A: Dementors are non-beings. I would say any coarse, raw magical energy can obliterate them. Or there may be a specific spell that can destroy them. Good answers, everyone!

Lord of Erebor: Absolutely

evenstarlily: Thank you! Your words mean so much!

Catie Cat: Yeah, Percy's going to have some good character development. Good guesses.

Lady among the trees: EEEP! I love your reaction.

brade1991: In my stories, Percy is more dependent on water, being a son of Poseidon. So he breathes better in water than in air. He has asthmatic symptoms, and if he ever displays them, he would need water, his inhaler, or the likes, to start breathing again.

Child of Dreams: YES!

percyjacksonfan135: Glad to see you're catching up!

Listening to: Famous Last Words by My Chemical Romance


Monday, Dec 3; 7:00 p.m.
Albert Bridge, London

Leaving Nico beside one of the ambulances, Sally and Sirius dashed back towards the bridge. They ducked under the yellow police tape and she heard people calling them back but didn't dare slow down.

The moment the rain abated and the monster disappeared, she knew it was Percy who'd done it. She didn't know how, but that was the truth.

Sirius took out his wand and blasted an upturned car out of their way. Throwing all caution to the winds, the pair ran to the centre of the bridge, finding no sign of any of the kids.

"Split up!" Sirius said, climbing over the median on the right. Sally continued down her lane, avoiding all the vehicles and feeling the bridge still sway under the ferocious attack.

Percy, DJ, and Rachel were still somewhere in the debris. She'd seen DJ grow weary after holding a foolhardy shield against the monster and she'd seen Rachel pause after the girl was launched right into a car.

That was another problem. The bracelet had found its latest soldier. Three for the Patron. Sally itched the skin that had been covered by the bracelet, now that it was no longer on her.

She heard a hoarse gasp, the sound rattling right into her bones. Sally climbed over the hood of a smoking car and found Percy lying face down on the road, right by the railing. He was barely moving, clearly in incredible pain.

"Percy!" She ran to him, falling on her knees to touch his face. His eyes snapped open and she could see terror in them. He gave another suffocating groan.

Sally swore, feeling her own hysteria rise. She pulled him up by the collar of his jacket, letting him rest his back over the vertical bars of the railing. Then she searched his pockets for his inhaler.

Letting out a string of swear words in her head, Sally searched her own pockets, coming up with a tupe of lipstick, a pen, a USB drive…

Not a pen, an Epi-pen.

Sally stared. She didn't even recall having that with her.

Percy's eyes rolled back in his head. He nearly slumped to the side. Sally screamed, opening the lid and holding Percy's leg down to jab the sharp tip into his thigh, right where the denim was torn.

She injected the blue liquid in, holding the pen firm, waiting, waiting –

Percy's head snapped up, eyes growing wide enough that she could see the ocean rising like someone had summoned it. He sucked in a long gasping breath of air.

Sally removed the epi-pen, dropping it and pulling Percy towards her. His hands shook and she could feel the sob that wracked through his body. She placed a hand on his chest and said, "Listen to me, baby. I need you to take deep breaths. In and out. Come on, with me, Pepe! In and out."

Percy dropped his head to the side of her neck, trying to obey her. It took a while, but soon, her son was breathing along with her and Sally felt like she could cry from sheer relief and exhaustion.


Monday, Dec 3; 2:15 p.m.
CHB, Long Island, US

Everyone in camp was huddled inside cabin 9. The Hephaestus kids had hijacked the best dish connection and now they watched the news of a disturbing attack on London, live.

"… no evidence or clear reports as to the on-goings on Albert Bridge." The news reporter said. She was standing by the side of a road, her backdrop being an immense suspension bridge in the distance. It was easy to tell that there was a lot of destruction, especially with the broken cables, and the smoke-like vapour all around the towers.

"Witnesses stated that the bridge began to shake and tremble before its structure proceeded to break under a sudden and very quick rainstorm. Several calls to 999 alluded to the same. Many pedestrians who were caught in the 'attack' claimed to have observed a monstrous shape behind the descending clouds."

Clarisse swore. Annabeth buried her face in her palm.

Nyssa raised her hand, finger on the pause button of a remote. She clicked it and the tv screen froze on an image of raising smoke from the bridge.

There was no obvious fire or even a point of origin of smoke. Annabeth knew why she'd stopped the news.

"That's definitely a monster." Silena whispered, holding her breath. Annabeth agreed, staring at the faint silhouette against the smoke. It was large and had multiple legs with a thick curled tail above it, like a scorpion. It looked exactly like a scorpion monster hiding in the mist.

"When was the last time we caught an Ancient Greek monster anywhere in Europe?" Will asked.

"1952." Adam Cho responded quickly. He was sitting beside Silena, next to one of the cabin windows. "Right after World War II. And that was just a harpy infestation in Norway, nothing like this."

"Could it be the gods?" Katie murmured. "Monsters appear where there's godly activity, right?"

Malcolm shook his head, worry etched on his face. "Minion monsters tend to stay away from deities. They're attracted to demigods."

"Minion monsters? That thing was the size of a double story Walmart!" Drew argued.

"It actually reminded me of the scorpions Quintus made us fight over the summer." Kayla pointed out.

Annabeth winced. "This one's is too big for that. It's probable that this was Skorpios."

The campers fell silent. They looked at each other, nervous about the implication.

"A monster like that would prefer to attack camp, not a city thousands of miles across the ocean." Connor protested.

