Over the next few weeks, Artemis settled into her new life at Hogwarts, despite the hushed whispers and suspicious glances that followed her wherever she went. She and Rowan had become inseparable, and they made quite the team.

Rowan was slow, pensive, and methodical, excelling in all their theory classes and scoring top marks for her written work. Artemis, on the other hand, tended to jump straight in to whatever it was she was doing, and was much more adept at practical magic. Every time she picked up her wand, she felt as if she knew exactly what she was doing, and was always one of the first in the class to master every new spell they were taught, even if her writing was messy and essays not nearly as well-researched as Rowan's.

Her favourite subjects quickly became Charms and Transfiguration, which involved a lot of wandwork. Transfiguration was taught by the stern-looking deputy headmistress, Professor McGonagall, who intimidated most of the students, but never Artemis, who was in awe of her teacher's skill, and loved receiving McGonagall's thin-lipped smiles whenever she completed a successful transformation.

"I just don't understand why everyone is scared of her," Artemis said, after Rowan shied away from asking the Professor a question in class one day. "She's great."

"That's because you're the best in the class," Rowan told her.

"Not true, you got one hundred and five percent on your essay last week."

"You know what I mean," said Rowan. "Besides, you're not scared of anyone, even Professor Snape."

Artemis sighed. Professor Snape was easily her least favourite teacher - other than boring Professor Binns, the ghost who taught them History of Magic whenever he wasn't too busy falling asleep during his own classes - and she couldn't tell if he still hadn't forgiven her for the explosion in their first lesson, or whether he just disliked all students generally. The only person he seemed to actually like was Penny Haywood, who always scored top marks in Potions, and even managed to coax an occasional smile from the usually surly Potionsmaster.

Artemis and Rowan had been avoiding Penny and Dora Tonks ever since they saw them making fun of Artemis in front of the Gryffindors. Even though the four girls shared a room, it wasn't hard to keep out of each other's way, what with the number of clubs that Penny had joined, or the amount of time Dora seemed to spend in detention.

Dora Tonks' rebellious spirit, her inability to stay quiet during lessons, and her knack for knocking over fragile items got her into quite a lot of trouble. Most people now just called her by her surname, due to the fact that teachers were constantly bellowing it across classrooms. Artemis had to admit that although she and Tonks would never be friends, she was grateful that this kept Jane Court off her back. Penny Haywood, on the other hand, seemed desperate to be friends with Artemis and Rowan, constantly inviting them to various social events and club meetings. All of her invitations were declined.

"I don't know why she's pretending to be so nice," Rowan whispered, as Penny walked away to the other side of the common room, looking deflated after Artemis told her yet again that she really didn't want to join the Gobstones Club. "She's the one who was talking about you behind your back. Why does she think we'd want to join the Gobstones Club with her after that?"

Rowan, as it turned out, was a big Gobstones fan. Artemis suspected that if it weren't for Penny, Rowan would have joined the club. Instead, Artemis and Rowan played Gobstones just with each other, talking about their classes and their families. Rowan was incredibly sympathetic when Artemis told her all about how distant her mother was, how she barely remembered her dad and Muggle grandmother, how much she missed her Aunt Tina and Uncle Newt whenever they went away searching for creatures, and more than anything, how desperate she was to find Jacob and bring him back home.

Rowan had her own struggles, though these were of quite a different nature to Artemis'. Rowan's home life was an incredibly happy one, and she missed her parents, her very young brother and baby sister, and her beloved cat Fuzzclaw terribly. Even though she loved learning, she couldn't wait for the school holidays to arrive so that she could be reunited with her family.

It was whilst Rowan and Artemis were playing Gobstones in the shelter of the cloisters that a plump, sandy-haired boy in Gryffindor robes approached them.

"Sorry," he said, looking down at them with a timid looking face, "but are you Artemis Hexley?"

Artemis sighed and looked up at him. They were over a month into term now, and still people kept talking about Rita Skeeter's book. One burly-looking Slytherin boy had even thrust a copy under her nose at the end of Astronomy class and asked her to sign it. Artemis had assumed that this was a dare or a bet of some sort, but he had looked genuinely surprised and disappointed by her refusal to do so.

"Yes, I am. And no, I'm not mad. Thank you for your concern," Artemis said to the Gryffindor boy, and looked back down at her game.

