Sunday, April 5th:

SNAPE'S OFFICE:

It had been a couple of weeks since Artemis met up with Don's of Hogwarts.

They only agreed to meet when towards the end of each month or when something important was happening.

They briefly consulted their new rules and come to a decision.

DON RULES:

1. The house that wins the house cup, is entitled to invite whoever to the meetings.

2. No disrespecting each other (publicly).

3. No discussing issues outside of the meeting.

4. A Don can ask a favor from another Don but only once a term.

5. Any disputes have to be settled in a duel.

Of course, Artemis told Daphne about her little council, only because the blonde could see right through her and she couldn't lie to her close friend.

She didn't want her to worry about her sneaking off, especially when she knows that the blonde is still very worried about her and she doesn't want to stress her out.

Since the council revolves around the girls of the three houses, they all agreed to not mention it to any of the boys, because it is frankly none of their business.

Everyone had been on edge, more muggle-borns had been hospitalized and of course, people began to look at the purebloods as the culprit.

Technically it wasn't much of a stretch, since many purebloods have openly discussed their hatred for muggle-borns without a care in the world.

This meant that Artemis and her group of friends had been targeted, despite them being innocent.

They all held their own, hexed and jinxed a couple of students, and went on with their day.

Artemis had a reputation to keep up, she may not have been known for being the nicest person in the school or the bravest of the most helpful, but she is a highly intelligent witch, having both brains and beauty is a lot to keep up.

Being a Seramore is enough pressure in general and she is only 13, she has to constantly outdo herself.

She is already at the top of most of her classes.

The youngest witch to find the cure for Dragon bites and burns.

First female Slytherin quidditch player, who is also black.

In a council that involves all the female heads of the main 3 houses in the school.

And now she had just created her own spell.

Being Artemis Joelle Seramore isn't easy, especially when people are accusing her of something that she surprisingly didn't do.

She couldn't wait for the summer as the school year has already dragged.

So right now she was making her way to her favourite Professor's office, she wanted to tell him about her creation and he was the only one that she could trust with this information.

Who else would she go to?

Dumbledore...yeah no.

Since spring had started, the skies were brighter, the weather was cooler but still not as hot as it would've been during the summer.

Artemis and Daphne had traded their thick tights for their knee-high socks. The former had put her hair in a protective style as she hated the humidity that filled up the air and stuck to her hair.

Senegalese twists always looked good on her.

Artemis held back her laughter, as she knocked on snape's door. She was aware that he hated to be bothered, especially by students, but she was one of her favorites so he had to make an exception.

However she didn't knock, her fists pounded on the door until it magically swung open.

The raven-haired wizard wore a scowl on his face, which only grew when he saw the grin on hers.

She closed the door and stepped into the dark and gloomy room, which surprisingly allowed the sunlight to shine through. "Hello, Professor."

He closed his black eyes and let out a sigh, "Merlin give me strength."

"How are you today Professor?" she appeared in front of his desk.

"What do you want Artemis?"

"Why on earth would I want anything from you sir?" she asked innocently, he gave her a deadpanned look, she rolled her eyes and dropped her act, "I wanted to show you something."

"Why aren't you with your peers?" he asked boredly, "the day is what one would describe as nice."

She made a face, "I try so hard to like my peers but I think they're awful." she shivered at the thought of being with anyone who wasn't her friends.

Snape nodded, "Understandable." his mind flashed with memories of his adolescence, he blinked them away, desperate to not think about it.

"Yes, they are annoying." she pointed out.

"Disgusting."

"Waste of energy."

"Waste of life," he spoke without a hint of regret.

A laugh escaped her mouth, she turned away from him, as his stoic expression would only make her laugh more. "You aren't wrong about that sir, I have news."

He pinched his nose, and pushed a lock of hair out of her vision, "Could you not just write it in a letter and send it to me?"

She pondered for a moment, "I would've because I don't like face-to-face interactions," he nodded in agreement, "but I couldn't risk someone intercepting this." she held up the parchment and waved it slightly.

His eyes widened, he thought back to the last time she presented him with anything, she noticed a ghost of a smile almost reach his face.

He remembered the sense of pride he felt when he read over her notes and research about the cure to Dragon bites.

He was initially shocked but he felt what only someone could describe as happiness when he announced it to Dumbledore.

He smiled when he saw the many articles about her in the Daily Prophet, he even kept some of them in his home.

She might've pissed him off sometimes but she is one of his favorite and most talented students.

He held his hand out, "Show me." she gave him the parchment and swiftly snatched it away.

She watched as several emotions washed over his face.

Boredom.

Intrigue.

