𝐀𝐏𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐎'𝐒 𝐇𝐎𝐍𝐄𝐘 𝐁𝐑𝐎𝐖𝐍 𝐄𝐘𝐄𝐒 𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆. He normally chose similar looks whenever he portrayed himself in human form — blond hair, blue eyes, and nearly six foot four. Most of his kids took on these traits, looking almost exactly like him.
It was only when he appeared as Raya's father did he look different. With black hair and honey brown eyes, he looked quite different from Raya. She was the only child who didn't look much like him.
Raya took a moment to examine his features. She did it every time her dad visited her dreams.
They had the same eye shape, their nose was slightly similar, and perhaps the texture of their hair. Because he chose to look nearly nineteen whenever he visited, there was no way he could pass of as Raya's father. Maybe an older brother.
"Hi Jellybean," Apollo grinned, breaking her from her thoughts. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"
Raya cringed at the old nickname, "Please stop calling me that, dad. And I missed you too."
Apollo laughed, pulling her in for a quick hug.
The two of them were standing in a large room, covered in chairs and bean bags, and even a fireplace on one wall. Judging by the eccentric design, her dad was the one who had chosen the setting for her dream.
"Okay, we need to be quick," Apollo said, looking around almost nervously. "I've got your aunt Artemis blocking the lines, so no one can hear or see this. We'll be good, but I don't know how long she'll be able to keep it up."
"I'm so confused right now," Raya muttered, every word her dad said making less and less sense to her.
"You'll get it eventually," he waved her off. He took a seat in one of the lavish chairs. "Come, sit. We have lots to talk about, and not nearly enough time."
Raya took a seat across from him, still confused, "Why do you have Artemis blocking the line? I thought the Gods could visit their kids dreams whenever they wanted."
"Oh, no," Apollo shook his head. "I mean, if that were true, I'd be visiting all of you every night. But Ze — uh... probably best not to refer to him by name right now. My father — the King of Gods — decided years ago to install bugs in the dreams when the Gods visit their kids. We all have our ways of working around them — like right now — but it takes too much power. That's one of the reasons a lot of Gods prefer keeping contact with their children through dreams limited."
"Why did your dad even install bugs in the dreams?" Raya asked, making a face. "That's stupid."
"Eh, it makes us all a little more wary," Apollo shrugged. "Before he was listening in our dreams, many of the Gods used to talk too freely with their children. Sometimes revealing more than they should. My dad just got paranoid after one too many slip ups."
"But—"
A loud noise took over, almost like T.V. static. Raya pressed her hands to her ears, trying to block out the horrible noise. Apollo groaned, waving a hand, and pushing the sound away.
"Look, we don't have time to talk about that right now," Raya's dad said quickly. "That sound means Ze — agh, my dad! — suspects something."
"So, what are you here for?"
"One second. I know I've got it somewhere." Apollo rummaged through his pockets, pulling something out of one of his pockets, "Aha!"
Raya narrowed her eyes at the silver band.
Apollo held it towards her like it was the most important thing in the world. "This is why I'm here."
Raya took it, examining the silver band. A small sun was etched into the inside, but besides that, it was plain.
"I guess this is the part where I ask you what it does," she looked up at him.
"Oh, right!" he grinned. "It's a shield. Look, Raya—"
She became serious, considering Apollo never called her by her real name.
"—there's a lot coming that you don't understand." He laughed bitterly, "I don't even understand it. I'm the God of Prophecies, and I don't understand what's coming. But I know it's got to do with you."
"With me?" Raya flinched.
That one sentence seemed to destroy everything she was hoping for. She didn't want Gryffindor because she didn't want to be the main character. She didn't want to be involved in anything important, except perhaps as someone who's presence doesn't even matter. She didn't want whatever's coming to have to do with her.
"Well, part of it's related to you," her dad consoled her. "You may not be credited with the saves, but you'll be the one behind them. The shield, as long as you wear it, will protect you from anything. No one will be able to hurt you. It's one of the most powerful gifts I've ever given my kids. But I know you'll need it."
Raya slipped the silver band on, studying its simplicity, "What if someone else wears it? You said it'll protect me from anything. But if my friend's dying or something, can I slip it on them? Will it save them?"
Apollo smiled lightly, "If you put it on someone else before they get the injury, it'll heal them. Not as fast as it would work for you, but it'll slowly heal them. So, if they get stabbed while wearing it, you'd need to get them stitched up. But the shield in the bracelet will prevent them from dying. And if you leave it on, they'll get healed from the stitches a little quicker."
"And if they're already hurt?" Raya asked. "If they're already hurt when I slip it on them, will the band save them?"
Apollo winced, "It depends how far they're gone. If Death has them in his grasp, the band won't do anything. Otherwise, it should still work the same way."
Raya turned the bracelet on her wrist. "So—"
The sound returned, the T.V. static. It was so loud, Raya couldn't even hear her own thoughts. Apollo waved his hand multiple times, barely silencing it.
"That's my cue!" he yelled over the static.
Raya began to notice the edge of her dreams blurring. Her dad seemed to be gripping on something, trying his hardest not to fade.
"Remember, if you see a kid with jet black hair and sea green eyes, protect him!" he yelled to her. "He's the key to it all!"
