Chapter 8

Percy

Unfortunately our time was cut short. Had we stayed together all morning, as I suspect we both wanted, our catty little friends would have never let us hear the end of it. I remembered years before though that Annabeth had a belly button. She had showed me the first time I asked about how she was born. Mist. The mist created it for her to show, and we were not together then. After explaining this, Annabeth returned to the council of manipulative girls and I went out on the deck to shoot skeet.

The Argo III, like many cruise ships had a skeet range on the back deck. We had no shotguns, but we had wands, and that was almost as much fun. Frank turned the machine on and in seconds two skeet leap out across the water. Jason said "Stupify" twice as he blasted them to bits.

"You try it Percy. The trick is not using full strength, try to ease up a bit."

"Does it matter what spell ya use?"

"Doesn't seem to, any of them will break a clay pigeon." Frank advised.

"Well all right" I said as I got my wand ready, "Pull!"

"Stupify" I thought to myself twice as I aimed at them. The first hit and blew it and a 20 foot circle of ocean two or three feet deep into the air. The second missed all together and blew a hole in the ocean like the depth charges in a war movie. Frank and Jason were both soaked.

"Percy, you might want to choke down a bit" Frank said with a laugh.

We spent the morning practicing then had lunch with Leo and the girls. It turned out that Leo had been busy in the kitchen cooking up seafood, steaks, veggies and of course his famous tofu tacos and served it all up in the dining hall at the captain's table. Well, the wind spirits did the actual serving, but still, the effort was there.

"So if you were in the kitchen who was minding the bridge?" Hazel asked.

"No one, it runs itself. Its put together better that the bridge on the Argo II, but of course I didn't have an unlimited supply of high end industrial electronics and Archimedes spheres."

After lunch we were about to start shooting again, as much out of boredom anything when the girls came up on deck. It was a beautiful day and it was decided we would lounge around the large pool that was just in front of the helicopter pad. The wind servants brought drinks, and it was perhaps the most relaxed we had all been in years. No monsters, nothing to worry about. Of course Hazel decided this would be a good time to announce her schedule for wand training and reading over the dossiers we had been provided. She pretty much took our mornings and afternoons from us, but it was probably the right thing to do. If I tried to use my wand to turn on a street light I would probably explode a car parked underneath it.

At night everyone slept in the Tardis. I tried but found that as long as I was near the ocean I slept better on the bow of the ship. This worked out well until the forth day when I woke up and the old man was standing there.

We had let our guard down. I expected no monsters, it being the sea and generally we were traveling under Poseidon's protection. That was dumb. Dumb, dumb, dumb. Riptide was in the pocket of my shirt, but my shirt was hanging just out of reach over a nearby rail. My wand was laying around somewhere, probably with my shirt. I had to use Annabeth's strategy of talking when unable to fight. I sucked at talking.

"Who are you?" I shouted, hoping to get someone's attention.

"No need for alarm. I am Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, at your service" he said slowly, pronouncing each of his names with great care as though it were important for me to remember them all.

"How... Oh, you're the headmaster at Hogwarts, of course. How did you get here?" I asked.

"Apparating. It is like your friend Nico's shadow travel, but without the life draining side effects. I will be glad to make sure you and your friends receive instruction on the subject. You must be Percy Jackson. Nico described you well."

"You've met Nico then?"

"Indeed, I was unaware of his arrival until he had dispatched two dementors that were attacking Harry and his step brother. A full hearing was held at the ministry regarding it and I suggested that rather than Harry using magic underage, it was the work of someone with access to source magic. After the hearing I tracked your friend down and he told me that Hecate had sent him and that you and your friends were on your way. As we speak he and his partner Will Solace are in the park across the street from where young Harry is staying, guarding him and his friends. It was I who requested your aid. Are your friends awake? May we talk with them?"

It was about 7:30 in the morning, which meant that Hazel would have everyone awake and at breakfast any moment and that meant that Annabeth would be coming to wake me any minute. "Sure, let me grab my shirt. I've found I sleep better out here than in the room, right this way" I said as I turned to go to the state room that the Tardis, or "Leodis" as we had taken to calling it was.

