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Chapter Text

Percy's POV: September 1, 1997

I really hate being a half-blood.

One minute I was in class, and the next, I was on a train, wearing weird robes. I noticed Annabeth sitting to my right and instantly felt relieved. Well, at least whichever god/goddess kidnapped me this time didn't separate us. It could be worse. Then I saw that the rest of the seven were here, as well as Thalia, Reyna, Nico, and Will, and two people I've never met. Wait , is that Annabeth's cousin Magnus? I remembered him from the pictures she showed me. We were going to visit him next week, to help prepare him for a boat quest (I've heard that story before). Sitting next to Magnus was a kid with green hair. Who is that? I only had a split second to process all of this before I heard a scream come from the group of demigods to my right.

"LEO!!!"

Jason and Piper sat on each side of their friend, and across from them sat Frank, Hazel, and Reyna. All five of them looked shocked. Oh yeah, they didn't know that he's alive. I thought. Because of the communication problems, we hadn't been able to tell them. Piper and Jason hugged Leo at the same time, then they both let go and punched him.

"Ow!" He said. "Why does everyone do that?"

Piper was crying a bit. "Because, you idiot, we thought you died!"

"I did, but I got better! Leo's back now!"

Jason's eyes looked a little misty too. "Leo if you ever die again I'm going to kill you. How did you survive?"

As Leo bravely recounted how he had Festus give him the physician's cure and how he rescued Calypso, (while getting more punches and hugs) I kind of zoned out. I'd heard it before anyway.

Suddenly, Nico yelped. "YOU'RE DEAD. WHY."

He was looking at Magnus and Green-Hair, who sat next to him, across from me, Wise Girl, and Pinecone Face. Green-Hair looked him directly in the eyes and said "Braaaaaaiiiinnnnzzzzzzz" Nico scrambled backward, trying to protect Will.

"Where's my sword?!"

Green-Hair started to laugh. "I'm just kidding. I'm Alex Fierro, and my pronouns are he and him today. Nice to meet you!" He stuck out his hand for a handshake, but Nico still side-eyed him. "And yes, I'm dead. So is my dude Maggie over here." Everyone stared at them for a second, but Annabeth jumped up and hugged her cousin. 

"Magnus! I'm so happy to see you!" In response to almost everyone else's confused faces, she explained "Oh, guys, this is my cousin Magnus. Magnus, these are my friends-"

"Woah woah woah," Nico interrupted, "Back to the dead thing. Why aren't you in the underworld?" Alex and Magnus started to explain the whole 'Hey, the Norse gods are real too and we died heroically in battle and now we get semi-immortality so we can fight in Ragnarok' thing. I zoned out again. Annabeth already told me this stuff. The einherji were in the middle of explaining all this when a goddess appeared by the door. Somehow, we had forgotten that we had been kidnapped.

"L-Lady Hecate?" Hazel exclaimed. She looked absolutely baffled. I wouldn't blame her.

"Yes, Hazel Levesque. Good to see you again-" She was interrupted by my friends.

Annabeth, Thalia, and Reyna: "Where are we?"

Hazel and Nico: "I’ll do you one better: When are we?"

Magnus and Alex: "I’ll do YOU one better: WHY ARE WE?”

"All good questions. As for where you are on a train called the Hogwarts Express. As for when, the date is September 1, 1997."

"WHAT?!" We all exclaimed. Hecate shushed us.

"As for why, I, Hecate, require the service of this group of demigods."

I groaned. Hecate glanced over at me

"In return for your brave service, Mr. Jackson, I will write one of your college recommendation letters. For everyone else... well, let's say you're going to need my help in the future."

Now that got my interest. "What do you want us to do?" 

Hecate smiled grimly."Let me explain. Please don't interrupt because we don't have much time."

Hecate launched into this monologue about magic. I tried not to zone out, since there were college recommendation letters on the line.

"So, around the third or fourth century, a few of my children realized they could channel their magic through wands. They started calling themselves witches and wizards. In the tenth century, four of my children, Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Salazar Slytherin, and Rowena Ravenclaw founded the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

"That's a weird name-" Leo began, but Hecate shut him up with her magic. "No interruptions, demigod!"

"Anyway, there is a Dark Wizard, by the name of Voldemort, who has raised an army of Death Eaters-"

Leo butted in again. "Death eaters? Like Nico?"

"Stop interrupting me!"

"Sorry."

Nico glared at Leo and raised his hand. "Well, can you tell us where our weapons are, because I'm assuming you didn't just take mine-"

"I'm getting to that!" Hecate looked kind of pissed. "Anyway, Voldemort started the first Wizarding War, and received a prophecy." We all grimaced at each other. We've all had our fair share of prophecies. "He interpreted this prophecy to mean he had to kill a baby boy named Harry Potter. He killed Harry's parents, and when he tried to end the boy, the spell rebounded, killing Voldemort instead. Harry survived and has been trying to take down Voldemort since. We have traveled to the middle of the Second Wizarding War, about nine months before the battle that set in motion the extinction of wizards in this country. Your job is to go undercover at Hogwarts School, where the headmaster has been recently killed. Voldemort has seized control at Hogwarts. You will be transfer students from the Olympus School of Magic in New York."

This time Wise Girl raised her hand. "Lady Hecate, how will we go undercover if we can't use magic?"

Hecate rolled her eyes. "I'm getting to that too. Just listen. Voldemort and his followers aim to gain control over the non-magical people, or no-majs as they are called in America. Wizards have married and had children with no-majs in the past because they would have died out otherwise. Voldemort sees these people as dirty. There are the purebloods, who are 100% wizards. The purebloods have the highest concentration of my blood in their veins, but that does not make them any more powerful. You all will be going undercover as half-bloods." 

"We're already half-bloods," I said. I think Hecate hates me now. 

"Different kind of half-blood!" She took a deep breath. "I can't kill them, I need them." She reminded herself under her breath. 

"Okay, so a half-blood is not a pure wizard. Somewhere in their bloodline, whether a parent, grandparent, or other ancestor, there is a no-maj. Half-bloods are accepted but sometimes looked down upon by the purebloods. Nonetheless, it will be easier to pretend to be a half-blood than a pureblood. The other form of blood status is muggle-born, and Voldemort, using his newfound control of the Ministry of Magic, has made it illegal for muggle-borns to attend Hogwarts, so I can't have you pretend to be one. Muggle-borns are witches and wizards who are born into families of no-majs. Voldemort has led an investigation on them to try and prove that muggle-borns have stolen their magic from "real wizards". Little do they know..."

Hazel raised her hand. "What don't they know?"

Hecate smirked. "I'm glad you asked Hazel." Why is it okay when Hazel asks? "The real reason witches and wizards have magic is because I judge their potential when they are born, and I bless them with magic. I saw this potential in your mother, Hazel, and I saw it in you."

Hazel looked stunned. "You mean, my mother was an actual witch? And I'm one too?"

"Yes. And I don't see this potential in all children of wizards. That's why they have Squibs, which are nonmagic people born into wizard families. Most of the wizard children have enough potential for me to bless them, but every once in a while I get one that doesn’t. Unfortunately, I am unable to remove the magical gift from anyone after they receive this blessing, otherwise, I would have dealt with this myself. A permanent magical blessing only works on newborns, but I can give short-term abilities to anyone I choose. When I brought you all here, you were given a short-term blessing that will hopefully last through the end of this quest. Now, I will give you your wands. The thing is, the wand chooses the wizard, so I can’t give you random wands. Since the person I would normally ask to help find your wands is… unavailable…, my solution is to give you wands made from the weapons that chose you . "

"WHAT?!" 

"Don't fret demigods, you will be able to change them to their original forms at will, but you CAN NOT do it in front of the wizards. They can't know about demigods or gods or anything from our world. If Voldemort knew of the immortals, there would be incredibly dangerous consequences. Understand?"

We nodded. I was still unhappy about this. What about my mom? And school? I figured Hecate might actually kill me if I interrupted her again, so I kept my mouth shut.

"Alright, here are your wands, and they will be made from the wood that I think would suit you best. First is Alex Fierro." Hecate walked over to him. "This wand is made from ebony wood, and the core that powers it is the hair of Sif that makes up your lovely garrote." What the Hades is a garrote?

