Strange Teachers

Chapter 13

——Ron——

Once the rest of the boys were all asleep, we snuck back down the stairs and into the common room. We waited half an hour before the girls joined us. They looked peeved.

"Sorry we took so long," Ginny supplied; "The girls were gossiping about Will Solace. He apparently told Romilda Vane that he was in a relationship. She says that he looked sad, though. They might've had a row or something."

"He's staying with Prof. Chase and Prof. Jackson; we can ask him then," Harry said, pointing to the room that we'd found earlier on the Marauder's Map. In it were three little dots respectively labelled Annabeth Chase, Percy Jackson, and Will Solace.

"So we're really doing this," I asked, my tone clearly betraying my doubt. Hermione and Ginny's theory just seemed completely unbelievable; I was sure that we would look like lunatics for suggesting it.

"Yes, Ron, we are. I don't care how crazy you think this is, we'll prove you wrong," my girlfriend said as she grabbed my hand and had to practically drag me to a second-floor corridor. We stopped in front of a blank stretch of wall near a tapestry depicting what looked like the Olympian gods. What a strange coincidence.

Ginny snatched the magical map from Harry's hands and looked at it, then back at the wall, then at the map a few times.

"It should be here. Revelio," she said.

The outline of an arch in the wall glowed blue for just a few seconds, letting us know that the secret room was there, but that we just couldn't see or open it.

"What?" Hermione looked confused. "But—but that should've made it open, too. Hold on; alohamora."

Then, the wall split to reveal—no, it didn't. The spell had no effect on it.

"We could just knock," I suggested. They all looked ready to retort, but they couldn't find a reason to, so Hermione stepped closer and rapped her knuckles on the stone. It made very little noise to us, but it was a hallway in a school of magic, so I guessed that they'd hear.

For once, I was right. An arch appeared and revealed Prof. Jackson in his pyjamas, which had blue and green stripes and little narwhals outlined in black all over them. It was cute; not what I'd have expected, though.

"Well, well, if it isn't the curious quartet..." he said jokingly. "Come on in. Annabeth, Will, we've got company!" he yelled the last part.

He didn't say a word about us being out of bed after hours, since they had a 'come for help at any time of the night or day' policy. As long as it turned out to be important, you wouldn't get punished.

We followed him into a nice space with a couch and two desks. An extra bed was set up in one corner, probably for Will. Prof. Chase's blond curls were spilling over one arm of the couch, the back of her head facing us. In her lap were some first-years' essays that she was grading. Once the top one was finished, she sat up and turned around to face us before waving her wand and muttering an incantation, making five armchairs appear in a circle with the sofa.

"Annabeth, Percy? What is it?" Will asked as he came in from what could be the bathroom, also ready for bed; he was dressed in joggers and a black tee-shirt with a skull design. It didn't seem to fit his personality, but oh well.

"Just some students being too curious for their own good," she said in a light tone, yet her eyes told us all that she was serious and wasn't to be messed with. "Sit, all of you."

We did; Her colleague on the sofa near her, Will on the chair closest to them, and the rest of us in random order on the remaining seats.

"We know," Ginny suddenly let out, having been practically bouncing in her seat with anticipation.

The three alleged demigods' expressions became unreadable.

"Know what?" the male teacher asked. He had an obviously fake look of confusion on. Maybe they did have something to hide.

"Oh, come on, you know what," my wonderful—though slightly delusional of late—girlfriend said.

The three kept the clueless faces, so Ginny gave in.

"Fine! We know that you're demigods."

They all looked shocked, except for Prof. Chase, who was wearing a smug grin and holding out a hand. Her fiancé sighed, but ended up dropping half a dozen small golden coins into her outstretched hand.

"What are those and why is he giving them to you?" I broke the silence.

"This Seaweed Brain lost a bet to me. These are golden drachmas," the blonde answered over his huff of annoyance.

"Wait, you were betting on us figuring it out?" Ginny seemed torn in between being flattered and outraged. I was just in shock. Blimey, they were right.

"Well, yeah; or rather on when you'd find out," Prof. Jackson said a tad guiltily. "We've heard from other teachers how much trouble you've gotten into over the years and how perspicacious Miss Granger, here, is." Then, to his fiancée: "See, I can use it correctly." She rolled her eyes despite the smile tugging at the corner of her lips.

"Yeah, whatever. But you four need to explain how you found out."

Ginny was happy to. She explained about the recording charm and how she and 'Mione had deduced the language from the goddesses.

"I knew we should've been more careful with the Ancient Greek."

"To be fair, you would've had to tell them at some point to talk about the prophecy," Will pointed out.

"What prophecy?" I asked.

My little sis gasped.

"It was your mum—Athena—in my dream, wasn't it?" What? Dreams? Why am I always the last to know things?

"Yes, we think so," Prof. Chase agreed. "What we don't understand, though, is why? Why would my mom appear to a mortal instead of her own daughter? Sorry, it's just frustrating."

"It's fine. So, is everything you've done in the books? It's been like" she spaced out to count in her head "5 years, right?"

We spent the rest of the night hearing all about the war against Gaea and the giants, then Apollo's quest right after.

— - — - —

A/N: Useless fact/life update: I started school on September 1st, same day as Hogwarts. I wonder whether Hogwarts would've had to do online classes last spring.

Anyway, thanks for reading, etc...