Magnus

"How are we going to get the other things on the list? We still have 5 things. And Harry's cloak will be hard to get if he doesn't trust us completely," Annabeth reasoned, looking over the list we had gotten from the gods.

"Yeah," TJ agreed. He and Annabeth were sitting outside on the grounds with me discussing what we still needed to get before we could go back.

"We've already been in the Room of Requirement, so I don't know where the mirror could be," Annabeth said, twisting the plain gold ring on her camp necklace as she thought.

"The trident will be in the lake, and although Magnus can speak to animals, he can't breathe underwater. I could just ask Percy to come on Mrs. O'Leary, he could probably get it pretty easily," Annabeth continued with a thoughtful look.

"Or you just want to see Percy..." I said slyly and Annabeth punched me in the arm. Only because I was totally right.

"Oh, what about Jermy?" I say, remembering that he's been around since forever and probably could help us with at least one of the items.

"Annabeth will talk to Percy, and we'll go get the others and head out," TJ said, standing up.

As we walked back up to the castle, I pointed out something that had been on my mind, "If we do get all the things soon, I'm going to be a little sad that we have to leave. I like it here."

"I don't know, I kind of miss the daily dose of death, what if we have to fight someone here and aren't prepared because we're out of practice?" TJ asked, "After 'the Gs' stopped sending the skeletons, my afternoons got boring," he finished with a slouch.

"Yeah, I'm not sad about missing that part. Not really my thing," I said, wrinkling my nose at the thought of wading through piles of guts and blood back at Valhalla, then dying painfully minutes later.

"Of course it isn't Magnus, you're a sunshiny boy, but would you really rather go to your aunt's place?" TJ asked with a knowing smile.

"Uh, no. Not particularly. That place is so... fake. Too much relaxing, not enough doing. I guess a bit of pain is better than being bored 24/7" I said, trying to describe the home of Freya and her warriors without offending her, since I knew she might be watching.

"Let's just go inside. We gotta ask before it gets too late, or we won't be allowed to speak with him," Annabeth said reasonably, cutting off our discussion. We nodded and followed her into the castle.

---Phil the potato is here on request of @Apxthy-Kun and @LinhHaiSongSoAwesome, guest time skipping (or rolling, in his case) to the common room *Fred has been warned not to eat him however delicious he looks, don't worry*----

We were in the library, discussing who would go talk to Jermy. It was nearing 8:30, and we needed to go before lights out. I said I should go since I'm the only one who actually knows him that well.

"I can go! I haven't gone on any of your thrilling adventures yet!" Halfborn boomed in his gruff voice. I looked around to see if anyone was listening, only spotting some first years, who have grown used to ignoring us and went back to reading.

"Quiet down you oaf," Mallory scolded, "I'll go with Beantown, Alex, and Hearth so we don't get caught. You can stay here and catch up on how to be an idiot, though I don't think you need much help in that particular area."

Halfborn growled at her and opened his mouth to respond, but before they could start another fight Alex (quite bravely) put an arm in front of them, which seemed to effectively defuse both einherjar.

"Do what Mallory said, we're going now," Alex said bluntly before walking out the door.

"You heard her, let's go," I say before following her lead and walking out, ignoring the many eye rolls behind me.

We walked down the hallway, Mallory and Hearth catching up to us. Jack piped up in my head, the conversation going something like this:

Jack: Señor, how can I help? I can totally kill whatever guy you're looking for. I'm very good at that.

Me: No, this is a stealth mission. And we just need to ask a friend some questions, not kill anyone? Got it?

Jack: Why are you such a party pooper?

Me: Jack.

Jack: Finnnnne. I won't kill anyone... 

Me: Good-

Jack: ...Unless they try to kill you.

Me: I guess that's as good as it's gonna get. Thanks, Jack.

Jack: No problemo Señor.

We reach McGonagall's (Or McGoose, if you're Alex) office and knocked. We wait a tense second as shuffling papers are heard through the door.

"Come in," her strict (and old) voice answers. We open the door and see the professor at her desk, looking at us expectantly. I shuffle in, rubbing my hands together nervously. Alex rolls her eyes and brushes past me, walking up to her.

"We need to talk to the sorting hat," she says, not one to beat around the bush.

"Students aren't permitted to talk to the hat other than being sorted. But out of curiosity, why would you need to talk to it?" she asks, studying us carefully. He/him, I subconsciously correct her when addressing Jermy as 'it'.

