Disclaimer!
These characters do not belong to me nor do I make any money off this story. I am merely writing Fan Fiction. The characters belong to their respective author. I hope you enjoy Joining Forces.
So it's been a while, but I promise this story is not going to be abandoned. Nevertheless, updates are not going to be consistent, but I'll try not leave such a big gap for future chapters.
Ron POV:
...No way.
Once wasn't enough, he had to come back again? This man really couldn't stay dead.
Bellatrix continued to cackle in a freenzy, her voice the only noise in what felt like a sea of silence. Clenching my fists, I shouted. "You're lying. He's met his death, he's gone. The horcruxes are gone - how can he return?!"
Bellatrix laughed. "No matter how many times you think my lord is gone, he will come back! He has never known death, only granted it to others. Like Potter's dear parents."
To my side, Harry seemed to be on the brink of bursting. His fingers were curled around his wand so tightly I was worried he'd draw blood.
"Touched a nerve, have I? Don't like talking about everyone you hid behind? How about my blood traitor cousin, whom I silenced?" She let out a low chuckle. "Poor itty bitty Potter. Can't save anyone, everyone else dying for him to live."
Annabeth held Harry back from delivering another blow. "Wait, we might need her for the future."
"Or she might just kill everyone and escape."
"I don't like it either, but we have no other leads on what's happening. If we feed her Veritaserum, we'll probably get more answers."
"Will we really, though?" Percy asked.
"I find it hilarious," Bellatrix added. "You have been keeping your secrets for so long. Hiding and slithering around between the shadows with your lies. Now, it seems you'll be working together? It's unnerving, isn't it?"
"You do have allies from our world," Percy frowned. "I can't say I expected anything really different."
"Your relative is quite a pain," Bellatrix admited. "But, I can handle some annoyance if my enemies will drop dead. Tick-tock, time's running out. Go ahead! Torture me, imprison me! Nothing lasts forever."
Voldemort on his own was already enough problems, but Voldemort working with a bunch of people who could nullify magic? It definitely wasn't a good situation. The only hope was that potions would still have an effect. They weren't necessarily spells, but still magic in a way? As much as I ignored what Bellatrix said, I couldn't help looking to Percy and Annabeth. I reminded myself to wait a bit longer, there was still the crazy lady in front of us. We kept Bellatrix under scrutiny until someone came and she was escorted to Azkaban, under the eyes of dozens of powerful wizards and witches. Nonetheless, there wasn't a single one of us that felt comfortable with the fact that the undead sociopath was trapped in a completely penetrable prison from what we knew. Still, we were first instructed to return to Hogwarts where we were faced with an extremely angry McGonagall and a more cold Snape.
"It's been eight years, and you still are like this!" McGonagall chided, her voice laced with frustration and worry.
"Well, Professor," I reasoned. "We were randomly transported."
"And then you choose to go to the ministry rather than return to school grounds." Snape frowned.
"There are more important things to talk about than rule-breaking," Annabeth huffed.
"Besides Bellatrix?"
She took a breath. "She said that Voldemort had returned." At this, their eyes widened. Snape's hand moved inside his sleeve to where his dark mark was. He soon covered it up again with a swish of his robes. "Follow me," Professor McGonagall said, heading towards Dumbledore's office. "We must speak with the Headmaster."
When we had arrived in Dumbledore's office Snape was the first person to speak up. "They say the dark lord has returned!" Snape spat. Dumbledore didn't have any change of expression except for the lowering of his eyebrows. "Really now?
"Yeah," I said. "The dead coming back." I turned to Percy, a little bit of sarcasm. "Do you think Dirt Face will come back too?" Dirt Face? How could I have believed that? In terms of topics we needed to discuss, this whole sword and dagger business was also high on the long list.
Percy didn't seem to want to conceal it any more either. "I don't think so," He said, thoughtfully. "Gaea never died. She just went back to sleep and should be like that for a long time to come. However, Kronos was a possibility, though there was a difference between a titan and a mortal even if the mortal was a crazy wizard who was ressurected before and also happened to split his soul a bunch of times."
"Gaea!" Hermione piqued, her face turned slightly red in anger.
"Yes, it's all a long story," Annabeth waved it off.
"Hopefully, not another lie." Harry grumbled to me. To the side, McGonagall and Snape looked equally confused in contrast to Dumbledore who seemed to have understood what happened. Simply, he stated. "Would you like to make a call to your Camp counsellor?"
Percy and Annabeth gave a quick glance to each other. "Maybe not right now, but you should tell him about Voldemort. I think there are some other things we need to sort out. Like seeing if we can get any other information from Bellatrix before she either escapes or gets broken out."
"Best find that the sooner the better," Snape added. "Then we know if we should kill her directly. You should head back to your dormitories, for now."
"Nevertheless," Dumbledore "You should remember to practise magic, we don't know if anti-magic barriers, if that's what we're calling it, will persist, but if you end up facing Tom Riddle, then it will be an asset. It is best to be good at his game as well as your own."
The night was tense. Percy didn't speak to us, neither did we really know what to ask of them. Of course, there were questions, but it was rather soon. They wouldn't answer so quickly. So...we asked the next morning when Annabeth was around as well. However, they only told us that everything might be explained later. None of us were really satisfied with the answer and Hermione decided that we should rush to the library to do some more reading. Meanwhile, berateing ourselves that we stopped reading about Greek mythology after the minotaur.
Madam Pince was still in the library. Once she caught a look at us, she narrowed her eyes. "And you're here - why?"
"For research of course," I said. "How come you're still here?"
"I do not tolerate such acts of disrespect-"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" I apologized, quickly. "It was a slip of the tongue, I don't want to be kicked out of the library," Madam Pince didn't seem to like the answer too much but accepted it. "The reason I am still here is because they still need someone to look over the library and make sure that pesky students don't try and sneak into the restricted section. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Madam Pince," We replied. We headed back towards the section we had read when researching the minotaur. "The most popular greek mythology stories," Hermione mused as she looked over the shelves before selecting one about greek heroes. She slammed the book down on a table, Harry and me next to her. "I can't believe we're trusting the words of Bellatrix." I murmured.
"We've always had some doubts about Percy, Nico, and Annabeth. I think we should try anyway."
"I'm not too familiar with all this Gaea and other things." Harry said. "How about you, Hermione?"
"I think it's back in my head like the minotaur," She answered. "However, we dived briefly in so we didn't get to learn about other creatures. Let's start with greek heroes though, those are usually some of the most renowned Greek myths," We spent a long time in the library, as we looked over the greatest and famous greek heroes. However, before we could finish the book we had to go to lunch, where heard Dumbledore had an announcement to be made.
Ethan Bodin - I'm so glad!
PJOHP fan - I feel like most people think of Hercules when thinking of the myth even if the name wasn't accurate so I chose to leave it like that. I'm happy you enjoy the story though! :)
Nina - Thank you for continuing to read!