Artemis rolled around in her bed. The nightmare had awoken her in the middle of the night and she was afraid to go back to sleep. She sighed.
Just one week, one week of peaceful sleep. Is that too much to ask! She growled to her own head. Nox was sleeping soundlessly on the foot of her bed. She smiled a little and petted him gently over the head. He had such a soft fur, like little feathers.
She opened the deep red drapes of her four-poster bed and silently stepped out of it. It was pitch-black in the dorm, not even the moon casted light through the windows. The only sound came from Lavender and Giselle, who snored quite loudly.
Artemis took her dressing-gown and silently tiptoed out of the room. She suddenly had the strong urge to visit Harry. She wanted to see if he was okay and maybe he could comfort her like he usually did when she had a nightmare. She doubted that he even knew about her dreams but he always knew when she'd had them.
She walked out of the portrait hole and wandered in the shadows of the long dark corridors. The hospital wing was pitch black as she walked in. "Who's there?" Harry called weakly.
"It's me. Artemis." She whispered and moved towards his voice. "Where are you?"
"Over here." He whispered back and he grabbed her hand. He made her sit down on his bed and she laid her hand on his forehead. "Wow, you have a fever." She looked around, squinting through the dark until she eventually found a bowl of water and a towel on his bedside table.
"Dobby used it." Harry said as he noticed her confused look. "He left when he heard your footsteps. He told me he was the one closing the barrier and sending the Bludger after me. He tried to get me to go home for my own safety."
"Weird." Artemis whispered, frowning, as she softly dabbed the towel against Harry's forehead. "How's your arm?"
"It feels like it's full of large splinters."
"That's good, I guess..."
"Is there any particular reason that you're here?...not that I'm not happy you are." He added quickly.
"I couldn't sleep."
"That bad dream again?"
"How do you know about that?"
"Selena told me. When I carried you in she told me that she hadn't seen you sleep so peacefully in years."
Artemis sighed, moving her hand away from Harry's forehead. "Sometimes I wonder...I wonder if I really am, who I think I am." She breathed. "That dream...it has been haunting me for years. Making me doubt everything I know."
"Why?"
"Because it looks so real. Like it actually did happen at some point and I was there."
"Like a memory?"
"Yes."
"You remember what you told me when we first met?"
"Not really..."
"I told you about my dream...the one with the flying motorcycle. How it felt so realistic but I thought it could never be real because motorcycles don't fly. You just blankly looked at me and asked, 'Why can't it be real?' You said that you've seen a lot of weird things happen and that to you, a flying motorcycle, wasn't even the most unusual thing. I later found out that Hagrid, in fact, brought me to Privet Drive on a giant motorcycle so it really happened. It wasn't just a dream. Why can't yours be a memory as well?"
Artemis sighed again. "Have you ever heard of Avada Kedavra?"
"No. Is that some kind of spell?"
Artemis stared deep into his emerald-green eyes. The same eyes...her eyes. "Do you know what spell gave you that scar, Harry? Do you know what really happened that night other than that your mother protected you and you survived?"
He shook his head, seemingly eager to know more. He sat up a little straighter in the bed. "I'm surprised they didn't tell you. It's not exactly a big secret. Avada Kedavra is probably the worst curse you could cast. Only wizards full of hatred will be able to perform it properly. You see Avada Kedavra is also called the Killing Curse. A bit of green light and you're dead before your body hits the ground. It leaves absolutely no trace." She paused, wetting the towel again.
"No one has ever survived it...not one...except you..." Artemis whispered. Harry gasped, his good arm immediately shooting towards his scar. "That's why you're so famous, Harry. What you did...it's considered to be impossible. Even Dumbledore himself doesn't know exactly how you survived."
A silence fell as Harry considered all of this, letting it sink in. "What has this got to do with your dreams?"
"You asked me if what I saw in the dream was a memory. It can't have been. Because in the dream, the green light hits me and my body freezes. I die in the dream, Harry. That's why it confuses me so much." She dabbed his forehead once again, softly stroking his scar with the cold water.
Harry took her hand in his and squeezed. "You'll figure it out eventually, Ara. You're one of the smartest persons I know. Someday, you'll go to sleep and find that the mystery is solved."
"Thanks, Harry." She grinned but doubted that he would be able to see it. Suddenly her head shot up. "Did you hear something?" Harry remained quiet as he strained his ears. There were footsteps coming down the passageway outside.
"Hide!" Harry whispered anxiously. He pointed at the space under his bed and she quickly slid under it. Harry rolled over, pretending to be asleep.
Dumbledore, himself, was backing into the room, wearing a long woolly dressing gown and a nightcap. He was carrying one end of what looked like a statue. Professor McGonagall appeared a second later, carrying its feet. Together, they heaved it onto a bed.
"Get Madam Pomfrey." Dumbledore whispered to Professor McGonagall and she hurried past the end of Harry's bed and out of sight.
They heard urgent voices and then Professor McGonagall swept back into view, closely followed by Madam Pomfrey, who was pulling a cardigan on over her nightdress. Artemis heard a sharp intake of breath.
"What happened?" Madam Pomfrey whispered to Dumbledore, bending over the statue on the bed.
