After a session of degnoming that stretched for hours, Harry, Ron, Percy, Nico, Annabeth, Fred, and George returned dirty and with bite marks on their hands.

"And that my friends, is the beautiful art of degnoming,"George said, making air quotes. "Beautiful art my arse. That Lockhart is going to be the death of us, I swear."

"Well that's a shame," Ginny said from the kitchen table, where she was reading something. "Because our new lists for Hogwarts came just now."

She looked up from the scrolls and yelped at the sight of Harry, who gave a small wave. Her face beet red, she threw the paper down recklessly and darted up the stairs like a little red beetle.

"Ginny," Ron explained with a snort. "she's been talking about you all summer."

Everyone else nodded in exasperation as a confirmation.

"I'll go talk to her." Annabeth hurried up the stairs.

Harry rubbed his eyes from beneath his glasses. "I kinda wish everyone would stop treating me like a god," he groaned.

Nico shook his head. "It's better than being treated like sewage," he assured him.

Mrs. Weasley turned to Nico from her chair, where she was knitting a sweater. "I'm sorry dear," she said sympathetically. "I do hope you're treated better now."

Nico shrugged. "More or less," he said indifferently. Mrs. Weasley clucked her tongue sadly.

Annabeth walked back down the creaky stairs, sighing. "Ginny's gone mad," she claimed. "Locked herself in her room with a hole drilled into the door to watch out for Harry."

Harry turned as red as Ginny had been.

Thalia, who no one noticed had stayed in the backyard, returned with another note.

"So, Piper, Jason, Frank, and Hazel are meeting us at Diagon Alley," she announced. "On July 20th. Which is in two days. Do you want to contact Hermione to come with us?"

Harry, still wide awake, jumped up. "Yeah! I haven't talked to Hermione since Hogwarts!" He exclaimed excitedly.

"Great! We'll message her after breakfast," Ron said, also jumping up.

They hurried out to the tents, where Annabeth quickly conjured up a rainbow with her wand.

"Oh Iris, goddess of the rainbow—" she began, but Percy cut her off.

"Oh, Fleecy, do me a solid," he said loudly, ignoring the looks the others were shooting at him. "Show me Hermione Granger in— somewhere."

The rainbow flickered and revealed the image of Hermione, who was— you guessed it— reading.

"Hey, Mione!" Percy called, and Hermione let out a little shriek and dropped her book.

"Oh, it's you!" Hermione folded down the corner of her page and set it to the side. "Hey guys!"

"Hey!" Annabeth greeted. "We're going to Diagon Alley on the twentieth, want to meet up? Maybe you could stay over for the rest of summer? Sorry it's such short notice," she added apologetically. Hermione smiled.

"Of course! I was planning on going there anyways. So I'll meet you guys at one? I assume it'll take an hour for Percy and Ron to finish eating."

"Hey!" They both complained.

"See you there then." Nico swiped through the connection.

"How are we going to get there?" Thalia wondered. "Please don't say by car again."

Ron shook his head. "No way is mum letting us get in there again. No, we're going by floo powder."

"Fleeeeeew powder" Nico stretched out the syllables, scrunching his nose. "Sorry, I can't fly."

"Me neither," said Percy. "Nor do I ever want to."

Ron frowned. "We're not flying, we're traveling by fireplace."

"Leo would just love that" Percy sighed. "I wish he were here."

"Flew powder though. What is it?" Annabeth asked.

Ron smiled, liking the fact that he knew something for a change instead of Hermione and Annabeth spouting facts every three minutes. "F-L-O-O powder. It's kind of like shadowtravel, I think? You'll see tomorrow."

Annabeth huffed.

>>>•O•<<<

"Oh no." Percy shook his head really fast. "This is much worse than shadowtravel."

Fred grinned and stepped into the fireplace. "It's not that bad. Just make sure you don't get off too early." The green flames erupted around him as he vanished. George winked before he went.

Next to Nico, Harry gulped and stepped forward.

"D-Diagon all-ley," he spluttered. The flames swallowed him.

