Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson or Harry Potter.
Explanations
Hermione searched the train for ages, looking for the poor girl. She didn't consider the fact that she might want to be left alone, and that was why, when Hermione found her sitting in a compartment with Malfoy and his friends, laughing and joking about Thalia, Cathy looked at her with disgust.
"Leave me alone," She muttered, an angry look on her face.
"We're all so sorry-"
"Thalia's not sorry, I know that much," Cathy snorted.
"If you went and talked to her-"
"Are you kidding? I hate her, she may think that my dad is a jerk, but she is way worse than him."
"What did she do?"
"You don't need to know that."
"Yes, I do."
Cathy sighed, staring at Hermione with a bored look in her eyes, "She attacked my dog."
"Is that it, why does she hate you?"
"My dog is Cerebus," Hermione noticed that Cathy was waiting for a reaction, but for once, she didn't know what on earth the girl was talking about.
"Um, who's that?" Hermione asked.
"Three-headed dog," Cathy replied.
"Like Fluffy?"
"Who's Fluffy?"
"Never mind, why does she hate you then?"
"I set some skeletons on the Hunters, wouldn't leave them alone for ages, I swear, those girls were pushed to their limits," Cathy smirked.
"Hunters? Wait, skeletons?" Hermione was now more confused than ever.
"Schist!" Cathy stood up quickly and cursed.
"Can you explain please?"
"Um… hunters are this group of teenage girls that go around fighting evil, and as for skeletons, well, I know a spell." Cathy gave a believable explanation, but yet Hermione couldn't help but still be suspicious.
"Look, we're nearly there now," Hermione decided to look past is, for now, "How about you come back with me and we can all make friends, that'd be good, wouldn't it?"
"No thanks, Malfoy here provides much better company than the others," Cathy sat back down and carried on talking to Malfoy, completely ignoring Hermione.
The Hogwarts express slowed to a halt and everyone swarmed into the corridors. Hermione and her new group of friends pushed their way outside, to find Hagrid talking to Harry and Ron.
"There you are, I've been looking all over for you!" Hermione ran over to them, the others following.
Hagrid smiled warmly at them and then said, "Well, lovely seein' ya' 'gain 'Arry, bu' I gotta' get the firs' years onto the boats."
He stomped off and Ron turned to his bushy-haired friend, "Where's Cathy?"
"With Malfoy," Hermione replied.
"Oh, great," Harry sighed and walked over to the others.
They were whispering among themselves, and Hermione added that to her mental list of things that was strange about them.
They immediately stopped talking as soon as Harry reached them, "What did you say that you were doing at Hogwarts for, again?"
"We're American exchange students," Percy replied.
"Oh, which school?" Ron asked.
"More like a camp," Grover told him.
"Oh, what's its name?" Hermione walked over to them, and noticed that they stumbled on this question.
Everyone looked to Percy who bit his lip and said, "Camp Pig…Snout…warts?"
"Camp Pigsnoutwarts?" Hermione glanced over at Harry, who was looking at the exchange students like they were some sort of jack-in-the-box that would explode any minute, "You're kidding, right?"
"Well, that's its actual name, but we call it Camp Half-Blood, because everyone there is a half-blood," Annabeth glared at Percy, who shrugged.
"Oh, so you aren't muggle-born or pure-blood, guess no one can make fun of you!" Ron said sarcastically.
Just then, Cathy came strolling over.
"Cathy!" Grover rushed over to her and started saying things really fast in a language that Hermione couldn't understand.
Cathy nodded and walked up to Thalia, "I'm willing to forgive you if you forgive me."
"I'll never forgive you for what you did!"
"It wasn't that bad-"
"It was! No supplies for ages, loads of dead Hunters, always moving, always tired!" Thalia threw her hands in the air and the sky rumbled.
"You almost killed Cerebus, and most of my friends!"
"Ah, yes, your little 'imaginary friends'."
"They aren't imaginary! They are-"
"Shut up, you two!" Annabeth clamped her hand over Cathys mouth and stared at Thalia, as if daring her to say something.
"Sorry, Annabeth," Thalia sighed and Cathy nodded.
