Disclaimer: I, meaning me, do not, which means that I don't, own, which means… oh forget it! I'm sure you all know what I mean.
Nico: Say it or they'll sue you.
Me: *rolls eyes dramatically* fine. I don't own Percy Jackson or Harry Potter. Happy?
Nico: Very much so, actually.
3rd Person PoV:
Dumbledore was disturbed from his work by the sound of a frantic knocking on his office door. He quickly hid the papers he had been looking at and calmly told the stone gargoyle to let the person in. A few seconds later, a very distraught girl, with wavy brown hair and wide eyes ran inside.
"Professor Dumbledore," said Lou Ellen frantically, "Something's wrong!"
He investigated, and found that the Gryffindor student was right.
The full staff was becoming unable to teach, and the entire Ravenclaw house was suffering from a learning disability. Many of the brightest students were slowly dropping their grades, and it was starting to affect the rest of the school.
Then there was Peeves. The poltergeist had always caused trouble, but know he was going out of his way to make everyone's lives miserable. The biggest problem was, he had somehow managed to get all of the ghosts in the school in on it.
The biggest worry was the owls. In the past, anything that went wrong had never affected them, but now, it was like their natural instinct was to do nothing. They didn't deliver mail, they didn't allow anyone to feed or clean them, and they had been causing major trouble in general.
He was conducting an investigation when he stumbled upon Professor Snape, who he was delighted to find unaffected by whatever was afflicting the residents of the castle.
Snape asked what they were going to do next, and the ancient wizard answered, "I have a hunch…"
Annabeth PoV:
Ginny and I were sitting in my room and talking, I was giving her advice on her homework, which she seemed to be needing more and more of each day, and she was talking about her family, which consisted of six older brothers.
"What's your family like?" She asked me, looking up from her essay.
"Well, I live in California with my dad, step-mom and two step-brothers, but I have a huge extended family. My boyfriend is actually my mom's half-sister's dad's brother's son." I laughed; it actually was pretty funny when you thought about it.
"Wow. That's, uh, complex." She laughed with me.
"So can you really do magic? I mean, so far, everyone has mentioned it, but all I've seen are flashing lights."
"Wait, are you serious?" When I nodded, she smiled. "Well then, we are going to have to change that!" Ginny announced.
She pointed her wand at the desk in the corner and said, "This is something basic, but it's kinda awesome. Wingardium Leviosa!"
She swished and flicked her hand and the desk rose into the air, following the wands movements. I clapped and she took a mock bow.
"Thank you, thank you very much!"
"Hey Ginny?" I asked cautiously.
"Yeah?"
"Do you hear something?" I waited for a second, then my eyes widened.
"Ginny, get out of here! Someone's coming!" I whispered.
She moved towards the door, and I ran over.
"Don't go that way, go down the hall, but if you hear a thing, run into one of the empty classrooms. Hide until you are sure that the coast is clear, then go right back to your common room! Go!" I practically shoved her out of the door, then plopped back down onto the bed.
3rd Person PoV:
When Dumbledore opened the door, followed by Professor Snape, he found the girl sitting on the bed, facing the corner.
"Ms. Chase, we need to speak with you."
Annabeth turned, a look of frustration and distrust on her face.
Dumbledore frowned. "Ms. Chase, you must realize that we are doing everything possible to help you."
She gave him a look that clearly said, "Whatever."
"Ms. Chase, I am waiting on some incredibly important information that was supposed to be delivered a few days ago."
"Why tell me? I don't know anything about owls."
Albus' eyes widened slightly. "Owls? I never said anything about owls." Seeing that she was clearly going to deny it, he offered her a drink.
Shrugging, she accepted a cup of pumpkin juice and drank, recoiling slightly at the odd taste.
"What is it?" She asked curiously.
"Pumpkin juice."
"Oh." She shifted under the intense gazes of the two men and fingered her ring. Suddenly, her throat began to burn slightly and her ring tightened on her finger.
The old man chose that moment to continue his questioning. "Ms. Chase, how did you know about the owls?"
Annabeth ignored him and tried to turn away, but her voice seemed to answer on its own accord. "Myrtle showed me the Owlrey the day I got here."
