The Seven Go to Hogwarts

by RedGods

The seven of the prophecy, Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, Jason Grace, Piper Mclean, Frank Zhang, Hazel Levesque, and Leo Valdez have been assigned a new mission from Chiron. Ship off to a British boarding school called Hogwarts. Their goal? Protect Harry Potter from Lord Voldemort. But when a new ally for Lord Voldemort emerges, how will The Seven and the Golden Trio cope?

29. Preceding Mayhem

Chapter 29: Piper

"AHHHHHHHHH!" Harry screamed. I spun around in my chair, facing directly behind me to see Harry's body falling towards the cold stone that adorned the floor of Hogwarts. His jet black hair flopped miserably in front of his face, obscuring it from view. His eyes were not visible and were shut tightly, his face scrunched up in fear or concentration, probably fear. His scream was one of pure terror, it was definitely fear. I didn't want to know what had spooked him, as it would probably scare me and we had a war on our hands. Nightmares were the least of our worries.

Harry hit the ground with a resounding thud and I heard an audible gasp erupt around the scene, myself included in that gasp. Almost instantly, two wizards swooped down and descended upon Harry's frame. One, Professor Marchbanks pulled out her wand, and muttered a few words under her breath.

Almost immediately, Harry's eyes snapped open, displaying his bright green irises, constrasting greatly with his pale and clammy face. He locked eyes with me, and I saw pure distress and worry emanating from him in waves. Forcefully, the witch and wizard hauled Harry up and almost roughly escorted him out of the Great Hall.

It appeared that he had dozed off during the exam, something that I had come very close to doing in the lazy heat filtering through the great windows.

Soon, the sounds of scuffling feet faded into the back and I presumed that Harry would be in the Hospital Wing. In a few hours at the earliest, we would be defending a massive castle from a never-ending siege by Voldemort and a few titans. I bent low over my paper, attempting to decipher this code and attempt these questions. The blank print was extremely trite and didn't grab my attention whatsoever. I forced myself to read the questions and read a few times, determined to saturate my brain with the question. After twice more times of reading the question through, I had a fair grasp on the question, (In 1753 what lead to the famous Goblin Rebellion). There was a goblin rebellion in the 1700s? What? I had no clue what this question was trying to get at. I thought that Hogsmeade had come into the story somewhere. Had the Goblins taken it over and used it as their headquarters? Or was it the wizards that did that? I scratched my head in confusion for a while before noting down the goblins taking over Hogsmeade and something about discrimination.

That was purposely vague, so they would probably mark it right as it had some general relevance to the topic.

"10 more minutes remaining!" Professor Marchbank's voice echoed across the ceiling and walls of the Great Hall. I looked up and saw the hourglass slowly running down and I realised I had two long questions, both detailing the need for several examples.

"Uhh…" I audibly complained, I was annoyed that I had become distracted. But, who could blame me, even Annabeth was probably even the slightest bit distracted. I began noting down several points down for each questions, but lacking explanation and elaboration of the questions, despite that being specifically called for in the question. I went pouring back over my answers, keen to prune out silly mistakes, before realizing I hadn't fully answered a single question. I brandished my quill, adding a sentence or two to my second answer, before a loud voice for the second time interrupted my train of thought,

"Time! Quills down." I felt dizzy and immediately abided by the instruction to lay my quill down. I didn't do it too soon, as immediately as my quill dropped to the ground, accompanied by many more, our paper's began to levitate into the air. I looked to the front and saw Professor Marchbanks' wand waving in front of her body, and the collective mass of the papers zoomed in her direction, before coming to a complete halt right in front of her and piling up into a large stack in front of her desk.

I felt a knot of tension release – we had done it. We had completed our OWLs, exams for wizards; which we weren't. Then, found it reknit itself in my heart. Right. The battle. We were supposed to meet with Nico and Reyna and set traps along the perimeter of the forest, in preparation. In addition, there was the problem of Kelli prancing about the castle. Why couldn't things be more simple?

I placed my hands on my waist before looping them around my back, interlacing them.. I turned around, and saw Percy and Annabeth embracing each other, Leo, Frank and Hazel with their hands on each other's shoulders forming a mini circle. Ron and Hermione seemed to have forgotten their previous feud and were now looking alert, presumably for to ensure Harry's safety. I wondered where Jason was, before I felt a certain pair of strong arms wrap around me. I leaned into the hug and embraced Jason back, before pulling away and grouping up with the rest of them and walking out of the Great Hall. We began to walk up a set of marble staircases, bent on finding Harry, before we saw a boy barrel down towards us; it was Harry.

"Harry!" Hermione said and once, worry spreading across her face even more than before. "Are you alright? Is anything wrong with you? What happened?" She rapid-fired.

"Come with me guys. I need to tell you something," Harry explained, fighting, but failing to keep the panic out of his tone. We continued to climb up the stairs, with Hermione muttering something along the lines of 'Not answering the question'. We walked along the first floor corridor, peering into the doorways of classrooms, before finally finding one which he dashed into, and we slowly followed.

I took a moment to assess everyone's facial expression. Annabeth and Percy had stoic facial features displayed, while Leo and Frank looked slightly agitated. Hazel looked exceptionally worried, with her hands cupped against her chest, like a little child trying to look as small and insignificant as possible. Jason looked intimidating most of the time, but now he looked sympathetic and understanding, knowing first-hand what panic Harry must be experiencing. Ron and Hermione both looked terrified as to what could frighten Harry so much.

Harry inhaled sharply, before exhaling slowly and beginning to speak,

"Voldemort's got Sirius."

"What?"

"How did you?"

"Saw it just now, when I dozed off in the exam," Harry explained.

"B—but Harry how is that possible?" Hermione asked timidly.

"I've been dreaming about the same room over the past few months. It's a room in the Department of Mysteries covered with tiny blue balls in shelves all over the place! Voldemort's got Sirius at the end of row 97 and he's using Sirius to get something. He said that he'll keep torturing Sirius and then killing him!" This was followed by a prolonged silence, no one was truly sure how to say anything to Harry, he was clearly very agitated as any one person would be when put in this situation.

"How're we going to get there?" Harry asked.

"Get there?" Jason asked in confusion. His eyes wide in surprise.

"Get to the Department of Mysteries!"

"But Harry, how did Voldemort get into the Department of Mysteries without anyone seeing him? Especially at this hour, surely it will be full of people still working. No?" Annabeth explained. Harry stamped his foot in anger,

"How do you think I will know Annabeth?" He screamed. "All I know is that Sirius is being hurt in a real bad way and we need to go there to save him!"

"Harry, be reasonable, do you think that two of the most wanted wizards on this planet are going to traipse right into the Ministry of Magic and get into the Department of Mysteries," Percy reasoned.

"Percy and Annabeth both raise fair points Harry," Ron admitted. Harry glared harshly at Ron, but before elaborating, Hazel piped up.

"Harry, don't take this the wrong way, but don't you think that you have a-," Hazel gulped, before twiddling her thumbs and continuing, "Well, saving people thing," she finished, twiddling her thumbs awkwardly.

"Yeah, don't you Harry?" Hermione asked.

'That's funny,' said Harry through gritted teeth, 'because I definitely remember Ron saying I'd wasted time acting the hero ... is that what you think this is? You reckon I want to act the hero again?'

'No, no, no!' said Hermione and Hazel, looking aghast. 'That's not what we meant at all!'

'Well, spit out what you've got to say, because we're wasting time here!' Harry shouted.

'I'm trying to say -Voldemort knows you, Harry! He took Ginny down into the Chamber of Secrets to lure you there, it's the kind of thing he does, he knows you're the-the sort of person who'd go to Sirius's aid! What if he's just trying to get you into the Department of Myst-?'

'Hermione, it doesn't matter if he's done it to get me there or not-they've taken McGonagall to St. Mungo's, there isn't anyone from the Order left at Hogwarts who we can tell, and if we don't go, Sirius is dead!'

'But Harry-what if your dream was-was just that, a dream?'

Harry let out a roar of frustration. Hermione actually stepped back from him, looking alarmed.

'You don't get it!' Harry shouted at her, 'I'm not having nightmares, I'm not just dreaming! I just explained that I'm not having nightmares, I'm having VISIONS Hermione. What d'you think all the Occlumency was for, why d'you think Dumbledore wanted me prevented from seeing these things? Because they're REAL, Hazel I'm talking to you, -Sirius is trapped, I've seen him. Voldemort's got him, and no one else knows, and that means we're the only ones who can save him, and if you don't want to do it, fine, but I'm going, understand? And if I remember rightly, you didn't have a problem with my saving-people thing when it was you I was saving from the dementors, or-he rounded on Ron-when it was your sister I was saving from the Basilisk-'

'I never said I had a problem!' said Ron heatedly.

'But Harry, you've just said it,' said Hermione fiercely, 'Dumbledore wanted you to learn to shut these things out of your mind, if you'd done Occlumency properly you'd never have seen this-'

Harry let out a scream in anger, and all of us recoiled.

"HERMIONE. HOW DO YOU EXPECT ME TO TRY AND FORGET THIS! OCCLUMENCY NEVER WORKED FOR ME. YOU THINK LIKE I'LL BE ABLE TO FORGET THAT AND GO BACK TO NORMAL!" Harry bellowed. Enough was enough, I stepped up,

"Harry, calm down." Visibly, Harry's breathing rate decreased from his heart not beating so fast in agitation. His eyes and shoulders relaxed and the emotion of anger seemed to disperse from his body, leaving him calm. That was, until the classroom's door opened and Ginny walked in, her long red hair dancing behind her, with an expression of curiosity displayed on her face, followed swiftly by Luna, who looked lost and serene, almost as if she had managed to accidentally walk into the room.

"Hey," Ginny said, her voice laced with apprehension. "We heard Harry's voice echoing through the corridors," she explained. "Why were you yelling?" Harry's jaw then tightened and he took on his previous appearance of anger and stress. I honestly had no idea why.

