Percy Jackson and the Triwizard Tournament (Goblet of Fire)

Chapter 17: Malfoy gets Punched... AGAIN

Harry rubbed his eyes and mumbled, "Just a bad dream..."

"What's bad, Harry?" Neville asked in a friendly tone as he fumbled with his Gryffindor tie.

"Err, nothing. It's nothing Neville..." though at the moment Neville seemed to pay full concentration on adjusting his collar, then trying again to fix his tie once more.

Since the Goblet of Fire called out his name, Ron continued to ignore Harry by any means possible. By the time he had arrived at the table, Ron was nowhere in sight.

"Where's Ron? He isn't having breakfast now, what's the matter with him?"

Hermione lowered her book, "He ate... it's just he isn't here right now..."

"Why not?" Harry frowned, "He's been acting like this since last night..."

She scoffed, "Isn't obvious? He's jealous of you!"

"Me?"

"Oh, is that why Ron's acting weird?" Percy spoke from behind the two, startling them. He then turned towards Harry, "Well, if it isn't my fellow champion! You excited?"

Harry's smile faltered. Usually Percy was encouraging and supportive, but with the suspicions from Hermione and the rest of the group, now wasn't the time to think of each other as "friends."

"Yes." he said with a dull, flat tone.

Percy and the others frowned, obviously upset with the lack of friendliness and took it as a sign to sit somewhere else in the Great Hall. Being from another school, they didn't find constraint to sitting at only one table. After a few minutes of browsing the Great Hall, students urging them to sit here and there, they found a place at the Ravenclaw table beside Fleur Delacour and across from Luna Lovegood and Padma Patil.

Hermione nodded, "I know they're nice Harry, but it can all be an act. We shouldn't trust them 'till we get to the bottom of this." She slid the strange, foreign gold coin towards him.

Harry studied it in his hands, the coin barely fitted in his palm. The side facing him was engraved with a woman wearing a large helmet and spear in one hand. Attached onto her other arm was a large, round shield of a head drowning in a sea of snakes. 'No,' he thought to himself, 'the head's hair IS the snakes...' The shield looked frightening, and Harry was afraid to find how scared he would be if he saw it in real life. The woman held the shield level to her waist, which looked very strange with the toga dress she wore.

Harry flipped the coin over, viewing the other side.

This version of the coin looked quite different. Instead of the ancient looking armor, there was a modern-looking skyscraper with a storm of thunder and lightning hovering above. It took a moment to recognize it, but Harry soon realized what building it was, "Is that the-"

"Empire State Building? Yes, it is..." Hermione nodded as she looked over his shoulder to observe the coin as well.

"Then what's this side?" Harry flipped it back over to the menacing looking... why did he want to say queen? The figure seemed to have a leader sort of presence.

Hermione sighed, obviously stumped, "So far it looks most promising to believe it is Athena, the Greek Goddess of Wisdom. My best guess is because of the shield. In ancient mythology, Perseus offered Medusa's head after completing his quest, which is why it's a symbol of the goddess." she shook her head, and began to show frustration in her voice, "But it doesn't make sense! This is ancient mythology, and I have no clue why this is related to them being Death Eaters or spies!"

Harry sighed, handing the coin back to her,

"Why would they have something like this?"

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