"That was horrible. Worse than shadow travel."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Percy, we traveled across the Atlantic ocean in seconds, without any lasting side effects other than slight nausea."

"I don't care," he grumbled. "It's still worse than shadow travel."

Annabeth sighed, looking around the room in interest. The portkey that the American magical congress had given them had landed them in an empty room with just a few chairs in it. Piper looked around the room. "So what now?" she asked Lou Ellen. "Chiron said that we should wait for the Romans to arrive, then someone would come fetch us."

"Fetch us?" Percy grumbled.

Annabeth glared at him. "Percy, I want you to be on your best behavior today. We don't want another war started when we just finished the last one!"

"What!" he protested. "When have I ever intentionally caused trouble?"

She slapped the back of his head. "Don't try and deny it, Seaweed Brain. Don't get into any fights with wizards like you did with Jason."

"I had a legitimate reason for fighting with Jason," Percy grumbled. "Our dads-"

"Don't use your family for an excuse," Annabeth interrupted.

Percy rolled his eyes. "Fine, then. I promise I won't start anything."

"Thank you," Annabeth huffed. Beside her, Piper laughed. "You know, It's always fun to watch the two of you argue, even though Annabeth always wins."

"What!" Percy squawked. "What do you mean Annabeth always wins?"

"Is there something wrong with your ears?" Annabeth smirked.

"No," Percy contested, "You don't always-" He was interrupted by the appearance of Frank and Neville, both clutching a styrofoam cup tightly. Frank collapsed on the floor, breathing heavily.

"What the Styx was that?" Overhead, the sky rumbled.

Neville laughed. "That was a portkey. It's a standard type of magical transportation for those who can't apparate." He saw the others' confused looks and clarified. "Apparating is like teleporting. It's horribly uncomfortable."

"I'm noticing a trend here," Percy said. "Shadow travel, portkeys, fancy teleporting- they're all uncomfortable. Why can't someone invent a magical form of travel that's actually comfortable?"

"Well, we have flying brooms!" Lou Ellen said cheerfully. "They're comfortable." Neville winced. "Those are definitely not comfortable."

Lou Ellen shrugged. "Just because you're terrible at flying doesn't mean that others can't enjoy it."

Percy shuddered. "I don't think that flying would be any better than any of the others." He turned to Annabeth. "Wouldn't you say so?"

Annabeth didn't answer, merely continuing to glare at Neville. Lou Ellen winced. "Watch out," she warned Neville. "She's getting ready to yell at you for keeping everything secret."

Neville nodded glumly. "That's fine, I'm used to it. Reyna almost threw me out of Camp Jupiter when she found out I was a wizard. She said that she didn't appreciate being lied to."

"I know what you mean," Lou Ellen commiserated. "Annabeth has been grumpy ever since the Big Reveal."

"Well, you should have told us!" Annabeth burst out. "After what happened not that long ago with the Romans, how could you have kept it a secret? There is no way-"

"Hey!" Piper interrupted. "Guys, I think our guide is here." The others stopped their argument and turned to the door.

"Oh, hey Luna," Neville smiled. "Hello, Neville," she responded dreamily. "The others are already here. Kingsley sent me to fetch you all."

Annabeth took a deep breath and was about to speak when Luna commented, "We don't really have time for you to yell at me, Annabeth. You can do it later."

Percy snickered as Annabeth huffed in annoyance. "Fine." She walked determinedly to the door. "Well? You coming?" she asked over her shoulder. Percy rolled his eyes as the rest of them followed her.


Harry paced anxiously, his brow furrowed in worry. "Calm down," Hermione said soothingly. "I don't know why you're so upset. You were fine when we were talking about this earlier."

"But what if Percy doesn't like magic? He's practically the only family I have left."

"Oi!" Ron looked affronted. "What about us?"

Harry waved his hand dismissively at him. "I meant close, blood-related family. But what if he doesn't like magic?" He repeated. "I mean, the Dursleys hated magic- they were always afraid of it. So what if Percy's the same way?"

"Harry, if what you were told is correct, then your cousin is the son of a greek god. I doubt he'll care that you're a wizard."

"Yeah," Ron said. "And from what I hear, he's had a lot of experiences like yours. Maybe the two of you could get together and have a 'Saviors of the World' party or something."

