The three days that followed the events of the Buried Vault and preceded the end of term passed in a blur. Professor Dumbledore had been right about Artemis' friends being affected by what had happened.

Merula had spent the whole time swearing revenge on Professor Rakepick and demanding to be discharged from the Hospital Wing, much to the chagrin of Madam Pomfrey; Charlie had been disappearing at regular intervals, presumably flying to the Forbidden Forest in an attempt to clear his head; and Ben had been acting as if nothing was bothering him at all, which wouldn't have been quite so strange if it had been anyone other than Ben acting this way. Bill was quiet, and barely spent any time with the Hufflepuff girls, not that Penny seemed to mind. She was just happy to have her sister back and safe, although Beatrice was timid and jumpy, and barely uttered a word.

As for Artemis herself, she had mixed emotions - most of which she was trying her best to push away. However, with no Quidditch, no Curse-Breaking, and no revision to throw herself into, she had very little to distract her from the feelings of anger, guilt, confusion, and apprehension that kept entering her consciousness at seemingly random intervals. She spent most of the time with Rowan, Tonks, and Tulip, to whom she had recounted the story of the Buried Vault at length. Despite the fact that both Tulip and Rowan had never really trusted Rakepick in the first place, they had nevertheless been shocked to hear of her betrayal, and of Jacob's.

The true nature of what transpired inside the Cursed Vault and the portrait chamber hadn't been revealed to most of the school, but Rakepick had been reported to the Auror office, and the Daily Prophet had named her as a Dark Witch at large. Artemis and her friends had been reading the newspaper each morning, and by Saturday there had still been no leads as to her whereabouts.

"None at all?" Tonks asked, her eyebrows furrowing, interrupting Rowan as she read aloud. Rowan looked at her over the top of the newspaper.

"None whatsoever," she said. "Rita Skeeter is calling it 'a concerning failure of the magical justice and education systems'. Apparently Dumbledore has declined an interview."

"I'm not surprised," muttered Tulip. "Rita Skeeter is famous for twisting people's words around when she interviews them. My parents had a terrible time a few years ago with a problem in their department at the Ministry. Dad hates the woman."

"I'm not too keen on her either," Artemis sighed, thinking about the libellous book Rita Skeeter had written about her family five years previously. "Oh, well. At least it gives people something to talk about."

"Oh, yes," Penny nodded her head. "It's all anyone's been talking about. That and the fact that you and Barnaby aren't talking at the moment."

"Really? Our teacher is wanted by the Aurors, and people are more interested in my relationship?"

"Well, it's true. You and Barnaby have barely spoken a word to each other in days. People were bound to start noticing that."

Artemis pursed her lips. Barnaby was the one person she had yet to talk to about what had happened in the Buried Vault, and for some reason, she wasn't looking forward to talking to him. As a result, the two of them had barely seen each other since he had asked to accompany Artemis to the Cursed Vault, other than making brief and awkward eye contact at mealtimes.

"Penny's right. You can't avoid him forever, you know," Rowan said, as Barnaby looked their way, smiled, and quickly turned his attention back to the Slytherin table, clearly not wanting to make eye contact.

"I'm not avoiding him," Artemis replied, half-truthfully. "Besides, he's not speaking to me, either. Maybe he doesn't want-"

"You need to talk to him, Artemis. We get the train home tomorrow, you can't leave for the summer with things like this between you."

Artemis sighed. Rowan was right. She watched the Slytherins eat their breakfast, barely touching her own, and when she saw Barnaby and his friend Liz rise from the table, she got up and followed them out into the entrance hall.

"Barnaby," she called after him. He stopped and turned around, and the two of them stood and stared at each other in silence. "Can we, um... Do you want to go for a walk with me?"

"Yes," Barnaby nodded. "When?"

"Now?"

Barnaby looked across at Liz as if he were asking permission for something. Liz shrugged and walked away wordlessly, throwing a dark look over her shoulder at Artemis as she did so. Now that Barnaby and Artemis were alone, neither of them knew what to say or do.

"So-"

"What-"

"Sorry. You go first."

"No, it's..." Barnaby frowned deeply. "Where do you want to walk to?"

"Just around the grounds is fine," Artemis said, and the two of them set off, silently walking side-by-side past the grand staircase, over the paved courtyard, and out of the clocktower entrance, over the stone bridge and down to the castle grounds.

