Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was a standard day in New Rome as Nico slowly came aware of warmth against his back as drifted awake. As he grimaced at the light coming through the window, trying to sift away, the warmth behind him grumbled and flipped over, deciding that the movement was too much to keep cuddling. As he yawned and stretched a note sitting on the bedside table caught his eye. 

“Sunshine, wake up, we’ve got a letter.” Nico yawned out as he nudged the blonde-haired blob next to him. Another grumble came from the pile of blankets, but a hand emerged to pull the sheets low enough to reveal the tired eyes of Will.

Nico let out a chuckle at the dramatic display and set out to read the letter.

“ My son ,”

“Oh goody, a godly note, that means we get to do absolutely nothing dangerous at all,” Will interjected, as he slowly sat up and stretched.

“Hush, who knows, he may just want to have breakfast, or invite us to dinner with him and Lady Persephone.” The response was a look that very clearly implied questioning of Nico’s level of sanity.

“ My son, 

I hope you and the sunny one are doing well, as are the rest of your friends, but I, unfortunately, cannot say this letter is only for checking on you.

There is much to tell you, but it would be better to do face to face, so please meet me at the corner of 7th and 16th at 12pm, and bring your friends, including the sea spawn, this may include them as well.

Your father.”

“Well, that’s not ominous at all,” Will said as he rummaged through his luggage for a shirt, Nico set down the letter and also began to dress for the day. 

“Well, at least he sent a letter and included you. He’s getting much better at being an active father. “

“That is true, and he’s better than old Seaweed is at it, I swear Percy will send himself into a death trance the next time he spends a ‘father-son’ day with him.” They both shared a chuckle at that.

“Speaking of Aquaman, give him and Annie a text to make with a 5-minute warning, dad said we can bring them to the meeting.” Will nodded and grabbed the monster-proof phone sending a text off to the older couple while Nico finished getting ready. The phone immediately chimed with an affirmative answer, and the couple soon found themselves ready to shadow travel. 

“Bring the letter to show Perce and Annabeth, and they said we are good to come in our usual spot,” Will suggested before taking Nico’s hand. Nico gave it a squeeze and grabbed the letter of the nightstand, and the two melted into the shadows. 

After forever and no time at all, the two emerged into a dark empty closet, and Will knocked on the door before opening it. They were greeted by a smiling Percy at the table and the voice of Annabeth from the kitchen.

“Hey, you two! Glad you came over. Do you need something to eat? I’m making toaster waffles.”

“Thanks, Annie, we’ll both take two, we left the hotel before we had breakfast,” Will called back as he made his way to the table, leaving Nico to close the door to the closet and notice the sign. 

“Water Boy?” Nico asked, somehow halfway between a laugh and a growl, “What in the Hades is this?” 

Percy laughed as he looked up and noticed the sign, as did Will.

“What? The joke was way too good to pass up, besides, Jason made the joke first.” The sign in question just read “The Closet” in puffy glitter letters. Nico was interrupted from getting too upset by Annabeth coming in with plates of toaster waffles, which he helped take to the table before sitting with his family. They made small talk before Percy got to the heart of the issue.

“So what's up, bro? Not that we don’t love the company, we just usually plan things ahead of time, you don’t normally pop around.”

“We woke up from a letter from my dad, he said he wants to meet up, and that you are all invited as well,” Nico explained while pulling the letter out of his pocket as he explained. He let the older couple read the letter, and watched as Percy sighed in defeat and Annabeth became curious. 

“I’m so done being a pawn of the gods, it gets so exhausting. But your dad put effort into being a dad, that’s cool.”

“I wonder what he wants, he said “may involve” not “will involve” so we may not have to go.” After Annabeth’s statement, Percy looked a little happier, though Nico wilted a little. Will squeezed his shoulder and smiled to say “I’m with you to the end” which encouraged him a little. Just then the bell rang, and Annabeth got up to get it while Percy gathered the dishes and used his powers to wash and dry them. 

“Dude, what?” Will laughed while Percy shrugged.

“What? Who needs a dishwasher when you are the Son of Poseidon, besides, it actually saves on the water bill, so Annabeth is cool with it.” 

“Ugh, bills, you should really just be the Ambassador of Pluto and not pay for anything ever while you and your boy toy live in a hotel penthouse.” Nico jokes, ignoring Will’s offended gasp and elbow for being called a boy toy.

“Or you should be the only child of a famous movie star and live off his hush money to pretend you don’t exist.” Piper chimed in while following Annabeth back to the kitchen, Jason also in tow.

“You guys know what, that sounds like a great plan. I’ll try that next, right after I get done being the Saviour of Olympus and the world twice.” Percy replied while getting up to bro-hug Jason and give Piper a hug. 

“Hey Neeks, Will, what brings you here?” Jason asked as he sat at the table. 

“Lord Hades has asked Death Breath and me to meet with him at noon, and he said we can bring friends, so we were inviting Percy and Annabeth, but y’all can come too,” Will responded, slinging an arm around Nico.

“We’ve got nothing else planned, so why not, it’s not like Lord Hades isn’t extremely intimidating and will possibly smite me for no reason.” Jason snarked back, but they all knew they were going to go anyway, so when 12pm came close, they left for the meetup spot, not wanting to be late.

Once arriving at the designated spot, they were met with a Rottweiler, which gestured for them to follow it.  They all looked at each other and shrugged, following the dog into an ally, where they were then greeted by Hades.

Will, Jason, and Piper bowed slightly, while Annabeth just nodded in greeting, and Percy and Nico gave a little wave. 

“Hello father, it’s nice to see you.”

“Sup Lord Hades, glad to see you are a better dad than most, I wish my dad sent letters instead of just showing up,” Percy said before he was elbowed in the ribs, hard, by Annabeth who didn't feel like watching her fiance die today.

Hades just sighed “Don’t we all. But yes, hello son, it is very nice to see you. I am here for business, unfortunately. You may not know, but we have had a soul that has been incomplete for over 13 years, only to be joined by a tiny sliver 2 years ago. The majority of the soul is still missing, but one of the parts has regained a body yesterday. This takes a very dark art to do so, and we need to soul to become whole before it can be judged.”

“Why have you not been able to call the soul pieces back?” Nico asked concern marking his voice.

“They have been tied to objects, and the object must be destroyed before the pieces can be free to join back together. Up until now, Lady Hecate has not allowed me to do anything about retrieving the soul, but now that a soul has remade a body, I can finally interfere.”

As Hades goes on to describe a hidden wizarding world, the young adults grew more resigned by the fate they knew was in store.

“Now, I know I don’t have the right to ask this for you, but you are the only one I can rely on to get this done properly, but you can say no if you like. You other demigods do not have to go either, your acceptance or refusal will not change the outcome of this mission.”

“Then why ask this of us Lord Hades?” Annabeth inquired, though she felt she knew the answer.

“So Nico would not be alone. He would be entering the society at the age that most have established their friends, as well as his underworld aura giving off the feeling of darkness, he would have a hard time finding people to spend time with. While he can do this alone, I do not want to ask that of him.”  Nico blushed, but smiled, he was not looking forward to doing this alone and would miss his family like a lost limb. 

“Well, when you put it that way, I guess we are going to play with wizards for a little while,”  Jason responds, throwing an arm around Nico and Will’s shoulders. Percy just looked at Annabeth and shrugged, as Piper put a hand on Will's shoulder.

“Okay, dad, we will go take care of the split soul, what do we need to know?”

“Lady Hecate will visit your dreams tonight to instill you with the knowledge of what you need to know, and the cover you are going to use. You have all summer to fully educate yourself before the start of their term in September, and we will get you to the castle the day of. We will also take care of any paperwork issues that may come up. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to visit my wife while I’m up here. I’ll see you soon, my son.”

Hades nodded to them all and left through shadow. Percy looked at them and burst out laughing, soon they all joined in.

“Dude, your dad is way better than all of them. I don’t think my dad would even take my mental well-being into account, and he’s mortal.” Piper said, “Now who wants lunch? I’m starving.”

Chapter Text

The summer was spent rearranging Annabeth and Percy’s college schedule, learning about the wizarding world in their sleep, practicing spells when they could, and just enjoying living their lives, to the best a demigod is able. By September first, they gathered in the Jackson-Chase apartment, which was empty, as Percy and Annabeth didn't want to pay rent to save it for a year.

“Are y’all sure you want to stay the full year, and not just come back when we are done?” Will asked again, looking around the empty apartment causing the shirt and tie around him to askew as Nico fixed it. Nico scolded him and set about straightening his uniform tie again. 

“Yeah, it's not ideal, but it’s easier to plan for doing the full year, since we don’t know when we will be done.” Annabeth replied, checking through her backpack one more time. “Honey, where did I-”

Percy stuck out his wrist which held about 3 hair ties, and Annabeth gave him a grateful look as she threw her hair into a ponytail, and sliding a pen in it as her back-up pen. Soon, the clock struck 12, and Hades appeared, with Hecate alongside him. 

“Hello, children, sea spawn. Are you ready to go?” Hades greeted, leaving Percy offended, but Annabeth slapped a hand over his mouth before he could retort.

“Yes, Lord Hades, we are ready.” Jason responded with another bow. 

“Such a polite boy, unlike your sea spawn cousin and air head father. But very good, Lady Hecate has provided all the supplies you might need, and she shall now take you to the magic school. Be safe my son, call on me at any time.” Hades once again nodded, but Nico stepped forward and gave him a short hug, much to Hades astonishment, but he quickly recovered and returned it, nodding to the other again he left. 

“Now, demigods. I have trained you to the best of my ability. Remember these mortals may have magic, but they are still mortals. They have left my realm of control and worship long ago, but the current dark magics cannot continue. Tom Riddle seeks immortality, and he cannot achieve it. That is reserved for the gods. Go forth and stop him. I will bring you to the office of a legacy of Athena, she is the only one who knows about the gods, and it shall stay that way.” Hecate stated, then, in a flash of light the 6 Demigods found themselves in a homey office in a building made of stone.  Behind the desk sat a stern looking woman as she wrote with a quill.

“Minerva, legacy of Athena, these are the young Heroes I have informed you of.” Hecate said to the woman, as she quickly stood to curtsy and crossed the room to them.

“Thank you, my Lady, I have seen their accommodations and informed the headmaster of their arrival. I will take them from here.” The women did another bow, and Hecate left, leaving the young adults with trunks suddenly at their sides, all with the crest of their parents on the latch, but no distinguishing features. The woman let out a hardy breath and turned to the demigods. 

“Welcome, children, to Hogwarts.I understand you have a great task ahead of you, but I do not know it or wish to, as it allows me to turn a blind eye to your activities. You will be separated into two year groups, with the younger two in 5th year, and the other 4 in 7th year. Now, I believe introductions are in order. I am Professor Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress, and Head of Gryffindor House. I am also the transfiguration teacher. I will also act as your guardian during your stay.”

“It’s very nice to meet you, Professor. I am Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena, this is my fiance, Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, Jason Grace, son of Jupiter, Piper McLean, daughter of Aphrodite, Will Solace, son of Apollo, and Nico di Angelo, son of Hades.” Each demigod raised your hand as their name was spoken, and McGonagall nodded at each. “We have decided to stay the full school year, regardless of when we end our task, so we thank you for being our 

guardian.” 

“It is an honor to be around children of the big three, and my own family. But we have much to cover children, and little time. Things you must know before meeting the other students and staff. Wizards are idiots, they have little sight beyond themselves, so the mist works well on them. The headmaster is planning a war, and will want you in it as soon as he understands your power, so be wary of him. He also wanted to fully integrate you into the school by having you sorted into houses, but I was informed that would not turn out well, so I have made sure you have your own accommodations. I will show you them shortly, but once we leave this room,we can no longer talk about the gods. Your accommodations and my office are the only places it is safe to talk about the gods, and your task,as they are warded by Hecate herself. I have also added a fireplace in the great hall for your meal sacrifices to the gods. Now children follow me,”

Minerva then swept out the door, with the six demigods following her, trunks in hand. “ We very rarely get transfer students, but we are very happy to have you here. Hecate’s School of Magic is very prestigious, and we hope we can add to your extensive education. Hogwarts itself….”

Her tour and welcome show continued as they moved through the painting filled halls, all eyes drawn to the stange newcomers, as she led them to their dorms to drop off their trucks, and then guide them to the great hall. 

“And here is the Great Hall, where all meals and school wide meetings take place. There is a map in your dorm common room, and I will provide personal ones tomorrow at breakfast. For now, we have our welcome feast, and I have to wrangle the first year students, if you will wait here, I will introduce you when it is time.”

And she then left them waiting in a small antechamber, where they could hear the sounds of many students talking.

“Well then, that was information packed. I’m not sure how much of it I’m going to retain, but I heard it.” Will joked, as Nico leaned against him. Annabeth copied him, leaning against Percy, but Piper and Jason just leaned against the wall. That action led Percy to raise an eyebrow at them, as they were usually the first to be affectionate.

“Everything alright?”  Jason sighed and shared a look with Piper before she nodded, allowing him to explain. 

“We are just figuring things out right now, making sure this is what we want, if our feelings are real, or just the result of everything. We talked about it before, but this gives us the real chance of not having others that will take advantage of the space.” 

The other two couples nodded in understanding.

“That makes sense, Sunshine and I had time to be friends before dating, and did those idiots, so it should be good to try and build your friendship better before continuing to date. We of course support you.” Nico said softly, before grinning wickedly, “After all, I had a crush of Percy that was just hero worship, and he’s an absolute dumbass, who is, I repeat, not my type.” 

Percy sputtered in indignation as the others laughed, but were cut off by the sound of them being introduced and the doors swung open. They sobered up quickly, straightening their uniforms, and got ready to walk into the hall, Percy and Annabeth in the lead as always, ready to take on the world head first, and protect their friends from it.

“And we are happy to announce that this year, we will be hosting 6 transfer students for the year from Hecate’s School of Magic.”

Chapter Text

“And we are happy to announce that this year, we will be hosting 6 transfer students for the year from Hecate’s School of Magic.”

Harry hadn’t expected much outside of the usual fighting for his life between essays this year, so when the announcement came that they were having transfer students, he was extremely surprised. 

“What, why didn't Professor Dumbledore tell us?” He asked as he looked around at all the shocked faces, Ron and Hermione just as surprised.

“I don’t know Harry, but he doesn’t look very happy about it either, maybe the Ministry forced him into it,” Hermione replied, gesturing to the blank face of the usually cherry older gentleman. Before they could question more, doors to an antechamber to the side of the great hall opened, and 6 teens walked out. They all wore button-up white shirts, black slacks, black blazers trimmed with gold and the 4 guys wore ties, and the two girls wore neck bows, all in different colors. 

“I wonder what the colors mean,” Hermione whispered as they smoothly crossed the room, their way of walking a cross between a predator's stalk and a lazy swagger. 

“Who cares about the colors, what about the fact they look like they are bloody walking statues!” Ron retorted, and Harry could see what he meant, every movement was smooth, deliberate, and unearthly. Every feature looked like it was cut from stone, from heavy eyebrows to the crooked nose all of them seemed to have. As they reached the front of the room they stilled as one, all taking stances that made them look relaxed but ready to fight.

“Students of Hogwarts, please welcome the students from Hecate’s school of Magic/” Professor McGonagall announced and they all turned around and faced the Hogwarts students at the same time. Harry just then noticed the distance between them never changed. They moved as one, it seemed, like they were all puppets on a string. 

“They will be joining you in your classes, and at meals, so please make an effort to get to know them and show them around Hogwarts. Joining the 7th year class we have Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, Jason Grace, and Piper McLean. Joining the 5th year class, we have Nico di Angelo and Will Solace.” As the teens name was called, they nodded their head, naming the oldest looking boy that had similar features to Harry, but a posture that screamed of leadership Percy, the girl who could rival a siren in beauty Annabeth, the older blonde boy who looked like superman Jason, the other girl that looked like she stepped off a magazine Piper, and youngest boy with that looked like he had never seen the sun Nico and the other blonde boy who was so tan he almost looked like he was glowing Will. Piper’s name also got a little bit of a reaction from some students, but Harry wasn't sure why.

“Thank you, students, you are dismissed to take your seats,” McGonagall said, before making her way to the head table, and once again, the transfer students moved as one, making their way to a small table by a fireplace that definitely wasn’t there before.

“Why aren’t they sitting with the rest of Hogwarts, like the other schools did last year?” Hermione questioned. 

“Who knows, they look like right swots to me. Probably don’t want to dirty themselves with the likes of us.” Ron scoffed, and soon their attention was once again brought to the head table as the welcoming speeches began. Soon Harry’s thoughts began to drift away from the teachers back to the new students, so he turned to look over at them. All 6 were definitely not paying much attention either, only the older blonde girl, Annabeth, had her ear turned towards the front, but her eyes were on the oldest boy Percy, as he tried to stack the table settings into a tower, the rest of the table alternating between either helping or trying to knock the tower over. 

Piper began to laugh a little too loudly, only to be quickly shushed by Annabeth and the youngest dark-haired boy, Nico. As the tower became a bit too precarious, Harry started to wince at the crash he knew was coming, but never did because Annabeth quickly leaned over and added support to the tower and it stood tall, with Percy beaming proudly at it. But while Harry watched Percy, Percy’s eyes darted over to him, and in a second his face changed, going completely blank and the glare being sent his way heavy enough to smash stone. Harry’s face went red as he turned back around and lowered his head.

He was soon brought back to his friends and table by Hermione slamming her hand down on the table furiously. 

“The Ministry’s interfering at Hogwarts.”

Chapter Text

Percy turned back to his friends after the black-haired kid turned back to his table, to find Annabeth frowning at the head table. “What's up babe?”

“Nothing, that woman in pink is going to be a problem though.”

“That’s a woman? I thought it was a golem.” Nico responded, shielding his eyes from the pink, before turning his back to the head table completely.

“Eh, who cares, we are here for one reason, so let’s focus on that till it’s done, and then just chill. It’s like a vacation for us.” Will said, reaching for the food in the center of the table, the rest of them following his lead. Percy pouted at the table though. 

“Awe, nothings blue.” He pouted, leaving Annabeth to chuckle and wave her hand, turning the bread rolls blue. Percy immediately lit up and smiled at her. “Thanks, babe!”

A student from the table next to them noticed and leaned over, “I’m sorry, did you just use wandless magic?”

“Wandless? We’ve never used wands?” Piper replied, catching more attention. 

“Never used wands? How do you focus your magic then? And you didn’t say a spell? How advanced are you?”

“Advanced? No, this is standard at our school. Magic is based on intent, so why would words and sticks change that?” Jason questioned, buttering a blue roll, before frowning at it and turning it back to the original color, muttering in easily missed undertoned greek, “ Dad won’t like blue food .”

“What, no they barely start teaching us the basics of non-verbal and wandless magic in 7th year. Before then, we have to use wands to learn how to focus and control magic.” 

“So without your wands, you’re just a normal mo- no-maj? That stupid.” Nico retorted, also preparing food to set aside, leaving the Hogwarts students floundering. Soon, all the demigods had their sacrifices ready and then got up to put them in the fire. They said their small prayers, and sat back at their table before eating, well aware of the eyes on their backs, but very good at ignoring them. 

“What was that for?” Once again, a student from the other table asked the demigods. 

“For our religion and culture,” Annabeth answered with a small glare before turning back to the table and pulling a small sketchbook out. 

“Gonna capture all this architecture, Wise Girl?” Percy teased, before feeding her her meal, knowing she would forget to eat once she was engrossed.

“Ugh, don’t be cute, I’m eating.” Piper joked, as she threw another blue roll at Percy, but landed next to Jason. “Oops, sorry Sparky.”

Jason just tossed it back and bit into his meal with an eye roll. But he did look over at Will and Nico and noticed how the younger boy was falling asleep, leaning against his shoulder. 

