Today is October twenty-sixth. Not June first.

Oh dear God. You all hate my guts, now, don't you? I was half expecting you all to show up at my place carrying torches and pitchforks. Well, at least that would've been off my bucket list: causing an angry mob.

Anyway, I am sincerely sorry. So I bring you this. It has some pretty juicy awesomeness, which I owe you. It also has some fluff, if you want some.

I can't believe I promised to update June First….. *holds head in hands and moans like an Apollo Cow*

This chapter is wife-centric. Annabeth and Ginny. Lalala.

FOUR THOUSAND WORDS FOR MY PEEPS. ENJOY.

Disclaimer: No, I do not own Percy Jackson. I do not own Harry Potter either. And Disney? Haha. Nope.

It was early. Too early. Like, two AM early.

Annabeth sat by herself in a corner of the guest bedroom. She was in this huge chair, one that made her feel as if she was a dwarf. She ran her hand over the used leather. It may have looked like a giant dirty old thing, but damn, it was comfortable.

She glanced up from where she was and looked across the room, her eyes taking a moment to adjust in the gloom. Percy was lying in bed, sleeping soundly. He was better now than he had been earlier that night. He had been quite unrestful, and had kept moving in his sleep and elbowing her. She rubbed her arm, remembering.

She felt bad for her husband. He had always been the one who suffered from nightmares, ever since they were twelve. Even now, when the worst was over. They weren't fighting Titans or Giants anymore. Yet they were still there, in their memories. And they couldn't do a thing about it.

Good thing these restless nights weren't constant, or else she would have banished him to the couch years ago.

But now, she didn't know whether or not it was the nightmares. He had been complaining about a headache, and she worried for him. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea, being here. In fact, it was an outrageous idea. What had she been thinking, really? She sighed. But they had nowhere else to go.

On her knees sat a laptop. No, it was not the same one that Daedalus had given her when she was fifteen; that one had fallen to Tartarus—literally. This one was a regular mortal computer, though it had a few more enhancements, and it was now designed in such a way that a demigod could use it without endangering themselves. She had learned a way to keep certain signals from being broadcasted from it, signals that would've told monsters their location.

Annabeth was searching the internet madly. She was on countless shopping sites, looking for something in particular. But she wasn't shopping. She was figuring something out. Something that had been bothering her for a while.

It was that moving picture frame. The idea was killing her. She had seen moving picture frames before. Hell, she had owned moving picture frames before. This wasn't normal.

Finally Annabeth picked up her computer and moved it over to the table that was beside the chair. She picked up the picture frame and looked at it closely. She turned it over, examining it. It was flat. It was made out of sturdy cardboard, fake velvet, glass and stainless steel. Nothing else, as far as she could see, besides the picture itself. There was no plastic. No wires. And it had no place for batteries.

That part was all obvious. She was beginning to hate all of it, it was so frustrating. How was it moving, if it was not electric?

Annabeth turned it back over. She watched the picture intensely. It was like a GIF image, but more smooth, clean, clear. And it restarted like it had never ended, unlike most GIFs that ended and started like static. Like something you'd hear over the phone when you had a bad connection. Except this was visual, not something that you would listen to.

She drummed her fingers upon the glass cover over the "photograph." She had been neglecting opening it. It wasn't hers, after all. And for some strange reason, she felt that she would be caught. She didn't know why. She could obviously put it back exactly as she had found it. But she just didn't know what she'd find when she opened it. It wasn't as if a spider was lurking in the corner of the frame. She sighed, and, feeling idiotic for taking so long to do a simple task, slid the frame open.

And it slipped from her fingers, shattering upon the hard, uneven wooden floor.

Annabeth lay quietly in bed, half awake. The light in the bedroom was a soft blue color. Her eyes were focused on the clock on the wall. It was still early. About seven thirty.

She had swept the shattered remains of the picture frame under the chair. It was a horrible placement of such a thing, but she hoped that it wouldn't be found.

But she felt that this family didn't want it to have been found either.

She and Percy couldn't be the only ones with something to hide.

