Scarred (Artemis/Bella)

[Bella Walsh]

"I just...can't...."

Those words had left her lips nearly a week and a half ago and were spoken to Artemis through the tense tightening of her heart.

"I can't risk getting...you or me hurt..."

Despite his pleas, despite the looks of horror he gave her, she had to turn and walk away, disappearing into the portrait hole. But, once behind the portrait was when it happened. Fragments of that locked memory flashed with bits of her own memories with Artemis tangled in them.

She had been so happy with him, but history would surely repeat itself. She couldn't so much as stand the thought of being betrayed by the person she loved...

Little did she know just how deeply that love ran.

When she started to cry, Lili had appeared and stroked her dark hair soothingly, trying to calm her. But, the tears wouldn't stop. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't speak. For nearly 3 days this lasted, she wouldn't eat, wouldn't sleep. She was overrun with the amount of pain she felt.

Lili instantly had the foresight to call her own mother, a Saint Mungo's healer.

"Her memory charm wore off, she's unresponsive save from crying...she won't eat or sleep. What do I do?"

"I'll send some healers to come get her, love. That Memory Charm might have hurt her. You're a good friend. You're welcome to come with her..."

"Someone needs to tell Artemis. I can do that."

Bella felt so weak by the time the healers came that they easily lifted her and appirated away without being seen. The pain was...unbearable. If this was how life was going to be without him...just to save herself from betrayal...it wasn't worth it.

All she wanted was him, and it struck her while the Saint Mungo's healers began their work on her mind. She could hear her mother and Seamus in the hallway, arguing about his wand being defective and something about the charm breaking could have killed her.

She almost wished it had with how her heart labored to beat

Meanwhile, back at Hogwarts...

Lili had searched for Artemis for days, always just missing him. Now, Cern was looking too. She rushed past a group of students that were talking about the Hufflepuff girl and her face fell. There was no way he hadn't heard by now.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the Demertiou boy slipping out of the corridor and sprinted to catch up. The pink haired girl hollered his name as she weaved through people, finally grabbing his arm gently. "Artemis. I've been looking everywhere for you for days...I have to tell you about Bella. Her memory charm broke...I mean...really broke...it wasn't a gentle reminder..." She was struggling to catch her breath. Chripes this boy was hard to catch.

"She...she...she's scared. She's hurt. And not...here anymore. A medical team came and took her to Saint Mungo's." Now that Lili remembered what Bella had said...she understood why she'd felt the need to be careful around Artemis. But breaking away from him completely? No. Anyone with eyes could see how much she loves him.

"Look...I don't know what happened, I don't know what she said...but I know this. She's afraid to death of whatever it is she remembers. If I know anything...she needs you more than she will ever tell you because she doesn't want to hurt you. She's in Magical Trauma with Ms. Bones and Auror Finnegan."

[Deleted]

Artemis felt as though he had lost the very will to live the second Bella had broken up with him. He had cried, pleaded, and even begged her to change her mind, to reconsider her decision but she had held firm, saying that she could risk either her or himself getting hurt because of their emotions, before turning away from him and climbing through the portrait heading into the common room, leaving him standing out in the hall crying and begging for another chance, promising that he could change, and apologizing for something that he had believed he did, swearing to never do it again if she would change her mind. That was the condition that he had been in when his twin had found him hours later, curled up into himself and crying so hard that his entire body shook continuously from the force of the sobs.

His twin had stared blankly at him for a moment, before dropping to the floor, pulling him to her form, and allowing him to cling onto her while sobbing onto her shoulder. She had been patient, waiting for him to stop crying before leading him up into the common room, and tucking him into bed comforting him, waiting until he had been calm enough to tell her what had happened.

Then it was as if all hell had broken loose. He watched as her normally calm and emotionless face became filled with rage. She had been absolutely furious with his ex-girlfriend for what had happened, and had been about to go down to the Hufflepuff common room to confront her had Artemis not stopped her. He had clung to his sister, crying and begging her not to do anything to Bella, and that had been enough to calm the beast of anger that had risen in his sister for that night.

