Hello,

Sorry this chapter took to so long. Like I said, random updates. And this one is late, so it's extra-long. I think.

So for those confused about my school year, I live in New Zealand, so I start the school year in the beginning of February an end it in the beginning of December. I hope that clears things up.

I also changed it so Luna's godly parent is Iris. I like Iris, and I thought Athena was a bit over-used.

FictionIsTheTruth: I also love Leo. He's my second favourite after Nico.

The Royal Diplomat: I know that, but I've read so many fanfics where Luna's mother is Athena and I wanted to be original. Besides, this is fanfiction. I may try to stay close to canon, but I don't really have to. You know how in the Magnus Chase series Loki was Alex's mother? Because this isn't canon, I say that all the gods have that ability. Sue me. And I'm thinking of having Neville a legacy, not a first generation demigod.

Zargham: Thank you for saying this fanfic is good. I do try have the stories I write, whether fanfiction or school work interesting and well written. I also wish me a fast update speed.

The Hogwarts Express (Part 2)

HAZEL

The girl- Luna, nodded and Ginny thanked her, smiling. I followed her into the newly enlarged compartment and sat down next to Frank. Luna watched us over her upside-down magazine, which was called something like hTe eQblubir. I really hate having dyslexia.

Luna stared at Harry, who had taken the seat opposite her.

"Have a good summer Luna?" Ginny asked. I didn't really take part in their conversation, I was too busy thinking about why Neville was here. Neville Longbottom, 5th Cohort, legacy of Ceres and Bacchus. Neville had been at Camp Jupiter longer than I had, so I didn't know him very well, but I did know that he was kind of clumsy, was reasonably shy and had trouble making friends in the legion, but the friends he did make were fiercely protective of him.

I was broken out of my thoughts as Luna raised her upside-down magazine and fell silent. Harry and Neville looked at each-other with their eyebrows raised. Ginny suppressed a giggle.

I studied Neville subtly whilst petting Angel (my cat), and out of the corner of my eye I saw Jason and Frank doing the same. Annabeth was studying Luna, and Percy was playing with her hair. Piper was leaning on Jason's shoulder, Will was absentmindedly wrapping and unwrapping a bandage around his wrist, Nico was staring out of the window and Leo was tinkering with… something.

After an hour had passed, that hour including an incident with Mimbulus mimbletonia, whatever Leo was making blowing up, Annabeth banning Percy and Leo from eating anything containing sugar and Percy freaking out about the length of the train ride the compartment door slid open and Ron and Hermione walked in, with Crookshanks and a caged Pigwidgeon.

"I'm starving," said Ron, stowing Pigwidgeon next to Hedwig, grabbing a chocolate frog from Harry and throwing himself into the seat next to him. "Is this compartment bigger?"

"Yup," Percy confirmed, popping the 'p'.

"I'm not even going to question it," Ron said, biting off the frog's head and leaning back on the seat with his eyes closed.

Hermione looked like she was going to question it, but decided not to in favour of sitting down with a disgruntled expression. "Well, there are two fifth–year prefects from each house. Boy and girl from each."

"And guess who's a Slytherin prefect?" said Ron, still with his eyes closed.

"Malfoy," Harry replied.

"Malfoy?" I asked.

"He's the biggest git in our year," Ron scowled.

"He thinks he's better than everyone else just because he's a pureblood. And his family supports Voldemort," Harry said, ignoring the flinch that came from the wizards in the compartment when he said the name.

"Ahhh, so the spoilt rich brat," Leo summarised.

"That's one way of putting it," Ron grumbled.

"And the other Slytherin prefect?"

"That complete cow Pansy Parkinson," Hermione said viciously, "How she got to be prefect when she's thicker than a concussed troll…"

"Who are Hufflepuff's?" Harry asked.

"Ernie MacMillan and Hannah Abbot," said Ron thickly.

"And Anthony Goldstein and Padma Patil for Ravenclaw," said Hermione.

