The ten children looked around, somewhat frightened by their surroundings. Lining the walls were twenty hooded figures, and in front of them stood giants, or so it seemed to the tiny five year olds.
"Why is this place called Chaos Castle?" Percy asked allowed, immediately regretting his decision to speak, hoping the big blonde haired man wouldn't hit him. He tried to back up, but found it impossible, as Harry was directly behind him. Though the other boys presence did help him feel better.
To the surprise of all ten children, the blonde haired man smiled and laughed. "All of the Knights of Chaos reside in this castle. It is also where the future knights are trained. That is why it is called Chaos Castle, Perseus."
"So is that why we're here? To become Knights of Chaos?" Harry and Percy both turned to the bushy brown haired girl who had pushed herself to the front of the group.
Another adult, this one a woman with long light brown hair moved to stand beside the other man, "Yes Hermione. That is exactly why you re here."
"Well if you know our names, why don't we know yours?" Harry asked, glaring distrustfully at the ten adults standing before them.
It looked as if they were all trying not to laugh at the cute little boy in front of them. "You are quite right, Harry. How rude of us not to introduce ourselves." The blonde haired man said, "My name is Thor."
The woman who had stepped forward earlier said "My name is Athena."
Another woman with short blonde hair stepped forward, "My name is Idunn" but her name was pronounced "Ithunn" which was somewhat confusing for the youngsters.
Two people who looked identical, excluding the fact that one was male, and one was female, came forward. "We are Freya and Freyr" they said together, Freya being the girl, and Freyr being the guy. Both had long chestnut brown hair tied in ponytails, though Freya looked more feminine.
Two more people stepped forward and introduced themselves as "Merlin" and "Morgana." Merlin was a lanky, pale man with shaggy black hair, and Morgana was a tan woman with long black hair.
Another man, who had bright red hair that may have been graying around his temples, immediately followed these two and he introduced himself as "Ptolemy."
A man with wiry dark blue hair introduced himself quietly as "Poseidon" before stepping back.
Lastly came a strange woman who's hair and eyes changed color every few minutes. "My name changes frequently, but you may refer to me as Asteroid." While she said this her hair was bright blue, but as soon as she finished it turned red and she smirked wickedly at the children.
Thor cut in before Asteroid could say anything else. "Well now that you know who we are, how about we show you to your rooms so that you can take a nap?"
"Who are those people on the sides of the room?" Annabeth asked, as she looked at the hooded people in question.
Athena sighed, "That is for another day, dear child. Now you must all rest, it has been a long day and your bodies require a rejuvenation period. Tomorrow you will have time to ask more questions, and we will have much more to explain and show you."
Merlin and Morgana, hand in hand, led the children up to the rooms they would be staying in. The two split so that Merlin could show the guys to their room, and Morgana showed the girls to theirs.
Each showed the two groups their respective bathrooms and then their individual wardrobes.
Hermione and Annabeth asked Morgana a number of questions, but Luna Thalia seemed pretty content in just brushing their teeth, changing into pajamas and going to bed.
Once Morgana had answered their myriad of questions sufficiently Hermione and Annabeth followed the example of the other two girls and were promptly asleep.
When Merlin showed Harry and Percy their wardrobes they both looked incredulous. "They're huge!" Both exclaimed loudly, and then laughed with each other.
Merlin watched discreetly as both boys removed their shirts and changed into shorts. Covering Harry's back were small, barely noticeable bruises, and he could see the bruises around Percy's rib cage and ankle.
Once all six boys were settled in bed they began excitedly talking, and introducing themselves to each other.
Merlin looked on with a smile for a while butwas forced, in the end, to cast a sleeping charm over the room. He knew without it, the restless boys would stay up all night talking about what was soon to come. He knew Morgana had not had the same problem with the girls. They had all been exhausted and prepared for bed quickly. She always got the easy jobs.
Within minutes the two found themselves back in the great hall.
"Both Harry and Percy have been abused." Merlin said upon entering the room. He was unusually angry at the thought of the two boys coming to any harm.
One of the hooded figures stepped forward, "I will take full responsibility for that. I did all I could to try and protect him, but the man who hurts him has cast a spell over our home. I lose all my strength while in the house and I am unable to leave, tonight is the first time I have left in three years."
Sally Jackson cried quietly, and was immediately comforted by her best friend Minerva.
"I suspected Harry was being mistreated, but I never saw any proof. He also never said anything when I asked, so I just assumed he was okay. I have no excuse other than trying to see the best in the man who saved me from my own abusive parents."
Remus Lupin let a few tears escape as well, and was only slightly comforted with Severus slipped his hand into his.
"No, it is my job to look after the boy. I am always at their house, and yet I also failed to miss the signs. I knew the Potters acted as if they cared more about their other son, but I just assumed it was because Harry enjoyed being by himself!" Albus Dumbledore said, shaking his head self depreciatively. His brother patted him on the shoulder.
Thor sighed deeply, "Do not blame yourselves, there are evils in this world that even we cannot stop. It is our fault that you were even with that man in the first place Sally, and for that I apologize. I should have realized you needed help. And Remus, you have been on your own mission trying to destroy all of the werewolves who turn children. Albus, your job was seek out the rat in the Potters' inner circle, plus you've always been known to miss a few social cues." Thor threw the tall wizard a half grin before continuing solemnly, "No one is to be blamed except the abusers. We will give Percy and Harry the option of seeking retribution once they have learned all they need to know to save the world from the new monster."
"On the bright side, at least they seem like they're going to be an interesting bunch," Asteroid said, this time with pink hair.
"Yeah, if they don't get scared away by your split personality disorder, Ceres" Aphrodite told her jokingly.
Immediately Asteroid's hair turned red and Aphrodite had the right idea to run for her life. Vesta, Asteroid's red haired personality name, chased after her, doing stunning acrobatics all the while.
"I think it is time we all head to bed. We have the sorting tomorrow, and we all know stressful that can be." Athena told the group of adults, who all nodded and followed the lead of the intelligent goddess.
Tomorrow was going to be an interesting day.