“Oh shit, he did miss his nap today, huh.” Nico raised a sleepy middle finger at him, but nothing else, while Will nodded before kissing Nico’s head. 

“Yeah, plus travel and he didn’t sleep much last night, though I expected him to drop out earlier, but I guess seeing his dad gave him a little boost.” 

Nico sat up a little bit and stretched, before giving Will a small kiss on his shoulder and turning to his friends. “We go back to the dorms, now, I want to sleep.”

Piper looked up from where she was changing her bow different colors, it currently being a soft green, and shrugged. “Sure, I’m beat too, I’ll ask Minnie to lead us to our rooms.”

She slid her way up to the table, dodging students, leaving Jason to glare at those who watched her walk just a little too long. 

“So, that break idea, her’s I’m guessing?” Percy asked, a teasing smirk decorating his face. Jason gave a small sigh.

“Yes and no, she brought it up, but I do agree with her. How we got together didn’t really give us the chance to be friends and really get to know each other, so it will be good for us, I just know we can come out the other side stronger, more like you and Annabeth. And all we are really doing is cutting out kissing and other exclusive couple stuff, so we can be affectionate, just taking it slow you know. After all, we hug.”

“Yeah, but you are the wind beneath my wings bro. Nico won’t hug me, and I’ve known that punk since he was like, 11.” Percy pouted, and Nico gave him a slight shove. 

“That’s because you smell like salt, and don’t know how to not touch my hair.”

“Oh, you mean like this?” Percy immediately pulled Nico into a headlock and started ruffling up his hair, causing him to flail, and knock over a water glass, that then spilled onto Annabeth's sketchbook. 

“Perseus Jackson!” She cried out, slamming her pencil on the table and holding her now wet book up, outside attention was once again caught.

“Shit! Sorry babe.” Percy immediately dried the book and pulled the water back into the glass. “Is your drawing okay?” 

“It’s fine, Seaweed Brain. Just be careful. At least you didn’t break anything this time. Are you okay Neeks?” 

“I’m good Annie, sorry for knocking that glass over.”  Nico rubbed the back of his head, blushing lightly as he stood up, the rest of the demigods following his lead.

“It’s fine, you wouldn’t have if Seaweed Brian didn’t make you.” 

“Awe, come on Wise Girl, Neeks is okay, see, I’m not stabbed!” Percy interjected, turning in a full circle to display the fact that there were no holes in his body.

“Did he just control water?” A student finally got the courage to ask.

“Not control, just direct it, it's a family magic, we come from a long line of greek wizards. From the gods themselves, if the legends are true.” Will gave a predatory smirked, and made the others laugh at the inside joke. 

Chapter Text

Once Piper came back, but not with McGonagall, but a quick set of instructions, the demigods slowly made their way out of the hall but noticed a few people followed them, though the least subtle of them was a gangly ginger boy with his two friends all wearing red ties.

Snippets of their conversation made their way to the demigods while they argued.

“ Statues…. Bloody scary… Ron!... work for….. Voldemort...the order… Dumbledore…” The bushy-haired girl gave a huff, and then pushed her way through the crowd over to the 6 teens. The dark-haired boy and ginger kid made faces at each other before reluctantly following. 

“Hi! I’m Hermione Granger, 5th year Gryffindor, this is Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, also 5th year Gryffindor, welcome to Hogwarts.” She greeted once she reached them, and gestured to the other two before sticking out her hand to shake.

Annabeth stepped forward while the other took a step back, Percy moved to her left, and Will moved to the center of their small circle. With a false show of teeth and a calculating eye, Annabeth took the offered hand. Hermione and Harry were a little unnerved at the movement, but Ron remained oblivious, and a little aggressive.

“Annabeth Chase, Uppergrad of Hecate’s school of Magic. You will see Will and Nico in a few classes then, as they will be joining the 5th year curriculum. Thank you for the welcome.”

“If I may ask, what is the meaning of the different colored tie? Do they symbolize houses or years?”

“Oh, no, just the color we chose, I think Piper has changed the color of hers a few times. We don’t separate by houses, just lineage because of family magics. What classes you take are based on skill level and how fast you understand and master knowledge. We think grouping people together and not allowing them time to mingle can lead to major divides in life.” Annabeth replied, demonstrating by waving her hand over her bow and changing the color to match the red of the Gryffindor tie before changing it to a seafoam green with grey stars.

“That is some very advanced magic, but what do you mean you don’t have years, how do you regulate and do end of year tests?”

“Oh, we don't do a regular testing schedule, you ask for tests when you feel ready, if you pass, you move on, you fail, you go back to your usual work until you test again. Percy here now helps teach our dueling and defense classes but is still working on mid-level botany. I help teach a few classes too, but I’m still on mid-level healing, even with Will’s tutoring. But that’s okay, they won’t impact what we do for careers or how we do in college, so we don’t mind.” Annabeth explained, trying to equate what they do and learn at camp to the magical world, without sounding suspicious. 

“That’s crazy! That gives you no drive to be at the top of the class! And what about lazy kids that don’t care about a class, do they not test at all?” The girl's voice was nearly a screech at the end that had even Will wincing. Percy rolled his eyes and scoffed in reply. “Why do you think I’m still at mid-level botany? I don’t care about plants. All I need to know is what makes chocolate and Annabeth's favorite flower, and that’s cocoa beans and Asters, so I’m good.”

“This is why my step-mom and grandmother don’t like you.” Nico interjected with a smirk, ignoring the look from Will, “can’t even pretend to care about plants. At least Jason pretends. And yes, Will, I know your favorite flower is calla lily.”

There was slight confusion from the Gryffindors, but it was ignored by all.

“That’s because Superman is a kiss-ass,” Percy replied with a mock-glare, not that an outsider would know, dodging the fist headed towards his shoulder from Jason. Jason just glared and went for another punch that Percy dodged again, before turning to square up with Jason in the hallway.

“You want to do this now, Sparky?” Percy taunted, loosening his tie. 

“Never a better time to kick your ass.” Jason retorted, mimicking him.

“Boys, boys, you’re both pretty, you don’t have to fight…… but 10 on Jase, Annie,” Piper interjected, before stepping up next to Annabeth.

“In your dreams, Beauty Queen. Percy can take him any day. Yin and Yang, you guys want in?” Annabeth said, leaning against a wall to watch the fight.

“You are just gonna let them bloody fight?” Ron asked incredulously, shocked at the turn in personality from the two. Harry chimed in with a “and your betting on it?!”

“Yeah, why not, it’s entertainment.” Came from Nico, as the hallway stopped to watch Percy and Jason begin to duke it out, both dodging and trading insults, sometimes landing hits that sounded like they should be knocking them about, but barely moved them. Muscle refused to move under the impact, it was like stone hitting stone, and to the outside world, it was like watching statues fight. Every move was perfect and powerful. The unnatural grace they moved with never faltered, even as they fell to the ground, it was calculated.

Soon enough the fight turned into grappling, and the two just ended up hugging each other as they laid on the ground. 

“You are so strong bro, those punches were great!”

“Nah bro, that leg sweep was awesome, nearly took me down.”

“I love you, bro.”

“I love you too bro.”

“Ummm, what in the bloody hell just happened.”

“That’s just Percy and Jason. Their Bromance is stronger than most romances. If I didn’t know Percy would literally fight a god for me, I would be worried.” Annabeth said, walking over to give Percy a hand up. Percy then used the momentum to throw a shoulder under Annabeth's waist and pick her up like a sack of potatoes. She hit his back once and resigned herself to her fate. 

“Sorry Annie, but I’m pretty sure Percy would fight a god for all of us.” Nico snarked, but then chuckled with the rest of them before turning to Will. “Pick me up and I stab you.” 

Will put his hand up in fake innocence, “Okay, Sunshine, whatever you say.” 

Piper let out a yawn, “Alright freakshow, let’s hit the hay. We have things to do tomorrow.”

The 6 teens bid farewell to the confused and shocked Gryffindors that were almost forgotten about, and made their way back to their dorms, bantering as they went. When they reached a painting of a canoe on a beach, Nico whispered the password that would allow them to enter, and the wall swung open, revealing a common area that was sparsely decorated but held a sofa and 4 chairs beside a crackling fire. The opposite wall held a small water feature that gave off a light mist.

Percy threw Annabeth down on the sofa and plopped down next to her.

“Sooooo. Thoughts?”

“These guys are stupid.” Nico grumbles, shoving Will into a chair and climbing on top of him. Will resigned himself to death buy cuddles and checked Nico’s vitals. 

“That bushy-haired girl nearly fainted when you described camp lessons.” Piper giggled.

“Yeah, I can’t see us actually learning anything here. But more importantly, we need to plan.”

“Yeah, Nico, did you feel or notice anything at all?”  Jason asked from his slouched position in a chair.

Nico groaned, but sat up, “There is something in the castle, and that Harry kid is a little funky, but no, I need to learn more about Tom to figure out where to start. Though if I could get a hold of a soul piece, I could be able to lock on to the signature, making it easier to find them. I’ll start interrogating the ghost tomorrow. If I can’t find a soul piece up here, I can ask dad to borrow one, it won't be as strong, but it will work until I can find one with a live connection.” 

“Alright, that’s a start. We can start our in-depth planning tomorrow, and maybe do some research.”

“Okay, that's all settled, let's get to bed. Everyone grab your nightmare buddy and hit the hay, we all need rest.” Will ordered, picking a squirming Nico up and heading to the room they chose earlier. 

“I’m gonna write a letter to mom real quick first,” Percy said, moving to the desk in the corner to write out a quick note, and Annabeth copied a few of her drawings to send to as well. “I love magic, quick copies, and translation? Mom won’t have to decipher my bad spelling.”

Piper and Jason headed to the room they claimed as their own, leaving the oldest couple to their own devices, nervous to approach their sleeping situation, but too dependent on each other to try separate rooms, and they definitely don’t want to ask their friends who have been through arguably more to give up their own comfort for the sake of theirs. 

The room they chose earlier greeted them with separate twin beds, with their trunks at the end, and a single person bathroom for each, there was also a retractable screen that divided the room. 

“Oh, I don't remember it looking like this earlier, and both the other rooms had double beds.” Jason wondered aloud as he moved about the room, looking at the details. 

“It probably responds to our needs, but come on, let's get some sleep, we have plans to make and classes to not pay attention to next week,” Piper responded, grabbing her sleep clothes and heading to her bathroom to get ready for bed, and Jason nodded and did the same. 

When both were settled in bed, they turned towards each other. 

“We may not know how deep our love is, but if you need me, I’m here for you,” Piper said.

“I know, I’m here for you too, sleep the best you can, and let me don’t worry about waking me.”

Jason responded, and at Piper's smile and nod, turned off the light. 

Chapter Text

With the weekend spent interrogating ghosts, playing the worst game ever of hot and cold, and getting used to the castle and time change, the teens had the beginning of a plan made. They will see what information they can get from the student gossip throughout the week, and search again next weekend. Monday morning found 4 groggy teens stumbling into the dining hall, with a fully awake Will carrying a still sleeping Nico in a fireman's hold. When they approached the table, they performed their well-choreographed maneuver of Percy taking Nico while Will sat, and then Percy placed Nico next to Will, and let him slump into Will's side, while Annabeth arranged their bags as a barrier to keep him from falling backward. Jason and Piper filled and sorted the plates for everyone so by the time everyone was settled in, they could give sacrifices and immediately eat. 

Anna beth had yet to sit down when McGonagall swept over, with the eyesore hopping at her heels. 

“Good morning Children. I have your class schedules.” 

“Eh-hem, Why is that student still asleep, all students must be awake by this time.” Umbridge sneered, going to shake Nico to wake him up, but Will caught her hand, all the Demigods, and McGonagall tensed.

“He has severe insomnia and he is still affected by jet-lag as well. We will wake him, in the way that is best for him, before the start of classes. Waking him in the way you were about to would have severe negative effects on him, and you. Besides, there are other students for you to bother, that have no excuse to be sleeping in the hall.” Will growled out, before releasing her hand, and McGonagall shifted to put her shoulder between Umbridge and the Demigods.

Not a drop of liquid in the hall moved, and the air was thick. Everyone in the hall felt suddenly very small and powerless until McGonagall cleared her throat, and Annabeth laid a hand on Percy’s cheek. The feeling bled out of the room, and the morning continued. 

“As I was saying, here are your class schedules, you will be in your year groups, but you will switch amongst the houses, as there is no reason for you to stay with one house. You also have 2 free periods, as you aren’t in any elective classes to continue your own studies. We have made an empty classroom near your dorm available for that use.” McGonagall said as she handed the schedules to Annabeth and Will. “As you won't be separated, I only made off one copy of each, and on the back is the Map of the castle. It will highlight the place you are going to, and show the correct route. You may also ask any portraits for help.”

“Thank you, Professor, now if you’ll excuse us, we do still have our breakfast sacrifice for the gods before we can eat,” Annabeth said and turned her body slightly towards Will. “Percy will go first so he can hold Nico while you take care of your’s and Nico’s.”

Will nodded and separated out his and Nico’s sacrifices, having worked it out with Hades a while ago that it would be okay for Will to do Nico’s so he could sleep on bad days. Percy came back and smoothly switched spots with Will, and Will headed towards the fire. Jason and Piper sat back down, and Annabeth joined them on that side of the table, facing Percy, and the rest of the hall. She looked towards Nico fondly, “It’s good to see him sleep soundly like this, makes him look his age.”

“I forget how young he is sometimes, how young we all are really. But this will be good for us, a break, around other kids our age.” Piper chimed in, and Jason nodded in agreement.

“Eh, I’m just not too into dealing with teachers again, but I can always just explore the castle,” Percy replied, taking a sip of his coffee and then frowned at it. “Awe, it’s not even good.”

Annabeth laughed at him and pushed a cup of juice towards him, as Will sat back down and shuffled Nico back into his side. “At least we only have the core classes, so you don’t have to suffer for too long each day.”

“Yeah bro, and we are together, as are Yin and Yang, so we won’t be alone at least. And they apparently have end of year tests, and we don’t have to do them, and our grades don’t really matter.” 

“Good point bro, you are so smart bro.”

“Awe thanks bro.”

“I love you bro.”

“You’re my world bro.”

Will made an exaggerated face of disgust as Annabeth and Piper shared a look. Students started moving into the hall, and Annabeth quickly checked the time and made a face.

“Will, we need to wake Nico so he has time to eat before classes start.”

Will sighed and nodded, and began gently rubbing a hand up and down Nico’s back while whispering in his ear in Ancient Greek, while the rest double-checked their bags and warmed Nico’s food back up, only for all of them to be startled by the owls sweeping in with the mail.

Nico shot up as Will cursed, throwing a knife at the nearest owl, only for it to be knocked off course by a second knife thrown by Annabeth. Piper quickly summoned them back before they could hurt anyone. Jason quickly looked around for witnesses but saw no one gapping in their direction, only McGonagall who looked upset and standing to move towards them again.

“Fuck! Babe, look at me, look at me. Repeat after me….” Will led Nico through a calming cycle, Nico’s eyes darting around wildly, and gasping for breath. Percy half ducked, keeping an eye on the owls, but focused on Nico’s heartbeat, listening for problems.

“Are you alright Mr. di Angelo? Children? I apologize for forgetting to warn you about the owls, it is how the post is delivered.”

“It’s not your fault Professor, we also were informed about the owls, and we forgot as well, it was just startling,” Jason replied, slowly bleeding out tension once again. 

“I’m okay, Will is helping me,” Nico replied weakly, leaning his head against Wills's arm as the adrenaline left him shaky. Will slowly fed him bites of food and sips of juice.

“I’ve got him, Professor, I am his doctor after all. Well, I’m all of theirs, but you know what I mean, ma’am.”

McGonagall nodded and made her way back to the head table. Nico was soon able to sit up and eat normally, his friends carrying on about nothing important while he listened in. Once he finished, they all stood to head to class. Nico and Will headed to History of Magic, while the older 4 headed to Herbology.

Nico and Will found themselves following a group of red tie kids and listening to them as they walked. “Potters a complete nutter, saying the You-know-who is back.” 

“Forget about that, did you see how Lavender Brown has filled out?” They both instantly rolled their eyes and fell back to not listen in on the conversation any longer. 

“ Straight boys, so disgusting,” Nico muttered in greek, and Will laughed. “ Like you don’t check me out every time I stretch.” Nico shoved him into a wall, and Will stumbled back to him laughing.

They reached the classroom and Nico was extremely glad he had debriefed the ghost population over the weekend, as the only thing their specter Professor did was offer a nod in acknowledgment, instead of the freak out that normally accompanies the recognition of the Ghost King. 

Will found the seats at the back of the room where they then proceeded to not pay attention, making notes of ideas to run by Annabeth and playing footsie. Nico also wrote a letter to Hazel that he dropped into a shadow.

During the break, they found an Alcove to make out in, and then made their way to the Potions room. After listening to the greasy guy insult everyone for a few minutes, they began making their potion. Will began gathering and measuring out ingredients that he instructed Nico how to chop, quickly settling into a routine perfected in the infirmary when Will made salves and ointments. 

“Hey, Americans, glad to see you on the correct side of the room.” Nico looked up in confusion, while Will read the next line of instructions. “What?”

“You chose to sit on the correct side of the room, the Slytherin side, instead of the Gryffindorks.” The blonde whispered from behind them. Nico looked around and realized they all had green ties on.

“Whatever, we just found an empty table. What's the next step, Will?” Nico dismissed, focusing back on the task at hand. The blonde continued to try to get the pair's attention, but soon their potion was finished. 

“Mr. Solace, Mr. di Angelo, are you done with your potion?” The bat drawled out, swooping over to the pair, inspecting the cauldron. “That is not the draught you were instructed to make.”

“Oh, no, I was out of a centralized numbing potion, so I made more,”  Will replied, bottling up the potion.

“That is an extremely advanced potion, only taught to Mediwitches.” Snape sneered back.

“I know, I'm the student head healer at Hecate’s, I help instruct our healing courses, and make the stock for our infirmary. I’m sure if I was to take the British Mediwitch test, I would pass. I already have my healers certificate from MUSCA. I am going to medical school to be a Doctor once I graduate.” Nico gave Will a proud smile as he finished cleaning up their station. 

“Nonetheless, you did not create the potion you were instructed to, so you fail this assignment.”

“Okay,” Will replied with a shrug and packed the potions away, half in his personal medkit and a half to go back to camp that night. Snape glowered a few minutes longer, but dramatically turned and stalked away to terrify a nervous kid on the other side of the room. Once again ignoring the class, the boys went about their own business. The blonde kid behind them continued to try to get their attention, but the ADHD just blocked out the voice after a while.

Chapter Text

Once class was dismissed, they were cornered by the boy in his pose on their way to lunch, and Nico stood the slightest bit in front of Will.

“Can’t ignore me now, Americans. You are lucky I’m so forgiving, after all, you must not realize who I am. The name’s Malfoy, Draco Malfoy. That’s Zabani, Nott, Parkinson, Crabbe, and Goyle.” Draco lazily waved his hand at the other teens while introducing them, and showing an obvious pecking order. 

“I would say it’s a pleasure, but you felt the need to surround us, so….” Nico trailed off, with an eyebrow raised. “But if you could let us through so we can get lunch.”

“No, you see, we have to make sure you understand how this works. My father runs the ministry, and I run the school. I can make your lives easier or harder, depending on how this conversation goes.” Draco attempted to threaten, taking a step forward. Will let out a light scoff, angering Draco as he narrowed his eyes at Will at an attempted glare. “Something funny about that, Sunshine?”

In an instant, Nico growled, grabbing Draco and slamming him into the wall, feet an inch off the ground, and Will stepped in front of Nico, guarding his back, hand out to freeze the other students in their place. Shadows pulled around the group, other students passed like they saw nothing out of the ordinary. 

