The Golden Wand [Harry Potter/Percy Jackson]

Chapter 59: A Battle In The Clouds

Hermione POV:

Annabeth and I had made a right mess of the floating glass platform. Whilst Harry and Percy were having a pretty basic-looking duel behind us, Annabeth and I were fighting with as many crazy spells we could think of. It was time to show off all that we had learned in the last seven years at school, and, being the nerds we were, we weren't going to let a single spell go to waste.

First, Annabeth made a small storm cloud appear above my head and rain started pouring down on my already wet body. I would have ignored it, but then little blasts of lightning started to strike my head and jolt my body and I could ignore it no longer. 

"Finite Incantartum,"  I muttered, and the cloud stopped, but Annabeth was already onto her next spell - she had created a slope at my feet, making the glass platform slope down at a dangerous angle. I slipped immediately and my wet body started to slide towards the platform's edge. I quickly unleashed a rope from the tip of my wand and with a swish it wrapped itself around Annabeth's ankle. She squealed, fell to the floor, and the two of us started sliding now. It wasn't until Annabeth transfigured her wand into a knife and jammed it into the glass surface did the two of us stop falling. We stood quickly, and I yanked Annabeth towards me with the rope still tied around her leg. She was pulled along the glass platform on her back, writhing against her constraints without success. 

When she reached my feet I released my wand and then pointed it at her face. A blindfold appeared, blocking her eyes, and her hands tore at it to get it off but it would not budge. She went still, clearly listening for the sound of my movement, and I was more than impressed when she managed to dodge all seven of conjured canaries from my Oppugno charm. 

It was my indecisiveness that allowed her to get back up. There I was, standing over my completely defenseless opponent with my wand raised... and I couldn't decide which spell to use out of the thousands I had learned. Just that slight hesitation was all Annabeth needed to twist her wand, and the platform at my feet made a terrifying screeching noise as a circle of glass around me tore away from the surface and skyrocketed upwards. Huge shards of glass also tore upwards away from the platform, looking like crystal clear (and extremely deadly) stalagmites coming directly for my heart. I did the only thing I could think of, which was to dive as far I was away from the glass I stood on as possible as to escape the reach of the pointed glass stalagmites. 

I was falling, plummeting towards the glass platform that now floated 100 feet beneath me. The wind slapped my face like a cold hand, and as my eyes began to water I realized that I had jumped too far - I wasn't going to reach the platform... I was going to carry on falling, away from the fight, towards the ground thousands of meters below. I was no more than an arms-length out of reach from the platform as I reached its level, and I was sure I was going to keep on falling. But then a hand clasped around my wrist and I swung inwards, crashing against a body so hard that all the air was knocked from my body. I felt my ribs crack. 

When I turned to see who had saved me, I saw the blonde curls and grey eyes of Annabeth staring back at me. She was gasping for air but she seemed too focused about the fight to care. 

"You did that?" I asked. She nodded. "Thank you."

"I'm going to regret saving you, aren't I?" She sighed. 

To show her she was right I yelled "depulso!" and she flew backwards. Her back crashed against one of the stalagmites she had formed - now over fifty feet tall - and I saw the glass splinter behind her. She merely smiled. 

With another flick of her wand all the stalagmites around us exploded in a terrifying bang, and shards of glass started swirling around the both of us as if they were being picked up in a tornado. It was oddly beautiful - standing in the center of the circling glass - watching as the summer sun glinted against each shard and listening to the delicate sound as they hit against one another.