Demigods At Hogwarts | ✓

30-What's a Netvor?

LEO'S POV

"That's really creepy," I said finally. It didn't add much to the conversation but it voiced what we were probably all thinking.

"Then what did you do?" Annabeth asked, forever asking the necessary questions to get us on track.

Draco had caught his breath by now, and his words came out more clearly. "I told the voice to go away, and it went silent. Then the room went back to its original dimness. Then I went out. There was nothing there. No signs of battle. But I had a feeling that something powerful had been there. Then I came straight here."

We all processed this.

"Describe the voice, please," Dumbledore said.

Draco searched for the right words, "Now I'm a hundred percent sure it was female. Her voice was really...soft. Soft and gentle. But when it got dark I had the feeling that I was being watched. Like, from every direction, not just one. The voice came from everywhere. All at the same time. One voice was speaking, but I had no idea where it had come from. It was like the darkness itself was speaking."

"Strange," Dumbledore said. "From what I can guess about the prophecy, the impossible task could be to defeat yet another powerful god or immortal."

We all nodded like we had a good guess.

"This is serious," Dumbledore muttered, mainly to himself. "For sure, some students here must be hearing that voice. This makes things complicated. The killer could be multiple people."

"As if this wasn't hard enough already," Annabeth muttered.

"Well," Draco said, trying to be optimistic, "if she's going to talk to me in my sleep, we might be able to figure something out."

"I suppose," she said, obviously not liking that plan.

After dinner, we went back to our dormitory. While I fixed my Valdezadrink, Annabeth got settled on her bed, reading a thick book and also looking at the list of Dark Objects we found. She also had another list of other stuff found in other Houses.

Nico squinted at the cover of the book she was reading, "You're reading...Poseidon's Little Black Book?"

Percy spat out his chocolate, eyes wide, "You're reading what?!"

Annabeth looked at the cover, then at Nico like his marbles had rolled down the drain. "No, I'm reading the Poisonous and Lethal Book of Black."

Percy let out a huge breath, "Oh, thank the gods."

I snickered, "Poseidon's Little Black Book."

Annabeth rolled her eyes, then muttered, "What a terrible sounding book."

• • •

This next morning, we got permission from Dumbledore to go investigate the Shrieking Shack.

I passed around some vegetarian sandwiches, and we arrived at Whomping Willow.

"Cool," I said, trying to lighten the mood, "the branches look like arms."

Draco nodded, "That's because they are." He picked up a rock, and hurled it at bottom of the tree. With amazing speed for a tree, a branch swooped down and with a crack like a bat against a baseball, the rock sailed over our heads into the chimney of Hagrid's Hut.

"Awesome," I said, rubbing my hands together. "I should build one for the forest back at Camp."

"That would offend the tree nymphs," Annabeth told me.