HARRY

"What do you mean you found someone that fit their description exactly and you let them go?!", Harry yelled.

The short woman in front of him flinched back, the tall man next to her looked to floor in shame. Yes, hopefully he felt embarrassed.

"They acted like they didn't know anything about magic at all", he tried to defend himself. "We thought they were no-maj and we had made a mistake."

"A mistake? A MISTAKE? This wasn't a goddamn MISTAKE it was complete and utter stupidity and incompetence!" Harry glared at his snickering co-workers. "What are you laughing at!", he screamed at them. "Do you think this is a laughing matter? Do you think an innocent child being held hostage by a bunch of murderers is funny?!"

"No, Harry, of course not!", Zara said, quickly shaking her head. "But you need to calm down a bit."

Harry huffed. But she was right, he shouldn't yell at his co-workers like that. They were nice enough to help him out after all. Even if they were a bunch of incompetent buffoons. Harry sighed. He should really reign in his inner Snape.

He quickly apologized for yelling and then made his way to the apparition points.

"Harry? Were are you going?", Zara was yelling and running after him.

"To that place they were seen. They couldn't have gotten very far."

"Are you sure?", she asked. "They could have apparated to the other side of the world now that they know we are looking for them."

"Dammit!", Harry had totally forgotten that the Hogwarts Intruders were now aware of their efforts.

"Harry, Harry!", another voice yelled down the hall.

His other co-worker, Pietro Marchenilli, was running down the hall. He was waving a piece of paper in his hand. "This just came through the floo for you from your wife", he said.

"And that is so important that you're interrupting? We still have a chance of catching a trail if we leave now." Harry couldn't believe Pietro actually thought that was important now. Sure, Harry loved Ginny, but he was in the middle of a case and so close to catching his godson's kidnappers.

"It's about Teddy", Pietro said.

Immediately Harry's focus was on Pietro. "What?"

"Apparently he send a letter, it just arrived via muggle mail. Your wife send it over for you", Pietro explained and held out the paper.

Harry glanced down at it before turning to Zara. "You go to Buford and make sure to search for every magical signature there is. No matter whose I want it recorded."

"Of course", she said.

She nodded to two of the American Aurors and they left quickly. Harry snagged the paper from Pietro and made is way over to the desk he had been assigned during his stay in New York. He unfolded the paper and sure enough, it was Teddy's writing.

Dear Uncle Harry,

Sadly I can not tell you this in person. By now you have probably heard about the incident at Hogwarts and how I disappeared. I'm sorry about that it was not my intention. You see, when Nico shadow-travelled him, Reyna and Hedge out of the Great Hall an bunch of ropes were fastened to their statue. I was unfortunately holding on to a piece of rope because I had stumbled over it. Thus I was dragged along. I really do apologize for causing you worry and that this letter reaches you only this late.

I would like to explain what happened. You see, Nico can shadow-travel, as far as I understand it he uses the shadows to go from one place to another, although not too far. That is not dark magic, though, but a genetic gift and tires him out a lot. Him, Reyna and Hedge have been travelling from Greece and are on their way to New York. They were in Portugal when they were attacked by werewolves. Due to injury and exhaustion Nico lost control over his destination and they ended up at Hogwarts. They did not mean to do that. When I was dragged along we landed on a cruise ship. Did you know that muggles go on vacation on a boat? Why would they do that? Anyway, this ship is headed for Jamaica and that will be when my letter will be sent. We are planning on leaving tonight though so I will hopefully be in New York by the time this letter reaches you. Then I will get a portkey to come back to London.

Please don't be worried, my companions are nice and took care of me. They also helped me send this letter. Please tell grandma I will see her soon and not to worry.

Best of wishes

Teddy

Harry didn't know what to think about the letter. Teddy was obviously well enough to write a letter and convinced his 'companions' had good intentions. Harry wasn't convinced as much. It could very well be that this letter was written under duress. And why would Teddy wait so long to send word? Sure, the muggle post wasn't the fastest but why send it by muggle post in the first place? Why not use an owl or floo powder or anything else? Did they not have access to something like that? Were they on the run? Well, they were travelling to New York, that much was clear. Except that could be a trick to confuse Harry, couldn't it? And Teddy wrote that they helped him send the letter. Did that mean they forced him to write this to make them think everything was fine? Surely Teddy would never go on a travel with complete strangers like this. Okay, who was Harry kidding, he had practically raised the boy of course he would. So did that mean everything was good and all just a big misunderstanding?

Harry groaned in annoyance and slammed his head against his desk. This case was going to turn him insane.

About two hours later Harry was still pouring over the letter, dissecting every little word and trying to find a hidden meaning.

He had come to two conclusions: First, Teddy was held captive and forced to write this letter, or, second, Teddy was fine and Harry was becoming a paranoid mess. He just didn't know what to believe anymore.

