The day of the Hufflepuff-Gryffindor match had arrived, and the Hufflepuff team were gathered in the changing tent, ready for Orion's vivification. First, though, he wanted to discuss strategy, their plan for the game having changed somewhat now that Gryffindor's best player wouldn't be participating in the match.

Charlie's ankle had been quite badly broken by the Red Cap, and although Madam Pomfrey had been able to fix it, she had also forbade him from flying for a month, as the newly healed bone needed time to strengthen. Artemis felt awful about it; even though Charlie told her it wasn't her fault, she felt like she was to blame, and from the sound of it, so did Skye Parkin.

"Aye, well done, Hexley," she said, clapping Artemis on the back. "We're bound tae win now that Weasley's out of the game."

"It was an accident. Charlie wasn't supposed to break his leg," she said, telling herself as much as Skye.

"It is strange, how the alignment of the stars can appear different according to the position of the one gazing," Orion pressed his fingertips together in front of his chest. "While we cannot celebrate the misfortune that has befallen Weasley-"

"An' his leg an' aw."

"- I cannot deny that the timing of this mishap has been fortunate for us as a team. Still, we cannot allow ourselves to be complacent. Gryffindor's star player may be out of the match, but the rest of their team remains in the sky."

"Aye, because they're on broomsticks," Skye interjected. Orion looked at her wearily before addressing the rest of the team again.

"We need to discuss our strategy for the match. The change in dynamic of our opponent's team will necessitate a small change in approach. The Gryffindors have a reserve Seeker, but they are currently an unknown variable. We don't know their strengths or weaknesses. Chasers, our goal will remain the same as planned, and, you two," here, Orion indicated to Bean and Willows, the Beaters, "I want you to send as many Bludgers their way as possible. Hexley, you need to put them off their game, too. Keep blocking them, take a few false dives, lead them on a wild ghost chase. I want the three of you to really-"

"Throw them off balance," Artemis finished Orion's sentence for him, and he nodded sagely.

"Precisely. They may be the lions, but today we are the ones hunting, and we shall deny them their pride."

There was no time for more vivification than that. The match was due to start at any moment. As the team walked out onto the pitch, and Orion shook hands with the Gryffindor captain, Artemis took the measure of her new rival: a skinny boy with shoulder-length blond hair, who she recognised from her Charms and History of Magic classes, but whose name she had never bothered to learn. She kept her eyes firmly on him as Madam Hooch released the Snitch, and when he made eye contact with her, flashed him a mischievous smile that left him looking thoroughly confused. Good, she'd unbalanced him already.

"Madam Hooch has the Quaffle," Murphy's voice echoed across the pitch, "and she releases it! The game begins!"

Artemis immediately flew to the Gryffindor Seeker's side, ducked under his broomstick, lifted up on the other side and barrel rolled in the air above his head, reaching down to ruffle his hair as she did so. He stopped abruptly and stared at her, and she flew away, laughing. Behind her, she felt a rush of air that could only come from a Bludger soaring at speed, and she turned back to see the new Seeker duck out of the Bludger's path at the very last moment. He barely had time to recover himself before Artemis also flew straight at him, pulling away just before she knocked him off his broomstick.

It was a fun game, distracting the other Seeker, but she had a Snitch to find. She kept the blond boy in her sight as she flew higher above the pitch to get a good vantage point. Below her, she saw Skye knock the Quaffle out of a Gryffindor Chaser's hands, and Lizzie caught it, and passed it to Orion, who was closer to the goalposts than she was, and he stood on his broom to catch it and surfed towards the stands and...

"Amari scores! That's ten points to Hufflepuff!"

As the crowd applauded, Artemis scanned the pitch, looking for a glimmer of gold. There was nothing to be seen, so she flew back towards the Gryffindor Seeker and took a dive in front of him. He immediately followed her.

"Has the Snitch been spotted already?" Murphy's voice rang out. Artemis smiled. Her plan had worked, then. She pulled out of the dive and accelerated across the pitch. "Hexley looks like she's after something, and Kidd is in hot pursuit!"

