/𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒\ [𝒔. 𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌]

𝟐.𝟙𝟘.𝟣

~

"the blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere. the ceremony of innocence is drowned; the best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity." ~ William Butler Yeats

~april 1973~

Artemis and the other girls may have made a friendship pact amongst themselves, but it didn't change much for any of them in the eyes of the rest of the school. Artemis and Marlene still were stuck with practically nobody to talk to and the rumors spread about them were only growing more fantastical. The morning after their pact, Marlene came to Artemis telling her she'd just heard that Artemis was plotting to murder Dumbledore and moments later, Artemis caught wind that Marlene's scrofungulus was all a ploy to shut the school down. The few people who would speak to the girls did so only when they wouldn't get harassed for it, leaving them mostly alone in classes and the hallways. Aside from the other second year girls, the only two people who would openly speak to Artemis were James and Remus. She managed to pay Remus back for risking his own reputation by giving him countless books to read and swiping chocolate bars from anywhere she could find them, but James was more difficult. She wanted to show him how grateful she was to him in some way, but she couldn't think of anything to get him and she didn't have money anyways.

She voiced these concerns on one rainy morning in April at breakfast while James was shoveling down mouthfuls of fried potatoes. "So... is there anything I can do for you? You know, like, to pay you back?" she finished her long-winded explanation of the predicament she was in.

James looked up at her and swallowed a bite of potatoes before answering. "Uhhhh, I dunno, Art. Nobody's really been on me about spending time with you and I don't really care anyways." This was a lie. Artemis had seen some of the older students 'jokingly' picking on James the other day and, even though he did a good job playing it off, she could tell it bothered him.

"Come on, there's got to be something," she chided.

James shrugged, and then his face brightened. "Oh, yeah! Come to the quidditch game today!"

"What?"

"Yeah, it's all rainy so we're not going to have as good of a turnout. Just... go to that and we'll call it even."

Artemis was perplexed at how easy it was, but she shrugged. "Yeah, sure. I'll be there."

When Artemis got to the quidditch pitch, bundled up in her dad's old rain jacket that she was forever grateful she'd brought to school with her, she took a seat on the far side of the stands, away from everyone else. Down on the pitch, she saw Marlene's hair- now a far brighter blonde than it had been even before the hair dye- bobbing around separate from the other players. Even on her own team, she wasn't exactly favored. Even her own brother, Mitchell, was keeping his distance.