Draco had prided himself in his ability to read people. Being in his line of work, he had found it particularly useful when his attention to detail would reveal new information and push a particular research forward. Now, he searched his ex-professor's expression for any hint of deception, and was glad that he had found none.


The next few days had the Ministry thrown into frenzy. News that the Head Auror was ambushed had somehow found its way to the mass media. Just as anyone would have expected, the papers pounced onto the information like hungry vultures.

The Ministry's mailbox was flooded with requests for exclusive interviews and the gates were constantly crowded with reporters hoping to sneak their way in. The usual swarms of paper plane memos doubled and many workers had sprouted bruises from being bombarded with planes in the lift.

The mailroom staff had been rushing about trying to do damage control with the media when angry letters and Howlers from the public started coming in as well. Loud Howler yells, questioning the competency of a youngster in a position as important as that of the Head Auror, were constantly heard from the mailroom and the staff had taken to wearing Mandrake Muffs.

"Bloody idiots, the lot of them." Ron grumbled as he rubbed his ear where a Howler had screamed in. He had been too late in putting on his own pair of earmuffs when the Howler erupted in his face. He dumped his armful of letters into the fireplace at the side of Harry's office, mumbling even more derogatory names. Harry allowed himself a tired smile at Ron's expense and picked up a pale pink envelope from the top of the mountain of envelopes on his desk.

This one called him a deformed Voldemort's Nipple. That was new, Harry noted dully. He hasn't seen that term being used since the 3164th letter.

"They locked their doors and shut their windows, didn't even dare to say his bloody name. Now they won't shut up with it when slandering their savior." Ron spat, snatching away the letter from Harry's hand angrily. He didn't even spare the pink thing a glance as he gathered more envelopes from the mountain to dump into the fireplace.

Harry had asked Ron why didn't he just levitate the entire bunch into the fireplace. Ron swiftly answered that he wanted the satisfaction of physically dumping them into where they belonged.

It was sort of amusing to watch the angry ginger mumble curses while ferrying the envelopes back and forth with vigor.

The Daily Prophet had been against him taking on the mantle of the Head Auror since day one. Despite their four-page congratulatory feature on the day of his instatement, there was a strong emphasis on his age and experience, contempt and mockery thinly masked in their attempt at controversy.

The news of his ambush had leaked faster than he had imagined. He couldn't even begin to guess where the Prophet obtained their information. Before he knew it, his face was gracing the front page of every newspaper coupled with a lengthy false article of speculation.

"The Boy Who Lived By Luck!" Ginny had shrieked in annoyance when she read the headlines at the breakfast table. "Is that all they can say? You know one of these days, I'm going to fire that Rita Skeeter myself." She chewed her pancake as if it were Skeeter's head.

Harry brought his fingers to his temple, massaging it slowly as he considered the situation.

The Rebellion had changed their tactics. They had been careful to stay in the dark, keeping their attacks random and small-scaled. The Aurors could only quell each seemingly half-hearted attempt when they happened, but couldn't deploy more of their forces to investigate given their scattered nature. With the latest unexpected attack, however, the game pace had changed drastically.

The sudden onslaught had them in chaos. Between keeping the citizens sated and holding back the media, they were abruptly short of manpower to keep things in order and continue carrying out any normal operation at the same time. The implications were truly worrying.

Harry sighed.

A dim dot of yellow light blinked lazily on a small square of parchment under Harry's inkbottle. He stared at it tiredly. Right, there was still that issue.

There was still that issue.

The light shifted and crawled across the parchment, stopping near the edge. His fingers had stopped its massaging motion and began a slow tapping on his temple. Ron's mumbling voice continued in the background as an idea slowly blinked into existence the longer he stared at the pulsating yellow light.


Percy tossed the newspaper back down on the long table, briskly making his way out of the gloomy Drawing Room. 'THE BOY WHO LIVED BY LUCK' the headlines screamed on the front page, plastered over a headshot of an angry Harry Potter waving away the photographer.

The portraits on the walls followed his movements with disapproving eyes, maintaining their eerie silence until the door closed behind him. Percy could hear their soft whispers through the thick wood of the door, rolling his eyes as words like 'Muggle', 'dirty' and 'Mudblood' were thrown around in their hushed conversations.

Technically, he wasn't even mortal, but he stopped himself from screaming that in their painted faces. Percy self-consciously straightened the grey hoodie he was still wearing. Perhaps he should take to wearing wizard garb again.

