/𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒\ [𝒔. 𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌]

𝟓.𝟛.𝟤

"I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself." ~ Charlotte Brontë

~september 1975~ (continued)

Artemis's last class of the day was Defense Against the Dark Arts for the second year in a row. After listening to a lecture on ghouls, she stayed after class to talk to Professor Bones, who was looking tanner after the summer, his dark hair grown out a little longer than the last time she'd seen him. "Have a nice holiday?" she asked, sitting on the desk in front of his and tossing her bag on the floor below her.

Bones looked up and smiled at her, shifting his papers to the side. "It was alright. I see you and your friends didn't burn the Potter's house down or destroy the Statute of Secrecy during your holiday together."

"We came close," Artemis said. "Unfortunately, we all care a little too much about getting kicked out of school to do anything like that- at least until we graduate."

"Glad to hear it," said Bones. "Never took the three of you for caring about much of anything besides making trouble."

She gave him a bright smile, her eyes sparkling with humor. "Well, if we got kicked out of school, I wouldn't get to spend all these lovely moments with you after class."

Their eyes met for a brief second, but not brief enough to ignore the tension lingering in the gaze. Artemis's chest constricted. Bones quickly cast his eyes back down at his desk. "And what a shame that would be," he said, trying to sound sarcastic but failing.

When he looked back up at Artemis, she was smiling again, her demeanor not changing in the slightest. She slid off of the desk and threw her bag over her shoulder. "Well then, we'll have to do it again tomorrow."

"Whatever you want, Blake," said Bones, doing a better job now at keeping his tone passive.

It didn't fool her. She'd sensed something in that moment, and it was rare that intuition failed Artemis. Her heart was still beating a little faster from the look in his eyes when she'd caught his gaze. She gave him a charming half smile and then slipped out of the room, only letting the smile drop when she was halfway down the corridor.

This wouldn't do. He was a teacher. One of her favorite teachers, for that matter. But still, they'd always had a connection, hadn't they? She'd always been one of his favorite students, he was always writing notes on her papers and joking with her after class. That had to stand for something. And he was so good looking. She smiled a little to herself remembering the way the afternoon light reflected on his hair and how his hands looked shuffling the papers on his desk, always putting them to the side anytime she went to talk to him. He always gave her his full attention.

No. She stopped herself. She was just bored, that was all. She'd been single too long, she needed something fun to do. Now that the summer was over, the usual restlessness of the school year was settling in and she knew she needed to find some sort of excitement or she'd do something she regretted. She rounded a corner and came face to face with Regulus Black.