"That was quick," Annabeth said, looking very nervous and pacing around the room that was lined with scenes that were happening in Camp Half Blood in real time. "You must be Bella. I'm Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena."
"I am indeed Bellona Nevra, daughter of Bellona and before you ask, my dad can, under no circumstances, come up with names," Bella said.
"How far away are we?" Maddy asked.
"Fair-fairly far, we're still above Reno but we should get there within the hour," Annabeth replied.
"Above?" Bella asked. "Are we flying?"
"Yeah," Maddy replied. "The Argo II is a flying ship with a robotic dragon head."
"First of all, that dragon head thing is amazing. Secondly, why won't you go on a broom but you'll go on this flying contraption?"
"Well, the only time I was ever on a broom I also got struck my lightning on a clear day because my uncles hate me and did you forget that there's a son of Jupiter on board? Zeus isn't going to strike down his own kid! Albeit, his Roman, pseudo-son. If that makes sense."
"Oh my gods, right, where's Jason?" Bella asked.
"Out in the front," Annabeth replied. "You should probably join him because we decided that he should be easily visible so that we are not attacked and you will also be helpful for that. And you're already wearing your Camp Jupiter shirt, so that's good."
Maddy and Bella had figured out a way to wear their Camp shirts in Hogwarts, and it just involved telling people it was from a muggle television show called 'Battle Royal: Camp Edition' and for any of the muggle raised wizards who knew that there was no such thing the said that it was only available in America because it did terribly when sold and it was just an inside joke. Only later did they realized they could just say they were summer camps or an inside joke.
"Good idea. Another one, don't wear your camp shirts. A lot of the camp hates the very idea of Greeks so yeah."
"Thanks for the advice," Annabeth said. "Maddy, I'm sure you can borrow one of Piper's shirts, I'll go tell Coach Hedge and Leo."
"Wait, Piper's clothes?" Maddy asked, remembering the floral tank top she had been wearing the first day that they had met as well as some other fashion choices she had made. "I think a shirt of Jason's would be a better fit on me, don't you?"
"She has a few plaids."
"Oh thank the gods."
"Bella, I'll show you to Jason and introduce him to you, I guess since he doesn't remember much of anything from before going to Camp Half Blood," Annabeth said.
"I'll go explore the ship, find Piper, tell anyone who's wearing a Camp shirt to change and also that I am here since that might be surprising," Maddy said.
They departed ways and Maddy found that the Argo II was massive. She managed to find Coach Hedge when he barrelled towards her screaming about intruders and trying to hit her with his bat until she told him why she was there and at that point Piper and Leo had arrived there, then Maddy got one of Piper's plaid shirts.
Annabeth was really freaking out and as they drew closer all she could do was pace around and repeatedly check the ballistae. Jason and Piper were also pretty nervous, but Leo and Bella were equally energetic and conversing by sending excited shouts across the Argo II. Maddy wasn't really sure how to feel, nervous, yes, but it was kind of a numbed nervousness. She was also excited to see Percy again, she didn't see him much in the first place and it just felt kind of strange for him to not be at Camp Half Blood during the winter holidays.
Suddenly, the clouds broke around their hull, revealing the gold-and-green carpet of the Oakland Hills below them and Maddy began to feel very nauseous. It was so much easier to be calm about being in the air when clouds were covering her view of the ground. And that also happened to be when severe anxiety struck her hard in the gut as she could just barely see what she was sure was the top of Camp Jupiter.
Everyone began to scramble around to their pre-assigned stations, Leo rushed around like a madman, checking his gauges and wrestling levers. Most helmsmen would've been satisfied with a pilot's wheel or a tiller. Leo had also installed a keyboard, monitor, aviation controls from a Learjet, a dubstep soundboard, and motion-control sensors from a Nintendo Wii. He could turn the ship by pulling on the throttle, fire weapons by sampling an album, or raise sails by shaking his Wii controllers really fast -Bella had called it sick, Maddy called it sickeningly terrifying. Even by demigod standards, Leo was seriously ADHD.
Piper paced back and forth between the mainmast and the ballistae, practicing her lines. "Lower your weapons," she murmured. "We just want to talk." Her charmspeak was so powerful that Maddy began to calm a little down as she heard her words.
