Harry

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Great Hall

October 31st

8:57 am

As soon as Ron was finished with his eggs and sausages, Harry grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the Great Hall. He didn't look behind for Hermione, he knew she was following them.

"Come on-" Harry whispered, dropping Ron's arm and turning to face the two wizards, "We have to find out what's happening with the intruders." Hermione and Ron shared a look and Harry clenched his fists. He hated when they did that.

"Harry," Hermione started, twirling one of her curls around her finger, "Are you sure this is the best idea?" Ron nodded, agreeing with her hesitation.

"Yeah mate, you saw what happened last time-"

"We didn't know what we were doing last time," Harry interrupted. "This year has felt off and the World Cup just proved it. They might have something to do with it." 

Hermione furrowed her eyebrows. "How can you be sure, Harry?"

"I'm-" Harry pushed up his glasses. "I'm not, but its the only lead we have. It's weird, isn't it? The year that the Dark Mark appears in the sky, three strangers randomly find themselves stumbling on Hogwarts?" 

Ron seemed to see his point. "I think he's right 'Mione. They were obviously hiding something." 

Hermione huffed and crossed her arms. She looked between the two boys.

"Come along if you want, but we need to figure out what's happening," said Harry. He looked over Hermione's shoulder to see students start to spill from the Great Hall. 

He turned and started walking down the hall, Ron falling into an easy rhythm next to him. When Hermione hurried to catch up with them, he couldn't help the grin that appeared on his face.

When the chatter from the Great Hall finally fell silent as they moved farther away, Harry stopped in front of a portrait of a man reading from a blue novel.

"Excuse me," Harry spoke to the painting. "Have you seen anything strange involving three people? One girl and two boys?" 

The man in the painting looked up and bit his lip. He nodded. 

"Great!" Harry pushed up his glasses, preventing them from slipping any further down his nose. "Which way did they go?" 

"That way," The man in the painting pointed down the way they were heading. "They turned left at the corner."

Harry nodded and continued walking, Ron and Hermione right next to him. They were speaking about something, but Harry wasn't listening. He could bet a galleon that it was about Krum though. 

They turned left at the next intersection of hallways and continued walking. Suddenly, he heard voices.

"Wait," he told the other two. "I hear something." The three wizards shared a look before creeping forward and looking around the corner. 

There they were, the three teenagers. The short boy with dark hair was arguing with the taller boy, his hands flying around as he spoke.

"You said that you knew the way!" The boy yelled. Hermione stifled a gasp beside him. 

"What's wrong Hermione?" Harry whispered. Hermione looked a bit pale. 

"He has a sword, can't you see it?" Hermione hissed with her gaze on the boy who was yelling. "The girl has one too." 

Harry looked at where her eyes were, there was nothing there. Wait, there was a stick. 

"It's just a stick 'Mione." Ron tried to reassure her. Hermione shook her head furiously, her curls smacking both Harry and Ron in the face.

"Look harder!" She whispered-shouted. "Concentrate!"

Harry shrugged and turned back to the teenagers. He narrowed his eyes and concentrated on the stick. It started to flicker. Slowly becoming longer and darker. 

It was a sword, hanging off the boy's belt like it was the most natural place for it to be.

"Bloody hell," Ron whispered, presumably seeing the same thing. 

Harry turned his attention to the girl, at the stick near her. That too began to change. It turned stark white and had a weird texture that could be seen from where they were hiding. It was also hanging off her belt, but she didn't seem as natural with it as the other boy did.

Harry rubbed his forehead, his eyes becoming strained. As soon as his concentrated wavered, the swords disappeared. 

"Did you see them?" Hermione whispered. Harry nodded. 

"Who the hell are those guys?" 

Nico

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Unknown Hallway on the 4th Floor

October 31st

9:12 am

"You said you knew the way!" Nico shouted, his hands flying as he continued to yell at the idiot who led them walking around the castle for at least an hour.

Percy just stood there with his arms crossed and eyebrows raised. Like he was an adult being yelled at by a toddler. The nerve. Nico can't believe he ever had a crush on the man in front of him. 

Annabeth was just watching. Her fingers were twisting the ring on her necklace, but other than that - and some other stimmy things that were normal for her and all other demigods - she was still and silent.

"I was tired last night, we all forgot our way!" Percy threw his hands up in the air. 

