His young charge had been sitting at his computer, tapping away at god-knows-what (Butler had stopped trying to understand years ago), when the owl had come.
At first, Butler had thought it was an intruder of some sort – he had heard a series of taps against the study window before a large CRACK, until he remembered that intruders would not knock. His breath had caught in his throat – after all this time, could it be?
When Artemis the Second had reached seven, the Fowls had been concerned, for he displayed no signs of magic at all. Lady Fowl was worried, and tried to convince herself and her husband that their son's strength had gone to his genius and therefore took longer to develop his powers, but they put away all the "magic" equipment just in case the prodigy really was a Squib, so as not to hurt him.
But it had hurt her so, when the boy neared ten and still no displays of magic ever occurred. And while the Butlers were not a magical family, Butler still felt somehow that he failed. The Butlers had served the Fowls for centuries, because even though they were a pureblooded family, they had never cared much about that status – power, wealth, whatever, it was all the same thing, and curse the social stigmas. In any event, Butlers were more useful and trustworthy than house-elves.
Artemis the First disappearing had been the last straw for her, and the Lady became quite mentally ill, leaving Artemis alone with the Butlers, and it seemed he would never discover this wonderful world.
But then, the owl arrived! And for once Butler was shocked, though in an elated way, while his employer was simply annoyed at having his work disrupted.
"Why is there an owl, outside of my window, in the broad daylight?" Artemis had asked, and it did not take a genius to remember that owls were nocturnal creatures, so they would stand out in this scenario, even if it did not have a scroll tied to its foot.
"I believe, sir, that it has come to deliver something," Butler said simply, and opened the window, untying the paper from the owl's leg.
At that moment, Juliet, and to Artemis' visible shock, Butler noticed, Angeline came rushing into the room. "Did you say there was an owl here for Artemis?" Angeline asked, her voice hopeful. Then she saw the fowl (ha-ha, see what I did there?) in the room, and the scroll in Butler's hand, and gasped. "But it can't be!"
"I dearly appreciate how invisible and ignorant I have been deemed in this past minute," Artemis drawled coldly.
Butler cleared his throat, and from the way young Artemis' icy eyes pierced him, he knew that the child could tell that he was nervous. "Perhaps you should read this, sir," he stated, handing the scroll to Artemis.
Still glaring at everyone in the room, Artemis gingerly took the scroll with one hand, and with the thumb and forefinger of the other hand, gently pulled at the ribbon holding the parchment together as though it was infected with some kind of disease and he was attempting to minimize the amount of contact his skin made with the silk.
The strip of parchment unfurled, and the first words out of Artemis' mouth as he skimmed the first line was, "What sort of farce is this?"
"This is no farce, my son, it is your acceptance letter into Hogwarts!" Angeline beamed excitedly, her eyes more alive than ever.
Artemis seemed shocked that a simple letter of acceptance into some school of "witchcraft and wizardry" was enough to bring his crazy mother out of her trance (or perhaps he was thinking that he himself had gone mad? Butler would never be able to decipher what the child was thinking). "Magic? Mother, forgive me for being somewhat doubtful."
"Doubtful, yes, but it's true. Artemis, have strange things happened to you? Special, unique powers? At all?" Angeline probed. She pulled out a wand (to Artemis it simply looked like a stick), waved it a few times, and the scroll Artemis was holding rolled itself back up, the ribbon on the table tied back into a knot over the scroll, and the parchment zoomed into her hand.
Artemis started, and it seemed as if he would say no, but then, "You mean like moving things without touching them? Changing them, or making them vanish? Occasionally setting them on fire? Controlling animals? Making bad things happen every time I am annoyed?" With each statement, Angeline's smile became bigger and bigger. Butler couldn't help but smile a little, himself. It was the first time he had heard Artemis speak in something other than complete sentences.
"Yes, yes! Oh, you awful child, why didn't you tell us before?" she asked.
