The Unicorn and the Wolf
by Jennifer Allen
"Snuffles and Trouble"
"Harry. Ron," Hermione whispered. "She's...she's an elf!"
Both boys stared directly at Artemis. Whatever spell or charm she had used on her ears had disappeared and revealed her secret. She was standing with her back to them. The moonlight was highlighting her small frame. Her ears twitched again and she spun around towards the Forbidden Forest.
"Professor Southerby?"
The werewolf was hurling itself at the cage, trying to break free. Something was out there and it was coming closer. It had spooked the werewolf. She noticed a large dark shape begin moving closer towards them. It was running as fast as it could.
"Harry, I need you, Ron and Hermione to get into Hagrid's house and lock yourselves in."
"What? What's going on?"
"DO IT NOW!"
"But..."
Before Artemis could reply, a large black dog had run up to them and stood in a defensive stance.
"Snuffles," questioned Harry.
Artemis eyed 'Snuffles' warily. She'd have to ask him about that nickname later.
"Sirius, what is out there?"
Harry and his friends gaped. They, Remus and Peter were the only ones who knew Sirius' secret, or so they had thought. Sirius changed into his human form, but his eyes were still in the direction of the Forbidden Forest.
"What is going on, Professor? What is out there," asked Hermione.
The werewolf howled loudly and began ramming the cage more.
"I'll explain later. Please get into Hagrid's house."
Hermione nodded and grabbed both Harry and Ron's hands. She then began to drag them into the house.
"No! Hermione stop! What is going on?"
Hermione shoved both boys into Hagrid's house and locked the door. Artemis could hear them arguing inside while Fang whimpered in the background. The werewolf was starting to panic and began trying to dig his way out. Sirius hadn't left his spot.
"Sirius, do you have any idea what is out there?"
"No. I know that whatever it is, it's big. I don't like."
Artemis moved to stand next to Sirius. She had pulled out her wand and held it ready. She looked over at Sirius and watched his dark blue eyes scan their surroundings. She looked over at the werewolf who was still trying to escape.
"Sirius, you need to change into Padfoot. I have to let that werewolf go," she said before shooting a meaningful glance at the occupants of Hagrid's house who were looking out a window. "Do not come out! The werewolf is going to be freed!"
Harry nodded and watched Sirius change into a dog. Artemis hurried over to the cage, unlocked it and opened the door. The wolf raced out as quickly as it could, ignoring its need for human blood. It disappeared into the Forbidden Forest without a second glance back.
A sudden chill fell over Padfoot and Artemis as two cloaked figures became visible. Padfoot began to growl menacingly. Two hooded figures stalked towards them. One of them seemed to be gliding and the other walked. Artemis heard Hermione cry out from inside the house.
"Oh my god," she heard Hermione cry. "Dementors!"
Remus was feeling terrible. His transformation was horrible and his wolf side still ached. His nerves were on edge. He ignored his pain and began pawing at the door. With the potion in his system, he was able to think clearly. He remembered that odd feeling he had felt while sitting with Artemis during the Quiddich match. He whined and lifted his head to howl. He wanted out. He needed out. Now. He dashed over to the window and stared out. It was impossible to jump out without killing himself. He was too high and the window was impervious to being broken...something he made sure of when he first started teaching at Hogwarts. Remus howled in frustration. There was nothing he could do, not like this. The only thing he could do was wait.
Hermione had been only half-right. One of the cloaked figures was indeed a dementor. Its gray and crooked hand could be seen hidden in its robes. Artemis narrowed her eyes. The figure accompanying the dementor was by far worse than the dementor in that it was a person, a Death Eater. She glared at the Death Eater.
She could see Padfoot getting angry, as well. He had every right to be. Sirius had never really gotten along with Death Eaters and dementors...with him having been an Auror and all. He had spent 12 long years in Azkaban prison, surrounded by the blasted dementors. The black dog growled loudly. His lip curled, baring his sharp white teeth. Artemis hoped that Sirius wouldn't do anything rash at the moment. Both the dementor and the Death Eater were dangerous and unpredictable.
The dementor sucked in some air with a rasping gasp. Artemis suddenly felt very cold and felt like she was sinking. She took a step back to avoid the dementor. Padfoot put himself between her and their enemies.
