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Circa October 1993

THE ARMOURY:

Chaotic.

A word to describe the nightmare that has been Artemis Seramore's third year at Hogwarts.

It had barely been a month since the school year began and she felt as if she was going to lose it.

She honestly thought she had kept her composure and class splendidly over the last two years.

She hadn't had detention or been scolded by any of her professors, something that many of her competitors had found aggravating and frustrating. But she didn't care about their feelings, she could barely take of her own at the moment.

She had successfully avoided almost most of the male population, apart from Theo and her cousin.

And due to their dismay, she had also continued her tutoring sessions with the 'chosen one'.

She liked to say that he was a distraction. An annoying and persisting one, but it kept her mind off the bane of her existence.

Draco Lucius Malfoy.

He had on many occasions attempted to talk to her. But she couldn't bear to look at him let alone be in the same proximity to the boy.

It was very hard to do since the two had Quidditch training together, however, the whole team had noticed the tension between the two, Marcus had made sure she didn't have to work alongside I'm unless they had a game.

Cassius Warrington was delighted by the news as was Graham Montague.

Daphne had helped her a lot, encouraging her to focus on her studies and other ways to pamper herself during the school term.

Artemis had returned the favour, because she knew that her best friend was struggling with parental issues, fearing that her mother and father would get a divorce.

The Seramore witch had constantly comforted the girl, even though she had never experienced that type of pain, she knew she had to do something to help. She understood that Daphne didn't want to turn to her younger sister because she didn't want to worry Astoria.

The sisters rarely got along, but they did care alot for one another.

Draco knew he had messed up because his best friends had barely spoken a word to him since the incident in the library. He had wanted to apologise for his indiscretions, however, he had struggled to get the words, 'I'm sorry' to roll off his tongue.

Cowardice... He knew this, yet he carried on like he wasn't phased.

He had ignored Pansy, but she still acted as if they were together, dating, even though he had never confirmed they were for a second.

He had yearned for his Arty, but she was too hurt to care.

This is why she was in the Armory with the Dons of Hogwarts, discussing their plans for the year.

Well, a plan that Artemis had come up with.

"Weed?" Alana questioned with wide eyes.

The three witches were huddled up in the corner of the secluded room.

The sun was slowly falling from the sky, creating an orange hue to peep through the windows, touching and heating the metal statues that filled up the room.

The witches had just eaten their dinner and decided that it would be a good day to have their meeting since they were almost over halfway through the term.

They each wore their house colours.

Alana had her yellow scarf loosely wrapped around her neck, wearing it each day, so her hands hand something to fiddle with whenever she got into uncomfortable situations.

Aurora had a blue headband neatly placed in her hair, she loved representing her house, but only in subtle ways.

She didn't need her outfit to clash.

Whereas Artemis had A black bomber jacket covering her uniform instead of a robe, it had the Slytherin sigil embroidered on the front.

She had it specially made by La Menté.

Her mother wanted her to wear it, as well as Daphne, they wondered if it would be popular amongst other students.

It was, so both Celeste and Ophelia had agreed to make jackets for the school next year, going against Dumbledore's wishes.

"Yes," Artemis responded with a blank expression,

"You want us to help you sell drugs?"

"Not me, specifically."

"Your cousin?" Aurora questioned, using wandless magic to light up her cigarette.

"He's fit by the way." The Hufflepuff witch commented, snickering at Artemis who rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Is he single?"

The youngest witch shook her head, "No he's dating Daphne but they don't think I know."
She hadn't figured out that the two had been dating during the summer but didn't comment on it. Knowing them, they would tell her in their own time.

She was glad the two had decided to stop the constant back and forth and finally get together. She was also aware that the rest of her group knew but chose to keep it a secret.
It had irritated her, but she had other things to worry about.

"Why don't you confront them?" The Ravenclaw witch questioned, as smoke exited from her lips.

"I don't care what they do as long as they are safe and happy."

"Fair enough."

Alana pinched the 13-year-olds cheek, "Awww, little Artemis has gone soft. "

"Shut up." she swatted the girl's hands away, however a small smile tugged at her lips.

"Bitch."

"I know," she shrugged as she looked at the two girls expectantly, "so will the two of you help or not?"

Aurora clicked her tongue, "It's not like we can say no since you technically get to ask us a favour each term and I guess this is yours?" she wiped the access ash against one of the walls, the small fragments fell to the ground.

"Yes."

Artemis knew that they all had a favour to ask from each other, once a term and she decided for it to be this.

Her cousin and Theo had promised to repay her with food and other gifts, for helping them.

The two 4th years shared a knowing look before Aurora spoke up first, "Well if you're gonna help you need assistance from the twins."

Artemis scrunched up her face in confusion, "The Weasleys are already helping."

