The Half-Blood Prince (Percy Jackson x Harry Potter)

Chapter 3

(A/N Sorry I haven't updated in a while! I'll try to update every week. I forgot the disclaimer, too. Haha. I don't own any Percy Jackson or Harry Potter characters. ONTO THE STORY)

The light took me down the stairs we came up and down a hallway. Then more hallways. Soon, we reached a huge room full of stairs that kept moving around from door to door.

"Wow," I stated, amazed by the moving stairs. Annabeth would be... astonished by these stairs and would immediately find out how they move around. I grinned at the thought.

Before I knew it, the light had moved onto one of the stairs. I had to jog to catch up and not fall off of the platform that was connected to the door I just walked through. The light went up the stairs as it moved. I followed.

When I caught up to it, the light had stopped in front of a picture. It was a picture of a giraffe. It moved its head from side to side, shaking the leaves off of the tree it was eating.

I watched it in amazement. This school is amazing. Then it dawned on me... why are the pictures moving? How had I not seen them before? All over the walls were pictures of animals and people. And they were all moving.

The light went through the picture and disappeared from sight. Great. Another problem to solve. Where did it go?

"Uh," I cleared my throat. "Sorry, but, uh." I was stumbling over my words. I didn't know what to say to the giraffe! "Could you move out of the way so I could get behind you?" Now I know I am crazy. You don't just go up to random pictures and ask if it could move. Though, surprisingly, the picture frame opened up like a door and showed a doorway. I barely saw the light before it disappeared up the stairs.

I raced after it and found that I was in a common room. There weren't any main colors in the room that suggested that it was a House common room. Maybe it was where they put the visitors.

The light had gone up the stairs to the left and went out. I guess I'm where I'm supposed to be.

The backpack I was holding was getting heavier. My eyelids were drooping a bit, too. And now I notice that I am getting more tired by the second. I guess apparating does that to you. I found the nearest bed, threw my bag at the floor of it, and collapsed on the bed. I didn't even take my shoes off before I drifted off to sleep.

The place I was in was familiar. I knew where I was and I knew that I did not want to be here.

It was Tartarus.

I stood with Annabeth at my side. We both leaned into each other, needing each other's support. The air around us was humid and burned when I breathed the acid air into my lungs. I could hear my breath, it sounded ragged, as thought I had not drank anything in twenty years. It's kind of true. I hadn't drank anything since we got here, except for fire water of course. But that burned my throat and made it more dry.

In front of us stood the forest filled with the curse monsters. They gave you a curse that an enemy had set upon you if you kill them. I was not ready to face these ladies again.

Either way, I headed at them and cut and sliced them and killed as many as I could get away with. Pain filled me with each cut and I screamed. Every time I screamed. I made sure Annabeth stayed away as I fought.

Soon enough, they were all gone... but I could hear the one thing that caused me the most pain: Annabeth's scream.

I looked over at her and saw that she was stumbling around as if she couldn't see. She screamed my name, over and over again. She weeped and asked why I had left her. I tried to call to her but then a few more of the cursed monsters came at me. I couldn't reach her.

I struggled and pushed my way to her, but I couldn't get there. She was heading towards the edge of the cliff that we were on. I wanted to save her, so badly did I want to. But the demon ladies pushed me back.

Annabeth took a step over the ledge and screamed as she felt no solid ground underneath her.

I shot up in my bed, sweat pouring down my face. I could still feel the pain and the heat of Tartarus.

When I stood up, I noticed that my hands were shaking. I clasped them together, getting control of myself. Soon, I was calm enough to tell myself that it was just another nightmare. I had been getting them ever since getting out. So had Annabeth. I had only told her of my nightmares. They came at least one to two times a week. Luckily, neither me or Annabeth screamed from our dreams or panicked. We were both strong, we could handle nightmares. We've handled more than that before.

I went to the bathroom, or what I thought would be the bathroom, and washed my face. Then I actually took a shower and got dressed in jeans, a plain orange T-shirt, my sweet sneakers, and my camp beads.

I strolled out of the room filled with beds and found my way to the golden eagle that lead to Dumbledore's office. What was I supposed to do now?

"I see you made it out of the common room safely." I jumped and turned around to see Albus Dumbledore.

"Don't do that. You scared me," I chuckled even if I felt a little embarrassed that he snuck up on me so easily. I cleared my throat and asked, "What are we doing today?" My fingers tapped my thighs quickly, my ADHD acting up.

"Did you forget already?" Albus chuckled. "We are going to get your supplies for the school year. Let's be on our way." He held out his arm. I looked at it nervously. I knew what that meant. We were going to apparate.

"Do we have to do it that way?" I whined. I really didn't want to feel like I was being stuffed into a steel Christmas stalking again.

He put his arm down and suggested, "Would you like to use the Floo powder instead?"

"What is that?"

Albus walked passed me and said the password. "Come, come. I'll show you." He walked up the stairs with me close behind. What could "Flu" powder be? I hope I don't get sick.

We walked into his office and headed towards the fireplace. He grabbed a green powder that sat next to it. "This," he held up the powder to show me, "is Floo powder. You can travel by it."

I stuffed my hands into my pockets. "Yeah, I got that. But how?" He smiled at me.

"Let me demonstrate. Stand in the fireplace, hold a handful of this powder, and say Diagon Alley. Simple enough. Make sure you say it clear, as well. If you don't you could end up in a completely different place." I didn't know what to think of this Floo powder. So, instead of going over the instructions again because I forgot the precautions already, I grabbed some Floo powder stepped into the fireplace, and said clearly, "Diagon Alley." For effect, I threw the powder down into the fireplace and I disappeared.

It felt nearly the same as apparating, just slightly more pleasant and not being pulled to pieces.

I ended up in a busy intersection on the streets of... Diagon Alley? There were shops lining the streets. All sorts of things were being sold. Brooms, cauldrons, wands, caramel apples, and many more things that would be seen in a Halloween store.

Dumbledore appeared beside me and smiled. "Glad that you made it to the right place," he commented.

He set off down one side of the street and I followed. "How am I going to pay for these? I can't just hand over Greek coins." He shushed me. Then said, "Don't say anything that is related to your parentage in public. It is the best thing to do to not be found out."

I moved out of the way of people coming towards us and ran to catch back up to Albus. "Why do I need to keep it a secret?" Albus moved quickly for an old man, might I add.

"It is for his and your safety. If he found out, then a) it wouldn't be an advantage, and b) he could use... tools, to say, from your father's side of the family that could create chaos in the world and make it even harder to defeat him. It is important not to tell him," he explained.

Before I could ask anything else, he said, "Ah, here we are. Ollivander's. This is where we will choose your wand."

When we walked in, a man came out from around the corner. "Hello, Dumbledore."