Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or Harry Potter
The Ever Twisting Wind: Of Monsters and Titans
Chapter Fifteen: I Bribe the Bank
Beta: ShadowofAxios
Once more, the daughter of Zeus found herself in dreamland.
With everything around her looking strangely fuzzy and blanketed in a dense mist, it wasn't hard to tell.
Wherever the dream was taking place, the air tasted musky in a way that reminded her of the Underworld somehow.
In the distance, she spotted a pair of glowing red eyes, pacing in circles around what looked like a tombstone.
"As much as I am loathe to admit it," A strangely androgynous voice echoed in the darkness. "There is no doubt, the girl is powerful. If my plan is to succeed I'll need to find a way to neutralize that power. Hmm… Ah! That will do nicely."
The being burst into triumphant -And pretty creepy- cackling that sent Andi's skin crawling. So much so that she was thankful that it was cut off as her electric blue eyes snapped open.
Looking around, the demigod noted she was once more in the Hospital Wing of Hogwarts.
"Bugger me."
A few days after Andi finally got out of the infirmary, at the large circular landing at the very top of the Astronomy tower, where the school's students set up their telescopes to study the stars late at night, a small gathering was taking place. Seated around a table provided by the castle's elves were Andi and her companions Wendy and Ida as they enjoyed some tea and biscuits. This despite the frankly freezing winds that buffeted the tower.
Just thinking about those winds sent a shiver down Andi's spine, despite being bundled up. "It's amazing that we can have tea up here without worrying about the cold."
"Yup! We Aurae and mountain nymphs are really cool." Wendy said with obvious pride. "Being able to tolerate extreme temperatures is great!"
And so are warming charms. Andi added privately. I'm glad that I found those spells while studying about elemental magic.
"Wendy, you're rambling again." Ida chided lightly.
"Aw, don't be so hard on her. I think her rambling is cute." Andi countered as she leaned over to ruffle her red tresses.
"You're spoiling her." The ancient mountain nymph observed as she sipped her tea and looked out at the lake far below.
I'm just glad I've got a chance to. I almost thought Madam Pomfrey wasn't going to let me out of her sight ever again. Andi thought to herself with a smile.
"It's such a shame that you were scored so poorly in the Second Task." Ida commented, spoiling Andi's mood as she rolled her eyes.
It was true that the demigod had come in with the lowest score in the Task. She could understand where the judges were coming from though, she had come back last and unconscious to boot after all. Add in all the death she'd caused in the lake and it was quite understandable why the wizards had judged her so poorly. Poorly enough, in fact, that she was now ranked in last place.
Then again, she cared very little. It wasn't like she was that interested in winning this Tournament in the first place.
"Well, Andi did basically commit mass murder on the lake's inhabitants." Wendy commented while shooting the daughter of Zeus a unhappy look.
Andi bit her lip and looked away. Wendy was right, and the demigod knew it.
"She is her Father's daughter." Ida commented dryly as she glanced at the cloudy sky.
"I know." Wendy said with a sigh. "Just saying. The wizards are right to say that."
"I guess I went a little overboard." Andi offered weakly.
"I think going a 'little overboard' is an understatement."
Andi just ducked her head at Ida's stern tone.
The daughter of Zeus knew that. The fact Dumbledore and Ron thought the same and had become uncomfortable around here after the Task was proof enough, for her, that she'd screwed up. Even Luna, in her letter to her after the incident, chastised her even as she told her that she understood why Andi had reacted the way she did.
"Be thankful I'm not punishing you." Ida told her with her crystal-like eyes narrowed. Shifting to stare back at her teacup, she continued. "And that's only because I feel there was an outside force that pushed the Naiad to be that hostile."
Luna had hinted at that too. Andi thought to herself as she shifted uneasily in her seat.
"Not Uncle Poseidon, right? Because I was sure we were cool now." Andi nervously asked. Ever since she murderlated the lake, she had been sending offerings to Poseidon alongside her daily breakfast offerings to her dad just in case he took offense at what she'd done.
"I would think not. But, I am nevertheless increasing your etiquette lessons." Ida informed her. "I will also add lessons about the likes and dislikes of various gods. I don't know if an offended god is the cause of what happened, but even if it isn't, you learning about this will at least help you as you mend fences."
The daughter of Zeus just nodded in confirmation, it was all she could do at this point.
Disheartened, the young demigoddess glanced at the lake in the distance.
It was now a bloody red in color. After the Task, the Black Lake had become the Bloody Lake. No matter how many times the staff tried to revert it, the waters were now a permanent blood red. Even more disturbing, almost overnight, the population of deadly creatures in the lake had seemingly doubled and was still growing like it was the hottest new pub for killer creatures on the block.
Heck, you couldn't even go over the lake without the most deadly thing in the lake attacking you. A lance of crimson water would shoot out and skewer anything that did so before dragging the hapless victim down into the crimson depths to an unknown but probably grisly fate. The wizards weren't sure what it was, but were tentatively classifying it as some kind of new magical creature with a XXXXX threat rating.
Worse, the newly super deadly lake very obviously had a raging murder boner for her. Andi could practically feel its sheer hatred for her, even atop the tallest turret of Hogwarts. She wasn't just imagining it either, when she'd first sensed it, she'd asked Wendy about it and the nymph had confirmed it. So yeah, she now had a body of water that really, really wanted her dead.
Just then Hedwig fluttered over to them and landed on Andi's head, a letter in her beak.
"Hey, thanks girl." Andi smiled up at her and put her teacup down to take the letter. Relieved of her burden, the owl hopped onto the table and started to dip her head into Andi's cup.
Hedwig had very refined tastes. She'd settle for nothing less than the finest Earl Grey for her tea.
"Who's it from?" Wendy cocked her head to the side.
"Lord Poseidon I imagine." Ida noted. "I did talk to him about the matter and he promised to get in touch."
Point to the mountain nymph, she was right. The Seal on the latter was blue with a trident stamped on it, her sea uncle's symbol of power.
