Before we start, a quick hello to Saelinne who was the first person to ask a question, and a rather sensible one at that, and so gets a cookie and a mention.
Now then, in this chapter we are focusing on the second of our main characters in this 'Excellent Adventure'. This rather magnificent OC is all Tenzo's, very kindly gifted to me to use in whatever twisted way I desire, mwahaha. Seriously though it took a lot of work and a lot of discussion to get this character right so I hope that you all enjoy reading about her as much as we did putting her together.
Also a cameo appearance from a certain kick-ass lady from the very fantastic Resident Evil franchise happens here. It goes without saying that we do not own Resident Evil or Harry Potter otherwise we'd be spending a lot more time playing around like this than we do.
Work sucks. Kind of gets in the way too.
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Big love to the mighty Tenzo51 without whom this story wouldn't have even happened, let alone be anywhere near as good as it is.
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I'm not JKR and I don't make any money from this. Which is a bit of a shame.
DtR xx.
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The Excellent Adventure of a Wolf, a Loony and a Very Bored Heroine.
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2. If You Go Into The Woods Today.
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On top of a hill, deep in the thick forest that lay on the North Eastern border of Alaska and Canada sat a huge, ramshackle estate that looked to the outside observer to be abandoned. It's redwood walls and grey stone doorways were certainly very old, but if one were to take a closer look they would see that what appeared to be disrepair was simply age. More careworn than neglected. The ivy and brambles that curled up it's sides and framed it's entrances made the old place blend into the surrounding, natural landscape perfectly. Or at least as perfectly as a building covering eight and a half thousand square feet with three acres of sweeping, if overgrown, lawns could blend in.
It was this large, elderly mansion and it's many outbuildings that served as the Summer quarters of a very special group of magical creatures, the Royal Pack of the 'True Wolves'.
They were led by their Alpha and Queen, a fierce and powerful, greying woman who was simply referred to by the traditional title of 'The Amarok'. Her line had ruled over the wolves for many centuries, since the rumour shrouded time of the first 'Great Wolf of the North' and they were held in the highest regard by all of their kin, not just in the Americas, but across the World.
The Amarok was so respected that, whenever she dispatched an ambassador or a peace-keeper to a trouble spot, whatever problems there had been on the ground simply seemed to melt away knowing that the attention of the great Queen was upon them. The real treat for her people though was when she held court twice a year, allowing those with grievances or issues between individuals, or even entire packs, to come and have them resolved by her serene and ultimate wisdom. This was especially exciting for them as they got to see the 'Royal' family, not just the Queen, but also her son Roald, his wife and her grand-daughter. The adored and admired Artemis Amarok. The first white wolf to be born into their World for more than two hundred years.
She was their hope, their idol, their Princess and they would travel thousands upon thousands of miles just to catch a single glimpse of her. Not that she was exactly an angel, mind you.
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She stalked through the dense forest silently, each careful step managing to avoid the hidden, dry twigs that could snap and give away her location to her happily oblivious prey. As she got closer the Alaskan 'true' wolf dropped to all fours and flattened her ears against her head. Her haunches quivered in anticipation as the young wolf cubs played on in the deep shadows of the tall canopy unaware that they were being watched.
In a sudden burst of motion, the snow white blur shot from the tree-line bowling over the first four cubs and headed snarling to the startled juveniles, baring her fangs at them before skidding to a halt. Her amused dark brown and amber eyes twinkled as she whipped out her hands, retracting her claws at the last second, and cuffed two of her cousins across the sides of their heads, then turned tail and set off on a deceptively calm looking, loping run in the opposite direction. A great, high howl went up behind her and the chase was on.
The small, white wolf streaked through the trees and undergrowth, her long limbs moving gracefully but at speed, always within sight of the chasing pack but easily staying just tantalisingly out of their reach. They had played this game, that was not a game, many times before and the result was always the same. It didn't put the cubs off from trying to catch their much admired, pale furred cousin mind, but seemed to inspire them to become stronger, faster and perhaps, finally, one day to be able to best the wolf girl. Not that any of them could hope to really. Their cousin and friend was just that good
All of them were indeed so involved in the chase that they paid little heed to where she was actually leading this merry dance to and the consequences that would inevitably come out of their mad rush to her chosen location. If they had realised then they may have thought twice about following her. But probably not.