“ You do not have the right to call Will ‘Sunshine’, do it again and I’ll take your tongue. And let me make something clear. We are not from here, we will not stay here, we are here for the year. You and your father have no power over us. Leave us be, and we won’t have a problem, got it?” Nico threatened, letting the aura of the underworld flow freely. Draco nodded quickly and was dropped to the ground as Nico stepped back, and instantly the darkness left. Will snapped his finger, manipulating the Mist, wiping the unexplainable demigod powers from their mind, but leaving the rest.

At that moment, Percy rounded the corner, followed closely by the rest. He took in the scene in front of him and narrowed his eyes. “Everything under control, cousin?”

“Yep, all taken care of. Won’t have another issue, will we?” Nico said, a glare sweeping over the Slytherin students, they all shook their heads, and Nott pulled Draco up and the left quickly.  Percy watched them leave and then started complaining about every plant he touched dying instantly in herbology, while Jason did fine, and how it wasn't fair. And bragging about Annabeth showing up to everyone in the charms class. Nico and Will told them about their classes during lunch, and a letter from Hazel showed up in the shadow of the bowl of fruit on the table.

“Everyone is good, Leo is upset we didn't invite him, but Hazel told him it was because we thought that the wizarding world couldn’t handle him, so he has been placated,” Nico informed, and then took a bite of his lunch. “What do you guys have next?” 

“It’s all electives in the afternoon so we are gonna spar, and then explore for a bit,” Jason said, taking a sip of his drink, something Percy made unnecessarily difficult until Annabeth gave him a look. 

“We have a free period, then we have Defense. So we may come spar, or I might make Nico take a nap.” Will answered, smirking, and swaying with Nico’s shove. 

“I slept in this morning, I’m fine.” Nico yawned and then frowned at himself. “Fine, I’ll nap.”

They all finished their meal and made their way to the classroom set aside for them. The room was devoid of any furniture, and Annabeth and Piper conjured pads for the floor and walls. 

“Regular sparring rules, but magic is fine, Nico and Will, you want to go first, since you have a class later?” Piper asked as they finished setting up the room. They have long since realized that the best way to know how your partner was going to move and react on a battlefield was by training with them, so while they all spar with each other, they spend a lot of time with the person they plan on fighting next to. Will and Nico’s spar didn't last too long, with Will’s lower skill level, and Nico’s still recovering energy levels. It had been a year since shadow traveling the world, but the damage done was slow to heal, even with regular healing sessions.

After Nico and Will, Annabeth and Piper sparred, with Annabeth giving Piper pointers to improve her techniques. Nico quickly fell into a light sleep, and Will did a diagnostic check on him, with some light healing. 

All too soon the bell rang, and Nico and Will said bye to their friends and they headed to the DADA room, and Nico and Will immediately blanched at the head to toe pink covered woman. “Gods, even Drew is better than that.” Nico and Will found seats in the back once again, where Nico was half-covered in shadows.

“Good afternoon class.” 

A few people mumbled “Good Afternoon,” in reply.

“Tut, tut, “ said Professor Umbridge. “That won’t do, now, will it? I should like you, please, to reply ‘Good Afternoon, Professor Umbridge.’ One more time, please. Afternoon, class!”

“Good Afternoon, Professor Umbridge,” they chanted back at her. Nico and Will stayed quiet, refusing to be treated like 5-year-olds. Will turned to Nico and spoke in an undertone, “Percy is not going to like this.”

“There, now,” said Professor Umbridge sweetly. “That wasn’t too difficult, was it? Wands away and quills out, please.”

Will and Nico shared a look and did what they did in the rest of their classes, zone out and absorb nothing. They were forcibly zoned back in but a throat-clearing next to them.

“Boys, while I understand that our Ministry approved coursework may be beyond your level of comprehension based on your education being from the colonies, you do at least need to try to understand it. After all, you do not want to become degenerate lowlifes of our society. I must ask you to open your books and do your best to become educated. It is a privilege to be here after all.” Umbridge smiled condescendingly at them, speaking slowly. Nico blinked in disbelief and shared a look with Will.

“I’m sorry, but if you are implying that the trash you have in front of us, which is nothing but theory and nonsense, is something we are too dumb to understand because we are from America, you should probably try again.” 

“I do not appreciate your tone young man, detention with me tonight, and that coursework was hand designed by the ministry, how dare you call it nonsense. You have no authority to speak on such matters, not be a good boy and read your book.”

“No.”

“Young man, please repeat that.” Umbridge smiled menacingly, trying to keep control in her classroom, though Nico stubbornly kept his mouth shut, and Will stepped in, defending his boyfriend.

“He said “No”. He helps teach our Recognizing and Understanding Dark Arts class, as well as help tutor for our defense class. If he calls something on the subject ‘trash and nonsense’ it probably is. You also cannot give us punishments, we are not Hogwarts students, all discipline needing actions are to be brought up to Professor McGonagall, and she will decide the actions to take. Besides, you provided the books for this class and did not make allowances for non-native English speakers to have it in their native tongue, as well as charming it to not react to translation and coping spells, so we will have difficulty reading it anyways.” 

“Nonsense, you are speaking English now, you should have no problems reading the text,” Umbridge argued back, ignoring the information about Nico.

“We may be from America, but we are from a long line of Greek wizards. We are taught Greek and then English, and he also learned Italian before English, so it’s not even his second language.”

Umbridge decided to ignore the whole conversation and went back to the beginning. “Wizards much older and cleverer than you have devised our new program of study. You will be learning about defensive spells in a secure, risk-free way-”

“If we’re going to be attacked it won’t be in a -” The dark-haired kid, Harry broke in.

“As long as you have studied the theory hard enough, there is no reason why you should not be able to perform the spells under carefully controlled examination conditions.”

She turned to face Harry with a sneer. “And you will not need to use any defense spells in this classroom, because nothing is trying to attack you.”

“And what good is theory going to be in the real world?” Harry spit out, his eyes holding Professor Umbridge’s.

“What could you possibly think you would need to use these spells on out in the real-world Mr. Potter?” His name practically seethed through her clenched teeth, and Nico, hoping this may give him some information on Tom.

“Hmm, let’s think…” said Harry in a mock thoughtful voice, “maybe Lord Voldemort?”

As the argument continued, Nico learned that a student died last year, and the Harry kid was the only witness, as well as saw Voldemort come back. He carefully noted all that he could to bring up to the group later to see how they wanted to proceed.

After class, they tried their best to get back to the training room quickly but were caught by Harry and his friends. 

“Hey thanks for standing up to her. She’s a right bint, refusing to believe Voldemort is back and calling me a liar.”

“We didn’t do it for you. Her interfering with training can cause people to end up dead, besides, of course the dickhead is back, the signs are everywhere.” Nico snarled back, still upset about the class, and this self-centered kid in front of him.

“Oi, no need to be a wanker, he was just trying to thank you. You could take the thanks and go about your business.” Ron defended, causing Will to roll his eyes.

“That’s nice. Now, we need to meet up with our friends before dinner. So, bye.” The two walked swiftly away, with Nico using the shadows to help them be lost to the sight of the 3 wizards. 

Nico soon got frustrated with trying to navigate the hallway and turned to Will. “Short cut?”

“Hand.” Will held out his hand and checked Nico’s exhaustion level before nodding. “Yeah, we can do a short cut. Just don’t make it a habit.”

Nico gave him a brilliant smile and pulled them into the closest shadow, and they stumbled out of one in the training room, to find the room empty, but a note was left. 

“ Went exploring! Will be back to the dorm before dinner.-P ”

“Well, we are on our own…. What to do, what to do….” Will pondered with a smirk, and Nico smirked back. Nico shadow traveled them back to the dorm, and Will gave a small giggle at his eagerness.

Chapter Text

Once Jason and Percy’s spar had once again come to a draw, they decided to explore the castle a bit.

“This place is huge, it has to have so many hidden rooms. I want to find all of them.” Annabeth begins bouncing in her heels, an excited smile gracing her face. Percy gave her a fond look, and the 4 left the room, map in hand, to explore the castle.

“We are on the 3rd floor, and I think there is 7 total. So, work our way down or work our way up?”

“Work our way down, that way we only have to come back two floors, instead of 4,” Piper answered, looking over her shoulder at the map, making their way down the hallway. Jason and Percy followed behind, talking about the paintings they passed.

They had found about 2 secret rooms and a passageway that they marked to explore later when they heard the sounds of someone approaching them from behind the group. Turning, Annabeth and Percy came forward, as Jason and Piper slightly flanked them.

“Ah, our transfer students, it is very nice to meet you. I was quite surprised when I was informed of your joining us for the year. But you are here now, and Hogwarts is always happy to help those who need her.”

“Yes, we were also quite surprised, we standardly only have small switches with our sister school. But our director and school head believed that it would be beneficial for us to take some time away and visit a different school, to see how we might expand our education.” Annabeth smoothly answered the eccentric man that stepped out of a corridor in front of them, fishing for answers.

“I am very glad the place they chose was Hogwarts, but it seems quite odd that of all the schools in the world, they did choose here. Taking in the fact of it being an English speaking school, there are still plenty, including your American schools.” His hand came up to stroke his beard in faked thought, and the demigods barely compressed an eye-roll, but Percy just gave a shrug in response.

“Who knows, we were just asked if we wanted to go. I figured that since I hadn’t picked a college major yet, so this gave me time to figure it out.” He’s voice and posture were nonchalant, but his eyes had a hardness that warned you of disputing the answer. “Jason and Piper were in the same boat, and Annabeth heard that it was a castle, and needed to study the ancient architecture, figures it will add fresh ideas to her designs.”

“And what of the younger two, what are reasons they came along?”

“I think Nico’s dad had business to take care of, and Will followed like a puppy, young love, ya know. And Percy, Nico, and I are cousins, and were raised together, didn’t want to leave each other behind on an adventure.” Jason answered this time, eyes tracking how the purple robes of the old man swirled in a seemingly random pattern.

“I see, while your goals are not education-based, I do hope you can learn something while you are here, and make meaningful connections that can be mutually beneficial in the future.” With that, the headmaster swished away, and Jason barely turned to watch him disappear around the corner. The demigods stood there in silence, listening for footsteps and breathes, before sharing a look.

“Welp, it’s time to return to the dorm and get the kiddos for dinner, yeah?” Percy asked, but they all knew it was a statement, and they followed Annabeth's map back to the dorm, but occasionally stopping to look into rooms, or behind tapestries, just in case someone or something was keeping an eye on them.

About 20 minutes later, the others came back into the room to find Will and Nico curled up in front of the fire, soundly napping with McDonald's wrappers around them, and both covered strange colored powders.

“Awe, nappy time for the little ones.” Piper cooed. Annabeth snickered and went to clean up the wrappers around them. “Weird, there is goo on this one.”

“Wait. We left them alone, they are covered in powder. Annabeth found goo…. MY STUFF!” Percy managed to logic out, sprinting towards his room to find his stuff and only his stuff covered in rainbow goo. “Awwww man….”

Nico rubbed his eyes as he woke, and smiled at the chaos he had caused. He began to wake Will next to him. “How was exploring the castle?”

“Good, we found a passage, but we didn’t explore it yet, ran into old man Jenkins, he is extremely weird, definitely wants us to join his secret army. Gave some vague advice of “meeting friends that can be mutually beneficial in the future” and he seems to have lie-detecting clothing.” Jason replied, rolling his eyes at the absurdity, and Piper gave a small shudder. “If the kids we came into contact with are the ones that we need to befriend, the only thing they are beneficial for is cannon fodder. Not a brain cell between them, and we are in the advanced self-chosen classes.”

Will suddenly shot up, gasping, and reached a hand out blindly for Nico. Piper and Annabeth opened the window curtains, letting natural light in, as Jason and Percy backed away quickly to give space. Nico gave Will his wrist and led his head to his chest to hear his heartbeat. Will gave a stuttered sigh, closing his eyes. “I… I need... Can I…”

The 4 others quickly made their way over, and allowed Will to check their vitals and hear their heartbeats, Nico whispering to him and rubbing his back the whole time. Will took deep, shuddering breaths, “Thank you.”

“Any time, besides, with regular checks like that, we never have to worry about heart disease, you’ll catch it early.” Percy joked to lighten the mood, and Will gave a weak chuckle.

“Heart disease is the least of your worries, with the way you eat, and the 27 heart attacks you have yearly.”

“Stop giving them to me then, you absolute trash piles.” Everyone burst out laughing at the odd insult, and Percy smiled at his achieved goal of lightening the mood “Now, are we ready for dinner, cause I’m starving.”

“You're always hungry, you bottomless pit, but yeah, let’s get food.” Jason agreed, slipping his shoes back on, and handing Piper hers. Nico and Will stood up, Annabeth cast a cleaning charm on them, and Nico helped Will straighten his tie. Nico leaned up to kiss Will softly on the bags under his eyes and gave him a small smile. Will returned the smile and gave Nico a kiss on the forehead.

Annabeth smiled at the soft display of love, and then frowned in slight confusion, “How did you get McDonald's anyways, we are in the middle of the forest in Scotland.”

“How do you think, girl genius, I went and got it. The wizards can’t teleport, but nothing can stop my shadow travel.”

“And the snark levels are back, so time to feed Death Breath,” Piper concluded, ushering them all out the door. “Oh, how was the defense class?”

“A fucking nightmare.”

Chapter Text

The week continued, and Friday morning was met with a complete lack of enthusiasm from the elder demigods as it had become very clear from Nico and school gossip, that the toad faced woman was a terrible teacher. Percy was not looking forward to it, but he did find a bright spot when a whimbrel in the flurry of owls. It glided towards their table and landed on his head, dropping the letter in his plate. 

“Thank you.” He said to the bird, before opening the letter. “It’s from mom. She’s happy we let her know what’s going on, she included some pictures of Estelle, and she says the bird is from dad, and ours to keep.” 

Annabeth reached out and snatched the photos, cooing with Piper over the ever-growing baby that they would have attempted to kidnap, had they not had ample opportunity to babysit. “Oh, and babe, Mom wants to know if this year is going to push back wedding plans, or if you wanted to let her finish planning what we had left.” 

“Oh, umm, it wouldn’t give me a ton of time to find my dress without delaying it, but I don’t want to risk delaying and having something else come up. Piper, what do you think?”

“I’m sure we could find what you need in time, and we could ask Michael to help, he’s great at just the right thing. If Sally is going to use your notes to take care of the rest, there is no reason to delay.” Piper replied, head tilted to the side as she spoke. Annabeth beamed back at her. “Okay, Seaweed Brain, we are still getting married this summer.” 

 Percy whooped, and gave her a searing kiss, making Nico fake gag behind them. The bird squealed in protest at the sudden jostle but settled again quickly. All too quickly, breakfast ended, they left the hall, with Piper and Annabeth leading the group as they talked about wedding things, and Jason and Percy following behind after Nico and Will broke off for their class or to find the soul piece, they would decide on the way. 

The bird, now named Ruffus, flew off somewhere, leaving the guys to have a short, manly, heart to heart.

“I’m glad that she decided not to push off the wedding, you guys deserve to be happy,” Jason commented, nudging Percy lightly with a soft smile.

“We are, but, yeah, she always wanted something permanent, and at first it came in building monuments, buildings, skyscrapers, but now, she wants it with me, and I want it with her.” Percy gazed at Annabeth with unfiltered love, a ghost of a smile on his face, rubbing the ring he wore. “Besides, she’s the one who proposed first, she calls the shots, I’ll marry her tomorrow, I’ll marry her this summer, I’ll marry her when we are old and gray. When she wants it, I’m all for it. I’ll do anything for her.”

“You did everything for her,” Jason added softly and gazed wistfully at Piper. “I want that with Piper. I want her to be my something permanent.” 

Percy stopped and turned to study him, head tilted and eyes squinted. Jason felt like he was being seen to his core, but withstood the judging. “Then build it. Listen, learn, understand where she comes from, don’t rely on what you think you know, but what she tells you. Make moves, but let her lead. Just let her know that you are there, no matter what it is.” 

The boys regarded each other steadily, before nodding together, and then Percy broke out a mischievous grin, “Just don't go through literal hell to do so, -1000/10, do not recommend.” 

Jason laughed and shoved him, and the shoving match started, ending up with Jason shoving Percy through the door to Defense, and nearly into the back of a fuming Piper, but caught the back of his shirt, leaving him suspended at a 45-degree angle. Both boys froze. 

“I would like for you to repeat what you just said, ma’am,” Piper growled out, the edge of her charmspeak barely peeking through, but there enough for Annabeth to lay a hand on her arm, eyes hard at the pink monstrosity in front of them.

“Remove those so-called accessories from your hair, beads, and…. Things are not proper hair accessories, and will not be permitted in my classroom.” The woman said in a demanding, cavity giving voice. Percy and Jason immediately flanked the girls and stared the woman down.

“I will not, I am Cherokee, a descendant of indigenous people in America. These beads and things are part of my culture and heritage. You cannot ask me to remove them, nor force me to. We will sit down now and I suggest you begin your class.” Piper stated, Charmspeak just there enough to make sure her orders are followed, before turning her back on the woman who was very quickly turning purple and sat down. Jason sat on one side while Annabeth sat at the other, with Percy on the end, closest to the door. Their faces were stone, watching the woman move back to the front of the room. Jason barely leaned towards Piper, and whispered to her in Latin, “ great control of your power .”

Piper blushed lightly and gave a small smile. The moment was interrupted by Umbridge clearing her throat from the front of the room. 

“Good Morning, Class.” She twittered out, voice like nails. Luckily the class had heard the roomers and chanted the appropriate response back. “Good Morning, Professor Umbridge.”

“As you have probably heard by now, this year, the class will not be practical, but theory-based. I understand that you have your N.E.W.T.s this year, but that should be no matter. As long as you study hard, you will have no problem performing well on your exams.”  Percy scoffed and whispered to Annabeth “Cause theory works so well for us” 

Umbridge's’ eyes narrowed in on Percy and she gave a light ‘he hem’, “Something to share, Mr….” 

“I’m not telling you my name. And I was just saying that theory never worked well for me. But, I’m not taking your weirdly named test, so it’s whatever.” Percy shrugged and leaned back in his chair, chin up, defiant. Umbridge glared and turned to the other 3. “What is his name?” 

Annabeth glared back defiantly, “He did not choose to tell you, so why would we?” 

Jason and Piper also glared back in defiance when Umbridge turned her eyes on them. She sniffed and turned her eyes back to Annabeth. “Your name, girl.”

Annabeth scoffed at the audacity and turned her head away. Umbridge reached forward as if to touch Annabeth,  causing Percy to snap to attention, and slid his body smoothly in front of her, blocking off whatever Umbridge was about to do. “If I understand abusive, power-driven authority figure as well as I do, then I understand that your wish to know our names will be used to report us to others, put us on a watch list, and bring wrongful attention to us by your friends in high places, so no, you will not receive any of our names.” 

“I have already learned two of the names of your group, boy, the other two that have this class with the 5th years,” Umbridge responded in her fake sugar voice, making Jason’s teeth hurt. Percy’s glare became even stonier. “No. You don’t, you would have said them if you did. But we can continue this after class, seeing as you have to teach, don’t you.” 

Umbridge glared back, but turned and smiled at the rest of the class. “Oh, yes, so sorry about the disruption, my dear students, where was I…”

A few of the other students frowned and asked questions at the lack of practical learning, especially the red ties wearing ones, but she answered them all the same. She was from the Ministry, the Ministry wanted the curriculum taught this way, have faith in the Ministry.

The demigods sat, carved from stone for the rest of the class. Umbridge had set them on edge, and now they watched every move, listened to every word, and understood the painting under the cloth. Umbridge was on the side of Tom, of the blood purist, and she planned on making the children weaker, to make sure they never gained the knowledge to protect themselves, to fight back. And the Ministry was useless.