As his sister calmed down, it had begun to dawn on him what he had just lost, and he began to cry again. For the next few days, he had refused to eat or drink anything that was set in front of him, he lost his ability to pay attention in class, he refused to take any of his medicine, and he lost his ability to sleep peacefully at night. He was getting weaker, and weaker as time went on, losing his will to live without Bella more and more as time went on, until he was at a point where even his twin could not help him.

It was three days later, just when he had begun to realize that he had not seen Bella at all around the school, or had even heard anything about her, something that worried him, even despite his heartbreak. He still loved her, and wanted the best for her, even if they weren't together. It was just after that thought had passed, that he had felt his arm being grabbed, and he turned around quickly, hoping that it had been Bella who had touched him only to have his face fall when he noticed that it was another girl from Bella's house. Liliane Noir, he recognized her as being a friend of Bella's.

He listened to her as she spoke rapidly while trying to catch her breath at the same time. His brow furrowed as she told him about Bella's memory charm being broken in a rather aggressive way, she told him that Bella was alone and hurt, and scared and that she was at St.Mungos. He listened as he told her just where she was located and that she needed him, and he waited until she was done talking before answering her.

"T-Thank you f-for telling me e-everything L-Liliane. I-I'll head over there right away. I-I just need to find someone f-first!" It was with that that Artemis turned towards the Ravenclaw common room, and ran off as fast as he possibly could. Artemis was not able to Apperate yet, he had barely turned seventeen, so while his lessons had started, he had not yet had the skill nor the license needed to safely apperate to St.Mungos, but he knew someone who did. Xayden Andrews. He was one of the oldest members of the Ravenclaw house, and he had both the experience, and the license to safely get him there and back. He felt nothing more then dread as he made it into the common room, and ran up into the boy's dormitory. He was scared, terrified with the idea of having to face his old bully, but if it was for Bella he would do it. He would do anything.

When he reached the top of the stairs, he froze immediately with fear. Lying on the bed that was assigned to him, lay Xayden Andrews. He was reading a book of some sort, and seemed to be completely distracted. Artemis trembled slightly before taking a deep breath. He had to do this, if not for himself then for Bella.

"Andrews." His voice was calm, and cool sounding very much like his sister's in that moment. When blue eyes glanced up from his book, to stare at him with a single brow risen, Artemis felt as if he had entered the lion's den in that moment. Swallowing harshly, he took another deep breath, before allowing himself to speak again.

"I need your help. My girlfriend Bella Walsh has been taken to St.Mungos because a memory charm that was placed on her has been broken. I need to get to St.Mungos, but I lack both the experience and the license to get me there. I know that you are the best in our year at Apparition, and I know that you have a license." He paused, letting what he had said sink into the air before continuing. "If you help me with this, then I will have my sister with the thing that you asked for her to help you with." He knew that his sister would not be happy with him using her as a bargining chip to go and see someone, but he would deal with that when the time came to it. He watched Xayden's reaction to his words, sighing with relief when he got a smirk.

"Deal. We'll have to go to Hogsmeade to apperate there though since apparation doesn't work for students on school grounds, so come on."

Artemis nodded, and followed Xayden as he left the dormitory, and walked outside of the common room, through the castle, before they finally made it outside of the castle. They were not stopped or questioned since it was still early, and it was in fact a Hogsmeade weekend, something that made their trip a lot easier. The second that they made it into Hogsmeade, his hand was taken into Xayden's.

"Now hold on tightly, and do not let go no matter what."

That was the only warning that he had been given before a loud pop filled the air, and he felt as if he was being pushed through a small tube. The feeling stayed there for moments, growing worse, and worse before suddenly fading away all together. It took a moment, before Artemis realized that they were standing in front of the hospital.

"You go ahead and go see your woman. I'll be waiting here in the waiting room for you."

Artemis nodded and ran off inside, heading directly towards the Magical Trauma department. He stopped at the receptionist to get the room number before heading off again, stopping when he reached the room number that he had been given. He stood right outside of the door for a moment, before finally getting his courage up, and knocking on the door, waiting for a moment, before entering the room.

"Bella?"

