Chapter 11: Interviewers are annoying!

The next day was relatively normal... training, training... a bit more training and then being called in for an interview, without my training squad which as mentioned earlier consisted of the big three children, Clarisse, the Apollo kid (who I just found out is called Matt), the Aphrodite girl Jessica and they were considering bringing a Hephaestus camper who most likely would turn out to be Jake... actually, they were considering bringing the entire camp for the rest of it, considering my brothers would probably want to help me...

Not to mention quite a lot of people would've preferred to stay together; the Aphrodite girls were missing their gossip buddies!

Waiting seemed to take forever (especially since the Aphrodite girl had straightened my almost wavy curls and forced me into a dress and makeup!), but of course the lady decided to make a dramatic entry, appearing in a puff of smoke dressed... well let's just say she resembled a parrot.

"What a charismatic quartet, hello" she said walking over.

"Oh yes, because we can all just forget about Riley, she's just a stupid muggle allowed to enter because Dumbledore invited Camp Half-blood" I commented in an extremely pitchy and annoying voice before rolling my eyes. I received a smile as she shook my hand after all the others... which caused me to roll my eyes again!

"I'm Rita Skeeter, I write for the daily prophet. But of course you know that don't you. It's you we don't know, you're the news. What quirks lurk beneath those rosy cheeks? What mysteries do the muscles mask? Does courage lie beneath those curls? In short, what makes a champion tick? Me, myself and I want to know. Not to mention my rabid readers. So, who's feeling up to sharing? Mmm? Shall we start with the youngest? Lovely" she said all at once making herself sound like the best before dragging Harry off into a broom closet, as soon as I was sure that she and her camera, not to mention that stupid quill were gone I turned to the other, older champions.

"Has anyone ever tried to lock her up before? You know, like in a metal institute, put her in a straight jacket... perhaps a padded cell would work nicely... better yet, I'll hand her over to my family, she'd be dead in less than a week, that would work nicely, don't you agree?"

Nobody laughed at what I said; instead they looked at me oddly. Fleur's expression reminded me of someone looking at a rabid beast rather than a human.

"She's powerful" looking over the Hufflepuff; Cedric, had spoken.

"Like I care, the creatures I fight and am attacked by on a regular basis are powerful, and look at me, I'm still alive aren't I? Besides, what can she do to me? My life expectancy isn't that high anyway, and the half-bloods will remember me for what I am! They won't remember what she thinks of me, they will remember me! As long as I know that, I don't fear her" my miniature rant finished at that, and I was truly hoping they'd remember me for that, not just as Travis and Connor's little sister who joined Luke and came back.

Yup, story of my life, after Luke left... let's just say that I lost it, about a year later I joined Luke, not Kronos... of course after the entire enslaving Artemis and holding up the sky thing, I almost immediately went to camp, sure for the first couple of weeks everyone seemed to hate me, except cabin 11, but people slowly started to understand, though not without Aphrodite cabin spreading rumours about incest and what not!

Silence fell and... Well, once again it was completely boring so for once I did something relatively constructive by randomly picking up the bow slung over my shoulder and practising my archery on the door in front of me, gods know I'd probably need it in the future anyway... I mean, if I was swarmed by monsters, take a few out while they're coming at you and then attempt to kill the rest of them with your sword... if it's possible and they haven't killed you yet!

"Next, next, next" the lady's voice called, once again she was dragging Harry in before grabbing me and dragging me to the same place that she took Harry earlier. "So... Riley is it?"

"Yes, Riley Stoll"

"Yes, yes, yes, Riley Stoll, you're sitting here at the age of 17, and the only muggle in the competition, how does that make you feel?"

"Firstly, I'm 15 and about the muggle thing... I don't really care, haven't thought about it and I'm really not concerned, heck, I'm technically not a muggle… I'm a Demi-god, while you're a normal everyday mortal in my standards!" I ground out through clenched teeth, less than 5 minutes and I was already annoyed!

"So the question still stands, why are you in the tournament, you didn't enter your name in the goblet but you were chosen... so what made you so keen to be chosen for this?"

