Everyone Has Their Price

The week flew by, much to Artemis' chagrin, and she was dreading her meeting with Draco. It was early Saturday morning, that she found herself dressing for their meeting. As she combed her freshly washed hair, Artemis, for the millionth time this morning, pondered her situation with Draco. On several occasions, she had considered trying to work things out with him, but every time she thought about what he did, she got so angry, that any attempt at reconciliation went out the window.

However, at this point, Artemis was seriously considering just swallowing her pride and talking to him. It had been made quite clear, that there was no way for Artemis to remain in the wizarding world and not marry Draco, and she refused to be miserable for the rest of her life. This left her with only two options. She had to either, work things through with her fiancé, or she could take Deagus up on his offer, and run away with him. The only problem with running away was, that as much as she liked, and maybe even loved, Daegus, she wasn't sure she was willing to give up her family, friends or her ability to do magic, so that she could be with him, or rather, without Draco.

"Ughh..." grumbled Artemis as she struggled to get her black turtleneck over her head. After finally squeezing through the tiny neck opening, she righted her hair and quickly applied a small amount of makeup. After spending nearly two hours, talking herself up for her meeting with Draco, she was even less sure of how to handle the situation. As she slid into her dark blue jeans, she finally decided to just wing it. If she felt comfortable with talking to Draco today, then she would, if not, then she wouldn't. Artemis slipped on her black stiletto boots before grabbing her bag and rushing off to the Room of Requirement.

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"Draco Malfoy, are you primping?" asked Blaise mockingly. Draco had been in front of the mirror for nearly twenty minutes, trying to perfect his already perfect hair.

"No, I don't need to primp. I'm a natural beauty. Unlike some people." Draco smirked at Blaise, who simply rolled his eyes at his friends arrogance.

"Do you think you'll talk to her this time?" asked Blaise, flopping ungracefully onto Draco's bed.

"Who?"

"Who the hell, do you think? Artemis."

"Don't know, don't care."

"Yes, you do."

"No I don't"

"So then why are you messing with your hair so much. Got a hot date?" Blaise dared Draco, to deny that he was, in fact, making a fuss over his hair. Draco didn't reply, he simply crossed the room and grabbed his books, before heading to the door.

"Pansy said she saw them hugging outside of the owlrey last night." Draco froze, turning to look at his friend. "And I don't mean a quick little hug. She said that they sort held each other for a while. He stroked her hair softly, gazed into each other's eyes. You know, the usual bullshit that girl's like." Blaise smirked widely, glad that his comment had angered Draco. Without saying a word, Draco stormed out of the dorms, the door slamming loudly, in his wake.

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As he approached the Room of Requirement, he thought about what Blaise had said. This only fueled his anger. He stormed into the room, knowing that she would already be there, and slammed his things onto the desk, hoping to startle her. Draco then turned abruptly, planning on confronting Artemis, but as he surveyed the room he noticed that she wasn't there.

"Where the hell is she?" he asked. Draco couldn't believe she wasn't there. She was always there before him. Suddenly he heard voices outside of the door. Quietly, he crept closer, so that he could hear what was being said.

"If he give's you a hard time, just let me know. I'll take care of it for you."

"Really, Deagus, that's not necessary. But thank you."

"Have you given my idea any more thought?"

"I can't stop thinking about it! I adore you, but I would miss my family terribly. Not to mention, I wouldn't know how to live without magic."

"We could be happy Artemis, so happy, even in the Muggle world."

"I don't doubt that, but I still have to think it through. I mean, it's not every day a girl plan's on running away from the only world she's ever known." Draco couldn't believe what he was hearing. She was actually considering running off with that guy! This angered Draco beyond belief.

The door began to open and Draco quickly ran back to his side of the room. He wasn't sure he wanted her to know, that he knew about her little plan. As she entered the room, she was startled to find that Draco was already there. He was never on time to their meetings. She was glad that he had been all the way on the other side of the room, otherwise, he might have heard her conversation with Deagus. Quietly, Artemis went to her side of the room and began working on her homework.