Alex took the wand and pointed it at Magnus. "Bippity Boppity Boo!" Magnus's hair turned green like Alex's.

Magnus yelped. "What did you do?!"

Hecate went to hand him his wand, but it flew out of her hand.

"Hey, señor!" The talking wand sounded mad. "Why the Frigg have I been turned into a pencil?! Also, the green hair does not work."

Magnus looked horrified. "Alex!" Magnus grabbed his flying talking wand and said "Bippity Boppity Undo!" His hair turned back to normal... somehow.

Hecate continued talking. "I'll leave you to sort that out. It's an English oak wand, by the way. Also, those were not real spells. I suggest you learn some from those new schoolbooks I got you." I groaned.

"Next is Nico di Angelo. This is a holly wand with a stygian iron core. As for you, Will, you are a healer more than a fighter and you don't have a weapon, so this alder wand has a special core. The core is one of your father's hairs. He says hello and good luck and to stay safe." She walked away from him, and the look on his face was a mix of confusion, shock, worry, and happiness. "Now, Thalia Grace-"

"I don't use that last name." Thalia interrupted.

"Right. Anyway, this is an aspen wand, and the core is made from your shield, Aegis. Now Annabeth Chase. This is a hornbeam wand with a drakon bone core. Your invisibility cap is in your trunk. Percy Jackson, Riptide is the core of your cedar wood wand."

I took my wand. It felt similar to the way Riptide felt in my hand. Magnus's wand floated over.

" WOAH, that wand is a TOTAL BABE. Can you introduce me to her?" I waved him off as Hecate moved on to the next person. "Piper McLean, your wand is black walnut, and Katoptris is the core. Leo Valdez, yours is dogwood, and the core is made from your magic tool belt." 

Leo sort of deflated. "Man, not my tool belt." 

"Well you have no other weapons, and you can have it back whenever you want. Jason Grace, you have a cypress wand with an imperial gold core. Frank Zhang, yours is made of larch wood, and the core is made from your bow. Hazel, dear, you have rowan wood with an imperial gold core. Reyna Ramirez-Arellano, you have a cherry wand with an imperial gold core. Oh, and Frank, your piece of wood is in Hazel's chest."

"One last thing. Hogwarts allows pets. Hazel, here's your new pet polecat, Gale." She snapped her fingers and that weasel thing dropped into Hazel's lap. I could smell it from here.

"This is all I have for you. Stay safe, protect my fallen legacy. Good luck, half-bloods."And with that, Hecate disappeared into the Mist. We were alone, trapped in the past, and had incredibly vague instructions on what we had to do to get home.

Schist.

Chapter Text

A/N: “This is the hat talking.” , and this is Leo’s thoughts 

Leo's POV:

After Hecate left, Gale the weasel/polecat farted and scurried under Hazel's seat and into a little basket. I remembered the little guy from when it hitched a ride on the Argo II. I was not its biggest fan. Other than that, the rest of the train ride was pretty okay. An old lady came by and asked if we wanted snacks, and apparently, Hecate gave us an allowance. We bought these weird snacks that ended up being pretty good.

We all talked and shared stories. Thalia had the best stories about Jason when he was little. Speaking of Jason, he and Piper told me that they broke up. I didn't know how to feel about that. They said something about self-discovery and important realizations, but they didn't elaborate. In return, I told them about me and Calypso ending it as well. 

"She's been waiting for a guy for 4,000 years. She told me she wants to find out who she is without that. As for me, well, let's just say I had some important realizations too." I didn't elaborate either. This past month has been weird for me, and I don't know if I'm ready to talk about it yet.

Suddenly, the train started shaking. We were stopping. The windows showed a dark night sky. I could hear noise coming from up the train. I was guessing we were at the very end, which would explain how big our compartment was. 

"Guys, the train stopped. Let's go." It seemed I was the only one who had noticed. I looked around. Nico had fallen asleep on Will's shoulder, Percy, Alex, and Thalia were doing an eating contest with those weird jelly beans, and the two Chases were talking, probably about how dumb their jelly bean-eating friends were. Only Piper and the Romans heard my announcement, and they started getting their stuff together. I could hear the students in the other compartments getting off. "HEY!" Everyone stared at me. "We have to get off. Come on guys."

We all grabbed the trunks that Hecate got us and filed out of the compartment. A few girls gave us weird looks. What's their deal? All da ladies luv Leo! ...or do they?... Stupid brain. Let's just get this quest over with.

As we got off the train, we heard a booming voice. "Firs' years over 'ere! Firs' years- hey!"

We realized the voice came from a man who was at least like, nine feet tall, and he was talking to us. "Yeh're the new transfer students, aren't yeh?" We all nodded. Who is this guy? "Yeh're with me. This way. The name's Hagrid, by ther way." Hagrid led us and a bunch of terrified eleven-year-olds down a trail, and to the edge of a lake. I could hear everyone gasp. There was this crazy cool castle on the other side of the lake, on top of a hill. The lights shone in every window, reflecting off the lake's surface. It looked like someone scooped up the stars and chucked them into the water. I could hear Annabeth behind me, murmuring to Percy about the architecture. Classic Annabeth. Hagrid told us and all the little kids to hop into the little rowboats at the edge of the lake. I got into one with Jason, Piper, and Reyna. It started by itself. I couldn’t feel any mechanism on the boat’s interior, which made me kind of uneasy. About ten feet away, Percy sat with Annabeth, Frank, and Hazel. Percy looked alarmed. He was whispering to Annabeth. It looked like he was saying how is it moving? I'm not doing this! Annabeth patted his shoulder.

After a few minutes, we made it across the lake. Hagrid led us up another path to the big front doors of the castle. I could still hear Annabeth fangirling over the architecture. We went inside, and Hagrid led us past more big doors. I could hear lots of voices, all talking at the same time. This must be where the rest of the students are. We stopped outside these doors, and I could faintly hear a muffled voice coming from inside. After a few minutes, all the first-years were led into the big room. Then, about fifteen minutes later, I heard a voice say something about transfer students. That's us. The doors opened and we walked in. There were four long tables and a stage at the end of the room. There was a table on the stage, where a bunch of somber-looking adults sat. A woman, her hair tight in a bun, stood next to a stool. On the stool was a tattered old hat. Weird. Our little group of demigods walked to the front. The woman pulled out a scroll and read off the first name.

"Chase, Annabeth."

Annabeth squeezed Percy's hand and stepped onto the stage. The woman lifted up the hat, and Annabeth sat on the stool. The hat was placed on Annabth's head. 

"Hmm..." 

Holy Hephaestus, it talks?! 

"Yes, hmm.... A great deal of bravery and courage. Prideful, very prideful. Ah, but such a brain! Intelligence beyond compare, yes, I think you would do best in... RAVENCLAW!" Annabeth's tie turned blue, and she walked over to the table with the other blue-tied people. I wonder which one I'm in. I hope I don't get put in one without any of my friends- 

"Chase, Magnus." Magnus went up, and the hat didn't even say anything before putting him in " HUFFLEPUFF!" Magnus's tie turned yellow and he walked over to his new table, sitting next to a girl with a long braid down her back.

"di Angelo, Nico." Nico walked up, and the hat was put on his head. 

"Interesting. Prideful, you hold grudges. Brave, and sometimes reckless. A tortured soul, yes." Nico looked mad that the hat was just spilling all his info. "What's this? Hmm, you care deeply, though you hide it. You belong in... "HUFFLEPUFF!" Nico mumbled something under his breath, looking angry, and went to sit across from Magnus. 

"Fierro, Alex." He walked up to the stool, and the hat barely touched his head before it declared, "SLYTHERIN!" He went to sit at the table with all the green-tied people and sat next to a kid who looked kind of like Octavian. Ew.

"Grace, Jason" 

"Hmm, yes of course. GRYFFINDOR!" Jason went to the red-tie table and sat next to a redheaded girl. 

"Grace, Thalia." Thalia rolled her eyes at the use of her last name. 

"Hmmm, very ambitious, yes, you will do well in... SLYTHERIN!" Thalia sat down next to Alex and gave him a high five. 

"Jackson, Perseus." 

"It's just Percy, please." The woman nodded and placed the hat on his head. 

