Percy

Breakfast was an interesting affair, to say the least. The moment Percy and Annabeth ambled through the gold-leafed doors into the Great Hall, the whispering started. Hundreds of eyes followed the couple as they made their way over to the Gryffindor table, where not a witch nor wizard sat within ten feet of their demigod friends, besides Harry and his friends.

"So," Nico was saying, "You're the Boy Who Lived, then?"

"Yeah, I guess," Harry squirmed, awkwardly.

"No offence, but I don't get it… What makes you so special? We're all alive, aren't we?"

Harry shrugged, as Hermione jumped in, "When Harry was a baby, He Who…" she took a deep breath, "Voldemort attacked him. Harry was hit by a killing curse, he should've died but he… didn't. No one, including Harry, knows how. That's what makes him special."

Nico nodded, satisfied, though still looking faintly confused.

"Excuse me," the Scottish witch Percy recognised as Professor McGonagall, the Head of Gryffindor, strode toward them. "Professor Dumbledore has suggested the demigods try to, ah, mingle with the students by attending lessons. I trust you three," she nodded sternly at Harry, Ron and Hermione, "will give them guidance. Have a good first day!"

"Lessons?" Connor Stoll groaned as the professor walked briskly away.

Percy glanced at the headmaster. He might've been imagining it, but he was pretty sure Dumbledore winked at him as he turned his head to chat to the half-giant Percy remembered as Hagrid.

"Come on, guys," he enthused weakly, "We have to fit in somehow."

Ten minutes later, Percy was following Nico and Will to their first wizarding class – Divination.

"We're lost," Nico pointed out, "Can't I just-"

"No!" Will grabbed his boyfriend's hand and pulled him into the light to stop him from shadow-travelling.

"Why did I take this class again?" Percy grumbled, trailing after them, "I hate prophecies!"

Will rolled his eyes, "You didn't want to take Arithmancy with Annabeth."

Percy shuddered. Magic and math. That was just wrong.

After the war with Gaia, Rachel's gift of prophecy still wasn't working so Will was intrigued by the wizards' method of foretelling the future. Nico had, of course, chosen Divination to be with Will and Percy had agreed to tag along, though secretly he kind of liked not having to worry about the next Great Prophecy.

Will's brow furrowed as he squinted at the map Nico had forced a passing poltergeist – Peeves, Percy thought – to draw. "This is it!" he grinned, finally, "But no one's here…"

Percy was about to suggest they head back to the dormitory – or, even better, the Great Hall where breakfast was hopefully still being served – when a trapdoor in the ceiling opened and a silver ladder tumbled down, coming to a rest at Percy's feet.

"Guess I'm going first…" he muttered, climbing up.

The rest of the class had already arrived and were seated in tiers around the circular room, reminding Percy of a Greek amphitheatre. The room was stiflingly hot, and he was uncomfortably aware of the eyes of his classmates on him as he shuffled toward the nearest seat.

"Perseus Jackson?" Percy almost jumped out of his skin. He'd learnt to associate his full name with trouble – monsters intent on feeding on his flesh or his mum when he'd forgotten to do the dishes – but he relaxed when he realised the professor was reading it off the register.

"Uh, here – and it's Percy."

From the table behind, Ron leaned forward and tapped him on the shoulder. "Perseus, huh? Weird name."

"You're telling me."

At the front of the room, Professor Trelawney – a spindly woman wrapped in a dozen shawls with glasses that made her eyes look huge, like a bug's – gestured frantically for him to come forward. Reluctantly, he obliged.

"You've heard of the gift of prophecy?" she questioned, grabbing his hand. Percy glanced wildly around him, his expression screaming, help!

"Heard of it?" he snorted, "Lady, I've lived it."

He heard laughter from Will and Nico's direction and some of the wizards joined in, snickering nervously.

Trelawney's eyes brightened, "You, too, are enlightened?"

"Uh, no – I meant-"

"Of course not," she dropped his hand, "You are much too self-centred to see the greater picture."

"Self-centred?"

"Yes, yes," she waved him off, disappointed that she hadn't found a fellow seer, "Back to your seat, go on."

Bewildered, Percy shuffled back to his friends.

"Today, we turn our inner eyes to the stars," Trelawney threw her arms dramatically upwards, apparently forgetting that the ceiling hid the stars – even if it wasn't broad daylight outside. "The movements of the planets and the mysterious portents they reveal only to those who understand the steps of the celestial dance. Human destiny may be deciphered by the planetary rays which intermingle…"

"Is she always like this?" Percy asked, turning to face Ron and Harry.

"Always," said Ron.

"She's been predicting my death for years," Harry agreed, miserably.

Nico blinked, "Nah, you're good."

"What?"

"You're not going to die anytime soon."

Ron's eyes bulged, "You can see the future?"

"That's Will's job," Nico grinned at his boyfriend, "Wait until Trelawney finds out your dad's the god of prophecy."

"What's that, my dear?" The supposed seer called.

Will sighed as Nico began to explain. After spending the rest of the lesson fawning over Will ("Oh, yes! I see clearly now – you have the gift!"), Professor Trelawney gave the rest of the class a weekend's worth of homework, though the son of Apollo was excused on account of his, "preoccupation nurturing his Sight."

