It was a moist and misty day. Artemis' arse was well drenched by the time she got off it and began walking in the direction of the dilapidated manor house belonging to Muriel Prewett. She could hear subtle bangs going off behind the house, but she wasn't looking for a pair of troublemaking twins.
The door creaked loudly when she opened it, but no one came to check on who was calling. Presumably, the house was empty, or the guests were deep in the outer wings.
As Artemis further ventured into the house, passing trinkets and artifacts probably worth more than the house itself, her pace picked up. By the time she was in the second-floor hall that led to Ginny's room, she was running.
She skidded to a halt before the large white door that had a painting of a very ugly horse stuck to it. A harried-looking Ginny Weasley immediately answered her knock.
"Mum, what — " she froze, taking in Artemis' expression, then she pulled her friend into a hug.
Artemis was sobbing into Ginny's shirt within half a second. It was quite awkward, as she had nearly a foot on her friend, but she curled against Ginny's small frame and cried like a first year.
"He's dead," she finally managed after what felt like an eternity.
Ginny pulled away and looked up into Artemis' eyes, understanding flashing in her brown eyes, "How did it happen?"
Artemis bit her lip to try and hold in the emotionless bark of laughter, but it found its way out, "Luna told me he 'didn't make it past New Year's Eve.'"
"Artemis ... "
"Happy birthday, Artemis," she snorted, roughly brushing back her tears.
Ginny placed a warm hand on her friend's arm, but her mouth opened and closed for a moment as she searched for words that would heal. But words couldn't heal such a grievous wound. Even the most powerful spell couldn't bring back the dead.
"You wanna know the funny part?" Artemis turned her eyes to the ceiling, "I hadn't even noticed it had gone by until that moment. I'm eighteen. I've been on the run for months. My dad is dead. I — " she pressed a hand to her mouth for a moment, fresh tears brimming, "I can't tell Apollo."
"I don't think — " Ginny started tentatively, but Artemis cut her off with a shake of her head.
"You haven't seen him. He's almost all gone. I can't take this away from him, not now. Not when ... not when I think he's going to need that hope to keep going to the finish."
"Artemis, what are you saying?"
Artemis held Ginny's gaze for a long moment before making her decision, "I think something's coming. And soon. I think — I think Harry's going to make his stand."
"How could you possibly know that?" Ginny took a step back, her mouth twitching down, a bone-deep dread in her eyes.
"I can feel it," Artemis pressed a hand to her chest and thumped against it hard, "it's the way everyone's acting, the way the winds are blowing, the way this feeling of horror sinks deeper in my gut each day."
Ginny ran a hand through her man of red hair, a thousand expressions flitting across her face in the space of a second, before settling on determination, "then we'll be fucking ready, won't we?"
Dinner was a sombre affair. Arthur Weasley informed the lot of them after the dishes had barely been cleared that there had been some sort of commotion at Gringotts. Lips had been sealed tight, so the details were unclear, but there were said to have been many casualties.
While he spoke, Artemis and Ginny shared a hollow-eyed look. A foot nudged hers under the table. She looked up and met George's concerned look with a wan smile. A muscle ticked in his jaw, and his eyes narrowed but snapped away when Fred nudged him.
Muriel, the old bat, was grumbling about something. She was always grumbling about something. The woman had said but three words to Artemis, all of them blunt and disrespectful to the core.
"Now then," Molly clapped her hands sharply, her face gaining a hard edge that Artemis hadn't seen often but knew to fear, "that's enough of this. Artemis, dear, do be sure to take Arthur with you if you don't have plans to spend the night."
Artemis frowned, "I'm not sure — "
Molly smiled a smile that said she was not to be trifled with, "I received a message from Kingsley earlier. He thought it might be safer to have you stay here or with Andromeda for a while."
Artemis respected Kingsley, but she didn't like him making decisions about where she lived as if he were her keeper. She was an adult, which he'd respected before. What changed?
"I — " Artemis glanced at Ginny out of the corner of her eye before answering, "I guess that's all right. You don't mind?"
"I do," Muriel grunted under her breath.
Artemis swallowed a disrespectful remark of her own.
"Of course, dear," Molly's smile softened slightly, "now I think we should all turn in early tonight."
