When I woke up on Sunday morning, I dressed and went down the spiral staircase into the common room. The moment I appeared, the people who had already finished breakfast broke into applause again. The prospect of going down into the Great Hall and facing the rest of the Gryffindors, all treating me like some sort of hero, was not inviting; it was that, however, or stay here and allow me to be cornered by the Creevey brothers, who were both beckoning frantically to me to join them. They must have gotten bored of bothering Harry.
I walked resolutely over to the portrait hole, pushed it open, climbed out of it, and found himself face-to-face with Selena.
"Hello," she said, holding up a stack of toast, which she was carrying in a napkin. "I brought you this. . . . Want to go for a walk?"
"Good idea," I said gratefully.
We went downstairs, crossed the entrance hall quickly without looking in at the Great Hall, and were soon striding across the lawn toward the lake, where the Durmstrang ship was moored, reflected blackly in the water. It was a chilly morning, and we kept moving, munching our toast, as I told Selena exactly what had happened after I had left the Gryffindor table the night before.
"Well, of course I knew he hadn't entered himself," she said when I finished telling her about the scene in the chamber off the Hall. "The look on his face when Dumbledore read out your names! But the question is, who did put it in? Because Moody's right, Nico . . . I don't think any student could have done it . . . they'd never be able to fool the goblet, or get over Dumbledore's age line."
I sighed, "What should I do? Harry's going to get himself hurt, and everyone probably thinks I'm evil or something."
She shrugged, "You should tell Will about the Triwizard Tournament later; he's your doctor and friend, he should have some advice."
"How about now?" I walked to the lake, where the morning mist from earlier hadn't yet faded and tossed a drachma in it. "O Fleecy, do me a solid. Show me Will Solace at Camp Half-Blood."
In the mist appeared Will, fast asleep in the Apollo Cabin.
"Will!" I whispered, he didn't respond. "Will!" Still nothing.
Then Selena came up with the best idea ever, "Why don't we just shadow travel there, talk to him, eat lunch there, then come back in time for dinner?"
I jumped up, "Yes! Let's go!"
She swiped her hand through the Iris-Message, grabbed my hand, and shadow traveled us to Camp Half-Blood, right outside of the Apollo Cabin. She marched in, used her wand to levitate him, then dumped him in the lake.
She then stuck her wand in my hand. So when Will climbed out of the lake, he would think I was the one that dumped him in the lake.
Unfortunately for her, she didn't realize that Will knew nothing about wizards, fortunately for her though, he knew more about me than her.
When Will stormed out of the water, he immediately zoned in on me. "What was that for?"
I held up my hands and tossed the wand to Selena. "I didn't do it! It was Selena!"
He turned to Selena and regarded her with a strange expression. "Did you do it?"
She grinned. "Guilty as charged," she studied him. "So, Will Solace. I've heard a lot about you, you healed my brother's broken heart, I hold you in deepest respect."
"Who's your brother?" Will asked.
Selena smacked her forehead with her palm. "Nico!"
Will blushed, "Thank you, but why did you dunk me in the water?"
She shrugged, "It was funny, I also wanted to see if you could swim."
"Why?" Will asked.
"Nico might fall in the water."
I scowled, "I'm right here, guys! I will not fall!"
She smirked, "I know, little brother. But it doesn't hurt to be careful."
"Wait!" Will yelled. "You're older than him? How? You look fourteen!"
Selena rolled her eyes. "I'm a Hunter, duh. I'm about twenty times older than his and your ages combined! Also, there's the thing called the mist."
"How are you that old?" Will was getting one of the giant blow dryer thingys.
She shrugged, "How are you so young?"
He grinned, "Touché."
I sighed, I wondered when we would eat. As if my stomach could hear me, it rumbled. Selena and Will both turned to me.
"Sounds like someone's hungry!" Selena teased, poking my stomach with every word.
"Hey!" I swatted her hand away. "I'm a growing boy!"