"A fierce, dedicated loyalty. To save a friend you would sacrifice the world. You are a HUFFLEPUFF!" Percy looked sadly at Annabeth, then walked over to sit next to Nico. 

"Levesque, Hazel." Hazel let the hat be placed on her head and looked nervous as it started talking. 

"Oh, yes. Quite brave, and powerful too. You are certainly a GRYFFINDOR!" Hazel got up and walked over to the Gryffindor table, where she sat across from Jason.

"McLean, Piper." Pipes walked up, and as the hat was placed on her head it declared "SLYTHERIN!" I really hope I'm in Gryffindor or Slytherin. 

"Ramirez-Arellano, Reyna." The terrifying Reyna herself walked up to the platform and let the woman place the hat on her head. 

"Hm, yes, a natural-born leader, proud, too. You would be great in SLYTHERIN!" Reyna got up and walked to her new table, sitting next to Pipes. 

"Solace, William." Will got up and sat on the stool. 

"Kind, with a healer's nature. Surely, you are a HUFFLEPUFF!" Will smiled and went to sit next to his boyfriend.

"Valdez, Leo."

Here we go. I walked up to the platform and sat down. The woman places a hat on my head. 

"Strange..." 

"Who're you calling strange, talking hat?" 

"You. You are brave and reckless, but not much of a fighter. A good brain in your head, though. I think you must be a RAVENCLAW!" Oh, dam. I got up and handed the hat back. My fingers tapped against my leg as I walked over to sit next to Annabeth. That girl still scares me.

Finally, only one of my friends was left to be sorted. "Zhang, Frank." The big guy looked nervous as the hat was placed on his head, but not two seconds passed before it called out "GRYFFINDOR!" Frank looked relieved as he walked over and sat next to Hazel.

That was weird. Suddenly, food appeared on our plates. It was like a whole Thanksgiving feast, including dessert.

I looked at Annabeth.

"I've got a feeling we're not at camp anymore."

Chapter Text

Frank's POV

My eyes flew open.

Where am I?!

Oh, right. A magic school. Hooray. 

It was dark in the room. I was the only one awake. Stupid nightmares. I heard noise from the bed on my left, the one belonging to that Neville kid. He was talking in his sleep. 

"B-Bellatrix Lestrange..." Who's that?  "Leave... leave them alone... no... please... stop... NO!" 

Something launched me into the air, and I landed on Jason's bed. 

"Hey! What the-" He yelled in surprise as he got a harsh awakening. The light turned on. I could see Neville, face beaded with sweat, pointing his wand at us. I had landed on top of Jason and woken him up. Neville got up and ran over. 

"Oh gosh, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to!" He helped me up, and Jason sat up in his bed. 

"It's all right, Neville-"

"OI! WHO TURNED ON THE LIGHT?!" The angry kid, Seamus, I think, was shouting at us from his bed on the other end of the room. 

"Sorry, Seamus!" Neville flicked his wand, and the lights turned off. 

Jason grabbed Neville's arm before he could walk away. "It's okay, really."

"Yeah, we get nightmares too," I added. I couldn't see Neville's face well in the dark, but I could tell he was embarrassed. "Uh, do you want to talk about it?" He shook his head, which made sense. It was probably personal, and we just met, so why would he tell me? "Um. I'm gonna go back to sleep. I hope you have better dreams."

Magnus's POV:

Even after waking up, Loki's stupid scarred face still lingered in the front of my mind.

Stupid Loki. Why does he get to taunt me years before we even meet? What a jerk.

I get dressed and walk down to breakfast with my new roommates. Oh joy. Percy, Nico, and Will are great, but there are also these two Hufflepuff guys I don't really know. One of them, Ernie Macsomething, is kind of full of himself, but he seems alright. The other guy sucks. Zacharias Smith is rude and mean. I don't even know why he's in this house. Aren't Hufflepuffs supposed to be nice or something? 

As we walk into the great hall, I see Alex, who I'm pretty sure is female today. I tell my friends I'll meet them at the table, and I walk over to Alex.

"Hey, Alex."

"Maggie." 

How many times do I have to tell people not to call me that? That's even worse than Beantown!

"Uh, how did you sleep?" Why did I ask that? I'm so stupid.

"Nightmares, the usual. Oh, and I'm female today. She/her pronouns." Haha, I knew it. "You should probably sit down, they're passing out the schedules."

"Oh, okay. Um, bye."

Alex waved, and I went to sit next to Percy. A woman, whom I recognized as our Head of House, Professor Sprout, hands me a sheet of paper with my schedule on it. First, we have something called 'DADA'.

What the Frigg? Dads are kind of a sensitive subject with my friends and me at the table.

I look at Percy, Nico, and Will. They look as confused as I am. Will taps Ernie on the shoulder. "Ernie, what's 'DADA'?"

Ernie looked pleased to be able to use his superior knowledge. "That stands for Defense Against the Dark Arts." He lowered his voice. "Though I wouldn't be surprised if it was now just 'The Dark Arts', seeing as they hired a Death Eater to fill the role." 

"What?!"

I remembered what that Hecate lady told us, that Voldemort had taken over the school. I guess she was really serious about that, but I didn't realize that they started hiring the crazy cult followers to teach kids!

Ernie continued. "Amycus and Alecto Carrow, they're twins. Amycus teaches Defense, and Alecto teaches Muggle Studies." 

"Muggle Studies?" Percy asked. "Yes, the study of Muggles." "What are muggles?" Nico glared at Percy. "We call them no-maj's in America, Percy." He mouthed the word ‘mortals’.

Percy understood. "Oh, yeah, those guys."

After breakfast, we headed over to the Defense classroom. The Slytherins were there when we walked inside. Ernie leaned over to me and whispered, "The Slytherin house is where most dark wizards are sorted. Watch out for them." I promptly ignored him and walked over to Alex. 

"He,y Maggie." She was talking to the other demigods in her house, Piper, Thalia, and Reyna. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ernie facepalm.

"Hey. Do you guys know what-" Just then, that Carrow dude walked in. 

"Alright, scum, here's what's gonna happen. You guys have been taught the wrong way. You can't defend yourself against the Dark Arts. So, the Dark Lord has requested I teach you how to use it." The class all began whispering. The Dark Lord... does he mean Voldemort?

"So, today we will be learning about the Unforgivable Curses. Does anyone know what those are?" 

To everyone's surprise, Reyna raised her hand.

"Yeah, you. What's your name?"

"Reyna Ramirez-Arellano."

"Well, Miss Ramirez-whatever, what are the Unforgivable Curses?"

Reyna narrowed her eyes at him. "The Imperius Curse, the Cruciatus Curse, and the Killing Curse." 

"Right. And what do they do?" He started calling on other people. 

"How did you know that?" I whispered to Reyna. "I just read the books Hecate gave us." She replied.

Oh. Whoops. Forgot about those.

"Now, who would like to demonstrate the Cruciatus curse?"

"Why would we demonstrate a spell like that? Isn't it illegal?" Alex asked.

Carrow smiled coldly. It reminded me of Loki's cruel smirk. "Well, Mister-"

"Miss. Until I tell you otherwise, it's Miss. And my name is Alex Fierro." 

Carrow snarled at her. "Mister Goyle, would you like to demonstrate to Mister Fierro how the Cruciatus curse is performed, and how we treat deviants in this school?"

Alex was fuming. She was about to say something when a big Slytherin guy pointed his wand at her and said, "Crucio!" Alex shouted and fell to the ground, shaking. 

"STOP!" I took out Jack the Magic Wand and pointed him at the Slytherin guy. There was a BANG, and the guy was knocked backwards. I didn’t even process how I just did that. Instead, I ran over to Alex. "Are you okay?" She was about to respond when I felt someone spin me around. It was Carrow. He was livid. 

"What do you think you're doing, mudblood?" What does that mean? Is that like an insult for Muggle-Borns? But I’m not a Muggle-Born, though.

"I'm helping my friend who your idiot student was torturing!" 

Carrow slapped me across the face. "NEVER interrupt my teaching, or you'll regret it. Detention for both of you." He said that to me and Alex. Just then, Carrow looked at his watch. "Well, time flies when you're torturing mudbloods. Now GET OUT! CLASS IS OVER!"

