There's More Than One President of The USA?
Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at /works/2709248.
Rating: Mature
Archive Warning: Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Category: F/M, M/M
Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Relationship: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Jason Grace/Piper McLean, Hazel Levesque/Frank Zhang, Calypso/Leo Valdez, Nico di Angelo/Will Solace, Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Remus Lupin/Nymphadora Tonks, Remus Lupin/Sirius Black
Character: Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, Nico di Angelo, Will Solace, Jason Grace, Piper McLean, Leo Valdez, Frank Zhang, Hazel Levesque, Chiron (Percy Jackson), Apollo (Percy Jackson), Hecate (Percy Jackson), Tyson (Percy Jackson), Grover Underwood, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Ginny Weasley, Fred Weasley, George Weasley, Molly Weasley, Arthur Weasley, Albus Dumbledore, Minerva McGonagall, Severus Snape, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, Rubeus Hagrid, Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle, Dolores Umbridge, Tom Riddle | Voldemort
Series: Part 1 of When Heroes Go To Hogwarts
Published: 2014-12-02
Completed: 2015-01-04
Chapters: 27/27
Words: 35513
There's More Than One President of The USA? by nerdgirl4life (orphan_account)
Summary
A year and a half after the events of Blood of Olympus and during the events of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The timeline has been altered. The Demigods of Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter are no longer at odds, the world is safe and CHB has a new Camp Director. Things are looking up for our heroes. All of this changes when Chiron gets a disturbing message from his old friend Albus Dumbledore. Our heroes are needed. There's a whole community of people that have been kept a secret from the demigods for millennia and now they need help. Hecate herself comes and asks our heroes for help.
Part 1 of 4
Prologue
LEO
If you've ever sat back and wondered if the world was out to get you, then you might have something in common with me and my friends. The Fates are not kind to us, and in all honesty I think the bat-grandmas just have it out for us. Every time one of us gets to a point where we can honestly say, "Yes, I am happy," something inevitably goes wrong. We never get the long end of the stick. And even after we helped save the universe, especially me because I actually gave my life for the cause, we still have to look over our shoulders and make sure we aren't on the menu for the Minotaur or Kelli, the very vengeful cheerleader.
I guess I should be more clear: My name is Leo 'Hot Stuff' Valdez, and I'm a demigod son of Hephaestus with a smoking hot girlfriend who used to be immortal. In short, I'm one of the unluckiest 17-year-olds who currently walk the planet. The other winners of that award go to my two best friends, who happen to be dating, Jason and Piper. There are other demigods, Percy, Annabeth, Frank, Hazel, Nico, Reyna, Nyssa, Lacy, Mitchell, Butch, Lou Ellen, Will, Travis, Connor (you get the idea), etc., who have it just as bad if not worse than I do.
But honestly, I think Percy and Annabeth and Nico di Angelo have all had it the worst. I mean walking through the Ancient Lands is bad enough, but getting caught in Tartarus alone or falling into it because you don't want to lose the love of your life; these three deserve a little peace. But here come the big bad Fates ready to throw us into another adventure all because the world is ending, again. I mean come on! We literally just saved the thing a year and a half ago! Can't we get a little vacation?
If you want to know what in Hades I'm talking about, by all means, keep reading. If, however, you find that you have the same problems we do then I highly suggest you find Camp Half-Blood or Camp Jupiter fast. It might just mean you're a demigod and if you are, the monsters will be coming for you. Find someone who looks like a Satyr and run!
Chapter 1
LEO
If you count the sun shining in the sky it was just an average day at Camp Half-Blood. If you consider the fact that once again the world just might end and needed help being saved by the most powerful demigods of the age, then it's a really bad day to be a demigod. Chiron, the centaur in charge of training young heroes and our main camp counselor, got a call from an old friend of his.
Apparently it was a really big deal for this guy to even call because Chiron came around and woke up the demigods he knew would be needed. Those demigods are: Percy Jackson super-powerful son of Poseidon, Jason Grace super-powerful son of Jupiter, Nico di Angelo super powerful son of Hades, Piper McLean (yeah her dad is famous, we know) super-powerful daughter of Aphrodite, Annabeth Chase super-smart super-bad-ass daughter of Athena, and me: Leo 'Hot Stuff' Valdez powerful son of Hephaestus (I don't like to brag). There were two other demigods we needed, but apparently it's like 1 am in California and they couldn't be bothered to wake up.
