/𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒\ [𝒔. 𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌]

𝟒.𝟙𝟘.𝟣

"you may have to fight a battle more than once to win it." ~ Margaret Thatcher

~april 1975~

Artemis was practically leaning on Mary's shoulder as she watched her finish up the last of the banners for the quidditch playoff games with an elegant flourish of her paintbrush. "And... done," she said proudly, leaning back so Artemis stumbled.

"You're incredible, Mary," Artemis said fervently. "These are great."

Mary scrutinized Artemis. She had dark circles under her eyes and instead of straightening to stand up, she merely leaned back and sat down on her bed, her shoulders slumped. "Are you okay?" Mary asked quietly.

Artemis nodded. "Yeah, I'm good. Just a bit tired."

"You sure?"

Artemis couldn't resist the look Mary was giving her. She had a way of seeming like she was open to envelope all of Artemis's deepest darkest secrets and lock them away so they couldn't bother her anymore. She took a deep breath. "There's just a lot going on. With... my mum's wedding and everything?"

"Oh yeah?" said Mary, sitting gingerly on the bed next to Artemis and prompting her to keep talking.

Artemis nodded. "Yeah, I got a letter from my mum. She wants me to try and get my older brother to go to the wedding when my brother hasn't even looked at me in months. And it just... it sucks because we used to be super close. And-" She took another deep breath. This was the hardest part of it all. "It's the anniversary of my dad's death. It's been four years now but it doesn't feel like that long."

"Oh, Artie..."

"And I just keep thinking that if he was still alive, none of this would be happening. My mum wouldn't be getting married and Percy wouldn't hate me and I could go home on the holidays and everything would be fine."

Mary put a light hand on Artemis's shoulder and rested her cheek on Artemis's shoulder. "I wish things had gone differently, then."

"Yeah, but they didn't," said Artemis drily. "And there's nothing to be done about it now."

"It's still okay to be upset about it-"

"I know," Artemis cut her off. "But I can't do that right now. We've got the match and everything going on and I should probably at least make an attempt to get Perc to go to the wedding, and..." she trailed off and ran her hands through her hair, pulling it back from her forehead and looking throughly harassed.

Mary rubbed Art's back comfortingly. "You sure you're up for the match?"

Just as quickly as she'd collapsed onto the bed in exhaustion, Artemis straightened up and her expression brightened considerably. "Yeah, of course I am." She stood up and wavered on the spot for a moment before picking up two banners and turning back to Mary. "Come on, I want to tell Marlene and James good luck before the game starts."