Hermione
To say that her first day had been interesting would be an understatement. Seating herself next to Ron in mythology, Hermione sighed.
"Bad day?" Ron asked with a slight laugh.
"You can't even imagine," Hermione huffed. "The only class I don't have homework in is DADA, and in that class the ferret Malfoy is my permanent partner."
"I'm sure the rest of your day will be great," he said idly, seeming to only be half there.
Hermione looked curiously at him, laying a hand on his arm in worry. She frowned when he cringed away from her. "What's wrong with you? Are you okay?"
"I have something I need to talk to you about – "
Ron was cut off abruptly by Professors Chase and Jackson clearing their throats at the front of the room.
"Talk about it later?" Hermione asked gently.
The look on Ron's face was not comforting. "Yeah, sure."
The professors glanced around the room before shutting the door. "Good afternoon," Professor Chase said evenly. "Welcome to Mythology I. To start off this class, we'd like to detail what you will learn over the course of this school year and what will be expected from you, as students. Of course, this class hardly pertains to magic, therefore we won't be using magic so much in this class, however, a true reasoning behind this class will come to light for those who choose to listen and participate."
Professor Jackson picked up. "In this class, we will teach mainly Greek mythology but Roman mythology may come to play in areas of importance."
Hermione perked up at the mention of Greek mythology — she had always had an interest in it as a child, flipping through books about the gods and the Titans, prancing around her house, pretending to shoot lightning bolts at her parents should they say something that angered her. "I'm Zeus!" she would cry, jumping onto her father's back. "You must listen to me!" Her father would freeze, as though petrified, and beg for mercy as she giggled and said: "Daddy, I'm only joking."
"We'll talk extensively about the Greek way of life through the gods, the progression of reign from primordials to the gods, and about all of the other creatures and people involved in between," Professor Chase continued, ignoring the whispers of excitement, confusion and all. "This class may not seem important but we urge you to keep an open mind as this will connect with Defense Against the Dark Arts."
Harry nudged her in the side. "What do you think of this?" he asked quietly.
"I'm excited!" she exclaimed. "I've always loved learning new things. And Greek mythology. Why do you suppose there isn't a required book for this class?"
Ron rolled his eyes beside her. "Do these professors seem conventional to you?"
"Well, no," Hermione responded slowly, "but their cultures are different than ours and their styles different from our professors. They're quite young too—maybe they have something else planned."
Ron harrumphed beside her but Hermione ignored him. Professor Annabeth waved her wand, Hermione noting that both professors seemed to use quite a bit of wordless magic, and upon her desk fell a small booklet titled: A History of Mythology and the Gods, a Brief Edition.
"We understand that textbooks are often not helpful," Professor Jackson said with a little laugh, "so these remain brief, for reference though I can assure you that you will not need it often. Let's start with the basics."
"Nox," Professor Chase murmured quietly. The lights switched off and a PowerPoint appeared on the board. The Twelve Olympians, Plus some.
Hermione promptly took out a roll of parchment to accompany the quill and ink already on her desk.
"Please," Professor Chase said, "do take notes. Many studies show that writing down the information along with hearing it increase memorization."
Other students groaned but Hermione sat upright in her seat, alert as ever. Ron was already snoring beside her.
"Ronald!" Hermione stepped on his toe, hard. Ron quickly awoke, howling quietly in pain.
"Blimey, 'Mione," he moaned, "what the bloody hell was that for?"
"Pay attention!" she said by way of explanation.
"First, who can name one of the twelve Olympians?"
Hermione's hand shot up, along with a smattering of others.
"Draco," Professor Chase inclined her head towards him.
"Athena," he said, grinning as though he knew something everyone else didn't.
Professor Jackson rolled his eyes, murmuring, "so predictable," under his breath. "Correct," he said though, louder this time. "Ten points to Slytherin."
Blaise patted Malfoy on his back.
"Hermione?" Professor Chase turned her face to Hermione.
"Zeus," she responded.
"Correct," Professor Chase said. "Ten points to Gryffindor. Anyone else?"
Malfoy and Hermione were the only ones with their hands still raised. "Why am I not surprised?" Professor Chase laughed. "Okay, we'll start the PowerPoint now."
The first slide was labeled "The Big Three." "The major gods that most everyone knows are known as the Big Three — Zeus, Poseidon and Hades. However, a common misconception is that Hades is an Olympian, though he is not. Can anyone tell me why?"
Hermione's hand shot up once more. "Hermione."
Hermione set her palm on her desk. "In order to decide the domain of each of the Big Three, they all drew straws. Zeus won, claiming the skies and position of king. Poseidon won the seas and everything liquid. Hades, however, was banished to the Underworld, left to his own domain, unable to participate in Olympian affairs except on the two solstices."
