Artemis Hexley and the Return to the Riddles

Chapter 16: Nothing to Fear

Having volunteered in the Hospital Wing for over a year and a half, Chiara Lobosca was now relatively proficient when it came to healing spells. However, after seeing the state of Ben Copper when the Curse-Breakers returned from the Vault of Ice, she quickly decided that his injuries were beyond her abilities. She, Jae, and Diego took him straight to the Hospital Wing, leaving Artemis, Andre, and Merula to hide the evidence of their adventure.

"I don't really get why you're bothering with this," Merula muttered, as Artemis caused the secret staircase and icy footprints on the floor to disappear with a few waves of her wand. "Madam Pomfrey isn't an idiot. She's going to take one look at Copper and know exactly what we've been up to."

"She won't," replied Artemis, though in truth she wasn't sure. Would Madam Pomfrey be able determine what had happened to Ben from looking at his injuries? Would she be able to treat them without knowing what had caused them?

Thankfully, though Ben had been admitted to the Hospital for a few weeks, it was likely that he would only be left with a few nasty scars, and her friends' quick thinking had managed to prevent Madam Pomfrey's suspicions being raised.

"She thinks that he had a spell backfire whilst practising duelling," Chiara said at the Circle of Khanna's next meeting. "They all lost a few house points, but it was probably better than if we'd told her how it really happened."

Artemis nodded. "Good thinking, Chiara."

"Well, it was Jae's idea."

Jae's cheeks turned pink at Chiara's words, and Artemis could have sworn that she saw Chiara's small smile widen slightly.

With the first of the Cursed Vaults now having been opened, it wouldn't be long until the second released its curse upon the school. Surely enough, at the start of May, Penny Haywood arrived late for lunch with her face flushed and eyes lit up with news.

"Well," she said breathlessly, before her bottom had even touched her seat. "I was just speaking to Cressida Ruddy, and she said that one of the second year Gryffindors had a Boggart appear in their cauldron in the middle of their Potions class. You know what that means, don't you?"

"I think," said a deep, drawling voice from behind Artemis and Penny, and they both turned to see Professor Snape the potionsmaster standing behind them, "that we all have our suspicions as to what that means." He looked pointedly at Artemis who glared back at him. "As much as both you and I would like to hear Miss Hexley's take on the matter, it would seem that we are not the only ones. Headmaster's office, Hexley. Immediately."

Artemis just about managed to stop herself from sighing as she took a final bite of her sandwich and slung her rucksack over one shoulder, before rising to her feet and walking out of the Great Hall in the direction of the grand staircase, already certain of what it was that Professor Dumbledore wanted to talk to her about, and why.

Clearly, Professor Snape had not long left Dumbledore's office, for the griffin gargoyle that guarded its entrance was already stood to the side, leaving the ascending spiral staircase behind it unobstructed. At the top of the stairs, the door to the office was closed. Hoping that Dumbledore might not hear her and that she might be spared from answering any incriminating questions, Artemis knocked as softly as she could.

"Please, do enter, Miss Hexley," Professor Dumbledore's voice called out from the other side of the door. Clearly, she had not knocked softly enough. She entered the office to find him standing next to an open cupboard containing a stone dish of silvery liquid. "You have an exceptionally - and dare I say, uncharacteristically - genteel manner of knocking. It is fortunate that I was not so deep in thought that I failed to hear it."