Chapter 8

Annabeth

I couldn't believe Hogwarts. It was incredible! The architecture...oh gods, we were going to live here? That's so awesome! Hermione had told me that Hogwarts looked good, but this was a castle! It was just like the kid fairytale books, and I loved those castle buildings!

"Percy!" I cried. "Look at those towers! Don't you think they're beautiful?"

"Yes, they are beautiful," he said. "But not as much as you, wise girl," he added. I smiled and kissed him on the forehead.

"Love you too, Seaweed Brain."

As the black and creepy pegasi things stopped, I squealed in delight. This was absolutely amazing. I could tell Percy was exchanging minds with the horses, no doubt going like, "hey! You're a horse! Cool!" And, "my lord! We love you! You have any sugar cubes?"

The demigods stopped at the front doors, where a stern looking lady was waiting for us. Ah...I kind of liked stern people. Maybe good for Percy's, ah, education.

"Professor Grubbly-Plank, will you take them to the great hall, please?"

The lady who got us here nodded and started to direct the students in. The half-bloods started to follow, but the stern woman said sharply, "no, the American Transfers? Stay here for a moment, please."

Percy and Jason shrugged, and we all stayed. As the "golden trio" passed us, we gave small goodbye waves to each other.

Finally, when all the students had gone, the lady turned to us again. "I'm Professor McGonagall," she said. "Come before the sorting, please. "The headmaster would like to see you."

We followed her to a set of doors with a gargoyle guarding it. "Lemon Drop," said the professor. The gargoyle jumped out of the way, and the door opened. Leo and I burst into speech at the same time, him talking about machines and me about architecture.

As we entered, we saw professor Dumbledore smiling at us from behind the desk. "Well," he said. "All of us teachers know you are half-bloods... except for Professor Unbridge."

His eyes twinkled. "And it would do us all some good if you didn't tell her." I looked at him. "Why?"

"Because," he answered. "We do not want the ministry to know demigods have come. And she is from the ministry. Also, she hates half-breeds. Even if the other...breed is a god."

Thalia nodded. "Well, I hate her already."

I smiled. Ah, well, it's not different for us demigods to have a couple of enemies.

After some more warnings and whatnot, the professor took us back to the great hall. Dumbledore came with us. This time, Percy put his hands around my mouth. Really, it was usually me who shut him up!

Well, I guess it was good he did that, or else the wizards would think we were even more strange than we already were...and we were already plenty strange.

"These are the American Transfers," Professor McGonagall introduced.

Immediately, most of the older students had lovey eyes on their faces. All of us gave them death glares. Now I felt a little bad for them, because all of our death glares were usually too much for mortals. The wizards squirmed in their seats. Ah...all the death-glare-practicing on Percy really helps at times. But still, it couldn't hurt to give them some don't-even-think-about-liking-me warnings, don't you think?

We all introduced ourselves, and they gave us their moony eyes again. We gave them our death-glare eyes again. They squirmed in their seats again. Well, Chiron did say that history repeats itself. We were just proving the theory...again...and again...and again.

I noticed a pink toad person sitting on a teacher's chair, and I thought, well, this must be the ministry hag Umbridge, eh? Nobody looks as stupid as her.

Finally came the sorting. Turns out the new kids had already been sorted. There was only us left.

Our professor took out a scroll and told us, "when I call your names, sit on the stool and put the hat on." She looked down at her paper. "Chase, Annabeth!"

So she was going by alphabet. If you're wondering, I actually do know that C for Chase came before Z for Zhang.

I sat on the stool and brought the rusty-looking pointed hat over my eyes. There was a whispering voice in my head. Ah...plenty of courage, huh? Oh, but you are a child of Athena! You could go to Ravenclaw or Gryffindor! Let's see...what is deep inside you? Oh no...WHY?! Not Tartarus! Oh no, you can just go to GRYFFINDOR! It screamed that last part out loud, to the whole hall.

I stood up and waved to our friends, then walked to the table where Harry was. "Nice!" he said. "Guessed right."

Nico

"Di Angelo, Nicolas!"

I scowled. Nobody calls me Nicolas except for my mother and Bianca.

