/𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒\ [𝒔. 𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌]

𝟒.𝟛.𝟣

"I assure you that the world is not so amusing as something we imagined." ~ Pierre Choderlos de Laclos

~september 1974~

Platform nine and three quarters was packed with witches and wizards on September first, the Hogwarts Express gleaming red in the background and billowing smoke. Harry found himself standing in the middle of the memory with no real action in sight. He scanned the platform for familiar faces, either Artemis or his parents or Sirius or Remus- anyone to show him why the memory had switched to this particular moment. Then, he caught sight of her. Artemis was standing a few feet away with her aunt, uncle, and cousin, her eyes scanning the commotion with shifty unease. She'd lost so much weight in the last few weeks that her cheeks were hollow and her skin was so pale it was almost gray. Harry took a step closer to them. He wondered if Uncle Gregory had let Art out of her room at all since the disastrous dinner party- even to feed her. She had a rested scowl on her face, her lips turned down and a little furrow between her brows.

Then, suddenly, the frown lifted as her eyes rested on someone further down the platform. Harry followed her gaze and spotted Marlene talking to Alice Fortescue animatedly. Artemis turned to her aunt and uncle. "Well, I'm going to go get a seat. It was great staying with you this summer, really fantastic, I loved the part when you-"

"We'll see you this Christmas," Aunt Isobel snapped. "Now go."

It was impossible not to notice the hurt on Artemis's face, but it quickly flickered away, replaced by excitement as she hurried off to join Marlene. "Funny seeing you here" she said, hardly able to contain her joy as she sidled over to her friend.

"Oh my god!" Marlene shrieked, and threw her arms around Artemis, hugging her tightly. "Oh my god, I missed you so much!"

"I missed you too!"

"Damn, you got hot over the summer," Marlene said with a low whistle, surveying Artemis's short plaid skirt and black blazer.

Artemis threw her head back laughing. "Marly, it's only been two months. Face it, I've been hot all along."

"Whatever you say, love. Look, there's Lily!"

Sure enough, Harry turned to see his mother, looking young and filled with life, half-running towards her friends. She immediately pulled Artemis into her arms. "Oh, I've been so worried since you stopped writing! Marlene and I were ready to come and find you ourselves- we even wrote to Remus asking if he knew anything but he didn't and- Jesus, Art, what- have they been starving you?"

Artemis's smile dimmed ever so slightly. "Not far from it," she said darkly. "Hey, Mary!"

Mary had joined the group and was hugging Marlene tightly. "Hi Art!" she said, letting go of Marlene and pulling Artemis into her arms. She hugged Lily next and then stood back, facing the girls. "What were you saying about starving?"

"Nothing, darling," Artemis said quickly. "How was your summer?"

"It was alright," said Mary. "Marlene, how was the beach? You have to tell us about your beach boy, he sounded dreamy."

Marlene's face lit up. "Oh, he was. We said we'd write to each other but I don't think I will, I don't want to ruin what we had over the summer."

"Either that or he wasn't actually real," Artemis teased, warranting a push from Marlene.

"Artemis!" Just then, a shout came from across the platform and in seconds James was at her side, bouncing with excitement and uncontrollable energy. Harry couldn't keep the smile off of his face when he saw the way Lily looked at him with disapproval and something close to dread. James ignored her. "Art, Art, we've got big things to tell you, really big things- you look awful, come on-" He turned to the other girls, "Sorry, ladies, she's sitting with us. Big things to talk about, very important Marauder matters."

"Marauder?" Marlene said in half disgust.

"Like I said, important matters," said James conspiratorially.

Artemis laughed and pulled James into a hug. "I missed you too, Potter," she said, holding him tightly.

James hugged her back, swaying back and forth for a moment, and then disentangled himself from her arms. "Alright, enough of that. My parents are watching, you're going to embarrass me, Blake. Now come on, the others are already waiting in the compartment."

"Okay, okay," Artemis laughed. She turned back to the girls. "I'll see you at the school."

Mary gave her a warm smile. "You'd better not be late tonight, we've got important things to discuss too."

"I can't wait," Artemis said, and allowed James to pull her back down the platform to the train.

