Percy woke up in the Hogwarts infirmary, with Annabeth and Piper standing next to him.

"At least he didn't pull it out before he collapsed." Piper was pointing out. "And we had a bunch of ambrosia and nectar on hand."

"He's still an idiot."

Piper shrugged. "Fair point."

"I appreciate that, Wise Girl." Percy grunted, wincing as he tried to sit up a little bit more and then giving up, sinking against the pillows.

"Serves you right for getting stabbed," Annabeth quipped, but she grabbed Percy's hand and held it tight. He smiled a little.

"How's everyone else doing?"

"We've lost most of those who came back, but I think we defeated most of the main force. Any dead bodies from our side were placed in the Great Hall so that people could pay their respects."

"Any of ours?" Percy asked. "You know, the demigods?"

"You're hurt, obviously, and Jason has a concussion. But other than that we only have minor scrapes and bruises." Piper shook her head.

"What about the monsters?"

Annabeth glanced to the other side of the room. "Nico and Emmy took a trip into the forest and found the contraption they were using to summon monsters. She kept a look-out and he ripped the thing apart, so we shouldn't have a problem corralling the last few monsters. I think Leo and Calypso are working on that right now with a group of wizards."

"Where's Nico?"

She pointed to the other side of the room, where she'd looked before. "Emmy's fixing him up. He got a pretty nasty slice on his arm."

"At least someone is taking care of him." Percy sighed.

He had known it was going to be unrealistic for everybody to make it out alive, but he'd hoped, prayed that with such a huge student body, there would be no deaths. These children weren't demigods, after all, he'd hoped that the monsters would not be as interested.

"Has Harry showed up yet?" 

Annabeth shook her head. "We just lost Pettigrew ten minutes ago. I figured it would take some time for everything to sort itself out... why did you come back so early?"

"I'm not allowed to disclose that." Percy grinned.

She glared at him.

"Hades decided to 'accidentally' wake me up and then was conveniently gone from the throne room when I escaped. It was like playing the world's deadliest Pac-Man game to get out of that castle though. Then I just had to get across the Fields and out of the Underworld. Apollo was waiting for me when I got topside."

"Well that's helpful of him." Annabeth smiled a little.

"Yeah, I've got a feeling that Hades was involved in that too."

"I would assume so."

The doors burst open and three people burst in. The two tall boys on the outside were supporting the girl in the middle, and she was bleeding from her stomach.

"Madam Pomfrey!" One of the boys exclaimed. "We need help!"

As the woman ran out of her office and began to direct them to a bed, Percy realized that the girl who had stumbled in behind them was Ginny.

"Annabeth-"

His girlfriend was already on it. She ran over to Ginny and got under her arm, helping her stand. "What happened, Ginn?"

"Explosion- is she-"

"She's going to be okay, c'mere and sit." Annabeth said soothingly, leading her over to the empty bed next to Percy's. "It's all going to be okay, sweetheart."

It had been a long time since Percy had seen Annabeth like that. She was always fire, flames roaring and ripping into everything, taking what she wanted and learning and growing faster than anyone around her.

He loved soft, gentle Annabeth. The Annabeth that sometimes came out around the very young children in the camp, the Annabeth that cooed at Estelle quietly when Sally handed the baby over to be held.

"It's weird, isn't it?" Piper commented quietly. He looked up at her, asking a silent question.

"You know, seeing your significant other acting like a parent? It's weird. I love it though. Seeing Jason teach the little kids, pick up the smallest Hermes girls and put them on his shoulders, it's one of my favorite things."

Percy looked back at Annabeth, who was now hugging Ginny and gently running her fingers through the younger girl's red locks. She was whispering something gently in her ear.

"Yeah... I think it's one of mine too."