Blood to Gold
By Elbereth in April
Chapter 6
Artemis had Herbology after lunch, which he detested. Plants definitely had no business doing some of the things these plants did.
After that, he washed the dirt off his hands and went to DADA. This, he figured, should be interesting.
They walked into the classroom. Lupin stood at the front, smiling pleasantly at them. No one smiled back. A few whispered insulting things about his clothes and apparent poverty.
"Today's lesson will be a practical one," Lupin spoke confidently, ignoring the whispers. "Follow me."
They looked at each other, puzzled, as Lupin led them to the staff room. Professor McGonagall sat at a table there, drinking tea and doing a wizarding crossword puzzle.
"Sorry to bother you, Professor," Lupin said as the class entered.
"That's quite all right. I had forgotten you had acquired a boggart for each of your Defense classes."
"Not acquired. They conveniently invaded yesterday. Happily for us."
"Boggarts?" Bulstrode demanded loudly.
"Yes." Lupin nodded. "There's one in the wardrobe."
As if it knew they were discussing it, the wardrobe chose that moment to lurch back and forth.
"Who knows what a boggart is?" Lupin asked the class.
"I do," Parkinson answered in a bored voice. "They change their shape to whatever you're afraid of. They hide in dark spaces."
"Very good," said Lupin. "What is our advantage over this boggart? Crow?"
"It'll be confused with so many of us. It won't know what shape it should take."
Lupin smiled. "Correct! Now then, repelling boggarts only needs a simple charm, but you must have strong will! It is laughter that does them in. You must force the boggart to assume an amusing shape."
"Excuse me sir," Artemis couldn't stop himself from saying. "Slytherins don't laugh."
Lupin blinked. Then Zabini spoke up.
"Let me see if I understand. You're going to let this boggart out for us to practice on."
Lupin nodded.
"You expect us to stand here and reveal our deepest fears to the entire class, you, and the Head of Gryffindor House?"
There was a mass step backward by the class.
"I was just leaving," McGonagall said hurriedly, with a look at Lupin that Artemis couldn't interpret. And leave she did.
"First of all, I believe you are highly qualified at mocking laughter," Lupin addressed them. "That's what you're doing here. The boggart will insult you by trying to scare you. You will taunt it by changing its shape and then laughing at it. You use this charm. Repeat after me: Riddikulus!"
"Riddikulus," they responded automatically.
"And second, how about a vow that nothing revealed here will leave this room?"
They stared at him.
"Of course, you could all fail."
Scowls and mutterings as they began to realize they were trapped.
"Come on, the Gryffindors did it!" Lupin encouraged.
"Yeah, well, they're idiots," Zabini snorted.
"Fine," Crow announced suddenly. "I'll go first."
"Ah, a volunteer!" Lupin rubbed his hands together. "Name,please?"
"Thaddeus Laine Crow."
"Mr. Crow, do you know what your greatest fear is?"
"Yeah. Carnies."
". . . really?"
A resentful half-smirk. "I think I should know."
"Okaaay. Very well. When the boggart comes out, the first person it will see is you. And it will assume the shape of. . . a carnie. Now, how can you make a carnie seem less scary?"
Crow thought. "Imagine him buried under a pile of his stupid stuffed animal prizes?"
"Excellent!" Lupin laughed. "So, once Crow breaks free, the boggart will turn to the rest of us. Each of you picture your fear, and think how it can be turned around. . . OK? Here we go."
The group took another step back en masse. Crow wavered, but stayed standing by Lupin, who opened the wardrobe door.
Out sprang a short, fat man with small hands and a loud voice. Crow pointed his wand. His hand was steady. "Riddikulus," he said softly but firmly. There was a cracking noise.
The carnie suddenly looked up in fear as bright pink and purple stuffed kneazles rained down upon it. Crow jeered at it and the class laughed as the stuffed toys piled up.
The animal pile burst apart and the boggart rematerialized in front of Zabini. Blaise faced it, wand out, eyes narrowed, as it sifted into a pale, dark shape all in black, whose mouth opened to reveal pointed fangs.
"Riddikulus!"