I glared at him one last time before helping Alex up. "You alright?" 

She grunted. "I'll be fine. He needs to respect the gender, though." 

I laughed, but it wasn't really funny. This quest is going to be worse than we thought. I put her arm around my shoulder so she could walk. We walked out of the class, and I whispered, "Do you want me to Frey-heal you?" Alex shook her head. She never wants me to heal her. 

"I can't wait to see that guy's idea of detention," She joked, but her face showed that something else was up. I didn't want to push her, though, so I didn't say anything.

Turns out magic school is kind of a nightmare.

Chapter Text

Hazel's POV

It's been a week since we arrived at Hogwarts. 

I've been really worried. Hecate didn't give us time to ask questions, but I have so many. 

The other night I dreamt that New Rome was attacked and destroyed because Reyna, Frank, and I weren't there to protect it. I really hope it was just a dream.

"Hazel, we're going down to breakfast, want to come?" My new dormmates, Lavender and Parvati asked me. Since it was Sunday, there were no lessons and we could go down to breakfast at whatever time.

"No thank you, I'll meet you there though." My dormmates walked out the door. They were nice trying to include me since I'm a 'transfer student' and all, but I had something important to do. 

"Gale?" My "pet polecat" scurried out from her basket under my bed. "Gale, I need to speak with Lady Hecate. Gale farted and scurried back under the bed. So much for that plan. I thought, but then suddenly, a rainbow mist appeared in front of me. What the- 

I realized it was one of those Iris-Messages that the Greek demigods used. Hecate appeared in the mist.

"Hazel, there you are. Is something wrong?" She looked slightly bored.

"No, Lady Hecate, I just had some questions about our quest. How does the whole time travel thing work?"

Hecate looked slightly more interested. "Oh, yes, I didn't even think to mention. So, none of you will age, since we are not in your timeline, the people who already don't age will remain to do so. Also no, you cannot cause any paradoxes unless you interact with your past self, which none of you will do because we are on an entirely different continent. Is that all?"

What’s a paradox? Nevermind. "One thing, Lady Hecate. Is time passing on our timeline? Will our camps be okay?"

Hecate laughed like I had said something silly. "No, Hazel, of course time isn't passing in your timeline. After all, it hasn't happened yet!"

That little tidbit was confusing enough in it’s own right, and I tried to wrap my head around it. It was painfully obvious but horribly complicated.

Suddenly, someone walked through the door. A redheaded girl who looked to be around 16 or 17. "Sorry, wrong dorm- what is that?" Hecate closed the Iris-Message by waving her hand through it and the rainbow mist dissipated.

Schist. "Um, what's what?" Hazel asked.

"That rainbow thing, I've never seen it before."

Think, Hazel! Say something believable! "Oh, it's uh, a form of American magic used for communication. I was just talking to... my old headmaster! She wanted to know how me and my friends are adjusting here." Oh, I hope she believes that. 

The redheaded girl stared at her for a moment, then smiled a little. "Cool. My name's Ginny, and you're Hazel, right? One of the Americans."

"Uh, yeah. Nice to meet you."

"Want to walk down to breakfast with me? I just need to get my jumper from my room."

"Sure!" I said. I followed Ginny out of my room. That went well. I thought with relief. I’m glad she believed me.

We walked to breakfast together, talking and smiling. 

I think I'm going to do all right here.

Nico's POV

I hate it here.

It reminds me of camp, and not in a good way. I keep getting strange looks from people, which bothers me, though I should be used to it by now.

I can't believe that stupid hat put me in the Flufflepuff house or whatever it's called. I don't belong there! Everyone is so nice, (except that Smith kid, he sucks) and they love plants and friendship. Does that hat know who I am? I'm Nico di Angelo! I'm the Ghost King, I control the shadows! My father is the Lord of the Dead! But nooo, I "care about my friends", so I'm stuck in the daisies and sunshine house. I feel outcasted. Again. The only thing that makes it better is Will. At least he's there. I would hate to be stuck in a dorm with Percy for months without Will. 

Also, those Carrow assholes are getting on my nerves. 

No wonder one of them is named Alecto. She reminds me quite a bit of the old Fury. They're both cruel and like inflicting punishment. Which is why Will and I are currently on our way to detention after dinner on a Saturday. Apparently, criticizing teachers' teaching methods behind their backs is "disrespectful" and "rude". I was just saying to Will how the Carrows teach like they're the actual furies, but I didn't see them right behind me. Even though they didn't understand what I said, they still put both of us in detention. Assholes.

"Hey, Nico, are you ok?" Will looked at me with his concerned doctor face.

"I'm fine Will, I'm just thinking about how much I would love slice those Carrows into monster dust with my sword."

"You do know they aren't actual monsters right?"

"Sure act like it." I mumbled. 

We finally found the room we were looking for. Even the stupid stairs at this school are against me. They moved four times while we were trying to get to detention.

Will opened the door. Inside was an unused classroom, filled with pieces of furniture that were shaking violently. Weird. The other detention students were Magnus and Alex, as well as two Gryffindor students. I recognized one of them as the ginger Hazel had been talking to at breakfast this morning.

"Alright, troublemakers. The Carrows have put me in charge of detention today." An old man stepped out of the shadows, tailed by a cat. Creepy. "You will be removing boggarts from these furniture items I have collected from around the school. I will return in two hours. No shenanigans." And with that the creepy guy and his cat stalked out, the cat side-eyeing us as it slipped out the door.

Alex spoke first. "Who's the crusty grandpa?"

The ginger girl snickered. "That's Filch, the caretaker, and his cat Mrs. Norris. He hates kids, and has to clean the castle by hand because he's a Squib." A Squib. I can see why Hecate didn't bless him with magic. "I'm Ginny, by the way. You guys are the transfer students, right? Hazel's friends?" 

I nodded. "I'm her half-brother. Nico." The others introduced themselves. The Gryffindor boy introduced himself as Neville Longbottom. 

"So, what’is a boggart and how do we kill them?" I asked.

Neville looked confused. "You guys don't get boggarts in America?"

OH NO I BLEW IT ABORT ABORT WHAT DO WE DO-

"I've, heard of them, but I'm not sure what they are. We don't see a lot of them in New York." Will said.

Thank the gods for my boyfriend. 

Ginny explained them to us. "Okay, well here's the deal. Boggarts are these nasty little blokes who shapeshit into the worst fear of the person nearest to them. No one knows what they really look like. You use a spell called riddikulus to turn them into something funny. They disappear if you laugh at them. It's got to be a real laugh though, so you have to make something actually funny."

Well this sounds like it's going to be loads of fun. I rolled my eyes.

"So, do we just open all of them at once or...?" Magnus asked.

"Let's just split into pairs and we can each take one." Neville answered. "I dunno what would happen if we let them all out at once." 

"Yeah, let's not do that." I said. 

The others all split up into pairs. Will grabbed my hand. "Wanna be my buddy?" I rolled my eyes at him. "Well, seeing as I have no other choice..." Will pulled me over to the neared cabinet. It was locked. He poked the lock with his wand. Surprisingly, it unlocked. 

"Huh. That actually worked." He muttered, surprised.

Then, something toppled out of the cabinet. It was Lester Papadopolous, AKA Will's dad, Apollo. His eyes were closed, as if he were unconscious. Or dead. He was wrapped in white stuff, tied to a post. Suddenly, it caught on fire. I looked at Will. He looked terrified. 

I have to help. What was the spell? 

As I looked back at the burning form of Apollo, he morphed into Will's half brother Austin, then to his half-sister, Kayla. Finally, I watched as the boggart thing transformed... into me. Tied to a pole and on fire. I looked back at Will, desperate for a way to help. A single tear rolled down his cheek. He lifted his wand with a shaking hand and said "R-riddikulus." Nothing happened. 

"It's ok, Will, you can do it." I put a hand on his shoulder.

He took a deep breath, eyes never leaving my boggart doppelgänger, and tried again.

"Riddikulus!"

The boggart started distorting, shifting and spinning like a cyclone until it took the form of a golden robot-looking thing. It stared at us for a second and then started dancing.

Will burst out laughing, and the thing poofed into wisps of black smoke.

