Hello, fellow members of the PJO/HOO fandom!

Because the story is going at a fairly slow pace, I will update more frequently to make  up for it. :D Thank you to everyone who voted or commented, it is much appreicated!

Disclaimer: The characters all belong to J.K. Rowling and Rick Riordan. All flames go to Hestia.

Thalia

Thalia watched bemusedly as Annabeth and Frank flitted around the bookstore. Earlier, they had managed to locate Nico and Hazel at a bar, huddling over a note identical to Frank's. Apparently, they had managed to get some wizarding money by exchanging the American money that Chiron had given them, and then bought cauldrons, telescopes, scales, potion ingredients and a set of crystal phials for each of them. They had even gotten the supplies sent to their rooms in the Leaky Cauldron, awaiting their return. The only things left to buy were the uniform, the books and the wand.

Now, here they were, all nine of them in a grand bookstore reeking of parchment and unnecessary knowledge.

Currently, their two best strategists were searching for all the books on the list Chiron gave to Nico and Frank. Thalia was half thinking of joining them, for the books actually sounded quite interesting, with titles such as The Downfall of the Dark Lord  (maybe she could pick ups some tips for the next time Gaia rose), Fifty-one Forgotten Jinxes for the Curious Mind  (Gods know she still needed to pay Percy back for dousing the entire Artemis cabin with saltwater) and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them  (She was going to ask Annabeth to buy that book—wizarding or not, monsters were still monsters and they needed to be put down). There were even a few books embossed in glowing Greek symbols. However, she was dyslexic after all, and reading was a pain in the neck—how Annabeth was doing it, she had yet to know.

Smile tugging on her lips, Thalia watched her best friend and her companion dump another load of books onto the already alarmingly high pile in Percy and Jason's arms.

...

Walking into Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions (according to Frank), Thalia immediately registered how disgustingly purple it was, like a dollhouse that had been all the rage when Hazel was born. Anybody who decorated their room like this was certainly no friend of hers. 

Rolling her eyes, Thalia observed shapeless smocks in different colours, a few sporting uniforms and various other clothing items. Looking at her own tasteful leather jacket and silver chains, then at the overflowing racks, she couldn't see any decent clothes she would wear.

Suddenly, a door opened on the right and a squat, smiling woman dressed in a sickening shade of mauve waddled through. "Hogwarts, dear?" she said, tapping her nose knowingly when Annabeth started to speak.

Piper cleared her throat. "Actually, we're exchange students from America. But yes, we're new and we're attending Hogwarts this year."

The woman pursed her lips. "Of course, right this way—another young man being fitted up just now, in fact." She gestured for the demigods to follow her.

In the back of the shop, a tall, gangly, boy with a freckled face was standing on a footstool while a second woman pinned up his black smocks. Next to him were a girl with a long mane of brown hair and a scrawny, dark-haired boy. The brunette was shaking her head, muttering something that sounded like: "Ronald here just won't stop growing." 

As Thalia observed this, Madam Malkin took the opportunity to stand her on a stool next to the boy. Swiftly, she slipped a long dress-thing over her head and began to pin it to the right length, much to Thalia's disgust. Around her, the other demigods started to chatter noisily amongst themselves about everything they'd seen so far.

"Hello," said the bushy-haired girl. Thalia didn't reply, busy scowling down at the putrid potato sack she was being fitted with.

The girl coughed slightly. "Hello?"

Thalia's head snapped up.

"Sorry, I was just a bit, uh, distracted." By these revolting clothes. "I'm Thalia, and you are?"

Startled by her change of tone, Bossy Brunette softened her glare. "That's alright. I'm Hermione, and the boys over here are Harry, and Ron." She gestured over her shoulder.

"Right. Nice to meet you." Thalia nodded distractedly

"Nice to meet you too. You have quite a large group, don't you? Are you the exchange students from America? I can tell, you're all getting your robes fitted for school."

"Yeah, we're the exchange students."

So these piles of fabric were robes. That made sense, they were wizards after all, weren't they? And she had seen many people wearing them after they stepped into Diagon Alley. Wait a second...

Thalia turned to Hermione, eyes wide. "This is the school uniform?" She eyed a nearby employee who was walking towards them, carrying a bundle of... skirts?

She yelped. "Di immortals! I can't wear that! I can't fight in a skirt!"

Hermione eyed her suspiciously. "Why not? It's not that bad. You should see what the Durmstrang have to deal with! Besides, we're wizards. We don't fight with clubs or swords or anything. That would be ridiculous!"

"Well—"

Thalia looked to the other demigods for help.

Catching on, Piper walked over in her new robes.

"Actually, at our school, we do some physical training as well as magic," she said, flashing a smile. "Extra precaution, you know? And practising in robes and skirts could hinder our movements, not to mention we could accidently tear our clothes."

