Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The day that Hecate came passed slowly. Camp-Half Blood was still recovering, healing, and rebuilding. The Apollo cabin managed around-the-clock shifts with the small number of campers they had. Despite the many offers of help, few were willing to take the job on.

As such most of the camp had resorted to training, doing normal camp activities, or helping in any way they could. Entertaining the youngest members of camp, rebuilding anything that was damaged, helping in the infirmary, or working in the forges. The Hecate and Hephaestus cabins were working on a project that could translate any language into ancient Greek for easier reading.

Sword and dagger clashed in the arena, celestial bronze on celestial bronze. They were alone, having finished a class with the Athena cabin.

“Oh come on Wise Girl, you can do better than that!” Percy taunted, smiling triumphantly, holding his sword to Annabeth’s chest. She grinned and in one fluid move, knocked the sword out of his hand, kicking him in the chest, and slamming him against the ground.

She landed, straddling his waist, holding her (new) dagger against his throat. “Oh come on Seaweed Brain, you can do better than that,” Annabeth panted, mimicking Percy.

“I yie-”

“Am I interrupting something?”

Percy and Annabeth glanced to the side, finding Nico leaning against the entrance to the arena. They both turned bright red and Percy flipped Nico off. Percy tried to get up but Annabeth pressed her dagger closer to his throat.

“I yield,” Percy groaned. Her grin spread across her face as she got up and helped him to his feet.

“Let’s go,” Nico said, “We’re needed in the Big House,” Percy and Annabeth exchanged concerned looks but followed Nico out of the arena.

Annabeth glanced around camp as they made their way over to the Big House. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The infirmary was crowded, strawberry fields filled the air with their sweet aroma, and people were cleaning the stables. Chiron wasn’t teaching archery lessons and she hadn’t seen him on the porch yet so he must have been inside. Nothing was off. Nothing that would warrant them needing to talk to Chiron.

But there was something strange in the air. The magic that coated Camp-half Blood felt thicker. Like the layers had become thicker, harder to break through.

Before they made it to the Big House, Nico made them stop at the infirmary. She wasn’t sure why until he came out with Piper and Will in tow. Piper had been helping out in the infirmary as much as she could. Calming panicked patients, and sometimes using her charm speak as anesthesia. Will was talking quietly with Nico. What about she had no idea. Piper trailed behind them quietly. She hadn’t been the same since Leo sacrificed himself. Piper had blamed herself for not finding another way. She became a shell of who she used to be, and it made Annabeth's heart ache. But she was getting better. She smiled more, talked to people, and started to get back into the swing of things.

Annabeth had been so lost in thought that when she blinked they had reached the Big House. Nico motioned for them to come inside after him.

When she stepped inside the house she saw Chiron, looking troubled, and a woman she vaguely recognized standing next to him. She was extremely pale, with green eyes. Blonde hair in a traditional Greek high ponytail. She wore a black gown that seemed to hang off of her like ink. A dog and a polecat were by her sides staring at them.

Piper looked confused, “Hecate?”

Annabeth realized why she looked so familiar. She looked similar to her daughter Lou Ellen, the head counselor for the Hecate cabin. Annabeth was vaguely aware that Hecate had helped fight Clytius, but she had been barely conscious at the time so she didn’t count that.

Hecate glanced at them. “Good, you're here. I need your help. Some of my followers-”

“Let's not rush into it just yet.” Chiron cut her off, “Explain what you need them to do.”
Despite looking vaguely like she wanted to kill Chiron, Hecate slowed down anyway. “My followers have messed up. They’ve destroyed their own society by remaining ignorant of what was going on around them. A small group had tried to fight back but was overwhelmed. They didn’t prepare enough for what they were facing. They remained stagnant and hoped it was enough.”
“What does this have to do with us?” Will blurted out, immediately closing his mouth at the death glare he got from Hecate.

“The main cause for this was a man named Tom Riddle, he calls himself Voldemort and dreams of ruling my following. He has succeeded. I have left this alone, believing that someone would step up. However, no one has because they believe that their one hope, a boy named Harry Potter, is dead. He is of course but he isn’t their only hope.”

