Chapter 4: The Law

Silena and Annabeth were sitting under a tree by the lake. Percy could feel the hum of the water as he neared it, but he ignored it as he sat under the tree by the two. Annabeth had a long piece of parchment on her lap, scribbling at it with her quill.

"Hey, Perse." Annabeth said without looking up.

"What's with the parchment?" He asked her.

"Making a list of everything we need to tell Mom." She replied.

"We want to make sure we don't forget anything." Silena agreed.

"Did you talk to Adrian?" He asked Silena.

Silena nodded. "I feel bad for abandoning him, but he understands."

"He's with Roger Davies." Annabeth muttered.

"Jealous he took your only friend?" He teased her.

"As if." Annabeth scoffed. "Roger can be friends with who he wants to be. Besides, it'll be good for them to be friends too, because if this happens again they can hang out."

"Besides, you have friends in other Houses too." Silena pointed out. "The Weasley twins."

"They're all of our friends." He shrugged. "I think they like us because they think that Annabeth and I are twins."

Silena laughed softly. "Twins born in different months."

This caused Annabeth to finally look up from the parchment. "Oh, give it a rest. It was the smartest thing to say without telling them about adoption thing."

"I'm not saying it's a bad thing. In fact, we can use it to our advantage." He leaned backwards onto the tree, his hands behind his head.

"How?" Annabeth asked, arching her eyebrow.

"Because now I can tell the twins stupid things that happened when we were kids. Remember when you set my hair on fire?"

"Oh my Gods." Annabeth sighed. "We were eight."

"And you retaliated and put hair dye in her shampoo, right?" Silena smirked.

He nodded. "Yup."

"Accidental magic is normal, though." Annabeth said with a blush from embarrassment. "Dying your sister's hair blue on picture day wasn't accidental."

"Being bald for picture day wasn't an accident." He rolled his eyes.

"Quite a statement if I do say so myself." Silena replied. "I wish I knew you two back then. We only met last year."

"Yeah, but we have the rest of our lives to pull pranks. Speaking of, look at this map the twins gave me." He said excitedly, changing the topic. He pulled the map from his pocket, spreading it across his lap. Both of the girls looked curiously at it, and he pointed out their footprints on the map. "Here we are. But it shows everyone on campus."

"That's really cool." Annabeth pointed a finger to the third floor. "Wonder why Professor di Angelo is alone with Hagrid."

"Who cares?" He shrugged, rolling the map back up. "This will definitely help us in the future."

"I think we should put that away and hide it somewhere." Silena frowned. "Your mom will kill you if we get into trouble."

"We are trouble, Silena, but if we use the map we won't get caught." He shrugged. "Oh! I forgot." He then told them all about Dumbledore's talk, and Grover's involvement. "I'm going to ask Grover to go to the Leaky Cauldron, but on the No-Maj side so that he's not affected."

"So when do we go?" Annabeth asked.

"Not we." He said quietly. "Me."

"We can't go?" Annabeth raised her eyebrows. "Why not?"

He shook his head. "It's less conspicuous if it's just me and Dumbledore, instead of three of us plus him."

Annabeth was silent for a moment before saying, "Look at you using big words."

"Look, I know you're both upset, but I'm going to tell you everything. I promise." He sighed.

"I understand." Silena said. "I'm not angry."

"I am." Annabeth said with a scowl. "Silena and I are just as invested as you are."

"I know, Annie. Just trust me this once, okay?"

She sighed, rolling up the parchment. "Fine. If Grover finds this Potter, I want to meet him."

"Me too." Silena smiled faintly. "Seems like it could be an interesting story."

"What if he's violent?" He asked. "Years in isolation can be weird to people."

"I'm sure he's fine." Annabeth shrugged.

"I want to know how he's been hidden for eight years." He wondered. "This Potter guy must have some kind of wicked protection around him to stay gone for that long."

"If anyone can find him, it'll be Grover." Silena said. "He can find anything."

