I know this part is a little long, but I just couldn't decide how to seperate them. =)

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Audrey

Nikkie and I were walking the grounds, heading towards Hagrid’s hut for Care of Magical Creatures. Nikkie was excited to see Harry. Personally, I didn’t care. I was just ready to get the day over with. We approached Harry, who was standing at the halfway point. I sighed as they greeted each other, hugging tightly and gently kissing.

I turned away from them, only to see Artemis approaching me. He had an anxious look upon his face. Ah… his beautiful, perfect face. I found myself staring at him… again. I shook myself out of the daydream just when he stopped in front of me.

“Hey, Audrey,” he greeted me, then he turned to Nikkie and Harry. “Mind if I steal her for a moment?”

Nikkie shook her head. “No… just keep it PG.”

I shot her a glance before following Artemis off the path. I followed behind him for a moment before catching up. Was there a reason he pulled me aside like this? Suddenly, my mind began to race and I became nervous. It was silent until we stopped in front of a large oak tree. A large, gray rock sat in front of it. Artemis sat down on it, and then looked up at me.

“Sit with me for a moment?” he requested.

“Sure?” I sat down next to him, still utterly confused about this meeting.

It was quiet for a moment before Artemis said, “I’m sure you’re wondering why I brought you here, aren’t you?”

I nodded slightly. “A little.”

Artemis sighed. “I just want to address a few complications… before we get any more involved with each other.”

Complications? I was confused, lost, and concerned all at the same time. What did he have to tell me? “What do you mean, Artemis?” I asked.

He sighed again. “Audrey… there’s a couple things that you don’t know about me, and I think it’s only fair that you know the truth.”

The truth? What was he talking about? Was he the liar my tea leaves warned me of? Maybe he was, but I was positive it wasn’t terrible. Or at least I had hoped.

“Artemis what is it?” I pressed on. “You can tell me anything.”

He glanced at the sky for a moment. “Well… let me start with the easier one.” He paused. “Certainly we’ve seen a lot of different creatures while we’ve been here.”

“Well yea. It’s Hogwarts,” I replied. “We’ve seen it all. The better question is what haven’t we seen?”

Artemis nodded. “Yes, something like that. But I want you to look at me. Really hard. Do I look different to you?”

I looked at him. All I saw was Artemis. The same Artemis I had always known. I didn’t see what he was getting at. “No,” I said. “You look the same as you always have.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Artemis stopped me. “Compare me to other people. What’s different?”

I looked again. I still didn’t see anything too unusual about him. Paler than most people but that was it really. “You’re pale,” I decided. “That’s it.”

Artemis nodded. “That’s because of what I am.”

“What you are?! What do you mean?” I questioned.

He sighed. “Will this help?” He smiled, showing his teeth.

And that’s when I saw the unexpected. His canines were long and pointed. He had fangs. It all made perfect sense now. I knew what he was now, but I just couldn’t believe it. “You’re a… vampire,” I stuttered.

Artemis barely nodded. “Yea… I am. But don’t worry about that. I’m not going to bite you or anything.”

I was still stunned really. “I’m not worried about that. You don’t strike me as the type to do something as primitive as that.”

“Good,” he said, “because it’s the second one that’s scary, for the both of us.”

I felt my stomach flip. What was worse than that? Did he have a baby momma lying around or was he dying or something else? This one was making me nervous.

He cleared his throat. “Well… roughly eighteen years ago, as I’m sure you know, Harry was almost killed by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named,” Artemis began. “After that, he went off into hiding, making most believe he was dead.”

“Yea, I knew that,” I responded. “But how does it pertain to you exactly?”

“I’m getting there,” he sighed. He paused. “Not too long ago, I learned that he was not dead, in fact he was far from it. My Uncle Lucius, that would be Malfoy’s father, took me and Draco to a meeting of the Death Eaters.”

There was that flip again. This was not going well. Not good at all. He began to slowly roll up the sleeve of his robes, revealing his left arm. He pushed up his dress shirt’s sleeve, keeping the inside of it hidden from me. I almost didn’t know if I wanted to see it.

