eight
the cloak of invisibility

        At some point over the next fortnight, the weather changed drastically, the skies a darkened hue of plumb by half three, clouds so grey the sun hardly shone, a continuous downpour of rain that had the Quidditch pitch waterlogged every day—luckily Quidditch this year was cancelled—and Artemis changed, too.

Nearing the end of the month Artemis was used to sitting all by her lonesome for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Breakfast and dinner were the only two meals she attended the Great Hall for, so she could get any owl post at breakfast and to keep her father's mind at ease each evening. Every lunch since the night of the Goblet of Fire, she's had it down in the kitchens with the elves; Kreacher often kept her company, the mad little elf was slowly loosing his mind, mixing up stories and his previous owners until Artemis reminded him that she's not Narcissa, and Draco's been taking care of him for the last decade when Harry Potter took pity upon the mad elf, and decided it was best he lived out the rest of his life comfortably. Once or twice Artemis skipped lunch completely for the solitude of the Astronomy Tower, where she'd practice wandless magic endlessly, until a throbbing pain over took her skull and sweat soaked her robes. More often than not and despite Kreacher getting closer to insanity, he'd find her and ridicule her for skipping out lunch, refusing to leave her until she ate the food he'd given her.

Blair didn't speak to her anymore. Not even a second look. On the other hand, Tiberius tried relentlessly to catch Artemis's attention without Blair's knowledge, though it never worked because Blair often caught him and scolded him. Marlene and Fred occupied Artemis in class, sometimes even in the library, helping each other out with homework that usually resulted in James and Camden joining the group, too. It wasn't that they weren't being friends to her, Artemis was gifted in the art of shutting down the fortress and pushing people away until they got lost and couldn't find their way back. Lysander seemed to be the only person who Artemis felt like she could talk to, at least in a way that made her feel understood, yet they always seemed to end up bickering about coming clean to Blair.

By this point, however malicious it seemed, Artemis didn't care if Blair knew about it or not. She was tired of all the running and hiding.

There was an awkward time, not long after she'd argued with Blair, in the Slytherin common room. She was late to Defence after her and the rest of the champions had to have their wands weighed, she left her books behind in the dormitories and quickly ran down to the dungeons to retrieve it, bolting through the portrait hole on her way in, only to collide with Blair Zabini. The girls had toppled to the floor, Blair's belongings scattered everywhere, a string of crude curses flowing from each of the girls lips as they roughly pushed each other away and scampered to their feet.

        Blair had used her wand to repack her shoulder bag and clean up the mess of ink that spilled from her bag. She had looked Artemis dead in the eyes, a guarded expression on her face, saying absolutely nothing. Blair wasn't entirely to blame, Artemis hadn't said anything either. Blair didn't waste another second to be stuck in an awkward situation with a best friend who refused to accept her help; so she lunged past her, ensuring to barge unforgivingly into Artemis's shoulders to make a crystal clear point.

Instead of chasing her like she did all summer, this time she's waiting for Artemis to reach out. Only time would tell if Artemis does reach out, though at the current point in time, she really couldn't bring herself to do it.

It was the morning of Halloween when Tiberius had lost Blair, he'd abandoned her in the common room try and get to Artemis before she could take him away. The Great Hall was noisier than usual, a lot of excited chatter about the Halloween Feast, it was crammed more too with a lot more international students coming out of their enchanted makeshift dormitories to be part of the festivities. Artemis was sat on the Slytherin table, nearest to the doors and furthest where her friends usually sit in the centre; though from peering upwards to the table opposite, Marlene and Fred were sitting with Camden and James. She had only just piled her plate filled with bacon, baked beans, eggs, hash browns and sausages when the bench beside her gave way a little bit, and a shoulder knocked into her, causing the ketchup she was putting on to go squirting across the table.

"Don't even think about running away from me."

She looked to her left, eyes slowly casting upwards to meet the friendly eyes of Tiberius Nott, who stared down at her with an intense look of determination and, what Artemis assumed to be, irk. He didn't seem at all pleased with her, like there was a lot on his mind that he wanted to say but wouldn't, because he knew how unpredictable Artemis could be nowadays. As she had said before, black hole.