"I wasn't going to ask if you were mad," the boy said, kneeling down on the floor. "I was going to ask if it's true that you stood up to Merula Snyde after she set fire to your cauldron, and that you told off your prefect when she was being unfair to you."

"I don't have proof that it was Merula, but I did accuse her," Artemis told the boy. "And yes, I did have an argument with my prefect. What about it?"

"Well, I just wanted to say that I think you're really brave."

Artemis stopped and stared at the boy.

"What?"

"I think you're really brave," the boy repeated, and blushed. Artemis looked at him. His ears stuck out from the side of his head and he was biting the nail of his left thumb. "The prefects terrify me. My prefect told me off for returning my book back late to the library, and I haven't been able to talk to her since. And Merula's even scarier than the prefects."

"Merula's just a stupid bully."

"I know, she's so mean," the boy shuddered. "She keeps jumping out at me and calling me names when I least expect it. I found a room on the seventh floor to hide in, but she still calls me names in lessons and trips me up in the corridors between classes."

"Why does Merula bully you?" Rowan asked the boy.

"Because I'm Muggle-born. She says I don't belong at Hogwarts. And that I don't belong in Gryffindor, either," he looked very small and sad. Artemis felt incredibly sorry for him. "She says I'm a waste of space and that I'm going to let everyone down."

"You know, that's basically what my prefect said about me," Artemis told him. "Look, um..."

"Ben. Ben Copper."

"Ben, you don't need to be scared of Hogwarts, and you definitely don't need to be scared of Merula. She is just a mean little witch with no friends."

"I don't have any friends either," Ben sighed. "I mean, the boys in my dormitory are nice enough, but I don't think any of them really like me..."

"The other girls in our dormitory don't really like us, either," Artemis said. She looked at Rowan as if to ask her for permission, and Rowan shrugged. Artemis took that to mean that Rowan didn't mind Ben joining them. "Do you want to play Gobstones with us, Ben?"

"I've never played Gobstones before."

"We can teach you," Artemis said, and she and Rowan shuffled over to make room for Ben to sit with them. "Come on, you can be our friend, if you like."

"I'd like that very much," said Ben Copper.

Now Artemis had two friends. She and Rowan were still as close as ever, but at break times, when they studied in the library, and in Charms and History Of Magic lessons, the two classes which the Hufflepuffs had with the Gryffindors, they were always joined by the timid, trembling Ben Copper.

Towards the end of October, things were really looking up; the first years were starting their flying lessons. Artemis could hardly wait, but Rowan wasn't looking forward to it at all.

"I'm rubbish at flying," she grimaced, dawdling as they walked down to the training grounds for their first lesson. "I'm going to make a fool of myself in front of everyone."

Poor Ben Copper looked even more anxious than Rowan.

"I don't think I can do this," he said. He was trembling.

"Don't worry, you two," Artemis said reassuringly. "I've never flown a broom before, either. We can all make fools of ourselves together. It'll be a laugh."

"It's not that," Ben shook his head. Artemis could see the whites of his eyes. "I'm scared of heights!"

Luckily for all three of them, there was to be very little flying today. For the first lesson, they would be learning to summon their brooms, mount them, and hover. Merula Snyde, naturally, was not happy about this.

"Summoning and hovering? Even babies can do that. I don't know why I should be learning such basic stuff, I've been flying since before I was able to walk."

Artemis looked at Rowan darkly, and Rowan rolled her eyes. Beside them, Ben looked like he might pass out at any second.

The students lined up next to their brooms, and held their hands out over their brooms. To summon them, all they had to do was call out:

"Up!" Artemis said to her broom, which wriggled and rolled over on the ground. She sighed. Maybe she really was going to make a fool of herself after all. She looked around, and was relieved to see that being unable to summon a broomstick on the first try was not uncommon. In fact, only one boy - the red-haired, freckled one she and Rowan had shared a boat with on their first night at Hogwarts - had successfully summoned his broomstick on the very first go.

"Good job, Weasley," Madam Hooch, the flying instructor called out to him. "Come on, the rest of you. Try and try again!"

Another boy, a fairly handsome dark-skinned Ravenclaw whose robes were immaculate compared to everyone else's, gave summoning his broomstick another try, and it twitched slightly before it floated into his hand. Artemis looked at the two boys, frowning deeply. What had they done right that she hadn't?