“I told you that I injured my arm in a Quidditch accident. However, that’s not true,” Artemis continued, turning his arm so I could see it. On his pale forearm was a tattoo of a skull with a snake coming out of its mouth. Artemis had what was known as a Dark Mark. I looked at him with a look of shock. “Yes, Audrey, I am a Death Eater,” he whispered. “I am a part of Lord Voldemort’s army.”

I frowned. “But… why? Why would you?” I’m sure I looked crazy for a second while I tried to sort out details in my head. “How can you be one of them?! They’re deranged murders!” I paused for a moment. “I don’t get it Artemis. I don’t know why you would join them.”

“I wish I could tell you, but I don’t even know the answer to that question,” Artemis admitted. He looked at his feet. “I feel terrible for lying to you like I did. I’m just so used to telling everyone that; being a Death Eater isn’t something I want everyone knowing. I just hope this doesn’t change anything between us.”

I looked at him. Was he any different now? Did that change who he was? No, I decided. He was still Artemis, the same Artemis that I knew and loved. Being a vampire Death Eater didn’t change that. Just meant he was a lot more dangerous than I thought.

“It doesn’t,” I eventually said.

“Are you sure?” he asked. “I don’t want you saying that because you don’t want to hurt my feelings. I’ll leave you alone and never speak to you again if that’s what you want.” Artemis began to stand.

I pulled him back down. “It doesn’t change anything, Artemis. I still think you’re an amazing person,” I assured. “And I always will. Yea, you have some flaws, but we all do. I’m not going to judge you on your species or… political standing.”

“Thank you so much, Audrey. I promise you nothing’s ever going to happen to you,” Artemis promised me. “I’m not going to let anyone hurt you. I’ll protect you.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, confused.

Artemis rolled his sleeves back down, and then pulled me into his arms. “No one is safe right now, on either side,” he whispered into my ear. “With me around, I can at least keep Voldemort from harming you.”

I wrapped my arms around him tightly. “Thank you for telling me all this, Artemis. It means a lot to me that you told me the truth. It’s not something I’m exactly thrilled about, but I’m sure I can get passed those.” I released him from my hug.

“Is there anything you need to tell me?” he asked.

“Well, sometimes I snore and… sometimes I like to blare rock music and then sing and dance to it,” I admitted.

Artemis laughed slightly. “You’re crazy.”

“Yea, but you like it,” I replied, adding a quick, nervous kiss on his cheek before pulling free of his grasp. I stood, facing him with a smile on my face. I could feel my face turning pink. “Shall we go to class?” I asked.

He tried not to smile, I could tell, but he did. His face too was an unusual shade of pink. “Suppose we should, huh?”

He stood and we began our walk together. I was minding my own business when I suddenly I felt something brush up against my hand. Then it intertwined itself with my fingers. I glanced down to see a hand holding my own. I followed the arm it was attached to up to the person’s face to see Artemis looking back at me. His face was a little pinker than it was moments ago.

“Is this okay?” he asked quietly.

I nodded. “I like it.” I paused for a moment. “Like a lot.”

He blushed before answering, “Me too.”

We got to class a tad late, as the Groundskeeper turned professor, Hagrid, had already begun his lecture about unicorns that he had started yesterday. But that didn’t stop him from noticing our tardiness. Hagrid tended to notice everything.

“Mister Fowl. Miss Taylor,” he announced, causing all of the classes eyes to fall on us. “Yer a lil late.”

“Sorry Hagrid,” I muttered.

“We were… with Professor Snape,” Artemis covered for us. I shot him a glare. We were most certainly not with Snape.

“Wit Snape were ya?” Hagrid asked.

“Yes, gathering ingredients for our potions lesson tomorrow,” Artemis went on.

Hagrid nodded, and then went on with his lesson. The classes’ eyes followed him, and I was grateful no one had noticed the fact that we were holding hands. At least as far as I knew no one did.

“With Snape? Really?” I whispered hurriedly to him.

“Shhh, don’t worry,” Artemis assured me. “He’s my Godfather. He owes me a few favors.” He winked (something I had never seen him do before), and then lowered his voice. “Snape’s like me. He’s a D.E.”

A D.E.? Oh… a Death Eater, I thought. Snape’s his Godfather?!

