Prologue: Dead End

Orion gave a sign to be quiet as they moved closer to the door behind the tapestry. Zacharias walked passed the others and put his ear on the door. The dark wizard stood there listening for a second before he took a step back while taking his wand out of his cloak and motioned to the others to move then cast a Listen-In spell on the door. Voices from the other side of the door could now be heard loud and clear.

"Who told you it was okay to talk to the Royals in such a friendly matter, eh? Why were all standing so close to you even!"

"I bet she cursed the King somehow! That is the only explanation for him to suddenly take interest in such a lowlife like you, you monster." A loud gasp could be heard.

"Oh my God, what if she used an Unforgivable on him?!" A harsh laugh.

"Nonsense! This idiot can't even cast a simple Lumos without exploding something. She clearly drugged him with a potion."

"Tell us what you did you sorry excuse of a human! Or there will be consequences for you. Want another beating maybe?" There was silence for a few seconds.

"Heh… not going to scream today, hm? You know nobody can hear you anyway. No need to be stubborn." Orion was about to blast the damn thing open but got stopped by Zacharias grabbing his shoulders.

"We need to know how many there are first." He whispered. The blond willed himself to calm down and listen more closely to the voices. They had heard three women and one man so far. So at least four people were in the room, but there could be more. One of the female voices was clearly Vanessa Burns, that sickly sweet voice was easy to recognise. If he were to take a guess the man's voice should belong to Samuel MacCasfield. He looked at Zacharias.

"Do you know the Homenum Revelio charm?" Zacharias grinned widely.

"Of course, I know that, how else would I know how many men my mother has over every night?" Cyril rolled his eyes.

"Focus Zabini!"

"Sorry, sorry." Still grinning the dark wizard pointed his wand at the door again and cast the charm, after a short moment blue lines formed in human shapes could be seen through the door.

"Seems to be six of them that makes us on the losing side in numbers." Septimus whispered.

"King, what do we do? Should one of us run for reinforcements?" His friends were looking at him for the next move. Orion was unsure about what to do, they were all skilled duellers but six to four was still a challenge since they did not know their opponent's skill level. If one were to run to get more Slytherins to help them it could take too long and they could miss their chance to do anything at all. Orion thought back to the prophecy the Divination Professor had told him.

 "A monster is calling for help in the dark! Blood will be spilt if nothing is done to help the creature to the light. It will rip and tear through flesh if it does not find its way back home! It needs light!" He bit his lip in frustration if that meant what he thought it meant they had to do something now. He slowly backed away from the door and moved down the hall as he motioned his friends to follow. They all looked at him in confusion but followed him nonetheless. When they were around the corner Septimus spoke up.

"What are you doing? We are not retreating are we?" He looked darkly at Orion who shook his head in response.

"We need a distraction to get us into the room safely. We have no clue about what the room looks like so if we can get in without being spotted it's our best bet." Cyril looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"How are we going to do that?" Orion smirked.

"Peeves should still be close by, if we can persuade him to help us we can slip in unnoticed." Zacharias looked at him dumbfounded.

"You have officially lost your marbles. I bet we are using Cyril's invisibility potions then to do the rest?" Orion nodded all they needed now was a little luck. From what he remembered of the encounter he had with Artemis and Peeves it did seem that the ghost had a certain interest in the girl. Like they were old acquaintances. It was a small chance but a chance he was taking either way. He took a deep breath.

"Peeves!" Nothing but silence met them and Orion was about to try again when the familiar cackling was heard above them.

"No need to be so loud boy! Running scared?" They all looked up and saw Peeves floating around the chandelier in lazy circles.

"I'm making you a deal Peeves. We need help to get into that room unnoticed and you are going to help us. If you do I will let you scare as many students as you want on my nightly Prefect rounds. I won't tell Professor Snape or the Baron. Deal?" For once the ghost was quiet as he floated slowly towards them on the ground. He stopped when he was at eye level with Orion. Peeves studied him intensely, it felt like his soul itself was being looked at. The blond stood his ground and met Peeve's eyes seriously. In the end, the ghost seemed satisfied and the usual wide grin was back in place.

"Well well well! That is an offer I simply cannot refuse! It will be done posthaste it will!" He bowed in the air and floated in the direction of the tapestry. The boys quickly followed, Cyril took out the potion bottle from his cloak as they went and took a sip then passed it on. When they reached the door the potion had taken its effect and they could not be spotted anymore.

"Zacharias, you go in last and shut the door as quietly as you can, got it?" He felt a tap on his shoulder. The boys all took deep breaths as they saw Peeves fade through the wall.

 Inside

King opened the door as slowly as he could and what he saw was utter chaos. Peeves were flying high up in the ceiling while singing so horribly out of tune that he swore that his ears would start to bleed. The ghost was also mixing in all sorts of insults in the song directed at all of the people in the room. However, every time someone shouted at him to stop he sang even louder.

The Slytherins carefully slipped inside and Orion could faintly hear the door being shut meaning that they were all inside. He took a few seconds to look around the room. It turns out the room was an old Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom. Why the old classroom was hidden behind a tapestry only the school itself could answer but it was fairly known to move rooms around at this point. Closest to the door were the old tables and benches. It was obvious that someone had moved them to make room around the stage as the floor had dust patterns. The stage was one of the older types. It was wider than the one they used now and didn't look movable. Other than that it didn't look too different from the classroom they were currently using except this one didn't have a teacher quarters at the back. So no staircase led to an office and in its stead was a slate wall with some different decorations hanging on it. Some armour pieces, a couple of swords and a shield. Probably used back in the day but seemed redundant now.

A gang of Gryffindors were all standing on stage in a half circle with their backs to the door. Orion counted and found that there were seven of them with Artemis. Burns, MacCasfield, three girls and one boy he hadn't seen before. He frowned, why hadn't the spell picked up all of them he wondered.

Then Orion registered that Artemis was sitting bound to a chair with what probably was the Funem Vinculum spell. The ropes binding her arms and legs were glowing a faint gold which means they were meant to tighten if you moved too much. He bit his lip to prevent cursing out loud. They slowly made their way closer to the stage as quietly as they could. Peeves were still singing loudly above them, if the ghost could see them or not he did not know but so far he was fulfilling his part of the deal perfectly. The Slytherins had reached the end of the stage now and Orion could see Artemis more clearly. Her face looked untouched, of course, leaving no visible evidence. The rest of her was another story, however, her uniform shirt was torn to shreds and you could clearly see her underwear underneath. The bra that supposedly was white was now coloured a shade of red from the blood pouring out of a cut above her collarbone. Several big bruises were forming over her stomach, around her neck and arms. Septimus swore softly behind him. Cyril tapped him three times on his left shoulder meaning they had three minutes left before the effect of the potion was gone.

"Thank you so much for listening to my lovely songs my dear Gryffindors! But alas I have to get going now, so much to do in death you know! Tata!" Peeves took a bow floated up through the ceiling and disappeared.

"Bloody hell Peeves is annoying! Where did he even come from?!" A girl Orion didn't know spoke up first.

"Fuck if I know, but finally we can get back to the problem at hand, eh?" MacCasfield said as he went over to Artemis and gripped her face so she was looking at him.

The Gryffindor was a strong build. Being a beater on the Quidditch team for so many years had gained him a fair amount of muscle which he showed off at every opportunity. Orion himself was tall but MacCasfield was one of the few that was taller than him. However, his temper was perhaps what he was most known for. That and his jet-black hair and eyes that people discussed were black or dark brown.

"So little demon, what were you talking with the snake king about in the potion store room, eh? You weren't trying to rat us out were you?" As he talked he walked behind her while still holding on to her face. Slowly, the chair was tipped backwards and was balancing dangerously on its back legs. However, Artemis didn't utter a sound and only stared at him. It looked like to Orion that the brunette was simply bored. Like this was a routine that happened every day and was nothing new. The thought scared him.

"You choose silence, eh? Well well… too bad for you I suppose. Vanessa, what do you wanna do to her?" He let go of Artemis's face and the chair landed back on the floor with a loud bang. MacCasfield turned to look at Burns while he drew his wand. She held up her hand to signal him to wait while she walked over to Artemis stopping right in front of her. Gone was that sugary smile from before, instead it was replaced with a cold-hearted smirk only an ice queen would be proud of. She bent down so she was on eye level with Artemis.

"You know that if you cooperate it turns out for the better for you right? Do you really want to get beaten again?" Burns tilted her head to the side as she studied the brunette and waited for an answer when none came she simply sighed.

"Fine, as you wish. No one will hear you scream here anyway. Samuel, dear, you know what to do." She walked over to a chair on the edge of the stage and sat down her legs crossed. The other three girls in the room followed and sat down next to her like they were going to watch a show. MacCasfield and another boy that Orion did not know took out both their wands. Cyril tapped him on the shoulder, one minute left of the potion effect.

"Last chance Blackmoore, you going to talk?" MacCasfield said as he aimed his wand at her. Artemis lifted her head slowly and stared at him. Unexpectedly, she started to grin.

"Do your worst MacCasfield." MacCasfield grinned back.

"As you wish. Sectumsempra!" The spell came out of the wand like a straight knife on its side and hit her square over the legs. Before she even could start screaming the other boy had fired out another one that hit her over the left arm. The scream she let out then was shaking Orion's magical core. His magic came to life like a raging storm and suddenly all the windows in the room shattered at once. The girls had been sitting under the windows and were screaming trying to cover themselves as glass rained down upon them.

