Disclaimer: Nope, not one single thing of Harry Potter or Percy Jackson is mine, except for maybe my Harry Potter bubble blower.

No, your eyes are not deceiving you… this really is another chapter after just a few days! I was so happy for the (though admittedly not that many, but still so awesome) reviews, that this came up! Although, I was befuddled with the oh-so-many-and-fantastic suggestions. But still, I made a list out of it and tried my best to fit it all in. (But not at once!)

Thank you to everyone who reviewed, favorited and added this story to their alerts! It made me so happy :') I held back from Daughter of Artemis, to girl on fire, to Slayer of Heroes, to Lexia Daughter of Athena, to Rosanaa, until Erin Hunters 4 Ever, I couldn't take it and wrote this.

Enjoy!

Annabeth felt like the slap wasn't enough as she stormed out of the blue house. She wanted to scream at the jerk some more. She wanted to run in Harry's comfortable arms and cry like the little girl that she hasn't been in a very long time. She also wanted scream at Harry for being too nice and accepting her crying in his arms, again reminding her of how alike he was to Percy and it just felt wrong.

She screamed in frustration, balling her fists, covering her tears-streaked face. Gods, what she would give to be carefree right now.

Feeling tired all of a sudden, she sat down at the porch, rocking back and forth wallowing in self-pity, something that she's recently doing more frequently. And that's how Piper and Leo found her minutes later.

Piper immediately rushed to her newest friend's side, asking her what's wrong. Leo, on the other hand, immediately fiddled more with the trinkets that he keeps in his pockets, but had a worried expression. Annabeth by then has long stopped crying, but still looked "like shit", as Leo had put it, which earned him a glare and a smack in the back from Piper.

"I'm fine," she lied, and before Piper could object, she said, "I'm just worried about Percy." That was true, at least, and the creases on Piper's forehead reduced.

"He'll remember you," Piper reassured her, placing a hand on Annabeth's arm.

Annabeth smiled gratefully. She doubted that, considering even Jason didn't exactly remember about a girl back from his camp, but she appreciated her optimism. Her own optimism level was running low. "So why are you guys here?" she asked them. After all, most of the campers were at the bonfire.

"Chiron wanted to talk to us. I think it's about the Argo II. We're as ready as we can be to leave as soon as we can," Piper said.

Annabeth was going to ask where Jason was, until Leo said, "There's Jason."

She leaned to her left so she could see past him, and just like he said, there's Jason. But he's not the only one coming.

"Why did you bring them here?" she asked Jason when he was close enough, gesturing to Harry and Ron, with Hermione wedged in between them, both her arms hooked with Ron's and Harry's. This confused her more. But wasn't Hermione and Ron… enough of that. Now's not the time, she scolded herself.

Hermione frowned, thinking they weren't wanted, but Jason just shrugged and said, "Chiron asked me to bring them along too." Annabeth furrowed her brows. "What could be the reason that Chiron wants to see all of us right now?" she wondered, "Plus, it's not only us here, but right now Chiron's talking to-"

The door suddenly opened, and Annabeth jumped when a now all-too-familiar and irritating voice stated, "The crazy horse tells you lot to come in." Without another word, he walked back into the house.

Piper turned to her, and both of them nodded. Annabeth stood up and walked inside again, followed by Piper, Leo, Jason, Harry, Ron, and hesitantly, Hermione. They formed a semi-circle as they faced Chiron, the jerk was standing far off at the corner, trying and failing to look as if he wasn't avoiding her gaze. Annabeth puffed, not attempting even the slightest to hide her hatred. True, hate was a strong word, but surely that's what it must be when she couldn't help but feel a slight repulsion just because of being in the same room as him.

"Chiron?" Jason spoke up, his voice uncertain when for a few minutes, Chiron just looked at each and every one of them.

Chiron popped another lemon drop into his mouth, and smiled. "I believe you have told me that the Argo II is as good as new and you're ready to go?"

