So much for "I won't be updating for a while" but my beta is now on a roll so here it comes.


Chapter 54: Without You

As curfew neared, the rest of the House returned and the common room was nearly full once more. Arti looked around in satisfaction. More than three-quarters of the House was now, to varying degrees, opposing Voldemort. Quite a change from just two years ago. And it had all come about because of what had happened to Graham and Zach. The thought of Zach led to thoughts of Lena.

Hastily, she opened her Charms textbook, snatching her half-finished essay from the table. With everything going on in the House, she was behind on her homework, and with patrol duty tonight, she wouldn't have much time to finish it.

She wasn't quite done when she went to join Filch to patrol the corridors. Luckily, Filch wasn't much for conversation, for Arti was in no mood to talk. Nothing of interest happened and Arti was rather irritated by the end of her shift. This had all been quite a waste of time. She had better things to do.

Arti was putting the finishing touches on her Charms essay early Tuesday morning when all of the fifth- and the few seventh-years who had just finished their Astronomy practical came trudging back in. She realised that Lena had missed this exam, and probably wouldn't be returning to sit her Muggle Studies exam either. She wondered what would happen and was maliciously glad at the thought of Lena having to spend another year here, though that thought was quickly crushed when Arti remembered that she still had another year. She ignored the more sensible voice in her head that told her to shut up.

While all of the returning students looked exhausted, several of the seventh-years seemed almost happy.

"Two more exams!" Brooks crowed, earning malevolent glares from everyone around him, which he ignored.

"If our year was a vegetable, we'd be asparagus, no doubt," Devereux mused. The dreamy expression on her face made Arti think for a moment that she might be sleep-walking, though if she was, she was now safely back in her dormitory which was good.

"That's nice. What would we be?" Freese asked.

"Hm...rutabaga."

"I don't like rutabaga. How about carrots?"

"Yeah…"

The two of them wandered toward their dormitories. Arti deiced that it would be prudent to follow Devereux to make sure she got back safely to hers before she got a few hours of sleep.

Arti woke with a jolt and sat up to find Buttercup at the foot of her bed that morning, looking very worried. Arti groaned and fell back, trying to pull the covers over her head, but Buttercup had a firm grip on them and prevented her from doing so.

"What now?" she asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Master is wanting me to tell you about Mistress Selena."

"I don't want to hear it, whatever it is."

"But–"

"Please, go away."

Buttercup sighed in defeat and disappeared.

Arti wanted to go back to sleep but she doubted that she could, Reluctantly, she stumbled out of bed and got dressed before, cursing Buttercup all the while for waking her up at such an early hour. There were a couple fifth-years asleep on the chairs by the fireplace, their books and notes scattered around them. She was tempted to wake them, but decided to let them sleep a little longer. It was barely past seven after all and they shouldn't have to suffer just because she was in a horrid mood.

But the quiet didn't last long. An indignant shriek shattered the silence and Arti hurried down the hall to keep things from getting out of hand. Her head was pounding from lack of sleep and stress.

"I am not a Mudblood-lover!" Fletcher howled.

"Then why don't you want them dead?" Travers shot back.

Arti wanted to start beating her head against the nearest wall. Did they have to start this first thing Monday morning? Luckily, things didn't get out of hand.

"What good would it do? There are thousands of more Muggles than there are witches and wizards. Besides, they've invented things that are just a deadly as magic. Worse, even."

"Is that what they've been teaching you in Muggle Studies? It's all nonsense! Muggles are ignorant beasts."

"I hope one day you find out to your detriment that they aren't."

By the time she arrived, Blaise and the others were already there, though there was nothing for them to do as the boys glared menacingly at each other before stalking off.

"We should have sworn the oath years ago, it'd have saved us a lot of trouble," Arti said, rubbing her temple.

"It might have," Blaise said. "But then, it would just have increased their frustration only to have them explode over the summer."

"But we aren't responsible for them then."

"They might do worse than schoolboy pranks."

"Then they'd be the Ministry's problem, not ours. But in that case, the Muggle-borns wouldn't be able to protect themselves. I'm glad we made Sanctuary."

"Me too."

The commotion woke everyone up and the usual morning chaos was compounded by still-simmering tempers from the night before. Arti considered herself lucky that nothing had blown up yet.


