The Clash of the Worlds (Percy Jackson Meets Harry Potter)

Chapter 4 - Nico's Disappearance (Multiple POVs)

Trigger Warning: Anxiety, PTSD, bullying, substance abuse.

(Hermione's POV)

Hermione gasped, her eyes widening with horror as she watched Nico step into a column of relentless darkness. The Forbidden Forest was dark, but the space Nico had stepped into was pitch-black. Lightless. As if even light was scared to venture into it.

And just like that, the darkness disappeared. The portal vanished, taking Nico and the monster with it.

Hermione's scream sounded muffled to her own ears. She saw Ron and Percy run to the spot from where Nico had disappeared.

Out of the corner of her eye, Hermione could see Harry bent over a small body.

Someone quite young.  

Colin Creevey's young face flashed in front of her. An excited, smiling young face looked at her from behind his camera. She almost smiled, only to be crowded with the memory of his dead, lifeless face immediately after.

Hermione shook her head. With her legs leadened, she trudged towards Harry. The ground shook. Or perhaps, it was her. She couldn't tell.

Hermione saw two pigtails swing as Harry took the little girl in his arms.

"We need to bring her to Madam Pomfrey." There was a sense of urgency in Harry's voice.

Hermione looked at the child – tiny. A first-year. She wore Slytherin colours. Another Slytherin student. She noticed blood oozing from the girl's chapped lower lip — not a sign of violence —and a yellowing bruise on the side of her mouth. An old bruise.

Was she being bullied too? Is this what our hard-earned peace looks like?

A bitter chuckle escaped her.

"...mione..."

Hermione heard her name only mutedly. Her ears rang. She was drowning in a sea of her own making, her own pain. She wanted to claw at her throat. She staggered, sick to her stomach. Her heart pounded, and her pulse clamoured in her ears. The world had turned upside down — she couldn't tell the sky from the ground. She held out a clammy hand to hold onto something – anything – for support.

Hermione wanted to run. She had to run. But she couldn't move. Someone was speaking, but she couldn't hear. Not anymore.

Faces flashed in and out of her vision, one after the other. Dead faces. Faces of people she knew, people she loved.

Tonks. Fred. Professor Lupin. Dobby. Professor Dumbledore.

Hermione's throat was clogged. She grabbed her robe at the chest, she could not breathe. She–

"HERMIONE!"

Her vision was beginning to blur when she felt a hand on her sleeve. 

Annabeth.

"Hermione, breathe! Deep breaths, you've got this!" Annabeth took her by the arm and helped her sit.

Hermione could feel the ground. She let out a single, violent sob. Her vision refused to refocus, but she could breathe again.

*********

(Annabeth's POV)

Hermione collapsed in Annabeth's arms, but she was breathing.

***

Ron and Harry had rushed to the Hospital wing, with Annabeth and Percy at their heels. Grover and Neville had joined them shortly after.