Artemis Hexley and the Circle of Khanna

Chapter 4: The Lost Boys

As for what Charlie had wanted to discuss with Artemis, she was still none the wiser for another two days after their walk back from Hogsmeade village, both of them having been kept busy with homework and Quidditch practice. On Monday afternoon, however, Artemis had Charms for her last lesson, one of the three classes she shared with Charlie. Charms was generally a good lesson in which to hold a private conversation, due to the fact that it was usually rather loud and lively, so as the students filed into the classroom, Artemis made a point of stopping to talk to him.

"I was thinking," she told him, without saying hello first, "if I swap seats with Levi or Gloria today, then we can chat."

Charlie frowned, as if considering the idea, before shaking his head.

"No," he said. "I don't think that either of them will be too keen on moving seats."

"Well, Rowan probably wouldn't mind switching places with you for one lesson."

"I don't want to put Rowan out."

"Charlie," Artemis looked at him pointedly. "When I say chat, I meant that you can tell me about this secret thing you mentioned on Saturday."

At Artemis' words, Charlie looked at the ground and almost smirked.

"I know that's what you meant," he half-laughed.

"You do?"

"Yeah, I just don't want to talk about it here. Look, can we hang out before dinner instead?"

"Sure," Artemis nodded, and went across the classroom to sit with Rowan, who looked up from her textbook quizzically. Artemis shook her head by way of response. "He didn't want to say anything here."

"I wonder why not," Rowan muttered, her eyebrows raised.

"I dunno. Last time he was so secretive about something he was trying to get hold of a dragon egg and release it into the wild. Hopefully it's something that cool this time, too. What?"

Rowan said nothing, just tutted and sighed again.

By the time the lesson finished, Artemis had thought of several ways in which she and Charlie might improve their dragon-rescuing skills following their botched attempt at doing so the previous year. The two of them walked down past the Great Hall to the shore of the Black Lake. The lake was completely still, other than a very slight stirring near the water's edge.

"Maybe we should stay clear of the water itself," Charlie suggested. "Hagrid said that the Grindylows are still being really aggressive. Neither him nor Kettleburn can figure out why."

"Strange. I guess we'd better avoid them, then," said Artemis. She turned away from the water to look expectantly at Charlie. "So..."

Charle cleared his throat awkwardly, a look of apprehension on his freckled face.

"So. Alright. Well, we're friends, right?"

"Yes."

"Good, so you know I wouldn't want to do anything that would hurt you on purpose."

"Charlie, what's going on?"

"Alright. So, the thing is-"

The sound of thundering footsteps and their names being called out interrupted Charlie and Artemis for the second time in two days. Turning around, they saw Jae Kim running towards them, his cheeks flushed and expression worried.

"Jae! What's wrong?"

"It's your brothers, Charlie," Jae panted. "I was going to meet them to sell them some... Well, it doesn't matter what, but they didn't meet me to make the transaction. I went to find them, and that little Hufflepuff boy from their year, Digby or Digley-"