Zara stepped up to his desk, holding a map.

"The only signatures we found were those of the aurors and of Teddy", she said.

"No-one else?", Harry asked. How come only Teddy had used magic. Was is in self-defence?

"No. Teddy apparently used a shrinking charm. I think it was used on the statue they had been seen with in Hogwarts. The girl was holding a smaller statue."

Strange. Why would they shrink the statue? To travel more lightly and inconspicuous probably. But why use Teddy for it and not do it themselves. Were they scared to be tracked. Or – and that was a very strange thought – were they no wizards at all? No, of course not, that's absurd. How else would the travel so fast.

Altough, Teddy had said that power was a genetic trait. Could it be that they weren't dealing with wizards, at least not ones they had ever encountered before?

"Could you track them?", he asked. Zara shook her head.

"Could it be they are travelling with muggle means?", Harry asked. More and more the thought that they were going at this wrongly got a place in his head.

Zara looked contemplative. "Could be. But why would they? Wouldn't it be faster to use anything else? Muggles can't travel fast, can they?"

Harry had to think of airplanes and high-speed trains and highways and even rocket ships. Muggles could definitely travel fast and it was always amusing to see wizards completely underestimate them. Harry was pretty sure should it ever come to a war between magical and non-magical people, he wouldn't be on the winning side.

"I think … I think we might not be dealing with wizards", Harry said.

Zara looked at him in shock. "You mean muggles? You think muggles could do something like that? But … muggles aren't … I mean … are they even capable of thinking off throwing us off their trail? And how ever would they do that?"

Yes, amusing indeed.

REYNA

They had reached Atlanta after an hour on an uncomfortable bus.

"Why exactly are we driving south if we have to go north?", Teddy asked.

He was pressed against the window by Hedge and the statue sitting between them.

"Because it was the only way out of Buford", Reyna told him.

Their youngest companion nodded. His hair had a dark green colour, not exactly inconspicuous, but it could be worse. Reyna would have to remind him to use a normal color so as to not attract any stares. But while on the bus she wanted to let him have as much comfort as he could.

When they were pulling into the bus station she tapped her hair slightly to let Teddy know to change it and then slowly shook Nico awake. He grumbled but stood up and left the bus after them.

"Where to now?", Hedge asked. He hoisted the statue higher on his hip. The shrunken Athena Parthenos was going to attract a couple stares but it was better than being stuck with the original size.

"The train station?", Nico suggested.

"Didn't you say we should stay out of public places?", Reyna asked him.

Nico scowled at her. "How else would you get on a train?"

"Hey guys, there is an airport here. We could use one of these flying machines right?", Teddy suddenly spoke up, pointing to a sign to coaches to Atlanta Airport.

"You mean an airplane?", Hedge asked.

Teddy shrugged. "We don't have them. We only fly on brooms but not for longer distances. That's what we use portkeys for", he explained with a smile.

That was something Reyna had noticed before, not that Teddy smiled a lot, but that he didn't know anything about normal things. Did the wizards really live such a sheltered and fenced off life?

"I would rather not fly if it's alright. Besides I doubt we have enough money for a trip to New York", Nico spoke up.

"I think the big guy upstairs is busy with other things at the moment to smite you out of the sky", Hedge said.

"The big guy?", Teddy asked.

"Name's have power kid. The gods don't like it if we lowly mortals go spouting off their names whenever we want. So yeah, the big guy", Hedge explained.

Reyna noticed that Hedge seemed unnaturally patient and kind with the wizard, at least for Hedge's normal behaviour. Not that Reyna complained about that. Someone needed to be nice to this kid and neither Reyna nor Nico were emotionally equipped to do so. Although she tried her best.

"Okay, so no flying. What's next?", Teddy asked.

"Food and then a coach or train out of here", Reyna said.

She looked around until she spotted a small diner. Nico grabbed the flyer of a coaching service and they made their way over to the diner and into a booth. It was slightly tight with five people – yes the Athena Parthenos refused to sit on the floor – but they managed. Teddy had changed his haircolor to match that of Reyna and Nico and now they looked like a normal family on a trip to a diner.

While the others poured over the menu Reyna tried to sort out how much money they had left. They had taken some from unsuspecting tourists aboard the cruise ship, the restaurant in San Juan and even the Buford Zippy Mart. It wasn't as much as she wished but a look at the flyer told her they had enough for something to eat and a coach to Charlotte, North Carolina. They would have to hitchhike their way from there to Virginia where they were to meet Hedge's promised transportation.

"We can make it to Charlotte till afternoon and then hopefully to Virginia till tonight", she told the others.

Teddy didn't have a clue were any of that was so he just nodded. Nico proposed they get a car in Charlotte for the rest of the trip.

