Chapter 14 ~ December, 1995
After spending several hours working on a manuscript, Remus made his way down to the kitchen feeling a bit peckish. Artemis was cutting out sugar cookies in the shape of snowflakes, soft Christmas carols playing on the radio. "I was just looking for something to eat," he said apologetically. "I don't want to interrupt."
"No, this is my last batch. I'm ready for a break," Artemis replied, sliding the last pan in the oven. She assembled the tea things and set out half a loaf of gingerbread. She pulled her wand out of the pocket in her apron and pointed it at a large bread knife, which went to work slicing the gingerbread, then she tapped the tea kettle, pouring the water over the tea leaves after it whistled.
The pair talked over Christmas presents, making sure they'd covered everyone; discussed whether they should go to the Weasleys or if that family would come here; what about Hermione, and should they try to include her parents? The conversation flowed lightly and easily, and after a while Remus decided to go ahead and ask the question he'd been chewing over for the last few weeks. "Why do you touch Sirius so often?" he said deliberately. Artemis met his eyes in surprise, and he hurried to explain. "I mean, you pat his arm when you're talking to him, rub his back when you hand him a plate, um…hold his hand when he starts to get agitated, even just bump into him when you walk in a room. Why?"
Artemis looked concerned and shifted her gaze to stare at the fire. "He was locked up alone for twelve years. People…all mammals really…don't do well without touch. There's even some No-Maj scientific studies on it. I just thought…it might help him."
Remus nodded slowly as he thought about her words. "I see. That's very…kind of you. And I think it is helping…Thank you."
Artemis smiled a little and stood to place her cup and saucer in the sink. She pulled the pan from the oven and set it off to the side to cool. Then turned to leave the room.
"I thought perhaps…" Remus blurted out. She paused in the doorway as she was leaving and looked back to meet Remus' gaze. "…it was because you were…attracted to him."
Artemis raised her eyebrows. "I was trying to…help him heal a little…that's all." He was watching her, perplexed by the look in her eyes. "I would have done it to you too," she added hesitantly, "but…after getting to know you I was afraid it would have the opposite effect."
He frowned at her. "What do you mean?"
She screwed up her face, trying to find the right way to say it. "You didn't really trust me. So you were…looking for things to analyze about me. If I had treated you the way I treat Sirius you would have assumed I was faking it for some reason and pulled away even more." She took a deep breath and decided to keep going. "Also deep down you think it makes sense that people would be more…affectionate with Sirius than with you. You're wrong about that, by the way. You assume your scars and condition make people avoid you, but in reality you're the one avoiding them. You are fully as deserving of care and affection as Sirius." Artemis gave him a rather sad small smile and left the room.
Remus scowled down at the scrubbed tabletop, suddenly aggravated with her. It wasn't that he disagreed. She was absolutely right. He would have kept his distance if she'd used that method on him, although he did trust her now…as well as he trusted anybody. No, he was irritated that even though he knew she was right, he was…envious of how easily she interacted with Sirius. And he was angry and a little scared at how she'd managed to poke right at that tender wound in his psyche. That wound that never quite healed, no matter how many years passed; the voice that told him when people found out what he really was they would leave, so it was safer to not get too close. For a few years that voice was muzzled, thanks to the Marauders. But even they had all abandoned him. And he knew Sirius regretted it, but…it was just easier to keep to himself. He was dangerous after all, registered with the Ministry as a Dark Creature. And now this raven-haired witch with her stupid job that landed her in the middle of a war, her stupid observant eyes with those long dark lashes, and her stupid chocolate muffins, and her stupid understanding of werewolves made him long for more. And that longing was quickly becoming a more painful ache than the old one. Remus flung his teacup into the fireplace with a growl of frustration, taking a little satisfaction in the sound of shattering pottery.
"Sirius Black!" yelled the portrait from the bedroom down the hall. "Guess who's coming to dinner?! Sirius Black! They're baaack! Sirius Black!"
"What in the name of Godric are you on about, you ridiculous troll?!" shouted Sirius, banging open the door of the room.
"Wha…what?! Deplorable manners! That's what comes of associating with Mudbloods and beasts," sputtered the portrait of his great-great-great grandfather. "Here I am, sent about like an owl carrying messages to and from the school and you can't be bothered to address me politely! I do not like being shouted at!"
Sirius took a deep breath and promised himself that one day he'd paint right over the man. "You were shouting first. What's the message?"
The portrait of Phineas Nigellus Black glared at him. "Company's coming," he stated curtly, "Arthur Weasley has been injured and that pack of blood-traitor gingers is coming here." The he vanished out of the frame.
"Umm, right then…brilliant."
Sirius arrived in the kitchen as Harry, Ron, Ginny and the twins landed in a heap. Remus stood suddenly from the rocking chair where he'd been reading by the fire, and Artemis froze in the middle of her kneading, dusted in flour. "What's going on?" Sirius asked grimly. "Phineas Nigellus said Arthur's been injured."
