Artemis Hexley and the Circle of Khanna

Chapter 18: Infinite, Unbroken, Forever

The Easter holidays had arrived, but neither Artemis nor any of her friends were returning home for the break. Now that the final Cursed Vault had become active once more, they were planning on using the holidays to prepare themselves to break the curse. Artemis watched the Thestrals pull the carriages away towards Hogsmeade station before walking up to the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, which had been left vacant, the professor having left the castle for the holidays.

It was here that her friends met, all of them arriving one by one, with the exception of Chiara, who had volunteered to take extra shifts in the Hospital Wing until Madam Buckthorn, the Matron of St Mungo's Hospital, found a replacement for Madam Pomfrey.

Once everyone else had gathered, Tulip summoned over a blackboard and piece of chalk and stood behind Artemis, who was facing the rest of the group.

"What's the chalk for?" Artemis asked, looking back at her over her shoulder.

"It's a meeting. I'm taking minutes," Tulip said, already drawing a crude caricature of a wizard in the bottom left corner of the board. "It's a visual aid for when we are brainstorming ideas."

"Right. What do we need to brainstorm, exactly?"

"You know, what we want to achieve, how we're going to achieve it.  What we're going to call ourselves."

"Won't we just call each other by our names?"

"Not each other, I mean as a group," Tulip looked up from her drawing, which was looking more and more Snape-like by the second. "What's the point in forming a secret society if we don't even get a name?"

"I mean, this isn't really a secret society," Artemis said, and Tulip frowned.

"Well, it should be. We're up against this cabal, and they're a secret society. We're just making things even."

Artemis considered it for a moment, before turning to the others. "Fine. Anyone got any bright ideas for a name?"

"Oh," Penny raised her hand. "How about the Curse Club?"

"Sounds like we are making curses, not breaking them," muttered Merula. "Besides, it's hardly very original, is it?"

"Well, have you got any better ideas?"

"How about Shut Up Haywood? How is that for an idea?"

"Merula, be nice. We are here to break curses together, not fight each other," Artemis told her. She called over her shoulder to Tulip. "Don't write that one down."

"Too late, I already have."

"Never mind then," Artemis shrugged apologetically at Penny. "Any advances on Curse Club? Yes, Ismelda?"

"Death to Rakepick."

"Oh. Um, well, that's... original, I guess."

"I've got it," said Tonks. "What about Together In Total Solidarity?"

Behind Artemis, Tulip began to snigger, and Artemis turned to look at what she was doing. Seeing the large capital letters that had been written on the board, Artemis rolled her eyes.

"Tonks! Take this seriously."

"That could work, too. Taking It Totally Seriously," Tonks grinned, and Artemis scowled at her. "Or, how about Witches Against Nasty-"

"Can anyone else think of something? Anything?"

"I've got an idea," said Ben, frowning deeply. "I don't think it's that good, though."

"I'm sure it won't be worse than what we have already."

"Okay. Well, what about the Circle of Khanna?"