The day Voldemort went after the Potters, he had no idea that he was setting in motion a plan set up by a crafty muggleborn named Lily Potter. Or that he was about to bring the Wizard world to it's knees.

He went in, marked Harry and died for his efforts. Or in the nearest sense of the word. So now Harry was an orphan and Voldemort is a shade with a penchant for forbidden curses bent on revenge.

James of course, had no idea what his wife had planned in case the Dark Lord showed up. Or her connection to a certain family in Ireland.

Of course Sirius found out this fact quite by accidentally after overhearing a conversation when Lily happened to be talking to her actual birth sister. He confronted her about it, and she admitted she was up to something. Something to keep her newborn son safe. Since he found out about it, she brought him into the plan.

So at least one person was in on her scheme. Which would only go into effect if both her and James were dead. Sirius knew the basic gist of the plan, and why she was doing it.

Lily had lost her faith in Dumbledore and for good reason. She had it on good faith he was up to something ever since Snape had mentioned an odd look in the old goat's eye when he heard a prophecy being made.

At least Sirius had a good idea where to look for his godson should things go bad. And a new name to look for. He really appreciated the trust Lily showed him by giving him that information. And he definitely understood paranoid.

So when Voldemort hit the house, Sirius showed up to ensure that no one from the Order had picked up his godson. Hagrid seemed pretty upset that little Harry was missing. Dumbledore, even more so. He wanted to put Harry with Lily's sister Petunia. Since Sirius knew that Petunia was her adopted sister, he knew that Dumbledore was lying about the blood wards.

The old goat began the hunt for Harry, never knowing that the one person who could tell him was under his nose the entire time.

Meanwhile in Ireland...

Angeline Fowl looked at the small baby in the house elf's diminutive arms. Eyes of pure emeralds looked at her, and she knew.

Her beloved sister, Lily, was dead. Lily had contacted her once she found her original adoption papers a week after she had gotten married to James. Ever since then they stayed in contact. When Lily found out that she was pregnant, they began to meet discreetly. Both had people who wanted them dead, whether it was because of association with their spouse or just annoying the wrong people. Angeline happened to become pregnant a month after Lily, and they decided to set up a play date when the children were older.

Then Lily found out that the resident nut job who terrorized the local community she lived in was after her and her family. That was when she came up with a plan to protect her son.

Since no one in the community was aware of the fact that they were sisters, and vice-versa, Lily and Angeline made a proper cover story in case the madman killed her and James. Artemis and Harry weren't that too far apart in age, so pretending Harry was a twin brother would be simple enough to fake.

They would even change his first name to protect him further and to make it easier for his godfather to find him in case of an emergency.

Surprisingly enough her husband was willing to help with the ruse, particularly when she mentioned the fact that Lily was a very brilliant woman. It was a very high possibility that her son had inherited her brains.

Now she had to tell her husband that they had a new son to take care of. Not really a problem since Lily had mentioned that there was a trust fund which would pay them to take care of her son in case of their death.

Which would go a long way to rebuilding his empire.

Luckily for him, Sirius and Artemis seemed to get along just fine. And Butler seemed willing to protect the new Fowl, even if he was only a Fowl by adoption. It didn't hurt that Sirius had the aura of a puppy.

For ten years things were fairly normal, if you didn't count the odd happenings around the boys. Like when someone who vexed one ended up with clashing hair colors for no apparent reason. Artemis and Sirius were extremely close, almost like the twins they claimed to be. It didn't hurt that the two happened to share that odd way of talking to each other without words that many actual twins share.

Even if Sirius knew already that he was really Artemis' cousin and not his brother. But he still called Angeline his mother, since she practically was his anyway. Even Fowl Sr. loved the kid.

Sirius was as brilliant, if not more so than Artemis. Unlike his brother, Sirius had a genuine interest in martial arts and cooking. With a lot of one on one time with Butler, he was at black belt level in months. He was easily a professional cook in five months.

He also had a very large interest with ancient runes, particularly Egyptian.

