The Easter holidays were almost over, but whilst the majority of the students had been enjoying the break, the final years had all been hard at work, using the extra free time to study for their N.E.W.T.s. With the extra preparations that they were making ready to return to the Cursed Vaults, the members of Circle of Khanna had been working harder than anyone.

Diego had been helping Ben, Jae, Andre, and Merula practise duelling and fire-making spells every morning and evening on the training grounds; and Tulip, Tonks, and Ismelda had been practising the Boggart-Banishing spell until they were blue in the face. Meanwhile, Charlie and Talbott had been poring over the map of the Forbidden Forest, whilst Barnaby and Liz got to grips with the spider-repelling charm and Chiara made notes on everything she could during her shifts in the Hospital Wing. Badeea had spent hours studying the portrait that Bea Haywood had been trapped inside for the majority of her first year at school, and Penny had been finding ways to help everyone, from brewing fire-protection potions to researching antivenom and handing out sweets when she thought someone was in need of something to perk them up.

Artemis also found herself trying her hardest to multitask. Being the somewhat-reluctant leader of the group, and the only member who had actually been to every single one of the Cursed Vaults during her time at Hogwarts, she would be returning to all of them. That meant she had no choice but to prepare herself for everything, as well as finding the time to revise for her exams.

At least one exam would soon be over and done with, and that was her Apparition test. The exam was to take place in mid-April, at the end of the twelve-week course and on the final day of the Easter break.

"You'll be alright," said Tonks, as Artemis rose up from the lunch table, ready to leave for the exam. "Just don't do what Charlie did. Oh, and try not to splinch yourself."

"Great," Artemis said. Tonks shrugged and returned to the list of possible distractions she and Tulip were considering to use on Madam Pince. Tulip looked up from the list, an earnest expression on her face.

"And just remember, the final 'D' stands for deliberation, not defecation," she said knowledgeably.

"Who did that in their Apparation exam?"

"No one, as far as I'm aware. But you really don't want to be the first person to make that mistake."

Artemis laughed as she walked away from a smirking Tulip and cackling Tonks, and stepped out into the entrance hall of the castle, where the students who were taking the exam were gathered, all looking slightly nervous.

They were to be examined one at a time, with Wilkie Twycross calling out their names once it was their turn. Being one of the oldest to take the test, Artemis' was the second name called, with only Corey Hayden taking a turn before her. She followed Wilkie out to the courtyard outside - where she was informed that the anti-Disapparition charms had been lifted for the purpose of the exam - and dutifully listed the three Ds of Apparition and Disapparition, before he gave her a piece of paper with her destination written on it:

Hogsmeade Train Station, Platform One.

"Are you familiar with this location?" asked Wilkie Twycross, already sounding as if he were bored of the afternoon's proceedings. Artemis nodded her head. "Good. Remember, any splinching - however minor - will cause you to fail. Off you go."

Artemis took a deep breath. Not splinching herself meant focusing hard on not just her destination, but the act of Apparating itself. She thought about her destination, determinedly putting her memories of Rowan aside as she pictured in her mind's eye the station platform with its clock on the wall that always read ten past ten, turned deliberately on the spot, vanishing herself and re-conjuring herself to find herself...

On the platform, directly beneath the frozen clock. She smiled to herself, and heard a single pair of hands clapping behind her. She turned around and saw that the person applauding her was Basil from the Portkey Office.

"Nicely done, Miss Hexley," said Basil. "Second one of the day, and no obvious splinching. Can you remove your boots so I can check that you still have all your toes? Lovely."

Having proved to Basil that all ten of her toes were still firmly attached to her feet, Artemis took the signed test certificate from him and left the station to allow the next student to take their turn at Apparating. On the road outside, she had expected to see a Thestral drawn carriage, but instead, she just found Corey Hayden, also clutching a signed certificate.

"You passed, too?" he asked, looking at her hands, and Artemis nodded in response.

