HARRY

Harry stared after the bus as the people he had been looking for drove off. He had spent so much time pouring over that letter that he started to believe they weren't criminals. That Teddy was actually there out of his own free will.

It had been confirmed when he arrived at the bus station in Atlanta, Georgia, where they assumed the bus out of Buford would turn up. He was standing next to a sign pointing out concerts in the city and waited. Nothing was happening, his co-workers were standing on the other side of the station. One of them doing a rather bad job of blending in with the muggles. He shook his head slightly. Honestly, was it so hard to dress like a normal person?

A bus pulled into the station, blocking Harry's view of his colleagues. Not that he was sad about that. A motion at the door of a small diner at the side of the station pulled his gaze towards it. He nearly choked on the air he had just breathed in. It was all three of the original Hogwarts Intruders. The girl with the spiky hair wasn't with them. Maybe they only met up with her once. But what for?

They made their way quickly over to the bus acting like normal travellers. He watched them as they waited for something. Why weren't they getting on the bus? Then it hit Harry. They were only three of them. The older one, the young boy and the girl.

The girl – Reyna, he remembered from Teddy's letter – looked at him and frowned. She didn't do much though, just turn towards the boy and talk to him. It was as if they weren't concerned at all. Or maybe they just faked it really well.

Then they were joined by a fourth person. Teddy. He looked slightly different than normal, but as he watched, Harry noticed how the facial features seemed to rearrange himself until he looked like the Teddy Harry had missed so much. It was unbelievable that it was only a week since they had last seen each other. It felt like ages ago.

Harry watched as Teddy conversed with his companions (not captors) and laughed at something the man had said. Then the girl ushered them all on the bus.

Harry sighed. This had been his chance to rescue his godson. But that was the thing, wasn't it? Teddy didn't need saving at all.

When the bus drove off Harry didn't move for a good while before making his way over to his colleagues.

"I don't think they will be coming by here", he said. "Let's head back to the office."

TEDDY

Teddy had a bad dream.

He was dreaming about skeletons circling him, the screams of the Huntresses in the distance. Then there was an explosion of green fire and suddenly Harry was standing in front of him, scolding him about worrying his Grandma. Harry turned into the auror-leader who dragged Nico and Reyna and Hedge away while Teddy could just stand there and scream to let them go. Then he was being arrested as well.

They dragged them through long never ending halls, the screams of the dammed raising in the distance. Was this Azkaban Prison? Teddy didn't want to be here.

They were kicked into a cell were already a haggard man was sitting. He had blue hair, was painfully thin and laughing insanely.

"No!", Teddy yelled and kicked against the door. He didn't want to end up like that man.

When the door opened a woman stood there. She was wearing a dress the colour of earth and a mean grin. Her eyes were closed as if she was sleepwalking.

"Oh poor little Edward, running around with murderers and thieves. What would mommy and daddy say?", she mocked.

Teddy stumbled back as if he had been struck across the face. Tears gathered in his eyes.

"Who are you?", he asked.

"You don't need to know that, little Edward", she said. "Just know I'm a warning."

"A warning? About what?", Teddy asked. He took a step back from the woman. She felt dangerous and as if she could kill him with a single thought.

"About the path you are wandering on. If you continue on it, this will be your future", she said with an unpleasant grin.

The woman waved behind him. Fearfully Teddy turned around. The Azkaban cell wasn't filled with just one haggard creature anymore. No there were four of them.

"Continue on your way north and this is what will happen. Your parents would be so disappointed. Died so that their son could live and then that son consorts with murderers. Maybe this is what you deserve after all?"

"No! Go away!", Teddy screamed and jolted awake.

Hedge was slowly eating his on-the-road-burger and telling Teddy about his wife. They were sitting together again, Teddy against the window. Reyna and Nico were behind them, drawing plans for when they reached Charlotte. They would arrive there in another hour, Teddy had slept most of the trip.

When he had jolted from his nightmare, they had immediately tried to ask him about it. Apparently dreams were important ways to communicate and spy the future. If that was true then Teddy's future was going to end pretty badly.

"I think we have a good plan, is there anything you would like to add?", Reyna asked as she peered over Hedge's seat. She was giving Teddy a significant look.

