Harry's mind was buzzing with questions the entire sprint back to the common room.

As soon as they collapsed by the fire, Hermione wheeled on them.

"You idiots. We almost got killed! Or worse, expelled." Hermione glared at them all.

Ron gaped at her. "Oh I'm sorry, did we drag you along?" He muttered.

"That dog is seriously overweight," Thalia commented.

"Did you see what it was standing on?" Annabeth asked the others.

"The floor?" Harry and Percy said at the same time.

"No, a trap door. It's clearly guarding something." Hermione responded tartly.

"Nico, you're the expert in three headed dogs. D'you know anything?" Percy asked.

Nico was in silently watching the flames. "No, but it just disturbed me. Why would Hogwarts keep a three-headed hellhound in a too small corridor? That's just animal cruelty."

A three-headed Hellhound. That's what it was called? "Nico, how did you do that with it?"

Nico looked away from the fire. Percy could see he was thinking rapidly. "My— my dad wanted me to be ready for anything. He taught me how to understand certain animals and other things," he muttered vaguely.

"Well we'd just love to explain more, but it's late and we should sleep. Good night everyone." Thalia cut Nico off shortly and pulled the other two girls up to the dormitory. The boys shrugged and followed their lead. Harry wasn't about to forget what Nico did, though. There was clearly more to that boy than met the eye.

>>>•Annabeth•<<<

Annabeth felt a bit guilty lying to the wizards. Though technically didn't actually lie— it was more like adjusting the truth. Like turning up moral thermostat. The room might've been cold in the first place, but it was much more comfortable and convenient when heated.

A few days after the late night adventure, Harry got a broomstick— a Nimbus 2000. From the energy Ron had hyped up when he saw it, Annabeth concluded it was like having an exclusive model of a car given for free. That epiphany suddenly made the broom seem worth a lot more.

Harry's failed wizard-duel and his newfound toy weren't the only exciting things about October. Halloween was coming up and Hogwarts was buzzing with excitement. Annabeth had never been too enthusiastic about Halloween, or any other holiday for that matter, but evidently Hogwarts holidays were even more magical than normal.

But before Halloween came, there were still classes to go through.

Percy was exceptionally good at potions — the most logical explanation was because it was a liquid and therefore he had a special connection or something. The way he controlled the poison in Tartarus made it clear it was not just water he could control.

Nico was somewhat good at potions also, but was astounding at History of Magic. (Probably because the teacher was a ghost and therefore under Nico's influence. Annabeth doubted Nico actually knew a thing).

Transfiguration seemed to be Thalia's best subject, which wasn't saying much as she was mildly awful at everything else.

But Hermione still held first in every subject, bar potions. Charms she excelled at more so than other subjects, possibly because she was seen in comparison to everyone else who sucked terribly. The morning of Halloween, they began to levitate objects. Harry was with Percy and Nico, Ron with Thalia (who didn't look too happy), and Annabeth with Hermione.

"Wingardium Leviosa," said Hermione crisply, and the feather rose to eye level. Annabeth mimicked her motions and slowly, her own feather lifted as well.

Ron, however, was having a bit of trouble. His wand was swinging everywhere with no result. Thalia was looking disgustedly at the motionless feather in front of her. Her mouth was moving in incoherent words, and Annabeth would have bet five drachmas she was silently swearing.

Harry, Percy, and Nico were just having fun with little regard for success. (It was incredible how open Nico had become after he and Reyna brought back the Athena Parthenos and he and Will started dating.)

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Percy jabbed his wand at the feather in front of him. Harry was whacking it with his wand while Nico was laughing at their table. Unfortunately Professor Flitwick saw and perhaps that was what made him assign the homework of mastering it.

As they entered the Great Hall at noon, all thoughts of homework was forgotten. Thousands of live bats flooded the ceilings and the candles in the carved pumpkins flickered rhythmically. The food appeared as suddenly as the start-of-term banquet.

Just as the students began to tuck in to their food, Professor Quirrell came sprinting in. The look on his face was one of pure terror.

"TROLL IN THE DUNGEONS~" he wailed, and fell to the floor in a dead faint.

There was an uproar in the Great Hall. Students immediately began to talk wildly and it took several purple fireworks from Dumbledore's wand to regain attention.

