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Saturday, May 8th:

SNAPE'S OFFICE:

It had been a couple of months since Artemis and Daphne's birthday celebrations. Also since the first time Draco brought Artemis to his favourite place in school.

The little pureblood group had been inseparable. They were around each other all the time, they might have had many arguments but they got over it eventually.

The school was ending soon and Artemis couldn't wait until she could go to Italy for the summer with her cousin.

Until then she kept studying for the end of year exams. But that doesn't mean she wasn't plotting and scheming.

It's called multitasking, DUH.

Draco had told Artemis that he took Weasley's notebook earlier when he was in Potions, which surprised her since they don't sit anywhere near each other in the class.

He had found a note that said something about a dragon and how Ron had gotten bitten by one.

He was taunting the boy about his injury and played it off like he was looking for one of Ron's books; which amazed Artemis as she didn't think that anyone was that stupid to believe his lie.

The topic did intrigue the Seramore Witch, she didn't know much about dragons but she was fascinated by the creatures.

She had discovered that there was no specific cure for Dragon bites despite the beasts being around for longer than both Wizards and witches. She decided that she should do some research on the subject so she would be more prepared in the future, and she was sure that Theo or Blaise would get bitten by a Dragon or something worse.

While Draco was away taunting Ron in the infirmary about his bite, Artemis went to the library to research dragon bites. She gathered as many books as possible to try to see if there were any specific cures. The young witch was sat far away from the entrance of the library, open books surrounded her.

Daphne, Theo and Blaise had left to go to their lessons, so she had no distractions, leaving her to focus.

When you get burned or bitten you experience pain because the heat has destroyed skin cells. Minor burns heal much the same way cuts do. Often a blister forms, which covers the injured area.

Blisters are similar to boils...

Suddenly something dawned on the witch. Throughout the school year, Snape had been teaching them the boil cure potion.

She looked at a book of potions: 'Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger.'

Dried nettles

6 snake fangs

4 horned slugs

2 porcupine.

This potion isn't enough. Artemis thought. Charms charms charms.

bandage and wrap it around a wound, splinting any broken. The bandaging also appeared to ease the pain.

What if I somehow used both at the same time, Drink the potion and use the charm? Would that work? Artemis wondered.

An hour went by and Artemis discovered there is no specific spell for dragon burns, so maybe drinking the potion and using a charm at the same time would help cure the dragon bite completely.

Artemis quickly shut all the books and grabbed her notes. She put books back into their place and made her way to her favourite teacher.

Although she was strolling through the corridors she was buzzing to tell Snape what she had found out.

Artemis didn't even knock on the door, she barged into his room making his gaze snapped to her. "Can't you see I'm very busy Ms Seramore?" There was no work on his desk.

"Yes I can tell by the heavy workload sir." she said sarcastically, he resisted the urge to roll his eyes, "but what I am going to say may interest you." she kept hold of the parchment in her hand.

The raven-haired professor sighed deeply, "I doubt that."

she sighed, "You get to punish Gryffindors."

His dark eyes widened, "I'm listening."

She walked closer to his desk, "It's come to my attention that a certain redhead has been suffering from a dragon bite."

"Of course it's Weasley," he muttered.

"Yeah no surprise there," he nodded slowly, "I also found out there are no cures to dragon bites or burns."

"Yes that is common knowledge Artemis." he drawled.

Her hands tighten on her notes, "well I was doing research and it came to my attention that maybe dragon bites can't just be healed with just a simple potion or charm,  perhaps it's both." she placed her notes in front of him, he reluctantly picked them up. "All year you've been teaching us how to make a boil cure potion, and when you get bitten or burned by a dragon your skin develops boils, but only little ones." he his eyes stayed on her writing as she carried on, "Also a bandaging charm would ease and soothe the pain, which I'm sure Madam Pomfrey is using that to help Ronald, but I doubt he'll be out of the infirmary any time soon with her just using that charm." he nodded, "so maybe if she used the potion and the charm at the same time, it would allow the effects of the bite to leave his body completely."

Despite his stoic expression, he was very impressed with the witch. "This is very interesting Ms Seramore, I'm certain you did this because you want something in return?" He placed her notes back onto the table.

