Artemis Hexley and the Mystery at Hogwarts

Chapter 8: Fergus and Fang

Spring had sprung. As February turned into March, the winter frost melted away and the castle grounds returned to a plush green, and the Whomping Willow grew back its silvery leaves. Hagrid could be seen tending to the buds and shoots that were sprouting up from every inch of dewy grass, and shooing away flobberworms from his vegetable patch, all in the company of his new dog, a tubby black boarhound puppy that looked like it had far too much skin for its body.

Artemis had been one of the first to meet Hagrid's new puppy. He had invited her, Rowan and Ben over for a cup of tea the day after he brought him back to his hut, and the two girls had spent almost two hours sitting cross-legged on the floor playing with the puppy. Ben, who was nervous of dogs, sat on one of Hagrid's large armchairs and watched apprehensively.

"Has he got a name, Hagrid?" Artemis asked, rubbing the puppy's black belly.

"I was thinkin' o' callin' 'im Fang," said Hagrid, handing Ben a plate rock cakes. "Reckon it suits the little mite."

Fang sat up, cocked his head to one side and whispered at Artemis, looking at her with droopy black eyes. Artemis couldn't think of a name that would suit this floppy, roly-poly puppy less than 'Fang', but she couldn't bear to say so in front of Hagrid.

"I think Fang is a lovely name," she said.

Hagrid wasn't the only one who was busy. The Easter holidays would soon be approaching, and, as their teachers kept reminding them, in their third term the students would have their end of year exams.

"I wish they'd stop going on about it," Tonks said, with a yawn. "The exams aren't until the first week of June. That's ages away."

"It's ten weeks, Tonks," said Rowan. "That will go by in a flash. And they are really important, you know. If we don't get good enough marks we have to retake the whole year."

"Yeah, yeah," Tonks breezed. "I don't know why you're so worried, Rowan. We all know you've been revising since Christmas."

This was true. Despite being top of the lass in most of her subjects, Rowan had been revising harder than anyone, except possibly Ben.

"I just need to make sure I do well," he whispered to Artemis in the library. "Everyone thinks I'm not as good at magic because my family aren't wizards. I don't want them all to laugh at me."

"Just because your family aren't wizards, it doesn't mean that you aren't as good at magic," said Penny, reassuringly. She was sitting opposite Ben and Artemis, poring over a pile of Potions textbooks. "My mum is Muggleborn, too, and she's a wonderful witch."

"What about your dad?"

"He's a Muggle," she said. "So I'm almost as much of a Muggleborn as you, Ben."

"See?" Artemis said. "Penny's got loads of Muggle family and she's good at magic. She's the best at Potions in our whole year."

This placated Ben, and he seemed to relax a lot after this. Penny turned pink with pleasure and beamed at Artemis.

"Well," she said. "My mum is a Potioneer, so I have had a head start. And I'm not nearly as good at other subjects. You and Ben are both so much better at me when it comes to Charms."

Like Artemis, Ben's favourite subject was Charms, and he was getting very good at it, too. Artemis was still usually the first in the class to pick up new spells, but as the year went on, Ben was quickly catching up with her. In their last lesson before the Easter holidays, Professor Flitwick taught them the unlocking spell, and Ben managed to master it even faster than she did.

"You're not upset, are you?" He said.

"Why would I be upset?" Artemis asked.

"Because," Ben shrugged, "Charms is your thing, isn't it?"