Class ended and Percy stood, standing sentry as his friends, his family really, as he stared down Umbridge, Jason moved to his side, and Annabeth and Piper stood behind them. When Umbridge didn’t approach them, Jason ushered Piper and Annabeth out, and Percy walked backward out the door, watching it until it closed. 

“She is going to be a problem. We need to keep an eye on her and ensure she doesn't learn our names. We need to talk to McGonagall about it.” Annabeth said, eyes swirling, as she took notes, and Piper fished the map out of her bag. “Yes, but for now, we have charms, then lunch and potions, and Will and Nico had a small issue with the potion guy too. We can talk to McGonagall after classes, and then move forward with the plan with Yin and Yang.”

Jason nodded, and the group kept together as they moved through the hall, nerves forbidding them from separating out like they were just a few hours ago. Percy acknowledged the shift in feeling, with a deep breath, and looked forwards as always. So much for a vacation.

Chapter Text

Charms passed with Annabeth and Piper the center of attention, as they demonstrated and explained the way they were taught magic. Percy and Jason smiled as their loves were praised, but continuously tapped out messages to each other as the class went by. They were all relieved as the class ended, the feeling of dread that had crept up grew stronger, and they all would feel better when the younger demigods were nearby. Luckily, Nico and Will were waiting for them in a shadow by the entrance to the Hall, and the group immediately pulled them in. Percy signaled for them to keep watch, and Piper, Jason, and Annabeth went to grab enough lunch to take back to their rooms. 

The group swiftly and silently made their way back to their rooms and gathered on the floor in front of the chairs. Percy cleared his throat, and they all looked to him.

“Umbridge is worse than originally thought, she is on the side of the blood purist. We cannot allow her to learn our names, as she will use whatever she digs up against us. From here on, in the company of others, only nicknames, and titles.” 

“If they learn our names, the amount of digging the higher-ups will perform will be catastrophic. We need to wipe our names from the teachers that have already learned them, or at least put a block on how they can answer questions from Umbridge, as to not reveal them.” Annabeth continued. 

“We should pray to Hecate, and ask for her help in this manipulation of the Mist, and we will need to work together to do it.” Percy picked back up, and the rest nodded, understanding that Percy and Annabeth have dealt the most with mass manipulation of the mist, so had a better handle on what needs to be done.

Piper nodded, and shifted, moving from sitting cross-legged, to sitting on her knees, ready to move. “What do we need to do?”

“A sacrifice to Hecate, to get her attention, and then you know, all hold all recite the same thing at the same time, regular cult things.” Percy half-joked, but was interrupted by a voice through by the door. 

“You don’t have to worry about that, my young heroes. I am here. I have heard your predicament, and I have done this. Those who know dislike her as well, and won’t betray you, and those who would shall never remember it.” Hecate moved further into the room, sending the demigods scrambling to bow to her. “I asked this favor of you and Hades, young heroes, I can help as I see fit, and I grant you this gift.”

Jason recovered from his shock first and gave another deep bow to the goddess. “Thank you, Lady Hecate, for this gift.” 

Her piercing gaze swept over them and she vanished in a burst of light. 

“Well, that's taken care of at least,” Will said, grabbing his sandwich that was previously abandoned. “But let’s still go with nicknames only outside the safe zones.” 

“We also noticed that Umbitch put a lot of emphasis on trusting the Ministry, so they are weak, or have been infiltrated already. Its involvement in controlling the defense class seems to be so they can weaken the students, which wouldn’t make sense if they wanted them to be the future of their police and politicians, so it must be so they can’t fight back once the war breaks out.” Annabeth continues, “The last war must have left a severe gap between the older generation and now if they are scared of school-aged children.”

“We’ve been hearing a lot of gossip that the Potter kid was the one that ‘beat’ Tom like, 13 years ago, and Potter himself said something about fighting the body last year. They probably think he's a chosen one. I feel like there is more to him, but he’s a bit stuck up, and angry all the time.” Will said, taking a bite of his sandwich, and Nico nodded, “As I said, there is something funky about him, if he was said to beat Tom, and Tom’s soul was already unstable, he might have a soul piece, but I can’t be sure until we are able to track down others.”

“What do we do if he does have a soul piece, how do we purge it?” Jason asked, brows furrowed. 

“I can pull it, with minimal harm to Potter, but I need to fully be able to recognize Tom’s soul, so I don’t accidentally grab Potters. We can just snatch him and knock him out one night, he doesn’t have to be conscious. But we probably need to do it last. As the last piece created, Tom will feel it most, and the loss of it might clue him in.” 

“So, the current order is ‘find the first piece we can, use it to track down the others, destroy them, pull the one from the kid, use it fo find Tom, destroy is, send Tom to Hades for judgment?’” Piper asked, “that's too simple to not be unnecessarily complicated.”

With another puzzle piece solved and then mixed up again, the teens finished their lunches and soon went their separate ways, with the eldest 4 headed towards the dungeons.

Chapter Text

Percy and Annabeth stuck closer together while they headed down, deeper into the earth, shaking hands clinging desperately together. Jason and Piper stayed close to them, lending support, with Jason wrapping his arm around Annabeth's shoulders, and Piper leaning into Percy’s side. Jason murmured to them while they moved further from the natural light, “It’s okay, Aquaman, Princessa, we are here with you now.” 

Piper joined in on the soft, warm comfort, and soon the couple was settled, as they finally reached the classroom. The classroom was probably the closest they’ve been to the feeling of the entrance to Tartarus or the Underworld, with the cold, damp darkness, lit only by sparse torches, casting long, heavy shadows through the space. Jason let out a shutter and tried to lighten the tension, “Ghost King must love it down here, reminding him so much of home.”

Percy gave a weak chuckle, and the 4 moved towards a table that was closest to a torch on the wall, and sat in, knuckling white, as they sat in the nightmare reminding them of the place. Percy took deep slow breaths, focusing on the pull of the water in the lake outside, the pipes that ran throughout the castle, and the steady pumping of the heartbeats of his friends. The calm was shattered by the long-haired professor sweeping into the room, Snape, Annabeth remembers will Calling him.

“Afternoon, Class, this is your last year of potions, and while I know most are here by scraping together a passing grade, as you seek jobs in a limited field, some of you are here to dally and waste ingredients,” His dark gaze attempts to pin the 4 teens huddled in the limited light, but Piper just returns it with a sarcastic smile. “We will start with a review of the potions you learned last year, by identifying them from look alone. Make note of what you think they are, after 5 minutes, I will call on you randomly, do not try to change your answers before handing you papers over, I will know. Correct answers will not result in points this year, as you are beyond that. Begin your assessment.” 

Snape motioned to 3 cauldrons at the front of the room, charmed to reveal nothing but the color of the potion inside. Percy gladly grabs onto the distraction, and focuses on the potions, and starts whispering traits to Annabeth in greek, hands continuing to shake the whole time, “ First is thick and slow, full of things, like mud. Second is like honey, faster and thinner than the first,  and the last, is like water, very light, and bright, almost.” 

Annabeth made notes of the factors described to her and took in the colors. The first one looked like mud, just like Percy described, but was slightly green, the second was golden, and the last looked just like the wild pearl that adorned her left hand. Annabeth made her guesses, and waited, knowing that the man would call on them, he seemed the type. Distraction gone, she held Percy’s hands with both of her own and rocked slightly back and forth. Jason gave them a look and nodded towards the door, and Annabeth and Percy were all too relieved to bolt as soon as they had their friend's understanding. Snape glared as the left, and with a flick of his wand, sent the doors crashing close behind them. Percy and Annabeth took off at a sprint down the hallway, desperate to leave the suffocating dark behind them.

Piper watched her friends leave and studied the potions, unsure of the first two, but she knew, a deep knowing, that nearly came from her bones that the last cauldron was a very powerful love potion. It called to her, and she hated it. 

Soon enough though, Snape cleared his throat and began his interrogation. “Mr. Warrington, what is the first potion?”

 “Polyjuice, sir, used to take on the appearance of the person who was the source of the hair. It doesn't last long, and the source must be alive, so it is not usually used for undercover operations, baring last year.”

“Correct. Ms. Spinnet, what is the second potion?” 

“Memory Potion, sir, used to help improve a person's memory, usually used when trying to get more information from victims, after they are attacked.” 

“Correct, for the last potion, one of our transfers might have an answer, the two that are here anyways.”

Piper was the one to answer, after laying her hand on Jason’s arm. “ Amortentia, a highly powerful love potion, that frankly, has no place in this school, let alone society as a whole.”

“A controversial opinion, but your answer is correct,” Snape responded, eyes, narrow.

“I don’t see how it is controversial, as it takes away free will and the right to choose. I would akin anything that happens to the victim while under the influence of the potion should be counted as sexual assault, and rape, if intercourse is had.” A few of the students paled at the accusation, and Snape raised an eyebrow. But Piper wasn’t done, her eyes swirled as her ire grew, “The creation of false obsession, not even love, is a crime against nature. People have the gift of being able to love freely, and the invention of a potion that discredits that? It disgusts me. These potions, from the lightest that gets you to notice someone, to this, the creation of obsession, is illegal in the US. And they should be illegal here, not taught to brainless school children that have no concept of consequences. If the Imperius is an Unforgivable, as you can control the will on another, as should this.” 

“While I don’t disagree with a few or your sentiments, I do have to remind you that this is class for learning pioneering, not ethics, and what students use their knowledge for is not up to those who teach.”

Jason sat a little straighter at that and joined the conversation, the smell of ozone oozing into the thick, vaporous air. “While that may be technically true, it is up to you to remove the unique ingredients that allow the potion to be brewed without supervision, and control the potion once it is brewed, as well as stress the potions' side effects, and victims rights, should something occur. While you cannot control the actions of your students, you can control some of their ability to commit crimes. While the students are taught the name, and effects of the Imperius, they are never taught to cast it, and that should be true of some potions. You don’t need to know how to create it to be aware of it. That would be like teaching people how to build bombs, and hoping they have the moral compass not to use them.”

“I do believe I said this is a potions class, not ethics, and I do believe I am the Professor in charge of it, I shall do what I see fit, now I will be returning to my lesson plan, and we will have not more of this talk of moral code.” Snape dismissed, leaving Piper fuming, with the four of them biting their cheeks as they were once again ignored. Piper immediately decided she couldn’t sit through this class for a second longer, as it filled kids with the knowledge that was only halfway taught, without the thought of consequences, and stood. Jason followed her lead out the door, and they went to find Percy and Annabeth.

Percy had followed a desperate pull to water, leading them up and out of the castle, and he then dove headfirst into the dark waters, Annabeth close behind. Under the surface, an air bubble enveloped them, and they sank into the darkness beneath. Percy and Annabeth clung closely together, and once they were seated on the sandy bottom, Annabeth curled herself into Percy’s lap, not a single part of her body touching anything but Percy. His arms wrapped around her, and his head tucked over hers as they both quietly sobbed, beating back the memories that danced behind their eyes. 

On the surface, Jason and Piper clung to each other in despair, unable to help their friends. With teary eyes, Piper quietly sings a lullaby, weaving charmspeak into it, the intent of giving comfort somehow. Jason focused on his breathing as he moved his hands fluidly around each other, releasing small sparks that had been dancing under his skin. It takes time, but eventually, the demigods gather themselves, and can face the harsh light of day once again. As Percy and Annabeth reluctantly unfurl themselves from the other, Piper and Jason slowly disengage too. After a slow ascent to the surface, they join Jason and Piper on dry land.

“What happened after we left?”Annabeth asked, taking in the state of her friends. Piper gave a mirthful chuckle.

“Oh, you know, just released my unwanted opinion of the legality and consent issues of love potions.”

“Are we ready to go back? You might have to face the looks and questions about that from those in that class.” Percy said, grabbing Piper's hands, and watching her eyes.

“Just protect me? Chase them away when they get too personal?” 

“Of course, Pipes, I’ll keep you safe. Personal bodyguard, Percy Jackson, reporting for duty.” Piper let out a laugh, and hugged Percy, before letting go so he could hug Jason, and Annabeth hugged her. “I know we went down here for us, but we can take time for you too, Piper. Rage if you need to.”

“They don’t understand consent, and how important free will and choices are, and probably never will if they aren't victims themselves. Using potions to fake love just feels so wrong. Love is beautiful and sacred. It takes time, and trust, and friendship. To force obsession, like Hera,  Juno did to us? To have that godlike power being taught to teenagers? We at least like each other, and had good friends to care of us, to help us see clearly, but in the hands of these callous, oblivious idiots? It’s unthinkable. And those students who reacted like they didn’t know, they didn’t realize. It makes me sick.” Piper vented, eyes filling with tears as she finished talking, and Annabeth wrapped her in another hug.

“I know I love Piper, but I also know that is a love that came to be from our experiences together, the emotions we felt when we were together after the fake love faded. Those potions don’t give people that choice, as it simply controls their emotions completely, taking their decisions away. If Piper and I fought, got angry at each other, or hurt each other, that was real, as were our caring, tenderness, and comfort we found in each other. The memories implanted did nothing to change how we treated each other, but those potions do.” Jason added, a slight shake to his hand, that Piper leaned over to grab. They gave each other weak smiles, and Pery nodded in understanding, drawing his friends into another protective hug, before once again heading back to the castle. “So, no more potions class, it’s useless and creepy as hell down there.”

A strained chuckle was shared, and they moved forward once again through their lives. They had dinner to eat, chaos children to check up on and update, and a weekend full of soul hunting to do before repeating the school week once again.  

Chapter Text

“This is useless! I’m not a metal detector or a Jedi! We need to find a different way!” Nico exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air at Percy’s third time asking if he feels anything in the force. Will wisely didn’t laugh at his exasperated boyfriend, but the rest did not spare him. 

“Babe, it’s okay, maybe we can talk to the ghost again, see if they remember anything, and if not, we can ask you dad for a piece to help locate one that has never been below,” Will said soothingly, as he pulled Nico into a hug, rubbing his back as he grinned at his still laughing friends. 

They were walking the castle again, trying to find the soul piece in the school, having come up with a plan, but seemingly getting nowhere. Nico let out an annoyed huff, mumbling into Will’s shirt,“This sucks, I want to go destroy some shit, can we go fight in the forest, maybe we will find some monsters.”

“I’m always down for kicking some monster ass, let’s go see what we can find,” Percy added, a dangerous look in his eye and Annabeth nodded as well, hand flexing slightly. 

An hour later, in worn, protective clothing of the usual questing outfit, weapons of choice in hand, the 6 stepped through the protective barrier, into the forest. Percy reached into the air, stretching his back, hands clasped together, Riptide between them. In one smooth motion, he uncapped the pen, and let his arms drop, sword slicing the air silently as he rolled his wrist. Annabeth flipped her dagger into her hand sharing a smirk with Piper, and Jason did a few practice swings with his Gladius. Nico was counting Wills's arrows, and Will strapped a dagger to his right wrist. 

“So, point system? Or Teams?” Percy asked, looking around the group. Piper wrinkled her nose and looked at the woods. “We don’t know what's out there, so the point system would be different, and I don’t feel like trying to go swords vs daggers in a place I don’t know.”

“Let’s stick together for a little bit, and figure out everything, and we can decide from there. We are definitely going to be out here more this year, so we have time.” Jason said in response to the light pout Percy gave, but they all agreed that would be the best idea. 

They kept their conversation light and quiet as they moved through the woods, listening intently for anything that may approach. They didn’t have to wait long though, soon a sphinx was upon them. Percy shared a wicked grin with Nico, and they stepped forward as he taunted the monster, “I don’t really feel like riddles today, do you want your death to be fast or slow?” 

“How boring, I had a new one to test on the Chosen Daughter of Athena, but I will just have to satisfy my hunger first.” The sphinx growled out as she swept her paw out towards. Both moved at the last moment, Percy jumping high over her paw, and Nico dropping smoothly into the shadows at his feet, popping out above her head. Percy rolled to a stop at her chest, and quickly slashed Riptide upwards, hoping to catch the looming monster, but he had reared back to toss Nico from her head, causing him to miss. “ Hades” 

Percy launched himself to his feet, Riptide a blur as he swung again, as Nico was thrown off, hitting the ground, rolling as he landed, “I’m good.” 

“You won’t before long, my lunch.” The sphinx hissed out as she turned to face Nico, Percy lost under her belly. Percy smirked, and stabbed upwards, and ran forward, cleanly gutting the monster, and covering himself in gold dust.  His disgusted face turned to Annabeth, where she laughed at him. “Great idea, seaweed brain.”

Nico stands shakily, and Will helps him stand as he heals him quickly. “Why did you think landing on it would be a good idea?” 

“Cause I wanted to see if I could make it as a rodeo bull rider. I can’t.” Nico snarked back but gave Will a light kiss before they moved back to the rest of the team. 

“I hope there is more, I want a turn too.” Piper pouted, as they continued to move through the forest.

After 10 minutes of walking in a random direction deeper into the forest, they soon came across a spider web that covered a whole tree.

“Oh, you know what, I’ve just decided that this direction is not the one we want to go in, and we will be going the opposite way now,” Percy said, slapping his hand over Annabeth’s eyes and swinging her into his arms, turning on his heel.

“Yeah, I think we should play hot and cold in the castle again. We can ask my dad for help.” Nico chimed in, and Piper jumped into Jason’s arms, koalaing to watch their backs as they made their way back to the grounds.

Will, Nico, Jason, and Piper fought off two more monsters, acquiring minor scratches, and few bruises, the most notable being the one gracing Piper’s jaw.

By the time they stumbled out of the forest, Annabeth was walking on her own, they were all covered in dust, and laughing. Their laughter was halted as they stumbled directly into a group of students that had turned from a professor that held something moving in her hand. 

“What were you doing in the Forbidden Forest?” The woman asked shrilly, and the group of demigods looked at each other and shrugged, with Will being the one to answer, “Just exploring.”

“It’s forbidden! You 6 need to march straight to Professor McGonagall and explain yourselves to her!”

Percy laughed as the group made their way back inside, “Yeah, okay, but if it’s so forbidden, why isn’t there a fence?”

Chapter Text

Harry watched the transfer students stalk up the hill, looking like they had fought something in the forest, and were happy about it. The scratches running down Nico’s arm, and the bruise on Piper’s strong jaw almost looked like they belonged there. Hermione dragged Harry back to the lesson, but just like every day, he wondered why he was terrified of the Americans. When the lesson is over, he brings it up to his friends.

“What were they doing in the Forest? They looked like they were in a fight.” Harry asked, voice low.

“Maybe they were unwisely exploring, and came across the Acromantulas?” Hermione suggested as she looked through her school bag. 

“I hate spiders,” Ron moaned, “But if they did, they would be more torn up, right? The car had to save us when we were in their territory.” 

“Yes, but you were second years, Percy and Annabeth are 18. They probably would have no problem escaping, or fighting,” Hermione countered, “Besides, they probably just tried to climb a rear or fell or something. You know, normal things, not everyone has trouble following them all the time. We can just ask them you know.”

“Oh yeah, sure, we can just go ‘Hey mates, we noticed you came skipping out of the Forest yesterday, looking like you been chewed up and spit out, and we were wondering if it was because you fought for your lives or fell down a hill?’ What would you do if they said fought for their lives, Hermione? Just nod and move on?” Ron exclaimed.

“Please Ron, no need to be so dramatic, they are just teens like us. They didn’t go look for monsters to fight in the woods, they were probably just exploring and had a rough time of it.” Hermione rebutted.

“Yeah, they look like they walked out of Museum one day, and just decided, hey let's go to this school, and you don’t think they know how to fight for their lives? That Jason guy looks like he could rip a log in two no problem!” 

“Of course not Ron, not everyone is at war all the time. They probably just like to exercise, explore new places. Some people like that you know.”

