Disclaimer: I do not own either the Harry Potter or Percy Jackson series. Any copyright infringement is unintended. Any reference to other fictional or non-fictional works like books, movies, documentaries and others might occur, although there is no claim established over them. Mentions of real personalities are not considered true. This is pure fan-fiction and is published only for the sake of entertainment.

I have a notorious habit of imagining certain scenes with HP and PJO characters. See if you can find out what scene from this chapter reminds you of.

Actually, Percy is described as pale in these stories. Everything will be explained in the upcoming plot.

A: Hades ordered Alecto to hide Nico and Bianca in the Lotus Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas for about seventy years.

Listening to – One Love by Blue

Words – 3699

They found the tent after the Diggorys left them. Amidst the fun filled chaos of circus like folks playing around with different assortments of what Harry made out to be most of Zonko's fancy Quidditch related products. At random intervals, blasts and phizzes would zoom around people's heads illumination the slow day with the excitement.

"Here it is!" Sirius crowed as they reached a small of-white shaded tent off the pathway. On the outside, it barely looked enough to house five people. In their party of fifteen, it didn't seem appropriate.

Percy looked at most other tents around theirs and they all seemed to be around the same height.

"All in. We can have our time setting up our stuff for a few days. Match starts at five, so keep an eye on your watches." Mr. Weasely announced.

One by one, everyone went in the tent. None of the sides looked ruffled, there didn't seem to be any squeezing and no sounds of pushing or fitting seemed to be heard.

Percy and Annabeth were still standing out, dumbstruck. Not sure of what was happening, the peeked inside.

The interior looked to be as big as a house. The clothes ceiling was almost a storey high, there were several sides, closed off like rooms, many bunk beds near the wall, a small place for a kitchen and a main place which acted like the living room.

"Top bunk!" Daniel shouted, half-flying towards it. Harry clumped him on the shoulder and they wrestled for the beds. Ginny and Hermione walked straight into another section marked off – Girls. Ron immediately headed for the cupboards in the kitchen and Fred and George lounged about in the dining hall and Sirius and Remus were laughing when Charlie and Percy W. fell off the couch because Bill had tugged on the carpet.

"Extension charm." Mr. Weasely explained on watching Percy and Annabeth slowly amble into the tent, gaping at the awesomeness that was magic.

They had almost ten hours until the match and since many people kept popping in to meet with Sirius, the teens had retreated into the inner living hall.

"We should do ghost stories." One of the twins said, waving his wand to dim the lights. The brightness of the afternoon glare reduced and it looked to be a dull evening from inside the tent.

"Ghost stories don't have the same flair as they do at midnight." Ginny commented, sitting on the ground cross-legged. Most of the others had joined her, but Percy W., Charlie, Hermione and Annabeth were on the couches.

"True stories?" Percy asked, staring at the canvas ceiling.

"Strange true stories." Daniel voted.

"I have one." Harry interrupted. "There was once a demigod and a wizard. They set out to save the world. The outcome is not yet known."

The silence in the tent was not very kind.

"Huh?"

"Really Harry?"

"What's the moral?"

"Not every story has a moral."

"That wasn't even a story."

"I know a better one. Charlie might already know this, though." Bill said, suddenly, sitting up. Charlie looked at him curiously but the older Weasely waved his hand. "It's about my first trip to Egypt."

"Egypt?" Hermione asked. "You mean, you're first job?"

Bill shook his head and Percy noticed that everyone seemed interested for this. Even Harry. "Actually, this story is the reason why I became a curse breaker."

"What's that?" Annabeth said, leaning forwards.

"There are many runic forms of magic and some of the most known ones originate from Egypt. So the Middle-East Countries are very important in our culture. We believe that the old kings, or Pharaohs, had their own brand of power which is related our magic, so we've established a kind of crude connection between the Cairo authorities and ours. Besides, my story is about how I got roped into this."

Bill now sat up and looked at Harry. "Actually, your parents were, well, looking after me for a couple of days when this happened. So, I got to tag along."

"My parents have been to Egypt?"

"Yeah. I think I was eight. What year was it? Um… 1994, yeah… Fred and George had started to wreck the Burrow. This was a couple of weeks before Christmas…"

1994 – November 26

Though almost winter in some parts of the world, the deserted desert outside of Cairo were close to scorching when the sun was over head. Outside the ruins of an ancient half-broken pyramid, two camels stood tethered to a palm tree. They snorted and wheezed at one another, both sporting colourful cloth like saddles over their bags and empty pouches.

It was evident that their riders were in the large pyramid.

