REVIEW REPLIES:
YolkPro74: That's a really good idea! I can certainly see that happening… Minerva will definitely be joining in sooner or later, probably in book 4. I'm not too sure about the Cursed child book, but I don't ship hollemis, so Artemis/Minerva is certainly a possibility! I cannot get the idea of Artemis as Grindelwald out of my head now lol. Thanks for all your brilliant suggestions! Sorry if I took a while to respond to questions, I haven't logged into in months. Anyway, I'm not really sure what you mean by needing my PM, but feel free to ask me anything via reviews if you can't PM me for some reason! Hope you enjoy this chapter!
Kat: *salutes*Yes ma'am! I hope you find this chapter satisfactory!
DaughterofHecate: Hi there! I've been on ao3 a lot recently as well. I'm coping, I suppose… I feel like my writer's block is gone for good this time, so thank heavens for that! Updates should be a lot more regular from now on. I hope you enjoy this, and hopefully it was worth the wait!
Deathstar717: Nope, not abandoned. I was just…going through some stuff. I'm back for good this time:)
Summer: It did help, thanks! I'm back for good this time, so thanks for all of your support and patience!
Dedicated to my friend shibshine on Wattpad for nagging me until I agreed to finish this chapter:)
The four boys froze, staring at Hazel with shock.
"What did I say?" Hazel asked, blissfully unaware of the situation they were in.
"You're a muggle?" Draco squeaked, backing away nervously.
Hazel's eyebrows furrowed, "What's a muggle?"
"Not important." Artemis said shortly, "Draco, Theodore and Blaise, the three of you can go ahead to the Great Hall. Me and Hazel will meet you there soon."
'Leave. Now!' His icy blue eyes seemed to scream.
Draco, bless his soul, got the point, and hurried away, Theodore and Blaise hot on his tail.
"What's a muggle?" Hazel repeated, a hint of worry creeping into her voice.
"A muggle is a term used to refer to non-magic people." Artemis explained, "At least, people without wizard magic."
Artemis' piercing eyes met Hazel's gold ones, and Artemis could practically see her discomfort, "Hazel, tell me, do you have any powers? Any at all? Related to death, perhaps?"
Hazel's eyes widened, "No," she stuttered, "W-What makes you say that?"
Artemis scoffed, "You're even worse at lying than Nico."
"I'm not lying!" she protested weakly.
"Relax, Hazel. I know. Nico told me about his powers, about your family." Artemis rolled his eyes, "If I'm right, which I usually am, the fact that you share the same father means that you have powers as well, correct?"
A weight seemed to have been lifted from the girl's shoulders.
"You know?" she asked, relieved, "Thank the gods, I was terrified for a minute there."
"Yes, yes, so, your powers?" he asked impatiently.
"They're not really powers," Hazel stated bitterly, averting her gaze to the floor, "I've always thought of them as more of a curse."
Artemis arched an eyebrow.
Sensing his confusion, Hazel continued, "I can summon precious metals."
Suffice to say, Artemis' interest was piqued.
"Precious metals? Like gold?"
Hazel nodded, as though sensing what he had been thinking, "Yeah, but they're not really precious. Everything I summon is cursed. Whoever touches it ends up dying a painful death, or worse." she shuddered, hugging herself.
"Ah, well," Artemis fumbled for something comforting to say, "That's a shame."
Hazel raised an eyebrow at him, apparently unable to believe the words coming out of his mouth.
Nevertheless, Artemis decided to file the information away for later use. You never knew when cursed gold could come in handy. Or uncursed gold, if he could figure how to get rid of the curse.
*******Line Break*******
"Remember", Artemis whispered to Hazel as they walked to the Great Hall, "You have to tread carefully. The others will be onto you now that they think you're a muggle."
Hazel nodded, "Does anyone know about our father?"
Artemis shook his head, "No, and I'm quite sure that Nico wants to keep it that way."
"How do I-"
Hazel was cut off by Draco, Blaise and Theodore rushing into the corridor, arms full of food.
"We got the food." Draco panted, rather unnecessarily, in Artemis' opinion.
"I can see that." he responded dryly, "Did anyone see you?"
"Just a few fifth years. They just rolled their eyes at us though, didn't bother questioning it."
Artemis nodded, satisfied, "Perfect. Back to the dungeons then, I suppose. We can plan our next course of action there."
As the five of them began to trudge back to the dungeons, Draco spoke up.
"So, Hazel, you're really a muggle?" he asked, sounding genuinely curious.
Hazel shrugged uncomfortably, "Yeah, I guess."
"And you're really Nico's sister?"
"Well, yes-"
Draco surprisingly seemed to have come to the same conclusion as Artemis, "Does that mean that you can sha-"
"Ahem!", Artemis cleared his throat pointedly, eyes flicking to Theo and Blaise, daring him to continue his sentence.
"-peshift." Draco ended awkwardly.
All 4 pairs of eyes swivelled around to give him an incredulous stare.
"What?" he protested, "I have an aunt who's a Metamorphagus. At least, I think she's my aunt..."
Artemis rolled his eyes, "As riveting as that sounds, we have more important issues to discuss."
