Hey guys!
Prepare yourselves - this doesn't really make much sense and I honestly don't really know where I'm going with it or if I'll even continue it, but bare with me.
This is mostly the result of me rereading the entire Percy Jackson series and having this little plot bunny in my mind because I love Harry Potter, so the outcome is, predictably, a little strange.
Anyways, I hope you enjoy! Thank you!
((a brief disclaimer, because I own neither Harry Potter nor Percy Jackson, obviously))
The second Lily leaves the common room, she knows something's off.
For one thing, there isn't any waffles at breakfast that morning, and that alone is enough to ruin any growing teenage girl's day, but then they had to show up.
Now, Lily has nothing against them, really. Actually, she thinks they could be quite nice people and even potential friends, but there's been enough excitement the past month to last her a year, and the group of Muggle - or something else? She is truly baffled by all to do with them - kids popping into the Great Hall right as she is mourning her waffle-less morning really aren't helping at all.
Lily's friend Marlene shrieks and leaps to her feet, and - the good and considerate human she happens to be - Lily looks over in concern, ready to ask Marlene what exactly, had caused her sudden, very uncalled-for spring of movement when she sees them.
Ten or so kids, ranging from what could be thirteen to eighteen, standing in the Great Hall, dressed very strangely.
Even if they weren't wearing robes - maybe the casual dress, like Lily wears on the occasional weekend. These kids, however, were dressed in many garments she didn't exactly recognize, like someone had plucked them out of a television film and dropped them right into Hogwarts.
Lily stares blankly, trying to put together whatever it is that seems to be happening - the disruption knocks the woefully absent waffles out of her mind, which she later supposes is a good thing - when someone drops down beside her.
"So," James says cheerfully, biting into a biscuit and propping his legs on the empty seat across from him as if nothing strange has happened at all and this is a regular early morning at Hogwarts, "things are getting weird already, huh?"
She decides not to grace him with a worded response in this circumstance. James Potter acting weird is normal, matter of fact, and if he was any other way Lily might just keel over and never get up.
The new additions to the grand room stare around in confusion and concern that ranges from mild and almost nonchalant to panicky and slightly irritated.
"Well," says Professor Dumbledore into the sudden, shocked silence of the Great Hall. "It appears we have guests."
Lily wants to snort under her breath; it is just like their eccentric Headmaster to not look the slightest bit confused or weirded out by the oddly-dressed individuals. James, fortunately, has no qualms about appearing rude and snickers in a hardly-subtle way. Under the table, Lily kicks him.
"Uh," says one of the kids, a dark-haired, bright-eyed boy who looks about her age. "Where are we?" They're American, Lily notes offhandedly.
The blonde girl standing next to him shoves an elbow into his ribs. Lily instantly likes her. Rolling her eyes, the girl says, sounding far less confused and far more confident, "We're sorry." And then, like a rushed afterthought: "Um, sir. We were trying to get to San Francisco."
"It didn't work," supplies the dark-haired boy unhelpfully.
Another kid - a boy with a mess of curly hair and a permanent mischievous glint in his eyes - asks, "Where are we, exactly?"
Dumbledore - with a familiar twinkle in his eyes - answers calmly, "You're currently standing in Hogwarts, a school for young witches and wizards. Alternately, you are somewhere in Scotland."
"Scotland?" the curly-haired boy repeats, looking mystified. "Nico!"
A small, darkly dressed boy of about fifteen glowers. "I told you I might not be up for it, Valdez."
"You told him what?" squawks a boy with shaggy blonde hair, looking as if someone has just offended him personally. "And you didn't even think to mention it to anyone else that might actually care?"
The boy called Nico rolls his eyes, and Lily notices the dark bags under them, like he hasn't gotten a full night's sleep in weeks.
"Wait." This time, the voice comes from somewhere to Lily's right. Sirius Black is sitting next to James, two seats down from her. "Did you say San Francisco? As in, America, San Francisco?"