"Where," she rolled her tongue, "is Blair? Finally let you off her leash, huh?"

Tiberius scoffed in her face before helping himself to the food laid in front of him. A beat passed where he squirted ketchup along the inside of a bread roll, dumping a slice of bacon and a fried egg on the inside, he turned back to Artemis, somewhat smiling sardonically. "There's no leash," he remarked slowly, choosing his words carefully, "she told me what you said to her. . . I was on her side for a while—she was really upset, Art—" Artemis gave him a look filled with scorn, one that said what a load of rubbish. Is Artemis not upset, too? Have they both decided that Blair's minor heartbreak hurts more than Artemis's world ending? Until Artemis and Lysander come clean, Blair doesn't know what it's like to suffer world ending heartbreak. Silently she dropped her gaze a little, ashamed at herself for treating her pain and Blair's pain as a competition.

        Tiberius continued, unfazed by her attitude. "—I was mad at you for a while, too. Then I realised it wasn't fair to be mad at you when you're going through shit—no matter what methods you use to try and cope." She felt Tiberius's skeleton fingers encase her left hand gently, his thumb drawing long lines up and down her knuckles, his fingers squeezing hers so that she couldn't escape. His voice was soft and emotional, like he'd been bottling this up for some time now. "I'm supposed to be your best friend, too. I see you're in pain and I don't care what you say, or what lies you tell, I'm not leaving you, Artie."

By the time he had finished talking, tears gathered beneath her eyes, swimming unconditionally as her heart squeezed painfully inside her chest, a barrier being broken down by him that she couldn't rebuild even though that's what she wanted to do. If Tiberius found out about her betrayal, there's no way he'd be saying all of this to her now. There's no way he'd think of her in the same way ever again. Conflict struck her features, Tiberius was quick to drop an arm across her shoulders and haul her into the warmth of his yellow robes. She wants to tell him everything, she wants to tell Blair everything, yet there's this monstrous force inside her gut that's got an unyielding hold upon her, refusing with all its might to never let go and she doesn't know why.

"Artie—" she could feel Tiberius press his mouth to her scalp in an affectionate way that a brother might do to a sister. They've known each other long enough to class each other as siblings. "—You don't have to tell me what's making you look so drained all the time. Not until you're ready."

All it took was a fraction of a second for Artemis to decide what she wanted to do. It involved with somewhat opening up to the one person who could shine a light in this darkness that's trapped her. "Ty." She drew back from his embrace, hands frantically wiping away the tears that never really fell from her eyes, pushing away the loose tendrils of her snowy hair and gnawing anxiously on her lip. "I have a secret," she blurted, almost immediately regretting that decision as soon as his brows shot upwards. "I can't tell you. Not yet. But I hate it. I hate knowing that I did it and. . . and I don't know what to do—"

His face filled with panicked worry. The light scattering of freckles clumped together as he scrunched up his face. "Who did you murder?"

"I can't tell—" she clamped her mouth shut in surprise. Did he just ask her who she murdered? Her eyes bored holes into her best friend, trying to decipher whether or not he was joking or speaking in a metaphoric way. Then the corner of his eyes crinkled, a sugary smile expanding across his mouth and Artemis understood that Tiberius understood.

"Let's talk about something else," she began, coughing lightly in order to change the tone of her voice to one that didn't scream sinner. "Tell me what's been going on with you, Tiberius," she said.

"There's nothing going on with me, Artemis." It was almost as if they'd switched places. When Tiberius spoke, his voice quavered slightly, as if caught off guard like he was hiding something. She eyed him suspiciously, ensuring that he knew she was about to grill him harder than what he did to her. It took a couple of bites from his bacon and egg butty for him to sigh in defeat, and glance sorrowfully at Artemis. "I have a secret, too. A secret that I really shouldn't know."

Artemis's curiosity spiked. She'd forgotten all about her own feelings of guilt and the weight of the world on her shoulders. For a rare moment, Artemis was in a similar boat to Tiberius, satisfying her shredded heart. "You can tell me," she replied gradually, though he didn't answer straight away. "You can tell me not because I'm your best friend, but because at this particular moment in time, everyone hates me. Who have I got to tell except you?"

