𝒄𝒐𝒐𝒍 𝒌𝒊𝒅𝒔 - pjo x hp

xix. the firebolt

𝐑𝐀𝐘𝐀 𝐒𝐋𝐈𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐃 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐓-𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐓 𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐃.

It was the middle of summer now. Raya had returned from the failed quest almost two weeks ago. Over the past two weeks, Raya had gotten more pity glances than she ever had, and she hated it. Luke had it worse, considering he was the leader of the quest.

After Raya had been attacked, Luke abandoned the mission to get the apples, instead holding Ladon off while Trevor dragged Raya to safety. Raya passed out afterwards, and Luke had gotten slashed across his face by the dragon's claw. He managed to get the claw, but the wound didn't heal very well.

Trevor went back to save Luke, only to take a bite to the chest. He reincarnated into an oak tree, and was planted near the edge of the forest.

While Luke now carried a deep scar on the left side of his face, curving from his cheekbone to his lip, Raya carried a larger one, curving from her right shoulder, down to the center of her back. Chiron nursed them back to health as best as he could, but he couldn't get rid of the scars.

Raya made her way out, grabbing the post Hoot had dropped off for her.

He'd made it a mission to grab some newspapers for her at least every week, meeting up with the Trans-Atlantic carriers. Raya appreciated that, a sense of connection to Hogwarts even while she was at Camp. As much as she loved being a demigod, being a Witch was a part of her she had to accept and embrace. She may never see Hogwarts as a home the say way she sees Camp, but she thought she should try.

BLACK STILL AT LARGE, the headlines read.

Raya's blood turned to ice as she slowed her walk to the pavilion. Sirius Black's face was gaunt and pale, which is what one would expect from a person after being in Azkaban for so long. Despite the maniacal laughter the moving picture showed, if she looked hard enough, Raya could almost see a faint glimmer of pain, guilt in his eyes.

Stop, she shook her head. Stop humanizing a man who's barely human.

She continued reading the article.

Sirius Black, possibly the most infamous prisoner ever to be held in Azkaban fortress, is still eluding capture, the Ministry of Magic confirmed today.

"We are doing all we can to recapture Black," said the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, this morning, "and we beg the magical community to remain calm."

Fudge has been criticized by some members of the International Federation of Warlocks for informing the Muggle Prime Minister of the crisis.

"Well, really, I had to, don't you know," said an irritable Fudge. "Black is mad. He's a danger to anyone who crosses him, magic or Muggle. I have the Prime Minister's assurance that he will not breathe a word of Black's true identity to anyone. And let's face it — who'd believe him if he did?"

While Muggles have been told that Black is carrying a gun (a kind of metal wand that Muggles use to kill each other), the magical community lives in fear of a massacre like that of twelve years ago, when Black murdered thirteen people with a single curse.

She kept the paper in her hand as she sat at the breakfast table. For once, she didn't care about the pitying looks being sent her way.

Raya knew the story of Black well. Her father avoided speaking of it at all, but Raya was a curious kid. Through the half-answers, and the secrets children whispered to each other, she learned about Black.

He was a Marauder — his closest friend being James Potter. The two were inseparable, causing havoc wherever they roamed — almost like the Weasleys. After Hogwarts, Sirius Black had somehow betrayed the Potters to You-Know-Who, playing the role of the double agent. Perhaps he wanted to get back into his family's good graces, or perhaps he was faking all along.