Love Lost is Love Gained

Chapter 12: Seamus and the Sorting

Author's Note: I just finished chapter 11 about a minute ago, and it's sad. I almost cried while writing it. Poor Merry...I really would go find him in a battlefield. Oh, well, some AC/DC will cheer me up. Damn you Peter Jackson, you make me cry every damn time.

Three Months Later

In the past three months Artemis has advanced tremendously in her classes, even Potions, much to Snape's dislike. Hermione has become worried because Artemis has been advancing on her record of straight A's. Hermione meanwhile, had received O's on all her O.W.L's. So far Artemis is caught up in all her classes, and is even with all the other sixth year students, and is more than ready to take her O.W.L's; though Dumbledore has refused to move them before Christmas break. Meanwhile, Harry has become more and more depressed because of Sirius. He has taken more and more time locking himself away from everyone and only saying "Morning" and "Night" during the twenty four hour day.

Also, Artemis and Remus are very close, and she has come to see him as a version of her father/ brother. She cares very much about him and vice versa. In the span of three months Hermione and Artemis have also become very close friends. And during one of their conversations Hermione let it slip that she fancied a boy named Ron; she had also filled Artemis in on all the escapades she's been on during her years at Hogwarts, while creatively avoiding using Harry's name. Tonight is the night of the sorting, and all the students should be arriving in a few hours time. The new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is a man named Kyle Aubry. Oh, and Artemis learned how to do a Patronus, and strangely enough it's a dog. Lupin is going to be staying in Hogsmeade during the school year, since he can't stay in the school. I think that's all...and now to the night of the sorting.

"Hurry up," Hermione yelled throwing books and clothes that have somehow become scattered throughout the room, into her trunk. "Hurry up; they're going to be here in four hours! I have to get ready! And you should be doing the same!"

"Yeah Hermione, four hours...four...hours. Calm down."

"Calm down, calm down? Easy enough for you to say! You don't have to go down and greet everyone! I have to be down there in three hours! I have to get ready, shower, change, and pack! I can't believe this! How the hell did this get so scattered?"

"Okay, I'm going to go for a walk. Be back in a little while." Artemis turned and left the room, when she shut the door she heard Hermione yell, "You better get back here and pack! I know you can hear me Artemis!" Artemis ignored Hermione and walked down the deserted corridor, taking in the silence and tranquility of the castle, after tonight it was never going to be like this again. She walked around unaware of where she was going, it didn't matter, she had walked these halls so many times before her odds of getting lost were slim to none.

She walked down the hall, thinking of Paris's last letter, which talked about him letting some of his fireworks off on the first day at his new school; it gave the teachers quite a fright when they realized that the fireworks wouldn't burn out. He also found out that Rachael went to the same school, much to his pleasure.

She walked down another corridor and stopped looking at a lone figure leaning on the windowsill, staring out into the forest. "Hello Remus," she said while approaching him.

"Huh? Oh, hello Artemis. Are you excited about the sorting?"

"Very much, what are you doing?" she asked noticing the large trunk next to him. It was at least twice as big as a regular sized trunk, and looked like it was about to burst.

"Well, Kyle's moving in tonight, so I have to move out. I'm looking for the carriage that's going to take me to Hogsmeade."

"Oh, it's really too bad that you have to leave. I'm really going to miss you."

"I'll only be a half a mile away," he said laughing, "but I'm going to miss you too. You the closest thing I have now, you know that right?"

"Yeah, do you need help with your trunk?" He looked her, clearly remembering the last time he'd refused her help. He sighed and nodded, grudgingly.

She walked over and pick up the end of his trunk, and together they walked it to the entrance hall, just in time to see a horseless carriage pull up.

"Well," he said, "that'll be for me." He smiled and hugged her again.

"Are you going to come and visit me?" she asked.

"Artemis, I'm only going to be five minutes away. But of course I'll visit you." He let her go and he pulled his trunk down the stairs and disappeared into the carriage. She turned and began to walk back to the Room of Requirement.

Upon arriving she regretted immediately, for Hermione was still in a packing frenzy, running around the room, and throwing all her things into a pile. It was only after Artemis threatened her with the Draught of Peace did she calm down slightly.

"So, where were you?" she asked after she calmed down. They were sitting in two chairs near the fire; Hermione had packed all Artemis's stuff too.

"I was helping Remus to his carriage to Hogsmeade."

"You fancy him, don't you?" she inquired. Artemis knew in what sense she was using the word fancy, but decided to play dumb anyway.

"Of course I like Remus; he's like family to me."

"No, I mean you actually fancy him, like you would want to date him." Artemis looked away from Hermione, she really did have a crush on Remus, she had since the day she met him.

"I don't know," she said to the wall.

"I know you fancy him, so don't try and lie to me. But you do realize that he's too old for you."

"He isn't too old for me! It's only by nineteen years."

"So you really do fancy him, you've put thought into it. You can't talk your way out of this one Artemis. Having a crush on your father's best friend. For shame. And he is too old for you."