Nodding like a sheep, Hermione hung onto her every word.

All of a sudden, Madame Malkin stood up from behind Thalia. "All finished now. And dear, our clothes are only the highest quality around. The robes are self-ironing and self-repairing so they cannot be ruined." (This is actually true, I looked it up)

"Can't be ruined, huh?" Leo muttered, loud enough for all the everyone to hear. "Well, they haven't met us yet. Besides, nothing beats Calypso's weaving."

His comment raised a few eyebrows, but thankfully, there was no input from Hermione, who was busy chatting to her companions. However, Madame Malkin was quick to usher them out of the shop, after letting them know that their robes and uniform packs (gloves, cloaks and hats included) would be sent to the Leaky Cauldron. Thalia couldn't be happier; pegasi, bars, bookstores and stuffy robe stores were really not her thing.

...

The next store they went to was bright, neat-looking place that Frank told them was called Magical Menagerie. Nico had given the money to Piper and Annabeth to handle, and they'd insisted that they all decide on a pet to bring to their new school.

Soon, this proved to be more than a little difficult, as the animals all shied away from Nico and Hazel, and Percy was equally deadlocked between all the marine animals. There were so many strange and beautiful creatures in the shop—poisonous orange snails, a giant jewel-encrusted tortoise, a transforming rabbit, and so on. 

In the end, Annabeth took charge and picked a perfectly ordinary calico kitten with luminous yellow eyes. As soon as Percy saw the kitten in his girlfriend's arms, he teared up. 

"Bob," he said, throat hoarse. "We're calling him Bob." 

Understanding dawned on everyone's faces and nobody protested when Piper took out some wizarding coins to pay for their new pet.

...

In Thalia's opinion, while the selection of ice cream at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour was fantastic, the people themselves were dressed in weird pastel aprons, like misshaped Easter eggs.

Happily, she licked her double scooped chocolate-and-raspberry-with-chopped-nuts ice cream. Everyone was relaxing and eating ice cream, except for Frank, who was lactose intolerant (he got an apple). Piper had even bought a small vanilla scoop and set it on the ground for Bob the cat to lick.

All of a sudden, Nico frowned. "Guys, there are bad vibes coming off this area." he hesitated. "I think somebody here recently died."

Frank furrowed his brow, arm casually slung across Hazel's shoulders. "I think I know the reason to that. According to this pamphlet I picked up, the founder of this shop was kidnapped and murdered last year by a group of, uh, terrorist gangsters."

All the chatter came to an abrupt halt, and everyone hastened to finish their ice cream.

...

Fifteen minutes later, Thalia found herself in front of what looked like the shabbiest store on the street. Peeling gold letters were painted on the doors and single wand lay on a faded purple cushion in the dusty window.

Frank coughed. "This is Ollivanders. It's a wand store." 

A magic wand... this was what Thalia had been really looking forward to. Still, she had thought that the shop would look a little more grand, nothing like the narrow, haunted-looking place that met her eyes.

A tinkling bell rang somewhere in the depths of the shop as they stepped inside. It was a tiny place, empty except for a single, spindly chair. The demigods looked in wonder at the thousands of narrow boxes piled neatly right up to the ceiling. Thalia, on the other hand, wrinkled her nose at the musty, old-people smell, so different from the beautiful countrysides and forests she was used to.

"Good afternoon," said a soft voice. Startled, Thalia instinctively crouched into her familiar fighting stance, reaching for Aegis.

An old man was standing before them, his wide, pale eyes shining like moons through the gloom of the shop. Relaxing slightly, Thalia straightened her spine.

"Hello," said Annabeth awkwardly.

"Ah yes," said the man. "Yes, yes. I thought I'd be seeing you soon." He shook his head as if to clear his thoughts. "I have been informed by the headmistress," he replied, to Thalia's questioning eyes. 

"Hmmm," said Mr Ollivander, giving the group a piercing look. "Let me see." He pulled a long tape measure with silver markings out of his pocket and turned to Nico, who was standing in the corner. "And you are?"

As Nico answered the questions flung at him, Thalia took the moment to let her eyes wander the room. It was so claustrophobic in here, and the dust tickled her nose. Resisting the urge to sneeze, Thalia fiddled with the chains on her wrists.

A few feet to her left, a window pane shattered.

Alarmed, Thalia turned back to Nico and discovered that he was holding a short, thick wand. Next to him, Mr Ollivander was holding a small pile of boxes, eyes glinting with excitement.

"No, no, not quite right. here, elder and thestral tail hair, eleven and a half inches, sturdy. Very powerful. One of my more unusual combinations. Go on, go on, try it out."