With a crack, the vampire's teeth fell out, and then it was clutching at a stake through its heart, a puzzled, comical look on its toothless face. Zabini laughed mockingly. "Take that!"
It fled to Bulstrode and became a huge vulture swooping down to peck her eyes out. "R-riddikulus!" she cried and its beak fell off to be replaced by Wax Kissing Lips ("they pucker up for you--only 3 sickles"). Several other people laughed as she taunted it.
It moved quickly after that. For some reason, Pansy feared a blood-sucking white rabbit. Crabbe was afraid of his great-grandmother, and Goyle of cupcakes ("Yeah, ever since last year," Crabbe whispered. "I don't know why.").
Finally it was in front of Artemis, who had been picturing trolls, goblins, fairies, losing all his money, and discovering that a strange accident had reduced his IQ to that of a gym teacher. But what appeared in front of him was his father, lying cold and dead.
He drew in a breath, eyes going wide as he stumbled back and swore in Gnommish. His breath was coming short and quick.
And then he felt himself becoming suddenly very, very angry. His eyes narrowed to slits.
"Riddikulus," he ground out, picturing Butler getting his hands on that boggart and ripping it to tiny shreds. He smirked and whispered, "Laugh at that, shape-shifter."
Against all rules, it shuddered, because even immaterial, malicious spirits have the sense to be afraid of Butler.
Crack! The boggart exploded, burst into a thousand tiny wisps of smoke, and was gone.
"Fowl. . . what was that?" Zabini asked softly.
"It was a dead person," Parkinson butted in, staring at him. "Are you afraid of dead people?"
Artemis looked at her and she shut up and hid behind Zabini.
"This is exactly why Slytherins don't do this kind of thing," Crow complained. "Well, if anyone needs comforting, they'd better get it from Lupin, because the rest of are gits."
"A moment, Mr. Fowl," Lupin called as they were gathering up their books to leave.
Artemis groaned inwardly and went over to stand in front of the professor. "Artemis, isn't it?"
"Yes."
Lupin waited until the room cleared. "Are you. . ."
"It was my father, OK? He was kidnapped and missing for two years before he was rescued just recently. OK? And I still dream sometimes that he's dead and never really rescued at all. Can I go now?"
"Artemis. . ." he paused. "How was he rescued?"
Most of that story he wasn't supposed to tell, but somehow he heard himself say, "I shot him. Very Slytherin of me, yes?" And he grabbed his bag and fled, because when one isn't used to having emotions, there were things that it was hard to deal with.
Artemis tried to put the whole incident out of his mind as he hurried away. He turned a corner in a rush and ran headlong into Havanna Scarlet.
"Sorry about that. . ." he muttered, rather embarrassed.
She brushed the hair out of her eyes and rubbed her side, which had collided with his bookbag. "Werewolves after you?" she asked, somehow managing seduction and sarcasm at the same time.
"No, just. . . Gryffindoric teachers."
She smiled, relenting. Then she put a hand on his arm and said quite seriously, "I'm afraid Slytherins aren't very well understood. Certainly not by the professors here, who all seem to be. . . Gryffindoric, as you so aptly put it." She paused, looking him in the eye. "Don't trust them. Stick with your fellow Slytherins alone."
He managed a smile back, a real one. "Thanks, Scarlett."
"Call me Havanna." Her eyelids drooped down and her lips curved upwards, making her face strikingly tempting, even for a 13-year-old. But Artemis was made of stronger stuff.
"Thanks, Havanna." He patted the hand on his arm and stepped back. "I have to go--I'll be late for Charms."
"We can't have that. Bye, Artemis." She gave a little wave.
He nodded in acknowledgement and went to class.
Artemis was heading back to his common room after class when Catalina came rushing up to him. "Found you! You play chess well, right?"
He barely contained a smirk. "I play well, yes."
"Come on then. There's an imbecilic Gryffindor in the Great Hall, challenging a Ravenclaw girl to a game for 27 Sickles. You can play him when he's won!"
"That's small change. And how can a Gryffindor beat a Ravenclaw?"
"The point is embarrassing a Gryff--House rivalry and all, you know. And it's this particular boy's one talent, which will make it that much better. And Potter's watching!"
