Hello, welcome back to the story. Now, last chapter I was talking about adding fluff, and whether I should continue on with the cliffhangers, and I did promise I would add a bit of fluff every now and then, but don't get mad at me if it is not in this chapter. That's only because I couldn't fit it in with all the swirling darkness and stuff! But I will add fluff later in the chapters, and I also decided that I'm not bored of cliffhangers! (Sorry if they drive you crazy)

Anyway, I should stop talking... Hope you like the chapter!

Chapter #10

Annabeth's POV

We were too late. The damage was done. I hovered on my broom at the back of the group, but before I could warn him not to, Percy broke the window. Black smoke came shooting out, and Percy was sent spinning.

"PERCY!" I shouted. Luckily, he did not fall to the floor, but he was left hanging upside down. While I tried to rush to him, Hermione got there first and helped him upright. I saw flashes of light in the corner of my eye. I turned, and I saw Harry and Ron chasing after the dispersing Ceuthonymus smoke, shouting words that sounded like latin, and waving their wands around. Nico was trying to summon shadows, but they were just sucked into the Ceuthonymus's shadows, making it throb. Then Leo–being the little kid he was–charged on his broom after the Ceuthonymus, blasting flames at it while screaming

"FEEL THE HEEEAAAAT!"

Poor Ron and Harry had to dive down to avoid the flames. But Leo seemed to do the job well, because the smoke fizzled away, tiny wisps of that floating into the atmosphere. But Hermione and Percy were flying towards the window, and Harry and Ron quickly joined them. I flew after them on my stupid stick, and climbed into the window, all too aware of the huge drop before me.

"So that's it right? I killed it! We can–" He stopped short.

All around me black smoke and dust clung to the walls. There were unconscious bodies (at least I hoped they were unconscious) covered in dust. It reminded me of the people in Pompeii trapped in volcanic ash. Paintings were shattered, and furniture was broken or torn. It was like an explosion, although the outer walls were not harmed.

Coughing at the smoke, I hurried down to the common room, but the situation wasn't much better. There was less dust, but more bodies. the entrance to the common room nothing but a smoking pile of dust.

Hermione pushed past me, letting out a sob, and rushed to the side on one girl who looked particularly bad.

I surveyed the room, Harry and Ron were already in action, and there were teachers arriving. They were helping kids to the infirmary, and the ones who couldn't be moved were being helped onto stretchers. I saw that my friends had went into full war camp mode, and I saw them helping move bits of debris out of the way of the nurses. I saw Percy help a small kid get to one of the bunkers that were now being used as hospital beds. Our eyes met from across the room, and Percy gave me a grim smile.

"Annabeth!" Nico called sharply. I whipped around, a bit startled. "You better take a look at this." I followed him into the boys dormitory, cutting of the squeaks of protest by some boys with a sharp glare. We walked over to Nico's bent bed frame, Nico pushed it to the side, revealing a perfectly untouched circle on the floor, the stone gleaming against the dust. But the thing that worried me was the potted plant in the middle of that circle.

I examined it, but I couldn't quite place where it was from. It was small, all black, and tiny little thorns covered the vine.

"That was Professor Sprout's plant." Nico whispered. I looked at him, but he just shrugged. "Don't you remember? I was supposed to do a report on it."

"Oh." I said, finally piecing things together. I reached out to touch the plant, but thought better of it. "Do you think that the Ceuthonymus was in that?" Nico asked.

"I don't know for sure, but if you were going to sneak an evil shadow into a heavily warded dorm room, that would be a clever way to conceal the Ceuthonymus. It would have had to be on a very small scale, otherwise the wards would have alerted someone. No one would have given it a second thought, with all these other strange and magical wizard plants. " I queried.

"You think that was a small scale?!" Nico gestured to the wreckage around us. I only nodded. He knew just as well as I did that this being was very capable. Before I could say more, commotion in the common room interrupted me. Nico and I hurried down the stairs to see what it was all about.

Dumbledore was standing amid the wreckage, and the transfiguration teacher was standing next to him. He cleared his throat.

"Ahem. thank you students, appreciate all your cooperation and help. Now, I know that this is all quite a shock, but I assure you we are investigating the problem, and there is no need to panic. But, since the Gryffindor dorms are unusable, you will be split into the other houses until the damage has been cleared, and the problem solved." A few kids groaned, but Dumbledore continued. "Now, Classes will resume, but we ask you to not do anything rash, and stick to your schedule. In free time, you will not be able to roam, and after classes, go straight back to your dorms. Is this clear?" Mumbles and nods echoed around the broken room in response. Dumbledore excused himself, and vanished, but the other teachers remained to assign us to temporary houses.

Nico and I glanced at each other in worry. I saw Percy shove his way through the crowd to where we were standing.

"Guys, this is a disaster!" he said above the noise.

"I know, I know, but we just have to roll with it. We've dealt with worse remember?" I said, and it seemed to do the trick, because he shrugged.

"I'm just tired, and I don't want to have to deal with another major enemy again. Besides... I miss you." He said, giving me the biggest puppy eyes I've ever seen. I laughed and pushed him away, but he kissed me on the cheek before mumbling,

"I'm gonna find Leo. and then we can all think of a game plan."

