Heroes with Wands

Chapter 10

Annabeth

My first thought at seeing where we'd be staying for a while?

Whoa.

There was a room that belonged to Ginny's other brothers, Charlie, Bill, and Percy (coincidence, right?), plus Ron, Fred, George, and Harry's room.

Fred and George had kept their room, and Harry and Ron took the other room. The boys were welcome to either of the rooms.

Hedge took the couch, after we made him promise not to eat the stuffing. The boys bunked with Harry and Ron after Ron warned them that the twins would probably put itching powder down their pants when they were sleeping.

Anyway, Hermione had shared Ginny's room. There was an extra tiny room next door, that the boys lent to the girls after Piper charmspeaked them.

Or, let's just say, I secretly threatened not to kiss Percy until we got back to camp.

Same difference.

We laid there in silence for a while, myself on the top bunk with Piper next to me, Hazel below us. The room only included that bunk and a dresser. That was fine with us, though. We weren't claustraphobic.

Right when I was half-asleep and half-awake, Piper said softly, "I don't want Gaea to kill one of us. I don't want to have to choose again."

For a second I wasn't sure what she meant. Then I came to my senses and shook my other thoughts out of my head. She was talking about when Percy and Jason were possessed, and Gaea made Piper chose who should've died.

She, being the smartie-pants she is, decided not to choose at all. That left the choice to Gaea. Jason and Percy dueled possessively, but Piper saved them both.

"Yeah," I replied quietly. "I know. You did the right thing, though, Piper. I still owe you for saving Percy. You're one of the bravest children of Aphrodite I've ever met. Besides Silena, you're number one."

I heard Hazel shift underneath me. "What are you talking about? Silena?"

"Silena Beareguard, I think," Piper said. "Drew was talking about her. She was a traitor, right? She helped Kronos. In the end she died trying to take down a drakon on the Titan side. She was a hero."

"Oh," Hazel said. "That's...that's so brave. In my opinion. Wow. She knew what was right and decided to fight for it."

My heart raced. "Yeah. She was a great friend. Besides Piper, she's the nicest Aphrodite child there is."

The three of us laughed. Then the room quieted. Piper sighed and closed her eyes. "Night guys."

"Night."

"Good night."

The next morning, Mrs. Weasley made pancakes, eggs, bacon, toast, and sausage for breakfast. Knowing Percy, he'd have his second platter of food devoured in a millisecond.

We'd told the Weasleys about our sacrifice to our parents. Fred or George-I couldn't tell them apart-created a bonfire in the middle of the room. Us Greeks scraped off a part of our meal for our parents and watched it burn.

Ginny said out of nowhere, "You guys should come to Hogwarts with us."

Piper blinked. "What in Tartarus is Hogwarts?"

"Then we could teach you about Quidditch," Harry said.

"What in Hades is Quidditch?" I asked.

"We could introduce you to Hagrid, our best teacher blote," Ron added.