2. Beginning

Artemisia grew up to be a happy child, not knowing any pain or sorrow other than the weeks when Kingsley was away on ministry duty. He would always return with gifts for her, and the large flat they shared was never lonely. He had many people come to look after her, she would have friends over and her life was a charmed one to say the least. She was very adult for her age, "Arty" Kingsley called her, she hated the nickname but agreed that it was less of a mouthful. People never questioned how exactly he came to have her, they looked nothing alike yet she always called him "Baba" or "Mzazi" meaning father or if she was in a joking mood she would call him "Pops". She never asked why or how he was her father, she didn't need to she knew he was and that was all she needed. Their flat was huge almost an entire floor or their building it had dark wooden floors and many bed and bathrooms that were all rather large and well-furnished, they were all lined up along hallway that lead into the living room and diningroom, and then into a medium sized kitchen with white marble counter tops and dark wood cabinets. Their fruniture was either white or dark leather.

The entire flat had a warm and open feeling about it, that might have been from the fire place that Kingsley had charmed to warm and cool as needed in the summer it would glow a deep blue and be as cold as ice but it would be a normal orange flame in the winter. Artemisia's room was large and mostly mint and silver, she loved thoose colors, whenever she was alone she would go into her room and draw invisable patterns on her walls with her hands and Kingsley would come in to make sure she was okay, ask her what she was doing and she would say "Making a house for Cesare!" Kingsley would look at her wide eyed, "And who is that?". She could never say, she would always just shrug her shoulders and hop on his back and make him take her to the park down the street. Some nights she would wake up screaming and have half of the things in her room crashing to the floor, after the first few times Kingsley made sure to get her things that would be rather hard to smash. She would run into the hall to find Kingsley waiting for her halfway between their rooms and snuggle up to him with tears in her eyes, he would never ask why she was crying, it was like he already knew. On her birthday every year they would go to see a film, just the two of them, then they would have a nice, small dinner, and then they would stay up all night playing card games.

This year it was diffrent, she was turning eleven and recieveing her Hogwarts letter on her birthday was the best present she could have hoped for, july twenty-seventh ninteen eighty-nine was a day for the history books as far as she was concerned. Kingsley scooped her into his arms, the man was a child inside his apperance intimiadted some people and his deamenor was often seen as cold but his heart was as warm as their fireplace come wintertime. They decided to head to Diagon Alley to get their shopping done, and it was a present in itself, Artemisia had never gotten to go to Diagon Alley, Kingsley didn't want her to get lost or overexcited. After arriving in Diagon Alley Artemisia was beside herself, she was speaking a mile a minute and trying to look at everything. They stopped at Eeylops Owl Emporium and Artemisia spent about half an hour trying to decide between two owls, the almost flaming orange spotted barn owl that tried to bite her finger was decided the winner, "He is feisty! I think his spirit will give him an edge!" edge at what Kingsley will probably never know. Artemisia decided to name him Bwana, "He will master the skies, come on Kingsley it will be cool!". Kingsley let her run amuck in Madame Mankin's Robes for all occasions, he was enjoying himself just watching her run through all of the racks and play in all the colors of robes. She had grown so much in the past five years, now her once tiny body had become rather lanky and an awkward mass of legs. Her eyes still sparkled the same shade of almost green, and her hair was a long blonde knot she managed to fit into a bun high ontop of her head. She had a few dark freckles on her cheeks were covered by an everpresent flush of pink, her once pale skin now had an olive glow to it, she was a strange girl but in a few years she would look like she belonged in a magazine selling the ideal happy family sundresses. He knew she would grow into a very beautiful young woman, he wondered where or who she got it from.

Neither he nor Dumbledore ever found more than a whisper of her parents or brother, all they had was a couple of names from the hospice files that didn't get destroyed in the raid. Not that the wizarding world was in happier times it didn't seem to make sense to bother her with things of the past. She was only supposed to be his for a short while, but after the first few nights Kingsley knew that he couldn't let her go, she needed something and he wanted it to be him. The young girl had attatched herself to him immediantly after she woke up, Dumbledore had done an excellent job of slowly making her forget her past life. It was a very gradual change, she had a few days of knowing the pain but after a week she was a new person, same name and curious mind but she couldn't recall a time when Kingsley wasn't her "Baba". He never had to try very hard to welcome her, he found that having her in his life made him a better man. He had never wanted children, he was an auror and didn't want to leave a family behind.

