A: Catie Cat is right. Other than the diary, the others are fine. Tom has the ring and the diadem, Percy wears the locket, the others are still out there.

Thanks Sherlock Harry Winchester. This one's a lot of conversations so just sit back and relax.

Listening to – Nothing Else Matters by Metallica

Sunday, Nov 4, 8:34 a.m.
Jacksons' Apartment, Manhattan

Sally was in the living room, talking into her mirror in hushed tones. Nico would have been interested if he hadn't been occupied with his cellphone, staring at the text he'd gotten from an unknown number. But he knew it was Bianca.

Don't share with anyone. Dad won't bother if you check in only for a few minutes – B.

He clicked on the link below the message. The SMS screen vanished and his phone now showcased a dimly lit webpage with bright letters that he could read easily. The Accorded Judgement Registry was at his fingertips now.

He looked at the animation of Cerberus, strutting across the page. Then his eyes drifted to the search bar and he clicked on it. With shaking fingers he typed in her name.

Without even a second to buffer, the screen shifted and an image popped up. Nico's jaw dropped.

Maria was looking at him. She had deep brown skin and deeper brown eyes, a playfulness shining through her face. Her hair was black and curled, falling around her shoulders as though a breeze had ruffled them just right. She smiled up at him, like a wizard photo. She wore a dark shirt, he wasn't sure what it exactly was. The background was a plain red, nothing remarkable, but Maria made it spectacular. Her presence seemed to bring a kind of life to the whole page, to the room, to Nico's mood.

It took him a while to look at the description below the photo.

Maria di Angelo

Affiliation – Bianca di Angelo, Nico di Angelo (sires of Lord H)
Category – Mortal
Died – March 3, 1945
Time of Death – 08:12:09 a.m.
Aged – 34 years, 2 months, 6 days, 13 hours, 50 minutes, 31 seconds
Cause of Death – Baby Dickhead
Character – Positive – Perfect, Caring, Hardworking, Beautiful, Whistled in her sleep, Hummed in the shower, Bad dancer, Okay singer, Laughed at her own jokes, Cried when she laughed too much, Didn't throw anything at my head when I told her I was a God, Took it well, But locked me out of the house for a few weeks, Forgave me later, Dog person, Felt guilty for Persephone, But never regretted B and N +
Crimes – None
Good Deeds – Co-founded the

Angel's Boarding School for Orphan Girls of Colour, Set up the Asta Fund for a scholarship for Orphan Immigrants of Colour*

Status – Elysium.

*Name changed

Nico felt the back of his eyes burn a little. His nose tingled and he sucked in a breath to stop from feeling lightheaded. He took a screenshot of the page and read it over and over again, till he was hugging his pillow and laying down, imagining his mother conversing with him, Bianca, and their father, all four hanging about and enjoying the day like a regular family.

The front door slammed. Nico barely lifted his head when he heard odd raised voices. Sally was berating Percy for his aggression. He was snapping back at her.

The door to the bedroom opened and Percy stomped in, dropping his bag on the floor and flopping onto the bed. He covered his face with his palms and groaned.

Sally appeared at the doorway, staring at him in disbelief. Nico looked at her and she gave him a surprised shrug.

Sirius' voice issued from the mirror she held. "I'm coming over there with DJ in a bit, Sal."

"Yeah! Got it, bye." She looked back at Percy who refused to look at her. With a disappointed expression, she turned away.

Nico sat up. "What's going on? Why's DJ coming?"

Percy didn't answer. He could have gone to sleep but the way his elbows were in the air, it was obvious he hadn't. Nico rubbed his face, wiping away the wetness.

"Percy?"

No answer.

"I thought you'd come back after dinner. I was gonna come to camp to see you…"

Percy didn't even acknowledge that there was someone in the room talking to him. Nico frowned and got out of bed, walking out and heading to the kitchen.

Sally sat at the table, frowning at the centrepiece, the lava lamp from the hall. The orange and purple fluids bounced off of each other, moving towards their respective places. She'd just shaken it.

"What's going on?" Nico asked, sitting opposite to her. Sally sighed.

"With Percy? I don't know. But did you know that Harry's here?"

Nico sat up. "No… he's in the house?"

"No, he's in New York! He's at Rachel's. Did you know that?"

He shook his head. "I thought she was angry at him."

Sally frowned. "Why would she be angry at him?"

Uh oh.

Nico cleared his throat, trying to fix it. "I mean… he didn't see her yesterday… so, he might have gone today to explain why."

Sally dropped her hands on the table. "Harry and DJ didn't come yesterday because the castle is one alarm away from being under lockdown. The Wizarding Community is under high alert at the moment. Nobody was allowed to leave the castle. But apparently, Harry's been in Rachel's house since last night!"

