I know some people are frustrated at my slow update, but I was waiting for BoO to come out and see how Rick finished the story.
A big thanks to everyone who fav/followed, and replies to your wonderful reviews are, as always, at the bottom of the page!
On with the chapter!
"Thank you Mr di Angelo, you can go." Dumbledore told the demigod kindly. Nico hesitated. While this gave him the perfect opportunity to leave, and he didn't want to talk to the others, he did want to know their thoughts on the prophecy. He acquiesced, reluctantly.
"Won't Octavian have seen this in the auguries though?" asked Piper. The two boys shrugged.
"He might not tell them, he'll jump to conclusions and assume…" Percy caught himself, his eyes darting to the adults, who were closely following the conversation, and Nico lingering in the doorway. "…bad things." He finished lamely.
Nico shut the door.
Despite Nico's best efforts at being frosty and unpleasant, he and Morgana fell into a routine during potions. She was understandably contrite after what she'd inadvertently revealed in the last lesson, and agreed to keep him up to date on what the camps were up to. They didn't bring up the diadem, aside from Nico demanding she let him watch when it was destroyed.
It was the second week of November and they were making another version of the potion. Nico couldn't really tell the difference between each version of the foul smelling sludge, but Morgana insisted each time that it was not quite right.
She wouldn't tell him what exactly the potion was for, but Nico couldn't help but hope it was some form of acid bath for the thrice cursed tiara.
"Excuse me, Professor, I've been asked to escort Harry Potter to something called the 'Weighing of the Wands' ceremony."
Both demigods whirled around. Percy Jackson was leaning against the doorframe. Morgana let out a strangled giggle. The Sea Prince remained oblivious, looking at the Professor with a laid-back half-smile.
"Mr Potter is currently in class."
"Oh, that's ok, I'll just hang here until he's finished." Percy replied, withstanding the teacher's icy glare, and nonchalantly shoving his hands in his pockets.
There was a moment of utter silence. The students waited with baited breath to see the feared Potion's master's reaction.
"POTTER! Pack your things and go!"
The Gryffindor jumped to comply, hastily shoving his books and parchment into his bag. In his hurry, he tripped backwards over a sneakily placed stool and up-ended Morgana's cauldron.
Nico lunged, but it was too late. The daughter of Hecate yelped as the scalding liquid seeped through the front of her clothes, while the Ghost King reeled backwards, his forearms red beneath the burning goop. Some of the other students had been spattered, and the sleeve of Potter's robe was soaked.
"Does this …whatever this is, work on skin contact?" Nico bit out, his teeth clenched. Snape made a sweeping motion with his wand and most of the slime vanished.
"It would if it was, ah! …Finished!" Morgana replied, her voice strained. "There might be a few, side effects, but…nothing dangerous."
Nico had been about to bite out a sarcastic retort, but bit his tongue.
"Those that were splashed, make your way to the Hospital wing immediately. POTTER! Detention, Saturday, with me. The rest of you, OUT!"
Nico and Morgana were the only two who had come into close contact with the potion long enough to stay for 'observation'.
It had barely been ten minutes and the son of Hades was ready to climb the walls in agitation.
He was trapped. Hospital Wing, Camp Infirmary, Psych ward, Lotus Hotel, what was the difference? They all said it was 'for his own good' or that 'they were only trying to help'. Ha. He'd stopped believing that rubbish after Minos. Trusting just invited betrayal.
With nothing to do, and completely alone besides Madam Pomfrey (who stayed mostly in her office), the two demigods talked.
Morgana explained that the 'magic demigods' had a rota for who went to which class and when. Their actual skill level varied depending on how long they'd been at camp (and if they'd enrolled at Salem or somewhere similar), but for appearance's sake, they had decided to spend each day concentrating on a different subject. This avoided any questions about their abnormal skill and guaranteed that the demigods wouldn't be bored. It would be suspicious if a twelve year old demigod attended only NEWT Defence classes and could beat the wizard students without breaking sweat.
