Percy's POV: December 21, 1997

"Good morning, sleepyhead," came a voice from above me. I didn't want to do what the voice said, even if she did sound friendly. I knew whose voice it was but my groggy brain couldn't place it.

"Nooo... five more minutes, Mom," I mumbled, turning my head to the side and feeling something flat, cool, and smooth. I turned my bead back so I didn't have to touch it again.

"I'm not your mom. Now, wake up, Jackson." Her voice was pretty. I wanted to wake up. I opened my eyes, realizing I was on a train. Right, the Hogwarts Express. The back of my head was resting on the window. The cold surface I had felt before was the glass, which had frost on it. I thought that was why I felt cold, but then I felt it. That chill down my spine settled in my lower back and stayed there. It felt like that feeling when your foot fell asleep, but right where my Achilles spot used to be. I looked up to see Piper leaning over the back of the seat I was lying on, peeking her head over. Her expression shifted from amused to concerned.

"Are you alright?"

I blinked, my train of thought moving so fast that it took me a second to realize she had asked me a question. "Uh- yeah, someone just walked over my grave."

She scoffed. "You sound like my dad. He gets the shivers sometimes. You sure you're okay?"

"Yeah," I lied. The truth was, that feeling was still there. I felt hollow. Something was off, something was missing, but I couldn't tell what it was. One of the things I learned from being a demigod was to trust my instincts. And right now, they were telling me something was very wrong. It was like sensing a disturbance in the Force. I looked around and noticed that we were the only ones in the train car. "Where's everyone else?"

"Oh, they're getting off. I got stuck with the unlucky job of waking you up. Now, hurry it up so we can catch up to them." she explained.

"Huh. I thought Annabeth would get that job."

"She's still with Luna. They should be back any second now, but knowing Luna they're probably distracted talking about Flittering Bitterbees or something."

I laughed, but it was airy and not really an actual laugh. "Yeah, okay. How long was I asleep?"

"You fell asleep right before we pulled into the station, so maybe like, ten minutes?"

I groaned. Instead of making me feel rested, the nap felt like it had sapped my energy. I got up and started collecting my stuff when I noticed something was missing.

"Piper, where's my candy?" I asked incredulously.

"It may or may not have been eaten... by Leo and Jason... and maybe also probably Nico." She looked away as if she was ashamed to be the bearer of such tragic news.

I gasped. Those traitors! Eating my magical blue wizard candy is an act of betrayal. "How could they?"

"Uh, you snooze you lose I guess," she said, shrugging her shoulders. You snooze you lose? Seriously?

I grumbled about my traitorous friends while I got my trunk down from the overhead rack. It was right on top of Annabeth's. I chose to be a good boyfriend and get it down as well. Piper was standing in the doorway, waiting with her own trunk next to her. She was wearing a blue and purple ski jacket and black cargo pants, and there was a black bag slung over her shoulder. Her hair was tucked into a blue skullcap beanie. She told me to hurry up or she would hex me and proved her point by taking her wand out of her black bag. I quickly grabbed Annabeth's wand off the table and threw it into her backpack, tucking my own into my pocket. I put my arms through the straps of Annabeth's backpack and used my free hands to pull the trunks along behind me.

I ended up not being able to fit the trunks through the door. I used a levitation spell to stack them and float them in front of me as we walked. The thing was, it took me a couple of tries to do it. Sure, I'm not a fan of flying, but usually, I'm pretty good at the levitation charm. While we were walking, the spell wore off without warning and the trunks fell on my foot. I let out a very long string of swears that would have had my mom washing my mouth out with blue soap.

We didn't run into Annabeth or Luna while walking down the hallways. The train was pretty much empty, aside from a few first-years coming back to get something they forgot. We finally stopped at the door to the girl's bathroom near the front of the train, after my trunks fell on the ground for the second and third time. I waited as Piper stepped inside.

A few moments later, she poked her head out the door. "They're not in there."

My heart rate spiked. Chill, Percy, they probably just got lost. But Annabeth barely ever gets lost, especially not in a confined space like a train. "Is there another bathroom?" I asked with wavering hope.

She shook her head. "I don't think so."

"Well, let's find out for sure," I said, my voice strained. I started off back down where we'd just come from when an unfamiliar voice rang out.

"What are you two doing on the train still? Most everyone's gotten off already." An older man wearing a red train conductor's uniform. His hair was dark gray with white streaks here and there, and he had a mustache to match. He looked a little ticked off that we were holding him up. Doesn't this train only run like, twice a year? What's the rush?

"We're sorry, sir," Piper apologized sweetly "We were just looking for our friends, Annabeth and Luna. They went to the bathroom over twenty minutes ago and never came back to the compartment to get their things. Have you seen them?" She started to describe what they looked like, but the conductor cut her off.

"I have a simpler solution if you don't mind." he pulled out his wand, and I thought he was going to attack us until he pointed it above our heads. "Homenum Revelio."

