Fire and Gold ~ Tom Riddle AU II

Chapter 4

Tom flashed him a sympathetic look.

Artemis hugged her father. "Fun fathers would allow their favourite daughters to bring art supplies to the Quidditch match."

"Well, art is a necessity," Henry hummed thoughtfully. "Hyperion Malfoy likes art, doesn't he? And unlike him, I know you're not pretentious, so sure. I'm not the responsible parent anyway."

"No, you're not. You're the fun, cool parent."

Henry puffed out his chest. "Yes, yes I am."

From the gap between her father's head and shoulders, Artemis saw Charlus mouthing 'kiss-up' and Fleamont snickering. Tom appeared caught between amusement and pride at her antics.

"Well," Artemis started, lips curling into a smirk as her eyes darted from her father to her brothers. "Isn't this ironic? The three of you are wearing Ravenclaw colours while I'm wearing Gryffindors."

"I think you mean, we're supporting Britain, and you're supporting the losing team," Charlus chimed.

Artemis was halted from retorting, as Filomina joined them, dressed in blues like her husband and sons. They circled a muggle children's book called, 'Beauty and the Beast' which had been converted into a private portkey that was keyed for them to appear a few roads from their tent. After they touched it, in a whirl of colours and magic, the group were transported exactly there.

Tom pressed a steadying hand on Artemis' back so she didn't fall, and Filomina did the same to Henry. Charlus and Fleamont weren't so lucky and became tangled limbs on the ground, which prompted a peal of laughter from Artemis.

"Being a Potter is wonderful, they say. Potters are rich and talented, they say," Fleamont grumbled, clasping Tom's offering hand to hoist himself up. "Well, they conveniently forget about the Potter's neat hair, brilliant eyesight, and absolute grace when it comes to portkeys and the floo. I wonder why."

"They're too busy absorbing the magnificence that is our existence," Artemis chimed and Henry voiced his agreement.

"I like Tom best out of all of you," Charlus proclaimed, as Tom not only removed Fleamont's trunks after they had fallen on him but also helped him up from the ground when none of his family members bothered to.

"I like Tom best too, but in a different like from you." Artemis winked at Tom, who smirked.

Henry grimaced, Filomina looked delighted, Fleamont mimicked a vomiting motion—whether that was due to his little sister's love life or the portkey experience—and Charlus appeared disgusted.

"Let's just go to the tent," Fleamont managed to say when his face turned less green. "I need to buy Hamish MacFarlan bobbleheads before it gets sold out."

As they began their journey to their tent, Charlus sceptically eyed those who were dressed in red. When he recognised some of his former classmates donning Bulgarian colours, he shook his head, his faith for humanity crumbling like how Artemis liked to say his IQ did. "Well, Arty, at least you're not alone in betraying your home country to support Bulgaria."

"I am supporting Britain," Artemis stated matter-of-factly while dressed from head to toe in Bulgarian colours—an eye-offending red. Without waiting for a response, Artemis flipped her hair, looped her arm into Tom's and threaded ahead, dragging him along with her trunk.

"Why haven't you disowned her already?" Charlus probed as he fell into footsteps with his father. "I mean, it's not that hard. I looked into it shortly after Fleamont was born. All you need to do is say an incantation, sign some documents and ship them over to Gringotts so they can dissolve her access to the vaults. That's it. It's that easy. So, you have no logical excuse for not having disowned Artemis already."