HARRY

The next week passed uneventfully. We were constantly watching Percy, but nothing came up. He was still the same happy, carefree and laidback teenager that had sat on the sorting stool a few weeks ago.

The Halloween Dance was tomorrow and I still had no idea what/who I was going to go as. The only thing I had done in preparation was ask Ginny. I knew Hermione was going as some world changing 'kickass' female. Ron was in the same boat as me, but had already asked Hermione to accompany him.

He had learned his lesson and the Yule ball in our fourth year after Hermione had gone mental about how he 'shouldn't leave her as a last resort'.

The exchange students seemed to be very excited about the dance and you could tell they were pumped to show of their costumes. They had still refused to even drop a hint at what they were going as, but seemed to think that their costume choices were a stroke of genius.

We were sitting at dinner when Leo came rushing in with an overpacked-box, grinning like the Cheshire cat. The other exchange students were already seated next to us and were shoveling food onto their plates.

Leo slammed the box down and hurriedly opened the box, revealing stacks of photos. From what I could see, all of them included at least one of the people sitting beside us.

Leo took out a stack and started laughing at the photo on top. Percy started blushing as it was turned in his direction and Leo then turned it so it was facing us. Immediately I started laughing, along with Hermione and Ron. The photo depicted Percy standing in a doorway, obviously just rolling out of bed.

His hair was even messier than usual and stuck up in all different directions. His shirt was on both inside out and backwards (somehow he managed to do both) and was riding up, revealing a muscled stomach. His pants were also on inside out, slung low on his hips and his eyes were still half closed.

Annabeth was standing next to him and was clearly fussing over his attire. Her hands were up in the air in a 'what the hell' gesture and Percy was just looking sleepily back at her, clearly not understand a word that was being shouted at him.

Back in the present, Leo chuckled as he put the captured memory down and picked another one up. This one depicted a duck (what the hell?) swimming in a sink as Leo and Hazel were doing dished. Leo was supporting a bubble-beard and Hazel was laughing as she dried the plates.

'Who's the duck?' Ron asked, looking at Leo and Hazel in question.

Both Americans shot looks and Frank before replying, 'Oh, you know, just a duck.'

All the exchange students chuckled but all fell silent as they stared at the next photo. All of them smiled softly, their eyes somewhere far away.

LEO

The next picture sent us all back in memories. It was when the Argo II finally returned to camp, and the seven stood shoulder-to-shoulder facing the rising sun. We stood beside Thalia's pine, skin dirty, clothes torn, but all together. Alive. Home.

Frank and Hazel stood to the left, arms linked and shoulders relaxed. I could only imagine the curious look on their faces. It was the first time they had seen Camp Half Blood.

I stood to the right of them and I had arms raised in a two handed fist pump. I'm pretty sure I was yelling 'Team Leo for the win!'

Jason and Piper were holding hands and you could see their side profiles as they smiled as each other, happiness shining in their eyes.

But the most emotional sight of all was Annabeth, standing beside Percy, who was in the centre of the line. Councillor and Praetor. Greek and Roman. Orange and Purple. The glue that held us all together. They were locked in a tight embrace, Annabeth's head tucked under Percy's chin.

They were both crying.

Of happiness, or relief, we didn't know. They had both survived the deepest pits of hell, and wouldn't be forgetting that any time soon. Percy, the poor guy, just couldn't seem to catch a break. Two wars in two years, quest before that.

We could just hope it was over.

HERMIONE

It was the night of the dance and I was looking proudly at the costume layed out neatly on my bed. I decided to go as Amelia Earheart, the first female pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She was amazing, and a kickass female.

Ron had obviously put no effort into his costume and as a last ditch effort, had painted himself orange and said he was going as a 'pumpkin'.

Typical Ron.

The great hall looked amazing. There were floating pumpkins everywhere and people had really gone all out on their costumes.

I saw so many ridiculous costumes, from princesses to Lucifer himself. I even saw a few first years as young Harry Potters, complete with drawn on scars.

I was so proud of my best friend.

Harry swooped past in a pirate costume, grabbed Ron and I by the arm and dragged us to the dance floor. After a lot of moaning and protests on Ron's part, Harry somehow got us nodding our heads to the beat. After we realized everyone was just having fun, we busted out in cheesy dance moves (complete with disco eyes and the sprinkler) and didn't give a dam (A/N: hahahah, we got a dam problem! :-) about who was watching us. This continued for a few minutes before we heard a dramatic loss of volume. We looked to the doors and were also silenced by the sight before us.

Wow. Holy mother of ducks everywhere. There were no words (apart from mother of ducks everywhere)

They were beautiful.

They all had very realistic costumes that seemed to fit in with their personality perfectly.

Leo was obviously a blacksmith, complete with sot smudged all over his face, a tool belt and suspenders holding up holy trousers (holes as in spaces, not holy as in god).

Thalia was a hunter of some sort and had a bow and quiver slung over her shoulder and a silver circlet on her head.

Nico was wearing all black with bones painted on his clothes. A skeleton, and a surprisingly realistic one to.

Jason was superman and looked exactly as a 17 year old Clark Kent would, but blonde.

Piper was dressed in a greek toga and had a wreath of leaves in her hair. She looked stunning.

Frank was… well, an elephant. I don't know why, but he was.

Hazel was an Archaeologist, but I'm pretty sure no one else apart from Ravenclaw knew what that was.

Last were Percy and Annabeth, who were dressed in armor. It was some sort of bronze with patterns on them. And for some reason…looked like it had been used. They both had bead necklaces strung around their necks, Annabeth's having a few more beads than Percy's. They looked fierce, like warriors preparing for battle.

Strong. Brave. Loyal.

(A/N: READ THE AUTHORS NOTE AT THE BOTTOM)

All in a group, they looked like a mish-matched group of people, but they stood as a group. They all stepped into the crowd, disappearing from sight, and the chatter began to increase once again.

Two minutes later, the exchange students made their way over to us and I saw Leo bust out in dance moves, followed closely by Percy. They were terrible dancers, but it made us crack up all the same. Leo was crumping yelling 'TEAM LEO!'.

(A/N: READ IT!)

Piper laughed and shouted, 'Hey repair boy! You're the dancing queen!' Leo smiled back at her and swooped fast and grabbed her hands, forcing her to dance with him. And Percy was…you know what?

I really don't want to know.

Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I really love it when I get people telling me to keep updating because it means the story is good...right?

Also, I hope it's not too boring. I try not to make it so you go 'what is this? She can't write!' because it's no fun for you to read and absolutely no fun to write. I got the costume ideas from Kit Cat, so thanks to you even if you don't know I thank you :)

Also, I got the idea for finding some photos from kiki96. Read the story Photographs. I died of laughter. Read it.

READ IT NOW.

But finish and review my story first :)

Keep the ideas rolling. I'll credit you if I use them. Thank for reading my story!

-Sam