New chapter. It's a only bit longer than the last one, but I like it much more.

Chapter 7 | Unbreakable Bonds

Percy Pov

"You know, in hindsight, I have no idea why I was so scared in the first place." Percy said. Annabeth smiled, shaking her head.

"I don't either. Midterms were basically the hardest part of the entire year. The finals were much easier in my opinion." Annabeth stated.

"Much easier. And I think this year will be about the same, or at least that's what I heard." Percy said.

"From who?" Annabeth asked.

"I have my sources." Percy said, shrugging. Annabeth again shook her head. "Also, even though we've only had less than a week of our new classes, I think the most harm they can do to our college experience is give us boring lectures."

"Whatever. This year will be more stressful, I think."

"Why?" Percy asked.

"Um, hello?" a voice asked from in front of both Percy and Annabeth. The pair turned toward the voice. A slim man with pink-tipped wavy hair, a polo and jeans, as well as an earring in one ear raised his eyebrows and smirked.

"Yeah, sorry. What would you like today, Jordan?" Annabeth asked. Jordan looked up and behind Annabeth and Percy, both following his gaze and finding the all familiar menu of assorted flavors of frozen yogurt, gelato, and ice cream. The same frozen yogurt menu that the pair plus Frank and Hazel had gone to after midterms in their freshman year.

"Just the usual." Jordan answered, handing Percy a ten dollar bill and Percy giving him back two dimes, and three pennies. Annabeth got a cup and filled it with a scoop of peanut butter and another of raspberry. An odd choice for a usual order, but Jordan seemed to love it.

"Thanks. See you guys on campus." Jordan waved goodbye. Both waved back and went back to the job that they had kept for a couple of months now.

"This is why our year will be more stressful," Annabeth said. "We really haven't had a challenge of juggling multiple responsibilities before. We've either had school, Camp Half-Blood, neither, or a quest. This is something that we've never done before."

"That's ironic. The one thing you see as a challenge, even though we've been on maybe a dozen quests, is having multiple things to do." Percy said.

"Yeah, it is, isn't it." Annabeth answered. "Come one, let's get back to the dorm. It's past our shift anyways."

Percy and Annabeth took off their aprons and flung it onto a table in the back of the place, replacing them with their respective backpacks and walking out into the 12 o'clock sun.

Kids, teens, and adults all looked at Percy and Annabeth, either enthusiastically waving or staring oddly for a long time.

"You know, I don't think I'm ever going to get used to the fact that every descendant of the gods knows who we are." Percy said.

"Me neither."

They walked, chatting about school, camp, and a variety of other things. The walk to the campus was short, about 10 minutes.

"Do you ever want kids?" Annabeth asked from out of nowhere.

"A little early for that, don't you think?" Percy chuckled. They arrived at a crosswalk of a busy intersection, pressed the button on the pole beside them, and Percy spotted the reason for Annabeth's sudden question.

A small girl, maybe three or four years old, was holding her mother's hand who was chatting with her husband.

"Ahh." Percy said, smiling at the little girl who was bouncing up and down with joy and excitement. "I don't know, probably." Annabeth gave him the stink eye and Percy's eyes widened.

"I mean, of course, of course! They're a little hard to deal with I think but I'd love to have a kid. Boy or girl. Actually, preferably a girl. I'd hate for my kid to turn out like me." Percy joked. The crosswalk light turned green and the little girl's hand slipped out of her mother's.

The toddler skipped across the sidewalk, and as if in slow motion, Percy witnessed the mother reach out for the toddler, but miss by inches.

A semi-truck swerved around a corner and started speeding down the road, heading for the crosswalk that Percy and Annabeth were about to cross. Apparently Annabeth had better reflexes than her boyfriend, throwing her backpack to the sidewalk behind her and sprinting toward the girl.

"Annabeth!" Percy yelled, the guttural scream coming from the deepest part of his soul. He hesitated a split second before imitating Annabeth and throwing his backpack to the side. In his head, he knew he would be too late, yet he did it anyways.

Annabeth reached the girl in time, picking the girl up as if she was the lightest thing in the world and rolling out of the way. The semi truck stopped suddenly, it's front just clipping Annabeth's back foot. She tumbled, holding onto the girl and covering her like she was the most precious thing in the world.

"Fuck. Fuck." Percy repeated, running over to Annabeth just before the parents of the little girl could. "Are you okay, Annabeth?" Percy asked, his voice literally shaking. She was kneeling on the ground, her back heaving up and down. Up and down.