"That seems to be our cue boys!" As Zacharias yelled the potion wore off. The Gryffindors were not prepared for what happened and were taken by surprise first by the windows breaking and then by the rest of the Slytherins showing up out of thin air. Zacharias was already taking the opportunity to fling spells at MacCasfield and the other boy. Cyril and Septimus were taking care of the girls sitting under the windows and since they were too occupied with the glass breaking they didn't have time to reach for their wands before they were all Stupified. Orion went straight for Artemis in the chair, he quickly dismantled the cursed ropes and they fell to the ground and vanished.

"Artemis! Can you hear me?" He touched her face carefully and lifted it up so he could take a closer look at her. Golden eyes met his ice-blue ones. She was smiling at him.

"Loud and clear, Mr Prefect." He jumped at the colour of her eyes, however, he didn't have the time to think too much about it as a spell flew straight past his ear and sent pieces of the wall flying. He quickly turned around with his wand raised. The other Gryffindor boy was lying on the floor Stupified and Zacharias was duelling MacCasfield among the tables.

"Give it up MacCasfield! It's one against four now! You can't win!" Orion flung a spell at him but the Gryffindor took cover behind a table.

"HAH! Like I am going to be beaten by some snakes! Besides you are wide open King!" MacCasfield sent a spell right towards Orion's face. He was about to counter it when it suddenly hit a shield mere centimetres from his face.

"Orion! You alright?" Septimus shouted from his position by the Stupified girls. While Cyril stepped to his side and threw up his own shielding charm. Orion blinked and looked at the shield that was shining slightly in front of him.

"Y… yes, thank you for that." He looked over to the other two and they looked at him in confusion.

"It wasn't any of us mate." Cyril looked at him then turned to look at Artemis. The blond did the same, she was sitting there with a smile on her face. But it was not the same smile he had seen earlier in the day. This was sinister and cold.

"Can't have something damage that pretty face of yours now can we King?" Her voice matched her smile, it sounded cold and hollow like someone was speaking through her. It sent chills down his spine.

Suddenly he noticed something odd on the floor under her chair. At first, it looked like an ordinary shadow but then it started to move along the floor like a thick fog. It rolled over the floor in waves slowly moving outward and spreading through the room. Then he noticed that the room felt icy cold and he could see his own breath. Orion looked up at her again and his eyes widened at what seemed like smoke was rising up from her making her seem like she had just been put out from being set aflame. A scream erupted in the room. Orion quickly turned around and saw MacCasfield suspended in the air by a tentacle made of black fog. It had twisted itself around his body and neck. He was clawing at it and struggling to get loose.

"S…top… y...you bitch… Le…Let me... g…go!" He croaked out. Orion quickly turned around to look at Artemis again, she was not paying the struggling boy any mind. She was studying Orion with her head tilted to one side like she was trying to figure out a difficult puzzle. What Peeves had said came to mind.

"Don't regret it now and don't show fear." When their eyes met all Orion wanted to do was to run away but he managed to calm down and stand his ground. The gold eyes were taking their hold of him as he felt Septimus come up on his right side. The dark blond said something that got lost in his ears and he felt himself be pushed backwards. When he could feel the edge of the stage right behind him with his feet he decided to take a chance. He pushed Cyril and Septimus off the stage so they both landed on the floor below him.

"Silver what are you doing!?" Zacharias shouted. Orion ignored him and took a few steps closer towards Artemis who was still sitting in the chair without breaking eye contact.

"Well colour me impressed. You are not running away? Are you really that fearless? Or simply stupid?" She stood up from the chair with ease paying her wounds no mind.

Orion's instinct was screaming at him to run away, but his magic was keeping him standing still. All he could do was look at Artemis, no matter what he did he could not take his eyes off her. Her eyes were like liquid gold and it seemed like they were pulling him in. He could faintly hear MacCasfield cursing at her and what he thought was Cyril yelling at her to let him go before he choked to death. She reached over to him and touched his face softly and for a second he could see her eyes changing from gold to chocolate brown from before and back again.

"Tell me, are you feeling your magic clawing at your skin? It wants me, doesn't it? I can feel it too you know." The voice was not as cold anymore and sounded softer.

Suddenly someone pinched him in the shin which made him flinch in pain.

"SILVER! Wake up already!" Zacharias's voice was booming in his ears and he suddenly took in his surroundings again. The black fog was covering the floor entirely now and the room was even colder than before. He turned around and saw his friends standing below him with scared and desperate looks on their faces. MacCasfield was still suspended in the air, but he was still fighting the fog that was keeping him up. Orion looked at Artemis with a steeled expression.

"Let him down Artemis." She looked at him surprised but was changed out by anger.

"After everything he did?! He was trying to kill me!" Orion walked closer to her and used his height advantage for what it was worth.

"Now." Sudden realisation showed on her face and he could hear a thud behind him followed by loud coughing. Next, he heard Burns scream MacCasfield's name followed by footsteps. Orion did not turn around to look at what was going on, he kept his eyes focused on Artemis as her eyes slowly went back to the normal brown colour and the fog in the room seemed to be pulled back into her. The temperature also slowly went back to normal. Then her body seemed to have caught up with the pain and she lost consciousness. Orion quickly caught her and lowered her to the floor carefully. He was holding her close when his friends came up on the stage.

"What in Salazar's name just happened?" Cyril asked slightly out of breath.

"I don't know." Orion's throat felt like he had swallowed sand. He looked behind him now and saw none of the Gryffindors.

"Where did they go?"

"They all ran towards the door the second they could, probably halfway to their dorm rooms already." Septimus answered as he put his hand on Orion's shoulder.

"You okay?" Orion didn't know what he should answer so he simply nodded. Zacharias walked in front of him and bent down to look at Artemis.

"We should take her to the Hospital Wing. She is bleeding quite badly." Before the boys got to say anything else a voice could be heard from the door.

"That will not be necessary, Mr Zabini."

 Demon

Snape was walking at a fast pace towards them with a schooled look on his face. Surprisingly a sombre-looking Peeves was floating just behind him.

"Professor! Miss Blackmoore she..." Snape gave Septimus a look that told him to keep quiet.

"Lay her on the floor, Mr Silver." Orion did what he was asked immediately and carefully placed her flat on the floor. The Professor took out his wand and started chanting an incantation while dragging his wand across the Sectumsempra wounds. The boys watched in awe when the wounds slowly started to close and turn into thin straight lines across her skin. Now that Orion looked at her up close he could see that she had multiple scars, some looked old and faded but others looked like they had recently happened. He could feel tears prickling behind his eyes and blinked them furiously away. When Snape finished with his spellwork he looked at the boys in turn and sighted. The man sounded tired, but at the same time, it looked like this was a mundane sight he was used to seeing.

"Will the little one be alright?" Orion had never heard Peeves talk so quietly before. The ghost was floating just above their heads and was looking at Artemis with worry. If the dead could cry Orion was sure he would have.

"She will be fine Peeves, now you know what to do." Peeves nodded at the Professor and flew out the door. Snape looked at him go then turned his attention to the boys again.

"Now you all will follow me. Quietly." The last word was said harshly. Orion took off his robe and covered Artemis with it then picked her up carefully making sure her head was leaning on his shoulder. The Professor simply looked at him but said nothing and started to walk out of the classroom. The Slytherins followed quickly behind him. They had avoided all of the more crowded hallways and corridors on their way to the Potion Master's chambers. Even taking a few shortcuts that Orion didn't know existed. It surprised him that they hadn't even seen any students wandering around the halls but he figured that was probably thanks to Peeves. Seemed like the ghost had more respect for the Slytherin Head than he originally thought. As they entered the professor's chambers he went over to the left side and opened a door.

"Put her on the bed in here, Mr Silver." The personal space of the Professor was not at all how Orion had imagined. It was clad in not only the Slytherin green but also dark blues and purple. The living room part was furnished with soft-looking chairs with a round tea table in the middle. The fireplace was crackling nicely to the right in the room. What did not surprise Orion was all the bookshelves and potion ingredients that were strewn everywhere. From the ceiling to the floor, there was not one place that didn't have some sort of clutter. But everything looked neatly organised nonetheless. Orion went into the room to the left that Snape had opened and saw a big bed in the middle of the room. It was only lit by some simple candles that floated in the ceiling, much as they did in the Great Hall. A study desk was placed over to the left with a simple chair. Parchment, quills and ink bottles were cluttered all over. Orion stopped for a second when he saw a trunk similar to his own resting in the corner by the desk.

"Mr Silver, today please." The blond went over to the bed and carefully placed Artemis down. She hadn't stirred at all on the way here thankfully. Now that he let her go he could feel his muscles ache and wondered why he hadn't noticed it before. He looked at his Professor as he entered the room holding a tray of what looked like healing potions and bandages.

"W… will she be alright, Sir?" The older man just looked at him for a second.

"She will be fine. I have to be honest and say that this is not the first time this has happened. I am however curious about how you found her?" The rest of his friends had now entered the room and were watching quietly.

"Professor Trelawney, Sir. She had a vision of it when I left Divination right before dinner." Orion said seriously.

"I got the younger students to ask around for Miss Blackmoore during dinner Sir, that is how we found her." Septimus added.