“William,” I said slowly. “What was that?”

He smiled sheepishly. “C-3PO doing the Macarena.”

“You’re so stupid.” 

“Says the guy who dramatically asked me out in front of the entire camp.”

I scoffed and looked around the room. Neville and Ginny were about to open their second cabinet, and Magnus and Alex hadn't even opened their first. I turned around. "Whatever. Let's just get this over with."

I pulled out my wand and walked over to the next cabinet. My wand felt cold and fit perfectly in my hand, just like my stygian iron sword. I poked the lock and it fell off. I saw Will behind me in my peripheral vision. When turned my attention back to the cabinet, I saw her.

Nyx.

My insides turned to ice. 

I shut my eyes. No, no, no this can't be happening, I can't be back there. When I opened my eyes, Nyx was still there, but Will's dead body lay at her feet. No, please. I looked away for a second, how did this happen? I was hyperventilating now, my eyes filled with tears. I heard her voice, a sound I had tried to forget after all these months. "Hello, Nico di Angelo. I knew you'd return." My legs gave out, and I crumpled to the floor. No, this isn't real, this isn't real, it's all in my head. 

Nyx spoke again. "Of course this is real. You knew you would have to come back here eventually. And it was only your foolishness that got your little friend killed.

 Dead Will sat up and turned to me. "It's your fault." He said. Tears were falling from my eyes, I couldn't stop them. It felt like the whole world was collapsing around me. 

Out of nowhere, Will, the real Will jumped in front of me. "RIDDIKULUS!" Nyx transformed into my father, wearing a cowboy hat. Fake Will had one too. Hades helped Fake Will to his feet, and they began to square dance. My father and Will Solace, the two people I would never think to be square dancing together in cowboy hats (Will totally would, but the Lord of the Underworld? Not a chance). It was so absurd I couldn't help but let out a laugh. The boggart exploded.

Will rushed over to me. "Oh gods, Nico, are you alright? I'm so sorry." He hugged me, and I hugged him back. We sat there for a minute, just holding each other. My breathing slowed down. I wasn't crying anymore. Will had that way about him; his presence was just so calming. 

Ginny and Neville walked over. "That was intense. Are you two okay?" I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand. 

"I'm alright. Those boggarts are a pain in the ass, though." 

Ginny smiled. 

"Riddikulus!" We all turned to look at Magnus. His boggart changed from a wolf with glowing blue eyes to a cute little puppy on a skateboard. Magnus laughed, and the boggart turned to smoke. He caught us staring. "What? Skateboarding dogs are adorable."

Will looked at me with a cheesy ass smile. “You  know what else is adorable?”

“Finish that sentence and you die,” I grumbled.

We got to work dealing with the rest of the boggarts, changing up the pairs every once in a while. I saw Ginny's turn into a boy with black hair, green eyes, and glasses being hit with a green light and falling to the floor, dead. Neville's turned into a woman with wild black hair and crazy eyes. Neville muttered something like "leave my friends and family alone" and banished the boggart. I didn't see Alex's, though. My back was turned, and she banished it so quickly that all I saw was the boggart turning to smoke.

Filch came back after two hours to see that we had successfully gotten rid of the boggarts. He didn't thank us or anything; he just told us to get to bed. What a jerk. 

We all walked together until we got to the Great Hall. Magnus wanted to talk to Alex, so they set off for the Dungeons while the Gryffindors headed up to their tower. That left me and Will. Since it was late and no one was around, I took Will's hand as we walked to the common room. When we got to our dorm, he kissed me. Warmth flooded through me. 

"Goodnight, sunshine."

"Night, Will."

Chapter Text

Ginny's POV: October 13th, 1997

Shit shit shit SHIT! Gotta find Neville!

I was running through the halls, dragging Luna behind me. 

This is bad...

"Ginny, I see him, slow down!"

We plowed into Neville, and the three of us fell through a tapestry on the wall into one of the school's many secret hideaways. I heard a yelp.

"Sorry, Nev, but there's something I have to tell you both."

I stood up. We were in a dark room full of shadows. No matter. This would be best discussed in the dark anyway, so that we don't attract attention.

I heard Luna help Neville to his feet. "What's so important, Ginny?"

I took a deep breath.

"It's the transfer students. They're Death Eaters." 

I heard a sharp intake of breath. I couldn't tell if it was from Luna or Neville.

Neville spoke up. "How do you know?"

"Oh, please, they're terrible at hiding it. They say weird things all the time, and are super strange, for one."

"People say I'm weird and strange too, and no one's going around accusing me of being a Death Eater," Luna pointed out."

"Well, you don't have a tattoo on your arm. I've seen like five of them with a forearm tattoo that I'm pretty sure is the dark mark. They're terrible at hiding it."

Neville sounded worried. "Who has the tattoo?"

"Well, this might be hard to believe, but Jason, Hazel, and Frank are some of them."

"No. How? What?"

I started counting off on my fingers: "Jason, Hazel, Frank, that Percy kid, Reyna, and I think Alex has a neck tattoo, but I don’t know if she has more tattoos. And Nico definitely gives Death Eater vibes. I heard him joking about murdering someone with that Reyna girl."

They were stunned into silence, so I continued. "I'm not entirely sure about the others, but since they act as if they have been friends for years, I'm going to assume they're all Death Eaters. Plus, I've never even heard of 'Olympus School of Magic'. Vol- ugh, You-Know-Who has planted very poorly concealed spies at Hogwarts. The Carrows probably gave them fake detentions so they could spy on us. Everyone knows we’re Harry’s friends. Also, who doesn’t know what a boggart is? ‘Don’t see them much in New York,’ my arse, those things are everywhere."

Luna finally broke the silence. "What are we going to do?"

I cracked my knuckles for dramatic effect. "We, the last members of Dumbledore's Army, are going to get to the bottom of this. Come on, we need to go think of a plan to get information out of them." I led my friends out of the hideaway.

Nico's POV: October 13th, 1997

Shit shit shit SHIT!

I watched Ginny and Neville leave with the other girl. I liked to walk around the castle, and I had found this secret area on one of my walks. I was minding my business when the three of them tumbled in. I may have screamed a little. 

This is bad. We've only been here for a little over a month, how the FUCK did we get caught already?! Oh, gods. I need to find Reyna.

I slipped away into the shadows.

I appeared in the air, two feet above a table. I landed with a crash. I was in the library, on top of an old wooden table covered with books. Reyna was to my left, looking alarmed. Frank was right in front of me, so shocked that he had turned into a small bulldog. Hazel was to my right, looking like she'd seen a ghost. Close, but not quite. …Yet.

Suddenly, the librarian hustled in and yelled at us for making a racket. Thank the gods she didn't see Frank since he hid under the table. Once she left, I turned to my friends. 

"Frank, bud, pull yourself together. We have something to discuss."

Frank turned back into a person. They all stared at me in confusion.

"They're onto us."

"What?! How?" Hazel and Reyna said in unison. Frank still looked a little shaken.

I glared at them. "They saw your tattoos and thought they were the same as the ones the Carrows have."

Frank spoke up, "That doesn't necessarily mean they're onto us-"

"Well, we are going to have to explain the tattoos if we don't want them thinking we're those Death Eater idiots."

"We can make something up?" Hazel suggested.

Reyna shook her head. "They wouldn't believe us, and they have good reason. Who do they suspect, Nico?"

"Everyone, by association. Ginny has seen the tattoos of everyone who has one; she also noticed a tattoo on Alex's neck. She also suspects me because of my sense of humor..."

"and because you're emo-" 

"Shut up, Reyna."

Hazel looked worried. "What's the plan?"

"We wait it out," Frank said. "Let's see if they initiate the conversation. We don't want to make any unnecessary confessions."

We all nodded in agreement. But there was something still bothering me...

"One last thing. They mentioned a 'Dumbledore's Army'. Wasn't Dumbledore the previous headmaster or something? Why does he have an army?"

"I'm going to stay here and find out. You all need to tell the others what is happening." Reyna said in her praetor voice. She only uses it when you know shit's about to go down.

Hazel went to look for Jason and Leo.

Frank took Percy and Annabeth.

I went to look for everyone else since I can shadow travel.

This is going to blow up in our faces, isn't it...