Annabeth pulled the covers closer to her. Should she feel afraid? Excited? What? Really, she needed to be told. Because she couldn't figure it out on her own. And confusion was really not a good thing, for a twenty-something demigod daughter of Athena. Maybe she was simply out of practice. Of solving problems that didn't have to do with the structure of buildings.

Should she wake Percy up and tell him...? No. He was not a very good morning person. Not that he was grumpy in the morning; it was the fact that he couldn't keep his eyes open.

She sighed. Maybe she should call Chiron. He would definitely be up by now, because of the time change from the UK to New York. She yawned and rubbed her eyes. Or maybe not. Maybe they'd have to deal with it on their own. Maybe that was why they were here. Maybe it was fate. Suddenly she thought of something. She should call Rachel—no! If anything, this was their own personal problem to deal with. Not anybody else's.

And what if that costed them dearly? She banished the thought. They would be fine. These people had three kids.

She sighed and closed her eyes. And unexpectedly she dropped right off into sleep.

Ginny woke up to find that her husband was absent from their bed. She groggily blinked a few times, and then stretched. She sat up, noticing Harry sitting at the edge of the mattress. His glasses were off (still on the night stand) and he had his elbows on his knees and was rubbing his scar like one would their temple.

She watched him for a little while. It wasn't an odd sight to find him like this. But when you did, well, it wasn't the happiest thing.

After a few minutes she sighed.

"Harry," she murmured softly.

Harry sat up straight and turned to look at her. He reached out a hand across the sheets and she took it.

Ginny tilted her head to one side. "You okay, love?"

Harry watched their hands, pursing his lips in a way that reminded himself of the way Professor McGonagall used to. He nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine," he answered, his voice still heavy with sleep. Ginny scanned the familiar face, and decided quietly that what he said was indeed true. She too looked at their hands for a second, then took a deep breath, kissed her husband of nearly twenty years on the cheek, and slid her feet out onto the floor.

The hard wood floors were cold. The young woman hopped onto a carpet and picked up her night robe to swing over her shoulders. She stood up straight, diving her hands into her pockets.

"I'm going to go make breakfast. Do you know if anyone else is awake yet?"

"I think I heard Lily get up. I don't know about anyone else though."

"Okay. Any requests for food?"

"Surprise me."

Annabeth was awakened by Percy's shufflings around the room. She blinked open her eyes, gaze immediately drawn to the clock on the wall, the one that she had fallen asleep looking at.

It was four minutes to nine. Barely any sleep had been hers.

She turned over to look at what he was doing. Her husband was going through his bag. She couldn't help but notice that the items inside were completely unorganized. That's just how he's always been though. Perfectly imperfect.

Percy stood up straight and suddenly noticed her. "Oh hey," he called in a low voice. "I didn't mean to wake you." The son of Poseidon was still dressed in plaid pajama pants and no shirt. SPQR sat in bold black letters on his right arm, along with random scars here and there over his upper body. Reminders of their past battles, painful memories, and their identity as demigods.

"I was trying to look for my jeans," he explained, a hint of embarrassment in his voice.

Annabeth rubbed her face tiredly. "Um… I think they might be in that brown bag."

The one that she mentioned laid untouched under the bed. He crouched and pulled it out from under, zipping it open. The jeans were conveniently settled on top.

"Thanks," he murmured, changing into them. Annabeth, in turn, climbed out of bed, stretched and, suddenly remembering, shot a look at the large armchair in the corner of the room. All in the same second, it seemed to be menacing, innocent, and just to be staring back at her. Asking her what she would do.

She wondered what would happen if… if she told them. If she came forward, and was truthful. Well, she broke something of theirs. Of course she should tell them. But how would she say it? 'Hey, I'm really sorry, but I broke this picture frame of yours. I also happened to notice that it has a magical moving photograph inside.'

Annabeth almost scoffed aloud. She was a real freaking idiot. But what? What? What could she do?

"Annabeth?" She realized Percy had asked her a question twice already.

"What? Sorry."

Percy gave her an odd look. "Um… I was wondering what time we're leaving for Hyde Park."

Oh. Oh, yeah. She was so caught up in the item, she had forgotten about their plans. "I'd say about ten." She glanced at the clock on the wall once more. It was still nine o'clock.

