Author's note: Thank you all for your sweet reviews – I've hit a hundred! That's sick! A great thanks to the sweetheart Nix-Lokifan to have the honor of being the hundredth reviewer.


Chapter 11

A Shiny Battle

The trio had taken off into the woods, their eyes focused on the trees and strange shadows, just in case one of those warriors decided to show up again.

They didn't, which was a huge relief to Harry. He somehow got the feeling that that had been beginner's luck – who knew he could hit a moving target right in its heart? – and that he wouldn't be able to do it again. And he was quite content with the awe the two boys felt towards him, rather than the annoyance the other teens had shown last night. "So," he began, trying to break the tense air, "where's that Annabeth you spoke of?"

"I don't know," Nico said, without looking up. He still hadn't sheathed his sword. "I'm guessing she's with Percy."

"Right." Harry fell silent again. It felt weird walking through the woods with them, but comfortable at the same time. They didn't feel like his enemies at all. Maybe it was a trap; but for now Harry was happy to have semi-friends. "They're in charge, right?"

Will laughed. "Nobody's really in charge – though don't let Mr. D hear that, our camp director – but Percy sort of leads us. He won us the last war, so we couldn't very well not listen to him."

"He what?" Harry stumbled, almost falling over an overgrown branch.

Sure, he'd thought that Perseus had been through quite a lot judging by his incapability to trust total strangers, but that he saved them a war? Whilst being a kid? Harry was used to the fact that the weight of the wizarding world was on his shoulders, it had been ever since he was one year old, but to meet someone else with the same fate was… strangely comforting.

"Yeah," Nico said, casually dodging a small fireball shooting past his head, as if he did that every day. "But don't mention the war to him, he doesn't like that. Nobody in camp does, actually, now that I think about it."

"Figures," Will pushed Harry quickly to prevent him from walking straight into a bush. "We kind of lost a lot of good people, in case you hadn't noticed."

It was almost as if Nico's whole figure had darkened – as if Nico had somehow called the shadows around them to surround him. But that was just a trick of the light... right? "I've noticed."

They fell silent again, but Harry was bursting with questions. "Just… hold up for a second. Are you guys telling me you've been in a war?" And Percy was your chosen one? He wanted to ask as well, but didn't dare in case he was wrong and looked odd.

"Yes." This time Nico looked at him, and somehow that glare was scarier than the smoke warrior had been. "What, never heard of children fighting a war?" He asked when he caught a hold of Harry's clouded expression.

"I'm currently in the middle of one, actually," Harry admitted reluctantly, "but I've never heard of one happening here in America the last couple of years –"

"It ended a just few weeks ago." Will said shortly.

Nico looked away from Harry's face, who relaxed visibly. "Really, Harry Potter, don't ask questions about it. It's still too raw for some people."

"Right." He had to find out about it another way, then. Not that he wasn't used to finding the truth in the most unorthodox ways. "Got it."

The woods around them seemed strangely quiet, as if all the fighting had ceased. Harry knew better than to hope for that to have happened (seeing as he still didn't have his wand, and hadn't shown himself to his friends to make them stop the fighting), and he couldn't help but think that something was waiting for them the moment they'd step out of the woods. Maybe the twins had cooked up something else, something worse. (Harry had said he'd be back in ten minutes, and he'd been away for far longer than that.) Maybe the warriors were preparing themselves for a battle rather than scaring the teenagers.

Nico's sigh disrupted Harry's thoughts, and his gaze feel onto the young kid.

He reminded him strangely of Colin, a kid he knew from Hogwarts. It wasn't that Nico looked like Colin – not even in the slightest – nor that his energy was the same – they couldn't be more different in that aspect – but Harry sort of felt responsible for him without knowing exactly why. Nico was holding a sword, he looked like death, and his scowl would surely make a lot of people want to avoid him… but Harry couldn't help but want to wrap the guy up in a cloak and keep him warm and safe.

It wasn't the eyes. It hadn't been his voice. It surely hadn't been the way Nico had enjoyed being stuck together, and it hadn't been the tone of awe when Nico had asked how Harry had destroyed the warrior.

There just was something about him that made him think of him as someone to protect, and looking at the expression Will had every time he looked at Nico, Harry knew that he wasn't the only one who felt that way.

"How big is this camp of yours?" Harry suddenly asked, no longer being able to think like that about a stranger – about a stranger who had abducted him, no less. Ron would've punched him if he knew he pitied them. "And why are there only teenagers here?"

