Hello.

Quick note and we go on with the chapter.

If you have any ideas that you would like to see in the story, leave them in pm or review. I will see what I can do.

I released a new story called "Anomaly". It is a crossover between Naruto/Bleach/DxD and minor PJO. You can check it out if you want.

Enjoy the chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own HP, PJO and any other orginals works.

Chapter 17. Back to School we go

Previously

"Alright. It looks like I will need to contact every hunter alive and resume their training, we can no longer ignore the demons and I don't want my race to die out without the chance to fight. Come on I need to see what you got, I might be able to teach you a thing or two."

With that, he got up and waved his hand at the bookshelf, it then disappeared and both girls saw a staircase leading down.

After a minute walk down the stairs, the trio emerged into a very large room. It was mostly empty apart from the weapon rack in the corner. The girls also noted that the ceiling is enchanted to give out light. I was a nice idea and they will probably use it in their own training room.

Lempo walked to the rack and picked a classical looking katana. It had black blade and wooden hilt, while Diana an Alya couldn't recognize the metal from which the weapon was made, they felt the power coming from it. Nothing too strong, but the katana should be a bit more powerful than Alya's daggers.

The man then walked back to the girls and asked, "So which one of you will be first?"

Diana stepped forward, "I will go, I want to see what a 600 years of experience can do," she finished with a grin.

The hunter chuckled lightly and mentioned Diana to follow him to the center of the room, "Ok girl, let's set some rules... I can feel that you are stronger magically than me so I want you to not use even an ounce of magic. Let's see your pure skill with a blade. We will test your magical strength later."

The Huntress nodded as she also wanted to see how she will fare against an experienced opponent other than the Moon Goddess, "I agree."

Then both combatants took their stances, Lempo had his guard up and Diana summoned her sword and assumed the ready position. She could feel Lempo's eyes on her, checking her stance for openings. Diana might not had too much time to train with a sword, but she hopes that her experience with daggers will help her a little in covering her openings. She herself tried to find an error in Lempo's position, but she couldn't find anything to help her.

The duo stood in their places for another minute and then like by mutual agreement the ran at each other. Their sword met in the center, creating a loud clanging. Diana decided to test the Hunter's strength so she gripped her sword tighter and tried to overpower the man. Surprisingly, it worked as Lempo lost the strength match. Unfortunately for Diana, the Hunter's experience came through and he spun on his heel and knocked her blade to the right with gracious move.

Diana barely managed to block another swing directed at her midsection. She should have known better than try to test someone more experienced than her.

From there the Huntress was mostly in defence. She tried to overpower the man with her superior speed and strength but nothing worked. Finally Lempo got through her guard and managed to land a shallow cut on her left arm. He then jumped up and kicked Diana away from him.

Said girl landed on her feet without any problems, but saw that Lempo was not attacking. She got her answer pretty quickly, "Enough of this! I can see that it is not your chosen weapon. Show me what you really got," Lempo shouted.

Diana grinned and changed her sword into pair of daggers. She gave them a few test swings and charged and Lempo again. This time she could keep up with him a lot easier. Every time she blocked with one dagger she used the other one for offense. Lempo quickly realized that the girl is a lot better with daggers. Her experience was visible as she did not leave as much openings like with the sword. No, here her stance was almost perfect. Plus he could feel the power coming from the daggers.

He used a few of his special tricks that always managed to give him a win in the past, but the girl was too fast and strong. No normal 13 year old should be able to block his attack with one hand and she did it with practiced ease.

Lempo finally got tired of his failures and tried his last technique. He feinted a strike at her left side and when he saw her right dagger coming to block it, he turned sideways and crouched a little so his strike would go lower.

Diana again saw this attack, but this time needed to use her both daggers to block the attack in time.

This was what Lempo wanted as he released his left hand from his weapon and used it to punch her in the side. The attack worked quite well as Diana lost her footing from the powerful blow. Lempo almost ended the fight right there, but Diana quickly went into crouch and used her daggers to get a hold on the ground so she could launch herself to the right.