What a mess he got himself stuck in, Percy thought to himself, pacing down the hallway towards the entrance of the Manor. Yet this was the closest that he had ever gotten to in his search all these years. He didn't want to believe that the woman in the pictures had been Annabeth, but there was a tiny voice nagging at him. It makes sense, she was here, and that's why not even the Gods have been able to find her.

Percy shook his head. Whatever the truth was, he wouldn't allow Annabeth's name to be used this way.

He pushed open the heavy front door, stepping onto the long driveway to continue pacing along the yew hedge. An albino peacock flapped its large white wings at him in annoyance when he got too close on his stubbornly straight path.

He was sort of under house arrest now, Percy supposed. Harry and Draco couldn't quite decide what to do with him and was reluctant to let him loose into the public with all that information. Now that he recalled, Draco had been a little quick to offer up his Manor.

"The press is going to catch wind of the ambush soon. Your place would be targeted. I could house prof—Percy until things are solid." Draco had butt in with an innocently blank expression.

And that was how Percy ended up with a tracer spell placed on him so the two of them would be alerted if he were to step out of the Malfoy Manor.

It was oddly strange, to be surrounded by nature without feeling the presence of the nymphs. The flora though alive, felt lifeless to Percy. He smiled sadly at a row of rose bushes. Their beautiful blooms were empty. The Wizarding world was Hecate's snow globe. She had been so careful to isolate it completely from the Greek world; even she herself was barred out of its gates.

He slowed down his pacing as he neared a gate of his own. The Manor's wrought iron gates were tall and looming, its dark ornate curls ending in sharp points. He reached to graze his fingers along the cold mortal metal. The gates would dissolve into smoke for anyone but him at the moment but Percy knew just how pointless that precaution had been. The sturdy bars felt fragile to his touch. His hand reached into his pocket absent-mindedly and pulled out Riptide, habitually twirling it in his fingers.

He briefly wondered if this was how Hecate felt every time she peered into the Wizarding world. It was so easy for her to break the glass and just poke her nose into the wizards' business. Yet, it had become some place she had to stop herself from going, simply to keep the delicate balance she had carefully nurtured in this isolated terrarium.

He recalled the day Hecate had gathered them and told them about her little hobby. A favor, she had smiled haughtily at the Head Counselors, not a quest. The Gods have not changed; mortals would always simply serve as mildly amusing entertainment to them. A dry chuckle escaped his lips as he caught himself pitying the unknowing wizards, how ironic. He wasn't any different, wasn't he?

A loud crack brought his steadily darkening thoughts to an abrupt stop.

Percy whipped around, almost uncapping Riptide on instinct. He quickly stopped himself when he saw who had appeared, hastily shoving Riptide back into his pocket hoping the other had not noticed. He really needed to get used to the wizards' strange mode of transportation, 'Apparation', as they call it.

It was loud, it was obnoxious and absolutely useless in stealth.

Harry stood in front of the wrought-iron gates, his black robe still fluttering from his Apparation, light glinting off his gold Head Auror's badge. He spotted Percy and marched towards him with purpose.

"Become an Auror." Harry declared the moment he was close enough to be heard. Percy blinked.

"We need manpower and you need information. I'll take you in as an Acting Auror." Harry clarified tersely, pushing up his glasses out of habit.

"Uh," Percy replied, showing off his superior intellect. Without waiting for a smarter response, Harry grabbed his arm and Percy felt the familiar sensation of being squeezed through a tube of darkness. At this point, Percy wasn't sure if he hated Shadow Travel or Apparation more.

Percy immediately recognized the large hall they Apparated into, the Atrium of the Ministry of Magic. The high ceiling and sunny scenery outside the enchanted windows hardly gave off the impression they were miles underground. Golden symbols shifted restlessly on the peacock blue background of the ceiling, changing so fast Percy was sure he couldn't read them even without his dyslexia. Witches and wizards in colorful cloaks milled about, swarms of paper planes zoomed across above their heads. Standing in the center of the hall, was a gleaming gold fountain. Percy's gaze lingered for a moment longer on the centaur reared on his hind legs.

Percy didn't get to witness the grand Atrium the last time he had been brought to the Ministry for interrogation. Draco had Apparated them directly to his office in the Ninth Floor before they took the stairs to the Tenth.

