I was starting to get really tired of waking up in the hospital wing. By the time I came too, Harry and Hermione had long since been discharged, and even Ron was up and walking about again. The school was still flooded with far-fetched theories as to how Sirius Black escaped the capture of the Ministry of Magic again, and the fact that we'd been involved hadn't escaped anyone's notice.

The afternoon sun was high in the sky when I woke up, my muscles clenched and stiff and a building headache settled between my eyes. Blinking a few times to adjust my vision, I scanned the room quickly. It was empty apart from me, which meant Hermione and Ron had successfully managed to keep Harry acting as normally as possible. Madam Pomfrey could be heard shuffling about her office on the other side of the room, and my bedside table was covered in get well soon cards and several boxes of Chocolate Frogs and Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans.

Taking a deep breath, I stretched out cautiously, grimacing when I realised my entire body felt numb and awkward. My left forearm had been wrapped in another bandage, and I could feel another wrapped tightly around my middle. I'd just pushed myself upright and lifted my shirt to check I was right when Madam Pomfrey's office door opened, and the matron breathed a sigh of relief when she caught sight of me.

"Oh good, you're up," she said, and it took me a moment or two to decide whether or not she was being sarcastic.

"How long have I been out?" I questioned, my voice catching in the back of my throat.

"Three days," she told me with a sigh. "Took a nasty turn for the worse, Williams. You're lucky you were already here when it started."

I lifted an eyebrow carefully, wondering what she actually knew about what we'd done. She stared at me, trying to gauge my reaction, but I nodded slowly and stretched out my stomach. "What happened?"

Her lips pursed. "You punctured a lung."

I seemed to skip a few seconds, my jaw dropping and my eyes bulging. "I what?"

Madam Pomfrey rolled her eyes, hurrying forward and shifting my pillows behind me, pulling the sheets off my legs and turning me to the edge of the bed. "This was always going to get worse, Williams, you knew that," she mumbled quietly.

"But . . . how?" I breathed, blinking in surprise.

"No one knows exactly how, but this is just your body's way of telling you that something's wrong," she told me. "No witch is supposed to have this amount of power."

"So I've been told," I frowned. "Does this mean things are going to keep getting worse like this?"

"Yes . . . and no," she grimaced, unwinding the bandage around my stomach carefully. "You'll still get sick quite a lot, and things like this will start happening more often, but it shouldn't be too bad for now."

"For now," I sighed heavily, glancing down at the unmarked skin around my stomach. "That sounds ominous." Madam Pomfrey smiled at me sadly, but took my arm and unwound that bandage too. "Has Professor Lupin been in?"

"Yes," she nodded. "As soon as he was able to. It would probably be best if you went to see him. And your friends too, they've all been very worried about you."

"I will," I nodded. "When can I get out of here?"

She laughed with an exasperated shake of her head. "As soon as you've had a check-up."

The moment Madam Pomfrey had done poking and prodding me to make sure nothing else was broken, I got changed into the worn jeans, white vest top and grey zip-up hoodie that Hermione had left me and left the hospital wing as quickly as I could with an armful of Chocolate Frogs and Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans.

Back in the common room, there were a lot of students sat around doing nothing. It didn't surprise me. After the exams last week, no one had anything to do but wait for the results to come out. Still, that meant I was immediately surrounded by people asking me how I was feeling and what had happened.

"Mia's going out of her mind with worry," Evie told me after dragging me away from the large group by the fireplace to sit with her and Sarah.

"You told her?" I gawped. "Why did you tell her?"

"We didn't have to!" Sarah complained. "It's been all over the Daily Prophet for days, and everyone's talking about it."

I hesitated a moment. "What does the Daily Prophet say happened?"

Evie and Sarah exchanged a look. "Just that Black kidnapped four students, you were found by Professor Snape, and that he escaped again," Evie shrugged, eyeing my expression cautiously. "But Arty, what actually happened? Everyone keeps saying that Black was trying to kill you all."

"No," I frowned shaking my head. "But it's . . . complicated. Look, I'd rather not talk about it right now, if you don't mind."

"Mia's going to keep asking you questions," Sarah warned me. "If she didn't have Rosie to look after, she'd already be here."

"I know, and I'll explain," I promised. "Do you know where Harry, Ron and Hermione are though? I haven't seen them."

"Outside, avoiding everyone I think," Sarah said. "Lavender and Parvati were already nagging Hermione for answers this morning." Smiling a thank you at them, I turned and slipped out of the common room as quietly as possible.