"Hopefully, he has good news then." Andi said as she broke the seal and pulled the letter out to read. Just like last time, it was written in glowing script in truly divine penmanship.
The first part was all about her Uncle Poseidon thanking her for allowing him to use the same loophole as last time to get in touch with Percy. After all, it was only right that he get in touch with his son, her friend, to get some information on the incident. Especially since she'd been in touch with him to talk about it already.
Andi smiled at that, glad to have inadvertently been a help.
The rest of the letter was a lot more grim though, and quickly wiped the smile off her face. Apparently, Uncle Poseidon was angry. In fact, if his rant was anything to go by, the sea god's legendary temper was on at full blast, but thankfully not aimed at her. Instead, he was reserving his fury, his own words, at whoever set the tragedy that was the Second Task into motion.
Andi almost felt sorry for whoever her Uncle's investigations fingered as the perpetrator.
Folding the letter and stuffing it back into the envelope, Andi stood up. "Hey, I'm going to I.M. Percy, see how things are going for him. Meet up for our lesson in an hour. Okay, Ida?"
Ida gave a nod and the daughter of Zeus flashed her a pretty smile.
"Thanks! Hedwig, easy on the scones, you're getting fat!"
Hedwig hooted heatedly at her.
In the two days since receiving the letter, Andi had learned from talking to Percy that her Uncle's investigations had gotten nowhere. This despite considerable efforts on his part, which made his already great anger grow, as Percy described it, ever colder. The only thing that they'd managed to uncover was the possibility, and no more than that, that the Titans might have been involved.
This was something of an epiphany for Andi as she realized that a good part of her trouble with the gods likely came from her enemies adding fuel to the fire. She had rarely considered what her enemies might try and do to her outside the safety of Camp, but confronted with potential evidence she couldn't help but be more wary than ever.
Titans, Gods, and nymphs, oh my.
Well, all this meant that she just needed to be more careful from now on and give those jerks less of a chance to give her grief.
Wearily rubbing her eyes, the daughter of Zeus was greeted by a shout.
"Andi!" Wendy informed as she poked her head in from their suite's common room. "Your guests are here."
"Coming." Andi declared as she stepped out of her room to meet Ron and his sister Ginny.
In a bid to mend some of her strained relationships with her Wizarding friends, Andi had invited Ron to come visit and talk things out. His sister who had been there when she'd issued the invitation had jumped at the chance to join them. It was kind of annoying, especially when Luna who Andi had invited, was forced to decline thanks to her visions continuing to warn her to keep a distance. Those were getting somewhat annoying. However, for Ron's sake, the demigoddess brushed off the rudeness and let the younger girl come along.
"Yo Andi, how ya doing?" Ron said in greeting. "Haven't had much of a chance to talk to you lately. Was wondering how you've been doing? You worried me with how odd you were being those few days a while back during the holidays."
"Seriously, I've been better. You know me and trouble, never too far apart." She laughed a bit as she twisted two fingers together to emphasis the joke.
Without breaking stride in their conversation Andi, Wendy and her two guests took seats around a nice little coffee table while Ida drifted off to her own room. She left her door just slightly ajar though, so as allow her to overhear their conversation and be able to step in if anything untoward was said. If it had been anyone else eavesdropping on her, Andi might have been annoyed but she trusted Ida. Especially, when it came to navigating the dangerous waters around a Styx enforced Oath of secrecy.
"You got in trouble over the holidays?" Ginny asked worriedly, before suddenly growing excited. "What trouble?"
Andi shot Ron an annoyed look, but the boy just returned with an apologetic shrug.
"Just some trouble back home in the States. It was so stressful, it left me feeling like I was someone else for a bit." Andi replied meaningfully.
Ron gave a knowing nod, Ginny however didn't seem to want to let things go just yet.
"What happened? It must have been a big deal for you to suddenly start yammering 'Go Green, or Go Home', free the trees and all that other, uh, echo-friendly talk."
"Eco-friendly." Wendy corrected as she shot Ginny a glare.
Meanwhile, the daughter of Zeus withheld the urge to rub her temples in frustration. Obviously, Mera hadn't covered for her as well as Andi had thought she had.
Ron acting as the good friend he was, easily noted Andi's mounting annoyance and stepped in to rein his sister in.
"Gin, let it go." Ron hissed at her with chiding eyes. "If Andi wanted to tell us, she would have. Respect her privacy."
"I just-" She began hesitantly. "Well, hopefully everything is settled. Right?"
"For now." Andi acknowledged.
"That's good." Ginny said sounding almost genuine though it was hard to tell with how quickly it was smothered by eagerness.
"So~. What about that spell you used in the Second Task?" The younger witch asked with stars in her eyes.
"Ginny." Ron nudged her, but the girl didn't relent.
"I mean, I've never seen anything like that! Could I ever learn stuff like that? It was some kind of charm right? It had to be."
"I wonder which one she's talking about." Wendy observed snidely.
Wendy really doesn't like Ginny, does she? Andi noted rather obviously. Not that I blame her. She's such a fangirl.
Andi's Fatal Flaw might be a desire for attention but she wanted to be looked at as a person. Preferably by people who saw her as a friend, not as some idol that was capable of flashy magic. That helped sure, but only to get people to start noticing her. She wanted people to look beyond that and hated those who couldn't.
Like Ginny appeared to be.
Wendy learned in and whispered to Andi in Ancient Greek. "Why is she like this? She's so annoying."
"To be honest, I've got no idea." Andi replied in the same tongue, as she shrugged. "I don't know her that well, so I couldn't guess either. I only know her as Ron's little sister."
"Whatcha whisperin' about?" Ginny tilted her head at them, bewilderment on her face. "Discussing what secrets you can't share? You can tell us, we can keep secrets really well."
Wendy bristled at this, looking at Ginny like she had gone cuckoo.
Ron slapped a hand over his face, groaning loudly at the declaration.