"We had a competition and I won it, athletics, fighting, fighting on a rope ladder in the air, etc. What made me so keen was to prove that I could actually do this, but then again everyone at camp wants to prove themselves!"

"But what do your parents think about this, are they aware of what you're doing or did they not encourage this?"

"My mother hates me and doesn't now, my father knows and doesn't care" I replied happily, thinking about just how true that statement was, she blamed me for father leaving, Travis was born and he stayed got her pregnant, 3 months later comes Connor, then she finds out she's pregnant again, and poof, Hermes is gone!

"So you're doing all of this to gain their approval… let me guess, you have siblings?"

"Lot's"

"All Daddy's girls and Mommy's boys then I presume, black witch of the family"

"Wait… what? Nothing is wrong, in fact all of us have mummy, daddy issues!"

"So for once you want to make them proud, be different to all the others"

"Hang on… I didn't say that! And no, I'm not doing this for my Father, and if he thinks I am, well… then he's just a prat. A thick, big-headed, stupidly insane, vain, self centred, dumb, stupid, annoying and completely idiotic pig… actually that insults pigs… so git that can go die somewhere else and leave us all alone!" after my rant I promptly stood up, storming out of the broom cupboard and dragging Harry out, leaving people staring. "Honestly the nerve of that woman, I mean she can't even get the facts straight! I'm not an ignorant muggle; I'm a Demi-god, a half-blood! Heck, my father definitely is above her, so before she preaches about purity etc that stupid mortal should think about learning how insignificant she really is!"

"Long word" a voice said making me jump, Nico was leaning against the wall lazily, basically blending in with the shadows as normal.

"Yes, I noticed, though it isn't the longest word I know... wait... what is the longest word I know?" after my sentence was complete he let out an almost dark sounding chuckle.

"Perhaps it's... insignificantly?"

"Actually... that's quite possible... who wants to break the news to my family? Riley now knows a word with over 10 letters!"

"That'll come as a shock"

"Like you could do much better ghost-boy... I'd call you Caspar... but he's supposed to be friendly!"

"One of the first things I learned in the underworld, Caspar the friendly ghost doesn't exist, he's simply made up by mortals who were probably very, very, very bored" he said in an almost monotone, which left me to think about how much I missed how annoying he used to be with the mytho-magic cards and how cute he was when he got frustrated that his things went... missing!

"Spoil a teenage girl's fantasy, why don't ya?" faking a swoon I simply rolled my eyes and continued stalking down the halls, I didn't really want him to extend on my last comment...

Though I'd probably never hear the end of it anyway!

"Hey Fred, George and Lee... fancy finding all of you within 5 minutes of starting to look, I mean honestly how often does that happen?"

"Not often" Lee began, allowing the others to do their trick as they all grinned at me.

"Depends on what's-"

"Going on for lack of better description-"

"Like pranks-"

"Annoying Slytherins-"

"Going and getting detentions-"

"Or perhaps finding test subjects" one of them finally ended.

"I'm guessing the last one that spoke was Fred, so anyways, what's next on the list, I'm bored" I complained, handing it over, they still weren't aware of my... um... dyslexia, I guess they simply thought that I really couldn't be bothered to try and therein found it easier in forcing them to read these things out to me!

"We aren't allowed to take out a life insurance policy on Harry Potter" Lee said seriously as I frowned slightly... oh well, this would lighten up the mood, although at the moment I had my doubts about how long Harry would last. Especially now that he had barely any friends because of the entire Ron fight thing. I still reckon it's a waste of everyone, including my own, time, but then again it's just me and that's what the rumour mill of Hogwarts seems to love...

"Ok, how do we do that?"

"We send and owl-"

"To the ministry-"

"Possibly the magical catastrophes department-"

"And if not simply to the ministry-"

"They'll work it out!" The twins finished together; around me they seemed to be doing it a lot more than around anyone else, simply because they knew it annoyed the Hades out of me!

"Right, you can do that and I'll come around to see the results" I said lazily waving my hand. "But in return I'll willingly play whatever game it is next time, but I've got training to attend"

Thanking the excuse I had I ran off before I was asked to write it for them, that really would've been an un-wanted headache and probably would've gone something along the lines of;

Dear Corfeliun Numge

We wihs to take out a life isuranec plocyi on Hayrr Potret. We hisw to know the rustelt by Wnesday of this mnoth.

