Recap of last chapter: Artemis gives Malfoy a bad 'headache', Snape told Malfoy to send a letter to his father about it, the first attack (on Ms. Norris and the poor, poor, roosters) and the famous message on the wall was seemingly done by Artemis and to make it all worse (though everyone else in the story still thinks it's Harry and co.), Malfoy catches Artemis but Artemis erases his memory of the last few days. *Sigh* Doesn't Artemis know to stay out of trouble?

Enjoyyyy~

Artemis trudged tiredly to the Great Hall for breakfast. He had hardly slept the entire two weeks since the incident; he could deal with the hatred he could feel towards him from his new dorm mates however there was so many questions he had, and the burning want for answers made him all but toss and turn all night long. He knew he needed the sleep since his body was most likely recovering from his ongoing use of his hardly controlled magic yet every time he did manage to close his eyes he saw flashes of memories he didn't remember creating. They were blurry and unclear, but he remembered seeing red, lots of it, then writing, then scales...

He had listened into the conversations of the other Slytherins, so he knew what had happened, all the same Artemis wanted to know why it happened.

"Good morning, Fowl." Snape said as he walked by him. He looked angry, or at least, more angry than usual if that were possible. His black cloak swirled around him menacingly and his eyes pierced him suspiciously.

"Good morning to you as well, Professor Snape. Is something wrong?" Artemis replied. Somehow, Artemis didn't think that the odd set of events from two weeks ago was the complete reason behind Snape's mood.

In return, Snape scowled and swept away. Artemis made note of Snape's behavior mentally before sitting himself a little bit away from his housemates. He went over what he had learned in the past week in his mind. Today he would be taking a test, one that the rest of the first years would be taking at the end of the year, so that he can officially enter the 2nd year.

Artemis heard a squeal from across the hall, "Finally!"

In a flutter of wings, owls came swooping in, dropping off packages and letters, much like the time before Weasley put on that pathetic show with the Howler he had received for flying a car to school with the Harry Potter. It Artemis had cared more for others, he would have been very concerned that the famous idiot (Harry Potter) was the supposed idol for the wizarding world. Artemis surveyed the hall as the colorful items floated down to almost every person.

Artemis tried to not ponder over the empty space in front of him where a letter should have been. It was obvious he wouldn't be getting any, after all who would send it? His parents? They didn't know where he even was. Butler? They were not in a hugging-type of relationship, much less the pen pal-type.

He visibly shook as he felt a slight pang inside him. He didn't know if he should be glad or disturbed about the unpleasant feeling he got. Did that feeling make him more human?

Artemis stood up suddenly, making a long owl that had perched to rest on the table near him to squawk and fly away rigidly. Disregarding his untouched food, he went out the Great Hall. The amount of people in there still put him on an uncomfortable edge. Alone, he silently walked through the halls, his shoes not making the normal amount of noise. He thought about his first class of that day, which would also be his last class with the first years. He groaned inwardly when he realized that his first class would be with Lockhart the Fake. Well, Artemis supposed that he could allow himself to have some fun with poor Lockhart.

On the way to the DADA, he walked by the entrance to the dungeons. There he stopped. Snape was still in the Great Hall enjoying his lovely breakfast... so he wouldn't mind Artemis snooping around. Artemis was curious to Snape's attitude to him this morning, and Artemis suspected that the answer would lie in his private store.

Smiling to himself, he analyzed the door to the store. There were several wards, stronger than any unlocking charms, and traps to welcome any visitor, one of them including biting off the fingers of any unfortunate student that tries to push the door open. Artemis disabled the traps easily with a few spells but he knew the door would remained locked. This would be a great time to experiment with his magic.

Closing his eyes, Artemis carefully pulled a thread of green from his magic and letting it form a perfect sphere. When Artemis opened his eyes, he was delighted to see the small, green-tinted orb floating above his outstretched hands. Crouching down, he mentally nudged the orb towards the keyhole. Artemis could almost feel the cold metal as the sphere slipped in. And then, Artemis let the walls of the sphere break making the keyhole light up with red and sparks to form inside it. Steam came pouring out as it hissed and sizzled. Hurriedly, Artemis moved behind a nearby pillar and cast a silencing charm around the door.