Arti poured herself a glass of pumpkin juice and a bowl of cereal and had just put a spoonful into her mouth when Maya stalked over, her face creased with worry. She stifled a groan. What now? Hadn't she already gone through enough over the last hour? Could she not enjoy her breakfast in peace?

"What's wrong?" Elayne asked. Apparently their conversation the day before had eased some of her anger and she was sitting next to Arti again, but Arti's relief was short-lived

Maya's eyes widened. "She hasn't told you?"

"Told me what?"

They both turned expectantly to Arti who glanced between them, frowning in confusion. "I don't know what you're talking about." And she really didn't care.

"What? Do you really mean you don't know? I thought Buttercup went to you first."

"Oh, that," she said, waving a dismissive hand. "I didn't give Buttercup the chance to tell me. Whatever it is, I don't want to hear it.'

Maya recoiled. "How–why?"

"I don't care."

"What's wrong?" Elayne persisted.

"Selena's not well."

Elayne glared at Arti. "Oh dear. Is she sick?"

"Not exactly. She...in shock."

"Why?" Elayne asked, her spoon slipping from her grasp. "Did something happen to Zach?"

Maya swallowed. "Roger left."

Elayne gasped so loudly that half the table turned to stare at them. "Oh, no." She sounded close to tears.

Arti swore. Elayne's eyes widened. "That bastard," Arti hissed.

"So you do care."

Arti crossed her arms and didn't reply.

"Permanently?" Elayne asked.

"I don't know. He took Zach," Maya said, exhaling slowly. Arti assumed she was angrier at Roger than at her, or so she hoped.

"How do you know all this?" Arti demanded.

"Because Buttercup came to tell me, presumably after you refused to listen to her."

"And she didn't tell you that I didn't know."

"No. I'm going to go see her. You can come with me if you want. I'm sure your professors will understand."

"I'll–I'll wait."

"Suit yourself," Maya said. She looked as though she wanted to say something else, but didn't before turning back toward the High Table.

"At least her wallpaper's not yellow," Arti murmured. "That might make things worse. Not that it would be, she loathes yellow."

"What?"

"Never mind."

Arti pushed her food away, her appetite gone. She spent the rest of breakfast glowering at anyone who dare to breathe loudly or stared at her for too long.


Lindz and Dean were huddled together, whispering anxiously when Maya joined them at the Gryffindor table.

"Our Pride's falling apart," Dean said, looking miserable. "Do you think–"

"Don't say it!" Lindz said. "It won't happen. It can't."

"I'm just–"

"Don't."

Dean raised his hands in surrender. "All right."

They looked over at Maya.

"You'll let us know if you hear anything, won't you?" Dean asked.

"Of course. I just hope this was all a big misunderstanding," Maya said, though she wasn't as confident as she sounded.


In Charms, Arti sat beside Daphne, hoping to hear something that would distract her. They were learning the Supersensory Charm, but Arti wasn't worried about being overheard, it would take at least until the next class before anyone was proficient enough to use it properly. Though with half of the original Pride with Animagus forms with enhancd senses… But no, they wouldn't eavesdrop.

"Bulstrode's tougher than we thought. Either that or she understandably doesn't trust me yet. Or she might just be bluffing. I can't tell." Arti raised an eyebrow at her. "At least your other endeavour is going well."

"Yes. Thank you for making it easier."

"You're welcome. Though it wasn't quite the secret I'm sure everyone was hoping for."

"With things the way they are, it probably wouldn't have been hard for someone to say something they shouldn't have. Thankfully the oath will keep everyone safe for the time being."

"Is Nott returning to your house?"

"As far as I know."

"What of the others? What will happen to them?"

"I'm not sure. My sister was stupid enough to offer Carrow and Rivers protection and they might come to us." Arti shuddered. "I don't know what she was thinking."

"That would be quite a houseful of people whose relations are in the Dark Lord's inner circle. Are you sure that's wise?"

"I don't. But nothing's been decided yet. And who says they're going to stay at our house? There must be other places they could go. I don't suppose you could take some of them?"

"You think I trust them any more than you do? You think I'd risk myself for them?"

"We're risking ourselves for you while you keep yourselves safely away from the fighting. The least you can do is take in some of the ones who are in the same position as you are."

Greengrass refused to say another word to Arti after that.

