Chapter Text
The first half of July had been wet and rainy, but as the month drew to a close the clouds had lifted, allowing scattered spots of sunlight to break through. It was during one of the brief sunny spells that two teenagers had taken to an orchard in the shadow of a tall higgledy-piggledy house, laden with a bag full of metal poles and canvas, and with a marmalade-coloured cat trotting behind them across the grass.
It had now been almost an hour since Artemis Hexley and her friend Charlie Weasley had picked the perfect spot in Charlie’s family’s garden to pitch their tent. She had never pitched a tent or even been camping before, so she hadn’t known quite what to expect, but this definitely had not been it.
“Does it always take this long?” she asked, pushing yet another pair of poles together. “I thought camping was supposed to be an adventure, I didn’t realise that it was so much work.”
“This is the last one and then the tent is up,” replied Charlie, taking her poles off her and sliding them into the canvas. “We are almost done, I promise.”
“We’d have been done ages ago if we’d been allowed to use magic,” muttered Artemis, turning to watch her beloved cat Fergus chase a garden gnome around the honeysuckle tree.
She and Fergus had been staying with the Weasleys since the start of the summer holidays, and the two of them were starting to feel as at home here as they did anywhere. With seven children, Mr and Mrs Weasley’s house, The Burrow, was always filled with noise, laughter, and movement - a far cry from Artemis’ mother’s house in London.
“You know if we used magic, Percy would rat us out to Mum, and then we would never hear the end of it,” Charlie laughed. “Besides, there’s something to be said for making things from scratch.”
“If you say so.”
“I do say so. Come and look inside.”
Charlie lifted the canvas of the two-man tent, and the pair of them stepped inside. The interior of the tent was much larger than Artemis had expected from the outside, with a living area, a kitchen, and several bunk beds. In the centre, several armchairs and a small sofa surrounded a log burner, and a raised platform housed a dining table and benches. The decor wasn’t quite to Artemis’ taste, and it smelt a little like cats, but she didn’t mind that.
“See?” said Charlie, half-smiling. “We did all of this without any magic.”
Artemis nodded, feeling distinctly proud of herself, in spite of the fact that she had only put a few poles together. She looked around at her - or rather, mainly Charlie’s - handiwork once more, and frowned.
“Charlie,” she said, wrinkling her nose. “Does this tent not have an undetectable extension charm on it?”
“You’re missing the point. Let’s go and find the pegs.”
Artemis smirked as she followed Charlie out of the tent. She didn’t think she was missing the point at all. Still, it was probably a good thing that the tent had been magically extended, considering the number of people it would be housing in just a few hours’ time.
The party had originally been Artemis’ friend Penny’s idea, but it had been Charlie’s brother Bill who had suggested that they hold the party at The Burrow. After all, as Bill and Charlie’s mother had said, there was a lot to celebrate.
Bill had recently graduated from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry with good grades in all his final exams, and had just started his new job as a Curse-Breaker for Gringotts Bank. As for Charlie, Artemis, and their other friends, they had all finished taking their O.W.L. exams at the end of their fifth year in June, and they had all received their results that morning. Not that any of them had opened their results yet; all the party guests had agreed to wait and open them together later.
“Who do we actually have coming?” Artemis asked Charlie, as the two of them started hanging up the party decorations that they had made with the help of Charlie and Bill’s youngest siblings.
“Jae, Rowan, Penny, Tonks, Tulip, and Andre have all said yes,” Charlie recited. “But Chiara’s poorly again, and Merula never replied to the invitation.”
“Not much of a surprise.”
“No, but you never know, she might just turn up,” Charlie shrugged. “And Barnaby and Liz said no.”
“Right,” Artemis nodded slowly, biting her lip. She and her ex-boyfriend Barnaby had only broken up a little over a month previously. “Is that my fault?”
“Not at all. He said his dad wouldn’t be happy with him staying here, what with the fact that my parents are so pro-Muggles, and he’s… well…”
Artemis nodded again. Barnaby’s father was known to be both controlling of his son and prejudiced against non-magical people. It was even rumoured that Mr Lee had once been a Death-Eater, a supporter of the now-defeated dark wizard Voldemort, so feared that most people in the magical community refused to even speak his name.
“And Liz?” Artemis asked.
