Half-Blood Means Two Things || Marauders Era | Percy Jackson ||

|| 14 - Someone Please Stop Me From Naming Things ||

The next important class I had was Astronomy... at midnight. Now, if you haven't figured this out about me, let me say it for special effect: I LOVE SLEEP. I do not, however, love getting up at midnight to stare at constellations I'd had memorized since I was seven. It got worse, I realized quite quickly when I realized we weren't fed before.

So the school had thought: Let's wake up our students in the middle of the night, make them climb a thousand staircases, but they don't get food at all. Brilliant planning, guys, brilliant.

"Why can't we just go in our pajamas?" I moaned as I pulled on a skirt and buttoned up my t-shirt. The air was cool, but not too severe that I needed a cardigan. Thea was in an even worse mood in the middle of the night then she was during the day. For being such a tiny, adorable-looking girl, it was really a massive surprise when she glared at you like you were nothing more than Cyclops' dung.

"We have uniforms for a reason," Thea spat as she pulled her dark hair up into a bun. "It's so there's order. Something you obviously don't know anything about."

I stared at her feeling as if I'd been slapped. I couldn't exactly disagree, but did she have to sound so rude when she said it? Not for the first time, I wondered if she hated me for a different reason then spitting pumpkin juice all over her. My eyes brushed over a pile of white envelopes piled by her bed. I shook my head and grabbed my bag knowing Thea wouldn't want me snooping through her things. She didn't need more reasons to glare at me like I'd killed her puppy.

I dragged my feet down the stairs. For as dramatic as I was being, I was probably more used to this than any of the other girls. Back at Camp, we got up at night often -- but that didn't mean I had to like it. In fact, I'd been looking forward to uninterrupted sleep.

So much for that.

"Where are we going?" I asked, rubbing my eyes. I'd tied my hair back -- it kind of looked like a bird's nest -- but all the other girls had combed their hair.

When Emilia answered, I couldn't help but be jealous of how silky her hair was even though she'd just gotten up. How was her hair always so perfect? If someone even whispered wind over my hair, it would get tangled. "The Astronomy tower, obviously,"

I stumbled to a stop in the common room. It was still brightly lit with a fire and a few lanterns, but we were the only ones in there. I thought it was odd that kids weren't allowed to roam the halls at night, but there were no teachers to escort us to our class. I guess Hogwarts really trust their students.

The Astronomy tower? I thoguht as I started walking again, Well, duh, Charlie. It is Astronomy.

"Are you alright?" Lily asked, her eyebrows knitting in concern.

I nodded and gave her a weak smile. I rubbed my eyes again as the other girls started through the hole in the wall. My eyes kind of hurt, but it wasn't from sleep. Everything seemed very sharp. I didn't have bad eyesight, but I'd never been able to see like this. It felt like colors had a sharpness and the edges of everything seemed as pointed as the knife in my bag.

The potion, I realized as I pulled myself up and out the portrait hole.

"Hey, Ro, can I borrow your book?" I asked. I hadn't brought mine because I'd totally forgotten I'd used the potion. I didn't think I'd need it. I didn't think I would even be able to use it.

Rowan didn't even question me and handed me a random book from her school bag.

I almost cried in relief. The title said The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quetin Trimble.