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."
Was there a famous di Angelo in the wizarding world? Nico would have to ask Emily or go to the library (hopefully the hairball incident wouldn't happen again).
Nico sat down after quickly grabbing a used Potions book from the cupboard. He decided sitting next to a Slytherin; the Hufflepuffs were too talkative and nosy, the Slytherins seemed to be much quieter- and more importantly, they minded their own business. Unfortunately, the boy Nico sat next to was the boy Nico fell on top of when he shadow-traveled to Hogwarts. Great, just great.
The boy frowned, but gave no comment.
"Today, in honor of you completing your OWLs, there will be a contest, to compete for a very special prize," said Slughorn, holding up a vial of a liquid. It was a shimmering syrup-color, and it occasionally formed shapes with some bubbles: a star, a cauldron, and a book. "Can anyone tell me what this is?"
Several students raised their hands, and Slughorn called on one of the Hufflepuffs. "Yes, Mr. Owen Solace?"
Nico's head snapped up so fast he almost got whiplash. Cautiously, he looked at the boy answering the question.
Nico supposed Owen could be Will's grandfather; they were similar enough. They had the same hands and the same curved nose; Owen even managed to get a tan as dark as Will's, which was probably hard to maintain this up north. However, Owen's hair was closer to a honey-brown, rather than Will's shafts of sunlight known as curls, and Owen's eyes were an ordinary hazel, not Will's sparkling blue ones.
"It's the Elixir of the Unknown," Owen answered.
"Correct! I'll throw in fifteen points to Hufflepuff if you can tell me exactly what it does," Slughorn announced.
"The Elixir of the Unknown is a potion that answers any question you think of in your head, even ones you didn't know you had, until the effects wear off. However, if brewed improperly, it makes you paranoid and question everything," Owen replied.
It could answer any question asked? This was bad news: if anyone other than Nico had the potion, they would have learned half of the demigod secrets within a minute. Nico needed to get the potion. Not only would he be preventing the exposure of the demigod world, it could also give him a boost with finding the ghosts and a way to get home.
"Correct, fifteen points to Hufflepuff! That, and an invitation to the Slug Club end-of-the-year party will be the prize for today's contest. Today you will be brewing the Elixir to Induce Euphoria. It's advanced, I give it to my sixth years halfway through the school year, but I'm sure one of you will manage it. It's on page 209 of your books, and you have a single hour. Begin."
Nico was struggling, but he was faring better than most of the class. At least his looked edible, unlike most of his classmates, who's potions emitted sparks and sickening fumes and looked like dung. Even Owen Solace, who seemed to be relatively good at Potions, was brushing soot off his face from when his potion exploded.
According to the textbook, Nico's potion should have been sunny yellow. His was a blinding neon yellow with a small mist rising off it. Oh well. It would have been the best in the class, if it wasn't for him.
Nico didn't catch the name of the boy sitting next to him, but his potion skills were impressive. His potion was perfect. When Nico caught a whiff of it, it smelled amazing, like honeysuckle and fresh strawberries. Nico's potion smelled like kale fresh from the fridge. Aesthetic, sure, but not cozy. (I don't even know what I was thinking when I wrote this)
Nico turned his attention back to the boy. Oily hair, worn robes, and a crooked nose. Nico watched as Oily Hair added some Wormwood- one extra teaspoon, Nico noticed. Nico waited for Oily Hair's potion to blow up in his face, but nothing happened. It stayed the same brilliant yellow, like it was supposed to. Oily Hair scratched a note on a small piece of parchment in loopy cursive that Nico didn't even try to decipher.
"Fifteen minutes left!" bellowed Slughorn.
I only just added Sopophorous beans, I need to hurry.
Nico quickly grabbed some Wormwood and carefully measured the amount the text requested and was about to add it when he added an extra teaspoon of Wormwood, just like Oily Hair did. Nico cringed, prepared for a wave of heat, but it never came. Nico slowly opened his eyes and noticed that his potion turned a shade closer towards sunny yellow. It wasn't perfect, not by a long shot, but it was a little better.
Nico stirred his concoction counterclockwise for the rest of the fifteen minutes. Occasionally he would glance over to see if Oily Hair did anything not mentioned in the textbook, but he was only stirring it counterclockwise, like Nico was.
"And... times up!" called Slughorn. "Stop stirring, please!" He moved slowly among the tables, examining each potion, occasionally giving a whiff or a rueful smile. Slughorn looked at Owen's potion (or rather, soot), disappointed, before finally moving on to Nico and Oily Hair's table.
"Good, good!" Slughorn said when he exclaimed Nico's potion. "Excellent!" Slughorn cried when he saw Oily Hair's potion. Slughorn's smile faltered when he saw the owner of the potion, but he quickly pasted on another plastic one.
"We have our winner, Mr. Snape!" Slughorn said, giving Snape his prize. The class clapped politely, but you could see their miniscule glares.
Snape held up the Elixir of the Unknown, smiling smugly.
Nico sighed internally, wishing he was a child of Hermes. Then he could steal the potion in a flash, and prevent the catastrophe about to happen.
1745
Uh, yeah, that's the chapter, nothing much to say.
potatopeep08 edited this chapter, as always (yay I can tag her now)
Meme of le day: