How Much?
"Draco Malfoy, you insufferable prat!" shouted Artemis, her normally crystal blue eyes nearly black with anger. "Why couldn't you just shut up and brew your potion! Now, I have to spend my evening cleaning cauldrons, with the likes of you!"
"I fail to see how this is my fault. No one told you to whisper back to me. As far as I'm concerned, you brought this on yourself!"
"No I didn't! I whispered for you to shut the hell up!"
"But you were still talking!"
"You are a foul, loathsome creature and I hope you…" Without warning, his lips were on hers, his hand fisted into her thick hair, holding her in place. Draco's lips were warm and demanding. He wasn't gentle with her, but she felt his anger dissipate, as their kiss deepened.
Artemis broke the kiss and shifted until she was straddling his lap, her knees on either side of his thighs, and her chest pressed firmly against his. Draco's tongue delved into the warm recess of her mouth, causing her to moan softly as he licked the roof of her mouth, stroked her tongue with his own. The necessity of breathe, forcing them to break apart.
"Draco…" she whispered, barely loud enough to be heard. Draco pressed his lips against hers hungrily, gripping her hips and pulling her tightly against him, no space between their warm bodies. Artemis gasped against his mouth as he lifted her, positioning her on the nearest desk. Draco's deft hands quickly removed his uniform, before discarding hers in the same rushed fashion. Both of the lover's losing what little control they had left, as their hot, bare skin touched.
"Draco!..."
"Draco!..."
"Damn it, Draco!" shouted a thoroughly agitated Blaise. Draco jumped slightly at the sound of his name being called.
"Wha…" the groggy young man grumbled.
"You overslept, it's nearly two o'clock. You've got to start your prefect duty." Blaise picked up a pillow and beat Draco with it, trying to effectively stir the young man.
"You ass, I was just getting to the good part" Draco was not the type to whine but felt that this occasion warranted such behavior. However, his words were useless, as Blaise had already left the room. Draco got out of bed and hurried toward the lavatory, not only was he late for prefect duty, but now he had a little problem that had to be addressed beforehand.
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After finishing his shower, Draco arrived in the Great Hall, where the prefects and Head Boy and Girl met before they began their duties. As he entered the hall, everyone turned and looked at him, smiles firmly in place, which unsettled the tardy young man.
"Nice of you to join us, Malfoy. Next time, I'll be sure to schedule our duties around your schedule." Daegus DeMarco, was apparently in a less than pleasant mood that morning.
"Don't be so cruel, Daegus. The poor guy's been through enough as it is, thanks to you," spat the Head Girl, as she smiled at him pitifully. Draco felt someone's arm snake around his waist, causing him to turn to see who it was. Pansy Parkinson, Slytherin prefect, stood at his side, a smirk gracing her less than appealing features.
"I told you I'd handle your little problem," she whispered.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Everyone present seemed determined to avoid looking him in the eyes, especially Daegus. "What's going on?"
"You mean, you don't know. You haven't seen the paper?" asked Pansy disbelievingly.
"No, I just got up." The Hufflepuff prefect, Draco wasn't sure what his name was, handed him the Daily Prophet. Realization dawned on the formerly clueless, young man. They were talking about the article and photos in the Daily Prophet, that his father had warned him about, the previous night. Recalling his father's words, he pretended that he didn't know what was going on. He flipped through the pages quickly, staring at the photos in mock disbelief. Everyone watched him sympathetically. Draco then read the article. He hadn't read it last night and was floored at how malicious Rita Skeeter was. She really laid into Artemis, even going so far as calling her the Hogwarts Harlot. When he finished reading the article, he glanced around at his fellow prefects, all of whom were waiting for him to lash out.
"I can assure you that my fiancé has been nothing but faithful to the sanctity of our impending union. I can also assure you that Artemis has not let, even one kiss, go astray. These photos are old and mean nothing." Draco roughly shoved the paper into Pansy's hands before continuing, "This article is some pathetic twits last ditch effort to try to take back what was never hers to begin with." Draco slowly walked toward the Head Boy and whispered, so no one else could here, "She is mine and you would do well to remember that." He then turned and stalked towards the door.
"Jealous? Afraid of a little competition?" questioned Daegus arrogantly.
"No. I just don't like other people touching what belongs to me."
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"Artemis please come out of the lavatory. No one is going to believe this rubbish," exclaimed Cosette sitting by the lavatory door, as she had been doing for the last three and half hours.
