/𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒\ [𝒔. 𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌]

𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧

"if you look for perfection, you'll never be content." ~ Leo Tolstoy

It was late. Artemis was in the kitchen of Grimmauld Place with Sirius, Remus, and Molly Weasley. It had been a tumultuous few months for the Order, and Sirius and Artemis were itching to get out. There were attacks every day, battles in every corner of the wizarding world, and now, Arthur Weasley was in the hospital after a mysterious attack at the Ministry. 

Molly was sobbing into Remus's shoulder. Remus looked vaguely uncomfortable, but patted her on the shoulder and kept murmuring, "He's going to be alright, Molly." 

"How the hell did Harry know?" said Artemis. "I mean, it doesn't make any sense." 

"Lots of people see real life events in dream-form," said Remus. "However... it's abnormal to see events that are happening at the same time as the dream. I mean, that's... prophetic." 

Molly wiped at her eyes. "I don't care how he knew, the point is that Harry might've saved Arthur's life. He's a hero." 

"Yeah, he is," said Sirius. "That kid's getting more Christmas presents than he can count this year." 

The front door opened softly enough to not wake Walburga Black's portrait. Quiet footsteps sounded in the hall, and the door creaked open to reveal Bill Weasley and his girlfriend, Eleanora Marks. 

"Mum..." Bill said, hurrying to his mother's side immediately. She glared at him.

"Where have you two been?" she said through sobs. "Beds empty- just as bad as when the twins stole the car."

"Mrs. Weasley, we just lost track of the time," Eleanora said comfortingly. She motioned for Lupin to move, which he did, shooting her a grateful look. Eleanora rubbed Mrs. Weasley's shoulder consolingly. "We're alright, really. Everything's alright." Mrs. Weasley burst into a fresh wave of tears.

"No it's not," she said, turning to bury her face in Bill's shoulder. "Arthur's been attacked."

Eleanora and Bill froze. "What?" said Bill.

"He was on patrol at the Ministry and something attacked him," Remus explained. "He's at St. Mungo's now. We should go, all of us." 

"All of us?" said Sirius.

Remus shot him a warning look. "Well, not you two. The Weasley kids and Harry will be coming back here soon, Dumbledore's sending them. Wait for them and fill them in on everything." 

"Send word as soon as you have more information," said Artemis. 

Remus gave her a one-armed hug. "I will. See you in a bit." 

And with that, all four of them were gone, leaving Sirius and Artemis alone in the kitchen. "I don't feel like going back to bed," she said, moving to the stove to make tea. 

Sirius didn't say anything. He was thinking hard, one hand in his pocket, holding something. He knew exactly what he wanted to do in that moment. He didn't know how Artemis was going to react. But he'd been thinking about it a lot lately, and after all this time he had to at least try. 

"Hey, Art," he said. 

Artemis still had her back turned, pulling two mugs out of the cabinet and adjusting the heat on the stove. "Hm?" 

"Art." 

She turned to face him and dropped the mug in her hand. He was on one knee, a ring in his hands. "Sirius-" 

"Don't say anything yet," said Sirius. "Artemis, a long time ago, I asked if you'd ever want to get married. You said to ask you again in ten years and we'll see. Now, I don't remember exactly when that was, but I can tell you for sure that we're long overdue. I love you more than life itself, Artemis. I know we're going to spend the rest of our lives together with or without a ring to prove it, but I always dreamed of marrying you. Ever since we were kids. And I'm not talking about when we got together, at sixteen, I'm talking about when we were twelve, and fourteen- Even though we acted like we hated each other, when I thought about the future, I thought about you. So, Artemis Blake, will you marry me?" 

Her hands were covering her mouth, her eyes wide, the shattered mug lying forgotten at her feet. "Yes, Sirius," she said at last. "Yeah, of course I'll marry you." 

She reached out and pulled Sirius up so he was standing with her. He kissed her, slipping the ring onto her finger. 

"Where'd you get this?" she asked, pulling away and eyeing the ring suspiciously. If it was from around the house, she didn't know if she trusted it. 

Sirius didn't meet her eyes. He laughed ruefully. "I was hoping you wouldn't ask." 

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Sirius." 

"I bought it when we were about eighteen. I was with James and Remus in a muggle shop, and I saw it, and I thought even if I had to wait a million years to get you to marry me, I wanted this to be the ring. James and Remus gave me hell for it for years, but... I dunno, it felt right." 

"It's beautiful," Artemis said in a hushed voice. Then, she nearly tackled Sirius backwards throwing her arms around him, kissing him all over his face. "I love you, I love you, I love you," she said, smiling widely. 

The door opened once again, and this time, Walburga Black screeched louder than ever. Sirius cringed. "Wait here," he said, running to pull the curtains closed. A minute later, he marched back into the kitchen followed by the Weasley twins, Ron, Harry, and Hermione. Artemis rushed to hug Harry. 

"Are you okay?" she asked, holding him at arms' length. "I heard about everything, here, sit down. Sirius, get some butterbeers out." She waved her wand at the broken glass on the ground to mend it. 

Harry sat down, shaken, and watched the commotion around him. When Artemis set a bottle of butterbeer in front of him, he noticed the ring on her hand. "Did you two get married?" he asked quietly. 

Artemis grinned. "If we'd gotten married, you would've been the first on the invite list, Potter. No, Sirius just proposed to me. Like, just now." 

Sirius appeared a second later, handing butterbeers out to the rest of the crowd, and settled an arm around Artemis's waist. "It may have taken me nearly twenty years and some time in Azkaban, but I think you could say I won." 

"Congratulations!" said Harry, getting up again to hug Sirius. "Both of you, congratulations." 

Artemis took a seat across from him and took account of the dreary looks on the faces of the Weasley children. "Arthur's going to be fine," she said, toying with the ring on her finger. "Everything's going to be just fine." 

I'm finishing this book today wish me luck

the next chapter's gonna be a lot... um... more depressing, so prepare urselves