Aurors

A warm feeling spread out on Orion's naked back as he buried his face down in his pillows. Someone had pulled his curtains apart and sunlight was streaming through the windows making him hide from the rays. The warm feeling grew hotter as the numbness and pain from yesterday faded slowly over time. He took a peek through half-lidded eyes at who was doing the healing and was slightly surprised at finding Artemis leaning over him with her hands on his back.

"I'm not going to apologise." The blond grunted in response before closing his eyes again. A few minutes passed between them in silence and he was close to falling back asleep before he felt the witch sit down on his bed.

"Orion?" Only a slight numbness was left now as he opened his eyes and carefully turned around to lay on his back facing the brunette. She looked like she hadn't slept all night and had probably wandered the castle if he were to guess. He nodded in response for her to start talking as he leaned back against his pillows.

"We need to talk about it." The blond raised his eyebrow in question but she only rolled her eyes at him.

"The kiss between me and Cyril. You trying to kill him because of it. Is it the bond doing it or is it you?" Orion looked at her for a long time without saying anything. His mind was racing. He had just confirmed for himself that it was him that wanted her for himself. But then again the bond was the thing that helped fuel his jealousy, so where he started and the bond ended was hard to say. Cyril had been his friend since his first year at Hogwarts and in all the years they had known each other a woman had never come between their friendship. He trusted the man, deep down he knew this but that didn't mean that it had hurt when he had done this behind his back. In the end, he took a deep breath before he answered.

"Both. It's a mix of both." Artemis held his gaze for a minute before she nodded. She had found the answer to be the truth which he hoped she would do. The brunette looked away from him to gaze out of the windows.

"As I already told you, I don't know if I feel anything in particular towards him but… I did return the kiss so in that regard I am just as guilty as him. So just talk to him, please." The witch didn't have to look at him for Orion to know that she felt a deep sorrow about this whole thing. Guilt was also swimming close to the surface but as she said she was not willing to apologise for it. Which he understood.

"Fine. I'll talk to him." Artemis waved her hand in what looked like a normal motion but the blond suddenly noticed the curtains on Cyril's bed opened and the man came into view. He looked just as tired as Orion felt but as he was sitting with his legs crossed and reading what looked like a report of some kind the blond guessed that Artemis had healed him before she had woken him up. The auburn-haired wizard looked up from his paper and looked at them both curiously.

"We are doing this right now?" He asked the witch who nodded as she got up from Orion's bed.

"I am going to take a shower so you have until then to make friends again." Both of the wizards watched her rummaging around her trunk and pulling out a new uniform before retreating to the bathroom. Surprisingly, she gave them both a soft smile before disappearing inside.

Orion put his arm over his face as he sighed deeply. Worry and nervousness were rolling around inside him telling him clearly that the brunette had not really been willing to leave the two of them alone but here they were nonetheless. After a few minutes of laying in silence, they could hear the shower starting from inside the witch's bathroom and the blond was startled by Cyril talking.

"I love her." He should not have been surprised because deep down he knew the truth but this was the first time that Cyril had said it out loud. Orion watched the other wizard closely as he was still sitting cross-legged on his bed but he had put down the paper somewhere and was watching him in return. His face was serious and his eyes were filled with resolve. The blond sat up and placed his feet down on the floor making him fully face the other wizard. While raking his hands through his hair he took a deep breath before starting to talk.

"When did you know?" Cyril smiled.

"I can't tell you exactly when but I came to realise that it was not just simple lust after the case in 94. I bet you remember it?" Orion nodded. The wizard had been sent to infiltrate a group of full-bloods that were suspected of doing illegal smuggling of dark artefacts. No one had heard from him for over a month before he suddenly appeared outside of Orion's apartment, bloody and beaten. Had it not been for the tattoo that Artemis had insisted on him getting they would not have recognised him under all the Glamour and Polyjuice. Even to this day, the blond did not know what had happened as it was classified beyond his reach.

"Artemis and I got you to the hospital and she was the one present when you woke up." Cyril hummed in agreement.

"I will never forget the way she looked at me. I never knew that so much worry and relief could exist in one pair of eyes. It was at that point I realised that I didn't just find this woman attractive, I was in bloody love with her." The jealousy had started to fill inside him and the blond had to take a few deep breaths before continuing.

"You know what the bond does to me but you still kept on touching, kissing and flirting with her as if I've never existed." The two wizards looked at each other intensely for a few moments.