"Yes, they will! Did you see the photos, how could they not!" Just as Artemis finished her sentence, Draco came barreling down the corridor.
"Is she in there?" he asked angrily.
"Umm… Are you mad?" asked Cosette timidly.
"Yes, but not at Artemis."
"Then yes, she's in there, she won't come out, and she won't let anyone in. I've been trying for almost four hours now."
"Artemis, it's me. Let me in." Draco demanded calmly through the door. The door opened slightly and Draco entered, shutting and warding it behind him. Cosette mumbled, something along the lines of, 'stupid ungrateful prat,' before storming back to the Ravenclaw dorms.
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"You all right?" Draco asked as he approached Artemis, who was sitting on the cold tile floor of the girls lavatory.
"Let's see, I've just had my virtue shredded to pieces by that cow at the Daily Prophet, everyone is whispering about it behind my back and instead of being there to support me, my boyfriend decided to sleep in. No, I would say I am definitely not all right!" Artemis was furious. When Blaise told her that Draco was still asleep, she could have throttled him. Lucius had told him that they needed to work together to make it look like the Daily Prophet was lying, but Draco couldn't even do that.
"It's not like I meant to oversleep. I was up kind of late." Draco felt guilty, he hadn't meant to leave her to fend for herself, but he deserved that party last night and he wasn't about to apologize for enjoying it.
"Well since you didn't mean to do it, that makes it all right." Draco was shocked, he had never heard such blatant sarcasm from his fiancé before. Deciding that she probably had been through hell this morning, he approached her as she stood by a window, staring out at the grounds. He wrapped his arms around her, nuzzling her ear as he positioned his face next to hers.
"I'm sorry I wasn't there… but I'm here now, and everything will be ok." Artemis scoffed at Draco's naïve, albeit sweetly spoken words. The two stood at the window, embracing one another for what seemed like forever, until Draco silently pulled her towards the door and lead her back to her dormitory.
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It was rather shocking for Artemis to admit, but Draco had been right. For the most part, everyone felt that Rita Skeeter's column was rubbish. The only exception being the majority of the Slytherin house. Pansy Parkinson, Draco's former girlfriend, had been livid to find out that her latest effort at ending his and Artemis' engagement had failed. She was sure that Mr. Malfoy would have called things off once he saw the photos of Daegus and Artemis, but once again, things did not go as she had planned. To make matters worse, when Draco had returned to the Slytherin common room earlier that evening, he had been horrible to her. He was yelling and screaming about how terrible a person she was and how even if he wasn't engaged to Artemis, he still wouldn't want to be with her, leaving her a complete and utter mess. His outburst at Pansy had pretty much forestalled any comments that his fellow house mates would have made.
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"Artemis, why are you avoiding me? It's not like I had anything to do with that article!" shouted Daegus as he tried to catch up with her, the stream of people filling the halls as they headed back to their dorms for the night, impeding his walk way. It had been nearly a 2 weeks since the Daily Prophet had printed the article about Daegus and Artemis, and she had gone to great lengths to avoid being seen with him. Once they turned down the last corridor that led to the Ravenclaw dorms, Daegus was able to grab a hold of her.
"Daegus, I know you didn't have anything to do with that article, but I thinks it's best that we…" Daegus clasped his hand over her mouth, effectively silencing her. He removed his hand once she stilled and led her down a corridor that was hidden behind a tapestry. Artemis didn't have the slightest idea where they were going. After a few minutes of walking in complete silence, the pair came to a portrait of a stately old caretaker.
"Password?" asked the caretaker.
"Libertis." Replied Daegus, the portrait opened to reveal, what Artemis assumed, was the Head's dormitories.
"Wow." She whispered. They rooms were huge and the common room, that the portrait opened up into, was basically a huge library, the walls lined from floor to ceiling with books. The far right and left sides of the rooms had separate staircases that led to the Head Boy and Head Girls bedroom. Daegus dragged Artemis to the stairs leading to his room and shut the door behind him. As he removed his outer robes, he lit the candles, casting a soft glow around the room.
"Artemis, you know I care about you, more than I've ever cared about anyone I've ever met. I know that you'll miss your family if we leave, but we can start our own family." Deagus pleaded as he flopped unceremoniously onto his bed. In that moment, Artemis felt bad for him, he hadn't asked for any of this and she couldn't help but feel guilty.
"Daegus, I know you mean well but it can't happen, our running off. It was really sweet of you to offer but I can't ask you to give up everything you've ever known, just for me."
