Remus' POV.

The sky started to deepen in colour as home-cooked soup began to bubble on the stove, using some of the ingredients from the cottage garden.

Arty was curled up on the sofa, flicking through a book that I couldn't recognise as I continued to stir the pot and add random herbs and spices. The smell filling up the small space.

I watched her eyes drift in and out of sleepiness, each time snapping herself out of slumber just at the right time. I didn't know why she was fighting sleep. She didn't seem particularly interested in the book as I could tell she wasn't reading each page thoroughly.

"You alright, darling?" I said from the spot I was observing her lovingly from.

"Mmhm!" She replied back, happily enough.

Nerves were beginning to bubble in my body the same way the soup was beginning to tell me it was ready to be served.

We had spoken about this moment. Many times. She had asked me to ask her; though marriage did seem more like a business transaction than romantic in those conversations.

I served the soup with a slice of buttered bread and carried both bowls over to where Arty was sprawled out over the sofa.

"Smells amazing." She rubbed her hands together and sat up with hungry anticipation.

We tucked into the soup and crusty bread, letting it fill and warm our stomachs as the sun went down outside; taking its heat with it. Cool brisk air started to fill the little cottage, channelling down the chimney opening. Arty began to get up and head over to the fireplace, picking up a box of matches and scanning the area to see what was the safest way to start the fire; her wand being in the suitcase in the other room.

I rushed over to her with a lopsided smile on my face and stopped her from lighting the fire. She giggled as I lightly tackled her.

"What are you doing?" She laughed.

"Look at the sky, we don't want to fill it with smoke do we?" I smiled.

She glanced outside of the small windows, that were beginning to fog with condensation at the sudden temperature change, observing the hundreds of stars that began to glisten in an astonishingly clear night sky.

"Oh wow!" She said in a breathy tone.

I started to gather up any blanket I could find around the cottage and began to wrap her and myself in layers of the warm materials. We both laughed as I almost rolled her up like a standing burrito.

I grabbed her hand and pulled her outside with me.

"Let's just enjoy the sky and then we'll appreciate the fire more." I said.

"But my nose is cold!" She giggled.

I leant in and started leaving warm kisses all over her face, focusing on her nose and feeling it scrunch beneath my lips.

We both collapsed onto the cold grassy field in front of the cottage, the bundles of blankets meaning our fall was padded as if we were falling onto a slightly stiff mattress.

We both stared up at the starry sky in blissful silence.

"That's Orion." Arty softly said, pulling her hand out from the blankets and reaching up at the sky.

"I know." I smiled at her.

I could tell she had pointed out that specific constellation because of Sirius. A look of pensiveness dancing across her face.

"And that's Cassiopeia." I added, reaching out and doing the same. Attempting to distract her.

"That one's boring." She said with a small smirk on her face. Teasing me.

"You just have no imagination." I teased back.

Arty shuffled in closer with her bundles of blankets and I happily moved my arm so that she could add mine to her pile too. Feeling her cuddle into me as we both stared up at the full and vibrant sky full of stars.

"Where does your name come from?" She gently asked, not breaking contact from the stars.

The black family had a theme for their names, many inspired or stolen from already existing constellations. Looking up to the sky and clearly viewing many that her family members were named after must have inspired the question.

"I'm not sure, I've never asked. I think it's Latin." I said honestly.

"I wonder why you weren't called a Welsh name." She said softly out loud.

I shrugged.

"I wonder why you weren't called after a constellation." I said letting her know I was picking up on how her question occurred.
"You'd outshine the rest, if you were." I added.

I could feel her smiling next to me, though we both continued to stare upwards.

"Uh, Greek mythology. That's where Artemis comes from." She corrected, containing the bashfulness in her voice.

"Well that makes sense, a goddess is much better than a star. Silly me." I said factually.

She gave me a slight nudge. Beginning to hide her face in the blankets.

"My nose is still cold." She giggled, though I could tell she was actually just hiding the big grin that appeared on her face before she quickly hid it.

I forced the blankets away from her face and placed my hand over her nose for a split second.

"You're lying, it feels just fine to me." I laughed, exposing her pink face.

"You can't tell me if I'm cold or not!" She laughed in protest.

"If you say so." I rolled my eyes.

Suddenly the stars no longer existed as we stared into each other's eyes. Childish smirks plastered across our faces. A tenderness starting to evaporate the cold air from around us.

"There's something I've never told you before." I suddenly said after seeing a youthful spark in her eyes, shoot past like a wishing star.

