A/N: I need you guys to review and tell me whether you want the story to have Romione or Dramione (RonxHermione or DracoxHermione). I'm a big Dramione shipper, so unless I get a HUGE majority of votes for Romione, the story will contain Dramione. It obviously won't be a large part of the story, since the plot is centered around the five and Voldemort, and it will really only happen gradually, but I want to know what you guys think. The Percabeth and original pairings will stay.

POVs: Percy, Harry, Percy

Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or HP, no matter how hard I wish it on a star. Some parts of this chapter were taken from The Half-Blood Prince and The Order of the Phoenix, which I don't own.


Chapter 9

The O.W.L. tests were horribly complicated and required so much information that I was about ready to pass out when I first saw it. But then I realized that it was easy to complete with all the new magic information in my head. Rachel left as soon as she took a regular fourth-year examination. When Annabeth and I finally finished with all nine tests (Annabeth decided to take ten for Ancient Runes, which Dumbledore had put in her head because he thought she might want to take it) and the required spell performances with our wand, Dumbledore conjured two fancy pieces of parchment and floated them over to us. Mine read:

Ordinary Wizarding Level Results

Pass Grades

Outstanding (O)

Exceeds Expectations (E)

Acceptable (A)

Fail Grades

Poor (P)

Dreadful (D)

Troll (T)

Perseus Jackson has achieved:

Astronomy A

Care of Magical Creatures A

Charms E

Defense Against the Dark Arts O

Divination D

Herbology E

History of Magic P

Potions O

Transfiguration O

Dumbledore took a quick look at my parchment, then said, "That is seven O.W.L.s, four of them Outstandings. I highly recommend you take all of those classes which you have passed with an Exceeds Expectations or Outstanding. And you, Annabeth," he continued, peering at Annabeth's paper, "you should continue with Ancient Runes as well. I daresay Ms. Granger will love some help from a N.E.W.T.-level student."

"What?" I asked, now confused, and trying to dig through my brain for a bit of information on N.E.W.T.s. But before Dumbledore could say anything, Annabeth answered.

"N.E.W.T.s are the examinations that seventh-year students take at the end of term. They stand for… um, Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests? Anyway, they're really hard and determine what job you should take after you leave school as an adult at age seventeen." Dumbledore nodded at Annabeth. "N.E.W.T.-level classes are a lot harder than regular. So, Professor, I should take Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, Potions, Transfiguration, and Ancient Runes?" she asked him. I looked over Annabeth's shoulder (which wasn't hard, I was taller than her) and saw a paper saying that she passed with seven O's, two E's, and one P (the Poor was Divination).

"Yes. I believe you should continue with those classes, Ms. Chase. Percy, I think you should take the same as Annabeth excepting Ancient Runes, of course." I nodded. Five classes should be easier than nine, right?

"Very well then. I shall give you your timetables — or schedules, as you Americans call them — for today." Dumbledore pulled out two rolls of parchment and handed them to us. We took one, and I read over it carefully. I had Transfiguration this morning with Annabeth, and then a free period after lunch, then Potions and Herbology. "You have all the spellbooks and materials, I believe?" We both nodded. "You must hurry, or you'll be late to your first class."

Annabeth and I took that as a dismissal and left Dumbledore's magical office. Once back down the gargoyle steps, we set off for Transfiguration. "So where's McGonagall's class?" Annabeth muttered next to me, looking down at her parchment, her blond curls swinging down her back as we walked.

"It's Classroom 1B, on the ground floor near the courtyard," I said, then felt completely confused as to where that information came from. It must have come from the back of my brain.

Annabeth shrugged it off. "Come on, Seaweed Brain, we don't want to get stuck in between-class traffic, now, do we?"


Rachel walked into our Divination class halfway through Trelawney's first lesson, and the professor's head snapped up so quickly it surprised me that she didn't get whiplash. We had been staring at the new textbook, The Dream Oracle by Inigo Imago, Ron and I desperately hoping that this year wouldn't be too horrible in Divination, Parvati and Lavender staring at Professor Trelawney with eyes wide open to catch everything she said, when a mane of curly red hair walked into our class and sat down at Malfoy's table.

Trelawney sat up straight impossibly fast, suddenly taking her eyes off of Neville, who was nervously recounting a dream he'd had over the summer, and eyed Rachel with a sort of anxious and eager gleam in her eye. "And just who might you be, dear?" Trelawney asked Rachel is a misty voice, trying and failing terribly to hide the excitement in her voice.

"Um… I'm Rachel. I'm from the United States, from a different magic school, and Professor Dumbledore brought me here to spend a year at Hogwarts." Rachel said all of this rather fast, and let out a large breath as she sat down on a fat pink pouffe at Malfoy's table. Pansy Parkinson looked her over skeptically from her seat with Theo Nott, having probably met her last night. Her attention eventually went back to Nott, who looked somewhat displeased at Pansy's mooning eyes at him. I smirked at his discomfort; Nott had been one of Malfoy's cronies all these years, after all — he deserved it.

