Relatives

by SilverWing321

Rachel's relatives, the Weaslys are coming to stay for a month. They seem like a normal enough family, but Rachel can tell they're hiding something, and she'll find out what it is if it's the last thing she does. Before she knows it, Rachel finds herself thrown into the world of witches, wizards, and magic. Now the only question is, can she get out?

8. Chapter 7

Hi everyone! SO...yeah, about that promise that the wait wouldn't be too long this time...I'm sorry. Again. I really am terrible at this, but this time, I wasn't neglecting the story! I actually was writing this, but it actually took a long time this time!

Before we start, another special thanks to my super-awesome beta,theDreamCatcherxX, who has an amazing amount of knowledge on dragons, and made this chapter a lot more interesting...as she always does :). You. Are. Awesome.

Now, I need to tell you guys a secret...I own nothing! I guess you already knew that though...

Chapter Seven

Annabeth's P.O.V.

I stood outside the Dare manor, waiting for Rachel to come back out with her relatives. My head felt like it was spinning at a hundred mile an hour, trying to figure these strange newcomers out.

I knew they weren't regular mortals, and they were far more powerful than Rachel, but something told me they weren't demigods either. If they were demigods, either Mr. or Mrs. Weasley would have to be a stepparent, and simply looking at the family, I knew that wasn't the case. Could Mr. and Mrs. Weasley be demigods, and their children were legacies? But if that were true, why would Rachel be holding back from telling us?

Rachel wanted to tell us, or at least, she didn't want to lie to us, so why was she keeping secrets? The Weasleys weren't forcing her to hold her tongue, so she was doing it of her own free will. Why? I had no clue, and I hated not having a clue about things.

I was jolted out of my train of thought when Percy suddenly said, "Why did you invite them to camp?

"It's best to have somebody who knows about these dementors try to fight them before we do it on our own." I replied.

"Yeah...But we don't need them there." said Percy, "We killed one of those dementor-things on our own, it wasn't any harder than killing a normal monster."

I nodded, "That's true, but we still don't know much about them. It's better to know about your enemy before you take them on."

Percy shrugged, and I continued,

"Besides, if we don't invite them to camp, how are we going to find out who they really are?"

"So that's why you invited them to camp?" asked Percy. I nodded, and he frowned at me, "But they're demigods, we already know that. They have to be, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to fight the dementors."

I rolled my eyes, "If they were demigods, Percy, why would they be afraid to tell us?" I asked.

"I…" Percy began, but he trailed off, scratching his head, "I didn't think of that.," he said.

I laughed, "Seaweed Brain." I muttered, leaning in to kiss him. But the moment was broken by voice behind us saying;

"Seriously, you two need to get a room! You're in our driveway, for Hades sake!"

I turned to see Rachel walking towards us, holding her blue hairbrush at her side, and grinning exasperatedly.

"Sorry Rach," said Percy, grinning, his tone making it clear he wasn't that sorry at all. Rachel rolled her eyes.

"Where's everyone else?" Asked Percy.

"They're still gathering their things, Mrs. Weasley is fussing over them worse than ever." Said Rachel, "I already have stuff at camp, so I don't need to pack."

I nodded, "They'll probably stay at the Hermes cabin." I said, "It's been much less crowded ever since the Titan War ended."

Rachel nodded, "Although I don't think they'll say no to the Hecate cabin," she added.

I frowned, "The Hecate cabin? Why there?"

Rachel turned red- which, with her red hair, made her look like her whole head was on fire- and scratched the back of her neck, like she'd said too much.

"Um...no reason really." she said in an offhand tone.

I frowned, but didn't push the subject. At that moment, Ginny emerged from the house, followed by George, Bill, and Charlie. Percy Weasley lingered by the doorway, while Mr. and Mrs. Weasley hurried out after their kids, Mrs. Weasley with a look of immense worry plastered onto her face. Even Mr. Weasley looked nervous.

"You ready to go?" I asked the read heads.

"Ready as we'll ever be." said George, his eyes brimming with excitement. Percy (Jackson) nodded,

"We'll all fit into the car, but we'll have to be pretty squished." he said. Ron frowned,

"Why can't we just apper-" Ron was cut off as Bill abruptly stepped on his foot, and Charlie shot him a glare. "Um...the car is fine." he said quickly, "We don't mind, um, squishing."