"Yep." He pulled his book bag closer to him, pulling out his charms essay. "You have the answers for this, Annie?"

"You are not copying off me." Annabeth grunted.

"Not copying. I'll change things to make it look different." He pouted.

"No."

"Fine."

They worked in silence until they retreated back inside as the sun set.

Tuesday morning approached a lot faster than he would've liked it to. This morning, they had Charms with the Hufflepuffs. He hadn't spent much time talking to them, but that was fine with him. He wasn't that interested in the other Houses beyond the Weasley's.

Percy, Adrian, and Silena picked a table towards the back of the room. He dragged out all the books for the lesson, piling them up on the table and flipping them open to the specified page. They were a tad early, so there weren't that many kids here yet.

"Look, Adrian, it's your true home," Silena jokes, nudging him.

Adrian rolled his eyes. "Just because my parents are Hufflepuffs, that doesn't mean that I belong there too. I mean, the hat put me in Slytherin for a reason, right?"

"I suppose," She mused. "But maybe you value being cunning over being loyal."

Adrian shrugged. "Maybe. I don't know."

He yawned. His mind wandered back to the conversation he'd had with Mom on Saturday from the Iris-message.

"You need to be careful," Mom had told me through the Iris Message. "Someone clearly has it out for you."

"I know." He told her gently. "But Death Eaters? They can't be original?"

Mom perused her lips. "My boss from MACUSA told me about the Prophet article before you guys even told me. We get the international newspapers here because the president likes to keep everything under tabs. He doesn't like to be surprised."

"Mr. Quahog is hardly one to be surprised anyway, Mom." Annabeth said. "He's much too strict for that."

"I know, honey." Mom sighed. "I'll look into this, I promise. This entire article is rubbish, and we could probably get the author for slander—but I doubt anything will ever be done about it."

"I just wish I knew why they wanted to bring me into the light. I haven't told anyone here about my position. Not even the new friends we've made."

"That's probably a smart idea." Mom agreed. "The less people know about you, the better."

"But it would lead to more speculation." Annabeth said. "Why shouldn't we tell them?"

"It's the same reason we're passing for twins." He told her. "I don't want the unnecessary attention."

"Twins?" Mom asked. "What's the deal with that?"

"I don't want people to know I'm adopted." Annabeth said quietly. "I don't want their pity."

"Oh honey." Mom sighed again. "Just because I adopted you, it doesn't mean I love you any less."

"I know." Annabeth smiled.

"I do have to get back to work though." Mom said, stealing a glance behind her. "It's three in the afternoon here."

"I keep forgetting about the time difference." He smiled sheepishly.

"It'll take some getting used to, for sure." Annabeth said. "We'll have to keep it in mind when we call."

"You can send me an owl," Mom replied. "It doesn't take as long as you think it would. They just Floo the mail to MACUSA and since I work here it takes maybe a day."

He nodded. "We'll keep that in mind."

Annabeth swiped through the Iris-Message, effectively ending the call. She turned to look at me, and hugged my side. "We'll get through this." She told him sternly.

"I never said we wouldn't." He smiled lightly, patting her back. "When the Prophet gives more original reports, then we'll worry."

"Maybe they'll report on Voldemort being your dad next." She snorted laughter.

"Oh my gods," He laughed. "Don't give them any ideas."

"Or maybe that the Death Eaters are watching us." She mocked. "Newest 11-year-old recruits for the war."

He rolled his eyes. "Totally."

The sound of a book hitting the ground by his table pulled him out of his thoughts. He glanced over at the Hufflepuff whose face was flushed in embarrassment. "Sorry," The boy said. "Carrying too much here."

"No worries." Percy told him, picking up the book, stealing a glance at the title. "Quidditch through the ages?"

The boy nodded. "I want to try out for the team next year."

"Good luck with that," Percy told him, handing the book to him. "I'm not a fan of the game."

"You don't like Quidditch?" The boy's eyes widened. "How could you not like Quidditch?"

