/𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒\ [𝒔. 𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌]

𝟕.𝟙.𝟤

"you pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope...I have loved none but you." ~ Jane Austen

~july 1976~ (continued)

The Goyle Manor looked smaller now, but no less intimidating. Artemis stood on the front walkway for a long time, staring up at the darkened rooms and the gable where she'd spent so many summers and holidays locked away. Going back was insane... right? She was insane to even try. But she had to. She had to do it for Percy. She wasn't a little kid anymore, and she had to prove it. Not just to her aunt and uncle, not just to her mother, but to her father. She didn't know what she believed happened after death, but if her was somewhere watching her, she needed to prove to him she had to guts to stand up for her family.

The heavy wood of the door felt like a death toll as she knocked on it. She stepped back a few paces, waiting in anticipation. She felt small, standing in front of the manor, so she pulled herself up to her full height and stared the door down menacingly, daring whoever opened it to do their worst.

It creaked open. The maid was standing in the foyer, Loretta, Artemis remembered her name was. She didn't speak, so Artemis cleared her throat. "I'm here to speak to my aunt and uncle."

"Are they expecting you?" Loretta asked in that small voice Artemis knew her aunt hated.

"No."

"Just a moment."

Loretta disappeared down the hall and Artemis shoved her hands into the pockets of her robes and willed them to stop shaking. She wrapped one hand around her wand, finding comfort in the fact that she could draw it at any moment and put a stop to the whole thing. Being sixteen made everything more accessible. She was safer now that she could use magic.

Loretta reappeared. "Follow me."

Artemis stepped over the threshold and closed the door behind her before following Loretta down the long passage to the dining room. The halls of the manor were so familiar to her, yet at the same time so distant. She'd had a few of the best moments of her life between now and the last time she'd stepped foot in the manor. She tried to think about those now to distract herself from the creeping fear that took hold of her every time she saw her aunt and uncle. There was the beach trip with the girls, laying on the sand with Marlene half-drunk and laughing, kissing Sirius for the first time, walking the grounds with Remus, playing in the rain with James and Peter and Sirius.

Isabel and Gregory Goyle were sitting in the dining room with untouched saucers of tea in front of them. Artemis crossed the room to her usual seat at the table and sat down carefully. "Hello Uncle Gregory, Aunt Isabel."

"Under normal circumstances, when a person wants to call, they send a note first," Aunt Isabel said in her usual cold and condescending tone.

Artemis nodded and took a deep breath, trying to hide her nerves. "Well, I didn't know if you'd let me come back if I sent a note. We didn't exactly leave off on good terms."