Annabeth Chase and Things Are Getting Intense

Chapter Two

Harry looked as happy as one could be at hearing the news that the thing that had led his godfather to his death was now in his ownership.

"I don't have to keep him with me, do I?" Harry asked, looking down at the elf in disgust.

"Not if you don't want to," Dumbledore said, to Harry and Annabeth's relief. Annabeth didn't think she could be around that elf without strangling him. "If I might make a suggestion, you can send him to Hogwarts to work in the kitchen there. In that way, the other house elves could keep an eye on him."

"Yeah," Harry sighed. "Yeah, I'll do that. Er—Kreacher—I want you to go to Hogwarts and work in the kitchens there with the other house elves."

The elf gave a single, murderous look to Harry before vanishing from the carpet with another loud crack.

"Good," Dumbledore said. "There is also the matter of the hippogriff, Buckbeak. Hagrid has been looking after him since Sirius died, but Buckbeak is yours now, so if you would prefer to make different arrangements—"

"No," Harry said immediately. "He can stay with Hagrid. I think Buckbeak would prefer that."

Dumbledore smiled. "Hagrid will be delighted. He was thrilled to see Buckbeak again. Incidentally, we have decided, in the instance of Buckbeak's safety, to rechristen him 'Witherwings' for the time being, though I doubt that the ministry would ever guess that he is the Hippogriff they once sentenced to death. Now, Harry, is your trunk packed?"

"Erm..."

"Doubtful that I would turn up?"

"I'll just go and—er—finish off," Harry stammered. "Annabeth—would you like to—?"

"Coming," Annabeth said, following Harry as he left the living room and bounded up the stairs. His bedroom was the first on the left, and Annabeth sighed when she saw it.

"Finally, something with some personality," she said, beholding the mess. Hedwig hooted at her, ruffling her feathers.

Harry looked around his room, at all his scattered belongings. "It's not very clean—"

"Believe me, I prefer it this way," Annabeth said. "The rest of the house looks like it's been power washed by neat freak maniacs."

Smiling a little, Harry nodded and they started shoving all his things unceremoniously into his school trunk at the foot of his bed.

"This is going to sound like a stupid question," Annabeth said. She'd lost enough people to become more than sick of it, but it had to be said. "How are you doing?"

Harry hesitated. "Okay, I guess. I stayed in bed for a few weeks once school ended. Couldn't really bring myself to get up." he took a breath. "But I realized that Sirius wouldn't want that. He'd want me to be up and doing what I can, right?"

"Right," Annabeth said. Harry was handling all this really well, better than she'd ever done. She was proud of him. "That's a good mentality to have."

Harry nodded, and they finished up pretty quickly after that. Annabeth helped Harry lug his heavy trunk down the stairs (re: she did most of the work because Harry had noodle arms), and they set it by the front door in the still empty parlor, Harry putting Hedwig's cage on top.

"I suppose we have to go back into the sitting room," Harry said sullenly.

Annabeth hummed in agreement. "I suppose so."

Back in the living room, everything was silent. The Dursleys were huddled together on the couch, all three pale as a morning sky, while Dumbledore sat in his armchair, humming quietly to himself.