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MARAUDERS.
Chapter 29.
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It's the best morning that Mattheo has had in a long while, he doesn't have the sickening feeling that he has to pretend to be with Imelda anymore so he won't feel lonely, he isn't sick with worry that Artemis might not wake up, and he still has the memory of those kisses on his lips from the night before.
Mattheo rests with his arms behind his head in his bed, and he just grins up at the ceiling of his dorm room.
Mattheo's door bursts open and Lorenzo and Theodore come spilling onto his bed.
"Why didn't you wake us up and tell us?!" Lorenzo chuckles as he jumps up and down on Mattheo's bed, sock-clad feet only just missing landing on Mattheo's body.
"You were both asleep, and it was pretty late" Mattheo laughs back to his friends.
The news that Artemis was awake spread through the castle like wildfire, and it didn't take long to get to the group of Slytherins.
"That's a lame excuse. You should have woken us up" Theodore sits on the edge of the bed. "Will you stop fucking bouncing, you're not a toddler!" Theodore shouts up at Lorenzo.
"Don't be so grouchy, Grandpa Nott, you wish that you could see the world the way that I see it" Lorenzo continues to bounce and chuckle his head off. He really is the world's oldest toddler.
"Hey, guys, Artemis is fine and knowing her she's going to be diving right back into classes" Mattheo tells them.
Mattheo isn't going to tell them everything that happened last night, he wants to keep that secret between himself and Artemis for now.
And Mattheo cannot help but grin at the memory of last night once again.
"What's with the big dorky smile, I thought that you and Artemis were argue-city at the moment?" Lorenzo questions his best friend.
"We...talked a lot of things out once she woke up, and I think that we're good, better than good" Mattheo grins to himself.
"You talked about a lot of things? Did you talk about the most important thing?" Theodore demands of Mattheo.
"Ooh, you told Theodore?" Lorenzo sings happily. Lorenzo bounces down into a sitting position.
"He was there when I found out" Mattheo tells Lorenzo. "You and Delphini are the only people that I've actually told" Mattheo promises Lorenzo.
"Of course, you only really told your best friend" Lorenzo says pointedly so that Theodore catches his meaning.
"I know you're his best friend, Berkshire, you don't need to wet yourself over it" Theodore snipes at Lorenzo. "Stop changing the subject and start speaking, Riddle" Theodore tells Mattheo.
Mattheo grumbles to himself. "No, I didn't tell her" he tells his boys through gritted teeth.
"Mate, you are such a pussy" Theodore laughs at the situation that Mattheo has put himself into.
"You really should have told her. Maybe you can convince her into thinking that you did tell her, and that she was just a little dizzy and confused from a coma?" Lorenzo's manipulative side rears it's dark head.
Each of the boys have their own little dark trait that makes them dangerous; Mattheo has the dark power inside of him and a violent streak, Theodore can tug at a girl's heart and make them submit to his charm, and Lorenzo is the double talker and gaslighter that can manipulate people with words.
"I am not doing that to Artemis, and I really hope that you aren't pulling that shit with Hera" Mattheo warns Lorenzo.
"Nah, me and my dove are solid as a rock. We may not be officially dating or anything, but we spend a lot of time with each other. She is way too smart to fall for any sort of tricks" Lorenzo tells Mattheo.
"You two have really unhealthy relationships, don't you?" Theodore asks the two other boys, both are wrapped around the little finger of a Bellator girl.
Mattheo and Lorenzo both burst into laughter.
"Mate, me and Lorenzo may be hung up on Artemis and Hera, but at least they aren't cold blooded killers. Can you imagine what Iris would do to you if you broke up with her?" Mattheo has to laugh at how funny that would be.
"Me and Iris are not a couple. We're just...having fun" Theodore grins, and both of the boys know what that means, and both of them feel a little sick thinking about it.
"Good, because that girl is a little too quick to kill" Lorenzo tells Theodore.
"What is that supposed to mean?!" Theodore shouts harshly at Lorenzo.
"Mate, did you not see how many Squibs she dropped on the day of the attack?" Lorenzo laughs back at Theodore. "I may not be scared of something like that, but I don't blame you for being scared of it" Lorenzo's manipulative words speak.
