An unruly reunion PV Julia Evans

J ulia cursed. This day had gone from a nice, simple day, to a horrible, disaster of a day. She'd woken up on time, feeling happy. She went through her daily routine quickly and walked down to the great hall. Today, she donned a short sleeved, crochet-style, green top with half-baggy jeans and a dark denim jacket. Above it all went her Ravenclaw robes of course. As usual, she had accessorized herself too. There was her beautiful 'J' necklace, which was worn everyday despite the fact that it contained a painful memory. Along with that, she had a golden bracelet layered with green gems, and small, golden hoop earrings with green threads. Feeling pleased with her choice of wardrobe, she took her place at the Ravenclaw table for breakfast. Being a foodie, of course her plate was piled. It had everything available from waffles, and pancakes to eggs and bacon. She talked with the few people around her, then made her way to potions a little while later thinking the day would be perfect.

With her luck, she obviously found out otherwise. Everything was great until Charms. Julia, for some reason, just couldn't get the spell right. Everything was wrong. Her incantation, her aim, her wand movement. This was extremely unusual as she was usually the top in class, and a very fast learner. For the first time, she was relieved when the bell rang and trudged out of the class, almost dragging her bag behind her. Julia decided to go to her common room and read for a while before she went to lunch. She entered the crowded corridor, full of students running around, eager for lunch. Just when she though her day couldn't get worse, naturally, it did. Somebody bumped into her back and she stumbled slightly. Even though it was no fault of her own, she was about to apologize, but a voice cut through. “Watch where you’re going, why don’t you?” Julia looked up to see a first year snarling at her, his face full of contempt. Excuse me? For a moment she was taken aback. She had no fault in this whatsoever, yet this boy, whoever he was, seemed intent on blaming her. He dragged his hand through his hair and mumbled something which could've been an apology, but Julia was to furious to notice. “Pleased to meet you as well” She hissed, glaring daggers at him. She putting on a smile, let alone talking sweetly. He needed to learn that respect goes both ways.

P eople usually said ‘Where there is a will, there is a way’. In Julia's case, it needed to be amended to ‘Where there is a will, there is never a way’. Currently, her will was to curl up on a nice chair in her common room, read a book, then go to lunch. So naturally, she had to bump into someone. The boy accross from her was looking at her as though she was wrong. Julia toyed with the idea of just letting him go, and getting on with... life but that's when he chose to snap at her “I said I was sorry, didn’t I?” The comment through her off as she rolled her eyes, making sure he saw her “Nobody ever taught you that you need to mean the sorry did they?” She scoffed. He moved to push past her but suddenly stopped. The boy studied her in a way that made her feel like she was a cell under a microscope. He nodded to herself and she got the feeling he was judging her, making false assumptions. “Whatever you're thinking, no, I'm not” she snapped, unable to stop herself. Her tone held an edge she was unfamiliar with, but she didn't linger on that thought. The boy paused once more, which made her wish he would just get on and walk out, or let her walk out. Before she could voice the thought, he spoke, his tone more curious than annoyed. “Do I know you from somewhere? It’s not like you look so original, but I have this feeling…” A small, sarcastic smile played at her lips. How delusional was this person? “I am sorry, truly. I didn’t mean it, any of it. It’s just… There’s something about you” He said, sighing. Really? She couldn't think of a vague sentence. First this guy blames her, then thinks her familiar, and then blames her. How absolutely absurd. “I'm sure I would have remembered such an... optimistic person,” Julia retorted making sure to add a lot of sarcasm, but her words didn't tell the complete truth. There was something unusual about this boy. A name danced at the tip of her tongue, unable to be spoken. So of course there was only one thing to do. She studied the boy, her expression holding a sort of expectation, as she waited for him to speak. If only it was a dream.

Sun kissed fields, cobblestone streets, and two kids cannonballing into the lake with not a care in the world. The memories came flooding back like a rouge tsunami crashing in. One dark-haired girl, and a freckled, pale-skinned boy. The sound of laughter echoed in their ears never stopping, neither wanting it to.

Julia's fondest memories from her childhood came back to her but faded, like a photograph over time. She remembered how her face lit up with nothing but pure happiness, how the idea of traveling once more to her favourite place enlightened her. It wasn't her favourite cause of the place, no, but because of the people the person she got to meet. The boy in front of her was no longer just an arrogant, rude boy. He was something unable to be described in words.

