REVIEW REPLIES:
Summer: Hi there! Oh, that makes sense I suppose, it didn't sound much like you. But you know what they say, better safe than sorry! I'm glad that the Thanatos-Spray was actually as funny as I found it! I was all like, 'THANATOS-SPRAY: Terms and Conditions apply' but a lot of people just stare at me like I'm crazy when I say stuff like that. Thanks goodness I'm not the only one who likes to wing it when it comes to this sort of stuff. My friends and family always say that I need a rough copy before writing anything, but I usually prefer to make stuff up as I go along. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about Draco. He'll be there alright. Thanks, and as usual, thank you for reviewing! Your comments mean so much to me!
McShizzleSupreme778: Well that's a relief. I never really understood how you're supposed to use 'dam' so sometimes I use it completely wrong and people are just like 😶'wot?' Anyway, thank you for reviewing! I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter!
DaughterOfHecate: Hey there! Yeah, I suppose I should have known that it was you, it literally radiated that happy, energetic vibe that your reviews usually do:-D. I have no idea how to explain it though. And yeah, Draco can be awesome when he wants to. I mean, who in their right mind would vandalize their own stuff? I don't know why, but 'Not too shabby' just sounds like something Nico would say, you know? Believe me, I totally get the whole 'weird look' thing. My sister gives me that look about 5 times a day. Hmm, bullet points... that might actually work. Who knows, maybe it'll help me finally write down the next chapter of 'Nico di Angelo: Hunter of Artemis'. By the way, I forgot to tell you last time, but thanks for the quote suggestion! I'm pretty sure that I've added it to my profile now. Seriously, HOW DID I MISS THAT QUOTE? I love the 'Dark Phoenix'! It's a Nico at Hogwarts story, right? It's actually one of my all-time favorites! Well, maybe not all time, seeing as I only read it like, a few weeks ago. Anyways, I hope you like this chapter, and thank you for reviewing! I really do love reading your reviews :)
Draco stumbled, tripping over his robes.
"I'm starting to see why wearing robes while going on a secret mission isn't such a good idea." he muttered to himself.
He picked himself up and began to dust off his robes. He needed to look pristine when he made his dramatic entrance.
An eerie cackling sound echoed throughout the dark, isolated corridor.
"Peeves?" Draco called shakily, "I know you're there!"
"Ooh! Lookie here, an ickle-firstie out of bed." came Peeves' disembodied voice.
"And a Slytherin at that!" Draco could almost imagine Peeves nodding his head sagely, " I should tell Snape, I should. For your own good, of course."
"Peeves, no!" Draco whisper-yelled, "You can't!"
"Tut, tut, tut. Giving Mr. Peeves orders now, are we?"
"You don't understand!" Draco pleaded desperately, "I've got to catch up with Nico and Artemis, they're in the Third Corridor and-"
"The Third Corridor?" Peeves interrupted, "Little Princey is in the Third Corridor?"
Draco vaguely remembered Peeves calling Nico 'Little Princey' in their last midnight escapade as well. Which meant... bluffing time.
"Oh yes!" he said, trying to sound confident and calm, "Nico's trying to protect the Stone, and asked me to meet him there so that I could help him get past some of the defenses." Draco was pretty much making stuff up now. He prayed that Peeves wouldn't see through his act, or else he'd be condemned to the most horrible fate of all, also known as detention. What? You'd be afraid of detention too if your teachers sent you into a monster infested forest at night to hunt a unicorn-killer just for sneaking out of bed.
"Little-Princey summoned you?" Peeves asked, sounding dubious.
"Yep." Draco nodded, pretending to glance at a non-existent clock while fighting the urge to point out that he doesn't get 'summoned' by anyone, " He won't be very happy if I tell him that I got held up because of you."
Peeves deflated, quite literally, making a sound reminiscent of someone releasing all the air out of a balloon, "Fiinnneee" he drawled, "Mister Malfee had better get going then." he said with a mischievous grin, grabbing Draco and lifting him into the air.
"Peeves!" Draco squealed in fright, kicking and squirming as Peeves zipped and zoomed through the corridors, "Put me down!"
"Mister Malfee can't keep Little Princey waiting!"