"Food stops", Hedge said.

"Already included", Nico said.

"Good" Then Hedge turned towards Teddy. "Anything to add?", he asked.

Teddy glared at him and shook his head. He didn't want to talk about his dream. It had been horrible and he could swear he could still feel the cold and suffering of Azkaban. Besides that he wasn't even a demigod so he didn't have prophetic dreams.

"Alright, don't tell us. Just know that if you need to talk, we will be here for you", Reyna sighed and sat back down.

Teddy grumpily stared out the window. While it was interesting to watch the muggles drive about in their cars it got boring after a while. Hedge had ceased his talking and an uncomfortable silence hung between the group.

Teddy unwillingly thought back to his dream, to what the sleeping lady had said, both about him and his friends. Murderers and Thieves. What would your parents think of that? Teddy shook his head to get rid of the woman's voice. Except that she was right wasn't she? The money they were travelling with wasn't their own and Teddy had watched as Nico had killed Bryce and Reyna had killed her own father.

'Stop it, Teddy! The dream is just messing with your head!'

His friends were good people. That was self-defence. They were trying to save the world and didn't even take that much money. No-one got hurt because of that, right?

"Kid, you're shaking", Hedge said, his voice concerned. "You know we all had dreams once that scared the shit out of us. You aren't that special, you silly wizard."

Teddy glanced up at him. Somehow he doubted that.

"He's right. I used to dream about things that scared the shit out of me, but without facing them it won't get better", Reyna piped up from behind them.

Nico leaned himself on Teddy's seat. "I'm gonna tell you the same thing I told Reyna to make her talk: Your voice is your identity, use it!" And then he sat back down.

Teddy looked at him bewildered while Reyna rolled her eyes. "You should never write a self-help-book", Teddy blurted out.

"I'm not planning on it."

Hedge laughed, then poked Teddy with his elbow. "Now, spill!"

Teddy sighed and started slowly talking about what happened. About them being dragged into prison and finding his older self, about trying to get out and the woman at the door. When he described all three of them went oddly silent.

"Do you know her or something?", Teddy asked unsure.

"Or something", Nico muttered darkly. "It's troubling that she is reaching out to non-demigods now."

"She obviously wants you to make us stay away from Camp Half-Blood", Reyna added. "Does that mean she has noticed what we are doing?"

"Who is she?", Teddy asked.

Hedge sighed. "The reason we are doing this in the first place: Gaia, the primordial goddess of the earth. That she is contacting you is troubling."

Teddy looked from Hedge to Reyna to Nico. All three of them looked tired and much older than they were.

"Why is that troubling?", he whispered.

"You could say demigods dream loudly, it's easy to visit them in their dreams or pull them into other's. That she can so easily slip into yours means she is getting stronger. She's waking up and once she is awake, well … that won't be pretty", Nico explained.

A shudder went down Teddy's spin at hearing that. "That's what we are trying to prevent?", he asked.

"Partly. We are mostly trying to prevent a demigod civil war, you can probably guess why Gaia would want that", Reyna said.

"So that you are focused on each other and not on her?"

"Exactly. We are trying to prevent that. Our friends are travelling through Greece –" "On a flying warship", Hedge interjected. "- and are working to prevent her waking up. We are still at war with the Giants, though, her children. We need a unified demigod force or we won't survive this."

"And if the demigods fall there is nothing protecting the mortals.", Nico added.

Teddy had a feeling he had to sit down and think about that for a while. Sadly the reached Charlotte in that exact moment.

It was late at night when the group finally sat down to rest. They had been travelling for roughly seven hours now, barely stopping to take a breather. They all knew time was running out. They couldn't afford to slow down now. They were headed further north. Taking public transport out of Charlotte, hiking a couple miles until they found a highway rest stop and convinced a young family to take them for a further couple miles. From there they sneaked onto a cargo train and got off at the next stop. Never using one mode of transportation for too long, never staying in one place. They were zig-zagging slightly hoping to shake off those on their trail.

Reyna pulled out and erected the tent, three of them squeezing in, the last on sitting outside and keeping watch. Hedge was first, then would be Reyna and in the morning it was Teddy's turn. They all agreed that Nico needed more rest.

