An Unlikely Duo 2: The Chamber of Secrets

One Truth and Two Lies

Artemis wished that Nico wasn't such an idiot.

He was a genius, but he wasn't a miracle-worker! Okay, he was a miracle-worker, one of the best in fact, but even he couldn't safely perform a memory charm at the age of 12! He probably would be able to if he tried, but it could result in terrible consequences, something he'd rather not risk. He could probably spin a convincing lie if he had a few minutes to think, but the only options he could think of on the spot weren't... ideal. To be fair though,  Nico wasn't really leaving him many other options by shadow-travelling straight into the middle of their compartment. 

Well, this would be a tricky mess to clean up.

****10 minutes ago****

Artemis ,quite literally, ran into Draco while he was racing to board the train in time.

"Ow!" Draco exclaimed, rubbing his forehead and stumbling backward at the same time as Artemis as they collided, "What in Merlin's name are you doing?"

Artemis doubled over panting, clutching his side, "I was trying to catch the train in time." he wheezed, "Which I did."

"How far did you run?" Draco asked, looking slightly concerned at the sight of him wheezing and panting like he'd run a marathon.

"I had to run all the way from the barrier to the train!" Artemis replied, still trying to catch his breath.

Draco gave him a dry look, unimpressed, "That's like, barely 100 meters."

"Trust me, I know." Artemis groaned before muttering under his breath, "I really need to find a way to squeeze a bit of exercise into my schedule."

"Okay...." Draco trailed off, "Anyway, I'm going to go find Potter. You coming with?"

Artemis shrugged, "I suppose so. Nico will catch up with us later. Hopefully."

Draco grinned, "Great! Now come on!" he said, grabbing Artemis by the arm and pulling him away.

"Draco," Artemis sighed, looking every bit like an exasperated older brother who was tired of his younger sibling's antics(despite being the youngest in their year), "Must you go and visit Potter's compartment and start teasing him before we even get to Hogwarts?"

"Yes!" Draco insisted, "Besides, I have really good teasing material this year! Dobby let me read all of Potter's mail! You have no idea how much blackmail material I have now."

"Who's this 'Dobby' person?" asked Artemis, "And why did he let you read Potter's private mail? How did he even get it? That's illegal, trust me, I should know."

"Oh, Dobby? He's my family's house elf." Draco said casually, "As for why he let me read Potter's mail, meh, I don't know," he said with a shrug, "Dobby's cool that way."

"How did he get it though?" Artemis persisted.

"With Dobby, who knows? I've found that it's better not to ask."

"Interesting." Artemis mused, "Do you think he'd be interested in helping me with a few... tasks this winter?"

Draco shook his head regretfully, "He'd probably love to, but he can't leave the house for too long without father noticing his disappearance, and I'm not going home for Christmas this time around, so I can't cover for him." Noticing Artemis' disappointment, he added, "Cheer up though, it's probably for the best, I'm pretty sure that you wouldn't enjoy being dangled out of a window."

Artemis raised an eyebrow, "Dangled out of a window?"

"Dobby has a strange way of showing affection. Let's just leave it at that."