Having volunteered in the Hospital Wing for over a year and a half, Chiara Lobosca was now relatively proficient when it came to healing spells. However, after seeing the state of Ben Copper when the Curse-Breakers returned from the Vault of Ice, she quickly decided that his injuries were beyond her abilities. She, Jae, and Diego took him straight to the Hospital Wing, leaving Artemis, Andre, and Merula to hide the evidence of their adventure.

"I don't really get why you're bothering with this," Merula muttered, as Artemis caused the secret staircase and icy footprints on the floor to disappear with a few waves of her wand. "Madam Pomfrey isn't an idiot. She's going to take one look at Copper and know exactly what we've been up to."

"She won't," replied Artemis, though in truth she wasn't sure. Would Madam Pomfrey be able determine what had happened to Ben from looking at his injuries? Would she be able to treat them without knowing what had caused them?

Thankfully, though Ben had been admitted to the Hospital for a few weeks, it was likely that he would only be left with a few nasty scars, and her friends' quick thinking had managed to prevent Madam Pomfrey's suspicions being raised.

"She thinks that he had a spell backfire whilst practising duelling," Chiara said at the Circle of Khanna's next meeting. "They all lost a few house points, but it was probably better than if we'd told her how it really happened."

Artemis nodded. "Good thinking, Chiara."

"Well, it was Jae's idea."

Jae's cheeks turned pink at Chiara's words, and Artemis could have sworn that she saw Chiara's small smile widen slightly.

With the first of the Cursed Vaults now having been opened, it wouldn't be long until the second released its curse upon the school. Surely enough, at the start of May, Penny Haywood arrived late for lunch with her face flushed and eyes lit up with news.

"Well," she said breathlessly, before her bottom had even touched her seat. "I was just speaking to Cressida Ruddy, and she said that one of the second year Gryffindors had a Boggart appear in their cauldron in the middle of their Potions class. You know what that means, don't you?"

"I think," said a deep, drawling voice from behind Artemis and Penny, and they both turned to see Professor Snape the potionsmaster standing behind them, "that we all have our suspicions as to what that means." He looked pointedly at Artemis who glared back at him. "As much as both you and I would like to hear Miss Hexley's take on the matter, it would seem that we are not the only ones. Headmaster's office, Hexley. Immediately."

Artemis just about managed to stop herself from sighing as she took a final bite of her sandwich and slung her rucksack over one shoulder, before rising to her feet and walking out of the Great Hall in the direction of the grand staircase, already certain of what it was that Professor Dumbledore wanted to talk to her about, and why.

Clearly, Professor Snape had not long left Dumbledore's office, for the griffin gargoyle that guarded its entrance was already stood to the side, leaving the ascending spiral staircase behind it unobstructed. At the top of the stairs, the door to the office was closed. Hoping that Dumbledore might not hear her and that she might be spared from answering any incriminating questions, Artemis knocked as softly as she could.

"Please, do enter, Miss Hexley," Professor Dumbledore's voice called out from the other side of the door. Clearly, she had not knocked softly enough. She entered the office to find him standing next to an open cupboard containing a stone dish of silvery liquid. "You have an exceptionally - and dare I say, uncharacteristically - genteel manner of knocking. It is fortunate that I was not so deep in thought that I failed to hear it."

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled, and Artemis shrugged her shoulders in lieu of giving a response.

"Snape said you wanted to see me, sir."

"Professor Snape" - Dumbledore placed the slightest emphasis on the word 'professor' - "was in here mere minutes ago with reports of a Boggart materialising in his classroom this morning. I thought that I would take the liberty of asking him to send you here so that you may offer an explanation for this situation."

"I don't have an explanation," Artemis lied.

"Ah, so I must be incorrect in my thinking that the appearance of this Boggart is probably connected to Mr Copper's peculiar injury and the meeting that you and your friends held in the Hog's Head at the start of the Easter holidays."

"You know about that?"

"I happen to be familiar with the barman." Dumbledore smiled serenely, but his gaze was penetrating, and Artemis found herself regretting not having insisted that Professor Snape teach her Occlumency two years previously. "I am relieved to hear that this string of events is likely to be coincidental, Miss Hexley. Were they not, I would be suspicious that you and your friends might be embroiled in the Cursed Vaults again. After you managed to seal the Sunken Vault last summer, such a venture would be an incredibly dangerous one to re-embark upon, would it not?"

