Everything to Me

30.

Juli stood still in her place while James was pacing. Everyone was too stunned to say something and decided not to interfere. James halted all of a sudden, as if only just realizing what he had said. He slowly turned around to face Juli.

"What did you just say?" She asked meekly.

James was still angry at her but he didn't mean for her to find out this way. He didn't mean for her to find out at all. Truth be told, he was too angry to even think about anything else. "I am going to bed. You can talk to me when you have decided to be honest." He looked around the room and saw his friends' worried expressions but left for his dorm without a word.

"I- I didn't know you were together." Peter said, looking at Sirius and Juli.

Sirius glanced at Juli but she was still in her thoughts. "Yeah, uh, we got together after you date." Sirius answered. "We wanted to tell James but..."

Peter simply nodded and left for the dorm, too.

"I'll see you in the morning." Juli addressed everyone in the room and went out the portrait hole.

Lily walked up to Sirius and asked, "Did you know about this?"

He shook his head, not knowing what else to say.

"Juli needs her time. Maybe we should go try to calm James." Remus suggested.

Sirius didn't want to let Juli be alone but he knew that she needed that. He made his way upstairs and entered their dorm. James had his back towards the door.

Remus gave him an encouraging nod and he started, "Prongs?"

He did not respond. Sirius went and sat down on the edge of the bed, waiting for him to turn around. "We were going to tell you James. We were waiting for the right time. I am sorry you had to find out this way."

Seeing that James wasn't going to respond, Sirius laid down and allowed sleep to consume him, thinking about the dreadful Christmas at Grimmauld. His thought wondered to Juliette and how she would be holding up but didn't go looking for her.

Juli was strolling around the banks of Black Lake, thinking about what James had said. She was not a Potter. She was not related to any of them by blood. How did they even find her? Millions of questions were rising in her mind which only her parents could answer. Seeing that she couldn't do anything about it, she allowed her mind to wander back to Sirius and Christmas. She shuddered at the thought of Sirius in his awful house and finally went back to her dorm, laying in bed until the sun shone in through the window.

That morning, neither James nor Juli had eaten anything. Knowing both of them very well, none of their friends had pestered them to. Sirius sat between Juli and Remus, occasionally rubbing the back of Juli's neck in a soothing manner. They all sat at the table, talking about Christmas plans and OWLs.

"Will you be coming over?" Juli asked Lily.

"I don't think this is the right time, Juli. You need to have some family discussions. Some other time, maybe." Lily replied kindly.

She inhaled deeply thinking about the previous night and held Sirius' hand tightly.

* * * * *

The train ride home that day was long and silent. The Marauders compartment was quiet since James was not talking to Sirius and Juli didn't bother to participate in the girls' conversation.

10 minutes before they reached the station, there was a knock on the girls' compartment. Lily slid the door open to see Sirius standing there. No one failed to notice how Juli instantly looked better at his sight.

"May I?" He asked.

Marlene rolled her eyes at him, "Don't be formal with us, Black. Come in"

He went inside and sat down beside Juli. Everyone went back to their own thing, trying to give them some privacy.

Sirius' scent engulfed Juli and she instantly put her head on his chest, trying to seek comfort from his warmth. "I can't have this conversation with my parents. Not when my brother isn't talking to me. But I need to know." She whispered.

"I know, Juliette. Everything will be okay."

He sat in their compartment till King's Cross, talking to the girls while Juli sat still, enjoying his mere presence.

"Come home if things go wrong." This was the only thing James said to Sirius before going to meet his parents.

Juli nodded at him in agreement and pulled him into a long lasting kiss. "Don't hesitate and just come home, okay?" She mumbled against his chest.

"Okay."

She said good bye to Sirius and spotted her parents. James was already with them.

"You okay, sweetheart? McGonagall wrote to us about that brat Mulciber." Fleamont asked, hugging her.

She smiled at him and went to her mom.

"We were so glad that James was with you." Euphemia kissed her cheek and ruffled James' hair. This time, he didn't even protest. "How was the term?"

"It was good." Juli replied.

"Get into trouble?" Fleamont laughed.

"Not really."

Their parents could sense something was wrong as the kids didn't say a word the entire ride home. They tried making conversation but were only answered in one word.

The dinner that night was unlike anything at the Potter manor and the twins barely ate.

Growing tired of this, Euphemia finally asked at breakfast next morning, "What is going on with you two?"

"She was dating Sirius behind my back and lied to me about it!" James shouted.

Juli almost spit out her water and added with anger, "And he told me that I am adopted!"

Euphemia and Fleamont looked stunned at her words.They looked at each other with worry but turned to answer her.

"Juli, honey, there is something we need to tell you." Fleamont started, but before he could say something else, there was a knock on the door.

Not having the courage to hear it, Juli went to get it and opened the door to Sirius. She gasped at his state. He was wet due to the snow and had a large gash on his right hand. His clothes were torn at multiple places. He looked sick and exhausted.

"I am so sorry, I couldn't stay at Grimmauld any longer." And he collapsed on the floor.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A/N: I am really sorry for this and I know this is not one of my best... The next chapter will hopefully be better.