Finally was able to get some work done on this when I got home from up north. Took a little longer than expected, but alas, here it is. Hope you enjoy it.

*****************************************************************************************************************

Audrey

The Great Hall was fairly crowded with students, teachers, and ghosts. It was a normal thing. It was something I got used to after all the years. I smiled slightly to myself. Despite the small conflict with Nikkie (which we sort of sorted through this morning) and Harry's strange vision, I was in a positively good mood, which was highly unusual.

I made my way to the Gryffindor table where I found the Weasleys, Neville, and the Gryffindor Quidditch team gathered around Nikkie and Hermione. This was something that never occurred. They were a group of people who typically didn't hang out every day.

"What's going on?" I asked Neville.

"Nikkie swears she knows a spell to make Hermione's cat talk," he replied.

"Oh jeez," I took a seat next to Nikkie. "What did I tell you about experimenting on animals?"

Nikkie looked over at me and faked a pout. "Harry let me try it on Hedwig," she insisted, smiling a little too sweetly.

I glanced at Hermione's cat, Crookshanks, who mewed an irritated meow. "Go ahead then," I said. I honestly didn't care about the results; it wasn't my cat after all.

Nikkie flicked a strand of hair behind her ear. She cleared her throat. She announced a spell I had never heard, drawing a strange shape with the tip of her wand then flicking at the orange cat.

"... This hairball needs to comes out," the cat muttered with a shiver. The table burst into laughter; the accent the cat had was French.

I shook my head and walked away, going back to the Slytherin table. After I hurriedly ate my lunch, I went back to where Nikkie sat alone reading a book. Ron and Hermione must have left somewhere. I sat across from her, waiting for her to notice me.

"Yes, sir?" Nikkie asked, sitting her book down.

"Um..." I thought for a moment. "About earlier's conversation..."

Nikkie narrowed her eyes. "What about it?" she asked.

"Has Harry seen anything else?" I wondered.

She nodded. "More to do with Artemis." She crossed her arms.

"It's not like he's in deep..." I muttered, but she heard me.

"Audrey," she said sternly, "I don't think you understand the seriousness of this."

"So explain it so I do, Nikkie."

She uncrossed her arms, leaned closer to me. I found myself leaning closer to hear her "serious explanation." There was no way Artemis could be this deep into something so dangerous. Could he? It wasn't like him.

"Audrey, Harry had a vision about Artemis murdering Dumbledore," she said so quietly I could hardly hear. "And as you know, Harry is never wrong about this."

He's in deeper than he's telling me, I thought. But I couldn't be angry with him for lying because I had never asked how "bad" he was. What was I going to do about this? It took me a moment to realize Nikkie was calling me.

"Huh?" I asked.

"Just be careful, okay? I don't want you to become my enemy over something stupid like this," she went on.

I offered a smile. "Don't worry, that isn't going to happen."

Just then, Artemis caught my eye. He was coming up from the dungeons with Malfoy. Then I saw Nikkie break into a smile. I glanced behind me to see Harry coming in from the tower. Both of us stood and went to greet our significant other, but something told me something wasn't good.

*****************************************************************************************************************

Artemis

It never seemed like fate was on my side anymore. Fate seemed to favor the enemy. The good guys. I almost laughed to think of myself as the "bad guy." This wasn't some kind of action movie, even though it sure seemed that way most of the time.

But when I entered the Great Hall and my sapphire eyes met Audrey's brown ones, I forgot all about fate. A smile came over my lips as she walked to greet me. However, fate wasn't finished. As she stood, Nikkie stood to go greet Harry whom most likely slept in. That was the good thing about Saturdays. No classes. As of recent, I had noticed Harry had been on edge.

Audrey hugged me tightly, but I couldn't help noticing Harry glaring at me while Nikkie hugged him. We let our hug go. Audrey and Nikkie approached each other, dragging us along with them. We met in the middle of the Great Hall, the two Gryffindors and three Slytherins. This was not going to end well.

Almost immediately, Malfoy had noticed Harry's intense glare at me. "What are you staring at, Potter?" Malfoy hissed.

"Cool it, Malfoy," Nikkie suggested, brushing her hair behind her ear, exposing a black wand. "We don't want trouble."

From the look on her face, she was serious. I put my hand up to Malfoy. "Calm down," I ordered. Malfoy smirked but bit his tongue. I didn't want trouble either.

"Morning, Harry, Nikkie," I greeted.

"Morning," Nikkie said back.

Harry gritted his teeth and didn't reply. That was becoming increasingly annoying. I was going to merely let it go, but once again, fate was against me.

Malfoy pulled his wand out. "Do you have a problem, Potter?" he asked.

Harry pulled his wand out as well. "Maybe I do."

"Well you better solve it, Potter," a cold voice said behind us. I looked over my shoulder for a second to see Professor Snape standing there. "Dueling is forbidden without a teacher present."

"You're here now," Malfoy argued.

"Not the point," Snape said, his voice like a snake.

