A/N: Okay, so I decided to rewrite this story, too, change some parts, just make it better. So, enjoy!
Ginny had literally dragged me out of bed this morning. I didn't even get any eggs or bacon. She was saying something about our friends, Katniss and Peeta, being lost in Arizona. I had no idea why they had been in Arizona in the first place and I had no idea why we needed to help them. I didn't even know how Ginny knew this. On second thought, I didn't think I wanted to know.
"Harry!" Ginny screamed from the front door. "Get out here!"
"I'm not even dressed yet!" I yelled back. This stopped her for a moment. Then she screamed at me to get dressed. I sighed and got dressed.
I walked down the stairs and out the front door. Ginny was already in the driver's side of the car. I got in the passenger side and Ginny handed me some coffee. I looked at the dashboard to see what time it was.
"Ginny!" I nearly screamed. "It's 5 in the morning. What could possibly be so important that we have to get up that early?" She looked at me sadly and said the five words I never wanted to hear in my entire life.
"Our friends have been kidnapped."
I stared at her blankly not fully understanding her words. When I did, I gasped and almost choked on my coffee.
"What?" I finally squeaked out. Ginny repeated it. "How?" I asked, completely forgetting that I didn't want to know how she knew this.
"Katniss called saying that Peeta was missing. Then she had screamed something to someone else and then it was a man's voice on the phone. He said that we would never hear from them again if we didn't give them what they wanted. Before I could ask what they wanted, he hung up on me. Katniss and Peeta had been on vacation in Phoenix, Arizona when they were kidnapped." She was almost crying now.
I was speechless. I couldn't believe anything she had said. There was no way that they could have been kidnapped. But then again, Peeta has been known to get into fights. Maybe he got into a fight and he got kidnapped. But that doesn't explain the phone call…..
"Does everyone else know this, like Percy, Hermione…?" I asked, voicing my other thought instead of the phone call one. Ginny nodded, driving to the airport, rather fast if you ask me. One time we almost ran into a cat crossing the street. It screeched at us angrily and I waved to it apologetically.
"They're going to meet us in Phoenix. Almost everyone is coming. Hermione, Ron, Percy, Annabeth, Nico and Thalia. Fred and George can't come because they have to run the joke shop. Rue and Rick are on vacation in Australia. I think that's everyone." Ginny said .
We had finally gotten to the airport and all we had to do was find our friends. We saw them almost immediately because Ron was the only other red head in the entire airport besides Ginny. They had gotten here before us and already had the plane tickets. We actually had so many people in our group that I started wondering if we would take up the whole plane.
Before I could voice these thoughts aloud however, our flight was called and we had to go. I would soon find out what the answer was to my question, even if it freaked me out in the process.
I soon found that we only took up half of the plane. Then again, we were the only people on the plane…
I sat down in my chair and, after the whole pre-flight demonstration thing, fell asleep immediately. Hey, you can't blame me. I was dragged out of my bed by my madwoman of a wife (no offense Ginny) and I was tired.
I had a strange dream about a little girl with blonde hair and blue eyes standing next to Katniss and Peeta. Katniss was hugging her tightly. It was strange.
I woke up to Ginny shaking me yet again. It was time to get off of the plane. I told everyone I would be right back and not to leave without me while I went to the bathroom. I was washing my hands when my phone rang.
"Hello?" I said.
"Are you Harry Potter?" A man said with an incredibly deep voice.
"Yes." I answered slowly.
"Your friends are with me. They will pay dearly if you do not give us what we want."
"What do you want?"
"Poseidon Jackson in handcuffs."
"Excuse me?" I said.
"I want Poseidon Jackson in handcuffs." He repeated.
"Why?"
"Do it by Saturday and I'll even throw in the little girl, too." I heard some muffled screaming in the background and then something that sounded suspiciously like a baseball bat hitting a wall. I know this from experience. Don't ask.
"Why?"
"Go to the abandoned house on Willow Road, across from the Haunted Forest. You'll know the house when you see it." With that said, he hung up, leaving me trying to figure out what he wanted Percy's dad for.
