/𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒\ [𝒔. 𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌]

𝟏.𝟝.𝟢

"For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbors, and laugh at them in our turn?" ~ Jane Austen

~november 1971~

"Honestly, mate, you're just as bad as the girls," Sirius groaned, shouldering his bag and following James out of Flitwick's classroom, where they'd been serving detention for purposely flooding the boys bathroom.  "It's hopeless. Let them go."

James shook his head vigorously. "We've got to spend the next seven years with them, Sirius-"

"Don't remind me," Sirius said with a sigh. Artemis still hadn't forgiven him for walking them right into trouble Halloween night and it was starting to weigh on him. "Mary's okay, and Marlene's bearable sometimes, but we don't need them." He shook James's shoulder encouragingly. "Trust me, James. We're better off without a bunch of girls weighing us down."

"But Lily," James said, groaning and running a hand over his face.

"Merlin's beard, get over it-" Sirius stopped short after turning a corner and held out a hand to stop James. "Hold up."

A little ways down the hall, Peter was cowering against a wall, a thin girl with a wild mane of tangled black hair towering over him, her wand pointed at his chest. "Heard you're the one who ratted me out to Bones, weren't you, rat?" She spat out the last word so vehemently, Peter let out a little squeal and shrank further into the wall.

"That's Bellatrix Black," James said in a low voice. "I heard she can do some really awful things... we should get out of here."

Sirius squared his shoulders and glared at Bellatrix, who still hadn't noticed him and James. "Are you kidding?" he muttered, "We can't just leave Peter." And with that, he marched forward, drawing his wand out of his pocket as he walked. "Oi, Bella!" As soon as Bellatrix turned from Peter to face him, Sirius waved his wand and uttered the spell they'd just learned in Defense class that day. "Expelliarmus!"

Bellatrix's wand flew out of her hand, but she merely laughed. "Awww, look at little Siri- doing magic all by himself!" She reached out her long slender fingers to pinch Sirius's cheek, but he pushed her away aggressively.

"Shut up, Bel. You're only a year older," he growled, then grabbed Peter by the shirt and pushed him roughly behind him. "And leave my friends alone."

"Your friends!" Bellatrix cackled so loudly Sirius flinched. "Proud of being a Gryffindor, are you?" Sirius didn't say anything. "You know, I'm the one who wrote to your mum to tell her my dear cousin somehow got into Gryffindor. Must've been a mistake, hm?"

"Cousin-? Oh," James said, groaning and taking a step back, wondering how he'd never seen it before. He didn't have much time to think about it, though, because at that moment Sirius flew at Bellatrix, trying with all his might to let his fists collide with her face.

For being so thin, Bellatrix was strong. She pushed Sirius off of her with ease and caught him in the jaw with her own fist. "Get- off- of- me-" she said, struggling to hold Sirius back. He flailed his arms wildly, but she grabbed him by the hair and hurled him away. James and Peter watched with raised eyebrows as the cousins fought like they'd done so a million times.

"Hey!" a voice shouted behind them, and Frank Longbottom, the upcoming star of the Gryffindor quidditch team, hurtled past James and Peter to try and pull Sirius and Bellatrix apart. "Hey- stop it- ouch!" He managed to get Sirius away from Bellatrix and pushed him roughly behind himself. James and Peter moved forward immediately to take his arms and hold him back. "You bit me," Frank said, staring in horror at his arm, in which a set of bite marks was imbedded.

Bellatrix merely shrugged and wiped at her mouth. "Don't get in the way of family matters, Longbottom."

"Then don't try to beat up people from my house."

"Ahhh, Sirius is a Slytherin through and through," Bellatrix said with an unaffected smile. Sirius struggled to throw himself at her again, but James and Peter held him steady. "And anyways, what are you doing out of bed at this hour? Thought you were a good boy, Frankie." She raised an eyebrow at Frank, who made a disgusted face.

"Do you ever shut up?" he growled, his hand clenching into a fist. "You're just mad I got a higher score than you on that Potions test, aren't you?"

This struck a chord. "Why would I care about that?" Bellatrix demanded. "I don't. I don't care about Potions because I'll always be Slughorn's favorite."

James, Sirius, and Peter watched with tentative surprise as Frank and Bellatrix stared daggers at each other. They'd never seen Frank this upset about anything. "Bella!"  another shout came from behind the three boys and they turned to see a tall girl in Slytherin robes striding down the corridor towards them. When the girl spotted Sirius, she gave him a tight smile. "Hey, Siri. Bella giving you trouble?"

"Just a bit," Sirius said in a low voice.

At that moment, Bellatrix looked up and her lip curled into a sneer. "What're you doing here, 'Dromeda?"

"Looking for the source of all the noise. Should've guessed it." Andromeda Black moved strategically between Bellatrix and the boys and turned to Frank, who had drawn his wand. "I suggest you four get up to bed before curfew." Sirius opened his mouth to argue, but closed it again at one look from his older cousin. Andromeda had always been nice to him. "Goodnight," she said forcefully, nodding her head down the corridor. The boys all muttered goodnight and turned to trudge back up to the Gryffindor common room. Once they were out of sight, Andromeda turned back to her little sister. "What did I tell you about getting into fights?" she said in an exasperated tone.

"Not to- but come on, it's just Sirius."