"Are you okay?" Percy's voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Me?" Annabeth asked, surprised.

"Yeah, you. You're being really weird."

"I wouldn't know why, if I am." Liar. The young woman knew exactly why.

Percy just watched her for a couple of moments. He could tell that she was hiding something. He knew her too well. Her ADHD quickly pointed out that that was a good thing, nothing less. He was her husband, after all. He just let it go, though. He knew her well, and he trusted her.

Annabeth turned away. She had to get dressed.

Something suddenly dawned on her. They were all being weird. Something was up. Yesterday, Percy was acting strange. And then… they saw his duplicate. And then that headache. And the photo.

These people. There was— it was just odd. They were strange. Their home was strange.

Turning, she looked back at the chair. It was way too large to fit through any normal door, including the one to their guest room. What…?

Percy didn't have his headache anymore, it seemed. That was good, but…

She put her hands on her face. Before her husband could notice her anxiety, she stepped into the bathroom that was attached to their room and shut it.

Her head. It felt clouded. Like it was filled with fog. It was hard to navigate through her thoughts. It was hard to remember things. Like the fact that they were guests in a home where the owner looked almost exactlylike Percy.

She sat on the shut lid of the toilet, of the loo. This place was foreign. It had weird words. She smiled at the absurdity of the word. Loo.

Her curiosity wanted to see if other little differences could be seen around her. What if their soap smelled sweeter? Or their bathroom tiles any larger? Annabeth was grinning largely. This place was simply silly.

She got up. She needed to get dressed to go with Percy to Hyde Park. The Winter Wonderland. Filled with yummy food and pretty lights and people who had funny accents and used funny words.

Funny. Funny.

How funny.

She washed her hands for the sole purpose of smelling the soap because she hadn't actually used the loo. The soap was bitter though. Quite the disappointment. How insulting.

Annabeth dried her hands on a towel and left the restroom. She found Percy laying on their bed, completely dressed now, wearing a green and blue theme park t-shirt emblazoned 'Water World.'

He had his eyes closed and his hands behind his head, a small impish smile playing his lips.

Quickly she found her own clothes and things like her hairbrush, toothbrush, and makeup. She took them back with her into the bathroom to finish getting ready. When she was done about fifteen minutes later, Percy was still lying on the bed. The only difference this time were the fact that he was asleep. And that he was drooling.

Looking at him, she felt the attraction of curling up next to him, and just sleeping away the day. But they didn't spend a whole lotta money on a vacation just to sleep, now did they?

She grabbed his socked feet. "Honey. Honey."

Percy jolted. "Hmnnn?" He asked, wiping his mouth.

"We should get going soon." She paused. "Like right now soon."

"Now?" He looked at his watch (digital, of course. His dyslexia was worse than hers). "But you said ten. It's like nine thirty."

"The earlier the better."

Percy groaned and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like, "That's not my motto."

Annabeth just laughed. She grabbed her hoodie, swinging it up over her shoulders. "C'mon Seaweedbrain."

Percy rolled off the bed and stood up straight. He pulled on his shoes, and the two of them left the room together, ready to take on the day.

Ginny stood in the center of the kitchen and sighed. How in hell was she going to be able to make breakfast without the precious help of cooking charms? It was dangerous to use them with muggles romping around her home.

She counted. Her, Lily, Albus, James, Harry, and then their two guests. Seven people. This was going to take a while. Well, maybe….

Ginny stepped back so the stairs were visible. As long as they didn't see….

She lifted her dominant hand, gripping the one object that best channeled her magic. She waved her wand, animating several pans, dishes, and cartons of food. The air was suddenly filled with orderly chaos, as the items did their very best to do what they were told to do, the quickest way possible. The eggs cracked themselves open, the flour scooped itself into a bowl. Bacon laid itself down on a skillet and the stove flickered to life.

Had the witch been familiar with muggle fairy tales, she would have surely noticed the similarity between her everyday routine and the several Disney stories.* But she wasn't a muggle, and the tales were probably based off of magical people's lives anyway.

