Chapter 7

Three days had passed for Lou Ellen and her teammates at Number Twelve Grimmauld Place. Their time was spent cleaning for the most part. Currently Lou Ellen was helping Harry, Hermione (the bushy haired girl she had met when they arrived), and Ron clean a mold infested cupboard in an upstairs bedroom.

The trio didn't exactly look thrilled to see of the non-Order inhabitants of the house had been suspicious of them since they'd arrived; some of the Order members as well.

And it wasn't like they didn't have reason to be suspicious. Sirius had undoubtedly told Harry of Nico's Umbrakinesis, who would have in turn told Ron and Hermione. Umbrakinesis was considered a Dark Magic and was therefore not trusted. However the Ministry was unable to ban it because in order to use it, you had to be born with the gift.

"So." She said while scrubbing a particularly stubborn spot of mold. "Tell me about Hogwarts."

The trio looked at her with a bit of confusion and trepidation.

"Just trying to make conversation."

Ron narrowed his eyes. "Why? How do we know you're not in with You-Know-Who?"

Hermione rolled her eyes at Ron. "Ronald!" She said with exasperation. "This is just silly. She couldn't be with You-Know-Who. She supports S.P.E.W."

"I'm in support of what now?" Lou Ellen asked, having never heard of S.P.E.W. Ron and Hermione ignored her in favor of bickering..

"She doesn't even know what it is, Hermione!"

"You heard what she said when they came in here a few days ago. Remember? With the elf heads?"

"Hermione, most sane wizards are against using dried elf heads as decoration."

Lou Ellen sighed and returned to scrubbing her mold spot.

"So what's America like?" Harry asked her suddenly. Ron and Hermione stopped their fighting and turned to her.

Lou Ellen was caught by surprise. "I-uh…"

"Yes!" Hermione said excitedly. "Lupin told us that you, Jason, and Nico were from New York. What's it like there? Did you go to the Manhattan Institute?" Her bushy brown hair billowed around her.

"Uh… Well, I was homeschooled for the most part by my father who went to Hogwarts, actually. And and I spent my summers at a New York summer camp type of school that teaches Battle Magic, but Nico went year round. Jason too, but he went to a school in San Francisco." Stick to the story, she told herself.

The story was that Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter were schools for Battle Magic. It was a wandless type of magic that was common overseas due to the clan warfare that was rampant in the Americas and their pitifully small and weak wizarding government that was unable to put an end to it. Most muggles assumed that the spats were gang warfare.

Hermione looked disappointed at Lou Ellen's lack of a formal education in traditional magic.

Ron, however looked interested. "What's battle magic?"

Hermione answered before Lou Ellen got a chance. The answer sounded like something she had gotten out of a textbook. Ron looked impressed. "You can do wandless magic? That's insane. Most wizard your age wouldn't be able to levitate a pencil without their wand."

Lou Ellen nodded, "Yes. But the younger wizards could do much more than that."

"Really? Why?"

"Because it's all they know, and therefore they practice it while they are able to. But then they get their wands and the ability goes away due to disuse."

Ron grinned, all suspicion gone. "Wow! So I could learn it?"

Lou Ellen raised her eyebrow. "Yes. You could. All wizards would have the ability. But it would take lots of practice and hard work."

"Could you teach me?" Ron asked.

This was it, Lou Ellen realized. This was an in to their group and to keep tabs on them while they were at school. She smirked inwardly. Yes, none of them would suspect that She and her teammates were actually secret bodyguards.

"Certainly. I would love to. I can ask Nico and Jason if they want to join in as well."

Ron screwed up his face. Lou Ellen leaned in close to him.

"Do you have a problem with Nico?" She asked in a low and calm voice, with just enough danger in it.

Ron paled and shook his head.

At this point Mrs. Weasley poked her head into the bedroom behind them.

"Still not finished?" She said, inspecting the cupboard.

"I thought you might be here to give us a break!" said Ron bitterly. "Do you have any idea how much mold we've gotten rid of since we arrived here?"

"You wanted to help the Order," said Mrs. Weasley, "You can do your bit by making the headquarters fit to live in."

"I feel like a house elf," grumbled Ron.

"Well, now you understand what terrible lives they lead, perhaps you'll be a bit more active in S.P.E.W.!" said Hermione hopefully, as Mrs. Weasley left them in the room alone again. "You know, maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to show people how horrible it is to clean all the time- we could do a sponsored scrub of the Gryffindor common room, all proceeds to S.P.E.W, it would raise awareness as well as funds-"

"I'll sponsor you to shut up about spew." Ron muttered irritably, but only Harry and Lou Ellen could hear him. hermione was too busy rambly on about S.P.E.W., and the more Lou Ellen heard, the more she was interested about learning more, if only to get to know Hermione better. She seemed bright, and the type that would quickly discover that Lou Ellen and her teammates were not all who they seemed.

Harry tapped her shoulder. "You never answered my question." He said.

"I didn't?" asked Lou Ellen.

"The one about America. What's it like there?"

Lou Ellen felt her heart skip a beat as she looked into his bright, emerald green eyes. "I'll tell you if you tell me about Hogwarts."

