/𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒\ [𝒔. 𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌]

𝟑.𝟟.𝟣

"two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the universe or we are not. both are equally terrifying." ~ Arthur C. Clarke

~january 1974~

It was freezing cold in Professor McGonagall's classroom all winter and Artemis hugged her arms to her chest, trying to gain all the warmth she could from her dad's old sweater that she'd thrown on over her uniform that morning. She could hardly pay attention to the lesson on animagi through her shivers. McGonagall swept up and down the rows of desks, peering over student's shoulders at their notes as she spoke. "Now, don't be getting any big ideas," she said, looking over James's shoulder and frowning at his scribbles and doodles. He was so lost in thought he didn't notice, tapping his quill absentmindedly on the already filled paper. "Becoming an animagus is a long process, believe me, I know." Artemis smiled softly to herself at the memory of McGonagall changing from a cat to a human before their eyes and the shock it had induced on the class. "One part in particular involves holding a single mandrake leaf on you tongue for an entire mouth without ingesting or spitting it out. That bit made teaching just a tad harder and I can tell you the chalkboard got more use that month than it ever has since."

The class chuckled. Artemis smiled, and then from across the room, her eyes met those of Jonas Putry, a Hufflepuff boy in her year. His eyes were warm and brown and crinkled around the corners when he laughed, and his smile made Artemis's heart flutter. They only caught each other's gaze for a split second, but in that second, Artemis decided on one thing. He was going to be her first boyfriend.

"He's so cute!" she gushed to Peter as they walked out into the corridor, heading to lunch. "He has such pretty eyes, and his hair... ugh, I love him."

"Isn't it a bit early for love?" asked Peter.

Artemis laughed. "No, have you seen him? How am I going to do this, Pete? I have to talk to him. He's so pretty, Peter. I'm gonna do it. At lunch. I'm going to just go up to him and talk to him. Like how Marlene did with Jack."

Peter looked up at her in amazement. "You're really just going to go up and talk to him? You don't know him!"

"So?" Artemis said with a shrug. "We've got to start somewhere."

~

"Mitch has been insane this year," Gideon muttered, collapsing into an armchair after practice one night. "I mean, it's freezing out. Literally freezing, and we're still doing drills."

Frank grabbed a blanket from the back of his own chair and draped it around his shoulders, trying hard to calm his shivers. "Insane. Bloody insane. And then he says we might not win the house cup."

Beside him, Fabian was pulling on an extra sweater over the one he was already wearing. "We're the only team practicing in this weather, you know. The only- bloody- one."

"One of us should've been made co-captain this year to even him out," said Frank.

Gideon nodded. "Like Micheal and Mitch our first year on the team. That was bloody brilliant on McGonagall's part."

"And to think we have to put up with him for another two years," Frank groaned, sliding down in his seat and pulling his blanket closer. "I swear, whatever I do, I can't get warm."

"I don't think I've been warm since September," muttered Fabian.

Emmeline joined them then, sliding onto the open armchair. "All my jumpers are wet," she complained, wrapping a blanket around her shoulders and burying the side of her face in the soft fabric. "All these practices are killing me."

"I know a good drying spell if you want to bring them down later," said Frank. "It's what I use after every practice."

"Incredible," murmured Emmeline. "What were you saying about co-captains?"

"We used to have two captains," explained Gideon. "This was before you were at Hogwarts. It was Mitch and his older brother, Michael. They were the dream team." He went almost starry eyed just thinking about it. "We only got one year with both of them."

Fabian nodded. "Best year in a long time. Not that Mitch isn't good, he's just..."

"A lot," Emmeline finished for him. "I mean, I knew the Gryffindor team was good, but I didn't know we had to practice this much- especially in the dead of winter."

Frank sighed. "We usually don't, Em, but we've been in a slum. Mitch wants to pull us out of it, even at the cost of his team members' lives." He blew into his hands and rubbed them together, trying in vain to warm them up. "Anyways, once Mitch leaves, that means one of us'll be captain. And then it'll be smooth sailing."

Emmeline frowned. "Smooth sailing until we lose the cup."

"Are you saying you think it's right to practice in zero degree weather?" Fabian asked, raising his eyebrows.

"I'm saying we should do whatever it takes," Emmeline said shortly. "Although maybe this weather's a bit much. I swear I'm going to get frostbite."

Frank tossed another blanket to her. "You very well might. Just keep layering and keep yourself warm when you're not at practice."

"Yeah," agreed Gideon, "-layering's key. Here, you can borrow one of our sweaters until Frank does the drying spell."

Emmeline nodded gratefully and pulled on the sweater Gideon threw at her. "Thanks, you guys are the best," she murmured, burrowing down in the covers and giving the boys a small smile.

~

The next morning, Alice and Dorcas sat on the window seat in the common room, working side by side on their respective projects. Alice had her personal notebook out and was scribbling down a story she'd come up with while daydreaming in Transfiguration class. Dorcas was doing Potions extra credit work. She finished the third paragraph of her essay and looked up. "You should really do the extra credit, Ally," she said, nudging her friend's foot with her own.

