Harry came down from the sky. That was the second time Artemis had saved his life. He had to do something.
He slowly lowered the Firebolt and finally, touched ground. He got off, brushing off the plane's dust, planning to thank Artemis for the alert.
Then the weirdest thing happened.
Butler lay limp on the chair again. " Do you know, Butler, that in Muggle movies there will always be a hero rushing in the end?" Voldemort sniggered.
Butler supposed Muggles meant people like him. Something like an alternative for "Mud Man".
"Butler, do you think there will be a hero in the end?"
Butler could not answer because pain was engulfing him.
Agitated, Voldemort performed "Crucio" on Butler before he had the idea.
Harry woke up. " Do you know, Butler, that in Muggle movies there will always be a hero rushing in the end?" he was saying, without being able to control it. "Butler, do you think there will be a hero in the end?" Still he could not control his mouth. "Crucio," said his mouth, and immediately Butler launched into screams of pain. Butler. That rang a bell. Artemis was looking for him!
Slowly….the cell faded and then he landed back in Artemis's paddock.
"Harry, Harry, what happened?" Mulch was leaning over him.
"What?"
"You were clutching your forehead……I see it….. you were clutching your scar….Harry are you okay?"
Slowly…Harry understood. Then he said, "Butler is in deep trouble. He has been captured by Lord Voldemort."
Artemis stared. " Lord Who?"
But now Mulch was starting to act weird.
Foaly had just managed to track Mulch down. He thought, oh no, as the tracker led him to Fowl Manor. Total recall.
Each prisoner is implanted with some cells in Police Plaza. These cells help to track him down when he escapes, an unlikely event. Mulch still had them activated.
Foaly also had taken the liberty of implanting an ear chip over Mulch's left earlobe. Lucky, as it happened.
He connected, and then said," Mulch, can you hear me?"
Mulch slowly rubbed his left ear. He wasn't hearing right.
"Mulch, can you hear me?"
That voice was oddly familiar.
"Mulch, this is Foaly."
Aha. There it was. That troublesome centaur.
Harry and Artemis
stared at Mulch.
Something extremely weird was going on.
"Mulch, say
something. I have a chip implanted."
"Testing, testing.
She sells sea-shells on the sea shore. Trolls in a tunnel cause
terrible trouble."
"Gotcha."
Mulch whispered to Harry and Artemis," It's Foaly. The stupid eejit tracked me down. Now I will have to tell him all about your recall, Artemis. Uh-oh."
Although Harry found most of this Greek to him, Artemis realized the seriousness of the situation. If they mind-wiped him again, he was cocksure he would never find the Fairy World, or Haven, ever again.
"Mulch, I want you belowground ASAP. I happen to know that you have a stolen LEP shuttle, so come in that. And bring your cronies."
Mulch
was not accustomed to this language. However, he glossed it
over.
Harry, however, was not impressed. He wanted to see Ron
badly, for one thing, and he also wanted to see Dumbledore.
"Artemis, we have no time to go belowground, due to Mulch. There is no time. Butler is in deep trouble, and trust me, he will not come back if we do not save him."
"Really?
Since when?" said Artemis, looking behind Harry.
Harry
wheeled around, and was shocked at what he saw.
Holly was on the way to Police Plaza after lunch. She decided to drop by the Operations Booth and see an old friend.
"How's it going,
Foaly?" she inquired.
"Not bad. I managed to track
Diggums down,and I think he is coming now."
Think?
What did Foaly mean?
Root stormed into the Booth." What's
your status, civilian?"
Foaly just felt like saying,"
Oh,shut up about civilians, Julius, and be civil, you really make me
p-" but was saved the trouble of it due to a beeping of his
computer.
"Bang on, Julius. We have a problem. Mulch is contemplating whether to come belowground. He keeps talking about a certain Harry."
It just so happened that the word "Potter" turned up.
The tapping of keyboard keys was heard, and the next second, Foaly's computer had brought up the statistics.
