Chapter Eleven
Dinner in the Great hall was the most pleasant experience Jason had ever had. He found out the gossip vine at Hogwarts was just as able as the one at Camp Jupiter, perhaps more so. Whispers were everywhere in the halls, going silent when they saw him, and shooting him pitying glances. Hannah Abbott, a fellow Hufflepuff in his year walked him through the halls and to the Great Hall so he could eat, bravely shielding him from the looks and hushed conversations.
"He says he fought giants…" he heard from a short First Year.
"I heard he was hit by lightning while battling a giant Chief…"
"Cho Chang say that his scar looks like it was treated using muggle methods…"
"Come off it…"
"That barbaric…"
"Pur-lease…"
"I don't get it," said Jason in a shaking voice, trying to steady his hands (he was still so angry from Umbridge's lesson that he was surprised he wasn't shooting sparks whenever he touched metal), "Why are they so fascinated by the fact that I have a scar."
Hannah looked at another Hufflepuff in his year named Susan Bones, who said in a quiet voice, "Well, wasn't it magically healed?"
"Not really, we ran out of supplies halfway through the ba-" he stopped himself, nearly calling it for what it was, "We had stuff to treat wounds, but we weren't expecting to be attacked like we were, so we ended up with only enough to get me to a muggle hospital. We weren't anywhere near a wizarding hospital."
"Oh…" Susan,
"Jason, what you said in Defense class, why did you say it?" said Hannah.
Jason shrugged, and poured himself a bowl of black bean soup. Piper had given him a taste for it; she loved to eat the hearty soup. "It had to be said. She's trying to teach you that you don't have anything to be afraid of out 'there', because supposedly, whoever this You-Know-Who guy is, isn't back. But that isn't the truth. Even if their right, and he is dead, he'll just be replaced with another power crazy bad guy. There will always be another war on the horizon, and the real world won't be 'safe, and risk-free'." He spooned some of the soup into his mouth, letting the taste of the spices calm him down, and thinking about Piper's beautiful kaleidoscope eyes. Right now, he missed her more than ever. Maybe he'd IM her later on. They hadn't talked for months.
"The truth is," he continued, "I'm worried that the ministry doesn't want you to be trained in defense, which is odd, and makes me wonder if You-Know-Who is back and has contacts within the ministry."
Susan Bones gasped, along with Hannah Abbott. "Do you think so?" she said.
""I don't know," said Jason, "I don't know enough about the way your country runs things to make a fair observation. But those are my suspicions." He stirred his bowl, "I'm going to talk to Lou Ellen later. From what I hear, a lot of the Slytherin students have family high up in the Ministry, yes?"
Susan and Hannah nodded, "Yeah, but I doubt you'll get their help. They're all mean, and they look down on Hufflepuffs."
"They call us stupid," said Hannah softly.
"Lou Ellen is my friend," he insisted. "I'll talk to her, maybe she can ask a friend in that house to talk to their parent about not being educated in Defense Against the Dark Arts."
Susan shook her head, "I don't doubt that they already are, after all, they have traits of being cunning and resourceful. But if the Minister is in on it, there is nothing their parents will be able to do."
Jason grinned, thinking about his and his friends godly parents and their anger. "I wouldn't be too sure, parents are pretty powerful when they are angry."
…
After dinner, Jason went with Nico and Lou Ellen to the potions classroom to talk to Snape, like they were told. He met them at the door, and led them in.
His black eyes were cold and beetle-like, and his skin was pallid. He almost reminded Jason of Nico, except Nico's hair was actually clean.
"Good evening," he said in a greasy voice. "Now, as I am in the Order, and I know the circumstances of why you are really here, I know that you three are no ordinary wizards." He went behind his desk and leaned over. "I am no fool. I don't believe that all three of you have dyslexia by some sort of coincidence. So I am led to believe that the magic you are in possession of is tied with your disorder."
Nico opened his mouth to talk. Snape held up a hand to stop him.