We were all gathered around the Ping-Pong table in the War Room and some of us were not doing so well with being woken up at this ungodly hour. Percy and Nico had terrible bed heads, but they were just the worst of the guys. Annabeth's usually messy-but-kempt blonde locks were teased into a mini afro around her head. She'd obviously tried to tame it and put it in a bun, but that hadn't worked out as well as she probably would have liked. Piper, not surprisingly, looked the best of all of us. Chiron despite being the most alert of us all was definitely not the most put together. His fur was matted and his eyes were slightly sunken as if he'd been pacing all night deciding if he should wake us up.
"I apologize for the abruptness of this meeting, but I fear that if we had not met so early that we would stir a panic with the other campers. I called you all here to discuss a very troubling matter. I fear that some of Hecate's blessed mortals are in grave danger. If it had been anyone else who had contacted me, I would have passed it off to the gods for consideration and even then, I would not have sent any of you. It is too much for Fate to ask of you. Thrice some of you in this room have saved the world and thrice I pleaded with the Fates to give you rest; you deserved peace after having fought so hard and lost so much. I fear that this may be too much to ask of you so soon after your triumph over Gaea, but I know I must ask it of you. However, if any of you deem yourselves deserving of rest I will not press upon you to assist me. I only ask that you listen and decide whether or not you will help."
Chiron let his words pass over the room. After a moment Percy made eye contact with each of us in the room. We'd all nodded our agreement to at least listen.
"Chiron, I think I speak for all of us when I say that we will listen. I can't promise any of us will agree to help, but we will listen."
Percy looked like he was just pulled out of a dryer. His hair stood up in a lot of different directions and he had dried drool coating his left shoulder. But even with his bed-head, Percy Jackson could have led all of us into a battle and we'd all have followed. We all nodded to Chiron to begin telling us what was so important that we had to miss out on our beauty rest.
"Well, I thank all of you. Now, it is quite a tale. I suggest perhaps splashing some water on your faces and maybe even some coffee before we begin." Thinking that he might be right we all got up and made our way to the kitchenette.
"So, who do you think these 'blessed of Hecate' are, and why are none of her children here to clue us in?" Annabeth was way too awake to be asking those deep philosophical questions at 4 am.
"Who knows? Maybe they're really powerful with magic and none of the campers here would know what was happening." Piper guessed. Surprisingly she and Annabeth (well that wasn't surprising) were the most awake of any of us. The girls continued to speculate what the cause of it all was even after we all got our coffee and settled back in around the table.
"I hope not to bore you, and I don't think I will, but I know that my story will be long and tedious. Despite all this do try and remain alert. You'll need all the details before you can decide whether or not to participate."
He looked all around at us and then to the IM he was currently having with Frank, Hazel and Reyna. Frank Zhang, son of Mars and Legacy of Neptune, Hazel Levesque, daughter of Pluto and student of Hecate, and Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano, Daughter of Bellona were all looking back at us through the mist of a fountain in the corner of the room facing the head of the ping pong table where Chiron had taken his place. He must have gotten through to the female praetor of New Rome. The male praetor could sleep deeper than a bear in hibernation. Reyna spoke for the three in Camp Jupiter.
"Chiron, we are as alert as we're going to get. Please, tell us what's happening." Chiron nodded and began.
"The first thing you need to understand is that just like the gods kept the Roman and Greek demigods from each other to keep peace, the gods also kept another group of powerful humans a secret from the rest of their children. That being said, these humans are not demigods. They are merely the product of a blessing from the goddess Hecate. Millennia ago even before the first stone was placed in the foundations of the Parthenon, Hecate gave a magical blessing to a small group of humans. These were followers of hers who had great power over the Mist. She sought to create her own kind of demigod child without the hassle of connecting with humans to sire offspring. These were the first witches and wizards. She taught them spells that controlled everything from lifting a platter of food from one place to the next to transfiguring pincushions into porcupines. These humans were very powerful. She guided them for eons but after long years of having less than full control over their abilities, they decided to teach themselves. A few centuries after Rome, there were four of these blessed that were the most powerful witches and wizards ever to be born of Hecate's blessing. Their names were Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Hufflepuff, and Salazar Slytherin."
