(Harry P.O.V.)
Percy swallowed and smiled nervously. "Hey guys, what did we miss?"
Percy P.O.V.
"Schist."
"Vlacas."
"Di Immortales!"
"Excuse me while I carefully step around the elephant in the room."
"So…how about the Yankees last week?"
"I think it's going to rain again today."
"Has that creepy portrait always been there? I thought that there was a spooky tapestry instead, but my mistake."
All of those thoughts started flooding into my mind as the wizards stared at us. I couldn't decide what to say to follow up my question, so I finally settled with, "Is that breakfast I smell, Mrs. Weasley?"
I could feel Annabeth glaring at me as I looked anywhere but at the wizards, checking every once in a while to see if they were still staring, which they were, before going back to avoiding eye contact.
I glanced over at Annabeth and she caught my gaze. Our thought conversation went something like this:
Me: "Should we tell them the truth?"
Annabeth: "Well, we have to tell them something."
Me: "What if we lie?"
Annabeth: "If we lie, we'll have to stick to it."
Me: "If we tell them the truth, we might gain permanent trust."
Annabeth: "But that means we have to trust them first."
Me: "How well do you know them?"
Annabeth: *pause* "Well enough. But let me do the talking, okay?"
Me: "Sure thing, Wise Girl." *lopsided grin*
Annabeth: *eye roll* "Seaweed Brain."
We broke eye contact and walked synchronized forwards toward the table, which was kind of funny. The wizards were still staring at us, and no one spoke until Harry said, "Well, what in the name of Merlin was all that about?"
I chuckled at his saying and Annabeth smacked my arm, but she was smiling, too. It eased some of the tension in the room, and everyone leaned back a little bit into their seats.
"We'll be glad to tell you," Annabeth said warmly. She looked to Mrs. Weasley. "Do you mind if we sit down?"
"No dear, of course not. Sit, please," Mrs. Weasley said after being brought back out of her daze. "Percy, dear, did I hear you say you wanted breakfast?"
Annabeth glared at me again, but I smiled brightly and said, "Yes, please, Mrs. Weasley!"
Mrs. Weasley smiled and winked before heading off into the kitchen to make more food. Annabeth and I sat down and the whole table looked at us again. "First thing's first," Annabeth said. "We know you were listening." I glanced around the table and saw the bewildered faces of Fred and George, who looked as though they never got caught doing something as simple as listening at a door. Harry looked simply astounded that we had both noticed and ignored it. We both knew that they were listening; I just didn't know they were listening the whole time. I forgot what tipped me off, but once they started whispering to themselves, well, demigod hearing is pretty darn accurate. Annabeth just looked a little bit annoyed; after all, it was pretty rude. "How much did you hear?"
That was all the invitation Hermione needed to get going. "Well, we heard you say that we needed help, that wizard spells can't kill half-bloods – which doesn't make any sense because they can kill a half-blood just the same as any other wizard, we heard you talking to Sally, who is presumably Percy's mother and we heard you talking to Paul, who is presumably Percy's step father –"
"Whoa, wait a minute. Why isn't Paul Percy's real father? How on Earth did you figure that Paul is Percy's step-father?" Ron was utterly confused by this assumption that Paul was not my actual father, but I thought it was rather simple.
"I call him Paul, Ron. First name basis, not dad or anything like that. When was the last time you called your dad Arthur?" I asked, and Ron stared at me curiously.
"So what happened to your real father, then?" Ron asked and there was a resounding thud as Hermione kicked Ron's shin under the table. "Ouch!" Ron exclaimed. "What the bloody hell was that for?"
Hermione glared at him and said, "It's not polite to ask someone that question, Ronald, especially not in the vulgar manner in which you presented it."
I chuckled to myself and they both looked at me. "What?" I asked. "You remind me of us." I gestured to Annabeth and she nodded with a small grin. "Well, Ron, I've actually met him six or seven times, which is way ahead of the curve." Ron gave me an astounded look, and I turned to Annabeth. "Care to explain?"
Annabeth sighed, and I prepared myself for the worst. "So…" Annabeth started. "Hermione, how much do you know about ancient gods and goddesses?"
Four fist fights, six friendly demonstrations of physical restraint, two accidental instances of throwing sharp objects, several heated arguments and five stubborn glares later, everyone at the table was ready to consider the fact that the gods were real and still exist. It was at this point in time when Ron (who had graciously started three of the four fist fights) chose to be really stupid and posed a challenge to me: "Prove it."
I turned to Annabeth and smirked. By now, she was fairly riled up by the "logical arguments" that Hermione had posed in an attempt to assert herself as the more intelligent of the two, but Annabeth would have none of it. Annabeth argued back even harder until Hermione sat down in her seat and stared blankly at the table. Therefore, it was no surprise that now, with the offering of substantial proof toward her cause, Annabeth's grin would have put any Cheshire cat to shame. I silently chuckled a little bit, and turned back to Ron. "Big or small?"
