Author's Note:
To all those reviewed: Thank you. Such reviews inspire me to write newer and better stories. Thank you.
To OriginalMikealson315: In the books, Hermione has been frequently shown as reading textbooks far above her age/year. The fact that Hermione could use spells that had not been covered till 5th year (as referenced by Harry) was due to this very same reason. That observation was specifically a nod to her intelligence (most intelligent witch of her generation, after all). The story is set after the Order of the Phoenix. Thank you. :)
Harry Potter and Percy Jackson and its characters do not belong to me.
Chapter 4
Harry POV
The next few days passed in a blur.
Harry was repeatedly questioned about the contents of his trunk by the members of the order. From Dumbledore to Tonks, the order members simply did not seem to believe him when he said that he had no secret weapons or dark objects among his belongings. Mad-Eye Moody insisted on checking each and every item of his trunk, which led to an embarrassing hour in front of the whole Weasley family as Moody checked even his underwear for dark curses.
"Yeah well, at least I won't have those cursed off," Harry muttered defensively to Ron, who was howling with laughter.
The attack seemed to have galvanized the Order, who had apparently been on some sort of an unofficial break ever since Sirius Black's death. Within hours of the attack, the full Order had gathered together in the Burrow in the hastily expanded living room. Unfortunately, Harry and the rest had been barred again from attending the meeting, and even the familiar terrain of the Burrow house had not helped them in eavesdropping.
"But it's an attack on me¸ for Merlin's sake!" whispered Harry furiously as they strained to hear any sort of noise on the Extendable Ears. "Shouldn't I be allowed to go in there?"
"No idea, mate," replied Ron gloomily.
Over the next few days, the Order met regularly to discuss concerns, and Harry assumed that at least one of the issues discussed was the safety of the Burrow, since the security had gone into a complete overdrive. The wards had been changed and strengthened, with Dumbledore himself applying a few finishing touches, with ideas lifted from Hogwarts wards. They were being interrogated for Polyjuice potion multiple times a day, and the food on the day immediately after the attack was brought directly from Hogwarts, under the suspicion that the food might have been poisoned. Harry appreciated the security measures; they were for the protection of his best friends and family, after all- but felt the situation was becoming a bit ridiculous when Mad-Eye Moody destroyed a corner of the chicken shed because of the sudden crowing of a rooster.
"It's a rooster, Mad-Eye!" shouted Mrs. Weasley, brandishing her wand angrily, "It is supposed to make sounds like that!" Alastor Moody looked unrepentant.
With no access to Order meetings in the near future, Harry and his best friends decided to have a meeting of their own.
Safely locking the door, the trio sat in the corner of the room, whispering in low voices, brainstorming about the incident.
"So first of all," started Hermione, sitting across Harry, "what did the attacker want?"
Harry, who had already talked himself hoarse, trying to convince Order members that there was nothing dark in his trunk, felt his irritation shoot up.
"For the last time Hermione, I have absolutely NO- "
"Shut up!" Ron held out his hand, indicating the door. The trio felt silent as they heard the twins' loud voices pass by. Nobody moved until they were out of earshot.
"Mate, we're on your side, remember? No need to shout at us," said Ron, looking at Harry warily.
"Yeah" Face burning, Harry remembered the exact same thing that had happened last year- when he had snapped at his best friends due to frustration and anger at others.
"Anyway," continued Ron, seemingly relieved seeing him calm down, " 'Mione is not accusing you of having any Dark objects. She's just asking you for an idea."
Harry noticed Hermione looking at Ron with respect and amazement; which further solidified the suspicion that he had started to form.
"OK" he cleared his throat, "So, er- invisibility cloak?"
"Don't think so, Harry," Hermione stated. "invisibility cloaks are rare, but not that rare. It's extremely costly though…"
"What about the Firebolt?" asked Ron excitedly.
"Why on earth would anyone break into a highly guarded place to steal a bloody broomstick?!" snapped Hermione.
"Well, it is the fastest broom in the world…" said Harry uncertainly.
"No!" muttering about Quidditch obsessed boys under her breath, Hermione took a deep breath, "I think it might be for the Marauder's map."
"What?!"
"Well, think about it! It is an incredible map, but it'll be highly dangerous in the hands of a death eater, won't it? I remember I had told you this the very first time we saw it; that the Marauder's map was a risky thing."
Ron interrupted, "You had told us to give the map to McGonagall the first time we got the map Hermione. And how much has it helped us since?"
Hermione blushed red, but otherwise ignored Ron and looked questioningly at Harry, who remained unconvinced.
