Artemis had not returned to Britain even once in the four months since she had finished the training programme with Gringotts Bank. She had considered returning in the summer, but with the Weasleys visiting in July and a business trip arranged to London in September, it seemed a waste of time and money booking time off and a Portkey in the interim.

It did mean that she was in for a busy week between visiting the Weasleys in Devon; her Great-Aunt and uncle in Dorset; her schoolfriends; her friend Kingsley Shacklebolt, the Auror; and Madam Rosmerta, the landlady of the Three Broomsticks inn, who had on several occasions taken Artemis in as if she were family. Not to mention the time she would have to spend working, the reason she was coming back this particular week rather than any other.

There were six curse-breakers in Artemis' - technically Bill's - team, and when they arrived at Gringotts, they were greeted by the new Head Curse-Breaker, Merc O'Callahan.

Artemis struggled to hide her distaste as O'Callahan led the team through the main floor of the bank. O'Callahan had been one of three mentors in charge of the training programme during Artemis' first two years at Gringotts, and of those three, he had been the one she worked with the most, and enjoyed working with the least.

Brash, unsympathetic, and even more money-orientated than the goblins, he had made a point of asserting himself as an expert in all things pertaining to curse-breaking, and had despised Artemis from the moment he met her - a feeling that was entirely mutual. Artemis found it hard to stomach the idea of him being Head Curse-Breaker, but she couldn't say that she was surprised that O'Callahan had pushed his way up to the top of the chain of command.

She was glad to have Bill for company as the team climbed into the pair of goblin-driven carts that would take them down to the underbelly of the bank, where they would be sifting through some incredible valuable and ancient documents that contained vital information pertaining to the next catacomb they had to investigate.

"The vault in question belongs to the descendants  of the Dark Wizard Al'Arwah, who built the catacombs you will be exploring. His plans for the catacombs are stored inside," O'Callahan told them, his authoritative and distinctly arrogant voice echoing in the tunnel the carts were hurling down. "The family are paying a great deal of money to have the catacombs excavated, it's important that you do a good job of it. This contract is invaluable."

Artemis wanted to ask exactly how much of the money would be going to O'Callahan himself, but Bill shot her a warning glance and she said nothing, just glowered at the back of her boss' head for the rest of the journey down to the lowest levels of the bank.

The vaults here were privately owned by some of the wealthiest and most influential wizarding families in the world. Artemis had visited many vaults at Gringotts, but today would be the first time she had ever ventured so far into the bank's depths. If it weren't for the presence of O'Callahan, she would have been excited about it. As it was, she couldn't wait for the ordeal to be over.

As the cart journeyed lower and lower underground, the tunnel grew darker, and the smell of burning seemed to linger in the air. At the very end of the cart track, the tunnel opened up into a large atrium, and the Curse-Breakers all clambered out of their carts. The goblins driving did the same, each of them pulling a set of metal dumbbells from a leather bag.

"What are those?" Artemis asked Bill under her breath, much preferring to hear the answer from him than O'Callahan.

"Clankers," Bill whispered back to her, an apprehensive look on his face as he looked from the metal objects to the atrium. "Type of Goblin instrument, they make a really loud noise."

"Why?"

Bill opened his mouth, but before he could reply, there was a deafening roar from the atrium. Artemis' eyes widened. She recognised that sound.

"Is that a dragon?" one of the Curse-Breakers asked, a panicked look on his face as he readied his wand.

It was. A large dragon was traversing the atrium, making its way towards them with earth-rattling footsteps. It roared again, the force of the sound lifting Artemis' hair off her footsteps.

"Do we Stun it?" asked another Curse-Breaker, and O'Callahan laughed.

"No need," he waved away the question with one hand. "The goblins have this under control, see?"

He nodded his head at the goblins, who had advanced into the atrium, Clankers held aloft, and were shaking the instruments forcefully to make a loud percussive noise. Artemis frowned. The Clankers couldn't do anything, not to a dragon, surely?

But perhaps she was wrong, because as the noise rang out from the Clankers and echoed across the atrium, the dragon stopped advancing, and shrunk back away from them. Its tail swished around itself, and it raised its haunches. For a moment, Artemis thought that the creature might be about to launch itself towards them, but it didn't. The dragon lowered its head, its whole body shaking, and let out a noise almost like a whimper.

