A walk to remember – an abbreviated introduction – an unexpected shower – cats and leprechauns – burning toast – speculation
See the world. See the fragile blue-green jewel endlessly spinning through space. Look closer. Look towards the white ice surrounded by more land than water. See the landforms take on detail as you move closer. See the small islands appear as you move closer still. Look to one particular island, not small, but not extraordinarily large either. You focus in on the north, where the land becomes wild and misty. One valley stands out. Below there are two figures, walking along the moor.
They are arguing. Again.
"I can understand why I'm here in the middle of nowhere. This kind of thing happens to me all the time. But why do I have to be stuck with some wonder-kid who can't even find his way home?"
They are remarkably similar in appearance, save for the fact that one is wearing robes and the other is in a suit.
"Perhaps your little stick can point us in the right direction. It's the reason we're here in the first place."
The other boy's green eyes flashed dangerously. "Stop calling it a stick! It's a wand, and it is pointing the way home. Look." The wand in the boy's hand spun around once, then froze with the tip aiming behind him. The boy looked embarrassed for a moment. "Oops," he muttered.
Artemis reluctantly followed the other boy across the heath. His sudden appearance here had been a complete accident according to the boy in front of him. The unfortunate side-effect of the pair of them being transported a mile from this castle was unplanned as well. He instantly disliked this boy. He was short-tempered, touchy, and did not like suggests from other people. And he claimed he was a wizard. Artemis had seen strange and unusual things in his short life, but never a human saying he could do magic.
"So there are more people like you, then, at this school?" he drawled.
"Haven't you been listening? There are wizards and witches all over the world. There's thousands in Britain alone. Hogwarts is the best wizarding school there is," the other boy retorted.
The only thing Artemis found useful about the boy was that he liked to correct people. He was a wealth of information.
"Right. I thought this was a big secret for you. Why tell me?"
"Because you'll probably have a Memory Charm used on you anyway, so you won't remember a thing. They're dead powerful, you know. Well, when they're done right."
"I'm sure." From up ahead he thought he heard the words "Irish idiot."
"Troglodyte," he muttered. They had been walking for close to an hour. They would have reached their destination already except that Scarface kept changing directions. Finally they crested a hill, and the other boy reacted very surprisingly. He gave a yell of triumph, and started to run forwards. All Artemis could see was yet another valley with a large lake in it. Nothing to be happy about.
"What are you so excited about? Are we almost there?" he asked.
"What are you talking about? We're here! It's right in front of us!" he exclaimed, slowing down.
Artemis looked over the field again, just to be sure that he hadn't missed something, which he doubted. Suddenly the other boy slapped a hand to his forehead.
"Of course!" he laughed. "You're a Muggle! You can't see it until you're inside the wards. Come on." He started down the hill again.
"Fabulous. More walking," he grumbled. "What precisely is a 'Muggle'?"
"Non-magic folk," he called back.
"Mud boy, Muggle. These people all think alike."
More trudging. Artemis blinked in surprise when the other boy suddenly vanished. He walked forward and felt…something…change. The world twisted, and a huge castle appeared before him. Artemis actually felt his eyes widen. This was unexpected.
"Harry, you're back!" A girl was running towards them, with a red-headed boy behind her. "What happened? You were trying to conjure who-knows-what when you disappeared!" She stopped when she noticed Artemis. "Who's this?" Her tone was not very welcoming.
Harry glanced over his shoulder. "Oh, that's Arthur-"
"Artemis," he corrected.
"-and apparently he's the thing I conjured. Complete accident of course."
The girl approached Artemis cautiously, like he was something that would bite her. "Hi. I'm Hermione, and this is Ron," she said and indicated the red-haired boy. "How are you doing?"
"Oh, I'm doing splendidly. I was rerouting funds made off illegal African diamonds into my own account when I found myself in the middle of uncharted Scotland with a person who claims to be a wizard. I'm having a grand old time. I must say this is much more fun," he replied derisively.
Ron the Red leaned over to Harry, making no attempt to avoid being heard. "Where'd you find this one, mate? He has the same charming personality as Malfoy. Pale like him, too."
"And scrawny," laughed Harry. "Come on guys. Let's go up to the common room. I need a drink of pumpkin juice or something. I haven't walked that far in ages." They started to move off.
"And what about me? Am I to just wander around until somebody decides I should be shipped home?" questioned Artemis.
The trio looked uncomfortable. The girl spoke to Harry. "He's right, you know. We can't just leave him. At least in the common room he can't cause any trouble."
Harry sighed loudly. "Fine. Let's go, Arty," he called back. "Don't touch anything, and step where we do. Got it?"
"Yes, sir. And my name is Artemis."
As they walked up to the castle, Artemis hung back, and listened to them talk. He quickly understood that the girl, Hermione, was the brains of the group. Although, he thought, it wouldn't take much when compared to the other two. Their conversation included many phrases unfamiliar to him, but he caught words like charm and spell, even witch. He made a mental note to question them more closely about it once inside.
As soon as they walked through the doors, several things happened at once. The first was a loud whoop from above. Then the cry of "Duck!" from one of the boys. And finally, a large amount of cold and smelly water dumped over Artemis. He stood there for a moment, annoyed but unable to do anything about it, and let the water drip off him. He heard cackling coming from above. Someone shouted "Peeves!" very angrily. Artemis decided that this kind of treatment was worse than trolls.
