Chapter Five: Nico Meets His Soul Animal
Piper's P.O.V.

IT DIDN'T TAKE US LONG to find the entrance to the Hogwarts express. At first what had happened was that we all looked at our tickets and soon realized there was no 'platform 9 3/4'. But that didn't mean we couldn't find it.

Annabeth decided to take a look around, when we did, we saw a small group of kids our age running into a wall. At first glance I almost laughed and thought, they're going to hit their head so hard. But what happened was, is that they passed through the wall barrier.

So soon we all tried running through the wall and found ourselves standing in front of a massive steam engine, the Hogwarts Express. We quickly got on the train to find a private compartment. We sat down and started talking.

"Okay," Percy said, "just to be sure, the door is soundproof. Right?"

"It better be," Annabeth said. And we all laughed at her serious statement.

"What?" She asked.

"It was just the look on your face," Leo said choking on laughter.

"So," Nico says. "What are we going to do when we get there?"

"Try to keep a close eye on Harry, his friends, and any threats." Annabeth replied.

"How will we do that without raising suspicion?" Percy asked her.

"The mist will help us," I tell him. "Wow, it's a shame Hazel's not on this quest with us."

"I know," Nico says. "But she wants to spend more time with Frank. I hope she's happy."

* * *

About an hour and a half later we were still on the train talking about what we plan to do during or quest, when the door slides open. Standing at the door way was a boy who kind of looked a little like Percy. Except he had a scar on his forehead, he had emerald green eyes instead of sea green, his facial features were slightly different, and he had rounded black rim glasses. This is the boy Hecate described as Harry Potter. He was standing with two other kids that looked the same age as me.

They were both a girl and a boy. The boy had freckles and red hair, while the girl had bushy, shoulder length, brunette hair.

"Hey guys," the girl said friendly.

"Hey!" I said smiling and staying and character. "I haven't seen you three in forever!"

"Okay," the girl continued. "This may sound weird, I think it may be some kind of memory spell, but for some reason, Harry can't seem to remember any of you." That's not good. If he can't remember us, the mist didn't work correctly.

"Hermione-" Harry said. Hermione must be the girl.

"Wait," the red headed boy interrupted. "You're talking differently. With a different accent."

"Ron!" Hermione said, "Don't be so rude!" So the red head's name is Ron. Good to know.

"Actually," Annabeth chimed in, "we all took a vacation to America this summer, the accent kind of rubbed off." She said with a warm smile.

"So," I said, "what were you saying about not remembering us?"

"I've never seen you before," Harry says, with very strange, neutral expression.

"That doesn't make any sense," Nico says in a whisper so the wizards can't hear. I looked at him, then Leo. He seemed to be tapping on his watch. I wonder what that's about.

"You've never seen us before?" I turn to Harry and pretend to be shocked. It worked.

"Well- well," He stutters.

"Don't worry, we'll figure this out," I say putting some charmspeak into my voice, "You better get back to your cabin, we'll talk about this later." Ron and Hermione immediately turned around and went to their cabin. Harry was hesitant and just stared at us, then he turned and followed his friends.

As soon as the door was closed I said, "He can see through the mist, and my charmspeak doesn't effect him!"

"He must be powerful," Percy says.

"This quest may be harder than we thought. We should IM Hecate later to see if she can try using the mist again," Leo said.

* * *

Eventually, the train began to slow down and we heard the loud noise of the train readying to a stop, up and down it as everybody scrambled to get their luggage ready for departure.

The first thing I heard when when I got of the train was, "First years line up over here, please! All first years to me!"

"Where's Hagrid?" I heard Harry say behind me as I walked towards the stage coaches that would soon take us to the school.

"I don't know," said a red headed girl who looked slightly similar to the boy named Ron, we met on the train. "But we'd better get out of the way, we're blocking the door."

"Oh yeah..." Harry said.

All five of us walked forward in anticipation, it was hard to believe that we were about to begin our quest. I hope it doesn't take long, because I really don't know why I volunteered for this quest. I was really hoping to get some actually time with Jason that didn't involve, Giants, running for our lives, or having Coach Hedge keeping a surveillance on us twenty- four/seven.

"What are those things, d'you reckon?" Harry said behind me interrupting my thoughts.

"What things?" Ron asked.

"Those horse -" He said. I turned to see what he was talking about.

In front of me stood of me was a horse. Well, kind of a horse that was completely fleshless. With a black black coat clinging to its skeletons. Black leathery wings that looked like they belonged to giant bats. What was really scary was that I could see every little detail of the creature.

"I was saying, what are those horse things?" Harry said, himself and his friends sat in the carriage while Nico, Percy, Annabeth, Leo, and I climbed in with them.

"What horse things?"

"The horse things pulling the carriages!" Harry nearly screamed.

"I see them." Says a girl with blonde hair who was(strangely) reading a magenzine with moving pictures on it.

"Me too," Nico adds. "I think I've heard of them before, thestrals. Only people who have seen death can see them."

"Well Nico... I think you've met your soul animal," said Percy.

* * *

We all tried our best to contain our amazement over the complexity of the castle. Due to our quest, we had to act if Hogwarts was nothing new to us. Annabeth was having the most difficult time. She didn't even stop to take a breath when she started whispering to Percy after we had departed from the wizards. I couldn't blame her though.

The entrance hall to the school was perplexing. But the Great Hall left me standing in awe. In the room there were five long tables, one for each house except the one table that was reserved for staff, as Hecate explained. We would all be sitting at the Gryffindor table. But the tables weren't the most amazing thing about the Great Hall. The ceiling was see through, as in you could see the sky. There were candles floating in midair, while ghosts drifted around the Hall.

I had heard Nico whisper, "Those bastards are lucky that I'm not going to turn them in to my father, stupid undercover secrecy quest."

We finally made our way to the Gryffindor table, as acting that the scene around was all normal. Our quest had begun.

Me: I do not own any of the characters. All characters either belong to Rick Riordan or J.K. Rowling.
Harry: Finally, I've been waiting for this chapter forever.
Ginny: What are you talking about?
Me: Ginny doesn't know about the book yet.
Harry: Why?
Me: Why is Rachel immune to the mist?
Rachel: Because I'm the awesomest oracle ever! Fear the plastic hairbrush!
Ginny: I'm confused.
Rachel: Of course you are. I can see through everything. The plot....
Me: Don't spoil it!
Rachel: Okay, okay.

Hey my awesome followers thanks for reading this! So far this is my most popular book and I can't believe how many people have read it so far. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
-Europa