Thursday. December 16th

When Artemis woke up, she was covered in a thick layer of sweat.

She fought sleep the previous night knowing that her annual nightmares would be on the prowl when she closed her eyes.

Daphne saw her dishevelled state and cursed herself for not burning sage in their shared room sooner.

The Seramore witch told her to keep calm, but that wasn't all.

She actual revealed to her best friend something that plagued her slumber.

Her father was laid out in the snow, doused in blood, his own blood, no insects surrounded him this time.

But she saw a pale face covered in a long black robe, looming over her father.

Its features were unclear, but the voice which spoke was almost familiar.

Artemis didn't know what to think, but the morbid dream made her suspect Voldemort.

She remembered the description of the dark Lord in the forbidden forest when Draco returned from his detention in the first year.

But since she didn't want to converse with him, she knew that there was someone else she could talk to.

Harry Potter.

***

LIBRARY:

Artemis was sitting across from the chosen one in the large room, having one of their annual tutoring sessions.

Dumbledore has suggested that she continued to help his prized possession because he had noticed him excelling during his lessons.

She was agitated by this, however, Snape ensured that she would only have to deal with Harry until February, of course, that change her mood, but she complied regardless.

So today she decided to make the most of her sessions but flipping the script and questioning the boy since that was all he decided to do with her.

He was taken back by her request, especially since he knew she was an advocate and that they only talked about their work and nothing else.

"It's only right I ask you questions when you did the same to me." she shrugged, their textbooks were laid out on their table.

She had already given him a small quiz she put together for him, discovering that he didn't retain information from just reading.

"That's true I guess," he nodded slowly, he glanced down at the parchment with 30 questions in front of him, he had completed half of them, "what did you want to ask me?" he squirmed uncomfortably, knowing whatever was on her mind, had to be torturous enough for her to ask him anything.

She clasped her hands and pondered her question, "In the first year, you and your little friends got detention right for being out of bed right?"

"And Malfoy," he added, wanting to see her reaction to the wizard. He wasn't overly invested in gossip, but he was present when Draco kissed Pansy, as were most of their year.

He was appalled and never wanted his memory to be erased more in his life.

He was surprised that Artemis didn't kill them both but he was curious to know if the Malfoy wizard spoke to her recently, especially since Blaise stopped him from running after her last time.

She suppressed the urge to roll her eyes, "Yes and Draco, but what did you see when you were alone?" she tried not to sound intrigued, but because he started to smile, she already knew he had her.

"Why do you wanna know?"

"Curiosity." she shrugged, sitting back in her chair, she barely glanced around the room, noting that the library was not as packed as it would've been, since the school term was coming to an end.

Artemis was not staying for Christmas, since her mother and aunt were away, she and Blaise were spending their holidays at their godparent's manor.

They knew it would be incredibly uncomfortable being around Draco, especially since their attitude towards one another would change drastically.

Times like these, she wished that her mother wasn't abroad, but she guessed that was too much to ask.

"Curiosity kills the cat," he responded smugly, recalling her words from their first year

She quirked up an eyebrow and tilted her head, "Good thing that Snakes eat cats." she mused and he smiled.

He then remembered that Ron was not speaking to Hermoine because her cat; Crookshanks had supposedly eaten his rat; Scabbers.

Harry had desperately tried to get his best friends to make up, but they had not yet, causing him nothing but distress.

"Do you want me to start from the beginning?" he asked with wide eyes, completely forgetting he had been staring at her the entire time.

"Obviously." she drawled and moved closer, ignoring his gaze.

He swallowed harshly, attempting to recollect his thoughts, "well it was an evil being, I was scared for my life, I wanted to move but I felt kike I couldn't." she nodded as he carried on, "he wore a black cloak, his face was as white as snow, he seemed fragile but also hungry and then..." he trailed off, staring into space.

"Then what?"

He snapped his eyes to hers, "It senses me, my presence, it was looming over a dead unicorn, feeding off it like it was its only resource."

"It was," she mumbled, knowing that many people used unicorn blood when they are an inch away from death.

It was mainly the last resource and Voldemort had to have been desperate, only emphasising his malignancy due to killing such a pure creature.

He blinked slowly, "Yes it was until it looked up and saw me." his voice was above a whisper.