"Who am I playing?" Artemis gave in.
"Ron Weasley!"
Well now, interesting indeed.
Artemis was only slightly taken aback by Wizard's Chess, although he was glad he'd gotten to see it once before he had to play it. "It seems you just won 27 Sickles," he said when Ron had proclaimed Checkmate.
"Yeah. Fowl, right?"
"Yes. Well now, you must have already had 27 Sickles in order to make your bet. So that gives you 54."
"I can count." Ron eyed him warily.
"For 54 Sickles, I'll challenge you to a game."
Weasley wavered. He was confident, but this boy looked even more so.
"You're not going to back down from a Slytherin, are you?" Catalina taunted.
Her boyfriend Warrington laughed. "Scared?"
A small crowd gathered, consisting of the defeated Ravenclaw--Luna Lovegood, seemingly brilliant but extremely vague--Weasley, Potter, Granger, Catalina, Chadwick Warrington, and a misplaced Hufflepuff, Hannah Abbott. Ron couldn't bring himself to back down in front of them all.
So here they were now, embroiled in a chess match, when Artemis smiled and took Ron's bishop. Ron froze, envisioning moves ahead. "Uh oh."
Artemis said nothing as Ron glanced over at Harry and Hermione. The girl's eyes widened. "Uh oh?"
"Arty!" a voice exclaimed suddenly. Artemis sighed deeply and turned to Juliet with some tall (good-looking) boy.
"Hello to you, too."
"Arty." Catalina smiled. "How cute."
Artemis glared at her as Juliet came over and hung her arm over the back of his chair. "Have you beaten him yet?"
"What's going on?" the boy with her asked.
The Gryffindors greeted him. "Oh, hello, Wood."
"Just a friendly chess game between two rival Houses," Hannah said.
Wood sat down next to her. "Are you winning, Ron?"
Ron gave him a sickly little smile and moved his knight.
Artemis smirked and moved his own knight.
Luna stared hard at the board. "Uh oh." She stood up and patted Ron's arm. "It was a good try," she said cheerfully, and walked away.
"Weasley's losing?" Wood looked extremely surprised.
"Artemis beat Evan Kashoggi in chess once," Juliet informed them smugly.
Ron groaned and moved his remaining castle.
"Who?" Abbott asked.
"Muggle European chess champion," Granger explained, looking slightly awed.
Artemis took Ron's knight.
Ron moved his castle again.
"Checkmate," Artemis said, feeling pleased.
Ron looked extremely depressed. "Fine," he said in a dull voice. "Here's your 54 Sickles."
"How many Galleons is that?" Juliet asked. Artemis told her.
"Oh." Juliet shrugged. "That's nothing." Ron looked pained.
"Too bad, Weasley," Warrington smirked. "So much for your one talent."
"A Gryffindor beaten by a Slytherin." Catalina clapped her hands together gleefully.
"Leave him alone," Potter scowled, defending Ron, who was turning red.
"I wonder if I could study you and bottle up whatever it is that turns out to have protected you from Voldemort."
Everyone turned to gape at Artemis. "What?"
"I just wonder no one's ever had you in for examining, that's all. Your blood, your DNA, your magic. . ."
"There's no need for that!" Harry cried, alarmed.
Hermione looked at Potter thoughtfully. "That's actually an interesting question, Harry. I wonder. . ."
"Ack! No!" He sprinted away. Granger followed.
"Hey, wait!" Ron yelled after them, but they didn't stop. He sighed and started putting away the chess board.
"Seriously, though, not a bad game," Artemis mused. "You ever want to play sometime--not for money--let me know."
Weasley looked at him, surprised. "Um, OK. You know, it's hard to figure you out."
"Maybe that's because I'm not just black or white."
"You know, Artemis," Juliet interrupted, "your friends Crabbe and Goyle asked me to meet in the Potions classroom, to show me all their wrestling posters."
Artemis coughed. "Did they? What did you say?"
"Are you crazy? I love looking at wrestling pictures!"
Wood abruptly stood up. "You're going to see two Slytherins alone?"
"Don't worry, she can handle herself." Artemis coughed again, hiding a smile that wanted to become a laugh.