"I still don't think so; I mean there have been bigger age gaps."

"Yeah, name one that applied to someone around your age."

"Well I can't think of one right now, but I'm sure if I looked I'd be able to find one. Anyway, I'm an Elf, and once I reach maturity I'd be able to bring Remus to Evelon, so he wouldn't age, so it wouldn't matter."

"You're crazy for him. You've actually put thought into bringing him to Evelon?"

"No, I never said that!"

"You just did. You've dug yourself into a pretty deep hole now; I'd like to see you talk your way out of it."

"Don't you have more packing to do?"

"Nope, I finished. All I have to do now is talk about your illicit love affair with Lupin."

"It's not a love affair! Shut up, I have to go change." Artemis got her robes out of her trunk and went to the bathroom to change into her uniform, while hearing Hermione sing 'Remus and Artemis sitting in a tree.' "I thought you were supposed to be the mature one," she said once she changed. "How about I tell Ron about your little crush on him?"

Her face went from a smile to the most stern and serious look ever. "You wouldn't dare."

"Oh, I don't know. I think a person who's having an 'illicit love affair' might just tell."

"You couldn't."

"Want to bet?"

"Okay, I'll shut up, if you do."

"Deal," and she stuffed her regular clothes back into her trunk.

"Well," Hermione said suddenly serious, and out of her giggly girly mood. We should bring our things to the front entrance, so they can get brought to our rooms. I really hope you're in Gryffindor."

"Me too," Artemis replied hoisting her trunk off the bed. "Shall we levitate them?" Hermione nodded, and the next second both trunks were levitating and following the girls out of the room.

"Since you're getting sorted, where do you go?" Hermione asked after they'd set their trunks down in the hall.

"McGonagall said I have to wait out here with the rest of the first years."

"Wow that must be humiliating; you have to get sorted with a bunch of little kids. But don't worry; you'll fit right in with their crowd."

"Shut up or I hear a little message coming to Ron!"

"Okay, that's really not funny. Well," she said looking at her watch, "I've got to go out to the train station. Be back in about an hour. I hope to see you in Gryffindor." She walked away, and Artemis walked through the doors of the Great Hall. It was decorated brighter and more splendid than she had ever seen it.

"Miss Black," Professor McGonagall said, hurrying up to her. "The students will be arriving in a few minutes time, please follow me." She made her way out of the Great Hall and down a small corridor; she stopped at another small corridor that connected to the Great hall. "The first years will come through here, we will wait until they arrive, where I shall give further instructions." They were there for about three minutes when there was a loud roar of chattering and what sounded like a fairly large stampede. "That will be the rest of the student body. First years will be here in about ten minutes." They waited in silence for a few minutes, when a second stampede came up the passage way, though this was much quieter and sounded nervous.

After the crowd quieted down Professor McGonagall spoke, "Hello first years, and welcome to Hogwarts."

"Hermione!" Ron yelled sprinting up the area between the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor tables. "Where have you been? You haven't sent us any letter, or any reason of why you left! Where have you been?!"

"Ronald," she said quietly, "you are not my keeper, and have no authority over where I go, and have no reason to be in my business. But I've been here if that will make the end to your senseless questioning. Where's Harry?"

"I'm right here," he said, walking down the opposite side of the table and sitting across from Hermione. "How's your summer been?"

"Actually, it's been wonderful. I was able to find out my O.W.L grades earlier, what did you guys get?"

Harry and Ron were saved the trouble of answering directly by a crowd of first years walking into the Great Hall. Harry wasn't interested in the sorting; he wasn't interested in anything anymore. He just stared down at his plate, refusing to make eye contact with anyone. He in fact had tuned every noise in the hall out, just thinking about Sirius to himself, and fighting back the urge to cry. He wanted to get out of there; the next thing he knew the Sorting Hat's song was over, and it was starting to sort. He didn't listen, he didn't want to, the only thing he wanted to do was go up to his dorm and sleep. He wanted to sleep until he died, so he would see Sirius again. The thought always occurred to him that he still had Lupin, but Lupin was busy now. He had other things to do. The Sorting was over, the only reason Harry noticed that was because the reflection in his plate was no longer there, but was covered with potatoes, that he realized Hermione put there.

Five Minutes Ago...

"Artemis Black," Professor McGonagall called after all the first years have been sorted. She noticed that she attracted a lot of stares as she walked up to the stool, was it because she looked to old to be a first year, or because of her last name, she couldn't tell, but she felt very awkward when a patched and frayed hat was set on her head.
"Black, eh?" it said and she thought, 'Oh my God, it's in my head!'

"Yes, I am in your head. You're an Elf I see! So we can rule out Slytherin, you're not Pure Blood, and to pure of heart. You have a lot of brains; you must have to be able to catch up on five years worth of school in three months. So perhaps Ravenclaw? I'll come back to that one. You're loyal but not the hardest worker, I see you're a procrastinator, and usually coast through things easily, like your father. So, we have narrowed it down to Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. I also see that you have strong feelings for one, Remus Lupin. He's too old for you. Where was I? Ravenclaw or Gryffindor; well Elves are very noble and brave. And I see you even have the noble blood of Ĭlitiaien running through your veins. So that would make you heiress to the throne? I believe so; well I think I have only one choice....Gryffindor!" The hat shouted out loud, the table on her far left exploded with cheers, as she made her way down to a space that was made by two boys that looked about her age.