"Hmm….Harry Potter. Hardened hooligan. Attended St Brutus's School For Incurably Criminal Boys. Living in Ireland right now. Erlet me see….address…..hmm….ah, gotcha, Hybarring Aveneue, 15th Cross, Number 23."
"But if he was
talking to Diggums he wasn't at home, you nitwit."
Foaly
gritted his teeth. Root was soon going to make him do something he
never wished he would.
"I thought that you would be grateful for some extra information."
"Who gives a damn whether Harry Potter comes down here, just a mind wipe is enough for him to be blank-minded, if you get my drift."
"Not really. This Harry Potter is a serious character. I caught words like "magic" and "Butler"."
"You fat donkey, he's at Artemis's place, what did you expect?" But now, Foaly had reached the end of his tether.He took Root's hand and put it dangerously near the screen.
"Don't make me too angry, Julius. I am angry enough due to your snide comments. Don't make me angry. I'm warning you."
Root was now worried. For one thing, that screen, when touched, could fry his hand, and for another, he had never seen Foaly so angry. Usually it was the opposite.
"Ok, ok, Foaly, relax. Cool it."
Holly was watching from the side. Foaly had never been so angry. But then, she reasoned, there had to be a breaking point.
Butler was strolling down the paddock. Smiling.
Harry suddenly felt a sear of pain. In his scar. Something was terribly wrong, apart form the fact that he had seen Butler being tortured by Lord Voldemort moments ago. If those were moments.
"Where were you, Butler? Holiday? You could have told me."
Butler looked at the sky when answering. "Madame Ko called me. I needed to go."
Harry looked closely at Butler. So did Artemis. Butler looked different. That meant that….
They were interrupted by Mulch. "Guys, we don't have much time left. The boys want me belowground now."
"Well, Butler's back, isn't he?
Now we can go."
With a lot of hesitation, Harry came with
them.
The shuttle rumbled and Harry marveled at the wonder he was looking at. Artemis, was used to it.
Mulch was easily steering the shuttle through the chute. Chute 63. Infamous for trolls.
This thought about trolls had occurred to him. "Hey Artemis, trolls are a lot different here, I presume?"
Artemis replied, "The troll has tusks. It is about 18 pounds max." He could not continue with his description as the shuttle bumped into the immigration department polymer wall.
"Nice steering," commented Harry icily.
"What did you expect?" Mulch retorted.
Holly was waiting for them in the waiting room. Mulch shuffled uncomfortably into the room.
"Eh-Holly"
"Just
shut up, Diggums. Now we got an extra human knowing about us."
Holly seemed to be in a very bad mood.
"Holly, it was vital for Artemis here to regain his knowledge about the people. I can't believe that Julius trusted the Psych Brotherhood and made Artemis mind-wiped.
Again, Harry found himself lost.
"Mind-wiped?"
Holly ignored him but could not stop herself from thinking that Mulch was every bit true.
Harry followed the unlikely allies out of the terminal and into Foaly's Booth. He was extremely surprised.
Just then, a rogue
goblin jumped out and grabbed Mulch.
"Let our brothers go or
we will roast our little friend here." The leader seemed
incredibly dumb to even talk to a Captain.
Holly sighed. She faced these threats every day. She took out her Neutrino handgun and fired three blasts from it. Only it did not work.
The goblin literally smelled victory, because he started pumping fireballs from each finger. "Ready?"
Harry knew no one was expecting this. He did not even want to do it. But slowly he took out his wand.
"What's that?" the goblin enquired, curious.
Immediately Harry shouted, "Impedimenta!" and the goblin was blasted off his back.
Holly looked at Harry as if he was an alien. Then, breathing heavily, she said, "The commander is waiting. Guys, let's go quickly.Mulch, you have met your waterloo."
Root was surveying Harry closely. "So there, Harry, perform some magic tricks with your wand for us. How about the flowers out of the wand trick?"