Chaos reigned as the excited youngsters of the pack burst out of the thick brush and onto the enormous lower lawn where their elders habitually met to carry out the business of running the continent's many true, half and were wolves. The cubs and juveniles ran full pelt, twisting and turning between the legs of their parents, aunts, uncles and grandparents in pursuit of their laughing quarry. Right up until the point that she crashed into her own mother in and knocked her flying into a tightly packed group of elders. It was like watching an intricate pattern of dominoes as one knocked the next over until that entire part of the clearing was filled with the tangled, struggling limbs of a great many extremely annoyed and cursing Royal Council wolves.
Everything was dead silent for a brief moment until the young ones howled their pleasure at the hilarious sight of the horrified, red faced figure of their trouble-making pack Princess. Artemis Amarok was in a crap load of trouble. Again.
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Alice didn't remember much about her former life. Not even her last name. Of course, that hadn't been an issue for over a decade now since she had married into the Amarok's pack. The Great Alpha Wolf's only son in fact.
Before their initial meeting, Alice had been a bit of a nomad. She might not remember her former life but it certainly hadn't forgotten about her if the many attempts to re-capture her were any indication. Of course, with her unique skill-set this proved an increasingly futile task for whoever it was that wanted her so badly that they sent team after team of hard faced, heavily armed soldiers after her.
So, she became a wanderer out of necessity, avoiding the centres of population that were seemingly filled with agents of the unknown hunter. She also took to wearing darkened glasses whenever she did occasionally need to interact with other people since her eyes were apparently the biggest give away to her identity. Alice actually thought that the segmented pale red and blue irises that she possessed were rather pretty but it didn't really matter how pretty there were if she could never show them off to anyone without risking another upsurge in violence.
Alice had lived for those times when she could be truly free. Places where humans were so sparse that it didn't matter what she wore or how she acted. Places like the Flathead National Forest on the Western edge of Montana, a two and a half million acre, paradise of closed canopy woodland and empty mountains sandwiched between the old Blackfeet and Flathead Reservations. It had become her own personal playground and her hide-away from the dogged pursuit of those shadowy figures from her un-remembered past. And it was where she had first met the young prince of the true wolves, Roald Amarok, who was on his home from his traditional 'great journey'.
Although 'met' was probably the wrong word.
In reality, the two had quite literally run into each other in a small clearing on the eastern shore of Bear Creek. Alice had just finished her morning swim in the creek and was heading back to her newest cave in the foothills when Roald, having riled a grizzly, was pelting along in his wolf form oblivious to the genetically enhanced, naked human right up to the point at which he hit her. The impact from his compact, muscular body would have taken down a fully mature elk so the frail looking female stood no chance whatsoever.
The wolf immediately stopped and approached the prone woman, hoping against hope that he hadn't killed her, and started sniffing at her apparently unconscious form. That was when, to his surprise, she sprang up and punched him in the head. Hard. Certainly harder than any human should have been able to. So hard in fact that it forced him to shift back to his human form. Also naked. The two of them took a moment to appreciate each other's genetically superior physical attributes. And then they went to war.
At some point in their epic, hour long battle the punching, kicking and fighting turned into something far less war-like and far more heated and ... intimate. Intimate enough that in that wild, wooded and once serene place the new, half breed princess of the great Alaskan True Wolves was conceived.
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Artemis Amarok was the last descendant of the great 'true' wolves of the North and regarded as a princess by not just hers, but all, of the remaining packs scattered across the continent of North America and beyond. It wasn't just her blood or her snow white pelt that set her apart though. Artemis was unique among the wolves for being the only one of them to be able to partially shift almost any part of her body that she chose, whenever she chose to do so. For her pack, it was a source of immense pride and wonder. For Artemis herself it was a decidedly more mixed blessing.
It certainly made her much faster, much stronger and far more dangerous than any of her peers but it also made her far more playful and wilful. Her human and wolf natures co-existed together in an uneasy kind of harmony that sometimes clashed uncomfortably, making her behaviour challenging to say the least. Artemis (Arte' to her friends) was as imperfect psychologically as she was perfect physically.
She moved with the same grace and purpose as a human that came so naturally to her in her wolf form. She could also, in her human state, do ... other things. Strange things. For example, when she was in a particularly peaceful and meditative mood, flowers and saplings seemed to sprout up and grow around her. Also when she was in full flight, hunting with the pack, obstacles that they had to leap over or manouvre around simply appeared to move from her path of their own accord.