They were eleven when the owls started arriving. Sirius had a good idea why Artemis got a letter too. Angeline mentioned that his mother had a special power. It was why their parents originally gave her to the Evans family.

What they didn't know was that Angeline had the same power. And she passed it on to her son. Somehow Sirius knew that the people who ran this Hogwarts place weren't too happy when the two sent back a letter saying they would take their chances with private tutors.

Why would they decline such an invitation? It was simple really. Sirius happened to be in contact with a fellow Irishman named Seamus Finnegan, who experienced the same odd occurrences when he was younger such as hair changing colors for no apparent reason. Seamus said he was a 'half-blood', which upon further questioning proved to be highly informative.

Artemis found the whole thing very interesting. Which is why he brought Sirius into his plan to rob fairies.

As an Irish raised kid with magic, he believed in the existence of the Fae. As the older brother of a genius who is also the heir to a criminal organization that spanned over a hundred years, he tends to take things in stride. Hence why he agreed to help Artemis when he finally made his move.

That was a month ago, and several things happened at once.

One, Artemis Fowl senior takes the Fowl Star out to Russia and is hit with a missile of some sorts, resulting in him going missing and several tons of cola being dumped into the sea.

Two, the owls finally take the hint and quit showing up at the house. (This is probably due to Sirius finally giving Butler the all clear to use said birds as target practice. Butler then started showing the boy how to shoot a twenty two caliber hand gun.)

Three, Angeline starts a downward spiral in her mental state. So now Sirius and Artemis opt for home school for a while.

Four, both boys are taken to the nearest alley to get their wands (with Butler discreetly tailing them) and begin their magic lessons.

A full year of magic lessons, research, and dealing with a rather persistent old man who kept coming back. Sirius had to use a few of his more...creative...moves he learned from Butler to get rid of the people the old man kept sending after him. The man with the spinning fake eye was particularly persistent.

Apparently he impressed the guy, since he actually commended Sirius for the spinning kick he used on him twice. Afterwords he never showed up again. Further inquiry to Seamus proved useful as the boy identified the old man as Alastor Moody, the magic version of a Secret Service. Their main job was to capture magic users who went 'dark' or some such nonsense.

When he asked about the older man with bad taste in color combinations, he was surprised to find out that the man in question was none other than Albus Dumbledore...the same person who ran Hogwarts.

While all this was going on, Angeline Fowl's mental state deteriorated quite rapidly. They worried about her, since even the magical hospital in London proved useless. At least they accepted her status as a 'squib', which according to Seamus meant she was magically born, but not magic compatible.

Now Artemis was running internet ads searching for a fairy. Particularly one that possessed the Book, with a capital 'B'.

It took him eleven months, two weeks and three days, but eventually he struck faerie gold in Ho Chi Minh city. Sirius decided to stay at the manor just in case.

He spent his days waiting for his brother to return by brushing up on his Egyptian hieroglyphs. Somehow, he had the feeling he would be needing it very soon. Nearby the house elf known as Root brought him a drink, tea of course. Sirius had little liking for coffee, too bitter. He noticed the book and politely asked, "Brushing up, Master Fowl?"

This was part of Root's instructions. Once Sirius had been accepted into the family, he was to call him by his new name. The less the name Potter or Harry was said, the better. Sirius had only asked once about his birth parents. Root was told to tell him whatever he wanted to know. And Root would definitely comply with that request, because unlike most witches, Lily Potter had been an exceptionally kind mistress, even going so far as to ask Root's opinion on what uniform he would like to wear.

Sirius had been told of the problem with giving clothes to a house elf once he was old enough to understand. Like Lily he choose an alternate route to keeping his new partner in crime well dressed. Root had hoped he would see the loophole to the no clothes for elves rule. Bloody wizards.

"Yeah, Art has found something he calls the Book of the People. According to him it's the bible of the Fae."

Another thing Root liked about his master? He preferred to use the olde terms for things. Names come and go, but when it came to magic it was better for the original terms.

"The Book? How on earth did he get a hold of that?"

"Bribed some sprite with spiked Irish whiskey. Why? Do you know how to read it?"

