Harry Potter and Artemis Fowl: Evil Awakens Chapter Six

Holly stared at Trouble. "You want me to leave Haven?"

"I don't want you to leave Haven," said Trouble. "You already stepped down from being a major, and I know you're dating that Mud Boy and want to get married to him."

Holly blushed a little. "I thought you were against it."

"Well, I still am, but I know you'll end up doing what you want," said Trouble. "And you were planning on leaving Haven and the LEP eventually, anyway, right?"

It was true. Holly and Artemis had been talking about her quitting the LEP and just working for the Order. But Trouble wanted her to leave Haven. It was different when somebody was telling her that they didn't want her there anymore. She felt hurt.

"It's not that I don't want you here," said Trouble, as if reading her mind. "We need more good agents like you. I wish you hadn't stepped down from Major. However, you'd probably be more useful above ground. We'd like you to work almost solely with the Order, and only to report to us as needed. We'll take care of your payroll, but you'll work for the Order, and live above ground, with Artemis. With everything happening, we need an above ground agent. Technically, you'll still work for us and we'll give you missions, but they will all be above ground. No more chasing rogue goblins or Trolls around Haven. And you can be with your boyfriend."

"And you'll have access to our tech, still," said Foaly. "So you won't lose me."

Holly was surprised. She had intended to quit the LEP and just work for the Order, but she thought that meant her losing all the tech, and leaving the LEP and Haven in every way. But Trouble had just given her a perfect opportunity, and she could still work.

"The council didn't like this idea, but I told them we need an above ground agent, and you're the best one for the job," said Trouble. "So do you accept?"

"I have to talk with Artemis first," said Holly. If they were going to be together, she wouldn't make such a big decision without him knowing or his input.

"Go ahead," said Trouble. "You have forty eight hours."

Holly hurried back to the surface and told Artemis.

He was ecstatic. "I can't believe you just didn't say yes right then and there! It's perfect! We can still be together, and you still have a job. I was worried what you'd do without a job. Something tells me you wouldn't be content to be just a house wife, and sit around, cooking and cleaning."

Holly rolled her eyes. "That would drive me nuts. But this way I cans still work and I'll be more helpful to the Order. No more shuttling back and forth, trying to work two jobs, basically. And I can be with you."

Holly and Artemis kissed.

Uallach's boat, somewhere in the ocean.

Uallach awoke below decks, the spear still stuck in her heart. Of course it hadn't killed her, she was a spell created vampire, although Harry and Ginny didn't know it the spear wouldn't actually kill her.

A crew man was standing there.

"What are you looking at?" she snapped.

"We were waiting for you to wake back up," said the man. "It took awhile. You said a spear would not kill you, only incapatate-incapsate-make you unable to wake up for a bit."

"And none of you thought to remove the spear and make me wake up quicker?" snarled Uallach, thinking this human must have turds for brains.

"We didn't know if we were supposed to," said the man, blinking at her.

"You are all idiots!" Uallach yelled at the man.

A second later, Uallach was draining him of blood.

She threw his body overboard in the ocean to be fish food.

Conway was in a room.

"How is he?" Uallach asked one of the men, who had some medical training.

"Since his magic ability does not heal internal injuries well, he'll be down for a while," said the man. "His nose healed fine, but when Harry stabbed him all the way through, it's not healing much. It'll take a while."

"You suck," Uallach told Conway.

Conway thought that sounded immature. "What the heck? I'm the only one in this world with powers like Harry!"

"You have the claws and wings, but your healing ability sucks!" said Uallach. "You can only heal minor surface injuries, not major ones. If Harry got stabbed through the back, he'd be fine by now."

"I'm not a vampire yet," said Conway.

"Even without him being a vampire, he'd be healed," said Uallach. "And maybe I shouldn't make you a vampire. You didn't do much earlier."

Uallach, angry with everyone who had let her lie down below, with a spear stuck through her, made food of everyone except the man with medical training. Conway lay in his bed, in pain, hearing the screams of terror and Uallach chased everyone around and killed them.

Many tried to kill Uallach. Some had knives of their own. One had a small handgun, which he fired at Uallach. The bullet scraped by the side of her head, removing some flesh and hair, which quickly grew back, as though the bullet had never hit her. The man with the gun, seeing how ineffectual his weapon of choice was, threw the gun down and tried to jump overboard, figuring he'd take his chances in the water. Uallach snatched him by his collar though and made him into a meal.

