Harry found himself thinking about the commotion that had been caused the night before. It was not even a big thing but it sent ripples of rumours through everyone at Hogwarts. 

Nico, Thalia, and Percy had not been seen all day at any of the meals and when asked why they were not in class all Sally had given any of them was that Nico was not feeling well and the other two were taking care of him. Why they did not just go to Madam Promfrey no one asked especially when the teacher made it clear the conversation was over. 

Now seeing them at dinner was not such a big thing-especially since it was presumed they had not eaten all day-it was what happened while they ate dinner. Percy and Thalia had stuck to Nico like glue, both would send glares at anyone who even seemed to be thinking about disturbing them. Harry was not sure how he had missed just how scary Percy and Thalia could be. 

Thalia had had a glint in her eye that promised harm upon anyone who interrupted them her silver circlet glinting dangerously in the candlelight of the Great Hall. Percy's eyes seemed to be practically glowing with power that promised destruction. His eyes swirled like a storm at sea; something beautiful, dangerous, and mesmerizing. 

Percy in a complete disregard for the rules did not even separate from his companions to go to his table. Instead, he made himself at home at the Slytherin table glaring at anyone who dared oppose him even Malfoy had been cowed by the glare and Harry could not blame him one bit. Everyone backed off from trying to separate the trio after a while seeing it was a fruitless task. 

The rumors had started almost as soon as they walked out of the room and of course, a few started thirsting after them. Yeah, Harry was not going to think about that right now thank you very much; hearing it had been enough. 

"They looked like gods. Very powerful gods," someone whispered. 

"Did you see that glare? I bet he was raised by wolves?" another said. 

"No way, dude. How would someone even be raised by wolves?" asked his friend. 

"I don't know, but magic is real so it's a possibility." 

"Touche, my friend, touche." 

Both were Muggleborns. 

"That Thalia girl is scary, man. She looked seconds away from murder. Do you think she could be a murderer?" a girl asked her friend.

"I don't think so, but you know how I was telling you Percy's name sounded familiar. Yeah, I owled Mum. It was on the news like five years ago he was suspected as the kidnapper of his mum." The girl who had asked the original question almost choked on the forkful of food she had put in her mouth.

"You mean Professor Blofis?" 

"Yeah." 

"But she's here. Like right now." 

"Yeah, it got cleared up after Percy escaped from his kidnapper in a gunfight. Professor Blofis was apparently found back home by her husband after he came home from whatever he was doing. A couple days later a statue that looked exactly like him was sold to an art museum." 

"How do you know this?" The young  Ravenclaw asked. 

"My mum is American she watches the news occasionally. I only live with Dad cause of the divorce." 

