Harry Potter and Artemis Fowl: Evil Awakens Chapter Nine.
Disclaimer: I think you all know I own nothing except my own original characters.
Hmm, do I hear wedding bells?
As for the scenes later on, there aren't any actual lemons, so your eyeballs are safe. :)
Harry sat at the table in the morning, thinking and drinking his usual packet of blood. Artemis's parents and the twins had already left, heading for America.
Harry was worried. Everyone was in danger. He'd thought Uallach was dead. But no, she was alive and bent on their destruction.
The door bell rang.
Harry headed to the front door. Butler was looking through the peephole.
"It's just Snape, probably," said Harry, looking as well. "Yeah."
Snape had been gone for a bit, working on Order business.
"I heard about everything that happened," said Snape, walking in the door after Harry opened it.
"Yeah," said Harry. "I got shot in the head."
"Are you going to let it go or not?" said a voice.
Mulch came ambling into the foyer from the direction of the kitchens, chewing a huge sandwich and leaving crumbs everywhere. "I had to give a show to Uallach so she wouldn't kill me right away."
"I brought something with me," said Snape, drawing a flask out his pocket. "I did some research and found a recipe for a potion that could help us."
They all went to the dining room. Snape went to the sideboard and got himself some espresso, leaving the flask on the table.
"Hmm, nifty espresso machine," said Snape.
Mulch looked at Harry and they both tried not to laugh. It was always weird hearing the word "nifty" from a man like Snape. Years ago, he wouldn't have said the word under threat of death. But since he'd died and been resurrected, he'd changed a lot, the best thing being that he didn't treat Harry like a pile of dog dung.
"So what's this?" Harry had removed the stopper from the flask and went to smell it.
Snape was turning, his eyes wide. "Harry! Wait-"
The potion smelled rather minty, but there was something else not so pleasant mixed in. Harry was about to ask why the mint what did it do when his stomach suddenly cramped up with ferocious intensity. His hand shook and some of the liquid splashed from the opening onto his hand. It burned like fire. He dropped the flask on the table, shattering it and splashing more on his arm, which burned like someone had stuck a hot poker in it.
"WHAT THE FUCK!" yelled Harry, backing away from the table where the offending potion fizzed a little. Mulch backed up against the wall.
The cramps got worse and Harry ran for the kitchen and threw up the blood he'd drank earlier into the sink.
"I tried to tell you!" Snape was yelling. He came into the kitchen to grab a couple of dish towels, while Harry retched into the sink.
"It's poisonous to vampires," said Snape, going back to the dining room. "But you'll be okay."
Snape went to mop up the mess.
Artemis and Ron came into the kitchen and eyed Harry; still dry heaving in the sink.
"Oh, you smelled the potion?" asked Artemis.
"What is that stuff?" Harry stumbled back from the sink, his stomach still cramping, but not as bad.
"Oh, it's like vampire repellant," said Artemis. "Snape called me and told me about it and he met them at the airport and gave them some. He told them it's to prevent sickness. I don't want my parents and brothers without protection in case Uallach decides to go after them.
"I can't be around them with that poisonous stuff on them!" said Harry, rinsing his mouth out with water from the tap.
"You can counteract it," said Artemis. "Snape should have told you first."
"He got the stuff so you can take it and not be sick around everyone," said Ron.
"Sorry," said Snape, looking guiltily, coming back into the kitchen, having cleaned up the mess. "But you should know better than to be sniffing random flasks of stuff. Didn't you learn anything in my potions class?"
Harry rolled his eyes and rinsed the sink out. "I guess not. It wasn't my best subject, remember? Except that time I cheated with the book I had."
His arm was still burning and his stomach was still cramping, but at least he wasn't throwing up.
Snape dug in the pocket of his robes until he found a packet of powder.
"Just sprinkle this in the blood you drink." Snape handed the powder over. It was green and very fine. "All you need is about a quarter of a teaspoon and you can even eat it straight. It's a mixture of rosemary and frenroot. It protects for up to several hours. Although, prolonged exposure to the potion will still make you sick, but only if breathe in too much directly, like directly from a cauldron or something."
Harry sprinkled some in a new packet of blood and sat drinking it at the table.
"That is disgusting," said Snape, looking at the packet in Harry's hand.
"Well, I have to eat," said Harry.