While the others all just chuckled or giggled at the sound of those ridiculous names, I let out a roar of a laugh and simply was incapable of turning it off.
"Leo!"
Piper, Hazel, Jason, Nico, and Reyna all shouted my name indignantly at the same time.
Between breaths, "Sorry! Those names though! They were just too much!"
After a look from Annabeth I promptly shut up. Chiron chuckled at that but kept going. "Yes, they did have peculiar names, didn't they? Well, as I said, they were the four most powerful born under Hecate's blessing. Being powerful as they were, they founded a school for witches and wizards to practice and learn more about magic. The four of them were very widely known in Europe and Asia; however, they only chose students from England, Scotland, Ireland, and the very Northern-most parts of France. Now, knowing that the school they founded was only for those of the British Isles, what could we assume?"
Chiron looked at Annabeth and Reyna (well, I assumed it was Reyna because I couldn't really tell, of the three looking through the fountain, which one he addressed), but it was Nico who spoke: "There were other schools founded around the same time. The witches and wizards may not have been as powerful as the ones in Britain, but that didn't mean they couldn't form schools of their own."
Only after knowing Nico for a little over a year would that not have surprised the demigods around the table. For a fifteen year old who spent most of his formative school years in an enchanted hotel or the Underworld, Nico was pretty smart. We all still jumped a little when he answered though.
"That is absolutely correct. To my knowledge, and it is very limited, there are schools for the instruction of these blessed humans in every country of the world. I know of at least one in the US, but I'm certain that there are more. The population of the US would deem at least three such schools existed within our borders. Now these schools weren't for everyone, at least at first. The wealthy tended to be able to send their children to school more readily than most, but after about 500 years the school, the one that the Four founded, Hogwarts was able to take in children who weren't as well off as some. Now, schools in America, where do they get their money from?"
This was turning into a History class fast, but for some reason we actually wanted to participate. "Well, the government funds all the public schools, but private schools are well, privately funded."
Score one for my man Percy! Some of us, myself not included, dropped our jaws and some of us, not me, spat our coffee across the table and were glared at by those across from us (Sorry Nico!).
"Excellent." Chiron just ignored us and kept on rolling out the information. "So, where then does that leave the magic schools?" I was stumped. If the gods had hidden the magic people from us demigods, surely they were hidden from the mortals too, right?
Annabeth was apparently on the same wavelength as me. "Well, they'd need government funds, but surely, Chiron, you can't expect us to believe that the gods would allow the mortals to know about magic users and not us demigods?"
Chiron smiled before continuing. "No, that isn't what I'm suggesting at all." Piper then joined the conversation.
"Wait, you can't mean-" She looked at Annabeth to see if they were on the same page. Annabeth's eyes were wide and she looked very skeptical.
"Chiron," Piper continued, "You don't mean to say that the magic users have their own government, do you?"
"Well, Piper, that is precisely what I'm implying." This time all nine of our jaws dropped. The magic users had their own government?
"So wait," I had to open my big mouth, that's what it's there for after all. "You mean there are two Presidents of the good ol' USofA? That would be impossible, wouldn't it? I mean the magic users must be just as numerous as we are!" I let that sink in for a second. "There are only six billion people in the world, right? They aren't lying about that, are they?"
Annabeth, Piper and Reyna all tried to talk at once, but Chiron silenced them with a look as he raised his hand to get their attention. "I know that it is going to be very hard for you to understand this, but yes, there are two leaders of every country where a leader is elected. In the countries where there are Tyrants the elected leader of the magic community is always trying to help influence said Tyrant to relinquish power to the people. So for the USA President Clinton is the mortal President, and President Grimm is the Magical Communities President. That being said, the President of the Magical Community is not in control of Mortal politics and vice versa. They are entities of their own and when situations arise in which the Mortal world is in danger, the Magic President alerts the Mortal one of the danger. The same goes for any country where there is an elected leader to alert." Chiron let us absorb the vast amounts of information he'd just thrown at us. It was going to be a long night.
