❝ Back To Hogwarts ❞

    Things were pretty normal, everything went smoothly, and the train ride to Hogwarts was peaceful until a certain pureblood prick came.

"Scott." He said as he sat across me.

"You aren't welcome here," I said as I glanced at Crabbe and Goyle.

"Something's off about you,"

I sensed trouble coming, I rolled my eyes to act normal.

"Whatever you want to say, don't take too much of my time."

He sneered. "I don't think the Scotts have a son, Who is your father?"

"Why are you interested in my family all of a sudden?"

"Just answer my question Scott, are you estranged from your family?"

"That's none of your concern, Malfoy." I snapped.

"What are you hiding?"

"Get out of my cabin."

He narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth to say something but then Alan joined me. Malfoy got up and left.

"Ooh, what's going on?"

"Malfoy suspects that I might not be a pure-blood," I said, as he closed the door to the cabin.

"He can't really make it a huge issue, right?"

"I don't care, as long as he's not actively bothering me."

~~~~~

The welcoming ceremony was the same as ever. The only thing that caught my attention was a worried Hermione,

"Hermione?" I sat beside her, even though I wasn't a Gryffindor. "What's wrong?"

She looked at me. "Harry and Ron are missing."

"What do you mean by missing?"

She sighed. "I did not see them on the Hogwarts Express, they are not here either."

"Oh, maybe they'll come around Christmas break," I said jokingly.

"Aquila! They'll miss half of the year!"

"I know, I know, is there another way?"

She remained silent.

The next day turns out that Harry and Ron had been travelling in a flying car, which almost got them expelled.

Owls had been filling the great hall, a minute or two later a loud voice rang through the hall from the Gryffindor table.

"- STEALING THE CAR, I WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN SURPRISED IF THEY'D EXPELLED YOU, YOU WAIT TILL I GET HOLD OF YOU, I DON'T SUPPOSE YOU STOPPED TO THINK WHAT YOUR FATHER AND I WENT THROUGH WHEN WE SAW IT WAS GONE -"

A woman's yelling made the plates and spoons rattle on the table and echoed deafeningly off the stone walls. People throughout the hall were swiveling around to see who had received the Howler, and Ron sank so low in his chair that only his crimson forehead could be seen.

"- LETTER FROM DUMBLEDORE LAST NIGHT, I THOUGHT YOUR FATHER WOULD DIE OF SHAME, WE DIDN'T BRING YOU UP TO BEHAVE LIKE THIS, YOU AND HARRY COULD BOTH HAVE DIED -"

I felt like my head was about to explode.

"- ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED - YOUR FATHER'S FACING AN INQUIRY AT WORK, IT'S ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT AND IF YOU PUT ANOTHER TOE OUT OF LINE WE'LL BRING YOU STRAIGHT BACK HOME."

A ringing silence fell. The red envelope, which had dropped from Ron's hand, burst into flames and curled into ashes. Harry and Ron sat stunned, as though a tidal wave had just passed over them. A few people laughed and, gradually, a babble of talk broke out again.

I winced as my eardrums throbbed.

Beside me, Alan let out a nervous laugh. "I don't think I would be able to hear properly anymore."

"I know, right?"

Flitwick passed out our course schedules. I received mine and I saw that we had potions with the Slytherins first.

"A great way to start your day by receiving insults from Snape," Alan mumbled.

"It's not like we can do anything," I remarked.

"Right."

Potions had been boring as ever, Snape favored all Slytherins, but nothing bad happened as the gryffindor had been in the greenhouse.

"So, how was summer?" Alan asked me.

"Nothing bad, just a wonderful visit to the Underworld while fighting with dangerous monsters and being accused of stealing a extra explosive nuclear bomb."

He looked at me incredulously. "Demigod life must be interesting." He pondered.

"Trust me, you don't want to be a demigod."

"Why not? Do you know how boring my summer was? I slept all day all night."

"You complain that you can sleep?"

"I complain because the only thing I can do is sleep!"

I scoffed. "Being a demigod means you will be signed up for a mess at your birth, you want your death date written on your forehead even before you are born?"

"I don't think anything is written on your forehead..." He looked closely at my face.

I facepalmed.

"Okay, okay," he said.

~~~~

The day came to an end quickly, I decided to message Annabeth.

I went to the black lake and levitated a bark of wood to place it in the lake, after some failed attempts I managed to make it look like a waterfall, after waiting for minutes I could see a few colors. I tossed a drachma and chanted,

"O goddess Iris, accept my offering. Camp half-blood."

Slowly, but surely I could see the armory, dining pavilion, and cabins. I saw Dan passing by.

"Hey Dan!" I called out.

His head turned furiously and when he saw me, his face broke into a small smile.

"Adios, Aquila," He greeted. "Congratulations on surviving a quest."

"Thanks, Dan." I said. I noticed the black bags under his eyes and then remembered.

"I heard about your mother, I'm so sorry."

