Nico sat at the foot of his bed in the Hades cabin, checking for probably the fifth time that he didn't forget anything. (Not that he had much in the first place.) He zipped up the black suitcase that his half-sister Hazel had made him, put his jacket on, and took one more glance at his ironically coffin-like bed before shadow traveling to the fire pit.
"You're late," Megra pointed out. "You were supposed to be here four hours ago!" Nico's could feel his heart smashing at his ribs, but stayed calm.
"No problem, no problem. . . How far away is this school again?" He asked.
"It's in London!" She stated. "Do you not hear the accent?" Panic surged through him. He started pacing around the fire pit.
"WHAT?" He exclaimed. "How am I supposed to shadow travel that far in such little time?"
"Shadow travel?" She asked completely off topic.
"Yes" He said quickly trying to think up a last minute plan.
"I can just apparate," She suggested, messing with a symbol Nico couldn't quite see on her necklace. Nico stopped in his tracks.
"Apparate? Is that the thing you did yesterday?" He asked.
"Yes," She said and looked around like she could be arrested at any moment for doing so.
"Are you sure you could apparate that far?" He asked.
She blushed, "I-I reckon I can."
Nico wasn't convinced, "Are you sure?"
"W-we better be off ," She put her arm out again. "Come on then, Nico." He didn't know why she used his first name. People usually just called him: di Angelo or son of Hades. . . First names seemed weird.
He grabbed Megra's arm and they were soon in a train station. Nico clutched his stomach, he wasn't used to that whole "apparation" thing. Having no control on what's happening to him was something he never liked and still doesn't. It was like traveling through the wind all over again, the thought made him sick. And then there was that girl Megra and the thing about her father being a wanted. . . Nico was stuck in thought as he stared at a moving poster that read:
Have You
Seen This
Wizard
This mad person looked. . . well, mad. He was a sunken-faced man with long, matted hair that looked like it hadn't been washed for years. Nico looked into the sky blue, shadowed eyes of Sirius Black, the only part of his death like appearance that seemed alive. And Nico knew well enough what the dead looked like from. . . experience. He also knew what a ghost looked like and with Sirius's waxy white skin, looked just like one.
"A bit scary looking, my father, huh," Megra said sadly, startelling Nico. "I reckon he's seen better days."
"I wouldn't know," He said.
She shrugged halfheartedly, "And I wouldn't remember." Nico felt uncomfortable that she was talking to him about her dad like this. She seamed in such a far away place when she spoke, as if trying to hold onto a memory that wouldn't stay together. It was a depressing sight.
"I was quite young when he. . . left, and I-I. . ." Megra's voice cracked sending an unsettling chill down Nico's spine. "Sorry, I suppose I've never really felt safe talking about him before.
Nico didn't know what else to say except, "It's fine."
She sniffled and rubbed her eye, "No matter, no matter. Come on then, we best head over to the platform." And at that she started walking. That conversation had left Nico a little depressed, but he followed after her. Megara had trusted him enough to talk to him about something she had never talked about before to anyone. He didn't know how to feel about that.
A girl with frizzy brown hair that must have been Megra's friend greeted her happily.
"Hello Megra fancy seeing you here. Shouldn't you be at Hogwarts?" The girl asked hugging Megra.
"Normally yes, but I was picking up an exchange student." She replied. The girl's eyes lit up and she walked over to Nico.
"Hello," She said formally sticking out her hand for him to shake it, "I'm Hermione Granger, and you are?"
Nico took her hand tight grip he thought, "Nico di Angelo."
"Pleasure to meet you Nico di Angelo," She replied. He nodded.
Megra asked, "So Hermione, Where are Harry and Ron?"
"On the train. In fact we should go now before it's too late."
(ON THE TRAIN)
Nico really didn't want to sit with a huge group of people, he had actually made it quite clear that he was extremely claustrophobic. But of course with his luck he ended up sandwiched in between Megra and this weird counselor. . . professor. This weird professor who'd fallen asleep. His suitcase read R. J. Lupin. On the opposite side of the compartment, was a boy with fiery red hair, and a splash of freckles across his face and large nose. He wore what Nico suspected was the school uniform plus a maroon and gold scarf. He introduced himself as Ron Weasley.
Ron held a small gray cage, with what seemed to hold an old rat. An odd sort of shiver went down Nico's spine, he instantly didn't like this rat. He didn't know why, but he just really didn't like the rat. Of course he was only being paranoid, right?