"You went to the Yule Ball with Padma Patil," Luna said airily.

I turned to look at her, and saw everyone else do the same. She was gazing unblinkingly at Ron over the top of her magazine. Said redhead swallowed a mouthful of Chocolate Frog.

"Yeah, I know I did," he said, looking mildly surprised.

"She didn't enjoy it very much," Luna informed him. "She doesn't think you treated her very well, because you wouldn't dance with her. I don't think I would've minded," she added thoughtfully, "I don't like dancing very much."

She retreated behind her magazine again. Ron gaped at the cover before looking over at Ginny, who was suppressing a giggle.

"We're supposed to patrol the corridors every so often," Ron told the group, "and we can give out punishments if people are misbehaving. I can't wait to get Crabbe and Goyle for something…"

"You're not supposed to abuse your position Ron!" Hermione said sharply.

"Yeah right, because Malfoy won't abuse it at all."

"Careful Ron, you might drown in the sarcasm," Percy snickered.

Hermione ignored him. "So you're going to descend to his level?"

"No, I'm just going to make sure I get his mates before he gets mine."

"For Heaven's sakes Ron-"

Quite honestly it was like watching a tennis match, heads swivelling from Hermione to Ron and back to Hermione again.

"I'll make Goyle do lines, it'll kill him, he hates writing," Ron said happily. He lowered his voice to a low grunt, screwed his face up in an expression of pained concentration and mimed writing in mid-air.

"I… must… not… look… like…. a… baboon's… backside."

Everyone laughed. I giggled with Piper and Annabeth. Frank, Jason and Will chuckled. Nico cackled quietly. Percy fell off of his seat and onto the floor, Leo collapsed on top of him, both of them positively howling with laughter. Luna let out a scream of mirth that caused the owl's to wake up and Harry's owl Hedwig flapped her wings indignantly. Hermione's cat Crookshanks leapt up into the luggage rack hissing. Angel jumped from her spot in my lap where I was petting her onto Nico's head and buried her face in his hair. Leo's cat Fuego and Piper's cat Leo stopped playing, and Percy's cat Nero jumped onto Annabeth's shoulder.

Luna laughed so hard her magazine slipped out of her grasp, slid down her legs and came to a rest on the floor next to Leo had still not gotten off of Percy.

"That was funny!"

Her eyes swam with tears as she gasped for breath, staring at Ron. Completely confused he looked around at the rest of us. Leo burst back into laughter at the expression on his face, and the rest of us quickly followed suit. Luna started rocking back and forward, clutching at her sides.

"Are you taking the mickey?" Ron asked, frowning at her as everyone but Luna's laughter faded.

"Baboon's… backside!" she choked out, holding her ribs.

That was enough to send Leo back into a fit of giggles, which succeeded into making his efforts to get up meaningless as he collapsed back onto the green-eyed demigod, who quickly followed him into laughter.

I watched Leo and Percy struggle to get off the floor and Luna laughing, and out of the corner of my eye I saw Harry's attention change to Luna's magazine, which was still on the floor.

"Can I have a look at this?" he asked eagerly, and Luna nodded, still breathless with laughter and staring at Ron.

I turned my attention to where Will was trying to detach Angel from Nico's head. Giggling slightly, I moved over to help. Turns out, removing a cat from your half-brother's head when said cat seems to like said half-brother quite a lot is more difficult that it sounds. By the time Will and I got Angel out of Nico's hair Luna had snatched her magazine back from Harry after Hermione had made quite a rude remark about it.

The compartment door slid open, revealing a boy with white-blond hair and a striking resemblance to a ferret, and behind were to other boys that could only be described as goons. Harry turned to look at them.

"What?" he demanded aggressively, before any of the new arrivals could say anything.

"Manners Potter, or I'll have to give you a detention," the obvious leader of the trio drawled. "You see, I, unlike you, have been made a prefect, which means that I, unlike you, have the power to hand out punishments."