Nico squeezed the sides of his chair. That was bad news. He was supposed to go to camp today to discuss about the party. The witches and wizards were meant to call them yesterday, but they'd postponed it due to 'unforeseen circumstances'.

"Why're they under high alert?"

Sally looked towards the bedroom, checking for Percy. "I can't tell you. But it's not good, Nico. Harry's gone too far this time. He knows the problem and he still left. Sirius is not happy."

"But he's bringing DJ here?"

"He needs to talk to the four of you. I'm not sure what about. You'll have to wait…"

They sat at the table for twenty minutes until Percy came out and headed straight for the fridge. He took out the milk carton and Sally said, "Use a mug."

Percy stopped, staring at the fridge. Nico frowned. It seemed like Percy wanted to yell at her. But he just shut the door and reached for a cup from the shelf.

Sally picked up on his bad mood as well. She shared a look with Nico and they said nothing while Percy filled the cup and sat at the table, not looking at them.

The doorbell rang and Nico got up before her. "I'll get it."

He headed into the hall and checked through the peephole before unlocking the main door.

Harry stood there, with a bed head, reddened eyes and an overall dishevelled appearance that made it look like he'd been through a twister.

"Nico." He whispered. "Is Sirius here yet?"

"No."

Harry exhaled in relief, stepping in and shutting the door. "Good, I still have time –"

"You're not going anywhere, mister." Sally's voice rang out, sharp. She stood at the by the turn in the wall, arms folded. "And what happened to you?!"

Harry's eyes were wide. Nico could almost see him trying to come up with an excuse."

"I…someone attacked me."

Sally blinked.

"They tried to steal my wallet. But don't worry, I gave them a right shiner."

"Someone tried to mug you?"

"Yeah."

Nico tried not to wince. It wasn't too hard to figure out that Harry was lying. His arms shook about awkwardly and he was even sweating.

The hearth flared to life, green flames lighting up the room and spitting out two figures who stepped onto the carpet. Sirius and DJ shook the soot off of them. DJ coughed, running a hand through his hair vigorously, sending a puff of smoke from the strands. Sirius ran a wand across them and cleared the dirt off with a swipe. Then he faced Harry, expressionless.

"I'm in trouble, aren't I?" Harry asked.

Sirius pointed at him. "Sit."

Harry trudged from the door towards the couch. Nico caught DJ's eye and raised his eyebrows. DJ shook his head to signal that he wasn't sure why he was here.

"Do you have any idea how worried I was?" Sirius's voice made Nico wince. It was level and stiff.

"I'm sorry. I wanted to come back before curfew, I swear, but –"

"Why did you leave? Why did you leave knowing that Lestrange was out there? I told you to never leave the castle alone but here we are, not in the castle. Is it so difficult to just listen to me?"

Harry glared. "I had to leave!"

"Why?"

He took a shaky breath. "Rachel was upset. I went to see her."

"So upset that you couldn't just call her? There's a reason you have that mirror, Harry. And it's not just for admiring your face."

"That's not fair! You know there are things no one can just call people to talk about. I wouldn't leave Hogwarts if it wasn't so important."

"Then why didn't you call me?"

"I didn't want to disturb you."

"Disturb!" Sirius looked stunned for a moment. He stepped forwards. "You think you're a disturbance for me? You don't think you're my number one priority? Do you think you rank so low that I wouldn't care about you being so worried for your sister that you would leave the castle while there was a dangerous murderer on the loose? Do you think I don't care about you?"

"No, I know you care."

"Then why didn't you call me?"

"Because you wouldn't let me go!"

Nico didn't want to listen. He wanted to walk away from the argument. The tension made his face grow hot. More than anything, though, he didn't want them to fight.

Sirius tried not to glare. "Is that your reasoning for this? Then tell me, how many times did you leave Hogwarts because you thought I wouldn't let you go?"

Harry pressed his lips together. DJ looked alarmed at the question because he, like Nico, knew that it had been more than twice.

"Once."

"Come again."

"Just this once."

Harry was trying. Nico might have even believed him if he hadn't known the truth. But Sirius's face fell. The silence grew. DJ looked at Sirius in trepidation. Harry squeezed the couches stuffing, Sally walked forwards to stand just behind Sirius and Nico felt himself rooted to the spot, waiting for the next comment.

"Give me your mobile."

Harry didn't move. "Huh?"

"Your phone."

Sirius knew. Nico wanted to panic. It seemed like they knew about the party plans. They were all in trouble.

Harry took out his cell and handed it over. Sirius held it carefully with both hands.

