Disclaimer!
These characters do not belong to me nor do I make any money off this story. I am merely writing Fan Fiction. The characters belong to their respective author. I hope you enjoy Joining Forces.
Annabeth POV:
"Your friend just left?" Cho asked as we headed back up to Ravenclaw Tower. "Just like that?"
"Well, you heard Dumbledore," I answered. "Things have been chaotic back at Camp Half-Blood lately."
"I saw him the other day, he looked like something come back from the dead," Another Ravenclaw spoke up, shaking his head. "Honestly, heinous. Those eye bags and that scowl on his face." He gave a shiver. "Didn't look anything normal,"
"You can be quiet now," I spoke up, snapping my head towards him.
"There are a lot of clubs starting again," Cho hurriedly switched the topic of discussion. "Annabeth, you're still going to play quidditch, right?"
"Definitely,"
"That's good to hear," He continued. "Honestly when I heard that Hogwarts was making an eighth year on which graduated students could come back and attend, I was pretty excited,"
"Didn't get a job yet, did you?" I retorted.
"I got one, I just hope for something higher. The Ministry has quite a number of options. However, just because your friend might not be able to get a job with his frightening appearance, doesn't mean that I can't. Anyway, this whole thing about weird creatures appearing and viruses has really been unappealing. The whole reason why a bunch of graduated students from last year had chosen to come back was because of how distorted our school years were. It seems to be even worse now,"
"Is there anything you can say other than complaining?" I groaned.
"There's the Slug Club meeting!" Cho tried to switch to another topic of discussion. "Annabeth, I heard that Professor Slughorn is hosting one again. Who are you going to bring?"
Hurrying upstairs and away from the sudden glint of interest that appeared in that Ravenclaw student's eyes, I replied. "It'll be something to decide on another day. It's late, we should all be quicker,"
November had soon passed in what felt like a blink of an eye. By now, most students were feeling more secure at the school. After several investigations spaced out on different days, it was very likely that all the bugs were gone and no one would return to a dream fighting someone in the school.
Besides Quidditch and the Slug Club, the Dueling Club had begun not too long after the first meeting and I was doing well. Despite, having a lack of experience with magic, demigod training was also helping several times and my improvement was visible.
When the winter holidays had come, the residents at Hogwarts had dwindled down in an astonishing amount of time. The majority of students had all fled home to which some students mentioned that they weren't sure if they would choose to come back due to how chaotic the past few months had been. From what Percy said, Harry, Hermione and Ron had agreed to stay at Hogwarts to spend some time with him since it was the only year he was going to be at Hogwarts, and they wanted to spend Christmas with him. Percy had just mentioned that the 3 of them were arriving by themselves to Slughorn's Christmas Party since he wanted to come with me alone. Apparently, Hermione had asked Ron while Harry had chosen to go with Ginny Weasley as a couple.
"Oh right," I had said. "He invited Luna Lovegood, another Ravenclaw student last time. She's gone away with her father this year. You've gotten close with all of them," I said as we continued to walk to the party. Percy and I talked about it early on and had chosen to go together as a couple.
"Yeah," Percy replied. "They're kind of nosy at times, but they're good friends and good people. Hey, Annabeth, do you think I look fine,"
"Better than fine,"
Percy gave a smile. "That's good, I wouldn't want to embarrass you,"
"Nonsense. You won't embarrass me,"
"I certainly hope I won't,"
We soon arrived at the party where we were let in by the people at the front. The ceilings were draped with Christmas-coloured hangings, at the top of the room was an elaborate lamp that spread a red light throughout the room which was filled to the brim with people. Although the guests' list was limited to former and current Slug Club members, guests of the Potions professor, it was practically in chaos. The number of people did not make it seem like the exclusive part that Slughorn had emphasized so many times in the past.
"Ah, Percy! Annabeth! Come, come meet some friends of mine!" We had barely taken 3 steps into the room when Slughorn immediately noticed our presence, and waltzed over to us, starting to introduce us to a variety of people. The first was a woman who was apparently a famous singer who seemed quite displeased by our lack of knowledge about her. Before we could walk away, the two of us hoping to have some one-on-one time with each other, Slughorn dragged us over to another person he knew, a male reporter called Andy Smudgley who worked for the daily prophet. "Ah! Professor Slughorn," He called out shaking Slughorn's hand with enthusiasm. "It's been too long!"