She gasped, holding her hand to her heart, "No, I'm doing it out of the kindness of my heart." He held back a smile. "Yes, I want something in return Sir."

He sat back in his chair, "We'll get on with it."

"I want house points, and not just for me, but for my friends as well," she spoke confidently. Even though none of them had a part to play in her discovery she wanted to give them credit, also she wanted the extra points.

He tilted his head, causing his dark hair to move, "Did they help with this?"

"Of course not, but 100 house points each sounds good." Artemis knew that the end of the school year was only a couple of weeks away.

"500 house points?" Snape knew who she chose to spend her time with, the group of 5 clung to each other, it wasn't just obvious to him but the whole school.

She smiled, "Yes sir, and I would rather they were announced at the end of the school year when they reveal who won the house cup."

He narrowed his eyes at her specific request, "Any reason why?" he inquired, ignoring how his social battery ran out before the day started.

She shook her head, "I just feel like it would be more appropriate sir." She had a feeling that something or someone would disrupt Slytherins win, she just wanted to make sure that they had a good chance at succeeding and taking the house cup for another year.

Silence engulfed the room. Artemis was waiting for a response from her teacher, she already knew that he agreed to her terms, she just was curious to know what else he would say.

He kept eye contact with her for a little while longer before speaking again, "I agree to those peculiar terms."

Her face lit up, "thank you sir." she spun on her feet and started walking towards the door, but his voice stopped her from leaving.

"Intelligence isn't a privilege it's a gift Artemis, use it wisely," he advised. Her head swivelled around looking at the wizard with a sly grin.

"Of course, I will, sir, what kind of witch do you take me for?" she teased, "Oh and sir you didn't hear about the dragon bite from me."

Before he could respond she vanished from the room.

"How the hell did she do that?" he muttered to himself before a small smile spread across his face, he looked at her notes again, proud of the 12-year-old witch.

***

Tuesday, May 26th:

SLYTHERIN COMMON ROOM:

It had been a couple of days since Theo's birthday celebrations. The group at this point had made a tradition for each person's birthday, to spend time in either the boy's or girl's room, eat and chill for the whole day.

It was nothing fancy, compared to how they would have celebrated outside of the school grounds, but it was special because of the people they were with.

Artemis scolded Draco, since he had thought it was a good idea to stalk the golden trio because he knew that they were in possession of a Dragon and he wanted to see the beast up close for some reason.

The idiot had gotten caught, of course,  so he served detention with the other three first-years and lost 50 house points for it. But somehow their punishment for walking around the school during the night was to walk around the school grounds at night.

Make it make sense.

oh wait, you can't.

Draco came back that night terrified, even though he tried to play it off, his friends could see through his facade.

Not only did he lose his dignity and some house points, but he also lost  20 Galleons to Artemis since she told him that he would get caught.

The wizard was angered by the lack of empathy from his friends but let it go when Artemis gave him a small hug causing him to stop his complaints. 

The group had gone back to studying for the end of year exams despite the time of day. Theo and Blaise were probably stressing the most, because despite their carefree attitude they did care about school. They didn't want to disappoint themselves and most of all their parents.

Daphne felt okay due to Artemis helping her throughout most of the year, the Seramore witch had helped her friend find more suitable ways to retain information and since she knew that the blonde witch loved fairy tales she had advised the girl to write out her notes in a similar way to the fables from the Grimm brother stories. It helped her a lot so studying was no longer a problem for her.

Draco was naturally bright, just like Artemis so he didn't need much help. However, he did pretend to struggle with certain topics so he would get his best friend's attention, Daphne, Theo and Blaise knew what he was doing because Draco had never been subtle with anything.

Draco's plan had worked since Artemis had sat closer to him to help him with his charms revision. Despite Artemis's perceptiveness, she was oddly oblivious to her best friends' games. She just continued to aid him, not noticing the small smile on his face as she spoke.

The two failed to notice how their friends were exchanging money at the sight.

***

Wednesday, June 3rd:

GREAT HALL:

It's been a week since Professor Snape had healed Ron's Dragon bite, whilst simultaneously taking away 50 points each from him as his friends.

