Leo's POV

As Nico ran behind me and shadow traveled away, Annabeth yelled at the Slytherins to move. They obeyed and went into their common room.

A boy, around seventeen, was lying in the middle of a small pool of blood. The plastic handle of a kitchen knife was stuck out of his chest. I could see the blade of the knife, reflecting the soft glow of the torches on the wall.

His clothes were badly torn, someone had slashed him everywhere. His head lolled to the side, shock written across it. He was obviously dead. A grey cat was prowling around him, its lamplike eyes focused on me.

The smell of bile wafted up my nostrils, someone had thrown up a meter away.

"Someone mentioned words," Percy remembered.

"There," Jason pointed at his arm. Strangely, this guy wasn't wearing robes. He was wearing Muggle clothes. All Adidas.

" 'Number One Enemy,' " Piper read. Those words had been carved into his right arm.

Jason turned over the other arm. "Beware."

A loud crack sounded from behind, and we turned.

Dumbledore appeared, with Professor Snape and Nico beside him.

"Please return to your dormitories please," Dumbledore said to the ten Slytherins that had crowded by the door to stare at us. Two of them gave Dumbledore a dirty look but they all slunk back inside.

Dumbledore knelt beside the boy and gazed fixedly at the words on his arm.

"Do you know who he is?" Annabeth asked quietly.

Dumbledore looked grim, "No, and I know every student in this school, Annabeth, every one. I know this boy here is not a student. And it's also intriguing, how he died."

"What?"

"His expression, not pain, but shock. The blood is not new. Severus, how old is it?"

Professor Snape touched his finger to the puddle and brought it close to his eyes to examine it. "Hours old at least."

"But people walk by here all the time," I said. "It looked like he was found only minutes ago."

Dumbledore passed his fingers over the boy's chest. "The Killing Curse," he murmured thoughtfully.

"One of the Unforgivables," Piper remembered.

"Who'd go through that much trouble to do that to him if he was already dead?" Percy asked, puzzled.

"To scare us, I presume," Dumbledore said. "This would certainly be much more frightening than him not bleeding at all."

"And he is not a wizard," Snape said. "No magic in his veins."

" 'Beware,' " Piper said. She looked up at us with wide kaleidoscopic eyes, "There's going to be more."

"There is no way for outlaws or monsters to enter Hogwarts. And only the Heads of Houses or anyone with a higher position than that at Hogwarts can let monsters in," Severus said. "Outlaws, especially murderers, will not be allowed in no matter what. Our security measures have improved after Sirius Black." His words were ringed with held-back distaste at the last two words.

"We'll keep a close eye out on any suspicious behaviour from students," Dumbledore said. "You all should hurry back to your common room. I will clean this up."

The news had spread like a wildfire. The weirdest rumors were turning up. One person said that the guy had tripped and accidentally stabbed himself. One person said that it was a girl, and that she was attacked by a cat. One person said that the boy's name was Percy Jackson and that he fell out of the chandelier because he was too handsome.

The last one made absolutely no sense to me, I have no idea what Romilda Vane was talking about. She had nearly fainted when Percy turned to stare at her.

We were in the library now, books on spells laid out in front of us, not even open.

"Who could he be?" Annabeth asked. "He wasn't random. I'm thinking that Number One Enemy thing is a title. He's someone's enemy."

"An enemy? But it's not like he's Voldemort," I said.

"Not enemy as in wants you dead. But enemy as in hate each other. Like Percy and Clarisse."

Percy's head tilted, "How do you know?"

"Well," she began, " 'Number One Enemy' sounds incredibly childish, don't you think? If you wanted to carve words into Gaea, is that what you'd write?"

"No," he admitted.

"Hermione told me about stuff that's happened here," Annabeth continued. "One time when she was in second year, a basilisk, which is a huge snake, attacked students at Hogwarts. Someone or something is attacking people."

"We need to catch that person soon,' Jason said, sounding resolute.

"With the basilisk," Annabeth said. "Nobody was killed. They were just Petrified. Kind of like being turned to stone by Medusa, but they were still in some way alive. They looked at the basilisk's eyes indirectly, like from a mirror, so they didn't die, instead they got Petrified."

"Fitting name," Jason commented.

"Oh Hades," Annabeth said suddenly. "Percy and I are supposed to find monsters in the Dark Forest for the next DADA class and get Dumbledore to let them in." She looked at Jason and Piper, "You two need to do homework."

Percy looked rarely undelighted to not have to do homework. "Now we have to deal with wizards asking us questions about the murder and not paying attention to anything else."

Annabeth stared at them all, "Remember, keep your eyes open for anything suspicious."

"Of course," Jason nodded importantly, and the two left. It was a few minutes before we got approached.

"Mind if I sit here?" someone asked. "There's no other table left."

"Sure," Jason said absently to Dawn.

Dawn sat down and began scribbling on a piece of parchment.

Dawn being here kind of stopped us from having a conversation, so I opened my copy of The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1 and started going through the sections, trying to force my brain to remember the incantations.

Dawn kept flicking her eyes to the side, and following her eyes, I noticed Wilby hiding behind a bookshelf.

So he doesn't only stalk Drew. I hoped he wasn't like that Colin Creevey kid Hermione mentioned once. Snapping pictures and asking questions.

Wilby began doing his homework, but not before staring at Thalia for more than ten minutes.

After remembering ten spells, I started my Transfiguration homework.

"A lot of people are staring at you," Dawn pointed out after a while.