"Good," Annabeth took her had from Cathys mouth.
Everyone trekked up to the carriages, and Hermione, Ron, Harry and the others clambered aboard as they started to move.
"What are they?" Cathy asked.
"What are what?" Hermione sat picking dirt from underneath her fingernails.
"Those skeletons pulling the carriages," Cathy looked at Hermione, obviously confused.
"There's notjing there," Ron mumbled.
"Yeah, there is!" Cathy focoused on a spot at the front of the carriage.
"Only those who have seen death can see them," Nico said, "Thestrals."
"I remember now, dad had some roaming around the house," Cathy murmered, earning strange looks from the rest of her friends, Hermione didn't know why, what was so strange about her living with her dad?
"When have you ever seen death?" Harry asked.
Cathy thought for a while then said, "Me and my dad lived by a graveyard, and there was this caretaker that used to go around and lock up each night. My dad convinced me to help him, seen as he was an old mad. Anyway, I was out with him, and he was locking up the main gate when this guy ran up behind us and hit the caretaker over the head, causing the poor man to die. I just turned and ran back home and told my dad, but, naturally, he didn't believe me and sent me to bed. I didn't know that death was always that cruel." She finished and left evryone in shocked silence.
"Oh," Harry said finally, fidgeting awkwardly, "I'm sorry."
No one uttered a word after that, the carriage ride was completly silent.
When they reached Hogwarts, Percy, Annabeth, Nico, Thaila, Grover and Cathy said goodbye and left us, running up to the castle and dissappearing inside.
"Come on, you guys," Hermione smiled, "Another year at Hogwarts awaits!"
"Welcome, everyone, to Hogwarts!" Dumbledore stood up and spread his hands, "Before I start I would just like to tell you something. This year, I would like to introduce you to Alastor Moody, our new Defence Against the Dark Arts Proffessor. I would also like to introduce you to Mr Barty Crouch. You see, this year Hogwarts will be holding an ancient tournament, one that has not been allowed in centuries. The Triwizard Tournament!"
At this, everyone started whispering excitedly. The Triwizard Tournament! Wow, Hermione had read up on it and found out that it was a very dangerous thing to compete in, many had died. Now, thinking about it, was it really a good idea?
"We will be housing some American exchange students aswell as the other competing schools, and therefore there will be four victors to compete, and no one under the age of seventeen is allowed to compete. This applies to all students, all apart from our exchange students."
Now almost everyone was on their feet shouting about how unfair it was and that Dumbledore was obviously off his rocker. Hermione thought that this was extremly dissrespectful.
"Before you start complaining," Dumbledore raised his hands and everyone fell silent.
Everyone already is complaining, Hermione thought, but she decided not to point it out.
"Those from America are more skilled than you think, they have been trained almost non-stop since a very young age and possess many more powers than you, now for the sorting!"
He waved his hand and Proffessor McGonagol, our head of house brought out the Sorting Hat and placed it on a stool. The first years filled into the Great Hall, all in awe of the sheer amazingness (There was a word Hermione didn't use often) of the place.
McGonagol took out a piece of parchment and started rading out names, and the sorting began.
When she had finished Dumbledore stood up once more, "Now, please welcome our American exchange students!"
The doors burst open and six kids walked into the Great Hall. They all looked proud and dignified, like they were all important. Percy was holding Annabeths hand while grover and Thalia walked behind them with Nico and Cathy behind them all. They reached the front and McGonagol brought out another piece of parchment.
Annabeth stepped out of line and cleared her throat, "As Dumbledore said, we are American exchange students from Camp Pigsnoutwarts-" Here she glared scathingly at Percy, "- But we all call it Camp Half-Blood as we are all Half-Bloods. I know many of you think that it is unfair that we are allowed to compete in the Triwizard Tournament no matter what our age is, but we are trained in more ways than one. We know some magic, but we also have powers that are beyond that due to our excellent Headmaster, Chiron. We'd all thank you for understanding." She stepped back in line, leaving all the younger witches and wizards chattering excitedly.
Dumbledore smiled, "Thank you, now, time for these young witches and wizards to be sorted!"
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