"love all, trust a few, do wrong to none." ~ William Shakespeare
~august 1975~
Sirius was sitting in the Potter's kitchen on a warm August morning, a light breeze ruffling the curtains in the window as he ate cereal and talked to Mrs. Potter, who was doing the dishes and humming softly under her breath. "So we just take the trolley into the city and then we can walk everywhere?" he asked, still unsure about how muggle transportation worked. Mr. and Mrs. Potter were going out for the day, so they told James, Sirius, and Artemis that they could take the trolley into the nearby city to spend the day.
"Mhmm," said Mrs. Potter. "The trolley comes right through the village at the bottom of the hill and it'll take you right downtown."
Sirius shoved another bite of cereal into his mouth as footsteps sounded on the stairs and then Artemis flew into the room wearing a short, sleeveless red dress that fluttered around her legs. "Mrs. Potter, have you seen my red ribbon?" she asked, standing barefoot in the kitchen, the morning sunlight making her hair glow golden brown. Sirius's spoon stopped halfway to his mouth and he choked a little as he stared at Artemis, all thoughts slipping from his head.
Artemis didn't pay him any attention. After a month of living with the Potters, she'd gotten used to at least one of the boys being there and acting strange at all times. Mrs. Potter turned around from the sink to face Artemis, a thoughtful look on her face. "Hmmm, check the laundry. It might've gotten mixed in. You look very nice, by the way, I like that dress."
"Thanks!" Artemis said with a bright smile, and hurried out of the room.
When she was gone, Sirius cleared his throat and shook his head hard, taking the bite that had stopped midway to his mouth. Mrs. Potter turned to him, an amused glint in her eyes that was so similar to the look James got when he was about to cause trouble. "More cereal, Sirius? I think you drooled some of it onto the floor."
"Owned!" James cried, bounding through the garden door into the kitchen and grinning broadly at his mother. "You tell him, Mum. Wait- what were you talking about?"
"Don't worry about it," Mrs. Potter said lightly.
James shrugged carelessly and headed for the stairs. "Whatever, I'm going to go tell Art to hurry it up. Trolley's leaving soon."
Mrs. Potter watched her son go, and then raised her eyebrows pointedly at Sirius. "Oh, stop it," Sirius said around a mouthful. "I don't like her like that."
"You said it, not me," said Mrs. Potter, smiling as she turned back to the sink. "And don't talk with your mouth full."
~
It wasn't a long ride into the city and Artemis stood on the edge trolley with the boys, holding onto one of the railings and leaning her head over the side to let the wind blow her hair in all directions. She'd secured some of it up with a bright red ribbon that matched her dress and it fluttered in the breeze. James and Sirius leaned their heads over the edge too and Sirius opened his mouth like a dog, which Artemis didn't fail to point out. He gave her a playful shove and she shrieked and grabbed onto his arm. "Don't do that!" she cried, laughing and tightening her grip on the railing. "Scared the shit out of me, Black."
When they got to the city, Artemis was buzzing with excitement as she dragged the boys towards the art museum. "So remember, Art, we're not spending the whole day here," Sirius said, briefing Artemis before they entered.
"I know, I know, now come on!" She grabbed James and Sirius by the sleeves and dragged them into the ornate building, breathing in the familiar scent that lingered in every museum she'd ever been to. The scent of pieces that had been around long before she was born and history she couldn't possibly understand. It was bliss.
After paying admission, the three of them started through the galleries, walking slowly so Artemis could stop and read all of the plaques. It didn't take long for James to get bored, and when they reached the third gallery, he was scanning the room for something fun to do. "Ohh, look," he said, jutting his chin out at a girl across the room. "There's my chance."
"Hm?" Artemis said distractedly, not taking her eyes off of the painting in front of her. She was studying the brush strokes, her father's words ringing in her ears as though he was right there next to her. "The romanticists loved using those small, close strokes to make it look more realistic. The impressionists went on the adopt a variation of that style, but they modified it to fit their own needs..."
"That girl over there," said James, still staring.
Sirius grinned over Artemis's head at James. "Go get her, then, if you're so over Lily."
"You know what?" said James, sensing a challenge. "I will. You two have fun, I'll find you later."
"Mmmm," Artemis said in recognition and James trotted off to try and talk to the girl.
Sirius bounced impatiently on the balls of his feet for a few minutes, but he didn't rush Artemis. He could sense this was something important to her, and he knew no matter what he said, they weren't getting out of there anytime soon. "Alright, Blake," he said at last, clapping his hands together. Artemis looked up mildly. "You know everything about art, right? It's in your name."
"Actually, I was named after a Greek goddess," Artemis countered.
"Yeah, whatever." Sirius gave her a charming grin. "So, show me your expertise. If I'm gonna be dragged around this place, I might as well learn something."
