T H R E E
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As Percy entered the Big House, he observed that as per usual, he was last to arrive. He awkwardly pulled out a seat besides Annabeth and sat down, waiting for someone to speak. An uneasy silence suffused. He took the momentary absence of sound to observe the arrangement of the room.

Sixteen seats had been drawn up around the table. At the head, Chiron was seated, in wheelchair form. Rachel stood beside him, choosing to leave her seat vacant.

Jason and Piper sat opposite each other, with Clovis passed out next to the daughter of Aphrodite, drooling slightly.

Each seat was occupied by a head counsellor, Clarisse, Lou Ellen, The Stolls...

Normally, Frank and Hazel would be there, despite not being councillors, but neither of them were present. The pair had left mere days ago for Camp Jupiter with Reyna and the rest of the twelfth legion. Percy assumed Chiron had already contacted them about their current predicament.

Aside from Frank and Hazel, Leo was the only member of the seven absent, and that was because he'd been presumed dead after he had exploded in the sky. Nico and Hazel had said they'd felt his death.
All the same, Percy got the feeling there was something they weren't letting on. It was for this reason that he preferred to think of Leo as missing in action. He wasn't dead, regardless of what anyone said. Hazel had resurrected before. Why couldn't Leo have?

Either way, his place at the table wasn't empty. A new councillor had been appointed. Jake Mason, fully healed from his injuries with Festus the previous year, had been reinstated and was busy tinkering with a few pieces of scrap metal, looking uncomfortable with his new position.

Percy's eyes darted around the room for a few more seconds more until he spotted Nico. Much to Percy's incredulity, his cousin, had made an appearance and was shifting awkwardly on his chair, throwing Will Solace evident sideways glances. He resisted the urge to laugh.

Instead he fidgeted nervously in his seat, twirling his ballpoint pen around in his fingers, waiting for someone to initiate the conversation. Just as Percy had finally gathered up the courage to speak himself, Rachel cleared her throat. "I-I've..." She paused for a moment before taking a deep breath. "I've spoken a prophecy."

Simultaneously, everyone began talking. Percy, already having heard this part, waited patiently for Rachel to continue.

"Quiet!" Chiron shouted. The chatter stopped immediately. Worry and confusion were etched upon his brow, and his frown lines were more noticeable than usual.

Chiron gestured for Rachel to continue.

"It was weird. I was packing...." she trailed off. "I must have passed out, but I could remember it clearly."

"Can we hear it?" Chiron asked. Rachel nodded. "I wrote it down," she pulled a folded piece of paper from her pocket and passed it to Chiron.

"I think you should do the honours, my dear."

She hesitated, than nodded and began to recite in a monotone.

"A child of the biggest three,
Shall travel to a far off land by sea
To seek a race long thought dormant
And find a hero of great importance
Without light the darkness shall forever grow
Until worlds unite, they are ruled by foes"

A moment of silence followed. "The spirit of Delphi was extinguished. This shouldn't be possible." Chiron frowned.

"Yeh, well technically our entire existence shouldn't be possible," Percy grumbled.

"A child of the biggest three.." Annabeth murmured, choosing to pay no regard to her boyfriend's comment. "That could be Percy, Nico or Thalia."

"Or, It could be referring to a Roman," Jason suggested.

"The Big Three is not a Roman term."

"This is what I get for trying to be helpful..." Jason muttered.

"This might not even be about any of us. For all we know, this prophecy could be for some completely random demigod in a thousand years," Percy said.

"That may be so, but considering the circumstances, it is unlikely. With the gift of prophecy gone, I fear the worst. It is doubtful that we should receive an augury, without it insinuating to be acted upon immediately. We should consider attempting to fulfil it."

"How?" Jason asked. "Prophecies usually take forever to decipher."

"Yes, but this one...it's fairly straightforward. In fact it seems too easy," Annabeth muttered.

"Too easy? You're joking, right?" Clarisse scowled.

Annabeth shook her head. "It's more like instructions. Think about it, when has a prophecy ever directly specified what needed to be done?"

No one answered.

"We should try contact the gods," Katie Gardner, of Demeter Cabin proposed.

Percy shook his head. "They already know." He looked down, avoiding the eyes of his bewildered friends. "My dad," he paused. "He's building weapons."

"All the more reason, to begin the prophecy immediately," Chiron stated solemnly. He turned to the red-headed oracle beside him. "Rachel, would you please send an Iris Message to Thalia?"

She passed the prophecy to Annabeth and left the room.

