Annabeth Chase the Triwizard Champion

Chapter Fifteen

The weekend before the first task, Annabeth was curled up in a chair with a spellbook in the library for the who-knows-how-many-times time. She had come here after classes on Friday to do research, and she had stayed overnight with the help of her invisibility yankees cap. Now with the cap resting at her side, Annabeth continued combing through book after book.

    She had found a lot of useful spells, and now she was studying roots and wand movements and drafting a list of original spells to test. She was also making a list of uses she wanted spells to have, so she could study those and see what roots and movements to pair them with for the best effect.

    The task was on Tuesday, and Annabeth hated not knowing what it was. She needed to research, arm herself with knowledge about her enemy. Knowledge was her biggest weapon, and Annabeth felt like the blade had been removed, leaving just the hilt and the guard.

    Annabeth buried her face in her hands in frustration. She wanted to fight something. She had tried to find that room from a few months before, the gym, but whenever she went looking for it, it was like the room never existed.

    Shaking her head, Annabeth picked up the book again, but the words looked like mush. She rubbed her eyes and the words came into better focus, and she continued.

    "Annabeth."

    "Just a sec," Annabeth muttered.

    "Annabeth."

    "Go ask Vera."

    "Girl. I am Vera. How long have you been here?"

    "That's nice."

    Annabeth felt a hand on her shoulder. She jumped and whirled around as much as she could in her chair, but it was only Vera, with Freddie standing next to her.

    "Oh, "Annabeth said. "When did you get here?"

    "You didn't show up in our dorm last night," Vera said. "I wanted to go look for you but Freddie stopped me 'cause it was midnight."

    "Have you been here all night?" Freddie asked.

    "Probably," Annabeth said, sitting up and rubbing her eyes.

    "Ok. you need to unwind," Vera said. "Come on, it's a Hogsmeade weekend. We're going out."

    "Hogsmeade Weekend?" Annabeth echoed, allowing Vera and Freddie to pull her out of her chair.

    "The village outside Hogwarts," Freddie explained, her hands moving in some strange tick. "We're allowed to go on some weekends. Can I fix your hair?"

    Ah. that explained the tick. At Annabeth's nod, Freddie combed her fingers through Annabeth's hair and patted it down. Then she straightened Annabeth's robes before whisking both Annabeth and Vera back to their dorm so Annabeth could change out of her school uniform.

    Once all that was done, they went up to the Entrance Hall, where they met Daisy, and down the staircase in front of the castle, where dozens of carriages were waiting.

    Annabeth slowed down. Harnessed to each carriage was a horse, if you could call it that. They were stick thin, black skin stretched over every bone. Skeletal bat wings flapped calmly at their sides.

    "What are those things?" Annabeth asked warily.

    "What things?" Freddie said.

    "The ones pulling the carriages."

    Freddie and Vera both looked at Annabeth like she was crazy.

    "The carriages are pulled by magic," Daisy said. "As far as i know at least."