The Golden Wand [Harry Potter/Percy Jackson]

Chapter 54: The Week Before the Trial

Percy POV:

The atmosphere in Hogwarts was electric. April came along and at the very start of the Easter Holidays, Cedric Diggory arrived at school to announce that the Ninth Trial would take place in two weeks time. Whilst the whole school was buzzing with excitement and anticipation, the nine remaining competitors spent every single waking second of their day learning new spells and training as hard as they could for the trial. 

Annabeth and I separated ourselves from the others, going as far in to the Forbidden Forest as we dared in order to train together in private. 

At the end of the first week of the holidays, Annabeth and I finished our revision for the day and made our way to our hiding spot in the forest, where she proceeded to teach me the Ventus Jinx. 

"Ah, fuck sake," I cursed, noticing how after twenty-minutes of practice my spell was still weak and ineffective. "You know, Air Magic really isn't my thing. This is Jason's sort of spell."

"Perce, you can't just spray water at everyone every five minutes. People know that it's your speciality now; they're probably all working on counter-charms as we speak. You've got to vary your skillset," Annabeth pointed out. I rolled my eyes. 

"At this rate, I'm gonna lose the trial in the first five minutes." She frowned and slapped my shoulder. 

"Shut up, you will not! You know all too well that you're stronger than the rest of us-"

"-apart from you-"

"-well, yes, that was implied," she said, making me laugh. "Besides, you'll have me with you anyway - the two of us are unstoppable."

"You're serious?" I tilted my head to the side and gave her my best puppy-dog grin. "You're gonna team up with me?"

"Of course," she smiled, reaching for my hands. "Depending on how things go, the judges will either let two or four competitors make it to the next round. We're going to make sure that, no matter what, that'll be the two of us."

I smiled, leaning further into her embrace. "That sounds like a great plan. Now we just have to make sure I can get more points than Hermione, Fleur and Hazel."

Suddenly, she was pulling hard on my arm and I went flying through the air, landing hard on my back. Lying on the forest floor, winded and dazed, she quickly pressed her wand to my throat before I could even make a sound. She rested a knee on my chest.

"Tip number 27: never let your guard down, Seaweed Brain," she smirked down at me. A few loose, blonde curls escaped from her ponytail and fell into her glinting eyes. Gods, she was so beautiful. "If you want to beat those girls then you're going to have to train harder and fight smarter."

I lightly traced my hands up the side of her body, resting them on her waist. She blushed. 

"Have I ever told you how pretty are when you fight?" I asked. 

"Yes, multiple times, actually," the corner of her mouth twitched. "Even when we fought that giant Flobberworm and its pus got all over me and-"

"-wow, even the word pus sounds pretty when it comes out of your mouth."

"Percy, gross, that was so cringey," she giggled, but she was leaning closer and closer towards me even as she said it. When our faces were no more than a few centimeters apart, I pointed my wand at her body and yelled "ventus duo!".

A stream of wind escaped from my wand and her body hurtled away from mine, landing roughly against a nearby tree. She sank to the floor, looking dazed. I stood up quickly, made my way towards her, but she raised her head with a smile and shouted "stupefy!". I just managed to deflect the spell, ran towards her and engulfed her in a hug before she could attack me more. The hug eventually led to kissing, and time slipped away from us, unnoticed until we heard the hoot of an owl and realized that the sun had completely set.