Her mind reeling, Artemis felt her whole self spin, before her feet touched back on solid ground. She was out of the Pensieve, and back in Dumbledore's office once more. Still dizzy, she looked from the Pensieve to the headmaster and back again.

"I..." She took a deep breath and rubbed her damp cheeks with the heel of her hand. "The doors. I used to dream about the doors. And the rest... That's what I saw in the final Vault. Some of it, anyway. It didn't make sense, because the rest was all memories, but that... I didn't remember it. But they were memories too, weren't they?" Professor Dumbledore nodded his head, and Artemis took another shaky breath. "So all of it really happened? My dad... My father, he... He wanted Jacob to open the Vaults, so he..."

"He found the kindest way to fulfill the prophecy he could think of," Dumbledore said gently. "But, yes. He attempted to take your life."

"And my mother..."

"The following morning, Leander Hexley was found lying beneath the same archway he tried to convince you to run through. He knew the significance of the archway, and so his death was suspected to be self-inflicted. No one ever suspected Sally Hexley. But then, people always do underestimate the ferocity of a mother."

"But why don't I remember it properly?"

"You know why. You saw why."

"No," Artemis shook her head. "Jacob wouldn't do that."

"You have just seen that he did."

"Well, you must have it all wrong. There must be another reason why I don't remember."

"I do not have it wrong," Dumbledore sighed. "You don't remember because the two people who loved you most wanted to protect you. Jacob removed your memories, and your mother did her best to hide the truth from you, however she could. In doing so, they relieved you of the burden of knowing about everything you just saw."

Artemis' hands shook with anger. "But that's not fair. Those memories were mine, and I didn't even get asked if-"

"I am not condoning either of their actions, Artemis. I am merely stating facts," said Dumbledore, his blue eyes filled with sympathy. "Your own father attempted to kill you in order to fulfil an ancient prophecy that would enable him to gain access to great power. Is that something that any child should have to live with? Of course, the answer to that question is no. Now, was it fair that your brother tampered with something that should have been yours and yours alone, and in the process denied you your right to the truth? Also no. Was it right that your mother pushed you away to stop you from reading the truth in her eyes, and in doing so, made you doubt her love for you? Yet again, no. But, they did these things thinking that they would protect you from harm. Sometimes, even when - especially when - try to keep the ones we love safe, we hurt them in other ways."

Artemis was used to Dumbledore's eyes sparkling as her spoke, though not with tears, as they were now. She sighed deeply, her anger draining from her, just a little.

"How do you know all this, Professor?" she asked.

"Your brother told me himself, shortly after your father's death," replied Dumbledore. "He told me everything. He told me how, in his search for the Vaults, he had discovered that his father was the leader of the group that had derived itself from the Ronde of Fortinbras. He told me that his father believed him the one to open the Vaults, and yours the life required for the sacrifice. He begged me to help him, appealed to my better nature, and together, we came up with a plan that would keep you safe from the Ronde.

"As I said before, the prophecy that you and young Mr Weasley procured from the Department of Mysteries could have pertained to either you or to your brother. If Jacob were to open the Vaults, you would not survive the process. However, if you did it..."

"Then it wouldn't be me who would be used as a sacrifice."

"Precisely. It would be your brother. Jacob knew that you adored him more than anyone, and he was prepared to switch places with you, to lay down his own life for yours," Dumbledore inclined his head. "This is what I mean when I say that it was not your action of picking up the prophecy record that made you the one to fulfil it. Your brother had already taken measures to ensure that you would be the one, and not him.

"That is why he continued his search for the Vaults after his expulsion. He was attempting to open each one in turn, ready to take you to the final Vault and sacrifice himself to allow you to open it. It is why he left home all those years ago, why he disappeared without a trace. He was making himself unavailable to the Cabal so that they would have no choice but to use you until he was found. He even went as far as to leave a trail behind him for you to follow, should he fail in his endeavour. Just as well he did, because he later became trapped inside the Buried Vault, but then, your brother was very good at planning ahead. There was, however, one thing that he did not plan for."

"What was that?"

"Your heart," said Dumbledore simply. "The curses were dormant, the Vault was sealed, and Jacob trapped inside. But, in the time it took for him to be freed, you had begun to grow into the young woman you are now. You changed, you learned about the yourself and the world around you, and you forged deep connections with others. As you should have, I might add." Dumbledore's lips twitched, but his eyes still looked sad. "In absenting himself, Jacob had distanced himself from you emotionally, allowing your heart to make room for another to take his place. He was no longer the person you held most dear, and his was not the life required as a sacrifice."

