Seven Years Later...
Chapter 6 Part 1
"Regretful Moments"

You know the drill paco.
Author's Notes: And so it begins...

It was five-fifteen am. Artimis stood in the duelist room, checking her supplies. She was dressed in full out dueling gear, and the Dueling outfit her mother once wore. She had leather straps running over all her limbs, all holding vials and other Auror equipment. She breathed heavily, stretching to make sure none of her movement was restricted by her equipment.

She headed up to the foyer and awaited to see who would come with her. Changing her mind, she headed to Alexis's tower. Parvati and Apollo were there, the children sleeping in Alexis's bed.

"Apollo, stay here." She spoke lowly. Apollo looked to her with shock.

"Sister, I am coming." He demanded quietly, walking towards her.

"No. Stay with your children. Enough people have lost their father this week. Protect your wife, your children, my house." She spoke soothingly, and he nodded reluctantly. Parvati walked forward and embraced her.

"Artimis, I know we haven't ever really got that well along, but good luck, and you are in my prayers as well as the children's."

Artimis teared up slighty and hugged her sister in law.

'Parvati, take care of my brother. That is all you have to do to earn my favor. Just be there when he is in his weakest moment and stand beside him in his triumphs." Artimis cooed. Parvati nodded, choked upon tears, and Artimis approached the bed. She kissed her fingertips and laid them softly on the foreheads of her niece and nephew. She let one tear fall and left quickly, kissing her brother on the cheek as she left. She went downstairs and awaited her companions.

Alexis sat in the middle of the gymnastics room, breathing deeply, preparing. Warm ups were out of the way, supplies were set aside, mentally preparing herself was the next step. It was what she did before every battle. For her, it was necessary. She couldn't lose her cool, she had to get control of her power.

This battle she thought, no, she knew, was one of great importance and change. Something in her head told her this. No screw ups. She looked up calmly, quickly standing and smoothly strapping on a sheathed dagger under the cuff of jet black pants with shining silver and dazzling white flames running up the sides. The flames reached up the entire pants legs and also flared around the hems of her black, form fitting halter top. The material was of a stronger sort, made to withstand almost anything. She wore black combat boots laced tightly, and the gold charm necklace Artimis had given her rested unscathed on her neck, she never took it off. A black leather belt was strapped around her waist and held a pair of ornately carved nun-chucks, gifted to her by her mother.

The nun-chucks were passed down always by her family, Alexis being the last to recieve them before she left for wizarding school. On it were runes of protection and carvings of dragons, wolves, and other mythical forms that had carried some type of importance in her mother's family line. They were very dear to her.

She strapped on another slightly larger dagger as well. You could never be too careful. Her wand she tucked safely in a hand made leather pouch on her belt. She then glanced around the room fondly, as if for the last time, though she was determined to make it back here, with all of her friends.

She had barely spoken a word to anyone, especially Artimis, since the burning the night before, not knowing what words would sound right atop her anger. Sleep had been out of the question that night as well, the time spent thinking and training. She also didn't need Artimis to tell her that there would be fighting soon. It was inevitable. And about time.

Taking a last look around, she turned out the door, closing it softly behind her. Quietly, she walked through the rooms to the foyer, taking in every detail of her home like it was all new to her. She reached the foyer, stopping in front of the fireplace and looking up at the constantly moving photo of her and her family. She smiled smally, loving each and every one of them despite the mishaps and arguments they had always shared. She softly reached up and touched the frame of it, remembering past experiences and adventures. Footsteps sounded behind her and stopped, and Alexis dropped her hand, closing her eyes briefly.

Artimis saw Alexis lovingly caress the photo, and she gulped.

"Alexis?" Artimis whispered.

"Hmm?" Alexis said, not speaking.

"Why are you angry at me?" Artimis questioned lowly. Artimis looked her in the eyes, awaiting the answer she feared. Had Alexis truly seen what kind of bloodline I come from, had she seen that I am not as proper as I seem?...

