The Last Test and Death
Professor Snape snapped shut his book with an almost bestial growl. Artimis turned her head ever so slowly to look at him with her ears flat and the scent of his frustration. He was clenching his forearm, sweat dotting his forehead as he fought against something painful. Artimis stood up quickly and placed her head on his knee with a worried whimper, her attempt at asking if he was ok.
"I am fine… I am fine… get away from me…" Snape stood up causing the werewolf's head to flip up into a painful angle and struggled to get to his room, Artimis stayed at his side in case he fell over even as her neck burned. He clenched his forearm the whole way before he pulled of his long cape and threw it at the wall with a loud cry. He fell onto the end of his bed and leaned his face into his hands. Artimis sat beside him silently waiting, never taking her eyes from his forearm with worry. Finally after what seemed like hours, the man simply fell to his back with a sigh and arms spread in utter exhaustion. His eyes never left his room's roof even as Artimis jumped up beside him and laid her head on his forearm.
The two didn't move once through the night, not until Artimis leapt off the bed to change form again as morning came suddenly. Snape closed his eyes and held his clammy palms over them as Artimis pulled herself up with a pained grunt. Bubble was beside her with a crack, holding a coffee in one hand and her robes in the other. "Master Snape want coffee, or some Fire-whiskey?" Snape agreed to the second one as Artimis wrapped her robe around herself quickly. Taking the coffee in one hand she yawned and fell into Snape's lounge chair.
The professor finally sat up to take his own glass of Whiskey before watching the elf take the half asleep girl away leaving his armchair empty for him to make himself comfortable with his drink.
The next day had the Trio and a pale Artimis once again with their faces shoved in a newspaper. "How does she know about all this!?" Hermione said, with clear frustration straining her voice.
Artimis leaned back with an angry sigh, she really wanted to kill Rita Skeeter for that last comment about Werewolves and Giants. Harry looked calmly away and ignored the Slytherin's jokes about his forehead. The three of them spoke again before Hermione realised something, she looked at Artimis who gave her a small grin. "That has to be it right Art? It is the right way she did it…?" Artimis tilted her head slightly then turned back to the colourful roof. Her whole body was on fire, wishing she didn't have to get out of bed so early today.
"Wait a bloody second. Artimis knew how that Skeeter woman was doing all this?" Ron gave Artimis a quick glare which she ignored as she hummed in the pretence that she hadn't heard him.
"Oh Ron, she wanted me to work it out myself…" Hermione shoved Ron's arm then rushed off to make sure she was right. The rest of the day were exams that when finally finished both Artimis and Harry went to the entrance of the Great Hall. The Weasley's greeted Harry cheerfully, when Molly Weasley turned to Artimis her face seemed to turn down slightly.
"What's wrong? Unhappy to see me...? How about I go over here then, alone…" As she turned to go to a corner Bill grabbed her arm and said, "Don't worry about Mum, she has read Rita's articles…"
"Ah… I see I see…" Bill turned her around again to his mother who gave the girl a quick hug an apology.
"I'm sorry Darling, I know you wouldn't be such a Scarlet woman!" Artimis and Harry met eyes and held back a snort as they thought of Ron saying that to Hermione.
"Don't worry about it, me and Hermione are working on a way to give that woman a taste of revenge for her lies." Molly seemed to freeze up at Hermione's name but relaxed, Artimis walked around the room to greet everyone's parent. Victor's mother and father simply nodded then kept looking at her like she was dirt under their feet. Victor clamped her on the arm in a friendlier manner and said, "Art-Ah-Miss, vood luck in ze vird test."
"You too Victoria, watch out in the maze alright. Don't trip, whatever you do… the fall hurts more then you would think." Victor nodded before realising what she called him, before he could tell her off she skipped away to greet Fleur's mother. "Hello! I am Artimis Knight, pleasure to meet you!"
"Yes I heard about you from my girls, you helped save my youngest in the second test am I right. I thank you for that." Her accent was thicker than her daughters but she gave Artimis a kiss on each cheek which the girl stuck her thumbs up at Fleur for causing the blonde to laugh happily. "Thank you for everything, may you be safe in the next test."
