(A/N Hey! My next chapter is here. I don't know when here is because I always write these at the beginning of every chapter before I finish it, but whatever! I'd also like to say that this book was added to a reading list that was named 'Books that need updating 6' by Natashac88, and I'd like to say that I have never seen anything more true in my entire life. *praise* Also, I'd like to thank all of the people who have been writing nice comments and voting and reading even though I have a very weird updating 'schedule'. That does sound really cheesy, but it's the truth. When I see a comment or vote or something like that on my story, I'm like 'let's keep writing!!' And then I fall out of the loop again, but thats not important! What's important is that it inspires me to at least try to get my next chapter done. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter!)
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Wouldn't you think that being in the air, flying basically, would be fun? Yeah, nice joke.
Let me tell you the reality of the situation: your stuck on a winged beast, with nothing to do because you can't use anything because then you're running the risk of dropping it and never seeing it again. You can't really sleep because then there is a possibility of you falling off, and that is much worse then just a 'useless item' falling to oblivion, and you can't even converse with anyone because you most likely can't speak horse. And let me tell you, it's boring. Especially if your like me; an ADHD demigod that usually is able to do something in their free time. If you think that this is boring, imagine me in this situation.
To be fair, for the first five minutes I was excited to fly on this amazing black Pegasus, but after the excitement worn out, I realised that I have done much more exciting and cooler things then riding a winged-horse. I've literally been to hell and back and I thought this might be exciting. How dumb am I? Well, to be fair, I am excited for the year to come, and that's probably where the initial excitement came from. But the way there? Oh, hell na'!
I leaned forward slightly, Blackjack's black mane tickling my chin as it blew in the wind. My hair was also flapping in the wind, trailing behind me and slapping the back of my neck. It was quite annoying.
It was actually sort of exhilarating to be this high up and going this fast. We were literally going almost as fast as a plane would fly normally, but on a winged horse. How strong is he? He must be very strong to be able to go this fast at such a persistent speed. I mean, like— woah!
I ran my fingers through the soft hair, reminding me of when I run my fingers through Will's golden locks. Though, his locks are softer and smell like the conditioner he uses, when Blackjacks mane is a bit rougher and smells like the stables instead. Gods, I miss him already. Not the Pegasus. Will, if you read that wrong.
I sure hope the flight won't take long, considering we are flying halfway across the world.
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1 hour. 1 hour until I get off of this dreaded horse and actually step on real, solid land. And I couldn't wait.
My ADHD was really catching up to me. I kept drumming my fingers on the side of Blackjack's stomach, making said Pegasus neigh annoyedly at me. It wasn't really my fault, though. You can't expect an artist not to doodle, so why do you expect an 18 year old, ADHD demigod that is expertly trained in killing monsters and raising the dead not to be bored on an extremely long flight with nothing to do? Exactly! You can't!
The green and damp ground below us sped past in a blur. It sort of reminded me of when you're in a plane (though, I wouldn't be because I'd be killed by Zeus.), and the plane is in take off — if that's the proper term for it — and you get that uneasy feeling in your stomach. The feeling where your stomach feels like it's starting to slowly crawl up from your torso to your chest. As well as the excitement and fear of your first time flying because you don't know what's going to happen; this is a new experience for you.
Why would blurry ground remind me of that? Well, for me at least, the subject of flying, in the air, with no reassurance that the machine or animal or something your flying on won't crash, gives me a similar feeling. It sort of feels like nervousness - the butterflies in your tummy - minus the anxiety. I'm excited, but also terrified. It might be caused by my time in that place. In that place, you don't know what will happen. If a monster is going to pop up out of no where; if your going to survive the night; if your going to be the special for a monster's dinner. It's scary, yet exciting in the way you don't know what's going to happen next. You have the adrenaline pumping in your veins, your hearts racing, and it's pushing you to move on, to survive. Or, it could easily be because I'm a Hades child. There's almost always a tightness in your stomach - whether good or bad. You're a child of the Big Three. The gods that make their offspring — though, not on purpose (I hope) — give off the most smell, apparently (it's been years and I still don't fully get. I mean, do I smell like lasagna to the monsters because I'm part Italian or something? If I did, I probably would eat me too. Lasagna is the best!). To the monsters, though, if you didn't catch that. Like I said before, it's exciting, yet terrifying.
Gray clouds traveled up above, just waiting for the perfect time to spill its contents of water droplets beneath it. Personally, my definition of a perfect time would be when I'm under the care of a well-made structure that doesn't leek, with all of my stuff inside, as well. But, with my luck, I'll probably be so close for it being the 'Nico's perfect time', but then it decides to be the 'Cloud's perfect time' instead. Meaning, it'll rain when I'm not all nice and cozy inside with all of my possessions.
