"for last year's words belong to last year's language / and next year's words await another voice / and to make an end is to make a beginning." ~ T.S. Eliot
~october 1971~
"Have you read this one yet?"
Artemis looked up from the piles of homework covering her and Lily's table in the library to see Remus standing over her, a large book in his outstretched hand. She reached out and took it, scanning the cover carefully. "The Secret Garden. I think my mum likes this one." She added it to her stack and then rifled around in her bag, coming up with a slightly smaller, ragged looking book. "Here, you should read this one."
"The Little Prince," Remus mused, his mouth twitching into a smile. "My dad has this one on his shelf."
"Oh, have you already read it?" Artemis reached to take the book back, but Remus held it out of reach.
"No, I kept meaning to but never got around to it. Mind if I borrow it?"
"That's why I gave it to you," Artemis laughed. "Here, come study with us." She cleared away a section of the table and patted the seat next to her for Remus to sit.
He shook his head slowly, still preoccupied by the book in his hands. Artemis noticed that his posture was slouched and he had dark circles under his eyes like he hadn't been sleeping. "No time," he murmured, raising his gaze to meet Artemis's and shaking his hair out of his eyes. "I promised James and Sirius I would distract Professor Slughorn while they free all the potions testing frogs."
Neither Artemis nor Lily reacted to the boys' scheme. In the almost-two months they'd been at Hogwarts, they'd grown used to the insanity of the first year Gryffindor boys. "Need help?" Artemis asked. Lily cleared her throat loudly and shot her a pointed look. "Ah, never mind." Artemis sank down in her chair and propped her sneakers on the edge of the one in front of her. She'd promised to help Lily study for their upcoming Defense Against the Dark Arts exam all afternoon, but she was quickly regretting it.
"That's alright," Remus said with a shrug. "Shouldn't take long for them to get caught anyways. See you later?"
"See you." Artemis turned back to the table as Remus left the library, The Little Prince under his arm.
"He's so weird," Lily said, opening her notebook to a fresh page and beginning to jot down notes on Imps.
Artemis shrugged and started reading over the notes she took in class. "All the boys are, but I like Remus."
"That's just because you're both book nerds," Lily said with a short laugh. "-And I never said I didn't like him; he's really nice. I like him better than James, anyways..." Her expression turned into a scowl at the mere thought of James Potter. Lily's hatred for the boy ran deep after all the times he'd bullied Severus so far and then tried to ask Lily out. The boys stood at the bottom of the steps to the girls dormitory every morning for that sole purpose, and Artemis especially hated that the other boys seemed to think it was the funniest thing in the world.
On the other hand, James was always friendly with Artemis and the other girls. "Oh, come on," she said, knowing full well what she was getting herself into. "He's not that bad."
Lily looked up, her large green eyes widening in dismay. "He's awful, Art! Have you seen the way he treats Sev? Or Peter, even. He and Sirius treat him like a servant- it's honestly disgusting."
"Well maybe if Peter didn't worship the ground they walk on-"
"Artemis!" Lily cried, aghast. She let out a huff of a sigh and glared down at her books. Artemis tilted her seat back slightly and balanced a foot on the chair in front of her, staring across the library at a group of fourth year Hufflepuff boys. "I don't understand any of this..." Lily muttered under her breath. "Art, are you even paying attention?"
"Hm? Oh, yeah. Here, take my notes." She slid her notebook across the table and went back to eyeing up the boys. Behind them, Artemis saw the library door open and her older brother, Percy, walked in surrounded by his Slytherin friends. "Oh no," she whispered, trying to duck behind Lily so Percy wouldn't see her. She'd been avoiding him ever since she was sorted into Gryffindor, not wanting to confront him about bringing shame to the family name. Nobody in her house knew the two were related, anyways, and apparently the Prewetts hadn't said anything. Artemis had learned quickly that Percy was using their father's name, Goyle, during his time at Hogwarts. Artemis kept the name Blake. She didn't want to tarnish the Goyle name or disappoint her father's memory even more by accepting her position in Gryffindor.
"What?" Lily turned to see where Artemis was looking. "Who're we looking at?" she whispered over her shoulder. Artemis grabbed her arm and pulled her back around.
"Nobody. Don't worry about it. Look, I'm bored of studying for today."
Lily looked confused and a little hurt. "But we just started-"
"But it's a- she checked her calendar quickly- a Thursday." She quickly realized what a lame excuse it was, but kept going anyways. "Who studies on a... Thursday? We should take the night off; do something fun for once." She started hurriedly packing up her things, carefully avoiding eye contact with Percy. "Come on, Lils. Loosen up."