"Maybe. But what's the use of having the map if Voldemort himself can't breach Hogwarts wards? And if he can break the wards, then he won't need the map at all. He would just kill everyone in sight. It doesn't make any sense Hermione…"
"What if he breaks the wards and then doesn't want to be discovered? Oh c'mon, it makes more sense than any other theories at least," said Hermione, shooting Ron an annoyed look, "what else can it be?"
"Maybe the attacker wasn't looking for anything specific in your trunk Harry," said Ron thoughtfully, "We went inside the Department of Mysteries, didn't we? Maybe the Death eater thought you had the prophecy?"
"We don't know if it was a death eater." Hermione immediately objected.
"And anyway, the prophecy slipped from my hand during the battle, Ron. It broke in front of everyone. Voldemort knows it too." Said Harry, remembering Voldemort's statements.
" Er-maybe some other prophecy? Or something, I dunno- " said Ron, shaking his head.
"Hey, if there's another prophecy announcing Voldemort's mortal enemy, please say so." Harry mock pleaded to Ron, who laughed. "Because I'll personally hand over that prophecy to Voldemort. I'm sick of this thing now-"
"Well that's too bad," came a voice from behind. Harry whipped his head around to see the twins leaning against the now open door, clearly having heard Harry's last sentence.
"Because they have decided to induct you three in to the Order of the Phoenix."
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Nico POV
"IDIOT! Son of a-"
Nico cursed as he paced around in the throne room of Hades' palace. In front of him, his father merely raised an eyebrow as he listened to his son's colourful words. Nico supposed that he was lucky Persephone wasn't in the room; else he would certainly have been turned into some kind of a vegetable by now.
He had arrived in a rather dramatic fashion in the palace- travelling straight from the edge of the Weasley house's wards to the palace in the underworld. Wet, exhausted and bleeding from his face, he had stormed into the throne room, shooing away the Furies and Thanatos who had been giving their report, and had spoken three words.
"Father, I have- "
He then fainted.
Perhaps it was because he was out of practice. After all, the titan war had finished months ago, and he hadn't had a decent fight since- at least not to the level at which he had fought at the Burrow. Or maybe it simply took much more power than usual to block the spells. Especially the more powerful ones that the elder ones were throwing.
Hades had immediately rushed Nico to the underworld version of the hospital, full of famous historical doctors. After threatening the doctors with eternal torture if something were to happen to his son, he left Nico in their care. The doctor's assessment was that Nico had used too much powers in too little time- something had sapped at his godly side repeatedly, leaving it drained. Now he was in a deep sleep, allowing his body to recover.
When Nico came to his senses, he immediately felt ashamed- he had not had a reaction like that since his first ever shadow travelling experience, straight to China. He was not a rookie, damn it! He should have been able to control himself better than that. He had trained with the goddess of magic herself, for crying out loud!
Yet all the training that Hecate had given him had not prepared him for an actual battle against the wizards. Many of the spells had packed a greater punch than he had expected. But his greatest oversight had been underestimating the magical people's intelligence. He had not expected innovative solutions from them- the monsters he usually fought against never showed tactics like that. It was a humbling loss that showed he had a lot to learn yet.
As Nico explained the above reasons to his father, his mind wandered. A defeat like that took his mind to memories of Bianca- and he would rather not go there. A scowl formed on his face as he resolved to avenge his setback.
"So what do you plan to do now?" his father's voice broke into his thoughts.
Nico looked up, determination and anger shining in his eyes, "Train harder. I won't fail you next time, father."
"See that you don't." said Hades, his face expressionless, and vanished, leaving Nico alone in the enormous throne room with his dark thoughts.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Harry POV
Harry's head was spinning.
It was now the first of September and he was sitting in the car trying to recap his summer. It had certainly been an eventful one. From his trip with Dumbledore to the attack at the Weasleys which led to his inclusion in the Order, which in turn led to special training with Mad-Eye Moody (along with Ron and Hermione), it had been one fast paced summer.
Beside him sat Ginny and Ron on either side. Ginny had not taken the news of their inclusion in the Order well. She had immediately demanded to be a member too, but her mother had put her foot down on allowing a pre-OWL student inside the secret organization. However, Mrs. Weasley had allowed her to join in the special training, albeit only those days when Mad-Eye was teaching things she approved of. But Harry had no doubt that she would try and learn everything from Hermione in Hogwarts.
