Nico

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Dungeons

November 2nd

2:50 pm

Nico walked silently as Colin continued to babble about the Tournament. He was obviously very excited and happy that Harry was competing.

"He's one of the greatest wizards of all time!" The boy exclaimed. "Did you know that he defeated You-Know-Who when he was a baby? A baby!"

"That's cool," Annabeth said. She was the only one really interacting with Colin. Nico didn't really talk at all. Colin was only about a year younger than Nico himself, but he was extremely different. Percy might have said that he reminded him of Nico when he was younger, but Nico would have to disagree. He doesn't think he was ever like that.

"Well, we're here!" Colin said when they've finally arrived at Professor Snape's ("He's a real stick in the mud, hates Gryffindors.") classroom door. They were in the bowels of the dungeons, and Nico's breath was visible in front of him.

"It was nice meeting you, Colin," Annabeth said. She then dug her elbow into Nico's side.

"Yeah, you're uh, you're a cool kid," Nico grunted. He sighed in relief when Annabeth's bony elbow left his ribcage.

Colin beamed before turning around and walking right into the classroom.

"Do you think that they'd let us come to the wand weighing thing?" Nico asked.

Annabeth shrugged. "I don't know, but Dumbledore wants us to-"

"Protect Harry Potter by whatever means necessary," Nico finished off for her. "So we have to spy on him." Annabeth nodded.

"If anything goes wrong, we can shadow-travel out of there," Nico suggested. Annabeth looked over from where she was gazing at the door.

"Do you have the unicorn draught?"

"Always-" The door to the classroom flew open and Annabeth pushed Nico around the corner. He knew why. If Harry saw them, he wouldn't want them to come with him because he's prideful and doesn't want their constant watch. Sometimes, Harry reminds Nico too much like himself.

"And the students of Ilvermorny were right there!" Colin's voice sounded up again.

"That's great Colin," Harry's voice replied.

As soon as the voices quietened down and they could assume that they wandered far enough for Nico and Annabeth to come out, they did so. Nico turned and was able to see Colin's robe swish around the corner.

Annabeth nodded to them and they followed the wizards.

Because no wizards really had to depend on their senses to survive, it was a pleasure to say that they had no problem trailing Colin and Harry. Colin was yapping much too loudly and Harry was ignoring him too much to hear even if there was a whole ass monster fight going on behind them.

When they finally arrived at the room where the wand weighing was taking place, Colin gave a very cheerful farewell to Harry and walked away, thankfully missing the two demigods who were standing just down the hall.

Harry entered the room and Nico and Annabeth hurried up to the door.

"Can you hear anything?" Nico hissed to Annabeth, whose ear was pressed flat against the wooden door.

"Nothing," Annabeth whispered back. Nico huffed and pressed his face against the keyhole, trying to see through. The only thing he caught sight of was the broom cupboard across the room.

"Annabeth, I have an idea. But you have to be silent - okay?" Annabeth nodded.

Nico grabbed her arm and melted into the shadows. They emerged from the darkness in the cupboard, where they were able to hear everything.

Nothing really made sense, probably because they weren't wizards, but a loud feminine voice came right outside the door, and they were given a split second to press themselves against the back wall before the door opened and Harry entered.

Nico was barely able to keep his eyes open, the short trip taking everything out of him.

A lady in an extravagant dress entered right behind Harry, pushing him so he was sitting on an overturned bucket.

Nico fell asleep, the shadow-traveling draining him of all energy before he could hear anything of importance.

When he was woken up, it was from Annabeth shaking his arm and whispering in his ear.

"We need to go - now," she hissed. Her hand over his mouth muffled his groan. Her eyes were wide.

They slipped back in the shadows and were able to fall right outside the door. Annabeth must have waited until everyone was gone before waking him up.

"Here," she pressed the flask against his lips. "You need to drink." She must have grabbed it from his jacket pocket.

The Unicorn Draught was cold and brought strength back to his limbs.

"Are you well enough to walk?" Annabeth asked. Nico nodded and slowly stood up. He took another swig of the draught.

They walked slowly back to the common room, Annabeth's great memory preventing them from getting lost in the endless hallways.

It was all a haze until Annabeth plopped him down on his bed. He was asleep in moments.

Hermione

Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Hospital Wing

November 2nd

3:01 pm

"Poor girl," Madame Pomfrey fussed over Hermione. "Now drink this and get some rest." She shoved a foul-smelling potion into Hermione's hands, "It might be a little uncomfortable so you can stay here until dinner-time."

Hermione plugged her nose and chugged the potion. It was done with some difficulty because of her rather large teeth, but it was doable.

Percy sat next to the cot she was laying on. Madame Pomfrey didn't have the courage to dismiss the foreign boy. He was rubbing his thumb over a polaroid he was holding.

