HARRY'S P.O.V
I dressed into some dress robes Percy had given me. It was the next morning, and time for Umbridge's trial. I met up with Percy in the Gryffindor Common Room, who was wearing the same robes he had worn the day I met him; magenta with gold sleeves. We made our way to Dumbledore's office. He greeted us with a smile and took us to Hogsmeade, where we Apparated.
We found ourselves in the Ministry, as loud and busy as it always was. After signing in, we made our way to the courtroom. We saw Umbridge sitting in a chair, chained.
"I don't get the point of this trial. Dolores Umbridge is a law-abiding Ministry official, and does not possess any Dark artifacts!" Fudge was saying, his back facing us.
"Excuse me," Percy said, and Fudge turned to look at us.
"Now that the witnesses are present, we may start the trial." Amelia Bones said.
I kept thinking, extremely nervous. I was jolted out of my thoughts by Fudge saying, "I call forward Harry James Potter and Perseus Achilles Jackson-Olympia as witnesses and victims." (A/N- I don't know if Percy has a middle name canonically, so I made up one)
We went to the victim box and stood. I heard Percy mutter irritably, "Percy Jackson, please."
"Mr. Potter and Jackson-Olympia, do you have any evidence?" Fudge asked.
"We have a Quill and a memory," Percy stated and took out the quill. A House-Elf came to take the quill.
"Very well," Fudge said and floated a Pensieve towards us. Percy drew in a deep breath, took out his wand, touched it to his temple, extracted the memory, and put it in the Pensieve.
The Pensieve accepted it and a duplicate of Umbridge's office sprang out, showing our detention. The conversation unfolded. After the memory finally ended, Percy spoke.
"I think this is enough evidence, but if it isn't, we still have the quill. If you look close, you'll find 'Umbridge' written on the handle of the quill."
"This is a fabricated tale!" Fudge said, slamming his fist into the table.
"How is this fabricated?! We have the evidence right here." I said, disbelieving.
"It can be fabricated! We all saw the memory and Mr. Jackson-Olympia stole something that did not belong to him! What kind of person would steal from their professors? This can be a ploy set up by Albus Dumbledore, to make sure no Ministry official that reports to me finds out what happens in that school. I will have none of it!" he roared.
"Nothing except learning happens in school!" I said. I would've said more, but Percy put his hand on mine, trying to calm me down. He then put both his hands on the railing and leaned forward, giving aggressive vibes.
"Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry is safe and not corrupt, and I stole because I knew that something that can carve into someone's skin was obviously forbidden. If that's not enough, she-" he nodded towards Umbridge, "did it to an underage wizard."
"Fine," Fudge said. "Those who think that Umbridge is guilty, raise your hands."
Everybody looked nervous but then started raising their hands. Soon the only person with their hands down was Fudge.
Amelia Bones then said, "Dolores Jane Umbridge is hereby sentenced to 20 years in Azkaban for the possession of unregistered Dark artifacts and its use on an underage wizard. The court is dismissed."
Two Dementors came to get Umbridge, and I shivered, remembering my third year. One of them turned towards us and said, "Half-blood, express our greetings to our Prince and Princess." before leaving.
Percy nodded, as if it made total sense, and went out of the room, beckoning me to follow him. We found Dumbledore sitting on a bench not too far away from the court. We gripped his hand and Disapparated.
As we went to go back to the Common Room, he said "Percy, can I speak to you for a moment?"
Percy told me to go back to the Common Room. I left, wondering what Dumbledore could have wanted.
PERCY'S P.O.V
I stood in Dumbledore's office, confused. What could he possibly want?
"You're probably wondering why I asked to speak with you. Well, I'll cut to the chase. With Umbridge gone, I want you to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts."
I was shocked. I started protesting. "I already teach a class. How am I going to teach two? And you can get a better teacher anywhere. I'm not really the best for theoretical work. And I can't only teach practical because many have their O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s."
"We can merge both classes together. And the material isn't really that hard. You can take help from the other Royals, or ask another to help teach the theory."
I thought it over and decided it would be fine. "Fine, but I want to discuss it with everyone else."
"Great! Give me your response by tomorrow morning."
I nodded and went to the Great Hall for dinner.
I sat down next to Reyna, who was talking with Clarisse about the best sword maneuvers. She turned around.
"Hey," she greeted.
"Hi," I responded as I helped myself to some pizza.
"How was the trial? I hope that hag got imprisoned for a decade."
"Two decades, actually."
"She deserved it."
"I agree,"
"You look like you've got something on your mind."
"Dumbledore asked me to teach DADA."
She raised an eyebrow. "What about Basic Fighting?"
"We can merge the two."
"Then you should do it."
"What about you guys? I don't want to make you feel unimportant."