"Up," she said again, glaring at her broomstick, which rolled over again, more energetically this time. She sighed, and repeated herself, more forcefully. "No, come on. Up!"

The broomstick did nothing for a second, but then it started to rise into the air towards her outstretched hand. She caught the broomstick, and looked around to see how the rest of the class was doing. She was in the minority of students who had managed to summon their brooms. The boy who had been the first to do it, Weasley, gave her a thumbs up, which she didn't return. He was probably making fun of her - she knew that he was friends with Dora Tonks.

Tonks had now managed to summon her broom. She saw that Artemis was looking at her and met her eye, jerking her head in the direction of Merula Snyde. Merula was still struggling with her broom, and Artemis couldn't help but feel happy about it.

Eventually, the whole class managed to summon their broomsticks, even Ben Copper. Next, they had to hover above the ground. The blood drained from Ben's face.

"It'll be fine, Ben," Artemis told him, "you only have to take your feet off the ground for a second. You won't even be high up."

Artemis had hovered a few times, managing to get six feet off the ground at one point, before she realised that Ben was still only taking one foot off the ground at a time.

"Is there anything we can do to help you?" Artemis asked him.

"No, I just..." Ben's voice tailed off as he looked in the direction of Merula Snyde. Merula was staring at Ben, and laughing cruelly. Artemis narrowed her eyes at her, and Merula looked away.

"When I first learned to fly," Rowan said, tilting her head, "my dad held onto the broom to help me, and then when I felt ready, he let go."

"That's a great idea, Rowan," said Artemis. "Ben, why don't Rowan and I help hold the broomstick so you feel safer?"

Between them, Rowan and Artemis would have been able to support Ben's weight, but they didn't actually have to take any weight at all. The broomstick was hovering of its own accord, and they were just placing their hands on it.

"Please don't let go," Ben said, his eyes wide.

"But we're not even doing anything," said Rowan. "We're just standing here."

It took a lot of encouragement, but by the end of the lesson they were able to let go of Ben's broomstick, and he hovered unsupported, his feet two inches from the ground.

"I did it!" Ben said, touching back down a mere five seconds later. He looked at Artemis with a look of pride in his eyes, and she smiled at him broadly.

"I knew you could do it," she said. In the corner of her eye she could see Penny, Tonks, and Weasley watching them. A surge of protectiveness swelled in her chest - she could cope with them making fun of her, but she wouldn't let them mock her friends. She turned around and glared at them, and their smiles vanished from their faces. "That was brilliant, Ben."

Everyone packed away their broomsticks and started to walk back to the castle. Merula stood in front of Artemis, Rowan and Ben, blocking their path.

"I see you've found another sad act to follow you around like a lost puppy, Hexley," she sneered. "Are you bored of Khanna already?"

"What is your problem, Merula?" Artemis asked her. "Why are you always so horrible to everyone?"

"I just tell people the truth," said Merula. "It's not my fault that they are so sensitive."

"Rubbish," Rowan scoffed.

"Is that right, Khanna?" She said, and sighed loftily. "Well, here's some truth for you: Hexley's brother murdered his best friend-"

"That's a lie," Artemis said, clenching her fists so tight her knuckles turned white.

"- so you two should probably get out while you still can," Merula continued. "Honestly, no wonder she's had to settle for losers like you. It's a wonder she has any friends at all..."

"That's rich, coming from you," Artemis snapped at her. "At least I have friends. I don't know anyone who likes you. Everyone wishes you'd buzz off and leave them alone."

If looks could kill, Merula's glare would have made Artemis drop dead on the spot.

"You're asking to be taught a lesson, Hexley."

"Well, who better to teach me than the most powerful witch at Hogwarts?" Artemis laughed.

"What's so funny?"

"Just that being so powerful, you'd think you'd be better at summoning a broomstick," Artemis could see that Merula was seething. "Now, if you could get out of the way, we have better things to do than stand around here talking to you."

Artemis and her friends walked past Merula, who must've been too angry to talk.

"You really told her," Rowan said, smiling at Artemis.

"I hope she doesn't hold it against you," said Ben, casting a look back at Merula over his shoulder. Artemis was going to tell him not to worry, but before she could, she heard Merula calling to them.

"You'd better watch your back, Hexley!"