"Password?"

Harry hesitated only for a moment before saying, "Pumki."

"I'm sorry?"

"P-U-M-K-I. Lower case."

Nico didn't understand the word, wondering if his dyslexia was confusing it. On the other side of the room, Percy walked in, standing at the edge. He was holding his cup of milk, looking at Harry with curiosity.

Sirius tapped on the screen at a slow pace, not accustomed to the device. He stopped at one point, leaning towards Sally. She bent her head and muttered, "The red one."

He continued tapping until he got to the page he'd been looking for. Sirius handed the phone back to Harry.

"Watch it."

Harry clicked on the screen and sounds came from the cell. Nico froze. That was his voice!

The clarity wasn't all that great, but it was enough. He could hear his own voice along with Ward's, Dick's, Harry's and finally, Rachel's. It was the incident when Dick had hit Ashley and then Harry had hit Ward. People had been recording it on their phones. Nico hadn't thought about it at the time, but now it felt very serious.

DJ walked towards Harry to look at the screen. His eyes widened in shock. Percy took joined them, staring at the video.

The sounds stopped after a bit and the two of them stared at Harry while he looked up, speechless.

Sirius folded his arms. "That… was from a week ago. And it went viral."

Harry couldn't make a sound. Nico swallowed.

Percy was just as stunned. He turned to Nico. "Was that Ward?"

Nico nodded, wishing he could leave.

Sirius walked forwards and conjured a chair in mid-air. The trick did nothing to diffuse the tension. Sally barely blinked and the others kept quiet. He sat on it, facing Harry head on.

"How many times have you been here alone?"

After a tense moment, Harry replied. "I can't tell you."

"You don't want to tell me."

"Yes."

"Is this about camp?"

"Not entirely."

"Is it about Rachel?"

"Partially."

"Is it about you?"

"Mostly."

"Do you think I'm joking?"

"No."

Sirius seemed to get angrier. Nico snapped out of his frozen form and blurted, "I called him!"

All five faces turned towards him. Nico faced Sirius, trying to settle himself. "Dick and Ward have been bullying me and Ash for a while… I panicked when we couldn't find Ash. And I didn't know what to do so I called the first person I could think of –"

"The first person was Harry?" DJ asked, incredulous.

"Yeah! I mean… Sally was busy and I didn't want to keep trying to call her… and we couldn't find the teachers! And I don't know! I wasn't thinking straight, I'm sorry. I was scared!"

Nico hated lying, but he also wanted Sirius to stop glaring at Harry. Sally walked forwards, staring at him in a way she never had before. It was a combination of surprise, disappointment, and calculating. Nico caught himself wondering if his mom would have ever looked at him like that.

"Alright." Sally said softly. She walked towards him and sat on the armchair, turning around in it. "I think we need to understand the whole situation before deciding what to do. Sit down, boys.

Nico hesitated, but then went to sit beside Harry. Percy followed, sitting on the wizard's right while DJ squeezed himself between the armrest and Percy.

Nico began to speak. He told them about Ashley and Dick, about Ward, about Gil and Denise, and finally about Harry and Rachel. Everything he knew, was out now. And it should have been a simple thing, it was a mortal issue, a regular thing, but it still made his stomach twist to describe Dick's gleeful attitude about picking on them, and Ward's encouragement of him.

"I don't understand." DJ said, after listening. "I mean… sorry, Nico, but you can knock him out, can't you?"

Percy looked at him and frowned. "Yes, of course. That's the best solution to this, isn't it? Just knock him out. Why don't you just stab him in the gut, Nico? Get rid of him once and for all?"

DJ's jaw dropped. "That's not what I – "

"Okay, so you wanted him to take a violent course, but not too violent for your taste, gotcha."

"Percy!" Sally's voice was sharp. "That's not the right tone for this conversation."

Percy huffed leaning against the back rest, but Harry turned towards him and said, "It's because of you! You were the one who put that nonsense idea into his head."

"Excuse me?"

Harry glared at him. "Nico wasn't fighting back because you told him not to. What kind of advice was that? Did you want him to get socked?"

"I didn't want him to break that idiot's jaw with a single punch." Percy snapped.

"Are you forgetting the Mist? Whatever Nico would do, it would be disguised to look as normal as possible, so your brilliant theory of the fear of exposure just fell into pieces. Did you even think before you told him that?"

Percy looked ready to lunge at him. Sirius intervened. "Wait! Let me get this right. Nico knew that Ash was in trouble, and since he didn't want to fight – "

"Because of Percy's advice."

"… he called Harry for help." Sirius continued. "Is that what really happened, Nico?"