Tiberius's face contorted into a strained pain, his cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk and his eyes fell shut as he internally battled with himself. "Do you—" Tiberius shook his head, light brown curls swishing side to side. "—Do you know who Blair's mother is?"

There was nothing Artemis could've done to prepare for that to come out of his mouth. No ounce of her shrewd creativity could've conjured up that. "I—what?" Confused didn't even cover it. "Blair told me that her mother's a muggle prostitute—how's that relevant, Ty?"

"It's relevant because—" he paused and barred his teeth, the secret that only he knew pained him to great lengths. "—I know who her mother is."

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        The entire day Artemis spent it with her thoughts dwelling elsewhere, an impossibility it was to concentrate in her lessons, to concentrate on anything other than what Tiberius had told her. She'd spent the vast majority of Potions staring at Blair, her mind whirring in disbelief at the though that Blair's mother had been someone close to her, the three of them, this entire time. It was difficult to picture at first, yet the more she thought about it, the more she realised just how obvious it all was.

        Tiberius had said, in a shielded voice that was full of disdain, "Blair's father had an affair with my Mum—except, she isn't my Mum at all."

        Those words kept swirling around in her thoughts, overlapping time and time again like an echo that never faded. Did Artemis's parents know? Did Ty's father know? The details were all a bit messy; Tiberius stumbled upon the secret over the summer. Whilst Artemis was busy pushing everyone away, Tiberius spent a lot of time over Blair's where he came across a drawer full of letters—he emphasised how it was accidental and he hadn't gone snooping around Blaise Zabini's study at all—from Pansy Nott (Parkinson), Tiberius's mother(?) who confessed her love to Blaise, begging him to forgive her for marrying the wrong man. Then it was revealed that she was pregnant with Blaise's child—Blair, a child whom she couldn't give birth to in front of her husband, who is white like herself, when Blaise Zabini was definitely not white. When the child is birthed, poor Theodore Nott would be crushed and his marriage ruined.

        There was a lot of missing information, or details that Tiberius had forgotten just to protect himself for further mental scarring. He'd asked her then, after he told her what he knew, where did he come from? Both he and Blair were born around the same time, there's no way they both came from Pansy. Artemis's heart broke for her best friend. Who are his parents? Where did Tiberius Nott(?) come from?

        It was this thought that got her caught staring.

        "Is there something you want to say to me?"

        Potions is always a bit untidy, what with everyone manoeuvring through the classroom, pushing past each other for ingredients, the odd cauldron exploding, or leaking, it was usually a bit hectic. Even for a NEWT class the frenzy never did fade. Every student was highly anxious when it came to their potions, wanting to make sure they were doing everything right due to Draco being strict and giving detention to the student who failed the worst. Since the start of term, James Potter has one the most failed potions detentions, much to her fathers dismay as she's pretty sure he uses it as a tutoring session for extra help. He's not completely awful.

        Artemis crushed a sopophorous bean with the flat blade of her knife, juice pouring out of the stone like ingredient. Above her shoulder stood Blair, peering into her cauldron with her hands delicately poised on her hips. There wasn't any getting out of this situation; Artemis had been staring—no, drilling holes into the back of Blair's head, who sat on the opposite table, for quite some time now. She couldn't really help it, she was just haunted by what Tiberius had told her. He made her promise not to tell Blair anything. So now she had two hard hitting secrets to keep from her best friend. Maybe if she could somehow get Tiberius to tell her what he knows, then Artemis could confess her betrayal at the same time.

        "No." Artemis poured in the juice from the sopophorous bean into her cauldron. "I have nothing to say."

        Blair visibly tensed. She wasn't used to being given the cold shoulder by her own best friend. It's not that Artemis didn't want to speak to her, she just didn't know how, at least not until she came clean, but that isn't going to happen for a while. "You look like you've got something to say," Blair probed, as if looking for an excuse to shout at Artemis again, "so why don't you just spit it out?"