The following Wednesday was Halloween, and all anyone could talk about was the annual Halloween feast. Apparently the feast was quite a big deal, with decorations in the Hall and entertainment after dinner.

"I'm just happy it's given everybody something else to talk about for a change," Artemis muttered to Rowan as they went to Charms class.

That afternoon, they would be learning how to make objects fly. Flitwick wanted them to work in pairs, and moved Artemis away from Rowan and Ben to sit with one of the Gryffindor boys. Artemis was able to levitate her feather very quickly, and soon got bored of trying to get the feather to rise higher into the air. Instead, she started to use the spell to levitate her inkpot, one of her shoes, and her copy of The Standard Book Of Spells. She noticed, however, that the boy sitting next to her was struggling, and so she gave up on levitating her possessions and spent most of the class helping him with the spell. Flitwick must have realised this, because at the end of the class rewarded Artemis with five house points.

"That will please Jane," Rowan laughed as they walked back to the dormitory to get ready for the feast.

Unfortunately, Jane Court was not so easily pleased.

"Well, that's a good start, Artemis, but you've still got another ten points to earn back," Jane said. She sniffed and pulled out a sheet of paper from her pocket. "Just as well Professor Snape is giving you an opportunity to make yourself useful. He wants you to collect some items for him before the feast."

"Why me?"

"I don't know, I just got given the instructions. I wouldn't turn down Professor Snape, though."

"Of course not," said Artemis. "I'll do it straight away."

"Shall I help you?" Rowan asked her.

"No, it's fine. I lost the house points. I'll have to be the one to earn them back."

Artemis left the common room and followed the instructions Snape had left with Jane. The storeroom where she'd been instructed to collect equipment was off a side corridor in the dungeons. It was pitch black inside.

"Lumos," said Artemis. The tip of her wand lit up, allowing her to see where she was, and she frowned. This was definitely not a storeroom. The room was small and bare, other than a large plant in one corner that looked like a mass of thick, tangled vines.

She must have taken a wrong turn, she thought, and went to go back out through the door, but it wouldn't open. Even when she rattled the door handle and pushed against the door with her whole weight, the door wouldn't budge. It was locked.

Artemis bent down and peered through the keyhole. On the other side of the door stood none other than Merula Snyde.

"Merula!" Artemis shouted. "Open the door!"

"Did someone just say something?" Merula said, looking directly at the door. "No? I must have imagined it."

"Merula, this isn't funny! Let me out!"

But Merula was walking away. Artemis swore under her breath. If only Rowan had come with her. She leant back against the wall, and saw from the corner of her eye that the gnarled tendrils of the plant were moving slightly.

Great, she thought. Now she'd be living in here with only a plant for company.

"Artemis? Artemis, are you there?"

It was Rowan's voice, calling from outside the room. Artemis pushed her face against the keyhole once more.

"Rowan! Rowan, I'm in here," she called back. "It was a trap, Merula locked me in here."

She saw Rowan come to the door, and she too bent down, talking to Artemis through the keyhole.

"I thought it was odd. Why would Snape send Jane a letter asking you to get things for him? He has plenty of students in his own house," Rowan said. "That's why I decided to follow you. Then I saw Merula coming out of the corridor and realised that she must be up to something. Is that even a storeroom?"

"No, it's just a dark, empty cupboard," Artemis replied. "Well, it's empty except for this plant. And me, now."

"A plant? In a dark room?"

"Yeah, it's quite cool, actually. It looks like a vine, but it's twisting and moving, sort of like it's dancing really slowly..."

"Artemis!" Rowan gasped. "You need to get out of there now!"

"Why?"

"That plant, it sounds like a Devil's Snare!"

Artemis groaned. She'd heard of Devil's Snare before, and knew they were lethal. Just then, she felt a tendril of the plant wrap around her ankle.

"Rowan, it's got me!"

"Cast the wand lighting charm! Devil's Snare hates the light!" Rowan shouted back. "I'm going to get help. Just stay as still as possible and keep your wand lit until I get back!"

"Be quick!" Artemis said. More tendrils were creeping closer. She stood with her back to the door, and cast the wand lighting charm.

"Lumos!" She cried out. "Lumos! Lumos!"