[Bella Walsh]

The first sound beyond the door was Auror Finnegan peering out of the cracked door and studying the boy before a weak voice that did not belong to Bella sounded, "Seamus...it's not him...its probably one of the kids from the school. Let them in." Seamus moved back and opened the door, ushering him in swiftly before shutting it back again. The previously spoken voice came from a tired looking woman with greying red hair in a tidy braid. She smiled softly at him, a curtain separating the back half of the room from where both older people stood. "You must be Artemis...you look like how she described you. I'm Susan. Bella is...well she's..." "She's not in a good state," Auror Finnegan replied. The man looked as if he were feeling guilty and Susan put her hand on his shoulder. "He has been protecting her since he had to Obliviate her...we never knew the charm would break."

Susan led Artemis back to the back of the room and opened the curtain for him. "Maybe she will talk to you...we'll be outside the room." With that, the adults left the room, leaving the teens alone.

Bella didn't look like Bella.

Her wrists were narrow with the bones protruding under her skin, black hair seemed dull and lifeless, she had no color to her face and her eyes were closed. The gleam of tears were still fresh on her cheeks. The pain was manifesting in the appearance of dark circles beneath her eyes. For a moment, she didn't even appear to breathe until her eyes opened and she saw him there.

She couldn't speak, but the sheer and unclouded love that resided in her eyes, the recognition, there could be no guess she knew him. In the middle of the giant hospital bed, placed on her lap was a muggle dry erase board full of only one word answers to questions she had been asked before dropping off to sleep. Most of them reading, 'no'. Not hungry, not fine, not happy...just no. Her hand moved weakly across the marker and she gripped the marker and wrote one single word. 'Love' before turning it around and showing him.

She moved up enough to let him see the chain of his locket still present around her neck before she reached toward him with a fresh bout of tears springing to her eyes. It looked like all she wanted was for him to be close to her again.

It was then the shouting started from the hall. "Death Eater!!!" "Seamus!!! Shut the door!!" The door slammed roughly and locked magically. A commotion rose from behind the wood.

"You're not getting her! I don't care if she is your daughter!" Susan was saying. Bella had recoiled violently out of the bed and into the far corner, shrinking in on herself as if she might disappear.

"You are not taking, Bella anywhere." "Bella...is that what you named her? Her name is Nia!" "I know what her name is! You killed Kendra in front of her you despicable..." "I'd watch my mouth Ms. Bones. Lest you want to join your family. I'll get her. One day. I will."

Silence filled the hall again, as Auror Finnegan chased the Death Eater from the corridor, followed by Susan. The only sound in the room was the suddenly audible sounds of soft sobs. "I....." she croaked softly, "Every...last...Ravenclaw...." She was so scared, vulnerable, so...unlike the generally austere girl. She couldn't stand up, but tried to back further into the corner. "I don't want to die..." She sounded far off, as if talking in the back of her throat. "Not like momma...not like that..."

[Deleted]

There were many things that Artemis had been expecting to happen, but being stared down by an auror had not been one of them. Bella had an auror protecting her? Just what was going on? He returned the stare, sighing quietly in relief when a woman's voice told the man to let him inside of the room. Walking inside, he immediately began to observe the other two that were in the room. There was a woman with graying red hair that had been tied neatly in a braid. The man that was standing in the room was a sandy haired man who had a guilty expression on his face.

He listened to the two as they spoke, and smiled weakly at them. "Yes, I am Artemis Demetriou. It's nice to meet you Ms.Susan Bones, I just wish we could have met under different circumstances." He stopped talking, this time glancing at the auror as he spoke, before frowning with concern. It was shortly after that the two adults left the room, and he was left alone with Bella. The second that his eyes landed on Bella, he felt his heart break all over again. She did not look like the Bella that he had come to know and love. If he hadn't known better, he would have sworn that this was some sort of cruel joke that was being played on him.

She was so skinny that the bones were protruding from the skin that was underneath her wrist. Her beautiful black hair was now dull and lifeless, the skin that had once held such a beautiful healthy glow was now pale, and had lost it's color. Dark circles had appeared underneath her eyes, and for a moment it appeared if she was not even breathing, something that was enough to cause waves of panic to wash over him. He had opened his mouth, about to either call her name or call the name of Bella's mother when her eyes opened and immediately silenced him for a moment before he began to speak.