On Andi's part, she just shot her friend a searching look. Oh gods, did he slip something to her? No, he'd have suffered the Styx's curse if he did. But maybe he told her that I've told him some kinda secret?
A nudge from her Aura partner broke Andi from her intense thoughts and she gave Ron a look. At his head shake in reply, a pleased smile formed Andi's face. Good, looks like this is all Ginny.
"Yeah, where'd ya learn those spells? That's what you're all hush about right? Can't tell us?"
Point to the older ginger! Good save, Ron.
Ginny on the other hand looked confused. "I just asked that though."
"It's an alt school of magic I picked up." Andi shrugged as she leaned back into her seat some more. "Ida taught me. Still grasping the ropes of it, but by my measure I'm at least above a novice in them."
"Oh!" Ginny exclaimed with gusto. "You live in the colonies, right? So did you learn that from that powerful non-wizard they say lives over there?"
"Uh… I don't know what you're talking about."
"Really?" Ginny said with a pout. "But that you can use spells like that must mean that such people exist, right?"
Ron looked a little panicked at that. Andi could get where he was coming from. She was worried that Ginny might stumble upon the truth too.
"The thing you've gotta remember is that there are a lot of powerful people in the world." Ron said, in a bid to redirect the conversation onto a safer track.
"Like Professor Dumbledore?"
"Yeah, sure. What I mean is, it's a big world out there. You'll never know what you'll see." Andi smiled as convincingly as she could even as her nerves began to fray.
Ida popped her head into the room at this, probably knowing Andi was trying her best to steer away from this topic and thinking it was best to intervene to help her out.
"That's true, there are many such powerful people after all. Why, the Endless Sorceress that lives in Quebec is one of them."
"The Endless Sorceress?"
"Yes, Andi." Ida gave her a motion like they'd talk more about it later as she turned to head back into her room. "There are quite a few actually. We'll cover them soon. Like that hermit with the turtle in Miami."
Wendy nodded to that, apparently these folks were well known to the nymphs. Guess there were still plenty of things that she still needed to learn about when it came to the circles her nature spirit friends lived in.
"What kind of hermit lives in Mami?"
"Miami." Andi corrected. "And who knows. So Ron, I saw you with a girl at the Ball, how'd that happen?"
Catching the switching of topics, Ron's cheeks reddened. "Yeah, well, you know Lisa just up and asked me. I was just, wowed by the whole idea that a girl would be interested in me like that. But I played it cool best I could. Won't lie, I was right nervous, but I stuck to it and now I've got myself a bird."
Andi smiled at him, he was glowing and seemed very happy. "Glad to hear that Ron, good to know you found someone."
"More like she found me!"
The two shared a laugh at this while Ginny giggled a bit along with them.
Wendy rolled her eyes at that.
"Andi, what about you?" Ginny looked sly and hungry for gossip. Andi would know, she'd seen that look on the girls from Cabin Ten. "You had a rather handsome gent with you at the Ball, I hear."
"Ginny, it's none of your business." Ron said as he put a restraining hand on her arm, but she shook him off.
"Come on, Ron, this is girl talk. I'm sure Andi wants to share." Ginny countered confidently.
The daughter of Zeus' eyes narrowed in anger. Even if I did want to talk about that, there was no way that I'll want to share with a fangirl like you.
"Ginny," Andi addressed the girl sternly. "Like Ron said, it's none of your business."
The redhead witch shrunk in on herself at that rebuke and offered an apology. She kept quiet after that and the conversation continued only a little while longer in a stilted, uneasy way. It was thus not surprising that the group dispersed not long after. With Wendy deciding to cap the uncomfortable meeting by blowing a raspberry at Ginny while the girl's back was turned as the siblings left.
It was March seventeenth, and Andi was trekking through Diagon Alley on her way to Gringotts.
The Champion of Hecate walked quickly and with purpose towards the bank and she did for she was here on a mission from her matron.
The goddess of magic had sent Andi a letter to remind her about the quest to destroy the Horcruxes. It ticked the demigod right off, it did. She had been planning to go after it once she had gotten all her distractions out of the way. But here was the goddess, chasing her to get going immediately? By Olympus, she had plenty of things on her plate at the moment, was the quest really so time sensitive all of a sudden, that she had to handle it right away?
Andi, didn't know and frankly didn't care. Oh, she'd get it done but she'd not be happy about it. Not that she'd let anyone know that. She'd had enough flak over this issue already to know better than to complain about Hecate's unreasonable demands.
So to satisfy her boss's sudden need for haste, Andi had ended up getting Mera to cover for her once more, which was a trial all by itself. The dryad had been very reluctant to help her again. After the incident in the lake, she'd become an odd mix of furious at and scared of Andi.
And wasn't discovering that she now had to deal with ticked off nymphs because of one incident just another thing to make her already bad mood even worse.
It was self bloody defense!
Okay, she might have gone a little overboard, but it was still self defense.
In the end it had taken Ida quite a bit of effort to smooth things over and get the dryad's help.
Thankfully, the weather meant that Andi could get away with a simple disguise. All she'd needed was to slip on a hoodie and she could hide her face and all anyone who saw her assumed was that she was trying to keep her head from getting soaked from the rain washing the alley. Her anonymity was further protected by the fact that the wizards generally believed that she was stuck at Hogwarts with the Tournament going on.
Personally, she was grateful that Ida had come up with this disguise. Andi's own idea was to use the Mist to disguise herself, but Ida had vetoed it. She felt that Andi wasn't skilled enough with it to maintain a disguise powerful enough to fool a whole street of Mist resistant Wizards.
I might be able to, but probably not for long. I shouldn't risk it.
Walking alongsider her were Wendy, Bianca, and Silena.
After deciding - or more accurately being forced - to set out on this mission, Andi had I. Camp for some reinforcements. Her first recruit had been Bianca. The daughter of Hades was an absolute necessity after all if Andi wanted to deal the Horcrux, what with her powers over death. They would, if nothing else, would make things a whole lot easier for them. Silena was a more luck of the draw addition to the team. She'd been nearby when Andi had contacted Bianca and had jumped into the conversation to offer her greetings. Once she'd heard about the mission though, she insisted on coming along. Not seeing a problem with an extra demigod coming along, Andi had easily agreed.
