max artemis potter: Thanks
ButterflyFlyToMe: Thank you so much! I've been writing on this site since I was ten or eleven, so I've had a lot of practice. Now I'm thirteen and a much better writer. I am so glad you like it!
Unnamed-Anonymous-Reviewer: Hi. An interesting question, I was looking to see if anyone would pick up on that. I have been dropping hints. Vaisey does, as a matter of fact, like Annabeth in a slightly more than a friend way. But like I said, the hints are subtle, and they're still both very young. I don't even think Vasiey realizes that he likes her.
Cookie05: Thank you
kitty123383: Yeah, I'm just evil that way. MUAHAHA!
malfoyforever: Thanks! Yeah, I like him too. He's funny. I also like the Annabeth/Luke pre-Kronos thing.
darklilyofthevalley: Yep.
book worm: Here you go!
Note: Again, I would just like to say that although I know people enjoy the little facts, it would be great if you also reviewed the STORY. Anyway, enjoy the chapter.
Annabeth was sure that when she entered the Great Hall for breakfast the next day she would come face to face with a not-so-happy Aleron Vaisey. She could not have been more wrong. Not only did Vaisey not look angry, he was smiling - - no, not just smiling; he was BEAMING. Now Annabeth was starting to worry. A Slytherin boy beaming could never mean anything good.
With caution, she approached the Slytherin table. "Hey . . . um, about last night . . . " she began somewhat awkwardly.
Vaisey waved his hand dismissively. "Eh, don't worry about it."
"Are you feeling alright?" Annabeth asked nervously.
Once again, and to Annabeth's complete horror, Aleron grinned widely. "Never better. I actually had fun. Rose isn't half bad once you get to know her. Did you know that her cousin plays in the Holyhead Harpies? She even got third row seats for the Quidditch World Cup last year! How cool is that!"
Annabeth nodded stiffly. "Very cool," she replied, her mind once again wandering to the previous night's shocking events.
Vaisey seeming to notice her distant look, waved his hand in front of her face. "Hello, Annabeth? Helloooo-oo!"
"What?" she said, stepping out of her semi-trance. "Oh yeah. I'm fine."
"Excellent. Oh, what did Nott want?"
"Err . . . nothing worth worrying about. He just wanted my help in researching something."
Aleron looked surprised. "Really? That doesn't sound like him at all. Why would he bother going through all of that trouble just to get help with some research. I mean, the bloody boy is always ready! You'd think that he wouldn't mind doing it on his own. Kind of odd, no?"
Annabeth shrugged. "It was a very particular type of research." Then she left without another word.
"No! This is stupid! I can't believe you made me do it. I'm not going."
"Come on, Marietta, how often do I ask a favor of you? Besides, you know I can't go there alone. Otherwise I might as well throw my arms around the bloody bloke and snog him like there's no tomorrow."
"No, no, and no. My answer had not changed, nor will it. What they're doing is stupid and risky. I say we should just tell Umbridge and get it done with already. We should put a stop to this nonsense before it gets out of hand. That should keep the lot out of trouble!"
"Marietta, no!" the Chinese-British girl begged. "This is really important to me. It's also the right thing to do. He would have wanted us to. Don't you think - -"
"Okay, stop it," Marietta put her hand up, "alright, I know where you're going with this, Cho. You are not going to guilt me into going to that meeting. I don't want to learn defense. I don't! I'm scared, okay? Scared of what the Ministry will do to my family. If you want to kill yourself, go on ahead! But I'm not! These are dangerous times, Cho, and I would prefer to stay on the safe side."
"Exactly! And how is staying with Harry not safe? He knew what he was doing. He's even faced You-Know-Who in a duel and lived! He will protect us!"
"Sure, just like he did a wonderful job of protecting Cedric!" at her friend's forlorn expression, she sighed. "Look, I'm sorry I said that, but I'm still not going. It's too dangerous. You can go and risk you neck if you want, but I'm staying here. I refuse to join Potter's little dueling club. Besides, we both know why you're really going."
Harper smirked from his hiding spot as he listened to the girls' conversation via Extendable Ears. Those Weasley Twins may have been annoying, but their products were brilliant, none the less. So Harry Potter was forming some sort of resistance against the Ministry. He would have to tell Vaisey about this! The two of them could threaten to tell and - -oh, wow, they would have Potter at their command. It would be sweet!
Forrest paused. Wait, why bother telling Vaisey? he wondered, what has he ever done for me? Why should I have to share my power with him? Plus, he'd probably bring that stupid Ravenclaw girl with him if he did. Harper paused mentally. Huh, he mused. A stupid Ravenclaw. How ironic. He supposed that perhaps "stupid" wasn't the right word to use in this context. Annoying would probably be better. Or irritating. Or agitating. Or provoking. Pestering. Displeasing. Plaguing. Badgering. Maybe Mum was right, thought Harper. Maybe I should be in Ravenclaw. I bet I could think of fifty synonyms on the spot if I tried. He closed his eyes and concentrated. Alright . . . let's see . . . Perturbing. Nagging. Bothersome. Peeving - - oh, THAT'S where Peeves got his name! - - Wait a minute! What was he doing, pondering over stupid words? If only mother hadn't insisted on reading Madame MacHale's Junior Thesaurus of Negative Words. Now that's something only a Slytherin would write. An entire book full of negative words.
