A/N: Hey, guys. Sorry that it took so long to publish this chapter, but it was just really hard to write for some reason! I still hope you enjoy it and keep reading. Until the next chapter! ;)
12
Hermione
Hermione was baffled.
She didn't understand how Dumbledore could've known about what the new kids where. She thought Annabeth only told her, Harry and Ron. He wasn't eavesdropping, right?
The others looked surprised as well. Some, like Leo, looked as if they were frozen on the spot. There was complete silence, if you didn't count the usually puffing and whirring and more sounds coming from the things standing in the office.
Dumbledore coughed and stood up. "Excuse me if I startled you. But at least now I won't have to act like I don't know who you are."
Hermione folded her arms, taking on the superior attitude she sometimes showed. Or liked to show. She asked, "Professor, you're supposed to be unaware of who they are. Why aren't you?"
Dumbledore playfully twirled his wand in his hand. "I've had contact with their homes a few weeks ago. Camp Halfblood and Camp Jupiter. I must say, Chiron had better manners than miss Ramírez-Arellano. But they told me you," he looked at the Seven, "Had gone on a quest to stop the lady who just infiltrated the castle."
Silence. Then Harry asked: "But… Sir, How could you contact each other in the first place? Why didn't anyone ever mention the existence of halfbloods?"
"Simple. You only use a spell when you need it. I knew there were already problems amongst the halfbloods themselves. It wouldn't be wise to trouble them any further. The Ministry of Magic officially doesn't know about this, but each time there is a new Minister of Magic, the old Minister informs him."
Dumbledore was now standing right in front of the group. "I only called you here to tell you I will gather as much information on Gaea as possible."
Hermione was lost in thought. It was an awful lot of information she had to process. And it still wasn't complete. If it was only Gaea operating, Dumbledore wouldn't have called her in. Gaea said the Hydra was 'a present from her and her partner'. Could that mean…? She was afraid to ask, but it had to be done.
"Professor… Could it be that… Gaea has teamed up with You-Know-Who?"
Dumbledore closed his eyes and sighed. He turned his back to Hermione and walked back to his desk. "That's exactly what's going on, Miss Granger. For the time being, we can't do anything. As you know, we can't expect help from the Ministry. Even less now that the gods are involved." He raised his head and addressed the whole group. "Misters Potter and Weasley and Miss Granger, you shall continue following your usual lessons. Misters Jackson, Grace, Valdez and Zhang shall be free to do as they please on the school grounds, as the boat can't be repaired. So are Misses Chase, Levesque and McLean. Just don't enter the forest on the edge of the terrain. Or the lake," -Percy looked upset- "And don't break the rules, of course."
13
Hazel
Hazel met them on her way to the Great Hall.
She just came from Study of Ancient Runes (harder than Latin, but still very interesting). As they were allowed to go almost anywhere on school grounds, Hazel had decided to follow some lessons. The others did too. Frank went to Transfiguration classes. Hazel would say to him there wasn't anything practical they could really teach them, but he did pick up some interesting things. As did Annabeth in History of Magic. And Jason in Astrology. Nearly everyone found some lesson to follow… Or students to watch.
The hallway was crowded as usual, but two particular persons caught her eye. It was as if they were watching her. They both looked like an older version of Ron (maybe they were twins?) , and they both had a mischievous grin on their faces. They scared Hazel quite a bit.
Suddenly the boys came walking towards her. Hazel had to stop walking to prevent crashing into them, the students behind her just walked around her and the boys.
"Soooo…" one of them started. "You're Hazel Levesque?"
Hazel nodded, and the grin became even bigger on both of the boys' faces. "Awesome! I'm Fred, and he's George." George winked. "We heard you have this gift…?"
Oh man, Hazel thought. She also thought she better get it out of the way ASAP. "No, I'm not giving you any gems."
Fred laughed. "We're not asking for gems!"
"We're asking for tunnels!" George said. "You're an expert on that, right?"
Hazel hesitated for a moment, but then nodded. How could she not be an expert on tunnels, when navigating through whole systems of them, creating new ones, destroying older ones? And the boys sounded like they were up to something, and it could be fun. Hazel longed for some fun.
She folded her arms and asked: "What do you want to do?"
The twins both began talking immediately, making wild gestures with their hands. "We want to go to Hogsmeade, you know, the village nearby. But we're not supposed to, so we don't want to get caught by Filch. And since you can create tunnels and guide people through, do you want to help us? Plus, you get to see Honeydukes and Zonko's Joke shop!"
Hazel shrugged. "I don't know what both are, but they sound interesting." She stayed quiet for a few seconds, and then said: "I'll do it!"
The short journey from Hogwarts to Hogsmeade began a little boring, but it didn't stay that way for long.
After lunch, Fred and George showed Hazel a secret tunnel behind a big tapestry hanging on the wall. Fred pulled out his wand, used a spell and a hole appeared. George said to Hazel: "This passage's been blocked for a few years because it collapsed. Maybe you can clear it, or make a new one."
Hazel nodded, and they went in.
They walked for a few minutes, the boys wands illuminating the narrow and dark passageway. If it weren't for that light, Hazel would've bumped straight into the pile of stone and dust blocking the way. "Whoah!"
"Yep." the twins said.
Hazel began feeling anxious. "I have to make that go away?"
"Would be great if you did."
Hazel tried to ignore the uneasy feelings and closed her eyes. She concentrated on the rock and the tunnel. She started commanding the rock telepathically by thinking Go away! Go away, stupid pile of useless rocks! and willed the stones to make way for her.
BRMM!
Hazel could feel the ground and the ceiling and the walls shaking. Her power was working… Just a little bit of the barricade left now...
BOOM!
Hazel opened her eyes, and saw that there wasn't a single stone left. She turned to Fred and George, who were standing behind her, with eyes so big they might roll out of their sockets. Hazel tried to act as if the moment wasn't completely awkward and raised her arms, as if to say, Tadaa!
Fred shook his head and said: "Hazel, that was awesome."
"Sure thing." George agreed.
Hazel pointed into the dark tunnel. "Let's go!"
They walked for a few minutes that seemed like hours, and then Hazel noticed she was ascending. The floor went up, steeper with every step she took, until Hazel heard an "OW!" and a thud in front of her. She almost bumped into Fred, who was standing still right in front of her. "Did one of you walk into something?" she asked. She carefully avoided using a name, because it would be embarrassing if she called George Fred or vice versa.
"Yeah, I did. And the 'something' seems to be a door! Awesome!" George's voice said.
Hazel decided to see for herself and stepped forward. She reached out and felt wood. She poked around a bit and soon found a door handle. "I've found the handle!" she said happily. The boys reacted enthusiastically and urged her to open the door. Why wait?
But just when Hazel was about to open it, a familiar voice shouted: "HAZEL! Wait!"
