Hello :)

I haven't written fic in ages and I should totally work on some of my other stories (there are new chapters written for most of them, but I haven't published yet because I don't want another break so you will have to wait till they are finished ). This was written last November and published on ao3 but I wanted to upload it here as well. 😊

About the setting of this story: It's set right after Portugal in the Blood of Olympus, so in the summer of 2011. That's Teddy's second year of Hogwarts. I'm pretty sure at that time there's already summerbreak but bear with me on this.

The chapters will be updated daily.

Enjoy!

REYNA

Reyna Ramírez-Arellano decided she didn't much care for Portugal.

Sure, it was a nice country, the weather was good and the town they had found themselves in provided them with the possibility of resting for once. But the company ruined it a bit. Nico spend most of his time passed out or on a trip with a ghost, Coach Hedge was complaining and challenging the pigeons to a fight and the locals gave them weird looks.

Reyna suspected that was the fault of the Athena Parthenos, a giant golden statue they were dragging around. She was laying on top of a temple at the moment, not the most convenient place but not the strangest either. Just a couple days ago she nearly fell into a volcano in Italy.

To top all of that off, they were being attacked by werewolves. Exactly how Reyna wanted to spent her downtime. Not that she got much of that seeing as they were in the middle of a war with the earth herself and on a mission that could decide the future of demigodkind.

Currently she was fastening herself to the Athena Parthenos while fending off the wolves nearest her with a silver dagger. Hedge was shouting on top of the statue, already secured. If he could still shout, he was fine.

Reyna chanced a glance to her other companion. Nico was currently facing off against Lycaon, the king of the werewolves but he looked fine. Or as fine as the son of Hades ever looked.
Suddenly, Lycaon sprang forward with his jaw aiming for Nico's neck. In the next moment they were dragged into darkness. Shadowtravel.

The wind whipping around them and the undefinable noises in the background were starting to become familiar to Reyna. It still wasn't pleasant and probably would never be but she wasn't as startled anymore when it happened.

Seconds passed and the wind got stronger, the noises louder and Reyna lost all sense of up and down. This was not familiar. Was something going wrong? Had Nico lost control over his powers? Had he passed out again, but this time before reaching their goal? Were they doomed to stay in this shadow realm forever? Reyna's heart started to quicken. She didn't want to be lost in this darkness.

A startled yell came from somewhere far away and near at the same time. Was that Hedge? So he had noticed it, too?

"Hedge!", Reyna yelled. It was hard to make a sound in this storm. "Nico!"

Could they hear her? She barely heard herself.

"Where are we going? What's happening?!" That was definitely Hedge, closer now than before.

Reyna tried to turn around and reached out in the darkness, mindful not to let go of the rope binding her to the Athena Parthenos and therefore Nico. Something warm brushed her hand and then crashed into her. Her surprised yell mixed with Nico's pained grunt. Quickly she clenched a fist into his shirt, scared to let go.

"Where are we going?", Reyna repeated Hedge's question, screaming to be heard over the wind. Was it getting even stronger?

"Don't – I don't know", Nico's answer was barely a whisper. It send a cold shiver down Reyna's spine. Not just the words but the fact that Nico sounded so weak. They were never going to leave this place were they?

"Focus!", she screamed. "Focus on a place!" Hopefully that would work.

The storm picked up even more, whipping them around and making it impossible to hear anything except the roaring of the wind. Then suddenly everything quieted. They were ripped out of the shadows and the light that greeted them nearly blinded Reyna. She could vaguely make out stone walls and a large group of people in dark clothing before there was an explosion of colorful lights in front of her eyes and then they were back in the shadows.

They were spinning and tumbling over each other even faster. There was a crash and then the wall painfully in Reyna's back, knocking the air out of her lungs and then her head smashed against the floor and she was out cold.

TEDDY

Edward 'Teddy' Lupin was looking forward to the end of his second school year. The entire day he had spent packing his belongings and saying goodbye to some of his friends that were in other houses and he would therefore not see again before departure. Now he was trailing after the rest of Hufflepuff House to the Great Hall for the end of year feast. That was something he was looking forward to more than anything. For one, he hadn't eaten anything since breakfast and was therefore starving. Plus, the end of year feast of Hogwarts was legendary and last time had been spectacular.

Caroline Tracer, one of his good friends, was talking excitedly about her plans for the holidays when they entered the Hall. The sight still took Teddy's breath away, even after two years. The sun was setting outside and it reflected in the enchanted ceiling, tinting the entire room in a soft red glow. The candles floating above the tables illuminated the banners in Ravenclaw's blue and bronze colours. Beneath that the house tables were decorated in their colours and held gleaming gold plates and goblets.

