Chapter 38

Percy

When we got to the stadium alumni were already apparating in. The Gryffindor stand already had people filling in part of the back row, so Jennifer cast her protection spell and we lost no time getting there to claim those last few precious seats with the best view, not of the match necessarily but of it and the surrounding country side where threats might arise. Just behind that row Leo had in the last few days quietly built a platform for two pegusi and a horse god.

Although Jennifer wanted to just teleport I wanted to show at least a modicum of respect for my grounding so I took the stairs with Will, Nico and Rachel. Rachel considered teleporting but didn't enjoy vomiting as yet. Once we got to the top of the stairs it was me that almost threw up though. Its not every day that the god of the sea and the goddess of wisdom turn out for a quidditch match.

Athena glared at me and patted the seat between her and my father. It turned out they were the people we saw filling up the back row. I knelt quickly and my friends followed suit. Nico, Rachel and Jennifer sat in the row in front of us, Nico smirking, and I sat down between Annabeth's mother and my father.

"Hi dad, what brings you out?"

"Oh, I just wanted to watch my first quidditch match in many years, can't a father..."

"So Percy, I understand you have been sleeping with my daughter." Athena interrupted, still glaring at me.

"Yes, and there is a matter that Annabeth's mother would like a word with you about." Poseidon smiled like a proud father.

"Do you deny it? Do you deny besmirching my daughter?"

"Uh, does 'besmirching' mean 'sleeping with'?" I asked. Seriously, I had no idea.

"Do you deny it?"

"No, I mean, we've slept together on and off since the night we killed Medusa, what, five years ago?"

"Since she was twelve?" Athena said as her eyes filled with fire and her skin began to turn red. She was about to go full size and kill me, and I couldn't fathom why. Then it hit me.

"Yes, since then, but as to having sex, is that what you're asking?"

"Of course you idiot!"

"Then no. We've never done that. Seems her mother is like the goddess of wisdom or something and so Annabeth doesn't think it would be wise. And since I love her so much I would literally walk through hell for her, and in fact have, I agree with her. So stop thinking the worst about your daughter. She's a good girl. We're saving it. We're waiting. Any more questions?"

Athena stared. "I sense you are telling the truth. It is wise to wait until you are fully committed. Annabeth has become my most favored child and has done more than any of my children to honor me. In 3000 years she alone was able to find and rescue my image from the Romans. I have not forgotten that she saved me, and the rest of us, from madness. If I seem like an over protective mother, it is because I am. If you ever bring harm to her..."

"That's enough." Poseidon interrupted. "I said you could ask my son, and you have. He has answered, truthfully. I will not have you threaten him. Our children favor each other. We will not interfere. That was our agreement and I hold you to it."

"Of course. I was merely telling Percy that if he ever breaks her heart he will regret it as she is such a special woman." She said with a clearly fake smile.

"Well you don't have to worry about that. We've agreed to never be apart. We've already waited until we're 'fully committed' as you say, and now we are waiting, I don't know, probably until this quest is over and we are in college. " This didn't seem to make Athena happy but Dad laughed about it which is probably why I wasn't struck dead for being a smart ass to a major goddess.

"Now, quick question for you. Did you ask Apollo to say 'hi' to Annabeth for you?" I asked.

"Ah, so the message got through. Excellent. Lord Poseidon, shall we leave now?"

"No Athena, we came to watch the match. You convinced the pantheon that is why we're here. Surely you would not have lied to my brothers and our family?" he grinned. Dad could barely tolerate her anymore than Annabeth could most of the time, although mother and daughter were getting along okay at the moment. I suspect once she learned of her mother's visit and the reason for it that period of truce would be over.

In any event, dad and Athena hadn't gotten along since Athens, the city, chose Athena as its patron over my father. Athens is now the center of a nearly forgotten empire, the capital of a country teetering on bankruptcy that can't pay its bills without Germany, France and the UK's help, whereas the oceans cover three fourths of the world and account for over 95% of the world's international trade. Just sayin'.

Still this conversation weighed heavily on me. How could I show Annabeth that I was fully committed to us? I mean, we both knew it, and said we would always be together, but the avenues of romantic expression available to most our age were cut off by her wisdom and my, well, my love and respect for her.

"Very well. So Percy, you weren't good enough to play?" Athena asked, with venom once again dripping from her voice.