"I see. I am Professor Trelawney," she said in hyper voice very different from the usual dreamy, misty voice she had. "You are a Slytherin, yes? Well, then, my dear, I'd like you to work with Mr. — Malfoy, is it? — here. Now, class, please start to talk about your dreams with each other, and interpret their meanings using The Dream Oracle." Trelawney wandered over to Lavender and Parvati to talk to them about their summers while I stared at Rachel. She was looking intently at her book, faking interest in The Dream Oracle. Or maybe she actually was genuinely interested.

Malfoy, on the other hand, looked absolutely bored, though he seemed to treat Rachel with more respect than he did with us — probably because she was a Slytherin. Swearing under my breath, I took my attention off of Rachel and Malfoy and centered it again on Ron and The Dream Oracle. This was certain to be a highly uninteresting class period.

Or so it was, until Professor Trelawney meandered over to Malfoy and Rachel's table and exclaimed eagerly, "Ah! I see, Miss Dare. You have Seen high internal conflict and confusion in the future in your interpretation of Mr. Malfoy's dream. You possess the Inner Eye, you are a true Seer. Did you take Divination in America?" Professor Trelawney's voice was a high trill at this point, obviously excited to find out that Rachel was a "true Seer". I rolled my eyes.

Rachel's cheeks reddened, though it was almost invisible in the pink light that filtered through the dusty reddish curtains over the windows and the fog taking up the room. "Um… in a way. You see, Professor, we had different classes in the States. But I suppose you could call what I studied Divination."

"Marvelous!" Trelawney cried, suddenly excited again. "Wonderful! Well, if you do not mind, Miss Dare, I'd love to have a word with you after class. Now, back to dream interpretation."

Ron and I stared, open-mouthed, at Trelawney. She never, ever invited a student to speak to her after class, but normally would point out whatever she wanted to say in front of the entire class. And Trelawney seemed to have gone through a sort of spiritual awakening; her eyes were no longer misty, but clear with anticipation, and her voice was high instead of its usual misty tone.

After what seemed like forever of making up fake dreams and trying to interpret them using the heavy Divination textbooks, Trelawney called the end of class and dismissed us, informing us that our homework would be to write down and interpret dreams on a monthly calendar. She didn't seem distracted as she usually was, and rushed us out of the tower rather hurriedly.

Ron and I stepped down from the trapdoor. "Well, that was completely strange and un-Trelawneylike," Ron said breathlessly.

I nodded. "Well summed up. Shall we head to Transfiguration? We should tell Hermione all about this."

Ron looked a bit reluctant. "I think we should wait for Rachel, shouldn't we? To see what Trelawney says." I thought over this idea and was about to agree when Draco Malfoy stepped down from the trapdoor and climbed down the ladder, giving us an evil look as he planted himself at the base of the ladder.

"Shouldn't you be heading off to class? Or are you waiting for your little redhead girlfriend?" he sneered, but I detected a trace of confusion and fear in his silver eyes. I'd never seen that before. What would happen to make Malfoy scared?

"I could ask you the same thing," Ron spat back venomously. When all Malfoy did was smirk back, the scared glint still in his eye, he said, "Come on Harry, let's go." We descended down the long spiraling staircase down the North Tower, Ron ranting angrily about Malfoy, but I wasn't listening. All that was on my mind was Rachel's strange sorting into Slytherin and the way Professor Trelawney immediately picked her out as a true Seer.

Transfiguration lasted way too long as McGonagall explained Vanishing Spells and set us out to practice Vanishing the slimy snails she placed before us. Ron and I quickly recounted the story from Divination to Hermione while she repeatedly eyed her snail and whispered "Evanesco", succeeding on sending the creature into oblivion on her third try. We explained Rachel, Trelawney's uncanny ability to single her out as she entered the classroom, and Malfoy hanging back. I was tempted to tell her about the strange glint of fear I'd seen in his eyes, but didn't.

"That's strange," Hermione huffed, frowning. "Well, we'll talk to her at lunch, hopefully, if Annabeth and Percy can get her over to the Gryffindor table." And that was all she'd said before Professor McGonagall told us to practice Vanishing Spells for the next class.

History of Magic was the most boring it had ever been. There was no chance that I would pass a History of Magic O.W.L. with my high lack of interest. Ron actually took a nap on my left side, while Hermione frantically scribbled down everything that Professor Binns said, eyes alert. I didn't know how she managed it — to be completely honest, I could've fallen asleep right there and then.

The only thing that prevented me from falling asleep during the two long hours of History of Magic were Malfoy and Rachel, who whispered back and forth intensely the entire class period. At one point, I could've sworn that Malfoy actually blushed, although it was just a small hint of red on his pale cheeks. And at another point, I distinctly heard the word "Annabeth" in their conversation. What were they talking about now? I really needed to talk to Percy and see if he could talk to Rachel. I looked back at the clock over Professor Binns' head. Only forty-five minutes to go until lunch.

I sighed heavily and kept my ear up to Malfoy and Rachel's conversation, but didn't hear anything else except for whispers for the rest of the lesson.