" I know that you probably don't want to see me, and normally that would be fine but I heard that you were brought here because of a broken memory charm and I had to come here to make sure that you were okay. Even if you don't love me anymore, I still love you! I always will, so I'll always be here for you. Always." He paused, and had been about to say more when the look in her eyes had shut him up. She was looking at him with such love and affection that it was enough to make him feel as if his heart had gotten caught in his throat.

He watched as she grabbed a marker, and began to write something on a type of board that had been lying on her bed before turning and making the board face him. There was one word that was written on the board and it was enough to bring tears to his eyes. She had written the word " Love" on the board, before moving so that he could see that she still had his locket on her neck. She had kept it. His most important, his most treasured object. She had kept it even after leaving him.

" Bella. I love you too. I always will, no matter what. Nothing can and will ever change that." He moved closer to her, taking her delicate hand into his own and pressing a soft kiss to it before leaning forward to wipe her tears away from her eyes. " Don't cry. I'm here now, and I promise that I'll stay for as long as you need me to."

It was after that moment that all hell broke loose. There were screams of "Death Eater!" and soon the door was slammed shut and locked magically. He watched as Bella shot out of bed violently, and retreated into the corner of the room, curling up into herself. He listened in that moment to the arguement that had taken place directly outside of the room, and in that second he made his move. He immediately made his way over to Bella, taking off his jacket and draping it on her before taking her into his arms gently.

" Bella. I promise you that as long as I am alive, that man or any other Death Eater will never lay so much as a finger on you. They will never touch you. Never. I will protect you. Even if I have to spend the rest of my life doing so. You will be safe. You will not die. You will live. I promise you. I swear."

[Bella Walsh]

She felt ashamed. How could she have doubted him? As he drew her into his arms, she felt a slowly renewing sense of joy and a will to live crawling back into her spirit. "Artemis..." the sound was full of remorse, "Trying to live without you is absolute agony, but I'm so scared that history is going to repeat itself. Either way...losing you is going to kill me." Perhaps she had misunderstood the curse. Did the Brides of Ravenclaw simply love too deeply?

"The first memory I had to see...was of my mother trying to move me to another location...she wanted to protect me from my father and the other Death Eaters...they seem to think they need to end the Founders' lines and ensure Hogwarts doesn't flourish. I jumped out the window when I heard someone coming...when I looked back, he was casting the Killing Curse. She knew a counter curse and when they met...the sound...Andraste's tears, Artemis...that sound...21 centuries of agony and screaming, betrayal, and heartbreak." She shivered slowly.

"I was so scared, paralyzed...that's when Auror Finnegan, who was casing the woods followed the sound and grabbed me. The Ministry knew of the rumors to kill off Ravenclaw's line and it would be easiest since someone was involved with them. They put him to my family to protect us. He did well...and this wasn't his fault. I would never blame him for that."

She was curling tighter into his arms than she ever had, so close to believing he could save her if he had to. "The thing that creeps me out...no Bride of Ravenclaw has a single feature of our fathers. Is that odd? It's like we all just stem from our mothers with pure blood from Rowena with no traces of other DNA. My father is very pale, blonde, steel grey eyes...my mother? Age me by 12 years. Granted, they never married or anything, no one in my blood line has. Ever. It's just like...once they have their daughter, they die and the daughter just goes on her merry way until...it catches her."

Bella's fingers tightened in his shirt. "Please don't leave me yet, Artemis. Please? I know I've been awful to you...and I can't apologize enough. I didn't realize how deeply I love you until about 5 seconds after the portrait opened. Hearing you crying because of what I'd done...I just...collapsed and cried for days. Its like every bit of my heart unraveled...I didn't care if I just stopped breathing. All I wanted was to be with you...always."