I looked around. Piper, the conductor, and I were glowing. I looked down the hall towards the back of the train, and it was like I had heat vision goggles. I could see two glowing human silhouettes through the walls. I thought it was Annabeth and Luna, but the silhouettes were too small. Probably those forgetful first-years from before. They got off the train through one of the doors, and then I couldn't see them anymore. I did a full spin, but the only glowing people left on the train were standing right next to me. I couldn't even see the little trolley witch. Our glow started to fade, and the spell wore off. Where is she? Where's Annabeth? My breathing started to get quicker. Piper rested her hand on my shoulder and looked at me.

"Percy, take a breath. They probably got off already. Maybe they thought the trunks would get transported off magically?" She sounded like she was trying to convince herself as well as me, but I didn't really have any other choice. We hurriedly got off the train at the nearest door. The platform was emptying as families were leaving to go back home. There was still a large group of people in the middle, and I saw my friends in the mix. That must be the Order. They were all looking around, and I heard someone call my name. And Annabeth's. And Piper's. There was a man calling Luna's name. He was standing off to the side, apart from the Order, and he had all her stuff. I assumed it was her dad. We ran over. I set down the floating trunks and put Annabeth's backpack on top of them. People, people, people crowded around me, asking questions, but I shoved them away. I pushed through the crowd.

"Annabeth? Annabeth!" Faces and faces and faces and so many faces but none of them were hers. Grabbing arms and turning heads and shouting voices, but my own was loudest in my head. I couldn't find her. My heart was beating faster and faster. Pressure was building up inside me, about to blow. The prickle in the small of my back grew stronger and I shivered from head to toe, freezing in place. Where is she? Where? Where where where where where where where wherewherewherewherewherewherewherewherewherewherewherewhere-

"PERCY!" Someone shouted my name. My breath caught in my lungs. My head turned, but it wasn't her. It was the girl- what was her name again? Not Annabeth. She ran over to the ice sculpture that was me. A Percicle. It was like I was stuck in time. Hasn't that happened before? Maybe. Annabeth was there. She's not here, though. Wherewherewherewherewhere-

The girl- Hazel! That was her name! -grabbed my hands. "Percy! Piper told us what happened. Annabeth isn't with us, we thought she was with you! Luna, too, her father's worried sick, and the Order is here to take us to the safehouses but we can't leave until we have everyone, and- and, um..." She let go of my hands and looked back at a woman with a round face and bright orange hair tied back in a patchwork bandana. The woman came forward. There were more people behind her, but they blurred together through my haze.

"Hello, Percy dear. I'm Mrs. Weasley. Ginny told me you're staying with us."

whereisshewheredidshegoIneedherwhereisAnnabethAnnabethAnnabeth-

"No!"

Mrs. Wealey and Hazel stepped back. I unfroze, but I was still shaking. My outburst drew the attention of almost everyone on the platform who wasn't already staring. Their faces started to come into focus. Families were rushing off the platform, eager to get home, but they paused for a moment to look at me, then went back to their business. I didn't care. My ears were buzzing with mumbles and chatter, and my thoughts were still racing. That pressure was still there, mixing with the prickle of my back and the rage behind my eyes to form something hard lodged in my throat.

"No," I croaked. "I'm not leaving without her."

Mrs. Weasley nodded. "We have people searching the station for Luna and your friend Annabeth as we speak." I looked around and noticed she was right. The station was empty except for our group. Older people and some of my friends were spread out, and I could faintly hear them calling her name, but I didn't really pay attention to that.

AnnabethwhereareyouAnnabethwhereareyouAnnabethwhereareyouAnnabethwhereareyouAnnabethwhereareyouAnnabethwhereareyouAnnabethwhereareyouAnnabethwhereareyouAnnabethwhereareyouAnnabethwhereareyouAnnabethwhereareyouAnnabethwhereareyouAnnabethwhereareyouAnnabethwhereareyouAnnabethwhereareyou...

Annabeth, where are you?

***

They looked for an hour.

I was shaking so much that Mrs. Weasley made me sit down on the bench. Part of me wanted to look for her, but the other part felt like it was crumbling to pieces. People were surrounding my bench and talking and talking, but I wasn't listening. The rest of the group searched the whole of Platform 9¾ (which is apparently what this stupid place is called) and the rest of King's Cross Station.

They never found her.

I could hear Mr. Lovegood's sobs in the distance, but I didn't process why he was sad. The sound barely registered in my head.

"Percy," Piper told me, her eyes glistening "she's not here."

I became hollow.

Mrs. Weasley had a hand on my shoulder, rubbing it reassuringly. My face was wet. The shaking had gotten worse. Over the last hour, the shiver in my back would get stronger, and then it would almost go away entirely. Now, it was somewhere in between.

