A/N: Harper's back! Let me quickly explain something... this chapter takes place on Monday morning but the next chapter, the Jalex one, begins on Sunday night, as in the day before - so time is going a little crazy but... only a portion of the next chapter happens on Sunday and it just works better in this order, okay? It's all in past tense, anyway! So, shh!

Also, let me know what you think of our surprise guest and their involvement in the plot! Too crazy? Or kind of perfect? It just felt right to have them in here. It's important to find out their perspective on everything, I think. And I'm sure Harper will continue to run into all your favourite characters from the show in future chapters! If there's anyone you'd particularly like to see, let me know and I'll try my best to work them into the story!

By the way, Harper is using a real-life train (the Silver Star Amtrak route) which goes direct from a station in New York within walking distance of Waverly Place (Penn Station) right down to several destinations in Florida. I like to be accurate and research is fun (I'm such a Justin)! I couldn't find much information on what the journey itself is like, however, so I've just made it like a general overnight train (in my mind, Harper's taking the Hogwarts Express).

Do you like my parallels between the relationship talked about in this chapter and Jalex? There's gonna be more where that came from as Harper starts to think about the way Justin and Alex act around each other as she sees these two people acting in a similar way!

I'm keeping these chapters relatively short (for me, anyway) - do you like them this length or would you prefer for them to be longer and have multiple scenes in them, like in the main storyline?

You're lucky I prioritise you above my homework! The next chapter will indeed be up on Sunday (in theory). Huh, it's Halloween soon - but this whole thing is kind of already like a Halloween special, right? Wizards, magic stones, necrophilia... what's not to like?

Warnings: A surprise revelation which may just make you go 'Oh my Captain Jim Bob Sherwood!' - really, I don't think there's too much to worry about in this chapter, the Harper chapters are pretty tame. There's some discussion of sexuality and lightly implied sexual content. We also discuss 'rape culture' (you know, harmful myths like it's not a rapist's fault because they 'can't control their urges') a bit because I try to incorporate activism into my work if I can and it just seemed to me that this character would be like that. Enjoy!

Harper adjusted herself in the seat she'd be occupying for the next twenty-four hours or so. There hadn't been any tickets available for the Saturday train but she'd waited it out and, first thing Monday morning, had wheeled her suitcase down to the station. It turned out that there were no more beds available for this one either but this just meant that she'd have more money leftover to spend on a gift for Nana Franny. She'd knitted her a sweater out of poodle fluff collected from the pet salon near the Sub shop but then she'd remembered that it was never really cold in Florida. Maybe Alex would have had some ideas if she'd been here...

Harper couldn't seem to shake off the feeling that, in the absence of her good influence, Alex had done something really, really bad. Something which would change the world as she knew it. She shrugged, just paranoia she supposed.

She looked around her cabin: four seats around a table, space above for everyone's luggage, a plain rectangular window. Very modern, with its blue and grey colouring it was almost space-y, like something out of Star Trek. Justin would have liked it. If Alex was here she would have probably used magic to make it more... her style - a chandelier, fat cushions, a TV with cable. Or maybe she'd turn it all Harry Potter-y just for fun.

Ah! She had to stop thinking about the Russos! Anyway, other passengers would be arriving soon; she didn't have the cabin to herself, so if Alex had done that then she would have had a lot of explaining to do.

She got out a sewing magazine, flicking to the page she'd got up to - How to sew your way out of an awkward conversation? Yes!

Harper had just got up to the part explaining how to start hemming a stranger's trousers for them if your crush accused you of being a stalker when a voice interrupted her, 'Excuse me, is this seat... fifty-five A?'

'Uh, ye-' just then, Harper, still reading, detected a distinct smell of death and vanilla - she wasn't sure which was more overpowering, or whether they had both mingled together like a baby at a funeral, life and death combined in a way which really shouldn't work. She looked up, 'Juliet?'

