Hey guys. I'm going to be putting out a new story...thing. I'm basically going to write about all my fanfiction pet peeves. Cliches, odd pairings, grammar issues, the works. Just to get one thing clear though- THE STORY WILL BE COMPLETELY OPINION BASED. If you don't like what I have to say, fine. That's okay. Just don't flame in the reviews because your opinion is different.
Chapter Six: And So It Begins
Harry POV:
"What the bloody hell was that?"
"Language, Ronald." Hermione scolded, setting her bookbag down by her feet. It was dinnertime, and everyone was cranky. No one expected to receive so much homework on the first day of school.
Percy's so-called "magic immunity" was the talk of the school. The story had been exaggerated until he apparently grabbed the spell out of thin air and swallowed it. It was ridiculous. On the other hand, it was kind of nice to not be the center of attention. No one really seemed to care that Harry threw off the Imperious Curse, which was fine with him.
Ron was not talking about Percy, though.
"Switching Spells? In our fourth year? Has the woman gone mad?"
"Ron!" Hermione snapped. She was in a particularly bad mood.
Harry shot her a look, and she sighed impatiently. "Alright, I'm sorry. But I'm seriously starting to think that even Percy doesn't know where he goes to school. I must've asked at least six different times, but he always changed the subject!" She stabbed her fork angrily into her mashed potatoes.
"Maybe he's embarrassed. I dunno, the name of his school is something weird?" Harry guessed, lifting a forkful of food to his mouth.
"Well, I don't like him." Ron announced.
"Yes, Ron, we know. You've told us at least ten times today." Hermione pointed out.
Before Ron could argue back, Dumbledore's voice rolled across the room.
"Students! I have an announcement!"
The Great Hall quieted as everyone noticed the large covered object next to Dumbledore. It was tall and covered in a brown cloth.
"This year, Hogwarts was the honor of hosting the largest gathering of magical schools in the world. The Triwizard Tournament!"
There was a round of confused cheers. Across the table from Harry, Hermione gasped.
"They discontinued it almost thirty years ago. I think someone died!" She whisper-shouted at him.
"The Triwizard Tournament is an extremely dangerous competition. We will be joined in one week by two other magical schools. The Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, and the Durmstrang Institute. One student from each school will compete in three events, each one more difficult than the last."
"Is there a prize?" someone from the Ravenclaw table yelled.
"The winner will receive one thousand galleons, and the Triwizard Cup!"
Murmurs broke out among the students, but before they could get too loud, Dumbledore spoke again.
"Due to the dangerous nature of this tournament, the other headmasters and I have decided that only students who are seventeen or older may participate."
This new information led to loud groans, and even a few boos. Dumbledore ignored the noise, and waited for the hall to quiet once more.
"The other schools will arrive seven days from now. I expect you all to be on your best behavior."
And with that, he turned and walked back to his chair.
In the dormitory that night, Harry couldn't help but think about the dream he'd had at Privet Drive. What did it mean? Was it real? He had definitely recognized Peter Pettigrew. So who was the man in the chair? And who was the other guy?
It was a lot to think about, and with the whole Percy situation, he hadn't really had time to think about it. But now, in the silent room with nothing to do but think, it was hard not to. So, he made himself focus on Percy instead.
Well, what was there to think about? Realizing that he didn't actually know that much about him, Harry resolved to talk to him tomorrow. Not to interrogate him about where he was from, since he obviously didn't want to talk about that, but just to get to know him better. Some small part of his brain was nagging him about it.
Looking over at Percy's still form on the bed to the left of his, he felt a little sorry for him. He obviously didn't know that much about magic, and he was old enough to graduate. That had to be embarrassing.
With that final thought in his head, he drifted off to sleep.
He was not prepared for the dream.
It started out as fragments of his nightmare. A flash of green light, a cold voice, a pale hand-
Then it changed.