She also told him why the Hecate cabin had been so interested in the Goblet, and thus why Percy and Lou had been arguing with Barty Crouch, the official that Nico had seen in the champion's chamber. Besides the fact that Percy wanted a demigod competitor to take Potter's place (as that way the camps actually had something to do), it turned out the Hecate cabin had inadvertently found proof that Harry hadn't put his name in the Goblet.
"We were curious about how the age line worked. I mean, what would happen if a hundred year old/eight year old hunter tried to cross?"
Nico nodded, he'd wondered about that too.
"So we set up our own wards. This one was more a …diagnostic. It recorded the date of birth of anyone who stepped over and the name they entered. We tried other spells to see what we could find, but that ward was the only one set up the entire time."
Nico whistled.
"And Potter's name wasn't matched to his date of birth?"
"Nope. Whoever put Potter's name in is thirty-three years old."
"And an ageing potion …"
"Doesn't change your date of birth, and the culprit was born in '62. Besides, the Weasley Twins tried that and their names weren't accepted. Percy and Lou Ellen were trying to revoke Potter's selection, and get someone official to act on the information, or at least give us permission to investigate instead." Morgana laughed bitterly. "When Lou admitted adding a ward, they came close to accusing us of sabotage and interfering with both the Line and the Goblet's magical contract. As if we would be that stupid."
"But they didn't accuse you outright?"
"No, we reckon they didn't want the bad press; Imagine, a bunch of kids from an inferior school managed to nullify Headmaster Dumbledore's age restriction."
"But surely they were interested in what you discovered?"
Hecate's daughter shook her head.
"If you've checked everyone in the castle, and none of the birthdays match; what about asking someone who looks younger than they are?"
"A youth potion? That's a myth, and anyone who has access to more… divine ways of looking younger wouldn't target Potter."
"There are other ways of concealing your identity."
"Sure, a Glamour or Polyjuice, but they would have had to have been undercover the entire time, someone would have noticed…"
They stopped speaking for a while, each ruminating on the obvious problem that someone was masquerading as a different person.
"HELP! Someone! Anyone!" yelled a voice, causing the two magic demigods to jump.
Three bedraggled looking preteens appeared in the room, two boys and one girl. One boy looked tough and intimidating, while the second was thin and reedy. The girl was tiny and imp-like. Their images were distorted; not like the picture in an Iris message, but more like drops of ink in water, swirling and solidifying.
"It didn't work! It always works!" the small girl sounded a mixture of hurt and frantic.
"Quiet! They'll hear us!" snarled the tough one, peering around.
"THEY already know where we are! We need to run, or we're gonna get caught!" snapped a lean boy who had dark brown hair and sharp grey eyes.
"The castle's not far, just the other side of the forest" piped up the girl.
"I'm not going to some magic castle that the voices told you to find!" argued the first boy. "Better we stand and fight."
"We CANT! Ellie's injured, and…"
He never finished his sentence, diving to the ground as a spear sailed over his head.
Barking and growls were heard and a pack of telekhines emerged from eddies of black smoke.
The large boy crouched, holding a machete, while the smaller girl ducked and seized the fallen spear. The three backed up, the second boy holding a pitifully small knife in one hand, and a heavy-looking pack slung over the opposite shoulder. Three of his fingers on one hand were missing.
"Right, Brutus, when we make the tree line, they won't be able to outflank us. We can run, but I need you machete." The leaner boy ordered tersely.
Brutus grunted. The two exchanged weapons. The tiny blade suddenly looked a lot more dangerous.
The tiny girl called Ellie was clutching the spear as if her life depended on it, her eyes wide and frightened.
The telekhines advanced; some moved to come from the side, but were quickly blocked. The three continued backing up.
"DUCK!" The lean boy swung his arm up, hacking through a branch, causing another branch that had been caught to fly forward, hitting the first dog-creature to spring in the muzzle.
The three were already sprinting away. At some point the boys had exchanged blades again, as Brutus swung the wicked machete like something possessed, guarding his friends' backs.
"Almost there!" cried Ellie, as the group thundered through the underbrush.
