Harry

"My dears," Professor Trelawney's droning voice filled the swelteringly hot classroom, "We have almost finished our work on planetary divination. Today, however, will be an excellent opportunity to study the effects of Mars, as he is placed most interestingly at the moment…"

"I hate Mars," Percy muttered, his head lolling onto the table.

The fumes from the perfumed fire were heavier than ever and Harry opened the window a crack so, when he sat back in his chintz armchair, a soft breeze played across his face. Ron was slumped in the chair beside him, nursing several new bruises from allowing Harry to practice the stunning spell on him. Nico, too, had planted his face firmly in his textbook, lying open on the desk, while Will struggled to look attentive.

Harry watched lazily as Trelawney pointed out the fascinating angles the planets were making inside her miniature model of the solar system. The heat from the fire washed over him and the breeze from the window ruffled his hair. An insect was droning somewhere behind the curtain. He felt his eyelids begin to droop…

He was walking down a gloomy passageway, his feet carrying him through the door at the end, into a dark room whose windows were boarded up… An armchair faced away from him and from the depths of the chair came a cold, high-pitched voice…

"You are in luck Wormtail. You are very fortunate indeed. Your blunder has not ruined everything. He is dead."

"M-my lord," wheezed a voice from the floor – a short, balding man with watery eyes and a pointed nose, sobbing and gasping on the hearth rug, "My lord, I am so… so sorry."

"I'm afraid, Nagini, I will not be feeding Wormtail to you tonight," said the cold voice, "Never mind, never mind… There is still Harry Potter."

The snake hissed. Harry could see it's tongue flutter.

"My lord, the Jackson boy grows stronger by the day."

"No, Wormtail," the voice intervened sharply, "The longer he spends with his friends the weaker he becomes. Soon, he will join my cause. Soon, when all hope is lost… Now, Wormtail, perhaps one more little reminder I will not tolerate another blunder from you…"

"No, my lord. I beg- no, please!"

"Crucio!"

Wormtail screamed, screamed as though every nerve in his body was on fire. The screaming filled Harry's ears as the scar on his forehead seared with pain. Voldemort would hear him; would know he was there…

"Harry!"

He opened his eyes. He was on the floor in Trelawney's classroom, his hands over his face. His scar still burned so badly his eyes were watering. The pain had been real. The entire class was clustered around him and his friends were kneeling over him, staring at him white-faced.

"You alright?" Ron asked.

"Of course he isn't!" Trelawney cried, excited, "What was it Potter? A premonition? A vision?"

Will frowned, "Hey, maybe now isn't the best-"

"Nonsense, I have experience in these matters! Well, Potter?"

"It was nothing," he said shakily. He couldn't help himself searching the shadows in the room, scanning for any sign of Voldemort. He had sounded so close… Percy watched him, eyes narrowed.

"You were clutching your scar!" Trelawney insisted, "You were rolling on the floor clutching your scar!"

"I need to go to the hospital wing, I think," he said, "Bad headache."

"Come now, Potter! Your mind has clearly been stimulated by the extraordinary clairvoyant vibrations of my room! If you leave now you may lose the opportunity to see further than you have ever-"

"The only thing I want to see is a headache cure," said Harry.

He stood up. The class backed away, looking extremely unnerved.

"See you later," he muttered to no one in particular, stuffing his textbook into his bag and heading for the trapdoor.

As he clambered down the stepladder, he reached a decision; he would not go to the hospital wing. No, Sirius had told him what to do if his scar ever hurt again and this time Harry was going to follow his advice. He was going straight to Dumbledore.

"Harry!" someone shouted. He turned around. Percy landed clumsily at the foot of the ladder, "Wait!"

"What is it?"

"It was him, wasn't it?" Percy asked, "You saw Voldemort?"

Briefly, he considered lying but this was Percy and if anyone was going to understand what is was like to have Voldemort inside your head, it was him, "Yeah, I saw him."

"What did he want?"

The longer he spends with his friends the weaker he becomes.

"I really don't know," Harry lied, "I need to speak to Dumbledore."

Percy nodded hesitantly, "Okay, then. Talk later?"

"Yeah," Harry forced a smile.

Soon, he will join my cause. Soon, when all hope is lost.

