A week later, Harry, Artemis, Ron and Hermione were walking across the Entrance Hall when they saw a small knot of people gathered around the notice board, reading a piece of parchment that had just been pinned up. Seamus and Dean beckoned them over. "They are starting a Duelling Club!" Said Seamus. "First meeting tonight! I wouldn't mind duelling lessons. They might come in handy one of these days..."
"What, you reckon Slytherin's monster can duel?" Laughed Ron.
"Could be useful." Dean shrugged.
"Am I the only one currently imagining this giant Slytherin Snake with no arms trying to hold a wand and duel and he can't and it's hilarious and-" They all turned to look at Victoria, who was holding her arms really close to her body, wand between her teeth, trying to get it to work....
They all stared blankly back at her.
"Fine. Whatever. Not funny, I get it." Victoria puffed, taking the wand from her mouth and walking away.
"Shall we go?" Artemis asked as the four of them walked to dinner. Harry, Hermione and Ron were all for it, so at eight o'clock that evening they hurried back to the Great Hall. The long dining tables were gone and a golden stage had appeared along one wall, lit by a thousand candles floating overhead. The ceiling was a velvety black once more and most of the school seemed to be packed beneath it, all carrying their wands and looking excited.
"I wonder who'll be teaching us?" Hermione said as they edged into the chattering crowd. "Someone told me Flitwick was a duelling champion when he was young....maybe it'll be him."
"As long as it's not....." Harry began but both he and Artemis groaned. Gilderoy Lockhart was walking onto the stage, dressed in robes of deep plum and accompanied by none other than Snape, looking like a bat out of hell.
Lockhart waved an arm for silence and called. "Gather round, gather round! Can everyone see me? Can you all hear me? Excellent! Now professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little duelling club, to train you all in case you ever need to defend yourselves as I myself have done on countless occasions...for full details see my published works."
He grinned. "Let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape."
"Ten galleons that Snape wins in less than ten seconds." Dean said reaching out his hand to Artemis.
"I bet he does it in five." She took his hand. Hermione shushed them with an annoyed look on her face but Harry and Ron snickered softly.
"He tells me he knows a tiny little bit about duelling himself and has sportingly agreed to help me with a short demonstration before we begin. Now, I don't want any of you youngsters to worry. You'll still have your Potionsmaster when I'm through with him, never fear!"
Artemis bursted out laughing. "Don't worry, Twinkletoes, we don't fear for his life." She said loudly.
"No, we fear for yours!" Victoria laughed.
"I don't..." Elizabeth shrugged, leaning her shoulder against Harry's in a bored manner.
Lockhart dropped his smile and glared at the girls. He cleared his throat before continuing. Snape's upper lip was curling. Artemis wondered why Lockhart was smiling again. If Snape had been looking at her like that, she'd have been running as fast as she could in the opposite direction.
"Wouldn't it be good if they finished each other off?" Ron muttered and Harry nodded in agreement.
Lockhart and Snape turned to face each other and bowed. At least, Lockhart did, with much twirling of his hands, whereas Snape jerked his head irritably. Then they raised their wands like swords in front of them.
"As you see, we are holding our wands in the accepted combative position." Lockhart told the silent crowd. "On the count of three, we will cast our first spells. Neither of us will be aiming to kill, of course."
"I wouldn't be so sure of that." Elizabeth muttered as she watched Snape's face.
"One....two....three."
Both of them swung their wands above their heads and pointed them at their opponent. Snape cried "Expelliarmus!" There was a red flash and Lockhart was blasted off his feet. He flew backwards off the stage, smashed into the wall and slid down it to sprawl on the floor.
"You owe me ten galleons, Thomas!" Artemis said happily.
Draco and some other Slytherins cheered.
Hermione was dancing on her tiptoes. "Do you think he's all right?" She squealed.
"Who cares?" Said Harry and Ron together.
"Quick Bibi, take a picture! Colin is going to love this!" Elizabeth yelled to Bibi who had one of Colin's cameras hanging around her neck. She felt bad for Colin so she decided to take photos of the things happening at Hogwarts while Colin was in the hospital wing.
Lockhart was getting unsteadily to his feet. His hat had fallen off and his wavy hair was standing on end. "Well, there you have it!" He said. "That was a Disarm Charm, as you see, I've lost my wand....."
"And your pride!" Victoria yelled. Elizabeth chuckled. Maybe they were being a little over the top but ever since the accident with Harry's arm Elizabeth, Victoria and Artemis disliked Lockhart even more than Snape.
"Ah, thank you Miss Brown." Lockhart took his wand from Lavender ignoring the three girls rolling on the floor.
"Yes, an excellent idea to show them that, Professor Snape, but if you don't mind me saying so, it was very obvious what you were about to do. If I wanted to stop you it would have been only too easy. However, I felt it would be instructive to let them see...."
