Chaos Rising |BOOK 2| Harry Potter x PJO |Alexandra Marine|

PERCY JACKSON

"Harry," I nodded as we turned towards the Gryffindor Tower. 

"Perce," Harry said. "Jason."

"Is it true?" whispered the Fat Lady as we approached her. "It is really true? Dumbledore--dead?"

"Yes," said Harry.

She let out a wail and, without waiting for the password, swung forward to admit us.

As I had suspected it would be, the common room was jam-packed. The room fell silent as we climbed through the portrait hole. Dean and Seamus were sitting in a group nearby: this meant that the dormitory must be empty, or nearly so. Without speaking to anybody, without making eye contact at all, we walked straight across the room and through the door to the boys' dormitories.

Ron was waiting for us, still fully dressed, sitting on his bed. Harry sat down on his own four-poster and for a moment, they simply stared at each other.

"They're talking about closing the school," said Harry.

"Lupin said they would," said Ron.

There was a pause.

"So?" said Ron in a very low voice, as though he thought the furniture might be listening in. "Did you find one? Did you get it? A--a Horcrux?"

Harry shook his head. 

"You didn't get it?" said Ron, looking crestfallen. "It wasn't there?"

"No," said Harry. "Someone had already taken it and left a fake in its place."

"Already taken--?" I started.

Wordlessly, Harry pulled the fake locket from his pocket, opened it, and passed it to Ron. 

"R.A.B.," whispered Ron, passing the locket to me. "but who was that?"

"Dunno," said Harry, lying back on his bed fully clothed and staring blankly upwards. 

I looked into the small piece of yellowing parchment inside.

To the Dark Lord

I know I will be dead long before you read this but I want you to know that it was I who discovered your secret. I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can.

I face death in the hope that when you meet your match you will be mortal once more.

R.A.B.

"R.A.B," I whispered, passing the locket to Jason.

The fact kept sinking into me with every passing moment.

We had lost the big game and the small game.

Half the universe was gone. Voldemort was going to take over everything....

I fell onto the bed and took a deep breath in. I told myself that I had been through worse. 

But a tiny part of me that I had never been through something this bad. NEVER. Not even the experience I had at Tartarus was equivalent to this.

They'd come to my home turf, and killed my people.

All lessons were suspended, all examinations postponed. Some students were hurried away from Hogwarts by their parents over the next couple of days--the Patil twins were gone before breakfast on the morning following Dumbledore's death and Zacharias Smith was escorted from the castle by his haughty-looking father. Seamus Finnigan, on the other hand, refused point-blank to accompany his mother home; they had a shouting match in the Entrance Hall which was resolved by a furious McGonagall and they agreed to stay at Hogwarts until the funerals.