A/N- Sorry if you reviewed and aren't up here. That would be because you didn't write it before I'd submitted this chapter….Sorry about that! Anyways….

HeirOfSnake: Thank you and I'll try!

So…I did actually try a little line of stars in the last chapter, but they too seem to have disappeared. Ah well, the (-enter character here-'s POV) should help! I'll just have to keep trying different combinations until I find one that stays!

Now, on to chapter 4….

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

(Artemis' POV)

Artemis didn't know what to expect when that thin boy with the black hair pointed that little wooden stick at him. Maybe his hair would turn violet, or his trademark suit would change into a pink frilly dress. Or perhaps some combination of the two. What he didn't expect was to be hoisted into the air and float some ten feet from the ground.

In those circumstances, most people would panic, but Artemis was not most people. He found himself calm and he tried to think logically. Unfortunately, logic seemed to have gone out the window, along with the laws of physics.

Mulch suddenly appeared from the room where the party had taken place earlier.

"Hey, Artemis, I saw you had some cake left. Do you mind if I…." He trailed off as he noticed that Artemis was hovering over three metres above the floor.

"Wow, howdya get up there?"

Butler, Holly and Artemis simultaneously pointed at the black-haired boy.

"Would you mind letting me down?" Artemis said pointedly.

"Alright then," said the black-haired boy. He pointed his wooden stick (Artemis presumed it was a wand) at the floor and Artemis slowly drifted to the floor.

"Impressive," said Holly, "I can't do that. What else can you do?"

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

(Still Artemis' POV)

Half an hour later, Artemis was beyond amazement. The three intruders (he soon learnt that the black-haired boy was called Harry, the redhead was Ron and that the girl was Hermione) had each used a variety of spells, and at the end, the suit of armour that had been knocked over earlier had been changed into an assortment of food (Mulch was delighted with this), the floor had been cleaned, his new book had grown legs and run around the hall and one of his mother's favourite antique rugs had a hole blown in it and was then restored back to normal.

Holly, Butler and Mulch were equally impressed with all this.

So, after the magical demonstration had ceased, Artemis ushered everyone through another door into a comfy sitting room. There were portraits coving the walls, and a large antique fireplace with a fire burning, which gave the room a cosy feeling.

Once everyone had taken a seat in the large armchairs or the sofa, which were gathered around an ornate coffee table in front of the blazing fire (Well, everyone except Butler, who had left on his rounds of the house), Artemis began speaking.

"So, Harry, Ron, Hermione, how did you get in here without detection? Any particular spell? And, more importantly, why are you here?"

"Uh, yeah, about that…." began Ron, "I sorta said a spell wrong in the school library, next thing we knew, we were here! And, we, uh, don't know how to get back…" he trailed off and looked at Hermione hopefully, but she said sadly

"I don't know how." She directed her attention to Artemis. "What date is it?"

"May 26th," Artemis replied, "But in a few hours it'll be the 27th."

Hermione looked worried. "We need to do our OWLs! That's less than a month away! How'll we get back if we don't have any books on magic to research from?"

Ron instinctively put his arm around her. Artemis noted that Hermione looked calmer with Ron holding her.

"Don't worry, we'll get back!" Ron reassured her.

"Yeah," said Harry. "People will have noticed we're missing. It's only a matter of time before Dumbledore finds us!"

"Dumbledore? What sort of weird name is that?" Mulch blurted out and was immediately reprimanded by Holly.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

(Harry's POV)

Harry liked the little man with the beard. He had soon learnt that his name was Mulch, and the girl was called Holly. What they were, Harry had yet to find out. Neither of them looked human.

When Mulch accidentally insulted Dumbledore, Harry's initial reaction was to be angry. Then he remembered that he was mad at Dumbledore for ignoring him (A/N, remember, this is the 5th book. Harry is none too pleased with Dumbledore and Sirius is alive) and his anger at Mulch was forgotten.

Although, he thought glumly, Dumbledore was still one of the best and most powerful wizards of all time. He probably had some very good reason for not being in contact with Harry since Christmas. Harry still had the utmost respect for him, even though he was mad at him at the moment. So he replied to Mulch's question.

"Dumbledore is one of the greatest wizards alive. He's also the headmaster of our school." He looked down at he knees, depressed.

Harry's hair was in front of his eyes and it annoyed him, so he automatically brushed it back with his hand, inadvertently revealing his famous scar.

Mulch noticed it. He had to ask.

"Hey, cool scar. Howdya get that?"

Harry sighed. He had become so used to everyone knowing his past; it felt odd to meet new people who didn't stare when he said his name. Knowing, everyone would stare at him when he finished his story; he briefly explained what had happened the night he got his scar.

"So, there's this really powerful evil wizard that wants to kill you because you nearly killed him when you were just a baby? I thought I had it bad!" said Mulch

Holly rolled her eyes.

"Well, you were honest with us, so I guess we should be honest with you. Mulch and I, well, we're fairies. But you have to promise not to tell anyone. Humans aren't supposed to know about us. I don't want to have to wipe your memory. "

After they had assured Holly that they wouldn't tell another soul, Ron said:

"But we have fairies. Aren't they the little things used to decorate outside the castle at Christmas?" He looked hopefully at Hermione, expecting her to have an answer. He wasn't disappointed.

