Unification

Susan was waiting on Julia's bed for her, painting her toenails bright blue. "So?"

Julia set her purse down on her dresser and feigned confusion. "So what?"

"So how'd it go with you and Drunk Boy?"

"What, you expect me to spill it like I'm thirteen and this is some kind of slumber party?"

Grinning, Susan put the nail polish down and began to fan her toes. "Damned right, you have to spill it."

For a minute, Julia's demeanor became that of a teenage girl. "Suze, it was great. He's a lot better looking than I thought - gorgeous eyes - and we just had the best time talking. He even passed every test I threw at him."

"Like?"

"Like I took over ordering, in French, and he thought it was cool. Y'know, stuff like that. But anyways, we got kicked out of the restaurant when it closed, and we had a lovely walk here, discussed astronomy..."

Susan smacked her on the arm. "And? Did he snog you or not?"

Julia frowned for a minute. "Well, he gave me a little peck on the cheek and asked me if we could do this again, but when he left, it was really odd... I was about to let him in, but I turned around to talk to him and he was gone. Just like that. No noise, no nothing. Just ...gone."

"Hmm. That is odd. I guess I'll have to grill him on it when he finally gets over here."

Julia laughed. "Oh no, sweetheart. When I bring him over, you will be gone for the night, you hear me?"

~~~~

The next time Julia got in to work, there was a surprise waiting for her. It came in the shape of a tall, slender woman with neon hair and one hell of a sense of humor named Dora. Apparently some relative Clay had hardly known had passed away and had left him a large sum of money. Being the owner of the shop, Clay immediately hired another tattoo artist and gave Julia a raise.

Julia liked Dora; she was funny, frank, and seemed to be the adventurous type. When there weren't any customers in the store, Dora would regale her with stories that would have her doubled over in laughter and gasping for breath.

In the evenings, Julia would go home and invariably get a call from Harry, who she would then spend hours talking to. She and Susan usually did everything together, and when Julia began to spend a great deal of her free time on the phone with her new beau, the imp in Susan decided to spend a great deal of her free time trying to embarrass Julia. Susan would usually jump on the bed in the next room and make loud and rather rude noises, and Julia would usually fire a pillow at her head in return. Harry was rather amused by all of this, and several times suggested that Susan would be a great fit for either his friend Ron or for one of Ron's two older twin brothers.

They kept going on little dates, and both Julia and Harry began getting more and more emotionally involved with each other. Finally, after six months of nightly phone calls and little two or three hour dates, Harry asked her to spend a couple of days with him at a cottage in the countryside. Julia loved the idea, and began eagerly looking forward to it.

Harry showed up that Friday in a taxi, bearing a bouquet of yellow daisies for her. She blushed and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

The taxi took them to a lovely little house situated on a field that seemed to grow all manner of wild things. Walking inside was like walking into a dollhouse; everything seemed sweet and pristine. All the chairs were overstuffed, and there was no television in sight. The back porch overlooked a very small, tranquil lake.

Harry put her bags down. "Well? Do you like it?"

Julia smiled as broadly as she could. "Harry, I love it."

"Well, good. There is one thing I need to tell you, though... I hope you don't mind, but my two best friends have been bugging me to let them meet you. I invited them over tonight. They won't be there the whole time - just a few hours tonight. I hope that's okay."

It was a little bit of a shock, but it was okay, Julia guessed. "Alright. I'm kinda nervous, though."

"Why would you be? They're going to love you."

"Well, for one thing, I did allow you to tattoo a snake on to your friend Ron's ass, and for another thing, Hermione's going to be really protective of you."

Harry walked up to her and wrapped her in his arms. "Julia, I promise you, they'll both love you."

She bit her lip. "Do you think they're gonna think that I'm weird?"

Harry laughed. "No, dear. Trust me, after some of the ones that I picked before you, they'll be relieved." He played with the red streak she'd recently put in her hair. "You're not weird, anyhow. You're..."

Julia arched an eyebrow.

"...Oh hell, you're weird. So am I. Besides, normal people are no fun."

She playfully punched his arm and then settled in for a kiss.

They spent the day mostly on the back porch swing, talking softly, enjoying each other's company. It had been a while since they had been able to spend some time alone together, due to Harry's job and Julia's sometimes unrelentless schedule of school and work. It was worth it, though; Harry made her happy.

Well, mostly happy.

He kept things to himself. Harry had a shell that she couldn't seem to break through. Susan, in her usual brusque, sophomoric way, told her that all Harry needed was a few shags and he'd break. After the ensuing eyeroll, Susan softened and told her friend that he just needed time. Julia was sure that Susan was right, but she couldn't help but be hurt in a tiny part of herself that Harry wouldn't want to share all of himself with her.

