Love Lost is Love Gained

Chapter 13: The Gryffindor Tower

"Okay, here we are," Hermione said when they reached a portrait of a fat lady in a pink dress, "Royal We," she said and the door swung open. Author's Note: I couldn't think of a password and Lizzy was talking about the Royal We today. There was a South Park mini marathon on today! They all walked into a large brightly lit room, that had several rickety tables, and some pulpy looking chairs. "This is the Gryffindor common room," Hermione said to everyone, "The boys dorms are on the right, and girls on the left. All your things will be up there." The first years departed, leaving the common room almost empty, with the exception of Ron, Seamus, Dean, and a few other students Artemis hadn't met. "Artemis," Hermione said, "this is Neville, Lavender, Parvati, Dean and Seamus," she said pointing to each one. "They're all sixth years, too."

"Hi," Artemis said to everyone, and got that as a reply. "Umm...not to be rude, but I think I'm going to go up to the dorm." She turned to walk but stopped when she heard her name called, it was Seamus.

"Hey, sorry I can't show you around today, it's kind of late. But do you want me to tomorrow?"

"Sure, that would be great." She said, feeling kind of weird that she was going to get a tour, and she already knew her way around.

"Great, umm...see you tomorrow then."

"Yeah, good night," she said, and went up the left stair case.

"It is getting kind of late, I'm going to bed too." Hermione said, and departed to the stairs, Lavender and Parvati followed. A few minutes later all the boys went up to their dorm.

"Hey Seamus, do you like her or something?" Dean asked when they were in their dorm. Harry was lying in bed, and everyone else was getting ready to sleep.

"Why do you ask?" Seamus said, determined to look at anything but Dean.

"Oh," Dean said, putting on a giggly happy voice, "would you like a tour of the school? I would sure be overjoyed to help you around. All you need to do is ask, anything you need. I would take a bullet for you."

"I didn't say that, and I don't sound like that either. I was just trying to be hospitable."

"Hospitable? How is volunteering to be someone's lackey being hospitable?"

"I'm not going to become her lackey. I just want to help, if you had manners you would do the same."

"Who are you talking about," Neville asked, pouring himself a glass of water; Ron was sitting on his bed, and Harry, who wasn't asleep, was looking over at the both of them.

"The new girl," Dean said, "Seamus fancies her."

"I do not!" Seamus shouted, "Shut up, Dean!"

"The Artemis girl?" Neville asked, Harry sat up in bed.

"Artemis?" he asked, "What's her last name?"

"Weren't you paying attention during the sorting, and yeah Neville, the Artemis girl." Harry shook his head. "Well, her last name's Black. It's that Sirius guy's daughter."

"What?!" Harry yelled standing up.

"Yeah," said Seamus, "the murderer, apparently he had a daughter before he was shut up in Azkaban. It's kind of weird; she's never met him or anything. Said she was an exchange student from Scotland."

'Sirius,' Harry thought, 'He had a daughter? So that's what Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were talking about, she's been here the entire time. That's why Lupin was here. Artemis, could it be her? Artemis isn't a very popular name...it could be, but she said her last name was Byrnes. But she also said she moved here from Scotland...is it her? It can't be, but it's just too big of a coincidence.' He stood up and left the dorm in his pajamas.

"Harry where are you going?" Ron yelled after him.

Harry ran down the stairs, and back into the common room, walked over to the entrance to the girl's dorm and screamed, "Hermione!" Several doors opened with girls sticking their heads out, after about a minute Hermione emerged by herself, still in her uniform.

"What do you want Harry? I was getting ready for bed."

"I have to ask about the new girl; Artemis is her name, right?" Hermione sighed and looked away before nodding. "Artemis Black?" She nodded again, "She transferred from Scotland?" She nodded another time, "I need to see her, now."

"Harry, I can't just go and get her. She was going to sleep."

"She's Sirius's daughter, I NEED to talk to her now!"