"Quadpot's where it's at, man." Percy told him. "The New York 11's have a game over Christmas this year, and we've got tickets."

The boy snorted. "Don't get me started. I'll talk your ear off about Quidditch."

"I'll talk your ear off about Quadpot," He retaliated. "And how much better it is then Quidditch."

"Quadpot is an international sport." Silena agreed.

"So is Quidditch." The boy said. "The best game in Europe."

"Be ready to eat your words." Percy told him.

"Cedric!" A Hufflepuff called. "Sit down, Professor Flitwick will be here any second."

The boy, now identified as Cedric, glared at me. "You're on." He replied, taking a seat on the far end of the room.

"Did you just make a Hufflepuff mad?" Adrian asked him. "I didn't think it was possible."

"He insulted the dude's team." Silena shrugged. "They're too loyal to let something like that slide."

He shrugged. "Cedric's going to get it. He insulted Quadpot."

"What is Quadpot anyway?" Adrian asked.

He smiled. "It's like a big game of hot potato. With explosions."

"…Hot potato?"

"He's hopeless." Silena rolled her eyes.

"Just wait until I tell Mom that her team was challenged."

"Ooh, your mom hates it when someone challenges the 11's. 'Cause the 11's always win."

He nodded. "Over Christmas, it's New York 11's vs. Team Unicorn."

"You didn't tell me the Unicorns were playing." Silena nudged his arm. "That's Ilvermorny's official team. I bet we'll see a bunch of their students there."

"Yup. And we'll probably be the only Hogwarts students there." He shrugged. "We can always prank the crap out of any students we see at the match."

"Annabeth's going to get a huge kick out of pranking them. Now that we're not forced to go to Ilvermorny, I think she's relieved."

"Is Ilvermorny a bad school?" Adrian asked.

"No, it's not that. It's just huge. People from around the country go there. It makes Hogwarts seem small. I think she was intimidated by it, to be honest." Percy told him. "I know I was."

Silena nodded. "Dad always talks about how big the classes were. Over two hundred kids per class, with way more professors then he could ever remember the name for."

"My mom always said that she wished she had gone to Hogwarts instead, because of the smaller class sizes."

Adrian looked stumped. "I never thought about Hogwarts like that. I thought it was a big school."

"Not in comparison to Ilvermorny." He shrugged.

Footsteps sounded at the front of the classroom as the shortest teacher he'd ever seen before took the podium. "Turn your books to page three. Today, we will be practicing the wand lighting charm. Now, repeat after me: Lumos."

Class had begun.

Percy wasn't sure how it happened, but the next day he found a Quidditch flyer in his bag.

"What's this?" He murmured.

"What's what?" Adrian asked.

"Look," He told Adrian, handing him the flyer as they walked down the stairs heading to the Slytherin common room. "This was in my bag between my spell books."

"That's odd." Adrian said, but he had a sly smirk on his face.

"Did you do it?" Percy raised an eyebrow at him.

"Of course not." Adrian shrugged. "But it's funny, don't you think? You argue with Diggory over Quadpot vs. Quidditch, and the next day this is in your bag."

"You think Diggory put it in my bag?" He asked Adrian. "How would he do that?"

"Dunno." Adrian shrugged, looking at Silena who was sitting in the common room.

"What'd you do to your hair?" Adrian suddenly asked her.

"What about my hair?" She asked, looking up from her Defense Against the Dark Arts book.

"It's blonde." Adrian frowned.

"Are you thinking of your dad, Silena? Your hair always changes to match his color when you're thinking of him." He sat beside her, putting his legs up on the table by the couch.

"Yeah," She sighed, her platinum blonde hair turning back to the raven-colored locks she normally wore. "It's Dad's birthday today and I'm not there for it. I'm hoping he's not too lonely."

"How did you do that to your hair?" Adrian took the seat to his left. "Are you a metamorphmagus?"

"A what?" She looked slightly offended.