The images blurred into moving landscapes. There was a flash of green grass, a crashing, swirling ocean wave, city buildings, trees, and finally a giant hill, crested by a giant pine tree. The scene switched to somewhere inside a forest, where an odd looking bunch of kids in armor were staring in awe at a smaller boy standing in a creek. He had dark hair and a gleaming bronze sword in his hand. Above his head, a misty, green-blue image of a trident shone brilliantly in the dark. Changing again, the same boy stood above a giant figure, sword dripping blood. The giant that he was standing over had only one eye. The boy's stance was tense and aggressive looking. Off to the side stood three other kids, one of them looked really hurt and was covered in a giant… rug?
The scene flashed again, and Harry could see a slightly older version of the same boy kneeling in front of a dreary sky, straining under the weight of an enormous slab of rock. He let out a silent scream as his arms shook. In the next image, the boy was somewhere dark and made of stone, and Harry could almost feel heat coming through the dream. He was with a girl, but her back was to him. Then he was fighting a blond guy with a scar on his face, whose eyes were the color of liquid gold. He jumped from the top of a cruise ship as it exploded.
It was only while he was watching the boy walk on water (what?) that he realized who it was.
It was Percy.
The images stopped. In the final scene, Percy was kissing the girl that had been with him in all the images, and they were underwater.
All of a sudden, the invisible floor that Harry didn't even know he was standing on dropped away. He free-fell through the air, because now he had a body.
When he landed, he was in a different world. It was more vivid, sharper. The scene playing out in front of him looked like it was actually happening, and wasn't fake or blurred.
He was in a dark, red-tinted world. The ground was made up of jagged black rocks that looked like they could slice his hand apart with a single touch. The sky didn't look like a sky; it was just a red haze, with more black rocks occasionally coming down through it like stalactites. Even though he had just arrived wherever this place was, he was already having trouble breathing. The air felt… toxic. He shouldn't have been able to tell in a dream, but here he was, starting to choke.
Noticing that he wasn't alone, he turned his attention to the circle of old hags with leathery bat wings that surrounded him. Yep. His dreams were reaching a whole new level of weird.
"We are the Arai."
The voices hissed their way through the dead trees that made up the forest around them, but the demon things didn't open their mouths.
"The Curses. You will pay for what you've done."
Harry was about to ask what he'd done when another voice spoke.
"Not this again."
Something was preventing Harry from looking at the person who spoke, but the voice sounded familiar.
"This time is different. We have the girl."
The air behind the nearest old-lady-demon shimmered, revealing the same girl that Harry had seen not long ago in his dream montage of Percy's crazy life. She wasn't in great shape. She looked unconscious, with a nasty gash across her forehead. Her clothes were ripped and dirty, and her blonde hair was tangled around her shoulders.
"Annabeth." the voice breathed, horrified. Harry heard the small but distinct sound of a pen being uncapped that he remembered from muggle school. But the sound of a blade slicing through the air accompanied it.
The dream started to fade out, and Harry got one last look at a bronze sword slicing through the air, held by an extremely angry Percy Jackson. A flurry of hacking noises and sounds like parchment being ripped followed as Harry returned to the world of the living.
But the sound of screaming followed.
Did you like it? No? Yes? Either one is fine.
Anyone else's teachers crazy? Mine are like, "Oh, you have a five minute break between classes? Don't want you to get bored, here's some more work!"
But you got to appreciate teachers. Someone do me a favor tomorrow and say thank you to your teacher when you leave the room, or video call, or whatever. Even, "Have a nice day!" Really, it makes you feel good, and they feel good.
As always, don't forget to favorite, follow, and review!
Peace out,
LadyHW
Shoutouts:
life-amIright: Thanks so much! That means a lot.
InsertRandomUncreativeNameHere: I'm so glad you like it. Thanks for leaving reviews!
Jinglebells852: Thanks, glad you liked it.
surya25addanki: Probably, and for this story, yes. Good observation!
Pierre Shi (Guest): Wish granted! Although it was pretty short. I just don't have a lot of time!
