Harry
"Is your teacher supposed to be dead?"
Harry glanced up, distracted, from where he was trying to catch Ron's eye across the classroom.
"What? Oh, yeah," he replied, vaguely, "Binns is always like that."
A wicked grin spread across Nico's face, "Guys, I got this." He headed straight for the teacher's desk.
"At least we won't have any trouble convincing him to hand over his class," Annabeth said, as brightly as she could manage.
"What do you-"
Nico muttered something to the professor, who immediately began snoring softly in his chair. The son of Hades smirked and gestured for his friends to join him at the front of the room, leaving Harry alone with Hermione at their usual desk. The empty chair beside them was a painful reminder of Ron's absence.
The demigods' first lesson was more important than ever, since Rita Skeeter had published her interview with Percy. The article, titled "Demigod Delusions, the Inside Scoop on Hogwarts' Latest Students," had turned them into a laughing stock… And Harry couldn't deny that he was curious. He hardly knew anything about his newest (and fast becoming only) friends, except that they seemed to trust him without reason.
"Hey," Annabeth started. Hermione sat up straighter, but the rest of the room continued talking, oblivious, "HEY!" Her voice echoed, slightly, as Harry's classmates fell silent, "So, Dumbledore has asked us to teach you a little bit about our world. I know that some rumours have been going around saying that we're all, well… crazy. Today, we're going to prove them wrong."
Doubtful glances were exchanged around the room. Many wizards had been quick to disregard the demigods' story and seemed reluctant to change their minds.
"We're going to start at the beginning, with the primordial god, Chaos, who-"
"This school is in chaos," snorted Seamus, "Imagine, Dumbledore actually believing these-"
"Actually, Annabeth," Percy interrupted loudly, glaring at the Irish wizard, "I think we should start at the end, with the most recent stuff."
"Um, okay," she said, seemingly a little miffed that her boyfriend had ignored her carefully-thought-out lesson plan, "We'll start with the Second Giant War."
Hermione gasped, "The Second Giant War?"
Harry leant forward, as Percy described their quest across Europe to destroy the Gaia, the goddess of the earth, capturing goddesses and facing down ballet-dancing giants. Nico spoke quietly about his journey through Tartarus – alone – and being captured and how, just when he'd been rescued, Percy and Annabeth fell into literal hell themselves.
Finally, the bell rang, shattering the wizards' spellbound silence. Harry and Hermione waited for the demigods after class.
"That was…" Hermione clutched three feet of parchment's worth of notes to her chest, "Fascinating."
Percy grinned, though he seemed a little out of it. Harry cleared his throat, awkwardly. What was he supposed to say? "Did you get any pictures while you were down in hell?" "What were the tourist accommodations like?"
"There's a Hogsmeade visit, this Saturday," Hermione said, eventually, "Do you guys want to come?"
"Sure!" Will agreed, "but, uh… what's a Hogsmeade?"
Will
"…Only entirely non-muggle settlement in Great Britain," Hermione was saying as they wandered out of Zonko's Joke Shop.
For the first time since Camp Half-Blood's destruction, Will felt truly at ease, with his arm slung around Nico's shoulders. Paolo Montes was chatting enigmatically to Nico in Portuguese, a language the son of Hades only half understood, while Will's boyfriend, apparently determined to keep up Cabin 13 appearances, was sucking on a blood-flavoured lollipop from Honeydukes, looking politely bemused.
The others formed a throng around them, staring in wonder at the cobbled streets and crooked shopfronts. Harry had flat-out refused to come, probably to avoid unwanted attention since Skeeter's scathing article on the demigods had been coupled with a detailed biography of Harry's life, deeming him a cry-baby and an attention-seeker.
Suddenly, Paolo cried out, dropping his Zonko's bag of dungbombs, dispersing the pack of wizards and demigods with the stench of rotten eggs.
"What happened?" Percy asked, his borrowed Gryffindor scarf wrapped around his nose.
"He says, "Look! A flying lollipop!"" Nico translated, weakly.
Will stared at his boyfriend, "What?"
Nico shrugged, pointing across the road through a gap in the crowds where the sweet treat was visible, hovering, as though floating on the breeze.
"Uh, Hermione…" he coughed, "Is that normal?"
The witch's eyes narrowed, "I have to go do… something. Oh, look, the Three Broomsticks!" she feebly enthused, pushing them towards a nearby pub, "Buy me a Butterbeer, will you?"
"What's going on with her?" Annabeth wondered aloud, watching Hermione hurry off through the crowds. When no one answered, she sighed, "Oh, well. I guess we better wait for her inside."