Snape was looking murderous. Possibly Lockhart finally noticed, because he said, "Enough demonstrating! I'm going to come amongst you now and put you all in pairs. Professor Snape, if you'd like to help me..." They moved through the crowd, matching up partners.
Lockhart teamed Neville with Justin Finch-Fletchley, but Snape reached Ron and Harry first. "Time to split up the dream team, I think." He sneered and Artemis rolled her eyes. "Weasley, you can partner with Finnigan. Lupin, with Thomas. Miss Bouchard with Miss Longbottom." Harry immediately inched closer to Hermione.
"I don't think so." Snape said smiling coldly. "Mr. Malfoy, come over here. Let's see what you make of the famous Potter. And you Miss Granger...you can partner up with Miss Bulstrode."
Draco strutted over, smirking. Millicent Bulstrode walked behind him. She was large and square and her heavy jaw jutted agressively. Artemis had talked to her once before. At one point Bulstrode had been friends with Pansy Parkinson. Bulstrode was nothing more than the female version of Goyle. She was big, strong and incredibly stupid.
"Face your partners!" Called Lockhart from the podium. Artemis mock-bowed to Dean, who rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out.
"Real mature, Deaney!"
"Wands at the ready!" Lockhart shouted. "When I count to three, cast your charms to disarm your opponents...only to disarm...we don't want any accidents...one...two..three."
Dean shouted. "Expelliarmus!" There was a small flash of white light and Artemis felt something tugging at her hand but when she gripped her wand tighter, it stopped.
"That wasn't powerful enough, Thomas. Try it like this. Put one foot in front of the other, and flick your wand quickly. It's all in the wrist. Expelliarmus!" Out of Artemis's wand sprouted a jet of red light and Dean's wand flew from his hand.
Dean picked up his wand and tried again. They stopped when they heard Lockhart shout in alarm. "I said disarm only!"
Artemis looked up to see Draco sink to his knees. Harry had hit him with a Tickling Charm, and he could barely move for laughing.
"Tarantallegra!" Draco shouted and the next second Harry's legs began to jerk around out of control in a kind of quickstep.
"Stop! Stop!" Screamed Lockhart, but Snape took charge. "Finite Incantatem!" He shouted. Harry's feet stopped dancing and Draco stopped laughing and they were able to look up.
Both Neville and Justin were lying on the floor, panting. Ron was holding up a white Seamus, apologising for whatever his broken wand had done. Hermione and Bulstrode were still moving. Bulstrode had Hermione in a headlock and Hermione was whimpering in pain. Both their wands lay forgotten on the floor.
Artemis stormed towards Millicent and Hermione. "Let her go, you dog!" She yelled but Bulstrode didn't move. "Well, if you aren't going to move...Petrificus Totalus!" Millicent froze like Neville had done last year and fell to the ground. Hermione gasped as she could finally breathe again.
"Dear, dear," said Lockhart, skittering through the crowd. "Up you go, Macmillan...Careful there, Miss Fawcett...Pinch it hard, it'll stop bleeding in a second, Boot. I think I'd better teach you how to block unfriendly spells." He murmered, standing flustered in the midst of the hall. He glanced at Snape, whose black eyes glinted, and looked quickly away.
"Let's have a volunteer pair....Longbottom and Finch-Fletchley, how about you..."
"A bad idea, Professor Lockhart." Said Snape, gliding over like a large and malevont bat. "Longbottom causes devastation with the simplest spells. We'll be sending what's left of Finch-Fletchley up to the hospital wing in a matchbox." Neville's round, pink face went even pinker. "How about Lupin and Bulstrode?" Said Snape in a twisted smile. He used a spell to unfreeze Bulstrode and pushed her onto the platform.
"Excellent idea!" Said Lockhart gesturing for Artemis to come forward.
"Win!" Snape hissed, while Lockhart showed Bulstrode how to hold her wand.
Artemis smirked. "Faith in me, sir?"
Snape ignored her.
"Whoops...my wand is a little overexcited....." Lockhart said as he dropped it.
"I have the same problem when I dream about Artemis, sir." Someone yelled through the crowd. Harry, Ron and Draco advanced on him and Draco hit him in the face as Harry pulled the Slytherin boy to the ground. It was quite odd to see those three working together for a change.
"Anyways...three....two...one....go!" Lockhart shouted, completely ignoring the fighting children in the middle of the crowd.
"Expelliarmus!" Millicent shouted. Artemis didn't even block it, she simply danced out of the way. She waved her wand fluently around and shouted a spell they hadn't been taught yet. "Stupefy!" A scarlet jet of light burst from her wand and Bulstrode flew backwards, falling to the floor, unconscious. "I guess that means I won?" Artemis smiled innocently as she slid her wand back in her pocket. She nodded at Snape and jumped off the platform, immediately surrounded by a large group of cheering students.
