He had awoken with a fright. His dream was anything but pleasant. They remembered nothing. He remembered nothing. The boy couldn't handle that; he remembering nothing hurt him.
The gods.
They must have done this. There was no other reason. Which gods could it be?
Not his dad.
Not his dad.
It must have been their dad. Of course he would do this.
The jerk was always doing something like this. Or could it be his wife? She has pulled stuff like this before. The boy couldn't handle this. He had to fix it. There was no other way. He would be making his way to Hogwarts.
Draco sat in his common room, staring into the fire.
The groups that Slughorn had placed them into seemed highly suspicious. Why would he intentionally place Draco into a group with the Hermione Granger?
The girl he hated.
The girl he bullied.
The girl he lo-
No. Those thoughts could not pas through his mind. Even though the thought of Hermione Granger-
"No!" he screamed.
The few students around the common room doing various things jumped. They all walked to their rooms or to the library mumbling about Draco Malfoy's outburst.
His thoughts ran wild. From the new kids who seemed to remember nothing to the look of disgust upon Hermione's face when it was announced they would be in a group together.
The new kids. They were something else. They did not feel as though they were supposed to be here, unlike when the students of Beaubaxton and Durmstrang came to visit. Those students felt like all the others; but not the American's. Something was off about them, but Draco knew that these kids might give him the chance to have friends, bonds he had not even know existed. Maybe it was time to try.
He walked out of his common room, wandering the castle, unsure of where the American's could be. That was, until, he found them outside of McGonagall's office. All that could be heard was arguing.
"-can't do that here, Leo!"
"But Annabeth, it's fun! Everyone would enjoy it."
"Leo, listen to her. That can't be seen by the students."
Draco had hidden in an alcove near where they were, so they did not see him and he heard them.
"Don't you find it cool that I can just light my hand on fire?"
Draco heard collective sighs. Who can just...light their hand on fire? What kind of ridiculous thing was that? No one can do that; not even Dumbledore was strong enough for that.
"Stop, Leo. It's obvious we're not like them, so we can't give them more reason to hate us. We don't even know why we're here. McGonagall just called for us, let's focus on that. Why are we needed?"
A door opened in the perfect place where Draco could not see a damn thing.
"Nico! Oh my gods, I can't believe you're alive!" a new voice exclaimed.
He heard the collision of two bodies hitting.
"Boff, who are you?" Nico said warily and out of breath.
The silence hung heavy over them.
"Nico, honey. You--you don't remember me?" the voice broke. Draco could hear the heartache through every other emotion the voice could have held.
"I'm sorry, blondy, but no."
Draco decided to come out, stealthily enough that it would look as if he just happened to stumble that way.
"Ah, just the kids I was looking for," Draco said.
"Who are you?" the blond boy had asked; the new voice Draco heard, apparently.
He smirked, a wild idea going through his head. Draco held out his hand, "My name's Malfoy. Draco Malfoy."
Coincidentally, the Golden Trio happened to be walking by. Ron and Harry had snickered, remembering the first day they had met the only and only Malfoy, Draco Malfoy.
Draco found this funny, so quite obviously, he had to reply with: "Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles and more children than they can afford."
Harry could not contain his laughter, clutching his side as he kneeled. Ron flushed, turning the same color as his hair.
The boy in front of him eyed Draco's hand, before ultimately deciding to take it. "Solace. Will Solace, son of Apollo."
Draco had watched the others, something seemed to click inside their brains. "I just came looking to see if you lot were alright. Everyone has heard what happened in Divination yesterday."
Percy tossed and turned. Dreams danced in his head, none of which were good.
When his dreams picked up, he was at an old museum.
Then there was a bird lady.
Then, a pen.
Three old ladies and a large blue sock.
Scissors.
A man, dirty and disgusting.
A half man, half...sheep? No, that would be insulting. Half goat, seemed to fit.
A huge bull. No, man. No, bull. No...both?
A centaur.
A fat man drinking Diet Coke.
Annabeth.
The Goat Man.
A bus.
A chihuahua.
A monster?
A fish creature?
A burger.
Snakes.
Statues.
An arcade.
A taxi.
The Tunnel of Love.
Spiders.
A water bed.
A record studio.
A boat.
A beautiful older woman.
A lightning bolt.
A helm.
The bird lady, but in three.
A large man with angry eyes to kill.
A severed head.
A pack of Coke.
A scorpion.
Then, a voice came ringing through his head; that of Professor Trelawney.
You shall go west, and face the god who has turned,
You shall find what was stolen, and see it safely returned,
You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend,
And you shall fail to save what matters most, in the end.