/𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒\ [𝒔. 𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌]

𝟓.𝟠.𝟣

"but I don't want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin." ~ Aldous Huxley

~february 1976~

The next morning, Remus spotted Sirius in the common room and marched up to him, ready for confrontation. "Sirius," he called out.

Sirius turned to face him. "Hey, Moony, what's up?"

"Look, I need you to talk to Art," Remus said, his expression deadly serious.

Sirius looked confused. "Rem, Art wouldn't talk to me if I tried-"

"Well try anyways!" said Remus. "Listen, I know you think you're the center of her life and if something's wrong, it's because you two aren't speaking, but she's going through way too much right now to put up with your bullshit. She needs you to be her friend again, trust me, and she's too preoccupied to watch you sit around and play the victim-"

"Oh, I'm playing the victim?" Sirius exploded, all of the anger he'd been feeling that year coming out. "I'm playing the victim, Remus? Really? Because last I checked, she was the one freezing me out."

"You burned her books!"

"She kissed my brother!"

"Why the hell does that matter?"

Sirius was too angry for words now. He charged at Remus, catching him by the shoulders and attempting to wrestle him to the ground. Remus held his own, trying to fend Sirius off the best he could. The fight last maybe thirty seconds.

"Hey!" James shouted from the other side of the common room, and he and Marlene sprang from their seats to drag Sirius and Remus off of each other. "Hey, break it up!" He grabbed Sirius by the collar of his shirt and held him away from Remus, who was being restrained by Marlene. "What the hell are you two doing?"

Sirius relaxed in James's grasp and broke free, turning to face his friends with a defeated look. "Nothing, James. I'm just going upstairs to do some homework." And he slumped upstairs, looking more miserable than anyone had seen him in a long time.

~

The scene changed for Harry, but he knew it was the same morning. Remus was sitting in the common room, sipping a mug of coffee and staring deeply into the fire without seeming to really see anything. Harry turned just in time to see Artemis coming down the stairs from her dormitory, wearing flared jeans and a cropped red t-shirt, her makeup done simply, her hair hanging limply over her shoulders. She sat down next to Remus and took the coffee mug from his hands. "You're shaking, Rem," she said softly, setting the cup down on the table.

"Yeah, transformation's in a few days."

Artemis nodded gravely. "You look terrible." He really did. His eyes were vacant, like he was sleep-walking, and his face was worn and tired, so pale it was almost gray. Harry also couldn't help but notice that Artemis wasn't looking much better. He knew she'd been looking peaky in the last few memories he'd watched, but she looked worse than ever now. It was rare that she smiled anymore and her expression took on a consistent look of despondency. She was pretty, she'd always been pretty, but now it was of a more of a morose shadow of the person she'd been before. She bit down on her lip and watched Remus carefully for a few seconds. "Hey, d'you wanna take a walk?"