Chapter 22: Leo
After Fred and George's magnificent escape from Umbridge's clutches, this left a vacuum which was filled by many people competing to become 'troublemaker in chief' The Hogwarts corridors had become even more dangerous, and it was absolute mayhem. Dungbombs and Stink Pellets were dropped so often, that common practice to perform a bubble-head charm over our heads, to ensure us a fresh supply of air. I was one of those ones competing. I had sometimes created some joke items with Fred and George, but I improved them. Now, I had the ability to induce vertigo to people in a specific area. I had a bug that I could attach to people, or drop a small object that did it in a wide area. I would constantly attach it to Filch and members of the Inquisitorial Squad. Filch, while prowling the corridors with a whip in his hands, he never seemed to be able to catch anyone, due to the vast amount of people now trying to cause trouble.
The worrying thing was that all of us however, was the constant dreams we were getting about a large army attacking Hogwarts soon. Voldemort said that he didn't want any wizards to be there, so he would do it just after their OWLs, so as to not involve them. We all saw the extent of their army, and knew that not even the seven most powerful demigods, (I'm not bragging… Okay, maybe I'm bragging. But atleast it's true.) could hold Hogwarts against an army of that size. We couldn't even call Camp, as they were still getting into the swing of things.
Percy had managed to contact Nico, who said that he would try and make a rag-tag team of his friends to help us. Annabeth was trying to contact Thalia, and the hunt, but so far we were unsuccessful. Frank was trying to contact Camp Jupiter for some reinforcements, and they agreed to send a few people, but not too many as Camp Jupiter still had to run smoothly. We weren't looking too good.
Additionally, our OWLs were drawing closer, and how much I mentioned to Annabeth that our OWLs didn't matter, as we weren't staying here, she somehow managed to get us all to revise. That's where I was right now. In the Ravenclaw Common Room. Revising for Transfiguration, with Annabeth buried in many books, right next to me.
"Annabeth, remind me again why we need to revise when we're not even staying at the school?" I asked
"Because. It's still a school, and no matter where we are, we have to comply by the rules and regulations introduced by a school curriculum." She replied, not looking up.
"Annabeth, there's going to be an attack probably the day after our OWLs or something, shouldn't we be practicing?"
"Shut up Leo. We're doing revision, then we'll practice our battle tactics. I'm still trying to get to Thalia. Nico said that he alerted Thalia through her dreams, but I'm not sure if she got it. We'll just have to see."
Additionally, I thought that Hermione and Harry were on to us. Harry seemed to be having similar dreams to us, so I believed that he had known for a while, but didn't say anything. Hermione I thought, had been researching us for many months, and she had finally cracked the case, as she seemed to talk more cautiously around us, seemingly trying to ignore us. Our OWLs were drawing nearer, and so was that attack. Jason was also going for Qudditch Practice, making his schedule even further. We were trying to shore up defenses. Nico said that he was shadow-traveling to Hogwarts with a few friends in the next few days, and was going to reside in the Shrieking Shack. Camp Jupiter was also going to arrive, but Dumbledore was going to fix them a place in Hogsmeade. However, no word from Thalia or the Hunt had arrived, however, Nico insisted they were coming. Percy had also IMed Camp and was trying to get Chiron to convince the Party Ponies to come. However, Chiron was making little headway.
TIME SKIP
Harry, Hermione, Percy and Annabeth had disappeared during the final Quidditch match of the season, and apparently they went with Hagrid and found out about his Giant, half-brother. His name was Grawp, and all the demigods were wary of him. However, we had since found out that Grawp was a harmless, wizarding giant. Quite contrary to the giants that we had fought on our quests. Now, we had got our OWL timetables, and our first lesson, Theory of Charms was scheduled for the next Monday morning. I was just hanging out in our Common Room, along with the others. Annabeth and Percy were quizzing each other on Charms. Piper was just running about helping people, as she was an ace at Charms. Jason was just reading over the Charms notes that he had made over the year. I was sitting with Ron, pouring over his Charms notes over the last few years. Harry and Hermione were quizzing each other. Hazel and Frank were skimming over their Charms notes together.
We ended up studying all day, and ran down as fast as we could to dinner, wishing to see Nico after dinner, who had promised to bring everyone into the Forbidden Forest. However, Annabeth shouted something in my ear, as I was gulping down some food.
"LEO! LEO! Are those the examiners?" She screamed. I looked, and inspected the small group of ancient, withered looking witches and wizards. I glanced at the Gryffindor table, and forced down a laugh as Hermione had the same reaction as Annabeth. We stood up and marched over towards them. Coincidently, the rest of the demigods, and the Golden Trio had also done the same thing. We rushed down to the great doors, pretending to just be loitering, when we stumbled in on a conversation.