ANNABETH
There was no way in Hades that this was possible. Yes, the way Chiron described it there could be a slight possibility of a whole community of people that weren't obligated to listen to or obey the laws of the land in which they lived. No, there had to be something she was missing. This just didn't make sense!
"Chiron, this just doesn't make sense!" I hadn't meant to shout, once I registered that I had most definitely raised my voice, I had the good grace to wince at my outburst. "Sorry. I just don't see how there are whole communities of people in every country around the world, in which a leader is elected, where people don't have to abide by the laws of the country they live in! Do they call themselves Americans? If so, then do they practice magic in such a way that they don't endanger the lives of the mortals they surround? If so, is there a sect within the magic community that lives among the mortals? If so-"
''Annabeth!" Percy, who'd unceremoniously put his hand over my mouth, cut me off. I shot him a glare, but he gave me his wolf stare in return. I'd learned to respect the wolf stare. After a moment he gave me a look that said are you going to calm down? I nodded and apologized to Chiron, "I didn't mean to get so hostile, but I was just-"
"-Passionately stating your concerns. Annabeth I am not angry with you. These are the questions I had myself when I first learned of the existence of these humans. But to ease your mind a little, let me get back to my story."
Well, that effectively shut me up. Chiron was the only person, besides maybe Hazel, who could politely ask you to be quiet and at the same time have a double meaning in their tone. Chiron wasn't mad he was exasperated. But I knew it wasn't directed at me. He'd obviously been up all night trying to decide if he was going to worry us with the goings on in this magical world we'd all agreed to step into. Honestly, I thought he was going to send us on another quest and he was having a hard time deciding if he'd ask us to take up the challenge. I'm not usually that far off when it comes to Chiron, so maybe there was a quest in this after all. We just had to wait to figure out what on earth it could be.
"As I was saying before, Hecate blessed a small group of people with the power over magic. Now, this power had to be channeled because what the goddess did not realize was that she had given to man what they could not control. So she taught a smaller sect of the people she'd blessed the art and skill of wand making. A wand is essentially a stick carved from the root of a strong tree, with a core of some magical animal, usually a dragon heartstring, a unicorn tail, or a phoenix tail, and infused with the ability to find the one person who could channel their energies through it. Simply put, the wand chooses the wizard or witch. This sounds incredibly hard to believe, but ask Percy what happened when he first held Anaklusmos. What he describes is the general idea behind the wands."
All nine of us were suddenly looking to the person on my right. Percy had once told me what it had felt like when he'd first held Riptide. I'd asked him why it returned to his pocket when he lost it. I knew that Chiron had used it before Percy, but he always had to go and get it. It never returned to him the way it did for Percy.
"Well, it was a long time ago," he looked at me and I smiled with a slight nod. If he needed me to, I could fill in the details. He smiled back at me, "but I'll do my best." Then he turned back to Chiron as though addressing him would help him remember. "It was the field trip to the museum. You were my teacher at Yancy. We were at lunch, and Nancy Bobofit was being a little σωρός κοπριάς and I used, what were then considered weak, my powers over water and water-fisted her into the fountain."
I had to crack a smile at that. The rest of them laughed, but none of them had known Percy then. Even Nico hadn't seen his 'weak' control of the water. Nico came along after Percy had mastered at least some of his gifts over the water. I was one of the first people to experience those gifts, well, Clarisse and me and some of the other Ares kids. I couldn't remember that day without smiling. "Anyway, Mrs. Dodds, my pre-algebra teacher, was always looking for an excuse to punish me and when Nancy came up to her complaining that I had pushed her into the water, well old Mrs. Dodds couldn't help but take me away to scold me. Well she started asking questions about the summer solstice and returning what was stolen and I got really confused. Well she decided that I was lying and she turned into a Fu-Kindly One. I just about pooped my pants, but then Mr. Bruner, or Chiron, came out of nowhere, shouted, 'What ho,' and tossed me this pen and it had become a sword. Once the hilt was in my hand-" He paused as if looking for the right words to get across to us what had become second nature to him.