"I didn't say that I was—!" Theodore takes to his feet threateningly.
Lorenzo chuckles at how easy it was to get to Theodore.
"—both of you shut it!" Mattheo barks at both of his friends. "Theodore stop walking into every trap that Lorenzo puts out for you, and Lorenzo stop the double talk" Mattheo barks at the both of them.
Theodore sends a glare at Lorenzo, and Lorenzo sits with a smirk on his face at how easy it was to twist Theo against himself.
Mattheo slides out of bed. "Theo, can you give me and Lorenzo a minute to talk?" Mattheo asks as he pulls on a teeshirt.
Theodore tries not to feel left out, he knows that Mattheo and Lorenzo has a deeper bond with each other than with him.
"Fine!" Theodore growls. "But you two had better tell me all about your private conversation later, or I'm getting violent" Theodore hisses to the two of them, and then storms out of the room.
"Great" Mattheo mutters, now he's pissed off Theodore.
Lorenzo waits until the door is closed until he looks back to Mattheo.
"Am I going to like that you wanted to talk to me in private? Or is this another scenario where I have to keep your secrets and lie to Artemis and the girls?" Lorenzo always chooses his words carefully.
"This is me asking if I should have told Artemis everything last night, or if I should keep lying to keep everyone happy?" Mattheo plays with the hem of his teeshirt, not meeting Lorenzo's eye.
"I think...that only you can decide that. It's your secret" Lorenzo tells Mattheo.
"Mate, I think that I've left it too long to tell Artemis about everything" Mattheo says.
He had lied last night about knowing about Cinta and Amelia, and now he really can't leave Artemis, not when he's so close to being with her properly.
"And you didn't want to say this in front of Theodore because you don't trust him not to run to Artemis?" Lorenzo asks.
"That's not it" Mattheo tells Lorenzo.
"So why is it that you don't trust him?" is the way that Lorenzo manipulates the words to use against Mattheo.
"Stop it!" Mattheo tells Lorenzo. "I wanted to speak to you, because I can speak to you about anything" Mattheo trusts this boy more than anyone else in his life, and at the moment that includes his sister.
"Now I feel like a jerk" Lorenzo feels guilty. "But it's still cute" Lorenzo grins at Mattheo. "You know that if it's serious that I won't joke about it?" Lorenzo tells Mattheo.
Mattheo nods sharply. "I know" Mattheo tells the boy. "I think that I'm not going to tell her. Why ruin our friendship over something that happened to us and is not our fault?" Mattheo tells Lorenzo.
Lorenzo isn't going to have an opinion, no matter which way he would answer he would either be betraying Mattheo or Artemis.
"It's your choice, mate. As long as you can live with the consequences of whichever path that you take then I'll stand by you" Lorenzo tells Mattheo. "Just...really think it through before you do anything permanent" both paths have consequences.
Mattheo and Lorenzo get ready for their day of classes ahead of them, both of them praying that they'll have Lupin back for Defence Against the Dark Arts.
When Mattheo reaches the breakfast table he spots Artemis with her friends all sat around her.
"It's not fair. You wake up from a coma and look ready to shoot a magazine cover" Penny tells Artemis.
"Chalk it up to a week of beauty sleep" Artemis tells Penny.
"You shouldn't be getting back to classes so quickly, Artemis" Yuffie warns Artemis. "What if something else might happen?" none of them know what Artemis did to put herself in the Hospital Wing.
"I will be fine Yuffie" Artemis promises her friend.
"I've read up about magical comas..." and Hermione starts on about a magical medical text that she's been reading, and everyone switches off.
Artemis looks around to see Mattheo watching her from lower down the table. They can't make it too obvious until he breaks up with Imelda, so a little distance is required, until they can sneak off in secret.
Artemis is a lot better at hiding her feelings, whereas Mattheo is grinning like an idiot just looking at her.
His feelings are hard for him to try and contain, and just seeing her awake with her friends in enough
He is stupid to think that nothing can ruin his good mood for the day. Until he hears the awful screeching of his girlfriend.
"OH, MATTHEO IT'S AWFUL..." Imelda runs up to Mattheo and throws herself against him.
Mattheo is almost knocked over from being tackled by her, and he has no choice but to hug her back when she starts wailing against his chest.