"Fine, I'll go get her, but if she's mad about it, it isn't my fault." She went back up the stairs and Harry stood at the foot of the stairs in his pajamas. She returned a few minutes later with another girl; Harry had seen this girl before, he'd seen her at Privet Drive...

"Harry?" she asked, while walking down the stairs, "What are you doing here?"

"What are you doing here? You're not a witch!"

"And you're not a wizard, you're a felon."

"A felon?" he asked, really confused.

"Yeah, according to Paris's last letter you were arrested for armed robbery with a semi automatic weapon."

"Oh that...I needed to tell Paris something, because my aunt and uncle wouldn't let me tell anyone I went here."

"Okay, so you're here and not a convict."

"Yeah, why are you here? What about Jake?"

"I'm here because I'm a witch, and who's Jake?"

"You know, Jake Marsh."

"I don't know anyone named Jake Marsh."

"But Paris said that you had a boyfriend named Jake Marsh, and he lives in London."

"Not only do I not know anyone with the last name of Marsh, but I don't know anyone named Jake."

"So Paris lied to me?"

"Looks like it. If you'll excuse me, can we talk tomorrow? I'm kind of tired," she didn't want to talk right now; she knew he was going to interrogate her about her past, and that was the last thing she wanted to explain.

"No, I want you to explain everything now." Artemis looked around for Hermione to help her, but she had gone up to her dorm.

"Everything now? That's really not fair, why can't I do it tomorrow?"

"You explained everything to Seamus."

"Seamus asked three hours ago, not at eleven at night."

"No, I want to know now!"

"Fine," she said grudgingly, she really didn't want to talk about it, but she had a feeling he wasn't going to let her go bed without an explanation.

"Harry? What are you doing down here still? It's time to go to sleep, if another Prefect sees you, you're going to be in so much trouble." Ron said, standing at the foot of the boy's staircase.

"Yeah Ron, I'll be up in a little while, Artemis has something to explain to me."

"Oh, yeah, you're the one Seamus said was Sirius's daughter."

"Yeah, I knew it was a mistake to tell Seamus...I wish Lupin would have given me another lie about my last name." she said the last part quietly, and to herself.

"So, you have been in contact with Lupin?"

"Yes, Harry, I have been in contact with Remus, he's been here at the school with me and Hermione this entire time."

"And Charlie?" Ron asked, he moved from the stairs, and was now leaning over the back of one of the couches.

"Yeah, Charlie was here to. Along with a bunch of other teachers."

"Ok, now about Sirius," Harry demanded impatiently.

"Will you let me explain everything? I mean, nothing will make sense if you just demand certain parts." She said walking from the stairs and sitting on the couch a few feet from where Ron was kneeling.

"Okay," Harry and Ron said together, both looking at her.

"Well it turns out that I was adopted, which is why I lived with the Brynes's. I found out about three months ago that I was adopted, and that I was Sirius's daughter. I stayed here during the summer to get tutored so I would be caught up with all the other sixth years. So now I'm caught up, going to take my O.W.L's at Christmas, and am going to all the regular classes with all you. And right now, I'm going to bed. Good night." She got up and ran up the stairs to the dorm, so neither of them could stop her.

"So is that what my parents were talking about a few months ago? Wait, that's the girl who moved across the street from you?"

"Yeah, this is really weird. I can't believe this; I don't understand when did he have a daughter?"

"You should probably ask Dumbledore, he'd know. Anyway, I'm going to bed too, you should too, if someone catches you you're busted."

"Yeah, I'll be up in a few minutes." Ron left the common room, leaving Harry to sit by himself while thinking everything over. 'None of this makes sense,' he thought, 'why didn't Dumbledore explain this to me. Of course I'd want to know that she was Sirius's daughter. What now? Seamus likes her, and he just stopped hating me. Why the hell did this happen?' he got up and walked back up into the dorm, to find that not a single person was asleep, on the contrary, they were all sitting up and talking, but feel silent when Harry opened the door. He thought that they were probably talking about him.