Root was a quiver with excitement. The house elves had long since lost their original magic. But that never meant they couldn't still read the old language! And there was something Sirius was unaware of...the only reason the wizards had stolen their freedom to begin with is that they captured several elves on vacation hundreds of years ago.

Here was the perfect opportunity to free himself and the others.

"Yes, Master Fowl! All house elves are descended from the old country. Our parents teach us the olde language so the power wouldn't be lost completely!"

Sirius grinned. Here was a chance to help his brother and the house elves in one go. He could translate the book before Artemis ever got back!

Sirius went into the study, and opened up the file his brother just sent. There it was, in a language he could just get the gist of.

Root looked very excited about this.

The Booke of the People.

Being instructions to our magicks

and life rules

Carry me always, carry me well.

I am thy teacher of herb and spell.

I am thy link to power arcane.

Forget me and thy magick shall wane.

Ten times ten commandments there be.

They will answer every mystery.

Cures, curses, alchemy.

These secrets shall be thine, through me.

But, Fairy, remember this above all.

I am not for those in the mud who crawl.

And forever doomed shall be the one.

Who betrays my secrets one by one.

Sirius looked at Root.

"This is serious. Are you sure you want to doom yourself?"

"They never specify what doom is mentioned, Master Fowl."

So they set to work, with Root reading aloud the words and Sirius faithfully typing the translation word for word. It took them a full three hours, but they pulled it off. Since Sirius had a love of ancient runes, he decided to memorize the letters.

That took him a full week since he was well acquainted with Egyptian hieroglyphs. By that time Artemis had quit trying to hex him for decoding the Book before he landed. Butler watched the whole thing in amusement. Why? Sirius had hit Artemis with a color changing spell and the boy was bright blue.

One month, and already there was a change in the household. Root had performed the olde Ritual mentioned in the book, and was now taller and stronger than before. His magic had been fully returned too.

Strangely, instead of going straight back to the fairies, he stayed with Sirius. When asked by Butler why, he got an interesting answer.

"Elves outlive humans by hundreds of years. I will serve Master Fowl until he dies, then I will go home."

Butler gained a new appreciation for Root, since he showed loyalty above all else.

Two months, things settled down. Even though both boys were technically second years in term of schooling, they once again declined to go to Hogwarts. For the simple reason that they didn't want to deal with inept teachers. They had read Lockhart's books, and once he announced that he would be taking the DADA post at Hogwarts the boys unanimously agreed to avoid normal school again.

Three months, and another new change occurred. Sirius was bored with waiting for Artemis to capture a fairy with Butler. So he took position at another ancient oak next to a bend in the river. Butler had apparently told Artemis that his brother was perfectly capable of dealing with a minor fairy...especially since Root was his backup.

What he didn't know was that Sirius had been wondering about the Ritual. Enough to actually try it when Root wasn't looking.

He never expected it to actually work! Or to grow wings! Root watched in fascinated horror as his master performed the Ritual...

Sirius took an oak acorn from the bend in the tree under the full moon. As he went to the opposite side of the river with a bit of a running jump, he began to dig. He remembered the words very clearly for some reason. As the acorn touched the ground, he felt his back start to hurt. Wondering if this was a consequence of performing a Fae ritual with no fairy blood in him, he hear a loud rip.

He took a look back, and gaped.

He had sprouted wings. And from what he could tell they were owl wings. Looking down he saw a wolf's tail.

Suddenly the wings retracted, and the tail ended up stuck on his backside. How the hell was he going to explain this to his brother? Artemis would never let him live this down!

Sirius and Root began to head home, since the moon was going down. Once the sun came up, Sirius looked behind him.

In shock he realized the tail was finally gone.

Artemis had been furious that his brother had done something so stupid, as was Butler. But they did learn something valuable. Sirius had taken a creature inheritance test, and had come up with three different creatures, as had Artemis.

Sirius had the blood of an owl/Fairy crossbreed, long since extinct. He also had werewolf blood through blood adoption of a Remus Lupin into his father's family long before he was born, and a Sidhe from another uncle. But the most surprising revelation was the adoption of a Severus Snape into the Evans/Fowl line on Lily's end. It gave him the blood of a siren.