"You didn't ask me to give anything up, I offered. More than anything, what I'm losing is nothing compared to what I'd be gaining. Especially if that meant I would be able to spend the rest of my life with you." Daegus stood, approaching Artemis, who was standing across the room by his desk. Taking her small hands in his larger ones, he led her to the love seat in his sitting area.
"What do you see in Malfoy anyway?" Daegus asked softly, almost as if he was regretting asking the question as the words poured from his mouth.
"My decision doesn't have anything to do with Draco, or at least not much. I'm not staying because I care for him more than you. I'm staying because I'm not willing to give up everything." Daegus was angered by her words, red blotches appearing on his skin, as his anger rose.
"So then why have you been wasting my time! All year I've been there for you. I've done everything I could to make things easier, and all you can say is 'I'm not willing to give up everything'! Why the hell didn't you tell me this month's ago!" Daegus was now standing, towering over Artemis, as he yelled.
"I did tell you, several times in fact. Every time I mentioned it you told me to keep thinking about it," she whispered, not wanting to anger the already livid young man any further.
"Can't you see how important this is to me. How can you sit there and only think about yourself and what you want!" Daegus began to pace about the room, like a wild animal tired of it's confines. Artemis was beginning to feel uneasy with his behavior, she had never seen him act like this.
"I'm sorry if you think that I'm being selfish, because I'm not. Maybe you don't realize it now, but if we did leave together, you would come to miss your old life, not mention your friends and your family. You'd resent me for taking that away from you and that's a burden that I'm not willing to bear." Artemis slowly stood and made to leave, however Daegus stopped her before she had the chance. He was careful not be rough with her, as he did not wish to scare her.
"Artemis, please just take into consideration the sort of life you'll have if you don't leave with me. You know what kind of people the Malfoy's are."
"Daegus, I have taken it into consideration and I've got a pretty good idea of what my life will be like. And I appreciate that you care so much, but it is my life, not yours." Artemis removed her arm from his grasp and tried to exit, once again Daegus stopped her retreat. This time, he pinned her to door, careful not to manhandle her but still firm enough so that she knew he didn't want her to go anywhere.
"Artemis, let's be realistic, you don't know anything about Malfoy. All he'll ever do is hurt you. I would never hurt you." Daegus eased his grip once he was sure she wouldn't struggle to get away. He gently cupped her face in his hand, lowering his face to rest next to hers, his mouth less than an inch from her ear. "Are you sure you're making the right decision, because once you say those vows, you're stuck?" Though she felt bad that Daegus was so upset by the situation, Artemis was beginning to lose her patience. 'How many times does a girl have to tell him to leave her be, before he'll listen?' she thought.
"Daegus, I appreciate your concern, however, I've made my decision and I would really like you to stop questioning it." Artemis attempted to remove herself from his grasp, only to find that he had no intentions of letting her go. "I suggest you remove your hands from my person, before I do it for you." Artemis spat through gritted teeth. She did not like feeling cornered, and Daegus had put her in a position of feeling as if she was.
"Will you at least let me kiss you? Just once before I graduate and probably never see you again?" Daegus asked, trying very hard not to look as if he was up to something.
"You know I can't kiss anyone, and even if I could kiss you without causing myself excruciating pain, I wouldn't. Incase you have forgotten I am an engaged woman." Artemis said as she held up her left hand, showing Daegus the extremely large diamond engagement ring.
"It's just one kiss. It's hardly even a big deal." Daegus leaned forward, inching his lips towards hers.
"Do you really think I'm dumb enough to fall for this? Daegus, you're being ridiculous. Can't you just bow out and take it like a man, instead of whining about it?" Artemis said as she tried to shove Daegus. However, her efforts were in vain, he was entirely too strong for her to efficiently fight him off. Panic began to set in, causing Artemis to do the only thing she could think of. She quickly raised her knee, that had been conveniently placed between his legs, and landed her mark. Daegus keeled over, grasping himself in pain. Unfortunately he had fallen over right in front of the door, blocking Artemis' exit. Once he regained his bearings, Daegus rose and approached Artemis, a look of absolute hatred plastered on his normally handsome face.
"What the hell was that for?" he growled low in his throat, as he reached the shaken young woman.
"What do you think it was for?" Artemis tried to pass him, to get to the door, but he grabbed her by both of her arms pulling her tight against his frame.
"You're more trouble than you're worth, you know that. Malfoy can have you for all I care." Daegus shoved Artemis away roughly, before crossing the room and heading for his personal lavatory.