"Is London always this rainy?" Bianca asked with a glare at the pouring rain. She was obviously not happy with being soaked as the rain overwhelmed the protection offered by the Camp's poncho that she and Silena was wearing.
Surprisingly, despite the wet weather likely ruining her outfit and look, the daughter of Aphrodite didn't complain one whit. Instead, enduring it stoically and giving off a strong sense of determination.
Andi found that a little odd but chalked it up to her friend being focused on helping her out.
"Yep!" Andi said, popping the P.
"It's not that bad, it cleans this dirty place up every once in awhile." Wendy wrinkled her nose.
In contrast to her friends, her partner was enjoying the rain immensely. She was even occasionally jumping into puddles they walked across to splash some water around in merriment.
"I guess." The Italian girl replied to the Aura's statement uncertainly. "But even with the rain,, it's nice to get out once in awhile. Camp was getting a little cramped."
Brushing a damp bang under the hood of her poncho, a diamond encrusted black bangle on Bianca's wrist glittered. Andi smiled at the sight of the gift from Hades to his daughter, happy on her cousin's behalf that her dad so obviously cared about her. Something that so few demigods could say about their godly parents.
Andi hadn't seen the thing's true form yet, but according to Bianca it was a wicked barbed seven foot spear made of stygian iron. A rare Underworld metal that was as black as night and made everyone but Nico and herself that looked at it feel uneasy.
The daughter of Zeus hoped that they wouldn't need to use it today.
"This place does look pretty cool. Even with everyone hiding indoors to get out of the rain." Bianca commented as her eyes darted in every direction.
"Agreed." Silena said, sounding impressed. "There's fantastical things everywhere."
"It still can't match my Father's palace or Olympus though." Bianca shrugged.
The daughter of Aphrodite nodded in agreement while looking at a pet shop where all kinds of exotic animals were hollering due to the rain and occasional thunder.
"It's hard for mortals to try and match up to that." Silena offered generously, before her tone turned scathing. "Now if only their culture wasn't so terrible."
Andi agreed but said nothing. She didn't want to set Silena off. The older girl could rant and rave against the wizards for hours at a time if you gave her the chance.
Searching for a distraction, the witch spotted a quaint little jewelry store nearby. It was the one that she had mail ordered Bianca's birthday gift from. The present had been a locket shaped like a white feather with a golden chain.
"Hey, sorry for forgetting your birthday, Bianca." Andi smiled apologetically, since her cousin's birthday had been on the fourteenth and she hadn't known until a few days before, thus forcing her to scramble to prepare a gift. She'd preferred to have gotten the girl something more meaningful than simple jewelry but with so little forewarning, she'd been forced to settle for a girl's best friend.
Not upset in the least, Bianca offered her a warm smile. "That's fine, it was a wonderful gift. I was able to get my Father to round up an old photo of my-my mom." Here, the daughter of Hades looked a little teary and what was clearly not a raindrop rolled down her cheek. "So you two gave me wonderfully compatible gifts."
"What did Nico get you?" Wendy looked curious.
"Mythomagic cards!" Bianca and Silena both said with exasperated sighs.
"Huh, I swore the Stolls would have had him hooked on Indian Poker by now."
Bianca grumbled at the mention of the twins. Obviously, she didn't approve of their influence on her little brother.
"Seriously though, Andi, you really didn't need to get me something so expensive."
"Meh, I've got cash to burn. Not like I use it all that much." The daughter of Zeus shrugged. "Why not spoil my friends if I'm not using it."
"Your money isn't infinite, Andi." Silena commented chidingly. "You really should be investing it, not splurging it on extravagant gifts."
"And if I live long enough I'll get a job, like a proper working lass." Andi snorted at she thought of the heaps and heaps of gold that the Potter family vaults held. "Besides, Ida has that under control."
"If you say so." Silena replied doubtfully, clearly unsatisfied that Andi was being so flippant with her money.
"How's it feel to be thirteen, Bianca?" Andi said quickly, desperate to change the topic. She got enough grief for the stupid things she did from loads of people already, she didn't need Silena getting on her case too.
"It was a real life changer for me." Just saying that was enough to bring a smile to Andi's face as she recalled the summer where she learned just who she really was.
The daughter of Hades shrugged. "It's not that big of a deal. Nothing feels any different."
"Give it time." Silena smiled with a knowing look. "You just graduated from preeteen. Now your next big step is your Sweet Sixteen."
"That's only if the world doesn't end before that." Andi nonchalantly commented.
For some reason that logical fact caused Silena to cringe away. Again, Andi found this odd. Surely Silena knew that with the Titan War ongoing, the end of the world was a very real threat. Considering how tough Silena was, why was she so worried that the worse would come to pass? Or did the talk about the end of the world trigger something else?
Not knowing Andi's concerns, a confused Wendy asked, "What's the big deal with turning sixteen anyways?"
"It's all about a coming of age thing, I think." Andi said with an uncertain shrug even as she shot her cousin a questioning look.
Bianca however was no help. She looked just as lost as Andi was. No surprise there, she was still catching up on modern society.
"I think Andi is right, but I don't know what that means exactly either."
"Aw." Wendy whined, disappointed that she couldn't get a decent answer.
Shaking herself out of the stupor she had been stuck in since the talk about the world ending, Silena rejoined the conversation.
"I'll explain it to you." The daughter of love offered, her voice still a little shaken. "But later, ok?"
"Sure!" The young Aura cheered. "Thanks Silena!"
"So all this talk about ages and all has got me curious." The daughter of Hades said with a glance towards Wendy. "Just how old are you?"
Wendy puffed up her chest with pride and declared. "I'm three years old!"
If the look on the Italian girl's face was anything to go by, the answer had left Bianca baffled big time.