"Your turn, Nico." Mrs. Weasley passed the flower pot to him. Nico took a pinch and stepped into the fire, throwing the powder down.

"Diyagun alley," he said carefully. His vision tinted green, then black, and he felt like he was the winds again. Whirling and spinning down a giant drain. Then the fire spit him out into a street full of people. There was a fireplace behind him with the sign: Floo Network on it.

"Aaah!" Thalia knocked Nico to his knees. Then Percy dogpiled them. They scrambled out of the way before Annabeth could tackle them too.

"Gerrof me." Nico groaned under the weight of his two cousins. They climbed up under the strange looks they were receiving.

"Where's Harry?" Annabeth asked, looking at the fireplace. "Didn't he go before us?"

The fireplace turned emerald green and Ron stumbled out— right into Thalia's arms.

"Gah!" She shoved him off. Ron spat up some ash and looked around.

"Where's Harry?"

Percy shrugged. "Dunno. He went before us, maybe he's meeting Hermione?"

Ron frowned. "Hope he didn't get off at the wrong fireplace."

"Probably," Fred said. "We didn't see him come out."

Mrs. Weasley and Ginny followed Ron, Ginny looking around frantically. When she didn't see Harry, she calmed down, then freaked out again.

"Oh my gosh, is Harry lost? He could be anywhere! Floo powder is unreliable if you're not used to it." She started hyperventilating.

Annabeth put a calming hand on her shoulder. "We'll find him. Don't worry. Why don't we—"

"So, then the magical pony jumped out of the blackberry bushes and went on a 5 hour rant about how unicorns are pink, fluffy, and love dancing on rainbows." A familiar female voice carried from Gringotts. "Now do you get it?"

Jason, Piper, Frank, and Hazel emerged from around the corner, clearly bickering about something.

Hazel shook her head, frowning. "But unicorns aren't pink and they don't dance on rainbows"

"It's Shakespeare. It'll never make sense" Jason said, before looking away and spotting them.

"URMUGURD GUYS."

Nico stumbled back from the speed of his sister. "Hazel!" He hugged her back.

They all looked so much younger, twelve years old to be exact. Hazel looked her age when Nico found her in Asphodel. Frank didn't go back to bulky through the time change, he still looked like a football player, just considerably shorter. Jason still had the scar above his lip and the groove in his hair which hadn't grown back yet, and Piper had a choppy braid down her shoulder with her blue harpy feather braided into it.

"How are you here?" Percy asked.

"As soon as you left—" Hazel cut her gaze to the Weasleys. "We'll explain later."

Mr. Weasley smiled at the newcomers, but Mrs. Weasley was still looking for Harry.

"We need to find Harry right now," Annabeth said, casting her gaze to the busy shops around.

"Harry Potter?" Frank asked, looking at a slip of paper in his hand. "That's not good if he's lost."

"Let's split up. He could be anywhere." Mr. Weasley began to pull Ginny towards him.

"No need," Nico interrupted, nodding to the shadowy alley. "He's right behind Hagrid."

The others squinted at what they could not sense like him— the massive humanoid lumbering through the dark alley, and a smaller figure darting after him.

"Harry!" They ran towards Hagrid and Harry.

"Oh, Harry— oh my dear— you could have been anywhere" Mrs. Weasley was panting and wringing her hands in distress. She started brushing off soot and fixed his glasses. Nico felt a twinge of jealousy. He never had any mother figure to care for him. Bianca was his role model, but she didn't count as a mother. She was barely two years older than him.

Harry squirmed under the attention. Piper looked at him sympathetically while Hazel, Jason, and Frank studied him for the first time. What a great first impression Harry was making, covered in soot with a dumpy woman dusting off his clothes.

"There you are!" Hermione ran up to them with two adults trailing behind, staring in wonder at everything around them. They must've been Hermione's muggle parents. "I'd been looking for you."

"Sorry, Harry got lost with floo powder. Oh, by the way, this is Jason, Piper, Frank, and Hazel. They're new exchange students from America," Annabeth said, noting the way Hermione was looking curiously at the four new demigods.

