There was a whispering, a soft humming in the back of her head, and Harriet couldn't for the life of her figure out exactly what was going on as she sat there in front of a door. "Mom," she mumbled, thinking then on her mother and wishing she was there for some reason even as the hissing whispers became words.

"Let me in," something murmured from outside. "Let me in, Golden Child," it came again, sending a shudder of revulsion down her spine as the door rattled in the confines of its frame. "Let me—"

"Harry?" a voice whispered, slicing through her dreams and sending her back into consciousness. "You awake?" Laurel asked in a hushed whisper, and Harriet only groaned softly as her eyelids fluttered open, revealing the inside of a cabin cast in golden rays as the sun broke over the horizon and flooded through the gaps in the curtained windows.

"I am now," she grumbled, golden eyes meeting the blue ones which stared at her eagerly. "Is Alex up too?" she wondered, pulling herself out of the warmth of her sleeping bag and shivering as her bare arms came into contact with the fresh morning air.

"Mhm," Alex grunted, blue eyes peering out from the orange sleeping bag he had cocooned himself within. "I don't know what time breakfast is," he said, sitting up and glancing around. "But I don't think it's anytime soon," he mumbled, looking pointedly at the other campers. Someone snored in the silence which followed Alex's words, the sound only making it that much more obvious that most, if not everyone aside from them was currently dead to the world. "Wanna get changed then head outside? We can see if we can figure out the place a bit more…" he trailed off, and Harriet could only nod.

"Sounds like a plan," she said, swiftly shucking the sleeping blanket and her pyjamas before going to the showers and toilets just a bit behind their cabin and changing into the orange t-shirt which probably washed her out just a bit. Laurel and Alex took a similar amount of time to get changed and return to pack their belongings away into a corner of the room.

Harriet could only wonder on whether the entirety of the Hermes Cabin were heavy sleepers, even as the three of them headed out into the morning sunshine. It was a wonder that not many other people were up, but then again… in another life she had quite liked the novelty of being able to sleep in – a luxury one couldn't have had with the Dursleys. "I think there are some others up," she mumbled, gesturing over to where some other orange-shirted campers were congregating by a campfire in the bounds of the amphitheatre just about visible from their location. It was a little bit of a walk, what with the camp being rather vast in land, and there being a literal lake in the way, but when they finally made it there Harriet spied an almost alarming amount of blonde heads of hair.

Somehow she doubted that the fact that most of the campers up had blonde hair was a coincidence.

She recognised most of the faces as they came closer, easily pinpointing who were her half-siblings. Not all of them were blonde, surprisingly enough. There were a number of them though, including the twins, and Harriet could only smile at the thought of having such a big family. She'd always wanted a big family – a big family who she could smother with love and protect with all the rage of a nesting dragon… yet she had never managed before in another life. It was only fitting that it had happened in her second life.

"What do you think we'll be doing today?" she wondered, feeling sets of eyes fix on them as they made it to the bounds of the amphitheatre.

"Dunno," Laurel mumbled. "But I'm sure we can find out!" she called, ignorant to the way two of their half-siblings looked at the three of them as they strode past the stone seating.

"Bet," one of them murmured, lips quirking up into a grin as he spied her gaze on the pair of them as they played with a set of cards on one of the large stone benches.

"Bet," the other one replied, and Harriet could only frown at the exchange before she shrugged and paid her attention back to the twins.

"Hi!" Laurel called, approaching one of the older campers with a cheery smile. "When's breakfast?" she asked, peering up at the kind-faced blonde who was their oldest sibling there, if Harriet was remembering rightly. She certainly looked the oldest, and thereby the one most likely to be the cabin's head counsellor.

"It's at eight," the older girl answered, looking then at the three of them, stood around her in a small semi-circle. "So you've got some time to kill before grub's up. You might want to make sure your stuff is all packed away though – cabin inspections are right after breakfast."

"Already ahead of you," Laurel declared with a grin. "I'm Laurel Woods," she introduced herself, grabbing Alex by the hand. "This is Alexander – my twin – but he prefers to go by Alex, and this is Harriet Carter," she continued in rapid fire, waving together their joined hands as warm brown eyes settled on her.

"Summer Falton," she replied. "I'm Cabin Seven's Head Counsellor, so if you need a hand with anything, feel free to give me a shout. I know you two," she spoke, glancing at the twins, "arrived yesterday, and I can only presume you arrived yesterday too. I haven't seen you around before…"

"Mn." Harriet nodded.

