Jason refused to talk to the wizards the next day, and the day after that.

"He can hold a grudge for a long time," Annabeth said quietly to them at breakfast the next day. "His entire life was built off of a broken promise from his mother."

Harry winced and glanced sideways to Jason, who was sitting on the opposite side of them, closest to the Slytherin table.

"He might get over it though," Percy said brightly through a mouthful of potatoes. "You never know, he didn't really know his mom, but he knows you."

Harry looked at his toast doubtfully.

>>>•O•<<<

In the library, they took the moldy book from Madam Pince and walked away quickly, trying not to look guilty.

"Right," Harry muttered as they speed walked to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. "We have the book. Now what?"

"You get the ingredients, make the potion ASAP, then turn into Slytherins," A voice said behind them. Harry turned sharply and spotted Percy behind them, moving as silently as if he wasn't walking at all.

Ron scowled. "What are you doing here?"

Percy raised an eyebrow. "Well, I thought you might want help for the potion. I am, after all, the potions master."

"Hermione can help us just fine."

"Don't be salty, Ron," Percy said, sounding hurt. "I'm not the one who yelled at you. Although it was a bit unnecessary, calling Jason's girlfriend evil."

"Well—" Ron bit back a retort as they turned the corner and slipped into the bathroom.

"A stall won't fit everyone," Harry said, eyeing the dimensions. "Maybe if we did it in the sink—"

Percy walked in and shoved his shoulder against the wood that blocked one stall from the next. It shattered under him but expanded the space.

"Or we could do that," Harry said. Percy grinned at him and did an overly dramatic bow, gesturing them in.

Hermione held the book out gingerly in front of her. "Well, brace yourselves. This wasn't in the restricted section for nothing."

They peered over the damp, moldy pages of the book.

"Ugh." Harry winced at the graphic pictures. "That one has arms coming out of her head."

"I wonder if she's related to Medusa," Percy said, grimacing.

"Here it is." Hermione pointed to a very detailed potion recipe. "Wow, I've never seen a potion so complex," she muttered, her brow furrowing. "Most of these we can get in the student cupboard, but the rest... Skin of a boomslang, that'll have to be from Snape's private cupboard... Ooh, I don't know where we can get the powdered horn of a bicorn, and not to mention a bit of whoever we're changing into—"

"Excuse me?" Ron looked disgusted. "What do you mean, a bit of whoever we're changing into? I'm drinking nothing with Crabbe's toenails in it—"

"—We don't have to worry about that yet, though, because we add those bits last—"

Ron turned to Harry, flabbergasted. "D'you realize how much we're going to steal? Shredded skin of a boomslang, that's definitely not in the student's cupboard. What're we going to do, break into Snape's private stores? I don't know if this is such a good idea...."

Hermione snapped the book shut sharply. "Well, if you three are going to chicken out, fine," she said, her eyes flashing with defiance. "I don't want to break the rules, you know. I think threatening Muggleborns is far worse than brewing up a difficult potion. But if you don't want to find out if it's Malfoy, I'll go straight to Madam Pince now and hand the book back in—"

"I never thought I'd see the day when you'd be persuading us to break rules," Ron grumbled. "All right, we'll do it. But no toenails, okay?"

>>>•Piper POV•<<<

Piper changed into her Quidditch robes, stomach turning with excitement. It was the big day, her first ever Quidditch meet. Gryffindor versus Slytherin. She couldn't wait.

"Okay, team." Flint stood up from the bench with an air of determination. "First match of the season, and I expect it to be our win. Got it?"

"Crystal clear, sir," the sixth year beater, Bruce, saluted mockingly. Flint scowled at him.

"I mean it. Play your hardest out there and you might not have to wake up so early for practice next month. Everyone remember the plays?" Without waiting for the rest of the team to nod, he picked up his broomstick. "Good. Now let's get out there and kick Gryffindor's arse!"

The rest of the team cheered and grabbed their sleek black brooms.

Piper's stomach fluttered nervously, even though she'd been pretty good at practice. She thought about her friends and realized they'd be cheering for Gryffindor. Well, Frank and Hazel might cheer for her too. She tried to scan the crowd and look for Jason, but it was nearly impossible.

Across the field, Harry caught her eye and gave a grim smile, though it didn't look genuine.

"On my whistle," Madam Hooch said. "Three... two... one..."

Piper bent her knees and pushed off into the drizzling sky, the rush of the cold air awakening her senses once again. She saw one of the Gryffindor Chasers had the Quaffle, and she sped after her. Ducking under, Piper jerked up sharply and threw the chaser off course as the Gryffindor tried to throw the Quaffle to another Gryffindor chaser. Flint intercepted it and zoomed toward the other end of the field. He dodged a lone Bludger and hurled the red soccer ball at the left goalpost.

