In which Meg meets the exchange students.
Have you guys heard about Son of Sobek, the official PJ/KC crossover by Rick Riordan? I think I read that it comes out in May. I'm so excited.
Meg found herself glancing from Nico to the diadem.
"What?" Which in American meant "Would you repeat that?".
"I said a fragmented soul. Just like the diary in second year." Nico said eying it wearily, as if it would posses him again.
"That tiara thing is Tom." He said simply.
Meg blue screened. She rebooted. "Wait, wait, wait, if Tom is a person, a diary, and a diadem, what else is he? And how can a Horacrux be a fragmented soul?" She said standing up.
Nico shrugged then answered. "If you do enough evil, like kill a whole lot of people like Tom did, you can split your soul and store a piece in an object. That's a Horacrux." He picked himself off the ground went over to the diadem and kicked it as far away as possible. Meg lost sight of it.
"Whats the point of making even one? He basically ripped up his soul to make them!" Meg said. Nico scowled again. Meg felt a bit worried.
"The goal is to avoid Thanatos. You can't go to the underworld if your soul is incomplete or in several different places." Nico said. "One guy tied his soul to a very large and famous diamond before it was even famous. Eventually his body deteriorated and his entire soul was stuck in a freaking diamond. His soul was so malicious it cursed anyone who touched it. Lot of people think a cult or something is the reason everything goes wrong after you touch it. Thanatos is still working on that Horacrux and it's been over a century."
Meg looked at him. "Oookaay. Moving on. Do you need help getting to your common room?" She asked. He shook his head. "I'll be fine." He said and he walked out of the room.
Meg followed but looked back in the direction of the diadem. It was now sitting on the table as if put there. She shivered and closed the door.
The first week went by quickly, with fake predictions in Divination, Nico being abnormally pale after his DADA class, and Hermiome starting a civil rights movement for house elves.
Nothing happened for a while until October. Why was it always October when things began to get out of hand?
Moody had decided to use the Imperious curse on Meg's entire class. Malfoy shouted about it not being legal and had been the first to go. He danced around the room singing scores from "Heidi", Crabbe did a very graceful swan lake and Prada thought it was the zombie apocalypse.
Soon enough it was Meg's turn. As soon as the spell hit her she felt like she was floating. Nothing to worry about. Everything was happy, she was happy. The world was a beautiful place.
Yeah a beautiful place that stole your dad, and forced you to take part in a bloody war. Said a sarcastic voice she couldn't ignore.
Your a seal! Be happy! Said Moody's voice.
But the illusion was already breaking. She saw Nico summon an art of soldiers with his father. Percy fighting Kronos. That Titan that turned into a tree.
She blinked.
"Your a seal!" Hissed the teacher.
She blinked again.
"A seal!" Roared Mad-Eye.
In her mind, Meg smiled scowled. She didn't really like seals.
"No, I'm Meg." She said slowly, as if talking to a small child. "Your the seal. Not me." If only she was Piper, then she would have used charm speak to actually convince him he was a seal.
Mad-Eye, which to Meg seemed like a wrestling name, looked surprised then satisfied.
"You see? Damn it, she beat the Imperious, something even grown wizards have failed to do." He said to the class. "Your a bunch of pansies, watch closely, you see it in the eyes. What is your name girl?" He asked with both of his eyes focusing on her.
"Megan, Sir. Megan Thorn." She said nervously. Fidgeting under the gaze of his strange mismatch eyes. "I'm in Slytherin." She said stating the obvious.
"Twenty points to Slytherin." He announced returning to cursing the class.
"As you know, next year you will all be taking O.W.L.s. I'm here to help you, if you need any help you simply have to ask." Said Prof. Shorty before class ended.
Nico caught up to her in the halls. "You won't believe what happened earlier. That crazy teacher cast spells on us!" He said. Meg nodded. "Yep, he did that in my class, too."
"He told me to be my grandmother." He said simply. Meg giggled. She never thought she'd hear about Nico acting like Demeter. "I can't see it." She admitted. "You praising cereal and farm work, I mean." He laughed and said, "I know right?" And walked off.
Meg gathered on the grounds with Nico, Harry, Ron, and Hermione when the two schools came.
The sun was setting as they stood there shifting to get a better view of the school.
Dumbledore said something but it was drowned out quickly by shouts of "Where?" "There!" And "Your standing on my foot!"
Meg squinted at a smudge on her glasses, only to be a bit surprised when it got bigger and clearer.
Unable to get the words out she grabbed Nico's shoulder and began to shake it and point at the approaching Pegasus drawn carriage.
Dennis said something about flying houses as Nico followed her finger to the very large carriage.
As it came in for the landing the first three or so rows of student backed up suddenly and Meg got crammed between Nico and Penelope Clearwater.
She cursed under her breath as her glasses almost fell off her face. Fixing them she watched pegasii with hoofs the size of dinner plates land.
