OMG SO SORRY I HAVEN'T UPDATED! But I do come from a Chinese, homework-crazed family, soooooo...
P.S.) Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.
Chapter 12
Nico's POV
I was still kinda miffed about Bianca dragging me along to Snape's 'Welcome party' after class a few weeks ago. I was even more miffed that Bianca had exposed the fact that I had enough power to destroy the world. One thing she hadn't exposed was that I wasn't fifteen yet, which I was grateful for of course. A few weeks have passed without any incident, and after IM-ing Percy and Thalia lots of times- ("No Percy, I can't smuggle you any blue cookies because THERE AREN'T ANY!) telling Professor Dumbledore about how things were- (Yes Professor, Harry and Ron apparently don't trust us, we are 'miniature Death Eaters' according to their logic) catching up with our classes- (Di'Angelo, do you think really think that this is good enough for you OWLs?) secretly training in the room of requirement- ("Focus, Bianca! Otherwise, when you shadow travel, you're gonna travel into a wall) and basically living life easy. (No! For the last time, I do NOT want to be part of your Quidditch team!)
We had picked up a few things about Harry, how he was whispered and shunned amongst his classmates, how he had a major crush on Cho Chang and how he communicated with his Godfather (a proclaimed mass murderer) under the codename Snuffles.
I sighed, rubbing my eyes (though it was in the morning) as I struggled under the massive pile of homework I was given. Bianca had told me she was better off with the help of Hermione, but she too was struggling. I looked up, to see that most of the Slytherin house was leaving for the Quidditch pitch.
"…go watch that Weasley make a fool out of himself!" The blonde idiot was grinning like mad, but of course that was before I shot him a glare. As soon as they left, I shadow-travelled to Bianca, hoping no one would see. I grabbed her hand and we arrived at the Quidditch arena, minutes before the rest of the idiots did.
"What are we doing here?" Bianca hissed.
"Nothing. Just checking up on the Gryffindor Quidditch team and making sure Malfoy doesn't do anything." I hissed back, just as we got to the seats.
"Alright then."
The look on Malfoy's face was priceless when he saw Bianca and me seated in the stands.
'What's that Weasley's riding?' Malfoy called in his sneering drawl. 'Why would anyone put a flying charm on a mouldy old log like that?'
Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy Parkinson guffawed and shrieked with laughter, luckily we were in the row behind them. I cracked my knuckles loudly. The four of them paled. Bianca laughed.
'Hey, Johnson, what's with that hairstyle, anyway?' shrieked Pansy Parkinson trying to act tough (apparently she didn't learn her lessons). 'Why would anyone want to look like they've got worms coming out of their head?'
Angelina swept her long braided hair out of her face and continued calmly speaking to her teammates. Hmm, I like this girl.
After a few practice exercises (with Ron making a ton of mistakes), and a lot of laughing and jeering from the Slytherins, I understood why the rest of the school hated them. Not that I didn't know that before, but I fully understood why now.
'Hey, Potter, how's your scar feeling?' called Malfoy. 'Sure you don't need a lie down? It must be, what, a whole week since you were in the hospital wing, that's a record for you, isn't it?'
George passed to Angelina; she reverse-passed to Harry, who had not been expecting it, but caught it in the very tips of his fingers and passed it quickly to Ron, who lunged for it and missed by inches.
It would have been hard to say whether Ron's face or the Quaffle was a deeper scarlet when he again returned to playing height. Malfoy and the rest of the Slytherin team were howling with laughter.
Bianca growled. I held her back from decimating the entire Slytherin house. Not that I would've minded anyway. After a lot more jeering and taunts from that house, the Gryffindor team finished practice due to the loss of their chaser and beater.
Feelings were running high in the Slytherin house, and all I wanted to do was to that stupid grin off Malfoy's face. With so many people around, I couldn't risk shadow travelling or anything, meaning we had to walk with the rest of the Slytherin house.
"Did you see Weasley? His saves were so lousy, I swear they are even worse than Di'Angelo's! You hear that Di'Angelo? I think you found your match!" Malfoy guffawed, along with the rest of Slytherin. I rolled my eyes, turning to Bianca.
