Chapter 10- Travelling Together

Ron's p.o.v. :-

It was early morning and Ronald Weasley's stomach was grumbling with hunger. He had spent one whole night in a cold unused store room of a flying warship on Hermione's insistence and was now horribly repenting for his decision to come with her.

"Hermione, it's almost morning now. How much more are we gonna wait?" he asked in a pleading tone.

"Honestly Ron! You just don't have any patience!"Hermione snapped at him.

"What!" Ron almost shouted at her, "I've been stuck over here for the whole night feeling all cold and hungry and you want me to have patience!"

"I never forced you to come; it was your decision in the first place!" Hermione whispered back angrily.

"Well, then I guess I'll just have to find Harry in my own way," Ron said and walked to open the door.

"What are you doing? We can't just go out there," Hermione said in a panicked voice.

"Hermione I'm tired of waiting. I think we should just go and find Harry and ask him to come with us," he replied, mentally wondering that even if they find Harry, how on earth were they going to escape from this warship flying hundreds of meters above the ground, they might already be quite away from their home. 'I'll think about that later', he decided and opened the door.

There was a complete silence on the deck.

"Coast is clear, they all must be inside," he told Hermione who was following him looking quite disapproving.

They slowly walked around peeping into random rooms that were left open. Ron knew Hermione would probably kill him for thinking this but judging from the amount of ancient weapons and other stuff in all the rooms he was starting to suspect that those foreigners might really be telling the truth.

Just then they heard loud banging from one of the rooms. Someone was desperately yelling to get him out of there.

"Looks like someone's stuck over there. What if it's Harry? Did they lock him up or something?" Ron said feeling worried.

"That doesn't sound like Harry's voice, but it is familiar," Hermione said, narrowing her eyes, "Let's go and check," she added.

They went near the door and tried every unlocking spell that they knew but to no avail. The door remained firmly shut.

"Damn it!" Ron exclaimed. Harry was so close to them and yet they couldn't get him out.

"Wait!" Hermione said, examining the lock, "I think I know how this works." This time she did some different, very complex type of spells and Ron saw to his amazement that a new lock appeared besides the first one.

"This is the original lock. Now I guess a simple 'Alohomora' should do trick," Hermione stated.

Soon the door opened and both of them peeked inside eagerly only to find a very surprised Draco Malfoy staring at them.

"What the hell are you doing here? And where's Harry?" Ron asked feeling quite shocked. This was definitely not going according to their plan.

"Why should I answer your questions Weasley? Besides what are you and Miss Mudblood doing over here in the first place?" Malfoy sneered.

"Watch your mouth Malfoy!" Ron said in a warning tone.

"How come you got trapped inside?" Hermione asked sounding curious.

"Well, this room has another door, that's where I entered this ship from and then before I knew it both the doors got locked and, well, is this ship flying?" he asked nervously.

"Um, yeah, we are flying at top speed to some unknown destination," Hermione supplied.

"What were you in doing in 'Diagon Alley' anyways Malfoy? I hope they send you to Azkaban for using magic outside school," Ron said unable to stop himself. He hated Malfoy with all his heart.

"In case you didn't notice even your mudblood friend used magic just now. I hope Azkaban has special lockers for filthy mudbloods," Draco replied with a smirk.

Ron was about to punch Malfoy, but Hermione warningly placed a hand on his shoulder. Nevertheless, he said to Malfoy, "So is this the dream ship of you and your death-eater buddies? And yet you got trapped over here like an idiot?"

Malfoy suddenly took out his wand. Without even realizing it, Ron copied his move and said, "Watch out Malfoy. I am not like that blond guy you were bullying earlier."

"We'll see that," said Malfoy and threw a spell at him. Ron dodged it and threw a hex at Malfoy in return.

"Stop fighting!" yelled Hermione trying to conjure a shield between them, but it didn't work as they were moving too fast trying their best to hex each other.

"Reducto," Malfoy yelled pointing his wand at Ron and Ron answered back with a blasting curse. The two spells collided and hit the floor.

Ron heard a loud crack of the floor and before he knew what was happening he, Hermione and Malfoy fell headfirst through the hole in the floor.

Annabeth's p.o.v.:-

Annabeth and the other demigods were sitting at the breakfast table along with Harry and were eating or rather swallowing their breakfast hungrily. Well, everyone except Harry, who was chewing his food very slowly and had turned a pale shade of green. Annabeth wondered whether he was air-sick or something.

She saw Percy staring at Harry in a very concerned manner. Annabeth frowned, these days she had caught Percy staring at other guys a lot of times. She had once found him checking out the Stoll brothers at their camp and once heard him making a remark about Apollo's handsome features. She sometimes wondered whether he was gay, she hoped not but yet there were moments like these which worried her.

"Harry why aren't you eating anything?" Percy asked concernedly.

"I don't know, guess I'm just feeling a little air-sick," Harry replied.

"Don't worry, flying isn't made for everyone," Jason said immediately.

"But it wasn't always like this. I used to enjoy flying a lot before," Harry replied.

"Um, Harry, do you mean before your sixteenth birthday?" Annabeth asked, narrowing her eyes a little.

Harry nodded and then suddenly stopped as he realized what she was hinting.

"Do you think this is because of my godly parent's powers?" he asked.

"Well, that's what this seems like. If your godly parent isn't Zeus or worse if he or she is Zeus's enemy or rival then you might experience difficulties while flying," Annabeth explained to him, wondering for the umpteenth time, who his parent might be.

"Your parent might be Poseidon or Hades. Usually, their children are scared of flying," Jason said with a suggestive look in Percy's direction.

"I think Harry already made it clear that his mother is a goddess, so stop muttering nonsense Jason!" Percy said angrily.

"Calm down guys," Leo said hurriedly, "Well, I think Harry's mother might be Demeter or Persephone, they usually like to stay on ground, isn't it?" he asked.

"Well, I don't think that Persephone would dare to have children with anyone except Hades, but it can be Demeter," Annabeth replied thoughtfully. To be honest, she just wished it was anyone except Gaia. They all had been so worried when Harry had described his mother yesterday.

Annabeth saw the same look of worry across Percy face and was about to say something when suddenly the ceiling of their room exploded and three figures fell down on their table or to be precise in their breakfast.

"Holy Hephaestus! What's happening to my ship?" Leo exclaimed.

Annabeth quickly took out her knife and turned too looked around. Percy and Harry had ducked under the table just in time but Leo and Jason were covered in dust just like her. She turned to look at the new arrivals.

She recognized the blond boy who had tried to jinx Jason earlier. He had fallen straight into her breakfast and his blond hair was now covered with coffee stains.

'How horrible!' Annabeth mentally shuddered and turned her attention towards the red head boy who was now covered with cornflakes and was staring around dizzily. She remembered that his name was Ron, just as he saw Harry and yelled, "Harry, good Merlin, we found you at last! You alright mate?"

"I'm okay Ron but what are you and Hermione doing here? And is that Malfoy?" Harry finished with a surprised look in the blonds' direction.

"Well, we came here looking for you of course!" the Hermione girl replied and removed the jam and butter on her clothes with a simple flick of her wand.

"Wow! Now is that some cleaning spell?" Leo asked looking amazed.

"Um, yes, thanks," Hermione replied, looking momentarily distracted.

"Enough!" Annabeth suddenly shouted, now seriously losing her patience, "How dare you all sneak into our ship! Did you think we would hurt Harry or something?"

"Actually, that's exactly what we thought, and since Harry is our friend we can't let you do that!" Hermione shouted looking outraged.

"Hermione, it's okay. These people are alright and they aren't going to hurt me," Harry replied looking quite embarrassed by what his friends had done, "And exactly what are you doing here Malfoy?" Harry asked in a tone which made Annabeth suspect that he wasn't on good terms with this Malfoy boy.

"Well, I thought it was quite suspicious of you to go on your own on a ship with foreigners so I had came over here to spy on you, thinking that I would catch you at something illegal," Malfoy replied angrily.

"Yeah and in the mean time you yourself got trapped in a room filled with some old books," Ron said, unable to suppress a grin.

"Wait! You got caught in that room? But only I know the mechanism to get someone out of it. How did you manage to do that?" Leo asked looking very surprised.

"Well, I thought that Harry was trapped in that room, so I opened it with a few complex spells. Your trick to hide the real lock was great though," Hermione supplied.

"Wow! You were actually able to open it? That's great!" Leo said looking quite amazed.

'Seriously, Leo doesn't have any taste!' Annabeth thought with a sigh.

Then she looked at those three and said, "Right, so now that you have seen that Harry's alright, I want you to leave our ship at this instant."

"What, that's not fair! We're not leaving without Harry!" Ron said indignantly.

"Guys, please," Harry began, but just then Percy asked,

"Can't they come with us?"

"What?" everyone turned to look at him.

"Well, they can't obviously get off from the ship at this height, besides we are quite away from their home now. And I think, that if they see Camp-Half Blood for themselves and meet Chiron personally all their doubts would vanish," he replied.

"Percy. Are. You. Out. Of. Your. Mind?" Jason yelled looking thoroughly shocked.

"Wait! But I don't want to go with you people! I think I'll just go home now," Malfoy said looking suddenly quite scared.

"And how exactly are you going to go home? You can't apparate and no one's got a broomstick over here so you can't fly back home too!" Hermione said, then turned her attention towards Harry, "Harry, please let us come with you. We want to make sure that you are alright and safe."