As he followed Harry across the polished wooden floor, he noticed just how much attention they were drawing. Harry's face had been on the front cover of the Daily Prophet for days now.

"Muggle…who's that..." Percy picked out from the noise once again. He really should start wearing wizard robes.

"Mr. Potter! Mr. Potter!" a particularly shrill voice rose above the crowd but Harry didn't turn to acknowledge the call, his steps quickening as they neared the lifts. Percy's eyes scanned the crowd in curiosity. The owner of the voice belonged to a blonde woman with sharp features. Her stiff blonde curls didn't even budge as she jumped up and down to see over the heads of the crowd.

She stopped her jumping the moment her beady eyes zeroed-in on Percy from behind her rhinestone studded glasses. Curiosity and a hint of malice flashed across her face and thin crimson-painted lips broke into a sickeningly sweet smile. A bright light briefly flashed into his face.

Percy quickly blinked away the spots in his vision but the blonde woman was no longer there.

"Percy! Hurry up!" Harry called impatiently from the lift. Jerking his gaze away, Percy quickly rushed to join Harry, frowning at the thought of the strange woman. A few paper planes trailed after him into the thankfully empty lift, hovering patiently above their heads.

"Going up," a pleasant female voice announced. Percy half expected terrible elevator music to start playing when they started ascending, thankfully, the speakers remained silent.

Percy didn't remain thankful for very long. The silence in the lift dragged on and he grew increasingly conscious of its presence. He shifted his weight awkwardly when Harry didn't seem to be making a move to speak.

"Level six, Department of Magical Transport, incorporating the Floo Network Authority, Broom Regulatory Control, Portkey Office, and Apparation Test Center," the voice announced again when the lift lurched to a stop.

Several of the planes zoomed out the moment the door opened, a dozen more flying in to take their place. A small witch hugging a huge box of seemingly random objects stumbled into the lift. Percy backed up quickly to make space in the tiny lift for her. Thick furry earmuffs rested on her ears and stray pieces of hair had escaped her neat bun. She didn't acknowledge either Harry or Percy, only staring in a daze at a spot on the lift wall.

Percy eyed the little lady's thick earmuffs; if his magical knowledge had not failed him those were Mandrake Muffs. He turned to look slightly apprehensively between the box of objects and the lady, hoping the box contained no Mandrakes. He liked being alive and conscious, thank you very much.

"Level three, Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes, including the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad, Obliviator Headquarters, and Muggle-Worthy Excuse Committee," once again the voice announced.

The witch stumbled out of the lift almost on autopilot, bringing along with her almost all the planes still hovering in the lift. Percy caught a glimpse of what looked like a snowstorm further down the hall and gulped. What kind of workplace had indoor snowstorms? A single green paper plane ducked into the lift just before the door closed.

It seems to register the occupants in the lift before taking a nosedive straight onto the top of Harry's head.

"Ow!" Harry exclaimed in surprise, wincing as the plane mercilessly continued its assault until Harry irritably snatched it from the air.

"This is why I hate emergency memos," Harry grumbled as he unfolded the green paper plane. "I am going to have a word with the maintenance staff, they can't just…" His voice died off into inaudible mumbles as he read the memo. Percy glanced up at the planes still leisurely hovering above his head, suddenly seeing them in a new light. He wondered how many of them were emergency memos destined to viciously poke at their receiver's head.

"Bloody hell," Harry cursed, the green memo crumpling with the force of his grip.

"What—"

"Level two, Department of Magical Law Enforcement, including the Improper Use of Magic Office, Auror Headquarters, and Wizengamot Administration Services," interrupted the voice pleasantly. Percy shot a brief glare at the invisible witch.

Harry marched out of the lift at a pace even faster than before, no doubt spurred on by the contents of the green memo. Percy easily kept up with the shorter man.

They walked past a long line of cubicles, each bearing a different array of newspaper clippings and mugshots on their walls. Most of the cubicles were empty of their occupants but those that were not had their occupants poring over thick files.

One particular Auror had four different colored paper planes taking turns dive-bombing his head. As Percy watched in mild sympathy, two more paper planes that had arrived with them joined in on the party.

"Robards!" Harry barked as he rounded the corner into yet another line of cubicles.