"Metamorphmagus." Adrian repeated. "It means you can change your appearance at will."

"Oh," She said with a slight blush. "I guess so. I just assumed it was something I got from my mom."

"Your mom is a metamorphmagus?"

She nodded. "I assume so, but I've only met her once."

"That sucks. I'm sorry." Adrian sighed.

"It's okay. I don't hold anything against her." She shrugged.

"We've got class with Professor di Angelo today." Adrian said, changing the subject. "With the Gryffindors."

Percy pulled out the homework they'd had assigned to them last class. "I didn't expect the class to be this weird," He told them honestly. "I mean, 'When confronted with a vampire, what do you do? Run and hide, or chase it with a bag of garlic'? Who thinks of this stuff?"

"Vampires aren't real." Silena shook her head. "Nobody's ever interacted with one."

"Obviously di Angelo thinks they're real." Adrian shrugged. "Otherwise he wouldn't be teaching it."

"Or perhaps the school system is so old nobody's updated it for centuries." He responded.

"Whatever the case may be, I'm not believing in vampires." She huffed, closing her DADA book with a loud bang. "They're just stories to tell children to scare them at night."

The tapping on the common room window caught his attention. He looked around the deserted room, but it was only Silena, Adrian and him in the room. He wasn't exactly sure how an owl got under the lake, but as he got closer to the window that showed under the lake, he noticed a small hatch where owls could fly in and out under the lake. He stroked the owl's head and took the parcel underneath its leg, dropping a few Knuts in the bag tied to its leg.

The owl chirped happily, before flying into the hatch on the wall beside the window.

He looked at the letter in his hand, anger churning in his gut as he read.

Percy,

Just a head's up: There was a new law passed this morning in relation to demi-wizards. Under the new law, it's illegal to use any demigod ability from now on. Guess who it was passed by? Fudge. His Undersecretary, Delores Umbridge is a real piece of work, if i may add. Gods know why she'd want this law passed, but she's supported Fudge's jealousy this entire time. I suspect that any demi-wizards in the school will be called for a meeting sometime this week. In addition to the new law, they're placing demigod Tracers onto your Magical signature, so they'll know if your demigod powers are used at all.

Rita Skeeter

He read the note two or three times before the message actually sunk in. "This is utter rubbish!" He handed the paper to Silena at her confused look.

"How could this even happen?" Silena asked, appalled.

"You two know Rita Skeeter?" Adrian asked, looking over Silena's shoulder at the paper.

"Yeah," He said distractedly. "She's our cousin."

Silena nodded. "We met her right after we came to Hogwarts. We didn't even know until Dumbledore told us."

"I'm so tired of this country slandering everyone." He almost growled.

"There's not much we can do about this now." She sighed.

"She's right, mate. Most we can do is wait for it to blow over." Adrian shrugged. "I'm hungry, let's go eat before class."

"I know you two are right," He grumbled. "That doesn't make me any happier."

Adrian yawned, getting to his feet. "I know."

Adrian led him and Silena out of the common room. As they climbed the stairs to the Great Hall, a million thoughts were running through his mind. How did Fudge pass this? Why did he pass it? How did anyone in their right mind pass this? He supposed that life in Britain—or even, Scotland—was way different then life in America. In America, most people were concerned about the color of your skin. Witches and Wizards must be concerned about how powerful someone could be, regardless of their age.

He rubbed his temples. The thoughts had been swirling around his mind so quickly. He's not a Ravenclaw, or even a child of Athena, so he was way out of his element when it came to brain power. He's not dumb, but he's not as smart as Annabeth, either.

Annabeth waved as we entered the hall. She appeared to have been waiting for us. "Hey guys. Did your dad write to you about his birthday yet Silena?"

"Not yet, we haven't received post yet." Silena mumbled.

"What's wrong?" Annabeth frowned, seeing our tension.

