F I F T E E N
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It was late in the night when Nico arrived. Percy was fast asleep. The small boy sat on the edge of his bed, surprised that the green eyed boy hadn't awoken yet. He watched a small sliver of drool trail down Percy's cheek. He held back a laugh. Annabeth was right, Percy did drool in his sleep. A lot. It was kind of cute...
What was he doing? He didn't like Percy anymore. That's what he kept trying to tell himself, anyway.
Still, he felt like a creep, more specifically a creep like Edward Cullen what with the whole 'watching people in their sleep' thing. He only knew who Mr I-Sparkle-In-The-Sun was because Will had forced him through three sittings of the stupid Twilight series claiming it was a classic. Yeah- a classic mistake for Nico to make, roped into watching the cringeworthy movies not once but three times.
The sound of someone stirring in their slumber shook him out of his thoughts. The boy in the next bed let out an incoherent jumble of words and turned over. He was hanging dangerously close off the bed and Nico worried that he would fall off and wake up. Then he would be in serious trouble. The son of Hades turned back to face Percy, who still hadn't budged. At this rate, the entire dorm would be awake before he could wake Percy up.
Nico walked round the bed and silently tapped the boy on the shoulder. "Wake up!" he hissed, barely in a whisper as he glanced around the room. He narrowed his eyes when he realised that two of the beds were empty. "Great job, Percy," he muttered.
He considered summoning an army of the dead to wake up the son of Poseidon but that would be too loud and waste far too much of his energy. After a few more minutes of watching Percy remain inanimate, Nico had had enough.
"Fine, you asked for it." He balled his hand into a fist and punched Percy in the gut. Quick as a flash, the green eyed boy was sitting up straight with Riptide pointed at Nico's throat. He blinked when he saw who was at the point of his sword. "Nico? What are you doing here?" he asked groggily. He capped Riptide and it returned to the state of a ballpoint pen which he pocketed. "What do you want?" he muttered, rubbing his sleep filled eyes. "Geez, it's the middle of the night."
"Get up," Nico said with a scowl on his pale face. He tried to sound menacing but Percy just laughed. Unfazed, he climbed out of bed and walked quietly towards his suitcase. He threw on a large fuzzy blue sweater with the letter 'P' imprinted on it. It looked so horrid that he had to glance away.
He turned his attention to the open window and squinted through the darkness, staring outside. The light illuminating from the cabin perched by the shadowy masses of the forest was the only thing visible in the dark landscape- for any regular being that was. Nico on the other hand could make out every blade of grass as if it were day. He closed his eyes and concentrated. There were four people in that cabin, three of which probably shouldn't be there.
"Are you coming?" Percy asked.
Nico opened his eyes and nodded. He followed Percy to the stairwell and they walked quietly down the stairs towards the common room. Every creaking floorboard made Nico cringe. Surely someone would wake? He didn't want to be the one responsible for blowing the cover and jeopardising the quest. The other campers disliked him as much as it was. Will said otherwise but he digressed. He was a child of death. Creepy and weird. What reasons did they have to like him?
When they reached the common room, the fire was still blazing, compensating for the blanket of darkness outside, swallowing up the sky.
Nico didn't bother to sit down, he liked to stand. However, Percy practically face planted on the couch and almost fell asleep then and there if not for the other boy's disapproving glare. "I'm awake..." he slurred, "don't punch me again."
"I've got news," he said getting straight to the point.
"Why do I get the feeling it's not good news?"
"Beggars can't be choosers. The point is it's something." He twisted the ring on his finger around a few times- force of habit. "But first off, Harry and two of his friends, are not in their beds." Percy's eyes widened. "You're doing a great job so far."
"What? What do you mean?!"
"Lucky for you, I know for a fact that they're fine, and they're with their friend Hagrid right now." Percy raised an eyebrow but didn't comment.
"But listen, I have something to tell you," Nico said. "It's important. I overheard Chiron in the Big House last night and it's not good..." he trailed off, and his eyes darted to the stairway briefly then back to Percy. A frown twisted it's way onto his features but then his expression cleared. Looking deadly serious, he stared at Percy without breaking eye contact. "I just wanted to tell you-" he took a deep breath, "Chiron, has a secret girlfriend!" he blurted.
"I'm sorry but what? You came all the way here to tell me that. How is that important?"
"I've got to go now Percy, before anyone notices I'm gone." He brought the very confused boy into a very strained hug. Since when did Nico do hugs? Since never. The son of Hades dropped his voice to a whisper. "It's not safe here, you're being watched."
