Thalia's POV: December 12, 1997

Shit. They're onto us.

I was walking to the DA meeting with Luna, and she told me about these books she'd been reading recently. Mythology books. DAM IT!

"It's quite fascinating, what Muggles come up with to explain the workings of the world."

"Uh-huh...? How so?" Keep it cool Thalia. She doesn't know you're the daughter of Zeus. Everything is FINE.

"Like how they say winter happens because Persephone is spending time with Hades, and her mother is upset. Or how the Fates can end lives by cutting string."

"Wow... interesting... I didn't know that..."

She's looking at me weirdly now. "Thalia, your poker face is awful," I remember Luke telling me once when we were on the run together. Oh... Luke. It's 1997. He would be 11 now. He ran away when he was 9. He's out there somewhere all alone... and so am I. This would be around the time Mother left him at the Wolf House. Dam. Time travel.

"Thalia?"

We'd stopped walking. "Oh, sorry, Luna, I just zoned out"

"It's all right." She pointed to the wall in front of us, and I noticed that we were standing in front of the door to the Room of Requirement. We were there about ten minutes early because I wanted to prepare something that had been on my mind. I want to teach the DA how to fight. With swords and stuff. Although, now that I'm thinking about it, it might not be the best idea now that Luna is onto us... but I'm sure it will be fine.

I opened the door and we walked inside. It looked like it normally did, which meant I was gonna have to change some things up, which is why I brought Luna. "Luna, here's where I need your help. I don't know how this room works, but I need fighting dummies along the back wall. Is there a spell for that?" Just as the words left my mouth, a row of dummies just like the ones in the arena at camp appeared along the black wall. "Oh."

Luna smiled at me. "That's how the room works. It gives you whatever you require."

"Oh. That's why it's called the Room of Requirement." Well, now I feel kind of stupid.

"Thalia, what are these for?" Luna asked, gesturing at the dummies.

"I've got a special lesson plan for today." We'd been practicing Patronuses since the end of November. So far around half of the demigods (including yours truly) have produced patronuses. Will had an adorable little hummingbird, and Percy had a pegasus. Hazel's was a phoenix, which everyone thought was cool, Leo had a salamander (which he was kind of disappointed about), and Piper had a doe. Frank had a big fluffy bear that scared the shit out of Lavender Brown. I had a big wolf, and when Magnus saw it he looked like he was gonna throw up (his patronus is a pony, which Alex found hilarious). I guess he's really scared of wolves. He didn't tell me why, but it must be bad. Personally, I think my patronus is pretty badass.

People started coming in through the door. How long was I zoned out for? Hazel walked in with Frank, and Gale the polecat leaped out of her bag and scurried over to cushion in the corner of the room. The pair was followed by some of the newbies. In the past two weeks, we've had a bunch of new members join. Ernie's friends Susan and Hannah and three Ravenclaw boys, Terry Boot, Anthony Goldstein, and Michael Corner, who was apparently Ginny's ex. All of them were in the original DA, but I still thought of them as newbies (because let's face it, they weren't all that good). I saw Luna sitting near me, reading a book. I tried to make out the title: Ancient Muggle Mythologies, Vol. 4: Norse. Shit.

While I waited for everyone to get here, I watched Annabeth. She was standing next to Percy, and casting the Patronus Charm over and over again. Piper, Reyna, and the Patil twins were watching and cheering her on. Percy whispered something in her ear. She smiled at him and tried again. Silver mist came out of her wand but didn't fully form into any animal. It did have wings though. I walked over and squeezed her shoulder. "You got this, Annie." She smirked. "Don't call me Annie, Thals." She shook her head to focus and cast the spell again. An owl burst out of the end and flew a circle around the whole room, then perched on her arm. She grinned.

"Nice, Annabeth! Now, everyone listen up! Thalia is going to be leading the meeting today because she asked me if she could. I'm assuming it has something to do with those dummy things." Ginny had arrived, and now all eyes were on me. I cleared my throat and stepped into the middle of the room.

"Listen up. So as you all know, I'm Thalia. I've been learning defensive magic from the DA for a few months now, and I think it's time we Americans show you how we defend ourselves." The wizards all looked at me weirdly. "Uh, not that we don't use defensive magic, but at our school, we mostly use these."

I took out my wand and closed my eyes. Hecate, if this doesn't work it's gonna be really embarrassing. My wand grew and transformed into my shield, Aegis. Someone shrieked. Whoopsie, I forgot it had that effect on people.

"Is that Medusa?" Luna asked, and every demigod in the room turned to stare at her.

