Artemis Hexley and the Return to the Riddles

Chapter 25: In The Beginning

News always spread quickly around Hogwarts, and it did not take long for the school to begin whispering about Artemis Hexley and her friends' heroic defeat of the cabal and destruction of the infamous Cursed Vaults. With each passing day, the rumours and stories grew increasingly far-fetched, and by the time the school gossipmongers had moved on to the latest scandal - namely, Slytherin winning the Quidditch Cup after they cheated their way to victory over Gryffindor in the final match of the year, much to the obvious chagrin of Professor McGonagall - Artemis was surprised that anyone even believed in the Cursed Vaults or the Circle of Khanna anymore.

Not that she really cared, of course. She and the other seventh years had bigger things to worry about: their N.E.W.T. exams. Having spent the majority of her final term breaking curses, Artemis had not put as much effort into her revision as she should have. She had attempted to study as hard as she could in the few weeks that followed the night she had destroyed the Cursed Vaults and preceded the exams, but she had found it harder to focus on the N.E.W.T.s than she had the O.W.L.s. She was not sure whether that was because the subject material was more complex this time, because she no longer had Rowan there to motivate her with revision timetables and long library sessions, or because she was still unsettled by what she had discovered in Dumbledore's pensieve. Probably, it was a combination of everything.

Still, she had managed to struggle through her written exams and, as always, she fared far better in the practicals. She could only hope that she had done enough to get the grades she needed to get onto the Curse-Breaker training scheme at Gringotts.

Merula Snyde had also applied for the programme, however, she didn't seem concerned about her exam results at all.

"They won't care about grades," she told Artemis as they left their final, abysmally difficult Ancient Runes exam. "Not when I've already given them something better."

Artemis frowned. "What?"

"Let's just say I managed to get a pretty convincing letter of recommendation for my application," Merula said, her eyebrows raised. "After all, I know someone whose opinion on Curse-Breakers gets taken very seriously."

"Who, Bill?"

"No, dungbrain. I mean Madam Rakepick, obviously."

"There is nothing obvious about that," replied Artemis. "How did you even-"

"I wrote to her in Azkaban. They are allowed to receive letters, you know." Artemis didn't know, but she nodded anyway, and Merula continued, "I told her that after the Buried Vault and what she did to Khanna, she owed that much. And seeing as she took the three of us on as apprentices and got Bill a place, it was only fair that she do the same for us, too."

Artemis blinked. "Us?"

"Yeah, I told her to write a letter for you as well. She sent me back one for each of us, basically saying that they'd be idiots not to take us on, and I forwarded them on to Gringotts. Why are you looking at me like that?"

"I just don't remember the last time you did anything this nice for me, Merula," Artemis replied. "Actually, I don't remember you ever doing anything this nice for me."

Merula rolled her eyes. "Don't get used to it."

"You mean, you don't want us to be work friends as well as school friends?"

"We're not friends at all, Hexley. I barely tolerate you."

Artemis laughed out loud, and as she walked away, she could've sworn she saw Merula smirking to herself.

***

On the last day of term, the final years were asked to meet with their Heads of Houses. When the Hufflepuffs arrived at the greenhouses, Professor Sprout was already there, smiling at all of them with a look of mingled sadness and joy in her eyes.