A Shard's Worth of a Mirror Image
Chapter Seven: Domestic Bliss
Author's Note: I sincerely apologize for not having updated for many months, for so long that it appears as if there a quite a discrepancy between this chapter and the previous one. But do not worry, I am just gaining momentum and will get back to track in the very next chapter.
Despite strong, slender fingers trying to squeeze every last bit of Artemis' breath and thus his life as well, he managed to choke out, "W-what is this for?" His hands trying to pull Severus' hands away from his almost crushed neck, and in his pain-filled haze he wondered whether this was retribution to whatever he had done wrong.
In all actuality, Artemis never did anything that harmed others…in a most painful way. True, he may have stolen money, but those were from other big-time thieves as well. He may not be a Robin Hood who gave the loot to the poor, but at least he did not kill anybody…yet.
As he struggled to breathe his last, he suddenly felt the assailant's fingers go lax and finally let him go. Artemis stumbled forward and tried to regain his balance with a hand against a nearby table, his other hand gently rubbing his extremely sore neck.
"Lumos," Severus whispered, the candles suddenly lighting all at once, somehow erasing the deathly picture that was a few moments ago. "Right, he did not send you," the Potions master brusquely said, as if he did nothing that almost robbed Artemis of his life. He offered a supporting arm to Artemis, only for it to be pushed away.
"What was—that for?" Artemis demanded, between coughs and barely suppressed hacking.
"If you were in my place and someone shows up looking like your evil grandfather you'd be fearing for your life, I assure you," Severus said as he turned his back on Artemis. "What do you prefer to drink?"
Artemis dusted himself and took to sit down instead of shouting at his foster father. He has a point; I'd probably do the same thing. "Tea. Iced tea, please. And no more uncalled for violence, please."
Severus paused for a moment; white color crept onto his face but was dispelled immediately.
There was a faint sound of cupboard-rummaging from the far side of the room as Severus searched for tea. "I would like to apologize," he said sincerely albeit with a curt air of someone who had everything he did justified; at least, in his own terms. "for ruining your holiday, but I love my life more than your few days of unduly-free romping."
Artemis decided, with a sigh, that it was the closest he could ever get to an apology. "I would not come here in my own volition defenseless," he said, his voice laced with steel though half-heartedly. A frosted glass full of probably too-sweet liquid was plonked soundly on the placemat in front of him, but he was wary enough not to drink much less touch it.
"With your power?" Severus nonchalantly asked as he dried his hands with the front of his robes but Artemis knew that he was testing him.
"I suppose that you do not know that I'm a Squib," the boy remarked dryly. "I thought it was already obvious, with me not enrolled in this school and all that."
"Anything could happen," Severus said evenly, looking down at the seated boy, still wary. Then he noticed that Artemis was not touching his glass. "Do you sense something amiss in that liquid?"
The boy gave him a soundly withering look. "What is the benign iced tea doing in your stores, anyway? But let me rephrase that: is this even iced tea?" Artemis gingerly nudged the sweating glass with a slender finger, cool eyes locked Severus' blank stare.
For a moment Severus looked as if he was taken aback but that was quickly brushed off. "Of course it is. But not of the lemon kind; Albus already owns all the lemon-flavored consumables Hogwarts could handle. That one is of honey and orange rind."
"Ah." Artemis quickly grabbed the glass and drank from it.
It was Severus' turn to give a shrewd grin. "Do you even trust me with what you are drinking?"
"Dumbledore will have your head," Artemis replied without taking his lips off the glass.
Severus laughed; a dry, hoarse laugh that was either forced or with some underlying negative emotion.
"You spoke of asking about your parentage, Fowl. I think you already know about it."
Artemis' brows knitted at that remark. Later, as he left the Potions Master's quarters, he felt a little disturbed and his brain itched, as if trying to find some information that was supposed to be there.
As soon as he closed the door before him, Severus collapsed, blaming himself for the slip.
The Gryffindor Three lounged in the Gryffindor Common Room, secure with their privacy in the Holidays. Ron was quite happy that Hermione decided to spend her Christmas vacation in Hogwarts, as he was staring at Hermione—whose back was towards the fireplace—and he was finally coming to terms with what was bothering him about her. Hermione though, proved to be denser than Ron when it came to that.
Harry, who chose to lie on his stomach on a particularly comfortable throw pillow was burying himself deep in his thoughts. He was about to doze off when Hermione chose to break the silence.
"Stop it Ron, you're embarrassing me."
Harry looked up and saw Hermione's face (a pretty one) turning Weasley-red. Ron himself looked quite shocked as if someone had doused cold water over him and that he had only just realized what he had done. Which in fact, Harry decided, he did.
"What do you think of Artemis' being Grindelwald's look alike?" Harry asked abruptly, trying to save his friends from further embarrassment.
Hermione snapped that up quickly. "It means that it is possible that he really is the Heir. I mean," she straightened her sitting posture to gain some kind of an authoritative pose, "he already looks—and acts, mind you—like he was tied up with Dark magic a long time since."
"But how is that even possible? He can't do any magic, Herm. That one that he did when the Death Eaters entered the school, it was just some kind of mechanism." Ron interjected, as if nothing had happened.
"How could you explain off that attitude and cunning? It's pure Slytherin."
"There are Muggles like that, Hermione."
"True," murmured Harry. "But the Artemis guy certainly has a different air about him."
Hermione was about to say something that affirmed Harry's comments when a knock came from the portrait hole. Harry stood up and stretched. "I'll get it."
Artemis' face peeked out the moment Harry pulled the door in.
"Speak o' the devil, Artemis," Ron exclaimed. "Come on in."
