/𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒\ [𝒔. 𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌]

𝟒.𝟞.𝟣

"beware; for I am fearless, and therefore powerful." ~ Mary Shelley

~december 1975~

It was the day before the end of the term and Artemis and the boys were walking to the library to do some last minute research on the process to become animagi. "So- it seems like we're right on schedule," James said in a business-like tone. "We have all the information we need and Remus put together that killer timeline in his notebook so we can keep track of everything and... it seems like everything's going right."

"Right-" Artemis started to say, but then someone shoved passed her and a group of older Slytherin boys cut in front of them, taking up most of the hallway. Artemis recognized the back of Percy's head immediately and her heart sank.

The boys watched as Artemis's face fell and she was distracted by her brother laughing and fooling around with his friends ahead. James and Sirius exchanged a look, communicating with their eyes, and then they both pulled their wands out.

Seconds later, Percy and a few of his friends' pants were around their ankles, revealing their underwear beneath. Outbursts of laughter roared through the hallway. "This way!" called James, grabbing Remus by the sleeve of his robes and guiding the group around a corner to avoid being caught by the Slytherins.

They paused when they rounded the corner and James and Sirius tucked their wands away again, nonchalantly proud expressions covering their faces. Artemis grinned at James, her eyes twinkling. "Where'd you learn that one?"

"Looked it up just for when I got that particular opportunity," said James, smiling. He put an arm around Artemis's shoulders and the group headed off again, taking an alternate route to the library, the encounter never hindering their goal. "Don't worry, Blake, I'm not afraid to use it again if I have to."

"That'll show him," said Peter, making a disapproving noise. "Shoving you away like that, disgraceful."

Remus laughed. "You sound like my mum, Pete."

With a small smile, Artemis reached out to ruffle Peter's hair and then turned back to James. "So, you guys are all on track, we just need the mandrake leaves."

"Oh-" said Remus, rummaging around in his pockets. "We already got that bit covered." He held out his hand, four small mandrake leaves balanced in his palm. "Sirius and I swiped them the other day after Herbology. It was an open opportunity, so we took it."

Artemis rounded on Sirius with a frown. "And where were we when all of that happened? Couldn't bother to include everyone?"

"Calm down, Blake," sighed Sirius. "You were busy flirting with Spencer Hogan. We couldn't bother to interrupt such an important moment in your life."

"Well, you could've at least told me. Or are you still bent on me not being a part of this?" Artemis shot back.

Sirius looked indignant. "You know, you could just thank me. You don't have to be a part of everything, Art."

"Whatever," Artemis muttered, and suddenly she felt tears pricking her eyes and a lump in her throat. "I have to pack to go home." And with that, she stormed off before any of the boys could see her crying.

~

Christmas was terrible. Artemis was used to terrible holidays by now, but this one was by far the worst she'd ever experienced. The weather was miserable so she was forced to stay inside at all times, cooping her up with her aunt, uncle, and insufferable cousin. Gregory had taken to telling Aunt Isobel and Uncle Gregory every mildly suspicious thing Artemis did, including writing to her friends, making any noise late at night, and wandering the house at any point. Her aunt and uncle always reacted like she was some sort of criminal they were keeping locked up, and that's how Artemis felt.

She spent Christmas eve and day locked away in her room. Aunt Isobel had come to her the night before and told her that after her stunt over the summer, they didn't trust her to be around any of their 'friends and family.' Artemis didn't bother to argue that she was family too. She'd rather be in her room than in the dark, stuffy dining hall surrounded by people who hated her. She bundled up that day and kept her window open, the icy wind making her shiver despite her layers. She didn't care about the cold. She just wanted to feel a little bit of the outdoors. Occasionally Athena would blow in through the window carrying flurries of snow and packages from her friends containing Christmas cards and packages. It was the only thing that kept her out of her head.

She heard from everyone besides Sirius, and that weighed on her for the rest of holiday. She knew her friendship with Sirius had been tense and strained that year, but they'd been close before. He drove her up a wall, but she still expected at least a letter from him. Nothing came. It kept bothering her. She wondered if Sirius was trying to push her out of the group. If maybe, even after all of the happy moments they'd shared, he genuinely didn't want to be her friend anymore. Maybe none of them did, and Sirius was the only one with enough guts to voice it.