[Deleted]

He frowned when he heard just how much being apart from him had hurt Bella, and his grip on her tightened. Tears gathered in his eyes, and he buried his face in her hair, his hand moving down to grip her hand. His body trembled lightly from him holding back his soft cries. " I would never even dream of doing something to hurt you Bella. I could never hurt you. All I want to is to see you happy and smiling. You'll always have my love and my heart so please don't distance yourself from me again. It hurts the both of us far too much. I'm willing to do anything to prove myself to you. I'd even take an Unbreakable Vow if you wanted me to"

He listened to her as he began describing her memory to him, and he frowned again, holding her even closer to his body as she shivered from recalling the memory before finishing off her story. " I am glad that he was there to save you on that day. Otherwise I might have never met you. I told you that we were destined to meet for a reason. As long as my heart beats, and as long as I breathe, the Ravenclaw line will never die out. Back when we first met, you protected me. Now it's my turn to do the same for you Bella."

He hoped that he would be able to comfort her with his words. His hand moved to gently stroke her hair, and his lips pressed a gentle kiss to the top of her head before answering her. " I don't know if it is entirely odd. Some children tend to take more after one parent than another sometimes from what I've heard and from what you've told me about your family's history, maybe that is a good thing. The women are always the victims, and the men are always the ones to hurt them. It's better to take the appearence of the lamb then it is to take the appearence of the lion that hurt the lamb after all."

That was the way that Artemis saw it anyway. Thoough deep inside of his mind he had to wondered, if he and Bella were to have children together someday, would the same exact thing happen? Would their kids take after Bella or himself, or would they be a mixture of the both of them? Would they inherit his Metamorph ability, or would they inherit the beauty of the Ravenclaw line? It was an interesting question, one that he couldn't help but to be curious about.

When Bella's fingers tightened on his shirt, she immediately recaptured his attention. Upon hearing her request, he gave her a gentle smile, and pressed yet another kiss to the top of her head. " I will stay by your side for as long as you want me to. I will not leave until you are ready for me to leave. It is okay, I forgave you the very minute I heard that you were taken here Bella. Just please do not do it again." He smiled weakly, holding her close to his body, and his eyes slid closed for a second. " I always want to be by your side. I don't care what it is that you need me to be, I will be it. Just please don't push me away again, that is all I ask for in return."

[Bella Walsh]

"No, no...never again. Not even on pain of death. Artemis, I'm never going to do something that stupid again. Not ever." As tight as she could muster, she squeezed him close and it was as if a breath of life geared up to breathe in her. Carefully, she kissed his lips and strength started returning. The beating of her heart grew stronger. When she finally moved back, she smiled. A warm, sweet smile that she hadn't shown anyone but him and her mother in her whole life. "I love you, Artemis." Her voice sounded stronger with use, and she looked up slightly as the door unlocked.

One of the mediwitches came in cautiously, "Nia Ravenclaw?" Bella's face flickered both confusion and recognition. "I suppose that's me...yes?" "Auror Finnegan wishes you to return to Hogwarts where it's safer. He is re-locating your mother from Appleby to an undisclosed location. You will know where later."

Bella's face fell. Were the Death Eaters on to them? "Can I be re-Obliviated? This is too much to handle." "Oh, no Miss. The mental strain world likely kill you, or you might go insane. I do need to go, Miss. You need to prepare to be moved. The Auror will escort you back." "Yes, ma'am."

As she hurried away, Bella huffed softly. "I don't know who I am or who I'm supposed to be. I don't know what's going on. All I know...is that I'm freaking starving and aside from food, all I want is to stay wrapped up in your arms for the next week of my life." She tried to stand and buckled under her own weight.

Then it hit her, "Wait a minute...how on earth did you get here? And...you're not stuttering? What happened?"

[Deleted]

He was so happy and relieved when Bella gave him her answer that mere words couldn't even hope to describe how he felt. When she kissed him, for once he did not shy away from her, but he responded almost immediately, his hands gently taking her face into his hands as he did so. " I love you too Bella. Always." He smiled softly as he heard that he voice had gotten stronger, she was getting back to normal.

When the door unlocked, Artemis had frowned and remembering the incident from earlier he had gathered Bella in his arms protectively only relaxing when he saw that it was a mediwitch that had come inside the room. He watched and listened as the nurse gave Bella the news that she would be going back to Hogwarts.