"Well, I'm not very good on a broom, but no, I was grounded by the school's headmaster for flying illegally and candidly, years ago Zeus threatened to shoot me from the sky if I were there too long so I try to avoid flying." I said, determined to not let her under my skin.

The stands were filling up and it was about then that the Hogwarts kids arrived, beginning with DA1 and the Weasley twins.

Hermione saw Athena and promptly dropped to one knee, signaling the others to do likewise. Poseidon looked at Athena and seemed baffled by their actions as they looked much like any other parents in average street clothes at a child's soccer match. All that was missing was the mini van.

"Arise" Poseidon said. "What causes you to knell?"

"Uh, aren't we supposed to knell before Athena?" Hermione asked.

"Oh Hermione! I had nearly forgotten our tea! Please come sit with Percy, his father and myself. Oh, and don't knell anymore. We are not to allow others outside your inner circle to know we are here, so we will dispense with formalities." Athena smiled. Once she was seated Athena asked "So, do tell us how school is going? Are our children doing well?"

"Oh, they are smashing! We all love the lot... wait, did you say Percy's father?" Hermione said as her eyes slowly scanned past me and onto dad.

"Lord of the Seas, Maker of Horses, Earth Shaker. Pleased to meet you Miss Hermione, and you as well Mr Potter, Ms Ginevra, Mr's Weasley and Mr Longbottom. We've heard wonderful things about your progress."

"Its an honor, but I thought, well, I thought you, I mean all of you, couldn't travel this far north?" Harry asked.

"Oh, we can go where ever we like. We generally don't like being this far north. The weather you see, we are gods whose original reign was a warm country, and we prefer it that way. No we leave this realm to the guardianship of the north wind and now Iapetus. Hecate has many followers here though and spends more time. Candidly we are so busy we can't. As my uncle was saying, we understand that you and your friends are coming along well in our arts."

"Well your daughter, and your son, well, they are amazing teachers. They've shown us possibilities that we just didn't see before and our magic and uh..."

"Martial skills" I suggested

"Yes! Thank you, our martial skills, have gotten so much better!"

"This makes me proud. Its an area that I have patronage you see." Athena smiled. "and Annabeth has been a good instructor?"

"Oh the best! Well, Percy is better at demonstrating, and motivating too I'd say, but Annabeth, yes, she is an amazing instructor! She is the one that organizes classes and walks us through everything one step at a time. No offense Percy, but she has more patience than you for that sort of thing, so yes, Annabeth, simply the best, you must be proud of her!"

"I would be prouder if she would show more wisdom in her sleeping arrangements." Athena said, causing dad and I to both roll our eyes. Dad's very look said "Not this shit again" and just as I was about to once again defend Annabeth's honor, Hermione did for me.

"Why? She's made it clear she and Percy... well they're not doing it and she's encouraged the rest of us to remain chaste. You know. They want to wait. That's their business. If they want to sleep together until then, well, maybe its because they never had a bed growing up they felt safe in. Did anyone ever provide either of them with one? From what I understand Annabeth had to run away from her mortal family when she was nearly an infant and fend for herself. No wonder she feels safe around Percy."

"Oh look! The match is about to start!" Dad said, and we all turned our attention to the field and Hermione was saved from exploding and burning to ashes.

The lights dimmed, although at 3 pm in Scotland it is far from twilight, not yet dark and the Slytherin team, as the home team, entered. As expected some martial music played as they were introduced one by one, and as each flew by their image was projected onto the crowd in the stadium as well as their stats from the previous years. The Slytherin stands went wild with their support, and everyone else applauded politely. It was over in a couple of minutes and some smoke bombs went off as well as sprays of sparks around the Slytherin box. The team ended up in front of their stands facing us, apparently trying to look intimidating.

After that it got dark, even darker than it had been before and it felt like the temperature dropped twenty degrees. I'm not sure how Will did that, but it was pretty cool anyway. Perhaps our eyes had gotten burned out by the sparks. Anyway a spotlight shined down on the entrance our team would use, where a black Pegasus entered through a wall of fog, soon followed by two others. Reyna was in the lead and wore full Roman war regalia, her purple cape flying behind her, riding Scipio. Just behind her was Annabeth riding Blackjack, and Hazel, riding, as it turned out, Frank. They were wearing Greek and Roman battle regalia and colors, as was appropriate to them. Well, at the moment Frank was a horse, but once he changed he was dressed for battle as well. Each had a broom, and Reyna carried the spear that Will and Leo had fashioned.

