Arrival of the Ghost King [PJO x HP]

V: Fascinating Potions Tip #1- Make Sure to Copy the Oily-haired Kid

Nico made sure to keep a close eye on the first unknown variable he found. He learned several things about him: his name was Sirius Black, he was a Gryffindor from a long line of pureblood Slytherins, (Nico finally mastered all the house names), and he was friends with a popular kid named James Potter.

In the few days Nico stayed at Hogwarts so far, he collected as much information as possible. He went to the extensively large library and struggled through the books: the loopy cursive was murder on his dyslexic eyes, and the centuries-old dust made Nico cough loudly. After Nico started hacking up dust balls like a cat, he decided to move his field of research to interviewing the paintings. Nico and Emily had gone together into the Forbidden Forest in their spare time to look for Medusa, the monster who had turned one of the professors into stone, but they had no luck. They only found animals who had encountered Medusa: two young rabbits, spiders the size of Nico's face, a unicorn, and a horse with an ice cream cone stuck on it's forehead.

For some reason, Nico saw no ghosts at the castle. Nico sensed their presence, but they avoided him like the plague. When he asked Emily to confirm that there really were ghosts at Hogwarts, she pursed her lips and replied, "I was afraid that they would avoid you; the reason that they are here is because they are afraid of death, of course they would avoid you. If you want to find one, a ghost teachers the History class, his name is Professor Binns. His classroom is on the first floor, you should find it right under Ravenclaw Tower."

Nico quickly thanked her and raced towards Ravenclaw tower, searching for the History classroom. The next period would start in a couple of minutes, giving Nico just enough time to interrogate Binns. Nico skidded down the hall, his silver cloak flowing faster than the wind.

Wait, which floor am I on?

Nico groaned internally; there was no way he had enough time to search and check which floor he was on and race to the correct one. Suddenly, the bell rang, and Nico was caught in a wave of fifth years heading to their next class. Nico desperately tried to get in a shadow to travel away, but he couldn't try to get into a shadow without the crowd trampling him. Why couldn't Hogwarts get bigger hallways (not that they weren't already massive), or at least hire some guy that directed the flow of teenager traffic? After all, this was a school of magic- everything was supposed to be solved with a flick of the wand!

Eventually, the wave of teenagers spit Nico out into a dungeon. Looking around, he could see that it was the Potions classroom: there were rows of desks, each with a cauldron, facing the blackboard. Potion ingredients lined the walls; Nico was alarmed that some of them were spoils of war. How could wizards have gotten their hands on them?

"Ah, Mr. di Angelo, I see you have joined us for potions?" a voice asked, while the rest of the students were sitting down.

Nico turned around to see a man with straw-colored hair in a green suit, which looked like it was going to burst. "Er- yes, I decided to participate in some of the classes, to see how stuff is done in Europe," Nico replied, putting on a smile for Professor Slughorn. It hurt. It didn't hurt to smile when Will was around.

What if he was trapped here in the past? The next time he would see will was when Nico was biologically around fifty-five years old. Panic rose in Nico's stomach, but then he was saved by the Slug.

"You chose a good day to come, today there's a little contest, with a chance to win a special prize. Take a seat, you can get a book from the cupboard. You would be amazing at potions, given your heritage," Slughorn said.

Nico almost grabbed the hilt of his sword: only monsters in disguise made comments like that, but then he remembered Emily's description of Slughorn: "He's not evil, but he's not righteous either. He'll only be nice if there is something for him, especially if it's crystalized pineapple. He has a club of his favorite position students called the Slug Club, and the members almost always go on to do something great; Slughorn has a real knack for finding them. If he's sucking up to you, it's probably because you are descended from a famous family, or are rather brilliant."