“She didn’t want to go if Barnaby wasn’t going. You know how shy she is. Then Bill’s invited some of his friends from his year, but they will all be Apparating so it’s just us lot staying in the tent.”
“Yeah. What about Ben?”
“He actually never replied either,” said Charlie, his red eyebrows furrowing slightly. Artemis frowned, too. Ben was Charlie’s best friend. It was very strange for him not to reply to an invitation to stay at Charlie’s house. “I hope he’s alright. Especially after what happened at the end of term.”
At the end of the previous year, Artemis had entered the fourth of Hogwarts’ mysterious Cursed Vaults alongside Bill, Charlie, Ben, Merula, and their then Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, Madam Rakepick, a renowned Curse-Breaker. Their adventure into the Vault had been a very dramatic experience. Not only had they encountered a real dragon, but Madam Rakepick had betrayed them, attacked them, and left them for dead. That had been traumatic enough for all of them, but Ben hadn’t been the bravest person in the world to start with. It wouldn’t have surprised Artemis if he was taking it harder than the rest of them.
“Maybe he’ll turn up without responding, too,” Artemis said, though she doubted it. “Come on, Charlie. Let’s go and get all the snacks ready, and then we can ask your mum if we can borrow her wireless. It won’t be a proper party if there’s no music.”
At six o’clock that evening, Bill arrived back from work. His straight red hair was pulled back into a low ponytail - something he had started doing since taking the job at Gringotts, presumably to make himself look more professional - and he was carrying a shoebox.
“What’s in the box?” asked Artemis, following him upstairs.
“New shoes. Bought them today. First lot of pay,” Bill replied, lifting the lid. Inside the box was a pair of smart and hardy-looking black boots. They looked almost as if they were made of leather, but had a scaly texture like snakeskin. The scales, however, were far too big to have once belonged to a snake.
“Bill, are those made of dragon hide?”
“Yes, but they were cheap. Don’t worry, I didn’t spend all of my first month’s worth of money on-”
“Are you planning on wearing them in front of Charlie?”
“They’re just work boots, Artemis,” Bill said, ignoring the look Artemis was giving him. “Dragon hide is really durable, and I’m going to need something hard-wearing for Curse-Breaking.”
Artemis pursed her lips. Charlie was passionate about dragon welfare, and she didn’t think that he would approve of Bill’s new work boots one bit, especially after what had happened inside the Cursed Vault. But Bill did look very happy with his new purchase, and with the Weasleys being as poor as Artemis knew they were, she didn’t want to berate Bill too much for buying something he liked with his hard-earned money. She said nothing, and neither did Charlie when he saw the boots, though Artemis could have sworn that his eyebrows had raised fractionally when he looked down at Bill’s feet.
With the tent pitched, food laid out on the table, and the decorations put up, the party was ready to begin. To no one’s surprise, Artemis’ super-organised best friend Rowan Khanna was the first guest to arrive, shortly followed by their dorm-mate and Bill’s girlfriend Penny Haywood, who never missed out on the opportunity to attend a party. The fourth and final member of Artemis’ dormitory, Dora Tonks - who everyone referred to by surname only - arrived just on time alongside her mischievous friend Tulip Karasu, both giggling as if they had already been sipping something stronger than pumpkin juice. Next, Quidditch-loving Andre Egwu arrived fashionably late, shortly followed by Charlie’s friend Jae Kim, who had managed to get hold of a few bottles of Firewhiskey for the special occasion.
“Just put them in the kitchen bit, next to all the Butterbeer,” Artemis told him, pointing at the four small barrels that her friend Madam Rosmerta - landlady of The Three Broomsticks - had sent her upon hearing that she was going to be hosting a party for the first time in her life.
Considering that it was the first party she had ever hosted, it seemed to be a great success. Artemis had managed to fiddle with Mrs Weasley’s wireless radio until she found a station playing some good Muggle music, and once everyone had drunk a little Firewhiskey, they were all up in the centre of the tent dancing, a clear sign that they were having fun. A little after midnight, Bill’s friends started to Apparate home, leaving the soon-to-be sixth years alone, ready to reveal their exam results.
Bill, who had literally let his hair down for the party, magically lit a small fire outside the tent, and they all sat around it, toasting large marshmallows on sticks as the envelopes containing their results were passed around.