"Miserable old bat," Ron complained, "Don't worry, guys. Harry and I just make it up."

"What's next, anyway?" Will managed to suppress his smirk as they joined the crowds heading downstairs.

Harry glanced at his timetable and groaned, "Care of Magical Creatures. Wait till you meet the Blast-Ended Skrewts!"

Nico

"Why bother?" Nico argued, miserable at the thought of spending another lesson inside the ghost-infested castle. "We can't do magic anyway."

After skipping Transfiguration and Charms due to their lack of wands, Annabeth was dragging the Gryffindor demigods to their first Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson.

"That's not the point! We need to learn about the creatures we might end up facing – who knows if magical monsters can sniff out demigods the way Greek ones do?"

"She has a point," Will admitted.

Why did Annabeth always have to make so much sense? Nico gritted his teeth, frustrated.

According to Harry, the professor – Moody – "knew his stuff." Whatever that meant, Nico could tell he was popular by the excited chatter of the fourth-year Gryffindors as they crowded inside the room.

"Today, I will be putting each of you under the Imperius curse to demonstrate its power and see if any of you can resist its effects."

"What's the Imperius curse?" Annabeth muttered to Hermione, who looked concerned.

"But-but it's illegal," the witch said, nervously, "You said…"

"Dumbledore wants you to know what it feels like," said Moody, his magical eye swivelling onto Hermione and fixing her with an eerie, unblinking stare. "If you'd rather learn the hard way – when someone else puts it on you – that's fine by me. You're excused. Off you go."

He pointed one gnarled old hand at the door. Hermione turned very pink and shook her head. Nico leaned forward, curious at what kind of spell Dumbledore would be interested in teaching his students if it was illegal.

The demigods lingered back, uncertainly, as Moody began to beckon students forward and silently persuade them to do extraordinary things; hop around the classroom, imitate wild animals and recite poetry worthy of Apollo – and nobody else. Only Harry seemed mildly able to resist him, smashing headlong into the desk.

"Let's try it on one of our demigod… friends, next!" Moody grinned wickedly, "Di Angelo, you're up!"

He stumbled forward. Moody raised his wand, pointed it at Nico and spoke, "Imperio!"

Nico waited. He held his breath and counted to ten. The wizards gazed at him, anxiously. Percy shot him a thumbs-up. Still, nothing happened.

The professor frowned, "Imperio!"

Nothing. Finally, Will laughed, "It doesn't work on demigods!"

Moody seemed disgruntled by this, true to his name. He insisted on trying the spell on each of the demigods in turn, with no success, before dismissing them all.

After class, Harry, Ron and Hermione ran to catch up with them.

"Blimey," Ron said, skipping on every alternate step, "How did you all throw it off?"

Annabeth shrugged, "I know I wasn't really trying. It just didn't affect me. You did good, though, Harry."

He turned red, though Nico detected a faint sense of pride in his smile, "Thanks. We have a while before dinner. Do you want a tour?"

Will threaded his fingers through Nico's, beaming, "That sounds great, thanks!"

Nico allowed himself a small smile as they followed the wizards. Maybe this quest wouldn't be so bad, after all.

Harry

"That's the Forbidden Forest, it's, um… forbidden."

"Like that's stopped us before…" Ron sniggered.

"And that's the Great Lake, where the Giant Squid lives."

Percy stopped abruptly. "Giant Squid? That's so-"

"No, Percy." Annabeth sighed, shoving him onwards.

Harry led the way across the school grounds, back to the castle. They'd shown the demigods the Quidditch Pitch, the Owlery and the Forbidden Forest before their stomachs betrayed them. The thought of dinner spurred him on as they trudged up the lawn, under the darkening sky.

"What's the Triwizard Tournament?" Annabeth asked, suddenly.

Harry, Ron and Hermione exchanged glances before Harry began, "It's sort of a competition between three wizarding schools – you know, Hogwarts and two others. It's taking place here, this year. The other schools are arriving in October."

Nico sighed, "As if we don't have enough on our plate, already."

"Why do you ask?" Ron said, stomach grumbling at the mention of plates, "Are you thinking of entering? You're sixteen, aren't you? The other schools wouldn't stand a chance with a demigod as our champion!"

"It's just something Dumbledore said at dinner," Annabeth eyed the horizon warily, like it might attack her any second, "We really have our work cut out for us – convincing three schools, and this Ministry of yours, about Hecate's existence."

"It's really real, isn't it?" Hermione said in a small voice, "The gods, Hecate, all of it…"

"Afraid so," Percy grimaced, "It's not all doom and gloom, though. We get awesome powers. I can control water and talk to horses and-"

"That's cool," Ron jumped in, "Harry can talk to snakes."

"Oh, really?" Well, I can-"

"I can talk to the dead." Nico said.

That ended the conversation so abruptly, they couldn't help but laugh. Harry felt a strange kinship with the demigods. He couldn't help but feel connected to them. And for a moment – a brief moment – he thought this could work, they could help each other.

Sadly, the moment wasn't meant to last.

So, this is chapter 3! It's mostly generic demigods at Hogwarts stuff but next chapter I'll kick-start things with the Triwizard Tournament. Feel free to give me your opinions by reviewing/PMing me and like/follow. I'll probably post the next chapter on Tuesday so have a great week until then