Demigods at Hogwarts 2 (Harry Potter and the Halfblood Prince)

Chapter 8

Harry POV (but it's written in 3rd person)

The first week of term had flown by, leaving all the students with armfuls of homework. The Prince's instructions had allowed Harry to make every potion perfectly, and Slughorn constantly raved over Percy and Harry's abilities.

Finally, Harry's meeting with Dumbledore had arrived.

"I've got to go now, for my meeting, I don't know when I'll be back," he said.

"Tell us everything he says," Hermione demanded, "you're so lucky you're having lessons with Dumbledore himself."

Harry smiled and climbed down through the portrait hole.

He strolled through the castle, watching other students scurry past, and ghosts float high above his head. To his surprise, her heard Professor Trelawney's voice coming from behind a statue. She was raving about a set of cards and smelled strongly of alcohol. Harry sighed and continued onward, to the door of the Headmaster's office. He gave the password and knocked on the door.

"Come in," Dumbledore's voice echoed from inside.

Harry walked in and Dumbledore gestured to a chair.

"Good evening, Harry."

"Good evening, Professor."

Percy POV

Once Harry had gone to his meeting with Dumbledore, I remained in the common room with Annabeth, Hazel, Ron, and Hermione. We were all tucked into a corner, doing homework. I was getting sick of all of this work. This was supposed to be a fun trip to a magic school, not another year worth of homework.

Annabeth was staring at her potions textbook, writing the corrections I had put in mine into hers. Water powers were useful in potions. Hermione was watching what she wrote and copying it down, to compare to the instructions in Harry's textbook.

I understood her paranoia. I had not been careful enough when Luke gave me the flying shoes on my first quest. That had almost resulted in Grover falling into Tartarus. Harry was definitely being a bit careless, but as long as he did not do anything too stupid he would probably be ok.

Thalia and Nico interrupted our peace by barraging into the room and running over to our corner. They had been out in the forest again, practising their aim and fighting skills. Thalia did not say anything about it, but I knew she missed the freedom of the hunt.

"Percy, Annabeth, Hazel!" Nico panted.

"Come on. We found something in the forest," Thalia added.

Ron and Hermione looked curious. They would feel terrible if they were left out.

"Alright let's go. You coming Ron, Hermione?" I asked.

"Yes," Hermione said, piling her books and going to put them in her dorm.

Ron also agreed, and ran up to his room to get a coat.

"What do you think it is?" Annabeth asked quietly.

"A hole of some sort, but it was not there yesterday, I'm sure," Thalia said.

"It felt weird," added Nico.

Ron and Hermione returned, and they exited the portrait hole.

"It's quite late, how long will this take?" Hermione said.

"Not long, hopefully. Don't worry though, we will be safe, and we're pretty good at sneaking around if we have to get back after curfew," Thalia reassured her.

We walked through the corridors, occasionally avoiding people talking in groups. It was not long before we left the castle, and crossed the grounds.

We were hidden in the darkness, so no one could see us clearly from the windows of the castle. It was good that it wasn't bright, because seeing someone go into the forest would be very suspicious. I could hear Ron and Hermione behind me, but it was funny to be without Harry. Usually he would be at the centre of everything, but tonight he was with Dumbledore. I knew Hermione was desperate to find out what he was doing.

We entered the forest, and the leaves on the floor dampened the noise of our feet. Not that I could ever hear Thalia and Nico, they were silent unless they wanted to be heard. Hazel was also very quiet, but louder than the other two. I could hear Annabeth, but only because I was used to her being at my side. Ron and Hermione made the most noise, as they were unaccustomed to sneaking around.

"How far are we from the spot?" said Annabeth.

"Probably only ten minutes or so," answered Thalia.

Eventually, Thalia and Nico drew up short, and the rest of us followed them. Nico pointed to a dark tunnel hidden under a pile of rocks. Annabeth and Hazel walked over to it, so I followed them.

"Can you feel anything, Hazel?" I asked.

"It's deep, and magic, definitely," she said, kneeling down to examine it closer.

Annabeth was also inspecting it. Hermione walked over and cast lumos, shining a light over the demigods. The hole was dark, fading away beyond the realm of sight.

"I really don't want to say it, but I think it is the labyrinth. It has Pasiphae's mark all over it."

"I really do not want to have to deal with the labyrinth again," I said, "I really did not enjoy it last time."

"Massive understatement, Seaweed Brain."

"How does the labyrinth work?" interrupted Hermione.

"It's like a massive underground maze thing. It goes any way in any amount of time, but it's far too easy to get lost. I suppose magic might make it easier, but I would not risk it," said Hazel.

"Could someone sneak into the school through it?" Ron asked.

"I don't know. Possibly, if they were skilled enough," said Hazel.

"We should tell Dumbledore then. He would want to know about any way to get into the grounds," said Ron.

"I agree with Ron," I said, "Perhaps we should have someone monitor the entrance. Is there a spell for that, Hermione?"

"There definitely is, I'll go to the library tomorrow to find out more information."

"Perfect, I'll stay out here with Nico tonight then to watch the entrance. We will meet you at breakfast tomorrow to talk to Dumbledore," said Thalia.

Nico nodded his agreement, and walked over to a rock to sit on. The rest of us walked back toward the castle.

When we got back, it was only five minutes until curfew, so we bolted up the stairs, running as fast as we could to Gryffindor Tower. We arrived at the portrait with less that 30 seconds to spare, breathing heavily.

"Hades' dove," wheezed Hermione.

We all tumbled through the portrait hole, into the common room.