Jason nodded, and Leo said, "We're ready to head off tomorrow morning. We've packed all supplies, and we already had a test-drive yesterday. We're more than ready." He grinned excitedly. Annabeth smiled lightly. Typical Leo, excited already before the quest had even started.

Chiron smiled, and asked, "Who will be going with you?"

"All of our most reliable and trustworthy campers," Jason said, and paused, "Well, not that I'm really sure of, but Annabeth suggested them, and I trust her judgment." He nodded at her, and Annabeth nodded back, happy that Jason trusted her. He was the Roman here, yet he trusted her and the other Greeks so easily.

"Namely the Stoll brothers, Clarisse, and of course Leo, Piper and Annabeth. Oh, and me too," he grinned embarrassedly.

"Are there enough rooms for the few days' journey?"

Jason nodded, "Just enough. In fact, there's another spare room. There're seven of us, so two people per room."

"And I get to have the solo one!" Leo beamed triumphantly. Jason looked at him irritatingly. "Leo, we've gone through this," he explained, "One room for the Stoll brothers, another for Annabeth and Piper, third one's for you and me, and the fourth's for Clarisse." Leo pouted at him stubbornly. "How come she gets to have her on room? Besides, I could always just sleep in another room, you pointed it out yourself, there's a spare." Jason sighed, as if they had this conversation multiple times. Maybe they had. Correction: Most likely they had. This is Leo we're talking about.

"And what good would it bring if you had the king bed?" Jason asked, exasperated.

"A good night's sleep," Leo smiled immaturely.

Jason rolled his eyes. "We're not discussing this anymore."

"Jason!"

The others observed amusedly of his juvenile behavior, and even Chiron chuckled. "Does Percy know that you're coming?" Jason whacked his own head. "I know there was something that I was forgetting," he grimaced. "Hey, there is this thing that I'd invented-" "Leo, we admit it's a great invention, but there's no guarantee that it would reach him." Leo sighed in defeat.

Annabeth bit her lip, then hesitantly said, "We could try Iris-messaging him."

Piper looked worriedly at her. "You've tried so many times already and failed-"

"I know, but if Percy can contact Tyson from his dream, then why can't we Iris-message him instead?" Annabeth cut her off. She turned to Chiron. "Please?" Chiron scrutinized her for a few seconds before he nodded.

It was then that Hermione's patience wore thin. Out of habit, she raised her hand, and as soon as Chiron acknowledged her, she asked, "Why are we here?" The longer the conversation drew on, the more she felt left out. They hadn't even noticed that she, Ron and Harry had taken a few steps back, sensing that they weren't exactly needed.

Annabeth was annoyed that she was interrupted, but Chiron smiled good-naturedly. "Patience, Hermione. Soon, you will know."

Hermione stayed quiet, and Annabeth approached the fountain reserved for Iris messages. She threw in a golden drachma offered by Chiron, and while clasping her hands with her eyes closed, said, "O Iris, goddess of rainbows, please show me Perseus Jackson." Honestly, she did half-expect that Iris would say again that no, she can't show her Percy, and no, she can't tell her why, or worse, that Iris would not respond at all, which has happened a lot recently.

However, today, Iris seemed to have heard her, and perhaps pitied her, because no later than a few seconds, Percy's image was shown. Annabeth gasped, as did Piper, Jason and Leo.

He was sitting around a picnic table near a store that has an old rusted petrol pump at the front, talking with a guy that has black hair that was cut like a military's, and a stoutly-built frame. Annabeth observed that he actually had a baby-cheeked face. Next to him, in between him and Percy was an African-American girl with long, curly cinnamon brown hair. It looks like she was asleep, judging by the way she was burying her head in her arms and the few sounds that she made.

Annabeth's heart twanged as she took in his unruly black hair, his familiar build and his ocean eyes.

"Percy," she half-whispered, but he didn't seem to have heard her.

He was still deep in conversation with the guy.

"Did you mean what you said earlier?" the baby-faced military guy said.

"About what?" Percy looked across the table at him.

"About…being proud that we're related." Annabeth raised her brows. Another brother?

