Ring Retrieving

Although no one has asked, you all might be wondering how Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny have been able to be using magic when they're all underage. Firstly, Dumbledore got the students who were going to America permission. Secondly, underage magic is detected as magic being performed near an underage wizard or witch. So, basically, a magical child with at least one magical guardian could get away with performing magic outside school if their parents let them get away with it or they did it behind their parents' back. Since Harry is the only wizard known living on Privet Drive, if magic is performed on the street, Harry is blamed, which is really stupid, but that's how it works.

Disclaimer: I don't own HP or PJO

Hermione's POV

The week following Harry's…unapproved vision, Percy had told Annabeth and I to plan how we would go about getting the ring. We had a few disagreements, but the first thing we agreed on was that we had to do this in a way that made sure the guards wouldn't be able to alert Voldemort or Kronos as to our arrival. How to do that was where we disagreed. I wanted to sneak up on them and stun them with a simple Stupefy. There were four of us with wands, and it shouldn't be too difficult to do if they weren't aware of our presence. No one would be killed, and, unlike with hand-to-hand combat, it would be faster to take them down. Annabeth, on the other hand, wanted to sneak up on the guards and attack them with her knife and Percy's sword. I pointed out my problems with this; I wasn't comfortable with killing anything, and it would take longer to take them down. This could give them time to contact Voldemort. But she had brought up a good point in the form of a problem with my plan; we didn't know how monsters would react to magic. They could be immune to it, or be wearing armor that protected them from magic since they were now aware of the wizarding world. This made my plan pointless.

When both of us had made our points, Annabeth had come up with a separate one that combined the two. I had to admit that I was impressed, but then again, she wasn't a daughter of Athena for nothing. We presented the plan to Harry and Percy, who asked questions and added anything that they felt was missing (which wasn't a lot; I could count their adjustments on one hand). Once we agreed, we filled Ron and Ginny in on the plan, and went over it for days until each of us had it memorized.

It was now the day we had planned to go, and I was running through everything under my breath, swirling my cereal around in the milk, but not really seeing or eating it. What if something went wrong? I thought nervously. What if someone forgot part of the plan? What if I forgot part of the plan? Ron wasn't helping my anxiety, either; he sat next to me, stuffing his face with his own cereal, making a mess all over the table. I finally snapped as a soggy bit of cereal landed on my hand, "Ron! Could you please keep your food contained to the inside of your bowl and your mouth, and chew with your mouth closed?"

I noticed he glanced at me before responding, something I noticed he did a lot before acting recently, as if trying to judge my exact mood. Whatever he saw made him close his mouth and swallow, before he took a napkin and wiped my hand clean, "Sorry, Hermione. But you really need to relax. We'll do fine. You and Annabeth have drilled us like military sergeants." I glared at him. He was avoiding the subject! As if sensing danger, I saw a flash of apprehension in his eyes and he took my hand. I watched him as he took his spoon in his hand, dipped it into his cereal, and stuck it in his mouth, chewing with his mouth closed. Once he swallowed, he repeated, "Relax."

Taking a deep breath, I realized that I must have been rather obviously tense and irritated, because, although Ron has gotten better since our change in relationship, he doesn't always notice when I'm about to get onto him about something. But he's so sweet most of the time, and funny…

Snapping myself back to reality, I smiled slightly at him and started to eat my breakfast, once again repeating the plan, but this time in my head.

As according to plan, Kreacher dropped us off in the forest surrounding the Gaunts' shack. With a regretful look back at Harry, he disappeared. I smiled; I knew that with a bit of kindness, house-elves would be happier! But right now wasn't the time nor the place to think up new plans for a house-elf rights movement. Percy and Harry exchanged a look, and Annabeth approached her boyfriend, her Yankees cap in hand. As I watched, she gave him a final, lingering kiss, whispered, "Good luck," and put her cap on his head. Percy immediately disappeared, and I looked at Harry in time to see him pulling away from a kiss from Ginny and wrapping his Invisibility Cloak around his body. Ginny tapped her wand to the cloak, using a spell I found in one of the…less dark books in Grimmauld Place's library. Harry's cloak fitted itself onto his body, so he wouldn't have to make sure that it was always covering him. With one last smile at Ron and me, he flipped the hood up, which, although we couldn't see, fitted itself onto his head like the rest, but also allowed him to breathe.

Apprehension sank into my stomach as I looked in the direction I assumed Harry and Percy were going. They were keeping track of their invisible comrade with a useful little invisible bond spell I found that creates an imaginary link between two people, but one they could feel, as if they were tethered together by an invisible, untouchable force. Unconsciously, I grabbed Ron's hand, and didn't notice until he squeezed it back, whether to assure me or him, I don't know.