My somewhat steady but shaky breathing grew quicker and deeper. It felt like there was lava boiling inside my chest. Good. Let it erupt. I stood up and started pacing, pushing Mrs. Weasley's hand away. My fists were clenched, and everything went fuzzy again. People blurred into the background and voices dimmed to meaningless chatter. The pressure rose into my throat, and it felt like my ears were about to pop. Something exploded, I wasn't sure what. I didn't care. I will tear this station down brick by fucking brick.

My blood rushed in my ears, heat and pressure and pain and rage bubbling to the top. My whole body felt like it was steaming, the tears evaporating right off my cheeks. My heart was pounding out of my chest, shattering my ribs into a million pieces, scattering them like the stars.

A pair of arms wrapped around my back, fracturing my daze. "Percy, stop," and I did. I stood still, blank eyes staring into nothingness. Wait... no. I can't stop.

"Let go, Piper. I have to find her."

"I know, Percy. I know. But we have to go. She's not here, and exposing all of us won't help, and will just lead to innocent people getting hurt."

Everything turned fuzzy again, and I wanted to do what she said. I shook my head to clear my thoughts. "Stop charmspeaking me!" I hissed to the girl behind me.

"I'm sorry. She's my friend, and I want to find her more than anything, but she isn't here. She trusted me to use my instincts to get us out of countless situations. And right now, my feeling is that the only way we can find her is to go with the Order. They said they've been investigating missing people for months, and they have some leads. The best way you can help find her is to come with us. Please."

I wanted to scream and break everything, but I tried to take a deep breath. Gods, I can't even remember how to breathe without her. I lifted Piper's arms off me and turned around. "Fine."

She breathed out a sigh of relief and walked me over to the Order. Everyone was silent, except for Mr. Lovegood's sobs. Oh, right. Luna. Call me a terrible person, but if it was between saving Luna or my Wise Girl, I would choose the latter. That gnawed at me inside, and I let it.

A tall, dark-skinned man with purple robes and a gold earring addressed all of us, but I tuned it all out. Annabeth was the one who focused enough for both of us.

I was coming back to my senses. I recognized the people around me. My friends. They shuffled around, talking to each other, giving hugs, and grabbing their things. Piper gently tapped my shoulder. "Percy, it's time to go." Hazel and Frank came to say goodbye to me, and they were followed by Will and Nico, and then Magnus and Alex. After saying goodbye to everyone, they split up and disappeared with some older wizards. It looked like they shadow-traveled in broad daylight.

"Where did they go?" I was so confused. How did they just vanish like that?

"They Apparated to the other safe houses, dear," Mrs. Weasley answered. Apparate... I've heard that before... A memory. Annabeth sitting next to me in the library, explaining how wizards and witches could teleport magically, though it was difficult and dangerous if done wrong. I didn't remember the details. The memory made me sad.

"Oh. Right." I mumbled. Piper was still next to me, probably making sure I didn't do anything stupid. That's Annabeth's job.

"Fred! George! Ginny!" Mrs. Weasley called. I turned my head in the direction she was shouting. Ginny, Jason, and Leo were a bit away, talking to two tall, freckled, red-headed men who looked around twenty. They were identical, except one of them was missing an ear. They're the ones Ginny told us about. The twins tensed at the sound of their names. "Come on, it's time to go home," Fred and George brought Leo, Jason, and Ginny back over.

Mrs. Weasley instructed us on what to do, and before long we were whisked away.

***

My feet hit the ground, and a strong arm grabbed my shoulder to keep me from falling. "Easy there, mate." The twin with both ears (who I had learned was Fred) patted me on the shoulder.

A few feet away, Leo hadn't been as lucky. He was lying on his back in the dirt. Jason helped him so his feet with a small smile and helped him brush the dirt off his back. Piper was standing next to Ginny and Mrs. Weasley, looking around at our surroundings. I did the same.

We were in the English countryside, with fields and hills for miles. There was a dirt path coming from around one of the hills that led straight to the door of the strangest house I had ever seen. My mom would have loved it. It looked like several small shacks stacked on top of each other. The house defied all laws of gravity and looked like it was held up entirely by magic. I looked next to me, at Annabeth, expecting her to be muttering under her breath about the architecture, but she wasn't there.

Mrs. Weasley led us inside. She assigned Fred and George to make dinner ("Without burning the house down!") while she gave us the grand tour. We walked through mismatched rooms with well-worn furniture and clutter and up creaky, winding staircases. It was a home that had been lived in, that much was clear. There was a clock with nine hands perched on top of a pile of laundry. Each hand had the face of a Weasley on it, and all of them were currently pointing to 'Mortal Peril'.

Up the rickety stairs were doors along each landing. The first door had a pink floral nameplate that read Ginny's name in cursive. Ginny opened the door. "Welcome to my room. Piper, you'll be in here. We do have a guest room, but we have to keep that open for any Order members that might pop in. Some of you will have to share, sorry."

Piper smiled at her. "That's okay, Ginny."

"I call Sparky!" Leo grabbed Jason's arm. I think Jason blushed a little.

