Battles of Darkness and Strife

Dinners and Disputes

Hermione purses her lips and looks down. Chey nearly opens her mouth, probably to say something sarcastic, but I cup my hand over her mouth before she can say anything.

"Well, in our fourth year, Harry got chosen even though he didn't enter-"

"Wait, that can happen?" I ask. If that's true, then it won't matter if none of us enter our names. We might get chosen anyway.

"Harry was the first," Ginny explains. I nod and then gesture for Hermione to continue as if I'm not having an existential crisis right now.

"Anyway, he wasn't even supposed to be able to enter his name because he was under seventeen, because of the high death rate. But everything was going fairly decently until the last task. That's when he was transported someplace inside a maze and long story short, Voldemort ended up coming back and the other Hogwarts champion was murdered." Hermione takes a deep breath and stops.

"That's a lot," Chey says softly. Then her entire demeanor changes. "I'm tired. You guys can do whatever, but I want a nap." Hermione shakes her head and smiles.

"Of course, you all must be tired! If you want to come downstairs, you can. I'm sure Mrs. Weasley is cooking something! And Chey, right? Yes, you can nap if you'd like."

"Thanks," Chey replies. "See you guys later." With that, Chey flops on her bed and buries her face in a pillow. I've known her long enough to know that she's nowhere near asleep yet, but leave her alone anyway. Chey isn't a people person, at least not with people she doesn't know.

The four of us head downstairs and run face-first into the boys, minus Nico. Ryan and Ron are already talking up a storm and Leo and David are talking Harry's ear off. Boys...

Leo POV

-----------------

I pause in talking to Harry to smile at my girlfriend. Gods I love her so much. Anyway. We all head downstairs because Ron's mom is supposedly making dinner. I don't usually get very hungry, but time travel will do that to you. Believe it or not, all of us look slightly older. None of us have really gotten taller, except Nico, who's about an inch taller and David who really sprouted up.

Once we all get downstairs, I can see Mrs. Weasley cooking away. 

"Do you need any help?" I ask.

"Oh, no dear, it's fine," Mrs. Weasley replies kindly. "But you can help Ron set the table if you'd like!"

"Okay!" I turn to Ron, who is taking down some dishes and hurry about setting the table. Dinner that night is a fairly quiet affair. There was hardly any small talk and I could tell Merrily was nervous because while she isn't as ADHD as me, she's still ADHD and so is everyone else. I'm wearing my toolbelt (I've gone back to wearing it lately), so I pull out a handful of markers and hand them to her. Merrily's eyes light up and she grabs my wrist and begins outlining a new garden on my arm, full to the brim with butterflies. 

In my free hand, I fiddle with some pipe cleaners. I see the Weasley family and Harry and Hermione looking at us oddly, but I pay them no mind until Harry speaks.

"We're going to have to get your school supplies," Harry explains suddenly. "I suppose you lot already have wands, but you're going to need this year's school books."

Hermione claps her hands in excitement. "Yes! I remember Professor McGonagall saying that the owls will be coming at the same time as all the other years!"

"Owls?" Abigail asks confusedly, pausing in brushing Ginny's hair. 

"That's the typical mail service," Ron says matter-of-factly, as though having owls fly through your house at all hours of the day is a normal occurrence. 

"Oh," Merrily says awkwardly. "We just use a bit of a different method in America."

Harry nods. "That makes sense." However, Hermione didn't look too sure, and suddenly I felt slightly worried. Outside, the sun was already down. 

"That's odd," Mrs. Weasley frowns suspiciously. "Did you know, the sun has been going down sooner and sooner and coming up later and later every day. It's the oddest thing."

"That's so weird..." David mutters. The five of us squirm in our seats. "Y'know, it's getting slightly late and if we have a busy day tomorrow..."

"Yes, yes of course!" Mrs. Weasley gasps. "Off to bed, all of you!" Mrs. Weasley stands up and quickly waves us all away. As we go up the stairs, I can hear angry, muffle voices coming from the boys' room. It definitely sounds like Chey and Nico are having a massive argument. 

Hermione leans close to the door and then quickly backs away. "Does this happen often?"

"Actually no," Abigail admits. "Generally it's just your average snarky comments, but it's all fun and games."

I nod in agreement. "It's never gotten this bad before."

"Wait, they're dating?" Ron asks. David rolls his eyes. 

"Yeah, everyone is paired off 'cept me 'cause I'm too cool for that sh--" Merrily jabs him in the side with her elbow, effectively cutting him off. "Ow!" 

"Wait," Harry interjects suddenly. "They've stopped." We all fall silent, and not more than a few seconds pass that the door slams open and Chey storms across the hallway and into the girls' room. Merrily untangles herself from my arms and rushes into the room after her. 

Nico eventually appears at the door, and his face is unnaturally red and his eyes look furious. 

"What was that all about?" Ginny demands. 

"We had a disagreement," Nico replies evenly, if a bit curt. "Now, what's the plan for tomorrow?"

------------------------------

Okay, I personally feel like these first few chapters have been so so boring, but I promise it gets better because if you've read The Four Musketeers, then we will be taking a look at Chey R and Paige's point of views next chapter. They've grown a lot a lot. Technically I have the first two and half books done, but it would take literally forever to get them up and I'd have to ask a friend's permission before I did that.

I hope you guys enjoyed and I'll see everyone, next week!

*breaks fourth wall with candy cane*

Merrily: MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Me: It's not close enough to Christmas for that.

Merrily: What do you mean? 

Merrily: *adjusts elf hat and candy cane shoes*

Me: *sighs*

Me: Honestly whatever. I'm so tired right now.

Nico: You're not allowed to be tired.

Me: If I've just finished having a yelling competition with my mom about college, yes I am.

Nico: Weak.

Me: You wanna go???

Nico: YEAH

Me: *grabs pen*

Nico: ENGARDE

Abigail: Every single time...

David: *rubs nose* FYI, we forgot the disclaimer last chapter, so this is for both of them. CheyPaigefanfic does not own PJO or HoO. She also does not own Harry Potter.

Me: *spills ink on Nico*

Nico: How could you???

Me: It's not like it shows up!

Nico: NOT THE POINT

Me: I DONT SEE THE ISSUE HERE

Nico: OF COURSE YOU DONT

Me: THAT'S IT. 

Me: IM GOING TO EMOTIONALLY TORTURE YOU

Nico: YOU WOULDN'T DARE

Me: TRY ME

Merrily: *waves candy cane cheerfully* Please vote and comment!