They're What?!

Hogwarts Learns to Hop

Percy POV

When I saw Nico later, he was alone. Alone and looking worried.

"What's up, Death Breath?"

He looked up at me through his bangs.

"The gods."

I rolled my eyes. "I meant, what's wrong?"

"Nothing."

Nico tried to walk away, but I grabbed his arm.

"C'mon, Neeks. Tell me."

"It's nothing!" I gave him a look and he sighed. "I...Hazel and I...we were getting bullied."

"By who?!" I drew Riptide, not giving a dam if anyone saw.

"No one, it's fine, Drake took care of it!" Nico pulled away and ran down the hall before I could make sure.

"Neeks, wait-ugh." I watched him go sadly.

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"Has anyone else noticed that Nico and Hazel have been acting kind of depressed today?" Annabeth asked.

We nodded.

"Does anyone know why?"

I raised a finger hesitantly. "I do."

"Spill." Annabeth said. Everyone was waiting, staring at me expectantly.

"The Slytherins were bullying them."

"Why those little-"

"I want to cheer them up!" I cut Thalia off before she could go into a boy-hatred rant.

"What do you propose, Seaweed Brain?"

"Well, I've got an idea...But we're going to need some help and a lot of magic."

"Done and done. What's your idea, Kelp Head?" Piper leaned on the table in front of me.

I grinned. "Okay, here's what we're gonna do..."

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Setting up?

Yeah, that was hard.

Keeping Hazel and Nico out of the way so it was a surprise?

That was a Hades of a lot harder.

"They're coming!" Piper hissed. We stowed Leo's special phones under books and pretended to be studying.

"Wait, does Percy actually have a book?" Hazel asked half-heartedly as they walked in.

"Annabeth, this is really haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaard." I whined, pretending not to hear her.

"Shut up and do your homework, Seaweed Brain."

"But I don't wanna!"

"Hey, Nico! I wanna show you and Hazel something!" Draco's voice echoed from the hall.

As soon as the children of the dead left the room, we pulled our phones out again.

"Everyone understand what's going on? We won't do anything too complicated, but this is the gist of it."

We nodded.

"Now let's go talk to the Headmistress." Piper leapt to her feet.

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"Students, tonight there will be a special event happening, courtesy of the exchange students! To my knowledge, they have planned this event themselves and hope you enjoy. Dress codes for this dance will be posted in the common rooms." McGonagall announced at lunch, after Nico and Hazel had again been drawn away from the area.

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"D'ya think he knows we're ready?" Hermione whispered.

"He knows, I made sure." I scanned the hall as Annabeth answered her half sister.

"Well, everyone's ready. We should send someone to look for them soon."

As soon as Piper said this, the doors to the Great Hall opened and Draco dragged Nico and Hazel in.

"In the middle, Drake!" Jason called.

The son of Nemesis pulled the two half-siblings into the center of the room and slipped over to where we were.

"Hey everybody!" I hadn't seen Piper go onto the stage, but there she was.

"So I'm Piper McLean, and I was informed that some of my friends haven't been getting the best treatment in their house." She glared at several Slytherins with distaste.

"Piper, what are you-"

"Di Angelo, let me finish." He snapped his mouth shut as Piper laced her words with charmspeak.

"So, we decided to put together something we know they'll like."

She flicked her wand, even though we all knew it was a gift from Aphrodite.

"Pipes, what-"

"Oh my gods, Nico! Look at your outfit." Hazel was staring at him, looking happy and nervous at the same time.

Nico looked down and his jaw dropped. He was in a black shirt with a single skull on it and black pants. His shoes were for dancing and there was a fingerless glove on one hand. The aviator jacket he wore constantly matched his new clothes perfectly.

"Me? You should see yourself Hazel." He grinned at her outfit.

Her shirt was yellow and had a slight V collar. Her pink, knee-length skirt had tiny flowers on it and swished lightly as she shifted. She had on flats and jewelry with small yellow stones.

"Piper...is this what I think it is?"

"We even learned it for you guys." She grinned and pointed to Leo, who pressed play on his special speaker setup. "We'll join in once you've got a rhythm going."

The first notes of the song "In The Mood" blasted into the Great Hall. A 'muggle' song from the 40s.

All of our jaws dropped as Nico's face split into a wide, genuine grin.

"Hazel, may I have this dance?" He held out his hand.

She took it without answer and they began.

"Oh my gods." Annabeth said quietly.

Nico and Hazel worked together like they had danced with each other their whole lives. Hazel's feet were almost a blur as she made her own step count. Her half brother moved gracefully, designing his own moves to match hers.

Several people gasped as Nico pulled Hazel close and tossed her up into the air, using her waist to propel her up as he ducked under her, almost leapfrog style. As soon as she landed behind him, they grabbed each others hands again like it was rehearsed and continued dancing. The move was impressive, even to people like me who know nothing about dancing.

Piper began to clap with the beat as the two lone demigods spun around the open space we had made, a dance floor for everyone.

No one was going to use it tonight, we didn't want to interrupt the synchronization of the two.

The song came to a close and Nico and Hazel froze in place, chest to chest and breathing hard.

"And that, folks," Piper said slowly, her voice full of admiration and awe, "Was a Lindy Hop."

[A/N okay, this picture gave me the best idea ever. Don't you think they'd do this? Watch the video for ideas of what they could have done in the dance. The picture describes their outfits. The song I chose also has a video of two people Lindy Hopping to it. Lindy Hopping was something that would happen around their time. The video I added is a Jack and Jill competition, which means that the partners are paired up when they get there. So basically they did what Hazel and Nico did in this. Enjoy and know that I wanna learn how to dance like this!]