After about 2 minutes of squealing and muffled screaming, Peeves dropped Draco unceremoniously in front of the Third Corridor, before fading out of sight with one last ominous chuckle, which really wasn't helping to ease Draco's nerves.
"Come on Malfoy." he muttered to himself, "You were the one who wanted to get involved, so go in there and get involved already!"
With that, he threw open the door and marched in.
****Line Break****
Getting past the Devil's Snare was a cinch.
Artemis and Hermione had known what to expect after their last trip through the trapdoor, and had immediately driven away the angry vines. Although in Nico's case, it wasn't even necessary, since the vine just shriveled up and died once they touched him.
The second task wasn't so simple. For them, anyway. Harry could handle it just fine.
Artemis had told them all he knew about the second challenge, about how they needed to find an old-fashioned silver key with blue wings, preferably with a broomstick.
While the 4 of them watched Harry zip around the room, they engaged in extremely awkward small talk.
"So..." Nico trailed off, "Nice weather we're having?"
"It's night time, and we're indoors." Hermione answered curtly.
"Right." Nico said, rubbing the back of his neck, "By the way, when did we decide to get to the Stone first instead of waiting for Quirrell?"
Ron scowled, "First of all, Quirrell is innocent, Snape is the thief. And you two were waiting for nothing. Didn't you see the harp? Snape went through the trapdoor ages ago."
Nico froze, "So we were waiting for nothing?" he turned to Artemis, "You're the genius! How come you didn't notice?"
Artemis rubbed his eyes and stifled a yawn, "I was half asleep. Excuse me for not being at the top of my game! Also, you're wrong. Quirrell is definitely the thief."
Nico could almost feel an argument brewing, but luckily, they were interrupted before they could start yelling at each other again.
"Got it!" Harry yelled, clasping the key in one hand . Hermione and Ron raced over to Harry and tackled him with a hug before he could even get off his broom.
"Great job mate!" Ron congratulated, "You did it!"
"Did what?" someone asked.
The door they had entered the room through burst open, and there stood...
Draco Malfoy?
"Malfoy?" Harry asked, bewildered, while balling his fists, "What are you doing here?"
Ron turned to Nico and Artemis, "You two told him, didn't you? I knew that he couldn't be trusted!"
Draco raised his arms, "Relax Weasel, no one told me anything, something I'm still miffed about by the way. I overheard Fowl and di Angelo earlier today and came to check this place out. I had no idea that you would be here too. If I did know that, I probably wouldn't have showed up in the first place."
"You were spying on us?" Nico asked disapprovingly.
Draco shrugged, "I prefer the term 'hidden observation'. Besides, it was your own fault for talking about it where anyone could overhear."
Artemis nodded, "I can respect that."
Nico gaped at him ,"He just said that he spied on us, and you said that you can respect that? Really dude?"
Artemis shrugged, "Criminal mastermind, remember? Also, please refrain from calling me 'dude'."
Hermione cleared her throat, "Boys, we need to get going." she said, pointing towards the now open door.
Artemis nodded, "You're right, of course. Ladies first." he said courteously, gesturing towards the door and earning an eyeroll (and a slight traitorous blush) from Hermione.
The next room looked more like a vault, and the heavy, wooden door they had entered through now looked like the door of a vault and slammed shut. How, you ask? Nico wasn't really sure, but it was magic, so he wasn't going to question it.
While Ron raced towards the door and started banging on it, Nico preferred to use his time more effectively, by scanning the room they were now trapped in.
The room had a door on either side, and next to each door was some sort of screen with a picture of a lock on it. In the middle of the room, was some sort of rectangular device with a bunch of buttons and a glowing screen, raised on a pedestal with some sort of heavenly light shining upon it. Seriously, what is up with that?
Artemis was approaching the pedestal with a goofy, wonderstruck expression on his face.
" A laptop" he whispered in awe.
Huh. Apparently the rectangular device had a name. Lap- top.
Hermione frowned, "Electronics don't work at Hogwarts. What's a laptop doing here?"