"I confess" Dumbledore said as I opened the wooden door to the Leodis, "that I expected you to be even more alarmed by my presence."

"Why is that?" I asked as we entered the grand ball room and he looked around.

"Well, for most young people who have spent a life around muggles, the sudden arrival of a man in wizard robes who is in his hundred and twenties, with a long white beard and a pill box hat, can be something of a startle." He smiled.

"Oh. Yeah. Well, in truth, the first headmaster of a school I ever met turned out to be a centaur, and a few others since then have tried to kill me. So it takes a lot to shock me. Especially after the last couple of years. We should find everyone in the dining room. Have you had breakfast?" I asked as I opened the door leading in. The dining hall seats about a hundred and has the flying buttress design of an old cathedral, according to Annabeth, I had no idea what that means, with gigantic stone fireplaces at each end. As expected everyone was there, all but Hazel still in pajamas. Annabeth jumped up to greet me with a morning hug, then saw Dumbledore and thought better of it.

"Most impressive" he said as he eyed the room.

"You must be Professor Dumbledore" Hazel said, "Welcome."

"Thank you. I suspect, from what I've been told, that you are Hazel LeVesque, and this must be Frank Zhang. A pleasure to meet you both. Ah, and lets see, Jason Grace, Piper McLean, Leo Valdez, Reyna Ramírez-Arellano, I hope I am pronouncing that right, and Annabeth Chase, Jennifer Oceans... and that means you are... I have no idea who you are" He said to Rachel.

"Rachel Dare. I'm a late entry I think. Our, uh, sponsors are saving me from a year of finishing school."

"Ah of course. The oracle. Actually you were requested as much as any of your friends were. You see, part of the problem we have is based around a prophecy."

"Professor," Hazel asked, "We only have an overview of the mission. Protect one who is marked for death, and heal one who should not die so young. We are commanded by the gods to train some of your students in our arts, while we learn yours and, well this part is our idea, integrate the two styles into one combat system. Can you give us some details? We know about Voldemort and the wizard wars from our briefings, and who you, Harry and his friends are, but that is about it."

"Perhaps I can help some, although I'm sure your information is most thorough. Frankly I am here today as I prefer to meet all new students the summer before their arrival. Most come from magical families so that does not take long, but some from non magical families and those can take some explanation. Your situation is unique of course. In my prayer I suggested your cover story, I hope it is to your liking. At present there are several schools of wizardry in North America, but they studiously avoid being anywhere named Salem. Danvers being the current name of the original American Salem, I can assure you there is no school of wizardry there, and certainly not one named after the two people who led the Salem Witch Trials" He smiled. "Your school is a complete work of fiction."

"We have designed uniforms for Mather-Knap" Jennifer said.

"Excellent. You should have young Mr Solace compose a school song for you as well. He is currently busking in a small park while he and Nico keep watch, and earns several pounds a day strumming his guitar and singing about how grandma puts on her armor. The more background you can give it, the more real it will seem, and the more you will fit in. Last year we had students from two other European schools with us for the Tri Wizard Tournament, so our students are used to having students from other schools, but there is no tournament this year, although we may arrange a few competitions. The students last year brought their own housing"

"So did we" Leo interrupted. Jennifer kicked him under the table playfully as a result.

"I see, and as I said, most impressive. But I'm not sure it will fit in the Gryffindor Tower. I had hoped to house you there to keep Harry near you without raising too much suspicion."

"It will fit, as long as there is somewhere to put the door. Just give a a few feet of blank wall. Most of what you see exists in either negative or parallel space." Leo said with pride.

"I see, fascinating. So it is an entirely magical realm. Yes, that might work. You could be close by, but still take Harry and others into privacy as needed to protect them. Is the door secure?"

"Yes, you have to be programmed into it before it will open to the mansion. Otherwise you open it and its a closet. Not a very big closet at that. Plus Festus will be available as well as us." Leo replied. "We've even built a study room and Jennifer has an exceptional library."

The wind servants brought my usual blue pancakes and blue juice, and for Dumbledore a plate of eggs, toast, for some reason baked beans, and sausages, with some sort of juice on the side. "The aerials can predict what you want." Jason told him.