Yesterday had been the last day of the exams, meaning today was the final day of the school year.

Artemis had been told that Quirrell was one of Lord V's minions. She immediately realised that she was right. As her mother always told her to trust her gut feeling.

Harry caught up with her after he had been in the infirmary from being hurt by the man with the fake stutter. He had realised that Artemis was right about Snape not being the one to worry about, he had thought about listening to her more often but the fact she was friends with Draco made it more difficult for him.

He didn't like that it was her cousin and friend that had beaten up Ron before his first Quidditch match either.

He didn't know whether or not to trust Artemis, and it didn't help that she was in Slytherin, but he just hoped that next year was better.

The Potter wizard watched as she and her friends sat across the hall, and while the rest of them were laughing she had an unreadable expression on her face. 

Everyone was in the great hall, waiting for the announcements to start.

Artemis had locked eyes with her favourite professor, although his face gave nothing away, his eyes did.

Blaise and Daphne had sat opposite Theo, Artemis and Draco.

Theo threw his head back, "Can this man just hurry up?"

"Yeah, we haven't got all day," Blaise added.

Artemis began to grin at her cousin, "Patience is a virtue B."

They all looked at her in disbelief and before Blaise could reply, Draco spoke up first "A virtue you most definitely  don't have." he stated making all of them except Artemis laugh.

Daphne nodded along trying to laugh too loudly, "That's right." Artemis rolled her eyes but a small smile graced her lips.

The entire hall turned to the front where their headmaster stood.

"Another year has gone!" Dumbledore said cheerfully. "And I must trouble you with an old man's wheezing waffle before we sink our teeth into our delicious feast. What a year it has been! Hopefully, your heads are all a little fuller than they were... you have the whole summer ahead to get them nice and empty before next year starts..."

"Hurry up," Blaise muttered with narrow eyes.

"Now, as I understand it, the house cup here needs awarding, and the points stand thus: In fourth place, Gryffindor, with three hundred and twelve points; in third, Hufflepuff, with three hundred and fifty-two; Ravenclaw has four hundred and twenty-six and Slytherin, four hundred and seventy-two."

A storm of cheering and stomping broke out from the Slytherin table. Draco banged his goblet on the table and his friends join in, but the way the old man spoke, she felt something was going to dampen their moods.

"Yes, Yes, well done, Slytherin," said Dumbledore. "However, recent events must be taken into account."

The room went very still. The Slytherins' smiles faded a little. "What the bloody hell does he mean by that?" they groaned.

"Ahem," said Dumbledore. "I have a few last-minute points to dish out. Let me see. Yes... First -- to Mr Ronald Weasley..."

"Gryffindor privilege strikes again." Daphne quipped, making the people around her nod.

"... for the best-played game of chess Hogwarts has seen in many years, I award Gryffindor house fifty points."

"That's rubbish." Theo and Blaise shouted out. Only receiving scolding looks from faculty and some glares from other houses. Draco started gripping onto his goblet tightly and Artemis shook her head.

"Second -- to Miss Hermione Granger... for the use of cool logic in the face of fire, I award Gryffindor house fifty points."

Artemis locked eyes with the Gryffindor girl, the latter stared back with a smug smile on her face.

"They were a hundred points up," Draco muttered to his friends.

"Third -- to Mr Harry Potter... " said Dumbledore. The room went deadly quiet. "... for pure nerve and outstanding courage, I award Gryffindor house sixty points."

the mood had changed significantly, Those who could add up were yelling as they knew that Gryffindor now had four hundred and seventy-two points -- the same as Slytherin. They had tied for the house cup.

Theo closed his eyes, "Maybe I should've gone to Ilvermorny."

Dumbledore raised his hand. The room gradually fell silent.

"There are all kinds of courage," said Dumbledore, smiling. "It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends. I, therefore, award ten points to Mr Neville Longbottom."

"We should riot." daphne snarled in the direction of the man.

"I should've hexed that blood traitor more." Draco spat.

Artemis' face was stone cold, "It's not over guys." they all looked at the witch, but her eyes were on something else

"What do you-" Blaise was cut off by Dumbledore.

