Disclaimer: If Artemis Fowl was mine . . . Well, you get the picture. He's not:P
Artemis decided that traveling by the subway through New York was not really one of the best ideas he'd ever had. Especially at night.
After being forced to stay an entire week with Juliet as his bodyguard under house arrest, his fashion sense had changed somewhat. He wore slightly more casual clothes now. Slightly. So his "night mode outfit" (as Juliet once put it) was given the "okay" by Butler to wear through the streets of New York City. A black silk button down and pressed skinny(er) slacks. The day Artemis Fowl was to wear jeans (regularly) was yet to come.
But even with Butler by his side, Artemis still felt slightly unnerved by something he couldn't put his finger on. Not really something bad, just . . . odd. Ever since his flash with magic and time traveling, he'd been much more attuned to magic. Maybe there was an underground fairy base nearby. Artemis wouldn't be surprised if was true. He was going to have to look into that . . .
But Artemis was tired, his backpack was getting annoyingly heavy, even just sitting on his lap, and he just wanted to get to the hotel already, so he ignored that nagging feeling.
"Only fourteen more stops, Artemis," Butler reminded his young charge.
"Oh, yes, spectacular," he muttered under his breath.
"Thank you, Butler," he said a bit louder. Butler just nodded. Artemis sighed and glanced out the window, which held nothing but darkness. He'd had a long day. Artemis closed his eyes.
The subway car they were on wasn't overly crowded, but there was a fair amount of people, enough to have Butler sitting almost annoyingly close. Almost.
"Now arriving at Prince Street and 7th," said a pleasant female voice over the intercom. There appeared to be a large group heading to that place, as many people who had been laughing and talking most of the trip departed, while another smaller group of families got on.
Artemis opened his eyes unwillingly. The families (there were only two, though it seemed like more) were apparently British and very lost, judging by their accent and rather loud and particularly idiotic attempts to read a map of the city.
One man, black with glasses, sat down heavily, and all the younger children attempted to clamber on to his lap, giggling and pulling his arms like hyperactive puppies. They seemed to be searching for something. Maybe it was candy.
Artemis chuckled a bit. It reminded him of his own younger brothers, doing almost the exact same thing with his father. Suddenly, he missed them. Artemis sighed. Even though he had no idea how to act around small children, he loved Myles and Beckett. He wondered if they'd been keeping up with their French. Probably not.
He was looking to invest in something or the other for his family (he couldn't quite remember what it was at the moment, he was feeling rather sleepy) that wasn't illegal, he hoped, although given his luck, it probably was. And something to do with fairies . . .
Artemis closed his eyes again, listening to the children. They were having the oddest conversation, but he supposed it just had to do with silly imagination or toys whatever . . .
"Please, Daddy, can I have your wand? Please, James brought his, and he says he'll share with Albus but not me! Tell him to share!"
"James . . . "
"I didn't say that, Dad! Lily's lying!"
"You can use mine at the hotel later, Lils, okay?"
"Thank you so much Daddy! Ha, James in your face!"
There was a small growl, presumably from James.
I wonder what kind of wand they're talking about, for an adult to have one, Artemis thought. Maybe some kind of cell phone brand or computer? I'll have to check that out . . .
His mind jumped to the new energy-channeling wands Qwan had been trying to develop for both demons and fairies. No.1 had been testing them out in Foaly's lab a couple of days ago. The result had been disastrous, with the wand exploding in No.1's face and filling the room with a dense smoke. Qwan had found it rather funny at the time. Artemis smiled softly at the memory.
"Now arriving at Herald Square and 34th," said the voice over the intercom.
"We'll be there soon, Artemis," Butler said softly, nudging him in case he had fallen asleep.
"Thank you, Butler," Artemis said, cracking his eyes open and yawning. He realized there was no one else on the subway but the families and himself. Huh. He could have sworn there were more people. Artemis studied the family, having nothing better to do.
The families had settled next to each other, talking and laughing. The black-haired man (who, Artemis noticed, had the brightest green eyes he had ever seen) with the glasses had a little girl with dark red hair, a weird color combination of black and red, dozing on his lap. A woman with flaming-red hair who was probably his wife leaned her head against the man's shoulder, talking to the woman sitting across from her while stoking the little girl's hair.
Three boys sat in a corner, giggling and glancing at Butler, who was cracking his knuckles. Artemis chuckled under his breath. He didn't usually laugh this much, but Butler's antics seemed unusually funny right now. Maybe he really wasn't getting enough sleep.
Butler didn't take any chances, glaring almost menacingly at the small children.
Two of the giggling boys looked nearly identical, with their fair skin and shocks of black hair. One had glasses and green eyes, similar to the man with the little girl on his lap, while the other looked about a year or so older and had dark brown eyes instead of green ones. The youngest boy had bright red hair and a smattering of freckles across his face and arms.