Which would explain his unusual talent at the flute. Whenever he put his mouth on his flute, what came out was often considered an unearthly sound that was both disturbing yet entrancing to hear. Many times Butler would find himself distracted without realizing it for at least five minutes when Sirius played his flute.

Which he often did since it relaxed him and his often stressed out younger brother.

Four months. Four months of almost no success. Aside from learning their creature inheritances, the fact that Sirius was related to King Arthur (Artemis and Sirius were both surprised on that front) through his mother, and that Sirius had more than enough gold to rebuild the Fowl empire four times over when he reached seventeen.

So yeah, it had been a productive four months. But Artemis still wanted to go through his scheme to kidnap a fairy. So Sirius opted to hold down the fort again and help Juliet prepare the cell just in case. He had a feeling today would signal the moment when they entered everyone's perspective radar.

Not that he already hadn't. Unlike Artemis who worked in the shadows, once their father went missing he broke through everyone perception of the brothers. He made a name for himself in their organization. As far as spies and the police were concerned, Sirius Fowl was no criminal mastermind, and only followed the orders of his younger brother, usually acting like an enforcer.

He personally made sure everyone believed that he was a follower and not a leader. Which was perfect in case someone tried to use him to get to his brother. No one would believe that Sirius was perfectly capable of running the show if something happened to Artemis. They would expect the whole thing to fall apart within days. Not for it to come back at full strength and better than ever.

Still, when Artemis and Butler returned with a duffel full of Fairy, he gaped.

"Captain Holly Short, LEPrecon. You have got to be joking. I thought they were above using bad cliches. At least they got rid of the tacky outfits."

Artemis smirked at him.

"And I know you too well little brother. Now there will be no talking to you for months at least."

Butler smothered a grin, watching the two interact when Artemis proved right was always amusing. Mainly because neither of the brothers were willing to kill each other when the other got a bit of a big head. They usually just hexed each other with clashing colors or easy to fix ailments. Not his problem.

Putting the elf in the newly made cell, they awaited for Artemis' trap to go off and for the real show to begin. As a precaution Sirius removed all his favorite plants with help from Root to one of his birth parent's vacation houses. He'd heard about the bio bomb the fairies had. He did not want to have all his plants killed off during one of his brother's schemes.

Root had opted to stay there, with agreement from Sirius. Someone had to look after the Devil's snare in case something went wrong.

Not that there wasn't a slightly larger one in one of the cellars. As a safety precaution mind you.(That and they needed something to guard the emergency funds.)

Still, Sirius was there when the fairy finally woke up. Juliet was the one to inform him of it.

"So this is what the leprechauns look like now. At least you finally grew a better taste in clothes. The top hat and leggings ensemble is so cliché now."

Holly stared at him. The boy's whole look screamed enforcer, and his eyes weren't shielded in the least. She tentatively tried a mesmer. Nothing.

"Yeah, mind control doesn't work on someone who's blind as a bat without his glasses or contacts on."

Half blind? Which meant he would have to get closer for her to pull it off. Was he that foolish?

"I can't see clearly either. Maybe you should come closer?"

The boy half shrugged. He began to step closer...then smirked.

"Next time you try to fool someone, make sure their brother isn't as brilliant as Artemis. Or been informed about the dangers of fairies by an elf."

The way he said it clued her in. She hadn't warned them about several fairy magics used on humans. They had another elf who told them. They question was who, and if she had time to rescue him as well. What he said next stopped her cold.

"Root was surprisingly informative about fairy magic."

Root? Could Commander Root be in league with the Mud Men?

He left, leaving her with a lot of worries about her commander being a traitor.

"What on Earth did you say to that elf? She looks like her puppy just run over."

"The only thing I happened to mention to her is that Root warned me about their magic. Why?"

"Ah. Then perhaps someone she knows well is named Root and she believes that he betrayed her."

"Maybe a commanding officer? We could use this to our advantage."

"True."