"Not those twins."

"There's more in this school?"

Alana snorted as she nodded, "Yes, we'll technically they're not twins, half brothers actually but they were born on the same day."

The Seramore witch cocked her head to the side, "So their father..."

"Is a whore? Yes." Aurora confirmed with a smirk, Artemis raised her eyebrows in amusement.

"A fit one." The Hufflepuff Witch quipped with a grin.

"Wizards can't seem to keep it in their pants apparently."

"What are the brothers' names?" Artemis asked, wanting to stay on topic.

Many things raced through her mind, and although she preferred to stay busy, time was catching up with her.

She hadn't slept much in the last couple of days, nor had Daphne, so the blonde witch had placed lavender on their pillows hoping that they would sleep better.

"Zacharias and Iziah Jones."

Jones? Must be half-bloods, Artemis thought.

She had heard the name a few times, but never in a negative light.

"AKA Zach and Zay Jones," Alana was friends with the 'twins', they were very close, "they're quite low-key but they smoke a lot, and will be happy to help." she said with a smile, "They're 4th-year Hufflepuff's."

"Zach is Caucasian and Zay is mixed." Aurora informed, the Slytherin girl, hoping to create an image of the two boys, "Both cute but very annoying."

She rarely spent time with them, not like her studies allowed her two, however whenever she did, she thought they were nice but sometimes overbearing.

"Zach is 12 minutes older than his brother, they argue about it a lot but they are very close."

Artemis nodded slowly, "So when can I meet them?"

"Whenever you're free." The Ravenclaw witch, stomped out her cigarette, feeling as if some of the stress that weighed on her shoulders had been slightly relieved.

Both of the older witches were aware of the busy schedule that Artemis kept up and frankly they had no idea how a 13-year-old managed to balance so many things.

They were impressed but worried.

"Good, "Artemis paused, "And have there been no sightings of Sirius yet?" all three of them tensed at the mention of the escapee.

Aurora shook her head and sat down on the window ledge, "None." she started to play with her scarf, needing to occupy her hands.

Aurora shifted uncomfortably, "Nada." she hoped that he would never appear on campus, in fear something bad would happen.

"Great." Artemis shot them both smiles and moved to leave the room.

"Oh and Don Slytherin?" The Hufflepuff witch called out to her with a sly grin.

The 13-year-old, turned around tiredly, "Yes?"

"It's nice to see that your tits have come in." the 14-year-olds laughed when Artemis was flipped off.

"Bitch, shut up."

"Love you too."

When Artemis made her way outside of the room, she quickly walked down the stairs. She thought of the different plans she had to make.

Meetings to organise.

Future spells she wanted to make.

So much ran through her mind, that she didn't have time to react, when a body collided with hers. The person steadied her, noticing she was about to fall.

She stared up at the familiar eyes she made contact with before.

"Oh if it isn't the princess of Slytherin." the wizard spoke smugly, removing his hands from her waist.

"Didn't this happen last year?" she questioned, tilting her head to the side.

She had remembered the brief interaction.  The way her brown eyes had connected with his green ones. He had a kind aura to him, warm and welcoming.

The wizard ran his hand through his light brown locks, "And hopefully it will happen again next year," he grinned, she suppressed the urge to roll her eyes, "Cedric Diggory, 5th year." he raised his hand for her to shake.

She mirrored the gesture, "Artemis Seramore." they retracted their hands, although it seemed like he didn't want to "But you already knew that," he winked at her, she wanted to smile but she didn't want to give him the satisfaction.

"Of course, and your ancestors built a tunnel in our common room so we can sneak out whenever we want to," he informed her, he was in awe when he first entered his common room.

It was a rule to not mention the secret passageway to anyone who wasn't in their house, however for some reason he felt as if he could trust her not to tell anyone.

She squinted her eyes, "I wasn't aware that he liked Hufflepuffs."

She thought it was generous for their ancestor to do that, his children must have had friends in that house, she assumed.

He stepped closer, she didn't back away, "Well I know you have a liking for them," he bowed dramatically, making her smile, finally, "always a pleasure Princess." he called out as she turned away,

She playfully rolled her eyes, "Yeah yeah, bye Diggory."

***

Circa October:

DARTEMIS DORM:

"So I wanted to tell you something," Daphne announced to her best friend, sitting down on the floor opposite Artemis, who had her textbooks laid out in front of her.

The Seramore witch had also been replying to the letters her mother and aunt had been sending her, but the new quills kept irritating her.

The soft serpent rug, that was spread across the room, from bed to bed, was sat beneath them.

"What?" the brown-skinned girl was taken back by how close Daphne was sitting to her, "you're sitting so close?" she asked scrunching up her face in confusion.

The blonde began fiddling with her fingers, "Because I'm going to tell you something important."