"Harriet arrived late – so she hasn't had a tour of the camp yet!" Laurel said, bouncing on her feet, eyes darting around as if to try and find the best places to show her. "Hey, maybe we can do that then?" she mumbled, chewing at her lip as she peered around. "Though I don't know if I remember where everything is…" she trailed off, and Alex only sighed at that. "Oh well. Let's go!" Laurel declared, pulling her forward and away from the other campers who were milling about and mostly doing their own thing. "Let's start with the cool climbing wall they've got here," she said, speaking in rapid fire, and Harriet could only eye up the climbing wall which spewed forth lava and boulders.

"It's not cool, Laurel," Alex muttered, swallowing as lava began spewing forth, followed by boulders which crashed down into a pool of lava beneath. "It's hot, and it looks utterly terrifying. Don't people usually die when they fall into lava…?"

"We're demigods, Alex," Laurel grumbled, letting go of their hands and folding her arms. "We're made of sterner stuff!" She grinned. "That's what Mr Chiron told us, anyway…"

"He also said that they have at least one Apollo Cabin member on standby for emergencies," Alex muttered under his breath, evidently not agreeing with his twin on that matter.

Harriet frowned. "We're demigods," she said softly, grabbing Laurel by the hand before she could try to lead them away to the next place on their list to visit. "Not immortals," she reminded, remembering how the twins' strings had been destined to be cut in another life. A different future she had long since torn to shreds. "Don't forget that." Overconfidence was a literal killer of demigods, Harriet had found in her many years of visions.

"Harry, I ever tell you that sometimes you sound like our grandmother?" Laurel asked, grinning brightly. "Stop worrying so much, and let's go – you've already seen the canoe lake, but we should have time to show you the arena before it's time for breakfast, I think." Then Laurel was off, traipsing down the nearest path which led them over a slow-flowing stream and back past the canoe lake on one side, until yet another amphitheatre came into view that time. It was fully circular, as opposed to the more semi-circular design the other campers had been congregating at.

Stone archways led inside, hard-packed dirt and sand littering what could only be the arena. The place where they would train more often than not, unless they were set to head into the forest to battle the occasional monster.

"This is the arena," Alexander said, waving a hand around at the grand structure which looked as though it ought to have been cut and pasted from a historical documentary. Only it wasn't nearly in such a state of disrepair, what with being situated in the middle of a camp for Greek demigods. "You weren't here yesterday when we arrived – there were a load of campers fighting in here when we came by on our tour."

Harriet shrugged, pondering then on whether or not she would be any good at fighting with a blade or whatever weapon she ended up taking. The bow was obvious enough, what with her uncanny aim. Yet sometimes fighting from a distance didn't work out, and Harriet wasn't entirely sure how she would take to that, given her abysmal combat experiences. She might as well have survived through sheer luck and brute force. The way she always seemed to have survived – until she hadn't.

If she truly thought about it, she was eight-years-old and that number of years wasn't a particularly great number. Though it was only just under half or so of the years she had managed to live in a life which felt so distant to her by then. Such was in her nature though, to roll with the punches life threw – to try and see the best that there was, lest she fall into a pit of despair with no hope of ever resurfacing.

A soft sigh escaped her, and dimly, she prayed she wouldn't fall prey to negativity. She just had to focus on the positives and what she could feasibly do – which was a lot, considering how stupidly powerful she apparently was. "You'll burn from the inside out," a vaguely familiar voice stirred in her memories, and she tried to remember who and what vision it had belonged to. Though she'd seen too much and heard too many different voices to be certain.

"I think we should head to the pavilion now," Alex said, looking over in the direction of the cabins, and Harriet followed his gaze, just about getting a glimpse of a hustle of orange t-shirt clad figures moving about. "A lot more people are starting to get up now…"

"We're sitting with Cabin Eleven for the foreseeable future," Laurel mumbled, pouting for a few seconds. "I wish dad would hurry up and claim us…" There was a look in her eye, and Harriet could only look on at her quietly, ever remembering the acknowledgement she had received from her ghost of a father in her past life. That was something she had never thought she would have. She didn't know if she would truly get what she wanted there, either. Then again, she still wasn't entirely certain of what she wanted beyond a happy, living, loving family.

Something which could be difficult to get when her father was a god and her half-siblings were demigods – and that in itself was a hazardous existence. Her fingers twitched, part of her wanting nothing more than to cling to her half-siblings and bury herself in their touch, if only to feel warm skin and the steady thud of a living heartbeat.

