Hi guys! Sorry about the late update, school's just started and I still haven't figured out good times to write. Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed, faved, or followed! Oh, and a lot of people asked, so this takes place after the second Titan war and before the Lost Hero. Anyway, I know the last chapter was a cliffy, so here's the next chapter...
All the Weasleys except Arthur and Molly were there, crouched around the fireplace. George was sitting directly in front of the hearth, so I couldn't see the flames, but from the bright orange glow emanating from the fireplace, I could tell it was lit.
As soon as I came into the room, the Weasleys all jumped an impressive number of feet in the air. Almost in sync, they all turned to face me, their eyes wide with surprise.
"R-Rachel!" George stuttered, hastily moving closer in front of the fireplace. What was he trying to hide? "Eavesdropping, are we?" he asked, forcing a smirk.
"I've known you were hiding a secret ever since you walked in the door." I said coldly, "I'm tired of pretending I don't know anything. What are you hiding, spit it out."
Ginny gulped, "You probably want to know who we were talking to." She said nervously.
"But," injected Charlie hastily, "As you can see, there's no one else here!"
"Actually," I screeched, my voice high with hysteria, "I came here to ask what basilisks, Philosopher's Stones, Dementors, and Patronuses are, but now that you mention it, yes I want to know who you were talking to!"
Five jaws around the room dropped, and many sets of eyes were now the size of tennis balls. For a seconds, there was a moment of shocked silence.
"Bloody hell, Rachel, where did you hear about that?!" demanded Ron.
"In a pub." I said shortly, "More specifically, the pub you, Ginny, George, his twin Fred, and a bunch of other teenagers gathered at a few years ago to organize secret defense lessons with a guy named Harry. Did I mention you were doing this to defeat some guy named Voldemort?! And what's with those sticks you were all carrying?!"
Every face in the room was white as chalk, Ginny looked like she was about to faint. Suddenly, in a blur of tangled limbs and flailing arms I felt myself being tackled to the ground. Ron kneeled on top of my chest, pinning me down to the floor. I noticed his right hand was clutching a stick, which he was pointing directly at my face. What were those chunks of wood so important for?!
"How did you know about that?!" he said, his voice deadly quiet.
"Tell me your secret and I'll tell you mine." I said stubbornly, "Now get off me."
Ron didn't move until Bills scarred hand gripped his shoulder, "Ron, get off her."
The ginger grudgingly obeyed and stood up next to his brother. A took a deep breath and rubbed my chest where Ron had been kneeling on it. I noticed someone had put out the fire. Bill turned to Ginny.
"Get mum and dad." He said. Ginny immediately turned and sprinted from the room. He turned to me, his eyes steely. "Rachel, tell us, or we will make you tell us, how did you know about that?" His eyes locked on to me, with such ferocity and intensity I couldn't help but shiver. That guy could me really scary when he wanted.
"Geez, Bill. Stop doing your werewolf stare, it's freaking her out. And me too." Said Fred, taking a few steps back. Bill blinked, as if he had just realized what he was doing.
"Sorry." He said hastily. Then, he turned back to me. "Rachel…?"
At that moment, Ginny skidded into the room, followed by Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, who were both panting for breath.
"Is it true?" asked Mr. Weasley at once. Bill nodded.
"I would erase her memory right away, but she won't say how she knows about the first D.A. meeting." Said Charlie. I noticed he was twirling a stick nervously in his fingers. Okay, those were obviously more than just sticks.
Mr. Weasley quickly rummaged through his pockets and then pulled out a small, glass vile filled with a completely clear liquid. Charlie's eyes widened.
"Veritaserum? Dad, don't you think that's a bit extreme?!" he asked.
"Of course it's extreme!" Molly shrieked, "Arthur, she's just a child! You can't go around using-!"
"Molly, Muggles finding out about our world...we can't let that happen. That's the ministry entire job, to keep us underground."
"Hey, I'm still here, you know!" I said. Arthur turned towards me, with something that looked like regret in his eyes.
"We're using veritaserum on her." He said.
"Arthur!"
"Mum, I think dad's right." Said Bill. Arthur shot him a grateful look and uncorked the bottle.
"Whoa, whoa, back up! Hold the phone, what are gonna' do to me!? I'm not drinking anything!" I said, backing away from the family.
Ginny suddenly whipped out a stick of her own, and muttered something under her breath. I felt a sudden tugging at my lower body, and my legs instantly shot together. I lost my balance and fell to the ground, landing hard on my back. Above me, I could only see the ceiling. I tried desperately to move my legs, but they refused to budge. It was as if there were invisible chains binding them together.
"What is this?! What did you do to me?!" I shrieked, fear and panic creeping into my voice. I tried more desperately to move my legs, but nothing happened.
"Sorry, Rachel, I had to." Said Ginny's voice. She did sound sorry. Charlie came into me range of vision, and I felt someone dragging me to a chair (although I wasn't sure if I would be able to sit properly with my legs straight and stiff as a board.
"Give her the potion." Said Charlie's voice. A pair of strong fingers opened my mouth, and this time I didn't even try to resist. I simply squeezed my eyes shut tight and let them pour one drop of the clear the clear liquid down my throat.
It tasted like water, but slightly thicker and sweeter. As soon as I had swallowed the liquid a strange numbing sensation came over my body. My muscles relaxed, and my heart slowed. I stared blankly at the Weasleys, who were gathered around me, staring.
"How did you about the meeting they had a few years ago?" began , looking into my eyes.
Not telling. I mentally said. Suddenly, I felt my moth moving, words forming on my lips and slipping out before I could stop them.