"Imelda! What are you doing?!" Mattheo hasn't even given her the bad news yet and she's already an emotional wreck.
"My dad...he's..." Imelda begins to sob. "He failed his medical testing for some sort of heart condition, and he's being rushed to St Mungo's to have surgery" Imelda begins to cry against Mattheo's chest.
Mattheo pulls Imelda into a hug. He may not feel any sort of romantic feelings for Imelda past the short-term attraction and distraction, but he can feel sorry for her about her father. Mattheo knows what a dead parent can feel like to deal with.
"Shit. Imelda, I'm sorry" Mattheo curses.
He feels awful. Not because of her dad. And not because he cheated on Imelda last night with Artemis. It's sick, and awful, but his only thought is that he cannot break up with Imelda today after she's had bad news like that.
Mattheo looks over Imelda's shoulder to find all of his friends watching him. They all heard what Imelda screamed out to Mattheo, and as a group they feel a little badly about being so harsh to Imelda.
"Of course..." Artemis hisses.
Artemis would hope that Mattheo isn't going to break-up with Imelda today after hearing that, it would be harsh.
It would have had to be a few weeks of them sneaking around after the break-up, just to make it look like there wasn't any overlap.
"What's up?" Lorenzo asks Artemis, noticing the sudden sour mood.
Artemis shakes her head. "Nothing, Enzo" Artemis doesn't want to get into this right now, she just wants to focus on her first day back.
Lorenzo puts down his fork and then prods Artemis in the cheek. "Tell me" Lorenzo sings to her. Then he keeps prodding her. "Tell me, tell me, tell me" he chants over and over.
Artemis catches his hand before he prods her again. "Poke me again and I'll bite that finger off, Lorenzo Berkshire, I don't care if you are sort-of dating my sister" Artemis warns Lorenzo.
"Don't get pissy with me because you're in a bad mood" Lorenzo chuckles to Artemis. "Is it because of that?" Lorenzo asks, nodding his head over to Mattheo and Imelda.
"Oh, Lorenzo, sweetie, I don't think anything of Imelda Reyes" she is not a threat in any way to Artemis. "She's nothing. Now, I'm late for Ancient Runes, don't be a dick and twist my words" Artemis tells Lorenzo.
Lorenzo looks to Frey, who both note the hostility in Artemis' voice when talking about Imelda.
Artemis walks past Mattheo and Imelda without saying a word to them. Partially that she doesn't want to give away her feelings for Mattheo in front of the rest of the castle, and the other part is that she hates Imelda.
*
Professor Babble has all of the students set off translating pictures of recently discovered runes in Egypt.
"Miss Bellator, I think that you will find this particularly intriguing, some of these runes are rumoured to date back to the time of the founders and Rowena Ravenclaw herself" Babble is booming with excitement at telling Artemis.
A month ago Artemis may have jumped at the chance to find out more about Rowena Ravenclaw, since the diadem corrupted her mind she has lost the need to go digging further into such information.
"Thanks" Artemis says weakly, being back in classes studying seems a little less important to her now.
Babble leaves Artemis' table.
Tom frowns when he notices that Artemis has not filled in any of the work on her sheet. "If your plan is to fail out of this class then you are doing a remarkable job" Tom comments to Artemis.
Artemis hasn't even noticed that so much time has passed through the lesson. "Shit..." Artemis curses.
"It is fine, Little Bird, I can help" Tom tells Artemis.
"I don't need your help, Riddle, I am perfectly fine dealing with my own workload" Artemis snaps at Tom. She doesn't need Tom jumping in so he can lord it over her that he had to help her with her school work.
"One might note that you are being overly dramatic today" Tom says lazily to Artemis. He gives her a look of pure un-enthusiasm.
Artemis ignores him and begins writing down answers in her workbook.
"You know, I never thanked you for what you did" Tom mutters quietly, hoping not to disturb Professor Babble's lesson.
"Don't do that" Artemis mutters back.
"You saved the life of me and my brother. I think that I am obligated to—" Tom has been waiting to talk to Artemis.
Artemis puts her quill down.
"Did you come and see me when I was in the Hospital Wing?" Artemis asks of Tom. She can remember the voices of all of her friends and family, but not him.