Looking slightly confused, Nico took the wand and gave it a sweep. 

Suddenly, all the warmth was stripped from the room. The shadows on the wall elongated and hovered over them like giant birds. Somewhere to the left, Bob the kitten hissed.

Then, just as sudden as it happened, all the light filtered back inside the room, and the room returned to its normal self. By now, everyone was staring wide-eyed at Nico and the wand in his hands. Mr Ollivander cried, "Oh, bravo! Yes, indeed, oh, very good. Elder... that is a very powerful wand. Do you know, it is the rarest wand wood of all, and the trickiest to master? Only a highly unusual person would find their perfect match in elder, as you have, and those who do are certainly marked out for a special destiny... and with that particular core... well, let's just say that It would be a terrible thing if that wand ever fell into the wrong hands."

On that happy note, he put Nico's wand back into its box, wrapping it in brown paper, and handed it to him.

After all the other demigods had received their wands (Leo managed to reduce the spindly chair to a pile of ashes), it was finally Thalia's turn.

Mr Ollivander fixed Thalia's with his pale stare.

"Well, I think I know just the wand for you. Give me a moment, I'll be right back."

When Mr Ollivander returned, he was bearing a small box and all the demigods leant forwards in anticipation.

"Here, give it a wave."

Thalia took the wand and felt a sudden warmth in her fingers. She raised the wand above his head, brought it swishing down through the dusty air and a stream of blue sparks shot from the end like lightning, and encased the wall in light. Her friends whooped and clapped and Mr Ollivander cried, "Excellent, well done indeed! Pine with a jackalope antler. Thirteen inches, very supple. (These cores and woods actually exist, no joke, I searched them up!) Rarely used wand core that is, and paired with a very unique wood. Take good care of it."

Stiffly, Thalia took the wand from him, annoyance bubbling up inside her.

After Piper and Annabeth had paid for their wands, Mr Ollivander bowed them out of his shop. Thalia tossed her wand unceremoniously into her bag and turned to her friends, waiting.

It happened.

"Pinewood!" Percy cried. "Pinewood!" He bent over, clutching his side in hysterics.

"Hahaha," Thalia said.

"C'mon, Pinecone Face, chill" Leo said, chuckling. "Who knows, maybe you were holding your long-lost sister right there!"

Seething, Thalia heard the other demigods suppress giggles. She swivelled to meet Percy's eyes and jabbed a finger in his chest.

"Watch your back, Kelp Head. As soon as we are under open sky with nobody around, I'm going to blast you all the way to the Underworld."

My chapters just keep getting longer and longer, don't they? This chapter was kinda just a series of one-shots throughout Diagon Alley. :P

Just to let you know, nobody except Professor McGonagall knows about the demigods.

For their new pet, Bob the kitten, I'm sorry but I just had to. The idea of Percy and Annabeth getting a kitten identical to Small Bob and naming it Bob just popped up in my mind one day, so I incorporated it in. It didn't say what species of cat he is on Percy Jackson Wiki, so I had to look it up in the actual book. :( It's calico, in case you were wondering. On a completely unrelated topic, Calico kinda sounds like a ship name for Calypso and Nico. XD

All the wands are made of wood and cores that actually exist in the Harry Potter world, and the meanings are taken straight from the Harry Potter Wiki. Just letting you know I didn't make it all up. :D Btw, as I was looking it up, I think I found the perfect wand wood for Leo: dogwood. Dogwood wands are apparently quirky and mischievous; they have playful natures and insist upon partners who can provide them with excitement and fun. They are also capable of serious magic when called upon to do so, and when paired with a suitably clever and ingenious witch or wizard, can produce dazzling enchantments. Many dogwood wands refuse to perform non-verbal spells and they are often rather noisy. And I think Percy would have a cypress wand because they are associated with nobility, and their owners are bold and self-sacrificing.

There is no trivia this week. But... tell me about yourself! Not like your name or anything. Just like, your godly parent or legacy and Hogwarts house. ;) I'm a daughter of Hecate and a legacy of Athena, Greek demigod. I'm in Ravenclaw house. Tell me if you guys are Hunters or Amazons too. Come to think of it, I don't know any Amazons or Roman demigods. And if you have Pottermore, what's your Patronus? Mine is an osprey, which is a bird. One of my school friends got an elephant, which was apparently rare, according to the site. XD

And... what's your favourite ship from the PJO/HOO series? Don't hate on me, but mine is Caleo. Idk, I just really like Caleo because Calypso is like a beautiful goddess while Leo is a goofy, sarcastic, scrawny demigod. I imagine Calypso sighing at Leo's antics and keeping him in line. :P

And Solangelo. I ship Solangelo very, very hard.

Yours in demigodishness and all that,

--XxFangirlxX--