The dementor took in another rasping breath and both she and Sirius felt like they were falling. She closed her eyes for a second to try and gather herself. She noticed the black dog in front of her stumble. 'This isn't going to do at all. We have to drive that dementor back.'
She tapped Padfoot on the back.
"Go get help," she whispered. "We can't have anyone see you."
The dog nodded and raced off. Her eyes never left the two advancing figures. The Death Eater pointed directly at her.
"Come with us."
She felt the pain again but she pushed it away. She glared angrily at both cloaked figures.
"Like hell. I'd rather die than to go with you."
She heard Harry's group gasp and silently willed them to be silent. The Death Eater was chuckling and fingering his wand.
"You're still stubborn, but where has that gotten you," he laughed. "You are nothing more than a teacher for those brats. All your potential, wasted for a bunch of mudbloods and half breeds. If you had just joined with Lord Voldemort, you wouldn't have had to suffer that 'mishap.'"
She felt herself burn up. The torture. The pain. Her inability to have children now was referred to as nothing more than a mishap? She blinked back tears of pain and anger. "HOW DARE YOU! HOW DARE YOU!"
Her ears had flattened, like a cat's would when angered. Her eyes flashed and she gritted her teeth. She wanted to rip his head off and kick it into the Forbidden Forest.
Without thinking, she lunged forward and began waling on the Death Eater. She slammed her hit and kicked him as hard as she could. Though small, she was quick and when she hit, she hit hard. She kept screaming at him in anger. Words such as 'git' and 'bloody bastard' were thrown at him. She was mad, extremely mad. She pulled back to strike him again, only to have her arm roughly grabbed. The Death Eater flung her off of him and pointed his wand at her. She could see his cold eyes glaring at her from behind his hood.
"That was rather foolish, now wasn't it? You've haven't changed since we last met over 20 years ago. I'm sorry it has to be this way, but you just don't know when to quit."
The dementor took a deep breath. Worthless...she suddenly felt cold again. She could barely hear the dementor taking in another breath. Images flashed in her mind. Her parents were dying in front of her as a man with blood-red eyes sneered at her. She was hanging upside down crying while no one noticed that she was gone...not even the boy she had considered to be her brother. She was alone once again. She heard laughing all around her and she wanted to shrink down and disappear. Then the pain came. She saw HIM again and he was hurting her. He kept laughing as she screamed. She was now screaming at the top of her lungs.
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"
She opened her eyes and stared in wonder as a silvery stag and dog appeared before her, driving the dementor back. She felt a pair of strong arms lift her up and pull her towards Hagrid's house. She watched the dementor take an uncertain step back. She was shaking and had curled up behind Sirius. The pain was lingering. She wanted to cry, it had hurt that badly.
"Give me a reason, Death Eater," she heard Sirius snarl. "Give me a reason to kill you right here and now."
She looked up at Sirius. She hadn't seen him that pissed off since that horrible night that Voldemort attacked her. His azure eyes were livid. Harry was standing next to Sirius; his wand was pointed directly at the Death Eater. Harry looked so much like James at that moment, right down to the glare.
The dementor was being driven further away from the group by the dog and stag patronuses. The Death Eater glared at them. Ron and Hermione had decided to help Harry and Sirius and were standing next to both men with their wands drawn. The Death Eater snarled when he noticed several figures come running over from the castle.
"Ah, I'm surprised to see you again, Sirius Black. I'm surprised that one such as you survived Azkaban," the Death Eater sneered while backing away. "This isn't over. I hope we meet again, Black. I'd love nothing more than to hear you beg for mercy."
There was a bright flash of light and the Death Eater had disappeared. Sirius figured that he had probably used a temporary blinding spell and ran off to the Forbidden Forest.
Artemis struggled to stand only to find herself back on the ground. She felt incredibly weak. Sirius knelt down next to her.
"Don't, Arty. Just sit here and wait, okay?" Artemis just nodded and closed her eyes. She began to drift off. She could hear more voices around her, one of whom she vaguely recognized as Dumbledore. She didn't even feel herself being carried back to the castle.
A bright ray of sunshine forced Artemis to open her eyes. She squinted and wondered why the sun had to be so bright. She immediately shot up with a tiny shriek.
"I'm late for class!"
She was about to jump out of bed and race to class when she heard someone chuckling. She spun and found herself staring right at Sirius.
