Chapter four – The Reunion

*Hermione POV*

"Your brother?! Who?" Harry and Ron gasped, both wearing identical flabbergasted expressions. Harry sobered up first.

"What do you mean your brother? I didn't know you had a brother? Hermione!" The snap of my name brought me back to my senses and allowed me to explain to the boys and an equally shocked Professor McGonagall.

"Before I lived here, I lived in America. I was told that I was accepted into Hogwarts and I had to move here. I had to leave behind my mum and my older brother Percy. I…I didn't think I would see him here, it shouldn't be possible." I looked around hopelessly, looking for some kind of explanation. "I was meant to go home after I completed my seven schooling years, but that was disrupted by the war. I couldn't contact them explaining what happened. I haven't spoken to them in years, they probably think I'm not going back. Oh my god, I have to tell him." I started to get up, fully ready to launch myself at my brother and tell him everything that had happened these past seven years.

"Miss Granger please wait." McGonagall's words yanked me to a halt. "Now those students are confused as it is, and I believe that you running up to them as a long-lost sister would just cause them to break. Please refrain from doing anything irrational! I shall go and explain the situation to Mr. Jackson and the fellow students. To limit confusion, please head to my office, you know the password, and wait there until I arrive." When I made no inclination to move she raised her eyebrow at me, "Miss Granger that means now!" With that she marched off in the direction of the transfers, dutifully ignoring the death glare I had trained on her retreating figure.

I got up from the table before turning to Harry and quickly saying: "Harry, don't forget to lead everyone to the common room and give them the password." Before he could object, I hurried away, earning quite a few curious glances from the other tables. When I arrived at the doors I glanced back quickly at the transfers seated at the opposite end of the Gryffindor table. They all had similar expressions of utmost confusion on their faces, watching Professor McGonagall converse with Percy. Before I did anything stupid, I left the hall and headed to the Headmistress's office, silently waiting for the reunion that would change my life.

*Percy POV*

"I'm confused, what's happening?" I glanced around at the others, they all seemed as confused as I did.

"I said, Mr. Jackson, that there is someone here waiting to speak to you and that you must accompany me to my office immediately." Professor McGonagall's impatient tone left no room for argument, it was either follow her or suffer unknown consequences. Still, I couldn't help but be hesitant. Who on earth would want to speak to me? And here of all places, wherever here is…In the end, I looked towards Annabeth. She considered the situation steadily before nodding slightly, indicating to me that I should listen to the scary lady and follow her to her office. With a final sigh towards my uneaten food, I got up and wandered behind the Professor. Before long we arrived at the spiraling staircase. I was about to step onto it when McGonagall stopped me with a hand.

"I will not be joining you up there. It may be slightly overwhelming but please try to remain calm. Once you are finished, please return to the Great Hall. Good luck." With that promising sentence, she departed, leaving me wondering what the Hades was going on. Without any other options, I stepped onto the staircase and waited for it to deposit me in front of the large oak doors. For some reason, I stopped before opening the door. I felt uneasy. I could hear someone pacing inside so I slipped one hand into my pocket to encircle Riptide and used the other to push open the door before stepping inside. The sight that greeted me was that of a turned back. The student had very bushy brown hair and was lean, although about a head shorter than me. Nothing could have prepared me for the heart attack I had when she turned around. For staring back at me were the deep brown eyes of Hermione, my Hermione. The sister that I hadn't seen in over seven years, the sister that I was so sure had forgotten about us. I sucked in a strangled breath as I pushed forward and wrapped my arms around her, holding her tightly so she didn't disappear. She grasped me just as tightly, neither of us saying anything, just holding each other. After what felt like an eternity we pulled back, still holding each other.

"How..what…" I could barely speak as I took in her face. A face that belonged to a woman, a face that was so different from the one I had last seen. Tears streaked this one as well, but this time they were tears of happiness instead of sorrow. I felt tears of my own slide down my face as I struggled to believe that this was real, that she was real. "This was not how I expected our reunion to be like." She huffed a laugh at my pathetic attempt at a joke.

"I missed you so much, Percy. You have no idea how horrible it was to realise I had no way to contact you. There was so much I had to tell you. I thought you would think I wasn't coming home."

"We thought you might have forgotten about us. You were meant to be home months ago! You need to tell me everything, leave nothing out." We both sat down as we told each other our stories. Hermione went first and explained her initial weeks at Hogwarts, her formation of friendships, and the war. I listened in horror as she described her torture and the battle, breaking inside at the knowledge that someone hurt my baby sister, and that I wasn't there to stop them. In turn, she listened as I told her my story. Tears welled up when I told her about Luke and his betrayal. More flowed when I told her about my time in Tartarus. Once I had finished we simply held onto each other, unwilling to let the other go in fear that it was a dream and that we would wake up to find that they were gone.