"When you told me this story a few years back, you told me that it felt like you'd always known that sword." He gave me a grateful smile and picked up where he'd left off.
"Exactly! It was like coming home to blue cookies on the table! It just felt right. Of course I was slicing through my teacher with a sword a split second later, but yea, it felt like home."
He grabbed my hand from where it was in my lap and interlaced our fingers. Percy wasn't the only one who'd found home in sensation from touch. Every time he took my hand in his I felt like that. I looked up at him and we shared a smile. Both our cheeks flushed and we turned our attention back to Chiron.
"Thank you Percy. Now, the goddess gave them their magic, gave them a way to control it, and taught them spells for all different kinds of things. She had blessed them and what did they do? Oh, a millennium passed before they began to turn from her, but they did turn. And when they did, she cursed one of their most powerful wizards. I think that she would have cursed them all, but that would have meant cursing all of the descendants of the humans that she had loved and taught. She chose to curse the most arrogant of the Four.
He, Salazar Slytherin, was born a Parsletounge. This is the ability to converse with snakes. Unlike a son of Poseidon's ability to converse with any form of horse, the Parseltongue is a language. None without the gift can understand it. However, if you were to study another human with this ability you could learn phrases that would assist you in keeping snakes from being an enemy. This was not the curse Hecate bestowed upon him, but it may as well have been. Of the Four, Slytherin was the closest to the dark.
The Four created a school in which there were four houses. I suppose it would be the equivalent of four Camps. The houses were as different as the founders themselves, and yet they all aimed to learn the same things. Those chosen by Gryffindor were brave of heart and courageous in the face of danger. Those chosen by Ravenclaw were those who valued time spent in learning and edifying the mind. Those chosen by Hufflepuff, more of a jack-of-all-trades sort, were known for their purity of heart, good character in the face of wrong and loyal above all. And finally those chosen by Slytherin were cunning, strategic and most important of all of a pure bloodline. This meant that the father and the mother of the student could trace their lineage all the way back to the first witches and wizards. He was the only one of the founders who had put a blood status requirement on his students. This is why, centuries later, the House of Slytherin is known to produce evil witches and wizards.
This was Hecate's curse: one of Slytherin's 'noble blood' would in turn become the greatest evil the world of magic had ever seen. In turn, it would be defeated by one of impure birth, a half-blood, one of mortal and magical blood. And to add further insult to injury, this child would have the heart of a lion. It was Hecate's way of saying that the one who would eventually defeat Slytherin's heir would be one of Gryffindor's. As the years went on, the founders wanted to change some of the parts of the school they'd built. They all desired to make their houses after what they saw as their best qualities, but Slytherin wanted to restrict the others more on their choices by making the school for those of pure blood only. He and Gryffindor became violent, so violent that they dueled. Understand that dueling with magic is much like dueling with weapons, but it is a very different form of duel. The mind is the most important part of the duel in either case, but for advanced witches and wizards; they can summon the magic from within them that they need not even speak the spells aloud. They still need their wands, but having a silent duel is perhaps the most dangerous of all. Gryffindor was able to disarm Slytherin and in doing so set the fate of the school.
The rivalry between houses was always a friendly competition before then. After the duel between the male founders, however, they became more hostile. Slytherin became the least popular house at Hogwarts and in time it became known for the house with students who practiced very dark sorts of magic. As the other three founders got older, they realized they needed a way to continue to sort students into houses after they had gone. For the next few years, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff worked tirelessly on creating a magic object that would in turn, sort students for what house would suit them best. So now, millennia later no matter who puts on the sorting hat, they go into the house where the Four would have put them. The sorting of students into houses became popular with the other magic schools, but I do know that the schools for magic here in America do not have such stipulations. I suppose the Greeks are the Hogwarts of demigods; here you bunk with you siblings whereas in New Rome, you bunk with those who would speak for you, trust you, and step up to say, 'I will become responsible for this new recruit.'"
Chiron's let his words settle over the group of us.
"So," I needed to at least make one thing clear, "if all of the future descendants of Slytherin, and all those in his house were cursed, has this curse come to fruition? This child of 'noble blood', has he been found? Is this why your friend contacted you? Do they need our help?"