"Um, yes. It's to strike fear in the hearts of my enemies." I said.

"It also struck fear into the heart of Lavender," Ginny said, and I noticed that Lavender had fallen onto the floor. She must have been the one who screamed. "You guys fight with shields?" Ginny asked.

"Nope, not all of us," Percy said, stepping forward. He held out his wand, and after a second it turned into his sword, Riptide. He grinned. "Sword."

"How did you do that?" Ernie asked.

"Uh, it's an American thing," Percy lied.

"I'm Canadian..." I heard Frank mutter from behind me.

"Can all of you do that?" Seamus asked.

Magnus took out his wand, whispered something to it (probably 'please pretend to be normal'), and willed it to change into his sword.

"That sword is beautiful," Luna said.

"Thanks."

"Do you know what it looks like?" She asked.

"Uh, a sword?"

She flipped through her book and then turned it around. "It looks like this illustration of Sumarbrander, the Sword of Summer. It's from Ancient Norse Mythology."

Magnus paled. "Oh... t-that's really interesting, Luna."

Shitshitshitshitshit.

The rest of my friends turned their wands back into weapons. There were a few raised eyebrows when Alex turned her wand into that garrote thingy, but then she decapitated a dummy with it and nobody questioned it. We split up to teach the wizards, and I realized that Neville wasn't here. That worried me.

I was supervising, since Hecate didn't feel the need to let me bring my spear with me, so I technically don't have a weapon. I walked over to Percy, who was helping Luna learn how to wield Riptide. Everyone had taken off their uniform robes for better mobility, and Percy's tattoo was in full view since he had his sleeves rolled up. Luna pointed to it. "You said that was your family crest, right?"

"Um... yeah" He looked at me, and we shared the same worried expression.

Luna continued. "The trident is the symbol of Poseidon, a Greek god. I read about him in Ancient Muggle Mythologies."

"Oh, really? That's... cool."

"Is your family from Greece? That could be why the crest is a trident."

"Um, on my dad's side? He's... Greek..."

I wanted to smack him. Idiot.

"Your full name is Perseus. He was a hero in mythology. He was a son of Zeus, though."

"Um, yes. My mom named me after him."

Luna kept talking to him about Greek mythology, and he kept looking at me for help. I took that as my sign to go supervise someone else. I chose Nico, who was teaching Seamus. Seamus was angrily hacking at the dummy, and his form was terrible. Nico facepalmed and went to help him. I moved on.

Annabeth was teaching Ginny while Alex tried to teach Susan how to use a garrote. Piper was teaching Parvati and Padma, while Jason was teaching Ernie (who was holding his sword backward). Hazel was teaching Lavender, who was having trouble holding Hazel's heavy cavalry sword. Frank was teaching Terry how to shoot a bow while Leo taught Anthony how to bonk people with a hammer. Reyna was teaching Hannah, who looked lowkey scared of her. Magnus was teaching Michael, but his weird sword kept glowing and freaking the kid out. Will sat off to the side, medkit ready, in case someone lost a finger or something.

Jason had corrected Ernie on his sword grip and was now staring off into space, which was unlike him. Ernie started slashing at the combat dummy while Jason continued to be zoned out. I followed his gaze to... Leo. Which wasn't surprising. I've noticed that Jason has been staring at him more often lately. Piper looked away from the Patil twins and met my eyes. She knew the same thing as me: my little brother was in love with his best friend.

I walked up behind Jason and said in his ear "I know you think Valdez is cute, but you have got to pay more attention to Macmillan so he doesn't accidentally kill himself."

He jumped a foot into the air. "Wha- I- uh... n-no, I- um..." he stuttered.

I smirked "Don't hurt yourself, Jase. And don't try to deny it. It's painfully obvious."

He looked down at the floor. "Yeah... wait, it is?"

"Oh, my sweet baby brother. I'm pretty sure Leo is the only one who hasn't noticed, and that's because mentally, he's a trainwreck."

Jason blushed so much that I had to try really hard not to laugh. I patted him on the shoulder and whispered in his ear "I have a feeling he likes you back", and then I walked away. I'm not really a romantic person, but I had to try and speed this along because my brother's crush was getting painful to watch. But seriously? Valdez? Why? I caught Piper smiling at me and I gave her a thumbs up. Best wingwomen ever.

I circled back around to Percy, who was looking shaken. "Kelp Head, you alright?" I asked.

He nodded like the little liar he was and tried to continue instructing Luna, but she turned to face me instead.

