1.2 ARTEMIS | James Sirius Potter

v. 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖙𝖗𝖎𝖜𝖎𝖟𝖆𝖗𝖉 𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖒𝖕𝖎𝖔𝖓𝖘

five
the triwizard champions

        Firewhisky is never a good idea under any circumstance. You can justify it as much as you want—or need, but it will never be accepted by yourself, or anybody else. It's simply an excuse to ease the never ending judgement of your subconscious. Artemis doesn't even remember where the Firewhiskey came from, but somehow it was there, in her fist and poisoning her organs slowly but, intoxicating her mind first.

The poison broke her mind, shattered it into a thousand pieces of reckless decisions and juvenile mistakes that most certainly could've been avoided if previous mistakes and decisions had been dealt with differently.

        It's not that she went looking for him, or he went looking for her, they both just wanted a moment of peace without anybody else around. It just so happened they decided to locate that peace at the same location; the Astronomy Tower—a place that has seen quite the dramatics over its time, especially concerning the Malfoy family.

        A year or so ago when Astoria first fell ill, Draco opened up to his daughter more about his childhood and how he grew up too fast. He used the Astronomy Tower for solitude and serenity many times when something troubled him. Since then, Artemis has claimed the tower as a place for her own problems.

        If the Astronomy Tower could talk, it would have stories to last more than a lifetime.

        Out of all the times she's spent up here,  Artemis isn't too keen about this particular moment getting out.

        Her veins were on fire from the Firewhiskey and the burning sensation of a greedy desire that was completely uncontrollable. Her heart hammered non-stop, reminding her that this, yet again, is a terrible decision. But Artemis can't stop now. Not when she's too far ahead of herself, or when the control she thought she had had vanished entirely the moment Lysander and her started on a second bottle of the bloody drink.

        This time it's not so bad. She can't really blame herself, can she? After all, it's the alcohols fault and it's the alcohol that's forcing her to do this.

        Right?

        Lysander is a lot more careful than she is with his kisses. He doesn't rush it. He doesn't force it or make it desperate. He kisses her slowly and uncertainly, as if his subconscious is berating him quietly, but not loud enough to drone out the voice that's telling him to do it. It's nice, of course, to be kissed like this. It's nice to be kissed in general. His hands grab fistfuls of her hair, twirling the short ends around his fingers while his body pushes her up against the railing, stumbling over each other until they slide down the railing on top of each other. He leaves a careful trail of kisses down the side of her neck, his strong arms wrapping securely around her waist as Artemis pulls at his hair, trying to get him to shift his pace just a little bit—

        But Lysander doesn't take notice. Either that or he's too drunk to know what the hells going on.

        Artemis pushes him to the side and straddles him on the floor, sliding his long sleeve pyjama top over his head in a desperate mad rush. Her chest kept rising and falling, a shortness of breath overcoming her and she tilts to the side, almost falling from his lap until his hands grab hold of her, keeping her still even though he's having trouble seeing clearly, his eyes are focused to the left of her shoulder.

        It's only when Lysander struggles to get his head out from his top does Artemis come to the realisation that she doesn't want this. Not his slow and careful kisses, or even him. She doesn't want to make the same mistake again, even if she's three quarters of the way there.