Strange Teachers

Chapter 1

—Annabeth—

I woke up to see the sun setting outside the window and felt confused. Where was I? Then I looked around and realized that I was on a train, sitting in a compartment with Percy. I could feel his head leaning into the crook of my neck, right where it had been when we'd fallen asleep about 15 minutes into the train ride.

We'd been exhausted from little sleep the past few days, as we'd been busy preparing for our most recent quest, if you can even call it that.

Percy and I were going to a school. We were going to teach students at Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry. I could only hope that we'd be good at it. Even if we were, there was no guarantee that we'd be taken seriously. I mean, we were only a few years older than some of the students!

As I pondered this, biting my lip nervously, I noticed that we weren't alone. I'd been so absorbed by my thoughts that I hadn't even noticed the red-headed girl sitting across from us, staring out the window, deep in thought. I wondered why for a few moments before noticing the tear stains on her cheeks and the fresh ones pooling in the corners of her eyes.

I recognized the faraway look in her eyes, the way she looked as though she wanted to stop thinking about something, but couldn't. It was the look that I had whenever I thought of Percy's nightmares, the ones that woke us both up in the middle of the night, the ones that only being with each other could soothe.

That's what wars and hardships do. It's also a big part of why we took on this quest. These students had just emerged from their own war and I know that if I'd had someone to help me through mine, to tell me that it would be okay, that the nightmares would get better, everything would've been so much easier. I had Percy and all of my friends and siblings, of course, but having a sort of parent figure to look up to, a veteran of all of those mixed up emotions, would've been even better.

Teaching at Hogwarts, I had a chance to be that person and I wasn't going to waste it. First, though, I had to pull the young woman in front of me out of the worry and frustration that were clear in her expression. I decided it wouldn't be fair to her if I let her think that I was still asleep.

"Beautiful view, isn't it?"

The girl jumped and attempted to regain some composure and wipe away her tears. I looked out the window, giving her as much privacy as I could.

Then, we sat looking at each other for a long moment.

"I'm Annabeth Chase," I figured awkward silence was maybe not the best way to go.

"Ginny Weasley," she seemed to snap out of it, the fog clearing from her eyes. "What year are you in? I'm certain I've never seen you before."

"Well, we're actually going to be teaching this year," I waited for it to sink in. "What about you?"

"I'm in seventh year, but a lot of my friends are coming back for an eighth year, since they missed their seventh last year."

"Speaking of the war, do you want to talk about it?"

She sighed, not even bothering to deny that she'd been crying.

"I assume you know the details? I don't know how much you heard of in America," so she'd picked up on my accent. She was observant.

"Yeah, we were kept pretty well informed," I confirmed, urging her to continue.

"You know who the Golden Trio is then?" I nodded and Ginny continued: "Well, my boyfriend is Harry Potter, Ron Weasley is my brother and Hermione Granger is a close friend."

"It's hard being close to the ones who've lost so much, been through so much."

Seemingly encouraged by what I'd said, she plodded forward.

"He broke up with me before the battle of Hogwarts so that Voldemort wouldn't hurt me and now we're back together. It's been amazing and I'm in love with him, but..." her gentle voice cracked and tears started running down her face. She didn't even bother to wipe them away. "He feels guilty for all the deaths, including my brother's and his godson's parents', I can tell," she started sobbing fully at this.

Then, I noticed that Percy's breathing wasn't as deep and regular as it had been. He was awake, but knew that he shouldn't interfere. Maybe he wasn't such a Seaweed Brain after all. With the knowledge that it wouldn't wake him up, I pulled away and laid his head down on my seat carefully, kissing his hair and murmuring a soft thank you.

Then, I went over to Ginny and put my arms around her. She immediately shifted so that she was crying into my blouse. We stayed like this awhile before she calmed down.

"Where are they?"

"They're in the compartment next door, I just needed a moment alone," gods, did I know the feeling!

"Do you want to go back or stay here?" I asked gently.

"I think I'll go back, but thank you Professor Chase. Bye, then."

"Bye, and remember, you can come talk to me any time."

"Thank you," she said sincerely before walking out the door.

After a few seconds, Percy got up and I went back over to him. I gave him a quick kiss.

"Hey Seaweed Brain, how long were you awake?"

"A few minutes. We're not even to the school and you're already helping your students. I told you you'd be great at this," gods, I loved him. Right then, looking into his sea green irises, I thanked the gods and wondered how I could've gotten so lucky. 

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A/N: 

Please comment and give opinions! It'll probably get a lot better later on, once I get into the swing of it. It'll also have a lot more action.

Thanks for reading this!