The sun was still shining bright outside, and the warmth was oddly welcome after the disaster with the Dementors a few days ago. Hesitating just outside the Entrance Hall, I scanned the grounds and spotted three figures slumped down by the bank of the Black Lake and a small smile crept across my face. Turning toward them, I broke into a run and not bother slowing down until Hermione looked up and gasped.

"Arty!" she beamed, leaping to her feet and flinging her arms around my shoulders. "We were just about to come and see you!"

I smiled, shrugging slightly as she let go and the two of us dropped down beside Harry and Ron, both of whom were watching me like they were expecting me to collapse again. "Woke up about an hour ago," I told them.

"Shouldn't you still be resting?" Hermione frowned.

"Everything's completely healed, Hermione," I told her. "Apart from a minor headache, I'm fine."

"Good," Harry said. "You really freaked me out with that one, Arty."

"I'll remember that next time," I replied with a roll of my eyes. "How about you, Ron? You okay?"

He nodded. "Got out of the hospital wing yesterday," he told me. "Harry and Hermione told me what you guys did to save Sirius. That was pretty amazing."

"Stressful, more like it," I grumbled. "How's Hagrid now that Buckbeak escaped?"

Harry laughed, pointing toward Hagrid's cabin behind me. I turned to look and snorted when I saw Hagrid nursing a hangover, dunking his head into a large bucket of water and wiping his face with his hands. When he stretched out and turned to face the castle, the four of us waved madly until he waved back, starting up the school grounds toward us.

"I think he'll be okay," I chuckled as Hermione rolled her eyes exasperatedly while she watched him.

"Alright?" Hagrid grinned, his shadow falling over us as he came to a halt beside me and Ron. "Nice to see you out of the hospital wing, Arty."

"Thanks," I smiled. "Sobering up, I take it?"

He chuckled. "Been out drinking at the Hog's Head for the past few nights. Buckbeak got loose the other day, see, so they couldn't execute him!"

"That's great Hagrid!" I beamed. "Does anyone know how he did it?" Harry shot me a warning look with a small smirk and Hermione elbowed me with a frown, but Hagrid didn't notice.

"Must've untied himself somehow," the gamekeeper shrugged at me, and I could tell he didn't really care, so long as Buckbeak was still alive. I smiled, wondering what he'd say if he knew that right now, Buckbeak was with Sirius, hopefully leaving the country. "Lucky though, that he didn't meet Professor Lupin that night."

My smile wavered and beside me, Hermione took a deep breath through her teeth. "Erm, Hagrid?" Harry started cautiously. "What are you talking about? What does Lupin have to do with anything?"

Hagrid's face fell and he flicked his eyes between the four of us, shuffling on the spot. "You – you haven't heard?" he stammered slightly.

"No," Ron frowned.

"Well, he's a werewolf," Hagrid gulped, and my stomach dropped.

"I beg your pardon?" I blinked. "How . . .?"

"Nothing to do with me," Hagrid shrugged, holding his hands out. "I've got no problem with him staying here, but last I heard, he was up in his office, packing." Exchanging a look with Harry, the two of us scrambled to our feet and rushed back up to the castle, ignoring Ron and Hermione's shouts.

Skidding through the corridors, we ran straight to Lupin's office and pushed our way through the door without knocking. Lupin started in surprise, stood behind his desk with raised eyebrows. His office was already pretty much bare, with one trunk open on his desk packed pitifully with the few things Lupin possessed.

"You're leaving?" I stared, leaning against the door to catch my breath.

Lupin frowned, squirming under my gaze. "Only the school, Artemis," he told me with a weird expression, and I dropped my gaze awkwardly. "This time tomorrow, the owls will start arriving from parents who don't want their children being taught by a werewolf."

"But you're the best teacher we've ever had!" Harry complained and Lupin's lips tugged gratefully.

"Admittedly, you're only competition was a fraud and a man possessed by Voldemort," I shrugged.

"Thank you, Artemis," Lupin sighed heavily.

"How did everyone find out, anyway?" I frowned. "Hermione was the only person to figure it out, and she wouldn't have said anything."

"Snape," he answered simply and I glanced at Harry darkly. "He was, err, rather upset when Sirius got away and he let the news of my condition slip in front of the Slytherin house."

"Oh, and I'll bet they all loved that," I snapped. "Spreading it around the school. If I run into Malfoy and he's smirking like an idiot-"

"Don't go getting yourself into trouble, Artemis," Lupin frowned. "That's the last thing you need. Besides, I'll be seeing you over the holidays. Both of you, I would imagine."

