magic lessons in a garden (very flammable)
Since the demigods were staying at Grimmauld Place, Hermione decided to teach them to control their magic. They were absolutely hopeless at it in class so she wanted to help. For now, she was just focusing on Leo, Piper and Jason. She thought they might be easier to teach than Percy, the water explosion, Nico, who kept turning everything smoky and skeletal, and Thalia, the electrocuter. Annabeth, Reyna, Will, and Frank weren’t as sparky sparky boom but were also nowhere near as okay as Hazel.
After setting his eighth feather on fire (Hermione put it out with her own magic, no one burned) , Leo got bored. “Why is this so hard? You make it look so easy.”
“Sword fighting is easier,” Jason complained.
“I’m sorry but we’re never getting the hang of this,” Piper looked at Hermione apologetically.
Hermione clearly wasn’t going to let it go, though. “Come on, you just need more confidence. Hazel can do it.”
“Of course,” said Piper, “it definitely doesn’t help her that she’s got Hecate’s favor.”
“You’re right, but she still has to try hard.” Hermione said. “Now, try the spell again. We’re getting sidetracked.”
They tried again. “Wingardium Leviosa!” Leo’s feather exploded in fire, Piper’s somehow turned to gold, and Jason’s finally floated. “Oh my gods, it worked!”
Everyone congratulated him and he went back inside. Hermione tried her best to teach Piper and Leo to do the spell. Piper eventually got it and, much later, Leo did too. Good thing, because Hermione ran out of feathers. She’d have to use some sticks the next day when she and Hazel tried to teach Frank, Will, Reyna, and Annabeth. They decided to save the big three Greeks for last. At least they’d be able to teach the rest of them before the garden flooded or something equally crazy.
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Hermione and Hazel were really exasperated. See, the half-bloods that were being taught today, while being the ones with the most brain cells and common sense, were not fast learners at magic. Weapons and wands are pretty different after all. Annabeth, the only one without actual powers, somehow had way too much magical prowess.
“Stop, stop, stop!” Hermione yelled for the thousandth time. “You’re overestimating the magic needed! Just… do it. Don’t put too much effort into it.”
Hazel agreed with her. She also thought they should focus more. That’s what she had to do to use the Mist.
All four of the half-bloods eventually were able to do a few simple spells and they happily went back inside. Hermione and Hazel, however, were very tired of teaching. Good thing they only have a few more people to teach, right? Yeah, nooo…
Percy’s twig turned into water, Thalia’s exploded in lightning, and Nico’s shrivelled up and died(?). Hermione wasn’t really sure if sticks could still die after falling off trees or… whatever. Anyway, they were going to be here forever if those three were going to keep doing that. (Un)fortunately, they weren’t able to focus on their wands.
They were attacked by a monster. An empousa. Oh schist… this would be a long day.
Patch sighed and pulled his pen out. He uncapped it and charged. Nico picked his sword, which he had put in the garden just for this type of situation, and did the same. Thalia called on a few storm clouds and Hazel confused the vampire-metal-goat-woman with her Mist.
“Hermione, run!” Thalia yelled. She then turned to the empousa. “Can’t you let us learn for a while?”
Hermione ran closer to the house and looked at the fighting demigods in horror and confusion. She noticed that Hazel was slightly less quick and impulsive than the Greeks but still fierce. Percy and Nico slashed at the demon with their swords while Thalia attacked with her lightning. The demigods were a force to be reckoned with. Hermione was so mesmerised by them that she didn’t notice that the Empousa died until she heard the blood curdling scream. Nico got a hit in and the monster became a pile of bones and disappeared in golden dust.
They’d almost forgotten Hermione was there until she spoke. “What in Merlin’s beard was that?”
“An Empousa,” replied Nico, “not that hard to defeat, really.”
Hermione was perplexed. “She just…disappeared?”
“Died. Gone back to Tartarus.”
“Ah, okay. Sure. A monster was just in the garden. Do they all die like this?”
Percy capped the sword and it reverted back to a pen. “Pretty much,” he said. “Sometimes, we get spoils of war, like a severed head or something, but mostly just dust.”
“I think we should go back inside,” said Hermione. “We can try to focus again tomorrow.”
And they did with no interruptions apart from their terrible magic skills.