WTF Annabeth
Chapter 8

Harry

"Shut the door please." Chiron said to Hermione, who did as requested.

"My name is Chiron, and I am Annabeth's, Percy's, and presumptively Rue's, or Harry's as you know him, instructor when they are not in school. What you are seeing is an image of me broadcast through the mist called an Iris message, as Iris is the one who makes it possible. Do not be alarmed. I am guessing you are Hermione. My students speak highly of you."

"We were just catching Chiron up on school here and our new friends." Percy said. "Its okay, don't be afraid."

"I.. I'm not afraid, I was just startled. I never knew there was such a spell. I'm sorry Professor Chiron, I... well I'm muggle born so there is a lot of magic I don't know. Are you..."

"Am I what?"

"Not what, who. I mean, are you named after the Chiron of mythology?"

"No, I am the Chiron of mythology."

"But... that's not possible, Chiron relieved his life of pain by sacrificing himself to free Prometheus, didn't he?"

Chiron smiled. "I got better. She truly is the brightest witch isn't she Annabeth? Annabeth was bragging on how dedicated you are to your studies, both academic and martial. But yes I was cursed to agony and my death to release Prometheus freed me from that curse. But immortals never really die. We go away for awhile, but as long as we are in the memories of mortals, we return. Since then I have been teaching mortals who are particularly gifted in our ways."

"Perhaps you could teach me then! I would love to be able to talk to my mother and father sometime." Hermione smiled.

"Perhaps, I will speak to your Headmaster about an exchange. It was that which we were just discussing. Hermione, I ask you tell no one you met me for now. Annabeth and Percy are charged with keeping many secrets, but are allowed to tell a few close friends that which they wish, when appropriate. I assure you my presence in their lives will ultimately make sense to you and your group as your relationships become closer. For now though, I must be off. Annabeth, it is good that you have secured a brazier for your dining hall. This will make your family quite happy I'm sure. Good night, and mist me again in a few days if warranted. It pleases me to see you prospering. Oh, and don't beat up anymore class mates. Unless they really deserve it." He smiled.

The mist faded out and with it Chiron. Hermione stared at us really weird, as if she was thinking about something, then asked.

"Are you children of the gods?"

"Uh, what makes you think that?" Annabeth giggled.

"Because, that is who Chiron was the teacher to in the myths. He taught Apollo, and uh, Hercules? And he said the brazier would make your family happy, and you told me you sacrificed to the gods with it."

"How do you know that? About Chiron?" I asked.

"What? I read." She replied with a smirk.

"Why don't you come in and join us for a few minutes Hermione." Annabeth said, but looked at Percy as she did. He nodded.

After swearing her to secrecy, and explaining why, I told her what I could. I was not a child of the gods, but was sent by Dumbledore to live with them for my safety when my parents died when I was an infant. I was raised by the camp, and explained that the camp was for children the gods had with mortals. Percy and Annabeth told her that their magical parents were Poseidon and Athena respectively, but this couldn't be known as revealing the existence of the gods to the world of magic would be nearly as damaging as revealing it to muggles, or revealing magic to muggles. She asked good questions, as we expected, and we answered as well as we could. We told her we were sent to Hogwarts by Hecate, and that all magicians were either descended from her, or selected by her, to be graced with magic. Oh, and there was a Hecate cabin at Half Blood with a half dozen or so of her first generation children in it. It was at camp where we learned to fight and although there were some there better than us, not many.

Finally we explained quests to her. That the gods could not interfere in the business of mortals, but instead sent their half blood children to instead. Hermione seemed fascinated by this, so we told her of the quest earlier in the summer, and Annabeth gave her the full details of the curse that was put upon her, again swearing Hermione to secrecy. We also explained that as a result the mortal children of the gods had a pretty short life expectancy.

"So that is what Snape saw in your mind?"

"Yes! Exactly! That is why he looked terrified, I showed him the underworld. I knew he was trying to scry my mind and I am no good at going blank, its an Athena thing I think, or an ADHD thing at least, so I showed him vacation pictures. Mortals are not supposed to see that stuff."

We heard running in the hallway and Hermione remembered why she was there.

"Oh! Its almost nine, you guys have to go!" She said.

"Awww, stay! Percy admitted today I was his girlfriend! Please Percy, I need to talk to you!"

"Uh, Hermione, what's say we give them a minute, care to join me in the common room?" I asked.

I thought she would trip getting out of her chair. I was seated on the floor and she offered me a hand up, then didn't let go as we left the love birds alone and went to the House Commons. We got a lot of stares, I'm not sure why, and when we got there Hermione sat really close beside me as we talked. I realized she was still holding my hand, and it was nice. She has warm, soft hands.

Earlier, before Hermione arrived, Annabeth had complained to Chiron that Dumbledore was keeping her and Percy apart, even though the fates commanded that they be together, but that she had found a way around that, and now that Percy had admitted that they were to be together (I apparently missed that part and judging from his reaction Percy did too) that it would be okay for her to continue to sneak over at night using her Yankees cap.

Chiron of course said no to this, as did Percy. This explained why every night I heard Percy, who was in the suite beside me, yell out "What the fuck Annabeth!"

