/𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒\ [𝒔. 𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌]

𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫

𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝

"I don't feel like dressing up this year," said Sirius, stretching out on his and Artemis's bed and looking out the window at the dark street outside.

Artemis collapsed next to him and buried her face in his chest. "Me either," she said. She was exhausted. "We should hand out candy, though. And bring some over to the Potters' for Harry, too."

"He won't get his first trick or treating experience," Sirius said sadly. "We'll stop at Honeydukes and make it up to him."

Artemis nodded. "Yeah," she said, forcing herself to get out of bed. "But do we have to dress up?"

Sirius thought about it for a moment. "No," he said at last. "No, just throw on a Puddlemere United shirt and say you're a quidditch player."

Artemis laughed and threw a pillow at him. "That's so lazy, Sirius!"

"I think it's genius!"

She laughed and went into the kitchen. "Do you want dinner first? I was thinking we could make that pasta sauce we-"

She didn't finish her sentence. There was a knock on the door, rapid and panicked. Sirius was in the room in seconds. "I got it," he said, and wrenched the door open.

Remus was standing outside, his eyes wild. He crossed the threshold and grabbed Sirius by both arms. "James and Lily. They've been compromised- Voldemort himself at their house- Sirius, I swear to motherfucking god if you betrayed them-"

"What?" Sirius sputtered. "Compromised?"

"Don't act like you didn't know!" Remus roared. "They've been attacked. They trusted you, Sirius!"

Remus had his wand out in an instant. Artemis, not thinking, stepped between him and Sirius. "Stop!" she screamed. "Remus, Sirius wasn't the secret keeper, I- It's a long story- They were attacked? Where are they? Where's Harry?"

"Not the secret keeper?" Remus repeated, his eyes widening even further. "What?"

But Sirius wasn't listening anymore. When Artemis turned to face him, he had a look in his eyes she'd only seen rarely. It was a crazed glint, full of burning hot anger. "Come on," he said, and grabbed Artemis's arm.

Before she had a chance to think or react, she was standing in Godric's Hollow. Smoke was billowing into the air. The Dark Mark hung low in the sky. Worst of all, the upper half of James and Lily's home, the home James had been so proud of buying, was burnt to a crisp, crushed in by an explosion.

She stared up at the house in shock. Sirius, on the other hand, was already tearing towards it. "No," he said. "No, no, no, no, no-"

She ran after him. They let themselves inside and ran up the stares. The Potter's belongings were charred and destroyed, the house turned upside down in the struggle. There was only sound Artemis was listening to. The wailing of a baby on the top floor. She took the stairs two at a time, picking her way through rubble, until finally, she made it to Harry's nursery. Sirius was there already.

He was standing in the hall. He couldn't tear his eyes from what he saw. James's body in the middle of the floor, motionless, dead.

In the next room, Lily was the same. In the cradle sat Harry, sobbing loud enough to wake the neighborhood, unscathed aside from the lightning shaped scratch etched into his forehead. Artemis ran to him and picked him up, holding him close to her chest.

Sirius sank to his knees in front of James's body. Devastation filled his eyes, an unbearable pain ripping through his chest as if someone had stabbed him in the heart. His best friend. A man he considered a second brother. Dead.

Artemis was staring at Lily's blank face and empty eyes, hiding Harry's head in her shoulder. She didn't want the baby to see the scene. She didn't want to see the scene. Her two best friends in the world. The boy who'd taught her to discard her family's dark magic roots in favor of love and friendship and fun, and the girl who'd been there for Artemis in every problem she'd ever had.

A sob grew in her throat. She wanted to scream. She wanted to throw something, and hex every dark wizard in the world into oblivion, and burn down their houses and show them how it felt. But it wouldn't bring Lily and James back. It wouldn't give Harry his parents back.

There was another set of footsteps on the stairs. Heavy footsteps. Artemis looked up in time to see Hagrid enter the room and stop dead in his tracks at the scene. Tears welled in his eyes. "I can't believe it," he said, his breath hitching. "I can't believe it. They told me Lily and James, but... but... I don't believe it."

Sirius managed to get to his feet. "What are you doing here?"

"Dumbledore sent me to get li'l 'Arry," said Hagrid.

"No," said Sirius. "We'll take him. We're his godparents, Hagrid. Lily and James would've wanted-"

"I have direct instructions from Professor Dumbledore himself," Hagrid argued. "Take it up with him. For now, 'Arry goes to his aunt and uncle's house."