Hermione laid down and looked over to the teen. She didn't know why he insisted on coming with her, but she was secretly thankful. She just didn't know how a teacher could be so cruel.

Maybe it was the potion that Madame Pomfrey gave her or what Annabeth told her the previous day, but Hermione felt like she had to fill the silence with talking.

"Percy," she whispered. He looked up and Hermione was able to see what the picture was of. It was Annabeth and a little girl. The girl had brown hair and looked like Percy. They were laughing.

"Yeah?" He tucked the polaroid back in his pocket.

"I know your secret," she whispered. "I know that you're here to protect Harry for Dumbledore."

Percy gave a crooked smile, "I know, Annabeth told us that she told you."

Hermione frowned, "And you agreed with her?"

"I've known Annabeth since I was 12, I trust her judgment."

Hermione nodded. An ache started in her mouth as her teeth began to shrink.

Annabeth

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Gryffindor Common Room

November 2nd

3:43 pm

Annabeth closed the door to the dorm room behind her. Nico was peacefully snoring away on his bed. She pressed her palm to her forehead and thought back to the cupboard.

"Can you remember your parents at all?" said Rita Skeeter, talking over him.

"No," said Harry.

"How do you think they'd feel if they knew you were competing in the Triwizard Tournament? Proud? Worried? Angry?"

Harry was feeling really annoyed now. How on earth was he to know how his parents would feel if they were alive? He could feel Rita Skeeter watching him very intently.

Frowning, he avoided her gaze and looked down at words the quill had just written:

Tears fill those startlingly green eyes as our conversation turns to the parents he can barely remember.

"I have NOT got tears in my eyes!" said Harry loudly.

Annabeth shivered. The way that Harry's eyes flashed. It reminded her of Percy, of Achlys. Their green eyes were sometimes extremely similar. The only difference being Percy's shattered look he got whenever a memory hit him painfully. Harry didn't have that yet. Even though Harry's were emerald and Percy's were the color of the rolling sea, Annabeth was still frightened.

But Achlys..that gave her an idea. No matter how painful that idea is, it is an idea. And right now, the only one she's got.

She quickly walked down the steps and out the portrait hole. She needed to find the library.

Annabeth went to turn left, but a torch-lit up down the hallway to the right. Or, the torch went out and then relit itself. Only the sound of a flame catching making her look that way.

She wasn't one to ignore signs from above.

Annabeth went right. She followed the torches. Maybe it was Hecate, guiding her someplace she needed to be. Maybe it was Athena, protecting her from another horror. Maybe it was a monster, trying to trap her. Whatever it was, Annabeth followed.

Finally, she reached double doors. The torches had stopped relighting.

Annabeth opened the doors, to find the library on the other side. So it was some type of deity who knew what she was thinking and wanted her to find information on it. She wasn't going to disagree with whoever it was.

"Excuse me," Annabeth walked up to an older, stern-looking woman. "Do you have anything on Achlys?"

The woman's mouth went pinched, "Achlys? I have no idea who or what that is."

Annabeth sighed, of course, she wouldn't know anything about Greek mythology. "Sorry, do you have any material on Greek mythology?"

The woman thought for a moment. "Perhaps, follow me." She led Annabeth up a flight upstairs and to the back of the library. There, in a corner on the far side of the library, was exactly three crumbling books on Greece and their mythology.

"Here you are," The woman said. She turned to leave when-

"Are you sure that this is all?"

She turned around and sighed, "There may be more in the Restricted Section, but you have to be a 7th year to access that."

"7th years are 17, correct?" Annabeth asked. The woman nodded. "I'm 17."

The woman looked Annabeth over for a moment before sighing. "Fine, the Restricted Section is the roped-off section over there." She pointed to the opposite side of the library. "Ask if you need anything."

Annabeth nodded, "And what is your name?"

"Madame Pinch." Huh, fitting.

"Thank you, Madame Pinch." Pinch nodded and walked away.

Annabeth grabbed the three crumbling books from the bookshelf and walked over to a nearby table. She set them down before walking over to the Restricted Section. She walked an entire shelf before remembering that she had dyslexia.

"Madame Pinch?" Annabeth asked, walking over to where the librarian was spelling books back on the shelves.

"Do you have a way to translate languages in books?" She asked. Madame Pinch stared at her strangely and Annabeth was forced to explain.

"You see, I have dyslexia and it's easier to read in Greek, which is my native language."

Madame Pinch nodded, "Yes, there is a spell. It's called: vertorum ad, whatever language you wish to translate it to. For Greece, it would be vertorum ad Graeca." Annabeth nodded.

"Could you do it for me? I forgot my wand in the dorm room."

Madame Pinch sighed, "Yes, bring me the books."

Annabeth hurried back to the books that were laying on the table. She would have to have someone else help her get the other titles in the Restricted Section. These would have to do.

