"What do you mean 'you killed them'?" Sophie said disbelievingly. "Did a knife slip from your hand by accident!?"

"Sophie, please. It was an accident and I feel the pain of my actions every single day. My mum called me a freak and my dad called me a monster so..." Pandora said, looking down.

"So what? You killed them?"

"No, Sophie, I sung them to sleep. A sleep in which they would never wake up from."

"How though? I've heard you sing before and it wasn't great if I'm being honest. I don't believe it. You're lying just to cover up another lie." Sophie said dully.

"No, listen to me Sophie-"

"No! I won't listen to you mum! I want the cold, honest truth, however hard on me it may be. Please, for the love of all that is holy tell me the TRUTH!" She yelled in anger.

"Sophie Austen-James, don't take that tone with me!" Her mother said angrily.

"I'll do what I want, thank you very much. Tell me the truth and I'll leave you alone. Tell me the truth, tell me the truth tell me the-"

"Shut up!" Pandora roared.

Silence fell upon them both as Sophie looked into her mothers eyes and saw nothing but years of hate and resentment bottled up. She sighed and decided on a final decision. 

"Mum, if it bothers you that much I'll stop asking. I just don't like being lied to, especially by my own mother! But in the future, if I ask a question don't lie. Please, mum."

Pandora thought for a moment then nodded, not looking Sophie in the eye. Her cheeks were slightly flushed from the outburst but were now going back to their original, dull colour.

"Alright, love."

Sophie nodded, smiling, with her fingers crossed behind her back.

She'd never keep her nose out of her family's business. There were secrets and she was going to find them out.

*******************

The Gryffindor common room was buzzing with excitement and chatter that evening. Halloween was fast-approaching and the common room was decorated with various pumpkins of all different shapes and sizes. Sirius had snuck Juliet into the common room for a friendly conversation and so they could be somewhere more private.

Juliet sat next to Peter, Peter sat next to James, James sat next to Sirius, Sirius sat next to Remus and Remus sat next to Juliet. They were all sitting in a small circle facing each other so they could have a proper conversation. It would be considered lying if Juliet said she was comfortable around the Marauders. She barely knew them at all. Sirius had, of course, told his mates that Juliet had been acting strange recently but hadn't made it such a dramatic matter that they were all questioning her about it.

"Juliet? Are you okay?" Sirius asked from opposite her.

No reply.

"Juliet White?" 

"What? Oh, sorry. I was thinking about something." she said, still slightly dazed.

"That's all you do these days." Sirius said under his breath. "Is there something on your mind that you want to talk about?"

"Well, I don't really know you all that well. I mean, I know Sirius well but the rest of you remain a mystery to me."

"Why don't we play a good old-fashioned game of 'Truth or Dare'? Could be fun?" Sirius proffered.

"Sure, truth or dare, Sirius?" James asked.

The four boys and Juliet kept daring each other until they all began to grow weary and the truths became more ridiculous.

"Juliet, can you speak French?"

"Why do you ask, Peter?"

"You went to Beaubattons, they all speak French there right?" James interjected.

"Yes, it does, but that doesn't mean I can speak it fluently." Juliet told them.

"So you can speak French?"

"Mais oui, cher Piere!" Juliet said in a strong French accent.

"She can speak the language of love!" James said, practically jumping for joy. "Teach me, oh blessed one." 

"Well this went down a strange path..." Remus muttered.

"If I can speak to Lily in French, maybe she'll fall hopelessly in love with me. If I greet her with two kisses, as is the French way, and drop F-bombs, she'll fall head over heals for me!"

"If you start dropping f-bombs, I don't think she'll be going out with you at all!" Sirius laughed, although it sounded more like a bark.

"We're getting off topic, gentleman." Juliet said.

"Okay, that wasn't really our question." a dozy Peter said. "Do you have the dark Mark like-"

"No! I don't have the dark Mark like my parents!" Juliet shrieked, immediately standing up and crossing her arms.

"You don't have to lie to them, Juliet." Sirius said.

She looked at Sirius, full of rage and slapped him straight across the face in one swift move. She quickly ran out of the dorm room and out into the corridors of Hogwarts, not caring if the caretaker caught her.

