Friday, June 20th:

SERAMORE MANOR: ITALY

It had been 2 weeks since Artemis had been in Italy, and she was in her element. Italian culture was steeped in arts, architecture, music, fashion, and most importantly food. Although she couldn't do magic since she was underage still brought and studied some new spells in preparation for the upcoming school year. Her family welcomed her and Blaise with open arms since their arrival. Her room had been untouched, the same since she had last been there.

Her straightened hair was no match for the humidity that spread through the country, it transformed back into her natural curls after 2 weeks which sadly meant she owed her mother 40 galleons.

She had received many letters from her friends since the school year ended, Daphne had mentioned how many attractive boys she had seen in Spain; Artemis had caught Blaise reading her letters from the blonde with a frown on his face.

Theo had wrote to the girl, claiming the same thing, he liked the way both boys and girls looked on his cruise, but he had told Artemis to keep it a secret, meaning she had to hide his letters from her cousin before he could see the confession from the Nott wizard.

Draco had mainly written his letters in French, due to Artemis' request because she wanted to be able to be trilingual like her ancestor Adriel. She already knew certain French terms and sentences but she wanted to be able to communicate with her best friend without other people understanding.

Blaise and Artemis were currently laying on two giant floaties whilst floating on the crystal blue water of the pool. In between, they sat a plastic-shaped table that was carrying the cards that they were playing with. Her distant cousins had introduced her and Blaise to the game 'UNO'. they had initially thought it was a family-friendly game, but they were wrong about that.

Ever since Blaise and Artemis had been playing the card game, they've been at odds with each other.

"I swear to Merlin Blaise, if you put a plus 4 on me again I'll claim it's racism."

He placed a card down, "Is the heat getting to you or are you forgetting that we are the same race?"

"I don't care, I still haven't mentally recovered from the last time." Artemis had to put her hair in a bun due to the stress and heat. She placed a card down before bringing her remaining back to her chest.

Blaise hummed and nodded, "Clearly, you look like a madwoman."

"I am a madwoman," she stated.

"No arguments here", he mumbled. Placing another card down.

"Should we bring this game to school?"

He let out a dry laugh at the thought of introducing UNO to his friends, "Do you want to start a civil war?"

She was silent for a minute before speaking up, "I kind of do." the cousins started to laugh. None of their games had ended well, so if 5 of them were playing it would be chaos.

"Then let's bring it." he agreed. "Just don't cry when you lose in front of everyone okay?" a sly grin grew on his face.

Blaise had won a handful of times, he liked the anger that always appeared on his cousin's face when he succeeded at the muggle game. One time the game had gotten so heated they almost used underage magic, but luckily Sapphire had been there to stop them; confiscating the cards for a week as well as their wands.

The 63-year-old witch had tried to scold them for their lack of self-control but all three of them had ended up laughing. Sapphire was still worried if they found out about the game monopoly; playing it with her husband and some of their friends, and it ended with her flipping the board, drowning a whole bottle of fire whisky before going to sleep, and ignoring Septrim for an entire week since he had one the game.

She let out a sarcastic laugh, "Pisciare fuori."

Blaise gasped dramatically, "Hai solo giurato contro di me?"

She gave him a look, "Swearing doesn't count if you are doing it in another language." she had witnessed her mother do it a lot as well as her deceased father. Whenever they were at an event and got frustrated with whomever they were speaking to, they always used to curse in Italian, as they knew most purebloods that they interacted with didn't know the language so it sounded beautiful to them.

Ignorance is bliss.

Blaise blinked rapidly, "Huh," he couldn't argue with that logic, "I guess that checks out." she smiled in response. He placed another card down, before running his free hand over his hair, "Arty, do you like I would look good with Braids?"

"With your face structure, yes. Why do you ask?" Her eyes were too focused on her cards to look up, she was rearranging them to match colours. She found the right one and put it down.

"Girls seem to like boys with long hair." he shrugged, thinking about his next move.

An amused look spread across her face, "You mean Daphne?"

He scoffed, "No I don't mean Daphne, did I say, Daphne?"

She raised a brow at his attitude, "Why are you being so hostile?", ever since she had caught the boy scooping through her letters, the mention of the Greengrass witch had been a touchy subject for him. So of course she would bring her up as much as possible.

"I am not." he denied, he glared at his cousin before harshly pulling a card out from his grasp and placing it onto the others.