Jason and Bella were standing up at the front in plain sight, chatting while trying their best to emphasize their Camp Jupiter t-shirts since they probably wouldn't be individually recognized when the Argo II was at 'shoot a flaming boulder at the giant flying death trap' range.
Annabeth and Maddy were standing near the area where they would be disembarking the ship from.
"This last hour, stressful as it may have been," Maddy said as they waited, "has been such a good break! Hades, we were overflowing with homework and protecting a hippogriff from being executed," at this point she took a deep breath and began to speak rapidly, "but we don't even know where the homework came from, we're supposed to be on break and exams are so far away and I'm positive I heard something about O.W.L.s and those aren't until fifth year, we're only in our third year and being completely honest I don't like that hippogriff at all and I don't care if it gets executed, I've just been guilt tripped and I hate emotions."
"Oh gods, how long have you been holding that in? And, how do you speak so quickly?" Annabeth said.
"A while, I honestly don't know why though, I think I might just be panicking a little bit about everything a lot. Also, no clue, it's kinda terrifying though."
"Yeah, you're probably just panicking. Being in the sky probably isn't helping either."
"No, it is not."
On the ground, a large crowd was gathering under the Argo II, Maddy hoped that they could land before the ground was completely covered with people. Annabeth and Maddy were leaning over the edge, searching for Percy in the crowd but before they could make much progress in finding him there was a loud BOOM! From behind them, causing them both to jump, almost lurch over the edge and whirl around to face a very angry statue.
It had just appeared on bored and sulfurous yellow smoke rolled off its shoulders. Cinders popped around its curly hair. From the waist down, it was nothing but a square marble pedestal. From the waist up, it was a muscular human figure in a carved toga.
"Unacceptable!" It shrieked in a fussy teacher voice. "I will not have weapons inside the Pomerian Line! I certainly will not have Greeks!"
"What up, Terminus!" Bella screamed.
"Hello, Bellona," the statue sighed.
"Terminus," Jason said. "It's me. Jason Grace."
"Oh, I remember you, Jason!" Terminus grumbled. "I thought you had better sense than to consort with the enemies of Rome!"
"What? And you didn't expect better of me?" Bella muttered.
"But they're not enemies-" Jason began.
"That's right," Piper jumped in. "We just want to talk. If we could-"
"Ha!" snapped the statue. "Don't try that charmspeak on me, young lady. And put down that dagger before I slap it out of your hands!"
Piper glanced at her bronze dagger, which she'd apparently forgotten she was holding. "Um…okay. But how would you slap it? You don't have any arms."
"Impertinence!" There was a sharp POP and a flash of yellow. Piper yelped and dropped the dagger, which was now smoking and sparking. "Lucky for you I've just been through a battle," Terminus announced. "If I were at full strength, I would've blasted this flying monstrosity out of the sky already!"
"Hold up." Leo stepped forward, wagging his Wii controller. "Did you just call my ship a monstrosity? I know you didn't do that."
"Let's all calm down." Annabeth raised her hands to show she had no weapons. "I take it you're Terminus, the god of boundaries. Jason told me you protect the city of New Rome, right? I'm Annabeth Chase, daughter of-"
"Oh, I know who you are!" The statue glared at her with its blank white eyes. "A child of Athena, Minerva's Greek form. Scandalous! You Greeks have no sense of decency. We Romans know the proper place for that goddess."
Annabeth visibly clenched her jaw. "What exactly do you mean, that goddess? And what's so scandalous about-"
"Right!" Jason interrupted. "Anyway, Terminus, we're here on a mission of peace. We'd love permission to land so we can-"
"Impossible!" the god squeaked. "Lay down your weapons and surrender! Leave my city immediately!"
"Which is it?" Leo asked. "Surrender, or leave?"
"Both!" Terminus said. "Surrender, then leave. I am slapping your face for asking such a stupid question, you ridiculous boy! Do you feel that?"
"Wow." Leo studied Terminus with professional interest. "You're wound up pretty tight. You got any gears in there that need loosening? I could take a look." He exchanged the Wii controller for a screwdriver from his magic tool belt and tapped the statue's pedestal.
"Stop that!" Terminus insisted. Another small explosion made Leo drop his screwdriver. "Weapons are not allowed on Roman soil inside the Pomerian Line."
"The what?" Piper asked.
"City limits," Jason and Bella shortly clarified.
"And this entire ship is a weapon!" Terminus said. "You cannot land!"