"Another attack," said Dumbledore "Minerva found him on the stairs."
"There was a bunch of grapes next to him." Said Professor McGonagall. "We think he was trying to sneak up here to visit Potter."
Artemis crawled closer to the edge of the bed so she could look at the statue on the bed. A ray of moonlight lay across its staring face.
It was Colin Creevey.
His eyes were wide and his hands were stuck up in front of him, holding his camera. "Petrified?" Whispered Madame Pomfrey
"Yes," answered Professor McGonagall. "But I shudder to think...If Albus hadn't been on the way downstairs for hot chocolate...who knows what might have..." The three of them stared down at Colin. Then Dumbledore leaned forwards and wrenched the camera out of Colin's rigid grip.
"You don't think he managed to get a picture of his attacker?" Asked Professor McGonagall eagerly. Dumbledore didn't answer. He opened the back of the camera.
"Good gracious!" Said Madam Pomfrey. A jet of steam had hissed out of the camera. Artemis, hiding three beds away, caught the acrid smell of burnt plastic.
"Melted," said Madam Pomfrey wonderingly. "All melted..."
"What does this mean, Albus?" Professor McGonagall asked urgently.
"It means," said Dumbledore "That the Chamber of Secrets is indeed open again."
Again?
Madam Pomfrey clapped a hand over her mouth. Professor McGonagall stared at Dumbledore. "But, Albus.....surely.....who?"
"The question is not who," Dumbledore said, his eyes on Colin. "The question is, how..."
They didn't leave for another ten minutes and finally, Artemis could crawl from under Harry's bed. She moved towards Colin. His eyes were full of fear, his hands still up to hold the camera. "Did Dumbledore say that it had been opened before?" Artemis whispered, turning back to Harry.
"Dobby said the same thing." He said slowly. "But when I asked him who it was, he started hitting himself against the head."
"I should probably go before they catch me out of the common room after hours."
"No!" Harry said worriedly. "You can't! That thing that petrified Colin is still out there and he was attacked just outside the door..."
"I'll be fine, Harry. I'm not a Muggleborn like Colin. I'll see you in the morning. Sleep well!"
She escaped the room, ignoring Harry's protests. She quickly made her way back to the Gryffindor Tower. Artemis jumped at every sound and she was immensely relieved when she stepped inside the warm common room.
~~~~
The next day, while Ron and Hermione went to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom with Elizabeth, Artemis made her way back to the hospital wing. Pomfrey was standing at Harry's bedside, moving his fingers, stretching and bending them.
"All in order." She said as he clumsily fed himself porridge left-handed. "When you've finished eating, you may leave."
Artemis laughed as Harry pushed some porridge against his bottomlip on accident. "Here, let me help you." She smiled, sitting down on his bed and helping him eat.
"Ara!" He said happily. "Did you see anything last night?"
She shook her head. "No, whatever it was that attacked Colin...it's long gone."
"Where are the others?"
"With Effie." Artemis gave him a meaningful look. "They decided to get started on the potion. Are you ready to leave? I brought you some fresh robes."
"Thanks!" He dressed behind the curtain and together they hurried to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Artemis opened the door and heard their voices coming from a locked stall.
"It's us." Harry said, closing the door behind them. There was a clunk, a splash and a gasp from within the stall and Artemis saw Hermione's brown eye peering through the keyhole. "Harry!" She said. "You gave us such a fright...come in...how's your arm?"
"Fine." Harry said, squeezing into the stall. An old cauldron was perched on the toilet, and a crackling from under the rim told Artemis they had lit a fire beneath it.
"Hey, Harry..." Elizabeth greeted absentmindedly as she concentrated on the cauldron. "We'd have come to meet you, but decided to get started on the Polyjuice Potion." Harry locked the stall again. "We've decided this is the safest place to hide it."
Harry and Artemis started telling them about Colin. "We already know...we heard Professor McGonagall telling Professor Flitwick this morning. That's why we decided we'd better get going..."
"The sooner we get a confession out of Malfoy, the better." Snarled Ron.
"Dobby came to visit me in the middle of the night." Harry said. Elizabeth looked up, ready to ask who Dobby was but shrugged, not really caring, and ignored them again. Harry told them everything Dobby had told him...or hadn't told him. Hermione, Ron and Artemis listened with their mouths open.
"The Chamber of Secrets has been opened before?" Hermione gasped.
"This settles it." Said Ron in a triumphant voice. "Lucius Malfoy must've opened the Chamber when he was at school here and now he's told dear old Draco how to do it. It's obvious."
"No, it's not. My uncle went to school around the same time as my father. He was a fifth year when dad was a first. He never told me about the Chamber being opened while he was at Hogwarts." Artemis said thoughtfully.
"Maybe he thought it wasn't important." Ron suggested.
"My father would have told me if some kind of murderous beast ran around in the school attacking Muggleborns!" Artemis huffed.
"Anyway..." Ron said. "Wish Dobby had told you what kind of monster's in there. I want to know how come nobody's noticed it sneaking around the school."
"Maybe it can make itself invisible." Said Elizabeth, prodding leeches to the bottom of the cauldron. "Or maybe it can disguise itself...pretend to be a suit of armour or something..."