"No," Lily finally speaks up, voice dripping with sarcasm. "They must have meant Antarctica, San Francisco, Black."
James snickers again, his arms laces behind his head like he's watching a very interesting sitcom. Lily sort of wants to kick him again.
The blonde girl looks like she's holding back a smile, and Lily allows herself a moment of pride. "Listen," she says, looking apologetic. "I'm really sorry we interrupted your -" And then she blinks, like waking up from a very vivid dream and realizing it isn't reality. "Wait, did you say wizards?"
Dumbledore's mouth curls into a smile. Lily watches him with thinly-veiled astonishment. What is he thinking, telling Muggles about us? Of course, the inner workings of Albus Dumbledore's mind is not exactly something that is easily dissected, so Lily sits and waits. "I do think my students would have a similar reaction if they were to learn what you are, Miss Chase."
The girl's mouth drops open, but she is quick to regain her composure. "So you -" She clears her throat, glancing at the dark-haired boy next to her before speaking again. "You know what we are, then?"
The boy beside her that has been the first to speak interjects, looking almost cautious and a little defensive. "And how do you know her name?"
Dumbledore smiles fully at him. "Well, you see, Percy Jackson, your . . . leader, if you would, has told me all about you each."
Percy Jackson looks like a fish out of water before he speaks again. "Uh, that's alright." He sounds like he's talking more to himself than Dumbledore. "I meet strange people that know my name all the time. This isn't weird."
The blonde girl - who seems to be the trusted spokesperson, Lily observes, considering how the others are watching her as if waiting for instruction - smiles finally, but the careful, wise caution is still present on her face. "Calm down, Seaweed Brain," she says. "If Chiron knows him well enough to tell him our names, we're probably safe. You do mean Chiron, right?" She turns to Dumbledore.
The Headmaster nods. "We're well-acquainted. I assure you, Miss Chase, you are out of harm's reach here."
Beside Lily, James makes a quiet laugh that sounds like well, mostly. She does her best not to smile.
"Well, that's good," says the blonde boy from before after a moment of quiet. "Because our only mode of travel is definitely not going to be doing much travelling until he gets a few days' worth of sleep."
The pale, darkly-dressed kid beside him - Nico, she remembers - rolls his eyes again. "Not with you around, at least."
"Good thing I am around, then," retorts the boy with the blonde hair. He looks like he spends all his time in the sunshine, Lily observes, with the dark tan and the mop of sunkissed blonde hair on his head. The Nico boy, on the other hand, looks like sunlight would burn him. He's a few inches shorter - maybe only an inch or two on Lily, who is a perfectly average five feet, five inches - pale, and his dark hair looks relatively unbrushed.
The blonde girl looks like she wants to smile again. "So, yeah. We're temporarily stuck, it seems."
"For how long?" The source of this voice is a pretty, dark-skinned girl with a head of wild curls. She looks like she can't be any older than fourteen. She holds hands with the boy beside her - a big, rather threatening-looking, stocky guy with short black hair. "Is there any way to tell Reyna?"
"Not unless there's a way to send an Iris message here," says the tall blonde girl grimly. "We'll have to try."
"Fortunately," Dumbledore breaks in, "it should be possible for you to message your friend and tell you you'll be a bit late. Chiron asked me a while ago to make sure you could, if anything like this were to ever occur."
"Sounds like a setup, if you ask me," mutters a tall blonde boy with glasses perched crookedly on his nose.
"Totally not too low for the gods," agrees the dark-haired boy, Percy, darkly.
"Whether it was them or not," the blonde girl interrupts with a warning look at the two boys, "we're here, and we might as well find our way around instead about moping about why."
"We can always count on you to put us back in our place when we do too much moping, Annabeth," says Percy, now looking amused.
Annabeth rolls her eyes. "Yes, whatever would you do without me?" She turns back to Dumbledore, the apologetic look lingering in her eyes again. "I'm sorry to inconvenience you. We hate to disrupt your schoolwork -"
"We do?" the curly-headed boy whispers to the girl beside him, grinning.