"Oh how fun," Maddy said sarcastically, "being stuck hovering in the sky."
Down in the valley, the legion reinforcements were halfway to the city. The crowd in the forum was over a hundred strong now.
"Leo, stop the ship," Annabeth ordered.
"What?"
"You heard me. Keep us right where we are." Leo pulled out his controller and yanked it upward. All ninety oars froze in place. The ship stopped sinking.
"Terminus," Annabeth said, "there's no rule against hovering over New Rome, is there?"
The statue frowned. "Well, no…"
"We can keep the ship aloft," Annabeth said. "We'll use a rope ladder to reach the forum. That way, the ship won't be on Roman soil. Not technically."
The statue seemed to ponder this. "I do like technicalities," he admitted. "Still…"
"All our weapons will stay aboard the ship," Annabeth promised. "I assume the Romans -even those reinforcements marching toward us- will also have to honor your rules inside the Pomerian Line if you tell them to?"
"Of course!" Terminus said. "Do I look like I tolerate rule breakers?"
"Uh, Annabeth…" Leo said. "You sure this is a good idea?"
"It'll be fine," she said. "No one will be armed. We can talk in peace. Terminus will make sure each side obeys the rules." She looked at the marble statue. "Do we have an agreement?"
Terminus sniffed. "I suppose. For now. You may climb down your ladder to New Rome, daughter of Athena. Please try not to destroy my town."
Everyone left their weapons on board, Maddy was kind of sad having to take off her Camp necklace and then placing her new wand with a bunch of sharp things. She also felt really vulnerable without any weapons.
Maddy was the first to get off the Argo II after Jason and Bella and she was shocked to find that there were people of all ages gathered around, from babies to people on their deathbeds and Maddy had no clue of they were all demigods or what but it was weird.
"Bella, this is not a camp it is an entire fucking country," Maddy whispered.
"So, my camp's better?" Bella asked happily.
"Not saying that. I think that Camp Half Blood is way better. This place is way to formal."
"You Greeks are weird."
"You're weird."
"Great comeback, man."
"Yeah, I know and oh my gods is Percy a weird Roman thingy, Bell?" Maddy had found her cousin in the crowd, he wore one of the purple capes that Jason had to show that he was some important figure in Camp Jupiter's government. He was standing beside a guy with a buzz cut, a girl with frizzy black hair holding a cavalry helmet and a girl who was also wearing a purple cape with her dark hair tightly braided.
"What?" Bella followed Maddy's gaze. "Oh, yeah, evidently I missed something and he is a preator now. Oh, but Hazel, the frizzy haired girl is a daughter of Pluto, so your sister, and that girl with the braid is my sister Reyna."
"And you didn't tell me that I have a sister here because...?"
"It never really came up."
Reyna straightened and with apparent reluctance, she turned toward Jason. "Jason Grace, my former colleague..." She spoke the word colleague like it was a dangerous thing. "I welcome you home. And these, your friends... aaaand Bella-" Bella waved weakly at her sister while Annabeth surged forward and Percy rushed toward her at the same time. The crowd tensed. Some reached for swords that weren't there. Percy threw his arms around her. They kissed and Maddy gagged.
"Shield my precious virgin eyes, Bella. So gross," She groaned.
"What? Since when have you been so squeamish about this sort of thing?"
"Since forever, Bella, romance and just attraction in general is gross and makes no sense."
"This is something I probably should have figured out about you."
Annabeth rose to her feet and held out her hand to help Percy up to his feet. He took it and was pulled up.
Jason cleared his throat. "So, yeah...It's good to be back." He introduced Reyna to Piper, who looked a little miffed that she hadn't gotten to say the lines she'd been practicing, then to Leo, who grinned and flashed a peace sign.
"This is Maddy, who wasn't travelling with us until the last hour."
"I helped you out at the grand canyon over Christmas," Maddy muttered.
"And this is Annabeth," Jason said. "Uh, normally she doesn't judo-flip people."
Reyna's eyes sparkled. "You sure you're not a Roman, Annabeth? Or an Amazon?"
"I only attack my boyfriend like that," she promised. "Pleased to meet you." Reyna clasped her hand firmly.
"It seems we have a lot to discuss. Centurions!"