"Yes, it has, it has." Slughorn merrily agreed. "You know. Thank you for those antiques you got me from France. It truly livened up my bedroom,"
"Of course, anything for you," Andy turned to Percy and I with a smile. "You two should be very grateful to Professor Slughorn. He rarely is incorrect about seeing someone successful at Hogwarts. In the future, don't forget to properly thank him,"
"Yes, of course, I am rarely wrong." Slughorn put a hand on each of our shoulders, slightly pushing us forward to Andy. "This is Percy and this is Annabeth. They are students from America."
"Oh! I've heard about this as well! America is a place where several famous wizards and witches come from as well. You don't go to Ilvermorny from what a friend told me. CHB. That's the name, isn't it? A very exclusive and special school, correct?"
"...yeah,"
"Professor Slughorn! Your connections really astound me!" Andy applauded. "All the way to America! I believe you are in the running for one of the top influential wizards and witches of the time!"
"Yes, how is my ranking for that?"
"Spectacular, I'm telling you..."
As the two of them continued to chat, Percy and I began moving away again before Slughorn caught us by the shoulder again, finishing his conversation faster than we thought. "Andy," He remarked. "Such a great person. Have you ever considered becoming a reporter? It's a great career, one that really makes a considerable amount of income if you're good at it,"
"Um, not really," Percy responded.
"Well, everyone will find their calling. Young people should give it more thought though, especially people your age. You'll be leaving Hogwarts sooner or later, I believe that having a steady career in mind will allow all of us to have a steady heart. Something I can help you with, after all, I do believe in your future. By the way, have you ever heard of Jazzy Tarts?"
"Um, no," What sort of thing is that?
"It's a very fancy type of desert from America. Keep the name in mind, I do love it. I'm sure you'll as well!"
After another 5 members or so, Slughorn finally showed some leeway. "Say, do you know where Harry or Hermione is?"
"No," Percy admitted half-heartedly, obviously still considering the idea to just change the answer and lie to get our professor in order to escape.
"Maybe you should try finding them," I suggested.
"Such a shame," Slughorn said, shaking his head. "No worries, I'll find them soon." Apparently, he had done this to the two of them before they went off, and he went to us."
"Professor," I said, politely, "Perhaps Percy and I could have some time alone together,"
"Are you sure? Oh, look it's Dahlia! Have you heard of her? She's a famous-"
"Professor," I forced a smile which probably didn't look very good. "Would you be so kind?" I didn't wait for an answer and took us to a more secluded part of the party. Standing nearby was a table of beverages, I grabbed a jug of amber or orange-coloured drink, foam brewing at the top and took a sip. "What is this?" I asked. It tasted like some sort of Butterscotch, it was good but weird.
"Butterbeer, no alcohol included," Percy said, taking a sip as well. He smacked his lips briefly before shrugging and drinking more of the beverage. "Ron told me about it. There's a lot of things we didn't know about,"
I nodded. "But, I'm happy to be here with you. Even if we have to eventually fight some threat we don't know about and that's something that really puts a downer on things,"
"Or that our classes aren't all together,"
"I rather do this with you than anyone else,"
"We should do a road trip sometime," I suggested. "Nothing to worry about, just going around and enjoying life,"
"Definitely," He looked at me with those sea-green eyes I loved so much. "What are you thinking of?" I asked playfully.
"You and if there's mistletoe around,"
"We don't need mistletoe," I said. We pressed our lips against each other.
lucky333123 - Thanks for the review! I have a basic outline for the story, but the details will just come so let's wait to see what I'll write.
Wolf Nights - Yeah, I think this is because of my own stubbornness on different houses trying to get more things to write.
Anyway, from the last post's question: I'm a Ravenclaw.
Any feedback is welcome! Have a great day! Next chapter in 5 to 6 days!