Disclaimer: I do not, obviously, own any of the characters that you recognize.
Chapter 9
Trials and the Stone
Artemis was waiting in the Hogsmeade station for the Hogwarts Express to take him back to London, where Butler would be waiting for him in the King's Cross. They were to go to Tara by means of a plane. His thoughts were drifting back to the job he had to do back in the non-magical world, where he was determined to discover the People. He had already asked Butler to post ads on the Internet saying "Irish businessman will pay large amount of US dollars to meet a fairy, sprite, leprechaun or pixie" and to inform him about the responses. Butler had told him that all of their responses till now were only fraudulent.
All of the Slytherins were going back home to celebrate Christmas. Artemis was going too, but Christmas wasn't something he celebrated, but rather, he considered the celebration to be a considerable waste of time, for it could be used to do many more useful things. But he didn't hate it altogether, for deep in his heart, he didn't want to become another Scrooge, his father coming and telling him to do penance… his father… no, his father wasn't dead yet. He wasn't going to give up, not so early.
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Artemis arrived home at nearly ten in the night. Butler had told him that they someone had answered their web ad in Cairo. Artemis had decided that he would visit the place the next day, as Butler had confirmed that this was not a fraudulent call, and a visit may be well worth it.
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Two days later, Artemis was surfing the net trying to gather as much more information about the People as possible. The venture to Cairo had turned out to be futile, as the call was fraudulent. Of course, the caller had hoped for making a fortune by cheating him. The man had paid for his mistake with his life. He never knew who he had been dealing with. This was Artemis Fowl, and he wouldn't allow his name to be forgotten so easily.
Possibly, Artemis knew by now more about the People than any human alive knew. Only time would tell when it would be ripe to exploit them.
Artemis was very interested in how the famous Harry Potter had managed to defeat the wizard feared above all others, the wizard alleged to have been the greatest of all, the wizard who was supposed to have gone beyond any other wizard towards the path to immortality. How Lord Voldemort had gone towards the path to immortality was something Artemis had to figure out yet. Of course, he being who he was, it should not take a very long time…
Artemis had gone to Diagon Alley to buy some books related to the biography of Harry Potter. He was amazed to find out that Harry Potter had been involved in solving one major mystery or the other in each one of his seven years at school.
In his first year, he had saved the Sorcerer's Stone, a magical substance about which the biography gave no reference. Only that it was important that the stone not get into the wrong hands, and that Lord Voldemort had possessed the body of one Professor Quirrell, who had been teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts at that time, and he had tried to steal it. Harry Potter had thwarted him.
Then, in the next year, Harry Potter had entered the very Chamber of Secrets, a legendary chamber built in Hogwarts by Salazar Slytherin himself (now that was something interesting), and had hidden it from the other founders. Tom Riddle (which was Voldemort's school name) had possessed Ginny Weasley, a student in her first year, and taken her into the Chamber herself. Though the book didn't mention anything about what happened inside the Chamber, it mentioned that Ron Weasley, a friend of Harry Potter's, and the pet phoenix of the then Headmaster Albus Dumbledore had helped. Harry Potter was supposed to be the first Parselmouth after Lord Voldemort himself, who had opened the Chamber of Secrets both in 1942 and in 1992, during Harry Potter's second year at Hogwarts.
In the third year, he had supposedly performed the Patronus Charm, which even many Aurors had failed to do, and saved the innocent life of his godfather from the Dementors, who were the guardians of the prison in Azkaban.
In the next year, he had participated in the Triwizard Tournament, which had involved three dangerous and difficult tasks, and emerged the winner. It was also the year when Voldemort had been reborn by means of Dark Magic, and Harry Potter had 'bravely fought and defied the Dark Lord'. The death of a fellow Triwizard Tournament competitor and schoolmate Cedric Diggory was also mentioned.
In his fifth year, he had voiced against the Ministry that Voldemort was back, which the then Minister and Ministry officials had refused to believe. He had later fought Voldemort himself, who had personally made an appearance in the Ministry, and Albus Dumbledore had also dueled with Voldemort.
The next year, Harry Potter had learnt the secrets that Voldemort had hidden from even his Death Eaters, about his ways to become immortal. It was rumored that Professor Dumbledore had himself educated the boy on the matters, and he had been killed by a fellow teacher, Professor Severus Snape. But the man had ensured that his knowledge of how to defeat Voldemort had reached the young boy who was 'the only one who could defeat the Dark Lord', for Albus Dumbledore was supposed to be the only one who Voldemort had feared.
But his fear had proved wrong as the Headmaster was dead, but Harry Potter got him in his final year, or what was supposed to be, though he hadn't gone to school. He had at last defeated the wizard who was the cause for terror among the wizard folk, and at last fulfilled the prophecy about him years and years ago, after eliminating Voldemort's efforts in becoming immortal.
The book ended by saying that Harry Potter was now living in his own house happily with his wife Ginny Weasley and a son, by the name of James, near the Godric's Hollow.
Reading this book only made Artemis more curious. Voldemort had made himself immortal. There was a powerful stone called the Sorcerer's Stone. The Chamber of Secrets was not just a legend, but true and only a Parselmouth could enter the Chamber. There was a Charm called the Patronus Charm, beyond normal wizarding level. He had so much to learn.
ooooooo
After returning to Hogwarts, Artemis's thoughts were all about his new research on the subjects he didn't know. At breakfast one morning, after convincing himself that he would ask Professors McGonagall and Flitwick about them, he felt bored that he had nothing else to do. It was then that he noticed Jack and Steve playing wizard's chess. At least he could watch their game.
As soon as Artemis joined them, he saw that Steve was easily beating Jack. However, as the game ended, Steve asked, "Care for a game, Fowl?" which was taunting, as if Artemis Fowl couldn't beat him in a game of chess.
Artemis accepted the challenge and the game began. Steve thought he was too good and asked Artemis to move first. Artemis smiled a genuine smile; maybe that boy didn't know Artemis very well, after all.
(Not at all interested in chess? Then leave this paragraph and move on to the next…)
Artemis started with 1. e4, to which he replied with 1. …e5. Artemis proceeded with 2. Nf3, to which Steve replied 2. …d6. Though he knew 3. d4 was the best move, he proceeded to attack with 3. Bc4. Artemis was stunned when Steve replied with 3. …h6. It was a bad move, and unless he played considerably well, he couldn't compensate with White's excellent advantage. Artemis went on to play 4. Nc3, to which Steve's reply was 4. …Bg4, which was pointless at this stage of the game. Taking his advantage, Artemis played 5. Nxe5. Steve made the mistake Artemis had thought he would – he captured his queen by playing 5. …Bxd1. That was all he needed, though even without it, Artemis would have been at quite an advantage. Artemis knew the game was over now, and continued with 6. Bxf7 (check), and Steve calmly played 6. …Ke2, perhaps not realizing what was happening. Artemis played 7. Ne5# (mate), and got up from his chair and left for the common room leaving behind a bewildered Steve, who had not expected this. The grin from his face faded and Artemis vaguely heard him swearing under his breath about never playing chess with Artemis again.
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Before a week of the new term was over, the Slytherin Quidditch captain Andrew Kirke had informed Artemis about the Quidditch trials on Saturday morning. Today being the day, Artemis woke up with a determined smile etched on his lips. He would prove at last, what it meant to be the heir of Fingal the Fearless.
Artemis was to use a school broom for the trials, and if he had selected, he would get a new broom for himself. The present Seeker wasn't good enough and the Kirke had seemed only too happy that he would get a new Seeker.
After finishing Breakfast and all, he went to the pitch at eleven, precisely when he had been asked to be. There were also four more students wanting to get the Seeker position, the Burke girl being one of them. There were seven for Chaser trials, excluding the team's present members. But Kirke had said that they only needed one able Chaser, and reserves. Kirke was a Chaser himself and the Keeper was the most perfect one they'd had in years. So that left the need for a good Seeker, and who knew, Slytherin might as well win their first Quidditch cup after over a decade's gap.
Those who attempted for the Chaser position all tried to score against Simon Sauvell, their Keeper, and barely did anyone manage to score one or two goals. The Keeper was quite skilled; Artemis had to agree with that. But one girl named Kate Prinster, a third-year student, managed to score four goals and got the vacant Chaser position. Two others who had managed to score three each were to be the reserve Chasers.
When it finally came to Seeker trials, Kirke called all the five of them near him and explained to them that they had to catch the golden snitch and that the person who caught in the fastest time would be assigned the Seeker position, if they managed to catch it within four minutes and seven seconds, which was the current Seeker's record. And if two or more of them managed to make it within the time, the first would become Seeker and the other the reserve.
A girl by the name of Sylvia Kettlestone, a first year too, went for it first; she caught it in only fifty-seven seconds, to general amusement. When she landed back on the ground, she smirked at Artemis as if daring him to beat her. Artemis irritated her by remaining impassive and watching the next one to try.
The second one, a fourth-year barely made it before four minutes and the third one nearly lost the snitch until after everyone started looking at it and they found it out after over twenty minutes' strain.
The third, another hopeful first-year, managed to catch the snitch in two minutes and thirty-two seconds. Of course, everyone managed to catch it in this speed only because they managed to catch a glance of the snitch at the moment of release and kept their eyes on it until catching it.
Now was Artemis's turn. He felt nearly as excited as he had felt on his trip to Cairo. The moment Kirke released the snitch, he soared into the air kicking life into his broom. Out of pure determination, he flew at such a great speed on the old broom that it would have shamed an international Quidditch player. Even before the snitch had managed to open its wings wide to relish its freedom in the air, one of his hands firmly grasped it and he turned around quickly to see amazed expression in their faces. Burke was simply blinking rapidly, unable to process what had just happened. Kirke managed to bring his two hands into a clap and others followed. As Artemis landed, he heard Kirke whispering 'seventeen seconds, my god, that must be a school record'.
After a few minutes, Artemis found himself walking back to the common room along with his teammates. Kirke, Kate and Melinda Boggleworth were the Chasers. He was the Seeker. Simon Sauvell was their Keeper. The Beaters were Mike Rapier and Kim Conley. Since they were already a very good pair and good Beaters, similar to Keeper, no trials for Beaters had been organized. A few Gryffindors and fewer Hufflepuffs had come to watch their trials, who were just flabbergasted to see the performance of the team on the very trials. Now that he was on the team, he had a bundle of strategies to use in their games to ensure their first Quidditch Cup in decades.
ooooooo
It was not until the second week of February that Slytherin's first Quidditch match was to ensue after the Quidditch match of the season between Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. In fact, the Slytherins were anticipating the match with Gryffindor very much because this time, the Slytherins had their best team after a long time, and also because it had been nearly half a dozen years since Slytherin had managed to defeat Gryffindor. Slytherin was hanging behind in both the House Cup and the Quidditch Cup. Many older students complained that it was because of their Head of House. They said that their seniors had informed them that Slytherin was always in the lead when Professor Snape had been their Head of House. But with Professor Slughorn, the Slytherin house was losing its earlier reputation. Artemis couldn't stand being in a house that always lost. He could not, of course, change his house and he also wasn't a coward to try doing that. So Artemis Fowl vowed to see to it that both the House Cup and the Quidditch Cup were in possession of Slytherin at the end of the year.
The days passed on. Students started panicking that they were unable to finish the homework given by the teachers. Artemis first felt that they were just being silly incompetent fools. But he later realized that he could not go expecting every one of his classmates to be a genius like him.
One day at the end of Potions, he decided to ask Professor Slughorn a question that had intrigued him ever since his return to Hogwarts. After all the class left, he went up to him and asked the expectant Professor, "Professor, I wondered what you could tell me about the Sorcerer's Stone?"
He looked a bit taken aback. The Stone wasn't possibly something that was common knowledge to eleven-year-olds. This only made it much more interesting.
The Professor answered, "Well, Artemis, I don't know if I can tell you anything about it, but be sure to know that this was something between Professor Dumbledore and Nicolas Flamel."
He'd heard the name 'Nicolas Flamel'. In the time that would take for a flash of lightning to occur, Artemis remembered exactly where he'd heard it, more precisely, where he'd read it.
Well, then the Stone was a work in alchemy. He could find out more from books. He didn't need much help from Slughorn anymore.
Artemis replied, "No problem, Professor. I only wondered how a mere stone could be valuable enough to be mentioned in books –"
"A mere stone? Boy, this is the Sorcerer's Stone we're talking about. It can turn anything into gold and provide eternal life through the Elixir of Life that it secretes –"
Slughorn suddenly stopped. It was a bit too late before he realized that he had spilled some of his beans into this boy and it was not possible to retake it. He had just shot an arrow, and there was no taking it back. Artemis remained as impassive as ever, silently gleeful in his mind that his Professor had been craftily used to drain information, though it was he himself who managed to do it. (Not a big deal, though!)
"Forget whatever I told you, boy. Now move on to your next class, Minerva will be angry, I'm sure –"
Before he could continue, Artemis smiled and turned to leave the dungeons to McGonagall's class, and the smile gave the man a shiver through his spine that so many people were very well acquainted with.
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A/N: I hope this wasn't another boring chapter; I've planned to take this on in four more stories – each signifying Artemis's each year at Hogwarts. Of course, this one isn't over yet, but I can only tell you that the more interesting part is yet to come…