Nico's POV
If you had asked me about wizards six months ago, I would have laughed and told you to that the closest thing to wizards are the kids in the Hecate cabin. Now I know better. It all started in late August when I was talking to my father in his palace.
"The gods have discovered a rather upsetting group in Europe. We have elected you to go on a quest to a school in Scotland." Hades said. "Ok, what are you talking about?" I said, confused. He sighed, "Chiron discovered that there is a population of witches and wizards living in Europe. We know nothing about these people and you have been selected my the Olympians to go study them and report back to us on whether they are a threat to our society."
"So let me get this straight," I responded, "You discovered magical people in Europe and I have to go figure out everything about them." "Good, you understand." My father smiled, "and this mission is to be top secret, although we may send a Roman representative at some later time." He waved his hand and a large trunk appeared in front of me. "Hecate gave us a list of supplies, and everything you need is in this trunk. We will send a letter to these people disguising you as a student from an American magic school. Hecate has blessed you with magical powers and whatnot. Now go get ready to leave, were sending you there tomorrow."
I couldn't really sleep that night as I tried to process all the information. I didn't really understand what was going on, but I did understand that if the wizards found out about the gods, bad stuff was going down.
The next morning, I was pulled out of bed by some dead people (which is quite normal for a son of Hades) and ordered by my own minions to shadow travel to platform 9 3/4 whatever that was. I concentrated hard and walked straight through a shadow, emerging in a steam filled train station containing a scarlet train with the words Hogwarts Express written in gold on the side.
I pushed through the crowds and boarded the train just as it began moving. I pulled my trunk through the corridor looking for an empty compartment. They were all full, but one had only three people in it: a raven haired boy, a slightly taller girl with light red hair, and another girl with dark red hair hair who was looking absently out the window. I slowly pushed the door open and stepped inside.
"Can I sit here?" I asked, pointing at the remaining seat. "Sure," said the boy, "I'm Albus Potter, but call me Al, and this is my sister Lily," he pointed at the darker haired girl who looked up at me and smiled briefly before looking back out the window, "and this is my cousin, Rose Weasley." he pointed to the other girl. "I'm Nico, I came from America. "My dad told me a boy from America was coming this year." Rose said. "Guess thats me." I said sitting down in the remaining seat next to Lily.
"Can you guys tell me about the school, I don't really know much." Rose began to explain about the four houses at the school, "Gryffendor, our house, is all about bravery." she said. I immeadietly thought of Percy. He would fit in perfectly here. "Slytherin is for evil and dark people." Sounds like me. I thought darkly. "Ravenclaw is for the smart people," Rose continued "and Hufflepuff is where they put you if you don't fit into the other houses."
Rose sat forward, "At Hogwarts we learn about all this interesting stuff like transfiguration and charms." she said dreamily. Al rolled his eyes, "She gets like that when she talks about school and books and stuff." he said, "gets a little annoying." "I have a friend who is obsessed with architecture and talks about it all the time." I said, thinking of Annabeth.
"So, do people study different branches of magic, depending on what their good at?" I asked. Al looked surprised, "No, we basically just all learn the same stuff." I nodded, more information. We went on like this for the rest of train ride. I found out a lot about the school, and began to really like these people. I kept reminding myself that I couldn't make friends because I was just here to spy.
Lily had been basically silent for the whole train ride, and when we got off, I leaned over to Al while we were walking and asked, "Why isn't Lily talking?" "She's mad at me because I broke her wand yesterday." he whispered back. I nodded and kept walking. We arrived at carriages and I stopped ubruptly. The weird horse things opened their wings and bowed their heads, Welcome my Lord. they said in my mind. Umm, hi. I thought back.
Lily glanced over at me, "You okay?" she asked. "What are the things pulling the carriage?" I asked. "Oh, you can see them? Their called Thestrals and they can only be seen by people who have seen death." she said, looking at me curiously. I almost laughed, I live in hell and my dad is the god of the dead. Death is my next door neighbor. I wanted to say, but I was pretty sure she didn't mean Thanatos when she said death.
"Who was it?" Lily asked softly, taking me by surprise. I wasn't sure how to answer her, I'd seen so many people die. "Umm, my sister." This wasn't even true, but she was the first dead person who popped into my head. "I'm sorry." she whispered as we climbed into the carriage. It was strange that she looked so sad because we had just met, but it made me feel tingly and warm inside. She was very intense, and it was a little alarming how her bright green eyes contrasted with her red hair.
I tried to figure out what to say in response, but I couldn't think of anything so I just nodded, and joined Al and Rose's discussion about a boy named Scorpius. "Who's that?" I asked. Rose explained that their parents had had a rivalry with Scorpius's father, and it had been passed down to them. Scorpius was apparently quite annoying based on the language used to describe him by Al. Our carriage came to a sudden halt and we stepped out into the shadow of a very large castle.