Her hands shot to her mouth. "What did you do to me?" She was relieved that she could still speak, but Annabeth was incredibly scared at the same time. If she couldn't control what she said, well, things could get messy, very fast.
"Veritaseum," the greasy haired man answered.
Seeing her confusion, Albus added, "It's a truth potion. We need you to answer us. Now, there is something very puzzling happening. Almost all of our students and staff have been suffering from a strange illness. None of them seem capable of clear thought, and lessons have been temporarily cancelled until this issue is resolved. Do you know anything about it at all?"
Annabeth gave a start. She had no idea that her intelligence curse would actually work. However, once again, her voice answered on its own. "I placed an intelligence curse on the school."
The men were stunned at her answer, but they knew that she was telling the truth.
Dumbledore stood and pressed her for answers harder. "Are you a witch?"
"No."
He readjusted his half moon spectacles and replied, "Who exactly are you, Ms. Chase?"
Her eyes went wide with fear, but she answered slowly, fighting her voice with all her might. "Annabeth Chase, daughter of…" here, she stopped and clutched her throat.
Here is what happened next.
The drug was trying to pull the truth out, but the River Styx was pushing back with equal force to keep it in. The result; the feeling of boiling acid spreading across her body, a completely constricted throat and a lot of pain.
She fell onto the floor and began to writhe in agony, clamping her mouth shut as though her life depended on it.
The professors cast several spells to try to stop her, but they had no success were and were forced to watch her struggle, steam curling off of her body. Finally, her mouth opened and out came a scream, magnified to the power of ten.
Annabeth felt her body run out of oxygen and her last thought before unconsciousness was, "So this is why you don't mess with the River Styx."
It wasn't until the River Styx dissolved the last of the chemical that she stopped convulsing, and lay on the bed with the smell of burned epidermis hanging over her. (A/N If you don't know what epidermis is, then do what everyone else does; Google it!)
Percy PoV:
The chains dug into my skin painfully and I clenched my hand into a fist, wishing I could just break out of here and take all of these insane people out. I mean, seriously!
Who carries a stick and beats up teenagers? What's up with that?
My fingers squeezed together tightly, but I let out a small yelp and unclasped them as something incredibly sharp drew blood on my forefinger.
I examined it, finding that the cause was a small red jewel in the center of the gold ring. I frowned, thinking that I hadn't seen it before.
Cautiously, I touched the top of the flat red square and found that it was loose. I pushed down on it, hoping to get it in place more firmly, but the second I applied pressure, the stone crumbled.
I drew my hand back in shock, then held it up to examine it further, but the second my thumb brushed the gold band, a jet of light the same color of the stone shot out, hitting the wall and causing burn marks to appear around a small and newly created hole.
"Woah!"
I turned the ring, and found several other stones of different colors. I pressed the dark blue one carefully, pointed my fist at the chain on my wrist, and touched my thumb to the ring.
As expected, a jet of light shot out and the chains exploded, showering me with little bits of metal. Cheering silently, I grabbed Riptide and sliced the other one, not wanting to waste the gems.
The second I was free, I started towards the door, but stopped short. The last time I tried this, it didn't end well, and this seemed like the perfect time to figure out the ring.
So far, I knew that Annabeth had wanted me to have it, which meant that it did something. The gems, which were evenly spaced out, made destructive light, and every time I used one, the remaining ones readjusted themselves.
I pulled it off my finger, and jumped as the seven stones fell off, exploding as they hit the ground.
I was shot back by the sheer force and groaned when I collided hard with the wall.
"Ow. Note to self; do not take off when gems are still on."
I retrieved the ring from the center of the room and turned it over and over until I noticed it. Leo's symbol.
That explained a lot. I slipped the ring back on, and paced around the room, trying to ignore the questions banging around inside my head, and attempting to come up with an escape plan.
I heard footsteps coming and I stopped dead. When the door banged open and the psycho-woman and some other goons entered, I had no options.
They grabbed me and pinned me down as the woman leaned over and hissed, "You should be honored, Muggle," she spat this word like it was the worst thing she could possibly think of, "The Dark Lord wishes to speak with you. Now."
A flash of silver told me that she was armed with a knife and prepared to throw it. I nodded shakily and was marched out of the room.
Harry PoV:
I woke up in a cold sweat with Ron shaking me furiously.