Limbo reacted in time and blocked one of her daggers while sliding a small knifer out of his belt and putting it under the girl's throat. Just when he thought he have won, he felt a blade poking him in the rib.

He looked down and saw Diana's other dagger pointed at his chest. Lempo then released a loud laugh and lowered his weapons, "You really are amazing fighter girl. Even if you only managed a draw thanks to your superior speed and strength, it was still a great fight. I am sure that with time you will be able to beat me without bigger problems. Now let's see what you can do with magic."

There he asked a few questions about her affinity and knowledge of Hunter magic. Diana proudly showed him every technique (lowly powered) and they had a mock duel with only their magic. Lempo told her that her magic proficiency is very good for her age and gave her a few ideas for new attacks.

Diana also showed him cero and flash step. He was not too surprised with cero as he already saw some similar attack, but the flash step shocked him a lot. He compared it to an ability that demons of higher ranking can use. He didn't have too much detail on it, but, he said that not many demons use it as they prefer their natural speed.

Both girls were intrigued and from one side, they couldn't wait to see the ability, while from the other they didn't want any higher ranking demons coming to Earth.

After Diana completed her test, Alya went next and had her own fight with Lempo.

This time the fight was serious from the beginning and it showed that while Diana is more of a head on fighter, Alya is more refined and try to plan her attacks before executing them. She was a little slower and weaker than Diana, but it didn't show much.

They fought for another 10 minutes before Lempo finally managed to knock away one of Alya's dagger and put the sword against her heart. Alaya herself excepted this as she was always more of a long range fighter so she was still proud that she managed to last so long against someone so experienced.

Limbo also praised her ability and then proceeded with magic. There Alya showed him his lighting and water based techniques, some of which even Diana didn't see earlier, and Lempo quickly figured out that she wants to me more of a medium-long range fighter with ability to fight in close range. Alya also presented to him her new bow technique and was happy when Lempo gave her a few tips on how to make the bow more stable. Even though she won't need them soon, when she creates her own bow, she was grateful for his help.

Then Lempo decided to test them both on Hunter's Language and they passed with flying marks. Unfortunately, their ability to write it was not as good and the older Hunter encouraged them to better themselves.

Both girls decided that they will do it during their school year, so to not waste their time during vacations. They then talked about a few things that were less important. Lempo also asked them how is their wizarding magic training.

They explained him their progress and the man was pleasantly surprised. Their instant shield was a work of art and something that will for sure save them many times in future. They just need to figure out how to give them more strength, but it is something that will come with time.

Finally, they retired upstairs so they could eat.

After they finished their meal Lempo spoke up, "You don't know how glad I am that there are Hunters like you. If the demons are planning something, then we will need strong fighters," he sighed and continued, "unfortunately I don't have much to teach you. You will only get better with time and you already possess high mastery over your magic. When you turn sixteen, I will help you with flying and after this I can teach you how to start on the merge with your soul creature."

Diana and Alya can understand his reasoning. Thanks to their dreams and long training sessions, there is not much new to be learned. Like Lempo said only with practice they will get better. The help with flying should be useful, but Diana doesn't think that she will need any assistance with the merge, but who knows.

Still, both girls had two more questions for the old Hunter, so Alya adopted a serious look and asked, "We were wondering if there is anyone else who would be able to help us and if you know any location of old Hunter's villages."

Lempo looked sad at their questions, but gave them an answer, "Unfortunately no, a lot of Hunter tired, but we never could locate any of our villages. After our predecessors abandoned them, they never gave anyone their location. I don't know why. As for someone to help you... I don't know if I should give you this, but maybe you will succeed."

He then waved his hand and summoned a piece of parchment and pen. He quickly wrote something on it and handed the paper to Diana. The girl looked at it and saw only a few numbers. Raising an eyebrow, she waited for him to explain.