"YES!" the telekhines hit an invisible wall and bounced off. They paced the frontier, yelping as their snouts accidently hit the sudden boundary.
The preteens continued on, before gradually slowing to a halt. Ellie closed her eyes and sighed, her frame sagging with relief. A shimmering caduceus appeared above her head. She saw it and grinned, her eyes dancing with mischief.
Her companions looked at it, astonished, before looking up to see if they had their own signs. A set of scales appeared above the unnamed boy, but Brutus didn't have a holographic sign. Instead, his machete had changed into a celestial bronze sword. From the way he was testing it, it appeared to be perfectly balanced for him.
There was a crackling of dead leaves and the thump of approaching feet, causing the three tired demigods to tense.
Percy Jackson stumbled into the clearing, brushing aside the brambles that were caught on his shirt. He obviously relaxed when he saw no monsters, and the sword in his hand disappeared. Nico smirked inwardly as he saw him slip a pen in his back pocket. The Son of Poseidon grinned, despite the weapons shoved in his face.
"Welcome to Camp Half-Blood's outreach programme!"
The small knife and spear lowered slightly, the bronze sword did not.
"You mean; this isn't actually Camp Half-Blood?" Ellie asked, sounding disappointed.
"Nah, that's in the States. There are only a few of us here, for a 'well-deserved vacation' and 'some needed R&R'." There was a pause and the three new demigods exchanged glances. "You called?" Percy asked finally.
Ellie's face split into a smile.
"Told you I was gonna call for help" she told the two boys.
The vision faded.
"Oh, I can't believe it, of course!" Morgana exclaimed, after the shock of what they'd seen had worn off.
"What?" asked Nico, irritated.
"I forgot to add a catalyst to my potion! No wonder it never worked properly. The iris message must have caused the belladonna to react!"
"So, that really happened? But why did the IM come to us?"
"Oh, it could have been nearby; it wouldn't need to come to us, specifically. But yes it did happen... though I don't know how Percy going to explain their sudden appearance…"
"With the Mist of course." Nico replied, nonplussed.
"But it doesn't seem to affect the wizards like it does mortals, what if …"
"From what I could tell at Hogwarts, the Mist won't 'passively' alter their perceptions of monsters and stuff like that, but when I really want the Mist to cover up something, it will. One classmate figured out the truth, but I guess I left too many hints that I was different and he was too observant."
"You seem to have hidden your age well." Morgana teased, before turning pensive.
Nico huffed. The age gap hadn't really been a problem before, but since his trip in time, he'd become even less patient with his fellow classmates. It turned out that a two year gap he could stomach, but a three year one was just too much.
Why should I bother with them at all? They can't understand my problem … They don't have to worry if they're going to be kidnapped and tortured. They haven't wondered if they can survive long enough to be rescued. They worry about such childish, immature things. Why should I care that Malfoy pays more attention to insulting Potter than complementing Parkinson?
"That… actually sums up what happens at Salem. I once turned all my classmates into ladybugs, but nobody could remember after about two days. Perhaps they can see around it if they really try to. Or maybe if they realized the truth, the Mist wouldn't do anything – like when a demigod acknowledges who they are! … I'm going to look into this, should be just as interesting as my Potions experiment!"
Nico didn't correct her choice of adjective.
The two sat out the rest of the day alternately trying to persuade Madam Pomfrey to let them go, or find where she kept her patient files, to cross reference the birthdays with the mysterious thirty-three year old. Morgana had wanted to start testing the Mist immediately, but Nico was adamant that he be left out of it.
When they got released, it was dinner. Nico made his way to the Slytherin table, while Hecate's daughter made her way towards the new demigods. Percy was arguing with Annabeth, Ellie in between, her head going to and fro as if it were a match of tennis.
Sure enough, nobody noticed the three orange-clad interlopers, though Nico wasn't sure whether or not that was the Mist, or the fact that with twenty brightly coloured t-shirts already around, three more in the fold weren't so noticeable.
The day of the first task arrived chilled and misty. Percy, who had been on edge since the new arrivals, seemed oddly relaxed when he arrived for breakfast.
