When Two Worlds Collide

Chapter 3: Old Faces and A Flashback

Jason's POV

It seemed like forever when the Hogwarts Express finally came to a stop and we were allowed to leave. 

"Whoa," gasped Annabeth, "is that Hogwarts?" 

"It looks gorgeous," Piper whispered reverently, I couldn't help but agree. Hogwarts was a giant castle that looked definitely from the gothic period and maybe bits from the Renaissance period too (dammit, Annabeth was rubbing off on me). It looked tall and imposing, but Annabeth couldn't stop gushing about it. 

"Just wait until you see the inside," said the voice of Draco Malfoy, a fellow demigod, good friend, and my younger half-brother. He was grinning at Annabeth who couldn't seem to remove her eyes from the figure of the castle. "The inside is just as beautiful as the outside, maybe even more."

Annabeth gasped, "is that even possible?" 

Draco nodded as if he was sharing some big secret, "I bet you it is, Beth," he smirked at me before shaking his head fondly at Annabeth who had gone on another rant about the castle's architecture. 

"Gods, Draco, don't encourage her," Nico groaned as he buried his head in his hands to avoid Annabeth's words. 

Even with the words, I could tell that Nico was just as relieved to see Draco as the rest of us. When Annabeth and Percy had left to see if there were other people in the train that we could be friends with, I had gone out with Leo to see if there was any food on that train. Long story short, we both got ourselves lost and ended up in the wrong compartment. You could imagine my shock when I came face to face with a pair of eyes I never thought I would see again. 

Needless to say, we were both very happy to be reunited once again and after telling everyone else about the good news, there were many celebrations going around. Percy and Annabeth had immediately pulled Draco into a tight group hug when they saw him, and Nico gave an awkward one-armed hug. Leo and Draco had done a very complicated handshake, and Piper pulled Draco into the tightest hug I had ever seen (not as tight as mine though). After introducing Draco to Calypso, Leo's girlfriend (Leo had said this very proudly) and the two exchanged small smiles and handshakes, we were ready to settle back down for the rest of the trip. 

We had talked and laughed our way through the entire ride and Draco had explained the main basics of Hogwarts to us. Apparently there were four houses which were Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Draco had explained what each house's traits were, although Percy and Annabeth had gotten confused when he got to Slytherin. 

"So, Slytherin is not all filled with bad and evil people?" Percy had asked with his I'm-confused-and-also-tired look. Draco had shaken his head. 

"We just have a bad reputation, that's all. When I came here for my quest, the Slytherin prefect gave me the real deal about Slytherin. It's not as bad as most people make it as," and then he had asked where Percy and Annabeth had gotten their information from. 

"Some people named Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger," Annabeth replied, "although I take it that they were lying?"

Draco sighed, "I had a feeling you had heard it from them. They're Gryffindors, they have some sort of house rivalry against Slytherin, I wouldn't be surprised if they were bragging about their house and putting my house down. Plus, they fought Voldemort, so they have a sort of vendetta against me."

"Well not on my watch," I declared, "if I end up in Gryffindor, I'm gonna talk to my little brother and no specks eyed scrawny boy is gonna stop me!" 

"I wish you would stop calling me 'little'," Draco had groaned as he thunked his head against the back of his seat while the rest of us had laughed.