"May be they weren't after demigods. They were after wizards." Lacy suggested. She cringed when everyone turned to stare at her.

Drew's voice trembled. "You're saying this is our fault for putting them in danger?"

Lacy swallowed, staying still, eyes trained the ground. Annabeth hated that idea, even though it was one of explanations that had popped into her head. She shared a look with Malcolm, who'd probably arrived to the same conclusion.

Clarisse stood up, banging a fist against the wall. The sound startled everyone. Her boyfriend, Chris, nearly slipped and fell.

"Listen up!" She snapped. "Beckendorf, get as many as you can to start another round of offerings. If anyone can contact any god, that'll be a step. Trav, Con, change the border patrol shift now. Katie, get the dryads to check all preliminary defenses. Regular activities are cancelled for the day. Silena call Chiron and tell him everything we know. I want everyone on high alert."

Everyone shuffled, running out of the cabin to follow her instructions. Clarisse's eyes were still blazing as she turned towards Annabeth. "I know you're not on good terms with Jackson, but call him. Or Nico. If neither of them answers, we're going to their apartment to find out from Ms. Jackson. I want the both of them here before dinner."

Annabeth held her tongue at the jib and gave her a stiff nod. She left the Hephaestus cabin and trekked across the grounds towards her own.

Harry's mirror was with her. She could call Sally or DJ, if neither Percy nor Nico picked up their phones…

Malcolm caught up to her. "D'you think Harry's awake?"

She grimaced. "No. Nico told me that Sirius is getting worried because there's been no development."

Malcolm hummed. "Think we can sneak in Will? He might be able to help."

The siblings entered Cabin 6, the room strewn with books and assorted papers. Annabeth hopped towards her bunk, sliding out her phone from below her mattress.

Even though their phones rang, Percy and Nico didn't pick up her calls. Annabeth sighed, dialing Sally's number. She didn't answer either. Before trying the mirror, Annabeth called Rachel as a last ditch effort.

It rang ten times before going to voicemail.

"Is everyone so busy?!" Annabeth scolded her phone. She grabbed the mirror, propped it on her bed-stand and said, "DJ Potter."

"What if he doesn't answer either?" Malcolm asked.

"Then I'll go to –"

"London?"

" – Sally's apartment." Annabeth glared at him.

"She does have a floo…"

The mirror remained stationary, reflecting Annabeth's irritation. Where were they? How occupied could they be that they couldn't answer her call?

"I was thinking…" Malcolm started. Annabeth watched as he drummed his fingers on his thigh, unable to sit still.

"I was thinking that Percy might have been there."

She raised an eyebrow. "Been… at the bridge?"

"It did rain." He pointed out. "It stopped raining as soon as the scorpion disappeared. And I'm not saying that Percy handled it by himself, may be Nico was with him. Plus, there was a river right there. So, may be they did finish it off."

"May be." Annabeth agreed. "But why would they be on a bridge?"

"Nico can shadow travel. Percy can do that water-teleportation thing."

"They'd have known to lure it away from people."

Malcolm let out a sigh, falling onto his pillow. "Yeah. That's not always possible."

Annabeth stared back at the inactive mirror. She could see tiredness in the eyes of her reflection.


Monday, Dec 3; 7:30 p.m.
Grimmauld Place, London

"A locket, the ring, a diadem, and a goblet." Snape listed off.

Percy and Rachel sat at one end of the magically extended kitchen table in Grimmauld Place. The rest of the seats had been occupied by nearly all the Order members. They were staring at the teenagers as though they'd never seen anyone so strange.

Percy felt another shiver run through his body. He hated this. It felt like he was coming down from a spectacular high, except his high had been 'possessed by a horcrux'.

Beside him, Rachel sat there, bundled in one of DJ's jackets, effectively hiding her newly acquired bracelet. As though the day couldn't get any worse.

"That's why you created all those problems." Snape continued. "With the Knight Bus and the train –"

"That was Voldemort." Sirius snapped at him. "Unless your brain has selective memory storage, you'd recall when Percy explained that 'Tom' was leading all the plans."

Snape sent Sirius a glare worthy of Annabeth. "That was implied."

"Oh really!"

"Percy." Kingsley called and the two men fell silent. Percy stared at the Head Auror.

"Is it true you can manipulate any kind of defensive enchantments?"

He hesitated before answering, "I can walk through shields… like they're not there. I can't make a shield or a ward, though."

"Can you recall if you've broken into any other institute?"

Percy recounted his trip to Azkaban. Then he remembered Germany, and told them about that, as well. A part of him wished his mom wasn't there to hear, but she had been adamant to listen everything that he'd been through. Sally was sitting to his left, eyes glossy like she was just holding back from crying or screaming.

"You broke Bellatrix Lestrange out to enquire about the horcrux?" Emmaline Vance asked.

"Yes… Tom did some mind reading thing. Found out that the goblet was in her vault at Gringotts. So he made the whole plan of getting enough danger alerts to partially cause a shut down. Because bank rules are different for non-human regulated ones. If we were inside the premises when the alarm was sounded, they'd streamline our withdrawals. But he knocked out the goblin who was showing us around the tunnels and we went right to the Lestrange vault."

"And, how did you open it?" Kingsley asked, placing both hands on the table.

Percy took a deep breath. "I grabbed the handle and swung it open."

Everyone stared. Sirius blinked, "I beg your pardon."

"I just opened it… just like that."

Bill Weasley made a choked sound. Beside him, Fleur patted his hand and asked Percy, "Was eet the bracelet's doing?"