Fred and George both raised their eyebrows in unison. Their expressions were easy to read. They practically shouted, 'not bloody likely.'
But no one argued with Molly Weasley.
Ginny and Artemis rose together and quickly went for the stairs. Neither of them wanted to be stuck helping Muriel up the staircase to her dusty room. Old bat.
"Something is definitely happening," Ginny took a quick look over her shoulder, her grip tightening on Artemis' hand, "maybe even tonight. Mum's ... well, you saw her."
Artemis nodded. She was about to whisper back when steps thundered up the stairs behind them, and George appeared and placed a hand on the small of her back, his eyebrows pinched together, "Artemis, are you all right?"
Ginny let go of Artemis' hand like it was a hot coal, her mouth twisting into a smirk, "On that note, I'll make myself scarce."
George's eyes didn't even venture in his sister's direction, remaining on Artemis' face as if he were searching for something.
"I — " Artemis felt her throat close. She didn't know what to say. There was the barest hint of hurt in his expression. She had run to Ginny to cry, not him. He could tell something was wrong, and she hadn't spoken a word to him about it. Guilt heavy in her gut, she cast her gaze at their feet, "I received some news today. About my father."
George's finger lifted her chin up so he could see her face. It seemed he'd read what he needed from her expression, because he wrapped her in his arms and crushed her to his chest. He didn't say anything; he didn't need to.
Artemis' eyes were stinging again, and she dug her fingers into his back, burying her face in his shoulder, "I should've sought you out. I'm sorry."
"Artemis ... " George pulled away and put both hands on her shoulders, "I wouldn't care if you sought out bloody Fred instead of me. I was just worried — It's stupid. That doesn't matter. I care about you. I just wanted to know you were all right."
"I'm not," Artemis sniffed, hating herself for feeling so weak, so fragile. She was Artemis fucking Williams. She had nerves of Goblin silver and wit to match a muggle movie starlet. She didn't whinge about her sad life, and she certainly didn't pathetically fall apart in front of not one, but two people in a single day.
But there she was.
"That's all right," George's hand gently cradled the back of her head, and he pulled her against his chest once more, "I'm here if you need me, but I'm also here if you aren't."
His words were like hot knives to her chest. She nodded against his neck before jerking away and laughing a stuttering laugh, blinking rapidly to dispel her tears, "If we're doing that, we should probably go to your room, though. If your great aunt sees me loitering in her hallway, she'll probably try to attach strings to me and add me to her collection of truly horrific puppets."
George laughed and threaded an arm around her waist, tugging her in the opposite direction of Ginny's bedroom, "all right, but for posterity, I must admit; I think you'd make a fantastic puppet."
"Noted."
They walked in companionable silence to his room. It was large and rumpled but not messy. There was a desk with bits and bobs he was probably tinkering with for Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, a bed with the covers thrown back, and a chest of drawers that had one drawer hanging slightly open. The true gem, however, was the flowery pink and putrid green striped wallpaper.
"Christ, this is ghastly," Artemis found herself laughing.
"You mean you don't think the blinding pink and sick green aren't complementary colours?" George grinned.
He shut the door, and Artemis turned to face him, pressing her hands to his chest. She stood up on her tiptoes and pressed her forehead to his, "I love you, George. And I think I'll always need you."
His breath was a nervous rattle, "I think so too."
Strong hands balled in the fabric of her shirt at her sides and tugged her closer. They stood like that for a long moment, just breathing. Artemis had never felt so at peace in her life.
"Do you ever just get so exhausted by it all?" She broke the silence, the words spilling from her mouth without much forethought, "Being the funny one, I mean. The matching set. Sometimes I feel like I have to be Artemis Williams even when I don't feel like existing at all."
It was true. Over the months of gruelling work and hair-raising, teeth-grinding tension, Artemis often found herself too tired to joke, too tired to flirt, and too tired to spend another day pretending otherwise.
"Sometimes I feel like I'm not even a person," George mused, his hands loosening and coming to rest on her hips, thumbs distractingly making circles against her hip bones, "Sometimes I feel as though people see both Fred and me as a single person. Like, without him, I'd be half a person. Who's one without the other?" He paused for a moment, seeming to decide if he wanted to share his words, "I sometimes wonder what would happen if this war ends with only one of us standing. Fred and George, no more. Just Fred. Just George. Spending the rest of a life reminding everyone around me that I used to be so much more."
