Chapter Five

(Sylpha's Third Person's POV)

The train finally stopped and the students herded out of their compartment.

Sylpha and Nico had opted to stick together with Harry and Ron as they pushed their way towards the doors and out into a small, dark platform.

A lamp cam bobbing over their heads as a deep and booming voice shouted over the noise: "Firs' years! Firs' years, over 'ere!"

Sylpha stiffened, and so did Nico beside her.

The deep booming voice belonged to a giant.

A small giant (Hahaha, oxymoron. Sorry), but a giant nonetheless. Sylpha reached in her robe and pulled out her wand.

Earlier that day, while she was packing her stuff, her robes and other school equipment, as well as her books, which were in Greek, thank the gods, had materialized on her bed at camp.

She thanked her mom and immediately set to work. Now all her robes were enchanted, and could store all her stuff. It can't be stolen, and it has no outwards effect on the robe, whatsoever. No extra weight and no bulging, much like her jackets.

But that wasn't the only thing she'd enchanted. With the help from one of her sister, she'd merged her ring (which can turn into a sword or dagger, no surprises there. All her siblings have enchanted weapons. Some made by themselves some given by mom) with her wand, so no her ring rested on the handle of her wand, on the upper part.

Anyway, she pulled out her weapon, and he vaguely sensed Nico fumbling with his ring/Stygian Iron sword.

Her ADHD mind wandered and began to think how cool it would be to be able to handle Stygian Iron weapons. On contrary to popular beliefs, children of Hecate could not handle Stygian Iron weapons. They have a bit of resistance to it, Sylpha admits, they could be stabbed by the weapon, without their souls being sucked, they can also hold it for a few minutes, but not long enough to actually use it in battle.

They mostly stick with either Celestial bronze or the enchanted silver that the Hunters of Artemis use. Where they got it, Sylpha had no idea, and she never asked. She decided to just stick with the Celestial bronze, though. A weapon that can kill monsters was good enough for her.

Sylpha snapped out of her reverie as she and Nico cautiously approached the giant, waiting for it sprung up, and attack them. They were ready for him. Although they opted to stay hidden behind Harry and Ron. Harry seemed to be beaming, though.

Why? Sylpha had no idea.

But they kept quiet. Watching the giant warily, clutching their weapons tightly.

They were so not taking chances.

Sylpha glanced at Nico, and he did the same, their thoughts the same: 'Already?'

They'd thought, no, hoped, that they'd get far on their quest before they'd face any trouble, fight any monsters.

But no.

Sylpha briefly wondered what kind of giant was the giant in front of them was.

He was definitely not a Hyperborean. That much is certain. He doesn't seem t Canadian, too.

The closer they got to the giant, the more they realized that the giant was much, much, smaller than they thought.

A half-giant maybe?

Half-gods and half-titans had no trouble existing, but half-giants? Was it possible that they, too, exist?

Well if this giant was half, that'd answer Sylpha's question, now would it?

"Hullo there, Hagrid," Harry greeted.

Hagrid?

Harry knew the giant?

"'ello there Harry," the giant said.

The giant spoke!

Not grunts, not random words, but a sentence. Sure some letters were missing, still...

Maybe giants from the Wizarding world were smarter than the ones back at America.

Sylpha silently commended her mom's awesome and thorough work.

Nico sent Sylpha a confused look, which Sylpha returned.

Was he expecting Sylpha to know everything?

Her 'gift' wasn't always there, does he know that? Knowing him, he probably doesn't.

Sylpha didn't know about this kind of giant.

She barely met any giants at all. Except for those giants whom she fought in the war, she hasn't met any other giants.

She's been sheltered in camp half-blood since she was seven years old, about five years ago (that's one summer before Percy) so she hadn't encounter much giants and monsters in the real world, too. And she's never been to a quest, so she wouldn't know a damn about monster, except for those she had fought in the Battle of Manhattan and at the Battle of the Labyrinth.

The two approached the giant. He didn't seem to be alert of their presence. No sniffing the air or anything. That's a good sign.