Next to him was a boy with the same messy black hair and sea green eyes as Percy. Only, he had a lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead, and round glasses perched ever so carefully on his nose. This boy was none other than Harry Potter, the boy who lived. The person his father droned on and on about for two hours. Of course watching him will be so much easier now that Nico knew he was friends with Megra. Wow, that was the only smart thing his father had done for this stupid quest.
"So," Ron asked just to break the silence. "Where're you from?"
Nico replied, "America."
"I think what Ronald ment was, where in America?" Hermione stated more than asked.
"Let's just say I travel around a lot," He said wearily.
"Oh, emm. . . Sure." Everyone stared at him for a minute, silently judging him. (Something he was all too familiar with.)
Megra spoke up, "So, anyway. How was your summer Harry?"
"Besides the obvious?" He asked. "Actually something really creepy happened to me just the other day." Nico felt Megra tense up.
"Is this about si-" She faltered. "Sirius Black?" Hades had told Nico all about Harry Potter's backstory and he only mentioned Sirius Black once because. . . oh gods. That's what he did?!
"No but. . ." Harry looked at him hesitantly.
"You can trust him. His dad and my mum were really good friends." Megra saved the day.
Hermione said, "Go on then Harry." Harry went into a full blown explanation about this large black dog he had seen. He said it didn't attack or do anything really, it just stood there watching him. It was a shaggy old dog, that looked like it hadn't slept or eaten in months. A street dog Nico thought.
"And it just walked away." He said.
Ron commented, "That's bloody strange."
"Yes, that's quite strange, but I don't see how this is anyway shape or form connected to Sirius Black." Said Hermione.
"Hermione's right," Said Megra. "It was most likely just a stray dog."
"You're right, you're right, it's just. . . " The train screeched to a stop, and everything went black.
Megra muttered to herself, "Lumos." The compartment was dimly lit by the tip of her wand. Nico looked around for any sort of indication of monsters or any other threat.
"Is everyone alright?" Nico jumped, the professor was awake and, standing up. His wand at the ready. Nico instinctively put his hand over his suitcase where he was hiding his sword.
"Yea."
"Mmm hmm."
"Yea."
"Yes."
"Yea, i'm ok."
"Good, good." Lupin sat back down.
"What just happened? We couldn't possibly be at Hogwarts yet." Said Hermione.
"Most likely just some mechanical problems," Lupin replied not sounding too sure of himself. "We should be off soon enough."
Or Nico thought We could be under attack by, I don't know, a murderer! The teacher of all people should be up and at least trying to find out what happened. If Nico where at camp right now he'd be patrolling the area as of this second, but was he at camp? No. He was stuck on some stupid quest, to some stupid school, messing with something he had absolutely nothing to do with. And it just made him so mad that he couldn't do anything but just sit and wait for, gods know how long. It just wasn't going to happen.
But what could Nico possibly do if he came across Sirius Black? He didn't know any magic, let alone enough to take down someone with that much experience. He felt so useless. What could a sword do against magic? It wasn't a fair match in the least. He did have a wand, but he knew nothing about magic or how to use the blessing of Hecate. How could he possibly protect Harry Potter, when he couldn't even protect himself? It was hopeless. A lost cause.
Megra must have noticed that Nico was looking nervous, because she patted him on the shoulder and said, "It's alright, I'm sure it's nothing. We'll be starting off any time now." He just nodded and she gave him a quick smile before turning back to Harry.
"I hope we're not late. I'm really not accustomed to riding the train to Hogwarts."
"I know, this is must feel strange for you." Said Ron.
Hermione let out a scream and pointed to the widow on the door. Nico stared star struck at a large hooded figure standing just behind the door.
Nico saw his sister Bianca yelling, "Percy, GO! This is my fault, I'll do it!" She ran at a giant mechanical monster and jumped into the hole in it's foot. He was then back in the clay jar breathing in the toxic air and slowly starving to death. He was with the hunters of Artemis and Bianca just said she would join them. He was wandering the cold dark labyrinth with only a ghost to accompany him. He was at camp yelling at Percy that he broke his promise. He was struggling through the depths of Tartarus with no hope of survival. He saw his most terrifying heartbreaking moments of his life playing over, again, and again.
Then he was back on the train. Megra stood up quickly, her wand raised, as she chanted, "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" A large figure of a dog with shaggy black hair shot out of her wand and circled around the hooded creature, pushing it out of the door and off of the train. She ran up and slammed the door shut. Nico passed out.
