Artemis Hexley and the Mystery at Hogwarts

Chapter 1: The Ill-Fated Hexley Family

A little over two and a half years had passed since the night Jacob Hexley had walked down Lovelace Crescent and disappeared into the dark. The Ministry Of Magic had some of their best Aurors and Witch Watchers looking for him, but every lead they discovered ran cold, every trail lead to nowhere. Eventually, they gave up the search. Jacob Hexley had gone without a trace, and where he was now was anyone's guess.

The little girl he had left behind had started her own investigation, of sorts. Jacob had never once locked his bedroom, and once his sister returned from their Great-Aunt and Uncle's (apparently, her mother needed some time to herself), she had turned the room upside-down looking for a clue, any clue at all, that might help her work out where her brother had gone.

Artemis' mother seemed to have completely given up hope of Jacob ever returning. Most of the time it seemed that she had given up, full stop. Sara Hexley had barely left the house since Jacob went missing. Artemis couldn't remember the last time her mother had hugged her, or asked her a question, or even looked at her.

It wasn't that Artemis didn't mind the fact that she had to look after herself these days. She did mind, very much, but she had to admit that being close to invisible had its benefits. Well, it had one benefit: as long as she kept her promise to Jacob that she would look after her mother, and made sure that she never let anyone know that she was a witch, she could do almost anything she wanted.

The back gardens of Lovelace Crescent backed onto the canal, and in the back corner of the Hexleys' garden, a large tree had branches that overhung the path beside the water. It was this tree that Artemis would climb almost daily, step onto the garden wall, and jump down to the canal path. Once she was out of her mother's house she was completely free.

In one direction, the canal led to Camden Town, where Artemis could watch the passersby and guess from their clothing whether they were Muggles or witches and wizards, something that was often harder than it should have been. The Muggles in Camden wore clothes that wouldn't have looked out of place in Diagon Alley.

In the other direction she could go to the wide avenues and meadows of Regents Park, in which there was a zoo. Artemis had found that if she really, really thought about it hard enough, she could slide through a gap in one of the fences, despite it being much too small for her to fit through, and go to see the animals. This might have been her favourite thing to do. Her Great-Uncle, who she had lived with twice - once following her father's death and again after Jacob left home - was a renowned Magizoologist, and had instilled in her a love of creatures, magical and otherwise.

It was from the zoo that Artemis returned home one evening in early July to find an unfamiliar owl perched on the kitchen windowsill, holding an envelope in its mouth. Artemis took the owl inside and placed it by Athena's open cage. Athena ruffled her feathers, but shuffled over to make room for the newcomer to eat and drink.

Artemis had been waiting for this owl to arrive ever since she could remember. She took the letter from it, and her heart skipped a beat as she read the envelope's emerald green cursive:

Miss Artemis Hexley,
The Attic Room,
5 Lovelace Crescent,
Regents Canal,
London

Artemis opened the envelope, knowing full well what the letter would contain. Upstairs, in a small box beneath her bed, she had a very similar letter, identical other than the name on the address. She knew the letter by heart, but still she read the contents.

Dear Miss Hexley,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...

She ran to her mother. Sara Hexley was having one of her good days; she had put on clean clothes, brushed her dark hair - which was much less unruly than Artemis' own - and was writing in her study. Perhaps, thought Artemis, she would even be excited. She brandished the letter under her mother's nose.