“He’s your Godfather?” I asked. “How is that possible?”

“He and my father were good friends while they were in Hogwarts, that’s how,” Artemis explained. “They’re practically brothers. My dad is one of the few who stuck up for Snape when Harry’s dad’s posse was ridiculing him. It would only make sense he is.”

“Ahhh…” was my response.

I went back to paying attention to Hagrid’s lecture. Only about ten minutes later, a large great-horned owl swopped down, landing on Hagrid’s massive shoulder. He immediately noticed the bird, and snatched the letter from its leg. He read it quickly and carefully. A grim look appeared on his face, and then he spoke.

“Well, I’ll have be cuttin’ class short today,” he announced. “The school be on lockdown and yer all to report to yer dormitories immediately.”

I glanced to Artemis and I knew right then something was up. The school never went on lockdown. The last time we had it was because they thought Sirius Black had somehow gotten into the castle. Somehow I knew this was not similar.

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Artemis

Later that night…

All of the houses had been forced into their common rooms for several hours. Many of the students were freaking out about the whole ordeal, and some (including Audrey) had went to bed just to avoid dealing with the chaos. I almost wanted to do the same, but I couldn’t. I had business to attend to.

I was about to do something I had become an expert at. Malfoy and I were sneaking out to the Forbidden Forest for an important meeting. We had managed to sneak out every time we were needed. Voldemort had demanded a meeting, and we were required to attend. I was not about to tick him off.

“Teachers are all around the school,” Malfoy said, stowing his mask into his robes, hiding it from sight. “How do you suppose we get out?”

I grinned, putting my mask into my robes as well. “Are you forgetting that both our families are rich?” I went to the trunk in front of my bed. Opening it, I pulled out an Invisibility Cloak. Supposedly, there was only one on the entire planet. However, with money and a little bit of magic, anything was possible.

“Are we both going to fit under here?” he asked as I threw the cloak over us.

“Harry and his friends seem to,” I answered.

Slowly, we made our way from the dungeon, grabbing our dark cloaks on the way out. We managed to get out of the dormitories with anyone noticing. We expertly navigated through the empty hallways, bypassing any teacher along the way. We exited the building only minutes later, and we crossed the grounds, into the Forbidden Forest.

Once we were inside the forest, I took off the Invisibility Cloak, stowing it inside my black one. In the process, I took out my mask, and noticed Malfoy doing the same. We placed them over our faces and continued our journey through the forest. We followed a twisted path, over large tree roots, rocks, and many other obstacles. We were deep into the woods before we arrived in a clearing. Light from the moon and a small fire had lit up the area with an eerie glow.

Standing in the basking glow were a handful of Death Eaters, among them were my Uncle Lucius, crazed murderer Bellatrix Lestrange, werewolf Fenrir Greyback, the traitor (and former house pet) Peter Pettigrew, and Crabbe and Goyle’s fathers. And of course there were other Death Eaters as well, they were just less important, so I did not know their names.

And standing in the middle of the group was Lord Voldemort himself. His snake-like features stuck out from the crowd. To be honest, it was kind of creepy. I wish he would get a nose job, the lack of one on his face freaked me out more than anything about him; but I dared not to tell him that to his face. He noticed our arrival immediately.

“Ah… alas the long awaited arrival of our youngest members,” he droned. “Artemis and Draco.”

Draco and I felt all the eyes of the other Death Eaters fall upon us. We sat down next to my Uncle Lucius, not daring to speak. Typically, we were silent at these meetings. The dirty work was mostly done by the elder Death Eaters.

“And now that they are here, we can actually get this meeting underway,” Voldemort continued. Everyone put their full attention to Voldemort. I mean, it was a bad idea not to, really. “Let me begin with this,” he began, turning to Malfoy and myself, “welcome to your final year at Hogwarts, and it is this one that is to be your most vital.”

Suddenly, I had a bad feeling about this meeting. Voldemort had something he wanted us to do, and it probably wasn’t anything good. He had never given Malfoy and I specific tasks before, and it made me instantly nervous. He stared at us with a gleam in his eyes.

