Chapter 33
Percy
I thought about Dumbledore's comment about being too young to die as we went to Professor Trelawny's class. She taught divination and so far her class had been a complete waste of time as we drank tea and read the tea leaves. The only interesting thing was when Frank asked if he could have his tea with ice, which was openly laughed at by all the English present. What Dumbledore had said though struck a nerve as it was the words that Hecate had used when we were sent on this quest. The more I thought about it, the more I thought that Dumbledore must be the one too young to die. Of course we would still have to protect everyone else just in case I was wrong. Still, it was a notion I wanted to share with the rest of the crew as soon as I could.
Thinking was difficult though as Annabeth began pestering me, and the rest of our friends both magician and demi god as to how to retroactively celebrate my birthday. I tried to tell her it was no big deal, but I knew I had not heard the end of it when she stopped talking about it suddenly. She had an idea.
We had been doing tea leaves since we had arrived and Trelawny was never satisfied with anyone's interpretation. She was especially harsh on Hermione and Rachel ironically. I wondered what she would think if she knew she was teaching divination to the Oracle of Delphi, and as it turned out, today was the day we would find out.
Class started off normally enough. More tea, more being told to draw in the spirit and open our minds to the future, more demands to interpret the results only be told how wrong we were. Then it happened.
Rachel stood in the middle of the room at her table. Her eyes suddenly glowed yellow and greenish smoke started pouring from her mouth. In a distant voice that sounded nothing like hers, she recited:
"The Dark Lord seeks that
Which he did not have before
The one cannot err now"
"He will learn those things
Which are real and that are not
Projected in his dreams"
"Fight the snake and fail.
For yule the safety of Poseidon's wall
In spring to find the pieces."
"The potion master knows
The number divided to find
Each a part of the whole"
"Quest for each they must
Witch's and hero's might joined
Keep the one too young"
"Keep them alive you must.
And save one who dies like Leo.
Annabeth, your mom says hi."
She then collapsed back into the Victorian chair she had been seated in. Smoke continued from her mouth for a moment and her eyes were rolled back in her head. By now we all were around her. Suddenly she blinked, coughed and asked "What?" then threw up in the floor beside her.
Frank, Jennifer and Leo agreed to take her to rest as she refused to see the nurse and claimed she felt fine. Once she was safely away Hazel asked, "Did anyone get that written down?"
"Why? It was clearly rubbish by a girl trying to escape class." Trelawny said.
"No, it was a prophecy." I replied.
"I got it" Ginny said, "or rather my auto quill did."
An auto quill was a regular quill that had been enchanted to write down every thing said in class. Not one hundred percent accurate for notes as it sometimes picked up students in the back of the room whispering that the professor was a total wanker, but it could write as fast as a person could speak. Needless to say, since they made a student's life easier, they were banned, but the ban was openly ignored by all. Given the length of this prophecy I was glad Ginny had it.
"Let's see." I asked and Ginny handed the parchment to me while Trelawny looked over my shoulder. The copy looked accurate.
"See? Proof it is rubbish. The spirits do not do not give foresight in haiku verse." Trelawny exclaimed.
"Yeah, in this case I'm pretty sure that's the mark of authenticity." Hazel said, "We need to see Dumbledore. Harry, you guys with us?" She asked as Jason, Annabeth and I walked to the door. In the end most of the class got up and went, at least all of the half bloods and DA1 did.
Trelawny's classroom was very high up in the castle and it just made sense to meet in the Leodis. Still Dumbledore was three stories below that if he was in his office, which is where we expected him. Harry was the only one that could come and go there as he wished, although we all knew that the password was "Lemon drop." It was the worst kept secret in Hogwarts.
As we walked down flight after flight of stairs Hazel suggested that Jason and Harry go fetch back the Headmaster and Jason agreed and stopped on a landing. Harry kept walking until Jason suggested they fly there.
"Uh, you might not have noticed Jason, but we don't have our brooms." Harry replied.
"And flying brooms isn't allowed inside the castle." Hermione added.
