▬▬▬▬▬ CHAPTER SIX ▬▬▬▬▬

Two years later...

April 3rd...

IT'S BEEN TWO YEARS SINCE Esmerelda first arrived at Camp Half-Blood. The non-traditional camp quickly became her new home—a true home that she had been deprived of ever since she was first dumped into foster care. The now eleven year old girl got along very well with her fellow campers, except for some of the Ares kids but that was understandable. She was a lot more closer with her cabin mates in the Hermes cabin, which was currently overflowing with children.
       
Travis and Connor Stolls were the last children of Hermes to be claimed, so there were still the same amount of Hermes kids when she had first arrived. The number of unclaimed and children of minor gods, however, increased. Two years ago, there were ten in all, but now they had fourteen new additions. That added up to twenty-four unclaimed kids or children of minor gods. That was more than the actual Hermes campers.
       
As much as Esmerelda loved spending time with her cabin mates, she hated sleeping with them. There was no more room for bunks, so the Hermes kids had to share their beds with the 'leftovers' in order to keep the floors actually walkable. Only the younger campers were lucky to get the beds, everyone else over ten years old slept on the floor.
       
The cabin was so full that nobody could really spread out in their sleeping bags anymore. Instead, some of the kids—Esmerelda included—had to sleep pressed against the walls with their knees tucked in close to keep anybody from tripping. Nowadays, she could barely move since she was so squished between Ethan and Lyra with another camper, Cyrus Pagan, sleeping in front of her legs.
       
It was very uncomfortable for everyone. Even for those lucky enough to get beds.
       
Anyways, she somehow managed to form an unbreakable friendship with Ethan Nakamura, which could basically be considered a miracle since he was always so aloof and anti-social towards other people. Maybe it had to do with him being the first ever person she had met in camp. She wasn't exactly sure, but she didn't care. Ethan was a cool dude.
       
Currently, they were walking through the woods. Looking for monsters to hunt. All Ethan's idea, of course. He was always eager to kill some monsters. Esmerelda though, didn't share the sentiment.
       
"Do we really have to do this?" She asked for the hundredth time. "Why can't we just spar some Ares kids? They're basically monsters in human skin!"
       
He cast her a small smirk. "Don't be a baby. Don't you want to get more experience in preparation for the outside world?"
       
She refrained the urge to roll his eyes. The 'outside world' translated to outside the boundaries of camp. And they had been passed it a million times. All campers were allowed to go out during the weekend as long as they had permission from Chiron. Ethan and Esmerelda used these privileges to explore New York, go shopping (they can't just wear the camp shirts forever), watch movies, or smuggle junk food into camp. They only did the last one a handful of times, since Chiron always caught them and sentenced them to kitchen patrol with the harpies (it was punishment because they used lava to wash, not water).
       
"We have been in the 'outside world'," she said the last two words in a dramatic tone. "We've been there tons of times. We dealt with all the monsters that came at us. I think we can handle the outside world just fine."
       
He rolled his eyes at her naivety. "Right, because a couple of hellhounds and dracaena are the strongest monsters in the world. Have you forgotten about the Chimera? You couldn't kill it."
       
"Give me a break, I was nine! Plus, I was new to the whole 'demigod' thing!" She nudged his shoulder.
       
He nudged her back harder. "I'm just saying. Battling against monsters is better than going against campers because the monsters actually want to kill us. Campers will hold back."
       
"Might as well fight you then. I know you never hold back against me..." She sighed, remembering all the losses she gained while fighting him.
       
He snorted. "I've been holding back ever since we first sparred."
       
"Lies."
       
He shrugged. "Accept it or don't. It's not gonna get you out of monster hunting with me."
       
She dipped her head back and groaned. She hated going monster hunting with Ethan. He always went after the strongest ones they could find. There was this one time where he was going to summon the Lernaean Hydra—also known as the King Hydra which guarded one of the entrances to the Underworld. She had to beg and cry for him not to do it. Turns out, crying was the best way to get Ethan to do what she wanted. He begrudgingly relented and settled with a couple of hellhounds (though now he started calling her 'crybaby' because of that).
       
"Hey," she spoke up. "I know you and I agreed on going out of camp tomorrow, but can you, like... not?"
       
He shot her a confused look.
       