"So, Thalia. I've been wondering." She smiled at me. "Which god is your parent?"

WHAT THE FUCK, PERCY?!

"Uh, excuse me?" I said.

"Well, Percy's not the only demigod in your group, is he? And you give off a similar energy. Powerful, but also different. So I'm going to guess it's not Poseidon."

DAM IT PERCY!

"Uh..." I glared at Percy. "Fine. I'm a demigod. My dad is Zeus." Hecate is going to smite us. We're screwed.

Luna looked at me in amazement. "Wow, really? The king of the gods... that makes you a princess! And Jason must be the prince since you're siblings."

"Um, I guess so, yeah." This conversation was making me uncomfortable. Thankfully, Neville threw open the doors to save me from the rest. Then I realized he looked panicked.

Frank was the first person to reach him, with Hazel close behind.

"Neville, what's wrong?" they said in unison like the sickeningly adorable couple that they are.

He was breathing heavily, his face was flushed, he was battered and bruised (which was normal for him these days), and he looked on the verge of a breakdown. Shit, I hope the Carrows didn't do anything too bad.

"They- they're after my gran. The Carrows."

Ginny looked incredibly concerned. "What do you mean, 'after her'?"

"Well, they realized they can't really do anything to me to make me stop, you know, rebelling and shit. So, they've taken the low road and gone after my Gran." He held up a piece of paper. "She sent this letter to me, and the Carrows intercepted it. They showed it to me as proof. She said she's on the run and they haven't found her yet, but the Carrows said their Death Eater friends are looking. Of course, their main focus is finding Harry, so finding my gran is more of a backburner problem. Still, I'm worried." He took a deep breath. "There's also the fact that they're trying to expel me."

"WHAT?!" Everyone exclaimed.

"Expel you?" I asked. "I thought they didn't want to waste pure blood or whatever."

"Yeah, well, I think I've annoyed them to the point of them wanting to snap my wand and chuck me out, regardless of my blood status."

"Shit, Neville," Percy said. "What are you going to do?"

"Well, I'm not going to let them expel me, that's for sure."

"Then what are you gonna do, live in the walls?" Nico asked sarcastically.

"Something like that..." He muttered. A hammock appeared in the corner of the room.

"You're going to live in here?" Piper and Lavender asked at the same time.

"Yup. It's going to be one hell of a Christmas." He chuckled.

Christmas? Dam, I forgot about that.

"Wait, you lot." He gestured to me and the other demigods. "Are you going back to America for the winter holiday?" The look on his face said it all. He wanted us to escape back to the States and not come back until the war is over. Not happening, bud.

"No," Annabeth said. Please come up with a good lie, Annie! "I... don't think it's safe for any of us to leave the country right now." She looked at us expectantly and we nodded. "Are we allowed to stay here?" she asked.

Ginny snorted. "You can, but none of us would recommend it, what with the Carrows running rampant through the school and all."

"I don't think we have a choice," said Alex, who was twirling her garrote around (much to Magnus's discomfort, I think he has some garrote-related trauma or something).

"Wait," Ginny held up her hands. "Lemme think..."

"There's thirteen of you... and three safehouses with spare rooms..."

Safehouses? What?

"The only question is how to contact the Order..."

What the Hades is the Order?

She pulled the coin out of her pocket. "What are the chances Fred or George still have their coins?" she asked, thinking aloud. Everyone shrugged.

"Worth a shot," Seamus said.

Ginny tapped the coin with her wand a few times as if she were typing something. I would have just used the coin for an Iris-Message, but I guess wizards don't know how to make those.

"Okay, I love tapping coins just as much as the next guy, but what the flip-flap is going on?" Leo asked.

Ginny looked up at us. "This coin is like the ones you all have, but it can send longer messages. Fred and George got some when they were in the original DA. I just hope they still have them. Anyway, I think I might have some places you can stay, but we'll have to split you up."

"Are we going to be staying in those safehouses you mentioned?" Jason asked.

She nodded and kept tapping the coin. Leo started whistling the Jeopardy! theme song and Piper elbowed him in the ribs ("Oww, Pipes").

***

We practiced for another thirty minutes until Ginny exclaimed "He responded!"

We all crowded around her as she read: "Dear Skinny Ginny, gotta ask mum and the Order, love your favorite brother Freddie." She rolled her eyes at the 'Skinny Ginny' part. "Alright. I'll tell you when he messages me again. Talk to me after the meeting though." All of us thanked her because even though I'm pretty sure none of us had thought of it before today, we really didn't want to spend Christmas with the Carrows.