I left the bathroom and tried to calm down. He wouldn't really do anything to Peeta and Katniss, would he? And what about the little girl he talked about? And what about my dream? God, I was confused. I couldn't let my friends know that I was panicking, though, until we were alone.
I met up with my friends outside the airport. They had already gotten a rental car, which would be really helpful. Ginny had grabbed my bag, which I had no recollection of packing, and they were only waiting for me. I climbed in the back seat of the rental car and retold the whole story of the phone call.
When I finished, Percy, who was driving, almost ran into a tree he was so deep into shock. Annabeth, who was sitting in the passenger seat, was able to wrench the wheel sharply to the left away from the tree. Percy snapped out of it and was able to take the wheel back. The rest of the trip was spent in silence, each of us trying to figure out why the man wanted Poseidon Jackson.
Percy finally found a hotel and we all checked in. We got our bags and found our rooms, which strangely were all next to each other. We went into our own rooms, not to be seen again until dinner we were so tired.
I woke up to someone screaming from Ron and Hermione's room. It sounded like Hermione screaming, but I had no idea why. I jumped out of bed and pulled some clothes on, before running out the door and into Ron and Hermione's across from mine. The door was open, which I found odd, but I didn't think much about it.
Hermione was curled up on the floor sobbing. She had a cut on her arm that was bleeding heavily, and there was a pool of blood beneath her and then another one below the window. I crouched next to Hermione and put a hand on her arm. She jumped before screaming again. When she realized that it was only me though, she started bawling again. For the first time I realized that Ron wasn't there.
"Where's Ron?" I asked Hermione quietly. She broke into a fresh wave of tears. I looked up when Percy came over to me, holding a note. He handed it to me, and then comforted Hermione, trying to get the story of what happened out of her. I looked at the note, reading it quickly.
Mr. Potter (and company),
I have kidnapped Ron Weasley in hopes of getting what I want. I won't beat around the bush; I will tell you exactly what I want. Poseidon Jackson in handcuffs. I have heard from my trainee that you already know this. That makes this much easier on my part seeing as I have your friends, the Mellarks and now the Weasley kid. Bring Jackson in handcuffs to Willow Lane like my trainee said. Maybe if you do it fast enough, you'll get your friends back.
General Marshfield
P.S. If you tell the police, I will know, and you will never see your friends alive again.
"Where did you get this letter, Percy?" Hermione was still crying and I wasn't sure if he had heard me.
"It was on the bed." Percy had heard me. I looked at the bed and saw that it was made, which was weird, because Hermione and Ron had been sleeping minutes before this happened. Hermione's sobs quieted and Percy led her to his room so she could sleep. A few minutes later, he came back with blood on his shirt in some places, and tears in other places. He looked tired, but he was able to ask questions.
"What did the note say?" I handed it to him, and his eyes widened at the part where we might not see our friends again. "I'm going to sleep. Wake me at noon." He said before leaving for his room. I followed his example and went to my room.
I woke up again early in the morning. I had had the weirdest dream. Percy's dad was there and he was threatening a little girl. She had brown hair and eyes and she would have been cute, except for the expression on her face. It was one of pure terror.
I got up and looked at the clock. It was only four. Why do I keep waking up before the sun?
I went and took a shower. When I got out, I turned on my laptop and waited for it to wake up. While waiting, I made a pot of coffee. I glanced at Ginny to make sure she was still asleep before turning back to the laptop.
I went to Google and typed "Poseidon Jackson" in the search bar. I clicked on the first thing that showed up and learned a couple of things. For example, Mr. Jackson owned 5 buildings in New York. He was an active participant in projects that help save sea animals. He also liked eating Mexican food.
Moreover, he cared about his family a lot. He would do anything to make sure they stayed safe.
Wow.
Just as I had finished reading about Poseidon Jackson, Ginny appeared next to me and it took all my willpower not to jump. She smirked at the expression on my face.
"What are you doing up this early?" She asked. "It's only five–thirty."
"Thank you for pointing out that I woke up before the rest of the country," I said sarcastically. "Actually, I had a dream about Percy's dad."
I told her the dream and when I was done, she only said, "I don't think you should tell Percy your dream."
