In the deepest part of the Atlantic Ocean, a palace, as big as the city of Mount Olympus stood with its marvelous architectural design made with its pure abalone shells, pearls, and sea stones, where different fish and octopi dart swimming in and out of the windows.

Inside, in the heart of the mansion, lies a magnificent hall with cobbled floor of pearls and a throne made of coral. Next to it, stood the Immortal and Powerful Greek God of the Sea, Poseidon. Impatiently waiting for someone.

"It's about time she comes back" he anxiously muttered to himself. It's been 2 days now since the Sea God instructed one of his mer-people to check his son's condition. And as if on cue, the mermaid he trusted to do the job showed up.

"Leave us for a moment" the sea green eyed God commanded the guards. When they all left, he looked at the mermaid who was still exhausted from the journey but dared not to show it.

"What happened?" he asked.

The mermaid then bowed down her head and spoke, "My Lord, I did exactly what you instructed," with a respectful tone for the immortal.

"I arrived there before the sun had risen. I've been calling him from the lake then, but he didn't show up until afternoon, - and your suspicions are correct My Lord, the boy hadn't still regained some of his abilities." Different speculations flooded the mind of the God as he heard the news from the silver tailed creature.

"Hmmm... continue" he instructed.

"The boy did manage to stay a bit longer underwater but he still drowned at the end. – But do not worry My Lord, I managed to send his body back to the ground before anything bad happened." The mermaid quickly said for assurance.

"During my quest, I noticed that he still could not communicate to any of your people. But his connection to us is as strong as before, My Lord. He felt the urge and could sense me calling him down the lake."

In a while of silence, the mermaid stayed quiet, patiently waiting for his Lord's next words. "Very well. If that is all, thank you for your service Nerida, you can rest now. After that, you could go back to your tribe." he paused, "When you go back, watch over him. I wanted you to assist my son whenever he's in my domain, and make sure that he won't drown himself next time. As of now, the call of the ocean is dangerous for him." he finished with concern coming along in his voice.

The mermaid bowed again "As you wish My Lord." and retreated from the throne room. Poseidon then sat on his coral throne, still in his deep thought.

"If my assumptions are correct, the power he regained last August is his demigod strength." He muttered calculatedly, while narrowing his eyes and touching his chin.

"I wonder what ability he would get on his next birthday" The Immortal God excitedly thought.

Poseidon then jolted up from his throne as an idea swam through his thoughts.

"I think it's time for my son to be accompanied by his former friend."

-----------------------------

ÍROAS

The next morning, after the dog incident, there's this lingering thought about the creature in the back of my head but I couldn't manage to grasp it. Then, there's this bushy brown-haired Gryffindor girl who has been bugging me all morning for our one-on-one potion making lesson and Harry and Ron's been teasing me since that night because of that.

"Geez mate, you ready for your date with the boss?" Ron teasingly asked me. I slammed my fist on the Gryffindor table and threw sharp glares at them.

"AHHGGG!!! How many times do I have to tell you, it's not a date – and please, I just save your butts last night, is that how you repay your savior?" I said to them, with an irritated voice.

"Uhm... No! Hermione saved our butts last night, not you" Harry reminded me.

"Correction Harry, I offered myself to Hermione just for her to save us, so technically I saved you." And that statement of mine just made my two best-friends grinned evilly.

"Oh, you offered yourself? You mean your body, your soul? – I didn't know you're that romantic type of guy Iro." Harry said, now laughing hardly.

"Yeah and you're pretty gross Iro, you know that" Ron said, with a disgusting tone.

I just internally palmed my face, ignoring their foolishness, "You know what, just continue your story earlier before Ron interrupted you Harry" I said pleadingly, but that just made my day worse as he grinned bigger.

"Huh! Changing the topic eh lover boy!?" Harry said, between his laughs. And I gave him a death glare that pretty much always scares Harry.

"Anyways, as I was saying. Remember what Hermione told us yesterday before she invited Iro for a date." I rolled my eyes and aggressively smacked Harry in the face.

"Is the dog guarding something?" Ron asked.

"Yeah what about that?" I continued.