The poor creature was cowering in fear.

"Stop it!" Artemis shouted at the goblins, but they did not stop. "Stop it, you're scaring him!"

Behind her, O'Callahan laughed again, louder this time.

"That's the point, Hexley," he said, standing up and placing one hand on her shoulder, which Artemis pushed away. "Scaring it keeps it from trying to eat us alive. It's a great system, stops intruders from breaking into the high security areas, and allows us to have full control of the beasts."

"Beasts?" Artemis frowned. "Wait, how many dragons are there here?"

"This brute is one of five, I think."

"And are all of them Ironbellies like this one?"

"I don't know, Hexley, they're dragons. What difference does it make?" O'Callahan rolled his eyes. "The main thing is that it isn't a threat. It's been trained and it's restrained."

Artemis followed O'Callahan's gaze back to the dragon, and saw that he was right. The dragon had metal shackles attached to its legs and wings, chaining it to the far wall of the atrium.

"You can't chain up a dragon like that! It's-"

"It's keeping us all safe. Just like the Clankers are."

The chained dragon was still cowering from the Clankers, desperately trying to hide itself, but with atrium being wide and open, he was completely exposed. With nothing to hide behind but one of his own wings, he was growing equally distressed by the second.

"This is horrible," Artemis said, feeling almost sick at the sight of the great creature being reduced to a quaking wreck. "Why is he like that?"

"It's just well-trained."

"Dragons can't be trained, they're wild-"

"Clearly they can," O'Callahan told her patronisingly. "And this one isn't wild, it's the property of Gringotts Bank. Our dragons are the best trained in Europe. We're all very proud of them, and so should you be."

He watched, smiling, as the dragon continued to shrink away from the goblins. Artemis fought the urge to slap him. Instead, she looked from the dragon to the Clankers and back again.

"How exactly has he been trained to do this?" she asked.

"We get them sent to us as eggs. As soon as they hatch, the process is started."

"The process?"

"Yes, the process," O'Callahan sighed, as if Artemis were a particularly stupid child he was growing tired of having to explain things to. "When the Clankers are shaken they make that sound. The critter is made to feel pain. The process is repeated as it grows, so that it associates the noise with the pain. By the time it's large enough to guard a level, it's learnt to stay clear of the Clankers."

"What? But that's so cruel!" Artemis' heart was torn between pity for the dragon and anger at its tormentors. "He's not trained, he's terrified! You've beaten the poor thing into submission!"

"I've not beaten it at all. That's not part of my job," said O'Callahan. He didn't even sound remorseful, making Artemis even more furious.

"So? It's someone's job here, and you're not trying to stop them. You still work here, don't you?"

"Yes. And so do you," O'Callahan's lips twisted into a triumphant smirk. "If working here makes me part of the problem, Hexley, then you are part of that problem, too."

Artemis couldn't argue with that. She turned to Bill, thinking that he would stand up for her, tell O'Callahan that he was wrong, that this was wrong, but he didn't. Instead, he looked at Artemis sadly, shook his head, and avoided looking at the dragon as he walked past it to the vault, a pained expression on his face.

The Curse-Breakers went into the vault and pored over the documents together, the atmosphere hanging over them all so tense that it felt as if a knife might be able to cut through it. Artemis struggled to focus on the task at hand, unable to stop her mind from wandering back out into the atrium.

Her sense of revulsion only grew stronger as the goblins started to shake the Clankers again on the way back to the carts, and by the time they had made it back to the ground floor and been dismissed for the day, she was still white knuckled and shaking with rage.

"Come on," said Bill, putting an arm around her shoulders and steering her down the white marble steps of the bank and out into Diagon Alley. "You need a drink."

Bill and Artemis made their way down the narrow cobbled street, the buildings of which were all plastered with posters bearing the words: "Wanted: Sirius Black". Black's escape from Azkaban prison had been the biggest news from Britain all summer long, and was all anyone could talk about ever since they had taken the Portkey back, but now, Artemis couldn't care less about how someone might be able to escape the impenetrable fortress that was Azkaban.

"Here," in a quiet corner of the Leaky Cauldron, Bill passed Artemis a glass of whiskey. He sat down in the seat opposite her and gave her a sympathetic smile. "O'Callahan's a prat, Artemis. Everyone knows that."