Harry turned around to look at the others.

"I don't mind if they come till the camp, only don't damage the ship anymore," Leo said immediately.

"But they are mortals! They won't be allowed at our camp," said Jason.

"They are not just mortals, they are wizards. And don't worry I'll convince Chiron about it," Percy said reassuringly and then turned to look at Annabeth. Only, she hadn't given her opinion yet.

Initially, Annabeth thought that Percy was mad to suggest something like this, but then she saw the look in Harry's eyes and realized why Percy made this decision.

Harry was looking very happy and cheerful now with his friends around him then how he had been looking since yesterday. Well, Harry certainly didn't seem to like the Malfoy boy, but the presence of Ron and Hermione seemed to have lifted his moods up.

"Alright, you can come, but only up to the camp. And once you talk with Chiron you'll have to return back immediately. But," a sudden thought occurred to her, "What if we are attacked by some monsters during our journey? You guys should know that this trip could be very dangerous," she said in a warning tone.

"We are used to facing dangers!" Ron said confidently.

"Okay, then I guess you can all come," she finished with a sigh.

Harry looked extremely delighted about his friends accompanying him. Hermione had a small smile and a determined expression on her face. Ron punched his fist triumphantly in the air.

Jason looked as though he still disapproved the whole arrangement while Leo seemed quite okay with it. Malfoy mumbled something like, "My master would kill me," but the expression that worried Annabeth the most was Percy's.

He was once again staring at Harry with a little smile on his face, and Annabeth might not be a daughter of Aphrodite but she was wise enough to understand people's feelings.

Harry's p.o.v.:-

Harry was standing on the deck of Argo-II leaning against the railing, his mind trying to process all that had happened this morning. Secretly, he was happy that Ron and Hermione were coming with him as he had started to feel quite lonely amongst these demigods. But on the other hand he was a little worried too, what if they face any problems on their way, was he leading Ron and Hermione into another danger.

His heart filled with dread as he remembered the fiasco at the ministry a couple of months ago and sincerely hoped that this won't be like that one.

He accidently looked down and saw that they were flying hundreds of feet above ground. This sight made him feel dizzy. Harry was now sure that whoever his mother was had something against the sky and heights otherwise why would he suddenly develop such a fear of heights.

Everyone was saying that he was supposed to be very powerful and all that but Harry honestly felt that he had never felt more weaker in his life. Since his sixteenth birthday he had developed dyslexia, ADHD, and now this acrophobia.

Harry was brooding on these thoughts when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around and saw Percy smiling at him.

"What are you doing here, all alone?" Percy asked him.

"Just thinking about who my mother might be," Harry replied in a putdown tone.

"Don't worry, whoever she is will claim you as soon as we reach the camp," Percy said bracingly.

"Where are Ron and Hermione?" Harry asked him.

"Oh, we were just giving them all different rooms, you know, now that they are also staying here and all that," Percy answered.

"There are that many rooms in this ship?" Harry asked, looking a little surprised.

"Yeah, of course, we gave Hermione Hazel's room; she is one of my friends at the camp. And Ron was given coach Hedge's room, he is a satyr, you'll meet him at the camp too, and that Malfoy boy was given Piper's room who is a daughter of Aphrodite," Percy was barely able to stifle his laughter while saying the last part.

"What's so funny?" Harry asked, feeling a little confused.

"Well, as soon as he entered that room, he came out saying things like, 'There's all make-up and girlish stuff in this room' , and that made Jason, who's Piper's boyfriend, really angry," Percy finished, now openly laughing about the incident.

Harry didn't understood much of it, but he noticed that Percy looked really cute when he laughed. 'Since when did I started noticing such things!' he wondered to himself.

He looked away not wanting Percy to think that he was staring at him or anything, and suddenly noticed something strange. It had been a bright sunny afternoon, just a little while ago but now the sky was slowly becoming darker and darker. The wind had started to flow a little too fast and huge black clouds were floating above them. He felt a sudden chill in the air.

"Percy," he said suddenly, "Don't you think the weather is changing a bit too fast?"

"Hmm, what?" Percy asked a little distractedly.

"The weather," Harry repeated, "It's changing quite suddenly. I think a storm is going to take place."

A.N.:- Hello everyone! So the poll result is finally out and according to it I'm going to keep the Harry/Percy pairing (Okay, I know I'm totally stupid, because if you have read the chapter already and seen the changes that I did in the summary you would have already realized it anyways.)

As for the stupid O.C. villain that I have created, I guess I would tell the reason for his weird name and strikingly similar features in later chapters. Come on, let me keep at least some suspense, didn't I already told you at least about Harry's mother!

I would try to update the next chapter as soon as possible.

Hope you liked this chapter. And Please REVIEW!