/𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒\ [𝒔. 𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌]

𝟐.𝟡.𝟣

~

"you do not have to be good. you do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. you only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves." ~ Mary Oliver

~march 1973~

"Okay... you ready?" Mary asked, her eyes lit up with excitement at what she, Remus, and Artemis were about to do.

Artemis squared her shoulders and took a deep breath. She, on the other hand, didn't look excited at all. Instead, there was a determined steeliness to her expression that was almost off-putting. "She'll never see it coming."

"I like that we're doing this exactly a month from April Fool's day," observed Remus.

"Shut up, Remus," said Artemis. "You know your part of the plan, right?"

Remus nodded. "I'm spreading around word that Marlene has a rare form of scrofungulus that makes her delirious," he reiterated his part of the plan back to Artemis. "And I'm going to mainly tell the older students so the word trickles down."

"That's right," said Artemis. She wished she could do that part of the plan because she knew she was good at being persuasive, but she could count on one hand the number of people who were willing to speak to her just then. Even Peter had given in to Marlene since she threatened to spread around a rumor that he didn't really belong in Gryffindor. Artemis was getting sick of the reign of terror her former-friend held in Gryffindor tower. "Mary?"

Mary gave Artemis a sweet smile and held up a dark green bottle. "I'll be slipping vomit-colored hair-dye into all of her usual hair products."

"Fantastic," Artemis said, her tone business-like. Remus and Mary were looking at her with a sort of almost-reverence, but she was scanning the common room, making sure their plan was flawless. "I'll keep watch and make a few... adjustments... to some of Marlene's things while I'm at it." Remus nodded curtly and Mary held out a fist to do the secret handshake she, Artemis, and Remus had devised. When it was over, Artemis scanned the common room one last time. "Alright, and.... break."

The three of them scattered, Remus striding confidently out into the common room and Artemis and Mary both heading for the girl's dormitory. When they got there, Artemis did a quick check to make sure they were alone and Mary scurried into the bathroom to start mixing the hair products. While she was alone in the dormitory, Artemis locked the door and headed over to Marlene's bed. The first thing she went for was the pack of breath mints by her bed. Marlene loved breath mints. She picked up the little box and drew her wand. "Silencio minima a dolens," she said slowly, reciting the hex to make a person painfully lose their voice. "Silencio minima a dolens." She hoped it worked and she didn't doubt her own work much. She was top of her class in Charms and Defense Against the Dark Arts. Then, for good measure, Artemis grabbed Marlene's favorite blouse hanging from the bedpost and muttered, "Reducio minima." The blouse shrunk at least two sizes in Artemis's hands and she make a satisfied humming noise. Revenge had been made. She was ready for the war.