"I am going to be honest with you, King. Up until that point where I realised my feelings I only did it to tease, I honestly thought you two deserved each other but in the later years, you've been a mess. How many lovers have you had in the last few years?" The blond rolled his eyes.

"None. We made a deal not to have lovers. It confuses the bond." Cyril gave him a hard look before replying.

"I'll change the question. How many one-night stands have you had?" Orion bit his lip. They might have agreed on the 'no lovers' policy but that did not mean that he had not slept around, no matter how much he came to regret it later.

"I did not sleep with Burns if that is what you want an answer to." It was easy to see the anger flash over the ocean blue eyes in front of him but the other wizard managed to calm himself down.

"So what were you doing?" Orion sighed for what seemed like the hundredth time since he woke up and told the wizard what had happened in the office that day. His friend's eyes were wide as plates when he finished and guilt was evident in his eyes.

"She's not getting away with it, I hope?" The blond laughed.

"No, but I need to figure out what she did to me. It's a work in progress and I haven't had the time to really sit down and do the research as Artemis ended up in a coma." Before the other man managed to reply a loud bang could be heard from Artemis's bathroom. Both of them froze as they listened for more sounds or a shout of distress.

"Are you alright, Artemis?" Cyril shouted at the door.

"I just dropped something!" Artemis shouted from the other side and both of the men looked at each other with frowns on their faces. Orion sent worry through the bond but only got reassurance back and he shook his head to the other wizard.

"I'm sorry, King, but I'm not going to stop going after her. Not now." It made sense, even Orion had to admit that. Of course, the wizard was not going to back down now that he had gotten a taste of the prize. He bit his lip and raked his hands through his hair again before nodding in understanding.

"I'm sorry for attacking you. I just lost control over myself." Cyril started laughing which took the blond by surprise.

"I can't really blame you. I've always wanted to do the same to you but Artemis took care of that so let's say it's even, hm?" The wizard stretched out his hand for Orion to shake which he did with a smile on his face.

"Agreed."

Artemis got out of the bathroom then with a surprised look on her face. She was dressed in a fresh pair of black pants and a white shirt. What made Orion look at her fondly was her hair which was still damp and loose. When she moved it flowed down her back like a waterfall. The brunette flung her uniform robes on her own bed before looking at Cyril with a slight blush on her face.

"Can you braid my hair?" Cyril looked back at her puzzled.

"Aren't you a witch?" A faint prickle of disappointment went through him but the other wizard only snickered and gestured for her to sit in front of him on the bed. Orion watched closely as the other wizard combed her hair with his fingers and started the job of getting her hair under control. It had been years since he had seen this scene last. Back in their school days during warm weather, they would all hang out by the lake and Cyril would play with her hair and braid different types of braids each time. It was a peaceful image and he had to smile despite himself.

Orion got up from his bed and wandered to his trunk to get out a clean shirt and a pair of pants, however, a pulse of lust went through him as he pulled the shirt over his shoulders. Puzzled, he turned around and met the eyes of Artemis who was studying him intensely. A smirk spread over his face as he went towards his friend's bed and sat down in front of the witch. Cyril looked at him over the witch's shoulder with a raised eyebrow but continued the braiding. The brunette thought she had been clever by closing her eyes when he had sat down but Orion just cupped her face in his hands in his usual way.

"Open your eyes." A shiver went through the witch but she did as she was told. Glittering gold was mixed with the chocolate brown and he had to smirk again. He sent Cyril a mischievous look before he leaned down and kissed her. Almost immediately he could feel the witch respond to him as she kissed him in return. The blond opened one eye to take a peek at the wizard behind her. His eyes were flashing with anger but it quickly turned to mischief as the auburn-haired wizard leaned to whisper in her ear as he at the same time nibbled on her earlobe.

"I'm finished." A moan escaped the witch between them and Orion shivered. He didn't know what had come over him to start this or where it was going but somehow when Cyril now touched her he did not feel the same jealousy as before. Could it be because he was also touching her at the same time? Cyril had started to kiss her neck and was stroking down her arms which made the brunette moan again. Orion broke the kiss to look at her eyes again. They were swimming with lust and the golden specks had grown bigger. She leaned into the other wizard's touch and gave him better access to her neck in the progress. The blond felt his heartbeat against his chest while he watched his friend touch the woman he had been bonded to for so many years. The other wizard kept his touches careful. Obviously, staying away from the more personal places on her body, however, he did sneak one hand around her waist and pulled her closer making her lean her head on his left shoulder. Having just braided her hair meant that her neck was now completely open to him and Cyril did not waste any time.

