In Horace Slughorn's defence, he couldn't have known that all this would happen. All he had wanted to do was play match-maker between his two favourite students, Tom Riddle and Artemis Potter.
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---------------------> MANNERS WAS THE ART of nodding your head and smiling when all you wanted to do was hex the life out of a person. Courtesy was the method of behaving politely with the said annoying person and being calm and composed, even though you had already killed them several times in your head over the last minute or so.
Artemis had to constantly remind herself that it was considered rude to hex a person within Hogwarts -no matter how much the reason was justified and they deserved it- and also that it would be pretty embarrassing for a prefect to land herself in detention for hexing another prefect.
But one look at Walburga's smirking face made her think that all the consequences would be worth it. Just one hex, that would hopefully -quite literally- blast her that smug expression away.
Tom Riddle was her partner in Astronomy and they were supposed to sit together. However, for as long as she could remember, Walburga was like a little sheep that followed Tom wherever he went -like that muggle nursery rhyme Roman had told her about- and it only got worse after Artemis received the letter from Charlus a few days ago regarding his and Dorea's relationship.
Now, Walburga was sticking closer to Tom more than the koala had to a eucalyptus tree that Artemis had seen when they had visited Australia for her father's former job.
Walburga seemed to loathe her even more around the time she became Tom's potions partner, something that Artemis found quite funny. Walburga, Miss Pureblood Purity herself, had a huge crush on Tom Riddle (who with his surname was obviously either a muggleborn or halfblood at best) and somehow had it in her mind that Artemis liked him (which she honestly didn't). So, the dear daughter of Black made sure to be extra nasty to her whenever they were unfortunate enough to cross paths.
Hence, the reason why Walburga 'accidentally' bumped into Artemis and nearly made her trip while entering the Astronomy tower.
"Sorry," Walburga said with an all too innocent smile. "It was an accident."
"Of course it was," Artemis nodded understandingly. "Just like your existence."
Walburga's face reddened at her comment, the flush only getting deeper when Tom had to disguise his chuckles into a cough.
Artemis made sure to give the boy an even more beautiful smile that day, the one that she had promised her father to never direct it to a boy. "Hello, Tom." She greeted smiling which Tom returned, an action that left Walburga fuming. "It's a lovely night we are having today, aren't we? Well, almost as lovely as you." She winked, and Tom let out a rather uncharacteristic snort, knowing fully well why she was behaving that way to him.
And predictably, Walburga's composure slipped and so did her dignity. "Shut up!" She told Artemis.
"I won't," Artemis said simply. "Why should I?"
"Because I told you so!"
"Aw, how cute. You think I'll listen." Artemis cooed mockingly. "And speaking of the word 'think', you should do it sometime."
