/𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒\ [𝒔. 𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌]

𝐭𝐰𝐨

"most of the evil in this world is done by people with good intentions." ~ T.S. Eliot

The day before Remus was supposed to work at Hogwarts, Artemis sat at the kitchen table. Remus wasn't awake yet. She was waiting, staring down at the stack of papers spread out in front of her. Her head was resting in her hands, unable to be held up itself. She was going to kill Remus. She was going to absolutely kill him.

"BREAKING NEWS"

The headline was from two months prior.

"ESCAPED CONVICT"

How could he have kept this from her? How could he go months without telling her- carefully keeping the news hidden, knowing she couldn't leave the house, and therefore wouldn't find out so long as he didn't let her.

"Sirius Black, armed and dangerous, escaped from Azkaban Prison on-"

Artemis didn't care about the rest of the article. There were footsteps in the hall. She didn't move. She felt like all of the energy had drained from her body in a matter of mere minutes.

Remus entered the kitchen, but froze the second he saw what Artemis was looking at. "How did you find those?"

"Oh- the newspapers you were hiding from me? Your closet, Rem." In seconds, all of her energy was back, white hot anger coursing through her. "How could you hide them?" she shouted, jumping to her feet. "How could you? You fucking control freak- how could you not tell me he escaped? Remus-"

Remus's expression remained perfectly calm. "I knew you would react like this."

In one motion, Artemis picked up one of the newspapers and threw it at Remus's face. She wanted to punch him. She wanted to tackle him to the ground and force him to tell her where the hell Sirius was.

"I knew it would drive you crazy."

"Crazy?" Artemis screamed. "Oh, you knew it would drive me crazy. The man I love is out there in the world somewhere, and you kept it from me because it would drive me crazy? No, Remus, this is driving me crazy."

Remus crossed the floor and started making coffee. Artemis gaped at him. "I trusted you!" she said, refusing to lower her voice. "I trusted you, of all people, to keep me updated on what's going on in the world, and you lied to me!"

"I didn't lie to you, I just didn't tell you-"

"Where is he?" Artemis demanded.

Remus turned back to face her. "What?"

She stood in inches from his face. "Where is he? Do you know? Has he been in contact? Have you not been telling me that too?"

"Artemis, I have no idea where he is," said Remus.

She kept her eyes trained on his, deadly serious. "How can I trust you now?" she asked softly.

Remus hung his head. "I'm the only person you can trust."

That was too much for Artemis. She backed away from him, too angry to scream, too angry to cry. "And you used that against me," she said in that same deadened tone. "I thought we were on the same team here- Why didn't you tell me?"

Instead of waiting for an answer, Artemis turned and started pacing. The truth was, Remus was right. She felt like she was going crazy. Sirius was out there somewhere, and she couldn't look for him. She couldn't save him. She couldn't save anyone she cared about- and now she would watch another person she loved die or disappear and there was nothing she could do.