"and I can't be running back and fourth forever between grief and high delight." ~ J.D. Salinger
~august 1976~ (continued)
Artemis had been dreading the midsummer's eve party for her first month at the Goyles. She knew it would be awful. She knew she'd have to play nice with the dark wizards in order to pull as much information out of them as possible, and she knew she'd feel sick by the end from all the fake smiles and forced pleasantries. But something odd was happening in the Goyle house that week. For the first time since she'd arrived, her aunt and uncle seemed happy. Giddy, even. They kept looking at Artemis and then back to each other like they were hiding some exciting secret, but Artemis dreaded knowing what it was. Knowing her family, it couldn't be anything good.
Her aunt got her a green dress for the party. Artemis frowned as she turned around in the mirror, sizing herself up. She'd lost weight in the last month. A lot of weight. She couldn't help but realize she looked more sick than anything else, like she was slowly withering away. Part of her missed the signature red she'd worn to all of the Goyle gatherings, a color that made her feel stronger and more rebellious, but the green was subtler, and she wasn't in the mood to make a statement. Not that night. Maybe not for awhile. Her energy was draining, her confidence dwindling. The spark that made had kept her searching for trouble and excitement for the last six years seemed to have gone out.
The party was crowded, and Artemis kept to the edges. She smiled a little, remembering the night she and Sirius had made their rounds at a Goyle party, chatting everybody up only to poke fun at them after, tipsy on firewhisky they'd stolen from her Uncle Gregory. She wished he was there, but at the same time, she was glad he wasn't. She knew it would make him sad to see her now, eyes deadened, blankly engaging passers by in conversations about the weather and making offhand comments about the "state of the wizarding world" like it wasn't directly affecting her.
Then, she saw him.
It was a bob of dark hair at first, a flash of cold, pale blue, solemn eyes. Then a sharp chin, a hooked nose, and a birth mark she knew only to be her brother's. Percy. He was there. In the flesh. A little taller and a little thinner and more gangly than ever, but he was there. So that's what her aunt and uncle had been so secretive about the whole time, was her first thought. She was frozen, unable to move, with no idea what to do.
But it started as a tingling in her fingers and moved up her spine. A waking up, a re-igniting of a flame she couldn't even remember going out. Percy was there, and he was standing right in front of her, looking at her like he didn't even recognize her, and she could feel her heartbeat in her ears. It was anger and sadness mixed with the sharpest relief she'd ever felt, and she didn't know if she wanted to throw her arms around him and weep or punch him in the face and walk away.
She didn't do either of those things. She opened her mouth, then closed it. Then, finally, "Great party, isn't it?"
The words came out sarcastic, and Percy's lips, identical to hers, twitched upwards in a smile. "Well, the Goyles never fail to disappoint."
Now she really did want to punch him. "Funny, we haven't spoken in two years and you haven't changed a bit," she said coldly.
"Well, seeing as you're here, I can only assume you've changed for the better." His words came out even more sarcastically than hers. He looked torn between giving her the boyish smile he wore when he teased her, and scowling angrily.
She tried to keep her cool. She took a deep breath and started counting seconds. "Can we talk? Alone?"
"Whatever you want, Artie."
She turned away and started walking to avoid hexing him on the spot. Her fingers curled around her wand in her pocket, but she knew if she made a scene, it would only end badly. They stepped into a room off to the side, an empty sitting room seemingly forgotten by the partygoers. Artemis turned to face Percy. "Where- the hell- have you been?" she hissed through gritted teeth, her words broken up because with every one, she wanted to scream.
Percy shrugged. "Oh, here and there. Lately, I've been hanging around Dorchester, but I'm thinking of moving along to Wales soon."
"You know what I mean."
"I'm afraid I don't." His gaze was chilling and unfeeling. She couldn't tell if he was being serious or not.
"Mum asks about you every time I talk to her. Every letter she writes, she wants to know if we've been in contact, every-"
"I don't give a damn what your mum wants."
She hated him. She hated the way he said 'your mum' when Jane was the woman who had raised both of them. She hated the look in his eyes, and the nonchalance in his demeanor. "Don't you care at all? Two years, Percy!" Her eyes had filled with tears and she pushed him back roughly. "Two years with no word, nothing!"
"And didn't I tell you- two years ago- that I'm done with that side of the family?" he asked, still nonchalant as ever, but with a sharp note to his voice. "That I wouldn't be back? That I'm writing her off and not to expect me to be in contact? Did I not say that?"
"I'm your sister!" her voice cracked sharply and the door of the sitting room opened.