They were quiet for a while after that, the two boys obviously torn between wanting to tell him, and not knowing how much they were allowed to tell him. It wasn't after Harry had pulled Nico quickly to stop him from crashing into a tree that they began to talk again.

"Well," it was Nico who started, "I'm not sure how big it is, but it contains everything we need. It starts at the strawberry farm – you sort of fell right through our barrier, I'm sure you remember – and ends at the beach. We've got twelve cabins, but they're building more, because… well, it's a bit complicated. Let's just say they're building more." He took a deep breath. "We've got an arena, one for fighting and one for racing – which we barely use, actually – and we've got multiple spots for training. We've got stables, and… a challenging climbing wall, an amphitheater.."

"And an archery field," Will added cheerily, but quickly shut up when Nico glared at him.

"An archery field, indeed," Nico continued, as if Will hadn't interrupted him. "We've got an armory as well, and the Big House – the house in which you were kept.. I mean, you slept last night."

Right. These kids were getting weirder and weirder. "How many camps have armories and archery fields in America?"

Nico smirked. "Maybe more than you think, but none as good as ours."

"Can I ask you another question?"

"You already did so just now – but sure."

Harry rolled his eyes, and ignored Will's silent laughter. "Why are you here? Sure, it sounds pretty cool for a camp and everything… but why?" He knew he should stop there, but there was something in Nico's expression that suddenly made Harry want to blurt everything out. So he did. "And you still haven't said why you're all teens! And – is this a sort of theme camp, because everything you just summed up sounds either Roman or Greek, and your armor…" Harry gestured to their swords, their clothes, their everything. "Let's just say it doesn't look like it was made in the twenty-first century. Plus, you guys said that only half-bloods could cross the borders, which means that you are either gullible, or the border is magical – and the fact you weren't surprised to see warriors made out of smoke suggests it's the latter. Yet you aren't like me. So what are you?"

"That wasn't one question," Nico pointed out, but Harry merely lifted an eyebrow. He was getting his answers, and he wouldn't back down this time.

Harry let them think about it. It was obvious that they wanted to answer him – the fact that they weren't scowling, nor threatening him was enough for Harry to believe so.

So when they were silently walking for more than five minutes, even helping each other cross a narrow creek without saying a word, Harry didn't do anything to stop the silence. He let them think.

He helped the two guys to stumble through the woods – apparently the armor they were wearing was too big and clumsy to walk around in. He pointed out footprints with nonverbal communication. He pulled them towards the source of what he believed to be fighting. He was leading them without even realizing it so, and he was doing it without saying a word.

"Gods," Nico finally whispered after what seemed an eternity. His voice sounded soft, as if he didn't want to break the silence. "You're practically a younger Percy in everything."

Harry narrowed his eyes. "I've never met the guy properly, so I'm not sure if that's a compliment or not."

Will breathed in sharply. "It is."

The two other guys met gazes, and finally, Nico relented. "Oh, to Hades with it," Nico muttered under his breath, as a curse, and took Harry's hand to pull him closer. When Harry's complete focus was on the dark-haired boy, he let go. They had stopped walking. "Listen, I do want to answer your questions, okay? It's just that Annabeth told us not to – she said we had to leave you alone and leave the answering to her. To let you know everything in time, slowly, to not make you afraid or run away." Nico was obviously afraid of disobeying the girl he thought of as their leader – as much as he respected Percy – but his gaze met Harry's steadily. Nico had made his decision, and Harry felt his stomach unclench. "But we all had to learn the hard way. We never got the luxury of learning the truth slowly."

Will laughed softly, and Harry jumped – he'd forgotten the boy was there. "I remember when they told me – I believed everyone here to be barking mad and myself to be hallucinating!"

Nico smirked, his eyes not so cold when they looked at the blonde boy. "I however believed them instantly, but I had an advantage – I had already seen the proof." He breathed in sharply. "Listen. We go here to camp because it's safe for us – the only place in the world where people like us can live without the fear or running into monsters constantly."

"Monsters?" They had mentioned them before. "What kind of monsters?"

Nico wrinkled his nose. "Everything you can imagine." He started walking again, pulling Will with him. Harry followed instantly, this time not leading anymore. He didn't care in the slightest. "From manticores, to furies, to hellhounds.. we've fought them all, and more."

"Manti- what now?" Harry blinked a couple of times. "I've heard those names.. but – aren't those myths?" The Dursley's hadn't read fairytales to Harry, so he wasn't really known in the world of literature, but he knew his fair share. And he knew that the monsters Nico just named, were monsters from ancient Greek times – from the myths of Odysseus and made-up heroes like Achilles and Heracles. Not real.