Arti didn't have much time to dwell on things. She used her free period after Charms to talk to Jugson. She and Blaise had agreed to split the group between them, for which Arti was grateful. She just hoped this wouldn't end up as a waste of time and that it wouldn't backfire. Once she had ascertained their intentions, she would pass on the information to Father and they could be his problem, or more accurately, the Order's problem. Why he had decided to help the Order with this particular endeavour Arti didn't know, but she wished he had picked something else. Arti was glad for Buttercup. She didn't relish the thought of communicating directly with him or anyone else in the family at the moment.

Thankfully her talk with Jugson didn't take long she still had her Transfiguration essay to write. She wasn't quite finished iwth it when lunch came, but she was hungry and besides, she was bound to have a few minutes later to finish her essay.


Arti tried to pretend that she hadn't been waiting for Maya at lunch.

"Your mother says it might be days before Selena's lucid again," Maya said, an unspoken rebuke in her voice. "No one's quite sure what happened between them, but for whatever reason, Roger's left and, at least for the time being, not coming back."

"And Adrian?"

Maya looked sharply at her. "He's out doing work for the Red Shepherds and won't be back for a few days."

"I just meant that maybe he can tell us. Maybe Roger told him," Arti said, hating herself for sounding so timid. Maya nodded.

Arti shifted from one foot to the other. Maya let out a long breath.

"I guess we'll just have to wait, then. Let me know if you hear anything."

"I will," Arti said without looking at her.

Maya gave her a curt nod before walking away.


The news of the Montgomery boy being bitten by a werewolf had been kept quiet until then, but it exploded on Monday and by the end of the day, it seemed to be all the school was talking about.

Not only that, but the last full moon had been particularly brutal. Arti hoped that the savagery wasn't in response to last weekends events, but then, they never needed an excuse. The werewolves had spread further, with sightings from York to Aberdeen to Ulster. Luckily, most of the attacks had been foiled, but the few that hadn't left almost everyone shaken.

"He was just a half-blood," Parkinson said dismissively from a few seats down.

Arti never thought that she would be sitting anywhere near Parkinson, but as no one but Elayne and Greengrass – Arti was glad that Elayne hadn't abandoned her again after the events at breakfast – would sit with her she had no choice. She had disliked it, as Parkinson's droll conversations held no interest for her, but now was glad, for she was sure this was about to become something she wouldn't want to miss.

Bulstrode put down her fork and turned to Parkinson, her jaw clenched. "'Just a half-blood'? I'm a half-blood. What if it had been me?" she asked.

For the second time in as many days, Arti was shocked by Bulstrode, who had shown more emotion in the last twenty-four hours than Arti had seen in seven years. She grinned with anticipation. It would be good to see Parkinson put in her place by her own stupidity.

"You wouldn't be stupid enough to go against the Dark Lord," Parkinson said without looking up.

"I don't care why it happened," Bulstrode said irritably. "Just suppose it did–"

"You would never be stupid enough to put yourself in a position to be bitten by a werewolf."

"What if it had been me, would you still be so dismissive?" Parkinson didn't answer and didn't look up. "That's what I thought."

Bulstrode got up and walked out of the Great Hall without a backward glance. The table erupted in excited conversation. Arti glanced at Greengrass, and they exchanged grins, though there was a tinge of sadness in Greengrass's expression.

Arti glanced further down the table to see Jugson and Urquhart nudging each other excitedly. She caught their eye and they gave her a brief grin.

"Well," Greengrass said quietly. "Things are certainly looking in your favour."

She got up and walked out of the Great Hall, no doubt to comfort Bulstrode. Parkinson watched her leave, a deep scowl on her face.


Arti could hardly pay attention in class that afternoon, her thoughts buzzing with the unexpected events. She was glad when it was over and everyone headed to dinner. Parkinson and Bulstrode sat apart, the latter joining Arti and Greengrass.

Parkinson's gang had never been smaller. Now it was just her, a fifth-year named Bainbridge, and Tracey Davis, who looked as though she would rather be anywhere else, and considering that Davis was a half-blood too, Arti could hardly blame her. She couldn't believe her luck. In a little over a week, they had managed to shatter Slytherin House's internal antagonism. Lena and Blaise might have started it, but she had managed to finish it. With a little help, of course, but only a little.

Arti turned, her excitement nearly bubbling over, to share her triumph with Lena, but then she remembered that Lena wasn't there and her face fell.

