Alluring Secrets [Bella]

[Deleted]

It was funny how fast time seemed to pass when things began to happen in a person's life. It seemed like it was only yesterday when he and Bella had managed to open the locket that had been passed down to him by his birth parents, and had found the name that had been carefully carved into it. It seemed as though they had only recently found out the true names of him and his sister, when in reality it had been weeks ago.

The most recent thing that had happened had been Bella regaining her memories, and that was something that Artemis did not like to think about, for that event was too closely associated with pain, both Bella's and to a much lesser extent his. So he had chosen to suppress the memory, and instead chose to focus on the present.

It was currently Spring Break, and both he and Bella had chosen to return home for their break for a short time in order to convince their respective parents to allow them to embark on a trip that they had planned together. After finding out that he was a member of the Héderváry family, he and Bella had decided to do some research on the family to find out a little bit more about them. What they had found had surprised them both.

There were names, various names that had gone back to the nineteen hundreds, but there was very little else. It seemed as though any information that had been there had either been very well hidden, or destroyed completely. The only other bit of information that they had managed to get was the name of a city in which the family had once been located.

They had been said to reside in an old wizarding community called Rejtett, that was located in Hungary. With no other information to be found other than that, he and Bella had decided that the only way for them to get any answers would be for them to go and travel there. It had taken a bit of convincing their parents on both of their part. His mother, and father had both initially been against him leaving until his sister had stepped in as the voice of reason, and had managed to talk them into allowing him to go.

Bella's mother had been a bit harder to convince, and with good reason. She didn't want Bella to get hurt while traveling alone with Artemis, but eventually she had managed to convince her mother to allow her to go as well, they had written to each other and had agreed to meet up on a certain date, which had led up to today.

Artemis had been sitting at a table inside of the Leaky Cauldron waiting patiently for Bella to arrive. They had decided to depart from the fireplace inside of the Leaky Cauldron because that had seemed like it would be the safest, and easiest place to depart from at the time -his parents did not use Floo powder, and he did not want to risk endangering Bella if someone was following him. - Artemis held a bag with him that carried everything that he would need on his travels, and had been charmed to fit all of that plus anything else that he might find in Hungary while giving it the appearance of a regular school bag in order to avoid standing out.

Artemis glanced at the clock that had been ticking away on the wall, before glancing back down at his table, wondering where Bella was.

[Bella Walsh]

The pop that signaled an apparition barely was heard among Diagon Alley's hustle and bustle. Wizards and witches alike were wandering about during the Hogwarts break and as the dark haired girl with a messenger bag and the sandy haired Auror appeared, they simply moved around them. Auror Finnegan straightened the choker on Bella's neck and she asked, "Don't get me wrong, I love Victorian Era things, but...must I always wear it?" "You have to keep it on your person, at least near you. Its so that the Ministry can see where you go in terms of countries. If you run into trouble, we can tell without you alerting us." "I feel like a ruddy spy."

Seamus laughed, taking her into the Leaky Cauldron. When Bella's eyes fell upon Artemis, she felt the whole world piviot. Dear, Merlin she loved that man like anyone wouldn't believe. Auror Finnegan only had five words to say, "Please, take care of her." After that was said and he appirated away, Bella found her arms winding around him and she hugged him tightly, breathing his cologne in gently before resting her chin on his chest gently, "I missed you. Are you ready, my seraphim?" Green eyes had taken on an expression of adoration and excitement.

This may have been the first time that she had been able to keep her hormones under control around him in the past few weeks, and she preferred it this way. "I can't wait to do this, every one was so nervous about letting me go, but I feel safe with you."

[Deleted]

When Bella walked into the Leaky Cauldron she was escorted in by the auror that had been there with her at the hospital. He was asked to take care of her, something that he had immediately agreed to do before the wizard disapperated with a loud pop. It was only a moment later that he felt a pair of arms being wrapped around him, and he couldn't help but smile and return the gesture happily. It felt like it had been forever since he had last seen Bella, and had been even longer since he had had the chance to hold her like he currently was.