With a large bang, that would have echoed through the halls, the doors blasted open.

Artemis bit his lip. Well, there would be no direct evidence that led the explosion to only himself, it could have been any other student. But still, Snape would not be any more happy about it.

Waving away the smoke, Artemis picked his way through the scraps of wood. Once inside, Artemis looked around. To any other, it would look normal- shelves upon shelves of various potions and ingredients. But Artemis could see the tiny details and he now knew this; someone had clumsily stolen a few select items. He glazed over the numerous skins, his sharp eyes resting on the boomslang skin. Knowing Snape, he would try to keep everything the best condition, and the apparent thief must have over looked this- the jar wasn't even closed properly! He looked closer at the jar, there was about three measures of boomslang skin missing. Artemis's smile grew. The thief was very interesting.

On a hunch, he looked for the lacewing flies to find several scoops were missing as well. Just from that, it was obvious what the thief wanted to do- make a Polyjuice Potion. Any intelligent thief would take other ingredients as well to cause Snape confusion, so they had to be young and unexperienced too.

Artemis was about to leave the store when something caught his eye. The bottle was tiny and inside it held a clear liquid like water. Veritaserum? Artemis took the bottle and placed it in his pocket. It could prove to be very useful.

Artemis could hear faint footsteps and chatter fill the air as students began to leave the Great Hall. With one more glance at the wrecked store, he made his way to Lockhart's room.

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"And now can we have another volunteer to read the 2nd passage?" They were looking over Magical Me, and it was boring. Even other first years had to agree, with the exception of the lovestruck girls.

Lockhart's glittering eyes danced across the classroom, seemingly not taking notice of one of the boys sleeping in the last row. "Let's see... Ah! Artemis!" Was Lockhart asking for a death wish?

"I'm afraid that I won't be reading any of this, Professor Lockhart."

"Oh?"

Artemis suddenly smiled, "As the respectable student I am, I am unable to present false work."

There were several gasps spread throughout the room. Most of the girls were fuming, their faces had gotten redder and Artemis could almost imagine- no- visualize steam coming of their ears.

One girl screeched, "How could you suggest such a thing?"

Another shrieked, "No, how could you even think that?"

Lockhart just looked stunned, his mouth hanged open and his eyes widened. He stuttered, "What- why would you-"

Artemis sighed, "Of course, what I said might be a little misleading."

One squeaked, "'Misleading?' That was so more than 'misleading!'"

Artemis nodded, "The entirety of your work is deceiving."

Artemis was delighted at the sight of Lockhart growing paler, and, thank goodness, that stupid smile had been wiped off as well. Artemis went on, "It's obvious, is it not? You, who couldn't control a few pixies, was said to 'defeat' werewolves and 'outwit' ghouls? Extremely unlikely."

Some of them stood up to holler at Artemis, but they were all interrupted by a throat being impatiently cleared from the doorway.

"Professor Snape!" Lockhart stammered. "Shouldn't you be teaching at this time."

Snape's face was set into a glower. "As Slytherin's head of house, I was required to escort Mr. Fowl to his exam."

Artemis smiled pleasantly, "Of course, I almost forgot that I would be missing class with all the fun I was having."

Artemis could see a hint of amusement from Snape's features. Behind Artemis, Lockhart was taking deep, loud breathes and looked relieved. "So Artemis is leaving? Good, good. On your way, Artemis."

"It would be my pleasure, Professor." Artemis leisurely strolled behind Snape, heading to the Headmaster's office.

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That was disappointing, Artemis thought to himself as he walked out of Dumbledore's office.

The test was all too easy in the end. Privately, Artemis had been looking forward for a test that would force him to actually concentrate, to take his mind off the disturbing event of yesterday.

In the back of his mind, Artemis thought he heard a small line of thinking, a cackle of sorts. Artemis waved it off, he couldn't be having strange thoughts now. He needed time to think. He needed more information.

I actually tried to use the Marauder's Map (that I got from 'Santa') to get the exact path Artemis would take from the Great Hall to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classrooms... and honestly, I didn't understand the map at all... too many hidden flaps and small writing. I guess Potter Senior and co. are just too smart for me.