The Raptor Experiment

Chapter 5 - Same Script, Different Cast

"And?" Harry asked. 

"And then they're allowed to reincarnate." I said.

"So most likely, this Tintin doesn't have many memories of the first Tintin! That's why he's slightly ignorant sometimes!" 

"But first, we need proof." I said. Percy nodded, then tilted his head. 

"Uh... one problem. How are we going to see if a dead guy reincarnated?" Percy asked. "How can we search for proof?"

I thought for a moment, and Percy seemed to do so as well. After a moment, we shouted at the same time: "Nico di Angelo!"

"Who's Nico di Angelo?" Harry asked.

"A friend of ours." I explained. "He is like, Darian's half brother, but he has way more knowledge about death than him."

"I'm not sure if I want to meet this guy." Harry said. "What if he—"

"Don't worry, Potter." Percy said, putting an arm over Harry's shoulder. "He's harmless."

"A harmless son of Hades?" Harry asked. "Don't get me wrong, but wasn't Darian the one who managed to kill the lead alien? If the less-strong son of Hades was that good at killing..." 

"He's harmless." Percy said. I agreed. "He used to be all dark and scary, but he now dresses in rainbow."

"Um... okay..." Harry said.

"Let's call him over!" Percy said, already excited like a kid who was about to get a birthday party.

"Seaweed Brain, calm down." I said. "First, we need to send Iris messages. And if he's not too busy..."

"Busy doing what? Snogging Will?" Percy asked. Harry snorted.

"Well then, I suppose he can come, but what with the previous events and all, a kid suddenly appearing out of nowhere can raise some suspicion. Not to mention, we can just get the information via Iris message."

"Fine." Percy pouted, which was a sight I never wanted to forget.

"Is that settled?" Harry asked. 

I realized that Harry must have felt really awkward while we were bickering.

"Yeah. Since we are teachers, I guess we have some more time off." I said.

"More time off?" Percy and Harry asked at the same time. The way they frowned indicated that they really didn't get any. 

"Or maybe not. Either way, since it seems that I have the most time out of you guys, I'll just contact Nico and ask him to ask the souls in Elysium if they remember a guy by the name of Tintin."

"Good." Harry said. "Now that's settled, I probably better go polish some swords."

"Gee, you're lucky. I have to polish the potion room, which looks like a mix between a battle scene and the aftermath of a volcanic eruption." Percy said, walking off with Harry.

I took a deep breath in. Nico, here I come.

. . .

Just as the image blinked on, I nearly smiled at how Percy's deduction was correct.

Nico and Will were k-i-s-s-i-n-g. In the tree, even. Whoops. 

I was about to just hang up when Will saw me. He practically jumped three feet in the air, knocking Nico down with him. Thank goodness they didn't fall to the ground. 

"Um... bad timing?" I asked. "I'll call later."

"No. It's all right." Nico said. "What is it?"

"It's kind of a long story." I said.

Carter

"So there was no Tintin, or Martin, in the Elysium?" Hermione asked.

"Nope." Annabeth answered.

"Then I guess we're back to square one." I said.

"You sound like Tintin." Sadie commented.

"That's great." I said, digging through my pile of food. (I was nowhere near Percy nor Ron, but I was hungry after a ferocious day of powering through the madness of homework) 

"So no assurance that anyone isn't the experiment?"

"Actually, there's a couple people you might want to erase." Percy said, his mouth full of blueberry muffin (the closest thing to blue food he could find in Hogwarts) "Remember that experiments have eternal youth? Everyone who aren't first years should be erased, since we all changed in appearance."

"Oh yeah!" Annabeth exclaimed. "But how about erasing kids above year four, since we're not too sure about kids in year three or such, who might not have had their growth spurt yet."

"Okay. Then that makes everything easier." I said. "So... now on square ten?"

"Perhaps." Tintin said behind me, and I nearly fell out of the seat