"Well done," a voice said quietly in her ear as they left the Great Hall. "I doubt your sister could have managed so well."

She turned around, but Greengrass had already gone.

In the library after dinner, Arti couldn't concentrate as she sat reading her Defence textbook. Maya's words from this morning kept coming back to her. A surge of guilt went through her, but she pushed it aside. Lena had made so many people suffer. What she was going through was nothing compared to what she was responsible for. Let her be miserable for a few days. Besides, Lena didn't need her. Mother and Father and the rest of the family were sure to be coddling her, there was no need for her to go home. Besides, Arti had enough to do here. Things were certainly simpler without Lena present. Arti had never realised just how stifling it had been to be Lena's younger sister. For the first time, she was free of her sister's shadow and it felt wonderful.


Though most of the arguments that had begun on Sunday fizzled out by early Wednesday, one was still raging furiously and would no doubt continue to do so.

Upham and Henderson were standing practically nose to nose.

"We created the Statute of Secrecy to protect ourselves from Muggles, yes, because at the time, they were killing witches. But they stopped doing that ages ago!" Upham said.

"Because we went into hiding to protect ourselves!" Henderson countered, spit flying.

"We don't have to hide anymore. We haven't had to hide for years. The only reason we are is because we're still scared of them and scared of what we think they might do to us."

Harper scoffed from across the room. "Might? Can you imagine what it would be like for us if Muggles found out? They'd besiege us with requests for potions to make them immortal or give them the ability to fly!"

'We used to. The Wizard and the Hopping Pot used to be about a wizard who helped Muggles until it got changed to make Muggles evil."

'That's a load of rubbish!" Harper said, jumping to his feet.

"It is not!"

"There's no way that wizards and Muggles can coexist peacefully."

"No? Look at all the half-bloods at Hogwarts. Most of us are."

"You only say that because you're a half-blood."

Upham ignored him and went on. "And look at how many Muggle-borns there are too. They're much more open-minded than pure-bloods to be able to accept something like this out of the blue. And all this stuff about pure-bloodedness is rubbish. A thousand years ago, there weren't enough wizards and witches for us to be able to marry. Some of us had to marry Muggles. And magic had to come from somewhere, didn't it?

"There are fewer and fewer of pure-bloods – and your magic is growing weaker. Or so I assume since You-Know-Who's pure-blood followers can only cast basic spells and half the pure-bloods failed their classes."

"Like who?"

"Crabbe and Goyle failed Defence and Transfiguration," Arti called helpfully from across the common room. "In fact I'm shocked they've passed anything and made it this far."

"Montague failed Transfiguration and Charms," Brooks added, glancing around to be sure that Montague wasn't present.

"I'm fairly certain Zacharias Smith just failed his Transfiguration O.W.L.," Freese said. Devereux looked delighted at this.

"Not to mention, most of our professors are half-bloods or Muggle-borns, I think," Brooks said, "and they're all brilliant. Speaking of Muggle-borns, there's Granger, who's smarter than all of you"– he waved a hand at Henderson and several others, including Harper, Wilkes and Giorno –"put together."

Most of the common room burst into giggles as Henderson fumed, unable to think of a suitable retort.

Arti smiled as she looked around. Two years ago, no one would have dared laugh at this conversation, let alone been having it out in the open. How things had changed.


Arti came into their dormitory on Wednesday after Herbology. She had done her best to avoid her roommates over the last couple of days, but of course she couldn't evade them forever.

"Are you proud of yourself?" Parkinson asked. Arti stiffened, then recovered and went to her bed. "I've lost everyone and you've gained more followers in the last week than your sister and Zabini managed in two years."

"It's your own fault Bulstrode left," Arti said as she dumped her books onto her bed and began sorting through them.

Parkinson rolled her eyes. "She's too sensitive," she said, waving a dismissive hand. "She'll come back when she sees you don't want her. I wouldn't trust her if I were you, given her family. She might bring more of the wayward ones back when she does return. That would be nice. I don't suppose you–"

"No, you stupid, insufferable hag," Arti snapped. "I won't. And if all goes as planned, it'll just be you, Crabbe and Goyle on Voldemort's side. What a nice trio you'd make, though you'd be bored out of your mind in a minute since you couldn't gossip or insult them as you do the rest of us. And see where it got you? It was all going to bite you in the end and it did. Yes it did."