Such old structures still had viable wards around them, remains of the full power of barriers set up so long ago. It was one of the rules of scavenging for any riches or knowledge from the tombs and buildings – No use of magic unless necessary.

So the explorers had kept their wands within their holsters, preferring to use the old torches to light the dark cobwebbed hallways.

The man, who stood alone at the moment in the inner corridor, facing a statue of a being that looked half-dog and half-human, shifted the torch towards the wall to take a closer look at the paintings. The one sided works of al Egyptians were so famous all across the world, he didn't stop to admire them.

Rather he was distracted at a small sound of a pebble being tossed, behind him.

He turned around, swiftly. Not finding anyone, the young man, pointed the torch towards the hall and took out his wand.

No magic. His girlfriend's voice issued in his head.

Yeah, yeah. He thought. It must have been a spider or bug. Nevertheless, he advanced slowly towards the possible source of the sound.

When he neared the curve, he lashed the torch, its flames dancing, towards the hollow in the wall.

A tiny scorpion trotted away from the sight of James Potter.

He sighed. He was getting paranoid. There was no possibility of anyone else being here.

He turned around and came face to face with a shock of red hair.

Twin yells echoed down the corridor as the smaller person fell onto his back.

James took in deep breaths. "Bill?!"

The small boy, looked up, grinning at the adult, clearly pleased in his attempt to scare him. "What were you thinking?! A mummy had come back to life?"

James shrugged, relaxing his guard a little. "You know what? I'll tell you a story about that someday. But now, pick up your butt and head back to the antechamber."

"But –"

"Bill, you're not even supposed to be here. This is important. Just stay with our bags. There's more protection there."

"It's boring!"

"I promise, the moment we find the necklace, we're out of here."

"What am I supposed to do?"

"I don't know." James said shrugging. Bill sighed, heading back out and the man then called out, "Scare me again."

"With rats?"

"Yeah sure."

Bill's footsteps died down and James ran a hand through his hair, making it stick up in the back. He had promised Lily he would be back in ten minutes after scouring all possible passage ways. His watch had stopped the moment they had entered the pyramid, so she couldn't exactly blame him for his shoddiness.

He took a few turns in the maze of hallways by the sight of their footprints and then saw redness gleaming off with the light of another torch.

Lily stood, brushing a wall carefully, with her back to him. He watched her stiffen for a second before turning around confused. She couldn't have seen him yet, but he watched her as she looked down with a frown. Then her foot moved across the ground, picked up a red and black snake with her boot and launched it away from her, towards him.

"Whoa!" He dodged the snake and saw it land on the sand, hissing harshly and then slithering away.

"Those things are poisonous." He complained.

She narrowed her eyes and smirked. "Only if they bite you."

Point. He planted his torch next to her in the mud and took a look at her scribbled notes on potential curses they had to break. There had been a couple of them, and so far, they were doing well for beginners.

They had been called for a last minute search for a hidden necklace and were part of a huge team for this. Several partners had been sent off to different tombs and abandoned buildings where people have suspected the necklace might be.

But James and Lily were sure that they would be able to find it. All because of Lily's strange dreams…

"I heard screaming. Were you singing again?" Lily asked nonchalantly. He nudged her shoulder, grinning.

"You wish. You know I'm good at singing."

"Eh."

"Don't pretend. Bill's getting bored."

Lily sighed and dropped her hand to face him. James took a look at her sharp green eyes and almost lost himself in it. "We shouldn't have brought him along."

James shrugged. "It'll be good for him. I mean, unless Molly doesn't come to know of it."

"You're kidding! Of course she will! She has a sixth sense like that. It's best if we just grovel on our knees and hope she forgives us." She shook her head and turned back to the wall, inspecting it. James walked next to her and stared at it too.

"Well, the faster we find it, the quicker we're out of here. What's the plan?"

Lily looked jubilant at his words. She immediately dove into her purse and brought out two small pieces.

"Hammer and chisel." She said proudly as she handed him a tiny hammer and an even smaller chisel. They weren't even as big as his palms.

He gave her a look, feeling a smidge insulted. This would take hours! She just enjoyed making him look silly. She gave him an exaggerated sigh and told, "Alright! Let's do it your way."

Now she handed him a proper door opening instrument. The long metal of the pry bar made him feel confident and in one strike the entire wall was knocked off.

Okay, he might have used some magic. Not that he'd tell her. She'd talk his ear off.

