Percy Jackson and the Triwizard Tournament (Goblet of Fire)

Chapter 4: An Unexpected Hello from Hecate

Thalia grumbled quietly, in the back of the line, "Since when did we have luck?"

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"Honestly, I swear they act like 6 year olds,... " Annabeth rolled her eyes once she caught sight of Thalia and Percy sprinting towards the other side of King's Cross. The two have just moments ago placed a bet on who would get tired first. Of course Percy had cheated already, leaving puddles of water conveniently placed to trip her. And Thalia would never admit it, but she persuaded the winds to boost her forward, which Annabeth was positive about, because they were inside and knew it wasn't just luck. At least this gave Annabeth a moment to analyze her surroundings, and that's when her mouth slightly dropped. Oh gods, look at the size of this place!

The brick arches forged a perimeter around the trains, yet in conflict to the industrial theme, an arched glass skylight shone the bright light from the outdoors inside. It was obvious the place was recently remodeled and extended upon, but the contrast between the two styles worked surprisingly well together.  The Athena Parthenos could fit inside easily, with room to spare with its massive ceilings. And that's when she noticed the second floor, a slightly curved "balcony" which wrapped around the remodeled infrastructure.

"What're you thinking about, Wise Girl?" Annabeth just then shut her mouth closed, as Percy wrapped his arm over her shoulder. She looked up towards him. His wispy, raven black hair and sea-green eyes were hypnotic.

She leaned against his shoulder, before realizing, "Gross! You're all sweaty!" and shoved him backwards.

He laughed, "At least I beat Thalia!" She couldn't help but smile. Especially when Thalia stumbled forward that very moment, muttering something about 'that darn kid with the grocery cart standing in the way.' After Thalia grumbled, and handed him 2 drachmas, Annabeth cleared her throat.

"Hecate's meeting us up there," Annabeth pointed up towards the second floor, directly towards one of the restaurants. Thalia squinted up at the sign, have trouble reading what it said. Not only from her dyslexia, but the distance away from it was also added into the effect.

"Woah, woah. Hold up... Why are we just randomly meeting a Goddess in the middle of the most chaotic place we could possibly be? We are LITERALLY in a foreign county."

"We literally all speak the same language," Thalia raised an eyebrow, abandoning her hopes of reading the sign.

"Okay, okay. Enough. Chiron mentioned that Hecate is their patron, so I..." Annabeth paused, trying to grab their attention by snapping her fingers (which only worked momentarily before she had to do it again), "I prayed to her last night for a blessing. She's agreed to help us."

Percy and Thalia both nodded. But then glared up at the ceiling deep in thought.

"Why is the sun shining in my eye?" Percy squinted, staring up at the clouds just nearly enveloping the sun completely behind them, "What did I ever do to you, Apollo?"

"Hey, snap out of it!" Annabeth glanced at one of the clocks and gasped, "Styx! We've only got 20 minutes before the train leaves, let's go!"

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Harry was lost in deep in thought when a teenage kid almost rammed into his trolley.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" Ron shouted back, but the girl quickly pushed herself up, racing after the kid before her, who whizzed by as well, "Bloody hell, it won't surprise me if they run into a wall."

"Well, that's exactly what we're doing... So we're not the ones to judge, eh?" Fred remarked with a cocky grin, which caused Ron to jump. Unaware of his older brother lurking behind them.

"Merlin's beard stop sneaking up like that!"

The two twins laughed, before charging with full force towards 9 3/4.

Harry stopped walking momentarily, "Who do you think it was at the World Cup? The Death Eater?"

Hermione pushed her cart slightly forward, butting into the conversation, "The Daily Prophet has been going on and on about it. Apparently they still haven't caught the man who cast it..."

Harry turned the trolley at an angle, to face Ron and Hermione. He recalled the twisted snake, and the horrific figure embedded in the clouds. The dark mark. His mark. They all just stared at each other worriedly.

And then there was the repetition of his dream. The SAME one. Pettigrew was there, which made his blood boil in anger, and he couldn't help but notice that he had seen the other man elsewhere... It was just a dream, right?

Before he could say anymore, all three craned their necks at an uproar of muggles, walking in waves the opposite direction. It wasn't an abrupt noise, but the immediate uproar of motion was enough to wake him from his thoughts.

"Come on, let's get on the train."

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Of course Percy and Thalia had to race up the escalator too. Not just a normal race either, gods no. They had to race up the descending stairs and fight their way to the top of the landing.

And by fight, LITERALLY, fighting. At one point, Percy yanked at Thalia's hair. Which she oh-so-maturely responded to by electrocuting the metal railing he rested his hand on. Then there were punches, a few screams, and Annabeth finally pulled them apart.

After Annabeth's lecture, every once in a while glaring each of them down to make sure they were paying attention, they arrived at the "food court."

"17 more minutes," Thalia grumbled while looking up at the clock, "Wherever this goddess is, she better hurry. Or else we're going to have to leave anyways."

"Good thing you've arrived on time then," a cold voice snidely remarked.

They jumped back in surprise, and once they turned around they were face to face with Hecate.

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The goddess was clad in a crimson red blouse and charcoal grey pencil skirt. Her face was deathly pale (so pale it would give Nico a run for his money), and seemed cold, like stone. If Percy stared long enough, a chill would run up his spine.

And her eyes, he couldn't even tell the color. When he tried to determine what they looked like, his vision became blurry with cloudy green mist.

In her right arm she gripped a dog leash, which drooped down and barely scraped the floor. On the other end of the leash was a black Labrador Retriever, who growled softly when Thalia accidentally stepped on her tail (Luckily she jumped back in time before the dog's bared fangs tried to clamp onto her foot). On her left shoulder, rested a black, leathery tote bag. Every once in a while they would notice whiskers, belonging to a polecat, poke out from inside the purse. She seemed as any mortal would. Well, an extremely pompous and stuck-up mortal, but that's the way all gods act.

There was no doubt in the aura though. And demigods learned to never doubt the sense of aura.

"Lady Hecate," Annabeth dipped her head in acknowledgement,"What can we do for you?"

Well duh, why don't you help us out? Percy thought, but he knew Annabeth was playing it safe. One wrong move and gods can get very, VERY touchy. It's simple. NEVER ask gods for stuff, only wait patiently, like it's their idea.

Hecate merely stared at them, "I am replying to your prayer, aren't I? I come bearing gifts. But I must admit, I have my own benefits in you three succeeding..."

Percy raised his eyebrow, usual gods do not talk astray. And when a thin smile grew on her lips she seemed... what was that? Excitement? Percy had to admit, it scared him a little bit.

"What sort of gifts?" Thalia raised an eyebrow, facing the goddess after finishing an intense staring contest with Hecate's now angry dog. Luckily, Hecate paid no attention to her "pets," and only looked at the three demigods with a fierce glint of pleasure in her eyes.

"Wands."

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Word Count: 1,901