Artemis started doing... something with it, typing frantically, "I'm not sure, but if I'm right, which I usually am, this challenge was set by the Muggle Studies professor. I'm assuming that one would have to hack into that odd keypad using this laptop to open the door. (I know absolutely nothing about this sort of stuff, so sorry if this wouldn't work or makes absolutely no sense.) Not many wizards would know what a laptop is, and even then, they wouldn't know enough to hack into something properly. You'd need someone with decent, if not exceptional hacking skills."
Harry started nibbling his finger nails, "Great! Just great ! Where do we find someone like that?"
Artemis facepalmed, "What part of 'criminal mastermind' do you people not understand?"
With that, Artemis got to work, occasionally mumbling under his breath, "What barbarian would attempt to destroy something so precious?"
"What do you mean?" Nico asked, not sure whether he wanted to know.
Artemis huffed, not taking his yes of the screen, "Quirrell," Hermione coughed pointedly, "or Snape," he allowed, " Decided that the best way to get past this thing was to delete all of the data on this thing, including all ways for me to connect to the digital lock, which means that I have to start from scratch."
"Can you do it?" Hermione asked anxiously.
"Can I do it?" Artemis asked incredulously, still typing away, "Hermione, you're looking at the person who hacked into his teacher's lesson plan at the age of 6 to make the tests harder. This is, as people like to say, a piece of cake!"
Hermione's mouth curved upward, "You hacked into your teacher's lesson plan to make the tests harder?"
"I was bored."
"Yes, yes," Nico interrupted, "I'm sure that Artemis would simply love to tell you all about his various escapades, but right now, we have a job to do, remember?"
"Already done." Artemis said triumphantly, as the screen of the keypad glowed green and the doors opened with a hiss.
Harry, Ron and Hermione raced through the doors.
Hermione beckoned to them from they other side, "Hurry up! We don't know how long the doors will stay open."
"I do." Artemis piped up, "The doors will remain open for approximately 2 minutes, give or take 10 seconds."
"Well then, why are we still standing here?" Draco demanded, "Move it!"
Artemis ran over to the pedestal and grabbed the laptop off the stand before racing towards the exit.
Catching all the disapproving looks being sent his way, he shrugged, "What? This thing could help me figure out how to get magic to work at Hogwarts. Did you really think that I'd leave behind something so crucial?"
Nobody had an answer for that.
*****Line Break*****
"A life sized chess board." Artemis whispered in awe.
Beside him, Ron was actually agreeing with him, "Every chess master's dream."
"The joy of being a scheming mastermind, and no one else having a clue what you're up to." Artemis sighed dreamily.
"I hear ya Fowl." Ron said, "It's amazing."
Nico waved a hand in front of the two dreamy chess players, "Earth to Artemis. And Ron, I guess. But mostly Artemis. How do we get across?"
Artemis snorted, "Isn't it obvious?"
"No. It's not."
"We need to play our way across."
Nico's mouth formed a perfect 'o' .
"Oh. Okay."
"Alright." Artemis said, taking charge almost immediately, "Nico, you take the place of that castle-"
"Wait." Ron interrupted, "You had your turn with the laptop, Fowl. It's my turn now, I can do this."
"Excuse me?" Artemis asked, "Did you beat world chess champion Stefan Bashkir at the age of 10 in just 7 moves?"
"No but-"
"It's safer for all of us if I do this."
"NO!" Ron roared, "Have a bit of faith in someone who isn't yourself for once! I'm great at chess!"
"But are you 'great' enough to get us across?" Artemis retaliated.
"Stop it you two!" Harry yelled, "Ron, do your best. Artemis you can step in if he gets stuck. Got it?" he ordered.
Artemis sighed, "Very well, if I must. "
"Good. Ron?"
Ron gulped, "O-Okay, Harry, take the place of that black bishop over there, Hermione and Malfoy, you two can replace the castles. Nico can take the place of that knight, I'll take the other one. Artemis, you can be that horse."
Everyone, including Artemis, obediently made their way to their designated areas.
"White always moves first, yeah, there they are. They've moved a pawn. Harry, move four squares to the the right."
For a while, everything was going fine. And then, Nico got hit in the head by a chunk of glorified stone.
His head ached like crazy, but somehow, he hadn't passed out yet, and he could vaguely make out the sound of people screaming and calling out his name.
"Had to let that happen." he heard Ron say shakily, "I may not like the kid, but I wouldn't let him get bonked on the head if I could help it."