He frowned slightly when she asked to be Obliviated again, his hand moving to rest on her shoulder. While he didn't like the idea of that, he would be supportive with her no matter what she chose to do, though he would have been lying if he had said that he hadn't been slightly relieved when the nurse said that she couldn't be reobliviated and that she would be escorted back by the auror before leaving.

" It is okay Bella. You can't possibly be expected to have all the answers right now. Take your time, they'll come to you eventually . As for food, We'll make sure that you get all of the food that you can eat when you get back to school. I'll be here to hug you, and hold you as often and as long as you would like." His hands moved forward to grab, and support her as he saw her legs shake underneath her weight.

" Well when I heard that you were taken here, I knew that I needed to find a way to get here as fast as I could. Apparation was the only way that I could think of and since I'm not old enough, nor do I have a liscence I needed someone that did. The only person I could think of was Xayden Andrews, since he's one of the oldest ones in my house and he had everything that I needed. So I went to talk, and make a deal with him. As for why I'm not stuttering anymore, it's because Xayden wouldn't have taken me seriously if I had been stuttering over every other word, so I managed to somehow make myself stop, and I haven't stuttered since."

[Bella Walsh]

He had asked Andrews for help? Why did that make her feel even more special than before. He seemed so much braver, and honestly...she liked that. "You sound so confident...I like that. You are so brave, doing all this for me even after I handled all of this so horribly. All I could think of was that dark mark, and I didn't want him hurting you. I'd rather be Crucio'ed a thousand times over than to see someone like that hurt you." It felt like she had anyway.

Flushing slightly, she finally nuzzled his chest. "Love, might I ask you a small favor? I have to get...re-dressed in my uniform. If you just help me sit down, I can get it." That strongly in love side of her nearly asked him to help her, just to see him blush, though she was certain the thought might have been spoken aloud as she turned a darker shade of red. "Goodness...I don't know what's going through my mind today. I must be drawing off our last date right now." She blushed again and bit her lip, "I'm sorry, they said my thoughts and emotions will be jumbled for a while. If I do something...that makes you too nervous just remind me that I'm not quite myself yet." Meanwhile, she would try not to jump him.

Woah! These were some wicked thoughts! Stop that!

Her fingers looped through his hair gently, and she smiled, dazed, "I'll...try to behave myself so we can get out of here. Its just strange to feel this way again after feeling nothing for over a week." It was like her mind regressed to much happier times. "This is too...weird!"

[Deleted]

Artemis couldn't help but blush when he received the compliment from Bella. He hadn't thought about what he had done as brave, he had merely viewed it as something that he had needed to do. Something that was necessary in order to make sure that Bella was going to be okay.

"Thank you, but what I did wasn't brave. It was necessary. I needed to know that you were okay, and this was the only way that I could think of doing it. I had to sound confident, for you or he would have sent me away wthout helping, and I couldn't risk that. I jut couldn't. I'm not scared of a Death Eater, I've dealt with someone just as dangerous as he is. We both did, and we did better together then we would have done alone. You and I are better together then we are apart, and I have a feeling that it is always going to be that way for us."

He smiled again when she nuzzled his chest, and he listened to what she had asked of him, before smiling softly. "Of course I will help you, kardiá mou." He stood up for a moment, gently scooping Bella up into his arms bridal style, before setting her down so that she was sitting. He did not want to make her put too much effort and strain on her body yet, so he would be doing simple stuff like this for her until she was able to do so for herself again. He heard her mumble something under her breath, before turning a bright red, and mentioning their last date, something that made him turn a bright red at the mention of it, along with giving him a confused, bewildered feeling. Just why was she bringing that up all of a sudden?

"It's alright Bella, I don't mind. Alright, I'll be sure to do so if you start acting strange." A gentle kiss was placed to her right temple, and he smiled when he felt her fingers lace through his hair. "I figured it was something like that, to be honest I do not mind. I'm glad that I can make you feel happy again, that I can make you feel these good emotions again." He smiled, and pressed a gentle kiss to her lips for a moment, before pulling away and stepping back. "I will give you your privacy so you can get dressed in your uniform. I'll be right outside the door, call me when you're ready for me to come back in okay?" With that said, he turned to leave the room, opening the door and stepping out, waiting patiently for her to call him back inside.

