Chapter 23
Percy
The guys all groaned at the change of plans, most just wanted to go back to sleep, but regardless of Professor Dumbledore pulling us aside and apologizing for Snape's attitude and expressing his faith in him, I didn't trust the guy or his sniveling little shit friends in Slytherin. I suspected that whatever we did, once known by members of that house, it was at once retold to some of their death eater parents. I couldn't risk running the original operation under those circumstances.
Mainly what Dumbledore wanted to talk about was that he felt, and I agreed, that we should meet with the leaders of the Order. We all thought this was a great idea as weI would love their feedback on fighting Voldemort and his followers as they were experienced, having done so in the past. It was agreed that Neville, his mother, and Will would apparate back as normal, but that Jennifer would go by somewhere called Grimmould place and collect the Order members that would be there and bring them in through Bob's. It was decided at that point that everyone would come back through Bob's as there was no reason to risk a return walk exposed from Hogsmeade to the castle. That is when the new plan hit me.
We drilled it a few times, swore Neville not to tell, and then crashed for the night.
Annabeth had hardly spoken all night and generally refused to look at anyone unless necessary or say anything unrelated to the plan. This was generally an improvement in her mood from previously. Never the less, everyone was on edge around her.
When we got back to our room we found the only nice surprise of the day, a package from Tyson with the things I had requested on the ship. A note told me to let him know what else was needed and to stay in touch. It has either been delivered by Amazon, Hermes Parcel or our father, I couldn't determine which. I took the time to mist him and we spent a few minutes catching up.
Annabeth and I snuggled in bed and she turned towards me, her head on my shoulder, and she began to weep.
"I don't know why I'm so emotional today."
"Maybe Nico was right, its Peeves being on the loose again."
"No, its more than that. Its, well first Calypso fucks with us about being pregnant, then everyone laughs and just assumes we've been doing it. I don't know, should we? I mean, everyone thinks we..."
"No. We're on our own time table, not anyone else's. I trust your wisdom over anyone else's. End of discussion. Besides, it will be nice, you know, being at college, kind of retired, not having to worry about fighting every day."
"Yeah, that does sound nice. Are you really looking forward to it? I mean, you, you and me, but well you're the best I or anyone else has ever seen. Its like its all you do. Can you really just give it up? Its not like, well, I have architecture, that's my real passion. You just have... killing monsters."
"I have you. You're my real passion. I'll find a career later, right now, I just want to focus on you. And come on! This is like a vacation! Voldemort probably sent his best folks to the train station, it wasn't a diversion, they really thought they would either kill Harry or take him hostage. And it was nothing to wipe the slate of them. I mean, I don't want to get cocky, but the team we have, well I can't imagine what we can't beat if we remember to work together and not let stupid childishness tear us apart. And I know they pissed us off today, but they really mean well, they are just a bunch of kids like us, trying to figure it all out. I can't imagine anyone set out to hurt you or me."
"I know, but I, well, there are just some things that are off limits."
"Under wear things?" I giggled.
"Uh, what are you, nine years old?" Annabeth laughed, then kissed me. It was dark but I could feel her smiling, the first smile she had since early in the morning.
We woke up to a room covered in roses. They hung from the ceiling and walls and covered every surface of both, their vines growing as they sprouted more blooms. The floor and furniture were unaffected, but if you sat still you could actually watch them grown. It was like waking up in a paradise of roses, or just a cavern lined with them, their fragrance was sweet, but not over powering. They sprung forth from a large pot by the door that had a note to Annabeth on it.
"Dear Annabeth and Percy,
Neville suggested this hybrid and Jennifer enchanted it and teleported it to your room. We all hope it makes your waking up better and starts your day with the happiness you deserve. Please understand we never meant to hurt you and yesterday made us all realize we need to grow up a little. You both mean so very much to us, and we are all grateful for the help you are giving the magicians and for getting us this 'sweet gig' as Leo calls it. We hope you will find it in your heart to forgive us."
It was signed by everyone, demigods and magicians alike.
Annabeth cried like a baby and hugged me. The aerials brought lattes and we sipped them in bed.
The morning was perfect.
Breakfast was a hug and tear fest. It was as though our whole section of the Gryffindor table was secreting estrogen. We guys just grunted and moved on with our lives, but the girls were into the whole sharing of feelings thing. It was all we could do to choke down breakfast, but at least all that stuff was water under the bridge.
Will announced that he would like to see DA 1, as we were now calling our first squad of trainees, in the study room after breakfast. Hazel asked why and he said he had a present for them that she, he and Renya had been working on, and that he wanted to go over it for an hour or so before training started, if that was okay. Once said she knew what he was speaking of.
Hazel magnanimously granted his request, as we knew they had been working on the wizards survival kit and even though the odds on needing it were slim, we did have a members going into the field that afternoon. I asked Will if he could stop by my room first and with a puzzled look he agreed.
Once we got there I showed him the care package from Tyson and we decided to go ahead and add it to what he had been working on, with some stipulations. He went over his design and contents with Annabeth and myself and we were both excited. He, Hazel, Reyna and Leo had done an outstanding job.