"It's a shame we didn't get to take you to the archery range," Laurel remarked, skipping along the path she presumed led to the dining table. "That's what I'm most looking forward to," she said. "Alex is too, though I dunno about you… you haven't even seen most of the camp."

Harriet hummed. "I've seen enough," she mumbled, thinking of her many visions which had all but given her a tour of the camp years ago. Though throughout the years things had changed – for instance, the so-called Mr. D having to serve there for a century, and Thalia Grace who resided in pine form at the boundary line. "It's Friday today though," she said, realising then exactly what event would be taking place that very evening. "Capture the Flag…"

"Huh?" Alex blinked. "Capture the Flag… isn't that the game we played at one of those activity clubs?" Blue eyes narrowed. "They do that here too?"

"Sounds fun!" Laurel chimed in, stomach rumbling loudly in the quiet which fell at her proclamation. Her cheeks turned a burnished shade of crimson, and she scratched the back of her neck sheepishly.

"First, breakfast," Harriet said, feeling her own stomach starting to make noises of protest, though not quite as loudly as Laurel's had. "I think we're all hungry…"

"Good thing the dining pavilion is here then," Alexander murmured, waving to the array of twelve tables visible ahead of them, set out in a circular fashion. Each table was topped with a white cloth lined with a purple trim, goblets set out atop the clean white fabric, which Harriet suspected wouldn't remain particularly clean for long. Greek columns framed the area, torches blazing as they hung from them, and Harriet suspected that as the sunset came earlier later on in the year it would be quite handy in terms of lighting. She stepped off the gravel path, trundling over the paved ground until they reached the table for Cabin Eleven.

It was long and comfortable enough to squeeze at least a dozen people, as all the tables were, with two thick, long benches instead of separate seats, though Harriet suspected they might be a bit pressed for space, what with the amount of campers who slept in Hermes' Cabin. There were a good nine campers who Harriet could tell were the children of minor gods, and probably at least twenty-five campers in total inside Cabin Eleven. Though that included them. Which meant it was all the better to get to meals early and grab a spot at the table. There were a few wooden chairs stacked up close by, so nobody would be sitting on the grass or the paving slabs it seemed. Harriet smiled, noting the smaller details which her visions hadn't allowed her to see properly. It certainly was different, experiencing the place in person rather than watching from afar.

"Looks like we're the first ones here from our cabin," Laurel said, smirking then, even as they took their seats, eyeing the nine others from Cabin Seven who were being brought their breakfast by the dryads. They weren't the only campers up though, what with there being a few early risers amongst Cabin Five, Cabin Four, and Cabin Nine. Cabin Seven was just the oddity which had all of its occupants awake and ready to devour their breakfast. Though considering they were her precious half-siblings, children of the sun god, it was hardly a surprise.

A stir of movement caught her eye, and Harriet turned even as the dryads presented them with their food with smiles and laughter. A camper stood in front of the bathtub-sized brazier, scraping some food off his plate and into the crackling flames within. Offerings, she remembered.

"We usually scrape a portion of our meal into the flames," a familiar voice sounded, and Harriet jumped, thoroughly unused to being surprised. But there was so much going on at camp, and admittedly she hadn't been having visions as much. Tracy Perloin, Head Counsellor of Cabin Eleven smiled at them. "It's an offering – to the gods, that is. Apparently I've heard that they like the smell." Tracy shrugged, picking up her own plate of food and leading the way up to the flaming brazier. "Just follow my lead," she remarked as they followed her like lost little ducklings up to the flickering amber and orange flames. "You can even think of a prayer to your parent – you might not know their identity just yet, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't make an offering."

"Mm. Okay!" Laurel declared, eagerly going first after Tracy finished.

"Come back to the table to eat once you're done," Tracy said, smiling at them once more before she went back to their table. She had been the last out of the four of them to arrive, and yet somehow she was the one sitting down to tuck into their breakfast first.

Laurel went first, scraping some of her strawberries into the flames, Alex went next, pushing in some of his bacon, and then Harriet found herself standing in front of the fire. Everyone made at least one offering a day – generally in the evenings, she knew. She had hardly been expecting to make her first offering so very early in the day, though she supposed it was fitting, what with how early of a riser she was. Along with pretty much each and every one of her siblings. A hum escaped her, the idea of a prayer escaping her as she made an offering to her father.

It was rather anticlimactic, what with no glowing golden holographic lyres spinning over anyone's heads. Humming under her breath, Harriet went back to the table, sitting down and tucking into her breakfast with gusto.