Nico felt himself getting dragged across the board and deposited on the floor roughly.
'Don't pass out, don't pass out! You need to know what happens!' he repeated feverishly in his head like a mantra.
And then he passed out.
****Line Break****
Artemis watched helplessly as the white queen dragged Nico off the board.
He hadn't intervened when Ron made the decision to sacrifice Nico, because they both knew that there was no other option. Who said that life-sized chess was all fun and games?
Thankfully, Nico seemed alright, apparently from a painful-looking bump on his head. Artemis had to fight the urge to run over and check if he had a concussion, something he must have picked up while getting a degree in medical science last year.
The game progressed, slowly but surely, and Artemis was finding it hard to pick a winning side. The match could go both ways.
Ron was starting to lose confidence, and Artemis had to point out several flaws in his reasoning before he got another one of them injured.
Halfway through the game, Nico regained consciousness and had started watching the game with keen interest. Or at least, as much interest as one could muster with a painful, possibly bleeding bump on the head, along with a possible concussion.
The end was near. Artemis could feel it and so could Ron. Ron caught Artemis' eye. Artemis was no idiot, especially when it came to chess. He could see what Ron was planning to do. And for some bizarre reason, he was asking Artemis for his opinion. Huh, maybe the kid wasn't all that bad. He wasn't a complete idiot, at least.
"There is only one way to end this game" he mumbled, "At least without getting all of us knocked out."
Artemis made eye contact with Ron again and gave him a barely perceptible nod. The message was clear.
Do it.
Ron took a deep breath, "Yes. You're right. The only way we'll finish this game is if I let myself get taken."
Immediately, objections rose from the other two Gryffindors. Draco looked like he was trying to put up an indifferent mask, but it wasn't working very well.
Ron snapped, "That's chess! You've got to make sacrifices. Besides, no one objected when I let Nico get dragged away. The kid's a git, but if he can do it, so can I." he smiled ruefully, "Being a chess master isn't just fun and games."
"For goodness sake Weasley," called a hoarse voice from the corner of the room, "As honored as I am to be an undead martyr, just get a move on already. You're not going to die. "
"Nico!" Harry chided, looking horrified, "Don't be so insensititive!"
"Wait, I'm the insensitive one? I'm not the one showing blatant favoritism towards Weasley! You didn't even care when I got bonked on the head! And yet, you Gryffindors blame Snape for being biased."
"Artemis," Hermione pleaded, "There's got to be some other way!"
Artemis shrugged, "Sorry. Any other method would get all of us knocked out. This is our best option."
Ron steeled his nerves, "Don't hang around once we win. Go stop Snape."
"Quirrell!"
"Whatever!" Ron sighed, "Here I go." Ron stepped forward and was immediately bonked on the head and dragged away.
After that, it was simple. Harry made the last move and the white pieces departed with a bow.
Artemis raced over to Ron and Nico. He heaved a sigh of relief when he realized that there was no blood. All of a sudden, he was really glad that he'd decided to become a certified doctor in his free time.
"Bandages." he mumbled, "I need bandages."
"Don't you know a spell to make bandages appear?" Nico asked.
"Never got around to learning that one."
Artemis sighed, sacrifices had to be made. With one swift rip , he tore off the sleeve of one of his favorite shirts. Quickly, he wound it around Nico's head, before ripping off his other sleeve and repeating the process with Ron. Miraculously, neither of them had a concussion.
Hermione looked shell-shocked, "You- you just ripped your sleeves off. You!"
"Desperate times call for desperate measures."
Harry lingered near the door, "We should get moving. Are they okay."
Nico nodded, "I'm great. Help me up Artemis."
Artemis refused to comply, "Absolutely not! You just got hit in the head with a chunk of rock! I refuse to let you take a single step! You need to rest, or so help me-"
Nico pulled a lemon square out of his bag, "Cover me" he whispered.
For once, Artemis did what he was told and went to talk(read: distract) to Harry, Hermione and Draco.
When he looked back, Nico looked almost completely better.
"I don't know what you just did," he hissed, "but you are explaining this later."
Nico staggered to his feet, "Let's go."
The others shared dubious looks, but with one last glance at Ron, they followed Nico to the next room.
