/𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒\ [𝒔. 𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌]

𝟓.𝟟.𝟤

"I might be okay but I'm not fine at all." ~ Taylor Swift

~january 1976~ (continued)

"You can't tell anyone what I'm about to tell you."

Remus hated when people said that. It meant they were about to tell him something he absolutely wanted to tell people about. "Tell me what, Peter?" he asked, sighing and setting aside the note he'd been writing to slip into the copy of War and Peace he was planning on lending Jeffry Piker, his boyfriend, the next day. His boyfriend. He got excited every time he thought the word.

Peter picked at a smudge on the mug of tea he was drinking and looked hesitant. "I shouldn't really tell you-"

"Tell me what, Peter?"

"Fine." Peter looked up at Remus, who was laying relaxed on his bed, a cup of coffee balanced precariously on the stack of books next to him and his arm resting casually behind his head. "Ummm, so you know how Art's been acting kinda weird lately?"

Remus frowned and nodded. He'd hardly seen Artemis in the last month or so, and when he did, she was sullen and secretive, like she was hiding something. It was rare that she hid anything from Remus. The two of them told each other everything, especially since Remus had revealed he was a werewolf. It was like an unspoken promise of unwavering trust between them, but lately Remus suspected she was doing something she didn't even want him to know about- and that was what worried him. "Yeah."

"She's, ah-"

"What's she doing, Peter?" Remus had no idea what to expect. Art was one of the most unpredictable people he knew.

"She's- um- well... she and Professor Bones- they've, ah- they've been-"

Remus didn't need Peter to finish the sentence. "Fuck," he muttered, and then sprang off of his bed and stormed out of the dormitory, down to the common room where Artemis was sitting with Lily, Mary, and Marlene, pouring over her Potions homework.

"I need to talk to you," he said to her, and grabbed her arm to pull her out into the hallway.

When they were safely out of earshot of everyone, Artemis wrenched her arm from his grasp and glared at him. "What the hell?"

"What are you thinking?"

"You're going to have to be a bit more specific."

"Peter told me."

Artemis's expression changed from annoyance, to panic, to anger in a matter of seconds. "He fucking told you? Who else did he tell, Remus, I need to know. I told him he couldn't fucking tell anyone- he swore it!"

"That's not what matters-"

"That's absolutely what matters!" she cried. "People can't know about this, Rem. It would ruin both of us- me and... and Professor Bones..."