~

"I'm pretty sure I get an automatic win," Artemis said, sitting lazily back in her seat in the boys' compartment, resting her feet on the bench across from her next to Sirius, who gave her an irritated look.

"How does that work?"

Artemis shrugged. "I mean, you saw what happened at the party. Come on, forfeit."

Peter let out a long sigh and James groaned and rubbed at his eyes. "Not this again," he complained. "You two need help."

Sirius and Artemis ignored him. "The party was nothing," Sirius said with an indolent smile. "Look at this." He pulled back his hair to reveal a nasty looking bruise, all purple and yellow.

"Pfff," Artemis snorted, although her stomach twisted at the sight. "That's nothing, Black."

"Oh really?" Sirius countered. "Wanna know what happened after the party you abandoned me at?"

At this, Artemis looked indignant. "Abandoned you? I'm sorry, since when does getting locked away in my room count as abandoning you?"

"Come on, Art, you knew what would happen after that stunt you pulled," Sirius said wearily.

James and Remus caught each other's eye, both looking equally confused. "Did we miss something?" said Remus. Sirius and Artemis once again ignored everything else happening in the compartment.

"You knew what you were doing, Art," Sirius continued, staring Artemis dead in the eye. "Even at the beginning of the party- making fun of the guests, dancing with that guy, stealing the alcohol, I mean come on-"

"And you didn't know what you were doing?" Artemis countered. "Sirius, admit it, you were just as bad as me. And did you get locked up for the rest of the summer? I don't think so." She grew more heated as tensions rose between them.

Sirius sat up, resting his elbows on his knees to lean closer to Artemis. "Did your family start using curses we don't even learn about as punishment?"

Artemis narrowed her eyes. "Yeah, as a matter of fact they did. Did yours only give you one meal a day for three weeks?"

"Wait- back up-" James interrupted. "What the fuck did they do to you?"

"Yeah," said Remus, "I thought we said to write if they pulled any of that shit."

Artemis and Sirius snapped out of their argument to look guiltily at James and Remus. "I did write you," Artemis said, still bothered by the quarrel. "I told you what was happening-"

"No you didn't!" argued Remus. "You didn't tell me they starved you or used curses on you or- or anything!"

"Why would she tell you that?" Sirius asked, suddenly defensive over Artemis. "All you guys would do is bust her door down and make everything worse."

The compartment erupted into scattered arguments, everyone trying to shout over everyone else. "Hey!" Peter yelled, but everyone talked over him. He let out a huff of air and then pulled his legs up so he could stand on the soft seat. "Hey!" he screamed, and everyone fell silent. "Can you all shut up? Arguing about this now isn't going to do anything."

"He's right," James said at last, surprising everyone. "You guys are okay now, that's what matters."

Sirius and Artemis could both argue that they were far from okay now, but neither of them did. Artemis scowled down at her black boots, then looked back up at James. "You said there were important things to talk about?"

There was a beat of silence, and then James nodded, although his excited energy from before seemed mildly drained. "Yeah, right, really big news. We've been writing about it all summer."

Sirius perked up, ready to talk about something that actually made him happy. "Art, wait until you hear this. It's awesome."

"Well, not really-" Remus started.

"We're becoming animagi!" James interrupted, his voice cracking with glee.

Artemis let out a shout of laughter, her hands covering her mouth. "No, you're not," she said evenly when she'd recovered. "That's an idiotic idea."

"And that's why we didn't tell you until now," said Sirius. "You don't have to be a part of it, you can leave. Bye!" He waved her off, but Artemis stayed seated, staring at him with deadened, humorless eyes.

James gave Sirius a dismissive look. "No, shut up, she's going to be a part of it." He leaned forward in his seat, talking in a low, calculated tone. "Listen, Art, we got it all mapped out. Remus goes through his transformations once a month, right? And he goes through absolute hell during all of them. We don't want him to have to be alone during them anymore, so we figure if we turn into animals that could keep him in line, it might be a bit more bearable for him."

"But you can't control what animal you turn into," said Artemis.

"Have you met us?" James said with a short laugh. "I'll probably turn into a bear or something."