"I missed you too, kardiá mou. It feels like any time away from you is far too long." Warm brown eyes stared down at her, returning every bit of love and adoration that she had given him to her. When she told him that everyone on her side had been nervous to let her go with him, he smiled nervously. "I understand completely. My family was against it too, until nee-nee managed to convince them to let me go."

He smiled at the thought of his twin. He could tell that she had been less than excited at the idea of him leaving as well, but she had known how important that this was for him and had chosen to support him bevcause of it. That had meant the world to him. " Yes, I promise that I will protect you no matter what, love, and yes I'm ready to go." Grabbing onto the bag that he had brought, he took Bella's hand and led her over to bartender, who was watching them with lazy eyes.

"Ye Ready?" His question was met by a nod on Artemis's part, and the bartender reached beneath the bar, pulling out a small pot that was filled with the glittery powder. Artemis reached into the pot and grabbed a small handfull before stepping into the unlit fireplace by himself.

"Don't forget to speak clearly! I don't need yer mum and sister comin' 'ere ready to kill me because ya messed up while usin' the powder!" He looked cross, but his words lacked any real bite to them. Artemis smiled nervously, and nodded before speaking in a calm clear voice;

"Rejtett, Hungary!" With that said, he threw down the floo powder, and disappeared in a flurry of green flames.

[Bella Walsh]

Once Artemis was gone, the bartender turned his eyes to her. "Nex'?" She nodded swiftly and grabbed a handful of powder before trotting over to the fireplace and stepping in. Like Artemis, she spoke clearly, "Rejtett, Hungary!" The powder was thrown down and then the green flames engulfed her too.

Ounces of instinct, her eyes squeezed shut, awaiting the pain of flames, put felt nothing but the pulling in another direction. When the world stopped rushing, she peeked open one eye and stepped out of the next unlit fireplace with a soft squeak, "Wild ride...."

[Deleted]

Artemis groaned slightly, feeling a bit dizzy from traveling by Floo powder for such a long distance. He stumbled out of the fireplace, and tried to regulate his breathing, and regain his senses before he made himself sick. After a quiet moment he had finally managed to get rid of the vertigo and had been about to look around when he heard the flames of the floo powder in the fire place, and quickly turned around ready to help Bella if she needed it.

"Are you alright Bella?" His voice and eyes were filled with concern, and he waited for a moment, making sure that she was absolutely fine before taking her hand into his, and choosing to look around. The building that they had ended up in had appeared to be some sort of abandoned bar. It seemed as though it had been emptied out for quite some time, and yet at the same time there was still a sort of newness to it that made it appear as though it was still fit to live in. Artemis looked around in slight shock, before glancing around and finding the exit. He gently tugged on Bella's hand, telling her silently that they should move on before they left the bar, and went outside of the bar, only to be greeted by the sight that welcomed them.

It was a small town that had appeared as though it had long since been abandoned by the people that had lived there. Buildings had been torn apart, and some had even been destroyed, making it appear almost as though a battle of some sort had taken place here a long time ago. Artemis's eyes were wide, and filled with concern as he looked from building to building. " It looks like there was some sort of fighting took place here. Some of these buildings are almost completely destroyed..." He frowned slightly, his brow furrowing slightly as he recalled the information that he had read from that one page in the book Bella had taken from the library.

" An entire wizarding community was obliterated, lost to the ministry." He muttered quietly, remembering the exact words. "Bella, do you think every one that lived here...do you think they were killed? Is this the city that was listed in the book?"

[Bella Walsh]

The normally brave Hufflepuff edged close to Artemis as she looked around the bar. The air was so still that it was unsettling. Glass bottles lay half full and unbroken, covered in near a decade's worth of dust and grime. A stale smell was in the room and as Artemis urged her closer to leave the bar, she couldn't move fast enough.