She knew Harry's parents had died when he was a baby, and she knew he'd been shipped off to live with some horrible relatives. She knew that he'd gone to a boarding school, but with exception of his two lifelong friends that he'd made there, he wouldn't tell any more about it. He wouldn't even tell her what type of job he had. Julia knew it was some sort of law enforcement position, but nothing else.

The few fights that they'd ever had were about this very thing. It usually ended in a very hurt-looking Harry, who promised her that if he could tell her more about certain things, he would. He just wasn't allowed to, and it killed him not to be able to tell her everything. He'd usually give her a hurt puppy dog look, which he knew got her every time, and soon enough she was tearing up and telling him how sorry she was.

The thing that kept her going in the relationship was how blissfully happy he made her when she wasn't focusing on what she couldn't know. Most of the time that was more than worth it. Today, she worried - these two friends of Harry's had known him since he was eleven, and she was worried that she wouldn't measure up. In light of their thirteen years of knowing him versus her three months, she couldn't see how she possibly could measure up.

At five o'clock, just as she was finishing dinner, the doorbell rang. Harry eagerly went to get it, and in stepped the redhead she remembered as well as a tall, slender girl with slightly bushy brown hair. She set a bag down in the entryway and enveloped Harry in a rather large hug, and then went into the bag and presented Harry with a bottle of wine. Harry motioned Julia over. "Ron, Hermione - this is Julia."

Julia smiled and did her best not to look as nervous as she felt.

"Oh yeah, I remember you," said Ron, grinning.

Julia couldn't help herself. "So, did you like your tattoo?" She knew full well that Ron most certainly did not.

Hermione arched an eyebrow and turned toward Ron. "Tattoo?"

"Yeah, that's how we met," Harry said. "When Ron made - um, got his current job, we went out to celebrate and overdid it a bit," he explained to Hermione. "We ended up in a tattoo parlor because this prat here wanted a tattoo on his arse all of a sudden." His expression became evil. "So we got him a tattoo."

"What was it again, Harry? Some sort of snake? And there were words..." Julia chewed her lip, trying to remember.

"Slytherin," he said.

Hermione clapped a hand over her mouth and snorted. "Harry Potter! You didn't!"

"He most certainly did," said Ron, giving Harry a black look. "Wanker."

Harry grinned brightly. "Now, now, Ron, there are ladies in the house."

Hermione walked up to Julia. "I see you've got some pots going in the kitchen. Well, I'm hoping they're yours, because our dear Harry can't cook to save his life, and if that's one of his concoctions, we're calling out for pizza."

"No worries. It's mine. Nothing big, just spaghetti, but I'm not too terrible of a cook."

"Would you like some help?"

"Sure." Hermione and Julia walked into the small kitchen together, and began to chop vegetables for a salad. "So, you've known Harry for thirteen years, huh?"

Hermione nodded. "Yeah. I must say, you are different from most of the girls he's gone for in the past."

Julia minced some extra garlic and added it to the pot of sauce. "Really? How?"

"Well, Harry's been so busy lately with everything that he honestly didn't want anything serious, so he's been dating women who... how do I say this? ... I'll put it this way. He hasn't been dating them for their brains, and never for very long. They're always stunning, far better looking than you or I, but definitely lacking in any department other than silicone."

Harry noticed that the two of them were deep in discussion. "What are you two doing over there?"

"Just knocking your ex-girlfriends, Harry dear," answered Hermione.

"Great. Next you'll be on to embarrassing stories."

Julia laughed. "Oh, that's a good subject. Do tell." She was grinning in anticipation when something clattered to the floor between the two women. She bent down almost at the same time as Hermione, but just quickly enough to be the first person to see what Hermione had dropped.

It was another strange piece of wood.

All of Julia's willingness to give Harry time evaporated. She'd had it with the secrets. She trusted him completely; why couldn't he trust her? She'd given him every reason to!

"Harry."

Behind Julia, Hermione was mouthing "Oh, shit."

"Harry, I'm sorry. I know this isn't the time or the place for this, but this is the second time I've seen one of these damned things. If it was a knick knack, why the hell are you two carrying them around in your pockets? I love you, I do - "

Harry's eyebrows shot up. "You do?"

Julia realized what she'd just said. "Well, yes. I do. But I can't be in this relationship if you're not going to trust me. So I'm going to ask you one more time: What is this thing?"

Ron looked at Harry very seriously. "We can pull a Lockhart later if you need to."

Harry looked down at his lap. "No, no, that's okay. I'm going to lose a limb or two over this, but I can't stand keeping the truth from her any more. She deserves nothing less."

Hermione touched Julia's arm. "You're going to need to sit down, love."