"Really?" I blinked.

He lifted an eyebrow. "If that's alright with you," he said with a small smile. "You might be on summer break, but I highly doubt Mia is capable of looking out for you if something goes wrong." I didn't answer. "Besides, I am your Uncle."

"You know, I'd kind of noticed," I replied calmly, ignoring the look he sent me.

"Well," Lupin sighed, taking a familiar, old piece of parchment out of his trunk. "Since I'm no longer a teacher, I see no reason not to give you this back." Handing the Marauder's Map back to Harry, he smiled. "I have no hesitation in saying James would have been sorely disappointed if his son never found any of the secret passages out of the castle."

I scoffed before I could stop myself. "No danger of that then, huh?" Harry smiled as Lupin laughed at the two of us, but we were interrupted when someone knocked sharply on the door and I glanced over my shoulder to see Dumbledore stood in the doorway. He didn't look surprised to see Harry and me there, but he smiled politely at Lupin. "Your carriage is waiting at the gates, Remus," he said. "I'll walk you down."

"Thank you, Headmaster," Lupin grimaced, closing his trunk and taking it off his desk before moving to shake Dumbledore's hand. "Arty, Harry, I'll see you over the summer." The two of us nodded, and I tried not to scowl as he turned and walked out of the room.

"I'm happy to see you up and about, Miss Williams," Dumbledore smiled as he moved to follow Lupin out of the room.

"Thank you, Professor," I replied, doing my best to smile back.

He stared at Harry and I over his half-moon glasses and his lips tugged into another smile. "Please try to keep out of trouble over the holidays," he asked us. "We don't want any more trouble now, do we?"

I kept quiet, my eyebrows pulling together slightly. "We'll try our best, Professor," Harry answered half-heartedly. Dumbledore chuckled, leaving the room and closing the door gently behind him. It was a moment or two before Harry said anything. "Hit me with it," he sighed, moving to stand against the desk beside me.

"With what?"

"You're freaking out about something again," he said. "What's wrong?"

I didn't answer immediately. Less than half an hour ago, I was sat on the banks of the Black Lake with the others and I felt perfectly fine. Now, knowing that Lupin was leaving and having had time to realise just what had happened in the past couple of days, the thought of what was to come was starting to eat away at me, and the more I thought about it, the more worried I became.

"Have you seen the paper this morning?" I asked cautiously.

Harry frowned. "Yeah, why?"

"Sarah said they'd been reporting about Sirius's escape," I answered, pulling myself up onto the desk and dropping my gaze to my feet. "Did they mention our names?"

"Well, yeah," he grimaced, squirming slightly on the spot, and I groaned loudly. "Arty, no one knows who you are."

"Oh, and the fact that Sirius apparently kidnapped me and Remus started working at my school after my thirteenth birthday aren't two huge warning signs?" I scowled. "What happens if they already knew my name was Artemis?"

"Who are they?" Harry blinked.

"Exactly!" I breathed, jumping off the desk and pacing the office anxiously. "Harry, when Voldemort found out about my mother, he went after her and if she was as strong as everyone says she was, he had help. He must have done, because the way people are talking about it, no normal wizard, even one as powerful as him, could have taken her out like that! Sirius and Remus hid me away, and kept me hidden, which means whoever helped him is still out there. Not knowing who it is just makes things worse!"

"You don't know they know about you yet," Harry frowned.

"Even if they don't already they will, and soon," I retorted. "Pettigrew knows I'm Sirius's daughter, and worse than that, he saw that tattoo on your arm and we know that Voldemort is out there somewhere. If he goes back to him, they'll find a way to bring him back, and if they do that, whether there are others out there looking for me or not, Voldemort will most definitely come after you. Don't you get it? It isn't about if things go wrong any more, Harry, it's when."

He didn't answer me, but I could see him thinking it through and his expression grew darker every second. Figuring I couldn't make things any worse, I took a deep breath and straightened out. "I know you said I shouldn't get paranoid, but we have to be ready."

"You aren't going to be ready for another two years," Harry pointed out.

"We have to try," I insisted. "I'm not going down without a fight. Harry, sooner or later, they'll come looking for us."

Taking a deep breath, he stepped forward and took my shoulders in his hands firmly. "Then it's a good job Sirius and Remus found you first," he said gently. "No one is going to let anything happen to you."

A lump formed in my throat and before I could stop to think, I flung my arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. "It isn't me I'm worried about."