Ginny went over to her bed and pulled out the drawer underneath, which turned out to be a trundle mattress. Mrs. Weasley told Piper to stay with Ginny while she took the rest of us upstairs.

At the next landing, there was a navy blue nameplate with gold-painted letters that spelled out 'Percy'.

I stopped. I reached out to touch the nameplate. Mrs. Weasley realized I wasn't behind her and she turned around.

"Sorry, dear. That's my- my son Percy's bedroom. You have the same name. He's... not here. The room you'll be in is up further."

I followed her up to the next landing, which led to a hallway. There were two doors. One with a dark green nameplate that read 'Charlie', and one with an orange nameplate that read 'Bill'.

"Bill's room is mostly empty now that he's moved into his own place with Fleur. Percy, you can take his room if you want. Jason and Leo, if you don't mind, you can share Charlie's old room. He's still in Romania, thankfully, and safe from all this war mess for now." Mrs. Weasley kept talking as she opened both doors with a flick of her wand.

I followed Leo and Jason into their room. There were posters of people on brooms zooming around and large pictures of fire-breathing dragons. A model of a dragon hung from the ceiling, with wings that flapped and a tail that swished back and forth. A bed rested in the corner next to a wooden closet. Mrs. Weasley waved her wand, and a plush sleeping bag floated out of the closet and unrolled itself onto the carpet.

"I call dibs floor!" Leo said and plopped himself down onto the sleeping bag. "Dang, Mrs. W, this is a nice sleeping bag!"

"Thank you, Leo. Come along, Percy." I followed her into the room next door. I could hear Jason bickering with Leo about sleeping on the floor because of course he was.

Bill Weasley's bedroom was like a ghost's room. There was a bed with plain white sheets and a gray blanket. The walls were bare, and you could see where posters and pictures used to hang. An empty bookshelf lined the back wall, and the wall adjacent to that had a desk and a bare wardrobe. The only real color in the room was a red and gold Gryffindor rug in the center of the room. It was clean, but almost any trace of the man who used to live here was gone.

I heard Mrs. Weasley sniffle next to me. "He's all grown up now, I'm afraid. One of the hardest things about being a mother is watching your babies grow up."

"Yeah, my mom says the same thing," I agreed.

"Your mum is absolutely right. And I'm sure your friends will be alright with my Bill and his... wife. They've got a lovely house by the coast. And The Tonks' are lovely. Nymphadora and Andromeda are lovely people."

"Okay."

Mrs. Weasley gave me one last hug and left the room, closing the door behind her.

If only you hadn't fallen asleep, you idiot. You were napping while your girlfriend was beign kidnapped. I thought.

I stood there for a moment, then fell to the ground and cried.

I snoozed. And I lost the most important thing in my life.

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***

Magnus's POV: December 21, 1997

Alex never struck me as the fangirl type, but all that has changed.

We arrived at the Tonks residence with Andromeda, who insisted we call her Andy.

"You're family now, whether you like it or not."

That made Alex and I smile. Andy knocked on the door, and the person who opened it was not what I was expecting. A pink-haired woman who looked to be somewhere in her twenties, and was very obviously pregnant. The lower half of the woman's face turned into a shark's mouth, and she smiled at us with seven rows of pointed teeth.

Alex looked at her in awe. "Hi, I'm Alex Fierro, my pronouns are she/her today, and you are the coolest person I have ever met."

The woman laughed. "Wotcher, I'm Tonks, and you seem like a pretty cool person yourself."

Alex abandoned me and followed Tonks inside, leaving me with all the luggage.

***

A few hours later we were at the dinner table eating more British food. I didn't even know what it was, but it was delicious so that's all that matters. Tonks and Andy told us about Tonks's father, Ted. He was on the run because he's muggle-born. Andy told us about Tonks as a baby.

"Oh, little Dora was a menace! She metamorphmagized herself every other minute, it was impossible to keep track of her! Always making a mess, the little gremlin,"

We also heard about Tonks's husband, Remus. He was in the Order and out on important missions a lot, but he visited whenever he could.

Alex and I told them stories about our einherji adventures and our friends at Hotel Valhalla. They were really interested in the whole gods concept, and we explained it the best we could without revealing that we were also time travelers.

At the same time, I was really worried about Annabeth. She's pretty much the last family I have left. I'm trying to keep it together, but I hate not knowing what happened to her.

After dinner, we were taken to the guest room, which had bunk beds in one corner and a desk in the other.

"I call top bunk!" Alex called and hurried up the ladder, sticking her tongue at me when she reached the top.

I looked at Andy. "Bunk beds, huh?"

She rolled her eyes playfully. "Dora's idea."

"They're the supreme bed! No one can convince me otherwise," Tonks declared.

"I agree," said Alex.

I scoffed and sat down on the bottom bunk. "Well, at least I won't have to climb down a ladder if I wake up at 2 AM and have to pee."

"Well I'll make sure to shake the ladder and wake you up," Alex retorted. I laughed.