By Elbereth in April
Chapter 6
Artemis had Herbology after lunch, which he detested. Plants definitely had no business doing some of the things these plants did.
After that, he washed the dirt off his hands and went to DADA. This, he figured, should be interesting.
They walked into the classroom. Lupin stood at the front, smiling pleasantly at them. No one smiled back. A few whispered insulting things about his clothes and apparent poverty.
"Today's lesson will be a practical one," Lupin spoke confidently, ignoring the whispers. "Follow me."
They looked at each other, puzzled, as Lupin led them to the staff room. Professor McGonagall sat at a table there, drinking tea and doing a wizarding crossword puzzle.
"Sorry to bother you, Professor," Lupin said as the class entered.
"That's quite all right. I had forgotten you had acquired a boggart for each of your Defense classes."
"Not acquired. They conveniently invaded yesterday. Happily for us."
"Boggarts?" Bulstrode demanded loudly.
"Yes." Lupin nodded. "There's one in the wardrobe."
As if it knew they were discussing it, the wardrobe chose that moment to lurch back and forth.
"Who knows what a boggart is?" Lupin asked the class.
"I do," Parkinson answered in a bored voice. "They change their shape to whatever you're afraid of. They hide in dark spaces."
"Very good," said Lupin. "What is our advantage over this boggart? Crow?"
"It'll be confused with so many of us. It won't know what shape it should take."
Lupin smiled. "Correct! Now then, repelling boggarts only needs a simple charm, but you must have strong will! It is laughter that does them in. You must force the boggart to assume an amusing shape."
"Excuse me sir," Artemis couldn't stop himself from saying. "Slytherins don't laugh."
Lupin blinked. Then Zabini spoke up.
"Let me see if I understand. You're going to let this boggart out for us to practice on."
Lupin nodded.
"You expect us to stand here and reveal our deepest fears to the entire class, you, and the Head of Gryffindor House?"
There was a mass step backward by the class.
"I was just leaving," McGonagall said hurriedly, with a look at Lupin that Artemis couldn't interpret. And leave she did.
"First of all, I believe you are highly qualified at mocking laughter," Lupin addressed them. "That's what you're doing here. The boggart will insult you by trying to scare you. You will taunt it by changing its shape and then laughing at it. You use this charm. Repeat after me: Riddikulus!"
"Riddikulus," they responded automatically.
"And second, how about a vow that nothing revealed here will leave this room?"
They stared at him.
"Of course, you could all fail."
Scowls and mutterings as they began to realize they were trapped.
"Come on, the Gryffindors did it!" Lupin encouraged.
"Yeah, well, they're idiots," Zabini snorted.
"Fine," Crow announced suddenly. "I'll go first."
"Ah, a volunteer!" Lupin rubbed his hands together. "Name,please?"
"Thaddeus Laine Crow."
"Mr. Crow, do you know what your greatest fear is?"
"Yeah. Carnies."
". . . really?"
A resentful half-smirk. "I think I should know."
"Okaaay. Very well. When the boggart comes out, the first person it will see is you. And it will assume the shape of. . . a carnie. Now, how can you make a carnie seem less scary?"
Crow thought. "Imagine him buried under a pile of his stupid stuffed animal prizes?"
"Excellent!" Lupin laughed. "So, once Crow breaks free, the boggart will turn to the rest of us. Each of you picture your fear, and think how it can be turned around. . . OK? Here we go."
The group took another step back en masse. Crow wavered, but stayed standing by Lupin, who opened the wardrobe door.
Out sprang a short, fat man with small hands and a loud voice. Crow pointed his wand. His hand was steady. "Riddikulus," he said softly but firmly. There was a cracking noise.
The carnie suddenly looked up in fear as bright pink and purple stuffed kneazles rained down upon it. Crow jeered at it and the class laughed as the stuffed toys piled up.
The animal pile burst apart and the boggart rematerialized in front of Zabini. Blaise faced it, wand out, eyes narrowed, as it sifted into a pale, dark shape all in black, whose mouth opened to reveal pointed fangs.
"Riddikulus!"