An interesting fact about his brother. Sirius had carefully culminated a false persona when he went to do jobs for the family business. He was particularly fond of breaking knee caps, and very good at it. He came off often as a brute of an enforcer, not used to thinking for himself.

What people didn't realize was that he talked out each order for force with Artemis, working out every detail and whether it would come back to haunt them later. Root did a very thorough background checks into each target, every little detail.

It had saved them from making a bad choice at least four times. The first time it happened, he actually saved Sirius from getting shot by the target...who happened to be an unregistered member of the nearby gun club through an old enemy. Which meant he was well used to carrying a gun.

Sirius tipped off the local cops, and they arrested the man, removing the gun and putting him in jail. From there it was very simple to arrange someone to go in and leave the message they originally wanted Sirius to leave.

The second time Root located an interesting business the man had, which was tied to a gang cartel in southern Ireland. Something even Butler missed because the man never made contact with it except through fourth parties.

This gang was now under the employ of the Fowl network, under the thumb of Sirius himself through a rather thorough blackmail. They never saw their new employer or who they were now paying a hundred million pounds to each year.

And that money went directly into his new account in Gringotts, which made it impossible for the muggle police to track it and make a raid. The goblins were more than happy to keep this from those looking for Harry Potter for ten percent of the gold that came into it.

One thing that the goblins loved about the Fowl brothers? They loved gold as much as the goblins themselves did. And making it through any means possible. Another thing was that once you earned their respect and loyalty you had it for life. Something the Gringotts goblins had earned the first day they met the two. Which meant neither of the brothers would even consider the idea of backstabbing the goblin nation without having a damn good reason to.

Gold would come and go but loyalty to them was forever. A distinct Hufflepuff trait. A proverbial snake among the badgers as it were. In fact Sirius had once mentioned that if they were ever forced to go behind the goblins backs, they could expect a very large share of gold in return.

Finding out that little detail resulted in the Fowl brothers becoming official members of the Goblin nations. And by extension Angeline, Butler, and Juliet.

Back to the story.

Sirius watched the screen outside while Butler took the one with Holly. Idly Sirius wondered how the elf would react if she knew that she was dealing with two criminal magic using masterminds with a combined IQ of five hundred. Who were officially members of the goblin clans and friends of house elves.

Sirius had privately took one look at the equipment his brother had taken from the elf woman and asked if he could have half to tinker with. Artemis let him had most of it, since his brother was better at hands on things than he was. He once accidentally made an atomic bomb...without the radioactive materials inside.

Fortunately Butler recognized what it was after he finished with it and discreetly disposed of it...using it as blackmail material for a rather irritating crime lord who happened to be watched by at least five governments in six countries. It had taken less than a week for the man to be caught with the almost complete bomb, sentenced and put in a small jail for the rest of his natural life.

Needless to say Butler kept his charge far away from the explosive materials after that unless they had plans for it. Sirius was their unofficial explosives expert.

Luck happened to be with him, since he happened to be in the room when the first RECON fairy arrived in an attempt to save the fairy in their new cell. Sirius added his two bits when he said "Next time do your homework before you think to cross Artemis Fowl the Second and his older brother Sirius."

That explosion on the old whaler had been particularly loud, noisy and more importantly to Sirius, big. He had no patience for men who hunted animals like whales when there were better substitutes.

Meanwhile he got up and made dinner. A cheese pizza for him and the others, and a fruit salad from his own garden for the fairy.

He really enjoyed dropping the bombshell that it was his garden that they got the plants from. Clearly the elf never expected someone who preferred brute force to have such a delicate touch for plants.

Holly tasted the fruit salad the enforcer brought her. It was with a large deal of shock when she took a bite and found the taste to her liking. Unlike most mud men raised produce, this one was grown with no foreign matter like you would get from a factory made fertilizer. It was from local animals raised on an all natural grown diet. Even the plants were acceptable for the region.

There was no hint of magic on them either, and it had a rather woody aftertaste. The plants even had a rather happy feel to them, which was more than unusual. To have that you would have to spend a lot of hours tending each plant, showing more love than normal to each leaf.

