“Yes.”  Julia answered his question immediately, without even looking at him.  “You could pass for sixteen easy.  It’s all how you carry yourself, you know.  Not how many birthdays you’ve had.”  She was sure of that because it was what her sister had told her many times, and because she always thought Jamie had a sort of old soul anyway, like he’d already lived a lot more lives than she expected to live in all her years put together.  

By the time he was sitting beside her, interrupting her heartbreaking song, Julia was grinning broadly, on the verge of laughing aloud as she folded her hands in her lap, leaving him room to take over the piano.  She wasn’t ashamed to admit that Jamie was far better at making music than she was – piano included – and she would much rather listen to him than to play herself.  

“Who should I hire to break my heart? You have someone in mind?”

“I don’t know,” she said slowly, thinking this over.  “Aren’t there any girls you think are interesting?”  there had to be a certain girl or two that often caught his eye, whether he wanted to admit it or not.  Julia couldn’t imagine he would be able to write so many pretty songs about love and romance if he didn’t ever think about girls that way.  She fingered one of the ringlets hanging over her shoulder, pulling it straight and twisting it around her thumb, contemplating

“What about Harmony, the Ravenclaw.  She’s really nice, and she has a name that would go into a song well, don’t you think?”  Julia continued to alternate between staring off into space and staring hard at Jamie, as though something in his features would produce a romantic epiphany.  “Hazel is sweet, too, the fourth year, you know?  But it might be hard to sing about a name like that.  Ooh, what about Avaline?  Do you know her?  She’s so pretty and really nice.  I bet you would like her.”  

Satisfied, Julia stood and went to the box of sheet music and books.  She thumbed through them and came back with the pages for a duet she liked, nudging Jamie over so she could sit down on the opposite side of him from where she’d begun.  “You can’t expect a beautiful girl to just fall in your lap if you never exert any effort, you know.  Any one of those girls would love you.”



Life unfolds in proportion to your courage.