Annabeth returned to Madame Pinch with the books in her hands.

"Vectorum ad Graecea."

The titles changed to Greek before her very eyes. Annabeth beamed. "Thank you!"

She walked back to the table and plopped the books down. A cloud of dust rose in her face.

When her coughing stopped and the dust settled, Annabeth sat and opened the first book. She began reading.

Hermione

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, School Library

November 2nd

4:12 pm

Hermione was walking through the shelves of books when she spotted Annabeth. Hermione had just left the Hospital Wing, parting with Percy in the hallway outside as he went to search for Nico and she went to the library. It seemed that whenever she spoke to the Americans, she was left with more questions than answers.

The blonde was sitting at a table in the back on the second floor. It was a place that Hermione went to when she wanted to be absolutely alone. That was frequent now that Victor Krum liked to frequent the library, bringing along his own gaggle of girls.

Annabeth was buried in a rather large, and may Hermione say, dusty, book. She was too far to see the title, but Annabeth's eyes were flitting across the pages at lightning speed, the pages being turned every other moment.

Hermione emerged from behind a shelf, walking up to the small table.

"Hey, Annabeth." She greeted. No answer. Annabeth seemed to have not even heard her.

"Annabeth," she tried again. This time there was a mumble. Something about going to a Chirac.

"Annabeth!" Hermione hissed. She dropped her books on the table, resulting in a large "thud" resonating throughout their small section. Thankfully, Madame Pinch was occupied on the other side of the library, probably by the large group of girls that just so happened to be there at the same time as Krum.

"Wha-" Annabeth jumped back, her chair scratching against the stone floor.

"Finally," Hermione huffed, falling down in the chair opposite of Annabeth's. "I called your name for a minute before you responded."

"Sorry," Annabeth pushed the flyaways that escaped her ponytail back behind her ear. "I was caught up in reading."

"What were you reading?" Hermione asked. She leaned over, her elbows on the table. She wasn't able to read the letters against the dark and crumbling cover.

Annabeth leaned over her book, cutting the title off from Hermione's view. "What are you looking for here?"

Hermione tried to cover the title of her own book, but it was too late. Annabeth had grabbed it from under her arms. It took a while for Annabeth to read it, but when she finally did, a frown etched across her features.

"The History of Magic in North America," she read aloud. Her gaze met Hermione's. "You were trying to research us?"

"Look, it's not like I don't believe what you're saying-"

"But you want to make sure for yourself," Annabeth sighed. "Yeah, I get it."

"So, you're not mad?" Hermione asked. Annabeth shook her head.

"I would do the same thing. But," Annabeth pushed the book off to the side. "I'll answer any questions you have. Shoot."

Hermione shrugged, "I can't think of anything." That was a lie, she had a million questions for the girl in front of her, but she knew - deep in her gut, that Annabeth would lie. Because the three mysterious strangers that showed up randomly had something else to hide beside the fact that they were there to protect Harry, Hermione could stake her life on it.

Just, being around the older girl made every cell in Hermione's body want to jump and run. It was something with her, something with all of them actually, that made Hermione want to get away from them as soon as possible.

"Alright," Annabeth shrugged, turning back to her book. "Let me know if you think of anything."

"I will," Hermione assured her, grabbing her books and standing up. "I have to get back to the common room to do homework, I'll see you later." Annabeth gave a hum in return, already sucked back into her book.

She walked over to Madame Pinch and checked out the books, casting one last glance over to where Annabeth would be sitting, though the figure was hidden behind rows of shelves.

Hermione walked quickly to the common room, not even encouraging Peeves when he attempted to trick her into stepping on the bad step when climbing up to the next floor.

When finally arriving in the common room, she went up to the dormitory without a glance to see if Ron or Harry were around. She remembers something about Harry writing to Sirius, to tell him about competing in the Tournament.

She entered the dormitory quietly, just in case someone was taking an after-school nap. Thankfully, the room was empty. She walked over to her own bed, hiding the borrowed books under her mattress. Even though Annabeth had seen them earlier, she didn't want the older girl to know she still had them. She had to perform this investigation alone and unhindered by others. That, unfortunately, meant that Ron and Harry had to be kept in the dark as well. They were too brash and forthcoming. As soon as something went wrong, they would jump and spill all the evidence they had. No, Hermione had to do this alone. When she had everything she needed - then she could share with the others.

Something blue caught her eye. Hermione turned and saw Annabeth's backpack - the one that they went to grab when Annabeth told her about them being on a mission. It was shoved underneath the bedside table, obviously a quick cover-up. Someone probably came in and she had to hide it quickly. It wouldn't catch anyone else's eye if they just looked around the dormitory, but Hermione always had a clever gaze.

She walked over and knelt down, grabbing the straps to the backpack and pulling it out. It hit the floor with a large thud. Huh, Hermione thought. It must be really heavy, then.

