Chapter 3

Annabeth came storming towards them and Percy could have hit himself. He knew she'd be angry at not being told about new people in camp, she always liked to be on top these things. Not to mention mysterious ghostly deer running about camp. Percy could have laughed at the look on Harry's face, but thought that might have been a bit cruel. The poor bloke looked terrified of Annabeth, although to be honest Percy had to agree with him. She looked quite mad.

"Hey Annabeth," he greeted her, raising his hand slightly. "This is Skye, Harry, Ron, Ginny and Hermione."

When Annabeth saw the rather wary looks on the newcomers' faces she got herself under control and smiled at them. They seemed to relax a bit and the girls smiled back at her.

"Will someone please explain to me what that was?" she asked cautiously, almost like she didn't really want to know the answer. Actually now he thought about it, Percy wasn't too sure what it was either. He looked at Harry and the wizard explained, "It's a Patronus. They're visual representations of your happiest memory and act like guards against dark creatures like dementors. You can also use them to send messages to others."

"Wait so was that-?" Annabeth looked at the guys curiously.

"Magic? Yeah," Ron nodded. "We're magici-" He stopped at a glare from Skye. "I mean we're witches and wizards," he said, trying to stop himself from laughing and failing miserably. Annabeth looked at them thoughtfully, processing what she had been told and studiously ignoring Ron's muffled snorts. She looked like she wanted to demand that Harry explain exactly what dementors were but managed to rein herself in for the time being. Harry didn't doubt that there would be many long explanations of the magical world in the not too distant future.

"Cool," she grinned and everyone smiled. Percy sighed in relief, glad that any serious outbursts had been avoided.

"So why are you here?" Annabeth asked Hermione curiously.

"Well we were having a holiday after the battle of Hogwarts - long story," she said quickly as Annabeth opened her mouth. "We'll tell you later. In brief, some of the followers of the enemy, who were against us in the battle, escaped afterwards and decided to come back to take revenge on us for killing their leader, especially on Harry. We started to fight and in an attempt to get away Skye brought us here." She looked at Skye who simply shrugged and mouthed "fields." Hermione rolled her eyes but smiled as Ron took over the narrative.

"Hermione then got knocked unconscious and we stupefied the others. Harry sent his patronus to the Ministry of Magic and they were just taking the men who attacked us away when Percy arrived."

Annabeth nodded and then looked at them critically. "I have a question. Other than wanting to know about this battle, which you can explain after, I was wondering why everyone apart from Skye is in their pyjamas?"

Everyone glanced down and Ron went so red that he would have given a tomato a run for its money. Skye was practically dying from laughter and Harry scratched the back of his neck sheepishly.

"I guess we ran out to help Skye so quickly that we forgot to get changed," he grinned ruefully.

Annabeth raised a stern eyebrow but her amusement was clear in her eyes. "Why doesn't Skye stay here and you lot go back to your house and get changed and then come back?"

Everyone agreed and apparated back to the house leaving Skye to follow Chiron, Percy and Annabeth as they headed over to the large farm house to wait until the others returned.

Skye sat at a table in the big house waiting for the others to get back. She felt a bit uncomfortable, as Percy was doggedly staring at her and Annabeth had fixed her with a calculating gaze. She started to fidget and Chiron noticed her discomfort. "Are you all right?" he asked kindly.

"Yeah," Skye nodded. She didn't want him to think she was nervous, even though her stomach felt like it was full of Rettigats (curious invisible creatures that snuck in through your ears and danced around your intestines in tense situations, or so Luna assured her). It was important to make a strong first impression and she was starting to feel slightly humiliated about breaking down in the field. Thankfully no one had yet mentioned it.

"Will you tell us about the battle you mentioned earlier?" Percy looked eager but Skye shook her head.

"I think we should wait until the others get back, as they know a bit more about it than I do." She was now quite certain that the Rettigats were dancing a tango, or possibly a foxtrot.

Percy looked at her curiously but she didn't elaborate further. While the 'Golden Trio', as everyone called them, had been out hunting Horcruxes, Skye, along with Ginny, had been back at Hogwarts. The school year and following battle were some of the worst experiences of her life and she wanted the others there to help her, in case she felt like she couldn't explain in detail. Like the majority of survivors she still suffered from nightmares where she was forced to relive the battle over and over in gory detail, as well as the numerous torture sessions instigated by the Carrows. She didn't really feel like explaining this to Percy, so she just ignored him and rested her head on the table. Percy seemed to get the message and left her in silence for the time being.

"Um, Skye? Anyone?" Skye jumped up at the sound of Harry's voice and ran outside, followed by Percy, Annabeth and Chiron. The sight that met their eyes was actually quite funny, but the other wizards looked so apprehensive that Skye held back her laugh. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny, now fully dressed, were surrounded by a group of curious and slightly suspicious teenagers. Oh yeah, did she mention that they were all holding swords?

