/𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒\ [𝒔. 𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌]

𝟔.𝟞.𝟤

"touch has a memory." ~ John Keats

~december 1976~ (continued)

The party was exactly how Sirius had described it. All of the top students in the school milling about, drinking punch out of fancy glasses and trying to one-up each other in how impressive their grades were. Sirius and Artemis made nice with them, but amused themselves by one-upping them in the most outrageous ways possible.

Lily interfered when she heard Artemis tell a Slytherin fourth year she'd spent a summer advising the Minister under direct orders from Dumbledore because of her "immense capacity for honing the interests of prominent men," and Sirius backed her up without the blink of an eye.

"Honestly, can you two take anything seriously?" she hissed to them after sending her date to get punch.

"I feel I take things very Siriusly," Sirius said in mock earnest.

Artemis let out a barely contained snort. "Oh, come on, Lils. Lighten up, it's a party!"

"This isn't just some Gryffindor house party," Lily said sternly. "It's important, it's for making connections-"

"With the same people we connect to every single day?" Artemis countered.

"The same people we literally live with," Sirius agreed.

Lily threw her hands up in exasperation and stormed off to talk to Slughorn. Artemis turned to Sirius and shrugged. "Can't blame her," she said drily. "She didn't get dragged to as many stuffy parties as us as a kid."

Sirius nodded sympathetically. "We've got experience. We learned how to make this shit fun."

Marlene appeared from the crowd, dragging Dorcas behind her. "Oh, thank Merlin," she said, throwing an arm around Artemis. "I think I hate formal events."

Artemis and Sirius exchanged a look, eyes twinkling. "Don't worry, we'll spice it up for you," said Sirius, turning towards the wall and inconspicuously slipping Marlene the flask. She looked like she was going to kiss him as she dumped a copious amount of alcohol into her punch glass.

"Dorcas, I think your girlfriend has problems," Artemis said, taking the flask and pouring some into her own glass.

Dorcas gave her a dry smile and linked an arm through Marlene's. "Trust me, I'm well aware."

On the other side of the room, Alice was talking to a group of Hufflepuff girls with barely disguised pain etched all over her expression. She was bored, and she couldn't keep her eyes off of Frank a few feet away, smiling lightly and nodding at Cillian Marks, who was talking his ear off about the quidditch season.

Frank didn't care about anything Cillian had to say just then. He loved quidditch, but he loved Alice more. He knew she wasn't having a good time. He could tell every time he glanced back at her. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore. "Excuse me Cil, I'll be back in a minute." He slipped past Cillian without waiting for a response and headed over to Alice.