He turned to his companions, "Has anyone thought of somewhere she can stay?"
Silence. Typical.
Artemis let out a long-suffering sigh as they began to descend to their dormitory, "Our first order of business should probably involve obtaining a set of robes for Hazel to wear. She looks young enough to pass for a first year, and it's only the first week of school, no one will find it strange."
Draco nodded, "I'll go and borrow a set of robes from Pansy."
"How do you plan on explaining that?' Artemis asked skeptically.
Blaise snickered, "He won't have to. Pansy would do anything for her ickle Draco." he taunted, taking delight in his rapidly reddening face.
"Shut up!" Draco growled, stomping away, face still resembling an overripe tomato.
"Moving onto lodgings," Artemis continued nonchalantly, "That might be a bit of an issue. For now, just try to stay out of sight. Stay in the dormitory for today, we'll try to find somewhere else for you to stay later."
Hazel nodded, somewhat warily, "What should I do all day?"
Artemis shrugged, "Whatever you want, I suppose. I have a few books on my desk. Draco probably has a game somewhere in his trunk. Just keep quiet about your secret."
'Both of them', he added silently.
********Line Break*********
"Is it true?"
Artemis looked up impatiently, to see Harry Potter looming over him as he picked at his breakfast, trying to look like he hadn't already eaten an hour ago.
"Is what true, Potter?" he snapped, not in the best of moods after his... messy confrontation with Snape a few minutes ago, "I am many things, but a mind-reader is not one of them."
"I heard a rumor that Nico came back last night. So, is it true?"
Artemis rolled his eyes for the millionth time that morning, "Yes. What is it to you?"
"Nico is my friend too, you know." Harry scowled, "Where is he? He and I have some things to... discuss."
"He's in the hospital wing." Artemis said bluntly.
"The hospital wing?" he heard another voice ask, "What happened to him?"
Hermione walked up to the two boys, eyes narrowed, and voice concerned.
"He'll be fine." Artemis said dismissively, hiding his own fear, "He's overworked himself, that's all."
"Exhaustion." he repeated, as though he was trying to convince himself, "That's all it is. He'll be back on his feet in no time."
********Line Break*********
It was very rare for Artemis Fowl the Second to be wrong about anything.
Unfortunately, this so happened to be one of those few times when Artemis was actually wrong.
A week passed by, and Nico was still out of it. Madam Pomfrey hadn't been able to make any sense out of it.
"It's baffling," she had told Artemis once, "Spells never worked on him, but now muggle medicine has no effect either. To make things worse, I have no idea what's wrong with him."
Much to his displeasure, Artemis was equally confused. Nico looked fine at first glance, but if one looked closer, they would notice that he was almost see-through, and the rise and fall of his chest was barely susceptible.
None of Artemis' medical training had involved anything like this, so he could do nothing but suggest a few more useless muggle healing methods to the perplexed teacher.
Artemis was openly worried at this point, and he could tell that Hazel was driving herself crazy with concern as well. Hazel had been forbidden from visiting Nico, considering the fact that as far as the rest of the school was concerned, she didn't even exist, and hence had no need to visit the local Slytherin emo kid.
"Are you sure I can't just try to sneak in after dark?" she would ask.
"You'd be seen for sure." he would reply, every single time.
"You don't know that!" she would then argue, "We Underworld kids can be pretty sneaky when we want to!"
She would then take notice of Artemis' blank look and sigh.
"I know it's not really the catchiest phrase, but you can't deny that it works." she would say, misunderstanding his confusion and leaving him more perplexed than before.
Artemis was beginning to realise that he was missing something very, very important.
Another thing that Artemis didn't know, was that Hazel would end up getting her wish, although her methods were a bit... unconventional.
A.N:
I DID IT! I WROTE ANOTHER CHAPTER!
I'MMMMMM BACKKKKK BABYYYYYYYYYYY!
You have no idea how good it feels to be writing again! I couldn't bring myself to stop!
Okay, before you come at me with your pitchforks and torches, let me say, from the bottom of my heart,
MY BAD.
Look, I'm a very... inspiration driven author.
I don't have a plot that's set in stone. I don't have a plan. Heck, even I don't know what's going to happen next until I start typing. All I have to work with are certain milestones that I have mapped out in my head. How to get to that point, or how long it will take to get there depends completely on my mood.
So, no inspiration means no story. For a few months there, I just... couldn't bring myself to write anything for some reason. You know what I mean? It's not a lack of ideas, I just... couldn't do it.
Anyway, writing the first chapter of 'So, you think you know nerds?' with Sunnyheree20 and SusuSunshine8000 was just what I needed to bring back my drive. So hopefully, this time, I'll be back for good.
Thank you all for bearing with me for so long, and rest assured, the rest of my stories will also be receiving a long due update this week!
Also, Artemis genuinely thinks he knows Hazel's secret (to some extent, at least), and Hazel believes that Artemis knows that she's a demigod.
That's going to be messy...
I'm telling you, the next chapter's going to be a doozy.
Once again, thank you all for being so patient, and I will be back next week!
As always, please let me know what you think!
-Keera