***

The next morning, I woke from my nightmare to the smell of eggs wafting through the house. I could think about the nightmare later. I needed food. I got out of bed and looked up at the top bunk to see that Alex wasn't there. Before I walked to the kitchen, I went into the bathroom to brush my teeth and check that she hadn't drawn on my face or anything. Phew. Safe... for now. When you're friends with Alex Fierro, you learn to expect the unexpected.

Which is why I was not surprised to see a crocodile in the living room.

"Morning, Alex," I greeted the croc. It opened its mouth and snapped at me.

"Morning, Magnus," said a voice from behind me. I turned, and Alex was standing there in the doorway with a mug of tea. "I'm female today." She wore a dark green Hotal Valhalla hoodie and pink pajama pants that had the Grinch on them.

"Wait, if you're Alex, then why is there a crocodile in the living room?"

"Oh, that's the coffee table. Tonks was helping me practice Transfiguration."

"And you did a great job!" Tonks poked her head through the doorway. She waved her wand and the crocodile turned back into a table. "Don't tell mum, though." She turned her hair green and turned her hands into croc claws. "Or I'll eat you!" She chased us into the kitchen, where Andy was finishing making breakfast.

"Dora, stop terrorizing children," she called without looking up.

"Sorry, mum." Tonks turned back to normal and sat down at the table. She turned to look at us, and changed her face so she looked exactly like her mother. She did an impression of Andy, making us laugh.

"Dora, no metamorphmagizing at the breakfast table." Andy chided. Tonks made one last transformation, a sad clown's face, and then went back to normal when Andy threatened not to give her her breakfast.

We laughed and ate our food. After we were done, Alex got up and went back to the guest room while I helped clean up. Andy was singing along to the radio while scrubbing dishes, and I dried them off for Tonks to put away.

Walking back to the room, I saw the door of the room next to ours was open a bit. Normally I wouldn't snoop, but I could have sworn the door wasn't open earlier.

I opened the door and found myself in a nursery. The walls were light purple and had animals painted along the top. The back wall was home to a white crib with one of those canopy curtain things above it, and a baby mobile with little bears. There were toys and books on shelves along the right wall, and a baby changing table on the left wall. The rug in the center of the room had rainbow stripes, and standing on it was Alex. She looked sad, like the baby the room was designed for had died a long time ago.

"Alex?"

She turned around, her face turning emotionless. She quickly wiped her eyes with her hoodie sleeve. "Hey, Magnus.

"What are you doing in here?"

She looked away. "Just... looking at the nursery. Tonks says she's going to give them a normal name, not anything like Nymphadora or Andromeda." She laughed quietly. "I love babies."

"You do?"

"Yeah. They're so small and innocent. A baby could also get away with anything because they're so freaking cute. It's kind of crazy that we were that small once, and that a baby could grow as big as us. Even bigger, if they get the chance."

I nodded. Then I realized what her last sentence meant. "We're going to help win this war. We're going to make it a better world for Tonks's baby to grow up in. Remus won't be gone on missions and Ted will be out of hiding. They'll be a big, happy family. That baby will be spoiled rotten."

Alex smiled with her mouth closed. "Yeah. I just wish we could grow up too. We're stuck at sixteen until Ragnarok. I always wanted to adopt a kid, and now that can never happen."

I walked closer. "You never know, maybe a 4-year-old will die heroically in battle, and you can adopt them when they get to Valhalla." I joked. It didn't really work. Alex just frowned.

"I had another dream last night, about my mom." she confessed. "He said "Silly Alex, trying to slither away. I see you. I know where to find you." He knows we're here, Magnus. What if he get's You-Know-Who to help him escape?"

"That would be really bad. Do you think Moldymort knows about us? Is that why he took Annabeth?"

"Wait, he's the one who took her?" her eyes widened.

"I had a dream about is last night. She and Luna were attacked in the bathroom by Death Eaters." I explained

"We have to tell Andy and Tonks," she grabbed my hand and pulled my out of the nursery, to the living room.

Our hosts were sitting on the couch, listening to Potterwatch on the radio. We sat down in two of the armchairs and waited for the broadcast to finish, and then I explained my dream.

Andy looked saddened by this news. "Oh, dear. That's terrible. There's an Order meeting tomorrow to discuss you and the other demigods, so I'll make sure to tell them this. I agree, You-Know-Who cannot be allowed to find out about the gods. I come from a family of his old supporters, and knowing him he would probably want their immortality. We can't let that happen. I've heard that Annabeth is smart, so she should be able to handle the situation for now. I'll tell Kingsley that finding her and little Luna should be a priority. Those poor children." She shook her head.

Tonks patted me on the shoulder. "Maybe she escaped, like my dad. Don't worry Magnus. From what we've heard about your cousin, I'd bet she could hold her own against the Death Eaters for a while. The Order is gonna do everything we can to find her."

Yeah, but why do I still feel like something's wrong?