Teddy sat down at the front of the table, next to Caroline and across from Sammy Denvers from the year above. Caroline was still chatting away and Teddy quickly tried to catch up to what he had missed.

"- and then we will visit my grandparents in Canada in August. What about you?", she finished and turned towards Teddy, a pleasant smile on her face.

Teddy shrugged lightly. "We don't really have that many plans but I will probably visit with the Weasleys for a couple days. Victoire will be coming to Hogwarts next year, did you know?"

On the other side of Caroline sounded a laugh and a grinning Thomas Sloper leaned forwards to face Teddy. "No, we didn't know that you just tell us every day", he said and laughed again, Caroline joining in. "We know more about your girlfriend than we want."

Teddy blushed slightly and tried to glare at his best friends.

"She's not my girlfriend", he said.

"Sure. Whatever you say", Caroline grinned and then nodded over to the Ravenclaw table. "They look awfully pleased with themselves for winning the House Cup."

Teddy glanced over at the table next to them. He had to agree, they were enjoying the decorations way too much. "Doesn't matter. We won the Quidditch Cup and everybody knows that's the more important victory."

Caroline and Thomas laughed and even Sammy nodded in approval. "It's just the Ravenclaws that care about house points, being swots and all", he told them and then went back to a conversation with the students next to them. Thomas laughed again and even Teddy grinned.

Suddenly there was a commotion at the Gryffindor table and Teddy turned in his seat to see what the matter was. Some of the first and second year Gryffindors were staring at a spot above them, muttering between themselves. Others were jumping up and down and pointed while yelling about Dark Magic.

Slightly worried Teddy followed their pointing with his eyes. Up on the wall above the Gryffindor table was a dark spot growing in size. It was swirling and wavering as if it was made out of shadows and pulling the light towards it. By now other students had noticed as well and a nervous murmur went across the entire Hall. The Slytherins were loudly whispering about it, speculating what it could be. Most of them were convinced it was a prank by some of the Gryffindors but others were talking about it being an attack on the school. With the history Hogwarts had with danger, Teddy wouldn't be the slightest bit surprised if it wasn't just a prank. He had heard a lot of stories of dangerous and crazy things happening at Hogwarts and his godfather, Harry Potter, had often been in the midst of things. That didn't mean he wasn't worried though.

"What do you think that is?", Caroline whispered, all traces of laughter gone from her voice. Instead she sounded frightened and nervous.

Teddy didn't have time to answer. Headmistress McGonagall was calling the students to order and was walking towards the dark spot, by now double the size as before. She was holding her wand in one hand and conversing quickly with the tiny Professor Flitwick.

"Gryffindors, step away from that wall please", she called. And the students in red and gold quickly shuffled out of the way.

"Is this Dark Magic?", a fourth year asked loudly.

"We do not know what it is, but the wards around Hogwarts are strong enough to keep all dark magic out of this castle. This is probably harmless", Professor Flitwick explained. Most of the students calmed down at that.

Teddy glanced back at the spot and gasped. It was forming a silhouette! Whatever it was, it was very big, though.

Suddenly something shot out of the spot and students screamed and dove for cover as a giant statue burst through the wall. It was followed by three people and a lot of rope. Teddy took a step back and into the table in shock. He expected the statue to crash into the Gryffindor table but instead in hung in the air like in paralysis before a blue fizzle went over it and snapping it back into the shadows, taking the three people with it. As sudden as it had appeared as sudden did it disappear.
It was as had the spot never existed.

McGonagall stood in front on the wall in shock, wand raised in defence.

"What was that?"

"How did that happen?"

"Where did it go?"

"Did you see? There were some people with it!"

Chaos started around the hall. It seemed as if the entire student body had decided to yell at the same time.

"Silence!", the voice of the headmistress carried through the hall, enforced by a charm. Immediately everything quieted. "Good. As you can see, the wards kept the intruders out. There is no reason to fear –"

She was abruptly cut off by the same statue smashing in through the wall again. The statue slammed into the ground in front of the table, the three passengers smacking against it. Teddy jumped back in shock having nearly been flatted by the smallest of them. He stumbled over the rope that came with the statue and landed painfully on his ass.

The entire hall was dead silent.

Suddenly the figure in front of him jumped to his feet. No, not feet, hooves! The entire lower half of the man was covered in shaggy fur. Teddy had never seen anything like it.

He glanced at the other two intruders. One, a girl in her mid to late teens, was crumbled against the wall, the other, a small boy maybe a year older than Teddy, was lying in front of the statue. Both weren't moving. The fur-man made a sound like a distressed goat and scrambled over to the girl.