Nico nodded, moving his head as fast as he could. Sally was still frowning though.

"Harry… why did you hurt Ward?"

Harry stared. "Well, I wasn't about to shake his hand for what he did."

Percy snorted. "You did something to his hand."

"He deserved it."

"Really? He deserved having his upper arm dislocated?"

"You do realise he was being racist?!" Harry argued. "That kind of behaviour warrants anything!"

Percy gritted his teeth so hard that Nico thought he heard something pop. "Harry, I don't know if you know this…but you're white."

"I know –"

"And I'm Hispanic."

"I know that – "

"And that's pretty obvious to everyone who can see us!"

"I know!"

"So you don't have to tell me how racism works."

"I'm just saying – "

"You don't have to tell me how it works, because I've experienced it first-hand."

"I know!" Harry said, frustrated. "I was –"

"No." Percy told, clearly not about to let it go. "No, you were about to tell me how you think we should deal with it. Well, I'm telling you there's more than one way to deal with racism, and the way I prefer might be a little less violent than what you think is the right way."

"Less violent isn't the right way."

"Neither is being violent. That just continues the cycle of lashing out at everyone! You're basically bullying Ward and Dick."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Ha! If you're going to tag me as a bully who bullies bullies, I wouldn't find that so bad."

"Of course, you wouldn't."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"That's your solution to everything! Anytime someone starts something, you see fit to finish it with an absolute slam down!"

"That's still better than your way! You used to fight back just like me, but then you started running away. Running is not a solution."

"It's a solution!"

"It's a coward's answer!"

Percy moved so suddenly that Nico flinched. But Harry got his hand up in time to block the swat that had been coming at him.

"Hey!" Sally barked. "Quit that! Or you're both grounded! Percy!"

Percy turned away, fuming. "Are you happy that I lashed out? That's what you wanted, isn't it?"

"May be I should be happy." Harry said, "This is the most alive you've been in a while."

"Harry." Sirius said, sitting up and narrowing his eyes.

DJ shifted as a way of calling their attention. They looked at him and he mumbled. "When you run away, it saves you from getting pummelled in that moment."

Percy rubbed the back of his neck. "You're talking about your orphanage. Did you get picked on a lot?"

"Way to be sensitive." Harry snarked.

"We're way past that."

DJ's nostrils flared. It looked just as comical as when Harry did that, but Nico couldn't bring himself to smile.

"When you're the scrawny, weird runt who 'throws' stuff around the room, it doesn't really appeal you to the bigger kids. The thing was there were a lot of short, small kids like me and only a few big 'uns. They still managed to scare us every single day. Looking back on it, if we'd been able to coordinate properly and grouped together, we could have fought back, or at least caught the caretakers' attentions. But most of us looked out for ourselves, and not a lot of us stood up to them. The ones who did got seriously messed up. They had to take one kid to the hospital, I remember."

Sally stopped breathing. "Nobody could complain?"

DJ shrugged. "They just sort of said 'boys will be boys'. But the real problem was, every time I ran and hid, I was doing it to save my own skin."

"There's nothing wrong to save your own skin." Percy said. "You were little, you were scared. It's not your fault that the adults who should have helped you, didn't. It's not cowardly to save yourself."

"Is it cowardly to wish someone else got caught so you had more time to hide?" DJ looked at Harry. "Would you have called me a coward?"

Harry couldn't answer.

"I wouldn't." Percy insisted. "There's nothing wrong with looking out for yourself."

DJ looked sad for a moment. "The thing about looking out for yourself… is that you can never have any friends."

Percy clapped his mouth shut.

"You… you're alone, the moment you choose to prioritise yourself over everybody, no matter the situation. And it's different from actually caring for your… your mental wellbeing, it's different because you'd rather all the bad things happened to anyone else, than it happening to you. You'd barter away the chance for actual relationships to keep yourself safe. And I know it's not fair, but it's painful living alone and not have anyone to talk to, to make jokes with, to just see someone and share a smile, because those tiny things actually matter to your sanity."

DJ's voice shook a little. "Sometimes you need to hit the idiots. Sometimes, if you're lucky, you can talk them down. Sometimes you need to take a hit, and those days suck, but every other day that you live with your friends, makes up for the sucky days."

Nico could see the stiffness in the air dissolve into an uncomfortable sadness. DJ blinked a few times to face them again. Percy and Harry didn't say anything. Sirius let out a breath and began.

"DJ, if you want, you can talk to me later –"

"I'm fine. I just wanted to say that… I mean, there's more than two ways at looking at the situation… and it's not whether who's right or wrong, it's about finding out which solution would work for a specific case."