"What did you do?" she cocked her head to the side.

"I was in shock, I tripped over," he replied feeling embarrassed.

A smile tugged at her lips, "Of course you did." she sighed, shaking her head as she sat back in her chair.

"Dont laugh." he huffed out a laugh himself as he watched her hold back her own.

"You falling sounds about right."

"Mean."

"How you've survived this long amazes me." she didn't know how he wasn't dead.

He tried to not frown at her statement, "My friends I guess,"

"If I was an idiot I would be your friend," she said absentmindedly, he bowed his head and looked away, making her sigh, "it's true your moral high ground would give me a rash." she cleared her throat, bringing his attention back to her, "so Lord V just wore a black robe and unrecognisable features?" she thought back to her vague dreams.

She was almost certain now that her father's murderer was him, it had to be, but why would her grandfather say it wasn't?

She knew that Septrim properly ruled the Dark Lord out for reasons unknown to her but most of the evidence pointed in his direction.

"Yes, why?" Harry's voice snapped her out of her thoughts, he tried to not let her previous insults get to him.

She ignored his question, "I have one more question for you before we go back to our studying." she nodded to his incomplete quiz.

"Okay," he responded hesitantly.

"You're a Parselmouth right?"

"A what?" his voice scrunched up his nose, confused about what she had just asked him.

She sighed tiredly, how can he not know that term? "A person who can speak parseltongue." she specified.

The Realisation suddenly hit him, he awkwardly scratched the back of his head, "Well I don't think I can speak it-"

She narrowed her eyes at him, "You can, we all saw you in defence against the dark arts last year."

Most of their class were scared when they witness the scene, she was just curious that he could easily control the snake that appeared, especially since she knew he wasn't the heir of Slytherin.

Everyone knew that.

He sat up and shook his head, "But it wasn't like I was speaking it because I understood the language, it's like I wasn't really there and someone else was speaking for me." he shivered at his own words.

It was as if someone tugged on his vocal cords and made him talk in a foreign language. Like he was a puppet and someone manipulative was pulling the strings.

"Like an out of body experience," she concluded, she noticed an unfamiliar glint in his eyes as he spoke, almost like he didn't know what to feel.

Or he knew exactly what he felt but didn't want to divulge too much.

"Yes, it was weird and uncomfortable," he said unsurely.

Her eyes darted over his features, "But did you like it?" she pressed on.

His eyes bored into hers, did I like it? Could I tell her? He wasn't sure what to think.

He honestly tried to not think about the moment of weakness since it happened, he remembered when Hermione and Ron told him what he had done, it made him question if he was truly good or if he was placed into the right house, to begin with.

He basically had a mental breakdown at the age of 12.

"... I umm I think I did," he said slowly.

She was taken back by his answer, happy, but taken back, "Good to know," She nodded and slumped backwards.

"Don't tell anyone please." he panicked that this information would somehow spread around the school.

She raised her hands in faux defence, "I won't."

He swallowed nervously, "Thank you, but can I ask you one thing."

She contemplated for a second, and although she didn't want to experience the third degree from him again, she believed that it was fair that he got to ask something of her, "Okay."

"Are you a Parselmouth?"

She almost laughed at the idea, "No."

"But I'm guessing you know more than you're letting on." he folded his arms and huffed.

"Of course." she chuckled, why do people think I will tell them anything?  she had been meaning to look over the notes she had replicated in Mente Strae but didn't have time to.

His mouth parted in shock, "You aren't gonna tell me?"

"Merlin no."

"Great."

He went to ask something else, but he watched as Nevile nervously stumbled over to his table holding his school bag and gripping onto it as he passed other students.

She turned in her seat when she felt someone else's presence, she caught the Gryffindor boy's body shaking with anxiety as he stared at her with wide eyes.

He awkwardly cleared his throat, "Hi Harry, Hi A-Artemis."

"Nevile." she nodded at him before she glanced down at her work. She cursed herself for not getting more work done.

She wished she had researched any spells that could help with panic attacks since she had been having more recently.

Harry shot him a smile, "Hi, Neville."

Nevile sucked in a deep breath, "Is okay if I study with you guys?" he shakily gripped onto his bookbag tighter.

