Chaos Rising |BOOK 2| Harry Potter x PJO |Alexandra Marine|

JASON GRACE

There was a loud bang and Hermione vanished behind a puff of black smoke.

"Hermione!" shouted Harry and Ron; the breakfast tray slid to the floor with a crash.

Hermione emerged, coughing, out of the smoke, clutching the telescope and sporting a brilliantly purple black eye.

"I squeezed it and it... it punched me!" she gasped.

And sure enough, there was now a tiny fist on a long spring protruding from the end of the telescope.

"Don't worry," said Ron, who was plainly trying not to laugh, "Mum'll fix that, she's good at healing minor injuries..."

"Oh well, never mind that now!" said Hermione hastily. "Harry, oh, Harry..."

She sat down on the edge of his bed again.

"We wondered, after we got back from the Ministry... Obviously, we didn't want to say anything to you, but from what Lucius Malfoy said about the prophecy, how it was about you and Voldemort, well, we thought it might be something like this... Oh, Harry..." She stared at him, then whispered, "Are you scared?"

"Not as much as I was," said Harry. "When I first heard it, I was... but now, it seems as though I always knew I'd have to face him in the end..."

"When we heard Dumbledore was collecting you in person, we thought he might be telling you something or showing you something to do with the prophecy," said Ron eagerly. "And we were kind of right, weren't we? He wouldn't be giving you lessons if he thought you were a goner, wouldn't waste his time... he must think you've got a chance!"

"That's true," said Hermione. "I wonder what he'll teach you, Harry? Really advanced defensive magic, probably... powerful countercurses... anti-jinxes... and evasive enchantments generally," concluded Hermione. "Well, at least you know one lesson you'll be having this year, that's one more than Ron and me. I wonder when our O.W.L. results will come?"

"Can't be long now, it's been a month," said Ron.

"Hang on," said Harry. "I think Dumbledore said our O.W.L. results would be arriving today!"

"Today?" shrieked Hermione. "Today? But why didn't you... oh my God... you should have said..."

She leapt to her feet.

"I'm going to see whether any owls have come..."

"Words were spoken at the wrong time," Annabeth said, smiling. 

Harry grinned. 

***

"Let's go," I said. "Maybe the owls have arrived."

But when Harry arrived downstairs ten minutes later, fully dressed and carrying his empty breakfast tray, it was to find Hermione sitting at the kitchen table in great agitation, while Molly tried to lessen her resemblance to half a panda.

"It just won't budge," Molly was saying anxiously, standing over Hermione with her wand in her hand and a copy of The Healer's Helpmate open at the chapter, 'Bruises, Cuts, and Abrasions'. "This has always worked before, I just can't understand it."

"It'll be Fred and George's idea of a funny joke, making sure it can't come off," said Ginny.

"But it's got to come off!" squeaked Hermione. "I can't go around looking like this forever!"

"You won't, dear, we'll find an antidote, don't worry," said Molly soothingly.

"They'll have one at the store," Percy said reassuringly. "And we'll be there in a few days anyway.."