"Ask Harry," said Fred.
"Yeah, I want to hear this for myself," said George.
Everyone was staring at Harry. "It was…I had a…kind of …vision," he stammered. He slowly told them what he had seen; Arthur standing in a dark room, a large snake approaching suddenly and attacking.
Artemis glanced at the children, all but Ron looking faintly accusingly at Harry.
"Is Mum here?" asked Fred, turning to Sirius.
Sirius shook his head. "She may not even know what's happened yet," said Sirius. "The most important thing was to get you away before Umbridge could interfere. I expect Dumbledore's letting Molly know now."
"We have to get to St. Mungo's," said Ginny urgently. She looked around at her brothers. They were of course still in their pajamas. "Sirius, can you lend us cloaks or anything?"
"Wait," interrupted Remus. "You can't go to St. Mungo's."
"'Course we can go to St. Mungo's if we want," said Fred with a mulish expression, "he's our dad!"
"And how exactly are you going to explain that you knew he was attacked before the hospital even let his wife know?" Remus said in a low, patient voice.
"What does that matter?" asked George hotly.
"It matters because we don't want to draw attention to the fact that Harry is having visions of things that are happening hundreds of miles away!" said Sirius angrily. "Have you any idea what the Ministry would make of that information?"
Artemis dusted off her floured hands on her apron and moved toward Sirius, resting her hand unobtrusively on his arm. Fred and George looked as though they could not care less what the Ministry made of anything. Ron was standing there white-faced and silent. Ginny finally offered, "Someone else could have told us…We could have heard it somewhere other than Harry…"
"Like who?" said Sirius impatiently. "Listen, your dad's been hurt while on duty for the Order and the circumstances are probably fishy enough without his children knowing about it seconds after it happened. You could seriously damage the Order's…"
"We don't care about the dumb Order!" shouted Fred.
"It's out dad dying we're talking about!" yelled George.
"Your father knew what he was getting into, and he won't thank you for messing things up for the Order!" Sirius yelled back.
Artemis, now holding Sirius' hand tightly, threw Remus a panicked look. "I know it's hard to understand," Remus finally interjected, "but there are some things worth dying for."
"Easy for you lot to say, stuck here!" bellowed Fred. "I don't see you risking your neck!"
Remus frowned, and the little color remaining in Sirius' face drained from it. He and Remus hadn't been allowed to take shifts guarding the prophecy in the Department of Mysteries. Only Moody, Tonks, Arthur and Kingsley had – those who had legitimate reasons for being at the Ministry anyway.
"I know it's hard," Artemis said softly, through clenched teeth, "but we've all got to act as though we don't know anything yet. We've got to stay put, at least until we hear from your mother, all right?"
Fred and George still looked mutinous, but Ginny took a few steps to the nearest chair and sat down. Harry looked at Ron, who made a funny movement between a nod and a shrug, and they sat too. The twins glared at the adults for another minute and then took seats on either side of Ginny.
Remus immediately turned to the stove and began making hot chocolate. Artemis carried a plate loaded up with buns and biscuits over to the kids.
Sirius sat heavily in one of the chairs, his fingers tapping nervously. Artemis glanced at him and leaned over to whisper something to Remus. He frowned at her, but nodded. Sirius looked up as Remus placed a mug of hot chocolate in front of him and poured a dollop of tequila in it. "Just one," Remus warned him.
"If you're offering…" said George, holding up his own mug.
"We wouldn't mind imbibing," finished Fred.
"And risk the wrath of Molly? No thank you," stated Remus, returning the bottle to the cupboard.
They sipped the chocolate and ate the food in silence, no one really looking at each other. Then a burst of fire in midair illuminated the mugs in front of them as as they gave cries of shock, a scroll of parchment fell with a thud onto the table, accompanied by a single golden phoenix tail feather.
"Fawkes!" said Sirius at once, snatching up the parchment. "That's not Dumbledore's writing, it must be a message from your mum, look…" He thrust the letter into George's hand, who ripped it open and read aloud, "Dad is still alive. I am setting out for St. Mungo's now. Stay where you are. I will send news as soon as I can. Mum."
"Still alive…" said George slowly, looking around the table. "But that makes it sound…"
He did not need to finish the sentence. It sounded to everyone as though Arthur were hovering somewhere between life and death. Fred pulled the parchment out of George's hand and read it for himself, then looked up at Harry, who clutched his hot chocolate mug tightly to stop his hand trembling.
It was a very long night. At one point Remus suggested they all go to bed, but the Weasleys' disgusted looks were the only response. They mostly sat in silence around the table, occasionally raising mugs to their lips, speaking only to inquire what the time was and wonder aloud what might be happening.
