The Forgotten Olympian |BOOK 1| PJO X HP | Alexandra Marine

Chapter 153 - Percy - A Meeting to Attend

December arrived, bringing with it more snow and a positive avalanche of homework for us fifth-years. Ron and Hermione's prefect duties also became more and more onerous as Christmas approached. They were called upon to supervise the decoration of the castle ("You try putting up tinsel when Peeves has got the other end and is trying to strangle you with it," said Ron), to watch over first- and second-years spending their break-times inside because of the bitter cold ("And they're cheeky little snot-rags, you know, we definitely weren't that rude when we were in first year," said Ron) and to patrol the corridors in shifts with Argus Filch, who suspected that the holiday spirit might show itself in an outbreak of wizard duels ("He's got dung for brains, that one," said Ron furiously). They were so busy that Hermione had even stopped knitting elf hats and was fretting that she was down to her last three.

"All those poor elves I haven't set free yet, having to stay here over Christmas because there aren't enough hats!"

Alex raised an eyebrow, and looked at her friend like 'what is wrong with her?'

Hermione was going skiing with her parents, something that greatly amused Ron, who had never heard of Muggles strapping narrow strips of wood on to their feet to slide down mountains. Ron was going home to The Burrow.

As for us, it was yet to be decided. We could go back to America, Long Island Sound, but then Chiron would shove us back to London, saying that we couldn't come back till our quest had ended. So we could either go to number 11 with Ariana or stay at Hogwarts, where we could at least be a little free, that was, of course, until Ron talked to us the other day, and mentioned so very casually that his mother had invited us to the Burrow weeks ago.

"Hey," Jason told Alex and I just a few days later, "so... I got into the Quidditch team."

Alex's eyes bulged out in shock. "What d'you mean?!"

"Well, since Fred and George and Harry were kind of banned from playing," Jason said, smirking, "I joined the tryouts. Meet Gryffindor's new Beater."

"Wow," I breathed out. "I can't believe you right now."

"Easy job, really," Jason said, "nothing compared to flying a dragon with an ADHD kid and killing Mother Earth."

Alex stared at him, half-smiling, half-shocked. "When you put it like that...."

We stared at each other for two minutes. 

And then the laughter was so loud, that every other person in the Common Room was staring at us in confusion.

"So," I asked the two as we got back to normal, "thinking about going to the DA classes?"

"What?" Jason asked.

I slapped his head with my book. "Don't tell me forgot already, dummy."

"Hermione invited us to the last DA session for this year, remember?" Alex said, laughing. 

"Oh, yeah, yeah," Jason said, rubbing his head. "Yeah, I think I'll just see what they're up to. Must be fun."

I raised an eyebrow at Alex. "I think I'll go too. Just.. for the sake of having fun. What about you?"

"Annabeth and I are going to attend the class, yes."

"Well, just a day or two left for that," Jason remarked, turning back to his essay on Animagi.

Harry, Alex, Jason and I arrived early to the Room of Requirement, and it was a good thing for Harry, because when the torches burst into flame he saw that Dobby had taken it upon himself to decorate the place for Christmas. He could tell the elf had done it, because nobody else would have strung a hundred golden baubles from the ceiling, each showing a picture of Harry's face and bearing the legend: 'HAVE A VERY HARRY CHRISTMAS!'