Artemis flew at the edge of the pitch, and swerved suddenly at the edge. The other Seeker, Kidd, tried to swerve, too, but he wasn't as fast. His momentum carried him over the boundary of the pitch. Artemis stopped, and Hooch blew her whistle.

"Kidd flies out of the pitch boundaries, that's a penalty to Hufflepuff!"

Artemis grinned at Orion as she flew away again. The Quaffle was given to Skye, who threw it at the Gryffindor goalposts, scoring a second goal for Hufflepuff. In the corner of her eye, Artemis could see the Gryffindor captain berating Kidd. She felt almost guilty. Almost, but not quite. This was Quidditch, after all.

The Gryffindors were growing frustrated. Artemis continued to distract Kidd: flying circles around him, taking a few more false dives, leading him into an easy hitting distance of Bean and Willows, and in retaliation, the Gryffindor Beaters started to aim more Bludgers her way. She was much quicker at dodging Bludgers than Kidd was, and so she flew to his side and tailed him, staying obnoxiously close so that any Bludgers flying her way might inadvertently hit him. Meanwhile, the Quaffle was being thrown left, right, and centre, and the goals were racking up on either side.

"That's a goal to Gryffindor!" Murphy shouted over the loud cheers coming from the Gryffindor stands. "That brings the score to eighty to fifty, narrowing down Hufflepuff's lead to thirty points!"

Another Bludger soared towards Artemis, and she dipped away from it. Kidd followed suit, and the Bludger missed his left ear by less than an inch. He was still taking his leads from Artemis, so she took another dive, steep and fast, and pulled up and out of it suddenly. Kidd managed to recover himself, but not before he'd collided with one of the Gryffindor Chasers, who was flying directly below him, and knocked her off her broomstick and out of the sky.

A time out was called whilst the Chaser was checked for injuries and deemed unfit to continue playing. The Gryffindor captain was incensed now, and flew over to Kidd.

"For Merlin's sake, she's feinting!" she shouted, throwing a dirty look at Artemis over her shoulder. "Stop falling for it, or you'll end up breaking your leg, too."

Artemis scowled. Was everyone blaming her, then? Madam Hooch blew her whistle, and as she did, Artemis noticed a flash of gold right next to the Gryffindor goalposts. The Snitch! She accelerated, and flew at the goal, narrowly missing the Quaffle as Lizzie passed it to Skye. The Snitch rose into the air, and so did Artemis, before flying back in the direction she'd just come from. She swerved, and followed the Snitch past Kidd himself, who didn't follow her as she zoomed in front of him, catching up with the Snitch. One of the Gryffindor players shouted something at him, and he started to fly in Artemis' direction, but it was too late. She had already caught the tiny winged ball. Madam Hooch blew the whistle.

"The Snitch is caught by Hexley, ending the game with a final score of two hundred and thirty to Hufflepuff! Hufflepuff beat Gryffindor by a margin of one hundred and eighty points!"

The Hufflepuff team's celebrations continued from the pitch into the changing rooms and back into the Great Hall, where someone - probably Penny - had organised a victory party, not only for the Hufflepuffs, but anyone else who wanted to join. In addition to her housemates, Artemis found herself being congratulated by Ben Copper, the Weasley brothers (Charlie even let her have a go on his crutches), Jae Kim, Tulip Karasu, Badeea Ali, Andre Egwu, Liz Tuttle, and - of course - Barnaby Lee, who spent almost the entire party with his arm around Artemis' shoulders and wearing such a proud smile that anyone would have thought that he had caught the Snitch himself.

In fact, there was only one person at the party who didn't seem happy about Hufflepuff's latest victory.

"Artemis," Barnaby leant down and whispered in her ear, "who is that girl who keeps staring at you like she wants to hit you?"

Turning around, Artemis half-expected to see either Ismelda Murk or Merula Snyde, but instead she noticed a tall, muscular girl with long blonde hair staring daggers at her across the room.

"That's Erika Rath," Murphy said, looking in the same direction as Artemis. "Ravenclaw Quidditch Captain. Obviously, they won the House Cup last year, and they're in the lead this year, too."