I looked around at the other tables and saw a group of girls giggling and talking, staring at Jason and Nico. A group of boys were also staring at Thalia and Piper, mostly Piper though. Thalia glared at them and they all looked away, one fell out of his chair and smacked his head against a bookshelf. Madam Pince gave him a very harsh shh!

"Just wanted to point that out," Dawn said. "Be sure not to do something embarrassing."

"Must be annoying, having them all staring at you," she continued. "I heard those girls over there are going to try giving your friend Percy a Love Potion. The rest of you should watch out too. They always spike drinks or sweets. And I can tell you all really like sweets."

"We'll make sure we don't take candy from strangers," I said.

"You don't need to worry," Thalia said. "You're not a target of anyone's affection except Calypso's."

I frowned at her, "Ouch."

"Oh, there are people who like you, Leo. Not as much people as your friends, but you do have some fans." Dawn dipped her quill into an inkpot and continued to write, glancing at the textbook every now and then.


"Aha!" I said to Thalia. "I have fans!"

Thalia, sitting directly in front of me on the rectangular table, stood up and shoved the entire table towards me and Piper. It hit us in the chest and I nearly toppled out of my seat.

"Sorry Piper," Thalia sat back down.

Dawn looked pleased, then lowered her voice suddenly, "Did you lot hear about the guy who was murdered a bit more than an hour ago?"

"Of course," Jason said. "We saw."

She was shocked, "You saw it happen?"

"No, we saw the body."

"Oh, it must have been bad. I heard from one person he had a knife in his chest, but there are so many different stories I don't know what's true." She unconsciously brushed her hair out of her face.

"Yeah, that part was true, he was cut up badly too. Had words carved into his arm."

She cringed, "Oh wow. Do you know who he is? Someone said it was Percy Jackson, but I saw him go out with Annabeth when I came."

"No, it's not Percy," Nico said. "He can take care of himself. Dumbledore said it's not a student."

"And you know what else?" I couldn't resist saying. "Dumbledore said he died from the Killing Curse. Then someone went through the trouble to cut him up."

She nodded, digesting the information, "At least he didn't die a painful death."

"Are you nervous about something?" Piper asked suddenly.

She looked surprised, "What? Oh...yes I am actually, how did you know?"

Piper shrugged, "You looked like it."

"Oh," she looked uncomfortable. "I take Arithmancy see, and I'm afraid I forgot a few things during the summer."

"Ah, well, I've noticed you and Drew don't get along well."

"Well," she said, then she looked around as if Drew might be listening in, "she's a bit mean."

"She acts like you're the one who's mean," I told her.

She shrugged, "Oh, she's always been like that. She has too much pride for her own good. She just won't let things go."

"Hey, Annabeth isn't here," I realized, glad for a chance to change the subject. "We can talk about our plan for Monday!!"

"Whoa, but I'm still here," Jason said.

I shushed him, "DADA class is first thing in the morning tomorrow. Annabeth and Percy can just go to Diagon Alley without needing to pretend to be sick. So I throw up first okay?"

"Okay," Nico said grudgingly.

"Hm, and since it's DADA, Nico can get punched by Thalia and you can pretend to go to Madam Pomfrey! Then Thalia can just get sick. And Jason you have to tell Nico to go to Madam Pomfrey," I added.

"Oh all right," Jason said. "But you guys had better bring Piper and me a ton of stuff. And you're paying."

"Sure thing," I said. "But you've got to pay us back."

Piper gave me a look.

"Fine fine!" I raised my hands in surrender. "Souvenirs on the house!"

" 'On the house' is only for food or drinks Leo," Piper rolled her eyes. "But thanks."

Dawn stared at us, "You're skipping school tomorrow?"

"Um, yeah," I said. Hoping against hope that she wasn't like Hermione, disapproving of breaking rules. Dawn was in Ravenclaw after all.

"Lucky," she muttered with a slight smile. After a few seconds she said, "I never got the courage to do something like that. And don't worry, I'm not going to tell anyone."

She began packing her things, "Well, it was nice chatting with you all, but I've got to run. Bye!" She waved and whisked out the door.

Piper snorted, "She is so much nicer than Drew. Both Drews," she added.

"No kidding. Didn't try to punch me once," Nico said.

After about a minute Nico threw his Transfiguration textbook across the table, "DONE!"

"Quiet!" Madam Pince snapped at him.

"Sorry," he called back. He turned to us, "You guys almost done?"

"We're done," Jason and Piper said.

"I'm done too," I said.

Thalia glared at us, "Don't leave me here."

"Oh we won't," I assured her, "only I will."

Annabeth had taken my stash of candy, and I was eager to get them back. I hoped they were in our dorms. I grabbed my books and shoved them into my tool belt. It was charmed so that anyone who knew it was a tool belt would see it as one, but anyone who didn't know it was a tool belt would just see it as a leather satchel. I flew out the door, ignoring Nico asking me to bring back some candy, and Thalia growling. 

I nearly ran smack into Drew as I turned the corner. I had managed to stop just in time, but I had definitely scared the Styx out of her. She had jumped so hard it was as if the floor was on fire, "Watch it!" she snapped, once she had regained her composure.

"Sorry," I was about to go around her then asked, "where are you going?"

"To the library." She rolled her eyes at me, "It's the only place on the third floor anyone would go to on a Sunday."

"To do what?"

Her right eye twitched, "To strike you across the face for asking such a stupid question."

She was clearly in a very bad mood right now. "Okay, okay," I assumed she was just going to go get books or something, "bye then."

As she walked away, I couldn't help but wonder how twins could be so different.

But then again, Apollo and Artemis were very different as well, so I shouldn't be too surprised.