"What are you doing here?"
"I'm hurt. You have bruised me with your words! How could you even ask such a question?" He placed his hand on his chest as though her words stabbed him in the heart. He stumbled around the room as though he were mortally wounded and grabbed the first person he could find, namely Madame Pomfrey. "Help me, she had killed me with her words."
"Settle down, Mr. Black. I swear, you are just as bad now as you were during your years here."
Sirius sat down and pouted.
"Madame Pomfrey, why aren't you babying me like you used to?"
"Because," the slightly plump nurse replied while placing a hand on Artemis' forehead, "you are a grown man and can take care of yourself."
Sirius groaned and grabbed a chair. He pulled it up to where Artemis was lying and sat down. He smiled over at Artemis.
"How are you feeling, Arty?"
"I'm fmmpph." Artemis tried replying but Madame Pomfrey had shoved a piece of chocolate in her mouth. Artemis frowned at the taste and tried glaring at Poppy but the nurse just laughed.
"It's the only way to get you to eat your chocolate. I remember what you were like as a girl."
"Poppy, where's my chocolate? I'm sick!"
"You've always been sick," someone laughed. Remus smiled over at Artemis and his best friend. He pulled up a chair and sat next to Sirius.
"Why is everyone picking on me today?"
Madame Pomfrey sighed and muttered something about too many people visiting her patients. She never had full control over her patients. She hurried off to check her stock of bandages and chocolate.
"I need to get to class."
"No, you don't. It's a weekend. No class."
"Where is everybody?"
"Well, today is a Hogsmeade day. Everyone that has permission is there."
"Not everyone." Harry, Hermione and Ron had arrived and were now standing near her. Artemis could hear Madame Pomfrey complaining about her patients not getting enough rest with everyone coming and visiting.
Artemis stared down at her hands. Her secret was out.
"So, how many students know?"
"Know what?"
"That I'm an...well you know...an elf?"
Sirius smiled and ruffled her hair like she was a little kid. "Oh, that. Of course everyone knows."
"Professor, why did you keep that a secret from everyone?"
Artemis frowned. She stared into her students' youthful faces. She had wanted to talk to Harry about his parents, but not like this. She turned to Sirius and Remus, trying to beg them for help. She could tell from the looks on their faces that she had to do it on her own.
"Harry, when I was 20-years-old, your father and Sirius saved my life. Because of who I was, I had a little run-in with Voldemort." Ron shuddered at the sound of the name.
"Why would he want you," asked Hermione.
"I'm half elf and half witch. My father was a full-blooded elf and worked for the Ministry. I told you in class that animals, such as werewolves, trusted elves. If Voldemort had elves on his side, then he would have an influence over the animal kingdom. My father had gone to school with him, so Voldemort sought him out. My father was killed after he refused to join forces with him."
"So, the elf you mentioned during class was your father."
"I'm glad you remembered, Miss Granger," remarked Artemis. "Yes, that was my father. Voldemort killed my mother after killing my father. He was about to take me when the Aurors came. One was your grandfather, Harry. Another was Sirius' father."
"So, You-Know-Who is after you because animals trust you," asked Ron.
"Yes, and because I'm part elf, I can find their hiding places and convince them to choose sides."
"And Voldemort tried to get you to join his side but was stopped by my dad and Sirius, right?"
"Yes. I went into hiding after that. Your mother taught me a very useful charm that helped make my ears more muggle-like. They only change back when I'm extremely nervous or when something isn't right."
She had purposefully left out the part where she was tortured by Voldemort and how because of it, she'd never have any children. She couldn't tell them that. It was too awkward. What would she say? 'I would probably have children your age right now, but I am now unable to produce children.' That didn't go over well with her.
There was an awkward silence. No one wanted to speak. Sirius kept running his fingers through his shoulder-length black hair. Remus finally spoke up.
"Harry, could you and the others leave us? We need to talk."
"Talk about what," Harry asked. The look on Remus' face told him to drop it and leave. Harry turned and left, followed by Ron and Hermione.
When the three teens were out of earshot, the three adults continued with the conversation.
"Sirius has already told Dumbledore what happened," explained Remus.
Artemis nodded. She really didn't want to talk to Dumbledore about the incident. She stared at the two men sitting near her bed.
"So, whoever this Death Eater is, he used to go to school with us."