The weather was fair, the sun still high in the sky, patterned with tattered white clouds. A light breeze was blowing, sending ripples through the long, lush grass and making the trees at the edge of the Forbidden Forest sway ever so slightly. They stopped by a group of stones arranged in a circle, and sat with their backs against one of them, overlooking the pumpkin patch and the owlery.

"Are you looking forward to the summer?" Barnaby asked. "The holidays, I mean. It already is summer."

"I know it is. I know what you meant," said Artemis. "I'm not really looking forward to the summer, no."

"Because of your mum?"

"Yeah. Sort of. I guess you're not looking forward to going home, either."

"No," Barnaby looked at the pumpkin patch. He was quiet for a few moments before speaking again. "Are you worried about Rakepick after what she did in the Vault?"

"A bit," Artemis frowned. "How did you know about what Rakepick did?"

"Charlie told me. He said that she attacked you and that you might be upset, so I should wait for you to talk to me about what happened instead of ask you."

"Did he tell you about Jacob?"

"What about him?" Barnaby tilted his head to one side, and frowned. He didn't know, so Artemis told him about what happened in the Cursed Vault. He listened, not saying anything, the crease in his forehead deepening. He remained quiet after she had finished. "Is that why you haven't wanted to talk since then? Because of what happened?"

Artemis paused. She couldn't lie to him. Not now.

"It's not the only reason."

"I thought not," Barnaby looked at Artemis properly for the first time. His eyes were filled with an expression of deep hurt, and Artemis felt the knot of guilt in her chest tighten. "This is it, isn't it? It's the end. We're going to break up."

"I think so. Yes. I'm sorry," said Artemis, and she meant it, too. Barnaby looked away and nodded.

"That's okay."

"It's not that I don't care about you, or anything. It's just..." Artemis' voice tailed off, and she bit her lower lip as she thought. "Everything is changing. I'm changing, too, I think, and-"

"I said it's okay, Artemis."

"Right. Well, I'm still sorry. And I still want to be your friend. I understand if you don't want us to be friends anymore, though."

"I do still want us to be friends," Barnaby said, quietly. "Not just yet, though."

"I get that. I really am very sorry, Barnaby."

"I know you are."

Barnaby's smile was sweet, but sad. They stayed in the sun for a little while longer, not saying a word, or even knowing what to say. And then, both of them with a bruised feeling in their chests, they went their separate ways.

The End-Of-Year Feast was that evening. Despite the smile on Penny's face as she sat next to her sister at the Hufflepuff table, Artemis found herself not enjoying the feast as much as she usually did.

"Are you okay, Artemis?" Chiara asked from across the table. "You're very quiet."

"Haven't you heard? She broke up with Barnaby this afternoon."

"Sure, Penny, that's what it is," scoffed Tonks. "Nothing to do with the fact that one of our teachers tried to do her in a couple of nights ago."

Penny silenced Tonks with a look. Beside her, Beatrice was looking a little pale. Artemis pushed away her main course and helped herself to a slice of Bakewell tart instead. Rowan watched her with a curious expression in her doe-liked brown eyes.

"It's because Bill's leaving, too, isn't it?" she whispered, once Penny, Tonks and Chiara were all safely engaged in their own conversations. Artemis nodded.

"It's stupid. I know."

"No, it's not stupid."

At the end of the feast, Artemis shepherded the first years back towards the dungeons, but was stopped from following them down the stairs from the by Bill himself, along with Charlie.

"We need to talk to you about something," Bill said, and Artemis followed the Weasleys out into the entrance courtyard and onto the viaduct, from which they had a perfect view of the crescent moon shining on the Black Lake. "It's my graduation tomorrow."

"I know."

"There's a ceremony thing in the Great Hall just before dawn, and then afterwards, as the sun rises, we take the boats across the lake to the station before the carriages leave. It's meant to only be for families, but I spoke to McGonagall, and she said that she's happy to make an exception so you can watch, if you'd like to."

Artemis frowned, blinking, and Bill continued.

"We also wrote home to Mum and Dad, and said that you might need a place to stay for the holidays," he told her. Artemis looked at him, scarcely daring to believe what she thought he was saying. "We just thought that with your aunt and uncle not being here, you'd have to go back to your mum's all summer, and after what happened with Jacob and Rakepick... Well, it just didn't seem like it was a good idea for you to be back there."

