to gather up her things "I have to go to Ancient Runes. Don't you have Herbology now?"

"You're just going to accuse me of snobbery and leave?"

"No," Moira grinned "I'm planting the idea in your head and leaving it to grow. Think about it. See you later!" she yelled with a flourish of her wand and all of a sudden Jules was left standing bemused and wet in the middle of the courtyard.

X x X

"Miss Spencer, that is the last time I will ask you to pay attention in my lesson! Honestly, this is most unlike you and you could not have picked a more inopportune time to be distracted." Professor Sprout looked out of breath as she dashed about attempting to supervise her students in their study of the Venomous Tentacula.

"Sorry, Professor…" Jules muttered as she ducked another vine, her goggles slightly askew on her head. The Professor was right; she couldn't have picked a worse time to have something on her mind but Jules couldn't help turning Moira's words over and over as she attempted to gather samples from the Tentacula.

Her friend couldn't possibly have been serious about Jules being a snob, could she? After all the years they had both spent as social outcasts, after all the times they had been ignored by their fellow students simply because they belonged to different houses but had chosen to be friends? Jules shook her head as if to dismiss the thought, but just as swiftly as it left another crept in. Maybe she wasn't a snob, but had she become too… hard?

Was it possible that spending her formative years feeling judged and criticised had given her too thick a skin? Was she too ready to dismiss others because she thought that all she could expect from them was rejection? Or was she simply looking for ways that 'the tiniest crush' on Fred Weasley might be justified?

Oh God. She had a crush on Fred Weasley.

The realisation hit Jules like a herd of Hippogriffs and temporarily stunned her into failing to notice that a Tentacula vine had snuck up behind her and was busily winding its way around her throat. Jules gasped and struggled against it in her panic before an exasperated shout of "Diffindo!" reached her ears and Jules was released, collapsing to the floor to catch her breath as the vine holding her was severed. Professor Sprout marched over and hauled her up roughly by the elbows.

"Miss Spencer, what did I tell you about paying attention? Tentaculas are far too dangerous to only pay half a mind to! I'm sorry to do this, but a lack of concentration in my classroom on a day like today cannot be tolerated. I am going to have to give you a detention. Next Wednesday night, nine o' clock."

Jules cringed but nodded as she rubbed the tender part of her throat where the vine had choked her "Of course. I'm sorry Professor. It won't happen again." Professor Sprout gave her a sympathetic look.

"I don't doubt it dear. Run along and see if Madam Pomfrey will give you something for the bruising. I will see you in two nights' time."

X x X

"You can't possibly be serious." Fred and George stared at Lee aghast "The Slytherin Princess?"

Lee frowned "Yes, I'm serious. And you should probably stop calling her that." They were all crowded into George's bed with the curtains drawn whispering so as not to wake the other blokes in the dormitory.

Fred leaned forward and grabbed Lee's face in both hands "Are you feeling alright? George, don't you think he looks ill?" Fred began to paw at Lee's face, pretending to check his eyes and ears. Lee batted him away.

George grinned evilly "I agree, Fred. Too sick to be allowed out on his own. I diagnose that he's been struck with some malevolent curse by the fearsome – if devastatingly attractive – Moira Paige."

Fred whipped his head around to look at his twin "You think Moira Paige is attractive?"

George shrugged "In an evil sort of way."

Lee rolled his eyes and jerked his head away "Stop it, you idiots. I like her. She's not evil; she's intelligent and funny as well as being – what was it you said? 'Devastatingly attractive'." Lee sighed a little too dreamily for Fred's liking "And she snogs like a pro!"

Fred shook his head disbelievingly "I can't believe I'm hearing this. You spend a few weeks in the company of Juliet Spencer and Moira Paige and you decide you fancy one of them!" As the words left his mouth, Fred knew that he had sounded somewhat unconvincing in his disdain.

Lee arched an eyebrow "And I suppose you couldn't possibly fancy Juliet Spencer after spending this last week making eyes at her across the common room?"

"That's completely ridiculous – I object to such a slanderous allegation!" Fred scoffed, knowing all the while that he was exhibiting the trademark Weasley blush. George and Lee did their best to hide their snorts of laughter which only made Fred more defensive "I don't fancy Jules! Besides," he seized upon the one logical line of argument he could think of "I've barely seen her this week – how can I have been 'making eyes' at someone who isn't there?"

"So you've noticed when she's not there too, eh?" George grinned evilly "Face it, Gred. You've got the hots for a girl who hexed your feet to the floor!" he laughed "I knew something was up when you took that detention for her! How long have you been in love with Spencer then, brother mine?"

"Shut up," Fred said hotly "So what if I do fancy her? She hangs out with Slytherins!"

"A Slytherin," Lee corrected "And maybe she's got a point. Maybe it's time we all stopped thinking about 'us' and 'them'. It won't be like that out in the real world, will it?" He leaned forward to punch Fred gently on the shoulder "Why don't you ask her to Hogsmeade?"

Fred considered this for a moment "What do you think, Forge?"

"Aside from the fact that you'll probably murder each other? Let's be honest Freddie, even if she wasn't mates with someone from Slytherin, you don't exactly go together, do you? She's more of a bookish type like Granger. Never had a detention, never missed a deadline. Apart from putting an illegal charm on that muggle device, she's a little goodie two shoes and you are her polar opposite. But," George sighed, settling back on his pillow "If that's what floats your boat, then I think you should go for it. I also think you should both get out of my bed so I can get some sleep." A clumsy kicking session ensued, resulting in both Lee and Fred nearly tumbling from the bed onto the floor. Snickering and rubbing shins, they finally conceded and returned to their own beds.

Fred lay awake for a long while, thinking about what his brother and his best friend had said: 'time we all stopped thinking about 'us' and 'them'…', 'You are her polar opposite…'.

Maybe it was stupid to make enemies out of people without knowing them first. Merlin knew there were enough enemies without picking out more for themselves.

He sighed, throwing an arm up over his head in an attempt to get comfortable. What did that mean for someone like him and Juliet Spencer, then? If a Slytherin had agreed to go out with a Gryffindor (arguably a rare occurrence signalling a possible impending apocalypse), did that mean he might have a chance with her? Fred grimaced to himself as he realised that worrying about whether he might have a chance with a girl was an entirely alien feeling to him. Could he convince Jules to give him the time of day?

There was only one way to find out.

X X X