/𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒\ [𝒔. 𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌]

𝐟𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧

𝟕𝟔𝟓 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬

After the wedding, things went relatively back to normal. However, the definition of normal was changing so rapidly, it was hard to tell. Order meetings grew more frequent, as did disappearances, skirmishes with Death Eaters, and bad news about the rising of Voldemort.

It was the third Order meeting of the week. Artemis was sprawled out on the couch in the Burrow after a long night on patrol duty. Her head rested on Sirius's leg and she was relying on him to pay attention and fill her in on the meeting later.

At the front of the room, Moody looked almost as tired as she felt. "Meadows and Jones, I want you in Hogsmeade tonight with Potter and Eva-Potter. God, that never gets easier."

James and Lily exchanged a small smile.

"Black, I've got a mission for you and Potter- James, I mean." Moody shook his head in irritation. "If you lot are going to keep marrying each other, I'm giving you all nicknames."

"Oh, what would mine be?" James piped up.

Moody narrowed his eyes at him. "After patrol with you last night? Jumpy."

There was scattered laughter from around the room. Moody cleared his throat loudly. "Everyone has their patrol duties? Any last comments?" He gazed around the room. Nobody spoke up. "Alright- Blake, Lupin, and Shacklebolt, stay after. The rest of you, go home."

Everyone got up and started talking amongst themselves. Sirius checked if Artemis was awake, then ran his fingers through her hair. "Want me to wait for you?"

"No," she said, sitting up and letting her head rest on the back of the couch. "This might take awhile."

Moody had implemented 'planning sessions' after each meeting with select groups of members. He claimed smaller, more intensive meetings helped boost productivity. Most people hated them. Artemis didn't mind them. Usually Moody paired her up with one of her friends, and they spent the whole time shit talking different Death Eaters they went to school with.

Sirius stood up, then held his hands out to help Artemis to her feet. "You're not on patrol tonight, right?"

"Right."

"Alright, we're going to bed early tonight," he murmured, detangling a knot at the bottom of her hair. "I'm talking, like, six."

She gave him a soft smile. "Yeah, no arguments here. I'll see you at home."

He leaned down and kissed her cheek. "See you at home."

She made her way to the front of the room while the rest of the Order made their way out. Remus and Kingsley were already there, taking seats at the little table Moody had set up at the beginning of the meeting. Moody took his own seat at the top of the table.

"What would my nickname be?" asked Artemis.

"Stupefy- after the only spell you ever use in a duel," grunted Moody.

Artemis snorted and opened her notebook. "Coming from the guy who's supposed to be training me."

"Alright, what ideas do you lot have?" asked Kingsley. "Because I have a few that might work, but some might be risky."

"Give us your most risky," said Remus. "Those seem to be the only ones that work."

Kingsley let out a relenting chuckle. "Yeah, one of them involves literally knocking on the door of Malfoy Manor and hexing the living shit out of whoever opens it."

"Ah, instant death," said Artemis. "I like it."

Moody sighed. "You three supposedly had the most brain power out of everyone in your Hogwarts classes. The best you can come up with is bombarding the housemaid of a Death Eater?"

"Alright, then how about targeting each faction individually?" said Remus. "Let the Order members at the Ministry sabotage the dark wizards in the Ministry, the Gringotts Order members sabotage the dark wizards at Gringotts, and so on- you get the idea."

Moody nodded slowly. "Splitting everyone up into groups is good... but we've tried that. Remember that mission Arthur Weasley and Kingsley went on in the Ministry?"

"Disastrous," said Kingsley, massaging the wrist he'd broken in that fight. "Almost lost me my job, too."

"Then what if we do the opposite?" said Remus. "All of us against all of them. Straight up battle. Why not?"

Artemis raised her eyebrows at him. "Because we would die. All of us. Without question."

"Yeah, Art's right," said Kingsley.

Artemis sat up a little straighter. "What about more subtle ways of turning the table? Forget dueling, forget battle, what if we start at Hogwarts? Ramp up the education against dark magic so they can't indoctrinate any more kids. Start cracking down on dark wizards in the legal sphere, throw them in prison for less extreme offenses, target them for other things, you know?"

"The legal part of that is interesting," said Moody. "I'm sure there's a lot we could do there. I mean, Lucius Malfoy alone gets away with breaking Statute of Secrecy laws all the time. If we can catch him for that, he could be thrown away for a few years."