Percy started. The bracelet. Oh. He'd never given it a thought. That made sense, though. Sharing a look with Sally, he said, "Probably. I didn't think about it much."

"Didn't think…" Snape glared at him. "Was there ever a time you did think? Did you think before following a strange sound in this house? Did you think before putting on a mysterious locket? Did –"

Several people retaliated. Sirius stood up, his chair falling to the floor, McGonagall glowered at Snape, Sally grabbed Percy's arm, shooting daggers at the man, and Molly and Arthur, turned to respond as well. But what surprised everyone was when Rachel stood up and marched towards Snape, grabbing him by the collar.

"You blame Percy one more time, I'mma bitch slap you to back to the castle!"

The kitchen fell quiet. Percy felt his bracelet itch, but he could also see an aura around Rachel, ready to lash out unfavourably. Her skin was glowing in shades of green and gold, highlighting every aspect of her, even through the dirty clothes. She looked like someone no one would want to mess with and Snape did the right thing by staying silent.

"He didn't break in anywhere, it was Tom Riddle. It wasn't him who hurt all those people or planted bombs or eggs or whatever, it was Tom. This was only Voldemort's fault, and if you even think of interrogating Percy like a prisoner or a culprit, you will have to deal with me. He's my friend, and this is my one and only warning, I swear to the gods!"

Her voice climbed through the little speech, reaching an ear-shattering pitch by the end of it. Her eyes were practically glowing, a vicious green scorching into Snape's bloodless face.

My friend. Percy felt some of the cold leave him. He was her friend again.

Rachel dropped Snape back into his chair and stomped back to her own, falling into it. She folded her arms, directing a nasty glare at everyone as though they wanted to disagree with her.

She was exuding the same intense, 100% done, angry energy as Harry would if it had been him sitting in her place. Percy wasn't sure if Harry would have bodily threatened Snape, but eh, anything was possible.

Any doubts that people had about Rachel Elizabeth Dare being Rosalie Potter, was gone. Looks were one thing, similar anger expressions were another.

Sirius sported a well-disguised solemn look as he turned to Snape and said, "Best you sit down and shut up for the rest of today. If someone else can speak without condescending anyone…"

Albus Dumbledore turned towards Rachel. "May I see your bracelet, dear?"

Rachel swallowed, some of her bravado leaving her. Percy gave her a sympathetic look and she pressed her lips together, sitting up and pulling her left arm out of the jacket sleeve. She raised the short sleeve of her t-shirt and displayed the dark bronze jewellery to everyone. Percy observed that, like his and Harry's, her new bracelet was fit to her bicep, with twelve small charms dangling from the band. Each charm had the same carvings as his did. The sight of it made Percy want to grit his teeth. Never in a hundred years would he have guessed Rachel facing the same burdens as he or Harry did.

"You said you can't remember how exactly it appeared on your arm?"

"Yes." Rachel narrowed her eyes. "I said that sentence exactly. Are you prompting me?"

Dumbledore didn't look offended. "I apologize. I am clearing this up. The bracelet appeared when you were in mortal danger."

"Yeah."

He sat back, nodding slowly. Percy didn't dare look at Sally. Only a handful of them knew exactly from where the bracelet came.

Bill suddenly raised his hands. "Wait, let's get back to the bank heist. Tom Imperiused Stan Shunpike, made him drink Polyjuice potion that he'd stolen from Crouch Jr. who'd been disguised as Mad-Eye. The potion had Lestrange's hair. Tom put a disillusionment charm on you. So that's how you got into the tunnels. And then the alarm sounds, you knock out the goblin, steal the goblet, made Shunpike drink another vial of potion with Minister Fudge's hair and that's how you escaped without question. Did I get that right?"

Percy closed his eyes. "That was the plan. But I told you, when I knocked out Stan before that, I found out that Tom had… he'd thought about killing Harry. I freaked, tried to fight, and then I don't remember anything else. I woke up in the river."

He heard Fleur let out a sad exhale. "We saw you. We saw the Minister… but no one stopped 'im, of course."

He felt that shudder again, running deep into his bones. Sally's grip on his wrist helped, but Percy still felt very breakable.

"Percy?" Kingsley called again. "Do you have any idea where Tom may have hid the horcruxes?"

Eyes still shut, Percy searched his memories, trying to recall if Tom had ever mentioned suitable hiding places. Nothing came to mind. He had so many blank spots in his memories, it felt like a fragile piece of fabric fixed together with scotch tape.

He shook his head. "I dunno. I'm trying to think, I just can't remember if he'd ever talked about something like that. He talked a lot. I know the locket's with him. Everything else was in a moleskin pouch but Harry destroyed that before he sent the map and the diary away… I don't know. It might be with him, but he'd also not want to risk having all four pieces with me, in case his other forms tried to manifest, too."

Everyone at the table seemed to freeze at the thought of another Tom Riddle, insane and power-hungry. Percy turned his palm up to hold his mom's sweaty fingers.

Somewhere in the recess of his mind, Percy knew that he was freaking out. When Dumbledore explained what a horcrux was, what the locket really was, Percy had been outwardly blank. He could feel the pressure building up behind his eyebrows, a growing migraine that would never fade away.

That pain might have come free along with the sharp oval shaped mark on the skin of his chest. The redness of it had calmed since the river had mostly healed him, but it would still scar. He'd already had two ambrosia squares and the mark remained.

He deserved it. He deserved that reminder. After everything he'd done –

"Percy, can you tell me how many people Tom targeted?" Dumbledore's question made him flinch. The names appeared in his head and he couldn't turn away from that.