The pack found it strange but never thought about why it happened for her. They certainly never attributed it to magic, well not the wizard and witch kind of magic anyway. It happened and they accepted it because she was the White Wolf and it all just added to the legend of their adored pack princess.
Alice and Roald's daughter had taken the best from both of her parents' gene pools. Her father's incredible natural senses and affinity for the deep forests and her mother's precise, clinical ability with any and all forms of weaponry, including her own lithe, toned body. The wild and impetuous, trouble-making attitude that she possessed, however, was all her own. And it was this that meant that she spent more time being disciplined by her grandmother than any other member of her pack.
Of course, for Artemis, being disciplined by Granny Amarok was a bit like being savaged by a two month old bunny rabbit. Mainly because she was the absolute apple of her grandmother's eye and she always seemed more amused than upset by the antics of the wild, little pack princess. Her 'punishments' generally involved her being forced to spend time tutoring the young cubs in how to train their fledgeling senses, something which she would have happily done anyway since she adored the 'kids'.
So it was that she found herself leading a group of six youngsters out into the lightly wooded scrub near the river, a few hundred yards downstream of their camp to practice their tracking and stalking techniques. It was important for the young ones to hone their skills in this area and to learn to differentiate between the natural scents of the forest and that of their prey. And their predators. Not that they would have many of those once they grew up but as cubs they were still vulnerable to bears and hunters. It was best to learn that lesson early and fast.
She may not have been everyone's first choice to supervise such an important lesson due to her penchant for causing mischief but nobody doubted Artemis' commitment to teaching their cubs these necessary skills. Her charisma and undoubted popularity with the young pack members also meant that they would listen to every word she said to them without any of the usual backchat. As it turned out that was a very good thing tonight.
"Down."
The group of small wolves hit the forest floor on their bellies and watched in wonder as a three wheeled flying machine crashed through the saplings mere inches above their heads and ploughed into the earth, leaving a trail of destruction in it's wake. The ethereal, acrid smoke stung their eyes and the fumes spewing from scorched ground burned in their nostrils. Artemis and her cubs were so busy coughing and retching from the strong and decidedly odd residue from the machine that they didn't notice the rest of the pack come charging up to the crash site.
Alice stood her full five feet and ten inches tall and growled at the weird, lumpy creature who was still extricating himself from the gigantic, three wheeled mechanical abomination. He stopped his struggling for a moment and peered into the darkness that was lit by dozens of fierce amber eyes before brushing a large clod of dirt from his jacket and asking.
"Would you by any chance know where I can find an ... Art'mis Am'ruk."
The woman with the multi-coloured 'umbrella' eyes sighed in resignation. She might have known this would have something to do with her wayward daughter. Trouble followed that girl around like a bad smell.
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Hagrid sat on a huge, fallen tree trunk on the lawn of the pack's Summer residence, happily munching on a moose leg which, in deference to his semi-human physiology, had been roasted on a small fire pit. He had never been as pleased as when the Headmaster had given him this assignment to approach the Royal wolf pack to inform them of the presence of a witch in their midst. His understanding of, and empathy with, magical creatures made him the perfect candidate for this approach. Well that and his possession of a flying motorbike that was capable of transporting the prospective student to Diagon Alley in speed and relative safety.
The half giant was very proud of his selection for this important mission. And after the debacle at the residence of the 'girl-who-lived' he was determined to do better this time.
Admittedly the initial introduction had not gone as smoothly as he had hoped. Apparently nearly wiping out a quarter of the Royal Pack's cubs by crashing his bike into the scrub where they were doing some late night training was a bit of a faux pas. Not to mention the danger to their vaunted 'Princess'. Who was also, it turned out, the target of his mission. However, once tempers had cooled he had been brought before the Alpha to explain himself and the two of them had gotten along like a house on fire.
It was slightly un-nerving to be having their discussion in front of all of these very dangerous looking wolves but, pack behaviour dictated it so he sucked it up and delivered his message and invitation to Hogwarts anyway. Of course, when he said something wrong he realised just how much danger he was actually in from these wild creatures. A rarity for him. Not saying something stupid, you understand, but actually realising the peril that it put him in.