Nico sat at the foot of his bed in the Hades cabin, checking for probably the fifth time that he didn't forget anything. (Not that he had much in the first place.) He zipped up the black suitcase that his half-sister Hazel had made him, put his jacket on, and took one more glance at his ironically coffin-like bed before shadow traveling to the fire pit.
"You're late," Megra pointed out. "You were supposed to be here four hours ago!" Nico's could feel his heart smashing at his ribs, but stayed calm.
"No problem, no problem. . . How far away is this school again?" He asked.
"It's in London!" She stated. "Do you not hear the accent?" Panic surged through him. He started pacing around the fire pit.
"WHAT?" He exclaimed. "How am I supposed to shadow travel that far in such little time?"
"Shadow travel?" She asked completely off topic.
"Yes" He said quickly trying to think up a last minute plan.
"I can just apparate," She suggested, messing with a symbol Nico couldn't quite see on her necklace. Nico stopped in his tracks.
"Apparate? Is that the thing you did yesterday?" He asked.
"Yes," She said and looked around like she could be arrested at any moment for doing so.
"Are you sure you could apparate that far?" He asked.
She blushed, "I-I reckon I can."
Nico wasn't convinced, "Are you sure?"
"W-we better be off ," She put her arm out again. "Come on then, Nico." He didn't know why she used his first name. People usually just called him: di Angelo or son of Hades. . . First names seemed weird.
He grabbed Megra's arm and they were soon in a train station. Nico clutched his stomach, he wasn't used to that whole "apparation" thing. Having no control on what's happening to him was something he never liked and still doesn't. It was like traveling through the wind all over again, the thought made him sick. And then there was that girl Megra and the thing about her father being a wanted. . . Nico was stuck in thought as he stared at a moving poster that read:
Have You
Seen This
Wizard
This mad person looked. . . well, mad. He was a sunken-faced man with long, matted hair that looked like it hadn't been washed for years. Nico looked into the sky blue, shadowed eyes of Sirius Black, the only part of his death like appearance that seemed alive. And Nico knew well enough what the dead looked like from. . . experience. He also knew what a ghost looked like and with Sirius's waxy white skin, looked just like one.
"A bit scary looking, my father, huh," Megra said sadly, startelling Nico. "I reckon he's seen better days."
"I wouldn't know," He said.
She shrugged halfheartedly, "And I wouldn't remember." Nico felt uncomfortable that she was talking to him about her dad like this. She seamed in such a far away place when she spoke, as if trying to hold onto a memory that wouldn't stay together. It was a depressing sight.
"I was quite young when he. . . left, and I-I. . ." Megra's voice cracked sending an unsettling chill down Nico's spine. "Sorry, I suppose I've never really felt safe talking about him before.
Nico didn't know what else to say except, "It's fine."
She sniffled and rubbed her eye, "No matter, no matter. Come on then, we best head over to the platform." And at that she started walking. That conversation had left Nico a little depressed, but he followed after her. Megara had trusted him enough to talk to him about something she had never talked about before to anyone. He didn't know how to feel about that.
A girl with frizzy brown hair that must have been Megra's friend greeted her happily.
"Hello Megra fancy seeing you here. Shouldn't you be at Hogwarts?" The girl asked hugging Megra.
"Normally yes, but I was picking up an exchange student." She replied. The girl's eyes lit up and she walked over to Nico.
"Hello," She said formally sticking out her hand for him to shake it, "I'm Hermione Granger, and you are?"
Nico took her hand tight grip he thought, "Nico di Angelo."
"Pleasure to meet you Nico di Angelo," She replied. He nodded.
Megra asked, "So Hermione, Where are Harry and Ron?"
"On the train. In fact we should go now before it's too late."
(ON THE TRAIN)
Nico really didn't want to sit with a huge group of people, he had actually made it quite clear that he was extremely claustrophobic. But of course with his luck he ended up sandwiched in between Megra and this weird counselor. . . professor. This weird professor who'd fallen asleep. His suitcase read R. J. Lupin. On the opposite side of the compartment, was a boy with fiery red hair, and a splash of freckles across his face and large nose. He wore what Nico suspected was the school uniform plus a maroon and gold scarf. He introduced himself as Ron Weasley.
Ron held a small gray cage, with what seemed to hold an old rat. An odd sort of shiver went down Nico's spine, he instantly didn't like this rat. He didn't know why, but he just really didn't like the rat. Of course he was only being paranoid, right?
