The weekend before the first task, Annabeth was curled up in a chair with a spellbook in the library for the who-knows-how-many-times time. She had come here after classes on Friday to do research, and she had stayed overnight with the help of her invisibility yankees cap. Now with the cap resting at her side, Annabeth continued combing through book after book.
She had found a lot of useful spells, and now she was studying roots and wand movements and drafting a list of original spells to test. She was also making a list of uses she wanted spells to have, so she could study those and see what roots and movements to pair them with for the best effect.
The task was on Tuesday, and Annabeth hated not knowing what it was. She needed to research, arm herself with knowledge about her enemy. Knowledge was her biggest weapon, and Annabeth felt like the blade had been removed, leaving just the hilt and the guard.
Annabeth buried her face in her hands in frustration. She wanted to fight something. She had tried to find that room from a few months before, the gym, but whenever she went looking for it, it was like the room never existed.
Shaking her head, Annabeth picked up the book again, but the words looked like mush. She rubbed her eyes and the words came into better focus, and she continued.
"Annabeth."
"Just a sec," Annabeth muttered.
"Annabeth."
"Go ask Vera."
"Girl. I am Vera. How long have you been here?"
"That's nice."
Annabeth felt a hand on her shoulder. She jumped and whirled around as much as she could in her chair, but it was only Vera, with Freddie standing next to her.
"Oh, "Annabeth said. "When did you get here?"
"You didn't show up in our dorm last night," Vera said. "I wanted to go look for you but Freddie stopped me 'cause it was midnight."
"Have you been here all night?" Freddie asked.
"Probably," Annabeth said, sitting up and rubbing her eyes.
"Ok. you need to unwind," Vera said. "Come on, it's a Hogsmeade weekend. We're going out."
"Hogsmeade Weekend?" Annabeth echoed, allowing Vera and Freddie to pull her out of her chair.
"The village outside Hogwarts," Freddie explained, her hands moving in some strange tick. "We're allowed to go on some weekends. Can I fix your hair?"
Ah. that explained the tick. At Annabeth's nod, Freddie combed her fingers through Annabeth's hair and patted it down. Then she straightened Annabeth's robes before whisking both Annabeth and Vera back to their dorm so Annabeth could change out of her school uniform.
Once all that was done, they went up to the Entrance Hall, where they met Daisy, and down the staircase in front of the castle, where dozens of carriages were waiting.
Annabeth slowed down. Harnessed to each carriage was a horse, if you could call it that. They were stick thin, black skin stretched over every bone. Skeletal bat wings flapped calmly at their sides.
"What are those things?" Annabeth asked warily.
"What things?" Freddie said.
"The ones pulling the carriages."
Freddie and Vera both looked at Annabeth like she was crazy.
"The carriages are pulled by magic," Daisy said. "As far as i know at least."
"You mean you can't see them?" Annabeth asked.
Freddie shook her head. Was this some trick of the mist? Annabeth trusted her eyes, but did the mist affect wizards and witches? Maybe these were some sort of mythological creatures that somehow got roped into pulling the carriages. Or maybe only certain people could see them. Maybe it was just demigods.
"Huh," Annabeth said.
"When was the last time you slept, seriously?" Vera said.
"That's not important. I'm not seeing things. I mean, I am, but it's not a trick. Watch."
Annabeth walked confidently over to one of the skeletal horses. She reached one and held out her hand, fingers flat, for the horse to sniff. The horse bypassed Annabeth's hand and nuzzled her pocket instead. After a few seconds it nosed Annabeth's pocket open and sniffed Annabeth's picture of Percy.
"Can you smell him on it?" Annabeth asked quietly. The horse snorted.
"Um, Annabeth?" Freddie said. "Is your pocket moving?"
"I told you they're here," Annabeth said, stroking the horse's neck.
"That's so weird that we can't see them," Daisy said, going to stand next to Annabeth.
"Cobbler! Chase! Stop hogging the carriages!"
"Sorry, Filch!" Daisy yelled.
Annabeth patted the skeletal horse one more time and stepped into the carriage with her friends.
***
"Where do you want to go? Honeydukes? The Three Broomsticks? The Shrieking Shack? Zonko's?"
"Slow down, Vera," Daisy said, taking her girlfriend's hand. "It's her first time."
Hogsmeade was a small village down the hill from Hogwarts, walled in by mountains on one side, a gentle slope up to the castle on the adjacent, and cliffs with drops both steep and gradual on the other two sides. It had a few main streets with little shops and restaurants, which then gave way to the residential streets.
The roads weren't paved, street lamps with candles instead of lightbulbs lined the sidewalks, and most of the village was built using medieval architecture styles.
Annabeth loved it.
"Let's start at the Three Broomsticks," Freddie suggested.
Everyone agreed, so they headed there. The Three Broomsticks was a restaurant and bar that was absolutely full of Hogwarts students.
"I'm going to get you a butterbeer, Annabeth," Vera said. "Freddie, bubble water?" At Freddie's nod, Vera took Daisy's hand and dragged her through the crowds, trying to fight her way to the bar to order.
"Come on, let's go find a table," Freddie said.
"In this? Gods help us."
Freddie didn't seem to hear Annabeth's second comment. She grabbed Annabeth's wrist to ensure they didn't get separated and they plunged into the crowd.
It took a while, but they found an empty table (re: waited for a group to get up and then raced seven other people to get it).
"Here!" Vera said, appearing out of the crowd with four cups in hand. She slammed the cups onto the table. "I lost Daisy. Do you think she's gone forever?"
"She might be," Annabeth said, surveying the crowd.
Vera let out a high pitched breath through her mouth. She looked back at the teeming wall of teenagers. "I'll be back. Probably."