"Call me Nico," I said to Professor McGonagall as I stepped up. She nodded curtly. Probably because she was scared. Why would she be scared? I was giving her my best death glare. Coming from someone who controls death, my death glare was worse than most people's.

I sat on the stool after putting the hat on. Hopefully, I would get to Iris-message Will after eating. Maybe I could shadow travel back? Oh, no, Chiron definitely won't let me. Possibly Will can get sent on the quest as well. We do need a healer of some sort.

I waited for the hat to do something, when a sudden voice came in to my mind.

Courage. Too much courage. You've been to Tartarus, can't say anything more. But yes, you are awfully loyal. Very, very dark. But dark is not always evil. That is a symbol of Slytherin, though. But I think your heart beats everything else, eh? GRYFFINDOR!

I smiled as I stepped off and took the hat off. Well, our guess of our houses was right.

I knew there were ghosts here at Hogwarts. Many, many ghosts. I could feel it. There was a pale spirit at the head of our table, and he floated over to us. As he approached me, he froze.

"N-Nico! How's your..."

I glared at him, shushing him up. I thought, be quiet, they're not suppose to know we're demigods!

Nick nodded his head wildly. The other Gryffindors were looking at us strangely. Luckily, Nearly Headless Nick was, indeed, nearly headless. Instead of his nod being obviously respectful, his head fell.

I nodded once. Don't call me master when we're with the wizards. Demigods are fine.

Nick nodded, holding his head together with his hands. I know, that sounds gross.

I finally turned my attention back to the sorting. Jason Grace was being called.

Jason

"Grace, Jason!"

I stepped up, put the hat on, and sat on the wooden stool.

"Plenty of courage again?" said a voice inside my head. "Oh, you didn't fall into Tartarus, eh? Good, I can look into your memories. Hmm...loyal, very loyal. Can't be considered as smart as that Chase girl...not very sly. All right, join your mates at GRYFFNDOR!"

I stood up, grinning. We had all guessed that we would be in Gryffindor. Most of us were plenty brave, especially Percy and Leo. Still, Percy could very well get into Hufflepuff, since his fatal flaw was loyalty. Well, alphabetical order, my sis was next.

Thalia

"Grace, Thalia!"

I narrowed my eyes. Nobody, absolutely nobody calls me by my mother's surname. Nobody.

"Just Thalia," I told her, scowling. She nodded once. Well, at least now I know what Nico's real name is.

Sitting on the stool, I examined the hat. There was a rip, which had to be where the shouting of the names were coming from.

I put the hat on. Immediately, there was a voice in my head.

"Yes, brave again, just like the other demigods. Oh, lieutenant of Artemis? Fought in a couple of wars? Better be GRYFFINDOR!"

I smiled with triumph at the others who didn't get sorted yet, then whispered, "Jackson, get Gryffindor or get murdered by Annabeth."

I slouched off to the table, where Annabeth and my younger-yet-older brother was grinning at me.

"Nice job!" Jason whispered-shouted.

A boy at the Slytherin table said, "four Gryffindors in a row? That's not natural! How is it?"

I smirked. Wizards would never understand us.

Percy

"Jackson, Percy!"

I stepped up. Thalia's warning had only made things worse. Hey, did you think I wasn't worrying about Annabeth? This was a perfect reason to kill me! Not even being in the same house...

After putting the hat on and sitting, I heard this little voice in my head.

Courage, definitely courage. Loyal, more loyal than the others. Not the smartest, but quite a bit smarter than you look. In fact, you could go to Ravenclaw! Oh, tricky, tricky enough to go to Slytherin. Now, which one shall it be?

I closed my eyes. Gryffindor, I thought. Please, let me go to Gryffindor.

The hat started muttering again. I just seemed to realize my sorting was taking much longer than the others. Annabeth had turned pale. Really, I would be surprised if I wasn't pale right now.

Well, you want Gryffindor? What have you done, then? Oh...Tartarus? Oh no...AHH! You've been to the worse...no, I haven't looked in Nico's. Get off me! Scram! GRYFFINDOR!

I yanked the hat off, breathing heavily. It had taken too long, way too long. I just realized that the hat had screamed that tidbit about, "get off me! Scram!" to the whole hall. Ah, well, I could just hope they'd forget it soon.

