Magic and Myth

Chapter Seven - A Whole New World

Thalia's POV:

"Woah." There were no words to describe this place. How had I not seen or heard of it? It was amazing. The castle stood on a hill overlooking a lake and acres of darkened forests. The moon and stars gleamed over the castle as it casted a long shadow over the whole pavilion. We walked into the castle on carriages and I looked at the strange horse-like creatures pulling us along.
"You can see them." Ginny said.
"See what?"
"The thestrals." She replied, gesturing to the horses. I nodded, uncomprehending. Was she saying that most people couldn't see the animals that were trudging through the muddy path? Ginny said something to Harry, too quietly for me too hear and I saw a tear, glistening on her cheek. I looked away unsure if I had done something wrong.
***
When we stepped into the castle itself, it was, (not to quote Aladin, but,) a whole new world. There were long tables adorning the hall and at the front of the room, another table facing them. Students sat at the long tables and I saw many people looking my way. They seemed just as curious about me as I was about them. I saw sticks, which I supposed were wands, if that were even possible. The whole room glowed with warm light, but the darkened face of an older woman in a tall, pointed hat was nearing us.
"What is the meaning of this?" She said in a sharp, clipped voice.
We told her what had happened and soon enough, Harry, Ron, Hermione and I found ourselves in an office. I felt like I was being called to the principals. The woman had left and we were sitting by her desk, waiting.
"Are we in trouble or something?" I asked Ron.
"Nah, McGonagall is usually pretty good." He said with an unconvincing tone.
"Usually?" I asked. Before an answer could be received, the teacher came in. Now, wait right here, I need to give the start of year speech before the feast." When she said feast, I heard my own stomach growl. It must have been apparent because the teachers' obvious coolness for me seemed to thaw slightly. She took out a stick from her robes and brandished it in the air with a slight flicking motion. Appearing on her desk were three platters of food that made my mouth water. A whole chicken, sandwiches drinks and pudding appeared out of thin air. McGonagall left soon after, muttering words along the lines of "always you three," and "Why can't there be a normal year?" but I just stood there, stunned, looking at the food that had appeared in front of me. My shock must have shown clearly on my face, because Hermione laughed. But I wasn't frozen for long because I was grabbing food and gulping it down in a heartbeat. Once the food was gone, I decided that it was a good time to contact my hunters.
"Is there anyway I could get a rainbow around here?" I asked. Everyone looked at me in a strange way but Hermione spoke up. She pulled out her wand and said; "Aguamenti." A nozzle of water sprouted from the tip of her wand and she said "Viventa," and the water turned to mist.
"Wow, that was cool." I said in awe. Hermione smirked and continued holding out her and wand. I searched for a drachma and to my relief, I had a pocket containing five.
"O Iris, accept my offering, show me Pheobe from the Hunters of Artemis." Everyone watched in awe as I threw the coin and it disappeared. An image appeared but the connection was not clear. The Hunters seemed to be running. Before I could even say anything, the connection cut out.
"Hang on, let me try again." I said tossing another coin into the mist.
"Show me, Annabeth Chase..."
Another image appeared, this time, it was somewhat clearer.
"Hey, it's me, Thalia! I'm kind of at this school... You've got to see it, it's-"
The water turned off and the connection was lost. Something about this place was not agreeing with Iris.
"There's conflicting magic in the air..." Hermione said thoughtfully.
"So you are a witch then?" Harry asked. I shook my head, before taking a sip of an orange liquid sitting in my cup. I tasted surprisingly like pumpkins and I quite liked it.
McGonagall came back about two hours later with the the largest person I had ever seen, (apart from the gods in their full form, of course). He had beetle black eyes and a large moleskin coat with more pockets than I could count. Harry, Ron and Hermione all beamed with happiness when they saw him. He smiled back at them, then turned his gaze to me.
"Yeh mus' be Thalia. I'm Rubeus Hagrid." Said Rubeus Hagrid taking out an enormous hand. I shook it, my mouth slightly agape.
"Yer gonna be stayin' with me for tonigh' until we figure out what te', do." He said, puffing out his chest with pride. "Ye look like yer could use some sleep." He continued, with a kind smile. The prospect of sleep was so alluring that I decided to follow Hagrid to his home sooner than later as I could feel my eyes drooping. My mind was still buzzing with questions about the castle but in the end, I decided to wait till morning. I kept my knife in my sleeve as we walked out the castle door towards the forest and to a small house at the edge of the wood. Hagrid opened to door and allowed me to step inside. As soon as I stepped foot into his home, a dog came bounding over, with his tail wagging ferociously.
"An' that's Fang by the way." Hagrid said. Fang licked my face and I scratched him behind the ears, something he seemed to thoroughly enjoy.
"Yeh' can sleep there," Hagrid, gesturing to the far side of the room where a big bed stood.
"I'll take' the floor." Hagrid said. I walked over to the bed and waited to hear snoring from beside me before I took out the knife from my sleeve and put it under my pillow. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't help trusting Hagrid. I covered myself in warm blankets and drifted of into a very unusual dreamless sleep.