Ron looked at me vacantly. "What?"
"You heard me," I said. "Big, or small?"
"Umm…" Ron started eloquently. "Does it matter? Proof is proof."
I grinned and winked at Annabeth. Her eyes widened and she opened her mouth to protest, but I beat her to it. I turned my face to the ceiling and said rather loudly, "Hey, Zeus, I heard your come-over got blown off in a storm a few weeks ago. Did you ever find it, or was it 'gone with the wind'?"
Annabeth brought a hand up to cover her mouth, probably to stop both her laughter and her protests that I was such an impulsive idiot. Suddenly, thunder boomed in dark clouds and a flash of lightening streaked outside. There was an electric noise that sounded like the bolt connecting with the street lamp outside. Then the clouds cleared and the sun shined down again. I turned to Ron. "Is that proof enough for you?"
Ron's eyes had become impossibly large, as had Harry's and Ginny's. Hermione looked like she had been hit by the lightning bolt herself, shocked and sparked. Ron was still staring dumbfounded at the spot where the lightning had flashed when Hermione asked the big question. "So what in the world of witchcraft does the existence of the gods have to do with what happened in the bathroom? What does it have to do with you?"
I took a deep breath and I looked at Annabeth. She eyed me for support, and braced herself for the explosion that was sure to come once we dropped the bomb. I grasped her hand under the table, and she gave me a small smile before taking a big breath in and letting it out in a string of dangerous words, "Percy and I are demigods. We're half mortal and half Greek god."
I wish that I could tell you that everyone just let out the breath that they had been holding and said, "Okay, that's cool. So what's for dinner?" Unfortunately, that was not how it played out.
It all started when Hermione sat up in her chair and said, "Excuse me?"
I sighed. This was going to be just as hard as I thought it was going to be. "Yeah, we're demigods, or half-bloods if you prefer. I'm a son of Poseidon and Annabeth is a daughter of Athena."
"The wisdom goddess? Seriously?" Hermione asked. I swear her eye twitched a little bit. "That's ridiculous."
Annabeth's eyes narrowed and I knew Hermione had struck a nerve. "Athena's not just the wisdom goddess, Granger. She's also the goddess of battle strategy. Don't position yourself against me, because one way or another, you will lose."
Hermione got ready to protest, but then thought better of it and said, "I'm calling Dumbledore. He'll know if you're telling the truth, and he'll know where your loyalties lie."
I really hoped that I had misinterpreted that as a threat – I did have a reputation for being pretty clueless, but Annabeth's reaction told me all that I needed to know. She pulled out a knife as Hermione was getting up and pinned her sleeve to the table. She didn't hit Hermione, but that didn't stop a surprised squeal from bursting out of her mouth. Annabeth's eyes were dangerous storm clouds as she dared anyone to move.
Harry spoke first. "Annabeth, why don't you just put the knife down for a minute and we can talk this out."
Annabeth turned to Harry. "Only if Ronald stops reaching for the kitchen knife."
I turned to Ron and quicker than he could think I scooped up the knife and threw it at the wall. It embedded itself to the hilt and left Ron and the twins staring shocked, watching an invisible tennis game from where the knife had been to where it was now stuck in the wall. I gave Annabeth a look and she withdrew her knife, still fuming but less on edge.
"Look," Annabeth said. "Believe us, don't believe us; it's your choice. But we mean you no harm. We want to help you, that's why we stayed, that's why we risked our lives-"
"Annabeth," I interjected. I had an idea, and I knew it would work, but she was on a roll.
"We did it to help, because we want the good side to win, okay? We find evil, or more often than not it finds us, and we destroy it. That's what we do. So believe what you want about our heritage-"
"Annabeth," I tried again.
"-but what matters is that you know that all we are trying to do is help you, and honestly? We are the best possible assets you would have on your side. You need us, because we can turn the tide of this battle. We can put people behind you who know what they're doing, who have so much experience that they can not only teach you how to fight, but how to be the best people you can possibly be."
Annabeth took a breath and I seized the opportunity. "Annabeth!"
"What, Percy, what is so important that you feel the need to say it right this second?"
I scratched the back of my neck nervously. "I could just, you know, show them."
Annabeth stared at me for a minute, and then it donned on her. She had been so focused on proving her point with words and trying to prove that she was a daughter of Athena with no real visible powers that she had completely forgotten that I was there. Almost all of my powers were blatantly visible and could be used as the perfect example of proving that we were who we said we were.
"Oh," she said. "Oh, right. Sure. Just show them your powers – that could work. I was just getting around to that, but that was more of a last resort. But fine, if that's how you want to do it, go ahead."