"Yeah. Are we meant to Apparate back, do you think?"

"What?"

"There's no carriages..."

"Didn't Basil tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

"It's tradition for everyone taking the exam to go and get a drink at the Three Broomsticks after," said Corey, nodding his head in the direction of the village. "I just didn't want to go by myself. We can walk there together if you like?"

"I'd love to, but I'm supposed to be meeting Jae and Ben to go over some duelling spells with them," Artemis told him, and he tilted his head to one side, frowning slightly.

"They've been practising duelling spells a lot lately, haven't they?"

Artemis tried to think of an excuse, but quickly decided against it, feeling guilty all of a sudden. She knew that Corey had cared for Rowan just as much as her other friends, probably more so than some of them. The only reason he hadn't been a member of the Circle of Khanna from the beginning was because her had spent half of sixth year as a statue, thanks to the curse of the Sunken Vault. She should have asked him if he wanted to be included when she first reformed the Circle.

And so, instead of making something up about Defence Against the Dark Arts revision, she told Corey the truth about the Circle of Khanna and their plan to put and end to the Cursed Vaults, once and for all.

"How about it, then?" she asked him. "Do you want to join us?"

Corey's frown deepened. "I'm not sure."

"That's fine. You don't have to help if you don't want to."

"I do want to help. I just don't see what help I could be. I'm no good at duelling or anything adventurous like that. I'm more... Well, I just like to read, really. That's all I'm good at."

"You know, that's what Rowan used to say," Artemis smiled as much to herself as to Corey. "But she was the best help anyone ever could be. She did so much reading to find out information, and translated a load of my brother's notes from these runic codes he'd invented. I'd never have managed to get as far as a single Vault without her. We'd all still be sitting in ice if it weren't for Rowan." She paused, before confessing, "You know, part of me worries that maybe we won't manage it without her this time around."

"Well, maybe I could do her job for her," said Corey, his blue eyes wistful-looking. "I'm not bad at taking notes or finding information. If you've got Rowan's old research, I could definitely try to pick up where she left off."

"You're sure?"

"Positive. It'll make me feel... closer to her, I suppose. I'll like that."

"Yeah," Artemis nodded. "And it will be really helpful for us, too. Especially with the last Vault, because no one's ever managed to open it before. We'll need all the clues we can get."

"Like Conebush and Persimmons."

"Who?"

"The detectives!"

The two of them made their way back up to the castle, Corey telling Artemis about his favourite books the whole way. The excitement in his voice as he did so reminded her of Rowan, and that reassured her, and she felt her doubts start to melt away, just a little.

She wasn't the only one to be encouraged by the idea of Corey researching the final Vault.

"It's really not a bad idea at all," said Ben, as he, Jae, Artemis made their way back through the castle after another hour of duelling practice. "The Sunken Vault is the one we need to prepare for the most. Imagine doing all of this all over again, only to get the end and realise that we still don't know anything about how to open the last one."

"How about this?" Jae said. "We go in the the first Vault sooner, break that Curse, then that frees up all of us to research this last Vault doesn't it?"

"Yeah, but once we start messing with the Vaults, we have to get through them as quickly as possible. Once we break the ice curse, we'll move straight onto the next one, and go on from there."

"Why, though?"

"Well, as soon as we go in and break the curse in the Vault of Ice, that'll release the next curse."

"I know that," Jae nodded. "What I don't get is why that's a problem. The next curse is just Boggarts, right? I mean, they're scary, but they can't actually hurt anyone."

"True," Artemis looked at Ben. "What do you think?"

"I think Jae's right."

Jae looked genuinely surprised. "You do?"

"I'd rather be surrounded by Boggarts for the rest of the year than... Yes. Jae's right. As long as the others agree, I say we go."

"When?"

"Tonight." Ben's face was pale, but determined. He glanced at a nearby suit of armour and shuddered slightly, adding, "Before I can change my mind."