"Well if that's the truth, then why in the hell have you been following me around, like some lost little puppy?" Artemis didn't know why, but the sudden change in Daegus' demeanor coupled with his words, really bothered her. It was as if he was insinuating that he had never cared for her.
"Don't flatter yourself sweetheart, Malfoy said he'd pay me if I could get you to break the contract. And even before he offered, I was just looking to get laid. I figured you'd be easy to get in the sack, what with spending your entire life away from guys your age. And seeing as how, I've spent my entire seventh year chasing after your knickers and haven't gotten anywhere, I guess it's safe to say, I was wrong." Daegus then removed his shirt and entered his lavatory. As Artemis stood rooted to her spot on the carpet, listening to the water run in Daegus' shower, she tried to determine whether he had been lying, in order to save face, or if he was telling her the truth. Nearly fifteen minutes passed and Daegus emerged from his shower, shocked to find that Artemis still stood right where he had left her.
"What if I had chosen you?" she asked softly, as he pulled a clean shirt over his head.
"Then I would have taken the money from Draco, played with you a bit and then gone about my business." Daegus' tone was flat, as he sat with his back to Artemis, lacing his shoes. Artemis then stormed out of the Head Boy's room, nearly colliding with the Head Girl on her way out.
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"Blaise, I really don't think Snape will be very happy if we pull this prank. I know it would be the last day of school, but he won't forget about it. We'll be starting our seventh year with detention, for sure," complained Goyle as he tried to talk his friend out of doing, what was sure to be, a very bad prank.
"You underestimate me, Goyle. Like I would ever get caught" Blaise mused, apparently determined to cause trouble. Just as the two were approaching the end of the corridor that led out of the dungeons, they nearly collided with someone, Goyle grabbing onto the small figure so they didn't hit the ground.
"Well, hello there Artemis, or should I say, Mrs. Malfoy," wisped Blaise, after recognizing the young woman. Blaise and Goyle's looks of amusement changed to looks of concern, once they realized that she was crying.
"Where is He?" she asked, trying to appear as composed as possible.
"He's in the common room, last I checked. What's the matter dollface?" asked Blaise, concerned for his new friend.
"How do I get there?"
"I can't tell you that, love. The rest of the house would have my head on a pike, if I did."
"WHERE IS HE?" shouted Artemis, forcefully shoving Blaise against the wall. Blaise stared down at her, eyes wide with shock, before turning and walking back down the corridor he and Goyle had just emerged from. After a few minutes they approached a portrait of a beautiful woman with snakes surrounding her and wrapping themselves around her small frame. "Password?" questioned the portrait.
"Ruthless ambition," whispered Blaise. As the portrait swung open, Artemis barreled past Blaise and Goyle, entering the Slytherin common room. If she hadn't been so angry, she would have been impressed by the lavish décor, but Artemis was too upset to even notice the room.
To say that Draco was shocked to see his fiancé, a Ravenclaw, come stalking into the Slytherin common room, would be an understatement. He was even more unsettled by the fact that she had been crying.
"What's the matter?" questioned Draco, his voice laced with concern, as he stood and approached the young woman coming his way.
"How much?" she spat. Draco didn't understand what she meant, nor did he like the tone she had taken.
"Excuse you?" He replied nastily.
"How much were you paying him?" Suddenly Draco realized just what she was referring to. 'Shit' he thought, 'I was so close'.
"Artemis let me explain…"
"HOW MUCH!" she interrupted, as the tears that she had tried desperately to hold back, began to fall. Draco's heart nearly broke as he stared at the woman, of whom he would spend the rest of his life with, looking so hurt by his actions.
"Fifty thousand galleons," whispered a remorseful Draco, "But that was a long time ago, he never mentioned it again. I didn't think he was actually going to try to do it."
"Save if Malfoy."
"Just let me explain.."
"I'm sick of listening to your half-ass explanations."
"Artemis really, just listen, if you would you'd understand.."
"I'll never understand… why is it every time I start to have a little faith in you, you some how manage to completely disappoint me." Apparently that was a rhetorical question, because Artemis didn't give Draco time to answer, before storming out of the Slytherin common room. Draco rushed to the portrait hole to follow her but Blaise grabbed his arm, preventing him from doing so. Draco jerked his arm away from his solemn faced friend, and again tried to leave, but he was unable to, as the very stocky Goyle stood blocking the exit.
"Just give her some time to cool down," ordered Blaise. Draco nodded in agreement and headed for his dorm.