Shock.

Joy.

Acceptance.

She started to play with the rings that lived on her fingers, unsure of what to say next. Snape was one of the few people she looked to for acceptance. She swallowed locked eye with him as he looked away from her research, "Its a simple-"

"Healing spell." he interrupted, delight consuming his voice. he placed it on his table, which was full of various essays that he didn't want to mark. He looked up at the witch and cleared his throat of any emotion, "You've done it again Artemis."

She cocked her head to the side, not understanding what he was saying, "Done what?"

"Exceeded my expectations." his tone was softer but was covered in composure.

Her lips curved into a smile. She was taken back by his words, not knowing what to say, "Oh..."

"How did you come up with this?" he was genuinely curious. He was aware that the young witch had many things going on, so he was amazed that she had time to figure this out.

She shrugged, "Well you know I'm on the Quiddich team."

"The first female at that." a small smile graced his lips before dropping and morphing into a thin line.

"Yes," she smiled genuinely, "the training that Flint has us go through are very intense and draining, so when I finished my first training session, I started thinking about healing spells since I felt nothing but pain." he gestured to her to continue, "so I started my research."

He narrowed his dark eyes at her, cutting her off before she could continue, "Where? I don't see you in the library as much anymore?"

Merda. Shit. Deflect deflect deflect. "Here and there." His gaze darkened and she waved him off, "besides the point sir." He rolled his eyes, "back to my story, I was searching up different healings spells." she continued, "Bandaging charms healed splinted fractures and soothes pain, Braclium charm, -" she started,

"-Healed broken bones." he finished

"Episkey healed mild injures, but you know how vicious Quidditch practice is so that barely worked."

"Stamina charms only restored stamina," he added on, furthering her point, that there were not many charms or that increased healing.

Especially by 50%.

She nodded, "And none of them were for fast healing, so I started looking for Latin phrases that related to fast healing or just healing in general. I found what the words meant and put them in the right order, but making sure my wand movements and pronunciation skills were correct was an issue."

He leaned forward, "So how did you perfect it?"

"Maybe on a couple of students".... She noticed his eyes bore into hers, "but it was safe, no one died," she said hesitantly.

He sighed and shook his head. "Really?" he was concerned for the potential victims of her spell.

Not like I would say if they did, "none of them." she reassured the professor.

Neither of them spoke for a moment, she watched as he leaned back in his chair, his eyes darting between the parchment and her figure, "I'm impressed" he spoke sternly.

"Thank you, sir."

He pursed his lips as he thought back to the previous year, "I'm guessing you want me to wait until the end of the year before I announce that you have created your own spell?" he raised an eyebrow and waited for her response.

He knew that Seramore's had a flair for the dramatics, it may not have been all the time, but if they wanted praise, they wanted it from everyone.

She snickered, "Of course." she said in an obvious tone.

"We have a deal Artemis." she grinned like a Cheshire cat. She went to move but his voice stopped her, "you've excelled little Seramore," he watched as her eyes became glossy and she blinked back the tears, "I can't imagine what you will do in your third year." He felt a warm feeling spread across his body.

You don't want to know. "I guess you'll have to wait and see." he looked back at the parchment in amazement and she silently left the room. He heard the door slam, pulling his attention away from the new spell, his face scrunched up in confusion. "She needs to stop doing that" he shook his head and a small chuckle escaped his lips, "she's a bloody ghost."

***

Friday, May 28th:

BOY'S ROOM:

Dumbeldore was removed as headmaster a couple of weeks ago.

Slytherin students were ecstatic about the news, meanwhile, the Gryffindor's hated it and wanted their savior to return.

According to Aurora, the Ravenclaws were divided on the topic, some liked the man, while the others didn't care about him as he never paid attention to their house.

Alana told Artemis that most Hufflepuff's didn't even notice he was gone.

Hagrid was also taken to Azkaban around the same time. Artemis thought the half-giant was a sweet and dopey man, but she didn't have much to say on the matter.

She was certain that he wouldn't stay for long, but that didn't stop the golden trio from losing their shit.

Lockhart was still just as arrogant as ever and continued boasting to Artemis about how her mother asked him to be one of her models.

She humbled him many times but he was relentless.

He brought a whole new meaning to the phrase 'ignorance is bliss.'

Artemis swore to Emrys he would get his comeuppance soon, she had a gut feeling.

Her cousin also told her that her aunt eloped with the Rosier Wizard that she had been dating for a while, surprisingly he was still alive.

For now...

Artemis was now cooped up in the boy's room, with her cousin and close friend, whilst Daphne was catching on to her sleep and Draco was causing trouble for some first-year Gryffindor students.

