CHAPTER 14: STRAIGHT AND NARROW
"How did you get that?" Beckett narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "You'd better not have—"
"It's my own money, of course," Artemis crossed his heart. He winked at Myles with his hazel eye. "Care to guess how I came to have it, though, Little Man?"
Myles took the pouch and scrutinized the golden Knuts in it. He pursed his lips, thinking. Artemis could not have gotten it from Gringott's—he didn't even know how to get to the wizarding world before that day!
Of course! A memory hit him like a ton of bricks. "Dad's coin collection!" Their father had an album full of all sorts of coins, but there were some not even the inquisitive Myles Fowl or the omniscient Artemis Fowl II could name.
Artemis nodded and tucked away the pouch. It was obvious they were not to breathe a word of this to anyone. Beckett rolled his eyes and shook his head in disapproval, but Myles couldn't help admiring his ingenuity. Those Knucks were exactly like the ones they just obtained from the bank, and he made them in such a short time. Come to think of it, Myles had another recollection, this time of when he was digging through the old things Artemis gave him once. Artemis had the mold for them already made. With some annoyance, Myles realized he had forgotten about that because he thought it was a useless toy for replicating useless coins. He thought that, too, he reminded himself, but he just thinks like a greedy criminal.
Still, it bothered him that Artemis didn't confide in him as much as he thought. Sure, he knew him better than their parents did, but he never told them about their dad's past, and he didn't tell them about his scheme to forge wizard currency (although they totally would've told on him if they knew).
"We're not using that, Arty," Beckett used their mother's nickname for Artemis.
"I suppose you have a point," Artemis sighed. "Sorry about that."
"Apology accepted," Myles extended a hand seriously, and Artemis shook it. The twins took it upon themselves to correct their elder brother whenever he felt tempted to go criminal again…even if Myles sometimes wished he could beat the mastermind at his own games.
With the matter of payment resolved, the Fowl brothers went through the shop and gathered two copies of each book on their lists. Artemis focused on speed-reading through some of the history books, but his gaze wandered to the Defense Against the Dark Arts section between each one he picked up. Myles wasn't sure how he would ever choose a favorite subject, until he found a book about cursing and counter-cursing. Even Beckett, who preferred any physical activity over reading, was enthralled by Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander.
"Can we just buy the whole store?" Myles gushed over the Charms section.
"Mm…" Artemis wasn't paying attention. He finished flipping through a tiny silk volume about a prominent figure in the Goblin Wars, then pulled out some key books he wanted to keep, as well as a copy of the one his students would have to read. "Shall we pay for what we need and move on?"
Sibling relationships have always been an important emphasis whenever I write about them, so I simply enjoyed going more in-depth with the Fowls here! Their differences and similarities are among the most fascinating elements about them, in my opinion.
BECKETT'S INTERESTS: He may not be anything like his two genius brothers, but having grown up with them, I figured he would still be smarter than the average boy without realizing it. His prowess in the books was mainly physical, so I'm keeping that element of his physical talents being equivalent to his brothers' mental talents; however, I also remember his fascination with animals—particularly the broad variety known as "bugs". Because of this, I decided to make his interests align with physical skills he can learn (like in the last Artemis Fowl book, when he remarks Butler called him a natural fighter), as well as animals (or in this case, magical creatures).
MYLES' INTERESTS: The way he's written in the original books, it seems Myles has even greater potential than Artemis II. Basically, he was written as Artemis times ten. In keeping with this, I made his curiosity that way, too. As for why I drew his attention to charms, it made sense to me that he would be interested in something he could use more often than the other subjects. He was always notorious for pulling tricks on Artemis—other than experimenting, it might be his favorite activity—so imagine what he could do if he gains sufficient knowledge of charms and other spells!
"Can we just buy the whole store?": I myself have said this on multiple occasions. Don't pretend you haven't ;P.
ARTEMIS' INTERESTS: Of course, he's going to learn all he can about history to become a good teacher in his field…but think of how useful he would find Defense Against the Dark Arts! This would be for two reasons: first of all, he's encountered a lot of danger when dealing with magic, and it makes sense he would grow up wanting to be prepared for more; secondly, his first impression of Quirrell left him wondering if the man was going to be an adequate enough teacher for his siblings, so the school subject itself is now on his mind.
GOBLIN REBELLIONS: The Goblin Rebellions are a prominent event in wizarding history which is included in the fourth years' curriculum at Hogwarts (according to the Wiki).
SPEED REEADING: People can train themselves to be speed readers, even without genius-level intellect. I can imagine Artemis being a speed reader, though I can't recall if that was canon or not.
I do not own Artemis Fowl or Harry Potter.