A/N: We start school in the morning. Joy. But I am updating for you all, because I love you so! And I was threatened by friends. I would like to give a shout out to them; yes, you know who you are! Also, one to Ketta dragontamer. Yes, I agree; D + D FOREVER! That'd be an interesting tale, but we shall save it for another day. Thanks once again to everyone who has supported me thus far!

Chapter 13: Holiday Perpetrations

Most of November flew by like a breeze, the main source of entertainment coming in the form of Death Dare, which had become and infectious disease spreading throughout the student body. By this point, most of the students had received detention for some outlandish stunt, while those who hadn't were cowering in fear of the glowing letters.

It was late one Saturday morning, and Artimis was sitting on one of the couches in the Slytherin common room, reading a book. Badr was perched on the back of the sofa, cooing every now and then while she was petted by her owner. A few moments later, the silence was shattered as an extremely pissed off Draco entering, muttering a variety of curses under his breath. Artimis didn't notice it too much at first until Badr flapped her wings and gave a hoot, causing her to look up.

"Draco, you sound like a sailor; what's wrong?"

Pausing in his ranting, he looked at her as if he just noticed she was there. Breathing outwards, he turned to look at her. "My mother juts owled me."

"And that's a bad thing?"

"They want me to bring my girlfriend home for Christmas holiday."

"So what's the problem?"

"I don't have one."

Artimis glanced up from her book. "Yah, that could be a problem." Running a hand through his hair, sighing. "Look, Crawford, I need a favor."

"Really now? Depends; what's the favor?"

"I need you to come home with me and pretend to be my girlfriend so that my mother doesn't marry me off at the ripe old age of sixteen."

She thought for a moment before responding. "Beg."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me; if you want my help, you need to beg."

"A Malfoy does not beg."

"Well then, you're just going to have to invite Parkinson, aren't you?" Shutting her book, Artimis headed back up to the dormitory before someone said something. "Artimis, I am on my hands and knees begging you; now, will you go?" Turning around, she saw that Draco was on the ground, his hands in a praying position. She smiled, setting her book down on an end table.

"Aww, Drakie-poo, I thought you'd never ask!" she cooed with a sugary voice, sliding down the banister to let him catch her. Once he did, Artimis nuzzled into his neck, restraining all the laughter she could. "Mm, he smells nice. ARGH! Bad, bad, BAD THOUGHTS!" Just as she landed in his arms, some students began to enter the common room, several of which were heard to ask, "Are they a couple?"

Ignoring them, Artimis pulled away from Draco, who had the slightest pink tinge to his cheeks and didn't meet her eyes. "What, no thank you, Draco? Are you that insensitive?" His smirk was placed back on his face. "Well then, thank you then, Darling. Now, I do believe that we need to work on a back story for this, don't you?"

"Yah, that might be a good idea; it never fails to have forgotten something, eh?" Sending her own signature smirk towards her 'boyfriend,' Artimis sat down on the sofa, motioning for Draco to join her as they began to figure things out for their little charade.

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Outside, a few of our favorite Gryffindors were also conversing about the upcoming break. The leaves were pretty much littering the ground as the five sat around laughing.

"So," Sri said, "what's everyone doing over the holidays? Let's start with you Weasley."

"Eh, I'm going with Mum and Dad to visit Charlie in Romania. What about you, Allester?"

"Hermione and I are going to France and Russia with our folks."

"Well, that'll be... erm, fun?"

"God I'd hope so. Besides, we might pick up some good-looking blokes, right?" Sri said while nudging Hermione in the side. Hermione rolled her eyes while mumbling something about being taken.

"So, what about you two," Hermione asked Harry and Maggie. "I'm staying here," they both said at the same time, looking at each other.

"So," Sri began, "It'll just be the two of you. In the dormitory. Alone. For three weeks. Remind me not to sit anywhere when we get back from holiday, 'Mione." Ron stifled a laugh while Maggie and Harry turned pink, trying to convince the others that they didn't do anything. Yet.

Suddenly, Maggie saw a pile of leaves and poked Sri in the shoulder, pointing it out to her. Grinning wickedly, the two got up and ran across the grass towards it, diving in while shrieking. When the others came over to see what was wrong, they burst up from the pile, throwing leaves at them and dragging them in to join their battle.