"Rowan..." Artemis swallowed. Her throat was bone dry. "So it really was my fault that she died."

Dumbledore shook his head and placed his hand on hers.

"No. No, my dear girl," he sighed. "Artemis, I owe you an apology. The same apology I owe to Rowan herself and to all the other people who loved her. When Jacob Hexley came to me and begged me to help save his younger sister's life at the expense of his own, I agreed. I even went so far as to put him in contact with someone who I knew would stop at nothing to help him in his endeavour. I am talking, of course, about Patricia Rakepick.

"Patricia had been a student several years earlier, and after leaving Hogwarts, had gone on - to absolutely no one's surprise - to achieve great renown in the field of curse-breaking. Her views about certain events affecting the wizarding world at large during that time closely aligned with my own, and she herself had been fascinated by the idea of the Cursed Vaults as a girl. I knew that her intellect, bravery, and ruthlessness was precisely what your brother - and you - needed to reach the final Vault. She would have both the ability to make difficult decisions and the understanding of why they needed to be made. She would do what was necessary, I was certain of it. Sadly, I was correct about this.

"This is why I must apologise," said Dumbledore. "I knew the lengths to which Patricia Rakepick would go, but I failed - either wilfully or not - to see how her doing so might result in the death of someone not already directly embroiled in the mystery of Hogwarts' Cursed Vaults. If you must blame anyone other than Rakepick herself for Rowan's death, it should be me."

Artemis blinked back tears, and the headmaster squeezed her hand.

"You acted in innocence, I in ignorance," he told her. "It is a small difference, but one that renders me culpable, and you not." He let go of her hand, his own eyes dewy. "The Cursed Vaults were always going to have their life eventually, Artemis. There is nothing that you could have done that would have stopped that, and your opening the final Vault tonight will have saved countless others great losses such as the one you experienced last year."

Slowly, Artemis nodded her head, her eyebrows knitting together. Dumbledore's words were reminiscent of someone else's. Rakepick's.

"In her trial, Rakepick said that Rowan's life had spared those of many others," she said, and Dumbledore inclined his head. "Is that why this is so important, all of this? Why so many people wanted what was inside that Vault, and behind that door?"

"All that most people know is that the Vaults were created to hold a great power. The terrible thing about power is that there are many who will stop at nothing to gain it. Power corrupts, which is why Morgan Le Fay thought it necessary to protect this specific power with such a complex system of secrets and riddles as the Cursed Vaults. As for why that power is so significant..." Dumbledore straightened up in his seat, his face growing stern. "Miss Hexley, I once taught a student who was completely and utterly corrupted by the mere promise of power."

"Rakepick, yeah, I know."

"No. Not Rakepick. This student's name was Tom Riddle." Dumbledore spoke the name as if it ought to have meant something to Artemis. Clearly her face gave away the fact that it did not mean anything at all, for he continued, "You, of course, will know him by another name. Lord Voldemort."

Artemis' mind boggled. "But what has You-Know-Who -"

"Voldemort."

"Yeah. Voldemort, sorry," she corrected herself quickly. "What's he got to do with the Cursed Vaults?"

"Four years ago, you asked me if I believed that Voldemort had ever truly died. I told you that I did not," said Dumbledore. "Miss Hexley, you have seen how many prophecies are held in the Department of Mysteries. One of those prophecies hints at a way by which Voldemort may be defeated, once and for all. However, in order for it to be done, we will be in need of a great power, one of which Voldemort knows not."

"The power inside the Cursed Vaults?"

"That has indeed been my theory for many years."

"And your theories are usually correct," Artemis said. Dumbledore chuckled softly, and she bit on her lip. "What is it, then? This great power? The thing that all these people have been searching and hurting and dying and fighting for?"

"The same thing for which people have searched, hurt, died, and fought since the beginning of time, and will continue to do so for as long as there are people still living to do so. It is a power that can cause great harm, but can also bring great strength, courage, and happiness. It is the greatest power any of us can ever hope to know."

She wasn't sure if Dumbledore was being especially cryptic, or if she was being especially stupid, but Artemis had no idea what her headmaster might mean. He smiled at her gently.

"The answer is love, Artemis."

"Love?" Artemis' nose wrinkled. "That's it? Just love?"

"Just love? My dear girl, have you not been listening to a word I said?"

"I dunno, sir. I don't really see how love can be this great power that can save us all," said Artemis. "I mean, how can anyone defeat a wizard like You-Know... like Voldemort using love?"