"O'Callahan's not the problem, though, is he?"

"I guess not. But his attitude towards that poor dragon was horrible. No one else thought that was okay."

"So why didn't they say anything?" Artemis shook her head and looked out of the sash window at the street, blinking back the tears of frustration that were stinging her eyes. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"Because," Bill sighed, "O'Callahan isn't going to listen to me if I start shouting at him and losing my rag. It's not professional, and he's not going to respect me or my opinion unless he sees me as someone who can hold my own and talk about these things rationally."

"He doesn't respect anyone but himself," Artemis scowled. "And that's all well and good, Bill, but how can anyone not lose their rag and still think about things rationally when they see that? It's just awful! I can't believe that you're not shocked by it!"

For a split second, Bill averted his gaze, but it was too late. Artemis had seen the truth in his eyes.

"Because that wasn't the first time you've seen it, was it?"

"No," Bill shook his head. His face was pale, and his blue eyes filled with deep sorrow. "I haven't seen that dragon before, but I saw one of the others. Back in the spring, just before you finished your training."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I knew you'd be upset by it, and I knew you hadn't enjoyed the training program at first, and you had just gotten over that and worked so hard to get through the final exams... I don't know, I didn't want to put you off because of this."

"And what about Charlie?"

"What about Charlie?"

"Did you tell him about it?"

Bill shook his head again, looking even more miserable than before.

"Of course not," he said, his voice a little hoarse. "It would break his heart, knowing what those dragons go through."

Artemis nodded and sipped her whiskey. She didn't even want to imagine the look on Charlie's face if he were to ever find out about what she and Bill had just seen and heard.

"So, you agree that it's wrong?"

"Of course it's wrong, Artemis."

"Okay, so what do we do about it?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we could go on strike, couldn't we? Send a load of owls to all of the other Curse-Breakers - between us we must know some everywhere - and let them know what's happened. Imagine, all the Curse-Breakers, all over the world, going on strike!" Artemis had almost forgotten about her whiskey, it now sat on the table beside her as she continued to talk to Bill. "And we could write to some dragonologists and the Ministry, and the Daily Prophet, too. I have my camera Rosmerta gave me, we could go back and take photos as evidence, couldn't we?"

"Artemis, stop," Bill sighed. "Just think about this a second. If we do all that, we will lose our jobs."

"So? Who cares?"

"I care."

"Bill, this is so much more important than a job or money!"

"Maybe to you it is," said Bill. Artemis looked at him accusatively, but he carried on. "Artemis, you don't know what it is like to be poor. Trust me, you don't want to know."

"But-"

"No, listen. It's crap. Mum and Dad do a good job of trying to make up for it, but it is. They still struggle, even now, and I do try to send some money home, but they don't accept much. I pay for their Portkeys to visit me, and I helped out a little with Ginny's school robes and things, but..."

"They are proud like that. You and Charlie are the same."

"Yeah, I guess we are," Bill smiled. "I do my best, though. I try and save most of my wages every month. Some I have set aside for my family in case they need it for any reason, I can just give them something. And some I have set aside for my own family one day. I've seen how hard it was for Mum and Dad, and I don't want that for myself, or for my own wife and children, when I have them. There's not many jobs that would allow me to save like that and still live comfortably myself."

Artemis sighed. She couldn't say that she felt the same way as Bill, but she at least understood him.

"It just feels like we are making money from that poor dragon's suffering," she said, eventually. "It needs to stop."

"And it will, Artemis. O'Callahan said there were five dragons at Gringotts. I spoke to a couple of goblins about it, and they said there used to be dozens. It's getting better, just slowly."

"Too slowly."

"Yes, okay. But staging walk outs and quitting isn't going to speed it up," Bill reasoned. "Working hard and getting into a position where your opinion carries more weight, that's how you get them to listen to you."

"Is that what you're trying to do, then?"

"Exactly. We're better off working with Gringotts, not against them, and we can hardly do that if we leave, can we?"

Artemis shrugged. She didn't know how much she wanted to work with Gringotts anymore. In fact, she didn't want to work with them at all, or for them. Perhaps Bill had a point, that leaving wouldn't do any good, but after what she had just witnessed, she no longer felt that she could stay.

By the time she had finished her whiskey, her mind was made up. It was time for a change, to broaden her horizons. It was time for her to leave.