Days passed, and Lou Ellen found herself daydreaming about the mountainous landscapes, and the Quidditch pitch that Harry went into detail describing. The thing that Hogwarts, a History would never have been able to write down. She dreamed about anything to get herself away from this horrible, dust filled, musty house.

Booklists came on the last day of the summer break and Hermione and Ron became prefects. Mrs. Weasley took Lou Ellen with her when she went to get their books and the three of them got their wands, uniforms, and books.

Their trip to Ollivanders was quite… Interesting, to say the least.

When they entered the shop with , the money they'd been allotted for the quest jangling happily in Nico's bag, the shop was empty. Or seemed empty. Boxes of wands were piled clear to the ceiling of the tiny store.

There was small rickety chair in the corner that Mrs. Weasley sat down on while they waited.

They didn't have to wait very long.

"Ah! It's always good to see family." said a soft voice. Lou Ellen jumped and spun around to face a man with white grey eyes, and even whiter hair. She, Jason, and Nico stared at him while Mrs. Weasley hummed and began checking the school lists.

"Yes," the old man said, "I've been expecting you," he pointed at Lou Ellen, "For quite a while. You came a bit later than expected, however."

"Yah. I ended up doing most of my study in the States."

Ollivander tutted disapprovingly. Nevertheless, he waved his wand and a measuring tape appeared. "I'll start with you, young lady." He came in close to Lou Ellen, "What is your wand arm?"

Lou Ellen had never used a wand. She had never needed to. "Well, I'm left-handed."

"Hold out your arm. Good." He measured everywhere Lou Ellen could think of. Her waist, around her head, finger to wrist, than wrist to elbow, round her knees, knee to the top of her feet. When he was done measuring Lou Ellen he went onto Nico and Jason. Lou Ellen was impressed when he didn't flinch at the glare Nico sent him when Ollivander measured the length of Nico's ears.

"Every Ollivanders wand has a core of magical substance; Unicorn tail, dragon heart string, or phoenix feather. No two Ollivanders wand is the same, just as no two magical substances are quite the same. And of course, you will never get very good results with another wizards wand."

Ollivander began flitting around the room, taking down boxes, and the tape measure kept on taking the measurements for Jason's fingernails.

"Mahogany and phoenix feather. Ten inches. Very stubborn, this one- no, no." As soon as he handed Lou Ellen the wand it jumped out of her hands and hit a stack of boxes behind the counter, making them tumble to the ground. He continued on handing her another wand. That one made a window explode. He shook his head and snatched it out of her hand. Wand after wand, then finally, his eyes landed on a velvet box buried on an old shelf on the right hand side of the corner.

"Of course," muttered Ollivander. "Why didn't I think of it? Yew, unicorn tail hair, fifteen inches. Excellent for healing and just as good at cursing." He gave it to Lou Ellen and she felt a warmth spread throughout her entire body. Ollivander smiled in triumph.

"I've had that wand for many years, Miss Jones. Take good care of it."

He moved on to Nico.

Nico took even longer than Lou Ellen. Every wand Ollivander tried seemed to leap out of Nico hands. His very touch seemed to, if Lou Ellen didn't know better, terrify the wands. Though maybe it did, because she swore she saw Ollivander muttering to them in a comforting way after he had snatched them out of Nico's hand, or picked them up off the floor.

It was to be known, however, that instead of upsetting Ollivander, he only seemed excited.

"I do love a difficult one!" He said as he searched through towers of boxes. The he gasped, as if he had found one he hadn't been expecting. He began laughing. "Oh! Two! Two in one day!"

He raced over and put a black obsidian box on the counter. "Black Poplar wood, Thestral tail hair, thirteen inches. Perfect for necromancy. Unyielding. "

Lou Ellen heard Mrs. Weasley gasp and look up from the school lists. "Mr. Ollivander, I wasn't aware you used those materials."

Ollivander nodded in agreement. "Not normally, no. I almost never diverge from unicorn tail hair, phoenix feathers, and dragon heartstring. But I was given the materials as payment for an… errand given to me from my great uncle."

Nico's eyebrows rose at the statement.

Ollivander kept speaking as he brushed his fingers over the polished black wood. "It is a masterpiece, one of my finest, I do believe. However it has been here since I was a young man. Here, give it a wave."

Nico took it, and a green mist started coming off of him. Ollivander took the wand back with an "Excellent…"

He handed the wand and the box to Nico, who stood next to Lou Ellen with a dumbfounded expression. He then cleared his face and look worriedly at Mrs. Weasley who was clutching her lists, no longer humming, and looked very pale. Nico looked down, blinking very fast.

Lou Ellen felt a pang of sympathy. She supposed it was very hard to be a son of Hades, and she knew what it was like to not feel welcome at Camp Half-Blood with her mother not only being a goddess of the Underworld, but only recently even having a cabin. She grasped his hand, hoping that the gesture wouldn't be rejected, and offered him a small smile.

He looked up, but he didn't return the smile. However, Lou Ellen noted that he didn't let go of her hand.

Jason's wand was found much quicker than Nico's or Lou Ellen's. The second one he tried- Oak, phoenix feather, twelve inches- shot sparks of lightning in the air, and a Golden Eagle erupted from the tip.