"Great, we're all happy then." said Percy, grinning, who apparently hadn't noticed Ron's slip-up. Had his brothers just been telling him off for being rude, or was it something they were trying to hide? I shook my head, I couldn't be paranoid like this. That wouldn't get me anywhere.

We all clambered into the car, Percy and I sitting in the front, and Rachel, Ginny, George, Charlie, and Bill squashed into the backseat.

"You have everything you need?" Mrs. Weasley called through the open window, "Ron, you brought your toothbrush?"

"Yes, mum, I brought my toothbrush."

"Be sure to contact me when you arrive there, Bill, I want to know if you got there alright-"

"Mum, we'll be fine." said Bill. Mrs. Weasley nodded, and stepped away from the car, standing next to Mr. Weasley and Percy Weasley. Percy revved the engine, and we drove out of the mansion's driveway, leaving behind a waving Mrs. and Mr. Weasley. I glanced behind me, and saw the Weasleys talking quietly amongst themselves.

This is going to be interesting. I thought to myself, Very interesting.

Rachel's P.O.V.

As I stared out the window of Paul's Prius, watching cars speed past us as we drove, I wasn't sure how much time had passed, too absorbed in thought. What would the other Half Bloods at camp think of my family? If I had learned anything about the demigods at camp Half-Blood, it was that they would go to any length to solve a mystery. There was hardly any privacy at camp; I had heard rumors that even Percy and Annabeth's first kiss had been interrupted by a bunch of eavesdropping campers.

Normally, this didn't bother me. I was quite all right with all the poking and prodding around, after I all, I had never had anything to hide. But now that the Weasleys needed to keep their magic a secret, I knew it was only a matter of time before someone or other found out.

I had just arrived to the conclusion that I would tell Chiron everything as soon as we got there, and hopefully, he could help keep the whole ordeal quiet, when the car screeched to a halt. I looked up in surprise, and saw we were stopped at the base of Half-Blood Hill.

"Welcome to Camp, Weasleys!" said Percy proudly, getting out of the car. The Weasleys couldn't have gotten out of the cramped car faster, stretching their stiff limbs. The drive from the Dare Manor and Camp wasn't too long, but when there were five people crammed in a back seat meant for three, it was a relief to get out.

"It's just above the hill," said Annabeth, "Thalia's tree marks the borders." she pointed to the top of hill at the huge pine tree. The redheads looked a little confused at the term 'Thalia's Tree', but followed Annabeth, Percy, and I up the hill. Soon, Peleus, our guard dragon came into sight. I glanced back at the Weasleys, wondering if they could see through the Mist, like I could.

Sure enough, I saw Ron had stopped in his tracks.

"Bloody hell!" he said loudly, "Is that-"

"Is that a dragon?!" Finished Charlie and I glanced at the dragon tattoo on his arm. Did the Wizarding community know about dragons?

"Yup, that's Peleus." Percy was saying in an offhand tone, smirking at the astounded expressions on the Weasleys' faces. "He guards the caps borders."

"That's incredible!" said Charlie, and he began to jog up the hill, straight towards the snake-headed monster.

Annabeth grabbed his arm; "Hold up there," she said, "Peleus will incinerate you if you go up to him! You don't smell like a half-blood."

But Charlie shrugged her off, and winked grinning. Then, he walked fearlessly up to the dragon, leaving Annabeth with a surprised expression on her face. I thought I heard her mutter 'Idiot! He'll get himself killed.' under her breath.

"Incredible." Charlie repeated. He had begun to circle the dragon, examining it closely, "This is a Hebridean Black!" he turned to Annabeth, "They're one of Britain's native species, and require a territory as much as hundred and sixty-one kilometers… or er… a hundred square miles... how did you get one so close to a city? And in America! They usually only inhabit Northern England, they're originally from the clan MacFusty, in the Hebrides… and its scales are in perfect condition-" he started to ramble.

I frowned. It sounded like Charlie had just swallowed a textbook about dragons.

