Chapter 2
Sebastian POV.
I watch Artemis walk toward the woods. She’s dressed in thick black pants, a tight-fitting dark red blouse, knee-high black laced boots, and a long black cloak. I watch as she pulls the hood over her auburn hair, before buttoning the front closed across her stomach. She takes her wand out of it’s holder on her thigh, and then proceeds into the dark woods, alone.
I haven’t spoken to her since shortly after my uncle- since shortly after we returned from the catacombs. I apologized for everything and even began crying when she said she and Ominis weren’t going to turn me in. What I didn’t understand was why she suddenly apologized and claimed it was her fault. She didn’t cast the spell on my uncle. She didn’t lead me down the wrong path.
“No, but I didn’t stop you either”, was all her melodic voice whispered.
She hugged me and then she was gone. I’ve seen her in class and the halls, but I just haven’t found the words to say. She seems almost as lost as I am. I hardly see her in our common room anymore, which I had assumed was because she had a life outside the Slytherin walls, but then I heard Natty was in the hospital. Word spread quickly about Natty’s mother screaming and blaming Artemis. I think that’s about when I realized no one had seen much of Artemis. I summoned up the strength to emerge from my grief and depression to ask around. Sure enough, Ominis hadn’t talked to Artemis except for the handful of classes she bothered to show up to. Actually, everyone had the same answer.
I started waiting in the common room at night for Artemis to show up. She never did. I asked her roommates, who said she didn’t sleep in the Slytherin dorms anymore. They said once her nightmares kept her up and she couldn’t stop screaming at night, then she got permission from Professor Weasley to move out of the dorm. That explains the deep bags always looming beneath her deep blue eyes.
I didn’t catch sight of her outside of class again until I saw her from the window near the astronomy tower one night. I started sneaking out at night to watch from that window, in the hopes that I could see her come back. I almost wish I hadn’t. She’d sneak back in every morning just after 3 am. She’d almost always be limping. Sometime’s I’d catch the shine of coppery blood as she walked past a lamp. She always seemed darker, as if her innocence had been tainted just a bit further by whatever happened in those woods. I’d always race down the stairs to find her, to help her, or just hold her, but it was like she just disappeared. By the time classes rolled around she’d look as healthy as ever, except for the bags under her haunted eyes.
I got lucky one night. I managed to race down the stairs just as she rounded the corner at the base of the astronomy tower. She was leaning heavily against the wall, as crimson heavily spilled from beneath where her hand was pressed against her stomach. Her lip was split. A deep cut crossed over her eyebrow and down her cheek, just barely missing her eye. A bruise was blossoming on her collarbone.
“Artemis!” I called out, as I rushed to her side.
“Shhh!”
“What happened? How can I help?” I lowered my voice by several levels.
“Just help me get to my room. I have wiggenweld there,” her voice sounded pained and I swear I heard a whimper when I moved my arm to support her weight. She was definitely lighter than she was supposed to be.
She guided me to a blank wall, but as we neared it a door suddenly appeared. We trudged through and into a large room. It was unlike anything I’d ever seen at Hogwarts. There were several large doorways, all themed like different environments. I filed that away to ask Artemis about it when she wasn’t bleeding out in my arms. The entire place screamed Artemis. Everything was a deep green or black.
“Down the stairs”, she pointed to another alcove.
This area opened up to a large room with about 12 potion stations, 10 herbology stations, a large green four-poster bed, and a large black couch. Of course 8 of the 12 potion stations had a batch of wiggenweld brewing, plus there was a large shelf with a mix of potions. I gently set Artemis on the couch, before jogging over to grab a handful of wiggenweld bottles. Artemis was pale and barely breathing by the time the potions met her lips. I watched as the potion took effect. The large gash in her stomach began to mend, as the wounds on her face began to do the same. After a few moments, the only sign of her even being injured was the reddish scar beginning at her left eyebrow, crossing her eye, then ending just below her left ear. Potions can only heal so much.
“Thanks”, Artemis quietly replies from where she’s lying on the cushions. “You should get back to your dorm. It’s late.”
“Are we not going to talk about this?”
“I think you’re smart enough to know I was injured in a fight, Sebastian.”
I haven’t heard my name fall from her lips in weeks. I missed the way her voice would almost musically sing my name. Tonight isn’t about us or our relationship, though. Tonight is about her.
“It’s more than that, though. Do you think I don’t notice? You barely show up for classes anymore. You’re never in the dining hall. You don’t talk to ANY of your friends. I see you leave every night, and you are ALWAYS injured when you come back. I’m worried, Artemis. Ominis, Natty, Poppy, and I are all worried about you. Why are you shutting us out? Why are you doing this to yourself? Why can’t you see that this isn’t healthy?”
“Please leave,” She whispers. Her voice sounds broken and my heart tugs at the noise.
“Artemis-”
“Please leave, Sebastian! Go!” She looks up at me as she screams. Tears are threatening to spill from her broken crystal eyes. I take a step back, before standing my ground.
“No. I’m not leaving. I’ve made my mistakes. I’m not making this one of them.”
“Sebastian, I’m a monster! Don’t you get it? All I do is hurt people. My magic is dangerous for everyone around me. Do you know how many people I’ve hurt? Killed?”
“Artemis-”
“I killed seven just tonight. That’s a light night compared to usual. I’ve used unforgivables, Sebastian. I can’t get the taste of them off my tongue. I tell myself I have to do it to survive, but why couldn’t I use other spells? Aurors don’t use unforgivables, and they face threats like this all the time. Everyone around me is in danger.”
“That’s not true-”
“I can’t sleep. I can’t eat. I can’t do anything right. Please just leave, Sebastian, because I don’t think I can survive if I hurt you, too.”
I should have stayed. I should have hugged her. I should have held her. I should have done anything except for what I actually did. I turned and silently walked out of that door, telling myself I would return and help her after she had time to calm down. That chance didn’t come, though. As I descended the steps outside the Slytherin common room, I felt a hand grab my shoulder as a spell hit my back. The world went black.