****Line break****
The next room was far less pleasant.
Artemis felt his mouth drop open as the huge troll occupying the room growled at them, saliva dripping from it's mouth. The smell alone was enough to knock out someone with a weak stomach.
"What do we do?" Harry whispered frantically.
"Artemis has a plan, right?" Hermione asked.
Artemis calmly turned to Nico, "This is your specialty, correct?"
Nico nodded, twisting his ring to reveal a long, black sword. He made eye contact with the troll, which still hadn't move. Without any other warning, Nico let lose a battle cry and charged.
The problem with fighting a mountain troll in a tiny room, was that there was bound to be quite a bit of collateral damage. While Nico engaged the troll in contact, weaving between it's legs and slashing like a madman, trying to find a weak spot, the rest of them darted from one side of the room to another, trying to avoid the troll's feet(and Nico's sword).
Artemis heard Draco cry out in pain, and turned around just in time to see him get flung against the wall, his leg twisted at an unnatural angle.
Screams and frantic yelling followed, until Nico finally managed to find the troll's weak spot, emerging relatively unharmed, apart from a small cut on his arm.
The troll exploded into dust, sending everyone into coughing fits. Artemis made his way over to Draco. It was obvious that his leg was broken, badly. He didn't have the right tools to do much good at the moment, other than to make a makeshift cast out of the troll's thick clothes and a splinter from it's wooden club, which was extraordinarily unsanitary, but it was all he had at the minute.
As he worked his figurative magic, he tuned out the sound of the Golden Trio freaking out about Nico's sword.
"You actually have a sword. We weren't imagining it that day when you fought that troll on Halloween?"
"Yep."
"I wasn't hallucinating."
"Oh yeah."
"And no one else knows this?"
"I hope so." Nico responded, "Apart from Artemis."
Artemis turned his attention back to his patient.
"I'm done for, Doc." Draco groaned, "Tell my parents that I love them."
Artemis rolled his eyes, "You are not going to die Draco. Your leg is broken, that's not fatal. You'll be fine, but you need to stay here and rest."
"But-"
"Doctor's orders."
Draco pouted, "But Nico got to come!"
"That's different."
"You need me Fowl. I didn't come all this way, just to miss out on all the excitement because of a broken leg. Besides, the only teacher we didn't get a trap from is Snape, and I'm pretty much an expert when it comes to Potions." Draco bragged.
"I'm sure that me and Hermione could handle it."
"As much as I hate to admit it," Harry piped up, "He's right. We could use his help."
Artemis heaved a dramatic sigh, "Fine." he drawled, "One of you, help me get him on his feet."
Harry reluctantly made his way towards them and hoisted up Malfoy's left side while Artemis grabbed the right. Shakily, they managed to help Draco hobble towards the door.
With a lot of squeezing, the three of them made it through the door, followed by Nico and Hermione.
****Line Break****
The next room couldn't exactly described as scary, but it was definitely the worst nightmare of someone like Neville Longbottom, who was renowned for his abominable potions skills.
As soon as they entered the room , a wall of purple fire consumed the door, blocking the way back, and the path to the next room was blocked by a roaring black fire.
Nico stared at the black fire, enraptured.
"Hellfire." he whispered, "How did they get a hold of this stuff?"
"Hellfire?" Hermione asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Hellfire. It's black fire from the Underworld, and can only be controlled by some of it's inhabitants, or so the story goes." he added hastily.
Hermione's eyes narrowed, "How do you know? I've never heard of it."
"Read it in a book somewhere. It's some old Greek legend that I found when I was bored." he said, trying to sound casual.
Hermione's eyes remained narrowed, but she seemed to accept his answer.
Artemis let go of Draco, leaving Harry fumble to try and keep Draco from face planting, and made his way to the table and picked up a piece of parchment.
He smiled mockingly, "A riddle. How quaint."
Hermione peered over his shoulder, "It's a riddle alright. Artemis, read it out for the others please."
Artemis cleared his throat.
"Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind,
Two of us will help you, whichever you would find,
One among us seven will let you move ahead,
Another will transport the drinker back instead,
Two among our number hold only nettle wine,
Three of us are killers, waiting hidden in line.