We loaded everything up and went to the study room.
"Okay kids, today we have our first student going on a field mission, and even though you haven't had survival training yet, and we were going to introduce each part of this piece meal as you did, we wanted to make sure you carried a wizards survival kit with you today just in case, compliments of Reyna, the Amazons, Leo, Percy, Poseidon's aquatic minions, Hazel, and uh, me. Now pay attention, I only want to go over this once, well, with Neville several times. The rest of you will have classes on learning to use everything in here." Will said.
He reached into the box he was carrying and pulled out a leather messenger bag. It flops loosely as though it had little in it.
"Each of these will accept one owner, and one guest. Your guest should be someone who will be on a quest with you and might need access. They will of course have their own, and since quest membership can change based on the quest, you can reset who your guest is. The owner never changes. Each has been charmed with a variation on what you know as an 'indetectable extension charm' so that should a muggle, or any unauthorized person, attempt to look inside they will find a couple of ink pens and some unfinished algebra homework. Nico's contribution was doing the homework so you can assume it is mostly incorrect." Will said as he held up some pens and papers.
We chuckled at this as Nico waved off a smattering of applause.
"Now to set the guest, you just speak their name into the bag. 'My guest is Percy' Will said into the mouth of it. Girls, you may be thinking this bag doesn't work with your outfit, well true enough. Fortunately you can press your wand to the strap like so" he demonstrated "and it will change into any reasonably sized purse or container you imagine it to be." With this the bag began changing into various women's purses until it after a minute or so it became a messenger bag again.
"Dude, you think about purses a lot." Nico said.
"Don't judge me bitch." Will laughed.
"Now, as to the contents, here is where I will need a little help. Lets start with this napkin supplied by Reyna and her sister."
Reyna stepped forward, took the napkin, which was silver and shiney, and tossed it into the grass. It popped up into a tent.
"It sleeps four, sets up in less that a second as you just saw, and provides sustenance in the form of food and drink for as long as you are in there. Comes with tableware, napkins, glasses, whatever you might need to serve dinner to four. It is four seasons and if you notice the chimney on the back, has a stove and the wood is supplied. Of course it stays about 70 degrees all the time unless you build a fire, and never gets above 75 or so. The fire is therefore in case you want to cook something, or just for a general feeling of hominess. No, really, I'm reading this off of the flyer the Amazons ship with it" she said, holding up the flyer. "Finally, if you need more room you can take a tent from another kit, set it up just at the front and they automatically join, only now instead of four, they support sixteen. I'm not sure why that is, but its pretty big inside. "
"Uh, of course." Will said. "Why don't we all peak inside?"
We took turns looking and were stunned at the room inside. Four full sized beds were already set up and made, there was a wood burning stove, a pile of wood and kindling, as well as a couch and a couple of lounge chairs in the front half. The entire thing was carpeted and looked as comfortable as the rooms at Hogwarts. Each bed had a small trunk under it and Reyna explained those automatically filled with changes of clothing appropriate to the weather for whoever stayed in the bed. There was overhead lighting and as Reyna pointed out, past the bedroom was a bath area with a shower and toilet.
"It doesn't provide soap, shampoo or anything like that, but you can add those and they will stay with it. Oh, and the Amazon's idea of soft toilet paper is, well, it leaves something to be desired, so bring your own." Reyna said. "Now, to take it down, there is a pull string right here at the front. Give that a solid tug and its back to the size of a napkin."
"You will need to study the protection and invisibility spells as well, those are not automatic with the tent and will need to be deployed whenever you have cause to camp out." Will added.
"Next we have a telescope, it makes far away things look close, and also works as well after dark as during the day time, it lets you see as though it were light out." Will said as he pulled the scope out. "And here we have a muggle first aid kit, just like you might get from Savealot, some cord that has been enchanted to withstand loads of twenty thousand pounds, a lighter, an LED flashlight, again, both of these are pretty normal and you could have purchased them at about any muggle store. Note that the light from the flashlight can stun muggles and many wild opponents and cause temporary blindness. They come from the factory that way, its nothing magical we've done. Clever of the muggles really. Next we have a water bottle, which is charmed to never run out so you don't have to set up the tent if you get thirsty. If you turn the cap it will change to hot coffee, tea, iced tea or fruit punch. I couldn't get a constant magical source for any sodas." Will smiled, then realized no one thought he was joking.
"Uh, okay, moving on, we have some quick ties to tie up captured opponents with, and duct tape to shut them up. Oh and down in the bottom are 500 English pounds of muggle money and 500 galleons of magic cash. Thanks Hazel! The pounds are enchanted to change to whatever the national currency is where ever you might find yourself, so avoid going to third world nations with hyperinflation or you might end up with a bag full of shells and rocks. Any questions?"
"Uh, is there room for us to add things we might think of later?" Hermione asked.