With a deep breath, Percy started his list. "Gabe, Crouch Jr., …"

He told them names that weren't premeditated either. The mention of Fawkes made the twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes blink out. He included the victims from the Knight Bus and the Hogwarts Express, too.

"You spared Lestrange." An Auror named Vance pointed out.

"I thought you might be able to find out what was going on from her. She saw both our faces." Percy hedged.

Vance grimaced. "Sorry. The Legilemency You-Know-Who had performed on her was too powerful. We couldn't get much."

Percy figured that. He'd waited hours in the hopes that someone would find out but when it was clear that nobody knew anything.

"What about Rita Skeeter?" Sirius asked.

"Who?" Percy muttered, not thinking. Then he frowned. "Skeeter? I don't know about that. I killed her too?"

"Tom killed her." Sally corrected.

"Oh. I didn't know." His heart sank. What if he'd attacked more people than he knew? What if everything he was aware of was just an illusion, ready to break at a moment's notice.

"It wasn't Tom." Dumbledore said. He ran his fingers done his beard. "That is not his M.O."

Percy looked up, hopeful. "How'd she die?"

"She was hanged."

He gave a huff. "Yeah. No way. Tom never liked getting his hands wouldn't do something like that unless the rope was magical."

"It wasn't."

"Then it couldn't be him." Percy said, simply. The sentence alone lifted a huge amount of weight.

Then that weight crashed down upon him. "Wait, who killed her?"

The rest of the Order looked at each other. They seemed taken aback as well.

"We figure is was a copy-cat." Kingsley said.

"Someone was copying… me?"

"Someone was copying Tom." Rachel said, shooting Percy a look.

Molly tap the table with his nails. Her face had gone red from frustration. "I think that's enough. We have a lot to discuss. May be you children can join the others upstairs?"

A few of them frowned at her, but Sirius nodded. "Yes, up you go. Percy knows where."

Rachel leaned forwards. "Um… Sirius. I sort of disappeared from my school in New York. I pretty sure my parents will be looking for me if my Coach notified them."

Sirius sighed. "I'm sorry, Rachel. We need to plan something out right now. Can you wait a few hours?"

"I can take the floo by myself."

"You can't. The city's shut down."

"I can take her." Percy muttered.

Sally sat straight, fixing him with a stern look, not necessarily angry. "Sorry, Percy. You're not going anywhere for a few days. Same goes for Nico."

He sighed, figuring she'd ground him.

"A couple of hours, Rachel." Sirius promised her. "I'll smooth it out. You don't have to worry."

She hesitated for a moment before nodding. Percy followed her out of the kitchen, shutting the door behind them. They stood there for a moment, breathing in the cold and dusty silence of the hall.

"You…you can't take this bracelet off of you, can you?" Rachel whispered, staring right ahead towards the staircase.

Percy winced. "No. Sorry."

He could feel her exhaustion, radiating like an aura. He knew that if they sat on the hard wooden floor, the both of them would easily fall asleep.

A small jiggling noise distracted him. Percy looked to his right and spotted a long and thin fleshy sort of wire, dangling from above. The end of it was placed right underneath the hinge of the kitchen door.

He frowned at it and then followed its length, raising his eyes to look up to the third floor where the rest of the teens were perched, leaning against the banister to stare down at them.

Fred made a 'come up' gesture and Percy nudged Rachel's elbow. They climbed the stairs to join the others.

Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, DJ, Nico, Fred, and George greeted them. They had very different expressions, ranging from hesitance to downright anger.

"Um…" Ron started, "You hungry?"

Rachel shrugged and he jogged into one of the rooms to get a box of chocolate frogs. Everyone took a piece and they sat on the floor and the steps to munch on the snacks. Rachel gave a sudden giggle when the frog wriggled in her hand.

"Is it a real frog? Like… a live chocolate thingy?"

" 'S just a charm."

Percy felt a little nauseous munching on the head of his frog. He wasn't sure when the last time was that he'd eaten. Tom wouldn't have bothered with inane activities like that. He'd drank a gallon of the river water, which was nothing like the Hudson so that was a blessing.

The frog head kept wriggling in his mouth. He coughed, spitting it out into his palm and then getting up to run into the closest room. He headed straight for the bathroom, bending over the basin to throw up.

Someone clapped their hands over his ears. The noise wasn't completely filtered out, but the house wasn't loud to begin with.

"Go on." One of them said. "I'll stay with him."

The low murmuring disappeared as someone closed the door. Percy waited for a bit feeling bile rise again. He vomited till the dry heaving began.

After a minute, Percy splashed his face with water, trying to revel in its coolness. A hand towel was offered to him. His entire chest burned with the intense exercise his muscles had gone through. His jaw ached and his throat felt sore. He coughed and spat out, trying to gargle the taste away.

Breathing heavily, Percy pushed back to lean against the wall. DJ watched him carefully.

"D'you want to sit down?" He asked. Percy closed his eyes. His legs were shaking as though freezing needles were being inserted at every point.

He nodded and DJ helped him shuffle out of the bathroom and towards the first bed in sight. Percy nearly fell on it, immediately placing his head on the pillow and curling to his side.

"I'll get you water, 'kay?" DJ muttered, leaving his sight for a bit and returning almost instantly with a glass of cool water. Percy took a sip and decided not to aggravate his stomach anymore.

"You think you can sleep?" DJ whispered.