"- but we don't really have any other choice." Annabeth shoots him a warning glare that shuts him up on the spot. "It will only be for about a week - until Nico can get us back in one piece."
Dumbledore smiles again, eyes sparkling knowingly. "Of course, my dear. You and your friends are welcome here as long as you need."
She smiles back gratefully. "Thank you. We'll try our best not to be complete awful nuisances, I swear." She glances at the boy with the curly hair, then adds, "Most of us, that is."
He grins back easily. "Hey, don't insult my ability to be a nuisance. I take pride in my ability to be a nuisance." One of the two girls beside him - her face elegant and pretty, her caramel hair braided over her shoulder - elbows him, hissing something in his ear. He winces, but the smile doesn't fade completely.
Lily thinks, Oh, they'll fit right in.
"We also apologize for Leo," chimes in the other girl next to him. She's beautiful, Lily notices - the kind of beautiful that would make anyone stop and stare on the street. She has caramel-colored skin and choppy brown hair with feathers woven into the few braids. "He's got a loose tongue when it comes to awkward situations."
Leo says, "Love you too, Pipes."
Dumbledore winks at him. "You should introduce yourselves and we can welcome you properly. Only if you're comfortable, of course."
Annabeth nods, the caution finally disappearing from her eyes. "I'm Annabeth. This is Percy." She motions to the dark-haired boy beside her. He waves, turning to the group of students. "The curly, annoying one is Leo." Despite her words, Lily can tell Annabeth and Leo are friends by the way Leo grins back, as if to say, Yep, that's me.
"I'm Piper," the girl with the feathers in her hair cuts in, smiling.
"Jason," says the handsome boy with the glasses beside her. And then, like an afterthought - and probably in response to all the eyes attached to Piper: "Her boyfriend."
Under her breath, Piper snorts in amusement.
"I'm Frank Zhang," says the stocky boy that is holding hands with the frizzy-haired girl.
"And I'm Hazel," aforementioned frizzy-haired girl says, smiling in a friendly way that lacks in many people Lily encounters in daily life.
Looking almost nervous, the pretty girl with the braided caramel hair says, "I'm -" She hesitates, and Leo grins at her. "I'm Calypso."
The sunny boy from before stands on his toes and wiggles his fingers in a greeting. His elbow is resting on the short, black-haired boy's shoulder, as if he is a comfortable, conveniently-placed shelf. "Hi," he says, grinning. "I'm Will Solace."
The other boy - Nico - shoves him off, looking irritated. "Nico."
Sirius Black - annoying git he is - leaps to his feet, hands clasped together in front of him. "Great! We're all friends. Brilliant." He pauses, and Lily sighs, bracing herself for whatever Sirius is planning to say next. "Now, where the hell did all of you come from?"
Lily exchanges an exasperated, possibly affectionate look with Remus over the table. Honestly.
"New York," says Annabeth, looking anything but intimidated. And then, as if the idea has just occurred to her: "This might sound a little weird, but what year is it?"
"1977," says Lily bemusedly, slowly rising from her chair. Okay, now she's definitely interested.
Annabeth says a very nasty word, one that has her looking guiltily at the headmaster before she seems to decide there are bigger problems at hand. "Nico," she starts, breathing in slowly as if asking for patience, "can you time travel?" It seems like she already knows the answer - like she's asking the question purely to stall the reactions of her friends.
"I can shadow travel, Annabeth," Nico answers dryly, but he looks like he's doing his best to withhold shock of his own. "Unless there's like, physical shadows in time, definitely not."
Percy Jackson groans, running a hand over his face and muttering something that sounds like, "Damn gods."
Annabeth looks at Piper grimly, but Lily can clearly see the anger in her eyes. "We might be staying a little longer than a week."
"Ah." Dumbledore observes them sympathetically for a moment. "That is perfectly fine, Miss Chase. I am sorry you were put in this position. Forgive me for asking, but what year are you from?"