"How does he know all that?" I muttered to Ginny though the corner of my mouth. The demigods had never categorized dragons before, and had certainly never called Peleus a 'Hebridean Black'. All they knew about dragons was if it was attacking people, kill it, if it wasn't, leave it alone.

"Charlie works in Romania. He studies dragons," replied Ginny. "He can get terribly long-winded if you let him talk too much about them." She added exasperatedly.

I stared at Ginny, and tried to understand how she could say in such a casual tone that her brother trained dragons for a living. Charlie's many burn marks finally made sense to me.

Charlie was still awing at Peleus. Suddenly, the dragon's scally, black eyelids both slid open, revealing two piercing purple orbs. Peleus' eyes locked onto Charlie, and he growled, revealing jagged yellow fangs. I had never seen Peleus harm a person before, but I had seen him kill two monsters at once with a simple swipe of his talon. My heart skipped a beat as Charlie strode towards the dragon's head, unfazed, and pressed down in its forehead hard. Peleus stopped growling at once, and gave Charlie what I swore was an amused look.

Ron laughed at what must have been a shocked expression plastered onto my face. "He trains dragons, what did you expect?" said Ron.

Charlie turned to Percy and Annabeth, who both wore identical looks of bewilderment on their faces. "You've got a pretty cool guard dragon," he said, "What've you been feeding him?"

"J-Just spare meat." said said Annabeth, who recovered from her surprise first.

Charlie nodded approvingly, looking at Peleus' huge form "Well, usually they only eat deer, even cattle or large dogs. But what ever you're doing, it seems to be working well." he said.

"How did you make him go all calm?" asked Annabeth suddenly, but she sounded more curious than suspicious.

"The majority of dragons have pressure point on their forehead." explained Charlie, "It's the center of their nervous system, so if you touch it-"

"Charlie," Bill interrupted, "Please spare us the lecture of dragon anatomy. You can get rather boring."

I laughed as Charlie's ears went red. "Oh...sorry." he muttered.

"I'm sure the Athena campers wouldn't mind hearing a bit more about dragons." cut in Annabeth, looking eager to know more, "We've never really considered studying them."

This seemed to brighten Charlie's mood quite a bit, and the group continued down into Camp Half-Blood.

The rest of the Weasleys were just as amazed at the camp as I had been when I first came. We received several strange looks from the campers as we headed down to the Big House, but no one said anything.

"Hey, Ginny." I said quietly as we passed the volleyball court.

"Yeah?"

"I'm going to tell-I mean- I need to tell the activities director about you. About your, um, magic-y-ness."

"Magic-y-ness?" repeated Ginny, raising an eyebrow. I shrugged, and Ginny continued. "Rachel, we...we're not going to force you not to, but-"

"The camp is a pretty curious place." I interrupted, "People are gonna' want to find out what you are, and they will, unless there's someone to help keep the whole thing quiet. Chiron-the activities director- he's really wise. He'll know what to do about the whole thing."

Ginny looked at me skeptically, obviously still uneasy. Then, she cracked a smile. "You make him sound like Dumbledore."

I looked at her blankly, "A dumb old door?"

Ginny burst out laughing, doubling over from chuckles. "N-no!" she gasped between giggles. "Not dumb old door. Dumble-"

But she didn't finish her sentence as the Big House came into view, and she caught sight of Chiron, in his full horse form, playing cards with Mr. D. By the smug look on Mr. D's face, he was probably in a good mood, and I wondered vaguely if he would remember my name was Rachel, not Roxanne. The attention of the Weasleys, however, was focused on Chiron.

"That's a centaur," said Bill. I was surprised to hear his voice sounded more mildly startled than amazed.

"Well spotted, Bill. You ought to be a detective," said Percy, grinning. Bill laughed.

"Don't tell me you guys already know about centaurs too," I said quietly.

"I've met a few before, but I've never seen any leave the forest," said Charlie with mild interest.

"There's a first time for everything." I said, grinning. Then, I called out "Chiron!" hurrying up to the porch. Chiron looked up from his cards, and raised his eyebrows as he saw the five redheads behind me, an expression of both surprise and amusement.

"Is this your relation, Miss Dare?" He asked. I nodded and Chiron smiled at the Weasleys and held out his hands in a welcoming gesture. "Welcome to Camp Half-Blood."