"Well, that narrows it down to almost all of the Slytherins," muttered Sirius.
"He sounded so familiar. I just can't place where I've heard his voice before."
"Well, I know it wasn't Snape," laughed Sirius. "I know that voice anywhere. 'BLACK! I'm going to kill you!' 'Black, you're dead!'" All three laughed at Sirius' impersonation of Severus Snape. Remus had almost fallen out of his chair. He had forgotten how funny Sirius' Snape impression was.
"We met him over 20-years-ago. There are so many people that we've met. He might not have been a student at Hogwarts. He could be anybody."
"What do you say about us getting out of here and continue this conversation some other time, eh? I'm getting bloody bored and I definitely do not want to meet up with Snape," complained Sirius.
"Me too, I hate hospitals," Artemis agreed. She slid out of the bed and grabbed her robes. "I'll be right back."
She hurried off to another side of the hospital wing to change.
"Sirius, will you be hanging around the area?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Last night, while I was a wolf, I felt whoever it was out there. Something about it didn't seem quite human."
"It could have been the dementor."
"It wasn't," replied Remus. "I have felt the essence of a dementor before while in my wolf form. No, this was something familiar yet frightening. I can't quite explain it..."
"Can't explain what," asked Artemis, who had just returned from changing.
Sirius grinned. "He can't explain why he found you so beautiful in those hospital pajamas."
Remus went pink and glared daggers at Sirius. Sirius just laughed, feeling very much like he did as a teenager. Artemis blushed right up to the tips of her pointed ears and muttered something about boys never growing up. Sirius grabbed both hers and Remus' hands and dragged them out of the hospital.
"Where do you think you're going," cried Madame Pomfrey.
"SHOPPING! We're going shopping, Poppy my dead," exclaimed Sirius while dragging his friend and sister down the hall.
"SIRIUS!"
"Not now. We're almost to the witch. Remus, is anyone coming?"
"No."
"Good."
Sirius tapped the witch's hump with his wand and uttered the magic words. He then dragged both through the cavern and towards a day of fun at Hogsmeade. Artemis couldn't help but smile. Sirius always had a way of making the most unhappy person happy...that is unless that unhappy person was Snape.
by Jennifer Allen
"Snuffles and Trouble"
"Harry. Ron," Hermione whispered. "She's...she's an elf!"
Both boys stared directly at Artemis. Whatever spell or charm she had used on her ears had disappeared and revealed her secret. She was standing with her back to them. The moonlight was highlighting her small frame. Her ears twitched again and she spun around towards the Forbidden Forest.
"Professor Southerby?"
The werewolf was hurling itself at the cage, trying to break free. Something was out there and it was coming closer. It had spooked the werewolf. She noticed a large dark shape begin moving closer towards them. It was running as fast as it could.
"Harry, I need you, Ron and Hermione to get into Hagrid's house and lock yourselves in."
"What? What's going on?"
"DO IT NOW!"
"But..."
Before Artemis could reply, a large black dog had run up to them and stood in a defensive stance.
"Snuffles," questioned Harry.
Artemis eyed 'Snuffles' warily. She'd have to ask him about that nickname later.
"Sirius, what is out there?"
Harry and his friends gaped. They, Remus and Peter were the only ones who knew Sirius' secret, or so they had thought. Sirius changed into his human form, but his eyes were still in the direction of the Forbidden Forest.
"What is going on, Professor? What is out there," asked Hermione.
The werewolf howled loudly and began ramming the cage more.
"I'll explain later. Please get into Hagrid's house."
Hermione nodded and grabbed both Harry and Ron's hands. She then began to drag them into the house.
"No! Hermione stop! What is going on?"
Hermione shoved both boys into Hagrid's house and locked the door. Artemis could hear them arguing inside while Fang whimpered in the background. The werewolf was starting to panic and began trying to dig his way out. Sirius hadn't left his spot.
"Sirius, do you have any idea what is out there?"
"No. I know that whatever it is, it's big. I don't like."
Artemis moved to stand next to Sirius. She had pulled out her wand and held it ready. She looked over at Sirius and watched his dark blue eyes scan their surroundings. She looked over at the werewolf who was still trying to escape.
"Sirius, you need to change into Padfoot. I have to let that werewolf go," she said before shooting a meaningful glance at the occupants of Hagrid's house who were looking out a window. "Do not come out! The werewolf is going to be freed!"