We started combat training but with different partners this time. I saw Luna talking to Hazel and Nico, who were growing increasingly panicked as the conversation continued. I saw them look at me with the same expression I had given Percy earlier: WHAT THE FUCK?

Once the meeting was over and most of the other people had left, Ginny called the demigods and me over to her, where she was standing with Neville and Luna. She began telling us about the secret Order of the Phoenix, which I think meant she really trusted us now. She told us about the Order playing a role in both the First Wizarding War and the Second. She told us that a lot of the members died, like her friend Harry's parents and her uncles Gideon and Fabian. She told us about how most of her older brothers had joined, as well as her parents. She also said there were safehouses for emergencies, and that our situation might qualify.

"The Carrows hate all of you, I don't think there's a single one of you who's gotten detention less than five times. With most of the population of the students leaving for Christmas, they would have no one else to take their anger out on. It's safest if you stay with the order."

When she was done, Luna took it as her chance to ask all of us something.

"Are all of you demigods?"

The atmosphere of the room changed immediately, it felt charged with lightning (but that might have just been Jason freaking out). Neville and Ginny turned around and stared. At Luna, at us, at each other. They looked confused.

Leo started laughing. "...Demigods? Luna, what are you talking about? What's a demigod?"

"Someone who is part god. I know of three different pantheons, Roman, Norse, and Greek. I know that Percy, Thalia, Jason, and Nico are Greek demigods and Hazel is a Roman demigod. What about the rest of you?"

Jason raised his hand. "I'm actually Roman-" He was interrupted by Leo slapping his arm.

"What the bloody hell are you all talking about?" Ginny exclaimed, confused. "Gods? Those are just muggle fantasies! And also, I forgot to mention... not real!" She looked at us to confirm her statement.

Annabeth stepped forward. She looked annoyed but also sympathetic.

"You know what? Unlike some people, I am not a professional gaslighter." She glared pointedly at Nico. "So it's time to be honest. You were never supposed to find out, but I trust you enough to know you won't tell anyone." She looked at Neville, Ginny, and Luna in a way that said 'I will personally make your life miserable if you betray my trust'. Then she closed her eyes and looked up at the ceiling. I imagined she was praying to Hecate not to smite her. I wondered how pissed the goddess would be, but I guess there's no turning back now.

"We're demigods. All of us."

Luna smiled, which was a stark contrast to Neville and Ginny's baffled expressions.

Annabeth started counting on her fingers. "Let's see, we've got about... seven Greeks, four Romans, and 2 Norse."

"Gods aren't real though! Muggles just made them up to explain magical things they saw before memory charms were developed! Hermione wrote a whole damn essay about it!" Ginny exclaimed.

"Unfortunately, they're real," I grumbled.

"A real pain in the ass," muttered Percy.

I chuckled. "Dam."

We spent the next twenty minutes explaining who our parents were and where they lived and tried to sum up the family lore. Luna helped make it easier for Neville and Ginny to understand by showing them her books. Neville believed us after a while, but Ginny was still skeptical. That is, until a goddess appeared in front of us.

"Demigods!" Hecate shouted. She was about eight feet tall, mist curling off her clothes. Her eyes blazed with anger and so did her torches. Percy looked like he was about to pee his pants. Gale the polecat ran over from her cushion and lay down at the goddess's feet. That snitch. "What did I tell you?! My descendants aren't supposed to know about the Olympians!"

"Lady Hecate-" Hazel tried, but she was cut off by Ginny.

"WHAT THE FU-" She stopped mid-scream because her mouth disappeared. She reached up and felt her face and was probably screaming internally, but we couldn't hear anything due to her lack of a mouth. Neville was petrified, which quickly turned to rage.

"What did you do? Turn her back! I don't know who you are and how you apparated into Hogwarts, but you can't just-" Hecate turned him into a sunflower.

"Alright, do I have to shut you up, too?" The goddess directed this to Luna, who then gave a curtsy.

"No, Lady Hecate." She then straightened up and looked at Hecate with wonder.

Hecate smirked. "Luna Lovegood. I remember you. Glad someone here has an ounce of respect. Shame I have to smite you now."

"Lady Hecate!" Hazel cried. "Don't smite any of them!" When she saw the withering look Hecate was giving her, she cleared her throat and spoke again. "Please. It's not right."