While Ben's resolve was still intact, they headed directly for the Great Hall, where they found Merula, Andre, and Diego, and quickly explained their idea.

"Do you really think we're all ready?" Andre asked, his carefully-shaped eyebrows knitting together.

"Well, I don't know about you, Egwu, but I am. I'm the most powerful witch at-"

"Of course you are, Merula, darling. How I could I possibly forget?"

"As an experienced duellist," said Diego, making Artemis roll her eyes involuntarily, "I think that you've all really improved in the last week or so. You might not be perfect just yet, but you're probably good enough."

"Great," Artemis muttered. "Really encouraging."

"Thank you."

"So, is that settled? Are you all happy now that Diego thinks we are 'probably' good enough?"

"Probably works for me," said Jae, as the others all hummed their agreement. He glanced over his shoulder in the direction of the Hufflepuff table, where Chiara was sitting with an open Astronomy textbook, and shrugged. "But maybe we ought to bring a Healer with us, just in case?"

***

The six Curse-Breakers and one Healer met on the Grand Staircase after hours, all of them dosed up with Penny's fire protection potions and sweltering in their warm clothes. With Artemis having paid Fred and George Weasley a Sickle each to keep Filch and Mrs Norris well out of their way, they found that their path to the fifth floor was completely unobstructed.

Artemis had not been to the easternmost corridor since her second year, and the last time she had been there, it had been covered in ice. The air was significantly less cold this time, and she wasn't sure if it was just an illusion, but it felt like the ceiling of the corridor was less imposingly high than it had been five years previously. There was still a hole in the wall halfway down the corridor, however, from the time in her first year when Ben had blown up a locked door to allow Artemis, Rowan, and Merula to escape from a room full of cursed ice. It was through this hole and into this room that Artemis led her friends, and once they were all inside, she pointed her wand at the back wall.

"Revelio."

The wall shimmered slightly, the way a mirage might, before disappearing to reveal an ascending set of stone steps in its place. The temperature in the room plummeted.

"Whoa," whispered Jae, stepping past Artemis to peer up the stairs. "Does that lead up to..."

"The Vault, yeah," Artemis kept her wand raised. "When we get up there, there'll be a corridor with a door at the end of it. We need to hit the door with curses."

"Sounds easy enough."

"It does, but the door fights back. If it hits you, you'll be stuck in ice. Last time, it was my job to free anyone who did. I can do that again."

"How long do we need to attack it for?"

"As long as it takes," Artemis said grimly. "I think all of us hitting it at once did the trick before."

"Like with the dragon," whispered Ben.

"Yeah, just like that. Only this one makes ice, not fire. Oh, and once we're done with the door, that's when we'll have to start on the Ice Knight. He's even harder than the door, because he has a sword that can cast spells and a shield that reflects your own curses back at you. If you can get his shield off him, you're good. Right? Everyone happy?"

The noises the others made did not indicate happiness, exactly, but they all nodded their heads, so Artemis stepped onto the bottom step of the secret staircase.

"I'll be just down here if anyone gets hurt," Chiara called after them. "Good luck."

The rest of the group followed Artemis up the stairs. With every step they ascended, it grew colder around them. By the time they reached the top, Artemis wasn't sure if they were trembling because of the temperature or fear. If it were the latter, she couldn't blame them for it. By now, she might have been used to the sinister atmosphere that seemed to radiate from the Cursed Vaults, but looking again at the armour-lined corridor that led down to the storm-grey doors that formed the entrance to the Vault of Ice, even she couldn't help but give an involuntary shudder.

"Okay," she said as they approached the door, desperately trying to remember exactly how she and Bill had succeeded in tackling it before. "Spread out, and start to fire spells. Ready, go!"

The Curse-Breakers leapt into action, each casting spells at the door, which retaliated by emitting its own icy jets of light. As her peers stood stock still, each concentrating on aiming their spells with force, Artemis remained on the move, racing the bolts of ice as they shot at her friends, just as she had the last time she came.