"Firs' years! Firs' years, over 'ere!" the giant continued to shout, after he returned a frog to the Neville kid who was searching for his toad, earlier in the train*.

"Any more firs' years?" The giant continued to shout, "Alright, then. Follow me!"

Hagrid led them to a steep and narrow path.

"Watch yer step," Hagrid warned.

A bit too late, there.

The students have already begun slipping and stumbling all around the two demigods as the trekked easily and quietly, still watching the giant.

This little hiking of theirs was nothing compared to the Capture the Flag that they played every Friday. It wasn't as dangerous, as dark and it wasn't even a forest.

"Ya'll get yer fir' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over his shoulders, "Jus' o'er this bend 'ere"

A loud "ooh" was heard from the students as they stared up at the castle, perched up on a cliff, across a black lake, with its glinting, bright windows, and its many turrets and towers.

It was nothing compared to Olympus, nothing could be better than Olympus (especially now that Annabeth's working on it) but it did have a certain charm that appealed to both demigods.

"No more'n four to a boat," Hagrid said, pointing to a fleet of little boats by the shore of the river.

"Oh gods, no," Sylpha squeaked.

Nico had stopped beside her, and so did she, both demigods went pale as the stare helplessly at the object that would be the cause of their deaths.

There was no way Nico would be riding a boat. Not with Hades being his father and everything.

Poseidon and Hades may have been on speaking terms last year after the war. But somehow Sylpha knew that Poseidon still wouldn't pass up a chance to kill the son of his brother, his own nephew. Yeah, the gods were kind of twisted, that way.

As for Sylpha, well let's just say that someone's not a fan of boating.

"Well?" Ron asked, looking at them over his shoulders, fortunately it was dark enough and he didn't notice that both demigods had become unnaturally pale. "Are you coming or not?"

"You go on ahead," Sylpha managed to squeak.

"See you on the other side," Ron said walking with Harry, who was sending them worried looks, towards one of the boats.

"You're afraid of the water?" Nico asked her.

"I'm afraid of drowning," Sylpha hissed.

"So you're afraid of dying?" Nico asked with a morose look.

"I'm not!" Sylpha snapped. She figured that Nico would be insulted if one was afraid of death, since he was the Lord of the Dead's son.

"I'm just pulling your leg here," Nico said holding both arms up in surrender. "But seriously, you're afraid of drowning? I thought your mom had power over the sea, or water."

Figures he would say that. When demigods learned of that fact they immediately claim that all of Hecate's children inherited all of their mom's powers.

"Doesn't mean I can't drown," Sylpha said, "and I don't have mom's power to control water. I have a bunch of water-based spells, but outrightly control water? Maybe just a little, but I'm not that good at it. I'll leave that to your cousin, thank you very much."

"So you didn't inherit any-"

"Mom can control the forces of the Sea, Sky and Underworld." Sylpha explained, "I got the underworld. I got little, to no, power over sea and sky. Maybe just a gust of wind or a small tornado, or a small stream of water, or something, I could conjure a storm if I combine them with my magic, but even that costs me a lot. And I'm not very good at it. I have a lot of magic, yeah, and I got necromancy and other extra gifts, but that's it. I couldn't breathe in the water or anything like that.

"My prowess lays in Necromancy, powers from the Underworld. A child of Hecate can't master everything, we can certainly try, but we would never master it like we do with the powers we were born with. Much like you and your dad's to spheres of power. Necromancy, Umbrakinesis and Geokinesis. You can control the earth to some degree, but not as good and easy as you do with your death magic and Umbrakinesis, like Percy and earthquakes, and Thalia and her Wind powers."

"Umbra-what?" Figures he'd ask about that.

"Forget it," Sylpha sighed.

"So basically we're doomed?" Nico asked.

"No," Sylpha shook her head.

She'd formulated a plan, she didn't like it, but it was the only thing she got.