Feeling for her friend, Andi explained with a small smile. "Wendy's an Aura, her life cycle is different than ours. So she matures a bit more quickly. Though she still takes naps like a toddler."
Wendy looked as red as her hair in embarrassment. "I-I only take one once in awhile!"
"That and she's immortal." Silena added in Wendy's defence. "The normal rules don't really apply when it comes to beings like that."
"Yup. Yup." Wendy said nodding her head in eager agreement with the oldest of the demigoddesses.
The Aura missed it but Andi didn't. Silena might have seemed like she'd gotten herself back under control, but there was still an odd look in her eye that said otherwise.
"Silena, you sure you're okay?"
"Yeah, just peachy." The daughter of Aphrodite said in a teasing manner even as the haunted look in her eyes remained unchanged.
"Did the talk about the world ending upset you?" Bianca suggested softly.
"Uh. Yeah, that's it."
Andi exchanged a disbelieving look with Bianca. That wasn't convincing. At all.
"Why don't we just focus on this quest for now?" Silena offered sounding almost desperate.
The others exchanged another series of looks and without saying a word agreed not to push their obviously vulnerable friend any further.
"Sure." "Okay." "Alright."
Everyone was still unsettled by what had just happened however and they continued their walk to Gringotts in an uncomfortable silence.
A silence that was starting to set off Andi's ADHD, and she was feeling on the verge of saying something, anything, to alleviate the tension when Bianca walked up beside her and asked. "Hey, can we talk in private for a sec? I know we have to do this quest, but I was just…"
She left the request hanging in the air and Andi of course agreed to it. If her friend needed to talk, she was more than happy to do so.
Plus she really needed a distraction before she did something stupid.
Apparently having heard what Bianca had said, Silena and Wendy had fallen back a little to give the cousins some privacy. The daughter of love seemingly also taking the opportunity to fill the Aura in on the meaning of turning sixteen as well.
Thanks guys. Though I want to hear Silena's explanation too. Guess I'll just have to ask Wendy to tell me later.
"So, Camp is fun. Clarisse has been a brutal teacher for spear practice though." The daughter of Hades grimaced. "Nico's doing well. He's hanging out with the Stolls too much though. He's been getting into some trouble, but nothing too bad. I guess I've told you all that already, right?"
"Yeah." Andi said with an amused drawl. "Okay, now that you've got that off your chest, what's eating you?"
Bianca's freckled face flustered. "Well, it's just...okay, no one's openly picked on us, but a lot of people are staying distant? I don't think they like us that much."
The daughter of Zeus' heart tightened at that. "You're a sweetheart Bianca, I find that hard to believe."
"No, it's just, I don't think a lot of people like us because of our Father." Bianca looked down at the road. "Nico said he had a lot of friends in Cabin Eleven before they found out he was a son of Hades. Now? Most of them have started to keep their distance. It's unsettling."
Andi was upset now. "Are you sure no one's picking on you? Because I really don't like bullies. Especially those bullying my friends."
Bianca held up her hands. "No, no one's done anything like that. Though, Cabin Four is pretty hostile towards us. I think they might soon."
"Unfortunately, we can't do anything about that." Andi shook her head. "That's just a result of the rivalry between your godly parents. It's just like Cabins Five and Six, cats and dogs and all that. You know, it's about the whole Persephone thing."
The daughter of Hades blanched at the mention of her step-mother. "Father commented he wanted to introduce Nico and I to her next winter. I'm not really sure it's going to go as well as he's hoping."
"I honestly can't comment on that, but I kind of agree with you." Andi said truthfully, after all she hadn't met with Hera yet and was leery of doing so.
The daughter of Hades gave a disappointed sigh. "Darn. I was hoping you'd be able to give me some advice."
"Sorry about that."
"It's okay." Bianca said with a reassuring smile. "At least it isn't for a while yet. In the meantime at least, I'll just not let the prospect of that meeting affect me too much. At least Nico's pranks with the Stolls against Cabin Four are distracting, they're always funny."
Andi frowned once again, especially with how tickled Bianca was over it. "That's not good, Bianca. We really can't afford to be at each other's throats. And frankly, from experience, if he keeps this up, Aunt Demeter is not going to be happy with him."
"Doesn't she already not like us?"
"Not the point!" Andi hissed in a low voice. "I've got gods hating me already and trying to kill me. You want that to happen to Nico? To you?"
Bianca slowly shook her head negatively.
"Good, then you've got to get him to stop. Have Chiron talk to him if ya gotta. Or ask the Stolls to stop inviting him on pranks. You gotta nip it in the bud now before it screws up his life."
"Aren't they just meaningless little pranks?"
"You tell that to a god when they're pissed. It won't end up a pretty picture. They won't even care if he's a kid or if he's Uncle Hades' kid, some gods are just trigger happy and damn the consequences if they're angry enough."
Bianca's olive complexion paled and she gulped a little. "I-I'll talk to him, maybe with Chiron too."
"Yeah, and get him to stop hanging out with the Stolls so much. They are kinda bullies."
"We live in the same Cabin." Bianca pointed out. "And we don't exactly have a lot a space in there to begin with."
"You can at least try." Andi urged. "At least get him to see that they aren't the best friends to have."
"I've been doing that." The Italian girl huffed, crossing her arms.
"Try a smidge harder then."
Bianca offered a firm nod. "Alright, I'll do my best, Andi."
The daughter of Zeus smiled and patted her shoulder. "All I ask. And as for your whole issue with people keeping their distance? They're just adjusting to you guys, like they had to with me and Percy. And you two are adjusting to Camp too. It's a process that you'll just need to go through."
Bianca just nodded.
With their conversation done, the two cousins exchanged a smile and rejoined their two companions.
By this point, the tension that seemed to hang around Silena earlier had lifted and the remaining walk to the Wizarding Bank was in a thankfully comfortable silence.
Not that it was a long distance anyways, as only a few minutes later the group arrived at Gringotts and looked up the stairs at the impressive multistoried snow-white marble building.
