Artemis

I sat in the library, reading The Daily Prophet absentmindedly. Clove, Ginny and Luna sat on my left side, sharing glances and looking at me worriedly. We had been sitting like this for almost three hours now, them looking at me like a was a hard puzzle to solve and me 'reading'. No one really noticed that I'd been on page 1 for the whole three hours.

"Artemis—-" Ginny paused, finally shattering the silence. "Please, say something. We're worried."

''Yeah," Clove chimed in. "I never thought I'd miss talking to you this much.''

I ignored them though. I couldn't talk to them. There was no escaping my horrid thoughts.

"You know Artemis, thoughts are both beautiful and terrible," Luna began. "Thoughts are spun as delicately as a spider's web, and they are what make you...well, you. But they can suck you into terrible times that make you depressed. Artemis, you mustn't let the nargles get to you."

"Luna is—Luna is kinda right, Artemis." Ginny spoke carefully. "It's like you're going into a depression for no reason.''

That's when I snapped.

"FOR NO REASON?" I stood. "You know what Ginny? Clove? Luna? You try. You try finding out that your sister was found under a petrified cat, with blood on the walls? With no other then the Golden Trio, a.k.a the troublemaker trio? It's scary. It's scary to think that Serena, Serena, could be behind some of the Chamber of Secret stuff. People have been petrified! Petrified. And Serena—"

I started to sob.

"Serena could be—could be—Serena could be behind some of it—and—and—''

I knew Madam Pince would yell at me, but I didn't care.

Ginny and Luna wrapped me in a hug, Clove following their lead. I hugged them back, silently chiding myself.

What was I thinking?

Of course Serena wasn't doing this. Serena would never do something like that.

She was probably just at the wrong place at the wrong time.

But why did there have to be a wrong place? Why would anyone do something like this? Who would want to something like this?

There were so many questions yet so little answers.

''We're here for you Artemis," Clove whispered. "And we will always be.''

''Whenever you wanna talk, you know where to find us," Ginny agreed.

''Thank you. You certainly know how to make a girl feel sane.'' I smiled, thankful for my wonderful friends.

With them around, at least I knew that I wouldn't go insane.

I hoped I was not going insane.

Serena

I thought I was going insane.

People would stare at me in the halls, as if I was the one attacking. Why would I, though? I know I was found with Harry, Ron, and Hermione near that cat— but that didn't mean that I did that.

Right?

Someone or something was out there attacking people. It's scary to think that you might be next, that you might be on the list. I wasn't worried for myself though, it was Hermione I was worried for. The attacks were on Muggle-borns, and Hermione was indeed a Muggle-born.

It was putting me on edge though. All the whispers. The mutters. Everyone thought that it was the four of us attacking, which I thought was ridiculous. The Ravenclaws should know that though, right? Hermione was Muggle-born, why would she attack other ones like her? Ron's family loved muggles, especially his dad. And Harry had grown to hate the Dark Arts. Hell, Harry was a victim of the Dark Arts. And me? Why would they think I was doing these attacks? It was simple.

I'm a Black.

Of course people would think it was me, just because I was a Black. They didn't seem to care that I didn't get to choose my father, and they didn't seem to think about the fact that I might not be like him.

That's it, though. They weren't thinking. They would see me as however they wanted me to be.

They want to think that I'm a supporter of Voldemort? Then they will. They'll see a Dark Mark on my bare arm if they want to.

Even my roommates thought it was me, with the exception of Hermione. There was Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown, for instance. Parvati wasn't terrible, she was quite a nice girl. The only problem with Parvati is that she wants to be popular to bad, therefore she became friends with Lavender Brown. Lavender was dramatic, gossipy, and a rather rude girl. Lavender had gotten it in her head that I had caused the attacks, making Parvati believe her.

And then there was Fay Dunbar. Fay was quiet and usually stayed to herself. But it was quiet obvious that she believed it was me by her mistrustful glances and glares. She no longer spoke to me.

It hurt to have so many people look at me mistrustfully. I hadn't done anything wrong. . . Right?

Could the entire world be right, and I was wrong?

Ariel

"Hey Black!" A voice called.

Sighing, I looked up from my potions to see two first years. Great, just, great.

"What? Can't you see that I'm busy?" I snap the the girls.