Artemis smiled, but then her expression turned serious again. "So how are you going to do it without being caught? You know it's illegal to turn into an animagus without getting registered and there's no way you can get registered-"

"We've got it all figured out," said James. "I've been reading all about it over the summer, so have Sirius and Peter. We think we can pull it off if we start almost as soon as we get to school. Professor Sprout starts teaching about mandrakes in October so we think we'll be able to swipe a few leaves then and we'll take November to hold them in our mouths. That part'll be hard but we have a few decoy plans set out to cover it up. We'll need a silver teaspoon at one point but we can steal that from the kitchens and then we'll have to go into the forest to get dew that neither sunlight nor human feet have touched. That bit'll be difficult too but if we all go to look out for each other I think we can make it. The actual transformation will be the easiest part if we can get the spells right, we just have to wait for a thunderstorm so if the timeline's right, we'll do that in early spring. Then we might get a month or two of going with Remus during his transformations to see if it worked in the first place." James took a deep breath, which he'd barely done the entire time he'd spoken. "Sound alright to you?"

Artemis thought for a few seconds, trying to find loops in his plan. Of course, there was room for error, but it seemed like he had all the bases covered. "It's risky..." she said slowly, "but I think it could work."

"So will you do it too?" asked Peter.

Artemis looked surprised. "Me?"

"Yeah," James said like it was obvious. "We need to know how many mandrake leaves to get. D'you wanna do it too?"

Artemis was caught off guard. She hadn't expected to actually be included in the plan. "For the record," Remus piped up. "I am not a fan of this."

Artemis smiled at him. "I don't think it's a bad idea," she said slowly. "But no, I'm not going to do it. Someone's got to be here for Remus if the rest of you die. But I'll help. I'll help with whatever you guys need."

"Thanks, Art," Remus said softly. He was secretly bursting with happiness at everything his friends were doing for him. He'd expected them to get him kicked out of school the second they found out he was a werewolf, and there they were, sacrificing themselves to make his transformation a little easier.

Sirius laughed. "You're so lame, Art."

"I'm not lame!" Artemis shot back. "I'm just not an idiot."

"Boring," Sirius said. "I knew you wouldn't do it."

"Sirius!" Artemis cried, glaring at him. James let out a sigh and sat back in his seat, rolling his eyes at Remus as they listened to Sirius and Art argue for the remainder of the train ride.

When they got to the Great Hall, the place was buzzing with students saying hello to the friends they hadn't seen on the train and talking happily about their summers and the upcoming year. Artemis followed the boys to the Gryffindor table, greeting people all the way. She was distracted by a boy she knew from Potions class year with blonde hair and round glasses. He smiled when he saw her and immediately broke off from his friends to say hello. "Hey, Art!" he said brightly.

"Hi Alex," said Artemis, adjusting her hair and standing up a little straighter. Alex had grown at least a foot since the last time she'd seen him and his face was handsome now, his hair framing it in messy curls. "How was your summer?"

"Not bad," said Alex, crossing his arms and leaning nonchalantly against the wall behind him. "Worked on my uncle's new house most of the time. You?"

Artemis shrugged. "Oh, it was fantastic," she said, grinning at him with a sort of flirtatious sarcasm hinting in her voice. "You know, dinner parties, ballroom dancing, meeting the minister, that sort of thing."

"So I'm guessing you didn't do much," Alex laughed, reaching up to tuck a bit of blonde hair behind one ear. "Got any big plans for the school year?"

Artemis smiled sweetly and tilted her head to the side. "No, not many. Why, were you thinking of anything?"

Sirius watched Artemis flirting from a little ways across the room, then turned away with a frown settled on his lips. He couldn't stop thinking about the way she'd looked at the dinner party with her red dress and hair that spilled over her shoulders in elegant waves. He shook himself, then his eyes locked on a pretty Ravenclaw girl in his year a few feet away. "Hey, Cara," he said, sidling over to greet her.

Cara turned to him, her warm brown eyes fixating on his face in interest. "Oh, hey Sirius," she said, taking a step closer. "What's up?"

"Not much, just can't wait for another year of Charms," he said, remembering that she'd been in his class last year.

Cara giggled. "Well, maybe we'll have to partner up this year to make it a little less boring."

The corner of Sirius' mouth quirked up in an amused half-smile. "Yeah, maybe we will. So what're you doing later tonight?"

"Nothing much, why? Got something in mind?"