The trio of pegusi slowly trotted in through a cloud of smoke and we finally heard the music Will had decided on (after changing it several times each practice as he was never satisfied), AC DC's "Thunder Struck." Reyna raised the spear and shouted "America House! Charge!" and all three accelerated and went suddenly airborne, circling the pitch faster and faster as the music rose. The hooves of the pegusi were just above our heads as they screamed over us, the wind from their wings battering us gently. Finally Annabeth and Hazel jumped from their mounts and onto their brooms and Frank morphed back to his normal self riding a broom. The crowd roared at all of this. All eyes were darting back and forth between the girls though and I realized Piper had given all a dose of her Aphrodite magic. They were simply stunning, and later Hermione reported that Frank, Leo and Jason must have gotten the treatment too as the women present were unable to look away from them.

The music was turned almost off when Reyna rode up to the front of the Slytherin stands. Will's voice came over the loudspeaker "In the days of the ancients it was tradition for the Romans to visit the temple of Bellona and drive a spear into a spot of soil there representing the land of their opponent. It was a symbol and a warning to all that battle was to begin. For those about to compete, we salute you."

Reyna held the spear aloft as Will's voice spoke, and when he was finished she shouted "Twelfth Legion Fulminata! Quia nemo adorabunt! Mors Ab Alto" and drove the spear into the ground before the Slytherin stands as the music blasted loud again and the chorus announced that everyone had been thunderstruck. Scipio then lept into flight as Jason, who like the rest of the team had snuck in while the Pegusi had everyone's attention, called down a burst of lightening onto the spear to make the lyrics literal.

Jason's bolt was startling to the crowd, but when Leo's Tesla inspired lightening generators joined it from the top of the stands and a dozen or so bolts arced into the sky then came down, triggering the incantations that Will had placed on it, the spear became ablaze and grew thirty or forty feet tall before becoming bright white and disintegrating.

When everyone's eyes had adjusted, the America House team faced the Slytherin team in mid air and the pitch was dead silent. Then the crowd exploded, and not just America/Gryffindor but all of the house stands, Slytherin included.

In the din of noise Hermione asked me "What did Reyna say?" but before I could answer my father did. "'Twelfth Legion, Filled with Lightening, We bow before no man, Death from above!' It is the motto of the las of the Roman Legions, the Army of Sparta and the 7th Bomb Wing of the United States Air Force. Rather nice that she got all three nations in isn't it?"

"Indeed. That must have taken some research."

"No, our Roman children are just militant that way." He smiled.

By the time the match began things had calmed down some. Dad took a moment to talk with Skippy, Blackjack and Arion who had decided to join us, but his focus came back as the quaffle and bludger were released. Athena cheered almost constantly for Annabeth. I had never been to a soccer match but knew now what was meant by "soccer mom." Dad, Hermione and I were able to finally relax and just watch the spectacle.

The Slytherin chasers seemed hopelessly inept. As two were male on the rare occassions they held the bludger near the goals they stared hopelessly at Piper and threw the bludger wildly. She had to do little to block it. When their girl approached she simply missed the goal by a couple of feet due to Hazel changing its position in the mist, but she was usually under attack by one of the America beaters at that time so it wasn't obvious.

We generally scored at will. Annabeth and Reyna seemed unstoppable as they screamed towards the goals at speeds much faster than the defenders were accustomed to and the Slytherin Keeper only stared at them and made almost no effort to block. When he did it was too little, too late. Even Leo was able to score against him once when he received a late pass from Reyna and scored on an open goal. The score was quickly 60 to nothing. The match became so dull for Quidditch fans that Dumbledore looked around, saw my two "guests," gathered that they might be someone important and came to join us. Just as introductions were quietly made, and the headmaster came to grips with two of the big twelve and one of the big three visiting his school, the game ended.

Since it started, Draco and Hazel had been high above the crowd, in the position, according to Harry, to best see and thus begin to hunt down the golden snitch. Instead, Draco had been staring at Hazel and attempting to flirt with her. Frank hadn't noticed this of course or would have found a reason to blast Draco out of the sky. "Ooh's and Ahh's" came from the crowd as the snitch was first sighted, but rather than attempt to flee the seekers it charged right at them, well, right at Hazel. This was apparently not uncommon as snitches were programmed with various strategies to avoid being caught and charging directly at the seeker at full speed in order to catch them by surprise was one of those. Draco hadn't noticed it until Hazel stuck out her hand and caught it, ending the game at 210 to 0.