She scoffed, "You're eighty-four, you don't need to grow. Plus, you hardly eat enough anyways!"
I pouted, "I'm a eighty-four year old stuck in a fourteen year old's body, do you know how horrible that is?"
Selena rolled her eyes, "I'm about two thousand, three hundred years old, but I'm not even allowed to get a driver's license! I look like I'm twelve most of the time, and worst of all.... At Hogwarts, boys flirt with me!" She made a face.
I snorted, "It can't be that bad, right?"
"That's literally the one thing I hate the most. I joined the Hunters to get away from the annoying boys!" She yelled, throwing her hands up in the air, in turn, dropping her wand. "Oops," She bent down to grab it, I used my wand to turn her hair pink!
Will giggled, Selena stood up and eyed us suspiciously. "Did you do anything?"
Will shook his head, "Nope!"
She rolled her eyes "What did you do?"
I smirked, "I turned your hair pink!"
"Nico di Angelo! You are so dead!" She yelled, brandishing her wand, probably about to hex me.
I paled, "Please don't kill me! I'm sorry!" I waved my wand and made her hair black again. "There! I fixed it!"
She smirked, "I'll let you off this time, but next time you will be in big trouble."
I blinked innocently, "Who said there would be a next time?"
She raised an eyebrow, "I highly doubt there won't be a next time."
I shrugged, "You know me scarily well."
Will cleared his throat, "Um, why are you guys here? I thought you and Nico were somewhere else.... Also, where were you? Percy was freaking out, he said you disappeared."
"Oh yeah, uh...." I twirled my wand nervously. "We kind of were at a school for Wizards and Witches, called Hogwarts. I'm also apparently related to this evil guy called Voldemort—"
"What!" Selena yelled, "How?"
I shrugged, "He's apparently my half brother, two years younger than me."
She gasped, "So is he a demigod?"
"No, I don't think so, mom's side." I replied.
"Wait!" Will made the "time out" sign. "So Wizards and Witches exist and you're a Wizard?"
"Pretty much." Selena said.
"And it's called Hogwarts?" Will asked. "It sounds like a pig disease!"
Me and Selena laughed, "Yes, and there's a village called Hogsmeade next to it!" We said, in sync.
Will shuddered, "That was creepy!"
Selena smirked, "I know, when can we eat?"
"What?" Will asked.
Selena rolled her eyes, "Breakfast! When do we eat breakfast?"
"Oh," Will looked at the monster-proof watch. (Leo made it) "About now."
"Breakfast?" I asked,
Selena shrugged, "Five-hour time difference."
Just then the conch sounded, "Just on time!" Selena said cheerfully, she pulled me and Will towards the pavilion, torches blazed around the marble columns. A central fire burned in a bronze brazier the size of a bathtub. Each cabin had its own table, covered in white cloth trimmed in purple.
Finally, Chiron pounded his hoof against the marble floor of the pavilion, and everybody fell silent. He raised a glass. "To the gods!"
Everybody else raised their glasses. "To the gods!"
Wood nymphs came forward with platters of food: grapes, apples, strawberries, cheese, fresh bread, and yes, barbecue!
"Butterbeer," Selena said to her cup, it filled itself with the golden liquid.
"What's that?" Will asked, peering in her cup.
"It's a Wizarding drink," She explained. "It tastes like liquid butterscotch. Try some,"
Will and I shrugged, "Butterbeer," the cups filled with the drink, we took a sip, then drank the entire thing.
"Wow! It's delicious!" I exclaimed.
Selena rolled her eyes, "Duh, now before you drink more, we must sacrifice some food for the gods and goddesses."
"Oh yeah!" I stood up, walked up to the fire, "Hades, Hecate, Hestia, and Athena."
"Why Athena?" Selena asked.
"The school is literally full of owls, I would prefer to not unwillingly join father's kingdom anytime soon." I explained.
