The Golden Wand [Harry Potter/Percy Jackson]

Chapter 30: Kick Goode Out

Hermione POV:

"Is that real?" I heard Ginny ask.

"Yep," Hazel replied. "It's a peace offering."

"Peace offering?" Harry scowled.

"I don't know... we Brits take Peace Offerings very seriously," Draco mused. "Usually in the form of a Roast Dinner or a Cream Tea or, I don't know... a Hog Roast. Not a melon."

Percy laughed humorously. "We never had any of those things, honestly."

"I used magic on our food to make it look better than it was," Hazel chimed in. "We were only ever eating chicken and rice, but you saw something different. Last week my brother worked out how to conjure fruit – it's the only other food we've been eating all this time. So, um, we humbly offer you this melon as a symbol of our apologies and regrets for everything we've done in the last two weeks."

"Three weeks, actually, it's been three weeks," Draco corrected.

"Has it really?" Hazel sounded shocked. "Oh my gods, we've here too long."

"Yeah, tell me about it," Draco chuckled, sounding almost normal. I frowned but refused to turn around. I had my back to the group, as I had for the entirety of the last two – no three – weeks. "Some days I wake up and forget where we are and then-"

"-We don't accept your peace offering," Harry interrupted.

"I'm sorry, what? Harry, dude, it's a melon. A real melon!" Draco argued. "We accept!"

"No, dude, come on!" Harry replied. "It's got to be a set up or trap or something. And even if it were real, we wouldn't take it from them. They're the enemy."

"But-"

"-Exactly!" Annabeth blurted out suddenly.

Just the sound of her voice put me on edge. Ever since our first argument in this room three weeks ago I had been different; I barely spoke, barely looked away from the wall, barely moved out of my cocoon. I only ever cried and slept and ate and let myself become consumed with thoughts of Annabeth and the words we had said to each other. The lies we had said. I thought endlessly of our friendship – our perfect friendship we had built – and how it had crumbled within minutes and there was no way of turning back. I was angry, so angry that I sometimes convinced myself I hated her. But the truth was I wanted nothing more than to be her friend again, and sadly she didn't feel the same way. When the room had exploded into argument upon argument I had only ever stirred to look at her; I would tell myself to apologise, but when I opened my mouth I could only ever bring myself to say foul things I would later regret. So we remained enemies, and every argument we began we would end in tears.

"Exactly... what?" Ginny asked cautiously. I continued to look at the wall.

"We are enemies!" Annabeth said cheerily. "That's why it's so important you accept our apology, so that we are no longer enemies."

"Yeah, um, I'm gonna pass on that one," Harry said bluntly. I could hear him start to walk away.

"No, please, just hear me out!" Annabeth cried out suddenly. "Just listen, okay?.. You lost someone – Luna, right?" 

The thought of Luna formed a lump in my throat. I tormented myself each day, thinking about how I could have done or said something to stop her from quitting... I had been so absorbed in my own self pity I hadn't even tried to save my friend. It was an act of selfishness I refused to let go of. 

"If you're just going to gloat-" Ginny began irritably.

"-No that's not what I'm trying to do!" Annabeth argued. "I simply mean... when you lost Luna she said that she never meant any of those hurtful things she said, right? She said that she wasn't a fighter, but the Competition was making her one and she didn't like that. Can't you see? We're all being made fighters by the competition. We're all saying hurtful things we don't mean. What I'm trying to get at is... we aren't enemies. Not really. Or, we don't want to be enemies-"