The next hour actually went by decently fast, thanks to my creative mind creating different situations and things in my head for the different fandoms I'm in. Yes, you just heard me. Fandoms. I'm a fanboy, and there is nothing you can do about it. It ain't my fault I like lazying around streaming T.V series, reading books and drawing FANART.
I could just see a small village in the distance when I finally zoned back into reality. From here, I could see trees every here and there, and a large forest up ahead to my right, which evenly dispersed outwards. I couldn't see anyone form this far away, but I was sure that if we went closer I would be able to see them. There was also this sort of aura that seemed mystical and historical about it. Probably because Britain itself is just magical.
It took Blackjack and I about 6 more minutes to see the proper details about the small town, and 10 to actually be in the close distance to land. It was dark now, as it is around 11 at night here. Though, I wasn't really that tried. It was around 6 in New York, so that would probably be the reason for it. Oh, how I hate horse-lag.
We descended just at the outskirts of the small village, but to the farthest side from where I was coming in from. We flew overtop of the vintage looking houses, apartments and shops, landing right where a trail leading out of the town began.
To be honest, I don't know where the Hades we are. We could be in Greece for all I knew, but I decided to trust this black-winged creature. Why? Because Chiron told him the directions to where we would be landing. I'm glad, though. I'm absolutely terrible at directions. I know, for how much I travel, you'd think I would know a lot about directions. Like, North, West, East, South and all that jazz. But, shadow traveling is different then normal, as you would call it, directions. Once, I was with Will on a double date with Percy and Annabeth in New York, and Will decided to trust me to know where we were going, but I ended up— wait, this is unrelated to the subject. Let's just move on here then!
I carefully slid off of Blackjack's back and onto the gravel-covered ground. I smiled softly at the beautiful — but annoying — creature, slipping off my dark grey backpack in a search for food for him because we couldn't really stop on the way here for either of us to eat or drink. We were sort of in a hurry. And I also know that sounds absolutely terrible to do to an animal, but it seems like he was fine with it.
As I opened the smallest pouch to look for some food for Blackjack that I stored away for this moment, I heard footsteps coming up behind me. I quickly turned around, being careful about the open backpack that was in my hand. There, a few meters away, was stern-looking woman with grey wispy hair in a tight bun on top of here head.
She was quite tall, about a few inches taller then a moderate woman's height and about the same height as me. She wore a long emerald green, professional robe with flowy cuff wrists and a black formal foot length dress underneath. Her robe cut off just under her waist and it seemed as though the material was silk or another soft fabric. It wasn't clothing that I would normally see in New York, or any other place for that matter, but I'm dealing with wizards here. Maybe this is the clothing they usually wear. Who am I to judge?
My face contorted into a scowl as I notice her intelligent eyes start to size me up. She seemed stern, even in this dark lighting I could tell that. It wasn't really in the judge-mental way either, which was good.
"And who must you be?" the woman asked. "You're new here, seeming as though there's a winged horse behind you."
"May I ask who you are first?" I said. I mean, you can't just give a stranger your name and think everything will be all alright and dandy. They could be a monster, or murderer, or both.
"I'm Minerva McGonagall, Head Mistress at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Now, who are you?"
My scowl lessened. I shouldn't make a bad impression of myself on the first time I meet my boss. Yes, I'm not stupid. I can make connections. I also believe that this would be the time where I would say my name.
"Nico Di Angelo. I believe I'm the new professor at Hogwarts."
"Ah, yes. It's nice to meet you Nico. I believe this is your first time in this area. Is that right?" I nodded in agreement. "I will lead you to Hogwarts and show you where you will stay for the rest of the year. Do you need any care for your... er-"
"Pegasus," I supplied. "And no, I don't. I've got food and water for him."
"No place to stay or anything? We've got an amazing staff member that would love to take care of him, if you'd like," Minerva suggested.
"Nope, my friend let me use him as a way to get here. So all I need is a place for him to stay for the night and he'll be gone in the morning. I already have enough food and water for him for tonight."
"Oh, okay. We can drop him off at Hagrid's on the way there. We better get going, though. It's already 11:20! I can't believe you got here so late at night! I've been waiting since six!" Minerva exclaimed.
I mustered up a small smile which seemed to slightly amuse the Head Mistress for some odd reason. I could tell by her lips upturning slightly at the sight. It confused me, but nonetheless, I'm still not that good at social interaction, so it was probably something I missed, so I pushed it aside.