Sally smiled at him. She seemed proud, hands wringing between her knees. "That's a wonderful way to put it. Harry, did you realise what the right way was?"

He looked up, uncertain now. Nico saw how he took his time to come up with an answer, this time, trying to consider another idea.

"I suppose… I could have handled it better… but I doubt Ward would have listened to me –"

"You're white, he would have listened to you." Percy said, short.

Sally nodding slowly. "There would have been a higher chance of Ward listening to you. See, Harry. What is it that you have that gives you a less judgemental position?"

Harry frowned. Sirius gave a smile, but it wasn't a smile of happiness or laughter. It was more wry and a little sardonic.

Percy turned to look at him. Harry looked back. The anger was gone and their facial expressions started to tell a different story. Harry's nostrils flared in question. Percy tilted his lips to the side. Harry reacted with surprise and Percy continued to blink, eyebrows finally coming together in a mesh.

It was like watching a silent conversation. Nico observed that they really were taking signals from each other's looks. It was an odd and surprising thing to watch.

"Power?" Harry asked, hesitant. He was being careful now. Percy sat up all the way. Their shoulders touched and Nico felt a little awed. He wasn't sure exactly why, but it seemed like he'd witnessed something between them that made the world appear different in the subtlest of ways.

"Privilege." Sally corrected. "And I think you know what exactly I'm talking about."

DJ was staring at the two of them in the middle of the couch. Nico wondered if he'd noticed the strange interaction as well. They spoke a bit more about Ward and Dick. Nico was just glad no one pointed fingers at him for refusing to do anything. Harry promised to not interfere again, unless it was life and death. Percy agreed that self-defense was necessary. Nico almost couldn't believe it when Sally had told him to hit Ward if he ever threatened Nico again.

Sirius finally cleared his throat. "And one more thing, Harry."

"Yeah, I know. I'm grounded."

Sirius scowled. "You definitely are. And I know you're probably never going to explain what exactly it is that made you check on the camp… but if you think you need help, would you at least consider involving me?"

Harry sighed. "It's not that easy, Sirius."

"I know… fine. It's just that…"

Sirius's eyes flitted between DJ and then at Harry. "You're not getting your portkeys."

Nico frowned. "What?"

"I have a portkey." DJ said, confused. He touched the pendant at the base of his neck, a black crystal that hung on a string.

"Those are the emergency ones in case of a penultimate recourse or complete control loss situation. I'm talking about the Ministry sanctioned portkeys that are supposed to bring you to the safe house, or to Frost."

Harry choked. "Why not? Is it because of me?"

"In part, I suspect so. But mostly because of a number of things that happened at the same time. For one, Kettler is taking a long paternal leave, Stanford de Leuze will be the new attorney for us, representing us, should the need arise." Sirius stopped as though he knew there would be questions.

"What's happened to Kettler?"

"He's having a baby."

"He's adopting?"

"No, he's having a baby."

DJ blinked. "Like from a surrogate mother?"

"No, DJ. Kettler's pregnant now. He's nearly four months along. I just got the floo call for final shifting. So any and all –"

"I don't understand."

"He's trans, DJ. He can biologically have kids with his husband." Sirius finally said.

Nico personally didn't think this was a big deal. He'd heard of more fantastic stories from Ancient Greek myths.

"It's not through magic?" Percy asked, looking less exhausted.

"No. Well, he had to stop taking a few potions, but he's well on the program now."

"Kettler's pregnant!" DJ crowed. His entire face was split into a giant grin. It looked uncomfortable. "He is actually pregnant!"

Sally pressed her lips for a moment. "If you have a functioning uterus, you can have kids."

DJ looked absolutely overjoyed as though the holidays had rolled in. "That's the wickedest thing I've ever heard! Wait, pregnant people like baby clothes, don't they? I know the perfect store!"

"You know a store that sells baby clothes?" Harry asked, amused.

"I know every store in Diagon Alley that sells all kinds of clothes. Don't hurt me with such assumed ignorance like that, Harry. We should order in some socks. Everyone loves tiny socks. And Deringer's has Quidditch themed onesies –"

"DJ." Sirius interrupted. "That's a great idea. We'll send them something. But let me just finish what I was saying."

"Right. Sorry." He settled down, next to Percy who was in a much better mood than before.

"Since we have a new attorney on the case, I've asked him to push through on reporting Rita Skeeter for everything she's written about you, Harry. No, wait, let me finish. Dawlish from the Auror office, applied for the Order, King told us to not consider him because he reports directly to Fudge most of the times. Umbridge is in charge of the castle's security. All mails and fire calls are supposed to be authorised by her. That comes into effect starting tomorrow, that's Monday. What else, what else… oh yeah, the Cedric and Zach are under Tonks' guidance. If after two weeks, she agrees, we'll induct them into the Order. Crouch Senior's awake and if he comes to Hogwarts, don't talk to him. It doesn't matter if he says it's important, do not talk to him."

