1 Percy hated demigod dreams. Sure they gave him a clue to deal with his newest never-ending quests. They could be helpful at times. But mostly, they were a nuisance.
Case in point- the one he was having right now.
Oh it started out normal enough, he was walking down the street on his way to John's Pizzeria, his favorite pizza chain that had just opened a branch right around the corner from his apartment, when he felt it.
Awareness.
Just the edge of lucidity.
He never had lucid dreams on his own- ever.
That was when he knew his dream was about to change into some clue for yet another problem that he would inevitably face- a monster hell-bent on destroying the world, a deity out to kill him, Aphrodite losing her hand mirror, it never really ended. He closed his eyes as he felt his surroundings shift.
Here we go again. He thought
He opened his eyes to a ferret. An honest-to-the-Gods ferret. Percy Jackson had faced many gods, goddesses and creatures before, he had seen weird and done even weirder stuff. But, despite all that, all it apparently took was a ferret to leave him utterly stumped.
" Um… hello…uh…mister?...ferret" Percy felt stupid, but he figured that feeling was pretty much the norm for him.
"HER name is Gale" Percy spun around to face the voice that came from behind him. "And she identifies as a Polecat." The voice- who turned out to be a women in black robes and two lit torches in hand- completed.
" Right…" the demigod said. " I apologize Ms. Gale." If there was one thing Percy had learned as a demigod, it was to never insult an immortal being's pet. That never ended well for anyone.
And that women was obviously immortal. He took her in slowly, her aura was weaker than a god's yet almost…harsher at the same time. A Titaness then. That coupled with her torches and ferret- sorry polecat, gave him a pretty good idea of who she was.
"Lady Hecate" he bowed. " How may I assist you?"
" Percy Jackson" she looked him over like he was going to be her next buy from Walmart. "We need to talk."
_Remus Lupin_
When Remus was asked to be the new Defense Against The Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts he didn't know how to feel.
On one hand, this was his dream job, something just out of his reach despite his abilities because of his condition. On the other, this would put him in direct contact with Harry, James's son, who he had spent his whole life avoiding, Harry didn't need werewolf problems on top of all that he had suffered.
Harry, who had Lilly's eyes and James's hair.
Remus had to live with the knowledge that he couldn't just not support Harry financially or take over custody, with the magic-loathing Dursley's as the only other option left, he couldn't even see the boy.
He had failed James.
He had failed Peter who gave his life for James and his family.
But, at this point he had no choice but to accept the offer. He was out of money, unable to hold down a job in the magical world because of his condition and in the muggle world because he lacked any non- magical skills and the ones that did not need skills were at unpredictable hours that often coincided with the full moon.
And now that Sirius had somehow broken out of Azkaban, something which was supposed to be impossible, and might be coming after Harry, Lupin had to act. Who better to recognize the black heir than one of his oldest and closest friends. Especially since he couldn't tell people about Sirius's animagus form without implicating himself. People wouldn't believe a werewolf's word without proof, like a memory or veritaserum, which would lead to people realizing that Peter broke the law, for him, enough to put him in jail and dishonor Wormtail's memory, they might even take away his Order of Merlin.
Yes, he had to take the job. He might have failed Harry in so many things, but not in this one.
What surprised him, however, was the fact that Dumbledore contacted him only an hour after offering him the position.
" Hello. Remus…my boy" his head was sticking out of Remus's fireplace.
" Professor. I expected more time to review the offer." Remus was caught so off guard that he didn't even reply to the professor's greetings.
" This isn't about the job Remus. Though what I am about to tell you might affect your answer. Why don't you come on into my office? This isn't the sort of thing to discuss over floo."
_Percy Jackson_
"You might have noticed, that I did not accept the continued belittling of the Olympians…gracefully ." Hecate said. "
well…you did send Empousa after me" Percy said.
"Did I? Well that was in bad taste." She mused. " I suppose I made up for that, when I helped Hazel save your life."
" Umm.."
" Anyway, the Olympians, I didn't get much respect out of them, when the Camp was created my children were not offered a cabin, I went unrecognized. My service, my loyalty unappreciated. I grew angry, if my children couldn't belong with the other demigods, I would give them their own home to bond, to grow, to be safe, a second home.
So, I gave my descendants a little nudge in the right direction, from time to time. And they grew, they evolved, they made marvelous things, their own government. A thousand years ago, four of my children made a school for more people like themselves. Like I said they, evolved, they were more than just washed-up legacies, they were witches and wizards, with wands and broomsticks to fly and those pointy hats shown in the fairytales."