"Yeah, yeah I'm okay." Annabeth said. She sat up and saw the parents next to Percy, the woman in tears and the man's lip quivering, eyes glossy, forehead sweaty, and pretty much every single thing you could possibly think of.

A cry came from Annabeth, and the toddler was revealed in her arms, tears streaming down her cheeks and hiccuping from sobbing so much.

"Jesus, honey. I am so, so sorry for letting you go." the mom said softly, her voice trembling. "Come here honey, come here."

Annabeth opened her arms hesitantly and allowed the mother to have her daughter. The man knelt down next to the mother and cried with them, hugging and savoring the fact that nobody was seriously injured.

"You okay, Annabeth?" I repeated. Annabeth nodded, checking her arms and legs. Her elbows were bloody and bruised as well as some blood running down her left leg. Other than that, she didn't seem to be majorly injured.

"You know, for a daughter of Athena, I'm pretty sure that wasn't the most logical or thought through thing you've ever done." Percy said, weakly smiling. Annabeth forced a small chuckle.

"I don't know, I just felt like I had to do something. There wasn't really any time to react or think."

"Yeah. Well that's how I think all the time." Percy said, his smile getting brighter and his adrenaline and worry lowering. "And some ambrosia and nectar should heal those wounds pretty easily. Looks like it's just a scratch."

"Just a scratch." she said. She smiled, her eyes welling with tears. She wiped them away and Percy hugged her tighter than he had ever hugged anyone ever before. "Just a scratch."

Percy woke up, holding onto his sheets for dear life, the sun highlighting the sides of his bed. The actual mattress was shadowed and dark.

"Alright there, Percy? You were mumbling in your sleep." Ron asked, already dressed in his robes.

"Yeah, yeah." Percy nodded vigorously.

"Harry's in the common room with Hermione and Ginny. " Ron said.

"Who?" Percy asked.

"Oh right, you haven't met her yet. Ginny's my sister, a year younger." Ron explained. Percy nodded once again. "Get ready for breakfast. Today's another Hogsmeade trip."

"Coming, coming." Percy said, throwing the sheets to the side and practically bounced off his bed, quickly changing into his robes and stuffing his wand into his pocket.

He didn't have time for the usual morning routine today. Right after breakfast was a Hogsmeade visit, and Percy hadn't been able to even attempt to go yet. He had heard great things and couldn't put into words how excited he was to be able to go.

"Nice of you to join us." Hermione commented as soon as Percy was visible to her.

"Thanks." Percy answered. "Let's go."

"Right." the group went off, the last ones out of the common room. Percy looked down at his clothes and tried to smoothen the wrinkles of his robes. They really weren't the most fashionable, but then again, when had he ever cared about what his clothes looked like? Comfort was the only thing he really cared about, because everyone knows that wearing comfortable and flexible clothes can tip the scales in a battle with any monster from Titan to hellhound.

They found an empty space at the Gryffindor table big enough for all five people and got right to eating, both Ron and Percy wasting no time at all in emptying the serving plates around them.

"Er, Percy?" the redhead next to Ron asked. Percy's head perked up and he spotted what appeared to be the sister of Ron.

"Oh, Ginny, right?! Sorry that I didn't acknowledge you earlier, I'm just a little tired." he said. Ginny smiled.

"It's okay. I get it." Ginny replied.

"Are you joining the thing?" Percy asked, raising his eyebrows and quickly glancing at his friends. Harry shrugged, Ron kept eating, and Hermione nodded her head.

"Yeah, the meeting's today, right?" she asked. "Hog's head?"

"Um, I guess?" Percy asked, shrugging his shoulders. Again, Hermione nodded, the only one with any information whatsoever.

"Yes, at the beginning of the Hogsmeade trip, go straight to the Hog's Head and that's where we'll have our meeting." Hermione said.

"Wait, but don't we have a problem?" Harry asked, furrowing his eyebrows and staring off into space as if attempting to remember something. "Can Percy even go to Hogsmeade?"

"Huh?" Ron asked, perking his head up for a moment.

"Oh! You're right!" Hermione exclaimed, "Percy can't go because he doesn't have a guardian to sign the form!"

"I need a form to get in?" Percy asked. "Why didn't you guys tell me earlier?"