Artemis sat down on one of the cushy chairs charmed to a red color with decorative green sprigs. "I came to thank you for the presents I got—and to apologize for not giving you any."
Ron threw one of the small pillows at him. "Lay off it, Fowl. We understand."
Hermione nodded, but did leave her surreptitious gaze on Artemis' face. "The lack of ATMs here could explain why."
Letting his back relax and rubbing his hurt neck from the previous encounter, Artemis about whether or not to tell them of the news that he was a Squib. There was the matter of his pride after all, but finally decided that he was born to be a Muggle anyway, and not to the world of wizards.
"I'm a Squib," he blurted out, with much difficulty that he had to expel those few words quickly. If he were a more normal person, Artemis would have fidgeted as well.
"Sorry?"
Artemis sighed. "A Squib, Ron. A Squib."
"Well, is it supposed to matter?" Harry pushed himself up and straightened his robes, and he looked as if he was decided on a matter that he had been thinking for the longest time. "Want to come with me, Fowl?"
"Where to?"
"To the Astronomy Tower."
Ron and Hermione motioned to go as well, but Harry stopped them with a wave of his hand. "Sorry you guys, but this is something that us semi-gits have to discuss."
"Semi-gits? What is that about?" Artemis asked.
Harry pulled on his arm and led him out of the Portrait hole. "Shut up and go with me, Fowl."
Artemis in turn muttered about uncultured prats.
Remus thought that he had espied Harry and Artemis coming up the way to the Astronomy Tower, but he realized that there really was no reason to stop them. He had a more important matter to deal along with a certain grumpy co-professor. The full moon was nearing, and he needed a dose to take the next day.
When he opened the door to Professor Snape's office, he was greeted with a slumped form of black greasy git over the worktable. Remus had the grace to look alarmed.
"Severus, what happened to you?"
Severus did not even bother lifting his face from the table when he answered. "If you came for the potion Lupin, it is in the back room, in a cauldron of foul smell." The voice came out muffled, as if Severus was kissing the table.
"Right, I know that, it's impossible not to notice," Remus muttered, his sense of smell almost shattered by the rancid scent of Wolfsbane Potion. He walked towards Severus, arms crossed. "Answer me. What happened?"
No answer.
Sighing and praying to all the spirits that inhabited the school and most especially nearest to their area, Remus pulled Snape by the hair and forced the man upright on his chair. "Look, Snape. I have known you for many years and never have I seen you lose control like this."
Snape's face was irate and had a red blotch on his forehead where his arm had supported his head for a long time he was slumped on the table. "If I really was in trouble, Lupin, would I come to you for help?"
"You came to ask me about Fowl's background."
Snape threw Remus off him and flew off in a rage. "THAT'S AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT MATTER!" he spat, and just barely missed swiping a shelf-full of potion bottles with a careless arm. "Don't prattle off as if you know everything!"
Remus blinked; he did not expect that Severus was that much bothered. But he forced himself not to show his bewilderment; he needed to know what was happening. His entirely dependable gut feelings knew that this matter was of utmost importance.
"Still, I could be trusted with secrets, Severus."
Severus winced, as if Remus mentioned something that hit a raw nerve.
"I would not trust this particular secret to anyone else except myself, Lupin," Severus murmured, mellowing down a bit.
Remus shook his head and decided that he was wishing for the moon if he even hoped that Snape would tell him about his immense problem. Shrugging, he turned towards the door. "Fine. Be that way, Severus. I just hope that you won't die sooner."
When he reached the door, Snape muttered few words that Remus never thought he would hear from Snape. They came out grated and hoarse, the inexplicable pain alone wrenching guilt from the werewolf.
"I slipped, Lupin, I told Fowl that my grandfather was Grindelwald."
Artemis shivered in the cold; he pulled his robes closer to him and let his scarf partly cover his mouth. He espied Harry not exhibiting any indications that he was affected by the cold; he probably did a Warming Spell on him.
The Astronomy Tower lets one see the sky in it's fullest glory; and when standing by it's edge in the dead of winter, unfolds the deathly beauty of the fourth season, the one that belonged to Death. The two boys leaned over the border and looked down on the desolately beautiful surroundings.
"Do you know why I brought you into this place, Artemis?"
"No."
"Because in this place, no one can hear you scream."
Artemis' face snapped up, only to meet the green eyes of a very serious Harry Potter. Artemis lost all sensation of cold that enveloped him as his heart thudded and he tightened his fists, yet his face was impassive.
"What is it that you want?" Artemis asked.
Harry closed his eyes and inhaled deeply of the bitingly cold air, then with a steely voice said, "I owe the nature of my existence to Voldemort, and my fate has been laid out before me, but not for me: to kill him."
Artemis relaxed; the words were enough to reassure him that he was with a genuine student and not an impostor. Still, he did not take off his guarded expression.
"And it is either you want me to leave so that the danger would leave Hogwarts as well; or because you want me to pledge allegiance to you, am I right in assuming those?"
"The second, Artemis." Harry wandered off to the far side of the tower, gazing down at the cold wonderland. "To be frank, I do not want you to leave. Even though you have your companions back."
"I would not leave, but they will."
"I need your word."
Artemis frowned disapprivingly. "Why? Why go to all this trouble? You and the few professor who know about my identity know very well that I ended up in this area with a specific purpose in mind, and it is to deal with the goblins."
Harry looked sideways at Artemis. "It's not because of that. The reason for this is while I trust you that you will always act out in good intentions, but I do not trust you in not ending up becoming my enemy."
"What?" Artemis had never become so confused in all his life. Clearly, Harry was thinking about something for so long and so privately that just hearing him sprouting off about it made him think as if he was listening to another person talking. The change was so great.