Harry let his friends banter wash over him, but he didn’t think he would ever be able to comfortably look at the Americans, let alone have a conversation with them about what they did in the forest. Little did he know, that very conversation was happening across the grounds, in the castle.

Minerva McGonagall, Legacy of Athena, named after her Roman counterpart, gazed at the 6 beings in front of her. Demigods, weapons of the god, each one powerful enough to destroy and remake the world as they saw fit alone, able to remake the very heavens together, laughing as they swaggered into her office. Disheveled and covered in gold dust, shimmering blood welling from cuts, reveling in the high of a fight for their lives like it was no more than a training exercise. They looked as they should, dangerous, wrong, mythological. And she was responsible for them. She had the authority and duty to punish them. She inwardly scoffed at the thought.

“Children, why have I heard that you have been in the Forbidden Forest, and are no longer going to Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts?”

“We wanted to fight something, you know, let off some steam, and we don’t want to?” Nico answered, leaning into a bookcase, half-swallowed in shadows, deepening the gaunt planes of his frame. 

“While I appreciate you leaving the grounds for such exercises, please attend the classes you have been assigned.” Minerva insisted, rubbing the spot between her eyes.

“Nah, we are not going back to the pink monster’s class, she is just having us read from a book, that she won't let us translate, or get copies in greek or Latin. We can’t do the ‘work’ anyway. And we had a panic attack in the dungeons, so we aren't going back down there.” Percy said in a way that allowed no argument, and Minvera felt compressed by the look in his eye. 

“Besides, why is something that should be in a well-vented area for fumes in the dungeon? It’s outstanding that there haven’t been major side effects from too much inhalation.” Piper interjected, the bruise on her jaw further defining her sharp features, and Minerva continued to feel like prey. She swallowed her fear, and let out a breath.

“Very well then, do try to not incite further rage from the Umbridge, she seems to be gaining a lot of power in the ministry, and it does not bode well for Hogwarts. And do endeavor to not allow others to bear witness to your adventures into the Forest. It is supposed to be Forbidden.”

“You should probably do more to keep people out then, the word “forbidden’  is a bit like a sign that tells you to do the opposite. After all, I’ve been forbidden from the palace in Atlantis, but I stole some coral for Annabeth. I try to visit like once a month, to see how far I can go without getting caught.” Percy said, earning a smack upside the head from Jason. 

“Lord Poseidon actually loves you, and you pull this shit? No wonder none of the other Gods do.”

“Nah, dad wants me to move in all the time. Queen Amphitrite got tired of how much Triton and I fought, so she said I wasn’t allowed in the castle anymore.” And suddenly, Minerva was reminded that these demigods in front of her were teenagers, children, who have fought and led wars, and have been literally through hell, and could still love and laugh, and move forward. 

“I believe it is time for lunch, children, so why don’t you head down to the hall after you clean up. And no quick healing with Nectar, too many have seen your injuries.” Minerva said as she tried to take control of the situation, and she ushered the children out of her office, to their dorm.

After she closed the door, she leaned against it with a sigh. A quick prayer to the gods for patience, strength, and guidance, and she crossed the room to her whiskey, and took a swift swig, dreading the rest of the year. 

Chapter Text

Annabeth and Piper were in the library, scouring the books for any mentions of soul pieces or dark rituals, growing more and more frustrated at the lack of variety in the books. They planned on researching that morning while their boys had another grudge match triathlon in the forest, but they weren’t making any progress. 

“There are only mentions of light magic, and anything other than the lightest gray is classified as Dark Arts. That’s so stupid, how does anyone learn anything else?” Annabeth groaned, adding the book she was skimming tho the ‘useless’ pile that had been steadily growing next to her, and Piper rubbed her back in sympathy. 

“Looking for the Dark Arts, are you?” A snotty voice asked, drawing their attention up to the blonde hair boy that Nico pinned against the wall on the first day of classes. “I knew you transfers were the right sort. The name’s Malfoy, and for a favor or two, I could help you find what you are looking for.”

Piper regarded him carefully, and leaned forward, resting her head on her fist, looking up at him, making her eyes sharp and alluring, and watched as the boy faltered. “Those sound like some very vague terms, Malfoy, how do we know that you won’t cut an unfair deal?”

“I guess you’ll just have to trust me then, after all, apex predators have to stick together, right?” His smirk was too forced, and he had a light shake to his hand, that he quickly hid behind his back. Piper smiled up at him, allowing a light blush to grace her cheeks. 

“Trust is such a fickle thing, we should work for something stronger. Why don’t you tell us your first favor, and we decide if we move forward with this relationship?” Piper suggested, sitting up and drawing what appeared to be random patterns on the desk. 

“We can do that. But could you keep those brutes you call boys out of this? After all, they don’t need to get involved in such important dealings. Would hate for your interest in the Dark Art’s get out.” Malfoy mentioned in an offhand way, and something in Annabeth’s eyes changed. A growl sounded behind him causing Piper’s smile to grow even more. Malfoy swiftly turned, coming face to face with a wolf stare that could cut diamonds. 

“Now now, Beauty Queen, flirting with strangers again?” Jason’s voice was low, his eyes sharp in the shadow of his brow.

“And if I was?” Piper’s smirk was sharp and dangerous. Annabeth leaned back in her seat, resting her head against Percy’s stomach.

“Then I pity the foolish boy. Did you get what you wanted?”

“No. He doesn’t have any actual information we want. He thought he could prove something by asking for favors from us poor, naive girls, and blackmail us. Maybe he wanted to get back at Yin and Yang by targeting us?” Piper said, sounding bored, as her eyes continued to watch as Jason took another stalking step closer.

“What wasn’t very cunning of him. Ambitious, but stupidly so. You think he learned his lesson the first time he came across our family, huh cousin.” 

Percy smirked, running a hand through Annabeth’s hair, “A word of advice, boy, the brutes of our family are very protective of what we call ours. Make no mistake these women are very capable of taking care of themselves, but we don’t mind being the ones taking the blame for any messes we may make.”

“So, if you had a hard time following that, try to mess with us again, and I’ll take your tongue. He may take your eyes, and the ladies can have the rest.” 

Malfoy was nearly transparent as he fled the group, and Piper stood. “That was fun. I can’t wait to see what rumors go around. And what do you say about your behavior, Sparky? That bark was nearly as bad as your bite.”

Jason showed his teeth in a mimic of a grin, “What can I say? I was raised by wolves.”

The laughing of the demigods drowned out the gasp heard behind the shelves and the scampering of someone fleeing the library.

That night, the demigods finally gave in and decided to ask Hades for the soul shard to locate the other after they had cleaned up, so they were now exploring the castle once again, with some help to narrow down the missing piece to the floor of the castle. Jason groaned at another flight of stairs ahead of him, “The 7th floor? All the way up here? It’s going to take forever to get back.” 

“Chin up Sparky, maybe I’ll let you walk behind me this flight of stairs.” Piper teased, causing Jason to groan again. “I think I liked it better when you weren't flirting with me.”

“Do you want me to stop?” 

“Gods no, please never stop.”

Nico gagged at the conversation happening in his vicinity, focusing on soul shard, and where it was leading them. “Shut up, ya nasties, I think we are almost there.”

“He-hem, what are you doing in the corridor at this late hour, children?” A sickly sweet voice came from behind them, and they all turned to observe the toad stepping out of a shadowy alcove. Will snorted at the dramatics.

“Just wondering. It’s a big castle, there is a lot to find.” 

“Ah, well children, as of today, I, as the High Inquisitor of Hogwarts, have the right to oversee any and all punishments as I see fit. And the 6 of you will be joining me tomorrow night for your first night of detention for the next 3 weeks.”

Chapter Text

The next day passed with stares and whispers following them until a random student stopped Piper in Great Hall on her way back to dinner from the restroom. “Did he really threaten to rip Malfoy’s throat out with his teeth if you wished it?”

“What? No, that would be entirely too messy.” Piper responded, and then continued to move to her table.

At their table, Percy and Annabeth had overheard the conversation. Annabeth was giving Piper the face that said “why would you say that?” while laughing, and Percy looked like he couldn’t breathe. 

Jason pushed his glasses to his head as he rubbed his eyes, and Piper kissed him on the cheek. “You are entirely too much, woman.”

“I know, but these rumors are so fun, they are very creative you know. Just now in the restroom, I heard a few girls whisper that you were secretly raised by a werewolf pack, and are the alpha of our little group, and are planning to turn every girl in the school into your haram to have you little wolf cubs.”

The face Jason made as he slammed his head into the table was enough to set Percy off again, and Annabeth gagged at the image in her head.

“Damn, Owl Head, you really need to step up if these dunderheads think Superman here is the leader of the pack.” Nico laughed, as Will threw an arm around his shoulders, and he sighed looking at that time.

“If we want to keep our routine, we need to get some training in before we have detention, we won’t have time after.”

Percy pouted, but finished up his food and stood, holding a hand for Annabeth to help her up, and the group got ready to make their way from the hall, where they were stopped by Umbridge once again. 

“Children, I would like to announce a new Educational Decree where Boys and Girls are not allowed to be less than six inches from each other. This decree starts now.,” she raised her wand, and all the students were forced apart, with girls and boys being slammed into each other. Annabeth gave a pained cry as Percy’s hand was ripped from hers, and Piper fell backward over the bench with a shout, with none of the guys able to get close enough to steady her, as she was halfway stood, leaning on Jason's arm.  Will slapped his hand over his mouth at the show of brute force, before he and Nico shared a look. 

Annabeth made her way over to help Piper up, shaking slightly at the sensation of Percy’s hand leaving hers once again, and Jason was rubbing Percy’s back as Percy looked dumbfounded at his hand that was suddenly missing Annabeth’s, his shout of desperation still rung through the hall.

A glare was sent to the head table by Nico as he reached out and grabbed Will’s hand, before ushering the other 4 out the door. 

Minerva’s face was red with fury as she turned on Umbridge. “How dare you, you had no right. Tearing them apart like that.”

“But I did, Minerva, as High Inquisitor, I am entrusted to ensure that all the students within these halls conduct themselves appropriately, and those four are much too affectionate with each other in public, I can’t degrade myself by imagining what happens behind closed doors. And now, I can ensure that all of our dear students behave themselves.”

“Hogwarts has protections against such acts for those not ready, but you do not get to dictate how those students conduct themselves. The display was targeted and unnecessary. You should be aware of the repercussions that may follow.”

“Is that a threat, Minerva?” Umbridge asked, in a voice that was like molasses.

“No, I would never threaten the High Inquisitor chosen by our esteemed Ministry, but merely a warning. I know the reputation of their school Mistress, and she may take this as a slight against her. Or inform their parents.”

“I’m sure it would be no bother, now, if you’ll excuse me, Minerva, I have detention to oversee,” Umbridge said as she stood, straightening her jackets, oblivious to the storm brewing outside.

As soon as Percy and Annabeth were out of sight of the Great Hall, they clung to each other, with Piper leaning heavily into Jason's side. Nico and Will were in the back, holding hands and watching for anyone who might force their friends apart again. Instead of training, they spent their time before detention finding comfort and stealing themselves for whatever Umbridge had in store.

At 7, they were waiting outside the door to their office, and after hearing footsteps, they looked over to see the Potter kid running towards them. He blinked in surprise, at the group. “I thought you guys couldn’t get punished by anyone other than Professor McGonagall?”

“Yeah, Umbridge used her almighty powers to change that, so here we are,” Jason said, with a half shrug, letting Percy lean against him, the ting of forced separation still sharp. Annabeth and Piper mirrored them on the other side of the hall. The door to the office swung open, and the teens entered. Nico hissed at the glare of pink, and slapped a hand over his eyes, seeing through a small gap in his fingers.

“Welcome, boys and girls, please take a seat,” Umbridge said, gesturing to the seats behind them, and they all sat, Percy and Harry taking the front two seats.

“You will be writing lines, Mr. Potter, your usual sentence, and you six shall write ‘I will respect authority.’” Umbridge instructed, and Percy scoffed as Annabeth rolled her eyes. “Is there a problem, children?”

“The only authority that has earned our respect is my mother,” Percy said, leaning back in his seat, arms crossed over his chest, and Harry flushed at the display of muscle. 

“The adults that encounter you degenerate must have informed you that your lack of respect is appalling.” Umbridge sniffed, earning a chuckle from Percy and smirks from the other 5. 

“You could say that.”

“Write your lines, children. No more talking, I will have silence.” Umbridge glared at them, before turning back to the stack of parchment in front of her. Annabeth rolled her eyes when she and Piper shared a glance and picked up the quill in front of her. Within a second of placing the tip on the parchment, ready to write, she became aware of skin breaking on her hand and heard Percy's breath grow sharp as his head snapped up.

“No.” Percy stated, snapping the quill in his hand. Jason and Nico’s quills followed shortly then Annabeth, Will, and Piper’s a moment later. 

“Young man, how dare you damage Ministry property.” Her voice lost its sweet overtone, and her glare had Harry sinking lower into his seat.

“How dare you attempt to spill our blood, and use it against us. Potter, give me your quill.” Percy commanded hand outstretched, and Harry quickly moved to comply. Percy brought it to his eye level and focused on it. It lifted out of his hand, and the black leached out of it, forming a ball, the air was thick and the room grew dark. The quill, now useless gently floated to the floor.

“What is this, Toad?” Percy questioned, his voice deep and rolling, like waves crashing on the shore. “Because it looks like poison made from Elder Python Venom, which you should not have access to.” 

Umbridge gaped at the display in front of her, and Harry decided that under his desk was the best place to be, and closed his eyes and covered his ears after casting a silencio , deciding he would be better off unaware of what was happening.

Percy pulled the tea from her cup and held the ball of liquid next to the poison. “Let’s play a game, Toad. I’m going to shuffle these and put one back in your cup. Then you are going to take a sip, and we get to guess which one it is.”

“Now Sea, that game seems a little unfair. After all, only you and Wisdom have seen it before.” Piper said, voice light and high, a mimic of Umbridge’s.

Percy tilted his head in consideration and nodded. “You’re right, Beauty, I guess, you and Lightning can guess first then Life and Death can rock, paper, scissors over who gets to help her.”

“Stop with this temper tantrum, and use your proper names! And return to your seats! You filthy degenerates have had your fake shows of power, but I am the one in charge here, and you shall obey me!” Umbridge demanded in a shaking voice, and Nico just laughed.

“No, you aren’t. You aren’t in charge of us, this room, this school, or your life. And now, you are no longer in charge of your death. You’ve caught the eyes of the gods, Toad, and that is a mistake you shall never escape from.” Streaks of lightning painted the sky outside, throwing long, dangerous shadows through the room, making Nico’s face skeletal in appearance, and the glow of 6 sets of eyes appeared to the mortal in front of them. 

While Will didn’t quite approve of the methods used by the more vindictive members of their group, he knew that contradicting or scolding them in front of others would detract from the idea they were trying to enforce. To not have Umbridge subconsciously in fear of them would create more problems in the future. So the lighter demigod played his parts and bit his tongue.

“What are you, you filthy half breeds! You have no right to be in this school, in this community! We have laws against you, restrictions! You are not human! You never will be!” Umbridge shrieked face red in rage. Annabeth and Jason walked calmly to her. Annabeth spoke as Jason raised his hand, the electricity sparking dangerously.

“You’re right. We aren’t human, but you won’t remember that. You’ll only remember that we came in for detention, and you saw us punished the way you saw fit. Good night, Professor.” Jason shocked her as Piper, Percy, Nico and Will snapped. Will then made his way to Harry, and lightly touched his arm, causing him to pass out too.  “Well, at least he decided to be ignorant.”

Chapter Text

“Let’s take him to the hallway, we can revive and mist him there. I don’t know when she’ll recover, wizards do faster than full mortals.” Will instructed, and Jason lifted the boy, and Annabeth vialed the poison, making a plan to ask Chiron to look into where she could have gotten the venom from. 

In the hall, they set Harry down, propping him against the wall, and Percy quickly checked over and kissed Annabeth’s hand, happy to see there was no blood, only a light scratch. 

Will woke Harry gently, and then spoke quickly, “Hey man, you good, you zoned out there for a moment.”

Harry’s head snapped over to Will and blushed lightly. “Oh, yeah, sorry, I was thinking about…… something, can’t remember now. I’m Harry, by the way. I’ve never gotten to really introduce myself.”

Jason smiled at him, and held out his hand, “Jason, you know Will and Nico, but this is Percy, Annabeth, and Piper. We’ve heard a bit about you from a lot of random mouths.”

Harry shook his hand and blushed again, dropping his eyes to the floor. “Yeah, sorry, I’m not exactly popular right now, or ever, really. Trouble seems to hind me the more I hide from it.” 

Percy let out a booming laugh that startled Harry, making him jump from Jason’s hand. “Sorry, but I could say the same about me. I could hide on a remote island to get away from trouble, and it would swim its way to my shore.” 

“I feel the same some days. And I usually drag my friends into it.” Now it was Annabeth’s turn to laugh. “You could say I’ve been dragged into trouble because of you, seaweed brain.”

Percy smiled lovingly at her, and she rolled her eyes but smiled back. “But we were together.”

Harry coughed uncomfortably at the open affection, and Piper rolled her eyes, “Yeah, it takes time to get used to that level of love. Can almost make a person jealous. They will be in love until the day that they die.”

Nico scoffed, but chimed in, “Pease, they will be in love long after they are dead, they will get a little place in Elysium together, and drive the neighbors crazy for eternity.” 

“Whatever you say, Icarus 2.0,” Percy said, throwing an arm around Nico, laughing as Nico shoved it off and tried to shove him into the wall. The rest of the demigods laughed. 

Harry looked at them confused, as always, “What does that mean?”

“Oh, you know, Will is the Sun,” Jason said, a giggle still in his voice.

“I’m still not following,” Harry said, blushing and scratching his head.

“Icarus was in love with the Sun,” Piper explained slowly, gauging the reaction of the wizard, suddenly realizing that he had missed that the two boys were a couple.

“I hadn’t realized….” Harry mumbled, blush deepening as Will chuckled, pulling Nico into his side.

“It’s okay, we kinda figured out that Wizards don’t really understand that gay people exist, we’ve been kinda testing how much PDA it takes for people to realize.”

“Aren’t you worried about a negative reaction from people from the muggle world?” Harry asked in concern, hand coming to cover his mouth.

“Oh no, Nico would probably threaten them, and Percy and Annabeth would never let anyone get away with it.” 

“Speaking of them, I saw the way they looked after Umbridge forced them apart, have they been torn away from each other before?” Harry asked, and the group paled. Will nodded, “yeah, a couple of times. Always in the worst situations too. But those are stories for another time. Come on, guys, it’s getting late, we need to get back to our dorms, and so does Harry.”

“Oh, um okay. Sorry, you guys have detention now. I’ll probably see you again tomorrow.” Harry said, awkwardly with a wave, and Annabeth turned from Percy to see him off.

“Be careful, and we will see what we can do about those quills she has, it can’t be legal to use them on students.”

“Good luck, I’ve already talked to McGonagall, and she didn’t seem to have an answer,” Harry replied, and then he made his way down the hallway. The Demigods shared looks, then made their way down to the other end of the hallway, headed towards McGonagall's office. 

“I didn’t like that, with Umbridge” Will stated, looking at all of his friends, and Percy took a deep breath, and nodded. Nico took his hand and turned to look into his eyes.

“I know, it goes against your nature to allow us to do things like that. We don’t like it either, I don’t like the person I am when I do it, and I don’t want to be the person I was when I found it so easy. The risk of what almost happened was too great, and it was necessary.” Nico said, willing his point to be made, as vague as it was as they stood in a hallway covered in spying paintings. Will nodded, and kissed Nico softly, before glaring at Percy.

“Don’t include me in your threats again. No matter what point you need to make.” Percy held his eye and nodded, and the group moved on in silence, Annabeth leaning heavily into Percy’s side, and rubbing the small of his back. Piper methodically braided and unbraided a strand of hair, eyes unseeing as Jason led the by the elbow.