"You want me to stay at yours for the summer? The whole summer?" Artemis asked, and both boys nodded. "What about your family, won't they mind?"

"Not at all."

"Apparently Ginny's already started sleeping on her bedroom floor, she's so excited," Charlie shook his head, his eyes fixed on the lake. Artemis laughed.

"That really won't be necessary. I'm more than happy to sleep on the floor again."

"So, that's settled then. You'll be staying with us, yeah?"

"Yeah. Yes please," Artemis nodded. "As long as you don't mind me going to visit Rowan for a week or so. I usually do, and I don't want her to feel like I'm choosing you over her, or leaving her out, or anything."

"Of course not. I'm sure she'd be welcome to stay for a few nights as well."

Delighted, Artemis hugged both of the Weasley brothers in turn. Perhaps she didn't need to worry so much about the year ending, after all.

As much as Artemis appreciated being invited to watch Bill's graduation, she found herself feeling despondent throughout Dumbledore's speech, even as Bill was presented with a medal for Magical Merit, due to a growing sense of uneasiness in her abdomen. The feeling only got stronger as she watched the seventh years board the wooden boats at the lakeshore, and float away from the castle. The shock of red hair she recognised as Bill's got smaller and smaller as his boat got further away, until she could no longer see him at all.

Steeling herself against the tears that were threatening to form in her eyes, she turned to Charlie, who offered her a reassuring smile. His shoulders, however, were tense, and his face lined with resignation.

"We should go and get the carriages," he said, just as Artemis opened her mouth to ask whether he was okay. "We don't want to be stuck at school all summer."

Artemis nodded. For once, she was actually looking forward to leaving Hogwarts. She raised her eyebrows at Charlie and grinned.

"Race you back?" she said, and the two of them ran up the boathouse steps to the castle, where the horseless carriages were waiting to take them back to Hogsmeade station. It was time for the Hogwarts Express to leave.

It felt like an eternity had passed before Artemis and the other prefects were allowed to stop patrolling the train so that they could change back into their Muggle clothes, but eventually, the rolling green countryside outside changed into urban London streets, and they felt the train slow down. As the Hogwarts Express pulled into Platform Nine and Three Quarters, Artemis caught sight of a small girl with flaming red hair chasing down the train as it came to its eventual stop. She smiled. She had a whole summer of this to look forward to.

First, though, she had to fetch her summer clothes, still stowed away in a drawer in her little attic bedroom at Lovelace Crescent. After hugging her friends goodbye - an activity that took several minutes - and leaving Fergus in the care of Charlie and Ginny to take back to the Burrow, Artemis and Bill walked through the streets of Camden Town to get to the canal path.

"I should've mentioned before," said Bill, pulling Artemis' trunk up over the edge of the pavement, "Dumbledore didn't write to our parents about the Cursed Vault, and Charlie and I decided that it's best not to tell Mum and Dad about it. Mum will only worry, and she wasn't too happy about what happened with us all going to the Cursed Vault last year, either. So maybe don't mention it when they're around, if that's alright?"

"Of course," Artemis frowned. "What about Rakepick, though? Won't it be risky for all of you if I'm at yours?"

"The whole Auror office are after Rakepick, it's all over the Daily Prophet that she's been exposed as a dangerous criminal. She's not going to go chasing after you at our house."

"I guess not."

"Is that worrying you? Her coming after you?"

"Sort of. I dunno," Artemis said, with a sigh. "I still can't quite get my head around all of it, to be honest. What happened in the Vaults, with Rakepick, and with Jacob, and the whole thing with Duncan and R. I don't know what to think anymore."

"Yeah, it's tough. It feels so strange that Rakepick helped me so much, and then could turn around to be like that. And Jacob, how he could just..." Bill paused and cleared his throat. "Artemis, I've been meaning to ask you something, actually. What you said, in the Vault, did you mean that?"

"I said lots of things in the Vault, Bill."

"You did, yes. But specifically, I'm talking about what you said about me being a better brother than your own."

"Oh, that," Artemis thought for a moment. "I mean, I was angry. I wanted to say something that would make Jacob want to stay, or hurt him. But that doesn't mean that I didn't mean it, because I did. At the time, I definitely did, I just don't know how much I would have meant it at any other time, because I was so angry when I said it, if that makes sense?"