"Don't speak, and don't tell me what you are. I could care less, I merely wish for it to NOT disrupt my classroom, or my teaching. And so," he folded his hands, and glared up at them. "That leads us to figure out what we do about this predicament. As much as I resent it, you are students in my class, and your grades reflect my teachings. The potions that you turned in, while done… adequately, for being unable to properly read my instructions, are in no way adequate to gain even an A in your O.W.L. testing.
"This will reflect poorly on me, and my expectations of my students. Lou Ellen, from the quality of your potion, while half done, I am led to believe you could possibly even make it into my N.E.W.T. classes, were you to become a regular student at this school." He gazed at all three of them, "I wish to help you all, however, I will need to understand the reason for your ailment. Normally, a wizard with a reading ailment can go to St Mungos, and have it easily treated. However, if your ailment is as I fear it is, and tied to your magic, the only way to fix it would be to cut off your ability to use your magic."
"That's not an option," said Nico hotly.
Snape glared at him, "That's not an option, sir. And no, it isn't." He leaned toward them, "And so, in order to help you succeed in my class, I will need to understand the cause of your ailment. I believe you know it already."
Nico, Jason, and Lou Ellen looked at each other, and nodded. Snape was in the Order, so he should be able to be trusted. "We're demigods," they all said.
Snape blinked, "Demigods?" He repeated, then shook his head. "What is Dumbledore thinking… How…?"
Nico shrugged, "I'm a son of Hades, Jason is a son of Jupiter, and Lo Ellen is a daughter of Hecate."
Snape frowned, then said, "That doesn't explain the dyslexia,"
"Our brains are hardwired for Ancient Greek. The letters for other languages, except French for child of Aphrodite, confuse us."
"Actually, I'm hardwired for Latin."
"Oh right," said Nico, "Jason is actually Roman, not Greek, so he's able to naturally read Latin."
Snape gave them a deadpan look. "Give me your books," he said.
The three of them complied, and began unloading their books from their school bags. Snape took his wand, and began tapping the books while muttering.
"What are you doing?" said Nico.
"I am putting a translation spell on your books. It will allow the reader to read the books in whatever language they feel most comfortable in, so long as they know the language it was originally written in. I'll be doing the same with my blackboard. I would cast it on you, but it must be cast onto actual written material."
"Oh," said Nico, "That's handy, can you teach it to us?"
"Yes, but I won't," said Snape, "However, as it is a charm, I suggest you bother Professor Flitwick with such requests."
Nico nodded glumly, and within a few minutes, all of their books had been charmed.
"Do you have any other books with you right now?" said Snape when he had finished.
Nico coughed, and took out his book on wizarding legends, "Just this one, but you don't have to-"
Snape snatched it, and cast the translation spell on it, before shoving it back. "Leave," he then said, and Jason, Nico, and Lou Ellen walked quickly out of the classroom.
They walked back upstairs in silence, just enjoying the peace of the Hogwarts hallways. They headed for the grounds, and sat down in the grass and gazing down at the dark forest.
"I guess Millicent was right," said Lou Ellen in quiet astonishment.
"What?" said Jason.
"He does care, to an extent."
"What do you mean?" said Nico, pulling his legends book from his bag, and opening it to where he had left off.
"Your book, and the books from subjects other than Potions. He didn't have to charm them, but he did." said Lou Ellen, picking a blade of grass and twirling it in her fingers.
"We should find Harry, Hermione and Ron," said Jason, "We are here to do a job."
"They're in the Gryffindor Common room," said Nico, "I heard them heading there before we left for the Potions classroom."
"Okay," said Jason, "We should work on homework. We have those dream diaries from Divination."
Lou Ellen chuckled, "We should write down what we actually dream about and see if it scars her for life."
Nico shook his head, "That's mean," but he was smiling.
They took out their pens and books, and began working on their homework. Jason was pleased to see the English lettering smoothly turn to Ancient Greek symbols when he opened his Divination book.
...
