"Sit down," Madam Pomfrey insisted as she bustled into the tent. Nico winced as he gingerly touched his rib, which had snapped and was protruding from his rib cage from when the dragon threw him down. "And don't do that!"

She bustled around, her hands flying as she mixed one vial with another. Finally, after pouring it half full of a glowing pink liquid, Madam Pomfrey shook the bottle and handed it to Nico.

"Healing potion." She regarded him suspiciously. "Drink. It's extra strong for you since we're resistant, and I've added some nectar."

"You have nectar?" Nico asked.

"Of course," Madam Pomfrey said like it was obvious. "How do you think I survived at Hogwarts with monsters everywhere in the Forbidden Forest?"

"First time I'm hearing about this," Nico grumbled. "I bet Annabeth knew the whole time."

"Yes, the girl." She sniffed in disdain. "I thought she was my sibling at first-- she has our hair and tanned skin. But no, Minerva got another one."

She didn't offer any more explanation. Nico, who was trying to clean the rib with a tissue, stopped and uncorked the bottle, sipping tentatively. Instantly, he felt a painful burning sensation as the potion seeped through his veins, followed by a dull, numbing sensation. He winced again and took another sip.

"The whole thing," Madam Pomfrey commanded. "I don't know why they thought this was a good idea... dragons... and all for glory, nothing more..." she turned away, still muttering under her breath, towards Harry.

"No visible wounds," she said as she looked him over. "There could be internal bleeding--"

"I feel fine," Harry insisted.

"--Fire almost got you," she continued. "And then you could have organ failure..."

"I'm fine," Harry said again.

"Then there was that nasty rock," Madam Pomfrey seemed only to be talking to herself. "Shrapnel might've gotten you, turn around."

Harry turned around. Madam Pomfrey clicked her tongue disapprovingly. "You seem fine..."

"You don't say?" Nico muttered sarcastically under his breath.

"You can go back to the dormitory now. No, not you, Mr. diAngelo." She strode over and cut Nico's path off. "You are staying here."

"My rib's all better," Nico protested. If, by all better, he meant not bleeding, because the bone was still showing. "And I have ambrosia at the tent."

Madam Pomfrey seemed to relent at this. "Oh, all right," she agreed. "But you, Harry, make sure he takes it."

"Will do." Harry grinned and wrapped his arms around his golden egg. "Come on, Nico. I wanna open the egg."

They shouldn't have opened the egg.

As soon as the clasp came undone, a horrible, screeching, blasting wail erupted from it.

"SHUT IT UP!" George roared, who was standing closest to Harry's egg. With difficulty, Nico pried his fingers away from his ears and clasped it shut. A stunned silence fell.

"What the bloody hell was that?" A voice asked from the stairway.

Harry was about to respond when he turned and saw who spoke. His mouth snapped shut. A hard line formed at his jawline.

Ron shifted uncomfortably, aware that all eyes were on him.

"That was a riddle," Percy said to break the silence. "And a hard one at that."

"A riddle?" Annabeth looked at Percy curiously.

"Um... Percy... that was the sound of a dying kangaroo, not a riddle," Thalia said.

"A dying kangaroo?" Now it was Percy's turn to look bewildered. "That was a song!"

"A song? We aren't Disney in real life!"

"Open it again," Percy said. "And listen carefully."

"Don't open it!" Neville put his hands up to stop Harry. "It sounded like someone was being tortured!"

Percy just looked at Neville like he was insane. "Just do it. Everyone cover your ears. It's pretty loud."

"You noticed?" Nico muttered.

"Here goes." Harry braced himself, then undid the clasp again.

Instantly, the room was filled with the same high pitched, wailing noise. Percy just tilted his head and listened, unperturbed by the noise. Finally, he put up his hand.

"It's just repeating again," he said. "But I think I know how you can hear it now."

"What did you hear?" Ron asked.

Percy glanced around at everyone's expectant faces.

"Yeah, tell us Perce!" Fred cheered.

"I'd better not," Percy finally said. "Only Harry and Nico have the right to know."

A massive groan of protest arose from the Gryffindors.

"Harry'll tell us, right?" Colin Creevey asked hopefully.

Harry shrugged.

"So that was the clue?" Ron asked from where he had squeezed through the crowd.

Harry glared. "Why would you care?"

"Come on, you lot. This'll be unpleasant enough without you all watching it." Fred and George began herding the Gryffindors back away from the duo. The demigods backed away too, letting the two face each other. Eventually, Gryffindor had all gone up to the dormitories as if by some silent agreement, just leaving the demigods, Harry, Hermione, and Ron.

Ron looked down. "I know you'd've been crazy to enter your name."

"Yeah, figured that out, have you?" Harry asked coldly. "Took you long enough." Then something in his face softened as Ron opened his mouth hesitantly. "It's alright, Ron. I get it."

"No," Ron said. "I shouldn't've--"

"Forget it."

Ron grinned nervously at him. Harry grinned back nervously.

Hermione suddenly burst into tears.

"There's nothing to cry about!" Harry said, bewildered.

Hermione shook her head. "You to are so stupid!" She exclaimed, stamping her foot on the ground. Then, before they could react, gave both of them a hug and dashed out of the common room, howling.

"Is she okay?" Nico asked, staring after her. "Is she on her--"

Annabeth suddenly shot Nico a dangerous look, poking a finger at his newly-healed wound. It worked, and Nico snapped his mouth shut.

"What were the scores, then?" Harry asked, trying to draw attention away from Hermione.

"You didn't see?" Jason thought hard. "Best out of ten... Your average was an eight, I think. Tied with Krum in first--"

"What?" Harry asked, staring. "But what about Nico?"

The demigods winced and looked at each other nervously.

"Yeah, what about me?" Nico asked, suddenly suspicious.

"Well, you raised skeletons, right?" Annabeth said.

"And that's kind of like, controlling death," Thalia went on.

"They think you're a Dark Wizard," Percy stated flatly, unblinkingly.

Nico's mouth dropped open. "A Dark Wizard? Me?"

"You controlled the dead," Jason said. "No magic can raise the dead, but you got close."

Ron grimaced and glanced at Nico sympathetically. "You need to watch out about your powers from now on," he warned. "They're awfully close to a dark wizard's powers."

Nico nodded grimly, idly running his fingers over the grooves of the golden egg.

Guys I'm so sorry for missing Saturday's update I was at a 2 day volleyball tournament and those take a while so yeah

I might miss Wednesday too because school is really pressing it and i completely don't understand math and aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

you know?

yeah sorry about that again