A/N: Hellooooo~ :D
"I was just telling him the truth."
I planted Tempest on the ground as I gasped for breath, my heart thumping heavily and my head pulsing as I attempted to gather as much oxygen into my body as I could.
Aristo stood a few feet away, smirking at me as a drop of sweat dribbled down the side of his face. He wiped it away with the back of his hand before he placed his bow down on a table that materialized.
"Not bad," Aristo breathed out. He closed his eyes, and a few seconds later, his fatigue disappeared. The only note that he was even tired before was his sweat-stained uniform.
I took in a deep breath, and concentrated. I summoned the moisture that had gathered around me and willed it to disappear easily. I was still trying to steady my breathing, which was almost there, but my arms were sore like no tomorrow.
"My Gods, you smell," Rhea wrinkled her beautiful, straight nose as she looked at her twin.
"What are you? A daughter of Aphrodite?" Aristo retorted, before walking over to me. He held out a hand and I took it.
I felt a warmth spread through my body as my fatigues started to fade away, while at the same time, Aristo's sweat started to disappear from sight, his shirt resuming the normal white cotton color it originally was.
I stood up straight and brushed off some dust that had got onto my clothes and pulled Tempest from the ground. The floor immediately repaired itself from the crack I had left. I reverted it back to its regular form and capped it, placing the weapon back into my pocket.
"You're getting a lot better," Rhea praised, walking over to us. She looked down at the broken arrows that rested on the ground cut into pieces. "You should work on your close, hand-to-hand combat more, though."
"Aristo has half a feet over me," I pointed out. "Should you fight me, since you're closer to my height?"
At 5'0, she was closer to my height than Aristo's 5'2. She was only four inches taller than me as opposed to Aristo's six.
Rhea shook her head firmly. "You should be adept at fighting those larger than you. In the chance that you do fight a real fight, it'll most likely be with a monster, just like that Cretan Bull."
"Minotaurs, centaurs, dragons, chimeras, giants, harpies, sphinxes… they'll be bigger than you, Penny. And they will take you down if they see the chance. Heroes on quests have died because of monsters. As the daughter of one of the Big Three, there will undoubtedly be quests you'll have to go on, Penny. We need to prepare you for that, because, I happen to like you in one piece." Aristo reached out and affectionately messed up my hair.
I gave a small smile and reached around to hug Aristo. The older boy returned the gesture easily, and when he released me, I went to hug Rhea as well.
We exited the Room of Requirement together, before we parted so I could head up to Gryffindor Tower. I waved goodbye to them, before heading up the staircase before they could change.
I gave the Fat Lady the password before the portrait swung open, allowing me entrance to the common room.
"Really break your leg," I heard Ron say as I walked towards him, Hermione, and Harry.
"… Do I want to know what's going on?" I asked, taking a seat next to Harry on the couch. The bespectacled boy looked a nauseous shade of green. "What's going on?"
"Snape's refereeing the next Quidditch game against Slytherin," Ron informed us. "And you know how much he hates Harry."
I frowned, recalling the game with Harry's cursed broomstick. While the three were sure that Snape was the one cursing Harry, Quirrell was pretty suspicious, too. Yeah, the man was meek as a mouse, but sometimes, it was the unexpected ones.
Expect the unexpected, Aristo and Rhea informed me. It's a cheesy line, but always be ready.
Even if Snape was refereeing, I voiced my opinion. "Even so, it'd be wrong for Harry to back out, anyway. Slipping out is the coward's way out. If a task is given to him, he should take it and do his best to complete it."
"And thinking like that will get yourself killed, Penny," Hermione pointed out. "It's safer to assess everything than to just jump in."
"But sometimes, you can't get any information until you jump in," I replied simply, merely stating a fact. It was why our bodies were wired with ADHD – so we can react fast.
Hermione huffed, crossing her arms, and I felt slightly bad, but it was the truth.
Harry looked back and forth from between Hermione and I before saying, "I can't back out, anyway. There isn't a reserve Seeker. If I back out, Gryffindor can't play at all."
At that very moment, Neville suddenly ran into the common room. Well, ran was the incorrect term. He was hopping… I recognized it as the Leg-Locker Curse. Others in the room burst out laughing while I furrowed my eyebrows, disturbed.
My eyes widened when I saw Neville stumble, and without even thinking, I shot forward, grabbing the blond by his arms and steadied him easily.
"I'll do the counter-curse," Seamus volunteered, pulling out his wand.
"No!" Neville exclaimed. "That's all I need, you just set my bloody kneecaps on fire."
"I don't appreciate your insinuation, Longbottom!" Seamus huffed. "Besides, if anyone cares to notice, my eyebrows have grown back!"
Hermione ignored the conversation and hopped up, performing a perfect counter-curse on the boy on the floor. At once, Neville's legs detached from each other and he pushed himself away me shakily.