Tom doesn't look at Artemis.
"You didn't come and see me did you?" Artemis asks the boy.
His jaw clenches harshly. He doesn't want to have this discussion. Talking about such attachments for other people is something that he isn't accustom to doing.
Artemis had to crouch over his broken body and try to pull his life back into his body, and he couldn't even come to visit her in the Hospital Wing.
"Unbelievable" Artemis scoffs.
Tom's hand clenches at the side of his desk.
"Here's a newsflash for you, Tommy. When your friend is in the Hospital Wing and has saved your life, you should go and see how they're doing" Artemis scolds the boy.
"I am to stand vigil by your bedside while my brother wails over your wakeless body?" Tom growls back. "I am not be held to blame when you used magic you did not understand and nearly died" Tom will not be feeling guilt for it.
"I didn't blame you" Artemis tells Tom. "I just expected that you might have come to check on me" she says in a small voice.
Artemis goes back to her work.
"I did" Tom tells her.
Artemis stops writing.
"I waited until Mattheo was done mourning you like you had already died, and I came to the Hospital Wing at night and sat with you" Tom informs Artemis. "You had people with you all day, but at night you had no one with you, and I could not imagine being alone if something had happened" Tom tells Artemis.
Tom doesn't take his eyes off of the writings that Professor Babble is putting up on the blackboard. It would betray him too much if he look at her now.
Artemis doesn't say anything else to Tom for the rest of class. She had hated that Tom didn't care enough to come and visit her, but now it fills her with fear that someone like him might actually care for her.
The two of them even walk to Defence Against the Dark Arts in silence.
Tom storms off ahead so he doesn't have to sit with Artemis. That conversation may have been a little too much for the both of them.
Artemis is about to enter the classroom when a pair of arms grip her by the waist and guide her around one of the stone pillars down the corridor, and out of sight of the rest of the students.
Artemis giggles a little when a pair of lips press against her's hungrily. The kiss is all too familiar to her, and so is the harsh grip on her waist.
Mattheo chuckles as he pulls away. "Fuck, I've been waiting to do that since I saw you this morning" Mattheo tells Artemis.
"Oh, then why did you stop?" She teases him.
Mattheo rests his forehead against her's. "Because we have class in a moment, and I'm going to need time to calm my body down before walking through the classroom" Mattheo chuckles.
"Can't have all of them girls looking at you like that, can we?" Artemis muses to him.
Mattheo nods. "I'm sorry about what happened with Imelda. I know I said that I would break things off with her today, but after what happened with her dad—".
Artemis presses a quick kiss to his lips. "I understand. I would have told you to wait a little while" Artemis offers to him. "I guess that means we're just going to have to sneak around for a little while?" She tells him.
Mattheo smirks at her. "Eager to be near me, are we?" Mattheo grins.
"My attraction may not be as obvious as yours, but it's there" she tells him. Mattheo laughs a little as they both look at the tent pitched in his pants.
"It's not fair the effect that you have on me, Bells" Mattheo says longingly. He strokes a strand of hair from her face.
"I have to have some weapon to use against you" she tells Mattheo.
Artemis leans next to him. "Just imagine what I'm going to do to you when you don't have that pesky girlfriend around anymore" she whispers gently against his ear.
Mattheo has to try not to groan at the feeling.
"That's not helping me lose this" he grins, again looking down at his crotch.
Artemis smirks. "Oh, Matty, I know" she tells him. "Now you can either be late to class or walk in with that showing" she grins at him.
"You evil—" she had planned this.
Artemis cuts him off with another kiss to the lips. "The ball is in your court, Matty, I'll see you inside" Artemis slides out from where he had her pinned against the stone pillar, and she heads into class.
"Hey" Iris mutters when Artemis takes a seat next to her. "Don't you usually walk with Riddle?" Iris asks, noticing that Tom is sat with Delphini at the front already.
"I got distracted" Artemis tells Iris.
"You must have run here, your face is all flustered" Iris notes.
"I stayed behind to help Professor Babble tidy up, and so I could discuss making up last week's assignments" Artemis lies so easily.
Professor Lupin is just about to start class when Mattheo jogs in at the last minute.
"Mattheo, you look flustered" Lupin comments. "Please, take a seat and catch your breath" Lupin waves for Mattheo to take his seat next to Lorenzo.
