Sunflowers & Hot Chocolate | Remus Lupin

back again

Hours later and the Great Hall was packed with a thousand students, divided into four houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin.

Artemis was sat at the Slytherin table with the rest of her house, whilst her friends sat happily at Gryffindor. She was sat between her youngest brother, Regulus, and her other housemate, Severus Snape.

Severus Snape was a greasy-haired know-it-all; Artemis didn't mind him being a know-it-all as she was too and she felt comfortable with him for that. Despite being rather poor, Snape was quite snobbish. He was also a blood supremacist, like Artemis' family, which made little sense as he was half-blooded and his best friend was muggle-born.

"Does he give this same speech every year?" Regulus rolled his eyes and asked.

"Unfortunately so" the older sibling replied.

Every year, the headmaster gives the same boring welcome speech to introduce the start of the new term after the new first years had been sorted.

Finally, the dinner was over and Dumbledore had given all his announcements. Artemis couldn't then go to meet her friends, however, as it was reaching curfew and she couldn't get detention before term had even started.

Artemis followed the rest of her house to the cold dungeons where she unpacked her bags. Artemis shared her dorm with Magnolia Parkinson, Emma Vanity, and Lucinda Talkalot. She didn't get along with her dormmates but it didn't bother her as she spent most of her time in the Gryffindor common rooms with a secret password from Professor McGonagall which only the two of them had access to.

Artemis could hear the three girls muttering to themselves.

"Have you heard?" The blonde one asked the other two

"Luce, It can't be true. Can it?" Parkinson replied

Curiosity grow upon Artemis' face as she wondered what they were talking about.

"What are you three talking about?" Artemis asked arching her eyebrow

"As if you don't know, Black" said the pug-faced girl on the right

"Magnolia, I wouldn't have asked if I already know" Artemis sang and rolled her eyes

"The Rosier girl" Emma finally piped up, "Mis, you did know she was starting this year? Didn't you?" she asked in her quaint Irish accent

Artemis' face went blank. Esme Rosier was Artemis' childhood best friend, they did everything together: from pranking Bellatrix and the rest of their family to sharing butterbeer and ice cream. Esme was the younger sister to Druella Black, Druella was also her guardian since their mother died soon after birthing Esme. Despite being the aunt to her cousins, Artemis always thought of Esme as an older sister. However, their friendship started to drift once Esme turned eleven and started the French Wizarding school, Beauxbatons Academy of Magic.

"Why wouldn't mother of told me about this?"  Artemis thought to herself.

"Rumour has it, she might be a Gryffindor" Lucinda shrugged and I shook my head

Hours later, the door of the dungeon swung open letting in a cold breeze.

"Hello?" spoke a tall girl with long brown hair and flawless skin.

Artemis jumped out of bed full of excitement, knowing exactly who that voice belonged to.

"Get back into bed, Missy" Vanity yawned sleepily

Artemis tip-toed down the stairs to the common room, trying to make sure not to wake anyone else up.

"Esme!" she whisper shouted.

Esme made eye contact with Artemis and ran towards her for an embrace.

"Little Missy Black, Oh Merlin, you've grown since I last saw you"

"Well it has been five years, Es" Artemis chuckled, "What are you doing here?"

"I got kicked out of Beauxbatons, apparently the headmistress doesn't appreciate having her office blown up" she said with a smirk and Artemis giggled

"The girls were saying you'd be put in Gryffindor, I can't believe you're actually here" Artemis squealed in disbelief

"Well I'm here now, and I'm exhausted" Esme yawned and pulled out a note from her pocket, "er- this is my dorm, do you know where it is?"

Artemis' eyes lit up.

"Of course I do" Artemis smiled and waved to indicate for Esme to follow. They quietly made their way up one of the several flights of stairs and stopped when they reached a door with the words,

"Third Year
A. Black, M. Parkinson, L. Talkalot and E. Vanity "

Written upon it.

"This is your dorm, I'm in the fifth year" Esme questioned

"Well if I've learnt anything from the last three years, it's not to question Professor Slughorn" Artemis smiled pulling out her wand to change the writing to say "3 & 5
A. Black, M. Parkinson, E. Rosier, L. Talkalot and E. Vanity"

"Come in, we have a spare bed, I'm sure the girls won't mind an extra face"