"Doesn't matter Ginny," he roughly responded.

Ginny scowled and crossed her arms,

"No need to talk like that to me. I was just seeing if I could help in any way," she coolly responded.

"There's nothing you can do," Harry savagely responded.

"You know, you're being quite inconsiderate you know," Luna sagely explained. Harry turned around, obscuring his face from view. I looked around and saw Percy and Leo struggling to keep their laughs in, yet clearly sympathizing with Harry and how he was trying to get into an argument with Luna Lovegood. Abruptly, a look of realization dawned on Annabeth's face. She broke into a wide grin, before speaking with enthusiasm,

"Wait Harry, there's a way that they can help." Harry titled his head in curiosity, clearly inviting Annabeth to continue. "We'll have to use the fire in Umbridge's Office, so all of us can stand guard and keep them away from the room, and you can have your chat with Sirius," Annabeth brightly explained.

"He's not there Annabeth!" Harry exclaimed. I sighed deeply, before continuing our quaint conversation

"Okay Harry. You can check whether or not Sirius is at home, and then we can go from there," I reasoned. I laced my voice with copious amounts of charmspeak, determined to cool Harry down, and make him see reason. Harry's face visibly slackened, clearly affected by the charmspeak. However, his jaw grew taut and his look of laziness was replaced again, due to the interruption of guess who? Luna Lovegood.

"When you say Sirius is in trouble, surely you mean Stubby Boardman?" She inquisitively asked. The tension between Percy and Leo broke, with them both almost collapsing into a fit of hysterics, I struggled to keep down the urge to join in, my mind flashing back to that well… eventful day on the Hogwarts Express. Of course, Harry had some sort of unique ability that when Luna Lovegood began spewing her wise words of 'wisdom', he managed to break any sort of enchantment of spell put upon him. Brilliant.

Harry, now obviously shaken out of his stupor, shot me a sharp glare, more than likely suspecting that I had used my abilities to subdue him, before viciously continuing,

"Fine. I'll go into Umbridge's office, but you've got to hurry up, or I'll go to the department of mysteries myself."
"Department of Mysteries," Luna mistily asked. I mentally facepalmed, Luna could forget the most simple of conversations. "But how are you going to get there?"

Again, Harry resisted an urge to shout, something that I could clearly feel emanating off his body.

"Right…" Hazel nervously began, twiddling her thumbs and slowly pacing up and down the length of the classroom, "One of us will need to find Umbridge and keep her away from the office—keep her away and like… make sure she won't bust us and we could send her into some other room—."

"—And we could make up some story, like that Peeves is messing up some classroom on the other side of the castle," Hermione finished. After a brief pause, where everyone cast nervous glances at the people surrounding them, Ron sighed before piping up,

"I'll do it. I'll say that Peeves is smashing up the transfiguration department, its on the opposite side of the castle, we should definitely have enough time that way."

Hermione and Annabeth both nodded, but neither protested and it was due to the seriousness of the situation that this occurred, as if it was any other case they would have profusely disagreed by using this method.

"Luna and I can stand guard on either side of the doorway and tell them that the corridor is full of Garroting Gas, and no one will want to cross anywhere near Umbridge's office if its full of it!" Ginny exclaimed. She looked at Luna for some sort of support, but Luna was staring at a book on the shelf, and seemed to give a gentle wave of the hand, dismissing Ginny's point as something not worth her time.

"Harry and I can sneak in together and have our chat with Sirius!" Hermione brightly explained.

"He's not there Hermione!" Harry exclaimed. Hermione sighed deeply, clearly not wanting to pursue this path again. She turned briefly and began talking,

"So Ginny and Luna will be standing guard, Ron will lead Umbridge off in another direction, Harry and I will enter Umbridge's office, but what will you seven do?" Annabeth shrugged, and turned around and raised her eyebrow inquisitively, before crossing her arms in a condescending manner and we got the general message: what are we gonna do?

"I guess we could stand outside and make sure no one goes into the office?" Jason asked, with a slight shrug of his shoulders.

"Yeah! I could also make a mist curtain so no one will see what we're standing around for!" Hazel brightly explained. Percy however, frowned before voicing his own opinion,

"Well, there's also the problem of Kelli," Percy disclosed, a slight frown coming across his face, and his brow beginning to furrow. I also sawf Annabeth's shoulders tighten and her hand clench into a fist at the mention of Kelli. She gulped visibly, before speaking,

"Okay, so Hazel, Jason, Piper and Frank can guard Umbridge's door, and Percy, Leo and I will go and find Kelli, and find out whatever Ron told her," Annabeth nervously explained. I looked at her in surprise, but she shot me a steely glare and that was when I understood. Kelli scared her, and she needed to overcome her fear of her, because we were meant to get attacked soon. Why did it all have to be so complicated?

"Sure Annabeth. That'll be a good plan I think," I said, soothing her nerves with my charmspeak. Annabeth nodded frantically, and immediately, scampered out of the room, tailed by Percy and Leo who left without saying a word. Leo however, halted in place for a few seconds but didn't say anything, but his arms twitched unnaturally before leaving. He quickly glanced backwards, looking me straight in the eyes, before strolling out again.

I twisted my shape into an odd expression, and pursed my lips. I glanced towards the open door that Leo had just disappeared through.

"Hey did any—"I began, before cutting off due to a scathing look from Frank, and it was clear that he knew what was going on. I cleared my throat, any finished my sentence, to throw off suspicion from Hermione and Hazel

"I mean. Hey, did anyone know when we're actually going to start?" I asked sarcastically, rolling my eyes to emphasise my 'exasperation'. Hazel, who seemed to buy my story, turned away and repeated the question. We walked down the corridor, and Ron walked ahead of us and began to branch off, until Hermione broke him the news that he would have to lead Umbridge off a bit later on. Looking depressed, he walked back to the main pack. Harry however, started running towards Gryffindor Tower to retrieve Sirius' knife so he could actually break into Umbridge's office.

I walked alongside Frank, who was determinately, away from my face, trying to remove my attention from him. I knew he was hiding something. To combat his apparent interest in the wall, I laced my voice with cooling tones of charmspeak, and forced myself to sound innocent.

"Frank!" I cooed. "Look at me!" Frank rotated slowly upon my actions, and his shoulders began to slacken, and he turned to face me and look at me directly in the eyes. I peered into his dark brown eyes and recognized a familiar fight in him, trying to resist my charmspeak. I noticed it whenever I looked at Jason, Hazel or anyone else, even Harry. Before long, concluding that I had gained his whole-hearted attention, I relinquished my hold over him, and saw his eyes regain full focus and peer into my own. I placed my arm on his shoulder and talked calmly to him,

"Frank. I saw that look you gave me earlier. What is going wrong with Leo?"

"Not—"

"Don't say nothings wrong!" I almost shouted. "There's something wrong with my friend and you know what's going on. I'll say it again. What. Is. Wrong. With. Leo." I said, enunciating my words with full clarity. It was very rare that I lost my temper, but if something was wrong with Leo and we were going out to fight monsters, I needed to know what was going on.

Frank gulped, and raised his hand to his forehead and wiped over droplets of perspiration that had condensed across his forehead.

"Well you see. I don't really know!"

"Do—"

"I'm being serious Piper! Don't argue with me. I know that something is wrong with Leo he is constantly twitched and when I talked to him, it sounds like he was having some problem. He was day-dreaming and he said that his body kept uncontrollably jerking and convulsing. The sensation was described as a surge of strength, juxtaposed starkly with a surge of cold that overcame his body and particularly his fingers and toes. Then, when he tried to summon fire, he said that everything increased ten fold and he could barely do anything. Piper, this is a serious issue and I don't know what to do, Leo said not to tell anyone, but we need to find out what's happening to him. Without telling everyone. Maybe one or two more people. But we can't let Percy or Annabeth get wind of this," he explained

"Why?" I asked.

"Because, right now they're not exactly thinking clearly because of Kelli returning. They made it clear that they must overcome that obstacle before they can do anything. As well as this prophecy and yet another battle forming on the horizon, we can't put that burden on their shoulders as well."

As much as I wanted to tell them, I knew that Frank was right.

"I just hope that they're okay."

Annabeth:

"Where are we going to look for Kelli?" I screamed in frustration. Stamping my foot on the ground with as much force as possible. "We've been looking for ages but we haven't found her!"

"Uh Annabeth, we've been looking for her for about five minutes no more." Leo objectively explained. I snarled in frustration before walking ahead. Leo simply didn't understand, he didn't understand what Kelli had done to Percy and what she'd done to me. I wanted to eliminate her from the equation. I walked aimlessly through the corridors, before I felt a set of hands grab me around my waist. I twisted around, and saw that Percy was clinging to me, for no obvious reason.

"What do you want Seaweed Brain?" I hissed in anger.

"Wise Girl. Calm down, Leo has made a plan," I stood there dumbfounded. Leo had found a plan? Plans were my thing? I turned around and saw about 100 feet down the corridor. I realised that I had completely lost my cool and failed to thing objectively about what to do. I was so consumed with anger and a vengeance that hadn't been stirred in years, when I first learned about Kelli at Hogwarts. No. That would be for later. Right now, we had to think objectively. I paced backwards towards Leo, with Percy grinning, undoubtedly snarky that he had got his point over to me.

"So Leo." I said immediately upon closing the distance. "Well Annabeth, you know the map that Harry told us about, the Martini Map?"

"The Marauder's Map," I corrected.

"Yeah. Whatever. That map has the ability to track down anyone in Hogwarts right? Well, what if we went back up to Gryffindor Tower and nab it and then use it to track Kelli down?" Leo proposed.

I felt a surge of confidence and felt my worries melt away. We could track down that damn Empousa and then we'd be in the clear. At least for a while. I ran past Leo, who displayed a bemused expression on his face, as I ran past him. It took Percy and Leo a little while to notice, and they took off after me.