Iserily

Rleyi Slolte, Derf & Oegreg Waleasy and Ele Jodron

Nope, bad idea in itself, having the dyslexic writing a formal letter!

Turning up to training on the other hand was also a bad idea though; as though I was finally able to see through both eyes and it was simply a scar (thanks to ambrosia, nectar and Apollo's hymn) Clarisse seemed to be determined to even it out in a training match, often swiping at my face, and the horrid thing, I left my shoes in the Gryffindor girls dormitory by accident, trust me about one thing though, I won't do it again!

While thinking I had my shoes I jumped of a tree in the direction of the lake, unfortunately for me I landed in, you guessed it, the lake and it was freezing cold...

Heck, I made such a fool of myself and couldn't get out that they ended up forcing Percy to get me out and give me one of those awesome instant dry type things!

I definitely vouch for the fact that their cool and it would be awesome to not need a towel to dry off all the time and always have your hair sopping wet until who know how long later... what I'd give to be a child of Poseidon... no more annoying towels, always dry swimmers and not being woken up by having freezing cold water spilt over yourself...

That would be the life!

Anyways, on to dinner;

There was lots of food... no, not just any good food but great good food, almost better than the cooking of the dryads and that's saying something! Then again, not everything here is necessarily... well... healthy, in fact they have dessert. Absolutely wonderful, unhealthy dessert, and yes, for everything I eat, the more training I have to do to apparently keep my weight down and keep me fit.

According to the twins their mum would have a fit if she ever saw me and would start trying to force feed me, which left me wondering how all of them were still skinny, I mean honestly all the Weasleys are like sticks, no joke! But I definitely adored how they seemed to care for their siblings, though they always seemed to mock, tease, insult or threaten one another.

"I miss my family" I mused aloud, twiddling my thumbs in the great hall, after just stuffing myself with quite a bit of food.

"What was that?" looking up Alicia, Angelina and Kate were looking at me, and though I couldn't help but smile, I didn't know who asked the question.

"I miss my family... not Hermes, or my mother but the rest of them..."

"Who's Hermes? And why don't you miss your mother" questions like that followed my statement and I gave a short laugh, which might've sounded a bit hysterical.

"My father... well you might hear what I think about him in the daily prophet but my mother, hates me... threw me out of a window once... contrary to popular belief being thrown out of a window ain't fun! We ran away after that... I was 6, haven't heard from my mother since"

"Right" was the only response I got, other than pitying looks, though some also looked at me oddly, especially since while I said that I hadn't heard from my mother since I started smiling slightly, possibly at the lack of memories from her, or the memories from running around with my brothers, which lasted for basically a year, I was 8 when we arrived at camp!

Of course, what other thing could happen after dinner, I went up, changing as slowly as I could possibly manage into jeans and one of my brothers shirts and jumpers, yes I have a tendency of stealing them, and joggers, taking my time as I walked down the stairs, gulping as I heard a familiar voice.

"Good to see that you've finally shown up, time for some good old fashion truth or dare" it was Lee who spoke and looking up, everyone except Harry was there.

"Ok... where do we start?"

"Well, Riley's first" looking over Fred spoke, he was feeding me to the wolves again, which seemed to be a habit he developed over the past couple of days... well weeks basically, I'd been here for about 2-3 weeks I reckon!

"Really... wait is that good or bad?"

"Truth or dare?" he questioned in response... that really did answer my question though, though I also came up with an idea to annoy them.

"Truth"

"What?"

"Truth..."

"Ok... what's your deepest darkest secret?"

"How unoriginal are you people? I mean honestly, I heard that about a thousand times!"

"Just answer the question" Lee said, elbowing me lightly in the side.

"Fine, fine, fine... my best friend is in Apollo cabin and she 'kidnapped' me and taught me how to belly dance, strip-tease and lap dance..." thinking back on the memory, the times like that were definitely amusing, my brothers still didn't know! "I was 13 at the time... so anyway... Hermione; truth or dare?"