"Well," Will said cheerily, not breaking free from Nico's tight grip, "you were mythtaken."

Nico pushed him, hard, but that just made Will laugh more. Harry merely snorted.

"What Will here so delicately tried to say," Nico continued when Will's laughter finally ceased, "is that those aren't myths. They're very much true. Don't worry – I checked. But I'm guessing you're used to learning that things aren't how you always thought they were – seeing as you flew into camp on a broom?"

Harry shrugged, not being able to stop a smile. He was right. "Yeah," he admitted, thinking about his eleventh birthday. "But I lived in a magical world now for four years – and I've never heard of those monsters being real."

"We've never heard of people with wands, either." Nico pointed out, and Harry couldn't help but want to agree again. "But anyway… we live here. Safe. We train, just in case we're ordered to go out and save the world again." Will snorted in the background, and Harry didn't push it – for once. "You said the border had to be magical, and you're right. Only beings of half-blood are able to cross it. Chiron because he is a centaur, half-human, half-horse, and satyrs because they're –"

"Half goat half human?" Harry suggested.

"Yes." Nico's gaze met Harry's again.

"You called us abhorrent the other day," Will suddenly said, his voice sounding edgy, "and prejudiced because we said that only half-bloods could cross."

A blush crept up Harry's cheeks. "Yes, well, in my world, blood-status is a big issue for a lot of people. Purebloods deem themselves higher than the rest, because they think they're more magical and more important because of that. They even think half-bloods aren't worth having a wand – let alone those born from a family without a drop of magical blood. So naturally I thought this was some sort of rebellious camp, one to shun out purebloods and muggleborns alike… Sorry. I misjudged you."

Harry was happy to see that they believed him – because he truly had been sincere. These boy hadn't done anything wrong to him – they hadn't ordered him to be taken, they hadn't taken his wand away from him – and he wanted desperately to befriend them.

"Okay." Will said, a genuine smile on his face. "I believe you."

Nico said nothing about his apology, but he was smiling, too. "So the rumors are true. You're a wizard."

It wasn't a question, yet Harry answered. "Yes."

"And you're a half-blood wizard?"

"Yes."

Will sighed deeply. "This explains so much."

"Well," Harry brushed his bangs out of his face, watching Nico's eyes widen slightly at the sight of his scar, "I'm glad you feel satisfied. I, however, am still very much confused."

Nico's laugh sounded soft, as if he didn't do it often. "That I can understand. As you can see, we're no satyrs nor centaurs, and we aren't magical like you are."

"Yet you're able to cross the border."

"Yes." Nico locked gazes with Will, and he took a deep breath, as if he had made a decision. "We're half human, and half gods."

"Half what now?"

A sudden shriek ripped through the air, snapping Harry's head towards the source.

Nico's words were forgotten.

The absurdity of the statement 'half-god' was pushed back in Harry's mind, to be looked at later – because his priority was looking at him not two leagues away.

Fifty smoke warriors were waiting for them, their swords high up in the air, ready the battle Harry had feared they wanted. They had assembled together, forming a true army, and the biggest and buffest looking warrior was standing in front of them, shouting orders in a strange language. It seemed as if they had rebelled against their creators – because Harry knew that however talented the twins were, they could have never created such intelligent things. (And Harry actually hoped they weren't acting on the twins' orders, either, because he didn't dare to think that they had planned for them to be so hostile and dangerous.)

A group of ten teenagers had assembled at the edge of the woods, standing in the same positions as the warriors were. They were outnumbered, but they didn't look scared – and that was because of their leader, Perseus.

He was shouting at them, punching his chest with his fists like a true warrior, wanting to make his people feel excited and powerful. He was too far away to be heard, but even from this distance Harry could see his green eyes glowing with an angry fire, and the strange unnatural aura pulsing around him.

Harry's gaze switched to the crowd Perseus was leading into battle, and his eyes fell in the blonde girl – Annabeth.

The breath he hadn't noticed he'd been holding slipped out. "My wand," he breathed, and Nico shuddered awake from his shock.

"We've got to get my wand," Harry pressed on, not caring that the warriors might hear him.

"Yes." This seemed to jar Nico into action, and he started pulling Harry with him towards the group of teenagers. "Don't make a sound, let me do the talking."

Harry nodded, and his eyes flipped back to the warriors. What were they waiting for?

