"What?" For a split second, Harry seriously questioned the three's sanity.
Annabeth grumbled, "The Greek pantheon is real. All of it. Including demigods... which is what we are."
At perfect time, Percy's stomach growled exceptionally loud, "Tell you what, let's talk about this later... After dinner, let's say... 9:30? Besides...
Ron and Hermione will probably want to join in on the conversation too."
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Thalia slumped into one of the chairs in the Gryffindor common room. After losing to Ron during chess for the third time, she wasn't in the mood for anymore "wizardy" games.
She wasn't in the mood for anything at all, actually... Percy and Annabeth said that they were going to be back at least 20 minutes ago, and she was starting to get worried.
'Percy, you better not have done anything stupid. Or I swear to gods I'm gonna kill you,' she murmured beneath her breath, while folding her arms.
Just then did the Fat Lady portrait swing open, and she whirled around to see who it was. Ron seemed quite curious too, and furrowed his eyebrows in confusion at the sight.
Thalia practically screamed, "Oh come on!
I left you alone for less than an hour... and this happens?"
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"Nice to see you too," the stranger replied sarcastically. Ron continued to stare; puzzled. He'd never seen this person in the common room before... He had a grey cloak folded up in a messy bundle in his arms, but otherwise, wore muggle clothing. No Gryffindor robes, which was very odd. His face was exceptionally pale, and had mangy black hair. And that's when Ron noticed the other 3 walking beside him. Unlike the stranger, he knew exactly who they were.
Percy, Annabeth, and Harry.
"Who's this?" he stood up and walked towards them, "You're not a Gryffindor..."
"No, he's a Nico," Percy muttered softly.
Percy quickly was rewarded with the stranger, supposedly Nico, stomping his foot down on the floor and crushing son of Poseidon's toes.
Harry shook his head, looking quite riled up about something, "I still can't believe Hermione didn't tell us!"
Thalia's eyes grew almost as wide as Dobby's, and then she craned her neck to stare back towards Percy and Annabeth, "You didn't!"
Percy and Annabeth nodded in reply, but Percy additionally added in 'It's his fault,' while pointing towards Nico who was standing besides them.
"Do what? What happened?" Ron's head darted back and forth, first looking at Thalia who stood next to him, and the huddle of people by the Fat Lady's portrait,
"What's this got to do with Hermione, anyway?"
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It was almost 9 o'clock when the two Gryffindor boys finally found Hermione sitting in one of the corners of the Hogwarts Library. And without saying a word, Harry furiously tapped her on the shoulder until he had her attention.
"How long have you been up here?"
Hermione sighed, "I was waiting for dinner, and for you to get back, but then I got... distracted," she gestured to the pile of 8 books sitting besides her, "What are you so upset about?"
Harry snapped, "How about the fact that you've been keeping something from me and Ron for the past 3 months?"
Her grip on the book she held in her arms loosened, causing it to clatter onto the floor. She hastily began to pick them up, while mumbling, "I-I don't know what you're talking about..."
Ron chimed in as well, "Bloody hell! Lying right to our faces! You know, I never thought they were aurors..."
Harry frowned, "Aurors?" But his comment was ignored.
Hermione's grip on the chair tightened greatly, her knuckles a ghostly white as she snapped back, "Fine then! They told me to keep it a secret. And..." she looked back and forth between the two, "And... I'm sorry."
It was silent for a few more moments, with all three of the friends' heads lowered glumly to stare at their shoes. Being overwhelmed with guilt, whether for the "slightly" excessive outrage from Harry, or Hermione feeling quite conflicted with her dishonesty, Ron had felt neither.
"Sorry? You can't say sorry and expect something like this to disapparate!"
"Ron-" Harry began.
"No! I just-" he ran a hand through his ginger hair, pacing back and forth in frustration, "Merlin's Beard..." he muttered softly.
Harry and Hermione looked at him pleadingly, as Hermione began to speak again, "I had to-"
"No you didn't! That's the point! Who do you trust more, Hermione? You're friends for the past four years or those demigods?"