"Right. So, have you gotten your books yet? Flourish and Blotts is so crowded, I saw the line all the way from Gringotts!" Hermione said excitedly.

"No, we were just heading to Gringotts now. Do you four want to come with us?" Mrs. Weasley asked the demigods kindly.

Thalia began to nod but Jason stopped her. "That's okay, ma'am, we can take them to the vault. We wouldn't want to crowd everyone."

They all headed to Gringotts to get their money.

>>>•Nico POV•<<<

"Why are we going here again?" Percy asked Jason as they headed to Gringotts. "Didn't Hecate give you guys the money pouches too?"

"We didn't want to raise suspicion. Plus, there's a vault for all demigods. Vault 12. One of the first ever made." Frank said, checking his paper again.

"That's fine. I've never been in Gringotts before. We can talk then too." Annabeth turned back to the front and was caught off guard by the massive white bank in front of them. "Di immortals," she murmured under her breath. "The architecture... greek style... columns... perfectly arranged..." she pulled her eyes away from the building and noticed we were all staring at her. "What?" She asked defensively.

Percy shook his head, a smile on his lips. "Even at 12, you're still like this,"

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Only our appearances changed, Seaweed Brain. Besides, you love that about me." She was about to kiss his cheek before Thalia interrupted, clearing her throat.

"12 years old," she said pointedly.

"Right."

They entered the building and saw Harry and the Weasleys had already gone down.

"Excuse me sir." Jason walked up to the goblin that looked like the one in charge. Well, he was sitting behind the big official desk, at least. "Vault 12 please."

The goblin looked down at Jason from the high table. "You have the... er... proper identification? Never mind, we'll see. Varllean!" Another goblin hurried forward. The first one whispered something in Varllean's large ear, and cut his gaze to them.

"Right this way." Varllean scuttled through another pair of doors. They followed him and emerged in a large stone cavern, with a series of minecarts and tracks whizzing through it.

"Underground," Hazel said with a smile. "My favorite place."

Nico nudged her. "That was my line."

"It's safe?" Thalia asked nervously, peering down to where the tracks led. Hazel nodded. "Very. Millions of wizards used this. It's perfectly stable."

"Get in, get in." the goblin impatiently gestured to a line of minecarts that had rolled up while they were talking. "It's one of the longest rides, one of the deepest vaults. It was actually the first ever made, but the owner demanded it be labeled vault 12. So there is no vault 11 or vault 10."

They clambered in and the carts took off at a neck breaking speed, like Nico was shadow travelling very slowly.

"Whew! That was fun!" Piper blew her hair out of her face and grinned. "This is the vault?"

The so called 'vault' was simply a massive stone wall that looked like a part of the cave.

Hazel nodded, her eyes wide. Nico could only imagine the amount of feedback she was getting from there.

"Yes. Now, the test of truth, demigods." Varllean watched them with beady eyes.

"You'd be the best for this, Hazel. In case it goes wrong. You have the most magic in you," Jason said.

"Goes wrong?" Frank spluttered. Hazel walked up to the door and pulled out her spatha. Very carefully, she slit the side of her pinkie finger and let a drop of blood gather on her finger. Then she pressed it to the door. The drop of blood glowed, then sank into the stone.

A bronze light spread like fire in a thin strip, illuminating a circle. Mist poured from the cracks, and when it disappeared, a circular hole ten feet in diameter was embedded into the wall.

"Dramatic," Thalia whispered.

"It's like Bunker 9," Jason muttered, and Piper nodded.

Varllean nodded, satisfied, and stepped back. "I will wait here. The chamber does not tolerate my kind. Only those with the blood of gods can pass, or they will be annihilated on the spot."

"Right. Alive is good. Dead is bad." Percy nodded importantly and stepped through the doorway. The rest followed closely behind.

"Dang." They all stared. Inside the vault, though you could not tell from outside it, was mountains and mountains of wealth. It covered the floor and walls, and some things were even suspended from the ceiling. Everything was so bright, it almost blinded Nico.

