Hermione's Reunion ✔️

C H A P T E R | T H I R T E E N

HERMIONE STROLLED DOWN the sidewalk, hand in hand with Draco. The rest of the family was ahead, Betsy Reynolds leading the way to dinner reservations at a fancy restaurant close to the museum they had left recently. Only Percy and Annabeth straggled, a good ways back from the Swans, having a whispered conversation and laughing every once and awhile.

     Glancing down, Hermione realized that her shoe was untied. She bent down to redo the knot, with only Draco noticing and staying behind with her.

     She stood back up abruptly, and a passerby, who hadn't been paying attention enough to see Hermione on the ground, ran straight into the witch.

     "Gah!" Hermione spluttered, before falling back to the ground, as did the other girl. Draco bent down to help Hermione up.

     "Are you all right?" he asked. She nodded.

     "Watch where you're going!" yelled the girl who had knocked Hermione down.

     "Me?!" shouted Hermione. "You're the one who knocked me down!"

     The girl was seething. She got back up, muttering about "stupid Brits", and glared at Hermione. "Because you don't have the decency to step into an alley, just like the one right there," she said, pointing to a narrow space between two buildings.

     "Step into an alley? In New York? Are you kidding?"

     "I guess your boyfriend here couldn't take care of you enough for it to be safe to go one foot into a dark space."

     Hermione looked the girl up and down. Maybe around fifteen or sixteen, she was short, with spiky black hair, blue eyes, a pale complexion, and leather jacket to match her hair. On her head was a silver circlet. Hair accessories, these days, thought Hermione.

     Then she realized that she sounded just like Gran.

     "Thalia?" came Percy's voice. The girl spun around.

     "Thalia, what are you doing here?" asked Annabeth. They knew this rude kid?

     The girl—Thalia—answered, "The Hunters are in New York while Her Ladyship is visiting Oly—" Thalia glanced at Hermione and Draco, then went on, "The Empire State Building.

     "What?" asked Drake. Hermione couldn't blame him—that was confusing.

     "And how do you know this, er, Thalia?" she added.

     Percy said, "She's my cousin." Annabeth turned to Thalia and introduced Bermione and Draco.

     "And what's this about hunting?" asked Hermione.

     "Well, I'm apart of this all-girls club, called the Hunters of Artemis, 'cause it's supposed to be based off of Greek stuff," explained Thalia. "Her Ladyship is what we call our leader, and she's checking out the Empire State Building as a possible 'field trip'."

     "If it's all girls," asked Draco, "Why isn't it called 'The Huntresses of Artemis'?"

     Thalia growled—yes, she growled—at that. "The replacing of 'er' with 'ess' on words so that they then apply directly to females is discriminatory, sexist, and demeaning. Definitely something a man like you would think. "

     What? That was a pretty stupid theory, in Hermione's opinion. It was only the way English worked to give the gender of the person you are referring to.

     "The Hunters of Artemis are feminists," Annabeth injected, in order to sort of explain. "And they have to swear off boys."

     "Like a more established, female version of the 'He-Man Woman Haters Club'," added Percy with a smirk. (A/N: In case you missed out on childhood, that was a Little Rascals reference, which I also do not own!)

     The girl glared at him. "Well, it's been great to see you guys and your... friends," said Thalia with a sour glance in Hermione and Draco's direction, "But I should get back to my girls. See ya!"

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling does. I do not own Twilight, Stephanie Meyer does. I do not own Percy Jackson, Rick Riordan does.