"So, what happened?" Seamus asked, looking over at him.

"Well," Harry said, "she defiantly Sirius's daughter. I should ask Dumbledore about it."

"Why do you need to ask Dumbledore about it, how does this apply to you?"

"Sirius was my god father, and he was innocent."

"What do you mean 'was innocent'?" Dean asked looking at Harry.

"He died a few months ago."

"Yeah, we were all there." Neville said looking at Ron, "in the Department of Mysteries. Didn't Bellatrix Lestrange kill him?" Harry and Ron nodded.

"How do you know he was innocent?" Dean asked, sounding a bit confused.

"It's a long story," Ron said, yawning, "Can we go to bed now?"

"So her dad was a murderer, who wasn't a murderer?"

"Basically," Harry said simply.

"Wait," Ron said, "How do we know she's Sirius's daughter? I mean couldn't she be making it up?"

"Why would she make something like that up? I met her this summer, and she didn't seem like someone who would lie about something so serious."

"Well, her brother lied to you. How do you know she wouldn't do the same?"

"She has a brother?" Seamus asked, looking between Ron and Harry,

"Yeah, well she was adopted, so he's her half brother, or legal brother something like that."

"How did you meet her during the summer?" Seamus asked, more aggressively than he intended to.

"Her family moved across the street from my aunt and uncle's house."

"Wow," Dean said, "this is really weird."

In the girl's dorm, everyone was asleep except for Hermione when Artemis went back up there.

"What happened?" Hermione demanded when she walked into the door.

"Someone told Harry I was Sirius's daughter, and he demanded the truth. Why does it matter to him anyway?"

"He's Sirius's god son. You see, Harry's parents were killed when he was about one, and he's lived with his aunt and uncle since. But he spent last summer with Sirius, and was very attached to him. So you could imagine what meeting his daughter would make him feel like."

"Oh, well, it kind of makes sense. A few months ago when I met him for the first time he told me I looked kind of like Sirius. So, I can see where he got it from."

"You've met Harry before," Hermione inquired, "When?"

"A few days before I came here, my family moved across the street from his aunt and uncle."

"That's kind of strange, well more of a really big coincidence."

"Yeah, a really confusing, complicated day. I have to ask Dumbledore something tomorrow."

"What's do you need to ask?"

"Well, you know how when we were at the Leaky Cauldron, you mentioned something about the royal line of Ilitiaien, well when is was getting sorted the hat mentioned it, and said I was an heiress." Hermione looked around nervously, "And I was wondering if that was true, because Dumbledore never mentioned it."

"Artemis, it's true. Dumbledore told me about it, but didn't want to tell you, because he thought you had enough to worry about with starting school and everything."

"So, he's still keeping secret from me? Well, it really sucks that no one can even tell me about my past. You know, because it has nothing to do about me, so obviously I'm not entitled to know about being and heiress to a throne."

"That's not true; he was trying to protect you. He told you that Voldemort is going to want you on his side, and he was just trying to lighten the load, he wasn't keeping secrets."

"Yeah, right. I'm going to go to bed, and first thing in the morning I'm going to Dumbledore, after that I'm sending Remus an angry letter. So my agenda for tomorrow:

1) See Dumbledore

2) Write angry letter to Remus

3) Avoid Harry

4) Go to classes.

That about sums up my plans for tomorrow. Well, good night." Artemis laid in bed, and began to draw the curtains shut.
"Why are you going to avoid Harry?"

"I don't want any more interrogations by him, doesn't he realize that he's being insensitive, and I don't want to talk about it. Then he complains that I told Seamus before I told him, well, Seamus asked me hours ago, and now I regret telling him anything. Good night." She drew her curtains shut and stared up at the ceiling, thinking, unaware that a few rooms over Harry was doing the exact same thing.