Artemis pulled away and smoothed a hand up his chest to cup his jaw, "You are a full person, George. You don't need Fred, and he doesn't need you, but that doesn't mean you should be running from each other to prove your independence. Do what you want. Fuck everyone."
George pressed a kiss to her nose, melting her waxy heart into a pool of mush, "I love all versions of you, Artemis."
The tingling warmth spread from her heart to her entire chest cavity, like a flock of birds fleeing their roost in every which way. Absently, Artemis ran her thumb over his bottom lip, eyes intent on his flushed face.
She loved how he made her feel. She loved how easy it was to breathe when he was near. She loved every new and precious piece of himself he shared.
Artemis loved George. So very much.
In the back of her mind, a voice was nattering away at her to not cling to him to hide from her grief, but she frankly didn't give a damn about that voice.
"I think that I would very much like to spend the night with you."
George grinned and nipped at her thumb playfully, "Ooh! Buy me a drink first!"
"George, I'm serious."
"I thought that was already the plan? Maybe it was a bit presumptuous — "
Artemis put her hands on his shoulders and looked him squarely in the eye, "George, I was trying to tell you that I want to shag the ever-loving Christ out of you."
The look on his face was truly spectacular. His jaw went entirely slack, his eyes blinked rapidly as if he was dazed, his cheeks warmed crimson.
She smiled, "it was just an offer. If you don't want to — "
"I — " George took a step back and raised a finger, "why do I feel like this is some sort of trap?"
"Why would I want to trap you?" Artemis laughed.
"It just ... that was so easy — "
She arched a brow menacingly, "Are you calling me easy?"
"No! Shite!" George rubbed at his temple like he was developing a fierce headache, "Artemis."
Taking pity on him, she stepped forward and ran a hand through his ginger hair, "I just don't want to regret never ... We could be gone any day, any moment. So, I want to share this with you. So long as I'm not too easy."
"I should've known the first time I met you that you'd destroy me, wench," he grumbled, pulling her towards him and claiming her mouth in an open-mouthed kiss.
It was a frenzy. The both of them never separated for more than a second to tear off a shirt or gasp in a breath of air. There was no maidenly blushing, nothing but teeth and tongue and heaving chests. The sense of urgency, borne from months of anxious anticipation to see how the world would look when the dust finally settled, took over entirely.
Artemis let her nails scrape across the wide expanse of George's bare shoulders, digging her fingers into his muscles when he dragged her closer still by her waist. She trailed kisses down his neck as he unfastened his pants. If it were possible, she would've breathed him in entirely until they were one single being.
George tore away from her for a moment, his chest heaving with a sharp intake of breath. His eyes darkened as he took in her chest. Artemis felt her face go red to the roots of her hair when she realized that it was the first time he'd seen her without her shirt on. In an attempt to halt the nervousness running through her veins, she gently pushed at his chest, "Eyes up here, Weasley."
"I — " he blinked twice before registering her words and looking up quickly, looking slightly dazed.
"Well, if that isn't a confidence boost, I don't know what is," Artemis laughed.
When George didn't answer, just opened and closed his mouth like a Grindylow without oxygen, Artemis grabbed ahold of him and resumed their kiss. She backed the two of them to his bed and shoved him down before slinging her legs on either side of his hips.
George was quick to recover and pressed his lips against hers. After a moment, his fingers danced from her knee up to the band of her jeans, trying and failing to squeeze into the tight fabric.
Artemis drew back with a knowing grin and stood to shimmy off her pants. Most of her embarrassment had fled when she'd seen the stupid look pasted on his face the moment he got a good look at her. He wasn't focusing on the size of her assets or the faint marks on her thighs and lower back from the years she'd sprouted like a bean pole. In fact, George was looking at her like she'd hung the moon by hand.
In the end, they could die in days, weeks, months, maybe even years, but she wouldn't regret what was to come. Looking at his face, Artemis knew even if they grew apart and he married some girl from Romania, she'd never regret this choice. She wanted him, and he wanted her. He made her feel safe and loved and at peace in the eye of a maelstrom of turbulence.
She returned to her spot on his lap, sipping at his lips like fine wine. His fingers dipped into her knickers, and he drew little gasps of pleasure from her as he trailed his lips across her neck.