"Well, it is an 11 hour flight from New York to here. And I did leave at 11 this morning, so it's not that surprising that I got here at this time. Y'know, if you knew math that is. And knew the time that I left at." I said sarcastically.
This apparently amused her more because I was met with a small smile on her face. My eyebrows furrowed slightly in silent confusion.
She didn't say anything about my sarcastic comment. Instead, she started to walk towards me. The Headmistress walked past Blackjack and onto the trail that was behind that I totally forgot about. Stupid brain.
"Are you coming, or not?" Minerva said. She turned around to look at me, her stern look back on her face.
I quickly slipped my backpack that was still open on my back and turned to look at Blackjack's face who was surprisingly quiet throughout the whole exchange. I tried to get him to come, but he stubbornly stayed in the spot he was at, stomping his hoofed feet like what a little toddler would do. I rolled my eyes.
"Ugh," I grumbled. "Just come on, Blackjack! No donuts until we are there if you don't come now!"
Blackjack pouted. Well, as much as a horse could pout, and begrudgingly started to walk towards the trail.
McGonagall was still waiting there, looking at the scene with a look I couldn't determine. She turned around and started to walk off as well, leaving me where I was. I jogged up to Blackjack. He was moderately walking on his four hoofs, following the Headmistress' lead.
I slipped the still open backpack off my shoulder and the shoulder strap fell into my hand. I started to look through the already open pouch. Because it was the smallest pouch there, it was fairly easy to find the Pegasus' food and water.
There was a typical water container that he could drink out of, some horse food, a bag of sugar cubes, and a box of honey glazed donuts. I still don't know if Pegasi can actually eat donuts, but nothing has happened through the years Percy has been giving him them, so I guess it's fine.
I grabbed the bag of horse food and water. I then zipped the backpack bag up and put it on its rightful place on my shoulders. I opened the bag and grabbed a handful of whatever was in there and extended my hand toward the winged creature. Blackjack huffed in annoyance. I don't know the exact reason why he did, but it was probably because he wanted the donuts or at least the sugar cubes. He is never satisfied.
Though, he did eat it, whatever it was. I just filled a clean bag with the stuff they feed the horses at camp. It will do fine to satisfy Blackjack's hunger. He is one of the only horse or Pegasus in there that gets special luxuries like donuts and things like that, but that's because Percy is his owner. If his little sister gave him the pouty face or thought an animal was cute, I don't doubt he would do anything they ask. And I mean anything. He is so easily convinced.
Once Blackjack was done eating the food I gave him, he neighed again, probably asking for the water that was in my other hand.
I scowled at the creature. He could have at least said please. Well, then again, I can't understand him. I do not speak horse. That's Percy's thing. So he could have easily said please or he could have as easily asked me to marry him. Which, if that was the case, I would have very politely declined and said that the person — or animal — who'd have any chance of me saying 'yes' to them would be Will, and I can say that he has a very good chance. At me saying 'yes', that is.
I gave him the water, which would probably be hard to drink while walking, but he somehow managed.
Once Blackjack was done, I put everything back in the backpack and looked up to see the tallest tower of a castle peeking up over the turn in the road and the trees surrounding me and the building itself. It must be massive. I was also sixty-five percent sure that that was Hogwarts. It is the only building I can see around, so it wouldn't be I surprise if I was right.
Walking at a brisk pace a few feet a head of me was Minerva. To be honest, I almost completely forgot about her. Oops. So, instead of ignoring her, I decided to be somewhat nice and I walked at a faster pace to fall in step with her.
She kept walking at the same speed, her robe billowing behind her. She only glanced my way once a started walking in step with her.
"So," I started nervously, "what am I teaching? I was only informed that I was teaching at a-" I caught myself. I almost said 'a weird magical school', but it seemed like she wouldn't like to hear that, as well as I would seem disrespectful, which I did not want, "cool wizarding school. So, I don't really know what subject."
She didn't seem surprised that I didn't know, and if she did, she kept it well hidden and to herself. If she actually wasn't surprised, I'd say that it was probably because of my death and 'fear me' aura that I accidentally give out subconsciously. Probably my appearance as well. I do look 'emo', or whatever that means, and of a troublemaker, with the black messy hair and tattoo on my wrist. I wouldn't be surprised if she judged me on that. Most people do. But that's only because they don't know me personally yet.
"You will be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts, or DADA as it was the only spot open." She informed me. As she was talking, she took a quick glance in my direction, but quickly turned to look straight ahead of her once again.
Before I spoke, asking what that included, I took a quick look behind me to see if Blackjack was still following us, which, luckily, he was. I wouldn't be able to carry him or would want to shadow travel him to our destination if he just decided to lay down in the middle of the trail and fall asleep. I wouldn't doubt the Pegasus would do that.