"We really didn't think about it." Harry admitted. "Is there any other way that we can still get him in? You think Mcgonagall will allow him to go?"

"I don't think so. Mcgonagall didn't even allow you to go until you got your signature." Hermione said.

"So I can't get into Hogsmeade?" Percy asked. "Well, I guess it's okay, you guys can just fill me in on it later."

"Wait, there's a way! You can use Harry's invisibility cloak!" Hermione announced, smiling brightly.

"Brilliant idea Hermione. After breakfast we can go back up to our common room and I can get the cloak from my trunk." Harry said.

"Why don't we go right now?" Ginny asked.

"Yeah, I agree with Ginny. I've already eaten a little bit, plus we can get some food in Hogsmeade after the meeting right?" Percy asked enthusiastically. He resisted the temptation to bounce up and down like a giddy little girl, and settled for slowly sipping his goblet.

"I'm fine with that." Hermione said. She glanced at Ron, shaking her head with a tilted grin on her face. "Although I'm not sure Ron here wants to leave quite yet."

"No, no it's fine. Just give me a second." Ron said, his words difficult to understand considering he had a mouthful of food making his cheeks the size of those of a chipmunk. "Alright, lets go. I wanna save my appetite for Hogsmeade." both Harry and Percy chuckled while Hermione rolled her eyes and Ginny looked up to the sky as if asking: "Why me?"

The group of five marched toward Hogsmeade between other groups of friends who were looking to have a break from the stress of academics. Of course, all had been granted permission to go except for a certain ocean-eyed demigod who was hidden under an invisibility cloak.

"Guys couldn't you have found a better invisibility cloak than this one?" Percy asked, his voice lowered to avoid suspicion from any passing students. "This is really small, I'm practically squatting."

"How is it small? It covered Harry, Ron and me at the same time." Hermione said. "Granted, we were all pretty small."

"And I didn't find it. The cloak was my dad's." Harry said.

"Ah, well still. This thing is tiny compared to me. How much longer until we get to the place we're meeting?" Percy asked.

"Not much longer. Five or ten minutes." Hermione said, basing her guess off of their location on the familiar path of Hogsmeade.

Percy threw up his arms as of hearing that answer would begin the end of the world. His rash action ended up tossing the cloak slightly into the air, revealing the bottoms of his sneakers and a trim of his robes.

"Percy!" Ginny hissed coinciding with Hermione's eye roll and chuckles from Ron and Harry.

"Sorry, sorry!" Percy whispered, laughing his guts out on the inside. "Nobody noticed."

"How do you know that?" Hermione asked. Percy shrugged, then realizing that nobody could see him gesturing, he answered no.

"But seriously, was there any other way for me to go to Hogsmeade? I'm starting to cramp." Percy asked.

"Umm… maybe?" Harry said questionably. "I didn't think about it earlier, but there are secret passages that you can use to get into Hogsmeade."

"You should've told me that earlier!" Percy said. "Whatever. We're here now."

The group arrived at the Hog's Head, stopping a couple of feet before the entrance.

"This is it? It's so…" Percy trailed off, failing to conjure the right description.

"Inhumane? Broken down? Small?" Harry suggested.

"Old? Not what you imagined?" Ron followed suit. Percy whipped off the invisibility cloak, praying to the gods that nobody saw. He didn't really need it anymore.

"I don't know. I guess all of the above?" Percy said unsurely. "Here."

Percy bundled up the Invisibility cloak and handed it to Harry, who stored it safely in a pocket in his robes.

"Is there a bathroom in there?" Percy asked.

"Don't think so." Hermione said. "But there's one over there in the Three Broomsticks." Hermione gestured to a much bigger and much better looking building compared to the Hog's Head that was not too far.

"Okay. I'll be back in a few." Percy said.

"Yup. See ya in a few." Harry replied. The four headed into the shack that would soon be filled with who-know-how-many students.

Percy walked down the path to the Three Broomsticks, took a deep breath, and smiled. His head turned left and right, watching as students and staff of Hogwarts mingled and hung out, nobody looking depressed or sad. This place, it reminded him of the first time he had arrived at Camp Half-Blood. Everything was so happy and peaceful and filled with light. Disregarding the whole Voldemort situation, Hogwarts and this world of magic was wonderful, it was absolutely amazing.

Percy pushed open the door to the Three Broomsticks and was met with a room filled with life, laughter, and dare he say love. Too bad he was only there to go to the bathroom. Percy shook his head and struggled to maneuver through the crowded room without touching anybody.