"Thank you, it is most kind. And your mansion is fantastic. I am truly excited by the idea, it is so much better than stuffing you all in the Gryffindor rooms. That would have been quite cramped for everyone. Tell me how this parallel space works."

"Its non euclidian, so if you understood it, it would drive you insane. Its best just to accept what Daedalus invented and live with it." Jennifer smiled.

"So, it exists like his labyrinth did?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes, similar, but it doesn't grow itself. I only wish I had thought to post a door at Camp Half Blood and Camp Jupiter so we could travel between them by walking down the hall, but on Christmas break I will." Leo said.

"Wait! You can do that?" Annabeth exclaimed.

"Sure. We can have too many doors, but four or five shouldn't be a problem. For most things its easier to just add it inside. Like yesterday by the pool on deck I was thinking it would be neat to add an indoor pool, so now there is a door just to the right before you go to the stables and"

"So if this is a two year mission there is no reason we couldn't go to the University at New Rome next year too! Leo! I love you!" Annabeth squealed with happiness.

"You sound like Miss Granger if you wish to be in class that much." Dumbledore quipped.

"Oh, you don't understand. Most of us grew up thinking that we wouldn't live long enough to grow up. Our kind usually dies young. But in New Rome they've figured out how to go to college, have normal lives after a youth as a half blood. Percy even had a prophecy that he wouldn't live to 16. So when we found this out, well, you can imagine how excited we were. Now we just have to live that long, and the hard part of that is over." Annabeth told him.

"Plus we have wonderful day care facilities."

"Shut up Reyna!" Annabeth and I shouted together.

"I wouldn't be so sure about the hard part being over as you say. You will have many challenges to overcome. The dark lord is growing in power and recruiting more to his army everyday, but I hope for your sake that you are able to live your dream." Dumbledore said, then added, "I would be curious as to how you got around that prophecy Percy."

"Oh. That. Well, its kinda sad and we don't really talk about it, but basically the prophecy turned out to be about someone else. Prophecy is tricky that way" I said. "May I ask, is there anything wrong with some of us guarding this Potter guy while the rest of us hunt down Voldemort and kill him?"

"Sadly, only the third law of prophecy." Dumbledore replied. "Were it possible I assure you I would have tried. Alas, the problem with a prophecy is that once spoken, it cannot be fooled, tricked or avoided. Just before Harry was born a prophecy was made. Ahem." He cleared his throat. "'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives.' So you see, Harry has been marked by the Dark Lord himself as the one that must destroy him, if anyone does. Unless Harry kills him, he cannot be killed."

"Ain't prophecy about a bitch?" Leo said, then caught himself and looked apologetically at Rachel. "Present company exempted of course."

"No worries" she smiled.

Dumbledore smiled at the exchange. "There would be other problems too of course. Once you enter the magical world, and the Ministry of Magic becomes aware of your existence, you are marked with a magical trace. I have kept your arrival private from the Ministry, but once you enter Hogwarts they are certain to notice your presence there. Outside school the under aged use of magic is prohibited. Now, on to other things. I fear I must leave by noon to see others, but I would like to share some of the other things that might not be in your portfolios. Have any of you ever ridden a broom?"

You could have asked if any of us had ever walked on Mars and gotten less strange looks, I mean, some of us had met Mars at least...

"Well then, come up to the, is it a helipad, and we'll try you out. Its not hard once you get accustomed to it and you'll need it for your Quidditch team."

"Uh, what's a Quidditch team?" Frank asked, and Dumbledore looked at him dumbfounded. "You don't play Quidditch at your camps?"

"No, we have chariot races and capture the flag with swords and armor, Percy and Annabeth rule at that." Piper said.

"And we climb rock walls covered with lava, Leo is insanely good at that, well when he played he was." I said.

"Oh, and we build forts and defend and attack them with ballista and water canons." Frank added.

"Goodness, doesn't anyone get hurt?" Dumbledore asked.

"Well yeah, but we usually don't kill."

"Sometimes people die by accident, but its considered an honorable death." Reyna added.