When they reached Minerva’s door, Jason gave a quick knock. It did not take long for the legacy to open the door, but before she could ask what they wanted, Piper spoke first, “Why is Umbridge allowed to use Blood Quills?”

“Come inside, and we will discuss this.”

Chapter Text

After another long night of figuring out how to stop Umbridge's use of blood quills, the 6 woke late for breakfast, only to discover Lady Hestia waiting for them in their common room, with plates of their favorite foods, their fireplace turned hearth with a pot hanging above. A cry of ‘Aunt Hestia’ came from Percy and Nico as they rushed to greet her, and warm smiles graced the faces of the others.

“Hello, my dear ones, I have learned of your mission, and I wanted to see you, and to bring you some comforts of home.” She greeted warmly, gesturing to the food around her. Each teen grabbed their plates and gave their sincere thanks to the eldest goddess. As they ate, the feeling of being well-rested and recovered welled up in them, and the warmth from the Lady of the Hearth soothed the aches in their bones. They spoke of home, their families, and their plans of the future with Hestia, and she gave them small reassurances and hope. As they finished their meal, the demigods grew saddened at the fact their time with their preferred goddess came to an end. Hestia herself smiles softly at the fallen eyes. “Fear not dear ones, I am always near. Where there is a hearth, I am as well, and I have created one here for you. Do not fear turning to me when in need, I have always tried to help before and will do so evermore.” 

“We will remember your words, my lady, and thank you greatly for everything. We will speak again soon.” Jason said, basking in the warmth of love from the goddess, and they all whispered soft goodbyes as returned to the fire. A quick experiment proved that that pot had whatever drink you wished for and that there were travel mugs that kept the drinks at their preferred temperatures. After quickly dishing up their drinks, they felt ready to face the day. 

The day passed as normal a Saturday, filled with training and goofing off, with the only oddity being Nico receiving a letter from Hades during lunch. As he read, a satisfied smirk settled on his face. “Father has learned of the punishment method of the Toads, and he has taken care of the issue with the help of Lady Hecate. Our detentions should be standard from now on. He also gave me some tips on how to better play our game of hot and cold. We can try again tonight after detention.” 

Will smiled and kissed the top of Nico’s head. “That’s fantastic! We can move forward with our game now! It was getting very tedious. Now eat your vegetables. Don’t think I didn’t notice your breakfast was basically just pastries.” 

Nico grumbled, but stabbed a carrot and glared at Will while loudly crunching on it. Their meal went with a few more interruptions from curious onlookers before a conversation drifted over to them from the table next to them. “Leave them alone, they are already all coupled up, and you aren’t even their type.”

“I mean, maybe, but I have to give it a shot.” They watched as a dark-haired boy with a blue tie came over to them with a shout of ‘your funeral, Davies.’ at his back.

“Hi, Piper, I was wondering, would you like to go with me on the Hogsmeade trip tomorrow?” The boy, Davies' face was beet red, and he fiddled with his hand, careful to not look at any of the other 5 demigods, who were almost impressed at the display. Piper carefully arranged her face in polite disappointment.

“Oh, sorry, no. I don’t know your name, and I’m kinda with Jaybird, and you aren’t really my type.”

“Oh, okay sorry, but for curiosity's sake, and something to tell people when they ask me about it, what is your type?”

“Funny you should ask, because we three,” Piper replied, a genuine laugh breaking her mask as he pointed to Nico, Percy, and herself, “have the same type, which is smart and mean to us. If they can call us morons without us understanding that they are calling us morons, we would die for them.” 

Davies looked confused at the joy at apparently having someone being mean to them, and asked that to which Annabeth answered, “No, it’s okay because our type is hot and dumb. If they look like they could cut diamond with their abs and need instructions to boil water, we are here for it.”

“Will taught me to use a microwave 3 times before I just gave up,” Nico said, as Will patted the top of his head. “But you can do pull-ups with one hand while I hang off your back.”

“I would be offended if it wasn’t so true,” Percy said, giving Annabeth a kiss on the cheek.

Umbridge’s voice cut through the room like a whip as she approached their table, “Children, may I remind you that boys and girls must stay at least 6 inches apart, and Public Displays of Affection are prohibited between them.”  

Davies took the interruption as his cue to scuttle off, and the 6 shared a look.

Annabeth let out a dramatic gasp, acting as if she had forgotten, and turned to Jason, “Jaybird, I had forgotten her silly little heteronormative rule, shall we switch paramours for now? After all, I’m not sure how she would object to affection displayed between the same sex.” 

“That is a splendid idea, Annie, it does appear that she forgets that attraction outside the opposite sex is a normal thing and that we are greek. Aquaman, would you give me the honor of giving me your affection until you may return it to your dear Wise Girl?” Jason responds, holding a hand out to Percy. Percy gasped and threw his hand over his heart, and he and Piper switched seats, and the ‘new couples’ snuggled close together. 

“This is what you had in mind, right Professor? This way the product of adult-like relations won’t result in children?” Piper asked innocently, as Annabeth kissed her cheek. Nico and Will are doing everything they can to not draw attention to themselves as they silently snorted laughing. Umbridge’s face was turning a distinct shade of purple, and up at the head table, Minerva was hiding her laugh behind her drink. 

“You insufferable children, stop this nonsense right now.” Umbridge managed to get out, nearly shaking with rage.

“What? We’re only following your rules. See, we men are on one side, more than 6 inches from the women in our company, and we aren’t having affection displayed between the opposite sex.” Will explained innocently, arm wrapped around Nico’s shoulders as he kissed the top of his head. 

Umbridge let out a small scream of rage, before stomping away, as the demigods laughed silently behind her. “We’re probably going to pay for that.” 

“Yes, but we made Dionysus proud,” Piper said, gesturing to the Diet Coke that appeared on the table, with a container of strawberries next to it. Percy laughed again, took a strawberry, and handed Jason the diet coke. 

Nico took a strawberry and stood, “Come on, peasants, back into the fray, tonight we go hunting.”

That night, they emerged from Umbridge's office with small smiles, as a wave of their hand had the false cuts removed. With Hades’ and Hecate’s help, the black quill just appears to work correctly on them, and just glamored the appropriate cuts into their hands. It was unfortunate that they couldn’t help Harry, as it had to do with the mist, but it kept the Ichor tainted blood from being split in an unsafe place. And tonight was the night that they hunted for the soul shard on the top floor. They scoured the corridors, looking for hidden passages and secret rooms, with every door having Nico respond with “Cold” or “Warm” until they reached a giant tapestry of a wizard teaching trolls ballet. 

“Here. this is the closest we have ever been, it has to be around here.” Nico said, looking at the strange wall decoration. Will walked over and pulled at the tapestry, and Annabeth started pacing.

“If I wanted to hide something valuable, where would I hide it?” She wondered out loud. Pacing back and forth, until Piper caught all of their attention.

“I love magical castles.” She said as she pointed to the door that appeared on the other side of the hall. Jason grinned triumphantly until he pulled open the door to find a massive room full of random junk.

“You can’t summon the item, can you Nico?”

“No.”

“Styx.”

Chapter Text

A few weeks and the winter holiday break into them digging through the room nightly, they couldn’t get the door to appear.

“Maybe someone is using the room?” Percy suggested, leaning against the wall. 

“That may be true, but who? I didn’t think many others know about this, as we would have heard rumors about it before now.” Piper responded, leaning against the wall.

“Potter, his soul shard is in there too,” Nico said, as he played with the bubble that held the soul shard. 

“So, now, do we wait, go train, or try to get in there anyway?” Jason asked as he rubbed his glasses against his shirt, before slipping them back on. Percy gave a wicked grin.

“I mean, if he’s having a party, I want in.” Annabeth slapped him on the shoulder lightly, causing Percy to pout at her.

“He could also be trying to get away from everyone for a bit. You’ve seen him, he looks like he’s been dragged through hades.” Will reasoned.

“All the more to bother him, take his mind off whatever it was. Now, to get in there we just have to be specific, right?” Percy wondered out loud, pacing back and forth with a determined look on his face, and the door appeared. 

With a triumphant sound, Percy swung the door open, the other 5 behind him as they never knew when to leave well enough alone, before they were all forcibly dragged into the room with a strong summoning charm.

The door slammed behind them, and red lights were immediately flashing around them. Piper and Annabeth quickly threw up shields as Percy swung Annabeth behind him, and Will was tossed to the center of their circle. Percy and Jason took point, with Percy grabbing and pulling water into whips, blocking and swatting away spells sent towards them, as Jason did the same with wind. Nico covered himself, Will, Annabeth, and Piper in shadow, to cover them as they fired spells back. 

Percy and Jason angled their shoulders together, enforcing the diamond shape that the group took, as they smoothly blocked the oncoming spells with their elements, sometimes, just letting them be absorbed, or sent back. Commands were called out by Annabeth in Greek from the back, as she observed the battle from the back, and shielded Nico from the onslaught, as he could do nothing more than conceal their movements, as his specialty would standardly result in deadly harm. Piper and Will took the offensive, sticking to mild stunners and the transfiguration of clothing to restrict movement. 

Percy, seeing a break in the offense as the attackers tired, got stunned or restrained, slammed his water whips into the ground, causing it to shake, and let out a blood-freezing, “ENOUGH!”

Instantly, everything stopped, and the Demigods took in the 30 students in front of them, breathing hard and eyes wide.

“Secret fight club? Very nice Potter.” Piper complimented, as the boy in question blushed. The redhead girl next to him shook herself out of her stupor.

“That was awesome! How did you do that?! Can you teach us?” 

“This isn’t a fight club, it’s a study group for DADA. Umbridge wasn’t teaching us enough, so we took it into our own hands.” Hermione bristled, glaring at them.

“That kind of onslaught doesn’t come from kids doing totally legal study group activities, kiddo, try again,” Percy said, relaxing his stance, but not releasing the water fully. Another shy-looking kid stepped forward, wand gripped tightly in his hand.

“W-we are training to f-fight V-Voldemort.” He stuttered out, stance and eyes defiant, and Annabeth smiled at him, as he reminded her of the young kids at camp, before the wars.

Jason stepped forward and assessed the group. “Good start, but you need to learn to be more cohesive. War is not every soldier for themselves, you learn your friend's strengths and weaknesses, and you work together to make no gaps in skills. And train a couple of healers, you’ll never know when you will need them.”

A quick gesture brought their attention to Will and Piper reviving a few students that got hit with some stunners and fixing their clothing.

“You put your strongest defense in the front, you healers in the middle, and your strongest offense in the back, and you have a better chance of standing strong.”

Harry stepped forward, “Will you teach us? We could use the help. You definitely seem to know what you are doing.” 

“I grew up in a military school, so it’s ingrained in me, but no. We are here to get away from that. We recently lost some people in an attack on our school, so we really just want to relax.” Jason said, as a few of the students deflated.

“But we lost someone too, and are about to be in a war, you obviously know how to help us. That’s just unfair and cruel.” Hermione cried, causing Nico and Percy to scoff, Piper just rolled her eyes.

“So, it’s not our war. Besides, what more can we offer you than what Sparky just did? Our magics and skills are completely different. We don’t use verbal spells or movements, we can’t teach you what we do. We are trained to rely on family gifts and to be a cohesive team. It’s second nature now. You can learn battle tactics from a book, and you still need the experience to know who to execute them.” Annabeth retorted, leaning forward, posture hostile. Percy stood at her back, arms crossed.

“If they aren’t going to join, they need to get their memory wiped.” A kid called from the back, and Jason and Percy growled, and the crowd shrank back a step.

“Then sign the roster, so that way if we get caught, you get in trouble too,” Hermione said, pulling a piece of parchment from her bag to hand to Piper, but Will snatched it halfway, hands and eyes lightly going gold.

“Really, a plague curse? You want us to sign something with a plague curse? Absolutely not.” Will snorted, tossing the parchment back.

“It’s not a curse, just a mild hex to help identify a snitch.” Hermione defended, pink in the cheeks.

“That’s still a plague's curse, a weak one, but I would know. After all, to heal, I have to know the curse. Isn’t that right sweetie?” Will said, casting a smirk at Nico.

“Get cursed with the black death one time, and you never forget it.” Nico grumbled, before switching to Italian “ You need to control your plague kids, oh so wonderful cabin leader. Besides, I am the black death .” 

“No need to insult me, Doom and Gloom, next time I won’t heal you.” 

“But then I’ll die, and where would you be? Sad and alone. You rely on me too much, sunshine-”

“Wait, how did you get in here? Or even know about this place?” Ron interrupted, cutting the couple off, before the bickering got more heated, leading to either a fight or a kiss, Jason could never tell.

“Oh, we found a junk room here a little while ago, and it’s fun to go through. When the door didn’t show up, we just tried to get in the place that already had people in it, and here we are. You might want to work on that security issue.” Percy said, leaning back, abandoning the threatening posture for something more relaxed, finally letting go of his hold on the water in the room.

Harry recovered from his shell-shocked look and stuttered out a reply, his blush permanent at this point, “Oh, okay, um, seriously though, you can’t tell anyone that we are doing this, it’s super important.”

Piper waved away the concerns, “Secrets are safe with us. Our friends Leo and the Stolls? Absolutely not. Us? Not a problem. Percy here will forget in about two days, besides, we hate the Toad as much as you guys do.”

“Oh, yeah, right. Then, we will see you around. We only do this once a week, so you can get back to your junk pile tomorrow.” Harry says, scuffing his shoe against the ground, and the 6 left, and Hermione and Ron once again exchange looks at their best friend’s demeanor.

"Those kids"

"are the weirdest people."

"Shut up Weasleys."

Chapter Text

The Demigods had finally found the soul shard in the junk room, stuck in a tiara. Though they quickly found that Nico was the only one who could touch the pieces, without feeling unbridled rage. With the fresh soul shard, their search took on a whole new life.

“There are no other pieces in the castle, besides Harry?” Jason asked, from their little bubble under a tree, the snow falling around them, but a heating charm making it comfortable to sit outside. They felt too watched in the castle, and found refuge in the cold air. Annabeth was sketching the castle again, snow covering changing the look enough to require a fresh rendering. 

“Hey, could someone toss me that apple?” Ron called to the group, gesturing to the apple that rolled to their feet. Piper picked it up, and looked at it thoughtfully, but turned to her friends before throwing it.

“Does it count with someone who isn’t greek?”

“Um, I don’t know, but I wouldn’t take the chance,” Annabeth replied, and Piper nodded, stood, and walked the apple over to the small group further up the hill.

“Why didn’t you toss it?” Ron asked, confusion written across his features.

“Because you might have caught it, and I’m not ready for that,” Piper said, returning to her group. 

“What does that mean?” Ron asked Harry and Hermione, and Hermione blushed and explained the greek marriage customs she had been looking into since she overheard Percy and Annabeth talking about their wedding. Ron blushed a bright red and resorted to never tossing an apple to people again. The trio continued on to class with waves to the group, and the group returned to their next steps.

“So, now we use the fresh to have Nico shadow travel to the pull, then play hot and cold till we find it again, and Nico extracts and sends the old piece home and wash and repeat until we get all the pieces?” Jason asks, swirling snow flurries around in his hand.

“Yeah, that’s it simplified, and I know now there are 4 other pieces, so it shouldn’t take too long.” Nico said, bundled up and sitting deeply in the hold of Will, using the natural warmth of the son of the sun.

Percy let out an exhausted sigh, “but nothing is ever easy.”

Annabeth frowned lightly, and rubbed Percy’s back, leaning into him. “You wanna talk about it, Seaweed Brain?”

“I miss mom. And Estelle, and Paul, and everyone, you know? I miss using my powers. Water is my second nature, its use and pulls and comfort was something I was so used to. And now I can’t lean into it. Every day, I stop myself from pulling it to me, and you guys know how in New Rome, or at camp, I always had water on me, and here, I can’t. And this lack of having it makes me search for it, and I feel every...little...drop of it, so I feel the blood running through everyone’s veins and I am suddenly aware that I, Perseus Jackson, Defender of Gods, Killer of Titans, have earned those titles for a reason, and I hold every heart in my hands, literally.

The mission is getting harder and harder, and we can’t just go and gather them all. It’s going to take time to locate them, then hunt them down, then Nico was the only one who could touch the soul pieces without side effects. And we all had to show our faces every day, act like students with Umbridge in control, and the distance I have to keep from Annabeth throughout the day. Gods, I almost wish this was a normal quest, and we could just get it done with and we can go home.”

“Oh, honey, I am so sorry, I knew this was hard on you, but why didn’t you say anything?” Annabeth asked, cupping Percy’s face between her hands, wiping the falling tears with her thumbs.

“Because you all seem so happy here, I was the only one struggling to adjust,” Percy said, eyes shut and leaning heavily into her hand, Annabeth gave a watery chuckle.

“Your stupid fatal flaw.” 

“I know.” 

“Perce, you don’t have to stay. This is causing you trouble, and I know you didn’t want to come in the first place.” Nico’s voice was small, his eyes downcast. Percy immediately crossed the space to face the younger boy.

“Neeks, I won’t leave you. I will never leave you to deal with this without me. Besides, I would miss you too. We’re inseparable now. True cousins, family. And we’ve all heard the rumors, this is a Wanna-be Hades with a group of Nazis, and we all know that while we won’t let this turn into a war, he won’t be an easy fight. This is hard, but I’m not giving up. Not on you, not on our family, and not on this quest. I just need some time.”

“But I can fall into the shadows whenever I need, Jason can play with the wind whenever he wants. You need your element, this is hurting you.” Nico argued back. 

“I’ll be okay. I just need to get away and into the water more. Winter is always harder, but I will recover. I just need to get one of those water ball things to play with.” Percy said, with a forced smile. “But now, I feel like I cut open my soul and would like some time alone to process everything.”

Will and Piper are the first to leave, concerned backward glances happening thor whole way back up the hill. Nico and Jason leave after giving their cousin reassurance, and a strong hug. Annabeth spoke softly to him, reminding him that whatever they did, they would be together, and a few light, loving kisses later, she also left him under the tree, as the sound of the ocean overcame him.

“Dad, What are you doing here?” Percy asked, not really excited for whatever his father wanted from him. 

Poseidon sat next to his son, and Percy let the smell of the ocean wash over him, giving him small comfort. “I wanted to see you. I know your pain of being away from the sea, I wish to help you son, but I do not know how to. I barely understand this not-quest myself, but I have had an idea, and Athena agrees with me on this.”

Percy raised his head, and looked towards his father, and took in the solemn, almost regretful look in his eyes. “What are you talking about Dad?”

“You and Annabeth are gods now Perseus. There is no argument, it has been done. You have the limits and perks of Godhood. You are the God of Heros, willing and unwilling. Those who fight for love, for those who can’t, because it’s the right thing to do. Annabeth is the Goddess of Righteous Persistence, continuously and stubbornly doing the right thing when others don’t believe you.”

“Dad, no!”

“We know you did not wish for this, but it was inevitable, it was going to happen whether or not it was now or in 2 years, or on your deathbeds.”

“We had plans. Our future, Estelle, Mom!” Percy cried in anguish.

“Aging is a choice, and now you children won’t be demigods, hunted by monsters, subjected to quest. They will be gods themselves, and you will never lose them. Your plans are not interrupted, son, they can still happen. You now have time. For everything.”

“Dad!” Percy cried out again.

“I know, my son, but the vote happened before I could object. I did not wish this for you either, I wanted for you to live happy and quiet after the great wars.”

“Father, I cannot be a God, I am not able to do this. I am not even good at being a hero, everything I did was with help.”

“Which is why you will be Great. Go find your Goddess, son, let her tell you how this can help you. Visit soon.” And with that, Poseidon pressed a container into his son’s hand and left, but Percy did not have to look away. He could watch as the golden light flared out, consuming his father. Percy looked down at his hands, then in a decision that could only be counted as desperate, bit his thumb, to watch as gold ichor welled up in the wound. 