A couple of minutes later, Percy exited the Three Broomsticks, looking around and seeing multiple students pile into the Hog's Head. He guessed that it was probably the first time in the building's history that more than 20 people were in it at the same time.

Percy looked toward the sky, noting the near perfect sky that probably wasn't due to an enchantment.

Not paying attention to his surroundings, Percy accidentally bumped into someone, shoulder to shoulder, and turned around to apologize.

"My bad, sorry about that. I wasn't really watching where I was going." Percy said. He stared into the eyes of the woman he bumped into. She was probably in her mid 30's but Percy couldn't be sure. That wasn't what he was captivated by, though.

Her eyes were

"It's quite fine, dear. I'm sure it was entirely my fault." the woman he bumped into him said.

The woman was probably in her mid 20's, but that wasn't what captivated Percy. Her pale complexion and dark, hazel eyes reminded him of someone he didn't particularly like at the moment. Her phrasing raised Percy's suspicion of the woman's identity even more.

"Are you…" Percy asked. "Hecate?" the woman smiled.

"Yes, that seems to be the case." Hecate said. "Why don't we go somewhere we can chat?"

"Hades no. I'm not going anywhere with you." he said. "You literally sent me back in time!"

"Yes, I did didn't I?" Hecate said, tapping her chin. "But that's no reason for us not to have a little chat, is it?!"

"Actually, I think it's a pretty valid reason for me wanting to not see you ever again." Percy said, his hands twitching and his teeth grinding.

"But then you would never know why I sent you back here in the first place." Hecate said cheerfully. "Percy, you know what I'm the goddess of magic, but maybe you forgot what other domains I rule over."

"I know what you can do." Percy said.

"Maybe you do. If you did, then you would know that I'm also the goddess of crossroads" Hecate stated. "You may be asking yourself: 'But beautiful and amazing Hecate, why do you bring this up right now?' and I would say that it's because soon, you will face one of the most difficult choices of your life. Good luck."

"Wait, the fuck? Again?" Percy asked. Hecate walked away without another word, entering the Three Broomsticks. Percy had a feeling that if he tried to follow her, she would be nowhere to be found. He sighed, shaking his head at the situation he had been dragged into. He just couldn't get away from the gods and their stupid fucking messes.

"Gods. Why?" Percy said. He headed to the Hog's Head and just tried to forget it. But he couldn't. The ominous warning of Hecate would be stuck in the back of his head until it would come to fruition.

Harry Pov

"Percy, What took you so long?" Harry asked as soon as Percy opened the door.

"Ah, just got caught up talking to ." Percy said. "Is everyone here?" he asked as he went between a group of seated students, all observing the conversation between Harry and Percy.

"Yeah. We've just been waiting for you." Harry said. Percy nodded and went to sit with Hermione, Ron, and Harry, who were all seated facing the rest of the students. Harry looked at the people in front of him - actually, they weren't just people. They were kids. Children and teens trying to learn how to fight because they were afraid of being hurt. That wasn't right. It wasn't fair that they all had to grow up with that fear always in the back of their heads. Harry had that experience but had no choice. He was forced into it, what with his parents being murdered by Voldemort and him being the target of Voldemort during the Triwizard maze.

"Okay. Now that we have everyone here, we can begin." Hermione announced to the many people in front of her. She nudged Harry a little, forcing him to go in front and address the crowd.

"Erm, yeah. So, we're here today to kind of, erm do something about Umbridge." Harry started with. "Hopefully, you all realized like I did that Umbridge is the worst at teaching and with everything being how it is, we need to learn how to protect ourselves."

"Now -" Harry was interrupted by a boy on his right, a familiar face in Harry's year.

"Is this about You-Know-Who supposedly murdering Cedric?" Zacharias Smith asked, emphasizing his suspicion. Harry's hands threatened to close into fists, but he relaxed and instead allowed himself to bite his tongue.

"What?" Percy asked. Harry forgot that he hadn't been informed of what had happened the year before. He was going to have to catch Percy up on life as a wizard in the UK.

"We'll discuss this later, Percy." Hermione said. She turned to Zacharias and was about to say something before Ron beat her to it.

"Mate, if all you want to hear is what happened to Cedric, you should fuck off and just leave." Ron practically yelled.

"Prick." Ron muttered under his breath after he sat back down.

