Percy and Nico Undercover at Hogwarts

Chapter Seven

Percy's POV

School had been going for a week now, and I thought that we should finally ask Harry about the tournament.

"Hey Harry," I said and he looked up from the book her was reading. The five out us were sitting in the Hogwarts common room doing homework.

"Yeah?"

"Do you think that your going to sign up for the Wizard Tournament?" I asked and he shrugged.

"I don't know. I was thinking about it, but I was also thinking that if I didn't, then I might finally have a quiet year at Hogwarts."

"I think you should," Nico said. "You'd definitely win."

"I don't know..." Harry started, but I cut him off.

"Don't tell me you're a coward. What, are you afraid?" I asked and that totally changed his additude. He stood up.

"How about this," Harry said as he looked at me. "You sign up, I'll sign up, deal?"

"Of course."

Nico's POV

Today was the day of the drawing and everyone was freaking out. Some people were regretting putting their names in and some people were wanting nothing else but to have their name picked.

As we sat at dinner, Percy's legs were bouncing with anticipation because he knew that his name was going to be called. Apollo had only told us about the last task, so Percy was terrified about what the other four might be.

"Calm down," I said and I put my hand on his knee to stop it from shaking.

"I can't."

"Listen to me," I told him as I leaned forward and whispered into his ear. "I promise you that if anything bad happens to you, I'll grab you and we'll shadow travel to Olympus and I'll let you yell at the gods for making us come here."

"I'm not afraid of something bad happening to me," he whispered back. "I'm afraid that I won't be strong enough to stop something bad from happening to someone else. I mean, the gods made me smaller, weaker and I'm unbalanced and-." I cut him off.

"Percy, when you were sixteen, you stopped Kronos from taking over the world. Your as strong now you were then and you were strong enough to save the world. Now you have more experience. You'll be okay."

By the time I had finished talking, Dumbledore had stood up.

"It's time to find out the challengers! If your name is called, please go into the room behind the main table." He announced and the room went silent as he stuck his hand into the fire.

"From Hufflepuff, Hannah Abbott!

"From Ravenclaw, Penelope Clearwater!

"From Slyterin, Theodore Nott!

"From Gryffindor, Harry Potter!" Harry sighed and stood up and walked to the room.

"From Ravenclaw, Cho Chang!

"From Stylerin, Draco Malfoy!

"From Hufflepuff, Cedric Diggory!

"And lastly, from Gryffindor, Percy Jackson!"

"Good luck," I said to him as he walked to the room where the other seven challengers were waiting.

*****

As soon as dinner was over, Fred and George were walking around yelling, "Place your bets! Place your bets on the Wizard Tournament Winner! Maximum bet is 50 gallans!"

I walked over to them. "Fifty gallans on Percy," I said to them.

"You seem to have a lot of faith in your friend," George said and Fred wrote it down.

"Well, Percy never ceases to amaze me."

Ron's POV

Nico and I were waiting in our room for Harry and Percy to return.

"What do you think the challenges are?" he asked me and I shrugged.

"I don't know, I just hope they aren't to dangerous," I said and he chuckled.

"Whenever Percy is involved, things always end up being dangerous."

"You know, I've been meaning to ask, how do you know Percy?"

"Did I hear my name?" Percy asked as he and Harry walked into the room.

"Yeah Perce, you did," Nico said.

"I just want to know how you two know each other," I said and Harry glared at me. "Dumbledore told everyone not to pry, but I'm really curious."

Percy went and sat down by Nico and looked at him. "You want to tell the story?" he asked and a silent understanding happened between them.

"Sure. It all started about five years ago when Percy found me wondering the streets of Maine. He took me under his wing and gave me a place to live. A place to call home. They became my family. I ran away a few time, but Percy always found me and set me straight. He taught me not to run from my past, but to except it, since it was apart of who I was. After a year or two, my father took me to live with him, but my step mother was such a bitch that I would leave and go back to Percy and his friends."

"They were your friends too, you do know that Nico," Percy said and Nico shrugged.

"I know that Hazel was, because, well, you know, and Jason was too, but the others weren't. I was just the creepy kids who wasn't apart of the seven." I was so confused at what he was saying.

Percy hugged Nico. "You're an idiot! We all loved you! You may not of known it, but we all considered you a friend. I know that Annabeth thought of you like a brother. A distant brother, but a brother none the less."

I realized that they kept using the past tense. They were, Hazel was, Jason was, the others weren't, loved, considered, Annabeth thought.

Harry seemed to realize it two.

"What's with all the past tense?" he asked and Percy and Nico stiffened. "Does this have to do with you guys being about to see the things that was pulling the carriages? Or the scars on you back, Percy?"

"This is not the time for that conversation," Percy said and pushed himself off Nico's bed and went to his own. "Good night."