Daughter Of Artemis: As I have said before, the Golden Trio can only be in this story so much. My goal is to try to stay with both cannons, and the trick to doing that is to have the main characters interact as little as possible. We will be seeing them again, however, fairly soon.

max artemis potter: Thank you. Me, my dad, and my little sister were watching the sixth movie and when Harry snuck into the Slytherin compartment she kept saying how stupid he was. My dad told us the fact, and I thought it would be interesting to put in.

ButterflyFlyToMe: Thanks.

darklilyofthevalley: Thank you.

Cookie05: That's what I thought, too.

Vaisey suddenly grew quite pale. "H-how much did you hear?" he asked nervously. The poor kid looked as if he might faint.

Nott's lip curled up into a sneer. Annabeth supposed that was the closest thing he could get to smile. "Enough" was his enigmatic reply.

Vaisey made a slightly pathetic-sounding noise from his throat - - almost like a whimper. Canis ran back into the crawl space. Without thinking, he reached for Annabeth's hand and squeezed it tightly. Annabeth was so surprised that she didn't even pull it away immediately. But as soon as she came to her senses, she did (and smacked Aleron on the head, for good measure.) "Stop being a baby," she said.

Annabeth stepped towards the boy, not the least bit intimidated. "You said that you could help us, how? And what makes us think that we can trust you?"

Aleron's jaw dropped in horror, looking absolutely shocked that Annabeth had the nerve to question Theodore Nott. The older boy, however, appeared, if anything, bemused. He turned to Aleron. "Would you be so kind as to excuse us for a moment, Vaisey? I would like to speak to Miss Chase privately if you don't mind."

Vaisey looked at Annabeth nervously. "Uh . . ."

She forced a smile. "Don't worry about me, I can take care of myself."

Aleron, although rather hesitantly, began to step away. He turned around at the last second. "I'll wait for you in the main - - "

"GO!"

He nodded, and left.

Annabeth glared at Nott. "Okay, so you got what you wanted. We're alone. But I swear, if you try anything, I'll - -"

"Do what?" Theodore asked mockingly, "stab me with your dagger?"

Annabeth froze. The dagger! How did he know?

Nott laughed at her perplexed expression. "I have my ways," he said, seemingly reading her mind; his eyes gleamed with a look of pure genius, or complete madness, "daughter of Athena."

Annabeth froze again. There was no way she could have heard that last part correctly. The dagger was one thing, but there was no way he could have possibly know that. Unless . . .

"Monster!" Annabeth cried, charging at the teenager with her dagger. It sliced right through him, doing no damage whatsoever. Oops. Okay, so he was mortal. But then how . . . ?

Theodore seemed a bit taken aback by the sudden violent attack, but he regained his posture quickly enough. "I take Ancient Runes," he said, as of that explained everything. "I am also fluent in several different languages. That day with the Weasleys, you said that you were the daughter of Athena, and then you pulled out that dagger. I recognized the design immediately."

Annabeth forced a nervous laugh. "You thought that . . . ? Oh, gods - - god! As for the whole 'daughter of Athena' thing, that's just a saying where I come from."

"Yet you're in Ravenclaw, the House for the wise. You prefer to write in Greek - - the language of the gods. And you have a fascination of architecture, the very thing many children of Athena were said to have had. Tracey Davis mention several weeks ago that you apparently threw a muffin into fire, which burnt in a strange way - - a sacrifice of some sort, no doubt. The others may not see it, but I am no fool, Annabeth Chase. I said I would help your friend's dog, and I meant it, too. That is, provided you give me something in return."

Annabeth was nervous. This boy was awfully observant. It was beginning to creep her out. Without the dagger, she was basically defenseless against the boy. She may have talented for her year, but next to him, she did not stand a chance. The most advanced spells she could preform were only at a second-year level. She gulped, her chances were not good. The boy clearly wasn't stupid, and he knew it, too. He wanted something from her. It had nothing to do with the dog.

Trying her best to remain cocky, Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And what might that be?"

"I cannot tell you until I am certain that this will be completely confidential. You mustn't tell a single soul."

"Okay, fine. I won't tell anyone about your . . . whatever, if you don't tell anyone about the Crup. In other words, give me a reason to trust you, and we'll see."

This time Theodore smiled for real. It was a frightening sight. Once again, his eyes seemed to shine. "Deal," he said. "Now, let's go fetch your friend, shall we?"

Aleron Vaisey paced back and fourth anxiously. Of all the people who could have found them, it had to be Theodore Nott. His brother had warned him about Nott.

"Whatever you do, you do not want to get on his bad side," he said. "Of all the people you can make enemies with, he may be the worst."

"Worse than Draco Malfoy?" asked Aleron in a quivering voice.

His brother laughed. "Let's put it this way: compared to Nott, Malfoy is about as threatening as a Pygmy Puff!"

He shuddered. What was he doing to Annabeth in there? He suddenly felt guilty for leaving her. Should he get help? No, Vaisey decided. For all he knew, they could have been talking about the weather. If he got a professor and it turned out to be nothing, then he would definitely have Nott on his bad side.

But even as Annabeth ran over to him, telling him about the plan, Aleron remained uneasy.

"I don't know, Annabeth," he said. "This isn't just any bloke we're talking about, it's Theodore bloody Nott!"

"Why? What's so bad about him?"

Vaisey spoke in a voice that was barely a whisper, Annabeth had to lean in to hear properly. "The Nott's are huge supporters of You-Know-Who. And unlike most, they don't hide it either. They're proud to be working for a mass murderer. His father was one of the original followers. There are only a hand full left."

"Do you want to help Canis or not?" she demanded, "if I would have had a chance like this with Rex, then - -"

"Are you coming or not?" Nott asked. Both eleven-year-olds jumped. They hadn't known he was there.

"Yes," Annabeth said, "we are."

Nott led them to a remote corridor on the seventh floor. Abruptly, he stopped.

The fifteen-year-old looked around, studying the area. "This should be the place," he said. Theodore turned to Vaisey. "Do you have the dog?"

Aleron nodded, holding up a cage.

"Good. Now, here's what I want you to do: pace back and forth in front of that wall. Think really hard about what you want. Understood?"

"Yes."

"Good, now go."

Vaisey was confused, but he said nothing and silently obeyed the older boy. Sure enough, after only a couple of paces, a door appeared in the wall.

The three stepped inside.

"Welcome," said Theodore Nott, "to the Room of Requirement."

Harry Potter fact: After his twin's death, George Weasley could never produce a full patronus charm again. He continued to work at his joke shop, and was later joined by Ron after he retired from being an Auror.

Random fact that has nothing to do with Harry Potter: About 700 people die from toasters every year.

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