Omg, guys, double update!
Okay, so this is chapter four. For those who don't know, I updated this a couple weeks ago, and for some reason It said it hadn't been updated since april, but showed there were three chapters, and also didn't send out alerts to you guys. So… uhm… go read that chapter if you haven't already.
I don't own Harry Potter, or the characters. Lisa is actually a canon character! I only own Artemis. And Jasmine… and Noctis… but that's all…
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The next morning they groggily made their way down into the common room. Artemis had pulled her hair up into a high ponytail, the ringlets still falling down her back, her robes in perfect condition with her pants pressed, as well as her shirt. Of course, there was enough loose hair that Noctis was rested comfortably on her head again, batting at her face with large paws. She chuckled and scratched behind his ear to calm him, which worked. Her wand holster was on her wrist and she fiddled with it a moment before straightening. Her glamour ring was firmly in place and she grinned when she saw her brother standing by the couch with his best friends. "Drake!" she called, waving as she headed his way. He grinned at her and they hugged. He had his hair slicked back as usual while his tie was a little loose. Artemis shook her head and reached out, fixing it.
"Mother would have a cow if she saw that." He paled and nodded.
"You're right. I forgot to fix it before coming down. Do you think we'll have any classes with the Ravenclaws?" Draco asked, earning a confused look from Crabbe and Goyle before they remembered that Hermione was in that house.
"I don't know, but it looks like we're about to find out," Artemis answered, jerking her chin to the entrance, where Professor Snape had just walked in holding everyone's time tables. Draco smiled a little at his godfather, who returned it with a nod.
"Once I've handed out your timetable, head to the great hall for breakfast," the dark man drawled. He began with the seventh years, and went down. Finally Artemis and Draco had theirs and looked them over. Joy leapt through her heart for some reason as she saw she shared every other class with the Ravenclaws, and only two with Gryffindors or Hufflepuffs. Transfiguration, potions, history of magic, defence against the dark arts, and herbology were with Ravenclaws. Charms with Hufflepuffs, and Astronomy with Gryffindors. She grinned at Draco, who chuckled as he followed her to the great hall. When she got in, she instantly spotted Hermione, and started sneaking up on her friend. She made a shushing motion to the girls around the bushy haired girl, who kept their attention on their friend, and giggled when Artemis tickled the muggleborn's sides.
"Artemis!" she yelped, glaring at the grinning lion, though the glare broke then the black panther jumped down into her lap, purring and rubbing up against her chin, causing the girl to giggle a little.
"Well, hello to you, too, dear Hermione. I was wondering if maybe you would like to sit next to little ol' me in class?" Artemis gave her a hopeful grin, fangs and all, and the girls sitting with Hermione were stuck between giggling and shocked. A Pureblood, scratch that, a Black was asking a muggleborn to sit beside them in class. They had a familiarity between them that also shocked the surrounding people. It escaped all notice besides Artemis's that Dumbledore wa weirdly interested in their interaction. Something about the man creeped her out.
"I would love to, as long as you haven't made new friends to sit beside instead?" Hermione answered, looking at the table not far from hers. Artemis looked at the table to find a few interested older witches and wizards, but dismissed it.
"You're my best friend, darlin. I'm not gonna sit beside someone else if I can sit beside you." Hermione blushed and smiled.
"I would love to sit beside you, Art." She was answered with a beaming grin, watching Noctis climb the other witch's robes and jumped back up onto her head to lay there.
"Awesome! I'll meet you after breakfast and walk with you?" Getting a nod, the lion waved and jogged over to her table, oblivious to the glare from a certain redhead, who had paused in stuffing his face. Shortly after she sat down, owls came pouring in, two rather proud looking owls, one a black and white eagle owl, the other a silvery grey barn owl, landed in front of Artemis and Draco.
"Looks like mom and dad sent their greetings," the young boy chuckled. They opened the letters, pouring over their own, then the other's, before opening the care packages. Within Artemis's box she found some ink that changed colors as she wrote, a new book on mythical creatures, some of her favorite sweets, and a box that had Hermione's name in it, along with a note. She chuckled, reading the note for her on top of the box.
Darling, I didn't think Hermione's parents had the money to get her many personalized things. Within the box are a few things I've gathered the might like from what you've said about her. Feel free to present it to her after you look through your box. Love you, little lion.