Delicious smells were soon wafting from her well-polished process. The woman had learned well from her mum. She had also had years of practice. Being a mother, especially one of multiple kids, it was practically a given.

Soon the food was almost done. Her gaze was still switching back from the staircase and her work. She started sending the finished pancakes and bacon and toast to plates, stacking them up nicely. She filled a pitcher with milk, and another with pumpkin juice. She obtained her butter and syrup and tea, setting them out so that they would be easily accessible to those who wanted them.

Now that Ginny had the food ready, lined up along the counters of the kitchen, she lifted the dirty dishes with her wand, causing them to fly to the large sink. She turned the water on, and the liquid dish soap began to pour itself over them.

Without warning, steps could be heard coming down the steps. She swore, and dropped her wand into the knife drawer. The soap container fell into the sink with a large splash, the sudsy water going everywhere.

Their guests could be seen standing awkwardly at the bottom of the steps from where Ginny stood, just out of the splash range of the water.

Ginny felt tired, her limbs weak. She didn't want to deal with this. All she wanted was to have a nice meal with her family on a cozy Christmastide day.

However, she stepped out of the kitchen to where they could see her. "Good morning!" she called.

The blonde smiled brightly, stepping forward. "Good morning!" Her husband, who stood behind her, smelled the air. "It smells really good in here," he commented.

"Oh, thank you!" Ginny replied. "I'm just finishing up with making breakfast. You two may sit down in the front room and make yourselves comfortable until it's ready. Lily and Albus are in there."

The couple grinned and both murmured their thanks in harmony.

Ginny watched their backs as they headed to the living room. She closed her eyes for a second, then quickly made her way down the hall to where the towels were. She couldn't risk any more magic today. She couldn't just clean up messes with the wave of her wand. Too dangerous.

The witch pulled open a closet door, and tugged a towel from off one of the shelves. She then turned and began to make her way back down the passage, but paused in front of James' room. She knocked.

"James? James, time to get up."

A small mmph issued from inside. She knocked again. "Come on. We have guests, and your food will get cold."

No response.

Typical.

Ginny opened the door to the second messiest room she had seen in her life. The first had belonged to her two twin older brothers, Fred and George. James seemed to have almost as many explosives hidden here as well. For a second, there was a stab of grief. Fred had died fighting, many years ago. But she couldn't think of that right now.

"James." His mother came up to his bed. He was splayed across the covers, arms and legs dangling from the side. She poked him. "James, get up."

The teenage boy turned over, muttering something very bitter about the need of sleep at his age.

"I don't care. Just get up and get dressed before I tell your father to come and get you."

Ginny left him like that. She made her way back to the kitchen, and could hear the voices of her two youngest and her guests carrying from the other room. She sighed and leaned against the counter. After a couple of moments of this rest, she pushed herself off of the side, and began to mop up the spill.

Amazing. After all that cooking, the only part she is left to do by hand is scrubbing the dishes and picking up. Besides setting the table, of course. She decided to leave the dirty things in the sink for later. They needed to eat it while it was still hot.

Quickly she lifted some of the platters of food and brought them out to the table, organizing them to the most convenient places. When she was done with that, she took out seven plates, and set them out. Her family owned quite a large table, so space was not a problem. The object had been inherited from her parents. Ginny had grown up in a nine person household, consisting of mum and dad, her, and her six older brothers.

Once she had finished with this, placing the final things on the table, (the silverware) she called out.

"Breakfast!" It was a lazy day. Usually this word would create havoc, as everyone started shouting out one minutes and other excuses, or racing to the food as if it was so important to be the first to arrive.

Harry came down wearing a muggle outfit of a crisp shirt and slacks. It was smart. He couldn't exactly present himself in his Head Auror's robe.

Lily and Annabeth walked in idly, deep in conversation about books. The influence her Aunt Hermione had had on the girl was aweing.

Percy and Albus too, were holding out a heavy discussion. Albus had no idea what basketball was, and apparently, when Percy had brought it up, Albus had cleverly blamed the lack of knowledge on cultural differences. The muggle man seemed to be just too dense to question the explanation. So now he was describing every little detail of the game to her son.

James was still absent. Ginny, while pulling out her chair, looked over at her husband. "Hey, love? Could you please get James up for me?"

