NOTE: Happy 2014 Baybeh! :) New year's resolution, anyone? One of mine is to update this story regularly and to never forget it. Also, I'll make the updates the best I can. :D
By the way, things will get more serious after this chapter. Serious as in like fighting and action and missing people serious. I hope you guys don't mind.
AND lastly, seriously guys? 3K reads? 116 votes? *sniff* I can't believe how happy I am. Hope you guys continue reading and keep voting. I'll also accept suggestions for the story. :>
Domo arigatou, minna! (Thank you very much, everyone!) {Like I said in my previous note, I was engrossed with anime. But don't worry. I won't put any of those in the story. :P}
Oh. And one more thing. Updating this story will be really tough now. It's my final quarter as a freshman and I really need to do my best. Especially since I screwed up big time last quarter. (Oops.) So, hope y'all understand if my updates will be a wee bit slow.
Disclaimer: There are some parts in this chapter which I got from the Goblet of Fire. I'd just like to remind you that I don't own any of the Harry Potter or Percy Jackson characters. All credits go to J.K. Rowling and Rick Riordan.
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*Hogwarts*
~Shadow's POV~
"What are you doing, Shadow?" Hermione asked warrily. I didn't bother answering her, instead, I proceeded slamming my forehead lightly on the table while waiting for our next teacher.
"What are you- Hey! Stop that!" She grabbed my head and shook my shoulders. "Get a hold of yourself!"
"I wish I could," I mumbled gloomily.
The last week of term became increasingly boisterous as it progressed. Rumors about the Yule Ball were flying everywhere. For instance, Dumbledore had bought eight hundred barrels of mulled mead from Madam Rosmerta. He had also, as I recall from the things I've heard from Parvati Patil, booked the Weird Sisters, a very famous musical group in the Wizarding World.
I don't take much interest in them, though.
Some of the teachers gave up trying to teach us much when our minds were clearly elsewhere. Professor Flitwick for one. He allowed us to play games in his lesson on Wednesday, and spent most of it talking to Harry about the perfect Summoning Charm Harry had used during the first task of the Triwizard Tournament.
The other teachers were not so generous. And that's exactly why I am currently cranky and gloomy.
Nothing would ever deflect Professor Binns, for example, from plowing on through his notes on goblin rebellions - as Binns hadn't let his own death stand in the way of continuing to teach, we supposed a small thing like Christmas wasn't going to put him off. It was amazing how he could make even bloody and vicious goblin riots sound as boring as Percy Weasley's cauldron-bottom report. Professor McGonagall and Moody kept us working until the very last second of our classes, too. And Professor Snape, of course, would no sooner let us play games in class. Staring nastily around at us all, he informed us that he would be testing us on poison atidotes during the last lesson of the term.
As the bell rang, everybody dashed out of the classroom with no hesitation, all of them looking like zombies. Seamus Finnigan had eye bags bigger than anyone's. Dean Thomas' uniform looked as if he put it on 10 seconds before the start of classes this morning. Lavender Brown's hair, to my surprise, looked like she had just gone through a storm. Among all of us, Hermione looked the most decent and the most normal. She made the last week of term look like it was just before exam week which involves alot of studying and project passing in the Muggle World.
"Finally!" Ron yelled happily as we arrived inside the Gryffindor Common Room. As usual, the demigods were occupying the couches where they were lying around and keeping themselves busy. I almost immidately dropped my books on the table and plopped myself beside Nico who was a bit surprised at my actions. I laid on his lap and sighed heavily with relief.
"Hey, hey, is that... Neville?" Ginny asked, pointing to the corner of the room where we saw Neville sulking. Ginny was fine, by the way. Their class wasn't tortured by our professors. "Neville? Neville, hey! Are you alright?" she asked, running to him and tried to comfort him.
I turned back to face the fire place and put Nico's arm around my shoulder, hugging him tightly. Everyone looked at us cheesily. Piper and Hazel giggled and Hermione just smiled. Nico looked a tiny bit embarrassed at what I was doing, but I didn't worry.
"You must be really tired, huh?" Nico asked, smirking. I nodded my head in reply.
