Hello. This story was inspired by a picture the wonderful artist/writer Lizeth drew. If you wish to see, I am putting a link up in my profile. I'm telling you, her picture plants horrible ideas in your head. This has been eating at me forever. Thank my beta Juliette Fox. If not for her, this wouldn't be readable.

This story takes place after the fourth book in the Artemis Fowl series, after the fifth book in the Harry Potter series, and after Darren becomes a vampire prince (whenver that is, because I have the worst memory and can't remember).

Disclaimer: I do not own the Saga of Darren Shan, Harry Potter, or Artemis Fowl.

H.A.D.
by Lea Cat
8/23/08

Harry Potter, Boy-Who-Lived, Savior of the Wizarding World, and rival to the Dark Lord Voldemort (a.k.a. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named), was not having a very good day. Then again, he just didn't have a very good life for that matter.

"Stupid Dursleys," he muttered under his breath, stabbing his hand shovel into the dirt he was picking weeds out of. He sat back with a sigh and brushed his hand across his forehead, unintentionally leaving a streak of dirt behind. "I bloody hate them." He glanced about, finding no weeds to remove and abolish, and abandoned his post in the dirt.

Harry paused for a moment and mentally ran over his list of chores, checking things off one by one as he recalled doing them over the course of the day. It was late afternoon by now and he'd been working since early in the morning. He didn't even get breakfast or lunch. He could hear his aunt in the kitchen, dishes clinking about as she organized things. She wouldn't come looking for him until dinner and Harry couldn't help but harbor thoughts of wandering off. Then again, why couldn't he?

He checked his surroundings cautiously as he left for the park; even though he'd completed all his chores, he highly doubted he was supposed to go out. Well, they couldn't keep him in that house all summer, Harry thought grimly. He smiled, his lips curving harshly. He would have his freedom.

"Butler, let's go for a walk." Artemis Fowl, child genius and criminal mastermind (although that had recently changed), was bored. He was bored enough, in fact, that he was willing to take a walk. Besides, the walk had more then one purpose.

Artemis didn't wait for his bodyguard and friend to respond before taking off. Butler had no problem keeping up with him, even though he was slower and stiffer than before. This bothered Artemis more than he cared to admit. With all the danger he'd gotten into recently, he felt it imperative to get in shape. It would be beneficial to staying alive.

Artemis took a long, roundabout path to his destination, his walk taking him through a small suburb rather than the shorter yet busier main streets. He took a random turn, uncertain why he did so. His feet were guiding him and he almost stopped before realizing that his intuition was trying to tell him something. There was something important here, he could sense it.

He heard the laughter before he saw the source. A small park with children scattered across the equipment rested across the street from him. He hesitantly crossed the street to get closer, the gut feeling growing stronger. His icy blue eyes flickered from child to child as they ran about playing tag, trying to identify the source of his curiosity.

There! One boy sat alone on the swings, unmoving and silent, a complete contrast of everyone else. He looked a bit younger than Artemis but had the same mature air that spoke of weary experience. The lone boy had messy black hair (which prompted Artemis to check the status of his own black hair) and Artemis couldn't help but wonder what kind of eyes this not-quite-adult-nor-child had.

As if the unknown boy could sense his thoughts, he looked up to meet Artemis's eyes with tired emerald green eyes. Those eyes widened when they met his (in recognition or surprise?) and Artemis found that he was feeling a strange sense of camaraderie.

"Artemis?"

Instantly the trance was broken and all of his attention shifted to the uneasy man beside him. "Yes, what is it Butler?"

"Where are we headed?" The large man asked. Why are we here? His eyes added.

Artemis ignored the unspoken question, deciding it was something he wouldn't share. "I heard that there's a nice coffee shop down the street," he said. "I was hoping they'd have tea."

Darren Shan, half vampire and currently the youngest Vampire Prince sat down in a soft plush chair with a sigh. After being crowned as a prince, he had wanted to see more of the world. Thankfully, Mr. Crepsley thought that would be for the best too. So their travels had eventually taken them to London, where he was finding things very interesting. Finding people to take blood from wasn't difficult either; the ally ways were prime spots to pick people.

He sighed, unhappy with the way his thoughts were leaning. It seemed that his thoughts had begun to revolve around vampires. Darren wanted to cut loose, have fun, and enjoy himself. He'd been a Vampire Prince for 6 years and a half vampire for 14 years. He thought he deserved a bit of fun, which was why he kept slipping away from Mr. Crepsley. The older vampire always lectured him afterwards though. It was beginning to get repetitive.

