Hermione looked over to where Percy used to be. "Maybe, he knew we were following him. He's got good senses. He probably suspected we weren't actually going to Hagrid's."

"He could be telling Umbridge of our plan." Ron guessed.

"Or," Harry countered, "He's probably talking to Voldemort as we speak."

~~~

"So then I was like "yeah I guess my parents really do like greek mythology" and the only reason they're holding me at arms length is because of Hecate's letter, and it just, it just sucks, Chiron." Percy ranted.

"Sounds like you've had quite a week, my boy." Chiron sympathized through the Iris Message.

"Ha, yeah, guess so." Percy stared off at the shimmering IM. He's never really tried it underwater, but he's gotta admit, it's way easier to manage.

"What else, Percy, has happened?"

Percy gazed at Chiron's concerned face. "I- I keep having these dreams. Of Voldemort, and Annabeth. They all end up different, but what if, what if she's actually alive Chiron? My dreams, they haven't lied before."

Chiron slowly nodded.

"If she dies, Chiron, that's on me. If Voldemort actually has her, he's using her as leverage- to get to me. I'll kill him, Chiron. If he hurts her the second I see him, I'm going to kill him. And I'm going to get her back."

"My boy," Chiron started, but Percy was already shaking his head, not listening. "If Voldemort has her, she may already be dead."

"No." Percy shook his head. "I won't let him hurt her."

"From the sounds of it, Percy, he may have already."

"How could you say that?" Percy yelled. "How can you sit by with the knowledge that someone as evil as Voldemort has Annabeth- that Annabeth could be alive- and do nothing about it?"

Chiron hung his head. "I know this is hard for you, it's hard for me too." Chiron looked at Percy, seeing the tears stream down the demigod's face. "But we have to accept the potential idea, that this is all a mind trick. Voldemort is a powerful wizard, who uses dark magic to his advantage. It could be a trick."

Percy's face hardened. "It's not. I'm going to get her back."

Chiron could see the determination in the young son of Poseidon and knew there was no changing his mind.

"I should go. Harry, Hermione, and Ron are probably back from Hagrid's and I should be in the common room before they think I'm a death eater or whatever."

Chiron smiled. He knew Percy didn't like being at Hogwarts, but there was no denying that it was good for his sanity. "Alright. Remember the prophecy, Percy. It's best not to forget it."

Percy gave a small ironic smile. "How could I?"

With that, Percy ended the Iris Message and swam to the top of the lake. Chances are there'd be students in the common room, and seeing as that apparating was forbidden on Hogwarts' grounds, Percy decided to walk.

On his way back to Hogwarts, he ran into the trio.

"Oh, hey guys! How was Hagrid's? He doing alright?" Percy asked.

Hermione hesitated. "Uh, yes. He's doing great." She rushed. Percy stared at her; he's interrogated enough to know when someone was lying.

Ron quickly changed the topic. "What've you been up to?"

"Just walking around I guess. Went for a swim in the lake." The trio stopped walking and stared at Percy. Percy stopped walking and stared back. "What?"

"You swam in the lake?" Harry questioned.

"Yeah. Why? What's wrong?"

"You're not wet." Hermione observed.

Percy swore. "Uh yeah. I dry fast." Stupid, stupid, stupid. Hermione raised an eyebrow at his excuse.

"Forget that, what about the Giant Squid?" Ron freaked out.

"Oh, Dave? He's cool." Percy said nonchalantly.

"Dave?" The trio questioned in unison.

"Yeah. His name's Dave. You didn't know that?"

"No... we didn't." Harry said. "How do you know his name Percy?"

Percy nearly froze. He couldn't exactly say that he was talking to a squid underwater. "Uh, magic."

He had never seen Hermione look more doubtful at something than he did just then.

"Magic?" Hermione stated.

"Yeah. I uh, found a spell. That let me uh... talk underwater."

"What was it?"

"Uh..." Schist. "It was a scuba spell." Percy remembered reading an ad for that in the Daily Prophet.

"What on earth is a 'scuba spell'?" Ron said.

Harry stared at Percy. "You made that up."

"No I didn't. It was an underwater charm."

"Then what was the charm, Percy?" Hermione interrogated.

Percy hated this. Hermione wasn't an idiot, she was the smartest witch in the whole school. He couldn't make one up... unless, unless he could. Percy knew latin. All the spells were latin incantations for the action. Percy prayed to Hecate he was right.

"Aqua spiritum sermo." Breath and talk in water. Perfect.

"I've never heard of it."

"That's because I made it up." Percy said. 

"You can't just make up spells." Harry accused.

"Yes, you can. And I did. You should try it sometime. Comes in handy." Percy wasn't going to lie, he really loved annoying Harry.

Harry fumed. "How did you do it then? Make up the spell?"

"I said the action in latin. All your other spells are latin, and someone had to make those up, didn't they?"

Ron knew Percy was lying, but he did have a point. If other wizards made up spells, why couldn't he?

Hermione looked as if a lightbulb went off in her head- which worried Percy. "Since when did you know latin?" Percy was lying about the whole situation, she just knew it.

"Since a few years ago. I went to this camp in California that taught Latin." Percy explained. That was technically true. 

"You can't read English but you know Greek and Latin."

"Yes. We've been over this Hermione." Percy was getting annoyed. "I have dyslexia. Greek is my first language, and I learned Latin at a camp. Any more questions?" 

"You worked at a summer camp in New York. How did you go to a camp in California... in the summer?" Hermione asked.

Schist. Percy had to change the subject. "Yeah. I work at the camp in New York during the summer. One year, my aunt thought it'd be a good idea to send me to my cousin's camp in California, so I could... take a break." Percy winced slightly at the memory. 

"You have a cousin-"

Before Hermione could finish, Ron cut her off. "You know what mate?" Ron said, slinging his arm around Percy. Percy tensed, and if Ron noticed, he didn't let on. "I think that's cool."

Ron knew Percy wanted to change the subject. He kept fidgeting with that pen in his pocket. Ron was hungry, and he could care less if Percy knew five hundred languages or where he worked. 

Percy smiled. He liked Ron.

Harry and Hermione stood in disbelief as Ron and Percy walked across the grounds to the Great Hall in Hogwarts.

"It's time for dinner. You guys coming?" Ron called.

"Yeah, we'll be right there." Hermione said back. She turned to Harry. "Alright. I believe you."

"About what?"

"Percy is definitely hiding something from us."

Harry grinned. "So now what?"

Hermione watched Ron and Percy walk towards Hogwarts, talking. "We need proof. Something that we can use to confront him with."

"Can't we just do that now?"

"No. We don't have any proof. He's good at lying. He's fooled Dumbledore and the Order already. He'll just make up a story to get out of it." Hermione said. "We need something to use against him- something he can't lie his way out of."

"His backpack." 

"What?"

"His backpack." Harry repeated. "He carried it everywhere with him over the summer, and freaked out when he didn't have it with him. If he's hiding anything, it would be in that bag."

Hermione nodded. "The only problem is that he would have hidden it. Or learned a spell to carry the things from the bag with him at all times."

"Like your purse."

"Exactly." Hermione confirmed. 

"Okay. We've done harder things than steal a bag. You can distract him or something, and I'll run up to the dormitory and look around for it."

"That could work. He's smart though, Harry. He'll see right through our plan."

"Not unless we get Ron in on it. This'll work. I can feel it."

"I hope you're right Harry. He's a powerful wizard and he's barely had any training. Between that, making up his own spells, and your dreams... we have to be careful." Hermione paused, "I wouldn't want him as an enemy."