"What happened?" Hermione demanded, as I helped Neville sit down with us.
"M – Malfoy," Neville stuttered out. "I met him outside the library. He said he'd been looking for someone to practice that on."
"Go to Professor McGonagall!" Hermione exclaimed. "Report him!"
Neville merely shook his head. "I don't want more trouble," he mumbled out, meek.
"You've got to stand up to him, Neville!" Ron urged. "He's used to walking all over people, but that's no reason to lie down in front of him and make it easier."
Neville shook his head, close to crying. "There's no need to tell me I'm not brave enough to be in Gryffindor," he said. "Malfoy's already done that."
Harry shifted next to me, and I saw him pull out a Chocolate Frog. He handed it to the plump boy, who took it gently. "You're worth twelve of Malfoy," Harry told him. "The Sorting Hat chose you for Gryffindor, didn't it? And where's Malfoy? In stinking Slytherin."
I smiled gently when I saw Neville smile softly, unwrapping the chocolate frog.
"Thanks, Harry," he said, looking at the bespectacled boy gratefully. "I think I'll go to bed. D'you want the card? You collect them, don't you?"
"Yeah," Harry said, taking it. "Thanks."
Neville got up, thanking all of us, and I gave him a reassuring pat on the back. He walked away, and I turned to Harry. "That was great of you to say that."
The dark-haired boy's cheeks got slightly pink, strangely enough, and he looked away so he didn't make eye contact with me. "It was nothing. I was just telling him the truth."
"Well, nonetheless, it was still great." I smiled at Harry, who looked down his Famous Wizard card.
He sighed and said, "Dumbledore again… He was the first one I ever–" He cut himself off with a sharp gasp before exclaiming in a whisper, "I've found him!" to us.
He showed us the card and said, "I've found Flamel! I told you I'd read the name somewhere before! I read it on the train coming here – listen to this: 'Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and is work on alchemy with his partner, Nicholas Flamel'!"
Suddenly, Hermione hopped to her feet. It was so sudden that I jumped back. "Stay here!" she ordered before sprinting away up to our room.
I glanced at Ron and Harry, sharing equally confused looks. I glanced back up at the sound of rapid footsteps and saw Hermione come barreling down the stairs with a giant book that was practically the size of her small body.
"I never thought to look in here!" she whispered to us happily. "I got this out of the library weeks ago for a bit of light reading."
"Light?" Ron echoed incredulously, looking at the book she dropped in the center of all of us. The bushy haired girl ignored him, flipping through the ginormous book.
I leaned back. I wasn't going to be able to read it, anyway.
"I knew it! I knew it!" she cried excitedly.
"Are we allowed to speak yet?" Ron grumbled, but was ignored again.
"'Nicolas Flamel'," she read, "'is the only known maker of the Philosopher's Stone'!"
"… The what?" Harry, Ron, and I asked at once.
"Oh, honestly, don't you three read?" Hermione sighed. Actually, I wasn't able to read regular books, thank you very much. "Look," she pushed the book towards us. "Read that, there." She pointed at a section.
I tried, I really did, but the words started blurring together and started moving around, along with having a strange arrangement. I blinked, rubbing my sea-green eyes. "Could someone read that, please? I can't understand it."
My three companions looked up from the book and Hermione asked, "Really?"
I nodded. "I'm dyslexic. I can't read anything. My textbooks are charmed so I can read them."
"What about in class?" Ron asked. "You seem to read the board just fine."
"That's charmed for my eyes as well," I admitted. I had expressed my concerns about reading in class with Professor McGonagall, but she had assured me that all the professors have charmed their writing utensils so I could read what they wrote. "No one knows but you guys and the twins."
"How do the twins know, too?" Ron questioned curiously, cocking his head to the side.
"All three of us are dyslexic," I informed them. "We can't read proper English. They also have ADHD like me." I had already explained to them what ADHD was the first week here, because I was jittery all the time when we would sit together for a couple hours, making me move around. "So… uh, can one of you guys read for me?"
Harry read the short passage for me, which was about the creation of the Philosopher's Stone, which made the Elixir of Life, allowing the drinker to be immortal. I thanked Harry, the topic from before now restored.
"See?" Hermione questioned. "The dog must be guarding Flamel's Philosopher's Stone! I bet he asked Dumbledore to keep it safe for him, because they're friends and he knew someone was after it, that's why he wanted the Stone moved out of Gringotts!"
"A stone that makes gold and stops you from ever dying!" Harry exclaimed. "No wonder Snape's after it. Anyone would want it."
I bit the inside of my lips to stop me from blurting out that I could think of a few beings that wouldn't want it.
"And no wonder we couldn't find Flamel in that Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry. He's not exactly recent if he's six-hundred and sixty-five, is he?"
