Moonlit Siren : Remus Lupin

Odessa : The First Night Back

Odessa never had meals in the Great Hall, not even the start-of-the-year feast. 

It started out from missing the mealtimes in her first year, as she would lose track of time while training in the forest, or reading in the library. She would then later sneak into the kitchens to grab something to eat. But eventually, she stopped going to the Great Hall altogether, preferring to eat in her own schedule, and not wanting the awkward interactions with her dormmates, who would most likely question her or shoot weird looks. Over the years, the habit just stuck.

Every year, it was the same routine now. Odessa would go straight up to the empty dormitory to get changed out of the uniform, the moment everyone stepped off the carriages. Then she would spend hours in the kitchens, mostly reading , where the house elves would bombard her with loads of food and desserts. Per usual, this year too, Odessa entered the kitchens, greeting Teddy, a doting house elf she was particularly fond of. 

"Hello Teddy, how have you been?"

"Very well, Miss Odessa, welcome back to Hogwarts!" Teddy said happily, stumbling over his ragged apron to hand her a huge mug of hot chocolate. Odessa grinned at the scrawny creature. 

"Thanks, Teddy." 

"It's always an honour, Miss." 

She settled into the quilted armchair in a corner of the kitchens, the Transfigurations textbook propped open on her knees. Contrary to the popular opinion of all demigods except the Athena kids, Odessa loved school. She had never gone to muggle(mortal) school, having lived the first twelve years of her life inside the boundaries of Camp Half-Blood. So as an excited first year, she had taken a liking to reading her schoolbooks like novels.

Being a muggle-born demiwitch came with it's own perks and downsides. On one hand, she didn't have dyslexia like other half-bloods, although she was a bit of a slow reader. She also didn't have to worry about monster attacks at school, considering that Hogwarts was as heavily protected with enchantments as Camp Half-Blood. Dumbledore had strengthened the magic even more when she had arrived in her first year.

Chiron and Dumbledore were old friends, so back then, when Luke and Kronos's forces were steadily growing stronger in the US, Chiron had insisted that she should go to Hogwarts instead of Ilvermorny, as it would be safer.

But on the other hand, being an anomaly meant that the gods always kept a hint of suspicion on her. Unlike Percy the Idiot, she tried to be as amicable and pertinent to all the gods as possible, but of course, Zeus always blamed her whenever something went wrong. She was used to being the centre of attention- both for better and for worse- on Olympus and Camp Half-Blood since she was a baby. 

But at Hogwarts, things were different. Here, Odessa was, more or less, invisible, and she liked it that way. She enjoyed the peaceful solitude of roaming in the forest, and swimming underwater in the Black Lake, sometimes playing with the Giant Squid. 

The Black Lake was one of the two places where Odessa always spent hours on the end; the other being the library. It wasn't that she studied day and night; but she had her own small corner in the library, where she did pretty much everything- from reading, writing letters, Iris-messaging, doing homework, and sometimes even falling asleep on the armchair. If Odessa wasn't in class, or in the forest or Black Lake, she would be in the library. 

As the clock struck midnight, Odessa left the kitchens, making her way to the staircases, the book tucked under her arm. Her lone steps echoed as she walked through the empty hallways, lost in her thoughts. But as she was about to climb up to Gryffindor tower, she paused, eyes drawn to a particular staircase spiralling up from the second floor corridor. For the past entire month, since that day, she had never had the courage to do it, to face him, but....

Before she knew it, she was standing at the foot of the staircase, staring upwards, trying to will her body to climb. She was scared, so scared to face her reality.

You don't have to be fearless, Dess. You just need enough bravery for the next step. Eventually, you will always conquer the staircase.

Aiden's words echoed in her mind, as the same feeling of dread she had felt, that night on the Argo II, clenched around her heart. It seemed so long ago, even though it had been less that three months since. 

She almost wanted to laugh at how Aiden's metaphor was now literally applicable.

Come on, Odessa, don't be a pussy.

 Taking a deep breath, she repeated those words over and over in her head, slowly climbing up the staircase. 

Pushing open the giant oak door, she stepped into the tallest tower of the Hogwarts castle- the Astronomy Tower. Thankfully, it was empty. No snogging couples or depressed students. Determined not to chicken out now, Odessa approached the parapet, leaning against it. Her eyes were fixed to the sky, specifically on a particular newly formed star. One of the brightest. The Braveheart.

"Hey, Aiden." She whispered softly. 

The memory of Aiden's badly burnt body evaporating into glowing silver light was vividly engraved in Odessa's mind, when Lady Artemis had immortalized his existence in the night sky.

"I'm sorry, I didn't have the courage to come see you before," she whispered, her voice trembling. "The past month....hasn't been great."

A tear rolled down her cheeks.

"I miss you Aiden," her voice broke. "It hurts so much, whenever I think of you. I don't know how to ever move on."

More tears fell from her eyes, her chest feeling tight.

"All I've done for weeks now is cry. Piper's heartbroken too. But Jason has been taking great care of her."

"We won because of you, Aiden. You were a hero till the end."

Odessa sniffled, wiping her eyes.

"You would've loved your shroud, you know. It was beautiful. Piper designed it."
She closed her eyes, remembering the funeral ceremony of all the heroes who died in the war, both Greek and Roman.

"A lot of things have changed at camp. The Romans and Greeks are now allies, and all Greek halfboods can enroll in New Rome University from this year."

Odessa felt like she had to keep talking, or she would completely breakdown and fall apart right there.

So she talked and talked. She told him about the Hephaestus and Vulcan kids joining hands to increase the armouries in both camps. She talked about Jason and Percy's joint project to build temples of minor gods in Camp Jupiter, like Percy had done for cabins of minor gods at Camp Half-Blood last year. She talked about the Athena kid's venture to celebrate the Panathenaia festival, inspired by the Athena Parthenos established in camp.

For hours, she sat there in the Astronomy Tower and poured her heart out. Although the ache in her heart didn't lessen, she felt lighter after talking to Aiden.

Even though she knew she would never hear his voice, ever again, it brought her a bit of relief to know that he would always be there to listen. She'd never be alone as long as she could see the stars.