He passed the note to her as discreetly as he could, glancing at Adrian. Adrian hadn't made a connection to the word demigod, or demi-wizard, but he suspected that Adrian had no clue what either of those words meant and he intended to keep it that way. Annabeth's expression went from confusion to anger as she read.

"What? I don't understand. Why now?" Annabeth frowned, her eyes skimming back over the page.

"Who knows?" He sighed. "Everything seems to be hitting us at once."

"I'm not sure how owl post works under the lake. How did you even get this?" Annabeth asked.

"The owls have a chute," He told her. "By the window that allows them to fly into the common room."

Annabeth thought it over for a second. "I suppose that makes sense."

He nodded. "We're going to get some food. Join us at the Slytherin table."

Annabeth nodded. "Yeah, I have something to talk to you two about anyway."

"You don't mind, do you Adrian?" Silena looked at the Slytherin boy.

"'Course not." Adrian replied. "I'm used to it by now anyway."

They picked a spot down at the end of the table, and started to eat. As the owl post flowed into the Great Hall, He could hear a few people at the Slytherin table yelling in glee. He glanced at them with a confused expression, not sure why they were yelling.

Barnaby Lee was leading the hollering, holding a copy of the Daily Prophet in his hands. Although the entire party was seated, they could hear their conversation clear as day.

"It's about time that you-know-who began to restore this country!" Barnaby said loudly. "Those damned Mudbloods have been hiding for far too long."

Merula Snyde nodded. "I agree." She said loudly. "Stupid Mudbloods will finally learn their place when he takes over."

"Let it go." Annabeth whispered.

He stabbed his pancake angrily with his fork. "Who do they think they are?"

"They're insane." Adrian said. "They're probably going to work for You-Know-Who right after school like their parents."

"Who would want to work for that lunatic?" Silena scoffed.

He shrugged. "Who knows? Annie, did you look at the paper yet? I haven't."

"Not yet," Annabeth replied, right as a barn owl landed in front of Percy, stretching its leg out expectantly. He dropped a few knuts in the owl's bag and took the paper, reading over the newspaper article.

YOU-KNOW-WHO SPOTTED IN GODRIC'S HOLLOW

By R.A.B

In the twenty years since You-Know-Who has risen to power, he has done many unpredictable things, such as the attempt on the Potter's lives eight years ago. Although only James Potter was killed and Lily Potter and baby Harry were allowed to escape, the only thing on everyone's mind is why? Why would one of the most powerful wizards go after a seemingly normal family? After Sirius Black's murder of 13 Muggles and Peter Pettigrew, the only thing that anyone knows for sure is that there seems to be more going on than anyone would tell.

(Article continued on Page 5)

With a scoff, he set down the paper, refusing to read anything else.

"So what did you want to talk about?" Silena asked Annabeth.

"Oh, right!" Annabeth set down her fork and pulled out a postcard. She handed it to Silena, and he looked over her shoulder at it. The postcard was from Boston, addressed to her from a Magnus Chase. "Our cousin sent me this. Apparently, his mom, our aunt, moved them to Boston from California."

"Aunt Natalie?" He frowned, trying to place a face to Annabeth's aunt. "Did he say why?"

"Apparently Aunt Natalie had a fight with Uncle Randolph," Annabeth shrugged.

At that, he raised his eyebrow in confusion. "The Harvard Professor? Really?"

"I guess," She shrugged, going back to eating her pancakes.

"Aren't you three pure bloods?" Adrian asked, confusion etched on his face.

"No." He looked at Annabeth and Silena pointedly. "Annabeth and my dad is a No-Maj—I mean, a muggle. Silena's mom is also a muggle."

"But your mom is a Metamorphmagus, you said. That's a witches' ability." Adrian said carefully, frowning.

Silena shrugged. "As far as I know, she's a muggle. My dad doesn't talk about her a lot. She just left me on his doorstep and he never saw her again. I didn't meet her until I was 9."

"But we don't even know where our dad is or where Silena's mom is." Annabeth told him. "Can't find out if they're wizards if we can't find them."