She nodded, then did what I did. When we sat down, Selena ate all her food faster than I could blink! I just picked at my food, I didn't feel like eating much.
"Why aren't you eating?" Selena asked.
I shrugged, "I don't know."
Will crossed his arms, "Eat now, doctor's orders."
I pouted, "But I don't want too!"
Selena rolled her eyes, "Well too bad for you, eat now!"
I groaned, "Fine!" I grabbed a fork and knife, then used them to carefully cut the meat off my barbecue. I stuck some meat in my mouth, "There, happy now?"
Selena smirked, "Yes, so what are you going to do for the Triwizard Tournament?"
Will, who had been drinking another cup of Butterbeer, nearly choked. "What's the Triwizard Tournament? Wizards exist?"
I rolled my eyes, "Yes Will, wizards exist. I am a wizard and Selena is a witch—and I mean more than usual."
"Didn't we already go over this?" Selena elbowed me really hard, "Nico!" She scowled. "Don't forget, I'm probably your only hope of surviving the Tournament. Along with—" she broke off suddenly with an expression I couldn't quite place.
"So this Tournament, I take that it's dangerous?" Will asked.
Selena nodded, "They paused it at some point because lots of people died."
Will frowned, "Nico, I'm not sure if you should be in the Tournament then."
I stuck my tongue out at him. "I'm old enough! The age limit is seventeen! I'm older than seventeen! I'll be fine!"
He sighed, "I know you are Nico, but it's my job as your doctor and boyfriend to worry about you."
Selena smirked, "Boyfriend? I ship it!"
I shook my head in fake dismay, "My sister, the Hunter, hates boys, but ships people. What has the world gone to?"
Selena shrugged, "I don't care, you are my OTP."
"What's an OTP?" I ask,
She grinned, "One True Pairing!"
I groaned, "Sis, your excessive fangirling is freaking me out."
"Good," Then she went back to eating.
After we finished eating, we went to the lava rock wall and trained.
There, we found Percy and Annabeth.
Percy had just made it to the top and had jumped down, using water to slow his fall.
"Show off!" Annabeth called, then she noticed us. "Nico! You're alive! You better have a good explanation for your disappearance! We thought someone took you!"
"Nico!" Percy yelled, he ran toward us and hugged me, I cringed. "I am so glad you're here! I thought you died or something! I even Iris Messaged your father to see if you were alive! He was super mad you were gone!"
I groaned, "Great, Hades is mad. I'm fine," I gently nudged Percy to stop hugging me. "I'm most concerned about Hades, if he's mad, it's not going to be good for us. I'd better go talk to him,"
I waved goodbye to our friends, grabbed Selena's hand, and shadow-traveled to the underworld. The last thing I heard before we left was Will yelling about not using my powers.
After we stepped out of the shadows, into Hades's palace, I nearly fainted.
"Be careful!" Selena caught me, as I stumbled. I waved her off, "I'm fine, let's go to dad before he throws a fit."
Selena nodded, we walked to Hades's throne room.
"Hey dad!" I called.
"Nico! Are you ok? You disappeared, I thought Hera had kidnapped you!" Hades yelled, hugging me."
"Too tight—Can't breathe!" I gasped, he immediately released me. "Are you ok? What happened?"
I shrugged, "I'm fine, I've been at Hogwarts for the past month or so."
He scowled, "Hogwarts? You mean that wizarding school?"
"Yes," Selena said, stepping out of the shadows.
"Selena!" He looked delighted. "You're here! Is Serena here too?"
"No she's still—"
"I'm right here dad," Came a musical voice. I turned to find a girl who looked exactly like Selena staring back at me. Her black hair swayed in the light breeze and her silver combat boots gleamed in the dome light. Selena threw her arms around the girl, squeezing her so hard, dust showered off her in clouds.
Selena let go and the girl dusted herself off muttering, "Stupid magicians. Someone needs to teach them to stop trying to banish their gods." Then she looked at me. "Hey Nico."she said nonchalantly, as if she met long lost siblings every other day. She stuck her hand out for me to shake.
