Demigods at Hogwarts | the rescue mission ✔

3| Anti-Blue Cafe

  Thank you all for your amazing support!

  This chapter is written in Thalia's POV. I'll be switching between different characters as the story progresses, even though there'll be a lot of Percy later on. There's even a chapter on Annabeth... you'll get to it eventually.

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Thalia's POV

In case you didn't know, I hate lots of things. Sunshine, young children, heights, cute kittens...the list goes on and on.

So naturally, I hated London.

First of all, the weather was seriously getting on my nerves. The air was sticky with moisture, and I was having difficulty seeing through the thick fog. London was famous for its gloomy weather—everyone knew that—but I hadn't expected it to be like this. To add to my misery, there was a slight drizzle that was just significant enough to be irritating. Not to mention the air! Man, it was cold.

"Stupid rain," grumbled Jason, a grimace on his face. He didn't seem to be liking the rain much either. "Only kids of Hades would like London."

Nico looked like he was enjoying himself very much indeed.

"We're there," Leo announced. Looking up, I realized that we were standing right in the doorway of King's Cross. It was the biggest train station I had ever been to, looking more like an airport to me. We had obviously arrived at the rush hour—people of all ages were pushing large trolleys around, including bratty kids dressed in posh school uniforms. I was caught by surprise when a seven-year-old came flying towards me, knocking me off balance. Luckily, my famous death stare quickly sent her running back to her mother.

"So," Piper said, breaking the silence. I could tell that everyone was impressed by the station. "We still have an hour until we have to board the Hogwarts Express. What should we do?"

"Go inside," said Jason immediately. "This weather's killing me."

Nobody seemed to have any problems with escaping the hell-sent weather, so we entered the station. Since none of us had eaten in the morning, we spent the next five minutes searching for a breakfast cafe. We finally settled down at the only place that actually served coffee instead of that weird beverage British people drink.

We quickly studied the menu. Percy was distressed to find out that they didn't serve any blue food, which made him even grumpier than before. He'd been acting pretty cranky ever since Annabeth had gone missing.

"Is there anything blue here?" I heard him complain to the waitress who had come to take our orders.

The waitress gave him a look. "We don't use flavouring or colouring here," she responded with a strong English accent, which made me want to punch her hard. Percy had a confused expression on his face.

"So there's literally no blue here?" he asked, frowning.

The waitress shook her head. "Nope."

Percy spent the rest of the hour silently sulking.

Leo, being Leo, immediately got out of his seat after finishing his meal. "Let's go!" he said, sounding ecstatic. "Because I, Super-Sized Mcshizzle Bad Boy Supreme, am ready to win the hearts of British schoolgirls." His grin turned into a worried frown when we turned to stare at him. "Please don't tell Calypso I said that."

Nico choked on his coffee.

After another long walk, we reached what was supposed to be platform nine and three quarters. Except for the fact that there was no platform. Piper frowned, glancing around. "I don't see any platform in between nine and ten," she said carefully, her brow furrowed.

Percy rolled his eyes. "Obviously." he snapped as Piper flinched.

"Are you looking for nine and three quarters?" a voice asked from behind me.

Startled, I turned around. A fourteen-year-old girl had walked up to us, her hands on her hips. She had bushy brown hair and large brown eyes framed by delicate-looking lashes. She was kind of pretty, the way Piper was. And I didn't compliment people often.

"We are looking for platform nine and three quarters," Nico replied cautiously. "Are you a witch?" he asked, squinting at the girl like as if would find out by looking hard enough.

"Are you American?" the girl shot back, her voice sharp as nails.

Nico looked taken aback. "Uh, yes, we are exchange students," he muttered, staring down at the ground.

The girl nodded, satisfied with his answer. "I'm Hermione Granger. I assume you're looking for the Hogwarts Express?" She was staring at us with a strange expression on her face, as if she knew something we didn't.

"Hogwarts?" asked Leo, confusion in his voice. I silently groaned, resisting the urge to facepalm. Did he even listen to anything Chiron had said back at camp?

The girl's eyes narrowed. "Hogwarts, school of witchcraft and wizardry. You're going there, right? It's the best school for magic in Britain, possibly in the world." She said this all very quickly, which made it hard for us to catch up. "See that brick wall over there?" We all nodded. "It's used as a disguise. Walk through it and you'll reach the Hogwarts Express."

I frowned. "Did you just say 'walk through the brick wall?" I repeated, my brow furrowed.

Before Hermione could reply, Leo obviously realized something. "I go first!" he yelled, and bolted through the brick wall in front of them.

We didn't have time to acknowledge what had happened before Hermione smirked. "He's smart, that boy," she commented, her eyes glinting with amusement.

I snorted, shaking my head. "Smartest of us all."