The carriage was the size of a house but the huge woman who came out was as big than an monster truck. Or Hagrid, which ever you prefer. She was followed by normal sized girls dressed in light blue. Obviously it was a girls only school. She didn't see any guys but the guy with the steps.
The woman walked up to Dumbledore. Meg wished she could hear what was going on but to do that she'd have to squeeze out of the crowd of people. She heard something about horses drinking single malt wine as she escaped the huge mob.
She found herself by the lake. Oddly enough, it was beginning to bubble as if boiling. The giant squid was swimming in the far end of the lake as if sensing something.
"Hey guy!" She called. "Look at the lake! The lake" she yelled. Lee Jordan echoed the called with his loud voice.
Meg watched a large whirlpool appear in the middle of the lake. And rising from the ink black water came a mast and it's rigging. Meg knew what rigging looked like, she'd seen the Argo II.
Soon enough a very large ship stood proudly in the lake. The students emerged covered in heavy furs. They were all boys.
Dumbledore greeted the headmaster of the ship's school too. He was wearing even more heavy furs. But even more mentionable was the student standing to his left. It was none other than Viktor Krum the Bulgarian quidditch player.
Everyone around her gasped a screamed trying to get Viktor's attention. He ignored them.
Soon after the teachers were herding the students back in. Meg looked around for her friends. Draco's light hair stuck out in bright contrast to the sea of black cloaks. And Draco was always following Harry like a stalker so Meg headed his way.
Pushing past Ernie Macmillan she reached her destination. "Hey Draco." She started getting his attention. "What Thorn? Want me to tell you where your boyfriends are?" He and his goons laughed.
Meg rolled her eyes and kicked Draco in the shin. Hard. He yelled out. "Oww! Why would you do that?" He whined.
She scoffed. "Just tell me where they are." He scowled. "How would I know where they are?" She deadpanned. "Cause you like, stalk Potter." His flared up with offence. "W-what?"
Tired of the conversation Meg walked off, leaving his offended.
Eventually she found Nico, who had been looking for her, and they came to the great hall. The Russian guys sat at the Slytherin table and when they saw her everyone tried to make room for her to sit. At the same time Cedric walked up to her.
"Hey Meg, looks like you have some admirers." He said gesturing towards the Drumstick students. Meg shrugged. "Whatever. How are you Cedric?" She asked.
"I'm great. I'm going to enter the Triwizard Tournament for Hogwarts. I'm going tomorrow morning, first thing." He said smiling brightly. Meg couldn't help but smile too. Justin called for Cedric to come celebrate. He cleared his throat. "I've got to go. Later Meg." He said and jogged back to his table.
Nico shifted his weight obviously upset for being left out of the conversation. Meg immediately felt embarrassed and guilty. "I'm sorry Nico." She said.
"It's fine." He grumbled. Meg grabbed his hand. "Then lets go get some grub." She said and practically dragged him to his own table, leaving the guest students confused.
As Meg and Nico shared jokes about the new students Harry and Ron were talking about the Triwizard Tournament.
Meg saw the French girls at the Ravenclaw table were looking rather bored at the enchanted ceiling, floating candles, and golden plates. Meanwhile the big blokes were taking off their heavy furs and looking amazed at everything. It was like they were trying to see everything at once.
"Good evening ladies and gentlemen, ghosts and - most particularly - guests." Said Dumbledore calling all attention to him. "I have great pleasure in welcoming you to Hogwarts. I hope and trust that your stay here will be both comfortable and enjoyable."
A foreign student suppressed laugher. Hermione scowled and mumbled about how no one was making them stay.
Soon after food appeared on the plates. There was so many different kinds of food Meg was surprised there wasn't any sushi.
Meg watched the laughing girl from earlier walk up and remove her muffler. Long platinum blonde hair fell across her shoulders and dazzling blue eyes shone as she leaned over Nico's left shoulder and looked Ron in the eye. She was way to pretty to be a normal human.
"Excuse me, are you wanting the -" the next words out of the French girl's mouth sounded like another language. Nico was startled by her sudden appearance. "Bless you." He said in response with a stupid expression on his face.
Harry leaned over to Nico. "It's the meat."
"Oh."
"Yeah, it was excellent." Said Ron before handing her the dish. She walked off.
"She's a Veela!" He said suddenly. Nico nodded and began blinking himself out of his earlier stupor before something caught his attention.
"Hey Meg. I'm not much into the Wizarding world thing but, people don't usually put out chairs for nothing do they?" Nico whispered pointing at two extra chairs at the staff table. Just then Mr. Bagman and Mr. Crouch came in and sat down. Meg stared for a second before deciding what to do.
"Well. I guess that answers that question." She said simply.
"The moment has come." Said Dumbledore smiling. "The Triwizard Tournament is about to start. I would like to saw a few words of explanation before we bring in the casket-"
"The what?" Harry muttered. Nico gave him a your am idiot look. "A casket isn't always a coffin. It can be a box too."* And just as he finished the sentence a jewel encrusted box was carted out to the dais.