Next to him was a boy with the same messy black hair and sea green eyes as Percy. Only, he had a lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead, and round glasses perched ever so carefully on his nose. This boy was none other than Harry Potter, the boy who lived. The person his father droned on and on about for two hours. Of course watching him will be so much easier now that Nico knew he was friends with Megra. Wow, that was the only smart thing his father had done for this stupid quest.
"So," Ron asked just to break the silence. "Where're you from?"
Nico replied, "America."
"I think what Ronald ment was, where in America?" Hermione stated more than asked.
"Let's just say I travel around a lot," He said wearily.
"Oh, emm. . . Sure." Everyone stared at him for a minute, silently judging him. (Something he was all too familiar with.)
Megra spoke up, "So, anyway. How was your summer Harry?"
"Besides the obvious?" He asked. "Actually something really creepy happened to me just the other day." Nico felt Megra tense up.
"Is this about si-" She faltered. "Sirius Black?" Hades had told Nico all about Harry Potter's backstory and he only mentioned Sirius Black once because. . . oh gods. That's what he did?!
"No but. . ." Harry looked at him hesitantly.
"You can trust him. His dad and my mum were really good friends." Megra saved the day.
Hermione said, "Go on then Harry." Harry went into a full blown explanation about this large black dog he had seen. He said it didn't attack or do anything really, it just stood there watching him. It was a shaggy old dog, that looked like it hadn't slept or eaten in months. A street dog Nico thought.
"And it just walked away." He said.
Ron commented, "That's bloody strange."
"Yes, that's quite strange, but I don't see how this is anyway shape or form connected to Sirius Black." Said Hermione.
"Hermione's right," Said Megra. "It was most likely just a stray dog."
"You're right, you're right, it's just. . . " The train screeched to a stop, and everything went black.
Megra muttered to herself, "Lumos." The compartment was dimly lit by the tip of her wand. Nico looked around for any sort of indication of monsters or any other threat.
"Is everyone alright?" Nico jumped, the professor was awake and, standing up. His wand at the ready. Nico instinctively put his hand over his suitcase where he was hiding his sword.
"Yea."
"Mmm hmm."
"Yea."
"Yes."
"Yea, i'm ok."
"Good, good." Lupin sat back down.
"What just happened? We couldn't possibly be at Hogwarts yet." Said Hermione.
"Most likely just some mechanical problems," Lupin replied not sounding too sure of himself. "We should be off soon enough."
Or Nico thought We could be under attack by, I don't know, a murderer! The teacher of all people should be up and at least trying to find out what happened. If Nico where at camp right now he'd be patrolling the area as of this second, but was he at camp? No. He was stuck on some stupid quest, to some stupid school, messing with something he had absolutely nothing to do with. And it just made him so mad that he couldn't do anything but just sit and wait for, gods know how long. It just wasn't going to happen.
But what could Nico possibly do if he came across Sirius Black? He didn't know any magic, let alone enough to take down someone with that much experience. He felt so useless. What could a sword do against magic? It wasn't a fair match in the least. He did have a wand, but he knew nothing about magic or how to use the blessing of Hecate. How could he possibly protect Harry Potter, when he couldn't even protect himself? It was hopeless. A lost cause.
Megra must have noticed that Nico was looking nervous, because she patted him on the shoulder and said, "It's alright, I'm sure it's nothing. We'll be starting off any time now." He just nodded and she gave him a quick smile before turning back to Harry.
"I hope we're not late. I'm really not accustomed to riding the train to Hogwarts."
"I know, this is must feel strange for you." Said Ron.
Hermione let out a scream and pointed to the widow on the door. Nico stared star struck at a large hooded figure standing just behind the door.
Nico saw his sister Bianca yelling, "Percy, GO! This is my fault, I'll do it!" She ran at a giant mechanical monster and jumped into the hole in it's foot. He was then back in the clay jar breathing in the toxic air and slowly starving to death. He was with the hunters of Artemis and Bianca just said she would join them. He was wandering the cold dark labyrinth with only a ghost to accompany him. He was at camp yelling at Percy that he broke his promise. He was struggling through the depths of Tartarus with no hope of survival. He saw his most terrifying heartbreaking moments of his life playing over, again, and again.
Then he was back on the train. Megra stood up quickly, her wand raised, as she chanted, "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" A large figure of a dog with shaggy black hair shot out of her wand and circled around the hooded creature, pushing it out of the door and off of the train. She ran up and slammed the door shut. Nico passed out.