(Lately, I seem to be unable to find memes that relate to the chapter.)
"Calypso!" Leo yelled excitedly. Calypso gazed in wonder at the sheer size of the hall; then the shout caused her head to whip around. Leo and Calypso held each other's eyes as they ran to each other and met in the middle, hugging. Calypso pecked him on the cheek- obviously leaving Leo a bit flustered- and Leo led her to the Gryffindor table.
"Students, this is another student who will be staying here for the next week, primarily for the ball. Similar to the exchange students," I winced as the rest of the hall's attention fixated on us, "she will be an honorary Gryffindor. And though she will not stay for long, she shall be sorted for the short time that she will be here. Calypso..." McGonagall trailed off and looked at Calypso imploringly.
"I don't have a last name." She answered. I could practically hear the students groaning inside their heads: Another one?
"Ah... well, please step up to the Sorting Hat." McGonagall requested. Calypso began to oblige, but Leo grabbed her arm and whispered something unintelligible in her ear. She nodded in understanding and walked up to be sorted.
The Sorting Hat, or "Arthur," stayed on her head for a few moments quietly. Then it paled and shook a little, and I could see everyone in the hall flinch, expecting another dramatic scene. However, the trembling passed quickly; although Calypso's face was still white.
"My, my." The Sorting Hat murmured quietly, but we could all hear it, "You've led a long life. Very long, tedious..." The hat took a few more minutes until it was done looking through her memories; understandable, as it had to watch hundreds of years go by.
"Ravenclaw! Your wisdom, acceptance, discipline, and reliability make you a truly formidable opponent." The hat announced. Calypso smiled. "Though you do need to control that temper a bit." The hat added. Calypso frowned like her tires had been punctured. Leo snorted quietly next to me, but Caypso heard it. She turned around and shot him a glare, as if he had ruined and stomped on her favorite dress. That sobered him up real quick.
He avoided her stare and continued to gulp down his mashed potatoes. Around half of it flew off the plate and landed in messy clumps on his shirt. He looked down in surprise and then up at Calypso, who was smirking. I snorted quietly. Luckily, the rest of the students in the hall seemed to have missed the strange occurrence. Leo sighed sadly as he grabbed a tissue to clean up the mess.
"I still think this is a very bad idea, Seaweed Brain."
"Well, it's the only idea."
"I know, and I hate it," Annabeth replied as I got ready to meet Shel. "Good Luck!" She addressed me. I sighed.
"I'll need it."
"You most definitely will," Annabeth told me, glaring at Percy. I smiled and waved as I walked out the door.
"Piper?" Shel called as she peered at me far away. Fortunately, she was out on the lawn alone. "Is that you?" She asked. I waved and jogged to meet her, the cold biting my cheeks and arms as the wind intensified. In my line of sight, Shel was but a shadow; however, I could tell it was her.
"Shel!" I pecked her on the lips when I reached her. She smiled, her bright brown eyes glowing cheerfully.
"I thought you were away! Are you back early?" She asked. I looked down.
"No... not really," I answered. Shel frowned in confusion, her eyebrows scrunching together adorably. "I just... there's a ball at the place I'm going to and the theme is witches and wizards and-"
"You want me to go with you?" She asked gently. I nodded nervously. She hugged me and kissed me briefly. "Of course I would. When is it?"
"Um..." I rubbed the back of my neck sheepishly. "Tomorrow?"
"Whoa." She backed up. "This is short notice, Pipes." I flinched a little as the nickname reminded me of Jason.
"I know. The hosts didn't tell me until yesterday."
"Then you should've told me yesterday!" She joked and bopped me on the nose with her index finger. "We should go tell my parents."
"Will they let you come?" I asked nervously.
"They better." She laughed and pulled me along, her lightheartedness putting my worries at bay.
"Woah." Shel gazed in awe at the ceiling that was enchanted to look like the sky. Today the sky was extra blue and perfectly clear.
"Does that open up to the sky?" Shel asked. She yawned and rubbed her eyes; we had gotten back to the school pretty late last night. She had slept in an extra bed that Annabeth had conjured up for Shel when I had gone to get her.
"Um- well, actually it's a glass roof, but you can't see it."
