B e f o r e   y o u   b e g i n

- The demigods going are the Seven, Thalia, Nico, Clarisse, the Stolls, Katie Gardner, Lou Ellen, and Will Solace

- Being half-god, only their own spells are powerful enough to harm each other, though they can still be affected by potions

- Greek monsters are immune to wizard magic

- Hecate granted the demigods enough magical skill for a proper seventh-year

- Professor Snape, Fred, Lupin, Tonks, and Professor Dumbledore are alive

- THIS WAS WRITTEN BEFORE BLOOD OF OLYMPUS, SO UNFORTUNATELY NO SOLANGELO

But you know, I still come back and edit this story...so there will be some Solangelo

- If you like the Hunger Games I got a PJO x HG crossover too!

- Final thing — don't spoil Tyrant's Tomb. If you talk about it, mark it as a spoiler first

Percy's POV

"Wake up, Kelp Head!" someone yelled loudly. This very someone was vigourously shaking me unnecessarily and hurtfully hard.

"What?" I mumbled blearily, trying to slap the person away. I kept missing, but I kept trying. Persistence is key.

The voice got dangerous, "If you don't get up right this instant, I will zap you into oblivion."

I realized that it was Thalia shaking me like an earthquake. I snuggled further into my pillow, "Yeah, you can try that."

Thalia punched me in the side, "The train is leaving in twenty minutes, Sea Slug! GET UP!! UP UP UP!!!"

I shot out of bed as if I'd been electrocuted. "Wait what?!"

"I KNOW!! Blame anyone that's not me! Someone was supposed to wake us up but didn't! Blame that person!"

I blinked at her, "Wasn't that person you?"

"No!" she grabbed my wrist and dragged me off the bed, gritting her teeth. "Get. dressed. and. get. ready." In my messed up state I registed that I was in a leaky hotel room in the Leaky Cauldron. Hurriedly I started throwing my things and the supplies Hecate had given us into my trunk, which should have been packed already but wasn't.

"NICO!!" Thalia yelled, while I rubbed my poor ears.

"AHHHH!!" Nico shot up, along with Frank.

Frank morphed into a lizard and back in half a second. Nico hissed at the sunlight and reached for his sword, ready to destroy the sun and daylight saving hours along with it. "Where's the enemy?" he rasped.

Will got up too. "Thalia why are you in our room —"

"THE TRAIN'S LEAVING IN TWENTY MINUTES DEATH BREATH!! BLAME PERCY!! GET UP!! WE'RE GOING TO SHADOW TRAVEL!! DON'T STARE AT ME LIKE THAT ZHANG!!"

"Since when did I agree to shadow traveling you guys?" Nico asked angrily. Will nodded in agreement.

She scoffed, "You didn't. Hurry up, Annabeth and the others are waiting!" she hopped out the door.

We rushed to get our clothes on and pack our stuff. Nico ate every complimentary snack in sight to prepare for the surprise shadow-travelling.

Frank turned into a bear and sat on each of our luggage in turn. Leo came in from another room just to watch us panic and judge us with a toothbrush in his mouth.

We were all finished in five minutes, and we dragged our things outside and down the hall into one of the girls' rooms, where everyone had gathered.

Nico counted heads and nodded. "Okay, we're all here. Everyone grab on to each other and your belongings. Hazel, can you help?"

Hazel nodded, her curly hair bouncing.

Lou Ellen popped her bubblegum. "I can help too."

Nico nodded. "Great, thanks." He met each of our eyes individually. "Ready? We're doing it. Now!"

The world melted to blackness, then it cleared and we were at King's Cross Station. Or I think it was. The sign said, "gKsn'i sosrC tSainot" and kept changing, making it harder and harder to read.

Either we were in the right place or we were in some country I've never heard of in a universe I've never heard of.

"Seven more minutes!" Hazel asked, making a little fanning gesture. "How do we get through the barrier?"

