When Myths meet Magic || 3

20|| Jason

Thalia was so stunned, she let the Mist veil fall and the four were revealed. Percy and Annabeth took their hats off, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione swept off the cloak

They didn't," Jason whispered.

"They did," Annabeth said heavily.

"Nico?" Percy looked hopefully to the Son of Hades. He shook his head.

"I dunno," he said slowly. "I mean, I can't sense creature deaths as well as humans, because their souls don't make it to the underworld. But... I don't sense death..."

"You heard it though," Ron craned his neck over. "That thud of the axe as it--"

"Don't!" Hermione wailed quietly. Ron had the decency to look ashamed. Then he grimaced and shifted his hands.

"Can someone give me a hand with this rat?" His fingers jerked in an awkward dance as Scabbers desperately tried to bite into them.

"Oh no," Nico groaned. Off to the side, Crookshanks was in a crouched position on the ground, creeping closer.

"Scabbers-- NO!"

The rat had slipped between Ron's jerking fingers and slipped into the ground, scampering away. Crookshanks sprang after him, and Ron hurled himself into the darkness.

"Ron!" Hermione hissed.

The seven pelted after Ron as his heavy footsteps grew louder and louder. Finally, a shout of triumph.

"Gotcha!"

"Ron-- back under the cloak--" Hermione panted. "Dumbledore-- the Minister-- they'll be coming out in a minute--"

But then suddenly another low growl resonated around them. Percy whipped out Riptide and aimed it in the direction of a large, pale-eyed, jet-black dog.

Harry inhaled sharply. "It's the Nico-creature."

Nico looked highly offended. "Excuse me?" He asked, not taking his eyes off the dog. "How does that-- thing-- look like me?"

The dog growled and lunged suddenly towards Harry. But Percy was just as fast and swung his sword so that the flat of the blade pushed against the dog. As the metal contacted fur, Percy realized how terribly thin it was. So thin and ragged, Percy could feel the dog's ribs. Then the dog did something unexpected-- it seized hold of Ron's leg and dragged him furiously away

"Ron!" Hermione threw the cloak onto Harry's face and sprinted after him into the darkness of the night.

"Hermione!" Annabeth yelled. "Don't go over there!" They chased after the two when suddenly a loud thump could be heard.

"Hermione!"

Then out of nowhere, a massive wooden pole decided to tango with Harry and he was swept backwards, landing several feet behind them.

"It's the Whomping Willow!" Nico gasped as he ducked and jumped over a series of branches like a Wipeout contestant. Having better bearings than the others in the shadows, he made his way over to where Hermione was screaming. A series of thuds told him that Hermione had again narrowly missed a fatal blow. Nico seized her firmly by the arms and dragged her away.

Thalia could still hear echoes of Ron's cries as he was dragged by a broken leg into whatever was under the killer tree, and she furiously tried to get closer. But the Whomping Willow thrashed furiously around.

"If that dog can get in, we can too," Annabeth said firmly. Or, as firmly as she could while pressed on the dirt ground.

"There has to be a trip wire, or--" Percy stopped suddenly as a small black figure darted under them. Instantly the tree froze. Not a leaf moved.

"Lumos," Annabeth muttered, and her wand-- which she hadn't risked taking out lest the tree smash it to pieces-- lit the area up enough to see Bianca the kitten sat on top of a gnarled knot on the trunk. Then she stood up and padded over to where Crookshanks was sitting well out of reach of the tree's branches.

"Wha--" Hermione shook her head. "Never mind. My brain'll explode."

"It hasn't already?" Annabeth asked with a raised eyebrow. "With all your classes and such..."

"Ron's still down there," Harry reminded them. He started towards the gap in the roots.

"I hate the underground," Percy muttered as he crept in after him. The tunnel was so low, they had to crouch painfully.

"My back can't take any more of this," Nico grunted after a long long while. "Wish Hazel were here... she could make the tunnels wider. But nooo, the Sorting Hat decided to put her in Hufflepuff."

"You can go ahead and get her," Harry panted. "But then you'll have to go all the way back."

"We're almost there," Nico said. "I think I can make it."

Jason rolled his eyes. "You're the smallest out of all of us," he said.

"So I'm the most fragile," Nico responded, grinning.

Up ahead, Annabeth grunted, lit wand in teeth. "Pleash, Nico, shpare ush all zhe whining."

"Shhh," Harry said suddenly. "Everyone, shut up."

Harry, in the front, had stopped. "There's a hole here," he said. "Are we going through it?"

"No," Thalia said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "We just crawled here to admire the view. Of course we go through it!"

Harry slipped out, thankful for his scrawny frame. The others followed, and Percy immediately choked on the dust.

"What is this place?" He asked.

Annabeth held her hand up as she tread lightly on the floor, peering into the next room. The light was dim, but she could tell it was a hallway.

"C'mon," she said, peering at the floor where a long disturbance led to one room. Obviously Ron's body dragged on the floor.

"Annabeth," Hermione breathed. "We're in the Shrieking Shack."

Annabeth didn't glance backwards as she led the group on. "How lovely," she said dryly. "Let's just get Ron and leave."

"Ghosts didn't do this," Harry said as he glanced at the torn furniture. Nico nodded.

"If there were ghosts, I would know," he said. "I mean, there are deaths, but no lingering souls."

"Up the stairs," Annabeth said. They crept in silence until they reached a door where the Ron trail turned into.

They all peeked in. And next to the large, fourposter bed was--

"Ron!" Hermione scrambled in, despite Annabeth's' frantic shushing. Harry followed suit. A loud purring noise drew to their ears, and they spotted Crookshanks on the bed, Bianca asleep on top of his head.

"Where's the dog?" Harry asked frantically.

"Not a dog," Ron moaned, teeth clenched in pain. "It's a trap..."

"What?"

"He's the dog, Harry! He's an animagus..."

Then suddenly, the door in front of the demigods slammed shut as the person on the other side locked it.  

That one was super short, sorry, i was short on time and had a lot of work. I'll try to make the next one longer, or even finish the book in two chapters? probably not going to happen, but sry!