Artemis's entire face lit up like it was Christmas. "Really?" she said, barely able to contain her excitement. "You can't interrupt, though."
"I won't," Sirius said, raising his eyebrows and giving her a half-serious look. "I promise."
Artemis, radiating energy, grabbed Sirius's hand and pulled him into the next gallery. They stopped in front of a painting of a girl lying on her back in a river. "Okay, so this one's called Ophelia and it's by John Everett Millais," she said without having to look at the plaque, not letting go of Sirius's hand.
Sirius was acutely aware of the way her hand felt in his and how close to him she was standing. She smelled like some deep scented perfume and her skin was soft in his, the fabric of her dress just barely brushing his jeans. "What's so special about it? What, is she dead?"
"What's so special about it?" Artemis echoed incredulously. "This is one of the most prominent Pre-Raphaelite paintings of its time. The goal of that era was hyper-realism, and most of it was religiously based. See how careful the brush strokes are and how the colors are life-like, even now?" Sirius nodded, looking at the painting more carefully now. "Right, and all of the colors and religiously symbolic. The color of her dress for tainted innocence, and the green for security and balance. So, she died for her sins, but she's found a balance in her death."
"Okay, that's... actually sort of cool," Sirius said, looking down at Art, who was grinning up at him with almost childish wonder in her eyes. In that moment, Sirius didn't care about any of the works of art in the museum. She was the most beautiful thing there.
She kept her hand tightly wrapped in his as she pulled him around the rest of the gallery, going into lengthy monologues about the paintings she knew and pausing in silence for long moments to read and memorize the plaques of the ones she didn't. She was so excited, so happy to be there, it was impossible for it not to rub off on Sirius a little bit. He found himself reading the plaques with her, storing little facts about artists and paintings in the back of his mind to recite back to her later in the hopes that she would be impressed. This is ridiculous, he reminded himself constantly, but on the other hand, he didn't care. He was walking hand in hand with who he was quickly realizing was one of his favorite people in the world. Yeah, she annoyed him to no end sometimes. Yeah, she was insufferable and never failed to pick a fight and made drove him absolutely insane at times. But when she gave him that wide-eyed, impossibly joyous look after telling him about one of her favorite artists, it made all of the annoyances worth it. She was one of his best friends, that was all, he told himself. That was it. Just good friends enjoying a day in the museum together...
~
When at last Sirius and Artemis met James in the lobby of the museum, he was deep in conversation with a different girl from the one he'd seen before and holding a slip of paper with her telephone number scribbled on it. Sirius and Artemis exchanged an amused look and released each other's hands to join James. "Hey, lover boy," Sirius said, putting an arm around James's shoulders and grinning at the girl talking to him.
"Will you leave me alone for a second?" said James, not looking up at Sirius.
Artemis stood at his other side and gave him a begrudging look. "In case you haven't noticed, we've been leaving you alone all day." She turned to the girl, who was looking thoroughly confused, and smiled. "Hey, I'm Art."
"Like... like Art, like, at the art museum?"
"That's the one," said Sirius. "Now, if you'll excuse us, we're going to steal James here. Important matters to discuss over lunch. Pleasure to meet you..."
"Ginny," the girl said politely. "And you are..."
"The man of your dreams," said Sirius, and winked.
Artemis made a disgusted sound and elbowed him hard in the ribs. "Don't be gross. Come on, James. Lovely to meet you, Ginny." She grabbed James and Sirius by the hands and dragged them towards the door.
"Jesus, Art, first you drag us into the museum, then you drag us out," James said exasperatedly.
When they burst through the double doors into the warmth of the summer sunshine, Artemis turned back and smiled at them. "I've really got you boys under my fingertips, don't I?"
"Always will," said James, catching up to Artemis to throw an arm around her shoulders. "Now, there's this really great cafe I went to once with my parents, I wonder if I can find it again..."
It took them almost an hour to find the exact cafe James was talking about, and when they did, it wasn't nearly as good as he'd remembered it. All the same, they sat at a booth by the window and ate greasy fish and chips while discussing James's escapades at the museum.
"So I was just standing there, you know, admiring the art..."
"Right," said Artemis, exchanging a look of disbelief with Sirius.
James ignored her. "And she just came up to me! And started talking to me and I played it off so cool, I was like 'oh yeah, I love Monet."
"Bet it wasn't Monet," cracked Sirius.
"Bet he pronounced Mon-ette," Artemis snickered.
"Will you two shut up?" cried James. "I'm trying to tell my story." Artemis and Sirius fell silent and looked to him expectantly. "And it was a Monet. I could tell, I'd seen it before. You know, the one of the city where it sort of looks like Starry Night with the colors and stuff but it's not and I know that because it's by Monet-"
"It's by Camille Pissarro," Sirius said, unable to contain his laughter.
Artemis stared at him in awe. "How'd you know?"