The Hufflepuff common room was near the kitchens, and about halfway underneath the ground. It had circular windows that you could look out of, and see rippling grass and bright yellow dandelions. There were overstuffed armchairs and sofas that were upholstered in yellow and black. It was cozy, and homey, and very sheltered. Last night had actually been the best night of sleep Jason had experienced in ages.
His collapsed in front of the fireplace in the common room, still shaking, but now he wasn't shaking from anger. He had, over the past year, successfully shoved down all the memories from that battle, and forgotten it. He had carefully avoided looking down at his torso, avoiding mirrors when he was undressed, stopped thing about everything that had to do with Athens or hospitals…
And now it was all rushing back.
He curled up in one of the overstuffed armchairs, and tried not to think. Most of the other Hufflepuffs ignored him, probably unsure of what to do, but Hannah sat down on the armchair next to him and curled up in it, resting her chin on her knees. He glanced at her. Something about her clear blue eyes and kind face reminded him of Piper. The shaking subsided.
"You gonna be okay?" she said.
"Yeah… I just… I've kept myself from thinking about that day for so long." he detached himself from her. He nodded gratefully at her, and she smiled back, making Jason pause for a moment. In the looks department, Hannah was plain. She didn't have magical hair or kaleidoscope eyes like Piper, but her kind and infectious smile lit up her face. Jason couldn't help but smile back, and feel a flutter in his heart that he hadn't felt in a long time.
After a few minutes Hannah walked off towards the girls dormitory, and Jason eventually got up and walked to his. He pulled the curtains shut, and went to bed early.
...
The next day they had Double Charms, and Double Transfiguration. Both Flitwick and McGonagall spent the first fifteen minutes of class discussing the importance of their O.W.L.'s.
They spent more than an hour in Charms reviewing a summoning charm, which Nico and Jason desperately tried to learn, while Lou Ellen figured it out in fifteen minutes. She smiled smugly, but still helped Jason and Nico out.
Professor Flitwick rounded off the lesson with more homework than Jason could ever remember having. Transfiguration was, if possible, worse.
"You cannot pass an O.W.L.," said Professor McGonagall grimly, "Without serious application, practice, and study. I see no reason why everybody in this class should not achieve an O.W.L. in Transfiguration as long as they put in the work." Neville made a sad little disbelieving noise, "Yes, you too, Longbottom," said Professor McGonagall. "There's nothing wrong with your work except lack of confidence. So… today we are starting Vanishing Spells. These are easier than conjuring spells, which you would not usually attempt until N.E.W.T. level, but they are still among the most difficult magic you will be tested on in you O.W.L."
She was quite right. Jason, trying as hard as he could, could not vanish the snail he was practicing on. Nico's had paled considerably, though, and was almost translucent. Lou Ellen, had vanished hers a half hour into the class, along with Hermione who had done it on the third try. However, instead of joining together in talented witch splendor, they shot each other dirty looks, as if the other were trying to steal to throne for the top of the class.
"She's going down, I tell you," Lou Ellen said on their way to Care of Magical Creatures, "Miss.-I-Can-Vanish-My-Snail-On-The-Third-Attempt, ohhh…" Jason tried to remind her that it wasn't a competition, and that they were supposed to be protecting them, not crushing them.
"We're supposed to be protecting Harry," she said matter of factly. Jason tried to argue, but Nico shot him a look that said it was better to let her win this one, and he left Lou Ellen to her grumbling.
When Lou Ellen was safely out of earshot, Nico said, "Was Piper ever like that?"
Jason shrugged, "She got competitive with Drew every now and again."
"Ah…" Nico smirked, "Makes me glad I'm gay, for once."
Jason raised his eyebrows, surprised at the openness. Just last year, when confronted by Eros about his crush on Percy, Nico had made cracks in the ground and almost raised skeletons from the Underworld. Now…
"What?" said Nico when he saw Jason looking at him curiously.
"Nothing, just surprised at the openness. It's a good surprised, though."