She and Blaise had agreed it was a good time for them to tell the girl about their relationship. They had agreed to tell her in the week, however, Daphne couldn't wait any longer.

"Back up Daph." Artemis was beginning to feel claustrophobic, so had her suspicions of what her best friend was going to tell her, but she didn't want to be the one to mention it first.

She felt hurt that everyone kept it a secret from her, she thought people could easily turn to her, but she released that she was wrong.

"Shut up." Daphne scoffed and then laid on her stomach, using her elbows to support her, "What I'm about to tell you might shock you."

"Doubt it."

"Why?

"Nothing anyone does surprises me, people are kissing people they swear they hate, teachers are secretly working for Lord V and other random shit." Artemis listed, accidentally slipping in the library incident.

She still hadn't gotten over it, how could she? She held back an eye roll when she noticed the pitiful expression on Daphne's face.

She had noticed that she had been receiving that same look on many people's faces recently and she was not a fan of it.

"Oh yeah, do you wanna talk about the snow bunny?" the blonde witch shuffled closer, ignoring how Artemis leaned back. Daphne was still very angry at the Mafloy wizard.

The two were close, he always seemed to be very protective over her, in a brotherly way, similar to how she treated him.

Though it seemed like he didn't care about her, so she had pushed her feelings aside and ignored him as well.

The Seramore witch sighed and shook her head, "No I wanna talk ab-" she was cut off by Daphne.

"I've been secretly dating Blaise since May and I know I should've told you or he should've told you but we both didn't know how to and I'm sorry about that." the blonde sucked in a deep breath and continued speaking, avoiding her best friends gaze, "You've been going through a lot and I'd don't know when the right time was to do tell you about it and," she kept playing with her fingers, "I thought you would hate us, mainly me so I kept it a secret. I-"

"Daph I know," Artemis exclaimed, putting down her quil and shutting the textbook she was reading, however, her best friend didn't register her words.

"I really like him, like so much, he knows me so well, he helps me with family things just like you do, he's so sweet and he gives me all his attention, he even gets me a pastry in the morning, he's very protective but not possessive and-" a look of realisation spreads across the younger witch's face, she was stunned, she slowly locked eyes with Artemis, "wait what did you just say?"

"I know you and Blaise are dating."

"How?"

Artemis shrugged and leaned back on the trunk that was in front of her bed, "I'm not an idiot.

"Are you mad? I'll break up with him if you don't like it even though I'll be heartbroken and so will he-"

"I'm happy for you both," she announced stopping the blonde from going off on another digression.

Daphne's face lit up, "Really?" she was met with an offended expression.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Because it might be weird." the younger witch shrugged nervously, more guilt gradually started to seep through her body. She could detect the sadness in her best friend's voice.

"It's not but why couldn't you just tell me?" Artemis asked narrowing her eyes on the girl, "I would've been happy for you, I still am."

"I'm sorry."

"You've just told me Daph." now the Seramore witch stared at the serpent covered rug, her eyes stared and started trailing over the scales, feeling uncomfortable by the situation.

Daphne immediately forced back her tears, she reached out and grabbed her best friend's hand, interlinking their fingers, feeling trembles emitting from the girl, "I'm sorry I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

"Just next time tell me okay?" Artemis inquired softly. She knew she wasn't the warmest person unless she needed to be, but she did want her closest friends to think they couldn't turn to her.

"I will but you have to tell me what's going on in your head." Daphne smiled weakly, "And if you say it's nothing I'll stop putting lavender on your pillow."

The Seramore witch gasped, "What, no." the plant's strong and charismatic scent, soften the transition between consciousness and unconscious, creating a sweet yet effective way for her to drift to sleep without trouble.

Every time the witches woke up, they had felt much more refreshed, the bags that once took up residence on their faces had slowly upt and left.

"Tell me."

Artemis harshly gulped when she thought back to the incident in the library, she had usually tried to compartmentalise, however, her self preservation hasn't been near as an affected as she hoped, "When I saw Draco kiss, Pansy, I felt sick like I wanted to slide down the wall and cry."

"Oh honey." the Greengrass witch squeezed her hand, feeling as if she were about to cry.

She knew if she saw Blaise kiss another girl, even if they weren't in a relationship, she would feel the same way.

Artemis slumped her shoulders her head hung low, "During the summer he kept telling me that he wanted to kiss me and I said the same. He wanted to wait for the right time and I agreed because I wanted to respect his wishes."

There were many occasions that they could've kissed during her stay at Malfoy manor, whether he stopped it from happening or they were interrupted.

She didn't want to rush him or ever make him feel uncomfortable.

But she couldn't erase the image of him kissing another girl, that he openly loathed and the fact he could do it so carelessly and out of spite, only pulled out her heartstrings more.