Orion's eyes widened slightly as the other wizard locked eyes with him while biting down on the witch's neck. Artemis let out another moan and at this point, it looked like she was just going with the flow. The emotions that Orion got were a mix of lust and something else he could not place but in the arms of Cyril, she seemed to melt like butter. It was obvious that the witch trusted him. The blond crawled the short distance that was between him and the pair. While standing up on his knees in front of them he could easily lean down to kiss her again. Their breathing was getting heavier and the room seemed to grow hotter by the second but as Orion was about to give in to the waves of lust that washed over him the door to the bedroom opened with a loud bang and a swearing Zacharias entered. The little group jumped apart quickly but it was obvious the dark wizard had seen something.

"Oi oi! Did I just interrupt something?" Orion quickly climbed off Cyril's bed and started to button his shirt quickly.

"We were just talking." Zacharias squinted at them before he broke out into a sly smile.

"Right, 'cus it looks like Prince was really having fun 'talking'. Can't believe you are doing this without me!"

"Fuck off, Zabini." Cyril also got up from the bed as Artemis who seemed a little weak in the knees did the same. Zacharias held his hands up in defence but his smile did not leave his face. He studied Artemis as she determined went over to her bed next to him and picked up her uniform robe.

"Oh, Merlin. Are you blushing, Prince? I haven't seen that since that time we did it." Orion stopped what he was doing and looked at the dark wizard as he realised what he had said. Before anyone could do anything the man sprinted over to the bathroom and locked the door.

"Get out here Zabini! What the bloody hell did you just mean by that?" Orion kicked the door to prove his point as laughter could be heard from the inside.

"Not telling! I'm too handsome to die and Blaise would miss me too much!"

"You really have a death wish don't you, Queen?" Cyril took out his wand and Orion moved out of the way but no matter what spell he tried the door remained firmly closed. The blond then turned around to look for Artemis but the witch was nowhere to be seen, obviously managing to escape in the commotion. More laughter could be heard from inside the bathroom then.

"By the way! McGonagall wanna see you both, right now in fact! It's why I'm here. So you better hurry." The two wizards looked at each other before sighing in defeat. After a last kick to the door, Orion and Cyril got into their uniforms and made themselves presentable.

~𓅃~

"Do you think we will get detention?" Orion snorted at Cyril's question. They were now on their way up to the Headmistress's office as Zacharias had told them and had just got up to the seventh-floor landing. It always bothered the blond that the leader of the school had the office on the top floor as it made it a long way for the Slytherins to get there if anything happened. This was probably why the Professors' offices were spread out to the extent they were he reasoned.

"Auror Silver!" Orion turned around in time to see Ron Weasley come running behind him, followed by Hermione Granger. Surprisingly, Potter was not with them this time and he wondered if he was off somewhere with Malfoy instead.

"Mr Weasley? What can I do for you?" The redhead stopped in front of them and took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry, Sir, But I wanted to say thank you." Orion raised his eyebrow at him.

"I don't remember helping you, Mr Weasley." The boy grinned sheepishly at him.

"Oh, not me, Sir. My older brother, George? You gave my other older brother, Charlie, the contact information to the Aurors' healer, right?" It took a few seconds for the blond to catch up with what the younger wizard was saying but he suddenly remembered the sight of the redhead's brother.

"Ah, yes. Has he had his first appointment already?" The young Weasley nodded enthusiastically at him.

"Yes, and he is already feeling better. Healer Crane really gave his old Healer a beating when he found out what kind of potions they had him on. I just wanted to say thank you to you in person, Sir. From the whole family, it means a lot to us. Mum also said that you were welcome any time at the Burrow." Cyril patted him on the back then.

"Well well, the King of Snakes did a good deed? Who knew." Orion rolled his eyes at him again before turning his attention back to the young wizard.

"Tell your mother it was nothing and thanks for the invitation. Do contact me if you get into any trouble with the hospital. Like I told your brother, I will vouch for you. Now if you two will excuse us we have an appointment with the Headmistress." Granger looked frantic for a second before she started to pull at the redhead's arm.

"Come on, Ron. We are making them late. Sorry, Sir, we will leave you to it. Let's go to lunch, Ron." The tall wizard only snickered at her but nodded in agreement. They both waved at the two Aurors before starting their journey down the stairs.