The demigods glanced at each other. Was she this calm talking about people dying?

“Voldemort has teamed up with monsters to attack students of the school.”

That snapped them to attention.

“They’re mortals?” Will asked. Hecate nodded before continuing.

“I’m sending you back in time to the year it all went wrong. When my followers started losing and he started winning. When the monsters attacked.”

Chapter Text

“So you're telling me that you want us to stay undercover in a magical school, as transfer students from America, help with war planning, learn a whole world of magic we never knew existed until now, all while protecting a kid with a cool scar?” Percy asked, staring at her incredulously. 

“That is an excellent way of putting it, Perseus Jackson,” Hecate said, nodding.

“And if we don't?” 

“The largest portion of my followers dies and while I’m not allowed to kill you, I can make your life as miserable as possible. Hallucinations, nightmares that seem real, monsters that you kill, the like.” Hecate clarified with a malicious glint in her eye. “Not every problem can be solved with a sword”

Will swallowed glancing at the people around him. Percy, Annabeth, Nico, Piper, and himself. He didn’t quite understand why they had been chosen. Percy, Annabeth, and Piper were part of the Seven, but why him and Nico?

“Why did you pick us?” he asked, breaking the silence the room had fallen into.

“Well, you are obviously the healer. Specializing in treating demigod injuries that these mortals are not used to treating. Nicolò for easy transportation-”

“I’m not a pack mule” Nico mumbled

Hecate shot a glare at him but continued anyway “Perseus for the firepower, Annabeth for her planning, and Piper for her charm speak”

“So essentially we’re the healer, the fighter, the controller, the planner, and the transportation,” Annabeth said, unimpressed. Hecate nodded, looking pleased that they had gotten the memo. 

Will was worried. Not for the quest, but for the state of the infirmary when he left. He’d been managing it for almost three years now. It had barely been two weeks since the second giant war and camp was recovering but the infirmary was still packed. Will just hoped his siblings would be able to make do without him. Hecate didn’t have a definite answer for how long they would be absent. He wasn’t sure about how the time thing worked, but at the least they would absent for was one year past time, four months present time, and the most was three years past time, one year present time. 

The prospect of it all terrified him. He wouldn’t see any familiar faces besides the four people beside him for possibly three years. 

Hecate raised her hands and thick books appeared along with five fat sacks of what Will assumed to be coins. “This is what you need to know about the wizarding world. Each book contains an entire copy of the history of the school you’re going to called  Hogwarts A History”  along with the basics of each subject you’re taking.” 

Annabeth hummed, running a hand over the spine of one of the books Will hadn’t noticed she picked up. “Is there anything else we need to know?”

“Yes, you will all be in the same year. Hogwarts has been told that you go to a school where age doesn’t matter but how long you have been at the school does. You will be put in the fifth year, as they believe you to have been training for 5 years.”

Will glanced around mentally tallying ages and time at camp. Percy had been training for four years and he was nearing five. He’d been here for three, Nico also for three, although he hadn’t spent most of it at camp, Piper hadn’t even had a full year yet and Annabeth had the most with ten years. 

“Your powers have been covered too, with it being a special brand of wandless magic. I would still suggest refraining from using them too much.” The goddess continued. Will was getting suspicious at this point. This was more information than what they got for quests. Or at least Will assumed they got for quests. He’d never actually been on one. 

“Albus Dumbledore is the only one who knows that you aren’t transfer students seeking more education. He will try and get you to serve him, I do recommend being careful as he often makes sure that those who follow him don’t question him in the slightest. I do believe that is all that you need to know that the books will not tell you” Hecate said with an air of finality. 

The five demigods nodded in acknowledgment and Hecate opened her mouth to speak again “You will be sent back at exactly 12 o’clock. Sharp. Do not be late” Then she vanished in a burst of flame and smoke that smelled of incense that Will and the others were barely able to shield their eyes from before she reverted to her godly form. 