"Thank you, I hope Fleur is safe as well. No spinning and prancing in the maze, causes distractions for both of us..." Fleur smiled then kept her eyes on Bill who was speaking with Harry and Ron. To the side it looked like Molly and Hermione were making up.
Artimis joined them while rubbing her neck in an attempt to rid herself of the pain, Harry glanced at her with worry as her pale face seemed to look drawn in and clammy, the scars on her cheek seemed to glow a brilliant red which made other parents avoid her like a disease. "Will you be alright Art?"
"Yeah… I think I will have another coffee though… maybe three…" Artimis walked off while scratched her head, making her way straight to the kitchen where Sky gave her a piece of baked cheesecake with raspberries and warm fudge chocolate coating it, Bubble made a super strong coffee with four sugar cubes and cream on top. She sat at a bench and relaxed, in a few moments she would be in the last test with Harry, who would be kidnapped for the resurrection of Voldemort. She had thoughts whether she should stop him and warn Dumbledore or not. But she worried about how the story would change.
Soon she was finished with her cake and coffee, standing up she thanked Sky and Bubble with a hug and gave Dobby a quick smile and greeting before leaving to find Mythal. Said girl was with Draco and his parents so instead Artimis wandered aimlessly around the school to avoid Lucius, running information through her head.
Early dinner went past quickly before everyone was herded to the maze, Dumbledore sent everyone to the Quidditch Pitch and through the maze one at a time depending on their scores.
Artimis made her way around, wand clenched in her hand. Holding her hand up she pointed the light around her as she casted a quick shield spell as fire attempted to hit her, a bunch of Hagrid's huge beasts raced after her. Artimis ran, thankfully not getting lost like she was legendary of doing as she avoided flames, her red and gold sport robes scorched and smoked from the hems as she ran. Artimis cast back up her shield as it fell and sent a stream of water back at the flames on her robes, when all of the beasts were behind her she quickly cast Lumos but strengthened it making the creatures temporarily blinded to give her time to rush away.
She used a spell Hermione taught her and Harry to find out the direction she was travelling, before she could continue forward Harry appeared beside her. "I suggest running, Hagrid has his pets out and about." The pair rushed through the maze, both summoned their Patronus' against a Dementor that turned out to be a Boggart, Harry instantly defeated it before Artimis causing the competitive girl to tut her tongue causing the boy to flash a cheeky grin. "Alright then Mate, reckon you can lead the way in case of more?" Her Thestral bowed its head as it understood her request through her emotions and walked ahead of them, lighting the area up with his milky glow.
Harry stuck to her like glue, asking her over and over if she was alright. "Yes I am fine, we should separate too. Don't forget only one Champ. Even if we are from the same school…" She laughed at Harry's shocked face, he must have forgotten about what they were doing, nodding he rushed off to the right and Artimis ran forward with her Patronus lighting the way. Artimis met with many tricks since parting with Harry, one time she thought she was running down a long path but it turned out to be a continuous loop, she turned and went down a different corner. Suddenly there was a yell from behind, "Crucio!" The pain erupted up her whole body, it was like she was reliving all her transformations in one go plus more. She cried out and fell to the ground, clenching her head.
Behind her Victor pointed his wand at her, eyes a milky white. "Shit…" She doubled over as Harry's voice came out. "Stupefy!" Victor fell down and the spell ending. "Art, are you alright!?"
"Yeah… thanks…" The both of them eyed Victor nervously, "Let's send up a spark and get out of here…" The pair nodded to each other, sent a red spark into the sky then hightailed away, turning different ways once again.
Almost an hour into the test Artimis passed many difficult moments in the maze, no more attacks from Victor, but when she turned one corner she was sent the other way screaming at the top of her lungs. A giant spider followed her, pincers clicking. "All that is HOLY SHIT! I will kill Hagrid when I get out of here! I HATE SPIDERS!" Turning a random corner she almost fell over Harry, the boy jumped back in shock. Looking over Artimis spotted the Cup at the end of the maze. Grabbing Harry she pulled him off the ground as the spider crashed past. The pair shot away, both shooting random spells out. Blood was gushing out of Harry's leg as the beast attacked him, the pair cast many spells that simply bounced off. "Together, Stupefy together!" Harry followed her order, their spells merged and sent the spider flying.