"I see. We will discuss this further, please wait out in the living room. I'll call for some house elves to bring you some tea while you wait." All the boys could do was nod and leave the room. The door softly shut behind them and the silence of the living room met them. A soft 'pop' was heard when an elf showed up in the middle of the room and put down a tea set on the table.

"Please enjoy Sirs!" The elf bowed deeply and left again with a soft 'pop'. Cyril sighed and sat down in a chair and grabbed a cup.

"Might as well get comfortable while we wait." Septimus sat down in the chair next to the auburn-haired boy and took his own cup. Orion and Zacharias followed suit. They all sat in silence for several minutes just enjoying the warmth of the tea until Zacharias slammed his teacup down on the table making the other three jump in surprise.

"Are we seriously not gonna talk about what just happened? I can't just sit here and drink tea merrily while a person was almost killed in front of me you know! What the hell is she?!" Orion looked down in his teacup, just simple tea leaves were left in the bottom. He frowned slightly at it something that looked like ants was at the bottom. If he remembered correctly from what he had learned in Divination a bunch of ants was a symbol of difficulties to come. He looked up at his friends.

"I don't know what she is but I do know that she was just trying to protect herself. In all honesty, MacCasfield should have seen it coming. He didn't even hesitate before flinging that curse at her like he had no remorse about what he did. She saw a chance to get even and she took it. Can any of you really blame her for that?" His friends all looked at him with sombre looks on their faces.

"I have to agree that I probably would have done the same if I was in her position. But that magic was… terrifying. How did she get that amount of power? She did not even use a wand did she?" Orion looked at Septimus with realisation. It was true, he had not seen her use a wand at all. He didn't even know that she had one on her. The door to the other room slowly opened then and Snape emerged looking even more tired than before. He sat down heavily in one of the chairs and poured himself a cup of tea. After a few sips, he looked up from his cup to address the boys waiting.

"She is sleeping peacefully now. She will be fine after a few days' rest. Now I am sure that you all are wondering what happened today. I will answer all the questions you have if able." Orion looked at his Head of House with a scowl.

"Sorry, Sir, but shouldn't we tell you what happened?" The other Slytherins nodded.

"That is not necessary as I already know what happened Mr Silver. Peeves alerted me of the event after he was your distraction to get into the classroom. I had noticed that Miss Blackmoore and the other usual Gryffindors were absent from dinner and had a hunch that something was going on." Orion clenched his fists.

"This is not the first time this has happened is it?" The Professor just looked at him with a face that told him that no, this was not the first time.

"Sir, what is she? Is she possessed in some way?" Cyril asked carefully. Snape took a few more sips of his tea like he was buying himself some time to think.

"Before I get to that I will have to let you know that if this information is used in any shape or form to hurt Miss Blackmoore in the future you all will be severely punished. Am I making myself clear?" The Potion Master's voice was cold and without mercy. Orion shivered a bit, then nodded. The other three looked at each other before they too nodded in agreement. Snape studied them for a few more seconds before he spoke again.

"Your theory is not far from the truth Mr Thompson. But rather being possessed by a spirit or a demon she is partly the demon herself." Zacharias started to laugh then.

"Sorry, Sir, but that must be a joke, right? She is a demon?" Snape looked at him harshly.

"I am by no means joking Mr Zabini and I said partly. She is still herself most of the time, but during great emotional distress, she turns into a version of herself that has more power and a lot less human emotions. But I am getting ahead of myself. For you to understand all this you will have to know everything from the beginning." He put down his teacup carefully on the table then leaned back in his chair again.

"When Miss Blackmoore was three years old she was kidnapped by a fairly well-known child kidnapper nicknamed 'The Vanisher'." Septimus let out a gasp.

"The wizard that took children whom he thought had extraordinary abilities. He believed that the parents did not deserve their children." Snape nodded.

"He somehow foresaw the magical capabilities of these children that he took and Miss Blackmoore was one of them. Most of the children were returned to their parents after he had 'trained' them to control their magic. Miss Blackmoore was returned at the age of six but not to her parents. She was placed outside of the Ministry of Magic in London with a letter that included her name, age and that she had tremendous power. If she was not properly taken care of there would be dire consequences for the wizarding world." Zacharias held up his hand to signal he wanted to ask something, Snape nodded at him.

"But Sir, why didn't the Ministry return her to her parents? I mean they had her name."

"The Vanisher insisted that her parents did not take her back and to avoid this gave her a new name. Of course, the Ministry tried to search for her parents but no one ever came to collect the girl so they were forced to send her to an orphanage. This became one of their greatest mistakes. Have any of you heard of 'The Orphan Massacre'?" Orion's eyes widened in shock. It had happened back in 1979, he was eight years old at the time and his parents had been reading the Prophet in terror that one morning. During the night there had been a massacre at an orphanage on the outskirts of London. There were theories that a magical creature of some kind had gotten in during the night and killed mercilessly. Only one child had survived the bloodshed.

"Sir, you don't mean?" There was a tremble in Cyril's normally calm voice.

"Yes, Miss Blackmoore was the child that survived, because she was the one that did the killing. But I assure you that something of that scale has not happened since. She was a scared and angry child. The power she had could not be controlled and therefore it turned out the way it did. She is more in control now even though, like today, sometimes the demon shows its angry face. They are two different sides of the same coin. One is not worse than the other, I can assure you this. Miss Blackmoore herself can be a rude child…" The professor knitted his eyebrows together in annoyance as it seemed he remembered something.

"...and the demon can be a nice creature if it wants to." Orion remembered back to the night before when he had seen the golden eyes, it must have been the demon he was talking to then.

"So she has a personality disorder?" Septimus asked intrigued. Snape pondered the question for a little while before shaking his head and then replying.

"It is more the fact that she has demon blood flowing through her veins and it acts when its host is in dire need. This 'awakening' as some would call it, happened that night of the massacre. That was what her kidnapper figured out during the time she stayed with him. It goes without saying that this happening to wizard folk is extremely rare. I would believe that it is more common to be a veela than to have demon blood." Orion's thoughts were all over the place. Had it not been for the fact that it was his own Head of House telling him all of this then he would not believe a word of it. But the potion master never joked about anything, let alone something this serious. Zacharias spoke up then.

"So the fact that she didn't do anything back to bloody Gryffindorks is because she was fearing that she would actually kill them? That is why she never fought back ever?" He slammed his fist down on the table making the teacups shake.

"That is totally insane! To take so much beating just to keep the rest of those fucking good-for-nothings happy. I would gladly hold that bloody whore Burns still for her so she could take her revenge on her any day!" The dark boy was shaking in rage at this point. Orion reached over and put his hand on the other boy's shoulder. Septimus did the same on the other side as he turned to look at Snape again. Who, surprisingly, had not said anything about Zacharias' outburst.

"Why hasn't the Headmaster done anything about the problem the Gryffindors seem to have with the bullying going on? He must know about it? I've also heard that Professor McGonagall ignored it when Miss Blackmoore went to her about it." For the first time in his life, Orion saw his Head of House looking incredibly sad. It looked like the next thing he was going to say pained him more than anything else.

"The Headmaster himself said that she was a lost cause. That she would never be able to control her powers and that she was only here because she had to by law. To the Gryffindors matron's horror, she was sorted into her house which in her words made Miss Blackmoore her responsibility. Something she did not want. You noticed the trunk that stood in the room you placed her in did you not, Mr Silver?" Orion nodded slowly.

"For the past six years, Miss Blackmoore has lived here in my personal chambers. I have been teaching her to control her powers and I have been treating her wounds. It was I who made the choice, she could not live in the dorms with the others. I deemed it too dangerous. Not for their sake, but for hers." Snape looked sadly at the door to her room and sighed.

"I would like to ask all of you a personal favour." Orion was surprised that it was Zacharias who spoke up first.

"Anything, Sir." Snape looked at them one at a time before asking.

"I would like all of you to keep showing Miss Blackmoore the same amount of kindness that you showed her during today's potion class. The girl desperately needs it. I would also add that I am proud to call you all my students so for that I give 20 points to Slytherin." All the boys could do was look at their Head of House dumbfounded. Never had they heard Snape say such kind and friendly words. Before they got to say anything the usual strict mask the Potion Master had was back on.

"It is getting late, you should all go back to your dorms for tonight. But I would like you all to come back here tomorrow after dinner, we have more to discuss. Miss Blackmoore should then be awake. I will explain everything to her beforehand." He got up from his chair and opened the door for the boys and motioned for them to leave. Orion took a quick glance at the clock on the wall, it showed half-past nine. It was only thirty minutes left until curfew, luckily it was a quick walk to the common room from here. The boys all got out of their chairs and headed for the door.

 ~𓅃~

They were now standing outside in the chilly corridor of the dungeons. Orion shivered slightly and realised that his cloak was still in Artemis' room. He had to use his spare for tomorrow he guessed.

"That was a lot of information to go through." Septimus broke the silence first. Orion agreed with the dark blond before he looked at Cyril.

"You have been mostly quiet all evening. What is on your mind?" Cyril looked at him.

"As Ace said, it was a lot of information. Had it not been Snape that told us I would never have believed any of it. Could she really be that dangerous? She looked so brittle and lonely in class today. I mean I know we all saw the same thing up in that classroom but…" The boy sighed in defeat. "I don't know guys, hopefully after a night of sleep everything will make more sense." Orion patted his friend on the back before looking a little further down the hall and saw Zacharias kick the wall over and over in anger. The King sighed.