Artemis's heart swelled at her mother's thoughtfulness and she stood, box in hand, and Noctis clinging to her head as she walked back over to the Ravenclaw table. This time Hermione saw her and raised an eyebrow, noticing the box she held.
"My mother sent this to me, so I could give it to you. She figured you would want a few things to make getting use to magic a little easier. I suspect my aunt Jay helped her." Hermione blushed and took it, standing up to kiss Artemis's cheek.
"Tell your mom I said thank you? I think I'll open this in my room later on." She smiled again and headed for her common room while Artemis grinned and went to her own table. Draco was eating again and their boxes were gone. "Snape vanished them to our rooms for us," her brother explained and she nodded, finishing her food and giving pieces of bacon and meat to a still cranky Noctis. After that, Artemis met up with Hermione and they walked to class.
Class went like this for several weeks, with Artemis reminding Draco to not put his foot too far in his mouth whenever he talked to others. Hermione was thriving in class, her and Artemis rather tied for first in their class. It turned out that within the box for the muggleborn was a holster like Art's, a few books on her favorite subjects, and a self-sharpening and refilling quill. The girl was thrilled, and even more so when Artemis found out her birthday was the 19th of September. The Slytherin presented her with a necklace that held the Ravenclaw house crest, the eagle on it even tending to hop around the chain on it's own. What shocked her even more that while her own parents sent her gifts, she received some from Lucius and Narcissa as well.
Artemis's birthday was fast approaching, her first one away from home in years, and she watched as teachers put up black and orange decorations, her house mates singing happy birthday to her at random. It was odd, but she couldn't be happier. The day seemed rather interesting and normal, even… until, of course, her last class came and Hermione was missing. She was immediately on alert. As soon as she entered the great hall, instead of going to her table she went to the Ravenclaws. The fact that her friend wasn't there, either, made her even more tense. She spotted a small brunette girl with blue eyes and jogged over to her. She had been sitting with Hermione since the first day.
"Hey, Lisa, right?" she panted out, starting to panic. Hermione never missed class, and now she wasn't at dinner.
"Uh, yeah. Artemis, right?"
"Yes. Have you seen Hermione? She missed class." A frown pulled at the girl's face.
"She's in the bathroom. Some redheaded Gryffindor made a comment about her being a nightmare. Said that's why she doesn't have any friends. It… she's been crying." Rage consumed Artemis's body, her blood boiling. "She's in the bathroom in the dungeons. I think she may have been looking for you, but you get to class pretty quick."
"Thank you," she grit out and Noctis nearly fell off the lion's head as she bolted out the doors. She was pissed at Weasley, as he was the only redheaded Gryffindor that had the gall to say such things, but was far more worried about her friend. She must have broken some record as she raced down several flights of stairs to reach her goal, her sensitive hearing picking up Hermione's heartbreaking sobs from a flight above her. It only took her another ten minutes to reach her destination and she walked into the bathroom, taking a deep breath.
"'Mione?" she whispered, knocking on the stall the girl was hiding in. She heard some sniffling and a blowing nose before the door was opened. Rage was overcome with worry at the sight of the red, puffy eyes, blotchy cheeks, and quivering lips. "Oh, merlin…" Artemis mumbled as she pulled the distraught girl into her arms. Hermione let out a fresh wave of sobs and clutched her friend's robes. Artemis rocked her slightly, rubbing her back and petting her head while Noctis waited until he had room to offer his own form of comfort. It took some time, Artemis whispering that she had her and wouldn't let anything hurt her, and the panther cub later slinking down to rub against her, but Hermione relaxed and calmed down. Of course, just as they smiled at each other and were reassured that everything was okay, Artemis heard it.
The thud of heavy, clumsy feet.
The sound of something being dragged.
"Art…"
"Shh!" she gasped as the smell hit her. A troll.
How the bloody hell did a troll get in the castle?!
"Stay down, and stay quiet. If he doesn't hear us, he won't come," Artemis whispered, keeping Hermione behind her as she tried to close the door as quietly as possible. Unfortunately, Noctis decided that now was a good time to play with a mouse that suddenly appeared. She shot off, catching it but causing it to squeak and do a mouse version of a scream. Horrified, Artemis heard the troll pause before heading their way.