The hat said we could ask it questions when he sorted us, Hearth signed. Mallory translated for McGonagall, and she just looked at us.

"The sorting hat doesn't converse with students during the school year Mr. Alderman. Please go back to your common rooms before I ask Filtch to come down and escort you back," she says coldly, obviously thinking that we were lying and still not calling Jermy by any pronouns.

After living on the streets for two years, and meeting Alex, I've grown more protective of people's (or object's) pronouns. So this rubbed me the wrong way.

"Look Professor, we need to talk to the hat. He gave us permission to talk to him whenever, so we would like to see him, please," I said harshly, glaring at her. Maybe a little too harsh, but I was pissed off.

McGonagall looked at me, surprised at my new tone, the one few people heard unless you did or said something to deserve it.

I saw Alex in my peripheral covering a smirk with a hand, Hearth silently signing his support, and Mallory not even trying to hide her grin. I continued my steady glare at the professor.

She seemed to get over her shock after a few moments, and cleared her throat, "Yes, he. Sorry, Mr. Chase. I suppose you can see him for a few minutes. Just don't touch him or anything else in here. If you do, I will know," and with that half-hearted threat, she picked up some books and papers and stiffly strode out of the office.

Mallory snorted, "She'll know? She didn't 'know' when we stole her Raven, or when Magnus took Jermy for like half an hour."

"Hey Magnus," Alex said sounding proud, "Thanks for getting angry," she smiled a little.

I smiled back, "Of course. I'd get angry for you anytime Alex."

Mallory punched my shoulder and walked past us farther into the office, "It was weird Beantown. Angry doesn't really suit you," I glared at her back and she laughed as if sensing it.

"Who are you people?" An unfamiliar voice asked. We all jumped and whirled around, except Hearth, who just looked at us confused but turned to see what had made us jump.

"Who's there?" I asked, not seeing anyone else.

"Really? I thought you'd remember me from a few nights ago, unless you didn't actually catch me looking. Then you're more stupid than I thought," the man rolled his eyes. Well, he wasn't really a man, more like a painting of a man sitting in a chair.

"No, I noticed you. You didn't tell anyone what you saw, right?" I ask hopefully.

"No. And I won't, as long as you tell me what kind of magic that kid used to get in here a few days ago," The man said, crossing his arms across his chest as if trying to look intimidating. 

And although he probably would be if he was standing in front of us, black and green robes swishing around his tall legs, stroking his pointy black beard and glaring with thin eyebrows, he was a painting and about 6 inches (15 cm) tall. (sorry if that's wrong, I'm American and America is weird)

I looked at the others and Alex signed, Can we trust him? Looks like my mom.

"Who are you?" I ask cautiously, taking note of the fact that this guy had a 'Loki' vibe around him.

"Phineas Nigellus Black, former headmaster of Hogwarts. Now answer my question or I'll tell everyone that your friend broke in here and stole the sorting hat," I mentally cursed. He would expose us if we didn't talk, but we would be exposed if we did.

"Fine. Is there somewhere quieter we can talk?" Mallory asks, clearly annoyed.

"Follow me," He said, walking out of his frame and through some others, an old man with an impressively long white beard nodding to him as he passed. I noticed him winking at ALex as if they shared a secret.

We followed Phineus as he made his way up some stairs to a room with one painting.

"Hey Eleanor, need the space," He said, and the lady, Eleanor, sitting in the large wooden chair just sighed and moved out of her frame without a word, as if she was used to this.

"So," he started, getting comfortable in the chair, "Tell me who you are and how your friend got in here."

"My name's Alex, this is Magnus, Mallory, and Hearth. Do you speak ASL?" She asked.

"Hmm, no I do not. I'm assuming that's the hand language you spoke with earlier?" He asked seriously. Wow, these dead wizards are old.

"It seems highly inefficient and a complete waste of time. Why anyone would take time to learn a language made of hand signs is a fact beyond me that I don't care to find out. Now, my question?"

"Nevermind," I said quickly before Mallory or Alex could do anything. Or me for that matter, I was just as angry at the rude old man.

"Our friend uses old magic which is more powerful than any magic here, he learned it at our school back in America. There, question answered, can we go?" I said, trying to keep the impatience and annoyance out of my voice.

