REVIEW REPLIES:

Summer: Hi again! Good to see you! I hope that things are going better for you now. Artemis pretty much is Hogwarts' Lawyer at this point, it's about time he accepted it as well. Yeah, when wizards have Metamorphagus(es?) and Parselmouths, creepy death powers aren't that hard to believe. Hogwarts punishments make no sense whatsoever, so yeah, I'm glad that you liked that little tweak. I'm glad that you enjoyed reading these last few chapters, and I hope you enjoy this one!

Demiwitch: Aww, thanks! It means a lot to me that you think so! I hope you enjoy this chapter!

PercabethWorshipper: Thanks! I'm really glad that you liked it! Thanks for reviewing!

"Are you kidding me?" Draco asked in disbelief, "The teachers were actually going to expel Harry Potter?"

Artemis nodded, sitting down on his bed. "I know, it's quite unbelievable, isn't it?"

Draco broke out into a grin, "This is officially the best day of my life." he declared.

Nico raised an eyebrow at him, "You know, I distinctly remember you begging Artemis to go and help Potter and Weasley. What did you say again? Oh, right, 'As satisfying as it is to see Potter in trouble, but I can't loose my nemesis!' "Nico said in a ridiculously high pitched voice.

Draco threw a pillow at him, "Shut up." he ordered.

"Why should I?" Nico asked, in a rare moment of childishness.

Artemis rolled his eyes at them, "Both of you sound like 7 year old's, for one thing."

"We do not!" Draco protested.

"We kind of do." Nico admitted.

"I thought you were on my side!"

Artemis rolled his eyes once again, choosing not to comment, before pulling out one of the books he had brought from home. Just because he was at school, didn't mean that he could afford to lose valuable time learning about the fairies.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by Draco snatching his book away from him.

"Draco!" he snapped, "Give that back!"

Draco, being much taller than Artemis(which wasn't hard, since Artemis was embarrassingly short for his age) dangled the book above his head.

"You can't read already! You just got here! Let loose and relax a bit. Your book's not going anywhere." Draco reasoned.

Artemis whipped out his wand, muttering a quick summoning spell and tucking the summoned book under his arm, before making his way back to his bed.

He sent Draco one last glare before burying his nose back in his book.

"Geez, what's up with him?" Draco muttered.

Artemis could envision Nico answering with a small shrug.

An awkward silence filled the room.

A few moments later, Draco spoke up, "So does no one want to talk about the thing?"

Artemis looked up, curious to see where the conversation would go.

Nico shuffled uncomfortably, "Oh, right. The thing."

Draco cleared his throat expectantly, "So..." he prompted.

"So..." Nico hesitated, "Are you, uh, okay with the whole 'dark powers' thing?"

Draco shrugged , "I mean, I guess that it's not the weirdest thing I've heard of. Some Slytherins are rumored to be Parselmouths. A lot of Pure-Blood families have pretty weird genes. I think I have a distant relative who's a Metamorphagus. So shadowy powers aren't exactly out of the ordinary."

Nico gaped at him for a minute before closing his mouth abruptly, "You're cool with the fact that I can control shadows and death? You're not creeped out?"

Draco snorted, "I'd have to be a huge hypocrite to be creeped out. We're wizards, dude. I've seen creepier."

Nico's entire body sagged in relief.

"Although," Draco continued, "I am kind of annoyed that you didn't tell me, but you told Artemis of all people. Uh, no offense Artemis."

Artemis raised an eyebrow at him, "None taken?" he said, although it came out as more of a question.

Nico shrugged, "It was a pretty spur of the moment decision."

"So," Draco began, his voice perking up in excitement, "What sort of stuff can you do? Can you make ghosts do whatever you want them to do? That would be epic!" he gushed, "You could convince Professor Binns to stop giving us homework! Or you could get Peeves to stop pranking us! Ooh, ooh, I've got an even better idea, you could get him to target Potter and Weasley!"

Nico floundered for a moment, "Uh, well-" Thankfully, he was saved from answering by the timely arrival of Blaise and Theodore.

"Zabini, Theodore" Nico sighed in relief.

"Umm, yes?" Blaise asked reluctantly.

"We haven't talked in ages!" Nico exclaimed, faking enthusiasm, "We should catch up sometime! And by sometime, I mean now!"