The Slytherin crowd cheered.

Tim, the third Slytherin chaser, grabbed the ball as it whizzed through and dodged the other players, aiming and throwing. The ball flew neatly through the goal, much to the displeasure of the Gryffindor keeper.

Flint, Piper, and Tim managed to score a total of four more times in a row before the Gryffindors struck a point.

"Good play, McLean!" Flint called as he zipped off back into position. Piper smiled in response, already focusing on the ball that was in the first Gryffindor's arms again. Piper tried for the same maneuver as before, but the girl was ready and tilted her broom sideways, missing Piper and shooting for the goal poast. Piper was already off course and could only watch as the girl flew closer, her arm stretched back to throw—

Wham!

A Bludger smashed into her stomach, forcing her to once again drop the Quaffle. She doubled over, wheezing. Piper felt a pang of sympathy, but not before she'd seized the Quaffle and hurled it halfway across the field into the middle goal.

Piper scanned the crowd for Draco, trying to see if he'd found the Snitch yet. No such luck. He was zipping around the perimeter, scanning his eyes for any flash of gold. Madam Hooch's whistle rang out through the field.

"Gryffindors called a timeout!" Flint jeered as they landed lightly. "Take the opportunity. Good play, team."

Piper inhaled deeply and scanned the crowd for Jason again. No sign of her Superman.

They kicked off into the air again, some mud sticking to Piper's shoes. The rain was falling heavily now.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the same Gryffindor who had been hit with the Bludger earlier aim to throw again. Just her luck, another Bludger pelted at her and crashed into her head at full speed. She rolled over on her broom and sank a little, ear leaking blood.

"Training for ballet, Potter?" Draco's voice distracted Piper momentarily. She glanced over as Harry did a little twirl in midair, narrowly missing the heavy black bludger that was pelting at him at top speed.

Piper glanced at Draco as she sped in a loop around the perimeter of the field when she saw it— the golden snitch.

"To your right!" She screamed, trying to get to him. Unfortunately, thunder also chose that exact moment to rumble. The bludger had smashed into Harry's elbow and he had tipped on his broom but stayed on, his eyes fixed on the area of Draco's right ear. Then he pelted toward it.

Piper watched as Draco dived out of the way, watched as Harry grabbed the fluttering golden ball, watched as Slytherin lost the game.

But right now, she was worried about Harry.

He dived head first into the mud, his arm bent at angles it's not supposed to bend at. The rest of the team landed, Flint with a purple face.

Piper hurried over. She knelt beside Harry and observed the way it was twisted. A familiar arm looped through hers.

"I think he broke it," Jason observed. The crowd parted as a teacher strode in, his wand out in front of him.

"Settle down, settle down," he said soothingly. "I'll fix this and Harry will be back up in a jiffy."

Harry groaned and his eyes opened. "Oh no, not you!" he mumbled thickly. Piper agreed with him, disgusted at the sight of Lockhart's smiling face.

"Doesn't know what he's saying," Lockhart said loudly to the crowd. "Not to worry, Harry. I'm about to fix your arm."

Piper narrowed her eyes. Lockhart certainly had a way of calming the crowd.

Harry sat up and winced in pain. "I'm okay!" he gritted his teeth. "I'll keep it like this, thanks..."

He almost passed out again.

"It's a simple charm," Lockhart said soothingly. "I've used it countless times"

"Why can't I just go to the hospital wing?" Harry complained through clenched teeth.

"He really should, Professor," the Gryffindor captain said, drenched and muddy but grinning all the same. In the background, Piper could see the Gryffindor Chaser shake off mud and head to the castle, her friends swarming her worriedly. She swayed on her feet, clutching her head, before collapsing on the ground.

Lockhart was still convincing Harry he was a qualified medical professional. "Nonsense. Stand back—" Lockhart rolled up his jade green sleeves and directed it at Harry's arm.

Piper instantly knew that it wouldn't end well. She could tell even before the arm went limp and rubbery, like it had nothing inside it at all.

"Ah, yes. Well, that can happen sometimes. But the point is, the bones are no longer broken. That's the thing to bear in mind. Now Harry, you should go to the Hospital wing. It's important, you know, to take care of your body."

Piper was about to swing a punch at the guy when Tim grabbed her arm and pulled her away.

"C'mon McLean, locker rooms," he snapped glumly.

Piper stepped out of her dripping robes, wishing Percy was there to dry her off.

"What the bloody hell was that?" Flint had a fist on the front of Draco's robes, though he wasn't lifting the boy off the ground. That would've been comical.

Draco scowled. "It wasn't my fault! I couldn't see it!"