"Well, my night's free and I've got access to an invisibility cloak so you'll have to let me know."

At this, Cara seemed intrigued. "I might just do that."

Just then, James appeared at Sirius's side and gave Cara a warm smile. "Yeah, you do that," he said, taking Sirius's arm. "Come on, mate, feast's about to start."

Sirius followed James over to the table. "You're going to ruin my chances," he said, still smiling, "I was just about to get a date."

"I think your chances are just fine," James laughed. "I'll be back in two seconds." Sirius watched him walk off to where Artemis was still talking to Alex and felt a little surge of satisfaction in his chest as James pulled Artemis back to the table. He shoved it down. He should be happy for Art, not upset she was getting another boyfriend. When they sat down, James was looking rather flustered. "You lot are hard to keep in line, you know that?"

From across the table, Frank laughed. "Let them get dates, Potter, god knows you lot could use some time away from each other. You're all morphing into the same person."

"Let's hope not," muttered Remus. Artemis snorted.

"Yeah?" Sirius said to Frank. "Have you got anyone?"

Frank's mouth split into a grin and he leaned back, giving them a superior look. "I may or may not have a girl eagerly waiting for me to come back from 'boarding school' for Christmas."

"You're dating a muggle?" Artemis asked, amused.

"What's wrong with that?" Frank countered, his eyes twinkling.

Artemis laughed and shook her head. "Nothing, Frank, I hope you're having fun."

"So much fun," he said with a wink.

A few seats down, Alice overheard the conversation. It took her a moment to process, and then her heart sank. Oh... she thought when she heard Frank had a girlfriend. Then, something registered in the back of her mind. She was disappointed. Oh, sweet merlin, she thought to herself in exasperation. Anyone but him.

~

On their way up to Gryffindor Tower after the feast, the boys and Artemis ran almost head first into Regulus on his way to the Slytherin common room. "Regulus!" Artemis said in surprise and happiness, catching his shoulders to steady herself. "How're you?"

"Watch yourself," Regulus joked, reaching out to give her a hand. "Sirius get you drunk again?"

At this, James and Remus turned to Sirius with raised eyebrows. Artemis laughed and punched his shoulder. "You told your brother about the party?"

"Was I not supposed to?" Sirius asked, feigning innocence and rubbing at his shoulder.

"No!" said Artemis, looking half serious now.

Regulus gave her a comforting smile. "It's okay, he just wanted to tell me how pretty he thought you looked."

"Shut up, Reg," Sirius groaned.

Artemis rolled her eyes. "That's a lie."

"You're right," Regulus said with hardly contained laughter. "He was too busy spending the rest of the summer worrying about you to talk about anything else. Anyways, I'll see you around, Art." He patted his brother on the shoulder and slipped away to join a group of his Slytherin friends down the hall.

Remus let out a sigh and settled an arm around Artemis's shoulders as they continued their walk back to the common room. "Are you ever going to fill us in about this party?"

"Nope," Artemis chuckled. "Absolutely not."

When they got to the common room, the five of them immediately noticed a few small changes. In the corner that usually held a table with a vat of drinking water for the students to use, there were now additionally supplies to make hot tea and coffee. Remus headed straight for it and Artemis turned to the common room at large. "Alright then, who thought it was a good idea to give Remus never ending access to caffeine?"

A few people laughed and Dorcas raised her hand. "Yeah, I got sick of having to sneak hot drinks up here so I petitioned with McGonagall to get them supplied. Told her it would cut down on the number of times you lot sneak out at night, though I think that was a lie. Anyways, it's open for use so have at it."

This warranted a few scattered cheers for Dorcas, who beamed and settled back into her seat with Alice. Artemis took her usual position on the couch next to Sirius, careful not to meet his eyes. Remus reappeared a few minutes later with two cups of tea. He handed one to Artemis and then took his seat with his own cradled in his hands. "Art, have you read Frankenstein?" he asked, tucking his legs under himself and reaching out to spread a blanket over them.

"No," said Artemis, intrigued.

"I just started reading it," Remus said, pulling the volume out of his bag. "And to be honest, it hits a little... close to home."

Artemis winced, knowing exactly what he meant. "I think I have a copy upstairs. I'll read it with you unless you don't want to read it at all anymore."