“Well,” Chiron said, “I think it’s best for you to start packing and to say goodbyes before you leave,” Annabeth ignored him and grabbed the book and the sacks of (most likely) coins that clanked loudly. 

“No. We’re going to have a meeting with the five of us to figure this out.” Annabeth said firmly, leaving no room for argument.

Percy glanced at her, “Where should we do this?”

“Your cabin, no one really goes there except you and me because no one else lives there, plus it’s mostly separated from the other cabins, it ensures privacy.” Will was slightly surprised that she openly insinuated that they both lived in Percy’s cabin. Of course, a lot of people  assumed  that they stayed together, both were plagued by nightmares from their time in the pit and other assorted traumatic situations, gods know that Nico does (Nico sometimes came to him in the middle of the night looking for comfort and thinking about it made him want to cry) but it was still against camp rules and she said it in front of  Chiron.  To Will's surprise, Chiron didn’t say anything but sent them on their way. 

—---------------------------------------

When they reached cabin three they all sat down in the sitting room that the entryway led into. What Will assumed was the sleeping quarters were hidden behind a curtain that was patterned to look like a beach. There was a kitchenette in the corner of the room and a sitting area that surrounded a glass coffee table. The entire room was in soft greens and blues with some black and gold thrown in. 

There was an altar for Poseidon in another corner of the room that had a mix of things that Will didn’t understand and did understand. A rock with carved sea animals, a trident, pine tree needles along with pinecones, what looked like wild celery, and small figurines of a bull, a dolphin, and a horse accompanied a small statue of Poseidon infront of an offering tray.

Will took this all in while they settled in the surprisingly comfortable chairs around the coffee table and Percy came over shortly after with blue chocolate chip cookies.

“How did you bake these in like 5 seconds?” Nico asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I didn’t, Annabeth got me from baking for a quick spar,” Percy said shrugging and settling down next to his girlfriend munching on a cookie.

“They’re good,'' Piper murmured. Will jumped slightly, he hadn’t even noticed that she was there. She had stayed quiet during most of the conversation with the goddess.

“Alright, Annabeth said, handing out one of the thick books to everybody, “They’re in ancient Greek so they should be easier to read but we’re going to skim them together to get the gist of it, talk about anything we need to and then we pack, got it?”

Will ran his fingers over the leather detailing and gold letters on the front of the cover that read  The Wizarding World, A Comprehensive Guide for Demigods,  before nodding with the rest of the group. 

“Awesome. Let’s get started”

Chapter Text

“It says here that our general ‘divine magic’ should transfer into ‘wizard magic’” Annabeth said, “Did we all catch that?” The other four nodded in acknowledgment and they went quiet once more, slowly making their way through the thick books that were conveniently in ancient Greek.

Piper found all of this very interesting and she could barely pull herself out of the book when someone spoke. She let herself fall into the information and drown in it. Analyzing and picking it apart.

Piper supposed that it was her ADHD and she was hyper fixating on this new world that she was learning about. 

“We’re going to need to visit Diagon Alley,” Percy said, slicing through the comfortable silence. Will hummed.

“Let’s just hope that Hecate drops us somewhere near that area,” He murmured.

“We should probably stick together while we do the shopping, and have the person who understands their money the best to handle paying for it” Annabeth commented, frowning. 

“I volunteer as tribute” Nico said, raising his hand without looking up from his book. Percy started snickering in the background and she realized that he’d probably gotten Nico to finally watch Hunger Games. She wasn’t sure when, it’d only been two weeks since the war. “I’m good with money. I guess it’s kinda a Hades thing because of the riches” Annabeth nodded, got up and went through the curtain leading into the sleeping quarters.

She came back out holding a medium sized bag that she started dumping coins into. After emptying all of the little sacks that hecate had left she closed the bag and left it slumped against the sofa. 

“We get to the school by train,” 

Piper looked up for the first time since the meeting started. “It’s interesting isn’t it? You’d think after so long that mortals would use newer options compared to the coal powered ones. Although with what we’ve learned so far it might as well be magic that it runs on”

“10 dracmas that she’s in Ravenclaw” Nico said.