Once all the bodies were thrown overboard, Uallach came back to Conway's room and plopped in a chair, wearing some different clothes, all traces of blood gone.

"The fish will be full tonight," chuckled Uallach, putting her legs up on the arm. The remaining man shrank a bit, fearful that Uallach might decide he wasn't needed anymore.

"Was that really necessary?" asked Conway. "Who will sail the ship?"

"I can," said Uallach. "I learned sailing, a long time ago."

"You seemed to have learned a lot in your short human life," said Conway.

Uallach shrugged, her amber eyes glinting in the light, no hint of red, due to the huge feast she'd just had. If she was a human, she would have to unbuckle the belt and undo the top button on her designer jeans-a result of breaking into stores at night. "Good thing, since I was stuck in the ground so long. I heard things going on around me, so I knew the world was changing drastically. Ireland is no long a hodgepodge of tribes and small settlements scattered around. Britain no long wars against the Scots and the Welsh. Many wars have been fought and won while I was in the ground. Look what humans have done to the world. They kill each other off over bits of land, disagreements, resources, anything. They destroy the world. You can smell the pollution in the air. Or I can at any rate."

"I smell it too, a bit," said Conway. "My nose is sharper now than when I was a human."

"Humans are fit for nothing more than food, or as my slaves," said Uallach.

"Our slaves," said Conway.

"If you help me," retorted Uallach. "You are not doing much, laid up in bed."

"If you made me a vampire now-"

"Afterwards," said Uallach. "You must help me kill Harry and all his little friends."

"So, what will the world smell like when you rule?" asked Conway.

Uallach thought for a moment. "Flowers. Flowers and blood."

Haven

Holly told Trouble that she accepted his offer.

She cleaned out her small apartment of all her items and they were taken ahead of her to Fowl Manor in a shuttle. She stopped by Foaly's booth.

"You're Neutrino is yours forever, plus the suit and helmet you've got on," said Foaly. "Here is a spare suit and helmet." He handed her a suitcase. "Try not to break anything, but if you do manage, you can send it to me and we'll give you a new one. "Here's a set of wings, try not to break those either."

"You act like I break everything," said Holly.

"With the scrapes you get yourself into, I wouldn't be surprised," said Foaly. "Well, this goodbye I guess."

"Trouble said I can come visit," said Holly. "I just don't live here anymore. And besides, you can always call me."

"Don't worry, I will," said Foaly. "I got to keep an eye on our trouble maker, both of them actually, you and Artemis. You'll do great as an above ground agent. Do you know how many agents would cut off a pinky to have your job? To stay above ground always?"

Holly sighed. "I know. I'm glad I can be with Artemis. I was planning to quit LEP eventually."

"Good thing you didn't," said Foaly. "You got a better option now."

Holly said goodbye and stopped by Troubles office to say bye to him and to thank him for the opportunity. Then she took a shuttle to Tara and flew to Fowl Manor."

When she arrived, Artemis gathered everyone for a toast, saying Holly would be staying with them for good now. He poured them all some expensive champagne and they clinked glasses and drank.

"We can go shopping together now!" squealed Juliet. "You'll have time."

"I can't go out looking like this!" exclaimed Holly. "I'm three feet tall and have pointy ears."

"One inch under three feet," murmured Harry behind her, trying not snort.

Holly landed a punch on his stomach without even looking behind her.

"Hey!"

"Oh, yeah," said Juliet. "We can shop online!"

"Surely I could find some kind of magic to disguise you," said Hermione. "I'll go look it up."

"Ah, my wife, the nerd," said Ron, putting his arm around her. Hermione giggled and rubbed her baby bump.

Holly sipped a bit of the champagne, not really enjoying it. Fairies weren't supposed to drink too much anyway.

"Don't worry, you don't have to finish it," said Artemis. "We don't want you losing your magic now."

"It would take more than a glass," said Holly. "But still, it's not really my thing."

Artemis smiled a tight smile at her.

"What's wrong?" Holly asked him.

"Nothing!" he said, a little too quickly. "My parents and the twins should be back in a little bit, from Dublin." He was quiet a moment. "Do you want to go outside?"

"Why?"

"Just, outside for a bit?" asked Artemis.

Holly assumed he had something he wanted to tell her. It must be bad, judging by the look on his face.

