Work Title: Nina's Destiny
Author: MeggieBlack
Summary: Growing up in Manhattan, Antonina Jackson was used to strange things. It hardly bothered her at all when she became friends with two, slightly odd twelve year olds. Almost nothing could catch her off guard, except maybe finding out she was a muggleborn witch, or that her dad's a Greek god. But what about when her two best friends turn out to be not so normal either? Born into three separate worlds Antonina needs to learn how to harness her magic while dealing with two different prophecies.
Main Pairing: Apollo/Antonina
Side Pairings: Lavender Brown/Perseus Jackson; Parvati Patil/Leo Valdez; Jason Grace/Piper McLean; Sirius Black/OC; Remus Lupin/Nymphadora Tonks; Frank Zhang/Hazel Levesque; Nico di Angelo/Will Solace (As more come up, I will add them)
Chapter Word Count: 1,734
Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Heroes of Olympus, or Harry Potter. They belong to their amazing authors. I do not own Steelheart. It is an awesome book by Brandon Sanderson that I suggest you all read along with its sequel Firefight. I do own Nina and everything else you do NOT recognize.
Revision Date: May 18, 2015
IMPORTANT NOTICE: PLEASE ALL OF MY REVIEWERS SIGN IN SO I CAN ADDRESS YOU ALL WHILE ANSWERING REVIEWS. IT GETS VERY CONFUSING WHEN JUST USING THE TERM GUEST. IF YOU DON'T HAVE AN ACCOUNT THAN CREATE A TEMPORARY NAME. THAT WOULD BE A HUGE HELP. THANK YOU!
Chapter Thirteen: The Sorcerer's Stone
The remainder of the year flew by for me. And soon enough, exams were upon us. They were fairly easy for me, but very long and tedious. My ADHD seemed to make the written portions drag on and on. The practical parts of the exams were much more entertaining.
It was the night after we had finished our last exam, Transfiguration, and I was sitting in the common room reading Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson. Mom had sent it to me a few weeks ago, but this was the first chance I had to read a book for pleasure rather than studying.
I was just getting into Chapter Four when Neville came down the stairs.
"Hello," I said softly, and Neville jumped slightly.
"Nina?" he asked. "What are you doing down here?"
"Reading," I answered, holding up my copy of Steelheart. I was about to ask Neville what he was doing, when three more people made their way down the stairs. Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
"You're sneaking out again," Neville said without bothering with any pleasantries.
"No, no, no," Hermione said, shaking her head vehemently. "No, we're not. Why don't you go to bed, Neville?"
"Why don't you stop talking to us like we're five, Hermione?" I retorted, standing up in front of my dorm mate.
"Nina, Neville," Harry pleaded, "this is really important."
"I won't let you do it," Neville said. He put his fists up. "I'll fight you."
"Oh, I'm so sorry, Neville," Hermione muttered, pulling out her wand. "Petrificus Totalus."
Neville dropped like a rock, and Hermione pointed her wand at me. I lifted mine up in retaliation.
"Don't even think about it," I snapped. "What are you three getting up to this time?" I remembered quite well the last time Hermione and Harry had snuck out. They had lost our House 100 points. And now, Hermione had just frozen Neville.
"Do you know about the Sorcerer's Stone?" Harry asked cautiously, checking the time on the grandfather clock behind him. It was nearing midnight.
"I've read a little about it in an alchemy book," I admitted. The Sorcerer's Stone was an incredible piece of magic that produced the elixir of life and could change anything inanimate into gold.
"Well, it's in the castle," Harry rushed out. "And it's about to be stolen, but none of the teachers believe us."
"And you think you can protect it yourselves?" I blanched. Harry and Ron both shrugged their shoulders.
"We have to try," Harry sighed, "but if we don't hurry it'll be too late."
"Fine," I grumbled, "but I'm so coming with you."
"Deal," Ron said before anyone could argue. "Now, let's go."
Harry produced a large cloak and covered us all in it, turning us invisible. I shuddered when we passed a mirror, and I couldn't see myself in the mirror. Being under the invisibility cloak would take a little getting used to. Quietly, we all snuck out of the common room.
When we reached the third floor corridor, the door was once again locked. Hermione pointed her wand at it and cast Alohomora. The door swung open, and we crept in, pulling off the invisibility cloak. We were immediately greeted by smelly dog breath coming from three different heads. A cerberus.
"Can anyone sing?" Ron asked nervously, edging away from the cerberus.
"I can," I said. I stepped forward as everyone else stepped back. A song came to my mind, almost like a memory from a long time ago. Percy and me, lying in a crib together, a dark-haired man with sea-green eyes leaning over us, singing a lullaby in a deep voice. The lyrics came without me even having to think about it.
Hush-a-bye, don't you cry,
Go to sleep my little baby.
When you wake you shall have
All the pretty little horses.
Black and bays, dapples, grays,
All the pretty little horses.
Hush-a-bye, don't you cry,
Go to sleep my little baby.
Hush-a-bye, don't you cry,
Go to sleep my little baby.
When you wake you shall have
All the pretty little horses.
