/𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒\ [𝒔. 𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌]

𝟐.𝟟.𝟤

Sirius, who'd been terrorized by Narcissa's new Christmas present all break, looked up hopefully. Remus shook his head. "Idiotic idea," he said mildly. "She'd kill us- I mean, you know that girl's mad, right?" James and Sirius both nodded. "Look, I say we go for someone we don't usually target. Like... a Hufflepuff or something."

"Do we have a problem with any Hufflepuffs?" Peter asked, wide eyed.

James, Sirius, and Remus all thought hard. "Bertha Jorkins is a bit of an airhead," James said at last. "She'd be an easy target."

"Yeah, what if we somehow slipped something into her pumpkin juice," Sirius said, rolling over onto his back. "Like... aconite or something?"

James laughed loudly, but Remus looked thoughtful. "That'd never work, but I like where you're going..." he said slowly. James, Sirius, and Peter all looked up at him attentively, waiting for his verdict. Remus was surprised. He wasn't used to being the one people listened to; he usually preferred to fade into the shadows and be a quieter influence. "Um-" he stammered, thinking hard. "You remember when we were down by Hagrid's and we saw all those rat-spleens he was working on preserving for the potions classes?" he said at last.

Peter made a disgusted noise. "I'm not touching a rat spleen."

"I'm not asking you to," Remus said with an amused smile. "We can figure out logistics later, but you know how Bertha's always going through her bag in the halls because she forgets stuff all the time?"

A knowing grin spread onto Sirius's face. "I know where you're going with this."

"It would be pretty easy to swipe some spleens and have them... well... follow Bertha around a bit. Every time she gets one out of her bag, another appears. Just like... magic."

James shook his head in awe. "You're evil, Loopy. A genius- but evil." Remus blushed. "Honestly, every time I think I know where you're going, you add something that takes things to a completely different level."

Remus laughed, then looked up to see Artemis stalking across the common room, arms crossed over her chest and her hair obscuring her face. People kept turning to look at her and whisper to each other the way they'd been doing for days now. Remus hated it on Artemis's behalf. She was usually pretty good at putting on a brave face, but he knew it had to bother her more than she let on. "Hey, Art!" he said, making it a point to sound cheerful.

Artemis halted at his chair and only then did he see that her face was tear-streaked and her lower lip was trembling. "What?" she said in a hushed, defensive voice, daring him to say something mean. It had been one of the worst days of her life, and that was saying a lot. Everywhere she went, people had been around to talk about her and judge her- sometimes even directly to her face.

"Would you like some chocolate?" Remus asked, not missing a beat.

That was the moment Artemis knew she wanted to be Remus's friend forever. Her shoulders slackened and she let out a little sniffle. Remus handed her the last of his chocolate bar and she took it with shaking fingers. "Why is everyone here so horrible sometimes?" she asked, soft enough so only Remus could hear her- and only just barely.

"I'll try to figure that one out," he said, only half-joking. He didn't understand why anyone could be mean to Artemis. She was... to him, she was perfect. She was funny and she was smart and she was pretty and- he stopped himself, his jaw slackening. Dear god, he thought, do I have a crush on Artemis Blake?

~

It was the longest, most painful night of Andromeda's life. She kept pushing, doing everything the healers said, but she was tired. Even with the spells they put on her to keep labor from hurting too badly, her body could only take too much. "Come on-" the main healer said encouragingly. "Three more pushes! That's all it'll take."

"Come on, Andy," Ted muttered into her hand, pressed tightly against his lips. "We've come this far. You can do it- I know you can."

"I can't," Andromeda said through gasps. "I can't do it anymore."

Ted shook his head. "I know, I know," he murmured. "But you're the strongest person I know. You know that. Just three more. Three more and everything'll be okay."

She pushed. It was pain like she'd never known before, but she pushed through it. She pushed through it so she could meet her baby, whatever they ended up naming it. It didn't matter if it was a Sarah or an Andrew, it was hers and she'd worked hard for this moment. This was it. The homestretch. "Two more!" the healer called over her screams.

She pushed again. In the moments it didn't hurt as badly, she breathed hard, working as hard to catch her breath as she was to push the baby out. She thought back to all the stolen nights on the Hogwarts grounds with Ted. The little moments when they were both on prefect duty. The feeling she'd gotten when she finally got her own apartment with the man she loved so much. She looked up into his kind eyes now, so filled with worry, and she did it for him. "Just one left! One more big push!" said the healer.

Then it was over. She let out a shuddering breath and saw Ted's shoulders collapse in relief, bending low over his wife to kiss her face. "You did it, Andy," he murmured. "You did it."

She didn't realize anything was wrong until the healers crowded around, some craning to get a better look at the baby in the main healer's arms. "What's happening?" she asked, her voice suddenly cold. "IS it a boy or a girl? Can I hold it?" Nobody answered her, but the main healer got up and quickly hurried off with the little bundle in its arms. Panic flooded Andromeda's chest and she sat up on instinct to try and follow the healer. "Where are you taking her?" she cried, because she somehow got the undeniable sense the baby was a girl. "Why can't I see my baby?"

"Just sit back," a healer said, pushing her a bit too roughly back into the pillows.

Ted shoved the healer away from Andromeda. "Get off of her," he said roughly. "Where are they taking our baby?"

Then, a third healer sat down on the bed next to Andromeda, looking very serious. "Mrs. Tonks, we spoke with you about the... risks... that come with an early baby before any of this, did we not?"

"But- this isn't my fault," Andromeda said, a sob suddenly heaving from somewhere she didn't even know sobs could come from. It was guttural, like it came from deep inside her soul. Because in that moment, she knew exactly what the healer was saying. She was never going to meet little Sarah or Andrew or any baby at all. There was no baby for her. It was gone. All of the hope and the anticipation she'd felt in the last nine months was gone, replaced only by cold, hard grief.

"You're right," the healer said, still keeping calm. "It wasn't your fault, but... well, I'm sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Tonks."

Andromeda didn't even hear these last words over the sounds of her own crying. Next to her, Ted sat stonily with silent tears running down his cheeks, but she wasn't about to take this quietly. There was so much pain, she couldn't keep it all inside, so she sat in her little room in St. Mungo's and cried like a child for her baby she would never get to meet.