The merpeople were somehow forgotten in that great battle and remained untouched for years afterwards. Ages had come and gone and by the fear of the Dark Lord all the oceans' merpeople gathered in one kingdom between Samê and Zacynthos, the largest of the Ionian Islands, off the coast of Western Greece. It was favourable to the merpeople because the first of their ancestors, the Sirens, inhabited an area near these waters.

The witch Thalia, whom had been adopted by the merman Thorvald after what was now known as the Great Battle, was an immense benefit to merkind. She and Thorvald along with the few others who knew human languages taught all merpeople to speak human and use their unique merpowers.

Voldemort and his sole remaining servant tortured and killed as well as converted, taking over Britian. Britian was most certainly not the world nor did it come close area-wise, but the two most powerful wizards in the world, apart from the Dark Lord, of course, were vanquished. So far the Dark Lord had not moved out of Britain except for Ireland, which he controlled as a result of the Great Battle.

Though Thalia lived mainly with the merpeople she had a home with humans on the island of Ithaca, which was one of the lesser in size of the Ionian Islands. She did, though, live on the northern tip of the island where few humans were ever seen. From the stories she had been told by Thorvald and the merpeople she found the tombs of the infamous Odysseus, his son Telemachus, and most importantly had discovered his palace near the base of Mt. Neriton. That is where she resided, within the palace of the ancient hero whose loyalty to his family remains highly recognized to this day. It was a sign.

Her hair waved in a pattern identical to that of the sail, waving back and then flapping forward. It was a fairly calm day in the Mediterranean, the wind softly whisking to the southwest. Thalia had her wand safely tied with her hair and as always she carried her favourite possession with her.

She docked at Corfu and wandered up the hills to the ancient temple.

"Wandering alone, are you?" said a dark and sinister voice.

Thalia started and turned abruptly to see only Tydeus. "Do you truly believe you can scare me, Tydeus?"

"I know that I cannot, though it doesn't discourage me from trying, oh Thalia, bringer of flowers and Muse that overthrew Aphrodite, why do you torment me so with your enchanting words?"

"Oh, shut up," Thalia said, flattered but not wanting to show it.

"I meant it," Tydeus said in a exaggeratedly serious voice. He wailed a fake cry and ran to the edge of the cliff. "This is it, my darling Thalia. Remember me as a god." He jumped off the cliff.

Thalia was weary of his immature jokes and his teasing her about their rapport. She didn't know why she had gone out of her way to visit him when she could have gone straight to the merkingdom to meet with Thorvald and Euphrosyne. She began her journey down the hills to reach the docks. She was halfway down when Tydeus jumped from one of the bushes near her. She almost screamed but restrained the urge. Instead she sighed and kept on walking.

She returned to her boat within a half hour, not seeing Tydeus at all. She rigged the sail and set off toward the merkingdom before she realized there was a sealed envelope sticking out of the food storage compartment.

My darling Thalia,

Don't you realize why we're such good friends? It's the same reason you get so angry with me at times, which, I do admit I deserve more than I'm getting. But that's besides the point. Thalia, you are my friend because you are so different from me. So serious and meaningful. Those are things that I lack in my life. And when you come along it means I had one serious thing in my life. But don't you realize that I am your friend because of the same reason? Just think about it. And please don't be angry with me, I need you for you are the apple of my eye, a meaning.

No wooden nickels, my love,

Tydeus

Thalia did think about it. She knew it was true but never would she admit it to Tydeus. He was too silly and needed to be just slightly serious, an advantage to being friends with Thalia. But she didn't need him as a friend. He needed her.

She took a piece of parchment and a quill out of her storage compartment and wrote a reply.

Be sensible, Tydeus. Perhaps you advise me wishful thinking but you are the one not listening to your own advice. I appreciate that you tried to be rational for once but you just aren't ready to be logical and resolute at the same time. I'm going to visit Thorvald and don't you dare try to follow me this time. Thorvald isn't used to seeing people like you. And most of all please remember that I have a life that does not include you. I've wasted enough of my time visiting you and only today did I realize that I could be doing important things with my time, yet I spend a vast amount of it visiting you. No longer, Tydeus. Amends are no longer accepted. Life is too short.

She conjured a pigeon and sent it off with her letter. As soon as the pigeon disappeared from her sight she tightened the sail and set off at 20 knots to the residence of her closest family.

A lone rock stood out of the water. All over it were words engraved with magic so they would never dissolve. Thalia anchored her sailboat and took a bit of gillyweed out of her pocket. She swallowed it whole and dove into the cold water. Euphrosyne was there to escort Thalia to the kingdom.

"Tell me, Thalia, have you ever met Lord Triton?" she asked as they swam deeper and deeper into the depths of the sea.

"I haven't, actually, though I have met his wife, Amphitrite."

"She's kind, a bit distant, but…" Euphrosyne turned abruptly and gasped. "What is that glow? It's coming from your ship!"

