Chapter 27

Jason

My mouth dropped open when Harry told me the news. Harry, Fred, and George...banned? Forever? Umbridge is an idiot! This was so unfair! Well, at least there were some good news: that Percy's little pranky scroll made Umbridge insult herself out loud. Apparently Percy has the videotape, but I didn't get to see it. Anyway, back to the bad news: Harry and the Weasley twins, banned from Quidditch...forever.

"Impossible," Angelina said in a hollow voice, looking at Harry as if his hair was on fire. "You can't be banned! You're the best seeker we've ever had! And Fred and George are incredible at beating! How can...no Seeker, no Beaters...how will we survive? Now we have to find replacements!"

Ugh, every time she's mentioned, Umbridge somehow manages to make me hate her more, which should be impossible, because I already hate her very, very, very much.

"Who in Gryffindor can be as good as you are at flying?" Angelina asked, still numb.

Piper's nudged me. "You are," she whispered.

Huh. Me? Play Quidditch? Oh...then maybe I can interfere in the game after all.

Harry looked at me. "Why are you starting to smile?" He asked. "Oh wait..."

He looked around. After making sure everyone in the common room already knew that they were demigods, he started to grin as well. "Angelina, I think I know who can replace me."

Angelina frowned. "Really? Is it Ginny? Because she's pretty good."

Harry frowned. "Ginny? Oh, I didn't consider her yet. "

At this Ginny shouted from across the room, "I heard that!"

Harry continued. "I was talking about someone else. Someone who is a complete ace at flying. The son of Jupiter himself. Jason Grace!"

Angelina's terrified expression slowly turned to relief. "Really?" She asked me. "Will you do it, Jason?"

I shrugged. "I guess so. But I was thinking about doing Beater or something. If I was the Seeker...that would kind of be like cheating, because I'm technically allowed to command the wind to blow the snitch to me. I think Ginny would be actually a good Seeker."

Ginny flashed us a smile, then went back to doing her Charms homework.

"All right, now that this is settled...oh look, they're back from detention!" Nico said.

Indeed, Percy, Thalia, and Leo were back. Angelina and the other chasers had gone of for their homework, or maybe to practice spells for D.A.

"So how was detention?" Annabeth asked her boyfriend. Did you have to write on your hand?"

Percy shrugged. "Yeah. But it didn't really hurt. We just carved it once, which didn't do much, and then Thalia manipulated the mist so it looked like we were working. Look, Grace-"

My little sister shot him a glare. Oh gods, I just love saying little sister. "Don't call me Grace ever again!"

Percy grinned. "Whatever. Look, you have to teach me that some day!"

Thalia smirked. "Sorry, it's a secret."

Leo looked at me. "Hey, I heard Angelina wants you as Beater."

"How did you hear?" I asked him confusedly. "We barely said anything to you!"

"Yeah," Leo said. "But I borrowed a few extension ears from Fred and George, changed it so the string was nearly invisible and could trail all the way from Umbridge's office to here, and we listened to your conversation."

Nico raised his hand. "Will and I helped. He made the sound go through much clearer, and I let the string hide in my shadows."

Leo nodded. "Oh, and speaking of Umbridge? We need to have a demigod meeting right now. We have to make those idiot people sorry for what they've done."

"Yeah!" Percy said, pulling back from the kiss Annabeth gave him. "You guys saw what Crabbe did, didn't you? He could've seriously injured Harry!"

Frank nodded. "That, and some more planning for the next DA lesson. Most of them are good enough to fight a minor monster now, like maybe a dracaena. They're not too hard to kill, but can injure people as well. Or maybe scorpions."

Hazel smiled at her boyfriend. "Already planning? Wow, no wonder you make a good praetor."

Piper grinned. "Yeah, Frank, you're a smart kid. Now, in the room!"