"It would, yeah," said Artemis, making a conscious effort not to blink as Dumbledore continued to stare at her. Eventually, he bowed his head and turned to look into his dish of Pensieve.

"Miss Hexley, you need not lie to me. You are not in trouble."

"I'm not?"

"No, my dear girl. Naturally, I can understand why the as-yet unsolved riddle of the Cursed Vaults might prove as tempting a challenge for you as it has for countless others over the centuries," he said, gazing into the silver liquid. Artemis craned her neck to see what he could see, but to no avail. "As your Headmaster, I must dissuade you from getting involved again."

Artemis frowned. "But?"

"But as an old man who was once a young person, I know that my doing so will bear little to change your mind if it has already been made up. Particularly if the Vault of Ice has been opened, and the curse from the Vault of Fear been released, as I presume it has. If that truly is the case, the Vault of Fear will need to be either sealed or opened to stop the Boggarts. The former will be less risky, of course, as opening the Vault will cause the subsequent, more dangerous curses to be released, but will prevent the final Vault from being opened and ending the whole sorry mess, once and for all. Such is the conundrum."

"I'm confused, Professor," Artemis said. "Do you want me to open all the Cursed Vaults, or not?"

"I wish for someone to open all the Vaults," Dumbledore told her. "Which is why I have written to Gringotts Bank and asked them if one of their Curse-Breakers might be spared in order to help with the task."

"Because that worked out so well last time," muttered Artemis, and to her surprise, Dumbledore began to chuckle.

"Miss Hexley, you need not fear. After all, I sincerely doubt that the issues we had with Patricia Rakepick will present themselves where William Weasley is involved."

***

To Artemis' delight, Bill Weasley arrived from Egypt the following evening, appearing between Hagrid and Professor Sikander at the top table at dinnertime. Artemis waited impatiently for a chance to speak to him as she and her friends ate their meals, and the moment she saw that Bill had finished his own, she rushed up to the daïs to talk to him.

"So, it's true? You're really Dumbledore's new Curse-Breaker?"

Bill paused his conversation with Professor Sikander to grin wryly at Artemis.

"It would appear that way, wouldn't it?" he replied. He cast a glance back at Sikander. "Though maybe now isn't the time, Artemis. I'm just in the middle of-"

"Ah, never mind me," said Professor Sikander, dismissing Bill's display of good manners with a wave of his hand. "You two look like you've got more important things to talk about."

Bill tilted his head to one side. "Are you sure?"

"Positive. If you like, I can explain more about electricity to you another time."

"Please do, my dad wouldn't forgive me if I passed up that opportunity."

With Professor Sikander's blessing, Bill and Artemis stepped away from the teachers' table, walked through the Great Hall, and out into the entrance courtyard outside.

"How long are you back for?" Artemis asked him, as soon as she was certain that none of the teachers could hear them.

"Until this business with the Cursed Vaults is over, one way or another. Gringotts have loaned me to here indefinitely; apparently Dumbledore asked for me personally."

Artemis' nose wrinkled in confusion. "He did?"

"Even offered to pay for Gringotts to hire a replacement while I'm gone as well as my wage. Sounds like he's desperate to get the Vaults sorted. I'm not surprised, seeing as the curses have come back already," he sighed, and looked out in the direction of the Black Lake. "Artemis, are you sure that you and your brother sealed that Vault properly last year?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, in which case it might be that someone has tampered with the Vaults again, and that's what's caused..." Bill's voice tailed off as his eyes settled on Artemis. "Oh, no. You didn't. Did you?"

"Look, what you need to know-"

"For Godric's sake, Artemis! Did you not-"

"- is that I had to get involved in the Vaults again."

"- think about how dangerous that might be?" Bill sighed. "Okay. Why did you have to meddle?"

"Because of the prophecy."

"Prophecy? What prophecy?"

"The one me and Charlie stole from the Department of Mysteries."

"You and Charlie what?"

