Nico's POV
Harry and Ron weren't sure what we were talking about.
"So why are you here?" Harry asked. "Not that I'm complaining, of course."
Annabeth rolled her eyes, "When I tell you, don't laugh or say anything. Wait until I finish. Alright?"
Ron and Harry nodded uncertainly, unsure of what they were going to hear.
"We're demigods," Annabeth said bluntly.
"Now wait a minute," Ron protested.
"Shh!" Annabeth snapped. "What did I say about speaking?"
"To not do it?" Ron asked.
"Shh!"
Ron looked annoyed, and slumped into his seat. His arms were crossed, like this better be as good as Nutella.
Annabeth continued, "We're from a summer camp called Camp Half-Blood. It's a place for Greek demigods. There's another camp called Camp Jupiter for Romans. Hecate, the Greek goddess of magic, saw that your world was in danger. She said she made some sort of choice. She convinced Athena, who convinced Zeus to allow some demigods to come to Hogwarts to save it. Zeus agreed, and Rachel-our oracle-gave us a prophecy. You heard it in Divination."
Harry blinked, "We thought Trelawney made it up."
"The old bat," Ron agreed. "She—"
"Anyway," Annabeth interrupted, "Hecate blessed us so that we would be able to do magic. But since we had just barely recovered from another prophecy, we ah...forced her to make us immune to magic cast by anyone other than us, so that we would have a higher chance of surviving this quest. We came here to train you wizards, because Hecate thinks-and other gods agree-that some powerful being is going to take over Hogwarts, and use everyone here to take over our camps."
Harry raised his hand timidly, "Can I...er....?"
Annabeth nodded, trying to make her face more gentle, "Go ahead."
"How can Greek Mythology be real? I mean, we know that the sun's just a ball of gas, it has nothing to do with Helios or Apollo. In Astronomy we chart stars and planets—"
"The Mist," Annabeth explained. "It's a magic veil that prevents mortals or Muggles from seeing the real thing. A hellhound could be right in front of them but all they would see is a car or a large dog. You have some godly blood in you, since wizards (besides muggle-borns, who are blessed) are all descendants from the first group of wizards. Because of that, you can see through most of the Mist. You know centaurs exist right? And the Chimera and the gorgons."
Harry nodded hesitantly, "But the planets—"
"—are the Mist," Annabeth finished. "There are no planets. The sun is Apollo's sports car, and the moon is Artemis's chariot. There is no outer space, just Ouranos, the protogenos of the sky."
"But...but..." Harry looked very disappointed, like a kid being told Santa Claus wasn't real.
"That's impossible!" Ron blurted. "You're telling me gods are hanging around with Muggles? How has the Ministry not heard of this?"
"The Mist," Annabeth repeated. "We've fought gods, Titans, giants, and various monsters. Greek and Roman Mythology aren't myths. All the stories are true."
Ron was lost, "Wait, so Annabeth, you're telling me your parents are gods for God's sake?"
I rolled my eyes because I had heard the capital G in what he said. "No, of course not."
Ron blinked, "What—"
"We're half-gods, not fully-fledged gods. We have only one god for a parent."
"And what are you?" he gave me the suspicious glance he was already giving.
"A son of Hades," I said simply.
Ron frowned, trying to recall. "Hades," he repeated to himself. "Isn't he married?"
"To Persephone, yes."
Ron and Harry were 100% baffled.
"Your faces are hilarious," Draco said dryly, examing his fingernails.
"And you knew all about this?" Harry asked scornfully. "What, are you some sort of demigod, too?"
"In fact I am," Draco sat up straighter. "Bow down to me."
"No," Harry hissed at him, almost sounding like he was speaking Parseltongue.
"Hmph," Draco said, sounding genuinely disappointed.
"And I can prove I'm Hades's son," I said.
"How?" Ron demanded.
I put my wand on the table, then willed the shadows to draw closer, and the room darkened visibly, the temperature dropping ten degrees.
Harry and Ron paled.
"I can also make a fissure to the Underworld and summon a skeletal army from it." I tapped the ground with my foot, and they stumbled back. "Kidding. I can't do it here, we're on the seventh floor. It won't work."
Ron and Harry decided to believe us.
Hermione looked at Harry and Ron guiltily, "I'm really really sorry for keeping this from you all these years. I was forbidden to mention it. I made an oath, actually."
"Forbidden by who?" Ron snapped.
"By my mother," Hermione said miserably. "And she's not a dentist. She's Athena, goddess of wisdom."
"I should've known it'd be the smart goddess," Ron grumbled.
Hermione blushed, "Draco-I mean, Malfoy-is a demigod too. But he's unclaimed."
Draco wasn't happy that Hermione had shared this news.
"What does unclaimed mean?" Ron asked.
"It means—"
"It means I'm superior," Draco interrupted.
Hermione frowned, "No, it means your godly parent hasn't given you a sign telling you who you are. Usually the sign is a symbol above the person's head."
"But..." Harry looked lost, "but Malfoy has a mom and dad! Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy!"
"Lucius is my stepfather," Draco said.
"Oh," said Harry.