Artemis held onto Harry a little tighter. "No, Hagrid, please- Lily wouldn't want him to go there, please."

"I'm sorry, Blake, I've got my orders, and I've got to take him."

Sirius and Artemis exchanged a helpless look. Hagrid stepped forward and gently took the baby from Artemis's arms. Her eyes pricked with tears as the last piece of Lily and James she had left her. "Please, Hagrid," she said, suppressing a sob.

"I can't," said Hagrid, and he really did look sorry. "I can't."

Sirius wiped his eyes. "Take my motorbike," he said. "It flies, it'll get you there faster."

"Thank you, Sirius," said Hagrid.

And with that, Hagrid was gone, and with him, Harry.

Sirius turned to Artemis. He was crying, but his eyes were burning with rage. He swallowed hard and clutched his wand tightly in his hand. "Peter."

"Sirius, wait!" Artemis cried, grabbing his arm just in time to apparate with him to the street outside of Peter's apartment. "Sirius-"

"I'm gonna kill the little rat-"

Just then, a small animal scampered across the road. "Stupefy!" Sirius roared.

The rat grew in size until Peter was lying on the concrete, groaning. "S-Sirius," he said in a high pitched voice.

Sirius crossed the street and stood over Peter. Artemis, for a moment, was convinced he would cast the killing curse right then and there. There were muggle bystanders around, and a few paused at the puzzling scene in the street. "Why'd you do it?" Sirius said harshly.

"Do- do what?" said Peter. He managed to get to his feet. "Do what, Sirius? I- I was coming to find you. How could- could you betray them like that? How could you? Lily and James... they always cared for you..."

Sirius took a step towards Peter. Artemis did too, then, rage bubbling in her chest. "You dirty fucking rat," she said, raising her wand at him.

"Art," Sirius said, "Do me a favor, and stay out of this?" He wouldn't take his eyes off of Peter. "Please."

He couldn't let her get caught in the fire. He couldn't let her die too. He'd take the fall for anything that happened before he would let any harm come to one of the two people left in the world whom he cared about.

Artemis surprised even herself by taking a step back. Something about the look in Sirius's eyes was scaring her. He'd gone mad, she was sure of it. And she understood. Lily and James were dead. Marlene was dead. Mary was most likely dead. Harry was off to live with muggles. And there was nothing Sirius, the man who'd always protected his friends with his life, could do about it.

"You traitor," Sirius spat. "You fucking traitor. You filthy little rat- they trusted me? They trusted you!" he screamed, casting his eyes towards the sky. "They put their lives in your hands! They treated you with kindness- something you rarely deserved, and they protected you!"

"I didn't betray them!" Peter sobbed. "I didn't betray them! It wasn't my fault! Padfoot, it wasn't my fault!"

Sirius's eyes flashed. More and more muggles were stopping to watch the scene. Artemis crept backwards, terrified of what might happen. "You don't have the right to call me that anymore," Sirius said, his voice dangerously low. "You never had the right to call us friends!"

The explosion sent Artemis sprawling onto the sidewalk, the side of her face scraping against the pavement. She didn't care. She scrambled to her knees as the smoke cleared. Her ears were ringing from the blast. Around her were bodies of muggles, fires crackling in buildings, and Sirius.

He was alive. He was on his knees too, his face dripping with blood, his shoulders sagging, shaking with- laughter.

Artemis stared at him. He was laughing maniacally, tears in his eyes, staring up at the sky. Peter was gone. Artemis scoured the ground for his body, but couldn't find it anywhere.

She raced to Sirius's side. "Sirius-"

"I'm going to be arrested," he said, finally casting his eyes on her. They were no longer filled with rage, but instead with the most devastating sadness Artemis had seen in her life. Her chest heaved with the sobs she'd been holding in since seeing James and Lily's bodies.

"No," she whispered. "Don't leave me. Don't fucking leave me, Sirius."

He shook his head. "Go," he said, his voice rough. "Find Remus and hide. Keep yourself out of danger, and I'll see you again."

"When?" she managed.

"When we're safe," he said, clasping her hands in his. "When we come out on the other side, and we're safe, and we can be in love without fighting for our lives. I love you. I have always loved you, and there will never be a day in this lifetime or any other that I won't love you."

She couldn't say a word. She was crying too hard. "I love you," she managed to choke out.

She stood up. When she looked down at Sirius Black for what felt like the last time ever, she saw not sadness, but that familiar glint of mischief and sarcasm lingering in his gaze. He pointed to the blood dripping down his face.

"I win."