𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘩𝘰𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘹 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘬

Scorpius: VI

TW: SELF-HARM

Albus and I trailed into the Great Hall, snowfall like quiet starlight on the enchanted ceiling. Artemis sat, nearly alone, at the Slytherin table. She glanced over at us as we filed in alongside all of the other students who had left for the holidays, waving briefly before returning to her conversation with the Grey Lady.

"Hey, Artemis," I said as we sat down.

"Hi." The Grey Lady, miffed, floated away as Artemis turned to us. Dark circles stained her porcelain skin, but her eyes were bright. Shooting a brief look down at her cup, I saw the dark, nearly black coffee in it.

"Guessing that's not your first cup?" Albus said wryly. She laughed, shaking her head.

"Far from it, pretty boy. I've been drinking this crap since like three in the morning." She wrinkled her nose at the contents of her cup before downing the rest of it in a single gulp. "How can black coffee even be this bad?"
I laughed, grinning. "It's notoriously bad, but you'll warm up to it eventually."

"Really?" she said with a pained grimace. "Because I've been here for two days and I have not warmed up." She placed her mug back on the table, ignoring it as it filled back up again.

"Did you enchant that, or is it part of the feast magic?" Albus sat down next to her, and I slipped into the neighboring seat.

"I did." She scratched idly at her arm under her sleeve, and a jolt ran through me as I saw her fingertips come away bloody. I glanced at her, alarmed, and she looked away, pulling her sweater sleeve lower over her hand.

"Artemis, are you okay?"

"I'm fine." She still refused to meet my eyes, and I dropped the subject with a sigh. Her eyes caught on another fifth-year who had just sat down at the Gryffindor, a faint blush rising over her pale cheeks as the object of her attention glanced over at us and met her eyes. "Who's she?"

Albus followed her hungry gaze. "Callisto St. Albera." He looked over at Artemis and smirked. "She's in some of our classes, you'll see her around."

"She's fucking gorgeous," Artemis muttered, turning away before it became obvious that she was staring.

"You're not too hard on the eyes yourself, darling," said a voice from behind us. Artemis swiveled around in her seat, nearly kicking Albus in the process.

"Thanks," she said with a grin. "I'm Artemis Malfoy. You are?"

"Nico Zhabin," she said, sitting down on Artemis's other side with a wink. "We'll be roommates this year."

"Nice to meet you," Artemis said. "I like your sweater, by the way."
Nico beamed. Her black sweater, knitted from clumsy wool, bore the image of what appeared to be an axolotl in the colors of the trans flag. "Thanks, I made it myself."

"You can knit? Cool. I can hand-sew a little, but I never had the patience to learn knitting."

"I can knit," I offered.

"Really?" Albus said. "I've never seen you knit."

"Yeah, because I don't do it at school," I said awkwardly, blushing furiously. "I started after my mom died, as a sort of coping mechanism."

Artemis nodded. "Yeah, I get it. You any good?"

"I'm okay at it," I said modestly.

We fell silent as the teachers' announcements began to wrap up. McGonagall stood up, clearing her throat to command the students' quiet. "This year, we will be holding a Valentine's Day dance," she said. "After the events prior to winter break, it will be an attempt to restore some normalcy and calm to the year. I trust that you all will be responsible, as this is a privilege and can be revoked." There were murmurs of assent throughout the hall. McGonagall clapped her hands. "Let the feast begin!"