"I need to buy you a birthday gift," she admitted sheepishly. He was twelve, soon to turn thirteen. His birthday was just a couple weeks away on the twenty-third of April. She didn't exactly know what to buy him since he never told her what he wanted, but he always ended up appreciating whatever he bought her. As for her, well, she was apparently an open book so it was easier for him to buy her presents unlike the other way around.
       
"Just buy me more clothes." He replied, waving it off dismissively. "I always get my clothes either ripped or dirty. The laundry dryads got pissed with me the last time they had to clean my muddy pants."
       
"Ooh, I saw these nice jeans with a cool embroidery thing on the back pockets!" She exclaimed, remembering the last time she had been at the mall.
       
"Anything but those." He said dryly.
       
Esmerelda opened her mouth to argue, but froze.
       
Ethan stopped walking when she did. He looked at her. "What is it?"
       
"I thought I saw something small running behind those bushes..." She trailed off, pointing at a thorny blackberry bush. For a brief second she swore she had seen something small and with green skin flit through, but it had happened so fast that she wasn't so sure anymore.
      
"Something small?" Ethan echoed, he didn't look as apprehensive as her and simply regarded the bush with a blank look. "Probably a squirrel or something. Let's keep going."
       
"Okay..." She said, shooting the bush one last glance. Her hand hovered over her charm bracelet, which was actually a weapon in disguise. Or well, multiple weapons in disguise to be precise. All twelve charms were her throwing knives. Yanking a charm out would automatically turn it into it's true form. Pressing the inconspicuous button at the end of each knife handle would revert it back to a charm. It was a wonderful creation courtesy of Charles Beckendorf, counselor of the Hephaestus cabin.

He also helped in the creation of her brooch. It was gold—she didn't know if it was real or not—and looked like a bunch of twigs held up to form the letter 'E' for her name. He would've had both of her initials on it, but she didn't know what her last name was. Unpinning it would turn it into her trusty labrys, her most favorite weapon ever. Similarly to her knives, there was a button on the hilt except this was a feature that Beckendorf had added to it. At the bottom of the hilt was a gleaming emerald gem ("It looks like your eyes," Ethan had commented.) that worked as the button. Pressing it down would turn it back into her brooch.

Rustle, rustle.

Both kids froze.
       
Esmerelda turned around and looked back at the blackberry bush.
       
"Do you think...?" Esmerelda asked Ethan.
       
Just then, two small figures dropped down from the trees above them.

"What the—mmph!" Ethan's shout was cut off as little green hands smothered his mouth on accident. They maneuvered around his head before grabbing something on his ear. "Ow!" He cried out as his earring was yanked out.
       
Meanwhile, Esmerelda was trying to throw off the small creature that had latched around her. It's tiny hands immediately found her brooch and ripped it from her shirt. "Get—off!" She grunted.

Neither kids managed to free themselves from the creatures. Instead, the creatures willingly hopped off of them.
       
They turned around, and Esmerelda blinked in bewilderment.
       
They strongly reminded her of Gollum from Lord of Rings, but Gollum at least looked cleaner.
       
She had never seen a creature so ugly before. They were around three feet tall—but she wasn't so sure since they had poor posture—with greyish green skin, ultra thin long and ultra thin fingers, and white empty eyes. They also had really sharp teeth that were so disgustingly yellow that they would've made any dentist faint. Luckily, the rest of their body was covered up with raggedy cloaks that probably had a million pockets.
      
The two creatures with their stolen 'accessories' snickered gleefully as they were joined with more of their equally as ugly brethren.
       
Ethan's angry eyes zeroing in on the creature with his earring. "Give it back." He ordered.
       
It giggled in a really high pitch. "Is the wittle godling angwy because we took his pwetty jewelry?"
       
"What are you guys?" Esmerelda questioned, stepping in front of Ethan. At first, Ethan thought she was trying to keep him from attacking the thieving little monsters, but then he saw that she had one arm placed behind her. His eyes trailed down to her wrist, where her charm bracelet still laid, wrapped all nice and pretty.
       
Those monsters may have managed to take her labrys, but they didn't get her knives.
       
Ethan suppressed his grin as the monsters continued to talk in it's annoying high pitched voices.

"We are the Kobaloi!" One exclaimed proudly. "And we like stealing from mortals, demigods, and gods!"

"Kobaloi," Esmerelda muttered under her breath as she felt Ethan lightly tug out one of her charms. She recognized the name from somewhere. After a few seconds of thinking, she finally remembered them.
       
Kobaloi were basically mischievous creatures that liked playing around with people. Whether it be harmless pranking or stealing important objects from important people, if it wrecked havoc, then they'd do it. They even tried to rob Hercules once, but he let them go since he thought they were funny. Luckily, the kobaloi weren't one of those blood-thirsty monsters but they were annoying to deal with.
       
"I heard of you guys," she said. "You're not actually all that bad. Can you please give us our, um, accessories back? They're really important to us."
       
"Oh we know," one said slyly. It was holding Ethan's earring. "These are your weapons, right?" It rubbed one of it's gross looking fingers over the small black jewel and it instantly morphed into a sword.
       
"Put that down!" Ethan barked. "You can't even hold it! It's taller than you!"

Ethan shouldn't have said that.
       
All at once, each kobalos narrowed their eyes dangerously at them. "DON'T EVER MAKE FUN OF OUR HEIGHTS! WE'RE JUST FUN SIZED!"
      
Esmerelda just barely managed to get one of her knives before they all lunged at them, screeching as they did so. She slashed the first one down and it turned into dust.
       
"You shouldn't have mentioned their heights!" She scolded Ethan.
       
"Whose side are you on?! They stole our weapons—nine o'clock!"
       
Esmerelda snapped her head forward and swiftly cut down two kobaloi that had thrown themselves at her.
       
"Give me back my sword, you midget gremlin!" Ethan snapped at the kobalos that was holding his weapon. For a small thing, it was surprisingly able to lift up a sword taller than it.
       
That didn't mean it could use it though. Ethan easily moved back as the kobalos made a clumsy swing for his stomach. Scowling in annoyance, he kicked the small thing in the face and sent it flying before killing it with his sword.
       
The rest of the kobaloi fled after realizing that their numbers were drastically dwindling. They dropped the stolen goods and darted back up the trees or through bushes, wailing and promising revenge.
       
Esmerelda sighed in relief as her knives turned back to charms. "Finally. They're gone."

"Stupid things." Ethan grumbled as he put his earring back in.
       
"Hey, look..." Esmerelda murmured, bending down to pick up two rings. They would've been identical if it hadn't been for the engraving on the golden bands. "The kobaloi must've stolen these two. This one says 'C' and the other says 'P'."
       
"We'll return them later. Let's just get outta here." Ethan said.
       
"Oh?" Esmerelda quirked a brow, looking at him teasingly. "Not up for monster hunting anymore?"
       
"Those damned kobaloi sapped away whatever eagerness I had left. Now I just wanna eat and mope." He glared.
       
"I got nothing against that." She said, straightening up and dropping the two rings in her pocket. "Let's go."

The next ten minutes was spent with Ethan grumbling about 'stupid kobaloi' and Esmerelda chastising him for his 'short' comments. They were still a ways away from the edge of the forest when they heard screaming not too far from them.

Without a second's hesitation, they both sprinted for the direction of the screaming.
       
"Holy Hera..." Ethan said, eyes growing wide.
      
Dionysus' two sons, Castor and Pollux, were being chased by a horde of myrmekes—giant ants that were the size of German Shepherds that could spray literal poison. Even worse, they were known to have nearly unbreakable back armor and vicious mandibles.
       
"'C' and 'P'...!" Esmerelda whispered in realization. Her hand went into her pocket where the two rings laid. Castor and Pollux! How could she have been so stupid?
       
Neither she or Ethan knew how to kill myrmekes, so their only choice was to get to the twins and escape with—hopefully—little to no injuries.
       
"I'll distract the myrmekes, you get the twins out of here." Esmerelda whispered to Ethan. She saw his uncertain look and hastily explained. "They like gold and shiny things." She pointed to her golden brooch. "Oh and, make sure you give these back to them." She handed him the rings.
       
"Fine," he reluctantly nodded. "Be careful."

"I will."
       
She stepped out of the trees. "HEY! YOOHOO! I HAVE GOLD! LOOK!"
       
She wasn't sure if they knew English, but all heads turned to her when she said the word 'gold'. Their large, scary looking pincers clicked eagerly as they dashed for her.
       
Please don't spray me, please don't spray me. She prayed. She had a better chance surviving from their pincers. The worst she'd get was another scar. But poison? No thanks.
       
She darted through trees and bushes, almost tripping over large roots or falling down hills. She managed to lose them after half an hour of running, but didn't stop until she made it out of the forest.
       
