Annabeth Chase the Triwizard Champion

Chapter Forty One

The weather was perfect as the train wound through the countryside. Hedwig and Saffi slept with their heads under their wings, Saffi on Annabeth's lap and Hedwig on the luggage rack above her. Hermione's cat, Crookshanks, was curled up on an empty seat, and Ron's mini owl, Pigwideon, buzzed around in his cage like an excited bee until Ron threw his dress robes over the owl's cage to quiet him.

They talked mostly about Voldemort and what Dumbledore was planning to do to stop him, and finally Annabeth got the chance to ask Freddie what she would be doing.

"Well..." Freddie glanced at Annabeth. Annabeth could tell her friend didn't want to admit that her parents were actually bad people in front of the others.

"Will this help?" she asked. "My mother turned a woman into the first spider because they tied in a weaving contest."

"Yeah, that helps," Freddie said. She turned to the others. "My parents are death eaters— well, they were, before, so they are now, I guess." she looked back at Annabeth.  "Dumbledore doesn't want me outright spying on them, like seeking stuff out, I guess. But if I'm in earshot, or they don't actually know I'm there, I'm going to eavesdrop and report back to Dumbledore. I'll do more, too. Dumbledore doesn't have to know I'll be following them."

The conversation moved on after that, but they still talked about Voldemort. Finally, Hermione asked the question Annabeth knew had been coming.

"But, Annabeth... how did you survive? A love shield? From who?"

Annabeth hesitated. There were a lot of options on who it was from, but lately she had been thinking of that dream she'd had, well, the memory, about Thalia sacrificing herself for Annabeth and Luke. Maybe this was why she'd had it. It wasn't just a random nightmare, it was a message. But did she want to share that? Freddie already knew, but Harry, Ron, and Hermione... but she trusted them. They were her friends, even Ron.

"Thalia," She said finally. "When I was seven, I lived on the streets with her, and a guy named Luke. They took care of me, but we were three inexperienced demigods running around, and we tended to attract monsters. Then Grover, a satyr, found us, and he was bringing us to safety, but we were being followed by a lot of monsters. Thalia stayed back to hold them off. She didn't exactly die, but she meant to, and I think that's what did it."

Hermione pressed her hands to her mouth. "I'm so sorry," she whispered.

"It was a long time ago," Annabeth said, shrugging. "I'm past it. Thalia's fine now."

Luckily, the snack trolley came by before anyone could ask about Luke. When Hermione got back, she returned her money to her bag and pulled out a newspaper like she had forgotten about it before.

"There's nothing in there," she said calmly at Harry's look. "You can look for yourself, but there's nothing at all. I've been checking every day. Just a small piece after the third task saying you two won the tournament. They didn't even mention you-know-who. Nothing about any of it. If you ask me, Fudge is forcing them to keep quiet."

"He'll never keep Rita quiet," Harry said. "Not about this."

"Oh, Rita hasn't written anything at all since the third task," Hermione said in a slightly strained voice. "As a matter of fact, Rita Skeeter isn't going to be writing anything at all for a while. Not unless she wants me to spill the beans on her."

"What are you talking about?" Ron asked.

Annabeth raised an eyebrow, smiling a little. "What did you do?"

"I found out how she was listening in on private conversations when she wasn't supposed to be in the grounds," Hermione said hurriedly, looking nervous.