"Absolutely, it is no where near full. I also added a basic spell book to each which may or may not go beyond those you know already and, and this is something I'm particularly proud of, each contains a spare wand. Now, the wand will never adapt to you unless yours is broken, but should yours become unavailable, or undependable due to cracks or damage, you could use the backup. It has not bonded to anyone else either. Those were provided by Hecate herself although they are quite basic. If nothing else though, you could use them to repair your own wand."
"Next," Will continued, "there is this parchment. It won't work in here, Leo has it enchanted to read Global Positioning Satellites and act as a universal map. Once out of the Leodis, and out from any magical protections like are on the castle, it will pick up a minimum of four of the satellites and once it does a map appears showing where you are and the surrounding terrain. It includes street names if you are near one, as well as the names of rivers, mountains, and known hiking trails and campsites. You can pinch the image in to show a wider area if you are completely lost. Pretty neat trick I , why don't you take it next?" Will asked.
"You bet. Now, each back contains four golden spheres, about the size of an egg. Three of them are just the same and have this red button on the top. Press it once for a flash bomb, twice for smoke, and three times for both." He tapped it three times and threw it hard so that it landed about fifty yards away, but before it did it began flashing so bright as to be blinding, and kicking out columns of smoke so thick that you could see only the flashing through it. "Just what you need for an urban get away! Now the other one is slightly larger and flat on the sides so you can tell it apart without looking. It is a recording and communication device. Each one can communicate with all the others, and we can receive messages here as well. Press the large red button three times and we will descend on your position like the fist of an angry god. That's your panic button. Also, if you press the blue button, anything that the lens on the end is pointed at, we can see, as can your traveling partners by looking through theirs. So with two or three of them, you can set up surveillance outside your tent if need be. Finally, if you press the green button once it sets up a motion detector that screams if something moves in front of it, press it twice to hear the noise it makes" which he was kind enough to do, causing us all to cover our ears in agony until he turned it off " and press it again to turn it off. Any questions?"
We all had a lot, so he went over it a few more times, and agreed to write it down for us to memorize.
"Finally" Will said "Percy brings us gifts from the sea. Percy?"
"Thanks Will. You guys have really done a great job on these. First, everyone take one and pass the box around." I said as everyone removed a small black box from inside the smaller case I set on the table. I took one and there were several left, which was good as I wouldn't need Tyson to make any for the next class, and had a few in case someone's got broken.
"Its a watch." Reyna said as she opened the box.
"With a picture of dolphin." Piper added.
"Flipper" I said, "from the TV show in the 1960's. My mother got me the DVD of it when I was young, it was only on for about three seasons. Best show ever, other than Seabase 2020."
"Uh okay, so should we synchronize them or something?" Frank asked.
"No, just put them on like this, they self synchronize, adjust automatically to your time zone, uh, since we aren't actually in a time zone at present they are set to Greenwich time, and are self winding," I said as I slipped the clamp styled band around my wrist, "then flex your wrist twice to push the back of it a couple times in a row like this." As I did a buckler styled shield erupted from it to cover my forearm and about a foot in front of my hand. "Atlantian bronze, forged in the furnaces of Atlantis. No weapon or spell outside this room in all of Britain can penetrate it, and it can deflect spells as well as a deflection or defense charm. Oh, and if it gets scratched or damaged, just dip it in salt water to repair it. Its dive rated to... well, Atlantis at least. To close, tap the button above your thumb three times." It closed with a satisfying "woosh."
Everyone tried opening and closing it until they got the hang and could do it whenever they liked. Once I was sure they could I told them that Annabeth would be teaching them how to use them with both swords and wands in the coming days and to not otherwise worry about it now, but to keep wearing them as..."
"A symbol of our unity." Jennifer smiled.
"Uh"
"Exactly!" Piper added.
"Well yeah, and I was going to say to get used to having it on." I said.
"Finally, and this is the part with stipulations. If it were up to us, we would just issue these and be done. That's the way we learned and its a good way. However, growing up we also had training deaths, and that would work against our mission here. So for now, we practice with them, but they are otherwise just issued to the students actually going in the field and on quests. Soon enough you will all carry one, today, just Neville. And he is to use it only as a last resort. He is better served with his wand as he has had more practice with it, but we aren't going to send you into the field without everything available that might help you. This is a Norman sword, the sort used by Normans when they invaded England a thousand years ago or so." I said as I pulled it from my kit.
The metal seemed to glow so perfect was the workmanship on it, and even the demigods were impressed with it.
"It is slightly longer than the Roman Spatha which our Jupiter friends trained on, as well as the Greek Gladius I'm familiar with, but still short enough for urban and underground work, and heavy enough to have real cutting power. It is an alloy of stainless steel, stygian iron, celestial bronze, imperial gold, and silver. There is nothing, living or dead that it cannot kill."
I found a small limb on the oak, maybe four inches thick, and cut through it as though it were butter. This brought even more "ooohs" and "aaahs" from everyone.
"Also, it is self sharpening, the sharpener is in the sheath." I told them as I slid it away.
"Finally, it is treated for the mist, so you can carry it openly and no one will notice unless they have the gift of sight. Or you can just tuck it away in the kit for easy access and to reduce the weight. Any questions?"
