He Who Walks Between Worlds

A Hochepot of Blodde

Beginning Notes

Warnings: Swearing

All characters are owned by J. K. Rowling and Rick Riordan.

Nico

"Fuck Tom Riddle," Nico muttered. "Fuck Voldemort, and especially fuck gods-dammed necromancy."

"Good thing you're not a girl," a voice said above him, "else you'd have a whole lot of babies."

Nico choked on a laugh as he looked up to see an angry redhead stand over him. "You've been avoiding me."

He raised an eyebrow. "Did you mind."

"What the --" Ginny exclaimed. "Of course I minded! We're friends, and then you just start ignoring me?!"

Nico tried to apologize, but his mind got stuck on one word. "Friends? We're friends?"

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Well, I thought we were."

"Oh. Um. I'm sorry."

Ginny sighed. "That's got to be the worst apology I've ever heard, but I'll accept it. "

"Sorry?"

She waved a hand and sat down. "What's got you in such a tizzy? Voldemort and necromancy I can understand, but who's Tom Riddle?"

"Oh. Ummm . . ." Nico searched for a plausible excuse. "A wizard?"

Ginny leveled a glare at him and snatched his book out of his hands. "Huh? I can't read this."

Nico did his very best not to have his smile be too smug. "It's Greek."

She wrinkled her nose at him. "Why."

"Why what?"

"Why is it in Greek?"

"I have dyslexia," Nico explained. "Translating it to Greek helps."

"Why?" Ginny asked.

Nico shrugged. "I dunno. English spelling is so inconsistent. Even Italian is better. Maybe it's the different alphabet?"

"Do you have to find books in Greek, or do you know a spell to translate them?"

"I know a spell to translate them."

"Cool. What is it?"

"Cicero ad. Then you say whatever language you want to change it to. Why?"

"Hah!" Ginny whipped out her wand and performed the spell, changing it to English. She danced around, keeping the book out of Nico's reach. "I out-tricked a Slytherin. I out-tricked a Slytherin."

"Hey!"

"Endyte on the head of a steede, bisetting a hochepot of seel blodde, fox blodde, and men's blodde -- No wonder you can't read this. What's it even supposed to say?"

"Inscribe on the scalp of a horse, using a mixture of seal blood, fox blood, and human blood," Nico said in an entirely straight face.

"That's a lotta blood."

"Well, it's a spell to make a zombie horse, so it's about as good as you can expect."

"Why are you looking up spells to make zombie horses?"

Shit. He had said too much. He shrugged. "It's interesting?"

Ginny laughed and shook her head. "You're weird."

"Look at this spell." Nico flipped back a couple pages in the book. "It's to make a magic mirror."

"This portreiture is to be portruyed on keenkil that has never been out under the bare hevenes, with the water from within a raven's ye, and blodde from the herte of a man and woman, who have loved ech oother aldermost of their hertes but never dighted their love; and the portreiture is to be portruyed with a cow's fether. Then myrrh is to be throwe over the entire portreiture. When the portreiture is droghted, go to a welle whose eschawfyne abydes algate winter and summer, and over which no brid has fleen that day, and strike the water with it, making assured to turn the portreiture downward. Then let the portreiture liggen stille in the water, while girting the welle ferth sithes withershins. Take the portreiture from the water and devyse through it, and he who portruyed the porteiture shall be able to devyse, if he wishes, everideel of the world, backwards and forwards, everideel of the ferth directions. Then the portreiture is to be yhid in an amnion, and never biwreyen unless it is to be used."