In Between Two Worlds (HP/PJO Crossover)

Chapter 39: Through The Trapdoor.

In years to come, I would never quite remember how I had managed to get through my exams when I half expected Voldemort to come bursting through the door at any moment. Yet the days crept by, and there could be no doubt that Fluffy was still alive and well behind the locked door.

It was sweltering hot, especially in the large classroom where we did our written papers. We had been given special quills which had been bewitched with an AntiCheating spell.

We had practical exams as well. Professor Flitwick called us one by one into his class to see if we could make a pineapple tap dance across a desk. Professor McGonagall watched us turn a mouse into a snuffbox -- points were given for how pretty the snuffbox was, but taken away if it had whiskers. Snape made us all nervous, breathing down out necks while we tried to remember how to make a Forgetfulness potion. I know that I did good on the snuffbox and potion, but I couldn't remember how to make the pineapple tap dance so it ended up doing a ballet dance.

All of the girls in my dorm thought that I had a bad case of exam nerves because I couldn't sleep, but the truth was that I kept being woken by nightmares. Sometimes they would be about seeing Aunt Lily being killed by the cloaked figure or me being tortured by Hades. Once I had a vision of Grover wearing a wedding dress and a Cyclopes screaming 'Nobody!" while stomping around a cave. I figured that they were about a quest that was gonna happen.

Maybe it was because they hadn't seen what Harry and I had seen in the forest, or because they didn't have nightmares haunting their dreams, but Ron, Bailey, and Hermione didn't seem as worried about the Stone as Harry and I were. The idea of Voldemort certainly scared them, but he didn't keep visiting them in dreams, and they were so busy with their studying they didn't have much time to fret about what Snape or anyone else might be up to.

Our very last exam was History of Magic. One hour of answering questions about batty old wizards who'd invented self stirring cauldrons and we'd be free, free for a whole wonderful week until their exam results came out. When the ghost of Professor Binns told them to put down their quills and roll up their parchment, I couldn't help cheering with the rest.

"That was far easier than I thought it would be," said Hermione as we joined the crowds flocking out onto the sunny grounds. "I needn't have learned about the 1637 Werewolf Code of Conduct or the uprising of Elfric the Eager."

Hermione and Bailey always liked to go through our exam papers afterward, but Ron said this made him feel ill, so we wandered down to the lake and flopped under a tree. The twins and Lee were tickling the tentacles of a giant squid, which was basking in the warm shallows. I got up and joined them.

"Hey guys!" I yelled as I walked over.

"Hey K." they responded.

"Why are you terrorizing this poor squid?" They shrugged.

"It's fun." Lee said simply.

"OK good enough." I was just about to join them why I heard someone scream my name.

"KARLEE!" I spun around to see Harry, Ron, Bailey, and Hermione running towards Hagrid's Hut. I got up and ran after them.

"Bye boys?" I yelled over my shoulder.

"Don't you think it's a bit odd," said Harry, once I caught up with them, "that what Hagrid wants more than anything else is a dragon, and a stranger turns up who just happens to have an egg in his pocket? How many people wander around with dragon eggs if it's against wizard law? Lucky they found Hagrid, don't you think? Why didn't I see it before?"

"What are you talking about?" said Ron, but Harry didn't answer. I understood what he was saying and ran faster.

Hagrid was sitting in an armchair outside his house; his trousers and sleeves were rolled up, and he was shelling peas into a large bowl.