"Let me do the talking, hopefully we get in and out." Andi told them as they walked up the steps. "A regular wham, bam, thank you ma'am kinda deal."
Silena colored at this. "Andi, that's not how you use that phrase."
"Same context for here though right?"
"...Not really."
It hadn't taken much for Andi to get a meeting with the manager of her family accounts. Contrary to what she'd told Silena earlier, Andi actually did pay attention to her money. Not much, mind you, but enough that it wasn't a surprise when she requested a meeting to go over things.
"So Miss Potter, you wish to discuss something?" Sharpblade, the Potter Family Accounts manager, asked as he took a seat behind his desk in his ornate office.
"Yeah, I have some information to pass on and would like to speak with a senior manager." The daughter of Zeus said as politely as possible as she took the seat that Sharpblade indicated to her.
His lips twisted into a sneer. "And what would a minor such as yourself need to speak with a senior manager about?"
Silena began mumbling about terrible customer service in the background, but Andi ignored her. The goblins had always treated wizards, clients or not, with contempt. Something which come to think of it was curious, particularly as they tended to treat muggleborns and their muggle parents with respect.
Andi took a deep breath and began to explain. "I've come to suspect that there is a Horcrux of Voldemort's here in Gringotts. Within the Lestrange vault to be exact."
He barked a laugh at her. "A likely story."
"It's true."
"Miss Potter, if we have nothing to discuss about your accounts, please see yourself and your companions out" He shooed them all away.
Andi was ready to make her case, but before she could Silena began to speak up, her voice laden with the power of her Charmspeak.
"Can you please-ow!" She was cut off by a panicky Wendy stepping on her foot. But it was too late, a terrible screech filled the room, an alarm of some kind. Overhead, a set of sprinklers went off and a terrified looking Sharpblade fled the room like a frightened child. As he fled, the doors to the room slammed shut behind him and glowing runes sprung up on them and the walls, roof and floor.
As the girls were soaked, Andi rounded on Silena and hissed. "What did you do?!"
"I was just trying to Charmspeak him into hearing us out."
Andi covered her eyes with a groan. "They've got wizards with mind altering spells, of course they have measures for that kind of thing, Silena!"
The daughter of Aphrodite looked panicked. "I-I'm sorry! He wasn't listening, so I thought that I could…"
Suddenly, a voice echoed from all around the girls.
"Invaders! Drop your weapons, all of them, and surrender!"
Andi rubbed the bridge of her nose in frustration, but complied as she unclipped Skyline from her belt and tossed it a few feet from her. Wendy followed her example immediately and pulled her Phoenix feather from her hair and placed it next to Andi's weapon.
Bianca and Silena shot Andi gobsmacked looks.
"Look, we don't want a fight here. So do as they say!" Andi informed her two friends even as she glowered at Silena, still pissed that things had come to this.
Grudgingly, the other two demigods did the same.
As their weapons joined the pile, the room once more echoed with a resounding voice. "Good. Now step away from the pile." The girls obeyed, inching away from their weapons. "We're coming in. Make no sudden movements."
The 'or else' was clear if unsaid as the voice stopped speaking.
Almost immediately all the doors to the room swung open and a squad of goblin guards marched in. They wore plate armor and were armed with muskets, all of which were emblazoned with a host of glowing runes. The goblins all looked murderous and had their guns firmly pointed at the questers, ready to fire at the slightest sign of anything untoward.
"Guys, calm down. Please." Andi stood in front of her friends and looked at the goblins. "No one is here for a fight. I'm really sorry. My friend here was just overzealous. I swear."
A dangerous little thing shouldered through the squad, wearing a set of particularly ornate looking plate armor and with a sawed-off shotgun of all things in his palms. Like his compatriots, all his gear was covered in runes but the sheer number of runes and the complexity of their patterns that were etched onto his equipment put theirs to shame.
Huh, seems someone's at least keeping up with the times. Ugh, stupid ADHD. Focus!
"Overzealous is a grave understatement." The ornately armored goblin grunted at her. "An attempt at mind control is a serious crime indeed."
Silena made an attempt to defend herself, but Andi cut her off as fast as she could. "Yes, it is. But we are after all dealing with Voldemort's Horcrux here. I think you can understand why we'd be antsy."
The armored goblin sneered at her. Great, she was getting a lot of those today. "So you claim."
"It's true." Andi held out her arms in a gesture to show she had nothing to hide. "You can go check yourself if you're so sure I'm a liar."
"And why should we do so on the word of criminals?"
Bianca and Silena looked affronted by this.
"It's just one crazy thing after another with you isn't it, Andi?" Wendy commented with an exasperated sigh.
I know! Andi bemoaned.
She didn't dwell on it though, the situation at hand was too tense to afford distractions. In fact, the tension in the room was so thick, that Andi could tell that unless she did something it was going to end up with them being attacked in a few minutes.
"Alright, cut to the chase. What do you want?"
"What makes you think we want anything?" The lead goblin asked with an amused air.
"Look, if you thought we were just a bunch of liars, you'd have shot us up by now." Andi observed. "I'll say it again. Stop pussyfooting around playing your games and just tell me what the hell you want!"
"What do you think?" He replied with a swarmy smile.
You could practically smell the greed wafting off the goblin at this point.
Damn these slimy bean counters are just as in love with gold as the wizards say they are.
"A thousand galleons for you to check." Andi flat out offered, crossing her arms in a show of firmness.
Andi heard her friends gasp behind her, and she couldn't help but wonder if they even knew how much that really meant.
The goblin leader barked a laugh at her, grating Andi's nerves in the process. "That doesn't even cover the cost of all the Thief's Downfall we're using to prevent your little friend from mind controlling us innocent goblins. Not to mention the cost of pumping it through the sprinkler system. No no, we'll need at least a third of all your gold. That should cover our costs nicely and leave a little extra to ensure we don't press charges."