"Most people make their offerings in the evening," Tracy explained. "I just thought you three might want to do it first while there aren't many people about. Besides, I think everyone except sunshine's kids are way too dead on their feet in the morning to do anything but mindlessly eat and inspect cabins." She yawned. "Most of the others will be on their way by now." A grin overtook her face. "I made sure to wake them up before I came here…"

"You guys were dead to the world when we woke up," Laurel declared.

"You mean when you woke me up," Harriet corrected, picking up one of the goblets then and wondering how she was supposed to get her drink. It wasn't like there had been any water fountains in sight, and visions didn't mean she knew how to do everything. She frowned at the intricately decorated goblet. Was it enchanted, or something?

"It's enchanted," Tracy said, answering her question as if she was a mind reader, though Harriet didn't think Hermes' kids had that ability. Then again children of Apollo weren't supposed to have so many abilities across so many differing domains like she did, so what did she know? Harriet mentally shrugged at that. She was an outlier when it came to things like that, odd as her existence was. "Say whatever drink you want and it will fill itself up with that – all non-alcoholic though, I'm afraid."

Harriet snorted. "I'm way too young to drink," she muttered, wondering if she'd ever be able to drink away her sorrows. "Water," she said, watching then as the goblet filled itself up with water.

"What's alcohol?" Laurel asked, peering then at her goblet with alarmed fascination. "Or what counts as alcoholic…?"

Tracy blinked, looking at them once again, as if reminded of how young they were in comparison to her. "Nothing you should be drinking at your age. Just have water or juice or something. It's too early for any sort of pop."

"Water," Alex intoned, looking at Laurel pointedly.

"I'm not scraping you off the ceiling," Harriet muttered, sipping her water and wondering then if the goblets could create warm drinks.

"Hmph. Fine. Water," Laurel declared, lifting her goblet and taking a swig. "Even though technically there's not a ceiling in sight."

"You know what I mean," Harriet grumbled.

Laurel made a face. "Grandma."

"Fetus," Harriet said with a grin.

"Children," Alex added.

Tracy blinked, a soft huff of amusement escaping her as she watched them trade insults. "Anyway, Chiron asked me to send the three of you to him – he's got your schedules of what you'll be doing. We've got a few different activities going on at a time, aside from sword practice usually, though I have my suspicions you'll be at archery practice first."

"Why's that?" Laurel asked, eyeing Tracy as she got up, bidding them farewell with a raise of her hand.

"Because Cabin Seven always have their archery practice at the asscrack of dawn," Tracy muttered, yawning, her voice barely audible as she walked back to Cabin Eleven even as more and more campers arrived to have their breakfast. "Honestly if those three baby-blues aren't his spawn then I'm gonna lose a lot of money on that bet…"

Harriet frowned, musing on whether or not she'd meant to hear any of that. Baby-blues? Harriet frowned, gaze settling on the twin's sky blue eyes before closing her own and just wondering what everyone else saw her eyes as. Golden eyes were in no way, shape, or form common. Her fingers brushed against the skin of her cheekbones, and she frowned at her empty plate. She knew of the mist, and she knew how it was supposed to work. She knew it could fool demigods at times. Yet how powerful was that god in her dreams – to be able to ensure everyone she had come across was confused by her eye colour? A soft sigh escaped her, shoulders slumping, and a tap on her shoulder had her turning to face Laurel as she and her brother climbed to their feet, looking at her pointedly all the while.

"We'd best go and get those schedules," Alex said matter-of-factly. "I don't want to be late for anything."

"Me neither," Laurel agreed. "Come on, Harry." She held out her hand, and Harriet took it in a firm grip, letting the older girl lead her away from the pavilion. "Wait." She paused. "Where are we even supposed to find Mr Chiron anyway?"

Alexander paused. "Good question—"

"He's in the Big House," Harriet said, eyes having glazed out of focus to find the immortal centaur. Thankfully it hadn't given her a nosebleed – in fact, she had yet to have one at camp, something which Harriet was eternally grateful for, not that such a thing would last. Nosebleeds had the unfortunate habit of freaking people out, especially with how often she had them as opposed to the normal, non-demigodly mortals. And other demigods too, if she was being completely honest.

"How'd you know that?" Alex looked at her.

Harriet shrugged. "I just do."

"C'mon Allie, it's Harry we're talking about," Laurel said, leading the charge up to the Big House in all its wooden glory. "She always knows weird and wacky stuff."