She never would have pegged the brute for being an avid gardener.

Commander Root had the team about to land in the Fowl estate. He noticed something odd, there seemed to be a garden that was recently dug up. Very recently as the soil was still very moist and cold.

He shook off the oddity and had Foaly start the time stop within the hour. He then sent his first wave of RECON elves.

They came back unconscious courtesy of Sirius. They had taken one look at the tail on his backside when he did a spinning kick and their alarms went off. Clearly they were dealing with a werewolf hybrid. Highly unusual, since the magical community of the Mud Men usually hunted those down with a prejudice once they were outed. Particularly in this community.

What happened next really bothered them.

Root was sent in to negotiate with the culprit. He was greeted by the hybrid, who he learned was named Sirius...the same Sirius who was responsible for the bomb that destroyed the whaler he was on.

Root would die rather than admit this, but he actually thought that explosion was perfect. Especially for the message it had sent. It had been loud, fast and more importantly attention getting. The whole thing had gone up so quickly that most of the lead content had been completely vaporized which made the pollution factor minimal.

He even received a small salad. He never noticed the smirk that the hybrid had on his face when he slipped some of the plants off for analysis by Foaly. Artemis did his bit, laying down the terms and so on. Sirius walked him out the door, his expression hidden by years of practice.

So imagine his shock when Foaly told him that not only were the plants locally grown, they were produced in a completely natural setting that was complemented by the region.

Sirius kept his new camera trained on the area which he knew held the tunnel to the outside. If the fairies were going to make a break for it, he would warn his brother so they would have enough time to get everyone out of the time stop in case of a blue rinse. Once he mentioned that to his brother, Artemis told him to do it.

Which is the only reason he saw the dwarf come in. Root had told him about dwarves...and he remembered that the basement with the wines (opposite of the one with the Devil's Snare in residence) had wooden floors and wasn't built on limestone.

"Oh crap."

Sirius hurried to the spot, knowing that they had most likely brought the dwarf to break in. His first objective was to protect the main copy of the Book. He got most of the pages, except the title one. With the copy hidden in a more secure location, he now had to deal with the dwarf.

And there he was. Sirius had picked his spot perfectly, because neither the dwarf or the people who were definitely observing him knew he was coming. He heard the tumblers click, and the dwarf was in. Sirius hid a grin as the fairy entered the room. By the time Sirius was on him, it was too late.

The dwarf put up a surprisingly good fight, but unfortunately for him, Sirius already knew his weakness. Dwarves hated fire.

Incendio!

The dwarf yelped in horror, and backed away so quickly Sirius would have missed it if he blinked.

He smirked, and conjured his preferred weapon. A beater's bat, already stained with blood from previous assignments.

"I wonder how a dwarf's knees will break? Root never mentioned whether or not I should put all my strength into it for a fairy. And I can already tell you don't have any magic, because they wouldn't have sent for you otherwise."

The dwarf seemed shocked about something. Probably the name.

"Root has a serious grudge against you lot. I believe he's angry that you left him to rot on the surface with the magical community?"

Sirius could just vaguely catch a long stream of fairy swear words from a hidden mike. He smirked even wider.

This was when Foaly finally noticed something they missed before. A certain scar on the hybrid's forehead...in the shape of lightning. His jaw dropped. There was no way it was possible. According to intelligence Potter was at his aunt's house in Surrey. Not Ireland!

"Commander, we have a problem."

"Besides the fact that one of my people is held hostage, our thief has been compromised, and there is a werewolf hybrid in the damn house?" said Root annoyed.

"That is no hybrid. I think that's creature inheritance, from a recent branch. And that's not the problem."

"Then what is our new problem?" grounded Root, taking his frustration out on his noxious cigar.

"Our supposed hybrid is Harry Potter, the so called savior of the magical community in England."

"D'arvit! Are you sure?"

If Harry Potter was in the house, things were now infinitely more complicated. Blue rinsing the house could lead to disastrous consequences with the magical community, who were the only Mud Men that they even got along with.