Andi smiled back at him, he had to be joking. He was certainly smiling as if he was.
Deciding to play along, and gain some goodwill, she counter offered. "Aw~ But that's too much! How about a quarter instead?"
The goblin guards looked flabbergasted, one was so shocked that he dipped his shoulders and was forced to readjust his musket's aim.
Oh gods, he wasn't joking...
"Deal!" The lead goblin declared with finality even as he sported a victorious smirk.
"Wait! I was just joking." Andi screamed desperately.
"Then you are a fool." The goblin leader replied. "A deal is a deal. Unless you'd prefer we arrest you and your friends and charge the lot of you with attempted mind control? I hear Azkaban is almost bearable this time of the year."
The daughter of Zeus' head sank at that. She could fight this, either physically by storming the bank or in court, but either way it was bad for her. Either she ruined what little she had left of a place in the Wizarding World, possibly jeopardizing her participation in the Triwizard Tournament and thus her magic which would piss Hecate off. Or she gets kicked out without the Horcrux and pisses off Hecate.
Neither were good options. Then again losing a quarter of her money wasn't one either.
It was like Scylla and Charybdis all over again.
"Fine." Andi said through gritted teeth.
The goblin in the fancy armor tilted his head in a mock bow. "Now that you're done behaving like a spoiled little girl, it's time for introductions. My name is Grendelmin, Head of Arms and one of the Directors of Gringotts. It was a pleasure doing business with you."
Her shoulders shaking in frustration at the whole situation, Andi was in no mood for pleasantries. She was too busy berating herself furiously.
"No introductions?" Grendelmin said in a huff. "Such a rude child."
Swallowing her anger, Andi introduced her party. Now wasn't the time to let her anger cloud her judgement and if pretending to be polite, even when all she wanted was to rip the other guy's head off, could help the situation then she'd do it.
With introductions out of the way, Andi asked through gritted teeth. "Are you going to check the Horcrux at least?"
"We can humor you, I suppose. What does the item in question look like?" Grendelmin smiled cruelly.
"It's a cup. Hufflepuff's cup to be exact." The daughter of Zeus curtly informed, drawing on the description provided by Hecate's list to give more details. "It's a small golden cup with a badger engraved on the side and a few jewels."
The little swindler looked towards one of his men and said something in the goblin language. The guard nodded and walked out of the room.
It was roughly fifteen minutes later that the goblin returned and whispered into Grendelmin's pointed ear. Nodding, the Head of Arms looked at Andi with a serious look.
"It seems you are correct." He said even as a wary looking squad of goblins arrived, the Cup floating in a field of visible magic between them that hissed and sparked as the water from the sprinklers rained on it.
Andi looked relieved by this and said. "Would you be so kind as to hand it over? Bianca here's got a special spell that can cleanse it."
"Is that so? Fascinating." Grendlemin replied sounding completely unimpressed. "And what will you pay us for this service?"
"You've gotta be joking." Andi frowned at them.
"I assure you, and this is a freebie for a fool like you, that I am not." Grendelmin offered condescendingly.
Andi bristled at that, but kept herself in check. Even as her friends all glared at the goblins, angry on her behalf.
Unperturbed, the goblin continued. "Let me spell things out for you. It's against both our policy and your kind's laws to hand you anything from someone else's vaults. As such we'll need some payment for the risks we'd be undertaking to do so."
"Are you serious?" Bianca demanded incredulous at everything.
The lead goblin sneered at them. "Would you rather I tell the world that you tried to rob us?"
"We did no such thing!" Wendy exclaimed, her cheeks puffed up in indignation.
"Really? Because from my perspective that's exactly what you're doing. After all, you're demanding to take hold of something that you don't own." The little thing tutted at them chidingly.
"And you're holding onto one of Voldemort's Horcruxes! With that, he still lives. He was your enemy too." The daughter of Zeus pointed out in a firm tone.
Grendelmin just smirked. "And who would believe you if you said that, Miss Killer?"
Andi rolled her eyes at her 'new title' and his attempt to get to her. "Dumbledore."
"Perhaps. And do you think that will help you?"
"Of course. He's-"
"Not stupid enough to sell out the last of his fading political capital and influence to back such a ludicrous claim on the basis of your word alone."
"You'd be surprised what he'd do to stop Tom Riddle." Andi said with a small smile.
Grendelmin's smirk didn't fade, instead it grew even more feral. "Then let him try and destroy himself. After all, that might not be the Cup he sees in the end."
"If that's the case, he'd be ruined." Bianca frowned.
"Exactly. Either way, we goblins win." Grendelmin crowed triumphantly. "Either we get our money or we get to see the wizards tear down one of their own leaders."
"You're looking at this wrong. I mean if you help me here, you goblins would be hailed as heroes for helping to slay Voldemort. Something you guys deserve." Andi said in earnest, being truly sincere.
The goblin guards muttered amongst themselves, looking like they quite liked the idea. For a moment, Andi had hope.
And then it was quickly dashed.
"Good try, little witch." The goblin said, sounding amused. "Unfortunately it wouldn't work. The very existence of Horcruxes is, rightly, kept a carefully guarded secret by all magicals. The cost of it reaching the ears of those who would create them is too high, as Voldemort proves. Hence, any attempt to glorify us for destroying it would be suppressed not just by the ministry but by the Goblin Nation ourselves."
"But you could spin it to not mention Horcruxes."
Grendelmin shook his head, looking wistful. "The risks of someone discovering the truth are simply too high."
He seemed to shake off his almost friendly mood quickly though and adopted the feral look he'd sported for the majority of the encounter so far. "So will you pay or not?"
Andi rubbed her eyes, her options spent, literally. "You know what? How much?"
"The same as last time?"
"You don't think I'd fall for that again, do you? No, a tenth."
Grendelmin just shrugged. "You can't blame a goblin for trying."
Turning he gestured at the goblins holding the Cup and gestured for them to leave.
"What are you doing?" Andi demanded from him.
