"Rachel Elizabeth Dare!" Annabeth stormed into Rachel's cave. "Anything you're not telling me?"

"I don't know what at all you mean."

"Oh, nothing. Nothing much. Just a certain boy named Harry Potter!"

"Annabeth Chase, those are stories and you know it!" Rachel said, but not convincingly enough for Annabeth.

"He appeared to me in a dream….I think….you know how demigod dreams are, Rachel!"

"I'm sorry," Rachel said. "I wish I knew what that was about, but I assure you, Harry Potter is from a story!"

Annabeth stormed off. She didn't know what to do, but she was now positive that Harry Potter was not just a story. But a nagging part of her was saying that Rachel knew what she was doing. She replayed the conversation in her head

Wait a minute, she said to herself, Rachel never used those exact words. She didn't say that stories were all Harry Potter was. She just said that it was a story…..Annabeth sat up. She had just figured something out. She had to tell someone, anyone. She ran back up to camp and almost crashed into…"Percy!"

He broke into a wide grin. What are you doing? When I checked in on you, you were fast asleep and I thought you'd be out for the night."

"Never mind that now. But hey, Percy…."

"I see your brain moving, Wise Girl. Spit it out."

"Percy, you've read stories about us and the demigods, stories about our quests, your mom is the main one writing them, isn't she? And all kinds of people, mortal and demigod and who knows who else are reading them, right?"

"Yeah...if you say so…."

"Percy, what if we aren't the only ones? What if there are others caught between magical and nonmagical worlds, people whose stories WE have read!"

"I don't know, and honestly why does it matter? By the way, don't you think it's strange that Rachel just showed up when she's supposed to be at school?"

"Seaweed Brain, you can be so daft sometimes! I think it's all connected. I think that...that Harry Potter is real...and when the Doors were opened, Voldemort was let out….and never got back in!"

"Yeah, okay sure Annabeth, but what's this all got to do with Rachel?"

"Call me crazy, but I dreamed I was talking to them, I was talking to Harry and Hermione. And they told me they were coming tomorrow for the meeting. Rachel was their original messenger!"

"Annabeth….what if Chiron told us that we were waiting on gods, when really we're just waiting for Harry's gang?"

"I've thought of that….but somehow I doubt Chiron would cover it up like that….I don't think he knows that Harry's family is coming."


"Ron, for the last time, I won't let you be the one to drive the kids all the way to New York!"

"Hermione, passed my driver's ed course ages ago!"

"You confounded the teacher!"

"So?"

"I already told you. Luna and Neville will take Rose, Hugo, Lily, and Albus, James, and Alice by car. We'll round up reinforcements. I've already contacted Hagrid and McGonagall, they'll help. We know that George and Angelina are in, as are Bill and Fleur."

Harry stepped into the room. "I still wish Alice and James weren't going to be in the same car. You know how they get...I don't want Lily or Hugo exposed to that. Or Rem and Rose, even."

"Yeah, I wish I could've helped out, but I need to work with the spells and contacting." Hermione said sadly.

"Wait, Dad, we're going somewhere? And I get to be in a long car ride with Alice?"

Hermione groaned as James and Alice came running down the stairs. "Yep," Harry said, trying to hide his annoyance. "Go get your things.

We're going to New York. To Camp Half-Blood."

"That's a real place? I thought it was only in my books!" Alice giggled.

"Yes and I'm sure people have thought that about us too," said Harry absentmindedly. "You guys are taking the car with the Longbottoms. You'll meet us there."

"Aww Dad, why can't I do side-along apparation?" James whined.

"James, it's not all it's cracked up to be…."

Remus, who was only in his second year, hurried down the stairs. "Dad, why haven't I been allowed to go back to school yet?"

"Remus, McGonagall was waiting….for her worst fears I guess….but go tell Lily and your cousins to get ready, you're going on vacation with the Longbottoms."

"This isn't about Voldemort, is it?" Remus looked scared.

"I hope not…" Harry said, not wanting to scare Remus more.


It was near evening on the day of the meeting. Annabeth and Percy had taken guard duty that evening so as to watch for Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. They heard Dionysus yelling at Nemesis about something or other. Percy was pretty upset that Nemesis had been sent, and he couldn't imagine how Leo felt about his least favorite goddess being present that night. The other goddess who had shown up was Hecate, and he knew Hazel was feeling conflicted about that too.