I then looked in front of me again. It was just the normal scenery.
"So, what stuff does that include? I've never really heard of it back in America."
She looked amused, once again, at this. What's so amusing? Is everything I say a comedic joke to her or something? Though, the look was soon wiped off her face and it was once again strict and as stoic as ever.
"Well, you'd be teaching your students different spells against different dark creatures and some other defensive spells against other witches and wizards," she explained. "As you may have known, there hasn't been really any... decent teachers for the past 7 years," Minerva said with a light tone filled with slight amusement. "They were all basically frauds, Death Eaters, horribly terrible with students or, in one case, actually good."
I furrowed my brows in confusion. "What are Death Eaters?" I asked simply. I was going to say that Thanatos would taste awful, but I thought she might take it the wrong way. Or get suspicious of why I'm referencing to Greek mythology. Or both.
"They are Voldemort's followers. You have heard of Voldemort, haven't you?" She glanced at me uncertainly, not knowing how much I knew.
"Yeah, I've heard of him. His real name is Tom Riddle, right?" I inquired.
She looked at little taken aback. I don't really know why, though. Gods, I absolutely hate being out of the loop.
"U-uh, yes. Yes it is." She continued to stare at the scenery that splayed out in front of her. It truly was beautiful, with trees lining the path and flowers every here and there. The sun went down quite awhile ago, but it was still magnificent.
"And, who was the professor that was an actual good teacher."
"Professor Lupin. His full name is Remus Lupin." I almost choked. Lupin? That's means 'wolf' in French. And Remus? Well, there's Remus and Romulus, the first werewolves. And Remus means 'wolf' in Latin. Was he by any chance a werewolf? I sure hope not. I haven't really got any good memories with those monsters. But, werewolves may be different here then they are in America, right? "Sadly, he died last year fighting in the Battle of Hogwarts. His wife, Tonks or Nymfadora, also died in the war. Their son, Teddy, was left with Tonk's mother and now Harry Potter is his Godfather."
So, werewolves are different here then they are in America. That's good.
That's quite a lot of information. I wasn't lookin for that much, but y'know, you should always pay attention to what you hear. It may come in handy some day.
"Was he, by any chance, a werewolf?" I asked hesitantly. I didn't really want to offend her the night I met her, but sometimes I can't keep my curiosity at bay. This being one of those times. And, sadly, me being curious usually ends up with someone getting hurt or someone getting offended by what I ask or say. So, this will probably be one of those times.
"Why would you think that?" She exclaimed calmly.
"Um, well Lupin is wolf in French. Remus is wolf in Latin. And there's also Romulus and Remus in Greek mythology. So I was just wondering if his name had any connection to his," I hesitated again, trying to think of the proper word to use, "blood."
"Uh, yes. Yes he was. Was bitten at a very young age."
I tried to hide my shudder from my memories of werewolves that popped up at that realization. Some that I tried to push down and not to remember again. And none of them were good.
One of them, being the main one, was Reyna, Coach Hedge and I running from them when we were shadow traveling the Athena Parthenos to Camp-Half Blood. I got scratched —badly — by one of them on my bicep and stomach. I had to get stitches that Reyna did quickly afterwards so I wouldn't bleed out, but they still got infected. When I finally decided to stay at Camp-Half Blood permanently (which was one of my best decisions I ever made), Will forced me to stay in the infirmary for three days, which ended up being extended to a week. He found them when he was checking all of my injuries and when he grabbed my hand when we met again during the battle. Y'know, because it's normal to just randomly grab someone's hand, almost yell 'I just helped birth a baby!' and at the same time check someone's health. It must be an Apollo child thing.
Will then restitched the injuries and disinfected the wounds. Not good times. Well, just the stinging of the wounds. Being with Will was the best part of it. Wait, what? Erase that from your memory. I did not just think that, you got it?
McGonagall seemed to notice my reaction, no mater how hard I tried to hide it. Her stern face morphed into one of dislike. Her mouth downturned into a scowl, and it was directed at me. So much for making a good impression.
I sure hope this doesn't effect how she treats me in the future that much.
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Word count: 3923
I'm finished!! Yay!! Sorry for it being so late, but at least it's finished! I really hope you like it, and stay tuned to see how his relationship with McGonagall, the students and the rest of the staff turns out! I won't spoil anything, but I'm not saying their relationships with Nico are good. Nor am I saying they're bad. But I guess you'll have to see for yourself when my next and future update come!
BBBYYYYEEEE!!