Chapter Text
“Καταραμένος,” Annabeth swore quietly as she entered the Big House to find her mother, Chiron, and Hecate waiting.
Chiron cleared his throat, “Annabeth, you’ve been summoned here to–”
“What’s the quest about?” The blonde interrupted, getting straight to business. She didn’t quite find the idea of listening to empty apologies and dancing around the topic to be appealing.
“Yes, well, perhaps it would be better for Lady Hecate to explain.”
Annabeth turned her slightly annoyed gaze to the goddess and raised her brows. Things had been too quiet lately, so she might’ve guessed that the gods would need her for something sooner rather than later.
Hecate stood up, “Long ago, I created the first of a race of humans who possessed certain… magical qualities. That is to say, witches and wizards.”
She paused, studying Annabeth’s face for… well, Annabeth could only guess shock. She had long trained herself to appear impassive even when she was anything but, so were Hecate anyone but a goddess, she wouldn’t have found anything.
“A couple decades back, a young man by the name of Harry Potter defeated an evil that threatened the harmony of the wizarding and non-wizarding worlds. However, that timeline is threatened, there is an evil at work that has gone back to eliminate him before he has the chance. In short, I need you to go back as well in order to protect the boy and help weed out the threats.”
Annabeth sighed, “And why can’t anyone else do this?”
That’s when her mother spoke up, “Because, there are few we can trust more. You have the correct strengths needed to pull this off. You will, of course, be given a binder with what you need to know before you enter such a world, as well as the ability to wield magic, among other… tweaks.”
Athena’s grey eyes pierced into Annabeth’s own, and the girl couldn’t help but realize that she had no choice. So, she asked her questions. “How long will this take, approximately?”
Chiron shuffled his hooves, but Hecate did not hesitate in answering. “It will be over the course of about five years, from which you will appear at a younger age and spend a full school year at a magical boarding school in Scotland. For each month you spend there, only a day will go by here.”
She couldn’t help it, she balked. “Five years? So what, I’m just supposed to live five years of my life living in a completely new world away from all my friends and family? What about Percy?”
Athena’s face went sour at the mention of Poseidon’s son. “Rest assured that there are certain… acceptions to all of this. You will be able to communicate with the sea spawn as often as you please so long as it is within reason. You will not physically age past how you appear to your peers, and by the time this is all over, you will be able to continue on as you have been.”
Annabeth didn’t say anything to that. She couldn’t. This was all so much to take in. So, instead, she asked her last question. “When do I leave?”
Hecate gave a small, almost disgustingly pleased smile. “Right now.”
Before any protests could be made, Annabeth felt herself growing dizzy and the goddess of magic folded her arms. “You’ll arrive by a pub known as The Leaky Cauldron in London with everything you need on August seventh, nineteen-ninety-three. Ask for the room prepared for the Ilvermorny exchange student, it is already prepared and paid for. Do not fail us, young demigod.”
With that, Annabeth’s dizziness slowly washed away and she found herself standing with a trunk by her side in the very place she was told. With a silent sigh and a mental curse to the gods, she grasped the handle of the luggage and dragged it inside the building.
To say the girl was very intrigued when she saw her surroundings would be an understatement, but no one would have been able to tell if they’d tried. She swallowed and, with more confidence than she actually felt, stomped up to the front counter and stared the man directly in the eyes.
“I have a room pre-booked here, I’m the Ilvermorny exchange student.”
The man seemed mildly surprised but smiled pleasantly and handed her a key, “Miss Chase, we’ve been expecting you. Room number twelve, why, you’ll be staying right next to Harry Potter! How lucky for you, nice lad, he is.”
Annabeth perked up slightly at the name. “Harry Potter, is he a big deal around here?”
Apparently, that had been the right (or wrong) thing to ask, because the man behind the bar gaped at her and began to prattle on about the wizard who defeated He Who Must Not Be Named as a baby and how famous he was. Annabeth hung onto every word– not because she was impressed, but because this was highly useful information. So, when the man was done talking and slightly red in the face from a lack of oxygen, she nodded and thanked him before going up the stairs where she assumed her room would be.