Ginny and Bibi were watching her wide-eyed while Dean and Seamus looked incredibly impressed as she joined them.
"That. was. amazing!" Victoria breathed. "What kind of spell was that?"
"It's a Stunning Spell. It renders the victim unconcious."
"But that is like O.W.L. stuff!" Elizabeth gasped. "That was brilliant!"
"Next!" Lockhart clapped his hands. "Malfoy, Potter, Weasley, let go of Mr. Pucey please."
Harry got up and walked away, followed closely by Ron and after one more punch, Draco as well. They were all bright red with anger and Artemis laughed at them. "There is something called overreacting, you know. But I quite liked how you worked together..."
Harry growled and pulled her towards him possessively. "Don't get comfortable just yet, Potter." Snape sneered. "You and Malfoy are next!"
Harry let go off Artemis although not voluentarily because Draco dragged him away from her. They moved to the middle of the hall as the crowd backed away to give them room. Snape bent down to whisper something in Draco's ear and he smirked. Harry looked up nervously at Lockhart and asked. "Professor, could you show me that blocking thing again?"
"Scared, Potter?" Muttered Malfoy.
"You wish!" Said Harry.
Lockhart cuffed Harry merrily on the shoulder. "Just do what I did, Harry!"
"What, drop my wand?" Harry muttered.
But Lockhart wasn't listening. "Three...two...one...go!" He shouted.
Draco raised his wand quickly. "Serpensortia!" He shouted. The end of his wand exploded. They watched as a long black snake shot out of it, fell heavily to the floor between them, and raised itself, ready to strike. There were screams as the crowd backed swiftly away, clearing the floor.
"Don't move, Potter." Said Snape lazily, enjoying the sight of Harry standing motionless, eye to eye with an angry snake. "I'll get rid of it..."
"Allow me!" Lockhart shouted. He swished his wand and with a loud bang, the snake flew ten feet in the air and fell back to the floor again with a loud smack.
"Not helping!" Elizabeth hissed between her teeth as she glared at Lockhart.
The snake was enraged and hissed furiously. It slithered straight towards Justin Finch-Fletchley and raised itself again, fangs exposed, poised to strike.
Then everything seemed to freeze as Harry started to hiss at the snake. The snake slumped to the floor, like a thick, black garden hose, its eyes now on Harry.
He looked up at Justin, grinning but it faltered when he noticed that Justin was looking angry and scared. "What do you think you're playing at?" He shouted at Harry and he turned around, storming out of the hall.
Snape stepped forwards, waved his wand and the snake vanished in a small puff of black smoke. Snape was looking at Harry with a shrewd, calculating look. The hall started muttering. Ron jumped forward and started tugging at the back of Harry's robes, whispering something. He steered him out of the hall, Hermione and Artemis scurrying alongside them. As they went through the doors, the people on either side drew away as though they were frightened of catching something.
None of them spoke, Harry looked incredibly confused. They dragged him all the way up to the empty common room. Then Ron pushed Harry into an armchair and said. "You're a Parselmouth. Why didn't you tell us?"
"I'm a what?"
"A Parselmouth!" Artemis said. "You can talk to snakes!"
"I know." Said Harry. "I mean, that's only the second time I've ever done it. I accidently set a boa constrictor on my cousin Dudley at the zoo once...long story...but it was telling me it had never seen Brazil and I sort of set it free without meaning to...that was before I knew I was a wizard..."
"A boa constrictor told you it had never been to Brazil?" Ron repeated faintly.
"So?" Asked Harry. "I bet loads of people here can do it."
Artemis sat down next to Harry, placing a hand on top of his. The touch immediately send sparks up her arm and she pulled back quickly. That had never happened before. "Harry...it's not a very common gift...In fact, the few dozen people in history who are known to have been Parselmouths were not exactly...good."
"I don't understand." Asked Harry, looking angry. "What's wrong with everyone? Listen if I hadn't told that snake not to attack Justin..."
"Oh, that's what you said to it?" Ron asked.
"What d'you mean? You were there...you heard me..."
"I heard you speaking Parseltongue." Said Ron. "Snake language. You could have been saying anything...no wonder Justin panicked, you sounded like you were egging the snake on or something...it was creepy, you know."
Harry gaped at him. "I spoke a different language? But...I didn't realise...how can I speak a language without knowing I can speak it?" Ron shook his head. He, Hermione and Artemis were looking as though someone had died. "D'you want to tell me what's wrong with stopping a massive snake biting of Justin's head?" Harry said angrily. "What does it matter how I did it as long as Justin doesn't have to join the Headless Hunt?"
"It matters." Said Hermione, speaking at last, in a hushed voice. "Because being able to talk to snakes was what Salazar Slytherin was famous for. That's why the symbol of Slytherin House is a serpent." Harry's mouth fell open.