Fred fell into a doze, his head sagging sideways onto his shoulder. Ginny was curled up like a cat in her chair, but her eyes were open. Ron was sitting with his head in his hands, whether awake or asleep was impossible to tell. Artemis moved around them all quietly, finishing up her baking and cleaning the kitchen. Sirius sat staring into the fire, and Remus picked up his book, but didn't actually look to the open page, watching everyone out of the corner of his eye instead.
Then at ten past five in the morning the kitchen door swung open and Mrs. Weasley entered the kitchen. She was extremely pale, but when they all turned to look at her, Remus and Sirius rising from their chairs, she gave them a wan smile.
"He's going to be all right," she said, her voice weak with tiredness. "He's sleeping. We can all go see him later. Bill's sitting with him now, he's going to take the morning off work."
Fred covered his face with his hands. George and Ginny got up, walked swiftly over to their mother, and hugged her. Ron gave a very shaky laugh and downed his now cold chocolate in one.
"How about some breakfast?" suggested Artemis. Harry hurried over to help. He'd barely taken some plates from the cupboard when Mrs. Weasley lifted them out of his hands and pulled him into a hug.
"I don't know what would have happened if it hadn't been for you, Harry," she said in a muffled voice. "They might not have found Arthur for hours, and then it would have been too late, but thanks to you he's alive, and Dumbledore's been able to think up a good cover story for Arthur being where he was, you've no idea what trouble he would have been in otherwise…" She then turned to the other adults, thanking them for taking care of her children through the night.
"We're happy to help Molly," said Sirius gently. "And of course you all must stay here while he's in the hospital."
"Oh Sirius, I'm so grateful…They think he'll be there a little while and it would be wonderful to be nearer. Of course that might mean we're here for Christmas…"
"The more the merrier!" said Sirius with such obvious sincerity that Molly beamed at him, threw on an apron, and began to help with breakfast. After breakfast everyone made their way upstairs to sleep for a bit. Molly and Artemis sat a bit longer over their teacups.
"They had a hard time stopping the bleeding. Someone even tried closing the bites the Muggle way, with a needle and thread, but the thread just dissolved from the venom. It was…very touch and go for a bit there," Molly choked out, covering her face with her hands; shoulders shaking in silent sobs.
Artemis rushed over and wrapped her arms around the older woman's shoulders. "There," she murmured. "Cry it all out, I know it was terrifying." She held Molly for several minutes until the weeping subsided into shaky breaths. Artemis wiped her own few tears away and finally stepped back, "Your tea's gone cold. I'll get you a new cup," she said softly, giving Molly a moment to collect herself.
"That man drives me mad, but I don't know how I'd live without him," said Molly quietly. Artemis smiled as she brought over a hot cup of tea.
"Speaking of…how are things with you and Remus?" Molly asked, deliberately changing the subject to try and clear her muddled thoughts.
Artemis stared at her. "We're…friends," she said slowly.
Molly smiled at her patronizingly. "Ginny and Harry are friends too, but that's not how she wants things to be."
Artemis just kept staring at her, not sure if she should confess her growing interest or deny everything. "It's not…not really like that," she finally stammered.
Molly cocked her head and studied the other woman's face intently. "Is it Sirius then? I can't say I really think that's as good a match."
"No!" Artemis burst out, and then realized how loud she'd said that. "I just mean there's no…match…of any kind with anyone," she finished in a lower voice.
Molly studied her for a while longer and seemed satisfied with what she saw, as she nodded slowly and changed the subject. "So, I guess we'll all be here for Christmas if that'll suit?"
"Of course," said Artemis, intensely relieved to talk about something else. "Of course you must stay here. It will be much easier to check up on Arthur. And I think Sirius was secretly hoping to play the gracious host now that the house is…friendlier."
Harry and the Weasleys went to visit Arthur later that day. The next morning Molly decided to keep everyone occupied putting up Christmas decorations, and around dinner time Hermione showed up on the Knight bus to spend the holidays with them. The house was full to bursting again, and Sirius was ridiculously happy, bellowing, "God rest ye merry hippogriff!" at the top of his lungs.
** Author's Note ** Thank you so much for reading! I appreciate all the reviews and follows. :) When you have invested so much in creating characters and trying to be respectful of another author's characters it's nice to know there are some other people who care about them too! Some of this chapter was taken directly from OOTP. I think this scene of the original book did such a good job illustrating the difference between the kids in the beginning of the book who were so eager to be involved in the Order, and now when they are more concerned with how things are affecting them personally, in spite of the work they've been doing with Dumbledore's Army. This book (and the movie) is probably one of my favorites, because I think it really captures how cut off the kids felt from what the adults were doing, and how when push came to shove they felt responsible for handling things themselves because the adults didn't seem to be handling things appropriately, and so much of that depends on our perspectives as kids vs. adults doesn't it?