"Yeah, but we didn't say 'Oh hey guys, I remember the way!'" Nico did his best impersonation of Percy. "The wizards probably think that we escaped or, worst, stole something and ran!" 

Percy dropped his hands and tucked them in his jean pockets. "Well can't you did what you did last night? Like sense the-"

A groan came from behind them. Nico turned, facing the three kids who found them the previously, all sprawled out on the floor. The boy that Nico held hostage got up as quickly as his gangly limbs allowed, pulling up the black girl beside him. The boy with glasses stood up on his own.

The girl reminded him a little of Hazel. Not that they were both black, no. It was the gleam in her eyes that Nico could see from where he was standing. Her gaze that studied the three of them, just like Hazel did when he found her in the Underworld.

Something crawled up his throat and sat there, preventing him from speaking. He suddenly got hit with a wave of homesickness. He was so dumb, not even attempting to contact his sister before they left. If something happens to them, no one would ever know. 

"Um, hello." Percy started. The kids' gazes snapped to him. Good, better than having the attention on him. Nico started twisting his ring, watching the exchange silently.

"Do you know the way to," Percy paused and looked over to Annabeth, whose expression turned to one similar to Reyna's. Chin jutted out and held high and eyes sharp. "What's his name?" 

Annabeth's expression seemed to soothe slightly as she looked at Percy. "Albus Dumbledore." 

Percy grinned and snapped his fingers, "That's it!" He turned back to the kids. "Do you know the way to Albus Dumbledore?"

The kid with glasses narrowed his eyes at Percy. "Why do you want to see him?" 

Nico huffed, couldn't people ever be helpful? Even with a simple request for finding someone, they had to be difficult.

"We need to speak to him," Nico spoke up. 

"About what?" The redheaded kid asked. Nico saw Percy's grin diminished slightly, the annoying questions were slowly getting to him.

Annabeth noticed too. "We're from the fourth school in the tournament, and we were told very little about where we will be staying or what we will be doing." 

That did little to appease them. The kid with the glasses frowned slightly before turning around and walking back the way they've come.

"Come on then," he said when no one moved. Nico looked at Percy and Annabeth and all three of them nodded. They followed the three kids.

Nico continued to twist his ring as they walked through the hallways. It seemed like the stone walls and floors were never-ending.

"Do you think this is like an extension of the Labyrinth?" Nico heard Percy whisper to Annabeth. Luckily, the three kids in front of them were having their own conversation, so they didn't hear the question or the way that Annabeth's eyes widened as they searched the stone between the paintings for the famous symbol.

Nico was about to say how the Labyrinth was destroyed when he remembered that they were how many years in the past. For all he knew, they could randomly wander into the dangerous maze that almost killed them multiple times. 

The wizards in front of them fell silent, their whispered argument from before apparently resolved.

"So," The kid with glasses fell back to walk side-by-side with Nico. "What's your name?" 

"Nico di Angelo," Nico said. He looked aside at the kid. He was cute in kind of a scruffy way, with messy hair, tan skin, and bright green eyes. Not Nico's type though, he preferred the taller, sunshine boys. 

"What's yours?" Nico asked. Any information would be knowledgeable for the quest, even someone's name. It usually helps in the monster department, maybe the kid's from mythology, he had no idea what year it was. 

The kid stared at him strangely for a second, "You don't know who I am?" he asked. It wasn't in an arrogant or a stuck-up kind of way like it was for most immortal beings, but more confusion. Nico shook his head.

"Oh, I'm Harry, Harry Potter." He held his hand out to shake, and Nico did so after a little hesitation. Harry's hand was warm and had callused palms but thin fingers, a lot like Nico's own hands.

Nico dropped his hand and shoved it in his jacket pocket, picking at the loose threads that laid inside. 

"Nice to meet you," he said, because damn it, he was polite. No matter how Solace teased him, he was raised right. 

"You too." Harry flashed him a grin. 

Percy

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Unknown Hallway on the 4th Floor

October 31st

9:34 am

The black girl dropped back to walk on Annabeth's right side and the redhead dropped back to walk on Percy's left. To that kid's left was Nico and then the glasses kid.

If Percy wasn't so confident that Nico could take care of himself, he would a little nervous about them getting in between the two of them. 

"So," the girl said. "what's your name?" Annabeth looked over, staring at her for a moment before a grin spread across her face.