Malfoy and Harry didn't lower their wands. Snape raised an eyebrow. Nothing. Snape sighed. "Detention." He paused to look at each of us in turn. "All five of you."

"Sir, we..." Nikkie argued.

"...are guilty by association. All three of you. Report to me at midnight tonight," Snape cut off.

I glared at my cousin and best friend. I really wanted to deck him right then. I had been in some trouble before. Big trouble. But never had I ever gotten detention.

******

Just a few nights ago I was sneaking out. Now I was merely walking out. I buttoned my cloak over my school uniform. It was a strangely cool night and I had a feeling we would be outside. Audrey mentioned something about Snape favoring Hagrid's detentions. Just my luck. I wasn't sure how I could work so closely with the Dark Lord but I was afraid of Hagrid. It was probably the fact that he could crush me like a bug.

I glared at Malfoy on our way from the dungeons. "This is all your fault," I told him again. "If you didn't have to be so cocky we wouldn't have detention."

"Shut up, Fowl," Malfoy hissed.

"Both of you be quiet," Audrey insisted. She was getting tired of hearing us argue, so I naturally dropped it.

We made our way to the entrance to find Nikkie and Harry waiting awkwardly near Snape. "Nice of you to join us," Snape droned. "Hagrid is waiting outside."

Snape led us outside. A cool breeze ran through my hair, making me wish I put on my hat. We travelled a winding path to where we met the half-giant standing in his thick, fur coat.

"Here they are," Snape said.

"Good, they can help me wit' roundin' up the unicorns," Hagrid explained.

"Charming," Snape muttered unenthused before he walked away, leaving us standing there with Hagrid.

"It's always unicorns with you," Harry noticed.

"They're beau'iful creatures," Hagrid defended.

"Lovely, now can we get this over with?" Malfoy asked.

Nikkie rolled her eyes. "Shut up," she muttered. "Hagrid, what happened to the unicorns?"

Honestly, I didn't care what happened to them. We started from the castle, going towards the hut in which Hagrid lived. Though I was curious about where this giant lived, I tried to keep my distance from Hagrid. He was like a hairy monster.

"You okay?" Audrey asked, breaking me from my thoughts.

"I hate Malfoy for this. He will pay." I glared at my cousin.

The walk to Hagrid's was unnecessarily long. We finally arrived at the hut where Hagrid then debriefed us on the job we were about to do, but once again, I was in my own little zone. It was not my fault I was here. I would be having a discussion with Snape later on.

We went deep into the woods, travelling along a path that looked oddly familiar. My stomach did a flip as I reached for Audrey's hand. She glanced at me as she noticed the nervousness that lingered on my face.

"Something troubling you, Artemis?" she asked me.

I spoke to her in a whisper. "We're getting dangerously close to... a hide-out."

I'm pretty sure she knew what I meant as we entered a clearing. Ashes smoldered in a pit where a fire once burned. A few benches made of logs sat in a circle around it. My heart sank as my mind realized where we were standing. This was not good.

Harry took notice to my apparently fear-stricken face. "What's your problem, Fowl?"

"Nothing," I answered quickly.

"Then why are you so scared?" Harry hissed. "It's just a clearing. Or is there one of your little Death Eater friends lurking around waiting for an ambush?"

A light bulb went off in my head. Harry somehow knew my secret. That explained his odd behavior. We never had any problems before now. I actually thought we were cool, but I was obviously mistaken. I lost my typical level-headedness...

I drew my wand, aiming it carefully at him. "I am not a Death Eater!"

"Oh really?!" Harry shot back, his wand now appearing in his hand. "Then how come you and Malfoy have been sneaking out? How come I've seen you with them?!"

Hagrid took notice to our argument. "Stop! Put yer wands up! Yer gonna scare em away."

Malfoy drew his wand and aimed it at Hagrid. "You stay out of this!" Hagrid shut his gaping mouth, which shocked me.

"You don't know who you're dealing with, Potter," I hissed, "so back off."

"Yea, I think I do. You're a Death Eater," Harry responded. "And so is Malfoy."

Nikkie clung to Harry's robes, trying to hold him back. "Harry, stop it."

Suddenly a pair of brown eyes appeared in front of me. They were tear-glazed and red. A face slowly came into focus. Audrey looked at me and I was suddenly calm. "Stop," she whispered. "Just please... stop."

I lowered my wand slowly, stowing it back in my cloak's pocket. I noticed Harry do the same, but Malfoy kept his drawn. "Malfoy put your wand away," I demanded. When he kept it pointed at Hagrid, I grew irritated. "Put the damn wand down!"

I felt my blood beginning to boil, my eyes turning red. He caught on to my frustration and put his wand in his pocket. I was not happy with him, once again.

We pressed on moments later. We travelled deeper into the Forbidden Forest. Hagrid and his dog, Fang, led the way; Nikkie and Harry following close behind. Malfoy trailed behind Audrey and me. We still had seen no signs of the blasted unicorns.

This was going to be a long night...