Percy looked at the floor behind him. It was familiar. Of course it was familiar. This was their room. Percy and DJ had shared this room for a couple of weeks during the summer. He could still see the stiff duct tape on the floor, peeling away in places but mostly holding still. DJ had put the tape to divide the room into equal halves.

"Percy?"

" M'fine." He muttered. Did he slur? It felt like it. His eyelids were heavy, threatening to close.

DJ stared. He looked troubled. Percy watched the worry battle with disguised anger in the blue of his eyes.

"She knew." He said to himself. Percy frowned. "Hmm?"

"Nothing… it's just… at the hospital. That girl, Evey. She knew you weren't… you."

Percy didn't respond. DJ seemed to be having an internal crisis. The wizard reached down to pulled out a small piece of paper from his pocket.

"She meant to give this to you." DJ said, offering Percy the paper.

Percy stared at the writing on it. Either his dyslexia was working overtime, or that wasn't English at all.

"I don't know what language it is. But it's not Latin or Ancient Greek, right? Anyway, she wanted to give this to you, so…"

Percy didn't move. DJ waited before pushing the piece of paper into Percy's pocket. "You can look at it later, I suppose."

They didn't say anything for a bit. Percy could see the guilt in his face. DJ slowly sat on the floor, facing him.

"I should have known." He said. His eyes were downcast, like he couldn't bear to look at Percy. "I should have seen that something was wrong."

Percy watched his struggle.

"Again, it happened again. I didn't catch it when Ginny went through it and I missed it with you." DJ let out a shaky breath like he was going to cry. "I'm a horrible friend."

The burn in Percy's eyes had less to do with tiredness now.

DJ sniffled, eyes swimming in tears. He rubbed them away harshly. "I'm sorry. I was so angry with you every time you did something out of character that I didn't even stop to check…"

Percy reached out to catch DJ's hand. He placed it on the bed, fingers holding him tight. DJ stared down, like he couldn't understand. A few minutes of silence helped Percy to drift a bit, feeling better now that DJ had stopped the self-loathing.

"Are you cold?" DJ asked carefully, after a while. Percy had to think. He had cold shivers running through his body, but that were better than feeling hot and sweaty. He shook his head.

"You want me to leave?"

The answer to that was easy. It felt like it'd been months since Percy was truly himself, even if he was beat down and bone-tired.

"No."


Rachel finished her frog and gladly accepted another as Ron offered her once more. She knew that they were all trying not to stare at her, probably recognizing the startling similarities between Harry and her. She was grateful for their tact.

"So… you can do magic?" One of the twins asked. While the Order meeting was still on-going and they were listening in on it as the members debated on what kind of statement to be released about the monster that attacked the bridge, Rachel knew that the others would also want to ask her a lot of things.

"I guess so. I mean… it's the bracelet. Not me."

Hermione sat up, morbidly curious. "Can we see it?"

Rachel had a feeling a lot of people would want to see it. How the hell was she supposed to hide this from her parents? Or from her peers at school? Was she supposed to wear long sleeves forever?

She raised her sleeve and showed them the bronze band.

"Wicked." Ron muttered. Ginny was unusually quiet. She was listening to the Order meeting intently. Rachel's eyes kept drifting towards her.

"Nico said you actually went toe-to-toe with the scorpion." Hermione muttered.

Rachel thought back to that moment. It was almost as if she wasn't herself. As if the amount of new power that flooded her system changed her into someone else, someone daring and courageous, someone who could charge at the towering monster without feeling a smidge of fear.

"Yeah… I'm going to have severe nightmares about that."

Nico nodded silently. He'd finished his frog and was sitting next to Ginny, opting to stare at the stairs.

She observed them carefully. These people would have been her friends had she been a witch. Rachel had spent months imagining that, ever since she'd met Harry.

And now she did have some kind of power. Super strength was obvious, it was the same as Harry and DJ's. What else? She didn't know. Would she have to find out. Could she find out?

"How are your friends?" She asked. Some of them seemed startled.

"Um…" Hermione muttered. "It was a rush. I didn't see anyone else other than the second years when they moved us to St. Mungo's."

"Right." Neville said, speaking up for the first time. "Seamus nearly got bit, but Dean managed to drop a trunk on the spider… they're okay, I guess."

Ron patted Neville's shoulder, both boys breathing out in relief.

The twins turned back to the fleshy little ear and Ginny suddenly stood up, getting everyone's attention.

"Rachel. Can we talk for a bit?"

Rachel looked up at her, stunned. She wanted to talk. That should have seemed like a normal request, but it felt very nerve wracking.

"Su… sure." She squeaked, getting to her feet. She nearly squeezed the remains of her chocolate frog.

Ginny led her into the second bedroom. Rachel was taken aback by the posters in the room, adorning an entire wall. They were bright orange, blinding, showcasing images of people in long robes, zipping from left to right.

They were flying, Rachel realized, staring at the posters in awe. The figures on the papers were moving.

"I have a few questions for you." Ginny mumbled, staring at the ground. The frown on her face was so intense Rachel was surprised that nothing was on fire.

"Shoot."

Ginny winced. She walked towards the window, inhaled, and said, "Do you remember when exactly Percy started acting odd?"

Rachel's heart fell. They were talking about that.

"There's no definite date… He was brazen for a few weeks, a little dismissive of people. He didn't really make friends at school, I thought that was a strategy because he'd have to leave for camp a lot… I don't know, he just started getting angrier over the semester."

"He started pulling away." Ginny nodded.