A smile curled at her lips at that, a silent thank you for not asking questions never leaving her lips. She didn't like the thought of being odd, of being freakish, hopeless as such a wish was with her strange existence.

::

Tracy had been utterly correct in the fact that they had archery practice in their first slot or period however one wanted to call it. She had also been correct in the fact that they would share it with the majority of the Apollo Cabin. With their half-siblings. A smile curled at her lips, even as they all assembled at the archery range. At least she would be able to have fun with that, before the thing called sword practice came along. They all had that next, and Harriet could safely say she wasn't looking forwards to it as much as she was archery. There was the creeping, foreboding feeling that she would be absolutely terrible at swordplay, and Harriet had long since learnt to listen to her creepy, foreboding feelings, what with how often they had kept her alive and mildly prepared.

Chiron was there – being their instructor for archery, along with the most senior members of Cabin Seven: Summer Falton, closely followed by Ryan Salvador.

"How much experience do the three of you have with archery?" Chiron asked, trotting over to them even as the campers of Cabin Seven got ready to fire like clockwork. "This way," he spoke, leading them over to some targets a bit further away from the main range their half-siblings were using. Not that Laurel or Alexander knew about that fact as of yet, Harriet mused.

"We were all at an archery club together for a while – at least until some pyromaniac burnt that place to the ground," Laurel said, and Harriet could only wince at the reminder of her past escapades, intentional or unintentional as they were. With most leaning towards the latter, if not all. "So we're good with the basics, I think."

Chiron inclined his head. "I'll look forwards to not having to pry arrows out of my tail then," he said, and the twins could only laugh at what they perceived to be a joke. It wasn't, Harriet mused drily with a smile, even as she strung her bow and stepped up to the firing line, a set of seven arrows for each of them.

There was no point in hiding her talent, Harriet could only muse, what with how her father was already acutely aware of her true existence. She nocked the arrow on her string, drawing it back to her draw point as she aimed for gold. Her aim was as true as it had always been, and she could only eye the tiny spread she had as her arrows landed exactly where she had wanted them to.

She couldn't say the same for the twins – Laurel had a good aim and a consistent technique, but that aim wasn't perfect. Meanwhile Alex was unfortunately, undoubtedly the worst one between the three of them when it came to archery. Golden eyes flickered over, eyeing the targets further away that the rest of her half-siblings were using under the watchful gaze of Summer and Ryan.

Golden brows lowered, a hint of confusion entering her gaze as she came to realise just how uncanny her skill with arrows was. Archery was a talent that the children of Apollo had a natural advantage in, but it was just that – a natural inclination and talent. That didn't mean perfect shots. Rather, it was as if her arrows had a homing spell set upon them, like the ones she had once used when she was Harriet Potter. Yet another eccentricity of hers, it seemed.

"I swear you didn't used to be as good," Laurel grumbled, peering at her arrows as they lay there, not a single one outside the golden centre.

Harriet shrugged. "I'm good at archery," she said. "Though you'll probably slaughter me when it comes to sword practice – give me something to work with, Laur."

"Hm. Suppose I can," she said, a smile curving at her lips. "What do you reckon Alex is gonna be real good at?"

Her vision tinted with gold, images coming to her of Alex praying in Ancient Greek, of wounds sealing up beneath his fingers as he smiled happily, speaking with another blonde-haired blue-eyed boy. Will Solace. The name came to her unbidden, and Harriet could only smile. The scene changed to one of a battle, her dear half-sibling using a blade even as he tried to find his next patient. An older blue-eyed blonde teenager with a skull caved in and leaking grey and red. Her fingers twitched, fear pulsing in her chest as she thought of the potential loss of one of her family. The scene shifted once more, a bridge collapsing, a figure disappearing, a golden shroud burnt without body. Pain pulsed through her skull, a voice crying out.

"Do you even care that they're dead?"

Blue eyes flashed gold, rage palpable, an insufferable sense of pride. "They had an honourable death."

"They're still dead!"

Harriet blinked, gold fizzling from her vision as the images left her.

"Earth to Harry?" There was a familiar hand waving in front of her face. "Uh, Mr Chiron… I don't suppose you've got a tissue?"

"Perhaps you should help your friend over to the nearest bench," Chiron's voice came from a distance, and Harriet could only blink as reality returned to her. "Lucius can have a look at her. It's quite out of the ordinary to have a nosebleed like that…"

Harriet blinked, feeling Laurel's hand gripping at her arm, the familiar sensation of blood dripping from her nostrils coming to her then.