***

Nico's POV: December 23, 1997

We've been at Shell Cottage for a few days, and I'm not sure how I feel about everything.

We arrived still reeling from the fact that Annabeth is missing. Annabeth. It reminded me of being ten years old again, watching her go over a cliff on the back of a manticore.

At the station, Piper had talked to a man named Kingsley Shacklebolt as well as the hosts, Mrs. Weasley, Bill, and Andromeda Tonks. Hazel and Gale had managed to speak to Hecate in the days before we took the train, and she gave us permission to tell the Order. That worked out because most of the members were pretty suspicious of us. It took a little bit of convincing and charmspeak, but Piper managed to convince those four, and she left it up to them to tell only the people they trusted the most. She told them what would happen if this information got out. Before we all split up we were all inducted into the Order of the Phoenix, which was interesting. Piper said the oath for Percy, who was unresponsive. And then we went our separate ways.

Bill and Fleur were nice. Bill looked a lot like his family members, except for the scars on his face. He said they were from a werewolf named Fenrir Greyback, who had attacked him during a battle last year. Hearing the story made my arm sting all over again. Stupid werewolves. Fleur was pretty, I guess, but she was kind of overbearing. It was nice that she tried to help all the time, but it got old quickly

It was obvious where the place got its name. The roof was made with giant shells instead of shingles, and the walls were inlaid with seashell patterns. There were two guest bedrooms in the house that were able to be used. One had two single beds up against opposite walls, and the other had a double bed in the middle of the room. Will had volunteered to room with me, leaving Hazel with Frank (both of which looked happy about the arrangement, though Hazel was blushing). Hazel asked me if she and Frank could take the room with the single beds, and I said yes like a good brother should. Ugh. Spending so much time with the Hufflepuffs was making me soft.

That meant I would be sleeping in the same bed as Will. Great.

It actually was kind of nice. I was at the edge of the bed at first, but then I had a nightmare. When my eyes flew open and I sat up in bed, Will was there. He wrapped his arms around me and ran his fingers through my hair, murmuring words of comfort and encouragement. I fell back asleep and dreamed about sunshine.

These past few nights, I'd gotten some of the best sleep of my life.

Putting that aside, we still were worried about Ammabeth every day. We couldn't Iris-Message her due to our lack of drachmas, and Hecate sent Hazel a dream message saying she shouldn't try and find any because calling Annabeth would put her at even higher risk. We also couldn't communicate with the other demigods, which sucked. I wanted to know how my friends were doing. Bill and Fleur said that for safety reasons, we couldn't. The only elaboration they gave was that most methods of communicating were being monitored by the ministry.

It's the third night we've stayed here, and the days have been mostly the same. Eating home-cooked meals swimming in the freezing cold sea and practicing spells. The cottage was decorated for Christmas, but nobody felt very festive. Will usually has a hard time during the winter because the days are shorter, and today was especially bad because it's been thundering most of the day. It was getting late, almost ten o'clock, but we were just finishing dinner. There was an Order meeting to let the most trusted members know about the whole 'the gods are real' thing, and we were all waiting for Bill to come back. Fleur was so worried for him that she accidentally knocked the pot of stew off the stove and started sobbing. We helped her clean up the mess and Hazel offered to cook. Fleur thanked us but insisted on doing the cooking, and she started over, which was why we started eating dinner so late. We sat at the dining table, which was made of old driftwood and was conveniently positioned near the front door. Fleur never looked away from the door for a second, her stew sitting uneaten and growing colder by the minute

Bill arrived just after ten, and Fleur hugged him, kissed his forehead, and flicked her wand so that a hot bowl of stew floated into his hands. She was incredibly relieved to see him, and we were too. Bill was kind, despite his appearance, and he told great stories about whatever we wanted to know about the Wizarding World. In return, we told him about some of our adventures.

A few minutes after Bill arrived, there was a knock on the door. Everyone tensed.

"Don't worry, everyone. Thanks to our protective charms, the only people who can reach this house are Order members." Bill said calmly, rising to get the door.

"Maybe it is Remus?" Fleur suggested.

Bill opened the door and gasped.

There stood a young man, probably around seventeen or eighteen. He was tall, with freckles and red hair that was sopping wet from the rain. He looked tired, and the emotions on his face ranged from anxious to sad to angry. His face was one I'd seen before in pictures.

"Hey, Bill..." He muttered, looking uneasily at the man who opened the door.

"Ron," Bill breathed out. He reached out to hug his younger brother and then thought better of it and pulled out his wand. "What color sweater does mum make you every Christmas?" He demanded.

"Maroon. I hate maroon." Ron mumbled.

Bill chuckled softly. "You never did have the guts to tell her," he agreed and pulled his brother into a hug. "Where's Harry and Hermione?"

At this, Ron burst into tears. He started sobbing and tried to get a few sentences out through the tears, but no one could tell what he was trying to say.

Bill pulled away from the hug and pulled Ron inside. "Deep breaths. I can't tell what you're saying."