"The same way that you have used love to solve the riddle of the Cursed Vaults," Dumbledore replied. "Consider this, Artemis. Your brother's love for you was the thing that made him so desperate to keep you safe. Your love for him drove you to search for him against all odds. Your love for your friends kept you going through the darkest times in your life, and their love for you kept them by your side every step of the way. Your love for Rowan-"

"Got her killed."

"I never said that love wasn't dangerous. On the contrary, it can be exceptionally dangerous. Nothing so powerful could not be. Love can cause people to do terrible things, just as it can cause them to do the most wonderful things. In your case, love inspired you to honour Rowan's memory, to protect others, and to fight back against the Vaults until you had opened them all, a feat that no other witch or wizard has achieved since they were created in the time of Merlin and Morgana. It made you braver and better, it kept you going like a fire burning deep inside your heart. It has been - and continues to be - your greatest strength. It is all of our greatest strengths."

Finally, Artemis thought that something in all of this made sense. She nodded her head slowly.

"But Voldemort doesn't know this," she said.

"He does not. He has never known what it means to love, and so he underestimates the power of it. And that, I hope, will be his downfall," Dumbledore stood up and walked over to the Pensieve, still swirling in its stone dish. "We live in a strange time, Artemis. This is the calm before the storm. But the storm will come, make no mistake, be it in a year, or five, or fifty." He looked at Artemis with an expression that was neither happy nor sad. "Because of you, however, I now have an idea of how we might weather it. And for that, we should all be thankful."

There was a finality in his voice that made it clear that Artemis was free to leave. She walked across the office to the door, pausing by it to ask, "What do I tell the others? They're bound to ask me what I found in the Vault..."

"The truth," said Dumbledore. "Tell them what you found. But perhaps do not speak of the second prophecy. It would be most unwise to give away our most precious secret, after all."

"No," Artemis agreed. "I guess it wouldn't."

"Now, you'll have to excuse me, Miss Hexley. I have a letter to send to Azkaban about a prisoner who deserves to be set free."

***

Artemis left Dumbledore's office feeling as if she had grown significantly older in just a few hours. Outside the windows, the lights of the battle against the cabal had dimmed, and she found herself wondering exactly what had happened in her absence.

She did not need to wait long to discover the answer to her question, for when she turned out of the gargoyle corridor and descended the grand staircase, she found the entire Circle of Khanna gathered on the stairs discussing the night's events, the portraits on the walls gathering around them in a blatant attempt to listen to their conversation. A few of them had cuts and scrapes to their skin, and Charlie's left arm was in a sling, but otherwise they looked largely unharmed. As she neared them, they caught sight of her.

"Artemis!"

"Where have you been?"

"The others said you disappeared inside the Vault."

"Yeah. Dumbledore managed to find me. I've just been in his office." Several mouths opened, presumably to ask Artemis more questions, but she quickly continued, "Did you manage to capture the Cabal, then?"

"Yeah, we did," Jae told her. His cheeks were flushed, though Artemis wasn't sure whether that was due to the excitement of the battle or the fact that Chiara was currently using a piece of damp cotton wool to clean a cut on his temple. "Every single one of them. The Aurors have taken them away now."

"They conjured these metal things to go over their hands to stop them from using wandless magic," said Ismelda. "They were actually kind of cool."

Artemis nodded. "Right. And the Cursed Vault?"

"Well, after you disapparated, the light in that column grew really bright," Penny said breathlessly. "Almost blindingly so, actually. And then the Vault started to shake and rumble, until the walls started caving in on themselves. Luckily, Ben managed to blast a hole in the wall so we were able to escape."

"We got out of there pretty fast. As soon as we were out the gillyweed started taking effect again so we managed to swim much quicker," explained Tonks. She screwed up her face and held up a pair of webbed hands before demonstrating her swimming technique. "Just as well, really. Not long after we got out of there the whole thing crumbled completely, we heard it crashing against the floor of the lake, and then the light radiated out like shockwaves, or something, and swept us right out of the way."

Bill raised his eyebrows. "I dread to think what it would've done to us if we'd been closer to the Vault at the time. By the time we regrouped and actually looked back, the whole cave had completely disintegrated."

"So it's really destroyed then? The Vault?"

"I think they might all be," said Talbott. There was a bandage on his right foot in lieu of a shoe, and he looked even more disgruntled than usual. "I was out of the main fighting by that point because of my foot, and I saw the glow on the middle of the lake. There were more bright lights in the distance at the same time, and I'd say that they would've been in the right direction to have come from the forest and the library. I thought it was odd at the time, but I was more concentrating on what was going on in the courtyard."

