(45 : A WHISPERING TALE . . .
IN A FAIR LADY'S EAR)

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IN MYTHOLOGY, MEDUSA'S SNAKES HISSED and in Hogwarts, the students whispered. It was all the same to her. Still, Juliet hated it — the rumours, the gossip, the lies — because enough of her life was up for speculation as a famed pureblood. Her name was often splashed across the newspapers, which led people to believe they knew her. Hogwarts was meant to be an escape from that, so she seldom paid attention to the latest scandals gracing the castle.

     Except, it was impossible to ignore the whispers on the 15th of February 1978.

     When she walked into the Great Hall that morning, there was a buzz in the air. Students were crowding the Gryffindor table and nudging each other, daring their friends to be the one to ask something. Juliet even swore she saw some of the professors covertly exchanging galleons under the table as she slid into a seat next to Regulus, frowning. Only a few of the younger years appeared as baffled as Juliet, which immediately made her conclude that something big had occurred overnight.

     "What's going on?" Juliet addressed Regulus directly for the first time in weeks. Usually she avoided conversations with him, but she couldn't ignore the sinking feeling in her gut any longer.

Pity bled into his usually sharp features and the fork in his hand clattered against his plate. "You don't know?"

"The last time you said that, I found out my mother was dead," she muttered, her appetite having disappeared. "Let me guess, the eleventh plague is coming? You can't possibly have more bad news for me."

"I heard from Rabastan, who heard from Vanity, who heard from Patil, who heard from Cresswell, who heard from Longbottom, who heard from Fortescue, who heard from McKinnon," Regulus inhaled deeply as he decided to bite the bullet, "that Potter and Evans are finally dating. She caught them snogging."

     Amidst the chaos of the Great Hall, time stilled for Juliet Fawley.

     No sign of hurt was visible on her face as she began to casually pour herself a glass of pumpkin juice. "Do you know when?"

     "Last night," he said. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry. I know how you felt about him."

     Juliet didn't know whether to laugh or cry in that moment when the realisation dawned on her — Marlene thought she had caught Lily and James outside the Gryffindor common room when it had been her. And now the entire school were ecstatic because they thought their Head Boy and Head Girl were dating after years of cat and mouse. Nobody questioned the pairing because everyone — even she — thought they were perfect for each other. People cared about the prefect and the prankster, not the lion and the snake.

     But she was used to being underestimated.

     Searching for James' hazel eyes across the room, she briefly caught his gaze and held up seven fingers, inclining her head upwards. They needed to talk — in the Room of Requirement this time. He nodded in understanding before his attention was pulled away by an approaching figure in blue and bronze robes.

Regulus was trying to restart a conversation with her, but her attention was focused on James still. Although she was too far away to hear, the smug expression on the Ravenclaw's face was impossible to miss. Whatever he was saying made James pull his wand out as the boy made a show of wrapping his arm around Lily Evans.

Lily twisted the Ravenclaw's arm off her in fury and marched out of the Great Hall, her food untouched.

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     "Lily!" shouted Juliet, not hesitating to rush after the girl.

     Angry tears blurred Lily's vision as she abruptly spun to face her pursuer. Her red hair whipped out around her, matching the colour of her face. "For the last time, I am not dating James Potter!"

Juliet picked up her pace until she fell into step beside the Gryffindor. "I take it you've had a rough morning then?"

"You have no idea," Lily breathed out in relief as the two made their way to the first class of the day. "I'm sorry for snapping back there. I didn't realise it was you. I've had strangers coming up to me all day congratulating me on a relationship I'm not even in. One girl actually tried to hex me for 'stealing him' from her! It's so exhausting. Everyone thinks I'm lying. I don't understand why Marlene would even make up such a stupid rumour. We're not talking because of it and — and you probably don't care. I didn't mean to unload all my problems on you like that, sorry . . . again."

"You don't have to apologise. You shouldn't have to pretend none of this bothers you. If anything, I should be the one who's sorry." Juliet tried not to dwell on the fact she had indirectly caused Lily's freak out. "If you really want to, we can talk about it, but are you sure McKinnon really meant to hurt you? I don't know her that well, so maybe I'm wrong, but rumours have a way of spiralling. Especially in Hogwarts," the Slytherin continued, keeping her voice quiet and low. "Everyone is rooting for you and James, today has proved that. People like an impossible love story. It's enough to give them hope during a time of war."

Lily shook her head sadly. "I'm not looking to be anybody's symbol of hope, Juliet."

"I'm not suggesting you have to be," Juliet assured her quickly. "It's just . . . have you really never thought of James as an option?"

"He might have matured and turned out to be considerably more tolerable since he stopped chasing me, but I can't imagine being more than friends with him," she admitted, her cheeks tinged pink. "I can't imagine being with anyone like that."

Juliet searched her friend's face intently. "Do you like boys?"

"I guess so." Lily was confronted with visions of her dance with Connor McLaggen at Slughorn's party and her first kiss with Bertram Aubrey by the Black Lake. "I might like girls too though. I don't know. I've always imagined a picket fence life with two kids and a dog, but I've never been in a proper relationship. I know people like Potter and Marlene are attractive, but I'm not attracted to them if that makes sense."

     The Slytherin was never great when it came to comforting people. All she could offer was a genuine smile. "I'm sure you'll figure it out. After all, we're only eighteen."

