I think this is going to be a bit of a shorter chapter.

Disclaimer: I just don't own Harry Potter or Percy Jackson

Chapter 25

Hermione POV

It was probably mid-May. I was up in the Common Room, alone, studying. It was late at night, but I wanted to make sure I was prepared for the OWLS coming soon. Harry and Ron had simply brushed off my attempts to get them to study for the past week and gone to bed early (I suspect to get away from me).

So it was just me, sitting in front of the fireplace in my favorite chair. Crookshanks was asleep at my feet. There was no fire in the fireplace, it being May and all, but every so often I would stare into the empty pit.

Around one or two, when I was getting ready to clean up and go to bed, I heard a noise outside the Common Room. It sounded like someone was arguing with the Fat Lady. Instinctively, I moved closer to the door to try to hear the conversation. For all I knew, maybe it was Neville trying to get in after forgetting the password again.

I couldn't hear anything clearly, so I decided to pull my Prefect card. I planned to step outside and demand to know why someone was up in the middle of the night, disturbing the peace and quiet.

I pushed open the door and came face-to-face with the one and only Annabeth. Sort of.

The normal Annabeth is always composed and in control. This Annabeth looked slightly mad. Her hair was a mess and there was a wild, terrified look in her eyes.

"Annabeth?" I asked, a tad surprised. "What's wrong?"

"I need to talk to Percy," she said frantically, "But the Fat Lady won't let me in!"

"You need to have the password to get past me," the Fat Lady said pompously. "And you clearly don't know what the password is."

"Can you just go get Percy for me?" she pleaded. "Please?"

"Er, yeah, sure," I told her. I turned around and hurried up the stairs of the boys dormitory. I quickly found Percy's bed. "Percy!" I hissed, not wanting to touch him. I'd heard from Ron and Harry that if you touch Percy while he was sleeping, he will attack you. I doubted that was true, but still. "Percy, wake up!"

Percy shifted in his sleep. "No," he murmured.

I made a face in the dark. "Percy, Annabeth is downstairs and she needs you right now."

"Uh-huh."

I rolled my eyes and reached out. I poked him tentatively in the arm then quickly retracted my hand. Percy rolled over to look at me through barely open eyes.

"What," he asked crankily.

"Shh," I scolded him. "Annabeth is waiting for you downstairs. She seems desperate."

Percy sat up. "Lead the way," he said immediately. He acted like he was awake, but I was pretty sure he was still half asleep.

My analysis turned out to be correct when he tripped over a chest and cursed.

"Careful," I told him.

"I'm not the one who can see in the dark," he grumbled.

By the time we got down to the Common Room, Percy was far more awake. We hurried over to the portrait of the Fat Lady. We pushed it open to find Annabeth out cold on the floor of the hallway.

"Annabeth!" Percy exclaimed, rushing over and falling to his knees next to her body. "Oh gods," he muttered. He looked at me. "Why didn't you tell me it was this bad?"

"It wasn't when I went to get you!" I protested. "This probably happened when I was trying to wake you up."

Percy checked her pulse, then listened for breathing. "Go wake up Thalia. Tell her to get Nico," he instructed me.

"Right," I said and hurried back into the Common Room.

Thalia was much easier to wake up. I told her about the problem and that Percy wanted her to go get Nico from the Slytherin House.

"Why me," she muttered, but she got up anyway and got dressed. The two of us hurried back downstairs and out the door. Thalia kept going without even asking any questions. It made me wonder how many times they had done this sort of thing before.

Percy was sitting back on his heels.

"So what's wrong?" I asked.

Percy shrugged. "I have no idea. There's nothing we really can do. I'm hoping Nico might be able to tell us what happened."

"Why don't we ask the Fat Lady? She was here the entire time."

I turned to face the giant portrait, but all I saw was an expanse of background.

"Uhh..." was all Percy said.

"Where is she?" I asked.

Percy snorted. "I dunno. Don't people in portraits move around a lot here?"

"That's true," I admitted. "But she wouldn't just leave when there was a non-Gryffindor waiting outside. Besides, the only time I've ever known her to completely desert her post was back in our third year, when Sirius Black was a known fugitive and had broken into the tower."

"You know, come to think of it, where are all the teachers that are supposed to be patrolling the hallways? You would think Umbridge would post more around here, since Harry is in this tower."

"Your guess is as good as mine," I told Percy. We were silent until Thalia came back with Nico.

They came jogging up the stairs.

"That was fast," I observed.

"I didn't even have to do anything. Nico was already up and on his way up here," Thalia informed us.

"Wait, how did you know? Does that mean Annabeth is dying?" Percy's voice increased with urgency.

"Chill, Perce. I don't know what it means," Nico said, slightly irritably. He kneeled next next to Annabeth and put a hand on her forehead, frowning.

"Well?"

"I'm not a son of Apollo, Percy," Nico chided. "I can't diagnose anything."

"But do you know what's wrong with her?"

"It's not... The best way I can describe it is that she's in a type of coma, I guess."

There was silence.

"There are different types of comas?" Thalia asked.

Nico shrugged. "Well, it's not really a coma. It's more like her body is here, fully functioning and all that, but her soul is Down Under, if you catch my drift."

"So why isn't she dead?" Percy asked.

"So there is an afterlife?" I asked, but I didn't receive a reply.

"'Cause she's not supposed to be dead."

"You are so unhelpful," Thalia muttered.

"Okay," Nico sighed. "Let me explain it like this. Something happens, and boom she's unconscious, or almost dead or whatever. That's probably what woke me up, by the way. But the Fates decide that she's not allowed to die just yet. So while she's in this sort of limbo state, Hades sees this as an opportunity and says 'hey, this is a great way to piss of Percy Jackson'. So she's not dead, but she's not really alive, either. She won't die, because the Fates won't allow it, but she won't wake up unless Hades relinquishes his hold on her."

"So this is all because Hades still has some stupid grudge with me. After everything that has happened. Oh my gods, he is such an annoying-"

"Careful," Thalia warned. "The last time you really insulted a god with anger management issues, it cost an immortal her life."

"Alright," I said out loud. "You guys were beyond me ages ago. What's going on?"

"Just go with Annabeth is in a coma," Nico told me. "The next question is, are there spells that can knock a person out or send them into limbo?"

"There are lots to knock a person out, but to almost kill them? The only one I can think of is the Killing Curse. But who in the school would want to kill Annabeth?"

"Why would the Fat Lady leave her post?" Percy added. "And why are there no teachers?"

"Those are all viable questions in which we know none of the answers," Thalia said. "Have you guys tried looking for the Fat Lady? She might know something." She turned to the portrait. "Yo, Fat Lady, you can come out now! There's no one evil here, unless you count Nico!"

There was a silence, particularly from Nico, who took the time to glare at an oblivious Thalia. Then, the Fat Lady poked her head into the picture.

"Is it safe?" she asked timidly.

"Um, yeah," Thalia replied sassily.

The Fat Lady entered the frame fully. She appeared to be trembling. "Oh, the poor girl," she exclaimed when she saw Annabeth. "Oh, it was terrible. Just struck down! No one in sight!"

"So you didn't see who did it?" Nico asked.

The Fat Lady shook her head. "Oh, no."

The four of us shared a look.

"Well, we should get Annabeth to the Hospital Wing and hope Umbridge doesn't shoot us down," Percy decided.

Yeah... I didn't really want to go much farther in this chapter. I feel bad about not updating in a long time, but I've been super busy this summer.

I hope you all review!

-Silver out.