Tightly Knit ⟶ Fred Weasley

CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE

"Alright, so maybe you are effective against fire," she whispered. "What else?"

With a million thoughts racing in her head, Eleanor made her way through the corridors of the castle until she reached the stairs of the Hospital Wing. There was a possible chance that Artemis hadn't stayed the night, or she had left earlier that morning, but Eleanor was hoping to see her. While Artemis had said some nasty things to her in the past, there was a sense of vulnerability that Eleanor had witnessed that made her feel uncomfortable about leaving the situation unresolved in some ways.

Upon entering, the Hospital Wing was quiet, and Eleanor was fairly certain that it was empty until she spotted Artemis in a bed in the far back corner. She was sitting upright, holding her head in her hands, with no sign of Madam Pomfrey around. Making her way over, Eleanor pulled a chair over to the bedside, bringing Artemis to immediately look up.

She could see the wave of regret cross over Artemis' face from moving too fast, listening to her let out a groan before she touched her hand to her forehead.

"This is probably a really stupid question," Eleanor began, "but are you alright?"

Artemis glanced over at her, the expression on her face said it all, but if Eleanor needed further clarification, she was, at least, willing to provide that.

"Do I look alright to you?" Artemis huffed. "I feel like I'm dying right now. My head feels like it's going to explode at any given second. And...why are you here? To make fun of me?"

"Do you really think I came here to make fun of you over what happened last night?"

"I don't know what happened last night," Artemis told her. "All I know is, one minute I was at the Yule Ball and then I woke up here, feeling like this."

With a frown, Eleanor shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "Artemis, we're all fairly certain that you were drugged last night."

"What?!"

Her voice hissed the disbelief in her tone, but as she looked at Eleanor, expecting it to be a joke, Eleanor's frown only grew more.

"My friend and I were in the bathroom, just about to leave and you came in. You were acting strange; you could hardly stand on your own two feet. You told me that some boy offered you a drink and then asked you to go for a walk. But you were suddenly so tired that you went to the bathroom to splash some water on your face. You fell over, so we alerted the professors and George brought you here with Professor Flitwick."

Artemis didn't respond right away, her eyes darting from left to right as her previous anger only turned into confusion.

"I don't remember there being a boy offering me a drink...I don't remember any of that!"

"I suppose that's a side effect of whatever caused you to pass out," Eleanor said. "I'm sorry this happened to you."

"You're sorry?" Artemis scoffed. "You feel sorry for me? Have you forgotten what I said to you, what I've called you? I called you a mutt, I insulted your father..."

"And you were drugged and almost put into a terrible situation," Eleanor interjected. "Look, I remember what you said to me, about my father...but that had nothing to do with what happened last night."

"You should hate me!"

Eleanor was wildly confused by Artemis' reaction because they seemed to be discussing two vastly different things.

"Do you want me to hate you? Is that what you're aiming for? Why do you want someone to hate you? I don't get it."

"Because...because...that's how it's supposed to be," Artemis said, although she didn't sound very convinced by her own words, "your blood isn't pure and mine is. You're a threat because...because..."