Daphne placed her hand on her back, rubbing it in a soothing motion, needing to provide comfort for her best friend, "Do you want me to kill him for you?"

They both giggled, whilst wiping the tears that fell from their eyes, Artemis reluctantly shook her head, "No it's okay, it's just I'm pissed that he had his first kiss with someone I hate." she muttered sadly.

"You could always kiss Harry, you are tutoring him right?"

"Yes and I'm not gonna kiss him." she shook her head, laughing at her best friend's ridiculous plan, "Plus it would only prove Draco right." and she didn't want to do that.

She was also aware that the other two members of the golden trio, were not a fan of her and Harry's meetings, not that she cared, but she adored the glares she received from Hermoine and Ron, it only increased Artemis' want to continue their tutoring sessions.

She also noticed that the chosen one ignored his friend's disproval, which ultimately worked in her favour.

"True."

Artemis tossed her head back as more troubling memories invaded her psyche, "And when he blamed me for something that was his fault just hurt me."

She already made it her mission to make sure her loved ones were always safe, provided that she had the right tools to do so.

But it hurt her more than Draco used her as a scapegoat so he didn't have to accept the blame for his actions.

"I know missy, you started to cry," Daphne mumbled.

"That was for a different reason." the blonde waited for her to carry on, "when I dream about my father, he says it's my fault that he's dead, so when Draco said that it was my fault..." she trailed off, blinking back the tears that pooled in her eyes again.

Daphne started to cry again, "I hate all men." she snapped, wanting to charge at the Malfoy wizard right now.

"Daph it's fine." she waved her best friend off, she just needed the conversation to change, hating that she was opening up about something as traumatic as this.

She trusted the Greengrass witch, however being vulnerable still frightened her.

"No it's not and I hate all men, I know Draco doesn't know about your dreams but he's still wrong for blaming you." the blonde threw her hands up in aggravation, "Ugh I hate them."

"Do you hate Blaise," Artemis needed to deflect, so she did.

Daphne shook her head slowly, scrunching up her face as she turned to face the older witch, "I honestly think I'm in love with Blaise."

"Really?" the Seramore witch wore an alarmed expression, she didn't expect those words to fall from her best friend's lips.

"Well, it's really intense like." Daphne cringed at her choice of words, she didn't know how to feel whenever she was around her boyfriend, she was so infatuated with him, but she didn't know if it was hormones from puberty or they were her real feelings, "And he's just very loving and caring he always hugs and kisses-"

Artemis fake gagged, "Stop, I don't need to know everything." she didn't want to think of their relationship in that way.

At all.

The blonde witch's eyes widened briefly, regretting her previous choice of words, "Sorry, but even a couple of times during the summer, I would fall asleep with my makeup on and I'm certain he took it off because when I woke up it was gone." as she reminisced with an awe-filled smile, a rosy tint kissed her cheeks and her eyes glossed over.

"That's disgustingly cute."

"I know right," Daphne sighed wiping the rest of her tears away, she did the same to her best friend, knowing that she loathed showing any type of emotion that she deemed sad, "oh my Merlin, is that love?" she truly didn't know.

"I wouldn't know because I'm basically a robot." Artemis joked, but they both knew she was being serious.

"You are."

"Prat."

"I love you too, but seriously are you okay?" Daphne questioned again, she had been feeling like a bad friend and needed to make up for it.

Artemis sniffed and shook her head, "No." why did I admit this? she thought to herself, am I turning soft?

"Well you always have me and we can help each other." Daphne slung her arm, over her best friend's shoulder.

"I know Daph," the two shared an adoring smile.

"Theo told me that he's been waking up Draco by pouring buckets of water in his face," Daphne spoke through her laughs.

She knew the boys were not a fan of the Malfoy wizard and it was worse they had to keep sharing a room.

"Apparently B got his hands on a baby mandrake and used it to wake up Draco."Artemis chuckled, wondering how her cousin managed to steal the lethal plant without getting caught, "Knocked him out for a couple of hours."

"Are we really in a mini-war?"

"I guess we low-key are, but we still haven't. Played monopoly yet" Artemis was almost apprehensive to even open the game her grandmother gifted them, "war of 3rd year." she muttered sadly, she rested her head on the blonde's shoulder,

"War of 3rd year."

***

a/n:

also, this act will be 15 chapters not 20 because I realised most of the chapters had zero substance.

so the dons have agreed to help with little 'business'.

yes the boy artemis ran into the year before was Cedric. I want her to interact with a bunch of people and not just her group.

artemis is slightly hurt that her group kept a secret from her, but she feels almost responsible for it.

You'll meet zach and zay later, but can you think of who their face claims will be?.

They will be the last batch of my oc's.