"Θεοί! Είναι το πιο χαζό μάτσο ηλίθιους που έχω δει ποτέ!" (Gods! They are the most stupidest bunch of idiots I've ever seen!) Bianca exclaimed.
"Είπατε ότι η πρώτη φορά που είδε τον Περσέα, και από τον τρόπο, «χαζό» δεν είναι στην πραγματικότητα μια λέξη." (You said that the first time you saw Percy, and by the way, 'stupidest' isn't really a word) I muttered darkly. (The things I had said were true, Bianca had told me that Percy seemed slightly off his hook, when we had first IM-ed him after Dumbledore's meeting. It was the first time she had actually got to know him since her death)
"Αυτό είναι λίγο αδερφέ μου! Πάντα η λογική και η λογική!" (That's my little bro! Always the logical and reasonable one!) Bianca laughed, ruffling my hair, deepening my scowl ever so slightly. The Slytherins just stared at us with different expressions (bewilderment, scorn, confusion…).
"So I see that the siblings have finally decided to talk!" Malfoy drawled. "Even though they are only trying to imitate what we're saying." He guffawed again, along with the rest of his house (excluding me of course). "Are you so dumb, that you can't speak proper English? Is that what it is?" He guffawed again.
I rolled my eyes. "Are you so dumb, that you can't tell the difference between English and Greek?"
"That was Greek? That sounded more like a language used by non-evolved mudbloods! Oh wait, you are non-evolved." Malfoy laughed, and just then, the sky rumbled. A few students glanced up uneasily.
"I'm pretty sure if that was what apes used, (Yes Malfoy, that's the proper term) most of it would consist of hoot, grunt and ooh, which wouldn't make a pretty decent conversation." I sighed, then turned to Bianca again. "θεών! Είναι τόσο ηλίθιο!" (Gods! They're so stupid!)
We both sighed in synchronization (again), both knowing what would happen if we had incurred Zeus's wrath, except that Malfoy git was too stupid for that. If only he knew…
"What does that mean?" Malfoy mocked. "My sister and I are two dumb nitwits, and I wish I was as cool as Draco?" I snorted in disbelief. "Nitwits; Περισσότερο σαν "η αδελφή μου και εγώ είμαστε οι πιο ισχυρές ημίθεους του αιώνα". (Nitwits? More like "my sister and I are the most powerful demigods of the century".)
"And as for you being cool, είμαστε τόσο δροσερό ότι παγωτοζαχαρωτά ζηλεύουν." (We're so cool that ice-lollies are jealous.) Bianca huffed, folding her arms across her chest. "Unlike you." She muttered under her breath, knowing no one (other than me, of course) could hear what she said. I heard her crystal clear, but Malfoy, being the stupid ignorant git, didn't.
"What did you say?" Malfoy arched his eyebrows, in an attempt to look cool. "Filthy half-bloods." I rolled my eyes, stifling a laugh. If only he knew.
"Come on Nico, we shouldn't spend our time on these ηλίθιοι, they're just wasting it." Bianca sighed, placing her arm on my shoulder, a subconscious signal to my brain, that she wanted to leave. "We have better things to do."
"Oh yeah? Like what?" Malfoy taunted.
"Like we would tell you." I muttered, as we headed for the Room of Requirement, the place where we could let our anger up.
You might ask how. And to answer that in simple terms: We blow stuff up.
-0-0-0-0-
Bianca twisted her fingers, and the dummy in the middle of the room exploded, inches were my head was. I twisted away, only to be met by a volley of her attacks. Damn, she was getting good. I pooled together the shadows by my feet, and disappeared through it. Not as good as me though.
I envisioned myself within Bianca's shadow, and my mind immediately travelled there, giving me absolute control over it. Now, what would you do, if your shadow suddenly attacked you?
That was Bianca's dilemma, as she fought desperately against her shadow and my body, which I was also controlling from within the shadow. The shadow twisted, and Bianca's blades skittered across the floor. I returned to my own body, my sword pointed directly at her spine. "You need to work on dividing you attention on the two attackers." I sheathed my sword. "You're still hesitating."
"Well, in my own defense, I was being attacked by my own shadow." Bianca retorted, getting to her feet. "And you, were attacking me from both sides. Besides you have more practice with controlling shadows. But you have to admit, I'm getting better."