Once the sun had risen completely and they had their breakfast, they were off once again. Teddy couldn't remember when he had ever been this exhausted before.

The hiked about five miles before coming upon a town. There they stopped, had lunch and rested their feet before taking the next bus northbound. They didn't stay in that town for long either, mostly because they had a nasty run-in with some monsters.

They were creatures Teddy had never seen before and he wasn't sure his magic would work against them at all. One was tall and ugly and had only one eye, the other two were young women with fiery hair. Hedge sprang into action upon noticing them, clubbing on of the monster-women over the head and sending her staggering to the side. Reyna was next, charging with her javelin at the other. That left the tall guy for Nico and apparently also Teddy. While Nico engaged him at the front, Teddy made a beeline for his back, rounding once around the three fighting pairs.

Reyna finished off her lady with a forceful thrust into the chest and the monster fell down into golden dust. Then she helped Hedge who seemed a bit distracted. Teddy focused back on the tall guy and shot a Leg-Binding-Jinx at him. It barely faced him and he only stumbled slightly. But it did give Nico time to attack again.

Teddy gritted in frustration. He was still useless. Quickly he thought over all the spells he had learnt or read about. There had to be one… and if he couldn't hex the monster he could still charm the ground.

"Glacio!", he yelled, pointing his wand at the ground under the monster's feet. Immediately he lost his balance and slipped forward. "Petrificus Totalus!" And the man fell over directly into Nico's sword.

"That was impressive", Reyna commented and clapped him on the shoulder. "You fared a lot better than Hedge over there. He got entranced by the empusa's charm."

Teddy smiled despite himself. So maybe he wasn't totally useless.

"Let's head on", Nico said. He was dusting his shirt off. Not that it helped much, they were all dirty after so long on the road.

Hedge came over to them looking disgruntled and then the four of them continued on.

They hurried out of town, not looking forward to having the aurors on their backs again. They couldn't be stopped now, they had nearly reached their meeting point.

The cavalry turned out to be pegasi, something Reyna seemed to be enthused over.

"I used to have a Pegasus. His name was Skippy", she told him quietly while they waited for the flying horses to land.

Teddy watched in fascination as the elegant horses landed before them. He had never seen one before. They were quite rare in the Wizarding World, but this were at least nine of them. The one in front was bigger than the rest and golden.

"You summoned enough to carry the statue", Nico said.

Hedge laughed with delight. "Why yes. And you are in for a real treat."

Reyna shook her head in disbelief. "That's Pegasus. The immortal lord of the horses." She seemed absolutely shocked.

"Well, what are we waiting for, get the statue secured and everybody on a horse", Hedge exclaimed and clapped his hands to get them moving.

Teddy trudged over to the statue and picked her up, contemplating how they would transport her. Some of the pegasi were looking at him curiously and Teddy waved slightly. He petted one's muzzle before turning back to his work. Hedge was bundling over them with the rope they had stored in Reyna's tent. Together they worked on securing the statue to the back of one of the pegasi so that she could carry her. Teddy didn't want to imagine how many horses they would need to carry her in her original form.

"Alright everyone, there is no time to idle", Hedge yelled.

He climbed on the back of one of the white pegasi and Reyna and Nico followed suite. Nico took a black Pegasus named Blackjack that he already knew from Camp. Nico had said he belonged to a friend of his, one of the ones fighting in Greece. Teddy's Pegasus was named Guido. He was the one he had petted earlier. Reyna climbed on Pegasus himself. With a shout they took to the air.

Teddy wasn't overly afraid of heights or flying, he did like Quidditch after all, but there was something distinctly different about flying on a broom and flying on the back of a winged horse. He burrowed his hands in Guido's mane and held on for dear life.

They were flying for a long time and after a while Teddy relaxed. He trusted Guido to catch him if he fell off. And as long as he was holding on nothing would happen. He glanced around them. It was late afternoon by now, Hedge had guessed they would arrive in the early evening. Apparently, because they were travelling lightly, they made quicker way than anticipated.