The blonde vampire, dressed in beach clothes, gave her a toothy grin before sitting down in the seat opposite Harper's, 'Hey! I didn't know you were gonna be here, Harper! How have you been?'

'Uh...' Well, Harper decided she had no one else to blame but herself - she had thought that she'd rather have Juliet than nobody, after all, and here she was, in the flesh, which she didn't think was rotting- okay, she still had a fear of vampires. And people who dated Justin. Anyway, she had to be polite, 'Can't complain,' she shrugged, smiling, 'But why are you here? I thought you were in Transylvania?'

Juliet, who had been leaning forward casually, elbows resting on the table between them, suddenly snapped up, fangs just visible in a mouth gaped open in shock, 'Harper! That is incredibly racist! What,' she huffed, 'I'm a vampire so I must come from Transylvania? I was born in France, despite my surname, thank you very much, and I've been living in America ever since it was created - well, you know, taken by Europeans, anyway but- why did you think I was in Transylvania?'

Harper was confused - and slightly embarrassed at having her tolerance called into question, 'But- but Justin said-' The boy had been doing nothing but non-stop talking about it for the first four days of Juliet's absence. Harper wasn't the only one who it had rubbed the wrong way. She thought for a second, no, it definitely hadn't been Alex that had said Transylvania (that she wouldn't have been surprised about because Alex meanwhile had been doing nothing but making fun of Justin's attachment, using as many vampire and Romeo and Juliet related innuendos as possible).

'Justin?' Juliet rolled her eyes and fell back in her seat, 'He is still not over the whole vampire thing, is he? I was in Pennsylvania, Harper, you know - the state right next to New York? It's where all the Van Heusens live.'

'Oh,' on the one hand, years of being on the receiving end of Alex's complaining had trained Harper to comfort people in these kind of situations - and she certainly knew what it was like for people not to listen to you. On the other hand, if Juliet broke up with Justin over this... she was back in the game. She wasn't sure how best to respond.

As the train rumbled, starting to move (it would appear that they had the cabin to themselves for the journey) an awkward silence developed into an oppressive little bubble. With no strangers at hand to offer to do a sewing job for, Harper resorted to changing the subject, 'So, are you getting off at Florida, too?'

Juliet had been staring out of the window, arms crossed and looking mildly frustrated. She turned back to Harper and got out a bottle of sunblock, SPF 5000, 'Yep. I'm paying a visit to an old friend of mine from the fifties - Francesca Finkle.'

Harper started coughing, she hadn't even been taking a drink. She was choking on her own spit, 'You don't mean...' she coughed again, 'Nana Franny?'

Juliet's eyes widened. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear before leaning in, 'No way, you're that Harper?'

Oh no. This meant that Harper was going on vacation, with Juliet, 'But- but, how do you know Nana Franny?' This coincidence seemed even more unlikely than the fact that Juliet had just happened to have the ticket for the seat opposite her. It was as if she was a character in a book, someone deciding that all the weirdest things would happen to her.

Was Juliet... blushing? 'Well, it was a long time ago, Harper and- really, do you have to call her that?' she laughed nervously, 'It makes me feel so old-'

Harper opened her mouth to speak.

Juliet cut her off with a hand, 'I know but I don't feel that old, okay? It's not old in vampire years!' she sighed, 'Your... grandmother and I used to date for a bit. Happy now?'

Harper froze. And then she started choking again. This could not be happening. First Justin, now her Nana Franny - was she going to say she's been cheating on Justin with Alex next?

Juliet stood up, patting Harper on the back until she stopped.

Finished, Harper tried to process her thoughts, 'Oh. Um, I didn't know you were... bisexual? Juliet.' Her Nana Franny and Juliet?

Juliet shrugged, 'A vampire's sexual attraction is really just based on how good your blood smells, Harper. I had a fling with a werewolf once; they have an almost... feral scent to them. Hey,' she frowned, 'You aren't homophobic, are you?'