Harry nodded and watched Sirius change into a dog. Artemis hurried over to the cage, unlocked it and opened the door. The wolf raced out as quickly as it could, ignoring its need for human blood. It disappeared into the Forbidden Forest without a second glance back.
A sudden chill fell over Padfoot and Artemis as two cloaked figures became visible. Padfoot began to growl menacingly. Two hooded figures stalked towards them. One of them seemed to be gliding and the other walked. Artemis heard Hermione cry out from inside the house.
"Oh my god," she heard Hermione cry. "Dementors!"
Remus was feeling terrible. His transformation was horrible and his wolf side still ached. His nerves were on edge. He ignored his pain and began pawing at the door. With the potion in his system, he was able to think clearly. He remembered that odd feeling he had felt while sitting with Artemis during the Quiddich match. He whined and lifted his head to howl. He wanted out. He needed out. Now. He dashed over to the window and stared out. It was impossible to jump out without killing himself. He was too high and the window was impervious to being broken...something he made sure of when he first started teaching at Hogwarts. Remus howled in frustration. There was nothing he could do, not like this. The only thing he could do was wait.
Hermione had been only half-right. One of the cloaked figures was indeed a dementor. Its gray and crooked hand could be seen hidden in its robes. Artemis narrowed her eyes. The figure accompanying the dementor was by far worse than the dementor in that it was a person, a Death Eater. She glared at the Death Eater.
She could see Padfoot getting angry, as well. He had every right to be. Sirius had never really gotten along with Death Eaters and dementors...with him having been an Auror and all. He had spent 12 long years in Azkaban prison, surrounded by the blasted dementors. The black dog growled loudly. His lip curled, baring his sharp white teeth. Artemis hoped that Sirius wouldn't do anything rash at the moment. Both the dementor and the Death Eater were dangerous and unpredictable.
The dementor sucked in some air with a rasping gasp. Artemis suddenly felt very cold and felt like she was sinking. She took a step back to avoid the dementor. Padfoot put himself between her and their enemies.
The dementor took in another rasping breath and both she and Sirius felt like they were falling. She closed her eyes for a second to try and gather herself. She noticed the black dog in front of her stumble. 'This isn't going to do at all. We have to drive that dementor back.'
She tapped Padfoot on the back.
"Go get help," she whispered. "We can't have anyone see you."
The dog nodded and raced off. Her eyes never left the two advancing figures. The Death Eater pointed directly at her.
"Come with us."
She felt the pain again but she pushed it away. She glared angrily at both cloaked figures.
"Like hell. I'd rather die than to go with you."
She heard Harry's group gasp and silently willed them to be silent. The Death Eater was chuckling and fingering his wand.
"You're still stubborn, but where has that gotten you," he laughed. "You are nothing more than a teacher for those brats. All your potential, wasted for a bunch of mudbloods and half breeds. If you had just joined with Lord Voldemort, you wouldn't have had to suffer that 'mishap.'"
She felt herself burn up. The torture. The pain. Her inability to have children now was referred to as nothing more than a mishap? She blinked back tears of pain and anger. "HOW DARE YOU! HOW DARE YOU!"
Her ears had flattened, like a cat's would when angered. Her eyes flashed and she gritted her teeth. She wanted to rip his head off and kick it into the Forbidden Forest.
Without thinking, she lunged forward and began waling on the Death Eater. She slammed her hit and kicked him as hard as she could. Though small, she was quick and when she hit, she hit hard. She kept screaming at him in anger. Words such as 'git' and 'bloody bastard' were thrown at him. She was mad, extremely mad. She pulled back to strike him again, only to have her arm roughly grabbed. The Death Eater flung her off of him and pointed his wand at her. She could see his cold eyes glaring at her from behind his hood.
"That was rather foolish, now wasn't it? You've haven't changed since we last met over 20 years ago. I'm sorry it has to be this way, but you just don't know when to quit."
The dementor took a deep breath. Worthless...she suddenly felt cold again. She could barely hear the dementor taking in another breath. Images flashed in her mind. Her parents were dying in front of her as a man with blood-red eyes sneered at her. She was hanging upside down crying while no one noticed that she was gone...not even the boy she had considered to be her brother. She was alone once again. She heard laughing all around her and she wanted to shrink down and disappear. Then the pain came. She saw HIM again and he was hurting her. He kept laughing as she screamed. She was now screaming at the top of her lungs.