"We broke in to the Department of Mysteries and stole a prophecy," Artemis repeated, and Bill placed his hands to his head and raised his face skywards. "It said about the Cursed Vaults, and how the person to open them would do it whilst leading the 'Ronde'. At first we thought it was R, but it means circle. Circle, Bill. That means us, all of us, the Circle of Khanna." He lowered his gaze again, and she told him earnestly, "This is our chance to stop R from ever getting to the Vaults or hurting anyone ever again."

Bill visibly softened.

"Does Dumbledore know?" he asked.

"I dunno. Maybe. I told him it wasn't us, but he didn't believe me. Do you think that's why he hired you specifically? So that he could get someone to help me?"

"Potentially. It would seem so, but then why would he want someone to help you do it and not do it themselves? Unless he knows about the prophecy, of course."

"How would he? Only us and the Cabal know."

"He had Rakepick working for him. Maybe she let something slip," said Bill, frowning deeply. "Or..."

As Bill's voice tailed off, Artemis raised her eyebrows. "Or?"

"Or your brother."

"Jacob wouldn't have known about the prophecy. He wasn't a part of-"

"Artemis, he admitted to working with R in front of the entire Wizengamot," Bill said. Artemis narrowed her eyes, her temper rapidly rising. Bill seemed to notice her anger, because he sighed again. "Look, I'm not saying that he's a bad person. Just hear me out, okay? What if he also found out about  this prophecy, and he thought that there was no choice either? It would explain how he got tied up in all of this, and why he did some of the things he did."

Artemis considered it for a moment, before nodding her head. She couldn't help but admit that Bill's logic made a lot of sense.

"Maybe," she shrugged. "I guess with him still in Azkaban we can't really ask him. Or Rakepick, for that matter."

"No. Which is almost a shame, because I'm sure that they'd have some information that might be useful for opening all the Vaults. We could use it to make a plan."

"We've already got a plan," Artemis told Bill. "We've split into teams to train for each Vault, and Corey Hayden is helping by translating all the rest of Jacob's notes that Rowan started doing. We've actually got it all covered, except for the final vault, because that's the one no one knows how to get into."

"What are you saying, little one? You don't need me anymore?" Bill grinned. "Tell you what, I'll help Corey with the research. I'm technically staff, now, so that gives us access to the Restricted Section, which we've not had in the past."

"And knowing Rowan, those will have been the only books in the library she didn't read," said Artemis, with a quiet laugh. "Are you sure you don't mind? I would have thought you'd want to do actual curse-breaking, not reading and researching."

"Reading and researching is an important part of curse-breaking. Besides, the final Vault is the one we really need to open, and the one we know the least about. The more people we have looking into it, the better," Bill paused, and raised his eyebrows. "Though talking of the library,  I do think that I should come with you to the next Vault."

"We don't need that many people to deal with Boggarts, Bill."

"I know. But it would be a shame not to complete the set, wouldn't it?"

***

The addition of Bill to the group engaged in tackling the Vault of Fear meant that the first obstacle to the Vault was completely removed, a fact that not everyone was thrilled about.

"I still reckon we could've gotten her out of the way with a prank anyway," Tonks whispered to Tulip, as they walked through the restricted section. "Just for fun as much as anything else."

Bill laughed out loud. "Sorry I ruined your day out, Tonks."

"Nah, don't worry about it. It'll be good to have more people against these Boggarts to confuse them. Means they won't know which fear to pick and will get confused. Makes them less scary, doesn't it?"

"And anyway," Tulip said in a low voice, "we can save the Weapon of Mass Distraction for some other time."

She and Tonks shared devious looks, and Artemis saw a look of mild concern cross Bill's face. Behind her, Ismelda just glowered at the bookshelves.

"So where's this Cursed Vault, then?" she asked, as if she would much rather be spending time with Boggarts than with Tonks and Tulip.

Artemis nodded her head in the direction of a bookshelf in the right hand corner of the Restricted Section, which although it looked no different to the others, she knew was not truly a bookshelf at all. As she had done four years previously, she walked across to the shelf, pulled an old leather book out of her robes, and placed it into a gap in the books. There was a loud clank, and the fake bookshelf split down the middle, forming an entrance to a dark, tunnel-like corridor.

