/𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒\ [𝒔. 𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌]

𝟑.𝟙𝟘.𝟣

"in ourselves our safety must be sought. by our own right hand it must be wrought." ~ William Wordsworth

~april 1974~

"Did you hear about all these weird disappearances?" Artemis asked Jonas, flipping through the Daily Prophet with a tight frown on her lips.

Jonas nodded solemnly. "Yeah, my dad works at the Ministry and he's been keeping me posted. Have you heard anything about-" He looked left and right and then lowered his voice, "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?"

"Yeah," Artemis said darkly. "Everyone's talking about him, but like- nobody seems to know any real details, you know?"

"I know he's bad," said Jonas. "He's definitely behind all these disappearances."

"For sure," said Artemis. She closed the paper. "But for now, we're okay. It's all good. And in the meantime..." She leaned forward to kiss Jonas.

He pulled away. "Actually," he said uncertainly, "I've been doing some thinking. You know, with all the disappearances and stuff."

"What, are you scared?" Artemis half-teased.

Jonas shook his head. "No, but I... I think we should break up."

"Huh?"

"You know, with everything going on in the world and... I just don't feel like dating anymore."

Artemis was confused. "You're breaking up with me because four people you don't know went missing across the country from us?"

"Well... I just... think we should."

She opened her mouth, closed it, and frowned. "Did I do something?"

"Well..." Jonas said slowly. "Things are just moving... really slowly. Like, all we ever do is kiss, you know? And sometimes it feels like we're never gonna actually... go anywhere."

"We're thirteen," Artemis said drily. "We're not gonna get married or anything."

Jonas nodded. "So... we should break up."

"You're breaking up with me because we're not getting married?"

Jonas let out a short breath of air. "Jesus, Art, I dunno. Obviously it's not that, I just though that by now... we'd have..."

"Had sex?"

"Do you always ask so many questions?"

Artemis fell silent.

"Look," Jonas continued, "I just don't want to be with you anymore, okay? That's all. So..."

"Yeah," said Artemis. "Okay, yeah. I'm... I'm gonna go." She stood up, grabbed her bag, and hurried out of the room, leaving the Daily Prophet sitting forgotten on the couch with Jonas.