The Three Broomsticks appeared to be a favourite hangout of the Hogwarts students, as Will recognised many faces from school. The bar looked freshly scrubbed, gleaming in the light of the roaring fire. Everyone looked cheerful and relaxed. From a nearby table, Lou Ellen gave him a jolly wave, nudging Chiara Benvenuti, the other Ravenclaw demigod, to do the same. Over by the door, Miranda Gardiner was trading Chocolate Frog cards with two other Hufflepuffs across from where Damien and Sherman were challenging the Slytherins to arm-wrestling.
"Six… butterbeers, please," Annabeth asked the barmaid, politely. She began weaving through the crowd, leading the group to the table where Lou Ellen and Chiara were sitting.
The benches were short, and Nico leant into Will to make room for the others. Will smiled, enjoying the warmth of his body against his.
"I'm worried," Lou Ellen admitted, "It's starting to feel like nobody believes us."
"We had a really good History of Magic lesson," Annabeth said, reassuringly, "And Harry and his friends are on our side."
"No offence to him but Harry doesn't really have that many friends right now," Nico pointed out, slurping his butterbeer.
"Hey, guys?" Percy frowned, "Didn't Hermione ask us to buy her a drink?"
"Yeah, Seaweed Brain, why?"
"Because she's sitting over there…"
The demigods turned to stare not-so-subtly at Hermione who sat alone in the corner, an empty chair beside her. Will tried to catch her eye, but her gaze was fixed steadfastly on a notebook in her lap, her lips moving.
"Is she talking to herself?" Chiara asked.
"Maybe she's reading?"
"Her eyes aren't moving," Annabeth noted, "C'mon, lets go talk to her."
Percy, Will and Nico followed her across the room to Hermione's table. Her eyes widened as she spotted them.
"Hey, Hermione. Mind if we sit?"
"No!" she cried, her face scrunching in panic, "I mean… there aren't enough seats! I'll come sit with you."
"It's alright, we don't want to disturb you," Annabeth looked at her strangely, "Are you okay?"
"What? Oh, yes! I'm fine!"
Will examined the chair beside Hermione, an idea coming together in his mind. When it did, he had to fight the urge to laugh – it was rare he figured things out before his friends, especially Annabeth.
"Hermione, who's in the chair?"
"What?"
"Who's invisible in the chair?"
She bit her lip, "Oh, alright then! It's Harry."
"Hermione!" the exasperated whisper came from nowhere.
Percy grinned, "It's okay, we won't say anything. Come join us?"
They returned to the table, careful to pull out an extra chair for Harry.
"What's that?" Will questioned, pointing at Hermione's notebook.
Her eyes lit up. A groan escaped the empty space Harry was occupying. "It's for the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare. S.P.E.W for short!"
"Spew?" Nico frowned quizzically.
Hermione ignored him. "Do you want to join?" she asked Will, hopefully.
"Uh… sure?"
"Look, it's Hagrid!" said Harry, eager to change the subject.
Sure enough, Hagrid's enormous shaggy head loomed over the crowds. At the table beside him sat Professor Moody, drinking deeply from his hipflask. Moody's magical eye settled on the chair beside Will, where Harry was sitting. The professor leaned up and tapped Hagrid on the small of his back – being unable to reach his shoulder – and gestured to the corner where they were. He muttered something in Hagrid's ear. The giant beamed, and they began making their way across the pub towards them.
"Nice cloak, Potter," Will heard Moody mutter as he leaned in on the pretence of reading Hermione's S.P.E.W notebook.
"Harry, meet me tonight at midnight at me cabin," Hagrid whispered, quietly enough that only a demigod would be able to hear, "Wear that cloak."
Straightening up, Hagrid said loudly, "Nice ter see yeh, Hermione," winked, and departed. Moody followed him.
"Why does he want me to meet him at midnight?" Harry said, confused.
"He does?" said Hermione, "But, Harry, you might be late for – you know – at one."
Harry opened his mouth like he wanted to say something but stopped, glancing guiltily at the demigods, and closed it again. Hermione cast him a worried look and quickly made an excuse to leave, dragging Harry out by his wrist.
"We'll see you guys later," he said, apologetically.
Will exchanged a wide-eyed glance with his boyfriend.
"What was that all about?" he asked, baffled.
Mischief glinted in Nico's beetle-black eyes.
"I don't know… but we're going to find out."
Harry
Later that night, Harry hurried back to the common room, wrapped in his Invisibility Cloak. It was a warm night, but Harry was shivering and not just with the anticipation of speaking to Sirius for the first time in months; He'd just seen what was coming in the First Task and he wasn't sure if he was glad or not.
At least the shock was over. He might not pass out cold in front of the entire school now. But without the element of surprise, he was left with nothing except throat-constricting terror and a leaden sense of dread.
In three days, he would be facing a fifty-foot-high, scaly, spike-ridden, fire-breathing dragon. And with everyone watching, he had to get past it. How?