"You won't pay the proper price, so I'll simply have this put back in its proper place."
"But it's Voldemort's Horcrux!?"
"And what difference does that make? It did not harm us sitting in our vaults for years, so it's obviously perfectly safe."
She couldn't believe this, were they really such greedy bastards?
"So just because it's not harmed your kind, you're willing to let it be used as a tool to allow Voldemort to extend his life and his ability to hurt and kill others."
"Yes. After all, unlike you wizards we have not been resting on our laurels since the last war. We have new weapons," he gestured to his shotgun. "And made other preparations. We'll be ready."
He's serious! Andi realized with a start. If that's the case… I've gotta change tack.
"Okay, a quarter it is." The daughter of the King of Olympus said coyly, deliberately not specifying a quarter of what.
The others apparently not catching on or affronted by the still immense size of the bribe, all protested but Andi just shushed them.
"Ah! You're learning. How quaint." Grendelmin noted with amusement. "Unfortunately, you are but a mere novice at this game. We'll accept a quarter, yes, but of your original balance."
"Can't blame a girl for trying." Andi said with a shake of her head, before she reluctantly continued. "Deal."
"Good." The Gringotts director said with a nod, before signaling to his men to bring the Cup to Bianca.
The daughter of Hades eyed the goblins nervously as she reached into the field of magic that kept the cursed artifact afloat and pulled it out. Focusing her powers, a fiery black energy surrounded the Cup for a moment and it gave off a screeching wail.
And with that, it was over.
"Now, about the return fee." Grendelmin smiled broadly towards the girls, as his men recovered the Cup from the Italian girl. "And to cover our mutual crime of course."
Andi had been expecting that. The goblins were obviously going to milk her for all she was worth. So it was with resignation that she asked, "How much?"
"Another third of your original balance should suffice."
The other girls were flabbergasted by this.
"They're trying to bankrupt you!" Bianca whispered in dismay to Andi.
The daughter of Zeus grunted in displeasure. "I get why wizards say you're such greedy little bastards. Alright, fifteen percent of what I've got or no deal."
The goblin looked tickled pink as he spoke. "If that's the case, I'm sure the Ministry will love to know that Andromeda Potter just robbed Gringotts!"
"Yeah, with empty pockets. Just take the twenty five percent, you ugly shite." Andi sneered at him this time. It was only fair. "Of my original gold. No scam."
"Pleasure doing business with you."
Andi resisted the urge to flip him the bird as she and her group recovered their weapons and left.
As they walked out the bank, Silena was by her side in a second with teary eyes. Even with that and looking drenched from being under the sprinklers for the whole encounter with the blasted goblins, she somehow still looked glamorous.
"Andi, I am so sorry. I swear, if I had known! H-How much did you lose?"
The daughter of Zeus shook her head. "No, it's fine. It was my own damn fault."
"No, it was mine." Silena berated herself. "If I hadn't jumped the gun like that, you might have managed to convince them to help without bribing them."
Andi shook her head. "I doubt that. From how things went down, I can tell they wouldn't have helped me. Not without me losing some of my money. They love their gold."
"But there has to be some kind of limit on how much they could have fleeced off of you." Bianca frowned as they made it to the base of the steps.
"Exactly! They were bullies!" Wendy nodded rigorously in firm agreement.
Andi just shrugged. "That's real life, gals. It's full of people like that. It's why I try to smack them whenever I can, reduce their numbers. But still…"
"Andi, I'll fix this." Silena took both her hands into her own and held them firmly, her blue eyes spilling some tears, "I don't know how, but I'll make this up to you. S-Somehow. I promise."
"Hey, don't worry bout it." Andi smiled at her.
All I want is to forget that this ever happened.
"It's just money after all. Besides, with this there's only got one more Horcrux on my list! Progress if anything else." Andi winked at her cheerfully.
Hopefully this will satisfy Hecate for now. If I'm lucky it might even help my rep with the other gods.
Done and done! Another somewhat small chapter for us. At least it's not over 10k! Thanks to the team of Nameless and Axios as always.
Now, onto the AN. Dirty, money-grubbing Clorfors, clorfed Andi right out of her money!
Nameless: Poor Andi. She just got fleeced. And very badly too. Don't worry though she'll get quite a bit of money soon. So this won't really hurt her much.
On another note, some people might be thinking the goblins seem needlessly cruel. If you are then that means we did the scene well. Keep in mind that it's from Andi's point of view and she's not privy to the goblins' mindset. They are greedy bastards and seem to hate wizards (which they think she is), hence them robbing her at every opportunity is a given. As for them just letting the Horcrux be. Of course they're not that dumb. They would have arranged for it to be destroyed no matter what. Unfortunately, Andi was too worked up to realize that and so fell for their bluff.
E4E: Now, onto more important things, like Bianca! Yes, my lil Italino is back with a wicked spear in hand. We fleshed out her and Nico's interactions at camp too. Let's face it, Nico had a hard time when he was a gloomy outcast, but here he's still treated like that with his happy puppy disposition. The campers can be dicks, and rivalries are strong with them like Andi had said.
But the real happy moment for me was when she told Bianca not to let Nico go and do something stupid like gain a grudge against Cabin Four or Bianca doing the same. Demeter is a temperamental mommy. Andi's got enough gods hating her, so she's got advice in spades on that front. So yay for Andi wisdom! As rare as it is in this book.
Nameless: Shrug. I'll be honest that I'm not feeling the love for the di Angelos. They don't excite me here, since they feel like just another pair of tagalongs in Andi's circle.
It's just the excitement of nudging away from canon a bit. Since people do gloomy Nico to death, it's refreshing to change it up.
Nameless: Yeah, yeah. I get that. Just saying they aren't interesting characters at the moment. And you know what that means… [rubs hands ominously.]
Oh Wheel of Misfortune turn turn turn, show us the grimdark we shall write! Yearn? Dammit!
Nameless: [Cackles evilly]
Now, you know what to do! Smash that review button! No flames of course and peace off my peeps!