"Sure." she shrugged, not sparing him a glance.

"Really?" a smile broke out on his face, he had always liked the Seramore girl, regardless of her house and friendship group, who often teased him.

He remembered how she was nice to him during their first interaction on the train back in the first year when he had lost his frog; Trevor.

"It's a free table Neville," she replied, he quickly sat on the same side as the chosen one, in fear that they would change their minds.

He missed the frown that appeared on Harry's face, because of his excitement.

"I have homework from professor snape, he wants me to find out more about Animagi," he told the pair in disdain, "he said that I didn't understand the concept, but I really do."

"I forgot you're scared of him." she clocked the nervous twitch he sometimes did, especially when he spoke about her favourite professor, she almost remembered that he was also Nevile's Boggart, which is quite sad.

He stared at her in pure shock as he took out his quill and parchment, "How could I not be he's awful and terrifying." He quickly turned around scared the teacher in question was near, luckily for him, Snape was nowhere in sight.

Harry merely rolled his eyes, "He hates us because we're In Gryffindor," he told the nerve wrecked boy as he hand back his quiz that he quickly finished.

Artemis' eyes scanned over his writing, sloppy, she thought, before she started marking his work.

She shrugged "Understandable." she grimaced at some of his answers.

"But it's not fair," he whined and Nevile weakly nodded along.

She scoffed, not looking up from the parchment, "Neither is our headmaster giving your house points for breathing but you guys are quiet when he puts your house on a pedestal because you reek the benefits." she said bluntly.

Both boys shared a look, before the realisation sunk into them.

"She's not wrong Harry," Nevile muttered softly.

The 'chosen one' inhaled sharply,, "Fine that's a little unfair?" he stared at the girl as she slowly looked up at him, having finished her marking.

"a little?" Artemis rolled her eyes as she continued to speak, "All I'm saying is from where I'm sitting it's fair, we've all got professors handing out points to students because they come from the same house as them, just like in the real-life, so people will hand out things to you because of your name, your title or your job, it's reality, we will seek benefits from different people," she informed them and passed Harry back his work.

A small tugged on his lips as he realised that he had improved since the last test she had given him.

60%.

He had gotten 60%, over half, which was a success in his book, Nevile patted his shoulder and gave him crooked smile.

"I guess." the boys replied in unison.

She rolled her shoulders back as she started to pack her things away, "I best be off, I have more research to do and I need Daphne to help me." she shuffled back, rose from her chair, and then turned to Neville, "Also Neville ask Professor Lupin to help you with your paper about Animag."

"Why?" her statement made him wear a baffled expression, as did Harry.

She gave him a forced smile, "He's a nicer a teacher in your eyes right?" he nodded, "Plus I feel like he'll have a better insight." she shrugged innocently and tucked her chair into the table.

"Okay thank you, Artemis." Nevile appreciated any help he could receive, he was honestly surprised he offered it to him, but he wouldn't question it.

"Your welcome and Harold, make sure you study more." she knew that he had come far since she had started tutoring him, but he still was struggling.

"I'll try." Harry chuckled.

"Yeah yeah," She waved him off, grabbed her book bag and walked down the aisle of the library and out of the room.

When he was sure she was gone, Nevile spoke up, "She's so pretty and smart." his eyes stayed on the chair, where she previously sat.

Harry felt butterflies swarm his stomach, "She really is."

***

Saturday, December 18th

HOGSMEADE:

It was a couple of days before the school term finished, so the third years were allowed to visit Hogsmeade.

The winter weather resulted in the thickest layers of wool being tightly wrapped around people's bodies.

The only skin that was shown was their faces, some had rosy cheeks, and the others were attracting snow.

The coldest season contained a mixture of emotions, but most of the children were running wild throughout the town, causing trouble or making snow angels.

Since his last conversation with Artemis, Draco had decided to stay with his goons, luckily for him, Pansy and Millicent stayed on the school grounds.

He felt like his old friendship group needed space from him, especially since he knew how disloyal he had been behaving.

He was also scared of how his father and mother were going to react to him and his behaviour throughout the first term.

He was scared of his father especially, however he knew his mother would just be disappointed.

Draco watched his god siblings from afar as they made snowmen alongside Daphne and Theo.

