Later, when the boys' hunger problem had been (temporarily) dealt with, Hermione pulled out one of the Muggle notebooks she'd brought to school with her. She had yet to find a working Wizarding alternative, so, for now, she endured the strange looks she got when she needed to jot down things they hadn't learned in class. She flipped to a new page, titling it 'The Chamber of Secrets: Things We Know'.

Percy raised an eyebrow, but continued scribbling what Hermione assumed was a letter to Annabeth. This was confirmed when Percy started giggling for no apparent reason. Although people in the common room had looked up from their work and stared at him this time last year, everyone was so accustomed to 'The American's Humor', that no one reacted. Hermione knew that it wasn't a bizarre sense of humor that had set her best friend off, but rather an inside joke with the recipient of the letter.

"Focus, guys," she told Harry and Ron, who were poking each other with rolled up sheets of parchment (Hermione was pretty sure these particular rolls were their only hope of getting a passing grade in Astronomy). Percy looked up from his letter, noting the serious look on her face, and set his letter down.

"Is this about the whole Room of Ominousness thing?" he asked.

Hermione was about to answer, but paused. "'Ominousness' is a word?"

Ron threw her a look. "Shouldn't we be asking you that? And wasn't it called the 'Chamber of Secrets', not the 'Room of Ominousness'?"

"Is that really a better name, though?" Harry interjected, just as Hermione started to respond.

"Guys!" Hermione lost her temper. She turned furiously to Percy. "Look what you've done!"

"Relax, Hermione. They'll come back in three, two, one," Percy snapped his fingers, and, (though Hermione was kicking herself for thinking it) like magic, Harry and Ron rejoined the conversation.

Hermione showed them all her notebook page. "And… begin!" This was a strategy that worked well whenever one of them was moaning about a homework assignment that they had never been taught about. Someone would write down a topic, and the other three had five seconds each to say anything they could think of relating to that topic. It had, unsurprisingly, been Percy's idea.

"Petrified Mrs. Norris!" Ron submitted through a mouthful of crisps.

"Just been opened!" Percy helpfully added.

"Something to do with water?" Harry suggested.

Hermione's eyebrows shot up. "That's right! The floor was flooded. I mean, normally that just means Moaning Myrtle threw a tantrum again, but-"

"Sorry," Ron interjected, "but who's Moaning Myrtle?"

"She haunts the first floor girls bathroom," Hermione said impatiently. "I assumed you'd know of her, due to your extensive time spent in girls bathrooms."

"Hey! We were saving your life!" Ron objected.

"You're the reason I was in there, and nearly got killed, in the first place!"

As they fell into bickering, Percy held up three fingers, the two, and then one. As always, the lovebirds made peace just as the last finger went down.

"How do you do that, mate?" Harry asked, shaking his head in disbelief. Percy shrugged.

Some weeks following the incident with Mrs. Norris, Severus Snape dismissed class, calling for Perseus Jackson to remain.

"Sir?" The American asked, once the room had been cleared. Severus held up a paper.

"Mr. Jackson, do you know what this is?" Percy reached out a hand to take it and Severus let him. He already had memorized what it said: MISSING: PERCY JACKSON. LAST SEEN FIVE YEARS AGO IN MANHATTAN. WOULD BE TWELVE. IF FOUND PLEASE CALL GINA FREIDMAN AT (XXX)-XXX-XXXX. Below was what was obviously a Muggle school photograph of the American youth. Jackson turned approximately three shades paler. When he connected eyes again with Severus, it was clear that he had no knowledge of this. Severus dismissed him, sighing.

As I'm sure you all can tell, this is the shortest chapter this fic has ever seen. Some of you may be asking 'why?'. The answer is this: I AM DROWNING IN HOMEWORK, HAVE NO TIME TO WRITE, AND FELT REALLY GUILTY ABOUT NOT UPDATING THIS STORY WHEN I HAVE HAD THESE TWO SECTIONS FINISHED FOR WEEKS.

The rest will come, but it might be a while (like, December at the absolute earliest, and more like June realistically). This chapter serves to draw up suspense. Don't worry, I hate plot holes, so I will always try to fill them in… eventually.

Hope everyone is having a stupendous day, and please review! I want to know what you think!

~swanglade37