He pushed her away. Rachel recalled numerous times when Percy outright stated he didn't want her around. She always felt like he was particularly harsh at her. But had he been like that with everyone?

"Yeah. Sometimes, Percy'd be fine. Then he'd snap back. I didn't think there was anything wrong, though. I didn't check. I just got angry at him and we argued a lot."

Ginny knotted her fingers together, bringing them up to press against her cheek. "He said that he found the locket in the house. This house. That means we were all here when he first got in contact with Tom."

It was in her voice that Rachel heard a tremour. Not just her expression when Ginny said 'Tom', but the slightest of breaks in her tone. There was an awful familiarity there.

Rachel knew why. Bolt had told her this story – about the diary, the basilisk, and petrification.

Oh.

"You think it was your responsibility?" She asked. Ginny clenched her jaw.

"I should have known."

"This is nobody's fault except for him!" Rachel said earnestly, but Ginny suddenly raised her head to fix her with a glare so vicious that Rachel almost felt her bracelet itch.

"People are dead!" Ginny hissed. She curled her fists and they grew bright from the pressure. The room suddenly felt hotter. "You heard Tonks. 27 dead, nearly 50 bitten!"

"I heard!" Rachel's voice quivered. "I know! But it's not your fault, it's his!"

"If I'd noticed –"

"If anyone noticed, that would have been great. But we didn't, because we all have our own shot to deal with! You guys have your threats with the actual Voldemort. All the campers have to deal with the Titans for next year's showdown and my own fuckery just blindsided all of us!" Rachel snapped. "But it's not our fault. You wanna be angry at someone, you wanna blame someone, blame Voldemort. Because he deserves none of our doubts or confusion."

Ginny shut her eyes and Rachel was terrified that she was about to cry. She stepped forwards, "Hey. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell –"

"Don't!" Ginny backed away, holding her hands out. "I'll just hurt you again."

Rachel looked down at the bandage on her arm. She remember the burn of Ginny's magic, sizzling her skin.

Ginny was terrified. The anger and stoicism was a front.

Rachel took one solid step towards her. "I just got this cool new bracelet, you know? I'm not afraid of you, Gin."

May be it was her imagination but Ginny's lips quirked upwards for a moment. Then she looked somber again.

"I could still hurt you."

There was something so sincere in those words that tugged at Rachel's chest. She felt as though her lungs expanded, letting her breathe in more deeply. Like she could take in all the scents in the room and the only thing that was of any value was the smoky flowery smell of Ginny's hair.

Rachel leaned forwards, reaching out to take Ginny's hand, keeping the grip as loose as possible, signaling that Ginny could withdraw at any moment.

The witch stared as though Rachel had performed a daredevil feat. Like taking on a scorpion monster.

Honestly, she was sure that both girls had enough of eight legged creatures for the day.

"You won't hurt anyone." Rachel said, pressing her thumb to the top of Ginny's knuckles. "You're careful. You've been careful for a long time. You're strong, Gin. That's pretty awesome of you."

Amusement filled her expression. She gave Rachel a soft tilt of the head. "It's pretty bold of you."

Rachel shrugged, not looking away. "I'm a bold girl."

The uncomfortable tension in the room gave way to something sweeter. It made her heart thud to see Ginny fix her with an intense turn of her eyebrow, before stepping forwards, fingers interlocking.

"You're more than bold." Ginny told her. "You're amazing. That's actually the other thing I wanted to ask you."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. That night at the party, did you honestly just forget about the disguise?"

Rachel swallowed, smile fading. "I didn't forget. I wanted to tell you, but I didn't want you to know that I wasn't a demigod… or a witch."

Ginny looked a little disappointed. Rachel felt her lungs shrinking, making her feel breathless at the rejection –

"It wouldn't have mattered."

Rachel blinked. "What?"

"It…" Ginny hesitated. "It doesn't matter. I really like you. When we were on the terrace, and we were talking about a hundred different things. All I could think about was how someone like you actually wanted to spend all that time with me."

Rachel blanched. "Are you kidding me? You were literally the most cutest person at that party!"

Ginny huffed, "'Most cutest' is wrong."

"What, you're a nerd now?" She teased. Ginny just raised an eyebrow and stepped closer to her. The joking mood vanished abruptly.

"I thought you were hot." Ginny told her, with no qualms.

Rachel swallowed.

Oh my gods, oh my gods, oh my gods. Be cool, girl!

Rachel cleared her throat. " 'Were'? I'll have you know that when I'm not in the business of fighting larger-than-life monsters, I happen to look stunning, all the time."

Ginny nearly laughed at that. Then she clapped a hand over her mouth, looking horrified.

"Shit! This is such a bad time to… do this."

Rachel stared, reality hitting her as it must have hit Ginny.

People had died today in three separate attacks. Kids had been traumatized. Rachel just gained a super power, and here she was flirting with a crush. They could literally have talked any other day. Any other day, where Ginny had no reminders of her horrific first year, any other day when their friend hadn't been possessed for months.

"R…right. Sorry… I wasn't thinking…"

Ginny's unreadable expression made Rachel feel like she had crossed a line. She let go of her hand and move away.

Ready to apologize again, Rachel was taken completely off guard when Ginny surged forwards, her face filled with glowing determination. She held her face with hot fingers and pressed her lips against Rachel's.

It was so far off left field that Rachel may have squeaked. But she held onto Ginny's shoulders when she realized that the witch was standing on her toes to reach her face…

Oh, that was adorable.

And kinda hot.