"And Frank-"

"Frank doesn't count." Bellatrix turned on her heel to follow Andromeda in the opposite direction of the boys, down towards the Slytherin common room. "He's hated me ever since I showed him up in Charms our first day of first year."

"It doesn't matter," said Andromeda. "He's a nice boy-"

"He's a Gryffindor," Bellatrix said in a disgusted voice. "And a blood-traitor at that. Even you should see that, 'Dromeda." Andromeda didn't answer. Bellatrix twirled a finger through her messy curls and jogged to keep up with her sister. "And anyways," she continued, not seeming to notice Andromeda's pointed silence, "my sister's Head Girl. Can't get in trouble now."

Andromeda looked down at her sister with a small smile. "Don't count on it, Bel. Anyways, are you alright? You and Sirius can get pretty nasty sometimes."

"I'm fine." Bellatrix dusted off her robes. "Think Auntie Walburga'll let him come home for Christmas?"

"Dunno." Bellatrix looked absolutely delighted at the prospect of Sirius being punished for his allegiance to Gryffindor, but Andromeda's expression darkened considerably. "You won't write to her about him again, will you?" she asked hopelessly. "I mean, you've already gotten him in enough trouble, don't you think?"

Bellatrix frowned and shook her head. "He's on the path to being a blood-traitor, 'Dromeda. I mean, have you seen the scum he hangs around? That Lupin boy and the Blake girl- I mean, really. They're going to corrupt Sirius. Can't let that happen, can we?"

Andromeda didn't answer.

James, Sirius, Frank, and Peter climbed through the portrait hole together, all four of them still seething from their confrontation with Bellatrix. "So, she's your cousin, is she?" James said, looking somehow just as thunderous as Frank and Sirius, who had actually fought Bellatrix.

"Yep," said Sirius, throwing himself onto the usual couch by the fireplace. Artemis was already settled in her usual spot and she looked up mildly when the boys sat in the same seats they had Halloween night.

"Who is?" she asked, moving her books from the center cushion of the couch to the table on her other side to give Sirius more room.

He looked slightly surprised by the fact that Artemis was speaking to him, but decided not to question it. "Nobody," he said shortly.

"Bellatrix Black," James said, shooting a curious look at Sirius.

Artemis's head jerked up and she stared wide-eyed at Sirius. "You're a part of that Black family?" she said in a hushed voice. "Like- the Black family? The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black?"

"That's the one," Sirius muttered, not meeting her eyes.

Artemis sat back in her seat, giving Sirius an appraising look. All of a sudden, the way he acted made sense. He was from one of the most powerful pureblood families she'd heard of from her father and her brother, and he'd been sorted into Gryffindor. "Huh," she said at last, glancing back down at her notebook and then closing it and setting it at the top of her stack of books.

"Why?" Sirius asked, narrowing his eyes at her. "Got anything against it?"

"No," Artemis murmured. "I just- I've read about it." She didn't want to get into her own heritage just then. As far as most of the people in that room were concerned, Artemis was muggle-born and raised. She wasn't sure if Sirius suspected she was technically related to the Goyles, or how much he knew about the Blake's family history, but she wasn't willing to offer up any information. "Anyways, what's up with Frank?" She nodded to Frank Longbottom, who was speaking angrily with the Prewett brothers in a hushed tone. "I've never seen him like that."

"He caught Bellatrix trying to beat up Sirius," said Peter.

"What?"

"Only because I tried to beat her up first," said Sirius.

"What?!"

"Just because Bellatrix was going to hurt Peter," said James.

Artemis looked around at the boys, confusion etched across her face. "Sorry, were any of you planning on giving me an actual explanation? Or-"

Peter took a deep breath and said, "Bellatrix cornered me in the halls and started threatening to turn me into a rat, but then Sirius and James caught her and Sirius tried to punch her but he lost and-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Sirius interrupted, "I did not lose. I just didn't want to hit a girl."

James, Peter, and Artemis looked at him with raised eyebrows and disbelieving expressions. "Right," Artemis said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Anyways, I think I get the idea." She stood up and ran a hand through her tousled hair. "So, let's go get Bellatrix back."

At that moment, Remus appeared from the steps to the boys' dormitory and leapt over the arm of his usual chair, settling himself comfortably in the cushions. "Nope," he said calmly.

"What?" said Artemis. "But you don't even know what we were talking about." 

Remus gave her a knowing look. "Don't have to. Sounds like a bad idea." 

"But there's no way we can win the house championship at this point," Artemis reasoned, "So why even try? I say we jump Bellatrix when she's not expecting it. We can take her- I mean really, five against one?"

"Funny that you assume I'll be joining you," Remus said with a dry smile.

Artemis raised her eyebrows at him. "I was talking about Marlene, thanks." She caught the pillow Remus chucked at her and threw it back onto her own section of the couch.

"Well anyways, I don't care about house points," said Remus, "I just mean that Bellatrix is probably already in the Slytherin common room. It'll take you all night to find that, much less get inside or even get past the rest of the Slytherins to attack Bel-"

"Alright, alright, we get the idea," James sighed. "Tomorrow, then."

"Tomorrow," Artemis said, nodding at James and sitting back on the couch. "Sirius, move your legs. You're sitting on my half."

"I am not." Sirius scowled, but shifted his legs and grabbed the pillow Remus had thrown at Artemis and placed it between them.