I snorted. "Yeah. At blowing things up, which isn't exactly the best thing to learn." I gestured to the place, which was now littered with scraps of broken dummies and scorch marks. "You should work on discreet." I patted her on the back. "But you are getting better though, I'm gonna have to admit."
Bianca pumped her fists in the air. "How's that for a first week?"
-0-0-0-0-
By the time we got back to the form room, it was pretty late. There hadn't been any lessons that day, but we were still tired as hell (no pun intended). I shadow-travelled Bianca back to her form room, into the most discreet spot possible, only to find that the fireplace (which was directly across the spot) occupied.
I dragged Bianca back into the shadows, and listened in to the snippets of conversation.
"…bed before everyone else had disappeared,' a voice said. 'I've been checking every hour.'
'You've been popping into the fire every hour?' another voice (that sounded like Harry) said, half-laughing.
'Just for a few seconds to check if the coast was clear.' The first voice replied.
'But what if you'd been seen?' said a third voice (Hermione) anxiously, giving me the impression that this conversation wasn't meant to take place.
'Well, I think a girl - first-year, by the look of her - might've get a glimpse of me earlier, but don't worry,' The voice said hastily, as Hermione clapped a hand to her mouth, looking shocked. Yup, we were definitely listening in to something that was top secret. "I was gone the moment she looked back at me and I'll bet she just thought I was an oddly-shaped log or something.'
'But, Sirius, this is taking an awful risk - ' Hermione began.
'You sound like Molly,' said Sirius, (so he was the person 'in the fireplace', it was the only place where a log would be no matter how improbable that sounded). This was the only way I could come up with of answering Harry's letter without resorting to a code - and codes are breakable.' (So they used a code! Great.)
'You didn't say you'd written to Sirius! said Hermione accusingly, which I agreed with. What if the letter was intercepted and the code broken?
'I forgot,' said Harry. 'Don't look at me like that, Hermione, there was no way anyone would have got secret information out of it, was there, Sirius?' (You'd be surprised at the amount of ways I could get information out of a person)
'No, it was very good,' said Sirius (What? Very good? No code is impenetrable.). 'Anyway, we'd better be quick, just in case we're disturbed - your scar.' I leaned forward; this was new news to me.
'What about - ?' Ron began, but Hermione interrupted him.
'We'll tell you afterwards. Go on, Sirius.'
'Well, I know it can't be fun when it hurts," (Duh) "but we don't think its anything to really worry about. It kept aching all last year, didn't it?'
'Yeah, and Dumbledore said it happened whenever Voldemort was feeling a powerful emotion,' said Harry. 'So maybe he was just, I dunno, really angry or something the night I had that detention.' (So Harry had a connection with the dark lord? And based on the theory that Harry's soul was connect with Voldemort's through a horcrux, this could be a very important piece of information.)
'Well, now he's back it's bound to hurt more often,' said Sirius.
'So you don't think it had anything to do with Umbridge touching me when I was in detention with her?' Harry asked. (No duh, she's just plain foul)
'I doubt it,' said Sirius. 'I know her by reputation and I'm sure she's no Death Eater - '
'She's foul enough to be one,' said Harry darkly, and Ron and Hermione (and me) nodded vigorously in agreement.
'Yes, but the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters,' (Yup, there's also monsters, titans, giants and gods who want to kill you.) said Sirius with a wry smile. 'I know she's a nasty piece of work, though - you should hear Remus talk about her.'
'Does Lupin know her?' asked Harry quickly.
'No,' said Sirius, 'but she drafted a bit of anti-werewolf legislation two years ago thai makes it almost impossible for him to get a job.'
'What's she got against werewolves?' said Hermione angrily. (Uh, nothing, except they're loathsome and would kill you on sight?)
'Scared of them, I expect,' said Sirius, smiling. 'Apparently, she loathes part-humans;" (so does she hate half Gods too?) "she campaigned to have merpeople rounded up and tagged last year, too. Imagine wasting your time and energy persecuting merpeople when there are little toerags like Kreacher on the loose.'
'Sirius!' Hermione said reproachfully. 'Honestly," (just shut up already) "if you made a bit of an effort with Kreacher, I'm sure he'd respond. After all, you are the only member of his family he's got left, and Professor Dumbledore said - '
'So, what are Umbridge's lessons like?' Sirius interrupted. (Thank god, Sirius) 'Is she training you all to kill half-breeds?'