Silence filled the dorm room.

"You absolute muppet!" Remus scolded, standing up. "I'm going to go and find her and set things straight. You shouldn't have said that, idiot."

"What? What did I say?" sleepy Sirius mumbled.

Remus rolled his eyes and slapped his face, this time harder than Juliet had done it. Werewolf strength can also be a bad thing sometimes.

"Great. Now I've been slapped by two girls today." Sirius teased, rubbing his jaw.

Down in the corridor, Remus was running after to Juliet who was stomping away, clutching her arm with the mark.

"Juliet, stop." Remus shouted after her.

"No!" she cried back.

Remus ran up to her and grabbed her wrist tightly.

"Remus, let me go now." she said, trying to twist away from his tight grip.

"Juliet, you should know that none of us are perfect. I, for one, am probably the most damaged of us all. Sirius is troubled by the past that refuses to leave him, Peter is scared of what is to come, James is like the mother hen so he refuses to be away from us otherwise he gets worried and I..well, there's something wrong with me that I wish I could fix but I unfortunately cannot. 

"But, as long as we have each other at our sides we will always be okay. Whether that's fighting side by side or defending someone for hurting or torturing one of us. We try to act happy all the time and cover up all our anger with pranks but the truth is, we're all broken. And I know that you are too because you are haunted by your terrible family." Remus started.

"James truly loves Lily, he would do everything possible to earn her love.  Peter is our friend and we would do anything for him, he's like a brother to us. I don't love anyone yet, and I hope in the future that still remains so. As for Sirius, please give him a chance. He may have said the wrong thing before but we don't care. You're one of us and we don't want you to get hurt either." Remus finished.

Juliet was lost for words.

"Remus Lupin, the wordsmith. I never would have thought." she smiled. "In all seriousness, that was beautiful. I don't know what to say."

"Then don't say anything. I know what you've been thinking about recently and, if I'm being honest, I've felt that too. Utter hopelessness, it's a horrible feeling. I just want to tell you that I'm here for you, Juliet." Remus said with a weak, tired smile.

"Remus, can I ask you a question?"

"What is it?" 

"Have you ever felt scared for your life?"

Remus chuckled, brushing his hair out of his tired face.

"Clearly you don't know what it's like to be me..." he said, tears glinting in his eyes.

"Remus, is everything alright?" Juliet said, placing a hand on his shoulder.

She shook his head without speaking and looked to the floor. He sat on the bench next to them and put his head in his hands. Juliet out a comfortin arm around him and felt a little choked up herself.

"Y'know, I'm glad we had this conversation." Juliet smiled down at Remus.

He looked up at her smiling, pale face and smiled back slightly. 

"Me too."

*******************

Since the invention of the mobile phone, communication has been much easier amongst friends and families. When Sophie had gone back to Edinbrough to collect her Grandparents belongings, she encountered Edward riding his bike. Nothing much had changed apart from his height and the fact that he looked more freckly than before. 

They had exchanged phone numbers and could now communicate freely, other than the fact that Edward was using his mothers phone since he didn't have his own. Sophie usually told Edward about her day and her family's strange quirks. Edward had mentioned something about his family being strange but she just ignored that thought.

One strange family was enough for her.

On that rainy, Sunday afternoon when Sophie had finished all her year seven homework, she decided to go for a search around the house for supposed 'magical' things. So, late at night when everyone was fast asleep, she crept along the landing and went into the living room to search through the boxes. 

Many were labelled 'clothes' and 'kitchen' so she didn't bother rooting through them. What interested her more were the boxes with 'books' on them. They were bound to have something in them.

"Let's have a look, shall we?" Sophie whispered to herself. 

She took the knife in her hand and drove it along the edge of the cellotape. As she was about to open the box, a small knock could be heard on the door.

Sophie jumped slightly but stood up and went to open the door. It was raining outside and everyone was asleep. She didn't want to wake up anyone. 

So, pulling her dressing gown around her waist she stood up and made her way to the door. Opening it, she couldn't believe who she saw.

"Hello again, Sophie."

A/N: Originally, this chapter was much better but Wattpad decided it was a good idea to delete it all so I started anew. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it.