Harry, taking this literally, shouted, "Orchidaeous!" and flowers burst out of his wand.
Root, for once , was impressed.
"Not bad, eh Mud Boy?"
Harry smiled in imitation of Artemis.
"Glad to have impressed you, Your Majesty."
Wormtail waited for Malfoy to turn up.
Lucius was there in a flash.
"Yes, what is it? I am very busy at the moment."
Wormtail quivered."Er-the Master wants me to tell you"
"To hell with your introduction, now TELL ME THE NEWS BEFORE I PUT A CURSE ON YOU!" Malfoy shouted.
"Ok, ok keep your hair on."
Well, almost to the point.
"Harry has gone
missing. Harry Potter."
"WHAT?"
"Yes, Harry Potter has gone missing and now we have to look for him. The Dark Lord is extremely angry."
"You mean, you have to look for
him."
"You dimwit, why did you think he called you here?
Of course he wanted you to help me with finding Potter."
"I got too much work to do."
"Yeah, call that work? Treating your sun's hair, washing your own hair, and also Narcissa"
"Shut up, alright? I'll help you. Now just shut up."
Wormtail grinned. Driving Lucius Malfoy's anger up was one of the perks of this job.
"Root said we need a mind-wipe? Why do you think we came belowground? Do you think us stupid?" Mulch was saying angrily to Foaly.
Holly watched them having the quarrel and suddenly realized the problem that Root had faced when he made Foaly angry. She moved in, clearly wanting to avoid a scene like that.
Foaly was stamping his hoof angrily against the OP's console. Mulch lay pinned under it.
He could not do anything about it.
"Don't make me smash a computer in frustration, Diggums,I am already very angry."
Holly pulled out a carton of carrots. She waved them frantically. Foaly caught sight of the orange thing bouncing along the air.
His anger evaporated like alcohol.
"Sorry there Mulch, lost my temper there," and as if nothing happened, he pulled Mulch up to his feet.
Then he scurried over and swallowed the carrot.
"So…Root said we
needed a mind-wipe?"
"Yeah, that's right, he said that
Fowl may become a severe liability to the People as he stated 4 years
ago."
"But-but we all know that Fowl has reformed from his hoolig-"
He was interrupted by a voice from Foaly's surround speakers.
"Is that Foaly?"
"Obivously."
"We got a big big problem here. What a stinker. Guess what?"
"What?"
"A
Mud Man has kidnapped Chix Verbil."
"WHAT?"
"Just that."
Artemis suddenly realized the absence of Butler in the room. "Oh, gods above,"he breathed.
"See Artemis? You have already become a severe liability to the People."
Butler was strolling down Lesringing Street when the package he was holding in his jacket began to move. He stopped it from moving much with a swift rabbit punch to its head.
Just then, a voice issued from the jacket.
"Muhhhlp?Mullpp, Muhhllpp."
Butler blinked. What the hell was that?
He opened the jacket slowly.
"D'Arvit," came Chix's voice.
"Shut up.He wants you."
"Who?"
"HIM."
"Who him?"
"Silencio."
"What?"
"Can't you just shut up?"
"No I can't as a Mud Man has kidnapped me and I don't know where the D'Arvit-ting hell I am going."
"OK now don't make me angry. He wants you alright, and I don't want to disappoint him."
Chix was completely confused. "Who is HE?"he inquired.
Butler flung him a few meters and then picked him up.
"Did that hurt?"
A word scrolled across Chix's chest.
"D'Arvit."
Harry found himself forgetting about Lord Voldemort for a very long time, without even realizing it. Artemis had taken out a big chunk of his energy, and truth be told, he was enjoying it.
"Butler kidnapped Chix?"
"It's possible."
"But-how-how?"
"Butler is capable of incapacitating a rhinoceros."
"Who gives a damned crap about that? All I want to see is if he is capable of kidnap."
Harry felt a bit out of place. He had been very quiet since he had been rescued by Artemis.