"Interesting... Magic stronger than even the greatest wizards... I'll have to ask Dumbledor. Goodbye small children," he said with a small smirk as he slid out of the portrait.

"Ugg, that slimy cockroach!" Alex spat, and I was proud of her for not using any worse profanity.

Mallory was not so restrained and listed off an impressive string of curses in English, Norse, and Galic. I only understood like half of it, but what I did hear made me glad no little kids were around.

Can I kill that guy? Jack's voice asked innocently in my head.

No, Jack. I wish, but no. He's already dead. I felt Jack sigh dramatically and go back to sleep, muttering something about me not letting him have any fun.

We walked back into the office and found the sorting hat, bringing it to the same room that was cut off from any prying ears.

"Hey Magnus! What do you need?" Jermy asked as soon as the door shut.

"We have some questions about some items around the school. We were hoping you knew about some of them?" Alex prompted.

"I'll try my best," he responded confidently. We explained the items we still haven't found and watched him as his weathered leather face creased in thought.

"I don't know about the first two you mentioned, but I have heard rumors of the mirror you spoke of being moved to a secluded spot in the dungeons," Jermy said with a slight smile.

"How do you know about it though? You're up here all year, right?" I was confused.

"Paintings talk. A lot. As for the last item on your list, well I am forbidden to talk about it myself, but I would ask your friend Harry about it. He has had more than enough experience with it to explain where you might find it. McGonagall will be coming back soon, so I suggest you leave before she finds you in here," he said in a low voice.

"Alright, thanks Jermy," Alex said, and we walked back to his shelf, putting him down gently.

"Goodbye friends, I hope you find what you are looking for," He said with a slight bow of his head (hat? top?) and we made our way out of the office.

As we passed the paintings, we saw more than a few glares at us, and Phineus talking to the same long-haired man I had noticed earlier. As I closed the door behind us, three figures cut us off.

"What were you doing in there?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hermione

I was so done with Ron. He's been trying to convince me that Alex was shifty and full of dark magic, and 'obviously a death eater' just because she doesn't like him. I mean, yeah, she's a bit odd, but that doesn't make her evil.

I want to believe him and in him, I love the idiot for Merlin's sake, but he's not himself when he talks about or sees the Americans. I sigh, shifting my stack of books to my other side as I keep walking, trying to ignore him.

I was walking to the greenhouse with Harry and Ron. We were going early because I had a question about the homework Professor Sprout had assigned.

As we were passing some large bushes near the lake, some familiar voices rang out as three students walked past. I paused, catching a phrase that spiked my interest in their conversation, "...I'm going to be a little sad that we have to leave. I like it here."

I recognized it as Magnus, but he said it as if they were planning on going soon when they weren't even halfway through the year yet.

Ron noticed that I had stopped, and took it as a sign, "So, finally coming to your sense- " I slapped a hand over his mouth before he could continue. Both boys looked at me weirdly.

I put a finger to my lips and silently pointed at the bushes.

"...Aren't prepared because we're out of practice?" TJ's voice came through, although a little muffled. "After 'the Gs' stopped sending the skeletons, my afternoons got boring." The skeletons? I must have misheard. Maybe he said pelicans...?

"Yeah, I'm not that sad about missing that part. Not really my thing," Magnus said, and I caught him wrinkling his nose as they emerged from the foliage. We hid behind a nearby statue as they continued up the grounds. We could still hear them though.

"Of course it isn't Magnus, you're a sunshiny boy, but would you really rather go to your aunt's place?" TJ asked. His aunt? What's wrong with her?

"Uh, no. Not particularly. That place is so... fake? Too much relaxing, not enough doing. I guess a bit of pain is better than being bored 24/7" Magnus replied, making my eyes go wide. Pain? Seriously, what kind of school do they go to?

"Let's just go inside. We gotta ask before it gets too late, or we won't be allowed to speak with him," Annabeth's voice spoke up, ending the conversation. They went inside, and I distantly heard them ranting about whether chocolate was better than ice cream, and Annabeth saying something about chocolate ice cream being better than both.

I shook my head with a smile on my lips, that girl knew how to defuse an argument faster than McGonagall.

"So do you believe me now? They are completely up to something?!" Ron whispered yelled at me as we continued on to Herbology.

I looked at Harry, silently asking for his opinion. He raised his hands in an I don't know gesture, and I huffed, annoyed at his constant indecision when it came to arguments between Ron and me.

