Percy's P.O.V

I paced back and forth in the tent, much more nervous than I expected. I felt like tiny butterflies were flying around inside my stomach, and I couldn't stay still. Well more so than usual.

"Oh my god! Percy, calm down!" Hermione finally spoke loudly, obviously annoyed with my incessant pacing. I froze in my tracks and grinned sheepishly at her.

"Sorry, 'Mione. I'm just really nervous." I scratched the back of my neck nervously, while she rolled her eyes. She was smiling though, telling me that she was more amused than irritated.

"Hah. You're telling me." She smiled tightly. I studied her closely and noticed the tension in her features and body language; she was obviously just as stressed out and nervous as I was. I sat next to her and pulled her into a side hug to try and comfort her.

"Hey, just relax all right?" I said to her, trying to be soothing. She laughed silently, relaxing slightly into the hug.

"You're telling me to relax? The guy with ADHD? The guy that only moments ago was pacing around the tent like a a dog waiting for its owner?" She asked disbelievingly.

"Hey, did you just compare me to a dog?" I gasped in mock hurt, putting a hand to my heart.

"Yup. You're totally Annabeth's bi-" Hermione was cut off by Harry and Dumbledore's arrival. I glared at Hermione's innocently smiling face; she may have won this time. But this isn't over. I turned to look at Harry and the Headmaster. The former had his arms crossed and was frowning at us.

"I assume everything is going all right in here?" Dumbledore asked, ushering Harry forward. Hermione nodded with a strained smile while I grinned.

"Oh yeah, just peachy." I said sarcastically, playfully narrowing my eyes at the bushy haired girl sitting next to him on the couch. In return she bumped me on my shoulder with a smirk. Harry watched the exchange with a glare, although inside he felt slight jealously and remorse.

"In order for everyone to be clear, I will explain the rules once again, if it is all right with you all." The headmaster said.

"Go ahead, sir." I smiled.

"This task is similar to the previous Tournament's task. The three of you will be assigned to a dragon and arena, each one different. The arenas will provide different fake environments and small obstacles. The objective of the task is to capture the golden egg from the dragons nest, with as little injuries as possible. You will only be allowed your wand inside the arena." Everyone nodded in understanding. Severus, who I hadn't seen standing at the tent entrance, walked towards us. He held a deep purple velvet pouch. I could see movement from within it, He shot me a tiny, comforting smile, which I returned quickly. "Who would like to pick their dragon first?" I grinned at Hermione.

"Ladies first." I said. She shot me a slightly annoyed fake glare, before flashing me a brilliant smile.

"I was about to say the same thing to you." I gasped in mock outrage, grasping at my chest and stumbling back as if she had hit me.

"Ouch, gods all mighty, you wound me!" Severus smirked at my reaction.

"Do you need some ice for that burn, Mr. Jackson?" He asked coolly. I felt my jaw drop open.

"Since when have you two been so salty?!" I gasped dramatically. Dumbledore cleared his throat, causing all of us to shut up and look at him.

"If you don't mind." He gestured to the pouch. He seemed serious, but I could see the way the corner of his mouth twitched upwards and his eyes sparkle at our exchange, obviously amused.

"Right, of course." Hermione reached her hand in the pouch gingerly. After a few moments she pulled her hand out, holding a tiny black dragon. It was a perfect, living, miniaturised version of one of the dragons, with the number 2 hanging from its neck. It hissed aggressively at her, it's tail thrashing from side to side.

"Ah, the Hebridean Black dragon, very aggressive. You got arena 2, which a mountainous and rocky environment." Dumbledore concluded. Severus held out the bag to me next. I put my hand in the pouch, wanting to grimace at the feeling of smooth but sharp, cold scales moving sinuously beneath my fingers. I closed my hand around one of the creatures, bringing it out from the folds of the purple bag. I opened my hand, and a little dark coloured dragon, with the number 3 hanging on its neck, sat on the palm of my hand. It screeched, flaring its wings and lunging forward, sinking its teeth into my thumb. I yelped, shaking my hand violently to dislodge it. I was vaguely aware of Hermione laughing her head off, and the two Professors smiling or snickering.

"Zeus's hairy underpants! Get it off!" I kept on shaking my hand around, but the little bugger only dug its claws into my hand to keep a grip. It wasn't too painful, but it stung like Hades. Hermione was now in stitches, and Snape was chuckling, Dumbledore smiling widely. Even Harry was biting his lip to keep from laughing. "Holy Styx! Get the schist off of me!"