“It’s rather nerve-wracking, isn’t it?” Penny said, with a little high-pitched laugh. Her hands shook as she picked up an envelope at random.
“Are you nervous, Ro?” Artemis asked Rowan, who was sitting at her side. Rowan, who was very academically minded and ambitious, was looking much calmer than she’d expected her to.
“A little,” Rowan replied, and Artemis narrowed her eyes at her in suspicion.
“You’ve already looked at your results, haven’t you?”
“No,” said Rowan, quickly. Too quickly.
“Are you sure?”
“Well, okay. I might have peeked quickly this morning.”
“Rowan!” Artemis hissed at her, but she smiled, too. “Were they good? I bet they were.”
“They weren’t bad,” Rowan told her, her own mouth twitching slightly. “But I’m not telling you exactly, or you’ll give me away when they’re read out.”
In turn, each of them took an envelope, ready to read out the results of whoever’s envelope they had picked.
“How do they grade the O.W.L.s again?” Jae asked through a mouthful of marshmallow, his eyes scanning the list of results in his hand.
“Same way as the N.E.W.T.s,” Bill reliably informed them all. “Top grade is O for Outstanding, then there’s E for Exceeds Expectations and A for Acceptable. Then you have Poor and Dreadful as failing grades.”
“And T for Troll, don’t forget that.”
“None of you are going to get a T for Troll, Tonks.”
“Rowan’s definitely not gotten any T for Trolls,” Jae said, still looking at the results in front of him. “You’ve passed all ten O.W.L.s, Rowan. Seven Outstandings and three Exceeds Expectations. Not bad.”
“Not bad? That’s brilliant!” Artemis linked arms with Rowan, who was smiling proudly and bashfully.
“You’ve not done badly either, Artemis,” Rowan said, opening up Artemis’ own results. “Outstanding in Defence Against the Dark Arts and Transfiguration; Exceeds Expectations in Ancient Runes, Charms, Potions, and Care of Magical Creatures; and the rest are all Acceptable.”
“What about Arithmancy? I didn’t get a T for Troll, did I?”
“No, you passed Arithmancy. Acceptable.”
“Acceptable? Are you sure?” Artemis leant over Rowan’s shoulder to check, and surely enough, there was a large spiky letter A next to the subject. She laughed. “I can’t believe it. I am an acceptable arithmancer!”
Everyone else had done well, too. Like Artemis, Tonks had achieved an Outstanding in Defence Against the Dark Arts, and Penny had Outstanding O.W.L.s in Potions, Herbology, and Muggle Studies. Andre and Tulip had passed everything except for History of Magic, and Jae had only failed Divination, whilst Charlie had achieved an Outstanding in Care of Magical Creatures and Exceeds Expectations in everything else. There was an extra surprise for him in his envelope.
“What’s this?” Tulip asked, holding up a red badge with engraved with the letters QC in gold, and a matching red and gold armband.
“That’s a Quidditch Captain's armband,” said Andre, holding it up. “Well done, Charlie. Though, I must say, this colour is going to clash terribly with your hair.”
Charlie shook his head at Andre, and took his Quidditch Captain’s badge from him as Bill patted him on the back.
“Prefect and Quidditch Captain,” Bill laughed. “Mum will be pleased. If you manage to make Head Boy as well, you’ll have outdone me.”
“I don’t think that’s likely,” Charlie said quietly, pocketing his badge.
“Don’t see why not. If you can keep Fred and George out of mischief this year then I’d say you’ll deserve the title.”
Artemis grinned. The Weasley twins, Fred and George, were going to be starting their first year at Hogwarts in September. The twins were a human whirlwind, and more troublesome than even her friends Tonks and Tulip. She doubted that anyone would ever be able to keep them out of mischief.
They sat toasting marshmallows for a little longer until the flames died down and even the fireflies seemed to disperse, leaving the garden in almost total darkness, the only light coming from the gibbous moon and a handful of stars that weren’t obscured by clouds. The night had turned decidedly chilly, so they returned to the warmth of the tent, and continued their discussions wearing their pyjamas and huddled in their bedding.
“I mean, they’re only children,” Andre was saying to Charlie. “The twins can’t be that much hard work, right?”
“Trust me, they could.”
“They’re animals.”