She raised one of her hands in defense, "You are," she placed a plus 2 down, making him bitterly laugh and pick up two cards from the deck, " I was just asking a question." she laughed at the look on his face, "am I not allowed to do that anymore B?"

He ignored her question, "Well I was just answering yours." he calmed down when he looked at the plus 4 in his deck and held back a smile, "And what about you, with Draco?" They locked eyes and he noticed her furrowed eyebrows, "oh you know, you two writing in French to each other like it's some summer romance." he chuckled at the scowl on her face.

"I'm trying to improve my French you fool," she breathed in deeply and shot him a look, "and I told you to stop going through my letters."

"Well, you didn't make me a pinky promise so I'm not going to stop."

She was about to place another card down but a panicked expression covered her face, "You didn't see any other letters written right?" she was scared that Blaise saw the letters that were exchanged between her and Theo, she had sworn to keep his secret and even though Blaise wouldn't care about his friend potentially being attracted to more than one gender, it's just not her secret to tell.

She knew that Blaise would also keep Theo's secret if he had found out but she didn't want to risk it.

He leaned forward at her panicked tone, "No, why?" It's not like he could understand most of the French that were used in the letters exchanged between his best friend and cousin so he didn't understand why she was acting so anxious. He was determined to find out.

She shook away the panic and regained her composure, "No reason," he nodded even though he didn't believe her, "any way you should grow out your hair next summer, not now because I know how much you will hate taking care of it."

Blaise could easily grow out his hair, when he got to the age of 5 his hair was the same length as hers, but he hated taking care of it and didn't like when his mother touched it, so he asked Ophelia to shave it all off, which is why he keeps his hair short.

"By the time we are in 4th year, we will be matching," Blaise stated.

"Yeah, but I'll look better," Artemis made a noise of disagreement.

"No, you won't."

Blaise gave his cousin a fake smile, "Yes I will."

"No, you won't."

"Yes I will because I look better and I am better than you, you want to know why?" he tilted his head with a smile, he only had two cards left, not like she could see because he was hiding them.

"Why?" she asked annoyedly.

He placed a plus 4 down on the deck, "UNO." he cackled loudly.

She screamed and flipped the table before lunging herself at him.

All that was heard from inside the manor were curses, screams, and splashing.

***

Sunday, July 19th:

Blaise had been out all day with some of their cousins, visiting the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. he was bored and since he and Artemis couldn't play UNO for a while since Sapphire had confiscated the game for the second time this summer, however it wasn't for a week this time, she had taken it and hidden it away for a month using her magic.

Since then, Artemis and Blaise had visited more sites and tourist attractions, even though they had been to most of them before, many more places had been built since they had last been in Italy, so they were excited to see them.

The aggressive heat had caused the two to gain a glowing tan. Artemis loved it since it evened out some of her skin discolorations. For some reason, her legs seemed to be lighter than her physique, so she was pleased to see that they darkened to match her body.

Today Blaise decided he wanted to visit the shopping arcade, Artemis couldn't be bothered to leave the manor so she decided to stay inside. Sapphire and some other family members had gone along as well.

She had made Arancini with help from her grandparents' house elf. She just finished eating it, when she had been called to her grandfather's office.

She reluctantly got up from her stool and pushed it into the kitchen island and began strolling through the manor.

White pillars stood strong carrying the weight of the structure. Large dogs had run past her racing towards the end of the corridor. She sighed out as the breeze touched her skin making the light layer of sweat that covered her body dissipate.

She took off her sunglasses since the sun had started to settle, causing the horizon to be filled with a pale tint of orange; the clouds were dispersing allowing the warmth from the sun to kiss and caress her skin.

She knocked on the door and entered when she heard a deep 'come in'. She smiled at the sight of her grandfather.

The dark-skinned man placed his quil on his desk and beamed at his granddaughter. His study was full of books and artifacts that he had collected over his years. The Seramore Sigil was painted above his head.

A serpent taking a bite out of a brain was something you couldn't miss.

She noticed a muggle book on his desk, 'Macbeth', he looked like he was over halfway through the play.

He waved his hand and the alcohol that rested on the chest of the draws started to move and pour him a drink, simulatonsuly filling the glass with crushed ice.

"La mia Bella ragazza." My beautiful girl.

"Ciao nonno." Hi grandad. "Mi hai convocato" You summoned me.

