So I finally managed to get this all typed and ready. I'm working on more, and will have it done as soon as possible. Right now, I've had more time than anticipated to write. I'll post the next chapter probably tomorrow.

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Artemis

I held Audrey’s hand tightly as we entered the Great Hall. I was unsure of how this night would unfold, whether I would be any closer to my goal or not. At any rate, I planned on enjoying this night before I had to get back to business.

I hadn’t told Audrey yet, but as Head Boy, it was I who had to lead the first dance. It was the tradition we had started when we decided to continue the dance without the Triwizard Tournament. All of the prefects along with the Head Boy and Girl were required to dance first. Admittedly, I was scared about it. This would be another first for me. Although I had been a prefect in my previous years, I had purposely never had a date to dance with, so I got to skip out on the dance.

When I led Audrey to a line of the other houses prefects and head people, she looked over at me a puzzled expression. We had lined up alphabetically by house, Slytherin being last of course.  They had saved the best for last.

“Why are we in line?” Audrey finally asked me.

I looked back at her, nervousness lingering in my eyes. “Well… I’m sure you remember the tradition? I have to lead the first dance.”

I watched her eyes widen in fear. “I can’t dance, Artemis.”

I smiled sympathetically. “Just follow my lead, and you’ll do fine.”

Suddenly, a voice rang through my ears. Dumbledore was doing his customary speech before the procession began. Just hearing the old man’s voice reminded me of the task at hand. My mind drifted deep into thought. I needed to continue my plot to befriend Harry Potter, using his own visions against him.

I snapped back into reality when applause rang throughout the hall and the line in front of us began to move. I offered Audrey my arm; she took it and we began to walk. As screaming students seemed to be mobbing us, I couldn’t help but think that this was what it must be like to be a celebrity.

Audrey and I reached the center of the hall in what seemed like only seconds. I felt my heart rate increase as the band began to play the first few notes. It had been a while since I had done any dancing, and I was relying on what I remembered from my youth. The first dance was always a waltz, which I was familiar with. Admittedly, my mother had taught me.

As the band broke into song, all of us began the spinning and twirling involved in the waltz. I looked at Audrey; she seemed to be catching on. In all honesty, I was just trying not to step on her toes. Although I knew how to dance, I was still not that good.

The song seemed to last an eternity. I was relieved when it finally dwindled to an end. Audrey and I stepped off the dance floor as the next song began to play. Before I could start to think about it or anything else, Nikkie and Harry popped out of the crowd.

“Aweeeee!” Nikkie exclaimed. “You guys were so cute!”

I saw Audrey blush out of the corner of my eye, though she said nothing. I took advantage of the situation. I turned to Harry and wondered, “I thought you were a prefect?”

He shook his head. “No,” he muttered, “that’s Ron and Hermione.”

“Surely you would’ve made a better prefect than Weasley,” I decided. “The bloody creeper…”

“Creeper?” Harry asked.

Nikkie turned to face him. “Oh! I forgot to tell you!” She paused for a second. “Ron asked Audrey to the Ball. Again.”

Harry rolled his eyes. “He is so pathetic sometimes.” He sighed. “Ron’s never bothered asking her before so I don’t know why he would now. Especially with you around.” He gestured at me.

“He’s just weird,” Audrey mumbled.

I shrugged. “Oh well. Where is ginger anyways? Did he decide not to come?”

“Oh no, he came,” Harry contradicted. “He asked Hermione after Audrey told him no. And since Hermione didn’t get who she wanted, it worked out.”

This intrigued me. It was common knowledge that Hermione and Ron sort of had a fling. They both liked each other, it was very obvious, but they had a love-hate relationship to say the least. “She wanted someone other than Ron?” I asked.

Harry nodded. “Oh yea. Someone she could never have.”

“Who couldn’t she have?” I played along. I personally knew a long list of people who wouldn’t date Hermione Granger if she was the last girl on Earth, myself included on that.