"Zacharias, stop it. You'll hurt yourself." The dark wizard turned towards them all suddenly rage clear on his face.

"We will do what Snape told us to right?! We will show her kindness from now on! At least I will and if any of you are mean to her I will hex you into next week!" The other three just stared at him.

"What? You better do it you hear me!" Cyril started laughing then.

"Zacharias you idiot. Of course, we are going to listen to the Professor's request. How could we not? I enjoyed talking to her today, I found her funny. I overheard what she said to you about your grades!" He grinned widely. Septimus joined in on the laughter.

"Oh, Salazar that was the best comeback I have heard in a while. Even got you speechless!" He started to laugh harder. Watching his friends laugh made it hard for Orion not to join them, he had to put his hand over his mouth to try and hide his grin. Zacharias stomped the ground a few times with his foot, now more from embarrassment than anger.

"Idiots! Come on, we need to go back already!" The dark wizard started to march down the dungeon corridor while being followed by the other three's laughter.

 The Next Day

All of the boys were walking quickly to Snape's chambers after dinner the next day. The day had gone by incredibly slowly for them all. On top of it all, it was Friday and a Hogsmeade weekend. The friends had all discussed the promise they had made with Snape the night before and had decided that taking Artemis with them to Hogsmeade was going to be the first step on the bridge to friendship.

Orion took a deep breath before he knocked on the door to the Potion Master's chamber. The door slowly opened for them and they all stepped into the room. On one of the chairs sat Artemis wrapped in the green blanket that Orion had seen that night. She had a book on her lap and a cup of tea was resting on the armrest of the chair. The girl looked better than what she did the night before. A bandage was barely visible over her shoulder where one of the curses had hit her. His eyes found hers quickly and was somewhat relieved that they were the chocolate brown that he had seen in class yesterday. Her hair was also tied up in a messy bun, locks of hair escaping at weird angles making her look much younger than she really was. Orion noted that four cups of tea were already waiting for them on the table, however, the Potion Master was nowhere to be seen.

"Miss Blackmoore. You look better." His own voice sounded strained in his own ears and he hoped that it didn't come out that way. The girl looked up at them after turning the page and marking where she was.

"Oh! Is it past dinner already?!" She looked at the clock over the fireplace and blushed.

"I'm sorry! I was supposed to change before you arrived… I lost track of time while reading." She blushed even harder and tried to make her hair more presentable, to no avail. Cyril moved to sit in a chair while laughing.

"Don't worry Miss, you look quite cute like that. No need to change. You are the patient here anyway, so best for you to be comfortable." Zacharias made a gagging sound while he sat down in the chair opposite Cyril. Cyril just rolled his eyes in response. Orion sat down in the chair closest to Artemis, Septimus sitting opposite him.

"It's true! No need for you to change. Anyhow where is the Professor?" Septimus asked. The girl crouched slightly while trying to hide her blushing before answering.

"Apparently a second year exploded a cauldron in class so it was a big mess to clean up. He will be here as fast as possible though. In the meantime, we were to just sit and talk he said. Oh! Any pastries you like? I wasn't sure so I didn't order anything yet." Orion had to chuckle at how fast she was talking. She was clearly nervous and bad at hiding it. Somewhat this calmed his own nerves that he had, it was good to know that he wasn't the only one.

"Caramel cookies are the best for tea! No discussion!" Zacharias grinned at Artemis. She giggled at him softly and nodded.

"Mips!" A small female house elf with the biggest blue eyes Orion had ever seen showed up next to her.

"Yes, miss! What can Mips do for the little miss?" Artemis blushed a little again.

"Don't call me little… Can you bring us some caramel cookies, please? Oh, and some chocolate cake if there is any left." The elf suddenly realised that the boys were there and her eyes seemed to grow twice the size. She beamed the biggest smile Orion had ever seen an elf make.

"Misses friends?! Misses has gotten friends! What happy day!!" Mips then looked at Artemis and frowned.

"Misses! You can't dress like that in front of the friends! You have to look pretty, come! Mips will make you pretty!" She started to tug at Artemis' sleeve for her to get out of the chair.

"No, Mips they said it was fine." Orion thought it was not possible for the girl to blush any harder if she tried. He had to chuckle again at the sight. The house elf stood up as straight as she could and pointed a finger at Artemis.

"No Misses! It is unacceptable! Come now, come, come!" She started to pull at the girl's sleeves even harder. Artemis looked at the boys pleadingly for help, the blond could not hold it in any longer and started to laugh louder.

"It's fine Misses, we will wait for you." He smirked at her when she looked at him with a betrayed look. She gave up then and stood up from the chair and let the elf drag her into the room from yesterday. They could then see that she was dressed in plain grey pyjamas and was barefooted. How she didn't freeze her feet off on the cold dungeon floor was a mystery to Orion. Maybe Snape had spelled the floor to be warmer because of her.

"That elf must really like her a lot to react like that, huh?" Zacharias mused.

"She obviously has not had anyone visit her seeing it is probably kept on the down low that she lives here after all." Cyril added then smirked at Orion.

"Now that I look at her with her hair up she looks rather pretty, wouldn't you say King?" The other two looked between them curiously. Orion raised his eyebrow.

"You point Thompson?" Cyril simply grinned and shook his head.

The door to Artemis's bedroom opened then. The boy's eyes widened when they saw her, it was like it was a different girl coming out. She was dressed in a plain long-sleeved green dress with black stockings and black flat shoes. Her hair was now in a braid that hung across her shoulder and a hint of makeup was evident on her face. She was not meeting their eyes when she walked over to her chair and sat down again. A proud Mips then showed up with the pastries that they ordered and put them on the table. None of them said anything as the elf walked around the table and poured tea for them. When Mips was finished she stood proudly next to Artemis' chair and bowed.

"Misses friends! I hope you all will have a good time and call for Mips if you need anything!" She smiled even wider and disappeared with a soft 'pop'. Artemis looked up at them then.

"Mips forced me! I swear that elf is impossible. I tried to say that my uniform was enough but she dug this dress from out of my trunk…" Orion smiled at her.

"You look, beautiful Misses. It seems like Mips really likes you." Orion was wrong, she actually managed to blush even harder. It took all his willpower not to laugh. Zacharias cat-called then winked at her.

"You clean up good, Blackmoore." Cyril and Septimus nodded in agreement. She started to laugh then, a real bubbly laugh. Soon they all were laughing at what just happened while tears started to form in their eyes.

A few minutes later they had all calmed down enough to start on their tea. Artemis took a few sips to calm down.

"Mips is actually Seve… Snape's personal house elf. Like many of the Professor's own house elves, she works in the kitchen during the school year. But when I moved in here Snape gave her the order to take care of me when he was not here. The elf had never taken care of a child before so she was excited to learn and I had never had a house elf before so we learned together. I guess that brought us closer in many ways. She was always nervous about me not having friends since I could not bring them here, I mean nobody is supposed to know that I live here. Mips doesn't really understand that logic, of course. She knows I am not normal like other girls though. Seeing you guys here really made her happy." All the boys chose to ignore the fact that she had almost said the Professor's first name. It came as no surprise to any of them that they were on a first-name basis after all these years.

"She clearly loves you a lot. She almost sounded like a mom the way she talked to you." Septimus smiled.

"Yes, she read a lot of beginner books for parents from the library. I also know that she asked a lot of the older elves to help her. I guess that is where the 'mother hen' tone came from." She giggled softly. "Anyway, Snape said that he told you everything yesterday night correct?" She looked at them with a sceptical look, like an animal approaching something unknown. Orion nodded as he spoke.

"He told us everything. The incident in the orphanage to why you are being bullied. Also about the demon blood." He looked at her seriously. "I promise that none of us shall tell anything about this to anyone else. I would gladly make an unbreakable vow if you want." Her eyes softened when she studied their faces one after the other. In the end, she shook her head.

"No need. If that was your intention the rumours would already be flowing around the school and Snape had probably already brought me to safety somewhere else. Wh... what surprises me the most is that you are not scared… none of you." Artemis stared at them with tears in her eyes. Orion's heart broke then. The girl in front of them was broken in more ways than he had first thought. She had been living in this room almost all their school life, away from the rest of the students. Terrified that someone would find out about her secret, she had endured an enormous amount of pain. The loneliness must have been the worst part to endure. When thinking about all the times Orion and his friends had been sitting in the common room just playing chess or lazing around and at the same time, she had been sitting here completely alone made him regret not finding out all of this sooner. The regret crashed over him like a wave in a storm and his body moved on his own. The blond got up and took a short step over to her chair and pulled her into a hug.

"I'm sorry that we didn't figure out this sooner. If I knew.." The girl froze like a statue but suddenly the words seemed to sink in and they broke her down bit by bit. What started as silent tears soon evolved into loud sobbing. Orion could feel his shirt getting wet from her tears but it only made him hold her tighter. While he sat there crouched on the floor holding the sobbing girl something felt like it fell into place within him. His magic woke with a sudden force that almost made him lose his breath. He could feel it struggling to stay calm like it wanted to be let out to help the girl. Artemis suddenly looked up at him with a curious look. Still teary-eyed she reached down at took his hand in hers. Orion's eyes widened, though faint he could see his magic crawling over their hands and surrounding the brunette with a soft glow. He looked up at her for answers but she was sitting with her eyes closed.

