The Family Name : Year Four

By Elbereth in April

Chapter 7

After a morning of mocking by the Slytherins, Harry met with Fowl, Hermione, and Sirius for a crash course in public relations. Harry was surprised when Fowl gave him the name of Malfoy's contact with the newspaper. "Why would he help me?" Harry demanded incredulously.

Fowl shrugged. "It's a Slytherin honor thing. He doesn't want anyone to think a Slytherin's girlfriend is involved with someone else."

"I don't know, though," Harry said. "Should I really be using my money to—bribe the editors?"

"Just think of it as a weapon—your defense against people like Skeeter, who would deliberately lie about you just to get a story."

Sirius nodded. "He's right. I haven't been thinking. The Black family has contacts, too. Now that I'm not a wanted criminal anymore, I should be taking steps to protect both our names. The articles they've printed about me could have been prevented, too."

Hermione patted Harry's arm. "Celebrities and politicians have done it throughout time, Harry. You know Muggles do. You have the right to protect yourself. You know you won't abuse it."

Harry relaxed at that. "OK."

"Here's what I thought we might want printed instead," Hermione said, showing Fowl the article she'd written.

"Good." He tweaked a few words, added a few sentences, cut out a couple others, then pronounced it acceptable. "Now you just have to get through today." He smirked at Potter.

Harry groaned. "If Malfoy offers me a handkerchief to dry my eyes one more time…"

"He could actually say much worse. Be glad I've never wanted to spend my time insulting you." At their looks, he said, "What?"

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Viktor Krum sat in a corner of the library near the potions books. Draco, coming out of the stacks loaded down with five thick potions books, plopped himself down at Krum's table.

They nodded to each other. Three Sixth Year Gryffindors promptly came up and asked for Krum's autograph. One asked for him to sign a poster of himself "To Patricia, with much love." Another wanted him to sign her thigh. He politely declined.

A bit incredulously, Draco watched them leave. "Are they always like that?"

Krum sighed. "Yes. I vish they vould just leave me alone."

Draco motioned to Crabbe and Goyle, who were walking past at that moment, having just finished a study session with Fowl. "Busy?"

"No."

"Stand guard. Anybody who wants to bother Krum, run them off."

"Right!" Crabbe saluted. Goyle grinned.

"Oh, that's not necessary," Krum said.

"No, no, it'll be fun. It's good practice," Greg assured him.

Ginny and Artemis walked by as the boys took their places at either side of their table. "What are you two doing?" she asked curiously.

"Keeping back Vik's admirers," Vince reported as Goyle smiled shyly.

Artemis raised an eyebrow. "You could hire someone, you know. Professionally, I mean."

Krum frowned in thought. "They've gotten used to me at Durmstrang. Normally I only have this problem vhen I go out, not at school. So I vasn't thinking about it."

"Bagman would arrange it," Draco supplied, opening a book.

"However, if I was you, I'd manage it myself," Artemis finished.

Draco grinned. "Yeah, me, too."

"There's some Third Years over there, just spying and laughing," Ginny pointed out, indicating with a nod of her head.

"Yes, that happens a lot, too," Krum agreed.

Just then, Hermione strolled up. "Hey, guys."

"Hello," Ginny and Artemis replied.

"Granger," the Slytherins chorused.

Krum just stared. Actually, Ginny thought, his expression was somewhat—stunned. Awestruck. Her eyebrows rose.

"Here to study?" Artemis asked her.

"I'm helping Malfoy with a research project," she told him casually.

Artemis frowned. "You're helping Malfoy?"

"Mm hmm." She sat down next to the blond and pulled one of his books over to rest in front of her.

"Why? With what?"

Now she looked confused. "It's a potions project. He said he'd join HELP if I assisted him."

Artemis was looking back and forth between Malfoy and Hermione, still frowning.

Krum was still staring, Ginny noted.

Draco's expression turned smug. "You're not jealous, are you, Fowl?"

Artemis's face went carefully neutral and his chin lifted. "Of course not."

"Vhat is HELP? And vhy vould he be jealous?" Krum asked.

"Hermione is my girlfriend," Artemis said possessively, as Granger drew breath to gush enthusiastically about HELP. But then she froze, breathing stilling momentarily.

Then she took a deep breath, and said softly, with wonder, "You called me your girlfriend. In front of everyone."

"So?" Crabbe asked.

"You've never actually heard you call me your girlfriend before."

Draco thumped himself in the forehead with a book, although not very hard. "You've never called—Fowl! You are so dense!"

"I thought he vas a genius."

"Yeah—but still [THUMP] So [THUMP] Dense [THUMP]!"

Fowl looked quite insulted. The girls seemed gleeful and amused.

"You are spoken for?" Krum looked disappointed to the point of nearly devastated.

Artemis's glare leveled on Krum with sudden suspicion. "We've established that."

There was an awkward pause in conversation. As much as Ginny wanted to stick around to watch, she couldn't think of a good excuse. Well, there was always bugging Malfoy. "You're still keeping mum about this project, eh, blondie?"

