Clang. Chunk. Thud. The Hearth was like the practice field back at camp. The furniture was charmed to float in order to avoid being destroyed to say the least. Percy lunged forward and brought Riptide down to my shoulder. Instinctively, I raised Hayate up to block just before Riptide could hit me. Seeing my opening, I disarmed him using the technique Luke taught us during our first year at camp. Riptide flew from Percy's hand and clang unto the ground. Pointing Hayate at his neck, I panted, "Yield." Percy tensed as if he was about to leap out of the way but couldn't due to the fact that his back was to the wall. I smirked at him as his shoulders sagged in defeat.
I let him out and took a look around the room. Half of it was being used as an archery range and the other half was used for sword practice. I know, I know. You're thinking, "Isn't that dangerous though?" Well, my answer is that Lou Ellen used magic to make an invisible wall between the two sides to stop any stray arrows or to stop demigods from stepping into the range. Since Capture the Flag night was cancelled, we demigods decided to make Saturday our practice day. We might be in a wizard school that does no sports beside Quidditch, we still have to keep in shape throughout the year.
A few paces from Percy and me, Piper was owning Leo with Katoptris against his sword; Will and Thalia were having an archery contest to see who's better while the others were watching as said demigods shot an arrow after another. At the corner of my eye, I noticed Annabeth jogging towards us after she bettered Clarisse in their spar. "Who won?"
I answered cheekily, "The score now is 37-36 in favor of me." Only in single sword sparring were we able to be equal. In double sword sparring, however, I have a clear lead: 30-0. "That's twice in a row now, Perce. Are you going soft on me?"
Percy opened his mouth to reply but was interrupted by the shadows at our wall that thickened. A moment later, Nico di Angelo appeared. I sighed. "Is it really that hard to use a door, Nico?"
"I could," he replied. "But that's too long of a walk. Anyways, while I was roaming the castle, I had a run in with the 'Golden Trios.'" Nico draw quotation marks around the Golden Trios in the air. "They saw me talking to one of the ghosts here in the castle, Peeves I think, and over heard him calling me Lord. They asked me, well, more specifically Hermione confronted me, about that." I stared at him while Percy and Annabeth exchanged glances. "I told them off, and Ron started to 'threaten' me into telling them what they wanted to know. And by threatened, I meant them selling us out to the Headmaster."
My eyebrows disappeared into my hairline. "Really?" Nico nodded. I chuckled. "Wow.
"Luckily for me, McGonagall interrupted and told me that Dumbledore called me into his office," he continued.
"What did Dumbledore want?" asked Percy.
"So why did you call us here for?" asked Travis.
"Yeah," added Connor. "We were busy pranking first years with Fred and George." After having finish their training, the two went off to find the Weasley twins and prank others.
I rolled my eyes at them and looked around. The Hearth was now put back to place as the demigods sat around the fire for a meeting. Well, some stood including me.
"Nico has an announcement to make," said Annabeth.
Nico nodded and started, "Dumbledore called me into his office earlier and—"
"Oooohhh," said the Stoll brothers. "Nico was in troubleeee."
The people that sat beside them slapped the two doppelgangers upside the head. Nico nodded his thanks. "Thank you, Katie and Piper." The two girls inclined their heads. "As I was saying, Dumbledore called me into his office today and said that we should tell them our true heritage soon."
"So soon?" asked Lou Ellen.
"He also said that we should start training the wizards our ways of fighting."
"Tch! Good luck with that, Punk," scoffed Clarisse.
"What do you mean?" asked Will.
"I meant that these wizards aren't really that strong."
"And how would you know that?" acquired Percy.
"Because I had a fight with that Pansy girl. She annoyed me, so I punched her in the face."
"Oh yeah," said Nico. "I heard something about that."
"She retaliated by telling Snape what happened. I got away with it though," said Clarisse smugly.
"It's probably because Snape knows our secret," said Annabeth.
"Snape knows?" asked Will.
"Oops," I said. "I guess we forgot to mention that."
"How did he found out?" asked Leo as he was playing with pipe cleaners and a rubber band. He's seriously ADHD even by demigod standards.
"Anyways," said Nico after Annabeth explained. "Back to the point."
"What were we talking about again?" asked Percy.