Chapter Text

Jason's POV: October 13th, 1997
We've been at Hogwarts for over a month, and I've managed to stay out of detention. I read the books Hecate gave us, didn't say anything stupid (unlike some people), and I followed the rules. I figured this would make the quest easier.

It did not. The Carrows still treated me horribly.

I mulled this over while walking to breakfast. Is it because my friends are making trouble? I'm one of the only demigods who hasn't gotten detention yet. Or maybe the Carrows just hate everyone.

Walking into the great hall, my eyes made their way to Leo at the Ravenclaw table. I walked over and sat down next to him.

"Morning, Leo." He just stared at me. He wore a blue scarf around his neck, and he looked more elflike than ever. He seemed to process the fact that I was standing there because he snapped out of his stupor and said, "Oh, hey Sparky."

I ignored the nickname. Being friends with Leo, you're forced to deal with it. "So, what's with the scarf?"

Leo glared at me and deadpanned, "Because Scotland is fucking freezing, Jason."

I grinned. "It's October, Leo, it's not that cold!"

He continued to glare. "You know I hate cold weather. I can't even warm myself up because of Hecate's dumb rules. Speaking of rules, who are you and what have you done with my best friend? Jason Grace would never break a rule and sit where he's not supposed to."

I chuckled. "I dunno, Leo. Maybe you're rubbing off on me."

"As if. Go sit where you belong. Leave me and my cereal alone." He joked. I didn't want to leave my best friend, but I got up and walked to my table. I could see Alecto Carrow side-eyeing me from across the hall. Whatever.

I took a seat at my table. "Morning, everyone."

Frank, Hazel, Ginny, and Neville all mumbled their good mornings, but no one was paying attention. They were all absorbed in reading.

"Jason, I should probably tell you," Hazel spoke, breaking the silence. "The schedule's been changed. We have double Charms with Ravenclaw next."

"Thanks, Hazel. Do we still have Muggle Studies with them afterward?"

"Yep."

Weird. In the month we've been here, there haven't been any schedule changes. Whatever happened, at least it means I get to spend time with Leo anyway.

***

I walked into the Charms room and sat to Annabeth, Frank, and Hazel's left. Professor Flitwick began taking attendance. I read the board to see what we were doing. Someone hurriedly sat to my right as I got my books from my bag.

Someone in a blue scarf.

I felt a little funny. Leo's hair was messed up like he'd run all the way to class (which he probably had). "Hey, Superman, what's up?"

"Mister Valdez, tardy, I see. Well, take out your books, quickly now, we have a lot to cover today." Professor Flitwick instructed.

Throughout the class, I found myself staring a bit closer at Leo. He seemed off today. He seemed... subdued. He wasn't fidgeting nearly as much as normal or whispering jokes to me during the lesson. It reminded me of when he first got back from Calypso’s island, but this seemed like a different kind of heartbreak. He looked like he was trying to hide a lot of pain.

I tore off a piece of the parchment I was taking notes on and wrote out a note to Leo.

Meet me after class.

I slid the note across the desk when Flitwick's back was turned. Leo picked it up, read it, and scribbled something on the back with his quill before passing it back to me.

Sure, Sparky :)

He doesn't think writing a smiley face will cover up the fact that he looks miserable, right? I thought. I stuffed the note into my bag as Professor Flitwick turned around to ask me a question.

***

I waved goodbye to Frank, Hazel, and Annabeth and led Leo to an empty classroom.

"Whoa, Jason, if you want to make out with me, just tell me." Leo joked, but it was halfhearted. That didn't stop my face from heating up, though. Why is he like this?

"Leo, you know that's not what we're here for. Is something up? You seem off-"

"Nah, I'm just regular old Leo-"

"Leo. I'm your best friend, please don't lie to me."

Leo sighed. "It's no big deal, man, really-"

"Leo, please. I can tell something's bothering you. I just want to know if I can help."

Leo avoided eye contact with me. "Well, today is the anniversary... of my mom dying. In that stupid warehouse fire."

Oh. That… explains a lot. "Leo, that fire was Gaea's fault."

"Yeah, tell that to the mortal police and my tía." He looked a little alarmed. "Oops, didn't mean to say that out loud. Sorry."

"Leo, don't apologize. It's okay to speak your mind and tell people what you're really feeling." Leo stared at me. Crap. "Oh, gods, I sound SO corny right now..." I put my face in my hands. That was embarrassing. Why am I embarrassed, though? It's just Leo, he's your best friend.

"Yeah, Jason, super corny. But come on, I'm Leo Valdez, the King of Corny! I'm only gonna judge you a little bit..."

"Thanks..." I grumbled. "Wait, stop trying to change the subject!"

Leo looked at me like I had accused him of something awful. "Me? I would never-" He saw my glare. "Fine. This is the..." He started counting on his fingers. "This is weird. Since we time-traveled, it's the negative 6th anniversary?"

I chuckled. "Well, I guess that's true."

Leo looked down at his celestial bronze watch. When did he get that? It looks nice... JASON, FOCUS-

Leo interrupted my train of thought. "Ah, Styx! Class started like five minutes ago, and we both have Muggle Studies with Carrow. She's gonna put us in detention-"

"Fuck it."

Leo looked at me in shock. "What? Jason, did you just say the fuck word? Scandalous! And skipping class? My, my ex-praetor, you have really-"

"Oh, shut up. Sorry. But the Carrows don't matter. What matters is you. Is there anything I can do to help you feel better?"

Leo looked at me like I had eight hydra heads, and his face was turning red. "Uh, um, well... damn, Jason, since when are you so rebellious?"

I just smiled at him.

"Well, I guess, if you wanted to help... maybe you could give me a distraction?"

"I have just the thing, as long as we don't get caught. Come on!"

I grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the classroom, running through the halls.

***

I dragged Leo down the hall past the secret entrance to the Hufflepuff common room that my bro Percy told me about. Leo kept coughing.

"Jason, I'm going to have an asthma attack. Is killing me your idea of a distraction?"

"Almost there, you'll be fine."

I stopped us in front of the painting Percy told me about.

"Wow, a painting of fruit."

"We have to tickle it-"

"HUH?! Is this a prank or something, man? I ain't tickling fake fruit!"

I sighed. Ladies and gentlemen, my best friend. "Which one was it? The pear?"

I tickled the pear, and the painting swung open.

Leo looked surprised. "Whaaaat!"

I led him inside. There were weird elf guys running around cleaning. They bowed when they saw us. Do I introduce myself?

"Uh, hi. I'm Jason Grace, and this is-"

"I'm Leo McShizzle Valdez!"

"Yeah. Anyway, are we allowed to cook in here? Or will the Carrows punish us?"

An elf stepped forward, wearing a crocheted sweater with neon orange pumpkins. "Dobby will not tell those evil, wicked Carrows. They are worse than Dobby's old masters, sir!"

His face scrunched up, and he looked as if he wanted to bash himself in the face with a frying pan until he took a deep breath. "Yes, Jason Grace and Leo McShizzle may use this kitchen. We will begin cleaning the common rooms! Come, friends!" There was a loud crack, and all of the elves disappeared.

Leo was silent for all of two seconds. "That was wack. Anyway, Jason, what kind of distraction were you planning? Are you gonna kiss me senseless?"

My face heated up again. "You wish, Valdez." He smirked and stuck his tongue out at me. "Uh, it's probably dumb, but I wanted to bake brownies."

"Brownies? Wait, you can bake?" Leo's eyebrows were practically in his hair; he looked so surprised.

"I learned how to bake brownies at the cafe in New Rome. It's the only thing I know how to bake, though."

Leo studied me closely. "Uh-huh... Wait, didn't you say those brownies are like, amazing, and they're your favorite food or something?"

"Yeah?"

"Let's do it! I gotta try me some of these brownies! I bet they're better than the ones from those fish-pony dudes!"

“Whoa, Leo. That’s a bit too far.” I joked.

“My apologies, your Grace,” Leo bowed deeply. “I did not mean to diss the fish-pony brownies.”

I loved spending time with Leo; it was so easy like this. We could just… be.