"Is that one of Hade's kids?" Athena quietly asked.

"Yes" I replied.

"Good strategy." She said as she and Poseidon arose and appeared to vanish, this time apparently teleporting a safe distance before revealing their true selves.

The commons room in Gryffindor Tower was bedlam. In turn Hazel, Annabeth, Piper and Leo were lifted on shoulders and paraded around the room to the constant cheers of the students from three houses other than America. It seems that anytime Slytherin got beat it was a reason to party in all the other houses. Aside from our play, the other houses all wanted to contract Will to draft and run their introductions, which he kindly agreed to help with. Our team seemed happy to be the center of attention and I was happy to not be. I suspect Harry was as well as we sat off to one side chatting and generally watching the proceedings while drinking the concoction known as "Butterbeer", which still tasted like cream soda to me.

"So Annabeth's mother came just to ask if you guys were shagging? That had to suck."

"Yeah, she's funny that way. A year ago she was out of her mind and wanting to disown Annabeth for not recovering this statute of her that her children lost 3000 years ago and none had ever been able to recover. Annabeth gets it back and the closest thing she gets to a thank you is being sent to Scotland for a year, which, well honestly, is kind of nice. It beats going to a real school with, uh, muggles. At least here everyone is different from the norm. But its not all bad, today was the most time I've ever spent with my dad. I mean, I've only met him five or six times. Zeus doesn't like the other gods mingling with their children much, especially big three. We're supposed to sink or swim on our own."

"That blows, I mean, I've never met my mother or father, but most wizards grow up in a fairly normal home. I grew up in my aunt's home and they all hate me. So, yeah, its nice for me to be here too...uhhhh" Harry said, then began to fall out of his chair while clutching his head. Then his scream pierced the room.

I remembered his mind invasions and the last time he screamed, so I scooped him up and ran for the door to the LEODIS. By the time I got there America House and DA1 and 2 had formed a defensive barrier around us and I dove through the door. As I did there was a spark beside my head where a fly had been, and a woman fell to the floor with an auto quill and pad.

I knew a spy when I saw one and barked out to no one in particular, "Grab her."

Frank scooped her up and was through the door just after us. Harry began to revive.

"Mr Weasley! The snake! Its attacking him at the place where those things are stored!" He said as he blacked out again.

By now the woman had been bound and gagged. Leo had her notes, and Jennifer was standing over her in case she woke.

Hazel announced "Percy, we need a rescue team, pick your members and go. Apparate from Bob's. I'll notify Professor Dumbledore.

Professor Weasley and McGonnagal came in just them.

"If your name is Weasley, Longbottom, Grainger or you were born in the United States or Canada load up for bear and get on my six, we leave in a minute. Jason, I want you on my right, Annabeth on my left, everyone else corridor attack patterns. Neville you and Frank grab a couple folks and take our right in the next corridor, Nico and Reyna, take the left. Grab anything that kills and kill anything that grabs, we don't know what we're facing so be careful. Leo, you and Will take Lupin and Black and guard our rear. Everyone else is center reserve behind me. We ready? Mrs Weasley, you're going only because I figure you're the only one that knows where this place is. We're going to get your husband to safety, but I'm going to need you to stay focused when we get there. We make the place safe, do the rescue and bug the hell out, in that order. No questions, no discussion, Let's roll."

We went through the door to Bob's and gathered in a tight circle. Professor Weasley suggested there was a foyer just outside the room that would be big enough to land our group in.

"Frank, when we arrive can you do the bee thing and recon the room for us?"

"Sure thing Percy."

Frank turned into a swarm of bees and a few slid under the door when we got there. Mrs Weasley was particularly antsy and eager to charge, as were her children, but I kept my hand on the door until Frank returned. Now that I think of it, Frank turning into a swarm of bees sort of creeped the Hogwarts folks out on its own, and they were already freaked out by the need for the rescue operation.