"Fuck brooms." Jason said as he grabbed Harry and fell off the landing with Harry starting to scream like a little girl, until the air rose up and caught them and they began a gentle descent down to the bottom floor.
DA1 stopped to look but we kept going and soon enough they ran to catch up.
"How?" panted Ron.
"Leo's fire, I'm water, Jason is air. Remember?" I answered as we turned across the last landing and arrived at the painting of the lady that let us into the Gryffindor commons.
Once inside we set up in the study room. Several copies of the prophecy were made quickly by the aerials and distributed. As they were doing so, Dumbledore, Jason and Harry arrived, the latter having a smile on his face that can only be seen on teen boys who have just survived leaping off a six story platform and surviving unharmed. Rachel and her escorts came in as well and she seemed her normal self again.
Apparently Dumbledore had ran into Trelawny outside of the Gryffindor entryway and she had expressed to the Headmaster, in no uncertain terms, that the prophecy was, in her opinion a fake.
"So, with all due respect to Miss Rachel, why should we think it is real? I confess that a prophecy in haiku doesn't seem, very, uh, godly."
"It is the haiku that confirms it is real to us." Hazel said. "You must understand that at one time or another several of us have met Apollo. For the last several years on and off he has been obsessed with haiku."
"That is correct. It is odd, and I don't think I have ever heard of a prophecy in haiku before, but given that dad is on probation until at least next summer, I suspect none of the big three know this was sent. Based on the last line, I suspect it was sent at Athena's insistence. The haiku is to let us know that its from Apollo though, and that he spoke through Rachel is the key. For any other god to speak through the oracle would be like another god using Zeus's lightening bolt or Poseidon's trident. Whatever it means, I think it was important enough to risk Zeus's ire for." Will explained.
"May I ask that Professor Weasley, Lupin and Mr Black join us?" Dumbledore asked.
"We should get Professor Snape too, it talks about him." Ron suggested.
"Yes, and Professor Snape."
"Of course. Ginny would you be so kind as to fetch your mother, and, uh, Frank would you get Sirius and Remus? Annabeth, would you find Professor Snape?" Hazel asked.
Each produced a patronus, spoke the request and sent them on their way.
"Well. I could have done that!" Hazel snorted as she began to laugh with all of us.
"I guess there was no reason to fly down to the Headmaster's office either." Jason said.
"Sure there was! It was awesome!" replied Harry.
Snape was the last to arrive, complaining that a dolphin had swam into his class room and startled the first years he was teaching, and we set down to business.
"Miss Hazel, I fear that in order for them to fully understand what has happened, it will be necessary for Professors Weasley, Snape, Lupin and Mr Black to be given some information that has previously not been forthcoming."
"Hmm, I had not considered that. What does everyone think?" Hazel asked of the half bloods.
"Well, we, thing is, they were always on the approved list as they are the leaders of the Order." I said. I admit I was surprised and had not considered this. "But, for a few of us, well. We can't go there in detail."
We talked in vague terms like this amongst ourselves, then decided to swear them to secrecy. Neither Molly nor Snape liked that, but we were firm and explained that the information they would learn would make sense of a lot of things, and at the same time had to be held in the strictest confidence by the fewest people. If they could not agree to hold what we said as secret, then we simply could not tell them. Even then Frank didn't like it, feeling that too many people knew already and the only way to really keep a secret is to not tell anyone.
Finally Dumbledore vouched that if each gave their word we could rely on it, and then all agreed, I think taking his lead and, certainly to some extent, curiosity won out.
"Okay. First, we are not like your other students. We come from a different tradition in magic altogether. Hecate gifted your ancestors magic millenia ago. We got ours from birth. Each of us, except Rachel, has a parent who is a Greek or Roman god. When we argue in Magical history about the various gods and their relation to Hecate, its because we know most of them. A lot of them don't like us, others barely tolerate us, but the big twelve Greek and Roman gods and goddesses need us. They cannot directly interfere in human events, so they send their children, or as we have been known since the time of Hercules, their 'heros.' As you know we are here in answer to a prayer from Hecate. But no, we are not magic students as you would think of them. Everything you have heard about our school is a cover story to keep this information safe. Several of us are big three, the rest are at least big twelve, which is really big fourteen but traditionally just called twelve, or in the case of the Roman's, big thirteen, which again, should be fifteen except for tradition."