*Hermione POV*

I couldn't stop crying as Percy told me what he went through. I didn't have any words to express how I felt, so I grabbed him and held him tight. I wasn't going to let anyone hurt him again, and I wasn't going to leave him. The horrors I went through were insignificant in comparison to what he endured, I could see the lasting trauma in his eyes. Eyes that I had dreamt about for years, eyes that never failed to make me feel safe and loved. We managed to calm ourselves down enough to sit back and breathe.

"Perce, I can't even begin to try to comfort you after all you have been through. I'm so glad you had Annabeth. Oh, I wish I had been there for you."

"Don't stress yourself over it, Mione. The good thing is that we are together again. Once we figure out why my friends and I are here, we can do what needs to be done and then go home, together. We can be a family again. You still have to meet Paul and Estelle, they will be ecstatic!" I laughed and pulled him in for a hug again.

"Come on Aquaman, let's get back to the Great Hall."

"Aw, Hermy, you know I hate that nickname."

"And you know I hate 'Hermy'!" We continued to bicker light-heartedly the rest of the way back to the Great Hall. Percy led me over to his friends, nearly bursting with excitement.

"Guys, I would like to introduce you all to my sister, Hermione." Everyone except Annabeth looked surprised. Instead, she let out a slight squeal and wrapped her arms around my neck.

"Hermione I can't believe it's really you! I was so sad when you had to leave, we didn't even get a proper goodbye. Oh, how have you been? What's been happening? You need to sit with us and meet everyone. Oh gods, I'm so happy to see you – "

"Geeze Annabeth let the poor girl breathe." The small Latino boy held out a hand towards me. "I'm Leo Valdez, Bad Boy Supreme, and the one and only Supreme Commander of the Argo II, I'll accept autographs later."

"Leo shut up," the beautiful Cherokee girl joking pushed Leo back into his seat and extended her own hand, "it's a pleasure to finally meet you, Percy has been talking about you for months. I'm Piper! I hope we can sit down and chat, I believe we'll be great friends!"

The lanky tall boy waved from across the table. "I'm Will and this is my ray of sunshine boyfriend, Nico. Pleasure to meet you." Nico shot an impressive death glare at Will and held his hand out for a handshake.

"As Piper mentioned, Percy has been talking about you for ages, apparently something about you forgetting him or something. Not that I can blame you, sometimes I wish I could forget the constant headache that is him." His sarcasm was followed by a slight chuckle as Percy pouted and crossed his arms.

"Not cool dude, not cool."

The small girl with chocolate skin and golden eyes introduced herself as Hazel and the kind-looking bulky boy next to her said his name was Frank. Annabeth scooted down enough to make room for me as we all talked and laughed over dessert. Professor McGonagall then stood up and the hall fell silent.

"Students there are just a few announcements that need to be made before you all head off to bed. Firstly, as you probably know, we have two Head Girls and Head Boys this year. This is due to the returning seventh years unfair exclusion from a proper schooling year last year. Secondly, the returning seventh years should note that even though most of them are legally of age, any inappropriate actions unsuitable of a schooling environment will not be tolerated and will be punished accordingly. Thirdly, due to damage inflicted to the castle last year, some areas are unusable and are therefore out-of-bounds. These include the astronomy tower, the footbridge, the boathouse and the Quidditch pitch." At this, angry commotion erupted across the hall. "SILENCE! Now I understand that there are those that are unhappy with the current Quidditch situation, however, every effort is being made to repair the pitch to allow the season can commence." Once the mutterings died down, Professor McGonagall continued her announcements, "Finally, I would like you all to welcome Professor Ody who will be taking the place as the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Now, off to bed all of you and don't forget to follow your Prefects for your passwords. Sleep tight." With that, Professor McGonagall sat back down, and the hall burst with motion.

"Come on, I'll show you to your dorms." I grabbed Percy by the arm and pulled him up into the slowly moving crowd. "Excuse me, make way, please! I am Head Girl, please allow the transfers to pass! Thank you!" Slowly I managed to extricate our group out of the clutches of tired students and lead them towards the Gryffindor tower. We arrived at the Fat Lady and I gave her the password (initium novum) and I showed them through the portrait hole. Since no one else had arrived yet, I led them to the comfy armchairs near the fire and we sat down to talk. The laughter and happiness that evolved made me believe that we wouldn't be getting nearly enough sleep tonight.

A/N - Ugh sorry for the long chapter, a lot happened (obviously). Unfortunately, I may not have internet for a few days so I won't be able to upload more chapters. I'll write them though and upload soon. Hopefully, these two chapters keep you occupied until then.