"That's possible. I've read about Chameleon Ghouls..."
"You read too much, Hermione." Said Ron. He turned to look at Harry. "So Dobby stopped us from getting on the train and broke your arm..." He shook his head. "You know what, Harry? If he doesn't stop trying to save your life he's going to kill you."
~~~~
The news that Colin Creevey had been attacked and was now lying as though dead in the hospital wing had spread through the entire school by Monday morning. The air was suddenly thick with rumour and suspicion.
The first years were now moving around the castle in tight-knit groups, as though scared they would be attacked if they ventured forth alone. Ginny, who sat next to Colin in Charms, was distraught, but Artemis felt Fred and George were going the wrong way about cheering her up. They were taking turns covering themselves with fur or boils and jumping out at her from behind statues.
They only stopped when Percy told them he would write to their mother to tell her Ginny was having nightmares.
In the second week of December Professor McGonagall came around as usual, collecting names of those who would be staying at school for Christmas. Harry, Ron and Hermione signed that list when they heard Draco was staying. The holidays would be the perfect time to use the Polyjuice Potion and try to worm a confession out of him.
Artemis, however, wanted to go home to check on her family. Her sister's letters had gone more desperate and she was obviously lonely. The last time she spoke to her father was the day she left to go stay at the Burrow. For all they knew...he was dead.
She also didn't want to be there when her friends were going to question Draco. She wouldn't be able to look him in the eye after that. She felt bad enough as it is.
But the potion was only half finished. They still needed the bicorn horn and the boomslang skin, and the only place they were going to get them from was Snape's private stores. Artemis would rather face Slytherin's legendary monster than let Snape catch her robbing his office.
"What we need." Said Hermione briskly as they walked towards their double Potions lesson in the dungeons. "Is a diversion. Then one of us can sneak into Snape's office and take what we need."
Harry and Ron looked nervous. "I think I'd better do the actual stealing." Hermione continued in a matter-of-fact tone. "You two will be expelled if you get into any more trouble, and I've got a clean record. So all you need to do is cause enough mayhem to keep Snape busy for five minutes or so." Harry smiled feebly. Delibrately causing mayhem in Snape's Potions class was about as safe as poking a sleeping dragon in the eye.
After all, the motto of Hogwarts is: Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus...Never tickle a sleeping dragon. The founders must've known someone like Snape would someday teach at their school.
Twenty-two cauldrons stood steaming between the wooden desks, on which stood brass scales and jars of ingredients. Snape prowled through the fumes, making waspish remarks about the Gryffindor's work while Slytherins sniggered appreciatively. At least, all of them except Nova, who was about as bad in Potions as Neville was.
Nova was bad at everything...
Elizabeth's Swelling Solution was, as usual, perfect. So was Draco's and Artemis wasn't far behind. Victoria was not even trying as she hated the subject and its teacher. Dean's was decent and Seamus's cauldron emitted smoke. Nova had a sort of black blub in her cauldron and Goyle tried to add water to it to get it running which only turned the potion into a whirlpool of a black...something. Harry's Swelling Solution was far too runny, but he didn't mind it as he nervously looked around, waiting for Hermione's signal.
When Snape turned and walked off to bully Neville, whose greyish potion moved on its own, Hermione caught Harry's eye and nodded.
Harry ducked swiftly down behind his cauldron, pulled one of Jace's Fillibuster fireworks out of his pocket and gave it a quick prod with his wand. The firework began to fizz and sputter. Harry straightened up, took aim, and lobbed it into the air. It landed right on target in Pansy's cauldron.
Her potion exploded, showering the whole class. People shrieked as splashes of the Swelling Solution hit them. Draco got a faceful and his nose began to swell like a balloon. Goyle blundered around, his hands over his eyes, which had expanded to the size of a dinner plate.
Snape was trying to restore calm and find out what had happened. Through the confusion, Artemis saw Hermione slip quietly into Snape's office. "Silence! SILENCE!" Snape roared. "Anyone who has been splashed, come here for a Deflating Draught...when I find out who did this..."
Artemis tried not to laugh as she watched her cousin hurry forwards, his head drooping with the weight of a nose like a small melon. As half of the class lumbered to Snape's desk, some weighted down with arms like clubs, others unable to talk through gigantic puffed-up lips, Artemis saw Hermione slid back into the dungeon, the front of her robes bulging.
When everyone had taken a swig of antidote and the various swellings had subsided, Snape swept over to Pansy's cauldron and scooped out the twisted black remains of the firework. There was a sudden hush. "If I ever find out who threw this." Snape whispered. "I shall make sure that person is expelled." His cold, black eyes wandered over to Harry.
"He knew it was me." Harry told Ron, Hermione, Artemis and Elizabeth as they hurried back to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. "I could tell."
"Well, he has no proof so there's really not much he can do." Artemis said reassuringly as Elizabeth threw the ingredients into the cauldron and began to stir feverishly. "It'll be ready in two weeks." She said happily.
"Indeed, like Ara said. Snape can't prove it was you." Ron said. "What can he do?"
"Knowing Snape, something foul."