With a crack, the vampire's teeth fell out, and then it was clutching at a stake through its heart, a puzzled, comical look on its toothless face. Zabini laughed mockingly. "Take that!"
It fled to Bulstrode and became a huge vulture swooping down to peck her eyes out. "R-riddikulus!" she cried and its beak fell off to be replaced by Wax Kissing Lips ("they pucker up for you--only 3 sickles"). Several other people laughed as she taunted it.
It moved quickly after that. For some reason, Pansy feared a blood-sucking white rabbit. Crabbe was afraid of his great-grandmother, and Goyle of cupcakes ("Yeah, ever since last year," Crabbe whispered. "I don't know why.").
Finally it was in front of Artemis, who had been picturing trolls, goblins, fairies, losing all his money, and discovering that a strange accident had reduced his IQ to that of a gym teacher. But what appeared in front of him was his father, lying cold and dead.
He drew in a breath, eyes going wide as he stumbled back and swore in Gnommish. His breath was coming short and quick.
And then he felt himself becoming suddenly very, very angry. His eyes narrowed to slits.
"Riddikulus," he ground out, picturing Butler getting his hands on that boggart and ripping it to tiny shreds. He smirked and whispered, "Laugh at that, shape-shifter."
Against all rules, it shuddered, because even immaterial, malicious spirits have the sense to be afraid of Butler.
Crack! The boggart exploded, burst into a thousand tiny wisps of smoke, and was gone.
"Fowl. . . what was that?" Zabini asked softly.
"It was a dead person," Parkinson butted in, staring at him. "Are you afraid of dead people?"
Artemis looked at her and she shut up and hid behind Zabini.
"This is exactly why Slytherins don't do this kind of thing," Crow complained. "Well, if anyone needs comforting, they'd better get it from Lupin, because the rest of are gits."
"A moment, Mr. Fowl," Lupin called as they were gathering up their books to leave.
Artemis groaned inwardly and went over to stand in front of the professor. "Artemis, isn't it?"
"Yes."
Lupin waited until the room cleared. "Are you. . ."
"It was my father, OK? He was kidnapped and missing for two years before he was rescued just recently. OK? And I still dream sometimes that he's dead and never really rescued at all. Can I go now?"
"Artemis. . ." he paused. "How was he rescued?"
Most of that story he wasn't supposed to tell, but somehow he heard himself say, "I shot him. Very Slytherin of me, yes?" And he grabbed his bag and fled, because when one isn't used to having emotions, there were things that it was hard to deal with.
Artemis tried to put the whole incident out of his mind as he hurried away. He turned a corner in a rush and ran headlong into Havanna Scarlet.
"Sorry about that. . ." he muttered, rather embarrassed.
She brushed the hair out of her eyes and rubbed her side, which had collided with his bookbag. "Werewolves after you?" she asked, somehow managing seduction and sarcasm at the same time.
"No, just. . . Gryffindoric teachers."
She smiled, relenting. Then she put a hand on his arm and said quite seriously, "I'm afraid Slytherins aren't very well understood. Certainly not by the professors here, who all seem to be. . . Gryffindoric, as you so aptly put it." She paused, looking him in the eye. "Don't trust them. Stick with your fellow Slytherins alone."
He managed a smile back, a real one. "Thanks, Scarlett."
"Call me Havanna." Her eyelids drooped down and her lips curved upwards, making her face strikingly tempting, even for a 13-year-old. But Artemis was made of stronger stuff.
"Thanks, Havanna." He patted the hand on his arm and stepped back. "I have to go--I'll be late for Charms."
"We can't have that. Bye, Artemis." She gave a little wave.
He nodded in acknowledgement and went to class.
Artemis was heading back to his common room after class when Catalina came rushing up to him. "Found you! You play chess well, right?"
He barely contained a smirk. "I play well, yes."
"Come on then. There's an imbecilic Gryffindor in the Great Hall, challenging a Ravenclaw girl to a game for 27 Sickles. You can play him when he's won!"
"That's small change. And how can a Gryffindor beat a Ravenclaw?"
"The point is embarrassing a Gryff--House rivalry and all, you know. And it's this particular boy's one talent, which will make it that much better. And Potter's watching!"