"Reyna! Are you still alive?", he yelled.

The girl – Reyna – didn't move. Instead the boy groggily sat up, holding one hand to his head.

"Coach? What's happened?", he asked into the quiet of the Hall.

Teddy glanced at McGonagall, who was standing in shock next to the statue, her wand pointed at these intruders. No one was saying anything. Teddy guessed they were all too curious as to what was happening to interrupt.

"You tell me. Where did you bring us?", the short man said angrily, still focused on the unconscious girl. He made that weird goat noise again, as if he himself was a goat.

"I – No idea.", the boy said quietly. He hissed as if he was in pain and moved his hand to his other arm instead followed by a sharp intake of breath. Teddy leaned forward slightly. Was the boy hurt? Should they help?

Goat-Man turned towards him now. "You alright there, Cupcake?"

For a second Teddy wondered why he would call that boy 'Cupcake' of all things. He looked the farthest from a cupcake Teddy had ever seen, what with the dark clothes, dark hair and pale complexion. But then, Teddy had heard weirder things.

McGonagall chose that moment to intervene.

"Who are you and how did you get into this school?", she demanded to know.

The boy froze and the goat-man turned towards her in surprise.

"Who are you?", he asked instead of an answer. He picked up some sort of wooden pole. It looked like a Beater's Bat just longer and was brandished like a weapon.

"I'm Minerva McGonagall, Headmistress of Hogwarts. Now, your name?"

"Why should I tell you? Where are we?"

McGonagall looked angry now. "I do not know who you are, where you came from or how you got here. Until you tell me this I will be forced to take you into custody for I do not know if you pose a threat to my students", she hissed, pointing her wand at his face.

Goat-Man seemed completely unimpressed. "With that stick?"

A gasp went through the Hall, even Teddy was surprised. Didn't that man know what a wand was? Did that mean they were muggles? But then how did they travel through the wall?

A loud groan destroyed the tense silence and every eye in the Hall went to the girl now sitting up. She blinked at them confused then looked at her companions before looking at them again. Then the grogginess vanished and she jumped to her feet a sort of spear appearing in her hand.

She slowly made her way towards the statue, were her companions were. Goat-Man was now swinging the bat around threateningly, openly glaring at the headmistress and everyone who dared move.
"We can't take them all, there is too many.", the girl whispered. "Nico, can you stand?"

The boy, who was called Nico, pulled out a black sword and used it as a crutch to stand up, Reyna shooting him a worried look when he stumbled a bit.

"We need to leave, now!", Reyna hissed.

The Goat-Man scoffed. "I'm not running. If they want to fight I will give them a fight!"

"Look at them, they are too many. We are only three people. It's best we retreat!" She turned towards Nico. "Get us out of here!"

The boy blinked up at Reyna as if he didn't fully see her, then he took a wobbly step backwards to the statue.

"Don't move! We have already informed the Aurors.", McGonagall spoke up again.

"What's an Auror?", Reyna muttered to herself. Meanwhile the goat-man scoffed again. "What? Scared to fight me yourselves?"

More of the professors stepped forward, their wands raised.

"What are you going to do with those sticks, poke me?" The goat-man was swinging his bat again and laughed slightly. He obviously didn't feel threatened at all.

"Uh, coach. I think they are wizards", Nico spoke up from behind them. He was now leaning against the statue, the sword in one hand, the other hanging limply at his side. Teddy leaned forward even more. Was blood running down his arm? Teddy was so focused on that he barely registered the boy's words. Wait, he knew who they were. So where they wizards or not?

The reactions of the intruders answered that question. The Goat-Man laughed while Reyna gave Nico a searching look before nodding. Goat-Man – or was it Coach? – seemed to notice that and looked at her in disbelief. "That's ridiculous. Wizards are fairy tales."

"No, I mean that. Met a couple before", Nico said then hesitated. "At my father's place."

"Alright then, wizards. Why not?", Reyna muttered and turned back to the population of Hogwarts. "We are sorry to have intruded like this that was not our intention. We merely came off our way and would resume our journey now."

"I'm sorry but I can't let you do that. You will come with us and answer our questions", McGonagall protested.

"I'm sorry but we can't let you do that", Reyna echoed, her voice sharp. "We have better things to do."

"Yeah, like kicking your butt!", Coach agreed.

Reyna gave him an annoyed look before stepping backwards and tacking up a piece of rope and handing it to him. "We will be leaving now!"

The headmistress stepped forward. "I can't let you do that"

But before she could fire a spell the trio and their statue disappeared in the shadows, leaving behind a deathly quiet Great Hall. Teddy noticed too late that he was still holding onto the rope he had fallen over.