"There is only one person I know of with a lightning shaped scar on their forehead and a talent for magic. Though I would like to know what he's doing here. Our intelligence said he was in Surrey at his aunt's house."

"D'arvit! Find out if that really is him. If it is, this whole thing is going to go downhill very quickly."

Mulch was having a very bad day. First he ended up in a cell with a few goblins and almost became crispy fried dwarf. Things went up, since Julius Root had brought him out to get into an obviously rich estate. Even the recently dug up garden aided in his tunneling. He got in without a problem.

That was when things really went downhill. Even when he got into the actual house, he never noticed the presence. And from what he could tell it was a bloody werewolf hybrid. To make it even more unpleasant, the kid had magic and training!

That was when he laid down the bombshell. Someone named Root had told the kid about fairies. And there was only one Root he knew.

Which is when Foaly really dropped a rather large amount of bad news on him. This kid was most likely Harry bloody Potter. Who was supposed to be in England, not Ireland. And most definitely NOT in this particular house!

Root had him ask the kid a question which would change everything.

"Are you Harry Potter?"

The kid faltered.

"I haven't heard someone call me that since I was three. And no one has called me that since. I'm Sirius Fowl, older twin brother to Artemis, and that's all I'll go by," he growled.

Mulch stared.

"Aren't you supposed to be at your aunt's house in Surrey?"

Sirius cackled, a rather unpleasant sound.

"Hell no. And you got the wrong aunt. Angeline Fowl is Lily Potter's older sister, not Petunia bloody Dursley. Why does everyone assume Lily and Petunia are related? They look nothing alike!"

Mulch was having other problems. Namely indigestion from the clay. Sirius had clearly been warned about that, since he booked.

Mulch made his way to the stairs.

This is the moment he found the one piece that Sirius missed, the first page of the book. On this page was a series of numbers. Page numbers to be exact. It didn't take a rocket scientist to know that there were more, probably the rest of the Book.

Mulch let his gas out on a rather upset Butler, who found out through Sirius mentioning in passing there was a dwarf on the premises. Had Butler thought to question why Sirius was running away from said dwarf, he most likely wouldn't have been hit with dwarf gas.

Meanwhile Sirius had run into an escaped Holly.

"You didn't hurt Juliet, did you?"

"No. Unlike you lot, we aren't that barbaric."

"The dwarf who just let loose a volley of gas on Butler makes me inclined to disagree."

"Dwarf?"

"Short, and apparently without magic."

"Mulch Diggums."

"If he survives this mess he might find himself employed. We could use someone like him. And just to let you know, the whole kidnapping scenario was Artemis' idea. I don't need Fae gold when I still have than inheritance money left from my parents."

"So what are you going to do now?"

"Art told me you weren't allowed to leave without permission, and I can't wait for this whole farce to end. So I'll take you to him, provided I'm allowed to give him the first hit upside the head."

"Why?"

"I had a feeling this whole thing would snowball. But we don't try to convince each other out of money making schemes unless it's clear to the other that it is a phenomenally bad idea from the start. I just stayed on to make sure he makes it out of this alive. Besides, he's acting like an idiot. Not noticing the loop for over a minute is just bad."

"And robbing the People wasn't one of them?" asked Holly, giving him a sidelong glance.

"Meh, it wasn't like we aren't already robbing the English Ministry blind. And wizards are complete idiots when it comes to electricity. So we make more money overcharging them for fixing their new toys than anything."

She stopped and looked at him.

"You're a wizard."

"So is my brother. I'm good with high powered spells and he's better at the ones which require the minor details. We even each other out."

Holly wondered how the hell Foaly missed that little tidbit when he had the team sent up.

"So where do you two go to school? Let me guess, Hogwarts? Durmstrang?"

"Home schooled. Hogwarts wasn't worth our time, especially with the inept defense teachers they keep hiring. How did you like the salad?"

"Better than some fairy grown, and that's a very rare thing."

"I prefer natural grown. Hence why my garden is currently in one of my parent's old vacation houses with Root. He's the only elf I trust to take care of them."