"Chiron?" Annabeth began. "The next line, shall travel to a far off land by sea, it's referring to Percy, isn't it?"

"Perhaps. It seems the most likely. Though we cannot be sure. Unlike the first Great Prophecy, it does not specify that he or she must be a half blood. It could be referring to any child of Zeus, Poseidon or Hades that can travel by water. Maybe a naiad," Chiron said, appearing to seem calm though even Percy could sense the unease in his voice.

"I thought only half bloods were in prophecies," Jason said.

"Tyson was in a prophecy, " Percy denoted with increasing impatience.

"It is unusual, but possible."

"What was the next line again?" Travis Stoll, one of the councillors from the Hermes cabin asked.

"To seek the face of a doormat," his brother Connor Stoll replied, snickering. Travis grinned.

"I'll flatten you into a doormat if you don't shut up-" Clarisse started.

"Alright then," Piper interrupted. "Any ideas on who this other race is?"

"Maybe the Skiapodes, they've been extinct for centuries," Annabeth said.

"Skia-what's?" Percy asked.

"Skiapodes. They're a tribe of one legged men who-"

"Were," Clarisse alluded.

"The line says once thought dormant. They may not be extinct," Annabeth reminded. She furrowed her brow and glared at the paper in her hands. "The rest is pretty straightforward. Basically, some evil force is growing and unless we unite with the unknown race...." she trailed off.

"Nothing good will happen," Percy muttered.

"Great, now what?" Clarisse asked, irritated.

Chiron sighed. "We will deal with this matter in the morning, everyone head back to-"

"-Wait, Chiron," Percy cut him off. "I-I think.... I had a dream. I think it might be important."

He hastily filled the others in on the events that had occurred in his vision. Some took the news better than others.

"Kronos is rising, and you just conveniently forgot to mention that?" Clarisse snapped.

Percy shook his head. "I-I don't think so. Something about the dream was off, it was blurry and misty. The beginning was relatively normal but then it changed."

"Almost as if someone had planted the dream?" Nico asked.

"Yeh, how did you-?"

"I had the same dream," Nico said. "Interrupted, whatever I was dreaming about," he shuddered.

"Who could possibly hijack a dream?" Piper asked curiously, turning to Annabeth.

Annabeth hesitated. "Morpheus, Hypnos or perhaps one of their children," she answered grimly turning towards the sleeping figure of Clovis. As usual, the son of Hypnos was fast asleep.

"Clovis?"

"When would he have time to do that? He never wakes up anyway," Jason grumbled. "Besides, Hypnos is on our side."

"He has a point," Percy said. "But it doesn't matter now. We know something is going on. We can at least try to stay a few steps ahead."

"What about that Harry dude?" Connor interrupted. "Couldn't he be the enemy?"

"Maybe," Lou Ellen hesitated, "But I don't think so. Although, there's a chance he could be part of the other race," she said, glancing at the centaur. He looked troubled even more so than before.

"Chiron?" Annabeth asked. "Do you know who Harry Potter is?"

He heaved a sigh and gazed out into the darkness. After a brief silence he spoke. "Alas, I do. And I know also of the other race."

Clarisse seemed to be struggling to refrain herself from another outburst. Although she respected the old centaur she was having trouble keeping her cool. "Wait- wait, you KNOW who they are," she spoke the word with obvious distaste, "And you're only saying something now?"

"It doesn't matter," Annabeth interrupted. "The point is we have a lead." She swivelled to face Chiron. "Who- or what are they?"

Chiron look uncertain, as if debating whether or not he should be sharing this information. He glanced at Percy and for a second there was a flash of guilt in his eyes but then it vanished. He turned to address his audience and spoke one word.

"Wizards."

Travis fell sideways off his chair which knocked into Connor's chair thus delivering them both to the floor as they burst into another fit of laughter. Jason snorted loudly and began to make odd hiccuping noises which just set the others off even more whilst Percy was doubled over and clutching his stomach.

"STOP!" Piper had spoken with so much force that even Annabeth felt like she had to obey her. All laughter ceased just as quickly as it had began.

"As I was saying," Chiron said, "Wizards, are in fact real."

"You're kidding me right?" Percy asked, all fear he had felt had vanished. The idea of wizards seemed so ridiculous and far fetched that Percy had to resist the urge to start laughing again.

"I'm afraid not. You see, a long time ago, Hecate saw great potential in a group of particular mortals. After seeing them perform an act of great kindness, she rewarded them and placed her blessing upon them as she believed that they were not unlike her own children. As time passed, they created a race of their own. The magical blood was passed down from generation to generation. Hecate was delighted with her creation who had named themselves witches and wizards and from time to time she would bless mortals at random so the magical bloodline would not die out. Eventually this new race began to populate the globe in secret. They created schools for their kind and used their magic to stay hidden." Chiron paused and observed the demigods expressions.