The two boys sent Artemis questioning glances, which the blue eyed boy returned with a confused shrug of his own.

Theodore, ever the optimist, seized the opportunity, "Sounds great!" he beamed, silently daring anyone to protest. For such a friendly kid, he could be rather... unsettling at times.

And so, the next few hours were spent making casual small talk with Theodore and Blaise. Well, Draco, Theodore and Blaise were the ones doing most of the talking, seeing as Nico wasn't really the type to converse much with people he barely knew, and Artemis really wasn't in the mood to make polite conversation, even with people like Blaise and Theodore, who had been two of his first friends at Hogwarts.

Overall, it wasn't really the best first day back, despite what Draco claimed.

*****Line Break*****

"Hey Artemis," Nico asked casually as the five Slytherins were scrambling to get ready for school the next morning, "What time would it be here if it was 9 am in San Francisco?"

Artemis raised an eyebrow, "It would be 4 pm, London time, why?"

Nico shrugged, "No reason. I just have a few... contacts in California. Didn't want to call them at midnight or something."

"Phones don't work here."

"Oh right." Nico said, pretending that he hadn't been thinking of something totally different, "I forgot.

Artemis nodded in understanding, before turning his attention back to his tie.

Nico wasn't sure who's brilliant idea it was to start classes on Tuesday. Why Tuesday? Why not Monday? Or Wednesday?

Needless to say, Nico wasn't exactly waiting with baited breath for 4 pm. Anything that made his father that excited couldn't be good.

Nico clumsily tied his green and silver tie, not nearly as neatly as Artemis, but it was good enough. He glanced at himself in the mirror, trying to make sure that he hadn't forgotten to put his socks on or something, before following his classmates to the Great Hall.

/Mini Line Break/

The Great Hall was usually a rather peaceful place, which was strange, considering that hundreds of teens and pre-teens had meals there, with owls constantly swooping in to deliver messages.

If this was Camp Half-Blood, the Ares Cabin would've picked a fight by now, or the Hermes Cabin would've gotten bored and decided to whip up some mayhem. But things worked differently at Hogwarts, and despite having attended Hogwarts for a whole year, Nico had never seen even one food fight.

As it turns out, wizards had far better ways to amuse themselves.

"... STEALING THE CAR, I WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN SURPRISED IF THEY'D EXPELLEDYOU, YOU WAIT TILL I GET HOLD OF YOU, I DON'T SUPPOSE YOU STOPPED TO THINKWHAT YOUR FATHER AND I WENT THROUGH WHEN WE SAW IT HAD GONE ..."

Nico wasn't sure if yelling letters were common in the wizarding world, but if the other students' reactions were anything to go by, they were common enough.

Plus, they were also great sources of entertainment.

"Weasley got sent a Howler, I presume?" Artemis asked Draco quietly, as the two of them joined him at the Slytherin Table.

Draco nodded in glee, not taking his eyes off the Red letter.

"... LETTER FROM DUMBLEDORE LAST NIGHT, I THOUGHT YOUR FATHER WOULD DIEOF SHAME, WE DIDN'T BRING YOU UP TO BEHAVE LIKE THIS, YOU AND HARRY COULDBOTH HAVE DIED ..."

"So, I'm guessing that's a Howler?" Nico asked, helping himself to some cereal before realizing what he was doing and shoving the bowl away, replacing it with some toast.

Artemis nodded silently, regarding the scene with vague amusement.

"... ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED, YOUR FATHER'S FACING AN INQUIRY AT WORK, IT'SENTIRELY YOUR FAULT AND IF YOU PUT ANOTHER TOE OUT OF LINE WE'LL BRING YOUSTRAIGHT BACK HOME."

"Do you think it's over yet?" Nico asked.

"I hope not." Draco said eagerly.

The red envelope, which had dropped from Ron's hand, burst into flames andcurled into ashes. Harry and Ron sat stunned, as though a tidal wave had just passed over them.

"It's over." Artemis decided, casually returning to his meal while the rest of the school stared at the ashes.

Harry and Weasley seemed rooted to the spot, horrified by what they had just witnessed. Slowly, a few laughs echoed through the hall, and in a matter of minutes, the Great hall was back to normal.

*****Line Break*****

"That," Artemis declared, "Was a disaster."