"That's not really funny, Ron."
"Ah, shut up."
I won't fill you in with the boring details (not that I was even paying attention), but Harry did decide to participate in the Quidditch match against Hufflepuff.
I leaned against the railing, bored, watching the players fly around. Everyone was screaming around us, but Aristo, Rhea, and I just looked on with equal blank stares.
"Capture the Flag is a lot more interesting than this," Aristo voiced his opinion. Rhea nodded in agreement, and I just shrugged, having not participated in the game before.
All of a sudden, I heard a thud and whirled around.
There were bodies rolling on the ground, but no one was paying any attention, focused on the Quidditch game. I tapped Aristo's arm, who in turn caught Rhea's attention.
At once, I went over to the flurry of white-blond and red. I easily broke the two scuffling boys away and pushed them away from each other.
Aristo easily handled Crabbe and Goyle while Rhea helped Neville up.
"Calm down, Ron," I advised while I held a dazed Malfoy away. Blood was dripping onto my hands from their equally bloody noses, though Malfoy looked worse for wear.
"Ron! Ron! Where are you?!" Hermione's voice rang from the cheering crowd. The game's over! Harry's won! We've won! Gryffindor is in the lead!"
Ron broke from my grip and I released Malfoy, who huffed and stormed away with Crabbe and Goyle at his heels. I looked down at my bloodied hands and frowned. Making sure no one was paying attention, I gathered moisture from the air around me and washed my hands clean of the red liquid, before drying them.
I walked over to join Aristo and Rhea, who were making sure Neville was okay. Seeing a spot of red on Aristo's uniform, I subtly ran my hand over it, washing and drying it quickly.
"We'll meet up with Cedric," Rhea informed. "And take Neville to the Madam Pomfrey." Aristo hoisted Neville onto his back easily, and I nodded.
I walked off, joining Hermione and Ron, who were looking for Harry. We searched for a while, and when we stepped into a clearing inside the castle, Harry came striding out towards us.
"Harry, where have you been?!" Hermione exclaimed.
"We won!" Ron cried. "You won! We won!" Ron patted Harry on the back. "And I gave Malfoy a black eye, and Neville tried to take on Crabbe and Goyle single-handed! The twins took him to Madam Pomfrey – talk about showing Slytherin! Everyone's waiting for you in the common room, we're having a party, and Fred and George stole some cakes and stuff from the kitchens!"
"Never mind that now," Harry waved off. Let's find an empty room, you'll wait 'til you hear this…"
We entered an empty room, and Harry quickly filled us in on what he overheard. Snape and Quirrell were talking about the Philosopher's Stone, how Quirrell knew how to get past Fluffy, and basically knew everything else.
"So you mean the Stone's only safe as long as Quirrell stands up to Snape?" Hermione inquired.
"It'll be gone by next Tuesday," Ron groaned, running a hand through his messed up red hair.
The four of us continued to talk, coming up with a plan to take a detour to the room everyday just to hear and check to see if Fluffy was still there. After making sure we had a basic plan, the three decided it was time to celebrate Gryffindor's fastest win.
I thought about something and said, "You guys go on ahead. I just remembered I have something to do."
All three of them exchanged curious looks, but nodded. They walked off, talking amongst themselves, while I headed outside to the Black Lake.
I took off my black robe, draping it over a low branch, before walking towards the water. I stepped inside the water, feeling it flow between my legs, but not wetting me at all. I walked until I was waist-deep into the water, before I scooped up some water.
I let the liquid flow between my fingers, back into the lake, before placing my palm just above the water. I closed my eyes, concentrating. I imagined a long, flowing stream and raised my arm up.
My eyes snapped open and I looked just to see a long, flowing strand over water. I flicked my wrist and it danced above and around me, before it fell down back into the water with a splash.
Using both hands, I imagined a large wall of water appearing for me, and felt the water between my fingers. I breathed in before exhaling deeply, and willed the water to rise. I could feel the weight of it, even though I wasn't even touching it, as a wall of clear water formed above me.
Feeling slightly tired, I let the wall collapse, and felt the rush when the water fell over me, coating me in a soft, gentle hug, but otherwise, not disturbing me. I traced my fingers over the water, creating small ripples, before an idea formed in my head.
You could make snowballs, right?
How about water-balls?
I scooped up some water, and was surprised to see it was in the form of a solid sphere. I whirled around, launching the ball towards the land. It hit a tree trunk with a splash, and a giddy excitement filled through me. How cool!
A small giggle escaped my lips and I clapped my hands joyfully.
"You know, you can do so much more than that, right?" a teasing voice pointed out.
I screamed in shock, not expecting the voice at all. I fell back in surprise, landing in the water. I held my breath on instinct, but realized it was dumb to. I sat underwater for a while, watching a couple of toads swim by.