"As you can see we are not a unknown pack, at least not in terms of the creatures of this World, and I assume that my grand-daughter will be receiving offers from other prestigious schools of magic now that her magical prowess is known." She gave Hagrid a cunning little smirk. "So, tell me why I should send her three and half thousand miles away to a country that ignores us for our heritage at best and hates us for it at worst."
"Well the 'eadmaster, professor Dumbledore that is, is a great teacher, great man an' all, always looking to 'elp out the disadvantaged. And also, there's the scholarship fund that the 'eadmaster set up specifically to help young wizards and witches afflicted with the 'curse of the moon' so you wouldn't have to pay a single knut in fees."
Hagrid tailed off as the chorus of menacing growls and flashing amber eyes came from every corner of the clearing. Oh yes. Lots of danger here.
"Are you comparing us to those mangy, half breed werewolves? Or are you perhaps saying that we can't afford to pay our own way?"
"Err ... No?"
He gripped his pink umbrella hard, feeling for the hidden wand there, when the hotter heads among the pack began to advance on him. Thankfully the Alpha stepped in on his behalf in good time.
"Calm yourselves my children. I'm sure that Mister Hagrid, being from Britain, is simply unaware of our kind since we have never travelled to his homeland." The elderly Alpha turned to their visitor and gave him a sharp toothed smile that was anything but comforting. "This is something that we shall be sure to remedy during his stay with our pack."
And remedy it they did. His overnight stay with the wolves was spent doing what Hagrid loved the most. Watching the social interaction of magical creatures in their own environment. The fact that he was being included in these interactions was almost too much for the big, soft hearted half giant and he was very nearly in tears by the time that the pack agreed to let their favourite daughter attend the school where he worked. Not that they could have stopped her if she really wanted to go. Headstrong was a word that could have been invented with Artemis Amarok in mind.
Having finally got to meet her at their pre-dawn breakfast gathering, Hagrid now understood why this decision had taken as long as it had. He, like all of those who came into contact with the cute, charismatic wolf girl with the snow white hair, was utterly captivated by her.
She it seemed did not reciprocate these feelings quite so easilly. Nor was it simple to convince her that going to a boarding school so far from her pack for nine months of the year was a good idea.
Eventually though she was won over. It may have been the idea of learning new magic that could help her family, or her grandmother telling her what a fantastic opportunity this was. Although it was more than likely something to do with Hagrid's highly illegal display of transfiguration that he performed on one of her cousins, planting the idea of new and awesome pranks in her mind. But whatever it was, Artemis was, at last, convinced. She still had a few questions though.
"So, what happens now?"
"I'm to take you shoppin' fer yer school supplies."
"In Britain? But how the hell are we going to get there?"
"Well that's why I brung me motorbike."
"You have got to be shitting me."
Artemis received a sharp, but soft cuff across the back of her head from Grandma for her language but didn't look even slightly sorry for it. And it's not like she shouldn't be concerned about their method of transport. The bloody thing had scared her half to death when it had nearly killed them the previous night and that was when she was on the ground. She would never admit it but the idea of sitting in this damned death-trap as it flew across the Atlantic Ocean no less, left her in a cold sweat.
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Alice was gripping tightly to the half giant in front of her shaking with laughter, rather than fear, as she watched her daughter behaving like a two year old puppy. Head and shoulders pushed all the way out of the sidecar, ears flattened against hair and tongue lolling out, savouring the flavours of the air, Artemis reveled in the intense wind pushing at her face. Led Zeppelin's Immigrant Song, one of the girl's all time favourites blasted from her ipod and all three of the riders of this machine, whose heyday was just when this awesome tune was shiny and new, headbanged along with it.
Any TransAtlantic passengers from North America to Europe, looking out of their windows would have been curled up in hysterical laughter as well had they been seen. Well as long as they could get over the shock of seeing a badly abused, vintage, British motorcycle flying alongside of them, that is.
Their landing in Diagon Alley was neither quiet, nor subtle, nor exactly unobtrusive and they had garnered a great deal of attention from the sloppy, bouncing skid to a halt that Hagrid clumsily performed. They had also narrowly missed taking out several well to do wizarding families with their unorthodox arrival so most of that attention was on the negative side of unwelcome.
Awe and wonder. Despite themselves these were the main feelings that Alice and Artemis felt coursing through them. Wizards in general and British wizards in particular were not well liked by any of the Wolf packs, due to their antiquated views on everything from the modesty of their clothing to blood purity and social standing. The Amarok women shared in this distaste fully. This was rather ameliorated though by the fact that the stalls and shops in the Alley were just so incredible. And the bank was even more so.
