Annabeth Chase and Things Are Getting Intense

Chapter Six

As Annabeth found out half way through her morning run, the Burrow's anti-Voldemort protections didn't keep monsters away. She spotted a little lion-headed thing with the body of a chicken prowling towards her through the tall grasses lining the path Annabeth had found. She let it lunge at her just out of pity, but had it reduced to golden dust before it could land.

The countryside around the Burrow was beautiful, all rolling hills and grassy fields as far as the eye could see. Annabeth familiarized herself with the area as she ran, identifying vantage points, hiding spots, and steep dips in the land, just in case she was ever in a situation where she would need the knowledge.

By the time she was done and back in the kitchen, the O.W.L. results had arrived. Annabeth wasn't too concerned with her results in regard to her future, since she wasn't sticking around once Voldemort was defeated (something she'd been thinking about a lot lately), but that didn't stop the rush of pride she felt when she saw that she didn't get below an E in anything except History of Magic (that one was an A).

Annabeth wasn't surprised at the HoM grade. She'd walked out without finishing the test, after all. She knew that if she'd stayed to finish it, she would have passed with flying colors, so the grade didn't bother her much. She took pride in the fact that even though she'd left it incomplete, she'd still passed the exam.

The others did pretty well, too. Hermione didn't fail anything, obviously, and Harry and Ron would be able to continue the classes they wanted.

The next few weeks at the Burrow were relatively quiet. Annabeth passed most of the time training as she would at camp and exploring the area, occasionally fighting off monsters as they found her. It would have been nice, but there was always news coming in about disappearances, accidents, and deaths, all appearing almost every day in the newspapers.

It kind of put a damper on certain birthday celebrations. Since Harry and Annabeth's birthdays were only about two weeks apart, Mrs. Weasley had decided to combine the parties into one. Lupin showed up halfway through, looking thin and grim.

"There have been another couple of dementor attacks," he announced, sitting down heavily at the table while Mrs. Weasley passed him a slice of cake. "And they've found Igor Karkaroff's body in a shack up north. The Dark Mark was set over it—well, frankly, I'm surprised he stayed alive for even a year after deserting the Death Eaters. Sirius's brother, Regulus, only managed a few days as far as I can remember."

Mrs. Weasley frowned. "Yes, well... perhaps we should talk about something diff—"

"Did you hear about Florean Fortescue, Remus?" Bill said. "The man who ran—"

"The ice cream parlor in Diagon Alley?" Harry interrupted. "He used to give me free ice creams. What's happened to him?"

"Dragged off, by the looks of his place."

"Why?" Ron asked.

"Maybe he upset them somehow," Annabeth said. "Or maybe they just want to scare people even more. Show us nobody's safe."

"Talking of Diagon Alley," Mr. Weasley said, "looks like Ollivander's gone, too."

Ginny looked up, startled. "The wand maker?"

"That's the one. Shop's empty. No sign of a struggle. No one knows whether he left voluntarily or was kidnapped."

"But wands—what'll people do for wands?"

"They'll make do with other makers," Lupin said, "but Ollivander was the best, and if the other side has got him then it's not good for us."

Booklists came the next day, which meant Mrs. Weasley couldn't put off a trip to Diagon Alley any longer. They elected to go that Saturday, and the Ministry provided them with magically expanded cars to get them there. Apparently they would be joined by more security once they arrived, and Annabeth was thinking up a plan to ditch any Ministry officials until they got there and she saw Hagrid standing there, waiting for them.