"Crouch's awake?"

"Umbridge's looking after the wards!?"

"Guys, wait! One last thing about the Death Eater search. Tomorrow's headlines will be that the authorities found her dead. If anyone asks, just tell them that you know nothing about it."

"But we don't know anything about…" Harry trailed off. "Did you find her?"

Sirius hesitated. "Yes…ish. Look, whatever you hear, don't go with rumours, just tell people that you don't know?"

"Did you find her or not?" DJ asked, mouth gaping.

"I… you'll find out with everyone else. And one last thing, you two."

Sirius leaned in, looking at DJ and Harry, his face absolutely serious. "I need you to promise me something. Do not get caught."

DJ froze. "What?"

"Whatever it is you're up to, don't get caught. Cover your bases, and plan everything."

Nico frowned. He wondered if they knew…

Oh, they knew. Sally's nose was shiny with sweat and her forehead was wrinkled in thought. She was not happy with whatever was going on, but she was willing to go along with it. And it was clear that the adults, the Order, knew something was going on with some of the Hogwart's students.

Sally's eyes darted towards Nico. He didn't look away in time. Her pale blue eyes seemed to pierce into his being, reading his posture and behaviour.

"Alright." Harry said.

Sally grimaced.

"They know!" Percy hissed. "They totally know! We need to call this off!"

"Give me a moment." Harry hushed him.

"They all but said it."

DJ sighed, leaning his back against the wall. The four boys sat in Percy and Nico's room. Harry was pacing from the door to the window. Percy was sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of his bed. DJ sat on said bed while Nico lay on his stomach, beside him.

"I guess Sirius realized he can't control anything about camp's interference with our lives." DJ said, gesturing to Harry and himself.

"Interference?"

"I didn't mean it in a bad way, Nico. It's just something none of us can handle without expecting major repercussions."

Percy shook his head. "I like my solution."

DJ leaned back, resting his weight on his elbows. "Your solution is to have no party."

"Exactly, it's clean and safe."

Nico frowned. "But then, how will they all meet? We need all the students and campers to meet, right?"

DJ nodded. "Percy, I know you're worried about this, but it's not a bad plan. A party is something anyone will want. It's a place to relax and unwind. They can make friends with each other, enjoy chatting and whatnot. We can have music and dancing and games. It'll be awesome!"

He really hoped Percy could be swayed, but the demigod shook his head in frustration. Harry still kept walking.

"You can't have fun if you're worried about being attacked."

"That's what the wards are for! Luna can set them up again like she did for the meeting. We'll be super safe!"

"What about the scent? You want fifty demigods in one house?"

Nico perked up. "What kind of protection does camp have?"

Percy snorted. "Don't get your hopes up, Nico. That's god status shielding. We're basically invisible to the mortal world. There's no way you can guard Frost up to that measure."

"You mean without a god? So let's ask one."

DJ looked at Nico. "You can?"

Harry stopped walking. "Do you know any god willing to do that?"

Percy started to laugh. "Sure why not? We can ask Mr. D. He embodies the party spirit!"

Harry frowned. "Percy, if you're even trying to help –"

"I'm not, I want this whole idea chucked into the bin."

"Even so… which god would be willing to help us?"

Percy shrugged, folding his arms and looking away. DJ turned towards Nico, raising his eyebrows to look hopeful.

"I don't know…" Nico muttered. "They're all busy –"

"Because we happen to be in a war."

"Which is why we need to do this as quickly as possible!" Harry yelled. DJ shushed him, eyes darting towards the door. Harry cleared his throat and said, "You guys are the ones who need the cooperation more than we do."

Percy's jaw went stiff. "Right. I forgot we're interfering in your school schedule."

Harry's nostrils flared, this time, making him look less funny. "Don't say it like that."

"Like what? Like it's an us-and-them situation? You're the one who brought it up."

"I mean, don't make it seem like we're on opposite sides."

Percy clamped his mouth shut as though he was forcing himself to stop retaliating. DJ stared at him. It couldn't be just Grover, could it? Percy was acting more out of character everyday.

"We need to get together again." Nico said, his voice almost a whisper. "You heard what the monsters said, the titans may recruit some magic wielders. We should stop that. We need to show them that we're like them. That we like magic and like hanging about with friends, having fun and doing normal stuff."

DJ agreed. "Definitely. A party would lower tensions. We can make it a good experience. We'll bring in different things like new music and new food so that everyone can try and learn from each other. It's like two cultures coming together."