We all looked at Annabeth, "Hecate didn't tell us because she didn't know! She just muttered something about how it changed too often."

"Ain't she helpful," Leo commented helpfully.

"Guys?" Travis said, glancing around him.

"Yes?" Clarisse said.

Travis coughed, "We may have—"

Connor continued, "—just possibly—"

"—left some of our stuff—"

"—at the Leaky Cauldron."

"Excuse me?" Katie shrieked. She whacked both Stoll's heads, "Irresponsible!"

The Stolls grinned nervously.

"Can't you guys like teleport?" Thalia asked.

"We've only managed that for very short distances," Connor explained. "It's great for going through walls and locked doors."

Nico sighed, "Come on idiots, let's get your stuff."

"We'll wait for you," Lou assured them, playing with a little white ball.

They shadow travelled off.

Annabeth and I spotted a group of people with trolleys filled with stuff like ours. There was a statistically abnormal number of redheads, then I realized they were all related and the mother was hurrying them along.

She seemed like a woman whom every lost student would ask about the barrier, so we went up to her and asked her about it. The woman must have been a little taken aback by how old we were, but didn't comment.

"Why of course, dears," the woman said kindly, at odds with the unhinged instructions she was about to share. "You just run straight to the wall there. Don't hesitate, that's important. Best to go at a run if you're nervous. Look, Harry here will show you."

I was nervous indeed, but I looked at Harry, who looked exactly like me if you only consider eye colour and hair colour when judging appearance. He waved to me then ran at the wall. He didn't crash and went straight through, almost like magic exists.

"Oh wow," Annabeth said, probably adding this magic wall to her Olympus blueprints as we speak. "Thanks so much. We'll go tell our friends."

The woman nodded. "You better hurry, the train leaves in just a few minutes." She ushered one of her sons through the wall.

We got back just as Nico returned with Travis and Connor. The front of Nico's shirt was wet, which made it darker than black.

"What happened?" Will asked, concerned.

"Some prank thing the Stolls had. It sprayed water everywhere." He looked at his shirt mournfully like the mournful person he was. "I liked this shirt."

Will frowned, "Aren't all your shirts just the same black?"

The ghost king rolled his eyes, "You just don't understand —"

"We're going to miss the train guys!" Annabeth interrupted. "Run through that wall!"

Everyone else blinked in confusion. Understandably.

"What?" Thalia asked slowly. "That one? Who told you this?"

To demonstrate, Annabeth raced towards the wall and disappeared.

"AWESOME!!" Leo sang. He ran full sprint at the wall. His owl, Happy, hooted indignantly. Happy the owl wasn't so happy. I seriously hoped he didn't crash into anyone on the other side.

When it was my turn, I ran while hoping I wouldn't crash. Great news! I didn't. The scene melted into another station almost like King's Cross, but everything seemed a bit more old, and it felt...magical.

Well duh of course it was magical.

"Come on come on!" Jason yelled, being responsible like usual.

We jumped onto the train right before the wheels started turning.

"That—" Travis started.

"—was—" Connor continued.

"—awfully—" Travis continued

"—close." Connor ended.

Clarisse was glaring at them, "Well if you egg-headed pinheads hadn't—"

"Let's find some empty compartments," Piper interrupted.

We split up. Annabeth, Nico, Leo, and I managed to find a compartment with just three other people.

"May we sit here? The rest are full," Annabeth asked.

"Course you can," a tall redhead with freckles said. "They're always full, eh?"

We sat down. Nico chilled the door, and the rest of us went to the window.

"Hermione Granger," a girl said, holding out her hand.

I took it and said, "Percy Jackson. We kind of met briefly outside the barrier. This is Annabeth, this is—"

"Leo Valdez!" Leo waved like Hermione was a football field away.

Everyone looked at him silently. The redhead awkwardly retracted his hand.

"First impressions are important," Leo lectured. "I want them to realize I'm psycho before they trust me too much."

I took this in wordlessly.

Leo just wiggled his eyebrows.