By the time I finished singing, Hermione had just dropped through the trap door. As soon as my voice stopped, the cerberus started growling at me. Just as it lunged forward to bite me in half, I jumped through the trap door. I landed with a thud, something slimy squishing up around me. I managed to wiggle my arm enough to grab my wand and lift it above the slimy mess I had fallen into.
"Lumos," I muttered under my breath and a bright light protruded from my wand. As the light touched the thing, it slithered away. I knew what that was. "It's devil's snare, Hermione!" I shouted, slightly panicking. I really did not want to get strangled today.
"Relax," she called back, and I watched her sink through the vines of devil's snare, disappearing from view.
I relaxed like Hermione said, following her down. As I hit the ground, I gasped in pain. I could feel the bones in my ankle snapping. I collapsed to the ground, tears rolling prickling in my eyes.
"Nina," Hermione said, running to my side.
"Get Harry and Ron down," I grunted through the pain. "I've had worse." Much worse. From my step-father. Hermione squeezed my hand and looked up to the ceiling where we could see Harry and Ron's feet hanging down.
I grabbed the charm Morgan had said was for first aid. I thought of a splint and gauze and they appeared in my hand. I have to remember to thank him. I quickly set my foot and wrapped the gauze around it. Then, I wished for medical tape to keep it in place. When I was done, I held the medical tape and extra gauze and thought done. It disappeared in a flash, just like Morgan had said. I stood up and put some weight on my right leg, the one with the broken ankle. It hurt a lot, but it would support me. Harry and Ron had already fallen through. We walked, I limped, to the next room.
"What now?" Ron asked.
We all looked up at the keys flying around the room.
"We look for the right key," I said, gesturing at the keys and the brooms that were floating just a few feet above the ground. "Where there is a key, there has to be a lock."
"How do we know it's the right key?" Hermione asked nervously, looking up at the hundreds of keys floating above us.
"It'll be old-fashioned," I said. "Large, silver, just like the knob."
"Harry, Ron, and I will do the flying," Hermione said. "You shouldn't risk it with your ankle like that."
I nodded in agreement and moved to stand by the door as Hermione, Harry, and Ron kicked off from the ground. It only took Harry five minutes before he was able to locate the correct key. He grabbed it and came shooting at me, hand out reached and the other keys rocketing after him. I grabbed the key from his outstretched hand and stuck it in the lock, turning the key and swinging open the door.
I squeezed through the door and Harry, Ron, and Hermione came flying past me. I slammed the door shut behind them before the keys could follow us through the door.
In the next room, there was a life-size chess set ready and set up.
"Now what do we do?" Harry asked, looking around at the giant chess pieces.
"We play," Ron said, grinning strangely. I was oddly reminded of Percy for a moment. On rainy summer days when Morgan and Diane came over to our apartment, Diane and I would sit and watch Percy and Morgan play against each other in chess. Percy almost always won.
Ron quickly climbed up onto the chess board and took the spot of a knight.
"Harry, take the place of that bishop," Ron instructed. "Hermione, the castle next to him. Nina, take the castle on the other side."
Harry, Hermione, and I all got into position and watched as Ron started ordering chess pieces around. We followed his orders when he told us to go, never hesitating until Ron put himself in danger.
"Ron, no!" Harry shouted when Ron moved in line with the opposing team's queen.
"Yes," Ron argued. "It's the only way, Harry. Once it's our turn, you checkmate the king. Game over."
"No," Hermione protested.
"Yes," I said. "It's the only way, Hermione." Hermione glared at me furiously, but didn't argue anymore.
The queen stepped forward and knocked Ron out. Harry made his move, and the king surrendered. We had won the game.
"Ron!" Hermione and I called. We rushed forward to Ron's limp body, well, I limped.
"What do we do?" Harry asked, kneeling next to Ron.
"You and Hermione go on, Harry," I said. "I'll stay with Ron."
"We'll get back as soon as we can," Hermione promised. She wrapped her arms around me in a hug. I returned it rather awkwardly. I had never been very close with Hermione. Or Harry or Ron for that matter.
"I'll see you guys soon," I said as Harry and Hermione left the chess room.
I sat next to Ron, holding his hand for comfort for a good twenty minutes before both doors on either end burst open. On the side where Hermione and Harry had left, a very flustered Hermione had rushed back in. From the other door, a furious Dumbledore came rushing in. He stopped in front of Ron and me and waited for Hermione to get to us.
"Miss Granger," he said. "I need you to take Mr. Weasley and Miss Jackson to the Hospital Wing.
"Harry will be okay, right?" I asked as Hermione helped me stand up. We pulled Ron up in between the two of us.
"Of course," Dumbledore said. He smiled at us, his eyes twinkling. He rushed from the room, and Hermione and I started slowly towards the other door that lead back to the third floor corridor.
Reviews:
Alexa: Your review on chapter 1-Thank you for your review. And that was kind of the point. All will be revealed next chapter.
Guest from chapter 13: Thanks a lot! Don't you worry, Freya will still be in the story.
Guest from chapter 23: Thanks and YES I'm thinking of putting Bad Blood in too.
Guest from chapter 8: You are RIGHT!
lulu110: As you saw in this chapter, yes.
Thank you for all your reviews once again.