     As the two slowed in front of the Potions classroom, Lily returned the girl's smile. "I hope so. I think it just about broke Potter when I told him last year. He went into a funk for weeks," she added with a laugh, which quickly changed into a grimace. "In fairness, we both said some pretty nasty things. It wasn't either of our shining moments."

     "Oi, make way, boys!" called Scott Flint, a Slytherin that happened to be lingering outside of the classroom with Snape and Wilkes. His eyes brightened with torment at the sight of an approaching Lily. "Easy Evans is coming through. Salazar knows what that prick Potter would do if he thought we even breathed the same air as his little sl—"

Before any of them could blink, Juliet had her wand pressed against his jugular. "Finish that sentence, Flint. I dare you."

Despite being in clear distress, neither of his friends made a move to assist him. In fact, Snape's already somber face only darkened as he failed to meet Lily's eyes. Flint struggled to retrieve his own wand and croaked out, "Are you defending a mudblood, Fawley?"

"I'm defending a fellow witch," the female Slytherin stated resolutely. "Now, Lily and I are going to calmly take our seats and you won't even look at her again if you have any sense of that good old, Slytherin self-preservation. If you do . . . well, you don't want to find out what kind of spells I know." Juliet paused meaningfully. "I've always wondered what it would be like to flay someone alive, haven't you?"

Without another word, the two redheads took their seats. Lily sniffled, "I should take points for that."

     Unapologetic, Juliet shrugged. "That was me being nice. They shouldn't say those things about —"

     "But I don't want to give them any attention either. It'll only encourage them," Lily countered softly. "Plus, it'll all blow over soon. There'll be something new by tomorrow. If not, enough people saw me at Slughorn's party to know I couldn't have possibly been with Potter. I only saw him for a minute yesterday and that was to pass on a note from y—" The Gryffindor suddenly stopped speaking, her unfinished sentence hanging in the air like a sword over Juliet's head. "Marlene didn't make it up, did she? She — she really thought it was me. I mean, we look similar enough from the back."

     Her mouth felt dry. "Lily —"

     "You know, I thought that you fancied him, but then you never said anything about it and he didn't either. And Merlin knows Potter can't ever shut his mouth, so I assumed I was imagining it," Lily rambled as the pieces started slotting together. "Not to mention I keep seeing in The Prophet that you're engaged to —"

"Lily!" exclaimed Juliet, desperate for her to shut up. "I promise I'll explain everything. Not here though. Do you have a free period before lunch?"

Regarding the situation with caution, Lily nodded. "I do."

"Good. Meet me on the seventh floor." Juliet flipped her textbook open, flicking through the pages to distract herself from Lily's piercing green eyes. "And I really am sorry you've been dragged into this."

Nothing else could be said because it was then Professor Slughorn walked into the classroom.

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"Please."

"No."

"I'll get on my knees, Evans." James dropped down on both knees, glancing up with puppy dog eyes at Lily.

Lily yanked him up by the collar. "Merlin, nobody wants you on your knees, Potter."

"Well . . ." Juliet trailed off suggestively from where she stood in the corner.

"I hope you know that I've been around you two for all of ten minutes and you're already incorrigible together," remarked Lily as she flopped onto one of the couches the room had created for them.

The unlikely trio had all met up on the seventh floor during their free period. Juliet and James introduced Lily to the Room of Requirement, both of them filling her in on their situation. James embellished their relationship in parts, causing Juliet to roll her eyes and Lily to giggle. The Slytherin had most definitely not spent the first six years of Hogwarts harbouring a secret crush on the boy like he had claimed. Although it took longer than expected, the couple eventually finished explaining why nobody could know about their relationship and proceeded to ask a favour of Lily.

The Head Girl fiddled with the badge on her robes. "It feels a lot like lying."

"We're not asking you to lie. Just evade the truth . . . or stretch it," Juliet disagreed hopefully. "I know it's a lot to ask of you, but if people figure out I was the one kissing James, I'll be as good as dead. If it's not you, there's only so many redheads that he could've been kissing."

"It's three months, tops," added James, reaching out to hold Juliet's hand when he saw her forlorn expression. "You won't have to do anything either, if that's what you're worried about."

At the subtle act of intimacy, Lily's face notably softened. "It's not that, but I really don't understand why. Does it really matter if people find out about the two of you when you're going to be together after Hogwarts anyway? What's the difference in being branded a blood traitor now or three months down the line?"

"Because there's one more thing I need to do and I haven't figured out how to do it yet," Juliet revealed ominously. "We'll be careful, but I worry some people are already too close to the truth. You're only be the cover up if that happens and that would be the worst case scenario."

Lily sighed. "Fine. I'll fake date Potter."

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A.N: I had so much fun writing this chapter. I love the Lily/Juliet dynamic. They also had a discussion about Lily's feelings for James and, to a wider extent, her sexuality. Lily is definitely confused in part, but she's showing some characteristics of asexuality, which wasn't widely recognised in the 1970s, so I'm not labelling it directly. It'll be explored a little in the war chapters too. As always, thanks for all the votes and comments if you read this!

Question, what is the wildest rumour you have ever heard about yourself? I don't really have any interesting ones because I was boring in school but there was once a rumour I was dating one of my best friends even though he had a girlfriend, which made things awkward between us. Then two years later, I found out my supposed best friend spread that rumour because she fancied him and was jealous of how close we were 😭