"2011," says Leo. And then, to his friends: "We just can't catch a break, can we?"
Lily gapes, because, yeah, okay, she got a letter to a damn magical school when she was eleven, but time travel? She is surely dreaming. James chuckles through his nose, and when she looks at him, he looks like someone has just pulled him out of a freezing lake.
"They're serious, aren't they?" he mutters to her.
She gives him the trademark 'are you kidding' look. "They popped out of nowhere, James."
"They might have Apparated!"
"Don't be ridiculous," she says, sipping her pumpkin juice. "You know just as well as I do that Dumbledore wouldn't bullshit us on something like this."
"Maybe breakfast can help take your minds off the events of the past few minutes?"
A moment after Dumbledore speaks, the food on the tables disappears, and something that looks more like a feast for thousands replaces it. At least there's waffles this time. Lily can't complain.
Annabeth hesitates, glancing at the others, who are watching the ghosts and the disappearing food with - well, not shock, exactly. More of a thin interest. "Yes, thank you," she says. "That would be nice."
"Our Head Boy and Girl are conveniently both Gryffindors this year." He motions to Lily and James. Lily smiles, trying her best to look as approachable as she can. Dumbledore waves his hand, and poof! The table suddenly has ten more seats. "You may sit there. Afterwards, they can give you a tour of your temporary home. Welcome to Hogwarts, demigods."
Demigods. It is likely that most of the purebloods have no idea what the word means, but Lily has read enough Muggle literature to know. Even if she hadn't, it wouldn't have been hard to break down. Demi- meant half, and god was rather simple. Demigods. She wonders if Dumbledore meant the word literally.
"I'm Lily Evans," she offers when the ten new kids sit down around her. "I'm Head Girl this year."
Underneath the table, she elbows James hard in the ribs.
He sputters around his half-eaten piece of toast, shooting her a half-hearted glare. "Um, James," he says. Lily rolls her eyes, realizing that, yes, it is her that will have to do most of the talking when it comes to anything responsible.
"He's Head Boy," she explains. "He just doesn't act like it most of the time."
"Lily," says James, putting down his toast to feign grand offense. "Are you possibly insinuating that I am ever anything but completely responsible?"
"No," Lily replies, flat. "I would never."
"Hi, Lily," says Annabeth from where she sits across the table. "I think we're really going to get along." Her grey eyes twinkle, like she's content to forget all about the trouble.
Lily grins back. "Well, that is good news. I need some intelligent friends. I'm very lacking in that department."
The pretty Indian girl, Piper, laughs. "We are too. We've been stuck with these losers for gods know how long."
"Don't lie to yourself, Piper," says Percy, slinging his arm casually around Annabeth. "You adore us. You don't know what you'd ever do without us."
"And without Annabeth, you'd probably be dead," Piper answers, eyes glinting playfully.
Annabeth smiles, leaning up to kiss his cheek. "She's got you there, Seaweed Brain."
He grins back at her, and he looks like he's going to say something else when curly-haired Leo interjects. "Go be disgusting and in love somewhere else. This is a place where we don't make anyone feel bad about their own love lives."
"Leo," says Piper placatingly, like she's talking to a small child, "you have a girlfriend."
Calypso - the girl sitting next to Leo with an eyebrow raised expectantly - rolls her eyes in exasperation. "And you'll surely never forget that, will you?"
"I love you," says Leo dutifully.
"You better, for all I have to put up with."
Lily decides very quickly that she likes them. They're the sort of friends anyone would be jealous of - tightly knit and completely comfortable around each other. Even Nico, who doesn't appeal to Lily as a very big people person, looks fairly happy around them. Also, she has a sneaking suspicion that there's something going on between him and the smiley Will Solace. Which is saying a lot, because she's seen about a single conversation between the two boys.
"So," says Sirius after a few more minutes of bickering, and Lily shares another oh no look with Remus, who is listening in with quiet interest. "What are you guys?"
"Didn't you hear Dumbledore?" Hazel asks.