I nodded absently. Come to think of it, Percy and I haven't really spent any quality time together since we got to Hogwarts. Everything had happened too fast. I turned to Nico.

"Percy's right, we are going to need a game plan. It seems that people are assigned at random, so we need to have a meeting point if we are split up, and everything goes wrong." Nico nodded in agreement.

"What about the entrance to the main hall?" He offered. I considered the advantages of that meeting point.

"That's probably won't work in an emergency situation. You see, the hallway splits into two, and both are not direct escape routes. However, if we find a spot in a more direct spot, it is important that we–"

"Are you two okay?" A teacher asks.

"Oh yep. We're fine." Nico replies. The teacher gives us a wierd look, because we are one of the few people who aren't covered in soot.

"Well anyway, your room assignments are Slytherin and Ravenclaw." She then leaves to talk to the kids standing nearby us.

"Gods dammit." I mutter, "your meeting spot will have to work for now. If you see Percy and Leo, tell them the plan." I move to the growing group of people going to Ravenclaw, and pat Nico on the shoulder.

Nico's POV

After Annabeth left, I went and found Leo and Percy, who were both arguing with a teacher. Apparently, Leo was going to go to Hufflepuff, and Percy Slytherin, but Leo had other ideas. They were trying to convince the teacher to put Leo in Slytherin.

"Fine. go in Slytherin. It doesn't matter anyway." The grumpy old teacher huffed, before briskly turning away. Leo and Percy fist pumped, and I sighed.

"Slytherin huh?" I asked. Percy nodded.

"Yep! What about you?" He said.

"Slytherin" I confirmed. To be honest, I was kinda bummed that I was stuck with them, and I would rather be with Annabeth. Not because I liked her like that, but because she was the least annoying out of our group.

"What about Annabeth?" Percy asked peering over my shoulder to look for her.

"Ravenclaw."

"Seriously? Maybe I should talk to a teacher...?" He began, but I cut him off.

"No, don't worry about it, she's left already." I told him

"Without a goodbye?"

"I dunno man, but we can't think about it now. we have to have our heads on straight."

"Our heads maybe, but not your head Neeks!" Leo said laughing, "Straight? hehe, get it? you know, caus' Nico is–"

"Shut up Leo." I told him.

"Okay." Leo said.

"Because we've been split up, Annabeth realised we needed to have a meeting place in a most likely case of an emergency. So, for now, we will meet at the entrance to the main hall, which can be barricaded. We may change it later, but it will have to do for now. Any questions?" I asked. Leo raised his hand. "Yes Leo?" I sighed.

"Okay, so I'm all cool with that meeting place, but isn't it a bit obvious? Shouldn't we take over a tower or something? Then Festus and I can be all POW POW POW!" Leo said, making finger guns.

"Like I said, it'll have to do for now, and then maybe we can find something better. Remember, we can't leave all the students alone." I said, wishing this conversation to be over.

"Right, because wizards and their sticks are useless." Percy muttered.

"Let's just get our stuff and go." I sighed.

We collected our things that weren't blown up, which consisted of our weapons, Leo's dragon, and miraculously, Percy's cookies. A lot of our supplies were broken, but apparently our 'partners' in the other houses would share with us until things could be replaced. We then made our way to the Slytherin House.

We entered with the group of other kids going to the Slytherin house. When I went in, it felt as if the whole mood had changed. Every person felt like someone that wanted to befriend you, only to exploit or betray you. Luckily, I knew my way around these sorts of geezers. Kids started pairing off with friends or acquaintances, so Leo, Percy and I were left standing there.

Then a kid with slicked back blonde hair approached us. His eyes were small and hard, and something bad flashed behind them.

"Hi, I believe we've met." He said. Leo Spread his arms wide.

"Malfoy, Draco Malfoy Right? Nice to see ya again, it's been awhile huh?" Leo's grin stretched from ear to ear, Except this grin was more like a cat playing with prey. Malfoy shrugged.

"Well, since you don't seem to be partnered up yet, care to join me and my mates?" Malfoy smiled sinisterly. I was about to turn him down, but Percy jumped in.

"We'd love to!" He then turned to me with a look that said, I want to see where this goes. I shrugged, because I didn't really care that much. Malfoy showed us to the boy's dorm. And while there were the usual bunks, mattresses were also covering the floor, so we had to hop around a lot to get to the other end. I tucked my stuff that I didn't mind people seeing just next to the mattress. But I did find a hole in the mattress where I could hide my ambrosia and nectar, and of course, my sword. After, Malfoy gave us a quick tour around the dorm, but it was mostly designed just like ours.

Surprisingly, nothing bad happened after the horrible Ceuthonymus incident. I was a bit worried about Malfoy though, because he seems like the ruthless type, and we don't want the truth of our identity and our weapons falling in his hands. But that aside, nothing bad happened that night, we just went to bed. Although, In the middle of the night, I thought I heard shuffling, but I assumed it was someone's pet.

Okay, I know this is a short chapter, but it's going to be rainy for a whole week so I will make up for the shortness in the next chapter. like I said, I'm not done with the cliffhangers, but I can't really call this a cliffhanger, but more of a warning, or foreshadowing. whatever you want to call it. Either way, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, andI will bring fluff in the future, but it depends whether it fits in my future plot (which is getting really dark now that I think of it)