I sprinted up the stairs to Gryffindor Tower, hopping three at a time. I heard my heart rate increased and I teetered on the verge of wheezing. After being forced to inhale that horrible air in well… yeah, running had become more difficult at a fast pace. In the months succeeding it, it had gotten easier but still running for long distances affected Percy and I the hardest. To my surprise, I saw Leo running slightly behind Percy, and breathing as heavily as Percy and I. I wondered what that was. He was probably just tired.

After a couple more minutes, we reached Gryffindor Tower and Percy uttered the password, sounding out each syllable with elongated gaps in between, due to him not being to articulate correctly and still out of breath. After a few painstaking seconds only punctuated by Percy's muttering and the deep exhaling by all three parties.

Finally, the portrait door opened to reveal a common room of loudly talking children, with their conversations ranging from exams to holidays to even something to do with the Giant Squid!

"Wait here," Percy said, before walking up the stairs to Harry's dormitory, Leo and I stayed down in the Common Room, and before long, we were approached by Seamus and Dean.

"Hey Annabeth. Hey Leo," they greeted us.

"Hello Seamus. Hey Dean," Leo greeted. I half-heartedly waved.

"So guys, I know you're in Ravenclaw but I guess we extend our hand because you're our mates."

"Extend your hand in what exactly Seamus?" I asked, curiously.

"Well now that Fred and George have left, Harold Dingle doesn't have much to sell, and since we're planning a dusk till dawn party in celebration of completing our OWLs, we're gonna buy a ton of firewhisky and butterbeer. All the sorts. Wanna pitch in a few galleons?"

"Yeah su—" I began, but I saw Percy tearing down the stairs at breakneck speed. Leo who was nodding frantically was pulled out of the conversation and broke into a run alongside me. Thank god, the portrait hole was open as Percy, Leo and I ran straight for it, leaving Seamus' mouth open at us standing him up. We dashed out of the portrait and ran down to a corridor a few floors down. I honestly didn't know why we were running away from the common room, but judging from Percy's worried expression, and his sense of urgency, it had to be important.

After coming to a halt a few floors down, Percy began to unfurl the Marauder's Map.

"Why did you run out of the Common Room Percy?" I asked.

"We don't have much time, do we? We really need to find Kelli, find out what's wrong with Sirius and then fend off a huge army and then deal with this whole 'Pit' thing like the prophecy said." He then let out a huge sigh,

"We've got no time to waste," and with further ado, he plunged his face into the map, and began scouring the paper, for the tiny dot that was labelled Kelli.

After around thirty seconds, Leo decided he had had enough, and pulled the map away from Percy, deaf to his complaints. He pulled out a mechanical device that I had never seen before, and placed it face down on the Marauder's Map. I looked towards him in perplexation, and he grinned wildly, probably amused about fooling me.

"Well Annabeth, this is a little something I whipped up just before we came to Hogwarts. It was meant to adapt and deceive any magical object into doing exactly what you want, as long as it is within your function."

"But how do you power it?" I said, obviously mystified. "All electronic objects go haywire around Hogwarts, there's simply too much magical power radiating everywhere!" I exclaimed

"Aha, that's where the trick is. You see this short little fuse?" He said, indicating the tiny piece of rope tied to the end of his mouse shaped object. When I light this, it activates a code that I programmed that corrupts a magical objects direct functions, and allows you to rewrite how it operates. It's kind of like a Trojan Horse, except instead of trying to pry through the back-door of electronic devices, it plows through the front door of magical objects! Aha I have a name. 'The Magical Trojan Horse. I'm gonna trademark that, so no one can copy it." He exclaimed.

"Wow Leo, you really outdid yourself this time!" Percy questioned, ignoring Leo's exclamation at the end of his speech.

"Oh yeah, thanks Perce."

Without further ado Leo set his palm alight, a tiny flame centered in his palm, dancing around his hand and licking his extremities.

I looked up at Leo, and he seemed to grimace in pain, as if the fire was harming him. His hand began to shake, and the rest of him followed suit. He began to sweat bullets, a myriad of his body fluid leaked out of his pores, as he tried to hold the flame. My eyes bulged at the scene, Leo's body was acting horribly, when he summoned fire.

After several more painstaking moments of enduring Leo's agony, he lit the fuse and it began to count down. Leo let out a huge sigh of relief, and the negative effects minimized.

"Leo, what happened there?" I questioned, mystified by Leo's abrupt change in physical condition.

"Nothing, its just that I haven't summoned fire for a while, so I felt the effects of when I first summoned fire," Leo calmly explained. It was so rare that Leo was ever calmly explaining something so horrible, that I took his word for it and believed him.

"Ah Leo, isn't something supposed to be happening now?" Percy asked, indicating the fuse that had promptly disappeared from Leo's 'Magical Trojan HorseTM' yet nothing was happening.

Leo stared at it for a few moments, before angrily pacing up and down.

"It should definitely have worked. Nothing should've been able to stop it." He muttered. He kept pacing up and down, angrily muttering about how it should've worked.

Percy, who was getting impatient, decided to pull out his wand and tap the map a couple times. Nothing happened. Then, he decided to actually say an incantation.

"Revelio."

I looked at the map, and saw the map, which had previously been littered with names begin to fade, and go blank.

"Leo!" Percy shouted, "Come here. I've done something weird with the map!" This caught Leo's attention, and he spun around and walked over, his arm still twitching from the after-effects of the fire summoning.

"Wow Percy, you did it! How did you do it?" Leo asked.

"I just used the Revelio spell, and the map went blank," Percy said, slightly confused if this was the right thing.

"Alright, now all you need to say is the name of the person you want to find, it will show the map of Hogwarts and then their name."

"Okay," I said, inhaling deeply and closing my eyes.

"Kelli."

After I said that, I saw the ink from the map leak out and form constructs. The map began to reform, yet there were no more names present all over the map. After the entire map of Hogwarts had been revealed, there was then a tiny black dot that was etched into the parchment, and it was labelled Kelli.

"Yes!" I shouted. "She's on the seventh floor corridor, what would she be doing standing outside the room of requirement?" I asked.

"Your guess is as good as ours Annabeth," Leo said.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" I almost shouted, "Let's go!" Instantaneously, all of us popped off the ground and dashed up to the 7th floor corridor. We had probably done so much running today that it probably totaled more than some of our quests. Sheesh.

As we approached the 7th floor corridor, we saw Kelli, her disguise was a beautiful Slytherin girl and that was definitely how she entranced Ron. We stepped out into the open, and she barely acknowledged us, except with her snarl in opposition,

"Finally, it's Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, and ooh, I believe it's Leo Valdez," She snarled. I took an aggressive step forward in her direction, but I was pulled back by both Leo and Percy hold me back. I felt that hate that I had fought down rise like bile in my throat, and I gave Kelli a death glare. She sighed contemptuously and turned in our direction, looking me dead in the eye. She then let out a loud cackle.

"Oh Annabeth, so feisty. I'll be very sorry that this dance can't last, I really just wanted to thank the two demigods who sent me back to TARTARUS!" She shouted out the last word, with venom laced in her voice.

"Don't worry Kelli, we'll send you back there again!" Percy aggressively said.

"Oh Percy, you really don't know what they have planned do you? Of course, I've set it in motion." Percy gritted his teeth in hate,

"What is it Kelli? Spit it out before I make you," he threatened.

"Ummm… How about no Percy. I have places to be. I really should be going. There's a certain mortal that I simply adore, and her name is Umbridge. I have a few secrets that I wish to spill," she ominously said.

"What did you do to Ron? What did he tell you?" I screamed at her.

"Oh, calm down Annabeth, I simply asked him a few questions and he answered. Oh, and I ensured our victory, on both fronts." With that ominous message, she smirked and began to walk.

Percy had had enough and charged Kelli. With his sword raised, he slashed where her image was, she quickly side-stepped and put one of her hands on his chest, pinning him to the wall. Percy's sword was at her back.

"Oh Percy, you can't kill me. Even if you do, it won't change a thing!" She snickered.

"It will help me though," Percy said, through gritted teeth before stabbing at Kelli's form. Just before the sword made contact, Kelli dissolved into a wall of flame, escaping.

"Damn, I thought you couldn't apparate or disapparate in Hogwarts, I thought that this empousa teleportation thing would be covered," Percy said, swearing under his breath.

"Percy, didn't she say that she had something that she wanted to tell Umbridge?" I asked.

"Oh yeah," he said, waving it off, before jerking his head forward, "Oh yeah, our friends might be in trouble!" I shook my head in exasperation, he would always be a Seaweed Brain.

Jason:

"Guys I got it!" Harry shouted, as he ran towards us, brandishing Sirius' knife and the group of us being huddled at the end of Umbridge's corridor.

"All right," Hermione said, as her eyes darted from side to side in the corridor to scan for anyone passing-by, which would completely nullify our plan. "Okay, Ron, you go and distract Umbridge, that should buy us enough time," she said, and Ron took off, his red hair contrasting with the dull colours of Hogwarts' walls, like a fire that was bobbing up and down. "Ginny, Luna, you two, stand on opposite sides of the corridor and stop people from crossing. Remember, if they ask, say it's Garroting Gas. Harry and I will break into the office. Hazel, cast an 'enchantment'" Hermione said, remembering that we hadn't disclosed that we were demigods to Luna and Ginny yet. "Jason and Frank, just stand in front of the door and prevent anyone else from entering. Piper you're convincing aren't you, you send particularly stubborn people out of the way if they choose to ignore Ginny and Luna. Right, got all of that?" She asked, looking at our solemn, yet understanding faces. "Great, let's start." She said, and began to make her way across to Umbridge's office.