"Well, there is none of that at Hogwarts. Let me explain Quidditch to you" and with a wave of his wand a Quidditch field appeared on the table with tiny little wizards riding brooms. He explained the rules, and the basic strategy to us, and pointed out that although the losing team doesn't get as many points as they generally don't catch the golden snitch, all points from both sides go into the competition for the Quidditch Cup and the House Cup every year, so every goal is important."

"Is the golden snitch real gold?" Hazel asked.

"Uh yes, but usually the seeker that captures it holds onto it as a keep sake so you don't see very many of them for sale, and the game ones, unlike the practice ones, can only be used once. Now, I anticipated that you would be your own house. There aren't many of you, but you are all older and it wouldn't be fair to just add you to one of the existing houses, nor do I want to split you up among the houses as I want you near Harry.. I would prefer to call you "America House" rather than "Mather-Knap" as I feel the house spirits would revolt at that name. Is this acceptable? You're not expected to win with so few of you but"

"But we will lose with a style and panache' heretofore unseen in the annals of magical instruction." Reyna said. "Lets go fly brooms. Percy, Jason, are you ready to save us?"

"Let's do it!" I said.

"Can't I just turn into an eagle?" Frank asked.

"Oh, you're an animangus? My first class as a professor, all those years ago, was the instruction of transfiguration." Dumbledore asked.

"Does that mean someone who can change into animals?"

"Well, normally just the one animal, most often a dog or a cat. Professor McGonagall is a particular good cat."

"I've never done a dog or a cat. I've done a bear, a dragon, an eagle, "

"A weasel" Leo suggested.

"Don't remind me. Oh, and an elephant. Seems like there are a few others. I can do most anything I'm familiar with. Oh, one morning a couple months back I woke up and I was a snake. You ever have that problem?"

"Uh.. no." Dumbledore stared blankly. "Let go fly some brooms shall we?" He quietly added.

Prior to waking me, the Professor had laid out brooms for each of us, Nimbus 2000's or so the label said, on the helipad. He asked us each to stand beside one then announced that these were a gift to us from Hecate herself and that we should honor the gift. I made a note that we needed braziers in the dining hall.

He told us that most beginners have trouble even getting the broom to rise to them, and if in a group our size any did he would be surprised. I suspect he didn't know that Hecate had programmed the brooms as she had our wands, or he wouldn't have been shocked at all when all the brooms rose on command, even without Piper charm speaking, and we were all able to take off and fly immediately as if we had been on them all our lives. For fun we pretended we were back at Half Blood playing capture the flag and soon everyone was sword fighting in mid air. Leo, Reyna, Hazel and Jason had the advantage there given all their time fighting in the air and on horse back, and soon Reyna and Jason were ganging up on me, while Annabeth tried to defend. Dumbledore was shouting for us to cut out the sword play but we acted as though we didn't hear him at first.

Reyna and Jason lined up side by side and swooped towards me from a hundred yards or so above the water. Annabeth and Hazel jumped in between me and them, and gave me an idea.

"When I say move, get out of the way, okay?"

They nodded as the Romans approached, and just before their arrival I dove my broom into the water and shouted "Now!"

Annabeth and Hazel split left and right. As I hoped Reyna and Jason had too much momentum and suddenly no target, they leveled off right above me, and I pulled up behind them. I willed the water to reach up and grab their brooms and they went flying off. Jason didn't have time to summon the air to lift him. He and Reyna crashed into the water.

I lifted my soaked friends to the helipad on two columns of water while everyone else, Dumbledore included, laughed at our antics.

"You shall die for this insult Graecian scum!" Reyna shouted and laughed at the same time. "You cost me a perfectly good sword!"

Hazel flew near where she had fallen and summoned it out of the water for her. We all landed and Dumbledore declared broom practice was over.

Dumbledore cautioned us that swords were illegal both to carry in England and that all weapons, other than wands, were banned from Hogwarts. He then noticed that none of us were carrying any weapons.

"Are they hidden by the mist?" He asked.

"Yes" Annabeth said as she pulled her sword seemingly from no where. Since she had gotten accustomed to it follow our trek through Tartaurus, she was using her sword more than her knife, but still carried both. This was the first I had seen of her sword since Hephaetus had worked on it, and it was stunningly beautiful. It was still bone, but laced through it and around it were threads, like small vines, of celestial gold, silver and stygian iron. The effect was amazing.

"Is that some sort of rib bone?" the Professor asked.

"Yes, drakkon, but not from the one we killed, this one a giant killed and gave to me.

"You've killed a drakkon?" He was shocked.

"No, I just helped. It takes a god, a child of Ares or a titan to actually kill one as far as I know."

"I see."

The professor had us do some spells off the back deck and this went better than the brooms. Jason, Hazel, Frank and I had learned some degree of control, but everyone else was blowing holes in the ocean. They would get the hang of it with a bit of practice.

Finally he asked if we had tried a patronous charm, and we admitted we had not.

"It has two forms, one is simply a wave of positive energy that can be used against negative forces to drive them away. Its what Nico needed when he fought the dementors a few days ago. The other form is a corporal patronous, which takes the shape an animal with which the caster has the deepest affinity, that once generated by you will probably be the same for life. They rarely change."

"Oh, is Nico alright?" Piper asked.

"Oh most certainly. He prevailed with apparent ease on his own." Dumbledore said.

"What is a dementor?" Annabeth asked.

"Its a form of wraith, a wizard or witch that has gone to darkness so far that only a shell of their former selves remain in this world."

"So they are like undead?" Jason asked.

"Yes, they are of the undead class of monsters. The ministry uses them to guard Azkaban prison and supposedly controls all of them, but I suspect that Voldemort has managed to gain control of some or all of them as well.

"If they are undead Nico wouldn't have a problem defeating them. He's gifted that way." Hazel said.

"It has been interesting to meet you all after having talked to Nico. Miss LaVesque, you must be very special to him, he holds you in the highest regard."

"Well, he is my brother, well step brother anyway."

"Leo I am to tell you that he looks forward to seeing you. He also thinks you are the bravest person he has ever known."

"Awww that's nice, but he knows Jason, Annabeth and Percy, I'm pretty sure I'm only in the top five or ten"

"No, although he speaks highly of all here. I should not say it, but I suppose you know. Percy Jackson, you he holds in particular esteem."

This surprised me given our past. Don't get me wrong, Nico is good people in my book and I would defend him to the end, but after all we had gone through I figured I was just another demi god to him these days.

"Indeed. When we were talking about everyone and got to you, Nico said that he had fought every kind of monster known, been through the underworld innumerable times, had his own bedroom in the House of Hades, but the only person or thing he was scared of in a fight was Percy Jackson. I would say that I thought he was joking, but I felt nothing but sincerity and admiration. Now as to casting a patronus charm..."

He began to explain the casting to us and we went through the motions of casting it. At first only a blast of white light came from our wands, but as we thought on it, ghostly animal shapes were formed. Annabeth cast a dolphin, and I an owl, the mark of Athena. For a moment I thought they might be reversed, as if we had picked up each other's wand, but Dumbledore explained this was common in couples that were linked for life. Piper cast an eagle, while Jason cast a bald eagle, we guessed in reference to Piper's Cherokee history. Reyna, unsurprisingly drew a pegasus, while Frank cast a horse and Hazel a bear. Rachel cast a raven, which we thought odd until Annabeth told us it was symbolic of Apollo, then it made sense. Finally, Leo cast what appeared to be a seagull and Jennifer a dragon. This was all sort of fun and Dumbledore was pleased with our success in casting them, telling us that a corporal form patronous was one of the more difficult spells to cast. He showed us how we could sent messages with them, which itself was kind of neat. I decided that night to send a message to my mother via owl.

"Finally children, I understand that your minds are hard wired for ancient greek and latin. You may use the translation spell to alter your texts to these if it assists you in learning, although I realize you are with us on a quest of my invention and invitation, I hope you will find the instruction at Hogwarts useful. Now, the waters you are entering are full of history and with it ghosts and monsters. You might wish to set watches. As you get closer to land you will find that creatures of darkness will be alerted to your presence. Travel safely, I look forward to seeing you at school."

Dumbledore turned into a white cloud and rocketed away. He was gone in an instant leaving no trace behind.

"Well. That was unusual." Reyna said.

"We learned something though." Jennifer said.

"Quite a few things" Annabeth added.

"Yes, but now we know my last name is 'Oceans'."