"So when did you help his brother?" The pair started to walk towards their destination again.

"It was the night that Artemis woke up. Zacharias and I borrowed the fireplace in their shop in Diagon to get to the hospital and it was easy to see that everything was not as it was supposed to be. I should visit them soon." Orion mumbled the last part to himself but it was obvious that his companion heard him with the glint he could see in the other man's eyes.

"Unexpected of you. He had to look downright dead if you got Healer Crane to help." Orion hummed in agreement.

"He looked more like a drug addict on a downward spiral than a recovering patient. So I could not overlook it." The auburn-haired wizard whistled a low note.

"He lost his twin, right? Can't be easy." The blond shook his head as they stopped in front of the statue up to the Headmistress's office. However, before Orion got to say the password Cyril stopped him. The other wizard put his hand on his shoulder and looked at him with a serious expression.

"Before we go up. What do we actually tell her?" He thought about it for a second before replying.

"It was a personal issue but it is now resolved and is nothing more to speak of. She can't force us to tell her anyway as we are not students and if she tries to go to Robards with it… well, I suppose we just tell him the gist of it all." The other wizard sighed before rubbing his eyes.

"Where were we even going with what happened in the bedroom? Would you seriously have let that continue?" Orion cleared his throat then and met the eyes of the other man.

"Perhaps." Cyril looked stunned for a second before he shook his head almost violently.

"Let's talk about that later, time to get yelled at." The other wizard said the password to the statue and they both got on a step and let themselves be carried upwards.

~𓅃~

Robards was tapping his foot with his arms crossed as he gave both of the Aurors a disappointed look.

"Gentlemen, you better have a good excuse for why you were duelling on school grounds and in the direct vicinity of the students." Orion bit his lip in annoyance, of course, the Headmistress had called on their boss when she did not get a good enough explanation as to why they had been duelling. Not that it had been much of a duel since Zacharias had interrupted them before Cyril even had flung a spell back at him.

"Sorry, Sir but that is a personal matter between me and Auror Thompson but I can assure you that it has been resolved." The Head Auror's eyebrows furrowed as he studied them closely. He eyed the Headmistress who was sitting behind her desk with a disappointed look on her face. They had already spent a good ten minutes telling her that it was none of her business before their boss had arrived and Orion was getting sick of repeating himself.

"Well, you heard the man, Headmistress. It seems to be resolved so I will be going back to work if that is alright." McGonagall looked shocked at their boss's indifference to the matter.

"Excuse me, Mr Robards but this is a serious matter! Some of my students might have gotten hurt in the exchange of spells and I assure you that I would never have heard the end of it from the parents if that happened."

"That didn't happen though, so frankly I don't see the problem. I am far too busy to babysit my employees, Ma'am. Besides, I have an inkling as to what it could have been and I assure you that it is indeed neither of our businesses." Robards winked at them both and Orion felt himself relax slightly. The Headmistress was quiet for a long time just watching them all in turn before sighing.

"Fine. However, there is another reason why I called you here today. I have gotten more threats to Mr Malfoy's life but this time it comes outside of the castle." Robards turned serious again as he turned to face her completely.

"Pardon, Ma'am but it is Auror Blackmoore who is the main leader of this operation why is she not present for this?" The old witch huffed.

"I will be honest with you, Sir but I do not trust that witch. She had made too many mistakes." Anger flared up in Orion by the witch's words and he looked at his boss with a frown.

"Sir!" Robards held his hand up to Orion making him shut his mouth quickly.

"I'm sorry McGonagall but Auror Blackmoore is one of my most trusted agents so why the mistrust?" The Headmistress looked at the wizard with a surprised expression.

"' Most trusted'? I have to disagree, Auror Robards, that which is a menace. All the years she went to school here it was problem after problem. I will let you know she almost murdered several students! If it was up to me she would be in Azkaban." Orion's rage was dangerously close to the bursting point and he clenched his fists feeling his nails digging into his skin.

"I'm sorry, Ma'am but I will not stand here and listen to you talk nonsense about one of my colleagues in that manner so if you have anything to report to us then say so or I will be leaving." Everyone looked to Orion with surprise but in the end, the older witch huffed and pulled out a letter from her desk and gave it to the Head Auror. The wizard read the letter a couple of times without showing any hints on what it was about until he gave it to Cyril who shared it with Orion. It looked like any ordinary threat letter that the blond had seen over the years in his career. A simple statement of death if he did not do as told and the order to transfer money to a vault at Gringotts.