The three boys slowly and silently made their way through the group, and finally they were close enough to hear Perseus' voice.

"- have you not? We have defeated the Titan's armies – sure we can defeat smoke?"

The blue-eyed girl, Thalia, cheered as a banshee. "Bet your skinny ass we can, Jackson!"

"Language, Thals," Perseus jokingly said, winking. How he could be this cheerful with a fight waiting to happen was a puzzle to Harry.

"Morning, Percy," Nico suddenly said, and stepped into the circle. "I see that you finally joined the party?"

Perseus's eyes narrowed slightly, but his mouth quirked upward. He was obviously happy to see the young boy. "Same could be said to you. Where were you?"

"I was held up."

"By who?"

"By whom," the blonde girl corrected, and Perseus rolled his eyes at her.

"By him." Nico nodded towards Harry, who stepped into the circle as well. Every eye switched to him, and every expression suddenly turned darker.

"Who let him out?" Perseus snarled angrily. His cheery but had evaporated within seconds. "He's the reason these warriors are here, what made you think it was smart to bring him here?"

Harry's anger flared up immediately. "My fault? Are you kidding me? You are the one who kidnapped me, Jackson," he guessed it was Perseus' last name, and judging by his expression, he was right. "I warned you something would happen if you did, but you didn't listen."

"So you admit it then, Potter?" Perseus wasn't backing down. "You knew this would happen?"

"Of course not." Perseus was reminding him more and more of Draco – yet there was something in his eyes…The way Perseus' hands were shaking in anger… Then it suddenly clicked.

Perseus was afraid of Harry. Sure, he would never admit it, not even to himself, but there was something about Harry that made Perseus feel on edge. Maybe it was the fact that he was a wizard, that he flew on a broom, or that his friends were powerful enough to create an army out of smoke – but Perseus' fear was enough to make Harry's anger deflate within seconds.

"I'll end this." Harry said, and his tone must've surprised Perseus, since his angry expression disappeared as well. "I'm sorry for the hurt my friends caused you – and I will end it."

The blonde girl eyed him wearily. "You're saying you didn't want this?"

"Of course not!" Harry felt the need to defend his friends. "And my friends probably didn't, either, but they don't understand. They think you're with vold- uh, with the enemy. They don't know you're just teenagers… I'm sure this wasn't what they'd intended to do."

"So why aren't they here to stop it?"

Harry's gaze flicked to Perseus's. His green eyes seemed doubting, wanting to believe Harry was right yet too afraid to trust him instantly. "They can't cross the border," he said. "They aren't half-bloods."

The blonde girl stepped closer. "And you are?"

"Yes." She blinked at his tone – she obviously hadn't expected him to be so sure about it.

"Though not in the way you think he is," Will added, grinning sheepishly.

The warriors started to walk.

The echoing sound of their footsteps traveled to the group of people, making the leaves and twigs and trees around them tremble slightly. The children looked up, and tried to swallow their fear.

"Listen, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said, "I know we've defeated worse, but… we're with thirteen people. Not nearly enough to –"

"Give me my wand." Harry quickly said, not waiting for Annabeth to finish her sentence. "I can stop this – I know I can. Just give me my wand."

"I – I can't." She looked troubled, and for the first time Harry wasn't afraid to look her in the eye. She seemed like a normal teenage girl, not the hostile one he'd seen the other day. "We don't know you, and what if…"

The words she didn't say were loud enough to make the group of teenagers shift on their spot.

"I won't hurt you." Harry promised, feeling as though he'd gone mad. Yesterday he'd wanted to hurt them, badly, for taking his wand and broom and everything. He'd wanted to curse them for taking him away from his friends, he'd wanted to run away. Right now, however, he was ready to fight beside them. "Just, please..."

She took a deep breath, and gave him his wand.

Harry knew as no other that it was a significant sign. It was more than just giving him a piece of wood: the girl was saying that she trusted him to do the right thing.

And it made Harry feel warm.

"Thank you," he said, genuinely smiling. His wand was vibrating, as if it was just as happy to be reunited as Harry was, and tiny sparks of gold sparkled around the tip. "But I still haven't forgiven you for the ambush," he added, turning to Perseus.

The boy was smiling. Obviously he trusted Annabeth enough for her to make the decision: so if she trusted Harry, he had no objection not to. "I'm sorry I had Clarisse manhandle you."

Harry just grinned, and stepped forward. The warriors were almost with them, their footsteps growing louder with the second. They were close enough to see their glowing eyes, to see the sharpness of their blades in the flick of the light.

