Demigods at Hogwarts | the rescue mission ✔

40| Breaking In

Frank's POV

  Everyone was pretty freaked out by the time Piper walked out of the shower.

  "Are you sure it wasn't Ariadne?" Nico pressed, his brow furrowed. We were sitting in a semicircle on the floor of our common room. I made space for Piper, who sat down next to me. Her hair was still wet and dripping, and her mascara was running down her face. Come to think of it, Piper almost never wore makeup.

  "It wasn't Ariadne, Nico," Percy muttered under his breath. He had managed to calm down enough to tell us what he had seen in his dream, but he had a short fuse. And to be honest, I was slightly intimidated by him--I always have been. It's not every day you come across a demigod who can do the things he can.

  "She had blond hair," he continued, his eyes narrowed as if struggling to recall what he had dreamed of. "Straight blond hair. But her green eyes were like Ariadne's." He paused for a moment, staring into space. Then he shook his head decisively. "No, Ariadne has red hair. It couldn't have been her."

  "Do you remember anything else?" Hazel, who was sitting beside me, asked gently. I couldn't help but stare at her, transfixed. She was beautiful--the way her golden eyes sparkled and how her cinnamon-coloured brown curls fell perfectly down her shoulders. It had been her idea to travel here--and to be honest, I wasn't ready for another quest.

  "Yeah," Percy said suddenly, breaking apart my thoughts. "We were in a cell. A stone cell with no ceiling...It was really dark. And damp. Like a dungeon."

  I suddenly felt a sense of deja-vu. Those words sounded so familiar. I remembered meeting Harry Potter for the first time, and how he had told me about his first years at Hogwarts. Something about a stone, and a corridor. A corridor on the third floor of Hogwarts, a corridor that leads to...

  I shivered, a chill running down my spine. But I just had this gut feeling, and I didn't like where this was going.

  "Guys," I said slowly as everyone looked up. "I think I know where Annabeth is."

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Percy's POV

  We managed to get down the stairs without encountering any patrolling teachers or Prefects. My hands were clammy with cold sweat and my heart was racing. I remembered how I had woken up near Camp Jupiter after being in a coma for months, and how I had Annabeth's name in my mind. It was the only thing I could think about right now, knowing that I was steps away from reuniting with my girlfriend.

  Frank took a turn to the left and motioned us to follow him. We silently made our way down the hallway, then walked up another flight of stairs. Soon we were at the door of the Gryffindor dormitory. Or what was supposed to be a door--instead, a gigantic portrait of a lady who looked like she seriously needed to go on a diet was hanging on the wall.

  "What do you think you're doing out of bed at this hour?"

  I jumped, crashing into Leo. The voice was coming from the lady in the portrait, who was clearly agitated. She looked like she had just woken up from a nap, and didn't look happy about it.

  "That's the fat lady," I heard Thalia whisper to Piper, who frowned disapprovingly.

  "Don't say that," Piper muttered under her breath as I sneaked a glance at the lady, who had obviously overheard and didn't seem offended by Thalia's words.

  "Password," the fat lady demanded, glaring at us.

  "We don't need the password. You have to let us in," Piper demanded, charmspeak coating her razor-sharp voice. The fat lady blinked, her eyes unfocused. Then she moved aside to reveal the entrance to the Gryffindor common room.

  We creeped inside, wincing as the door slammed shut behind us. "Lumos," Hazel whispered, holding out her wand. The room lit up bright enough for us to see our surroundings.

  The Gryffindor common room was no different from ours. It had the same red armchairs and carpets, and the same fireplace. It was just bigger, made to house more people. Thalia gestured to two winding staircases.

  "That leads to the girls' dormitories," she whispered, nudging me. "Piper and Hazel should wake Hermione. Percy can go wake up Harry and Ron. The rest of us will stand guard in case something happens."

  I nodded, but Leo frowned. "Why do two girls get to go to wake one girl while only one boy gets to go wake two boys?" he whisper-whined as Thalia stared daggers at him. I could feel her rolling her eyes.

  "Because, Repair Boy, two boys would make enough noise to wake up the entire dormitory." Thalia snapped. Fair enough, she had a point.

  I made my way up the staircase and to the boy's dormitory, which was messier than I had expected. Dirty laundry, books and candy wrappers were strewn all over the floor, and I had to be careful not to trip over any of that. I finally spotted Ron sleeping beside the window, and in the bed next to him, Harry. I was about head over when I was interrupted by a tickle in my nose.

I held my breath, desperate not to sneeze and wake everyone up. However, that seemed to make it itch even more.

"Ah...Ah...Ahhhhchoo!"

I sneezed into my cupped hands, loud enough to wake up the whole school. Miraculously, the boys remained sound asleep. Thanking myself for my good luck ('cause I've learnt that thanking the gods will only jinx you), I poked Harry in the ribs.

"Who is it?" the fourteen-year-old wizard mumbled as I put my finger over my lips. Harry seemed startled, then whispered, "What is it?"

I gestured outside, then poked Ron awake. We tiptoed down to the common room, where my friends and Hermione were waiting. We managed to get outside without making a single sound.

"Someone better explain what's going on," Hermione said, her arms folded against her chest. Her bushy brown hair was messy, and she sounded drained. In other words, she reminded me so much of Annabeth that something was off.

Piper managed to summarise everything that had happened to us ever since the kidnapping in a few short sentences. "Frank thinks Annabeth's hidden in the place where you retrieved the Philosopher's stone," she concluded. "And we know that this is a big favour to ask, but we really need help finding the third-floor corridor."

Harry flinched beside me. After learning that he had been through so much at the age of eleven, I honestly felt sorry for him. Asking him to go back there was like asking me to go back to Tartarus.

"We should do it then," Hermione said steadily, gazing at us. "We help our friends, don't we, boys?" Harry and Ron nodded, but I could tell that they were reluctant.

"Then let's go." Thalia said.

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I initially planned to write down the whole journey to the third-floor corridor here too, but decided against that since this chapter already has 1200 words.