"It was right next to your bloody head!" Flint barked, releasing Draco. "You'll be glad we don't kick you off the team!"

Draco scowled again and rubbed his collarbone. "It's not my fault Potter flies like a ballerina!"

"That's enough from you!" Flint growled. "The rest of you, well done. Piper, Tim, good plays. Bruce, Xavier, keep the Bludger heading towards Gryffindor more, all right? Draco, I expected more from you." Flint glared at the soaked Seeker one last time (though he didn't hold a candle to Annabeth, Thalia, Percy, Nico, Reyna, Jason, Frank, Hazel, Travis, Conner, Clarisse, Miranda, Katie, Nyssa, Harley, Drew, Lacy, Mitchel, Jake, Will, Victoria, Austin, Kayla, Lee, Chris, Butch, Cecil, Leila, or Clovis) before storming into the boys showers.

Piper glanced at the rest of the team before heading to the girls showers. Could've been better, she decided as she wrung out her sopping green Quidditch robes. But it was a good game.

>>>•Annabeth POV•<<<

Ron and Hermione helped Harry up the stairs to the Gryffindor common room. After changing, the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team followed them.

Alicia Spinnet was half awake, delirious from the beatings with the bludgers. Blood tricjled steadily from her ear. Annabeth felt a pang of sympathy for the Gryffindor chaser as she also headed up to the Hospital wing.

"That was great!" Percy grinned and shook off water like a dog, even though he could've just willed himself dry. It was probably better he didn't though, Annabeth mused.

"Do you think Harry's okay, though?" Jason stood on his toes as he tried to peer over the crowd of the students heading back to the castle.

"Harry's fine," Annabeth said. "The question is, is Alicia okay?"

"After taking two full-speed bludgers?" Percy shook his head.

"And Harry Potter wins the match again!" Fred put on a deep announcer's voice before chuckling as he and George walked in pace with them. "I don't think we've ever lost with him as Seeker."

George nodded, scraping some mud off his chin. "You going to visit Harry? We're going too." He pulled out a bulging sack. "Brought some food, too."

Fred looked at them while they walked to the Hospital Wing. "You guys don't have like, any fancy healing powers, do you?" he said under his breath, half glancing at the other Gryffindors.

Nico shook his head. "No, that's my boyfriend, Will. Child of Apollo, god of medicine." he said just as quietly.

"Piper once raised me from the dead," Jason offered. The twins looked at Jason in shock.

"You too?"

"Well, like my heart stopped beating for two minutes. But here I am" Jason smiled weakly as they entered the Hospital Wing.

"Hey, over here," Harry called from the bed he was lying on.

"Unbelievable flying, Harry!" George said, grinning broadly. "I've just seen Marcus Flint yelling at Malfoy. Something about having the Snitch on top of his head and not noticing. Malfoy didn't seem too happy."

He unloaded his snacks as the rest of the Gryffindors crowded around. Alicia Spinnet was in the bed next to Harry, sipping a glowing pink liquid from a goblet. "Hey, Wood."

Oliver Wood crouched down next to Alicia as she muttered something before scraping off the dried blood on her face, along with succeeding in smearing the wet blood over her cheek. Wood nodded slowly.

"Out, OUT!" Madam Pomfrey stormed over with a bottle of what Annabeth assumed was medicine. "This boy needs rest, he's got thirty three bones to regrow. Out!"

They hurried back to the common room. "Well, he seemed fine," Hermione said doubtfully, opening her Potions book. "Though, I've heard of how painful regrowing bones are. He's got a nasty night ahead of him."

Ron nodded his head in agreement before something caught his eye. Wood had just put up a piece of paper and was looking at it, frowning.

"Hey, look," He leaned over to get a better look. "Alicia Spinnet's off the Quidditch team."

"What?" Annabeth had seen the seventh year girl play, she was talented. Except for those nasty Bludger incidents. Sure enough, there was an open position for Chaser.

"Isn't there a substitute or something?" Percy asked, squinting at the letters.

Ron shook his head. "Apparently not. Tryouts are in a week." He turned to Thalia and Jason. "Hey, you guys should try it. You know, being children of Zeus and all."

"Lower your voice," Thalia hissed. "And there is no way in Hades I'm going on a broom."

Jason shrugged. "I could try it," he said doubtfully. "But I dunno. I've never been on a broom before."

"Neither has Piper," Percy reminded him. "And look how she did."

"Annabeth, I feel like you'd be good at it to," Thalia said.

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "Is it because the positions Chaser? And my last name happens to be Chase?"

Thalia shrugged. "Maybe."

Annabeth nodded. "Well, I could try it. We are eligible to make the team now, as second years."

"Great!" Percy nodded importantly and pulled on Jason and Annabeth's arms. "Well, we'd better get you training."