Harry turned towards Percy and this time, DJ noticed an odd thing. Percy's shoulders went stiff and Harry raised his eyebrows. Percy pressed his lips together, jerking his head to the side by an inch. Harry gave a short nod.

Were they… communicating through gestures? DJ blinked, wondering if they'd done this before. They must have. It almost seemed like they were reading each others' thoughts.

Nico looked at him, wide eyed. He'd seen it too.

"Nope." Percy said suddenly. Harry exhaled. "Fine, it's your funeral."

"I'm not afraid of her!"

Harry stopped for a moment and DJ recognized that disappointed look. It was the same kind Sirius would give them when he caught them messing things up.

"I thought you were friends." Harry said. "What you did was shitty."

"I didn't… want her to get hurt." Percy snapped.

"And that's what you did."

Percy's face fell. For the first time in a while, his expression reminded DJ of his old self. Of someone who cared about relationships enough to regret certain things.

"I didn't want her to run into trouble when we're supposed to be looking out for her." Percy muttered.

Harry shrugged, "That's not your decision to make. Rachel has her life, and it's connected to ours. I trust her. If she wants to come to the party, the most we can do is explain everything we can so she's absolutely prepared. Or else you'll never have her in your life."

"May be I'm willing to risk that!"

DJ held his breath. He clenched his fists, watching Percy's eyes burn.

"I'm not willing to risk that." He told him. "Percy, even if you think that's the best thing to do, I disagree. This party is to make sure that everyone understands each other in a fun place. It's not gonna be easy, but pushing people away if just going to make it worse."

"It's easy for you to say that, DJ. But what if something goes wrong?"

"It won't."

Nico's quiet voice had a startling bout of authority. The older boys stared at him.

"Before we had the first meeting, Lady Hestia told me that she'll keep an eye on the hearth for us. I asked her blessing to grant us safe floo passage."

"Wow! That's nice of her!"

"Wait, Will and Clovis ended up in this apartment by mistake. If she'd granted safe passage – " Harry began, but Nico sat up and said, "She also said to not lose sight of old friends in our quest to make new ones… or something like that."

DJ leaned back. "She was talking about Rachel. If Will and Clovis hadn't ended up here, then we wouldn't have come here either. We were supposed to have told Rachel everything that day…"

Harry looked towards Percy with a superior grin. "I think we should listen to the goddess."

Percy looked like he'd just held back a glare. His head fell against the nightstand behind him. "Fine. But the party –"

"I invited her." DJ reminded him.

"Then, how are you gonna plan?" Percy demanded. "We'll need more protection that will last an entire day. You'll have more than fifty kids in one house, supernaturally powerful kids, at that. We'll need food for everyone, drinks, med kits, entertainment, and the lot, not to mention, we'll need the house without any interference from the Order. And you heard Sirius, whatever we do, we can't get caught."

"We're not telling Sirius about this. We'll find a way to block the connections to the house from Frost. We'll have to make sure the Order, especially Sirius, to be busy that day." Harry explained.

"May be we can ask him to do something that will take up the entire day." Nico suggested.

Percy threw his hands up. "He'll know we're up to something."

"That's the not the point. He shouldn't know what it is that we're up to."

DJ suddenly thought of something. "Well, if he's not busy with Order or Ministry work, I know a way to occupy him."

Sally handed the spoon full of mayo to Sirius who accepted with a wry smile. They were sitting on the kitchen counter, trying to not talk about the more serious stuff.

"Since when do you eat mayonnaise straight from the jar?"

She sighed. "It's sort of like stress eating. Last year, I finished the entire can of cheese when Percy'd gone on that… winter quest. Gained a couple of pounds…"

She pocked at her stomach. "It's distended, see?"

"You should see mine." Sirius said, grabbing her hand.

"You actually need to eat more. I can see the side of your ribs. Besides, nobody stares at your stomach when the shirt's off."

Sirius chuckled. "I'm planning to get rid of them."

Sally gasped. "No! The tattoos are a part of you!"

"They're a part of prison life."

She mumbled, licking at her spoon. Last night, they'd sat down to discuss exactly how to approach the boys. It was clear that as mortals, their help would be very limited especially when it came to Percy and Nico's lives. But if the gods had started to involve Harry then there would be very little Sirius could do to stop that.

"You know…" Sirius began. "I was a colossal idiot when I was fifteen."

"I hear you." She nodded. "I remember spending an entire month's allowance on shoes once. My uncle was not pleased."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "I was stupider than that."

"Is that a word? Stupider?"

"I think it is."

"I've never used it."