"I have a plan," she said, "I'll go ride the boats; I'll pray to Percy's dad or something. My mom and other siblings may have fought against the Olympians in the war but they have already reconciled, plus I fought with you guys, anyway. And Poseidon" cue thunder. "Sorry. Lord Poseidon," Sylpha corrected, rolling her eyes. Gods are so touchy, sometimes, "doesn't have any personal vendetta against me, so I'll be fine, maybe. I'll just offer a drachma, or something. While you go shadow travel, I would travel with magic, too, but it would seem a bit too suspicious if both of us don't ride the boat. I'll just tell them you went on another boat, or whatever else I could come up with. The school has charms against travelling by magic, but their pretty little magic tricks can't override the power of the gods, or half-gods. It doesn't matter. If we do this both of us might just survive this. Maybe."

Sylpha had gotten close with Poseidon's son, Percy, at camp, ever since the whole Battle of Manhattan fiasco, she even joins anti-water pollution campaigns, sometimes, when she's out of camp, that should count as something.

She could just hope that her mom's influence on the sea was enough to spare her.

Curse her and her annoying phobia.

Nico nodded.

"Alright," he said.

"You owe me, though," Sylpha added, quickly, "If you weren't here I would just use my magic to transport me to the other side of the lake."

Nico glared at her, which she returned without hesitation.

"Fine," Nico sighed, before smirking, "enjoy the ride,"

With that he turned his back on her and marched to the nearest shadow.

Sylpha glared at him until he was out of sight. Annoying git.

Great the Brits were rubbing off on her. She'd heard some of the students call each other that. She has no idea what it means, but she figured that it was annoying.

She marched towards Harry's and Ron's boat. Hermione had joined them, too. So did Neville.

"Uh, can I still join you guys?" she asked.

"Sure," Ron said.

"No more than four to a boat," Hermione quoted.

"It's okay, I'll just go join some guys I met in the train," Neville said, and with that he walked towards other first year students who were pushing their boats to the water.

"You should've just searched for other boats, you know," Hermione glared at her, "you weren't very nice to Neville,"

"He was the one who volunteered to leave," Sylpha said. This girl was really getting in her nerves. "Plus, you look like you were struggling with your boat, and Neville didn't seem to be much of a help."

"And you can do better?" Hermione challenged her.

Sylpha waved her hand and the boat magically levitated and was placed gently on top of the water.

"Yes, I can," Sylpha said.

"H-How did you-," Hermione stuttered.

"Magic," Sylpha winked, before climbing up after Ron and Harry, Hermione following her, begrudgingly.

Sylpha hadn't meant to be so mean to Hermione. She was just panicked about the whole boat ride thing, and Hermione wasn't helping at all.

The moment Sylpha had gotten comfortable in the boat she quickly fished out a drachma from her pocket and dropped it to the water, and watched it as it shimmered and vanished.

'Lord Poseidon, please allow me safe passage across the river.'

She muttered a Greek prayer to the god of the seas, one of the prayers she had been forced to memorize by her elder sisters. She had never been this thankful to them.

The other occupants in the boat stared at her as if she was crazy, but she merely ignored them.

"Everyone in?" Hagrid asked, "Right then-forward!"

Then, together, the fleet of boats moved away from the shore.

The ride went smoothly.

A merman met Sylpha's boat and he swam alongside it.

Seems like Poseidon was pleased with Sylpha's prayer.

Sylpha thought back briefly on a certain son of Poseidon.

They'd been quick friends at camp.

She was only eight years old when he first arrived at camp, but she was one of the few people whom had shown him the ropes, they were in the same cabin at first, after all. She'd sat beside him during meal times and campfires. She looked up to him as a brother. She was actually hoping that he'd be a son of Hecate, then he'd have another big brother, but she heard that her mom was killed on the way to camp, and she'd dismissed the thought, sadly. She actually pleaded with Luke that she would be placed with him in guard duty, so she could help her out, but Luke had said no. She had helped him during camp activities and when he was claimed she hadn't shied away like the rest.