The first was a Half-blood and her friend was a Pureblood.

~~~ 

Many more rumors started to circulate many containing weird details from the Muggle World brought in by Muggleborns. Apparently, Nico looked exactly like the Nico Di Angelo that went missing in the wake of World War II. Harry was not quite sure what was going on there so he ignored it. 

Thalia was also supposedly a runaway from her mother who had been an up-and-coming actress. Another brought in the fact that Thalia had a brother at one point but then he disappeared some speculated that her mother had killed him. It was honestly scary what Muggleborns could find so easily. Even Harry had trouble finding this much information when he was allowed access to a computer and they just knew it like they had searched it up and memorized it. 

The rumors were getting a little uncomfortably close to conspiracy theory territory and Harry did not know how he felt about that. 

"Whatcha thinking about?" a voice asked from behind the armchair Harry was sitting in. The raven's head snapped around so quickly that he was surprised he did not get whiplash. 

"Oh, it's just you, Ron. You scared me," Harry said making eye contact with the redhead for a few seconds. 

"Sorry, didn't mean to. You must have been thinking hard then. What about?" 

"Last night. You hear any of the rumors?" 

"A couple. Wild though." 

"Think any of them could be true." 

"I doubt it. The most realistic one I heard was that Percy may have been raised by wolves or something cause he pulls out that death glare and instantly goes from happy-go-lucky to 'I will kill you this moment if I have to.'" Ron shivered despite the relatively warm morning and the fire in the fireplace. 

"We've met his mum, Ron. He wasn't raised by wolves." 

"She could have given him to the wolves and they sent him back after a while." 

"If anyone was raised by wolves it was probably Thalia's brother that went missing. Their mother apparently left him in the woods and that's why Thalia ran." Harry's voice had a sarcastic undertone to it. 

"How do you know that?" 

"Some second years were whispering about it before they went to bed." 

"Harry, how long have you been up?" 

Harry looked at the grandfather clock that decorated the far side of the room in between the staircases. "Not long. I just got up a couple of hours ago. Why?" 

"Was making sure you didn't sit in here all night that's all." 

"Okay." 

They drifted off into silence before a distant rumble interrupted. Harry realized it was his stomach. Hermione had joined them only ten minutes ago and her nose was buried in one of her textbooks.

"Who's hungry?" Harry asked standing up. 

"I am," Ron said nudging Hermione with his foot from where she sat on the couch beside him. 

"Oh yeah I could go for some food," Hermione replied distractedly, glaring at her textbook as she tried to work something out. 

"And somehow in an amazing turn of events," Ron started, plucking the book out of his friend's hands despite her protests, "I'm the one telling you to stop doing something. Stop reading and eat, Hermione. You won't get anywhere without fueling up." 

Ron's face turned comically horrified, "Harry, I sound like my mum. Why do I sound like my mum?" 

Harry laughed at his friend and it took a few minutes for him to regain control of his breathing. "That's hilarious." Harry panted. 

"Harry," Ron whined, he had been hoping for some sympathy from his best friend. Spoiler Alert: he got none. 

Harry and Hermione banded together to tease him on the way downstairs. Even when not talking one or the other would let out the occasional poorly concealed chuckle. 

"You two are the worst," muttered the ginger, as they came to a stop in front of the massive doors to the Great Hall. Loud laughter made itself known to them, as well as delicious smells from the food. It was a combination of different scents each smelling just as delicious as the last.

Usually, breakfast was one of the calmer parts of the day as night owls grumbled at the morning birds for being so chipper and cried silently at the fact Hogwarts never offered anything with caffeine in it except hot chocolate during the cooler months, but today everyone was alert. Even more were whispering amongst themselves as small first years ran among the crowds of older children not yet acclimated to the fact that most houses did not mingle amongst themselves especially Slytherins (it was the Slytherin first years who seemed to be the main perpetrators today). 

One gangly boy with long limbs that seemed too big for his small frame almost tripped into the trio. Harry put a hand out to steady the boy. He had dirty blond hair that seemed almost brown and his eyes were a dark sapphire blue, his clothes were the standard Hogwarts uniform with Slytherin colors and crests. 

"You okay?" he asked. The blond boy nodded eagerly as he regained his breath. 

"I'm fine. Thanks for catching me. Sorry for almost tripping into you. I wasn't watching where I was going. I've been told I'm extremely clumsy. Like I can trip on thin air without trying," the boy rambled. Ron snickered from his place next to Harry. 

"He sounds like Ginny when she was younger. Get her going about anything and I swear she wouldn't stop to even breathe," Ron whispered to Hermione but Harry heard. 

"It's okay. Just be more careful, yeah? We don't want you getting stuck in one of the disappearing stairs on the staircases because you weren't looking where you were going while running?" replied Harry lightly. 

"I'll be more careful," he agreed and turned away before he turned back with wide eyes. "Have you heard what happened in the Slytherin common rooms?" 

"Can't say we have," Hermione told him laughing. 

"Oh! Right, you're Gryffindors. Well, you know that Hufflepuff that sat at our table last night-" he gestured to his house crest on his robes- "He was sleeping in our common room last night and no one not even Professor Snape kicked him out. He was with the other two as well. My sister was up last night and said that when Snape walked in they stirred long enough to give him triple-death glares and go back to sleep. He was already a little weary and backed off after that." 

Harry wanted to laugh at the idea of Snape showing any hint of hesitance, especially at three teenagers but the idea of three death glares simultaneously from the three sent something through him that told him they could indeed make even Snape back off.

~~~

Everything quieted down instantly when the three demigods walked into the Great Hall for breakfast. Hermione, who had finished eating and went back to her book, was one of the only few (not including teachers) who did not look up at their entrance. Almost everyone else looked comically like deer startled by headlights. Nico grumbled and pulled Thalia off to the Slytherin table and Percy despite the ever-vigiliant protector he had been the night before separated and went to the Hufflepuff table seemingly embarrassed by the attention turned his way. 

He filled his plate with some eggs, a piece of toast, a small stack of pancakes, and another good stack of bacon. He stabbed at the eggs and stuffed some in his mouth before he remembered where he was and what he was supposed to be doing. He flushed a deeper red than he had been at the attention.  He sat up straighter before stabbing at the eggs less aggressively and eating them. 

Harry turned away at this point going back to his half-finished plate and eating it. As well as downing the last little bit of pumpkin juice left in his goblet. He stayed a few more minutes and chatted with anyone who came up to him until Ron was done eating before heading to his first class. And since today was a Wednesday was Care of Magical Creatures. 

Expecting to be working on bow truckles again Harry was pleasantly surprised when he walked outside and found Professor Grubby-Plank petting the mane of a different creature. 

"Now, I know I'm no Hagrid when it comes to Magical Creatures," Professor Grubby-Plank said, clapping her hands together once everyone was assembled, "but finding these magnificent and rare creatures lingering on the edge of the forest meant I was not going to waste this once in a lifetime opportunity." 

Word Count: 1995

I know a little bit cliche when the students are introduced to Pegasus. My idea is basically Blackjack got bored and conned a couple of his other Pegasus friends into accompanying him in finding Percy. Why cause it's funny and seems really Blackjack-y. 

The aftermath of Percy completely disregarding Hogwarts rules and being scary. Cannonically all of them are scary so yeah they ended up scaring Snape because I doubt even Snape in all his ice-cold manner could put up with three death glares at once from some of the scariest demigods. 

Muggleborns would totally be the ones to find true crime mysteries in history and take them to Hogwarts confusing all the other students. 

-Scarlett.