[Bella Walsh]

Merlin's bloody balls...her mind creeped her out. As he slid from the room, she felt her heart beating a million times a moment. He was right, however. They always seemed to compliment each other so well that it was as if they were dark and light. It was near perfect harmony

She struggled a little to get her uniform on in a decent manner and smiled softly at the feel of her wand in her pocket. She could just...charm herself to regain her strength, but she was too afraid to cast more magic on herself. "It's clear, my Seraphim...you can come back in now." He could have stayed!

Mer...Lin.

Admittedly, in her uniform, she felt most comfortable right now. She crossed her ankles pleasantly before looking up at the door hopefully. She could not get over how much she loved this man. No other person in the world could match him.

[Deleted]

The very second that he was called by Bella, he walked back into the room and immediately over to her side. Upon seeing her back in her uniform, his eyes softened a great amount, and he couldn't help but smile softly down at her. He was so relieved to see her back in her school uniform, and out of the hospital gown that she had been in. This would be the very first step in getting her back to being her normal, healthy self and Artemis would be by her side the entire way, helping and encouraging her whenever she wanted or needed him to do so for her.

"You have no idea how relieving it is for me to see you in that uniform instead of that hospital gown.The first thing that we are doing when you are back at Hogwarts is getting some food in you. " He felt much calmer, much happier even though he knew that there would still be much to be done until she was completely back to normal, and making sure that she ate right would be another step on the path to healing.

"Are you ready to go back to the castle, kardiá mou? Shall I go and get the auror for you? Or do you want to leave the room and go find him. I'll carry you if you would like. Whatever you want to do, we'll do."

[Bella Walsh]

Seeing him made her smile softly. "Thank you, Seraph. I think I'd rather find him. Sitting here makes me feel very...exposed." She bit her lip softly and looked up at him, "I'd rather not be here if the Death Eater comes back." The Hufflepuff Seeker shuddered at the thought. If he had returned without Auror Finnegan present, what would they be allowed to cast without being expelled?

One of the Mediwitches appeared in the doorway. "Auror Finnegan is in the waiting room. Please, allow me to cast one last charm to at least get you appearing stronger. Your physical strength is lacking from the lack of food, but there is a charm I've been instructed to use." The Mediwitch waved her wand gracefully and spoke softly, the words unable to be heard. As she examined the witch with blue hair and blue eyes, she was reminded of Liliane. That must be her mother.

Once she finished casting, Bella became aware of the thickening of her wrists to protect the bone, the filling in of her rib cage, and lessening of the jut of her hips. Her skin filled with radience and her hair shone with health and strength. Her face appeared soft with a rosy hint to both cheeks and lips and her eyes even appeared to be nearly twice as green, lush and bright. Granted the cinched in waist did not expand, though, the almost liked it. She certainly felt better now. As the mediwitch bowed away, Bella reached up for Artemis to pick her up again. "I have to ask," she began, jumping with a start at the more dulcet tones of her own voice, what in the world? "This memory charm...thing...I wonder if it made me able to be more like I used to be. Anyway, I meant to ask...what you called me? What does it mean?" Her arms wrapped gently around his neck and her head tilted into his shoulder.

She was a little nervous about the fact that as her thoughts calmed down, she felt a great deal of wonder and love. This is what she was supposed to feel before. She looked up at him gently and asked softly, innocently, and curiously, "This amount of love...is that what you feel? I feel like I would do absolutely anything to make you happy. And when you smile, its brighter than the sun." Oh, Merlin...now she understood it.

To keep this feeling, she would do anything for him. Steal her mother's priceless heirloom...lay herself beneath his blade...anything in the world. "I think I understand the curse now...the love runs so deep, it becomes us. We romanticize the feeling of love, and we cling to that which is illogical to have. Hope in face of hopelessness, love in face of death, unconditional trust in face of lies. Its not logical...but we do anything to keep love close." She leaned up slightly and nuzzled his neck with her nose, softly kissing his skin. "I wouldn't change this feeling for the world."

