When Myths meet Magic || 3

21|| Annabeth

Annabeth pressed an eye in a gaping hole in the door, worn away from misuse. Inside, she could see Harry, Ron, Hermione, the cats, and--

"It's Black," Annabeth informed them in a low voice. "And he has Ron's wand."

"Well then, let's get in there!" Percy said, his hand reaching for the handle. But Annabeth stopped him. "No, we need the element of surprise," she said.

"Expelliarmus," Black croaked, Harry's wand leapt from his hands.

"Now we go," Annabeth muttered, and judo-kicked the door down. Startled at the intruders, Black turned his wand to them as the demigods raised their weapons.

"Expelliarmus!" Black cried, his voice cracking. Annabeth's dagger was whipped out of her hands, and from the whistling sounds she could tell the others were too. Caught off guard of them having weapons, not wands, Black ducked quickly as two knives and three swords came hurling at him.

Harry, whose mind was blank with fury at the murderer, saw the opportunity and tackled Black on the ground.

"YOU KILLED MY MUM AND DAD!" Harry roared, then his voice dropped to a dangerous whisper. "I'll kill you."

Black snarled and wrenched his hands free. "No." he hissed. "I've waited too long for this." And a dirty hand found it's way around Harry's neck, when suddenly--

Jason aimed a kick at Black's head but a force jerked him back. He turned, stunned, at Nico's hand around his wrist. The Son of Hades had his face in a determined line as he jerked Jason back away from Black.

"Don't," he whispered dangerously.

Black, who was struggling to throw Harry off of himself, saw Nico defending him.

"You're the boy from the woods," he murmured. He was immensely grateful, and felt the strength to finally throw Harry off of him.

Harry crumpled onto the side, but then Hermione and Ron were there, getting ready to throw the murderer back to the ground. Percy felt Riptide return to his pockets and uncapped it, ready to swing the heavy handle into Black's skull to knock him out. The blade was lowered towards the ground, ready to gather momentum and make the final swing. But a heavy weight found itself on his head and leapt to his shoulder, scratching down his arm in an attempt to stop him. Percy tried to shake Bianca off of him, but the kitten held fast. At the same time, Crookshanks had leapt swiftly to the floor and made a wild swipe towards Ron and Harry's wands, which had rolled free of Black when he fell. Annabeth furiously kicked the cat away, sending him spitting onto Ron's back. He sank his claws into Ron's robes, and Ron let out a howl of pain.

"Get off me, you bloody cat!" He snarled and tried to toss him free, forgetting his leg was broken. He twisted and fell with a thump at Thalia's feet, knocking her to the ground. In the confusion, Harry had scrambled back up and snatched his wand from Annabeth's hands. He pointed it at Black, shouting, "get out of the way!" to Hermione. She didn't need telling twice and rolled free. Annabeth helped her up, but her gaze was locked solidly on Harry's wand being pointed at Black.

"Are you going to kill me, Potter?" Black whispered in a hoarse whisper.

Harry didn't break the stare. "You killed my parents."

Black stared at Harry through his sunken eyes. "I just as well killed them," he said. "I don't deny it. But if you knew the whole story--"

"The whole story?" Harry repeated furiously. "You sold them to Voldemort. That's all I need to know."

"You've got to listen to me," Black said urgently. "You'll regret it if you don't... you don't understand."

"I understand a whole lot better than you think," Harry said furiously. Annabeth regarded them both calculatingly, sighing at Harry's sentence. Kids, she thought in exasperation. They always think they know everything. Because there clearly was something that was going to change the whole story.