This was going to be a long few minutes.

Percy's POV

It was odd to feel as if you were tied to someone else, but when you looked, there was no rope attached to you at all. I tried to ignore the strangeness of the situation and focus on the fact that it helped me, but I couldn't stop looking at my waist and letting my thoughts trail off to random things about it. Focus, Percy, focus! I admonished myself. This was important. If the test didn't go in Harry's favor, I would have to immediately incapacitate the monster.

Maybe I should back up a bit, and explain the plan a little. While the others waited where we left them, Harry and I were to find a monster guard completely alone. Once we found one, Harry would test two spells: the Stunning Spell and the Laser Curse. If neither worked, I would have to quickly kill the monster with Riptide, but that was only if the monster noticed us. Although I was nervous about the monster alerting others to our presence, I considered the part of finding a monster alone the hardest part of this phase of the plan.

After having to stop our progress several times as paired up monsters passed us, Harry and I finally found a dracaena standing alone amongst some bushes, watching the empousa it had been whispering with before we got there walk away. I felt Harry stop and turn one way, looking for any monsters, so I turned the other and did the same. There was no one else around. Harry must have noticed this too, since I felt through the bond that he was moving slowly towards the dracaena. Once he reached it, I felt him crouch down at her exposed snake-like legs, avoiding the odd tail-like appendage (Annabeth would be proud of my big word!) that was coming out of where her feet should be and curling up. I drew Anaklusmos, careful not to make a sound. I watched the space right behind the dracaena's legs and observed a jet of red light shoot from apparently no where and hit her leg. The tail-like thing on the other leg swatted at the leg that had been hit as if flicking away a fly, but the Stunning Spell had no other effect on her than that. My grip tightened on Riptide and I made to step forward but held back, knowing Harry still needed to test the Laser Curse. After a few seconds, I saw a slightly brighter jet of red light shoot out from no where and hit the dracaena's leg. Nothing happened.

Either this dracaena was stupid or its mind was on other things, because it again only swatted at where the curse had hit it. Both of us knew what we had to do next. Since the monster didn't notice us, we were to go back to the others. I felt Harry slowly back away from the monster and knew I wouldn't relax until he and I were walking away. Just as Harry managed to circle back to my side, the dracaena sprang into action and swung its spear in his direction. Immediately, I jumped in front of him and slammed my hand down on the watch Tyson gave me, my shield springing up and blocking the blow just in time for it to merely vibrate my shield with a loud CLANG. Super. There goes our cover. Moving my shield to the side a bit as the monster withdrew her spear, I swung Riptide up and across her, aiming low. Although she couldn't see me, apparently she could sense me or the magic in my sword, since the pole of her spear slammed down into the ground to block my swing. She yanked the bottom of her spear out of the ground and twirled it so the point was facing me, and without hesitation, she plunged it directly at my chest. I moved the shield to block the blow at the same time that I swung Riptide low again. I seriously hoped that Harry wasn't frozen and had sent the warning spell to tell the others that we were fighting a monster. My slice had grazed the monster, but not enough to make her erupt into golden dust.

Suddenly, Annabeth burst through the trees, closely followed by Ginny, and then Ron and Hermione. This was enough of a distraction for me to cleanly swipe all the way through the dracaena's legs, making her erupt into that shower of golden dust. I removed Annabeth's cap and Harry lowered the hood of his cloak. "Did you see any others coming on your way?" Harry asked in a low voice. They shook their heads.

Harry sighed in relief, "So I did manage to put the Silencing Charm up fast enough." How could I have forgotten! We had planned for this farther than warning the others we were being attacked. Harry would have to cast a Silencing Charm around us and the monster we were fighting if it came to that. Well, I'm glad he remembered.

"Magic doesn't work," I informed them. Hermione frowned.

"Then I'm glad I asked you about a spell that blocks physical attacks," Annabeth said, looking at Hermione.

Nodding, Hermione looked around at us all and whispered, "Remember, the goal is to not be seen."

"Er, Hermione?" Harry began nervously, scratching the back of his disembodied neck. "I know I should've brought this up in planning, but I guess I was so sure that magic would work that I didn't…maybe you three should go back."

Ginny looked like she would be yelling at him if she wasn't so concerned about our location being compromised. Instead, she glared heavily at her boyfriend and hissed, "Harry James Potter, if you think for one second that –"

"Listen," he interrupted in a whisper. "This isn't about fighting. This is about getting the ring and getting out of here so when we do fight we can win. Magic doesn't work against them, and the more people there are, the higher the chance is that we'll get caught. I'm staying because I know exactly where the ring is in the house."