While Artemis studied, Draco pretended to do the same. However, he actually used his time to think about what he had heard, between his fiancé and Daegus, earlier that morning. For the life of him, he couldn't figure out why Daegus was so determined to help her. Why would he leave the wizarding world just so she didn't have to marry someone she didn't love. Suddenly, it dawned on Draco, just what was going on. 'How could I be so stupid,'he thought. Draco's thoughts drifted back to the first month of school, when Daegus had told Draco that he needed to treat Artemis better. When Deagus had chastised him, Draco realized that the boy had feelings for Artemis, and being the Slytherin that he was, Draco took advantage of it. He told the older student that he could have Artemis. All he had to do was get her to break the terms of the marriage contract. As the marriage contract stated that Artemis must remain chaste, in every sense of the word. That meant she wasn't even allowed to kiss anyone, so all Daegus had to do, was get her to kiss him.

"So all I have to do is kiss her and things are done between the two of you?" questioned Daegus cautiously.

"Yep, just a kiss. Granted she will have her wand snapped and be banned from the wizarding world, but you could always date her in the Muggle world."

"She doesn't deserve this," Daegus said remorsefully, "I don't think I should get involved, even if I do want her." This annoyed Draco immensely, as he was quite accustomed to getting his way.

"Everyone has their price, so why don't you just make things easy and name yours." Draco said cutting straight to the point, his patience having long since fled.

"I cannot be bought..."

"Fifty thousand galleons, should do it, don't you think?" asked Draco, his trademark smirk plastered onto his smug face.

"Fifty thousand galleons!" exclaimed Daegus unbelievingly.

"Fifty thousand galleons. But you don't get it until after I'm rid of her." Daegus silently went over his options before extending his hand to Draco.

"Deal?'

"Deal," confirmed Draco happily. They exited the abandoned classroom and went their separate ways. Neither had spoken since.

"This is bloody well brilliant!" he shouted, as he snapped out of his thoughts. Artemis jumped at his unexpected outburst. She quickly looked away from him, returning to her books. Draco couldn't believe he had forgotten about their deal. Since Daegus had never mentioned it again, Draco had assumed the boy had chickened out. Apparently he was wrong. As Draco calmed down, he felt a wave of relief, wash over him. He wasn't necessarily glad that there may still be a way out of the marriage, rather he was exstatic that Daegus didn't really love her. This unsettled Draco a great deal. Yet again, he had found himself in the unfamiliar position of being jealous. He had spent many weeks after the Yule Ball, trying to convince himself that he wasn't really jealous of Artemis and Daegus' relationship, but he had eventually, given up and just accepted it. Though he swore never to actually admit it out loud.

Now, Draco had another problem, all together. His new dilemma, centered around the fact that he didn't want her to want anyone other than himself, and he sure as hell, didn't want her to find out that he had paid Daegus to trick her. No, he didn't see that going over well. Then it occurred it him, that maybe Daegus wasn't tricking her. Maybe he fully intended on running away with her. "Fuck," Draco swore under his breath. Things just kept getting more and more complicated. After going over every solution he could think of, it's possible outcomes and the consequences that went along with it, Draco concluded that he only had one viable option. He, Draco Malfoy, would simple have to make Artemis want to stay with him.

Suddenly, he began to panic, he had never had to make a girl like him, before. They always just ...did. And Draco didn't even know how to go about wooing her. So he spent the next three hours trying to come up with some sort of plan of attack. At the end of that three hours, Draco's parchment was blank, save for a few drawings he had made off to the side. His frustration getting the best of him, he balled up the paper and chucked it at the wall, growling low in his throat. Glancing over his shoulder, he looked at Artemis sitting at her desk. Without thinking, he rose and quietly walked over to her.

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As Artemis was finishing up her closing paragraph of her Potions essay, she noticed a slight shadow being cast on her parchment. Looking up, she came face to face with her fiancé.

"Can we talk?" he asked softly.

"I'm kind of busy at the moment." Artemis returned to writing her essay, ignoring the boy standing next to her.

"Please?" he whispered, "it's kind of important." Artemis sighed loudly, dropping her quill and looking up at Draco expectantly.

"Can we maybe sit on the couch or somewhere other than here?" Draco asked, motioning towards the sitting area. She rose and went over to the couch, sitting as far to the right as possible. Draco sat at the other end, allowing her the space that she seemed eager to keep between them. Neither spoke or looked at one another. After a few moments of awkward silence, Draco blurted out, "I was jealous". Well so much for not mentioning it out loud, he thought angrily.

"What?" she asked, unsure if she had heard correctly.

"Please... don't make me say it again." Draco leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "When you left our table to go dance with DeMarco, it made me mad. You didn't even say anything to me, you just up and left. I wanted to get back at you, so I went off with Pansy."