A few of the Roman campers hustled forward. Two kids appeared at Percy's side, the same ones Maddy had seen around him earlier earlier. The burly Asian guy with the buzz cut was about fifteen and with a kind of young face. The girl, Hazel, was actually about thirteen, with amber eyes, skin just a bit darker than Maddy's and long curly hair that was actually about the same length as Maddy's. Her cavalry helmet was tucked under her arm and the daughter of Hades couldn't help but search out the similarities in appearance between her and her apparent half sister.
Reyna was giving orders to her officers. "…tell the legion to stand down. Dakota, alert the spirits in the kitchen. Tell them to prepare a welcome feast. And, Octavian-"
"You're letting these intruders into the camp?" A tall, scrawny guy with stringy blond hair elbowed his way forward. Maddy immediately noticed three teddy bears hanging from his belt. "Reyna, the security risks-"
"We're not taking them to the camp, Octavian." Reyna flashed him a stern look. "We'll eat here, in the forum."
"Oh, much better," Octavian grumbled. "You want us to relax in the shadow of their warship."
"These are our guests." Reyna clipped off every word. "We will welcome them, and we will talk to them. As augur, you should burn an offering to thank the gods for bringing Jason back to us safely."
"Good idea," Percy put in. "Go burn your bears, Octavian."
Reyna looked like she was trying not to smile. "You have my orders. Go."
"He's the reason I'm taking Divination," Bella said. "Octavian, he's awful and a huge wimp. I really want to take a ferret or something and read that thing's guts to him while he reads his teddy bears."
"That is the best reasoning I have ever heard of," Maddy replied. "But I don't think they can teach you to disembowel an animal in a public school and Trelawney probably would just ruin it."
"Yeah."
"Excellent," Reyna said as campers dispersed. She turned to Jason, and Annabeth thought there was a hungry sort of gleam in her eyes. "Let's talk, and we can have a proper reunion."
Sets of couches and low tables were carted into the forum until it resembled a furniture showroom. Romans lounged in groups of ten or twenty, talking and laughing while wind spirits -aurae according to Bella- swirled overhead, bringing an endless assortment of pizzas, sandwiches, chips, cold drinks, and fresh-baked cookies. Drifting through the crowd were purple ghosts -Lares- in togas and legionnaire armor. Around the edges of the feast, satyrs -well, technically fauns, Maddy guessed- trotted from table to table, panhandling for food and spare change. In the nearby fields, the war elephant frolicked with Mrs O'Leary, Percy's hellhound, and children played tag around the statues of Terminus that lined the city limits.
There were several people that Maddy and Bella sat with, the people who came in the Argo II, Reyna, Percy, Hazel, the other boy whose name was Frank, Octavian and a few other officials.
After Reyna proposed a toast to friendship and introductions were exchanged the travellers of the Argo II and the Romans exchanged stories, Maddy already knew about Annabeth's, but she previously knew nothing of Percy's in which he freed Thanatos, something that really messed with Maddy's brain because she should have known if something was up with him or the Doors of Death and she didn't.
As Jason was telling the Romans how she, Jason, Leo and Piper freed Hera -or technically Juno- Octavian interjected by yelling "Impossible! That's our most sacred place. If the giants had imprisoned a goddess there-"
"They would've destroyed her," Piper said. "And blamed it on the Greeks, and started a war between the camps. Now, be quiet and let Jason finish."
"So," Jason continued, "that's how we found out about the earth goddess Gaea. She's still half asleep, but she's the one freeing the monsters from Tartarus and raising the giants. Porphyrion, the big leader dude we fought at the Wolf House: he said he was retreating to the ancient lands—Greece itself. He plans on awakening Gaea and destroying the gods by…what did he call it? Pulling up their roots."
Percy nodded thoughtfully. "Gaea's been busy over here, too. We had our own encounter with Queen Dirt Face." And he began to recount his own journey.
When Percy had finished, Jason whistled appreciatively. "No wonder they made you praetor."
Octavian snorted. "Which means we now have three praetors! The rules clearly state we can only have two!"
"On the bright side," Percy said, "both Jason and I outrank you, Octavian. So we can both tell you to shut up."
Octavian turned as purple as his Roman T-shirt. Jason gave Percy a fist bump. Even Reyna managed a smile, though her eyes were stormy.
"We'll have to figure out the extra praetor problem later," she said. "Right now we have more serious issues to deal with."
"I'll step aside for Jason," Percy said easily. "It's no biggie."