Artemis was silent for what seemed like eternity. Then, he spoke. "I…I did not know. I thought it was special, that I was the only one. I was a bit afraid of it, I wanted to test it more. I kept it a secret…I was planning to show you and Father, but then he disappeared and I never…"
Angeline, as happy as she was before, now seemed crestfallen. Suddenly, Juliet broke in,
"Wait, what do you mean, you did all those things? I understand how you could have kept your little experiments secret, but what about the 'bad things happening when I'm annoyed' part? Surely, the way you're always going on about me all the time, I would have noticed!"
"Juliet…" Butler warned his younger sister.
"Ah, see, that was part of my…experiments. A Fowl always covers his tracks…those little accidents were not always accidents."
"Cheeky child. Just like your father," Angeline scolded, albeit good-naturedly. "You're very powerful, darling…to be able to conceal the magic from everyone and even control it at such a young age…though, looking at your other accomplishments, I'm not that surprised. For all these years, we thought that you didn't have magic…that you were a Squib. That's a non-magical child born to a magical family," she added, for her son's benefit.
"Speaking of Father, was he magical, too?" Artemis asked.
"Yes, he was, and your grandparents on both sides…everyone in both sides of the family is magical. That's what the wizarding world calls 'pure-bloods,' when you're descended from nothing but magic. I came from the Lestranges, another influential pure-blood family."
From the way Artemis twitched his nose, Butler could tell that he was slightly intrigued and disgusted at the same time. "Who came up with this labeling anyway? Magic is magic, does it really make a difference? Or does non-magical genetics somehow dilute the available power a wizard or witch has?"
Angeline smiled. "I can see you're on the right track of thinking there, my dear boy. Really, I don't think there's much of a difference; I've met very intelligent and powerful wizards and witches born to Muggles, the non-magical folk. That's one reason why I married your father. The Fowls are pure-blood, but they never cared much for this mania, unlike my side of the family. The Lestranges…they're stricter…more conservative…more supremacist."
"I suppose my maternal relatives will receive minimal contact from us, then," Artemis said.
"You don't need to worry about that, darling. Marrying a Fowl meant severing many ties with my family. They have been labeled as 'blood-traitors,' or people who support the rights of non-pureblooded wizards. Personally, I do not think the Fowls should be called that. They neither support or oppose these prejudices."
"I'm assuming, Mother, that the reason is because we are more concerned with our personal power and wealth," Artemis said, with a rather amused tone in his voice.
"True, true," Angeline said, smiling. "Always right, as usual. Unlike many other so-called 'blood-traitor' families, though, the Fowls are still respected in pureblood society because of our wealth."
"Indeed," was the response from Artemis.
Artemis followed his mother through the twists and turns of the manor.
Never before had he been as shocked as today. His powers ran in the family! While he was disappointed that he was not the only one in the universe to have magic, as it was called now, he was still relieved that he would be accepted without too much shock. And this new school…for magical folk, his mother had said. Artemis never shied away from information, but his brain was ready to explode from this days intake!
Speaking of which, he had been so stunned by the revelation that he never bothered to ask, "Butler, are you and Juliet magical, as well?"
To which his bodyguard responded, "No, we are not. But we have been trusted with serving the Fowls all the same. The pure-bloods know us well enough to not look down upon us despite the fact that we are Muggles."
Artemis assumed "Muggle" meant non-magical humans. He didn't have to be a genius to see why the Butlers commanded respect of people who would otherwise look down upon them.
His mother was reading through the letter again. "Hmmm…" she mumbled. "We already have these…and these…but he needs the rest of these anyway…I shall have to make a list." Artemis looked up and saw she was looking at the supplies list, and was making circles and check marks with her wand.
They finally stopped in front of a supposedly plain wall, but then, Angeline drew her wand and tapped the portrait of Hugo de Fole, who turned and stared at Artemis, blue eyes boring through him as he had done to so many others. He opened his mouth and said, "Password?"
Artemis did not need to ask. "Aurum est potestas."