But last time, she had been part of a team of four, and now she was in a team of six. Though the door was having to work almost twice as hard to fight against them, Artemis was also having to work harder to defend against it. And in spite of the physical fitness she had gained from years of flying and Quidditch practice, she was starting to tire.

"Artemis, you need to swap with me," said Diego, after she nearly didn't make it in time to stop a jet of bright white ice from hitting Andre square in the chest.

"I'm fine," she snarled back, narrowly dodging a bolt that the door had aimed at her, and hurling a reductor curse back at the door to prove her point. "I don't need-"

"I know you think that I'm an arrogant arse, Artemis, but I mean it. You're getting slower and clumsy. Swap out."

"No!"

"Okay then," Diego stepped away from his position. "Then you'll have to let me join you."

Artemis didn't want Diego to join her, and she was too proud to admit it, but having Diego to help defend the others as the battled against the door made her task a lot easier. Not being as tired as she was, Diego was equally fast, and infinitely more graceful, moving around the spells and the ones casting them as if it were a sort of dance.

"I think it's working," said Jae. "Do you think if we all to hit it now, all at-"

"Jae, move!"

Whilst Artemis and Diego were busy defending Merula and Andre respectively, another icy bolt fired out of the door at lightning speed, aiming straight for him. Jae's eyes widened as it drew closer, but he did not move, just stayed stock still, as if he were already frozen on the spot. A split second later, he really was.

"Jae!" Artemis made to run to him, but Merula grabbed her arm with the hand that wasn't holding the wand.

"The door first, Hexley," she growled. "One good hit, and then the door will be finished, and we can save him without any of the rest of us getting frozen."

Merula was right, and so Artemis shouted out:

"Everyone at once! Three, two, one, FIRE!"

Five curses hit the door in perfect unison, and the door, defeated at last, swung open with an almighty creak and crash. Artemis and Andre ran straight to Jae, whose teeth were chattering and skin had a bluish tinge to it.

"Okay, we're going to get you out of there. Just hold still so I don't burn you."

"Or your clothes," Andre added. "Though, honestly, that hoodie could do with-"

"Not the time or place, Andre."

Together, they used the fire-making spell on the ice surrounding Jae, the flames licking and melting it away until he was free - weak and cold, but physically unharmed.

"I'm okay," he said, through trembling blue lips. "I can keep going."

"Are you sure?" Andre's dark eyes were filled with doubt and concern. "Chiara's just down those stairs, I can take you to her."

Jae looked tempted, but he shook his head.

"No. I want to keep going. I want to fight."

Andre sighed, and under his breath, Artemis heard him mutter a word that sounded suspiciously like "Gryffindors". She turned around, and looked at the others.

"No one else need to go back?" she asked. None of them indicated that they did. Somewhat begrudgingly, she told Diego, "Um, thanks for your help. You did really well back there."

"Yes, I know."

Diego shook his hair back away from his face, and a not insignificant amount of Artemis' newfound appreciation for him disappeared. She walked away from him and towards Ben, who was stood staring at the open door with a peculiar expression on his face.

"Ben, are you okay? Are you hurt?"

It was a moment before Ben jolted as if he had just realised that she had spoken, and replied, "Sorry, I'm... This all seems familiar."

"Is it your memory coming back, do you think?"

"No, but I've seen this place before. When-"

But Ben was unable to tell Artemis when had seen the door to the Ice Vault previously, because the rest of his sentence was drowned out by the sound of clanking armour and thudding footprints coming from inside the Vault itself.

"Is that-"

"The Ice Knight!"

In the now open doorway, the figure of the Ice Knight appeared, sword and shield already raised. Before any of them had the chance to move against it, it pointed its sword at Ben, who was blown backwards down the corridor by a silver jet of light. Merula and Andre quickly suffered the same fate.