"Well, you didn't know about wizards and we didn't know about you, so I guess it's just a coincidence that you and creatures share the same species name."

"Well, actually," Holly interrupted, "I'm an elf and Mulch is a dwarf. Fairy is just a general term, it takes in all of us, like gnomes and goblins and centaurs."

"Well, you are absolutely nothing like our house-elves!" commented Ron, but he hastily added "In a good way!"

"Yes," agreed Harry. "House-elves are nice enough, but totally unlike you. They're small, have strange noses and positively adore working as hard as they possibly can just to please you. They'd throw themselves off cliffs if you asked them too!"

He looked over to find Hermione glaring at him, so he speedily added, "Which we wouldn't do. No way. It's not nice to make them do everything without paying them. If I ever get one, I'll pay it. No doubt about it!"

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

(Artemis' POV)

Artemis noticed the way Harry had spoken. Obviously Hermione was an avid supporter of house-elf rights. He had no doubt how Holly would react if a human tried to force her to work for no pay. Let's just say it wouldn't end well for said human.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

(Back to Harry's POV)

"You said you had centaurs." Said Hermione curiously. "What are your centaurs like?"

Holly replied, "Well, they're know-it-alls and like computers, carrots and showing off. But you don't have to take my word for it. Ask one yourself!" She grinned at the confused expression on the trio's faces.

"Artemis, your birthday present from Foaly, where is it?"

"I left it in the hall. I'll go get it."

Artemis scurried out of the room. Mulch turned to Hermione.

"Well, what are your centaurs like?"

Hermione replied, "They're useless really. Fanatical star gazers who aren't really interested in anything closer than the moon. They believe that they can tell the future."

Harry interrupted her, "We have a centaur teaching me and Ron for divination this year. Our first lesson with him was one of the weirdest we've ever had." – Ron was nodding vigorously in agreement – "Firenze is nice enough though. The rest of them aren't nearly as agreeable!"

Artemis re-entered the room, holding the present that looked like a small silver portable DVD player.

"Is that a portable DVD player?" asked Harry.

"Nope!" said Holly gleefully. "It's a wireless portable video link set!"

Ignoring Harry, Ron and Hermione's blank looks, Artemis flipped the screen up and looked down at the device. There was a number pad and buttons of various colours. He set it down on the coffee table, angling it so that everybody in the room had a clear view.

"Now," began Artemis, "What's this code?"

Holly leaned over the number pad and typed in the number 001.

"That's Foaly's number," she explained, "I have one too. It'll be easier to use these than that two-way radio I gave you. My number is 325."

"001 and 325" muttered Artemis. Suddenly he broke into a grin. "So I can contact you with this? Excellent!"

"They're a new invention of Foaly's. Very exclusive. Since I'm his best friend, he slipped me a couple. The council doesn't know you have one and I prefer it that way!"

"What's my number?" asked Artemis.

"526" replied Holly. "If I ever want to talk to you, I just have to type that in on mine and wait for you to press that button." - She indicated a green button on the right of the machine, - "And, when you want to hang up, you just press that button." She was not pointing at a red button just below the green button.

Artemis dialled 001 on the gadget, and waited.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

(Artemis' POV)

It really was amazing. Foaly was indeed a computer genius. And it takes a lot for another computer genius to admit that.

The words "Currently Waiting For Foaly To Answer" were displayed on the screen. Artemis looked at some of the buttons while he waited for Foaly to pick up.

They were all different colours. They had labels below them in Gnommish. That wasn't much of a problem for Artemis. He was the only human alive that could read the language.

He could see that there were all sorts of effects. He could add more people into the conversation, record conversations for future reference, change the volume of the voice and the colour and brightness of the picture and there were lots of smaller buttons under a separate heading of "Special effects", like "Make voice squeaky" and "Add stupid hat". Artemis smiled, suppressing laughter.

Foaly's face appeared on the screen.

"You took your time calling me!"

"Sorry," said Artemis. He turned up the volume so that everyone in the room could hear. "We got a bit, ah, distracted."

"Distracted?"

"Yes. Foaly, meet Harry, Ron and Hermione." Artemis turned the wireless portable video link set (which shall be referred to the WPVLS from now on!) towards the trio, so that Foaly could see them.

"Do they know?"

"Yes." It wasn't Foaly that spoke this time, but Holly, "And they've promised not to tell anyone."

"A mud mans word. Oh, yes, we're completely safe!" said Foaly sarcastically

"Calm down," said Holly sternly. "We won't tell anyone else down below about them if they don't tell anyone else up here about us."

"Why, what about them? What's so special?"

Artemis looked over at Harry.

"Harry, do you want to tell him?"

"Alright. Erm, hi Foaly, I'm Harry Potter."

Artemis could hear the clicking of keys and presumed that Foaly was running a background search on Harry.

"Hold on there." Interrupted Foaly. "I just ran a search on you. It says here your parents were murdered when you were a baby and that you were adopted by relatives, the Dursleys"

"That's correct" said Harry.

