Camp 9 3/4 [A HP x PJO/HoO Fanfiction]

15 - ANNABETH CHASE

Hello. I jumped, my hand going straight to my concealed dagger. 'Who are you?' I asked. The Sorting Hat. And don't worry, I'm talking in your head, no one else can hear us.

'Oh, okay.' I paused. 'So, do you just look at my potential for stuff and then decide which house I belong in according to my attributes and traits?'

Close. I basically just look at your memories and your personality.

'My m-memories? Oh, no. No! You don't want to-' I broke off as the Sorting Hat completely ignored my warning and took a look down my memory lane. I saw myself running away when I was seven, fighting monsters with Luke and Thalia. Meeting Percy, going on my first quest, my second quest, being held hostage by Atlas, the Labyrinth, that final fight with Kronos... even Tartarus! He saw it all. All my demigod quests... absolutely horrible. I don't know whether I like the Sorting Hat. Maybe my life just is that messed up.

You, y-you... how did you survive?! What? No. It paused before shouting, out loud, 'Gryffindor! Gryffindor! Can't a hat have some peace?!' McGonagall took the hat off my head and I sat down at the Gryffindor table. I watched as Thalia got sorted and chuckled as the hat simply just jumped off Percy's head and started hopping away towards the teachers' table, muttering about crazy people. I bore it when I could feel people's stares burning holes into the back of my head.

Soon, we went up to the common room. How? That was easy. We just followed the people that were calling out to Gryffindors. They just led the way. Once we got up to the common room, the three of us sat down on the couches there. Percy and I sat next to each other on one, while Thalia sat on an armchair stationed across from us. We had been talking for a bit when someone came up to us.

'Hi!' Came a voice. 'So you all got Gryffindor, huh?' I turned around to find Rose - one of the kids we stayed with before we came to Hogwarts.

'Yeah.' Percy said. I wondered why she was asking - I mean, it was painfully obvious that we all got Gryffindor. And she didn't seem all that slow... Maybe she just wanted to make small talk?

'Well, welcome! Gryffindor's the best house! If you ask anyone in these dormitories.' She winked at us before heading away. Thalia chuckled. 'Of course it's the best house to everyone in "these dormitories"' she used her fingers to make quote marks, 'they're all in Gryffindor!'

'Mmm. They're quite biased, don't you think? Wouldn't it be better for Hogwarts if all the houses were friends?' I wondered out loud.

'Yeah, I agree.'Percy said quietly. 'They would be much better if they all worked together!'

'Kelp Head, you just have to agree with anything Annabeth says, don't you?' Thalia chuckled.

'What?! No! I don't!' Percy exclaimed. Thalia and I just chuckled a bit. Actually, scratch that. Maybe we laughed. A LOT. Percy can be such a Seaweed Brain sometimes. Hence the nickname, obviously.

'So... You guys heard what the Sorting Hat said, right? Before he sorted anyone? When he was singing?' I asked. Curiosity is in my blood, so I obviously had to ask the question.

'Yeah! A hat was SINGING! And you guys call me weird!' Can you guess who asked that? Yup. Percy.

'I wonder if that's normal for wizards.' Thalia wondered out loud.

'It probably is.' I paused. 'Should we ask anyone? I mean, what the Sorting Hat said, it seemed pretty important...'

'You mean like a PROPHECY?' Percy whispered frantically.

'No. I meant like a... warning. Of sorts.' I can tell what Percy meant, being annoyed at the potential prophecy, but I do think that it could be a warning. So if Ι to clarify for him 24/7 then I will. I guess I already do that a bit, so it won't be unusual... oh Seaweed Brain!