"I heard Piper say "big three" the other day, what does that mean?" Hermione asked.
"Oh, the big three are the three most powerful Greek Gods, or their Roman counterparts. There aren't many kids of the big three around these days as after World War II they made a pact to not have children with mortals, given all the trouble their children had given humanity leading armies across Europe and navies across the Pacific during the war. All of them have cheated and broken that pact, but not very much. Big three children are particularly powerful, even among demigods, and very rare. Big twelve means any of those three, or any of the other nine who hold a seat of power on Olympus. Big thirteen is the Roman equivalent. The Romans had more gods overall and some that were major to the Greeks were minor to the Romans. Generally the Greek's authorities were spread out more, so Zeus is responsible for more areas than Jupiter, and Poseidon more than Neptune, even though they are the same guy. We call them Big Thirteen though because the Romans have two gods of war; Mars and Bellonna. Big twelve and thirteen children are strong compared to the minor deities children. Oh, and some of the gods have no mortal children, some have but a few, and some have a lot of kids"
"Like Aphrodite the Greek goddess of love and procreation." Annabeth grinned, causing Piper to flip her off while laughing, and Annabeth to do likewise.
"Uh, yes. While others don't have many at all. Hera/Juno for instance has no half human children, but she borrows from the other gods from time to time. When she borrows, it is generally for life." Hazel said. "Anyway, as I said, the big three tend to have really powerful demigod children. We have four of them with us. I'm the child of Hades, the Greek Hades, although I've trained with the Romans since I, well since I arrived. Hades is big three."
"And so am I" Nico said. "I started with the Greeks and then the Romans. Hades pretty much doesn't change between the two."
"And I'm the child of Jupiter, who is the Roman facet of Zeus. That makes me Big Three, but since I was born I've been on loan to Hera." Jason said.
"My father is Poseidon, Greek god of the seas, and a bunch of stuff. I'm the last of the four."
"Now anyone who wants to share beyond that can, but what you need to know is this. Prophecy to you guys may come in a lot of ways. To us it almost always comes in three. One is a lost Roman scroll that we only have bits of, but we have a harpie who memorized it and occasionally spits something out. That is very random and not often useful as she also spits out information from old Farmers Almanacs, which can sound a lot like prophecy. Another way, and this is how this quest began, is for a god or goddess to just tell us a prophecy directly. That has happened to me twice; the first time Mars showed up and sent three of us to Alaska, the other is when we were sent on this quest. There are a couple of ways we use that are more active. Piper has a dagger that can show us glimpses of the future, and Percy has a friend that does this trick with acorns, but those aren't reliable. Finally, the most common way is for the Oracle of Delphi to speak the words of Apollo, the god of, among other things, prophecy."
"My dad." Will said.
"So you are the Oracle of Delphi?" Molly asked, her voice incredulous at this.
"No, that would be me." Rachel answered.
"Oh, so you're the daughter of Apollo?"
"No, I'm the daughter of a lawyer and a financier. I have no godly blood, heck, I'm a Presbyterian. And its not me exactly. The spirit of the Oracle lives in me and occasionally takes over and gives a prophecy. My only talent, other than being the body of the oracle, is that I can see through the mist. Oh, and I'm the only one with a drivers license." She smiled.
"Here's the thing you need to know. Most of us have met Apollo a few times. He's really a nice guy, lots of fun, and always has a great car if you traveling east to west and need a ride. But a few decades ago he made, through the old Oracle, a prophecy that to the demigods became known as "The Prophecy of Seven" or "The Great Prophecy." Decades passed and demigods got killed trying to figure it out and satisfy its conditions, until last year the earth spirit Gaea used it to try to start World War III complete with Titans, giants and monsters. That is when the prophecy was finally fulfilled by our group coming together to stop her. As a result, Zeus told Apollo to shut the fuck up and not make anymore prophecies for a while. That is why today's is such a big deal. Apollo broke Zeus's order to give it to us, and every line we have to assume is important." Will said.