"Um," I said smartly, "right. Okay. And this is Nico di Angelo."

Nico waved darkly.

"I'm Ron Weasley," the freckled boy said.

"Harry," the last boy hesitated before revealing his last name, "Potter."

I realized he didn't want us fawning over him so I just acted a teensy bit surprised. "Oh really? Cool."

"You don't know him?" Ron butted in.

"Oh yeah we do," Leo said. Chiron and Hecate had told us all about Hogwarts, so we wouldn't raise suspicion by running around having no idea what everything is. "He's the guy who defeated Voldebolt."

Annabeth made a pained face. Ron looked like he was supposed to flinch, then realized that Leo hadn't said the right name.

The Golden Trio looked at Leo strangely.

Annabeth elbowed him savagely.

"Of course he meant Voldemort," Annabeth told them. "He's uh...not as well known in America, nor are you Harry." Then she turned to Leo, "Idiot! Weren't you listening?"

"I tried!" he protested.

Harry looked relieved that we weren't going to ask for his autograph or for him to kiss a baby.

"You lot are from America?" Harry asked. "I mean, it was obvious from the accents, but we've never had Americans around here. Did you go to Ilvermorny or another school?"

I answered. "Oh...it's more of a camp. Camp Wizardry. We go to it during the summer. During the school year we go to a mor—I mean muggle school. Some people stay in it year round if they want to. It could be the people who don't have a place to go, who just want to, or who have dangerous lives and need more training and practice. Like you three I guess." I could tell my friends were amazed at my brilliant lie. Well not really a lie. More like the truth with a lot of holes and additional information.

I have improved my lying skills after the drowning-in-the-bathtub and the ran-away-from-our-circus-caravan incidents.

"So you're transfer students?" Ron asked. "That must be fun."

"Yep," I said, popping the 'p' in a very cliché way.

"What's it like there?" Hermione asked curiously. "Which state is it in?"

"Well, so far it's pretty much just like here. Quite louder though. And it's in a great state. Nothing has burned down lately as far as I know."

Hermione sort of glanced at the exit like she wanted to escape. "I meant which American state."

"Oh," I realized, laughing nervously. "Sorry, I'm stupid. It's in New York."

With a sudden dramatic flourish, the door slid open and a blond guy with his hair slicked back looked in at them.

"Why isn't it Granger, Potty, and Weasel," he sneered at them. Then he stared at us, "Who are you?"

"Did you look in every compartment just to bother us?" Hermione asked angrily. "Because I am not in the mood for this, Pureblood Malfoy."

"Yeah, sod off Malfoy," Ron said. "Looking for us the way you do is a tad bit obsessive."

"Draco Malfoy, everyone," Harry said in a monotone. "Hasn't changed at all, even after I saved his life twice."

Malfoy sneered even harder, "Oh, shut up, Potter. I'm not letting it all be for nothing." He directed the next remark at me. "Answer my question. Who are you?"

"Percy Jackson," I said pleasantly. I didn't want this Malfoy to think that he can intimidate us.

"Annabeth Chase," my girlfriend said cheerfully.

Leo grinned and said "Leo Valdez, bad bo—"

"Nico di Angelo," Nico interrupted grumpily.

"American huh?" he sneered ever harder. I swear, if he sneers any harder, he's going to break his face. "I've never seen you around before."

"Are you asking if we come here often?" Leo's eyes widened.

His sneer faltered, and he swapped it for an expression of superior confusion, "...no?"

"We're transfer students from New York," Annabeth said, which put a sneer right back on his face.

Malfoy also seemed to be getting really annoyed that we were so cheerful, so he sneered even harder, putting in some real A+ effort. Whoa, he should get an award and be internationally recognized.

"Are you lot purebloods, half-bloods, or Mudbloods?" Malfoy asked. Luckily Hecate had explained to us what those meant. But she had called it "Muggle-borns" not "Mudbloods." I blamed it on my bad memory.