"Stop!" Artemis gasped as the heel of his hand ground against her again, nearly making her go cross-eyed.
George stilled as she pulled her knickers down her thighs and very awkwardly scooted them off her calves before flinging them over her shoulder. She raised an eyebrow at him and moved off him, laying on her side to face him as he removed his trunks.
"I love you." Artemis took hold of his face and peppered it with kisses, trying to communicate every spark of emotion he'd ignited within her. When they drew apart for a moment, she saw the truth in his eyes. No matter what happened in the morning or a week from then, they were both going to treasure this moment for the rest of their lives.
"I love you too."
George brushed her hair from where the strands had tangled against her warm face and smiled. It cracked Artemis' heart in two. He wasn't exactly known for his lack of good humour and easy grin, but she'd never seen this particular smile. It was secret and shy and so very precious. He was looking at her with soft, open eyes and the slightest curl of the lips as if he was lost in the look of her.
"Merlin, if I hadn't had already propositioned you, that would do it," she said, grinning and nipping at his lower lip.
George rolled on top of her, one hand propping himself up and the other on her chin, angling her face to look at his, "I have to admit," he murmured between kisses, "I don't know what you're on about half the time."
"It's that superior intellect of mine."
His snort was met with a smack to his shoulder.
But she was a forgiving woman. Artemis curled both hands over his shoulders and smoothed them over his warm skin and the slight ridges and curves of his muscles. Her hand moved to the dip of his waist and looked up at him, imploring him to read her mind.
Thankfully, George had always been rather adept at knowing what she wanted before she had to ask for it. He positioned himself and met her gaze once more, eyes wide in question. At her nod, he canted his hips forward.
"Oh!" Artemis resisted the urge to crawl away at the painful intrusion. When Emma had told stories about her escapades, they rarely went this far, and those that did were clouded with indefinite details and copious blushing. Artemis wasn't a complete muppet, she knew the mechanics of the whole ordeal, but she found herself overwhelmed and entirely out of her depth. She'd never felt so entirely close to a person, almost suffocatingly so.
It took a moment for her to realize the sharp gasping breaths were hers. She blinked rapidly, focussing on Georges's face that was pinched with worry. His hands were smoothing over her cheeks and forehead and hair like he was trying to find where he'd broken her.
"I said, are you alright? Artemis?" George's voice sounded as if it were behind a waterfall, "Should we stop?"
"No!" Artemis gasped out, her arm flailing up to touch his chest. She took shaky deep breaths, attempting to snap her moronic brain out of the irritating fight or flight response it'd fallen into, "I just — I just need a moment."
He lowered his forehead against hers, and their eyes fell closed for a long time. It could have been a full minute of them breathing slowly. When Artemis finally stilled her rapidly beating heart, a surprised laugh emerged.
Flinging an arm over her eyes when George jerked back, she sighed, "that was genuinely the most ridiculous — "
George's laugh was husky and soft in a way that made her insides twist and remember exactly what they were in the process of doing. She drew her arm back and twined it around his neck, and schooled her features into seriousness, "you may continue."
After huffing out a short laugh, he complied. It felt strange and foreign to have something there and moving. She resisted the urge to frown and grunt, so this is what all the fuss is about?
"This okay?" George asked, moving his hips forwards once more and running his hand from her hip to the back of her knee. He smoothed her leg over his spine, changing the angle entirely.
Oh. This is very much what the fuss is about.
"Yes!" Artemis yelped, her other knee jerking up.
They slowly developed a rhythm, the burn easing after a few strokes. Artemis wrapped her other leg around his hips, grinding up against his hips to meet his thrusts. It had been odd at first, yes, but once she'd figured it all out, she found herself awash with that tingling anticipation that she knew would lead to a satisfying, crashing release.
George groaned like he was in pain, one hand twisting in the sheets beside her head. Something about the sight made her feel a red hot flush coat her already damp skin. Her heart stuttered when he muttered a rough, "fuck."
The two of them sped up their movements, her hands trailing over every surface of his body she could reach. The shyness she'd felt in his presence gone entirely. She wanted nothing more but to pull him closer against her where she could feel more of him, kiss him, taste him.