Remus shook his head. "No, no, I'd still like to read it, it just freaked me out a little is all. It'd be great if you read it with me."

"I'll start it tonight."

Remus grinned at her, then noticed Peter shivering on the floor by the fire. "Pete, what the hell are you doing?"

"Hm?"

"Why don't you get a blanket or something?"

Peter shrugged. "I'm worried that the ends might catch on fire without me seeing and then the common room'll burn down and it'll be all my fault-"

"Merlin's beard," Remus grumbled, but he sat forward and pulled his own sweater over his head, tossing it expertly to Peter, who caught it and pulled it on gratefully.

James grinned at the two. "I keep telling you you should be a quidditch player, Rem," James said, sliding off his chair and moving to the center of the floor to pull out a game of wizards' chess. "Come on, Pete, I'm in the mood to win something."

"That's not nice," Peter said sulkily, but he took up the other side of the board and made his first move. The atmosphere of the entire common room was warm and happy, low chatter filling up all of the silences and the warmth from the fire fogging up the windows to hide the uncharacteristically chilly September air outside. Sirius leaned back in his seat, and then his eyes fell on Artemis. "What's up with you?" he asked, nudging her with his foot. She hadn't spoken to him since their conversation with Regulus and had barely looked at him all night.

"So you were worried about me," she said. It wasn't a question, more like she was just stating a fact.

Sirius shrugged uncomfortably. "Oh, come off it, Art. Of course I was a little worried-"

"Then why didn't you write?"

Sirius looked taken aback. "You know why I didn't write. To keep out of trouble with my parents."

"Since when have you cared about keeping out of trouble?"

"Since my mum threatened to use the Cruciatus on me."

Artemis fell into sullen silence. "I just wish you'd done something. You couldn't have stuck up for me at all?"

"Would you have done that for me?" Sirius asked disbelievingly.

Artemis met his gaze unflinchingly. "Yes. In a heartbeat."

There was a moment of tense silence, and then Sirius sighed and shook his head. "Bullshit, Art. Look, there was nothing I could've done. I tried to stop you in the first place and then before I could interfere, your uncle was there and... you know..."

Artemis frowned, but she didn't care about what Sirius was saying anymore. "You told Regulus I looked nice," she said, her voice sounding faded and light.

"Ahhh, Art, you can't pay attention to what Reg says-"

"So you didn't?"

Sirius looked uncomfortable. "Well- ah- I mean-"

Artemis's eyes flashed and she stood up from the couch, throwing her blanket on the floor. "So you told him, but you couldn't say it to my face," she said haughtily and glided off to the stairs leading up to her dormitory, leaving Sirius looking genuinely perplexed on the now empty couch.

"Nice going, mate," Remus said smoothly from the armchair next to the couch. "Really nice going."

Sirius opened his mouth to protest, but only looked more confused. "I don't even know what I did this time."

~

Artemis flung herself onto her bed and let out an annoyed groan, although her chest was filled with giddy joy at the familiar feeling of the red quilt and the soft mattress of her bed at Hogwarts. At home. "What's up with you?" Marlene asked, tossing a pillow at Artemis's head.

"Sirius," Artemis answered and all of the girl groaned simultaneously.

"What'd he do now?" asked Mary, sitting next to Artemis and carefully plucking the pillow from her head.

Artemis sat up and leaned against the headboard, her hair hanging messily around her face. "My family held this stupid dinner party over the summer and Sirius was there."

"Ohhhh," Marlene said, sitting forward on her bed, looking intrigued. "You two dance the night away?"

"Shut up, Marly," said Lily. "We all saw Art talking up Alex Devons before the feast."

She raised her eyebrows at Artemis, who giggled surreptitiously. "No, we didn't dance the night away," she said, looking pointedly at Marlene. "He interrupted me and a very handsome pureblood idiot, we danced one dance, then stole a bottle of whisky and got drunk in my aunt and uncle's storage closet."

"I'm not seeing the problem," said Mary.

"Well, after we were a bit drunk, I sort of... stood up on a chair... and screamed at everyone for being blood-purist hypocrites."

Lily groaned and collapsed back onto her pillows. "Art."