“You two, along with Snape, are my eyes and ears at Hogwarts and I have a very special task for you both,” Voldemort went on. My stomach did a nervous flip, something that I had found happening a lot as of recent.

“And what is that, my Lord?” I asked, nervously.

“You two are to kill Albus Dumbledore,” Voldemort hissed. “With him out of the way, we will be able to unleash our reign of terror on the world.”

Malfoy and I exchanged glances. Both of us had the same look on our face. We were shocked really. Voldemort took notice to our bewildered expressions.

“Why the wide eyes?” he asked.

“Just… shocked sir,” Malfoy explained.

“It’s a really important task,” I continued. “And you want us to do it?”

Voldemort nodded. “You two deserve to have such a noble task. It is an honor that I wish to bestow upon you two. That is, if you can handle it.”

“Of course we can handle it!” Malfoy said decisively.

“So you’ll do it?” he asked.

Malfoy nodded, answering for the both of us. To be honest, I was not sure about the whole idea. Killing someone was something I had done before, but no one as important as Dumbledore. It made me nervous really.

“Of course we will do it,” I piped up.

“Excellent,” the Dark Lord hissed.

He continued to go on about his plans to eliminate Harry Potter and how he was going to take over the world. Typical evil villain ranting. I zoned out, my mind drifting to the task that had just been laid out before me.

I was supposed to kill Dumbledore, one of the greatest wizards of all time. How on Earth was I supposed to do that? I was just a mere boy in comparison. And yet, Voldemort had trusted me with such a monumental task. All at the same time, I was feeling a multitude of emotions. I felt honored, but at the same time doomed to failure. Voldemort must have felt a lot of confidence in Malfoy and me, or he really wanted us to fail. Which it was I hadn’t decided yet.

I finally began to pay attention as the meeting came to an end. Many of the Death Eaters had taken off. I noticed Voldemort was about to do the same, but I stopped him.

“My Lord, wait,” I called out.

Voldemort turned to look at me. “Yes, Artemis?”

“Can we talk for a moment in private?” I asked. “I have to talk to you about something.”

Voldemort beckoned me to follow him. I stood and followed him further into the woods. We stopped a few moments later by a large oak tree next to a river. Deep down, I was laughing about the irony. Oh I would have to tell Holly about that one later.

“Now what is it you wanted to tell me?” he questioned.

“May I?” I asked, gesturing at my mask. He nodded, so I removed it. I took a deep breath, taking in courage as well. “Recently, my Lord, I have been noticing that my mind has been focusing on something it never has before: a girl.”

“A girl?” Voldemort inquired. “You wanted to talk to me about a girl?”

“She’s not just any girl, sir,” I countered. “She’s smart, absolutely beautiful, and just… amazing. She means a lot to me.”

I glanced up to see Voldemort’s facial expression. He looked bewildered, as if he didn’t know how to respond. “And… what is it that you’re getting at?” he asked me.

I sighed, releasing pent up energy. “I don’t want her to be drug into all of this, but I’m afraid if she doesn’t she’ll be hurt. I guess what I’m trying to say is… will you leave her alone? Not harm her in any way?”

Voldemort looked at me with his snake-like eyes. He was thinking over my request carefully in his head. “What does she look like, Artemis?” he wondered aloud. “How can I guarantee anyone’s safety if I don’t know what they look like, or who they are?”

I reached into my robes inside pocket. I slowly pulled out a small photograph. I was a picture Audrey and I had taken only a few days previously. I handed Voldemort the photo, and he began to observe it carefully.

“Miss Audrey Taylor,” he mused. “She’s the girl?”

I nodded, not trusting myself to speak. Was that a good thing or not? He handed the picture back to me. I quickly stowed it in my robes. I looked back at him, waiting for a response.

“Very well,” he sighed. “You have my word. She will not be harmed.”

“Thank you,” I answered quickly. “It means a lot to me.”

“I know,” Voldemort said. “We’ll be in touch.”

“Mmhm,” I bowed slightly. “Farewell, my Lord.”

He nodded, and with that, he Disapparated, leaving me standing there in the forest alone. I stood there for a moment, wondering whether or not he meant what he said. I decided we would have to see later. Now I needed to head back to the building before I encountered centaurs or werewolves.