Realizing I was under the water for a while, I resurfaced to glare at the being at interrupted me.
Aristo smirked at me in amusement, and I huffed, crossing my arms over my chest. He sat above a huge boulder near the edge of the lake, leaned back on his palms with the sleeves of his pants rolled up to his knees, soaking his calves and feet in the nice water. His shoes and socks were discarded a few feet away, I noticed, before I turned my attention back to him.
He pushed himself up and he looked at me, "Hey, check this out." He held out a hand, his palm facing upward. I looked at it for a few seconds, and right before my eyes, a white ball of energy formed in the palm of his hand. He wiggled his long fingers, and the ball danced around in the air.
"Cool!" I exclaimed, swimming over to where he was. I got closer and then was near him in the water, looking at the ball of light.
"Rhea can do it, too," Aristo informed me. "It's really rare, but sometimes, Apollo blesses his kids every hundred years or so to have photokinesis. Kinda like Hephaestus with pyrokinesis. Only a few of his kids can control fire. I'm sure that since you're a child of the Big Three, you can do a lot more than just water balls and shields, though."
"Do you really think so?" I asked, cocking my head to the side to look up at the thirteen-year-old.
"Pretty positive," Aristo nodded his head, his blond bangs falling over his eyes. "You can possible create storms and earthquakes, too, but… uh… I don't think we should practice those. Our powers are limited compared to yours, but we can help you project them quickly without too much concentration. Soon, it'll be second-nature for you to summon water."
I nodded and the older Solander twin ordered me to step back. "All right," Aristo said. He pointed at a distance and asked, "See that tree over there, with the branch dangling? Across the lake?"
It was pretty far away, and took a while to see, but I nodded once I saw it.
"I want you to form something that will break it. A water strand, a water ball, it's up to you, but I want you to break it. It should be fairly easy, since we're surrounded by water. It'll be more difficult when we practice away from water."
I nodded and pulled my hand out of the water, a steady flow of water following my hand movements. I flicked my wrist, willing it to go towards the broken branch. I watched as the strand propelled above the water powerfully, creating small ripples in the lake as it flew by at an amazing speed.
From a distance, I heard a small crack as the strand of water snapped against the branch, breaking it. The twig fell to the ground, broken, and the water spilled onto the dirt at the tree's trunk.
"That's pretty cool," I said, turning to look at Aristo.
"It is," he agreed, nodding his head. "Check this out," he told me. He summoned a ball of light in his hand and launched it. I watched as it propelled itself through the air, across the lake, to the other side.
I heard cracks as it propelled through the small branches of the forest, before it shot up into the air. I followed it with my eyes and in my peripheral vision, noticed Aristo was moving hand, controlling it. The ball of light crashed into the water, creating a splash, before it disappeared in the darkness of the lake.
"Hey, Aristo," I called, turning to the older boy.
"What's up?"
"Why do you think living forever is such a temptation?"
Aristo's handsome face scrunched up in confusion. "Um… I guess it's because you don't have to be scared of dying, why?"
I opened my mouth to tell him, but then shrugged it off. It wasn't really my secret to tell, per say. It was Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I's secret to share, and if I was going to tell them we'd all have to agree. It was just like telling how Aristo, Rhea, and I were demigods. We had to decide together.
"Just a thought," I answered.
The boy looked at me quietly, contemplating. He decided to not say anything, and proceeded to teach me how to control my hydrokinesis better.
So I figured I'd have the same format as my Nothing Like My Novels story and interact with you guys a bit more. ^^ It's you guys that make me want to write, and believe it or not, we do pay attention and notice those who review every chapter and everything. :o I love getting to know you guys. Anyways, since most of you are different readers, I guess we'll start with something basic:
QOTD: What is your favorite color?
Mine's midnight blue. :)
I'll also have a Q&A section, so you can ask me anything - involving me OR this story (or both!). :) I promise I'll answer, so ask away! I try to be involved with my readers. ^^
sdevil: Thank you! ^^
KenzieofApollo: Thanks for your support, hahah! :D I do need your Tumblr username, by the way, if you're participating in my giveaway. :o
Guest: Awww, okay, hahah. :)
Iveya Jade's psycho mind 08: Thanks for participating! ^^
Littleheartache: Thank you~ :D
ehcorns: It translates to "sweetheart," which you can also interpret as a protective brother (which is what Apollo is right now). ^^ There isn't any romantic attraction right now between the two. Penny's still much too young to realize anything, and Apollo just enjoys teasing her. :)
YJLover: Hey, I know you! Hahah! :D Thank you! ^^
livyboo: Thank you very much! :D
Guest #2: At least this wasn't seven months this time, hahah. :D
CharitinaX: AHAHAH I'M GLAD YOU ENJOYED IT. XD
A/N: Drop a review for another semi-fast update! :D
