After shopping with Hermione and her family, Will and Nico had everything they needed, so they took their Hogwarts supplies back to the tavern they came through, thankful that the brick wall stayed open.
"Tom, right?" The bartender hummed, looking at Will and Nico. Will had gotten his attention, glancing at Nico who took out a small coin purse, frowning in frustration.
"How much for a room before the term?" Tom raised an eyebrow, sighing in thought and tapping a finger against the table.
"Few pounds. You wanna pay in muggle or Wixen coins?" Will and Nico looked at each other, frustrated and confused. They eventually took out some coins, paying with a mix of drachmas, Quarters, and various wixen coins since they had no idea what they were doing.
"It's 20 pounds per night." Tom said, looking at the pile of coins. Nico let out a groan and muttered an angry, "Fuck it."
He pulled out large pile of dollars, they looked like a good set of hundreds in American dollars, surprising the bartender. He was given the money, having it forcefully shoved into his hands. He silently grabbed a key, shrugging it off with a slightly uncomfortable smile before holding it out. It was quickly snatched out of his hand by Nico, who dragged Will up to their new room.
--
Getting acquainted with the differences of the wixen world were easier than they expected. Magic was simple, they didn't know why they needed those wands. They worked on learning the currency of the magical realm, only to fall short out of pure confusion. Since they both definitely weren't british. They spend their days walking around Diagon Alley, buying anything else they might need. They were doing so right now, they'd stopped by the ice cream place, Will holding a bowl of ice cream close to his face as he ate, watched by Nico who quietly licked his waffle cone double scooped vanilla snack. He laughed at Will, who was making quite a mess. It was cute and got a few glances from the few patrons around him.
"What?" Will looked at Nico in confusion, letting him touch his face with the edge of his hoodie sleeve. Nico giggled at the sight of Will with ice cream on his face, he carefully wiped it off with his hoodie sleeve, wearing one of Will's soft camp half-blood hoodies.
"You look cute when you've got ice cream on your face." Nico answered with a shy grin, he was blushing and giggling at his husband. Will laughed with him, using his index finger to scoop up some of Nico's ice cream and boop him on the nose, making him yelp as he tried to lick the ice cream remnants on his face.
"Will!" Nico cried, annoyed by the son of Apollo laughing at him. After a moment though he started to laugh too, snuggling into his side and hugging his arm.
"I didn't know the ice cream shop let people martyr their confections with your type around." The thoughts were spoken aloud, obviously nearby and meant to bother them. While Nico glanced back and stuck his tongue out at whoever said the comment, Will ignored them, grinding his teeth a little with a sigh.
"Ignore them... We should go back to the tavern for dinner soon." Nico gently pulled on Will's arm, steering him to the entrance of the magical alleyway.
After the experience and finishing their ice cream, hey stopped by the pet store, finding a very adorable kitten that meowed excitedly at them. Nico was surprised when she nuzzled against his hand, since most animals ran away from him. Immediately, Will gently scooped her up and carried her to the cashier working the front stall. "How much for her?"
————
They spent a few months like that, taking their vacation from demi-god life and really enjoying it. They Read what they could, trying to do research about their new world until September 1st, when they'd have to go to King's cross station. Nico wondered why they needed to go to a train station to get to Hogwarts, but Will shut his confusion down when he mentioned that the gods used the mist to hide among mortals, and Wixens didn't seem to have that.
While getting their things ready, Nico continued to complain about the need of going to a train station, which made Will laugh. They collected their belongings, school supplies, and demi god items before leaving the room cleaned reasonably well. They'd tried to make it easier for whoever was cleaning it before they gave Tom their room key, waving goodbye as they left. They ignored the looks of the patrons, walking out of the bar and heading to the train station. They walked half the way there until Nico grabbed Will and suddenly shadow traveled inside an alleyway, stepping out of a shadow in Kings Cross station.
"Will! Nico! Hi!" The sound of Hermione made the two look up and smile, opening up a little to walk over to her. She was with her parents, standing by a wall and waiting for a large group of people around them to pass. The married couple went to their younger friend, getting some peculiar looks from the group of mortals, they of course ignored them and Hermione leapt at them when she had the chance, getting a hug from the two.
"Do we go in here?" Will asked, pointing at the brick wall. They looked at it, watching as the mist hovered over the opening to a hidden train station in the wall. Hermione shrugged, unable to see the mist covering the wall. She hummed, walking over to it with her cart and slipping it through experimentally. The group of four followed her, her parents concerned and in awe at the gorgeous scarlet engine in front of them. They'd found the train. Letting Hermione say goodbye to her parents, the three got onto the train to find seats and put away their bags.