"You know something? The only way Artemis is going to find out if Chix-er, if that's what you call him-has been kidnapped is if he goes ther and finds out."
"Mud Boy is right."
Harry felt a pang of satisfaction. At least he had brought a point out.
"Now we look for him?"
"Yes."
"Where?"
"Oh, don't worry about that. I'll track him down in a sec."
True enough, in a sec, as Foaly put it, Chix's location was prevailant.
"Er……ok, he's at this place called……how the hell did Butler get him there so quickly….Ottery St Catchpole….Great Britain…."
Harry's stomach gave a funny jolt. That was where Ron lived.
"He's staying , I think, in a house there….The Harrowing,No.32…"Foaly replied, triumphant.
"So are we going now?"
"Now? You should mean this instant," Harry advised and Disapparated from there.
"How did he do that?"
"God knows…."
Butler walked into the house. It was barren. Nothing at all.
"Cheery place."
Chix tried to say something, but something came into attention. He was losing magic.Butler must have realized this, as he said,"I allow you to come into this house but…you should never use your power against me or never disobey me."
Chix felt better. His magic was back, but now he could not attack Butler.
From the other side came," STUPID FOOLS! YOU COULD HAVE NEARLY KILLED GINNY!"
Butler raised his eyebrows.So did Chix.
Ron was running as fast as he could up the stairs into the room. Fred and George were hot on his heels.
"DON'T RUN! YOU COULD HAVE DONE HER A SERIOUS INJURY,NITWITS.." Mrs Weasley's shrill voice came up the stairs and her red face, now as red as Commander Root's when he was really angry, was bobbing, trying to catch up with them, but to no avail.
CRACK. Harry appeared in Ron's room ,who was shocked at the sudden appearance of his friend.
"Hey there Ron, I thought I heard your mom losing her temper….."
"Tell me about it. "
"What did she mean when she screamed you could have done her a serious injury?"
Ron continued to pant. Then he said," Well, Fred and George were fooling around with the stove, taking turns to bob it around and see who could throw it, if you get what I mean, towards the door of the kitchen and back. Now, Ginny was on her way home, and unluckily, I wanted to have a go, and it nearly missed her head. She did this sort of…what was that Muggle movie name again?Ah…the Natric,eh?"
"The Matrix," corrected Harry.
"Yeah, in the movie he would do a dodging stunt,right?He would dodge the bullet. That was nearly what Ginny did. Only thing, she fell flat on her back. So Harry,what are you doing here?"
Harry explained what happened to him and how he landed up here.
"There are people who live underground?"
"Er….fairies…"
"Weird!"
Just then, another crack sounded in the room, and Mrs Weasley appeared.
"Ron, come down this instant and apologise to Ginny! Oh, Harry, dear , I did not spot you there…what is the cause for the sudden arrival?"
So Harry, resigned to the worst, recited his predicament again.
Then Mr Weasley came back. "Harry, why are you here all of a sudden?"
"Ron, you explain," said Harry, with a dry mouth.
The Lear Jet was flying across the Atlantic Ocean. Artemis Fowl, Mulch Diggums and Captain Holly Short of the LEPRecon unit were on board.
"So, Mud Boy, what was it that allowed you to outsmart us and beat the mind wipes and the mesmerising?"
"I had some lens in my eyes. Something like the iris cam. It reflected the mesmer. So I could lie to you freely."
Foaly cut in."Holly, I had asked you a question 4 years ago, remember? Whether you would miss the Mud Boy? Now tell me, would you miss the Mud Boy?"
Holly looked out of the window, the fluffy clouds shooting past below. She recounted how the Mud Boy had gotten the idea of reattaching Holly's trigger finger. She thought about the sincerity that Artemis had shown, trying to save his father. He thought about the madness that he had requested Holly to restore to sanity for his mother by giving back half of the gold.
"Yes, I would have missed him," Holly admitted.