She furrowed her eyebrows with curiosity.

"When you were getting sorted into a house," I began. Arty's interest was clear to see as the playful smile dropped from her face to be replaced by the corners of her mouth only resting in a small smile, fully concentrated.

"We were all putting our bets on what house you'd be in. Sirius guessed Slytherin, obviously. So did Alice and Peter." I began to list.
"Frank and Lily thought Ravenclaw."
"James and Marlene were sure you were Hufflepuff, they thought that would be iconic."

"And you?" She interrupted.

"Was the only person to guess Gryffindor." I replied.

"Why?" She asked.

"There was a familiarity. Part of me just instantly knew who you were. Just by looking at you." I said.

"But what if you were wrong?" She asked.

"I wasn't." I smiled.
"My gut instinct is never wrong about you." I admitted.

"What does your gut say about me?" She asked inquisitively, picking up the playfulness her face had dropped.

"That..." I began, trailing off.
"Forget about it, you don't want to know!" I playfully tutted and led back down.

"No! Tell me!" Arty sat up instantly, hitting my chest.

"Well- it's just that...nah, honestly forget I said anything!" I laughed and pulled myself up from the floor, dusting off my trousers and patting down my pockets. Beginning to walk away.

"Remus! You can't just leave me hanging like that!" Arty laughed, following me by picking herself up from the floor too, wrapping herself in the slightly grassy blankets that I had left behind.

I began to wander off a little further into the field, staring up at the sky again from a stood position, acting aloof.

Her hand reached out to grab me.

"Tell me." She said a little less playfully.

"Fine." I playfully rolled my eyes at her and she seemed to relax, a little satisfied.

"My gut has been screaming something at me for a while, about you. The same way as I knew you'd be in the same house as me all those years back." I began.

My heart began beating heavily in my chest and I couldn't figure out if it was from nerves or excitement; more than likely an intense combination of both.

"Yes?" She goaded me, moving her hands in a questioning 'go on' movement.

"That I want to spend the rest of my life with you and that I love that you're my girlfriend." I said with a smile. She smiled back.

"I knew that!" She said gently and pushed my arm.

"But," I said, which made her smile drop.

I slowly knelt down on one knee. Feeling for the small box that I had kept in my pocket the whole evening.

"I'd love for you to be my wife instead." I beamed up at her, revealing a modest size ring in a midnight blue velvet box; to match the night sky.

Artemis looked genuinely shocked. Eyes beginning to water as she dropped the blankets, her hands finding themselves cupped around her open mouth.

"Artemis Black, will you marry me?" I asked, my throat almost feeling choked up.

She began enthusiastically nodding, her hands still cupping the lower half of her face.

"Give me your hand then." I laughed at her reaction, feeling on top of the world.

She removed her hands from her beautiful face and stretched out her left hand.

"This finger, right?" I quietly asked, beginning to slip the diamond ring on.

She nodded.

"Yeah." She laughed at me. Beginning to admire the ring as it sparkled like the stars in the sky.
"Oh Merlin." She laughed again, pure happiness gracing her features.

I stood up and she threw herself over me, enveloping me in the tightest and happiest hug I had felt in a long time.

"I love you." She smiled into a kiss she had began.

"I love you." I repeated over and over, kissing her deeply. Her legs lifting up and my hands supporting her as I held her closely.

"We're going to get married!" She squealed, jumping down from the kiss and admiring her ring.

My heart felt as if it was taking over my entire body. The cold suddenly felt like a dream and memory of the past, I no longer felt an ounce of it. All that I could feel was the warmth of love and excitement and lingering nerves that made my body want to run through the fields to expel the energy.

She ran inside the cottage as I quickly followed her.

"I needed to get a better look!" She said, her eyes glistening down to the ring that perfectly fit her finger.
"It's so pretty, I'm so excited!" She almost jumped up and down.

"You are?" I asked, feeling a heat take over my face. An overwhelming amount of happiness, eradicating any doubt I had that Arty would have simply married me for convenience.

"Remus, I have loved you ever since I met you. There is no one else on this planet that I'd rather marry." She said as she clutched her chest with an earnest sign of affection.

"We're going to get married." I repeated her words from only minutes before. A big boyish grin appearing on my face, that I couldn't control.

I pulled her excitable body into mine once more. Pulling out my wand from my back pocket and lighting the fire that began to warm us from the outside, as our joy did the same on the inside.