"I'm Selena's twin, Serena. I'm coming back to Hogwarts with you. I assume I'm not going to enter the tournament like someone suggested." This last sentence, I realized was directed at my dad, who looked sheepish and happy at the same time. Not a good combination on him, I thought.
"So, when are we leaving?" Serena asked,
I glanced at Hades, who nodded. "Right now."
Serena and Selena grabbed my hands and shadow traveled us to Hogwarts.
"So the cover story is, I'm Selena's twin sister and I was unable to go to school earlier because I was too sick. Got it?" Said Serena.
I nodded, "Yep, except for the fact of you not having a wand."
She laughed, "Oh, I have a wand. How else was I supposed to pass as a magician with the House of Life?" She took out what looked like a boomerang.
Selena elbowed her twin, "Wrong kind of wand!" She hissed. "The wand Serena is using is a magician's wand, it's made of Hippo Ivory and used to ward off enemy spells, counter curses, or repel enemies. It can be used as a throwing weapon to knock away attackers, or held up to create a magic shield. It can also be used to draw magic protective circles and cast healing spells. She needs a wizard wand, not a magician wand." Selena explained.
"Where would I get a wand then?" Serena asked.
Selena smirked, "You're in luck because when Lady Artemis gave me my wand, courtesy of Death, she gave me its twin, your wand!" She waved her hand through the air, shadows converged, and suddenly a nearly identical wand to her wand appeared in her hand. She handed it to her sister, "It's made of Elder wood and thestral tail-hair, Serena's smile faltered slightly at the mention of threstrals and I realized what she must be thinking. According to the stupid 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' book, only people who had seen others die could see them. Serena straightened and said, "I'll be right back," she disappeared into the shadows. I slapped myself on the forehead. "Can anyone go five minutes without creepily disappearing?"
Selena smirked and creepily disappeared, "Nope!"
"Thanks a lot," I muttered.
Just then Serena appeared out of the shadows, behind me. "Sorry about that," she said. "I'm going to be sorted at dinner." Then, to my great annoyance, she disappeared again.
"Boo!" Came a yell from behind me and I jumped about ten feet in the air. "Aaah!"
I heard a burst of giggles and I turned to find Serena and Selena collapsing with laughter. Just then, Hermione, Ron, and Harry emerged from a grove of trees to our right, stopping abruptly when she saw Selena and her twin. Serena stepped in front of me and held out a hand to her sister, helping her up. Then she turned to Hermione who had a puzzled expression on her face, "Hello, I'm Serena Alimari, Selena's older sister."
Selena scoffed, "I'm older!"
Serena shrugged. "Nope, I'm older by five seconds, but who cares? Anyway," she said, turning back to Hermione. "I wasn't able to come at the beginning of the year because I was sick, so apparently I'll be sorted tonight at dinner. It nice to meet you."
Hermione had a relieved smile on her face. "Oh, I thought you somehow cloned Selena or something."
Serena laughed "Of course not. And I suppose the two boys behind you who are spying on us and sticking their noses in the air refusing to even meet me are clones as well?"
"What are clones?" Selena asked.
Serena smiled, "You should learn more about this century, sis. Cloning is a science fiction thing. It means to duplicate someone using their DNA."
Selena pouted, "But the centuries pass so fast! Plus history class sucks! Things change! Like English, there's the part where it was Shakespearean and now it's this! Thy language changes too much! Thou can't keep up!"
Serena walked past Hermione and right up to Harry and Ron. I knew this would be good.
"Well," she said crossing her arms and letting a disarming smile come over her face. "You must be the famous hero, Harry Potter. And I suppose your friend is Ron Weasley?" The two idiots started and actually looked at Serena with their mouths hanging open and stupid expressions on their faces.
"Yeah, that's us." Harry said at last.
