Percy

Tick, tick, tick, the clock in Dumbledore's office persevered into the night. Percy chewed his thumbnail, waiting for the headmaster to return. Beside him, Nico rested his elbow on his knee jogging up and down restlessly, his gaze fixed on the door.

"I should be in the hospital wing," he muttered, "with Will."

The door swung open and Dumbledore swept in, closely followed by McGonagall, Snape, Madame Maxine and Bagman, "Madame Pomfrey has assured me Will will make a full recovery overnight," he said swiftly, his gaze solemn behind his half-moon glasses, "Hagrid is checking the perimeter now but so far there was been no sighting of Mr Crouch."

"Crouch?" The look of surprise on Bagman's face would've been almost comical, if the victim in question wasn't Will, "You mean Barty attacked a student?"

"Not a student, a demigod." Snape's voice was monotone but the edge beneath it was vicious.

"The demigods are students, Severus," Dumbledore corrected sternly, "And I'm afraid we have more important things to worry about."

"More important?" Nico hissed, "Like Will being attacked by a member of your government is no big deal?"

Percy laid a hand on his friend's arm and Nico flinched, "Nico, I get it, but Crouch is clearly insane, I don't think he's with the Ministry anymore. No one's saying that Will isn't important," he stared hard at Dumbledore, "No one better be saying that."

"Of course not," the headmaster continued, "I apologise, Nico. I simply meant that the school is in jeopardy and no one, including Will, is safe."

"How?" McGonagall asked sharply.

Dumbledore's expression grew grave, "Our magical defences are failing. The school is vulnerable to attack."

"I thought wizards' magic wasn't affected by Hecate's disappearance?"

"It's true our powers have much evolved since the goddess first bestowed her gift on others," Dumbledore said, "Our newer enchantments, the spell concealing Hogwarts from muggle eyes, for example – that was installed around the time of the International Statue of Secrecy – have survived, but the ancient magic protecting the school from more formidable enemies has been deteriorating since the goddess vanished."

"Monsters," Percy breathed.

He'd watched the same thing happen to Camp Half-Blood. First one monster got past the barrier, then hordes of them, hell-bent on destroying the gods – and their legacy. Camp was left in ruins, and they didn't stop there – New Rome fell too. Hundreds of demigods and their families left displaced, the city was obliterated – and, with it, Percy's dreams of a new life with Annabeth.

"Indeed," said the headmaster.

"Albus," McGonagall gripped her wand, "What do we do?"

"For now, I suggest we remain on red alert. Only the staff and the demigods should know of this threat."

"We should cancel the tournament," Percy would've been lying if he said the suggestion wasn't partly a selfish one. He'd fought titans and giants but facing Voldemort had felt more like facing the darkest parts of himself – an experience he wasn't keen to relive.

"No," The decision in Dumbledore's voice was clear, "The Tournament is supposed to encourage international cooperation and ties. Now more than ever, that we stand together – wizards and demigods."

Madame Maxine drew herself up to her full, considerable height, "Dumbly-dorr eez right. Beauxbatons vill stand vith 'Ogwarts and the, ah, demigods, against zis threat."

"Quite right," Bagman echoed faintly.

Dumbledore nodded, "Percy, you should go and inform the other demigods of this news. Nico, I expect you will want to see Will in the hospital wing?"

He straightened up, "Yeah."

"I'll come with you," Percy said quickly, "It's on the way to the common room, anyway," and so the two cousins hurried out of the office and through the shadowy halls of Hogwarts.

"It's like everything's connected," Nico said, as they ducked into the empty Charms classroom to avoid Mrs Norris, "Like a puzzle I can't put together."

"We'll figure it out," Percy promised, sounding more confident than he felt. Since Camp was destroyed, he wasn't sure of anything. Only one thing was certain; Hogwarts wasn't safe anymore.

This time will be different, he thought, because this time, Percy wasn't running from the fight.

Harry

"So, Hogwarts could be attacked?" Hermione repeated Percy's words hesitantly, as though hoping she'd heard wrong.

It was daybreak, Harry, Ron and Hermione had crept out to write to Sirius and Percy and Annabeth had followed them to the Owlery to break the news. A thick blanket of fog covered the grounds and Harry was shivering from cold – not fear, he told himself - as Percy replayed the events of the night before.

"Blimey," Ron rubbed his bleary eyes with a gloved hand, "Is Will alright?"

"He's fine," Annabeth assured him, "for now, anyway."

"Will you stay here?" Harry asked, almost afraid of the answer – the wizards were aware of the Greek world's existence now and that made them targets, but what reason would Percy and his friends have to defend it?

"Yeah, I think so," Percy said, mouth set with determination, "If the Mist fails and we can't bring Hecate back, Hogwarts might be the last safe place – for wizards and demigods – we have to protect it. Besides," he frowned, "If we hadn't come here you wouldn't be in so much danger. It's our fault you're in this mess, it would be wrong to leave."

"It's not your fault!" Harry protested vehemently, "You were attacked. Besides, we've learnt loads from you being here. If you hadn't come, we would never have learnt the truth!"

"Harry's right, Percy," Hermione said, "Nobody blames you."

"Snape does."

Ron rolled his eyes, "In case you hadn't noticed, mate, Snape's a git."

"We should get back to the castle," said Annabeth, ducking out from under Percy's arm.

"Yeah!" Percy agreed, "I'm starving."

"You're always starving," she pointed out.

"Only when my life's in danger!" he argued, "It's not my fault something's always trying to kill me!"

They all laughed at that, and as they wandered back to the castle, Harry realised he didn't just want the demigods to stick around to protect Hogwarts. They'd become friends.

And these days, he needed all the friends he could get.

A short chapter but if I made it any longer, it would be ages until the next update! I hope you all enjoyed and remember to favourite/follow. We're almost at 100 follows now and I can barely believe it! Your feedback honestly means the world to me so please let me know what you think by reviewing.

I'm starting to think about what comes next and I'm wondering if anyone would be interested in a sequel to this story? It would involve more about Percy and Nico being wizards and probably focus more on Nico's family history. This story will draw to a close at the end of Harry's fourth year so there's a lot more HP content I could draw on for a sequel but if you think the story is better left at the end of TGOF, that's cool too.

Okurdek - thanks for the enthusiastic response! I'm glad you're enjoying the story :D

vapourtrailreads - thank you for your continued encouragement on the story, I love hearing from you and I'm so happy that you've continued to like it!

EvilPieceofSht - clearly, you read my mind! I'd already half-written this chapter when I got your review about Hogwarts' magical borders failing. I hadn't considered monsters attacking but I'm definitely thinking about it now. Thanks for reviewing and for your continued support!

Have a great week everyone,

Lileaf, xoxo