'Journey was fine, journey was fine, we've made it plenty of times before!' an old witch said impatiently. 'Now, I haven't heard from Dumbledore lately!' she added, peering around the Hall as though hopeful he might suddenly emerge from a broom cupboard. 'No idea where he is, I suppose?'
'None at all,' said Umbridge, shooting a malevolent look at Percy and Harry, who were now dawdling around the foot of the stairs as Ron pretended to do up his shoelace. 'But I daresay the Ministry of Magic will track him down soon enough.'
'I doubt it,' shouted tiny Professor Marchbanks, 'not it Dumbledore doesn't want to be found! I should know ... examined him personally in Transfiguration and Charms when he did NEWTs ... did things with a wand I'd never seen before.'
'Yes ... well ...' said Professor Umbridge as we dragged our feet up the marble staircase as slowly as we dared, 'let me show you to the staff room. I daresay you'd like a cup of tea after your journey.'
As soon as they left, we went up to Gryffindor Tower to study. However, as soon as we got there we doubled back around and ran out the doors, going to meet Nico on the Forbidden Forest.
Hermione:
Demigods. That was what the 'Americans' were. About a week ago, I was just pouring over books in the library about greek mythology to find more connections, when Leo and Jason walked in. They were talking about their OWLs and they said,
"We're not staying at this school." This made my suspicion grow. Suddenly, a book shelf collapsed on top of Jason, but he lazily waved his hand, and it fell to his right. I felt my eyes grow in disbelief, this wandless magic was powerful. However, Leo scolded him, and this was extremely weird.
"JASON! Don't use your powers like this. Any random mortal could've seen us!" Leo scolded. Jason sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck and replied,
"Sorry, I guess that the gods wouldn't like it if we revealed these powers." I put two and two together.
Gods? Powers? Mortals? I thought. Then, I swear I read something about powers, gods, and mortals in the book I was reading. I read over a specific excerpt.
It is said that these Ancient Greek demigods had powers depending on their parents. Zeus and Poseidon's children had the ability to manipulate the skies and the sea to their will. Hades' children were also able to raise the dead. Hades' children weren't really accepted due to the ability to raise the dead was seen as scary, and they isolated themselves. T
These demigods, used their powers to protect regular mortals, usually after discovering their true relation to the gods. Their parents would usually send them on quests to kill monsters that were terrorizing mortal towns or presenting a problem to society.
This made me realise something. Demigods were said to be myths. But the same could be said about wizards. As a muggle-born, there were fairytales about wizards and witches that were told in modern culture. Could demigods currently exist? Yes. It was a possibility. Demigods. That's what they were. I was 90% sure. But how could I prove it? I didn't know. That was, until today.
"HARRY, HARRY! Are those the examiners?" I screamed. I looked, and inspected the small group of ancient, withered looking witches and wizards. I glanced at the Ravenclaw table, and forced down a laugh as Annabeth had the same reaction as me. We stood up and marched over towards them. Coincidently, the rest of the 'demigods', had also done the same thing. We rushed down to the great doors, pretending to just be loitering, when we stumbled in on a conversation.
'Journey was fine, journey was fine, we've made it plenty of times before!' an old witch said impatiently. 'Now, I haven't heard from Dumbledore lately!' she added, peering around the Hall as though hopeful he might suddenly emerge from a broom cupboard. 'No idea where he is, I suppose?'
'None at all,' said Umbridge, shooting a malevolent look at Percy and Harry, who were now dawdling around the foot of the stairs as Ron pretended to do up his shoelace. 'But I daresay the Ministry of Magic will track him down soon enough.'
'I doubt it,' shouted tiny Professor Marchbanks, 'not it Dumbledore doesn't want to be found! I should know ... examined him personally in Transfiguration and Charms when he did NEWTs ... did things with a wand I'd never seen before.'
'Yes ... well ...' said Professor Umbridge as we dragged our feet up the marble staircase as slowly as we dared, 'let me show you to the staff room. I daresay you'd like a cup of tea after your journey.'
Slowly, but surely we wandered up the staircases. However, just after we got in, the Americans ran off back down the portrait hole, saying something that sounded like Forest. I had to think fast. I ran up to Harry.
"Harry. I need your Invisibility Cloak," I implored, thinking that I could follow them.
"What do you need it for Hermione?" Harry asked.
"Harry, I need to follow the Americans, just give me the cloak." I asked, running out of patience.
"Hermione, I know what you're thinking, I know it's true, so I'm coming with you. We'll confront them later," Harry said. I was stunned, how did Harry know they were demigods? How did he know before me? I wanted to protest, but I shelved my pride and nodded. He ran up and pulled the cloak out from the depths of his trunk, and ran up to me. We ran out of the portrait hole. Ron was too busy trying to revise to notice we were gone. I knew we'd fill him in later, but now was not the time.
As soon as we got out of Gryffindor Tower, Harry threw the cloak over us, and we ran out of the school. Thankfully, the door was unlocked and we ran outside, just barely making out the silhouette of the seven, running down to the forest.