I had tried to keep it to one question, but I was a child of Athena and it was 4 am. What did they expect? Chiron allowed me my four questions though and with each one he gained more pride and more pain in his questions. It was as if he was watching me become a great success, which all of us had become, yet also watching me lose everything important to me in the process. It was hard to see him like this.
With that sad smile he addressed me, "Annabeth, you always did ask the right questions. I wanted all of you to know the history of Hecate's blessed mortals so that in turn you could decide if helping them is something you felt was worthy of your gifts. The man who contacted me has done so a few times over the years asking if I would send help. About forty years ago the cursed child was found. His name then was Tom Marvolo Riddle. He was an orphan son of a witch and a mortal. My friend, the one who contacted me, found him. Then, my friend was a teacher at Hogwarts. He'd lived among the mortals and when the need arose to fetch a student in person, he was the one the school sent to tell their parents, if they had any, what was going on. So when this boy, who was eleven years old, was to be given a spot at Hogwarts my friend, Albus Dumbledore, went to alert him to his heritage. The boy had been in an orphanage his entire life. The mortal women who were in charge of the orphanage were afraid of the boy. He was a powerful wizard after all, and no one knew why the other children were so frightened of him. Dumbledore explained to him who he was, who Tom was, and that there was a place for him at Hogwarts.
The child accepted his invitation and Dumbledore didn't see him again until the first of September, the beginning of the school term. No one knew that Tom Riddle was the child cursed, and to be honest if you asked a witch or wizard living today where their magic comes from, I don't think they could tell you that they had ancestors blessed by a goddess. This is problematic in that by ignoring their heritage the witches and wizards had no reason to expect that one day one of the students they taught at their school would become a threat to all magic users across the world. Dumbledore watched this child become integrated in the lives of other students, watched him excel in his classes, and all the while in the back on his mind he knew that there was something wrong. The boy had been a bully at the orphanage so from the first day Tom arrived at Hogwarts, Dumbledore watched him with particular interest. The boy had gathered many followers. And noticing that they were indeed followers and not friends, Dumbledore grew more wary of the child's intentions.
After the boy graduated years passed and no one heard good or bad news about him, well no one kept as good an ear to the ground as Dumbledore. He alone in the Wizard World had searched for clues in ancient texts as to what could be happening. In searching he found the truth behind the magic of witches and wizards.
He discovered the goddess Hecate's blessing and he searched for a way to communicate with her, if she did indeed exist. He was surprised that at that moment she appeared to him. She gave him a scroll that detailed the curse, when and why it came to be and what it meant. She hinted at the existence of demigods and gave him a drachma to contact me. It was, to say the least, a most enlightening conversation. Then, after Dumbledore had become headmaster of Hogwarts, Tom Riddle came back. He was looking for a job as a teacher. Now, this was about twenty years ago. Knowing that Tom Riddle had been practicing dark magic, Dumbledore was not about to give him a job molding the minds of children. Taking this as a great insult, Tom Riddle left leaving another curse upon the school. You see, ever since Dumbledore refused Tom Riddle a teaching position in Defense Against the Dark Arts no one has held the post for more than one year. Now, after leaving school Tom requested that his followers, his Death Eaters-,"
Leo and Percy busted a gut at that. "Who would want to eat Thanatos?" Chiron allowed himself a chuckle at that. Before Percy could say anything else I slapped him lightly and he sobered up quickly. A look at Leo and he did the same.
"Annabeth, are you sure you didn't train with Lupa?"
"Percy, I've been here since I was seven."
"Yea, but you have a look that could rival a Wolf Stare, I mean I know Reyna's is scary but yours is downright terrifying."
Chiron cleared his throat and we all gave him our attention once more. "Thanatos would not have been invoked in the name of these followers if they had any idea of their heritage, but that was not the case. The Death Eaters referred to Tom as Lord Voldemort. He gained followers by means of blackmail, torture, and all nefarious ways to gain loyalty. In time he had an army. He had grown so powerful that he could have destroyed the magical community. However, Lord Voldemort was thwarted by his heritage.