Now the only thing Harry had to do was defeat them.

But how?

He'd never encountered smoke warriors before, and the thing that had made the other one disappear was a sword through its heart… Harry's eyes glinted. Got it.

Harry ignored the fact that he wasn't supposed to do magic out of school, that he was already in danger of being expelled – he just had to do something. He looked at the sky for a second, hoping to see anyone he knew hovering above (maybe the twins could call it off?) but there was no one in sight.

Harry took a deep breath, pointed at something above the warriors, and shouted: "Baubillious!"

A beam of hot white light shot from his wand through the air, sizzling as fire, piercing through the cold air and exploding above the warriors. Their attention momentarily focused elsewhere than the teens, Harry took advantage of its momentum and started running. He ignored the other teens gasping, he ignored the fact that Perseus was barking orders: and he lost himself in the running.

He had to get closer.

He couldn't miss.

And if he was wrong about this…

"Oy, ugly!" He yelled when he was close enough for them to hear him.

The boss, the one that had seemed like the boss anyway, looked at him. He looked too solid for Harry's taste, and too dangerous.

Harry tried not to think about his friends thinking he had switched sides – they surely wouldn't hate him for trying to stop the warriors? – and lifted his wand for the second time, aiming at the boss' heart. "Confringo!"

At first Harry's heartbeat stopped: it looked as if the smoky chest had just swallowed the spell, letting it disappear into nothingness. The blast disappeared, as did the sound of the shotgun it had made, and for a second it was silent enough to hear a pen drop onto the soft earth.

The warrior stepped forward, his gaze ever so deadly, until a white light burst through.

It was as if someone inside the warrior had flipped a switch, and turned on a bright lamp. Tiny spots of light shone through him, evaporating the smoke before Harry's own eyes, until there was nothing left of him.

The light, however, didn't stop – and one by one the warriors fell, disappearing in thin air before they even made the ground.

Harry had been right. The leader was connected to them all. More relieved than he cared to admit he turned around.

And saw every single teenagers staring at him with their mouths wide open.

"Uh," he said intelligently, blinking a couple of times. "Right."

"How the Hades…" Perseus started, his voice small. "Never have I ever…"

Harry shrugged, and that gesture made Perseus twitch a little. "Beginner's luck."

Someone laughed, but it sounded hollow. "Somehow I don't believe you're a beginner in this stuff."

Harry didn't contradict it. That wasn't unnoticed by Perseus and Annabeth. "Shall we just find my friends before they turn even angrier?"

Thalia stepped forward, one of the few who didn't look as if she had an heart-attack. "Right you are, Harry Potter. Let's find your friends and kick their butts."

x

Okay… This chapter was a bit longer than anticipated.

(I just couldn't stop – that's maybe why this ending seems so abrupt..)

Some of you wondered whether I was going to turn this into a Harry/Nico fic or not – so let me tell you guys:

This story is written for the plot, not for the romance. You'll see some Percabeth, some hinting Solangelo (maybe, I'm not sure about that yet) but I respect J.K. Rowling and R.R. Riordan too much to disrespect their ships and their timings. So I won't go all mushy and fluffy. Don't like, don't read.

Anyway – let me know what you guys thought of ass-kicking Harry!

Oh, and I'm going to respond to my anonymous reviews:

Matt: Yes, he does… And this is after 'The Last Olympian', so Percy's 16 here.

Guest: I'm sorry it's torture for you, but it's for me too, seeing as I'm terribly busy and I love writing it.. I do my best to update as often as I can.

Stu: Hey Stu! Glad to see you're not dead. But, seeing as you reviewed, maybe you're not the Stu I wrote about?

IDoWhatIWant: Okay, your review made me giggle. And thank you, so much J

CloakofPoseidon: excuse your language. (But thanks !)

Luna: Thanks! And Harry IS a half-blood. No god. Just himself.

Amadan: Yes, they're short. And Harry isn't a whimp, I hope this chapter was to your satisfaction in that aspect?

Twilight4ever: Of course I remember you, sweetheart! How could I not? Just seeing your 'name' up there made me smile like a doofus. Thank you for saying so, and I'm sorry you can't read it again… You were one of my favorite fans. I can always send it to you, if you want to, but I can't do that seeing as you're an anonymous reader… Make an account, message me, and we can see what I can do for you, okay? Love, x.

PJHPfangirl: Aw, thank you!

Sorry. That was a bit long.

Review!