§Lyra§

God. I loved work, but sometimes it got on my nerves. Especially conferences. I have trouble paying attention for long periods of time, so halfway through, I got fidgety.

Interuptions in the floo network have occured...blah, blah.

Was it lunchtime? I was hungry. Now they were talking about underage apparition, and something I didn't understand. I didn't even know what was going on in the wizarding world most of the time. That was up to Mr. Slade, Dunby, Easton, and a few other important guys.

"Lyra, did you get that last bit?" asked Mr. Easton, my boss.

"Yeah." I said, squirming some more and checking to make sure that my Quick Quotes quill had written a few notes.

"So Mr. Higgle has been complaining about krups in his backyard again. Lyra, would you get the letter for me?" I nodded, knowing it was only an excuse to get rid of me. But I obeyed, because this had been my dream job since my fourth year, and if I did a good job, I could be promoted. I hurried out of the conference room, down the hall, and through the door labeled George M. Easton, Head of Magical Law Enforcement. I dodged through the piles of important papers, and reached his cluttered desk. Krups in a garden. Where was that letter? Suddenly, another paper caught my attention. It couldn't hurt to take a peek.

Mr. G. Easton:

We find the need to bring to your attention that a certain wizard by the name of Lord Malum has been cited in New York, New York. Minister Kingsley Shacklebolt has assigned Harry James Potter, Ronald Billius Weasley, and Hermione Jean Granger, in addition to Ronald's younger sister, Ginevra Molly Weasley to the case. We have also gained information from a reliable source that one of his twelve horcruxes is hidden somewhere in Washington D.C, in one of the Smithsonian museums. Right now, we are short of Aurors, so it will be a while before we get to destroying it. I thought you would benefit from this update.

Gawain Robards

Head of Auror Office

Ministry of Magic

Forgetting about Mr. Higgle and his odd pest issue, I grabbed a spare bit of parchment and hastily wrote a note:

Hey Ami,

Meet me at the three broomsticks at 12:00 PM this Saturday. We need to talk.

-Lyra

Then, I pulled on my jacket, and apparated home. I had a last- minute D.C. trip to organize.

§Jason§

"Enervate," a girl's voice whispered. I blinked, the bright daylight of Olympus nearly blinding me. Once I adjusted I realized Hermione was hunched over by my limp body. Slowly feeling came back to my limbs, and I pushed myself up.

"What just happened?" I asked. She didn't reply and instead went around waking everyone else up. We all seemed to have passed out, for how long, I didn't know. Once everyone was conscious we gathered in a circle, waiting for Hermione to explain what was going on.

She took a staggered breath and said feebly, "Ron… I don't know what happened. He took Harry and Percy."

"Woah, woah, woah," Annabeth said. "You're saying that ginger took my boyfriend? First he… tortured him or whatever, and now he's kidnapped him?"

"It wasn't him! He seemed… possessed. He seemed all tensed up, and then he started speaking in Greek or something!"

"Are you sure?" whimpered Ginny.

"Do you think he was also possessed that time he cursed Harry and Percy?" asked Leo.

"No," Hermione replied decidedly. "As much as I hated him for that, he had reason too, and apologized and took responsibility right away. That was simply an act of stupidity on his part- he only was controlled this time."

We all nodded, faces pale.

"Well, what do we do now?" Leo said.

We thought for a bit. "Well, I guess first we should leave Olympus. We've done everything we can to get the gods on our side. Then we find Harry and Percy, save Ron, and continue on our quest. We won't get anything else done without them," I declared. A low murmur of agreement, and we made the last few yards to the elevator. I was surprised no one else found us, as the elevator was usually quite busy with people coming and going, but it must have been a slow day for Olympus.

Once we had directed the elevator back to the first floor, I wondered something. "Hermione, how come you didn't black out?"

"Ron stunned you guys. For some reason he simply paralyzed me, but I also fell unconscious after a while, but my blacking out must have been more temporary than one caused by magic. I don't know why he didn't stun me as well…" she frowned.

The elevator was silent apart for Ginny screaming: "What are we waiting for?! Follow them!" while she punched me, the next in charge with Percy and Harry gone. Annabeth and Hermione were weeping silently, and hugging each other (since when did they get along?). Ok, overall maybe it wasn't that silent.