He had been meaning to talk to them, however, he couldn't put into words what he wanted to say.

"I'm not looking forward to Christmas this year," Blaise spoke to his friends as he rolled his ball of snow, gloves covering all their hands as they made their creations.

His cousin nodded in agreement, "Same."

Both of the witches were wrapped in duffle coats, high boots and denim jeans.

The boys wanted to feel more comfortable therefore adorning, sweatsuits and huge hooded coats.

"Well, I'm going to be staying at Daph's," Theo said a nodded towards the blonde, she was making a snowman with her best friend.

"You still don't want to see your parents?"

"Nope." he shook his head, grimacing at the thought of being around the people who made him.

Theo struggled with the idea of not being accepted by the two people who are supposed to love him the most in this cruel world.

He still occasionally wrote to them, letting them know he was still alive and healthy, of course, were ecstatic to hear from their only child but they were curious as to why he was distancing himself from them.

"Understandable," Artemis muttered and the rest of them nodded, offering the Nott boy a worried look, to which he ignored.

"Has Draco spoken to you since the Mente Strae?" Daphne wondered, recalling how her best friend arrived back in their dormitory with a strained voice and heartbroken expression.

Artemis narrowed her eyes at the two boys, "No, but thank you too for putting me through it." they recoiled in their stance and avoided eye contact with her.

"Sorry," they said in unison.

She huffed and pouted, "I'll forgive you if I get good presents."

The boys grinned before responding, "Of course."

The group ended up basking in the snow, sitting on a nearby bench, analysing the snowmen they created.

Artemis didn't mind the snow, despite it being her father's final resting place. She tried to not let her fears get to her or ruin one of her favourite holidays, especially since Christmas reminded her of the best moments with her father.

As the group joked and laughed around, they suddenly all turned to see Draco run passed them, with his goons in tow as they screamed.

Artemis' lips parted in confusion, "What the..."

Theo and Blaise cackled as they watched the scene.

"Are you going to be okay being around him this Christmas?" Daphne questioned her best friend, worried about how her holiday would entail.

"I guess." she shrugged before she scrunched up her face, "did I tell you he kissed me?" his words shocked the group, they all turned to her in shock and anger.

"What?"

She nodded, "Yep, he did and I slapped him." Theo and Daphne chuckled, however, Blaise remained quiet.

"Wish I could've seen it," Theo spoke through his laugh.

"He thought that it would get me to forgive him but I said no."

Daphne rolled her eyes at the thought, "How did he take that?" she quickly glanced at her boyfriend, who still hadn't said anything. She interlinked their fingers, as she did that, she felt him shaking, worrying even her more.

"Well, all I know is that we started to cry." Artemis informed the group with a sullen look, "I told him before I forgive him, that you had to forgive him first," she gestured to her friends.

Theo scoffed, "I don't care." he gritted out, heads snapped towards him.

"T, we know you do," Blaise said after a while, he was still fuming over the news that Draco had kissed his cousin without her consent.

"He's a prick and he doesn't seem to care, even when we talked during your birthday, he seemed that he was only doing it as an obligation," he muttered, seeming more hurt than annoyed.

Daphne pursed her lips, "Well he hasn't even talked to me," I miss him, she thought, "and I don't know how to feel about that, but to be fair I have been kicking him in every lesson." Theo let out a breathy laugh, finding the blonde's antics hilarious.

Artemis chuckled as well, however, Blaise held his back.

He squeezed his girlfriend's hand, "Sweatheart-"

She held her available hand up in defence, "I know, I know, but Theo's right, he deserves it." she shrugged and high fived the boy.

"He does." they all agreed.

"Well, Merry Christmas guys and happy new year." Theo gestured for them to all get up, they did and all shared a loving embrace.

"Merry Christmas."

***

a/n:

END OF PART 2

neville and Artemis haven't spoken since act 1, just felt like they should.

yes harry has a crush on our girl but it won't go anywhere, I think. also, I like writing their interactions especially since they get a lot of information off one another, Artemis more than Harry.

i feel like Draco only thinks clearly or rationally when he's around his closest friends, but he hasn't figured that out yet.

3 more chapters left to write for this act, sorry it's so long.