A/N: Hello guys! Sorry about the late update- I've been pretty busy with all this end-of-year stuff and organising sleepovers/parties for the holidays. Special thanks to Shur'tugal Daughter of Artemisfor pointing out my mistake on chapter five- I up re-uploaded that chapter- nothing's changed but the mistake is gone. So Annabeth is making the potion, Intempus Retronium in order to win the legendary pearls. Can she do it? Read to find out!

Annabeth's POV

I felt the tingling in my nose and at once I went to work. Everyone was rushing about but I paced myself.

You can do this, Annabeth. I reminded myself. Sure, it sounded weird, talking to yourself, but sometimes a little confidence is all you need. I looked at the ingredients.

1x Dragon Blood

2x Fluxweed

1x Rose Oil

1x Sneezewort

5x Bursting Mushrooms

3x Lionfish Spine

2x Honey Water

I gasped at the ingredients. So complicated. But I had a task to do, and it all rested on me if this suicide mission went well. I had to win. I had to. I was lost in thoughts when the sudden temperature rise startled me. Hermione was already chopping up the Bursting Mushrooms which were exploding chunks of mushroom and mushroom caps everywhere. Her Dragon Blood was already brewing. I ran wildly to the potions shelf, pushing a Griffindor and making her fall onto the table. I took the ingredients needed, and stuffed them into my apron pockets, and took a tray with mushrooms on it. I rushed over to my cauldron, next to Hermione's and was startled by her progress. According to our books, the dragon blood needed to turn a dark red/black colour. I started pouring my glass of dragon blood into the cauldron and it was a fresh red. Then I looked at the book again:

Take 5 mushroom caps and dice them finely

That didn't seem too hard. Wrong. Whenever I touched the Bursting Mushrooms, they exploded, and it seemed impossible to retrieve a mushroom cap in whole. I must have wasted the whole box of them because on my fiftieth something trip to the cupboard, there were no more. I panicked, thinking I was behind, but it seemed the whole class was having this problem and none of them seemed to progress onto the next stage of the potion except for Hermione who was already stirring the Honey Water with the Rose Oil to produce the fragrant yellow mixture.

"Hermionecaniborrowyourbursti ngmushrooms" I shouted, kind of in a hurry because I wasn't going to lose to her.

"Yesyoucan" She replied equally fast, determined to focus 100% on her potion.

She had 6 more bursting mushrooms left. I carefully placed them near my cauldron, one mistake, and its over. I looked over my shoulder. Half the class gave up because of the shortage of supply on the mushrooms and were already beginning to drift off the subject. Three girls in the corner were talking-

Focus!

I jumped. Okay- so my conscience doesn't normally talk to me like that.

Annabeth, focus. This might be your only opportunity.

Moment of truth: It was my mum.

Mum! I thought in my head, which was kinda weird, and hoped she could hear me.

Concentrate! She yelled. I mentally turned the volume down.

Ok, think. I told myself. Whenever you touched the mushroom, it would explode.

Just don't touch the mushroom! Conscience number 1 said

Annabeth- don't listen to that voice. Its impossible if you don't touch the mushrooms to cut it! Said Conscience number 2.

Great. Having multiple voices in your head is just a great plus when you're a demigod. I stared at Hermione and started wondering if she had voices shouting in her head as well.

Annabeth! Just chop the mushrooms! said Conscience 1.

"Easy for you to say" I muttered.

Then it hit me. The annoying voices were actually helpful. Surprise surprise. What my conscience were trying to tell me, why did I have to touch the mushrooms? My heart was beating, the answer was so obvious now, and I felt kind of impressed that Hermione figured it out so early on. I was full of hope again, half the class gave up, so the competition was mainly between me and Hermione. I took the tray of mushrooms and held it at a 45 degree angle and the mushrooms slid onto the chopping board. I took a deep breath, so far so good. Then I held the knife and cut the first mushroom. The mushroom cap fell off whole and in one piece. I couldn't believe it. So this was how you did it. New problem: How was I supposed to put it in the cauldron with the dragon blood, which had turned the red/black colour a few minutes ago? I held my hand closer to the mushroom, I would be so devastated if it blew up now. After all this. But I had 6 mushrooms. If this one exploded I would still be fine- as long as I was careful enough to not kill the other 5. Then I found myself poking the mushroom cap. It stayed put. I let out a deep breath. This was going to be much easier. I quickly chopped off the remaining mushroom caps and put them all into the bubbling cauldron and stirred my potion, which now consisted of dragon blood and super violent, annoying, useless, weird mushroom caps.

"Done, done and done" I said. That was one experience I didn't need to have again. Next mixing the rose oil and the honey water to produce the fragrant yellow mixture.

