Bro wth am I doing
I went back to Snape, suggesting we go look at the wands instead. It’s the last on the list, and the one I didn’t want to think about. I should’ve brought this up with Hecate earlier… but I wasn’t actually a wizard. How would I get a wand? Or use it?
“Why are you tapping ‘I love you’ in Morse code?” Snape’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts. What was he-? Oh. I grimaced. Spending weeks living with someone caused you to pick up on a few behaviors, and one the majority of the Argo || picked up was Leo’s tendency to tap in Morse code when he’s nervous. Welp, that was embarrassing.
“Uh- just a habit I picked up from a friend.”
He raised an eyebrow at me.
“What’s… their… name.” I shot him a curious look before responding.
“His name is Leo, he likes to build things,” I say cautiously, not sure what he was digging for. He nodded slightly giving a strange though not unkind, look.
“We should get going. It’s nearly noon, I have other things to attend to.” He said, walking away briskly. I groaned as I had to jog to catch up once more. I hated how exhausted I was already. This useless body.
Olivander’s wand shop was a small hole-in-the-wall place. It looked like a front for money laundering if I were to be honest.
“Go in. I’ll be out here,” Snape said, eyeing the store with thinly veiled disgust.
I pushed open the door, hearing some weird, muted bell sound from deep inside the store. Unlike the other shops, this one was old and unflashy. Dust was everywhere, and other than the rows of narrow boxes and the raggedy chair in the corner, the shop was bare.
I sensed him before I heard him.
“Afternoon, here for a wand?” A soft voice asked from behind me. I resisted the urge to tense. This wasn’t a regular person. I turned to look at him, old and pale grey eyes shined brightly in the dim store.
I nodded, attempting to ignore my unease. He seemed familiar, in a way. And I was sure I’d never seen this man before. He also looked at me curiously, before his face lit up.
“Oh, might you be a friend for a camp in America?” He asked with that same, soft voice, though it had a knowing tilt to it. I blinked. What. And then it hit me. His age wasn’t the only thing making his hair blonde, his piercing gray eyes. I shifted towards him slightly, looking at Snape through my peripheral vision.
“You have a favorite goddess?”
He gave me a knowing, soft smile.
“Athena, you?”
I smiled back, this was awesome, another demigod? I felt a warm tingle go through my body, I missed home, but seeing a demigod here in the past, away from America, it was a relief. I lowered my voice.
“Questing. Unfortunately I can’t pick one at the moment.” Vague enough that any eavesdroppers wouldn’t understand, forward enough that Ollivander would.
He nodded in understanding, and wasn’t that a relief. His demeanor suddenly switched, and he stood a little straighter.
“Wands. Might you show me your favored hand?” I raised my right hand.
“Might you have any… artifacts… that you use with this favored hand?”
I paused. Did he want to see riptide? I hesitantly took her out of my pocket, raising her up so he could see. I gestured at me to continue. I uncapped her, watching as she transformed into riptide. He looked over the inscriptions in awe.
“Anaklusmos” he whispered. He nodded.
He took out his own, old looking, wand and whispered something under his breath. Suddenly, riptide turned into a wand. I yelped, resisting the urge to drop her. He gave me a warm smile.
“Simply think it and she’ll turn back into her regular sword form. The weapon is Greek, as are you, and therefore will work better at channeling your magic than anything I could offer you here.”
“How much do I have to pay you?”
“Do great things. I can see it in you, you’re not an ordinary demigod. Live, child.”
I nodded firmly. Old demigods were rare, most died in there teens. I would be an adult soon, not that Mr. Olivander knew that.
I walked out, feeling a weird sense of melancholy. I missed my home. This place was cool, don’t get me wrong, and the kids I had to babysit were chill. But I missed Annabeth, and my friends and parents. I missed singing horrible camp songs around the fire and watching as the flames bloomed under our enthusiasm.
“You have your wand?” Snape was standing next to the door outside, arms crossed. He had his usual balanced look.
“Yeah I got it.” He glared at me suspiciously.
“There’s no money gone. You didn’t steal it did you?”
I pause, before shaking my head. “I didn’t. He gave it to me for free. Something about doing great things?” I pretended to be a clueless, uninterested kid. He shook his head, muttering something before turning.
“I believe that will be all then. I’ll drop you off back home.” He said, rubbing his nose bridge. I nodded slowly, mulling over my next sentence.
“Theoretically, I could come back alo- with my mom say, tomorrow?”
He looked like he was about to drop kick me.
“Yes. Theoretically you could. There is quite nothing stopping seeing as you already know how to get here and you’re a wizard. Any more idiotic questions?” He hissed, speed walking to where a lot of people congregated to disappear.
I sighed, before following along. We “apparated” back to my apartment, and of course Hecate wasn’t there. Snape floated my supplies in through the front door, and left. I stared at the spot he was just standing at. That was… exhausting. I groaned as I realized I still had a mountain of shit to worry about. Mainly, the prayer to Athena. And the fact that I now also had a summer job. And I don’t know shit about the wizarding world. Oh, and did I mention that I was in the past, in a foreign country with absolutely no knowledge on what the fuck I’m doing? I took a deep breath. One thing at a time. No need to spiral, everything would be fine.
I walked over to the kitchen. Sink, stove, paper. Hm, or food? I sighed. Oh how I hated the gods.