"Ok get up!" Artimis grabbed Harry and lifted him up. "Are you alright?" Harry nodded yet winced as he tried to put his weight onto his injured leg and decided to let her led him over to the Cup. Harry went into a speech about how she should take it. "Oh shut up Harry, give me your hand. We need to get you to the Hospital." She interlocked her fingers with one of his hands and the pair wrapped their others around a different handle of the Cup, her worry about Harry and the want to get out of the maze away from the spiders made her forget about one important fact.
The two of them cried out as the Portkey twisted their bodies further then the outside of the maze, Harry landed alright next to the Cup but Artimis smashed into a large grave head. She landed on her back, groaning she rolled onto her stomach as blood dripped down her forehead.
"Art, are you alright!?" Harry stood beside her with wand out, she groaned into the dirt and stuck up her thumbs.
"I am fine, how is your leg? Reckon if we touch the Cup again it would send us back to the Maze?" Harry's eyes travelled behind her, a man in a hood was there holding something in his arms. Both Harry and Artimis stiffened, one knowing who they were and the other confused. Harry suddenly doubled over while holding his head as the man grew closer to them.
Artimis stood slowly but her head spun and sent her crashing to her knees again, Peter under his hood stood a little away from her, next to the headstone she had crashed into. A small voice sent a chill up her spine as it said the dreaded words, "Kill the spare." She barely had anytime to send up her shield, but the killing curse was impossible to block and hit her in the back, sending her body flying to land on her chest in a broken angle next to Harry.
Harry's voice screaming out to her ended as darkness enveloped her in a sweet cold embrace, suddenly everything erupting into a vibrant brightness and Artimis found herself sitting on the stairs of her and Mythal's old school, or the shape of the school for everything was pearly white and smooth like marble. A gentle but completely unfamiliar voice spoke from behind Artimis causing her to spin around with heart pounding wildly.
A woman was kneeling behind Artimis on the top of the stairs, long hair a vibrant ginger and waving down her chest. The woman had beautiful wide green eyes and laugh lines.
"Hello Mi… Artimis I am Lily Potter, Harry's mother. The reason I am here is because you have no one else waiting to greet you in the beyond." The woman stumbled over Artimis' real name and new one and frowned.
"So I am dead… Mythal will not be pleased…" Artimis tried to be humorous but her fear and sadness seeped deeply into her voice. Lily Potter moved to sit beside her and place a motherly hand on her back.
"You are dead, you have always been dead since before coming to Hogwarts and you know this. So is Mythal… but the memory is locked away deep within her mind." Lily's voice was calm and gentle as she looked at the girl.
"So if Mythal is also 'Undead' like me does that mean she can't… live? As in have a normal life like normal 'living' people?"
"In a manner of speaking yes. The darkness is seeping into the both of you and slowly turning you inhuman…" Lily's next word's sent hope through Artimis, "You can change that for Mythal, but it will bear down heavily on you, you would be allowing more darkness within and it will need all your will power to keep in check."
"Yes, I will do anything… Mythal deserves to live her life without 'taint'… this was all my fault… If I hadn't rung her that day, non of this would have happened."
"Then you better hear what I have to say… then return back to the realm of life. And I want you to protect my son…"
Un Death and Escape
Artimis opened her eyes slightly; everything was spinning and ringing like she had just been in an explosion. The surroundings looked like she was looking through a milky filter after being blinded by the whiteness of the 'after world', grass passed her eyes in a cool and gentle breeze. A voice in the distance was deep and hissing softly like a snake going over names and speaking to a group of people in robes around him. Lord Voldemort paced around the circle, showing an amazing memory of his followers and where they use to stand.