"But Harriet always gets nosebleeds," Laurel said like it was an ordinary fact, and Harriet supposed that it was. She had nosebleeds far too often, but that was what happened when she had a stupidly overpowered prophetic gift which was probably too strong for her body.

"'m fine," she mumbled, almost gagging on the taste of her own blood as she opened her mouth. Her hand went to her nose, fingers trying to get rid of as much blood as possible from around her lips.

"Don't do that!" Laurel hissed, dragging her over to the nearest bench as blood continued to pour down from her nose. "Honestly, wait until we get a tissue – now you look like you just came off the set of a horror movie!"

"Mn." Harriet shrugged.

"Hello," a new voice came, and Harriet could only blink at the arrival of one of her half-siblings. Blue eyes peered at her, a boy who could only be around the same age as the twins peered down at her. "Chiron said that you had a nosebleed," he said, and she stared at him blankly because really, what gave it away? "I can help, if you'd like."

Harriet nodded.

Lucius smiled at her, and Harriet desperately tried not to think of the only other person who had borne the name Lucius before. Her sibling was nothing like Lucius Malfoy, despite the fact that they were both blonde. Words reached her, familiar and laced with power. A hymn to their father in Ancient Greek. Her nose stopped bleeding, the pain in her head lessening and lessening until it vanished. Harriet sighed in relief. "Maybe you should sit out for the rest of the hour," he told her, nothing but concern in his eyes as he looked at the smeared blood on her hand and face. "That was a nasty nosebleed."

"She always gets them," Laurel grumbled, searching through hers and Alex's pockets still. "Aha! Knew I had one." She held out a tissue. "Here. So you can look a bit less like you lost a fight," she declared.

"Fanks," Harriet mumbled, having already pinched her nose with her newly acquired tissue.

"Do you feel lightheaded or dizzy at all?" Lucius asked. "I know we've all got sword practice after this—"

"'ll be fine," she said, wiping her face as best she could. "'s not a big deal."

Harriet wondered why everyone besides the twins looked at her sceptically. She'd definitely had worse – and the campers and Chiron had definitely seen worse than a simple nosebleed.

::

"Right…" Chiara Mileto, Head Counsellor of Cabin Five, looked down at her, grinning almost manically at the sight of her. Harriet wondered if she still had some blood smeared on her face or what she had otherwise done to earn such a look. "Annabeth!" she called, even as Harriet looked at the small sword she had received from the armoury only a few minutes ago. It felt different in her hand as opposed to the bow she had been using only the hour previous – well the part of the hour where she hadn't been side-lined thanks to her unfortunate tendency to bleed from her nose. "Oy, Chase! You've finally got an opponent smaller than you!"

A blonde girl about the same age as her came towards her, storm grey eyes picking her apart, and Harriet felt eerily scrutinised beneath such a gaze.

"Hello?" Harriet tried, missing the twins already – those two having been paired off with some other campers around their age. Her and the blonde girl in front of her, she was realising, were definitely some of the youngest campers there. The majority of them seemed to be between the ages of eleven and eighteen. "I'm Harriet Carter…"

"Annabeth Chase," she replied, still looking at her as if picking the best way to take her down in the probably upcoming fight.

"Maybe run her through some of the basics before you have your first spar," Chiara suggested. "I've drilled enough of them into you – since that's mostly what you've been doing for the past year." The Ares girl turned on her then. "This is Annabeth Chase – she's a year-rounder, and she arrived here last year, so she's got quite a head start on you."

"Okay…" Harriet mumbled, knowing then that she was absolutely going to fail when it came to sword fighting. The only real experience she'd had was with the Sword of Gryffindor many years and a life before that moment. And she had still been impaled by the Basilisk's fang. "It's, uh, nice to meet you," she said, swallowing thickly as those grey eyes continued to bore into her skull.

"Uh, nice to meet you too," Annabeth replied, sounding so very stilted, and Harriet could only lament her almost non-existent social skills.

"Should we – well, I'll probably regret this, but, shouldn't we start practicing or something?"

Annabeth nodded, turning and gesturing for her to follow. "Let's go over here so we're out of the way a bit," she suggested, though it was more of an order.

"Okay," she said, trying to keep some form of conversation afloat so no awkward silences fell amidst the sound of clashing blades as others fought around them.

Grey eyes fell on her again, analysing her as she moved, and Harriet could safely say she was hardly surprised when she was completely and utterly trounced in her first spar.