Demigods at Hogwarts | the rescue mission ✔

17 |Honeydukes Hazards

Leo's POV

"We're finally here," I sighed happily as the seven of us hopped off the carriage. We had decided to spend our Saturday in Hogsmeade, a magical wizarding village positioned next to the school which we, apparently, were allowed to visit. The ground was covered in a thick blanket of ice and snowflakes were gently falling from the sky. Tiny cottages were positioned on either side of the road, each packed with kids and their parents. I spotted several children playing in the snow out of the corner of my eye. One of the perks of being on this quest was not getting bothered by monsters at all. Part of me wanted to stay here forever and live out a life where I didn't have to constantly run for my life.

  "Where's the candy store?" I demanded immediately, frowning as Thalia rolled her eyes at me. "What? I need my sugar." It was true—I hadn't even touched a single piece of candy ever since arriving at the school, and my brain desperately needed a reboot.

"It's over there," Hazel replied, pointing a shop at the corner of the street. "You boys can check it out—we'll be at Madam Paddifoot's Teashop. Don't go too crazy." Hazel warned as the three girls walked off by themselves.

  "Come on, hurry up," Frank said urgently. "Everything good will be sold out if we don't get in there quick." The four of us hustled into the cozy sweetshop.

  Percy's mouth dropped open in wonder as they took in their surroundings. "I don't think they'll ever sell out." he murmured in astonishment. "I mean, look at this!"

  The candy store wasn't gigantic or spacious like I thought it would be, but the owners had made use of every single inch of space in the tiny store. There were shelves upon shelves of chocolates and lollipops, mints and gummies. We walked over to a corner labelled 'Special Effects' sweets, which apparently included exploding bonbons, sherberts that could help you levitate, and even indestructible bubble gum.

"How much cash do we have?" I asked, bouncing around in excitement. Percy fished out a wad of coins from a brown bag he had been keeping in his pocket.

  "Let's see..." the son of Poseidon muttered under his breath. "Fifty-five Galleons and forty-eight sickles. Everything here costs way less than a Galleon, so..." Percy's face broke into a goofy grin. "We've got plenty."

I rubbed my hands together in a sinister manner. "So we just grab what we want and pay for it?" I did my crazy scientist-evil sorcerer-maniac-circus clown grin.

Percy smiled back. "Sounds like a plan."

  We grabbed a basket and piled it with practically every single type of candy in the shop, ranging from creamy milk chocolate to lemon drops that supposedly burned your tongue. Little kids stared at us enviously as we went around the store, struggling to hold up the overflowing basket of sugar.

  After half an hour, we walked over to the checkout counter. The checkout girl, a 20-something blondie, nearly fainted when she saw the bundle we were carrying in our arms. "Are you sure you can pay for all this?" she stammered as she eyed us suspiciously.

  Percy smiled, flashing his perfect set of pearly white teeth. "Positive," he answered confidently, dropping a huge pile of coins onto the table. "See?"

  Still in shock, the witch accepted the money and gave us a huge plastic bag. "You might need this," she murmured sheepishly. We loaded our newly purchased sweets into the bag and walked outside.

  Frank laughed in pleasure. "So this is what it feels like to be rich." he grinned. "When I retire, I'm coming to live here."

  I patted the Roman praetor on the back, feigning seriousness. "We all are, Zhang," I said happily. "We all are."

+++

Hermione's POV

"Sorry!" I whispered as I bumped into Harry for the third time in a row.

It was Saturday—Hogsmeade day. Harry had decided to hide under his Invisibility Cloak—with him being the youngest champion in Tournament history and The Boy Who Lived, reporters were clamouring to meet him. So far no one had caught wind of his presence—but trying not to crash into him every few seconds was proving to be a difficult task.

"No apologies," I heard Harry murmur into my ear. "It's not your fault I decided to use the Cloak." I felt my cheeks turn red as I turned away from him, a smile playing on the corners of my lips.

That's when I caught sight of Percy and his friends.

They had just come out of Honeydukes, and were carrying a whole truckload of candy in a giant plastic bag. I noticed that all Thalia, Piper and Hazel were missing—exactly what I had been hoping for. I knew from experience that boys weren't exactly the brightest bulbs in the box, and this was the perfect opportunity to see these so-called 'American exchange students' were really who they said they were.

"I'll be back soon," I told Ron and Harry hastily, quickly heading after the four seventh-graders. I followed them down the street for a while, watching closely as they sat down on a nearby bench. Hiding behind a lamppost a few yards away from them, I tried my best to pick up snippets of their conversation.

Leo was in the middle of munching on a Chocolate Frog. "So good," he mumbled. "I'm telling you, they don't make candy like this in New York."

Frank, who was sucking on a Strawberry Sherbet, nodded in agreement. The only person who didn't seem to be stuffing his face was Nico. "Where do we go next?" he asked causally, gazing at a map he was holding in his hands. "There are tons of shops here."

"How about the Zonko's Joke Shop?" Percy suggested through a mouthful of Cauldron Cake. "I heard from Fred and George—you know, Ron's older brothers—that it's pretty epic." He smiled devilishly, his sea-green eyes twinkling with mischief. "If we buy stuff there and sell them to the Hermes cabin back at Camp-Half-Blood, we'll make a fortune."

Hermes cabin. Camp-Half-Blood.

My suspicions had been confirmed. These kids weren't wizards—they were part of a group of people with more magic in their veins than anyone in this school. They were part of my life I had left behind years ago, something I never thought I would come across again.

My heart pounding in my chest, I turned around and ran back to my friends as fast as I could.