Jules' morning hadn't gone well. She'd been late for breakfast, gaining the wrath of her house head upon her skull because she had to pick up her new timetable. It had been no problem of course; she'd gained all the grades she needed to be awarded the small stamp of approval on her timetable, showing she could take the subjects this coming year at N.E.W.T level- much to her pleasure, until the head of house started shouting at her. "You'll have to work a lot harder this year... blah... You're very bright Juliette, you just need to stop all this foolishness... Yes, we appreciate how you've helped Neville in these past years, but you are a senior now, it's not becoming.... It's these subjects that matter..." it went on for HOURS, literally. By the time it was finished Juliette's head was thumping something terrible, but a glance at her timetable showed that she'd already missed the start of a double class of potions. Snape won't be too pleased... she muttered to herself as she left the Head of House's office into the Ravenclaw common room, giving the teacher a one thousand watt smile and a promise to fufill everything required of her. She would, of course, just probably not in the manner her teacher thought she should go about it.

Juliette bounded down the stairs to the ground floor, taking a tour to the kitchens in the dungeons. The house elves were accommodating as always, too keen, too quick and too happy to be enslaved. Juliette bit her lip as she recieved the perfect scrambled egg roll and a goblet of pumpkin juice. She had often broached the subject of freedom for the little creatures, but most times she'd been most graciously 'shoved' out of the kitchen, usually wondering how such tiny creatures could cause so much bloody pain when she was thrown against a suit of armour.

This trip, however, ended painlessly as she was ushered quickly out of the kitchen. She was about to bite into the roll as she heard Snape's voice echo across the dungeons, hiding in the shadows until she heard the classroom door slam. Sounds like someone's in trouble... she thought to herself, ducking through the stairwell and running up several floors. She swore she caught the eye of a few teachers and Prefects on the way, but she had to thank god for being able to run faster and for longer than most. Eventually, she reached the third floor, flinging the door of the girls lavatories open.

"HIIIIIIIIIIII MYRTLE!!!!!" she trilled hysterically, spinning around in the endless puddles of water from the leaking taps as the ghost shrieked and whizzed through her, sending an icy chill to sober her up. "You are right Myrtle, sorry, I do not want to get caught," she said, leaving the goblet and roll sitting on a relatively flat (and dry) stone. She wandered to a sink, splashing her face with freezing cold water, and watching the drops run down her pale face, before turning back.

And at that moment a voice sounded her name. With her sharp eyesight it didn't take long to find out where it came from, a huddle of black hair and Gryffindor robes in the corner. "Vic..." she murmured, rushing over, splashing through the puddles, and grabbing her goblet and roll. "Myrtle, can you go and just please leave us for a few moments, please?" she said, gazing up at the ghost with compassion and pleading in her eyes. Surely enough, the ghost disappeared down the U-bend almost immediately, knowing that Juliette was the kind of genuine person, and one of the nicest she'd seen in Hogwarts (to the ghost anyway) at the current time.

Jules, meanwhile, ran to Victoria, and knelt down, slouching down and leaning against the wall, putting her stuff down on a dry island and pulling the other girl into her. Victoria looked deathly pale; about as pale as Jules looked usually- which was not normal. Jules hugged, and hushed, closing her eyes and bringing fire to warm the bones of the girl next to her, and herself too; she was chilled through from Myrtle, the freezing water still dripping down her face and through her tendrils of hair, and the chill of her friend's sadness.

"Was it a vision hun?"







TAGS ?! vicky/nelli
WORDS ?! seven one six
OUTFIT ?! here !
MUSIC ?! shufflesss
NOTES ?! sorry it took so long- mtw!

Juliette waited with bated breath for the explanation of Victoria's sudden weakness- not that she would ever admit to such a thing. They both had this dreaded flaw, though Jules had to admit that Victoria suffered most. One action and she was out for the count pretty much, and she suffered for it. Jules; she could build up her stamina, but attempt to do too much at once and she would pass out at worst. Yes, she definitely had the better end of the deal when it came to their exclusive little club, especially if you counted Neville. He was seemingly normal, but how normal could it be when you had the entire hopes of the wizarding world resting on your shoulders, really, when in the end no one- not even her or Vic- could help you?

Juliette didn't feel pity, she just felt sad for her friends, of the hard burdens they had to carry, and the names which they called themselves. Victoria wasn't truly weak- she'd been given something that no one else could ever hope to have, the power to see the future, and Neville, what was that old quote she read and read and read? 'Some are born great others achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them'. Yes, for Neville- all applied in some odd, twisted, bizarre way.

Finally the chilled girl spoke, and Juliette stood to attention (not, however, literally). She was trying her hardest, a warm sphere constricting them, and she tried to clear all the water, fearing she would get too tired. She hadn't understood this before, since she'd only realised she could do this in the summer, and had had limited practice; living in her rural German village all the time with the villagers treating her like she was one of their own, but now she did realise, she knew that she would have to build up to it. Every night she'd sit with a bowl of water when the others were asleep, and try to mould it, see how much she could cope with. Worst case scenario there: she'd wake up freezing and covered in water.

"Sorry, zat was stupid of me.." she smiled wincingly. It was always a vision with Victoria- she never let herself get like this with anything else- apparently something that had been programmed into her by the father she never spoke about. Juliette felt a surge of anger at that thought, but she managed to keep it at bay. At least Vic has a father.. was the bitter thought, she'd never had one- but she had had a mother. Now she had neither.

She listened to the tale, the sense of panic that Victoria seemed to convey, the futile vision which she couldn't do anything about. It was the first day of school; Juliette didn't know where Victoria's aunt lived and if they could even get there- should they have the urge to. It was the first day of school, both of them would be in significant trouble anyway, let alone deserting the school to go and find a relative with no explanation (as neither could tell anyone). Ah. The good life...