"But why is she..." Artemis' voice tailed off, and she saw that a few feet away, Skye was also watching Erika. "Murphy, do you think that Erika might think that I started those rumours about her stealing that broomstick?"

"You mean, you didn't start that rumour?" Andre asked, swishing his scarf over his shoulder.

"No!"

"You mean, that was just a rumour?" Barnaby wrinkled his nose.

"Yes, of course," Artemis looked up at him, frowning. "Scully ate the broomstick, remember?"

Barnaby still looked confused. Artemis sighed. Erika Rath really did look angry.

"You know, she has one of the best track records as a Beater in Hogwarts Quidditch history," Murphy said, cheerfully. "Almost ninety-seven percent of her Bludgers reach their intended target."

"Brilliant," muttered Artemis. Somehow, that statistic didn't make her feel better at all.

At least Artemis now had a plan to get her hands on a new broomstick. When she next had detention, she took the rucksack full of treasure with her to the kitchens, and emptied the contents onto a table in front of Jae.

"Bloody hell, Hex," he said, his eyes wide at the sight. "What's all this?"

"That's what I want you to tell me," Artemis replied. "Charlie and I stole it from a Red Cap the other week. We need to know how much it's worth."

"Is this because of Charlie and the dragon egg?"

"You know about that?"

"Course I do," said Jae, picking up a gold coin from the pile. He bit down on it, before nodding and putting it back and examining a silver necklace. "I'm the one who told him about it. One of my regulars has one he's selling to the highest bidder. Which, from the looks of things, is going to be you two."

"So there's enough here for the dragon egg?"

"More than enough."

"And a broomstick, too?" Artemis asked him.

"Depends."

"On what?"

"What kind of broomstick," Jae grinned. "You take out what you'll need for your dragon egg, plus a little extra for bidding, you'll have enough left over for maybe a second hand Shooting Star, but nothing fancy. I mean, you can get broomsticks cheap on the black market, but I wouldn't recommend it."

Artemis sighed. That was disappointing.

"Oh well," she said, putting the treasure back into her rucksack. "Getting the dragon egg is more important, anyway. Do you reckon your friend will want to take the goods as they are, or will we need to sell everything to get actual money first?"

"Nah, I reckon old Al will take it as it comes, but I'll write something to say that I've valued it for you. Otherwise he'll try and undercut you, he's a nightmare for that," Jae smiled, almost affectionately. "I'll arrange a meeting for you, too, if you like?"

It didn't take long for Jae to make good on his promise. In their next History of Magic lesson, he called Artemis and Charlie over to talk quietly under the noise of Rowan lecturing and Professor Binns snoring.

"Thursday evening. Seven o'clock. Hogs Head. Ask to be seated at a table under the name of Pitts," he whispered to them, handing Artemis a scroll of parchment. She passed the scroll to Charlie, whose eyebrows shot up as he read it. "You'll be wanting this. Very basic break down of what your goods are worth. Al is a crafty bugger."

"That's who we'll be meeting, then?"

"Yeah. His real name's Alistair, Alistair Figden, but everyone just calls him Figgers or-"

"Wait," Artemis held up her hand, interrupting Jae mid-sentence. "Alistair Figden?"

"That's what I said. Do pay attention, Hex."

"No, but... Alistair Figden is the bloke Rakepick wanted to get hold of. Mundungus Fletcher said-"

"Ah, Dung. Great guy."

"- he had the portrait that's the key to getting into the next Cursed Vault," Artemis frowned. "Jae, has he ever mentioned it to you?"

"Nah, I don't think so. I'm not really into the art trade, myself. Too many poshos. It's a nightmare."

"This is more than we need for a dragon egg," Charlie said, handing Artemis back the scroll of parchment. "We could see if he'd sell us the portrait, too, or at least give you some information and let Rakepick sort out the rest."

Artemis nodded, her face grim. She didn't want to think what Rakepick would do if she left it her to sort it out.

On Thursday evening, Charlie and Artemis snuck out of the castle once more, and flew to Hogsmeade, and made their way through the village to the Hog's Head Inn.