Hazel's knees buckled but she quickly regained her balance. "There is so much gold here, and silver, and diamond, and other precious metals," she said in awe. "Not to mention all the weapons and armor the demigods over the centuries have gathered. Celestial Bronze, imperial gold, stygian iron, there's even some silver and gold arrows from Apollo and Artemis' own quivers. How they got here, I have no idea." she shook her head in amazement.

"This must be like a British demigod version of the attic in the Big House," Annabeth guessed.

"Right. So, what are we here for again?" Percy asked, looking around the room.

Frank shrugged. "No reason, really. We already have our wizard currency. We could give some to Harry or something"

"Harry doesn't need it" Hazel said with certainty. "His parents left him a lot of money,"

"How do you know?"

"I can sense it. He's at his vault now, it just opened. Dang he's rich," Hazel pulled her gaze out of the stormy look they were in and they cleared for a moment before plunging back into a different reality.

"Oh. The Weasleys though..." she turned slightly pink and trailed off.

"Great!" Percy stuffed a gold helmet on his head. "We'll give them this helmet then! They could buy Hogwarts with this thing."

"Percy," Annabeth chided him. "How would you like it if someone gave you a pity helmet?"

Percy's shoulders slumped. "Well, we should help them." He pulled off the gold chunk on his head and tossed it to the side and started filling a dragonhide pouch with galleons.

>>>•Jason POV•<<<

"We'll meet back at Flourish and Blotts in hour" Mrs. Weasley called to their retreating backs.

Jason smiled. Mrs. Weasley was a bit overprotective, but she was loving and truly cared about her sons and Ginny. Jason already liked her, and he'd only met her an hour ago.

"So, where to first?" Piper asked, looking around. Jason wished he was holding her hand, but since they were 12, that might've looked strange.

"Ice cream!" Percy started pulling Annabeth in the direction of an ice cream parlor where several young wizards and witches could be seen licking cones.

"I second that," Ron called.

"Alright, Seaweed Brain. Anyone want anything? I'll pay," Annabeth pulled the leather pouch from her pocket and pulled out a sickle.

"I'll just get a small scoop," Piper said as they followed her in.

When they came back out, they all had three scoops of ice cream each. Except for Frank. He got another apple.

"This is great." Ron was licking his scoop at speed Jason thought only Percy could manage.

"So, are you four also, you know..." Harry cast a sideways glance at Percy, Annabeth, Nico, and Thalia.

Piper turned sharply to Thalia. "He knows?"

Thalia grimaced. "We'll explain on the train, and yes."

Hermione pulled them all to a shop that sold- scrolls and feather pens? "Did having magic send all the wizards back to the 19th century?" Jason asked in bewilderment.

Annabeth shook her head. "Muggle inventions go haywire around magic."

Frank looked confused. "But pens should work, right? Because they're not electric or anything?"

Hermione frowned. "I don't know. Muggles and Magic don't mix well. Maybe all muggle items got cut off completely. It's complicated."

"Hey, check this out!" Piper pointed to a shop that looked like a child of Mercury's dream. "A joke shop."

"Gambol and Japes Wizarding Joke Shop." Frank read the neon letters out loud. "Sound fun. I bet—" he trailed off. Leo was still heavy on everyone's minds.

Suddenly a cuckoo clock exploded from above the doorway, sending out a burst of purple bubbles shaped like stars that floated away.

"It's been an hour already? We gotta go to Flourish and Blotts!" Annabeth took off in the direction of the book shop. The others followed closely behind, Harry, Ron, and Hermione slightly slower. Piper and Hazel stopped to jog next to them.

"Who the heck is Gilderoy Lockhart?" Percy asked as he squinted at the banner across the windows.

"Lockhart, remember? The one with the 'degnoming book'?" Ron asked in disgust.

Nico rolled his eyes. "Him? Good gods, have mercy."

"We can actually meet him!" Hermione squealed, oblivious to Ron and Nico.

"Well, we better go in." Piper said unenthusiastically.