Commander Root isn't the type who knows how to garden...

"So who is Root?"

"The elf who brought me to my biological aunt's place under my mother's orders. He's helped me get away with more crap than even Butler is aware of."

"What kind of elf?"

"I would rather not say. He just goes by Root."

A knot inside her chest eased. Her commanding officer hadn't set her up then. It was most likely a disgruntled house elf who told his master about their world. They were under a very heavy compulsion charm after all.

Sirius gave his brother a good hit upside the head, and went back downstairs. He had a bad feeling he said.

Holly never knew the boy had gone straight to his room and gotten an old flute.

When the explosion in the entryway came, he was half down the stairs. Butler was already there with his sister, spouting gibberish. From what he could tell, Holly had hit the girl with her mesmer making her think there was a TV in the cell playing Wrestlemania.

He deplored wrestling. So barbaric.

The troll entered the room. Butler was standing there, and from what Sirius could see, he was actually scared.

Not good.

Artemis tried to get him to take cover, but it would be impossible with Juliet the way she was.

He had to do something.

Think, Sirius...what did Root say about trolls? Particularly the Fae breed? No magic to speak of, often came above ground through tunnels, carnivorous, has only night vision...

It clicked. Night vision meant it couldn't handle bright lights. He heard the distinct sound of thumping outside, which meant the loud noise had spooked it. He looked to the flute in his hand.

Without realizing why, he began to play a slow, soothing tune. His natural fairy magic began to flow into the wood, bringing out a haunting melody meant to sooth even a savage creature. His eyes slowly opened, glowing a frightening green in the dark room. The silver highlights in his hair shimmered in the low lighting. He became aware of Butler carefully bringing his sister upstairs, and Holly entering the room.

She was entranced by the sound, as was the troll. Bringing out his wand slowly, he pointed it at the cast a wordless spell...

Lumos Maxima!

Bright light filled the room, and the troll screamed in pain before falling down. The music slowly stopped.

Holly looked at him amazement.

"What did you do?"

"Lumos Maxima. Root mentioned the thing had night vision, so I made a guess that it couldn't handle bright lights."

Butler lay his sister down, and took the troll outside. He booted it out the door.

Artemis was a bit miffed. Still, he was irritated beyond belief that they had brought a troll of all things to secure an unofficial invitation into the house. He was just lucky no one was actually hurt when it came in. He decided to thank his older brother for that, because somehow his music did the impossible by keeping the thing from going after anyone.

He had also noticed the fact that Sirius' eyes glowed a violent green. If it weren't for the fact that he trusted his brother with his life he would have been worried. But Sirius always took his loyalty above all else, even his own life.

It was something Butler had tried in vain for a full three months to train out of him. So they let it go.

Holly tried to convince them to drop the whole thing. She didn't succeed. Artemis was sure of his plan. And the others took their cues from the younger boy from what she could tell. Even Sirius, who was more intelligent then his appearance suggested.

Much to their shock, the Council actually paid. Sirius went with Artemis who asked for a single wish in exchange for half the gold.

And it was something he actually half expected from his brother. Their mother's mental health. Something they had tried and failed for months to fix, even with wizard magic.

Holly went upstairs and healed Mrs. Fowl, then went outside with half the gold. She was taken straight to her comrades in less than a second.

Artemis gave each of them a glass of champagne, and they were out in seconds. The bomb went off without a hitch, and they went in to retrieve the rest of the gold.

A wave of vomiting hit every fairy except Holly Short. Even Root got it. She looked around in disbelief. Fowl had pulled it off. They left before noon got any higher.

Butler awoke first, followed by Sirius and Artemis.

"Anesthetics? Really? What did you use?"

"Mother's pills."

Artemis filled Butler in on the full plan, at his insistence. And agreed no more kidnapping fairies. Too human for his taste. Which is when Angeline Fowl came in, in full control of her mental faculties except for one noticeable thing. She believed it was Christmas. At least she accepted the misfired spell as an excuse for the foyer.

And so ended their first venture into the world of fairies. One of many over the years. But that's for the next chapter.