"Shit! Noctis!" she yell-whispered, and he came over, the now dead mouse firmly in his grasp. She grabbed the proud cub and held him close, trying to keep him silent as she watched a fully grown mountain troll walk into the too late she realized the end of her robe was sticking out of the stall and yanked it into the stall with her.
Which, it seemed, was her final mistake.
The troll spotted it and roared, swinging his club wildly. Artemis yelped and shielded Hermione and Noctis as the stalls broke under the force.
"Go, take Noctis and crawl out of the way. Try to stay safe. I'll hold him off until the staff can find us." Hermione nodded and Artemis ducked under another swing, whipping her wand out of its holster. "Oi! Over here, you wanker!" The troll looked at her and she yelled out "FLIPENDO!" knocking the troll back a few paces, though not nearly what would have happened to a human. She grit her teeth, ducking under his attacks as she sent stinging charms, jinxes, and everything she could think of. Finally, she remembered the charm they had learned today in charms.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" she yelled, the club slipping out of the trolls hands. Without it, the troll simply charged her, managing to knock her to the side. Artemis let the club drop, hitting the back of the creature's ankle, causing him to stumble. She cast a tripping jinx, watching the troll fall flat on it's face while she thought quickly. How would she knock this thing out.
"Oh, bloody hell, of course!" she grunted as the troll got up, charging her again. Pointing her wand at the club, she sent it flying into the trolls stomach, making it roar in pain. "Oh, bad aim." she tried again, hitting him square in the face. It crumbled to the ground as several teachers came rushing. Artemis leaned back against the wall, dust caked on her face, a few splinters sticking from her arms and face from the stalls breaking. It seemed that she finally regained her senses and ran over to Hermione, who was huddled under a sink.
"You okay?" she demanded.
"Am I okay?!" she fumed. "You just took on a troll! A fully grown troll! You could have died! He almost got you like four times!"
"What in god's name were the two of you thinking?!" came a stern voice from behind them. Artemis stood, her adrenaline wearing off as she started to shake.
"Well, we were in here when the troll came in. We couldn't just run, I had to fight."
McGonagall fumed. "The headmaster told everyone to go to their dormitories. What are you two doing down here? That's what I want to know."
"We've been here since the start of dinner. I came to check on my friend. It must have been long before the announcement. I wasn't going to bolt and leave Hermione on her own, no matter how capable she is," Artemis replied evenly, holstering her wand. Despite the front she was putting up, she was in a lot of pain, her right side bruised badly from being thrown.
"You've been down here the whole time?" she asked, sceptical.
"Professor, she did state that. I, myself, saw young Ms. Black leave at the beginning of the feast, Ms. Granger didn't even arrive. I think the fact that they survived a fully grown mountain troll, and managed to knock it out on top of it, is quite the feat. Did both of you fight the troll?"
"Y-" Artemis started, wanting to give her friend some of the credit, but Hermione cut her off.
"Actually, she told me to hide. She didn't want me hurt, especially if something happened to her. She was trying to hold it off until you got here."
"Oh, well done, Artemis!" Professor Flitwick exclaimed. "Fifty points to Slytherin for bravery and skill!"
"And I believe points should go to Ms. Granger," Snape drawled, shocking the rest of the staff. "Ten points for dumb luck. The two of you may go to your houses." He took another look at Artemis. "Actually, come to the hospital wing. We need to get you both looked at for injuries."
They nodded, Noctis staying in Hermione's arms as Artemis trudged over to the door, only making it a few more feet before she passed out, blood dripping down her arms and side.
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-runs from angry mob- Don't kill me don't kill me don't kill me!
Being a Scrub: It's all good, she's in the past now and I can move on now. And yes, I shall rise out of the ashes and become someone better like the amazing magical Phoenix I am! Lol, hope you liked this one! Cheers, bro!
Imouto: I know, I know, Art didn't punch Ron, but she was a bit side tracked. Later, maybe. He's gonna sport a black eye all the way to the hospital wing ;)
Okay, so… how should I move on with the stone? Lol Thoughts, things you liked, and all that are good to hear :) Sk8rgrl out!