Chapter 5
Sebastian POV.
Rookwood leaves Artemis by us as the sun sets. Him and the other wizards begin to eat and drink the night away, as the goblins guard the outskirts of the camp. I fight against my gag until it slowly begins to loosen. The fabric slips down to around my neck.
“Artemis,” I whisper.
She flinches and her eyes flutter up to look at me.
“It’s okay,” I try to soothe. “It’s going to be okay. Ominis hows the wandless magic going?”
Ominis only shakes his head.
“We’re going to figure this out. I promise. Artemis, please listen to me. You are so strong. You are so amazing and I’m so lucky to have you in my life. We could never hate you, okay? We love you. I love you. Please just hang on.”
“Hurts,” her broken voice whispers. “I’m so sorry.”
“You have nothing to appologize for.”
“Sebastian?” She’s looking at me more alert now. “Promise me if you get the chance then you’ll leave. You won’t try to save me. Rookwood siad he would release you if I cooperated.”
“Artemis-”
“Please”, she begs.
“I- I promise.”
“Thank you. And Sebastian?”
“Hm?”
“I love you, too.”
My heart aches just a bit more. I try to find the words to say, but I’m too late as Rookwood makes his way over. He nudges Artemis with his boot, earning a whine from her throat.
“Alright, kiddies. A deal is a deal. My men are going to take you three back to the outskirts of the school. Artemis is going to stay here and help us with a little project.”
He’s grinning as he says that last part. A chill runs through my spine as the thoughts of what they could need Artemis for fill my head.
“Why do you need her?”
“Someone is a sneaky little thing,” Rookwood says, realizing I don’t have the fabric over my mouth anymore. “I don’t think you need to know. Let’s just say she knows things that interest me. Now, if any of you go telling anyone about your little experience then I might be tempted to discard your friend here once we’re done with her. Are we clear?”
“Crystal”, I grind out.
Several poachers grab onto Poppy, Ominis, and I. We apparated to just beside the quidditch pitch, and in a blink the ropes are gone, our wands are on the ground, and the poachers are gone.
“Shit!” I scream out into the darkness.
“Sebastian,” Ominis starts.
“Don’t try to tell me this is okay or we’re going to figure this out! This isn’t okay! Merlin knows how long we’ve got before they decide to just kill her!”
“Sebastian!” Ominis tries again. “We’re going to save her. You need to stop having a melt down and focus. Now, let’s split up and alert as many teachers as we can. They’re going to kill Artemis either way if we can’t get to her before whatever they get what they need. I’ll go to Professor Sharp. Poppy can go find Professor Weasley. Sebastian, you need to go get Professor Fig. He probably knows the most about this whole thing.”
We quietly agree, before grabbing our wands and taking off into the darkness. My body mindlessly runs through the halls of Hogwarts, as my mind replays The last few hours over and over. Before I know it my fist is pounding on the door of Professor Fig, who opens the door with quite the alarmed look.
“Mr. Sallow? What-”
“We don’t have long!”
I explain everything that happened. Fig’s face pales considerably. As I finish my story, a deep rumbling shakes the school. Professor Fig’s eyes widen, before he takes off through the halls with his wand in hand.
We run into Poppy, Ominis, Professor Sharp, Professor Weasley, and several other professors in the Great Hall. Upon seeing Professor Fig’s face it’s silently agreed that he would take the lead. We follow him through a hidden passage and into a large room with four large portraits. Fig speaks to the wizards in the portraits who grimly glance at each other. A passage opens at the edge of the room, and we’re all pushing through it in a blink.
At the end of the walkway is a cavern of sorts. Who knew all this was under the school. The cavern is filled with a large drill, dozens of goblins, and a large number of wizards. In the midst of it all is Artemis, who us still bound with the strange red glowing metal. Rookwood has a tight grip on her arm, as he appears to be arguing with Ranrock.
As soon as we enter chaos ensues. Spells are being cast. Rocks are falling. It’s an incredible fight of magic, and I narrowly avoid several spells cast my way. We’re beginning to gain the upper hand, and our enemy is very aware of this fact. I hear Artemis scream, causing me to look up just in time to watch the rocks crumble around Professor Fig. No! He’s gone before I can move.
I glance at Artemis. Her eyes are glowing in an angry blue light, and her veins are lit in pure power. The power surges and warps within her until suddenly the metal wrapped around her wrists snap. Ranrock takes off down another passage and Rookwood raises his want to Artemis. Ancient magic swirls around her, before it looks like a shock wave eminates from her body. Rookwood falls unconscious to the ground. Artemis glances at the battle still lingering in the area, before her eyes focus on me.
‘I’m sorry’, she mouths, before taking off toward the path Ranrock disappeared down. She snatches up a wand from a fallen dark wizard. Rocks begin to crumble as the crosses the bridge to the passage. She narrowly misses the stones as she crosses down the path. The rocks completely block the path, leaving all of us helpless to watch her follow Ranrock.
The battle only lasts a few more moments. Wizards and goblins lay dead or unconcious across the ground. Some of the professors begin to tend to their own wounds, while Professor Sharp leaves to contact the ministry and aurors. Ominis, Poppy, and I are standing at the cliffs edge. From here we can see flashes of red and blue from deep within the cavern. The echos of Ranrock and Artemis fighting reverberate off the walls. We’re helpless right now. We can’t move the stones for fear of the entire place collapsing, and there’s no apparating within the Hogwarts grounds. All we can do is listen to the fighting below and hope Artemis has the upper hand.
It feels like an eternity later when Professor Sharp comes running in with a large number of aurors. As soon as the cross into the cavern a large boom and screaming sound from below, then it all goes earily silent.
“Artemis!” I yell.
No answer.
“We have to help her!” Poppy screams out at the professors and aurors.
Several minutes later I find myself on a broom behind Professor Sharp. It was determined that brooms would be the safest way to get into the base of the cavern until the structural integrity of the stone could be strengthened. I don’t know what I expected to see when we got down there. The entire place looks like a full warzone. Sections of the area are flaming and crumbled. There’s an empty broken structure in the center. Ranrock is dead just a few feet from it. I glance around and find Artemis knelt next to of Professor Fig. He’s alert and gently trying to console her trembling form.
As we land on the ground, her glowing red eyes glance up at us. Red? No, her eyes are blue. As I move closer I watch the red fade into blue, leaving behind just a few specks of the fiery color in her eyes. I run towards her, trying to ignore the way she flinches and trembles in my arms.
“I’m so sorry”, she cries over and over. “I didn’t have a choice. I had to take it.”
“Take what?”
Professor Fig quietly explains what happened. He tells me about what Ranrock was after and the battle Artemis faced. Artemis flinches when Fig mentions the magic couldn’t be contained so Artemis allowed herself to absorb it.
“Oh”, is all I can must. That must be the red lingering in her eyes.
Artemis is bleeding from her wounds and looks close to passing out. Her eyes flutter and I yell out to Professor Sharp.
“I’ll be there when you wake up”, I whisper as I press a kiss to her forehead. She nods before giving into the darkness pulling her in. I watch as she carted off to the hospital wing, and I beg whoever is listening to let her be okay.