Disclaimer: J. K. Rowling owns all the Harry Potter characters, although I created Julianne Michaelson and any other characters not part of the original Harry Potter 'cast'.

Chapter 10: Emotion

"Stop messing with my girl, Harry!"

Juli walked into the common room and nearly jumped from the shock. Harry and Seamus were standing in the middle of the room, arguing.

"Are you bloody insane? She's not your girl anymore, Seamus, don't you get it?" said Harry, almost yelling. "Remember, you broke up with her."

"But that doesn't mean you can just come in and take her to Hogsmeade on some kind of date! Juli is my girl, I loved her first!"

"Seamus! You broke her heart!"

"Only because I thought it was best! I loved her!"

"Excuse me? Since when is cheating on your girlfriend loving her? You'd been sleeping with Ceclia for months before you broke it off with Juli! I don't see where you get off telling me that you loved her." Harry retorted, and Juli stood up, clasping her hands over her mouth, her eyes wide. It took a moment for Seamus and Harry to realize she was there.

"You cheated on me?" she said, trying to keep her voice calm as the boys had stared at her. "You cheated on me with some Slytherin whore?"

"What? Juli? How'd you get here?" asked Seamus, confused.

"You cheated on me?" Juli said in disbelief, her temper rising as she walked toward Seamus. "With a SLYTHERIN?"

"Juli, no, I--" he said, trying to defend himself, but Juli interrupted him.

"YOU LYING, CHEATING BASTARD!" she said, smacking him across the face. "You break up with me because you want to shag some Slytherin?" she said, pushing him back.

"Juli, love, we never --" he stammered, clutching his cheek. "Angel, I never meant--"

"Don't you ever call me that again!" she yelled, really getting riled up. Harry heard the click of a door and looked up to see nearly the whole house walk out of their dormitory rooms to see what was going on.

"Juli, I think maybe we should--" started Harry, realizing it might be a good idea to get Juli away from Seamus before she started making more of a scene.

"What is wrong with you, Seamus?" she said very angrily, completely ignoring Harry. "I LOVED you," she said, her eyes starting to well up with tears, while Harry tried (and failed) to talk to her again.

"Juli, please, calm down," he said, stepping in front of her as she started to cry. "Please, don't do this to yourself," he pleaded.

"No, Harry," she said, finally diverting her attention to him and looking him in the eye. "I didn't do this to myself," she said, moving away from him and towards Seamus again. "This one did it to me," she said, slapping him across the face again as she started up the stairs to the girls dormitory.

"Please, angel, Juli, let me explain!" Seamus pleaded, as Juli pushed through the crowd that had gathered and stopped in front of her door, turning around to glare at Seamus before turning back to open the door.

"Don't ever, EVER speak to me again," she said, turning to look at him with tears streaming down her face. "Even Draco - bloody - Malfoy treats be better than this," she said before she walked into the room and slammed the door.

.:-----:.

Thirty minutes later, Juli came down the stairs wearing a black hooded sweater and jeans. Her hair was still damp from her shower and she hadn't put any makeup on or styled her hair, and her eyes were red. Harry looked up from his seat on a couch as she slumped onto the seat next to his. He wanted to kiss her; kiss her to make up for the love she'd lost over Seamus and to undo the pain he'd caused her. Instead, he reached out to her.

"Come here," he said softly, motioning to her to sit with him. She glanced at him and then turned her eyes back to their previous spot on the floor. "I just want to help," he added, sensing her suspicion.

She looked up at him, wondering if he had other intentions other than those as her friend. Looking into his eyes, she saw something she recognized; sympathy. Everyone had given her that look after learning she was an orphan, and even more so after Kevin died. 'Why does everyone pity me?' she thought, not realizing she was a little irritated at Harry.

"Why do you think I need help?" she sputtered. "I'm not an invalid, Harry."

He was taken aback. "I know you're not, Juli," he said, leaning back away from her with a puzzled look on his face. "I'm just trying to help and I thought--"

"You thought what?" she said huffily, offended. "That I'm just a poor-little-orphaned girl who needs your sympathy? Just because I never knew my parents and lost my only brother doesn't mean I need someone else's pity on how badly my life has turned out so far. I've done just fine by myself, and just because Seamus broke my heart and wanted some Slytherin whore over me doesn't mean my life is over. He doesn't know what he's missing out on, he just doesn't. So what if I loved him? I can't just---" She stopped, realizing Harry's hands was holding her own. She was speechless.

"I know it's hard, Juli," he said, smiling sorrowfully as she stared at him blankly. "Believe me, I know, remember?" he said as he thought about how the past summer had been; lonely and long at Grimmauld Place without Sirius. He had often cursed himself for being so gullible and a few times cursing Dumbledore for keeping the prophecy a secret for such a long time. He mostly just blamed Voldemort, for killing his parents, and for ultimately killing Sirius.

"But why?" Juli asked as she looked up at Harry, exhaling heavily. "Why---" she said, pausing, as she realized Harry had lost his parents and a close relative too. "Why us?" she asked.

"I wish I knew, Juli. I wish I knew," he said, stroking her hair softly as she leaned into his chest. They sat there for some time, just hugging each other, and as Juli was reminded of her episode with Malfoy the night before, Harry had somewhat of an epiphany and spoke up.

"I have an idea that might cheer you up," he said, helping her sit up. "Wait right here," he smiled and ran up the staircase to the boys' dormitories, leaving Juli alone for a few moments to think to herself.

Juli sighed heavily and ran her hands through her hair. "Better, but not best," she said softly out loud to herself. She sighed again as she heard Harry running back down the stairs and she turned around to see him step off the last stair with a blanket in his arms.

"Come with me, I have something to show you," he said, grinning and grabbing her hand, pulling her off of the couch and through the portrait hole and through the castle.

Author's Note: Now we have reached the part where I have decided to totally take the story into a different direction. Juli is no longer on the Quidditch team, as that was screaming "Mary Sue! Mary Sue! " and even though there's the whole extra thing with Malfoy which seems very un-canon, I have surprises coming up. I want to finish this story before HBP comes out, so I'm going to try and write as much as possible. Reviews make the world go round, so make my day, please! It only takes a minute and I'd love to hear anything, the good and the bad.

xbriannex