It took Alice a minute to pull herself out of her dream world. "What was that?" she asked, finishing the sentence she was on and looking up, quill still poised over the paper, ready to continue her work as soon as the conversation was over.

"The extra credit," Dorcas repeated herself patiently. She was used to the way Alice got when she was writing. "For Potions. You should do it, it'll help your grade."

Alice shrugged. "I don't really feel like it. And my grade's alright. I don't think I need it."

"But you should take the opportunity to make it even better," Dorcas said pragmatically. "Slughorn doesn't give extra credit opportunities often, so this is a good chance to get a few extra points."

"Yeah, but Potions is boring and the assignment isn't required, so why would I make myself unhappy doing something I don't have to do?"

It was hard for Dorcas to argue with that. She had a hard time arguing with Alice in general. She considered herself a good debater, but Alice had gotten really good at fighting Dorcas's logical mindset in the last four years. "You could look at mine," Dorcas offered in one last stand.

Alice laughed. "Dorc, why're you trying to make me do more work? You know I hate homework."

"I know, I know," said Dorcas. "What're you writing about?"

"Oh, nothing much," Alice said airily, proofreading what she'd written already. She never talked much about her writing, but Dorcas had read some of it and was surprised at how genuinely good it was.

Dorcas smiled. "Alright, well can you help me with this real quick? When Zygmunt Budge developed Doxycide, I can't remember what his first try did, I know it was something brutal-"

"It made the Doxys all fiery and it burned his house down," Alice answered without missing a beat. "So he spent the entire night at sea and then developed Doxycide by the next auttumn to kill off the entire swarm of Doxys and then he patented it with the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and it's been in use since... 1684, I believe."

Dorcas raised her eyebrows, impressed. "You want to write my essay for me?"

"Absolutely not," scoffed Alice, going back to her own notebook.

Dorcas eyed her carefully. She knew Alice was smarter than she let on, but lately she was realizing how smart she really was. She didn't even think Alice knew how gifted she was to be able to rattle off facts like that without a moment's hesitation. It was in that moment that Dorcas decided she was going to get Alice to buckle down that year. She was going to get her to bring her grades up, and then maybe someday they could get careers together at the ministry, or... Dorcas found herself lost in a daydream of her own, one where she and her best friend worked side by side doing work that would really change the world. She tapped Alice's foot again. "Hey," she said, "come on, do the extra credit, okay?"

~

The Malfoy manor was big, but sometimes Narcissa felt like it wasn't big enough. There were only so many halls to roam, so many rooms to dust, and so many house-elves to order around before she was stuck bored, cooped up in the big, drafty house until her husband got home from wherever he got off to during the day. She knew there was something important he was working on, but he could never tell her all of the details. 'Top secret meetings' and 'things that didn't concern her' was all she knew about it. She didn't care. She just wanted something to do.

Narcissa sat on the window seat in her bedroom adorned in a long, silky black dress that fell all the way to her bare feet. Her knees were tucked to her chest and her hair fell in scattered curls down her back as she stared forlornly out at the snow. She hated January. It was bleak and cold and made her feel locked up and penned in. It was her least favorite feeling in the whole world. She knew it would be hours before Lucius appeared on the lawn, his hair white as the snow on the ground and a briefcase in his hand, but she watched anyways, waiting. She loved when he came home. He was the only person she saw much anymore aside from her family. She visited her mother's house as often as she could and she wrote to Bellatrix constantly, but it always felt like something was missing. Someone.

She hadn't spoken to Andromeda in years. Her sister was a blood-traitor, exiled from the family. Narcissa felt nothing but disdain towards her now, but the good memories never faded from the back of her mind. The countless days spent in the Black mansion with her older sister, playing in the garden as children or talking until the early hours of the morning in their bedrooms once they got older. Andromeda used to always send Narcissa little notes by owl from her room down the hall, something that drove their mother insane but that Narcissa looked forward to. She'd loved her sister back then. Now, she didn't have that. She didn't have anyone she could spill all of her feelings to without any repercussions. She loved being with Lucius, but his views were too rigid for any sort of lively debate and she didn't want to bore him with any of her feelings. They were boring to even herself now that she was alone with her thoughts all the time. She was sick of it.

She'd tried to keep in touch with Eva since they graduated Hogwarts, but the two friends never saw each other in person since Eva moved to the countryside with her own husband and was busy with her own things. As Narcissa sat on the windowsill, her thoughts wandered to the nights she'd spent in the Slytherin common room, getting dizzily drunk and doing stupid things she wouldn't dream of doing now that she was a married woman of high status. Then, it hit her. She knew what she needed. A party. She knew it couldn't be the raging madhouse sort of party she used to hold, but she needed to be around people. Suddenly, a newfound energy in her movements, Narcissa stood up and headed to her desk, excited for the first time in a long time and ready to start her preparations.