"Blondie!" Crabbe and Goyle laughed. "Quiet, you," he griped.

"Well, how far have you gotten?"

"We've listed 55 so far. Who knew there were so many brown potions that smoke blue," Hermione replied, pulling out the list.

Artemis's focus shifted and sharpened. "You're looking for what Moody tried to force you to take under the Imperius Curse."

Draco groaned. "Fowl!"

Ginny sat down next to Krum, not paying him much attention. "What's this? Do you mean when you were covering the Unforgiveables in class, or a different time?"

Artemis sat, too, next to Hermione. "In class."

"Why didn't you just say in the first place?" Ginny frowned.

Draco sighed. "I didn't want it getting back to my father. For a number of reasons I'm not going to share."

"It sounds exactly like something you'd immediately whine to your father about," Hermione said. "You'd want to get Moody sacked."

"Never you mind," Draco snapped. "You agreed to help, no questions asked, so don't go prying now."

Hermione raised her hands. "Sorry. Don't be so touchy."

Draco sighed again, looking heavenward. "Why me? Gryffindors!"

Ginny laughed.

"Well, now I know why you think Moody is suspect," Hermione commented to Artemis.

Ginny frowned.

Just then the twins strolled by. "Just who we wanted!"

"Can we borrow you, Ginny?"

"Oh—sure. I guess I'll see you all later." She gathered her books and walked off with her brothers, glancing back once.

"Are you staying, Artemis?" Hermione asked.

Artemis glanced at Krum. "Yes. I'll just sit here and read."

"Good." She scooted her chair a little closer to his. "Why are Crabbe and Goyle just hovering there?"

"We're guarding Krum," Vince supplied happily.

"Ah, that explains the lack of fan club. Good. They make studying difficult."

Krum looked stricken. "Sorry."

Draco waved an airy hand. "Not your fault. So, what are you working on?"

"Looking for helpful spells for the Tournament."

"Good luck," Hermione said, causing Krum to smile, his whole face lightening. Hermione didn't seem to notice, but Artemis did. His glare at Krum intensified. Draco watched the byplay with interest. Hermione opened the book and immersed herself in potions.

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Ginny cornered Artemis alone later that evening. "What do you have going on, Fowl? You and Hermione? All that talk about Moody—you're up to something."

Artemis considered. He had intended to have Miss Weasley and her brother Ron watch Dumbledore. However, as Ron was still behaving like an imbecile, he had no one left to partner her with. But now that she was here demanding to know…

"We're attempting to determine who put Potter's name in the Goblet of Fire. Moody is one of the suspects, as are the Tournament officials and the other Headmasters."

"So what are you doing to determine who it is? Because I want in on it."

Artemis smiled thinly. "I had assumed as much. Currently, we are simply observing. Granger and I are watching Moody, and the rest of my Yearmates are watching the others."

"You mean the Slytherins?" she asked in mild disbelief.

He raised an eyebrow. "I'm Slytherin."

"But they avoid anything dangerous. Except Malfoy."

"Normally, yes. But this is simple spying. No one spies better than a Slytherin. Besides, they 'wanted in on my adventures for once.'"

"Well… okay… they couldn't bluff you, at any rate, so they'd be trustworthy enough… alright, who do you want me to watch?"

"Originally I had planned on having you and your brother watch Dumbledore, but he is proving less than helpful with this situation."

"My brother is being a prat. But why watch Dumbledore?"

"He knows too much not to know anything," Artemis replied cryptically.

"He's not omniscient. Your House just doesn't like him," Ginny complained.

"Then prove our doubts unfounded. But who can we pair you with? Potter?"

"Harry is probably too angry at Dumbledore to be a good spy right now. You're wanting to use Gryffindors for watching him, I take it."

"You would be least likely to arouse suspicion, yes."

"How about Stormbrew?"

Artemis frowned. There was something about the older boy he just didn't like. "I don't believe he would fit with our team."

"Hmmm. The problem is, most Gryffindors wouldn't be willing to investigate the Headmaster. None of my friends would be qualified."

"Well, I myself agree Dumbledore is probably not plotting to kill Potter. We can leave him to our adult watch. I can assign you to an existing team of Slytherins."

Ginny's eyes lit up. "Ron may be out, but how about the twins? They're devious enough to think of spying as just a fun challenge, and they'd probably be quite good at it. Plus they're trustworthy."

Artemis cocked his head to the side. That wasn't a bad idea at all. They would be harder to control, but they'd be happy as long as they had a good time. "Inspired," he congratulated her. "Send them to talk to me tomorrow morning. Meanwhile, why don't you join the team watching Crouch? Since your brother Percy is his assistant, you would be ideal to help track his movements away from Hogwarts."

"Cool! Who's the rest of my team?"

"Goyle…" Artemis smirked. "…and Malfoy."

"It figures."

"You did volunteer."

"Yeah, yeah. Fine. I agree to your proposal, and I will notify the twins of their upcoming meeting with you." She saluted. Artemis sighed.

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The retraction appeared in the Prophet the next day. It quieted down some of the talk going on around Potter, but not much. At least now they were talking mainly about actual facts.