At around midnight, I heard it again. Of course.

The next week flew by, although whenever we were alone Hermione asked tons of questions, most of which we could not answer either because it would have given too much information or because we just didn't know. We continued to teach and learn in the room of requirement, and I began near daily sessions with Dumbledore to catch me up on what I missed in the last eleven years. Turns out, I had a family; and aunt, uncle and cousin, but they sucked so bad that Professor McGonagall threatened to quit and raise me herself if Dumbledore left me with them. I would have to meet them sometime, but no rush. I had been alive for eleven years and they knew it, knew my parents were dead, and never once came looking for me. It was hard to feel close to them.

Thursday night rolled around and at nightfall Filch led us to Hagrid's hut. He warned us that we would be going into the forbidden forest, but none of us could see what the big deal was. Even Hermione seemed undisturbed by it, although Malfoy was complaining the whole way.

"Just wait until my father hears about this!"

"Shut up."

That was pretty much repeated constantly as we walked. On arrival Filch left, and Hagrid greeted Annabeth, Percy, Hermione, Ron and myself with big hugs and hearty laughs. Malfoy he just kind of grunted at.

"Tonight we're going to be looking for a wounded unicorn" He announced. "There's a blood trail that starts just a bit into tha' wood, and we'll follow it 'til we find 'er. Okay, so everyone have your wands at the ready, there's nothing in there that will 'urt ya if yer wid me, but best be safe. Harry, you have your bow. Everyone else use a wand."

"I'm better with a knife"

"And I'm better with a sword" Percy added.

"Yeah, but this is a school of magic ye know. So best be using magic if its needed."

True enough I suppose, but I would have felt better if Percy and Annabeth were brandishing edged weapons. The blood was silvery in the moonlight and easy to follow. It was fresh and still warm and wet, so there was a chance we might find it still alive, however unlikely that was. About two hundred yards in the trail split up and Hagrid divided us, He took Annabeth, Hermione and Ron, while Percy and I got Malfoy, and Fang, but according to Hagrid, Fang was a useless sissy.

We didn't really know what we were looking for, but we found it anyway. In a glade, beside a small brook, thirty to forty yards away we saw a cloaked figure leaning over what appeared to be a white horse. Percy and I decided to sneak up and capture it, but Malfoy, being an arrogant dumb ass ignored our signals to be quiet and kept stomping through the woods. The figure rose up, saw us, and began to fly away. I had time to shoot two arrows, one went through its cape, the other I'm pretty sure hit it in the leg. A trail of blood confirmed this, as did the hideous shout it made when the arrow hit. Still, it turned to smoke and got away.

Thanks a lot Malfoy, you idiot.

We rushed to the unicorn and found it gasping for its last breaths. Percy dug out some nectar while I starting casting the healing spell that Annabeth liked so much. Malfoy just stood there uselessly gawking, but Fang started barking like a maniac and that drew Team Hagrid to our location.

The healing spell seemed to work, the wounds that were leaking blood began to seal up, and as Percy dripped nectar slowly on to her lips, she seemed to heal all over. I really wasn't sure if it would work or whether it would just burn the unicorn up,but given that it was dying and almost dead anyway, it seemed to be worth the risk. It paid off. After a few moments of making a few odd noises and grunts, it leaped to its feet and looked around curiously. We both stood up and realized we were in a semicircle of unicorns.

Then it and Percy began making whinnying noise at each other and we all stared. It nuzzled its face and horn up against him, and then me, then with another whinny turned and joined its herd.

"What was that about?" Annabeth asked.

"What?" Percy replied.

"It looked like you were talking to it."

"I was, it was thanking me and Harry. You were right there, you heard it."

"Uh Percy, we just heard you making whinnying sounds. You speak unicorn now?"

"Uh really? No, I mean, I guess. Maybe. I don't know. I just understood him and told him it was okay, we were proud to help. I asked if it got a good look at its attacker and it said..."

"Harry Potter! You must leave this place. There is danger here for you." A centaur said from behind us.

"Uh, no, it didn't get a good look. It was wearing a cloth across its face." Percy finished.

"Uh, hi." I said to the Centaur. "Have we met?"

"No, but all in our realm know the name Harry Potter. Hagrid should not have brought you here."

"Now look Firenze..." Hagrid began, only to be interrupted by Annabeth's scream.

"Percy! Spiders!" She practically yelped, then took off running. Sure enough there were spiders, huge ones, like car size, coming over the rise and down towards the stream. Whats more, there were thousands of them.

"Aragog!" Hagrid shouted, "These children are my guests, be gone!"

"Not that child. She is no guest. I will not keep my children from her" the biggest spider of them all said.

Things were deteriorating.

"Get Annabeth!" Percy shouted at the unicorns, then remember they couldnt' speak English, whinnied something at them. The unicorns ran as a pack in the direction that Annabeth had ran, basically following Malfoy who had ran screaming in the same direction moments later.

"You going to help us fight or just stand there?" I asked the centaur as I aimed my first arrow at the head of the lead spider and fired. I began rapidly firing as many as I could, usually the spiders fell with just one shot to the head, but I was nearly out of arrows when volley after volley came over my head and started nailing them in mass.

