/𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒\ [𝒔. 𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌]

𝟑.𝟜.𝟤

"and me I'm in my bedroom, drawing in my notebook. because my hands think I'm an artist but my heart knows I'm a poet. it's just words, they mean so little to me. so little to me." ~ Conor Oberst

~october 1973~ (continued)

"I can't believe you wanted to stay back and study," Sirius scoffed keeping stride with Artemis. "Aren't you the one who's always saying you don't need to study?"

Artemis sighed. "I don't need to study. Bones just wanted me to tutor James."

"James doesn't need tutoring. He'd get better scores than everyone if he did the work."

Artemis rolled her eyes. "Yeah, the problem is that he doesn't do the work. That's what Bones wants me to help with."

James cleared his throat. "Yeah, James is also standing right here," he said, annoyed. "And he would like very much for the two of you to stop talking like he's not in the room."

"Right," said Sirius, "sorry, mate." He turned back to Artemis. "You know what I think?"

"What?" Artemis asked, dreading hearing whatever it was Sirius had to say.

He gave her a superior smile. "I think that if any other teacher asked you to tutor James, you wouldn't agree so quickly."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Artemis asked, suddenly defensive.

Sirius laughed. "Well, Bones is a very handsome teacher, isn't he?"

"Oh, shut up," groaned Artemis. "That's so shallow, Sirius."

"Leave her alone, Sirius," Remus piped up, his voice cool and steady.

Sirius laughed again and saluted Remus. "Aye aye, captain."

They split up once they got to the pillars outside the Slytherin common room. Sirius, James, and Peter hid behind one of the pillars with a bag of spiders they'd collected from around the school, all wriggling and climbing on top of one another. Remus and Artemis hid a few pillars down, wands both pointed at the suit of armor in front of them. The shadows obscured them almost completely from vision, so Bellatrix would hopefully run right past them after the spider diversion, allowing Remus and Artemis to follow her with the suit of armor.

The plan started out perfectly. At exactly 9:08, Bellatrix left the common room by herself, her textbooks balanced in her arms. Remus and Artemis had to stifle their laughter when they heard Bellatrix's bloodcurdling scream and the crash as she dropped her things and sprinted in their direction. "Sh, sh," Artemis giggled, clutching Remus's arm. The two of them calmed down long enough to watch Bellatrix streak past, still screaming, and then burst into uncontrollable laughter again.

"Ready?" Remus asked, raising his wand at the armor.

But Artemis was distracted. When she'd stepped out of the shadows to raise her wand, she saw that someone else had exited the Slytherin common room. Someone tall with messy brown hair and piercing blue eyes identical to Artemis's. "Percy," she whispered, forgetting all about the plan and stepping out into the corridor to face her brother. He stood stock still, staring at her with the same wide eyed expression she was wearing. "You're here."

"I... decided to finish out school," he said simply.

Artemis swallowed hard. "Good. That's good. Um... so..." She wasn't sure what to say. It was the first time she'd ever spoken to Percy at school without him shoving her off. She was only semi-aware of the other boys watching them curiously, the remainder of the plan forgotten by all. "You're not a prefect or anything," Artemis said at last. "So you can't get us in trouble for... that."

Percy shook his head. "She probably deserved it. I know Bellatrix can be a... handful."

"Yeah," said Artemis. "So, I'll see you around?"

Percy nodded shortly but didn't answer. Artemis backed away slowly, and then turned and started back down the hall. The boys followed her. "So..." James said at last. "We'll do that suit of armor plan some other time, then?"

"Sure," Artemis said softly.

James exchanged a worried look with Remus. "We can go study now if you want. I've got to uphold my end of the deal, huh?" He nudged Artemis's shoulder and gave her his best persuading smile.

Artemis returned the smile, but only half-heartedly. "Yeah, maybe tomorrow. I'm... sort of tired now."

~

The second Artemis came down to the common room Saturday morning, James was waiting at the bottom of the steps with his notebook and Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook. After the stupor Art had been in after seeing Percy the night before, James was determined to put her in a good mood that day. He had no idea who the Slytherin boy had been, but if he affected Artemis that much, James decided he didn't care for him. "Ready for tutoring," he said brightly, holding the textbook out to Artemis.

She smiled at him, but her eyes were tired. "Great. Let's sit by the window. It's pretty out."

It was pretty out. Fall had hit Hogwarts practically overnight and through the wide window of the Gryffindor common room, James and Artemis could look out over the entirety of the grounds, sprawling with fluorescent reds and oranges, as if the golden sun had painted it with the most vibrant paints the universe could offer. They sat together on the window seat and Artemis leaned against the wall, propping the textbook on her legs. "Right, so... we'll start with Kappas and go from there."

"Fine by me," said James, still admiring the view. He wanted more than anything to go outside and roam around in the warm fall air, but he stayed for Artemis. He knew he didn't need tutoring, but he wanted to give her something to do. "When's the test?"

"Wednesday," Artemis said, scanning the page. "Here, give me your notes." She took James's notebook to see what he'd gathered from class and snorted. The page only had a few bulleted notes about boggarts, the rest filled with haphazard doodles and scribbled notes to and from Sirius, Remus, and Peter.

James sat back and grinned. "I think they look pretty good, what d'you think?"

