Apologies and Possible Solutions
Upon arriving at Fowlington Manor, Artemis went straight to her room with out greeting any of the house elves, as she usually did after having been away. Several hours later Perseus arrived at the manor, his wife offering little more than a terse greeting.
" You're home," muttered Persephone without looking up from her book.
"Yes Darling, I am," whispered Perseus nervously, withdrawing a small black box from his pocket. "I saw this on the way home and I though it would look beautiful on you." Perseus handed the box to his wife. Persephone took the box hastily, her eyes lighting up as she withdrew a gorgeous emerald ring that had diamonds surrounding the large green center stone.
"It's gorgeous, Perseus!" exclaimed the lovely witch wrapping her arms around her husbands neck.
"I thought you'd like it!" said Perseus happily, glad his wife was no longer glaring at him.
"Yes dear, I love it, but you should really be apologizing to your daughter," said Persephone, chastising her husband as she continued to stare at her beautiful new ring. With that said, Perseus set off in the direction of his daughter's room. As he approached the large double french doors, the nervousness that had dissipated earlier, returned full force. Ignoring his trepidation, Perseus softly knocked on the door. When no one told him to enter, he quietly opened the doors and was greeted by the sight of his daughter, still clad in her school uniform, sprawled out across her large, four poster bed, asleep. Quietly Perseus approached the bed, sitting down next to his sleeping daughter, careful not to wake her.
Several minutes passed, while Perseus watched his child sleep, unable to feel anything but proud of the woman she was becoming. Slowly the young woman began to stir, her eyes narrowing in anger at the sight of her father.
"How are you feeling, Love?" questioned Perseus, softly patting her hand that was lying on the comforter. Artemis jerked her hand away, quickly sitting up and scooting as far away from her father as possible.
"Fine," she muttered, clearly unhappy about her Father's presence in her room.
"Artemis, I know you've had a rough day," Artemis scoffed loudly, unable to believe he was trying to pretend that he understood how she felt. "Please try to forgive my behavior earlier today. You are, and always will be, the most important person in my life. I know that things have been, at best, stressed between us. But I'm sure that things will be back to normal as soon as all of this blow's over."
"All of this blow's over!" exclaimed Artemis loudly, "this isn't going to blow over. You've bound me to some pathetic little boy, for the rest of my life!"
"Calm down, Dear. We've been through this before. Several times in fact. Let's not start it all again." Artemis huffed loudly, flopping down in her reading chair that was situated all the way on the other side of the room. Perseus walked over to her, kneeling in front of his disgruntled young daughter.
"What did Draco do to get you so upset? Things were going so well last time we saw you two?" Artemis muttered something unintelligible under her breath, drawing her knees up into the chair.
"What was that?" asked Perseus, unsure of what she had said.
"I don't want to talk about," she whispered, her cheeks coloring slightly.
"You know your mother and I will just keep asking you until you tell us," warned her Father, smiling at her marked embarrassment, though he didn't know what it was that made her blush.
"Will you please just leave it alone? Just let Draco and me work this out on our own," pouted Artemis. Truth be told, she just didn't want to tell her parents what had happened. She was really embarrassed that the only reason Daegus had wanted anything to do with her was because Draco had offered to pay him.
"Alright Artemis, I'll let you kids work this out. I just want you to know how sorry I am about upsetting you earlier today." Perseus handed Artemis a medium sized velvet box, smiling at her apologetically. She took the present and opened it, revealing two beautiful diamond and emerald encrusted hair combs. She gasped softly, taken aback by the lovely barrettes.
"They're beautiful Father, Thank you." gushed Artemis, rushing over to the nearest mirror and placing the hair combs into her strawberry blond waves.
"I'm glad you like them," whispered Perseus relieve that the gift had forced her to forget her anger. Perseus made to leave before Artemis' voice interrupted him.
"Oh and Father, Please try to remember that, though the combs are lovely, I cannot be bought." Artemis' words contradicted her actions, as she sat back into her chair, lovingly caressing her new trinkets. Perseus smiled at his daughter, knowing that she was unintentionally lying.
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It was nearly midnight now and Draco still had not arrived at Malfoy Manor, Lucius was beginning to worry. As he sat in the parlor awaiting his son, Lucius couldn't help but ponder what Narcissa had said earlier. She wanted him to 'start being his father'. At first Lucius had written off what she had said, rather shouted, earlier at the train station, but now he couldn't help but see some truth in her words. Just then the doors of Malfoy Manor opened and a depressed looking Draco walked in. Without saying a word, he took a seat in the leather armchair across from his Father, avoiding looking him in the eyes.
"At the beginning of the year, I told Daegus DeMarco that I would pay him fifty thousand galleons, if he could get Artemis to break the marriage contract," Draco blurted out, all in one breath. "She found out and that's why she's mad at me."
"I see," whispered Lucius. Though he was angry at his son's antics, he was proud at how clever a solution he had come up with. "Then why did you even bother pretending to like her?"
"I wasn't pretending. I really do care for her. I had forgotten about the deal with Daegus until last Christmas and when I remembered I did everything I could to stop her from finding out." Lucius listened to his son vent out all of his frustrations before saying anything. He was surprised at how forthcoming and seemingly eager, Draco was to divulge information.
"So now what?" questioned the elder Malfoy.
"I don't know. She won't listen to a word I say," muttered the aggravated young man. Both sat silently, waiting for a possible solution to reveal itself. Lucius was the first to break the silence.
"I don't know how to solve this, per say, but I have an idea," mused Lucius. "In two weeks we will be holding an engagement party for you and Artemis. That will give you an opportunity to speak with her. What you could possibly say to rectify this disaster, is up to you, my boy." Lucius rose, beckoning Draco to do the same. Placing his hand on his son's shoulder, he led Draco to the grand staircase, which led to both the master suite and Draco's room. Lucius bid his son goodnight, before entering his bed chamber, careful not to wake, the now sleeping Narcissa. Draco stood in the hallway, dumbfounded that his father had not yelled at him for his outburst earlier that day.
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Once safely inside of his bed chamber Draco readied himself for bed, before settling into the chair at his writing desk. Draco decided that he would give writing to Artemis, one last try. Unlike the letter's he had written at Hogwarts, this one was very long. He decided that he would explain everything, from start to finish. Draco even told her some of the stupid things he had done, that she didn't know about yet. He also elected to tell her that he had told his Father what he had done. Hoping she would realize just how sorry he would have to have been, in order to willingly tell his Father something like that. The last thing he told Artemis was that the engagement party was going to be in two weeks. Draco practically begged her to sit down and speak with him beforehand. He wasn't sure if it would work but it was worth a try. After sending his eagle owl off with the letter, Draco crawled into bed, hoping that he would wake up and everything would be fixed.
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To say that Artemis was annoyed by the insistent tapping on her window, was an understatement. She groggily rose from her bed, stumbling towards the window. The very familiar eagle burst into the room, landing on her desk. Artemis removed the thick envelope from the birds leg, knowing instantly that she wouldn't be reading it. Once the letter was completely unfastened, Artemis picked up her wand, muttering a simple 'Incendio,' and tossing the letter into the fireplace. After offering the owl a treat, he spread his expansive winds and soared out of the window.
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I JUST WANTED TO SAY THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO REVIEWED THE LAST CHAPTER. IT WAS VERY REASSURING TO HEAR THAT YOU STILL LIKE WHERE THIS IS HEADING. THE NEXT CHAPTER IS ALREADY TYPED UP, I JUST NEED TO PROOF READ IT AND THEN IT WILL BE POSTED. SHOULD BE UP WITHIN 24 HOURS : ) I'M REALLY FOND OF THE NEXT CHAPTER, I DON'T KNOW WHY, BUT IT MAKES ME GIGGLE.
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