She gestured to the secret entrance to our bedroom, behind the sofa. I snapped my fingers, and a small gust of wind blew the sofa farther from the wall. Nico pressed the button thing because he was the closest to the door, and it opened up.

As all of us got in, we sat in our usual circle around a table that Leo had made for the room. There were normal wooden chairs, but Leojust couldn't resist putting some Hephaestus whoop-de-doop in it so that it was the exact temperature the, uh, sitter wanted.

"So," Annabeth said. "This meeting would be partially about revenge and partially about D.A. What first?"

Leo slammed his fist down. "Revenge!"

Hazel grinned. "Hey Valdez, didn't you hate Nemesis?"

"Yes, but I hate Umbridge more. Agreed?"

"Definitely," I said. "So, what are we going to do about her?"

"Well, I kinda promised I would smother Crabbe, so...can I do him?" Percy asked hopefully.

Annabeth looked at him. She smiled. "Of course. But you are going to help us with Umbridge, aren't you?"

He puffed out his chest proudly. "Yes, Madam!"

Annabeth laughed. "You are such a Seaweed Brain. All right, now it's time to plan what we do with her."

Frank nodded. "This is much more than just spraying her room in different colors. The Ministry has stuck too much of it's nose in our school, and we have to make them see they can't do that."

Hazel nodded. "Yes, we do. So...what is it? It can't even be a prank anymore! This is serious. She can't get away with treating everybody like this. As much as I don't want to do this, we have to do something hard to fix."

"Break her wand!" Piper burst out. Then she recoiled back. "Whoops. Just flew out of my mouth. You know, that's honestly what I feel like doing right now."

Annabeth nodded slowly. Then a grin spread on her face. "You know, Piper...that might even work."

Percy frowned. "How, exactly?"

"Well," Annabeth said. "We do have a very accomplished sorceress here..."

"And all of us can do a lot if things with these babies!" Leo cried, twirling his phoenix feather in his hand. "So, how exactly do you want to do this?"

"Well," Annabeth said. "It's not that hard, once you've got the right people."

She smirked and told us her plan to destroy Umbridge's short little wand. We all nodded in agreement, grinning.

Percy raised his hand. "Hey, what to do with Crabbe?"

Annabeth waved her hand. "Percy, you know how to deal with bullies, don't you?"

Percy thought for a moment. "Huh, maybe a few ideas. I'm thinking I'll make his hand get stuck to a fair wand and cover him up with a bunch o glitter that he can't get off. Then I'll make him accidentally snap his wand in half or something, like what you're doing with Umbridge."

"Well then, display those ideas-no, not here-on you little friend!"

Percy smiled. "Okay."

"Yeah, revenge meeting adjourned," Thalia said. "As much as I would love to talk more about bashing Umbridge's head in, we also have to discuss our lessons for the D.A. We're having Christmas break in about two weeks, so this should be our last lesson before...how long is winter break again?"

Piper made a face. "Three weeks. That's so unfair! In our school it's usually one to two. Anyway, that means we shouldn't do anything too big this last lesson."

"Wait," I said, raising my hands. I had just thought of something pretty important. "If we're having a three-week break..."

"Camp!" Annabeth exclaimed. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure we're going back to camp."

"And...what about Harry?" Will asked. "He's going to Ron's house, right? The Burrow?"

Suddenly, our door burst open. Ron was standing in the doorway, grinning widely.

"Hey man," Percy said. "What's up?"

"Hagrid!" Ron gasped. "Hagrid's back!"

Piper looked at me, then at Ron. "Hagrid's back?" She asked. "You mean your friend the friendly half-giant who was supposed to teach the taking care of monsters class?"

Ron nodded. "Yep!"

"All right, we're coming," Annabeth said. "You three are wearing your invisibility cloaks, right?"

He nodded again.

"So, Nico, how many people can you shadow-travel?" Annabeth asked.

"Four riders at most, according to the 'doctor'," he said. "So, uh..."