There was a faint pop, and four familiar faces came out of nowhere. Annabeth rushed up to greet them, and Percy heard her say, "I, Annabeth Chase, give Harry and Ginny Potter and Ron and Hermione Weasley permission to enter the camp.

Harry pulled out his invisibility cloak, but Annabeth shook her head. "They should see you. What, exactly, was the message you sent to Rachel?"

"The doors were sealed too soon, Voldemort is alive." But the voice wasn't Harry's and it came from behind them. "Annabeth, I knew you'd catch on to me. Thank you," said Rachel, stepping out into the clearing. "When I saw you had taken guard duty, I knew you must have understood. Come on, Chiron is waiting for us."


Luna Longbottom was getting nervous. "Neville," she whispered on their first night driving, when she was sure all the kids were asleep, even her daughter and James.

"Look, I'll drive tomorrow, if that's what you're going on about!" Neville mumbled. "I'll survive another day."

"No, it's not that, it's just….how are we supposed to get this car over the Atlantic Ocean? New York is on another continent, you DO realize this?"

"Mom," Alice whispered, "I thought you knew. We are going to enchant the car the way Arthur Weasley did before Harry and Ron's second year, right?"

"Alice!" Neville responded sharply. "I didn't know you were awake! And you do realize how much trouble this caused Harry and the Weasleys, correct?"

"But Dad, there's no other way!"

"Okay. Let me contact Arthur," said Luna, and soon everyone but Neville was asleep.


Deep below the earth, at the Palace of Hades, a heated conversation was taking place.

"Fred, no! What would your mother say!" Lily Evans Potter said with tears streaming down her face. "When you died, and Harry married Ginny….well, your mother was always a mother to Harry too, and now I am as good as your mother, Fred."

"Mom, I know," Fred said, and Tonks and Remus laughed, they had known the Weasleys best and were still surprised that Fred would be so used to calling Lily "mom." Granted, Tonks, Fred, and Remus had been dead for twenty years, Sirius for twenty-two, and James and Lily for thirty-nine. They, however, had not aged since their death.

"Well, Mom, you can't go either, Harry would be older than you by now!"

Hades entered the room with Dobby in tow. "Have you come to any sort of a decision yet?"

Lily, James, Fred and Colin all spoke at once. Lily gave them a piercing look that silenced them. "Lord Hades, you really are amazing, building us rooms in your palace and letting us stay as a family." She looked around at everyone who she had come to call her family over the past three decades. Are you sure, though. Has he really escaped?"

"He has."

"Oh Hades, please tell me this is an elaborate joke," Snape groaned. "After everything I did to protect the boy?"

"Remind me what all that was, again, Severus." James frowned at him quizzically.

"Yeah, what did being a Death Eater actually do for Harry, again?" Sirius growled

"I'd love to hear this one later," Dumbledore said, smiling. "But I think Lily has an important point to make here."

"Not all can go, of course," continued Hades. "Lily, James, I hate to say this, but I don't know how much help you will be to the boy. He will need one trained Auror, I can tell you that. I, for one, also think that it should be people who were close to him throughout his life. James, Lily, I regret that you weren't. But the Dark Lord did his worst to you. My suggestion, although you by no means have to heed it, is that Remus, Sirius, and Moody should go. Harry has never had any reason in his life to distrust you three after Sirius was proven innocent."

"I'm too old. I had adventures in my lifetime, and I fell off a broomstick and died. I think Nymphadora should take my place." Said Moody seriously.

Tonks shot him a reproving look. "Don't call me Nymphadora!" But then she laughed and said in a less angry voice, "If you want me to take your place, Mad-Eye, it would be an honor."

But Fred Weasley was still angry. He had thought, just for a fleeting moment, that he would be able to see his family again, to see George and possibly take over the joke shop again as well. His memories had been attacking him lately. The time he and George had tried to save Harry from a cursed Bludger in their fourth year….two years after that, when they realized what they wanted to do with their lives….and when they had given Dudley Dursley a ton-tongue toffee….when they had been banned from Quidditch after attacking Malfoy….when they escaped on their brooms away from Hogwarts, from Umbridge, they were all coming back to him like waves on the ocean, flooding over him. He missed them so much, he even wanted to see Percy. He went to find Lily, who'd done a wonderful job of taking care of him for nineteen years, mourning and seeing him as the son she never got the chance to have. Fred liked it, but he would rather have spent the time back home with his redhead family and his best friend, George Weasley.