Snape pulled another flask out. "Lucky I brought enough, but I can brew some more." He pulled out several baggies of ingredients, naming them off one by one. "All we have to do is sprinkle some on around the house. The smell enough should ward Uallach off, but I'll be making more and coating the house and window sills with it. The burning effect lasts a long time, even after the potion appears to have dried on whatever surface you put it on. If Uallach tries to get in a window, it will burn her skin."
"Good, keep that bitch out." Harry slurped up the last of the blood, being noisier with it than needed.
Snape made a face and crammed all the ingredients back into his pockets, while Harry tried not to smirk at his disgust. "Well, I better get upstairs and start brewing."
The week passed uneventfully. Everyone wore the potion. Everybody mixed it into their perfumes and colognes and Snape said a few drops in a person's coffee or tea would be good too. Its power would be diluted once in a person's blood, but it would make the blood taste bad and person smell unappetizing.
"You smell bad," said Harry, taking a whiff near Ginny after she sprayed some Armani Code laced with the potion on.
"Gee, thanks," said Ginny.
"I mean-uh, sorry," said Harry. "I'll shut my mouth now."
Ginny laughed. Luckily, Harry didn't really need to breathe. He did it out of habit sometimes, but he didn't need oxygen to live. This seriously annoyed Juliet when they were in the heated pool outside and played Who Can Hold There Breathe Under Water The Longest? Harry always won, and Juliet said he shouldn't be allowed to play at all, because of his ability.
Nothing happened for a bit. Harry and the others tried to track Uallach to see if she was in the surrounding areas, but they couldn't find her. They assumed she was hiding somewhere, at least for now.
Artemis's parents and the twins came back from America. Myles had already written his report and it was fifty pages. Beckett's was twenty pages, because he said there was no point in describing everything in such detail.
"Simpleton," said Myles.
"I am not!" yelled Beckett, angrily. "I just don't want to write as much as you did!"
"Boys, calm down," said Angeline. "It's almost Thanksgiving. Instead of fighting, how about you spend time thinking of what you're grateful for?"
The day before Thanksgiving, Angeline and Juliet went to town and stocked up one everything they needed for the meal. Beckett and Myles had the idea of getting a big piece of poster board and having everyone write what they were thankful for. One the board was full of handwriting, describing the things everyone was grateful for; it was hung in the dining room, so everyone could see it. Even James participated, adding a big blue crayon scribble.
The meal was delicious. Angeline, Juliet, Holly and Harry got up early to start cooking. The turkey would need a lot of time to cook. Juliet, Angeline and Holly spent a lot of time yawning and guzzling coffee.
"I'm not tired at all!" said Harry; just to rib them a bit.
"Be quiet," said Juliet. "Or I'll tell your wife you're being a total ass."
"You don't want to face the wrath of Ginny do you?" asked Holly with a laugh.
"You should be happy I'm helping," said Harry, peeling potatoes. "I won't even be eating the meal. I could just go back upstairs and watch TV."
"No," grumbled Holly. "Nobody else feels like peeling potatoes, it's a pain."
When the dinner was ready, everybody sat around the table and said what they were thankful for, prayed, and dug in, except for Harry who just drank blood from a cup. He missed food.
Everyone pitched in to help with the dishes, except James who was still at his highchair, smearing gravy on his tray and himself until Harry took him upstairs for a bath.
"I'm so full still," said Holly, hours later when they went to bed. She sprawled on the bed in her PJ's, which were basically an old T shirt and some shorts.
Artemis lay down next to her; dressed in black silk PJ's and flicked the TV on.
Holly snuggled up to Artemis. "Pretty soon, No1 can get us married."
Artemis kissed Holly on the lips. "I can't wait."
Since they would be getting married, basically twice (one fairy marriage and one human marriage) the first marriage would be done in Haven and all of Holly and Artemis's fairy friends would be there. The human one (done mostly for appearances sake and for tax purposes and such, because the human world wouldn't recognize a fairy marriage when it comes to filing taxes and things like that) would be done with all of their friends.
Caballine was organizing the fairy marriage and it would happen before Christmas. Holly only wanted a very small marriage ceremony so it would be simple.
"I'm just a little nervous of-of-" Holly cut off.
"What?" asked Artemis, looking at her. "You can tell me."
Holly actually blushed a little. "I mean, you know I dated Trouble before, and I dated a couple of guys in high school, but, I-I'm still a virgin." She mumbled the last bit.
"Why are you embarrassed?" asked Artemis. "So am I!"
