The Family Name

By Elbereth in April

Chapter 21

Butler was busy in his quarters that evening, so Artemis took Hermione to the man's office. They sat down in two chairs across from each other and stared at one another in silence.

Artemis sighed inwardly and bit the bullet. Well, he was able to act when the situation called for it, wasn't he? "Hermione, in this whole castle, there is no girl who is smarter or a better witch than you. I may not be very romantic very often, but that doesn't change the fact that I think you're special."

Hermione's mouth fell open, then she cried out, "Oh, Artemis!" and glomped him in a hug.

Artemis smiled. OK. He could do this.

"Oh, you're special, too! I was worried, because you act like you don't care that much. I was afraid maybe you were taking me for granted, or didn't really want to be dating at all, and…"

Artemis took a deep breath and steeled himself. 'I am a criminal mastermind. I am strong. I can handle anything.'

"…oh dear, I think now I'm babbling…"

"You are," he said. Then he kissed her.

His knees were shaking. The room was spinning just a bit, and seemed to be all at once a good deal warmer. His left hand was on her shoulder and his right hand on her upper arm. Hers had gone around his waist. She seemed to be melting into him. He tried to relax, but just couldn't. He kept his eyes open.

She finally pulled away, face flushed, eyes glowing.

He pulled a small box out of his pocket and handed it to her. "Here."

She smiled even harder as she opened it and let out a breathless gasp at what was inside. It was another one of the designer brooches he'd purchased at Hogsmeade. This one was in the shape of a willow tree. It, too, had been charmed as a communication device, which he explained how to use, and to be a tracking device, which he did not mention. He'd also planted a listening device inside hers, which he had no intention of mentioning, ever.

She put it on, and then they went for a walk around the lake. They passed Draco and Claudia Weaver at one point. Draco smirked at Artemis, but no one spoke.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Draco demanded a report once they were both back in the Common Room. "Worked your way back into her good graces, have you?"

Artemis considered throwing his quill at the other boy, but did not, of course. "We have made up. She never had any interest in Weasley and his advances were unwanted."

"That's it? No juicy details?"

"No. End of story."

"Fine. Be that way," Draco pouted.

Artemis disappeared into their dorm room. Draco took himself over to a couch by the fireplace and sat down with Pansy and Millicent. Three minutes later, Artemis reappeared. "I'll be back soon."

They nodded. "Oh, Fowl, just a second." Draco sprang up and hurried over to whisper, "According to the First Year that Crabbe terrorized, the password is 'intrepid.'" The two exchanged a devious smile, then Artemis left.

One Invisibility Cloak and a password later, and Artemis was casting an illusion spell on Ron Weasley's bed. The true beauty of the spell was no one else would be able to see the illusion but the owner of the bed.

Revenge, Artemis decided, was a dish best served with spiders.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

"Weasley's looking pale this morning," Draco noted.

Artemis looked smug. "Perhaps he didn't sleep well."

Crabbe and Goyle exchanged a smirk. They didn't know what Artemis had done, but they knew he'd done something, so they felt satisfied. No one messed around with their leaders.

Zabini smirked, too. Artemis had told him what he had done last night in a fit of gloating.

Draco helped himself to more bacon while Pansy fought Crabbe for the last of the orange marmalade. "Do exams seem to loom recently or is it just me?" Eva asked.

"No, they're definitely looming," Marie replied.

"I'm not worried yet," Zabini said, "but I know I will be soon."

"Why? You're all doing fine."

"Oh, like you can talk. You're a genius."

"If you're truly concerned, I can make you a copy of Granger's study schedule."

Draco burst out laughing.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Draco's world came crashing down through a strange series of accidents. Artemis pulled a muscle in his back during Butler's class. After supper while everyone else was studying in the Common Room, he decided he'd prefer to lie down, so he took his study notes to the dorm room. Somewhat earlier, Goyle had accidentally spilled a glowing potion over Artemis's bed, which was still damp and a slightly garish neon yellow. Artemis chose to lie down on Draco's bed.

Once he'd lain down, he realized there was something hard under the pillow. He pulled it out—a notebook. Immediately curious to see if it was some sort of diary, Artemis opened it up to read it.

It was a copy of his own alchemical notebook.

Artemis was much displeased.

Draco discovered this after Artemis called him into the dorm room and shoved the book in front of his face. "Explain."

Draco shuddered at the sound of the other boy's voice, full of quiet, dangerous intent. "F-fowl, I just wanted to know what you weren't telling me so I could help you."

"Of course. I'm sure it was completely with my welfare in mind that you stole my notebook. How did you get this?"

"I—I just wished to see your alchemy room and it let me in." Draco swallowed hard. "Come on, Fowl, don't get mad. You know that's what you would have done."

This was true, but Artemis found he could not be objective. Malfoy had betrayed his trust. "I hadn't told you about it because I didn't want you to know."

Malfoy kept from showing that this stung. "You should let me help you! We're friends, right?"

Fowl's face went coldly blank. "Are we?"

