They're What?!

The Strong Ones

Nico POV

I pulled Emmy over to the table.

"Alright, Death Breath, I didn't question before, but please explain why she's here."

"I'm Aimilia Makos. Most people call me Emmy." I had to give her credit, as the entire table stared at her, Emmy introduced herself confidently.

"Greek?" Annabeth gave her an encouraging smile.

"On my father's side."

"Your father is the one who is gone, right?" I asked.

She nodded. "I never met him."

I made eye contact with Annabeth, then Hermione. Both daughters of Athena had figured out where I was going with this.

"Emmy, have you ever had strange things happen around you? Things you couldn't explain?" Hermione leaned forward against the table.

"Um...I'm a witch." Emmy arched a single eyebrow.

"I mean, something that you can just do, without spells, at any time. Like, controlling water or being able to make plants grow extremely fast."

"Oh! Yeah...why?"

"Is it something you can show us discreetly?" Annabeth asked.

Emmy nodded and held her hand out over the table. After a moment of silence a ball of pure light appeared in her hand.

"No. Freaking. Way." Thalia whispered.

"You guys know what it is? I've always been able to do things involving light."

"None of his kids have ever been able to do that!"

"It's the only answer, in all honesty."

Annabeth and Hermione were hissing at each other. "It's impossible! None of his kids have photokinesis!"

"Mind sharing your conversation with the group?" Thalia asked dryly.

"She's gotta be a daughter of Apollo. But she's a dam strong one." Percy had caught on. Thalia snickered at part of his statement.

"Well let's hope she's a dam good fighter." They both snickered again.

"What are you guys laughing about? And what do you mean I'm a daughter of Apollo?"

"Well, the Greek gods are real. It may seem surprising, but since you're a witch it's probably normal for weirdness to happen in your life. You have total photokinesis, which I've never even heard of children of Apollo having, but he's the only god who works with light."

Emmy frowned, but seemed to accept it. "Why did you want me here at the table?"

Everyone looked at me and I tapped my forehead.

"Battle instincts. If you hear something when we're planning that you think could be a hazard, you can point it out. An extra head is always helpful, even when there's a large group working."

"That's very true." Annabeth said.

"We should probably get to class soon..." Hazel piped in, checking her watch.

Annabeth and Hermione scrambled while the rest of us just stood slowly. Percy grabbed three pieces of toast. His girlfriend slapped the back of his head.

"Hey, I'm hungry!"

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Harry POV

"I still don't understand why I had to put them back."

"Because, Seaweed Brain. You don't need that much food."

I did my best to ignore the two exchange students.

"Settle down, class." the teacher stood up in the front, pushing her straight black hair over her shoulder. "Today we are going to face our worst fears."

Hermione raised her hand. "But we already did boggarts in third year."

The teacher smiled. "Yes, but today, rather than using the spell, you're going to talk to them. And you can go first, Miss Granger."

The desks cleared themselves away as we stood up.

Hermione walked to the front, rubbing her hands together nervously.

Mrs. Asuma flicked her wand and the trunk in front of us opened.

Out stepped Annabeth. "Mom's genes must have skipped a generation. You're such a failure, Hermione."

A blond boy who resembled Annabeth replaced the girl. "How do you do anything? You're so useless."

I snuck a glance at Annabeth, who had her hand over her mouth. Percy wrapped an arm around her.

The boggart began to transform between different blondes that looked similar. They all told Hermione that she was useless, a failure.

"Stop!" Hermione shouted. The boggart settled on Annabeth's face. "I am not useless. I am not a failure! I helped Harry rescue the Sorcerer's Stone, I helped him with finding out what the Chamber's monster was, I helped rescue the prisoner of Azkaban, I helped him through the Triwizard Tournament, I helped him against Umbridge, I helped him with the horcruxes. I helped so much, you can't say I'm a failure just because I chose not to take to the spotlight! Go away!"

The boggart wavered for a moment, then slunk back to the box as Annabeth and closed itself in.

Hermione turned to the exchange students and was tackled by the girl she had just been yelling at.

"You know I would never say that, right?" Annabeth asked.

Hermione smiled. "None of you would. Even on a bad day, Malcolm wouldn't be that bad."

"Congratulations, Miss Granger, you pass. Di Angelo, you next."

Nico stepped forward, taking a deep breath. "Let's get this over with."

[A/N I'm going straight into the next chapter, since that's where the real action for this idea is. Enjoy!]