The Seramore witch had told him to try to stay away from the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw students. He was perplexed by her requests but tried his best to not bother them, even though it tempted him a lot.

So he promised himself to only bother some of them, but all.

"If you put a plus 4 on me B, it's a hate crime." Theo glared at the Zabini wizard as Artemis sorted through her cards.

The trio was all sat upon Blaise's bed. The witch had her legs crossed, Theo was sat up leaning on his elbows, whilst the eldest was lying on his stomach, trying to think of which card to place down next.

This is how they spent most of their days, nights, and even some birthdays.

Theo's birthday was spent in the boy's room, they brought him a huge feast, along with other random and odd presents.

They all played a 12 hour long game of Mafia. The card game was straightforward: 5 cards, everyone picks one at random, if they pick up a king, they are the assassin and if they pick up any other card, they a villager.

The assassin kills off the villagers but has to do it subtly or they get caught. At the end of each round, they all discuss who they think is the killer and if they vote for the wrong person the game only lasts longer.

Blaise was the assassin most of the time, Artemis charmed the cards so Theo and Draco would never be the killer because she wanted them to keep the peace just for the Nott wizard's 13 birthday.

It may have been immoral, but when has she been a morally right person?

The group didn't know which game caused more arguments, but they didn't care enough to find out.

Blaise eyed his close friend, "How is it a hate crime?"

Theo scoffed "Because I'm bi," he gestured to his body, gripping onto his remaining cards.

The newly turned 13-year-old had been more comfortable within his sexuality.

He hasn't told everyone just yet, he especially didn't mention it to Draco, because he believed that their arguments would have gotten worse.

Blaise went to reply but his cousin spoke up first, "It would be a hate crime for me too." She blurted out, the two boys snapped their heads in her direction.

Theo started to grin, "Wait are you-"

"A girl, so it would be a hate crime." The wizards rolled their eyes, "and I'm black so it would be a double hate crime."

Theo tilted his head to the side, "Could I claim the Latino card?" The cousins looked at him, pondering his question.

Blaise shook his head, "None of that is going to stop me from murdering you all in this game."

Theo subtly nudged the witch, showing him his plus 2, he mouthed 'do you have one?'

She nodded with a sly smirk.

Blaise placed another card down onto the deck, Theo looked up at the boy, "How long do you think about your mother's new husband."

The Zabini boy stopped sorting his cards and thought about his new stepfather, "He's okay I guess, he was alright on Christmas."

"How long do you think he's going to last?"

"Probably another month or two."

"3 tops." Artemis snorted.

Blaise nodded, "Just remember...

"We didn't know anything."

"We didn't see anything."

"So we didn't say anything." They all recited.

Theo and Artemis placed their plus 2's down, they giggled when Blaise glared at the two of them, flashing them off before begrudgingly picking up 4 cards.

Theo turned to look at the witch, as he pondered his next move, "So what's with you disappearing all the time?"

Artemis held back an eye roll, "It's a normal thing for me to disappear T."

He scoffed, "Don't deflect Arty."

"I'm not." she shrugged as he placed another card down.

The two wizards shared a look, then glanced back at Artemis, "LIAR."

She sighed, her eyes looking between theirs, "Just know the fact I'm not telling you is for the greater good." she didn't feel guilty for keeping it a secret, she just felt bad because she didn't want them to worry about her.

Blaise took in his cousin's calm demeanor and pursed his lips, "As long as you're being safe I don't care."

"Same," Theo added on with a genuine smile. Artemis smiled at the two, before gracefully placing a plus 4 onto the deck, the boy's eyes grew wide, "wait what-"

"Sorry mate," Blaise snickered as he placed his plus 4 on top of hers. The two cousins cackled as their friend groaned and tossed his cards around the room. "Don't rage quit T."

"It's for my mental health, sod off."

"Sure T." Artemis continued to laugh as her friend kept throwing his head back hitting the sheets, trying to knock himself out.

The cousins stopped him after a while, agreeing to stop playing the game before he threw himself out the window.

The three sat in comfortable silence, looking up at the transfigured ceiling, counting the stars that twinkled above them.

"Have you thought about your sexuality?" Theo suddenly asked the witch.

Both boys looked at her, waiting for her answer. She contemplated her answer for a while, "Well, I think both girls and boys are fit." she responded truthfully. Artemis sometimes found herself looking at anyone who she found attractive, she didn't care if they were from her gender.

If her eyes wondered, they wondered.

Blaise nodded, "Same, but I only like one person." he smiled to himself, thinking about the Greengrass witch. He didn't notice the knowing looks the other two 13-year-olds shared.

