"What happened?" Annabeth asked as Harry and Nico came running into the Common Room.
"Mr. Crouch... Krum... Stunned... Snape is... jerk... Gone..."
"Repeat that very slowly," Hermione said, who had stood up in alarm.
"We saw Mr. Crouch," Harry panted. "He's gone mad, insane, thought Percy was a tree--"
Percy frowned. "What?"
"Percy Weatherby!" Nico waved his hands impatiently. "That's not important."
"Actually, it's very important!" Thalia said. "You say Percy was turned into a tree?"
"He seemed to think so! And he didn't notice that it wasn't Percy! Weasley!" Harry added quickly. "Then he went blabbing on about how he had to see Dumbledore, and how Voldemort was rising--" Ron flinched. "So I left to get Dumbledore-- Nico was waiting for me-- then the Gargoyle wouldn't open, then Snape was there being a slimy jerk, but Dumbledore came down and then we went to find them again, but Crouch was gone and Krum was stunned and then Krum came back and said Crouch attacked him from behind!" Harry drew in a long, drawn out breath as he finished.
Annabeth rubbed her temples. "So... you're saying that Mr. Crouch, Ministry official, was found drunk in the Forbidden forest? Then he attacked Krum and vanished?"
"Yep," Nico confirmed.
"That doesn't make any sense," Annabeth murmured. "First of all, what was he doing in the Forbidden Forest? Percy was pretty certain that he was on sick leave--"
"He probably knew," Ron grumbled. "But he's just so in love with Crouch that he made a cover story for him."
"And then what was all this about Voldemort rising?" Annabeth asked. Ron flinched again. "I know there've been a lot of events in the past years--"
"Sorcerer's stone," Hermione supplied.
"Riddle's diary," Jason added.
"Wormtail," Thalia said.
"And the Quidditch World Cup," Harry remembered.
"I wouldn't be surprised if he did," Annabeth said finally. "But when? And how?"
"Well, there's only one way to find out, is there?" Nico asked, smiling grimly. "We just have to wait."
Harry threw his head back over the couch and groaned. "I hate waiting. Especially when Voldemort's involved."
Ron flinched again.
"If Snape hadn't held me up," Harry said bitterly. "We would've gotten there in time. 'The headmaster is busy, Potter... what's this rubbish, Potter?' Why couldn't he have just gotten out of the way?"
"Maybe he didn't want you to get there!" Ron said quickly. "Maybe-- hang on-- how fast d'you reckon he could've gotten down to the forest? D'you reckon he could've beaten you and Dumbledore there?"
"Not unless he can turn himself into a bat or something," Nico said, shaking his head.
"Wouldn't put it past him," Thalia muttered.
Percy frowned at the fire. "Is it too early to wake up Moody?"
"Yes," Harry replied immediately. "He'd probably curse us through the door for waking him up at the crack of dawn; he'd think someone was trying to kill him in his sleep."
Despite it being three in the morning, they went to breakfast.
"Thank the gods for house elves," Ron said to the platters heaping with bacon and sausages and potatoes. Hermione frowned a bit. (I'm not having her as obsessed over SPEW in this because it was kind of hard to integrate it in here. Also it's not in the movie so there's another excuse.)
"What about the third task though?" Annabeth asked as she picked at her bacon. "What was up with that?"
Nico shivered. "It's a maze. An enchanted maze."
He, Annabeth, and Percy immediately fell silent. Finally, Annabeth spoke up.
"You don't think it's the Labyrinth?"
"No, it was a hedge maze." Nico looked weary. "But the Labyrinth is an enchanted maze, and our task is an enchanted maze. I wouldn't be surprised if, half way there, they merged together."
"Don't jinx it." Jason thought hard. "D'you think there's someway to... sneak Hazel in with you? She's good at bending this stuff, right?"
Nico smiled in pride. "She defeated the person who made the Labyrinth magical. Yes, she's good at this." Then his face fell. "But no, I'm not allowed to. We'd be caught. And I don't want to put her in any more danger. Who knows what Hagrid put in there?"
"Hagrid's supplying creatures?" Thalia chuckled. "Oh, this should be great."
Hermione shot her a look. "Thalia... they could be in real danger."
"Unlikely," Annabeth said. "I mean, yes, Hagrid could plop in some monsters, but he knows that Harry's a champion. He wouldn't endanger them in any way."
"He also made us train a blast-ended-skrewt," Harry reminded her. "And gave us monster books as text books. I think we have very different definitions of 'safe'."
>>>•O•<<<
"Oh dear gods," Thalia muttered as she passed a window on their way to Divination. "It's boiling out there."
Jason shuddered. "Trelawney never puts out the fire."
"Is she trying to boil us alive?" Ron panted as soon as they sat down in their armchairs. Harry snagged the window seat first, farthest from the fire.
"I hate you," Percy grumbled as he sat closest to the fire. Harry stuck his tongue out at him.
"My dears," Professor Trelawney swept into her armchair, not looking the slightest bit put off by the heat. "We have almost finished our work on planetary divination. Today, however, will be an excellent opportunity to examine the effects of Mars, for he is placed most interestingly at the present time."
"Great." Thalia got comfortable in her pouf, ready to go to sleep. "We're studying Ares today. As if he needed a bigger ego boost.
Then Professor Trelawney lifted from under her chair, a miniature model of the solar system, contained within a glass dome. It glittered enticingly, the planets suspended elegantly as they slowly orbited the sun, so slowly they seemed to be still. She began to point out the fascinating angle Mars was making to Neptune.
Then things got interesting.
It was a subtle change at first, and it had nothing to do with how Mars was drifting to Jupiter and away from Neptune. Annabeth wasn't sure what it was, but it was a small disturbance.
Then Harry screamed.
Everyone whipped around and stared as Harry yelled louder and louder than ever, his eyes squeezed tightly shut. His hands grasped at his scar as if it were a knife in his head, he doubled over and fell on the floor, his hands clawed at his forehead, he wouldn't stop screaming...
"Harry! Harry!"
Ron kneeled next to Harry, trying to shake him back to reality. His face was white. The screaming died down, and Harry peeled his eyes open.
"You alright?" Ron asked.
"Of course he isn't!" Professor Trelawney said, looking the most excited she had all year. "What is it, Potter? A premonition? An apparition? What did you see?"
"Nothing," Harry said shakily. He stood up, looking around in fearful, darting movements at the shadows.
"You were clutching your scar!" Professor Trelawney said in a loud yet hushed tone. "You were rolling on the floor, clutching your scar! Come now, Potter, I have experience in these matters!"
Harry looked at her skeptically.
"I need to go to the hospital wing, I think," he said. "Bad headache."
"My dear, you were undoubtedly stimulated by the extraordinary clairvoyant vibrations of my room! If you leave now, you may lose the opportunity to see further than you ever have before--" Professor Trelawney said, as if it would convince him to stay.
"I don't want to see anything right now except a headache cure," Harry said flatly. He swept up his bag and headed out the door. Professor Trelawney looked extremely frustrated.
"He had a true vision!" she said in a disgruntled tone. "A rare, true vision! And he refuses to see more?"
"I wonder why," Nico muttered under his breath.
yes, I know, I missed yesterday. And my excuse is that it's summer and I lose track of all the days in summer. they all seem the same to me. It's either Sunday or it's not. and yes that was a boring filler chapter I was debating whether or not to delete the divination scene and skip to another one but then I got lazy because I already wrote it and stuffs so yeah