Precognition

4th Year chapter 1 : from Black to Red

After the fiasco at the end of third year defence against the dark arts, Remus wasn't entirely loving the idea of having to share a carriage with Artemis.
However, dealing with Artemis meant that he got to sit with Ava, and (significantly more importantly) not be in the Vicinity of James and Lily. James and Lily had begun dating before the summer begun and Remus very very desperate to give them their space, lord knows he didn't want to get tangled up in whatever mess they'd make.

Sirius and Peter had also opted to stay away from the couple (not so much their choice as lily's) and stay in the carriage with Ava, Artemis, Emma, Remus and somehow Ava's uncaged dog.

"Gemini sit. Good girl!" Ava praised the two headed mutt. The dog lolled its heads to one side and began wagging its tails in delight.

The carriage was somewhat of a squeeze, considering Artemis was trying to remain at the opposite end of the box. Sirius was looking sorrowfully out of the window and Artemis was staring at her nails. Artemis was sat next to the carriage window, Emma in the seat next to her and Ava opposite Sirius.

Sirius sat against the window, Peter in the middle and Remus on the end, a mirror image in reality.

Remus was getting achey, he'd grown a lot over the course of the summer and having Peter squished up against him and pushing him into the wall was not very fun.

Sirius suddenly looked as though he had made a scientific breakthrough.
"Artemis may I have a word with you."
Artemis narrowed her eyes, staring accusingly at her cousin.
"Why?"
Sirius sighed in defeat
"I feel like we need to talk, you know we do- everyone in this box- hell everyone in hogwarts knows!"
Artemis scoffed, made a small nodding motion and moved to open the door.

Peter didn't move at all, too petrified of Gemini ( the gentle giant who was only about 5 feet at full height) moving or attacking him.

"Peter, are you scared of her?" Ava spoke up, trying to stifle a laugh at the boys cowardly behaviour.
"N-no? Why would I be scared of that hound?!"
The boy practically shivered as Gemini let out a long sigh.

"Maybe you should go with James and Lil-" and before Remus could even finish his sentence the boy darted off down the train to lovingly third wheel his friends.

Sirius and Artemis had been gone for about five minutes when Sirius popped his head around the corner.
"Listen guys, me and Arty have a lot to discuss, might be a while- don't wait up is all I'm saying- wait where's wormtail?"

Emma then piped up
"Oh he's trying to find James and Lily."
Sirius chuckled and rolled his eyes before sliding the door to a close.

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The box was quiet, although stiflingly hot. The three sat in awkward silence, before Rose began.

"I'm going to just go find Xenophilous, I'll see you at school."
She smiled as she began piling her bags into her arms with very little effort.
Once she closed the sliding door, Ava's direction was directed at Remus, and his to her.

"So Remus, how was your summer" Ava started, sliding over to the middle of the seat to be able to face him properly.

"Oh- I mean it wasn't that exciting really."
"You didn't do anything?"
"Well I did stay with James over the summer, we did some stuff although it was mostly listening to him writing to Lily."

Ava made a sick face, grabbing her throat and pretending to choke, earning a soft chuckle from the boy before her.

"So you stayed with him the whole summer?"
"Yes, I mean I sort of had t-" Remus bit his tongue, realising the severity of his mishap.

"You had to?" Ava continued, being careful not to push him away too much.
"Yes, my- my parents-"
"Shh, don't say anything else. I can see you're upset and if this conversation upsets you we can move on."
Remus nodded thankfully.

This year was going to be a lot better... or so he hoped.

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"Ah Artemis! Here I almost forgot!" Artemis spun round to face the voice calling out for her.
Ava held a small box, wrapped in dark red paper and a neat black ribbon.

"It's your birthday right- there, I saw it and thought of you".

Artemis opened the box, half expecting to see some sort of live animal in the box.
However it was not an animal- in fact Artemis didn't really know what it was.

"It's muggle hair dye, I found it whilst in London with my brother and remembered how you spoke about changing your hair- it's maroon but you can change it if you like."

And before Artemis could say anything, the train came to a halt.

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Later that evening, the abandoned girls bathrooms became a sight for sore eyes.

Artemis' head was wrapped in a set of her old robes which no longer fit her whilst Ava and Emma frantically tried to rub the sticky red liquid out of the sink. Thankfully Emma knew a cleaning spell which worked perfectly... after spending just over half an hour trying to scrub.

Artemis' hair, unlike her name, was no longer Black.