We got to work prepping the brownies. Leo used his fire powers to heat up the oven while I measured the ingredients and mixed the batter. Usually Leo was the chef of the friend group but this was the one dish I knew how to make, so I wanted to show off a bit. Once the brownies were in the oven, I got to do my favorite part. Lick the spoon. It may be childish, but I didn't get much of a childhood.

I licked the batter off the spoon, but it tasted different. Did we mess something up? Leo grabbed the spoon from me. "Lemme taste!"

My eyes were growing heavy. Shit, what was in the batter? A tranquilizer?

He licked the spoon and made a face. "This tastes weird- Jason? Ah, Styx, are you gonna pass out again?"

My knees started to buckle. Yes, I thought. I’m totally about to pass out again. Shit, that’s embarrassing.

Leo looked as if he was about to fall asleep, too. "Jason, dude, what is happening?"

I didn't answer, I was too busy collapsing.

The last thing I saw before I blacked out was Ginny running towards us, wand drawn.

Why does this always happen to me?

Chapter Text

Neville's POV: October 13th, 1997

I've never kidnapped anyone before. I hope I can pull this off. At least I have Luna with me. When Ginny told me she'd already caught two of the transfer students who are probably Death Eaters, I had to admit I was a little cautious. We can't go around kidnapping other students, right? But those students may be Death Eaters, and as a member of the DA, I can't let more Death Eaters roam free in the halls of Hogwarts.

Ginny has already caught Jason, and also that Leo guy from Ravenclaw. He kind of reminds me of Fred and George Weasley if they were merged into one very hyper person. Ginny wants us to capture just one more of them so we can do a 'proper interrogation', in her words. The only question was who we should kidnap. I settled on Percy Jackson from Hufflepuff.

Percy seems like there's a lot more to him than meets the eye, but I think we can take him by surprise. Ginny stole some Sleeping Draught from Slughorn's storage room and told us to knock the person out and bring them to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, where she was hiding Leo and Jason.

Luna and I were hiding around a corner, waiting for Percy to come out of the boys' bathroom. We had seen him go in a few minutes earlier, and we were ready.

"Luna, you have the draught?"

"Yes. Do you want me to do the Disillusionment Charm now?"

"Sure."

We had managed to learn it a few weeks ago, for a prank we wanted to do on the Carrows. The catch was that it only worked for a few minutes, because neither of us could do it very well yet. It was nowhere near as good as Harry's old invisibility cloak, which he pretended no one knew about, but it will get the job done.

Luna used the charm, and I became invisible. She handed me the Sleeping Draught, and I put it in my pocket.

"Bloody hell, this is weird," I said, looking down at my barely visible form. If the light hit me right, you could faintly see my silhouette.

"Here he comes, Neville!"

Percy walked out of the bathroom, flipping a blue water bottle in the air and catching it. Luna and I began to walk toward him. He threw the water bottle up, and I knocked it away from him. The water bottle rolled across the floor. He went to get it when Luna stopped him.

"Hello, Percy Jackson."

He looked concerned. "How did you know my name?" His hand drifted toward the pocket of his robes.

"You're Annabeth's boyfriend. She told me about you."

"Oh." His hand moved back to his side.

"I'm Luna Lovegood. Do you know anything about Crumple-Horned Snorckacks?"

"Crumple-Humple-What?"

While he was distracted, I hurried over to his fallen water bottle, opened it, poured the potion inside, and closed the lid. Suddenly, I turned visible again.

That’s awkward. I really need to practice this spell. I don't think Percy saw me, though...

Trying to be nonchalant, I picked up the water bottle and walked over to them.

"Oh, hey Luna."

"Hello, Neville."

I handed the water bottle to Percy. "Is this yours?"

"Yeah, it is. Thanks, man." He took a long sip. "I love water. Hydrate or diedrate, as my dad likes to say-"

He stumbled. "Whoa, that water tasted weird. Guess I'm gonna diedrate then... " Percy collapsed, and I rushed forward to catch him.

I looked Luna in the eyes. "Let's turn him invisible, shall we?"

***

It took a while, but we managed to get Percy to Myrtle's bathroom without getting caught, which was insanely lucky since the charm wore off about 3 times.

Once we got inside, Luna shut the door behind us with her foot. We set Percy down.

"Why..." I was breathing heavily. Carrying him was exhausting. "Why are unconscious people so heavy? How did you manage to get those two down here by yourself?"

Ginny looked at me like I had asked her what color her hair was. "I turned them invisible and levitated them. I'm a witch, for Christ's sake!"

I turned red. "Oh. Right. Magic. Levitation spell."

Luna walked over. She had used a Body-Bind Curse on Percy and set him down next to the other two, who were bound similarly.

Now we just had to wait for them to wake up.

Luna's POV: October 13th, 1997

I think we might have given the possibly-Death Eaters too much potion.

It's been four hours since we kidnapped them, but they've started to stir.

"Neville, Ginny, they're waking up." Ginny had fallen asleep while Neville was pacing the room. He woke her up and they hurried over.

"I have the Veritaserum," Ginny stated.

"You have the WHAT? Where the hell did you get that?" Neville looked shocked.

"I just grabbed some when I stole the Sleeping Draught, Neville."

"Yes, but are we really going to use it on them? Umbridge used it on us-"

"UGH. Don't even mention that toad!"

I was finding this argument quite interesting, but the Death Eaters were waking up. "How about we give them a chance to tell the truth, and if they lie we can use it."

Ginny considered that. "Sounds fair, but-"

"Where are we?" Leo had woken up.

"Hello, Leo!" I greeted.

"Luna?! What's going on?"

"DID WE SERIOUSLY GET KIDNAPPED AGAIN?!" Percy was awake too, and he didn't look very happy.

"Gods, why?" Jason looked more annoyed than concerned about the fact that he had been kidnapped. "We were in the middle of baking brownies!"

Ginny drew her wand and pointed it at them. "Quiet, Death Eaters!"

Leo grinned. "Oh, you've got the wrong guy. Nico's the Death Breath, not me-"

"Shut up! We know you work for You-Know-Who."

"You-Know-Who…? Oh, that Moldywart guy? Nah, we don't work for him."

Neville stepped forward. "Well, you guys act very oddly, say weird things, make jokes about death and murder, and have tattoos on your arms! You're also kind of violent!"

Leo tried to hold up his hands, but he couldn't move. "Well, I don't have any tattoos!"

I looked closer at his arms. "He's right. His arms are very scrawny, but there is no tattoo."

"I'm not scrawny!"

"Leo, you kind of are, dude-"

"Shut up, Jackson."

Ginny pointed her wand at Leo. "Specialis Revelio!"

Nothing happened. "Okay, he was telling the truth." Said Neville. "But you two, Jason and Percy, we've seen your tattoos. You didn't even try to hide them with magic, so you mustn't be very bright Death Eaters-"

"Hey! And I told you, we aren't Death Eaters." Percy objected. "Plus, I bet Thanatos wouldn't taste very good."

"I don’t know what that is, but that does sound true," I agreed.

"Ugh!" Ginny grabbed Percy's frozen arm and pulled up the sleeve. There was the tattoo. It wasn't a Dark Mark, though. "What the bloody hell is that?"

"A tattoo." Said Jason.

Neville rolled his eyes. "We can see that. Why is it there?"

"Uh, well, it's this thing from our school-" Percy started to say. Something about him was off. A look in his eyes or a subconscious movement gave me a feeling.

"You're lying," I said.

"No, I'm not!"

"You lied again."

Ginny grabbed the vial of Veritaserum. "Alright, it's truth time."

Percy looked confused. "Is that like, truth serum?"

"Wonderful, Mr. Jackson," Ginny said in an impression of Professor Slughorn. I laughed.

"You can't use truth serum on us!" Jason cried, looking nervous and upset.

Leo looked a bit scared. "Yeah, that's probably illegal..."

"We've broken several laws tonight," Neville said. "We aren't afraid to break a few more. This is your last chance. What do your tattoos mean, and are you guys Death Eaters?"

"We aren't!" They shouted in unison. They didn't say anything about their tattoos, though.

Ginny's face darkened. "Alright, we need information. I don't want any more Death Eaters in our school."

"Sorry," I said to Leo, Jason, and Percy. "We are the last members of the DA, and it's our job to protect the school. We hope you'll understand."

