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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---------------------> ARTEMIS' EYES FLUTTERED LIGHTLY as she struggled to open them, only to shut her eyes immediately when hit by a blinding beam of light. Her head hurt more than any hangover she had ever experienced and her whole body ached. Artemis felt heaviness dropping her eyes, tiredness in her mind and exhaustion creeping in her veins.
"-Oh Henry! I think she's opening her eyes-"
"-Healer! Call some healer quick!-"
"-She's waking up-"
"-Come fast! She's gaining consciousness!-"
"For Merlin's sake can you all shut the fuck up." Artemis groaned, clutching her head with her hands.
"Yup," She heard a familiar chuckle. "She's back."
"And apparently, invisible, considering you all are speaking as if I'm not even here," Artemis muttered under her breath, trying to open her eyes only to close it again.
"In our defence," A voice who she recognised as belonging to one of her brothers (she didn't care which one, both were idiots) began slowly. "You were petrified."
Petrified.
That word triggered something in her mind, and she yelled, gripping her head as a dam of memories broke, a mighty river of moments barging into her mind all at once and threatening to drown her.
Blood- Katherine- Muggleborns- hospital wing- dancing under the stars- Roman-bathroom-Myrtle
An annoying, humming sound invaded her ears and it grew louder and louder until it was all she could hear. Her head grew heavier and it hurt like a metaphorical crucio.
"Make it stop," Artemis muttered, eyes tightly shut and hands pressing against her ears as if that would help mute the noise that she could hear. "MAKE IT STOP!"
She could feel a vial being placed underneath her lips and a gush of warm, bitter-tasting liquid flowing through her throat. Her breathing grew quicker as she gasped for breath, only to feel like there wasn't any. Her heart threatened to leap out of her body and her eyes grew heavy again and before she knew it, Artemis lost consciousness once more.
------> 0o0 <------
Artemis' eyes opened lightly, wincing at the way pain seemed to occupy her body. She couldn't really remember much but she did know that the bed she was on definitely did not feel like hers.
Where was she?
Artemis racked her mind for something to give her a clue or hint, only to draw up a blank. She searched deeper and came up with the faint memory of her advising a girl to get revenge on someone.
Artemis' eyes snapped open instantly, everything flowing back into her.
Myrtle.
Myrtle had had no pulse. She needed to get her to the hospital wing.