"You are?" asked Holly. She didn't know that. After Artemis had sacrificed himself to save his friends, when Opal had been possessing him, he and Holly hadn't dated. Neither knew what to do with their feelings for a while, until the incident with Aeron and they both decided to act on them. During the few years before the Aeron incident, Artemis had actually dated Minerva for a few months, but it hadn't worked out. Artemis had broken up with Minerva, telling her he couldn't see the relationship going anywhere. Minerva had been in a snit for several months, but eventually they patched things up and decided to just remain friends.
Holly had been jealous during those months that Artemis and Minerva dated. But Holly had figured by that time they would never be more than friends, and Artemis would want to marry someday. She had kept her jealous thoughts hidden and told herself to get over it.
"I thought you and Minerva would have, you know," said Holly. "I mean, we knew we loved each other, but with the whole me being a fairy and you being a human, I figured you end up marrying some human eventually, and you started dating Minerva, so I thought-uh…"
"No," said Artemis. "I mean we kissed, but I never wanted to take it further." Holly didn't like the idea of Artemis kissing Minerva, but she reminded herself that it had happened years ago and there was nothing between them now. "I broke up with her because it wasn't fair to her. I couldn't deny I had feelings for you and found myself thinking about you when I kissing her. It wasn't right and the relationship wouldn't get anywhere so I broke up with her. I wasn't going to bang her and then leave. That would be horrible to do. I pretty much resigned myself to never getting married."
"Really?" asked Holly.
Artemis nodded. "I knew I only loved you, and couldn't marry someone else. I'd always be thinking of you and that's not right. I figured it'd just be me and my hand and thoughts of you for the rest of my life."
Holly snorted. "What?!"
Now it was Artemis's turn to blush. "Never mind."
"You dirty boy," said Holly, poking him in the side. "I wish we'd acted on our feelings earlier though. We wasted a lot of time."
"At least we'll have several centuries together," said Artemis.
"Yeah, that's true," said Holly. "I'm glad you can take the magic No1 put in you."
While the days ticked by toward Christmas, Harry grew restless. He wanted to find Uallach and end it. He kept remembering the way Uallach had looked at Hermione, like she was plotting something. And Harry could imagine what Uallach would do to a pregnant woman.
Artemis practiced his mesmer on willing participants in the house and healed any scrapes or scratches that arose to keep his magic flowing well. He did the Ritual a couple of times and No1 pronounced things to be doing well.
They would be married soon.
They decided to do on it December 12, which was a week away. The human marriage would be in spring.
Everyone in the house knew about it, of course, and Juliet and Angeline helped Holly to get a dress.
"Something simple," Holly reminded them. "I'm going to wear the same dress to the human version of our wedding."
Juliet made a face. "Why not wear a different one for that one as well?" Any reason was a good reason to shop for Juliet.
"I'm not a borderline shopaholic," said Holly.
Dublin had a store for wedding dresses. Holly asked how they were going to do this, with her being a fairy. Anybody would realize Holly's proportions were all wrong for an adult.
"We'll just mesmerize them," said Artemis, shrugging.
They went to the store. There were two women working that day. Holly wore her hat and coat to hide her unusual proportions. Artemis mesmerized the two women so they wouldn't notice anything unusual.
"Now go!" Juliet pushed Artemis out. "You can't see the dress before the wedding!"
"I know! I know!" said Artemis. "I'm going up the street to get a suit fitting anyway."
The fitters had a rather dreamy look on their faces. Artemis had mesmerized them so they would still be able to help properly, and not go off completely mindless and dumb.
Holly was wearing a basic dress with a slip underneath, so she would have to get down to her skivvies in front of them. Holly picked out a few to try on and stood on small stood, while the women pinned and fixed the hem to suit her short height.
"And you can just let the hem out before the human wedding," said Juliet. "Since you said you'll grow a bit."
Holly picked a beautiful white one with a long flowing skirt. It was sleeveless and the bodice was covered in a delicate stitching of flowers. The skirt was silk with delicate seed pearls sewn into it that shimmered slightly when Holly moved.
"I love it!" Holly breathed, looking at herself in the mirror.
"It's beautiful!" Angeline and Holly breathed in unison.
"It looks perfect!" one of the women sighed, thinking, in her mesmered state, that Holly's voice sounded like bells.
"It's so expensive," muttered Holly, looking at the price.
"Oh, don't be silly," said Angeline. "You only get married once, well twice for you, but it's gorgeous!"