With that, she put her hands together and pretended to dive, running through the crowd.
"What do you want to bet that we'll never see them again?" Freddie asked as she pulled one of the cups towards her and shoved one at Annabeth.
"I'll bet that Daisy is going to come back before Vera does," Annabeth said.
"Ok, if you win I won't criticize your hair and clothing for a week, but if I win then I get to do your hair and pick your outfits for a week. Deal?"
"Deal."
Annabeth won the bet. Not a minute later, Daisy appeared by their table with her hair all ruffled.
"Dang it," Freddie muttered.
Not long after Daisy got there, Vera arrived, walking backwards for some reason. She hit the table and sat down forcefully.
"Daisy!" she said when she looked around.
"Vera!" Daisy said.
They embraced and kissed like it had been years since they last saw each other.
"Ok, try the butterbeer, Annabeth," Vera said.
"This should be interesting." Annabeth lifted the glass to her lips, the yellowy liquid sloshing inside. The second the drink touched her tongue, Annabeth burst into coughs. "Holy— What did they do, melt butter and pour it in the cup?"
"You don't like it?" Vera exclaimed.
"I feel like I just bit into a stick of butter," Annabeth gasped, trying to get the taste out of her mouth.
"You're insane," Vera said while Daisy and Freddie laughed.
***
They spent the day exploring the village, showing Annabeth the sites. Annabeth stayed on the lookout for monsters. None had attacked while she was in the castle, but something told her to be more wary now that she was off the grounds.
Vera got a bunch of joke supplies from a place called Zonko's Joke Shop, Freddie got a self brushing hair brush from a general store, Daisy got a bunch of seeds and (somehow) found a collapsible balance beam that could shrink to the size of a wand, and Annabeth picked out a book on wizarding architecture.
Sunday passed in a blur. Annabeth wanted to spend the day working on her list of new spells, but her friends dragged her outside after a few hours. They sat under a tree by the lake, where Daisy did some crazy gymnastics on her new balance beam.
Speaking of spells, Annabeth had come up with a few original ones that she hoped would be useful in the first task. She had practiced them and made sure they worked before her friends decided all her hours in the library were unhealthy.
So most of Sunday was spent trying to forget about the first task, because, in Vera's words, 'you've been preparing so much that spells are going to start pouring out of your ears.'
Now it was monday, and Annabeth couldn't sit still in any of her classes. She kept running her hand over the knife in its holster, wishing she could have it with her the next day. But using a knife when only wands were allowed would probably get her disqualified.
Annabeth kept running her fingers through her hair as she and her friends walked to Transfiguration, and Freddie looked like she was dying because she couldn't say anything about the frizz that it caused.
Then suddenly the bottom of Annabeth's bag split open, spilling all her stuff all over the floor.
"Styx," she muttered, stopping in her tracks.
"I told you you carry too many books," Vera said, crouching down to help.
"No, it's fine," Annabeth said. "You guys go ahead. You'll be late."
"You sure?" Freddie asked.
"Yeah, go ahead."
Freddie shrugged, and she and Vera set off, heading for the doors. Annabeth bent down, examining the bottom of her bag. It looked like it had been cut, not torn. Not five seconds later, Harry appeared, slightly out of breath.
"Did you split my bag?" Annabeth asked.
"Annabeth," Harry said, though he did nod once. "The first task is dragons."
Annabeth's head shot up. "What?"
"Dragons," Harry said quickly. "They've got four, one for each of us, and we've got to get past them."
"How do you know?" Annabeth asked seriously, ignoring the bell that had just rung.
"I've seen them. But I'm not the only one who knows. Fleur and Krum will know by now— Maxine and Karkaroff both saw the dragons too."
"Ok..." Annabeth nodded, stuffing her things into her bag as best as she could. "What kind of dragons? How big are they?"
"I don't know, I only saw them for a second, but I know they're dragons."
"And why are you telling me? I'm a Slytherin, aren't I?"
Harry blinked. "It's just... fair, isn't it? We all know now... we're on even footing, aren't we? Why wouldn't I tell you?"
Before Annabeth could reply, a dull thunking noise echoed down the hallway, and Moody emerged from one of the classrooms.
"Come with me, Potter," he said, his voice gravelly. "Chase, off you go."
"Er— Professor," Harry said nervously, "i'm supposed to be in Herbology—"
"Never mind that, Potter. In my office, please..."
Harry shot Annabeth a nervous look, then followed Moody down the hall. Annabeth hugged her bag to her chest. Dragons. Would she have to fight one? Or just get past it? Dragons were famously tough, and though they didn't have petrifying gazes like drakons, they were still a challenge.
Did Annabeth know enough spells to face one with just a wand? She hoped so, but she decided to research some more just to be safe. And she would have to read up on dragons before tomorrow.
Annabeth took a deep breath. There was no way she was going to Transfiguration now.
***
"Good luck, Annabeth."
"You're going to do great, Annabeth!"
"Best of luck today!"
Annabeth, sitting at the breakfast table, was getting fed up with people wishing her luck. Of course she appreciated it, but it was getting tiring.
"Are you ready?" Freddie asked.
"I hope so," Annabeth said, eating her eggs. "I think I am, but there's always room for improvement."
"Annabeth, you've been preparing nonstop for the past week," Vera said. "You're going to be fine."
"Chase, it is time for you to go down to the grounds."
Annabeth looked up to see Snape, who didn't look as mean as usual, standing behind the table. His black robes pooled around him like a cape of shadows.
"Good luck, Annabeth," Freddie said as Annabeth got up.
Annabeth nodded. She took a deep breath and followed Snape out of the Great Hall, down the staircase, and onto the grounds.