Now Draco's heart was pounding all through his head and chest. "Yes, we're friends and allies. You're supposed to trust me. But since you don't trust anyone, I took matters into my own hands. It was the only way I could be prepared to help you." Draco was amazed at how firm and steadyhis voice was.

"I don't need your help."

"You just don't want to admit you're not infallible."

"You went behind my back and stole my notebook!"

"I am Slytherin; we're sneaky. And it's just a copy. I haven't even figured out how to read it yet." Ah, now he heard the defensiveness creeping in.

"Then how exactly did you plan to 'help' me?" Artemis sneered.

"I know now I need to keep an eye on you…"

"You already were. That's how you knew I was studying alchemy in the first place."

"I can hardly help that, sharing a dorm and all. Anyway, what were you doing, rooting around my stuff and reading what I had under my pillow?" He grabbed the book back and clutched it to his chest.

"That's different!" Artemis glared at Draco with hard, narrowed eyes.

"How?" Ah, and that was righteous indignation, Draco noted in a small corner of his mind that seemed to be numb, and just watching from far away.

"I found it by accident—I lay on your bed. I thought it was a diary. Any Slytherin keeping a diary is just asking to have it read."

Draco couldn't refute that.

"But you," Artemis continued, "you went into a secret room you knew I wouldn't want anyone in, and made a copy of my private notes…"

"I wasn't trying to steal your gold, Fowl."

"…what?"

"Admit you would not be this upset if gold wasn't involved."

Artemis wasn't about to admit anything. "This is about your betrayal of trust." His demeanor had iced over at the word gold. Now he was all calm stubbornness, arrogant but regal.

"I didn't—I wasn't—Fowl, that was not my intent."

"I'm not interested in your desperate denials. You're just trying to avoid facing the consequences of your actions. Now give me the notebook."

Draco closed his mouth. Clearly Fowl wasn't willing to listen to Draco's explanations right now. It would be better to wait and try again later, the blonde boy decided. He gave Fowl the book.

"Consider our alliance broken," Artemis said.

Draco felt very brittle, like he could be broken just as easily as their partnership was. "And our friendship?"

"Dissolved." With one last calm, cold stare, Artemis stalked away and out of the dorm.

Draco sat down on his bed, carefully, and watched his life fall to pieces in a rain of glittering colored glass.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Draco knocked on his professor's office door, feeling very stupid. His choices for advice were very few. He couldn't ask Butler. Pansy was too sentimental. Zabini would take Fowl's side. Snape had no sentiment whatsoever. But he remembered that at one time, this man had actually volunteered.

Lupin opened the door and smiled at Malfoy, despite his surprise at seeing him there. "Come on in."

When they were both settled in chairs, Lupin asked, "How can I help you?"

Draco looked at his feet. He scuffed his toes over the floor. "I'm having a… problem. I got my… best friend mad at me. What should I do to get him over it?"

"To get him to forgive you, you mean?"

"Um, yeah."

"Are you talking about Artemis?"

"…yeah."

Remus assumed a sympathetic expression. "Why don't you tell me what happened?"

Draco sighed. "He says I betrayed his trust because I looked in his private notebook he had hidden away. But he's done the same thing!"

"You shouldn't read other people's…"

"I know Gryffindors think that, but we're Slytherins!"

Lupin shook his head, amused despite himself by that sentence. "You still shouldn't."

Draco looked at his feet again, scowling a little. "He did it, too."

"Perhaps the information in the notebook was something he really didn't want anyone to see."

He nodded. "He doesn't want anyone to have power over him. He's hard to be friends with sometimes."

"I suppose we all are."

"Yes, but… he's always keeping secrets. How am I supposed to help him if he doesn't tell me what he's doing?"

"Do you feel left out?"

Draco blinked. Was that the stinging feeling he got when Artemis had said so directly 'I didn't want you to know'? Because it had hurt. Yes, he'd felt… rejected. And… unworthy, in a way. "Um, yeah…" he answered softly.

"That's natural. But I don't think Artemis is very open, is he? He's just a secretive person. Maybe you shouldn't take it so personally." Lupin put his hand on Malfoy's shoulder.

Draco tensed under the touch. He shrugged so that Remus would remove the hand, which he did.

"I know he's that way, but… it's time he stopped."

"It's hard for people to change."

"Heh. I know."

They both sat silently for a moment. "But how do I get him to forgive me?"

"What did you say to him when he found out?"

"I told him I only did it so I could help him out. He always winds up in trouble when he makes these grand schemes, you see. If he doesn't tell me about them, I have to go behind his back to find out."

Lupin's thoughts immediately went to his school days, and being confronted by James, Sirius, and Peter on his werewolf status. It was suddenly harder to fault Draco, if the boy was acting out of genuine concern. "You may just have to give him time. Did you tell him you were sorry?"

Draco frowned. "Actually, I may not have. I was just trying so hard to explain."

"Then make sure you apologize. Let him know how much his friendship means to you."

That was only going against everything Draco had been raised to do. He shifted uncomfortably. "Do I have to?"

Remus smiled. "I think it would help."

"Well… OK." As long as his father never found out. He would give Fowl the rest of the evening to cool down, and then go apologize.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

TBC

Would you forgive Draco?