"It's your special day," said the attendant, pinning the hem up.
"No, it's our special day," said Holly. She had always wondered why a lot people told a bride it was her special day, like the groom mattered nothing.
Artemis had given Holly one his credit cards and she paid for the dress. The dress would be done up to her size and then sent to the manor in a day or two, finished.
Artemis met them at a café later for lunch. His suit would be sent to, having been fitted as well.
They ordered, Holly dressed again in her coat and hat, so she just looked like a kid.
"I can't wait to see it," said Artemis. "I bet it beautiful."
"You can't see it until the wedding!" said Juliet.
"Are you going to separate for a couple days?" asked Angeline.
"Separate?" asked Holly.
"Well, you don't have to," replied Angeline. "But some couples, just before they get married, separate for a day or two, and don't see each other until they meet at the altar."
"Some people say it's like bad luck or something," said Juliet.
Holly thought for a moment. "Well, I guess we could do that, for the marriage in spring."
A couple at the next table looked over that them, there gaze switching between Artemis and Holly. Their eyebrows were raised, especially when they looked at Holly, who appeared to be about twelve in her outfit. Obviously they were thinking something sick was going on with her talking about marriage to a man who was an adult.
"Mind your own business!" growled Juliet, giving them a scary look that rivaled Butler. "She's not the one getting married!"
The couple quickly became very interested in their sandwiches.
"Nosy," Juliet muttered. Angeline put a hand to her mouth to cover a giggle.
"They probably think your some kind of pedophile," Holly whispered.
Artemis rolled his eyes. "Great, people think I'm a sicko."
The day of the wedding, Holly and Artemis took a shuttle to Haven very late at night, nearly eleven o clock at night. The marriage was basically a secret, except for the people who were attending. Obviously fairies didn't marry humans every day. They didn't need the whole of Haven hanging around where the marriage was taking place, trying to get a glimpse. Artemis was smuggled to the building where marriages were done. The council had been consulted and had given their permission to do it in Haven, after much deliberation.
It was similar to a human wedding. All the guests sat in chairs and at the head of the building, Artemis waited in his suit. No1 and Qwan were going to be the officials. The room was covered in tapestries that showed great events in fairy history, and the head, on the wall, a great glass window showed a scene from the tail of the first fairy marriage in history.
No1 had already placed a spell on Artemis to prevent his shrinking too much. With them being bound together, Holly would grow taller, but Artemis definitely didn't want to shrink.
Holly was nervous. Callabine helped Holly get dressed and ready. Holly's hair was grown just past her chin, and Callabine curled the ends a bit, and Holly had a veil, the edges lined with seed pearls.
Fairy marriage was different than human marriage in some ways. Holly and Artemis had been told what to do.
Holly came into the building, her veil over her head, holding a bundle of flowers. Artemis was facing No1, Qwan, and the window, his back to her. Holly looked at everyone sitting in the chairs. All of Holly's and Artemis's fairy friends were there. Mulch had even made a half attempt to clean himself up a bit. His beard was mostly free of bugs and whatever else was stored in there and he even had deodorant on.
Holly walked down the aisle while music similar to the wedding march played. It ended when Holly took her place next to Artemis. They knelt on the floor.
Qwan spoke words similar to those at a human wedding. "We are gathered here today to join these two in marriage, for life, for better or for worse, in richness and in poverty, sickness and in health. Place your hands together."
Holly placed her hand out to the side, careful not to shift her eyes to Artemis. Artemis kept his eyes ahead and placed his hand on top of Holly's. No1 took a piece of white cloth with words in gnomish stitched in yellow thread upon it. He wrapped the cloth around their hands and let the ends hang.
"To signify the union, the couples will mix the wine."
A tray was placed in front of them. There were two small crystal glasses filled with elfin wine. There was a taller glass, empty, between them.
Holly and Artemis took a sip from their respective cups, to signify there separate lives. Then they tipped a bit of wine into each other's cup, holding it front of them with their unbound hands, careful not to look at each other. They took another sip and then poured it into the empty goblet, to signify their lives becoming one. No1 moved that tray and brought another one, with a small piece of fresh bread, about the size of a cracker. Holly and Artemis took it and carefully broke it in half, took a bite of their half, and then switched the remaining pieces and ate them.
"What's yours is mine and what's mine is yours," they spoke softly together.