"Will, Thalia, and Hazel go with him," Annabeth said. "I'll use my hat. Piper and Jason...you two try flying. Oh no wait, we can't have people seeing you, so Jason, you go with Percy as well as Frank, and Piper, go with Nico. That okay with all of you?"

I nodded. "Hopefully it's safe to go via water travel for me."

Percy grinned. "Yeah, sure. Haven't done it for some time, so I'll suggest you don't trust me that much. Don't worry, you'll be fine with water travel. I'm fine with Nico's travel type, so maybe you're okay with mine. Anyway, where are we going again?"

Annabeth punched him lightly on the arm. "Hagrid's, remember? The Care of Magical Creature's teacher? He's the giant who's friendly."

Percy nodded. "I would sure hope so. I mean, after all that Giant War fuss? I wouldn't want to see another one."

"Don't worry, he's really nice," Harry said, poking his head in. "I think Hermione's coming down soon. You guys ready?"

I put on my hat and went out into the common room. My friends followed behind me. Just then, Hermione came down the girl's dorms, wearing one of her own hats and scarves.

"You're wrapped up pretty tight," Piper said, grinning. "But don't worry, it's pretty cold outside. So, uh...where is this place, exactly?"

Harry picked his cloak up from a table, then brought out his map. "Out there," he said, pointing to a little cottage outside the main castle. A dot that was larger than the other wizard's was walking around with the name Hagrid labeled on it. Another one was named Fang.

"Who's Fang?" Hazel asked nervously.

"Big dog," Ron said. "He gets really comfortable with people he knows...so if you don't like getting slobber all over your shirts, don't get too friendly."

"I'm used to it," Percy grunted. I remembered his pet hellhound, Mrs. O'Leary. Once, I had seen him in the sword arena at Camp Half-Blood with her, throwing a big bronze shield for her to fetch. He was covered in saliva, which made me understand why he'd be used to dog spit.

"Yeah, so...let's go!"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione pulled the cloak over them. Piper frowned. "Uh, Ron?" She asked. "I think maybe you have to bend down just a little. Your feet are showing."

"All right," Percy said. "So we have to go out from the entrance hall, then across some of the grounds, then there's the cottage? I think I've seen it before."

"Yeah, you've seen in before," Annabeth said. "You wanted to go in it. Anyway, no more talk, let's go."

I held onto Percy's hand, while Frank took his other. Percy closed his eyes, and suddenly we plunged into something that felt like mist. We zoomed forward faster than the speed of light. Before I knew it, we were standing in front of a pretty big door to a pretty big cottage."

"Hey," someone said behind us. I jumped.

"Nico!" I scolded. "Stop it!"

He smirked. "Yeah, sorry, can't help it." He stepped out of the shadows, his shadow-poolers behind him.

Piper came over and hugged me. "Hello again, Jason."

"You never said goodbye, Pipes," I said. "And plus, that was probably about five seconds ago!"

She laughed. "Yeah, it's just awesome to be together with you."

A few minutes later. The others came out into the garden that we were on, full of huge pumpkins and other normal-sized plants.

Annabeth appeared, holding her hat above her head. Percy pulled her into a kiss as Annabeth stuffed her magical Yankees cap in her pocket.

"Harry?" Hazel asked quietly. "You guys there?"

Three heads appeared above... nothing. "Yeah," said the head of Ron Weasley. "We're here, as you can see now."

Hermione's hand appeared and tugged the hood of their cloak back on. Then, I'm guessing, the three of them went up to the door and a knocking sound ringed.

"Hagrid, it's us!" Harry's voice shouted.

A gruff voice inside the house grunted, "No surprise there! I was fully prepared for yeh to be waiting for me in my house!"

The door opened with a creaking noise. A giant man was standing in the doorway, with his face almost completely covered by hair and a beard that was even more tangled than Percy's bed sheets, and that was saying a lot. And the other thing that was covering his face...well, Hermione's scream can probably explain how scary it was.

"Merlin's beard, keep it down!" the giant muttered. "I'm guessing yer under the cloak, are yeh? Get in... hold up a sec, who are you people?"

Harry pulled his hood off, revealing our friends' faces. "They're completely trustworthy," he said. "Come on, we don't want people seeing us!"

Annabeth snorted. "Seeing us? Yeah right, with our footprints so clear I the snow? You guys go in, I'll take care of it."

I put my arms around Piper's shoulders. She kissed me lightly on the cheek as we walked in.

A few seconds later, Annabeth came in. I peered outside, seeing that none of our... 13 sets of footprints were showing. Percy grinned at her.

"So," Will demanded, glaring at Hagrid. "I barely know who you are, and I have a question. WHAT IN THE WORLD HAPPENED TO YOUR FACE?"

About a quarter to a half of Hagrid's face was covered with blood and sticky hair. His left eye was tiny among the bruises around it. He was moving like he had broken ribs, which I wouldn't doubt he had. He also had a bunch of cuts on his face and hands, which made it clear he has been through fights.

"What happened?" Hazel asked nervously. "I mean...I hate to spring up in your like that when you don't even know my name, but seriously, what got you injured like that?"

Hagrid sighed. "It's nothin', it's nothin'! Now, who are you folks?"

"Hm," Annabeth said, her eyes fixed on Hagrid's. "You arrived late, so you didn't get the news about us? Well, we're from America. We're the demigods that were sent here to protect Harry from Voldemort and other things. Have you heard about Greek Mythology?"

Hagrid clapped his hands together. "Of course! 'Bout half o' my creatures were from Ancient Greece! Those are the most interesting ones!"

Percy nodded. "Yeah, he's okay. Anyway...uh, introductions?"

Piper sighed. "This is starting to get boring. Can I just speed talk introductions about everybody so we can get his-" she jabbed her finger at Hagrid's mangled face- "story going?"

Hagrid sighed. "Yeah, I guess I'll have ter do it some day. But now..."

"Yeah," Piper said. "So, I'm Piper, this is Jason, that's Annabeth and Percy, Hazel and Frank, Leo, Thalia, Nico, and Will."

As she said our names, we all did our way of greetings. Percy had waved with a giant grin, and Nico and Thalia had just nodded curtly.

"Hey, do we have to tell you who our godly parents are?" I asked. "Because that might take a whi-"

Then I noticed Percy and Annabeth had already told Hagrid who their parents are. "Yeah, we are," I muttered.

"I'm a daughter of Pluto," Hazel said. "He's the god of the Underworld and riches. Please, Frank, pay attention. It's your turn." Frank grinned sheepishly and wrapped his arms around his girlfriend's waist. "Son of Mars, Roman god of war," he said. "And descendant of Poseidon."

I realized everyone was looking at me. "Oh, uh, my turn? I'm a son of Jupiter, Roman god of the skies."

"And I'm the daughter of Aphrodite, goddess of love," Piper said. She pecked me on the cheek as Leo spoke.

"I'm Leo McShizzle da Magnifecente Valdez!" Leo said. "I'm the son of Hephaestus, Greek god of blacksmiths."

Piper smiled at Leo's newly updated name as Thalia said, "I'm the daughter of Zeus, and lieutenant of the hunt. If anyone dares to call me by my last name or call me Jason's younger brother...let me tell you, don't. Anyway, just a little info about me."

"Son of Hades, Roman form of Pluto," Nico said.

"And son of Apollo," Will said.

"Now, mister..." Annabeth said pointedly at the half-giant. "Please? Story?"

Hagrid nodded. "It's too hard to hide stories from you folks. It's time I tell you where I've been."

And so he did.

Okay, so I accidentally said here that Hades was the Roman form of Pluto. I definitely did not mean to do that, and it must've been a typo. or something. Here, I changed it. Hope you guys are happy.