Parkinson went for her wand, but Arti was faster. "I'd watch myself if I were you. I've been training for a year with an Auror. And even before that, I wasn't too bad either. I could hex you six ways to Sunday before you could get one spell out. And if you touch a hair on my head, my family–"

"Does that include your sister? Or does she not care what happens to you anymore?" Parkinson asked, eyes alight with malice.

Guilt and rage shot through her, but she did her best to hide it.

"What about your brother? Does he care enough about you to help you when you need it? He's already abandoned you to the mercies of Voldemort and his inner circle. Will he come to your aid when you need it? Or will he side with us?" Arti Summoned her Potions textbook and started walking backwards toward the door, keeping her wand trained on Parkinson. She opened the door and stood in the doorway "Be sure to tell your friends that too. I'm sure they'll want to know what they're up against."

She turned and hurried off down the hall, glad that no footsteps followed. Arti started up to the library, but found that she didn't want the crowd, so she headed up to the Room of Requirement. It was the only place she could think of where she could be alone. She stood inside the door remembering what it had been like to come to her first DA meeting. How long had she waited? Too long. She should have been there with Lena, Elayne, Matt and Blaise for their first meeting. Sighing, she plopped onto one of the bean bag chairs.

Arti sat up with a jolt some time later. Glancing anxiously at her watch, she saw that it was ten minutes to nine. Cursing herself, Arti got up and gathered her books before rushing out the door. As she started down the corridor, she nearly collided with Maya who seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Arti couldn't fathom why Maya was there before he remembered that the Gryffindor common room wasn't too far away. Still, to be here now. Maya must have used Harry's map. Arti wasn't sure whether she was relieved or not to see Maya alone, but she was glad that she didn't have time to talk. Arti passed her with a curt nod.

"You're jealous."

Arti stopped and stared at her. "What?"

"You're jealous that Selena got to have her moment of glory. Even though it was under tragic circumstances, she still got to have a go at a Death Eater on her own, away from the relative safety of Hogwarts. Not that you wanted it to happen like this."

She nodded slowly. "I suppose I am." She squirmed. "Merlin, how can I be? I never wanted this to happen."

"I know." Her tone was gentler now. "Don't confuse the issue. What you're angry at her about and what you're jealous of are two separate things."

"Hardly."

"Yes they are."

"How do you feel about it?"

Maya chewed on her lip. "It was frightening to see her like that, but I can understand it. Part of me wanted to join her, though I'm not sure how much of that was me and how much of it was my other half. But I couldn't bring myself to." Arti bit back a snide comment about being noble. A smile flickered across Maya's face. "Nobility has nothing to do with it. And lack thereof had nothing to do with what your sister did either."

Arti gave a small sigh. "I know."

"Do you? Do you really?"

With that, Maya left, leaving Arti to her tumultuous thoughts.

She barely made it back to her dormitory before curfew, to find Greengrass alone. She presumed the rest were in the common room, but hadn't bothered to check.

"Did you get what you wanted?" Greengrass asked, looking up from her copy of Witch Weekly as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"With regards to what?"

"Whatever your endeavours."

"Some, not all. And you know to which I refer to when I say that that one of them was unsuccessful. Not that you would see it as such."

"Shame. I thought I'd done you a favour."

"You thought wrong."

"You agreed with me three days ago. What's changed?"

"You know I don't blame Lena for Graham's death," Arti said. "I'm angry at her for something else."

"Which you can't tell me about," Greengrass said airily. "But it all leads back to Pritchard's death, does it not? It's the root cause."

"If it hadn't been Graham, it would have been Natalie and her son. Would you still have said what you did to her then?"

"No," Greengrass said, turning to face her.

Arti snorted in disgust. "Because you think she'd deserved that? To lose her son and that Natalie would have deserved to die too? Because she's a Mudblood?"

"I wish none of them had died, but yes, if I'd had to chose I wish it'd been McDonald and your nephew."

"If it'd been your sister who'd been kidnapped and killed," Arti said softly, "I never would have said a thing like that to you."

"Your sister would have."

"No she would not have!"

Greengrass gave her an appraising look. "Are you sure about that?" Arti opened her mouth to protest, but found herself unable to argue. "That's what I thought."

That night, Arti found that she couldn't bring herself to go into her dormitory to sleep. Instead, she turned and went into the empty seventh-year girls' dormitories and crawled into Lena's bed.