"Are you saying that it was my fault?' she asked, her temper being to show.

"No!" he exclaimed, sensing that things were heading downhill. "Look I know I screwed up. I just... didn't know how to handle being jealous, it's not something I have much experience with." Draco waited for her to say something, anything, but she remained silent. "I really am sorry. I just wanted you to know that." Draco stood and began to make his way back to his desk.

"Wait!" she shouted. Draco quickly turned to face her. After a minute or so, of staring at each other without speaking, she continued, "I should have told you beforehand, that I had promised Daegus I would dance with him. But that doesn't mean you should have handled it the way you did"

"I know" Draco replied, quickly rushing over to the couch and sitting next to Artemis. " and I wish I had handled it differently. We had such a good time at The Ball and I curse myself every day, because I know that if I hadn't screwed up so bad, we could've had the entire school year together." Draco slowly reached over and took her hand in his, light running his thumb over her soft skin. "I just want you to know how sorry I am, and how grateful I am that you didn't let them ban me."

"Don't mention it," she said softly, smiling weakly at it.

"I want to make this work. I want things to be good between us." Draco said sweetly. Artemis stood abruptly and began to pace around the room.

"You can't just apologize and expect everything to be ok!"

"I don't" exclaimed Draco, "I know it'll take time and it'll probably be hard at first, but at this point, there's no way out of this marriage. Shouldn't we at least give it a shot? What do we have to lose?" Artemis stopped pacing and looked at him. She couldn't figure out why, all of a sudden, he was so determined to make things right. She stared at him, searching his eyes for any sign of insincerity. Surprisingly, she found none. "Look I know you don't want me, but maybe, in time, you could. We could have passion, love, and who knows, maybe I'll even be able to make your stomach do a somersault or two." Artemis' heart began to race, as he recited her own words, her own desires, back to her.

"I'm willing to try" she said, barely above a whisper.

"Good." Draco felt as if a thousand-pound weight had been lifted off his shoulder. For the first time in months, he felt that things were looking up. All he had to do was run interference between Daegus and Artemis until the end of term. Once Daegus graduated, it would be smooth sailing, he was sure of it.

The pair spent the last couple of hours getting to know each other and what they both hoped to get out of their tentative marriage.

"Have you thought about what you want to pursue after graduation?" asked Artemis as she slowly stirred her tea.

"Yeah, I'm going to take over the advertising department of my father's enterprise"

"Now is this what you want to do or is it what your Father, want's you to do?"

"Both. Actually, I'm really looking forward to it. During the summer he always let me help out and I fell in love with the job. I've been told, I could sell a wand to a wand-maker, without even trying." Draco winked at her playfully. "Would I be correct to assume that you have no intentions of just, popping out a kid and staying at home all day?"

"Yes, that would be correct! I was actually planning on starting my own fashion line. Maybe open up a couple of dress shops. I'd like to modernize our attire some. Make it a little more fashionable and more flattering."

"Are you any good?"

"Well, I don't know. I did design my Yule Ball gown. I didn't actually make it, but the sketches and ideas are mine." Artemis replied modestly.

'Enough said, that dress was something else. You know, you should probably talk to my father about this, he's always looking to expand."

"Really?" she asked skeptically. "I wouldn't really associate the Malfoy family with a fashion house."

"I wouldn't either, well not one of the current Malfoy's anyway, but thing's change." Draco smirked at her, hoping she got the hint. She did, loud and clear. As their time together progressed, the two grew more and more comfortable with each other. Artemis sat on the couch, Draco next to her, his arm draped over her shoulder, her head resting on his arm.

"It look's like our time is up," whispered Artemis as she began to rise.

"That was quick." Draco too rose, following her to her desk. "Do we have to wait until next months meeting, to talk again?"

No, I don't see why we can't get together more often." Artemis couldn't help but smile at the prospect of spending more time with Draco.

"Good," exhaled the nervous young man. As they were exiting the Room of Requirement, Draco lightly grabbed a hold of Artemis' arm, pulling her against him softly. He leaned down and kissed her on the cheek, before making his exit. He left a very dazed, Artemis, leaning against the now closed door, for support.

"Somersaults... those were definitely somersaults." She whispered before quickly making her way to the Ravenclaw dorms, in search of Cosette. She had loads to tell her.