"But doesn't that only prolong it?" asked Kingsley. "Malfoy gets put away for a few years, Lestrange gets a slap on the wrist from the Ministry, and so on- I mean, they'll go away for a few years tops, but they'll be back. It doesn't stop them altogether."

Artemis frowned. "Well then how d'you suppose we stop them altogether? We have less numbers, less power, and the responsibility of protecting pretty much every muggle and muggleborn out there. We don't exactly have the upper hand here."

"We need to take risks," Kingsley said simply.

She shook her head. "Risks, sure, but to an extent. We can't just throw ourselves onto the front lines when the chances of us not making it out are this high. With a technique of subtle sabotage, the risk is lower and the reward is pretty damn high."

"What reward, though?" said Kingsley. "Throwing Malfoy in a low level prison for a few years for petty crimes?"

"And then he's out of the way, and we've bought ourselves time," said Remus. "Yes, it makes a difference."

Kingsley took a deep breath. "We keep talking about buying ourselves time and making small steps- we shouldn't want to make small steps, we should want to make a larger difference-"

"At the risk of our lives!" Artemis cried. "How do you not get that, Kingsley?"

"Art..." Moody said warningly.

"No," said Artemis, "No, I dunno about you, but I don't want to die knowing I didn't have a shot in hell. Yes, we should fight with everything we've got, but the truth of the matter is that we don't have much. We're losing."

Moody narrowed his eyes. "What do you count as loss, Blake? We got Dolohov the other night, we got Crabbe, we killed Wilkes and Dearborne, is that loss to you?"

"Honestly, the only one of them that I want dead is Voldemort," Artemis said through gritted teeth. Her nerves were on edge after the night before, and she hadn't expected to get in an argument that afternoon. "Sure, there's going to be casualties on both sides, but isn't it best to prolong that?"

"Again with the prolonging," said Kingsley, "You live with Sirius, Art, I thought you'd be with him in the mentality of 'fight like hell, leave them dead-"

"That's not Sirius's mentality," Artemis said testily. "That's the issue, Kingsley, you don't take any of us seriously. You think because you work for the Ministry, you have some sort of higher knowledge-"

"Can we stop it with the personal attacks?" Moody said in a voice loud enough to make everyone else fall silent.

Remus frowned down at his hands. "I agree with Art. Taking risks is important, but not when it buries us alive. We're admitting defeat if our first plan is to fight them all head on."

"That was your idea," said Kingsley.

"I didn't mean immediately," said Remus. "At some point, sure, if we get the numbers, we can take them head on. For now, while we organize and recruit, it's best to keep it low key."

"How low key, though?" said Moody. "I mean, the legal attacks, I can get behind, but you two seem to be saying we shouldn't fight at all?"

Remus shook his head. "That's not what either of us are saying."

"Not at all," said Artemis. "What Remus is getting at is keeping a low profile. Playing to defense instead of offense. I mean, in any quidditch game, if you're the underdog, your focus is defense. This is no different-"

"Don't compare this war to a Gryffindor versus Slytherin game," said Moody. "This is war. There are lives at stake."

"It was just an example!"

Moody kicked everyone out shortly after. Nobody had come to any conclusions, and Artemis left without saying goodbye to Moody or Kingsley, a sour taste in her mouth. Remus accompanied her, and they stood outside the Burrow, the cloudy late August sky hanging low overhead.

"Well, that was... unproductive," said Remus.

Artemis nodded. "If we can't even agree as an organization, how are we supposed to defeat a literal fascist powerhouse?"

"Good question," Remus sighed. "Good fucking question. What are your plans tomorrow?"

"Nothing much, why?"

"Peter and I are going to the Longbottom's for drinks. You in?"

She smiled. "Always. See you then?"

"See you."

She turned and apparated on the spot, appearing in the backyard of her little house in the suburbs. Evening was falling quickly, the sky taking on an odd pinkish color. For a second, the world felt completely still. Artemis walked up to the back door and let herself in, ready for a relaxing evening with Sirius.

When she stepped inside, Sirius was sitting at the kitchen table. His head was buried in his arms against the table.

"What's wrong?" Artemis asked, hurrying to his side.

When Sirius raised his head, his face was tear stained. "My dad," he said, handing her a letter.

She scanned it. It was from Sirius's aunt. Orion Black was dead. Sirius and his dad had a terrible relationship, she knew, but she also knew the death wasn't the only thing Sirius was crying about. He was crying for what could've been, and what never would be.

"Sirius," she whispered, sinking down next to him and wrapping him in her arms. "I'm sorry," she said, burying her face in his shoulder. "I'm sorry."