“Max?” the girl whispered, her eyes ambivalent, her face nothing short of stunned. She opened her mouth, but no words came out. The pair stood facing each other in shocked silence. It was like the world was being viewed from a different angle, through a different lens. They surveyed each other as if trying to make that faded photo, high-definition again. He hadn't changed a bit, but he had too much. Still had the same pale, freckled skin, the same straight, chestnut hair, and the same sparkling green eyes. But looks defined nobody. Now, he was more serious, thoughtful, grumpy even.

Max opened his mouth, and the words swirling around in Julia's mind, were spoken at last. “But… how are you here?”

A surge of sudden, stubborn, anger surged through her. Their complicated relationship wasn't only full of smiles, and happiness. Her mind shifted, replaying the last few days before they seperated.

[The Past]

This time, only one, dark-haired girl stood on the rocky, cobblestone streets. No laughter satisfied her eager ears, no drop of water touched her pale skin. No freckled, pale-skinned boy stood by her. She waited hours, days, weeks, but no one appeared. She dragged her parents to his house campsite, begging to check. She shouted his name, pulling away when her parents tried to restrain her, but her calls were met with no response. She ran fast as her little legs could go, knocking on the neighbour's door. Surely someone would know, there would be some trace of them. There had to be or else she didn't know what she would do. The door opened and the girl nearly collapsed. “Where are they? Where did they go?” she questioned frantically, pointing at the empty ground on her left. There was still hope. Until there wasn't. “Níl a fhios agam! Siad- d'imigh siad.” A panicked reply met her ears, quickly translated into english, “I don't know! They- they left.” All hope vanished from her eyes as the silver tears she'd been holding back so long fell.

She returned each night, but no window was lit. She wrote everyday, but no reply came. She'd never felt more alone. She returned home, and never returned. Always refused. Over time the pain faded, but was never truly gone.

Julia's head jolted upwards. Her sea green eyes moved, and she forced them to meet her childhood friend's sparkling green ones. Her tone was deadly “How can you dare to ask that? I lived in London. Of course I came to Hogwarts. Rather the more important question would be how you are here. You left without a trace. Not a single message, not a single word,” The last few words came out as a whisper. Her eyes flashed dangerously, just like they had 7 years ago at Max in the crowded markets, and green meadows every time he did something stupid. Julia took a deep breath and closed her eyes, just for a second, trying to invoke that happy 5 year old. Trying to calm down a little. “I'm sorry but you disappear for years without any contact, and I'm the one who shouldn't be here?”

A broken sigh slipped through Julia's mouth. She masked it with frustration, but would be lying if she said she wasn't curious about what Max heard. The sigh with hidden sadness and longing, or the sigh full of frustration? She could almost see the gears turning in her long-lost friend's mind. She assumed he was thinking of the times they shared many years ago. Wether to distinguish them as good or bad was something Julia could, now, not do. While truly in the moment 5 years ago, she would say good, but now after all that happened was it really so good? Was them meeting after so long, after feeling the pain and sorrow, really so good? Fate or not, this 'reunion' of sorts, could be something unwanted. They'd taken separate paths, and Julia didn't know if it was a good idea to intertwine them now. But she was getting sidetracked. Stay in the moment, she told herself. Something she thought way too much these days.

Julia looked up to see Max staring at her, he seemed to be taking in the change. “I didn’t mean it like that!” he exclaimed. He seemed upset, and as much as she knew he deserved it, she couldn't help but feel a little bad. She was about to explain when he spoke again. “And what do you know? I wrote plenty of letters! I just… wasn’t allowed to send any of them,” And that made her snap again. Some part of her mind told her she was getting too worked up, but she couldn't help it. “If you didn't send them, it. doesn't. count! I never heard from you since you moved or whatever and nothing would change that” her voice broke ever so slightly at the end, and she desperately hoped max's skills of figuring out what she was feeling had become severely rusted. He seemed to become angry as rushed words spilled out of his mouth “And what about you, huh? Why didn’t you write any? Because I have yet to receive a single one from you!”

The shock hit her hard. Her face was painted with disbelief as she felt her jaw drop. She didn't write?! Either the boy just had a bad memory or something was seriously wrong. “I didn't write?! I don't know what's wrong but I can assure you I wrote every single day. I wrote every day for a year with the hope that you'd reply to at least one. You never did. Why?” Her words went from a shout to a whisper. All her efforts to contact him had been in vain. Maybe she'd got something wrong, or maybe he didn't want to talk to her. Julia closed her eyes, leaning her head back against the wall trying to push down the tears that welled up in her eyes. She waited for max to say something but that didn't stop the empty feeling in her heart to grow.