A prophecy had come from Delphi about the Dark Lord. A woman came to Dumbledore asking for a job and she was the unwitting source of this prophecy. The words of this prophecy are these: The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches. Born to those who have thrice defied him, Born as the seventh month dies, And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, But he will have power the Dark Lord knows not. And either must die at the hand of the other, For neither can live while the other survives. The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches. Born as the seventh month dies.
As she spoke these words, a servant of the Dark Lord was listening in. He did not, however, hear the full prophecy. He heard only the first three lines to this prophecy. Thinking that this would be enough, he ran back to his master. The Dark Lord then set off to find people who had thrice defied him. There were two families to whom this prophecy could have been referring. The servant, however, made the choice for the Dark Lord. In requesting that he spare the life of one Lily Potter, he doomed her son to the fate of this prophecy. Much like when Lady Hera chose Percy and Jason to lead the Greeks and Romans into the Ancient Lands and sealed their fate as two of the Seven Heroes.
Lord Voldemort killed James and Lily Potter on October the 31st in the year 1981. James died in trying to keep Lord Voldemort from going upstairs to his son's bedroom. Lily died after casting herself in front of her son in a sacrifice. Their son, Harry, was the intended target, but when Lord Voldemort spoke the curse that should have killed him where he sat, the curse rebounded off of the sacrifice of Lily and struck Lord Voldemort instead. Lily gave her life for her son. This magic is much stronger than any curse. The magic of sacrifice is not something a spell could replicate; it is an action that gives whomever the victim is sacrificing their lives for a protection from the one who would have harmed them.
A simpler way of stating this would be to say that because Lily Potter gave her life for her son, Voldemort could never touch Harry while her blood ran through his veins. Now, while the curse Voldemort used to attempt to kill Harry had destroyed his body, his soul remained quite alive. You see there is magic so dark and so evil that it can keep your soul, the thing tethering you to the mortal world, alive even if your body dies. Hades and Thanatos cannot combat this magic. They can only hope that one with the power to combat it will do so."
ANNABETH
How can you defeat someone who cannot die? Everyone looked to Chiron for an answer to the question that we were all thinking but were either too lazy to speak up or just too afraid it would be the wrong question to ask. But didn't we already do just that?
"We defeat immortal monsters on a weekly basis. We've defeated Giants and Titans and the Earth Mother herself! Who else has the experience in defeating things or people who cannot die?"
Chiron looked as though he was going to add to my statement, but Nico put in his two cents as well. "This Lord Voldemort must either have made himself immortal in a way that we've just never seen, or he made it so that neither Death nor Hades could reap his soul thus keeping himself alive. But if he'd become just a soul, how did he survive that? Souls still need bodies."
Despite him being the expert of all things dead and Underworld-ly, well the only expert that we had at camp, I hated to think that Nico was right. If this Lord Voldemort was just a soul, how could we even possibly defeat him?
"Well, that is the way of magic. It has unforeseen consequences. Lord Voldemort had not only warded his soul from being reaped, he had split it into seven pieces and put those pieces of his soul into objects that were of value to him. What these objects are I do not know, but I think that Dumbledore may have an idea as to what some of them could be. The problem that arose the night that Voldemort's body was destroyed was that of Harry Potter.
When Lord Voldemort tried to kill him and instead destroyed himself, his soul split once more. Part of Voldemort lives inside of Harry, and only Lord Voldemort can destroy the piece of his soul that resides there."
Well, yea, that would be a big problem. You can't just ask a boy to sacrifice himself to die just so there could be a slight chance someone else could defeat Lord Voldemort. It wasn't right, and it certainly wasn't fair. But we knew about the fairness of the Fates firsthand.
"So the only way to really defeat this guy is to destroy all the bits of his soul that are in these objects and inside Harry, right?" Jason asked the question we were all too afraid to hear the answer to. Piper looked like she wanted to scream. Honestly, I felt the same way. How could the Fates keep asking the impossible of the children of the gods? What gave them the right to change our lives and demand our sacrifice?