Harper shook her hands quickly, 'No! No, I just- wait, so you do want to drink Justin's blood?' I knew it!

'No!' Juliet almost shouted, 'Well, sort of. But it's like, just because I want to doesn't mean I have to, Harper. People have self-control, you know. Vampires who drink blood without that person's permission, they- they aren't really doing it for that, it's more the sick sense of power it gives them. The entitlement. People use that excuse to let rapists off the hook - you're not supporting rape culture, are you, Harper?'

Oh gosh, maybe being around Alex and her distorted sense of morals really was having a negative effect on Harper - was she allowing her morality to slip just because almost anybody looked like a saint lined up against the devious Russo? Harper nibbled on her lip, 'I guess you're right... sorry.' As much as she disliked apologising to the woman who had stolen the hearts of both Justin and Nana Franny, apparently, she knew to say sorry when it was appropriate, unlike Alex.

Juliet smiled slightly.

'So... wait,' Harper had just realised something, 'Nana Franny- I mean, Francesca - knows you're a vampire? Because, to be honest, if you weren't, I think you'd be a little more shrivelled up by now.' Harper studied Juliet's youthful appearance. Soon she'd look younger than her and Alex.

'Hm? Oh! Yeah, I let her know way back, just before we- right, uh, you probably don't wanna hear about that,' Juliet laughed and Harper felt the image she'd had of her grandmother shatter forever, 'But yeah, she knows. Ugh, let me tell you,' she leaned forward again, 'You think being with another girl is difficult in 2009? Try it half a century ago.'

Harper briefly wondered if her grandmother had ever really loved her grandfather - they had got divorced pretty quickly for a marriage in the early sixties - or if their love had just been a lie to cover up a sexuality forbidden at the time. It sounded tragic, to be with someone you don't really want to be with just because the rest of the world won't let you be with the person you really love. Had Juliet and Nana Franny really been in love?

'Harper?' Juliet called her name. She had been daydreaming.

'Oh. Sorry,' Harper apologised again, 'I'm used to people not really acknowledging my existence so I usually just fill in the time with thinking,' she explained in that sing-song, tragically blunt way of her's.

Juliet felt a pang of sympathy for the lonely girl, 'Oh, well, I'll listen to you, Harper - and we'll both get to see your grandmother soon.'

'Soon?' Harper checked her watch, 'We still have a good twenty-three hours on here, Juliet.'

She laughed, 'Harper, you already pretty much admitted that you think I'm really old - a day is nothing to me.'

'Is a day with Justin nothing to you, too?' Harper had questioned without even thinking. She regretted it: she was being openly rude.

Juliet raised her eyebrows, 'Look, I'm sure Justin can cope without me for a couple of weeks,' she looked out of the window again, the buildings of New York passing by, 'He has Alex; it's fine.'

'What?' Harper laughed, confused, 'You really think Justin would be happy about that? They can't stand each other! They spend all their time constantly talking about how much they annoy each other or grabbing and shoving each other or ruining each other's lives. Honey, do you know how many times Alex has tried to make Justin break up with you? The love of his life?' Harper rolled her eyes, not liking this title one bit, 'Ha, she's practically worse than me.'

'Uh...' Juliet really had nothing to say, 'Harper... could you take the Justin-goggles off for a second and look at what you just said?'

'Huh?'

Juliet sighed, Harper just didn't have enough experience with the world, 'Nevermind, look - this isn't exactly a coffin or anything but I'm pretty worn out. Mind if I transform into a bat and take a nap in that sweater of yours?' She pointed to the poodle-fur sweater sticking out of Harper's bag.

'Uh, sure, I guess,' Harper had to shut her eyes, because that whole transforming thing really creeped her out, but it left her with a pretty adorable looking creature snuggled up beside her. It was sort of like having a pet cat.

Harper opened her magazine again as the bat began to gently snore, wondering what would happen next on this big adventure.