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"Mornin' Grip'ook. I'm 'ere to make a withdrawal from the Werewo ... er ... 'special' 'Ogwarts fund." The big man then lowered his voice to what he considered to be a whisper but actually still carried to just about every corner of the bank lobby. "And I need to fetch somethin' from vault seven thirteen for the 'eadmaster."
Too late he glanced about him to check that that no-one was listening. Unsurprisingly everybody in the bank had heard but they all quickly avoided meeting his eye.
"Now then you two just sit here and I'll be back 'afore you know it."
Alice and her daughter sat and gazed around them at the magnificent, marble lobby, feeling slightly nervous since they hadn't been in any buildings like this, well ever really. It also didn't help that a lot of people were giving them some rather funny, interested and, in some cases, disgusted looks and an extremely wide berth.
Still, the goblins were being nice. Well not necessarily nice, but at least they weren't openly hostile, rather preferring to ignore them. As wolves (Alice was considered part of the pack by now, and for a very good reason) anything that didn't involve spitting insults and snarling at each other was considered a mark of respect between species.
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At the next teller down a petite, but impeccably dressed blonde girl listened in with growing interest as the Hogwarts gamekeeper unconsciously revealed his companion's heritage to the entire bank. Hannah Abbott loved magical creatures and werewolves, while not quite as magical as unicorns, griffons and the like, were still marvelously exciting. She turned to her mother and tugged on her robes to get her attention.
"Do you think she's actually a werewolf mum?"
"Hannah dear, do be quiet, I'm concentrating. Oh, and if she is ... one of them, I don't want you associating with her. Dirty, dangerous beasts, the lot of them."
This was pretty typical of the attitude of British wizards towards their inferior relatives so not a great surprise to either Alice or Artemis. It was one of the main reasons why they had been so hesitant to accept the invitation to Hogwarts in the first place. The Brits were nasty, narrow minded people who seemed to find fault in every species that wasn't them. Even their fellow wizards weren't immune from their scorn unless they could trace their magical lineage back at least half a dozen generations.
Blood purity. What a crock of shit. Even the most dull witted were creatures knew that you needed new blood lines to strengthen and diversify your pack. If you failed to do so there was only one result.
Weakness.
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Artemis walked into the fitting room of Madame Malkin's and began to undress. Only to stop abruptly as a clearly excited face, red from the effort of holding herself back until she was seen, bobbed up into her field of vision. The strange blonde human began hopping on the spot with her fists clenched whispering 'yes, yes, yes.' to herself before she finally seemed to gain control her obviously over-emotional state enough to speak.
"Oh cool, you're that werewolf from the bank aren't you."
The hugely excited, magical creature loving, blonde, pureblood didn't pause long enough for Artemis to object to this statement/question but simply ploughed on without regard to the other girl's darkening look.
"So, are you a dark werewolf or a light werewolf? My mum's always saying how all werewolves and merfolk and such are 'dark' creatures but I don't know that they are. I mean there must be some of them who don't go around killing and maiming innocent people all the time and since, by the looks of that uniform, you'll be going to Hogwarts too you can't be that dangerous. Headmaster Dumbledore would never allow anything that could hurt us at the castle."
Hannah was just as totally and spectacularly wrong about the last point in her diatribe as she was about everything else that she had, unthinkingly, spilled from her mouth in that constant, breathless stream. Unfortunately, she had no idea that this was actually the case or that she had just rather badly insulted the girl that she was questioning by calling her a werewolf. Twice. Although that she had obviously said something wrong was beginning to dawn on her now as a low, rumbling growl filled the small fitting room very effectively.
She watched in complete fascination as the white haired girl's strange, segmented irises changed colour from their pretty pale green and pink to a positively gorgeous golden amber and chocolate brown. Then in wonder and awe as a pair of furry, pointed ears sprouted from her hair and, most worryingly, the snarling grin forming on her face that was filled with a lot of teeth. Very large, very sharp looking, very pointy teeth.
The self preservation, 'fight or flee' instinct finally over-rode her innate curiosity and Hannah's muscles tensed in anticipation. Then, not being much of a fighter, she ran.
This turned out to be a really, really bad idea.