Harry followed suit, his body drawn taut with worry about Sirius' condition at the moment. He then brandished the cloak and flung it over Hermione and himself. Luna and Ginny took up their places at opposite ends of the corridor, to deter people from entering. Frank, Piper, Hazel and I took up our places chaperoning the door and stopping anyone from entering, other than Hermione and Harry of course.

Harry walked up to the door, well at least I thought he walked up to the door and began to fit his knife in between the door and wall as it was moving, what else could it be? Anyways, the door clicked open, and we heard Hermione's disembodied voice echoing. Okay, if you see Umbridge coming, a loud chorus of Weasley is our King is the signal okay?" She said, before shutting the door behind her.

After the door had closed, and Luna and Ginny were busy distracting before from the corridor, and saying things like,

"Not my fault, walk through there if you want to black-out from that stench. Go on go ahead!" Before, promptly dismissing the people that were startled by their eagerness. While they were busy, Hazel controlled and conjured the mist, creating a sort of barrier between the doorway, and making it look like a wall.

After a couple minutes of silence, I began some small talk with the rest of the group and devised battle strategies and how they were going to combat the army, apparently Nico and Camp Half-Blood were right now setting up and the same with Camp Jupiter. Although we were fighting in yet another battle, at least we would be with our friends. Then, we did the stupid and clumsy thing of neither Frank nor I watching our sides and we faced the consequences.

"Don't even think about moving Grace!" A voice drawled. I knew that voice anywhere, and it was Draco Malfoy. Frank and the others let out screams of pain as they were subdued by our assailants. Frank was smashed in the back of the head by Crabbe the Gorilla and prodded in the back by Crabbe's meaty hand.

Piper was subdued by some ape looking female that I thought I had seen somewhere before, while Hazel was whaled on by Millicent Bulstrode, who was a Slytherin girl that looked like a sack of potatoes.

Ginny was brought by Warrington, with her in one hand and Neville struggling in the other, trying to reach for his wand. Luna was caught by Goyle, and looked like she was supremely uncomfortable.

Behind all of them, the toad Umbridge strode out, with a wide grin present on her flabby face.

"Well Done all of you!" She sqealed in excitement. "One Hundred Points to Slytherin!" She bellowed. She then looked at the wall, and I felt my mood lighten, she couldn't find the door, Hazel's magic was good. I locked eyes with Piper and we had a silent conversation, about whether or not to use our powers. Piper decided to use hers, and spoke,

"Oh Draco, would you be so ki— mmmppphhhmph" she was cut off by the girl that I felt like I had seen before, but couldn't put my finger on it. Oh yeah, Pansy Parkinson, the annoying shrill girl that I couldn't stand began to laugh hysterically,

"Shut up! Don't speak unless you were spoken to!" I felt my blood begin to boil, I was about to send her flying into the wall for this, but yet again Piper locked her eyes with mine and discouraged me from doing it. All this while, Umbridge was feeling the surrounding wall, trying to find the door. Finally, she felt an indent and she shrieked in happiness.

"Haha! Your little tricks can't work on me! Revelio!"

Before our eyes, Hazel's mist began to unravel and expose the door. Umbridge put her flabby hand on the door and twisted. The door opened, and I saw Umbridge stride through and grab Harry, who's head was lodged firmly in the fireplace, by the hair, and dragged him up, spluttering and cursing.

"I WANT TO KNOW WHAT YOU WERE DOING IN MY OFFICE!" She bellowed.

"I was loo- looking for m- my Firebolt. I thought it would be in here," Harry choked out.

"You would think that after two Nifflers had sneaked into my office, that I would let another horrible creature just like them, scavenge through my stuff again without me knowing? I had Stealth-Sensoring Spells covering every inch of this room, you foolish boy. Oh and by the way, take his wand, she barked to another Slytherin student. His hand plunged into Harry's robes and pulled out his wand. Hers too," she said, indicating Hermione. There was a small scuffle, and Hermione's wand was wrested from her by Millicent Bulstrode.

"I'll ask again Potter. I want the truth this time. What. Were. You. Doing. In. My. Office?" she whispered, taking the time to enunciate each word so her message would be interpreted clearly.

"I told you. I was looking for my Firebolt!" Harry exclaimed, seeming slightly angry now.

"LIAR POTTER! You know that your Firebolt is in the dungeon, not in my office. Your head was in my fire, with whom were you communicating?"

"No one—" Harry said, trying to wrest his body away from her hold, but her grip was too firm.

"LIAR!" She shouted, throwing him against the wall, and rotating his body. Harry then saw that Hermione was pinned Millicent Bulstrode, who's girth covered both Hermione and Hazel with ease. He then saw the group of us, all of us captured by a multitude of Slytherin students. His eyes widened in surprise to see all of us here.

'So, Potter,' she said. 'You stationed lookouts around my office and you sent this buffoon,' she nodded at Ron-Malfoy laughed even louder-'to tell me the poltergeist was wreaking havoc in the Transfiguration department when I knew perfectly well that he was busy smearing ink on the eyepieces of all the school telescopes- Mr. Filch having just informed me so.'

'Clearly, it was very important for you to talk to somebody. Was it Albus Dumbledore? Or the half-breed, Hagrid? I doubt it was Minerva McGonagall, I hear she is still too ill to talk to anyone.'

Malfoy and a few of the other members of the Inquisitorial Squad laughed some more at that.

"It's none of your business who I talk to!" He snarled in anger.

"Well Potter. Since you have refused to tell me truthfully, I will have to force it out of you. Well then, Draco fetch Professor Snape. Crabbe, contain Grace. Draco dashed out of the room in search for Professor Snape, and Crabbe's hold was strangling me; it was that tight. Harry's eyes widened in realization, but I honestly had no idea what he was supposed to be realizing in that moment.

In a short while, Malfoy returned, flanked by Snape and his greasy hair. He cast a contemptuous look at the rest of us, before resting his gaze and his lip beginning to curl, as it always did when he looked at Harry. He returned his gaze onto Umbridge, and forced a sort of bow.

"You wanted to see me Headmistress?" He asked.

'Ah, Professor Snape,' said Umbridge, smiling widely and standing up again. 'Yes, I would like another bottle of Veritaserum, as quick as you can, please.'

'You took my last bottle to interrogate Potter,' he said, surveying her coolly through his greasy curtains of black hair. 'Surely you did not use it all? I told you that three drops would be sufficient.'

Umbridge flushed. Her face going red with anger.

'You can make some more, can't you?' she said, her voice becoming more sweetly girlish as it always did when she was furious.

'Certainly,' said Snape, his lip curling, his impatience leaking through into his face. 'It takes a full moon-cycle to mature, so I should have it ready for you in around a month.'

'A month?' squawked Umbridge, swelling toadishly. 'A month! But I need it this evening, Snape! I have just found Potter using my fire to communicate with a person or persons unknown!'

'Really?' said Snape, showing his first, faint sign of interest as he looked round at Harry. 'Well, it doesn't surprise me. Potter has never shown much inclination to follow school rules.'

His cold, dark eyes were boring into Harry's, who met his gaze unflinchingly, like always, but I saw some form of concentration deep in his eyes, as if he was trying to send Snape a message. Anyways, my attention was torn away form this scene by Umbridge's furious voice, which was extremely hard to ignore.

'I wish to interrogate him!' repeated Umbridge angrily, and Snape looked away from Harry back into her furiously quivering gaze. 'I wish you to provide me with a potion that will force him to tell me the truth!'

'I have already told you,' said Snape slightly aggressively, clearly annoyed and exasperated by Umbridge's childish demands. He sighed deeply, and composed himself, before continuing. 'I have no further stocks of Veritaserum. Unless you wish to poison Potter-and I assure you I would have the greatest sympathy with you if you did-I cannot help you. The only trouble is that most venoms act too fast to give the victim much time for truth-telling. It's one of their main drawbacks and why Veritaserum is a much more effective option.

Snape looked back at Harry, who stared at him almost pleadingly, confusing me as if he was almost frantic to communicate without words. He looked like he was trying to form a cryptic sentence to say something.

'You are on probation!' shrieked Professor Umbridge, and Snape looked back at her, his eyebrows slightly raised. 'You arc being deliberately unhelpful! I expected better, Lucius Malfoy always speaks most highly of you! Now get out of my office!'

Snape gave her an ironic bow, similar to the one at the start of their conversation and turned to leave.

Harry began to splutter and forced out some sort of sentence that I doubt anyone but himself understood.

"He's got Padfoot!" He shrieked out. "He's got Padfoot at the place where it's hidden!" He desperately pleaded.

Snape turned around and turned to view Harry with the same indifference. Umbridge, however, looked scandalized and confused.

"Padfoot?" she spluttered out, "What is a Padfoot? Snape, what is this ridiculous boy on about?"

Snape's face showed no emotion and if he understood this blabbering mess that Harry had spit out it wasn't shown.

"I have no idea Headmistress," Snape coldly responded, his eyebrows scrunching together and his hooked nose turned upwards, in apparent disgust. "Potter, don't you dare shout that nonsense at me, or I shall give you a Babbling Beverage. And Crabbe, loosen your hold a little. If Longbottom suffocates it will mean a lot of tedious paperwork and while I am indifferent to his fate, it will entail a mention on your reference if ever you apply for a job and that wouldn't be preferable.

He walked out of the room and slammed the door behind him, leaving it withering and shaking on its hinges.

Umbridge's chest was heaving and falling in anger, her face red in frustration as her demands weren't met by Snape. She exhaled deeply.

"Well then Potter. Since you leave me no alternative, there's only one other option. The – The Cruciatus Curse outta loosen your tongue."

'NO!' Hermione shrieked, her voice reverberating off the walls. "That's illegal Professor!" She forced out in petrification.

"What Cornelius doesn't know. Won't hurt him."

"Professor you can't do this!" Piper urged, pouring charmspeak into her voice, but it had no effect, and there was a nasty, almost excited expression on her face. She raised her wand, his hand curled around the piece of wood.