They snuck a peek in to the dark room and found three rows of mummified remains covered by cobwebs. There were skulls and bones littering the ground along with large spiders and scorpions crawling slowing over them. The smell of staleness, dead and animals was overpowering and made James want to turn back. But he breathed through his mouth and pointed at the opening across the room.

"Ew." Lily muttered looking at the ground.

James gave her an exasperated look, "Really, Lily? You can face Deatheaters and You-know-who and Hagrid's 'friends' and stupid snakes but your response to tiny creatures that almost can't do anything, is 'ew'?"

She looked up at him. "What's your point?"

It's her girl side, he decided, picking up the parchments and slipping into her bag. She took the torches, handed him one and went in first.

She watched for spaces were there weren't anything before stepping on those spots. Hopping from one spot to another, looking like a ballerina, she said, "Ever since I've had those dreams, this place, is all I can think of."

Even after dreaming she doesn't like tiny things. James nodded to himself, slinging the large satchel over his shoulder and holding up his own torch. He walked with purpose, half looking at the corpses with mild fascination, half listening to the animal squeals and crunching under his boots. "Ever since you've had those dreams, I've not had a decent night's sleep."

Lily glared down at his legs in dismay, "I am not touching those waders."

James blinked. "Lily, you've never touched them before."

"Well, now I never will."

He followed her into a small room, guided by their torches. Then that led to a slightly taller hall, with much more fancy decoration and coloured pictographs.

James saw a large door, as tall as the walls. He was pretty sure that it was a door. He gripped the pry bar, fixed it how much ever he could into the tiny wedge between the door and the wall and tried to lever it open. He didn't have much hope because this seemed to be made out of solid bronze and plated in gold. The metal of the bar bent a little and James looked back to ask if Lily had an inclination of idea, but she was too busy waving her torch, staring at the flames.

He looked at her as she seemed possessed by some force, moving the fire in swift quick motions, waiting for something.

"Lils, you could just blow it if you didn't want the light." He said slowly, not wanting to alarm her. Her eyes looked a little glazed over as though she was focusing on something not in the physical world.

"I… I think I just had a vision. Like my dream, but this felt so much more real. Like I was actually here in ancient times." She whispered, looking shocked but already slipping into excitement.

James nodded and took off the bar. "Well, if you actually were here, how d'you open this thing?"

She gave the torch and a smile which made him weak in the knees. Her dimples were prominent now and he almost kissed her. But she turned away towards a certain spiked knob and placed her right hand on it. She pulled it, turned it to the right and then counter clockwise. Pushing it back brought out a click and the entire door swung open, startling them both.

James gaped at her. Lily was breathing audibly now.

"Now, you're starting to scare me." He said.

"I'm starting to scare myself." She muttered and James took the lead this time.

"Jackpot." He said.

In the large ornamental room, there was a pedestal in the centre, on top of which rested a good size box, strong enough to hold what they were searching for.

Two guards stood by the box. Dead guards.

"You've got to be kidding me." James said, staring at the bodies, standing up straight as though they were pinned to the wall.

"Protocols were very strict in the Egyptian times, James." Lily said, running her hands over the engraved box. Her fingers traced the inscription and he knew that she was trying to read it.

"But seriously? They're dead." James pointed out and tapped their armour with the pry bar.

"Oh, leave them be and hand me the bar. Can't find a key here…"

"Still." James mumbled looking into the decayed skull of the closest guard. Like all skull structures, this one made it seem as though the corpse was smiling very creepily at him.

He looked at the gold plates they wore. The pharaoh must have been stinking rich to afford golden plates as armour guards for every soldier in the field, not to mention how much the king would have to had paid the family for a job like this.

"Do you think they got paid for this?" He asked idly.

"They received honour for such work, Jamie. I doubt the pharaoh would have given them anything."

"Dictatorship was what it was." He concluded, looking at the jewelley. One stood out, looking just like the key to the door Lily had just opened.

"Um, Lily flower? How about we do this your way?"

Lily looked up and to see him dangling the key to the chest. She matched his grin and gladly replaced the bar with the actual key.

There was no trick of turning here. The moment she pushed it in, the lid opened with a hiss. Dropping the chain, they looked into the chest.

The flash of green hit them and the first thing it reminded James off was Lily's beautiful green irises. The emerald brilliance was captured perfectly in the green diamond of the necklace pendant. Riddled with tiny engravings in the chain, the gem looked absolutely priceless.

"It's just like it was in my dream." Lily whispered, awestruck by its beauty. But James stared at it.

"No. You first said that it was blue."

Lily looked up in surprise. "Did I? I remember dreaming it as an emerald."