Yes, he should be responsible. Yes, he was aware there was a conflict occurring. It was duly noted (even if he really didn't feel like caring at the moment). No, he wasn't trying to leave Mr. Crepsley behind—okay, maybe a little. But could anyone blame him? Fortunately, Mr. Crepsley couldn't follow him into the sun.

Darren was glad he was only a half vampire. He enjoyed walking among normal people, being no different from any other person in the crowd. He liked the sun and he'd be sad when he had to give that up too.

Darren pulled himself back to the present when he heard a waitress ask for his order. "You do serve tea, right?" he asked with a slight tilt to his head.

The waitress bobbed her head up and down, brown hair flopping. "Yes sir, we have tea! Would you like some?"

"Yes, please," he smiled at her eagerness.

"Yes sir! Tea coming right up! Ernie, we have a tea here!"

"Alright!" a bellow came from the backroom.

"It'll be ready soon," the waitress chirped to Darren, "I'll bring it here, okay?" Without waiting for a reply, she bounced off to get someone else's order.

Darren sighed and glanced about as he wasted time. There weren't that many people, but they had all ordered around the same time, so it was no wonder the serving area was clogged.

His eye was drawn to a table in the back corner of the room, where a mountain of a man and a slim teen sat. They were an unlikely pair. Then again, Vancha looked stranger. It was clear that the boy was the leader there as he was doing most of the talking.

Or maybe Darren was getting paranoid.

The boy looked up and met his eyes with an intense stare. Darren swallowed hard. No, he wasn't being paranoid.

They shared a look for what felt like an eternity before the large man interrupted.

Darren watched the man and boy converse quickly before leaving. He had a feeling that he'd see them again soon.

"Your tea, sir," The waitress set the cup down in front of him. "Are you sure you don't want anything else?"

"Yeah, I'm sure." He said, picking the cup up and taking a sip absentmindedly. He stared out the window, watching the strange teen disappear into the crowd with his companion. He had only taken a few sips of his tea before he decided he didn't want it anymore. He left the money for the tea along with a tip for the waitress next to the abandoned cup, getting up to leave the quaint shop behind.

He would be keeping the strange boy in mind—he had been spending too much time with Evanna to believe in anything but destiny and this screamed of being preordained.

Artemis glanced about as he walked down the street with Butler at his side. Even as his complex mind worked at a painting he could steal, his mind settled on the boy he had seen in the coffee shop. The teen had dark hair and dark eyes—it was difficult to tell if his hair was black or simply dark brown, so Artemis settled for dark—and had a look of wisdom beyond his years.

The boy at the park had had the same look, Artemis recalled thoughtfully.

He heard sirens further down the street and saw people scurrying that way to see what had happened. He noticed Butler had paused to see what Artemis had to say. "I believe I will see what has happened before spending the rest of the day at the art museum." He concluded out loud. Butler did nothing more than nod, which was expected, before following Artemis towards the crime scene.

Harry had ventured onto the main streets shortly after the stranger with mature eyes came along. He had been antsy ever since the other boy had looked at him and had gone to the streets in an attempt to burn off his nervous energy.

It was closer to sunset now and he realized he needed to head back before the Dursleys missed him. He rerouted his path so that he would make a rather large U-turn and continued walking. London was full of alleys that Death Eaters could spring out of, so he paid special attention to the dark paths.

If he hadn't been paying attention, he would have missed the boy slipping out of an alley and walking along the same path he was. It was awfully suspicious and he stared at the back of the stranger for several moments.

Apparently, he had been staring too intently because the stranger looked back at him. He caught a glimpse of dark eyes and pearly white teeth before he averted his eyes.

Harry carefully kept his eyes away from the boy for a block or two before he finally got the courage to look back again. To his surprise, the other boy had disappeared as thoroughly as if he was never there. He took the time to glance about a bit before shrugging and continuing on. It wasn't as if he hadn't seen stranger things happen.

His monotonous walk was interrupted by the sound of sirens and his gaze landed on a crowd before him. It wasn't difficult at all to slip to the front of the crowd and he saw a glimpse of a body being carted into an ambulance. Police were busy drilling into witnesses and Harry was careful to avoid them. He wasn't a witness and he didn't want to be pegged as one.

He looked over the scene carefully before coming to the conclusion that it was a mugging. Harry glanced up for a second and did a double take. The boy with mature eyes was at the other end of the crime scene watching him with such a severe stare that Harry briefly thought that he might have had something to do with the mugging.