Mattheo had decided that doing push-ups was the best way to try and take his mind off of Artemis.
"Yes sir" Mattheo takes the seat without question.
He is going to have to find some way of punishing Artemis for that little underhanded trick she played upon him.
Professor Lupin directs the lesson back to where they should be, and not Snape's little trick with the werewolf subject, to which Lupin also apologised to Lorenzo that he had to go through that torment.
"We will be covering Hinkypunks for a week or so, and then we must start getting you ready for your exams at Christmas" Professor Lupin tells the children.
The Ministry of Magic is taking the exams a lot more seriously given the state of the war. The Duelling exam in particular is to monitor the progress of Professor Killian's teachings.
The class are semi-interested in the topic of Hinkypunks, and they pay marginal attention. Still a lot more attention than what Snape was given by the class when he took the few classes.
As the bell sounds for lunch, the class begin to get ready to depart.
"Mattheo, can I have a word with you for a moment?" Lupin asks Mattheo to stay behind.
"I'm sorry I was late to class" Mattheo thinks he's about to be given detention for his tardiness.
"Mattheo, your father used to stroll into class half way through in his final years. You being a few minutes late is not the end of the world" Lupin offers with a smile. "I merely wanted to check on how you are doing after the Quidditch match against Hufflepuff" Lupin tells Mattheo.
"I am doing fine. I haven't had much time to focus on myself really, not with Artemis being unwell" Mattheo hasn't had much time to think about the Dementors and the screaming that he hears.
"Did it happen again? With the Dementors? The screams?" Lupin asks.
Mattheo just nods.
Lupin can only begin to imagine what the sounds of all of Voldemort's victims must sound like when they ring through his head. "It is not a fate that I would wish upon anyone, and I am sorry you are one of the rare few that are effected by Dementors in this way" Lupin tells Mattheo.
"It's because I'm weak" Mattheo grumbles.
He has so much dark magic potential in his body, and he cannot even stay conscious to face the Dementors when they come near him.
"It is not about weak or strong, Mattheo. Dementors are dark and foul creatures, and they seek out the worst pain inside of a person, and with all that you have lost you have such pain in your heart" Lupin informs Mattheo.
Lupin leans against his desk. "Dumbledore is understandably furious that they entered the grounds without his permission. They are getting restless and hungry, and I fear that so many people contained in one place at the Quidditch Stadium may have seemed like a buffet to them" Lupin tells Mattheo.
"Do they feed on the prisoners in Azkaban?" Mattheo wonders. He had them draw on his life force only once on the train, and he would never like to relive such an experience.
"Yes, which helps contain them inside the fortress on the island. The presence of the Dementor traps the prisoners inside of their own misery, which leads to madness" Lupin tells Mattheo. "It is possible that a person can fight them off, but prolonged exposure to a Dementor suppresses magical power".
"Then how did Black escape?" Mattheo wonders. "Do you think he could fight them off, like you did on the train that night?" Mattheo wonders.
"There are certain defences that one can use against a Dementor. There was only one on the train that night, Mattheo, and it becomes harder when they move as a pack" Lupin offers to Mattheo. One Dementor is hard to face, but a whole strike force of them moving against a single witch or wizard is homicide in slow motion.
"Could you teach me how to repel them?" Mattheo asks. Twice he has been made weak by the Dementors, and twice his friends have had to risk their lives to try and defend him.
Lupin laughs nervously. "I do not pretend to be an expert, Mattheo. And the magic that we are talking about is way beyond anything that you have learned so far" Lupin warns Mattheo. "Most fully grown witches and wizards struggle with the spell" Lupin warns Mattheo.
It is way beyond the magic of a third-year student.
"Please, Professor?" Mattheo asks. "My friends have put themselves in harms way twice trying to shield me from these creatures, and if they come against during Quidditch then they might actually kill me next time. I need to be able to protect myself" Mattheo tells Lupin.
Lupin looks up to the ceiling. "Just as insistent as the pair of you" Lupin speaks to the ghosts of Alfie and Cinta. "I will try to teach you, Mattheo, but after the holidays. You have your exams to focus on now, and I have taken an unfortunate time to take ill" Lupin follows with the cough that he's been holding all lesson.