"This doesn't even mention Mr Malfoy's name and it's so generic. How are you even sure it is addressed to him?" Cyril asked the Headmistress with a raised eyebrow.

"It is the same formula as the other letters he got earlier this year also the same handwriting. Of course, the wards stop them from going to him and instead, they go directly to my office." Orion took a peek at his boss who was standing with his arms crossed again, deep in thought.

"Keep doing what you have been doing, gentlemen. I will return to London and I will take those letters with me, Headmistress. I will have some of our experts look at them." He reached out his hand to the witch who looked reluctant to give him the papers but in the end, found the rest of them and handed them over. It looked like it was ten in total if Orion were to guess.

"Very well, Mr Robards. I will inform you if I get any more. Do you think this could have a link between the attack on the boy in the Leaky Cauldron?" Robards looked thoughtful before he answered.

"It is hard to say. I got some of my best agents on it but it seems like the Death Eaters have just vanished into thin air. However, the wizard that Auror Zabini and Silver found was nothing more than an extra pair of hands but we found a large amount of money that had recently been transferred to his vault shortly after the job was done. So the wizards behind this have big pockets. It is not much of a clue but it is something." The old witch's eyes grew wide again.

"You don't think someone is paying these villains to make his life more miserable?". The Head Auror simply shrugged before he smiled politely at her then before turning towards the fireplace and throwing some floo powder into it.

"Ah yes, one more thing before I go. Headmistress, I would like it if you didn't talk such bloody bullshit about my employees again. Good day." The wizard gave the other two Aurors a wink before he stepped into the green flames and vanished. The Headmistress herself looked dumbstruck where she was seated in her chair but quickly turned back to normal. She waved at them both then.

"You may leave." Orion turned on his heels immediately and he was followed by Cyril as they both stepped onto the steps of the statue and were slowly brought down into the corridor again.

~ཐིཋྀ~

Artemis had run down to the second floor before she stopped and took a deep breath. Her cheeks were still hot from embarrassment and she could still feel Cyril's lips on her neck. As Cyril had braided her hair her body had relaxed to the point where she could most likely fall asleep but as Orion had gotten up to change she had found herself staring at him. The little pulse of lust had escaped through the bond before she had managed to stop it but she would never have thought the blond would act on it. Somehow her brain had turned completely off when the two wizards had started touching her together and she had just let herself go. This had never happened before when it was only her and Orion in bed but together with Cyril, her body turned into putty.

Students looked at her weirdly as she screamed into her hands and stomped her feet. The brunette then took a deep breath again as she straightened her clothes and started to walk towards the Great Hall for lunch. While the brunette walked she felt around for anything out of the ordinary with the bond, it wasn't a complete lie when she had told the other wizards that she had dropped something because she had. It was her hairbrush but the reason for her clumsiness was because of that branding mark suddenly sparking in pain once more. This time it was obviously not something that could be ignored and had it not been for the awkward situation she had just run away from the witch would have asked Orion about it. However, before she managed to think more about it the brunette was stopped by Potter who was surprisingly alone right by the entrance to the Great Hall.

"Auror Blackmoore!" She smiled at him.

"Good day, Mr Potter. Is everything OK?" The wizard grinned at her before looking guilty.

"Everything is alright, Miss. Did you get any sleep last night?" She grinned at him in return.

"No, but I tricked Auror Zabini into going to History of Magic instead of me so I took a nap at the office." The ravenhead laughed.

"He was the first to fall asleep but I think the whole class was asleep within the first ten minutes. At least I was. Anyway, Malfoy is eating in his room, said he had a lot of homework to catch up on. We have a free period after lunch you see." Artemis nodded at the younger wizard.

"Alright, thank you for the information, Mr Potter. I'll go down to the dungeons then." He grinned at her again before going into the Great Hall. The brunette wondered what had gotten the boy into such a high spirit but decided that in the end, that was not really what mattered.

~ཐིཋྀ~

Artemis took the shortcut that led straight into the Slytherin common room and was relieved to find nobody there. At this time most of the students would be eating lunch after all. Carefully, she knocked on the young blond's door and immediately heard him yelling "Enter" from the other side. Snickering she entered the room, it was less messy this time around but some papers were lying around on the floor, probably rejects for homework she assumed.

"Hiding in the snake den today, Draco?" The boy jumped in his chair from her voice and he was quick to cover whatever he was writing.