Uncle Gregory sidled in, looking almost jovial. "Ah, the awaited reunion!" he said pleasantly. He was drunk, Artemis could tell.
She rounded on him. "What was your plan?" she said, her voice no more than a whisper. "To just bring him here? Without telling me?"
"I did say I'd put you in contact with him," Uncle Gregory said with a shrug.
"You put me through hell and back for weeks now-" She was shouting now. "-Weeks! Just to bring him here with no warning, so I could look like an idiot, and he could tell me to fuck off, and then what? What was the plan from here? Please, do tell me."
Her uncle laughed. A hearty laugh so unfamiliar to Artemis it made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. "Well, if you made yourself look like an idiot, that's certainly no fault of mine. I did exactly what you asked, didn't I?"
Artemis's wand was out before she had time to think about it. "Stingalio!" The stinging curse was the first that came to mind. Drunk, her uncle didn't have the time to react as quickly as he normally would have. The spell hit him between the eyes and he stumbled back, moaning in pain. Artemis felt a surge of satisfaction. Her uncle may be able to beat her hand to hand, but now she had her wand. "Go ahead," she taunted. "Tell me the plan, you sadistic fucking-"
Her voice was ripped from her by a silent curse that hit her in the chest and doubled her over, coughing and choking. Her uncle laughed. "Thought a schoolgirl jinx would do the trick? Thought you won? Well, if you're going to fight, do it the right way at least."
She forced herself to stand up straight, but it felt like her insides were on fire. "Tarantallegra!" The spell missed, but barely.
After that, everything was a blur for Artemis. She fired spell after spell, turning the sitting room into a hazy dark mess of blindingly bright spells and smoke. She could smell something burning, but didn't think to see what it was. The only thought on her mind was to hurt Gregory Goyle, the man who had inflicted so much pain on her already.
She felt a trickle of something wet run down her face, and the fabric of her dress was dampening somewhere around her mid-stomach, but it didn't stop her. She was numbed to the pain, unable to think about anything but the fight at hand.
Vaguely, she was aware of Percy's presence in the room. He wasn't fighting. He wasn't doing anything. He was helpless, unable to pick a side. It made her laugh, and her own laughter echoed in her head, too loud for the room, for the world. She was in another dimension, filled only with flashes and and a mild, throbbing pain all over her body as she dodged and maneuvered her wand, throwing around spells she didn't even know she had the capability of doing.
And then, the door crashed open with a bang and someone, a tall figure dressed all in black, was vaulting over one of the couches to stand at her side. He shouted something she couldn't hear, and as quickly as the duel had started, it was over.
The smoke started to clear and it took everything in Artemis not to crumple to the floor. The figure next to her was leaning down, and she smelled something through the burning smoke and putrid air. Dog fur.
"Sirius-" she rasped.
The smoke cleared some more and she could see his face, staring down at her in acute concern. He tried to cover it up with a nervous smile. "I heard there was a party tonight, and you know how I get about crashing parties."
She couldn't help but laugh, only when she did, it felt like her lungs were collapsing. "We need to get out of here."
"Damn right we do," said Sirius, taking her hand. "Are you hurt?"
She was, but she shook her head. "I'm fine."
Only then did Percy emerge from the shadows, looking thoroughly shaken. "I saw you get hit- you're definitely hurt- Art-"
She set her expression into a grim scowl. "You're coming with us."
"No-"
"Yep," said Sirius, and he grabbed Percy by the collar of his shirt and started hauling him towards the door.
Artemis looked gratefully after him, then followed at a limp.
The cool summer's night air felt blissful on her burning skin as she followed Sirius and Percy into the backyard. She didn't know what Sirius's plan was, but she knew he had one from the determined look in his eyes. "Give me your hand," he said, reaching for her. He took a good look at her face. "Jesus, Art, you look terrible."
"Just... let's go."
"Right."
But just as Sirius was about to turn on the spot to apparate, Percy did the same and they were spinning through darkness, the wind whipping in their ears.
Artemis landed on her knees in the backyard of her mother's house. The three of them all looked around in confusion, and then Artemis smiled grimly. It was all she could muster. "Here, Perc? Out of anywhere in the world, you brought us here?"
"I-" Percy stumbled over his words, blinking fast. "I didn't know- I just- It was the first place I thought of."
"Where are we?" asked Sirius, thoroughly bewildered.
Artemis got to her feet. "Welcome to my mum's house."