"Come on, Lily!" Artemis protested. "I thought you'd be proud of me! You said to give them hell."

"I didn't mean that literally," Lily said, laughing helplessly.

Artemis shook the comment off. "Anyways, I only made it halfway through my speech when my uncle came in and... put a stop to it." She noticed the expressions of her friends dim to deep worry, but ignored them. "And now Sirius seems to think I abandoned him on purpose."

"That's ridiculous," Marlene said shortly. "That boy's delusional, I swear he is."

"They all are," murmured Lily.

Artemis shook her head. "Sirius just likes to think everything I do involves him in some way. He's the only delusional one."

Marlene nodded seriously. "So you and Alex? Is that a thing?"

Artemis shrugged. "I dunno, we'll see. Depends on if he's exciting enough."

"Oh, I see," Marlene giggled. "You're going to have fun this year, aren't you?"

Artemis gave her a furtive grin. "That's the plan." She repositioned herself on the bed and ran her fingers through her hair, pushing it back onto her head to get it out of her eyes.

"So..." said Marlene, raising her eyebrows at Artemis. "While you were under lockdown over the summer... did you happen to... you know, swipe anything?"

Artemis threw her head back laughing. "You're the worst, Marly. But yeah." She slid off of her bed and crouched by her trunk, digging through until she came up with a pack of Tobacconist Cigarettes. "The wizarding world's finest," Artemis recited from the box before heading to the already open window.

The other girls joined her and they took turns lighting each other's cigarettes with their wands. Artemis kept her own flame out for longer than the others, examining the little light glowing from the tip of her wand. She scrutinized it, a cigarette hanging lit from her lips and then moved her finger close to the flame. Lily rolled her eyes. "Art, what're you doing?"

"Thinking," Artemis mumbled around the cigarette.

"Profound, now put the flame out before you light the dormitory on fire."

Artemis shook her head and plucked the cigarette from her lips with her index and middle fingers, her still-flaming wand still balanced in her other hand. "It wouldn't light," she said pensively. "Not if I controlled it. Bones told me last year. The wizard who lights the fire- using magic, of course- can control if if they have enough willpower."

"And you think you'd have enough willpower?" Mary asked in disbelief.

"Can't be that hard," Artemis said with a shrug. She shot Lily a wicked grin. "Wanna try it out?"

"No!" Lily cried, reaching out for Artemis's wand.

Artemis stood up, holding the wand just out of reach. Marlene laughed and stood up too, taking a drag from her cigarette as she watched Lily chase Artemis around the room. "Watch it, Art, you're a little close to my posters."

"Artemis, I'm going to kill you," Lily shrieked, unable to contain her laughter as Artemis tumbled back into the mirror standing in the side of the room, cornered. Lily jumped off of Marlene's bed and crashed into Artemis.

The flame from Art's wand flickered out but there was a crack behind her as she reached out to catch Lily in her arms. The girls collapsed into each other, breathless and giggling. "I think- I think you broke the mirror," Artemis laughed, stumbling away from the wall with Lily still in her grasp.

"I didn't break the mirror, you did," Lily laughed, falling back onto Marlene's bed to survey the damage.

Marlene took a step closer to the mirror and traced her fingers down the long, thin crack running the length of the mirror, taking another drag from her cigarette as her fingers hovered over the glass. "Nice work, you two," she said, a smile playing on her lips. "You're officially the biggest idiots Gryffindor has to offer."

"Isn't a cracked mirror supposed to be unlucky?" Mary asked, sitting down on Marlene's bed next to Lily. "I could fix it."

Artemis stood back, blowing smoke from her lips and narrowing her eyes at the crack. "Nah, keep it. It's punk rock."

"You and your punk rock," Marlene snorted, joining Mary and Lily on the bed. "I say we keep it as a reminder that our top student is actually terrified of one of the smallest flames I've ever seen." She ruffled Lily's hair affectionately.

Lily shook her head sheepishly. "I'm not terrified of fire, I just don't like the idea of Art burning the school down." She held her head up haughtily. "It'd be embarrassing for her."

Artemis laughed. "Like I said," she said with an air of incomparable confidence, "-with enough willpower, I could've controlled it easily."

"Sure, Artemis," sighed Lily. "Sure."