He rolled his eyes at her dramatics and gestured for her to sit down. "Ah, you get your dramatics from your father."

Her smile faltered at the mention of Ezekiel, she slouched into the leather chair, "Mum used to tell me that." She kept her hands resting on the sides of her seat. He raised his hand, noticing his drink levitating, it lowered into his grip.

"Because it's true," he laughed at the thought of how dramatic his only child was. He never got tired of talking about his child, even though he passed away, Septrim always had a smile on his face when he talked about him.

When he had lost Ezekiel had felt like someone had used the death curse on him like someone shot a bullet through his soul, it was a painful and constant reminder of why he would never feel whole again.

The only way he could feel at peace was when he thought of the memories that his son brought him, therefore although he was gone from his sight, he would never be gone from his heart.

"I miss him a lot, but you always remind me of his ways." he smiled sadly. He loved spending time with Artemis, not just because she was like Ezekiel but he knew she was a smart and talented witch, it was interesting for him to see how much she changed every time she visited him.

"People think that it was Lord V that killed him." her monotone voice broke through his thoughts, he snapped his gaze towards the girl, he hadn't realized that he was looking into his glass. His smile dropped because of her words. "I mean I guess I'm starting to believe it," she shrugged nonchalantly despite the ache spreading through her heart, "I guess it would make sense."

Septrim sipped his drink, "I doubt it was him."

She scrunched up her face, "Why wouldn't it be him, he killed Potter's parents and I wouldn't put it past him."

He waved her off, "No, I believe it could be someone else." He shook his head, a little laugh fell from his lips.

Artemis frowned and leaned forward, "Like who?" she was slightly suspicious of her grandfather's tone and attitude, it had thrown her off completely.

He-who-should-not-be-named may have been supposedly dead whilst her father had been killed but that doesn't mean he didn't do it, right?

He's evil.

"Let's drop this subject and focus on something else." He notices that she was digging her hands into the chair and decided to change to a topic, "I did want to talk to you about something, I wanted Blaise to be here too, but I'll just get you to tell him later." She nodded slowly, still uneasy about how quickly wanted to change the topic, but she still encouraged him to carry on, "it's about your ancestor Adriel." He straightened his back, already looking more composed.

She slouched back into the chair, "What about him?"

He cleared his throat, "Actually, more specifically the room he was rumoured to have built in the school." she raised a brow, "it's real of course."

"Oh, I'm not surprised about that."

"You're not?" he thought she would have had a bigger reaction but nope.

"I knew it wasn't just gossip between family members." She heard some distant aunts talk about the room before when she was listening to a conversation that her mother was having, she never knew the name of it but she kept hearing them call it the 'secret room'.

"Oh really?" he smiled.

"I don't think anything is a myth anymore, to be honest Not even wolves." She had read up on a lot of mythical creatures and honestly wanted to see some of them because the way they had been described in some of her books sounded amazing. So a secret room that apparently didn't exist barely made her bat an eye.

He tapped his chin pretending to think, "Vampires?"

She nodded as a smile graced her face, "They have to be real." necromancy was something she and mother would regularly talk about. Despite the topic involving death, it did also include raising someone from the dead.

Despite her thoughts during their conversations would go to her father, she knew that bringing someone back from the dead would require sacrifice and she didn't want to mess with spirits, so their mother-daughter discussions would lead to visions and divination and steer clear from dark magic.

Septrim tossed his head back in laughter, "Okay let me know when you see one." She joined in and chuckled, "Blaise will need to help you since he is your cousin and also carries the blood of Adriel so he will be able to access the room too." she nodded, he clicked his tongue and a smirk crossed his lips, "and maybe even a little Malfoy, he could help you too."

"I thought the room was only for the descendants of Adriel"

"Obviously but we can let whoever we want in it as long as they are trustworthy and keep their mouth shut." he laughed bitterly at the memory of him having to obliviate Muliciber, during his fourth year at Hogwarts, because he was about to expose the secret room to a bunch of Ravenclaws that he had been courting all at the same time. "And according to my Godson, you and little Malfoy are close."

She smiled at the thought of the white-haired boy, "Uncle Luc's right, D and I are close." He was still writing to her in his second language so her French had improved greatly over the last month.

"Mmm you call him D." his smirk turned into an amused smile.

"We're best friends."