The fire had left Ginny's eyes, but she was still scowling at him. Despite this, when he leant forward and kissed her cheek, she didn't move away, but permitted him to do so. He looked at Ron and Hermione, and so did I. Hermione looked resigned to the fact that it was only logical to have them leave, but Ron looked to be sulking a little. Then, as loud as he dared, Harry called, "Kreacher!"

Kreacher the house-elf appeared and Harry instructed him to take Ginny, Ron, and Hermione back to Grimmauld Place. Once they were gone, I gave Annabeth her cap back, "You wear this. I'll be connected to Harry, so I'll know where he is. You can follow me, and I promise to keep out of sight to everyone but you and Harry."

Sighing, Annabeth took her cap back and placed it on her head, immediately disappearing. She whispered, "Percy, put Riptide away. The monsters can sense its magical presence." I did, and she concluded firmly, "Let's go."

Harry led the way and I followed through our bond, knowing that Annabeth was following me. The smells of the old forest and rotting house nearby must have masked my and Annabeth's scents, because no monster jumped on us the whole way to the cabin. It was because of this that Annabeth insisted on checking the perimeter of the shack, looking into the windows, before going in. Harry and I waited in a clump of bushes and trees for her to be done. We did have to agree that it was suspicious that there weren't any monsters guarding the entrance. When Annabeth returned, she crouched down next to us (well, at least I thought she did) and touched my shoulder to let me know she was here. "I found nothing. They're either stupid, arrogant, or both. I'm inclined to say both. They're stupid and arrogant enough to think nothing will be able to get past them to even see the shack, so there's no extra protection around the shack itself. Fools."

"I'm not complaining," I mumbled.

"Their loss, our gain," Harry agreed. "Let's go."

Our trio crept quietly to the front door, which Harry cast another Silencing Charm on at the instruction of Annabeth ("In case it creaks."). He pushed open the door and cast yet another Silencio on the dust-coated floor. He muttered another, unfamiliar spell, but as we moved forward and didn't make any footprints in the dust, I assumed that the spell prevented that from happening. Annabeth and I followed him, weapons poised just in case, and he stopped at a specific floorboard. Harry slowly, silently, lifted the floorboard to reveal a little golden box. Annabeth bent down, taking the cap off her head, and opened the box while Harry held the floorboard up, and we all saw the ring inside with the odd markings on the stone. "Let's just take the box," I whispered. "I get this bad feeling about touching the thing."

"I agree," Annabeth replied in the same quiet tone, frowning at it and closing the box. She picked it up and handed it to me. At my questioning look, she explained, "You have bigger pockets than me." Nodding, I stuffed the golden box in my pocket, and Harry placed the floorboard back where it belonged. Annabeth replaced her cap on her head and disappeared. "Let me look out the window before we leave, just in case a monster is passing."

After waiting a few moments, giving her time to get to the window, I whispered, "Is it safe?"

"Not yet. An empousa is passing," she returned quietly. Harry and I crept over to her side and tensely watched the Greek monster pass. Come on come on come on…move faster! After it was out of our line of sight, Annabeth placed a hand on my chest and, assumingly, Harry's to make us wait. She made us stay that way for a few more tense moments before I felt her hand slide off and a breeze drift by me as she moved away invisibly. I moved to follow her, but ended up running into her because she had stopped. Annabeth squeaked in surprise and then said, "Oh, sorry."

"What is it?" Harry whispered.

"I just thought that if the monsters have moved closer to the shack, maybe it would be safer to just call Kreacher in here instead," Annabeth suggested softly. "We have less people than we planned, so no one's outside standing guard that we need to go get."

I nodded my agreement, and Harry lowered his hood, calling, again, only as loud as he dared, "Kreacher!"

The old house-elf immediately appeared and we joined hands. Accompanied by the uncomfortable feeling I've felt twice before, Kreacher Apparated us away from the Gaunt Shack and back into Grimmauld Place.

Well, there you go. The third longest chapter so far (chapter two is the longest, chapter one is the second longest; I had Microsoft Word count the words). I have no excuses for my ridiculously long absence, so I won't try to blame a non-existent busy schedule that only included school and a few vacations in reality.

BUT THE WIZARDING WORLD OF HARRY POTTER IN ORLANDO, FLORIDA IS AWESOME! I never wanted to leave! I wonder if they'll let me work there…

:D.