        "Leave me alone, Blair," Artemis murmured quietly, not wanting any attention drawn to them. Her eyes gently lifted and came to rest above the smoke billowing from her cauldron, she could feel someone watching her and Blair interact. James Potter's mellow dark orbs stared right back at her, his wrist moving clockwise carefully as he only paid half a mind to his potion. She turned away then to focus back on her own concoction of Draught of Living Death. "Don't make me hurt you anymore than what I've already done." She let her words sink in, hopeful to give Blair a chance to retreat, though she didn't budge. As a prompt, she added, "because I will."

        The rest of the lesson went by uninterestingly, unless you count Artemis dropping a rogue ingredient into James Potter's cauldron—after he kept on watching her—to watch it explode in his face. Artemis was the first to exit the class, ignoring her fathers attempts at calling her back, she stormed down the dungeons corridor without a destination in mind, after all it was the end of the day and she had plenty of homework to keep herself entertained for the evening, never mind the various Halloween parties that will surely be thrown closer to twilight.

        Artemis hadn't even reached the end of the corridor when her arm got caught by a stranger who pulled her to a stop.

        "Hey, Malfoy—"

        Instinctively she rolled her eyes and snatched her arm free. Why couldn't he just leave her alone? Ever since that night they got chosen as champions, he's seen it fit to seek her out when and wherever he pleased. If only her father were to know about this. . .

        "What?" She snapped indignantly, rounding on him so aggressively that he jumped backwards, colliding with Camden and Fred, knocking them onto the ground. Artemis didn't even flinch, her eyes turned to tunnel vision, only sighting James, his arms up in surrender.

"Untwist your knickers, Malfoy," James said matter of factly, a slight irritated curl to the corner of his mouth suggested he wasn't too pleased with her attitude. Camden and Fred came to stand beside him, delivering Artemis cold looks as they wiped the dirt off their robes. She didn't spare them a glance. "I've got some valuable information about the first task."

Artemis took a startled step back and blinked. "Pardon?" With all that had been going on over the last few weeks, she had forgotten about how important it was to find out what the first task has in store for them.

"Meet me in the Entrance Hall after midnight," he told her and vanished without waiting for a reply.

Bewildered she turned to Fred, who had stayed with her as Camden left with his best friend. He flashed her a pearly white smile. "It's not a prank. I promise."

Artemis snorted. "That's the first time I've ever heard you say that, Weasley, and I don't believe you."

Fred slung an arm across her shoulders, the pair of them falling into step as they proceeded to traipse aimlessly down the corridor. "This is the only time I'm telling the truth," he stated, not really reciprocating her attempt at humour. "Cam's mother runs the tournament—he tipped Jimmy boy off."

▬▬▬▬▬

At exactly quarter past twelve Artemis snuck out of the slumbering Slytherin dormitory and carefully snuck out of the dungeons, ensuring to keep herself hidden from any paintings, brightly lit corridors and the sound of Filch's old, raggy voice. She reached the Entrance Hall ten minutes after departing the warm comfort of her emerald four poster bed, only to find it completely abandoned and void of any human—or other presence.

Being that it was the Entrance Hall endless candles surrounded the perimeter, hanging on the castle walls, flickering every so often as if being tickled by a breeze, though Artemis hadn't felt any breeze since she left the dungeons. For a minute she allowed herself a breather, back against the wall inhaling and exhaling deeply, silvery eyes scanning the room for any sign of James and potential mockery. Eventually she settled upon the fact that she'd fallen for his bait—reminding herself to throttle Fred for lying to her.

So stupid, she cursed to herself, banging her head against the stone, not enough to cause any serious damage but enough to send a dull ache through her cranium. She should've just ignored him. Just because they're now teammates doesn't suddenly build trust, or fondness, or tolerance, or—

        Down by the stairs leading up to the first floor of classrooms and the moving staircases was a shadow. A slim, agile shadow that appeared and disappeared within the blink of an eye. Artemis wasn't even sure if she saw it or if her mind had conjured it. But then the shadow reappeared, along with a purring sound that sent Artemis's heart rocketing into her throat. Mrs Norris. That stupid bloody cat was still alive—after all these years and the war, it should be dead by now. Artemis tightened her grip on her wand, more than ready to attack the horrid feline. Her grip slackened when a voice, one she detested very much, joined her by her side. Jeering, teasing and taunting. "Mrs Norris seems to fancy you." The cat crawled closer to where Artemis stood glaring at the monster, it's claws scratching against the marble floor and it's eyes watching her. "She's been following you since you left the dungeons."

