A Piece of Mind

Chapter [19]

So, Hi. It's been a while. Like... almost a whole year? Sorry about that.

But I won't waste any more of your time with apologies, just know that I am sorry for pushing this off so long. I hope it was worth the wait, updating is still tentative and will take a while (just not a whole year, hopefully smh).

And NO, she's not /actually/ dead

~~~

Artemis woke to Goyle's troll-like snoring in the bed next to his. He opened his eyes but upon hearing hushed voices, remained motionless.

"Are you sure?" a voice whispered. It was one of the other boys in the dormitory, Theodore Nott. "Maybe they were talking about some other family tradition. Or the inheritance of an heirloom, or something."

"An heirloom?" came the whispered response of Draco, his voice strained. He was afraid. "You think they would make such a fuss over an heirloom? No, it has to be the mark." Artemis silently pulled his curtains slightly ajar to hear the conversation better.

"But, Draco, they wouldn't make you join up so young, right? You'll still have a choice? Surely your mum..."

"No. She can't do anything against the dark lord and my father. If he tells me it's time, then I have no choice." There was a moment of silence.

"You could always run away," Theodore joked weakly.

"No, I can't," was Draco's somber response.

After that, one of the other boys yawned and the conversation ended. Artemis lay in bed, pondering this new development. The mark... that must be what followers of Voldemort, his 'death eaters', use to identify each other. Maybe even communicate with each other. Artemis would have to do more research.

Last night Grace had asked him why he had invited Mr. Malfoy to the removal of Umbridge from the school. He was biased towards Fudge, powerful, pureblooded, and, in her own words, an "overall pile of dragon dicks". Yet, his influence was helpful in keeping Fudge in line, despite the influence Fudge had over Lucius. The Minister would try his best (however terrible an attempt that was) to not look stupid in front of Malfoy, therefore helping the outcome of yesterday's events.

To add to that, Artemis secretly aimed for the minor show of his true nature to make its way to Draco via his father, and suspend the ridiculous vendetta the boy seemed to have against him. It was getting irksome.

And on a final and truthfully unrealistic level, Artemis had hoped to gain proof of Lucius' allegiance to the Dark Lord. Which, with a bit of luck and a neat jinx he had discovered the other day, he could confirm. The dark snake tattoo seemed rather normal considering the dark magic embedded in the ink.

After waiting an appropriate amount of time after eavesdropping on their conversation (so as not to look suspiciously awake), Artemis pulled the curtain from his bed and got ready for breakfast.

It was still early - the Great Hall only had a sprinkling of students cradling coffee and staring blearily at their textbooks. Antithetically, few teachers weren't awake at this hour, and Artemis was pleased to see Umbridge was among the empty seats, missing from the long staff table. It made him straighten his back a little more with quiet satisfaction at a job well done.

As he walked down the steps, Artemis noticed two flaming redheads hunched over a book and conversing in excited whispers. He turned toward the Gryffindor table instead of his own and walked over, taking a seat directly across from the two pranksters.

They looked up in surprise, one of them (George, Artemis guessed) pulling his plate laden with toast over the old tome they had been reading a second ago, obscuring its contents quickly but with a faux casual air as he leaned heavily on it.