Before Ginny could do anything with the potion, it flew out of her hands and landed in a puddle on the other side of the bathroom. Annabeth appeared behind Ginny, removing a hat from her head. She had her wand drawn and looked quite angry.

"I am SO SICK of people kidnapping my boyfriend! Thalia, Piper!"

Two more girls burst in through the bathroom door and stood behind Annabeth, looking ready to fight.

Annabeth said, "Your duty may be to protect the school, but it's our duty to protect our friends. We hope you'll understand."

Then all hell broke loose.

Chapter Text

Annabeth's POV: October 13th, 1997

People need to stop kidnapping my boyfriend—especially people who I thought were my friends, like Luna.

"Hello, Annabeth. That’s an interesting invisibility hat."

"Thanks, but kidnapping Percy and my friends-"

Ginny interrupted me. "How did you find us?"

Thalia snorted. "Please, ginger. I'm an expert at tracking things. Like people who kidnap my baby brother."

"Aren't you twins?" Asked Neville.

"Uh, I'm 20 minutes older." Thalia lied. Luna frowned at her, but didn’t say anything. She looked like she was about to say something, but Piper started to charmspeak. 

"You don't actually think we're Death Eaters-"

"How did you know we think that?" Interrupted Ginny again. 

I rolled my eyes. "Nico overheard your little conspiracy theory conversation, and really? That's what your theories are? They're not supported by any facts. You’re argument is littered with logical fallacies, and I could poke holes in it just as easily as I could poke a hole in your face if you don’t let my boyfriend go right now."

Neville shook his head. "Wait, wait. Nico was there the whole time? How?"

Thalia raised her eyebrows. "I guess you could say, he just blended into the shadows?" 

I elbowed her in the ribs. "Piper, can you give us a hand here?"

"Sure thing, Annie." She began to charmspeak again. "You want to let our friends go."

The three kidnappers murmured in agreement, turned around, and used their wands to undo the spell. Percy, Leo, and Jason got up and ran over to us. Percy wrapped his arms around my neck and kissed my cheek. "My hero!" 

My face flushed a bit. "Shut up, Seaweed Brain. You obviously can't be without me for five minutes without getting abducted." Thalia was giving Jason a similar speech, and Piper was squeezing the life out of Leo.

Luna, Neville, and Ginny snapped out of the charmspeak trance. Ginny's face was almost as red as her hair. "Did you just... use the Imperius Curse on us?" Her voice shook with anger.

Styx. I read about that. They definitely think we're Death Eaters now. "No, we didn't."

Luna spoke up. "She's telling the truth. Can you speak to Wrackspurts? Did you tell them to fly into our ears and-"

Ginny put a hand on Luna's shoulder. "I don't think they can talk to Wrackspurts, Luna."

Neville looked betrayed. "You are Death Eaters."

Jason looked kind of sad. "Neville, we aren't-"

"I can't believe I trusted you. I thought we were friends, but all you've been doing is lying to us."

"Neville-"

Neville's expression was like stone. "Just stop. We're in the middle of a war, I don't have the time to be friends with murderers."

I thought for a minute. "Neville, we want to tell you, but we can't. Our... headmistress in America told us not to tell anyone."

Ginny looked annoyed. "That just sounds even more suspicious."

I heard Percy's voice from next to me. "We can prove we aren't Death Eaters. Jason and I are the only ones in this room with tattoos. See?" He grabbed my arms and held them up. Leo, Thalia, and Piper held theirs up too. For extra measure, I grabbed my wand and said "Revelio!". Nothing happened.

Luna nodded. "Well, I'm glad you aren't a Death Eater, Annabeth-"

"Hold on." Ginny interrupted her. This girl has an interrupting problem. Did she never read “The Interrupting Chicken” as a child? "Luna, don't be so sure. Percy and Jason haven't explained why they have tattoos.”

“Frankly, it’s not your business. Is it a crime to have tattoos?” I argued.

Jason held out his arm to assure me that everything was fine. He pulled up his sleeve. "It's not that thing the Carrows have, the Dark Mark, right? This isn't that. It's an eagle and 12 lines with some letters."

Neville and Ginny came closer to make sure it wasn't the Dark Mark. They cast Revelio and everything.

"My question is why? Is the eagle some sort of family crest?" Neville asked.

"Yeah, I guess so. Percy has a trident." Jason replied. "As to why, that’s not really your business. Loads of people have tattoos in America. It’s not that strange of a thing.” 

“You said it was for your school, though,” Ginny said suspiciously.

Jason bit his lip. “I did say that.”

“And?”

“It kind of is? It’s complicated.”

“We have time,” Neville fixed Jason with a look that was somewhere between mistrustful and hopeful.

“Okay… so… our school is kind of different…” Jason started. I wanted to say something to keep him from accidentally revealing anything, but something told me to just let him speak.

“So, our school is structured a bit differently from Hogwarts. Not everyone starts at the same age and stays for the same amount of time. Some things are similar, though. We have five cohorts, which are kind of like houses. Each cohort has two centurions, who are similar to the prefects you guys have. There are also the praetors, which are kind of like head boy and head girl, though i don’tthink they necessarily have to be a boy and a girl. Anyways, there’s this longstanding tradition of getting the mark of your family crest on your forearm along with the letters ‘SPQR’, which stands for the school motto. Not everyone gets them though. As for the lines, you get one after each completed year. It’s seen as like, a symbol of honor that makes you a ‘full member’. If you haven’t been for a full year, you can still get a line for valor, which is kind of like those plaques in the trophy room for Acts of Service to the School.

"Except the trophies are marked onto your skin..." Ginny said, looking a little sick.

I was honestly surprised that Jason was able to say all of this without setting off Luna the Lie Detector. The way she does that is honestly really cool- I'm getting distracted. Focus, Annabeth. Ginny and Neville looked confused, and Luna looked all dreamlike, as if she wasn't paying attention (she was, though, I could tell). I was a little baffled as well. Jason explained it without actually revealing anything.

Ginny took a deep breath. "Does anyone else have a tattoo?"

Percy spoke up. "I think Nico said something about Will having a sun tattoo-"

"Makes sense," I said.

"Oh," Piper said. "Alex has a snake tattoo-"

"WHAT?!" Ginny and Neville shouted. Oh shit, the Dark Mark is a snake and skull. 

"No, no," Piper tried to calm them down. "It's just a snake. No skull. And it's on her neck."

Ginny smacked her forehead with the palm of her hand. "...Yeah. I knew that. Sorry, this has been a weird night."

The door flew open, and we all jumped. All the other demigods came running in, out of breath.

"Sorry, we're late," Nico said. "I spent forever trying to find these idiots."

"Hey!" They protested, except for Magnus, who just shrugged and said, "I get that a lot."

Then they all looked around. 

Reyna stepped forward. "What exactly is going on?"

"We'll fill you guys in later," Leo said. "I wanna get back to my brownies-" He noticed that it was dark outside the small bathroom window. "OH MY GODS JASON THE BROWNIES!" The two of them ran out the door and down the hall. 

Ginny laughed. "I threw their brownies in the trash since I spiked them with a sleeping potion. I probably should have told them. Whoops." We all started laughing too. It wasn't even that funny, but we had had such a stressful and weird day that it seemed absolutely hilarious. 

Leo's POV: 

Yeahhh... 

The brownies were gone. 

Jason looked kinda sad. "I'm sorry, man. I was trying to distract you from being sad, and we ended up getting kidnapped. And now we don't even have brownies."

"Let's make new brownies."

"Huh?"

"Jason, I had a better time with you today than on this whole quest. And this day normally sucks. I still really want brownies, though. So get cooking, Sparky!"

Jason gave me a big hug. Like, Frank tier huge. I thought I was gonna die all over again. "Jason... lungs...exploding!" He let go. "Sorry, Leo."

"That's Chef Leo to you, Sparky. Now let's get baking!"

We spent the next hour and a half baking brownies and ignoring curfew. Jason is pretty good at distracting. He looked so happy when he was baking, his blue eyes were lit up. Not that I was staring at his eyes...

The brownies were delicious, and dare I say better than the ones from the fish pony dudes. We didn't even have any peach preserves. 

It was the best October 13th I've ever had, even with the kidnapping thing.