"It might have been a little bit off, but maybe they just need to talk to a professor because they have to return to their school early, and they're sad they have to leave. Boom, plausible explanation. I have a few others where that came from that could easily explain what we just overheard," I say, although I only had one other reason for that conversation.

"Can we at least ask them about it?" Harry said as we put down our stuff at our usual table.

"Fine, but I'm doing the talking. We're going to ask them like civil people, not like ancient barbarians," I say, pointedly glaring at Ron.

"Fine," he said, "But you have to admit Hermione, they aren't the most 'open book' kind of people. Just be careful, I don't want you to get hurt." I stared at him as I thought of something to say.

Our conversation was cut off however by Professor Sprout as she started the lesson. As we worked, I couldn't help but start to think if Ron had a point, even if they were good people, they could most definitely be hiding something.

----le time skip, brought by Fred again. Don't worry, he's fine now. Although he may have flirted with a certain daughter of Aphrodite while by the river Styx, the one who is waiting for a certain daughter of Ares along with her boyfriend, and said boyfriend may have hit him where the Apollo doesn't shine. He should be fine soon enough though, after he stops crying-----

We were heading to the common room after a long night at the library (I had forced Ron and Harry, they needed it to pass Snape's class).

"Student's, I hope you get to bed soon. Wouldn't want to be caught out after hours, again," McGonagall said, and although she had a frown I could have sworn she smiled at me as she passed.

We had just turned the corner when we saw Magnus, Alex, Mallory, and Hearth come out of McGonagall's office, looking around for anyone who might have seen them as they started walking to what I assumed was their common rooms.

Ron had a very un-Ron-looking scowl on his face. I held out an arm as Harry grabbed the other to hold him back. Then I took a breath and walked up to them, ignoring Harry's what are you doing?! face.

"What were you doing in there?" I ask, making them whip around, Alex suddenly holding a thin wire that had not been in her hands seconds before (at least, she was female last time I had talked to her).

The wire didn't look scary, ordinary and used, but the way Alex held it made me rethink that assumption. I backed up a few steps. Just to be safe. Harry and Ron flanked me protectively.

"We just talked to McGonagall, and she wasn't coming from this direction. So why were you in there when she wasn't?" I asked again, looking at Magnus since he was the least threatening of the four.

They all looked at each other for a second before Hearth signed something. I couldn't sign myself, but after a month or so of being around him I could make out some things.

...Ask...H...know about...smart...help us...

Magnus turned and signed something, so fast I didn't even try to make it out.

"Who's 'H'" I ask, looking at Hearth. They turned to us, and Magnus sighed, gesturing to Harry.

"We were wondering... well we need to know about... and he knows about it," Magnus stuttered out.

Alex rolled her eyes, "We need to know about the Sword of Gryffindor, heard of it?"

Harry blinked, looking surprised at the question. "Uh, yeah. I used it in my second year to kill the basilisk. Ron used it to destroy one of Voldemort's Horcruxes, and Neville used it to kill a snake. Why do you need to know about it?" He asked curiously.

"What's a basilisk?" Magnus asked, and I wasn't sure if he was purposely avoiding the question or just confused.

"It's... well it's basically a giant serpent. It can kill you if you look it in the eyes and it has giant fangs," Harry said, shivering slightly at the memory.

"Well that's just perfect, another snake," Mallory said bitterly in her strange accent, with an annoyed sigh.

"Well we were just interested, a magic sword sounds cool," Alex said. I could have sworn I heard Magnus mutter under his breath No, not you, which thoroughly confused me.

"Where does it come from though? Like is it in a secret vault or something?" Magnus asked.

"No, it's in the sorting hat," Harry answered, which made Magnus look at him with wide eyes and Alex covered her smile with a hand. Mallory full-on facepalmed as she muttered under her breath.

"Seriously?" Magnus asked, eyes wide. "Oh my Thor of course it is. It's just in the hat? Like tapped to the side with flex tape?"

"Er, no. If a true Gryffindor is in need of it, if they're holding the hat the sword will appear," Harry explained.

"Ok. Thanks," Mallory said as she turned around and started walking away.

The others followed, but before they could get far I asked a question that had been bugging me for a while.

"Why did you come to Hogwarts?" They all turned to look at me, some a little nervous. Now why would they be nervous...