Sirius. He sped up. He couldn't remember ever wanting to talk to someone more than he did right now.
Harry was soon out of breath as he rushed up the marble stairs, but he didn't slow down, he had less than five minutes to get up to the fire and he couldn't bear the thought of missing the one 'o'clock deadline.
The common room was deserted, the flames the only source of light and, nestled among them, was Harry's godfather's head.
"Sirius!" He managed to suppress his yelp of surprise, throwing himself on the rug in front of the fire, "How are you?"
"Never mind me, how are you?"
He tried to say, "I'm fine," but the words stuck in his throat. Before he knew what he was doing, he was talking more than he had in weeks – about Skeeter and the demigods and the dragons – and about Ron, Ron not believing him, Ron's jealousy.
"Listen, Harry," Sirius' gaze was full of concern, "I don't have much time. These demigods – are you sure you can trust them?"
Harry hesitated, "I-yes, I'm sure."
Sirius did not look so convinced, "It seems to me that whoever put your name in the Goblet of Fire – whether it was one of Voldemort's followers or a demigod – is trying to kill you. I can't help thinking the Tournament would be a very good way of attacking you and making it look like an accident."
"It won't be very hard," Harry observed, bleakly, "They'll just have to stand back and let the dragons do their thing."
"Right – these dragons," Sirius stopped, alarmed, "Is someone with you?"
"What? No!"
He scowled, "I thought I heard- never mind. There is a way, a simple spell. Just-"
But Harry held up a hand to silence him. He could hear what Sirius must have – footsteps, down the spiral staircase. Drawing closer to Harry's godfather, and Harry knew that if anyone saw Sirius' face within the walls of Hogwarts, all hell would break loose.
"Someone's coming!" he hissed, "Go!"
Sirius vanished with a barely audible pop, leaving Harry alone with his thoughts and, a few moments later, a very disgruntled Ron…
Nico
"We shouldn't be doing this," Will fretted.
"Ssshh!" Nico silenced his boyfriend, pressing his finger against Will's lips, making the son of Apollo grin, despite himself.
If he felt any guilt about spying on Harry and his mysterious visitor, it was quickly squashed by the relief he felt at having an excuse to stay up. His nightmares had been getting worse, recently. Some, he spoke about with Will, but others Nico preferred to keep to himself – namely, the ones with Bianca and the strange boy… Tom Riddle.
"Sirius!" They heard Harry yelp. Nico crept forward, peeking around the curved wall of the stairwell. Harry was crouched down in front of the fire but there was no sign of the elusive, "Sirius." Nico blinked – had the young wizard finally cracked?
"I don't have much time," the fire spoke, startling the demigod, "These demigods – are you sure you can trust them?"
"What's going on?" Will whispered as Nico edged back toward him, "Is someone there?"
Nico shook his head, "I think it's some kind of iris-message. He's asking Harry if he trusts us."
Will's brow furrowed, "And what's he saying?"
Nico gestured for him to listen. They both flattened themselves against the wall, straining their ears to catch Harry's answer.
"I-yes, I'm sure."
Will smiled, relieved, "We should go," he said.
He nodded reluctantly, but as the demigods stood to leave, the son of Hades' foot snagged on Will's robe and he was sent sprawling forward.
"Di immortales!" he swore.
The couple froze. "Is someone with you?" they heard Harry's visitor ask.
"What? No!" Harry answered, hurt.
Will opened his mouth to say something, but Nico shook his head, heart suddenly pounding. He could hear footsteps approaching from above, trapping them in the stairwell.
"Someone's coming," he mouthed.
Will's eyed widened, "What do we do?"
"Hold on," Nico grabbed his boyfriend's shirt. Will realised what he was going to do, a moment before he did it...
"No!" Too late, Nico stepped back into the shadows, dragging his boyfriend with him.
They collapsed, breathless, on Nico's bed back in the Gryffindor boys' dorm.
"Sorry," Nico gasped, "I know I'm not supposed to-"
"Shut up," Will pulled Nico toward him, kissing him deeply, "I love you, Death Boy."
Nico heard shouting in the common room below, but he didn't care. Right then, he felt that the castle could burn to the ground and, so long as he had Will, he would be okay.
"I love you, too," he mumbled, surprised, "But if you ever call me Death Boy again, Sunshine…"
He let the threat hang.
Thanks again to everyone who reviewed - I love hearing your feedback! Keep letting me know what you think and remember to follow/favourite the story for more. Next update will be on Friday, have a great week!
TheLoungeRoom I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far! I was planning on including Cedric but my ideas for the story made him kind of redundant as a character and therefore there wasn't much point in including him in the story (but at least he survives TGOF!). I don't want to spoil anything so you'll just have to keep reading to see what I mean ;)