"Those are coordinates to a place where you might find something useful. I would tell you more, but I can't as I don't know anything else. The last time a Hunter went there was around 500 years ago. Unfortunately, he never came back like many others," he then straightened himself and continued, "Listen to me carefully. I know that you two are strong, but whatever is there, can be above your capabilities. If you really want to go there, then prepare, plan and improve your skills so you will be able to come back."

The girls nodded instantly, they could feel his seriousness, but also some worry hidden behind his words. They will do as he said and prepare before going there. They might be wrong, but a little caution never hurt anyone.

Finally Diana nodded and replied, "Understood, we have at least one year before we will attempt it. Might as well wait till the end of our 4th year, we will see."

Lempo resealed a breath of relief, "Good, I don't want our race to lose more of its people, we are already low in numbers and we don't need any unnecessary deaths."

Both girls smiled, they will make sure that their race will rise again in the future, "Thank you for your help. We will try to visit from time to time as we want to meet more Hunters," Alya said.

The Hunter waved him off, "No problem girls. We hunters are one big family so we take care of each other. I look forward to your visits, you might be able to help me with some training," he chuckled and then stood up, "Come on, I will show you to your rooms. Tomorrow I will teach you the ritual and you will probably need to leave hmm?"

Diana nodded in confirmation, "Yeah, we promised our father that we will be back in two days. But we should have enough time to learn the ritual."

"Good. I will wake you up really early so we will the time needed. Now those are your rooms, they are on the house this time. Good night," with that he left the girls before their rooms.

Diana and Alya quickly went to their rooms, showered and went to sleep.

Next day Lempo woke the girls up early and then proceeded to teach them the ritual. It took them a few hours to get everything right but in the end Lempo considered them ready.

With the new knowledge and a promise to come back, Diana used shadow travel to get them back to Black Manor. Surprisingly Diana almost collapsed after they arrived. She quickly checked her mana reserves and saw that it took more than 90% of her mana. She was a little shocked as the skill never said anything about bigger mana costs.

Diana quickly consumed a small HP and MP potion in hopes that the exhaustion will go away. It helped somewhat, but even after her money reserves were full she still felt a little tired. Guess she will really need to train this ability even though it doesn't have levels.

After the girls changed into some more casual clothes, they went down to the living room and saw their mother and Regulus there. They spent some time with them and talked casually. Sirius then appeared just before the dinner and their whole family ate together.

Then they all retired to their rooms as they both wanted to work on some things. Alya on her bow and Diana on ritual.

Diana was working on some last part of arithmancy when the door to her room opened and in waked Emily. Diana quickly put her notes away and turned to her mother, "Can I help you mum?"

Emily shook her head and sat down on Diana's bed, "No, dear, I just wanted to talk with you about something important."

Diana followed her mother and sat down next to her while looking curiously at Emily, "Couldn't you say it during the dinner?"

Her mother smiled and answered, "I don't think so Diana, it is too personal for a group discussion," Diana nodded and waited for her mother to continue, "You see I wanted to talk about you and Alya."

Diana squinted her eyes at her mother and asked questioningly, "Me and Alya? What about us?"

Emily giggled at her daughter, oh Alya will have a fun time with her, "I will be blunt as I don't know if you will understand otherwise," here Diana didn't know if she should be angry at her mother or not, "Sirius and I observer you two for quite some time and we noticed that you two became a little awkward around each other."

Now Diana understood as she can clearly remember the embarrassment when they woke up, cuddled together earlier this week, "Ok, we might be a little awkward but what of it."

Emily could help but sigh in exasperation, "We know that you two like each other, but don't know how to act on those feelings. Now listen to me. I know that your upbringing makes it hard, but like any other person out there deserve to love. I don't know if what you two have is love, but don't waste it dear. You might not get another chance in the future."

Diana sat there silent as she processed her mother's words. She is right, but what is she supposed to do now, "I know that you are right mum, but I don't know what to do. I am a survivor, I never cared about romance so I don't know how to move forward with it."