"Oh," Nico looked down, frowning. "It wasn't like that a couple months ago,"
"Yeah, I saw. You were scaring everyone, actually. Frank told me that Hazel actually-" he stopped, unsure if he should be divulging that information.
"What?"
Well, too late now, "Apparently Hazel broke down one time, a few months ago. She was crying, and worried you were trying to kill yourself. And… well, she wasn't the only one. Everyone was scared."
So was he. He wasn't able to see Nico as often as he would have liked to; Nico was always traveling, and Jason was busy training Frank for Praetorship, their schedules never matched up. But Nico wasn't able to hide how emaciated he had gotten, even when Jason saw him in passing maybe once a month.
More and more, as that year had passed on, Nico had begun to look like the skeletons he raised, and his eyes became lifeless, and his skin wasn't just white anymore, but pallid and taut across his cheekbones.
Reyna, too, had been worried sick. One the mission she went on with Nico and Coach hedge, they had bonded, and became almost friends. She wanted to pull him aside and talk to him, but was never able to catch him. Jason wondered if Nico had been avoiding them.
"I know," said Nico, "But…"
"But what?" said Jason a little more harshly than he wanted to, but at the time he didn't care. Everything was coming to the surface- the fear he felt for Nico, the anger he felt on Reyna's behalf, and the regret for not keeping up with Nico after the war.
"I'm sorry," said Nico and stopped walking to look at Jason properly, "I was in a bad way, and at the time... I didn't realize the effect it was having on everyone, and I didn't think they cared enough to notice."
"Nico, we fought together. We saved each other's lives- all of us. Reyna, Leo, Hazel, Percy, Annabeth, Piper, Coach Hedge, and me and you. We all fought to save each other's lives in that war, of course we cared, of course we noticed." Jason was shaking again, and he felt close to tears.
Nico hung his head, "I'm sorry," he said, his voice breaking a little. Jason hugged him.
"I'm sorry too."
"Hey, guys! Are you coming, or what?" called Lou Ellen from the bottom of the hill to Care of Magical Creatures.
Jason wiped his eyes, and Nico did the same. "Coming," he said loudly.
Care of Magical Creatures passed. They examined, and took sketches of, a creature called a bowtruckle that skittered away from Nico every time he tried to touch it. It did seem to like Lou Ellen, so she held it while Jason took a sketch of it. Nico labeled the sketch.
Harry got into a very loud discussion with Malfoy about a teacher named Hagrid.
Next was Herbology. On the way there, they ran into Luna once again. She told Harry that her father believed Voldemort was back, to which Ernie Macmillan, boy in Hufflepuff and Jason's year, proudly agreed with her.
"My family has always stood behind Dumbledore," he said, puffing out his chest.
"Er… thanks very much, Ernie…" said Harry, seemingly wanting to get away from the attention.
Herbology it seemed, for Nico at least, was a complete and utter disaster. The plants seemed to have a want for vengeance against Nico, curling away from him, and, on one instance, dying the moment he touched it. Professor Sprout finally had enough, and assigned him to stocking dragon dung, which was her preferred brand of fertilizer. Nico grumbled about it, but seemed pleased to get out of the greenhouse.
By the time dinner rolled around, Jason was starving. He bolted to dinner, and scarfed down what he could before heading up to Umbridge's office with Harry.
"Come in," rang a sickeningly sweet voice when Harry rapped on his office door. They walked in, and Harry gave a small gasp of shock. Jason didn't blame him. Every surface of the room had been draped with lace covers and cloths. There were vases full of dried flowers, each with its own doily that it sat on, and on one of the walls was a collection of ornamental plates, each decorated with a large kitten wearing a different bow around its neck. Jason and Harry stared at the, transfixed, until Professor Umbridge spoke again.
"Good evening , Mr. Grace."
They started and looked around. They had not noticed her at first because she was wearing an awful flowered set of robes that blended only too well with the tablecloth on the desk in front of her.