"Is it just me," Charlie murmured, his freckled nose wrinkling, "or does it smell like goats in here?"

Artemis stifled a laugh and walked over to the bar, feeling her feet peel off the sticky floor with each step. She had only ever been to the Hog's Head once, and that was two years before. Judging from the state of the pub, it hadn't been cleaned since.

"We've got a table booked for Pitts," Artemis told the bartender, who wordlessly pointed at a table in the farthest, darkest corner of the bar. Someone was already sitting at the table, a wizard in dark, tattered robes, with lank grey hair. She nodded to the barman, and led Charlie across the inn. "You make him like us, I'll make sure he behaves, yeah?"

"Good Auror, bad Auror? Works with me," Charlie replied under his breath. As they approached the wizard in the corner, he smiled good-naturedly and held out his hand to shake. "Alistair Figden?"

The wizard didn't shake Charlie's proffered hand, just stared at him with narrowed eyes.

"Did that Kim boy send you?" he asked, his voice raspy.

"Yeah, he did," Charlie took his hand back and sat down opposite Figden. Artemis remained standing, her arms crossed in front of her chest. "We're here about the... Magizoological specimen. We have items to trade that are valued at more than your cost, and would be be willing to negotiate a deal."

"I'd rather gold. Your items might be fakes."

"They might, but they're not. Jae valued them himself, see?" Charlie passed Figden the scroll Jae had written. Figden read it, a look of greed in his eyes. Charlie glanced at Artemis before continuing, "We also have reason to believe that you are in possession of a certain portrait that we'd be interested in buying off you."

"Portrait?"

"Yeah, a portrait of a Cursed Vault."

Figden's head snapped up. He frowned at Charlie, then looked up at Artemis. His eyes widened.

"Hexley," he murmured. Artemis unfolded her arms. If he recognised her, then he must have known... "Jacob Hexley. He was after that portrait."

"And now, so are we. Will you sell it to us?"

"No."

Charlie looked at Artemis again, before asking Figden, "Why not?"

"I don't have it. Never did."

"But do you know who does have it? Or where it is?"

"I might," Figden gave Charlie back the scroll. "I'll want everything on this list, and fifteen more Galleons."

"Make it three, and you have a deal."

"Ten."

"I can do six," Charlie reached into his pocket, pulled out a shabby coin bag, and placed it on the table. Artemis stared at him in disbelief. That had to be all his wages from Rosmerta. "It's all I have, so it'll have to do. That and the list of items Jae's valued for us for the dragon egg and everything you know about the portrait."

"You strike a hard bargain," Figden reached out and took the the coin bag, closing his long, gnarled fingers over it, and placing it inside his cloak. "Very well. I'll tell you all I know about the portraits."

"Portraits?" Artemis blurted out. "I thought there was just one!"

"No, there were several. A series. Centuries old, all by the same unknown artist," Figden said. "One is lost, one is hung up at Hogwarts, and then there are three more."

"Where are they?"

"That I don't know. Hexley - Jacob Hexley, not you - asked me to procure them for him, and I did," Figden's features contorted into a grin. "He paid me a very good price. Him and that friend of his."

"What friend? Olivia?"

"Nah, the boy. The one who died. I don't remember his name."

"Duncan? Duncan Ashe?"

"Sounds familiar. Anyway, I found the three remaining portraits and sold them to Hexley and his friend - though, if you ask me, they looked like they might be more than just good friends, but who am I to judge?" Figden took a swig from his dirty glass. "What they did with the portraits after that will stay with them. With Hexley missing and Ashe gone to an early grave, it's likely no one will ever know."

Charlie and Artemis exchanged glances. They knew exactly who they needed to ask about the portraits.

"Right, I've told you what I know," Figden continued. "Give me the rest of the goods, and I'll give you your Magizoological specimen, and we can all get on with our evenings."

The rucksack full of treasure was handed to Figden, who rummaged around inside, as if checking that everything was in order. He must have been satisfied, because he closed the bag, and from underneath the table produced a large purple egg. Charlie's eyes lit up as the egg was held out to him by Figden, who smirked slightly.