"Yeah, sure."

Artemis led her outside and into one of the gardens on the far side of the property.

"What's wrong?" asked Holly, looking up at him.

Artemis looked at her a minute and seemed to be gathering courage.

Finally he spoke. "I know we talked about getting married, but I want to do it right." He reached into his pocket and pulled a black box. He got down on one knee, which pretty much just made him eye level with Holly. His heterochromatic eyes locked with Holly's and he almost stuttered on his next words as he opened the box for Holly to see the white gold engagement ring inside, set with two, interlocking diamonds."Will you marry me?"

Holly's eyes widened, her heart beating faster. "Yes! Of course Artemis! You know the answer is yes."
Artemis face seemed relieved and they kissed there. Artemis put the ring on Holly finger and she was surprised to see his hands shake a little. The Great Fowl? Nervous?

"Were you scared?" asked Holly.

"A little," he admitted.

"Why?" asked Holly. "We've already spoken of it. And I mean, I wouldn't plan on leaving my job unless our relationship was serious."

"Still, it's just…well, you don't propose to someone every day," said Artemis.

"I just wish my parents were still alive to see this," said Holly. "Especially my mom. She'd be happy to see I'm with someone like you. What about your parents? How will they feel? Have you told them yet?"

"No," said Artemis. "I was planning on proposing to you when they got home, but I didn't want to do it in front of everybody. My parents won't mind, as long as I'm with someone who makes me happy. We can have whatever kind of ceremony you want, although I know Angeline will what something big, since I'm her first born."

Holly could imagine Angeline going all teary eyed over the idea of her first born son getting married.

"I'm not into big ceremonies and stuff like that," said Holly.

"How do fairies get married?" asked Artemis, as they went to stone bench.

Holly sat. "Well, it is similar to humans. We use rings, and we say vowels. But it's different…when fairies marry, there magic and souls sort of interlock. So once that happens, they start to pick up on each other's feelings. And if one is far away and is in mortal danger, the other one will feel it. You don't feel each other's physical pain, but you can sense it. It's different for humans marrying fairies though. For us to be interlocked, you'll have to have magic. If a human can't hold magic in their bodies, I would have to give up my magic for good to be interlocked with you. There has to be some balance."

"I've had magic in the past before," said Artemis.

"No1 could help us," said Holly. "With you having magic, and us being interlocked, your life span would be that of a fairy. So you could live to be over a thousand years."

A thousand years. Artemis couldn't imagine living more than a millennium. All the events in history he would live to see unfold.

"And if one of us dies, it cuts your life in half," said Holly.

"In half?" asked Artemis.

"So if originally, you would live to be 1300 years old, and I die, say right after the ceremony for some reason, you'd only live to be around 650 years old,"

"That's still a long time," said Artemis. "It'd feel like eternity without you. And how do you know how long your life span is, until you die of natural causes?

"You don't. However, I have no intention of dying soon," said Holly. "Also, there is one more thing…"

"What?" asked Artemis.

"Once were interlocked, I'll grow taller, but you'll shrink," said Holly.

"I shrink?" asked Artemis, not sounding to happy about that. "I guess it makes sense, because of the balance, but how much?"

Holly laughed. "No1 can put a spell on you to slow it down a lot. So the most you'll lose probably is an inch. I'll grow quite a bit. If I'm lucky, I might make it to five feet." She sighed. "I might be able to reach the cabinets."

Artemis chuckled. "Okay. So when do you want to do this?"

Holly thought. "Well, it has to be a full moon, and No1 can put magic in you and see how it takes. You should be fine though. You'll have to perform the ritual a few times and then we can do it."

When Artemis parents came back, Artemis broke the news to everyone. Angeline, of course, got all teary eyed and hugged Holly.

"I'll have grandchildren soon!" she said.

"Mother," said Artemis.

Everyone was happy for the new couple and Angeline and Juliet wanted to know what kind of wedding they would have.

"Well, I was thinking small," said Holly. "Nothing too fancy."

Holly knew Juliet was probably thinking of some kind of massive, frilly dress for her to wear. Holly groaned inwardly at the thought.

But the wedding, fairy or human, would have to wait a bit.

Sorry it took so long to get this out. I've been working on other stuff as well. My collection of short one shots are up now that the bugs with the internet are finally fixed. Go read 'em!