"Let's go," Percy muttered to the others as Dumbledore ordered them to their dormitories, and they ducked along the Hufflepuffs in the direction of the dungeons. The troll might have been a monster in disguise after the demigods. If not, then it was a big fat ugly troll that needed taking care of.

Unfortunately, Harry and Ron seemed to have the same idea — Hermione didn't seem eager but she went out of concern for Annabeth. They darted through the small side corridors and out of sight of the teachers. Before long, the stench of something flooded their noses. It smelled like Tartarus had a bean burrito buffet.

"There," Thalia whispered.

In the girls bathroom was a very ugly, big, fat, stupid troll.

"We got this. You three, stay back," Percy commanded the wizards.

Hermione ran ahead and blocked their path, arms spread wide in a T-pose. "You can't!" She cried. "You'll be killed!"

"Nah," Percy assured her.

"Now get BACK!" Nico snapped as he drew his Stygian iron sword. Thalia pulled out two silver hunting knives. Annabeth vanished with her new gold dagger, and Percy uncapped Riptide.

Hermione very quickly got out of the way.

Thalia ducked between the troll's legs as it stumbled forward, clawing at an invisible weight at its neck. As it trashed, Annabeth's cap flew off and suddenly she was visible. The troll swung its club wildly and, just by pure luck, smacked the sword from Nico's hands. It sailed across the room and wedged in the wall above the bathroom stalls.

The troll lunged forward blindly. His foot swung at Thalia, and before she could dive out of the way, the gnarled, ugly blue toe contacted her ribs. There was a shriek as Thalia went flying across the room, hitting the wall and crashing to the ground. She scrambled up quickly, but her knife had been torn from her grasp.

Percy was still at it, but Riptide only seemed to scratch the troll through its thick, brick-like skin.

"Immobulus!" Hermione cried, pointing her wand at the troll. All of a sudden, its movements were sluggish like it was moving through an invisible marshmallow fluff. Unfortunately, Annabeth was also moving in slow motion. She released the troll's neck in slow motion, pushing off its back in a one-sixteenth speed backflip.

However, Harry had the wrong idea in what Annabeth was doing.

"SHE'S GONNA FALL ON HER HEAD!" He screeched.

Ron tore out his wand. "Wingardium Leviosa!" He yelled. The spell hit Annabeth and suddenly she was hovering in mid-air. She swung her arms in slow motion, yelling, "puuuuuuut meeeeee dooooooooown, Ronaaaaald!"

Ron complied, and she crashed to the ground. At that moment, Thalia had found her knife and, expertly spinning around to face the troll, she sent it flying. It pierced the troll's chest at the same time that Percy chopped off the troll's foot from the Achilles' tendon forward. The troll exploded in a slow-motion explosion of dust. Annabeth stood up as the charm wore off.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione stared at them, open-mouthed.

"Blimey," Ron said at last. "Why've you never told us you were swordpeople?"

The demigods glanced at each other. "Never came up," Thalia said.

Suddenly the teachers ran in. They located the troll a minute too late.

"What is the meaning of this?" Professor McGonagall looked ready to explode.

No one seemed keen to respond.

"They've got swords!" Ron finally exclaimed in bewilderment. "Blumming massive twenty-foot—"

Thalia snapped her fingers, the cold ripple of air dousing them all.

"We managed to kill the troll," she explained slowly and clearly. "We all used the same spell, I guess. Somehow the power combined and killed it."

Everyone (except the demigods, McGonagall, and Snape) flinched, their eyes glazing over.

McGonagall glanced at the demigods. "Well you're lucky you didn't die. I highly doubt any other first years could've done what you did."

"So five points from Gryffindor for not following the headmasters orders," Snape added icily.

"I cannot argue with that," McGonagall said as they opened their mouths to protest. "But as you just ridded the school of a troll, you all get ten points each to Gryffindor."

Relief swept through Annabeth. Even though they were undercover at Hogwarts, the fun and competitive vibes of the House championship was getting to the demigods.

As the seven walked back to the common room, Annabeth saw Hermione frown out of the corner of her eye. The young witch seemed to be deep in thought. She probably didn't have a logical explanation for how they defeated the troll and was confused. Annabeth prayed that they wouldn't have to use the Mist often, but with the scent of the most powerful demigods combined, their luck wouldn't hold.