"Which means," Dumbledore called over the storm of applause before he could continue Snape had gotten his attention, he began talking to the man, not noticing his eyes remained on a certain student.

The raven hair professor subtly nodded towards the girl before sitting down. The entire hall began whispering but Dumbledore held his hand up again to start speaking.

Gryffindor was waiting with smiles and grins, so were Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, whilst Slytherins looked as if they were about to kill everyone.

"Ah- apparently there are a few last-minute points to dish out." Draco's grip on his goblet grew less tight and some colour came back to his hand.

Artemis let out a laugh which only attracted her friends' attention. "What?" She said innocently.

Blaise titled his head, "What did you do Arty?"

"Thank me later."

"First to Mr Blaise Zabini for aiding in the discovery of a Dragon bite cure, I award Slytherin house 100 points ."

The hall went silent  before Slytherins started cheering again, wiping the looks of glee of the other houses, especially Gryffindor.

"Or you can thank me now." Artemis mused, Blaise looked shocked as Slytherins started coming up to him patting his back. He knew his cousin had a part to play in this.

Theo started to laugh, "Did we just win?" his thoughts of dropping out left his mind. "Wait, what is that old bat talking about?" looking at Artemis because he knew Blaise had no clue what was going on.

"Wait for it."

"Second -- to Miss Daphne Greengrass... for the use of intuition in the face of fire, I award Slytherin house 100 points." Daphne's eyes went wide before she started to soak in the attention.

She winked at the Seramore Witch, knowing she was behind this. The blonde thought back to the promise they made at the beginning of the year and smiled to herself.

Theo cleared his throat, and combed through his hair, "Here comes my fake glory, Thanks Artemis." he nudged the girl, she laughed.

"Third – to Mr Theo Nott... for his resilience when things didn't work in his favour. I award Slytherin house another 100 points."

The other houses started to groan, some students started to cry at the announcements. Longbottom started to blubber, knowing his points didn't mean anything now.

"I don't know what you did but you're a genius," Theo whispered to his friend, who only innocently shrugged in response.

Draco grabbed Artemis' hand under the table, they intertwined fingers, as he leant over, "you did this didn't you?" he was grinning widely. Mostly because of that, they won the house cup and also since he knew it was due to his best friend's plotting.

"Do you think I did?" she began to laugh but the noise was blocked out due to the cheers from her house. "Time to soak it in D."

"Fourth – to Mr Draco Malfoy... for resourcefulness and knowledge of potions. I award Slytherin house 100 points."

Draco squeezed Artemis' hand tighter, due to the praise he was getting, despite not knowing what for, he just hoped his father would be proud of him.

"And finally, to Miss Artemis Seramore, for being the leader  in a great discovery of Dragon bites, which is not only revolutionary but brilliant, she is also the youngest witch to do so,  I award another 100 points to Slytherin house— well done Miss Seramore." Dumbledore smiled at the girl, although the expression did not reach his eyes.

The golden trio all looked towards the girl. Hermione's eyes held envy and jealousy, mad that she didn't discover a new cure at the age of 12. She promised herself she would do better next year.

Ron was angry, he couldn't believe despite the beatdown he received from Theo and Blaise that they still were awarded more points than him even though he risked his life, he tore off his hat along with some other Gryffindor students.

Harry's blue eyes held sorrow, he wished that he would have won the cup for his house, he thought that going up against you-know-who would've been enough, but sadly it wasn't.

The green and silver hangings didn't change colour and the Slytherin serpent did not vanish. Praise merlin. Praise Salazar. "Slytherin wins the house cup for the 7th year in a row," Dumbledore stated with fake joy. 

Snape nodded at his house as they went mad, they were the winners of the house cup for the seventh year. The professors shook hands with the raven-haired teacher, they wore smiles but everyone could see that they were forced.

"Artemis. Artemis. Artemis. Artemis. Artemis. Artemis. Artemis." the far side of the hall began to chant.

What a great year indeed.

***

a/n:

probably my favourite chapter.

hoped you enjoy it.

one more to go before the end of this Act.