She immediately saw Ethan waiting for her.
       
"You're okay." His shoulders sank with relief.
       
"Yep. Managed to lose them." She said, catching her breath. "Are the twins okay?"
       
He nodded. "Yeah, but Pollox twisted his ankle running. They're both at the infirmary. They wanted me to tell you 'thanks' by the way."

"I'll visit them later... I'm hungry."

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

The next day, Ethan halfway fulfilled his promise of not going outside of camp with her. He still went out, just not with her entirely. They parted ways when they reached the mall and while looking for more durably made clothes for her best friend, she ran into the Stoll brothers who were shoplifting. They offered to shoplift Ethan's present for her too, which she graciously accepted.
       
They also went to a 7/11 store on the way back to camp and attempted to smuggle some junk food in. Just their luck though, they were caught by Mr. D the second they stepped through the border. Of all the times he decided to watch a volleyball game where his sons were playing...
       
"Hand it over." He said, hand outstretched and not even looking at them.
       
The three of them looked at each other glumly and surrendered their goods while other campers watched on helplessly. They all knew that they were going to turn into some sort of wild animal that Mr. D may or may not try to hunt down to relieve his boredom.
      
To their surprise, their punishment was pleasantly different. "Kitchen patrol with the harpies after lunch."
       
"Kitchen patrol?" Travis whispered to Esmerelda and his brother as they walked away, miraculously unscathed. "Can you believe he actually let us off easily?!"
       
"I think the twins told him about you and Ethan saving them." Connor pointed out, looking at Esmerelda. "This is probably his way of thanking you!"
      
"Thank gods for that," she said. "I was so worried he'd turn me into a skunk or something."
       
Lunch came too soon. After they were done eating, the three went straight to the underground kitchens where the harpies were already snapping at them for being late.
       
"Demigods late for cleaning! Should be grateful harpies don't eat them!" One of them said angrily, throwing them their asbestos gloves and aprons. "Hurry and get to washing!"
       
"Yeah, yeah, we know the drill..." Connor groaned.
       
"What was that?!" It snarled.

Connor and Esmerelda ducked behind Travis. "Nothing! Sorry!"
       
It never made sense to Esmerelda why the harpies washed with lava instead of water. Was it to get that extra-clean sparkle? To kill more than 99% of all germs?
       
She'd never understand the logic of it.
       
Not even five minutes have passed and all three of the kids were suffering. The room was boiling hot and they worked ever-so-slowly because they were scared of the lava splashing and hitting the skin that wasn't protected by the asbestos gloves. It didn't help that the harpies were continuously rushing at them to pick up the pace.
       
Esmerelda had just finished scraping off chicken bones into the burning lava when the harpies ordered: "Return to the pavilion! Get more plates!"
       
Esmerelda moved to join them, but one of the harpies hissed at her: "You will stay! You take too long! The pile better be gone when harpies and stupid demigods come back!"
       
She just gulped and nodded.
       
The Stolls spared her sympathetic looks before following the harpies out.

The doors closed with a loud slam.
       
With a deep sigh, Esmerelda resumed her cleaning, though in a more faster pace due to fear.
       
You know, being turned into a skunk doesn't sound too bad right now... She thought miserably, accidentally dropping a fork into the lava. She watched it disappear into the bottom of the sink.
       
"Dang it..."
       
"I'd help, but I'm on duty." A voice said.
      
With a gasp, Esmerelda whirled around, causing some of the lava to spray onto the floor in little droplets. She didn't bother to watch it hiss and burn. Her eyes were plastered onto the mysterious woman who had managed to sneak into the kitchens without her knowing.
       
She was odd. Her dirty blonde hair was in a state of messiness that would make any child of Aphrodite faint. Her clothes were also painfully out of date. An unflattering ankle-length dress mostly hidden behind some sort of black robe that had mismatched patches on it. She finished her outfit off with a pair of worn-looking loafers.
       
"Who are you?" Esmerelda said warily. Her bracelet was tucked inside her gloves, as were her brooch. She'd have a slower reaction time trying to get them out if the woman attacked.
      
"I'm Professor Diakos," she introduced herself. Esmerelda noted the British accent she had.
       
"A professor, huh...?" Esmerelda muttered to herself, deep in thought. She had never seen this woman in her entire life, so how did she get into camp. No mortals were allowed in... and something about her felt unnatural. Like she wasn't a mortal at all.
       