[Deleted]

" Of course. I understand what you mean." Had Artemis been in her situation he knew that there was a very good chance that he would feel exactly the same way that she did. If he returned, there would be a good chance that they would be in big trouble either way, if they defended themselves, there was a high risk of them being expelled from Hogwarts for using magic outside of the school. If they didn't use magic, then there was a high chance that their lives would be in very great danger.

Man, being a student really sucked sometimes.

Artemis glanced over at the entrance of the room as a mediwitch seemingly appeared out of nowhere. She told them that the auror happened to be waiting for them in the waiting room, the same place where Xayden happened to be waiting, and he felt a slight amount of relief. At least he wouldn't be kept waiting for that much longer. Artemis wouldn't admit it to anyone, but he had been a bit worried about Xayden losing his patience and leaving him there at St.Mungos. After all, it wasn't as if they were friends, and after all he did only ask for Xayden to take him to the hospital. Feeling his nerves worsen, he almost missed when the mediwitch casted a charm on Bella.

He watched as all of the life seemed to flow back into her with just that simple charm. Her body seemed to return to a normal, healthy weight and her hair and skin had returned to their beautiful healthy state. The color came back to her eyes, skin, and lips and in that moment Bella had appeared more beautiful then ever to him. He was so happy to see her looking healthy again that he almost started crying again from happiness, but he managed to hold himself back, calmly wiping away any evidence of there being any tears. As the mediwiitch left them to each other, and Bella reached up for him, he calmly picked her up, holding her as if she was his bride. He took a quick glance around the room, making sure that nothing was forgotten, before turning and leaving the room with her still in his arms.

As she began speaking again, Artemis gave her his full attention while slowly making his way to the waiting room where they waited for the two of them. " What I called you? Do you mean kardiá mou? Well you see my sister and I were adopted by a couple that lives in Greece. We were able to speak Greek before any other language, including English. Kardiá mou is Greek for my heart." He held her close as he continued on his way, listening and answering her other questions when she asked them.

"I feel like you are my sun and my moon. You light up my world and you keep it lit for as long as you are here with me. I would gladly give up my life for you, throw myself in front of any spell as long as it meant that you got to live. To hear you breathe brings me joy. To feel your hand in mine reassures me that you are not just some dream made up by a lonely boy to ensure that he has a reason for living. I love you more than anything. Even life itself."

He listened to Bella talk about the curse again, and he frowned slightly. "If that is so, then I believe that it is not your family that has been cursed, that it has been the ones that they chose to love that have been cursed. Forced to betray such amazing women such as yourselves. Forced to never find happiness and to turn away from such beautiful unconditional love and having to live with that for the rest of their lives. I pity them. However, I will not let pity ruin the happiness that I have with you. I will risk my life to make sure that you do not fall prey to this curse. I promise you that I will always protect you. You will never know the pain that your family has been famed for as long as you are with me."

The words that he spoke were spoken in a sincere tone, and if one were to look into his eyes, they would see nothing but honesty. He meant every single word that he had said.

It was a moment later that they had made it into the waiting room. Artemis was relieved to see that Xayden Andrews was still there, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed in front of his chest as if he had not a care in the world. Standing not that far off from him was none other than the auror. Smiling down at Bella, he planted a gentle kiss on her forehead before gently setting her down on the ground.

" I love you with everything that I am, kardiá mou."

[Bella Walsh]

She hadn't been so emotionally available to someone's words since her mother was alive and hearing him speak brought tears to her eyes as she listened. Even the way he held her made her fill with adoration. She kept her arms draped around his neck, smiling. "As it is you that speaks such, I will treasure that name forever."

If only forever truly lasted that long.

She looked up at him as he set her down and felt her heart fully open and accept him. Accept his promises, accept his words, accept all he was with one smile. "I will love you in this life, the last one, and the next." She breathed, before thanking Xayden despite the trembling.g in her legs.

Auror Finnegan spoke next, "I'm appariting you directly into Hogwarts."

"Please, just to Hogemeade!

"We can't risk you being found, so no."

"Please?" Bella frowned slightly, only to be greeted with a sigh. "Alright. Inside the Shreiking Shack!"