Rachel barely remembered to close her eyes when Ginny pulled back. It hadn't been so much of a kiss, other than just simple pressure of two pairs of lips.

"Um… if it's okay with you…" Ginny mumbled.

With an exhale, Rachel giggled, leaning forwards to kiss her this time, feeling the heat raise from Ginny's form as though she really was the embodiment of fire. There was something visceral in the concept of simply being in the presence of someone as brilliant and beautiful as her. Rachel turned her head, letting their noses slide, kissing Ginny at an angle, which worked better. It worked very well.


Monday, Dec 3; 8:00 p.m.
Grimmauld Place, London

Sally pressed a palm against her stomach, feeling a barrier press back. Her belly felt a little taut, a little tense too. She wasn't sure if it was the womb or her constant state of worry that gave her that feeling.

She was more than a month along, not showing, but definitely very wary and careful about moving in anyway. That hadn't hindered her when they'd been on the bridge though. She remembered running for her life when she'd gone with Sirius to search for the kids.

Gods, was that only a few hours ago?

Sally was drained. She sat in for the meeting, listening to all the reports, figuring out what kind of panic was taking over the city, the entire country, even. St. Mungo's nearly hit code black, a level of necessary precautions, extra measures and such. Many other smaller clinics around the area had reached out to take on as many patients as they could. Most of the severe cases were still in the Rothbury hospital, and it sickened Sally to know that there were children who'd been attacked, who'd been hurt, who had lost their lives, all for the sake of a massive distraction.

Tom's strategic move to divert help and resources at such a chaotic stage had been a vital part of his 'break-into-Gringotts-to-steal-an-ancient-goblet-where-he'd-hidden-a-piece-of-his-soul' plan.

The worst part of the entire operation was that he'd mind-controlled Percy to accomplish it all.

Sally felt the nausea bubble up again. She closed her eyes and waited.

Her stomach settled slowly, making her feel worse.

She was standing outside Percy and DJ's room on the third floor, peering in. The boys had fallen asleep. Percy was stretched on DJ's bed, clearly exhausted, but in deep sleep. DJ was sitting on the floor, leaning against the mattress, also tired enough to nap.

Sally had been worried that Percy would want to hide away and beat himself up over everything that'd happened. She was glad that he wasn't alone.

Aside from Rita Skeeter, the other mysterious killings were now connected to Tom, the mysterious pseudo version of Voldemort. The discovery of that news came at a heavy price, when one considered how much damage had occurred through the entire day. Sirius rightly predicted the outrage that was sure to explode at the Ministry by angry parents all through the country.

On top of the storm that was about to descend, the truth about Rachel was now becoming public knowledge through rumours and gossips. Sally was only thankful that the girl wouldn't actually have to witness it. Sirius had gotten Dumbledore to temporarily lift the restrictions around the city so that he could drop her off at her home, and deviate any suspicion about where she'd disappeared off to for the better part of the day.

Alice and Frank were unable to come into the safe-house since they were still in Scotland, closer to the castle. Neville had written them two letters already, assuring that he was fine and completely unharmed. Sally could still tell that he missed them. Hopefully, if all the security measures were on track to being upgraded as civilian pressure demanded, they might remove the city restrictions soon.

Sally had a weak dinner and an uneasy sleep. Percy had skipped the meal altogether, opting to spend the entire night in a practically comatose state. That had soothed her nerves, knowing that her baby was finally getting some blessed relief.

She woke up at just past six in the morning, London time. The house was silent, not even a creak of old floorboards to suggest there was someone up and about. Sally breathed in the cold, quiet air, realizing that she'd woken up because Sirius' side of the bed was empty.

Sally gave a sigh, memories of the previous day slowly coming back to her, reminding her that their lives were actually quite screwed. She closed her eyes, tried to go back to sleep, but awareness seeped in quickly.

May be Sirius was meeting with someone. May be there was more news. May be they'd caught Tom?

Sally reached for her robe, slipping out of bed and leaving the room. The house was quiet. Of course it was. Aside from Molly and Arthur, the other Order members had left, leaving behind the children, all of whom were no doubt, exhausted after yesterday's events. She made her way to the dusty hall, and nearly choked on her saliva.

Sirius had stuck his head into green flames in the hearth. He was on a floo call. It wasn't the first time she'd seen him do this, but it was just as funny as before. Sally took a moment to admire his assets that stuck out as he bent down to reach the fire place. She walked around the sofa to sit on it, propping her feet up on an adorned footstool.

After a few minutes, the flames died down just as Sirius pulled his head out, kneeling up with a groan. His face was covered in soot. He jumped when he spotted Sally.

"Merlin! Woman!" He nearly shouted, clutching his heart.

Sally grinned. "Hi there, man."

Sirius took out his wand and tapped his face. The soot cleared out, leaving tiny smudges around the cheeks. "What were you doing, skulking around?"

She raised an eyebrow, feeling catty. "Admiring the view."

Sirius stood up and paused. He nodded, sticking his nose in the air. "Well, I hope you know that you and Moony are the only ones who have the honour of such a view."

Sally laughed. Something about him told her that he wasn't as stressed as he was the day before.

"So… who was on the call?"

Sirius blinked like he'd forgotten. Then he flew to her side, on his knees, holding her hand delicately with both of his. She wondered if he was going to propose and then wondered what she would respond.

"That was Sierra." He said, carefully communicating with his eyes as well. She could see the hope blooming. "She said the bracelet healed Harry. Completely."

Sally sat up. "Gods, Sirius! That's great!"