"You aren't typical wizards and the school you come from sounds frankly quite dangerous. You talk in whispers and constantly avoid questions about life in America. And you have no reason to be here, from what I've read there's never been an exchange from schools, especially from another continent. The only contact we have with other schools is the Triwizard Tournament, and that's never a whole year. So tell me, why are you here?" I say as firmly as I can, emphasizing each word.

They looked at me for a second, all of them shocked at my outburst. I was too, a little, but I definitely wasn't going to back down now so I kept glaring.

"Fine, we'll tell you what we know," Magnus said sadly, surprising us, and apparently his friends as they looked at him in confusion.

"We don't know why our headmaster sent us here. At our school, Hogwarts is a legend, and we've heard a lot of crazy stories from this place. We've also heard of some of the artifacts here, like the sword. We don't have anything like that back in America, so we were just curious. Now if you guys could stop being suspicious of us and just let us learn in peace that would be appreciated. We just want to graduate."

He turned and walked away, his friends following.

I instantly felt bad. I especially value learning above most other things and was the one who convinced the others to come back and finish our 7th year. How could I not realize that I was the one distracting them and myself from school?

I wanted a normal school year, and here I go trying to make something out of some normal kids trying to get an education. What was wrong with me? I'll just give them space, and everything will go back to normal.

Yeah, nothing to worry about. No reason to make this year as crazy as the other 7, right? Because what's the chance of that happening...?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mallory

I looked at Magnus as we walked away from the shocked trio. Not that we weren't shocked as well. Magnus breathed a sigh of relief as we turned a corner, his shoulders slumping, and I raised an eyebrow.

"Wow Beantown, getting angry at a teacher and successfully lying to a girl. We must be rubbing off on you," I say sarcastically as he rolls his eyes.

"Oh, that wasn't lying," Alex said with a smile, "That was Maggie's amazing acting skills, while in reality rambling in a severe state of panic while he tries not to apologize to the nice girl he was yelling at. Did I miss anything?" She asked to no one in particular as we entered the Library, pointedly ignoring the glare Magnus sent her.

Hearth tapped her shoulder as we sat down and signed, Nailed it, making us all laugh as Magnus got even more disgruntled.

We told the others about what we had found, and Annabeth tapped her foot as she thought.

"Alright, this we can work with, at least for now. For the sword, we can't use it unless we're in need of it, so we'll just have to wait for the right moment. The magic with that one is specific and we can't work around it so we'll just have to deal.

"But the mirror, well we know it's in the dungeons which is a large portion of the school, but not big enough that we can't search it. The only problem is that, like the rest of the school, it moves around a lot so we'll have to really remember where we've been. Now, I'm exhausted and I'm sure you all are too. 'Night," Annabeth said before trudging away like a slightly more upright zombie.

I sighed, getting my charms homework done before bed. I was tired, but I had to keep up with the rest of the class, or else someone might assume I was incompetent and/or stupid. Which I would not allow ever again, even at a silly school like this.

----Time bounce with Fred to the next day. He's testing out the vault and springboard, that he procured from somewhere on the shores of the River Styx, and not having a mat is proving to result in many broken bones as (surprise surprise) Fred Weasly is not a gymnast----

I was in the bathroom before our Care of Magical Creatures class and saw that someone had left their bag behind. I went to pick it up, when I realized who's it was.

It was Alex's (he/him), but rifled through and cleverly put back. I knew it had been gone through anyway because Alex isn't exactly the most organized person when it came to packing, and this bag was the definition of organized. 

His room is only clean in Valhalla because it's cleaned by someone who isn't Alex. Alex wouldn't go through the trouble of making his stuff slightly less messy just to mess it up later.

My point is, someone messed with his stuff.

He must have left it here yesterday before Transfiguration, and forgotten about it. I picked it up, and noticed the slight smell of flowers around the bag. It might have been Alex, but I highly doubt it. 

It must have been the person who did this, most likely a girl since it was in a girl's bathroom. Maybe her perfume?

The thought that I'm missing class briefly flitted through my mind before I quickly dispelled it. Animals can wait. A mystery was much more interesting than Unicorns.

END CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Yes, I'm alive. I was... being lazy. Heh.

Thanks for sticking around. It really makes my entire day when someone comments or votes or just reads my story, so thanks. Hope you enjoyed it, don't get sick on chocolate, keep being awesome and reading all day (not that I do that, like at all...)

Weavle out -->

(P.S. Sorry not sorry for the prank ;)