"Still wicked," Tonks breathed, as Bill stepped forward to admire the hidden entrance. Though Ismelda kept her lips pursed, Artemis could have sworn she saw a flicker of admiration in her green eyes.

The group made their way down the corridor with their five wands raised, the light coming from them the only lights at all in the darkness. Artemis felt someone tremble behind her, though she wasn't certain who.

The tunnel led down to an ancient looking wooden door, inscribed with runes. Artemis raised her wand to unlock the door, but stopped as Bill leaned over her shoulder to read the inscriptions.

"Interesting," he murmured. "Did you translate these last time you were here?"

"No, why? What do they say?"

"That if you seek great power, you must first overcome your greatest weakness, and be prepared to do it alone, without your greatest companion and helpmate."

"But we managed it last time all together."

"I know, that's why it's interesting."

"So what?" Artemis asked. "You think I should go it alone this time?"

"Not a chance," said Bill. "I've waited four years to see what's behind this door, I'm not turning back now."

Artemis grinned, and used her wand to unlock the wooden door. She pushed it open to reveal the Vault of Fear, where the centre of the chamber dimly illuminated by the cool glow of its central column, though the walls were still cloaked in shadow.

There was something else cloaked inside the Vault, however: a person. Or, more likely, a Boggart. Artemis steeled herself, readying herself for the moment the figure turned and revealed its face to be that of either herself, her brother, or Lord Voldemort. But, as the person in the cloak let out a quiet but harsh sounding chuckle, Artemis felt her blood run cold. She recognised that laugh. No, it couldn't be...

"Rakepick?" she whispered, and the cloaked figure lowered its hood to reveal a head of bright red hair before slowly turning around to reveal Rakepick's face. Artemis' eyes widened. "No. No, that's impossible, you're in Azkaban. You can't be..."

But Rakepick was not in Azkaban, she was here, in the Vault of Fear, with Artemis and her friends, who - she realised with a jolt - were now in danger again. Because of her. Her heart started to race, and Rakepick's lips twisted into a crooked smirk.

"Miss Hexley," she said, her voice echoing in Artemis' ears. "What fortunate timing."

Despite her mouth feeling drier than she knew was possible, Artemis managed to find her voice.

"Everyone, run!" she called to the others, as loudly as she could. Rakepick raised her wand, and so too did Artemis. "Protego!"

Her shield charm proved unnecessary, for Rakepick did not cast a spell at her. Perhaps she was biding her time, or perhaps it was because of the second person approaching from behind her, lowering his hood to reveal his dark hair and hazel eyes.

"Patricia, don't do this," said Jacob, and Rakepick smirked again. "I'll do anything. Anything."

"Jacob, how did you... Why..."

"Some things are unavoidable," Madam Rakepick said, ignoring Artemis' words as she advanced towards her. "Some things are greater than any of us, more powerful, and more important."

"I betrayed my friend Duncan Ashe to further my own ambitions." Now Jacob was also advancing towards Artemis. She shook her head.

"No, that's not true," she told him. "Jacob, you don't mean that. Why are you saying that?"

"His death wasn't an accident, it was orchestrated by the Cabal, and my involvement proved my loyalty to them and my dedication to their cause."

"No," Artemis couldn't stop shaking her head. "No, no. That's not right, it's not..."

"Rowan Khanna paid that price. She made the ultimate sacrifice. You can condemn my actions, but I stand by them. What I did was necessary."

"She's the one to do it, Patricia."

At Jacob's words, both Rakepick and Jacob's faces began to shift, and their bodies shrunk down so that Artemis was staring eye-to-eye at two doubles of herself. Both Artemises opened their mouths and spoke in perfect unison:

"It was all my fault."

"NO!"

"Artemis." A hand settled on her forearm, and she turned to see Tulip Karasu standing next to her. Tulip squeezed gently. "They're not real. They're just Boggarts."

Artemis blinked back tears, and looked again at the two versions of herself before nodding. The Boggart-Artemises began to shift their features again, but only one returned to looking like Jacob Hexley. The other grew taller and slimmer, and though he had high cheekbones and dark hair, his was neat as a pin and lined with streaks of silver, and his eyes were not hazel but dark and almond-shaped, like Tulip's own. Beside her, Artemis felt Tulip stiffen.

