Artemis' stomach tugged painfully. She felt as though she was being squeezed through a tube of toothpaste. The feeling lasted only a moment, but the moment her feet were resting against solid ground, she stumbled and clutched at her stomach, her skin flaring with heat.
Hands grabbed at her shoulders.
All at once, her body went on alert as she took in her surroundings and made sense of the seconds leading up to the unexpected bout of inter-dimensional travel.
Artemis struggled with all her might, ripping her body from her assailant's clutches and falling to the ground in the process. Wet snow met her bottom as she stared up at a familiar face.
It took her a moment to understand. She simply stared up at George Weasley with wide eyes and chest heaving.
"Artemis?" His voice dipped in worry as he crouched and placed a hand on her jaw, "Are you alright?"
"I - " Artemis forced her eyes to blink, "I thought you were ... someone else."
George's face flickered from confusion to understanding, and he winced, "I'm sorry I - "
Relief hit her like a wave as the truth of the events hit her. Artemis lurched forward and wrapped her arms around his neck, squeezing him fiercely. Her eyes burned behind her eyelids, and her chest stuttered out sharp breaths.
Warm hands came to rest on her back, branding her skin beneath her shirt, "It's alright, Artemis. You're safe. Everyone's safe."
Artemis shook her head against his neck, speaking softly, "That was awful."
He sighed out a breath softly, "Yeah, it was pretty shite."
Artemis was suddenly very aware of her knees and how wet and cold they were digging into the snow. Her face flamed, and she broke the embrace, looking anywhere but George's eyes, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have — "
George stood and held out a hand, "Nonsense," he smirked, "if Fred asks what that was about, I'll just tell him it was you professing your undying love for me."
Artemis took his hand and snorted at his words, finally meeting his eyes, "not bloody likely — "
Then she saw that they had an audience. Fred Weasley was standing in a glowing doorway mere metres away, arms crossed and a picture of innocence — if it weren't for the grin that he wore from ear to ear.
"Lovely night," Fred commented and winked at Artemis.
Artemis dropped George's hand when she realized she was still squeezing his fingers despite having already been helped up. She narrowed her eyes at the twin who stood in the doorway, "Don't give me that look, Weasley."
She trudged through the wet snow as fast as she could, leaving George to huff out deep breaths as he tried to catch up but slipped in the muck.
"What look?" Fred asked, moving slightly to the side to make room for her as she arrived at the door.
"The stupid one," Artemis grunted, "where are we?"
"Shell Cottage."
"Shell Cottage?" Artemis frowned up at Fred.
A gentle hand at her elbow turned Artemis to the left. Her mouth opened in shock as she took in the beach and the sea. She'd been in such a shock from the attack on the Cheshire Outpost that she hadn't registered the rhythmic lapping on the waves, "ah. Shell Cottage."
George snickered from where he stood at her side, his hand still on her elbow.
Artemis wrinkled her nose at him and entered the cottage.
A beautiful blonde woman was yelling in french at a scruffy-looking wizard who was only offering grunts in response, and another Weasley with a handsome, albeit scarred face, was glaring at a glowing lynx Patronus.
" — Has been destroyed. Olliver Wood sustained serious burns, but there were no casualties."
Artemis elbowed Fred out of the way and went to stand beside who she assumed to be an older Weasley brother as the Patronus faded.
"Hello, I'm Artemis. Did Kingsley tell you where Wood is being treated?"
"Bill," the Weasley offered in response, "no, but I reckon he'd be at the church in Essex - "
"Great," Artemis whirled around to face the twins who were watching her with owlish eyes, "can one of you take me to the church in Essex?"
George took a step forward and opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out.
"What George means to say," Fred shoved his brother forward, "is that he will be happy to assist you in your travels to the church."
"Great," Artemis turned to Bill and nodded, "nice to meet you. Let's go, George."
She was back out in the cold of the night without another thought. Only after a moment did she look over her shoulder to find George tripping after her in the snow. She stopped and waited for him to arrive. She took his hand in her own and began tugging him along.
His hand was much bigger than hers. His hand was warm.
Artemis's stomach twisted, but she ignored it.
"Where is the apparition line?" She asked when they'd walked a suspicious distance. She glanced up to find George's eyes already trained on her face. He blinked and looked away quickly.
"Here works," he grunted before taking her other hand in his.
Artemis stumbled on unsteady feet for the second time that night when space and time stopped squeezing at her. She steadied herself by placing a hand on George's chest.
They had appeared on a walkway before a small and decrepit church.
"This is the church in Essex?" Artemis murmured, looking up to meet George's eyes in question.
"Yeah," George swallowed and glanced away before looking back at her, "he should be in there. Alicia is Keeper of this safe house."
"I - " Artemis began.
"Artemis!" Kingsley's voice made the both of them jump.
She turned to face the large oak door that had been propped open to reveal a deceivingly cozy interior. Kingsley's face was pinched, "Thank you for bringing her, Fred. Artemis, I need your help with the burn paste."
Artemis winced but nodded at Kingsley. She turned to look back at George, who looked torn. Her heart was beating fast, and she didn't even have time to process seeing him for the first time since Platform 9 3/4 when he hadn't even caught sight of her.
Stomach twisting, she put her hands on his jaw and lurched up to press a kiss to his cheek, "I'm sorry, I have to go. Be seeing you, George."
She ran to the steps before she had the chance to think over her actions. Her cheeks were flaming hot when she entered the church and shut the door behind her. She caught sight of Kingsley disappearing into a doorway at the end of the room and quickly followed after.
