Nico sighed and shifted his notes. If they had to do a quest, couldn't it be an easy one? Nine more years of this!
Annabeth was still studying with Hermione, even though those two were the least likely to fail. Harry, Ron, and Percy were growing closer every day, hanging out more often than not. Annabeth didn't mind, as long as Percy spent time with her.
Thalia groaned and leaned back into the plush red armchair. "Can we go outside now?" She whined. "It's been forever since I've been in the woods."
"The Forbidden Forest is called the forbidden forest for a reason," Annabeth reminded her.
"I can't take in any more information," Ron complained. "Especially since I'm still processing your lives."
Hermione sat up straighter, struck by a thought. "Why are you here? I mean, why come to Hogwarts? If you don't have magical blood in you, why attend here?"
The demigods glanced at each other. "Uh, this is a quest. We need to learn magic in order to complete the first step," Annabeth said.
Smart move. Nico figured the trio wouldn't appreciate having "security guards" around them constantly.
"Oh. What's the next step of your quest, then?" Hermione inquired.
"We don't know yet. It's safer to keep our knowledge limited until needed, in case of a slip up. This quest is very secretive," Thalia improvised.
"That makes sense, I guess," Hermione said reluctantly. "But why you four? According to your quests, you've gone through so much already. You deserve a break."
"Tell that to Chiron." Percy made a face. "We saved the entire freaking world twice. You'd think that would be enough for the gods, but nooo. We get sent here for who knows how long."
"And to make matters worse, we still need to take these tests!" Nico grumbled.
"Please. These tests are for eleven year olds. I think you can handle it," Annabeth said, rolling her eyes.
Percy sighed dramatically. "Oh, she'll never understand the pain of learning," he told Harry sadly.
>>>•O•<<<
The seven left History of Magic feeling extremely relieved. Hermione wanted to go over the answers after, but was shot down by two wizards and four demigods. So they collapsed under the tree by the lake and watched the Giant Squid lazily float along the surface.
Harry was uncomfortably rubbing his scar. Nico winced. His scar seemed to do what the cloak of Death did; it had a slight death vibe to it. Although it seemed to be bothering Harry a lot more than Nico, so the son of Hades kept silent.
"I wish I knew what this means!" Harry exploded suddenly. "My scar keep hurting— more often than before now." He groaned. The skin around the scar turned slightly red from his rubbing.
"Does it hurt more and more? Because that backpack Ares gave me got heavier and heavier the nearer I got to Hades' Palace," Percy suggested.
"Yeah— I feel like it's a warning— like danger's coming..." Harry trailed off, suddenly extremely worried. Nico could tell his mind was whirling at a thousand miles per hour. "oh no..."
He jumped up and started sprinting to Hagrid's hut. The demigods were on their feet instantly, but Ron and Hermione stumbled to catch up. "Quick! We need to see Hagrid now." Harry ran faster.
"Why?" Ron panted beside him.
"Don't you think it's a bit odd that what Hagrid wants more than anything else is a dragon, and the stranger he ran into happens to have one in his pocket? How many people wander around with illegal eggs in their pockets? Lucky they found Hagrid, don't you think?" Harry said in one breath as they neared the gamekeeper's hut. Nico's brain was buzzing too. It was so obvious! How had they missed it before?
Thalia drew in a sharp breath. "You're right!" They burst into the hut, where Hagrid was shucking some peas.
"Hullo—" he began, but Annabeth cut him off. "Not now, Hagrid. This is urgent."
Hagrid frowned and continued to shuck his peas.
"Hagrid, what did the stranger who gave you Norbert look like?" Harry asked, his forehead glistening with sweat, though it was impossible to tell if it was from the sprint or from anxiety. Maybe both. Sweat-xiety.
"Dunno." Hagrid kept shelling peas. "He wouldn' take his hood off. It's not uncommon, yeh know. Loads o' funny people up in the Hog's Head."
"Right," Harry said weakly. "Did you mention Hogwarts?"