"We looked at the same painting, remember? And I thought it looked like Starry Night too and you called me a bloody idiot because the brush strokes are all different, right?"
Artemis didn't even try to hold back her smile. "Yeah, that's right," she said ruefully.
James stared back and forth between them with a look of disgust. "You spend one afternoon with her and suddenly you're an art expert too?" He shook his head. "I can only handle one of those. Anyways, she started talking to me, and we were talking about Monet and all those painters or whatever-" He ignored Artemis pained look at 'whatever,' "-and then she wrote her number down and now I have it!" He waved around the little scrap of paper happily. "So see? I've moved on from Lily. It's official."
Artemis snatched the paper out of James's grasp and gave him a lopsided grin. "It'd be official if you had a phone, you idiot."
"There's payphones on every block!" protested James. "Come on, it's official. Sirius, it's official, right?"
Sirius grimaced hard. "Yeah, no, I'm gonna have to side with Art on this one."
"You guys are the worst!" cried James, throwing a chip at Sirius, then another at Art. "Now let's get out of here, I wanna check out that park and whatever possible numbers that holds."
~
It was twilight when the three of them finally got back to the Potters house, but none of them were the least bit tired. They passed the house and walked through the field behind it, wandering in the glowing darkness of the coming night. "So what now?" asked Artemis as they neared the edge of the field.
The boys were silent for a long moment, and then suddenly James bolted forward, running ahead of Sirius and Artemis, who exchanged a split second look of confusion before following suit. They ran through the field until they came upon the edge of the trees, where the grass gave way to the swimming hole they'd been swimming in almost every day all summer, now darkened by shadows. James turned to Sirius and Artemis, beaming. "Well, boys- ah, I mean, boy and Art- we've had a successful day. We viewed pretentious art, I got pretty girls' phone numbers, we worked hard... it's time for a swim."
Artemis laughed incredulously. "No way."
"Yes!" James protested, putting his hands together and pleading. "Please! It'll be fun! Let's all night swim, please..."
"I'm in," said Sirius.
"Wait, but this shirt's new," said James. "Can't get it wet."
"And I don't have a bathing suit," Artemis chimed in. "Let's go back to the house first-"
Before she could finish, James was already pulling her shirt over his head. "Skinny dipping!" he bellowed, tossing the shirt onto the grass behind him.
Artemis burst out laughing, throwing her head back so the moonlight shone on her hair. Sirius couldn't take his eyes off of her. "You're insane, Potter!" Artemis said, shaking her head wildly. "And I'm not skinny dipping. One of you better give me a shirt at least."
"Sirius, give her your shirt," James ordered. "Like I said, mine's not touching the water."
Sirius let out a long sigh and ran his fingers through his hair. "Fine." He pulled his own shirt off and threw it at Artemis, who caught it one-handed.
"Turn away, both of you," she said sternly, raising her eyebrows at the boys. They both turned away as Artemis stripped to her underwear and pulled Sirius's t-shirt on. It fell to her thighs and she adjusted it before pulling her hair back. "Okay, let's go."
James and Sirius both turned around, and Artemis's eyes caught Sirius's in the low light of the moon. She had to admit he'd grown up. He was muscular, standing there in only his jeans, his dark hair falling to his shoulders. She'd have to cut it for him soon.
Sirius couldn't take his eyes off of Artemis wearing only his t-shirt, her hair tumbling in wild waves over her shoulders and the whole way down her back. She'd been growing it out all summer. Her eyes were lit up, shining brightly in the darkness and the bruises she'd shown up to the Potter's with were faded now, only shadows leaving thin traces of memories on her face. The breeze felt warm on his bare shoulders and he watched it ruffle the t-shirt around Artemis's legs and blowing stray hairs onto her face. She was pretty, he couldn't deny that. Not that way, not that way, not that way...
"Cannonball!" James roared, and Sirius and Artemis were snapped out of their trances by a spray of water that came from James jumping bare naked into the swimming hole.
Artemis laughed, brushing her hair back from her face and turning to raise her eyebrows at James's head bobbing above the surface. Sirius's eyes lingered on her, failing to look quite as unaffected by the moment they'd just had. Something had definitely been there, right? He snapped back to the present as Artemis shrieked. "James, you idiot!" she cried as James splashed water on her.
"You're the idiot! Get in!"
"Alright, alright," laughed Artemis, and she jumped in after him, splashing him as soon as she resurfaced. "Come on, Sirius!"
Sirius fixed his expression in a second and grinned down at his friends splashing and laughing in the water. "Hold on!" he said, and dove in between them, dunking James as soon as he came up.
Artemis helped by splashing him again and again until he finally held up his hands for them to stop, shaking his head and spraying them both with water. "You're both the worst," he spluttered, then dunked Sirius back, just for good measure.