"No biggie?" Octavian choked. "The praetorship of Rome is no biggie?"
Percy ignored him and turned to Jason. "You're Thalia Grace's brother, huh? Wow. You guys look nothing alike."
"Who?" Bella quietly asked Maddy.
"Daughter of Zeus, Hunter of Artemis, super badass, used to be a tree," Maddy replied quietly.
"Yeah, I noticed," Jason said as the girls conversed.
"A tree?" Bella hissed.
"Anyway, thanks for helping my camp while I was gone. You did an awesome job."
"Back at you," Percy said.
Annabeth interjected by saying, "We should talk about the Great Prophecy. It sounds like the Romans are aware of it too?"
Reyna nodded. "We call it the Prophecy of Seven. Octavian, you have it committed to memory?"
"Of course," he said. "But, Reyna-"
"Recite it, please. In English, not Latin."
Octavian sighed. "Seven half-bloods shall answer the call. To storm or fire the world must fall-"
"An oath to keep with a final breath," Annabeth continued. "And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death."
Everyone stared at her -except for Leo, who had constructed a pinwheel out of aluminum foil taco wrappers and was sticking it into passing wind spirits.
The big kid, Frank, sat forward, staring at her in fascination, as if she'd grown a third eye. "Is it true you're a child of Min- I mean, Athena?"
"Yes," she said, suddenly feeling defensive. "Why is that such a surprise?"
Octavian scoffed. "If you're truly a child of the wisdom goddess-"
"Enough," Reyna snapped. "Annabeth is what she says. She's here in peace. Besides…" She gave Annabeth a look of grudging respect. "Percy has spoken highly of you." Annabeth blushed deeply.
"Uh, thanks," she told Reyna. "At any rate, some of the prophecy is becoming clear. Foes bearing arms to the Doors of Death…that means Romans and Greeks. We have to combine forces to find those doors."
"My brother, Nico, went looking for the doors," she said.
"Wait," Annabeth said. "Nico di Angelo? He's your brother?"
"Yes."
"Okay. You were saying?"
"He disappeared." Hazel moistened her lips. "I'm afraid…I'm not sure, but I think something's happened to him."
"Why does Hazel know Nico?" Maddy asked Bella quietly.
"Oh, now I know why your brother looked familiar. He's a senator here," Bella replied.
"But he's Greek."
"Is he?"
"Yes." Maddy said and Bella shrugged.
"We'll look for him," Percy promised. "We have to find the Doors of Death anyway. Thanatos told us we'd find both answers in Rome -like, the original Rome. That's on the way to Greece, right?"
"Wait, is Nico missing?"
"Yes, pay attention," Bella muttered back to her. Maddy didn't know how she was supposed to converse and listen at the same time but she ignored that and went back to listening to the conversation.
Annabeth had said something that Maddy hadn't heard and Percy replied by saying, "Now that Death is free, monsters will disintegrate and return to Tartarus again like they used to. But as long as the Doors of Death are open, they'll just keep coming back."
Piper twisted the feather in her hair. "Like water leaking through a dam," she suggested.
"Yeah." Percy smiled. "We've got a dam hole."
"What?" Piper asked.
"Nothing," he said. "Inside joke. The point is we'll have to find the doors and close them before we can head to Greece. It's the only way we'll stand a chance of defeating the giants and making sure they stay defeated."
Reyna plucked an apple from a passing fruit tray. She turned it in her fingers, studying the dark red surface. "You propose an expedition to Greece in your warship. You do realize that the ancient lands -and the Mare Nostrum- are dangerous?"
"Mary who?" Leo asked.
"Mare Nostrum," Jason explained. "Our Sea. It's what the Ancient Romans called the Mediterranean."
Reyna nodded. "The territory that was once the Roman Empire is not only the birthplace of the gods. It's also the ancestral home of the monsters, Titans and giants…and worse things. As dangerous as travel is for demigods here in America, there it would be ten times worse."
"You said Alaska would be bad," Percy reminded her. "We survived that."
Reyna shook her head. Her fingernails cut little crescents into the apple as she turned it. "Percy, traveling in the Mediterranean is a different level of danger altogether. It's been off limits to Roman demigods for centuries. No hero in his right mind would go there."
"Then we're good!" Leo grinned over the top of his pinwheel. "Because we're all crazy, right? Besides, the Argo II is a top-of-the-line warship. She'll get us through."
