Demigods at Hogwarts

Chapter 26: Floating Chairs and Third Years

"That's why you want Percy to do it."

"Yes. As horrible as it is, they're in the infirmary all the time and have already started picking up on several things. We tease them for being dumb, but they're a lot quicker than any of us think."

"I noticed," I said dryly. "Anyway, don't we have to get to class?" We'd stopped in the middle of the hall, and people were staring. And shoving.

"Yes, we do." Will took my hand. "Let's go, shall we?"

I headed to the common room after Will went to teach; it was his and Jason's day, so I'd be alone to study. I ran into Annabeth and Leo, debating over something.

"What's this about?"

"Annabeth says that this--" Leo gestured with the blueprints in his hands-- "Wouldn't work. I say it will, and plan on building it when we get to camp."

"It won't work, Leo-- Look, it's practically rigged to explode right there!" Annabeth grabbed his wrist and pointed at one section. "And there!"

"Not if I counter it with..." Leo started revising his blueprints, holding it against the wall to fix it.

"I'll see you two later!" I called.

"See you, Nico!" Annabeth yelled back. "Leo, that won't work..."

"Who's the engineering genius here? That's what I thought." Leo countered. I laughed to myself as their voices echoed down the hallway, just empty enough not to draw attention.

"Hey, Nico!" One of my younger housemates called when I entered the common room. "Have you heard?"

"Heard what?" The group of-- third years?-- started giggling.

"My favorite planet is Uranus!" They ran away before I could say anything, and that was probably for the best.

"They've been doing that all day. Don't worry about it too much." One of the fifth years said.

"I wasn't, trust me." I snorted and hurried up to my dorm. I'd have to ask WIll later if he'd run into them.

"Getting started on the Herbology essay?" Jason asked.

"Aren't you supposed to be teaching?"

"Will and Reyna kicked me out. Said my own grades are bad enough as it is and that I need to study more."

"What are your grades?" Jason, having bad grades? It seemed impossible.

"I've got Poor in a couple; the rest are Exceeds Expectations. I'm supposed to be working on the Poor grades. I don't know if I'm going to be able to get them up before the year ends."

"You will. What classes are you failing?" I asked. Because I knew for a fact that none of us should be doing that badly. We'd had the crash course in everything wizard over the summer, and even now we had students willing to tutor us.

"Potions and Transfiguration."

"Well, let's go the Room then. Draco can come help with Potions and I'm sure there will be others there."

"We want to be seen in our common rooms, remember? Which is why I haven't gone to them yet."

"So let's go downstairs. I'll work on my Herbology; you can work on Potions." We got our stuff and headed back downstairs.

"What are you two working on?" One of the fifth years asked. "I heard you didn't have homework."

"We still get homework," Jason said. "I'm working on Potions, Nico on Herbology."