Juliette slid slowly and creakily up the wall as Victoria did- surely it wasn't normal to have such old joints at such a young age? And then she hugged Victoria. She was speaking now, not like when she recounted the vision. Her Russian tongue brought harsh sounds to her already coarse voice, making what she was saying so much worse than it already was. Juliette only came up to her friend's shoulder, and as a consequence hugged her waist like a sad child, burying her face in her friend's shoulder. "You don't sound selfish," came the muffled sound, "I know they make you feel like shit, but you have to remember sometimes they're important! And it triggers by people close to you- remember you saved me?" That occasion was far too imprinted in Juliette's mind for her to ever forget it.

It had been last year, and they were at the Ministry. The Death Eaters had been all around, but Victoria had collapsed at the last moment, Neville had been duelling with Draco Malfoy's father and most of the others had been trapped by Death Eaters. Somehow, however, both Juliette and Victoria had evaded capture and hid in a dark corner. But Juliette didn't know that a keen eyed Death Eater had spotted them, and Victoria helped. And it was something that Jules would never, ever forget, or ever stop being thankful for.

"Why don't we call your aunt? Or use Floo Powder to speak to her? You can stop her going to work Vic, you can, it's not useless..." she said, it coming out as a muffled sound again as she breathed in the smell of clean robes from her friend. Clean robes and something else... something that smelled like Juliette, the odd musky, wooden smell she'd been aware of since she realised she could shift. Impossible; she rationalised once again- she was just thinking that it was happening, Victoria wasn't like her, wasn't so much of a ... freak. She may have had visions, but it wasn't that bad.









TAGS ?! vicky/nelli
WORDS ?! eight six two
OUTFIT ?! here !
MUSIC ?! shufflesss
NOTES ?! quote from twelfth night by william shakespeare ; sorry it too so long!

Juliette tensed slightly as Victoria broke away from their embrace, and once again the smell became more apparent. She didn't think her friend had BO, but she thought she smelled different from everyone else in the school. Everyone else smelled quintessentially human- apart from that vampire teacher who smelled sickly sweet, who's smell burned her nose whenever she was near him. Of course, she adored Professor Lautner, his classes were superb (or at least, as far as she remember they were) and she hadn't had a problem up until last night at the feast when his smell penetrated the crowd and found its way to the top of the Ravenclaw table, to her. No one else noticed, so she presumed it was just her- that the Professor did not have diabolically bad personal hygiene.

So now she had to figure out the change in her sense of smell. It happened over the summer apparently- the same time when the other senses had come too, the shifting and searing pain in anger, then she was something else, and the strange manipulation of things around her. In her anger in Germany, when she stumbled across something in the town that related to her mother, be it a kindly stranger who said they looked so alike or someone who asked for the sister she never had- the sister she was never aware of ever having, she would get angry, and when sitting at the water would crack the pebbled, split the water so she could walk through it. Then she'd be tired and pass out, the water would spill over her and the next morning she'd have been washed up at the shore of the lake. Utterly bizarre.

She supposed the two things did tie in, but neither held any real relevance at the moment, just the smell of Victoria, it was neither vampire or human- but Vic was normal, as normal as you could get if you ignored the visions she suffered from.

The strength drained from Juliette as she shivered in the cold, trying not to shrink back down to the floor. She hadn't understood she'd been using so much energy, but she supposed fire was the most difficult element to summon. Thank you flame... she whispered softly, though she wasn't sure whether or not the sound went outwardly or if it was just in her head. Her legs buckled beneath her, causing her to fall to the floor, her hair hanging wildly, framing her face as she fell forward on her hands, splashing in the puddles of water. Quickly she pushed herself up, dusting her cut knees and wiping her wet hands on her shorts. She was about to pull out her wand to fix the bleeding wounds on her legs when Vic cried out from her pacing.

Jules sighed, pocketing her wand again and walked over to her friend, wincing in pain slightly as the blood continued to trickle out of her knees- thicker than it had been before the summer but still bright crimson. She supposed she looked a little dazed and out of place, but that was just her wasn't it? Jules' default expression was one of daydreaming, being in her own little world- usually her mouth hanging ever so slightly open and eyes large, staring into space. But her face turned relatively serious as she reached for her friend's hands. "I don't think you're a monster, I think I am." she breathed, her voice as soft as a feather as always, quietly spoken Jules. "You can't go around saving everyone from accidents that will help them in the long run- maybe this one is just one meant to make your aunt a little more careful at the bakery in the future..." she murmured, holding her friend's hands and swinging them back and forth.

Her brow crumpled for a moment, wondering why her friend's hands didn't feel so cold compared to every other persons. She knew she was far too heated up to pass as normal, so why did Victoria's hands feel like a perfect temperature to her? Jules shook her head absent-mindedly. She couldn't dwell on it, she was trying to help her friend.

Returning to the topic she smiled kindly. "I think we all need to be a bit more careful," she said, a small chuckle on her breath as she glanced down at her knees, red blood slowly trickling down her ghost pale legs. Jules smiled, letting go of Victoria's hands and winding her hands round her waist instead. "We all need to be a bit more careful.." she whispered to herself, reminding herself of the fact, and trying to comfort herself as well as comforting her friend- as selfish as it sounded. Her fears were born of insecurity, Victoria's of something she was incredibly scared of.

Yet she couldn't help herself. "Vic?" came the muffled sound once more, "Are you wearing a new perfume?"






TAGS ?! vicky/nelli
WORDS ?! eight one four
OUTFIT ?! here !
MUSIC ?! shufflesss
NOTES ?! sorry it took so long- mtw!