Then he let go and took a step back. Nico's urgency was impossible to mask and he bore a pained expression. "Go back to bed." And with that, he was gone.
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"We're being watched?" Annabeth exclaimed in a harsh attempt at a whisper as they stood outside the Great Hall. "By who?"
"If I knew that I wouldn't be freaking out as much!" he snapped, glancing around nervously. The enormous doors leading to the hall were wide open as students either entered of exited. No one was paying the small group by the suits of armour even the smallest bit of attention but still, it was better safe than sorry.
"Do you think it could have been Harry? You said his bed was empty," she said, standing on her tiptoes and observing the goings on in the Great Hall. She spotted Harry somewhere in the middle of the Gryffindor table with the same two friends they'd met yesterday as well as another girl who was sporting the same red hair as Ron.
Percy shook his head. "I thought about it but no. Read this." He gave her the note he'd received that morning. The edges were slightly damp since it had landed in his cereal but otherwise the main wording was still in tact. Annabeth began relaying the message to Clarisse who grunted in response. "I can read it myself. It's in Ancient Greek." She snatched the note away and glared at the paper. "Percy Jackson," she read. "Don't try to contact camp. We'll come to you." Clarisse made a face. "Is that it?"
"Look who the sender is," Percy said.
"Camp and Activities director, Mr. H Brunner. So?" Percy figured Nico must have mentioned something to Chiron about his late night endeavour. He was willing to bet Will had caught him sneaking out and forced him to tell the truth. He'd been hanging around that boy quite a bit...
Annabeth huffed and pointed at the paper. 'So? Chiron never mentions a first name, or even the letter of a first name. It's always just Brunner when he's undercover," she moved her finger down the page, "and look, the S in 'Jackson' is in capitals, so is the S in 'Activities' and the H is underlined. It's code for something."
"Let me see," he said, looking over her shoulder. "Huh. You're right. But what does SSH stand for?"
"Leave it with me," she said, "but we should go back to our tables now before anyone notices." She pocketed the note, gave Percy a kiss- much to Clarisse's distaste- and slipped in with the crowd entering the hall. Clarisse scowled at the Slytherin table before she too sauntered off. Uncertainly, Percy went back to the Gryffindor table and took a seat where the girl he'd met on the evening of the sorting- Syrenx -promptly started up a conversation with him. He was almost glad when it was time for class.
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Soon enough, he found himself in first period Defense Against the Dark Arts. For a total of ten minutes and counting he'd been challenging his creative mindset and finding a variety of different ways to keep himself occupied because the teacher had still not arrived.
That was fine with Percy, it was just prolonging his next fatal mistake- not literally but at the same time very much so. The remainder of the class on the other hand, did not seem to share his opinion and seemed to be experiencing a session of great unrest. It appeared that the class he was currently in had a reputation amongst the students and they looked forward to it every year- though he had a nagging doubt it was just because they wanted to see which unfortunate teacher would have the luck to meet either an unorthodox demise, or something else which would result in the loss of their job. At least that's what he'd heard from Clarisse but then again, the daughter of Ares never was a reliable source and had probably twisted the real reason out of proportion.
He tried to keep himself busy, listening in on the conversations of his classmates. He'd spent a little while talking to two of the boys next to him but they were obviously best friends and he just felt like was trying to make room for himself in their conversation when there obviously wasn't any. The only person who'd made an effort to talk to him was Syrenx and he'd made sure to distance himself from her. She'd talked his ear off at breakfast and whilst she seemed like a nice girl, if he had to hear about the thirty different types of leaves that could be used in a salad one more time, he would crawl into into a hole and conduct his own burial ceremony.
He looked around the classroom once more. It wasn't as extravagant as any of the other rooms he'd been in or even the dungeon. Neat, orderly and simple, decorated with a few out of the ordinary gadgets.
Behind him, he could faintly overhear the discussion between Harry and the bushy haired girl who's name he'd already forgot. "Do you think it's Trintheus? Hagrid mentioned he was a teacher and I haven't had him any of my classes so far," the girl was saying. Hannah? Harpoon? Something like that.
"He looked old enough to know things about the dark arts." That was the ginger one, Ron, he recalled.
"Ronald, just because he's old doesn't mean he's smart."
But five minutes later when the teacher did arrive, he was neither a man, nor was he old. In fact 'he' was a plump woman with a beefy face and minimal wrinkles that suggested early forties. Percy could hear Ron's jaw drop. "Trintheus is a she? What? Harry you said he- she was a man," he whisper hissed.
"That's because he- she was!"