"And every line may have multiple meanings, some we do not even know. Prophecies are tricky things to try to figure out and its very easy to over think them." Annabeth said.
"Athena." Molly said.
"What?"
"Your mother is Athena isn't she?"
"Yes. How, how did you guess that?"
"Your wisdom truly is beyond your years." Molly smiled. "Now a question; why can't Rachel just tell us what it means?"
"Oh, because I have no earthly idea. When the Oracle speaks, I can't even hear her half the time. Its not like I'm asleep, its more like I'm away. I only know I've given a prophecy because someone tells me usually. I sometimes don't even know what it says."
"It's haiku. Bad haiku." Will said.
"Well. That's weird. Even by Apollo's standards." Rachel smiled.
"Not really, dad is terrible at haiku. He always writes it on the fly when he's in a hurry." Will said.
"So, yeah, that makes sense. We should keep that in mind when we try to interpret it. Apollo was in a hurry, probably worrying that Zeus might catch him." Piper said.
"So what happened that made it so important to get a message to us?" Will asked hypothetically.
"Before we start breaking it down and analyzing it, can I just say Percy, I knew there was something special about your spell casting. Its source magic isn't it? I mean, your powers, they come from sorcery, not from wands." Sirius asked.
"You mean do I need a wand? Not for some things. The water stuff I don't, although creating water from thin air? Yeah I need the wand for that. I'm good with talking to water animals and horses. But I need a wand to cast spells like you do."
"And without my wand I can't even do card tricks." Rachel said.
"So your wand was hidden when you saved Harry from the Dementors?"
"Oh, I didn't do that. Nico did, he does the undead thing, not me."
"And I didn't save Harry, he was doing fine on his own. I just sped up the removal of the wraiths... you call them dementors?" Nico interjected.
"Yes, but, yes, they are wraiths as well." Sirius said.
"So, shall we get started?" Hazel asked.
"No." Dumbledore said. "The Hogwarts children must leave. They have class to attend to."
"What? The prophecy concerns me! I have a right to be here when you..."
"Yes you do. But you do not have a right to be here for the next hour. You and your class mates will attend to class now Mr Potter, then return. At that time we will attempt to unravel the mysteries hidden in this prophecy, you have my word we will not start without you, but now you must leave. Do not argue with me about this."
Frankly, I was kind of pissed, and considered sticking up for Harry and all, but as I was about to Snape winked at me. It was so out of character for him I knew there was something going on I didn't know about, and that the Hogwarts kids would not be privy to.
After the door shut Dumbledore began "You have been honest with us and.."
"Uh sir. The kids are on the other side of that door listening" I whispered. "Perhaps we should talk by the lake."
Everyone nodded and we got up and walked to the edge of the water. The ground was flat here and we could see an intruder for a half mile at least.
"Thank you Percy. I should have known George and Fred gave up too easily." Molly said.
"Well, for the record I'm not sure its a good idea to leave the kids out, it hurts the building of the team." I said.
"True, but what we are about to tell you, you must not repeat. You withheld, and continue to some extent to do so, certain information about your lineage. That is your business and not our affair, this is ours. The children are not privy to this until they, and all of their siblings, are of legal age. That was the agreement that was made, and has been abided by, for generations. You see, you were told that there have been no demigods north of Hadrians wall in a thousand years. Well, none live here permanently, that's true. And none have your direct lineage to one of the big twelve, or big three as you call them. But the Order serves two purposes. One, to defend the world of magic against dark elements. The other is a meeting and assembly of what we call "First Families." You may hear, especially from Mr Malfoy, of the list of 28 noble wizarding families in Europe."
"Its rubbish." Snape said.