However, the town was as still as ever and held a welcome as warm as an apocalypse. Rubble littered the ground and the musty smell of ages old smoke fouled the air. Artemis' question startled her, but, she opened up her messenger back and her arm disappeared up to the shoulder. "I know I brought it..." She gave him the bag and then half disappeared inside of it, reaching about until she finally gripped it and drew the book out. "Thank you." She pulled out her wand and pointed it at the book and it whipped open and flew through pages before opening to the damaged page. She followed a sub foot note to a page that was glued together with muggle super glue. "Ach...blocked again. Lumos." Her wand illuminated and she tried to make out anything out of the partially visible backwards print. She saw it there, Rejtett.

"I see the name of the town, but this muggle stuff is really...bothersome." She hadn't come across magic that dissolved muggle bonding agents yet. "My guess is that it is." She looked up and made a slow circle, looking way out in the horizion. "There."

Beyond the rubble lay a stone castle that looked dark and uninhabited. "I just had a thought, perhaps not everyone died or was obliviated. Maybe there are some people who remember what happened in the world somewhere. Castles have store rooms, maybe there are historical documents that haven't been tampered with. I'll bet no one expected this to be found."

The book disappeared into her bag again, "Can I logically say that this place gives me the creeps?" An ever present chill caught in her spine and she sighed softly. Oh, this had adventure written all over it. "What do you want to do now, Seraph?"

[Deleted]

He watched as Bella dug around inside of her bag for the book that she had brought around with her on this trip. It took a moment, but eventually she came out of the bag, tightly gripping the book. He watched quietly as she drew out her wand, and pointed it at the book before it flew open to the exact page that she needed it to be on. She uttered a soft "lumos" and light appeared on the very tip of her wand and she began to quietly read what was written on the page to herself before confirming that they were one in the same. He watched as Bella looked up and made a slow circle before turning and pointing at something that lay way off in the horizon.

An old stone castle lay far off in the distance. It appeared dark, and abandoned, as though no one neither man or creature had lived in that castle for years. It was a somewhat tragic sight, for had it received the proper care, the structure surely would have been beautiful. He stared at the castle almost as if entranced, deep inside of his heart he felt a sort of connection with the structure, as if it had been somewhere that he was meant to go, as if it held something that he was meant to see. He listened quietly as Bella spoke, and he found himself agreeing with her.

This had not been a small village, and the castle was not small either. Added to that, was the fact that this village had been one completely inhabited by wizards, and the evidence seemed to add up. There was no way that everyone in the village could have been eliminated, or obliviated. Surely there had to be people that had escaped both of those fates, whether they had been here on the night that the village fell, or not.

Surely there was someone still alive that still had their memories intact! If not that, then there had to be some sort of records of that had information about what happened!

" I think that you're right about that Bella. This village was not small, and neither was the castle. There's absolutely no way that whoever did this could have kept an eye on everyone. As for records, I'm sure that there's some of them here as well though they are probably protected. If that castle is what I think it is, and my parents had enough sense to protect the information that had been inside the locket with a charm, then any information inside of the castle is probably protected as well." He paused for a moment, before bringing his eyes up to the castle again. "Honestly, I am not that comfortable here either. It's unsettling standing here in the ruins of a city."

That and for some reason he felt a kind of uneasiness in his stomach. When Bella asked him what he wanted to do he felt torn, there was a large part of him that wanted to head up to the castle and see what secrets lay inside, but there was also a part of him that told him that there was something here that he needed to find. Frowning slightly, and taking Bella's hand into his own, he glanced at her before making his decision.

"Let us go up to the castle. It looks like that is the more logical choice anyways. If we are unable to find anything, than we can return here to look at a later time." With one final uneasy glance at the city, they made their way through the rubble of the city, and over to a single staircase that seemed like it would lead them to the castle. He glanced up at it and sighed, before looking over at Bella. "Are you ready Bella?"

[Bella Walsh]

Dark curls bounced over her shoulders as she nodded, and as she looked up the stairs she couldn't help but utter softly, "I don't recall ordering a cardio workout today." She giggled softly instead and took a hold of Artemis' hand as she looked up at him, ready to go. The climb felt long, and halfway up the stair path, she felt a bit winded. How, she didn't know. Perhaps the elevation in accordance with the mountains was different than at Hogwarts.