"That's fine, Talbott, don't worry. I'm sorry about your foot."

Talbott made a noncommittal noise. Penny shuffled closer to him and his expression grew a little happier. On his other side, Merula rolled her eyes before turning to Artemis.

"Come on, then," she drawled. "Tell us what it was."

"What what was?"

"What was inside the light. The power inside the Vaults. What was it?"

"Oh," Artemis frowned. She wasn't quite sure what parts of her conversation with Dumbledore she should or even could tell them. "Well, that light was inside the column, and it felt like it wanted to take me somewhere. So, I let it. I disapparated, and it took me to this spring."

"The season?" asked Barnaby. "Or a bed spring?"

"Neither, I mean a water spring, like where rivers come from. Except this wasn't water, it was something else... I dunno how to explain it. It wasn't like anything I've ever seen before, and I couldn't even see it properly, because it disappeared every time I looked straight at it."

"Like a mirage," said Badeea, her brown eyes wide.

"No, it was real. Definitely real," Artemis told her, shaking her head. "It was flowing somewhere and I followed it until it went down into a fountain, but when I looked back behind me, the stream of... whatever it was had disappeared."

Chiara looked up from her bandages with concern. "Were you frightened?"

"Not really, no. It wasn't frightening. Well, it was a little, but it was more the sort of frightened you get when you're scared but excited, too. Mainly it just felt... nice. Really nice."

"It sounds glorious, darling," Andre said impatiently. "But what was it?"

Artemis shrugged. "Love, apparently."

Her answer was met by a mixture of reactions. Penny's blue eyes grew wide and wistful, Liz frowned behind her glasses. Ismelda looked almost repulsed, and Diego raised one sceptical eyebrow. Merula snorted loudly.

"That might be the most stupid thing you've ever said, Hexley," she said. "And that's really saying something."

"Well, it's what Dumbledore said."

Tonks laughed. "Of course it was. He's an old hippy, isn't he?"

"Think about it, Hexley. As if Morgan le Fay, the most powerful Dark Witch to have ever existed, would've gone to all that effort just to hide something like love."

"Merula's right. That makes no sense."

"Doesn't it?" asked Badeea. "I mean, they do say that love is the answer."

"The answer to what?"

"Nothing specific, Barnaby. Just in general."

"Oh, right," Barnaby nodded sagely. "I suppose love is pretty powerful, isn't it?"

"I still don't think it makes sense," Merula said. "Trust you to go to all that effort and not even manage to find out what this all-important power is. This is why you don't put Hufflepuffs in charge of things."

"Hey!"

"I'm just saying it how it is, Caplan."

"Maybe there's another way to find out what it was," suggested Jae. "Could you go back and getting some samples of the stuff?"

"Oh, that's a wonderful idea! I could take it with me to France to analyse if I get good enough grades for my alchemy internship."

"Or we could just try and analyse it ourselves," Ismelda said. "Test it on some first years or something before we leave."

"As the oldest person here, and former Head Boy, I think I'm going to veto that idea."

"But we need to know what it is!"

"Do we?" asked Ben, and the others all stared at him. "I don't think we do. Maybe Dumbledore's right, maybe it is love. Maybe it's not. Does it matter?"

"Yes."

"No, it doesn't," he shook his head. "Because we never set out to find out what was inside that Vault. That's what the Cabal were doing, we were just trying to stop them doing it. That's what made us different to them. It was never about power for us. It was about ourselves, about keeping the people we cared about safe. And most of all, it was about Rowan. We wanted to honour her by defeating the Cursed Vaults and the Cabal, and tonight we did both of those things. I don't know about you lot, but I think that's what really matters."

He took a deep breath and fell quiet. Charlie reached across with his good arm to pat him on the back three times, slowly.

"Well said, mate."

The rest of the Circle of Khanna - for once - stopped bickering, and began to chat peacefully among themselves. Only one person remained completely silent, uncharacteristically so. Artemis sat down beside her.

"Hi, Tulip," she murmured, and Tulip stopped scratching dirt from under her nails to look at her. "How are you?"

"How do you think I am?" Tulip asked, her lips twitching into a small wry smile. She sighed. "Honestly, I don't know how I am."

"Of course not."

"I just... It's weird. My dad and me, we've never been close, or even really got on. It's not like we have anything in common. He's so controlling, and he's always spent more time at work than he has at home, but... But I thought I knew what sort of person he was, you know? I mean, he's my dad, for Godric's sake."

"Yeah," Artemis nodded. "I get that."

"I suppose you do, after everything that happened with your brother."