The charm was working, but it wasn't enough, there were too many twisting vines making their way towards her, climbing up her legs, wrapping around her waist. Where was Rowan? She cast the wand lighting spell again, desperately, as a tendril wrapped around her wand hand. Another was nearing her neck. She writhed in the grasp of the Devil's Snare. She wasn't going to let it take her without a fight.

The light from her wand started to flicker, but she couldn't relight it again; the snare had her wand arm gripped and pinned. She drew one last breath, as the Devil's Snare gripped her neck and started to squeeze.

Suddenly, the door behind her was flung open. Light from the corridor filled the doorway, and the Devil's Snare shrivelled back from it.

Rowan and Ben ran into the room, wands lit, closely followed by Hagrid, who started to rip off the more stubborn vines from Artemis' torso. Freed from the plant's grip, Artemis felt herself being pulled out of the room by the giant.

"Blimey!" Hagrid exclaimed. "Looks like we got 'ere jus' in the nick o' time."

"Are you alright, Artemis?" Ben asked, his face full of concern. "I came as soon as Rowan said what happened."

"I'm okay," Artemis said. She took a few short breaths, with each one able to take more air into her lungs. "Thanks for saving me, all of you."

"It's a ruddy good thin' Rowan thought ter come fin' me," Hagrid said. "I'm one o' the only ones with a key ter this room. 'Ow did yeh end up in 'ere, Artemis?"

"It's a long story," said Artemis, and she told Hagrid all about Merula's trap.

"I reckon yeh oughta do somethin' about this Merula," he said, shaking his shaggy head. "There's practical jokes and then there's somethin' like this. Yeh could've died."

"I know," Artemis said. "I'm going to talk to my prefect straight after the feast."

"I think yeh'd better go and get yerself cleaned up a bit before tha'," Hagrid laughed. "No offence, but yer in a righ' state!"

"Hagrid's right, Artemis, your clothes are all ripped," said Rowan. "Let's go back to the dormitory so you can get changed."

The two girls thanked Hagrid and Ben, and returned to the dormitory.

"Yeh look af'er yerselves," Hagrid called after them.

When Artemis got back to the dormitory, she realised how right Rowan and Hagrid were; she did look a mess. Her robes were covered in greyish dust, and were torn in several places. As she changed out of them, she uncovered fine scratches that extended up all her limbs. She caught sight of her reflection in the mirror, and saw that she had a graze on one side of her chin, a purplish-pink mark across her neck that was going to form a nasty bruise, and what looked like the early stages of a black eye. Her hair was even untidier than usual, and her face had a coating of the same dust that had been on her robes. It stung when she washed it off.

When she and Rowan arrived in the Great Hall, Artemis was greeted by more whispers than ever, and a very irate Jane Court.

"What on earth have you been up to, Artemis Hexley?"

Rowan and Artemis explained about the Devil's Snare, and Jane's anger melted away.

"This is my fault," she said.

"Hardly," said Artemis. "You're not the one who shut me in a room with a murderous plant."

"No, but I should have realised that it was all dodgy," Jane shook her head. "I didn't even think to ask the girl who brought the note why Snape had sent her to send you. I am so sorry, Artemis."

"It's fine. I'm fine."

"No, this is not fine at all," said Jane. "Right, this is what we're going to do. I'm going to tell Professor Sprout all about this. You sit and eat, and enjoy the feast. Make sure you have plenty of chocolate, it's good for the shock. I'll take you to the Hospital Wing to get Madam Pomfrey to check you over before we go back to the common room."

Jane stomped away to the teachers' table, where Hagrid was already deep in conversation with Professor Sprout.

"You know, I think I might've grown on her," Artemis said, grinning at Rowan as they took their seats.

The Halloween feast, or what was left of it, was every bit as good as everyone had made it sound, even if it did hurt to swallow her food. Jane Court, too, was as good as her word. After the feast was over, she frogmarched Artemis to the Hospital Wing, ignoring her protests that she didn't need to see the matron. Madam Pomfrey checked over her wounds, and sent Artemis back to her dormitory with a small tub of Blueblack's Bruise Paste.

"And don't worry, I've informed Professor Sprout of the situation," Jane said as the two girls walked back to the dungeons. "She's going to make sure this Merula girl is dealt with. She won't bother you again."

Artemis laughed out loud. She sincerely doubted that this would be the last she'd hear from Merula Snyde.