"I do not know what a demigod is," says Sirius, not at all ashamed.
"Neither do I," chimes James.
They high five. Lily considers slamming her head into the table and knocking herself unconscious.
Hazel looks at Annabeth, then to Piper and then to her supposed boyfriend Frank. "It is what it sounds like. We've all got one parent who's a god. Greek or Roman, depending on which one of us you ask."
"Like Greek and Roman mythology?" Lily asks, leaning forward in intrigue.
"Exactly like that," says Annabeth. "Take me, for example. My mom is Athena - who is Greek, by the way - which doesn't really give me much except a fear of spiders. She's the goddess of war, wisdom, stuff like that."
Percy snorts. "Also, you're an actual genius, but let's just toss that aside too, right?"
She rolls her eyes, but her cheeks turn a little pink. Internally, Lily goes, Aw. Percy and Annabeth are sort of adorable together. "Anyway, if you ask Percy -" She nudges him with her shoulder.
"My dad is Poseidon," explains Percy. "Which is actually not legal. But I can get to that later. He's the Greek god of the ocean and water. So I can do stuff with that." He shrugs, and then grins. "And I can speak horse. And fish."
"Uh," says James, ever the intelligent Head Boy. And then, with renewed enthusiasm: "Dude, that's brilliant!"
"Wait 'til you see him in action." Piper winks. "My mom is Aphrodite - goddess of love and beauty and all that shit." She doesn't sound very passionate about this particular topic.
"She could order you to walk off a cliff and you'd do it without a second thought," says Jason, grinning proudly.
"Shut it, Sparky," she says, and Jason's grin widens as she lands a playful punch to his arm. "I would never tell anyone to walk off a cliff."
"Show them," Will Solace stage-whispers over the table. "Just in case they don't believe you." At Piper's disbelieving look, he adds pleadingly, a troublesome grin on his face, "Something little, Pipes! They don't look shocked enough yet."
Piper blows out a breath, but she's smiling. "Fine." She sips her glass of water thoughtfully for a moment. "Why doesn't everyone take a piece of toast?" she asks, voice dripping something slow and convincing. Suddenly, Lily really wants a piece of toast.
A little dazedly, she picks one from the plate. After another heartbeat, she remembers what is going on around her. She can see James's hazel eyes, glazed over and staring in awe at Piper. She ignores the little prick of unnecessary jealousy; that must be part of Piper's ability, nothing else.
James hadn't pursued her for three years for nothing.
She's right, because when he picks up his own piece of toast, he shakes his head, blinking rapidly. "Whoa," he says. "It's like . . . magic, but without a wand. And you're not wizards?"
Piper shakes her head. "We're demigods. Well, most of us." She gives Calypso a friendly smile. "Calypso's . . ." She trails off, clearly waiting for the other girl to finish her sentence.
"Well, I was a half-Titan," she begins, her earlier nervousness replaced with something in her eyes that dares anyone to laugh at her. "I suppose I still am. The Titan Atlas is still my father. I'm no longer immortal, however. I was trapped on the island of Ogygia. I was . . ." She hesitates, like she's testing the words in her mind. "Cursed. I was doomed to fall in love over and over again, with the different heroes sent to my island. They would never love me in return. It was a punishment, because my father was a Titan. I had powers. They're gone now, as far as I know. Since Leo rescued me, I've been completely mortal."
Lily gapes at her. Sure, the half-god, half-human thing is pretty mindblowing, but an immortal Titaness? Calypso sounds like something straight out of a storybook. She feels an overwhelming sympathy for the other girl.
James, Sirius, Remus, and - well, maybe not Peter. He seems too focused on the pancakes to care much. They stare at her in shock that Lily understands completely.
"So you're like, an immortal goddess?" James asks, looking like he is having quite some difficulty getting this through his head.
"A Titaness," Calypso corrects. "And not anymore. I'm mortal." She sounds the slightest bit wistful, as if she misses her abilities. "Believe me, my life now is many times better than it was, but sometimes I do miss my powers. I would never go back, though. Nothing in the world could make me." Her eyes flicker briefly to Leo, who smiles.