You can almost definitely guess what happened in that game… let's just say that there was a lap dance involved… and some belly dancing, though during that the girls (other than Angelina, Alicia and Katie who were there to drag me off afterwards) left and the guys simply let their eyes wander without shame.

Though we did manage to get the guys in some odd… well both positions and dares, not to mention thoroughly embarrass them with truths, the part that slightly stung though, I saw as Harry watched from the stairs, quickly running back up when he noticed that I actually saw him.

If this stupid tournament didn't exist he'd have played and they wouldn't have known about my existence until a later point, possibly next year after the battle of the labyrinth had been properly cleaned up.

Yup, that battle occurred… not even 3 months ago!

~Start Dream~

It was cold, my body was coated with sweat, in fact I'm quite sure that my clothes were soaked through as well as I writhed under the weight which was basically crushing me, my brother towered above me chuckling slightly as he saw my look of hatred directed at him.

"Not much longer now Riley, Lord Kronos appreciates this, it will be the beginning of the end for the gods, we will succeed in our task, you just have to hold strong a little longer little sis', you know I love you, do it for me, for the victory of the titan's" Luke's voice was unmistakeable, especially for me, I'd know it anywhere, though I could barely do anything except manage a slight nod as I saw partially grey streaked brown curls fall in front of my face. "Soon we'll capture Annabeth and I'll take your place again, Artemis won't be able to resist saving a maiden that will start their downfall"

He leaned down, planting a kiss on my forehead as he stroked my cheek in a lovingly older brother type of fashion.

The part that scared me is that it wasn't a simple dream, no; this was a flashback of my time with Luke, showing the grey streaks that I tried so hard to hide.

Suddenly it changed; everything went dark before I was in a relatively dark clearing, spots of light filtering through the trees leaves. Luke stepped out from behind a tree, but there was more to him than that, he had golden eyes; Kronos.

"You left me, you left your brother. You live as a traitor, and you will feel my wrath" the raspy, scratching voice said, chuckling slightly before going back to that of my brothers, his blue eyes back. "You can come back; he'll leave you alone if you just come back!"

Luke reached his hand toward me, looking at me pleadingly, his eyes expressing what Kronos wouldn't let him say. Temptation washed over my body the way it did the first time around, my hand shook as it reached to his-"

~End Dream~

I was shaken awake by somebody, interrupting me from grabbing my brothers hand, though I was still half asleep and the person seemed to realise that.

"The twins and Lee are waiting in the common room for you" Katie said… and yes, that was actually her second attempt of getting me to full consciousness, but before I registered what was happening I had her pinned to the ground, dagger to throat, and she simply looked up at me with fear. Shaking my head I got off of her.

"Sorry" I said my hands shaking with what I'd just done, I'd almost killed my newest friend. "I'm so sorry"

Running downstairs I simply ignored the twins and Lee as I ran out close to tears, my hands and arms visibly shaking as I bolted through the empty corridors, straight to the lake where a temporary place was set up for my training crew as they were building for the rest of camp as well now, they were due to arrived in a couple of days.

First thing I did though, through myself at Annabeth and started to sob in her arms, finally letting it all out.

"What happened?" she asked minutes after she finally calmed me down.

"Kronos, dream… I almost killed Katie, I've lost it Annabeth, I'm going insane… I don't want to go back, can I stay here?" I burst into tears thinking about it again, at least people here would be able to defend themselves from me and kill me if necessary.

It was illegal for the others to kill me.

Then it dawned on me, I was acting like a child, forcing a motherly role onto Annabeth… oh well, good practice in case she and Percy ever had children… yes, everyone except them can see that they like one another, and I think even a blind man would be able to see it.

Except seaweed brain and wise girl that is!

Annabeth gave me some of her clothes, bless that girl and the fact that we have the same size in everything, but that gave me one more thing, I'd still have to go back to the castle to 'learn' or something along those lines, the beginning of which was me staring at the castle for a couple of minutes.

Then I did the only logical thing; I gulped… on the bright side it was almost dinner?

Thanks to anyway reading, hugs and virtual cookies to all reviewers, love you all!

P.S 7 and a bit pages on word! = )

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