"Yeah," Harry said, "But you, unlike me, are a git, so get out and leave us alone."

Leo and Percy snickered as the rest of the wizards except for Luna laughed. Fortunately, sans Leo and Percy we demigods have more self-control. This guy reminded me of Octavian. A saner, less homicidal version of Octavian that didn't murder stuffed animals.

"Tell me, how does it feel being second-best to Weasley, Potter?" the blonde boy (not Jason) asked.

"Shut up, Malfoy," Hermione said sharply.

Ah. So this was Malfoy.

"I seem to have touched a nerve," the newly dubbed Malfoy smirked.

"I heard that the exchange students were in this compartment. I see those rumours were right. I'm Malfoy, Draco Malfoy," Malfoy said, extending a hand.

"Bond. James Bond," Percy replied seriously, ignoring said hand. Ron looked confused.

"Well James, you and your exchange student friends would do better with me, than with these mudbloods and blood-traitors."

"What did you just say?" Nico's voice was dangerously low. Malfoy paled slightly, but shook it off quickly. I glanced back at my half-brother and saw that he had stood up and the irises of his eyes had darkened to the point where they were indistinguishable from his pupils.

"Are you deaf or something? I said y-"

Malfoy was cut off by Nico striding forward and getting in his face. Nico starting talking quietly, but I could see the blood draining from the subject of his ire's face, until Malfoy looked similar to the ghosts in our father's realm. Nico turned and walked back to his seat.

"Remember that," he growled.

Malfoy's face started to regain colour when Nico's gaze was no longer on him.

"You coming James?" he asked.

Percy grinned. "Nah, I'm good."

"Well, just watch yourself Potter, because I'll be dogging your footsteps in case you step out of line."

Hermione stood up. "Get out!"

Sniggering, Malfoy gave Harry a last malicious look and departed, with his two cronies lumbering along after him.

I exchanged a look with the other demigods as Hermione slammed the door shut. The rest of the demigods, yes even Percy, had registered what Malfoy said. Ron had clearly not noticed anything.

"Isn't your name Percy?" he asked.

"Muggle reference," Percy smiled widely. "Now whenever we're around that jerk you must all call me James Bond," he said micheviously.

"Let's see how long we can fool the little ferret."

Hermione smiled, but her eyes were unfocused, signalling that she was thinking hard. Harry seemed much the same. Ron was oblivious. We weren't free to talk with Neville and Luna here, so I locked eyes with Frank and we had a silent conversation.

H. Did you hear that too?

F. Yeah, do you think Sirius was recognised when we went to the station?

H. But what if it was just a coincidence?

F. What if it wasn't? What if Draco's father noticed the black dog and told Draco? What if he figured out that the Weasley's, Lupin, Tonks and Moody knew where Sirius was hiding?

H. Let's leave the rest of this conversation for when we can all speak clearly.

F. Agreed.

After a while the boys left to put on their uniforms, so we girls could get changed as well. Annabeth and Piper were still extremely unhappy about the robes. Shortly after the boys came back in. Apparently Jason had to save Percy from the robes which he somehow managed to strangle himself with. Hermione and Ron carefully pinned their prefect badges to their chests.

At last, the train began to slow down, and it erupted into noise as people scrambled to get their luggage and pets assembled. Ron and Hermione disappeared off into the chaos, leaving us to look after Crookshanks and Pigwidgeon. Angel jumped into my hair as I grabbed my trunk.

"I'll carry that owl, if you like," Luna said to Harry, who was struggling to carry the cages of both Hedwig and Pigwidgeon as Neville stowed his toad safely in a pocket.

"Oh- er- thanks." Harry handed her the cage and hoisted Hedwig's more securely into his arms. As we shuffled along the corridor I turned back to look at the other demigods. A pair of slightly glowing blue eyes were nestled in Percy's hair, so I deduced that Nero was sitting on his head. Fuego was slung across Leo's shoulders, and the now-familiar weight on my head meant that Angel was with me. Piper's cat seemed to be the only one in its carrier. Annabeth, Jason and Will all had their owls in their cages.

