/𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒\ [𝒔. 𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌]

𝟔.𝟞.𝟥

"years of love have been forgot, in the hatred of a minute." ~ Edgar Allan Poe

~december 1976~ ((continued))

Artemis went back to Sirius's side, carefully avoiding looking in the direction of Regulus. She slipped her arm back into Sirius's and smiled up at him. "What'd I miss?"

"I owe you a galleon," he said, his eyes flicking up to Regulus curiously. "Alice and Frank are staying together."

"I knew it."

He smiled and handed her back her drink. "So what was that all about?"

"What?"

"You and Regulus."

She gave him a confused look. "We were just dancing, why?"

"Seemed like a little more than dancing." They were heading absently to the back of the crowd, to wear only a few people were standing. "You looked sort of upset, did he say something?"

"No," she said quickly. "No, we were just talking. I was trying to figure out what the hell's been going on with him and he said something about Bones. It's not a big deal."

Sirius turned to her quickly, his eyes full of alarm. "What did he say?"

She looked up at him solemnly, her lips pursed into a look of vague annoyance. "I told you it doesn't matter, it's just Regulus being Regulus-"

"No, don't make excuses for him, what the hell did he say about Bones?" Sirius looked over his shoulder at Regulus, now laughing with a group of Slytherin boys. "I swear to god, I'll make him sorry he said anything-"

"Sirius!" Artemis scolded, stepping away from him. "What's your deal?"

He shook his head and looked back down at her, agitated. "I don't want him messing with you, Art, just tell me what he said."

"He's not messing with me!" she argued back, her temper flaring. "God, we were just dancing!"

"You said he said something about Bones."

She made a sound of exasperation and threw her hands up. "Yeah, because I was stressing him out talking about the group he hangs out with, so he made a joke-"

"What joke?"

"Something about, 'all I learned in Defense was how to fuck the teacher,' or something. Sirius, it's not a big deal, don't make it into a thing."

He ran his hands through his hair, fuming. He knew Regulus liked Artemis. He'd been flirting with her since his first year, and Artemis- being Artemis- was walking right into it. He kept thinking about the time he walked in on the two of them kissing. A one time thing, Artemis had told him. It was a one time thing. He couldn't let them date. Artemis could do whatever she wanted, he didn't care, but Regulus was a step too far. It hit too close to home. One of them would get hurt- badly. "Artemis," he said, trying to keep his cool, "-he's bad news. You know that, you know who he hangs out with. I mean, remember Percy?"