Hagrid frowned and tried to recall what happened. They got more and more anxious the more he spoke, and Harry looked like he was going to pass out when he mentioned Fluffy.
"So yeh just need to play a bit of music and he'll go righ' back ter sleep, and—" Hagrid cut off, horrified. "Forget I said anythin'! Hey, where yeh goin'?"
Harry jumped up and sprinted back to the castle. "I really wish he'd stop doing that," Ron grumbled, then chased after him. Hermione shot Hagrid a frightened look, then the five ran after Ron.
"Which way was Dumbledore's office again?" Harry was asking Hermione. Annabeth led the way and they turned the corner, only to run into Professor McGonagall.
"Potter, Jackson, why are you running in the halls?" She asked crisply.
"Professer, we need to get to Dumbledore, it's urgent," Harry pleaded.
McGonagall glared down at him. "Professor Dumbledore is not here. He's on his way to London, for the Minister of Magic. I assure you, whatever you need, it can wait for after the Minister."
Thalia stepped forward. "Minerva McGonagall, you should know when something dangerous is going to happen. I was under the impression you inherited some of your mother's traits, no?"
Hermione gasped at Thalia's wording to a teacher, but Professor McGonagall suddenly looked worried.
"If it's about the Stone, I assure you it's well protected. I'm sorry, Thalia Grace, but it's too late to contact Albus now. We can't Iris-message, but as soon as he gets back, I'll have him check on it." McGonagall walked away, leaving Harry, Ron, and Hermione gaping after her.
"Who was her mother?" Ron asked nervously.
Thalia rolled her eyes. "Athena, the goddess of wisdom. Her first name is Athena's Roman part, it was pretty obvious. Let's not focus on that now," she said as Harry opened his mouth.
"You're right. We need to get to the Stone now, before anyone can steal it." Nico assumed that was what they were talking about before.
"Obviously if my sister wouldn't listen, no other staff will listen either," Annabeth said. "We need to hurry."
"The cloak's in our dormitory," said Harry. "But it's not large enough for all of us. And by the time we get there, I bet Snape'll have the stone."
Nico sighed. "I can shadowtravel us all to the corridor," he said. Percy looked relieved.
"Great. We can't waste any more time. They might have the Stone already!"
Ron gulped as they searched for a safe, dark location to shadowtravel. "Are you sure it's safe? What if it doesn't work, and we get splinched?"
"It's perfectly safe. You can't splinch while shadowtravelling, and since it's not the same as Apparation, it should work. Now everyone hold hands." Annabeth assured him. They got in a hasty circle.
Nico focused on the corridor and slipped into a shadow in the wall. Once again, there was that rush of darkness, then they all emerged in front of *shudder* Fluffy. There was a harp in front of it, and the dog was very much awake.
It snarled at them, then spotted Nico and lunged. Nico closed his eyes and felt the wet slober of three tongues at once.
"Yeah, boy, great to see you," Nico muttered, feeling the blows of the tongues nearly knocking him back in addition to the fatigue from shadowtravelling. He hated when Will was right. "We have to get to that trapdoor though, so if you could just—" Fluffy moved aside, leaving a clear path to the door.
"Huh. Guess, we didn't need this." Annabeth pulled out a red rubber ball and chucked it at the hellhound. It happily snatched it up and tossed it between its heads.
"That was amazing." Harry shook his head and continued to eye Fluffy. "But we need to get going."
One by one, they dropped down and landed on a plant. It was dark, but that didn't bother Nico. What bothered him was the leafy tendrils slowly sneaking over them.
"Thalia!" He shouted.
Thalia was busy with her knives in both hands but as she cut each leaf, it seemed to grow back in the fastest rate of plant-growth ever. Annabeth too was fighting back, but Percy couldn't reach Riptide and Nico was slowly being engulfed in the plants. Too weak to shadowtravel, he could only watch helplessly for the others to solve the problem.
Annabeth sliced a vine away and Hermione wriggled out more. "Quick! Don't stay in one place for too long! It's a Devil's Snare," She warned.
