[prequel to the "badlands" series]
•Searching for something that I can't reach•
It was ironic that the girl named after a virgin goddess had lost her own in first year.
Artemis Avery was known for one thing: sleeping around. The witty Slytherin gir...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
The Hospital Wing glowed white as the early morning sunlight illuminated the white bedsheets that covered half a dozen cots. Artemis's head pounded, but that pain was nothing compared to the dryness that covered her mouth and throat like a coating of desert sand. She was in the Hospital Wing, that much was clear. Madam Pomfrey was nowhere to be seen, but there was a person standing at the foot of the bed that Artemis occupied.
It was Regulus Black.
He was looking away from Artemis, his gaze falling somewhere towards the door. Regulus was identical to the first boy in her dreams, except that he looked slightly younger. But why had he been in her dream in the first place? And why was Artemis there with him? And, the question that was bothering Artemis most of all, why had they been kissing?
And...pregnant? Artemis was pregnant with Regulus's child? She must have hit her head much harder than she thought if that was what she dreamed of.
But what was that second dream? The boy who was near-identical to James Potter, but he was younger and his eyes were green. Did James Potter have a secret brother that no one knew about?
But someone in her dream had died. A boy —Cassius, as the sobbing brown-haired girl had called him. It was funny, almost: for the first time that Artemis could remember, she was less concerned with the familiar night terror of Henry Grisham than her other dreams. The dead boy and James Potter's near-twin and the crying girl just couldn't leave her mind; they were like ghosts flitting across her memory.
Suddenly, Regulus moved and looked at Artemis's "sleeping" face. Artemis, who was looking around the room through half-opened eyes, quickly closed her eyes again, pretending to have been asleep the entire time.
But Refulus wasn't fooled. "I know you're awake," Regulus told her dryly.
Artemis fought the urge to curse before she opened her eyes fully. "What are you doing here?" she asked, her tongue heavier than it should be. Her mouth was drier than a desert.
Regulus shrugged. "I helped to bring you here. I felt responsible for making sure you weren't dead."
Such an annoyingly noble response; Artemis fought the urge to roll her eyes. Regulus was staring at her, as if he were studying her. Artemis pushed herself to a sitting position, ignoring the deep creaks that the cot released as she moved.
"Well, as you can see, I'm not dead," Artemis said bluntly. "You can leave now."
Regulus ignored her, and sat down at the foot of her bed. Artemis looked away from him and towards Madam Pomfrey's office, silently begging for the woman to walk out. But the door remained stubbornly shut. And Regulus remained stubbornly sitting there.
"What happened earlier?" Regulus asked without preamble. "Why did you pass out?"
"Medical condition," Artemis said unconvincingly. Regulus raised a single eyebrow at her. She gave him a glare and defensively said, "What? It's a real thing."