George's breath was harsh against her ear, hitching each time he moved inside her. He slid his free hand into her hair and tilted her head to the side, and whispered in her ear, "I love you."
Heart somewhere between pounding out of her chest and melting, Artemis turned her cheek to his and gently kissed the ravaged scar tissue where his left ear had once been.
"Bugger," George let out an unsteady breath and moved to press his forehead to hers, eyes squeezed shut. His hips jerked faster against her, and Artemis rose to meet him, the two of them moving faster and faster, until the only sound filling the room was their harsh breathing, and they were coated with a sheen of sweat.
It hit her like a rush of water released from a dam. She was still gasping and writhing when George followed her off the precipice. After a few heaving gasps, the two of them just laid there in a heap, trying their best to get their bearings.
"So that's what it feels to be shagged within an inch of your life," Artemis snorted, "good to know."
George, who'd become nothing more than a dead weight against her, shook his head from his place between her neck and shoulder, "If Fred hears about this, I'll never hear the end of it."
"Oh?" Artemis shoved him lightly off her, stretching her legs and wincing at the cramping muscles. It felt something like the time Lou and her had sprinted for nearly a kilometre to escape two Pigs hot on their tail after Lou had made the brilliant choice of nicking a pack of fags damn near right in front of them.
"George Weasley, beaten to a punchline," George laughed, but it sounded more like a wheeze. He was silent for a moment after Artemis' huffed laugh before he said rather seriously, "When can we do that again?"
A peal of laughter escaped Artemis, and she buried her head in a pillow to try to stifle the noise. When she regained her composure and lifted her head, she found George staring at her expectantly. She grinned and patted him lightly on the shoulder, "Plenty of time for that later, mate."
"Mate," George grunted, his eyes following her as she slouched off the bed and tottered around his room, gathering her clothes into a ball, "she has her way with me, then proceeds to call me 'mate' and flee from my room."
When Artemis found where her wand had clattered off to, she cast a few quick and vital charms. The idea of birthing George's spawn at the tender age of eighteen didn't appeal to her, nor did showing up at his sister's room sweaty and covered in questionable fluids. The problem with cleaning charms and the like, however, was the fact that they never made you feel truly clean. Only water and soap can do that.
"I'm not fleeing your room, you arse. I'm just going to pop back to Gin's to let her know where I'll be spending the night. So long as that doesn't disagree with you, mate?"
George tugged on his trunks and approached her, seeming more like a predator in the jungle than a harmless bloke who spent most of his time making things like sweets that give you a fever and fireworks that cause major bodily harm. He toyed with her tangled hair as he studied her, eyebrows creasing slightly, "Hurry back. It's like you said: We could be gone tomorrow for all we know," He winked, breaking the heavy moment, "I want to spend all the time I can between these thighs before I'm shoved in one of those hideous white stone coffins."
His hands circled said thighs, and he pulled her up and against him, encircling his hips with her long legs. He chuckled lightly and pressed a few kisses against her exposed collar, only pulling away when Artemis pressed a hand to his chest, silently urging him to meet her eyes. When he did, she smiled and said, "Feeling's mutual, Weasley."
After stealing a quick kiss, Artemis fled before he had the chance to entrap her in his hands again. Whenever he got his hands on her, she was all but useless to the world.
The hall was dim, only a few magical lights flaring at the crossroads in the old manor house. Artemis made it halfway to Ginny's room before she turned a corner and found herself nose to nose with a grinning Fred Weasley.
"Not a word!" She shook her finger at him and shouldered past.
"Watch out!" Fred called out anyway to her back, "There's a poltergeist that likes to come out at night. It wails and screams but doesn't do much else than make noise."
Artemis made a very filthy muggle gesture at him before she turned, and he fell out of sight, chortling at his own joke.
Sighing to herself, she made it to Ginny's door without any other irritating occurrences. Aside from the terrifying marble busts of what could only be demons from the deepest pits of hell, along with copious amounts of dust.
Artemis raised her fist to knock but reeled back when the door flew open. Ginny stood there, a wild look in her eye and her left hand fisted against her heart.
"Gin, what — ?"
Her redhead friend turned her fist and uncurled her stiff fingers to reveal a gold coin, a Galleon, to be precise. For the briefest moment, Artemis didn't understand. Then, for the second time that day, her world came crashing down around her.