"Hi," said the one on her right, he had brown hair, brown eyes, and an Irish accent, "My name is Seamus Finnigan, and this," he said pointing to the boy on her left, "Is Dean Thomas." Dean was sitting next to a girl with red hair.

"This is Ginny Weasley," Dean said, Ginny leaned over and said hello.

"Hi, I'm Artemis Black. Ginny, are you related to Fred and George?"

"Yeah, they're my older brothers. You know them?"

"I met them at their store a few months ago."

"Was it at the end of June?"

"Yeah, it was. I think it was on June 29th or something like that."

"So then you were the one they were talking about..." she said offhandedly.

"They were talking about me? What did they say?"

"Oh, it was nothing."

"Alright," she turned back to Seamus and asked if he liked Hogwarts.

"Oh, yeah," he said, "it's great. What year are you going to be in; I mean you look to old to be in first."

"Yeah, I'm going into sixth year...I'm a...transfer student from Scotland," thinking of the lie Remus told her to say if the subject came up.

"That's cool; do you need a tour around the school?"

"Sure," she said, not wanting him to know that she'd been here for quite a while.

"So, you last name is Black? Any relation to Sirius?"

"Actually yeah. He's kind of my father."

"Sirius Black is your father?! Have you ever met him?"

"Yeah, he's my father, and I haven't met him, at least not recently."

"I hope this doesn't sound insensitive, but how does it feel to have him as a father? I mean he spent the last twelve years in Azkaban for murder."

'Looks like she's hitting it off with Seamus,' Hermione thought looking down the table at Artemis's turned head. 'Is that going to be a good thing or a bad? I hope he doesn't notice her last name..."

"Harry! Hey, Harry! I'm talking to you, you know!" Ron was shouting and waving his arms, trying to get Harry's attention. "Hey," he said after he got Harry's attention, "did you see the new girl?" Hermione noticing this was a danger sign elbowed Ron very hard in the side, though trying to be discreet while doing so. "Ow, what was that for?"

"Did you ever stop to think that the new girl doesn't want people gawking at her?"

"She's new; she's going to want some friends or something."

"I think that she had enough of a friend in Seamus, she doesn't need you Ron."

"What is your problem? You disappear for three months, we don't hear from you, you come back, we still don't get a word out of you. And now you yell at me for talking about a new kid. You have some serious problems."

"Ron, even if I wasn't gone for three months I would still yell at you for talking about the new girl, and it's none of your business what I've been doing for the past three months. Now, how did you two do on your O.W.L's?"

"What were your grades?" Ron asked, obviously not wanting to answer her question. He figured her talking about her grades would carry them through the rest of the feast.

"I got all O's. I'm quite proud of it actually. What is it, twelve or thirteen O.W.L's? When you get twelve you get a plaque in the trophy case, so I'm hoping Dumbledore will mention something about it. It would be so exciting to have a plaque! I mean then everyone would know how well you did, and..." Ron tuned her out after that and ate the rest of his food.

After the feast was done, and all the students were full, first years (and Artemis) began following the Prefects out of the hall, to go to their dormitories. "I'll see you guys later," Harry mumbled and left the hall quickly, avoiding the swarms of first years.

"First years, over here please," Hermione called to a group about to leave the hall. Artemis walked over to her and Ron and greeted them.

"Hi Hermione," she said, "And...friend."

"I'm Ron," he said looking at her, "and you're the transfer, right? Something Black, right? Like in Sirius Black."

Artemis looked at Hermione, who shook her head and said, "Ron, please don't pester Artemis. It's not easy to be a transfer, and I don't want you making it harder for her."

"I was just asking, no need to bite my head off," he walked away from them, and disappeared into the entrance hall.

"Hermione," Artemis said, "You do realize that people are going to ask about why I'm here, and my last name. And as much as I appreciate you helping me, you can't yell at every person who asks. Remus told me what to say, and eventually, I guess I have to tell the truth."

"Hey Black!" they heard a voice yell from behind them, up walked a pale boy with blond hair and blue eyes. "I see you've gone against your family line, and now have the horrible curse of being in Gryffindor. That's really too bad."

"Excuse me, but who the hell are you?"

"I'm Draco Malfoy, Slytherin Prefect. And I would advise you not to hang around with Mud Bloods like Granger here."

"And you expect me to hang out with you? Why would I do something like that? I mean no offense, but you're not all that attractive, and you seem to have missed a few crucial lessons in proper social etiquette. Maybe after a face lift and some rhinoplasty, and of course a trip to Little Miss Manners, we'll talk. Bye." She turned and walked away, Hermione next to her and a bunch of first years following.