A Tale of Gods and Magic

Annabeth: Percy's Guilt Complex and Imminent Death, Possibly

 Annabeth peeked her head around the doorway. It was late but she couldn't stand to lie in her four-poster bed listening to gossip while all the action was going on. She'd heard from Hermione that an owl had flown to Hogwarts earlier that day from a source unknown to the students enclosed with a short and deadly message. Hermione had recited it earlier.

 "To: the teachers of Hogwarts. It has come to my attention that your forebearer Hecate has been captured recently and your school has been attacked, all in the span of a few days after the half-bloods contacted you. Seeing a connection? Maybe these so-called innocent demigods are trying to sabotage Hogwarts. They could be followers of the now-dead Voldemort that want all the magic for themselves, so they've captured Hecate and who knows what they'll do next. Just a friendly reminder to never blindly believe in something or someone. After all, Tom Riddle was a favorite at Hogwarts. From: a concerned citizen." Annabeth wasn't totally sure how Hermione had memorized all that but knew one thing: the teachers of Hogwarts wouldn't be trusting them now. Hermione had also explained Occlumensy to Annabeth, who had informed her of the memory-wipe about Hecate.

 In all, things were not going well. Maybe Annabeth hadn't expected a totally, well, dandy year (yep, Yankee Doodle-esque) but this was getting ridiculous.Except it hadn't just recently started getting ridiculous.

 It had been ridiculous when their train had crashed near Hogwarts.

 It had been ridiculous when they had been attacked by Arnold.It had been ridiculous when they had learned about the witches and wizards.

 It had been ridiculous when Annabeth had been pitched into Tartarus!

 Not that Annabeth was still mad about that. Nope, not at all. Totally wasn't resting on Hera's shoulders. (Annabeth reasoned that is Hera hadn't switched Percy and Jason in a Parent Trap manner, they probably would not have fallen into Tartarus. Sure, it was twisted logic, but it was always nice to push the blame away on someone else, not have to bow your back under the guilt that crushed you more and more every day until you were gone in a poof of good intentions and glitter.)

 So, what Annabeth was trying to get at was that someone needed to do something. And if she let McGonagall move first, they'd be out of Hogwarts before Draco Malfoy could trip Harry Potter in the hallways for the fourth time. Draco really seemed to have something against him. Or maybe Harry was really good at tripping over Draco's feet.

 Then again, why did she feel so opposed to leaving Hogwarts? She hadn't wanted to go in the first place. But maybe the Gryffindor common room teeming with poufy armchairs and milling people and the pumpkin juice and Quidditch matches and owls swooping over her head and lessons that blew her mind anew every day had grown on her.

 The real problem with all this was that Nico was missing. And Percy would not be able to live with himself if he caused the son of Hades any more harm.When Nico had told Percy he'd had a crush on him, Percy had been dumbfounded at first. Annabeth knew Percy well enough to puzzle out his thoughts. It went something like this.

1. Nico likes boys?

2. Nico likes me?

3. No, Nico liked me.

4. How long...

5.This explains so much!

6. But... the leaving camp, the isolating himself, the godforsaken aviator jacket...

7. It's all my fault.

8. ALL MY FAULT!Wait,

9. I need to say something.

 But Nico had walked away by then and Percy had just stood with his mouth hanging open. Nico must've thought he had something against him. But Percy was positively brimming with guilt. He had to take everything bad that had happened to Nico and blame it on himself.

 Back to blame again, Annabeth thought. It always seems to get back to who did it.

 Annabeth's reverie dissipated as the voices  in the room raised.

 "The signs all point to this, McGonagall! We can't go soft again!"

 "I'm sorry, but I am not going to throw a group of teenagers out of our school! Did you hear that? Teenagers! They're just kids."

 "Yeah, Potter was just a kid and he killed He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."

 "It's Voldemort." McGonagall's annoyance was apparent in her words. Annabeth could practically see her gritting her teeth at the unknown speaker.

 "You're avoiding the point. For all we know, they could be trained assassins." Annabeth almost laughed at how true it was.

 "It all has seemed sorta shady, y'know," said a gruff voice, Hagrid.

 "Yes, I agree," said someone who obviously didn't want to show their union with Hagrid but picked the giant over the headmistress.

 "Maybe we should talk to the students, for once. What if they confess? Then we'll be done with this."

 "We should just kill 'em all," said someone sarcastically.

 The conversation lulled. Annabeth snuck a look and saw Professor McGonagall leaning back in her chair, pinching the bridge of her nose.

 "Why don't we all sleep on it. We can have another meeting in the morning. Go enjoy what's left of your Friday night." McGonagall dismissed them and everyone pushed their chairs back, grumbling.

 Annabeth took for the stairs and wove between statues and portraits and spiraling staircases on her way back to the common room. She was winded when she reached the common room and told the Fat Lady the password in hushed tones.

 Inside, the fire was down to one or two flames that sleepily threw ominous shadows across the dark room. Rain pattered against the slitted windows bordering the room. Annabeth carefully found her way through the maze of chairs and coffee tables until she was at the staircase to the girls' dormitory.

 Before her foot hit the first step, she wondered if she should go talk to Percy. She knew for sure she wasn't going to sleep at all after that conversation. Girls weren't allowed in the boys' dormitory, but... well, a girl and a boy weren't allowed alone in a cabin at Camp Half-Blood and who knew how many times Percy and Annabeth had broken that rule.

 Annabeth turned around and headed up the other staircase. When she reached the top, a chilly breeze hit her. Something wasn't right. But there was Jason in his head, or at least his shadow through the canopy and...

Percy was gone.