Bit late for that advice, Nico thought. Ron voiced his exact thoughts but with much more gusto.
Blue electricity sparked along Thalia's fingertips, but it didn't do much except singe the leaves a bit. "We need a fire!" she shouted.
"Leo would be... helpful... right about... now!" Percy shouted through grunts as he struggled for his pocket. Riptide was suddenly out in a flash and the thick vine that was choking Nico fell away from his neck.
"We don't have wood though!" Hermione cried, wringing her hands.
"HAVE YOU GONE MAD? ARE YOU A WITCH OR NOT?" Ron demanded, ducking to avoid a leaf swinging at his head.
"Oh, right," Hermione mumbled sheepishly, squirming away and whipping out her wand with some difficulty. After a few choice words, electric blue flames shot out of the tip, illuminating the dark chamber and licking at the tendrils and leaves like... well, fire.
If plants could talk, the Devil's Snare would be cursing like the Devil at Hermione as it snaked away into the darkness.
For a moment, the seven couldn't do anything except slump against the ground, getting the circulation to flood their limbs again.
Harry finally broke the silence with a gratified "Whew!" as he wiped his glasses clean of more sweat and plant juice. "Thank god for you guys."
"This way, I assume?" Thalia pointed down a dark corridor. The arched walls and roof were the only indication it led anywhere as the walls shone dimly against Thalia's sparking hands, the glow of Riptide, but mostly Hermione's fire that kept the Devil's Snare at bay.
"It's the only way," Annabeth checked, scanning her surroundings.
They set off, but not long after they began walking, a weak rustle could be heard.
"Hear that?" he muttered to Ron. Ron leaned forward and nodded.
"It almost sounds like— wings?"
"Oh, gods. Please don't be eagles," Percy muttered. "They hate me."
A moment later, they approached a dimly lit chamber. A heavy wooden door stood large and firm on the other side.
"Let me guess— you have to get one of those keys," Thalia grumbled.
Keys? Nico looked up and spotted small winged objects, flying around. They sparkled a bit. Shiny.
"But they're flying, which must mean—" Harry looked around. "Broomsticks!" He ran to the side of the wall and grabbed four brooms. "We have to catch the one that matches the keyhole!"
"Look for a big silver one," Ron said, examining the lock. "That's our best shot."
The three wizards grabbed a broom. Annabeth took one look at Percy, Nico, and Thalia's faces and grabbed the last one.
"You can look from down here, I guess," She said, then they took off.
Suddenly Hermione screamed and shot back to the ground. There was a squawking sound, then a flock of five neon-colored birds descended from a beam on the ceiling.
"Ornithes Areioi!" Annabeth shouted from above. "Birds of Ares! They drop darts, so be careful! I don't know why they're so colorful though!"
Nico drew his sword, and the room immediately grew colder.
"Lure them to the ground! They're attacking Harry!" Thalia yelled. Sure enough, Harry was flying at full speed away. Annabeth dodged another one, and Ron and Hermione kept looking for the keys. Unfortunately, they didn't have that eye for that stuff.
"Hey, uh, Beak Face!" Percy ran to them, waving his sword. "Come get some!"
The birds squawked and dove for him. Nico ducked over and swiped his sword at an orange one. The beak grazed his skin, and a dart whistled by his head, but the bird exploded into orange and golden powder.
Percy was taking care of three of them, but they hovered just out of reach and launched some darts at him. They must've been the party-pony version of their kind, because one of the darts was a suction cup one, and another dart exploded into kool-aid colored powder. Percy deflected an actual sharp one back at the bird who shot it, and the bird burst into neon green and golden dust. Thalia zapped the remaining three just as Harry snatched a big silver key from the air.
"Got it!" He jammed it in the lock and the door swung open.
"That was intense," Ron panted, landing. "You guys are crazy!"
"We get that a lot," Percy mumbled.
"Save the praise for later," Annabeth called back from the next room. "We have a monster to deal with."