"Yes," Professor Diakos nodded curtly. "I'm a professor for a school in Scotland. Hogwarts."
      
She couldn't help the snort that escaped her lips. Hogwarts? What a flattering image. Who'd name a school that? Professor Diakos must have seen the expression on her face because she let an amused smirk crawl over her features.
       
"I know. It sounds a bit funny." She admitted.
       
"Is there something you need from me, Professor?" Esmerelda asked politely as she casually slipped her gloves off for easier access to her knives.
       
"Straight to the point, huh? Fine then, I'll be frank with you—Esmerelda, you're a witch—"
       
She was cut off by a roar of angry thunder. Both of them flinched. Esmerelda's face showed confusion and concern, while Professor Diakos looked pale and anxious.
       
"Sorry, Professor, did you say I was a 'witch' or a 'bitch'?"
       
"A witch, of course!" She said, agitated. "Please, Esmerelda, I came here to deliver you your Hogwarts letter. Do you accept it?" Out of nowhere, she conjured up an old yellowing envelope.
       
Up above, the thunder continued to roar. The weather had always been off lately—something to do with Zeus and maybe Poseidon no doubt—but was it really a coincidence that a thunderstorm would brew after Professor Diakos told her she was a 'witch'?

Esmerelda's body tensed up. "Look, lady, I don't know how you know my name or—"
       
"—Does it really matter?" She interrupted impatiently. "Esmerelda, you need to attend Hogwarts. It's for your own good. Your accidental magic—why, it's much too strong! You need to control it if you want to be the hero you were born to be!"
       
"Accidental magic?" Esmerelda said, ignoring the weird and slightly dramatic 'hero' comment. "You mean, the floating car, the teleporting and all that? How do you even—? You know, what, never mind. All of that was magic?"
       
Professor Diakos nodded, her face turning a shade whiter with every strike of lightning. "Yes. All of it. You have magic. Heaps of it due to your heritage."
       
"My heritage... Uh, actually about that..." She trailed off. How do you tell someone you didn't know that you were a demigod? There was a good chance Professor Diakos just mistook her godly powers as magic. Did she come to other demigods with the same statement too? Speaking of other demigods, where were the Stolls and harpies?
       
"I already know you're a demigod. I also know where I am and what this place really is." Professor Diakos revealed. "And I know that I am right about you. You're a witch and a demigod. It's crucial that you learn how to perform magic correctly. Your parents would've wanted that. Godly and mortal."
      
Esmerelda perked up. "You know who my parents are? Who are they? My mom's a witch, right?"
       
"Something like that." Professor Diakos said, almost slyly.
       
"What about my dad? Which god is he?"
       
She only chuckled. "You'll find out who your godly parent is soon." Her face then turned serious. "Back to more important matters. Take this, Esmerelda, it's your letter."
       
Esmerelda took the envelope from Professor Diakos' skinny hand. The envelope was made of parchment paper, a different material that people didn't real use these days. Her eyes were drawn to the purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion, an eagle, a badger, and a snake surrounded a cursive letter that may or may not be 'H'. She flipped it over to the back and sighed in disappointment. It was all in fancy, loopy cursive that killed her dyslexic brain. It took her several minutes to read it.

Ms. Esmerelda

The Underground Kitchen Full of Lava

Camp Half-Blood Long Island, New York

United States of America

She opened the envelope, straightened out the letter, and inwardly groaned. More cursive. She tried to read the first sentence at the top but all she could see was HIGWTRAS SKEROL of WEFSCREGT and WUSIDFTY. She was pretty sure she at least got the 'of' and 'and' right... She finally gave up after attempting to read the next few sentences. She was seriously about to get a migraine if she went on further.

"Do you accept it?" Professor Diakos said urgently. "Going to Hogwarts?"
       
"Uh," she glanced back down at the letter, saw the jumbled up words that didn't make any sense, and just shrugged. "Sure, okay."
       
BOOM!
       
Both of them jumped as the sky rumbled louder than ever. Esmerelda didn't know why, but she felt like she had just signed up for her own death sentence.
      
Professor Diakos glanced up at the ceiling as if she was expecting the lightning to blast it right off. "That's good," she said in a smaller voice, smiling anxiously at her as she occasionally looked up. "That's excellent, Esmerelda. Good choice. Here take these. You'll need this to purchase your school supplies. And this is an address to a portkey you can use to transport you to London, England. There's more instructions on how to get to Diagon Alley and King's Cross Station."
       
