To Thwart The Darkness {Book 3}

Doing Something

Hogwarts

"We need to do something," Ginny insisted. It had been six days since the detention incident and most of the seventh years were spending their Sunday morning in Hogsmeade. Will and Nico were exhausted from detention, which meant that Hogsmeade didn't hold as much splendour as it once did. They both were just going through the motions.

Piper and Jason had been kicked out of the seventh year group in detention on day three because the Carrows realised that they hadn't been able to cast the imperious curse, which left Will and Nico to handle the situation. And it was always Will who stayed in the room late, healing the broken bodies of the many detention students, not even paying attention to his own injuries and curses.

"You know what you could do, Will?" Neville said out of the blue as they were passing Zonko's. It was surprising that Will and Nico were even allowed to go to Hogsmeade, given that they were in detention, but no one had stopped them as they left school grounds. The group did, however, spot Filch turn around as they walked passed, almost as if he was turning a blind eye. It was probably a coincidence. "You could make your own hospital wing."

"Where?" Will asked. Pepper sat on his head, her fur ruffling in the cool end of autumn breeze.

"In the Room of Requirement."

"Of course!" Ginny exclaimed. "That way you can get whatever you want. And it's a real way to stick it to the Carrow's."

"But how would we let everyone know about it without the Carrow's finding out?" Will asked. He was too exhausted to think this was a bad idea, but he just needed to know exactly what was going to happen before he did it.

Ginny and Neville fell silent in thought.

"We could do something like what Hermione did with the DA and the coins," Piper piped up.

A slightly stronger wind blew through the street and Pepper tumbled off Will's head. Jason caught her smoothly and put her inside his jacket pocket. Her nose poked out a second later.

"I guess," Will said. "Do either of you know how to do that?"

"No," Ginny admitted, "but McGonagall might."

"You want to what?" Neville asked.

"I'm just saying that Professor McGonagall might know a spell similar to the one that Hermione used, and we should ask her about it."

"Are you out of your mind?" Jason demanded. "We go to staff, we'll be found out."

"Think about it! How many times have the professors turned a blind eye to misbehaviour this year?" Ginny asked. "And what about the study periods that they give us? They're on our side!"

"She does have a point," Nico mumbled, wishing he was anywhere but there.

"See!"

"Alright fine," Neville sighed. "We can ask McGonagall if she has an idea of what we could do."
"Chances are she'll actually endorse this," Will shrugged. "Okay. Sounds like we've got the beginnings of a plan. Now, who's going to get Butterbeer with me? I'm not actually asking."

---

Shell Cottage

Percy hated feeling like he was invading someone's personal space. It was probably the worst feeling he could imagine at that moment, rivalled only by the constant ache he felt from not being with Annabeth. So, to distract himself from both those terrible emotions, he worked around the Cottage day and night, always making sure he was doing something. And when Fleur ran out of chores, he went out onto the beach and trained.

Swinging Riptide back and forth through the air, Percy was able to focus on nothing else but the fluid movements that had been drilled into his brain since he was twelve. The sword-training also intimidated Ron and kept him away.

Percy was mad at Ron, sure, but by day seven, he'd realised that his anger didn't hold as much of a grudge as it had. He mainly felt pity for the boy. Percy didn't know exactly how Ron felt, but that didn't mean he couldn't imagine what it was like to live in your best friend's shadow.

Riptide cut through the crisp ocean breeze like paper as Percy sidestepped and lunged, imagining an opponent in front of him. His left hand was still heavy and his stance was unbalanced, but that was the point of training. He needed to make sure he could use his left hand, since his right was still bandaged and slung across his chest.

He was imaging so vividly that he could actually see a sword countering his movements. It floated opposite Riptide and deflected his attacks smoothly, even advancing with some of it's own. Then he realised that the loud metal clangs that the swords made when they met wasn't in his imagination, and Percy jumped back to look around.

Ron sat on a sand dune, his wand pointed at the magic sword.

Percy scowled and looked away, taking the sword with his right hand so he could roll out his wrist.

"Bill taught me that spell," Ron said and the magic sword drooped with his wand. "I figured you might want the extra help with training."

Percy was quiet for a while, his left arm stretching itself out as he watched the ocean waves pull forward and back. He then turned back to face the sword and transferred his own back into his left hand. Hitting Ron's magic sword lightly with Riptide, he adjusted his stance.

"Come on then," he said and lunged.

---

A Lake, somewhere in England

It took a week before Annabeth succumbed to the idea that they had to move on. She didn't want to, she wanted to hold out on the chance that Percy and Ron would come back. But they didn't.

The leaves had all fallen from the forest trees and the winter chill had begun to set in. The tent came down with one swift motion of Hermione's wand and they all apparated to a different forest, further north, towards Scotland.

On the first night Annabeth sat outside, bundled in two coats and three blankets, to watch the stars as they moved across the sky.

Why did they have to go on this quest? Couldn't she and Percy live a normal life, one where they don't have to worry about witches and wizards and magic and monsters? They still needed to attend university in New Rome, which was waiting for them when they got back.

"Please bring him home," Annabeth whispered to the stars.

The ring around her finger grew warm under her glove, and the stars twinkled in reply.