"Here!" A sandy-haired young man bounced up from one of the cubicles, looking around for the person that called him. When he spotted Harry, he visibly paled, almost tripping on his brown Auror's robe when he scrambled over. Robards hastily tugged the creases out of his clothing and stood straight at attention.

"Call back Ceasar and have her get on this," Harry shoved the green memo into Robards' hand. The poor boy paled even more at the irritable tone in Harry's voice, this time really tripping over his robe as he rushed back to his cubicle.

Percy stifled a chuckle at the young Auror's expense. His student has really grown. Ordering people around and all that leadership jazz. In fact, both of his students have matured wonderfully, one leading the Aurors and the other leading the Unspeakables.

Before he realized, Harry had already moved on. Percy lengthened his strides to catch up to the Head Auror. They rounded the corner back to the first line of cubicles, heading towards the Auror who had several emergency memos attacking his head.

There was only two of those still left circling the positively exhausted man. The man tossed the purple memo he was reading into the wastebasket beside his chair and tiredly snatched another just before it could collide with his skull again.

Harry's hand shot out fast as a snake and grabbed the last plane, stopping its attempts at evading the unintended receiver. The man gratefully accepted Harry's offering, relishing in the peaceful absence of paper planes bombarding his scalp.

"Proudfoot, this is Percy," Harry gestured in his vague direction. "I'm recruiting him as a temporary help for the Aurors. I'll need you to get him and his wand listed into the Registry. Point him to my office when you're done, alright?"

The Head Auror gave Proudfoot, what an odd name, an encouraging thump on the shoulder before turning to Percy, his expression slightly more cheerful than when he still held on to the green memo.

"I'm going to explain your presence to Ron, if you still remember him from Hogwarts, because he doesn't remember you." Percy returned the accusatory smile with a sheepish one. "I hope I'm making a right choice in letting you act alongside the Aurors."

Percy didn't miss the brief look of worry on Harry's face and tried to look as reassuring as possible. Percy had promised to find out the truth of the case for Harry and being with the Aurors was a good compromise. The shorter hesitated for a moment longer before nodding to Proudfoot and turning away to where Percy assumed was his office.

"What is your full name?" Proudfoot asked, pulling out a thick unmarked leather folder from the bottom of a stack on his rather clustered table. A small silver marble rolled off the top of the stack and hit a wanted poster pinned to the wall of the cubicle. The haggard looking criminal screamed silently from his mugshot at the disturbance.

Proudfoot flipped open the folder and the pages flipped themselves until it got to a blank form. A peasant feathered quill floated up from its inkbottle and hovered over the parchment, ready to record Percy's answers as they are voiced. Percy answered each of the man's questions as truthfully as he could and was relieved they weren't as invasive as he had imagined.

"May I have your wand please, doing a check of it," Proudfoot held out his hand expectantly, his heavy-lidded eyes scanned the messy cubicle to look for his wand-measuring tools.

Percy stared at the outstretched hand, his mouth suddenly dry. He raised his head to peek above the walls of the cubicles, looking around to make sure no one was paying them any attention. Proudfoot had turned back to look at Percy, slightly confused at the lack of wands in his hand.

Percy snapped his fingers.

Proudfoot's eyes immediately glazed over. His fingers wrapped around nothing and proceeded to measure and weigh an invisible wand.

"Ah what a beautiful wand. Ash, Whiteriver Monster Spine, 12 inches. How extraordinary." Proudfoot mumbled, the quill taking down the imaginary characteristics.

Percy took a mental note of the mentioned qualities to make a dummy wand. He couldn't use a real wand. The last time he had been in Hogwarts, Hecate allowed him some control over the wizard magic that he could channel via an ordinary twig. Despite the blessing from the Goddess of Magic herself, the stick would still be more likely to explode in his face than perform a proper spell. He had felt rather stupid carrying around the twig and claiming it to be his weapon.

"And we are done," Proudfoot declared to Percy, handing him back his invisible wand, his eyes still unfocused. "Walk straight and to your right. Nice meeting you, Jackson."

Percy gave the man one last apologetic smile and heeded his instruction.

The plot advances! I have read all of your reviews and I see that you have questions! I am planning quite a lot for this story and it would eventually also explain some of the events in the prequel. BUT I am a lover of mystery and suspense so the reveal will be slow (And really I don't want to write a character monologue explaining everything in one go, where's the fun in that ;)

Thank you for holding onto your patience! Please read and review!