"Okay, okay. Percy, just calm down." Dumbledore finally intervened and grabbed my hand, stilling it. He brought out his wand and said a spell that I couldn't quite catch. The dragon let go of my hand, going limp and falling onto my palm again; asleep. The place where the dragon had bitten me was red, and a tiny trickle of blood dripped from my thumb. It stung as bad as a paper cut would, and that's saying something! Paper cuts are so dam painful! Snape took the sleeping dragon from my hand and I glared at him as he grinned. The headmaster muttered another spell and my hand healed almost immediately.

"Thanks." I murmured, massaging my hand.

"Hungarian Horntail, the most dangerous dragon out of them all." Dumbledore stated. I pursed my lips. Figures I'd get the deadliest out of them. "You got arena 3, the environment being a dense forest." That got my hopes slightly up again. Forest. I can deal with a forest.

When the amusement had died down, Severus offered the bag to Harry. He put his hand in the bag and brought out a silver-white scaled dragon. It was still miniature, but was significantly larger than the other two. It had the number 1 on its neck. "Ukrainian Ironbelly, the largest dragon. You have arena 1, a desert like area." The headmaster put a hand on Harry's shoulder. "You're going to be going first, Harry, so get ready. You'll go out in five minutes." Dumbledore left the tent, followed by Snape. The air fell silent for a while, and Percy sat back down on the couch. Now that the laughter and fun had gone away, the nervousness and tension came back. Harry was nervously fidgeting with his wand and this time Hermione was the one pacing back and forth.

"So... how are you going to get past the dragon, Harry?" Hermione asked, breaking the silence and trying to break the tension.

"My broomstick." He answered, peeking out of the tent.

"Again?" Hermione asked in surprise. Harry turned and looked at her, glaring at her darkly.

"Yeah, so what?" Hermione quickly backpedaled and held her hands up in surrender.

"I didn't mean anything of it." She replied defensively. Harry just pursed his lips and looked through the flap again. A piercing whistle blew through the air, signalling Harry's time. He pushed through the tent, before pausing and glancing over his shoulder. After a moment, he spoke quietly to them.

"Good luck." Then he was gone, and they could only hear the roaring cheers of the crowd. Percy nervously ran a hand through his hair. Hermione looked just as nervous as I felt. She sat down next to me. I heard an almost collective sigh of disappointment from the crowd; probably sad that he was using the broom again instead of something new.

"Hey, relax, 'Mione. You're gonna do great." I assured her with a smile. She let out a nervous, shaky breath.

"How do you know that?" She asked softly.

"I just do. You're one of the smartest, bravest, most bad-ass woman that I know." I hugged her tightly. "And I know that you're gonna do amazingly." She melted into the hug and hugged me back tightly.

"Honestly, I'm scared." She admitted, voice muffled by my shirt.

"Hah, you? I'm basically ready to run back to America right now!" I felt her shaking against me as she laughed silently. I could vaguely hear the crowd expressing their mixture of emotions outside. And before we knew it, the second whistle blew. Hermione gave me a weak smile as she walked out of the tent, which I returned with full force, trying to cheer her up. When she was out of sight, I fell back down onto the couch with a groan. Calm down, Jackson. You've faced an army of monsters before. You've faced Titans before. You've faced Gods before. For Hades' sake, you've faced Giants before! So why am I so dam scared to do this little task?! I sighed out loud and gently tugged at my hair.

"Need someone to talk to?" I looked up and smiled softly at Severus.

"Sure." The older man sat next to him. "So how do you think I'm going to die? Impaled by the dragon's tail? Sliced to pieces by its claws? Burned alive? Eaten?"

"Oh come now, Jackson. If I knew you gave up this easily, I would never have put money on you." He sighed. I felt my eyebrows rise.

"You're betting on me?" I asked dubiously.

"All of your friends are. We believe in you." He cocked an eyebrow. "So are you going to try your best?"

"I'll try," I started hesitantly. "but what if I fail? What if I disappoint you and all the others? Everyone is going to be watching, what if I mess up?" I looked down at my lap, where my fingers were intertwined with each other. I heard Snape sigh.

"Percy... you could never disappoint any of us. No matter what, we will always be here for you, and we will always be proud of you."

"But-"

"No buts, or I will give you detention." He deadpanned. I smiled lightly at that.

"Sir, yes, sir." I saluted him weakly.

"Good. Now go capture that egg and makes us all some money." He pushed me towards the tent entrance as I stood up. A sharp whistle cut through the air. Good timing. I thought vaguely. I smiled over my shoulder at my favourite teacher.

"Thanks for the uh... pep talk?"