"Very good!" Professor Chase replied, beaming. "Thirty points to Gryffindor!"
Hermione made a face at Malfoy who had raised his hand a second later than hers. Malfoy raised an eyebrow at her and she gave him a devilish smirk.
"Ha!" she said quietly. "Take that."
"Zeus," Professor Jackson was saying, his face twisted with a hint of what appeared to be annoyance or distaste. "Is the King of the Gods, and rules over Olympus and everything else in the sky. His children are among the most powerful of any of the gods' children. His wife, Hera, the Queen of the gods, is the goddess of marriage — she makes it her goal to curse or hunt down any of the children Zeus conceived out of wedlock, and there are many of them."
"This causes a major rift in their relationship, and a rift in Olympus," Professor Chase explained.
"And a major attitude problem," Professor Jackson murmured under his breath. Hermione wondered why the professors had such strong feelings about the gods — it wasn't like they knew them; they were not real. "Among his children include the well known Hercules and Perseus; these children were known as demigods, or half god and half mortal. Demigods or half-bloods share some of the power of their godly parents, but are constantly chased down, and often killed, by monsters that seek to end the era of the gods. Some demigods can go oblivious as to their parentage their whole life, but are often sniffed out by monsters around the age of twelve to sixteen. Most of the heroes in the wars between titans or giants against the Gods feature demigod heroes; the gods often allow their children to fight along side them, but more often than not, the half-bloods alone face down the enemy."
Hermione jotted down notes enthusiastically — she had never heard of demigods or their history. Another thing that brought her pause, however, was the use of the professor's present tense. They seemed oddly entwined in all of the subjects they taught about, as if they were a part of that history. Hermione didn't want to think too much into it, but it was an intriguing thought . . .
Who were those professors really?
* * *
Annabeth
Annabeth sank onto the couch in Percy and hers suite, exhausted. "Holy Zeus," she murmured, "who knew teaching teenagers was so exhausting?"
Percy laughed from behind her as he stripped off his fancy shirt in distaste, pulling a T-shirt on over his head, but not before Annabeth caught a glance of his hard stomach, skin pulled taunt over his muscles. Percy raised his eyebrow at her and she blushed but shook her head at him, rolling her eyes. Percy stepped closer as Annabeth sat up, watching Percy lean against the back of the couch, his eyes following her every move. Annabeth rose to meet him.
"What?" she asked, flicking his nose playfully.
His green eyes lit up in amusement as he tugged gently on one of her curls. "You're just beautiful."
Annabeth smiled at him, lacing her hands around his neck as she rose on her knees to kiss him. His lips were soft, and parted against hers. "I love you Seaweed Brain," Annabeth sighed into his lips.
"I love you too Wise Girl," he replied, letting his hands fall down to rest on her waist. "What did we get ourselves into with this quest?"
Annabeth dropped her head to rest on his chest. "What quest is ever an easy quest?" she asked quietly. "At least we're here together. And we're here to make a difference in these kids. I can tell that they're still hesitant after the war — like it's going to happen again. Even though they try to hide it, even Harry, Hermione and Ron are clearly effected." She sighed.
"I know what you mean," Percy said, kissing her temple. "They're like us."
"Maybe that's why I'm so determined to help them," she replied.
Percy pulled away from Annabeth so he couldn't hop onto the couch. Annabeth laid her head against his shoulder and he swung his arm around her shoulders. "What about Draco?"
Annabeth's smile dropped. "Of course I'm happy to see him, but something seems up with him too. We fought our war, but he fought his, and I think he's feeling guilty about what he had to do to win it. Don't you remember when he was at camp? His eyes were always so bright and he was bubbly and happy. Now, his eyes look broken, and his face is sunken in and he just looks . . . " she blinked away tears. "He looks so sad."
Percy hugged Annabeth close. "That's understandable; wars effect everyone differently and we know just how badly they leave marks on us. Draco doesn't have anyone here who knows about his real life, and probably doesn't have anyone to talk to and be comfortable with."
Annabeth nodded thoughtfully. "His face when we paired him with Hermione was hilarious," she laughed as she remembered it; Percy did too. "Something is definitely between them."
"Hermione could be a daughter of Athena with her intelligence. With you Athena kids and your pride," he laughed, "it's no wonder they seem to be in competition with each other. But they're definitely interesting together."
"That's just what he needs I think," she said matter-of-factly. "Someone that gets under his skin . . . just like you do to me."
Percy flicked her nose that time and she yelped in surprise. She pushed his hand away when he went to tickle him, rolling away from him. Percy was relentless though, laughing uncontrollably as he pursued her, locking his grip on her as he tickled her relentlessly.
Annabeth gave in, laughing as she smacked him away, thinking that maybe this quest was the best thing that could happen to them.
They would get to help others like them.