The Transfiguration class with McGonagall was not nearly as bad as I expected it to be. She started informing us about Animagi, and though she said it was a third-year topic of study, she thought it was important to delve deeper into the study of Animagi. I found myself instantly knowing what an Animagus was: a person who could transform themselves into an animal form at will, both with or without a wand. Annabeth was paying rapt attention to Professor McGonagall, taking notes about Animagi and their transformation principles, but for the first time, she wasn't the only one. I leaned forward in my seat with anticipation. This might as well be the most interesting topic we studied all year in Transfiguration — I'd heard from some seventh years passing us in the hall that later on we had to Transfigure our eyebrows' colors, something I didn't really look forward to.

"An Animagus' animal form is not chosen by the witch or wizard," McGonagall explained. "Rather, it is determined from a witch or wizard's personality and internal aspects, though in some cases the mage can change certain aspects about their appearance in animal form."

"Now, as you should all know, Animagi are required by Wizarding law to register at the Ministry of Magic as Animagi. If they are not and are caught, they can suffer severe consequences." McGonagall cast a stern look around at all of her students before continuing. "The process of becoming an Animagus is long and highly complicated, and potentially dangerous for the witch or wizard if it goes wrong. I'd like to point out that the act of transforming from human to animal by will is not a Transfiguration spell, nor is it a Charms spell."

McGonagall continued to explain Animagi for a while, and then gave us a demonstration herself. Apparently, she was an Animagus, and her animal form was a sleek tabby cat with spectacle marks around the eyes. Sadly, she didn't retain animal form through the rest of the class, and transformed back into a strict, emerald-cloaked woman to assign us the homework — a full two rolls of parchment on Animagi and their distinct characteristics due on Thursday. I was still in a state of shocked awe, both from the demonstration and the load of homework on our first day, as Annabeth and I left class and headed to the Great Hall for lunch.

We quickly found Harry, Ron and Hermione all huddled together at the Gryffindor table, the three of them in deep conversation. I sat down on the bench next to Hermione, Annabeth sitting down next to me and leaning her head on my shoulder. As soon as we came into Harry's view, he directed his attention to us and burst out with questions.

"Hey, Percy, did Rachel mention anything about Draco Malfoy?" I went rigid very suddenly, and Annabeth noticed. She took her blond curls off of my shoulder and looked at me with concern, but I looked at her with an expression that I hoped she understood to be: later. I tried to rearrange my face before turning back to Harry.

"Yeah, actually. She mentioned him once this morning when we were all walking down to Dumbledore's office, but nothing much. Why do you ask?" I said as casually as I could.

"Well, this morning in Divination, Trelawney picked Rachel out as a "true Seer" when she walked into the class," said Harry. Annabeth looked at me worriedly. Had Rachel given a prophecy in the middle of a class full of wizards? I sure hoped not.

"Yeah, it was the strangest thing," added Ron. "She seemed so alert and she normally isn't, what with her little dream-world full of futuristic visions…" He rolled his eyes.

"And then in History of Magic, they were talking the entire time in the back of the room," added Harry, his green eyes concerned. "I swear that one time I heard the word "Annabeth" in their conversation."

Uh-oh. Draco had also mentioned Annabeth in my dream last night. The two things were too coincidental to not be connected. Just then, I saw a mane of curly red hair making its way over to the Gryffindor table. Rachel.

She sat down next to Annabeth. "How was your first day?"

Annabeth looked a bit taken aback, probably still processing what Harry had just told us about Malfoy, but quickly composed her face and answered, "Great. So much homework, though."

Rachel nodded quickly. "Well, I've been talking to Draco Malfoy — who's in my house, of course — about some stuff. You met him on the train yesterday, didn't you?" Annabeth and I nodded, bewildered as to where this was going, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione's faces looked friendly but wary at the mention of Malfoy. I already knew that Malfoy hadn't been kind at all to the trio over the years at Hogwarts, especially Hermione, who was a muggle-born (or what Draco crudely called a Mudblood). So why would he so suddenly befriend Rachel if he knew she was our friend?

Come to think of it, I wasn't sure he did know that she was our friend.

"Well, anyways, Draco said he recognized you from somewhere, Annabeth, but he doesn't know where from. He says he apologizes for his behavior on the Express, except to Harry." She rolled her eyes. "Do you know him from anywhere?" Rachel asked Annabeth, and all eyes turned to her.

"Um… I think maybe. I feel like he's really familiar in some way or another." Rachel seemed satisfied with this information, and quickly hopped out of her seat, bid us a quick goodbye, and rushed back over to the Slytherin table. Harry, Ron, and Hermione all started speculating once again.

"How do you know him, Annabeth?" Harry asked in an accusing tone.

"I — I don't really know. He just seemed familiar to me when I first saw him, and apparently he thought the same thing," she explained defensively. Then, leaning in to my ear, she whispered, "Those gray eyes…" I nodded — I'd been thinking the same exact thing. What if Draco Malfoy was actually related to Annabeth?

What if he was a demigod?


A/N: Romione or Dramione?