"Chiron," barked a huge girl with straggly brown hair in a crimson bandanna. "Who are they?"

"Clarisse, put your sword away," he sighed. "And the rest of you!" he yelled to the gathered crowd. Everyone reluctantly sheathed their weapons, but continued to stare at the newcomers suspiciously. Chiron looked at them and said, "Maybe now would be a good time to explain everything." Skye raised her eyebrows but Harry nodded resignedly.

"Well we know about them," he reasoned when he saw her dubious expression, "so why not?"

She sighed in agreement, and Chiron called to the campers, "Everyone please make your way to the campfire. Everything will soon be explained." He looked at the group for confirmation and they nodded.

Everyone trooped over to a huge campfire, even though it was still morning, and sat down on the logs surrounding it. Skye gasped as the flames soared high in the air and changed colour. She heard Hermione muttering under her breath furiously, "It must be enchanted to reflect the emotions of the campers..." Trust Hermione to know everything. Ron, who was obviously thinking the same thing, chuckled to himself.

The small group gathered in front of the campers, who were sitting in a semi-circle. Only Chiron was standing with them at the front, Annabeth and Percy having slipped back into the crowd. Chiron blew a shell, the sound echoing around the camp and called for silence. The whole camp was silent at once, which was kind of spooky. He nodded to Harry, who stepped forward and began to talk.

He explained that they were wizards and told the gathered campers about Hogwarts. His friends noticed that he didn't really talk about how the Dursleys had treated him but then they realised, he didn't want these kids' pity, he wanted their friendship and acceptance. Ron then took over, explaining about their first year. Skye and Ginny laughed when he recounted the troll bogie incident on their first Halloween. Ginny then carried on with their second year, with the others supplying any extra details that she'd missed out. Hermione took the third year and Skye the fouth, before Ron told them about their fifth and Harry finished with their sixth year. Harry noticeably tensed up really bad when he recounted Dumbledore's death, and when Ron talked about Sirius and the ordeal that was the Department of Mysteries. During Ron's section of the narration, Skye had been able to make out the white scars on the back of Harry's clenched fist, I must not tell lies. She knew however that Harry wouldn't appreciate her pity. He'd had to deal with so much more than was expected of an ordinary wizard his age and he still acted like a leader, taking control when no-one else knew what to do. The war had forced everyone to grow up quickly.

By this point all of the campers were gazing at them with mixed expressions of awe and shock. Harry, Ron and Hermione were looking at Skye and Ginny and she realised that the others wanted them to explain what happened at Hogwarts next, seeing as they didn't go back. Skye sighed. This was one bit of her past that she really did not want to revisit. She explained to the campers how they had headed back to Hogwarts without Ron, Harry and Hermione and that it had been taken over by Death Eaters who had turned it into a school for the dark arts. She described it as well as she could but when she got to talking about the DA and all the kids that had been tortured and abused her throat blocked up and Ginny had to carry on. The youngest Weasley explained how they managed to last out under Snape's control and keep up everyone's hopes by resisting the Death Eaters and their twisted leader. She finally got to the bit when Harry, Ron and Hermione turned up in the Room of Requirement and turned to them. They began to explain what they had been doing while everyone else was at school and Skye began to tune out slightly, she had heard the story several times before.

They explained up to the start of the battle and fell quiet, unsure of how to continue. In the awkward silence that followed, Skye's stomach gave the largest growl ever heard among man-kind. She caught Ginny's eye and they collapsed laughing as everyone else stared at them weirdly.

Hermione wiped a tear of laughter from her eye and panted, "That was better than Awkward Turtle!" Skye, Ron and Ginny looked at her puzzled, while Harry groaned despairingly until she shrugged.

"Muggle thing," she explained. The bemused wizards nodded and turned to Chiron as Skye and Ginny tried to get a hold over their giggling. Ron had shoved his fist in his mouth to stop himself from laughing.

"Do you mind if we break for lunch?" Skye asked, grinning. Chiron nodded, smiling kindly.

"Of course," he replied, making the intently listening campers groan, they were so engrossed by the story. Harry let out a bark-like laugh and Chiron lead them over to an open air pavilion that smelled of mouth-wateringly delicious food.