There was a headache forming behind Artimis' eyes and the droning voice of Voldemort made things worse, he just wouldn't shut up about how he lived for thirteen years and all and it made her want to slap him. Through slitted eyes she watched and waited, the smell of slight burning flesh sent her stomach twisting yet she felt no pain. Finally Voldemort went silent giving Artimis some relief after telling Peter Pettigrew to get Harry's wand then untie him. The rat Animagi bent over Artimis and lifted Harry's wand from close to her hand giving her a big whiff of his horrible body odour, everyone was ignoring her 'corpse', but it didn't last long when Voldemort toed at her cheek. Artimis used all her willpower to hold her breath, keep her closed eyes from fluttering in annoyance and not wince as the sharp nails dug into her skin, "It is so sad, she is rather pretty…"
Any other time Artimis would have grinned, said a stupid comment or hit the person speaking. But she pushed the feeling down and bottled it up for any other time she might meet the Dark Lord. There was a rustle and Artimis squinted her eyes open again to watch the flowing dark robes of the pale man float away to face Harry, whose expression was filled with a mix of fear, anger and sorrow.
Soon Harry and Voldemort were in a duel, their wands and spells merged. A gentle song made Artimis fully open her eyes. Ghosts or the ghostly images of Voldemort's last victim's appeared, Harry's mother was the second last one before the grave keeper and her voice was clear to only Harry and Artimis. "We can hold him off for some time and the cup will send you to safety, Artimis please keep your promise and keep him safe!" Harry turned so both Artimis and his eyes met before she was on her feet casting a quick fire spell that sent a large fireball towards the group of Death Eater's. They leapt back in shock and screamed loudly, as their robes began to smoke, Voldemort and Peter looked startled, both sure she had been hit with the Killing Curse.
Artimis rushed between a pair of cloaked Death Eaters using her shoulders to push past almost like a pro rugby tackle to skid to a stop beside Harry, "Right, when you are, Golden Boy!" She nodded at the Cup and in return got a quick nod from Harry who was giving her a look of awe, confusion and relief.
"How is she alive?! Kill her, stun them… stop them!" Harry broke the spell as Voldemort yelled while the ghostly images swarmed him and with the messy haired boy beside Artimis they held hands and rushed towards the Cup. To speed things up Harry used his spell Accio to summon it to them which Artimis caught in her right hand after tucking her wand quickly into her back pocket. Voldemort's scream of anger and terror disappeared when the two of them vanished with a crack.
The pair fell to the ground, Harry landed on top of Artimis who found herself kissing dirt once again with a cough and deep groan of pain. Dumbledore was beside them, trying to help Harry as the boy gasped and tried to talk. "Artimis… she got shot by the Killing Curse… she… Voldemort is back!"
"Calm down Harry Potter, she looks fine to me." Fudge was beside them as well, watching as Artimis leaned back on all fours and groaned in pain. Dumbledore helped lift her up to her knees as Fudge asked questions over and over.
When Artimis opened her eyes to look around, Harry was gone and so was Moody. "Shit, Dumbledore… where's Harry!?" She pulled herself up and rushed off, Dumbledore calling out after her and followed swiftly with McGonagall and Snape. The Potion's master was surprisingly a fast runner on his long legs and caught up to Artimis in only a few steps much to her annoyance, she silently cursed her short stumpy legs and the pain that ripped through her.
"What is it Miss Knight?"
"My sense of smell is still going from last night and I recognise the scent from your office that time." She slowed slightly for Dumbledore to hear as she gave them the swift lie in a pant of exhaustion, he nodded his head in understanding.
"It is Moody, right?" Artimis nodded to the old wizard and sped up again, her body and head burning.
They all got there in time, Artimis and Snape quickly yelled out 'Stupefy!' and sent Moody flying with their merged spell. Harry spun around in his seat, relieved to see her and Dumbledore. The old man stood over Moody and gave the professors quick orders that they followed efficiently. Artimis leaned on Harry's shoulder as she tried to catch her breath and fan her face, Dumbledore opened up a trunk which contained the real half naked and cold Moody. When Snape appeared again with his potion they all watched as Dumbledore interrogated the young Crouch who now was back to his own appearance.
Everything went by in a flash and soon Harry and Artimis were taken away to Dumbledore's office where Sirius rushed to the pair with worry. Dumbledore seated the two and Fawkes sat on Harry's lap, giving him a sad expression. "First things first… I died…" Artimis leaned back with a sigh.