Hermione was at the verge of tears as Ron continued, "Well, come on! We're heading to the common room.
They have some explaining to do, and I for one am not going to be late."
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"You're joking, right?" Nico held the wand up towards his face, skeptically analyzing it with distaste, "This is mine?"
Percy shrugged, "Hecate said you'd need it... Apparently she used division-"
"Divination," Annabeth corrected as sat down on one of the couches in the Gryffindor Common Room.
"-Divination," Percy resumed, "She used divination, or whatever, to see that there was going to be some other quest member."
Thalia stood up and plastered on a sarcastically cheeky grin, "And guess what? That unfortunate fellow is death-boy, standing right over here!"
Nico groaned, "Really?"
Thalia rolled her eyes, "Why so sad? You get to spend more time with your amazing cousins!... Well, cousin."
"Hey!" Percy then changed to a more serious tone, "So... What were you doing in the Forbidden Forest in the first place?"
The four demigods made their way subconsciously around the roaring fireplace mantle, staring at the flames flickering energetically. Most of the candles were just a messy blob of wax, due to the lateness of the night. The windows allowed in small rays of moonlight and glittering stars, but the warmth of the fire was greater.
"Well, it was suppose to be a mission for my father..." Nico crossed his arms, "Just... well, just a small task to harvest a soul which managed to escape from the underworld."
"Wait, Mr. Crouch is an escaped soul from the underworld!?" Percy eyes widened.
"No, water boy!" Nico scowled, "I was looking for this guy named Tom Riddle, apparently he's called Voldemort... which sounds even more ridiculous than some of Apollo's haikus. Actually, all of his haikus come to think of it... I thought the mission was going to be easy; just your average escaped soul-"
"But that wasn't it, was it?" Annabeth glanced towards him, already guessing to what had happened.
The son of Hades shook his head, "No, it wasn't. I don't know how, but this... mortal, wizard or not, managed to avoid death... Even after the chaos with the Doors of Death, it was pretty suspicious. Because unlike all of the other monsters who managed to escape, this soul wasn't dead in the first place... just avoiding it. So, Hades sent me to check it out."
Nico glanced down at his wand before muttering, "Wizards, imagine that, huh?"
He cleared his throat, "Anyways. I was tracking him, but it took a while to finally locate Hogwarts... with the protections and everything..."
"And..." Nico averted his gaze from the three demigods and sheepishly mumbled, "I may have not found him yet... but he's close."
"Wait..." Annabeth looked horrified as she spoke, "Hogwarts? Are you saying an escaped soul is in Hogwarts?"
Nico shook his head, "This isn't just any soul... Sure, it's not like the Giants or Titans or anything... but Tom Riddle managed to escape death for decades. There's obviously something that's protecting him... something powerful."
He crinkled his nose, as if sniffing a foul smell, "Besides, I don't think he's fully here now that I'm inside."
"Wait, fully?" Percy shook his head, "How can somebody not be fully here? Did he just chop off his arm and leave it here or something?"
"I don't know! That's why it's taken me so long to get here." Nico rubbed his head, "It's exhausting! I literally spent two weeks walking in circles at some beach looking for him...
And I swear to Zeus, he's going to pay for giving me such a headache."
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The "golden trio" filed into the room one by one, taking turns stepping through the Fat Lady portrait. It was eerily silent that night, either because of the pitch-black night sky or the tension for what they were going to expect. Hermione inhaled sharply, her lip quivering as she tried to control her tears. Ron gave her a menacing glare before looking back towards the fireplace.
The three of them hadn't taken their eyes off of the opposing four standing in front of the fireplace mantle, their silhouettes masking their faces in shadows. It didn't do much however, for the 7 of them were already acquainted with one another.
The youngest of the demigods took a step forward, taking one last glance at the wand he held delicately in his hands, pondering over how exactly he should hold it. He then glanced back upwards, his eyes barely visible from beneath his shaggy hair as he spoke,
"Well? Ask away."
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Word Count: 1,525