When Myths Meet Magic || 5

11|| Percy

"Damn Harry, you're in for it now," Percy exclaimed as Leo showed them his scarlet cut. "Ditching from Umbridge... and when she was planning on doing this to you..."

"I know," said Harry bitterly. "But then I'd be off the team and I would have a scar."

"You already do," Nico muttered.

"But it looks cool," Jason said. "It doesn't say 'I will respect Voldemort's pet toad'. It's a lightning bolt."

"Of course you would like the lightning bolt," Annabeth laughed.

Leo gently plucked a bowtruckle off his fingers and put it on the tree. "I happen to think mine's cooler than a little zig zag," he said loftily.

Ron frowned. "But that little 'zig zag' was obtained way cooler," he argued.

"Did Ron just say 'obtained'?" Thalia stumbled back in mock astonishment, her hand over her heart. "Blimey, Hermione, I think his vocabulary extended to over 9 letter words!"

Hermione grinned. "Obtained has eight letters in it."

Thalia waved her hand indifferently. "Dyslexia potato."

"You're a dyslexia potato," Nico muttered back.

They cleaned up and headed out of the greenhouses, Nico and Thalia still bickering away.

"Do they ever stop?" Hermione asked in exasperation.

"You've known them for five years," said Annabeth. "What do you think?"

They tromped up to the dormitories. Harry was rubbing the back of his hand worriedly, like he was anticipating the marks to come.

"Hey, look on the bright side," Jason coaxed gently. "You could be at Quidditch tryouts, Angelina won't rip your throat out, and Ron and I are on the team!"

"Don't see the appeal," Percy muttered, making a beeline for the couch in front of the fire.

"It's quite fun," Annabeth scolded. "You should at least try and get on a broom some time."

"I did," Percy argued back. "In our first year."

He was still set against the idea the following day, Saturday, when they left for the Gryffindor Quidditch practice. Harry, Ron, Annabeth, and Jason slipped into the locker rooms while Percy, Thalia, Nico, and Hermione found seats in the bleachers. Hermione's bag was filled with homework, both hers and Thalia's and Nico's and Percy's.

"You've got to do your essays at some point," she said crossly, spreading the papers out in front of her.

"Oh joy," Thalia said, squinting across the pitch. "Lookie here."

Figures clad in green robes sat across the stands, one of whom was evidently Malfoy.

"Wonder where Piper's gone off to," Percy muttered. "It'd be nice to have her here now."

"You don't think they've killed her, have you?" Thalia asked.

Nico snorted. "Oh, please. One, they wouldn't have the guts to do it, and two, d'you really think they're that low as to do that?"

"Love the moldy log you're riding, Weasley!" Malfoy bellowed.

"Ron needs to ignore them," Hermione said, looking up. Ron's face was red as the Gryffindor robes, he was shaking ever so slightly, nearly falling off his broom. The quaffle fell to the ground several times, and Ron only turned redder and grew more embarrassed. Each time he dropped the ball or it flew right into the hoop, he got more embarrassed. When he got more embarrassed, he dropped the ball more.

"You know, I'm starting to think that maybe you should be the keeper," Thalia commented to Percy.

Hermione frowned. "Be nice," she said halfheartedly, her tone flat.

"Gryffindor are losers," the Slytherins chanted. "Gryffindor are losers."

"Real original," Thalia spat across.

Suddenly, something amazing happened.

Ron caught the ball.

Evidently as shocked as everyone else, his hands gripped it tightly for a split second before throwing it eagerly at Annabeth. It sailed cleanly past her hands and smacked her in the face.

"Gah!" Snatching the ball, Annabeth rubbed her nose, and blood appeared on her fingers.

"Sorry!" Ron gasped, zooming closer.

"She's fine!" Angelina barked, waving him away. "Get back in position!"

"Here, Annabeth," said George, reaching into his robes and passing something to her. "Eat this."

They shot a quick glance at Hermione, whose head was buried back in her work.

Suddenly another person appeared on the stands and marched over to the Slytherins.

"Hey!" Piper shouted. The Slytherins stopped laughing, and the Gryffindors had slowed down their flying to watch the encounter. "Stop it!" she yelled, stopping to face them. Malfoy's jaw snapped shut, and he sat silently, but none of the other Slytherins seemed to mind her yelling.

"Or what?" A beater asked mockingly.

Piper stared at him. "I'm wiping the team slate clean," she announced loudly. "If you want to be on the team, you try out again. If not, then you don't have to."

A chaser snorted disbelievingly. "You're not going to get a whole new team," he sneered. "You want to win, we're your best bet."

Piper shrugged. "We'll find out, won't we?" She asked before turning on her heel and stalking away. Her head turned across the stands for a millisecond, and Percy caught the flash of a grin.

"She wouldn't do that, would she?" the second beater asked uncertainly.

The others muttered to each other, but Malfoy was still silent. For once in his pathetic, scrawny, human ferret life.

Then the Gryffindor practice returned to normal (somewhat, with the players whispering among themselves in the air). Ron dropped the ball again, and the Slytherins laughed again. Then Annabeth fell off her broom in a dead faint. Somehow, no one had noticed the blood that continued to seep from her nose, drenching her robes in the same shade of scarlet. She only blacked out for a moment before she was awake, grasping furiously at her broom while her skin turned a clammy pale.

"Ah," Fred cursed, swooping in. He shot George an accusing look, who was checking his pockets, horrified.

"That wasn't the antidote," he muttered, helping support Annabeth. "We'll take her to the hospital wing."

Angelina leaned back on her broom, frowning. "We can't have practice without our beaters and a chaser," she said. "Practice is over."

Percy was rushing down to meet the Weasley twins and Annabeth. Ron sullenly set down on the ground, his face downcast. Hermione looked up from her work before gathering it all into her bag and meeting them on the field.

"I warned them," she ranted as soon as Harry, Ron, and Jason got in earshot, but trailed off at the sight of Ron's face.

For the first time in forever, no one was arguing as they headed back to the castle.