The older woman laughed lightly at her daughter, making said girl frown. Finally, Emily stopped her laughter and said, "Don't give me that look Diana, I didn't mean anything by it... Now, you don't need to know anything about romance. Just do what are you doing, but do not fear to move forward. You are both young and can take your time. Like I already said toAlya. Baby steps Diana, baby steps."

With that Emily stood up and left Diana to her thoughts. This little talk should help a little in the long run. The rest depends on the two of them.

Next Day

During the breakfast the next day, Emily and Sirius declared that they will be going to Diagon Alley to make the last purchase before new school year starts. The girls quickly agreed as they both wanted to look through some things.

The whole family went to change into presentable clothes and after 20 minutes they all met before their floor. Diana and Alya were both wearing their signature leather jackets and black jeans, they did not care that they look like Muggles. If something is comfortable for them, then they will wear it.

Sirius and Emily wore traditional wizarding robes as they didn't like Muggle clothes as much as their daughters. Meanwhile Regulus was held by his mother.

Finally they all went through the floo and emerged into Leaky Cauldron. They greeted Tom and walked into the backroom to the access Diagon Alley.

With a few gracious moves of Alya's wand the brick wall disappeared and the family walked down the Alley. Diana remained a little behind so no one would see her sneak away. Alya might notice after a moment that she is gone, but she knows better than tell anyone.

The girl quickly cast some spells on herself to hide from other people, put a cloak with a hood over herself and disappeared into the crowd. She walked slowly in the direction of Knockturn Alley, while she observed people around her. It is funny that after their visit to Amsterdam, the amount of people here, doesn't even surprise her.

She shook her head and continued on her way into Knockturn. The last time she was there, she saw a shop that might have what she wants. It took her a few minutes, but she finally found it.

Like all of the shops in Knockturn it was dirty inside and not too well kept. Nonetheless, she could see weapons of all kinds lying here and there. Diana is not too sure if there will be anything she wants, but it never hurts to ask.

After she spent some time looking through the weapons, a man in his early thirties walked into the room. He looked at her for a moment before shrugging, "How can I help you miss?"

No questions about her age? Well, all the better. Diana cleared her throat and brought out a small picture out of her pocket, "I would like to know if it is possible for you to provide me with this."

She then handed him the picture and the man's eyebrows shot into his hairline. After a moment he adopted a thoughtful look and answered, "While I never sold anything like this, I think that I can get it for you. It will take me a few days, but it is doable."

"Can you do it before September 1st?" Diana inquired.

The man chuckled and replied, "With the right amount of money I can have it even tomorrow."

Diana did not react, but brought out a pouch of gold and handed it to him, "Then I want it done in 2 days."

The man smiled widely when he felt the amount of gold inside, "No problem miss."

With that Diana walked out of the shop and searched for another one, but this time she needed an apothecary with rare and illegal ingredients. She found it a minute later and walked in.

This time the shop was much better kept, but all the ingredients that she could see where standard ones. She then walked to the counter and saw a tall person wearing a cloak. The shopkeeper looked at her and asked in male and annoyed voice, "What do you want brat?"

Okay, so not as polite as the previous one. Before Diana answered she saw the red eyes under the hood, "Huh, a vampire," she was a little surprised to see one in wizarding community, but she didn't show it. Instead, Diana remained her impassive expression and answered, "I want ingredients from this list."

The vampire took the list and sneered, "What makes you think that I have even one of them."

Finally Diana got little annoyed and decided to let out a little bit of her power. The man tensed a bit and Diana could feel some nervousness coming off him.

"Don't think that I am an idiot. I want the ingredients," she then brought out another pouch with gold and placed it on the counter, "It will be yours. I know that the ingredients are not even worth a half of what is inside, so what will it be?"

The Vampire looked at the pouch, then back at her and answered this time without a sneer, "Alright, I will get them. Wait here."

Then he walked out through the door behind the counter and left Diana alone. She stopped leaking her power and looked around if there are something that's she needs. She did not, so the black haired girl waited.