"Wh… what's happening?" Zacharias whispered behind him.

"It seems like Orion's magic is forming a protecting shield around her?" Septimus whispered back. What had to be Cyril shushed them both.

Artemis opened her eyes then and all the boys jumped a little in their chairs. Her eyes were a mix of gold and brown. Like a river made out of dark liquid amber. She smiled at Orion, not the cold smile he now expected from the gold eyes, but a warm one.

"I… I can feel the demon blood in me calming down. Like the storm has finally passed. This is the first time this has happened, I've never felt anything like it. It's wonderful." Tears were streaming down her face again. This time they were of happiness and not sadness. Orion looked at her and decided to take a chance. He softly put his hand on her cheek and wiped the tears away. Then he leaned in and put his forehead together with hers and closed his eyes. He could feel it now, the storm she talked about. It was thrashing like a wild animal locked in a cage. Desperately wanting freedom. He tried to make it calm down, it seemed to listen at first but then retaliated back tenfold. It felt like someone had punched him in the stomach and he had to pull away from the girl. Artemis must have also felt it because she let go of him while she gasped. They both breathed hard while they looked at each other. Mips then showed up with a big smile on her face, but it fell quickly when she saw Artemis on the floor gasping for breath.

"Misses! What happened? You are not sick again are you?" The elf hurried over to her master and started to get her up and back into the chair to the best of her ability. Cyril was at Orion's side and helped him into his own chair again.

"They are fine Mips, but if you could get them some water please?" Cyril looked at the elf politely. She hesitated for a second before disappearing and reappearing almost immediately with two glasses of water. She hovered one in front of Artemis for her to take, and Cyril took the other one to give to Orion. After they had both drank the glasses and had calmed down again they looked at each other again. Artemis' eyes had returned to their normal brown the blond noted. Mips was still fussing around Artemis and she had to reassure the elf that nothing was wrong and that she could go back to the kitchen again. Mips frowned slightly but did as she was told. They were still sitting in silence when Snape entered the room. The Professor immediately understood that something was wrong when he saw the faces of his students.

"What happened?" It sounded more like an order than a question. Zacharias was quick to tell him what had happened in his absence. He was sitting listening quietly to what the young adults told him while sipping slowly on some tea that Mips had brought him.

"I see, this is very interesting. I would like to research this further if possible. If you two could keep being in physical contact with each other that would help." Orion almost choked on the cookie he was eating as he heard the Professor's words.

"S… Sir?" Snape just looked at him with an eyebrow raised.

"Simply holding her hand from time to time should be fine, Mr Silver." The older man smirked behind the cover of his teacup. The blond nodded meekly in response. Zacharias then spoke up.

"Oh! We forgot! Guys, we forgot to ask Blackmoore about that thing we planned." Artemis looked confused at him.

"Thing?" Zacharias grinned at her.

"Yeah! It's a Hogsmeade weekend this weekend you know? We wondered if you wanted to go with us tomorrow? After breakfast of course, and only if you are up for it." The girl turned speechless and she stared at the boys. They all smiled back at her. Orion put his hand over hers and smiled at her.

"We thought it would be nice to get out of the castle for a few hours." She turned to look at Snape pleadingly. He studied her for what seemed like an eternity, in the end, the man seemed to come to an agreement with himself.

"Fine. But you are all responsible for her. At the same time, you can go to the potion shop and get me some ingredients that I am missing. I'll make a list." He gave the boys an even stricter look than he gave them in class. It felt like being under the gaze of a protective father.

 Sleepless

Orion was lying in bed later that night trying to sleep but it was useless. No matter what way he twisted and turned he couldn't get comfortable. The feeling from earlier still lingered slightly within him. He wondered how bad it actually felt for her when just a little bit was making him sleepless. The blond sighed and got out of bed. His friends were sleeping soundly by the sounds of soft breathing and slight snoring. He put on his cloak and put on his Prefect Badge just in case he found someone else out of bed or met a teacher. The castle was quiet as usual this late and only his own footsteps could be heard as he walked. Orion didn't know how long he had walked but he found himself in the same hallway like the night he met Artemis for the first time. He smiled to himself. Who knew that meeting was going to turn into all this. He looked up at the windowsill that he had seen her back then and jumped.

"Miss Blackmoore! What are you doing out of bed?" Artemis looked down at him with surprise.

"Oh! King. Can't sleep?" He shook his head.

"Neither can I. To be honest I am a little nervous for tomorrow. It's been a while since I've been to Hogsmeade and then go on a date with four guys at the same time! What a scandal." She laughed at his dumbfounded expression.

"How did you get up there anyway? You never told me the other time." He crossed his arms and looked at her strictly. She laughed again.

"I did tell you! It's magic!" She gave him a Cheshire Cat smirk. He rolled his eyes.

"Wow, go figure. What kind of spell did you use then?" Her smirk grew even wider. She pointed at him and made a swift movement with her hand and suddenly he was floating in the air.

"What the?!" She laughed and motioned her hand towards the windowsill and placed him softly down next to her. Orion immediately clutched the windowsill like his life depended on it.

"It's Wingardium Leviosa, of course. You are a wizard are you not?" Orion looked at her dumbfounded again which made her laugh again.

"Cat got your tongue, King?" Artemis's eyes were full of humour and mischief, somehow it made the blond feel calm and warm inside. He smirked back at her.

"I see now why you didn't use it back in the storage room. You would probably have moved the entire shelf." She snickered.

"I actually did that once, Snape has still not forgiven me for it."

"I can imagine." The pair was quiet for a few minutes, both lost in their own thoughts. They were sitting close but not touching, Orion looked down at their hands and realised if he moved his fingers just slightly he would be touching her hand. He swallowed his Slytherin pride and took his hand in hers. She looked up at him surprised but didn't pull away. Orion smiled reassuringly at her.

"This feels better for you right?" The dark brown slowly morphed into the liquid amber from earlier as she nodded. None of them said anything and they continued to enjoy the silence. The King jumped slightly when he felt Artemis put her head on his shoulder. He looked down at her with a smile on his face. Tomorrow was going to be a good day he thought.

 Hogsmeade

The next morning all the boys stood patiently waiting by the Entrance for Artemis to show up. That the Slytherin boys were going to Hogsmeade was nothing unusual on its own but for all of them to be waiting at the door was something the other students had never seen before. If the boys in question had dates they would always meet them down in the little town away from the more prying eyes. A lot of students walked past them and whispered excitedly, some had even stopped a little distance away to wait and see who they were waiting for. Rumours were already going around about who it could be. Orion was growing more nervous by the second that ticked by. He had been on dates before of course but none had really felt this nerve-racking. He shook his head in the realisation of what he was thinking. This was not a date, all his friends would be here as well. It was an outing among friends that was all.

"Hey! Princess over here!" Orion was pulled out of his thoughts by Zacharias yelling. He looked up and saw Artemis running towards them.

"Good morning! What's with the Princess?" She hit Zacharias playfully on the shoulder when she reached them. The dark boy just grinned at her.

"Well seeing as we don't have one you fit the part right?" The girl rolled her eyes and then shrugged.

"Wouldn't I be the Prince then? Seeing as you are a Queen?" Zacharias smirked wider.

"It's settled then! My Prince!" He bowed before her and laughed. She laughed and knelt in response.

"My Queen! It's an honour." Septimus chuckled at them.

"Alright, you two we gotta get going." They all nodded at him. All of them started on the trek down to town. They had only walked for a minute or two before Cyril motioned to Artemis's skirt.

"Aren't you cold Prince?" Seems the nickname had already stuck.

"Not at all! I put a heating charm on my stockings before I left. All the girls do this you know? How else are we going to survive the winter?" Cyril looked thoughtful for a second.

"Yeah, that does make sense." They continued to chat as they walked, Zacharias, Artemis and Cyril at the front while Septimus and Orion stayed a little further behind.

"You saw all the gazes that we got when Miss Blackmoore met with us right, King?"

"Yes, they were hard to ignore. We have to keep our eyes peeled for trouble. Rumours are already flying around we can assume." Septimus looked around and sure enough, students around them were staring. Luckily Cyril and Zacharias had positioned themselves on either side of Artemis so none could harm her on their way past them. The dark blond sighed and patted Orion on the shoulder.

"Let's try to enjoy the day at least, for her." Orion nodded in agreement.

 ~𓅃~

When they reached the town they discussed where to go first.

"We do have the list that the Professor gave us, so let's do that first maybe? All of us probably need a refill of candy from Honeyduke's and some school supplies from Scrivenshaft's quill store. Then end at The Three Broomsticks? How does that sound?" Cyril looked at the others for objections.

"If it's alright can we stop by Tomes and Scrolls as well?" Artemis looked at all of them hopefully. Zacharias made a snoring sound which was followed by a laugh.

"Only if we then go into Spintwitches Sporting Needs afterwards." The dark wizard crossed his arms and stared at Artemis in challenge. She mimicked his snoring sound at him before giggling in response.

"I guess that is fair." Cyril clapped his hands.

"Alright, it's decided! Let's go to J. Pippin's Potions first then." Cyril shot Orion a wicked smirk before he snaked his arm under Artemis' so they now were linked. She looked up at the auburn-haired wizard surprised at the action but he simply smiled sweetly at her and started to walk in the direction of the potion shop. Orion stood still for a second and watched them go. He could feel his magic reacting to someone else touching her, but there was something else that he could not figure out. Pushing the thought aside he quickly followed them to the store.