*
Artemis ties her hair up into a ponytail, trying to clean herself up before her first training session back with Mabel.
Mattheo laughs and tries to pull her back down onto the couch in the Undercroft. "Come on, five more minutes, Bells" Mattheo laughs, pulling at Artemis' arm.
"That's what you said 15 minutes ago, Matty. It took me 10 minutes to wriggle free of your vice-grip" Artemis laughs back to Mattheo. "If I miss this training session then Mabel is going to have my head" Artemis tells Mattheo.
"That woman pushes you too hard, Bells, you're always covered in bruises when you come back from training with her" Mattheo notes.
"Mabel pushes me hard so that I can train to be better. If I don't block an attack then I deserve the bruise" Artemis tells Mattheo.
"I still don't have to like someone leaving bruises all over you" Mattheo grumbles. "Can I at least come and watch, maybe I will understand it a little bit better if I see what you get up to?" Mattheo suggests.
Frey and Iris have seen this intensive training that Mabel is putting Artemis through, and they claim that it's pretty hard to watch.
"No" Artemis tells Mattheo.
"Why? I thought you'd want to spend as much time with me as possible? Or am I only a piece of meat to you?" Mattheo grins at Artemis.
"You're getting as manipulative as Lorenzo" Artemis tells Mattheo. "I need to concentrate at these sessions, so I'll be ignoring you for most of the night" Artemis tells Mattheo.
"Ah, so I distract you?" Mattheo takes that as a win. His presence around her makes her attention slip.
"Exactly" Artemis smiles, she gives Mattheo a quick peck on the lips. "And you're not just a piece of meat. You make me feel all tingly when you give me that smirk" Artemis tells Mattheo, tracing her fingers across his lips.
"Vixen" Mattheo shouts after Artemis.
Artemis makes her way down to the Duelling Arena as fast as possible, hopefully before late turns into very late.
"I do not know if she is ready for this" Artemis hears Mabel's voice from inside of the arena.
"Would you stop being such a fucking helicopter parent to her? You tell me that she has the potential to be great, so let me put her through her paces" another female voice speaks back to Mabel.
"There's putting her through her paces and then there is subjecting her to you" Mabel laughs coldly back at the girl.
Artemis pushes open the door and sees Mabel standing with another woman in the middle of the arena.
"Nice of you to show up, Bellator" Mabel says sharply. "Get your stuff set down, and grab your wand, your new wand" Mabel instructs Artemis.
Artemis hates when she has to only use her new wand in these sessions, since she has not been able to make it work.
"Artemis, I've come to decide that I may not be the best person to advise you on how to use a wand with a dark magic core" Mabel's light magic technique isn't working. "Artemis, I would like to introduce you to Merula Snyde, she is adept at using dark magic" Mabel clearly has no love for Merula when she speaks.
The young woman with short/cropped brown hair and a blonde patch at the front of her head. And a horrible scowl on her face.
"Mabel Morgan, you tell me that you have a girl with potential, and you bring me kindling?" Merula mocks Artemis.
Merula walks around and looks Artemis up and down.
"The granddaughter of the famed and feared Aralias Bellator? Don't make me laugh" Merula laughs coldly.
"Mabel, did you bring this bitch here just to insult me?" Artemis asks of her guardian.
Merula laughs again. "She speaks with fire, let us see if you can duel with it" Merula says.
"I can't duel with this wand" Artemis tells Merula. "I haven't been able to make it work for me at all" Artemis tells Merula.
"Merlin, Mabel, you didn't even tell her about the dark core of the wand did you?" Merula demands of Mabel.
"Not everything requires a dark magic answer, Merula" Mabel says calmly back to the woman.
Merula has always been quick to prove that she is powerful, even it that means using dark magic sometimes. She is just as powerful as Mabel, except with dark magic.
"The wand core is made from acromantula web, its a dark magic core" Merula shouts back at Mabel. "Bellator, when using a wand like this then you need to do it with intention, the intention to harm someone, that is why you haven't been able to make it work" Merula shouts at Artemis.
"I won't use dark magic" Artemis says defiantly.
Merula cackles again. "It's not about using dark magic, Bellator, it's about wanting to harm someone instead of defend" Merula instructs Artemis.