Harry answered in agreement, and turned to disappear back down the hall.

Everyone else sat. It seemed to be that the others were so caught up in their personal exchanges that she herself was left to her own thoughts. It was a bit awkward, sitting silently as the others chattered aimlessly.

Harry and James soon joined in at the table, James rubbing his eyes tiredly. Ginny could never figure how Harry could persuade their kids so easily.

Food began to be passed around, calls for the syrup or milk were asked for. Soon inquiries about school and jobs came about.

"And what do you do, Ginny?" Annabeth asked.

"Oh. Well, I am um…" she glanced at Harry. "I'm the Senior Football Correspondent for the London Newspaper." It was partly true. The only difference was the fact that it was for Quidditch, and she wrote for the Daily Prophet, not any sort of muggle newspaper.

"Oh really? That sounds amazing! How'd you get to be so high in your job? Senior Correspondant sounds important."

"Well, I used to play professional football myself, so that helped."

Percy gave Ginny a sideways look. "Football? You played professional football?"

"Oh. I guess you would call it soccer."

"Ah."

It went on like this, until Ginny was suddenly able to turn it on them. Percy was an Aqua biologist for the New York Zoo, also currently taking veterinary classes for marine animals. Annabeth was an architect, and was starting to do private jobs for people and companies. She hoped that it would soon be a good start for her to create her own small private firm.

The subject turned to Harry. Ginny was surprised that he could find a way to lie so easily. According to what he told them, he was the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. Like her explanation, it held a grain of truth. He was really the Head of the Auror Office at the Ministry.

Throughout this, Ginny could not help but notice that the kids had become quite silent. It was probably the only thing they could think of to do, in case contributing would contradict what was previously said.

The conversation switched again.

Harry turned to the couple. "What are you planning to do in London for your vacation here?"

Annabeth jumped in, and began to relish over their plans. Today they were going to spend the day in Hyde Park. She also started describing the number of ice skating rinks that they were considering. Lily, in an effort to participate, suggested a couple herself.

Percy injected the classic cliché tourist activities that they were also looking forward to, such as seeing Buckingham Palace, the Crown Jewels, Parliament Hill, and of course, the Museum of Sherlock Holmes at 221B Baker Street.

Before any of them knew it, they were finishing up the last of the food. Annabeth and Percy were thanking them profusely for the hospitality.

"It's no problem at all." Ginny replied, grinning. What a lie. It was most definitely a problem. They had to make sure they hid their identity every corner, from the people staying in their own home. But Ginny continued to smile anyways.

Soon the couple said they had to leave. They called themselves a cab, and were gone. James went back to his room. Lily and Albus said that they were meeting friends that afternoon, and that they would go by floo powder.

Harry magicked himself out of the muggle clothes, and into his black Head Auror robes. After a kiss, he was gone.

Ginny was alone. She stood by herself in the dining room. The past couple of hours had felt hectic to her. But she took a breath and turned towards the sink.

Opening the knife drawer, she pulled out her wand. Clean up should be easy.

*Disney stories: I mean like in Sleeping Beauty, there was a scene where the fairies cleaned and cooked and made a dress by using their wands and stuff. If you want to see it, youtube it here: /watch?v=jtIIinJzf1U

Another thing: In case you didn't notice, or are confused by what happened, Annabeth's mood changed like a light switch in there. She went from thinking really hard, to immensely confused, and then became abnormally happy and really weird. She wanted to smell the soap. I did this on purpose, and because it is such an important little point in the story, I thought I should let you know. But to find out what the hell happened, you'll just have to subscribe for the next chapter, now won't you?

OH MY GOD. Done. It's done. Now, bow to me, peasants.

Thank you for "holding me to that promise." Even though I really didn't.

I would like to say though. I've been so busy lately.

And here is one promise that you guys will be happy to have me break: I will not post this November. Why? I am doing NaNoWriMo. That's why.

So next update shall be in December or January or so. It was fun to do this 4,000 word chapter though, so I might continue making them this long….

NO PROMISES THOUGH. Haha.

Happy Halloween, guys.

~M.

P.S. Review?