Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Percy Jackson; they belong to their respective authors. I thank anyone who reviewed, favorited, or followed this story and I hope you all enjoy this chapter!

Severus waited for the moon to rise high in the sky, and for his parents to fall within the depths of sleep. He listened to the silence that seemed to lay thickly on the house, waiting for a noise that would imply otherwise. Quickly realizing that he had waited long enough, he snuck out of the house once more, like many times before.

It was a simple matter to shadow traveled from the house, and to the silent cemetery that was quickly becoming his home. Away from the cold house that held no ties to him. Like any other time he had come, Asellus stood in front of his grave, the usually grin on his face, that seemed to disappear at Severus' appearance, much to his confusion.

"I see your back again. Coming nearly every night can't be healthy. You're probably running on magic, and I mean that literally." said Asellus, staring at the dark rings that seemed to have appeared around Severus' dark eyes.

Severus rolled his eyes. "It's nothing to worry about, I do find time to sleep, so their nothing to worry about. It's just Tobias waking me up after a hard day of work, or should I say drinking. It'll calm down once school starts up again."

Asellus scowled at that. Not liking the fact that a possible younger brother was stuck with a blood traitor, and a muggle of all things. If he wasn't dead he would be taking Severus away from them, and taking him within the wings of the Blacks, to be raised as a pureblood wizard.

Perhaps sensing such thoughts, Severus smiled. "Its fine, I did the meditation you mentioned a few times before. It was an interesting experience. I felt my magic and even another source of power."

"Ah, yes the meditation, a good base will help you in the future." Asellus responded, breaking his current tangent. "Especially some of the magic studies that I hope to teach you in time. To be honest, I thought meditation was an absolutely bore. I was totally pants at it." finished Asellus with a wistful smile, remembering all the times his family tried to teach him, and ultimately failing. At least until an estranged uncle popped up.

"Anyway, I want you to promise me you'll get some sleep after you leave here tonight. I don't want to see for a few days, as I'm giving you a break from training, at least after tonight. Tonight is the first training day."

Severus agreed, even though he didn't exactly want to.

"With that, let's call my adult duties done. Time to play!" Finished Asellus in a sing song voice, a maniacal smile stretched a crossed his face. Severus shuddered; suddenly weary of his self appointed tutor.

At that Asellus power seemed to stretch across the graveyard. The darkness growing heavy with each passing second, most of it focused on a single grave. From the grave came a bone white skeleton, a dusting of dark dirt falling to the ground from its movement. Tendrils of shadows stretched across the surface, pooled within its hollows. Despite an empty face, a smile stretched across its face. One that bare a striking resemblance to Asellus own crazy smile.

Severus jumped to the side, following a feeling that made no sense. Only for his eyes to widen in surprise, a bone white blade appearing where he had one stood. He quickly realized that if he hadn't moved, he would have been impaled by the flying sword.

"I summon a skeleton warrior in attack mode, attack!" yelled Asellus, his hands waving an imaginary sword.

The skeleton picked up the flying sword, mimicked the same movement.

Severus rolled behind a towering grave, missing the swinging blade once more. "What in the hell is wrong with you! That could have killed me!"

"Neh, don't be such a baby. If it's your time to go, it's your time to go. Besides I said I was going to train you, and if I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it right."

He moved away from the grave marker, just as the skeleton sliced the marker in to two with ease.

"Where in the bloody hell, did the sword come from." mumbled Severus as he continued dodging the sword. When he couldn't completely avoid the sword, he would gain a cut in return. He continued dodging, using the taller graves as obstacles, trying to put some space between him and the skeleton. The skeletons hardly notice, as it's jumping and cutting abilities easily cleared the way.

Even as Severus dodged, he continued to analyze his opponent. No matter what he thought, he couldn't find a way to dispatch the skeleton with his current abilities, which were nearly nonexistent.

Without realizing it, the skeleton managed to get behind him. He noticed the blade from the corner of his eyes, and as he turned, everything seemed to slow down.

Severus froze, but his shadows did not.

They moved quickly, blocking the sword strike. Seeing the skeleton off balance, Severus tackled it. As it fell to the ground, Severus' hand brushed against something. Without really thinking about it, he grabbed it. Using it like bat, he smashed it into the skeleton, easily breaking it into a dozen pieces. He could only stare dumbly, as the skeleton faded back into the ground. Leaving a dirt covered Severus behind.

Hearing clapping, Severus turned around, his weapon held high. Only to see the Asellus' transparent face, with another smile on his face.

"You did pretty well. No serious wounds by the look of things."

Severus merely glared.

"Well it's true. You even managed to tap into one of your other abilities, I think."

Severus followed Asellus' eyes to his so called weapon. Only for his eyes to widen in shock at the sight of the bone he held in his hand. He dropped it in horror.

"What's with you?"

"It's a bone." said Severus in horror, his voice in a mere whisper.

"So?"

"So, so, it's disrespectful! I probably awakened a vengeful ghost! Oh forgive me spirit, I meant no harm. I thank you for you help in preserving my life, and if you wished to blame anyone. Blame the ghost of Asellus Black." Said Severus as he continued muttering apologies, to the femur bone of someone buried in the graveyard. Asellus could only watch in confusion.

"What's the big deal? It's just a bone."

"Just a bone to you maybe! I read enough stories to know that when messing with the final resting place of someone, that you can awaken their spirits. I don't want to deal with a vengeful ghost of all things."

"The ghost has long since moved on. It's hardly going to bother you of all people anyways. Our bloodline keeps us pretty safe from such things, if anything the spirit would more than likely flee. It's why I'm the only ghost in this graveyard, despite the many graves."

"Oh" said Severus as he stared at Asellus in surprise, even as he returned to staring at the bone. Being unsure of what to do, but knowing that he didn't want to leave the bone out to the elements, Severus looked at Asellus, begging with his eyes. For the first time, Asellus rolled his eyes in Severus presence, as he sent the bone back to its resting place.

"Is there anything else I can do for you before we move onwards?" asked Asellus, his tone leaking sarcasm.

Severus smiled. "Nope but thanks. I know you believe what you said, but there's always a first time for anything."

"Whatever, you did a great job. For a minute there I thought you would fall back onto your shadows."

"What was up with that anyways? I don't think throwing me into a battle is a way to teach, unless you want me to join you in the afterlife. I swear if I were to die because of you, I would make you life miserable. I would become a limpet, a stalker."

"While I would love the company, you would be a wrench in my plans. Quite a few female ghosts quite enjoy my presence you know." Severus scowled, "And besides it the best way to train for us. We learn quicker under pressure." finished Asellus.

"I see." said Severus not quite agreeing, but not really disagreeing either.

"So far you've unlocked your shadow abilities, and a bit of bone manipulation." Asellus said, counting the abilities on his fingers. "So that leaves magic and maybe some of our other abilities that come from our bloodline. Some you may or may not have, so we'll probably leave those alone for now."

"Magic? Isn't there an underage rule, and don't I need a wand?"

Asellus waved the concern away. "Not necessary. There are other mediums which could be used, and there is wandless magic. It's rare but that mostly due to wizards throwing the old ways out and being lazy bastards. There's also the fact that many don't give thanks to Hecate. She may be a colorful goddess, but she doesn't go giving her gifts willy nilly."

"Hecate?"

"The Greek goddess of Magic, though a minor goddess, she is a powerful one. She is the one who gave us wizards our magic in the first place."

Severus frowned. "So I should follow Hecate ways, like praying to her and stuff?"

"Ah…" Asellus wasn't exactly sure how to answer that. Sure he prayed, but it had always been to his father that his thanks had been given too. If you could call what he does praying. He wasn't exactly sure his father cared about such things. It never really came up. "I guess you could follow Hecate's ways, but make sure you give thanks to Hades, the Greek god of the Underworld. Most of our abilities come from him, and I wouldn't want to you to disrespect him. We do end up in his domain, once our time in this world is over."

"You speak as if the gods are real."

"They are. If magic can exist, then it isn't really a stretch that the gods exist too."

Severus nodded at the logic, if you could call it logic.

"Seeing as our time is almost out, I think I'll give you a few assignments to keep you out of my hair for a while. There is a lovely lady who had just passed on, and I want to show her the ropes of a ghostly life. If she gives me her thanks, than who am I to stop her." said Asellus with a goofy grin that quickly faded as he continued. "I want you to continue with bone manipulation and maybe use your shadows a bit more. Increase your endurance while using them, as they can become exhausting overtime. Like many new abilities. I would also like you to experiment with your magic."

Severus nodded.

"Let's see, I also want you to look up Greek mythology. As I told you that they are real, you might want to have a general idea of what you might end up dealing with because of our bloodline. As I said I'd give you a few days off, I don't want you coming here for a few days, though I know you're going to have to come around eventually. Especially for your bone manipulation training, but if you come before those few days are up, I will know and your punishment wont be pretty."

"I understand."

"Good, you best get going. Apollo will be on his way in a bit."

Severus pooled his shadows around him, prepared to travel away, but he stopped as a question from earlier came to the forefront. It was something he had been wondering for awhile now.

"How do you still have your abilities?" asked Severus "You're dead." finished Severus bluntly.

Asellus the smiling maniac gave another wide smile followed by a thumb up. "I'm just awesome like that!" was his annoying reply.

Severus rolled his eyes which was quickly becoming a habit around Asellus. Seeing as his question wouldn't be answered today, he continued pooling his shadows. With a quick demand he shadow traveled straight to his bedroom. Uncaring if he woke his parents up, a little earlier than usual.

Most of his thoughts were on the assignment that Asellus had assigned him. He thought that training his abilities were great, and he even found himself interested in the Greek gods. Just hearing about Hecate brought a warm feeling that he usual, only felt around Asellus. Even if he felt that the ghost was an idiot more than half of the time.

Though he would admit, he was disappointed that he wouldn't be able to visit the cemetery anytime soon.

Please review! ^_^