I waited for him to ask why they were here, but he didn't. Instead, he said, "You'll have to excuse me, Mr. D," and stood up.

"Bah, I can never have a decent game with you, Chiron." he complained. "You ought to be teaching these brats the decency to not interrupt a game. Thank Zeus I won't be around here much longer."

Ron looked like he wanted to interrupt, but I shook my head, gesturing to him to follow Chiron into the Big House. It probably wasn't a good idea for him to annoy the Wine God during his first ten minutes at camp.

"He's not rambling on about stars and constellations!" said Ginny, sounding surprised and looking at Chiron.

'Why would he be?" I asked.

"Um, just because..." she trailed off, although I thought I heard her mutter something that sounded like 'Mars is bright tonight' under her breath.

Chiron led us to the Ping-Pong room, and took a seat in a chair that had been specially made to ado accommodate his horse form.

"What did you want to tell me about, Miss Dare?" He asked.

"Chiron, these are my, uh...cousins, I think?" I sent a questioning look at Ron.

"I'm pretty sure we're actually second cousins...I think." guessed Ginny.

"Or is it third cousins?" wondered Ron out loud, "Since our mum is Mrs. Dare's second cousin-"

"The point is," I cut in, deciding to interrupt the 'family-terms' discussion, "The Weasleys need to stay here for a while. They're-" I paused for a moment, wondering what to say, but Chiron filled the silence.

"Weasleys?" he repeated, his eyes widening with surprise. My brow furrowed.

"Yeah..." I said uncertainly.

Chiron turned to Annabeth and Percy, a grave expression coming over his face.

I must speak with Miss Dare and the Weasleys alone," he said.

Annabeth and Percy looked surprised. No matter how grave the situation was, Percy and Annabeth had always been trusted with the information about what was going on, or at least, most of the information. It was very unusual that Chiron excluded the two of them. Nevertheless, Percy, after casting a questioning glance at Chiron, said "Sure." and left the Big House, Annabeth behind him.

Chiron turned to the Weasleys, a worried expression on his face. "You have to leave." He said shortly, "Immediately. Witches and wizards are no longer welcome here. When the gods realize you are at camp-"

"Wait, what?!" I blurted. The Weasleys all began to talk at once.

"How do you know what we are?"

"What do you mean witches and wizards are no longer welcome here?"

"We were welcome here once before?"

"Are you a centaur from the forbidden forest?"

Chiron held up his hand to keep us from rambling. "I contact my old friends back in the Wizarding World often enough to know the name Weasley." he said hastily. "You're family helped defeat the Dark Lord, yes?"

My head was spinning, "Chiron," I stuttered "how do you...how do you even-"

Chiron shook his head, "Explaining would take far too long. Right now, Rachel, we must get your family back to their home before the gods find them here."

"Why?" Prompted Ron, "What've your gods got against us?"

"It's an ancient rift." said Chiron hurridly. He had not gotten up and trotted over to the fountain in the corner of the Ping-Pong room used for sending Iris messages. "The history between wizards and demigods is very complicated. The gods will do anything to keep the two of you apart, so as to prevent a repeat in history."

My mind felt like it was going to explode from overload of information. Chiron grabbed a drachma from the bowl sitting next to the fountain, and tossed the golden coin into the mist.

"Oh goddess, show me Firenze." he said. I had no idea who 'Firenze' was, it sounded more like someone sneezing than an actual word, but at the mention of the name, Ginny's eyes widened.

"That old centaur who teaches Divination?" she asked, "What was he got to do with any of this?"

"He teaches now, does he?" asked Chiron, looking impressed, "I never would have thought."

I was about to ask what the Hades a Firenze was when an image suddenly shimmered into existence in the mist. My eyes widened with surprise as I saw it was a centaur. But not like any of the other Party Ponies I had seen. This centaur was sitting in what looked like a dimly lit office, reading a book.

"Firenze!" he called through the massage. The other centaur looked up, startled. As his eyes fell onto the Iris message, his brow furrowed with confusion.

"Chiron?" he said cautiously. Chiron smiled.