Almost as if on cue, the door exploded, and a beautiful girl wandered through, acting as if she was out of breath. She choked out, "Professor Umbridge," She rotated her face, and I saw her face and my mind flashed back to the description of Kelli that was given to us and the picture that was taken by Colin. This was Kelli. The Empousa.

"What do you want Kelli?" Umbridge snarled. I am in the middle of something right now.

"Oh this will definitely be worth your time Professor. Its to do with the American Exchange Students: Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, Leo Valdez, Jason Grace, Piper McLean, Hazel Levesque and Frank Zhang, four of whom are in this room."

I looked around, and saw Frank restraining his bonds, trying to lunge towards Kelli, and Hazel and Piper mimicked the action. Hermione looked furious and was elbowing Millicent Bulstrode to get to her. Ron of course, was mesmerized by her appearance, and Hazel who was nearby had to summon a punch to his leg, which snapped him out of it.

At this point, Umbridge turned around, smiling,

"Go on my dear."

"Well you see, these people aren't wizards, they are demigods."

BOOM! The floodgates exploded in my ears. I felt all eyes on the room move onto us and Malfoy's grip on me tightened.

"They were here to protect Harry Potter, but they aren't doing a very good job are they!" She cackled.

Umbridge who was still in shock, opened and closed her mouth like a fish, but quickly composed herself and with malice laced in her tone,

"Filthy Half-Breeds how dare you come into my office and taint it with your disgusting hands. Thank you, Kelli, for informing me, I will deal with them swiftly, let's start with the blond one shall we?" I locked eyes with Piper and we silently agreed to use our powers to combat this. For the second time, Umbridge raised her wand and I was about to rebel until…

An inky darkness flooded in the centre of the room, and four shapes emerged, Percy, Nico, Annabeth and Leo.

Percy and Annabeth brandished their wands and shot two jets of red light at Malfoy and Parkinson, freeing Piper and I. I lifted up off the ground and thrust my hands towards Millicent Bulstrode, and hit both Hermione and Hazel's restrainer away and onto the ground. Annabeth, ran towards Crabbe the oaf, and knocked him right in the face and followed up with a swift punch to the gut that caused him to double over. Frank, turned into a cougar, and escaped his captor, before jumping towards Warrington, and swatting his burly frame away with his powerful paws.

Finally, the Slytherin's seemed to overcome their shock and shot bright jets of light towards our friends and they dodged everything. Leo charged towards Goyle and shot a spell that lifted him off his feet from point blank range. Goyle then struggled to get up, Leo then raised his hammer, but his hand trembled and he missed his target. Leo then stared at his hand that was shaking. He then gritted his teeth in frustration and tried again. This time, finding his mark and knocking him out.

By now, the only members of the squad left standing were an unknown Slytherin boy, and Umbridge, who were locked in a wand duel with Percy and Piper. The rest of them, were unmoving on the ground or were barely stirring, only to be knocked out by Frank's frame or Annabeth's fists. Piper then shot a disarming charm that hit the boy straight in the chest and his wand flew high into the air. Hazel, now seizing the opportunity found one of Umbridge's silver plates and levitated it, before slamming it with so much force on the boy's head that it shattered it into many pieces. Now, it was just Percy and Umbridge locked in a duel. Umbridge managed to get under Percy's guard and shot a spell, that barely missed him, but instead ricocheted off the wall and impacted his side, causing him to groan. Then, she shot at me, and knocked me out of the sky, just before I could send a bolt of lightning at her. I fell to the ground, but the pain wasn't bad enough to put me out of commission, I simply continued to survey the fight from a slightly lower angle. Nico then shouted in anger and charged Umbridge. With one stroke, he sent her stumbled backwards, and continued to assail her with blows from all angles. Finally, when Umbridge was barely standing Nico reared back.

"Don't worry you old hag. My father will see you soon," he said, before elbowing her. We stared around, looking at the carnage we caused, many plates scattered and broken all over the ground and the place strewn with the immovable bodies of the Inquisitorial Squad.

"Oh I wanted to do that for such a long time!" Nico said, groaning with pleasure at completing his task.

"How would you know?" Percy said, while groaning and stumbling to his feet. You haven't had to endure her for a year."

"But yeah, the IMs you sent me about how she was just made me hate her without even having to know who she was. It was just so satisfying."

"I can't agree with you there," Percy said, clasping Nico's in thanks.

"You all right? Annabeth asked to the general audience.

There was a general murmur of assent from everyone, except for Ginny, Luna and Neville, who all stood transfixed looking at all of us.

"Why are they staring at us?" Leo asked, in bewilderment. "I would understand if it was just me, but like why all of us?"

"Uh well," I began, it's kind of because Kelli blew the whistle on us," I voiced. Upon the word Kelli, Annabeth and Percy spun around and saw Kelli standing in the doorway, clapping softly.

"Oh, you're getting sloppy aren't you, not realizing that I left," she taunted.

"What do you want Kelli?" Percy asked.

"Nothing, I guess my plan to distract you failed, but still, there's no way you can defeat us. Sorry guys, but I will have a lot of fun killing you Annabeth, she said. Before, disappearing in a column of fire.

Percy then slammed his fist into the wall, and Annabeth placed both her hands on his shoulders to diffuse his anger.

"It's alright Seaweed Brain, we'll get her next time," she soothed, and Percy's tension began to drain away. He then turned around and began to stare at Ginny, Luna and Neville, who's gaze hadn't even flickered from us. Finally, Ginny croaked something out,

"You g-g-g-guys a-a-are de-demigods?" We all shared looks, before shrugging and Piper, being a talker began to expose.

"Yeah basically. We're children of the gods."

"That's so cool!" Neville exclaimed. Frank awkwardly rubbed his head and muttered out,

"Yeah." The awkwardness in that room was so thick you could've cut it with a butter-knife.

"You know my daddy has done a section in the Quibbler about demigods and how they might be real, right?" Luna blurted out. The tension in the room broke between us, Percy and I collapsed on the ground, Leo looked like he was a fish flopping about without water in laughter, even Hermione and Annabeth were clutching each other and laughing. All in all, everyone found humor in that statement. However, Ginny brought everyone back to attention by pointing out Harry's solemn face. Immediately, Hermione's face fell and she looked apologetic,

"Oh I'm so sorry Harry, I didn't realise what you must be going through."

"Guys. Sirius is at the Department of Mysteries and is being tortured by Voldemort at this current moment! We haven't got time to waste!" He exclaimed. Harry's face was riddled with an agenda: Save Sirius.

"Okay, we're going to be discussing this later you guys," Ginny said, indicating all seven of us, "but, right now Sirius is more important. We need to save him," she said, smiling at Harry, who gave a faint grin in return.

"Okay, but first we need to wipe this lot's memories," Annabeth said.

"How are we supposed to make them forget just this? Wouldn't obliviating them just remove all their memories? I know it's possible to modify someone's memories but it is extremely difficult, even I haven't been able to do it," Hermione reasoned.

"He hem," everyone whipped around to see Frank trying to gain everyone's attention, which he did an amazing job of. "We have a certain person who was able to modify someone's memory at a tiny level in this room right now," Frank said, before staring at Hazel.

Everyone else stared at Hazel, before she began to explain,

"I did it once in Dumbledore's office, when he was getting arrested and Umbridge was interrogating that snake Marietta."

"So you have done it before?" Piper asked.

"Yes, but only to one person, and after that I was drained I don't know if I can do it to everyone in this room, let alone stay conscious during the whole ordeal."

"You can do it Hazel. I. No, we, all believe in you," I said.

"I'm not sure if I—" Hazel began, before being cut across,

"Hazel, you're an amazingly strong demigod, you the one who saved us at the House of Hades, you've got will beyond imagination!" Leo exclaimed.

"C'mon sis, you can do it!" Nico voiced.

"Oh and by the way, I can only really cast a thin layer of magic, but it should be easier to do this as they're wizards and I won't have to use as much energy as I may have with one of you guys. Because of that, I think that Ginny, Luna, Neville, Ron, Hermione and Harry should all leave so I don't accidentally well, erase parts of your memory."

"Sure!" they chorused, and left the room and presumably stood outside the door.

Hazel inhaled deeply and closed her eyes Her dark hair began to whip around her body and she put her palms together, almost as if she was in meditation.

I knew that this was probably the most energy and the hardest thing she'd have to do with the mist, as it had to be worked on such a tiny level.

There seemed to be some sort of external force swirling around her and a mass of white smoke began to rotate in seamless coordination around her frame. She almost looked like Rachel when she was giving a prophecy. Slowly, she began to move her hands so they were now resting on either side of body. She puffed her chest out and began to rotate her hands in large circular motions, almost as if she was trying to make a circular construct out of nothing.

The smoke then wove around her, almost like a tight suit; a second skin, weaving around her body and lacing itself through her hair. Her face was almost covered in the mist, when her eyes quickly opened, and exposed her deep golden eyes, contrasting starkly to the abundance of white vapour. Then, something abnormal happened, the smoke then began to glide slowly into her eyes, filling her sockets with the blank, turning her iris from a bright golden colour to a bleak grey, the smoke then began to leak into the canals that lead to her inner organs. Smoke flooded her ears, and the white completely veiled her as the presence of white was overwhelming. Smoke flooded through her nose, mouth and ears and seemingly eclipsed her inner organs, before pouring out through her mouth. She breathed a sort of white fire, almost like a dragon blowing out a ton of steam after charring someone to the bone (and trust me, you don't want to be near any dragons). The white plume of mist the coalesced in between her hands and seemingly hardened into a fine ball of mist. She then crushed her palms together, exposing the mist and thrust her hands out, almost as if she was ripping apart a particularly resilient compound. The mist turned into a thin sheet that ricocheted and reverberated off the corners of the room. My mind began to turn hazy, and I felt some memories slip away from me, yet I felt more connected than ever, and I opened my eyes, and the mist disappeared.