Theo let out a dry laugh, "I like anything right now, what about you Temi?"

"What about me?"

"Do you like anyone?"

She felt her heartbeat increase, "Not sure." she spoke hesitantly.

"Sure." the two boys said, sarcasm dripped from their voices.

"We believe you," Theo added on.

Artemis reached out and flicked their foreheads, causing them all to laugh, "Shut up."

Blaise looked at his cousin, curiously filling his brown eyes, "No but seriously what's going on between you and D?"

Before she could reply, the Nott wizard interrupted, "The snow bunny has been looking more infatuated with you than usual and I know you've noticed it too." he spoke in disgust.

Blaise choked on air due to the nickname Theo called his best friend, while Artemis turned her head, so neither of them could see her smile, but they caught her expression. "Yeah, so what do you think of it?."

"He's m-" Artemis was cut off by the two boys.

"Best friend, we know" They spoke in unison, then rolled their eyes in frustration.

She shot them both a displeased look, "Okay okay, but he is though."

She had been best friends with the boy, since the moment they were both born and she felt like if she tried to change anything, it would ruin their 13-year long friendship.

"That doesn't mean you can't like him." her cousin pointed out.

"But what if it ruins the friendship?"

Theo snickered, "Trust me, he's been wanting to ruin that friendship for a while." Blaise shook with laughter.

"Yeah, but what if it gets ruined and we can't fix it."

Blaise gave her a reassuring smile, "You guys have always mended your friendship whenever you argue."

"But this won't be an argument, it will be the start of something that could potentially make or break us and I don't want a temporary thing."

"So what do you want?"

"I'm only 13 and I don't think I would be cut out to be someone's girlfriend."

Life is hard enough, how could a relationship solve it? Artemis cringed. At the age of 13 too?

"Temi, if you announced that you did want to be someone's girlfriend, there would be a long line of boys and girls outside this door waiting for you, so if you aren't right now, you will always have options." Blaise nodded in agreement.

She huffed and attempted to defend herself, "Remember what Septrim used to say, Partners make you strong, lovers make you weak."

Her grandfather always shouted random sayings at her and leaves the room whenever she goes to see him.

At first, she was weirded out by it, and then soon after she got used to it.

She knew that he and her grandmother were in a loving relationship with each other, so she always took his relationship knowledge in.

Blaise scoffed loudly, a look of bewilderment spread across his face, "Are we really going to sit here and act like Septrim wasn't a whore when he was younger?"

Theo's eyes almost shot out of his skull, so did Artemis'.

Blaise could be very perceptive when he wanted to be, he may have acted oblivious but he wasn't. Whenever he was out with Septrim, he would sometimes catch his eyes leer on certain people.

He never said anything but he knew it wasn't a good thing. Also, his cousins always spilled the tea whenever he was around them.

Letting him know how promiscuous Septrim used to be.

Artemis let out a defeated groan, "You're right, never mind."

"Just trust your gut," Theo poked her stomach, giggling as she swatted his hand away, "and also trust us."

"Definitely trust us." Blaise poked her face, he flicked his forehead in retaliation.

"Always."

"I mean I trust you with my life but You're a psycho," Theo admitted with a shrug.

Blaise made a noise of agreement, but concealed his expression when he noticed his cousin's outrage, "I'm not."

"The fact that you put sugar in your tea is proof."

She shot him a look, "That's normal."

"That's demented Temi."

"So is putting milk before cereal." The cousins fake gagged at the thought.

Theo always put his milk in, before his cereal, when Artemis found this out, she accused him of being the devil, to which they had a long argument about it.

He continued to do it and she had to accept it, but Blaise didn't.

He never sat near the boy when he ate cereal, the only times he did was when he was too tired to move, so he made heaving noises whenever he witnessed the heinous crime.

Theo gasped dramatically, "That's not demented that the norm."

"Amongst psychopaths." Blaise pointed out.

"I hate you both." He flipped the cousins off.

"Sure." Artemis smiled

Blaise blew a kiss to the boy, as he caught it and placed it on his heart, "Love you too T." They all laughed.

After a long and comfortable silence Artemis spoke up again, "Do you think next year will be better?"

Theo shrugged, "A boy can only hope."

"I know we're going to get hotter next year." Blaise grinned at the two. They both nodded.

"On merlin, we will." Artemis shot them both winks.

Theo started up a long conversation as to why he thought cereal could be also considered a soup, the discussion turned into an argument, it only grew with the messing members of the group entering the room and joining in.

It was a long night.

***

a/n:

Short Lil chapter

One more chapter before the end of this act