"Long time, no see, old friend." he said. Firenze's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"We are no longer friends, Chiron." he spat, his tone suddenly harsh. He slammed the book he was reading shut, and stood. "Why have you contacted me?"

"Simply to ask you a favor." said Chiron.

"And why would I owe you a favor?" snapped Firenze.

"You owe me nothing, Firenze." said Chiron truthfully, "But as former friends, I hoped…"

"We are not friends!" repeated Firenze angrily, as if Chiron had just offended him.

"Not even after all this time?" asked Chiron, "You still have not forgiven me?"

"This is not something we simply can forgive, Chiron! You gave up our ways in favor of those...those Graecus dietetics! And when you left our clan in the Forbidden Forest to go teach those demigods, the majority of our kind left as well! And look at them now. Barbaric...uncivilized...party ponies! Precious few of us centaurs still maintain our own common sense...all thanks to you Chiron."

What? I looked at Chiron, desperately confused, but he silenced me with his eyes, the message 'I'll explain later' written plainly on his face. He turned back to the angry centaur.

"I didn't think you would help me." he said, the tiniest bit of regret in his voice. "But if you won't help me, will you at least help these wizards who have happened upon Camp Half-Blood?"

He gestured to the Weasleys. At first, Firenze just looked from Bill to Charlie to George with confusion, but as soon as he saw Ron and Ginny, his eyes widened with surprise.

"What-how did-" he looked at Chiron accusingly, "What are my students doing in your camp?"

"It was coincidence that they came to be here." said Chiron, "But it's only a matter of time before the gods find them here. Firenze, you are at the school. You have to take them back there, immediately."

"Whoa, whoa, wait." Interrupted Ron, "Mate, we only met you one minute ago. We're not going back to England just because you said so. If you hate us for some reason, we'll just go back to Rachel's place."

I nodded, but Chiron shook his head. "You don't understand, demigods and wizards were never meant to meet. That's why there are no Wizarding colonies in the Americas, the gods have been keeping you apart for years, ever since the last war between our two kinds."

My eyes widened, "War?!" Ginny, Ron, and I said at the same time.

"You don't understand-" Chiron began, but Ron cut him off.

"Then for Merlin's sake, explain what the bloody hell is going on here!" said Ron.

"Now is not the time." said Chiron hastily. He glanced towards the front door, and then quickly turned back to the Iris message.

Firenze was rubbing his forehead warily, "I should have known." he was muttering, "The stars foretold they would meet again...I had hoped I had read them wrong." he looked up at Chiron. "I have taken an oath to no longer interact with the demigods." said Firenze, "An unbreakable vow. I cannot bring these wizards home."

Chiron sighed. "That's what I feared." he said, "Thank you anyways, old friend. And do say hello for me to Bane and the others, back in the forest."

Firenze said nothing, his gaze going steely again when Chiron said 'old friend.' Chiron cut the connection. For a moment, there was utter silence, and then-

"What the bloody hell was that about?" cried Ginny, "Why is our divination teacher involved in this?!"

"Chiron, who was that?" I asked. "What's that school you keep talking about?"

"How do you know Firenze? Were you from Hogwarts?"

"Why does he hate you?"

"What did he mean you lead the centaurs into anarchy? And what war was there?"

Chiron held up his hand to stem the flow of questions. "It's a very, very long story, but I believe I owe you an explanation. Take a seat."

Chiron sat down at the table, and the Weasleys and I reluctantly did the same.

"I suppose I better start from the beginning." said Chiron. "Many years ago, when the flame of the west was still in the United Kingdom. The gods had taken notice of a select group of individuals."

"Witches and wizards?" I guessed. Chiron nodded.

"They didn't know how wizards and witches had gotten their powers, no one does, really. It fascinated the gods. Hecate especially. They began to send heroes on quests, to go undercover into the Wizarding world. The demigods would observe the witches and wizards, posing as squibs."

"Squids?" I repeated, "How does posing as a squid help? How does someone even go about posing as a-"

"Not squid. A squib" said Ginny, smiling, "First you say 'Dumb Old Door, now Squid."

"A squib is someone with magical blood, but can't do any magic." supplied Charlie.