Hecate laughed. "Little Hazel Levesque is telling me, the Triple Goddess, what I can and can't do?" Her torches blazed brighter. Hazel was frozen in place. Annabeth and Percy moved forward. Percy swallowed his fear and stood next to Hazel. Annabeth stood in front of Luna. Ginny stood next to Flower-Neville, and she looked like she was about to either faint or attack Hecate.

"Lady Hecate! How have you been?" Annabeth asked through a fake smile.

"Uh, been to any cool festivals lately?" Percy tried to sound cheerful, but his voice shook with fear.

The goddess turned to look at them. "As a matter of fact, no. I've been too busy trying to figure out how I am going to fix this mess that my lovely polecat told me you got yourselves into."

Percy cast a betrayed glance downward to Gale, who chittered at him apologetically.

"I did receive your prayer, Annabeth. Unfortunately, I can't smite any of you because I need you and I don't need conflict with your parents. My compromise is to smite these witchlings." Hecate explained. Luna was still looking up at her with wonder, even as the goddess talked about planning to smite her.

"This was all a part of the plan, though!" Annabeth declares. "We picked the three wizards and witches we trusted the most, and we decided we were okay with them finding out. We let them discover the truth because it would be beneficial to our plan." This was a lie, but Hecate didn't need to know that.

The Triple Goddess raised an eyebrow. "Is that so? You all seemed quite distressed when Luna figured it out"

Annabeth swallowed. I decided to jump in and help her.

"W-well, we weren't ready yet!"

Hecate regarded me with mild interest. "...continue, Thalia."

"Uh, well, we were planning on letting them find out closer to go time, you know, so uh, we weren't ready for them to figure us out just yet." I felt pretty proud of myself for this lie (it was one of my better ones), and Hecate seemed to believe it. She waved her right torch, and Ginny and Neville went back to normal. Ginny was opening and closing her mouth like a fish, breathing heavily, while Neville was trembling and holding onto Jason for support.

"I have decided against smiting you three... for now..." She glared at all of us, daring to object. "If you half-bloods tell anyone that isn't completely trustworthy, that person shall die immediately and their blood will be on your conscience. If any of you three let slip about the mythological world to ANYONE without express permission, well," she chuckled without humor. "As Neville here knows, there are fates worse than death." Gale jumped off the goddess's shoulder as she turned into Mist, leaving a bunch of traumatized teens and a polecat sitting alone in a room that shouldn't exist.

Deja vu, honestly.

Minerva's POV:

Oh, Albus. What'll we do?

I was pacing back and forth on top of the astronomy tower, just thinking. I had been doing a lot of that lately.

I took a deep breath to calm my thoughts.

Hogwarts. Once a safe haven for young minds, now a torture chamber. Amycus and Alecto spare mercy for no one. They've used as many curses as their apeish brains can muster on the students, who have done little to nothing to deserve it, especially the younger ones. The other staff and I can't do much to stop them aside from taking time out our own classes to assist them. Now, my priority is to get as many students out of the castle for the holiday as possible.

Some of the older students are doing their best to help as well, mostly by defending others, which doesn't work out in their favor most of the time. The heart is there though, and I am proud of each and every one of them for being so strong. Neville, especially. That boy has grown so much in his years here, and I must say I am proud of the man he has become. He is a true Gryffindor, even if he doesn't realize it.

I've grown fond of the exchange students, too. They all have displayed admirable qualities and have given me no reason not to trust them. I am worried that they are attracting too much attention from the Death Eaters. The Order and I will do our best to protect them along with everyone else. It's our duty. Besides, I think my grandmother, Athena, would prefer if these demigods made it back home safely. They weren't exactly being very sneaky. Olympus School of Magic? I doubt Athena was involved in this scheme, otherwise, I wouldn't have found them out so easily. My prayers came true, the gods sent help, but I just wished they hadn't sent children.

Looking out at the scenic view from which I used to get so much joy, I can't help but feel the worst is coming very, very soon.

I must do all I can to protect my home.

A/N: hey people! I think I kinda got my life together so here's a chapter. Idk how I feel about it, it felt kinda rushed but I don't hate it. A LOT happened in this chapter, so I'm sorry if it was too much (I've been figuring out the timeline for this and I realized I was behind so I had to squish a lot of information into this chapter, and it ended up being 4416 words...)

Comment some name suggestions for background characters! I hate coming up with their names myself, so your help would be greatly appreciated. You can choose what house you want them to be in too. 

I ended this chapter with a Minnie McGonagall POV in honor of the amazing Maggie Smith, who passed away last week. Everyone, please raise your wands for this absolute legend /*

if you don't hydrate, Hecate will smite you

~sstar