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"
She opened her eyes and stared in wonder as a silvery stag and dog appeared before her, driving the dementor back. She felt a pair of strong arms lift her up and pull her towards Hagrid's house. She watched the dementor take an uncertain step back. She was shaking and had curled up behind Sirius. The pain was lingering. She wanted to cry, it had hurt that badly.
"Give me a reason, Death Eater," she heard Sirius snarl. "Give me a reason to kill you right here and now."
She looked up at Sirius. She hadn't seen him that pissed off since that horrible night that Voldemort attacked her. His azure eyes were livid. Harry was standing next to Sirius; his wand was pointed directly at the Death Eater. Harry looked so much like James at that moment, right down to the glare.
The dementor was being driven further away from the group by the dog and stag patronuses. The Death Eater glared at them. Ron and Hermione had decided to help Harry and Sirius and were standing next to both men with their wands drawn. The Death Eater snarled when he noticed several figures come running over from the castle.
"Ah, I'm surprised to see you again, Sirius Black. I'm surprised that one such as you survived Azkaban," the Death Eater sneered while backing away. "This isn't over. I hope we meet again, Black. I'd love nothing more than to hear you beg for mercy."
There was a bright flash of light and the Death Eater had disappeared. Sirius figured that he had probably used a temporary blinding spell and ran off to the Forbidden Forest.
Artemis struggled to stand only to find herself back on the ground. She felt incredibly weak. Sirius knelt down next to her.
"Don't, Arty. Just sit here and wait, okay?" Artemis just nodded and closed her eyes. She began to drift off. She could hear more voices around her, one of whom she vaguely recognized as Dumbledore. She didn't even feel herself being carried back to the castle.
A bright ray of sunshine forced Artemis to open her eyes. She squinted and wondered why the sun had to be so bright. She immediately shot up with a tiny shriek.
"I'm late for class!"
She was about to jump out of bed and race to class when she heard someone chuckling. She spun and found herself staring right at Sirius.
"What are you doing here?"
"I'm hurt. You have bruised me with your words! How could you even ask such a question?" He placed his hand on his chest as though her words stabbed him in the heart. He stumbled around the room as though he were mortally wounded and grabbed the first person he could find, namely Madame Pomfrey. "Help me, she had killed me with her words."
"Settle down, Mr. Black. I swear, you are just as bad now as you were during your years here."
Sirius sat down and pouted.
"Madame Pomfrey, why aren't you babying me like you used to?"
"Because," the slightly plump nurse replied while placing a hand on Artemis' forehead, "you are a grown man and can take care of yourself."
Sirius groaned and grabbed a chair. He pulled it up to where Artemis was lying and sat down. He smiled over at Artemis.
"How are you feeling, Arty?"
"I'm fmmpph." Artemis tried replying but Madame Pomfrey had shoved a piece of chocolate in her mouth. Artemis frowned at the taste and tried glaring at Poppy but the nurse just laughed.
"It's the only way to get you to eat your chocolate. I remember what you were like as a girl."
"Poppy, where's my chocolate? I'm sick!"
"You've always been sick," someone laughed. Remus smiled over at Artemis and his best friend. He pulled up a chair and sat next to Sirius.
"Why is everyone picking on me today?"
Madame Pomfrey sighed and muttered something about too many people visiting her patients. She never had full control over her patients. She hurried off to check her stock of bandages and chocolate.
"I need to get to class."
"No, you don't. It's a weekend. No class."
"Where is everybody?"
"Well, today is a Hogsmeade day. Everyone that has permission is there."
"Not everyone." Harry, Hermione and Ron had arrived and were now standing near her. Artemis could hear Madame Pomfrey complaining about her patients not getting enough rest with everyone coming and visiting.
Artemis stared down at her hands. Her secret was out.
"So, how many students know?"
"Know what?"
"That I'm an...well you know...an elf?"
Sirius smiled and ruffled her hair like she was a little kid. "Oh, that. Of course everyone knows."
"Professor, why did you keep that a secret from everyone?"
Artemis frowned. She stared into her students' youthful faces. She had wanted to talk to Harry about his parents, but not like this. She turned to Sirius and Remus, trying to beg them for help. She could tell from the looks on their faces that she had to do it on her own.