"We can help. Though you should get Nico to do the theory, most of the creatures are from his father's domain, and he ought to be good at teaching theoretically."
"Fine," I started but got interrupted by Dumbledore clapping his hands together.
Everyone looked up, and Dumbledore started talking.
"Sorry to interrupt your dinner, but I have an announcement to make. As some of you may know, Dolores Umbridge, your former Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, has been charged for owning a Dark artifact, and its usage on an underage wizard, and is serving a sentence of two decades in Azkaban." At this, whispers broke out. "Silence! Anyways, if you catch anyone doing something illegal, don't be afraid to notify me of it. That is all. Please enjoy the rest of your dinner."
After that announcement, I went to the Slytherin table and found Nico, who was talking with Draco.
"Death Breath, Dumbledore asked me to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts. Will you teach the theory?" (A/N- Underlined is Greek)
He turned to face me. "Sure, it's pretty easy anyway, Kelp Head."
Draco also turned to face me and having heard the exchange, said "Hey, Admiral, are you sure you can teach DADA? The same goes to you, Death Boy."
I gasped in fake horror. "Draco Malfoy, underestimating the great Percy Jackson?"
He laughed and lightly punched me in the arm. "Now shoo to your table."
I smiled and went back.
HARRY'S P.O.V
I was in the middle of another graveyard dream when it slowly shifted into a junkyard. I recognized a younger Percy and Thalia, who seemed to be the same age. There were three others who I didn't recognize, but one of them looked familiar. They were battling a huge metal warrior.
"Distract it. I'll have to time it right." Percy was saying.
"No. I'll go." The familiar girl said.
"You can't. You're new at this! You'll die." he protested.
"It's my fault the monster came after us. It's my responsibility. Here," she said, picking up something and giving it to Percy. "If anything happens, give that to Nico. Tell him… tell him I'm sorry."
And that's when it clicked. This was Nico's sister. It made sense. But that meant… I was going to see her die. Oh no.
"Bianca, no!"
But Bianca charged anyways. She made it into the warrior's foot while everyone else was battling, and managed to disable it, but the warrior fell down.
They kept searching for her. The unnamed girl, who was wearing the circlet Thalia wears, started crying, and Thalia got frustrated.
"We can keep searching. It's light now. We'll find her." Percy said.
"No we won't. It happened just as it was supposed to." Another boy said. He had goat legs.
"What are you talking about?" Percy asked.
"The prophecy.'One shall be lost in the land without rain'."
The dream wafted yet again. This time they were in a field, the goat-legged boy was missing, and Annabeth, a middle-aged man, and a teenager were there as well.
"Annabeth, Percy," Thalia said. She and the teenager were kneeling beside the other girl. They ran over to her side.
"Can't you heal her with magic?" Percy asked the teenager. "I mean… you're a," Here he said something I couldn't hear.
"Life is a fragile thing, Percy. If the Fates will the string to be cut, there is little I can do. But I will try." the girl gripped the teenager's wrist.
"Have I served thee well?" she asked. Her accent sounded old.
"With great honour. The finest of my attendants."
Her face relaxed. "Rest. At last."
"I can try to heal the poison, my brave one."
The girl saw Thalia and took her hand.
"I am sorry we argued. We could have been sisters."
"It's my fault. You were right about Luke, about heroes, men – everything." Thalia said, looking like she was about to cry.
"Perhaps not all men," she said, smiling weakly at Percy. "Do you still have the sword, Percy?"
He brought out his pen and gave it to her. She held it. "You spoke the truth, Percy Jackson. You are nothing like… like Hercules. I am honoured that you carry this sword."
"Zoe – " he started.
"Stars," Zoe whispered. "I can see the stars again, my lady."
A tear trickled down the teenager's cheek. "Yes, my brave one. They are beautiful tonight."
"Stars," Zoe repeated. Her eyes fixed on the night sky. And she did not move again.
The teenager spoke a few words in the language Percy always speaks, cupped her hand around Zoe's mouth. A silvery wisp of smoke exhaled from Zoe's lips and was caught in her hands. Zoe's body shimmered and disappeared. She stood, said something, breathed into her cupped hand, and released the silver dust into the sky. It flew up, sparkling, and vanished.
Annabeth gasped while looking up. The stars were brighter now and made a pattern that looked like a girl with a bow.
"Let the world honour you, my huntress," the teenager said. "Live forever in the stars."
I woke up in a cold sweat. I had just witnessed two deaths in a dream.
A/N- Hello everybody! It's been a while now, hasn't it? I apologize for my absence. That last part was pretty sad, but I hope this chapter makes up for my month-long absence. This is my longest chapter ever, and I think that's because of the dream. This was a pretty big canon divergence, but I don't think anyone will protest. R&R and I'll see you next time.
~ANNABETH MCGRACE