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

Chapter 10

Harry POV

I knocked on the door but no one answered. After a minute or so, I knocked again, but there was no answer. Dumbledore was away again.

"Isn't he here?" Percy asked.

"He keeps going away. Where else can we go?"

"We could ask McGonagall," said Hermione.

I was uncertain about that. Would Dumbledore want anyone else to know about this? I sort of felt as if I should just tell him, and no one else. He would probably be back in a few days.

"Maybe we should wait until Dumbledore gets back."

"Are you sure about that?" Percy asked me, "don't you trust McGonagall?"

"No, I trust her, I just think Dumbledore likes to keep things to himself, and he might not want us to tell anyone."

Hermione looked uncertain about it. She would want to tell a teacher no matter what.

"Harry, the Quidditch trials!" said Ron.

"I almost forgot. Sorry Percy, we can come ask later. I have to go. You can come if you want or you can go down to the labyrinth hole and have a look."

"I'll leave you guys to it, I'm going to go see Annabeth."

Ron and I ran up to our dorms to grab our gear and brooms, then walked down to the Quidditch pitch with Hermione.

Trials went well. I ended up with a full team. The new team probably isn't as good as the old team, but they will get better with time. I'm sure after a few practise sessions we will all be much improved. The best thing about it was that Ron got into the team. He stopped five out of five of the penalty shootout shots. Cormac only got four out of five, thank goodness. I would not have wanted to work with that narcissist on the team. I'll have to make sure Ron gets some practise in though, his nerves are the worst.

That being said, I'm sure something was up with Cormac, he walked into a goal post on the way out, almost like he was confounded. Weird.

After Quidditch trials, we ate lunch, and then walked down to the forest. We brought some food with us in case the demigods had not eaten. We entered the forest, and followed our path from yesterday. It was not long before we could hear Percy and Annabeth talking.

We entered the clearing and Percy bounded over to us.

"Yum, what food did you bring? How did trials go?"

"We brought a few things, some sandwiches, and other stuff. If we need more I'm sure I can duplicate it," Hermione said.

"Quidditch trials went well, Ron got in. I got some pretty good new beaters and chasers," I said.

"Good job, Ron," Annabeth said.

"So you play keeper then, don't you," Percy said.

"Yep."

"Hermione, can you come have a look at this apple, it came out of the labyrinth. Can you tell anything about it?" asked Hazel.

Hermione went over, and the two girls inspected it.

"How far does the labyrinth go?" asked Hermione.

"It used to stretch out under the entire earth, but its creator, Daedalus died, and it collapsed. Then Pasiphae tried to bring it back, but I'm sure she failed, so I don't know how its here."

"What if the magic of Hogwarts sustained it?" Ron suggested, "What if this guy died, and the rest collapsed, but the area around Hogwarts stayed. This whole area is pretty magical."

Annabeth looked like she was considering this. She looked at Hazel and they seemed to converse silently. I had no idea about anything related to the labyrinth. I wish I knew more about Greek mythology.

"If it was supported by Hogwarts, would it extend past the edges, or do you think it would be fully contained in the castle grounds?" Annabeth asked.

"It might reach Hogsmeade, I suppose, then you could use it to get into the castle, but that's where the magic would stop."

"We have a Hogsmeade trip tomorrow. Percy, Hazel, and I can go look for entrances outside of the castle, if Thalia and Nico are happy to stay here. Only because Thalia is the best in a forest, and Nico can travel fast. We need Hazel because she will be able to find the entrances," Annabeth said.

Everyone agreed on that. Annabeth and Percy decided to guard the entrance for tonight, so the rest of us returned to the common room.

The next day was our Hogsmeade trip. Percy was very excited about it, because he wanted to get some blue lollies from Honeydukes. Thalia and Nico were going to stay behind watching the hole again, as Dumbledore was still away.

Our day was fairly uneventful. We bought our lollies, then Percy, Annabeth, and Hazel went to look for labyrinth entrances while Hermione, Ron, and I had butterbeer in the Three Broomsticks. Slughorn interrogated me about missing his parties. I kept scheduling Quidditch practise during them, to avoid having to spend any more time in the stuffy room with the unpleasant people there. Ron, Hermione, and I decided to return to the castle early, and Percy, Annabeth, and Hazel decided they would come with us, although Percy was reluctant to leave. He enjoyed the outdoors at Hogsmeade more than the rest of us.

We were walking back along the pathway, talking about the prospects for Quidditch, when we saw Katie Bell and one of her friends up ahead. They seemed to be arguing about something that Katie was holding, but we couldn't hear them with the wind blowing the wrong way. Hazel looked nervous, and seemed to be almost ready to run at Katie.

Hazel POV

There were something wrong with what the girl in front of me held. I recognised her vaguely from Harry's Quidditch games, but I couldn't remember her name. She had a necklace in a box or bag, silver with some emeralds embedded into it. It was cursed though, I could feel it, but I couldn't tell what the curse was to do.

Should I have run up and knocked the box out of her hand? I was on the edge of trying it, when the girl screamed and floated into the sky.

"Katie!" her friend screamed, as we ran toward them.

Katie's friend was leaning down to touch the necklace when I yelled at her to stop. Hermione grabbed the girl and started trying to calm her down. Hagrid had clearly heard her scream and he ran up the path toward us, grabbing Katie and running back toward the castle.

I knelt down by the necklace and tried to find out what curse was on it. It was powerful and well hidden, I couldn't sense what was used on it. I knew Snape was good at this sort of magic so I decided to take it to him. I threw it back into the box and went back over to Hermione.