"We'll have to hurry," Jason added. "I don't know exactly what the giants are planning, but Gaea is growing more conscious all the time. She's invading dreams, appearing in weird places, summoning more and more powerful monsters. We have to stop the giants before they can wake her up fully."
"Seven half-bloods must answer the call," she said. "It needs to be a mix from both our camps. Jason, Piper, Leo, and me. That's four."
"And me," Percy said. "Along with Hazel and Frank. That's seven."
"What?" Octavian shot to his feet. "We're just supposed to accept that? Without a vote in the senate? Without a proper debate? Without-"
"Oh, Pluto's pants, Maddy, we should go it's like past curfew at Hogwarts," Bella whispered.
"What? But this is-" Maddy stared.
"Yes, yes, but I'm exhausted and the break is ending in two days, meaning we actually have to finish our homework tomorrow."
"Oh, fine," Maddy sighed. They both very quickly said goodbye to their friends while Percy's cyclops half brother, Tyson, spoke to him. Then, Maddy shadow travelled Bella to the portrait of the Fat Lady and then she travelled down into the dungeons and entered her own common room.
She ignored Elliot asking where she had been and collapsed into bed, suddenly being swept over with a feeling of sleepiness from it being late and her shadow travelling twice consecutively.
Shortly after classes started again a large barn owl dropped a letter in front of Harry.
"It's from Hagrid," he said, ripping the note open. "Buckbeak's appeal - it's set for the sixth."
"That's the day we finish our exams," said Hermione, looking everywhere for her Arithmancy book.
"And they're coming up here to do it," said Harry, still reading from the letter. "Someone from the Ministry of Magic and-and an executioner."
Hermione looked up, startled. "They're bringing the executioner to the appeal! But that sounds as though they've already decided!"
"Yeah, it does," said Harry slowly.
"They can't!" Ron howled. "I've spent ages reading up on stuff for him; they can't just ignore it all!"
"They can and have," Maddy sighed. "I bet they've been bribed."
"Probably," Bella agreed. "Or blackmailed, that's a common practice and is how Lucius Malfoy stayed out of Azkaban after You-Know-Who was defeated." This caused the group to fall into a mournful and disappointed silence
When exam week began an unnatural hush fell over the castle. The third years emerged from Transfiguration at lunchtime on Monday, limp and ashen-faced, comparing results and bemoaning the difficulty of the tasks they had been set, which had included turning a teapot into a tortoise. Hermione irritated the rest by fussing about how her tortoise had looked more like a turtle, which was the least of everyone else's worries. Though, Maddy felt satisfied with her exam even though her tortoise's shell was still pinkish-purple and could be removed to reveal boiling water, which really didn't make sense, where were the organs? And how did the water boil?
"Mine still had a spout for a tail, what a nightmare..."
"Were the tortoises supposed to breathe steam?"
"It still had a willow-patterned shell, d'you think that'll count against me?"
After a hasty lunch, it was straight back upstairs for the Charms exam and Flitwick had them cast the Cheering Charm. Maddy overshot her charm from nerves about both the exams and still thinking about the fact that Nico was missing. She ended up making Elliot burst into hysterical laughter so bad that she started crying and fell to the floor, thankfully it only lasted for a few minutes but Elliot ended up punching Maddy in the nose.
Hagrid presided over the Care of Magical Creatures exam the following morning with a very preoccupied air indeed; his heart didn't seem to be in it at all. He had provided a large tub of fresh flobberworms for the class, and told them that to pass the test, their flobberworm had to still be alive at the end of one hour. As flobberworms flourished best if left to their own devices, it was the easiest exam any of them had ever taken, and also gave Harry, Ron, Hermione, Maddy and Bella plenty of opportunity to speak to Hagrid.
"Beaky's gettin' a bit depressed," Hagrid told them, bending low on the pretense of checking that Harry's flobberworm was still alive. "Bin cooped up too long. But still... we'll know day after tomorrow, one way or the other-"
They had Potions that afternoon, which was an unqualified disaster. No matter how hard Maddy tried she just couldn't get her Confusing Concoction to turn green, nor could she get it to stop sparkling, all while Snape was just standing, watching with an air of vindictive pleasure, and he scribbled something that looked suspiciously like a zero onto his notes before moving away.