"I like the one that says 'Lily Evans, will you marry me?' Is she the one who crossed it out?"

"Ahhh, that was Remus," said James, taking the notebook back. "Doesn't think getting married at thirteen is a good idea, but personally, I think he's a little off his rocker."

Artemis laughed. "Yeah, he's the one who's off his rocker," she said sarcastically.

James crumpled up a piece of paper and threw it at her. "What are you playing at, Blake?"

"Nothing, Potter, nothing at all. Now, come on. Write this down. 'Kappas -  Japanese water demons that feed on human blood."

James flipped to a fresh page and started scribbling the words down. "Nice transition," he murmured. "Very pleasant stuff, Art."

On the couch by the fireplace, Mary was lying on her back, half asleep. On the floor in front of her, Marlene and Lily were sitting side by side. "Here's what you're going to do," Lily said seriously. "You're going to go up to him after Potions class. He always leaves alone. You're going to walk next to him and start a normal sort of conversation."

"How do I do that?" asked Marlene.

Lily gave her a critical look. "If you don't know how to do that, I dunno how to help you, Marls."

"Right," muttered Marlene.

"So somewhere in the conversation, you're going to bring up how you need a study partner for Transfiguration-"

"This sounds like the sort of thing you would say, Lily," Marlene interrupted. "You know I don't want a study partner."

Lily laughed. "But you study with me all the time."

"Exactly why I don't need a new study partner!" Marlene threw her hands up in exasperation. "Listen, what if I just ask him out point blank? Just- 'do you want to go out with me?' And then there's no confusion. I'm sick of all this moseying around the point."

Lily thought for a second, and then nodded. "Yeah, that sounds more your style," she said decidedly. "Just do it fast. I saw a group of girls following him around giggling and I think you may have competition."

Marlene looked at her with raised eyebrows. "Me? Have competition? Uh, have you seen me, Lily? I have all of those girls smoked."

"Of course you do, Marly," Mary murmured from the couch. "No question."

Lily and Marlene looked up at her in surprise. "I thought you were asleep," Lily said, reaching up to scratch Rose, lying on Mary's chest, behind the ears.

Mary didn't even open her eyes. "No, I'm just thinking. And listening to you guys."

"What're you thinking about?" asked Marlene.

"Mmmm, Art."

Marlene shook her head, her blonde hair sprawling around her shoulders. "All you ever think about is art, Mary. What've you been working on lately?"

Mary smiled. "No, not art. Art. Artemis. I think I'm going to sit with her at lunch. I want to ask her opinion on this piece I saw in Witch Weekly."

"Whatever you say, Mary," said Lily. "Go back to sleep. You sound tired."

Up in the boy's dormitory, Sirius and Peter were lying on the floor, both paging through different magazines. "How's Witch Weekly?" Peter asked, flipping the page in Wizard Inquirer.

"Actually pretty good," said Sirius, absolutely enthralled by an article on magical hair care remedies. "How long d'you think I can get away with swiping Marlene's copies before I have to get my own subscription?"

Peter laughed. "Remus always says it's important to switch up your reading material. You're just... taking his advice."

"Speaking of Remus..." Sirius sat up and closed the magazine. "This is the third time this week he's gone to the hospital wing."

Peter nodded gravely. "Do you think he's sick?"

"Well, yeah, I just don't know how bad." Sirius frowned and ran his fingers through his hair, which trailed all the way down to his shoulders. He'd have to ask Artemis for a haircut soon. "I mean, I know he says he has to go home all the time because his mum's sick, but I'm starting to think it's not just that."

Peter sat up too. "What do you think it is?"

Sirius shrugged. "That's where I'm confused. I mean, he gets headaches all the time and sometimes he just seems... out of it, you know?"

"I've noticed that," said Peter. "Maybe he just doesn't get enough sleep. He always goes to bed after the rest of us."

"That's right," said Sirius. "He does." He thought for a moment, and then shook his head. "But it seems like more than just lack of sleep. Sometimes he seems really sick, and then sometimes he's fine. But he never talks about it."

Peter nodded. "And when you ask him, he just changes the subject." He crossed his legs and leaned against the post of Remus's bed. "I mean, it's not like we'd give him a hard time about anything, I just want to know what's wrong."

"Yeah," said Sirius. He thought about his own problems. He knew the other boys noticed that he came back to school after every holiday with fresh bruises, and he didn't do much to hide that, but he wasn't about to tell them the reason. He'd gotten good at coming up with elaborate excuses to make the others laugh instead of worry about him. Maybe that's what Remus was doing. Changing the subject was his way of avoiding pity. "Maybe we should just wait until he's ready to tell us whatever it is," he said at last, his voice thoughtful.

Peter eyed Sirius closely, immediately picking up on his change of demeanor. He didn't fully agree with him, but he trusted Sirius. His tone was more sure now, a definitive note to his words. "Okay," Peter said at last. "Okay, yeah. But what if it gets worse?"

"If it gets worse," Sirius said slowly, "I'll talk to him. One on one. Maybe he just doesn't like the rest of us ganging up on him."

Peter nodded. "That sounds good. Just... let me know what happens if you do."

"I will," said Sirius. "Only if it gets worse, though."

"Only if it gets worse."