"The candles are floating," Shel realized.
"Special effects. I think they're hanging from a thin thread, but I'm not sure. Cool, right?" I winced. Lying to Shel felt wrong, like pouring mud over a small puppy. I pulled her over to our section of the Gryffindor table. I looked around and checked things off a mental list.
- No ghosts. McGonagall had told them to stay away today; even Professor Binns wasn't here.
- McGonagall didn't have her wand while talking about the ball at the front of the hall today; She had agreed that we should make the wizards and witches thing as discreet as possible.
"Is her hat for the wizards and witches theme? And the robes everyone's wearing?" Shel asked quietly. I panicked for a second but then realized she'd provided me with a viable excuse.
"Yeah." Okay, so maybe not so discreet.
- Finally, food was already on the tables. I had arrived right on time (or technically a bit late, from some of the teacher's perspectives).
Everything was good, I hoped. We'd also have to leave before dessert was introduced, for that also appeared by magic. I clutched my head. I was already rethinking my decision to bring Shel here. Not that it was ever a good idea. All I could do now was hope nobody talked about magic near her. Which was... very unlikely.
"Oh my god," Shel sucked in a breath. I was thinking the same thing. The hall was adorned with purple and gold wreaths. The house table had been removed. There was a huge space in the middle, which I assumed was for dancing, and around the dance floor were circular glass tables, five seats per table. There were bouquets of purple and gold flowers, lilies, tulips, lotuses, and many different types, in the center of each table.
Some people from the Gryffindor house shrieked with ecstasy, breaking us out of our reverie. Music began to play softly. A slow song. I grinned, and Shel and I exchanged excited glances. We ran, hand-in-hand, to the dance floor.
Swaying with the music, I began to notice things all around me. I immensely enjoyed this moment with Shel, but my ADHD was really acting up. Shel was wearing a light, dark green dress. The silky material draped over her shoulder, twisted around her waist, and slightly brushed the floor. Her hair was like dark, rogue waves; spilling out around her neck and down to her waist. She wore a pearl necklace to top it off; the pearls were pure white with small streaks of forest green breaking through. She had paired the outfit with some informal white Nike high tops, sporting the Nike symbol in black, on the basis that "heels or any type of fancy shoes" were uncomfortable. However, it didn't ruin the look at all; in fact, she was beautiful.
As Shel spun me around, laughing happily, the bottom of my dress twirled hypnotically. Lavender purple disappeared under folds of light pink, which disappeared under folds of white. Before the dance, Shel had fawned over the lustrous multi-colored fabric that she said "so beautifully cascaded over my shoulders and poured over my waist like a waterfall." To finish the look, she had added some elegant slippers (because she said I was better than her at handling them) and a necklace that sported white crystals hanging from a thin golden thread. She had done my hair in a messy bun, because apparently, I looked "beautiful with any type of hairstyle." She had a way with words.
Around us, Percy and Annabeth were dancing (or trying to anyway). Percy kept tripping over Annabeth's feet, but the couple looked like they were enjoying the dance nevertheless. Neither had dressed up too much, but looked elegant in their own way. Percy was wearing ripped light blue jeans, a blue plain shirt, and a dark blue half-unzipped sweater. Wearing a huge smile and his outfit featuring all blue, he looked more like himself than I had seen these days. Annabeth was wearing white skinny jeans with an oversized white hoodie, and also smiling joyously.
Calypso had given up on slow dancing with Leo. Leo was spinning Calypso every which way and they ended up doing their own funky dance, completely mismatched with the beat. Leo hadn't dressed up at all, but Calypso was adorned in a beautiful, blue Greek dress. It was tied over one shoulder and there was a slit in the side near her thigh. The dress just reached the floor. She had paired it with simple white heels.
Hazel and Frank were dancing awkwardly; Frank didn't really know how to dance, so Hazel guided him through it. Frank had dressed up in a stiff suit and tie; I suspected he wasn't really sure what to wear. Hazel teased him endlessly about the suit, but not meanly. Hazel was wearing a slightly old-fashioned, but still beautiful, light pink gown. The sleek, simple sleeves reached her wrists. The silky dress was tied tight around the waist, but then fell loosely to her ankles. She was wearing unornamented white heels. The couple slowly found the beat.