On the last day of break, Artemis joined her family in the dining room for a final dinner. They ate in silence, and then Artemis set her fork down and took a deep breath. "So, my mum's getting married at the beginning of next summer."

"We heard," said Aunt Isobel, sipping her wine and not looking up.

"I'm the maid of honor in her wedding," said Artemis, still looking expectantly at her aunt and uncle for a response.

Uncle Gregory grunted his acknowledgment. "So?"

"So... I'm going to stay with her for that week or two," said Artemis.

"No, you're not," murmured Aunt Isobel, sounding completely unaffected.

Artemis narrowed her eyes. "Yes, I am. She's getting married. I have to be with her."

"And we're saying no," said Uncle Gregory. "We don't approve of the company she keeps, and we won't have a member of our family mingling with them."

This was too much for Artemis. "My mum is a member of your family. She married my dad, and by extension, she's part of the family."

"Did she ever change her name?" Aunt Isobel asked with raised eyebrows. "No, and your father changed his to hers. Neither of them are on the family tree, anyways, so there's no need to-"

"My dad was the greatest wizard the Goyle family has ever known!" Artemis exploded, her temper finally getting the better of her. "And you won't even put him on the family tree?"

Uncle Gregory's fist pounded on the table, rattling the dinnerware. "You will not shout at me!"

"I'll do whatever the hell I want!" Artemis said at the top of her voice, standing up. "And I'm going to the wedding, just like my mum wanted."

Aunt Isobel stayed seated, staring at Artemis with cold fixation. "Tell me, would your lovely father want your mother re-marrying? Re-marrying some useless muggle at that-"

"He'd want my mum to be happy!" shouted Artemis. "Not that you'd know anything about that."

Uncle Gregory slammed his fork down and rose to his feet. "And what... exactly... do you mean by that?" he hissed.

"I mean that my dad knew exactly what real happiness was and you lot-"

"Then why did he kill himself?" Aunt Isobel cried, her silverware clattering as she stood up with her husband. "Tell me that, if you think you know everything about your good-for-nothing father. If he was so happy, why did he go and kill himself?"

Artemis felt like the air had been knocked out of her lungs. "Don't- you- talk- about- my- father- like- that-" she roared, pulling her wand from her back pocket without a second thought. "You lousy, stupid, bitch-"

"Crucio!"

The pain was like nothing Artemis had ever felt before. She couldn't process who had even uttered the spell, much less anything else going on in the room around her. An ear-splitting scream she didn't even realize was hers filled her senses as she fell to the floor, writhing in agony. She clutched at her chest, her hands trembling and her vision blinded.

The pain subsided as quickly as it had begun, leaving Artemis shaking and crying on the floor of the dining room. Uncle Gregory tucked his wand back into the pocket of his robes and took his seat at the head of the table again as Artemis struggled to her feet. She clutched at the back of her chair, unable to stand by herself. "I'm done," she rasped, staring her uncle dead in the eyes. "I'm done with this. I'm not doing it anymore." And with that, she stumbled off to her room to pack her bags for school.

~

Artemis's first night back at Hogwarts was terrible. She sat in silence for the duration of the train ride back to the school, dodging all of Lily, Marlene, and Mary's questions. She hadn't been able to stop trembling since her uncle used the Cruciatus on her, but she played it off as being cold. When she finally got to the common room, Artemis headed straight for her dormitory. She was almost there when she was cut off by James and Sirius. "Hey," said James, giving her a worried look, "-thought you were going to sit with us on the train. We wanted to talk about the mandrake leaf month and we need your- wait, are you alright?"

"I'm fine," mumbled Artemis.

Sirius snorted. "Yeah, right," he said with a dry laugh. "Though I definitely won this break. Look at this killer-" He pointed to the dark bruising around his eye like Artemis hadn't already seen it when he approached her.

She merely nodded, unable to put up a fight.

"What's up with you?" asked James, his concern deepening. He lowered his voice. "How bad was holiday... really?"

