Percy Jackson || The Hogwarts Champion

4|| Percy (again again)

"Okay. Ready to try it?" Harry asked Percy.

Percy shrugged. "Sure. What's wrong with it again?" Last time Harry opened the egg, Percy was in the lake. After all, Marvin the Giant Squid was a person too. He wanted to hear about the task. So Percy didn't hear the screeching that nearly deafened everyone in the Gryffindor tower.

"Brace yourselves," Harry warned everyone. Hermione slammed her book shut, suddenly alarmed.

"You're not opening that egg, are you?" she asked.

"Yep." Percy's finger circled the egg clasp tauntingly. "Ready?"

"No!" Jason screeched, running out of the room.

"Everyone get out!" Nico yelled, running out of him. "They're opening the egg!"

Neville, Seamus, and Dean looked up in alarm. "I'm going to finish this in the library," Seamus said, rolling up his parchment very quickly.

"Right behind you." The boys left.

"I'm going up to the dorms," Thalia announced, and she, Hermione, and Annabeth left.

It was just Harry, Percy, and the egg left in the common room. And Ron, who was hiding behind an armchair with pillows over his ears.

"Three, two, one!" Percy let the clasp loose, and flinched away on instinct. Instantly, the shrill, piercing... singing filled the room. It was deafening loud, but certainly not bad enough to be classified as screaming. Now Thalia trying to sing, on the other hand...

"Close it!" Harry bellowed, and Percy let it snap shut. Harry stared at Percy. "Now you know how bad it is. Did you get any clues?"

"Well, it's obviously a riddle," Percy guessed. "Which I suck at solving. So we're screwed."

"You are a miracle worker if you got a riddle out of that," Ron said in disbelief, poking his head above the armchair. "How exactly was that a riddle?"

"Well, more of a song."

"That's even farther off. Did you not hear the screaming?"

"Yeah, it was super loud," Percy admitted. "But it wasn't bad enough to be screaming."

Annabeth poked her head down suddenly. "Is it over?"

They nodded. Annabeth sat down next to Percy, who wrapped his arm around her. Ron climbed up and actually sat down on the armchair.

"So you hear... a song..." Annabeth said slowly. "Instead of Thalia singing."

"Hey!" Thalia yelled down from the girls dormitory.

"How did she hear us?" Harry asked.

"Huntress," Annabeth explained. "When they joined, they get excellent hearing."

Ron grunted. "I guess hearing is a demigod exclusive thing, then?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "We're getting off topic. What did you hear, Perce?"

"I forgot," Percy admitted. "I need to hear it again."

"No. Nonononono. No." Ron put his hands over his ears. "Don't do it."

"Don't you want us to not die?" Percy asked in a pleading innocent-little-girl tone.

Ron rolled his eyes from beneath his pillows. "Just open it."

The clasp went open. Thalia's singing rang through the air. Percy hesitated, his head cocked, then he shut it again.

"Got it!" Percy grinned at everyone's tortured faces. "Come seek us where our voices sound,

We cannot sing above the ground, And while you're searching ponder this; We've taken what you'll sorely miss, An hour long you'll have to look, And to recover what we took, But past an hour, the prospect's black, Too late, it's gone, it won't come back."

"Cheery," Harry muttered.

"Okay, okay." Annabeth's face contorted into concentration. "Come and seek us where our voices sound, we cannot sing above the ground. I have no idea what they are, but if Percy can understand it, then it's probably underwater." Annabeth snapped her fingers. "That must be it. That's how you hear the song. You listen to it underwater."

"Clever. What's next?" Percy asked excitedly. Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"You're not going to try and figure it out for yourself?"

"That's what I have you for," Percy replied.

"Cut out the cheesy talk!" Thalia yelled from the dorms. "What's next?"

Annabeth laughed. "Fine. And while you're searching ponder this, we've taken what you'll sorely miss."

Harry frowned. "So, we have to look for something they took that we'll miss?" he thought a moment. "I don't really have much of worth, except my invisibility cloak..." He was suddenly alarmed. "They're not taking my cloak, are they?"

"They can't take Riptide from me," Percy said. "Because it always comes back. Maybe Mom made me some cookies? But then they'll be all soggy and disgusting."

"Unless you use magic," Annabeth reminded him. "Okay. An hour long you'll have to look, And to recover what we took, But past an hour, the prospect's black, Too late, it's gone, it won't come back."

They were all quiet.

"That can't be good," Ron said finally.

"Okay. So, you have to find something underwater that you'll sorely miss, and you have to find it within an hour otherwise it's gone," Annabeth summarized.

"That sounds about right," Percy said thoughtfully. "Not that I'm looking forward to it, but it sounds about right."

"So, how're we going to do it?" Harry asked. "Is there a water breathing potion or whatever?"

"I'm covered." Percy traced his fingers over his cheekbones down to his chin. "I've got human gills."

"Yeah, but I don't," Harry reminded him.

"There's probably something we can find in the library," Annabeth said.

Suddenly, the portrait door opened. "Is it over?" Neville asked anxiously.

"If you're not deaf by now, then yeah we're safe." Harry scooted over to make room for Neville. "We're trying to figure out how to make me breathe underwater. For the second task."

Neville frowned. "That could be a problem... Most of the potions and charms could go horribly wrong... except for gillyweed."

"Sounds great." Percy made a face.

"Gillyweed gives you gills," Neville said patiently. "Gills and fins. You're basically a fish man."

"That makes two," Ron said under his breath.

"Where do we get some?" Annabeth asked.

"Well, it's pretty hard to get to, but I'm pretty sure Snape will have some in his secret storage," Neville said. "And I hope you don't plan on robbing him anytime soon."

"How is it hard to get to?" Harry asked.

"It's only found in certain bodies of water." For once, Neville sounded like Hermione. "There might be some in the Black Lake, but they only grow in the very bottom. So unless you have some gillyweed to get the gillyweed, you're going to have to ask Snape."

"Fat chance of that," Harry muttered. "Thanks, Neville. That really helped."

"No problem." Neville smiled at them all and stood up. "I'm going to go to sleep, now. Good luck with Snape."

"Hopefully, we won't need luck," Annabeth mumbled as Neville left.

Percy sighed. "I'm getting it, aren't I?"

"Yep," Ron said, popping the p. 

Yes, yes, I have been very inactive. My bad. I'll try to update more, but I procrastinated on all my summer homework (reading, math packets, summer class homework, etc.) and I'm also addicted to minecraft so I've been playing that a lot... heh... (SKYBLOCK ON BEANBLOCKZ ANYONE ELSE? CUZ THAT WOULD BE AWESOME)