Then came Astronomy at midnight, up on the tallest tower; History of Magic on Wednesday morning, in which Maddy basically just made everything up. Wednesday afternoon meant Herbology, in the greenhouses under a baking-hot sun; then back to the common room once more, with sunburnt necks, thinking longingly of this time next day, when it would all be over.
Their second to last exam, on Thursday morning, was Defense Against the Dark Arts. Professor Lupin had compiled the most unusual exam any of them had ever taken; a sort of obstacle course outside in the sun, where they had to wade across a deep paddling pool containing a grindylow, cross a series of potholes full of Red Caps, squish their way across a patch of marsh while ignoring misleading directions from a hinkypunk, then climb into an old trunk and battle with a new boggart.
When Maddy, walked into the trunk she walked out the minute she saw black smoke pooling out from a corner, creating hellfire and turning the trunk into the Underworld. She was gone.
"Did you even-?" Harry, who had stayed behind to watch his friends test, began.
"Nope, the inside looked like the Underworld, I refuse to deface my father, any of his subjects or my favourite place in the world," Maddy replied.
"But if it's your favourite place-"
"I'm betting it's something with my dad or someone dwelling within the Underworld, it could just be me in the Field of Punishment, which would be just awful, bad, very bad and there is no way for me to mak eternal punishment funny."
"Running was a good idea in that case."
"Yes. I feel that running is always a good choice when possible. And yet, I never do that in potentially fatal situations."
Just then, Hermione burst out of the trunk, screaming and crying.
"Hermione!" said Lupin, startled. "What's the matter?"
"P-P-Professor McGonagall!" Hermione gasped, pointing into the trunk. "Sh-she said I'd failed everything!"
It took a little while to calm Hermione down. When at last she had regained a grip on herself, she, Harry, Maddy, Bella, Elliot, and Ron went back to the castle. Ron was still slightly inclined to laugh at Hermione's boggart, but an argument was averted by the sight that met them on the top of the steps.
Cornelius Fudge, sweating slightly in his pinstriped cloak, was standing there staring out at the grounds. He started at the sight of Harry.
"Hello there, Harry!" he said. "Just had an exam, I expect? Nearly finished?"
"Yes," said Harry. The rest of them, not being on speaking terms with the Minister of Magic, hovered awkwardly in the background.
"Lovely day," said Fudge, casting an eye over the lake. "Pity... pity..." He sighed deeply and looked down at Harry. "I'm here on an unpleasant mission, Harry. The Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures required a witness to the execution of a mad hippogriff. As I needed to visit Hogwarts to check on the Black situation, I was asked to step in."
"Does that mean the appeal's already happened?" Ron interrupted, stepping forward.
"No, no, it's scheduled for this afternoon," said Fudge, looking curiously at Ron.
"Then you might not have to witness an execution at all!" said Ron stoutly. "The hippogriff might get off!"
Before Fudge could answer, two wizards came through the castle doors behind him. One was so ancient he appeared to be withering before their very eyes; the other was tall and strapping, with a thin black mustache. They were probably representatives of the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures, because the very old wizard squinted toward Hagrid's cabin and said in a feeble voice, "Dear, dear, I'm getting too old for this... Two o'clock, isn't it, Fudge?"
The black-mustached man was fingering something in his belt; Maddy looked and saw that he was running one broad thumb along the blade of a shining axe. Ron opened his mouth to say something, but Hermione nudged him hard in the ribs and jerked her head toward the entrance hall.
"Why'd you stop me?" said Ron angrily as they entered the Great Hall for lunch. "Did you see them? They've even got the axe ready! This isn't justice!"
"Ron, your dad works for the Ministry, you can't go saying things like that to his boss!" said Hermione, but she too looked very upset. "As long as Hagrid keeps his head this time, and argues his case properly, they can't possibly execute Buckbeak..."
Hermione and Maddy's last exam was Study of Ancient Runes, which was just boring but Maddy felt confident in her results. Afterwards they waited for their friends who were taking the Divination exam to join them in the library and eventually it was just Harry they were left waiting for.
As they were waiting Melinoe tapped on the window and Maddy grabbed the letter she was holding to find that it was from Hagrid. She sat down at the table her friends were occupying and ripped it open, the others leaning over her shoulder and reading along with her when they saw who it was from.
Lost appeal. They're going to execute at sunset.
Nothing you can do. Don't come down. I don't want
you to see it
Hagrid