Percy tapped his granola bar on the table. "Well, let's see. You single-handedly took out three basilisks while I was sipping green tea and wheat germ," he stated, earning gasps and shock from Ron, Hermione and Harry. Annabeth scowled. She had no doubt that this was all Hera's doing. Percy kept on talking.

"You held off an army of Laistrygonians so that our plane could take off in Vancouver. You saved my life by shooting that Gryphon. And you gave up the last charge on your magic spear to help some defenseless mortals. You are, hands down, the nicest child of the war god that I'd ever met… and maybe the only nice one. So what do you think?"

Annabeth's heart sank when he said they took off from Vancouver; that was so far away. Laistrygonians? Gryphon? And the child of Ares? It was as if Hera was planning for Percy's death, along with the funeral.

"It's just…I was supposed to be in charge of this quest, the centurion, and all. I feel like you guys have had to carry me," said the baby of the military.

"Not true."

"I'm supposed to have these powers I haven't figured out how to use," he said bitterly, "Now I don't have a spear, and I'm almost out of arrows. And… I'm scared." Who wouldn't be? Annabeth thought. In spite of her brave façade, she was just as scared as everyone was when doing a quest. And when the guy you love was offered immortality, well. It felt like her life was on the verge of being ripped away, and you can't act brave when that happens.

"I'd be worried if you weren't scared. We're all scared," Percy admitted.

Just like that, Annabeth was reassured again. Percy was still like himself. If he hadn't changed… then maybe he remembers. Her spirit lifted, but before she could check any signs that he remembered, the iris-message started going fuzzy.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, please don't-!" She pleaded, but a second later, it faded. Her shoulders slumped.

"This is very bad," Chiron murmured, and everyone turned their attention to him. "The iris-message worked, but he couldn't hear us. Either he's in the middle of something very important, or something is purposely blocking us. Plus, he's been attacked more than I had imagined…"

"So what do we do?" Jason finally asked.

Chiron took in a breath. "I think it would be best that you leave tomorrow, at dawn. Since iris-messages don't work, then I hope that one of you try to contact him in your dreams," he said, looking at Annabeth. "However, in case it doesn't work…" He paused, as if contemplating, but Annabeth knew him well enough that his mind was set. "All four of you should also join," he said, pointing to Harry, Ron, Hermione and Draco.

There was a brief moment of silence.

Ron was the first to speak up. Or shout out, in his case. "WHAT?"

"I don't fully understand, but I don't think it's a good idea…" That was Hermione.

"We don't exactly know what's going on, but…" That was Harry.

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?" Ten galleons to whoever had guessed who said it.

Annabeth, Piper, Jason and Leo just stared at him. Yes, they believed that there must be a reason why Chiron decided this. But it was also unusual. Not to mention more risky.

"Chiron-" Annabeth started, but he held his hand up to stop her.

"If you cannot contact Percy, and you suddenly invade the Romans, what do you think they would do?" he asked.

"They'd attack," Jason answered, "But what do they have to do with this?"

"A form of protection. They are the children of Hecate, after all."

Annabeth and the others slowly agreed, and after checking with Harry, the other two agreed too.

"I won't do it." She wasn't surprised to hear the snarl coming from the quietest part of the room that night. Harry glared at him. "You're not in the position to decline, Malfoy. He saved your life, remember?" he hissed at the furious blonde. "And I save Dumbledore's. My debt's been paid, so you can sod off, Potter," he retorted. None of them saw the logic in this except for him and Chiron. "That doesn't-" Harry started, but Chiron held up his hand again.

"It's all right, Harry. If Draco doesn't want to join it, then he doesn't have to."

Before any of them, had the chance to argue some more, the chimney at the back of the room burst with green flames.

This chapter was so much work, and I admit it's not my best. But it's vital for the plot, you see. And forgive me for that sudden cut-off. I wanted to continue, really, but then it'd be too long. I'll see if I could upload tomorrow.

That is, if you want to read it… (wink wink) More excitement next chapter! (Yes, I had just admitted that this was a tad bit too boring.)

You know what I want…

-NK