Disclaimer: I do not own Artemis Fowl. *cries*
Sorry so long since the update. I've recently become addicted to Lily Evans/James Potter stories and I've been doing some reading. *guilty* It's not my fault! I'm addicted to L/J now. Blame Marie. She got me hooked.
Besides, you saw how the last chapter ended. I had no idea where I was going after that, so then I came up with the first part of this chapter and that was kind of slow going until I came up with the second part. You'll see. Thanks for your patience, please don't hate me too much.
On the with Chapter!
Oh, and I replied to everybody's review. It's at the end of the chapter.
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Chapter 57: Fight, Fight!
Harry was visiting Hagrid. He felt bad because hadn't seen him much this year. He didn't take Ron or Hermione with him and couldn't quite decide why that was.
They talked and did some basic catching up.
"I hear yer datin' that Lovegood girl. Luanne, is it? No, tha's not right."
"Close. Luna."
"Righ' righ'! Luna, I remember now. Yeh getting' along okay?"
"Yeah. She's great. I think we really understand each other."
"Tha's good, 'Arry. Very important in a relationship, yeh know."
"I know, Hagrid. How are all your classes going?"
"Oh, good, good."
"Any new pets?" Harry dreaded the answer.
"No, no, not yet. I wanna get a crumple-horned snorkack."
"Oh, really? What's that?" He'd heard Luna mention them but still wasn't exactly clear what they were. He had assumed they weren't real.
"A magnificent beast, 'Arry." He started to describe it.
"Wow. Sounds interesting."
"Are yer classes okay? Nobody givin' yeh any trouble?"
"No. Everything's pretty good this year. Even Snape isn't being any worse than usual."
"If he was givin' yeh any trouble, I could go have a talk with 'im." Something about the way Hagrid said "talk" implied that there wouldn't be much talking.
"No, it won't be necessary." Harry stared dismally into his teacup for a while.
"What's botherin' yeh, 'Arry? I know it's somethin'. Yeh can trust me, can't yeh?"
After a few seconds, Harry looked up and met his eyes. "Hagrid, what do you know about Death Eaters?"
"Death Eaters, 'Arry? Why do yeh wanna know 'bout them? Well, tha's a stupid question. Yeh wanna know abou' them cuz they're chasin' yeh. Always have been, haven't they? Ever since you learned who an' what you was, it's felt like you been bein' chased."
"I guess you're right."
"What do yeh wanna know 'bout them?"
"Everything. For starters, what about the Dark Mark?"
"So yeh know abou' tha'?"
"I do."
"Well, after the final test of loyalty, the Mark is the initiation. I dunno much detail 'bout it. Snape was too talkative, even ter Dumbledore, and especially not ter the rest of us. The Mark is tattooed or burned on their arm somehow and it links them to You-Know-Who forever."
Except for the first bit (which he had guessed already), Harry knew most of that. "So, if a group of students at school gave themselves a mark, not the Dark one, a sign for Dumbledore, what would you think about it?"
"Dangerous ground, Harry. Prob'ly harmless enough though."
Harry knew his instincts were right. He had a sinking feeling in his gut. "Why?"
"Seems like crossing a line when you go and mark people as yers. Yeh understand?"
"But I didn't do it. They did."
"I know yeh wouldn't. But all the same, it seems like a line yeh shouldn' cross."
Harry nodded. "That's what I thought. Look, Hagrid, I've got to go. I've got some thinking to do."
"Alrigh', Harry. Yeh know I'm here if yeh wanna talk."
"Thanks."
Harry went outside. It was Saturday, nearly a week since the last D.A. meeting. He saw two groups approaching each other. As he grew closer he saw that one group was Colin, Dennis, and Marcus. Whenever he wasn't with his sister, Marcus was with the Creevy brothers, who'd taken him under their wing.
The other group had four people and they were all Slytherins, though none that Harry personally knew. He got closer and realized they were trading insults.
"You no good Gryffindors!"
"Worthless Slytherins!"
"Watch it, Mudblood! My daddy says that the Dark Lord is going destroy Dumbledore!"
"Impossible, idiot! Dumbledore's ten times stronger! Besides, we've got him and Harry Potter on our side and they're the only ones who can beat You-Know-Who!" Colin, Dennis, and Marcus already had one sleeve each rolled up and now clearly showed the Phoenix to the Slytherins. They'd kept their marks in perfect condition.
"Yeah, right! He's a hundred times stronger than them!"
Harry observed that most of the Slytherins were on the young side, except for one 5th year.
"I'll show you what power is! Impediemente!" He sent Marcus flying backwards.
Harry couldn't take it anymore, he knew who this one was. He approached them. "McNair, that's low. Even for you. Honestly, beating up a first year. What's more pitiful than that?"
He mocked, "St. Potter to the rescue." He flicked his wand at Dennis and Dennis got a bloody nose.
"St. Potter?" he said in disgust. "You've been spending way too much time with that rat Malfoy. McNair, I'm warning you now. Get out of here." That's where he'd seen McNair. Lately he was tagging along with Malfoy, sometimes in place of Crabbe or Goyle. The worst part was that unlike Crabbe and Goyle his IQ was higher than that of a trees stump.