"A dream." Said my voice, completely monotone, like a robot talking.
What had they done to me?! How had they made me talk like that?! Suddenly it clicked. The drink they had given me, it was making me do this. Charlie had called it a potion. It was making me tell everything I knew. Even my deepest secrets were suddenly presented out on a silver platter. I had never felt so vulnerable.
Arthurs brow furrowed. "A dream?"
"Harry sometimes had visions of Voldemort because their minds were connected. Maybe Rachel has that too…" said Ron trailing of.
"Don't be ridiculous, Ron." Said Ginny, she turned to me . "How can you have dreams like that?"
No! I couldn't tell this one! It was too big a secret. But it was too late, the words were tumbling out of my mouth like water through cupped hands.
"I'm the Oracle of Delphi, and sometimes Delphi's spirit shows me visions of the past, present or future in my dreams." I said.
The Weasleys exchanged glances that all said 'Does not compute'.
"Explain." Said Charlie.
NO! I couldn't say this one!
"All the Greek gods are real." Said my mouth while my mind furiously protested. "So are the Greek monsters and everything. People have just forgotten about them. They move wherever the most successful civilization is. Right now, Olympus is above Manhattan. They sometimes come down in their human form and mate with mortals. When they have kids, those kids are demigods."
" After World War II, which was basically a war between the children of Hades and the children of Zeus and Poseidon, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades made a pact never to have any more demigod kids. They were too powerful. Hades broke the oath and had two kids. Zeus killed his wife and attempted to kill his children for that. Hades took his anger out on the Oracle of Delphi, cursing her to never have another mortal host until his children were accepted."
" A few months ago, the second Titan war ended. My demigod friends and I were in it. After it ended, the remaining child of Hades was accepted and the Oracle was able to take a mortal host again. That host is me. I am the Oracle of Delphi, speaker of prophecies, seer of the future."
The Weasleys all looked like someone had struck them on the backs of their heads with a very large, heavy baseball bat. Their mouths were all hanging wide open, their eyes wide as golf balls. I cursed the stupid potion. The secret of demigods and gods, that I alone had been trusted with, was out.
"What rubbish!" George suddenly shouted. "She's got to be lying!"
"She's under a truth serum, George, she can't lie." Said Ginny, managing to sound annoyed and awestruck at the same time.
"So…this is all true then." Said Mrs. Weasley, her eyes a million miles away.
"The effects of the potion are wearing off." Said Mr. Weasley, "We only gave her a drop."
Indeed they were. Felling was slowly creeping back into my feet. Then my legs, then my hips. As soon as the numb feeling disappeared from my mouth, I began to scream.
"Go to Tartarus! All of you! How could you do that to me!" I screeched, jumping up from my chair (Ginny had un-locked my legs.)
"Rachel, we didn't-"
"That's been kept secret for years! And now you went and forced me to tell you everything! I was one of the few mortals to ever know about the Greek word and now-"
"We never meant to-"
"It's out! Next thing you know you'll tell my parents! Then everybody is gonna' find out! What kind of twisted people are you, you think invading people minds is perfectly fine!"
"Rachel! We didn't know you-"
"I DON'T CARE!" I screamed, my temper completely gone now. "YOU HAD NO RIGHT AT ALL TO INVADE MY MIND!"
I paused for breath, my face hot and red with anger. Purposely bumping against Ron's shoulder, I stormed out of the room.
"Where are you going?" asked Ginny from behind me.
"To make a rainbow!"
"Pardon?" There was the sound of feet chasing after me. So they were going to come after me. That was fine. Let them come, they already knew everything already.
I marched into the bathroom, and turned on the taps of the sink. Water splashed down onto the sink bowl and a fine mist rose up. I pulled up the drapes of a window and sunlight flooded into the bathroom, and hit the mist making a million tiny rainbows. The Weaslyes watched curiously from the doorway.
I fished through my jeans pockets and pulled out a shiny drachama.
"Is that a galleon?' whispered Ron. I ignored his question.
"Oh goddess, accept my offering." I said, tossing the coin through the mist. As it flew the mist, it slowly shimmered out of existence. Several of the Weasleys gasped.
"Show me Percy Jackson." I said. More gasps came from the Weasleys as an image formed in the mist. Percy was in the sword fighting arena, happily fighting with Annabeth.
"Percy!" I said.
"Huh?" he said. For a split second, his concentration on fighting was taken away. He glanced at the screen, and Annabeth knocked riptide out of his hand
"Ha!" she said with a triumphant smile as she held her knife up to her throat.
"Hey! That's not fair, wise girl, I was distracted!" he complained.
"Guys!" I shouted again. The couple turned towards the screen.
"Hey, Rachel, 'sup?" asked Percy with a smile.
"Well, uh…" I began, wondering how in Hades I was going to explain all this, "A couple of my relatives came over yesterday."
"Cool!" said Annabeth, peering through the side of the screen like a window. She could just see the Weasleys standing stunned in the bathroom doorway. "I finally see where you got your looks."
"They found out!" I blurted out. "They know everthing!"
Percy's eyes widened, "How?!"
"Well…I might have slipped…"
"You told them?!" cried Percy.
"No! Well, yes, but…you need to come here, now!" I said urgently, "I promise, I'll explain everything then."
Seeing my desperation, Annabeth nodded and turned to Percy. "Do you think Paul will lend you his car again?"
"Maybe." Said Percy. I nearly cried with relief. He turned back to me, "We'll be there soon." And he swiped his hand through the mist.