Thalia looked in the direction Euphrosyne was. There was a illuminating greenish-red glow coming from her sailboat. She swam towards the surface and jumped onto her boat, just in time to see the illumination die down from her favourite possession: a mirror her godfather had given her before he had met his trials with death. As curious as she was she managed to return to Euphrosyne and they headed towards the kingdom.

Thorvald was like a father to Thalia, ever since he found her wandering the depths of the North Sea. He had given up on sunken ship expeditions and now was leader of Mers Against the Dark Lord.

"I have an idea," Thalia told him blankly. "It involves a lot of work but it's an idea."

Thorvald was eating red algae but he was still listening. "Yes?"

"There is no way merpeople alone can defeat Voldemort. But what about all those witches and wizards in other parts of the world? The French are known for their fast spell work, and the Americans will do anything that involves violence, and the Mongolians are bloody brilliant when it comes to wars."

He nodded without realizing he was doing so.

"Well what if we sent out the best merpeople—in groups—to bring all the separate armies of the magic world and unify them as one? To defeat Voldemort together."

His eyes were hidden by shadows. "You yourself said the only way the Dark Lord could be defeated was if Harry Potter killed him. And vice versa. Harry Potter is dead, you said so. How can we possibly win?"

"The ancient ones," Thalia murmered. "The Minoans."

"They have nothing to do with this!" Thorvald roared, insulted.

"No, I mean how they escaped," Thalia said, realizing what she had said. "I know your ancestors had nothing to do with this; their magic was more in tune with nature not with war, but with peace."

Thorvald smiled, redeeming his outburst. "Yes, yes, of course. Yet I'm not following…"

"Can't you see?" Thalia said, her had turned away from her father-like figure. "You taught me. How the ancient ones escaped their fate, their destiny written in stone… there's always a loophole, that or something overlooked. The Minoans escaped their dreaded fate by escaping to the water where the lava and ash and tsunami would have a bit more trouble getting to them. They truly did conquer nature… but not humans…"

"History to repeat itself…"

"History is truly written out in stone… water holds the key to freedom… the key to escaping fate and letting our free will prevail… stone dissolves in water."

Thorvald was silent for a long while. "We have a chance, then," he said. "But how would you plan to train these wizards?"

"Between Crete and the Aegean Isles, use the abandoned Atlantis as a sort of campus. I could gather a main few from scattered places and they would recruit in their own area, people they know they can trust. Have gillyweed fields surrounding all of Atlantis and this kingdom. Teach merpeople the power of withes and wizards and teach them the power of merpeople. It wouldn't hurt to have a few dragon trainers bring specially-trained dragons—" Thalia stopped in mid-sentence, surprised at her own words.

Thorvald saw the stunned expression on Thalia's face. "Dragons?"

"I have to go," Thalia said quickly. "I'll be back in a few weeks."

It took her three days and three nights to reach the harbor of Odessa where she docked her boat. And from there it took her ten hours to reach her destination. The Transylvanian Alps hid a valley full of Norwegian Ridgeback dragons. Thalia wandered into the valley, seeing dragons of all sizes, some probably hundreds, possibly thousands years old and some not even the age of Thalia. Remembering why she had come to this sacred dragon valley Thalia sent red sparks from her wand that reached almost the tops of the mountains. If there was someone there surely they would have seen those sparks.

No more had two minutes passed when a tall redheaded man stood before Thalia, his face pale and his eyes lonely.

"I'm sorry I hadn't come sooner," Thalia said quickly. "I'd only heard of you once, and only a few days ago did I realize—"

The redheaded man stared mesmerized at Thalia. "I—I thought—that you had—had gone with your parents."

"They wouldn't let me," a lump in Thalia's throat grew and she burst out in tears. "I never thought I'd see any of them—of us—again."

"And here we are… my niece Thalia and me, uncle Charlie… tell me, where do you live and thrive enough to know enough to get here?"

Thalia told him her long story. By the time she had finished dusk was approaching and the dragons were clumping together for warmth.

"I should come with you," Charlie said. "I feel horrible—a living relative not helping you. And I think I can, except…" Charlie took a glance at the slumbering dragons. "Well, you see… I can't just leave them here."

Thalia thought for a short moment. "If my plan works we would have all the dragons trained together."

"That could take years, possibly. I mean this dragon reservation isn't at all like what it used to be. I've just stayed here taking care of the dragons which feel like my only family. I know them all. I know everything about them. Pytheas, the oldest looking one, he's lived longer than humans, I think. He lived in a cave for thousands of years until I found him, which is why I decided to come here in the first place.

"Anyhow, Thalia, you should get going. It will take you a few days to return to the Ionian Isles. Right away when you get back talk to whoever is in charge there. Make that army of merpeople and humans combined. You can do it." Charlie looked Thalia in the eye. "You may be all-intelligent and wise like your mother but you still have the temper of her, and the stubbornness of both your parents. Just be careful."

With that he sent her back to Odessa; the only living relative she had seemed to vanish from reality. She felt as if she'd lost her family all over again.