“If we took you up on that bet we’d be 10 dracmas poorer,” Will snorted. Nico rolled his eyes but laughed slightly.

She was getting antsy. They probably should take a break. She needed to find her boyfriend. She glanced around trying to gauge focus levels.

Percy had been braiding Annabeth’s hair in different styles the entire time while she read to him in Greek so fast that she couldn’t understand most of it. He seemed to. Nico and Will were sitting next to each other discussing the text quietly. Nico was cracking his fingers constantly and Willill kept changing positions so they were starting to lose focus.

“How about we take a break from the meeting for a bit?” She asked. Glancing at Annabeth for approval. She seemed to fill the role of ‘leader’ almost everywhere. Annabeth nodded. 

“Let’s take a half hour break to get energy out and then we meet up again to finish this meeting and then we pack?” The group sounded their agreement and dispersed. 

Piper left to find Jason. He should still be here and he was supposed to be leaving for Camp Jupiter tomorrow. 

She found him in the Zeus cabin staring blankly at the very creepy giant statue of the King of the Gods. She tapped on his head lightly with her finger.

“Hey Jay, any one home in there?” Somewhere inside her she felt panic surge up. What if he had lost his memories again and she had to build another relationship with him? She pressed it down, trying to ignore it.

Jason blinked and then turned to look at her before grinning ‘Hey Pipes! What are you doing here?” 

“The gods are sending me on a quest” Piper saw Jason’s face fall.

“Where? When are we leaving, What do we need to do?” Jason asked in quick succession, standing up. Piper pushed him back down.

“Not we Jay. Me” 

Jason looked at her surprised. “But you're supposed to take 3 people on the quest with you?” 

“There are five of us. Hecate is sending us on a quest. We’re” Piper’s voice broke. “We’re not supposed to tell anyone, I- I just had to tell you”

Jason nodded slowly. “How long will you be gone?”

“The estimate is 4 months to a year.” 

Jason’s mouth fell open in shock and they just stayed like that, frozen. 

“Promise we can Iris Message?”

“We can’t Jay,” Piper’s voice sounded broken. Even to her. “I’m being sent into the past.”

Silence reigned in the room for what felt like hours to Piper.

“How long is it going to be for you?” 

Piper swallowed. “A year to three years”

She heard a small plop! . She realized that she was crying. Her tears were dripping off her chin onto the marble floor. He seemed frozen in his spot on the bed. Eyes blown wide. The only sound was the small irregular sound of her tears hitting the floor. 

Jason got up slowly and hugged her gently as if he was afraid she was going to shatter. Piper wrapped her arms around him, pulling him closer crying silently into his shoulder.

Piper felt something wet on her shoulder and she realized that he was crying too. 

“Promise me that you’ll come back” Jason said, voice breaking the silence of the room that had only been filled by the sounds of their tears.

“I promise.” Piper meant it. She was going to come back to him. 

—-------------------------------------------

After half an hour Pipe wiped her tears and started back to Cabin Three. She hoped no one would notice her red eyes but she doubted anyone would point them out if they did notice. 

The rest of the meeting was relatively quiet. Occasionally bringing up the contents of the book. ‘These are the class subjects’, ‘We’re staying with a group called the Order of the Phoenix before the school term starts’ etcetera, etcetera.

They’d decided on meeting Rachel tomorrow morning at 9 AM to get a prophecy. 

Piper was very ready to start packing

Chapter Text

They met outside of Rachel’s cave at 9 AM sharp as was decided yesterday. Percy was rubbing at his eyes, Annabeth was staring at the cave with barely hidden nervousness, and Piper was rocking back and forth on her feet. Nico stumbled after Will, having been dragged out of bed by the son of Apollo.

When they caught up with the group they just stared at each other before Annabeth started making her way inside, pushing the heavy purple curtain out of the way.

They found Rachel in a kitchenette that she’d insisted upon having, baking something that Nico guessed was muffins with earbuds in. She was nodding her head along to music that they could hear. She saw them come in and took her earbuds out, raising an eyebrow and wiping her hands on her apron. 