He looked around the Great Hall as they talked, his eyes gazing over Dumbledore's empty seat at the Head table. Gazing at the rest of the chairs, He noticed McGonagall's was also empty.

"Where's Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall?"

"You three are close to Dumbledore, huh?" Adrian commented. "You spend a lot of time in his office."

He shrugged casually. "My mom wanted me to learn a lot from him, seeing as he was the previous Minister for Magic."

Adrian's eyes widened. "But no student has such a personal connection with him." Adrian paused, then lowered his voice. "Percy, are you by any chance the next Minister?"

Percy looked at Adrian, realizing his slip. As he opened his mouth to lie to him, he hesitated. Adrian was his friend, he deserved the truth. Besides, he didn't take him for the type to tell anyone. "Yeah." He ran a hand through his messy black hair nervously. "I am."

Adrian whistled. "I would've never guessed. So you guys never moved here, huh? Just forced to come to Hogwarts."

"Our Mom works for MACUSA." Annabeth replied to him. "She'd never be able to leave her job."

"She's practically married to it." He snickered.

"Don't let your mom hear you saying that." Silena laughed. "She'll make you clean the house without magic again."

He grinned wildly. "She'll never ask me that again."

Silena looked at him curiously, arching an eyebrow. "What did you do?"

"Flooded the house." Annabeth said with a slight groan. "I don't even know how he did it."

He was sure they both knew how he did it, but they didn't know why. The thought made his smile grow larger, if possible.

"Accidental magic is common." Adrian said, taking another bite of his breakfast.

"It's not an accident if I already had my wand." Percy told him. "It was purely on purpose."

"But you weren't trained." Adrian frowned.

"No," He admitted. "But I do know a few spells that Mom taught me, and some that older wizards taught me."

"Your mum sounds interesting." Adrian said. "I bet she'd get along well with my mum."

"Probably." He shrugged. "Mom gets along well with everyone. Even the No-Maj's."

"Muggle." Annabeth corrected. "If we're going to be living here, we may as well get used to their terms."

"And their sports." Adrian added with a sly grin.

"Quadpot's still better." He told Adrian, sticking his tongue out.

Adrian blanched. "You'll be the death of me, do you know that?"

"So you really don't know how the flyer got in my bag?" He asked him, pulling the flyer back out of his bag.

"That was in your bag?" Annabeth asked curiously.

"Yup." He told her. "I didn't put it there."

"Diggory did it, I'm telling you." Adrian put his hands up in defeat. "Would I lie to you?"

"No." He admitted. "I'll go ask him."

He got to his feet, pulling his bag over his shoulder, grabbing the flyer, and heading to the Hufflepuff table. He looked around for Cedric as he walked, leaning over his shoulder and placing the flyer in front of him.

"Your idea of a joke?" Percy asked him quietly.

Cedric blushed. "If you like that, there's a lot more where that came from."

He rolled his eyes. "I've already told you, Cedric, I'm a Quadpot fan and no flyer of the Holyhead Harpies will change that."

Cedric half-smiled, handing him back the flyer. "We'll see about that."

"Game on, then, Cedric." He smiled cockily, not reaching out for the flyer in his hand. "Two can play the game."

"I'd like to see you try." Cedric replied.

He caught the eye of a pretty fifth year sitting in front of Cedric. She had bright, bubblegum pink hair that perfectly matched the shade of lipstick on her plump lips. She smiled lazily, noticing that he had turned to look at her.

"I'm Tonks," She said, extending her hand.

"Percy." He took her hand, shaking it firmly. "Percy Jackson."

"The American?" She asked curiously.

He nodded. "Yeah. I'm here with my sister and my friend."

"Sounds neat." She replied. "We should get to know each other sometime."

"Definitely." He told her, flashing a smile. "See you later, Cedric, Tonks." He patted Cedric on the shoulder as he turned from the table, heading down the Great Hall, meeting Silena and Adrian at the entrance. Then three of us together headed towards their Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson.