"You blew up your Aunt," I snarled as Harry and I stepped off the Hogwarts Express at Platform 9 and ¾. Most of the other students had already made their way onto the platform, and in the distance, I could see Will, Evie, Liam and Sarah hovering and searching the platform, most likely for me. None of them were particularly happy when Harry insisted that I stay with him. They weren't the only ones. One minute he wanted nothing to do with me, and the next, he was controlling my life.

Still, I wasn't in the mood to argue any more than absolutely necessary, and I didn't fancy having to answer my family's questions, so I followed Harry to the last compartment on the train and spent the majority of the journey in silence, making up for what little sleep I'd managed to get the night before.

"And you ran away from home," he replied with a small shrug of his shoulders. My jaw locked as I followed him down the platform, and I refused to meet his gaze when I felt it burning through my expression. He sighed heavily. "Because of me," he added reluctantly. "Now I'm here because of you. Guess this makes us even."

I scoffed sourly. "Not even close, Potter." He lifted an eyebrow coolly and I couldn't help smirking a little. "Nice try though." Without another word, I led the way off the platform and through the barrier to King's Cross station. The moment I'd stepped through, I was greeted with a loud, shrill welcome.

"Artemis!" Mia beamed, hurrying forward and wrapping me in a tight hug. "Honey, I was so happy when you said you were coming home for Christmas!"

Only because you have no idea why I'm here, I thought to myself, but I smiled back tightly. "Things are pretty . . . tense at Hogwarts." A snort sounded behind me and I glanced back at Harry with a scowl.

Mia's expression wavered. "Harry," she smiled. "Nice to see you. I didn't expect to see you back for Christmas."

He stared at her for a moment, and I was almost sure he was trying to decide if she was guilty of something. I felt my muscles tense, but before I could say anything, he relaxed and nodded toward a group of people behind her. "Neither did they."

I followed his gaze toward the three Dursleys, who were stood with possibly the most furious expressions I'd ever seen. Mia cleared her throat awkwardly. "They seem . . ."

"Awful," I finished shortly with a frown. "You should have stayed at Hogwarts."

"So should you," Harry scowled. My fists clenched at my sides.

Mia paused for a moment. "Maybe you should stay with us," she suggested, and I couldn't help shooting her a dark look. Having to be near him was one thing, but living in the same house for two weeks? The Gryffindor Tower was bad enough.

Harry glanced at me coolly. "I'll be fine, Mrs Williams. Merry Christmas." Smiling at her half-heartedly, he ignored me and moved toward the Dursleys.

I watched him go with a roll of my eyes. "You really shouldn't have said that, Mia," I grimaced, allowing her to take my trunk and lead me through the station.

"Apparently not," she muttered. "Is something going on between the two of you?"

I lifted an eyebrow. "Going on? Like what?" She gave me a deliberate look, her cheeks flushing slightly. I choked loudly. "You think – no, Mia! We just . . . My . . ." I could tell she didn't believe me, and the memory of him kissing me was suddenly back again, this time sending odd shudders down my spine. "It's a long story, and this really isn't the place to start talking."

She frowned. "About?"

The answer was out of my mouth before I could stop it. "Sirius Black."

She gasped in surprise, and I actually had to catch her arm to stop her from falling. Pursing my lips, I kept one arm looped through Mia's and my other hand latched around my trunk, moving through the station until we reached her car. She was still shocked and absolutely terrified if the look in her eyes was anything to go by, but she dutifully put my trunk in the back of the car and climbed into the driver's seat.

Predictably, the ride home was silent. I wasn't entirely sure what she thought I knew, or what she thought I was going to ask next, but knowing that this was her reaction after I'd only said the man's name didn't fill me with confidence. So naturally, I had already steeled myself for the worst as we drew up outside the house.

It was already dark out, and through the front window I could see Luke hauling Rosie into his arms with a big grin and I suddenly felt guilty for coming back. All I was going to do with ruin their Christmas. But now, with the look on Mia's face, I wasn't going to get out of it either.

"Take your trunk upstairs," she instructed under her breath. "Give me five minutes to put Rosie to bed, and then we'll talk, okay?" I gulped, nodding once and moving to take my trunk out of the car. "Arty, just listen to me for a moment," Mia rushed suddenly, stepping in front of me and taking my arms tightly. Her eyes were shining in worry. "Whatever happens in there, I love you, okay? No matter what anyone tells you, you are my daughter, and I'll fight anyone who says otherwise, understand?"

"I understand," I replied in a croaking voice. Before she could move, I threw my arms over her shoulders and hugged her tightly. She laughed shakily, squeezing me once and then helping me taking my trunk out of the back.

The moment we stepped through the door, Luke grinned widely. "Artemis!" he greeted in a hushed whisper, cradling Rosie against his chest as her eyes started to close. "Welcome home!"

"Thanks," I smiled as Mia hurried forward to take Rosie from her husband's arms. Luke's expression wavered a little when she wouldn't meet his eyes, and I gulped hard, turning to pick my trunk up. "I'll just put this away."

"I'll take it," Luke insisted, waving me away and taking the trunk off me. "There's some Butterbeer in the kitchen if you want it. Your Uncle Dexter bought you some when you didn't go on any of the Hogsmeade trips."

"Oh," I said, my stomach dropping through the ground. "That's great, Luke, thanks." He frowned slightly, but nodded once and started up the stairs after Mia and Rosie. Taking a ragged breath, I strode through to the kitchen and poured myself a goblet of Butterbeer, my hands shaking as I worked. For only the second time in my life, I felt my throat closing and tears welling in the back of my eyes.

"So how's school, kid?" Luke's voice came as he entered the kitchen, yawning widely. I sniffed, turning away and taking another breath in a vain attempt to calm myself down. There was a moment's silence. "Artemis? What's wrong?" I glanced at him over my shoulder as Mia stepped through the door, her face already pale and her hands clamped together tightly. Luke straightened, his eyes flicking between the two of us. "Is someone going to tell me what's going on?" he insisted.

"I was in Hogsmeade yesterday," I blurted. "I hadn't gone before, and I wanted to get some things for Christmas. We called in The Three Broomsticks while we were passing, and the Minister of Magic was there, talking to a few of the teachers." I hesitated, trying to measure their reactions. "They didn't know I could hear them."

Luke's face darkened. "What did they say?"

"A lot," I admitted with a shaky breath. "Like how Sirius Black handed Lily and James Potter to Voldemort, how he married my Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher's sister, and how the two of them are my parents."

Nothing but an awkward silence followed my words. Mia was leant in the doorway, her lips quivering and her arms wrapped around her body like she was afraid she'd fall apart. On the opposite side of the kitchen, Luke had gone rigid, his fists balled and his eyes narrowed. Never before in my life had I ever seen him this angry, not even when I accidentally set the house on fire on my seventh birthday.

Still, I couldn't just stand here all night. Now that the worst was over, I needed answers. I needed to be able to make sense of this before I returned to Hogwarts and confronted Lupin, who was most certainly next on my list of priorities. "You didn't think it was a good idea to tell me?"

"H-Honey, we could never find the right time," Mia mumbled, and I couldn't help laughing.

"When he broke out of Azkaban to kill my best friend, maybe?" I suggested.

She gasped, wide-eyed. "Don't be absurd, Artemis, he can't be after Harry!"

Luke scoffed darkly, shaking his head and running his hands through his hair. "All these years," he growled darkly. "Everything that man has done and you're still defending him?"

"Still?" I frowned. Mia shot Luke an irritated look, shuffling anxiously under my burning gaze. "Alright look. I've just found out my father is a mass murdering madman by overhearing the Minister of Magic gossiping about it in the local pub. The two people who've been my parents for the past twelve years didn't bother saying a word, and apparently, I've been being taught Defence by my Uncle, who hasn't said a single word about Black or Selena, and this is before I even start on what this is doing to Harry, so someone had better start talking. Quickly."

There was a moments silence, in which Mia moved her lips soundlessly and Luke scowled at me in deep thought. "We met your father back in Hogwarts," Mia started with a gulp. "He, James and your Uncle were a couple of years ahead of us, but back then, he was one of the nicest guys I knew."

"Thought you knew," Luke corrected sourly.

Mia's jaw tightened. "It wasn't until a year or so later that I met your mother. From what I can tell, she had a rather tough childhood so she didn't meet your father until they were in their sixth year."

"Yeah, and they were inseparable afterwards," Luke spat. "Right up until he got her killed."

I felt the air disappear around me. My stomach clenched and my head spun. My hand automatically reached out to the work tops to catch me as my knees caved. All of a sudden, my eyes burned and my throat tightened and I found I couldn't breathe properly.

"She – she –"

"Luke!" Mia scolded and I felt her arms around me in the same second. I could barely see her through the tears. "Oh god, Artemis, I'm so sorry, you should never have heard like that, I'm sorry, I-"

"No, stop!" Luke yelled. "Why shouldn't she hear it as it is? Her father is the reason Selena is dead and what did he do next? Abandon his daughter with the ex-girlfriend he dumped the moment her mother arrived on the scene then trade his best friend to the darkest wizard of all time! There isn't a nice way to hear this, Mia, and the more you stand there trying to soften the blow, the more you're playing right into his hands!"

"How dare you," she breathed, dangerously quiet. "Do you even care how she feels? She's our daughter, Luke!"

"And why is that?" he spat back. "Because Black batted his eyelashes at you and you melted? He didn't want her here because of you, he wanted her here because of that bloody Potter kid, who quite frankly is just as likely to get her killed as he was for Selena!"

Without thinking, I yanked myself out of Mia's grip and smacked Luke sharply across the face, tears streaming down my cheek. Mia squeaked in panic, but did nothing to pull me back. "Don't speak about him like that," I snarled. "You know when all of this started coming out, he as good as hated me, and still he's the only one who's actually there for me. He can't stand to look at me and think my father killed his parents, and still, he came home to the Dursleys because he didn't want to leave me alone, so don't even think about comparing him to that man, do you understand me?"

Luke took a ragged breath, massaging his jaw line with a scowl. "You have no idea what's going on," he muttered. "Why your parents were together in the first place. That kind of power, that kind of magic isn't right. It's dangerous, Artemis, and I've been praying since the first time you called me Daddy that you were different. But I was wrong, wasn't I? You and Potter are exactly the same as they were."

"And what's that?" I asked through my teeth.

"I don't know," he snorted darkly, shaking his head. "Ask your dear Uncle. All I know is you're dangerous, the pair of you, and it came back to bite us the first time. I'm not sure I can watch it do the same again."

My face fell. I might not know what he was talking about, but I couldn't fail to mistake that. "You want me gone," I breathed.

"No," Mia rushed, hurrying forward and pulling me back. "No, Artemis, you aren't going anywhere, no one is."

"Don't, Mia!" Luke scowled. "I've been praying since her third birthday she was different, but look at her! Look at what happened the first time! Are you really willing to let it slide? You're going to stand by and watch her and Potter wreck our lives – Rosie's life – for Black?"

Mia frowned, holding me tightly. "No, I won't. But I will do it for Artemis. My daughter. The girl who spends every minute she can helping us, or looking out for her sister and her cousins. The same girl who stood against You-Know-Who twice and won. And you know what? I'll do it for Harry, too."

It wasn't the reaction that he was expecting. Even in his anger, his face slackened and his shoulders sagged. It took a few seconds for him to find his voice. "I won't stand by and watch," he murmured.

"Then you know where the door is," Mia choked, sniffing once and straightening out in determination. I wanted to say something, anything to keep Luke here, but the horror at what this had come to made me purse my lips to stop them shaking.

Before any of us could move, someone knocked sharply on the door and I found myself moving just to give me something to do. Sniffing loudly and wiping the back of my sleeve across my cheeks, I took a deep breath and pulled the door open.

My mouth went dry as Harry caught his breath on the doorstep, his skin red from the cold winter wind and his black hair ruffled even more than usual. "Arty," he breathed, his eyebrows pulling together a little. "What's wrong?"

I burst before I could say a word, and the tears were suddenly streaming down my cheeks. Without a word, he stepped over the doorstep and pulled me into a hug, closing the door behind him. "Where's Mia and Luke?" he muttered, still holding me tightly. That just made me cry harder and only the sound of footsteps coming toward us made me attempt to choke them back.

"Oh," Mia breathed. "Oh god, bring her through would you, dear?" Harry nodded, steering me through the living room door and into the middle of the room.

"Oh, this is brilliant," Luke grumbled. "Why not just open the door and ask Black to kill us all?"

I looked up, just in time to see Harry's jaw slacken in surprise and Mia's face set in absolutely fury. "Get out," she ordered, snapping her fingers at Luke and pointing to the door. His face fell. "I'm serious Luke. If you can't accept this, then leave."

"You've got to be kidding me," he glowered, with a locked jaw. "You're choosing Black? Again? After everything he put you through? Everything he's done?" Harry went rigid beside me, but his grip only doubled.

"She's our daughter, Luke!" she insisted again, and my heart swelled at the lengths this woman was going to, all to protect me. "And she needs our help. If you want to leave, no one is going to stop you. But me and Rosie are staying put."

Luke's eyes widened. "You can't keep Rosie near all this, Mia, please! Just look at the two of them! It's starting all over again!"

"And we'll deal with it, just like we did last time," she said through gritted teeth. "It isn't going to be easy, but she needs family, and Rosie needs her big sister."

"This is insane, Mia," Luke breathed, running his hands over his face.

"No, this is right."

For a moment, no one moved or said a word. Then the very thing we all knew was coming happened and I thought in that moment Black had actually caused my world to fall apart.

"Fine," Luke frowned, striding forward and grabbing his jacket off the back of the armchair by the window. "But I'll be back for Rosie. There's no way on earth I'm leaving her here with them two." He didn't look at me as he spoke, and something flinched in Harry's face.

"That's it?" he scowled. Luke went rigid, glowering at the thirteen year with sheer hatred. I wasn't entirely surprised if he was comparing him to Black. "She's been your daughter for twelve years and all it takes for you to walk out on her is her finding out Black is her father?"

"Don't lecture me on what you don't understand, Potter," Luke growled. "Come back to me in a few years when the two of you have ruined each other's lives." In that second, I wasn't sure which of us wanted to hit him more.

"For what it's worth," Luke continued, as if he was suddenly in pain. "I'm sorry, Artemis. I wish things were different but-"

"They aren't, so forget it," I scowled through my tears. "Don't worry though, considering who my biological father is you didn't really have much to live up to, did you?" His eyes flashed, but all he did was take a deep breath before turning out of the room.

The front door slammed behind him, and Mia dropped into the chair to the left, her eyes oddly out of focus and shining with tears. I, on the other hand, was still sat in the middle of the sofa, wrapped in Harry's arms with a strange, tingling feeling like I was trying to detach myself from my current situation.

Sniffing loudly, I dipped my hand into my pocket and pulled out the white gold locket Black had sent me for my birthday. Harry glanced down at it, watching me prize it open. When he caught sight of his parents, he stiffened next to me and I choked loudly, fresh tears burning my eyes.

Slowly, he took the locket from my fingers gently and held it up higher. "This is your mother?" he asked quietly. "Selena?"

I nodded, blinking past another wave of tears. "She's dead, Harry," I whispered. "She's gone."

He cursed under his breath as I lost control, blubbering into my hands. He pulled me closer, but he must have known there was nothing he could say or do. My mother was gone, and I'd never be able to remember her.