"Yes, it does. And I'm very touched that you meant it, even if it was just a bit," Bill told her. He looked across and raised one eyebrow at her. "Penny mentioned that you ended things with Barnaby Lee."

"Yeah."

"What happened?"

"He told me he loved me."

"What a git."

Bill smirked, and Artemis pulled a face at him before frowning again.

"I dunno, Bill. He said it, and he wasn't just saying it to be kind or anything, I could tell. He meant it, and I should have been happy, but instead just felt like I needed to get away from him," she shrugged and shook her head. "Maybe it's me. Maybe I'm not meant to be loved."

"Don't be ridiculous."

"I'm not! Look at my mum, and Jacob, and now-"

"Artemis, you are sixteen years old. Yes, you've had rubbish luck with your family, and you've just been let down by Jacob again and broken up with your first crush, but you can hardly rule out the whole concept of love forever," Bill said, his sarcastic tone making Artemis roll her eyes. "I'm serious. You're talking nonsense. I know plenty of people who love you, myself included."

Artemis wrinkled her nose as she looked at Bill out of the side of her eyes, and he laughed, wrapping his arm around the back of her shoulders.

"Not like that, you numpty," he laughed. "I just mean that... Well, it's like you said in the Vault. You see me as a brother, and I see you in pretty much the same way."

"You do?"

"Yeah. And like you said in the Vault, I'd like to think that I've been a better brother to you than Jacob," Bill said, his face growing dark for a moment. "I know he's your brother and everything, but I can't say that he made the best first impression. If I was in his position, I'd never have left you in the Vault like that."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome. And, look, I know I'm not going to be around all the time any more, but I want you to know that, just because I'm leaving Hogwarts, it doesn't mean that I'm leaving you behind. This isn't the end, okay?"

"Okay," Artemis smiled. She knew that he meant it. She stopped and wrapped her arms around Bill's waist, and he ruffled her hair so hard her head moved from side to side. "Hey! Stop it, Bill!"

"What kind of brother would I be if I didn't try to annoy my second favourite sister every now and then?"

"Second favourite?" Artemis exclaimed, moving away from him. Bill snickered, and she shrugged, smirking mischievously. "Oh, well, that's fine. You're my second favourite of your brothers."

"Ouch, that hurt. Don't tell me that you prefer Charlie to me these days."

"Charlie never messes up my hair."

"I'm sure he would if you let him," Bill's grin widened as the expression on Artemis' face changed from one of confusion, to realisation, to alarm. "I'm joking, Artemis!"

He went to ruffle her hair again, but this time she was ready, and fended him off. Their bickering continued as they walked through the market, along the canal path, and up the steps that lead to the corner of Lovelace Crescent.

"Maybe don't come in," Artemis said, taking her trunk from Bill. "I won't be long, anyway, and I've never brought any friends from school home before. I don't know if mum will want strangers in the house."

She left Bill sitting on the grey steps outside the the front door, and dragged her trunk up to the attic. She stuffed as many summer clothes into her yellow rucksack as she could, before running back down the stairs. She could hear her mother in her study, and no doubt her mother could hear her too, but Sara Hexley did not come out to speak to her daughter.

Artemis was going to leave without saying anything, but something made her reconsider. Perhaps it was the disappointment she had felt when her mother had gone to America at Christmas without telling her, or the worry she'd had over Jacob's unknown whereabouts all these years, or perhaps it was so that Jacob could contact her if he did find his way home, but for some reason, she returned to the attic once more.

She fetched a quill and inkpot from her trunk, ripped a page from a notebook on her bedside table, and scrawled out a message for her mother, telling her where she would be for the holidays, wishing her a good summer, and asking her if she would mind sending money to the Weasleys to pay for her food. She folded the note over, wrote her mother's name in large letters on one side, and took it down to the front room, where she left it on the centre of the mantlepiece. Through the window, she could see Bill waiting patiently for her on the pavement. It was time to go.

She slung her bag over one shoulder and walked out of the house. She heard the front door click shut behind her, descended the grey steps outside, and joined Bill. They walked down Lovelace Crescent, past the terraced houses, and paused at the corner of the road.

"Shall we?" Bill asked, holding his arm out to Artemis, which she took. She cast one final look over shoulder at the house she'd grown up in, before turning back to Bill. She nodded her head and smiled.

There was a loud crack, and the two of them disappeared into the sunlight.