Thinking about training, Harry felt exhausted. Mad-Eye Moody had certainly not held back in the few weeks that he had got as their teacher. It was like a crash course of Auror training. Their day started at six in the morning and ended at midnight. Improving physical fitness, endurance, reflexes, learning hundreds of obscure curses and hexes- all crammed into three weeks. The evenings were dedicated to research work, thinking and learning about various situations, responses and tactical thinking. Hermione flourished in the evenings, of course, but to Harry's great surprise, Ron managed to impress Moody too. Harry guessed that all the chess playing had amounted to a good strategic mind. In the field work, however, Harry excelled. All the Quidditch and his seeker skills had given him a definite advantage. To his great amusement, even the days of Dudley's "Harry hunting" had helped him- he was faster than both of his friends. Ron had managed to keep up, but Hermione had not fared well in the earlier days. But the three weeks had definitely seen enormous improvements in all the three friends.
As Harry revised the new spells he had learnt in his mind, the Ministry car drew up smoothly at King's Cross station. A moment later, the trunks were brought out by the Ministry security guards, and within a few moments, they were inside platform nine and three quarters without much trouble. It certainly pays to have friends in high places, Harry mused.
Turning to say goodbye before boarding the train, Harry waited until Ron and Hermione had finished talking to Mr. Weasley. He thanked Arthur for letting him stay ("Oh please, Harry, no need to thank me!") and for his help during the attack, and received the usual advice ("Stay out of trouble, young man!"). He then turned towards Mrs. Weasley, and hesitated.
Harry's relationship with Molly Weasley had been on the rocks ever since the first order meeting.
Flashback
The living room where the Order meeting was taking place was a mess. There were papers all around, and cleaned plates had been hastily stacked up on the side shelf. Even with the living room being magically expanded, the members were sitting uncomfortably close to each other. Some, like Kingsley and Moody, had given up sitting altogether and were simply standing near the windows.
But Harry noticed none of this as he entered into the room with Fred, George, Ron and Hermione. This was because of the pure tension in the room: so thick that it could be cut with a knife. On one side sat Mrs. Weasley, fuming and glowering at anyone looking at her. Her husband stood beside her, trying to soothe her.
Harry immediately had a nagging suspicion as to why the situation in the room was so tense.
Hermione was the first to break the silence. "So…we're here to join the Order." She glanced doubtfully at Albus Dumbledore, sitting at the head of the table and at Mrs. Weasley, who was on the opposite side.
There was silence for a moment and then Molly Weasley spoke, her voice trembling "No, you're not."
"Here we go." Thought Harry, whose suspicions had been confirmed. There had been a fight between Mrs. Weasley and other members of the Order who wanted to include them in the Order.
"Mum!" said Ron incredulously, "We've been inducted into the Order. R-Right?" He faltered and looked questioningly toward the twins, who didn't respond.
"Molly," said Dumbledore soothingly, "They have a right to be in the Order. Especially after last year-"
"Last year should not have happened at all! They're just kids, not soldiers!" shouted Mrs. Weasley.
"Molly!" said a familiar voice. Harry turned around, and saw with a rush of affection that Remus Lupin had joined the fight. "It doesn't matter that they are kids. Don't you see? Voldemort is going to target them anyway! Won't it be better if they are prepared? If they are-"
"NO! No way my kids are-"
The situation was threatening to disintegrate into a bad fight when Harry felt he should interfere. Although he loved Mrs. Weasley, it was time that he stood up for himself. And the argument had started to bring back bad memories, of someone dear to him, defending and supporting him against Mrs. Weasley-
"Of course, Mrs. Weasley," said Harry, his anger mounting, "There's no one left to argue my side of the fight with you now, is there?"
There was a collective hiss of breath from his best friends and other Order members, as Harry reminded Mrs. Weasley of her infamous fight with Sirius Black on the same issue a year ago. Mrs. Weasley gaped at Harry, steadily turning red.
"I- I mean-" she stammered.
"That's enough," said Arthur Weasley firmly, "Molly, they are not kids anymore. They have faced more than majority of the Order members, and as Remus said, You-know-who is going to attack Harry one way or the other. You know that Molly."
Mrs. Weasley shuddered and sat down. Her eyes seemed full of tears.
After a moment of silence, Dumbledore said, "Well, if there are no more objections, I would like to introduce Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger into the Order of the Phoenix."
There was no clapping. Harry walked over to where Remus was, and sat down beside him. Remus leaned over and whispered, "It's good to have a Potter back in the Order Harry."
Harry smiled.
Ever since then, Harry had kept his communication with Mrs. Weasley to a bare minimum, limiting to "Yes, Mrs. Weasley,"and "Thank you, Mrs. Weasley." He wondered if he should go and say goodbye.
