1) I really appreciate the reviews and feedback all of you guys are giving me! Keep it up! Thank you for all the positive responses. I would ask only that you also include feed back. Remember, feed back will make this fic better!
2) I am going to open up a submission contest. Create a character, a short scene, or a plot point that you think will be cool, and the top five will be put into the story at some point, while characters may become permanent members of the cast. Please make these serious. I do not want vampiric bunny ninjas or anime characters as submissions. If I do put them in the story it will only be so that Butler can kill them with a pencil. Thou hast been warned. Submit characters =)
3) I own nothing!
4) Sorry for the long absence. I've got tons of stuff going on right now and I only just got back to the story. Hopefully this'll tide you over till my next update.
Thanks alot!
Basilisks. Wonderful. Exactly what Artemis needed right now. A great, aggressive, fucking snake, just wandering through the school, attacking people random. If Salazar Slytherin was anything to go by, the monster would be after muggle borns, those the founder of Slytherin house viewed as unclean. So not only was there a massive snake loose in Hogwarts, it was after Artemis's hide. So preoccupied was the prodigy of Slytherin with the sudden doom that had befallen his school, that he completely missed the blond girl who turned a corner sharply and banged right into him. There was a tinkling of glass, and Artemis felt himself falling.
"Oh dear!" came a soft, airy voice. "Sorry!" a wide eyed girl stood over Artemis Fowl, her robe stained with greenish goo, a strangely vacant expression in her blue eyes.
"Don't worry about it." Artemis muttered, getting to his feet. "You spilled whatever…that is." Artemis gestured at the green goo, which was beginning to smoke alarmingly.
"Oh this?" said the girl, as if she had just noticed."Wrackspurt saliva. Very good for keeping away Nargles." Artemis felt himself take a rapid step back.
"Nargles?"
"Oh yes, Nargles. I'm Luna Lovegood by the way." The girl offered a hand, which Artemis shook.
"Artemis Fowl."
"The Slytherin? I've heard a lot about you. All of Ravenclaw has. Is it true you're a genius?"
"Yes."
"How is it?"
"Excuse me?"
"What's it like being a genius. I wouldn't know you see, everyone tells me I'm hopeless." Artemis noticed that the dreamy smile didn't fade from the girl's face, even as she spoke.
"You're a Ravenclaw Miss Lovegood. Only the clever go to your house."
"Hmm. Well, I should probably wash the Wrackspurt saliva off before I catch fire. Nice meeting you Artemis." The girl drifted off, leaving a slightly stunned Artemis murmuring "Likewise." to an empty hallway.
So Ravenclaw was talking about him were they? Well, that was to be expected. It was rare for any student to outsmart the Ravenclaws, especially younger students. Still, anonymity was always preferable. The spotlight was not a place Artemis liked to stay for very long. Celebrity was becoming rather useful though. Several Slytherins had begun to follow Artemis around, much like the clique that followed Malfoy from class to class. Most of them were without any real usefulness, but a few had stood out, chief amongst them being Theodore Nott. Son of a death eater, rather intelligent boy, of the same age as Artemis, Nott seemed to have a knack for what Artemis liked to call "private business". In other words, Nott seemed to have no qualms about smashing an older Slytherin across the face with a lamp so hard his jaw shattered and he had to be escorted to Madame Pomfrey on account of a "bad fall". Another of Artemis's more useful lackeys was Zabini Blaise. Whilst the boy was nowhere near as brutal or cold as Nott, he did have a charm that was completely absent from Nott's personality. Whilst Nott could only threaten or beat, Blaise had the manner of a diplomat. He was not as strong as Nott, nor as skilled at magic as Artemis. But that boy could talk himself out of an execution, and get the jury to give him their wallets on the way out of the court room. Both boys also came from very wealthy families, and more importantly, families with very dirty, very big, secrets. As Artemis entered the library, he heard the sound of Nott's soft footsteps behind him.
"How are you Mr. Nott?"
"Fine."
"Excellent, where is Mr. Blaise?"
"Left table, end of the library." Nott grunted. Not one for long sentences Artemis grinned.
"Evening Artemis!" Zabini called from his seat at the end of the library, only to be shushed by the librarian.
"Good evening Mr. Blaise. How goes the preparation for the Potions Exam?"
"Ugh. Don't remind me about the damned exam Artemis. It's going to be the death of me."