"Evening," said Harry stiffly. Jason didn't say anything. Professor Umbridge smiled at him until he spat out, "Evening," as well.
He could not describe the amount of pure hatred he felt towards this woman.
"Well, sit down," she said, pointing towards a small table draped in lace beside which she had drawn up a straight-backed chair. Two pieces of blank parchment lay on the table, apparently waiting for them.
"Now, Mr. Grace, I was almost about to let you go," said Professor Umbridge with a wide, toad-like smile. Jason noticed her eyes actually looked like a toad's and wondered if Lou Ellen had something to do with it. He noticed Harry was looking at them too. Jason elected not to mention it to her. It would wear off, after all. Eventually.
"I felt, that maybe we could have a discussion about what is appropriate, and what is not appropriate, to do in my class, and you could leave with a warning. After all, your records show that you've never had a problem with discipline." She batted her toad eyes, and smiled full of fake sweetness, "But, unfortunately, I could find no record of any giant attacks in Athens. In fact, there have been no giant tribes living in Greece, since 1862." She handed them each a long black quill, with an unusually sharp point at the end.
"I hope you will both learn from this punishment, not to spread evil, nasty, attention-seeking stories, Mr. Potter, and Mr. Grace." She walked back to her desk, and shuffled through some papers. "I want you both to write, I will not tell lies."
"How many times?" Jason asked, not really understanding the punishment. At Camp Jupiter, had a cadet been mouthy and disrespectful, he would have made them run laps, or do push-ups, till they collapsed of exhaustion. He would have, of course, sent them to med bay afterwards and made sure they were hydrated, but the punishment wasn't supposed to be easy.
"Oh, as long as it takes for the message to sink in." she said, smiling nastily.
Jason picked up the quill suspiciously. Then noticed there wasn't any ink. Harry saw this too.
"You haven't given us any ink," said Harry.
"Oh, you won't need ink," said Professor Umbridge, with the merest suggestion of a laugh in her voice.
Jason put the quill on the paper and wrote, I must not tell lies.
He just barely restrained himself from gasping with pain. The words had appeared on the parchment in what appeared to be shining red ink, but when Jason looked at the back of his right hand, he saw the words cut into his hand, as if with an Exacto Knife- and yet, the words healed over again, leaving the place smooth where it had been. Slightly redder, but quite smooth.
Harry, however, had not been able to hold back the gasp. Professor Umbridge smiled wide and cruel, and said, "Yes?"
"Nothing," said Harry quietly.
They continued writing. Again, and again, Jason wrote those words. Soon he realized that he wasn't writing with ink, but with his own blood. Day turned into night, and Jason kept quietly scratching away at the parchment. Neither he, nor Harry, asked if they could stop.
The night outside the window was quite dark. Jason didn't slow down. His hand throbbed painfully, but he was a son of Jupiter, for crying out loud. He would not bend, not to this vile hag…
"Come here," she said, after what seemed like hours.
He and Harry stood up. The back of his right hand looked as if he had scrubbed it with sandpaper.
"Hand," she said.
Jason and Harry extended the appendage, and she studied the hands with her stubby fingers. "Tut, tut, I don't seem to have made an impression yet. It'll have to do, I suppose." she turned to Harry, "But we'll probably be seeing one another again, won't we?" She smiled widely, her pouchy toad eyes crinkling, "You may go."
They left her office without a word. The school was empty, and it had to be past midnight. They walked slowly down the corridor, but when they were both certain the hag wouldn't hear them, they broke off in a run towards their respective dorms.
…
Jason collapsed in bed. He hadn't had time to do any homework.
His right hand burned, from the black quill Umbridge had made them use. He knew it was probably Dark magic, and decided to talk to Lou Ellen about it in the morning. She seemed to know quite a bit about Dark magic.
He curled up on his side, and covered himself in his SPQR blanket while clutching his stuffed eagle. He fell asleep staring at an old picture of him, Leo, and Piper at Camp Half-Blood.