"Quite so. Most ancestral records were destroyed in the purge of the Knights Templar, our former organization. The rest that remained in Britain were destroyed intentionally in 1648, with the exception of what you might find in an academic library like Hogwarts or Drumstrang. That said, certain oral traditions within families remained. The Peverells for instance, who you will hear more about later, are ancestors of Harry, and coincidentally myself. Harry is a more direct descendant however. But back to what I was saying. There are demigods, or at least semigods and their children and grandchildren north of Hadrians wall. You're talking to five of them."
"My grandmother was Circe, the daughter of Hecate." Snape said.
"Mine was Proserpina, daughter of Circe." Lupin said.
"Ironically, or perhaps not, my godly ancestor is Aster Seirios, the God of Dogs. After my father's birth my grandmother took up the mania of pure blood, I think to compensate for her infidelity." Sirius said.
"And my Grand mother, as well as Professor Dumbledore's, is Hecate as well."
"You see, our divine relatives are what you would call minor, if there truly is such a thing, and that I doubt, and we are a generation or two removed from them. Generally the gods have left this realm, the realm of magic, to Hecate and her children, Circe, Aster Seirios and a few others. None of them have intermingled with mortals as much as your parents I'm afraid. Frank and Alice both have minor divinity in their heritage as well, as does Alastor and Hagrid.
"We tell you this as you have shared your secrets with us, and because an opportunity has arisen, noticed by your own Nico, to pursue a way to protect Harry in magical ways undreamt. Molly, would you share with us the story of the Deathly Hallows?
Professor Weasley told us from memory a fable she must have read to her children many times. It concerned three brothers who tricked death and for their cleverness were rewarded with a wish. One wished for a wand that could not be beaten, another for a magic stone to bring back to life his lost love, and finally the last wished for a way to get away from Death without being found. Death of course cursed the gifts so that the wand holder was killed in his sleep and the one who brought back his lost love decided to kill himself rather than live with her ghostly form. Only the other lived a long and happy life, and when he was ready to die gave his gift, a cloak of invisibility cut from the robe of Death, to his son and departed with Death as an equal.
"Um okay, whats this got to do with Harry?" Frank asked.
"If the fable is to be believed, whoever controls all three, the Elder Wand, the Resurrection Stone and the Invisibility Cloak, is the master of death. He cannot be killed, or if he is, may choose to return to the living. Also, it is long been believed by fablologists that the three brothers referred to are a certain three brothers from the dark era, that time between Merlin and the founding of Hogwarts. Their name was 'Peverell' and Harry is directly descended on his father's side." Dumbledore answered.
"I admit Headmaster, I don't see what a children's bedtime story has to do with Harry. It can't possibly be true." Sirius said.
"It is true. And two of the gifts are already here." Nico said.
"What? How do you know?" Lupin asked.
"Because I've seen my father's robe that the cloak was cut from. Harry's cloak. Its a match, trust me. Remember that Hades is often referred to as "Death" in the English speaking world. He controls some other stuff, but mainly he is known for collecting the souls of the dead and keeping them in the underworld. In truth, he isn't the God of Death, that would be Thanatos, but he is often called that in lore as mortals that meet Thanatos don't live to tell of it, and Thanatos effectively works for Hades anyway."
"I almost am afraid to ask what else he's in charge of." Professor Weasley said.
"Finances, riches and capitalism. The wealth of the earth." Hazel answered. Thats my area, Nico's is death. We each represent different areas of our father's concerns.
"What is the other gift that is here?"
"The Elder Wand." Nico said, as Dumbledore held up his wand.
"I took it from Grindelwald."
"Then how do we know its the real thing? I mean, if it is unbeatable, yet you beat it?"
"I recognize my father's work." Nico said. "Its the wand."
"And the wand is only all powerful if the wizard holding it actually uses it. A stunning spell cast by surprise, or a disarming spell when they do not anticipate it defeats the wizard and wins the wand." Dumbledore said.
"So then he just needs the resurrection stone. How does one go about finding that?"
"Well, he probably has to win the wand from the Headmaster. It won't change allegiance if it is just handed to him." Lupin said.
" As to finding the stone, I would suggest that is a matter for a quest." Nico said.