Then Nico and Will bumped into them, and they all stumbled and fell down. The gay couple hadn't dressed up at all; Will wearing a Camp Half-Blood shirt with skinny jeans, and Nico wearing a shirt with a skull on it, black jeans, and his usual black aviator jacket. Nico was red in the face, but I could tell he was slightly enjoying it. Or maybe just tolerating it. He didn't like to dance, but Will had forced him.
As they were all getting up, laughing sheepishly, the song ended and was replaced with an upbeat, more jazzy song. Shel laughed happily and began to wave her hands in the air. I joined her. This was more my style; though I couldn't deny that I had relished the previous song. We busted out moves.
Next to us, I could tell Leo was on a sugar rush; he had paused dancing to the previous song to go stuff his face with wizard sweets in the corner. He stuck out his tongue, and I stopped dancing, horrified.
"Leo, you have a hole in your tongue!"
"I know!" He yelled, dancing farther and farther away. "It was from an Acid Pop. Don't worry, it's temporary!" He danced off to a corner, Calypso laughing and following. I was certainly worrying now, but Shel seemed not to have heard. She was jovially doing the 'floss.' I calmed down and danced with her. Giggling and waving our arms to the beat... we were having so much fun. This was definitely the break I needed.
Shel returned from the bathroom, looking furious and a little bewildered. Seeing this, my heart immediately dropped nervously. She pulled me aside, to a secluded corner.
"You are going to explain this. Right now."
"Explain... what?" I tried half-heartedly.
"I saw people doing spells with a wand in the hall. This isn't just wizards and witches themed, is it? They're actual wizards." She paced back and forth, looking at the ground.
"You... figured that out fast." I was surprised. I didn't really know what to say. She looked up at me, a little amused.
"I'm not stupid. It was kind of obvious. And this was so much fun... but I really need to know. They're real? Are you one?"
"I..." I couldn't lie to her anymore. "Yes. They're real. But... I'm not one." I tried to explain. Her face brightened with wonder when I said that they were real, but she looked puzzled again as I said I wasn't a witch.
"Then why are you here?"
"I... I'm a demigod." I began. She looked at me imploringly- probably because she didn't what that meant- so I motioned for her to sit down. She complied. "So..."
"So?" She pushed.
"Greek gods are real." I looked down at my feet. She gasped, and I continued to explain quickly. "So are Roman Gods. And by... what my friends say, Egyptian and Norse are real too. I'm a child of a god and a mortal, so I'm a demigod. We get attacked by monsters- like mythical monsters, which technically aren't myths- and so we have to train for fighting. And... well, yeah." I summarized in a rush. We stayed silent for a few minutes. It felt like hours, and my ADHD was definitely not helping. My stomach had tied itself into knots. Then-
"I believe you." She said softly. I looked up so quickly that my neck snapped.
"Really?" I asked with surprise. "Nobody does that quick..." I trailed off.
"I always knew something was up. You disappearing randomly, all those scars..." She touched my arm reassuringly.
"I'm glad you could tell me."
"But-" I choked. "I didn't. I lied." A tear traced down my cheek and she flicked it away.
"Well, you kinda had to, didn't you?"
"You're taking this extremely well," I noted. She shrugged and smiled.
"So why are you here?" She asked. I gave her a short summary, avoiding the creepy or scary parts. However, by the end of the explanation, she still looked frightened. I offered a reassuring smile, but she smacked my arm lightly.
"How are you not scared?" She asked nervously.
"I..." I rubbed the back of my neck, "Let's just say I've been in this sort of situation too many times." Two too many. We had started to get up after my explanation, but then she plopped back down onto her chair, which slipped backward a bit and creaked, scratching the floor.
"I want to hear everything." She demanded. I looked back at the dance floor, then back at her.
"Later?" I pleaded. She looked over at the dancing students too, and a small smile wafted across her face.
"Fine." She agreed. I squeaked excitedly and pulled her up. "Tonight we have fun."
(I had to make up Shel's personality and her appearance because all that is described in the books is that she has dark hair. Hope you enjoyed it anyway!)