"Just to clarify the procedure that we will follow this year. First let me introduce, for those who don't know them, Mr. Bartemius Crouch, head of International Magical Cooperation," Cue small burst of polite applause. "and Mr. Ludo Bagman, head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports." Cue a ton more claps for him. Meg just clapped politely for both of them.
Dumbledore droned of for a few sentences before most of the students attention sharpened when the word "champion" was uttered. Nico was paying attention but Meg wasn't. She saw professor wrestler staring at her distinct area. Not at her but someone near here.
Suddenly the room was almost silent like no one was breathing.
"As you know three champions compete in the tournament. One from each of the participating schools. They will be marked on how well they perform each of the Tournaments tasks and the champion with the highest total after task three will be awarded the Triwizard Cup." To Meg this was all review seeing as Lou Ellen told stories of them. "The champions will be chosen by an impartial selector: the Goblet of Fire."
Dumbledore tapped his wand atop the large wooden box and the lid slowly opened. Too slow for a pair of demigods with ADHD. Dumbledore reached inside and pulled out a crudely made wooden cup filled to the brim with ever burning blue-white flames.
"Where in my father did they get Prometheus' fire? I'll bet my sword that's Prometheus' fire." Said Nico.
The headmaster told the students that the Goblet of Fire would be placed in the entry hall. Dumbledore announced that he would draw an age circle around the cup that would prevent teachers and lower classed students from entering. The names would be called out during the Halloween Feast the next day.
They were allowed to mingle. The foreign boys hit on Meg and she turned them all down. It seemed word on Nico's being the Ghost King had finally gotten around as all of the ghosts in the school wanted to talk to him. Besides Peeves of course. All in all a decent time.
But good things don't last.
"Look at di Angelo. He likes ghosts more than he likes people! It cause he doesn't have any friends!" Laughed Malfoy obviously trying to make a joke for the guests. A few of the candles were snuffed out tendrils of shadows.
"Shut the bloody hell up Malfoy!" Shouted Meg stepping in.
"Look! Now he's hiding behind his girlfriend." Taunted Malfoy. Many people laughed.
Faster than Meg could react, Nico had taken a short steps for a demigod, but a few leaps to a human, forward and punched Malfoy in the face. Malfoy immediately fell to the ground due to the blow and Nico spat at him.
"Who's the tough guy now?" Nico said.
"Mr. di Angelo!" Roared the moody DADA teacher angrily. "Detention with me tonight, right before lights out at my office. Your gonna help me with my patrol tonight."
To anyone else it would have been Hades. But Nico would think it was a load of bull. He could sense things in the darkness, he didn't have night vision but the shadows knew exactly where things were. It would be a cake walk for Nico.
He shrugged. Malfoy ran off to probably tell Snape but that didn't concern Meg. She ended up hanging out with Nico at the DADA room.
"Seriously that guy is so moody. He needs a, what's it called? A chill pill. He needs a chill pill." Nico said.
"I know right. But at least he's experienced in his line of work." Meg said. Nico nodded. "I still don't trust him, I mean look at our luck, couple it with Harry's and bad things are bound to happen."
"Yeah your right. Think we lost those Russian dudes?" Meg asked peering in the direction of the Great Hall.
"Yeah. Pretty sure." Said Nico. He scowled. "Professor Grumpy pants is coming."
"Well this is what you get for hitting a student." She said. Nico scowled again. "But you've punched Malfoy plenty of times." He pointed out.
Meg's mind drew a blank. "I guess it's because there wasn't any teachers. Either that or it's because it wasn't around guests." Meg said after a second of thinking.
Nico stood up as Professor Paranoid entered the room. "Ah. You knew I was coming. That's constant vigilance that is! Ah Miss Thorn, didn't see you at the feast so I thought you'd be with Mr. di Angelo. I'd much rather do my rounds alone butch this complicated very little, let's be off di Angelo." He said, his blue eye whizzing around before getting stuck. He gave it a little push and it began to whir around once more. "Off to bed with you."he said to Meg.
Meg walked through the hallways in apparently the same route as Nico and Prof. Paranoid were going on. Meg watched Dumbledore set down the age line and walk off to bed before she and Nico parted ways.
"Hope you get some sleep tonight." She said. Nico gave a small smile.
She turned away towards her dormitories, but what she didn't see it hear was the professor using a sleeping charm before placing a scrap of paper into the Goblet.
The paper scrap read Harry Potter, Camp Half-Blood.
The plot thickens!
*when I first wrote Nico's line I forgot the t So it came out "I can be a box too." Lol!
JediJeff suggested 'The Flaming cup of Prometheus' as the title of the fic.
I suggested just 'The Flame of Prometheus'
Review to tell us which one you want!
-Tomboy