Well, since it's alphabetical order, the next person would be...oh, the hat shouting muffled my brain a bit, who cares who's next?

Piper

"McLean, Piper!"

I gulped. I wasn't sure if I was actually brave enough to get into Gryffindor. Percy and Annabeth, that made total sense. It was kind of obvious Jason, Nico, and Thalia would get in, too.

But me? The best I did was that giant battle...okay fine, I guess that was quite brave.

I took a deep breath and walked up to the stool. I picked up the hat, sat, and put it on. It went over my eyes.

Well, yes, very loyal? said a little voice. Not the smart type, noticed those instincts you had with that giant Mimas, yes? So, Hufflepuff or Gryffindor? Well, that war shows me, GRYFFINDOR!

I sighed with relief. I got in to the same house as Jason, then. Hopefully, everybody else would, too.

Annabeth, Percy, Thalia, Nico, and Jason all cheered along with the Gryffindor people. I noticed that the table had been turned longer than the other ones, though they started out the same. Umbridge stared at the Gryffindor table untrustingly.

As I approached the table, Harry whispered to us, "this is the ministry person who wanted me to get expelled in my hearing!"

I made a face. Harry had told all of us about how he'd defeated a bunch of those weird dementor thingys. All of us had been quite impressed. And we all hated Umbridge from that point on. Seriously, pink was usually known as a pretty lovey color. When that woman wore it, especially with a bow on her head...she made it look like a pretty toady color.

Hazel

"Levesque, Hazel!"

I stumbled up, making a fool of myself. I secretly scolded myself. The worse thing to do on a first day of school? Make a terrible impression. And the beat way to make a terrible impression? Stumble as you walk up to an old looking hat with a rip in it.

Even as I tripped, some of the boys were making their...ah, what does Annabeth call it, their moony eyes. Or goony eyes. Or I-am-suicidial eyes. I'll go with that last one. Even though I control gems instead of the dead, my glare was still plenty scary. Well, now I really feel bad for those boys.

I stepped up to the stool, took a deep breath, and put the hat on.

Oh never mind, I won't even try, all of you fellows are brave.

GRYFFINDOR!

I grinned. Wow, that must've been the fastest one. Seriously, after Percy...I didn't think the hat would want to see the thoughts of a girl who has recently died and come back. Sure, Leo died and came back even more recently, and I meant that like about three weeks ago.

So he's next on that list, right? I do trust that he will definitely come to Gryffindor. In fact, almost all of the students were muttering now. It's not everyday you get nine students going to one house in a row, right?

Leo

"Valdez, Leo!"

I hopped forward, placing the hat carefully on my head. I couldn't shake the feeling that the pointed hat looked more like Sammy Valdez's dunce cap.

Great, I thought. Now I get to be the gnome. Carry on his memory.

Since Hermione had told us that the most brave goes to Gryffindor. I had a very small doubt that I would go to any other house. Unless you don't count sacrificing yourself for the sake of everybody else as brave.

The thing was, I didn't brag about it. I certainly didn't want to think about the horrible physician's cure. Seriously, I wasn't much more heroic than Percy, who had jumped down to a pit of eternal tournament to be with Annabeth.

After slamming the dunce cap...sorry, wizard hat on my head, I heard this little voice. It was weak, much weaker than I expected it.

Ah...recently died and came back...well, I won't even try to look in your thoughts. Probably a bit on the dark side, isn't it?

Yes, yes, GRYFFINDOR!

I grinned. Ha, plenty of time to prank, burn, and trick my friends. We were in the same house. I had very less doubt that Frank would join us. After all, he had killed about 200 monsters to get a snake. The snake may not sound like much, but it helped Hazel dearly.

Frank Zhang. Here we go.

Frank

"Zhang, Frank!"

I wanted to say that I walked confidently to the stool with my head held high. The truth? I tried in vain not to make a fool of myself. I may have grown stronger and bigger with that blessing of Mars thing on the bridge, but on the inside, I felt more like a klutz than ever.

Some of the girls whispered among themselves, no doubt going like, "ohh, he's hot!'

I could've given them death glares, but I already felt bad for them. Plus, I was too lazy. My glare probably isn't nearly as creepy as Nico's.

