Chapter Twelve: The Hog's Head Smells Like Grover
Percy's P.O.V.

CLASSES HAVE BEEN running smoothly lately. The first trip to Hogsmeade was coming soon, and I couldn't wait to get out of the castle and spend some time with my Wise Girl.

The last Friday of September when I was eating lunch with Annabeth in the great hall, Ron and Hermione came running up to us.

"Hey guys." Annabeth said, "What's going on?"

"Okay." Hermione said, "Ron and I- well just me actually- had an idea."

"What are you talking about?" I asked still stuffing my face with food.

"This may sound mad, but she came up with it. The idea is to have Harry teach people D.A.D.A. because Umbridge won't do anything. If you're interested meet us in the Hogs Head this weekend." Ron said quickly, "No one can find out. Well, except for the people we have already told."

"I think that's a great idea!" Annabeth exclaimed, "I mean, Percy and I already had our weekend planned out. But we'd love to support you guys." She really is a better actor than I am.

"Okay see you two later," Hermione said.

* * *

Before I saw it, I was lucky not to know what the Hogs Head was. Apparently it was a run down wizard bar that smelled strangely of goats(I think Grover would've liked it.). It had one comprised one small, dingy, and very dirty room. It's windows were covered with grime that very little daylight could enter the room, which was lit instead with the stubs of candles sitting on rough wooden tables. Then there was the creepy bartender who had long gray hair and beard.

I followed everyone else who had wanted to learn D.A.D.A. into the small bar. I looked around and saw that about thirty people also showed up. That's a pretty good turn out.

When everybody had pulled up a chair, the chatter died out. Every eye was upon Harry Potter and his two aquatints.

"Er," said Hermione, her voice slightly higher than usual. "Well- er- hi."

"Well... erm... well, you know why you're here. Erm... well, Harry here had the idea, I mean," Harry had thrown her a sharp look. "I had the idea, that it might be good if people who wanted to study Defense Against the Dark Arts, and I mean, really study it, you know, not the rubbish that Umbridge is doing with us, because nobody could call that Defense Against the Dark Arts-"

"Hear, hear." Said a fifth year Ravenclaw boy.

Hermione smiled at the Ravenclaw boy and continued, "Well, I thought it would be good if we, well, took matters into our own hands." She paused and went on, "And by that I mean learning how to defend ourselves properly, not just theory but the real spells -"

"You want to pass your Defense Against the Dark Arts O.W.L. too though, I bet?" said yet, another Ravenclaw boy.

"Of course I do," said Hermione at once. "But I want more than that, I want to be properly trained in Defense because... because..." She took a great breath and finished, "Because Lord Voldemort's back."

That's when all chaos broke loose. A sixth year Ravenclaw girl shrieked and spilled what wizards called butterbeer down herself. One boy gave a kind of involuntary twitch. A few other Ravenclaw girls shuddered. Neville, a fifth year Gryffindor, gave an odd yelp that he managed to turn into a cough.

Piper, Leo, Nico(they had also been invited), Annabeth, and I just stood in the back look bored. While Leo looked a little amused. Honestly, I don't see why it's such a big deal. His name isn't even scary, 'I am Lord Mouldy Shorts! I am here to destroy your soul!' Wow, scary.

"Well... that's the plan anyway," said Hermione once every had reached a calm silence. "If you want to join us, we need to decide how we're going to-"

"We Where's the proof You-Know-Who's back?" A blond Hufflepuff said very rudely.

"Well, Dumbledore believes it-" Hermione began.

"You mean, Dumbledore believes him," said the blond boy, "And I think we've got the right to know exactly what makes him say You-Know-Who's back."

"Look," said Hermione, intervening swiftly, "That's really not what this meeting was supposed to be about -"

"It's okay, Hermione," Harry said a little frustrated.

"What makes me say You-Know-Who's back? I saw him. But Dumbledore told the whole school what happened last year, and if you didn't believe him, you don't believe me, and I'm not wasting an afternoon trying to convince anyone." Harry says fiercely. I like him, I would've done the same thing if someone didn't believe me when I said Kronos was back.

The whole group seemed to have held its breath while Harry spoke. I even think that even the barman was listening in. He was wiping the same glass with the filthy rag(Even though it was just making the glass dirtier.).

"So," said Hermione, quickly interrupting the upcoming argument. "So... like I was saying... if you want to learn some defense, then we need to work out how we're going to do it, how often we're going to meet, and where we're going to-"

"Is it true," interrupted a girl with the long plait down her back, looking at Harry, "That you can produce a Patronus?"

"Yeah," said Harry slightly defensively.

"A corporeal Patronus? A stag?"

"Yes," said Harry.

A lot of students looked at Harry deeply impressed.

"Mum told Ron not to spread it around," said Fred, grinning at Harry. "She said you got enough attention as it was."

"She's not wrong," mumbled Harry and a couple of people laughed.

Tell me about it, I thought.

People turned their heads to me as I realized I said that out loud.

"What do you mean, mate?" George asked, or was it Fred?

"Ummm." I mumbled.

"In America Percy and I are always getting a lot of attention from the people there." Annabeth says so convincingly even I believe it. Well, I guess it's kind of true. I hate the attention.