Choose, unless you wish to stay here for evermore,
To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four:
First, however slyly the poison tries to hide
You will always find some on nettle wine's left side;
Second, different are those who stand at either end,
But if you would move onwards, neither is your friend;
Third, as you see clearly, all are different size,
Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides;
Fourth, the second left and the second on the right
Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight."
Hermione and Artemis met each other's eyes.
"A puzzle" they said in unison.
Nico frowned, "A puzzle? I thought you said it was a riddle?"
"They're pretty much the same thing, Nico."
Nico shrugged," Whatever. To me that sounded like pure gibberish. Or a clue for that detective guy, uh.. what's his name again?"
"Hemlock Combs." Draco answered dutifully.
Artemis looked up from the riddle to give him a patronizing look, "Do you mean Sherlock Holmes?"
Draco snapped his fingers, and almost made Harry let go of him, "Yeah! That's it!"
"How do you even know Sherlock Holmes? He's a muggle."
"I may be a pure-blood Fowl, but I still live in Britain, and you'd be surprised how often people throw around that guy's name around here."
"Fair enough."
Artemis and Hermione moved to the corner of the room and began to debate upon their course of action.
"Obviously, we know that the biggest and the smallest aren't deadly." Artemis said.
"Obviously." Hermione agreed.
"And the one of the bottles on the sides might take us backwards."
"Yes." Hermione said thoughtfully, "But which one?"
"Now we need to identify the nettle wine." Artemis said with a frown.
"That's the problem." Hermione said with a grimace, "I have no idea how to identify the nettle wine."
"Let's think long and hard about this." Artemis decided, "If we get the nettle wine right, we crack the code."
Artemis was so engrossed in his nettle-wine issues, that he didn't notice Draco hobbling towards the table with Harry in tow, taking the caps off a few bottles and sniffing them.
"Hey guys!" Draco beckoned, distracting Artemis and Hermione from their brainstorming.
"What is it Malfoy?" Hermione snapped, "Some of us are trying to think!"
"I figured out the puzzle-riddle thing!"
"What?" Hermione shrieked.
The two of them made their way over. Draco held up two bottles.
"This one," he said, gesturing towards a tiny bottle, "Will take us forward. And that one" he lifted the other bottle higher, "will take us back."
"How-how did you figure it out?" Artemis asked, flabbergasted.
Draco shrugged, looking smug, "The nettle wine. It has a very distinct smell. My dad loves it, so there's always a stray bottle, or a cup with a few drops lying around somewhere. I just smelled a few bottles to figure out which ones had nettle wine in them, and the rest is history."
"Not bad Malfoy," Nico said, looking impressed, "Not bad at all."
Artemis raised an eyebrow, "I have to admit, I'm impressed."
Draco hid a grin, "I know, I know, I'm awesome."
Harry cleared his throat, "Uh, guys. We need to stop Snape, remember?"
"Quirrell!"
"Right." Harry amended, "Snape or Quirrell."
Hermione eyed the small bottle sceptically, "There's barely enough in here for one person. How are we all going to get through?"
Harry's eyes widened as the truth finally dawned upon him, "We're not. There isn't enough. I'll move forward. Alone ."
Hermione opened her mouth to protest.
"Harry, no! You can't-"
Artemis placed a hand on her shoulder, "He's right, Hermione. He's got to do this alone. We can't help him with this, at least without getting our faces melted off."
Harry nodded, "He's right."
Hermione sighed in defeat and watched helplessly as Draco handed Harry the bottle.
Harry stared at the bottle in his hand, "You guys need to go get Ron, grab a broom so that you can fly past Fluffy, and then fly to the Owlery and contact Dumbledore. I don't know how long I'll be able to stall Snape."
"Quirrell!"
"Or Quirrell."
Hermione nodded, clutching the other bottle tightly.
Harry gave them a stiff smile before gulping down the potion and walking through the black flames.
The four of them stared at Harry's retreating form for a moment, before turning their attention back to the bottle.
Hermione took a deep breath, "Well, let's get this over with. There's barely barely enough for three people, so each person will need to take no more than a tiny sip."
"Running through the flames so that the effect doesn't wear off before we get to the other side might help." Artemis added.
Hermione tipped the bottle upwards and took a sip, before passing the bottle to Draco and running through the purple fire.
