Strange Teachers

Chapter 17

——Will——

The cub broke eye contact soon enough, walking to one of the many piles of trash scattered around us. It pawed open an old notebook that was filled with mediocre drawings up until the last few pages and then started to pat its paw on the floor. Except it wasn't on the floor, it was in a small puddle of spilled ink. What must've been the bottle at some point was a pile of glass shards not far from the bear. The best I could figure, it was trying to write something.

I was apparently right, as it started scratching at the paper with its inky claws hesitantly, obviously trying to write. But it did nothing but shred half of the page. I could make out the vague shape of an 'N', though.

Seeing that its efforts were in vain, the little animal turned to using the pads of its paws instead. It made broader strokes, but it seemed to be working. This time, the result was a sun in wide and patchy lines of ink.

The letter 'N' and a sun.

Sunshine, my dad.

Sunshine. Sunshine!

"Sunshine, is that you?"

His head frantically bobbed up and down as I grabbed him and pulled him into my chest. I wasn't usually the type to choke people—or my boyfriend in bear form—with hugs, but I honestly couldn't help it. I was so mad at him, relieved, sad, and most of all, in love.

I finally understood Annabeth judo flipping Percy when they were reunited.

"You vlacas! I was so worried!"

By now, Harry and Ginny were staring at me weirdly. I can't really blame them; I must've looked crazy.

"Harry, Ginny, Teddy, this is Nico—"

"The boyfriend who was missing?" Ginny asked.

"Yes, but he's not anymore. Thank the gods!" I was smiling wider than I think I ever had and breathing in big breaths for the first time in months, trying to keep the brimming tears from falling. I needed a moment alone with Nico.

"You guys keep going on the scavenger hunt," I suggested. "I'm gonna go back to Percy and Annabeth's rooms with Nico. They'll be really happy too."

My teammates agreed, so I picked up my boyfriend and paced out into the hallway. Finding a hidden staircase, I went down what was hopefully five flights of them then walked in a daze the rest of the way to the concealed arch. Since I was staying here for a while, the charm had been modified to include anyone that Percy and Annabeth did some weird spell thing on, so the arch appeared at my touch and allowed us to go in. No one was in the common room and the bedroom door was closed, which I took as a sign to not disturb the happy couple. Instead, I sat on the couch with bear cub Nico on my lap.

"Thank you for coming back," I told him, finally letting the tears out. "I love you, but I'm so mad at you right now for being gone."

A sad nod told me that he understood. I gently kissed the top of his head.

"So, you can't talk, right?" He shook his head. No.

"Do you know where you've been?" Yes, but he seemed uncertain.

"Were you hurt?" I tried giving him a physical, only to be met with a shake of his head.

"Did magic turn you into a bear?" Yes.

"Magic from a wand? Like this?" I showed him my prop wand and he shook his head. "Was it the Hecate kids?" No. Then who or what could it have been?

This had just become a lot more real to me. My boyfriend was in a seemingly irreversible state of magical transformation and just came back after having disappeared for several months. It was all just crazy and strange.

I was jolted out of my thoughts by Percy's laugh as he and his fiancée left their room together.

"Hey, Will," Annabeth greeted; "and who's this?" The smile on my face spread even farther than it already was.

"This is Nico. He's back."

They were speechless at first, but soon started to ask tons of questions.

"Is he okay? Wha—"

"Where was he and why—"

"All we know is that he thinks he knows where he was, but can't talk, that he's fine, and that he was turned into a bear by some kind of magic that isn't practiced with a wand."

"What kind of magic—?" Percy said.

"I don't know; I figured you two might have an idea," I answered.

"Nope."

"Well, we could try some spells anyway," Annabeth said. "Let's head to the library."

We spent over five hours surrounded by books, looking far and wide for some kind of charm, transfiguration, counterspell, or healing spell that could help Nico, to no avail.

Later that night, I was lying in bed with Nico in his bear form curled up next to my head. I was recounting the events of the past three months to him, and I had to say, his facial expressions were even cuter now than they used to be.

"... so then Kayden got our flag in about two seconds flat, but she's been on our team ever since. The last game before I came here, Annabeth showed up engaged and hadn't thought to mention it to anybody."

I took a deep breath, and ran my fingers through the fur at the top of his head.

"I love you, Nico; don't ever disappear on me again."

— - — - —

A/N: I had a lot of fun writing some Solangelo fluff and can't tell whether I went a bit overboard; oh well. So, thank you all so much for 5k reads!! It seems like only yesterday I was at less than 100, and it is so appreciated!

I hope you like it and will continue to read, vote, and comment!