Ginny, Draco, and Goyle sat at a table in the library. They were meeting together so Ginny could be filled in on what they already knew about Mr. Crouch.

"He doesn't sound like a very nice man," Ginny said when Draco was done. Her forehead wrinkled. "And this is the man my brother idolizes?"

"So what's next, Weasley-girl?"

"Well, I already wrote to Percy and told him I'd seen Crouch when he came here for the beginning of the Tournament and how impressed I was."

"You lied through your teeth, basically."

"Basically, yes."

"And you call yourself a Gryffindor," Greg teased.

She smiled at him. "So, Percy was just thrilled that I'd—seen his way of thinking, and owled me back just gushing on and on about the man." She pulled the letter from her pocket. "Nothing very useful, though. I'm going to have to give him some subtle direction."

"Nothing useful at all?"

"Only how important Crouch is, and what an honor it is to be working for such an intelligent, efficient man." She rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, we need more than that."

"You seem to spend a lot of time with Slytherins."

Three heads snapped around to see Stormbrew standing by their table. His tone and expression were not condemning, though, simply curious.

"You should be congratulating us for tolerating Gryffindors," Draco shot back at him.

"I refuse to allow Houses to dictate who my friends are," Ginny replied calmly, tilting up her chin. It was a worthy statement, and all three boys admired her for it.

Paul nodded solemnly. "You're a good person, Ginny," he said. "Would you like to go to Hogsmeade with me this weekend?"

Ginny blushed prettily. "Sure."

Greg frowned and clenched his fists under the table.

Paul smiled brightly. "Great. I'll see you later, then."

When he was out of hearing range, Goyle asked, "Isn't he a little old for you?"

"He's only two years older than me," Ginny answered, bemused, but still smiling happily. "That's the same age as the twins." A cute, older boy is interested in me! Score!

"Can we get back on the subject?" Draco snapped testily. He wasn't feeling too well all of a sudden. Maybe he had heartburn.

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Meanwhile, Hermione and Artemis were planning on breaking into Moody's office that night. "We'll have to be careful," Hermione said. "He has all those detection devices."

"I believe that most of them have been rendered ineffective," Artemis replied. "The Sneakoscope, for instance. With all the students getting into trouble, lying about their homework, and the like it would be useless. But we'll still use my Invisibility Cloak."

Come evening, the two of them snuck into his office under the cloak. "Look at all this," Hermione whispered. There were a number of what she recognized as Dark Detectors—the Sneakoscope, a large spinning top; a Secrecy Sensor, a gold wire aerial; a Foe-Glass, a mirror showing moving shadowy figures. These were on and around his desk. Under the window was a large trunk with seven different keyholes. Against the far wall stood a locked cupboard. Something resembling a dream-catcher hung from the ceiling. "There's a lot to explore."

Artemis looked around. "We have limited time. We'll start with his desk." The desk was locked with only basic locking charms, so Artemis doubted much of interest would be kept there. A cursory inspection of the drawers showed nothing out of the ordinary for a professor to have—student papers, quills, a ruler, and the like.

Artemis switched his attention to the cupboard. He could tell advanced spells would be necessary this time. He tried out a few, but had proven still unsuccessful when the office door was thrown open.

Moody stood in the doorway, looking wild and angry. He had his wand out. "So!" he exclaimed in a booming voice. "Snooping around, are you?"

Artemis and Hermione froze. He was looking straight at them.

"That's right. This eye of mine can see through your Cloak. Take it off."

Hermione swallowed and looked at Artemis. Artemis stared coolly back at Moody. "Very well," he responded. They slipped the cloak off.

"Yours, I assume, Fowl. I should confiscate it, but I know you and that bodyguard of yours would raise a stink. What did you think to accomplish here?"

Hermione was thankful they hadn't been caught looking through the desk. "It was a bet," she blurted. "I said you had too many detection devices and Auror tricks to get near your office, but Artemis said all it needed was the proper intellect and a plan. So the twins bet him he couldn't sneak into your office and I—I came along."

"Well, you lost your bet," Moody growled. "I thought you would have been smarter than that, Hermione."

Artemis looked disgruntled.

"Detention, obviously. One week for being in my office, plus three days more for breaking curfew. My classroom at 7 pm. Be glad your Headmaster is so insistent on detention as the only acceptable form of punishment or you'd find yourself much worse off."

"Yes, Professor, we're sorry," Hermione stammered.

Moody glanced at the clearly unrepentant Artemis and sneered. "Sure you are. Now get back to your dormitories at once."

They turned and strode quickly out of the room.

"So," Artemis mused as they walked down the hall, "his eye can see through Invisibility Cloaks."

"And he spotted us through his Foe Glass, which he must have hooked up to his rooms."

"No way to go in and secretly put up cameras then," Artemis frowned. If only he hadn't taken the previous ones down when he left for the summer.

Hermione sighed. "I can't believe I have detention."

"Maybe I could plant a camera on him…"

"At least we have it together."

One less actual date…

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