When he came back with his Cyclops brother the next summer, she hadn't minded and became friends with the elder Cyclops, the little brother of Percy. And she hadn't ignored him like the rest. She'd ignored Luke, whom she'd also viewed as an elder brother when he came to her dreams and pleaded that she join him, since they had gotten close in the short span of one/two years. She had performed a tracking spell on Annabeth when she got lost, she sent Blackjack to fetch Percy when she saw the Ophiotaurus, when she was taking an early morning stroll, her 'gift' telling her to do so, and she covered up for him when she learned that Percy was gone in the morning, when Aphrodite sent Blackjack to Percy the second time.

She'd searched relentlessly when he and Annabeth got lost in the Labyrinth, and it was her tracking spell that informed everybody that they were in the Labyrinth, under the rocks, at Zeus' fist, when the other campers had denied Juniper's claims.

She had fought for Percy at the war, fighting her other siblings and mom in the process.

Come to think of it, she'd helped Percy a lot.

They may not be best friends, or anything, but they were close. And when she thought over it, the drachmae and prayer wasn't really necessary. Cause Poseidon might already know of Sylpha's efforts to help Percy, as Percy slowly became the Hero of Olympus.

When they reached the opposite shore, the merman aided her so that she wouldn't trip and fall to the water, before waving her goodbye, a smile on his face.

Sylpha waved back, ignoring the looks he was receiving.

She felt good, for the first time, after her boat ride. No retching sounds, no dizzy spells, or anything. Maybe keeping her mind busy was the secret to overcoming her sea sickness, or perhaps not, she'd tried it before.

Oh well.

She met up with Nico who was standing under the shadow of the tree, his bored looks saying that he's been waiting for quite some time.

"You got a new friend," Nico observed.

He had seen the merman, and she saw her wave back to him when he did. Can't say he wasn't curious.

Sylpha shrugged.

They joined Harry and Ron as they gathered in front of a giant door.

"What was that back there?" Harry asked. "Was that a merman?"

"He knew someone I know," Sylpha shrugged.

Harry raised an eyebrow, but left the matter behind and, instead turned to Nico.

"Where have you been? I didn't ask Sylpha, she looked a bit out of it," Harry asked, ignoring Sylpha's blank stare.

"Rode another boat," Nico shrugged, going with Sylpha's supposed to be cover up.

"Oh," Harry said.

Hagrid raised a big beefy hand.

The two demigods tensed, expecting him to attack.

But the giant merely closed into a fist and knock the big door.


A/N:

Hey guys!

Sorry for the short chap, but hey, a chapter is a chapter.

I really didn't plan that bit about Sylpha and Percy. But I guess I just want to inform you of Sylpha's connection with the canon characters, and just show bits of her life at camp.

These things obviously didn't happen in the PJO series, the story's a bit of an AU, you see.

*- Neville had entered their compartment when Nico was spacing out in the previous chapter so he hadn't been 'conscious' when Neville entered their compartment. Which basically meant that the other characters had met Neville but since the previous chapter was told in Nico's perspective (thought it was in Third Person's POV) so he hadn't narrated about it, 'cause he was zoning out.

Once again I ask: Which house should Nico and Sylpha be? Though it'd be nice if they had the same house, and please try to consider the rest of the Harry Potter Series as well, try to check which house would benefit them. PM me which house and why.

Or better yet, Gryffindor or Slytherin?

Since Hufflepuff's a bit…I don't know. It doesn't seem to be their type. No? And it'd be weird if their in Ravenclaw, they might be smart but I don't think they'd be a fan of reading, especially since both are dyslexic.

BTW: I read one of the reviews for this chapter and I saw that they seemed to have been confused of Sylpha's statement: "…Much like you and your dad's to spheres of power. Necromancy, Umbrakinesis and Geokinesis."

What I meant in this was that Nico can control Necromancy (the whole raising the dead business), Umbrakinesis (shadow/darkness manipulation) and Geokinesis (earth, rock, etc. manipulation) but controlling the earth didn't come as easily as it did to him with his Umbrakinesis and Umbrakinesis. Or if that is still hard to understand it meant that Nico had all three abilities but he can't control the earth as easily as he does with his other abilities. Hope that clears it up, if it still doesn't please PM (private message) me.

Thanks for still reading.

Review please!

(^_^) V