When Jane opened the door, it took her a moment to process what she was seeing. The three last people she'd expect at her doorstep were standing in an odd huddle. Her daughter, blood dripping down her face, looking like she'd been a prisoner of war, her son, his sallow face etched with a confusing mixture of worry, fear, and anger, and a tall boy with shaggy dark hair, and she could only guess who he was.
He was the first to step into the house, and Jane noticed he was practically holding Artemis up, his arms around her with a kind of gentle care she wouldn't expect upon first looking at him. He stuck his free hand out to shake hers. "Sirius Black, ma'am, it's a pleasure to meet you."
Only then did Artemis collapse fully. She did it as gracefully as she could, her vision blurring as she settled herself onto the staircase that led up to her bedroom. Sirius was at her side in an instant. "Where?" he asked, not bothering to phrase the rest of the question.
Artemis put a hand over the wound on her stomach and drew it back, covered in blood. "Right there," she said, her voice a million miles away.
"Shit," Sirius swore. "Shit, shit, shit." He pulled his jacket off and held it to the blood soaked front of her dress. "You're going to need... um..." His thoughts were moving to fast to be put into words.
Then, Percy was there. "Move." He commanded Sirius. There was no emotion in his voice, not a trace of care in his eyes, and Artemis flinched when he pulled his wand out. But he worked quickly, muttering an incantation under his breath, his eyes screwed up narrowly.
Sirius stood back and wiped his forehead with his arm. Jane stared down at her children on the stairs, one half-dead, the other cold and calculated, but working as hard as he could to save her. She turned to Sirius. "Will someone please tell me what's going on?"
~
It was hours later. Artemis, with a new bandage over the wound on her stomach, had managed to change into sweatpants and a large t-shirt. She'd spent the better part of an hour in the bathroom, cleaning the blood from her face and hands, as Sirius sat outside the door and periodically asked if she was still alive. She was alive, sure, but if anyone had asked her what was happening, she wouldn't be able to tell them to save her life.
Sirius and Percy were both in her mother's house. That was weird enough, for starters, and they were all sitting in the living room together. Artemis sat with them, on the armchair in the corner where just weeks before she'd sat reading with the summer breeze in her hair. Sirius sat on the floor, his back resting against the foot of Artemis's chair, a mug of tea cradled and forgotten in his hands. Percy hadn't bothered to sit down. After healing Artemis's wound for the most part, he'd leaned against the doorway of the living room and hadn't moved much. He'd declined any tea or food Jane offered, but he didn't leave, and Artemis figured that had to mean something.
Jane and Alfie, on the other hand, were everywhere at once. Artemis couldn't keep it straight. Neither of them had any idea how to help the situation, so they ran around getting Sirius, Percy, and Artemis anything they could imagine was needed. Finally, however, they also settled down in the living room, sharing the loveseat by the wall and anxiously awaiting a proper explanation.
"So... you're all... wizards?" Alfie said at last, still getting over the detail Sirius had so carelessly skimmed over in his hurried version of the story earlier.
Artemis nodded slowly. "Yeah."
"And... you got in a... a wizard's fight? Is that right?"
She nodded again. "Yep."
"And this guy- your uncle-" Alfie was slowly starting to get it, "-He tried to kill you because..."
"Still trying to figure that one out myself," muttered Sirius.
Artemis shrugged. "Because that's how he works. He either likes you or he tries to kill you."
"That's a little reductive," Percy murmured, and everyone turned to him. It was the first he'd spoken a full sentence since their arrival. He looked around the room, uncomfortable, not meeting anyone's eyes. "I mean, he doesn't like you because of where you come from. He doesn't particularly like me either, but he's not going to try and kill me because I'm on his side. Technically speaking."
Artemis narrowed her eyes at her brother, trying and failing to get a read on him. "What do you mean- technically speaking?"
"Forget it," he muttered, and lapsed into silence again.
"No," Jane said at once, her voice stronger than it had been all night. "No, we're not going to 'forget it' because you're here now, and Artie just almost got herself killed over you, and I think out of the three of you, you owe us all an explanation the most-"
"I don't owe you anything," Percy said mildly, and the whole room erupted into noise.
As Jane and Percy shot insults back and forth, Alfie couldn't help wondering again how exactly Gregory had managed to inflict a wound that deep on Artemis, and Sirius, finding an opening, turned to Art to ask her once again if she was alright.
She didn't answer. She didn't say anything for a long time, letting the situation dissolve into more and more chaos. And then, finally having enough, she pulled her wand out and shot sparks at the ceiling. Everyone froze. "Stop it!" she cried. "Everyone just fucking stop it!"