Draco was walking along the halls of his old school. He knew he probably wasn't welcome at his old school, but spending weeks away from the wizarding world had made him forget about the scathing looks people sent him, where ever he went.

He was thankful, that Professor McGonagall had given him permission to enter the castle, even if it had taken a lot of sweet talking.

He was also grudgingly impressed by Hermione's Slytherin capabilities.

She had sent a letter to the librarian, Madam Pince, asking to lend a couple of books. She had conveniently forgotten to tell, who was picking up the books until after Madam Pince had agreed.

It wasn't until he reached the library doors and pushed them open, that he realized, how much he had missed the peaceful ambience between the bookcases. Hermione wasn't the only one for whom the library was a refuge. Being popular had its downsides and Pansy Parkinson was one of them, he used to hide from her in an alcove near Household Herbology, a place he knew she would never look.

He was walking slowly down the aisles, enjoying the musty scent of the books, until he came to the section on summonings. He browsed a little until he found the book he was looking for. It was a very old tome, bound in red leather and with greek, gold embossed letters. He just hoped it would work. He grabbed the book and continued down to the potions section, for a book on veritaserum and its variations, and walked down to the check-out, where Madam Pince was sitting, looking surly as ever. He put on his most charming smile.

"Hello, Madam Pince! Lovely to see you again." He tried

"Quite" the librarian scowled at him, and proceeded to check out his books in silence. It made him miss San Francisco, knowing that her scowl was probably the best-case scenario. He had been hit with dragon dung before, just after his trial, he would take Madam Pince's withering stare any day over that.

He thankfully got the books checked out with no problems, and left the castle without further hassle. When he reached Hogsmeade, he apparated straight to Grimmauld Place, and took the floo back to the House of Ten.

…

"Did you get it? Give it to me." Hermione was sitting on the edge of her seat on the sofa, waiting for Draco to step out of the fireplace.

"Gods, Hermione, your book fetish is getting out of hand" Draco rolled his eyes, but put the book carefully in her awaiting hands.

"It's beautiful" she whispered. Draco shook his head at her antics and plopped down next to her, studying his own potions book. They sat for a while in comfortable silence, which was only interrupted by the sound of pages turning.

"Yes!" Hermione yelled suddenly, making Draco jump.

"I found it!" she beamed at him.

Draco moved closer to have a look, having momentarily forgotten, that he couldn't read Greek.

"Well, what do we need to do, then?" he asked, sending the book a contemptuous look, that Hermione thought was very familiar on his face.

"Well, the spell is rather complicated, and it's general for summoning a god, but not a specific one. From what I understand, we need something that symbolizes the god we're trying to summon, like or grain for Demeter. I suppose we could use a hippogriff feather for Apollo."

"Hippogriff? Why does it have to be a hippogriff?" Draco moaned.

"What's a hippogriff?" Percy asked befuddled, as he entered the living room.

"It's a horrible beast, that can tear you limb from limb" Draco pitifully told his friend's older brother

"Oh, stop it. Buckbeak is nothing but a big sweetheart. A hippogriff is a mix between a horse and an eagle. They are proud creatures, and only an idiot would insult them. Isn't that right, Draco?"

Draco crossed his arms and leaned back against the backrest, sulking.

"Oh. I had an image of a winged hippo in my mind." Percy said absently.

"And that's one of the things one ought not to say in front of a hippogriff" Hermione smiled at him.

"Anyhow, there are loads of other ingredients, like wood from an olive tree, and –" She trailed off.

"And what, Hermione?" Draco asked.

"Um, blood from a child of the god we're trying to summon."

"Blood? That sounds an awful lot like dark magic" Draco said, carefully.

"Not necessarily. In the past, especially in ancient times, blood magic was actually extremely common." Hermione pointed out in her best lecture voice.

Draco sighed "We need to use some other child of Apollo though. I don't want to take any blood from Will, while he's still unconscious, and besides, his blood is changing due to the leukemia, I'm not sure it would even work."

"I don't feel entirely comfortable letting anyone else in on what we're doing, and I think the others will would agree with me." Percy pointed out.

"Well, we might not need to." Draco said pensively. "You have a hospital, yes?"

Percy nodded "The Valetudinarium"

Draco smirked "Do you ever make blood drives?"

…

"This sucks" Apollo moaned to himself. He really didn't envy his father these days. Every god, naiad, dryad and divine creature wanted a piece of him, on top of the small rebellions that he had to quell every other day. That and he also still had to take care of all his own divine duties. Apollo just wasn't made for hard work. Sure, he could do it, had in fact worked very hard recently, but that didn't mean he had to like it. He missed his son, but he was trapped on Olympus for the time being. He didn't know how, but Olympus had gone on lockdown, which was probably a good thing in the end. Aries hadn't taken very well to the change in authority. In the end, Aries was another son of Zeus, and he felt entitled to the throne. Aries felt like he, as the god of war, would be a better leader, and he did indeed lead most of the rebellions. Luckily, Apollo had some strong allies, but the situation was still very unstable.

Suddenly he felt a pulling sensation, which he hadn't felt in a very long time. He was being summoned, and by an ancient ritual too.

…

When Apollo opened his eyes, he was lying on the floor, surrounded by young familiar looking demigods. His face split into a huge smile.

"I cannot tell you, how happy I am to see you guys!" he exclaimed. That's when he saw the hippogriff.

"Oh, my, what a beauty you are!" He gracefully leapt to his feet, and bowed deeply. "Even gods must show respect to such a magnificent creature."

Buckbeak chirped happily and bowed his head before gleefully rubbing his beak against Apollo's cheek.

Even Hermione, who knew the hippogriff quite well, had to marvel at the creature's antics. Draco just looked on the verge of a conniption.

"Yes, well, magnificent creature aside, we need your help." He interrupted.

"Careful, Draco. Hippogriffs are very intelligent. They can also detect sarcasm" Apollo pointed out. Draco could have sworn, that the big chicken was scowling at him.

…

Hey guys, I'm sorry for the really long wait. I'll try to update a bit more often, but I make no promises. I have a lot of stuff going on these days. My mum was diagnosed with cancer a couple of weeks ago, and has started chemotherapy. She is rather weak, and I've had to take over cleaning her house, and cooking stuff to fill her freezer, since my stepfather's culinary skills barely reaches boiling pasta.

See you around

- Leo