The shopkeeper came back after a few minutes with a big box, "Inside there is everything from the list. Now do you want anything else?" he asked again with a sneer.

Diana shook her head, gave him the pouch with gold and left in the box. When she got out of the shop she put it in her inventory and rushed out of Knockturn. She then found her family by the book store and dropped all her spells.

Her parents asked her where she went, but she only told them that she wanted to browse through a few of different shops. Alya meanwhile, saw the half-truth, but remained silent and decided to ask when they get back to the manor.

From there they shopping went without a hitch and before they noticed the family was back in Black Manor. Diana didn't waste a moment and went back to her room so she should work on the ritual. Now with all ingredients known, she can adapt the arithmancy to them. Who knows, she might complete it before the start of school.

Meanwhile Alya was working on her new bow. She already got all the things needed, but now she will need to be careful during the creation. She has plans to somehow merge her energy with every part of the bow. Then she will be able to channel her magic through the weapon a lot easier. She might try some rituals to make it stronger, but she will need Diana's assistance with them as she is better than her with rituals. Alya prefers enchanting and transfiguration.

Two days later Diana used shadow travel to get to Knockturn so she could pick up her purchase. She slid into the shop and waited for the shopkeeper to emerge.

She didn't need to wait long as the same man came out with a wooden box in his hands after a few minutes. He gave her a nod and put the box on the counter, "I had a few problems with acquiring the weapon, but in the end I did it. Here you go, you can look inside."

Diana accepted the offer and opened the box.

In it laid a brand new silver Desert Eagle a semi-automatic handgun. For Diana, it was beautiful. She saw a similar gun in Amsterdam and from there she knew that it might be the answer to her bow problem. Of course first she will need to run some tests and then upgrade the weapon so it will be useful against her opponents.

Diana finished her observation and asked the man, "Which type it is and how much ammo did you get."

The man frowned a little and replied, "It is Mark XIX with .50 cartridge. Unfortunately, I only managed to get you one full magazine. If I had a little bit more time I would get more."

Diana waved him off. Seven ammo should be enough to see if she can even shoot. "It is alright. Thank you for your help Mr.?"

"Samuel Ball, miss," he added quickly.

"Yes, thank you Mr. Ball. I hope that it is enough for you to forget that I was ever here," she said as she gave another pouch with gold to Samuel.

"Of course miss, you were never here," he declared with a grin.

Diana nodded and took the box. She then shadow traveled back to the training room in Black Manor and instantly created an empty ID. Then she took the gun into her hands and studied it for a bit to get used to it.

With that done, she loaded the magazine, released the safety and took aim at the nearest tree in her ID. First three shots missed completely as Diana was still trying to get used to shooting a gun, but the rest almost hit the place that she aimed at.

Happy with her discovery of new weapon, Diana hid it in her inventory and destroyed the ID. Now it is time for her and Alya to do their standard patrol around England in the search of Demons.

When she appeared in the training room, she saw Alya working on her water abilities. From what the other girl told her, she is trying to create the water faster from the air as now it takes too much time. Diana could already see some progress, but it will take some time before Alya will be able to create water instantly in bigger amounts.

Seeing Alya work on her elemental abilities, made Diana remember that she wanted to work on a new fire attack. She would work on wind, but as of now the wind is her most developed element. She doesn't need any special techniques if she can control it freely. There is also her darkness element, but it is mostly something that she uses as a supportive ability. Darkness does really well in slowing her opponents and trap making.

Now the fire is probably her favorite element. While she can control fire like wind and just create attack through pure control, it is not as easy as with wind. So the only answer to this problem is to create original attack that the game will add to her repertoire.

Anyway, Diana finally got out of her thoughts and called Alya to stop her training and prepare for patrol.

They made a quick round around London and found a few D rank demons. They were killed without any problems and just when the girls wanted to back Diana, who thanks to Lempo's teachings can now sense the merged demons a little easier, managed to pinpoint one of those merged demons.

