Artemis Hexley and the Circle of Khanna

Chapter 5: Needing Space

Artemis felt almost sick with an unpleasant mixture of fear, sadness, anger, and guilt. She didn't know what was upsetting her more: the revelation that Charlie was going to leave, or how bad she felt about lashing out at him in her fury.

She wasn't the only one. As soon as Charlie had disappeared into the castle and he had calmed himself down, Ben Copper's face had turned from an angry red to a pale greenish-grey. He hadn't meant to say any of those things, either, Artemis was sure of it.

"Why were you so upset with Charlie?" Artemis asked him, as they walked up to the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom together. "You were as angry as I was."

"Of course I was," said Ben, stubbornly jutting out his chin. "He decided to move to another country, and he didn't even tell me about it. At least he tried to tell you."

"Only because Bill would've told me otherwise, I bet. And it's different for me, I guess, because of my brother leaving before." When Ben scoffed, Artemis glared at him. "What?"

"You're not the only one who's had people leave you behind, you know."

"Who left you behind?"

"You did. You and Rowan," Ben replied, his dark eyes fixed on the ground in front of him. "You two were my best friends - my only friends, for a while - and then you just stopped wanting to be my friend."

"We didn't... We just grew apart, that's all. We still care about you."

"Not like you care about each other."

"I guess, but we are best friends. Like you and Charlie are."

"Charlie and I aren't really best friends. Not anymore, anyway."

"You just had a fight. You'll be friends again as soon as you apologise," said Artemis, not sure if she was trying to reassure Ben or herself. She didn't feel reassured, and by the looks of things, neither did Ben, because he shook his head sadly.

"I don't just mean now," he said, with a sigh. "Charlie's got loads of friends. You, Tonks, Jae, Andre, Barnaby, Liz... He's got more in common with all of you lot than he has with me. I don't think I've ever really been his best friend. Just like I was never really yours, either. And now he's going to Romania, and-"

"And you're scared you'll lose him completely," Artemis finished Ben's sentence for him. Clearly, however, that hadn't been what he was about to say, because at her words, he snapped his head up to look at her angrily.

"No. I'm not scared."

"Well, I just-"

"I'm not scared of anything, Artemis! Why can't people just accept that?"

"Because everyone gets scared of things sometimes."

"I'm not like them," Ben shook his head, and the two made the rest of their journey in silence.

When they got to the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, Artemis took her usual seat next to Tonks, who spent the entirety of the lesson complaining about the inadequacy of their new professor's teaching skills.

"I mean, at least he's not a raving bigot like Barnaby's uncle," Tonks whispered, presumably so Barnaby wouldn't hear her. "But even Professor Topsy was a better teacher, and I don't think he ever took a class sober!"

Artemis made a noncommittal noise, barely listening to Tonks at all. She was too wrapped up in her own thoughts: Jacob's letter, Rakepick's escape, her and Charlie's fight.

"Honestly. It's appalling," Tonks continued. "Rakepick was the best Dark Arts teacher we had, and she turned out to be the prime example of why this class is so important in the first place."