Chaos Rising |BOOK 2| Harry Potter x PJO |Alexandra Marine|

ARIANA ADLER

"Of course it is," I rolled my eyes. "With your lacy gown and that cloak, I'd probably be sweating."

"Well, with your traditionally black cargo pants and black sweater, I'd still shiver," Bellatrix said.

"Hey, cargo pants are helpful!" I said. "I can stick my wand in one pocket, and a pencil in another, spare parchment, hot pressed paper, cold pressed paper- and of course, just paper for taking notes-"

"Don't even tell me about it," Bellatrix huffed. 

I smiled and pushed open the door. 

What I saw in front of me almost made me gag.

The air smelled like pure sulfur, and it was as warm as summer time in Texas. Probably hotter than that, but in the cold winter season, I felt like someone had just put the toaster on and fried some rotten eggs. 

A split second ago, I'd seen a small orange portal or something akin to a portal- I couldn't tell what exactly it was- but it seemed dangerous- not the magical kind, but in a way that it threatened my demigod senses.

I could feel my hair standing up for a minute, and coming back to a calm as the orange portal disappeared into the darkness. Voldemort turned around. I could sense the panic in his eyes for a brief moment, before they turned back to his steely, cold, snake like eyes.

"My lord," I bowed.

"We hope we weren't interrupting my lord," Bellatrix whispered, bowing lower that I was, her nose almost touching the ground.

"Ah, yes, Bella," Voldemort said, smiling. "I have been expecting our kind for a while now. Good, good, settle down. Almost time."

And as Death Eaters filled into the room, I couldn't help but feel a little confused as to why my demigod senses were triggered at the Malfoy Manor. As the meeting progressed, I had little input to offer, and spent my time in deep thought, although pretending to pay full attention. Besides, they were talking about Draco's plans turning into failures, and I wasn't really interested. Also, Severus was paying attention for me. He'd tell me if anything important happened.

***

I walked back home in a daze, my feet moving without me controlling them, and I spent all my time just thinking so hard that I forgot about Steve Rogers visiting my house.

To my surprise, he was still there, waiting for me, at three thirty as I slow-walked to my house. 

"Oh my gods!" I exclaimed, only then remembering that we had set up a meeting. "So, so, sorry, Rogers- I totally forgot-"

"It's okay," Steve smiled. "I understand."

"No, no," I shook my head, unlocking the door. "Seriously, sorry."

"Seriously," Steve said, "it's okay."

"Thank you," I smiled. "Please, come in. Your friends-?"

"They'll come in a minute- have to avoid all doubts to walk around the place."

"Right."

I led him to the old but clean couch in my living room. Steve whistled. "That's a lot of paper."

"Yeah- I like architecture."

The door bell rang.

"That should be them," Steve nodded.

I rushed to the door and opened it to find three people shivering in the cold. One was a blonde-haired woman with a serious face but a small smile. The other was a woman with caramel brown hair and a shy face, but I felt like she'd be the most deadly one. And the last was a man, and he seemed incredibly uncomfortable around both of them, but he smiled nevertheless.