Hazel then let out a huge sigh, before promptly collapsing on the ground.

"Hazel!" Frank shouted, her groan shaking him out of his stupor. I saw everyone else lazily recede from their trance.

"Wow!" Is what Leo said, "Hazel, that was some powerful magic."

That really was powerful magic. If that was a thin layer, what would Hazel be like if she was trying to do this on a massive scale? What would the destruction result in?

I was torn away from my thoughts by Nico's presence on my shoulder, I whipped around to see the son of Hades' smiling broadly as Hazel began to get up.

"Nice job sis! That was some stellar magic," he exclaimed.

"My head hurts but yeah, thanks Nico."

"Now there's one thing to do isn't there?" Percy asked.

"That is exactly what?" Annabeth asked. Percy and Nico then locked eyes and spoke in sync,

"Decide what we do with Umbridge," they both echoed.

Nico:

"Can we drop her in the Black Lake?" Percy asked.

"Or ooh, let Grawp have her as a doll?" Leo asked.

"Maybe, we can toss her off the Astronomy Tower?" Jason asked.

"OR!" I shouted getting everyone's attention. We could ask Hermione what her plan was?"

"She had a plan?" Piper asked.

"I could tell, you could see it in her eyes."

"Okay then, bring her in!" Annabeth said.

Soon, the rest of the wizards were brought in, and the first thing they did was stare at all the carnage strewn around the place, even though they were just in here, it still surprised me how much damage we had done.

"Hermione, what was your plan to deal with Umbridge before we came?" I asked.

She began to fiddle with her hair, as it was clear that she was nervous.

"Well you see, I was going to go into the forest and do something, probably give her to the centaurs or something?" She said, her last words sounding more like a question than a statement.

"Or maybe give her to Grawp?" Ron exclaimed.

"Nah Ron, that seems a bit extreme," Annabeth said.

"Why are we finding ways to hurt Umbridge anyway?" Hazel asked, worried.

"It's not because she's a foul hag," I explained, "It's because my father said something about her needing to be out of the way,"

"Why does she need to be out of the way anyway?" Leo asked.

"No idea. My dad said so," I said, before shrugging in indifference. "Probably because she's a foul hag," I said again.

"Okay so we're giving her to the centaurs?" Hermione asked.

"Yup, I'll go do that now," I replied.

I walked over to Umbridge and bent over to pick up her loose frame. I struggled with lifting her up, her skin was flabby and wrinkly, making it a definite new experience for my hands, which were currently freaking out. I lifted my head away, to try and avoid the pungent odor that was her cologne? Whatever it was, it definitely made her smell like the interior of a stinking shoe, nothing pleasant. I lugged her over and began to concentrate, and then slipped away from the receding light and back into the welcoming shadows. Shadow-travelling had become much easier for me now, and when night approached I could do it without tiring constantly. I didn't really know why this was, maybe it was just my power increasing as I aged, or maybe it was something else that I couldn't quite put my finger on.

I shadow-travelled into the middle of the Dark Forest, not too far from where we had set up camp a few nights ago. I dropped Umbridge off on the ground, and retreated behind the cover of trees as she began to stir.

She seemed to take an eternity to actually stand up, and her coordination was completely off, to be expected from someone who had just been knocked out, and had her memory of recent events erased.

I had a gut sensation that a group of centaurs (a herd?) would be coming through any moment, and Umbridge wouldn't be able to resist insulting those 'half-breeds' and then that would carry itself forth and then the entertainment would commence.

"Who brought me here?" She bellowed in defiance. "AHHH!" She continued to shriek, screaming in indignation to absolutely no one.

Soon, her cacophonous screams caught the attention of multiple forest dwellers. Umbridge's eyes flashed dangerously whenever a minor disturbance reached her ears. She probably heard the distant patter of hooves clop trotting across the forest mulch.

Her eyes dilated unnaturally and her body almost seized up in anger. She brandished her wand, but then proceeded to stow it away, upon seeing her filthy clothes from almost bathing in the bark and humus adorning the forest floor.

Then, she acted out her previous action of brandishing her wand in the general direction of the sound.

"Declare yourself crea—" An arrow thudded into the tree just behind her back, and I watched in almost satisfaction as a group of angry centaurs grouped up in front of a chattering Umbridge.

"I warn you half-breeds! I am a Ministry Offical!" She screamed in terror. "In accordance to law Fifteen B which states that any magical creature that displays near human intelligence is hence forth considered responsible and in charge of its actions—"

"Near human intelligence?" A chest-nut bodied centaur bellowed advancing upon the dimunitive Umbridge with his bow raised, mimicking the rest of his group. "We consider ourselves to be far more intelligent that you, human!"

"What are you doing in our forest?" A black haired, and black-bodied centaur voiced. I couldn't help but notice some similarities in our colouration, I preferred to blend into the shadows, yet this centaur embodied the shadows. Hm?

"Your forest?" Umbridge asked, incredulously. Drawing my attention back to the scene that was unfolding.

"I don't think that you are able to claim this forest for your own centaur. Besides, you're only allowed here because the Ministry of Magic granted you permission—" An arrow flew so close to her head that it may have taken off parts of her disheveled hair, which was proceeded by an ear-splitting scream that caused me to jump out of by bush, and many centaurs' turned in bewilderment. I doubt they saw anything except movement, and returned to their raucous laughing.

Umbridge, her eyes flashing red with madness and anger, only fueled further by their jabs and taunts and the black centaur's proclamation.

"Whose forest is it now, human?" he bellowed.

"Filthy half-breed scum!" Umbridge shouted, before flicking her wand aggressively at the black centaur's neck.

A thick cord erupted from the tip of her wand, and flew through the air at an unattainable speed towards the centaur. In her anger, and her shaking hand, the snake-like cords first bound around his torso, eliciting a scream in pain from being bound. Followed suit, by the twine binding his hands together and looping around his neck, before locking together tightly, extracting another agonizing roar from the centaur.

The Centaur's scream alerted the other centaurs, and they towered the petite professor, and reared up on their hind legs, and crashed their concave hooves into her torso, and the combined forces of multiple hooves launched Umbridge from her current position to about ten feet across the clearing and slammed her into a tree. Miraculously, Umbridge struggled to her feet, but was then assaulted by the centaurs again, this time joined by the black centaur that she had previously bound.

I heard the constant groans and screams of Umbridge, and it reached a point where I couldn't bear her screams of pain. I heard similar screams of pain whenever I visited my father, and despite how horrible Umbridge was, I couldn't let that happen to her. Additionally, I felt a strange urge to intervene. Not just due to Umbridge, but as if I felt like that dark centaur had some information that I needed. So, mustering my courage and walking in front of a horde of angry centaurs and shouted, "Hey!" to grab their attention. In hindsight, it probably wasn't the greatest idea, but I had got myself into this mess.

The centaur herd halted their assault on Umbridge and I stole a glance at her face, which was covered in bruises and hoof imprints, and a thin line of blood excreting from her nasal cavity.

"It's another human!" one of the centaurs pointed out. The group began to charge towards me, with their bows raised, arrows nocked. But, I pooled my strength and poured power into my voice and said, with a deadly calm,

"Stop."

The group of centaurs stopped in confusion, my voice seemingly petrifying them, stopping them in their tracks. A visage of awkwardness or confusion pooling amongst them, almost as if waiting for a decision. Many, waited for some sort of indication, and resorted to glaring at me, and adjusting their bows.

Again, the black haired centaur came to the fore-front, his chest puffed out, and an arrow drawn taut on his bowstring.

"What do you want, human?" He taunted, with a venom-laced tone. Upon this proclamation, the rest of the centaurs backed up, stumbling upon one another. After a few seconds of them toppling and struggling to align properly, they had regained some form of order
or status and stood up, tall and straight. They nocked arrows and drew themselves up and their bowstrings backward, positioning themselves in a manner where they could immediately take me out.

"I just want to talk," I responded cooly. The centaur looked enraged and looked almost livid at my question, as if talking with humans was a great sin amongst their kind.

"We have no business with you human. You wizards are the worst kind. Thinking you can constantly tread over us, our intelligence far outstrips your puny race."

"I'm not a wizard," I said, pausing dramatically drinking in the centaur's curious and befuddled expressions. "I'm a demigod." Upon uttering those words, the entire group of centaurs released their arrows, and they flew towards me. Time seemed to slow down around me and I grabbed my Stygian Iron blade from its scabbard. I thrusted upward, splitting the arrow from their leader straight down the middle. I rolled underneath the subsequent few, before jumping up off my knees and hacking apart the remaining arrows, splitting the fletching from the arrowhead.

I then closed my eyes and shadow-travelled a tiny distance, just behind their leader and pressed the tip of my sword against the centaur's neck. Naturally, centaurs and many creatures in general, and were scared of the River Styx and anything that remotely connotes with it. The centaur shivered amongst its presence and whinnied in protest.

"Tell them to leave," I whispered softly, "I need to have a chat with you."

The centaur then croaked out, his eyes widening in fear as I pressed the tip of my sword deeper into his collar.

"Leave. I have business with this boy. Take the witch and carry her deep into the forest. We'll deal with her later."

"Don't harm her," I muttered.

"Don't harm her," he said, addressing the remainder of his group.

The centaurs cantered anxiously as if they were wishing to protest their leader's decision, before shortly being bellowed at.

"GO!" The herd then cantered nervously towards the lifeless body of Umbridge carefully, determined not to harm her. They trotted off into the distance, before stopping on a hill, on the edge of my vision. Turning around, making eye contact and then racing off into the forest.

Once I was sure that the centaurs had left us, I released my hold of the blade and my grip on the centaur.

"My name is Bane. What's yours?" He asked, his voice turning business-like as if he knew why I had come her. Surprised by his gesture, I felt like it was only courteous to respond.