"Around fifty years ago, a wizard by the name of Tom Riddle was born. He called himself Lord Voldemort. Slowly, he began to rise to power. Voldemort attempted to cheat death."

"Attempted?" Travis questioned.

"He failed. Voldemort split his soul into seven and created something known as horcruxes."

Percy glanced at Annabeth who looked almost bored.

"A horcrux is an item of power that a dark witch or wizard hides part of his soul in," she said.

Percy would have done a spit take if he was drinking anything at that moment.

"Correct."

He gave her a questioning look to which she replied to with a smirk. "Child of Athena, remember?"

"Voldemort was told of a prophecy that meant his undoing. A boy by the name of Harry Potter would one day be his ending. Voldemort sought to kill the boy before he could kill him. Harry was only a year old at the time and on the night when Voldemort tried to eliminate him, the curse backfired on him. Harry survived but his parents were not as lucky. Voldemort managed to barely cling to life because of his horcruxes but was in a way, a disembodied spirit.

"At eighteen years old, Harry and his friends destroyed all the horcruxes and were finally able to put an end to Voldemort but at the cost of many lives. I fear that Voldemort may be trying to use the doors of death to return with the help of estranged higher powers from our world."

"But if the dream was planted, then there's a chance he might not actually be returning? Maybe that's just what they want us to think?"

"Either way, we're going to having to make an alliance with them," Jason said.

"Until worlds unite they are ruled by foes," Annabeth mumbled. "Except, we don't know who the foes are. We just have suspicions."

"So basically, we actually have no idea what we're even supposed to be doing," Percy summed up.

"That's not entirely true," Chiron said. "I wouldn't have told you Harry's story for nothing. We know who the hero is. We know who must find him. And we know where to find him. Scotland."

"Scotland? Why Scotland? And I thought we said we didn't know who was going to find him."

"Percy, the monster attacks. They're all happening in Scotland. There must be a reason for that," Chiron said.

"How did you-?"

"There is a school located in Scotland," he continued. "A wizarding school. More importantly, Harry's school. If he is indeed the hero, then Percy must go there to find him."

"Wait- me? The prophecy might not even be about me."

"We have no choice. You are the most likely candidate."

"What? But we don't even know who's trying to destroy the world this time."

"That's the point, Percy. We don't know. Which is why we need to find out," Annabeth said. "I'm coming with you."

"Annabeth. The prophecy is very specific. Percy must go alone."

"I say screw the prophecy," Clarisse said, for once, being of some help. "I'm coming too."

Percy gawked at her.

"It's been a while since I've had a quest. Don't think I'm doing this for you."

Chiron suppressed a sigh. "You can't go with him. Neither of you can."

Annabeth opened her mouth to object. He raised his hand to silence her.

"At least not entirely. There is a village near the school. We can station a few of you there to keep an eye on things. But Percy must travel alone."

"I don't understand. It's a school. Of magic. We'll be more disguised there than if it was an out in the open quest."

"She has a point," Will said. "We'd be more hidden at the school than anywhere else."

"The school most likely has magical boundaries," Nico said, closing his eyes. "I can sense them. Monsters won't go anywhere near."

"Two of you. Two. No more. The rest will be positioned around the school. Percy can decide who he wants with him. I'll speak to a friend of mine and see if I can get him and two others a place at the school," Chiron said, giving in.

Annabeth nodded, satisfied.

"You still haven't told us the name of this school," Lou Ellen reminded.

Chiron sighed as if he had been hoping to avoid the topic for a while. "Hogwarts."

And then silence. Percy was the first to break. He tumbled off his chair and onto the floor laughing profusely. Connor soon followed as he broke out into a silent fit of giggles. Before long all the demigods were in tears, wondering why someone would name a school after a pigs skin disease.

By the time the demigods had composed themselves it was well past midnight. Rachel still hadn't returned.

"If Hogwarts," Annabeth paused as Travis let out a snicker which he tried to cover up with a cough. "If Hogwarts is a school of magic, how would the chosen demigods blend in if we can't actually do magic?"

"I have that covered. Now, this conversation has gone on long enough. Go back to your cabins, we can discuss this further in the morning," Chiron said. "As for you, Percy, I think it's high time you visited your mother."

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stay tuned for a Percy/Sally reunion