First impressions? Not great. We appeared in what looked like a normal street; no evidence of gods, monsters, or magic. Looking around I saw a few of my friends stumbling off a little ways, clutching their stomachs as they tried to adjust to the weird travel methods. Out of all of us, Nico was the only one besides the wizards that seemed unaffected.

"Pushing my limits with shadow travel has its perks," he said when I gave him a questioning look.

"I can and will make you visit the infirmary Nico." Despite the fact that he still looked queasy, Will's tone was not one to mess with as he glared at Nico, no doubt remembering how the other boy had passed out after overextending himself to "push his limits".

"Ah, quickly now children. We should get inside. It's not safe to stay in the open for too long." As Dumbledore spoke, everyone straightened up. It didn't matter how weird the portkey made us feel, being addressed as children in such a condescending tone after we had all fought (and won) a war brought us all to attention. Clarisse in particular seemed to be bristling even more than usual.

"Mr. Wizard-dude no offense but...I don't see a number 12 here," Leo said as we all began taking in the row of houses in front of us. "See look there's number 10, number 11, number 13 and I don't know how magic numbers work but normal numbers usually put 12 between 11 and 13."

"Don't be insolent. The house is hidden to protect us from attacks," James said coldly.

"Then why are we arriving in the middle of the street? Wouldn't it make more sense to just go whoosh straight inside?" Leo asked, attempting some sort of weird representation of the portkey travel with his hands as he spoke, "Because anyone looking out their window totally just saw us show up here. Hey neighbors!" He turned to wave toward the other houses.

"Get your hands down and be quiet," James snapped. Sirius, I noticed, was attempting to hide a slight smile at Leo's actions. Turning my attention back to Dumbledore, I decided not to deal with whatever emotions Sirius brought up at the moment. That's a problem for Future Percy.

"Right you are, my boy," Dumbledore said, "I will need you all to come close and listen very closely." Exchanging an annoyed glance with Annabeth, I stepped closer to Dumbledore as the rest of the group followed my lead.

"Is everyone ready? Good. Now," he whispered, "the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix is located at Number 12 Grimmauld Place." As he finished speaking, Dumbledore leaned back to see our expressions with an indulgent smile.

"Well yeah we kinda figured that out already," Thalia scoffed, "why else would you have us land here?"

"Was that supposed to do something? Because I don't see anything all that impressive," Clarisse said with a challenging tone.

"Ah yes well," Dumbledore began, "if you will return your attention to the houses in front of you…" he trailed off as we watched houses number 11 and 13 seemingly move apart to create room for a new house that appeared as if by magic (ha, magic jokes, so funny and definitely not overdone).

"A Fidelious Charm," Annabeth said suddenly, "Of course." She said it like it was the most natural solution in the world. Why else would there have been an invisible house in front of us? Ignoring the dumbfounded looks from James and Sirius, and the sharpened gaze from Dumbledore, she moved forward toward the door of the newly visible number 12. "Weren't you saying we should get inside?" Dumbledore's smile dimmed a little as Annabeth walked right past him, ignoring what was no doubt supposed to be an impressive display of magic, as well confusion about how she could have possibly known the name of the specific charm when she supposedly didn't know anything about magic until yesterday. I almost wished I had a camera, so I could capture the expressions on the wizards' faces.

Have I mentioned that my girlfriend is awesome?

"Yes right. Let's get inside." James made his way to the door and proceeded to knock in a specific pattern. Tap. Tap-tap. Tap. Not the most advanced secret knock ever (I should know; I once made up a code that took 15 minutes to tap out and I wouldn't open any door until it was done. My mom was a saint for raising me). Nonetheless, the door creaked open after a few seconds and the whole group was ushered inside.

"I believe that there is a meeting going on right now, so if you would all just follow me…" It took some maneuvering to get Dumbledore to the front of the group; 14 teenage demigods with duffle bags and weapons were not meant to be squeezed into a small entryway.

"Is it just me, or does it look like someone hired Di'Angelo over there as the decorator for this place?" Thalia asked, jerking a thumb toward Nico as she looked around the room and the hallway we were being led into. Glancing around, I could see where she was coming from. The wallpaper was all dark colors (with a bit of lighter grey for an accent), and the furniture looked like it had come straight out of Goth-And-Emo-Decor-Weekly.

"What the Hades is that!?" Piper exclaimed from the front of the group. Following her gaze, I saw what looked like a giant bat head, if bats had ears bigger than their heads and eyes that were way too big for their face. And a disturbingly human looking mouth. The creature was mounted on a plaque on the wall in the hallway, glassy eyes looking out over the group as they filed past. Vaguely, I recalled memories of a few house elves that I saw when I was younger, and immediately a sense of unease filled me. The house elves I remembered had been kind to me, and seeing one like that, displayed like some kind of trophy…

"Let's just go," I muttered, shouldering my way ahead toward the front of the group.

We heard the voices before we saw anyone else in the house. They were coming from the dining room that Dumbledore was leading us to, and from what I could make out the occupants were doing a lot of arguing.

"I just don't see why we needed to call in extra help! Especially from muggles." This voice sounded young, probably close to my own age, and immediately put me on edge.

"Didn't you hear what Dumbledore said though? They're not normal muggles, and if he thinks they can help, then why shouldn't we let them?" It was a girl's voice this time, which sounded as young as the first.

"Because they don't know anything about magic Hermione! How are they supposed to help us if they don't even know the right end of a wand!?" Dumbledore stopped and turned to us before we could enter the room.

"It appears that everyone is very animated at the moment," he said, "If you just wait right out here, I will go in and inform them of your presence. I'll just be a moment." With that, he turned and entered the room, leaving the rest of us to stand in the hallway as James and Sirius followed him.

"Dumbledore! You're back!" came a voice from just inside the door.

"He's alone though," said the kid from earlier, "does that mean these muggles are useless to us after all?" the voice sneered. I felt my hands clench as I struggled to keep a handle on my temper, itching to take out Riptide if only to fiddle with the cap. Looking around, I noticed the darkening looks on my friends' faces.

"Ah, no my boy. In fact, they-" Dumbledore started.

"-are right here." I stepped into the room, holding my head high. "My name is Perseus Jackson. Son of Poseidon."