'No,' said Harry. 'She's not letting us use magic at all!' (Who cares about magic?)
'All we do is read the stupid textbook,' said Ron. (True.)
'Ah, well, that figures,' said Sirius. 'Our information from inside the Ministry is that Fudge doesn't want you trained in combat.'
'Trained in combat!' repeated Harry incredulously. 'What does he think we're doing here, forming some sort of wizard army?' (Of course! Never underestimate the power of 15-year-old students!)
That's exactly what he thinks you're doing,' said Sirius, 'or, rather, that's exactly what he's afraid Dumbledore's doing - forming his own private army, with which he will be able to take on the Ministry of Magic.'
There was a pause at this, then Ron said, That's the most stupid thing I've ever heard, including all the stuff that Luna Lovegood comes out with.' (Hey! Crumple-horned Snortbacks do exist! They're also called drakons!)
'So we're being prevented from learning Defence Against the Dark Arts because Fudge is scared we'll use spells against the Ministry?' said Hermione.
'Yep,' said Sirius. 'Fudge thinks Dumbledore will stop at nothing to seize power. He's getting more paranoid about Dumbledore by the day. It's a matter of time before he has Dumbledore arrested on some trumped-up charge.' (Oh well, not my problem.)
'D'you know if there's going to be anything about Dumbledore in the Daily
Prophet tomorrow? Ron's brother Percy reckons there will be - '
'I don't know,' said Sirius, 'I haven't seen anyone from the Order all weekend, they're all busy. It's just been Kreacher and me here." (Whoever Kreacher was, Sirius obviously didn't like him.)
'So you haven't had any news about Hagrid, either?' (Hagrid? Who the heck is Hagrid?)
'Ah . . .' said Sirius, 'well, he was supposed to be back by now, no one's sure what's happened to him. But Dumbledore's not worried, so don't you three get yourselves in a state; I'm sure Hagrid's fine.' (So whatever Dumbledore says is correct, then?)
'But if he was supposed to be back by now . . .' said Hermione in a small, anxious voice.
'Madame Maxime was with him, we've been in touch with her and she says they got separated on the journey home - but there's nothing to suggest he's hurt or - well, nothing to suggest he's not perfectly OK.' (Or perfectly not OK)
'Listen, don't go asking too many questions about Hagrid,' said Sirius hastily, 'it'll just draw even more attention to the fact that he's not back and I know Dumbledore doesn't want that. Hagrid's tough, he'll be OK. When's your next Hogsmeade" (What?! What kind of name is that?) "weekend, anyway? I was thinking, we got away with the dog disguise at the station, didn't we? I thought I could - '
'NO!' said Harry and Hermione together, very loudly. Yup, they were definitely going to draw some random straggler's attention, sooner or later, and the 'secret' they were hiding, wasn't going to be a secret much longer. Amateurs.
'Sirius, didn't you see the Daily Prophet?' said Hermione anxiously, interrupting my train of thoughts.
'Oh, that,' said Sirius, grinning, even though he shouldn't have any reason to. "they're always guessing where I am, they haven't really got a clue - '
'Yeah, but we think this time they have,' said Harry. 'Something Malfoy said on the train made us think he knew it was you, and his father was on the platform, Sirius - you know, Lucius Malfoy - so don't come up here, whatever you do. If Malfoy recognises you again - '
'All right, all right, I've got the point,' said Sirius. He looked most displeased. 'Just an idea, thought you might like to get together.'
'I would, I just don't want you chucked back in Azkaban!' said Harry.
There was a pause in which Sirius looked out of the fire at Harry, a crease between his sunken eyes.
'You're less like your father than I thought,' he said finally, a definite coolness in his voice. 'The risk would've been what made it fun for James.'
'Look - '
'Well, I'd better get going, I can hear Kreacher coming down the atairs,' said Sirius. 'I'll write to tell you a time I can make it back into the fire, then, shall I? If you can stand to risk it?'
"I-"
"What's taking so long?" Bianca hissed over my shoulder. "Can't I just get into my own common room?" She pushed past me out into the open, despite my warnings, and I face-palmed. We're so screwed.