I nodded my agreement, having already decided that. I then told her what I had learned from the Internet. She thought about what I had said, looking like she had completely forgotten that I was there.
"I think what you learned and your dream are somehow connected." She finally said. "The little girl could have threatened Poseidon's family somehow, and you learned that he would do anything for his family. It makes sense for him to confront anyone who seems like a threat to his family."
I thought about it. She had a point. And somehow the little girl could be connected to the guy I talked to on the phone. And if Poseidon threatened her, then they would want to get even. Right?
Somehow, when everyone got together to discuss Ron's kidnapping, I was able to keep quiet about Poseidon Jackson.
"We need a plan." Hermione stated furiously. She had gotten over crying about Ron's disappearance. Now she had passed the line between furious and vicious. Anyone she didn't know would be dead if they so much as looked at her the wrong way. And she would laugh over their bodies.
Although, she did have a point, even if she was irrational. We needed a plan.
"How about," I suggested, "we find out why these people hate Percy's dad so much?" Everyone nodded their agreement except for Hermione. She was angrily muttering to herself about ripping Ron's kidnappers' heads off. I almost felt sorry for them. Almost.
"Sounds like a plan." Percy said. "When's lunch?" Hermione smacked him so hard he whimpered. Loud. I knew how he felt. I had been on the receiving end of one those slaps once, and it hurt. Badly. I could practically feel his pain. Poor guy.
"Hermione," Annabeth tried to soothe her. "I know that it's hard for you to cope without Ron, but you do have to eat." Hermione's icy cold stare turned to her. "Ron would want you to."
Hermione thought about that for a moment, before leaving the room quickly. She returned soon after with a huge piece of chicken that was quickly disappearing.
"You know," Ginny murmured, "I half expected her to bring a whole cow."
"How are we going to figure out why the kidnappers hate Poseidon?" I asked Ginny later. Somehow (I don't know how), we were put in charge of figuring that out. Ginny shrugged.
"Maybe we could read more about Poseidon?" she suggested. I sighed and got my laptop again. With Ginny looking over my shoulder, I looked up Poseidon again. We read on and on about how much he cared for the sea life and beaches and whatnot. Not that I don't care, it just wasn't helping us. Finally, Ginny turned on the TV and watched something.
I, unfortunately, was basically forced to continue reading. There wasn't a single thing that could help us. Everything I read was about how much he cared. No person is that perfect!
I still hadn't found anything when Ginny went to bed two hours later. I soon joined her, promising to make myself continue tomorrow.
My head had barely touched the pillow before it was time to get up again. I pulled on some clean clothes and brushed my teeth before sitting down with my laptop again. Once again, everything I read was about how perfect Poseidon Jackson was. Everything seemed fake somehow.
Until I got to this one website that I knew was completely true. I knew because it didn't say a single thing about how perfect Poseidon was.
In fact, it only talked about his faults. I shook Ginny awake next to me. It took her a few moments, but she woke up enough to read with me. When we were finished, we simply stared blankly at the screen.
"Poseidon Jackson killed three people?" I finally said in disbelief.
Later, when we had gathered together to talk about our findings, we realized that there was no way that we could get our friends back without going along with their demands.
That statement stumped us.
"How are we supposed to do that?" Percy asked.
"I have a plan," Annabeth said. "When you talked to that man, he said to take Poseidon to Willow Road, right?"
"Yeah. By the abandoned house across from the Haunted Forest," I answered.
"We just have to pretend to bring Poseidon to the abandoned house and demand that we get our friends," Annabeth explained. Percy hugged her.
"Annabeth, you are brilliant!"
"There's just one problem," Ginny cut in, "we can't actually bring Poseidon to them, so how are we going to pretend we have him?"
Everyone looked at Percy. "What?" he exclaimed.
"You look almost exactly like him. Come on Percy. You're our Poseidon Jackson." Ginny and Annabeth grabbed his arms and dragged him into the bathroom.
I turned on the T.V. and tried to ignore the loud protests coming from Percy in the bathroom.
Thalia coaxed Hermione into reading a book, but by the face she made, she clearly didn't want to. Nico sat next to me and we watched a football game.
