When Myths Meet Magic || 4

2|| Hazel

Hazel felt it before she saw it. It all came in quick flashes as her dream lept from place to place, but it was enough to show her what was going on. Bright bursts of green light, a family of four hovering in mid-air like live puppets, a crowd of hooded wizards underneath them, jeering and laughing. Harry, Ron, and Hermione, isolated and running through the woods. Another flash of green. A loud yell. Then suddenly, a single colossal skull of emerald stars with a serpent protruding from it's mouth erupted into where there was nothing but space before. Then a feeling like her heart turned into acid and melting all over her vital organs.

"Gods!" Hazel sat up in the huntress tent, the feeling of pain still drenching her nerves. She kicked off the blankets, which unfortunately meant that Piper, Thalia, and Annabeth were suddenly plunged into the cold night air.

"Hazel?" Annabeth asked, sitting up in alarm. But Hazel was running to the top of the hill, barefoot in her pajamas. She squinted out of the top of the hill, gazing into the distance as if she could see the emerald skull hovering in the sky.

"Hazel?" Annabeth asked again, her knife out. "What is it?"

"I felt it again," Hazel said frantically, her eyes locked on the horizon.

"Felt what?" Piper had joined them.

"That wave of dark magic," Hazel explained. "Voldemort..."

"He's not back, is he?" Thalia asked, alarmed. "I mean... I heard it was pretty bad when he was..."

"No, he's not back," Hazel said. "It was just... extreme dark magic... you wouldn't understand it..." She searched the sky once more.

"What are you looking for?" Thalia was looking up now too.

"A skull with a snake coming out of it."

Annabeth held in a gasp. "The dark mark?"

"No, it was green."

"No," Annabeth explained. "The Dark Mark. It's the symbol of Voldemort, whenever he... killed somebody. It was terrifying when he was in control. Imagine coming home and seeing the Dark Mark hovering above your house... Imagine what you must've felt..."

The girls all shivered, and it had nothing to do with the night air.

"Whenever he killed?" Thalia confirmed, a pint of blood draining from her face. "You don't think... Hermione..."

"And Harry and Ron," Annabeth reminded her. Thalia waved her hand indifferently.

"Yeah yeah... But you don't think..."

"I saw them too," Hazel said. "They were running through the woods."

"In your dream?"

Hazel nodded, her eyes still darting around.

"I don't think anyone's died though." Annabeth thought hard. "I mean, last time Nico felt it too. Because there was death. But this time--"

"The boys are still snoring away in their tent," Piper said, shooting a glance backwards. "You're right. But why the Dark Mark then?"

Annabeth shrugged. "They might just be trying to scare the wizards," she said coldly. "When Voldemort was taking over, half of the muggle deaths were just for fun. This sounds like something right up their alley."

"We'll probably hear about it in The Daily Prophet in a day or two," Thalia guessed.

"It's a newspaper, and this is the Quidditch World Cup," Piper reminded Thalia. "News reporters can get things up so fast you have no idea."

Three hours later, the demigods were all standing in the kitchen of the Burrow. "You're right," Annabeth said, an eyebrow raised. "They did get that up quick."

In front of them was a copy of The Daily Prophet, the headline reading:

SCENES OF TERROR AT THE QUIDDITCH WORLD CUP

A black and white twinkling photograph lay under it, the sinister looking Dark Mark front and center.

"That's it," Hazel confirmed. "That's the... thingy I saw."

A choked sob came from Mrs. Weasley as she held a copy in clenched hands. "The boys are there!" she said frantically. "What if--"

"Mrs. Weasley," Nico tried awkwardly. "I'm sure they're fine..."

"How can you say that when the Dark Mark appeared?" Mrs. Weasley crumpled the paper. "You-Know-Who's mark! And to think... Harry was there too, what if they went for him?"

"They didn't!" Nico tried to comfort her again. "I can feel it."

Mrs. Weasley grabbed her wand and stalked out the kitchen door. Annabeth was about to follow, but Ginny grabbed her hand.

"Mum's just going to wait there," she said in a low voice, though she watched the door anxiously before turning to Nico. "You're sure they're okay?"

"Positive," Nico confirmed. "I mean, I can feel it even clearer when someone's been killed by dark magic. And no sign of anything."

"But... the Dark Mark..."

"We think it was a ploy," Annabeth said, and Ginny was reassured by the older girl's words. "Whoever cast it must've been drunk or something. Had too much firewhiskey."

Percy growled. "I hate drunk guys that are trying to scare people and abuse others because they think they're lower than them," he said.

"You seem to know a lot about them..." Jason said, before trailing off.

Percy looked at Jason oddly. "I haven't told you guys about Smelly Gabe?"

"Your nicknames are just getting worse and worse, aren't they?" Thalia muttered under her breath.

Percy ignored her. "Remind me to ask you guys to tell me to tell you to remind me to tell you the story," he said as he dragged a finger along the lines of the newspaper, squinting.

"What?" asked Frank, confused.

"Sorry," Percy said distractedly. "But I was just trying to read this."

Ginny snatched up the paper with a sympathetic glance at Percy before beginning to read out loud. When she finished, she slammed a fist on the table.

"That Rita Skeeter!" she fumed. "I don't know how she can get away with printing this kind of stuff. Rumors that several bodies were removed from the woods an hour later... Well, there certainly will be rumors now that she's printed it!" Ginny slammed the paper down.

"Teenagers," Piper teased. "Teens and their mood swings."

"You don't know Rita Skeeter," Ginny said. "Just last week she was complaining about how the Ministry should be stamping out vampires. I mean, the Ministry's got enough on their hands, and vampires aren't exactly a colony of ants that can be solved with a quick exterminating charm. Though, I'm sure they could spare Perce and his cauldron bottom report," she added thoughtfully.

"We can always spare Perce and his report," Ron said in a disgruntled tone. "Honestly, from the way he worked at school, you'd think he has more to life than cauldron bottoms."

(The following is now closed)

So question, I'm obviously going to have one of the demigods replace Cedric in the tournament, and I never considered anyone else but Percy, but do you guys want anyone else to do it? Just to mix things up a little. Votes:

Keep it Percy!

Annabeth

Jason

Piper

Frank

Hazel

Nico

Thalia