I rolled my eyes at her, but she shot me a glare that would have left most monsters crying to their mothers, so I didn't say anything. I looked around awkwardly. Everyone was staring at me and it made me sort of uncomfortable. I turned back to Annabeth. "So…uh…what should I do?"
She raised her eyebrow and said, "Seriously Percy? Just pick something."
I looked at her worriedly. "Well, I don't want to take the house down or anything-"
I didn't get to finish whatever I was going to say, though, because when I started talking she shook her head, grabbed a cup of water on the table in front of us, and threw the water at my face. That water was now suspended in the air in front of me, in some strange amorphous shape. I must have felt especially impulsive at that particular moment because I moved the water around and changed it so it was in the shape of a 3 dimensional heart.
Everyone was probably freaking out, but I kept staring at the heart for a minute. I didn't want this one to go away; I wanted to keep it for Annabeth, if only for a little while. I had the spark of an idea. I closed my eyes and focused on Grover's most interesting episodes of National Geographic and Santa Claus. I pictured the giant chunks of ice at the poles, the glaciers in Alaska, and all the snow in New York. I focused on the solid water, and blew over the suspended heart. I opened my eyes and saw the heart, frozen solid in a beautiful swirling pattern, smooth and delicate. I plucked it out of the air and turned to Annabeth. All of her frustration and anger had faded as she stared in loving wonder at the new frozen sculpture I had created.
I handed the heart to her and she took it, never taking her eyes off of me. I nodded to it, and she looked down at it. It fit perfectly in her cupped hands, shining and sparkling when it caught the light. There was only one thing that was missing. I focused on the heart and imagined myself inside it with a chisel, carving two letters and a sign. I heard Annabeth gasp and looked up to see her eyes sparkling as the final flourish of a beautiful 'A' was carved into the middle of the solid ice. P + A, the two of us together forever. She stared at it with such love that I almost started to get jealous that she wasn't looking at me like that, until I realized it would be stupid to be jealous of a piece of ice, especially one with our initials in it.
"Percy, it's…" Annabeth's voice was light and airy, her breaths shallow as she took it in. She looked up straight into my eyes, and I was left breathless by the amount of love that she held in them. "It's perfect."
"Thanks," I responded, my voice just as breathy as hers. We looked away at the exact same time; it was clear to us that if we didn't, then we might get a little bit carried away. I cleared my throat and looked at everyone. "So," I said. "Do you believe us now?"
Harry looked on both sides of him and took a breath. "I believe you." Even I had to admit, the kid had guts. I smiled at him and looked hopefully at the rest of the table. No one looked very happy about it, but they did look convinced.
Hermione looked especially displeased, but she was surprisingly the second to say, "I believe you." I met her eyes and I really respected her in that moment; it was hard for people like her and Annabeth to admit that they were wrong. If she had a fatal flaw, my money was on hubris.
Eventually everyone around the table declared their belief, and Annabeth and I breathed a sigh of relief. The hard part was over now. There shouldn't be further complications regarding that dilemma.
It was at that particular moment when Mrs. Weasley returned from the kitchen. "Who wants breakfast?" she said as she entered the room with a huge grin. I got up to meet her halfway as she carried a tray with eggs, bacon, and sausage on it. However, she happened to glance over and see the knife that had found its place in the wall. She screamed and dropped the tray. Luckily, I was close enough to catch it. That really was a good thing; I get kind of grouchy when I don't have food. Then things blow up. No one likes that.
"Sorry, Mrs. Weasley, that was my fault. I just wanted to make sure that Ron didn't get his hands on it while we were arguing. I'll fix the wall later, for sure. I really am sorry if it gave you a fright, but there's nothing to worry about," I said, before carrying the tray back to my place at the table and digging in.
Annabeth gave me a sharp elbow and I looked up. "What? Shouldn't I eat it while it's warm?"
She rolled her eyes and said, "Perhaps it might be a good idea to explain to Mrs. Weasley what exactly is going on."
"Oh, there's no need dear, I heard the whole thing. I was listening, you see, from the kitchen. None of you lot are particularly quiet you know. I bet the neighbors could hear you yelling the way you were Ronald Weasley, and don't get me started on you two," Mrs. Weasley said, motioning to the twins. "But, now that everyone knows, it might be the opportune moment to tell you that I already knew most of what you said."
Annabeth and I looked at each other with a new understanding that hadn't been present before. I had wondered a bit why Mrs. Weasley didn't come bursting in when we were arguing. I guess she had wanted to see how it all played out. However, I don't think my slight surprise was anything compared to the look on Ginny's face. She had just spewed some orange liquid she had been drinking all over Harry. I guess she was taking a sip when her mother had revealed her knowledge and she was so surprised that she spit out her drink. Her resulting facial expression was so mixed that I almost laughed. She was shocked by her mother, embarrassed about spitting out her drink, horrified that she had turned Harry a putrid shade of orange with that liquid, confused and disoriented, and slightly resentful of her mother's poor choice in timing.