He was aware that the girl was beside him. "Here," she said, "I'll take care of that." She pulled out another thin piece of wood, a wand presumably, and muttered something in Latin. Artemis was suddenly bone-dry. He inspected his suit for signs of damage. There were none.
"Simple drying spell," she explained. "You probably don't deserve it, but you obviously can't survive on your own." She looked at him thoughtfully, then added, "You'll need to blend in, too. Otherwise there'll be a few awkward questions." She waved her wand again, and Artemis's suit transformed into a set of black robes identical to Harry's. "Perfect," she said.
Artemis scowled slightly, but murmured a thank you. He reluctantly followed them up the sweeping staircase. He didn't want to know what else awaited him.
It was a large, ugly orange cat, and it refused to leave his lap.
"Well that's good sign," said Hermione. "Crookshanks usually hates strangers." Artemis had to settle for letting it sit on him, otherwise it would growl whenever he tried moving it, and Hermione would look over sharply.
There weren't any other people in the common room. The other three were quite content to ignore him, and sat in a corner finishing their Potions homework. Honestly, Potions. This whole place was like a carnival funhouse. Trick stairs, talking portraits, and ghosts were only a few things they had encountered on the way up here. It was too illogical for Artemis.
Yet he found some of it fascinating. He borrowed one of the textbooks and started to read about the various 'fantastic' creatures that inhibited this world of wizards. In particular he wanted to know how they viewed the People, or if they even knew about them. But when he came across Fairies in the textbook, he was disappointed. All that was described were the tiny flying creatures out of folktales. Centaurs, Gnomes, and Pixies provided the same result. He did find the entry on Leprechauns interesting, and actually laughed quietly at their description. He thought about asking the others if they knew anything about fairies living underground, but decided against it. One thing he noticed was that wizards liked to document everything. If it wasn't mentioned, then they probably didn't know about it.
He heard whispering and looked over to see both Ron and Hermione bending over their scrolls, occasionally glancing in his direction. Harry had fallen asleep in his armchair. Artemis resolutely turned his back on them when he heard a different noise. A gasp, and then a thud. He turned to see Harry convulsing on the floor. A shocked second passed, then Ron and Hermione rushed to his side. Artemis stayed where he was, watching. It looked like Harry was having some kind of seizure, but nothing in this place quite fitted with the reality Artemis knew. He didn't want to interfere in case something went wrong. He was also weighed down with the cat still sitting on him.
He didn't have to worry, because Harry woke up a few seconds later. He looked terrified.
"I-I saw him," he gasped. "I saw Voldemort. He was in that house again. He looked straight at me."
"Are you going to tell Sirius?" asked Ron immediately.
"Are you going to tell Dumbledore?" asked Hermione urgently.
"Are you epileptic?" asked Artemis suddenly.
All three turned to stare at him. Harry glared. The cat hissed at him and jumped off to slink into a corner.
"Only sometimes," Artemis continued, "seizures can produce sensations of sights and smells that are not real. Tell me, Harry, do you smell burning toast?"
Even Harry could tell he was being made fun of. "Why don't you go play with Fluffy, you Irish git." He started to say more, but cried out and clutched at his head, covering the oddly shaped scar visible on his forehead. Artemis stood up instinctively, wondering what on earth was happening now.
"Harry, you need to go see Dumbledore about this. Maybe he can do something about it," suggested Hermione.
"No, no. I'm fine, really," he said, standing up. He stumbled a little, almost falling into Artemis, but managed to catch himself in time. Hermione was suddenly looking from Harry to Artemis and back very intently. "What is it?" he asked.
"I didn't notice it before, but now that you're standing next to each other, I see it."
"Notice what?" asked Harry.
"Ron, do you see it? Ignoring the glasses and the scar, I mean …"
Ron peered at the pair of them. He suddenly grinned. "I see what you mean, Hermione. They could be brothers."
"What!" cried Harry. Both he and Artemis turned to look at each other. Artemis had to admit that there were certainly some similarities between them. The same age, same height and size, same hair, same facial features…Hermione was right. Take away Harry's glasses and scar, and the only difference between them was eye colour. It was rather unsettling. Surprisingly, it was Harry that shook the effect off first.
"The same thing has been said about me and Riddle. It doesn't mean anything."
"Right, I wasn't saying it did, but still…it's eerie," Hermione said.
"Maybe we should make little labels for them to wear so we can tell them apart," snickered Ron.
"Will you knock it off?" Harry said impatiently. "I have to finish that essay and I don't need to be interrupted by visions of Voldemort dancing in my head or you two ogling at me. It's distracting." He returned to his chair and picked up the scroll he had dropped earlier. The other two also resumed their work.
Artemis was left alone once again. He settled into his own chair, and picked up another heavy volume. This one was titled Hogwarts, A History. He didn't know how long he would be stuck here, so he might as well find out as much as he could about this place. It might help later on. But really his mind was working on something entirely different. He was not a superstitious person, and he did not read meaning into every little oddity. But he also didn't believe in coincidences. He wondered…
Please review, as this provides tinder for my ever-consuming bonfire of a mind.
This doesn't take place in any particular time in either book series, so some events might not match up perfectly. It's placed roughly around Order of the Phoenix for the HP series, and between The Opal Deception and The Lost Colony for the AF series.
Bonus: 20 points to whoever reviews. Consider this a goodwill treat.