"Well, when I was at Gringotts with Hagrid, he told me that Gringotts is the safest place for keeping something"

"And? I still can't see where you're going mate" Ron asked dumbly.

"You see, he also said that like Gringotts, Hogwarts is also the safest place thus, if you wanted to keep something safe, you could hide it in here. Before I got to my vault, we went to a vault for Hogwarts business as Hagrid regarded it. Inside the vault, there's this small package tacked in it, which Hagrid immediately picked. I'm guessing that's what the dog is guarding for."

That afternoon, after class, me and Hermione are walking to Professor Snape's office for permission to use the lab.

"Err – Iro, what makes you think Snape would allow us?" she skeptically voiced out.

"Simple! Because I'm his favorite student among the Gryffindors – duh!" I boastfully answered, filled with confidence.

I saw Hermione roll her eyes and taunted, "Well, sorry to disappoint you Iro, but you're not his favorite student, it's Malfoy. Plus, you're just the least hated by Snape in Gryffindor because you excelled in his class, that doesn't mean you're his favorite."

"It's pretty much the same Hermione, just let's go – don't you wanna learn potions?" I explained, which made Hermione lit up her mood and just went with the plan. I mentally chuckle. - 'She really reminded me of someone.' I told myself. I've long accepted the fact that whenever my eyes lie on the smart, curious, and bossy Hermione, something inside me commands me to jump in happiness and give me this feeling of familiarity. - 'That someone sounds so unreal but I think I missed her so much.'

When we arrived, Hermione paused for a moment before knocking Snape's door.

"Come in!" we heard the Professor said from inside.

We walked in his office which is pretty much like a dungeon. We were greeted by a massive closet from the wall with a transparent door, and inside you could see that it is filled with different ingredients for different potions. I looked where Snape is and he's currently sitting by his table in the corner of the room, just below the closed window.

"Well, what do I owe you two a visit?" he taunted, crossing his arms while eyeing both me and Hermione suspiciously.

"Err – Professor, we were just wondering if you could give us permission to use your lab and some of the ingredients for potions?" And that question of mine just made Snape raise his eyebrow.

"Uh... we...uhm - practice..." Hermione squeaks nervously.

"Practice?" Snape asked immediately, cutting in Hermione. Both of us simply nodded.

He raised his eyebrow and dramatically stood from his seat,"And for what reason?" he said with skepticality reflecting his tone to his face.

I gulp and clench my side clothes, "I'm just going to teach Hermione, sir." I squeak in a rather unsure tone, and that made Snape's expression worsen for us.

"Careful Olympia, you may be good at occlumency but I could still hear the skeleton desperately hiding from your voice." he threatened. At that moment I didn't know how to feel. - 'Even the sorting hat mentioned occlumency, what the bloody Hades is that!?' I irritatedly shouted in my head.

"The occlu what!?" I asked innocently, acting as though I never heard the word. - 'Stupid Iro! Why did you forget to search the word the first time you heard that!?' I scolded mentally. Snape just examined me, contemplating by himself.

"Hmm... If I know better, you two are up to no good, care to share with me!?"

"N – no – no professor, we're certainly not doing something bad. I just really wanted to teach..."

"Spit it out Olumpia! What else do you want?" By now, I could feel my heart pounding so fast. I gulped and reinforced my expression.

"Sir, I would also like to use the lab to make a certain potion for myself."

"And what is that?"

I took a deep breath and said with determination, "An Animagus Potion, sir." And that made the eyes of the two go wide. I heard Hermione whisper my name.

"Well you're a brave and a fool for an 11-year-old kid to practice being an Animagus. As far as I know, it's dangerous and difficult to accomplish." He narrowed his eyes to me.

"I could see now why you're in Gryffindor. But, why is Ms. Granger also here?" Professor Snape quickly said and eyed the person next to me which made her break from the shock.

"Do you intend to be an Animagus also?"

"No sir! I'm just here to accompany Iro," Hermione immediately assured Snape, by which he just gave a disbelief look to us.

"Just give us at least a week professor... please." I pleaded. After a while of silence that feels like an hour, Snape started to open his mouth.