Once inside of J. Pippin's Potions, Artemis gave the note that the Professor had given her to the store clerk and she went behind to get the order. In the meantime, the gang was just browsing around the store and staring at all the different ingredients and potions there were to buy. Zacharias was having great fun peeking into different jars that were standing on a shelf a little high up. Some of them were filled with different types of animal eyes which just made him laugh harder. The dark wizard was not faced easily with things that would normally be counted as gross for many. Orion was looking around the section of healing ingredients when someone shouted his name.

"Orion!" He knew that voice all too well and sighed. He turned around and sure enough there she was, Eminence Loftwind, a Ravenclaw student that has appointed herself as his potion rival back in fourth year. Normally a very quiet girl, but if you got her talking about potions she would talk nonstop. Her height also made her stand out somewhat, seeing as she was almost as tall as Orion himself. Not that that seemed to bother her the slightest. He had seen the girl wear high heels on more than one occasion. He smiled at her as she walked towards him.

"Eminence, fancy seeing you here. Shopping supplies?" She nodded enthusiastically.

"Yes yes! I have a very important question to ask you, seeing as we haven't gotten potions together this month I hoped that I would see you here today. What do you think the essence of cranberries would do to a hair-changing potion?" The blond boy blinked at her confused, then he noticed that the tall girl's hair was a dusty pink.

"Ah, turn it pink I assume?" She looked confused back at him before suddenly realising what he meant.

"Oh! No no this is actually from when I used lemons! Fascinating in its own right. But no the cranberries actually turned the hair dusty grey and even added curls! It is unbelievable wouldn't you say?" The girl's green eyes were shining like a thousand suns with excitement. Just then Artemis walked up to them looking puzzled. She placed herself close to him and the blond felt something in his magic core shift again. However, Orion had to stop himself from chuckling when he saw the height difference. Eminence was good over a head taller than her even with the shorter girl wearing heels. It was like a button was pushed and Loftwind looked shyly at Orion.

"Oh, I am sorry. I am disturbing you during a date, correct?" Artemis was quick to shake her head even though a blush was clearly blooming over her cheeks.

"No no! I am picking up some stuff for Professor Snape so we are just waiting for the clerk to get the order together. Silver and his friends were nice enough to accompany me. I am sorry too! I am Artemis Blackmoore, Gryffindor." She held out her hand to shake. Loftwind smiled at her and took her hand.

"Pleasure, I am Eminence Loftwind, Ravenclaw." The girl's eyes suddenly widened like an owl.

"Wait, did you say Blackmoore?" Orion got scared for a second that this might end badly as Artemis nodded at the other girl. But to his surprise, the Ravenclaw squeed happily as she had just met Merlin himself.

"It's an honour to meet you! I am so sorry to be rude but are the rumours true that you don't use a wand? That you have some magical anomaly so none of them works for you? This is a really fascinating topic to me, I really want to research the ways of using different things instead of wands you see. Imagine if you could just wear a ring for example!" Some of the other customers in the shop were staring at them now but the rest of the Slytherins had moved over to them now as well. If something were to happen they were close by and could get out quickly. Orion frowned, he had never heard any of those rumours. Artemis looked slightly uncomfortable as Loftwind was still holding onto her hand.

"Ah… um… Yes, it's true actually." All of them looked equally surprised by what they heard.

"We did not see her use her wand at all now that I think about it." Septimus whispered beside him. Loftwind looked even more excited now than she did before oblivious to the Slytherin's surprise.

"That is incredible, your magic must be really beautiful than seeing it then in its natural form. I am hopeless at wandless magic you see. I would be honoured to see you do some magic sometime." Artemis looked at her surprised. Loftwind must have realised that she was still holding onto the shorter girl and let go quickly.

"Oh, I am so sorry again. That was really rude of me." Orion was looking at Artemis and could see all the different emotions glide over her face in quick succession. He poked her on the cheek softly.

"Hey, Blackmoore, you're being rude, the girl complimented you just now." The short girl looked at him in surprise then she turned Loftwind.

"T… Thank you so much for the compliment Eminence. I don't know if my magic can be called beautiful but it was nice of you to say. Your research ideas sound really fascinating. So how about I show you some magic and in exchange you tell me about it?" Loftwind looked like she was about to cry and just nodded.

"That is a deal Artemis." The girls started to laugh then and the boys just stared at them both. Zacharias shrugged and just said.

"Girls, heh?"

After getting the ingredients that Snape wanted they said their goodbyes to Loftwind. The girls promised to meet in the near future to fulfil their promise to each other. Artemis looked in high spirits when they were on their way to Honeyduke's.

"You seem happy Prince." Zacharias patted the girl's head as they walked. Making the height difference between the two even more imminent than it was before. The blond caught himself frowning at the way his friend was just casually touching her. But once again he pushed the thoughts aside.

"Eminence seems like a really nice girl, she is the first one to actually talk to me that way. Besides you guys of course. She was so enthusiastic about potions too, now I know why Snape always looks forward to grading the Ravenclaws' homework." She giggled quietly. Septimus chuckled.

"If you think that was enthusiastic then you should see her in class. She has been rivalling Orion on the subject since the Ravenclaws started having potions with us back in fourth year. It has been a close battle, I think Orion is winning for now, however." Artemis looked up at the blond with admiration.

"That seems fun. You two seem very close because of it too. Even called her by her first name." The King bit his lip, he had hoped that she had not noticed the first name basis he used with Loftwind. Which got him confused in the first place. There was nothing wrong with him saying the first name to someone else. He got pulled out of his thoughts as Cyril gave him a smirk over the girl's head.

"That is true, we have been calling you by your last name until now. How rude of us. Permission to call you Artemis?" Cyril linked arms with the brunette again as he smiled down at her. She blushed slightly but nodded.

"Great! You can of course use our first names as well, right gentlemen?"

"Of course you can, Ace works too." Septimus smiled politely and gave a short bow.

"Hell no! I curse the name my mother gave me, so just call me Queen or Zabini." Zacharias pointed a finger at her mock threateningly. Cyril then leaned down and whispered in her ear, however, it was just loud enough for the blond to hear.

"Apparently Zacharias is the name of a past lover his mother had. She's been married a lot." Orion had to call upon Merlin himself not to forcefully pull the auburn-haired Slytherin away from Artemis. The bad feeling he kept getting every time someone touched her was getting worse and for some reason, Cyril was being more touchy than he normally was. The girl looked at Zacharias and nodded in understanding. She looked at him then with a curious expression. He blushed slightly.

"Orion or King is fine." She smiled sweetly at him and something in his magic core stirred.

 ~𓅃~

Shortly after they were sitting in the Three Broomsticks with a butterbeer each. All taking a second to rest from the walking they had done around town. Orion had managed to get a seat next to Artemis but unfortunately, Cyril had sat down on the other side. It was ridiculous of him to be thinking anything bad of his friend. Cyril and he had known each other since the second year and had never competed for anything. He wondered if the other boy was doing this on purpose to rile him up as backed up by the constant touching he did to the brunette. The girl did not seem to mind at all, but then again she was probably starved for human contact which made Orion wonder if Cyril's touch had the same effect as his own. He got taken out of his own head with Artemis waving her hand in front of his face.

"King? You alright? You haven't said anything for the last ten minutes." He looked around the table and saw everyone staring at him.

"I'm fine, just tired I suppose." He turned to look at her with a reassuring smile.

"Did you enjoy yourself today?" Her dark hair flew around her face as she nodded enthusiastically, not unlike what Loftwind had done earlier in the day.

"Yes! As I said before I have been here before to get ingredients for Snape but I have always gone alone so I usually just went straight back to the castle. I don't know how to repay you. Oh, and I know you have all been on high alert the whole day. None of you are hiding it very well." She grinned at them. "They usually never do anything outside of the castle, too many witnesses. So you can relax." She laughed when she saw the boys visibly lowering their shoulders. It was true, they had been on high alert the entire time they had been in town. Everyone seemed like an enemy now and every time Orion had seen a red tie he had been extra on edge. Septimus spoke up with a curious expression.

"Pardon the topic change but you did mention to Miss Loftwind that you did not have a wand. Is this genuine? I have heard the rumour, of course, but I never thought that it was true. I did do some research and it does happen just not very often, however, the more I think about the more I am sure you have never used a wand in front of us." Artemis studied Septimus for a second before she smiled.

"That is because I don't have one." The dark blond raised his eyebrows at her as Zacharias huffed.

"Why? That's just plain weird." She looked at them knowingly and held her hand out to Septimus.

"Your wand please?" The dark blond hesitated for a moment before taking it out from his cloak and giving it to her. The second she grabbed it sparks started to shoot out everywhere and the wand itself seemed to try and pry from her grip. She put it down on the table quickly and the wand immediately went back to normal. Septimus picked it up carefully and put it back into his cloak.

"What in the world was that?" Orion asked intrigued.

"Wands don't tune with my core correctly because of the demon blood thing. Snape made up the magical anomaly thing to the teachers that don't know the truth and I guess that some students have been spreading it around. The term is 'Wandless' and it happens every few hundred years or so according to the books I've found on it." Septimus nodded in agreement. The brunette took a sip of her butterbeer and hummed in satisfaction. This girl was a never-ending box of surprises Orion thought as Septimus took out his little black notebook and jotted down something.