"We're all half-bloods," I replied.

"Well that's definitely better than those Muggle-borns. I'd watch who you hang out with if I were you." He smirked, "My family knows a few famous American wizards. Who are your parents?"

"Dead," Nico said bluntly.

Malfoy blinked, and he seemed at a loss for words for a second before he recovered, "Oh, I mean — aww...do you miss them? You're like Potter now! Aren't you lucky!"

Annabeth glared at him. "How is that lucky? Your parents should be ashamed of raising you the way they did."

He hesitated, then said, "My parents weren't stupid enough to get themselves killed were they?"

Harry opened his mouth but couldn't even start.

All four of us stood up, our looks must have been murderous because I saw a small flicker of fear in his eyes, but he regained his sneery composure.

He smirked, "What? You're sticking up for these hopeless wizards, the Mudblood, and your miserable parents? I am pureblood, which is still better than half-blood. What are you going to do about it? I shall sit down and chat about how much of a coward you, your friends and your parents must be." He sat down next to Harry. "Muggles are rude, dumb, defenceless, hopeless, cowards, and I bet you guys are t—"

Nico slammed him against the door. The temperature dropped ten degrees as the room dimmed. The shadows darkened and rose, towering over Malfoy.

"What?" Malfoy laughed, but it was obvious to everyone that he was utterly terrified, "you don't scare me."

"Yes I do," Nico said quietly and calmly, "I scare you very, very much, and don't ever," he slammed Malfoy's head against the door with every word, "ever, call any of us, our family, or friends, cowards, or any other rude thing AGAIN!!" he threw him out the door and slammed it.

Then he sat down like nothing happened. Then he sort of chuckled, which terrified the three wizards.

"Don't worry," I reassured them, "he's only like that to people he really, really, doesn't like."

"Oh," Hermione still looked understandably freaked, "okay."

"That was amazing!" Ron yelled then high-fived Nico, who returned it with a small smile. "I've never seen Draco Malfoy that scared before!"

"Who are his parents?" Leo asked. "Are they actually as high and mighty as he says they are?"

Ron shrugged, "Lucius Malfoy is a Death Eater, and Narcissa Malfoy was pretty involved. Draco brags about his parents all the time, praying nobody bothers to tell him his parents don't have power over the Ministry anymore. He's a desperate one, trying to act like he didn't literally lose a war."

Leo laughed, "That's glorious."

"So...your parents..." Ron trailed off.

Hermione nudged him sharply and hissed, "Why did you ask that?" She turned to us, "You don't have to answer that."

"No it's okay, my parents are fine, but I used to have this abusive gross step-dad," I explained.

Annabeth waved her hand, "I'm fixing my relationship with my family."

"My mom's dead," Leo muttered.

"My mom died," Nico said, "and so did my sister." I sat back, surprised that he was talking about that. He has really gotten better around people.

"Oh...I am so sorry," Harry said quietly, "my mom and dad are dead too, along with my godfather."

"I'm sorry," Annabeth said.

"It's alright, it's not your fault," he said, gazing out the window.

Silence.

"How much longer?" I asked, breaking the silence. Me being ADHD, I did not want to sit for seven hours if that was actually how long it took to get to Hogwarts.

"We'll be there in about six and a half hours," Hermione answered promptly.

"Aww," I slumped against Annabeth, "that's too long." Then I sat up, looking at the three wizards we'd met, "Listen, we're going to go hang out with some of our friends okay? We have ADHD and need to move. Wanna come with?"

"Nah, we're good," Harry said, shaking his head. "Thanks though."

"I'm staying here," Nico said, "I need sleep."

"Okay little cuz," I said cheerfully, moving to pat his head.

He dodged out of the way, "You're not my type."

I huffed, "You don't have to bring that up every time I —!"

Annabeth pulled me outside, "Relax, Seaweed Brain, you're my type."

I smiled and gave her a quick kiss. Leo made a grumbling noise.