Mrs. Weasley didn't have any such qualms. When she saw Harry looking her way, she immediately came over and hugged him hard. Harry had to admit that his eyes were a bit teary.
His mood infinitely better, he hoisted his trunk on the train, and set off to find his friends. Ron and Hermione had already gone to the Prefect's carriage and he roamed around, trying to find his friends and avoiding the curious eyes of everyone. Harry supposed he should have expected all the staring and pointing, with the Prophet reporting on the "Boy-who-lived" every two days.
He finally found a compartment with Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood and an unknown boy. Sighing in relief, he went inside, and greeted his friends.
"Who's that?" asked Harry, after the pleasantries were exchanged. He pointed towards a boy siting at the corner of the compartment, who was sleeping. The boy had a pale face and was wearing black clothes. He was wearing a skull ring on his finger, which looked highly macabre to Harry. He had a lean frame, but his arms showed muscles.
"That's Nico di Angelo," replied Neville, glancing towards the sleeping boy. "He is from America, and will be joining our year at Hogwarts."
"Is that so?" Harry felt curious. He had never seen an exchange student before apart from in his fourth year and certainly not anyone across the pond.
"Yes, and his head is full of Wrackspurts," said Luna dreamily. Harry and Neville hastily started talking about other random topics.
The day rolled on, and soon Ron and Hermione soon joined them just in time for lunch. Harry explained about the new boy at the corner, who was still sleeping.
"Nico di Angelo, huh?" asked Hermione, pondering. "Seems like an Italian name."
"Why's he sleeping?" asked Ron suspiciously, staring at the skull ring.
"Dunno…maybe because of different time zones?" replied Harry uncertainly.
"Oh yes, time zones!" said Ron excitedly. "Ginny had the worst case of time difference when we were in Egypt… she could barely keep her eyes open! It was Bill who helped, you know…"
And thus the conversation continued normally. It was a pretty lively discussion, ranging from the Quidditch league ("Chudley cannons for the win!") to new Death Eater theories ("If you believe the prophet, there are a hundred Voldemorts roaming around in the countryside"). Harry was feeling comfortable until the door of the compartment opened and a new professor Slughorn invited both him and Neville to his compartment.
Harry, who had already met professor Slughorn in the summer, had a good idea why they were being summoned, but kept a blank space in front of Neville as the two left the compartment. Before leaving, Harry took the invisibility cloak with him. He thought he saw the new boy twitch when he took out the cloak, but the thought left his mind as he left to see Slughorn.
Nico POV
Nico held back a curse as Harry Potter glanced at him sharply when he moved. But he couldn't help himself! When Harry took out the invisibility cloak, it practically deafened Nico with the echoes of the underworld. That cloak had some serious power. And the worst part was that the wizards didn't even know the full potential of the cloak!
"That's one Hallow down." Thought Nico to himself, as he continued to keep his eyes closed. The reason he was going to Hogwarts was to assimilate into the magical community and make allies who could help him find his father's relics; the fact that he found one in the train itself showed that he was going in the right direction. Also, the information that he got about the wizarding culture and news over the train journey listening to the students talk had been invaluable.
As the train started to visibly slow down, Nico decided to drop his sleeping act and introduce himself. He planned to have a good impression on them, especially Ron and Hermione, to get close to Harry. He shook himself and opened his eyes to find four startled and curious people looking at him.
Nico sighed. Here we go.
"Hi, I'm Nico di Angelo," he said, extending his hand towards Ron and Hermione. After a moment's hesitation, Ron extended his hand.
"Hi, I'm Ronald Weasley." He shook his hand, looking dubiously at his hand. Nico glanced down to see Ron staring at his ring. Nico bit back a curse. The dark mark of Voldemort was a skull- of course people would be wary of a skull ring. But he said nothing. To take off the ring now would only increase their suspicions more.
"Aren't you a prefect?" asked Nico, hoping he would be distracted.
"Er-yes. How did you know?"
"The Headmaster had sent me a list of prefects when I accepted admission here," said Nico smoothly. There had been no such list, but Nico had done his research perfectly. "And I guess you are Hermione Granger, the other prefect?"
Hermione looked flustered, but accepted his hand, "Hi, welcome to Hogwarts."
"Thank you." Nico took a deep breath and continued, "Aren't you all the team who were at the ministry battle? The papers mentioned you."
It was a calculated move on Nico's part. He wanted to foster a connection with these people, who seemed like good and brave kids, not to mention close to Harry Potter. On the other hand, he also didn't want to come off as flattering too hard.