Hermione and Ron were stupifying spiders, and it seemed to knock them out, but they were slow and there were many attackers.

Hagrid was yelling for all to stop, but it was clear the spiders were not going to listen, and our efforts at killing them all would fall way short, even with the centaurs help. There were just too many.

Then we heard the rush of water, and just as the leading edge of the spiders turned to pursue Annabeth, a flash flood of water raced down the creek, over its banks and slammed into them. Hundreds were washed away, and the stream turned into the main pack and killed many more.

Percy yelled for us to run and I was turning to when I was scooped up, along with everyone else except Hagrid, by a centaur who ran us to the edge of the woods. Hagrid was right behind us, but the spiders didn't seem to be following anymore. Once there the main centaur told us we were fools to bring Annabeth to the woods and chastised Hagrid for doing so. In particular they called out Percy and myself for being so foolish.

"Yeah Chiron tells me that a lot." Percy replied.

"You know Chiron?" Firenze asked, startled by this.

"Yeah, he is the headmaster at Camp..."

"Camp Half Blood. Chiron is revered among all my brethren. We hold him to be the fairest and wisest and his counsel sought through the mist. We were not aware his students were at Hogwarts."

"Well, three of us are. I'm Percy Jackson and this is Harry, who you apparently know. The girl that was screaming about spiders is Annabeth Chase."

"Harry Potter should avoid the wood, as should Miss Chase. I do not know why the acromatulas are so dedicated to her death, but she will not fare as well next time. You should return to the castle now. Hagrid, you must ensure they arrive safely. I will speak to Aragog as to ending this war before it starts."

"Is Lemur okay?" Percy asked.

"Who is Lemur?" I asked.

"The unicorn we saved." Percy replied.

"Yes. Your healing cured him of his wounds but he will remain weak. The others will attempt to protect him while he recovers. It is a terrible thing to kill a unicorn, and a wonderous thing to save one. The unicorns will be in your debt always."

"Why was that thing killing her?"

"Percy, we need to find Annabeth." I said.

"We'll catch up to her, she can't be far and we have brooms."

"The blood of a unicorn will preserve life even to those who dwell in the realm between life and death, but at a terrible cost. It is a cursed life for you have destroyed something so precious and beautiful that nature forever abhors you. Now go. Hagrid comes. Find your friend." Firenze said as he and the other centaurs and unicorns ran back into the woods.

We pulled our brooms out of our bags and took off towards the castle, but never saw Annabeth. I was starting to really worry but found the castle door standing open and heard a scream from inside. We flew in and up the stairs to the third floor where we heard the screams coming from. Down the hall we found Annabeth, standing in an open doorway, apparently having ran up the stairs while they were moving and ending up in the wrong place.

I thought she was screaming about the spiders still, but in the darkness saw a giant three headed dog looming over her and licking its lips. I was in front, I fly a good bit faster than Percy, and dove to grab her. I scooped her up and turned just as the dog lunged and Percy closed the door, then it was back down the hall, across the commons and up to the doorway of Gryffindor Tower before the commons filled with professors wondering where the screaming was coming from. In truth, I'm not sure how we managed to not get caught in the forbidden hallway. Magic I guess.

Annabeth was white as a ghost and holding me tight. She was staring at me and mumbling "Spiders... Rue, there were spiders, huge spiders" I could feel her heart pounding as I came in for a landing at the Old Woman. Percy shouted the password to her and the door flew open, so I landed inside in the common room instead. There were several people there, all of whom stared at us as we alit.

"Come on, we'll go to the girls common room Annabeth. There will be a nice fire there and and if any of them follow us we'll burn then to death. Percy said as he slung Annabeth's arm over his shoulder and I did the same with the other arm.

"Its after nine, you can't be on the girls' side of the tower." Percy Weasley smugly announced.

"Well by all means if you're man enough to stop me" Percy Jackson replied. It was pretty clear that Ron's brother didn't have it in him to give it a go, and Percy's demeanor made it clear that it would be a terrible idea to try at that moment.

We got to the first year girls commons, a room that didn't exist on any map, and laid Annabeth on one of the big over stuffed couches. Hermione and Ron burst in just as we got her in place and Hermione went to fetch blankets and pillows for her. Annabeth sat up enough for Percy to sit down then threw her arms around him crying and whimpering about spiders. The three headed dog didn't really seem to upset her too much. She made no sense, talking about Athena and weaving and the goddess of handicrafts... Ron, who had read some mythology oddly enough, was able to make sense of it and told us the story of the weaving contest. From that Annabeth was able to finally get out that spiders hated her.

It made sense to all of us then except, ironically, Ron, who knew nothing so far of Annabeth and Percy's actual parentage. It was eleven before we left the girls side, and then only because Hermione agreed to stay with Annabeth who although calmer, was far from calm. We only left then because all the Prefects came and basically forced us out, after complaining that we had better quarters than they did.

An hour later Hermione was knocking on doors in the boys side to fetch Percy as Annabeth had one night mare after another and no one else could make her feel safe.