"Protego!" Artemis shouted, just as another spell from the Kinght's sword threatened to blow her away as well. She shouted to Jae and Diego from behind her own shield charm. "The shield! Summon his shield!"

Perhaps she hadn't shouted loudly enough, because when Diego raised his wand, he did not cast the summoning charm at all, but instead attempted to stun the Ice Knight, who raised his shield to deflect the spell. The beam of bright red light Diego had sent towards the Knight was sent straight back at him, and he fell to the ground, unconscious.

The Ice Knight turned its head towards Jae, who already had his wand pointed directly at the shield. Through his still-chattering teeth, he uttered a single word:

"Accio."

The shield flew from the Ice Knight's armoured hand, just as another jet of silver emitted from his sword. Both shield and curse soared through the air towards Jae, who raised his hand to grab the shield, and though his fingers closed around the metal, he did not move his arm quickly enough to use it effectively. The silver light hit him in the side of his ribcage below his still raised arm, and both Jae and the shield were blown backwards down the corridor.

Alone, Artemis faced the Ice Knight for the second time in her life. But this time, she was more tired from the preceding battle, and when she cast a glance over her shoulder, the shield was out of sight. But she was not a little girl anymore; she had more knowledge and more skill and had faced more challenges than she had before. She was not going to admit defeat just yet.

More desperately and dangerously than ever before, Artemis began to fight, dodging and deflecting both the spells of the Ice Knight and her own that were ricocheting off his armour. The Ice Knight was attempting to make her retreat away, she could tell, and it was working. But, she realised with a jolt, that could work in her favour, because the further down the corridor he forced her, the closer she was getting to the shield.

She permitted herself to take her eyes off the Ice Knight to look in Jae's direction, but the shield was no longer in his hand. Then where was it? She couldn't afford to spend any more time looking, she needed to keep watching the Knight. She turned back to it, only to find that its sword was raised and pointing directly at her.

"Protego!"

She cast the shield charm once more,  and in the corner of her eye, she saw the Ice Knight's shield, moving towards her as someone emerged from the darkness with it in their hand, holding it in front of their sandy-haired head.

Ben Copper ran straight down the middle of the corridor, straight at the Ice Knight, using the Knight's own shield to protect him from the silver curses being thrown at him. He was close enough now to cast his own spells back, but he didn't. Instead, he kept running, charging at the Ice Knight, until he crashed right into it.

There was a deafening clash of metal on metal as the Ice Knight's shield hit its breastplate, the impact of the collision finally stopping Ben in his tracks. The Knight raised his sword again, but Ben had already raised his wand, and was aiming it directly at the helmet grille.

"INCENDIO!"

The flames that emerged from the tip of Ben's wand went straight into the helmet of the Knight, and the grille from the inside. Despite the flames, the Ice Knight seemed to freeze momentarily, before falling forward, and landing directly on top of Ben.

Artemis lunged forward to free her friend, and she wasn't the only one; Merula and Andre were climbing to their feet and running to her. Between the three of them, they pulled the suit of armour up and away from Ben, who lay motionless on the floor. There was a large hole in the front of his jumper, through which she could see an area of wounded skin.

"Is he..." Artemis' voice caught in her throat, and she scarcely dared to breathe as Merula's fingers went to Ben's wrist.

"He's alive," said Merula, removing her hand. She frowned at the wound on Ben's chest, which was badly blistered as if burnt. "What caused that?"

"I dunno. The suit of armour, maybe? He set it on fire, maybe it was so hot that-"

"No," Andre bent down by the fallen Ice Knight's sword and carefully plucked something fibrous from the end of it. "See these? They're exactly the same colour and shade as that jumper." He looked from from the sword to the wound and shuddered. "That burn is from the ice, not the heat."

"We'll take him to Chiara," said Artemis, swallowing hard.

"Don't you think you're forgetting something, Hexley? After all, we came here to open the Vault, didn't we?"

"But he's hurt!"