Some of the winged horses flew beside them, covering them in case of an attack. Others were scouting ahead, picking out the fastest route and avoiding strong winds. Beneath them Teddy could make out the shapes of rivers and forests. Once in a while lights were shining when they flew over a city. On the horizon the ground was shimmering in light of the slowly setting sun. He guessed that was the ocean.

Teddy turned back up and glanced at his companions. Hedge was conversing with his steed. Reyna seemed to be enjoying herself up in the air, not like Nico who didn't seem to like the heights very much. Thankfully for him they wouldn't be up here much longer. Between them was the pegasus carrying the glittering Athena Parthenos. She was glowering in the cloudy sky as if it had wronged her, but then again, Teddy thought, she was always glowering.

"Turn back!", Reyna's voice carried over the wind.

Teddy blinked his eyes open and looked around. It had gotten darker. They were still flying, but below them he could see glinting gold.

"What's that?", he asked.

"Onagers. They are going to shoot us out of the sky if we get too close", Reyna called back to him.

Onagers? Teddy had never heard of those before.

Their flock of winged horses turned slightly. Teddy peered down and gasped at what he saw. At the base of the hills an army camp was sprawled out. It was huge. So those must be the Romans, then the Greeks were on the other side of the hills. Judging by what he saw, the Romans had come there prepared to completely wipe out the Greek demigods. Gods was Teddy glad they had finally reached their destination. He didn't want to imagine what would have happened if they had failed to deliver the statue. They turned towards the ocean, trying to circle around the Roman campsite and stay out of range of the siege weapons. Teddy wondered if it was any safer to pass over Camp Half-Blood when they were readying for a battle. They could easily mistake them for Romans trying to attack. But they didn't fly over the camp and instead skirted around the edge of it and towards a beach behind a forest.

They settled down in the sand and Teddy quickly slid of Guido's back. His legs felt like flubberworms and he let himself fall into the soft sand. Now that he wasn't riding anymore he finally noticed how sore his behind was. He had spent way too long on the pegasus' back.

Reyna and Hedge were conversing with Pegasus. Apparently the god of horses was very impressed with the daughter of Bellona and named her Horse Friend. Teddy could swear she had some tears in her eyes. He didn't comment on it, sensing that it must be a special moment for her.

"We should head into camp. Best you deliver the statue before the sun sets completely", Hedge said. "And my wife is waiting."

Pegasus whined as if he agreed and then he took to the air once again. Reyna looked after him until he disappeared in the clouds before nodding. She looked at Teddy. "We best return her to her original size first", she said inclining her head towards the Athena Parthenos.

Teddy did as she said. Pulling out the wand he tried to focus his strength again. Hopefully cancelling the charm wouldn't be so exhausting. "Finite Incatatem!"

Nothing happened.

Teddy frowned in confusion. Reyna gave him a worried look. "Why isn't it working?", she asked.

This was bad, this was really bad. They couldn't have come all this way for nothing. They had to deliver the statue. They had to unify the demigods. Angrily Teddy raised his wand again. He wouldn't let himself be the reason the world would go to shit. "FINITE. INCANTATEM!", he yelled again.

There was a flash and then the statue grew and grew until the Athena Parthenos was glowering down at them again. Reyna breathed a relived sigh. Teddy nearly jumped in joy. Hedge secured the statue to six of the pegasi. They would fly in and settle her on top of the hill. Before that Reyna had to announce her presence.

While they were trudging through the woods, she explained silently about the origins of the statue. Apparently the Romans had stolen her from the Greeks and after the fall of the Roman Empire she had disappeared. Their friend Annabeth, a daughter of Athena, had found her in a cave under Rome, Italy, and the demigods had then contacted Reyna. She would return the statue as a peace offering and then hopefully unite the two demigod factions again. They had been at war for centuries and only recently learned of each other's existence again.

Nico was leading them through the forest that bordered Camp Half-Blood. Both him and Reyna had their swords out, always on the lookout for monsters or other demigods. They weren't too sure how their reception would be. Reyna was the leader of the enemy forces and Nico apparently was an outsider and not well liked. Teddy couldn't really understand that.