 ~𓅃~

It happened when they were on their way back to the castle, Orion snapped. He was walking behind Cyril and Artemis when the auburn-haired wizard put his arm around her middle and pulled her closer to his body. Orion's magic seemed to take over his body and mind as he forcefully wedged himself between them and pushed Cyril away with more strength than he meant to. As a consequence, Cyril ended up falling partly down a ditch on the side of the road. The boy moaned in pain from where he had landed. Septimus and Zacharias were quick to try and help him up after they had gotten over the initial shock of what happened.

"What the hell are you doing Orion?!" Zacharias yelled at him. Orion was holding Artemis tightly to his chest as he looked coldly at Cyril.

"Stop. Touching. Her." The sound of his own voice surprised him in a fleeting moment but was soon forgotten by Cyril's laughter. Everyone was looking at him confused.

"Oh, my if only you could see your own face now King. You rival even Snape with that cold stare." Septimus pulled him up the last part and checked quickly if the boy was hurt. The King frowned at him.

"What are you talking about?" The other boy just smirked.

"Artemis? Would you be a dear and explain?" Orion tightened the hold he had on her when he looked down to meet her apologetic expression. She carefully slipped her hands free and cupped his face with them.

"I'm sorry Orion. It was Snape who told Cyril to do it. He wanted to see if your magic would react somehow to someone else touching me after what happened yesterday. He made us promise not to tell you. Septimus and Queen didn't know anything either. So don't be mad at Cyril, please." Her thumbs were gently stroking his cheeks and he could feel himself relax. He released his grip on her and looked at his friend.

"I… You were lucky I only pushed you. I was tempted to throw some nasty hexes your way earlier." Cyril put up his hands in defeat.

"Sorry King, I promise I won't touch her like that ever again. But this did confirm Snape's theory that only your magic resonates with hers. She never reacted the same way with my touch no matter what I did." He looked to Artemis then and smiled.

"She is yours, mate." Artemis blushed and tried to hide inside her scarf. The other boys just laughed at her. Zacharias put his hands behind his head and snickered.

"Remind me never to try and steal a girl from King heh? Bloody hell that was scary."

"Yeah, I think I have never seen you so angry Orion." Septimus looked thoughtful while he said it.

"Let's hope we never see it again huh? It's getting dark, we better hurry back." Cyril said as he started to walk up the hill again. Before following the blond looked down at Artemis.

"I'm sorry for how I behaved. I should have guessed that something was going on. But my magic just acted on its own." She smiled at him and caressed his cheek again.

"It's fine. It was unfair of us to do it in the first place. But what Cyril said was true. I never felt the same calm when he touched me compared to when you do." They stood there smiling at each other for a second before they followed their friends up the hillside by side.

 A Month Later

A month passed faster than Orion had ever imagined. With Christmas soon upon them, they were swamped with homework and the constant reminders by the teachers of the big tests that were coming up. Most of their time was now spent studying in the library where Madam Pince kept an even stricter rule set than usual. Because of the increase of students using the library every day they were lucky they were even allowed to breathe. Orion felt a hand caressing his knee softly under the table. He looked at Artemis who was sitting next to him, her brows knitted together in concentration. He peeked at the paper in front of her and saw that she was writing her Defence paper. He smiled softly to himself and went back to his potion homework. After the Potion Master's little experiment that he had played on them, they had been meeting in his office a couple of times a week. They went through a hoard of different experiments to figure out exactly how their magic cores connected. In the end, the Professor had come up with a theory that didn't sound too far-fetched.

"It seems like the demon blood flowing through Miss Blackmoore has somehow gotten a taste for your magic Mr Silver. In other words, it is trying to slowly devour it. This is why she feels calm when you are making physical contact with each other, the demon is stating its hunger. But it is also lending its power to you in return. You have been able to do some wandless magic as of late I assume? Sadly if we let this continue as is you will surely lose most, if not all, of your magic before you reach the age of thirty." Snape's words still played on a loop in Orion's head even a week later. Just thinking about losing his magic made him terrified. But somehow being separated from Artemis scared him even more. The night before had been different when they had arrived at the Professor's office. He had sat them both down and looked at them with a face that he usually showed in detention.

"I have a very serious matter to discuss with you both. I have found a solution to your problem." Both of them had looked at the older man with relief but it quickly turned sour when the expression of the Potion Master did not change.

"What have you found, Sir?" Orion asked. Snape took a scroll out of his robe and handed it to Orion. When he opened it it was a complex diagram of runes, he could read some of it but most of the runes were unfamiliar to him. He heard Artemis gasp next to him.

"Sir… a blood ritual?" Orion's eyes widened as he looked at his Head of House. Snape nodded curtly.

"Correct, Miss Blackmoore. It is the only way that I have found that can contain your powers with Mr Silver's without killing one of you. This is of course forbidden magic, for a good reason. This particular one was used often up to the late 1800th before the slave market became forbidden in the muggle world. It was used as a ritual to mark humans with a brand to link them to their masters. They could give them punishments directly through the brand itself and it was useful to keep them in line seeing as they could not escape without being found immediately through the bond. I have managed to alter some parts of this, of course, but I am afraid that the ritual itself has to be done the same way as back then. Needless to say, it is not pleasant. I would like to have it done during the Christmas break when most of the staff and students are not here. So I will give you three days to decide what you want to do. There is a lot of preparation to be done." All Orion could do in this situation was stare at the older wizard as the words 'blood ritual' echoed in his head.

Orion had given up on his potion essay for now and turned to Artemis again. She was writing at a steady pace on her own paper. He looked around the library and caught some students staring at them but at his point, he was used to it. After the Hogsmeade trip rumours about Artemis having used Imperius on the Slytherin Royals had started to spread. It was a ridiculous claim of course. Loftwind was one student who had denied the rumour altogether when asked about it. But being the curious type that she was she had come up to Orion one day and thrown a counterspell on him just to be sure. Of course, the girl was smart and had done so in the middle of a hallway on the ground floor. A lot of people had seen it and the rumour was slowly forgotten. The Ravenclaw and Artemis had gotten closer over that. The shorter girl had of course kept her promise and showed the researcher some of her wandless magic. He swore his ears had been ringing after all the delightful screaming the Ravenclaw had done. In retaliation of the Imperious, Septimus had used his contacts to put out a rumour of their own. More a simple threat really, if anyone dared lay a finger on Artemis they would meet a fate worse than death. It was of course directed to some specific persons but the rest of the school knew it did not hurt.

His thoughts kept drifting back to the ritual. In the beginning, he had been certain that there could be some other way to do it. But the Professor had told him straight out that it wasn't and that they had to make a decision. He could feel tapping on his shoulder then and turned to look at Artemis who had stood up during his musing.

"Orion? I am done so I'm going back to my room. Are you staying a bit longer?" The boy looked back to his unfinished potion essay and sighed.

"No, I'm coming too. I can't concentrate anyway." They both packed their stuff into their bags and left the library as quietly as possible. Orion could feel Madam Pince's gaze on his neck as they went past her. Finally, outside he let out a deep sigh.

"Salazar, that woman is a tyrant these days." Artemis snickered.

"At least you delivered all your books on time. Poor Queen had to endure a thirty-minute lecture about tardiness from her last week for missing the time by ten minutes." Orion grinned when he remembered how tired Zacharias had looked when he came back to the common room that one evening. They walked in peaceful silence down to the dungeons and Artemis turned to look at him shyly when they were outside of the Professor's chambers.

"Would you like to come in for a minute? Snape has detention with some fourth years so he won't be back for another two hours." Orion blushed slightly as he nodded. Up until this point they had not really discussed their relationship. He had now come to terms with himself that he did like her romantically but he was unsure of the girl's feelings. They had done nothing but casual touching or the occasional holding hands when nobody saw them. Anything on a sexual matter Orion had steered away from in fear that it really was the demon that wanted it and not her. They sat in front of each other on Artemis's bed as they had done many times before. Her brown eyes met his in determination.

"You have been thinking about the ritual thing the whole day haven't you?" She sounded like Snape when she asked it. At any other time, Orion would comment on it but this time he chose to nod instead.

"I don't care what you think but we are doing it. I've decided." He looked at her with widened eyes.

"So I don't get any say in this? Is that what you are saying?" He could feel himself grow angry and had to loosen his tie.

"No. You don't." She had crossed her arms over her chest and her eyes were stone cold.

"That is ridiculous! I am not hurting you like that, I refuse! We will find another way." He stepped off the bed and started to walk towards the door.

"I don't want to kill you!" Orion froze on the spot and turned around slowly. Tears were dripping down the sides of her face.

"I… I don't want to kill you… anyone. ever. again." She said it through gritted teeth and she had pulled her legs up under her making her look like a small child. Orion's anger disappeared like dust in the wind and he went back to the bed. He sat down next to her and wrapped her in a hug.

"I'm sorry. I was not thinking clearly." She looked up at him with wet eyes.

"You will do it?" Orion nodded.

"Yes, I'll do this. But not for myself, but for you." He hugged her tightly then as the girl started sobbing.