"Just like I said Mr. Olympia, it's dangerous, and you're too young to do that. – But... if you insist on going on with the plan, at least inform your guardian first and Professor McGonagall, as she herself is an Animagus, she could guide you on the process. But if any of them didn't agree to your foolishness, I'm sorry to say young man but I can't lend my laboratory to both of you."

After talking to Professor Snape for like an hour, Hermione and I are now heading to the Great Hall for dinner. Hermione's been looking at me as though restraining herself to tell me something, but then she decided to say it anyways,

"You know Iro, I always thought you're too smart to be influenced by Ron's stupidity, but now I don't know what to believe." She said to me while narrowing her eyes.

"What? – I got nervous okay? He obviously won't let us use his lab. – Plus, I've been interested in this Animagus thingy ever since I discovered it. I've been reading about that, did you know there are only 7 registered animagi, and it took a month to complete the initial stage to be one."

She just looked at me in disbelief. "I didn't know you could read!" she said doubtfully.

I looked at her in surprise and touched my chest as though I was shot in the heart. "You wound me Hermione – really." But she just looked at me, ignoring what I said. "Yeah! I like reading, did that surprise you?"

"Err... a little, sorry – it's just I haven't seen you read and aren't you dyslexic?"

"Yes, I have dyslexia Hermione, thank you for reminding me" I said which made her look sympathetic and guilty.

"But it doesn't mean I couldn't read; it just made it harder for me to do it, so I have to concentrate more. But when it comes to Ancient Greek, I have no issue reading. I don't know why but it just did. My cousin said it's usual on my father's side." I explained to her.

"And... in my defense for your first assumption, the reason you haven't seen me read is because I usually did that beside the lake. Water helps me calm myself. – So...did that satisfy you Ms. Granger?" I asked her skeptically.

"Yes Mr. Olympia... But seriously, thank you for everything, you know it's okay if Snape didn't let us use his lab. I'm okay with that."

"Nuh! It's okay, a promise is a promise. Just think about this okay, I used you as an excuse to be an Animagus, isn't that wonderful pumpkin?"

I just saw her smirk and looked at me. "You stupid little scammer! I wonder why you're not in Slytherin?" I just laughed at her so loudly I didn't notice people staring at me.

"Oh, silly! I almost got myself sorted in there. Lucky me I didn't end up in that serpent house with that bloody git Malfoy." she snorted and we continued to walk.

"Well, what do you think will be your Animagus form? Assuming that you become successful."

I just rolled my roles and smiled at her sarcastically. "Uhm duh! I'm Íroas Thymos Olympia, the greatest wizard of all, of course it will be successful. – And to answer your question, I think it would be a Pegasus!" I said with full confidence in my voice. But she just snorted at me by the way, thank you very much.

"Yeah yeah Mr. Pegasus, just dream on. If you hadn't noticed, there's no Animagus ever recorded as a magical creature... it's not impossible though, but your chance is not even close to 1%" she said to me, now breaking from her laugh.

"Is that a challenge lady!?"

"Well, you could say that."

I leaned closer to her and narrowed my eyes and said, "Deal! But just so you know, you'll eat your words!..." I taunted, " So how about you – what form do you think you'd become?"

"What do you mean? I'm not the one trying to be an Animagus."

"Oh, come on Hermione! You're no fun!"

She looked at me momentarily with a puzzled face, and it literally took her awhile before she gave her answer.

"Okay – okay, I'm in. But! I won't guess a certain form; I'll just go with a normal animal." She then stretched her hand towards me, I took it and excitedly shook it. I smiled at her for the challenge, same as her to me as well.

"By the way, I didn't know you're an Occlumens?" she suddenly speaks out. I gave her a furrowed brow.

"What the bloody Hades is that?" We arrived at the Great Hall before she could utter a word and saw Harry and Ron sitting at the Gryffindor table. Hermione then guiltily looked at me.

"Err Iro, are we going to tell them about our plan?" she asked me skeptically.

"Just... not this time, I don't want them to worry. – let's just talk to Professor McGonagall tomorrow."