When Ellie came in, instead of joining the other demigods, she came over to Nico.
"Hi, are you Nico, the counsellor for Hades Cabin?"
Blaise, Tracy and Daphne raised their eyebrows.
Nico glared at the newest Hermes child.
"What's it to you, cabin eleven?" he replied, hoping the girl would take the hint.
"My brothers told me to steal your skull ring to prove myself as a true daughter of-" Nico intensified his glare, "-Hermes. Will you give it to me?"
The counsellor for cabin thirteen closed his eyes and counted to ten.
Stupid little brat, no discretion, practically announced to the world what we are, does she have no sense? Why not just walk in with a banner over her head, it would have the same effect…
Nico was about to venomously decline, when an idea struck him.
"I'll give you the ring, if you introduce your brothers to the Weasley twins." He pointed to the red-headed menaces, eagerly walking up and down the tables taking bets on the first task.
"Now?"
"The sooner, the better."
Ellie skipped off, her naïve and innocent mien preventing anyone from seeing the mischievous twinkle in her eye.
"What was all that about?" Tracy asked, bluntly.
"Tracy!" hissed Daphne
"You're all wondering too!" the other girl argued back.
The Son of Hades sighed.
How to get out of this without telling them anything? Can't have them mixing, too much exposure and they'd start asking questions.
"At the Chiron camp, each family has a cabin and a talent. Cabin eleven is trickery, travels and thievery. I have a reputation of enacting vengeance when my things are messed with, so she asked me rather than attempting to steal it: that way she avoids any repercussions from me and proves herself to her siblings."
"You mean she's a common pickpocket." Daphne sniffed.
Nico glowered.
"Families with a cabin, especially the Ol-Original Twelve, are powerful. You don't want to go offending them. You might just find yourself on the wrong end of a curse."
"If the family can only thieve, that wouldn't be much of a curse."
"They're Greek, haven't you always insisted that Greek is Dark, like Latin is light? That boy, Jackson… His ancestor created the first Basilisk. And Chase, over there… she has-had severe arachnophobia-"
"Not so unusual." Nott commented, interrupting. Nico glared.
"No, it isn't when her family created the first acromantula, which then went rogue and almost wiped out her family line. And my family created Dementors."
"Perhaps the Greeks shouldn't have meddled in dangerous experiments on magical animals." Blaise muttered, sounding disturbed.
Nico can a half-hearted smirk, his indignation had waned, and he was beginning to realise that he'd given too much away.
"Creatures are easier to avoid than curses. And monsters make excellent guards." He replied eventually. His mind wandered to the Great Prophecies, and prophecies in general, and wondered if they could be considered curses. A painful vision of Bianca, and he's firmly decided that Yes. Yes they could.
Nico glared at Rachel, who smiled sweetly and pulled him towards the stadium. It was the first time they'd interacted since the prophecy.
Nico was surprised when whispers had only followed the Oracle for a couple of days, before the entire incident was written off as a hoax. Most of the time it was mentioned, it was to imply Potter was the traitor, and jokingly wonder who he'd kill.
The Stolls and the Weasley twins had given Nico the most perfect distraction, on top of the first Task too, and it would go to waste… Put bluntly, the two sets of brothers had taken to each other like a House in an erupting volcano.
It hadn't taken long for the four of them to get to work. To celebrate their new found pranking partners, they'd initiated a prank war.
It was surprising, disturbing, and downright scary just how many pranks could be pulled off between breakfast and lunch.
Only the champions had been spared; possibly to avoid the serious repercussions that come from messing with an international tournament, but mainly so that the bets staked on the various outcomes wouldn't be voided.
First hit was Snape; the Imperial March played every time he entered a room, causing his usually intimidating sweeping entrance to be ruined by giggling Muggleborns.
Next all the camp T-shirts flashed in multicolour, favourites being vibrant fuchsia and florescent yellow, and all their weapons had changed into pillows.
First year robes were transformed into animal skins of their house. The Rowena's House got feathers everywhere and resembled vultures more than ravens, while the Gryffindors looked very strange as a gaggle of miniature Hercules.