Percy could see through it like it glass and knew it was fake. He didn't know what she was using it for, but it was nice to see her smile. The girl wouldn't be able to see through the smile though. 

"Annabeth," she said. "What's yours?" 

Percy turned to look at the redheaded kid on his left, leaving Annabeth to her conversation.

"I'm Percy," he stuck out his left hand, the one that wasn't holding Annabeth's, for the boy to shake. The kid did so a little awkwardly, as it was obviously his non-dominant hand he was shaking with. Percy stored that information away for a later date. 

"Ron," the redhead said. Freckles were scattered all across his face and traveled down his neck and under his collar. Probably Irish or Scottish. 

"I've got a brother named Percy," Ron told him. Percy grinned, Ron saw and shook his head.

"Nah, don't get your hopes up. He doesn't go here, and he's a bit of a prick." Percy didn't know what prick meant, but it didn't sound good. 

"Well, I hope you find I'm a better person to talk with than your brother then," Percy said. Ron grinned.

Annabeth

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Unknown Hallway on the 4th Floor

October 31st

9:35 am

"So," the girl said. "What's your name?" 

Annabeth felt her expression slip as a new mask fell in its place. She needed information and she knew how to get it.

"Annabeth," she said, grinning widely. She could feel Percy's gaze on the back of her head and silently pleaded for him not to blow her cover. He seemed to get the hint as he started talking to the redhead. "What's yours?" 

"Hermione," she said. "Hermione Granger." Annabeth nodded and continued grinning. She looked around the hallway they were walking through. The walls were covered in different portraits of all shapes and sizes. Annabeth wasn't one for the style, but she could appreciate the architecture of the castle they were in. But it was a little strange how the subjects in the paintings stared at her as they walked past. 

"So, my memory's really fuzzy right now," Annabeth started, playing the 'dumb blonde' stereotype. It worked with Octavian all those months ago, she hoped it would work again. "We traveled such a long way and I can't even remember the date!" She facepalmed with her free hand, hoping it showed her being extremely confused. 

"Oh," Hermione raised her eyebrows but answered her nevertheless. "It's Halloween." 

Ah, so they were far ahead enough to have Halloween. "And the year?" 

Hermione stared at her for a second and Annabeth just gave her a grin. She prayed that it worked without causing too much suspicion. She knew it was too good to be true to have it accepted without any suspicion, but she just hoped that Hermione wasn't too curious about those things. Though from the eyes, that was another thing that may be too good to be true.

"1994." Annabeth nodded and resumed grinning. So they weren't so far back in time, just twenty years give or take. She wanted to ask about technology because if it was the 90s, they were bound to have some, but she knew that her luck was already pushed. 

They arrived at the grand hall that Annabeth and the boys stumbled upon just the previous night. Hermione gave her a tight-lipped smile that Annabeth returned before grabbing the other boys' arms and pulling them back.

"We'd be in trouble if the teachers find out we led you here," she explained. "Good luck!" 

Annabeth turned back to face the other demigods, her mask falling. Percy squeezed her hand and walked through the open doors.

It wasn't as grand as it was the previous night, but it was still breathtaking. Annabeth was happy to see that there wasn't any ceiling, just the open sky. It reminded her of Camp Half-Blood. 

The tables were mostly empty, but some students were still eating. Such students stared at them as they passed. Annabeth twisted the ring on her necklace with her free hand. 

They stood in front of the dais, where a long table sat. On the other side of the table, Dumbledore and a lot of other wizards sat, conversing. 

"Excuse me," Annabeth spoke up, getting the attention of all the wizards who were sitting. Dumbledore smiled warmly at them.

"Oh, welcome Miss. Jackson." Annabeth choked on her breath, forgetting that she was still wearing Percy's sweatshirt. Percy coughed into his fist and Nico huffed a laugh. Dumbledore didn't seem to notice. 

"I think its time to discuss exactly what's happening." A wizard with graying hair interjected, looking at them with barely-concealed suspicion and anger.

Annabeth sighed, this was going to be fun. 

Hi!

I love !Slytherin Annabeth, don't you? I headcanon that all three of these demigods are Slytherin, and I may have to integrate that into the next book (if people want me to make one). Also, people forget that Nico is actually very polite, he was raised during the 40s, of course, he would be. However, he is cold with people because he doesn't want them to know that he's gay, even if he's okay with it. So you'll see that in here.