Harry glanced around, as if to see if anyone was listening, He looked back at me. “It was you.”

I felt the sudden urge to vomit, but I held it back. Shaking the feeling, I replied, “Well, that’s just… quaint.”

“Yea,” Harry muttered.

Awkward silence fell between the four of us. It was rather unusual for that to happen between Audrey and Nikkie; the two were almost always talking about something random. I looked to Audrey. “Are you thirsty?” I asked her sweetly.

She smiled lightly, her eyes doing that squinty thing. “A little, yes.”

“Harry and I are going to get some punch then. We’ll be back.” I smiled, kissing her once, and pulled Harry towards the punch bowl.

Harry looked over at me, confused. “What’s up, Artemis?”

“Do you still think I’m a… ya’know?” I glanced at him.

Harry shrugged lightly. “I don’t know. Something is telling me that you are, but I trust you at the same time.”

I was admittedly curious. “What do you mean?”

“What I mean is,” Harry glanced around. “What I mean is that I have very good reasons for believing that you are.”

I nodded once for him to continue, but he wasn’t going to. We got some punch and headed back to Nikkie and Audrey. The two were giggling about something when we walked up. I honestly was miffed by this, and kind of wanted to know what was so funny.

“What’s the joke?” I asked curiously, handing Audrey her punch.

“Oh, nothing,” NIkkie responded. The answer sounded almost biter, but I shook it off. I wasn’t going to let anyone’s mood get me down. Tonight was going to be a good night.

The proceeded as planned, full of dancing, cake, and laughter. I thought it had went over rather well, at least until the dance had finally ended and we were back in the common room. Audrey came to me and said, “We need to talk.”

Anytime anyone says that, it ends badly. Naturally, this freaked me out a little bit. I was unsure of what we needed to talk about. Nothing happened, did it? “What about?” I asked back.

We were alone in the common room, which was admittedly a good thing. I hated having personal discussions in public. It let everyone know your business, and quite frankly, no one needed to know mine.

I watched Audrey hesitate for a moment before saying, “I’m just concerned about your involvement with the Death Eaters.”

I had a feeling she was going to bring that up. She hadn’t gotten the full story on what my mission was, how I had very little time to complete my task. I took a deep breath, preparing myself for the hell I was sure to receive once I told her the truth.

“What exactly do you mean?” I asked.

“How far in are you?” Audrey elaborated.

I sighed. How to tell her? “I have a mission of sorts that I have to complete by New Years. It’s… dangerous. And not really pretty.”

“What do you mean by dangerous?” Audrey raised an eyebrow at me. “Everyone’s dangerous is different.”

I bit my tongue. Here goes nothing. “I have to kill Dumbledore. Lord Voldemort has placed that task on Malfoy and myself."

Audrey looked honestly shocked. “You’re joking, right?”

“I’m not joking,” I assured. I made sure my voice was stern and blank, serious.

Audrey stared at me. She looked like she didn’t know what to say. I waited patiently for an answer. After what seemed like ages, she said, “Artemis, you need to get out of this.”

I almost wanted to laugh. We were talking about the Dark Lord! I couldn’t just quit. You can’t quit. The only way you quit is death. And I surely wasn’t dead.

“Audrey, I can’t just quit,” I said. “It doesn’t work that way.”

“Artemis, my best friend is involved with Harry, the one who is wanted dead. I mean… you can’t just kill Dumbledore because Voldemort is too lazy to come do it himself.” Audrey took a breath.

“Come on, Audrey. This isn’t that serious.”

“Make Draco do it!” Audrey yelled, standing up.

“He couldn’t kill a dog if he had to!” I found myself yelling back.

Audrey put her hands over her face. “I can’t do this anymore, Artemis. Send me an owl when you’re not being a complete idiot.” She began walking away from me.

What? She called me an idiot? And was she… breaking up with me? I stood. “Audrey, wait!”

“I’m done, Artemis!” She slammed the dormitory door, despite everyone sleeping.