A.N.: No reviews! . Sad... Well, here's the next chapter!

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Artemis sat frozen in terror as Tom fell. She felt like her heart was torn out. Slipping out of the upper part of her robe, she closed her eyes and dived into the murky water despite Professor Dippet's yells. When she felt her skin tingle with goose bumps, she opened her eyes.

She stared in horror at the scene she was witnessing. The merfolk they had seen earlier were carrying him off to an unknown location. I have to get down there! she thought, swimming back to the surface to get some air. Dippet was still shouting when she surfaced, his face red with rage. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING? GET BACK HERE!" he roared, not doubting that she would come back.

Artemis ignored him and dived back down. Swimming quickly but silently among the reeds, she followed the merfolk's path. She began to hear a voice, wailing in a strange language, and she followed it. She resurfaced about three times before she even saw a hint of Tom.

The merfolk were floating in front of a kraken, whose black eyes gleamed with hunger. Its tentacles reached out towards the group, and the elder merman extended his arms to give Tom as an offering. Suddenly, Artemis remembered that she had her wand in her hand. Extending her arm, she shouted a spell she had heard her father use when she was little. "SECTUMSEMPRA!" The word echoed through the water.

The kraken squirmed. Suddenly all the blood in the monster gushed out. It gushed until the monster went limp. I killed it. The word rang loud and clear in her head. I KILLED IT.

The merfolk turned towards her. She was afraid that they were going to attack her, but they just stared. As she swam forwards a bit, they turned and fled.

When Artemis reached Tom's body, she noticed that he had gills and webbed hands. He was breathing. Why did they want him alive when they were going to sacrifice him to the kraken? She questioned herself. She shook her head. She was going to have to think this over when they were at the school.

She swam to the surface, dragging him behind her. Spying the boats, still floating there waiting for her, she started half-breast stroked towards them. Dippet, being as tall as he was, spied her and directed his boat over to her. "DON'T YOU EVER DO THAT AGAIN, MISS! THAT'S AGAINST THE SCHOOL RULES! YOU---" His face turned from purple to pale. "Merlin, is that the boy who was with you?" he said, staring in wonder. He pulled her up onto the boat, and let her hold Tom's hand so that he wouldn't sink underwater as Dippet maneuvered the boat back to the group.

"Yes, his name's Tom Riddle, sir. The merfolk were about to give him to a kraken as a sacrifice when I got there---"

"That means that the kraken will be here any minute!" He said hysterically.

"No, Professor. The kraken is dead."

"WHAT?"

"I….. killed it."

"How?" he asked staring at her, his eyes as big as saucers.

She sighed and opened her palm. Dippet stared at the wand. "You…?"

"I cast a spell."

"Where'd you hear it?" he said gently, his voice shaking with awe.

"My dad cast it once when I was five. He killed a rat that was trying to bite me." She said, watching him carefully.

Dippet closed his eyes and massaged his forehead. "We'll talk about this later. First we have to find Mrs. Bucklewart. We can't start the sorting without Tom, and we have to see how long the gillyweed will last. It took you about thirty minutes to find him, so…." He said as they neared the beach, "It should take another thirty minutes for the weed to wear off."

"Where will we put him, Professor?"

"Professor Dumbledore should be here any minute; he'll stay with you until I get back. Ah, here he comes now." Dippet said as a red haired man in a purple suit and moon-shaped glasses came running.

"Merlin's beard, this is the boy I told you about, Leo!" Dumbledore exclaimed. "The one from the orphanage." He said quickly after Dippet gave him a confused look.

"I'll be back in a flash. Stay with them; I'm counting on you Dumbledore!" Dippet said ignoring what the strange looking Professor had just said. Twirling his wand, the head master disappeared.

Dumbledore turned to Artemis and looked at her intently. "And you must be Artemis Becklaire. Tom's friend."

"Yes, sir."

"Could you please tell me how it all happened?" he asked gently.

She told him. She told him how Tom fell into the water, how the merfolk kidnapped him, and how she killed the squid. She even told him how the merfolk fled when she approached them.

"Let me see your wand." He said, taking it from here palm and staring at it with interest. "You must be wondering why you can cast spells underwater. Your wand is made of a magical oak's bark, mermaid skin, and centaur hair. That combination allows you to do that with out being hurt. It has very good aim too. Take good care of it."

"Thank you, Professor Dumbledore." She said looking at him like she had known him for years.

"You're very welcome, Artemis." He said, smiling affectionately.

A.N.2: WHY WON'T ANYONE REVIEW? GRR...