"Exactly." Said Ron. "And now the whole school's going to think you're his great-great-great-great-grandson or something..."
"But I'm not." Harry said panicked.
"You'll find that hard to prove." Said Hermione.
"Harry, he lived about a thousand years ago, for all we know...you could be." Artemis whispered.
~~~~
Artemis sat in the windowsill, watching the snow drift past the window and turning the ground below in a desert of white. The light of a full silver moon made the snow look almost magical as it seemed to light up the surrounding darkness. "Water..." Jace croaked from the bed on the other side of the room. Artemis rushed towards him and placed the glass of cold water to his lips. He drank carefully, trying to move as little as possible. "You should...get some rest, Ari." He groaned again in pain.
"I have told you this before, Jace, I'm not leaving you alone on a full moon. I never have and I never will."
"It's not safe..."
"I'll be fine, Jace..." She carefully stroked his cheek. She took the Wolfsbane Potion at Jace's bedside and looked at the clock. "It's time..." She took the small cup, Madam Pomfrey had given her hours before and filled it with the potion. "In one gulp, Jace." She said sternly. He pulled a face as he downed it. Jace's sickly pale face immediately got some of its colour back as the potion surpressed the werewolf gene and the pain that was caused by it.
"There is something I need to tell you..." He paused to cough. "It's about mum...She - She didn't leave our father because he wasn't a pureblood, Ari. She left him because...because she's in love with another man."
"What are you talking about? What man?"
"Who do you think?" He rolled his blue eyes. "Lucius Malfoy, of course. Don't tell me you honestly thought she disappeared to stay at the Malfoys so often to spend time with her sister..."
Artemis sat there, stunned. She knew it! So her mother and Lucius Malfoy did have an affair. But that could mean that they had an affair all those years ago as well. That's why Artemis wasn't bothered by the full moon like her brother and sister....She wasn't a werewolf's daughter....
Artemis wasn't surprised at all. She had known for a while now that her mother never kept it to one man. The chance that she didn't have the same father as her siblings had always been great...but she just didn't want to accept it because she would never know what other options there were.
But the possibility that it could be Lucius Malfoy...that was the thing that really worried her.
"How long have you known?"
"I found out over the summer. I went to the manor a week after she left and...well...let's just say I'll never forget what I saw."
"You mean they were...er..."
"Having sex? Yep. At first I thought I had run in on Narcissa and Lucius but when I silently exited I bumped into Narcissa in the corridor. She could tell by the look on my face that I knew so she told me everything..."
"You mean aunt Narcissa knows about her husband having an affair with her twin sister?"
"She isn't happy about it...If that's what you're thinking. She hates our mother for it but...er...apparently Lucius never loved Narcissa. She knew that all along. He wanted to marry mother but Jasmine was in love with someone else at the time or something. And then she got pregnant with me and I don't know what else happened. I honestly don't want to know. Anyways, for uncle Lucius, Narcissa was the next best thing so they had an arranged marriage...Lucius never forgot about mum and well...I think she was regretting chosing our father over a man as powerful as Lucius Malfoy..."
"Draco knows about it too. He sort of hinted me at the start-of-term feast. I forgot about it because I...I...Jace...does Selena know?"
Jace shook his head. "No, and I like to keep it that way. You and me...we have always been closer to dad but Selena...she can't know. It'll break her heart."
"We can't not tell her, Jace. She deserves to know. What if Lucius switches wives...no one will notice but us..."
"I don't know what he is going to do, Ari."
~~~~
Due to the heavy snow, Herbology class was cancelled. This gave Artemis the perfect opportunity to drag the others into a quiet classroom.
"What?'' Hermione gasped. Harry was stunned and Ron's mouth hang open. "Your mother is in love with Draco's father, your uncle?"
"That's why Draco isn't going home during winter break. He's not planning anything, he just doesn't want to go home." Artemis said tiredly.
"What kind of family is this!" Ron looked horrified. "You're all bonkers!"
"Thanks, Ronald. I appreciate you saying that." Artemis said sarcastically. "The worst part is that your mother knew about it. That's why she took us in."
"It all makes sense now..." Hermione said sadly. "Oh, Artemis..." but then she remembered what Artemis had said to her in the Leaky Cauldron. "You don't think..."
"That Lucius Malfoy might be my father..." Artemis trailed. "It sure looks like it."
"No, no it can't be!" Harry said stubbornly. "I don't believe that. That would mean...that you're.. that you're a-"
"That I'm a Malfoy, yes. Draco's half-sister. Our mothers are not only identical twin sisters....but we might share the same father."
"Nothing is certain until it is, Ara. There is still a possibility that Remus is your father...or maybe another man from the likes of your mother." Hermione said.
"I sure hope so." Artemis said, unconvinced.