        Artemis snapped to the left, ready to punch James Potter for being so sly and scaring her, but there was no one there. Not a trace of the voice that had spoken. No evidence to prove that James Potter had been right there next to her. She felt his warm breath, his broad shoulders knocking against hers as he spoke, his entire irritating presence.

        Merlin. She couldn't believe it. This is the part of her downward spiral where she hallucinates and imagines scenarios where she can hear James Sirius Potter's voice and be aware of his presence.

        "Don't look so frightened, Malfoy," said his voice that was right in front of her. This is definitely a practical joke. Artemis reaches out a hand, grasping for nothing except air. She'd almost expected to come into contact with him, but alas there was nothing. "I thought you were the brightest witch in our year?"

        "James," she demanded, grounding her teeth impatiently as she tried to grab for air again. "Stop messing around."

        "But this is so fun!" This time his voice came from behind her, which seemed to finally convince her she's lost the plot, that finally she's gone schizophrenic or something. So Artemis dutifully turned around, a frightened scream escaped her mouth as James Potter, this time, stood in front of her with a mischievous gleam in his eyes, and his palm covering her mouth.

        Artemis narrowed her gaze and shoved him aside. "You're such a dick, Potter! Stop wasting my time and tell me what this is about before I murder you."

        A light chuckle escaped him as he gathered a clock in his arms. His mouth was open, yet an unwelcome voice took its place.

        "What's that Mrs Norris? Two students out of bed. . ."

        "Quick!" Before Artemis could react, James had thrown the cloak over the both of them. "Invisibility Cloak, you muppet. Now stay quiet—" she was trapped in a small space with James Potter, their clothes touching, their bodies touching. Artemis couldn't think straight or breathe until the coast was clear and Filch and his stupid bloody cat vanished to prowl a different corridor. Was this the Invisibility Cloak who father had told her all about?

        "You have ten seconds to explain yourself, Potter," she spat angrily after James pulled the cloak back off them.

        "We don't have much time," he told her and grabbed hold of her hand, half dragging her up the steps to the first floor corridor. "Gregory the Smarmy's statue is a secret passage—don't interrupt me," he'd cut across whatever objections that were on the tip of her tongue, she clamped her mouth shut and obeyed begrudgingly. How did he know about that secret passageway? "It's a secret passage out of the castle. Cam's Mum let slip that the obstructions for the first task were being brought in tonight and my Dad said we need to try and figure out all of the tasks before we start them—"

        "Shit," Artemis cursed. They'd come to a stop in front a statue of a wizard who'd had one too many Hogwarts feasts. "I—I forgot all about the task—it's in what, twelve days?"

James looked at her seriously with a determination that sparked a cunning desire inside of herself. A nudge of sorts to lead her to remember why she entered in the first place. To win. For her family. "Uncle Ron said he tipped Dad off the for the first task cause my Uncle Charlie supplied the dragons—"

"Get to the point faster!"

"—Well, all the other champions knew what to expect because their head teachers tipped them off, too. If we find out what the task is before anyone else, we'll have longer to figure out a plan and a better chance at—"

"Winning," Artemis finished his sentence for him, eager and excited all at once. She could feel the adrenaline being released into her bloodstream, the first task becoming the only thing to obsessively occupy her thoughts. "Let's not waste anymore time."

James nodded his head in agreement and showed her the passageway hidden behind Gregory the Smarmy.

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a/n chapter eight!! it's a long one, i hope you all enjoyed as i really enjoyed writing this one.

i'm sorry it took ages to publish, despite being in lockdown i've been very busy (re reading Harry Potter and starting criminal minds oops).

thank you all for the comments and the votes and adding this to your reading lists!! it means the world to me.

if you want to know more about professor solomon, oliver wood's relationship with montgomery fletcher, then check out my oliver wood fic ERIS!!

anyone got any prediction to what the first task might be? leave your thoughts below i'd love to see what you all think.

hope you're all staying safe, see you soon with chapter nine!

love, glesni x