"Shut up before you wake everyone!" He whispered.
My hand reached for my glasses on the bedside table, and I sat up, slipping them on in the process. I took a few deep breaths to steady myself before I spoke.
"It's him. He feels angry because there is something he wants, and almost has, but there is something else in the way." Ron was familiar with these types of dreams, but looked shaken nonetheless.
"Should we tell Dumbledore?" Ron asked.
I shook my head. "No, I don't want to bother him. Let's get Hermione." The two of us exited the dormitory and headed downstairs into the common room.
"Wait, we can't get up to the girl's dorm. How do we get her?" Ron had a brief moment of intelligence, which was then ruined by his exclamation of, "Hey Ginny! Can you get Hermione down here?"
His sister jumped, but nodded and said, "Sure." She was about to follow his request when Istopped her.
"Wait, Ginny. What are you doing down here at," I checked my watch, "three-twenty in the morning?"
Ginny blushed, "Well, I was just, um I had, er, detention, and it was really long, you know, ran late, and uh…" Her voice faded before she shook her head violently and began again. "What does it matter? And why are you guys down here? Why do you need Hermione?"
Ron stepped forward. "You know what Ginny, leave it alone! We just need to talk to her."
Ginny crossed her arms and tapped her foot impatiently with a Mrs. Weaslyish glare. "At three-twenty in the morning?"
There was a sibling glaring contest, a few rounds of threats and arguing before Ginny finally threw up her hands and cried, "Fine! Just because I'm tired, I'll be nice to you, but just this once. Got it?"
And with that, she stormed off to go get Hermione, who appeared on the staircase a few moments later.
"What is it?" She asked irritably, letting out a huge yawn.
Ron and I exchanged glances, and she caught on. "It happened again? I thought that you were done with that whole thing?"
We had a short debate in which they both insisted I tell someone and I refused when I paused in the middle of my argument.
"Does this feel, I don't know, wrong to you guys?" Ron shook his head and Hermione frowned, but she agreed.
"I feel like there's something that I'm missing, but I just, ugh! I don't know! And this feeling won't go away!" Hermione was close to tears, and Ron put an arm around her.
Ron looked up at the ceiling. "Actually, I think I know what you mean. I have the same feeling, but it's in the back of my mind, and I don't notice it if I don't think about it."
I gave an exasperated sigh and said quietly, "But you know what's even worse? I hate not knowing about anything! People don't think that I'm responsible enough, or that I'm too…" I didn't get to finish my sentence because of the scream.
It sounded like it came from one of the lower floors, and it was definitely a girl's voice. The sound seemed to break through the fog that had been over us for days, clearing away the gloom and letting in the sunlight.
Hermione gave a small, "Oh," and visibly relaxed as her mind cleared, allowing her to think, and I felt the same way.
Then, when I could finally think straight, I heard it. It had helped before, but now I could actually hear it, loud and clear.
The scream was the sound of pure torturing agony, multiplied by a thousand, and it burned into my ears, straight through my head and into my body, twisting my intestines, squeezing my heart and constricting my throat until I couldn't breathe.
I struggled for air and collapsed on the ground next to my best friends, who were doing the same. Finally, the sound ended, and the three of us lay gasping on the floor.
"What was that?" Ron breathed, helping Hermione up.
"Whatever it was, I can finally think again! Merlin's beard Ron, is that what you always feel like? It's absolutely horrid to be you." She gave a huge shudder and Ron scowled.
I watched someone slink by out of the corner of my eye, and in the firelight, I saw a flash of red hair. I thought back to that incredibly weird and out of context dream I had had the other night, and I remembered the warning she had given me.
I didn't know whether or not to trust the dream, but when a small purple and red gecko bit my finger, then disappeared, I was convinced.
Was it just me, or was this one of the strangest days ever?
"Harry? Harry?" Hermione waved her hand across my face. "Are you okay?"
I nodded, reaching for the silvery cloak I had carried downstairs with me. "I'm fine. Want to go find out where Ginny just snuck off to?"
Ah… the Golden Trio. They're just as meddlesome as ever.
I love them!
Anyway, I hope you like it! I finally figured out how I'm going to end it, so now the chapters will have a purpose!
Yay!
Review if you want more!