"Don't mention it."

"And hey, when have you gotten so soft?" I teased. Severus didn't change his blank expression.

"I have not." He answered coolly. I just grinned in reply.

"Sure you haven't, Sevvy~" With that I strode out of the tent, almost deafened by the sound that followed. I gazed around in shock and even slight awe at the sheer number of students that had gathered in the stands, watching, screaming, cheering. I hesitantly waved and smiled, causing an even louder roar to follow. I walked away from the tent and towards the scenery that lay before me; a perfect replica of a real forest, with trees grouped closely together and shrubbery dotting the landscape. It's all so realistic. Leaves and fallen branches littered the ground, roots erupting from the ground precariously. That's what they mean by obstacles. I stood at the border of the forest, trying to look through the dense foliage, searching for the dragon that awaited me. The students slowly went quiet, the chattering fading down and the air turning silent. I could almost feel the excitement and anticipation coming from the stands. A second whistle went off, signalling the start of my task.

I took off into the forest, a small wave of cheers erupting, then silencing again. My eyes scanned through the area, taking in the trees, the foliage, the forest. And suddenly I wasn't at Hogwarts competing in the Tournament anymore, I was back at Camp Half Blood playing Capture the Flag with the other Cabins. I weaved through the trees expertly, only small shafts of sun lighting my pathway. I didn't need the light anyway, my eyes worked well in the dark. I vaulted over a large fallen tree, my shoes scuffing the dirt beneath my feet. A dark shape blurred past the corner of my eye, but I didn't bother to look. It was probably another camper. Instead I kept running, my feet pounding against the earth. Get the flag, stay out of sight. Get the flag, stay out of sight. I repeated in my head. I ducked beneath a low hanging branch, then jumped over an upturned root. Get the flag, stay out of sight. In the distance I saw a speck of gold. I increased my speed, getting closer and closer to my prize. I came to a sudden halt at the edge of the treeline. In front of me lay a beautiful meadow. It was almost totally clear, except for a cluster of large jutting out rocks. And in the middle of the grass was the flag, in all its gleaming golden glory, in front of huge cluster of rocks. I took a hesitant step forward, accidentally stepping on a twig. I cringed at the loudness in the silence. At that sound, something large, scaly and sinuous raised its black head, its mouth slightly open, revealing saliva dripping, dagger like teeth. It produced a bone rattling growl from deep in its throat that sent a tingle of fear down my spine.

Reality seemed to crash down on me like a raging thunderstorm. I wasn't in Camp Half Blood anymore, I wasn't busy playing Capture the Flag, the object gleaming golden in front of me was not the Flag, and the cluster of rocks was not the inanimate object it had appeared to be only moments before. With a jerk I stumbled back and pressed by back against the bark of a thick tree, before peeking out behind its branches to look at the dragon. The fifty foot Hungarian Horntail rose to her full height, golden-yellow cat like eyes peering through the semi darkness of the forest in front of it. Another earth rumbling growl came and it took opened its wings, shaking them off a bit. She had obviously been asleep, and I had woken her. She did not look happy about it. Kinda like when I wake Nico up in the morning. I noted curiously. I slid silently to the other side of the tree when the large dragon slowly approached, her nostrils flaring a bit as she tried to sniff me out. I took out my wand, scanning the area. Why didn't I plan this before hand? I mentally scolded myself. I edged around the tree as she took another step forward. Schist, schist. What would Annabeth do? I desperately looked around, eyes resting on a rock. I crouched down and grabbed the hand sized stone, before standing up again and backing away a bit more. The scaly creature took another step forward, eyes narrowing as it glared around, only a tree separating us. Hefting the rock in my hand, I threw it as hard as I could into the forest. With a shriek she threw herself towards the sound, tail lashing around and claws shredding the ground as she bowled the trees over with her body. As she chased the rock, I turned and raced into the meadow. Cheers erupted from the stands as they saw me dashing madly towards the nest, the dragon somewhere behind me, destroying a big chunk of the forest in its search. I glanced over my shoulder. The dragon had heard the thunderous cheers and had raised its head, locking her eyes on me. With a roar as deafening as the cheering, she heaved herself into the air. I looked towards the nest again, the golden egg so close, yet so far. She was surprisingly fast in the sky, and in only seconds was looming overhead, blocking out the sun with her enormous wings, her maw opened wide and her neck glowing a brilliant orange. That was the only warning I got, and I threw myself behind a jutting out rock. The temperature increased drastically, and I started sweating immediately at the almost boiling heat. The dragon landed over its nest, still heaving out flames at the rock I was crouched behind. When she finally snapped her jaws closed with an audible snap, the flames disappeared and the grass was left burning, the rock sizzling. I ignored the roaring in the stands and focused rather on the giant, protective mother. Well schist. My mind raced as the dragon curled around her nest, growling and baring her teeth towards me. Then suddenly, it hit me. Well not literally, but-nevermind. I flicked my wand, and muttered the spell, smiling slightly at my ingenious plan. I cracked my neck and rolled my shoulders. "All right, game on." With a grin I leapt out from behind the rock and sprinted towards the nest, and the dragon. It came at me with a vengeance, roaring, spitting, clawing and biting. I rolled beneath a swipe of its talons, then dodged a snap of its fangs and ducked beneath its swinging spiked tail. The crowds cheering had gotten louder at all this. The dragon lunged at me again, but I rolled beneath its outstretched claws and ran at the nest, legs pumping and heart racing. The huge dragon let out an ear bursting roar as she whirled around, wings flared and throat glowing again. Before I could reach the nest, a torrent of brilliant orange-red fire shot forward, bathing the entire area with its boiling heat, and more importantly, me. I let out a scream as I was engulfed in the flames, my body jerking and spasming as I fell to the ground. The black scaled dragon didn't let up though, she continued to let out torrent after torrent without stop. The students in the stands were screaming as well in terror at my flailing body. The blinding light of the fire eventually disappeared again, the grass smoldering and the trees nearby on fire. The dragon recoiled in surprise, tilting her head at the sight before her, or lack thereof. There was nothing left. No body, no ashes, nothing. The dragon-keepers rushed forward to subdue the female Horntail. An almost mournful atmosphere filled the stands, a few people crying out, but mainly the students stayed quiet with horror.