Artemis frowned. Something wasn't right here, she could tell.

"Wait," she said, leaning over Charlie and placing her hand on his wrist to stop him taking the egg. "Are you sure that's a real dragon egg?"

"Of course I'm sure," Figden glared at her. Charlie looked up and shrugged at Artemis, who retreated, moving her hand from his arm to the pocket where she kept her wand. "Pleasure doing business with you."

Figden tucked the rucksack full of treasure inside his cloak, and extended a grubby hand to Charlie to shake. Artemis' eyes didn't leave his face. He was being dishonest, she just knew it.

After Charlie shook Figden's hand, it was her turn. But when Figden held his hand out to her, she pulled out her wand.

"Brachiobindo," she said, pointing her wand at him. A second later, thick ropes had coiled around Figden's torso, pinning his elbows to his sides.

"What the-"

"First of all," she snarled, her wand still pointed at Figden's face, "I'm going to be asking the questions here, not you. Second of all, don't lie to me. That's not a real dragon egg, is it?"

"It is!"

"I told you not to lie. Revelio!" Artemis moved her wand down from Figden to the egg, which shrunk and changed colour from purple to white. "That's funny. I didn't realise that geese were counted as dragons these days. We want our treasure back."

"You can't, we shook hands. A deal is a deal."

"No, Charlie shook your hand. I tied you up. And I want my rucksack back. Now."

"Fine, take your bleeding treasure," Figden muttered. Artemis kept her wand on him, before reaching into his cloak to pull out her yellow rucksack. Taking it back, she vanished the ropes that bound him. He stood up as if to leave, but she blocked his path. She'd forgotten something. Figden stared down at her. "What do you want now?"

"My friend's Galleons. I want those back, too."

"No. I gave you the information you wanted, that money is mine by right," Figden shook his head. "I'm not going to be cheated out of what's mine by a fourteen-year-old girl."

"I'm actually fifteen, and I don't think you can lecture us on cheating. You know, your fingernails are really disgusting," she said, gently touching the tip of her wand with her index finger. "I might remove them."

"What?"

"You heard me. Give my friend back his money, or I'll start summoning your fingernails. Or I'll just set fire to your hair, that could do with coming off, too."

"Who the hell do you think you are?"

"I'm Artemis Hexley. Who the hell do you think you are?"

Figden moved to walk around Artemis, but she moved into his path again. He tried to push her, but she stood her ground and pointed her wand at him again. He pulled out his own wand, and she disarmed him.

Figden's wand flew from from his hand, and Artemis jumped to catch it.

"You know, my wand got broken recently," she said, quietly. "The new one cost seven Galleons. I've never been that good at numbers, but I reckon that would leave you out of pocket, wouldn't it? You keeping my friend's money, and me snapping this wand in half?"

"I don't need this grief. Have your money back," Figden spat at Artemis, and threw Charlie's coin bag down on the table. Artemis held the conman's wand out to him, and he snatched it off her and pushed past her, muttering to himself, "Jumped up little brat."

Artemis withdrew her wand and turned back to Charlie, who was leaning back from her, staring at her with an alarmed sort of expression on his face.

"What?" she asked him. "He tried to swindle you!"

"You terrify me," Charlie said, under his breath. Artemis' giggled, and Charlie took a deep breath, blinked and shook his head. "Do you reckon he was telling the truth about the rest, though? About Duncan knowing where the portrait was all along?"

"That I believed," Artemis nodded. "I think we need to have another chat with Duncan."

"I was just thinking the same thing. Maybe keep your wand to yourself this time, yeah?"

Artemis and Charlie flew straight back to the castle, ran at full pelt to the library to find Bill, and dragged him up to the fifth floor to find Duncan Ashe.

"Duncan!" Artemis shouted, as they entered the Prefects' bathroom. "Duncan, I know you can hear me. Come out and talk to me, you lying little toerag!"

Bill and Charlie looked at each other nervously as Artemis kicked the door of a toilet cubicle open. A moment later, Duncan appeared from behind a sink.

"Me, a liar?" he said. "That's rich, coming from a Hexley."

"Yeah, I get it. You're dead, and you're angry about it. But you know what? Being angry about being dead doesn't change the fact that you're dead, so you might as well just get over it."

Duncan blinked at her, and then his expression changed. He looked less sullen, and more sad. Artemis took a deep breath.

"Sorry," she muttered, softening as Duncan stared down at the floor, looking more morose by the second. "I'm sorry, I just... Why did you lie to us about the portrait? I know you know where it is. We spoke to Figden."

"Oh," Duncan frowned. "Yes. I lied."

"Why, though?"

"Because I... I didn't want you to have it. Because of you, and Jacob, and what happened to me."

"Duncan, I'm sorry about what happened to you," Artemis said. Duncan half-laughed, and shook his head. "I am. Really."

"No, you're not. You can't be."

"What do you mean?"

Duncan sighed, and looked at her sadly.

"Because," he said, quietly, "if it hadn't happened to me, it would have happened to you."

A hushed quiet fell over the bathroom, with only the sound of a dripping tap stopping it from being entirely silent.

"I think you need to tell us everything," said Bill, eventually, his eyebrows furrowed. Duncan swallowed, hard.

"Okay," he nodded. "I'll tell you. We'll see if you still want to find your brother after I'm done."

"I will," Artemis breathed. Duncan looked at her pityingly.

"You love him," he said. "So did I, once. I thought he... We were best friends, you see. Him, me, and Olivia. And so, when he started looking for the Vaults, we went along with him. He was more interested in it than we were, of course, but he lead, and we followed. It was fun, at first. But then, the Cabal came along-"

"The Cabal? Who's the Cabal?"

"A group of people, they were looking for the Vaults, too. They sent us messages, signed with the letter-"

"R."

"Yes, R. At first we ignored them, but after a while, Jacob said we needed their help. He started to write back to them, leave them messages. They gave us instructions, and we did what they asked. Olivia hated it, and she stopped helping us. She said Jacob was taking things too far, tried to warn me, but... Jacob and I didn't listen. We started getting closer to the Vaults..." Duncan paused, and closed his eyes. "And to each other."

"What?" Artemis frowned, and then her eyes widened as she realised what Duncan meant. "Oh."

"Like I said, I loved him. I thought he felt the same way, but... he didn't. It was all a lie."

"No. No, Jacob wouldn't lie about something like that. He-"

"He did. You see, the Cabal wanted a sacrifice. They said that a life was needed to open the final Vaults, and so he... he gave them mine," Duncan gave a wry smile. "Betrayed with a kiss."

Again, Bill was the one who broke the tense near-silence.

"Where does Artemis come into this?" he asked.

"Jacob came here to find me after I died," Duncan replied, in a shaky voice. "He wanted to apologise, and to explain why he did what he did. He told me it was to protect you."

"How does this protect me?"

"The sacrifice had to be a meaningful one. If it hadn't been me, it would have been you. He chose your life over mine."

Artemis' head was spinning. She could hardly believe it. She couldn't believe it. There had to be a mistake. Jacob loved her, but he would never, never have betrayed his friend - no, his boyfriend - just to open the Vaults.

"He knew all this. He used me like a pawn in a chess game. He told me this, and he told me he was going to make sure that the sacrifice wouldn't be in vain, but to do so, he needed the vault portrait. There was a set of three portraits. One was of the Vault, one was of a door, and the other was of a dragon. He had two of them, but I had the one that mattered. The vault portrait."

"So where is it now?"

"I gave it away."

"To who?"

"Peeves."

"Peeves the Poltergeist?" Bill asked.

"He's the only ghost who could touch objects and take it. He has it hidden away somewhere," Duncan turned and looked at Artemis. "I didn't want Jacob to have it. I didn't want him to get to his precious Vaults. I was angry, and betrayed, and bitter, and I... I hated him. I hated you, too. Because he loved you, and he didn't love me."

Artemis shook her head, still not able to completely believe Duncan's story, to believe the claims he made of Jacob. Duncan must have seen this, because he told her:

"If you don't believe me, ask Patricia Rakepick. She knew all about your brother and his schemes."