"Is public display of affection allowed in the common room?" Annabeth playfully asked Harry. Everyone cracked up, including me.
After the laughing died down, the feeling of tiredness again filled the whole room. It wasn't that late yet, but only we and some older students were left in the common room. Everyone in our class must have been tired from all of the school work the professors were pressuring on us.
"Evil he is," Ron said bitterly. "Springing a test on us on the last day. Ruining the last bit of term with a whole load of studying. I mean, look at everyone. A-And Shadow. Can you imagine how much strain is being put on her since she's an auror?"
I was too lazy to make a comment on that, so I just nodded my head in reply.
"Mmm... you're not exactly straining yourself, though, are you?" said Hermione, looking at him over the top of her Potions notes. Ron was busy building a card castle out of his Exploding Snap pack - a much more interesting pastime than with Muggle cards, because of the chance that the whole thing would blow up any second.
"It's Christmas, Hermione," Harry told her lazily; he was rereading Flying with the Cannons for the tenth time in an armchair near the fire.
Hermione looked severely over at him, too. "I'd have thought you'd be doing something constructive, Harry, even if you don't want to learn your antidotes!"
I heard a breath trickle down the side of my neck. I looked and saw Nico fast asleep. He looked so cute and adorable, but of course, he still looked alert and cautious, as if he couldn't sleep normally. I kissed his cheek and ruffled his hair lightly. Because of that, his expression softened, and now, he was sleeping soundly. Looking at him made my eyelids want to drop, too.
Since I was exhausted and bummed out, I decided to go to sleep, not caring about the consequences or about what might happen. My eyelids closed and in Nico's arms, I drifted away into deep sleep.
~Harry's POV~
"Like what?" I asked Hermione, watching Joey Jenkins of the Cannons belt a Bludger toward a Ballycastle Bats Chaser.
"That egg!" Hermione hissed.
"Hey, uhm, guys," Frank tried to say, but we ignored him.
"Come on, Hermione, I've got till February the twenty-fourth," I said. The golden egg was upstairs in my trunk. I haven't opened it since the celebration party after the first task. There were still two and a half months to go until I needed to know what the screechy wailing meant, after all.
"Guys," this time, Leo tried, but Hermione ignored her.
"But it might take weeks to work it out!" Hermione exclaimed. "You're going to look like a real idiot if everyone else knows what the next task is and you don't!"
"Leave him alone, Hermione, he's earned a bit of a break," Ron said, placing the last 2 cards on top of the castle and the whole lot blew up, singeing his eyebrows.
"Hey you guys! Keep it down a bit," Piper said, but was cut off by the prankster twins.
"Nice look, Ron... go well with your dress robes, that will."
It was Fred and George. They sat down on the table with everyone else as Ron felt how much damage had been done. "And, yeah, before you guys start arguing again, mind if you keep quiet and give respect to those who are sleeping?" George asked, gesturing somewhere at the back. Everyone else sighed as if they knew what he was talking about, while Ron, Hermione, and I looked at the back to see what was going on. To our surprise, Shadow and Nico were fast asleep in eachother's arms at the back.
Oh. So that was it.
"Oh, s-sorry," the three of us chorused, while Fred and Georged clicked their tongues.
"You should have more respect," George said as-a-matter-of-factly for the first time. "Right, Freddie?"
Fred looked at him, a bit confused. "Oh, no. I clicked my tongue because I wished that was me," he said, pointing at Nico. "Damn that lucky Death Boy."
George looked at him, amused, and asked, "Anyway, Ron, can we borrow Pigwidgeon?"
"No, he's off delivering a letter," Ron replied. "Why?"
"Because George wants to invite him to the ball," Fred said sarcastically. Some of us giggled softly at his joke.
"Because we want to send a letter, you stupid great prat," George countered.
"Who d'you two keep writing to?" Ron asked.
"Nose out, Ron, or I'll burn that for you, too," Fred said, waving his want threateningly. "So... you lot got dates for the ball yet?"
"Nope."
"Well, you'd better hurry up, mate, or all the good ones will be gone," George said proudly.