"Hurry!" I hissed, "We're going to miss them!" Harry nodded, and we ran, the cloak flapping about near his feet. We were careful to not step on any sticks, as to not alert them to our presence, unlike last time. After about ten minutes of walking, we came into the same clearing as last time. However, there were other people in the clearing, waiting with their arms crossed. Smirking at the seven.
The boy standing at the front looked about fourteen or fifteen, about the same age as us and the seven. He had messy black hair, that looked like he had just gotten out of bed, and needed a haircut. His skin was ghostly pale, almost white and he had sunken eyes. He was wearing black clothing, with skeletal designs on it, and black trousers that gave him the look of an emo. However, he had a scabbard strapped to his leg, and I saw the hilt of pure black blade sticking out the top. He also had a silver ring, that was shaped like a skull. I looked around at the other people standing behind him. They all looked vastly different, but I couldn't think of who they could be.
The ghostly kid cracked a smile and wrapped his arms around the seven.
"I missed you all," he choked out. It seemed that all of these guys knew each other.
"We missed you too Nico!" They echoed.
"I thought you weren't a touchy person?" Percy inquired.
"I make an exception for you guys. I can do that with no problem," he said, stepping back. "As I said, I have got a rag-tag team of demigods assembled. I think you'll see some familiar faces here." There. That was the proof. Those guys were demigods. I couldn't believe that they were literal children of the gods. My train of thought was cut off by Nico introducing everyone.
"This is Katie Gardner. You'll know her." A thin girl stepped over, dressed in bright green with blonde hair and brown eyes.
"Connor and Travis Stoll are also here. With Chris, from the Hermes cabin" He said, indicating three tall and skinny boys, with messy black hair and eyes that seemed to dart about, looking for anything to steal.
"I brought Malcolm and a majority of the Athena Cabin." He said, indicating many boys and girls that looked similar.
"I brought Clarisse and a few members of the Ares Cabin," he said, pointing towards about five boys and girls who looked muscly and could punch through solid rock.
"I also brought Will and the Apollo Cabin," he said, indicating a few boys and girls with lanky appearances with sandy blonde hair.
"There's Lou Ellen with two others from the Hecate Cabin. I thought they'd be helpful with all this magic stuff we're dealing with."
"Lastly, I brought Jake Mason, and a few from the Hephaestus Cabin."
I think that if they said much more, that my jaw would drop. They had cabins full of demigods? This was absolutely insane. There were about thirty five demigods, who had the power to destroy Hogwarts. The power emanating from this group was insane.
"I'll have to make this quick, as probably every monster in Scotland knows where we are. In about two weeks, the monster army will swarm Hogwarts, and attempt to destroy you. Also, Voldemort will try to lure Harry away, and without you to protect him, he'll try to kill Harry. You have to try and save Hogwarts. Harry will have to find his own path, but if I can, I will try and follow Harry if he gets lured away, but it might not be possible. Chiron knows that Harry will have to follow his own path, and instead he says to change the mission to protecting Hogwarts, not just Harry Potter. Camp Jupiter will arrive next week with about fifty more demigods. I contacted Thalia in my dreams as IMs aren't going through to the Hunt right now. I think she'll be here in time, but I don't know." Nico said.
"Don't let us down guys. We won't be able to meet again, you'll meet with Camp Jupiter next week, but for now, we have to go. We can't be attracting more monstrous attention." With that, Nico and the other demigods walked out. The seven were just talking among themselves. I nudged Harry, signaling that we needed to get up to the common room and confront them. We would also need to get Ron in on it. We ran as fast as we could, the cloak flapping about our legs. We ran into the common room. Ron was still studying, and only Lee Jordan and him were remaining in the common room. We ran and grabbed Ron and dragged him outside, despite his spluttering. I only hoped that since the demigods (uhh… It was weird to say demigods, but whatever.) had left their stuff up in the common room they would return to get it. We were standing in front of the portrait hole, waiting for them to come up.
In the next fifteen minutes all of them came up, looking behind them for trouble. They turned around and saw us, and their eyes widened.
"Oh we are in trouble…" Leo said. Piper slapped him on the head and spoke.
"What do you guys want?" she asked. I glared at them, and ushered them into an abandoned classroom the floor down. I made them sit down, while Harry, Ron and I stared at them. They had puzzled expressions on their faces. I broke the silence.
"Spill."
Oooh! Hope you enjoy this chapter. I ended it on a sorta cliff hanger. However, I hope that you enjoy this chapter. I enjoyed writing it a lot. Next chapter I think I'll push out tomorrow. I need help on what the main villain is going to be for the attack. One person said what they wanted, but frankly, I didn't think that their idea would jibe with what I will be writing. I really want to either make it the titans or giants. If anything else interests you please tell me. Review this chapter and tell me who you would prefer? Hope you enjoy.
~RedGods