"Yeah, but he got hurt trying to get into that Vault," Merula reasoned. "I'm just saying, I'd be really annoyed if you didn't at least let me go inside before taking me to get kissed better, or whatever Jae hopes Chiara's planning on doing when we get back down there."

"Fine," Artemis sighed. "You two go and wake up the others." She pointed her wand at Ben and whispered, "Rennervate."

Ben's eyelids twitched and he began to stir, mumbling to himself incoherently. When he opened his eyes fully, he blinked several times before looking at Artemis.

"You're awake," she whispered, and he frowned as if confused. "It's okay, Ben. Do you remember what just happened?"

"I remember everything."

"Good, do-"

"Everything," Ben repeated, and Artemis' eyes widened as she realised what he meant. "I think I remembered it before now, when we were in there, but I didn't remember having forgotten it to remember."

"What?"

"There. There. It was so dark, and so scary. And I saw him. In the Room of Lost Things. He was using a cupboard," Ben's voice was weak and shaky, and his eyes unfocused as he spoke. "I was hiding and he found me. He made me come here. There was the ice, and the door, but I wasn't scared. It felt... almost nice. Like I was in a dream, same as that time she made me. You know. The red cloak."

Artemis frowned. "Ben, you're not making any sense. Do you mean when Rakepick put you under the Imperius Curse?"

"Yes. That's what he did, then he made me forget. He got burned in the end though, didn't he?"

"Didn't who? Who is he, Ben?"

But Ben  said nothing, just raised his hand to the burn on his own chest and screwed up his face in pain. Artemis sighed. Somehow, she didn't think that she would get more sense from him.

Andre and Diego returned from further up the corridor and helped lift Ben up, and half-carried him into the Cursed Vault. Jae, Artemis, and Merula followed behind, Jae still shivering and Merula limping slightly.

The Vault itself was unchanged, as if time stood still within its seven frost-covered walls. Artemis walked straight through it to the glowing central column, bracing herself as she placed her hand against the cool crystal. The column opened. Nothing was inside it this time, as Artemis had half-expected. After all, she already had her brother's broken wand to use in the next Vault. But as she stepped away, she found herself frowning.

"What's wrong, Artemis?"

"It's nothing. Just stupid," she said with a wry smile. "Before, when I went to the Vaults, I used to hear my brother talking to me. I didn't realise back then it was Legilimency, and that he was doing it through where he was stuck in the Buried Vault, of course, but it always made me feel... like I was closer to him, because I was helping to free him." She shook her head. "And now he's still trapped and I'm still missing him. Now that I'm back here, it's like nothing has changed, but also everything has changed. I dunno, it's a weird feeling."

"Yeah, whatever," said Merula, rolling her violet-coloured eyes. "Come on, Hexley. You've broken the curse, now let's get Copper to the hospital before he loses consciousness again."

Ben did look very pale, and there wasn't much point in hanging around any longer, so Artemis nodded. She walked back down the corridor alongside Andre and Diego, who were still supporting the weight of an increasingly nonsensical Ben.

"I always was the only one in my family who could see ghosts," he was saying, his voice growing weaker again. "Before I knew about Hogwarts, I thought maybe it was because I was going to be a ghost one day. I think that's why I was so scared of everything, maybe. I always thought I was I was going to die. In the Forest that night, and before, when we went to the Vault. That's when I wrote you the letter, Artemis."

"The letter?" Artemis wrinkled her nose. "You never wrote me a letter, Ben."

"It got lost. But I did write it, I had to write it, just in case," Ben's eyes were starting to close now, and his body was being completely held up by Diego and Andre as they descended the stone staircase. "I was trying to be brave. Then, and now. I was brave, wasn't I?"

"You were really brave, Ben," Artemis told him, completely honestly. "You always have been."

Ben's eyes remained closed, but the smile appearing on his lips showed that he had heard Artemis' words, before his head dropped and he fell unconscious once more.