"Harry, when I was 20-years-old, your father and Sirius saved my life. Because of who I was, I had a little run-in with Voldemort." Ron shuddered at the sound of the name.
"Why would he want you," asked Hermione.
"I'm half elf and half witch. My father was a full-blooded elf and worked for the Ministry. I told you in class that animals, such as werewolves, trusted elves. If Voldemort had elves on his side, then he would have an influence over the animal kingdom. My father had gone to school with him, so Voldemort sought him out. My father was killed after he refused to join forces with him."
"So, the elf you mentioned during class was your father."
"I'm glad you remembered, Miss Granger," remarked Artemis. "Yes, that was my father. Voldemort killed my mother after killing my father. He was about to take me when the Aurors came. One was your grandfather, Harry. Another was Sirius' father."
"So, You-Know-Who is after you because animals trust you," asked Ron.
"Yes, and because I'm part elf, I can find their hiding places and convince them to choose sides."
"And Voldemort tried to get you to join his side but was stopped by my dad and Sirius, right?"
"Yes. I went into hiding after that. Your mother taught me a very useful charm that helped make my ears more muggle-like. They only change back when I'm extremely nervous or when something isn't right."
She had purposefully left out the part where she was tortured by Voldemort and how because of it, she'd never have any children. She couldn't tell them that. It was too awkward. What would she say? 'I would probably have children your age right now, but I am now unable to produce children.' That didn't go over well with her.
There was an awkward silence. No one wanted to speak. Sirius kept running his fingers through his shoulder-length black hair. Remus finally spoke up.
"Harry, could you and the others leave us? We need to talk."
"Talk about what," Harry asked. The look on Remus' face told him to drop it and leave. Harry turned and left, followed by Ron and Hermione.
When the three teens were out of earshot, the three adults continued with the conversation.
"Sirius has already told Dumbledore what happened," explained Remus.
Artemis nodded. She really didn't want to talk to Dumbledore about the incident. She stared at the two men sitting near her bed.
"So, whoever this Death Eater is, he used to go to school with us."
"Well, that narrows it down to almost all of the Slytherins," muttered Sirius.
"He sounded so familiar. I just can't place where I've heard his voice before."
"Well, I know it wasn't Snape," laughed Sirius. "I know that voice anywhere. 'BLACK! I'm going to kill you!' 'Black, you're dead!'" All three laughed at Sirius' impersonation of Severus Snape. Remus had almost fallen out of his chair. He had forgotten how funny Sirius' Snape impression was.
"We met him over 20-years-ago. There are so many people that we've met. He might not have been a student at Hogwarts. He could be anybody."
"What do you say about us getting out of here and continue this conversation some other time, eh? I'm getting bloody bored and I definitely do not want to meet up with Snape," complained Sirius.
"Me too, I hate hospitals," Artemis agreed. She slid out of the bed and grabbed her robes. "I'll be right back."
She hurried off to another side of the hospital wing to change.
"Sirius, will you be hanging around the area?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Last night, while I was a wolf, I felt whoever it was out there. Something about it didn't seem quite human."
"It could have been the dementor."
"It wasn't," replied Remus. "I have felt the essence of a dementor before while in my wolf form. No, this was something familiar yet frightening. I can't quite explain it..."
"Can't explain what," asked Artemis, who had just returned from changing.
Sirius grinned. "He can't explain why he found you so beautiful in those hospital pajamas."
Remus went pink and glared daggers at Sirius. Sirius just laughed, feeling very much like he did as a teenager. Artemis blushed right up to the tips of her pointed ears and muttered something about boys never growing up. Sirius grabbed both hers and Remus' hands and dragged them out of the hospital.
"Where do you think you're going," cried Madame Pomfrey.
"SHOPPING! We're going shopping, Poppy my dead," exclaimed Sirius while dragging his friend and sister down the hall.
"SIRIUS!"
"Not now. We're almost to the witch. Remus, is anyone coming?"
"No."
"Good."
Sirius tapped the witch's hump with his wand and uttered the magic words. He then dragged both through the cavern and towards a day of fun at Hogsmeade. Artemis couldn't help but smile. Sirius always had a way of making the most unhappy person happy...that is unless that unhappy person was Snape.