Holly smiled at Hermione. "I like your style. Foaly?"
"Here," Foaly answered through her headset.
"What do you need?" she asked.
"Well, to figure out whether this is even possible, I need to know how Larry and Hermicrophone-"
"That's Harry and Hermione, Foaly," Holly corrected him.
"Sorry. Static, you know," replied Foaly.
"Whatever. You were saying?"
"Right. I need to know how Harry and Hermione got here, and how their magic works. It would also be nice to know something about the universe they came from, but I suppose that's asking too much."
"Do you mean you want to talk to one of them?" wondered Holly.
"If it's not an inconvenience."
Holly rolled her eyes. "Always with the sarcasm."
"You know what they say..."
"What's that?"
"'Tact is for those who aren't witty enough to be sarcastic.' Words to live by, if you ask me."
"Sure. But we have work to do, remember?" reminded Holly.
"Oh, yes. Now if I could just talk to one of those charming little Mud People..."
Holly removed her headset. "Harry?"
"You'll want Hermione for this one," Harry confessed. "She understands it all much better than I do."
Hermione took the headset from Holly and put it on. "Hello?"
"Hermione!" greeted Foaly. "Delightful to hear from you. Mind if I call you Herms?"
"Not at all," replied Hermione. "Say, you're a centaur, aren't you?"
"How did you know that?!"
"It was quite simple, really. Your voice was a dead giveaway..."
They continued talking while Holly, standing off to the side with Harry and Artemis, was equally amazed at Hermione's abilities. "She could tell he was a centaur from his voice?"
Artemis chuckled. "Don't be too impressed; I told Harry and Hermione all about Foaly and the rest of the fairy world before you arrived. Still, it was a nice touch. I'm beginning to like the girl..."
Harry bristled. "She has a boyfriend, you know!"
"I didn't mean like that," explained Artemis. "Adolescent fantasies are quite beneath me, thank you."
Harry remained unconvinced. "If you say so..."
"Quite. Well it looks like things are under control here, so I'd better go check on everyone's favorite recreant dwarf. Don't do anything stupid while I'm gone!"
"Nice guy, isn't he?" Harry murmured to Holly after Artemis left.
"He is!" she scolded. "Or at least he was, before the memory wipe."
"But if he got his memories back, wouldn't his personality revert as well?" wondered Harry.
"It should have. Unless..." Holly trailed off.
"What?"
"Listen: as far as I know, the only way to put memories back is the way they were taken out in the first place."
"But Artemis got his from those computer files."
"Exactly. So what if he didn't really recover his memories at all?"
"Then it would be like he was learning all that information for the first time-"
"Without any of the feelings or thoughts he had during the events."
"Which would explain why it didn't affect his personality," Harry finished. "So what now?"
"If Foaly could reinsert Artemis' actual memories and make his personality what it was when they were taken out," speculated Holly, "we wouldn't have to worry about him exploiting our technology."
"Because he wouldn't want to?"
"Right," Holly confirmed. "The Artemis I remember was a good person."
"That's hard to imagine," admitted Harry.
"I know," Holly agreed. She and Harry, realizing they were going to be there a while, moved to a pair of comfortable looking armchairs and sat down. "From the sound of things, you and Hermione might have to be mind wiped too," she added.
"What? We're not even staying here!"
"But what about the fairies in your world?"
"We're wizards. Don't you think we'd already know if there were?"
"Unless they're clever enough to remain hidden."
"But if there are fairies, why do humans have magic?"
Holly shrugged. "Better safe than sorry. And it's not like you'll lose two years of memories like Artemis."
"Yeah, but what a story to tell my friends!"
Holly laughed. "We'll see..."
Hermione's conversation with Foaly carried across the room. "...and we use wands to cast spells- Why is that funny? ...Now listen, Mr. High-and-Mighty- ...Ok, that's it! If you call me Herms one more time, I swear I'll..."
"It doesn't sound like they're getting very far," Harry remarked with a yawn. "I wonder how much longer this is going to take?"
"Who knows? They could be at it for hours," replied Holly. "And then, of course, there's planning and building and getting approval from Root, which has been known to take days..."
Holly trailed off when she saw that Harry was already sound asleep.
Finally! It's been a while, I know, but I blame stupid computers and AP classes. There wasn't much action in this chapter, but I'm hoping it was ok anyway... Tell me what you think! Thank you to everyone who has already reviewed; you guys rock! Reviews are always welcomed and appreciated. Thanks! -Luna
PS- Alex and anyone else who wants to use this idea are welcome to it; I'm sure I wasn't the first person to come up with it. I would love to read your stories!