Annabeth Chase the Triwizard Champion

Chapter Twelve

    Annabeth,

    You seem to be adjusting well to life at Hogwarts, but be warned: your days of leisure are coming to an end. It is starting. It is imperative to your success that you earn the trust of Harry Potter and his friends. I know you will believe him tonight, but make sure he knows, too. Practice with your wand; learn combative and defensive spells. Best of luck in the tasks ahead of you.

                                        -Hecate

    Annabeth groaned and put her head in one of her hands. She definitely hadn't had any days of leisure recently. She could only wonder what was coming. And what had Hecate been referring to when she wrote 'it is starting'? The tournament? Or something else? As for what Annabeth would be believing, she could only guess. Who was she supposed to be believing, anyway? And the 'tasks ahead of you'. Something told Annabeth that Hecate wasn't talking about the tournament. 

    With a sigh, she put the letter back in its envelope and put that in her trunk. Then she gathered her school uniform and headed to the bathroom.

    Annabeth dropped her clothes in a corner and covered it with a towel before turning on the shower, peeling off her sweaty workout clothes, throwing them to the side, and stepping in, letting the cold water wash over her.

    Cold showers always helped Annabeth think. It cleared her head, woke her up, and just generally felt good. Annabeth savored the feeling of the cold water running down her scalp before her brain woke up and she started thinking.

    What did Dumbledore say the tournament was going to be testing? Magical prowess, daring, deduction, and the ability to cope with danger. Annabeth was confident in her abilities with the last three, but magical prowess might be a problem. She didn't know many spells, and the only magic item she had other than her wand probably wasn't going to be allowed.

    She needed to study up. Hecate's Academy for Magic was supposed to be a prestigious school, which meant if Annabeth wanted to keep her cover she would have to learn a lot of spells in very little time.

    First she would study the roots. Look into the names and incantations of different spells. The ones she had heard so far all seemed to be rooted in Latin, so Annabeth would have to brush up on her knowledge on the language. She would also look at Ancient Greek and see if that had an effect on magic, better or worse.

    Then came studying the actual spells. Annabeth had to figure out what spells she would need, which ones existed and which ones didn't. She would also have to study the wand movements and see what effect they had, and how important they were to the spell. What she also needed to find out was if her own ability to cast the spells was enhanced by her godly blood or not. Hecate had said weeks ago that as a half blood, she naturally had the power of a witch, but Annabeth needed to see if her godly blood made it easier to cast spells.

    Next would be brainstorming. Finding out which spells would be helpful, and if they existed or not. If they did, Annabeth would add them to a mental list for her to study. If not, then she would think up different Ancient Greek and Latin words and incantations that might work with what she wanted to do, along with if wand movements would be important or not.

    Now that Annabeth thought about it, she wondered what would happen if she said the incantation for one spell while using the wand movement of another. What would happen? Would nothing happen, or would it create a combo of both spells? Or maybe it would just explode. Annabeth had learned during the construction of the Argo II that some things just don't mix. Her curiosity won out, though, and she decided to try it when she got the chance.