/𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒\ [𝒔. 𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌]

𝟓.𝟙𝟚.𝟣

"it has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important." ~ Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

~june 1976~

Harry fell through the darkness, unable to see anything until he landed gracefully next to his father under the tree. Harry looked around in wonder, realizing that this was the same memory he'd seen so long ago, but somehow different. He wasn't looking at the grounds through the lens of Snape's memories, but now, he knew, of Artemis's. She must be nearby. Harry watched as James pulled out the familiar snitch and let it flutter out of his hand, reaching out to catch it at the last second. Lupin had pulled out a book and was reading. Sirius stared around at the students milling over the grass. Before, Harry thought he looked rather haughty and bored, but now he realized Sirius was scanning the crowd carefully. He was looking for someone.

Harry followed Sirius's gaze to a group of girls who were settled under the next tree over, but then realized that wasn't exactly where he was looking. Sirius was staring right at Artemis leaned up against the tree-trunk, so deeply invested in something she was writing that she didn't seem to notice anything going on around her. Her uniform was untidy and seemed almost slept in, and each of her shoes were laced up differently. She tried to tuck her long hair behind one ear, but it slipped out and obscured her face again.

"Sirius, stop staring at her," Remus said without looking up from his book.

"I'm not staring at her." Sirius' eyes quickly flicked away from Artemis.

"You are, and it's creepy."

Sirius turned back to the group and watched James playing with the snitch for a minute. "Put that away, will you?" he said finally, as James made a fine catch and Peter let out a cheer. "Before Wormtail wets himself from excitement."

"If it bothers you," James said with a grin. He stuffed the snitch back into his pocket.

Harry looked over again and saw that Artemis was standing up and dusting off her robes, holding the piece of parchment she'd been writing on. Marlene, sitting nearby, looked up at her. "Where are you going?" she asked in a skeptical voice.

"Got to talk to the boys, Marley." Artemis's voice was soft and slightly raspy. Marlene rolled her eyes and laid back on the soft grass behind her.

"Good luck with that one."

Artemis gave a disheveled half smile and started over to the Marauder's tree. James, Sirius, and Peter all looked up when she approached them, but she didn't give any of them a second glance. "Moony, will you read over this real quick?" she asked, handing the parchment down to Remus. Without taking his eyes off of his book, Remus took the paper from her. She sat down between James and Peter and tucked her legs under herself.