"You should already know." Alexis spoke harshly.

"Hey, I should know what seven times six is too, but I don't." Artimis replied haltingly.

"I guess you're tough outta luck there, aren't you?" Alexis spoke coldly, and Artimis got a little upset.

"What is it? Hmm... Is it because of the ritual... Is it because you glimpsed what I am... I accepted you even for WHAT you ARE... why can't you do the same for me? AM I not good enough?" Artimis asked, her hands clasped at her sides, tears flowing from her cheeks.

Alexis clenched her fists, holding back the cutting remarks she had in mind for a moment. She slowly turned, meeting the blue eyed gaze of Artimis as she stood at the bottom of the stairs. She ignored her friend's tears as she hissed quietly, "After all these years of being my friend, you still see me as the daughter of a Deatheater? How could you, even in your grief stricken state, say that to me!"

Alexis's voice rose as she grew angry.

Artimis noticed the tense voice of her friend and realized she had hit the forbidden subject. She cried more, looking at the pain she had just inflicted on Alexis as if it were as real as color.

"Alexis, You know I didn't mean it like that...I just..."

'You just what, lost your prestige enough to voice your true thoughts?"Alexis spoke sarcastically, eyes narrowed viciously.

Artimis felt a stab in her heart as those words left Alexis's mouth.

"Never, You know I love you as a sister. I'm just so..."
"Self-centered?" Alexis interjected. Artimis stepped back, knowing Alexis was at that point.

"Artimis, It has been all night about, 'Artimis is sad', 'she's depressed', 'she attacked Snape'. Well, the hell with you! I loved your dad too. He was a dad to me as well. You've only lost one. I've now lost TWO. What about my pain? Did you even STOP to think about that!..." Alexis yelled, and Artimis backed up, realising that she had indeed been self-centered.

"Alexis, I'm sorry..." Artimis began, but Alexis cut her off.

"This battle is for your father alone. I don't think you are sorry Artimis, I don't think you ever are." Alexis spoke in a deadly calm as she walked past Artimis, not even glancing at her.

The household walked up the steep hill to the feild. They went over the crest of the hill, the sun coming up bloodred behind them. Artimis stood at the front, Alexis off to her right, Draco to her left. Remus stood beside Alexis and Aaron moved behind Draco. The rest filled in their prospective spots. Artimis saw the crowd of black and didn't even wait to talk to everyone else, but continued walking briskly, her skin going to horsehide as she moved, becoming Prancer in all her glory as she galloped. Alexis saw the sheilds go up before they hit the crowd.

Artimis fought bravely as the other rushed forward and she changed to her normal form, allowing Alexis to use her once again for a springboard. She drew her wand and began cursing everything that was not friend or family.

That was when she saw him, the long white-blonde hair behind a mocking silver mask. She zoned in on her target, and began fighting viciously to get to him. She cartwheeled and stunned a short Deatheater and leapt over the head of two more as she drew her sword easily. She began to fight another also equipped with a sword, slicing away at his cloak as she deftly dodged his blows. She spun too slow at one moment, the tip of his blade caressing her face in white-hot agony. She moved again and with one great swish, he lay at her feet unmoving. She was losing control, she knew it and she knew that bloodlust would be setting in soon. She saw Lucius rush toward a new incoming crowd of Deatheaters and she ran toward it, wand in one hand sword in the other as she briefly heard Alexis scream her name. She dove into the middle of the crowd, dropping them where they stood, yet only stunning, not killing. She used the flat of her sword more than the edge, for her blade only craved Malfoy Sr.'s blood. She rushed toward him and raised her sword high above her head, and that was the last thing she remembered as she was tossed into pained oblivion

.Deatheaters swarmed in a sea of black and silver below Alexis in the valley at the bottom of the hill. She swallowed the rising lump of adrenaline as her senses tingled with the upcoming fight. This was what she lived for. This and for her Family. Both dead and alive.

She avoided eye contact with Artimis, though already regretting her earlier words, making it a point to apologize and talk later.