Percy

"Do you think he's telling the truth about his dream?" Annabeth asked. The lake shone silver like a fish in the bright afternoon sun and Percy shielded his eyes as he looked back at her, sitting in the shade of the oak tree. They had a few minutes before Potions and he had dragged her away from the castle to tell her about what happened in Divination.

"I don't know," Percy frowned. Harry had seemed so distracted when he talked about it, "He said he saw Voldemort and then he kind of shut down, like there was something he didn't want me to know about."

"I can't help feeling like you're involved somehow," she sighed in frustration, "Why is it always you?"

He laughed but the sound was hollow. Why is it always me?

After the war with Gaia, he figured he could get some peace; go to college in New Rome with Annabeth, catch up on lost time with his mum and Paul before the baby arrived, but then the Mist fell, and he was thrust into another war he wasn't sure they could win. How many more battles could he survive unscratched? How much more did he have to lose before the Fates were done with him?

"Hey," Annabeth locked eyes with him, "It'll be okay."

He shook his head, "I just-"

"Stupefy!" The distant shout shattered his thoughts. In the forest, someone was screaming, "Impedimenta! Aahh!"

Percy tore down the hill towards the sound. He didn't have to look around to know Annabeth was behind him – she always was. In the shadow of the treeline, a ginger-haired witch was crouched behind a jagged boulder, cursing loudly while firing spells into the forest.

"You're Ron's sister," Percy realised, skidding to a halt beside her. The red hair and Gryffindor robes pretty much gave that away.

"Yeah, I'm Ginny," she gasped, "A little help here?"

"What-" His question was answered by an earth-shaking roar as a giant boar, thirty-feet high with tusks the size of canoes barrelled out of the forest.

"The Erymanthian Boar," Annabeth supplied helpfully, as though politely calling it's name would change it's mind about ripping them to shreds, "It was last defeated by-"

Percy groaned, "Don't say it."

"…Hercules."

"Surprise, surprise."

Ginny stared at them, "Well, how do we beat it? I've tried every spell, even my bat-bogey hex. Nothing works."

"I guess spells don't work on monsters," Percy said, briefly wondering what in Hades was a bat-bogey hex.

The boar pawed the ground, fixing it's glistening red eyes on the rock where they were hidden. Percy frowned – the beast was strangely familiar. He looked to Annabeth, "What do we do?"

She drew her drakon bone sword, "You go left, distract it-"

"Why do I have to-"

"I'll attack from behind. Ginny, stay here," she ordered, darting to the right, sword in hand.

Ginny glared at him, "I can't just sit here!"

"Stay here," he repeated, charging out from behind the boulder, "Over here, you great pig! Come and get me!"

The boar snorted in contempt, droplets of spit as big as Percy's head landed at his feet.

"Gross!" he said, "Hey, I think I killed your girlfriend in Manhattan-" He didn't get a chance to finish as the beast rushed forward, great hooves thundering toward him, and suddenly Percy realised where he recognised it from, "I remember you! You gave us a lift in New Mexico, why are you trying to kill me now?"

He dodged as the monster hurtled past him, narrowly missing being impaled on one of it's tusks. Where was Annabeth? He could really do with an attack from behind right about now…

"Yah!" His girlfriend leapt through the air and landed on the monster's back, right on time – as usual – and drove her sword down toward it's spine. At the last minute, the boar shook it's head and the blade missed it's fatal mark, embedding itself in the monster's side and Annabeth was sent pinwheeling through the air, sprawling across the ground like a ragdoll.

"Annabeth!" The monster blocked his path to her, bristles quivering in excitement as it considered it's next victim: Percy.

"I'm okay!" she called weakly, "Percy, go for the feet!"

He rolled out of the way as the monster charged once more, slicing at it's legs as it stampeded past. The monster stumbled, golden ichor splashing across the ground, but didn't stray from it's path – straight toward the rock where Ginny was hidden.

Percy lunged forward, aiming for one last, desperate blow but he didn't need to; the boar lurched and fell to the side, revealing Ginny standing atop the rock, Annabeth's sword in hand.

"How?" he asked, staring at the sword that a few moments ago had been stuck in the side of the monster that now lay dead at a fourteen-year-old girl's feet.

"Summoning charm" she said coolly, though her hands were shaking, "I learnt it after Harry used it in the First Task."

"Nice job," Annabeth said admiringly, struggling to her feet. Percy rushed to help her.

Ginny watched as the monster crumbled to dust and blew apart in the wind, "This is your life?"