"Mum, why can't I go? Please, I want to see George, please Mum."

"Fred, dear, I am so, so sorry but we just don't think you're old enough-"

Fred cut her off. "Lily Potter, I am nineteen years old!"

"Fred!" sighed Lily, exasperated, "Please Fred."

"You just don't want to lose me."

Lily gasped. The problem was, Fred was, to some extent, correct. He was the son she'd never had, and she loved finally being able to be a mother. Fred looked stricken immediately after he said that. "Mum, I can't believe I just said that, sorry Mum." He burst into tears.

Lily hugged him, and she thought she heard him say, "I understand. I love you."

"I'm going to go hang out with Colin." Fred liked Colin Creevey, he was the only person in his new family who was close to his age, who knew what it was like to die in the Battle of Hogwarts as a student. Maybe the sixteen year old could offer him some advice.


"Chiron, may I introduce you to Harry and Ginny Potter and Ron Weasley and Hermione Weasley," Rachel said. There was a collective gasp.

"Harry Potter? Here?"

"It can't be, that's just a story."

"Why?"

"Settle down, settle down," called Chiron. "Rachel, why are they here?"

Hermione glared at him. "Chiron, I think they can speak for themselves. It might be better, anyway….." Rachel mumbled

"Sir," Hermione started to say, but Chiron cut her off.

"I don't need you to call me sir. Just Chiron is fine, thank you."

"Oh." Hermione blushed. "Well, Chiron, we have strong reason to believe that V-v-Voldemort is back. We think, Sir, er, um, Chiron, that he escaped when the Doors were opened. And that he never returned to Tartarus."

Everyone gasped once again, then turned to look at Nico.

"Is this true? Can you send a message to your father, Nico, to confirm?"

"Yeah, di Angelo, better do it," Drew giggled. Malcolm stared at her piercingly.

"Um yeah, I will," said Nico quickly before a fight could arise between wisdom and beauty.

"There is no need." Roared a voice.

"Dad!" Hazel gasped. "What are you doing here?"

"I must confirm this sad tale that Miss Granger has told us. I have searched Tartarus but alas the Dark Lord of the Wizarding World is nowhere to be found. He has returned."

Chiron sighed. "Well, if this is the case then we must all work as a team. Harry, I wouldn't doubt you have reinforcements?"

"Of course. Bill and Fleur are coming. Luna and Neville with the kids. Hagrid, and McGonagall I think as well. And Kreacher."

"A sizable amount. I will also offer three. Your friends have been living happily in my realm, and by living I mean….well, I'm not sure if that is the right term, but I am allowed to send three of them back to you, Harry Potter. I have chosen Sirius, Remus, and Nymphadora."

"Sir, oh thank you so much!" Harry laughed. "If only I had known how you were keeping them safe….all these years…."

A new voice sounded. "Don't call me Nymphadora!" Ginny was the first to run to the crowd, and soon the four former Hogwarts students were hugging their lost friends.

"Hades," Ron whispered. "Will they...will they need to go back to you after the war?" He didn't want his best friend to feel any more pain and loss than he knew he'd already had.

"Only if they die twice will they need return."

Nico ran to his father and hugged him, making Hades feel really awkward. "Thank you Dad," he whispered.


Reyna was an avid reader, and yet she had never heard of Harry Potter, or of this Voldemort character. She went to her boyfriend. "Nico, what do you know about these strangers?"

"Reyna! You've never heard of Harry Potter?"

"I haven't."

"Hold on, then."

He ran to the Hades cabin. Reyna wondered why this was really a big deal to him. A few minutes later, a boy came out. He was wearing a gold and red scarf, a gold and red hat, a lion banner, and was holding a giant stack of books-or rather, a small stack of giant books.

"Nico!" Reyna exclaimed. "What is this?"

"The complete book collection. And some of my merchandise."

"Some of your merchandise?!"

"Yeah I also have…" and Nico launched into a long explanation of his various T-Shirts, figurines, sweaters, snitches, wands ("They don't really work, of course"), and so many other things that Reyna could not follow any longer. "I'm in Gryffindor. I thought I was a Slytherin but I changed my mind. Annabeth is a Ravenclaw. Percy's also a Gryffindor, and Rachel is a Hufflepuff and…."

"Nico, slow down. Can you explain-? And Nico launched into a long explanation about Harry Potter that Reyna still didn't understand.

"You know what, I think I'll just read the books."