"If it's true what they say
Is this how the world is?
To be beaten and betrayed
And then be told that nothing changes"

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Song: If it's True, Cast of Hadestown

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XX - Labyrinths

Afternoon

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Hermione was looking for the transfer students.

She just needed to find one, invite them to join the group they were making, and hopefully, they would all show up. But since the incident earlier, she hadn't seen any of them.

Slowly losing hope, she walked into the library. Maybe I could get some studying in , was her thought. But that thought flew away when she saw Percy and Annabeth sitting at one of the tables, both pouring over something.

Hermione took a deep breath before walking over to them. They noticed her immediately, raising eyebrows at her.

"Uh, hi," Hermione whispered, "I was wondering, well, we're planning this group, and I was wondering if you, and your friends, wanted to join."

They exchanged a glance, and Annabeth spoke, "Whose we, and what is this group for?"

"Well Ron and I came up with it, but Harry'll be leading the meetings. And it's for," she cleared her throat, "It's to learn defensive spells."

The two exchanged another, noticeably more surprised, glance. Hermione could almost see the thousands of words that passed between them, even in just the shortest look. Annabeth set her jaw, "We're in. Where are we gonna meet up?"

Hermione relaxed, "The Hogshead, next Hogsmeade trip." They nodded, and Hermione noticed the paper on the table. It was a large map, with little notes and pins in it.

"What's that?"

Annabeth glanced at the paper, and Hermione remembered how the Gryffindor transfers had been doing something similar that morning. Even the map looked familiar. "Oh," she said, "Some people got into our school grounds earlier today. That's why we ran out, and our teacher asked Percy and I too see if we can find any weak points."

"May I take a look?" Hermione asked, surprising not only Annabeth but herself.

"Yeah, go ahead," Annabeth said.

She pointed out some of their weak points, but Hermione was unable to decipher where the breach could have originated from. She had asked if they had any wards against apparating, and the two of them explained that anyone who wasn't known or let in by someone else would have a very hard time getting past their wards.

But then Percy seemed to crack it. He had been tracing something with his finger, but his hand paused over a drawing of rocks, labelled in a language Hermione didn't know. He seemed to be thinking for a moment, before he sat back in his chair and gave a soft, barely noticeable, "Oh shit."

"What?" Annabeth asked.

"Annabeth, in the fight near the doors, Hazel raised the labyrinth right?" Annabeth nodded, her face betraying her confusion. Hermione watched, interested, as he continued, "And what serves as an entrance to the labyrinth?" He tapped the pile of rocks on the map.

Annabeth let loose a long list of swears. "No, no, It couldn't be. We destroyed it!"

"But if Hazel rose it up, building up just enough for it to have even an ounce of the power it had then, it could, in theory, build itself out again. New tunnels, but old entrances. And since we thought that the danger was removed, we didn't guard it and," he said, leaning forward to put his elbow on the table as he traced a line, "They could have, conceivably, come through the labyrinth."

"But how would they have gotten in, in the first place? Or even navigated it without going insane?" Annabeth asked.

"The labyrinth is huge. And we know that we had a brief time in England," Hermione had no idea what they were talking about, but she listened in, wide-eyed, "And the labyrinth definitely doesn't care about geography, so they find an entrance here, somehow figure out how to navigate, prepare an assault team, and attack! And for the insanity thing, I don't know, maybe... magic ?" He threw his hands up.

Annabeth was pale. "I'll tell Chiron. You inform the rest. But wait— what about Camp Jupiter?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if there was an entrance near or even in New Rome," Percy said, running a hand through his hair.

The two packed up, and Hermione watched, unable to speak. She knew she had learnt a lot, but nothing was falling into place. Just as they were leaving she cried, "Wait!"

They turned to her, their looks asking their questions for her, "What she said, what Umbridge said earlier, is it true?" Hermione asked.

They exchanged a look. They grinned. Percy turned to her, gave her a lopsided grin, and spoke. "You'll have to decide that for yourself, Miss Granger."

Then, they turned and ran, their robes swishing around the corner as the library doors shut behind them. Hermione sat shell shocked, her mind replaying the grin and the flash in those too green eyes.

 It's interesting, I was talking to my friend a few days ago about how different my writing style can be in comparison to the fandoms I write for. With PJO, I feel like flowery language, the use of metaphors, and heavy symbolism everywhere doesn't work, in a way. I can use it, of course, but it doesn't always fit. As for my other fandom, Six of Crows, I always feel like that's the only way to capture even an ounce of nuance when it comes to the characters. Idk, someone comment if they want the side by side comparison.