“I think I can safely assume that you did not come for muffins or a nice chat”

Annabeth shook her head and Nico saw Rachel’s expression falter slightly. Nico suddenly felt guilty for not visiting her before. He’d never had a reason to.

“A prophecy then?” Rachel asked.

“Yeah,” Annabeth said grimly. He realized that he’d never seen someone ask the Oracle for a prophecy. Nico didn’t even know how to even start the question. Thankfully he didn’t have to.

“How will this quest go?” Percy asked, tiredly running a hand through his hair that made it look windswept. Rachel doubled over as if someone had punched her in the gut and when she rose her eyes were glowing green and green smoke was pouring out of her parted mouth.

The smoke started taking shape, solidifying into a misty snake that floated around Rachel, surrounding her and wrapping around her. 

The dark lord’s return, the people do resist.

  It was not just Rachel that spoke but the snake as well that somehow had a thousand faces.

Heroes from abroad, called to assist

Her voice was distorted, sounding far too old and young at the same time.

From the jaws of the deathless beast the chosen is given relief

The voices surrounded him like an angry swarm of bees making everything in Nico recoil while he forced himself to stay still. Will stumbled back slightly before Nico grabbed his wrist, steadying him.

Inviting wrath of the creatures reborn beneath 

The green smoke snake continued moving around Rachel, almost protectively.

Allies collide, animosity must be dropped 

Nico saw Piper shiver out of the corner of his eye. Annabeth looked focused, probably examining the words of the prophecy. Percy was staring at Rachel with his eyebrows furrowed. Nico realized with  a jolt that he hadn’t let go of Will’s wrist and quickly withdrew his hand.

When at the end, the lifeless eyes are swapped

The green smoke starting to fade and move back into Rachel’s mouth. Her eyes started to dim and slip shut and she fell into Percy’s waiting arms. As Will went to help Percy lay her on a nearby couch to wait for her to wake up Nico thought about the prophecy. The last line definitely implied that someone who would have died would live and someone else would die, But who? Who was the dark lord? Who was the chosen? There were so many questions running through Nico’s brain at the same time.

Annabeth was muttering the prophecy under her breath quietly, pacing back and forth. Will was gently shaking Rachel awake while Percy stood over both of them. Piper had sat down on a nearby chair and was running her hands over her beadwork earrings. 

After Rachel had awoken and they made sure that she was okay, she gave them all a muffin from an almost burnt batch that was in the oven when they came. The five of them awkwardly shuffled out of the cave after Rachel had put her earbuds back in and continued on baking.

“What do we do now?” Will asked, staring at Annabeth. Nico knew what he ment. They had gotten their prophecy, packed last night and read the books that Hecate had given them. What were they supposed to do till noon?

“We say our goodbyes,” Annabeth shrugged.

The group dispersed in different directions after promising to meet at the Big House 5 minutes before noon. Nico wasn’t entirely sure where to go. He had already IMed Hazel last night and told her about what was happening. That he wasn’t sure when he was coming back. The only person that he’d really gotten close to was Jason and he’d talked to him after the meeting they’d had. 

He decided on Iris-messaging Reyna to say goodbye. They’d gotten close after transporting the Athena Parthenos across the Atlantic. Nico would say that they had a familial bond in the same way he did with Hazel. 

—---------------------------------

When it was nearly noon he started making his way over to Big House, lugging a trunk behind him. The trunk had appeared in his cabin yesterday and he assumed it was from Hecate. 

Grabbing onto his trunk he shadow traveled to the Big House, effectively beating the struggle of dragging it behind him over the uneven terrain. Percy and Annabeth were already there sitting on top of their own trunks. He checked his watch. 11:53. The others should be here soon.

Right on cue Piper and Will came into view, lugging trunks behind them. They reached the small group of three and Piper dropped dramatically to lay on her trunk. 

“The plan is to go to this Diagon Alley, stick together to get our supplies, starting with wands as they are the easiest to carry and end with books and any animals. After we finish shopping we meet Dumbledore in our room in the Leaky Cauldron.” Annabeth said, “Sounds good?” Everyone nodded in agreement. 