As we walked out to find our fellow demigods, I heard Ron asking Hermione what was ADHD.

We finally found Travis, Connor, Will, Clarisse, Jason and Piper near the back.

Annabeth and I made room on the chairs. Leo squeezed past Clarisse and stood between Connor and Travis, who were at the window seats.

"Where's Nico?" Jason asked immediately. He always wanted to know where Nico was.

"He wanted to rest, you know, from shadow traveling."

"Good," Will said, "he took on a lot."

Piper nodded. "Yeah, let me know if I need to charmspeak him back from death."

We began chatting about random things. Travis, Connor, and Leo were huddled in the corner whispering to each other, no doubt thinking of a dangerous prank. Leo at one point said, "Let's enter with a BANG!" Which made us shoot each other nervous looks, then we shrugged it off and continued talking.

The compartment door opened. Malfoy with his two dumb-looking thugs.

Ew, why is he so obsessed with us?

"Ah, more Americans I see," Malfoy sneered then he faltered, "oh, it's you guys." Then his face lit up, "No emo boy to protect you?" I was amazed at this guys bravery, or stupidity. We outnumbered him by 3 to 1, and he's still acting like this? I suppose he desperately wanted to make up for being humiliated by Nico.

"Any of you Muggle-borns?" we all shook our heads.

"Half-bloods," all of us said at the exact same time.

"All of you? Well, better than Mudblood at least."

I frowned. Did this guy say the same exact same things to everyone? Was this scripted? Was my life an awful book-to-movie adaptation?

Malfoy kept talking: "Well you three are stupid to be sitting with the so-called Golden Trio"

Leo stood and marched towards him. He may be scrawny, but he definitely looked intimidating. Not enough though, because Malfoy didn't back down. "What?"

Leo punched him in the face.

"GO GO GO!!" Clarisse yelled, she stood up, looking so crazed you'd think the World Cup was happening right on the train. "FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!! FIGHT YOU WIMPS!!" Or maybe a death match.

Malfoy tried him to punch but failed miserably; Leo dodged all his strikes easily.

"Pathetic," Leo taunted him. Then I suddenly felt a tiny bit warmer. I realized what he was planning to do.

Malfoy reached for his wand.

"Leo! Stop it! You're going to..you know!" I tried to pull him back.

Right when Malfoy pulled his wand out, both Leo's hands burst into flames and latched onto Malfoy's sleeve.

"AHHHHH!! GET IT OFF!!" Malfoy waved his arm crazily. His two thugs backed away in horror.

"Leo stop it! Please!" Piper yelled.

Leo immediately extinguished the flames.

"Oops," he said sheepishly.

Will grabbed Malfoy's arm and waved his hand over it, muttering something, and it started to heal.

"Get out of here!" I yelled at him.

"And don't you dare tell anyone what happened!" Jason glared at him.

Malfoy whimpered and shot off, followed by his two goons.

"Why'd you heal him?" Leo asked him. "He needs some pain in his life."

Will rolled his eyes, "That way he can't prove that he actually got burned by you."

"Oh, of course," Leo nodded. Clarisse shook her head.

I was about to enter blue food into the conversation, but Will beat me, "Where's Nico again?"

Annabeth pointed down the hall, "Down that way on the right. Near the middle."

"Thanks," Will said, and he looked like he was expecting us all to just forget he'd asked anything.

Jason squinted at him, and Will slowly stood up, "I'm going to... attend to him."

"Sure," Piper said casually. "Go on. Nobody should make a big deal out of this."

Will went out, and Piper indicated that we should start a conversation about something.

We began talking about Camp Wizardry, Hogwarts (we still have laughs about that name), and we also tried to use our wands. Apparently "Hocus-Pocus" and "Abracadabra" don't do anything.

I looked out the compartment window just in time to see Malfoy run by screaming at the top of his lungs, "MY FATHER WILL HEAR ABOUT THIS!!"

Then I saw Thalia yelling curses at him in three different languages running after him.