"So who are you related to and how? How did you come to know of this?" Annabeth asked, and I could see her mind running at a thousand miles an hour.
"My great great grandmother – that would be the children's great great great grandmother – was a demigod child of Mercury. She then in turn told her children, her children told their children, one of those children told my grandmother, my grandmother told my mother, and my mother told me. Now I'm telling all of you. We are Roman legacies of Mercury," Mrs. Weasley said confidently. There was a spark in her eye that I had missed before, and it reminded me of the spark that was in Travis's and Connor's eyes when they had pulled a supremely excellent prank. "Now I must ask, how is the feud between the Greeks and the Romans? You are both Greeks, are you not?"
"We are, Mrs. Weasley, and that feud has been settled. The Athena Parthenos was delivered," Annabeth winced and I grabbed her hand under the table, "and there is no longer any existing conflict. Our camps now work with each other instead of staying separate, sending people where they need to go, where they belong. And if they happen to feel more comfortable in the camp that is not their heritage, we take them in any way. It works splendidly."
"Amazing! I shan't ask how you pulled that off, dear girl, for I know it must have been painful, but I congratulate you all the same," Mrs. Weasley said. "Now that we are all on the same page, if you don't mind, are there any discrepancies that you left out of your first story of your lives because you were not ready to reveal your heritage? That did not sound like the life of a demigod the way you described it, if anything my mother told me was true of my great great grandmother's fate."
Annabeth and I smiled at each other. "Hermione," Annabeth said. The girl perked up and tried to hide her eagerness to know what the life of a demigod was truly like. That would change, certainly, but I suppose it would seem exciting at first. "Why don't you call whoever you were going to call earlier, Dumbledore or whoever you said, and anyone else in the Order who isn't already here? That way, we will only have to tell our story once."
"Certainly," Hermione said. She pushed out her chair and stood. "I'll do it right away. While I gather everyone, it might be wise to check Percy's bandages and to see if anything needs to be cleaned or adjusted."
"Oh, that's all right, Hermione," I said. "Water heals me; that's why Annabeth was so insistent about those tubs of water being brought in. I'm fine, I assure you."
Harry mumbled something to himself about water, and then looked up with enlightened eyes. "The water," he said, "when the girls were cleaning up in the other room. The water tipped over when you rolled in your sleep, but you didn't touch it. The water tipped when your arm flew out. It all makes sense now!"
I raised my eyebrows. I used my powers in my sleep? That was a first, at least, as far as I knew. Now that I thought about it though, I would really have no way of knowing. I guess some people might sleep walk and I might sleep hydrate or something. Weird.
As we sat waiting for Hermione to return, we talked briefly about different gods and goddesses, certain "myths" that Harry remembered from his Muggle school before he attended Hogwarts, and eventually we got on to the topic of how I managed to get kicked out of eight schools in eight consecutive years.
"How do you even do that?" Harry asked, looking around to make sure Hermione wasn't around. "How do you do that many different things wrong?"
"Now, now, Harry," I said with a sly grin, "who ever said I actually did anything wrong?"
Harry looked confused, and Annabeth snorted at my choice of phrasing. "But," Harry started, "but why else would…why did they…didn't you…what?"
I chuckled and Annabeth started sputtering laughter until we were both laughing immensely. "Well, Harry," Annabeth said, "he just has a knack for getting blamed for things that are out of his control. He also attracts trouble like a magnet and most of all," Annabeth glanced at me slyly, "he has the worst luck of anyone that I have ever met."
I thought back to our first quest, when we were on a bus into the city and Alecto came back. Annabeth had said the very same thing then, and it was only more accurate now. I looked at her with approval and said, "Truer words were never spoken."
It was at that moment when Hermione reentered the room and people started trickling in to the room from the front door until it was crowded and quite loud. Once Hermione signaled to me that everyone was here, I cleared my throat in an attempt to get their attention. However, they were all talking over each other, so I tried again. When they still didn't hear me, I looked over at Hermione, who was being overwhelmed by people asking her questions, and she caught my eyes and nodded. I took a breath and stomped my foot on the ground three times. Three resulting tremors shook the room, and everyone looked around, confused.
I cleared my throat again, and everyone finally paid attention. Then, when I felt all of their eyes on me, I decided it was a little too much attention and diverted them to Annabeth. "Annabeth has something to say," I said, and she gave me a look because she knew exactly what I was doing.
Annabeth stood up and appraised the room. "You are all here to hear about our lives. We are not wizards, but we believe that our mutual friendship could benefit both of our kinds. Let us begin with an introduction. I am Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena, Greek goddess of wisdom and battle strategy." There was an instant murmuring among everyone until Annabeth gave me a look and I shook the ground again. Everyone still looked confused, but Annabeth jumped right back in. "And this is Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, god of the sea."