I blinked at him. "Really?"
"ADHD remember?" I rolled my eyes at him.
"Back to the point please?" asked Annabeth.
As I watched them trying to get back to the task at hand (keyword: try), I felt eyes boring into my head. I looked out from the window that I was leaning against on and saw Draco staring at me. I gave him a grin and waved. He mimicked me. Thalia came over as she saw me waved and asked, "Whom are you waving to?" She stopped beside me and saw Draco. She frowned. "You do realize that his family are Death Eaters, right?" She must have noticed our friendliness towards each other.
I glared at her and snapped, "I know that! Don't you think that I don't?"
She gave me a sympathetic look. "Just be careful, okay?" I stiffened. Thalia and I both knew that she hadn't meant physically careful.
I looked away. As she walked off, I murmured to no one, "He's not that bad."
Christmas was quickly coming, and we demigods had gotten permission from Dumbledore to go back to America for the break. We planned to leave right after the Quidditch game between the Gryffindors and the Slytherins next Friday. Percy and I entered the Mess hall and walked towards Nico who was talking to Clarisse who looked like she was about to gut him and feed his remains to her father's pets. Draco was sitting a few seats away from them eating alone. I caught his eye and nodded slightly in a greeting in which he returned.
"Hey, Nico," Percy called.
He turned around, "Oh, hey Ariana, hey Percy. What's up?"
"Mom said that she's okay with you staying with us over break," I said. At the corner of my eye, I saw Draco's eye flashed for a second before it was gone, so I thought I was only imagining things.
"Really? Awesome!"
"You're staying with Princess and Prissy over break?" asked Clarisse.
"It's Percy," corrected my brother.
"Whichever."
"You know, if I hadn't known better, I bet you were Mr. D."
Clarisse stood up, indignant. "Take that back, Punk!"
"No," said Percy.
"Why you—"
"OH! Kay! So . . . what are your plans for Christmas, Clarisse?" I asked, quickly interrupting her, as she was getting ready to leap over the table and attack him.
Lips still in a snarl, she spat out, "I'm going back to camp away from this prissy right here." She stood up and left for her first class of the day.
I sighed and shook my head. "You really need to stop doing that, Percy. Someday, I'm sure, that that mouth of yours is going to be the end of you."
"I agree with her," said Nico before taking a sip from his orange juice.
"Yeah, well, that time hasn't come yet, so I'm not really worried about that," he said as he reached for a bagel.
"You know, if I hadn't known better, I would've assume that you and Clarisse like each other," I commented. Orange juice exploded out from Nico's mouth and nose as Percy choked on a piece of bagel that he stole from Nico. My brother began hitting his chest with his fist, while coughing.
I wrinkled my nose I disgust. "Ew, that's gross Nico."
He grabbed a napkin and wiped his nose and mouth with it. "Aw man! That burns!" Nico shut his eyes and hold his nose, as if to block the pain away. "What in Zeus's name were you thinking when you said that?" Thunder boomed in the distance. Nico and I rolled our eyes.
Percy managed to get that piece of bagel stuck in his trachea out and into his esophagus. "Yeah, sis. Seriously, I can't believe you even said that."
I hold my hands up in surrender. "I'm just stating my observations, alright? Sue me."
"I would," said Percy. "But I don't have the money to do that, and besides, I know I wouldn't win the case anyways. So, that would be just a waste of time and money."
I blinked. "Really Percy?" said Nico at the same time I said "Really Brother?"
"Well, you said to sue you and I just . . . never mind."
Nico stared at him as I shook my head. "I wonder about your mental capabilities sometimes, Percy," Nico commented.
"I'm with him on this one," I agreed. "Well, I better get something to eat before class starts."
Hey guys! I know it's late and all but Happy New Year! So yeah. This one is just a filler chapter because I felt like my story is going way too fast. So, I decided to space it out I guess. Oh! And before I forget, I changed Ariana's sword names; so instead of Amaya and Asami, it's Hayate and Tsunami. In that order. Over time, I realized that Amaya and Asami are rather an inappropriate name for swords. Anyways, feel free to leave comments and constructive criticisms, but please no flamers. I don't own Percy Jackson nor Harry Potter sadly. Au revoir!