“Ah, but Charlie has an Outstanding in Care of Magical Creatures,” Tonks cackled. “He’s basically an animal whisperer now.”
“Just think of it as practice for working with dragons, mate.”
“Charlie’s had plenty of practice for working with dragons,” Bill smirked. “Years of it. He used to make wings to put on the cats and follow them around the house, making notes on their ‘dragon behaviour’.”
The others laughed, and Charlie’s face flushed between his freckles.
“You make it sound like it was all the time,” he muttered.
“It was pretty much all the time. And you bewitched Percy’s rat to fly that one time, remember?”
“Yes, I remember.”
“I remember when we first got to Hogwarts, you were convinced that there must be dragons hiding in the Forbidden Forest,” Jae said, raising his eyebrows wryly. “I thought you were such a weird bloke, especially when you started going out looking around the forest with Hagrid.”
“At least you discovered flying, and had Quidditch to keep you busy,” said Andre. “Otherwise you might have even started dressing like Hagrid, and that is not something any of us want to see.”
At the mention of Quidditch, the talk soon turned to the sport, what team members would be returning for the new season, and which team was most likely to win the House Cup. Considering how much Charlie enjoyed Quidditch, and his new position as Captain of the Quidditch team, he was very quiet throughout the discussion, barely speaking a word. After a while, he merely stood up and walked out of the tent in silence. The others carried on chatting, either not noticing his leaving, or just expecting him to come back.
Artemis had noticed, however, and after ten minutes had passed without him returning, she also got up and left the tent, taking her blanket with her.
She found Charlie sitting by the now burnt-out bonfire, poking the embers with a stick.
“Are you okay?” she asked as she approached him. He made no response, though she thought she might have seen him shrug. “You must be freezing, sitting out here by yourself. Here, I brought you a blanket.”
Artemis unwrapped her own blanket and put it over Charlie’s shoulders.
“Thanks,” he said, after taking an audible breath.
“You’re welcome. You know, the others weren’t trying to be mean or anything.”
“I know.”
“They were just teasing. They didn’t mean any harm.”
“I know,” Charlie said again. “I know they didn’t, I just… I dunno. I wanted a bit of peace and quiet, that’s all.”
“Oh. Well, I can go, if you want?”
“No, it’s alright. You can stay.”
Artemis nodded, although she knew Charlie wouldn’t be able to see her, and sat next to him by the glowing remnants of what had been a fire.
“Charlie, what’s the matter?”
“It’s nothing, really, Artemis.”
“It’s not nothing if you’re upset about it,” said Artemis. “Are you worried about Ben still? Because I’m sure he’s fine. He probably was just too nervous to open his results in front of everyone, that’s all.”
“You know that’s not true,” Charlie replied. “It’ll be because of everything that happened in the Cursed Vault. It’s probably why Merula’s not here, either.”
“Merula just doesn’t like us that much.”
“I think she does, in her own way. She enjoyed staying for Christmas last year, didn’t she? No, I think that both of them are still just struggling to come to terms with it.”
“So, you’re upset because you’re worried about them?”
“No, that’s not it. I mean, I am worried about them, of course I am, it’s just that I would have liked to have spoken with them about it, I guess. Because they might understand a bit, that sort of thing.”
“You could talk to me and Bill,” Artemis said, frowning deeply. “We would understand. We were there, too, remember?”
“I do remember, it’s just that you two both seem to be okay with it all,” Artemis felt Charlie shrug next to her. “Bill got his job because of Rakepick, and she went on to attack us all, and he’s still going to work there, and he’s happy about it. He’s so interested in being a Curse-Breaker, and he’s not even bothered by the fact that we almost died breaking that last curse, and part of the reason was because of Rakepick.”
“Just because Rakepick turned out to be a bad person, that doesn’t mean all Curse-Breakers are going to be the same.”
“I know, but it’s just thrown me a bit. She was our teacher, and we were supposed to be able to trust her. Bill did trust her, and then she…” Charlie’s voice tailed off, and he sighed. “I dunno. I’ve always just thought that most people are good, deep down. I know that there’s bad people out there, and that bad things happen, but they didn’t seem really real before, and now they do. It’s stupid, I know.”
“It’s not stupid.”
“It is. I just don’t know how we are all supposed to know who we can trust after this, that’s all.”