"But of course, the best one's already taken," Fred muttered gloomily, looking at Shadow and Nico.
"Who are you going with instead, Fred?" I asked.
"Angelina," he said promptly, but with a hint of disappointment that he couldn't take Shadow out.
"What?" Ron asked, taken aback. "You've already asked her?"
"Good point," said Fred. He turned his head and called across the common room, "Oi! Angelina!"
Angelina, who had been chatting with Alicia Spinnet near the fire, looked over at him. "What?" she called back.
"Want to come to the ball with me?"
Angelina gave Fred an appraising sort of look. "All right, then," she said, and she turned back to Alicia and carried ono chatting with a bit of a grin on her face.
"There you go," said Fred to Harry and Ron, "piece of cake." He got to his feet, yawning, and said, "We'd better use a school owl then, George, come on..." They left. Ron stopped feeling his eyebrows and looked across the smoldering wreck of his card castle at me.
"We should get a move on, you know," he said, then turned to the others. "You guys have dates already?"
"Yeah," Jason, Frank, and Percy replied. We didn't need to know Nico's because... well. He was already sleeping with his date on the couch.
"Leo?" I asked. "Do you have a date?"
"Oh, yeah. The girl you saw just now. Alicia Spinnet?" he said, grinning goofily. "It was quite easy to ask her, actually. She talked me once when I was at the library, asked if I had a date."
"So, I'm guessing all of you guys have dates already?" Ron asked miserably. Everyone nodded except for Hermione who didn't take her eyes off her Potions notes. "How 'bout you Hermione?"
She looked at us innocently and asked, "Yes?"
"Guess you don't have a date yet, huh? That makes the three of us, then-" Ron said, but was cut off by Hermione.
"Excuse me, Ronald, but in case you haven't known, someone's already asked me out," she said, bristling.
"Oh, really? Then who could this someone be?" Ron asked, getting her to admit that she doesn't have a date.
"Ron, you wouldn't want to do that," I warned him.
"That is absolutely none of your business," Hermione said, glaring.
"C'mon, Hermione, why don't you just admit that-"
"Just like I've said before, someone's already asked me," she snapped, standing up. "I'm going to bed." She swept off toward the girls' staircase without another word.
"What's got her wand tied up in a knot?" Ron asked.
"You're dense, Ron," Piper said, looking at him with a small smile.
"Wha-? What do you mean 'dense'?"
"Nothing. It's just that it's true that someone's already asked her," Annabeth pointed out. "Only that she didn't say yes to him yet. But I'm sure tomorrow-"
"What? Why didn't she say yes?" Ron curiously asked.
"Nevermind," Hazel, Annabeth, and Piper said in unison, heading towards the girls' staircase.
"Should we leave Shadow with Nico?" Hazel asked. "Yeah," the other two said. "Let's let the two of them spend quality time for once." And with that, they disappeared.
"Hey, why don't we go to bed, too?" Leo asked, yawning. We all agreed (well, except Ron. He just agreed because we forced him to) and went up the boys' staircase.
'Tomorrow's gonna be tough,' I thought.
--
~Shadow's POV~
There was no Christmas tea today, as the ball included a feast, so at 7 tonight, when it had become hard to aim properly, the others abandoned their snowball fight and trooped back to the common room. The Fat Lady was sitting on her frame with her friend, Violet, from downstairs, both of them extremely tipsy, empty boxes of chocolate liqueurs littering the bottom of her picture.
"Lairy fights, that's the one!" she giggled when we gave the password, and she swung forward to let us inside.
"Will she be alright?" Annabeth asked me as we entered the common room.
"Yeah, she'll be fine," I reassured. "We always see her like that."
"Hey, Annabeth, Shadow! Are you down there?" Piper called from the girls' dormitory.
"Yeah, we're here," I replied. "What's up?"
She and Ginny gushed downstairs to see Annabeth and me looking so ordinary, like there's nothing special today. Ginny put her hands on her hips.
"What? Did you forget?" she asked, playfully annoyed. "The Yule Ball is tonight!"
"You guys should get dressed," Piper advised.