Lunch was an interesting affair. Everyone sat down and the group went to join Percy but Chiron called them back. He explained that the tables were specific to each cabin, like Hogwarts' house tables, and that one couldn't just swap tables. Skye thought this a bit silly as Percy had to sit on his own but Chiron offered them all seats at the head table with him and Percy gave them a small smile so the wizards sat down cautiously. The food was served by young girls, but all Skye could think of for some reason was tree. Happy to talk about his camp, Chiron explained that they were Dryads, forest nymphs whose spirits resided in the trees. Skye took this in without asking any questions because, to be honest, she'd seen stranger. She was quickly distracted though by the huge amount of food that was available. Ron was already shoving pizza into his mouth on her laeft hand side and Harry wasn't doing much better on her right. Oh well, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Skye reached out and grabbed some bread, what looked like some kind of roasted root vegetable and a wonderful smelling barbecued something or other.

"Sorry Chiron," Hermione began, "but where can we get something to drink?"

"Just ask for whatever you want and it will appear," Chiron smiled benignly.

"Really!" Ron gasped, gobsmacked. He grasped his goblet and lifted it to eye-height, exclaiming, "Odgen's Old Firewhiskey." The goblet quickly filled with a rich amber liquid but before he could have a single sip it was snatched from his hands by his disapproving wife, accompanied by a scolding, "its only lunch time, Ronald."

Ron grumbled but didn't protest when his goblet was returned filled with pumpkin juice. His sister snickered as she and Skye shared a smug grin.

Suddenly all the campers stood up and began making their way towards a couple of huge braziers. Skye was shocked when they began to scrape portions of their food into the flames but again Chiron explained that it was a traditional sacrifice to their godly parents. The whole god concept still confused Skye a bit (gods? In New York? Pretty crazy, right?), so she decided that she would get him to explain it to her in more depth after they had told the rest of their story.

All too quickly lunch was over, and her stomach was starting to churn at the thought of recounting the battle. She wished in hindsight that she hadn't eaten so much and reluctantly followed the others back over to the camp fire.

When everyone was sitting relatively comfortably, Harry once again began to speak. Skye managed to control her emotions until he reached the part of his narrative where he began to recount Fred's death. Skye glanced over to Ron and Ginny, who both had silent tears running down their cheeks. She didn't even bother to wipe the tears from her own eyes as Harry continued to talk, but when he recounted the deaths of Remus and Tonks he stopped, unable to continue through the lump in his throat. In the silence they heard some sniffs from the campers and Skye watched as Ginny slipped her hand into Harry's and he continued, his voice cracking occasionally. When he explained how Voldemort had killed him the entire camp gasped. Harry closed his eyes and continued to talk. Everyone knew that he hated being the centre of attention but this was his story to tell and the other four noticed that he cut out some of the more personal things that he had told them, for example a few of Snape's memories and the extent of the conversation he had with Dumbledore. At last he reached the moment of his final battle with Voldemort. He seemed to almost be in a trance, and it was clear that he was imagining himself there again. When he had finished silence descended completely. Hermione still had tears clinging to her lashes and was leaning against Ron for support, who still looked distraught at having to relive Fred's death. None of them looked ready to talk soon so Skye shakily took over.

"Recently, we decided to come on a holiday to America so that we could get away from it all. While we were at the house we were staying at, we were attacked by a group of Death Eaters. I brought us here for some reason and Percy found us. I asked if we could rest here for a bit, as Hermione had been knocked out and he led us to Chiron," Skye found herself shaking slightly as she stopped talking. She felt a distinctly sick and short of breath. Harry subtly squeezed her hand.

"You okay?" he whispered anxiously.

She nodded, taking a deep breath and looking across at him. "I just thought it was over," she sighed softly in reply. "And then those Death Eaters came... and they hurt Hermione... and I...I"

Harry gave her an awkward one armed hug and Skye laughed briefly, if slightly hysterically, at his sheepish smile before remembering that a whole group of people were still watching them with deep curiosity. Skye firmly pushed the thought of the Cruciatus curse from her mind. It had been an extreme situation and the others understood, but she hated herself for using an unforgivable curse. She mentally shook herself. He was a Death Eater, she told herself firmly, he deserved it.

Seeing how shaken they were, Chiron sent the campers back to their normal activities and took the five of them over to the Big House, along with Percy and Annabeth. Skye felt exhausted and checked her watch. It was five o'clock, man they had been talking for a long time. They sat on the porch of the house not saying anything as each collected their own thoughts. It was a comfortable silence however and everyone started to relax. Then Chiron spoke, "Seeing as it is nearing dinner, I was wondering if you would like to eat with us?" Harry looked at the rest of the group hopefully and seeing their nods replied, "Sure! We'd love to, and I highly doubt that any of us are up to cooking tonight."

"Why don't you stay the night as well?" Annabeth piped up, looking at Chiron, who nodded.

"As long as it's not an inconvenience for you," Harry said, ever polite.

"Of course not," Chiron smiled kindly. "It'll give you the chance to learn some more about us, seeing as we know everything about you now."

Skye grinned widely; the day seemed to be looking up at last. And maybe Ron would get a chance to have some firewhiskey after all.