His expression fell blank, sadness was plastered to his fierce brown eyes, I never seen them so lifeless, it was always filled with energy and joy and now had been replaced with something unusual.

He was silent awhile. "Let's not talk about that," he decided. "Where are you anyway?"

"Hogwarts," I replied.

"Oh, yeah, silly me." I saw something spark in his eyes when I said 'Hogwarts'

"And who did you expect to see?" He asked. "It's probably not me." He said smirking.

"Of course," I confirmed. "Who would even want to see that mud-squashed face of yours?"

He rolled his eyes. "Who did you want to talk with?"

"Annabeth."

He raised his eyebrows. "Do you think a daughter of Athena is always free?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, the Athena cabin and Ares cabin found themselves in a fight, not even Chiron or Dr.D could stop them, so Dr.D announced a capture the flags this week, and Ares cabin will lead the red team and Athena cabin will lead the blue team."

"Oh, when is the game?" I asked.

"Tomorrow, Annabeth is planning strategy and all with her siblings." He said.

"Dan! There you are." A voice called out.

I turned my head in the direction and saw a boy approaching. Chirs, half-brother of Dan. As soon as he noticed me he smiled.

"Hey Aquila, are you in Britain?" He asked.

"Uh, yeah."

"Cool, and Dan, where is your design?"

"Oh, the desk."

"It's not there, I checked everywhere." He stated.

"I'm coming," he said and turned to me. "Work calls."

I laughed. "See you later."

I waved my hand through the mist and it cleared leaving nothing in my sight. For some reason, I felt like something was off, I was just not sure what it was.

On my way back to Ravenclaw common room, I saw an annoyed Harry and Ron muttering something to each other in the hallway, I called out to them.

"Hello Harry, Ron."

Ron's head snapped back at me. "Merlin Aquila! Are you drooling over Lockhart too?"

I frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"Hermione is been talking about Lockhart all day," Harry explained. "Most of the girls in Hogwarts are his fans."

I laughed. "He does look good, but he's such a show-off, I don't think he really did all those brave things he wrote."

"So you've been reading Lockhart's books?" Ron asked.

I felt my cheeks burning. "Oh shut up! Just because you don't read it doesn't mean I don't too!" I snapped at him.

"Blimey, that teethy has a spell on you all."

"Teethy?" I asked.

"Ron's nickname for Lockhart," Harry said.

I laughed again. "I agree, he has overly bright teeth."

"Anyway, I heard about your flying car adventure," I said. "What really happened?"

"The barrier between platform nine and platform ten closed, we couldn't enter," Harry explained. "We had no other choice than to use the flying car."

"Reasonable, but you both almost got yourselves expelled," I said. "Hermione was freaking out."

"Eh, what do you think we should've done?" Ron asked.

"Maybe waited until you got lucky and not risk your lives?"

"We'll keep that in mind next time," he muttered gloomily.

"There won't be a next time," Harry said firmly.

As I reached my common room, I was greeted by the sight of Alan reading a book on Greek mythology.

I furrowed my eyebrows.

"Why are you reading Greek mythology?" I asked.

He looked up. "Just for some information, Greek mythology is interesting." He said.

"Here we go again," I muttered.

"Oh come on! I just want to know more about your life."

I sighed. "What makes you think my life is interesting?"

"Is it boring?" He asked.

"No."

"Then? I wanna be a demigod all of a sudden." He said grinning.

"You don't."

"I do! Can I come to camp sometime?" He asked.

"Mortals can't enter," I said swiftly. His face fell.

"Why?" He asked.

"There is the thing called mist, it won't let mortals see the unusual things happening."

"Ah, why? Why doesn't it let mortals see?" He pouted.

"Because mortals will surely freak out if they see monsters and godly scenarios," I said, as every minute passed I grew more annoyed.

Alan made a face and returned to reading, that's when I noticed the book he was reading was written in Greek.

"You know Greek?" I asked incredulously.

"Of course not." He said, making a face.

"What? Then what are you doing with a Greek book?"

"Reading, of course."

"It's written in Greek!"

"No, it's not," He frowned and glanced back at the book, his expression turned to surprise and he blinked furiously, staring in disbelief.

"It's-it's-it's Greek!?" He shrieked.

"That's exactly what I said," I muttered grimly.

Silence rang in the common room, no one except for the both of us were there. Alan was stunned for a while, but his face broke into a grin, I frowned.

"This is cool!" He exclaimed. "I know a language that I don't know!"

"That's not what it means!" I yelled. "It's far more concerning."

"What could possibly be bad?" He groaned.

I ignored his question and asked. "Can you still read it?"

"Of course, silly." He replied. "Why are you tensed up?"

"Nothing."

If Alan could read Greek, it could only mean that something was not what it seemed to be.

Who was Alan Blackwood?

~• Author's note •~

Exams can be really stressful you know, but look, I did manage to write a short chapter amid exams, Lol. And who do you think Alan Blackwood is?

Comment your opinion ↓