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The Ministry of Magic was lit up brilliantly by the light of curses flying across the room. Their group had long since been broken up, and at this point it was every man for himself.
Or woman, Annabeth thought, tossing a curse toward one of the nameless death eaters.
The room was too dark. Annabeth could only really see when a curse flew, and she didn’t want curses to be flying toward her friends in the first place. All she knew was that if she didn’t see someone’s face, then they were either doing great, or they were dead.
Annabeth couldn’t help it. She had to know.
“Percy!” Annabeth called.
“Here!”
Annabeth almost sagged with relief. Everything was alright. Well, as alright as it could be, in the middle of a battle with people much older and much more dangerous than anything they had ever dealt with before.
“Help me with—” but she couldn’t finish. Suddenly, she had her hands full with a duel with Bellatrix Lestrange.
Bellatrix’s eyes flashed as she swiped her wand through the air, sending a stream of red light hurtling toward Annabeth.
Annabeth tossed up a quick shield charm and fired back her own spell.
A curse here, a curse there, cake.
Or it would have been, if Greyback hadn’t jumped her at that exact moment.
She jumped out of the way at the last moment, but Greyback had turned around and attacked her again. She snatched her knife from her boot and slashed and stabbed at him. She lost sight of Bellatrix.
What happened next happened so quickly, Annabeth wasn’t sure if it was even real.
She used two hands to pry Greyback off of herself. She saw a beam of green light shoot from Bellatrix's wand and soar toward her chest. It was intercepted in mid air. She blinked, spinning around, looking for the source.
She had no idea what happened until she saw the dead body hit the floor.
Adrenaline pumped through her veins as she punched off Greyback once more and rushed to the body.
Green eyes open and staring lifelessly, Percy Jackson had come to the rescue.
“No!”
Tear-stricken, Annabeth ran after Bellatrix, shooting any and all curses that sprang up in her mind.
She is joined by Harry, who is equally as vengeful, for reasons she learns later.
Annabeth can’t see anything but Bellatrix and her grin. She can’t hear anything but the sounds of Bellatrix cackling and taunting. Her own heartbeat thumps in her ears. She can only taste the sticky, metallic taste of blood on her tongue.
Her heart aches. She’s running faster than she ever had in her entire life, chasing down Bellatrix. Annabeth’s mouth is moving, shouting out curses, but she has no idea what she’s saying.
There was a flash of red light, and she fell back, her vision fading.
—
When Annabeth awoke, she was still at the ministry, but the battle was over.
She groaned, the floor cold and hard beneath her. She pushed herself up slowly, blinking. Her vision cleared and focused on the dark lump in the corner.
She scrambled up, ignoring the sharp pain in her ribs. She rushed to Percy’s side and clutched his hand.
“No, no, no—” she pressed her hands up against his cold cheeks— “no, come on Seaweed Brain, you weren’t supposed to—” hot tears have started to roll down her cheeks— “you weren't supposed to leave me like this.”
Someone rested a hand on her shoulder. "Come on, Annabeth."
Annabeth shook her head. "No, I—"
"You're bleeding. We need to get you some help."
Annabeth glared through her tears. "Get me some help? Help him!"
"You're really badly hurt," the voice said.
Annabeth pressed a hand to her side. When she pulled it away, her hand was shaking, but she could see the dark red blood staining her hand and dripping down her arm.
She gripped Percy's cold hand even tighter.
"Come on."
Annabeth felt herself being lifted to her feet. She is pulled away, and Percy is gone.
Forever.