We pulled the Stolls away from the Weasley twins and followed Harry, Neville and Luna towards the castle. Harry was looking around, for Ron and Hermione I presume, but he walked with a purpose. I suppose that made sense, given that this was his school. It was only when we got to carriages pulled by winged skeleton horses- thestrals, that his stride faltered and he did a double-take.

Ron walked up behind Harry. "Where's Pig?" he asked.

Harry turned around quickly. "That Luna girl was carrying him. Where d'you reckon-"

"Hagrid is? I dunno," Ron said, sounding worried, "He'd better be okay."

"Who's Hagrid?" Annabeth asked.

"He's the gamekeeper and Care of Magical Creatures teacher. He's also half-giant, but he's really nice," Harry replied, as Hermione emerged from the crowd panting.

"Malfoy was being absolutely foul to a first year back there. I swear I'm going to report him, he's only had his badge three minutes and he's using it to bully people worse than ever… Where's Crookshanks?"

"Ginny's got him," Harry said, "There she is…"

Ginny appeared from the crowd, clutching a squirming Crookshanks.

"Thanks," Hermione said as she took the cat back from Ginny. "Come on, let's get a carriage together before they all fill up."

"I haven't got Pig yet," Ron protested, but Hermione was already heading off towards the coaches.

"What are those things, d'you reckon?" Harry asked Ron, nodding at the horses standing in front of the carriages as the other students surged past us.

"What things?"

"Those horse-"

Harry was cut off by Luna appearing with Pigwidgeon's cage in her arms, with the tiny owl twittering excitedly.

"Here you are," she said, "He's a sweet little owl isn't he?"

I watched as Nico and Percy petted the thestrals, Percy was muttering something to them quietly, whilst listening to Harry and Ron's conversation as they walked towards the carriage which held Hermione and Ginny.

"I was saying, what are those horse things?"

"What horse things?"

"The horse things pulling the carriages!"

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about- Look!"

A few seconds passed. Then-

"What am I supposed to be looking at?"

"At the- there, between the shafts! Harnessed to the coach! It's right there in front…. Can't… can't you see them?"

"See what?"

"Can't you see what's pulling the carriages?"

"Are you feeling alright Harry?"

"I… yeah…"

I decided to pull what Leo would call a 'Nico' and popped up behind them.

"They're thestrals," I declared, making the two boys both jump. "And I can see them as well if that makes you feel any better."

"They can only be seen by people who have seen death," Annabeth elaborated helpfully.

Harry looked down as Ron stared at Annabeth and I for a second before turning his gaze to where Nico and Percy were petting the thestrals. "And you can all see them?"

I nodded hesitantly.

"Blimey, who?"

Harry smacked him on the arm. "You can't just go around asking people who they've seen die Ron!" Harry exclaimed.

"And I'm afraid that's none of your business," Annabeth said, before walking off, pulling Percy away from the thestrals and marching off to find an empty carriage. I grabbed Frank's hand and followed her, with the rest of the demigods at our heels.

As we got closer to the thestral-drawn coaches, I heard a bunch of new voices.

"My lady!" "My lady!" "My lady!"

I assumed the voices were the thestrals, as I knew Percy could talk to horses and fish, and I'd seen Nico talking to the thestrals. I scratched one affectionately on the withers before climbing into a coach with Frank, Nico and Will.

As the coaches rumbled up the track towards the magnificent castle, one question rang clear in my mind.

Who did Harry see die?

This chapter is quite heavy on the word for word excerpts from the actual book, mainly in the first half. Sorry about that.

It's actually my birthday today, so I could tell people to leave me alone so I could write. Yay.

I will be sorting the demigod's next chapter, so if you have any more ideas for what houses the demigods should be in it'd be great if you could tell me.

Love y'all

-Badger