"Okay, four of them, one is that Draco kid's old man. They have Mr Weasley tied to a chair with this big ass snake, either a python, boa or anaconda with them, looks like he's bitten Mr Weasley a few times. He's sweaty, bruised and bleeding, but looks to be otherwise okay. No immediate distress, didn't seem to be breathing hard. They are at the far end of the room, just to the right of center. There are four rows of shelves running left to right, about thirty or so ranks long, all of them covered with glass globes. That's all I saw." Frank reported.

"Okay, my group, Neville's and Reyna's will take point, each in a center corridor. Lets assume there are others or traps we can't see. On three we move silently. Once there hit them with stuns, but not heat, cold or lightning, we don't want Mr Weasley in the crossfire. Frank, Reyna, Jason and Piper set the defensive perimeter once its under control."

Everyone nodded, I cast a silencing spell on the door, then opened it and ran it. The groups went off just as they were supposed to. Jason, Annabeth and I arrived first, but the teams to our left and right were moments behind.

Two Death Eaters had their wands to Mr Weasley's head. He was soaked with sweat and bleeding from what appeared to be several snake bites.

"Oh yes. We knew you were coming." Malfoy said with another Death Eater standing watch beside him. "Now, lower your wands, and produce the prophecy or we shall kill your dear Mr Weasley, friend of mud bloods and muggles alike." He continued with a sickening grin, his voice dripping with contempt.

"Ah ah! It doesn't matter how many of you there are, you're not fast enough to keep him alive." Malfoy sneered as Sirius came forward, wand out.

"Percy, you remember that day Pansy became a hamster?" Neville said, to the confusion of Malfoy and company.

"Let's not try anything stupid." Malfoy said slowly, drawing his wand.

"I sure do Neville. I sure do." I said as I silently willed my wand to bring me the wands of Mr Weasley's attackers.

All four flew to me and I snatched the group out of the air. The room then became deathly silent except for Mr Weasley's breathing.

"Kill them." I said as Malfoy's eyes widened and he remembered every bad decision he ever made in his life that led him to this point.

The full power of the America House, DA1, the Weasley twins, Professors Lupin, Weasley, and Sirius hit the attackers at once. No one actually cast lethal spells, but all were so powerful with stuns it beat them to a pulp. Neville nearly broke Malfoy in half, and the others were bashed up against the wall and pummeled there. Malfoy attempted to run but was soon frozen in place by Nico and Will, who then stunned him repeatedly until he appeared to be just one big bruise.

The kids from DA1 took on the snake but could not manage to do more than harm it with either spell or blade. It wanted no part of the action and tried to slither off, but was repeatedly frozen solid and then hacked upon. Chunks of its flesh were torn free but it quickly regenerated. Finally Ginny got sick of dealing with it and simply froze it into a block of ice.

Without wands the attackers were useless. Will began working on Mr Weasley, pouring unicorn draught on his wounds and giving him pain relief via spells and healing songs. Molly Weasley joined him and was screaming about poison. By then we had all the attackers tied up and members of the Ministry were beginning to show up. Sirius apparated out as soon as Percy, a Weasley son who worked for the Minister of Magic, arrived. Lupin began stealing memories and putting them in vials for study in the penseive. As we watched the frozen snake apparated as well.

Malfoy laughed. "You can send me to Azkaban, but I will be free tomorrow! Your man Weasley will still be dead from the poison in his veins.!"

"Its not poisonous." Will said.

"What?" Malfoy said.

"Its not poisonous. Its a python you idiot, they crush their food, they don't poison it. Its bites don't do anything." Will replied as Lupin began draining Malfoy's memories.

"Who said we were taking you to Azkaban?" I asked.

"Its where we hold criminals for trial." Percy Weasley said.

"Who said we would have a trial?" I replied. "Will, is Mr Weasley able to travel?"

"Oh sure. He's a little dehydrated, probably a bit of shock. Looks like he's been here a few hours, but yeah, he's fine."

"Now wait a minute..." Percy Weasley said, before I interrupted.

"Lets go then. You can have those three. We're taking this asshat with us." I said to Percy. And with that we held hands as a group and apparated back to Bob's. Molly, her children, Hermione and Will took Mr Weasley to a room in the Leodis to get him cleaned up and resting, while Annabeth obliviated Malfoy's memories and Bob sent him, unarmed and beaten to a pulp, to Ogygia.

Dumbledore, McGonnagal, Jennifer and Harry were waiting for an after action report.