Pulsating goo lined the hallways which, when touched, turned the person translucent like a ghost.
Seventh years could only speak with a Texan drawl.
At some point during the two hours, everyone's quills were swapped for their candy counterpart and everyone's wands started squeaking and turning into rubber animals.
Classes were chaos.
The son of Hades stopped resisting the stubborn Oracle after a while. It wasn't like he knew for sure where a Horcrux was. He only needed a few minutes to determine if the Ministry held a soul-piece. He ignored the wave of relief he felt when he decided not to shadow travel.
He could travel whenever he liked, wherever he liked. He wasn't scared.
Rachel led him towards the crowd of demigods at the entrance. Like security at an airport, they examined everyone, confiscating the odd dungbomb before directing the arriving spectators to their seats.
"Ideally, wands would be confiscated too, but apparently there are wards in place so the crowd can't interfere with the tasks." Rachel commented lightly.
As they sat down, Nico noticed that they were some of the first to arrive. Gradually, as the stadium filled and queue outside dwindled, the demigod security became more apparent. Like sports matches, they stood at regular intervals at the front and along the sides of the stands.
The son of Hades had to suppress a smile when he saw Percy obstinately stand in front of Draco Malfoy. The other had been loudly telling people his plans to mess with Potter during the task, and the Sea Prince was obviously trying to make a point.
"Where's Leo?" Nico asked, after spotting and recognizing most of the orange and purple stewards. Rachel shrugged, before asking the nearest steward.
"Oh, he'll be with the dragons. He can't get enough of them – must be a son of Vulcan thing."
Rachel giggled, and then held up a V shaped four fingered salute. The Roman steward stared at her, looking utterly bemused. Nico, who got the joke, rolled his eyes.
"Dragons?" A first year Ravenclaw demanded shrilly.
The Roman didn't confirm or deny this, but the whispers had already started. The news spread like a wave, until the entire stadium was buzzing. The arrival of the first dragon in the arena caused many screams and shouts of delight – but not the stupefied surprise or dumbfounded awe that the organizers had perhaps hoped for. A booming voice explained the task to the excited crowd: retrieve a golden egg from the dragon's nest. Some of the demigod security detail were looking a mixture of jealous and wary. Dragons guard their eggs with a fierce possessiveness; couple that with the fact the egg was gold, and that the creature was surrounded by noise and strange smells (including demigods, which every monster loves to snack on) – this task was proving to be a tempting challenge for any camper looking to prove their worth.
The crowd whooped as Cedric Diggory entered the arena. He was dwarfed by the dragon, which immediately locked eyes on the intruder. The thing roared and spread its wings, immediately making the arena seem small and confining. Nico couldn't see what the champion was doing, but heard gasps and cheers, before the dragon shifted and he saw a Labrador in the arena with the dragon. Cedric tried sneaking around the giant lizard, only for it to cotton on too soon and hit him with a well-aimed fireball, just as he grabbed his prize.
The scores were posted, but there was no way of knowing if the Hufflepuff had done a good job until the other champions had had their shot.
Fleur's dragon was a brilliant leaf green rather than the dull mottled grey of the previous breed. It appeared like she tried to charmspeak the animal, but it woke up and set her skirt on fire.
Krum downed his bright scarlet dragon within seconds, but trampled all over the real eggs when he lost his footing and tripped. The giant lizard was removed still unconscious, but the entire stadium heard when it was revived; its screeches, the sound of crashes and yells of the handlers left none in doubt that the creature had gone completely berserk.
The last dragon was by far the most vicious, with lethal looking spikes running down its spine and around its throat like a mix between a Tudor ruff and a stud collar. The way it brandished its tail reminded Nico forcibly of Dr Thorn, and the beast tugged on its chains with single minded determination.
The final champion's name was called and Potter walked into the arena.
So that's the chapter!
What did you think? Ellie's throwaway comment will be investigated but by no means is the cat out of the bag! Nico's good at deception and dissimulation!