"Nico Di Angelo. Son of Hades."

"Bah. I knew I smelt the stench of death on you, but wait," he said, prodding the air, almost as if he was reading my life. "You were plucked from time, you were born in what, the 1950s?"

"No. The 1930s."

"I know magic my friend –"

"Wait friend?" I responded, confused. These centaurs had acted so hostile to me and Umbridge mere moments ago, now he was calling me friend? I didn't understand.

"Yes Nico Di Angelo. I called you friend. Do you know why?"

"No?" I responded.

"A while ago, when we were located in America, the center of the gods' power. Our cousins, these American centaurs were more rowdy and loved alcohol and parties. I was only a foal at that time, but one day, our herd went to war with another herd. Since I was a foal, my mother took care of me, and I wasn't permitted to engage in battle. Our enemies were drunk and they slaughtered without remorse. They stormed our camp, they killed many, our tribe then was so much larger. Now, we are tiny in comparison. The centaurs almost eradicated our herd, until a strange power intervened. He introduced himself as 'The Rich One'."

"That was my father for sure," I concurred.

"Yes, I know, let me finish. This person intervened and stopped the other group from destroying us. But, the centaurs being as drunk as they were, tried to kill us and this stranger anyway."

"That wouldn't have ended well," I said, shaking my head. You really didn't want to get on the wrong side of any deity.

"It didn't," he said, looking towards the ground. "Hades struck them down lazily. He waved his hand and the group disintegrated. The problem was that he disintegrated some of our tribe. Including my father," he murmured his voice cracking. "Sorry," he apologized. "Let me continue. Me, being grief-striken and angry charged him. He put a hand out, and drew me in… Well, I think that it would be easier to show you," he muttered, pushing his hand forward.

A dark wave emanated from this figure and Bane froze in was so consumed in anger at the fate of his father that he ran foolishly forward. But, he realised that this figure could easily kill him. The impossibly large hands of the character closed around his neck, and a guttural choking sound exploded from Bane's lungs. Bane closed his eyes, preparing for death at the hands of this beyond powerful figure. However, the release never came. His eyes briefly opened, to see 'The Rich One' sitting down, his hand retracting from his neck, and his legs crossed. Bane took a moment to assess the figure. He was extremely tall, towering over Bane, who was a tall centaur anyways. He had albino-white skin, like he had spent very few days in the sunlight and intense black eyes that glittered like frozen tar, with the eyes of a madman.

"Well, this was unexpected," the figure began. Bane looked on in fear at the powerful figure, rippled with muscles but didn't respond in fear. 'The Rich One' laughed.

"I'm not going to hurt you centaur. What I really wanted was a chat," A range of emotions raged through Bane. Anger, curiosity, mostly anger.

"You killed my father!" He bellowed.

"No I didn't," The Rich One responded, indicating a figure behind Bane. Sure enough, Bane's father was standing right there, frozen in time just like the rest of their surroundings. Bane spun around immediately and charged in the direction of his father, yet the Rich One stood in the way.

"Tsk Tsk," the god-like figure chided, waggling his finger, comprised of refined white. "No my dear centaur, there is a reason I singled you out and asked for a chat," he explained.

"But you just said that this was an unexpected meeting," Bane explained, his face registering befuddlement.

"It was, my dear centaur. But, a long time ago, almost before I can remember, I was approached by Centaurus, the first centaur," the Rich One began. "He told me that one day, a son of mine, that would be persecuted and harassed for his heritage, in a time where my children wouldn't be born, would be taught a certain technique that would save the planet."

Bane stood perplexed, why would such a powerful figure, seek a conversation with him of all people and tell him about this nonsense of saving the planet.

"Centaurus told me to seek out the centaur with the perfect knowledge of astrology, mythology, strength, intelligence and belief."

"You believe that person is me?" Bane asked.

"Yes, my dear centaur. I sense a inkling within you. I sense an urge about mysticism, mythology, astrology woven through every fiber of your body. Your beliefs, intelligence and strength far outstrip any centaur that I have ever encountered. I believe that the job is yours."

"M-m-mine?" Bane stammered.

"Yes Bane, yours."

"What is this plan you wish to tell me about?"

"Oh, you will know when the time is right. I know it," The Rich one said. With that, he pressed a finger to Bane's temple, and knowledge and information seared through Bane's mind, etching the finest details within the crevices of the brain. Teaching, instructing, learning. Learning the contingency.

With that, the memory faded.

"Woah," was my only response upon seeing that, the experience must've been terrifying, yet exhilarating.

"Yeah, I met Hades that day, and he foretold of this, it was written in the stars."

"I know that, but what made you hate demigods so much? You seemed so furious when I told you?"

"No, I don't have a grudge against demigods. I've actually never encountered a demigod. But, after my encounter with Hades, he's told me to be watchful. But, I've never had any encounters, it's just that some of my fellow American centaurs have had some poor encounters with demigods, and I just guess word got round. I don't have a grudge against them per say, but I'm not exactly fond of them. Except Hades, I like him as I just said."

"Okay then, what's this plan, you cut the memory before you found out."

"Well then, let me tell you."

Hazel:

"When is Nico getting back?" I voiced out loud. It was almost half an hour since his disappearance with Umbridge. I mean how long can it take, and we're running out of time. I thought to myself.

"We still don't have a way to get there?" Hermione explained, to a Harry that was almost beside himself with fury that they couldn't find a way to help with Sirius.

"What options do we have Hermione?" Harry bellowed. "Sirius is running out of time, and none of us can formulate a plan!"

"Wait," Hermione said, her face scrunching into an expression of utmost concentration. "What about thestrals?"

"Hermione, you can't even see thestrals, how are we gonna use them?" Harry said.

"I hope that they stay invisible," Hermione said darkly. As if on cue, my brother materialized in the middle of the room, looking no worse for wear, but looking terrified.

I collapsed on him, adding pointless weight as he collapsed in the centre of the room.

Harry pounced on Nico. "Nico, you're a son of Hades. Hades is the god of death. Thestrals are an omen of death. You think you can summon some so we can get to the Ministry?" Harry giddily, yet forcefully explained.

"Uh sure," Nico said, shrugging his shoulders, his terrified expression dissolving. "But first, let's go outside, it'll be easier."

Nico then walked out of Umbridge's office, flanked by Leo, who seemed to have even more pent up energy.

We all followed suit, but Leo paused outside the door, doing some sort of freakish dance.

"What are you trying to do Leo?" I curiously asked.

"Wha?" Leo asked, before promptly looking down at his muscles freaking out, almost if he didn't know. His face fell, before he quickly recomposed himself, and I grinned questioningly, silently asking for an answer.

"I was uh—surprising you. Yeah," he made up. I knew he was lying, but put it down to his regular cheek, and strolled on. A few minutes later, we had arrived by the edge of the forest, and waited while Nico was sorta doing a thing, maybe to summon Thestrals. I have no clue.

Nico then closed his eyes and shifted his weight slightly to the right, and drove his hands outwards. He then brought both his hands down and conjured 6 tiny balls of energy. If it was possible, Luna, Neville and Ginny's eyes bulged out even further, almost jumping out of their sockets.

"What's he doing?" A voice echoed from behind me. Almost instantly, I spun around and drew my cavalry sword and put my fingers to my mouth, trying to whistle Arion, only to be greeted by Reyna's solemn face. She looked worried at Nico, and I didn't see why. He looked perfectly calm – no problem whatsoever.

"He's summoning some animals so that these lot can save someone." Reyna's brow creased in bewilderment.

"Who are they?" she asked.

"Oh, they're friends of Harry's. We kind of revealed our powers to them," I sheepishly explained.

"They're good people. Right?"

"Definitely, they can definitely be trusted," I enthused.

"Then, I won't have to kill them," she explained, smiling.

"Where's the rest of the Twelfth Legion? Praetor," I added, as an afterthought.

"They, along with the Camp Half-Blood are lining the forest with traps, as our initial line of defense. Centurion," she said, grinning at her cheek. "Oh my god," she gasped out. "How did Nico do that?" she said, indicating the six equine figures that had materialized from Nico's balls.

Oh god that sounded wrong.

"Well," I began, "Those are Thestrals, and in the Wizarding World they are symbols of death, and Nico, being a child of Hades, can summon, communicate and control them,"

As if on cue, Nico then bent down, in front of the first thestral and whispered something.

The thestral then whinnied and nodded in appreciation, before turning to Percy and bowing, and Percy cupped his hands to his ears, almost in relief.

"Thank god," he breathed out, "A horse that doesn't cuss like Arion."

"Hey Percy," I said, in a simpering tone. "What did you say about Arion?"

Percy went pale, and responded, "Uh, Uh…"

"Percy?" Annabeth asked, snapping his out of his trance and a sigh of relief escaped from his mouth.

"Yeah Annabeth?"

"Why did you cup your hands to your ears if you communicated telepathically with the thestrals?""

"I dunno," was all Percy said, before an argument broke out between the wizards.

"Nico, why'd you summon six? I only need one!" Harry shouted.

"Well, we'll need three Harry. Don't you even dare think that we'd let you do this by yourself," Hermione said, looking slightly shaken, but determined nonetheless.

"Four Hermione," Ginny said, scowling angrily.

"All six of us should really go," Luna serenely explained.

"Don't make a fool of yourselves, not all of us can go!" Harry exclaimed. "Look, Ginny, Luna and Neville," he said, pointing to the three of them, "You can't all go. This is my problem. No one elses."

This was simply followed by more outraged mumbling.

"Harry," Frank explained, "The prophecy," he explained, looking Harry dead in the eye. Harry flinched and clapped his hand towards his scar, before sighing deeply.

"Fine, it's your guys' choice," Harry groaned out, before turning to the Thestrals. "Grab one and get on."