"She's fine, James," quipped Sirius. "She'll probably be sticking her tongue down some poor bloke's throat by tomorrow." He looked at Artemis expectantly, waiting for her to shoot an insult back or shove him or do anything to make her seem more like herself.

She didn't. "Can you move?" she asked softly. "I want to go to bed." Then, without waiting for an answer, she slipped around James and headed up to her dormitory.

The girls were already there, and when Artemis entered, they all looked up. "Hey," said Marlene, and then noticing the tears in Artemis's eyes, "-Hey..."

Artemis couldn't take it anymore. She couldn't keep a brave face on, she couldn't make jokes about her home life, she merely walked over to Lily's bed and felt herself crumble into her friend's arms. Marlene and Mary were there in an instant, supporting Artemis with Lily and putting their arms around her in a sort of group huddle.

Lily exchanged a dark look with Mary, then ran her fingers lovingly through Artemis's hair. "Sh- sh- sh... it's okay... you're here now... it's okay..."

Artemis knew Lily's words were true, but she couldn't get the overwhelming panic and pain she'd felt since the night before out of her chest. She merely sobbed harder, wishing she could stay at school with her friends forever.

~

"Come on, Art," said Marlene the next night, standing over Artemis's bed with her hands on her hips. Artemis had hardly left the dormitory all day. "We're going for a walk. You need to get out of here."

"Don't feel like it," Artemis mumbled into her pillow.

Marlene raised her eyebrows. "Don't care. Let's go." She pulled the blanket from Artemis and grabbed her friend's hand, pulling her up.

"It's past curfew," said Artemis.

"And since when have you cared about that?"

Artemis half-heartedly followed her towards the door. "Where's Lily and Mary?"

"Don't worry about that, just come on."

The girls hurried through the hallways without making a sound. Marlene seemed to have a direction in mind and Artemis followed her blindly, not caring where they were going. They ended up at the stairs leading up to the east stargazing tower. Artemis paused. "What are we doing? It's cold."

"Just shut up and come on," Marlene sighed exasperatedly. "We have a surprise for you."

Artemis, confused, followed Marlene up the stairs. When she broke through into the cold wintry air at the top, she shivered. Then, her eyes landed on the occupants of the tower. Lily and Mary were huddled under a large blanket on one end of the tower. Remus and Peter were a few feet away. "What's going on?" asked Artemis, wrapping her arms around herself.

Marlene was looking stormy. "Where are they? I thought they said they could handle this."

"Should just be a few minutes now," said Peter, checking his watch. "You're early.

Marlene sighed. "Alright then. Come on, Art, we grabbed a blanket for you."

Artemis followed her to the corner where Lily and Mary were sitting and allowed herself to be wrapped up in a blanket with Marlene. They sat shivering for a few long moments. "Really," Artemis said softly, "-what's going on?"

"Just wait..." murmured Remus, giving Artemis a comforting smile.

Seconds later, James and Sirius burst through the door and stared expectantly at the sky. "Anything yet?" asked James, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"Oh, don't tell me you messed this up too," sighed Lily.

James grinned at her. "No way, Evans. Not with your happiness at stake." Lily scoffed and looked away. James turned his attention to the sky again. Artemis did the same, not sure what she was supposed to be looking for.

Then, suddenly, there was a bright light and a loud burst as sparks rained down from the sky, shimmering in the moonlight. "Ah, there we go," said Sirius, sounding satisfied. He crossed the floor to take a seat next to Remus as the fireworks display continued.

Artemis looked up at James in awe. "You did this?"

"Sirius and I," James said with a shrug. "Evans and McKinnon and Mary came to us earlier to ask if we could and I'm never one to turn Evans down for anything."

"We wanted to give you a New Year's celebration," said Lily, never taking her eyes off of the lights above, which lasted longer than muggle fireworks and were twice as beautiful. "We figured you didn't get one at home and we wanted at least one part of your holiday to be enjoyable. Happy nineteen seventy-five, everyone."

Sirius started pulling bottles of butterbeer from his bag a passed them out. "Happy nineteen seventy-five."

James opened his bottle and clinked it against Sirius's. "Let's make it a good one, guys. The best yet."