"I don't want to hurt someone like that" Artemis tells Merula. "That's a pathway to dark magic and I won't allow temptation like that into my life" Artemis has always been taught that way by her grandparents, that need to hurt someone leads to people wanting more power, and that is in dark magic.
"Never say never, Bellator. God you remind so much of Haywood that it's annoying" Merula grumbles, and the statement earns a laugh from Mabel.
"Who?" Artemis asks.
"Never mind that now, just don't go around in pigtails" Mabel comments. "I'm not going to force you to do anything Artemis, but what Merula is saying makes sense, it can only be your choice to proceed" Mabel tells Artemis.
"Oh, Mabel, you're such a square" Merula tells Mabel. "You want results here then I must force them myself it seems" Merula waves her wand at the side of the Duelling Arena, and a cage materialises into view.
"Lorenzo?!" Artemis shouts, seeing that the boy inside is that of one of her best friends.
Artemis rushes over to the cage.
"Artemis! What the fuck is going on?!" Lorenzo shouts back. Lorenzo pushes against the cage door but it doesn't budge.
Artemis pulls along with him. "I have no fucking clue, but I'm going to get you out of here!" Artemis promises Lorenzo.
The boy is scared shitless of what he's been put in a cage for by a complete stranger.
"Merula! What are you doing?! You're in a school and you kidnap a child?! Dumbledore will have your head, let alone the boy's mother" Mabel shouts at Merula.
Mabel takes out her wand to blast the cage open. "Artemis, stand aside!" Mabel shouts to the young girl.
"Expelliarmus" Merula shouts, and blasts Mabel's wand out of her hand. "Incarcerous" Merula wraps Mabel in tight ropes that bind around her body.
"Merula, stop!" Mabel shouts.
"You wanted a way to get the girl to react, so this is how we do it" Merula says calmly to Mabel. "Either defend your friend, Bellator, or he's about to become roast werewolf" Merula summons up a large fireball at the tip of her wand.
"Artemis! Do something!" Lorenzo shakes against his cage harshly.
"I don't have my wand!" Artemis shouts back. Artemis points the short wand at the cage. "Alohamora! Relashio! Come on, fucking anything!" Artemis screams out, trying to cast any sort of charm to get the cage open.
"Last chance, Bellator" Merula calls out.
"Fuck! Come on!" Artemis tries again and again.
Artemis cannot do anything with the wand. "Shit" Artemis moves so she's stood right in front of the cage. "I'm not going to let you hurt him, so you're going to have to go right through me if you want to get to Lorenzo" Artemis shouts. She holds her arms open wide so that she's covering the cage.
"Artemis, what are you doing?! Run!" Lorenzo shouts at Artemis. This crazy women is either about to kill both of them or just Lorenzo, he would rather not have to watch Artemis die as well.
Merula blasts the fireball right at the cage, and Artemis doesn't move.
Merula whips her wand and launches Artemis up into the air and out of the way of the fireball.
"LORENZO!" Artemis shouts.
The fireball collides with the cage. A cyclone of flames absorb the cage. Magical flames that would consume everything inside of the cage.
"NO!" Artemis cries out.
Nothing could have survived flames like that. This women has just murdered Lorenzo before her eyes.
The sweet joker of a boy is going to be nothing more than a charred skeleton.
Artemis let's out a scream of pure rage. Artemis whips her wand around and breaks the spell that is holding her up in the air.
Artemis has wanted to hurt people before, but nothing like this, nothing like losing one of her best friends.
Artemis lands harshly on her feet, but she doesn't falter for long.
"Depulso" Artemis shouts, and a wave of force is thrown right at Merula.
Merula easily blocks the spell with a flick of her wand.
Artemis continues to throw spells at Merula as she sprints towards her. Merula easily blocks the spells, not strong enough to cause her any real harm.
Artemis drops into a slide, and skids across the floor on the side of her body. Artemis lashes out at Merula's leg, but Merula merely steps over the attack.
"Impressive. Using powerful spells with the wand" Merula acts so glib after having just killed someone.
Artemis screams as she lashes out with her wand. It's not training or logic that is steering her actions. It's pure rage and power that is causing her to brutally hit out at Merula.