Ron immediately looked pleased. "Yeah, we were," he said, "along with Harry and Ginny, my sister."
"Harry Potter?"
"Yeah, you missed him. He was here a while back. I guess he'll come back," said Hermione.
The train soon stopped and students started alighting from the train. Harry had still not come back, but Ron and Hermione assumed he had alighted with Slughorn and did not look worried.
It was then that Nico started feeling it. The gut feeling that every demigod had, that something was about to go wrong. It seemed like too much of a coincidence that Harry would go missing the same time he, a monster magnet, was on the train. He looked around sharply, and extended his senses as much as he could, but found nothing. Anyway, the magic in the air was messing with his senses. He would have to wait till the train was empty to check.
As his new friends started going out of the door, Nico remained seated. When Neville and Hermione waited uncertainly at the door, he smiled and motioned them to go on.
"Someone is coming to pick me up. I'll have a different briefing about the school, I think," Nico said, hoping they would go. They did, and Nico heaved a sigh of relief.
"Time to get to work." Nico muttered, and waited till he stopped hearing the echo of footsteps. When he was relatively sure that the train was empty, he breathed in a sigh of relief. He had been very afraid that an attack would start with the students still on board.
Walking slowly, he prowled along the corridors of the train, peering into each compartment. Extending his senses, he checked everything thoroughly when he suddenly felt it: the strains of the underworld, the song of his father.
He rushed forward to the specific compartment. As he moved, the feeling of his father's power got stronger till he burst open the door and the feeling was unmistakable: it was from the invisibility cloak. It was a unique object, personally crafted by Hades, and it thrummed with such power that it was impossible to get it wrong. But if the invisibility cloak was here, that meant-
Harry. Nico rushed forward, put his hand where he felt the invisibility cloak was, and pulled.
There lay Harry, with his nose broken and the blood all over his face, petrified. His eyes followed Nico, and even though Harry couldn't speak, Nico could almost understand him saying, "What the bloody hell are you doing here?!"
Nico immediately took out his wand and muttered, "Finite Incantatem". Harry unfroze. He sat up, spat out some blood, looked at Nico and sputtered, "You- you're-"
"Hi, I'm Nico di Angelo." Nico extended his hand. Manners must be observed after all.
"You're the new guy," said Harry, staring at him, "The American exchange student right?"
"Yes." Only now did Harry take his hand. "What are you doing here? Wait- how did you know I was there?"
Nico was trying to come up with some excuse when the door opened and Luna Lovegood came in. Nico didn't know whether to be thankful that someone had interrupted them, or irritated that the train wasn't empty. One more student was in danger!
"Hi Harry, Nico," said Luna, in her usual dreamy voice, "did you know that your nose is broken, Harry?"
"Yeah, I noticed it, Luna," snapped back Harry, holding a handkerchief to his nose. Nico was baffled, but Harry seemed to be holding back a smile.
"I can heal that for you if you want."
"Er-" Harry looked uncertain, and Nico couldn't blame him. The girl looked kind of crazy.
"Episkey!" said Luna, pointing her wand at Harry's nose. An audible snap and a wince later, Harry's nose was as good as new.
"How does it look?"
"Exceptionally ordinary."
Nico gave a bewildered look towards Harry, but Harry just said, "Yeah, she's like that. She's a good friend though."
"So what happened to you Harry?" asked Nico curiously. He could still feel the danger sense.
Before Harry could respond, Luna asked, "What's that noise?"
Both Harry and Nico stopped. And the sounds emanating from around them only justified Nico's sense of growing horror.
"Go,go,GO! NOW!" He herded Harry and Luna towards the nearest door. They both followed him without hesitation. Perhaps they sensed the urgency in his voice. Or maybe they had been in too many danger situations themselves to take any more chances. They rushed towards the carriage door and Nico put his hand on the handle to pull it open.
The train exploded.
Author's note:
I always felt it to be ridiculous that Harry and his friends were not allowed inside Order. After all that he had done, the least he deserved was to know what his nemesis was up to. Same with the training: It's clear that Voldemort is targeting Harry- hell, they have an entire prophecy about that! Some extra training would not go amiss!
Events of the book (like seeing professor Slughorn, and travelling with Dumbledore, fight with Malfoy) haven't been covered here. But they did happen, as has been referenced.
To the people who want me to update faster, sorry! I have to juggle college life and other stuff and then write the story. I'll definitely try to update once a month at least, as I have done for the last three chapters.
Hope you enjoyed this one. Read and please review folks!