"Hey!" The crowd fell completely silent, all turning to the voice in the arena. With a grin, I threw the golden egg from hand to hand, legs swinging comfortably from where I sat on the large cluster of rocks. "Looking for someone?" I called out. For a few moments everyone stayed still and silent, before erupting into cheers louder than ever. I laughed, my adrenaline still pumping, making me feel excited and happy. I jumped off of the rock, and walked towards the opposite end of the enclosure, where Annabeth was waiting. She was grinning madly, her eyes shining.

"You were amazing, Percy!" She gasped and jumped at me in a bear hug. "How on earth did you do that?!" I just chuckled.

"I just made an illusion of myself, and while the Horntail was busy fighting "me"," I made air quotations with my fingers. "I got the egg." She smiled and pulled away.

"Who knew a Seaweed Brain could have a good idea?" She teased. I just grinned back. "Now come on, Madam Pomfrey wants to take a look at you." We walked towards the first-aid tent, holding hands.

"Didn't you get a fright when I was burnt up?" I asked her. She just waved a hand dismissively.

"Oh please, I knew you wouldn't have died like that." I just rolled my eyes. In the tent I saw Hermione sitting on a bed, her ankle wrapped in a bandage and her arm wrapped in blood stained gauze. She looked up when we walked in, and grinned.

"Good job getting the egg." She said.

"Are you okay?" I asked, regarding her injuries. She just waved the question off.

"Just a little scrape on my arm and a sprained ankle." She said. "It's busy healing as we speak." I nodded in understanding, and Madam Pomfrey came into view. She ushered me onto a bed, and checked me for injuries.

"That's odd... You have no injuries." She was obviously surprised. I just shrugged.

"I guess I'm lucky." Harry walked past, a bandage wrapped around his torso and one around his forehead.

"Okay, you can go get your scores now." Madam said, bustling away from me. I walked with Annabeth to the judges. Severus smiled widely at me when we got to them, where they were sitting in golden draped chairs. Dumbledore was also smiling, and even McGonagle looked impressed. Dumbledore went first; he waved his wand and a silver ribbon shot out of the end, twirling itself to look like the number nine. The audience cheered loudly at that. Minerva went next, with the number eight appearing. Lastly, Snape flicked his wand and produced the number ten. The students went wild, cheering, applauding and screaming. I felt my mouth drop open slightly. Ten?! I got twenty seven out of thirty?! Annabeth led me away in my stupor.

"Good job, Seaweed Brain. That's the highest out of the three of you. Hermione got twenty four and Harry got twenty two." I didn't respond to that, too stunned to.

I got the highest?

Me: Erm... hi guys. Yeah, so this was kinda a fun chapter to write. I hope you liked it, and I didn't make Percy seem too overpowered or anything. So let me know what you guys think. And uh... yeah, bye.