"I wish my dad would claim me. I wonder what he's doing."
We stared at the space above his head, as if something would show up on cue.
Nothing happened.
"Oh well," Draco grumbled unhappily, "I've been waiting for years with no luck."
Annabeth moved to comfort him, but students were starting to come into the common room.
"Well then," Jason confiscated Leo's Treacle Tart, "should we go see Wilby?"
Pomfrey wouldn't let all eleven of us into the Hospital Wing.
What's her problem? It's only one less than a dozen people.
While we took a formal voting (with some serious debating) of who should go in, Drew came up and leaned against the wall, staring at us.
When all of us had noticed her, she waved, "Hey."
All eleven of us waved and said Hey back at her at the exact same time, which must have unnerved her a little because she went speechless for a moment.
When we were about to go back to voting Drew asked, "Do you know where's Wilby?"
Percy's eyes went to the door of the Hospital Wing, "Uh..."
Drew followed his gaze, "Oh okay." Then she pushed the door open and went in.
We looked at each other.
A few seconds later Drew burst out of the door, eyes wild, "When did this happen?"
"Two AM," I informed her.
Drew was horrified.,"How can he do magic? He can't say anything!"
"There's still nonverbal spells," Annabeth answered, "and about who did it-"
"Oh, I can tell you who did it alright. Along with what happened with Lavender and Sylvia. It was-"
"Dawn," Annabeth finished.
Drew was aghast, then her expression cleared. "Took you long enough," she said scornfully.
Annabeth's eyes flashed. She didn't take Drew's response very nicely, "You should have told someone earlier. Then this wouldn't have happened to Wilby."
"Yes yes I know I know so it's my fault whatever," she hit Percy in the face with her hair and went back inside.
After a few moments, Annabeth sighed and pushed open the door, stepping in.
When we moved to follow her, I protested, "Wait, we still haven't decided who will go in-"
All ten of us barged inside.
Drew was already leaving, and she jumped back when we all appeared out of thin air.
"Geez," she grumbled as she skirted around us.
"You're leaving?" Leo asked.
"I need to use the loo," she answered. "Did you realize that in books authors never show characters going to the restroom?"
"I don't read," Leo responded.
"Neither do I." She left, the door swinging after her.
Madam Pomfrey flew out of the curtains and regarded the crowd, "You can't all be injured!"
"Actually," Piper said, "we were just visiting-"
"NO VISITORS!" she shrieked.
"How's Wilby?" Annabeth asked. "We just want to know."
Madam Pomfrey breathed deeply like she was trying not to blow a gasket. "He's stable. Severus is here trying to fix him, but I fear it's Dark Magic. Albus will come here later. Professor Flitwick was on duty at the time, and he was hexed from behind. He's fine now. Now leave."
We left.
"Well then," Percy said. "Did we all have to come down just to see Wilby?"
"I guess not," Annabeth said. "Let's go back."
We decided to do the healthy thing: skip the morning classes and snack on candies for breakfast. The common room was empty because everyone was at the Great Hall.
Harry told us about the time Draco got turned into a ferret, while Draco slumped into his chair and grumbled to himself, trying not to look embarassed.
I knew he was probably trying to avoid attacking Harry for our sake, but he seemed to be about to get out of his restraints.
Hermione had brought Hogwarts: A History and was pointing out all the fascinating and interesting and incredible and extraodinary details of Hogwarts to Annabeth and Piper, who listened intently.
Hey You the owl and Whizbee were chasing each other around the ceiling. Due to excessive excitement, Whizbee occasionally dropped a few bombs here and there.
I used my sword to dissolve a poop missile, . I was glad Harry wasn't being rude to Percy as much, maybe he was over it, like I was.
Ron excitedly dived into the story of how Draco got punched in the face by Hermione, and then how Draco had wailed and screamed when Buckbeak the hippogriff slashed his arm.
"Ron, stop it-" Hermione started right when Draco launched himself at Ron.
The force knocked the entire couch over and Harry flipped over as well, and Fonzies and other candies flew in the air as Leo tried to save them (the candies, not Harry).
Draco snarled and punched at Ron while Harry and Hermione tried to pull him off.
Percy and Annabeth rushed to help, but then they froze, as if Khione the snow goddess had touched them.
And we stopped as well. Hey You swooped down and perched on the couch, sensing how important this was.
Leo was the last to take notice, and when he had stashed his Fonzies safely into his ever-present tool belt, he too stopped what he was doing, "Whoa."
Ron gasped and scrambled away, staring at the space above Draco's head, "Wha-what's that?"
A bronze helmet glowed, bobbing a little as Draco flung his head back to stare at it in disbelief.
"The helm of darkness," Percy said darkly. "I remember that thing."
"A son of Hades," Annabeth said in awe. "You've been claimed, Draco."
- -
Hope you guys are happy with who Draco's dad is. I had people vote once and Hermes won by a mile, but I didn't like him as a son of Hermes much. Nemesis, Athena, and Hades were tied for #2. I chose Hades because it was more different from other stories. I was also pretty close to choosing Orcus, the Roman god of broken oaths and punishment.