Percy grimaced, "Pretty much, yeah."

"Wow," she laughed, "You guys are crazy."

"Only some of us," Annabeth promised, "Seaweed Brain here's a pretty good example of crazy, yeah."

"Hey!" he complained.

"Well, I should get to class," she said as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened, "And you should probably go to the hospital wing or something. Here," she handed Annabeth her sword and walked back up the hill toward the castle.

"Hey, Ginny!" Percy called after her.

She turned around, "Yeah?"

"What's a bat-bogey hex?"

A wicked grin spread across her face, "You really don't want to know…"

Annabeth

"Annabeth…"

She was in Tartarus. Percy was croaking her name. He was dying. She saw her own hopelessness reflected in his eyes; she was drowning in it, every cell in her body begging her to give up, to die by his side…

"Annabeth!"

She jolted awake, her body slick with sweat and the taste of salt on her lips. It was the middle of the night, darkness pressing down on every side and she bit back the urge to scream like she had as a little girl, waking up from terrifying visions of spiders.

"Calm down, it's me!" The dorm was lit up dazzlingly bright as a rainbow burst into existence a few feet from her face and Annabeth hurried to draw the curtains around her bed so as not to wake her roommates. A familiar face appeared from the mist.

"Grover?" she asked groggily.

His ginger hair stuck up at odd angles around his face, creased in a worried frown. Her old friend was in pyjamas; a Green Peace t-shirt and drawstring pants, covering his furry legs. Clearly, Annabeth wasn't the only one having trouble sleeping.

"Nightmare?" he asked, sympathetically.

"Never mind that," she sat up quickly, "Why are you here? It must be important."

He looked guilty, "I meant to call – really, I did."

"I get it," and she did, "You're a Lord of the Wild now, you've got responsibilities," He smiled at her for understanding, "So, what's the problem?"

"It's Percy."

Her stomach clenched, "What about Percy?"

All year, she'd had this feeling that he was in danger. First there was him being a wizard, then Voldemort's sudden interest in her boyfriend. No matter how hard she tried to deny it, Percy was connected to all… this. She just didn't know how.

"I've been having these… dreams," Grover began, "Nightmares, really. Percy's there. I think it's a leftover connection from the empathy link."

"What do you see?" If Grover was seeing even a fraction of the dreams Percy had described, she wasn't sure she wanted to know but ten years in the Athena cabin had taught her that information was a weapon.

And I could sure as Hades use a weapon right now.

"There's this graveyard," Annabeth's mouth went dry – it was the dream Percy had told her about, "And a name… Tom Riddle."

Percy hadn't mentioned that, but the name was familiar. Why?

"What should I tell Percy?"

"Tell him…" Grover swallowed, eyes darting around nervously as though afraid someone would hear, "Tell him he's in danger. And, Annabeth, I have this horrible feeling… I think he might…I'm scared he might die."

Chapter 20 and I've finally written something that's a decent length. I'm kind of really happy with this chapter - I hope it's getting you excited for the finale which will kick off next chapter!

Guys, we got 100 follows on this story and I can't believe it. I remember being so happy when I got my first review - I thought it was the coolest thing in the world that someone had actually read (and enjoyed!) my writing. Now there's 100 people who like what I write! So thank you so much if you have favourited/followed the story and make sure to let me know what you think!

Le0nidas - Thanks for your support and I'm glad you think so! Hope you continue to enjoy the story ;)

aRTsyisAwesome - Glad you liked the chapter! I agree it's important to include some non-Triwizard plot stuff and I hope you continue to let me know what you think of the story :D

Geni Blaze - Yeah, I missed uploading too. Thanks for your support, as always - you were my first review and I'm glad you've stuck with the story. Keep letting me know what you think! ;D

heelothere - glad you're enjoying the story and that you think it's different. Hope you continue to read and let me know what you think! :)

EvilPieceofSht - happy that you still think I'm doing a good job! This is an awesome idea but since the story is reaching it's climax, I think I would've have to implement it sooner. Future fanfic maybe? (Or you could write it? I'd always be happy to return the favour and read your work!) ;D

Guest - you reviewed chapter 2 so don't know if you'll make it this far but if you do, glad you continued to read my story and hope you're enjoying it! :)

Have a great week everyone, I'll upload soon - hopefully! ;)

Lileaf, xoxo