"I hope not Zabini. You're still tolerable company." Artemis gave Zabini a grin, which the boy returned. "Hear that Nott? I'm tolerable company, not like your tall, dark, and stupid routine."
"Shut up Zabini." Nott growled.
"Peace gentlemen." Artemis smirked. "Where are the gnats?"
"Them? Oh classes I think. Most of them are trying to get help from professor Snape for this torture he's created for us tomorrow."
"It's only torture for you cause you don't study Zabini. You're too busy with Tracy Davis." Nott smirked.
"Hey!" Zabini threw a balled up parchment at Nott, who caught it deftly.
"Enough." Artemis grunted. Both boys stopped immediately. "Do either of you have the evening paper? My owl hasn't arrived yet."
"Yeah, I've got the Prophet, and the Gold Standard." Zabini pulled two papers from his bag.
"Gold Standard first if you please."
ALPHA TRADE COMPANY GRAND OPENING!
LUCIUS MALFOY TO HEAD FIRST TRADE COMPANY IN WIZARDING BRITAIN!
Scabior Druitt: Editor
Artemis grinned as he perused the front cover. Butler had done a remarkable job with the newspaper. Already, the Knockturn Alley publication was selling at pace with the Daily Prophet, despite the lack of real substance to the material published. There was one section Artemis did appreciate though, one which the infamous Mr. Scabior had come up with all on his own. The Goblin Economist. Every day, one section of the paper was reserved exclusively for financial advice from several goblins from Gringotts and Sons. In it the goblins outlined smart stock buys, what to sell, which investments would do well, and which were dangerous. It was something, that was exclusive to Artemis's little paper, since the Gringotts board was not about to diversify into any other publications so long as Artemis gave them a cut.
"It seems Mr. Malfoy has quite a venture planned."
"My father too." Nott added. "He got hired by Malfoy as a viceident."
"Vice-president Theodore. The word is vice-president."
"Yeah, exactly."
"My mother says it's all a load." Zabini replied. "She says Malfoy's without…."
But whatever Mr. Malfoy was out of, they never found out, because at that moment, Artemis's owl Bran swept into the library to land with a clatter on the table.
"Owl for you Artemis." Zabini grinned.
"Peck him Bran." Artemis muttered. He heard Nott laugh as Zabini swore violently.
"What was that for Artemis?" Zabini whined.
"Sarcasm isn't attractive Mr. Blaise." Artemis murmured in reply. "If you'll excuse me gentlemen, it seems I am needed in the headmaster's office."
"See you later Artemis." Zabini called as Artemis walked out of the library.
"Hnn." grunted Nott.
The snake was hungry. It could smell them in the halls, it could taste them in the air. It needed to feed. The first time it had been denied. Not again. Never again. It heard the light door opening, heard it's master call it out to hunt, to kill, to feed.
There. It saw one. There, it could feed now.
"ATTACK! THERE'S BEEN AN ATTACK! NO ONE IS SAFE! RUN!"
Harry Potter stood there frozen. In front of him, lay Artemis Fowl, blood pouring from a deep cut across his back.
"Out of the way Potter!" someone yelled. Harry felt himself pushed aside as McGonagall and Madame Pomfrey ran towards the prone form of Artemis Fowl.
"He's not dead Minerva." Madame Pomfrey hissed. "But if this bleeding doesn't stop…we need to get him to the hospital wing immediately."
"OUT OF THE WAY!" the voice of Albus Dumbledore reverberated through the hallway, now filled with yelling students. Like a parting sea, a path was cleared, to reveal a grim faced Professor Dumbledore. "Poppy, get Mr. Fowl to the hospital wing immediately." Madame Pomfrey, nodded, waved her wand, and she and the still bleeding Artemis hurried towards the hospital wing.
"RETURN TO YOUR DORMITORIES!" Dumbledore boomed again. "Minerva, if you would tell the teachers that no student is to be out of their common room."
"Certainly Headmaster." McGonagall hurried off.
"Did you see?"
"What do you think?"
"Potter was here first."
"Potter." They thought it was him.
"Potter." It wasn't. It wasn't him.
"Potter." IT WASN'T HIM!
"Harry Potter!"
"What?" Harry snapped. Hermione jumped back from her place at his shoulder.
"We..we need to get to the common room Harry."
"Yeah. Yeah, sorry Hermione." Harry mumbled.
As they walked down the halls towards the Gryffindor common room, Harry thought he heard a soft, hissing, laughter from the hall where Artemis had lain.