Wind was whipping Raya's hair around, and the sound of static was so loud, she could only hear her dad because he was speaking in her mind.
The last thing Raya remembered before waking up was her dad gripping the edge of his chair, talking to her in her head: "Also, Auntie Artemis said she likes this new boy better than—"
Raya jogged down the training grounds, still way in front of Cedric — who was already huffing and puffing. Kayse, who was playing with Raya's golden Snitch as they did their laps, was cheering them on.
After the twenty fifth lap, Raya took some pity on Cedric, calling for a stop.
All Cedric knew was that the third task was going to have a giant hedge maze the Champions would have to make their way through. It was going to be filled with obstacles and deathly traps.
He'd enlisted Raya's help to train. Since she'd been training for a life full of fighting almost every day since she was six and Cedric had never even run up a hill, she needed to go much slower than she was used to.
"I'm done," he panted. "I can't do this anymore."
"Yes you can!" Kayse cheered from the sidelines.
Cedric glared at him, but Raya spoke quickly, "Ced, honey, he's right. You've got a month left, and by then, you're gonna be so good, you'll be able to run fifty laps without needing a breather."
Cedric groaned.
"Get up," Raya nudged his foot, throwing him a water bottle. "Take a few small sips, we don't want you throwing up."
Cedric obliged, though it looked like he was restraining himself from chugging the whole thing.
"Alright, let's go," she said, pulling her wand out.
Cedric's eyes widened as he looked for a place to hide.
"Oh, get your own wand out," she told him.
"Why?" he muttered, pulling it out.
"Because," Raya told him like she was explaining it to a child, "you're going to have other people in the maze with you. To win, we don't even know what kind of tricks they'll pull. You've got to be able to defend yourself in times like this. I'll slip you some Wiggenweld Potion before the task so you can use it in case of injury, but you've got to watch out."
"Alright, alright," Cedric said, pulling his wand out. "How... how's this going to work?"
"Like this," Raya smirked, brandishing her wand. "Flippendo!"
Cedric was too late to react, falling backwards with the Knockback Jinx. "Ow," he rubbed his back, a little slow to get up.
"The others aren't going to wait for you to recover," Raya grinned, her wand raised once again. "Locomotor Wibbly."
Cedric rolled out of the way as the Jelly-Legs curse came flying at him.
"Levicorpus," he yelled, pointing his wand at Raya.
She conjured a shield, blocking the Dangling Jinx. "Oh, it's on."
And so the two spent every morning until June twenty-fourth practicing for what may be Cedric's greatest challenge yet.
"Exams are a bitch," Elias muttered, rubbing his head. "I'm so glad they're over."
Meredith, who was studying for her Arithmancy exam, broke out in tears.
"Elias," Raya hissed, slapping the back of his head.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he repeated. "I forgot not everyone is finished."
It was the day of the third task — which was also the last day of exams. While Raya and most of her friends didn't have exams on the last day, some — like Meredith — still had one or two more to finish up.
Considering it was their O.W.L.s, they were all a little more stressed than they should've been. Raya had daily crying sessions on every day of her exam. They all turned out alright — except Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts.
While Raya knew she'd brewed her Invigoration Draught perfectly, Snape seemed to be annoyed by everything around him. Raya half suspected him to fail the class because of his mood. On the other side, it was still better than Defense Against the Dark Arts. Moody had decided to stick the Imperius Curse on all of them, and those who could throw it off passed. Raya was pretty much the only one who managed it.
She'd had spent a little longer training Cedric today. He'd become much faster, and had built up stamina over the weeks of practice. He finished jogging without even looking winded. Then he'd caught Raya with the Jelly-Legs jinx, and had successfully placed the counter-curse on her as well.
Even if Raya was still uncertain about the task, she knew he'd been trained well.
Meredith took a deep breath, calming herself, "I'm fine. I'm okay. It's just Arithmancy."
Raya shared an uncertain glance with Elias, but the two nodded a little hesitantly.
"Hey, if anything, just bother Thomas and get him to help you," Elias told her. "Apparently, he loves Arithmancy."
"Why do you think I'm passing the class?" she muttered, getting up to go to her exam. They wished her luck, waving her off.
"I still think it's a load of bullshit," Raya muttered.
"What do you mean?" Elias asked. "It's O.W.L.s. Everyone's stressed. Some people show it off differently."
"What are you — I don't think Meredith's faking her stress," she rolled her eyes. "I'm talking about Arithmancy itself. That, and Divination. I feel like they're both bullshit."
"I don't take either, so I'll just agree with you," Elias smiled.
"Okay, but just think about it," Raya turned to him. "Numbers and crystal balls that you can peer into... telling you your future. I mean, it sounds ridiculous."
"So does being in a magic school for Witches and Wizards," Elias shrugged.
"This is different," she sighed. "It's like — like — okay, so I don't know what it's like."
Elias laughed, "Let's focus on eating breakfast for now. We'll go over how weird Arithmancy is later on. Okay?"
REY WRITES!
thanks for reading!!
short chapter, ik, but i wanted a whole chap
for the third task and what happens after
happy new year lovelies <3
thoughts?
comments?
questions?
headcanons?
theories?