“STYX! ANNABETH!” Percy yelled, scrambling to his feet, and running off to find the love of his, now immortal, life.

Chapter Text

The 2 newly minted gods quickly found that nothing beyond their mortality had changed, much to their relief, as they didn’t think they would be able to handle the hassle of splitting, and Annabeth could turn invisible without her hat, and Percy’s reach of what he had minor control of had expanded, to moderate control, and he could feel the sea inside him. At all times, and it was grounding, and freeing all at once.

When they had told the others, Nico just started laughing hysterically. “You’re a god’s. You are divine beings. And neither one of you can make a decent cup of coffee!”

“That’s it? That’s your measure of godhood? I can now summon the force of the ocean without focusing too hard on it, but I can’t make good coffee, so eeeh, whatever. Thanks, Neeks.” Percy acted indignantly but appreciated his friends' good humor of the deeply unwanted gift bestowed on them by their divine family.

“Perce, don’t worry, we won’t treat you any differently, and when you get too high and mighty, we will knock you back down. Maybe not by force, but we know your secrets. We can keep you in check.” Jason reassured, pulling Annabeth into a hug, and Piper pinched Percy’s cheek.

“Now if you two great ones are done moping about, I’m hungry and would like to get some food. To dinner, we go.” Piper said, tugging Annabeth along, out the door. The boys followed behind them, and they slowly made their way to the great hall, and sat, ready to chow down. Discrete waves of hands turned juice to nectar, and rolls were turned to ambrosia midbite. Percy and Annabeth still made offerings to their parents and gave a half-hearted glare at Piper when she made offerings to them.

“And what would you like in return, dear mortal?” Percy asked, smirk evident. Piper tapped on her chin, pretending to think over her options, and smiled sweetly.

"Hmmm, let me think, just a kiss from your Goddess if you and Jaybird permit.”

“Oh, you’re evil. Is the Toad watching?” Percy asked, refusing to turn around to confirm his suspensions.

“Of course she is.” Piper’s smirk was downright evil now.

“Then go for it, if Thunderpants Jr and Wise Girl are alright with it,” Percy replied, always down for chaos.

“For the detriment of that thing's sanity? Go for it.” Jason said, barely looking up from the note he was writing to Thalia, and Piper turned to Annabeth.

“Well, my lady, may I request a kiss?”

“You may, and with this kiss, may your goals reach a favorable end,” Annabeth answered, before giving Piper a light peck, and with it came an undignified choking noise. Piper pulled away, crackling, as they turned to find Umbridge coughing up a bit of her dinner.

“Yeah, that’s favorable. Thank you, my lady.”  Before the teens could get back to their dinner, a matching set of redheads plopped down next to them.

“‘Ello mates, I’m Fred”

“I’m George,”

“Older brothers to the rest of the redhead lot wearing red,”

“And we wanted to stop by and ask”

“What the blazes is going on here.”

“Speak like that again, and I’ll gut you.” Nico threatened, glare firmly in place as he instantly hated the twin-speak dynamic. They quickly nodded in agreement and repeated the question.

“Oh, um, what do you mean?” Jason asked, discretely folding his letter to finish later, and turning to the twins.

“The affection, and switching around of partners? Is it some elaborate prank, or what, because if it is, we want in.”

“Oh, yes and no. Nico and Will are a couple, have been for a year or so now, and Percy and Annabeth are engaged to be married, and Piper and I are together but are still working it out. But None of us are straight and have been good friends for a long time, so we know where the line is. Percy, Nico, and I are cousins, but in a distantly-related, but close friends/family kind of way, so Percy and I are really just messing around, and you know how girls are, friendships and crushes really blur together after some time.”

“That both clears things up and creates more questions.” One of them said, the other nodding in agreement.

“Well, what are your further questions?” Will asked.

“What does ‘not straight’ mean?” The 6 were a little confused at the question, not fully realizing that these wizards didn’t really get the idea. Yes, they speculated it, but damn.

“As in not heterosexual? Not strictly attracted to the opposite sex” Nico said, slowly, in disbelief. The twins shared a look and shook their heads.

“Right, well, that’s out of our depth, and we wish you luck on your venture into discovering different sexual and gender identities,” Percy said, and he subtly tried to shove them off the bench. “And don’t bother Granger with it, she already had to explain it to your brother.”

“But we have more questions!” One of them claimed and defended their spot at the table, and he reached for a cup of nectar that was swiftly pulled from his grasp by Jason. Piper slipped a different cup into his hand. Percy was quick to distract.

“What other questions?”

“Why are you engaged so young? Or is that just how it is in America?”  A swift swig of diet coke was taken, but a disgusted face was made in reaction.

“Oh, no, we are young to be engaged, but we have been through a lot, shortly after officially dating, I had amnesia, but I remembered her, and then we had a nasty accident on a hiking trip last year, and we had to rely on each other to survive. It made us realize that we are just meant to be together. We are soulmates. There is no one I would rather spend the rest of eternity with than her, as long as she will have me.” Percy replied, eyes soft, smile loving. 

“Awe, Seaweed Brain….. I still might leave you for Beauty Queen.” Annabeth replied, causing the group to laugh at Percy, but he joined in after a second. 

“Fair enough.”

The 6 managed to fend off more questions from the Chaos twins and finally managed to get away from the great hall and out into the yard, where they settled down into the same spot as before.

“Ugh, twins. Always a headache.” Will sighed, rubbing his forehead, Nico pressed a soft kiss to his temple.

“Even your dear old dad and his outstanding sister?” 

Will tossed his head back with a groan before looking up at The Twins, aged to the point they would not get second looks when claiming to be his Father and Aunt. “Father, Lady Artemis, what brings you here?”

“What, I couldn’t check in on my son, so far from home and the warmth of the sun? Scotland is much too cloudy for you, you know. But I guess it’s good training for the Underworld. ” Apollo said, moving closer to the group, and Percy and Annabeth stood. “Well, and we wanted to welcome the newest gods on the block.”

“And my Lieutenant wanted to see her dear brother, cousins, and friends,” Artemis said, stepping out of the way of Thalia.

“I’ve heard Kelp Head and Annie have joined the Divine, and I wanted to ensure my dear baby brother wouldn’t be inspired to follow in their footsteps.” Thalis snarked, as she slapped both Percy and Annabeth upside the head. Percy ducked down and glowered at her.

“It’s not like we had a choice, Pinecone face, we were so graciously informed by our parents that the decision had been made.” 

Artemis stepped in before a fight could break out, “Father thought it would be best for those with power and a belief system like Perseus and Annabeth to be kept close, instead of risking them taking it for their own. When presenting this to the council, while many agreed with the argument that they would never seek godhood out, it would still be best to bring them under a closer rule. You demigods have taken more power than ever thought before, and it scares him. I would not be surprised if more of the major prophecy bares are treated the same.”

“But, we don’t want that. Why would we want that? We know what godhood is, how strict the council decisions are, what would Zeus want to have more minor gods to keep track of over demigods that will eventually die?” Piper asked, face creased in confusion. 

“It’s because you have these responses the council wants you to receive godhood,” Apollo answered, strangely serious and face soft, he reached over and gently ran his hand through Will's hair, causing him to glow slightly. “You lot are good, and are teaching the next crop of demigods that we want to be there for our children, and want to, but can’t due to rules, or don’t know how when we figure out ways around them. You know we are flawed and need to be corrected and argued back against. This new generation of gods will know mortals, have the experience of being a demigod and can make gods better.” 

“You didn't listen to me as a demigod, why would you listen now?” Percy asked, and Artemis crossed the small patch of earth, standing in front of Percy. She took a hold of his chin and lifted, bringing her eyes to hers. “Because, young one, you have more power, more sway, than you could ever know. We were wrong to not listen to you before, barely heading your words in time of desperation, but that is over now. As the years pass, and you settle onto the throne you build, you will be heard. Those in your care will know to look to you, and you will guide them with steady hands. Many are in your corner, and sooner or later, your words will shape the world. You have always been able to make or break the heavens, Perseus, but now you will be doing so from inside them.”

Percy looked a little more settled after that, the new gods spent their time with the Twin Archers asking questions and receiving advice. Thalia and Jason got caught up and enjoyed their time together, making up for lost time. Will enjoyed the comfort and boost of his father and gave Nico a stronger healing session than normal, which Nico greatly enjoyed. 

Chapter Text

As quickly as they were becoming a constant in Harry's life, he couldn't even begin to understand the transfer kids.  

They said they have also recently lost someone, and refused to help them train, but gave them advice that they quickly added to their training. And they only found the DA because they found going through random junk they stumbled on was fun, and refused to sign the parchment, but seem to have forgotten about the whole thing/

They make public displays of defiance, but don’t straight up break the rules and refuse to call each other by anything but nicknames in front of others, making their conversations hard to follow. Their easy and open affection for each other slowly changed the way that the students around them reacted, with the younger years holding onto that childhood type of love a little longer, and had them cuddling up to the older students late in the night. Hermione and Ginny had slowly become more affectionate in their friendship, and Ron was more tactile with his brothers. Harry had tried to keep his distance but longed for that closeness too. 

He couldn’t keep his mind off of the 6 teens, and it was starting to affect him. One night, when they were nearly alone in the common room, Hermione and Ron confronted him about it.

“Harry, do you have crushes on Percy and Annabeth?”

“What, no! Of course not, they are together, older, intimidating, and give off this vibe of being able to decimate me with one look. They’re terrifying.” Harry answered quickly, blushing and looking away. “There is something off about them, I know it. And something about them has changed, they are just more…. Untouchable, lately. They have this...glow about them, and I could have sworn Will was literally glowing the other day when they were by the lake. And Percy’s eyes have this new deepness in them like if I were to stare too long, I could drown in them, like the whole ocean lives in his eyes. And Annabeth’s hair is different now, it’s shinier, and moves differently like it's literally just strands of gold. I swear Nico melts into shadows, and I see sparks fly off Jason when he’s angry.”

“Harry, it really sounds like you spend a lot of time looking at and thinking about them, I really do think you have a crush,” Hermione said softly.

“Why would I have a crush on Percy, he’s a guy, I don’t like guys,” Harry said in a last-ditch effort to end this embarrassing conversation.

“Harry, I know you know about gay and bi people. I just explained it to Ron the other day, and Fred and George were talking about it at lunch, how Percy and Annabeth both said they were bi. You were also raised in a muggle house…..oh.” Hermione stopped her tirade as she realized what she said, and what she knew about Harry’s guardians. “They are wrong you know, there is nothing wrong with being gay or bi. They were wrong about you being a ‘freak’ for being a wizard, they are wrong about this too. They aren’t good people, by any standards.” 

Harry didn’t completely look like he believed them, but he did meet their eyes again. “I don’t know what I feel, but I do think they aren’t just some transfer students, they are here for a reason.”

“Or you just aren’t used to their looks and way of speaking. We were the same way last year with Fluer and Vicktor. You are paranoid and are still dealing with the trauma of Crouch Jr., and Cedric. But they aren’t working for Voldemort, and haven’t given the DA trouble; they are just extremely attractive.”

“Yeah, it’s a bit unfair, they definitely got lucky with their gene,” Ron said, finally joining the conversation. “I mean, Nico, Percy, and Jason are all cousins, so of course they look a little bit alike, but they all have those large eyes that stare into your souls. Especially DiAngelo, he is definitely deciding where to send my soul when I die.”

“Nevermind that, but it’s okay to have a crush on them Harry, and know we love you no matter what, we are your best friends, your family really, you can always talk to us. But don’t make a fool of yourself, they are just people, and don’t need you fawning all over them or following them because you think you are up to something.” Hermione reminded him sternly, eyes cutting up towards their dorm after elbowing Ron lightly, “They deal with that enough.”

The trio talked for a little longer, but something in Harry broke down, and when Hermione leaned a little closer to him, and Ron's foot slid out to brush against his, he didn’t pull away.

Chapter Text

For the 6, with the addition of the new godly powers, progress was being made on the hunt for the soul shards, and the teens were finally relaxing. They had become friendly with the DA kids, still refusing to help, and had finally managed to get out of detention with Umbridge, as they had stopped directly breaking rules, and the other students had followed their lead in thwarting them. A few true LGBT kids had privately come to them and thanked them for breaking the ice, and platonic displays of affection had become more common too.

They were on their way to the lake when they heard a commotion in the courtyard, and entered it at the end of a confrontation. A woman covered in shawls and the smell of alcohol was led away by Minnie, and a centaur entered the courtyard as well, and they hung back as more shrieking occurred. The centaur made a move to bow to them, but a quick look had him smoothly covering to kneel to talk to the children in front of him. Once the courtyard cleared out, they made their way to him.

“Greetings, godlings.” The centaur greeted, giving them a low bow, “I have heard your mythos and read appearance in the stars, it is a great honour to encounter you. I am Firenze.”

“Well met, Firenze. It is a comfort to have you near, as you know, our mentor is Chiron, trainer of heroes.” Jason greeted as the others nodded, “it has been uneasy sometimes, as McGonagall is the only one who knows who we are, and due to the involvement of the Ministry, it must stay that way.”

“I understand, godlings, I will endeavor to keep your secret, and aid you as I can. I never had the honour of meeting Chiron myself, but his deeds are taught to all young.”

“As a warning or a goal?” Will asked, smiling brightly as he stepped forward. Firenze laughed and knelt in front of the highly skilled healer. A light conversation continued as Will healed the damage done by the herd.

“If your time here comes to an end, and you still cannot return, come visit us, we might be able to help find new arrangements for you.” Annabeth offered, and Firenze bowed deeply.

“You are too kind, my lady, your domain suits you well. For now, I must go, I will be seeing you around the castle, I’ll watch the stars for you.” Firenze bid them farewell, and the 6 moved on, continuing their journey to the lake.

Settling in the grass, they restarted their conversation about their mission. “So we only have two left? Besides Harry right?” Will asked, double-checking his list.

“Yep, and I think I have enough of a lock on their signature, to try and scry for it, before randomly popping in a house like we did for the locket,” Nico said, laying back on the grass, and closing his eyes.

“Well, do you want to try now, or later? Piper asked, Annabeth’s head in her lap as Annabeth picked up a book to read.

“We can try later, I need a mirror, preferably a large one,” Nico said, head unmoving as he sunk slightly into the ground, and little flowers sprung up around him. Percy smirked at the sight, before pulling out some fruit to snack on.

“Your stepmom misses you.”

“Of course she does, I’m a delight of a child.”

Laughing, Percy turned his back to Jason, leaning against him, bringing a knee up to pick at the loose threads that surrounded a hole. Harry and his two friends made their way over, to which Percy gave a lazy wave.

“Sup, boy wonder, what brings you to our neck of the woods?” Percy greeted, popping a strawberry in his mouth then giving a smirk. Harry’s face turned red, and he scuffed the toe of his shoe against the ground.

“Oh, um, we were wondering if you guys planned to go on to Hogsmeade tomorrow. We were going to offer to show you around since you have yet to go.”

“Oh, no thank you, we have some work to catch up on tomorrow, and don’t need anything from the village,” Annabeth answered, smiling apologetically. Harry just nodded, growing more red and flustered, slightly dejectedly, and Hermione and Ron shared a look, rolling their eyes.

The younger teens shuffled off, and Piper let out a soft sigh. “That poor boy, having Percy and Annabeth being his awakening.”

Nico hummed in agreement, “It’s not every day that literal greek gods smile at you, it’s almost understandable.”

“And how do you know what it’s like, death breath?” Will questioned, eyebrow raised.

“You do realize that you and Percy are exact copies of your father’s right?” Nico responded, eyebrow matching until a satisfied grin grew in reaction to the blush that dusted Will’s cheeks. Percy just tossed his hair in an exaggerated fashion. Jason smacked Percy on the back of the head.

“Watch it, I’ll smite you.” Percy pouted, rubbing the back of his head. Jason rolled his eyes and pulled a compact mirror out of a pocket of Piper’s bag. Enlarging it, he tossed it onto Nico’s chest.

“Let's get it over with. I want to get this done before we run our time down too much.”

“Damn, there is still some Roman deep, down in there. I’ll knock it out of you yet……..Please do not inform the Romans of me, I don’t want to split.” Percy said eyes zoned out in fear. The group got wide-eyed and decided to figure out a solution to that problem next.

Nico reluctantly sat up, picked up the mirror, and focused. Very slowly, a cup came into view, surrounded by other treasures.

“Looks like a vault, maybe a bank?”

“That’s easy enough, I can work on my control, it’s probably trapped. ” The mirror shimmered again, and a dark room came into view with many snakes embellishments around.

“He’s really invested into this evil overlord aesthetic, huh.” Something in the fame moved, drawing their attention to it.

“Is that a live snake? He put his soul shard in his pet snake?”

“Styx.”

Chapter Text

In the library, Nico was practicing his minor control of riches by drifting Annabeth’s hair into her face while she continuously scowled and brushed it away.

“Oh, for Athena’s sake!” Annabeth’s head snapped up and caught Nico’s hand moving. “Neeks!”

Nico laughed and put his hands up in surrender. “Was just practicing, Princessa.” 

“Find something else to practice with, it was hard enough to deal with before, now, no normal hair ties will hold this.”

“Why did your hair turn to gold anyways, besides the obvious poetry Apollo will get out of it?” Nico asked, sliding sideways into the chair, grabbing a book from in front of her, flipping through it mindlessly. 

“Who knows, could be anything from ‘a golden crown’ due to being called Princess all the time to a physical representation of ‘the golden rule’. Probably the latter due to the “righteous” part of my domain.” Annabeth answered, before tossing the book in her hands down. “I don’t know why we keep coming back here, we never find anything. Let's go, see if we can find the Superheros. Is Sunshine still down at the greenhouse?”

Nico began helping her clean up the mountain of books as he answered “Yeah, still experimenting, that Neville kid has been helpful, answering all his questions. I think he’s secretly training Neville to be a medic, and how to use things for medicine.”

Annabeth looked up in surprise, then made a face of approval. “Good, they need that. 

Why they wait to teach kids once they leave school is beyond me. They barely cover the basics here, and these children are not ready for the world. If all of Magical Britain is at this level, so be it, but what about when they leave? Do they not travel internationally? MACUSA is leagues beyond them at this point.” 

Nico just shrugged his shoulder and grabbed their bags. Annabeth made a motion to take her bag and Nico squinted at her and hugged the bag closer to himself. 

“I can handle my bag Neeks.” Annabeth insisted as she rolled her eyes. Nico moved around the table towards her and pushed in her chair for her. 

“My parents raised a gentleman, and I won’t have you making me look bad. Sunshine doesn't let me do this for him, I’m going to do it for you.”  Annabeth just shook her head and the pair made their way back to their rec room, figuring the boys were sparring. 

And sparing they were, weaponless, and sweating, they were deep into the third round of spar. Percy was finding his balance between his new abilities and power, and Jason was enjoying going all out. 

A lightning-covered fist was cutting towards Percy's face before being blocked by a forearm. The arm-twisted down and under the fist headed towards Jason’s unprotected stomach before being stopped by Jason's knee, knocking it upwards. Jason used the momentum to finish kicking out towards Percy but he jumped back as soon as his fist was off course. Grabbing Jason's ankle, Percy twisted, causing Jason to flip, landing on his back. Jason flung out another electrically charged kick upwards, and Percy lightly dodged with a jump.  Using the jump to his advantage, he solidified the air next to Percy and shoved him back, Percy smoothly recovered with a somersault and rose to his feet again, and Jason jump-kicked back to standing, and they were back to square one. 

Another fist few, only to be grabbed by a hand. Sky and Sea stared into each other as they slowed their breath, and an easy grin broke across Jason’s face as he gave a chuckle. “I guess we finally know the answer of who would win, since you were never truly on the offensive.”

Percy laughed lightly as well, as he let a light glaze of water overtake his skin, before drying quickly. “It wouldn’t be fair to actually fight you, but it is fun.” 

“Maybe one day, we can go full out, see what you can do.”

“Or I can, god against god?” Annabeth interjected, shedding her blazer, and walking over to the pair.

“Now, now, sweetheart, we don’t need to tear down the school, maybe later we can find someplace for a good fight,” Percy smirked, sauntering over to her to get a kiss, only to get judo flipped. “I should have seen that coming.”

“We were gonna go meet Will down at the Green House, have you all seen Piper?” Nico interjected, throwing a towel at Jason, before gathering up the discarded clothing around the room and putting them in neat piles, and straightening book bags.

“She's talking to Flitwick, you don’t have to clean up after us, Neeks, we can do it later,” Jason said, flopping onto the worn-out mat, well used since the beginning of the school year. Nico blushed and hid his eyes behind his bangs.

“It’s okay, I want to.” Nico replied as he turned his back to them, hoping to hide his blush. “Anyways, we gotta find my significant annoyance, before he tries to take home plants.” 

“We are probably too late for that,” Jason mumbled for the mat, and Percy hulled him up. 

Come on, let's go get our stragglers, then we go get the cup tonight?” Annabeth asked the room, get a nod for each boy as they made themselves ready to leave the freedom of their warded space. 

“I wish Hazel could help with this part,” Nico grumbled, scuffing his shoes against the ground. And the group set off to the greenhouse, on the way they were intercepted by the Gryffindor trio. 

“Hey, guys! Can we ask you a question?”

Percy nodded and motioned for them to walk with them. “Sure, kid, what's up?” 

“We wanted to go over some hand-to-hand defense, in case we got disarmed, and we figured that you all would be the best to ask.”

“Yeah, why would you think that?” Jasin asked, chuckling, shrugging his bag higher on his shoulder. 

“You mean other than the fact you look like you can lift 29 stones on your own without breaking a sweat?” Ron blurted out, then looked away quickly, face going red. 

“He means 400 pounds, but exactly. And you move like fighters, so it’s easy to tell.” Hermione chimed in.

“So, will you do it? Will you teach us?” Harry finished, bringing attention back to him.

Annabeth gave an apologetic smile, but shook her head, “Sorry, we have something we have to do tonight, the next meeting though.” 

The trio deflated, and said their goodbyes, finally realizing it wasn’t worth arguing with the godlings over, and the 4 made it to the greenhouse where they found Will and Piper.

“Hey, y’all! Neville was just showing me some burn healing plants, I was thinking we could try to grow them around the rock-wall area.” Will exclaimed, giving off a blinding smile.

“Awesome, that’s a perfect spot for it! Piper, how did your talk with Flitwick go? Any insights on why they seem to need wands and spells for focus?” Annabeth asked, after laughing at Will’s idea. Piper looked up from the notes she was writing and handed them over to Annabeth.

“It appears that they started teaching it to younger students to help give them initial control to feel their magic, but they became too reliant in the ease of use and forgot that magic is inherent, and using a focus can weaken it.” 

“Oh, so just laziness, no wonder Lady Hecate turned her back on this world ,” Annabeth muttered in undertone greek, getting a light scoff from Piper in reply.

They conversed with Neville a little while longer before Jason checked his watch. “It’s almost time for dinner, everyone, and I believe we all have plans tonight.” 

They all nodded and left the greenhouse, separating from the young Gryffindor to sit at their own table, and then, they very carefully figured out their plans for that night in greek.

Chapter Text

After dinner, the six teens were silent as they made their way through the halls, their faces dominated by expressions of determination. Once within the safety of their dorm, Annabeth tacked a large sheet of paper showing what they knew about where the cup with the soul shard is.

“So, we gathered from Nico’s scrying that the cup is in a vault with other riches, and from Jason’s conversations with Hermione, that the only place here in wizarding Britain that holds that is Gringotts. Percy found out from other conversations that Gringotts has a very intense security protocol, which may or may not include a dragon. So here is what we are going to do.

The easiest way would have been for Nico to shadow travel with Percy into the vault, and that was all it was going to take, however, from our scrying, it appears that the vaults stay well lit for some reason, so we are going to do this the old fashion way.” Annabeth tacked up another paper, one of the Gringotts construction plans, and she began using a laser pointer to explain.

“Piper and I will enter through the front, with myself invisible, and Piper will charm speak the goblin into getting us down into the high-security areas of the bank, from there, we will meet up with Percy and Nico to transport us and the goblin to the correct vault, where we then get the goblin to open it. Nico pulls the cup to him, and we leave, never to go to the bank again, because we robbed it.” 

“As soon as we get back from the bank, Nico and Percy will go see the snake, and Percy will once again live up to his namesake, and then, all that is left is Harry,” Annabeth concluded, looking, clapping her hands together once. “Any questions?”

“And Will and I will be…?” Jason asked, brow furrowed. 

“Here, keeping watch and letting us know if anything happens. As much as I would love to take care of the Harry issue tonight, we probably won't finish until late, and that much traveling and soul messing with will be exhausting for Nico.”

“And Plan B?” Percy asked, twirling riptide in pen from between his fingers.

“Use our godly powers to flash in, have Nico take the souls, and flash out,” Annabeth said in a huff.

“And why is that not Plan A?” Will asked, and he got an annoyed look from Nico and Piper.

“‘Cause, it’s boring.” “Robbing a bank, Will, like criminal masterminds.” 

“Because I wanted to have a cool plan with my map and laser pointer. And elaborate plans are fun.” Annabeth pouted. 

“Did you have fun, Wise Girl?” Percy asked, giving her a side hug. Annabeth nodded, still pouting. “Okay, love, Neeks and I are gonna use plan B and get the souls now. We can have an elaborate plan for Capture the Flag when we get home.” 

“Fine, stay safe. Go Medusa the snake.” The two shared a quick kiss, and Percy flashed away with Nico.

Arriving in the bowels of the bank, Nico focused on locating the soul shard, and he and Percy quickly made their way towards it. With one last flash, they made it into the Vault, where the cup sat innocently on a shelf at the back of the room. Percy reached out to inspect a sword on the wall closer, but Nico’s hand shot out, grabbing his wrist.

“Don’t touch anything, this gold feels wrong. It could be cursed.” Nico said, before closing his eyes and focusing on the cup. He pulled at both the soul inside and the gold of the cup, willing them both towards him. 

Percy watched and waited as patiently as he could, his ADHD slightly better now that he was a full god, but not great. Though he was happy that being a god hadn’t changed who he was fundamentally yet.  

The slow steady movement of the cup was straining on Nico, and he began to fade a bit. Percy reached out and laid a steady hand on his back, tapping into the power that all his friends had connected to him, and lent him strength.

As the slow process continued, Percy felt a small pull at the back of his mind. He closed his eyes and focused on it, as Nico finally had the cup in reach. The slightest brush of his finger seemed to trigger a reaction, causing it to spawn continuous clones, and Nico panicked, yanking the soul out sharply before throwing the cup back across the room. 

Percy kicked the quickly building up cups, and grabbed Nicos arm, and flashing them back to the hallway. 

“What was that?” He questioned.

“No idea, but I have the soul, lets go before the security trips,” Nico answered, looking up to see Percy’s face unusually serious. “What’s up?”

“We don’t have time for the snake tonight. Will just prayed to me, we are gonna flash to my room, and you shadow travel to yours, Umbridge is in the common room.” Percy reported, and Nico nodded gravely. “He told her we were showering, so….”

Percy called water to his hand, and dumped it over Nico's hair, and flashed them both into comfy pajama-like clothing. Did Nico’s shirt say “Hide and Seek Champion, Locas Casino and Hotel, 1940-2000” on it? Yes, it did, Percy was quite proud of it. The scowl that Percy got in return was bone-chilling if you weren’t used to it. A quick minute later, Percy was stepping out of his room into the common room, rubbing a towel over his head. 

“Seaweed, we have company,” Annabeth called out to him, causing him to look up and notice Minerva, Snape, and Umbridge standing there, with Harry’s arm firmly in Snape’s grasp. 

“We have become aware of a secret army being created by Dumbledoor, led by Potter. Dumbledore has owned up to these claims and has fled custody. Were you aware of this?”  Minerva asked before Snape or Umbridge could begin speaking.

“Secret Army? No, why would we know about that?” Percy asked, wild confusion on his face. Nico opened the door to his room and stepped out, going to stand beside Will. Will leaned down to whisper what was going on in his ear.

“Don’t lie, boy, tell the truth, or I can make you!” Umbridge shrieked, stepping forward menacingly. Percy just laughed, and Harry’s eyes went round.

“Hear that everyone, she can make me.”  Percy chuckled out, tossing his towel away, and wrapping his arm around Annabeth’s shoulders. Nico and Will scoff in the background, Piper let out a light giggle and Jason took a half step forward, coming up to Percy’s other side. “No one has ever made me do anything. Not my father, not my extended family, and certainly not a half-brained, abusive failure of a teacher that can’t handle when someone disagrees with her and runs to her boss anytime something doesn't go her way.” 

The room's air grew heavy as he spoke, eyes narrowing and glowing, the sound of relentless waves crashing in their ears, his voice almost reverbing, deep and dark. “Now, I suggest you let that boy go, leave our dorm, and think twice before threatening me again. Lady Hecate and our family are very aware of everything that has been happening here, and I’m afraid it won’t take much more to get them involved. And trust me, you don’t want that.”

“Yes, Dolores, let’s take the boy’s advice and leave, we have other matters to sort.” Minerva tried to reason, moving to pull Harry from Snape’s grasp. 

“No!” Umbridge shrieked, stomping her foot on the ground, and pointing her wand at Percy. The godlings' eyes narrowed and their bodies tensed in defense, the coils waiting to be set loose. “This boy does not get to tell me what to do. I am now the headmistress, and I am in charge! The Minister of Magic said so! Now you kids will tell me your names, now!”

“For the last time, no. Names have power, do they not? You mortals give your names out so carelessly, ignorant of the power you are allowing your enemies to have over you. You will not have our names, and the day you do will be your last.” 

“Is that a threat, boy?” Snape hisses, eyes narrowed. Minerva looked exasperated, and rolled her eyes, as Jason gave a dry laugh. 

“It was a promise”

Chapter Text

It did not take long for the castle to dissolve into chaos after Umbridge took over, the Weasley twins laying traps throughout the corridors, and many others playing minor pranks. After the third time Percy dodged a student on a broom on the way to the Great Hall, he turned to Annabeth. She avoided his Seal Pup eyes for as long as she could, but eventually gave in. 

“Fine, go for it, just don’t tear anything up, we can’t fix this stuff like we do at home.” Annabeth relented with a sigh, and Piper cheered. Percy quickly transfigured two plates into skateboards, tossing one to Nico who caught it easily.

“Bet I can do an ollie off the stairs,” Percy called back, as he took a running start to his board, Nico quickly following after him. They weaved in and out of students with ease, both used to navigating New Rome. The other 4 transfigure their own boards, and casually make their way over to the two, arriving just in time to see Percy fall down a couple of stairs as his board gets transfigured back into a plate in the middle of a jump. Nico powerslides to a stop, stumbling as his board vanishes as well. 

“Oi! Who did that?” Jason called out, popping his board up as Will checked on Percy, who luckily just had a busted lip from biting it and a scrape on his cheek. The crowd suffeled awkwardly as Annabeth and Piper glared into it. “He could have gotten seriously hurt!” 

“But he didn’t, besides, you shouldn’t have those muggle things in the corridors,” Malfoy said, pushing his way to the front of the forming group. 

“Listen, you stuck up weasel, we have been lenient all year. We haven’t messed with any of you, and have kept to ourselves, Tartarus, we’ve barely even been in your classes. And yet you continue to go out of your way to antagonize and attack us. The year is nearly over, we are about to go home, leave us alone, and we won’t destroy you before we go.” Will snarled at him, getting into Draco’s face, unnatural shadows casting across his face, Nico half a step behind him. 

The other Slytherin students move to stand beside Malfoy. Arrogant and prideful, his hubris on full display, the smug look on his face portraying this belief of strength and skill. “You said it yourself, you’ve barely been to any of our classes, and the only magic you’ve performed has been frivolous displays any child could do. I dare say you couldn’t beat a first year, let alone me, if it’s a fight you want.”

“You know nothing that you speak of, child, watch your tongue.” Nico growled, stepping up further to Will’s side, “Your silly little spats are nothing compared to our friendly spars, let alone an actual fight. Your magics are dilute and weak, and yet you feel the need to boast. You want to see real magic, I shall show you.”

The hallway darkened, shadows stretching and twisting. The skin on Nico's hands and face started going transparent, before Percy walked forward, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Stand down, cousin. No need to make a mess. After all, the mortals still count death in a duel as murder.” 

The pure Dark did not fade as Nico gave a feral smile, “It’s only murder if I let him die permanently, I can hold on to his soul long enough for Will to heal the flesh, and just place him back when it’s done.” 

“And tempt the Fates so? You know how they love snipping strings, you may just lose hold. Better to not, cousin. We will find you another soul to play with later.” Jason intoned offhandedly as he also stepped forward, the sons of the Big Three creating the standard imposing presence they are, even without the unsubtle threats.

“You never let me have any fun, cousins.” Nico pouted, before withdrawing his hold on the shadows. The students around them had all paled at the rather dramatic display, but still stood strong. 

“No lingering in the corridors, go to your classes.” Snape intoned as he moved down the hallway, “You six, stay.” 

The students slowly shuffled off, leaving the glaring eyes of Snape staring down the 6, and them glaring back. “As you said yourselves, you have little time left with us, see that it ends peacefully.”

A swirling robe left them alone, and sharing a look, they made their way back to their rooms. 

“Let’s get the snake, and hunt some monsters, I want this task done with,” Will growled, and the godlings stalked the halls of Hogwarts, glares given out freely to any who crossed their path. They made it back to their common room without further interruption and threw themselves down on the furniture available. Annabeth was the first one to speak, her fingers running through Percy’s hair. 

“We need to wait for their exams, all the students and professors will be busy, and we won't have any interruptions.” 

“But what will we do in the meantime? I can’t do this anymore. Our goal is in sight, and I want to go home.” Piper responded, braiding and unbraiding a stand of hair. 

“We train, we stick to our rooms, and we train. We are children of the gods, we are about to finish our quest, we no longer need to entertain these mortals.” Jason growled, standing up to stalk around the room. “It’s never been this hard to blend in before.” 

“None of us have been around mortals in years, and these aren’t normal motals either.” Piper reminded gently, but Jason just growled again. Nico sighed as he heaved himself up off the couch, and headed to his room. He retuned shortly with leather armor on and headed towards the door. 

“You guys wanna train, go train. I’m going to fight some monsters in the forest.” 

“You’re not going off alone, give us a minute.” Piper chided, as the rest of the group grabbed their gear and followed him out, Percy grabbing Jason in a headlock, and Piper and annabeths hands swinging between them. 

“Oh, This will be fun.” Percy said, pulling riptide and getting into a guarded position. Will let an arrow fly, punturing the wing of one, while anothe dove for Piper, who rolled out of the way. Jason swiped upward at the retreating gryphon and caught its back foot. Annabeth and Nico moved forward, and watched the other 6 with close eyes. Almost too quickly, one darted forward and caught Percy’s shoulder with a sharp claw. Percy swung Riptide and caught the side of the gryphon, returning the favor. 

Will let loose another shot and hit the side of one towards the back of the pack, while Piper dodged another dive. Nico shadowed traveled to the side on one and stabbed it in the side. Jason sent a gust of wind, and knocked one into a tree, while Annabeth dodged a swoop as well, stabbing upwards and slicing the underside of the gyphon. Percy dashed forward and with a yell, swiped through the wing of one, popping it into dust. 

Will let loose another arrow, but missed the gryphon that grabbed him from behind.  “NICO!!!” 

As the gryphon lifted Will into the air, Nico shadow traveled above them, and came down on the grypthon, sword straight through its neck. With a shower of glitter, the both hit the ground, breathing hard. 

A spell spot towards Hermione, sickly and dark, and Nico shadow traveled in the way, deflecting the spell with his sword.  He turned towards the figure who shot the spell and as shadows consumed the dark ride and silver mask, he began to collapse to the floor. A pale Spector stood from the puddle of robes and Hermione gasped.

Nico watched as Harry’s godfather was pushed back towards the veil, and could feel his soul leaving. Without thinking, Nico threw out a hand and grabbed , and pulled him back through the veil, anchoring his soul back to the body. To complete the trade, he turned to the crazy woman who sent the spell and pulled her soul from her body, banishing it through the veil. The room turned to him, shocked, to find his face skeletal, and eyes black, shadows cloaking him like a reaper. Will glowed steadily next to him, bathing the demigods in golden lighting, their divinity on full display. Percy towered in a way that seemed impossible, bronze armor glinting in the light, Riptide's blade encased in water.

“We need the others. I cannot reach Annabeth. Luna,” the blonde-haired girl whose eyes were always a little too clear snapped to Percy, “Pray to her. Tell her to come to you.” 

“What’s the good of praying, boy, you believe in a god?” A masked figure unwisely taunted, and Percy’s hand shot out, using the figure’s blood to pull them to him. Leaning forward, Percy whispered in their ear, “No. I am one.” 

In a quick, barely visible movement, Percy snapped the figure's neck, and let the body drop to the floor.  “You have all made your choices clear, you have chosen to support a mad creature in his pursuit of ill-gotten immortality and poorly concealed fascism. You have made the wrong choice. Immortality belongs to the gods, and the gods do not share it lightly. We were sent to end his attempt, and we really, really , hate Nazis.” 

“There is no running from this choice, we know you know, and you will not escape us.” At once, all the masks fell off the figures, revealing the faces of the Death Eaters.

A sickly green spell shot towards Piper, and Jason, selfless, loyal, kind Jason,  dove towards her, hand outstretched, fingertips grazing the spell, and it absorbed into his skin. His soul was gone before his mortal body could hit the floor.

Piper screamed, in grief and fury, slashing at the death eaters around her wildly, before burying her dagger deep in one’s eye, and whipping around to plant in the heart of another. Ripping the weapon free once more, she collapsed next to the fallen son of Jupiter. It was only when she stopped moving that she noticed that the hall was shaking. 

On the far side of the room, engulfed in gold light, Perseus stood. In his hands, he held Riptide and the hair of Lucius Malfoy, the man's body crumpled on the floor. Malfoy’s gray eyes were wide and frantic, searching for help. 

“Uncle Hade, King of the dead, protector of the Underworld, allow your Son, King of Ghost, Protector of Souls to make another trade. I give you this man in exchange for my Hero, One of The Seven, Jason Grace, Son of Jupiter.” Percy bellowed into the room and cleanly separated Malfoys head from his shoulders. Two quick flickers of black happened next to the bodies of Malfoy and Jason.

Time froze, not a breath was heard until Jason gasped as Lightning cracked through the Atrium. 

“Wait, you cannot be the one to strike down Tom, it must be Harry! There is a prophecy!” 

Albus Dumbledor called from the edge of the room. Percy scoffed, he was done with prophecies. 

Percy stared down at Voldemort, eyes a solid green glow, held in the air by a jet of water that was released by the broken fountain. Riptide hung loosely at his side, and he watched as Nico moved behind him like the ghost he commands, and slit his throat. Before the body could hit the ground, Percy had turned to a shocked Harry Potter and friends, and spoke in a voice that filled the hall, “Remember me, for my name, is Perseus.” 

In a flash of golden light, the godlings left, just as people flooded into the Ministry to witness the The-Boy-Who-Lived and the defeated body of a so-called Dark Lord. Ron could no longer help himself, and broke down in hysterical laughter, “Okay, maybe they weren’t normal kids.”