The mystery of how Order Headquarters had been found the week before weighed heavily upon the occupants of the Essex outpost. Kingsley was brooding and silent, holing himself up in a room where he made calls over the Floo Network day in and day out. Oliver recovered from his painful burns at a speed faster than could be achieved with even the most advanced muggle medicine, but he was still in pain for days before they began to heal over properly.
Thankfully, the kits Artemis had worked tirelessly on for days had mostly been saved. Only one or two hadn't made it out of the cottage.
Artemis handed Wood a numbing potion as his girlfriend, Alicia Spinnet, dabbed the Burn-Healing paste onto his face and shoulder.
"I never knew you in school, did I?" Oliver croaked through a dry throat.
Artemis blinked once before she realized that he had obviously been addressing her. He hadn't spoken much at all since his injury, aside from muted whispers to Alicia. Artemis hoped that it was a sign that he was feeling better.
"You were the Gryffindor quidditch captain for a few years, weren't you?" Artemis responded, wracking her brain for any memory of him. She didn't recall much based on name alone, and he wasn't exactly in recognizable shape.
Wood's face lit up, and he sat up a bit in the makeshift cot he'd been lying in before wincing and drawing back, "Fourth to seventh year."
"I was a reserve beater second year, before being on the team fully until seventh year," suddenly, Artemis recalled a game in her third year, "if I recall correctly, we beat the absolute shite out of your team in my third year."
Oliver let out a dramatic groan, "Not the game with the bloody dementors? Merlin, after that pitiful defeat, I wanted to kill myself in the showers."
Alicia rolled her eyes and whacked at his arm on his good side, "Oi, shut it about quidditch."
"What else is there to talk about?" He asked his girlfriends, eyes wide with confusion.
Artemis laughed quietly as she stood and retreated from the room, the couple bickering about famous quidditch teams all the while.
She shut the door behind herself and allowed herself to wander between the pews in the church's nave. It was strange to see a muggle concept married to Wizardry. A brewing station was set up beside an altar for Saint Mary, and Oliver slept under a small stone cross on the wall.
Lou, one of the muggle girls Artemis had spent her summers fooling around with, had been very religious, despite the nicking of cigarettes and booze from shops. Lou had worn a silver cross on a chain and prayed before she ate each meal. She had also been known to complete a Hail Mary before she'd smoke a fag.
The concept had always seemed rather redundant when one knew the truth of magic, but Artemis also envied those who found such peace within their beliefs.
Though, she still wasn't so sure about the Hail Marys before having a fag.
"Just keeping 'im in line," Lou would say before placing her finger to her nose and winking at Artemis.
Artemis hoped Lou never found out about magic or died at the hands of the 'restless Death Eaters.'
Artemis only stayed at the outpost in Essex for three weeks. After that, she found herself circulating between too many foreign homes to keep track of where they stood. Kingsley didn't fancy staying complacent, and he figured Artemis was safest moving around with him.
It was strange to be around him so often. Still, they eventually came to the silent understanding that they did not talk about Order business together unless it was absolutely necessary. There were times they were holed up in a mildewing basement for a day or two and times they spent days with both familiar and unfamiliar faces. Kingsley fancied wizard's chess, and the two of them spent hours in silence as they played.
There was no other way to fill the time aside from brewing potions and checking on her Dittany stalks that were shooting up in her plant pots. They had taken surprisingly well to the confinement of pottery. If Artemis ever saw Professor Sprout again, she was determined to tell the witch of her discovery.
Artemis didn't see George. Or Fred, for that matter.
But she had come across none other than Arthur Weasley when the man had popped in to speak in hushed tones with Kingsley. He'd smiled at her and told her he was glad she'd gotten away alright, but that was it.
Kingsley and Artemis were up to their eyeballs in a game of Wizards' Chess, his pawn being brutally roughed up by her knight when she asked him what she'd been thinking of for weeks, "Who all was at the meeting the night we were ambushed? At the Cheshire Outpost, I mean."
Kingsley's brow shot up in surprise, "I thought you did not wish to know Order business."
"I find myself curious about its members, that's all," Artemis narrowed her eyes at the older wizard challengingly.
Kingsley's sharp eyes narrowed, and his mouth opened in a grin that showed off his white smile, "Is it all the members you are interested in? Or just that Fred Weasley?"
Artemis snorted, "I can truthfully tell you that I have no interest in Fred Weasley."
Kingsley looked a little put out, as if he was irritated he'd made an incorrect assessment.
Artemis smirked.
He ran a hand over his intricately embroidered tunic, "Our numbers are larger than you'd think, but we do not have many official members. That night was a meeting with a select few with the main purpose of distributing your medicines, as well as speaking about the matter of the emboldened Death Eaters."
Artemis nodded slowly.
"They were a group of younger volunteers that were going to establish a rotating roster of patrolling muggle settlements that had been prone to attack. Aside from the Weasley twins and Oliver, there was Angelina Johnson, Eliza Bennet, Penelope Clearwater, Kenneth Towler, Mervyn Wynch, Caspian Vane, and, obviously, Lee," Kingsley rattled off, raising a long finger with each name.
"So I'll have a higher likelihood of having to stitch them up, is what you're telling me?" Artemis responded with a raised eyebrow.
"I have a feeling the possibilities go beyond stitching," Kingsley replied solemnly, "knight to E5."
Artemis watched her own knight crumble to pieces on the board and sighed, "Maybe if one of us were more positive, our time together would feel less like a sentence to Azkaban. Bishop to A4; check."
Kingsley let out a rumbling laugh in response.