The two of them trudged to the dungeons to change, completely covered in mud.

They had been paired together for Herbology, which with Nico's talent for making plants wither, and Artemis' reluctance to get his hands dirty, was a disaster just waiting to happen.

Spoiler Alert: It did happen. It was a very messy disaster as well.

Nico felt his cheeks blush in embarrassment, "It's not my fault!" he protested, "You know that my death powers don't go very well with plants. Besides, my stepmother hates me."

"What does your stepmother have to do with anything?"

"Uh," Nico fumbled, "She cursed me."

Artemis raised an eyebrow in disbelief, "She... cursed you?"

"Yeah. Plants die whenever I get close to them."

"That," Artemis scoffed, "is one of the most unimaginative curses I have ever heard. Honestly, I could name at least 10 more effective curses off the top of my head."

"Please," Nico said with a pained expression ,"Don't give her any ideas."

"Those mandrakes are certainly odd, aren't they?" Artemis asked, changing the topic, "I'm rather sure that I'm half deaf now."

"Be glad that your only half deaf, and not half dead." Nico pointed out, "A mandrakes cry can kill you if you're not careful."

Artemis snorted, "You'd think they'd realize that letting 12 year old's handle potentially deadly plants is a bad idea."

*****Line Break*****

"I have a bad feeling about this class." Artemis said ominously as they made their way to Defense against the Dark Arts.

"Really?" Nico asked, slightly alarmed. Intuition could be fairly important to demigods, and while Artemis was (probably) not a demigod, Nico wasn't going to dismiss it so easily.

"Haven't you opened you DADA books yet?" Artemis asked, disgust evident on his face, "Our teacher is some sort of self-absorbed moron, and his books seem like something a teenage girl would write."

"That's not very nice." Draco pointed out with a smirk.

"You're right." After a pause, he added, "It's an insult to teenage girls." he deadpanned, making Draco burst into sniggers.

Artemis continued, "I wouldn't be surprised if he showed up to class wearing bright yellow robes, or something equally flamboyant."

They turned the corner to see Harry Potter, looking like he could fry an egg on his face, posing for a picture with someone who Nico assumed was Gilderoy Lockhart.

"Good Lord," Artemis whispered, looking mortified, "It's even worse than I thought. Turquoise, of all the repulsive shades."

Nico's first thought, was 'That guy is hot' .

His next thought was, 'Wait, what?'

As Nico's brain had supplied, Professor Lockhart, well, he certainly wasn't ugly that's for sure. He had good looks and a charming smile, but... eh, he wasn't really Nico's type to be honest. he was way too old, for one thing.

'Really?', asked a voice in his head that sounded suspiciously like Percy, 'You, the LITERAL 70-something-year old, are complaining that HE'S too old for you?'

Nico responded by doing what he usually did whenever he talked to Percy.

'Shut up.' he told the voice.

"Signed photos? You're giving out signed photos, Potter?" Draco choked out, laughing hysterically.

Harry's face got even redder, if that was even possible.

"Everyone queue up!' Malfoy roared to the crowd, clutching his stomach, "Harry Potter's giving out signed photos!"

"No, I'm not," said Harry angrily, his fists clenching. "Shut up, Malfoy."

A tiny kid with a camera around his neck, piped up, "You're just jealous that you're not as cool as Harry!"

"Jealous?" Draco asked, looking slightly wounded, "Of what? I don't want a foul scar right across my head, thanks. I don't think getting your head cut open makes you that special, myself." he said haughtily. Nico barely caught the hurt expression on his face before he stomped away, striding into the classroom.

Nico decided that demigod or not, Artemis' instincts were usually spot on.

As Nico, Artemis and the other students who had been watching trickled into the classroom, Nico started dreading the upcoming lesson as well.

Looks like he wouldn't need to wait until 4 o'clock for trouble.

A.N:

Hi there!

Sorry if this chapter seems a bit rushed. I haven't had much time recently.

Just so you know, Artemis is acting snappier than usual because he's stressed.

IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ:

Okay, my Annual exams(or Yearly exams, whatever you want to call them) start tomorrow, meaning that I won't have much time to write. SO, none of my stories will be updated until March 4th.

My next update will be sometime after that, so until then, I hope you enjoy this chapter, and thanks for bearing with me!

-Keera