Slowly, one by one, the wizards mounted their steeds. Luna seemed to have the least struggle, presumably having done something similar on her, well, less than normal escapades.

Harry though, had a bit more trouble, his hand wound around the mane of the thestral, and attempted to pull his foot over its back, but found that he didn't have the capability to stretch that far. Instead, he jumped off a near tree stump, and landed clumsily on the horse's back.

Neville was flopping and heaving his body across the thestral, but was less than fortunate when he caught his leg on his robes and fell down into a sagging heap. On his second attempt, of using raw power to haul himself up, he succeeded, collapsing onto the horses hind-quarters.

Ron, Hermione and Ginny however, being unable to see the Thestrals, stood open-mouthed, staring at what seemed like Harry, Luna and Neville levitating.

"How're we supposed to get on?" Ron asked. "We can't see the damn things."

"I've got a solution," I piped up, and the three rotated around. "I can cast the mist and make them temporarily visible, they should most likely stay visible for the rest of your flight though," I reasoned.

They nodded in acknowledgement, and I quickly summoned my strength and wove a mist curtain that surrounded the equine figures and made them visible, at least I think they did. But, my uncertainties were quelled when Hermione and Ron erupted into wide grins, and began to mount their stallion.

After a few minutes, which constituted of several swear words, screams of frustration and screams of fear from Hermione. This concluded with all six of them sitting jitterily on their thestrals. Nico, along with Percy conveyed to the thestrals the general message of, Get to the Ministry of Magic

Ron then, almost screamed out but then spoke really slowly, "Why have they disappeared Hazel?"

Before I could say anything in response, the thestrals took off into the fading light, accompanied by a foul-mouthed Ron.

The rest of the group looked at me.

"What?" I asked, "They'll survive."

Percy then muttered something under his breath, before taking off, walking alongside Reyna and we followed suit.

"Reyna, is the Twelfth Legion ready?" He asked.

"Yes Percy. Is Camp Half-Blood ready?" she asked, looking at Nico.

"Yup," Nico said, "They're just a bit closer to the forest, lining it with traps."

"Same with ours," Reyna said, knitting her eyebrows.

"Then let's go," Percy said, before marching ahead.

I honestly thought they were being extremely carefree and laid-back despite the incoming situation.

Me? Well, I wasn't exactly mellow right now, but knowing that we had fought a war with Gaea, how bad could this be? Honestly.

"You're not okay Leo!" Piper shouted.

Everyone immediately whipped around at Piper clapped her hand to her mouth. I saw Piper, Frank and Leo huddle in a tiny circle, talking about something, and Piper seemed to object with something.

"Piper, everything okay?" Jason asked, in a concerned tone.

"Yes. Nothing's wrong," Piper sweetly responded. I could hear her tone laced with charmspeak, and everyone's face turned slack for a moment, except for Reyna and me.

I cast her a look, and had a silent conversation with just our eyes.

Do you know what's wrong?

No Idea.

We'll talk later.

It has something to do with Leo, I'm sure.

"Hey Reyna!" I heard someone shout, snapping everyone out of their daze and we looked towards the voice.

I scanned the ground and saw a group of about 50 heavily armored demigods, clad head to toe in a piercing gold coloration. I saw Dakota, striding up towards us. He took a quick sip from his flask of Kool-Aid before wiping it on his arm, a useless attempt to rid his lips of that permanent red stain.

"Hi Dakota," Reyna crisply responded. "Is the Legion ready?"

"Yes Praetor, we have finished lining the forest with traps. The others from Camp Half-Blood are a bit further down, and they added a few more layers of defense," he said, grinning madly.

"Good," Reyna uttered. "We'll be setting up a defensive structure, Camp Jupiter on the left side, and Camp Half-Blood on the right, with The Seven in the middle."

"I'll be commanding Camp Half-Blood," Nico said, "I assuming you'll be doing the same with Camp Jupiter?" he asked, indicating Reyna, who nodded in acknowledgement

"Dakota, get the Legion over here. I'll help. Nico get Camp over here, and you lot," she said, indicating the seven of us – get ready."

Reyna walked off with Dakota and Nico shadow-traveled towards the rest of them.

Frank, Piper and Leo huddled together and resumed their heated arguing.

I walked towards Jason, Percy Annabeth and Hazel, who were all talking about how they were going to do.

"Hey Hazel," Annabeth said, "We were just talking about our game-plan, but Jason here, seems to know but won't share."

I gave Jason a deep glare, and he sighed deeply.

"Okay, so in my dreams I saw a Titan. It was Krios."

"The Titan you fought on Mount Orthys?" Percy asked.

"Yeah him. I dread facing him," Jason admitted. "Last time, I almost died."

"Reyna said you did fine?" I asked, worried.

"That was a lie. I barely defeated him," Jason murmured out.

"You beat him once Jase, you'll do it again," I said.

"There's also one more thing," Percy said, and everyone's attention went to him.

"What is it Seaweed Brain?" Annabeth inquired.

"Hyperion. He's also there," Annabeth went pale.

"He's another Titan?" I asked.

"Yeah, the last time I only beat him because of Grover and my friends, dozens of Nature Spirits died," Percy breathed out.

"C'mon guys," Annabeth said. "We've been against impossible odds before, if anything, this is doable, we've done stuff like this before."

Leo:

Stupid Piper. Stupid Frank. There was nothing wrong with me, yet, while everyone else was suiting up in armor, I had to wait till the end, all because of Piper guilting me.

Just because my arm had momentary, insignificant spasms at random intervals didn't mean that I would be doing anything wrong. I said that, just as my body was overcome with convulsions and I collapsed on the ground. I knew I was lying to myself, but I couldn't let my friends just fight without me.

So, I plucked my miserable self off the ground and grabbed the breastplate that I was designated. I was told that the Greek armor was made to make the wearer look more muscular and intimidating, but didn't offer as much protection as Roman armor, but allegedly, the Hephaestus Cabin had been working overtime to increase the armor's strength and durability. I appreciated my cabin mates a ton. Nonetheless, I put it on as quickly as someone with arms that only functioned half as properly would be able to. I looked and saw Hazel was tired. No wonder, she had just cast a massive mist curtain that was meant to obscure this whole scene, but she was tough. Tougher than me for sure.

I strapped on my greaves, which were also made of Celestial Bronze, same with my helmet and breastplate. It was supposed to differentiate between the Greeks and Romans, but ours was a darker shade. I had a sneaking suspicion that it was Celestial Bronze mixed with Imperial Gold, and I could feel that in addition to my Cabin's improvements, this, by far would be the greatest change.

Smirking slightly, I put on my stuff. I put on my helmet which had a red plume on the top.

I looked around, and saw everyone else having already put on their armor and standing a battle formation. I saw Camp Jupiter to our left and Camp Half-Blood to our right. We were standing on a slightly elevated hill that gave us an excellent view.

Percy was standing directly in the center, with Riptide drawn and a circular shield resting on his left arm, with inscriptions and picture on it. I instinctively that it was from Tyson.

To his left was Annabeth, who had brandished her knife and was leaning slightly towards the right, her grey eyes more prominent than ever. To her left, was Frank, standing tall with his bow drawn and an arrow in his hand, ready to be shot.

To his left, was Hazel, who looked tired from creating a mist curtain behind us. But, her eyes burned with a passion and her cavalry sword drawn and placed slightly to her right. She looked impatient, and I knew why. She had called for her horse: Arion, but he still wasn't here.

To Percy's immediate right was Jason, his Imperial Gold gladius, extended and passing through both of his hands. His lip was curled and his scar almost vanished.

To Jason's right was Piper, her hair cascading down her face. Katoptris was brandished in her right hand and a determined look there.

To her right was me, and I looked like shambles, I was sweating, and I knew I couldn't fight. Piper gave me a contemptuous glance, and I nodded subtly, acknowledging that I wasn't going to fight. My hammer was brandished, passing through both of my hands, and the head being in my left.

We all shared a glance, knowing we were fighting a battle. I looked to my right and saw Nico, in black battle armour, with an intimidating skull-shaped helmet. His skull ring was prominent as was his Stygian Iron blade. He stood in front of the Camp Half-Blood battalion and had a smug, yet worried expression on his face.

To my left, I saw Reyna, who was dressed in the same Imperial Gold battle armor that clad the rest of the legion. She wore her Aegis, her purple cloak glittering in the fading sunlight. I locked eyes with her, and she subtly nodded.

I closed my eyes and briefly opened them, catching another glance at the pale sun, before opening my eyes wide and staring towards the woods. My ears pricked up, on alert and it was then. It was then when I heard the call, and a loud yell emanate from the forest.

Unknown:

Scurrying through the brambles wasn't easy. Especially for me. My feet hurt, but I had been ordered. Could I trust him? I didn't know.

I continued to bound across the frigid landscape, due to no snow forming, despite the intense cold, something I had never seen before. I scratched my head. He said that he needed me. He called my name.

I looked to the sky, and saw the dying light. I sat down, causing a cloud of dust to rise from the soil.

"Goodbye Sun," I murmured out. "Soon time to say hello to Stars."

I picked myself back up, who knew how much time they had left. I knew that I had to do whatever I could. I needed to stop their plan. I needed to help them defeat them.

I stabilized myself, before running again and not stopping. Before long, I saw the outline of a big house in the distance. I stopped and caught my breath. I was almost there.

Cliffy. Ooh Yeah. I love it. I absolutely adored this chapter, I had so much fun writing the build up to the battle especially. And the scene where Leo was looking at everyone. Their arrangement caused my heart to melt (If anyone knows why they're arranged that way um. 10 Points to your house?). So, stuff has happened. I bet all of you can guess the last part and what's going on.

Anyways, you know what I said about the last chapter being the longest? This one is much longer. Yes, I do realise how long it took me to bring this out, but… I hope it was worth the wait!

Thanks for everything,

~RedGods