As they reached the top of the stairs, she looked up in awe at the castle. "Aside from looking so terribly lonesome up here...it's absolutely beautiful, Artemis. We should be careful though, old castles like these might be laden with traps. Especially, with how the town appears versus the state of the castle, you know? There has to be some defense mechanism in place here." She looked up at him and smiled softly. Lucky she always came prepared

Through the heavy wooden door they went, Bella looking so wondrously around and settling her eyes upon a large, dust covered portrait in a broken picture frame hanging above an unlit fireplace. She crooned softly and used her wand to Accio it down. The dirt was brushed away and she could make out two...identical...small children. "Seraph...darling, look here."

[Deleted]

Artemis laughed quietly at Bella's remark, and his hand gently grasped onto hers as they began to long embark up to the castle. The climb was longer than they had previously thought, and if Artemis didn't know better he would have sworn that the castle was getting further and further away from them the higher they climbed. As they finally reached the halfway point, Artemis couldn't help but pant softly. It seemed that the the air was becoming slightly thinner, and it was starting to take a bit of a toll on him. This was slightly harder than he would have thought. Finally after what seemed like hours, they reached the top of the staircase and had come face to face with the castle.

He looked up at it in slight awe. While it had been beautiful from a distance, it was even more so when they were up close to it. While it had shown all the signs of being abandoned, and suffering from neglect the castle was still standing strong. It appeared as though whatever had hit the town had not managed to hit the castle for one reason or another. He listened quietly to Bella as she spoke, and nodded in agreement. "It is really nice up here, and I was just thinking the same thing. There has to be some sort of defensive magic keeping it safe. I can't imagine that whoever did that to the town was considerate enough to leave the castle untouched and yet the only thing that seems to have touched the castle is age." Yeah, there was definitely magic involved.

They spent a moment longer observing the outside before they entered through the wooden door of the castle where they were greeted with the sight of what appeared to be an empty sitting room. All furniture that might have been there in the past had long since been removed, and all that remained was an empty fireplace, and a dusty portrait that hung above the fireplace completely undisturbed.

Artemis had taken to looking around the abandoned room which despite being uninhabited for thirteen years had been kept in a surprisingly decent condition. He wondered if there was some type of charm that was preserving the room, and as he went to look for any signs of magic he was called to Bella's side. Walking over to her, he saw that she had the portrait down and dust free. Glancing at the portrait his eyes widened, and a startled gasp left his mouth.

On the portrait were two very young identical toddlers, twins. One of them had soft brown eyes that seemed to stare curiously at the viewer of the portrait, a boy. The other one had surprisingly serious blue eyes that seemed to observe the viewer, something that was rare for someone so young. That one was a girl. His hand moved to gently trace over the portrait.

"I would recognize those eyes anywhere." The words were spoken quietly, barely above a whisper.
"Those kids are me and my sister. I'm absolutely sure of that. This was our home."

[Bella Walsh]

"So it would seem. Wow...look at you, you're so cute." She crooned at his little face, as the eyes of the little boy finally moved from Artemis to Bella. The curious nature of the boy's face changed to one of a very first crush as he looked at her, despite the warning look from the blue eyes beside him. "I have a crazy idea..." She said with a smile.

She propped the picture on the wall so that both children could look at the teens with ease. When they looked at Artemis, there was almost a joyous look on both kids' faces. She spoke quietly to the portrait, "Artemas...do you want to play?" The little boy nodded shyly. "Show us your room, love...but go slow...we're scared of the dark places." A silent laugh, then both kids toddled out of the frame.

Moments later they appeared in another frame, further down the wall and waited, giggling. "Just like follow the leader." She grinned, "Come on, love. Let's see your old room." She held his hand and walked over to the picture, and the kids moved again, then stopped at the foot of the stairs.

When they caught up, little Artemas poked out his upper lip slightly and pointed to a frame in the rubble. Glass had broken from the frame and the picture itsself was nearly ruined. As she brushed the grime away, she saw a laughing Artemas and his Luna with him. Both laughed so joyously, held in the arms of a dark haired man. When the man looked up, he appeared truly happy, especially to see Artemis.

[Deleted]

It was such a strange, surreal feeling for Artemis to be staring at his much younger self, and his twin. He watched as the eyes of his younger self moved from him to Bella, and couldn't help but laugh when the look changed from curious to bashful, and he looked up at Bella with the eyes of a love struck puppy, ignoring the displeased look that his female counterpart gave him. "It looks like you've stolen the heart of my younger self as well love." His laugh only grew louder as the younger him gave him an embarrassed look.

He watched as Bella propped the picture up so that the children could see the both of them at the same time. His eyes softened slightly when he saw the happy expression that took place on the young children's' faces, his eyes falling particularly on the face of the young female. It had been so long since he had seen her smile like that. He was shaken out of his thoughts when Bella mentioned something about a game, and the two kids took each other's hands while slowly walking out of the frame, ending up in a picture that was a short distance away.

He nodded in response to Bella and took her hand in his following the kids as they led him out of the room and into a corridor before leading him up to the foot of the stairs that were present there. There the young Artemis pouted and pointed to a picture that lay in the rubble, and Artemis watched as Bella moved to the picture, cleaning it. The children then disappeared, before appearing again in the portrait, giggling and laughing as they were held in the arms of a man who was holding both of the children in his arms, gently kissing the heads of each child.

After a moment, the man looked up at the two teens that stood before the portrait, his stern features melting away into a soft smile when his sharp brown eyes landed on the older version of his son. "Kids go and find your mommy while the adults talk about something important." His voice was deep, and slightly accented and yet it was not loud and managed to hold a certain softness. The man smiled as he kids did as they were told, wandering off to find their mother. It was silent for a moment, before the man spoke again.

"I often wondered how long it would be before I would be able to see what kind of man that you would grow up to be Artemas. I have to say, I had often thought that it would be your sister who would accompany you here, but I am not dissappointed with your choice in company." He smiled and nodded at Bella. " It is nice to meet you, young miss. I am Roderich Nao Héderváry, the previous head of the Héderváry family, and the twin's father. I am sorry about the state of our home, I wish that it would have been kept up so you would have been able to see our home back in it's former glory, but you will have to bear with me here." The portrait seemed to sigh for a moment, before glancing back at them.

Artemis seemed to stand there in slight shock as his father spoke, his brown eyes staring wide as his father spoke to both him and Bella. This man was his father. He was able to actually see and talk with his father again!

"F-Father." He watched as those light brown eyes glanced at him, immediately making eye contact with him. "I have so much to ask you." He was met with a sad smile."I'm sorry. I can only answer questions that are either about our family, or questions about what was going on around the time that this portrait was painted. My knowledge goes as far as what the real Roderich knew around the time that this portrait was painted. However, I do know the answers to whatever questions that I cannot answer myself, lie within the depths of the castle starting with that room over there." He turned to point at a room that lay at the end of the corridor. "There are no portraits in that room so I cannot enter, but that was the bedroom where you and your sister used to nap and play in during the day. It was one of the many bedrooms that you two used to have when you were babies. Take your time, and look around carefully in there. Before you go though, is there anything that either of you would like to ask me?"[/i] Artemis shook his head, and the portrait glanced at Bella in question.
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[Bella Walsh]

Bella listened to the man speak for a long while before saying, "It was difficult to find you Roderich, but I'm pleased to meet you, so to speak. Despite the passing of years, your home is still lovely." She glanced over at the door to which he pointed and looked up at Artemis before looking back to the picture. "I'm sure questions will come once there's something to go on, but thank you for the offer." As she finished, she carefully edged away from Artemis and the picture as she carefully lay her hands on the solid wooden door and pushed it open.

[Deleted]

As they walked through the door it was as if they had walked back in time. It was obvious that there was strong magic in place, magic that was keeping the room in the condition that it was currently in. While the room appeared to be old, it also appeared as though time had left the room untouched. The room's interior seemed to be completely furnished with a dark sturdy wood that had complex decorations carved into the wood. Beautiful glass windows had been decorated with different designs, and allowed the barest amount of light to flicker on in through the room. There were two sets of doors on the right side of the room, though only the doors that were closest to where they stood were the ones that were open.

After taking a quick glance around the room, Artemis began to walk towards the doors that were open, peering inside before frowning and taking a timid step inside of the room. This room was small and held a single bed, a small non-magical painting on the wall, some chairs, and a small stand that had some papers and a few books placed gently on it. Artemis drew out his wand, and pointed it towards the documents muttering a soft "Accio," as he did so. The documents flew to where he stood, and he took them into his free hand. "Lumos." His eyes squinted at the papers for a moment, before he sighed."These papers are in Hungarian. I can't understand what it is that is written on them."

[Bella Walsh]

Bella squinted through the low light and admired the woodwork within the room, running a hand up the length of the designs within the room. "It's as if time hasn't moved at all in here. How different from the rest of the castle...perhaps the rooms are protected."

The books on the shelf made her smile slightly, the inner bookworm in her absolutely adoring this discovery. But, as Artemis spoke again, she frowned. "Hungarian is not a language I know. Perhaps we can take those to the portrait of your father? Maybe he can read them to you." It was an offer, anyway. She moved to the window that overlooked what may have once been a beautiful garden, but now was overgrown with gnarled thorns and a scattering of struggling roses through the sharpness. "Goodness...I would give anything to have seen this place in its prime. It had to be quite the sight."

The light in the sky was beginning to grow to a soft pink hue where the sun was heading and streaks of clouds were turning darker. "Hm, we may need to find a way of lighting lights within the next couple of hours, love, or it will be too dark to see." Which led her to a most curious question...where were they going to sleep? Even excitement would ebb away to fatigue eventually. "I hate to ever be the bearer of rational questions, seraph...but, where...would you imagine we would sleep?"

She had no doubt that where they were was possibly safest. No portraits, so no one could look in, and no fireplace for floor travel. The fireplace in the home was probably disconnected in the network, but if it were not, certainly the portraits would raise an alarm if they were not heard first. "I think here is safe...especially if we asked the portraits to watch for things that could hurt us."

[Deleted]

"I was thinking the exact same thing. This room is made almost entirely out of wood, that would have been one of the very first materials to go to age, next to fabric anyway." When Bella mentioned taking the documents to the portrait of his father, he nodded excitedly. Why hadn't he thought of that?! That should have been the very first thing that came to his mind upon reading the papers. "I have no idea why I didn't think of that to begin with. I'm so happy that you're here with me Bella. I'd probably be wandering in circles without you."

He followed Bella to the window and glanced out at the sight below. He felt a sort of sadness overtake him as he saw the few delicate roses trying to grow through a sea of thorns."I would have loved to have seen it as well. I wish that I had my memories of this place back, that way I would at least have an idea of what it looked like back when people lived here..."He had no doubt that it had to have been beautiful, and that life here must have been amazing while they had lived here, and yet there was a question that remained in the depths of his mind.

What had happened to change all of that?

He knew that there must have been a battle of some sort that had taken place, for the town that the castle had once been a part of had been almost completely destroyed. Nature alone could not have done that.

His thoughts were dispelled when Bella had asked her rather rational question, along with suggesting that they would need a source of light. That caused Artemis to smile as he sat his bag down on the bed, and began to dig through it before drawing out two shrunken down lanterns."I brought these with me because I figured that we might need them. I'm sure there are still candles and things that we could use to help us, but these will also help us if we're unable to find them. As for where to sleep, I figured that we would be able to find somewhere here to sleep, but even if we hadn't I brought a tent, and I figured we could have casted some protection charms around our campsite." He had definately come here prepared."I agree with you there. I think our safest option would be here. We have privacy, and protection in here, and if there is any danger my father's portrait will surely warn us in time for us to take action." Yes, this really was the best action.

Looking at the bed, he smiled at Bella."You of course shall take the bed. I will take up a spot on the floor with some blankets, and sheets that I brought."