"Er- Okay," Hermione says. "Moving on... the point is, are we agreed we want to take lessons from Harry?" There was a murmur of general agreement.

"Well, then, the next question is how often we do it. I really don't think there's any point in meeting less than once a week, and I'm sure we can find a night that suits everyone."

"You better." Angelina said, "I am not having to cancel quidditch practice again!"

"Well, the other thing to decide is where we're going to meet..." This was more difficult; the whole group fell silent.

"Library?" suggested a Gryffindor girl named Katie Bell after a few moments.

"I have an idea." Leo blurted out.

"What?" Ron asked.

"Well- Er- The Room of Requirement."

"What's that?" Fred asked. Leo just smiled wickedly.

* * *

The Monday after the Hogsmeade trip I had my normal classes. After my first class, transfiguration, I went to the courtyard to meet up with Annabeth for a few minutes. Once I was there I noticed something. Three figures standing in a sheltered corner, their cloak collars turned up against the wind.

It took me a second to realize that the figures were Harry, Ron, and Hermione. I walked over to them, but they didn't seem to notice me.

"Who's the letter from anyway?" asked Ron, taking a note from Harry.

"Snuffles," said Harry quietly. I wonder who 'Snuffles' is.

"'Same time, same place'? Tonight at midnight- I think. Does he mean the fire in the common room?" What in Hades is he talking about? All I know is that tonight at midnight I'm going to the common room.

"Obviously," said Hermione, also reading the note. She looked uneasy. "I just hope nobody else has read this..."

"But it was still sealed and everything," said Harry, sounding unconvinced. "And nobody would understand what it meant if they didn't know where we'd spoken to him before-" He stopped as his eyes fell on me.

"Hullo, mate." Hermione says quickly.

"Hey guys. What's up?" I reply.

"Is that American slang? 'What's up?'" Ron asks loudly.

"Er- Yeah. So what are you three talking about?"

"Umbridge." "Homework." "Quidditch." They all say at once.

"Basically- Er- We're talking about how much of a struggle it is to keep up with homework while dealing with Umbridge and Quidditch." Harry says.

"Well," Hermione said. "We better be off to potions now." She said as she exited the courtyard. I wonder what that was about. I guess I'll find out tonight.

* * *

That night after all the other guys in my dormitory fell asleep I snuck down the stairs to see what was going on. When I got down there Harry and Hermione were working on homework while Ron was dosing off to sleep in front of the fire.

They sat there in silence until Ron jerked his head up and grunted, "Sirius!"

My eyes narrowed trying to see what he was talking about. I looked at the fire and in the fire was a mans head. I guess this must be some kind of wizard's Iris Message.

"Hi." Said the face in the fire who I assumed was either Snuffles or Sirius. Those are really strange names.

"Hi." The three wizards chorused.

"How're things?" said Sirius.

"Not that good," Harry says as they start talking about how owls are being watched, how Harry is being watched, and how Harry is going to be teaching people defense magic.

"Well, I'll have a think and get back to -" Sirius said as he stopped mid-sentence.

He broke off. His face was suddenly tense, alarmed. He turned sideways, apparently looking into the solid brick wall of the fireplace.

"Sirius?" said Harry anxiously. But he had vanished.

"Why did he- ?"

Hermione gave a horrified gasp and leapt to her feet, still staring at the fire. A hand had appeared amongst the flames, groping as though to catch hold of something. The three of them ran for it.

Crap. I realized to late that they would see me. I ran up the stairs as fast as I could but they already saw me.

"Percy!" Ron called out, "What we're you doing?"

"Were you spying on us?" Harry nearly screamed.

"No- no." I stuttered.

"Then what were you doing?" Hermione asks.

"I- I don't know. The last thing I remember is going to bed. Maybe I sleep walked?" I tried to say. But all their eyes were now fixated on me.

"You're a terrible liar Percy." Hermione says.

Harry grabs his wand and points it at me. I grab for my wand and Harry says, "Expelliarmus!"

My wand falls out of my hand and Harry says something else as a red stream of light come out of his wand. It almost hit me in the chest but I dodged it, and started running up the stairs to the seventh year dorms. I know I would probably wake up everybody at this point, but quite honestly, I didn't care.

Me: I do not own any of the characters. All characters either belong to Rick Riordan or J.K. Rowling.
Leo: I know what I want for Christmas: A Phoenix!
Calypso: Leo. Where do you even buy a Phoenix?
Leo: ....I'll leave that for you to figure out.
Me: LEO VALDEZ! What the Hades is wrong with you!? Yeah you've already bought all the Phoenix's in North America and Europe!
Leo: Ummm... Got to go! Annabeth wants me!
Me: Let me guess, she wants to talk to you because you blew up something... Again.
***
CHB: What happened to the Ares cabin.
Clarisse: Leo!? What did you do with Maimer!?!?
Leo: *Whispers* Lamer.
Clarisse: What did you just say, PUNK!?
Percy: *Eating blue popcorn* This is going to be entertaining.

12/21/14

6K Views!? I feel like I'm going to die! P.S. I'm going to start putting dates on when I post these.
-Europa