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Annabeth ran into the seventh floor girls' bathroom. It was empty save for redhead girl who stood panting in the corner.

"Get out!" Annabeth screamed.

The girl jumped and looked around for the source of the voice. It took Annabeth a moment to figure out why the girl was confused. Of course, she was still wearing the cap!

"You heard me, get out! Umbridge is onto you. She sent Parkinson to look in the girls' bathrooms for people out of breath, so RUN!"

"But who . . . ?"

"That doesn't matter, just get out!"

The girl nodded vigorously and dashed out the door. "Tell the others to hide!" she called after her.

Where to next? the first year wondered as she exited the bathroom. She dashed down the hall and almost ran straight into a pair of Hufflepuff who looked like they were running for their dear lives. A mere few strides behind them was Blaise Zabini. Annabeth held out her invisible foot and tripped him, allowing the two others to escape.

"What the-" Zabini said, apparently confused that he tripped over nothing. He stood up and dusted off his robes, taking a glance at the two kids in the distance. "Oh well," he said, shrugging. "There's no way I can reach them now. At least I tried." And with that, walked off in the other direction, seemingly satisfied with his feeble efforts. His complete lack of loyalty, even for something so horrible, annoyed Annabeth greatly. But there was no time to dwell on it now. She took to the other direction where a group of five or six more kids were trying to outrun a pair of bulky Slytherin boys.

"OH NO!" she shouted. "THEY'VE FOUND ME!"

Her distraction worked: the two boys glanced confusedly in her direction as Annabeth reached into her pocket and pulled out her Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder. Annabeth felt a pair of meaty hand grab her just as she threw the power onto the ground. As soon as everything went black, Annabeth was able to squirm out of the boy's grip, which had lightened significantly in all of the chaos.

Well, she thought, running away. I've done more than my part. I'm done here.

"No! No! No!" Vaisey screamed upon seeing the Hogwarts bulletin board on the way to breakfast. "Oh, sweet Merlin, NO!"

"What's it say?" asked Rose, sidling up to him. He pointed and she let out a wail in despair.

Annabeth didn't feel like pushing through a bunch of students, so instead she just tapped one on the shoulder and asked what was going on. "You didn't hear?" he asked. She shook her head, feeling slightly embarrassed. "Dumbledore's gone! Umbridge is taking over as headmaster."

Chase was in too much shock to even correct the boy by saying that the proper term was headmistress. "But . . . but why? Why her? Why not McGongall? She's Deputy Mistress, isn't she?"

The boy shook his head in disbelief. "Who cared how it happened. The point is, it happened. Oh god, here she comes!" he ducked his head and ran.

"Lovely day, isn't it, Chase?" said Umbridge, smiling sweetly at Annabeth who nodded very slowly in response. Annabeth shot the Professor a smile that she was careful to make sure didn't appear sarcastic.

"You'll behave yourself, won't you, dear?"

"Of course."

"No more little outbursts, then?"

"None, ma'am."

Umbridge squinted her eyes and surveyed the girl as if trying to detect the sarcasm in her voice, but found none. "Very well, then. Go on and eat your breakfast."

She nodded and stepped into the Great Hall. Throughout the entire meal, Umbridge sat in the Head's seat as if it were a throne. The toad's eyes switched between two students and two students only: her and Harry Potter. What could that boy have done to make the headmaster leave? Perhaps Dumbledore had decided the school was a lost cause and simply taken off. It seemed out of character for him to abandon his students, though. So then what was going on?

"What's going to happen now?" she asked Goldstein quietly.

The prefect's reply was quite matter-of-fact. "Hell."

Anthony turned out to be quite right in his prediction. The days leading up to Easter Break were some of the worst of Annabeth's life. Every minute seemed like an hour, every hour seemed like a week, and every day seemed like an eternity.

"You shall delve in the darkness of the endless maze, I still have no idea what this one means. A maze can be metaphorical, I guess. So maybe it's referring to a series of challenges, like this school for instance."

"Seems plausible," said Nott.

The two of them were sitting in the Room of Requirement going over the sheet of parchment that Annabeth had nearly forgotten.

The dead, the traitor, and the lost one raise. Well, Vaisey's sister died, didn't she? Maybe it has something to do with her." Nott shrugged, but looked doubtful. "Okay, probably not. But we should still examine the possibility. The traitor, that would be Marietta whatshername. She told Umbridge about Dumbldore's Army, which means that part of the prophecy has already been fulfilled. The last one is tricky, though. The word 'lost' has many definitions.

"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."

"I'm guessing the rest is self-explanatory?"

"N-no!" she said quickly. "Not necessarily. There could be-"

Theodore pulled the paper from Annabeth's hands and squinted at the writing. "Are you sure that the first line says 'maze'?"

"Yes, quite," she snapped, snatching back the parchment from Nott's hands.

"Really? Because it looks like there's another . . . "

"Stop being annoying, already. This is serious business." Annabeth tapped her fingers on the coffee table, stopping short when she caught sight of a book about Rasptin. "The ghost king! That's it!"

"What's it?"

"Alexei Romanov was supposed to be the Tsar of Russia, which is basically a king, but he died first. Maybe he's the ghost king."

Nott shook his head. "Only wizards can become ghosts."

"Well, it doesn't have to mean he's an actual ghost. It could just mean that he's dead. A ghost could also be metaphorical for a shadow of some sort. Maybe Alexei felt that he was in his father's shadow?" she sounded as if she were beginning to doubt herself.

"No. Think about it, Chase. How are you supposed to rise or fall by his hand if the kid's not even a real ghost? Face it, it doesn't make any sense. Have you got any other theories?"

"Well, a few . . . but none of them really make that much sense." She looked at her watch. "It's late. I'm going to bed. You?"

"I think I'll stay a few more minutes. I have O. to study for. Be care, Umbridge is guarding all of the halls on this corridor after what happened with Potter."

"Don't worry," said Annabeth, patting her pocket that held the Yankee cap. "I will be."

HP fact: J.K. Rowling didn't kill Hagrid only so that she could have the scene where Hagrid thinks he is carrying Harry's dead body.

Random Fact: A dog's nose is as unique as a human fingerprint and can be used for identification.

Please review! I'm thinking about adding a picture to accompany this story. I am thinking of putting one of Alexei Romanov or something. Do you have any ideas or suggestions?