She checked her watch, “We’ve got two minutes before we’re sent back. Does everybody have everything with them?” Murmurs of assent spread through the group of five. “Nico, do you have the money?”

Nico held up the bag of quietly clinking coins “Yeah”

One minute.

They all took a last glance at camp for what could be three years. Nico swallowed down his nervousness and squashed it like a bug.

Soon he found time shifting around them. People moving backwards, the weather changing, grass dying and growing anew. He’d say they got through one year at camp before everything blurred around them. He felt the ground fall from underneath them. Suddenly he found himself falling into Tartarus again. A one way trip. No mortal had ever- he cut off his own train of thought trying to push Tartarus from his mind.

It grew freezing cold, then burning hot and back again. Colors were whizzing around him and he squeezed his eyes shut to stop his head from hurting. 

When he felt solid ground under his feet he stumbled backwards and slammed into a brick wall. Dazed, he blinked rapidly, trying to make the world stop spinning. Was this how it felt for other people to shadow travel?

When his gaze focused he glazed around. They were in a relatively busy street in what he was pretty sure was London. People's eyes skimmed right over them as if they weren’t even there. He quickly took a head count. Five including him and Nico breathed a silent sigh of relief. They all made it.

Piper and Will seemed to have recovered even if they were slightly dizzy. Percy and Annabeth were both gasping for air. Annabeth’s hand was tightly gripped in Percy’s and their breathing slowly began to go back to normal levels as the world came into view and the feeling of falling was lost. 

He glanced up at the building they were in front of. The Leaky Cauldron. At least they were in the right place. 

“Are you guys okay?” He heard Piper ask.

“Yeah, yeah we’re good.” Percy responded and he tuned the rest of their conversation out. People’s eyes slid over the building just like they had for them. Wizards must have something like the Mist. 

“Let’s head inside” Annabeth said and he started to pay more attention to the conversation. Nico nodded and followed the rest of the group inside. 

The Inn was dirty with a hairless man that had a hunched back manning the bar. Annaebth walked right up to him.

“Tom, correct?” Annabeth asked, voice seeping with honey. 

“That’s correct ma’am” Tom said in a dry voice grinning toothily. 

“We reserved a room? Under the name Chase?” Nico wasn’t even sure how she reserved a room but Tom nodded and gestured for them to follow him. 

They dragged their heavy trunks behind them before coming to a stop in a small room.

It was obviously some type of meeting room and had a small sitting area next to an old fireplace. Tom left and Annabeth gestured from them to drop their trunks in the room. After leaving their stuff (except the money and their weapons) they left the room and made their way to a small outcropping that was walled in by bricks.

Annabeth  stared at a specific wall for a minute before tapping the bricks in a specific pattern, as directed in the book. The wall tore itself apart. Bricks separating away like they hated each other, moving and shaping into an archway that could fit all of them. 

“Wow,” Will said under his breath.

They stepped forward through the archway and it closed behind them, sealing them in Diagon Alley.

“So we head to the wand place first?” Percy suggested, breaking the silence. Or the silence of their group, there many wizards moving through Diagon Alley, making the street look like it could be in the heart of London. They all nodded

Annabeth led the way through the street, weaving between groups of wizards ranging from young to old. They finally reached the wand shop, a place called Olivander’s. The building looked old and he could hear Annabeth mumbling about the architecture of the entirety of Diagon Alley and how it probably shouldn’t be standing. 

They walked into the shop, the bell of the door chiming sweetly. An old man with white hair sticking out on all ends like Einstein came bustling around a corner. 

The man bowed quickly before introducing himself “I am Olivander, I own this shop and we have been proudly selling wands since 382 BC. Which one of you shall I be selling a wand to first?”

Nico and his friends blinked in surprise before Will hesitantly raised his hand.

“Excellent!” Olivander exclaimed examining Will. Olivander hummed and hurried to the backroom of his shop. 