The woman sneezed extremely loudly and the students stopped talking. She eyed the class with a gleam in her eyes as she blowed her nose. "I apologise for my lateness," she spoke, "I've had trouble navigating the castle." She laughed like this was the most obvious thing in the world. No one joined in but she didn't seem bothered as she smoothed down her long quilted dress. It had different images embroidered into to the fabric, none of which Percy could make out. She wore no robes. Instead, the dress was paired with an apron. Her purple hair was bunched up into two short pigtails with gold scrunchies. The class was wide eyed and silent as they observed their new teacher.
"How could she possibly know anything about the Dark Arts? She looks like me nan," Seamus, one of the boys in Percy's dorm commented.
The woman didn't appear to hear Seamus or the snickers that followed his remark as she shuffled over to the front desk, dragging a black and yellow Batman suitcase with her. She reached into her apron and pulled out a fluffy bubblegum pink duster. Waving it twice, she tapped the blank wall behind her. It shimmered and a chalkboard appeared with a loud bang. The class jumped in their seats and watched with awe as their teacher turned to face them. She smiled, displaying her pearly white teeth that stood out in comparison to her dark red lipstick.
"I'm Professor Trintheus." She let out a string of gravelly laughter despite what she said not being even slightly funny. She turned on her heel, quickly scribbling her name on the chalkboard. "In case you hadn't noticed, I'll be your teacher for this year. And maybe next year if I'm still alive. I'm getting old." She laughed again. Still, no one laughed with her. Her gaze landed on someone behind Percy. "Oh no dearie! Put your textbook away, there'll be none of that this lesson." The bushy haired girl blushed and slid her textbook back inside her bag.
"Please, everyone stand up."
The class did what she said with some reluctance as the teacher launched into the lesson. "As you might have noticed, all teachers including myself have been conducting the first few lessons in a way that enables us to test the ability of our students. Since a number of you are new to this school, as am I, we'll be doing a task that will allow me to see how well you perform."
Percy recounted the tasks he'd done in Potions, Charms and Herbology. He'd been asked to create a potion of his choice, perform the charm he was best at and show how to correctly handle different plants. If was being tested, he'd surely failed. A few of the students exchanged nervous glances.
"Now, now, you're not being marked on this, but I may give out points to your houses depending on how well you do. The aim of this exercise is for me to see where you're at so I know how to help you." He was hardly reassured.
Professor Trintheus then began pairing them off. Percy found himself with the bushy haired girl who's name he still couldn't remember. As he'd predicted, she was smart and liked being in control. He felt bad about forgetting her name when she seemed to recall every detail about him.
"Percy," she greeted. He nodded.
"Harmony, right?"
"Hermione," she supplied, not appearing to care that he'd forgotten her name. If anything she looked...happy?
"Now, I want you to cast any spell on your opponent. Anything at all and they have to retaliate. Take it in turns. One of you attack, the other defend. Then switch. The objection is to knock your partner off their feet. Begin!"
Hermione shook Percy's hand. "Good luck," she whispered. He nodded and echoed her words before they took their positions at opposite ends of the room. His partner had already drawn her wand, meanwhile he was still trying to figure out if he could remember any spells. Anything at all. Most of the stuff Annabeth had made him read yesterday was in English and his dyslexic brain couldn't comprehend half of it. She'd promised to look for some books in Ancient Greek but for the time being Percy was ultimately screwed.
"Now." Professor Trintheus' gravelly voice filled the air. "Remember, be stragetic. Just because the spell is powerful doesn't mean it will be effective. Think small. No curses."
From across the room, Percy could see Hermione's lips moving. Before he realised what was happening it was too late and he was being thrown against the wall with so much force, he was sure he'd left a permanent indent. Where were those demigod reflexes of his? By some miracle he managed to stay on his feet and regain his composure. Hermione had a look of determination plastered on her face with a faint smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. That was when Percy realised, she didn't just want to beat him. She wanted a challenge.
A challenge was what she wanted? Then he would give her a challenge. "Come on," he muttered, "think, Percy think." He pointed his wand and uttered what he thought sounded like an incantation. It fizzled and let out a few sparks but that was it.
Hermione's face was unreadable but he could probably tell that she was thinking; this guy must have gotten someone else's letter. He can't possibly be a wizard- he can't even cast a simple spell!
She didn't give him any more time to retaliate and positioned her wand again. This time he saw it coming and dodged. The burst of power hit the desk in front of him and set it on fire. That could have been me, he thought. He glanced around the rest of the classroom. In under five minutes, everything had become complete chaos. Spells were hurtling across the room causing mass damage, a swarm of bees was attacking a girl and Seamus Finnigan was stuck to the ceiling, hanging on by just his left ankle. Professor Trintheus was watching on with a look of amusement.