Alice and Madam Malkin's conversation about age appropriate underwear was brought to a shocked halt as a half undressed, screaming, smallish blonde girl careered out of the fitting room at a pace that would have put an Olympic sprinter to shame. However great her sudden burst of speed was though, it was certainly no match for the snowy blur that took her down to the floor when she was barely half way across the shop.
Having caught her prey, Artemis was now slightly unsure of what to do with her. The small witch beneath her was squirming and wriggling, struggling to break free of her captor. The friction against the wolf's lower abdomen was making her feel strange and fuzzy minded. Not being about to let her prize go, however, she did the only thing that she could think of, nuzzling the thick, blonde, sweet smelling hair out of the way and closing her mouth lightly on the back of the girl's neck. All motion ceased as the girl under her suddenly felt teeth nipping lightly at the sensitive skin on her neck and also began to feel some of what Artemis did.
"You do realise that you're about to mark that girl as your mate, don't you?"
"Eeep!"
Alice's interjection into the weird little tableau got their attention fast. The wolf and the witch flew apart like they had opposing poles of magnets attached to them and a very shame-faced Artemis studied her feet and mumbled out.
"Sorry mum."
"Not to me." Alice reprimanded. "I'm not the one you just hunted down and mauled."
"'M sorry."
"'S okay."
The two girls mumbled at each other while trying to regulate their suddenly racing heartbeats and cool their reddened cheeks.
"She really is sorry you know, she's just not used to being around this many people. I think I'm going to have to take her into Anchorage and re-introduce her to society before I let her loose in a boarding school full of humans."
The two females who weren't currently staring at the floor red faced smirked, one playfully, the other shyly, at each other.
"I'm sorry, how incredibly rude of me, I never asked your name."
Hannah held out a hand politely as she had been raised to do. Admittedly her mum would probably have had kittens if she had known that this polite introduction was being offered to 'dirty and dangerous' werewolves.
"Alice Amarok, and the grumpy little wolf is my daughter, Artemis."
"Hannah Abbott, it's a pleasure to meet you."
"What lovely manners, Miss Abbott." Alice jerked her head towards her child, who was now intent on scratching behind her ear. "I'll get her to write you a proper apology when she finally manages to locate hers."
"Oh, she doesn't have to do that."
"She really does ... and she really will."
Alice shook her head at Artemis while trying not to smile. The mischievous white wolf just coudn't seem to keep her eyes off of the delightfully cute and charming Miss Abbott. It appeared that her daughter had inherited more from her father than just his hunting abilites and a shared taste in Seventies rock music. Once she hit puberty she was going to be like a ... well ... a wolf in heat.
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Up in the rafters of the shop, hidden away beneath her father's elven cloak, the small, grey eyed witch grinned happily to herself as she watched the participants of this rather fun little farce finish their business.
Another day and another interesting witch for Luna to study. Although this one wasn't just a witch now was she. Due to her intense interest and intensive study in the field of magical creatures (both real and imaginary) Luna Lovegood may have been one of the very people in Britain to know about the True Wolves. And being so she had only just restrained herself from laughing out loud at the reckless and impulsive little witch/wolf's capture of the clueless Hannah Abbott.
Her inner voice had never been wrong about the interesting places and people that it took her to but, even so, this level of entertainment factor was very rare indeed. She wondered if either the white wolf or the blonde pureblood below her actually realised exactly what they had started here. She was pretty sure that this Artemis' muggle (but only just) mother knew since she was also struggling to hold back her giggles.
While it was true that the wolves mating rituals could drag on for many months, even years, it was also a fact that they could be initiated and completed in an instant. It was kind of like their version of love at first sight she supposed. She certainly knew what that felt like. Her initial reaction to the very, very pretty 'girl-who-lived' proved this beyond a shadow of a doubt. She and Shelley Potter may be only ten and eleven respectively but Luna knew that they were destined to be together forever.
To be honest it could have been extremely inconvenient if her and Shelley's 'third' had chosen to mate with someone in her home country so Luna would take the slight annoyance of having this tag along with good grace. At least this way they would all still be together. Once she joined them at Hogwarts next year that is. Which was now seeming a really long way away.
The dirty blonde, amateur magi-zoologist gave a heavy sigh then, seeing her target collect her bags and make for the door, she dropped silently to the floor and prepared to follow. This presented the perfect opportunity to test out Daddy's new stealth mode on the cloak. She might well get caught, especially since her target could literally smell her from a mile away, but in Luna's strangely mis-wired brain this only added to the fun.
