the silence in between

Pulling back her dark hair, Juliette hummed softly, feet crunching against the snow as she walked. Winter was tolerable, at most. It was after all, the season of her birthday. So in many ways, she'd been expected to love the season.

And when it wasn't snowing, she had. Tilting her head up, she gave the sky a little frown. It was overcast, but it didn't look like a blizzard was impending. Shivering at just the thought of all that snow, she pulled her coat closer to her.

Just because it was winter didn't mean she'd get snowed in. And besides, it wasn't as if she couldn't just apparate herself far far away from a blizzard. But still, the irrational fear of finding herself caught in a blizzard was there.

And she was too busy fretting that she hardly noticed the blond in front of her. Not until she crashed into him. "Oh I'm so sor-" looking up, her apology died in her throat. "Eli."

Eli strolled down the crowded streets, a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and a precariously stacked pile of papers in the other. He hummed an old familiar song to himself, some tune he remembered from his childhood. He was on his way to work, but knowing that Brock would be out today, he decided to take his time getting there.

Someone shouted his name from across the street, and he stopped, his head swinging towards the noise. No one he recognized caught his eye, however, and he waved it off. Now that some of those sleazy tabloids were picking up on the Minister's engagement, the man was getting recognized by more and more random strangers

He had barely started walking again before he was met with a collision with one of the other pedestrians. He clung his papers to his chest, saving the majority of them, and looked down to see just who it was he had run into,

Almost immediately, the man's coffee fell to the ground as he shouted, "Juliette!" He bit his lip as he tried to stutter out something that resembled a sentence, "I mean- Wow... What- what are you doing he- Uh... I mean, I haven't seen you in awhile? How... How are you doing?" He gave her a small, nervous smile.

Raising a thin eyebrow, the girl took a careful step backwards as to not find herself drenched in coffee. "That would be my name," she said with a careful shrug, her eyes never leaving the man.

He didn't look all that different from the last time they'd seen each other. The only real difference was that he looked older, but time had a way of doing that to people.

"I'm fine," she punctuated her words with another little shrug. "I heard you're getting married." Juliette rubbed at her pink ears. "Congrats."

"Right," Eli said with a breathy smile, "Sorry." He looked down at the spilled coffee, his eyes refusing to look back up at her, "Uhh..." His hand swung up to the back of his neck, "Yeah. Yeah I am."

His gaze finally returned to Juliette with a small smile, "Thanks. But I haven't heard anything about you. How have you been keeping?"

She raised her eyebrows, unimpressed, and yet, despite herself, rather amused. Had he always been so easily flustered? "Don't be," she lifted her shoulders up into another shrug. "If you're going to apologize, it should be about something that really matters." She found herself unable to keep the bitter tone out of her voice. "To the Minister of Magic," she drawled, her green eyes flashing. "How'd you manage that one?"

Her hands shoved into her pockets, she tilted her head up at him, but didn't return his smile. "I've been fine. Life's been good. Can't really complain."

"Right," Eli said with another succinct nod, kicking aside a piece of snow as he finally registered the hint of hostility in her voice. His smile somehow disappeared for awhile.

He couldn't help but give a small smirk at the question. "Well, I did take her to Italy on the second date, but I'm sure there were a few other factors." That day seemed like an eternity ago, back when he didn't even know she was minister, but it was as clear a memory as any.

The man nodded again, "I'm glad to hear that.... Is your family doing well?" One thing he'd always enjoyed about dating Juliette was her home life. He'd never seen a warmer family in his life. Granted, he never really saw normal families in general, but it didn't take much to notice that her's was especially close.

She couldn't help the irrational stab of jealousy. He'd never taken her to Italy. Hell, he hadn't taken her to any foreign countries. She rubbed at her forehead, a frown stamped across her face. "How nice," Juliette said stiffly, her hands wrapping around herself.

A smile crossed her face, the first one since she'd seen him, and her expression softened. "Yeah, of course. Mom and Dad are doing great, and Lissy..." she gave her head a small amused shake. "Well, you know sixteen year olds. Always getting into fights with other students."

Eli frowned, bouncing slightly on the balls of his feet. He recognized Juliette's envy in an instant. It made sense. After all, when the two of them were dating, he was nothing but a naive kid just out of Hogwarts. He had neither the ingenuity nor the resources to sweep a girl off to some romantic location like Italy. The best he could do back then was a burnt home-cooked dinner with some semi-expensive booze.

The man grinned, "I know what you mean. Kallie's apprentice is sixteen, Julian's his name," he laughed, thinking about the impulsive young boy, "Gets into fights all the time. He actually sort of reminds me of myself when I was younger."

"Huh," Juliette smiled, her lips pulled up ever so slightly. Julian was a common name, wasn't it? But what were the chances that there was another Julian out there the same age as the one she knew. "Lis has a friend named Julian. I wonder if it's the same guy."

The woman made a mental note to ask Lisette the next time she saw her.

"Got any kids under you wing?"

"Maybe," Eli said with a small shrug, "It's a small world, especially when you're a wizard." He remembered Julian probably went to the same school, too. So it was more likely than not that the two knew each other.

He raised his eyebrows in thought, "Well, there's this one Durmstrang kid, but he's less of an apprentice than someone I'm trying to keep from getting killed, which he comes pretty close to on a regular basis. First time I found him, he'd exploded a cauldron in a field out in the middle of nowhere."

"That's true," she agreed, nodding her head from side to side. "A little odd though, when all your friends know each other." Juliette shrugged a shoulder, "But I guess it saves you from having to awkwardly introduce people. Time saver."

And a moment not spent enjoying life was a moment wasted.

The woman's lips curled upwards in amusement and she gave her head a small shake. "Sounds like a handful. How do you plan on keeping him in line and stopping him from killing himself?"

Eli gave a small laugh, "Yeah. I hadn't really thought of that." Then again, it did mean that there were a lot more awkward reconnections that were very far from necessary.

"Well, you know," the man said with a small shrug, "I just try to be there to take him to the hospital when he needs it. The nurses there probably know him better than his own parents do." He laughed again, and glanced down quickly at the watch on his wrist, "Merlin's beard!!"

He looked back up at Juliette, "Sorry, I have a little more than five minutes to get to work. I really should go." He gave her an apologetic smile, "It was really nice seeing you, though."