Piper must have been channeling me when she spoke. "Chiron, it's not right! No one can ask that of him! He-"
"Didn't ask to be a solution to a bigger problem? Didn't ask to be orphaned at one year old? Didn't want to be the only thing that could possibly change the tide of a great war? No, it is not fair for the Fates to ask so much of him. But they asked just as much of all of you. None of you had any choice in the matter. None of you could have prevented how you came to be. Yet here you are.
Over a year ago the nine of you did the impossible. A year before I watched as so many of my heroes gave their lives just so that one who'd lost his way could be redeemed at the end. And time after time I watched as men and women who were given no say in how the Fates had woven their string died and sacrificed their own lives so that others had a chance at one. I've been training heroes and leading them to their deaths for millennia. I know how cruel destiny can be."
We all were focusing on anything but Chiron's face. Of course he understood. He was the only centaur who could possibly understand. The Fates and destiny had taken the lives of every hero he ever trained. He'd watched for millennia, as countless lives were lost to the whim of the gods and their desires. How could we have forgotten?
"Chiron, I-"
"Piper, my dear, there is no need to apologize. I understand. I did not wake you from peaceful dreams just to tell you a tale that could quite possibly be as dark as many of your own. I woke you so that you could decide if you wanted to aid someone who was wronged by the Fates and by destiny just as much as any of you had been. Despite the desire to help my friend, I cannot help but be wary. The task Dumbledore asks of you is not fair either. But understand this: none of you can change the destiny of this boy. In order for Voldemort to be defeated once and for all, he must die."
"Chiron, if his fate is set, then what in Hades could Dumbledore expect from us? We are powerful demigods, yes, but what can any of us do against magic?" Jason pulled the words right out of my mouth. What could any of us do against powerful dark magic?
"I believe I can answer that question more effectively than the old centaur." All nine of us, including the ones who weren't even here, drew our weapons and turned to see who had spoken. We were not expecting to see Hecate of all people. After realizing that we were likely not in any immediate danger we all went back to our seats. I've always been weary of Hecate, but I've always loved the kids she had at camp.
"Lady Hecate, I did not expect you. Please." Chiron gestured to the chair at the head of the table where he stood. Hecate nodded and took his place.
"I know you might be curious as to why I would come myself. I only wish to see my descendants learn from their mistakes. I existed long before the world had even heard of demigods. I gave humans the gift of magic and they have squandered it. Through this curse, I will once again be recognized for who I am: the mother of all magic."
"Lady Hecate, if I may?" Hazel by far had the best relationship with the goddess of any of us. Maybe she'd get a straight answer out of her. Hecate nodded for Hazel to continue. "After everything that we've learned tonight, all we want is a straight answer. How can we help Harry if his destiny is to die? If these humans have magic, what can a few demigods do against it? Jason, Percy, Nico and I are the best, of those gathered, who are any good at bending the Mist to our will, but what about the others?"
Hecate smiled and looked to Chiron who shook his head. "As Chiron has not yet explained this to you, I will answer your questions. To the first, you can help lead him in the right direction by becoming his friends. He has gained the loyalty of many in the magical community, but none of them save maybe two, will be understanding of the choices he will have to make. He will need to know that there are others who have been through similar situations and came out on top. And if my plan is acceptable you will unite Hogwarts in an era when that was thought impossible. To the second, if all of you, the Seven and Nico, agree to my plan then you will be given the same blessing I have given only once before."
We all stared at Hecate and I'm pretty sure Percy's jaw was on the floor. "You mean you would give us magic just to be friends with Harry and unite a school?" Hazel posed the question that was surely hanging on all our lips.
The goddess smiled, but it was very unnerving. "Do not make the mistake of thinking that I do this lightly. I have come to the conclusion that it could be the only way to accomplish the goal of keeping the magical community blind to the existence of demigods and vice versa. You would however be able to retain your memories."
We all looked like we'd been slapped. The goddess of magic was suggesting that we go make nice with a bunch of witches and wizards to gain the trust of a boy destined to die just so we could unite a school and lead Harry to the choice of giving his life. This had to be a cosmic joke, right? Everything in me screamed for the punchline.
When no further explanation came from Hecate, Chiron spoke up. "I cannot fathom what all of you are thinking. I can however let you process the information we have given you and give you a chance to decide what you will do with it."