-------------------------------------------

"Alright, now that we've got our back story completed, there's only one more thing left to do," Artimis stated while coming back out of the girls' dormitory.

"And what would that be," Draco questioned from his seat on the couch.

"Pierce your ear."

"What?"

"Hay, I think you'd look good with a piercing; completes the while bad boy look you've got going. All you need is some leather and metal and a bike, then you're set! Now, hold this ice on your ear while I heat the needle."

"And mar my perfect skin! I'll pass, thanks."

"Aww, come on, Drakie! You'll look really sexy!"

"Is it possible for me to be sexier, Crawford?

"Ugh, you and your ego are probably bigger than your-"

"Wait, what's going on here?"

Turning to face the door, the two saw Devin looking at them from under his hair, the rest of Artimis's group plopping seats on the furniture to watch the 'fight.' "So, what's going on?" Devin asked again.

"Draco's afraid of getting his ear pierced. He thinks it'll look tacky."

"I do not handle well with any kind of torture that comes from you!"

"Wait, Malfoy is afraid of getting one measly piercing?"

"Yup."

"Boy-o, allow me to show you something." Devin walked over so he stood in front of the blonde boy, brushing his hair from his face. Ladies, if you thought Devin was sexy before, when you can actually see his face, I believe the term god-like comes to mind. However, that's escaping the point trying to be made.

In his left ear, there were three studs in his earlobe, and two in his cartilage. The other ear was basically a mass of silver studs and small hoops, and Artimis wanted a magnet really badly at the moment. He also had an eyebrow piercing on the left side of his face, a nose ring, and a stud just below his lower lip.

"Now, trust me, Malfoy, it does not hurt."

"I don't believe you."

"Fine, need more proof?" Artimis nodded dumbly along with several other girls while she held ice to Draco's ear, who was also in a sort of shock, though not for the same reasons. "Fine," Devin said, removing his sweatshirt, followed by his My Chemical Romance T-shirt. Not only did he have an incredibly sexy body, but when he turned around, he had a large black heartagram in the middle of his back with purple filling in the gaps. Around that were several scenes; some were of a darker theme, while others were more light-hearted. Anila's jaw was on the floor for lack of trying, the rest of the girls still drooling over the shape of his body.

"You see, Malfoy, one little piercing is no big deal; you barely feel anything."

"Well, your nerves must have been shattered from all of that. Besides, I am ve- AHHHH!" When Draco wasn't paying attention, Artimis had broken her stare and stabbed the needle through his ear into a piece of cork, causing the poor boy to scream like a little girl. Not only that, but he jumped up and began to run around the common room with the needle still in his ear.

Sighing, Artimis turned to Devin. "Stop him would ya darlin'? And please, leave your shirt off for a while?"

Rolling his eyes, Devin grabbed Draco's arm when he came back around, throwing him into the chair. "Thank you," Artimis smiled at the Irish boy. "Now, let me take that needle out and replace it with an earring, alright? You look stupider than usual."

"I do not look stupid! That hurt!"

"Oh please, if your ear could feel anything at the moment, you'd feel my fingers squeezing your earlobe." Picking up a ruby stud, Artimis pulled the cork off the back of the needle and removed both, replacing it with the earring. "Here we are now, take a look at yourself!" Holding up a mirror to Draco, he looked and saw the glittering red gem on his right ear. "Hay, it doesn't look half-bad after all." Artimis smiled triumphantly.

"You see? It's not that bad, now is it? Like I said, you need a piercing if I'm going to assist you!"

Rolling his eyes, Draco pulled her into his lap, creating a small, but high-pitched, yelp to come from the American's throat. "I did not need anything for you to assist me other than you, Crawford," he growled into her ear. "Now, we're leaving in the morning, so I suggest you finish packing your bags before I do it for you."

Rolling her eyes, Artimis stood up, heading up towards the girls' dorm for the evening, but not before turning around and winking at him. "Love you too, Draco!" she said loud enough for all the Slytherins to hear.

A brief silence followed her shutting of the door. "Well then," Àine said, "who's up for some Exploding Snap?"

A/N: cackles This is my last update before school, and I'm pushing my time at the moment for this, so feel loved y'all! Reviews will make me update as soon as I can, because I already know what's going to happen! I love you all!

Serenity

XOXO