Nico knew that he and Percy weren't done with the wizarding community, and he was proved correct when Dumbledore turned up to camp unexpectedly, and offered them a teaching position. At a magic school. Which teaches kids magic. Something that he and...
"Or hiding from someone? I don't blame you if it's Umbridge," Another sniggers, and because they have zero respect for their superiors, they walk off without waiting for a reply. I hadn't been aware we were giving off such a hopeless vibe.
"HOLY MOTHER OF ZEUS THANK YOU!" Percy yells after them, suddenly grinning madly. They give him a look again, but he doesn't see, already pacing in front of the blank wall, muttering, "I need a place to hide something."
A door appears quickly, and I jump to my feet, waiting in apprehension as Percy steps over to open the door. "If this doesn't work, we're going to plan B, which is cry and then get a God to get it for us," He says as the door opens. I nod furiously in agreement.
The door reveals a gigantic mess, to put it simply. Shelves upon shelves of books, trinkets, clothes, dead pets, and various wixen paraphernalia create a maze through the room. It's so full I can't actually see the other side, and the ceiling stretches out as far as I can see. We gingerly step forwards, and let the door close behind us, in case someone were to walk past. A cloud of dust erupts from a pile of scarves as I accidentally knock into a shelf in an attempt to dodge a heavily decorated bronze lamp that seems to be floating, covering Percy in a fine layer of grey dust
"You think this is the room? Can you sense the horcrux?" Percy checks, obviously unaware of the state of his clothes.
"Yup. Headache back, bigger, stronger and more painful than ever before," I say. It's only slightly exaggerating. "Your hair is full of dust, by the way."
He frowns and reaches up to wipe it away, but only succeeds in smearing it further. I roll my eyes at this attempt, and step forwards to do it myself, brushing my fingers through his dark hair.
"Oh, thanks," He says as I step away, wiping the dust on my lack jeans, creating small streaks of grey.
We continue to wade through the room, picking our way amidst the clutter. "Hey, Neeks, check this out," Percy says from a few broken chairs away. I barely have enough time to look up before he tosses something shiny in my direction. I catch it in one hand, thankfully on the handle, as when it was halfway through the air, I realised it was a sword.
It's slightly scratched and a bit chipped and the tip has slightly snapped off, but otherwise it's in good condition. It's one of those fancy ones where it has a golden swirly knucklebow and guard, but it's light, and well balanced. I give it a few practice swings to check its range and movement, chopping in half the teddy-bear Percy throws my way.
"Pretty good, huh? I bet there's loads more in here."
"Yeah, probably." I tuck the sword in my belt, "I don't suppose you can find a dartboard in here? I mean, seeing as you can't actually sense the horcrux. I think it would be cool to have in the classroom," I ask.
"I didn't know you can throw darts."
"Not well, but there was a restaurant near my house in Venice that had a dartboard in. They would give you free taralli if you got three bullseyes in a row. I never managed it, but Bianca did twice."
"Huh. Yeah, I'll look for one."
I continue to walk around the room, just using my headache as a detector, going towards the areas where it's stronger. The sword slaps against my leg as I walk, so I take it out of my belt, and instead use it to prod the various suspicious piles of junk, and occasionally swiping at rotten chair legs.
Something shiny then catches my eye, glittering from atop of a grotesque statue of a - well, I'm not really sure what it is, but it's definitely hideous. But it's not the statue I'm interested in (I am interested in who thought it would be a good idea to ever create such a thing, but-), it's the tiara perched on it's head, that is giving off the exact same feeling as the locket had.
"Percy! I've found it!"
Percy jogs over, dodging the clutter, and squints at it. "Voldemort was a big fan of jewellery, wasn't he?"
"It sure looks like it," I agree, and using the end of my sword that I unstrap from my back, I poke it off the bust, letting it clatter to the floor.
"I'll just stab it then. Kind of feels anticlimactic, doesn't it?"
"I like anticlimactic. It means there isn't going to be some giant nasty surprise that tries to kill us."
I stab the tiara, and like I said, it was very anticlimactic. The tiara splits, and a screaming black cloud erupts from it, which disappears when I swipe my sword through it. There wasn't even a curse or disembodied voice that foretold our deaths. All in all, it is slightly disappointing, and doesn't feel as though it was worth all the searching.
We leave the room, but not before finding a slightly moth-eaten dartboard that could easily be fixed up with some glue. Unfortunately, no usable darts came with it, so at the next available opportunity, I'm going to go searching for some glue and darts. I suspect that darts could probably be found in the shop I robbed, but I don't really think I'll be welcome back there any time soon.
Word count: 1462
Song: My Ordinary Life, The Living Tombstone
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