"Artemis! What are you doing here?" The brunette looked at him puzzled.

"Mr Potter told me that you were having your lunch here today. If you want some peace and quiet I can leave again." A blush crept up the boy's neck and she had to bite her tongue not to laugh.

"It's fine! Really, I don't mind the company." Artemis smiled at him and went to sit down in the chair that was placed right next to his desk. She noticed a plate with a simple sandwich and a glass of water on the desk then.

"Mips got you that I assume?" Draco looked at the food for a second before nodding.

"I hope you don't mind me calling her." The brunette shook her head.

"Of course not. She likes you." The boy blushed again as he put the top parchment at the bottom of the stack of papers.

"What are you working on?"

"History of Magic. We got an assignment to write about the origins of the old Heads of Houses." Artemis rolled her eyes.

"He never got sick of that theme it seems. I wrote two of those when I was a student here." Draco chuckled and silence folded over the room. The young blond ate while writing down something occasionally and Artemis settled into the chair. The light in the room was pleasant as soft sunlight came through the windows, a sign that the lake was calm on the surface. Some sort of sea creatures swam by from time to time but didn't look interested in what was beyond the glass and continued on their way. A wave of anger flowed through the bond then and the brunette sent a question in return. A minute passed before she got reassurance back and she wondered for a second what the other wizard was doing at that moment. She silently hoped that another fight had not broken out between him and Cyril as she was once again reminded of what they had done in the bedroom. Artemis wondered if they would have kept going if it was not for Zacharias interrupting them.

That was also when she realised the slip of the tongue the dark wizard had. They knew now that both of them had spent a night together and even though it was in a drunken state and a long time ago it still happened. She would probably have to explain to Orion later when and how it had happened and was already dreading it. The brunette turned to study the young wizard from the corner of her eye then. He looked better these days. From the moment Artemis had returned she had forced him to quit the Dreamless Sleep potions and promised to come to his side if he needed it but so far the boy had slept soundly, if not all night, at least enough. Peeves were keeping a close eye on him again as well which made it easier.

Artemis took a deep breath as she was once again reminded of what Severus had told her to say. This was the perfect opportunity to do so. It was just them alone in the room and he could have whatever reaction he wanted to without trying to hide it. The brunette took a deep breath and rubbed her eyes before just deciding to jump to it. The blond was already looking at her in question when she turned to look at him in return.

"Listen, Draco. This might sound crazy but while I was in a coma I had this dream. I met Severus and he told me to tell you something for him." Draco looked sceptical for a second before he nodded for her to go on.

"Tell my Godson that he is doing a good job protecting the ones he loves." Artemis sat quietly and watched the young wizard's face change from surprise to sorrow then determination.

"I guess he is watching us from above." The brunette studied him before she reached out and touched his cheek carefully.

"He was proud of you. I'm sure of it." His eyes turned glossy for a second as he smiled softly.

"Thank you." As she was about to reply a sharp pain came from the branding mark making her grab his shoulder for support. Alarmed Draco quickly got up from his chair to sit in front of her and grabbed her shoulders to support her.

"Artemis? You alright?" She let out a grunt as the pain got even worse, it felt like someone was hammering a nail into her heart and it was getting difficult to breathe.

"S… Something isn't r… right." Slowly she felt her consciousness slipping and she could feel the demon resurface on its own. It was furious and wanted blood. Slowly the nail seemed to sink further down and she let out a scream while she clutched her chest. His grip on her shoulders tightened.

"It's the branding mark, right? Is the Master hurting you?" Through the pulses of pain, she managed to give him an amused expression.

"No… not homework was it?" Draco gave her an angry expression in return.

"This is not the time for jokes! What is happening?" Artemis took a few deep breaths before she managed to reply.

"It's not the Master… so… something else is happening. It's not right." She screamed again as the pain doubled in intensity and the demon was raging against her own will. Black smoke was spreading around her and the young Slytherin looked afraid.

"Tell me something I can do to help, please!" He had knelt on the floor to look at her face. Tears were flowing down her face from the pain and she knew her eyes had now turned gold at this point.

"R… run. Find… everyone. Quickly." Draco got up and sprinted to the door and as she could hear his retreating steps she got up on shaky legs only to fall to the floor. The pain was making it hard to concentrate as the smoke spread out in the room and in the corner of her eye, she could see the ice beginning to form. Artemis bit down on her own arm to keep herself focused as she suddenly realised she had felt like this once before. That ended in a massacre.