Artemis was quiet for a few moments as Charlie’s words settled in. She had known that he had been upset by what had happened at first - they all had - but he had seemed much more like his normal self since they had arrived back home for the summer. Yes, he had been quiet sometimes, but Charlie was always fairly quiet, especially when there were lots of people around. And there were always a lot of people around at The Burrow. That was part of the reason Artemis liked it so much.
“Well, I don’t know if it helps much, but you can trust me,” she told Charlie.
“I do.”
“Good. So, why didn’t you say any of this before?”
“I guess it was because you just seemed alright about it, like Bill does, and I didn’t want to be the only person who wasn’t. Alright about it, I mean,” Charlie paused, and a burnt log turned over, revealing a bright orange underside. “Especially since I have no right to be more upset about it than you two.”
“What? Charlie, if you’re upset, you’re upset. You don’t have to-”
“I know, I know. But out of all of us, I should be the one who is okay about it, and if anything, I feel like the one who is taking it the hardest.”
“How do you mean?”
“Well, Ben has always been scared of everything, especially with the Vaults, and then you, Bill and Merula knew Madam Rakepick best, and you and Merula were the ones who were attacked. And then you had to deal with what happened with your brother, as well.”
Artemis found herself stiffening at the mention of her brother Jacob, who they had found inside the Cursed Vault alive and well, after eight years of being missing.
“Yeah, well,” she said, quietly. “I’m not okay about that.”
“Of course not. Sorry.”
“You don’t have to be sorry, Charlie,” Artemis shook her head, forgetting once again that Charlie still probably couldn’t see her. “I mean I’m not really okay about any of it, but that’s the thing that really hurt, somehow. I just imagined finding Jacob so many times, and how happy he would be to see me, and… Instead, I did so much to find him, and waited so long, and then I finally found him and he just left. Again. Like he didn’t even care.”
Artemis sighed, and Charlie was silent for almost a whole minute.
“Leaving doesn’t mean not caring, Artemis,” he said, eventually.
“It might as well do,” Artemis replied. When Charlie didn’t respond, she realised that he was probably talking about his own brother, and not hers. “Obviously, it’s different with Bill. He definitely cares.”
Charlie said nothing. Artemis was starting to get cold, but she didn’t want to leave him, not when he was still clearly upset. She took out her wand and pointed it at the logs.
“Incendio,” she said, and the fire started again. In the light, she could see that Charlie’s face was drawn. How could she have not noticed that he was upset before? Feeling guilty, she got up wandered over to the other side of the fire, where the boxes of marshmallows remained closed on the ground. Opening them in turn, she found that one box was still almost entirely full. “Do you want to share these with me?”
Charlie gave her a small smile and nodded, and she carried the box back over to where he was sitting. He handed her the stick he’d been using to poke the embers, and pulled out his wand to spear a marshmallow for himself.
“I still can’t believe you’ve never done this before,” he said quietly, rotating the marshmallow slowly over a flame.
“Camping or toasting marshmallows?”
“Both.”
“My family were kind of a bit busy dying or going missing to take me camping,” Artemis said, with a wry smile that made Charlie shake his head and almost laugh. “But I might have toasted marshmallows before, maybe. I don’t remember doing it, but they smell familiar, like the memory is there somewhere, I just have forgotten the memory, if that makes sense.”
“Not really, but I’m used to you not making sense,” Charlie smirked, and Artemis elbowed him, hard. “Ouch! Careful, your marshmallow is burning.”
Artemis turned her attention back to the bonfire, where her marshmallow had been set alight. She quickly blew out the flame, but it was too late: the marshmallow was blackened and charred.
“Oh dear,” said Artemis, wrinkling her nose as the smell of burnt sugar pierced her nostrils.
“Serves you right for getting violent,” Charlie said, taking her marshmallow stick off her and holding his out to her in its place. “Here. You can have mine.”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course. I don’t mind the burnt bits.”
Charlie handed Artemis his wand, on which the marshmallow was perfectly toasted. Artemis took it from him, feeling the strange weighty sensation that came with holding someone else’s wand in her hands. Without it, Charlie looked oddly vulnerable.
“It’s going to be weird next year, isn’t it?” Artemis said, prodding the marshmallow with her forefinger. “What with Bill not being there.”