How is this legal? he wondered. Then again, Camp Half Blood had activities a hundred times worse.
He felt a tingling sensation and quickly leaped up in the air, rolling over the desk that had been flung his way. The legs of a nearby chair tried to trip him up- moving around with magic -but he was able to avoid injury as he jumped over another desk. If he couldn't attack then he would defend.
Then the table he was standing on melted. He managed to stay on his feet and caught sight of Hermione. She was firing spell after spell with incredible precision.
"Be strategic."
That was it! If he was useless with his wand he could use his other strengths to his advantage. He pushed over the flaming chair and sent it skidding towards Hermione. With his opponent temporarily distracted, Percy took the chance to look around the room again. Out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of a large vase on Professor Trintheus' desk. That gave him an idea. He pointed his wand and pretended to utter an incantation. The familiar tugging sensation in his gut made itself present and he closed his eyes. The vase began to shake and then it toppled off the table. It shattered and ceramic shards went everywhere with the water beginning to pool out onto the ground. Percy willed the small amount of water to come together and form a wave. It soared upwards and with a pretend flick of his wand, he sent it hurdling towards Hermione. The impact of the small but powerful wave jolted her and she stumbled. However she successfully regained her footing. He groaned. There hadn't been enough water in the vase to cause enough damage.
This time, she pointed her wand above him but she didn't have a chance to cast a spell. The small amount of water from the vase that had gathered at her feet had for some reason multiplied and began to cover her toes. She gasped as it reached her ankles. A quick glance around the room told Percy that the other students had noticed the water too. It was steadily rising and he felt the pleasant sensation of the water against his skin as it reached his shins. It was nice. But then he remembered that no one else could breathe under water and would probably die if he didn't do something. Professor Trintheus didn't seem to be doing anything to help. And that was when he realised; this is a test.
No one else seemed to have come to that conclusion. Everyone had gone into panic mode. Dean Thomas was throwing spells like crazy at the water to no avail. A few others were trying to help but the water kept on rising.
There had to be a way to drain all the water out of the room or else everyone would drown, and Percy wasn't sure if Professor Trintheus would step in to prevent that. The only problem was he couldn't use his power for risk of revealing himself. And even if he pretended to use his wand, draining a whole room of water would be a far too unrealistic feat especially considering he'd shown no aptitude for magic so far.
Making a split second decision, he propelled himself through the water and across the room towards the windows. By now the water had reached three feet and most of the students were clinging onto their desks, trying a wide variety of spells to make the water stop. Nothing was working. Harry and his friend Ron abandoned trying to stop the flow and began helping people up onto desks.
The only person in the room who didn't look worried was Professor Trintheus who was smiling with triumph as she floated along on her Batman suitcase. He frowned as he realised the water had now reached four feet. Seamus was still dangling from the ceiling and he looked panicked as the top of his head made contact with the water. Hermione managed to grasp ahold of her wand which had been floating away. With a single word she freed Seamus from his imprisonment.
Wasting no more time, Percy dove under the water and fumbled for the window latch. He pulled it open and the water began to flood out along with most of the occupants of the room. He made sure to will himself dry so as not to attract suspicion and didn't so much as bother to try control the current. It would just dump him and the others on the grounds anyway.
With a loud plop, the water evaporated and Percy was freefalling. He landed on the grass with a smack. The surface wasn't wet or even damp. It was almost like nothing had happened. He was right. It had been a test.
Professor Trintheus laughed and looked down at her students who lay in a heap on the floor. "Sometimes, the unexpected happens. You must be prepared to act on instinct in order to save yourself and others. You displayed excellent teamwork however most of you lacked the skills to get yourself out of the problem. Once you realised that your magic wasn't working against the water, some of you attempted to help others in danger. Only one of you sought out the most reasonable solution. Mr Jackson over here used no magic and instead apted for simply opening the window. The point of this exercise was to teach you to act on instinct and most of you failed. I hope to see you better prepared for our next class." And with that, Professor Trintheus turned around and walked back to the castle, leaving behind a startled audience.
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I'M NOT ENTIRELY SATISFIED WITH THIS. I MIGHT COME BACK AND EDIT LATER- BUT WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK?
ALSO what do you think of the cover? Do you prefer it to the current one?
And
Was this chapter too similar to what happened in Potions class?
I tried to make things different. I've read far too many fanfictions where pretty much the same thing happens in DADA so I attempted to switch things up.
Let me know what you think.