Lily raised an eyebrow at Artemis, but shrugged and packed up her own things. "You can 'do something fun' with Marlene. I'm going to have Mary quiz me in the common room." She got up and brushed past Artemis on her way out the door. Artemis merely shrugged it off and followed her. In the time that she'd known Lily, she'd learned very quickly that when she got angry it only lasted an hour or two. She took the long way around the library to avoid Percy's table and then pushed open the library door to go find someone new to hang out with.
~
That Friday night, Lily and Artemis's little argument was long forgotten as the girls all crowded onto Mary's bed for what had been unofficially established as their weekly girls' nights. Marlene was settled against the headboard, holding a pillow to her chest with Mary right beside her, resting her head on Marlene's shoulder. Lily was sitting cross legged on the end of the mattress, her hands settled neatly in her lap. In front of her, Artemis was sprawled on her back, her head resting on one of Marlene's legs, her hair spread wildly over the bedspread. "I can't wait to do real magic," she said, raising her hands towards the ceiling and wiggling her fingers.
"What do you think we've been doing so far?" Marlene said with a snort. She twirled one finger through her blonde hair and jiggled her leg so Artemis had to move her head.
Artemis sat up and pulled her legs into her chest. "I mean real real magic. You know, fighting spells and- and- I dunno, I just want to learn how to fight."
Mary giggled and tapped Artemis's knee gently with her foot. "Artemis, what do we need to know how to fight for? I'm just excited to learn some new things in Herbology. We've been doing bouncing bulbs for weeks now." She wrinkled her nose and brushed a lock of brown hair behind her ear.
"That's because they're just- so- interesting," Artemis said with a comically pained expression.
Lily laughed and pulled one leg to her chest, resting her chin on her knee. "Did you guys hear James ask me out today?"
Marlene rolled her eyes. "Which time? I swear that boy can't take a hint..."
"A hint?" Mary scoffed. "You mean he can't comprehend point blank rejection."
"It doesn't help that Sirius is always egging him on," Artemis said, examining her nails absentmindedly. "Ugh... I need to learn that charm Flitwick told us about... the color changing one?" She looked up at Marlene, who nodded sagely.
"I want to learn that one he said fixes damaged hair." She brushed through her hair with her long fingers.
Mary reached out to feel the ends of Marlenes hair. "It's not damaged, though," she said sweetly.
"Of course it is-"
"Guys, focus," Lily said with growing impatience. "We need to talk about the boys. They're getting out of hand." Her green eyes flashed across the group in annoyance.
"They're not all bad," said Artemis. "We like Remus, right?"
"And Peter's nice," said Mary.
"Whatever," Lily sighed. "They still side with James and Sirius, who are positively insufferable."
The girls nodded their heads, Marlene, Artemis, and Mary growing annoyed with the boys just for the sake of solidarity with Lily. "Honestly, I just don't get boys," Marlene said with a dramatic sigh. "I don't see the appeal." She crossed her arms over her chest. The rest of the girls looked at her with dubious expressions.
"Marlene, that's so stupid," Artemis said at last, bursting into giggles.
Marlene threw the pillow in her arms at Artemis, who ducked, but tumbled backwards off of the bed as a result. All of the girls laughed as Marlene insisted, "It is not!"
~
The memory glimmered and faded, plunging Harry into darkness again. When the scene re-focused, autumn morning light streamed through the half-opened curtains of the dormitory and illuminated the dust lingering in the air. The four girls were sprawled across the room at odd angles like they'd fallen asleep mid-conversation. Mary and Marlene were leaning against each other, Mary's head still resting on Marlene's shoulder, Marlene's long blonde curls spread over both of their faces. Artemis was on the next bed over, which belonged to Mary, laying horizontally across it. Her head hung slightly over the edge of the mattress and one arm covered her face. Lily was on the floor between the two beds, a blanket thrown haphazardly over her curled up body. She was the first to stir. "Guys," she said, reaching up to shake Artemis awake. "Art, wake up."
"Hmmm?" Artemis groaned and flipped onto her stomach to look down at Lily. "What'd'you'want?"
"We slept in."
"Shhhh," Marlene said, her eyes still closed. "It's a Saturday..."
Lily got to her feet and rubbed at her face, her red hair sticking out in every direction. "We've still got stuff to do."
"No," Mary murmured, pulling a pillow over her face.
Artemis sighed and pulled herself out of bed with a disgruntled air. Lily looked up hopefully. "I'm only up because I'm hungry," Artemis said. "I refuse to study on a Saturday."
"Fine," Lily said haughtily. "We'll eat breakfast, and then we'll see about studying." Artemis raised an eyebrow at her, but merely slouched into the bathroom to get dressed and try and tame her hair. When she emerged, Mary and Marlene were up too, looking ruffled and thoroughly displeased. "Ready?" Lily asked them all in a bright voice. Nobody answered, but they followed her out into the hall.
"Hey, maybe we can avoid- ugh..." Marlene trailed off when they got to the top of the staircase. Standing at the bottom of the steps was James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter, all looking far more awake than any of the girls felt.
"Lily- I still don't know your middle name- Evans," James said grandly, his face breaking into a large smile. "Will you-"
"Shut up, Potter," said Marlene, brushing past him with her arm linked through Lily's. Mary followed them closely, but Artemis hung back a few steps, giving the boys an apologetic shrug.
"We didn't get much sleep, so they're not in the best mood." She fell into step with Remus, who had The Little Prince open in his hands. "Watch where you're going," Artemis said, steering him out of the way of a few tall third years.
"Hm? Oh, thanks." Remus put the book down to smile at Artemis.
"What happened to your face?" she asked, her eyes growing wide.
Remus opened his mouth to speak, but Sirius cut him off, he and James joining them on either side. "Don't even ask," Sirius said simply, "He won't answer."
"I-" Remus started-
"We know you didn't hit your face on the edge of your bed, mate," said James. "We're with you all the time. We would've seen."
"Well, he did disappear for a day or two there..." said Sirius darkly.
"Yeah, wait," Artemis cut in, "Where were you?"
"Well-" Remus stammered, but he was saved by James.
"Don't bother asking him that either. He won't give you a serious answer." Surprisingly, James didn't seemed bothered by this.
He winked at Sirius, who had let out a short laugh at his pun and ruffled Remus's hair, snatching the book out of his hands. "The Little Prince? Is this a muggle book?"
"Yeah, Artemis lent it to me."
Sirius snorted, but didn't say anything. Artemis gave him a patronizing look and turned back to James and Remus. "It's really good, you should read it too," she said to James. She looked up in time to see the backs of Lily, Marlene, and Mary disappearing into the crowd and felt her heart sink. She didn't want the other girls to get mad at her for talking to the boys, but she also didn't exactly want to stop talking to them.
"I'll pass, thanks though." James gave her an unaffected smile. "Hey, what were you girls planning on doing today?"
Artemis shrugged. "Lily wants to study, but I'm not behind in any classes and I hate studying anyways so..."
"You should spend the day with us," said James.
"What?" Sirius looked aghast. "Wait, shouldn't we- uh- conference this first?"
"Fine." James and Sirius fell back to walk with Peter, talking in low voices. Artemis looked over her shoulder, knitting her eyebrows in confusion.
Remus looked up from his book long enough to watch her for a second. "Don't worry about it," he said calmly. "They do that a lot."
"What do they need to conference?" Artemis had trouble keeping the worry out of her voice. She wasn't used to talking to new people, and as much as the rest of the girls hated the boys, she didn't want James and Sirius to not like her.
Remus only shrugged. "It was probably just for show. Really, don't worry about it. They'll be back in a few seconds."
Sure enough, just as the group reached the top of the stairs down to the Great Hall, Sirius and James reappeared on either side of Remus and Artemis. "Alright, we've decided you're going to spend the day with us," James said, beaming at Artemis.
"Ahhh, thank you?" Artemis looked to Remus for guidance, but he gave another noncommittal shrug and went back to this book. "What were you planning on doing?"
"We're going down to watch quidditch trials," said Sirius, tossing his head to get his dark hair out of his eyes. "Marlene's brother is the new captain and apparently he's really good."
"Professional level," James said with starry eyes. "I'll bet he gets on Puddlemere."
"Puddlemere?" Sirius snorted. "Anyone could beat Puddlemere. It'll be the Wasps all the way." He turned to Artemis, who had only heard of quidditch from Percy. "Who's your team?"
Artemis thought fast, not wanting to sound too muggle-ish. Percy had told her countless times how important it was to at least sound up to date on the wizarding world. "Puddlemere all the way." She smiled at James, who flashed her the thumbs up.
"You don't know what you're talking about," Sirius said, rolling his eyes and taking the last few steps two at a time. "Puddlemere's the worst in the league right now."
"I do too know what I'm talking about!" Artemis protested, jumping down four steps at once to catch up to him. "I think we have hope for this season."
"Whatever." Sirius led the way into the Great Hall and took his usual seat near where the girls always sat. Artemis slid into a chair next to Mary and pulled a bowl of assorted fruits over for breakfast.