She opened the backpack and was absolutely confused. There, nestled right on top of the things, was an open parchment. Blue ink, which is something that they did not have at Hogwarts, covered almost every inch of the space. Only the Weasley twins made ink, but that ink puffed up in peoples' faces. It was slightly poisonous as well, as they were still working out the kinks.

That wasn't the strange thing though. The strange thing was that the parchment had little to no English on it. Hermione didn't know a lot of different languages, but she thinks that most of it were Greek, maybe. It was only the famous Greek alphabet letters that clued her in on it, but she thought that they were from the Ancient Greek period, not modern. The other language was Latin, though that frequented much less space. She was able to somewhat understand the Latin words, due to the fact that many of the spells they used were derived from Latin. However, she wasn't able to get an understanding of anything the Latin was saying, as it was only snippets of information. There were even hieroglyphics scattered about, question marks dotting around them.

All in all, Hermione was extremely confused. Why would Annabeth have this parchment? Why was it all in different languages and intertwined together like some hybrid understanding? Hermione wished there was a spell for her to copy everything on the page and transport it someplace else. Alas, if there was - she has not learned it yet.

She took out the parchment and placed it gently on the stone floor next to her. Next, there were some flasks. Hermione grabbed one and opened the top, sniffing at the liquid. She almost dropped it when an acidic type of scent burned her nose. She closed it quickly and shoved it back in the bag, coughing and wiping at her dripping nose.

"What in the bloody hell is that?" She asked the empty room. Hermione usually doesn't swear, that's Ron's thing. But God, was there acid in that thing? She wiped her nose and took a deep breath before continuing.

There was a plastic baggie filled with what looked like lemon bars, but as soon as Hermione grabbed it, a hot flash of pain raced up her arm. Hermione dropped the bag back in the backpack and grasped her aching arm. It felt as if someone burned a line straight to her shoulder.

Though after a moment, it passed until it became a dull throb until it faded to nothing but a phantom memory. Hermione ran her hand up and down her right arm, making sure nothing stung in pain. Nothing, it was as if it never even happened. She reached back in the backpack but made sure to avoid the plastic bag.

There were a few gallons at the bottom. But when Hermione grabbed one and took it into the firelight, it didn't look like a galleon at all. It was solid gold, yes, but the inscriptions on the sides were different from galleons and there was a large tree stamped on the front and back. It's branches reach out to the sides, where the Latin lay.

She looked through the other coins, and the one she grabbed first appeared to be different from the others. The others had a tall building stamped on them, one that she recognized but couldn't put her finger on. More Greek lined the gold.

Steps sounded outside the dormitory.

"Shit," Hermione hissed, dropping the coin that was in her right hand, the one with the tree into the pocket of her robes. She put the other coin in and placed the parchment on top. She didn't have time to zip up the bag fully, just shoving it back where she found it.

Hermione jumped up and raced back to her own bed which was directly across from Annabeth's. She was just able to slide so it looked like she was opening her trunk when the door opened.

Annabeth stood with her hand on the door, a stack of books in her right arm.

"Oh hey, Annabeth." Hermione smiled, opening her trunk. "Did you get everything you needed from the library?"

"Yeah," Annabeth furrowed her eyebrows, "Are you okay? Your nose is really red."

Hermione gave a large nod, "Yup!" She closed her trunk with a large slam and stood up. "I got to go, see ya!" She pushed past Annabeth and rushed out the door.

"Bye?"

Hermione didn't breathe until she was out of the portrait hole. Her hand came to rest inside her pocket, where the strange coin lay.

Ok, little note. I've talked about this before, mainly on my Tumblr (minimalist-dreamer) about how J.K. is a terrible woman. One of the things that I touched upon in one of my posts is how she describes Rita Skeeter. The way she describes Rita Skeeter sounds like someone to is transgender mtf. Trans women are women, no doubt about that, but J.K. writes Rita as someone who spies on kids and lies. As well as having her being an illegal Animagus and using that to spy on Harry. This enforces the stereotypes about trans women being liars and using their transitions to spy on children. For this reason, I will not be describing Rita in the same way that J.K. Rowling does. Again, trans women are valid and absolutely women - no doubt about that - but because Rita is not a good person, I do not want to intentionally enforce those stereotypes as well. I hope this makes sense. If you have any questions, please let me know!!

Now that I cleared that up, you finally know what Annabeth told Hermione!! And you see a bit of !dark Percy, even if it's just a mention. And yes, I did make up that translation spell. :)One more thing, I don't like self-promoting - but since this is my story and I can do whatever the fuck I want:

If you want Percabeth angst, !dark Percy, or a reason to cry, check out of my story: In the Depths of Insanity. It's on my ao3 page (same username). I cried while writing it. That's all for today :)