"Why could you not be the child I wanted?" asked the Boggart who looked identical to ambassador Karasu. "Why do you have to be such a disappointment?"

Tulip's face fell, and though Artemis wanted to comfort her, she couldn't, because next to Boggart-Karasu, Boggart-Jacob's face was shifting again, back to Rakepick's, and she was powerless to do anything.

Something was moving in the shadows around them, which seemed to be growing thicker and darker by the second. Artemis could hear it, whatever it was, growling and prowling, but every time she pointed her wand towards the noise, it seemed to move to the other side of the chamber. Soon, there were noises coming from all seven walls. These noises were different, however, the footsteps lighter and quicker, and the animalistic noises higher pitched.

Bill Weasley ran towards the centre of the chamber, his wand raised, shining a light at the walls. His face was pale and grim looking. The scampering and squeaking grew louder, until suddenly, a horde of rats began to flood the chamber, running in towards the middle of the room where they stood from all directions, the floor so full of them that Artemis dared not move her feet for stepping on one. One started to climb up Bill's leg, and a second soon joined it. From the look on his face, Artemis thought that he might faint clean away.

"They're Boggarts," she shouted, trying to convince herself as much as Bill. "They can't hurt you, they're just Boggarts. Think of something funny! Tonks, tell a joke. Tonks?"

She turned to look at Tonks, hoping that she at least would be able to make light of the situation, but Tonks clearly unable to do so. She was standing stock still, not even aware of the rats climbing over her feet, staring at another Boggart, one with features that were instantly recognisable as those of Tonks herself.

But this was not Tonks as Artemis knew her. Gone was her wicked grin, the mischievous look in her eyes, the pink flush to her cheeks. Boggart-Tonks' skin was pale and sallow looking, her hair lank and mousey, and when she screwed up her face, her features remained the same: plain, dull, and devoid of humour or colour.

"I thought," said Ismelda, the only one now paying attention to the ominous growling shadow still prowling around the edges of the Vault, "that bringing more people was supposed to confuse Boggarts, not make more of them appear."

"Welcome to the Cursed Vaults," Artemis muttered in response. She gritted her teeth and raised her wand at her own Boggart, whose face now looked identical to that of Jacob, desperately trying to think of anything that might be funny about this situation. "Riddikulus!"

Boggart-Jacob's body grew taller, and his hair longer, lightening and rusting as it did. The Boggart's facial features became identical to those of Bill, and when it opened its mouth, it spoke with Bill's voice:

"I'm not scared of them, I'm repulsed by them," said Boggart-Bill, and hearing his own voice echo across the Vault, the real Bill looked up and at him. "Artemis, I swear to Merlin, if you bring that rat anywhere near me..."

In spite of everything, Artemis giggled, and Boggart-Bill disappeared with a loud popping noise. The real Bill sighed and shook his head, but the colour had returned to his cheeks. He raised his own wand once more, and called out the same incantation as Artemis.

"Riddikulus!"

A set of bagpipes appeared in mid-air and began to play themselves, and as they did, the rats stopped scampering and climbing about Bill's feet. Instead, they each rose up onto their hindquarters and began to dance their way away from the curse-breakers and towards the pipes, and once there, gavotted and jigged merrily beneath the floating instrument. As the bagpipes changed their tune to one originally performed by the Weird Sisters, the rats stopped country dancing, and started to bang their heads as if they were at a rock concert.

That seemed to get even Tonks' attention, for she stopped staring at her own Boggart, and instead turned to look at Bill's. At the sight of the head-banging rats, she let out a loud, cackling laugh, and not only the rats and bagpipes, but her own Boggart and Tulip's also popped and disappeared.

Artemis raised her eyebrows at Bill. "I thought you weren't scared of rats."

"I thought you didn't find me funny," he replied, and both of them grinned. "Well, that was horrible. Shall we-"

A deep, rumbling growl echoed around the chamber, so loud that it made even Artemis jump. Ismelda's usually pale face fell and turned a deathly white.

"Ismelda," whispered Artemis, as a second growl came out of the darkness. "What form does your Boggart take, exactly?"

But Ismelda was clearly too frightened to speak, and Artemis could hardly blame her, because the shadows around them were swirling, and that bloodcurdling growl kept coming, and there were heavy footsteps growing louder and closer, from all directions and yet no direction, all at once.