" So you are telling me, that witches are real too. Like, warts and turns you into frogs witches , they are your legacies, and they have their own government? Why haven't I ever heard of them before?" Percy didn't know why this shocked him, he had dealt with weirder stuff before, but this was somehow different.
" The statute of secrecy, they went into hiding in the 1700's and our world's haven't interacted since."
"Our worlds? Aren't we technically the same? Demigods and legacies?"
" Like I said, they evolved, or perhaps devolved is the right word, they are no longer strong enough to have a scent that attracts monsters, and with time, they forgot about divinity, they stopped praying to me. I did not mind. They changed, their ways changed and I of all immortals respect that."
" But now I have to go remind them because some big bad could destroy or enslave the world?" He guessed, disliking the awkwardness left with her last words.
" No. Mr. Jackson." Hecate looked amused. " they do have a- big bad- as you put it, coming but that is not your quest.
In fact, there is no quest." She continued " tell me Mr. Jackson, have you ever done something inexplicable, even with your powers? Dare I say, something downright magical?"
Percy's mind flashed back to when he came home from his boarding school at the end of sixth grade. His ex- stepfather, Gabe was being an ass to him and his mother, and he made a gesture, a three-fingered claw over his heart, meant to protect from evil and Gabe went flying into the house, his butt smacked by the door. Now, Gabe might be evil, but he was not related to the divine world in any way, so Percy knew that the gesture should not have worked on him.
All of a sudden realization struck. "But...I…how?"
"The wizarding world is under the assumption that marrying other magicals, tend to boost the power of the next generation. They are wrong, it creates tension in their bodies, two different sets of magic warring with each other, the children grow weaker as a result, at one point, with repetitive inbreeding, the children of a magical couple fails to possess any magic of their own, these are called squibs.
Now, the Wizarding world is a rather backwards community, they don't have the same advancements we do, no phones, no gadgets, and racism runs rampant. The intermarrying folks call themselves purebloods, considering themselves better than everyone because of their blood. Then come muggleborns, magicals with muggle or non-magical parents, an unproven theory is that the muggleborns are the result of two squibs having children, which while true is not widely accepted because that alone is sometimes not enough to bring back magic in the bloodline.
Half-blood, is also a term used there, for a child of a pureblood with a muggle or muggleborn. Anyone who believes that the muggles and muggleborns aren't below them, is considered a blood traitor.
Your grandfather, was a wizard bent on world domination, he amassed an army of and started a war against anyone not a pureblood. His army was made up of pureblooded wizards who called themselves death eaters, as well as giants, vampires, werewolves, dementors and other creatures discriminated against.
This civil war was in the British wizarding community and ended 13 years ago when a lethal curse cast on a one year old child backfired due to a secret ritual the mother cast with her dying breath, which saved the boy, your grandfather who took measures to cheat death is still alive, though, as a disembodied spirit.
Your grandfather had your mother, with some meaningless fling, that woman gave your mother up for adoption on realizing she was a squib, at which point she was adopted by an American couple, who gave her their name.
When she was 15 years old, your mother was made aware of the fact that she was adopted, she insisted on seeing her old orphanage. On her way back to the United states, her plane crashed, she was the sole survivor.
You being a god's son along with having your bloodline, makes you a strong wizard, but you are the son of Poseidon, your stint in the Roman camp makes you one of the two only Greek and Roman demigods in history, not to mention you having retained powers from being the only demigod to host an Egyptian goddess, you have to be the strongest wizard ever in existence."
Percy's mind was spinning, his view of the world was shattered once again and in the back of his mind he wondered, when he would start getting used to that feeling. " Wait, so do I have to kill my other grandfather then? Is that my quest?"
Hecate let out an exasperated sigh, " As I have already mentioned, there is no quest."
"Then why are you here?" Percy demanded. "Why tell me now? Why not before?"
"There was need for you to know." The goddess said simply. " Now, however, it appears that a few wizards have come to be aware of your existence. Not your godly side, but your connection with your grandfather. They will seek to turn you to their side before your grandfather finds out about you. I suggest you go with them. Act surprised when they mention these things, and try to keep all Greece related Idioms, metaphors and euphemisms to a minimum.
Goodbye son of Neptune and stay safe."
" Wait…I…wait" Percy stuttered. But the dream was already fading.
And Percy woke up in his apartment in New York to the sound of his little sister Estelle's cries.