Book 2: Swords and Wands: The Prisoner of Azkaban
Summary: The demigods return in their second year to more surprises then they would ever have thought. Who is this Sirius Black and what does he have to do with Harry Potter? Find out in Book 2 of Swords and Wands
Disclaimer: I do not own PJO, HOO, or HP and I never will.
Note: Originally this was going to be a fluffy chapter, but then it took a turn and now it's just sad. Next chapter: Christmas at the Hedge House
Chapter 6: The Tale of Rachel Ridgewood
Harry Potter lived.
The Gryffindor team lost much to Jason's chagrin. Percy, Hazel, and Frank had gloated about it after hearing that Harry was ok; they waited until everybody was a hundred percent sure to do so (way later in the day). Dumbledore was livid as he ran to the ground, slowing Harry's fall. He then shot silvery stuff at them causing the dementors to disperse before levitating Harry on a stretcher and taking him to the castle. Everyone thought that the boy who lived had died for quite a bit. After that, the Nimbus got blown into the Whomping Willow.
It was sad to say the Nimbus was no more.
Over the weekend, a dull pattern went by. Jason and Piper had gone with Ginny to deliver a shrill singing get well soon card to Harry. Annabeth had given him snacks that Percy smuggled from the kitchen. Ron and Hermione didn't leave his bedside.
"It's all a little too much for me." Percy had said when he handed her the smuggled snacks. She had offered him to go, but he kindly refused. "I can't stand being crowded around when I'm in the infirmary."
"Before we took the quest, you were always crowded around a bed in the infirmary due to your ability to get hurt on even the safest things." Annabeth shook her as she grabbed the food.
"Exactly."
On Monday, life returned to normal. Harry had left the infirmary. Leo had welcomed him with a golden snitch hologram that flew around Harry's head (suspicious first year chick stared at the hologram with a glare so deadly that Leo was surprised that the hologram didn't just flicker out). Annabeth wasn't amused, stating that he was making it worse.
In third year, Defense Against the Dark Arts, things were back to normal again. Lupin, still looking ill, stood at the front of the class. Automatically, the class was bustling with complaints about Snape's behavior.
"It's not fair, he was only filling in, why should he give us homework?"
"We don't know anything about werewolves-"
"-two rolls of parchment!"
"Detentions! Detentions!"
Lupin was smiling. He shook his head, amused by the look of indignation on every student's face. Annabeth didn't feel like it wasn't a rude smile, but a good natured one.
"Don't worry. I'll speak to Professor Snape. You don't have to do the essay."
"Oh no," said Hermione, disappointment lacing her voice. "I've already finished it!"
Annabeth nodded her head sympathetically, looking down at her own finished essay with disappointment.
An enjoyable lesson followed the announcement. Professor Lupin had brought a glass box containing a hinkypunks, little one-legged creatures who looked as if they were made of wisps of smoke. They looked harmless, something you would see at the bottom of the camp lake among the draids.
"Lures travelers into bogs," said Professor Lupin as the students took notes. "You notice the lantern dangling from his hand? Hops ahead-people the light-then-"
The hinkpunk made a horrible squelching noise against the glass. Annabeth raised her hand. Lupin nodded at her.
"Like a Will-O-Wisp?" Annabeth asked.
"Precisely," Lupin smiled. "Many legends do have some fact based at their core. Within every legend is a truth just waiting to be found."
If only he knew. Annabeth thought. Some truths were more horrible then other truths and she felt the truth she was hiding was a horrible truth. When the bell rang, the students gathered their supplies and hurried out of the room to their next class.
Leo was on his way to his own next class when a person appeared at his and Luna's side. They were walking with quick pace and talking idly when nosey first year girl caught up. Today, her hair was done in even more innocent braids. She looked younger then eleven.
"Aren't you supposed to be going somewhere?" Leo asked her. "Like to first year classes where first years ago which is you."
"Hmph," the girl sniffed. "No need to be rude. I'm onto you, Valdez and I'll be watching you. I'll be watching you." She turned around on her heel and hurried off to her next class.
"She's a strange one that Fray girl, isn't she?" Luna commented, which Leo felt was really unfair considering she was strange to. But weren't everybody in Ravenclaw strange? Yeah.
"She's nosey." Leo stated flatly. They made it into the classroom just in time, the bell ringing to say class began.
As the month passed, life went on. The demigods still had their meetings to no luck with the powers. Nosey, suspicious first year still watched everything Leo did. Annabeth still did a stack of homework every night. Frank and Hazel still kept an eye on Lupin. Percy kept on stealing from the kitchen becoming a regular among the house elves and even befriending them in the way.
When December came and snow started to fall, the demigods decided to leave Hogwarts this year for Christmas, wanting to relax with Coach Hedge and get away from Dementors and magic for a little bit. Rachel was invited to come since her parents were going to be in United States the entire winter break on a business trip.
They took the train back and all gathered outside the Hedge House (having gotten its name from a clever pun from Leo) before moving inside; Coach Hedge greeting the demigods warmly and grunting at Rachel.