"Yeah, but the first time –"

The ground shook. Lily was knocked off her feet and James stumbled to catch her. Sand and bits of walls were crumbling down. One of the guards head toppled off and rolled towards them. That was probably not a good omen.

"Oh…" Lily looked up, distressed and then shut the chest, pulling out the key.

"I think it's a bit late for that!" James yelled over the noise.

"Well, then put it into your ruck-sack!" She said picking up the entire chest and handing it to him. James pushed it back into her hands, "I have a better idea, let's just leave it here!"

"I think it's a bit late for that!"

"Is this a trap?"

"What else do you think it must be?"

James groaned as Lily, started to inspect the chest right in the middle of an earthquake. "Wait! I think I can read this part! Um… if the necklace is touched… touched, yeah,… we'll drink… we'll have a drink…"

"A drink?!"

"From the Nile, I think."

They looked up at each other. Lily gave a small smile, "That doesn't sound too bad, does it?"

There was a roar in the distance followed by crashing and grounding. James paled. He grabbed the chest, stuffed it in his satchel and they ran for the exit. The moment they reached the room filled with mummies, the adjacent wall broke over to give way to water. Tonnes of water.

Lily grabbed James arm and pulled him into another path. The maze in the pyramid was slowly crumbling under the Nile's strength.

"We're lost!"

"Just keep running!"

They took hair-pin turns, doubled back every time water was spotted, chanted expletives and curses, but their magic was faltering. James glared at his hands as though they had betrayed his Core. If there had been no hindrance, he could have simply ran through a wall and saved them both. His strength was such that there was no physical power discovered as of yet to be hurtful to him.

Well, except for his brother, Jacob.

If James died here, Jacob would kill him. It would not be fun.

They ran into a wall and turned only to see the water coming from two directions.

"Dead end!" Lily whispered. James dropped the satchel and hugged her.

The water hit them with such force that they were thrown against the wall. He tried to angle her away from the side and tried to take the brunt of it. May be being in a life threatening situation might trigger their magic.

It didn't. His back slammed against the wall, the water already filling in the corridor. They were neck deep so quickly, he couldn't focus. Lily's hold on him disappeared and he struggled to push against the currents to grab on to her. She had a wild look in her eyes.

"I tell you! This is bad, Lily!"

"We've had bad before!"

"This is worse!"

The water engulfed them completely. James didn't take in enough breath. He opened his eyes to see a blurred Lily holding in air as tightly as she could. Her hair flowed along with the water's power and James could literally feel the pressure increasing. His chest ached, his eyes stung, his nose burned and he couldn't hold it anymore.

And he opened his mouth involuntarily. Lily pushed her lips to his to feed him some air and in that second, it was like she was giving him life itself. James suddenly felt empowered. Then he was angry.

No bloody river was going to take her away from him.

He didn't know how it happened. He wasn't sure what he did. But one moment, they were both struggling for air and the next, he'd pushed himself against wall.

May be it was already weak from the force of the flood. Or maybe James was able to connect to his Core magic.

The wall cracked and broke completely. James and Lily were sucked in completely. They hit the ground as the space widened out for the water to flow and James raised his head to take in a blissful gulp of air. It was heaven. He clutched Lily's hand as she spat out water and shook her wet hair which looked brick red.

Two small shoes stood in front of the couple. They looked up to see Bill, his hair askew, his coat hanging off and his face covered in dust. He looked as though he had just flooed.

James coughed as he looked around the place. They had ended up in the ante chamber. Or what was left of it.

The twelve pillars which held up the ceiling had toppled, one on each other like a pack of unexploded Exploding Snap Cards. Part of the ceiling had caved in and a section of the ground was missing.

Eight year old Bill was holding the wet ruck-sack and, with a mesmerized aura, said, "That was too cool."

Twenty four year old Bill started to laugh at the incredulous looks everyone sported. The Weasley twins then shouted, "How come you've never told us this before?!"

He shrugged, "Yeah, well Mum and Dad weren't very happy about the whole thing, so I didn't talk much about it, but… here you go."

"That was bloody brilliant!" Ron said.

They all voiced their opinions on it. Percy was absolutely certain that he had no idea what Harry was thinking.

The son of James and Lily sat in his corner, staring at the small flames of the tiny fire, they were sitting around (yes, fire inside a tent was not a good idea unless there were wizards present.) Harry blinked occasionally, but didn't say anything other than, "Good story."

Not going to be explaining the World Cup. We'll be skipping straight to the attack and the mark. Stay tuned!

Q: What lures Nico into Percy's apartment on the latter's birthday?

Cabba.