"Best friends my arse," he muttered, she shot him a glare, he raised his hands in faux surrender, but a smile was still on his face. "Okay okay I'll drop it... for now." he laughed at the look on her face and then downed the rest of his brandy and looked at his grandchild, "You still eat ice?" he shook the glass making the tiny glaziers fight one another.

She laughed in disbelief, "It has alcohol in it." She knew her grandfather didn't care, she saw him earlier in the month sharing his glass of fire whisky with Blaise before finishing the rest of it when Sapphire entered the room.

"So?" they laughed, Artemis reached out and took the small glass. She cringed at the taste as her teeth crushed down on the substance. "don't tell your mother I gave you alcohol" he pointed out as he worried that she could become slightly intoxicated.

"Of course, I won't," she laughed, "but for a pretty price of course," she remembered how many times her cousin would quote Rumplestiltskin.

He playfully scoffed and shook his head, "just like Blaise."

***

Tuesday, August 18th:

It was Artemis' last day in Italy, Blaise decided to go back home to England early since Theo had wanted to meet up with him before school started.

Theo and Artemis had gotten closer, and especially since he had confided in her about some personal issues that he was having, their bond had grown stronger. They had planned to talk more during the school term since he was very comfortable around her.

The witch was planning on going to Diagon Alley with Draco and her uncle tomorrow, she couldn't wait to see how much her best friend had changed.

Over the last two months, her hair had gotten thicker and skin darker due to the Italian heat she loved. She even grew 2 inches, making her height now 5 feet and 2 inches, taller than she was in the previous year.

She had just finished packing her clothes and sent her trunk back to her manor. She just said her goodbyes to her grandmother and the rest of her family and she was currently waiting on her grandfather.

The gray-haired man emerged from his office with parchment in his hand, smiling as he approached the young witch.

She turned to face him, matching his smile, "this is what I wanted to give you but I just found it now." he said. She looked down at the parchment, analysing the words and concluding it was a clue about how to find and get into the secret Seramore Room in Hogwarts. "Show this to your cousin, despite his theatrical demeanor he is a smart boy." she giggled," you see at the bottom of the message, it has the keyword." she nodded, "trust me it won't take you too long to figure it out, I always knew you were an intelligent girl and the time I spent with you this summer proved it."

She smiled up at him, "Thank you, grandfather."

"I also noticed that you're very light on your feet, I rarely hear you when you snuck up on me." he began thinking back to all the times he had noticed his granddaughter leave the room without him noticing, "even your grandmother was scared when you would just appear next to her and her senses are better than mine. You reminded me of how I used to do that a lot myself"

"I guess it's a family trait." She remembered when Mr. Olivander said that her father could slip in and out of places without being noticed.

"It's like I feel your presence but don't see you, you're like a... "he trailed off thinking of the accurate word.

"Ghost?" she finished his sentence, making him nod, "I've heard that before." They shared another smile, "could I ask you something?" he nodded again, "Who did you let into the room when you were at Hogwarts?" Even though she thought she may have been too inquisitive, she still wanted to know.

She knew who she would be able to trust if she ever showed them her family's room; she just wanted to know who her grandfather let into it as well.

He hummed looking away from her eyes, "Not a lot of people, only the ones I trusted."

"Do you still trust them now?"

His smile faltered, "Slightly." It had been over 45 years since he had graduated from Hogwarts.

"What do you mean by that?" she inquired.

"Well most of them I haven't spoken to in a while." he saw some familiar faces whenever he would make a trip into the ministry of magic.

The minister of magic; Cornelius Fudge would occasionally ask him to monitor the language translation sector since he knew Seramore's history in that field of work. Septrim still got paid for the job despite claiming he retired, he didn't need the spare change, but he would just give his family the money or take his wife out on dates.

"Oh, do you think you'll see them again?"

"Maybe," he let out a sigh, "time will tell," he whispered. Artemis couldn't decipher the look that dawned on his face. They stood in uncomfortable silence until he cleared his throat and smiled again "please come and visit again soon," he brought her into a warm embrace, "Sapph loves when more girls are around, Blaise tired her out." she laughed as they stepped away from each other.

"Ciao Nonno."

He shot her a teasing grin, "Ciao piccolo fantasma."

***

a/n:

denzel washington as 𝘀𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗺 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲

Sorry guys I got side tracked and hadn't published a chapter for this book in a while.

What do you think about Septrim?