Merula puts her palm up, using non-verbal and wandless magic to freeze Artemis in place.
"Calm your tits, Bellator" Merula says tiredly to Artemis. Merula rolls her wrist and Artemis body turns back to the cage.
Artemis expects to see the charred remains of the metal cage and her friends body. But instead she sees that Lorenzo is still inside of the cage and looking back at Artemis.
Lorenzo is looking at Artemis, a little scared of how she's just lashed out at Merula. Even if she thought he was dead, he did not expect her to lash out with such rage and power.
"Enzo?" Artemis mutters.
Artemis looks down at her wand, and then shoves it away in her pocket. She has wanted to use the wand so badly, but to have to resort to such means to use it is not worth it.
Artemis walks back over to the cage. This time she doesn't mess about before she summons up the blue magic on the end of her fingers.
She touches her fingers to the joint of the door, and it falls away easily.
Lorenzo steps out straight away and pulls Artemis into a hug. "Are you alright?" Artemis asks him quickly.
"I'm fine. The flames didn't even touch me. They stayed on the edge of the cage" Lorenzo tells Artemis while hugging her back.
"Come on, let's get you back to the Common Room" Artemis cannot even begin to imagine how staring death in the face must be, not in such a manner as burning to death.
"It's fine, I'll wait for you by the door" Lorenzo knows that Artemis might have to deal with some things here before they leave.
Lorenzo waits by the door to the arena.
Mabel has been freed from her bindings when Artemis storms over to them.
"Get her out of here!" Artemis shouts at Mabel. Someone like Merula shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a school with students. "That was uncalled for, and it was cruel" Artemis shouts in Merula's face.
"You used the wand didn't you?" Merula asks in a snarky tone.
Artemis launches a punch into Merula's face, which neither female was expecting. Merula falls back down to the floor.
"If you so much as look at him, or any of my friends again, then I will not be so gentle the next time we cross wands" Artemis spits down at Merula.
"Artemis, that's enough for this evening, go and get some rest" Mabel tells the girl. Mabel puts her hand on Artemis' shoulder. "I'll talk with you tomorrow, make sure that Lorenzo gets back alright" Mabel will make sure to talk things through with Artemis in the morning.
Artemis gives Merula one last dirty look, before she leaves to help Lorenzo back to the Common Room. Lorenzo looks impressed with Artemis sticking up for him.
Mabel crosses her arms, and she looks down at Merula on the ground.
Merula is bleeding from a bust lip.
"Don't look like that, I've wanted to backhand you a few times myself" Mabel tells Merula.
Mabel holds out her hand and helps to pull Merula up to her feet.
"I have to say..." Merula cackles as she dabs at her lip. "...I can see what you see in her now. She has fire" Merula can see why Mabel has taken so much of an interest in the girl.
Mabel nods. "Helping her...training her...it's helping with the nightmares" Mabel tells Merula.
Mabel has been seeing dark images in her nightmares about Rowan. Rowan's voice calling out to Mabel, and it brings up his death every single time.
"That was a long time ago, Mabel" Merula reminds Mabel. "Five years ago" Merula can remember Rowan being blasted apart by Rakepick in the forest that night.
"It seems like it's only yesterday" Mabel replies. "Being here in the castle, it reminds me of Rowan so much. But, I need to be here to keep Artemis safe, she has the same habit for trouble that we had when we were students" Mabel has already had to pull Artemis out of trouble a handful of times.
Merula laughs. "That is what will make her strong" Merula tells Mabel. "Getting into problems that she has to fight her way out of, her and her friends, it's what we had to go through to get strong enough to face the bad guys" Merula reminds Mabel.
"R seems so simple compared to this rebellion" Mabel says. "I just hope that it doesn't end the same way that our fight ended" Mabel cannot bare to watch students turning against each other like the Circle of Khana nearly did, or adults trying so hard to strike students down.
Mabel hopes that Artemis is ready to face all that is to come.
*
Another character from Hogwarts Mystery makes an appearance.
I don't know if I might want to do a spin-off about Mabel and the other members of the Circle of Khana.
Artemis and Mattheo are slowly getting closer, while managing to keep their relationship a secret. I still want to keep Tom in the running a little bit, will it maybe be a love triangle?