She threw her arms around him and he accepted her hug, holding her tight. "Is he out? Are they gonna discharge him?"

"… no." He replied after a pause. He pulled back and Sally frowned.

"He's… Sierra said she put him under observation after the healing was done. But he hasn't woken up."

Sally felt gravity take over, feeling like her entire body was heavier than before. "But… if the bracelet –"

"She said it happened in seconds." Sirius sat next to her on the sofa, still holding her hand. "Tonks stayed back in the hospital to help monitor any changes, but he didn't wake up. All his injuries are gone, though."

She gripped his arms, trying to revel in the good part, trying to be thankful that something happened, rather than nothing at all.

"He'll wake up soon, then." She said, trying to be optimistic. "It's okay, Sirius. We just have to wait, we can do that."

"She gave the time when the healing process began." Sirius said, and she heard the brooding voice behind the words. "It was 6:29. That's what she said. Do you know what we were doing half past six?"

Sally frowned, thinking back to the mess of worried thoughts of yesterday. "We reached the house right at 7, I think. We… we were on the bridge…"

Sally leaned back, recognizing Sirius' solemn silence. He was thinking about another bracelet that had activated itself by choosing a new host, meaning Rachel.

"Right." She said, faintly, leaning against the arm of the sofa. "Rachel's involvement –"

"Must have boosted his bracelet." Sirius agreed. "That's probably what happened with Percy too. He said he woke up in the river. No mention of how he got there. Voldemort would never have risked him coming in contact with water if it gave him enough strength to break free. Which means whatever happened with Rachel was enough to snap both boys out of their… fugue states…?"

He ended with a question mark, clearly still hedging his own theory. "I mean, there can't be any other reason. That bracelet was on Percy's arm the whole time and it did nothing to get rid of the locket!"

He scrutinised her. "You're sure you have no idea about the thing? About how it works?"

Sally shook her head. "I woke up with it on my arm, more than ten years ago. Sirius, if I knew anything, wouldn't I tell you?"

The blatant lie misled her boyfriend. The deception sat like a sunken stone in her stomach, right next to the miniscule foetus.

Baby? Could she start calling it that? Screw it.

The deliberate lie felt like an unbreathable and burdened weight in her, right beside their baby.

Nothing like the truth to strike one's heart with shame.

Sally placed her arm on the backrest and touched his scruffy cheek with her palm. "We know what's going on now. Percy's here, and he's safe. Harry's going to wake up soon, I can feel it! We just have to wait. We can do that."

Sirius swallowed with a resigned expression. "We need to find Voldemort. Not the real one, the spirit one. The horcrux. Bastardised his own soul, who does that?"

Sally grimaced, thinking back to when Dumbledore had explained it to them, trying to make sense of Percy's story and bringing up a connection to Ginny's first year and her encounter with Tom Riddle's diary.

"Any leads to catching him?"

"Not yet. According to Percy, he's wants to find all the pieces of Voldemort. He already has four, with the diary destroyed, that's five. But Dumbledore thinks there may be seven. So, Tommy's out searching for the rest."

Sally tried to relax at that statement. It made her feel that the horcrux would be too busy to come back and bother them.

"That's good, that could be good?"

Whatever joy Sirius have been lounging in after the floo call must have dissipated because he said, "With three other active horcruxes, he can find more people to control. Dumbledore is sure he wouldn't do that, seeing as how Percy said 'Tom' disagreed vehemently with Voldemort. If he can't get along with himself, he wouldn't want more versions to be running around."

"But he might go for one person?"

"That's how he drew power to perform magic." Sirius explained. "Voldemort's core magic is the ability to heal. Cosmic irony aside, he can heal himself from severe injuries as long as he can focus and harness his core to do so. Born healers are very rare, and it's this added ability that's letting him feed on a host's aura. That's how the horcurx sustains itself."

Sally frowned. "How'd you know so much? Dumbledore said there isn't much information about that."

Sirius sighed. "Remember that lovely little part of the library that my parents happily installed behind the office? It has three volumes about blood magic and soul magic. It's a fast read. I flipped through the pages and nearly lost my sanity. What's left of it, anyway."

Sally squeezed his hand, sitting closer to wrap an arm around Sirius.

"It has a lot of details about creating and even destroying horcruxes. That part was useful. Basilisk's venom is a definite way. There was something about a banshee's scream that might work, and even a spell that I will not even attempt in a thousand years, because if it misfires it can blow up the entire neighbourhood, I'm not kidding."

Sirius yawned, pausing for a bit. Sally let him rest his head on her shoulder.

"He… Tom can't come back here, right?" She asked, slowly.

Sirius closed his eyes. "He can't. He used Percy's magic to flit through all wards. Plus, the secret keeper hasn't given Tom the address, personally. So, he can't get back in."

She sighed, settling into the sofa, feeling the weight in her stomach lessen. She reached down to press against her belly, feeling the tense skin.

May be it was the womb. The sentiment felt good. It was a breath of fresh air to feel something good amidst all the negativity.

Hugging Sirius around his shoulders, Sally asked, "Did you sleep last night?"

"Hmm? Hmm."

"Go to sleep, hon. I'll wake you."

Until the newspaper came with the recap of yesterday's nightmare, until the Order came back for another meeting, until Tom reappeared to strike again, Sally wanted to slip into the delusion that the world was safe. As unhealthy it was, she needed it. Everything was going to be fine.


Stay tuned, folks. No question this time, I'm letting you all free into the wild…

Cabba.