Heroes at Hogwarts

thirty-four | headaches and more dead people

harry

For what seemed like hours, all he could see was darkness. And it smelled, bad, like Hagrid's hut in the summertime when everything heated up. It made Harry wince every time he took a breath. His throat felt like fire.

A creaking sound echoed through the silence. Harry wanted to sit up, but he couldn't see anything. He didn't want to hit his head. The sound stopped, and there was just silence again.

Harry began to wonder. Where were Ron and Hermione? And Percy? Where they okay? All he could remember was Percy's panic at the way the wind rumbled through the valley. And suddenly everything was dark.

He wiggled his fingers and his toes. Nothing seemed to hurt. Even the dull ache that had been pounding in his head for days was gone. He patted the ground around him.

His hand touched something soft, like skin. Harry tensed. A boy next to him groaned. "Ron? Percy?" Speaking made his throat feel like sandpaper. He tried to swallow, but his mouth way dry. 

The boy rolled over. "Harry?" It was Percy. "Gods...what happened?" The demigod's voice was just as scratchy. He took a deep breath and exhaled, and the action seemed to clear his senses. Harry tried it- it didn't work. "Oh, Hades...we're in...we're..." Percy couldn't seem to finish the sentence.

It was in that moment that a small lantern lit up on the other side of the room. Whoever must have come in when the door creaked must have lit it. The girl standing next to it was hideous.

Harry didn't mean to be so rude, but when he caught sight of her he scrunched up his nose worse than he had when he'd first smelled the little room they were in. She was beautiful, until you looked past her face. She seemed to be part donkey, robot, and human all at once. She wore a cheer uniform for Muggles that had a large 'G' on its front.

Percy let lose a disbelieving chuckle next to Harry. "Gods, Kelli, you'd think you'd buy the poor kid dinner first before kidnapping him."

It was the first chance Harry had to look at Percy. He seemed to have been beaten up pretty bad. He had a large gash running from his temple to his forehead and small cuts and bruises all over his arms. The tip of some of his hair was turning grey. He seemed to be glowing. And on top of all of that, his stomach was bleeding through his shirt again.

Harry turned back to the girl, Kelli, and frowned. Percy obviously knew her, because she smiled sweetly at him and winked. "You could always come back to me, sweetheart, and stop following that daughter of Athena around." Harry assumed she meant Annabeth.

Percy laughed in her face. "Sure, and get all my blood sucked? I'd rather date an Amazon."

Kelli snarled and backed away from them. "Well, it has been a while since we've gotten to see each other, son of Poseidon. Seems you have a brother now?" She hummed. "Cute little thing, isn't he? How old are you, boy?"

Harry leaned away from her advancing face. "Sixteen," he growled.

Percy swung his leg out and knocked Kelli off her feet. When she finally stood again, on her strange legs, she glared at him. "You are lucky today, Perseus. Perhaps later the boss will let me feast. But not today. Not now." She snapped her fingers and someone else entered the room.

The way this boy and Percy stared at each other, it was obvious there was history. The blonde boy stood at the door, his face one filled with apology. His eyes were sunken in. He had similar gashes to Percy's all over his skin. A long cut ran across his face, and a bandage had been hastily pulled over it. A bigger, more jagged wound was bleeding under his arm.

The air charged with emotion. Harry looked down at the ground, not wanting to be a part of Percy and this boy's wrath.

"Too bad I no longer work for Luke," Kelli said. This brought Harry's attention back to his surroundings. "And lucky I found him wondering around." She laughed. "You two can catch up, how about that?"