Foaly winced. "Sorry, I didn't know. Me and my big mouth. Anyway, you were saying?"

"Yes," continued Harry, "Well, Me and Ron and Hermione, we're wizards. Well, Hermione is a witch. Point is, we can do magic."

Foaly was speechless. For once. He recovered after a few seconds.

"Never heard of that before. And I've heard of quite a lot."

Hermione leaned forward.

"We're very secretive. We don't want muggles to know about us."

"Muggles?" asked Mulch. "What is up with all the weird names?"

Ron decided to answer this.

"Muggles are non-magic people. I don't know that's up with the names, mate, I didn't make them up."

Artemis decided to gain some control of the conversation again.

"Foaly, we'd all appreciate it if you didn't tell anybody. And please don't record this conversation. No need for unnecessary risks."

Foaly laughed. "Boy, Artemis, did I miss you!"

The seven of them chatted for another half hour, oblivious to the time until Artemis checked his watch.

"Ah."

Holly noticed. "Ah what?"

"It's getting late. Mother and Father are leaving early on business tomorrow morning and I want to be up to say goodbye." He turned to Holly and Mulch. "Will you two be staying, or do you have clients waiting?"

Mulch grinned. "We took time off. There are no clients right now, so we closed up for a few days. We can stay here til the first of June!"

Artemis returned the smile.

"Brilliant."

Then he turned to Harry, Ron and Hermione.

"You don't know how to get back to your school?"- They shook their heads- "Then I suppose you'll have to stay here. Good, it'll be nice to have some company of my own age group. Come with me, I'll show you to your rooms."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

(Harry's POV)

Harry was amazed at the size of the house as Artemis led them through it. They had exited the sitting room and entered back into the main hall. After ascending the stairs, it took a few minutes to walk to their bedrooms. They passed portraits of deceased Fowls, all with the same cold blue eyes.

Eventually they came to a corridor with numerous doors leading off it. Artemis pointed to the nearest door on his right.

"This is my bedroom."- He pointed down the corridor. - "All of these rooms are spare bedrooms. You may choose whichever one you want to stay in. The fourth door on your left is the bathroom"

Harry took the bedroom opposite Artemis'; Ron took the one next to it and Hermione the one beside Artemis'. Holly and Mulch chose two bedrooms opposite each other beside Ron and Hermione's bedrooms.

Harry stepped into his bedroom and closed the door behind him. He looked around the room in awe. It was bigger than his dormitory room at Hogwarts, and that had five beds in it.

There was a huge four-poster bed on beside the wall on his left, on his right was a large fireplace and directly in front of him was a large window.

Harry moved forward to look out the window. He could see the grounds and the lights of Dublin in the distance.

There was a knock on the door. Harry crossed the room and opened the door. Butler was standing in the doorway, holding a pile of clothes.

"You might find these useful," he said with a slight smile.

"Thank you." Harry replied, also smiling. "I hadn't thought of that."

Butler handed the clothes to Harry, and then left the room, closing the door behind him.

Harry looked through the clothes. There was a pair of pyjamas and enough clothes and underwear to last for a few days. Harry's smile widened. Artemis thought of everything.

He changed into the pyjamas and climbed into the bed. He hadn't felt tired but he felt himself drifting off to sleep almost instantly.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Lucius Malfoy hurried into the room. It did not pay to be late for a meeting with the Dark Lord.

Voldemort was sitting at the head of a long table. Other death eaters were gathered in chairs around it.

"Ah, Lucius, you decided to join us."

The blonde man bowed so low his long hair touched the floor.

"I am sorry, My Lord. I was meeting with the minister. He is still foolishly oblivious to your return, despite Dumbledore and Potter insisting you have returned."

"Ah, good, good. I can forgive you for your lateness, seeing as you bring news."

"And there is something else. Something bigger." Malfoy's voice got louder, fuelled by excitement. "Harry Potter has disappeared from Hogwarts!"

"Really? How interesting. This could be our chance. We shall leave all thoughts of retrieving the prophecy aside until Potter is found. Preferably found by us"

"Yes, my Lord." Lucius paused before continuing. "I heard this from Draco; he sent me an owl today. Dumbledore is worried sick! He doesn't know where Potter is yet, so we have a good chance of finding him first!"

"Excellent!"

"But, ah, my Lord, How shall we find him?"

Voldemort looked up sharply.

"You should know by not I do not appreciate questions. However, your news has put me in a good mood. Such a good mood, in fact, that you shall escape punishment this time."

"Y-y-yes, m-my Lord-d," stuttered Lucius, clearly petrified. "Y-you are r-r-really m-m-most gener-r-ous…"

"It just so happens that I know of a spell that will aid us in the search. It will not give an exact location, however. However, if we work quickly and efficiently, we may find him sooner than we think…"

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

A/N- I wasn't sure if Dumbledore had been sacked at this stage, so, for our purposes, he hasn't. Just thought I'd warn you!

This chapter took forever to write. It must have been the hardest yet! It's also the longest yet! I write on Microsoft word and this whole chapter, Authors Notes and all, has filled near enough nine pages!

I hope that the next few chapters are slightly easier to write!