"Sorry Ariel! I'm so sorry," Reyna Zabel whimpered.

"We wanted to talk to you, Black," Arwen Agravaine declared boldly.

I felt a little bad, so I tried to keep my voice even. "Sorry, girls. But I've got a lot of homework—

"Are you the heir of Slytherin?" Arwen asked.

"Excuse me?'' My jaw dropped.

"It makes sense!" Arwen made a sweeping gesture. "The Black family has all been Slytherins up until Sirius Black. Your family has all been loyal the the Dark Lord. So tell me the truth, are you the heir?"

"No. Now go and leave me alone. I need space." I then shooed them.

Reyna scrambled away while Arwen sauntered after her, stopping to wink at me.

Really, why would I be the heir? It was ridiculous enough that people said Serena was the heir. She'd never do that, Granger being her friend.

And I wouldn't. Mum was a muggle-born. I spouted the rhetoric at my friends— but I didn't truly believe it.

Did I?

No, I didn't, I decided. I was just doing my own research. I knew what was true.

Didn't I?

Vega

I sat in the Slytherin common room, as for away from Ariel as possible. I sat in the place I had been sitting at for two weeks now. I sat in front of the notice board, waiting desperately for the next Hogsmeade trip. It's not that I wanted candy or pranks or anything, I needed something else.

I needed hope.

I needed to get to Sam. I needed to make sure he was okay, and tell him to go into hiding. These attacks were on Muggle-borns, and was pretty sure whoever or whatever is behind this would settle for a squib. After all, Filch was one, and they attacked his cat.

Sam needed to be safe. He just had to be safe. I didn't know what I would do without him. I hadn't known him for awhile yet every visit to see him was what kept me going, what pushed me through fights with Ariel.

It didn't help that Sophia Khan and her friends at taken to teasing me about being scared of Ariel.

"Scared of your Slytherin sister? Or Gryffindor sister?"

"Be nice to your sister, Vega! You don't want to be next!"

It angered me that Sophia cheered on these attacks, not even caring or thinking about her brother.

Looking around the room, I spotted a parchment. I dug into my bag for a quill and some ink before summoning the parchment with a quick 'Accio'.

Quickly thinking of a letter, I dipped my quill in some ink.

Dear Cedric and Cho,

It's Vega. Listen, you know about my friend Sam from Hogsmeade. The squib. I can't sit inside anymore, guys. I need to do something. I'm thinking of starting a hunt for the monster. I've been reading up on some things and I think it could possibly be a basilisk, not a human. Will you guys join me?

Please respond quickly,
Vega Black

I quickly signed my letter before calling down an owl that was hanging out in the common room. I didn't care who it belonged to, I needed it.

''Bring this to Cedric Diggory or Cho Chang. Which ever one will get it quickest. Go!'' I shooed it.

Was it crazy, to volunteer to hunt a monster?

I don't know. But I felt a responsibility to save everyone.

Alina

I was with Helena in the library, both of us sitting in silence. I was silently sobbing, Helena not sure what to do.

Why? Why was my family like this?

Vega was scared of Ariel. Vega was distressed over Sam.

Ariel is being ridiculous.

Ariel or Serena could possibly be the heir of Slytherin.

Serena was getting all this hate.

And Artemis—poor Artemis was a mess.

"Helena, I can't do this anymore. I don't care about this whole petrifying thing, I just want me family to be whole!" I sobbed.

"I know, but you can't do anything about the past. The only thing you can do is build the future.'" Helena said wisely. However, I was in no mood for her cheerfulness.

It was true. Of course I felt bad about the kids being petrified, but it wasn't my concern. My concern was my family. I had no space to think about anything else.

"Helena, will my family ever be happy again?'' I asked miserably.

"Your father is a mass murderer. I'm sorry, but I don't think so.'' She seemed sorry to have to say so.

"That isn't helping.'' I muttered.

"You asked a question. The answer was bad yet it was the truth.'' She shrugged

"You should have been in Ravenclaw.'' I looked to her with a weak smile.

"I wish I was in Ravenclaw. Then maybe I could knock some sense into you, and get you to realize that children are being attacked."

"I know, I know, it's just—" I fingered the necklace. "I wish I could fix everything."

"I know."