Ron was about to start talking again when he finally noticed Will, Hazel, Frank, and me. "Who're this lot?" he demanded, pointing at us with a bloodied hand.

Will jumped up from his seat and ran over. "You're bleeding! Sit down for a second." Ron tried to protest, but Will grabbed his shoulders (even though Ron was taller) and forced him into one of the dining room chairs. "Give me your hand," Will ordered.

"What? No! Who even are you? You look like a kid-"

"I'm Will Solace, and I've been trained by Madam Pomfrey herself so if it's not too much of an inconvenience, I'd like to heal your hand to prevent the injury from worsening." I loved this side of Will, and seeing the baffled expressions of other people when he got like this.

Ron grumbled something about 'stupid Healers' and stuck out his hand. While Will cleaned Ron's hand, we introduced ourselves and explained that we were Hogwarts students who transferred from America.

"Why are you here then? Why didn't you just go back for the holiday and get away from this hellhole?" He asked, still not trusting us.

"It's not safe for us to leave the country right now, and it's not safe to stay at Hogwarts either. Ginny asked if we could stay in some of the Order safehouses." Frank explained.

Ron raised his eyebrows. "You know Ginny?"

I nodded. "She's our friend. Will and I along with our friend Reyna were the first of the transfer students she let into the DA. The others joined a day or two after."

Ron looked baffled. "The DA? She started it back up and let in a bunch of strangers?!"

"Well at that point, we weren't strangers," Hazel pointed out. "Ginny's one of my favorite people I've met at Hogwarts, and we've become good friends. She knows what she's doing. We signed the list and everything. We want to help fight, and Ginny trusts us. We've even joined the Order. We're good people, Ron."

Ron looked at Bill. "Is this true?" Bill nodded. "So, these random Americans joined the DA and the Order just because my little sister trusted them? Were they even sorted?"

"I'm a Hufflepuff," Will chimed in while wrapping a bandage on some of Ron's fingers. He had apparently got splinched and lost a few fingernails. I had no idea what splinched meant, but Will did and was doing a pretty good job of fixing it.

"We're Gryffindors," Frank pointed to Hazel and himself.

"I'm also in Hufflepuff," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Well, at least none of you are Slytherins," Ron said.

"Well, none of us four are Slytherins. Reyna, Thalia, Piper, and Alex are." I corrected. Ron looked like he was going to interrupt me, but I cut him off. "Ginny was less eager to let them in, but they're not like that goon Malfoy and meathead friends. There's a lot of prejudice against them, but most Slytherins aren't Dark Wizards in the making. I wish I was one. But apparently that stupid hat thinks I belong in the rainbows-and-sunshine House."

"Wow, Nico. I didn't know you hated sharing a dorm with me that badly." Will joked.

"She let four Slytherins into the DA?!" Ron exclaimed.

"Yes, and they're amazing people so if you say a word against them I will remove all your remaining fingernails with a rusty nail." I threatened.

Ron paled. "Okay, okay. I don't really have the energy for this right now."

Bill looked at all of us. "Ron, do you maybe have the energy to tell us why you showed up bleeding on our doorstep in the middle of the night, without your best friends who just so happen to be the two most wanted people in Britain?"

Ron didn't seem to care that we were here anymore. He told us a story: Harry had been given a mission from Dumbledore, and that the three of them were traveling all over the country by Apparition to complete it. They had been at 'Grimmauld Place' which was apparently the old Order Headquarters, for about a month until something went wrong and a Death Eater was accidentally allowed in. Ever since they had been camping in forests eating toadstools and leaves to survive, no closer to completing the quest than they were when they started.

Quest.

Will, Hazel, Frank, and I looked at each other. We'd had our fair share of quests, and it seemed like these guys hadn't.

Ron continued, his voice shaking through the rest of his tale. They had been fighting over so many things, and he had just snapped. He Disapparated. He said the minute he left, he regretted it, but he walked into a large group of Snatchers, which were basically You-Know-Who's bounty hunters that captured muggle-borns and criminals. By the time he'd gotten away from the Snatchers and Apparated back to the forest where Harry and Hermione were, they were gone.

"So I came here." Ron finished, his eyes red.

Bill wasn't happy with his brother for abandoning his friends, but he didn't say anything. Fleur handed Ron some stew and he ate it while Bill told everyone what had happened in the meeting. He told us that Andromeda said Magnus had a dream about Annabeth. She and Luna had been taken by Death Eaters.

We helped him explain that we're demigods and don't actually go to a magic school, we live at camps that protect us from monsters. And that we were here to help stop You-Know-Who. We did not, however, mention that we were from the future. They'd gotten enough mind-blowing life-shattering information tonight. When we were done, Fleur looked mildly scared and Ron looked like he was going to be sick.

"'Oo are your parents?" Fleur asked.

"My dad is Apollo, the Greek god of the sun, music, archery, healing, truth, prophecies, and a bunch of other stuff," Will explained.