During the break, a blanket of snow covered the ground and busy days started. A huge Christmas tree took up a large portion of the family room, dark green pine needles falling to the floor if you brushed it to hard. If you stared at the tree for long, you would see Percy's cat's eyes glowing from where he sat on a branch. Decorating the tree had been fun due to the height of everybody staying at the Hedge House. Coach Hedge had not grown any during the course of the year. They had to find ways to reach the top section of the tree from ladders to machine arms, they tried it all. Finally, they managed to get the goddess on top of the tree ("Why do you put a goddess and not an angel on top of the tree?" Rachel had asked. "Because it isn't in Hedge's religion." Annabeth had answered.)
The day before Christmas, late at night, Rachel had asked a different question.
"Who is Coach Hedge?"
"Huh?" Annabeth knew that Rachel had met Coach Hedge before so she didn't know why the girl was asking now.
"To you." Rachel stated. "What is he to you?"
"A close family friend." Annabeth answered automatically. "He helped out in a very hard time."
"Oh." Rachel said.
"Why do you sound so disappointed?"
"I have cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents, but they aren't really, you know, there." Rachel said uncomfortably.
"Trust me, I know." The gods weren't exactly the type of family who had a family reunion just because they haven't seen each other in a while.
"My father is a Pureblood." Rachel began in an almost bitter tone. "He married my mom, a muggle, which was immensely frowned upon his family. My grandparents disowned him. My mom's parents thought he was a freak. So my parents were cut off from the people who had raised them, but they were in love and family didn't matter because love conquers all. My mom's siblings still kept in touch. Her two older sisters still write letters to us and send greeting cards with their perfect banker husbands and their perfect children. My dad's siblings weren't so lenient. His older brother cut him off, believing my father tainted the bloodline. His older sister turned her nose and looked the other way. Only his youngest sister still talks to us, and only in letters. I've never seen her in person. Bu that didn't matter, my parents had started fighting, you see. My father works for the Ministry and has to travel a lot. You couldn't bring your little muggle wife with you on these trips. So my parents decided to have a child. Because that would ensure they love each other, right?"
Annabeth knew it was a rhetorical question, so she listened on in silence.
"At first it seemed alright, they began raising me and they fell in love again. Then two years later, that changed. I was born to save a marriage, right? Well, my brother was born out of love and my, my, my, he was perfect."
She said the word perfect like one would say spider. Annabeth flinched at the word, knowing the tale would take a poisonous turn that made you ach with sympathy and want to hug the teller.
"From his emerald green eyes to his sparkling personality, he was perfect. He shone light on everyone he met. Everybody fell in love with him, except me. You know the story that those born out of hate will feel the most love? Well he was the opposite. He had hatred all over his soul and he only showed it to me. Everybody thought he was an angel. I knew better. He would push me and rip wings off butterflies and I would tell my parents and they would laugh saying I had a funny imagination because I was eight and I had no idea what I was talking about. A week after my ninth birthday, everything changed. It started as a normal day when my brother and I decided to go on a walk. I didn't want to go on the walk, but my parents insisted I did because my brother was too young to be by himself. His look was almost evil the way he smiled at me. So we took a walk. I lived by a forest and a stream and my brother took me to that stupid stream because he wanted to go there. He began to taunt me to swim it. I knew my parents did not want us to swim in the stream because the current was strong and we would drown. I refused. I don't remember exactly what happened next, but I remember I was standing on the ground one second and the next I was underwater, trying to breathe. My brother was trying to drown me. My perfect, innocent seven-year-old brother was trying to drown me! I did what I could for self defense, one thing led to another and he got pulled into the stream."
Annabeth listened stoically trying to imagine all this happening. She frowned at the image. Rachel started up again, sounding like she was defending herself before it just turned into guilt.
"I tried to help. He was calling my name. I reached for his hand and he held on, but his fingers were slippery and then he was under the current. You have no idea how long I sat there in shock. Eventually, my parents came. His burial was short. He did not have any friends or family to come for him. And when I saw his grave, my parents were crying, but I was relieved. I was relieved that my little brother was dead, Annabeth. My parents never looked at me the same after his death, they withdrew, started focusing more on work. And here we are now."
Rachel sighed, tears sparkling in her eyes. Annabeth shook her head, sadly as if there was nothing she could do that was already done. She felt grateful that Rachel had confided in her. Now it was Annabeth's turn to tell the back story (censored of demigodness of course).
"My father was a muggle who was an expert on planes. My mother was a Pureblood with a very huge family. For some reason unknown to me, they fell in love. They weren't married when they had me, my mom left right afterward leaving me with my dad. He didn't love until he met my step-mom. My step-mom and my dad got married and had kids, my little brothers Bobby and Matthew. I felt like an outcast, alone. My father didn't have time for me anymore, just his precious little wife and their precious little children. When I reached seven, I had enough of it. I packed my bags and ran away. Let it be fate that let me meet Thalia Grace and Luke Castellan."
Rachel perked up on how Annabeth said the names, with honor as if they were heroes who needed to be recognized.
"We eventually met Grover Underwood who took the three of us to a safe place. I didn't talk much of my father for many years, just wearing his ring around my necklace. I didn't think much of him either until Percy Jackson came knocking at my door."
The way she said Percy Jackson made Rachel raise an eyebrow. It was loving and admiring at the same time with just a hint of snark.
"He convinced me to go back to my family and so I did and it didn't work out at first, but eventually everything sorted itself out in the end, I'm not as close as I was to my father when it was just the two of us, but we still love each other greatly."
Annabeth finished her short story with a smile. Rachel couldn't help but smile too. Everything does seem to work out in the end, doesn't it?