A Prophecy of Two Boys

Chapter 48

Annabeth and Luna, who had slipped away to their dorms when we headed for the bathroom, met us just outside the Hospital Wing. It was uncanny, Luna's strange knowledge of what was going on and when. They didn't say a word, but pushed open the door.

"We informed Madam Pomfrey of the situation." They whispered quietly in our ear as we past. Draco smirked as we passed the message on to him. He offered Luna and Annabeth a proud smirk. He couldn't deny that they were certainly interesting people to be around. A wave of pride for our friends washed over us. Luna and Annabeth might not exactly be normal, but that was over-rated anyway. For what our lives involved, they had a much better chance of survival this way too.

We shivered as we considered the high death rate that hung over all Demigods. The fact that we had survived reaching camp with only one monster attack really spoke for how lucky we were. I was a miracle Annabeth and Luna had survived alone on the streets too, no matter how short a time it had been. Seeing Ron and Charles had Hermione and Madam Pomfrey covered, we hugged Annabeth and Luna quickly.

We needed to be off to bed, and Draco was already pulling on our arm, calling us back to the common room. We did only have about ten minutes to be back before curfew. Harry nodded to Draco, then walked over to Charles.

"We need to go. Curfew is nearly here, and Professor Snape won't be happy if we're not back in time. We'll talk later at home tomorrow." Harry flashed our brother a hard look. We might have understood why they had invaded the Slytherin Common Room, but Charles had already known that we more than certainly didn't approve of the potion, or the fact that they wanted to, and now look what had come of it. Hermione was in the hospital wing, no longer able to go home for Christmas.

Charles nodded, guilt in his eyes. We sighed. It was obvious that rebuking him wasn't going to stop him from getting into any more trouble. We'd just have to watch over him more carefully, and try harder to prevent it in future.

Then we turned to go, offering our goodnights to Luna and Annabeth, then leaving with Draco.

The corridors were empty and silent as we quickly picked up Blaise and Theo before heading down to the dungeons. We sighed with relief that Alyssa was safe in her Chamber for tonight. With all the excitement over Christmas we wouldn't be surprised if there were Gryffindors running round the school tonight, and adding in a deadly snake would only end badly. Our thoughts turned to the red-head who was being possessed by the 'false master' of Alyssa's and groaned. Alyssa was doing her best not to hurt anybody, but if this girl carried on... We would have to investigate it as soon as we got back after the holidays.

It was only later, when we were in bed and on the very edge of sleep that Harry suddenly remembered something.

'Isn't Charles staying over the holidays this Christmas? Something about wanting to keep Ron company while his parents were away in Egypt with Bill?'

I chuckled lightly. 'That sneaky Lion! Maybe we should confront him at breakfast...'

'No.' Harry disagreed.

'No.' I echoed with a sigh. 'I doubt they'll even leave the hospital wing for breakfast.'

The next morning Harry woke early, and so when I woke he already had us dressed and our last few belongings packed away. My bleary vision cleared as Harry shook our head, refocusing our eyes on the text. I didn't even bother trying to decipher the jumbled letters into words this early in the morning, instead deciding to let Harry read it out to me mentally. I had forgotten how relaxing that could be, having somebody else to read to me.

After a while, however, I began to get restless, ready for breakfast and to be moving. Harry chuckled lightly, bookmarking his place and standing up. 'Shall we go wake the others? Breakfast is probably just about starting now, and we've got two hours until the train leaves.'