"Come Arty, we need to get you to Ollivander's soon, you can play in a closet most anywhere." he said fondly. His strong dark features held a smile, he scooped her up and onto his shoulders so she couldn't fight him. "But Mzazi! There are so many colors! Is it a crime to want something for my eyes to dance on?" she giggled. One of her greatest pass times was riding on Kingsley's shoulders, it let her finally feel tall, living with a six foot four man gave her a height complex, he had told her time and again that she was perfectlly normal for her age but she wouldn't have it. Once they walked into Ollivander's she wouldn't have been able to tell if she was on Kingsley's shoulders on floating in the air, she was used to magic, Kingsley had even showed her a few wandless tricks when he felt she was ready, it was like the air in the shop was unlike any she had ever breathed. A wild looking man with a slight slouch scurried over to the eagerly, "Kingsely, my good man! How have you been? Mahogany and unicorn hair fourteen and one half inches, right?" the man spoke with greak speed, anyone could tell he was busy with the new students buzzing around his shop. His large silver eyes drifted to Artemisia, "Who is this now? Yours Kingsley, must be." he murmured as he crouched down to her level. He eyed her for a moment and then began to messure her, his tape messure moving wildly across her; she got dizzy trying to follow it. He pulled a long, thin box from one of his tall shelves and blew some dust off the top of it before pulling out a wand, "Here we have one I think will fit you nicely, it is holly with manticore hair at about ten inches, now swish for me please" she did as she was told and he pondered for a moment. "No I think not, not at all." he moved swiftly to the back of his shop and stayed hidden back there for a few moments until he returned with a shorter box.

As he revealed the wand Artemisia felt her heart pound and had a sharp intake of breath, it was beautiful a short, dark wand with a carving of a wing emerging from a spinal collum at the end of it, "Now this one is rather odd, it has been here for years, even longer than I have. It is purple heart wood and ebony, not common to mix woods now, often seen as to tedious let alone two rare woods as this. The core is unicorn hair and it is rather short just a mere seven and a half inches, but I think this might be the one for you". Her fingers shook as she plucked it from his open palm, carefully she pulled the wand into the air and brought it across her body. "Yes, very odd wand indeed but now I see. It has a partner in its oddity now" he smiled at her and she was overjoyed her heart felt as thought it was swelling. She skipped out of the wand shop and almost ran into a large group of people, Kingsley had to take a few long steps and catch her before she tripped the group. "Sorry, she gets over excited in crowds" he said, he looked at the group she had almost been trampled by. "Molly, how nice to see you." he said curtly, the stout woman nodded at him. He would have said more but Dumbledore didn't want Kingsley to look too fond of the Weasley family, it would make spying at the ministry rather hard if he didn't act rather rude to Arthur. "Your young one off to Hogwarts this year aswell?" she asked politely, she made a questioning glance at the young girl at his side. "Yes, and you have another lot to send off?" he realized it might sound harsh and he would apologize later but one never knows what eyes are watching. "My son Percy will be a third year and my twins, Fred an George are going to be first years. Boys! Get over here!" she bellowed and out of nowhere appeared to young boys that were taller than her. "Oy! You don't have to yell!" one said, "Yeah, can you believe she would speak to children like that?" the other nodded in agreement, "Dreadful shame, isn't it Fred?". Artemisia felt like she was dizzy trying to keep her eyes on which tein was speaking, she tried to back behind Kingsley but all that did was catch their attention. They smilled brightly at her and began to circle around her until yet another ginger blocked their path witha stern look. Her was older than them and taller by a few inches Artemisia could tell he was a stick in the mud by his posture alone but she was grateful to him for fending off the boys. "Well I think we should be off, lots of shopping to get done." and they were off in a mass of red hair and yelling, leaving a path parted in their wake.

Kingsley took Artemisia home and they continued her birthday tradition of card games until she piped up with a question, "Kingsley, who was that lady and why did you two talk to eachother like that?" he looked down at her, "Like what my dear?". She paused, "I don't see you talk to anyone else like that, it was cold and.. and" she turned her head slightly, like a dog that had heard a new noise. "I know her husband from work, they are good people but I can't talk to them the way I would like. It is something you will understand when you get abit older." he said as he stroked her hair, "Now be off to bed, you need to get some sleep after the day you had."