I was a demon hellhound from the Greek world. Alya wanted to kill it quickly as it was only medium D rank, but Diana used her darkness element to overpower the demon and capture it. Alya just let her do it and said that she is going back home.

Diana didn't have anything against it as she wanted to do the purifying ritual right now. Luckily she had everything ready in her inventory for it. She prepared the runic circle and placed the demon it the center. Then Diana began to channel mana into the circle.

The moment the ritual started, the demon collapsed and gave out sounds of pain. It was pitiful, but Diana didn't care. She is here for a reason and she was never one for mercy.

The ritual took about twenty minutes and instead of one being in the circle, now there were two. The original Hellhound and wolf-like demon. It was only an E-rank so it would explain why after merging it only became D class. Diana then quickly killed the Hellhound with a spear of darkness and then again captured the demon. She created a prison out of her element in the shape of a sphere and used shadow travel to get them to the training room in Black Manor.

There she created a permanent prison with transfiguration and warded it to the best of her ability. She also obscured it in darkness so no one would be able to see it. She will need to constantly channel her magic to do it, but it will save her a lot of time.

Finally, with the demon secured Diana decided to do some of her own training in the ID. The Infinite Blade, as she began to call the attack that she and Alya are working on, won't complete itself.

The rest of time before the school went almost without any surprises. The girls trained their abilities and spent some time with family. It was really weird for the girls to go back now, they did so much during those vacations that they mostly forgot about school. Nonetheless, they can't change their minds now and they still have a few things to do before the school ends.

Still, one day before September 1st something interesting happened. Something that the girls completely forgot about.

Flashback

The night before September 1st a sound of cracking woke up Alya. She looked curiously around the room after she summoned some light. Nothing was out of the place in her rather plain room. Then she heard the sound of cracking one more time. Rising from the bed Alya walked towards her bookshelf.

She increased the amount of light coming from the small ball above her hand and searched the shelves thoughtfully. Finally, she found it. The egg that she and Diana got some time ago was finally hatching. Alya quickly grabbed the egg and put it on her bed, then she flared her magic a little so Diana would notice.

The egg gave out a few more cracking sounds and Alya could finally see something gold inside it. She then noticed her friend, who walked out of the shadows, look at her questioningly, "Why did you wake me?"

Alya pointed at the egg and Diana gained a look of recognition, "So it finally decided to hatch huh? Well, let's see what it is."

They both sat there for at least two hours before the creature fully emerged from the egg. It was completely golden in color and had a head similar to an eagle. The girls saw the three pairs of powerful wings, they were beautiful and the girls could see some electricity going through the feathers. It also possessed two tails, which ended with a single feather.

The bird then looked around the room and finally settled its eyes on Alya. Diana meanwhile, was trying to remember what it is. She didn't need long as when she saw the electricity go through the bird's feather she gasped, "A Thunderbird. God, I didn't know that they can be so small."

Alya was definitely not paying attention to her because the girl was watching the bird without moving any part of her body. Diana knew better than to disturb as she knew that the two are now bonding. She could feel the magic coursing through them, connecting them. It was a wonderful piece of magic and Diana was a little disappointed when it ended.

Finally Alya came out of her trance and picked up the small thunderbird, "Valkyrie or Val for short," she declared.

The bird definitely liked her name as she gave out a happy trill. Diana shook her head in amusement and decided to leave Alya with her newly bonded familiar.

Flashback End

Before they all went to King's Cross, they needed to somehow make Val appear as a normal bird because the little thunderbird did not want to leave Alya alone. Fortunately Val could change her look and made her 2 pairs of wings disappear while joining the two tails into one. She still looked a little exotic, but at least now nobody should take her for what she is.

Diana and Alya both wanted to see what else Val can do, but finally it was time for them to do depart.

So after a long goodbye on platform 9 and 3/4, the girls finally boarded the train.

END

Again, I planned too much and needed to cut the chapter a little.

Anyway, let me know what you think about the story so far.

One more time I released a new story. Check it out.

Chaos out.