"In writing or speech?"

"Both."

"Hmm."

Sally giggled and leaned against him. "I could sleep for a few years."

She felt Sirius' scruff tickle her temple as he looked down at her. "Thanks for staying up late with me… I wasn't sure how to handle this."

"You handled it perfectly. You stopped panicking when you found out where he was. That's a healthy attitude."

"Yeah… how do you do it? How do you not descend into that… madness, when Percy skips a few days, or when Nico leaves for a bit?"

Sally raised her spoon of mayo. "I either work on the novel or eat the first thing I find in the kitchen. That's love Sirius, you stress eat for those you care about."

He didn't reply immediately which made her think he was busy finishing his spoon. But then he said, "I love you."

That was the first time he'd said it. Sally hadn't even started on that level. Love? As in 'in love'?

She tried not to freeze. Sitting up straight and putting a distance of a few inches between them, she stared at the overhead shelves on the opposite wall. Her body felt hot and her skin tingled in a way that made her feel like she was flying through the aesthetic clouds.

"I'm just saying." He sounded breathless. "It's just what I feel… you don't have to say it back…"

She turned to look at him. "I might say it one day."

He looked a little ridiculous, spoon hovering right in front of him. He'd stopped to just look at her, and it was such a brazen moment that Sally almost backed away.

"I'll…wait for that." He whispered.

He raised a hand, slowly so as to not startle her. His thumb touch the corner of her lips and he wiped away a smudge of mayo that had been there. Sally stopped breathing.

"I think you both need a night out." A new voice came from the door and Sally and Sirius jumped away from each other to find the boys stand at the kitchen entrance.

Percy had his eyes covered, Nico was peeking around him. Harry was determinedly staring at the ceiling, but DJ's eyes sparkled with such intensity that she felt flushed.

"I…what?!" Sirius spluttered.

"You've been working so hard, and obviously, you worry about us all the time!" DJ announced. "You two need to spend at least twenty four hours with just yourselves, and forget about all the problems."

Sally sat up, raising at eyebrow at them. "What are you up to?"

Percy lowered the palm that had been placed over his eyes. "Do you really wanna know, mom?"

"No." She admitted.

"Whatever it is that the four of you are planning …?" Sirius said, but Harry jumped in. "It's pretty important, Sirius… but like DJ was saying you need a time out."

"You're still grounded, Harry."

"I am well aware of that. But hear us out. DJ just remembered that there's a carnival held in East London every November and December… A muggle carnival."

Sally knew that would get Sirius's attention. "A carnival, huh?"

"Yup." DJ said. "It's brilliant. You can spend the whole day there, it's a 24 hour thing. You shouldn't miss it."

"Right…"

"It'll be like a date." Nico added his two cents. Sally smirked.

"And you won't tell us why you need us out of the way?" She asked.

"Umm… it's a big deal for us…"

"Is it life or death?"

"Yes." All the boys chorused. Sally stared down at her empty spoon and then grabbed for the jar beside her, scooping up more mayo. She'd been eating it for more than a week now.

Stupid gods and titans and their stupid war that involves little children…

"Will you call us if things go wrong?"

Sirius' question made them stop.

"Yes." Harry said finally. The two wizards stared at each other, assessing the careful word.

"So… when do you want us out?" Sally asked.

"We'll tell you!" DJ chirped. "And don't worry, it's not as dangerous as you think."

"That's not very comforting, seeing as how you're not telling us what you're up to." Sally said, looking up.

And she saw something.

Something odd.

Odder than the two demigods and two wizards standing by her kitchen door.

Percy's blue flannel shirt had splotches of red over it. For a moment, Sally's heart palpitated when she thought it was blood. But she stared at the red bits and saw that they moved.

It was in the air. It seemed like a soft dull red mist that hovered over Percy's form. It was visible only against the light blue of his shirt. It couldn't be the Mist. The magic that hid the supernatural from the mortal world was purple and silver, Sally recalled correctly. She'd never seen red mist.

"Alright." Sirius's strong voice broke through her thoughts. She looked at Percy's face, trying to distinguish anything from his expression, other than the dark shadows and the unhealthy pallor that he now always sported.

Sally was suddenly struck with the fear that Percy was hiding something else from them… Something that nobody knew.

AN: If anyone has a problem with the way I write trans characters (with the terminology, behaviour or anything else) please report to me. Transphobic comments will be run over by the Hogwarts Express.

AN2: I will not update until after April. I have tests coming up and these are big ones. I will continue the story after that. Never fear.

Q: In my instalment of The Memory, Harry and Ron find a black mist in the library. Can anyone take a guess as to what it may have indicated?

Cabba.