He came out carrying a box, extracting a wand from it and handing it to Will. Nico examined the wand, it was relatively long but rugged looking and looked like it had a spiraling form of the sun as detailing on it.

“Go on!” Olivander urged, “Give it a wave!” Will waved the wand in front of him and suddenly a warm breeze ran through the room smelling like peppermint, and the breeze warmed everything inside him. Will had a lopsided grin on his face.

“Rowan wood, manticore hair core. A wonderful healer then” Ollivander murmured. Nico assumed that this world must have manticores then. He hoped they weren’t as homicidal as their manticore’s

Olivander pointed at Piper, “You next dear” Piper tried two wands and the second was the one that was decided. 

“Bloodwood wood and Veela hair core. You will be very powerful in Divination and Charms young lady” Her want was a bright red with something like a cornucopia creeping up the side.

Annabeth went next. Olivander examined her longer than both Will and Piper before he left to grab a wand. He got hers first try. “Owl feather core, olive tree wood, not normally used for wand making. Very intelligent then” The wand was a light brown with dark brown  streaks through it. The base of the wand was modeled after a doric column of ancient Greek times. Nico wondered how the fuck Olivander was getting these things things so right. A sun, a cornucopia and a greek column. He really was hitting the nail on the head.

Olivander turned to him, looked at him for 5 seconds before hurrying off to find a wand. He came back carrying a pitch black want with a faint outline of skeleton heads. It felt right. Olivander looked at him curiously. “Elm wood, thestral hair core. Curious, just curious.” Nico wanted to ask what was curious before he moved onto Percy.

Percy took the longest out of all of them. He tried 8 different wants before Olivander brought out the right one. By then he’d destroyed multiple objects in the room and was wringing his hands nervously. When he finally waved the right one the hair smelled like the sea and Nico could swear he could hear the ocean. “Ash wood, mermaid scale core, excellent for creative and elusive wand bearers.”

After they’d all received their wands Nico paid and they quickly left the store, glad to be out of Olivander’s stuffy shop.

Chapter Text

Hermione was seriously starting to wonder if she should just ignore Professor Dumbledore and send Harry a letter anyway. Ron didn’t seem all that worried about the decision, just complaining about not being able to talk to Harry about quidditch. Everytime she tried to talk to him about it he would brush her off, call her a worrywart and say that Dumbledore knew best.

She had her letter written already, but as she didn’t own an owl and was quite sure that Grimmauld Place didn’t have access to the muggle post she was left with an unsent letter until someone else decided to send Harry a letter.

Hermione was ecstatic when Mrs. Weasly told them that Dumbledore would be coming before in the afternoon, quite possibly carrying news about Harry. She eagerly awaited the coming afternoon and thought that the day couldn’t pass soon enough.

At around four in the afternoon Fred and George apparated into the Library, making her jump and successfully making her spill an inkpot on one of her parchments, to let her know that Dumbledore was here. Despite her annoyance Hermione felt hope rise in her chest trying to convince herself that Harry would be coming soon. Hermione rolled her eyes before acknowledging that information by promptly standing up and starting towards the door, ignoring her homework.

“Harry’s not here,” Fred said, stopping her from running out the door. He wasn’t smiling as much as he was before

“Old Dumbles said he wasn’t coming till the end of the summer and don’t bother asking him today, we already did,” George said, sounding a little sad. Hermione squashed her irritation at the blatant disrespect for a professor’s name but nodded and walked back to her seat to pack her books away.

After the twins had left she collapsed back into her squashy chair to let herself feel sad for a moment.

Hermione missed Harry severely. Ron was never that good of a friend to her and she was sure the only reason they got along was to please Harry. Ron teased her for liking books and seemed to think that he could sit back and let her do all the work.

Harry was entirely much better but she was convinced that most of that behavior was because of Ron’s laziness. When Harry was interested in something that Ron also liked he flourished. The obvious example being, quidditch, and defense against the dark arts.

Hermione was friends with Ginny, but Hermione was never really sure what to talk about with her unless Ginny started the conversation. In other words, Hermione was very lonely. It was like first year, when she came to Hogwarts bright eyed with the vision of her being popular for her talent with magic and surrounded by friends, only for it to be shattered within the first few weeks.