That thought was immediately dismissed. He didn't know why but he knew without a doubt that this type of thing wasn't what the boy would do. If the boy were to do something, Harry decided, it would probably be more refined and untraceable. The unknown certainly had the air of someone who would never be caught.

Harry gave the other one more uncertain glance before turning to disappear in the crowd.

Darren wasn't having any luck at all with his 'hunting'.

He had a syringe on him because he had wanted to try hunting without Mr. Crepsley's help. Unfortunately, that left him with a considerably lower amount of people he could take blood from. He needed to find someone willing to give him blood or so out of it that they didn't notice him taking blood.

He prowled about the alleyways anxiously, wanting to get blood and get back to the hotel before Mr. Crepsley woke up. He could always knock someone out physically but he also realized how messy that might get if he misjudged his strength.

He realized he was gnawing on his nails and hastily stopped. He might need his stronger than average nails for something else tonight. He entered a small suburb and glanced about for small children. They were easy to knock out and (as guilty as it made him feel) they had fairly sweet blood. If he played his cards right, he could even get them to willingly give him blood!

Movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention and he swiveled his head about to look. It was that boy from before, the one with bright green eyes who kept staring at him. Darren entertained the thought of taking his blood for a moment before discarding it. He had the feeling that boy was important and he'd respect that by leaving him alone.

On the other hand, it still might be fun to stalk him.

It took him a block or two to realize that he wasn't the only one with the idea of haunting the poor boy. The other one, the mature guy with the large body guard, seemed to have got it in his head to follow his green eyed victim. Darren regarded the other hunter curiously before dismissing him as another part of his stalking game. If he could avoid letting both boys know he was there, then he'd reward himself with another hour of free time.

Mr. Crepsley wouldn't be very happy, but Mr. Crepsley wasn't happy anyway and a little more unhappiness wasn't going to make the lecture worse.

Artemis noted the boy's address down in his head and firmly fixed the location in his mind before turning to leave. He mentally reminded himself to come back tomorrow and headed for the art museum. He would have a better idea of what kind of art he needed to steal if he knew what kind of art the museum didn't have.

He was out of breath by the time he got to his destination, which slightly annoyed him, and motioned for Butler to slow his pace. There was no admission price, so they simply walked in and wandered the halls.

They had just reached the hall of the supernatural when Artemis bumped into someone. He was startled, understandably so, because it had been quite a while since he had last been caught off guard.

"Pardon me—" he began.

"Oh, sorry—" the other person started at the same time.

There was a brief and momentary pause as both examined each other before jumping back and screeching, or exclaiming in Artemis' case, at the same time, "You!"

"Why do I keep seeing you everywhere?" the dark haired teen from the coffee shop moaned.

"You've only seen me twice," Artemis corrected him stiffly. "This would be the second time."

"It doesn't matter," it was clear the other boy was whining at this point. "All I wanna do is relax and then you pop up and BAM! I can't stop thinking about how weird you were."

Artemis' eyebrow rose on its own. "I think the strange one would be you."

The teen grumbled for a bit before sticking his hand out. "Darren Shan," he said bluntly.

Artemis took his hand and shook it. "Artemis Fowl," he returned. He gestured to the silent and nearly forgotten Butler. "This is Butler."

Darren eyed Butler warily before turning back to Artemis. "So, I couldn't help but notice you following that other guy."

"What?" Artemis was surprised once again. He knew who Darren was talking about, but how had he not noticed Darren?

"Mmhm. I was playing the stalking game. Pick a person and stalk them. I just so happened to be stalking the same person you were." Darren gave him a toothy grin.

"I was curious," Artemis sniffed, feeling as if he needed to justify himself somehow.

"He is curious, isn't he? I mean, he gives me the same sort of feeling you do and that's saying something." Darren glanced down at his watch quickly before suddenly groaning. "Ah, hell, I need to get back. I get the feeling I'll see you later," Darren pointed at Artemis, "So don't forget me!" With that said, he ran off without letting Artemis get a word in.

Artemis and Butler stared after Darren for a short period of time after he had disappeared from sight. Butler turned to his charge and said, "Artemis?"

"Yes, Butler?"

"Why do you insist on meeting the strangest people?"

Artemis huffed. "He's not nearly as strange as Holly." And it was true; Darren Shan most definitely seemed more normal than former captain Holly Short.

"So you're going to that other boy's house tomorrow?" Butler asked. It hid another question, Artemis realized.

"I don't know why," he told Butler truthfully, "But I feel as if it is necessary for me to meet that boy." Butler had nothing to say to that and simply followed Artemis as they continued their tour of the art museum.

This can't end well, Butler thought ruefully.