Draco gave them a nervous glance before taking a sip, passing the bottle to him and following Hermione through the fire.
Artemis gazed at the bottle in his hand. Beside him, Nico was staring at the black fire.
"Finish the potion." Nico ordered.
"But-"
"I'll manage." he assured.
"How?" Artemis asked sceptically.
"Just trust me on this one."
Artemis sighed in defeat, "Fine. But I hope you know what you're doing."
"So do I." Nico mumbled.
Artemis gulped down the rest of the potion, and with one last glance at Nico, he raced through the purple fire.
Hermione and Draco, as it turned out, had been waiting in front of the entrance, and when Artemis came running through the fire, he knocked them over and the three of them landed in a dogpile, with Draco at the bottom.
"Get off me Granger!" Draco's muffled voice came, "You're a lot heavier than you look! I'm injured! You're crushing me!"
Artemis scrambled to his feet before lending Hermione a hand. Together, the two of them hoisted Draco to his feet.
"Let's go." Artemis said, steering them towards the door.
"But what about Nico?" Hermione asked, "Why isn't he here yet?"
Artemis stared pointedly at the exit, "He's taking a different path. We've got to go. He'll be fine."
'I hope so.' Artemis thought, 'I really hope so.'
****Line Break****
Nico stood staring at the purple flames for a minute or so.
He had no idea if his theory was right, but this was as good a time as any to test it out.
Minos had once told him about hellfire, a mythical substance that could only be controlled by members of the Underworld. So technically, he should be able to control it too.
Minos had spent a while trying to teach him to summon hellfire, but Nico had never been able to do it. They soon abandoned it, because apparently Nico was too young to control it properly. Nico still couldn't summon or control it, but he might be able to resist it.
If a child of Hades could possibly summon hellfire, the said child of Hades should also be hellfire-proof. Or else they'd get their hands melted off whenever they tried to use it.
So hypothetically, Nico should be able to walk through the hellfire unscathed. Sure, he couldn't use it, but maybe being immune to hellfire was some sort of Underworld-y power. Sure, he could just shadow travel to the other side, but when else would he get to test this out? Besides, he could always just shadow-travel away if things went horribly wrong.
He steeled his nerves, and without giving himself another moment to thing about it, he charged through the flames.
****Another line break. This is the last one, I promise!****
Nico felt... fine.
His face wasn't melting off, he wasn't dying in some horrible fashion, and there was no sword being pointed at his throat. Those were all good signs!
He cautiously opened his eyes nd looked down at himself, and was pleased to see that he was still whole.
Unfortunately, the Fates didn't give him much time to celebrate, because he soon realized that he wasn't the only person in the room.
Harry was bound by ropes, listening to a certain stuttering weirdo with a turban giving an evil villain monologue.
"I knew it!" he yelled triumphantly.
Immediately, all eyes were on him, and one pair of eyes weren't friendly.
'Oopsies. So much for a surprise attack.'
A.N:
Well, that was a long one. 4950 words, that's got to be the longest chapter I've written so far.
Don't worry, the Artemis/Hermione thing probably won't go past blushing and awkwardness, like I said, I'm not really focusing on romance at the moment.
I'm sorry if the computer thing was completely wrong, since I was basing it off those Barbie movies my sister makes me watch with her.
Speaking of my sister...
(Rambling warning!)
The kid's a creative genius! Last year I kind of spoiled the entire Percy Jackson series for her by telling her all about it (What? There was no one else to talk to!) . So yesterday at dinner time, I was talking about what I hope will happen in the possible Solangelo standalone novel, and then she started spewing a bunch of stuff about this dramatic sacrifice scene off the top of her head! Seriously, this tragic scene were Nico dies to save Will's life. And all I could say was, "You are six. " I'm not exaggerating!
So boys, girls, and non-binary readers, what have we learnt today?
If you tell a six year old about PJO and HOO because you want to talk to someone about it, you will get a shipping 6 year old. I mean, she decided to ship Webby and Dewey Duck from DuckTales all by herself. At the ripe old age of 6.
Anyway, rambling aside, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
I'd love to know what you guys think!
As usual, please review!
Until next time!
-Keera(Ú¡)