Harry stared at him. "Saviors of the World party? Really?"

Ron shrugged. "Yeah, and you could talk about almost dying, and the psychotic murderers trying to kill you."

Harry winced. "Thanks for the reminder of how screwed up my life is."

Ron nodded at him. "Glad to help."

There was a knock at the door. It opened and Kingsley Shacklebolt poked his head in. "One of the portkeys just arrived. We're still waiting on the other one."

"Thanks for the update, minister." Hermione smiled at him. He nodded at her and pulled his head out.


"I mean it, Percy! Be on your best behavior!"

Percy groaned. "Yes, Annabeth, I heard you the first two times. I swear I will not start any fights. I don't know why you think I would, anyway. It was Leo who started the last one."

"Yes, well, Leo's not here, and out of everyone who is here, you are the one most likely to cause problems."

"I don't think there'll be a problem," Neville spoke up. "Percy's a lot like Harry. They'll get along fine."

They came to a door at the end of the hallway, and Luna reached out and pulled it open, calmly walking through. "Hello, Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny. I've brought some more friends." Percy walked in after her, looking around the room until he spotted Harry. "Um, hey, Harry, how you doing?"

"Fine, and you?"

"Great, thanks for asking."

"So, uh, I hear you're a demigod."

"Yeah, and you're a wizard?"

"Yep."

"Cool."

Their conversation stuttered to a stop as they looked around the room awkwardly as if for help.

"Oh, honestly!" Hermione snapped. She walked forward, holding her hand out. "Hi, I'm Hermione Granger."

Annabeth reached out and shook her hand. "Annabeth Chase. Percy is my boyfriend." She gestured at him. The others introduced themselves, and soon Annabeth and Hermione were talking enthusiastically about the differences between their two cultures while the others looked on in various degrees of happiness and fear.

"I think we've just created a monster," Harry said.

Percy nodded, eyeing them fearfully. "Maybe we should escape while we still can; before they drag us into doing research with them."

Harry shook his head. "Nah, it'd be useless; they'd just chase us down. Hermione can be vicious when it comes to her research.

Percy nodded. "Annabeth can too." They looked at each other and smiled. "So do you like flying?" Harry asked.


"Wait, so you can just turn into an animal whenever? Any kind of animal?" Hermione asked Frank. He nodded. "Yeah, I think so. At least, I've managed to turn into every kind of animal that I tried."

"But what about magical creatures? Or extinct ones? Can you turn into a dinosaur? Or what about bacteria? What are the limits to this?" she fired of at him. "Hm, I wonder if it's similar at all to the animagus transfiguration." Hermione looked thoughtful. Frank looked worried.


"So, Harry tells me that you are rather good at strategy," Percy said to Ron.

Ron looked bashful. "Yeah, I guess. I really like chess."

Percy nodded, looking interested. "Do you think you would ever be willing to come over and help us with a game of capture the flag?"

Ron frowned. "Capture the flag? What's that? Is that some kind of muggle game?"

Percy face brightened. "Well, you see, you're divided into two teams, and each team has their own territory and flag, and then . . . "


Ginny stared at Piper. "You mean your mum is the goddess of love and beauty."

Piper nodded, rolling her eyes. "Believe me, sometimes it can be more trouble than it's worth. And Aphrodite wouldn't win any awards for 'Best Mom of the Year,' or anything."

"Wow," Ginny said. ""So you're sort of like a glorified veela, but without the male mind control."

"Um," Piper hesitated. "Well, actually . . . I have this thing called charm speak that- wow, you're right, I guess I am just a glorified veela."


The door to the meeting room opened and Chiron and Kingsley came into the room and stopped in surprise. Hermione had pulled some books from her purse, and she and Annabeth were sprawled out on the floor going through them. Ron was trying to teach Piper about quidditch while Neville watched with an apprehensive look on his face. Ginny and Lou Ellen were watching Luna try to describe what a crumple-horned snorkack looked like to Frank so he could turn into it. Frank seemed to be trying to change half-way into a snorkack, and currently had long purple tentacles in place of arms. Harry and Percy were comparing fighting styles, with Percy blocking bolts of colored light with his sword.

Kingsley backed out of the room. "They seem to be managing fine. We can just put the lunch on hold until they get hungry."