"Easy" I whispered. Wrong again.

I was pouring in the liquids which were pre-measured, and immediately the liquid started hissing and had a foul smell.

"What?! How could that happen?" I self-asked. I just poured the liquids together and it turned all weird. I looked up. A quarter of my time had passed and the potions teacher was smiling as if to say: Give up. You can't beat her. You don't even know how to do potions! You'll never beat Hermione.

I looked down into my cauldron, slowly it was turning from green to yellow. I yelled excitedly, then lowered my voice when everyone looked at me. That is- everyone except for Hermione, who was still concentrating fiercely on her potion. I stirred it, wanting to make the process quicker, but that just made the yellowish colour go back to green, and the liquid started to sizzle. I bit my lip. So the secret to this was to leave it alone. So I stood there, thinking about what I was going to do if I didn't catch up. I looked in Hermione's direction, and to no-ones surprise, she was a blur. Her hands were moving so fast and her moves were perfect. I could tell she knew what she was doing. I looked back my pot. It had now turned the yellow colour. But it didn't smell "nice". So do I continue? Maybe it didn't make the requirements, but just waiting there wouldn't help. So I just fanned the pot and tried to cool it down. Still no smell. I looked at Hermione again, and she didn't even seem to slow down, in fact, it seemed as if she was getting faster. So I just tipped the whole thing in, and mixed the yellow liquid with the dark red/black potion. Immediately it turned a dull green. I stirred it again, faster and it started to turn lighter. I grabbed my potions book and read the next instruction:

Crush the Lionfish Spine into powder.

I didn't say easy anymore. After all the things that happened, I knew I couldn't be deceived anymore. I touched the spine gingerly. It didn't explode. I held it and quickly dropped it into the mortar. Then I crushed it. It seemed to crush very easily and turned into powder on my first strike and I didn't even use any effort. Wow. Could this actually be not a trick ingredient? It seemed too good to be true, especially when Professor Slughorn warned us that this was a hard potion. But nothing bad seemed to happen. I crushed three of the Lionfish Spines easily and I poured the powder into the cauldron. Well, I tried to. But it just sticked onto the mortar. I tried scooping it up with a spoon. No use. I tried shaking the bowl, still no use. Out of desperation, I smashed the mortar onto the ground. It didn't even have a small crack. I sighed. I should've known. I held the bowl over the cauldron because I knew it had something to do with it. I was still thinking when the same Griffindor I bumped earlier on bumped into me. I dropped the bowl and it fell into my potion with a splash. I looked at her with a shocked expression. All my efforts- wasted. I heard a cheer go up in the left corner. A bunch of students- Griffindors again, no doubt were high fiving are whooping. I ignored them. Then I looked at my cauldron again with despair. But instead, the liquid had turned a beautiful yellow, with a sweet smell coming out of it. The mortar floated at the top bobbing up and down with no powder- so it seemed the Lionfish Spine powder somehow magically unstuck itself and dissolved. I didnt know why it happened, but i was glad it did. I looked at the girl in amazement, and she looked horrified, and so was the other Griffindors. I let out a breath. That was really lucky. Next-

"Two minutes left!" Slughorn interrupted.

What?!Im not even done-no, NO- there was more time! There has to be! I checked the time again- sure enough there was still 45 minutes- so why was time up in 2 minutes? I looked to my left where Hermione was sitting, obviously tired, cheeks flushing pink and sweat dripping down. I looked my own cauldron. It was a yellow with a fragrant smell. To finish this potion it had to be a light, almost transparent purple. There was at least a tonne of steps before I could finish. I put my palms on the table, thinking furiously.

I wont give up. I thought. The pearl was my only chance. My only chance. I knew this had something to do with our quest. And Percy- I couldn't let him down.

Mother, Athena, Help me. Please.

"Time's UP!" Slughorn shouted. Please keep away from your desks, and I will be inspecting your potions. A smile was on his face as he walked around the desks. He looked at the front row with disappointment and then at the middle row with many notes of disapproval. Finally he reached the table which I shared with Hermione.

"Well what do we have here?" He said, lips pursed. He looked at both of our cauldrons for a while.

"We have a winner" He said

Time seemed to freeze for me. I had to win this. I had to.

Sorry for stopping there guys! Next chapter, I will reveal something Annabeth did during potions. Who do you think will win? Annabeth or Hermione? And how will this effect their fragile relationship? Meanwhile, lets not forget Percy's nightmare, and it seems like Thalia is up to something mysterious as well! With so many things going on, I promise to update ASAP but I don't want to rush things and make it all confusing! Thankyou to Pokemonwarriorcats who helped me with the potion ingredients (yes they are legit HP ingredients). Please review and give me suggestions for the next chapter! Thankyou!~