The Golden Wand [Harry Potter/Percy Jackson]

Chapter 51: A Choice

Annabeth POV:

"Sit," the woman ordered. Her voice was laced delicately with a European accent, but from what country exactly I couldn't tell. She stared at me through stern eyes, standing as straight as humanly possible. Her hair was pulled back in in a tight, blonde bun. In certain lights she didn't look any older than me, but in other lights she could have been twice or three times my age. It was hard to get a read on her. 

I took a seat at the plain chair she had indicated. It was cold. 

"Take out your wand," she commanded. I obliged. "Good. In a minute, you are going to be asked to use that wand. You will be given a choice on what to use it on. Do not be brass with your decision - take your time... but remember, you only have a maximum of five minutes to do so."

"To do what?" I asked. She didn't respond. 

A minute of silence passed. I felt the tension in the room, heavy on my shoulders. Something felt off - something felt different to the other trials. The sense of unease that clouded my thoughts was much more potent than it ever had been before. 

Across the far end of the room two identical doors opened and a figure emerged from both. I gasped, hand tightening around my wand, heart beating faster in my chest. The figure on the left, Percy, stared at me with a look of confusion; clearly, he hadn't expected to see me on the other side of that door. And then he looked at the figure walking next to him and stopped abruptly. 

"Dad... what are you doing here?" I asked. Frederick Chase, my father who I hadn't seen for ten years, stared at me through wide eyes. 

"I-I don't know," he said quickly. "I received your owl last week - you said you w-wanted to meet up. You told me to meet you a-at Hogwarts, but when I got here last night a man told me to wait in... in that room back there, and I was told to walk out here when I heard a b-bell. A-Annabeth, is that really you? You've changed... so much..."

My eyes began to prickle, threatening tears.

"Come here," the blonde woman ordered in that same, cold voice, before I could muster the courage to speak. Percy and my father frowned and walked slowly towards where the woman was pointing. They stood still, three meters apart from one another, five meters away from me. 

"Dad..." I said, but my voice was thin and weak. He didn't even hear me. 

"Why am I here, Annabeth?" He asked. I didn't know how to respond. Percy was staring at him with a look of contempt - he hated my Father almost as much as I did.

"Choose," said the blonde woman. She was staring at me. 

"Choose what?" I asked, finding my voice again.

"Choose who to kill... you have five minutes."

Hermione POV:

"This is absurd, of course I'm not going to choose!" I hissed at the woman. She was a short woman with curly brown hair that fell all the way to the floor, but despite her stature she looked menacing and strong. She smiled at me through thin lips. 

"You have to choose, that is the only way," she replied calmly. 

"This is fucking ridiculous!" I cried. I stared at Ron and Draco, both of whom were looking at me with the same terrified, furious look. 

"Do you think we're just going to stand here and let this happen?" Ron asked angrily, shaking his head. But when he made a move to walk back towards the door, he found that he could not move at all. Draco tried too, and the both of them struggled where they were standing but did not turn away. The woman laughed, showing the first sign of emotion.