Hedge had stayed behind under protest. He would send in the pegasi at sundown. He had wanted to go to Camp first to announce their arrival and then see his heavily pregnant wife, but Reyna and Nico had argued he would be needed to converse with the pegasi. Teddy had offered to stay behind instead but all three of them had immediately shot down that idea. They didn't think he had enough experience to defend himself should something happen. So they took him along.

A crack sounded to their left. The trio froze, Teddy barely daring to breath. He wished he knew some disillusionment-charms, or better yet had Uncle Harry's invisibility cloak. After a tense minute they slowly crept on.

"We have to hurry, the sun has nearly set", Reyna whispered.

"Not too far, we should reach Zeus' fist soon. I expect some patrols in that area", Nico said.

"Is that good?", Teddy asked.

"Not sure."

They fell into silence again. Suddenly Nico held up a hand. Teddy pressed himself against a tree and peered around it. They were at the edge of a clearing. In the middle was a pile of rocks on which a demigod was standing. She was wearing bronze armour and a weird looking helmet with a orange plume. In her hand she held a spear. Next to the pile was a young boy, dressed in the same amour and with a bow in his hand.

"Stay here", Nico said so quietly Teddy had to strain to here it.

"Is it just them?", Reyna whispered. She had pressed herself against another tree, peering at the two demigods curiously.

"I only sense two human live forms close by. There are some farther away."

Reyna nodded and then gave him the go-ahead. Nico stepped out behind his tree and raised his hands. The girls on the pile jumped into a defensive position while the boy raised his bow, an arrow appearing.

"Who are you? Are you Roman?", the girl asked.

"No", Nico said. He stepped over a small bush and into the clearing, so that they could see him better. "I'm Greek. I need to talk to Clarisse or Rachel."

The girl quickly made her way down from the pile of rocks. "I know you! You're the son of Hades. Where have you been? We are at war and you just disappeared!", she snarled.

Teddy could see Nico roll his eyes. "I was busy helping you. Now, can I talk to Clarisse?"

The girl shook her head. "I will be escorting you. We can't be too careful with those Romans crawling about.", she said.

She stepped forward, her spear levelled at Nico's chest. The son of Hades just shook his head and waved his hand. Both the girl and her companion fell over, their eyes closed and snoring slightly.

"Nico!", Teddy hissed. Why did the boy always solve his problems this way?

"Relax, they are only sleeping. But I'm no son of Hypnos so they may wake up soon. We need to get to Camp now", Nico said and starting walking again, gracefully stepping over the fallen girl.

Teddy shared a sceptical glance with Reyna before they followed him.

Camp Half-Blood looked lovely, Teddy had to admit that. An assortment of strange but charming little cabins were placed in the middle of it. An amphitheatre and an open dining pavilion with Greek columns were off to the side and big strawberry fields were on the other. Demigods in orange t-shirts and bronze armour were running around, some carrying weapons and others were lugging wood and other building material. They were obviously trying to prepare for the upcoming battle. Teddy hoped it wouldn't come to that. They had reached Camp Half-Blood early enough to prevent the attack the next morning, they just had to convince everybody to stand down.

Watching the teenagers running about Teddy had to wonder if the students at Hogwarts had felt the same way when they prepared for the attack of Voldemort's forces. Had his parents felt as uneasy and skittish as these demigods. Had they felt nervous and scared of the upcoming hours like Teddy did?

They had reached the first of the cabins without being seen.

"The Big House", Nico said and pointed to a big house at the foot of the hill. "That's were the war council meets, we will find them there."

"That's all the way across the camp", Teddy whispered. "We will never make it without being seen!"

"It's a small jump, I could get us –"

"No!", Reyna interrupted. "We will go the long way around the back of the cabins." She looked around slightly. "What's with them, anyways? Don't you have any sense for order?"

"I think its charming", Teddy said. "They are all for one god or goddess, right? They are all different so its only right the cabins are too. It's like our houses back at Hogwarts, I guess."

Reyna opened her mouth, probably to discuss the advantages of sorting the demigods into cohorts instead of cabins or houses but Nico cut through it. "Can you have this discussion later?"

Teddy ducked his head in embarrassment.

They ran off, ducking from one cabin's shadow into the other. They could be lucky the demigods were so busy with their preparations that they didn't notice them. Quickly they made their way across Camp and then dashed the last metres towards the porch of the Big House.