Artemis frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Well, even when people said all those things about him, because of that book, and after he went to Azkaban because of Duncan Ashe's death, you-"

"That wasn't his fault."

"- still believed that he was good deep down. That's exactly what I mean."

"Yeah, but it's different. Sort of."

"Maybe," Tulip shrugged, looking unconvinced. Artemis swallowed. She wasn't sure that she was convinced, either. She wasn't sure of anything right now. "I guess I can't believe it. Not because I don't know it isn't true, but because it doesn't feel real yet. Once it's more real, hopefully I'll know what to think and how to feel. Or not. I guess I'll have to wait and see."

Artemis nodded, her teeth grazing her lower lip. Suddenly, her friends' quiet conversations seemed far too loud. She looked around herself, scanning the stairs for a way to get back to the comfort of her dormitory and Fergus the cat without anyone noticing her leave, but she couldn't see one. Further down the steps, Charlie made eye contact with her.

"You alright?" he mouthed, and she shrugged in response. He cleared his throat before speaking aloud. "Do you think we ought to tell Duncan Ashe about the Cursed Vaults being destroyed? After all, he went looking for them years before any of us did, and, well..."

"I'll go," Artemis said quickly. "He knows me."

She gave Charlie a grateful smile as she stood back up. As she rose to her feet, so did Bill.

"I'll come with you," he said. "Just in case... Well, you know what Duncan's like."

Artemis considered the offer for a moment before nodding her head, and together she and Bill made their way up to the fifth floor of the castle.

"What's wrong, little one?" Bill asked her, once they were well out of earshot of the others. "You look pretty glum for someone who's just solved Hogwarts' greatest mystery."

He raised his eyebrows at her, and Artemis sighed deeply.

"It's... Can I tell you some other time? I don't think I have the words to explain right now."

"Of course you can. I'll even buy you a dictionary to help, if you like."

In spite of everything, Artemis found herself smiling. Her smile faded, however, when they opened the door to the prefects' bathroom. There was a ghost hovering above the sink, but it was not the ghost they were looking for.

"Peeves," Artemis said, her hand instinctively reaching for her wand as the poltergeist floated closer to her.

"Why, if it isn't little Hexy. What is little Hexy doing here?"

"We might ask you the same question," muttered Bill, and Peeves blew a raspberry at him by way of response. Artemis tried a different approach: telling the truth.

"We're looking for Duncan Ashe, Peeves."

Peeves let out a deep sigh before turning upside down and beginning to sing: "They seek him here, they seek him there, but they won't find him anywhere!"

Artemis wrinkled her nose. "What does that mean?"

"Means that Duncan isn't here anymore," he said, turning back the right way up again. "He's been sucked off."

"He what?"

Peeves did not reply, merely floated upwards with raised arms and wiggling fingers. Not entirely sure that she understood what the poltergeist was trying to say, Artemis turned to Bill, who frowned briefly before a look of realisation appeared on his face.

"I think what he means is that Duncan has moved on."

"Moved on to where?"

"Just on," said Bill. Clearly, Artemis looked as confused as she felt, because he continued: "Well, not everyone becomes a ghost when they die. They say that those who do have some kind of unfinished business that's still tying them to the life they had before death. Once that has been dealt with, they don't have to keep hanging around."

"So" - Artemis swallowed - "he's just gone?"

Though she could not say that she had ever been overly fond of Duncan - he certainly had never been fond of her - she couldn't help but feel sad that he had gone for good, no matter how Peeves put it.

"Hey," Bill said, with a sympathetic smile. "Think about it. Duncan was kept here because the Vaults were still around, and now that they've been destroyed, he's been allowed to go on to wherever he needs to go."

"But-"

"He's been set free, Artemis. It's a good thing."

Bill was right, of course. It was a good thing, being free. Artemis knew that much. Her heart lifted slightly. Maybe she could be free now, too.

"So, does that mean that the Vaults really are gone for good?" she asked, and Bill smirked.

"I can think of a way to find out."

They left Peeves in the prefects' bathroom, but instead of returning back down the grand staircase to find the others, they continued to make their way through the fifth floor. When they reached they easternmost corridor, they turned down it until they reached a hole in the wall where there had once been a locked door, several years ago. They stepped through it into the small room with the wall that hid the secret staircase to the first Cursed Vault. Artemis pointed her wand at the wall.

"Revelio!"

Nothing happened. Nothing was there. Scarcely able to believe her own eyes, she looked back to Bill. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and grinned at her, and she at him.

"Good work, Curse-Breaker."