 ~𓅃~

After dinner the next day they told Snape of their decision to go through with the ritual. The Professor had smiled at them both and said that it probably was for the best. He would make the preparations ready to do it during Christmas break as planned. Finally, the night had arrived. Orion was sweating where he stood in Snape's chambers. The Potion Master had modified Artemis's bedroom for the ritual. The room was spelled bigger and the bed had been moved against one of the far walls. In the middle of the room, there were chalk lines on the floor in intricate patterns and candles seemingly in random places, but Orion knew that nothing in here was random. If looked at from above you could see that the pattern was made upon essentially three circles inside of each other and the further into the middle the smaller the circles got. Artemis and himself were now standing inside the outer circle facing each other. They had been instructed by Snape of all the steps that they had to take before they started. There were three:

The first step was simple; A drop of blood from each of them was put in a vial that Snape mixed some other ingredients into. He refused to tell them what kind. Then they got a cup each and drank it at the same time then had to wait exactly two minutes before they could proceed to the next circle.

The second step was more intricate. They both had to say an incantation to each other. One as the role of Master and one the role as the Slave. Orion was acting as the Master seeing he was the one that had to keep Artemis in control of her powers. This also prevented the demon in her from feeding on his magic as the brand would stop it from having a direct link. It was like he was putting a lid on a box as Snape had explained it. Another part of it meant that Orion would know exactly where the girl was at all times over an unknown distance. Snape had modified this part so that it went both ways for fairness' sake. He had also explained because of this they would most likely be able to feel each other's emotions as well. This was going to act as their voiced contract. When that was done they proceeded to the next and final circle. They now stood directly in front of each other.

This was the step that Orion had been dreading for a week, Snape had told them that Artemis needed to be branded to seal the ritual properly. But he had waited to tell them that it was Orion that had to do it the week before they were going to do it. He was also the one who had to make the seal itself, a mark that showed everyone who she belonged to. Of course, today that meant nothing but Snape had insisted that Orion had to make it. However, where it was to be placed was Snape's decision. He had deduced that it had to be over her heart. Artemis was a powerful witch of her own accord, but together with the demon fully unleashed she could very easily have taken on the whole first Wizard war on her own and come out the victor. If the brand was positioned over her heart, her life itself, the demon would be completely sealed and therefore under her own control. Of course, this meant that step three became more painful for the girl. She had, of course, agreed to it without a second thought and had even joked that it could not be worse than taking a couple of Sectumsempra to the body. Orion took a deep breath and steadied himself. They were now on the last step.

"Are you ready?" Snape was talking to both of them. Artemis nodded without looking away from Orion, and she started to button down her shirt. He swallowed hard, they could not move from the circle before the branding was done. Depending on how long it took for the brand to set it could be minutes or even hours of complete agony for the girl. The only thing he could do during this was stand there and hopelessly watch. He took a deep breath, they had gotten this far and there was no way out now. He tightened his grip on the wand in hand and pointed to her chest. He looked her in the eye one more time. She nodded at him. He took another deep breath and said the spell.

"Sanguinis Domini".

At first, nothing happened and Orion thought maybe he had said it wrong when suddenly Artemis clutched her chest and started to scream. The scream was sending chills into his very soul, it was the demon screaming as well as her. Blood was starting to show under her fingers as she collapsed to the floor. She was thrashing around on the ground screaming while clawing at her chest making the bleeding even worse. As time passed the screams lessened and turned into heavy breathing and moans of pain then silence. The blond didn't know when he had closed his eyes but he opened them to look down at her. She was lying still on the floor and it seemed that she wasn't breathing. He looked desperately at Snape.

"Don't move!" The Professor ordered. "Patience. The worst should be over." His own Professor sounded unsure, which put Orion even more on edge. But he did as he was told and did not move. Minutes went by without anything happening. Suddenly the girl drew a deep breath and started to cough like she had been drowning. She pulled herself slowly into a sitting position and was still breathing hard while she looked at Orion and then Snape.

"I… I think it stopped." Her voice was hoarse when she talked. She showed them her chest, the mark was ugly and red but it had stopped bleeding and was already healing itself. Orion reached out a hand for her to take and carefully got her into a standing position. She looked at Orion and smiled tiredly.

"I take back what I said earlier. I would rather take the Sectumsempra instead. Merlin that hurt…" Orion just stared at her owlishly before he burst out laughing. It was a madman's laugh, but he did not care. All the nerves that had built up over the last week left his body in one go, they had done the ritual and they both lived through it. They never had to fear death from each other again. He hugged the girl tightly to his chest and he swore to himself that he was never going to let go. The Potion Master coughed slightly from the edge of the circle.

"Artemis, how are you feeling?" It was the first time Orion had heard him use her first name.

"I feel like I've had thousands of knives thrown through my chest but other than that I'm fine I think." The older man nodded in understanding.

"I suggest the best course of action now is that both of you get some sleep. I have prepared a room for you on the seventh floor where you should be left alone." Orion looked at him confused.

"Sir?"

"We are not taking any chances after coming this far Mr Silver, hurry now." Orion looked at Artemis.

"Can you walk?" She nodded and started to follow the Professor. After a few hallways, he noted that she was having a difficult time keeping up the pace and decided to carry her instead. She mumbled some insults at him but leaned into him nonetheless. When Snape stopped in front of what seemed like an empty wall did Orion understand what room it was that the Potion Master had prepared. The Room of Requirement. He had heard of it before but he had never been inside. He watched in awe as a simple door appeared in front of them. Snape opened it and motioned for them to go in. Once inside Orion put Artemis down on the floor.

 ~𓅃~

"Everything you need is present. I would like you not to come out again until morning. The room will give you food if you are in need of it. If you require assistance use the floo powder on top of the fireplace to contact me. Understood?" They both nodded. After a few seconds, Snape sighed and walked over to Artemis and pulled her into a hug. He whispered something into her ear and she nodded. Orion looked away at that moment, he felt like he was watching something forbidden. Snape coughed and wished them good night and gently closed the door behind him.

The room was simple but still warm and inviting. There was a queen-size bed in the back of the room and a door to the left which he assumed was the bathroom. To the right were a sofa and two chairs similar to what Snape had in his living area. He noticed his own trunk at the foot of the bed next to what had to be Artemis's own. He watched her as she went over to the trunk took out a sleeping gown and walked carefully over to the door on the left. He had almost sat down on one of the sofas before he heard the girl call for him.

"Wow… Look at his Orion!" He went after her inside the door and his eyes grew wide. It was a giant bathtub inside, like the one found in the prefects' bath. Artemis's eyes were sparkling as the water started pouring from the taps and a lavender scent filled the room.

"W… well it's only fair that you clean up first, so I'll be waiting outside. Take your time." Before Orion could make it out the door the girl had grabbed a hold of his wrist.

"No, stay." He studied her carefully.

"What?"

"Stay. Please." The girl's face showed only determination. Orion could only nod in response.

She smiled at him and started to take off the bloodied clothes. He could not take his eyes off her even if he wanted to. It seemed like the girl did not mind at all him staring as she kept shedding one garment after the other. He took the time to study her. Her body was riddled with scars some small others bigger. But what drew his attention the most was the brand. His brand. The raven stared back at him almost like it knew that he was its Master. He approached her slowly like she was a scared animal. She stood still but her breath quickened the closer he came. Orion put his hand on the branding and blinked away the tears in his eyes. Everything he wanted to say got stuck in his throat but it seemed that she understood him nonetheless. She cupped her hands around his face as she had done many times, but it was different somehow. Their eyes met and he could see specks of gold floating in the dark pool of chocolate. Orion let go of the barrier he had given himself as a sudden urge crashed over him like a wave and before he knew it he was kissing the girl with a force that surprised him. It was like she was the air he needed to breathe and he could not let go. She was responding to him like that he, in turn, was her own lifeline. At some point, his clothes vanished as he walked them backwards into the water. It was soothing their skin and washing away the last of their restraint. There was no need to hold back any more.

They woke up the next morning tangled together under the bedsheets. Orion had not felt so calm and satisfied in a long time. He smiled as he brushed some hair out of the sleeping girl's face. The girl stirred and opened her eyes slowly. Orion was relieved to see that her eyes had not changed. It was proof that what they had done the night before was real. He kissed the top of her head softly.

"Good morning." She yawned loudly and sat up only to fall straight back down again.

"Mornin', what did you do to me yesterday? I feel like I've been run over by a hippogriff." Orion smirked at her and rolled on top of her.

"Don't tell me you have forgotten? Shall I remind you perhaps?" She hit him playfully on the back of the head.

"I have not forgotten. No reminding needed." He smiled softly down at her and kissed her softly.

"We should get dressed. Snape is probably coming for us soon." She sighed and quickly kissed him again. Orion rolled off her and got out of the bed. The minute his feet touched the floor he regretted it. They both got into a more presentable state right in time for Snape to arrive. The Potion Paster had obviously been worrying for them the whole night judging by the circles under the man's eyes. But he seemed to relax when he saw that they both were alright. He cast some healing spells over Artemis until he was satisfied that nothing out of the ordinary had happened overnight. The blond was then sent back to the Slytherin dorm as they now needed to have some time apart to figure out the bond restrictions. He was surprised to find his three friends waiting for him.

"He returns!"

"Orion!"

"About time, mate." None of them had been told any details of the ritual beforehand and they were now excitedly waiting for Orion to tell them. During his tale, he left out the nightly activities that the pair had done. Every time one of his friends mentioned that night later he simply played dumb with them. It was simply too much fun. He was the King of Slytherin after all.