Nico glanced at the clock for the tenth time that minute. He had been waiting in the musty old pub for half an hour. Apparently, he was supposed to be waiting for some dude called Hagrid. 'It would be nice' ,he thought, 'if he could be bothered to show up on time!'
Just then, the door burst open and a giant man strolled into the pub, followed by a scrawny boy who reminded him painfully of Percy. The huge man turned to him and asked in his booming voice, "Would you happen to be Nico di Angelo?"
Nico just nodded, wincing at his loud voice.
"Well then? What're you waiting for? Let's get a move on!"
Green-eyes gave him a shy smile. Nico stood beside him and watched in amusement as half the wizards in the pub started clamoring around him, apparently realizing that his name was 'Harry Potter'. He wondered what Green-eyes, no, Harry had done to make himself so famous. Although by the look on his face, Nico could tell that Harry was just as stumped as he was.
Harry sent him a desperate glance, "Help me!" , he mouthed.
Nico smirked at him, "Sorry dude, you're on your own."
Eventually, Hagrid managed to free Harry from his crowd of admirers. Harry scowled at him, "Traitor", he grumbled.
Nico shrugged, "Hagrid had it under control. Besides, you have to admit that your expression was hilarious."
Harry gaped at him, "Under control? I was being mobbed!"
Hagrid placed a hand on each of their shoulders, "Now, now you two. Play nice. Why don't you introduce yourselves?"
Harry sighed, "If you say so Hagrid. I'm Harry Potter. And you are?"
Nico shook his hand, "Nico, Nico di Angelo"
Hagrid gave them both a toothy grin, "There! That wasn't so hard, was it? Let's get going, your school supplies won't get themselves!"
Nico and Harry shared a glance. Harry spoke up hesitantly, "Hagrid, we don't have any money."
Hagrid looked bewildered, "Sure you do! Did you really think your parents would leave you with nothing?"
"Yes. I had no doubt that he did.", Nico muttered.
Hagrid pretended not to hear, "All your parent's money is locked safely away is Gringotts. The wizarding bank.", he added noticing their blank expressions.
*********Time Skip, because why not?*********
For a moment, Nico felt like a kid again. He was actually inside a wizard bank being run by odd-looking creatures that Hagrid called goblins . He was barely listening to Hagrid and Harry's conversation as he stared at goblin in front of them. He remembered an old card game called 'Wizards, Wonders and Woes' that he used to play before he got obsessed with Mythomagic. The goblin that was leading them to their vault looked nothing like the scaly, green monsters on his old goblin card.
"Nico! Were you paying attention?"
Nico shook himself out of his thoughts at turned to see Harry looking at him accusingly.
"Umm sure?"
Harry sighed. "We're getting in a cart to go and visit our vaults. Hagrid needs your key."
"My key? Oh right, the key!" Nico took a frail-looking obsidian key out of his pocket. He had found it in his room next to a note with a single number written on it. He turned to the goblin, "Vault 13"
************Time skip*************
Nico had to admit, Harry's parents knew how save for a rainy day. His vault was full of bronze, gold and silver coins. Harry was gaping, by the looks of it, he still couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that he was rich.
"I-uh-I mean-what?"
Nico grinned, "Pretty sweet ,huh? Well, at least you won't need to worry about dying of starvation. Maybe you could even get yourself new glasses someday!"
Harry blushed, "Yeah right", he grumbled, but he seemed pretty pleased.
After Harry finished collecting his money, the goblin, who's name was apparently Griphook, headed even deeper underground. Nico smiled, he loved going underground, it was his father's element. It made him want to do cartwheels( which was quite strange for him).
"Vault 13", croaked the goblin.
Nico watched as the goblin inserted the key into vault's door, which looked a lot like the entrance to his father's throne room. The goblin beckoned him forward. Nico moved closer to the vault , and, as if drawn to it by some natural instinct, placed his hand on the door. The door swung open. Nico stumbled backwards in surprise.
Nico gawked at his father's vault. It was even bigger Harry's and was filled with piles of gold, silver, bronze and... were those stygian iron weapons?
Harry grinned at him smugly, "Well, it looks like you won't have to worry about dying of starvation anytime soon either. Perhaps you should get yourself a jacket that actually fits."
Nico just nodded, still to awestruck to reply. He made his way into the vault and filled a small pouch with the coins that Hagrid explained were called Galleons, Sickles and Knuts.
Nico joined Harry and Hagrid back at the cart, both of whom did not look like they were ready for another cart ride. Hagrid told Griphook to head for Vault 713. Nico frowned, Hagrid was acting strange. Something was wrong.
Vault 713 had no keyhole, which was strange. When Griphook explained that only a goblin could open this door without being sucked in, Nico had to admit that Gringotts had tight security.
Nico clutched his forehead. For some reason ,he suddenly felt dizzy and light-headed. It was as though something was actively trying to drain his energy. Nico peered into the vault. It contained a small package, the size of a rock. He frowned, "Hagrid, that package has a really strong aura. What is it?"
Hagrid suddenly looked guarded and wary, "Can't tell you. Official Hogwarts business."
Nico scowled. There was something powerful in that package. Something that probably shouldn't exist. And he was going to find out what.
A.N:
Greeting, diverse citizens of Earth! How's it going? This chapter was supposed to mention both Nico and Artemis' experiences in Diagon Alley but it got too long, so I decided to divide it into 2 parts. I'll probably publish Part 2 tomorrow or the day after. *awkward fidgeting* As you can probably see, I've got quite a bit of free time on my hands right now, besides , I just really love writing this book. To be honest, I've already got the first 12 chapters planned out. The next part will probably be in either Artemis or Butler's POV and they will be getting their wands (Yay!). Until then, Keera out!
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An Unlikely duo (AF/PJO/HP Crossover)
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