"Who am I playing?" Artemis gave in.
"Ron Weasley!"
Well now, interesting indeed.
Artemis was only slightly taken aback by Wizard's Chess, although he was glad he'd gotten to see it once before he had to play it. "It seems you just won 27 Sickles," he said when Ron had proclaimed Checkmate.
"Yeah. Fowl, right?"
"Yes. Well now, you must have already had 27 Sickles in order to make your bet. So that gives you 54."
"I can count." Ron eyed him warily.
"For 54 Sickles, I'll challenge you to a game."
Weasley wavered. He was confident, but this boy looked even more so.
"You're not going to back down from a Slytherin, are you?" Catalina taunted.
Her boyfriend Warrington laughed. "Scared?"
A small crowd gathered, consisting of the defeated Ravenclaw--Luna Lovegood, seemingly brilliant but extremely vague--Weasley, Potter, Granger, Catalina, Chadwick Warrington, and a misplaced Hufflepuff, Hannah Abbott. Ron couldn't bring himself to back down in front of them all.
So here they were now, embroiled in a chess match, when Artemis smiled and took Ron's bishop. Ron froze, envisioning moves ahead. "Uh oh."
Artemis said nothing as Ron glanced over at Harry and Hermione. The girl's eyes widened. "Uh oh?"
"Arty!" a voice exclaimed suddenly. Artemis sighed deeply and turned to Juliet with some tall (good-looking) boy.
"Hello to you, too."
"Arty." Catalina smiled. "How cute."
Artemis glared at her as Juliet came over and hung her arm over the back of his chair. "Have you beaten him yet?"
"What's going on?" the boy with her asked.
The Gryffindors greeted him. "Oh, hello, Wood."
"Just a friendly chess game between two rival Houses," Hannah said.
Wood sat down next to her. "Are you winning, Ron?"
Ron gave him a sickly little smile and moved his knight.
Artemis smirked and moved his own knight.
Luna stared hard at the board. "Uh oh." She stood up and patted Ron's arm. "It was a good try," she said cheerfully, and walked away.
"Weasley's losing?" Wood looked extremely surprised.
"Artemis beat Evan Kashoggi in chess once," Juliet informed them smugly.
Ron groaned and moved his remaining castle.
"Who?" Abbott asked.
"Muggle European chess champion," Granger explained, looking slightly awed.
Artemis took Ron's knight.
Ron moved his castle again.
"Checkmate," Artemis said, feeling pleased.
Ron looked extremely depressed. "Fine," he said in a dull voice. "Here's your 54 Sickles."
"How many Galleons is that?" Juliet asked. Artemis told her.
"Oh." Juliet shrugged. "That's nothing." Ron looked pained.
"Too bad, Weasley," Warrington smirked. "So much for your one talent."
"A Gryffindor beaten by a Slytherin." Catalina clapped her hands together gleefully.
"Leave him alone," Potter scowled, defending Ron, who was turning red.
"I wonder if I could study you and bottle up whatever it is that turns out to have protected you from Voldemort."
Everyone turned to gape at Artemis. "What?"
"I just wonder no one's ever had you in for examining, that's all. Your blood, your DNA, your magic. . ."
"There's no need for that!" Harry cried, alarmed.
Hermione looked at Potter thoughtfully. "That's actually an interesting question, Harry. I wonder. . ."
"Ack! No!" He sprinted away. Granger followed.
"Hey, wait!" Ron yelled after them, but they didn't stop. He sighed and started putting away the chess board.
"Seriously, though, not a bad game," Artemis mused. "You ever want to play sometime--not for money--let me know."
Weasley looked at him, surprised. "Um, OK. You know, it's hard to figure you out."
"Maybe that's because I'm not just black or white."
"You know, Artemis," Juliet interrupted, "your friends Crabbe and Goyle asked me to meet in the Potions classroom, to show me all their wrestling posters."
Artemis coughed. "Did they? What did you say?"
"Are you crazy? I love looking at wrestling pictures!"
Wood abruptly stood up. "You're going to see two Slytherins alone?"
"Don't worry, she can handle herself." Artemis coughed again, hiding a smile that wanted to become a laugh.