A girl with reddish-brown hair and freckles glared at the boys, a large book balanced in her lap. She looked about the same age as the boy with black hair and brown eyes. It was a wonder how she carried the book around, Artemis thought, it must've been five hundred pages at least. She reminded him of himself as a small child, perhaps around five or six years old, though.
Across from the black-haired man with the little girl sat a red-haired man who looked almost identical to the younger red-haired boy sitting in the corner and the woman sitting next to the black-haired man. He was holding hands with a bushy brown-haired woman, who was chatting animatedly with the red-haired woman.
Too many hair colors, Artemis thought, shaking his head internally. Why can't they all just look alike? Artemis snapped out of it, shaking his head for real this time. Even his thoughts were becoming irrational from sleep deprivation! And he had only missed . . . he couldn't even remember how much sleep he had gotten. He hated traveling like this, without enough sleep.
The family seemed very close-knit and light-hearted, but there was something about the adults that seemed almost . . . wary. If Artemis hadn't known any better, he would have said they had gone through a war zone or something. He could say knew the feeling.
Somebody stirred in the back and Artemis realized there was an older boy, a teenager around his age there as well, sleeping. He looked similar to the black-haired man with the little girl, but without the glasses, around seventeen years old or so.
The voice ran out again from the intercom. "Now arriving at 57th Street and 7th Avenue."
The black-haired man sat up. "The next stop is ours, Ginny. Rally up the kids, won't you?"
"Sure thing, Harry," said the woman, pecking him on the lips. So they were married.
All the children sat up, clutching their little backpacks, waiting for the train to stop.
"Next stop's ours, too, Artemis," Butler said, gathering their duffel bags.
"What a coincidence," said the young Irish boy. "They're probably headed to the same hotel we're going to."
"I doubt that," said Butler.
Artemis shook his head. "Care to bet on it, Butler?"
"I think I'm good without betting on you, Artemis. Thanks."
"Only because you know I'm right."
Butler opened his mouth to reply to this strange happy behavior of Artemis', but was interrupted by the intercom.
"Now arriving at 5th Avenue and 59th Street."
"Let's go, kids!" Ginny called, glancing once at Butler before immediately sheparding the children towards the door, while the adults stretched and yawned before following suit.
Butler and Artemis waited for them to pass. Artemis ended behind the black-haired man who was apparently called Harry, while the walked in the warm summer air. The little girl he was carrying blinked and looked around. She spotted Artemis, and waved happily.
"Hi," she said in a sleepy voice. "My name's Lily. What's yours?"
Artemis opened his mouth to make some sort of sarcastic retort, then closed again, feeling stupid. He would never say anything like what he was about to say to his brothers, why would he say it to this little child? I really am tired, Artemis thought.
"Artemis, Artemis Fowl." he said in a cool voice.
The man carrying the little girl turned around in surprise.
"You're Artemis Fowl? The second?" he asked, his glasses slightly askew.
"I am him," Artemis replied simply, reaching up to straighten his tie, before remembering he didn't have one on. He let his hand drop to the side, feeling rather ridiculous.
"And, er, this is Artemis Fowl I?" the man asked awkwardly, glancing at Butler. Artemis smirked slightly.
"Ah, no. This would be my . . . guardian for this trip, Butler."
The manservant nodded once.
The man looked abashed. "Sorry, I didn't mean . . . "
"It's not a problem," Artemis said coolly.
The little boy with black hair (who looked at lot like the man he was running to) yelled, "Dad! James said he was gonna use his wand at the hotel but you told him not to! Tell him not to!"
"Albus. I will have a talk with you and James later but right now I am having a conversation with someone." the man said sternly, putting the little girl down. "Now take Lily back to your mother."
"Yes, Dad," Albus said sulkily, grabbing Lily's hand. "Come on, Lily!"
Artemis glanced at Butler, who was looking rather impatient. "Sorry about this, old friend. You know how the fans are."
Butler's lips twitched, but he didn't say anything.
The man extended a hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Fowl. My name is Harry Potter."
A/N: My first fanfic! I don't really like announcing that it's my first , but then I feel like cheating when I don't say anything at all. So I just posted this to see what would happen. I don't really like this story *glares* and I have no idea where I'm going with it, but I have a going-nowhere second chapter just in case. PLEASE REVIEW!! I am desperate to hear what you think. If it's a good story or whatever.
Akane: Oh, she's just desperate! *smirks*
Don't listen to her. She knows nothing.
Akane: I have ears!!
I'm glad to hear it. I was afraid they were missing for a second. *winks*
Anyways, review. I don't know what you think until you tell me. It's like, walking up to a person, staring at them in the eyes and getting uncomfortably close then walking away talking out loud to yourself about what you think about that person. DON'T BE THAT WEIRD FREAK! REVIEW AND I LOVE YOU! Reviewers get a hug from Holly and Harry at the same time. I would get you one from Artemis, but he isn't a hugging person isn't a hugging person*o*