Several months have passed….

Several months have passed since the lunatic landed on our ship. We still haven't undone that curse on the door, so midnight sneak attacks have become more of a possibility.

We- me and Annabeth- have just gotten out of the depths of Tartarus. Man, that place is awful. And it smelled worse than a hellhound's behind. Through some of that, my thoughts have been plagued with Harry. He clearly holds some influence in the world he lives in, probably a celebrity. You could see it in the way he brightened when we didn't recognize his name. In his world, being a celebrity must have been a burden. I'm not quite popular with the monsters, either. Do you know how many times I have had the word "die" directed at me?

But there was one thing that set him aside, that made him really stand out. His eyes. Yes, they were emerald green, startlingly so, but it's not the color. His eyes are haunted, like he's seen too many things, lived too many horrors.

I could relate, but probably not to the magnitude of his. And if there's one thing I hate, it's my curiosity. I wanted to find him, to know the whole story. He had only explained the basics of his world, and I had been a few smiles short of friendly.

I guessed that the best course of action would be Leo. He could use all of his freaky technology-Hephaestus powers and locate him like that.

I ran down to the engine room, where Leo spends practically all his time.

"Horse bro! Wassup?" the engine asked me. Or rather, the boy behind the engine.

I raised an eyebrow. "Horse bro?"

"No?" He asked. "What about Brony? Mighty Slayer of Porphyrion the Giant King? Horse Whisperer?"

"No."

He pouted, but brightened up when he realized I had not come for nicknames. "So, what can I get you, oh Mighty Slayer of Porphyrion the Giant King?"

"Cut that out, Mr. Head-Full-of-Hot-Air. I need to find that Harry boy."

"And whyyyyyy is that?" He asked coyly. I wanted to strangle him more than I did Octavian.

"Not for the reason you think, it's actually important."

"Tell me the reason and I'll find you the boy."

Oh My GODS this kid was infuriating! It's not like I was trying to be stalkerish or anything like that anyways!

"So I can ask him about his spells and levitate you two hundred feet in the air!" I cried. The only thing stopping me from strangling him was the prospect of seeing Harry. He was cool. And his hair was messier than mine, which for once was a relief.

"Okay, Gru, now what's your real reason?" He asked, smirking.

"Why is this so important to you all of a sudden?"

"Because I want to remember what you say, right now." He held up a small homemade recorder that had probably been lounging in his pockets for a month.

"Fine! Because I want to know more about him…"

Leo hooted. "Percy wants to learn! Oh, this is too good to pass up!"

Nevertheless, he got down to business mode.

"Alright, alright, cool your britches." This coming from the kid who could set himself on fire at will. "We met him while hovering somewhere over England. I can probably narrow it down some if I just…" I zoned out after he started speaking. Honestly, when that kid talked about technology, he was almost as bad as Annabeth.

I tuned back in to the last part of his hour-long rant. "With the tracker I stuck on him."

"You what?" I yelled. Those trackers were soooooo irritating. They let out a supersonic pitch that even dogs couldn't hear, but hear them or not, they left nasty headaches. Aaannnddd another of Commander Toolbelt's ingenious inventions.

"You know what? Whatever. I'm going to go play with water." I stuck my tongue out at him childishly as a last chance of revenge, and then marched away. The whole time he had been talking, the ship had been steered to a giant forest in the middle of England.

Wild pegasi had attacked last night, and they had broken up the main deck with their frantic trampling. We had stopped at the forest with a medieval-like castle on the other side, and a lake, for new materials, and I figured that the lake would be a nice chance to get away from it all.

I stepped in, fully clothed, and let the sensation of water surround me. At least no one would be able to find me here….

Except for a few mermaid-like people. I figured I might as well talk to some to learn where we were. They might help us learn where we were.

"Excuse me!" I waved to catch one's attention.

They stared at me for a few minutes, then a small one swam over.

"Is it natural?" It had a rasping voice, but for living underwater, it sounded pretty good.

"Is what natural?" Maybe it was a habit, but all of the merpeople I had met previously tended to be confusing.

"Of course, it is a child of the sea!" A larger one with a more feminine voice berated the small one, then smiled at me.

"Would you like to stay with us a while?" She asked.

"I'm sorry, my friends are waiting. Can you tell me where this is?" I asked. What? They were.

She nodded. "This is the lake next to Hogwarts, school of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

I thanked her and left. She seemed like a nice person, but she was obviously loopy. Witchcraft and Wizardry? Pfft, naw.

I resurfaced next to the Argo II, and sought out Leo. "Where are we?" I asked. "I met some merpeople, and they said that the giant castle and all the property with it was Hogwarts, school of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

Leo grinned a very Leo grin. "Well, the only way to find out is to go! Let's grab Beauty Queen, and Jason, and let's roll on out!"

I seriously doubted that this could end well. Leo didn't seem to care, I bet he just wanted to explore this place.

I swam back across the lake, and Jason flew Leo and Piper one at a time to the edge of the forest, where I was resurfacing. As soon as we were all together again, we began marching up to the castle. Once a monster jumped out of the trees.

Jason fried it without a second thought, and we marched on. It kind of amazed me how strong he- we had all- gotten. We all were so different from the people who built the ship, who were the Praetors of New Rome, who had fixed a bronze dragon with a leaky ear, who had swam in the Styx. We were now curious Heroes of Olympus, who were probably walking into a trap.

"Ladies and Germs, we have arrived." Leo said with a flourish, gesturing at two grand doors, probably taller than the Argo II was long.

Piper tentatively poked one of the doors, and it creaked open. We walked a few steps in, and suddenly, somewhere deep inside this castle, a bell rang. Strangely dressed people flooded out of hidden doors, and looked at us for a moment, before wandering off. Piper grabbed a girl by the shoulders, and charmspeaked her. All the girl told us was that if we needed to talk to someone, go see 'Professor Dumbledore.'

We wandered around for a while, stopping at a huge stone gargoyle to catch our bearings.

"Okay, I'm lost," Leo said. "And I'm so hungry that I would kill for even a single lemon drop."

All of a sudden, a harsh grinding noise was heard, and the gargoyle sprang back, revealing a set of stone steps. We climbed them, seeing no other option, and no other way to go that we hadn't gone before.

At the top was a spacious office, with framed portraits. Piper gasped, and shrieked. The paintings were moving! A laugh sounded around the office.

"Well, you certainly aren't wizards."