I stepped up and followed my fellow demigods' lead, placing the hat delicately on my head.

A demigod, I will not even try. GRYFFINDOR!

I was relieved. Mine took the least time. Probably because the hat had enough of demigod-mind-reading. Seriously, going through Percy's, Annabeth, Nico, and Leo's mind should show it that demigod thoughts are not something to mess with.

Happily, I bounced off the platform to my friends, who were cheering wildly.

Then came the feast, the best part of the night. There were heaps of delicious food, no doubt from London more than America.

Finally, the headmaster-Albus Dumbledore-gave a bit of a speech.

"Well, now that I imagine you are all on the full side from that feast, I need your attention for some usual beginning-of-term notices. Please note, first years, that the forbidden forest is indeed forbidden. A few of our older students should also be aware of that."

At this, Ron, Harry, and Hermione smirked at each other. I smiled. Something tells me they were part of the few older students. George and Fred couldn't be left out of the club, either.

"Also, Mr. Filch has reminded me for the..."

I suddenly noticed a grubby-looking person standing next to the staff table. "Four hundred and sixty-second," he supplied.

Dumbledore nodded. "For the four hundred and sixty-second time, has reminded me that students are not to use magic in the corridors in between classes. Anyone who wishes to see what else is prohibited, please check our caretaker's office door.

"Also, we have two changes in staff. Delightfully, Professor Umbridge will be taking over defense against the dark arts. We are also pleased to welcome Professor Grubbly- Plank back for the care of magical creatures."

There was a small round of unenthusiastic applause. I had a feeling most of the students were doing it only out of politeness. Harry and the others exchanged looks of...was that panic?

"And Quidditch trials will be-"

He stopped suddenly, looking at Umbridge. Many of the students looked quite confused.

Jason got out his glasses, wiped them with his shirt, and put it on. A second later, he took it off again. Realizing that his shirt was, unfortunately, quite covered with mud. We had changed into our robes, sure, but then Jason had gotten some dirt stuck on it. Giving up, he put the glasses back into his pocket.

That was when I finally realized why Dumbledore had been cut off. Umbridge had stood. She was so short that her sitting was about the same height as when she stood. She gave a weird cough (hem, hem), which finally got the students to realize she wanted to have a speech.

Percy rolled his eyes and sat back in his chair. Annabeth rolled her eyes and punched him.

"Well, thank you, Headmaster," Umbridge simpered, "for those kind words of welcome.

Her voice was so high and girlish, I wondered if she was trying to sing soprano. She was kind of like Octavian, only a girl. Then, I suddenly saw a vision of Umbridge holding a sacrificial knife and cutting open a teddy bear...which totally creeped me out. She alone was stupid-looking enough.

I hated her immediately. I saw Harry frowning as well.

"Well, it's lovely to be here at Hogwarts, I must say!"

At those words, I already lost all attention. I caught some things, like, "the ministry of magic always considered the education of young wizards as upmost importance." And, "hem, hem." In fact, every time I heard that fake cough, my eyes burned with hate. I could tell my fellow demigods were thinking the same thing.

Hmm, I noticed I wasn't the only one zoning out. Ernie was still listening, but his eyes were completely gassy. He had to be pretending.

Hermione, though, was listening attentively. However, she was frowning the whole time.

I had a feeling she could just about recite the speech, word for word, when Umbridge finished. I yawned. I could just ask her for a reenactment later. For now, nobody was going to listen.

Finally, I heard something that sounded like an end. The teachers clapped, and so did the students. This time, the clapping was much louder, as it meant we didn't have to endure the stupid speech anymore. Hazel was practically asleep on my shoulder, and as Umbridge stopped she gave a halfhearted clap before sinking back into dreamland.

However, as soon as Dumbledore started speaking, she yawned and started listening. "Well, thank you, Professor Umbridge, for that illuminating speech."

Seriously, he called that illuminating? Most of the hall didn't even listen. Ah well, too bad for the toad lady. I thought she looked no better than Trevor.

Longest chapter so far! All right, questions still here in case you forget, Bring Will or not?

Which one you like more, PJ or HP?

All right, give reviews, I'm out.

Okay, I just saw the review on this chapter and-whoop!-mind blown! I'm bringing Will, now that's for sure.