Lou Ellen saw Nico gaze at Jason with a faint smile on his lips, and his eyes softened more than she had ever seen them. She couldn't help but smile as well at the knowledge that Nico was enjoying himself again.

The three of them paid for their wands and went on to acquire uniforms and books. Mrs. Weasley dropped them off at Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions and hurried off to purchase the books they'd be needing. Afterwards Mrs. Weasley hurried into a Quidditch shop while Jason, Nico, and Lou Ellen explored what seemed to be a wizarding pet store. Most of the animals seemed to be wary of Lou Ellen and Nico, except for a litter two of pure black kittens.

"Oh, you don't want them," said the shop owner quickly, "Don't even know why I bought them. They growl and hiss and bite everyone who even tries to touch-" He stopped in shock when he saw the two purring a playing with Lou Ellen and Nico. He gaped, then said. "Are you looking for kittens?" in a rather hopeful manner. When the two of them said they were going to Hogwarts the shop owner told them they were allowed to bring a cat.

Lou Ellen watched Nico smile at the kitten, and rubbed it's head. She didn't think that she had ever seen him with an animal. She wondered what kind of cat the two kittens were. Most animals were afraid of the children of underworld gods. But these kittens weren't. They purred and purred, content to lay in their arms, trusting them completely.

"Nico, do you want to get them?"

Nico looked hesitant, and the kitten looked up at him with wide baby blue eyes. Slowly, Nico nodded.

The shop owner looked like he was about to cry, but not tears of sadness. He went in the back and came back with two crates, a bag of food, dishes for food and water, and a couple of toys. "On the house," he said with a quivering voice. Lou Ellen noted that he had several fresh scratches that looked quite nasty and almost green.

"Where did you get those?" she asked.

The shopkeeper's eyes darted to the quite innocent looking kittens when he said with a high terrified voice, "Nowhere!"

The kittens kept purring, and the one Lou Ellen was holding kneaded her chest with black fearsome claws.

Jason waited till they got to Eeylops Owl Emporium, then fell in love with an large and proud looking Eagle Owl. Afterwards they wandered into a candy shop where Jason and Nico bought enough to feed a small army.

They met back up with Mrs. Weasley who was carrying a broom shaped package, and snacked on their candy on the way home.

It was about six O'clock when the four of them returned to Number Twelve Grimmauld Place and while Lou Ellen and her teammates were putting away their purchases hung a banner in the basement over a dinner table filled to the bursting with food that congratulated Hermione and Ron for becoming prefects.

Everyone seemed to be in a good mood. Even Sirius Black had lifted his usual gloomy and sulking facade and was singing and toasting just about everyone, even Nico. Lou Ellen couldn't help but smile as well. Tomorrow she'd be going to Hogwarts and leaving this gloomy house.

Suddenly they heard a shriek come from upstairs, and Lou Ellen saw Nico run towards the yell. She raced after him through the dark hallways and entered a bedroom where a figure Lou Ellen recognized as Mrs. Weasley was huddled, sobbing, and shouting riddikulus over and over again.

It was a boggart, Lou Ellen realized. And it was turning into the bodies of what Lou Ellen knew to be her family members, even Harry, who she saw come up behind her from the corner of her eye. But then it started shifting again into a much more familiar shape. Percy. Lou Ellen turned back toward Mrs. Weasley.

Nico was in front of her, trying to get her out of the room. But he stopped when he saw Boggart!Percy. Boggart! Percy's face morphed into a cruel look she'd never, not once, seen Percy wear, and he said in a low, hateful voice,

"Faggot."

Nico's face paled to a new level of white.

"Do you honestly think I could ever love someone like you?" said Boggart! Percy.

By now a crowd had gathered. Nico was still shielding Mrs. Weasley from the boggart, but he was shaking, and Lou Ellen thought he might faint. SHe wanted to rush into the room and grab him, but was frozen where she stood at the thought of what the Boggart might turn into for her.

"You're a fucking freak, Nico! No one wants you, so why not you just go-!" CRACK!

The boggart transformed once more, this time into a silvery orb. Lupin was standing in front of Nico.

"Riddikulus." He said very calmly and firmly. The orb vanished in a puff of smoke.

Molly was still sobbing. Lupin walked over to her, trying to comfort her. Nico stood shock still and pale white.

"It was just a boggart, Molly. Just a stupid boggart." he said, patting Mrs. Weasley's head while she sobbed her heart onto his shoulder.

Lou Ellen tried to walk up to Nico, not sure of what to do but wanting to comfort him as well, yet he vanished into the shadows before she could do anything. She was left standing there in the doorway confused and worried when Jason ran up next to her, asking what happened. When she answered he took off as well.

Eventually, after Mrs. Weasley started sobbing about her family, Lou Ellen left the doorway. She felt she was intruding, and decided she'd hide in the room she shared with Hermione and Ginny and read one a book about old potions her mother had given Lou Ellen once for her thirteenth birthday.

She curled up in her bed, feeling guilty and confused about Nico. She'd started the evening off excited for the next day, now she just wanted to cry.