"Hey, there is someone!", a voice behind them yelled.

Teddy barely spared a glance behind him and when he couldn't make out who had yelled he ducked into the building. Inside they quickly found the 'war council', a group of about twelve teenagers of various ages and a centaur. Teddy hadn't seen a centaur before but he had seen pictures in one of his schoolbooks. They all gaped at the three of them. Teddy couldn't really blame them. He would be pretty surprised too if a missing demigod and two strangers were to burst through the door, covered in grime and dirt from various days of travel, blood and dust from run-ins with monsters, psychos and giant hunters. They must look an absolute mess. Reyna raised her chin and stared at them stoically, always the picture of the perfect leader.

"Nico", the centaur said in surprise. "And you have brought friends." He turned towards Teddy and Reyna and studied them carefully. "You must be the praetor Rachel told us about, Reyna", he nodded to Reyna who returned the gesture. Then he levelled Teddy with a hard look. "I haven't seen one of yours in a while. What is a wizard doing in Camp Half-Blood?"

Teddy blinked in surprise that the centaur knew who he was.

"That's a long story, we have something important to do", Nico interrupted.

"I want to hear that story. And what you were doing to look like that", a big girl said. She looked older than Reyna and was one of the oldest in the room. Still, she couldn't be over twenty. Were there truly no adult demigods around?

"And you will, later", Reyna said. She took a step forward and met the demigod's suspicious glances. "I come to bring a peace offering. We brought her from Rome back to you as a gesture of our good will and a hope to bring peace to the demigods.", she spoke, capturing the gaze of everyone in the room.

Teddy found himself staring at her in wonder. He had never heard her speak with so much authority and certainty before. He could understand now better than ever why she had climbed the ranks in her legion so quickly.

"Well, where is it?", an Asian girl asked. She was looking at them as if they were hiding the statue under their shirts.

Reyna smirked and nodded to the window, where the sun was now disappearing behind the horizon. "If you come outside with me you will see." She turned and stepped out of the room.

The Greek demigods were looking at each other in question and then at Nico. Some were discussing if they could trust her, others were proposing an outright attack on the forces behind the hill. Tensions obviously were very high between the demigods.

Nico stepped forward slightly. "She tells you the truth. Annabeth recovered the statue in Rome", he started to explain, only to be interrupted when the campers started asking about Annabeth. Some were asking whether she and the other 'Seven' were alright, others wondered if it was true that she and someone named Percy had fallen into a place called Tartarus. Teddy didn't know what that was but he noticed that Nico started to look uncomfortable.

"Listen to them!", he snapped and took a step forward.

Instantly he had all looks on him. His face turned slightly red at the attention and his hair chanced to a mousy brown. That as well got some curious looks. "They have been shadow-travelling from Greece. I met up with them in Scotland and have been helping since then. If a wizard, a satyr and two demigods can work together to cross the world, then why can't you work with the Romans to save your kind?"

Nico gave him a thankful look while Chiron smiled proudly. The big girl, who Teddy guessed was Clarisse, looked thoughtful. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to see this peace offering. We can debate later if we accept it."

That got encouraging cheers from the other demigods.

"Wait, shadow-travel from Greece with so many people? That doesn't seem healthy", a blonde boy spoke up.

Nico looked irritated. "Let's all just get out of the house, will you", he snapped and then turned and stomped off.

Teddy looked at the blond boy. "It really isn't healthy. He shouldn't be doing any more of that or he will fade away", he said quickly before running after Nico.

Teddy met up with Nico and Reyna at the top of the hill, next to a big pine tree. Some other Greek demigods had gathered around them and were looking worried or threateningly at Reyna. The Roman camp on the other side was also a bustling hive of activity, but some campers had stopped and stared up at them, pointing at their returning leader. Slowly, one-by-one, the war council climbed the hill to stand by them. The blond boy from earlier went up to Nico and started badgering him about a health check-up.

Reyna turned towards her audience and raised her sword in the air. "Our peace offering to the Greek demigods. Behold, the Athena Parthenos!"

Teddy turned to were she pointed and watched in amazement as the glittering statute of the goddess of wisdom was lifted into the air above the woods.