When Percy was finally able to exit the bathroom, he looked a little older, wearing a black business suit that looked suspiciously like mine. His dark hair was somehow made to look neat, which never happened.
Hermione actually looked at him like she was seeing him. "Wow."
"Is that my suit?" I asked. Ginny smiled, but I knew that if I argued, I would be dead.
"Yes, it is. You're okay with that, right?" Ginny said.
I nodded. "Yeah, it's fine. Why was my suit here?"
"Always be prepared," was all she said.
"What else did you bring?" I asked warily once we were alone. Ginny smirked.
"You don't want to know,"
I raised an eyebrow, but dropped the subject. "Are we ready to go to Willow Road?"
"Yeah," she grabbed her bag, which she had stuffed with so many things I had forgotten what was in there. "Come on.'
I followed her out of the room and locked the door. We meet up with our friends in the lobby. We got in to the rental car, Percy in the back with Nico while the girls hid on the floor.
We got to Willow Road and I grabbed Percy by the arm and dragged him out of the car.
A man stepped out of trees across the road. He looked at Percy with hatred in his eyes. He believed it!
"You brought him," he growled.
"Are you General Marshfield?" Nico asked from the other side of Percy. The man nodded.
"We want our friends back," I demanded. I heard the slightest sound from the car, probably Ginny reaching into her bag.
General Marshfield snapped his fingers and some men brought out our friends. There was a little girl with them too, the girl Katniss was hugging in my dream. She struggled against the man that held her.
"Prim!" Katniss screamed. "Don't move."
Prim…Katniss' sister! I thought she died though…
I heard leaves rustle and knew the girls had gotten out of the car.
"Give us our friends and we'll give you Poseidon." I said. Katniss and Prim were shoved toward us and we grabbed them before they hit the ground.
"Peeta and Ron too," Nico said. They were pushed toward us and they scrambled for the car.
"Hand Jackson over," Marshfield growled.
"Now!" I yelled. Percy wrenched away from us and jumped in the car. Rocks came sailing over the car towards General Marshfield and his buddies. Some of the rocks made their targets and men fell down unconscious.
I jumped in the front seat while everyone piled in. Ginny called the police and told them where General Marshfield was. Hermione was sobbing in Ron's arms. Annabeth was wiping the makeup off of Percy's face. And from what I could see in the rearview mirror, Nico and Thalia were making out.
Ginny was pulling bandages and other things for cuts out of her bag and handing them to Katniss, Peeta, and Prim.
"Are you guys okay?" I asked.
"Yeah. We're fine," Ron said.
"Okay. Let's go back to the hotel," I said.
Epilogue- 2 years later
I chuckled as I watched James crawl across the backyard, even as Ginny glared at me for letting our son get so dirty. It wasn't completely my fault though; kids did what they wanted to.
Ron was holding his own little girl next to me as Rose took a nap. Hermione was reading—as usual—and Percy, Annabeth, Katniss and Peeta were supposed to be here soon.
Al was sitting on my lap, watching his older brother play with a frown on his face. I set him down on the ground, and he crawled as fast as he could to James. Ginny scowled at me, her look clearly saying, 'you're the one bathing them tonight.' I shrugged.
General Marshfield had gone to jail for kidnapping Prim, Ron and the others. Poseidon had gone too—turns out that the little girl in my dream was Marshfield's daughter, and she was killed by Poseidon. Even though he was an important person in the world didn't mean he was perfect.
Prim was in her last year of high school, and she was planning to become a doctor. Katniss and Peeta were spending their days trying to figure out whether they should pay her tuition or not.
Percy had gotten over the fact that his father was a murderer pretty quickly, and he visited his mother often while she worked on the divorce papers. Annabeth often went with him, if she wasn't with her own mother creating blueprints for the building she wanted to create.
We tried to get together at least every other week, but often times we would run into each other at the store because of how close we lived to each other now.
Sometimes I wondered what would have happened had our plan not worked all those years ago. Other times I laughed at how silly that plan was—I mean, seriously, all we had were rocks?
But now, as I breathed in the scent of spring and watched my children play, I looked around as my friends arrived, and smiled at how well my life had turned out. I sure didn't plan it this way, but everything had turned out okay, hadn't it?