She thrust a small coin purse and a slip of paper to her.

Esmerelda stared at them. The coin purse was bright pink with floral patterns on it. It felt empty in her hands. The slip of paper had words written in English, but at least they weren't in cursive. She'd read them later though.
       
"What's a portkey?" She asked dumbly.
       
Professor Diakos didn't bother to tell her. "You'll find out soon. Hopefully. If this all goes well..." She muttered the last part under her breath, but Esmerelda could still hear it. She wasn't sure if the older lady knew that so she said nothing. "I'll be making my leave now, Esmerelda. Stay safe and may the gods be with you..." She trailed off, walking out the door.
      
A second later, the Stoll brothers returned with the harpies, all carrying piles of dishes and platters.
       
"Good, stupid demigod girl finished the pile." One harpy said, sounding somewhat approving.
       
"Huh?" Esmerelda blinked and turned around to face the sink. All the dishware were squeaky clean. Funny, she wasn't anywhere near done with her pile. Professor Diakos must have had something to do with it. She was grateful because she didn't want to be eaten by harpies.
       
"Hey, what're you holding?" Travis asked curiously, staring at the papers and coin purse in her hands.
       
"Who cares!" A harpy barked. "Put your gloves back on, girl! Must get back to cleaning!"
       
"R-right!" She set her things down far away from the lava and returned to washing.

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

"I wonder why it's storming..." Luke said thoughtfully as he looked at the outside of the pavilion. A tarp had been set up as a makeshift roof since the storm had breached the camp's barrier. Such an occurrence had never happened before. Bad weather never affected the camp unless the campers wanted it to. That was why there was no roof above the pavilion.
       
"I know for sure nobody wanted for us to deal with this storm," Alabaster C. Torrington, a son of Hecate, stated. "The gods must be angry for some reason."
       
The last comment only made Esmerelda sink further into her seat, an act which Ethan immediately noticed.
      
He nudged her shoulder. "What's up with you?"
       
"Nothing," she mumbled, grabbing her spoon and shoving some corn salad into her mouth to keep from talking.
       
"What's wrong?" He asked, more firmly this time.
       
"It's just the storm," she said truthfully, though it wasn't the whole truth. She felt like the storm was because of her. That she, somehow, managed to anger the gods. She didn't want to tell him that though. She didn't want to worry him.
       
"I don't blame you," Lyra said to her. "This storm unnerves me. Have you noticed that Mr. D is gone? It must  be something serious if they had him go back to Olympus."
      
Could it be because of her? It couldn't be a coincidence that the camp started to storm at the exact moment Professor Diakos up and told her she was witch. Styx, even she looked nervous about the thunder.
       
A witch. Was that really a bad thing? So bad as to anger the gods? She didn't even know what being a witch meant! She was still pretty overwhelmed by everything after all. The storm wasn't helping either.
       
Mr. D returned near the end of dinner time. He looked grim. He went straight to Chiron and muttered something in his ear. For a brief second, his face turned white before he schooled his expression. He stomped on his hoof once and gained everyone's attention.
       
"Campers, I'm sorry to inform you that sing-along in the amphitheater will have to be cancelled due to the storm. Additionally, some of tomorrow's outdoor classes will have to—Oh dear gods..." Chiron stopped talking. He was staring mournfully at something from table eleven.
       
Everyone else followed his gaze.
       
It took Esmerelda exactly three seconds to realize they were looking at something above her.
       
Stiffly and slowly, she looked up.
       
There was a holographic image of a pair of twin torches floating over her head. Her eyes widened.
       
That's the symbol of...

"Hecate..." Chiron said softly. His tone was sorrowful. "Hail Esmerelda. Daughter of Hecate. The goddess of magic, sorcery and witchcraft, crossroads and the mist, necromancy and ghosts, and of the night."

— author's note —

So Essie's godly parent has finally been revealed! Except it's not a god at all, it's a goddess instead.

When I was planning this story out, I was having trouble deciding who her godly parent would be but then I was like "wtf, I'm so stupid, this is a Harry Potter crossover"

It'd only make sense for Essie's parent to be Hecate, who is literally the goddess of magic. It's fits with the HP part of the story.

Now the only mystery left is who her father is (and who tf Diakos is too). Happy guessing!