"This went on for years." continued Chiron, "But the demigods were beginning to attract monsters, and bring them into the Wizarding World. Quite naturally, the witches and wizards took notice of this. The Wizarding World became divided, some thought the half-bloods' intentions was to attack them. Others believed they weren't. Eventually, the first group attacked the demigods. Both sides didn't know very much about each other, and both sides were simply afraid for their kind, trying to protect their traditions and ways. War broke out. Both sides were evenly matched, and they remained a war for years on end."

"Eventually, the gods realized that the war would go on forever unless they stopped it. And so that's what they did. Memories were erased, wizards and demigods were separated, to be kept apart for the rest of eternity. The gods couldn't risk another war."

It was a few moments after Chiron had stopped talking that I realized my mouth was gaping, and I quickly closed it.

"So...if your gods find out we're here, they wouldn't hurt us, would they?" said Ron uncertainly, "Wouldn't they just tell us to get out of the camp?"

Chiron shook his head. "I'm afraid not. More likely, they would wipe your memories to make you forget demigods ever existed. And you, Rachel, I believe they would make you forget the fact that the Wizarding World existed."

I felt a shiver run up my spine at the prospect of being mind-wiped. I caught a glance at Ginny, who looked equally alarmed.

"But...we haven't done anything wrong!" said Bill. Chiron rubbed his forehead warily.

"I understand that." he said, "But the risk of another war will be too great."

"So what do we do? Mum'll throw a fit if she finds out about this, and we can't go back to England just like that!" said Ginny.

"And we're not just going to leave camp." said George, "Not after those dementors."

"Dementors?" Repeated Chiron. I quickly recalled the Dementor incident, and by the time I was done, Chiron's brow was creased with thought.

"The first time Demigods and wizards have met face-to-face in the last century... and a dementor happens to come...it had to have been sent by someone..." he muttered distractedly, "Could it be...no."

"Chiron, who?" I pressed. Chiron shook his head,

"Never mind." he said, turning to the Weasleys "I believe your best chance would be just trying to blend in here-"

"It's not gonna' be that easy." I said, "The way rumors spread here, I wouldn't be surprised if the whole camp already knows about them and the dementor attack."

"If anyone asks, you say that you are Rachel's relatives who happen to be clear-sighted." said Chiron, "When you were visiting her, Rachel invited Percy and Annabeth over, who accidentally attracted some monsters. You witnessed them killung the monsters, and when you found out about the gods, you insisted you come see the camp."

"But Percy didn't kill all of the dementors. My patronus banished one." said Ginny, "How do we explain that?"

"I guess just say that Percy and Annabeth killed both." I said. "But one more thing...being clear sighted isn't common, people aren't just going to believe you're all clear sighted."

"We can say it runs in the family." said Ron Chiron nodded.

"I can only hope the gods are too busy to look too closely at the camp, and realize who you are." said Chiron.

"Wait, Mr. D!" I said suddenly, "He's a god! He'll realize-"

"That porky old man on the porch was a god?!" repeated Ron.

I nodded, and Ron shook his head.

"He'll realize who you are!" I said, panicked.

"Thankfully, he will not." said Chiron calmly, smiling, "As Mr. D so-er-crudely pointed out on the porch, he will not be remaining at camp for much longer. He is going to be dismissed to Olympus for the summer solstice meeting next week, and I'm guessing he'll stay there for as long as possible. He will be allowed to leave camp at sundown today, which is" Chiron glanced out the window, "Right about now."

I noticed the tip of the sun beginning to set on the horizon, and I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. "Thank gods." I muttered.

"I believe all is order than." Said Chiron standing up, turning to the Weasley's. "You may sleep in the Hermes cabin during your time here, and I'll allow you to participate in some of the training activities, if you like."

"No thank you." said Ron, "I'll stick with magic."

We filed out of the Big House, and I noticed Mr. D had disappeared, probably already on his way to Olympus. As soon as we crossed the threshold, Charlie set off purposefully towards Half-Blood Hill, his eyes fixed on Pelus. I smiled, and turned to Ginny, Ron, George, and Bill.

"I'll show you the Hermes cabin. You're gonna' like Camp Half-Blood, trust me."

Ooooh, so much information! I hope you anjoyed it, and please review! See ya'll next time!