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Straight after the kerfuffle in Madame Malkin's, on Hagrid's suggestion, they hit the wandmaker's shop. Little Artemis was clearly very embarrassed and confused by her behaviour and he wanted to give her something else to concentrate on. He remembered how excited he had been when he had got his own wand many years before and thought that this experience was pretty much guaranteed to cheer her up. It wouldn't really but he was at least trying to help.
People trying to hide from Artemis was never a great idea and being able to sense that someone was following them but unable to actually catch sight of them had worsened her mood even before she had set foot in Olivander's. Then she met the proprietor himself and things went even further downhill fast.
The creepy old man in the corner jumped and his disillusionment spell failed as the pale girl growled and snapped her head around to stare in his direction the second she entered his shop. He felt a small drop of wee escape when he saw those sharp teeth bared at him and decided, there and then, to be as expeditious as possible in his search for her wand. As excited as he had been yesterday with Miss Potter's marvellous display of her natural talents, so he was equally frightened by those of today's visitor. She had literally just scared the piss out of him.
Once bolstered by the huge, comforting presence of Hagrid and the girl's sensible, but no less dangerous, looking mother, he approached and began a serious study of the scowling girl. One word leapt to his mind ... Wolf ... well, two words actually ... Dangerous Wolf. Fortunately for both him and his underwear this made his job today considerably easier.
Like most witches and wizards of creature blood the girl would have an affinity with nature and so be strong in Transfiguration. A dark, hard wood then from somewhere remote and unspoiled. Being at least part wolf also made her both aggressive and somewhat predatory which cut the choice of magical cores down further. There would be no unicorn hair fluffy finesse for this witch. Finally, making sure that he asked her permission first, the tape measure was deployed to give him his last parameter and he hustled off to select a mere eight wands for her to try out.
No-one was more pleased than Garrick Olivander when, on only her third attempt, a huge spray of blindingly bright, white sparks shot out into the tense atmosphere of the shop.
"Twelve inches of aged, Brazilian mahogany with the heartstring from a particularly vicious Hungarian Horntail dragon for the core." He paused at this point, unable to prevent his customary dramatics, despite the danger. "A powerful wand, Miss Amarok, excellent for both Transfiguration and combat spells. Defensive combat obviously."
He smiled obsequiously as he quickly added the last words but needn't have bothered since Artemis wasn't paying him the slightest bit of attention now. She was far too busy waving her new, almost black, wand, trailing sparks around like a mad thing with the smallest trace of a grin on her face. Annoyed and embarrassed she may have been but she couldn't help herself. This wand was sooo cool.
His interruption of her fun to inform her and her mother of the rules about not using magic outside of her schooling for the next six years wiped that grin away very effectively. Impossible though it seemed, she left the wandmaker's in an even fouler mood than when she had entered.
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The rest of their shopping trip was, understandably, conducted in almost total silence apart from a few grunts of assent from Artemis when she was required to choose styles or colours of her equipment. In fact, the only time the two adults got anything more out of her was when they visited the owl emporium to purchase a suitable post bird that would be capable of trans-Atlantic travel.
Bulvar the eagle owl had only been brought into the main roost the day before, after the departure of the previous 'queen' of the aviary who had been bought and dispatched off with her new owner. The two of them had apparently had some issues when sharing a confined space together. When majestic winged creature had caught sight of the young wolf, however, there were no such problems.
He dropped from his lofty perch and immediately began grooming the heavenly smelling lupine girl with his beak, chirping and precking as he did so. She giggled and he hooted at her to stay still so he could finish. It was love at first sight for the pair of them. And it put Artemis in a much better mood which lasted all the way up until the time that they got home.
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It was impossible to keep secrets from the pack. Mainly due to the telepathic connection that they shared. It was possible, however, to use her more frivolous thoughts to avoid and misdirect the inquisitive minds of her wolfy family. Unfortunately, after about an hour Artemis realised that their curiosity about her adventure in magical Britain was simply too strong in this case and she buckled under the effort of keeping them out. Embarrassing though the details of her trip were, it was marginally less embarrassing than collapsing under mental strain of trying to hide her mis-deeds and she sighed as she finally let the pack in. Better to suck it up and get all the jibes out of the way now than to be seen as weak in front of those that she may have to lead one day.