"Harry said you were hit with the Killing Curse, how so?"
"That bastard rat, Peter Pettigrew hit me from behind… I was knocked out momentarily though I think…" Artimis rubbed her face with clammy hands and took in a deep breath, Sirius hissed at the name. Dumbledore hummed curiously before turning to Harry to get the boy to tell the whole story.
Artimis kept her eyes shut the whole time, Sirius automatically was messaging her shoulders to calm her down. Soon the story was finished and Sirius turned into his dog form, at Dumbledore's door the Weasley's and Hermione walked in. After a strong talk Dumbledore was out of his office and the others followed suit to go to the Hospital Wing.
Flying Hospital Mattress
Artimis slept through the rest of the day buried beneath the covers, not even waking when the Minister came in and everyone erupted into augment about Crouch and Dementors. She did however wake up over an hour later when Mrs Weasley screamed out Sirius' name as he turned back into human form after the minister disappeared. She opened her eyes and stretched her cold body out before peeking through the covers to see Sirius and Snape glaring at each other with Mrs Weasley shaking in the background. Artimis sluggishly rolled over, lifted her pillow from beneath her head and lazily threw it at the back of Sirius' head causing the man to jump and stub his toe against Harry's bed leg.
"OW… Artimis!" Sirius spun on her and flicked the bed mattress over, sending the screaming girl and the blankets onto the ground with a thump. Many chuckles went around the now brightened room before Dumbledore quickly spoke to Snape and Sirius, Artimis peeked over her blankets as she struggled beneath the heavy mattress. Snape's face seemed drawn in as he nodded his head, his eyes momentarily met Artimis' eyes before he rushed from the room with his cape spreading out like wings, his signature appearance.
Soon Sirius followed suit in dog form to find as many people as he could, including Remus Lupin. Artimis was helping Molly replace her mattress when Dumbledore turned back to her and Harry. "Take the rest of your potions, I will return downstairs to see how the students fare." He left the medic room and closed the door gently. Soon Harry and Artimis took their potions after some more little events and Hermione catching something on the window sill. Falling asleep couldn't have been any faster.
The group sat in their chair's on the train, returning from Hogwarts. The Golden Trio along with the Knight Twosome sat together, Mythal had fretted over Artimis when she saw her after the third test. Both had hidden away from the school in the Room of Requirement where Mythal said things like, 'I thought you wouldn't stand around like an idiot' or, 'You promised me you would be safe!' to which Artimis answered, 'Yet I am still alive now, and discovered the Killing Curse can't kill me' which made Mythal more angry… if it was possible.
Artimis had watched Mythal for some time on the train, thinking over what Lily Potter had told her, was everything fine now for Mythal?
Since that morning Mythal was giving Artimis the silent treatment, Harry shook his head at them with a grin before Hermione explained why Rita Skeeter won't cause any trouble. When she pulled out a jar with a beetle inside of it, Artimis went into a fit of laughter. "What shall we do with her? How about filling the jar up half way with hot water? Or stick in cotton balls of Metho…" Artimis bounced the jar up and down in one hand, Rita in beetle form buzzed with fear causing everyone to laugh. Soon after Draco and his crew appeared, the Golden Trio and the Weasley Twin's all cast different jinxes at the three Slytherin's. Mythal shook her head with a snort and with the help of Artimis they dragged the three to their own cabin, giggling over Draco's antennas.
"I really am sorry Myth, I didn't expect the rat bastard to catch me from behind. Next time I see him I will kick his middle leg so hard his eyes will cross." Mythal cracked up laughing as she pulled Draco onto his seat beneath his trunk, Artimis did the same with the heavier Crabbe, then Goyle. "You're staying here with them? Ok, I will too… just because I want to do this the whole way." She sat beside Draco and flicked the antenna's making a 'boing' sound each time, she didn't stop even when the three boys woke up. When they realised their appearances, they cried out in horror and rage while Artimis and Mythal clenched each other and laughed all the way back to Kings Cross Station.
End of Chapter 12
And also the end of Year Four, Goblet of Fire.
