Harry Potter grabs Ginny Weasley's hand. She smiles at him, understanding this base instinct to touch her, know she is still there. Nearly all of them have done this since the war. Behind them, Ron keeps trying to take Hermione's hand, but she tugs it away every time. She has closed in on herself after the war. She hasn't been able to track down her parents.

Consequently, she's been ignoring everyone except, strangely, Draco Malfoy. He seems to understand having the safety and security of his childhood being ripped out from under him in a way no one else could. The one time Ron had tried to stop them from talking (really, Harry just suspects they both need a shoulder to cry on) she had screamed at him in front of the whole lot of them, "Voldemort lived in his house for years, Ronald! Years! Leave me alone!"

This was why a massive group of them were right now walking through the English countryside. All four Hogwarts Houses had come together because school rivalries seemed trivial in the face of a war they'd fought as children.

Suddenly Luna stops walking. "Something's going to show up here soon," she says in a dreamy voice. Dean, who seems to take her word as the gospel truth now, draws his wand, looking around. Neville had asked him once why this was so; Dean had simply said Malfoy Manor and shivered.

Harry supposes it was simply that they were all still rattled from the war, but every last one of them draws their wands and looks around.

Around five seconds later, Susan Bones yelps. A boy Harry would have estimated to be sixteen or seventeen appears. He isn't holding a wand; rather -

"OH MY GOD! GET THAT AWAY FROM ME!" Daphne Greengrass screams as he points a sword in her direction. It is glowing golden. The boy frowns.

His eyes widen and he asks, "Eidolons?"

It seems that everyone except Hermione and a couple of the Slytherins have no idea what he was on about. Blaise Zabini sneers and says condescendingly, "You think we're possessed by spirits?"

Just as it looks as though he might put the sword away - though Harry can't see a scabbard - around twenty more people appear the same way he had - silently and out of nowhere.

Almost all of them are holding weapons.

One of them - a blonde girl holding a dagger immediately turns and sees the boy from the other side of the group.

She yells, "Percy, what've you done?"

This seems to put him out. He returns, "Gods, why do you think it was me?"

A girl with long, stringy brown hair yells at him, "Because it's you, Prissy!"

"Shut up, Clarisse!"

A girl with red hair and paint-splattered jeans steps forward.

"Wait a minute," she says. Although she looks to be one of only a couple of people not holding a weapon, they all back down, although they don't put their weapons away.

She points at Malfoy and Hermione and says, "I've seen those two."

Every single person in the assorted company turns toward them.

Theo Nott says, "Who the hell are you?"

This seems to amuse a few of the members, including a girl in a Death to Barbie top with a silver circlet in her hair, the first boy, and a curly-haired blond guy, who all turn toward a boy who is dressed in black, with a black sword; which nobody else seems to have.

"Shut up," he mutters.

A boy with brown curly hair wearing a cap and jeans says, "Halfbloods, mostly. Well, I'm not, they're not," he gestures to the arty jeans girl, another pretty girl, a pair of kids who appear to be quietly arguing, "and I don't even know what you are anymore, Thals," he says to the Death to Barbie girl.

"Can you just put all these weapons away?" demands Ernie Macmillan pompously.

A girl with a braid over her shoulder snorts - is she wearing Roman armour? - and the first boy looks at Ernie and says, "Are we in England?"

The blonde with the dagger sighs and says, "Seaweed Brain," as if it's an inside joke, and they share a moment which is spoiled by the Death to Barbie girl sniggering, "Yeah, Seaweed Brain."

This cues a lot of tense looks from a few of the other people.

"Thalia!" the all-black boy hisses. "Last time you called him that I almost died!" Another round of sniggers surfaces when he says died - Death to Barbie - Thalia - glances at the Prissy boy and says, "No creek here. Think you could take me?"

He raises his eyebrows at her and says, "Think I need water anymore?"

She narrows her eyes and raises her spear.

"Whoa, whoa. What is happening?" Justin Finch-Fletchey says, nervously looking between Thalia and the Prissy boy.

The boy dressed all in black rolls his eyes and steps between the two of them.

"Come on, idiots. Thank the gods not all Big Three children are as impulsive as you two. If these are mortals, Thals, you need to do your trick with the Mist."

"What are you on about? What mist? And can you put those away?" Seamus says, almost panicking.

This causes a moment of pause between the rest of them. They all glance at one another and a pretty girl with kaleidoscope eyes and a feather in her hair says, "Can you see the weapons?"

Theo Nott rolls his eyes and says, "Do you think we're blind?"

The Clara girl or whatever with the brown hair snaps back, "No, just-"

"Clarisse!"

The blonde with the dagger steps to the front of the group. She looks at Hermione and says, "What's your name? And are you all..."

As Hermione opens her mouth to reply, Padma screams. The entire group looks up and Harry can't believe what he's seeing.

A massive golden dragon is circling above them. All of the witches and wizards point their wands at it, but the others all seem unbothered. One of them - the pretty girl who isn't a halfblood - pureblood? muggleborn? - yells up at the dragon, "STOP SHOWING OFF AND GET DOWN HERE! THEY CAN'T EVEN SEE YOU!"

Ginny and Harry exchange a look. Of course they can see the massive bronze dragon swooping down toward them. It lands, and a boy jumps off its back, striking a dramatic pose as he lands.

A tall blond boy with a scar across his lip Harry reckons he must've got in a pretty big battle sighs and says, "Leo..."

The dragon boy winks and says, "Stapler Face, who're these people?"

Thalia laughs and says, "I will never regret telling you that story."

Hannah steps forward and says, "I'm Hannah. They're Padma, Terry, Blaise, Theo, Daphne, Michael, Anthony, Greg, Susan, Justin, Ernie, Parvati, Seamus, Dean, Draco, Neville, Luna, Ginny, Hermione, Ron and Harry Potter."

None of their eyes flick up to Harry's scar.

"Well," the all-black boy says, "I'm Nico, that's Percy, Annabeth, Jason, Piper, Frank, Hazel, Grover, Thalia, Reyna, Will, Calypso, Rachel, Katie, Clarisse, Drew, Chris, Travis, Connor, Carter, Sadie and Lacy, and that's," he rolls his eyes at the dragon boy, "Leo."

Sadie or Lacy says, "Well, I hate to break up this little thing, but Greeks - and Romans," this with a little bow toward the one braid girl - Reyna? - who raises her eyebrows, "unless all of them are planning on doing anything with those little sticks, we will have to sort out that." Everyone turns in the direction she points.

A massive half-bull, half-man monster is stomping toward them.

Percy mutters, "The Minotaur?"

Thunder rumbles across the sky.

He yells, "It's already here! I know names have power!"

The rest of the group except the Thalia girl turns toward him.

"I've killed it twice before, I can do it again."

"Why don't you let someone else have a go?"

"You'll just blast it. Thalia-"

"Whoever strikes the killing blow gets..."

Percy grins. "Bragging rights."

He takes off running toward it and she follows him.

"What the hell are they doing?" Neville demands. "Running toward it?"

Annabeth sighs. "Well, something was bound to show up, this many of us here."

"What do you mean, us?" Justin Finch-Fletchey demands.

Annabeth frowns and opens her mouth to speak, but the dragon boy beats her to it.

"Demigods."