"I'm a son of Mars, the Roman god of war," Frank added.

"My father is Hades, the Greek god of the dead and the Underworld," I stated bluntly. Ron's eyes widened.

"And I'm Nico's half-sister because my father is Pluto, the Roman god of the Underworld and riches. He's the Roman version of Hades." Hazel finished.

Ron looked baffled. Fleur looked unbothered. "Bill, I am going to bed." she kissed him on the cheek. "Goodnight, everyone," she said and went to her room.

"I should go too," Bill mumbled. "You can sleep on the couch if you want, Ron, or one of these four can help you find a sleeping bag. Order meetings always drain me, so I'm going to bed too."

After he left, Ron looked at us. "I'm not supposed to bow or anything, right?"

Hazel laughed. "No, we're just regular people,"

"Who almost die every other day," I muttered.

Ron looked uncomfortable in the conversation. "Uh, then can you show me where the sleeping bags are? I haven't been here since I was a kid."

I had a better idea.

"I have something that'll help you way more than a sleeping bag."

***

It was almost midnight now. The rain had stopped a few minutes after Ron's arrival, and the winds had calmed down. The five of us stood on the beach, looking down at the sand in front of us. A shovel sat off to the side, having served it's purpose of digging a good size hole in the sand. Around the hole was a pitcher of pumpkin juice and the rest of the stew, along with a few cauldron cakes from Frank's backpack.

"Remind me why you're wasting all this food?" Ron asked.

"You'll see. The Ghost King is about to work some real magic." I said dramatically.

"Nico, you're talking about yourself in the third person again," Will said

"Shut up, Solace."

"I can't tell if you guys hate each other or if you're friends," Ron stated, looking back and forth between Will and I like he thought we were about to start fighting.

"We're actually the secret third option," I said, grabbing Will's hand and lacing our fingers together.

Will smiled and held up our hands. "We're boyfriends."

"Oh," Ron hesitated for a moment. "Good on you then. Also, did you call yourself the Ghost King?"

"Yes, yes I did. Now everyone please shut up while I do this, because if you distract me I'll have to start over."

I poured the pumpkin juice into the pit, closely followed by the stew, and then the cakes. I began the ancient chant.

"What's he doing?" Ron asked from behind me, getting shushed as a reply.

I continued chanting. I could see spirits forming along the beach, just smudges, really, none with an actual form. I chanted louder. They drew closer.

"Albus Dumbledore!" I shouted into the night. "Speak to me!"

Most of the ghosts took a step back. Except one. One singular spirit walked directly towards us as if he had walked straight out of the sea. As he got closer, his form started to take shape. I still couldn't see details, though. I could hear Ron behind me, and it sounded like he was panicking, but everyone else sounded calm. The ghost stopped at the edge of the pit. He lowered a single hand into the pit and raised out a palmful of liquid, which he sipped somewhat reluctantly. A hazy face started to take shape, and the ghost opened his mouth.

"He's not going to help you."

Huh?

"What do you mean?" I demanded.

"Dumbledore. He won't come, and he won't help you."

Ron butted in. "How do you know that?"

"Because he didn't help me." The ghost answered simply.

"And who are you?" I asked.

"Who am I?" the ghost asked, his form finally taking shape into a distinct form. He had dark curly hair that matched his dark eyes. His outfit was kind of normal, somewhere between wizard and muggle fashion, except for the gashes torn in it. The ghost was covered in what looked like claw marks.

"My name," he said, tilting his chin up "is Regulus Black."

A/N: Holy guacamole. Almost 8000 words! Definitely the longest chapter yet. This chapter was the first of the Winter Holiday chapters, of which there will probably be three. Each one will be split into 3-4 POVs so we can see what's going on at each safehouse, meaning they're gonna be super long because I have no self-control. The next chapter is Thalia's bday chapter tho, so you're all gonna be on a bit of a cliffhanger until the next holiday chapter :)

This chapter was so fun to write (even tho it took like a month to write)

First: Percy going crazy over Annabeth getting yoinked. I wrote most of his POV while in Biology, and I feel pretty good about it tbh. Mrs. Weasley is the Sally of the HP books, she's so awesome and I love her <3 I had to cut out part of this POV because it was over 3000 words by itself and it would have been more. I'll add the part I cut back in the 2nd or 3rd Holiday Chapter.

Second: When I first came up with this story concept I thought "Alex and Tonks were MADE to be best friends" so that was a long time coming. I had a lot of fun writing Magnus's POV for this chapter

Third: AAAAAAHHH REGULUS BLACK MY BELOVED <3 I love the Marauders era so I wanted to add them in here somehow, don't mind my little self-indulgence. Also threw in some cute lil Solangelo moments because they're pookies.

Sorry for the long A/N, but I had the need to yap about how much fun writing this chapter was. I really enjoyed it this chapter, and I hope you did too

Hydrate or else Tonks will turn you into a crocodile :)

~sstar