Artemis Hexley and the Circle of Khanna

Chapter 1: The Garden Party

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.