"You aren't planning on stealing one, kid?", Hedge asked.

"No! I meant rent one or something", Nico glared at Hedge. Reyna rolled her eyes.

They ordered and while they waited for their burgers Reyna let her gaze sweep over the other customers and the people walking by outside. One of them made her do a double take. It was the woman that had ambushed them earlier. She wasn't wearing robes anymore, but instead a pair of trousers and a weirdly patterned jacket. She was accompanied by a second woman who was wearing a normal grey shirt.

"Don't look know but the MACUSA people are back", she said quietly.

Another sweep of the diner and she confirmed that none of them were inside.

"How did they find us again?", Teddy asked, nervously glancing out of the window but still trying to seem nonchalant.

"My guess is they figured out we took a bus and followed us here. It was the only major route after all", Nico said.

He didn't bother looking out the window, instead he subtly moved the statue under the table, even though she seemed to glare at him. Reyna had nearly forgotten about her. If they had seen her glinting in the window they were busted. She tried to move her back to the window to make it harder to identify them.

When the food came barely any of them were still in the mood but they needed their strength so the gulped down the burgers and soda.

"Why exactly are you so worried about them finding us. You wouldn't have a problem with them", Nico asked Teddy curiously when the younger boy kept glancing at the wizards outside. They had migrated to another spot and where now discussing a map.

"But you do, and the other demigods need you right? So, I help you of course. I don't want you to get thrown in prison when you didn't do anything wrong."

The explanation made sense and Nico nodded. "Shall we go then? The bus is leaving in a couple minutes."

Reyna looked over at the ticket office. It was too close to the wizards still hanging about. "We can't get the tickets with them there."

"I wonder why they haven't left yet, shouldn't be too hard to sweep a bus station", Hedge commented. "Wizards are stupid."

A pouty 'hey' was the only answer to that.

"Maybe they think the bus hasn't arrived yet?", Teddy said. "Maybe they think it takes longer than just an hour."

"Could be. If they know as much as you do about non-wizarding worlds they probably don't even know what we can do.", Reyna commented.

"You know I could try to get the tickets", Teddy proposed after a short silence.

"They know what you look like", Nico said. He grabbed Hedge's second burger and bit into it, ignoring Hedge's protest. That boy was constantly hungry.

"No they don't", Teddy said and smirked.

He closed his eyes and concentrated. His hair grew longer and a dull brown color. That wasn't anything new but then is nose became shorter and his cheekbones higher and his chin wider and smattering of freckles appeared on his cheeks. He still looked like Teddy if you knew him but at the same time completely different. The two demigods blinked at him in shock while Hege barked in laughter.

"Oh man kid, that's great."

"I can't hold it for long, though", Teddy said.

He grabbed the money from Reyna's hand and quickly made his way out of the diner before anybody could protest.

"How did he do that?", Nico asked.

Reyna just shrugged. She knew he was a metamor-something but she thought that only extended to his hair color.

They watched as Teddy made his way into the ticket office the two witches barely glancing his way.

A coach pulled into the station.

"That's ours", Reyna said.

They stood up and paid at the cashier, Nico and Hedge getting another burger for the road and Reyna purchased a couple bottles of water. Then they slowly made their way outside and over to the coach. Careful to seem like a normal family and not a bunch of (wrongfully) wanted criminals. They ducked behind the coach so that they could still see the door of the ticket office but the wizards were out of view.

Reyna leaned against the pole of a streetlight in exhaustion. The last couple days had been way too much stress. She closed her eyes slowly to regain her composure. She didn't much care anymore about Nico or Hedge or Teddy seeing her exhausted but all these mortals around them were still strangers. She didn't show weakness in front of strangers.

When she opened her eyes again she was staring right into the green eyes of a man across the bus station. Reyna frowned. He was staring at them from far away as if he couldn't really believe they were real.

"Is it just me or is that guy staring at us?", Nico asked quietly.

He was sitting next to her on a bench. He wasn't looking in the man's direction but over at the ticket office. Reyna glanced over there too. Teddy was taking awfully long.

"He is", she said.

"Monster?", Nico asked.

"Or wizard, who knows. Maybe just a random mortal."

Then Teddy came hurrying over to them, four tickets clutched in his fingers. His cheekbones and chin were slowly going back to normal now that he didn't have to fool anyone anymore.

"Quick get on the bus", Reyna said.

She chanced another glance at the man with the green eyes. He was now staring at Teddy instead of her and Nico.

"Good idea", muttered Nico and he quickly pushed Hedge towards the bus.

Reyna grabbed the Athena Parthenos and then encouraged Teddy to get in the bus in front of her. She could only relax once the bus pulled out of the station and onto the highway, the man never once following.