Clarisse will make a short appearance in the next chapter hopefully, but I'm not planning on expanding camper OCs. My reasoning is that Nico keeps himself to himself and only really interacts with a select few.
Please Review!
Swiss
rainbowchameleon, AngelicDarkness, blackclaw: Thank you, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!
TheUltimateFangirlAndBookworm, A-FighterLady, Finwitch1: Thank you!
obsessivegirl73: I'm really glad to know you liked the prophecy, and I love your guesses on how it could be fulfilled. Explanations for some powers will come later, I have that pretty much already decided if not written. You'll kick yourself when Tracy works it out (if you haven't worked it out for yourself already). Thanks for taking the time to review, I hope you like the chapter!
ChrisDaughterOfApollo: Percy does trust Nico, and he cut off his sentence because he wants to get over whatever Nico's problem is (since Nico is distancing himself from the demigods), before making it obvious that they know each other. Plus Octavian hearing a Prophecy about a traitor, any speculation of who it would be in front of suspicious adults is a bad idea.
Star Fata: Thank you, I hope the chapter answered your questions, I am planning Hazel visiting, but she won't be staying for very long.
InfinityMidnight: Thank you! I'm trying to keep people in character as much as possible, but I have not plans with taking any Romance beyond hints. Hope the chapter lives up to expectations!
Crimson Gamma: Thanks! You've got my reasoning for my storyline down to a T! Its much more difficult than it seems, keeping the story from becoming cliché, and it only got harder when I decided to introduce more campers at Hogwarts, especially when it comes to demigod powers! Hope you like the chapter, Yell if you think I'm failing in my fight against the dreaded cliché!
XxShadowAlchemistxX: Thanks! Hope you didn't get into trouble, let me know what you think of the chapter!
TenebrisRosis: I'm not good at writing Romance, so I really have no plans for pairings beyond strong hints or something. Even then, I'm not seeing Luna x Nico as a possible romantic pairing unfortunately. Nico could be bi, but personally I think he's gay, which came to light with his hero-crush on Percy (which definitely stemmed from Percy being kind and caring and...Percy-y). Hope this isn't too much of a disappointment, but do let me know what you think of the chapter!
Thorn D Cini: I have big plans for the Percy/Seven and Nico confrontation (most of which is already written, but needs a polish) Hope you like the chapter!
Omega2199: Hope the chapter lived up to expectations! Glad to know Rachel has been IC so far, and that the prophecy is good. Its hard to judge when you know how it'll be fulfilled!
blueice2449: I know I'm hideously bad at updating, I'm glad you stuck with it!
Emilie: Thanks! I think he is 16, as he'd basically 2 years older than his peers, though with time travel i guess he's 17... yeah, I don't really pay attention to how time matches up in the demigod world. hope you like the chapter!
fieldmouse: I'm very flattered, thank you! hope you like this chapter.
The Pianist's Touch: We're getting close, definitely! A secret known by three people can only be kept if two are dead, and there are waaay more than three demigods at Hogwarts!
Kerowyn6: More Rachel for you ;) hope you liked it!
Matt: Thank you! I totally agree, but its completely in Nico's character to not say anything. Telling Percy would make things awkward as Percy's head over heels for Annabeth. Plus it would 'solidify' his feelings, make them more real, and it would then become something he can't ignore.
leo749: Thank you, I hope the chapter lives up to expectations!
KTDLover: Thank you so much! There's not much Krum or Percy in this chapter, though for sure they will be back! I'm glad you like my style, I'm not good at writing Romance and most Romance stuff i read doesn't fit with my idea of Nico, so the story angle stems from that. ;) Hope you like the chapter!
cbarbs: Thank you, hope you like the chapter!
EclipseMirror: Oh, I hadn't noticed, I'll pay more attention to that! Thanks for your comment, I hope this chapter is more detailed for you!
HowlingRain: I did think long and hard before choosing. I didn't want the story to be about how the demigods are sooooo much better than wizards, or draw loads of attention to Nico (lets face it, the Slytherins would have slaughtered him in his bed if he'd been chosen for the tournament) Hope you like the chapter!