In her peripheral vision, Artemis thought she could see the outline of a creature, but a second later, she could hear its growl coming from behind her. As she turned to look, she could have sworn that she saw a pair of glowing red eyes in another location entirely.

"Ismelda, what-"

That growl, once more, and louder than ever. The darkness shrunk inwards, and from out of it stepped a black beast, with its fur on end, sharp white fangs bared, and hackles raised. It was no creature Artemis had ever seen or even heard of before, even in all her years of living with her Magizoologist uncle; not quite wolf or dog-like, but not quite like a panther or bear either, but something that seemed to combine all of them, with glowing red eyes and impossibly large paws, it must have been a creature that had stepped straight out of Ismelda's mind and into the shadows, which it almost looked to be made up of.

"It's a Boggart, Ismelda. Cast the spell!"

Ismelda did not cast the spell, or even move a muscle. The shadow-beast turned it's red eyes to her and licked its teeth. There was blood on the underside of its tongue. Ismelda trembled.

"Now, Ismelda!"

It was too late. The beast pressed back onto its haunches and pounced, flying through the air at Ismelda, knocking her off her feet and landing on her chest, its enormous paws pressing on her shoulders, rendering her unable to move her arm to cast any spell at all.

"Help me!" she cried, and the beast gnashed its great teeth. "Please, do something!"

Tulip raised her wand and pointed it at the beast. "Riddikulus!"

The creature began to shrink in size and grow fatter and rounder until it was the same shape as a large coconut. Its dark fur lightened until it was a middling brown, with a single streak of orange just over its forehead, framing eyes that were no longer blood red but vivid violet.

"Is it just me," said Bill, his head tilted, "or does that Puffskein look a lot like a small, hairy Merula Snyde?"

Boggart-Puffskein-Merula looked up at Bill and bared her tiny teeth at him, letting out a high-pitched disgruntled growl. Artemis couldn't help but laugh at the sound, and as she did, the Boggart disappeared.

"That wasn't funny," said Ismelda, climbing to her feet as the others caught Artemis' giggles and struggled to stop laughing.

"No," Tonks was almost crying with laughter now. "No, that was terrifying."

Ismelda's lips twitched, and a few seconds later even she was struggling not to laugh. Still grinning herself, Artemis joined Bill by the central column of the Vault, where he was examining the runes inscribed on the base.

"You have to sacrifice your magic?" he said, frowning deeply. Artemis held up the broken pieces of her brother's old wand to show him, and he nodded as if realising something. "Without your greatest helpmate. That's it. Your wand."

"Well, this one is my brother's old one. I left the one Rakepick broke at Ollivander's," Artemis shrugged. "But it'll do. It worked last time, anyway."

She pressed the wand pieces to the glowing crystal of the column, which sprang open. The light inside pierced her eyes, and the world grew hazy around her. Before her stood a cloaked figure, silent and still. She raised her wand, ready to duel, but the figure made no attempt at an attack. Instead, it held a wand up between a single forefinger and thumb, as if examining it closely. Artemis frowned. She recognised that wand. It was hers, her first wand, the one Rakepick had broken, now fixed and whole once more.

"That's mine!" she told the figure, but they did not reply. Instead, they pocketed the wand and bowed their head at Artemis before turning and walking away into the hazy light.

"Are you okay, Artemis?"

Artemis blinked. The haze had gone, and she was back in the Vault, standing on her two feet as she had been before. There wasn't a scratch on her.

"Yeah, I... I'm fine. What happened?"

"You did that weird floating thing you did last time we were in here," said Tonks. "But last time you fell down from the air, this time the light went really bright, and you sort of just lowered back down to the ground slowly."

She demonstrated with her hand, moving it gently downwards like leaf falling in the autumn. Artemis frowned, but nodded.

"Because of my wand," she whispered. Seeing the others' confused faces, she explained further: "Last time I used my brother's broken wand, and the figure in my vision got angry and attacked. This time, they were holding my wand - my old wand - and they were happy. They let me go." Something niggled at her, and she shook her head. "We're done here. We should leave."

"Already? But we've been having so much fun!"