"Well, this should be an interesting year then," Serena said, tucking a lock of her hair behind her ear.
Just then, Harry appeared to notice that she hadn't taken her parkara off, even though it was scorching outside. "Why didn't you take your parkara off?" He asked.
Serena raised an eyebrow. "Give me three good reasons why I should."
Selena snickered and elbowed me in the ribs. "This is going to be fun to watch. Now all I need is something to eat."
Meanwhile, Harry was staring at Serena, not knowing what to say. Then his tiny brain finally thought of something, "One, you should be wearing school robes, and there's no reason for you to have it on. Two, It's hot, like you."
Selena made a face, "Don't try to flirt with me or my sister unless you want to become road-kill."
Serena raised both eyebrows and said, "That's two reasons." Then, with a wave of her wand. Immediately her outfit transformed into a full set of Hogwarts robes. Harry and Ron gaped and I burst out laughing. "There," She scowled, "Happy?"
Selena was right, this was fun to watch. It suddenly occurred to me that Serena knew everything that had happened and was getting revenge for my sake.
I chuckled. "Need some ice for that burn?"
Hermione first regained her speech, "Woah, that's so cool! I read about people being able to do that! But I never heard of people doing it wordless! Can you teach me?"
"Sure, as soon as I figure out how I did it." Serena replied. She turned back to Harry and Ron, who had pretended not to hear me. "Close your mouths, you'll catch flies."
Hermione burst out laughing, unable to contain herself. While Harry and Ron looked, with hurt evident on their faces.
Selena handed her sister her schedule. "Here." She said. "For when classes start on Monday. I mean, seriously. The probability of you being not in Ravenclaw is impossible. Hey, how about you get sorted into Slytherin and we switch places?"
Serena rolled her eyes, "No, I am not pretending to be you! The last time we pretended to do that, we were banished for a decade, remember? You got me into so much trouble!" She snatched the schedule from her sister's hand and scanned it.
"I can help you catch up," Hermione volunteered.
"Thanks, but I've memorized my books." Serena replied and when Hermione looked hurt she added, "But, could you show me the library? I've wanted to see it and then, if you're not busy, you could show me around the school with Selena and Nico. We'd love your company."
Hermione brightened considerably and I noticed, with no small amount of satisfaction, that Harry and Ron looked hurt that she hadn't invited them.
"You could come too if you want," Serena said to them, then leaned closer as if sharing a secret. "But if you ever do anything rude to my brother—" she gestured to me and their mouths dropped open. "—again, I will see to it that you are sent to the fields of punishment. Avada Kedavra will seem like mercy compared to what will I do to you."
Harry and Ron gulped but then Serena flashed another disarming smile and those stupid lovey expression drifted back across their faces.
Hermione was giggling and followed Serena, me, and Selena as we walked away. "Nice!" She said. "No offense to them, but they kinda deserved that." Selena high-fived her twin.
"Go to Hell!" Ron yelled, we turned around slowly.
I smirked, "Been there, done that! Do you want to go as well? I'll be happy to send you there myself!"
"I—Uh—Well—" Ron stuttered.
"Boom! In your face!" Serena yelled, her sister high-fived her. "Serves that boy right, attempting to flirt with us, and being mean to our little brother."
"Hey!" I protested, "I am not that much younger than you!"
Selena patted me on my head, "Yes, yes you are."
"You're his sisters?" Hermione asked.
We froze, we revealed too much.
Serena smiled disarmingly again, "Yes, we're his older half-sisters."
"Me and Selena are full sisters, as well as twins." Serena explained. "Don't ask how we were born so 'close' to the same age, it's awkward."
Hermione shrugged, "Ok,"
Selena looked up at the sun, "Oh gods, it's 6:00 pm! Time for dinner, come on! We can't be late!"
"How did you—Did she just—" Hermione began.
"Yes, she told the time based on the position of Apo—the sun." Serena interrupted. "It's so interesting, now let's go!"