"Thanks, Ron." Harry said, with actual gratitude threatening to turn into a grin. "Yeah, just to echo what what Ron said, if you aren't seriously considering being taught how to defend yourselves, or you don't believe me that Voldemort is back, you should leave right now."

Besides some flinches at Voldemort's name, nobody moved.

"Okay, now that we've established what we're here for, let's set a goal." Hermione chimed in. Harry looked back toward her and she motioned for him to start talking.

"Well, I don't actually have a specific goal. I just know that I've learned a lot of things in my years at Hogwarts, some things that you all probably don't know, and with the recent development of Voldemort coming back, I strongly believe that everyone needs to know how to protect themselves and those who can't."

"And are you going to be teaching us?" Michael Cormac from Ravenclaw asked.

"Well of course he will. Who else would?" Hermione asked.

"Why is he any more qualified than any of us?" Michael asked.

"Have you ever killed a basilisk?" Ron asked. Michael didn't move or say anything. "Or fight off dementors?"

"Wait a second." Percy stood up, coming next to Harry. "You guys have basically spent a third of your lives here, together, and you aren't getting along. You guys don't trust or believe each other?"

"I know I don't know you well and you don't know me all that well, but I don't have to know you to say that you all should have an unbreakable bond. Back in America, I used to go to this camp every summer where we were sorted or grouped into different houses or whatever. It was mainly the same people every year and sure, we bickered and fought sometimes, but we still were family. We trusted each other with our own lives. You should have that same bond. You should have that same loyalty to each other. Why don't you have that bond? Why aren't you guys close?"

The room was silent.

Only the sound of drunks sipping beer or other alcoholic beverages could be heard.

Percy backed up, yet remained standing behind and to the side of Harry. Again, he was alone in the front. Yet he felt Percy's presence and knew that Percy had his back if it came to it.

"Thanks, Percy." Harry said. He meant it. His confidence grew as his consciousness of his friends behind him strengthened. "It isn't my idea to teach you guys. I'm not forcing you guys to learn from me. I'm not the one hiring myself to teach people. It's your guys' decision whether or not I'll help you." Harry said calmly. His confidence grew by the second. The doubts of two of his peers really fueled the fire and Percy's words boosted him even further. Harry was getting more and more into this crazy plan.

"Okay." Hermione said, breaking up another long stretch of silence. "Now that we're done with that, those who want to sign up for this, I have a piece of parchment here that you can put your name on. And don't think of snitching to anyone, or you'll wake up to a terrible surprise."

"Way to ruin the mood." Ron said.

"It's not like this room was glowing with joy, Ron!" Hermione said. She cleared her throat and turned back to the seated company. "You can obviously still tell people that you're positive either won't snitch or will join."

Fred and George were the first to come up and sign their names, and after that, one by one, people started getting up.

"Write your names correctly." Hermione said, glaring at Fred and George. They both smiled and walked off after signing the sheet. I took a deep breath and smiled. The worst of it was over.

"Oh, before I forget. We'll inform some people of the next meetings details once we know where we can meet. Spread the word once the info's out." Hermione said. One after another, everyone, including Michael and Zacharias, signed the sheet of parchment.

After everyone exited the Hog's Head, Harry sighed and Percy patted him on the back.

"You did fine, Harry. Don't worry about it." Percy said.

"Yeah, Harry. That actually wasn't too bad." Hermione said.

"Thanks guys. That helps. It really does." Harry said. "Did you mean what you said, Percy?"

They walked out of the pub, and started to walk along the path to other shops and such.

"I guess. It kind of came out of nowhere." Percy shrugged. "I don't know. Loyalty has always been a big deal to me, and back home, the bonds and relationships I formed were really special to me. Although they practically don't exist anymore, I'll never forget."

"Well, that was heavy." Ron said. "Let's go to Zonko's or something. There's a couple of things I want to check out."

"Sure, Ron." Percy said, chuckling. "Let's go.

"You know, whatever the outcome, wherever we end up, I won't ever forget this friendship." Harry said, feeling influenced by Percy's speech as well as his own.

"Me neither." Percy said.

"Same here." Hermione said. Ron nodded in agreement.

"Okay, enough sappy shit." Percy said, smiling. "Let's change the mood, shall we? Who wants to prank Fred and George?"

Try to pay attention to little details and small storylines that you might think had no reason to be in this story. They might be important later! See you next time.