Charlie made a non-committal noise, but the way he tensed gave away his discomfort. Artemis looked at him, and he shook his head.
“Don’t do that,” he told her.
“Do what?”
“Look at me like you’re reading my mind.”
“I’m not reading your mind, I promise,” said Artemis. “I can just see you’re not right, that’s all.”
“Right,” Charlie sighed. “It’s just hard to tell with you.”
“So, I’m right then? There is something else bothering you?”
“No. Well, not no. I mean, there is, but it doesn’t matter.”
“Obviously it does, or it wouldn’t be bothering you,” Artemis nudged Charlie’s upper arm with her right shoulder. “You can tell me, you know. I promise you I won’t laugh or think you’re being stupid.”
Charlie hesitated, before shrugging.
“It’s just Bill leaving,” he said, his eyes fixed on the bonfire, as if he were talking to the flames. “It’s complicated, I guess. I mean, as much as I would never admit it to him, he’s my big brother, and I have actually always looked up to him.”
“I won’t tell him, don’t worry.”
“Thanks,” the corners of Charlie’s mouth twitched slightly, but his smile faded before it even formed. “I dunno. It’s kind of easy to blend into the background when you’re Bill Weasley’s younger brother. I’ve always liked it, because it means I get to do my own thing with no one paying me any attention. But now that he’s gone, I have to be the big brother, and I’m the one that is going to be looked up to, and I just… Honestly, I feel like I’m going to let everyone down.”
“You won’t.”
“I might. I probably will. It was bad enough when it was just Mum and Dad and Percy and the twins I had to worry about, but now I have this bloody Quidditch Captain’s badge and that means that everyone is going to be watching me even more, and I... I just know that people are either going to be expecting me to do well, and I won’t be able to live up to that, or they’ll all know that I’m not good enough, and I’m going to prove them right. I actually don’t know which of those things is worse.”
“How do you know you won’t be able to-”
“Because,” the frustration was audible in Charlie’s voice as he interrupted Artemis, “I’m taking over from Bill. Bill. He was the Head Boy, and he got twelve O.W.L.s, and he won that award at the end of last year. Then there’s the fact that he’s always been the responsible one, and he’s been the one who’s saved my skin on so many occasions, and there’s all those girls who follow him around everywhere. I’m not jealous, or anything, I’d rather be left alone, to be honest, but it means that his are pretty big shoes to fill, and I know that I can’t do it. And don’t say that I can, because I can’t.”
Artemis gnawed on her lower lip. She had in fact been about to say exactly that, but she couldn’t do that now.
“Why do you have to fill Bill’s shoes though?” she asked, after a moment’s thought. Charlie turned to look at her sceptically, and she shrugged. “I’m just saying, you have perfectly good shoes of your own.”
“Right,” Charlie scoffed, and Artemis looked at him in earnest.
“I mean it, Charlie.”
“You do?”
“Of course I do,” Artemis said, a mischievous smile spreading across her face as her gaze drifted to Charlie’s feet. “Maybe not those shoes, though.”
“Alright, Andre. What’s wrong with my shoes?”
“They’re slippers with dragons on.”
“Exactly. They’re my favourite pair,” Charlie grinned and raised his eyebrows at Artemis, who laughed quietly. Charlie let out a quiet chuckle, before nodding his head, the expression in his eyes sober again. “Thank you.”
“Yeah, well. I’m being serious,” Artemis told him. “So what if you aren’t Bill? You don’t have to be Bill. It’s perfectly fine for you to just be Charlie.”
“Maybe you’re right.”
“I am. At least, I think so. I definitely wouldn’t want you to be like Bill and not like you, anyway.”
“I guess I can cope with that,” Charlie half-smiled.
“Good. I’m glad that’s settled,” Artemis said, handing Charlie back his wand with a little shiver. She’d forgotten how cold it was outside. “Shall we go back into the tent?”
“You go ahead. I just want to stay out here for a bit longer.”
“In which case, so do I.”
Artemis peeled back the blanket she had draped around Charlie, and shuffled inside it, before taking back her stick and spearing another marshmallow. Charlie did the same with his wand and she rested her head against his left shoulder, feeling some of the tension leave him as she did so. Artemis smiled, watching the flames lick at the two marshmallows being held over the bonfire.
“I like camping.”
“Yeah. Me too.”