No1 unbound their hands and presented the rings. Artemis took Holly's and Holly took Artemis's. They placed the rings on each other's fingers and then stood up. No1 rebound their hands with a different cloth, white with swirls of blue and yellow on the border and mixing into green in the middle, all down the length.
"And, now let your magic be one," said Qwan.
No1 focused on them, helping their magic flow into each other. Normally two fairies could do it without a warlock, but it was a little different for a human with magic.
Holly and Artemis helped, focusing on each other. There bound hands glowed and sparks began to leap from Holly's hand to Artemis's and from Artemis's hand to Holly's. Holly and Artemis could feel each other's magic flowing into themselves, mixing and becoming one.
No1 held a mirror out in front of them and Artemis and Holly finally could look at each other in the mirror, there first glimpse of each other as a married and bound couple.
"And now these two our bound forever, and should one die, the life force of the other will be cut in half," stated Qwan. "Bound forever, may they love each other, whether rich, poor, sick, healthy, for better or for worse. The groom may kiss the bride."
Artemis and Holly turned to each other. Artemis lifted Holly's sheer veil they looked each other in the eyes and then Artemis and Holly wrapped their arms around each other and kissed.
The group gathered to watch, cheered. Mulch even wiped a genuine tear from his eyes.
Artemis and Holly took a shuttle to the surface. Butler was waiting for them with a smile, in the plane.
They weren't going on a honeymoon yet. They would save that for after their second wedding the human version. Holly and Artemis wanted to go to a honey moon resort, but they would have to mesmerize everyone around them to not notice anything odd about Holly, because Holly couldn't very well lie out on the beach with her elfin features, pointy ears wiggling in the sea breeze. She needed to grow a bit and look a little more human.
Everyone in the manor had cleared out to a hotel in Dublin (Snape armed with his vampire repellant, in case Uallach decided to come around, and Hermione armed with her wand to lay protective charms around the room) so Holly and Artemis had the place pretty much to themselves. Only Butler would be around as protection, but he cleared off to the basement, so he wouldn't have to hear any noises from the room of the happy couple. The kids had an Xbox 360 and a Playstation 3 in the basement, anyway. Butler needed to occupy himself, and decided to try one of Ron's games, called Halo 4.
Artemis and Holly went upstairs and pretty much got straight to the tearing each other's clothes off part. In a couple of minutes, their clothes lay rumpled all over the floor, completely forgotten about.
Holly couldn't tell who was more nervous, her or Artemis, both never having done it. But Artemis, as he promised, was very gentle with Holly.
They awoke in late in the morning, cuddled up to each other, worn from the night's activities.
"Hello, Mrs. Fowl," said Artemis with a smile, although by human standards, Holly wouldn't be Mrs. Fowl until spring.
Holly grinned back. "Hello, my husband."
Artemis played with a bit of Holly's hair. "Sleep well?"
"Yes. Someone tired me out."
Artemis smiled. "Let's go get breakfast."
The next day, Holly awoke, feeling a little sore all over.
"The growing must be started," said Artemis.
Holly clasped her hands. "Please, five feet at least, five feet, five feet."
"You'd be the tallest fairy in Haven," said Artemis.
"No, technically, there is one who is in the Fairy World Record Books," said Holly. "I can't remember his name anymore, but he grew to five foot five. His parents almost broke up because the father thought the mom had been screwing around with a human. They had to do a DNA test to prove he was the father; the baby was born so big."
Artemis eyes widened. "That's tall for a fairy."
"Yeah, he must have had a mutated gene or something like that," said Holly.
"Guess it's kind of like some of our humans," said Artemis. "There are a few people who grow to be like seven or eight feet tall."
Holly could barely imagine being five feet tall, let alone seven or eight.
Holly would awake achy every morning, and had to take ibuprofen and a lot of warm baths to soothe the aches. It wasn't so bad that she couldn't go about her daily activities, but it was annoying. Holly and Artemis also spent a lot of time getting frisky in the bathtub.
"So when am I going to have some grandbabies?" asked Angeline one morning over breakfast.
"Mum!" said Artemis. "Sheesh, we just got married. Were not even legally married here on the surface."
Angeline smiled. "Yeah, but I can't wait to have a little grandbaby to hold and cuddle, and read stories. Beckett and Myles are too old and won't let me."
The twins rolled their eyes.
Sorry, not a whole lot of action in this chapter, but I wanted to do the wedding between Artemis and Holly! Tell me what you thought of it!