Forrest Harper pressed his ear to the artificial one and continued to listen to the girl's argument for several more minutes. Eventually, Edgecombe gave in and agreed to go to one meeting of . . . whatever it was.
Hang on, he realized, Chang and Edgecombe are in Ravenclaw. Maybe it would be a good idea to tell Vaisey and Chase, after all. She could be their insider. Madame MacHale's number one rule always was: "Get others to do the work for you".
His mother had also made him read her complete guide to the fine art of manipulation.
"What's wrong, Annabeth?" asked Orla. The twelve-year-old Ravenclaw had watched her roommate throughout the entire holloween feast. Annabeth had not touched her food, merely picking at it with a troubled expression on her face.
Annabeth shrugged. "Just a bit worried about that Astronomy test, that's all," the girl replied, still hunched over the parchment she was looking at.
Emma Dobbs looked up from her copy of Witches Weekly. "I thought that Gryffindor boy was tutor- - err. . . helping you out," for some reason the girls seemed to think that being tutored was the same as calling someone stupid. Typical Ravenclaws. "You know, the Irish one. Seamus Finngin."
"Oh yeah!" Orla pipped in excitedly, "he's cute!"
Annabeth dropped her quill. "Okay," she said, "first of all, he's not cute. And secondly, it's Finnigan."
"I imagine he has plenty of tests of his own to study for as well," Emma said thoughtfully, flipping through the pages of her magazine. "He is, after all, in his fifth year. Seamus probably needs to practice for his upcoming OWLs."
"I don't think so, OWLs aren't for a while. Seamus never struck me as the 'studying ahead of time' type."
Dobbs shrugged. "It's possible. Right, Annabeth?" there was no answer. "Annabeth?"
Annabeth stared at the parchment in front of her as if it were the winning ticket to the lottery. She took out a notebook and began to scribble furiously. There was a picture on it as well as words, and Annabeth had a feeling that she recognized it from somewhere. Then, as if someone had turned on a lightbulb, she shouted, "Δωδώνη!"
Her roommates stared at her. "What?" they said simultaneously.
"Nothing," she muttered in English. Note to self, Annabeth said mentally, no shouting out things in Ancient Greek. Despite her embarrassingly foolish outburst of Attic Greek, Annabeth couldn't help but feel proud of herself. She had been trying to figure out why there was a picture of an stadium on the parchment. Now she understood at last: it was Dodona Theater. And who was that theater named after? The Oracle of Dodona! It made sense now. If Delphi could use a human as a host, why couldn't Dodona?
Annabeth searched her mind, trying to recall everything that she had learned from Camp Half-Blood's history lessons about Dodona. Dodona was one of the oldest oracles, probably second to Delphi. Dodona had been the oracle of Dione, Delphin had been held by Phoebe, and then passed on to Apollo. What were the others? Annabeth struggled to remember. Phthiotis was with Themis? No, Theia. And Lebadeia was held by Mnemosyne. Yeah, that's it.
Oracles aside, Annabeth turned her focus to the actual prophecies. There were several on the page, some were just bits and pieces, but there were a couple full ones. Two in particular caught Annabeth's attention.
The first seemed rather vague and unclear - - even more than normal prophecies.
Seven half-bloods shall answer the call.
To storm or fire, the world must fall.
An oath to keep with a final breath,
And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death.
Whatever that one meant, it couldn't be good. Disturbed, she turned her attention the other. If anything, this one troubled her even more. Perhaps that was because she had heard it before. Not long ago, last year, in fact. She still remembered the way Chiron's eyes seemed to bore through her skull. The poem had haunted her ever since.
A Half-Blood of the eldest gods,
Shall reach sixteen against all odds
And see the world in endless sleep
The hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap
A single choice shall end his days
Olympus to preserve or raze
Annabeth noticed that her hand were now shaking, unable to keep the parchment steady. She placed it in her lap, just in time to see it: in a corner of parchment where nothing appeared to be written, a new prophecy materialized right before her eyes! It seemed to be addressed directly to her, and she did not like the look of it.
You shall delve in the darkness of the endless maze,
The dead, the traitor, and the lost one raise.
You shall rise or fall by the ghost king's hand,
The Child of Athena's final stand.
Destroy with a hero's final breath,
And lose a love to worse than death.
Sound familiar? Who says a prophecy can't happen twice?
Random HP fact: Although we all love to believe it, Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood never got together. After Deathly Hallows, Neville married Hannah Abbott. The two now live in the Leaky Cauldron where Hannah is the landlady. During the school year Neville teaches Herbology at Hogwarts.
Luna, on the other hand, traveled the world as a wizarding naturalist. She discovered many new species, although was never able to find the Crumple-Horned Snorkack. Eventually, she found true love of her own: Rolf Scamander, grandson of Newt Scamander (the author of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them). The couple had a pair of twin boys, Lorcan and Lysander.
Random fact: Sneezing too hard can cause someone to break a rib (although quite unlikely), and someone who suppresses a sneeze can pop a vain in their head or neck and die. I know; lovely, right?