Colin's voice was dangerous, "Stand aside, Harry. He's not getting away with this."
"Colin, he's not worth it. Just back off."
"No! He hurt my brother."
Harry pulled Colin's arms behind his back as he tried to struggle and get at McNair and the others who were now teasing and taunting.
One of the others whispered something to McNair. He grinned. "Serpentsortia!" he pointed his wand.
A large and vicious snake appeared in front of Harry and Colin. Harry looked at it and recognized that it wasn't a poisonous snake. He decided he was going to have a little chat. After all, McNair probably didn't know it wasn't poisonous. He spoke to the snake in Parseltongue, still struggling to hold onto Colin. "Would you do me a favor? Go chase after those other guys. The ones standing across from us. They just really insulted snakes. Especially that one in the front. He said all snakes are scum and that he crushes snake eggs. Bite him."
The snake had stood nearly still during this and its eyes flashed dangerously. "He'll suffer!" The snake turned and went after the Slytherins.
"You should have let me at them!" said Colin when Harry finally deemed it safe to let go (the Slytherins were out of sight).
"I told you, those gits weren't worth your time." He brought Marcus back over and stopped the bleeding from Dennis's nose. "Who started it?" he asked wearily.
"I don't remember," Colin muttered. "We all just started screaming at each other. I bet they started it. Nasty Slytherins."
"Don't go picking fights. It's not worth it. Not over them." He stared off where they'd gone.
"Why not? You do it too. The jokes you play on them, the fights you get into with Malfoy."
"I always have a good reason. And even then it's not always worth it." He remembered Luna's reaction to his hunting down Malfoy.
"For me this was worth it."
Harry knew he would not be dissuaded.
"What did you say to that snake, Harry?" asked Dennis.
"Just some stuff about McNair insulting snakes and that maybe it be a good idea if the snake went after him."
Colin snorted. "And you tell me not fight!"
"There's a difference. I knew that snake wasn't poisonous."
Marcus said, "How come nobody told me you could talk to snakes?"
"It's a long story. When people found out they all thought I was attacking somebody with the snakes." He sighed. "Why are you sleeves rolled up?"
"Because those bloody gits think You-Know-Who is better than Dumbledore. We had to show them whose the right side is. These prove that we're with Dumbledore."
Harry was on the verge of saying something when Dennis continued for his brother. "We're not the only ones. We see other people from the D.A. roll up their sleeves when they see a Slytherin coming."
"How long has this been?"
"All week. That business with Malfoy seems to have set everybody off," a dazed voice said from behind Harry.
He jumped, startled. "Luna?"
"Yes. Fights like this," she waved vaguely, "have been breaking out all week when there's no teachers around."
"Really?" He'd been so preoccupied this week that he hadn't noticed.
"Yes. I saw those Slytherins screaming. One of them got bit. I think they were going to the hospital wing. I vanished the snake to get rid of the evidence."
"Thanks, Luna," Harry said gratefully.
She stared at him. "I told you not fight."
"I didn't. I was stopping a fight. I didn't even conjure that snake. McNair did. I just sent it away from these innocent Gryffindors."
"I'll see you in the library," she said, wandering away.
Harry turned back to the younger students. "Look, just attempt not to get in anymore fights between now and the meeting tomorrow, okay?"
"We'll try."
Harry sighed. That was all he could hope for, wasn't it?
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If you're wondering why I'm making such a big deal about the Marks. See I was studying the Apocalypse in my religion class and it talked about one of the signs of the Antichrist was that he would mark all his followers. Which made me think about Voldemort Marking his followers. I'm not trying to draw religious symbolism between HP and the Bible but I just saw it and couldn't help writing this. It kind of just gave me a foreboding feeling and I had to write this.
Replies to Reviews:
Branson1—Thanks, I'm going to finish this story. I may or may not do I sequel.
Hrei-siesn—Thanks, sorry it's been so long since the update.
jbfritz—Thanks for your review, as always.
dnd4ever—Thanks, J
ILOVETOWRITE456—Thanks, I'm working on it, don't know how much more there is to write.
Spiffycool—Thanks, I love the good ship H/L. Almost as good as Ron/Hermione. Awesome penname. Spiffy is my word! I use it all the time. hehe
Katie Lupin Black—Thanks, hope it was plausible that I used the phoenix marks again in this one.
Oxi-Nu—Thanks for that energetic review. Hehe. J
Alexis-Lee—Yeah, I do. I'm hooked on Disney. I was watching Mulan the other day actually. hehe
femalefredngeorge—
Well as far as draco staying in school yes that was the right thing to do. that was very good. but what is up with all that new age stuff? are you a new ager?you sound like it. any way dont forget harry has to get fred n george back. maybe you could do something like make ron or ginny yeah ginny ask them what they would do to get back at someone who really paid a dirty trick on her. tell them that ron isnt a big help and it has to be a duzzy. even make them give her some of their stuff so harry can use it aginst them. please! i'd write but i dont know if any one would read my stuff. update update update
prong-666—Hehe. That same thing happened to me reading this really long L/J fic the other day. I was like wow, how long have I been reading.
Thanks for the reviews everybody!