"But it's still 5 in the afternoon," Annabeth and I whined in unison.
"It takes hours for girls to dress up for a special evening. So, come on!" Piper said, gesturing us to come up as she and Ginny rushed upstairs. Annabeth and I decided to follow. As soon as we got to the room, we saw our room mates being more busy than during exam week. They were fixing their hair, putting on some make up, and the like. I can't believe some of them even brought curlers, I mean, I never knew curlers existed in the Wizarding World!
Once the others caught sight of us, they all suddenly turned quiet. Then, Annabeth and I got the idea of their silence after they put on devilish grins.
"Oh no," I said, my right eye twitching.
"Not in a million years," Annabeth said fiercely, stepping back one step.
---
'So that's why they need 3 hours,' I thought, stepping out of the tub. Out of 3 hours, 1 hour was used to take a warm, hot bath to calm the nerves. Piper also used a scrub thing to, according to her, make my milky white skin smooth. Annabeth, who was on the other tub, gathered alot of the girls because she was thrashing. "I CAN DO IT MYSELF!" I constantly hear her shout.
After putting a towel around my body, Piper brushed, dried, and curled my golden brown hair a bit. A bit because it was already curly in the first place. See, Piper was sort of my stylist because I was her half sister.
"There," Piper said. "You look perfect. Now, go get your dress robes and change, and I'll put on your make up." I followed her instructions and put on my under garments and my robes which was made of floaty, turquoise material. I used my usual lotion and perfume and went back to where Piper waited. She looked at me, her eyes gleaming as if I was her masterpiece.
"Is it, uhm, okay?" I asked awkwardly.
"'Is it okay?' Shadow, you look gorgeous!" she squealed. "Now, I'll put on your make up, and we can show the others how beautiful you are," she said, grabbing my hand and making me sit on a chair infront of the mirror.
After about 20 (yeah, it's so long) minutes, Piper finished my make up. It was simple and light, just as I requested. Piper examined my face and smiled. "Unlike the other demigods, you took after the looks of a goddess and the personality of a mortal," she complimented. "You look like Mom. I look like my dad and have the capabilities of our mother, Aphrodite. You are the opposite." She took my hand and showed me to the others. All of them complimented me and stuff. After seeing me, Annabeth also looked like she wanted to get out of the tub and change.
Looking at Piper, I felt happy that I can finally experience having a sister. Well, half sister, but that doesn't matter. I thought of all the others, and it made me feel the same way, too. For once in my life, I can know how it feels like to be with real family.
And I will always protect them.
--
"Can they please stop staring at me like that?" I mumbled, following Piper and Ginny.
"Just as we said, it's natural for guys to drool over you when you wear that. It's very rare that they see you in those clothes," they chorused.
"But it's uncomfortable."
The walls of the Hall had all been covered in sparkling silver frost, with hundreds of garlands of mistletoe and ivy crossing the starry black ceiling. The House tables had vanished; instead, there were about a hundred smaller, lantern-lit ones, each seating about a dozen people.
"W-Wow," I stammered, gazing at all the lights and decorations around the Hall. "Professor Dumbledore's really done it, huh?"
"Yeah," Piper answered. "How much do you think these cost?"
"Actually, Madam Maxime and Igor Karkaroff also had their share. Professor Flitwick did all the curtain designs," Ginny pointed out.
"Oh, look! Nico's there by the door with Jason!" Piper said, grabbing my hand and dragging me with her. "We'll see you at midnight, Gin!" She waved goodbye and we saw Ginny strode over to Neville, her date to the Ball.
"Piper! You look great tonight," Jason complimented, looking at my half sister.
Piper immediately let go of me, got hold of Jason's arm, and smiled.
"Let's go, Blonde Superman," she laughed, walking with Jason.
"S-Shadow. You look... Wow," he said, staring at me. I blushed and felt my body heat up. I didn't want him to see me blush in this outfit, so I decided to act normally.
I gave him a kiss on the cheek and intertwined my hand with his.
"Let's dance, Death Boy," I chuckled, pulling him with me as I ran to the dance floor.