As she knew it would be, it was bad.
The yips and howls of their delighted laughter followed Artemis everywhere she went for the next two days and it was really starting to grate. Although that wasn't nearly as bad as all the 'helpful' advice that the older wolves were intent on giving her about how she should go about wooing her cute, blonde, witchling mate. That there was no judgement from her pack, just plain, old fashioned amusement at the situation in which she now found herself, didn't even help that much either.
These weren't the only reactions to Artemis' trip. One or two of the elders seemed unhappy that the princess of the royal pack was considering taking a human witch as a mate and they had no hesitation in voicing their concerns. Not to the girl herself of course, or even her mother, but to the cub's grandmother. Their only answer was a fearsome, outraged growl that silenced them immediately. The Amarok was not alpha of all the wolves for no reason and the dissenters were persuaded that any further intrusion into the private affairs of her most beloved grand-daughter would be met with tooth and claw rather than words. They lowered their heads in submission and shut the hell up.
The little wolf herself wasn't aware of these goings on in the high reaches of the royal council and instead was mostly caught up in fending off the increased attention from her cousins and friends that her adventure had garnered her. She loved them to bits, especially the younger ones, but they were just of relentless in their favourite new game of teasing the great British witch seducer as they now called her. It took all of her considerable will power not to cuff the little curs around the head when they started on her. An effort that was sometimes not enough, leading to some quite epic chases and play fights in the forest that they called home.
Then her dad came home and things got much worse.
"Arte'." He wrapped the grinning girl up in a crushing hug and held on long enough that she began to wriggle and struggle in the embrace before setting her down and frowning in mock seriousness. "And just what exactly have you been getting up to my little huntress."
He already knew, of course, but it was so much more fun getting his daughter to tell it to him herself. She always made such a game of it, his wild, curious, impetuous, spitfire of a wolfcub. And just like Artemis, Roald Amarok loved the chase.
And it was a long chase, filled with embarrassed half mutters and mumbles about what she had done and why she thought that she had done it. Artemis got it almost all entirely wrong of course but then she was only eleven. Despite his amusement at his daughter's ridiculously inappropriate behaviour, Roald did agree that an apology to Hannah was more than overdue and so it was that she found herself seated at his desk with the unfamiliar parchment and quill.
It took simply ages but she was not allowed back outside until it was finished to her parents' satisfaction.
Even with her mum's fake stern, but actually totally amused, looming presence and her dad's constant poking fun at her, she still managed to get it done. The huge, haughty eagle owl was dispatched on his long journey and Artemis could finally put the episode from her mind and get down to the far more important task of studying her magic books to prepare for school.
It would have all been fine and forgotten had their owl not returned a week later with a reply from Hannah. A lengthy reply. A lengthy reply filled with questions about Artemis and her life and family as well as information about Hannah and her own family. A reply that included photographs.
And just like that the whole sorry mess was dragged back into the light of day and the teasing and 'helpful' comments were renewed ten-fold.
It certainly didn't help her case that Hannah was 'just some annoying girl she met' when she was caught staring longingly at one of those pictures of the blonde witch in an incredibly cute blue summer dress.
Having seen the photographs the overwhelming reaction from the pack and, most importantly, the elders, was that the sweet human girl that their princess had 'chosen' would be an asset to them. She looked like she would bear good cubs. It wasn't like they were unaware of how powerful supposed half breeds could be. Just look at princess Artemis with her ability to force full or partial shifts seemingly on a whim and her incredible speed and accuracy with her claws as well as all kinds of human weapons. She was a half breed with the potential to be the strongest pack leader since the 'Great Wolf of the North' himself. Who knew what her cubs would be like one day.
Artemis just thought that she was cute. Annoying, but cute.
Stop it. There were more important things to think about right now. She tried her best to concentrate on her studying, wanting to be fully prepared for the start of her Hogwarts school career but her mind kept on slipping back to the soft, sweet smelling witch with the golden hair. The witch who had writhed so delightfully beneath her, sparking physical and emotional responses that she didn't have any idea how to deal with at her tender age. The witch that she desperately wanted to see again.
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As usual I write for me but reviews are always nice and I'd certainly never turn them away, just don't get caught up in the whole 'they would never do that' trap. This is all going to be pretty AU stuff.
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DtR xx.