Her first ever friend was Harry, he was incredibly important to her and Hermione wasn’t sure that he even knew it.

Pushing herself out of her head, she got up and finished putting away her things. Squashing the self pity until it was about the size of a ball, and she locked it away deep inside of her with all of the other banished thoughts.

She descended the stairs into the sitting room where everyone was waiting. She blushed and muttered a sorry before sitting herself down on the end of a couch with Ginny.

Dumbledore smiled in a grandfatherly manner at her before announcing, “We will be having guests,”

All noise disappeared as Order members and children glanced around at each other to see who knew. Hermione noted that almost everyone was here, cramped into a rather spacious living room. Professor Snape, Professor Mcgonagall, and other members who were barely around Headquarters, other than for meetings.

“Who are they and why are they staying here?” Sirius asked, breaking the silence. Hermione glanced at him, trying to hide her shock. Wasn’t it his house they were staying in? Shouldn’t he know?

“They are people from America that have held important positions in their home country for quite awhile. They will be full fledged members of the Order and are an extra layer of protection for the students at Hogwarts” Dumbledore continued, simultaneously ignoring Sirius and answering his question.

Mrs. Weasly looked up sharply, “How old are they? You sound like you’re implying they are attending Hogwarts instead of simply being explained away as extra guards”

Dumbledore nodded sagely, “The eldest is 17 and the youngest is 15” There was general outrage at their ages. Hermione was angry too as the youngest was as old as she was!

“But we’re the same age!” Ron broke in, obviously frustrated. There was more yelling before Dumbledore held up his hands and everyone quieted down.

“I understand that you all are annoyed” understatement, “But you must understand, these people might win this war for us” There were murmurs of disagreement among their ranks but everyone seemed to trust Dumbledore enough to accept his answer.

“I will be meeting them in Diagon Alley in about an hour, so prepare yourselves. Molly, may I request that there be one room with 5 beds ready by the time our guests arrive?” Mrs. Wesley looked like she was going to protest before nodding reluctantly.

Hermione was just about to ask why they would be sharing a room before deciding the better of it.

“Now it is impertinent to know that these magicals use a very specific brand of wandless magic that is tailored to them.” Dumbledore started, making eye contact with each of them. Hermione just about gasped at this information mind already buzzing with questions. When she started to see sparks coming to life in her hair because of her excitement she tried to calm down and stop bouncing on her toes. Failing miraculously, she focused on Dumbledore again. “The 5 of them have different types of magic, and I will be explaining them very briefly to you,” He cleared his throat before continuing.

“These 5 types of magic are water, intelligence, death, healing, and love. Water is seemingly obvious but has many depths that I dare not get into. Intelligence is as it seems, using magic to enhance the intelligence and resourcefulness one has. Death gets slightly more complicated” Everyone in the room seemed uncomfortable about the mention of death magic.

“This user has control over skeletons and souls. He can call upon them and have them serve his wishes.”

“That’s dark magic!” Ron bellowed, going red in the face. Professor Dumbledore gave him a disappointed look before continuing. “The fourth, healing. The user has the inherent ability to heal using different methods. The last is love. Now you must listen to this entire explanation before you start to form your opinions. The user can tell if relationships are platonic or romantic and has a small amount of control in them. This person also has an ability that allows them to essentially control a person.” Hermione was staring open mouthed at Dumbledore. Could someone actually do that? It sounded like a wandless Imperious to her.

Glancing around the room she found that everyone else's reactions were similar. Shock, disgust, and anger.

“How can someone even do that?” Hestia Jones demanded looking simultaneously confused and angry.

“I admit I do not know but I will try my best to figure it out. My best guess is that it has to do with attraction.”

The room was quiet for a while longer before Dumbledore broke the silence to speak again.

“I must be going to meet with our guests. Please keep an open mind’ And with that Dumbledore left leaving Hermione and the Order a lot to think about as they went about the rest of their day, anxious for the arrival of Dumbledore and the guests.