"I still have no idea how I landed a hot goddess," he says.
"You didn't land anything, Leo Valdez," she retorts, but she's grinning too.
"You're right. I crashed."
She laughs, and Lily's heart warms for them both. Calypso's curse to fall in love and never be loved had been broken, it seemed.
Lily finally decides to ask the question that had been gnawing at her for the past few minutes. "So, Nico," she begins casually, and the boy in question looks up, eyebrows raised like he wasn't expecting to be addressed directly. "Who's your parent?"
His eyes darken, if that's even possible. They're already a dark brown that looks black in the light. "Well, I won't be doing a demonstration, if that's what you want," he answers carefully.
"Nico, have I ever told you how good you are at natural human socialization?" asks Will Solace cheerfully. "Just tell her. It won't kill anyone."
At this, Percy makes a sound that sounds like a choked laugh. Lily's curiosity heightens.
Nico gives Percy a look that stops his laughter instantly. "It's Hades," he says, like he's talking about the weather. "You know, god of the Underworld. Riches. Death. All of that jolly stuff."
"That's also not legal," Percy adds. "Neither is Jason. His dad's Zeus - er, Jupiter."
Hazel, who has been mostly quiet throughout this whole interaction, says, "He's mine too. Hades, not Jupiter. Pluto, actually, but that's just his Roman form. Nico got all the death parts. He can raise the dead and travel through the shadows and across the world in seconds, if it doesn't wear him out. I can pull cursed jewels from the ground. So there's that." Her voice has a dry undertone.
"You can also sense the underground," says Frank, almost defensively, like he's personally offended that she would downplay her own abilities. "Which is really cool."
She scrunches her face at him. "Frank can turn into animals."
"Like Transfiguration," says James, but he doesn't look like he quite believe it.
"Or an Animagus," Peter pipes.
Sirius and James shoot him dark looks that Lily doesn't really understand.
"An Animagus is someone who can turn into one specific animal," Lily explains to the demigods. "It takes hard work, but it can be done. It is Transfiguration, technically. Just complicated Transfiguration."
"And Transfiguration is turning things into other things," says Percy, and then shoots Annabeth a proud look.
She sighs exasperatedly, but a smile curls at her mouth. "Good job, Percy. You told me the exact definition of the word. Would you like a gold star?"
He grins. "A kiss would be nice."
Annabeth shakes her head with playful incredulity and kisses him.
When she pulls back, Percy says, "So if I read you a dictionary, would I get a kiss for every word I correctly defined?"
Annabeth shoves him. "You're an idiot."
As they continue to bicker good-naturedly, Lily turns back to James. "So does it mean we're off classes? Since Dumbledore told us to walk them around after breakfast?"
Sirius leans over to listen. "Evans!" he chides, mockingly appalled. "Do I dare believe mine ears? Is Head Girl extraordinaire Lily Evans truly even considering skipping class? Why, I think I might have a heart attack!"
"Can it, Black," she snaps, resisting the urge to smile. "Go irritate Remus."
"Remus is no fun to irritate," Sirius says, his tone diplomatic, like he's organizing a trade with her. "He's reading. He just ignores me."
Lily ignores him. She looks back at James, eyebrow cocked expectantly. "Well?"
He shrugs, swallowing the last of his toast. "Probably. We could always just assume and skive off anyways." He grins hopefully at her, wiggling his eyebrows.
She wants to object, but when she sees Dumbledore's troubled, thoughtful expression, she sighs. "Normally, I would argue and say we should at least ask first. But he looks like he's got enough on his mind already, what with the random demigod teenagers appearing in the Great Hall and all of that."
"I knew we'd rubbed off on you at least a little," James says, eyes sparkling. "Let's give this tour, shall we?"
Of course, one of Lily's questions remained unanswered:
How in great Merlin were a bunch of demigods from almost thirty-five years in the future going to get back home?