If there is a later... she thougth as the crowd seemed to swell and grow before her. Artimis didn't slow, and neither did Alexis, smoothly shifting into her graceful wolf form as she loped after the horse form of Artimis. Wolf senses picked out the suddenly erected sheilds spells as Artimis changed back and knelt. With a quick burst of speed, Alexis jumped on her back and vaulted off, shifting back just in time to land on a surprised deatheater, crushing him to the ground, out cold. In one move, she backflipped over another and pulled out the pair of nun-chucks, swinging them in swift arcs effortlessly as a circle of the Dark Lords minions formed around her, waiting for an oppurtunity. She smiled grimly, then leapt forward, the weapons spinning lightning fast in front of her. She felt them crack against a head, then the soft flesh of another unlucky victim. The crowd quickly crushed in upon her, making it harder for her to manuevar as she whipped the nun-chucks in a fury in every direction, felling one after another, pushing her skill to the limits.

Too crowded for these... she thought quickly, yanking out her dagger reflexively as a deatheater lunged at her, feeling it sink into flesh and warm blood spilling over her hand. She snapped the nun-chucks onto her belt momentarily as she was knocked to the ground, a boot kicking her in the back of her legs. She growled inhumanely, holding her aching ribs from another kick. She grabbed one of the dudes, knocking her head into his, thus knocking him out as she flipped up.

She yelped in sudden pain, her vision sparking as a spell hit her. Fighting it off, she spun around angrily, focusing her power into her balled up fist and sending a jet of flame to the offending deatheater, watching him fall, screaming in agony. She grinned as she lashed out again at another, almost hitting a restrained Harry. She leapt and tackled both him and the deatheater, sinking her dagger into the man's chest an inch from Harry's ear. He looked up at her in shock as she nodded. She was then jerked back by the collar and buried under two or three cloaked bodies. Her lungs were crushed and her vision turned red as the weight of them suffocated her. She felt someone trying to tear them off her, but it wasn't working. So, she tried her way.

She let loose a barrage of green flame, searing the bodies above her and felt them jump off her, hearing their screams of agony and pain. And she loved it. She witnessed Ron quickly letting go of one of the flaming deatheaters, knowing he was the one who tried to help her.

Catching her breath, she quickly glanced around. Her eyes grew wide and her breath stopped abruptly as she saw a wave of fresh deatheaters flowing towards them. And Artimis rushing out to meet them, sword in hand.

"ARTIMIS!" Alexis yelled in despair as she watched her friend dive into the crowd. She started running forward, drawing her wand finally and stunning all in her way as she tried to make it to her friend's side, ignoring all blows or cuts she recieved. To her side, she viewed Draco keeping pace, determined to aid his love. Alexis saw an opening in the battlefeild of foes, and felt a glimmer of hope in reaching her friend. Suddenly, she was crushed to the ground. She turned her head, a look of pure hatred and desperateness in her eyes... and viewed Ron pinning her. A few thuds beside her let her know Draco had met the same barricade, being restrained by Aaron.

She gazed up at Ron in confusion and hurt, him looking down at her sorrowfully. But that didn't stop her. She heaved up, budging him in his surprise, and rammed him out of the way. She scrambled to her feet, but was jerked backwards as her arm was caught by Lupin.

"Let me GO! I've gotta help her!"

"NO Alexis! It's too late! There's too many for you alone! There's too many for all of us!"

Alexis spun to see Artimis falling to the ground, the swarm of deatheaters closing in around her. She screamed out in rage, turning to Lupin and trying to tear her hand away from him. He grabbed her other wrist, but she just started kicking, tears running down her face as she fought. He spun her around, pinning her arms behind her as he tried to drag her back, away from Artimis, away from her best friend, her sister. She cried as she yelled, never letting up her struggling as she was pulled away in their retreat, finally losing sight of Artimis.

MWHAHAHA! Cliffyness!

Deal with it!

(EckoStalker) and Deep Shadows