When Myths Meet Magic || 5

1|| Annabeth

Annabeth walked quietly through the dusty hallway, careful not to wake the horrid portrait. The kitchen door was slightly ajar, and she pushed it open. It creaked. She winced.

"Annabeth, is that you?" A voice came from the kitchen.

"Yes, Mrs. Weasley," Annabeth called back. No sense in lying, Mad-Eye and his Great Magical Eye was there.

There was a pause, then a face peeped through the crack. Chiron.

"I haven't convinced them to include you yet," he said quietly.

"They know we're demigods," Annabeth began irritably. They had revealed themselves to the Order of the Phoenix when they arrived with the Weasleys to 12 Grimmauld Place. Chiron and Dumbledore were there, and the demigods had revealed their world. But not their past. They didn't want to linger on the past any more than they had to. Harry, Hermione, and Ron were different-- they were friends and they deserved to know.

"They understand you are a strategist," Chiron said. "But to them, you are also still a child. If they just knew what you'd been through--"

Annabeth shook her head.

Chiron sighed. "What do you have against these people?"

"It's not that," Annabeth said. "It's just that... I know Mrs. Weasley. If she hears what we've done, she's going to pity and try to protect us. We can't do anything if she's constantly hovering over us. And it'll only put everyone else in more danger-- monsters will come and they might be in the way. It can be flipping annoying-- just because we're younger than them doesn't mean we're incapable. And I'm not sure about the rest of the Order, but if they're anything like her when it comes to danger..."

Chiron laughed. "Yes, Molly is a bit... motherly. But she only has the best intentions. And trust me, Tonks and Lupin and Mad-Eye and Sirius and the rest are not like that at all. And if you want to be in on the action, you're going to have to share your story."

He pulled his head back in and shut the door.

Annabeth sighed and began to walk back up the stairs to a group of very expectant faces waiting in Percy, Jason, Nico, and Frank's room.

"So?" Frank asked. "Can we join?"

Annabeth hesitated. "They think you're too young," she said.

"But you aren't?" Ginny pointed out.

"I'm technically seventeen," Annabeth said. "I'm a legal wizarding adult."

Ron waved his hand indistinctly. "Did they say anything about Harry?" He asked anxiously.

Dumbledore had forbid contact with Harry, leaving letters strictly about meeting up later that summer. It was very frustrating, not being able to iris-message Harry, something they had gotten used to over the previous summers.

Annabeth bit her lip. "Uh, Mad-Eye caught me before I could hear anything," she partially lied. "Chiron just encouraged us to tell them our stories."

Ron let out a long-lasting sigh and flopped on his back, rubbing his eyes. "What is up with all this secrecy about your life?" He asked. "Just tell them and get us some inside info!"

Thalia looked at Ron, annoyed. "It's not that simple," she said. "Why do you think you'd never heard about the Greek and Roman world before? Because when we encounter, it usually results in a whole lot of battles. We don't mix well. And if anything leaks out that shouldn't be leaked, or if anyone--cough Snape-- spills what shouldn't be spilled, that could lead to real trouble."

Ron stretched out on the bunk and groaned. "Fine. But can we at least join the meetings? Listen in?"

"They're not going to let us," George said suddenly from behind them. Hazel yelped and spun around, swinging at him.

"Oof!" George stumbled backwards, his hands over his nose.

"Do you have to shadow travel everywhere?" Hazel asked, hand over her heart. "You gave me a heart attack!"

"It's not shadow travel," Fred corrected her. "It's apparating."

"Why do you have to do it with everything?" Hermione asked, annoyed.

Fred smiled at her like someone would smile at a silly puppy. "Oh, young Hermione, you have no idea what freedom is like, do you?"

"Id amading," George said, gingerly touching a squashed nose. "Bud like I said, dey're nod going do leddus in."

"What you need is this," Fred expertly lifted a pair of ears and let them dangle from a string around his fingers. "Extendable ears." He grinned and wiggled his eyebrows. "Only five sickles a piece. Handy for eavesdropping--"

"Snitching--"

"Talking across the room without yelling--"

"And the like," they finished together.

"We'll give you a test run, of course," said George with a wink. "Free charge first time. You can thank us later," he said airly, dropping the ears on Ron's stomach. His nose finally seemed to clear up.

Piper reached over and plucked them off his stomach. "You think we should try them?"

"What good would eavesdropping do?" Jason asked. "We still don't have a say."

"But we' not completely in the dark," Hermione said. "Today's meeting is almost over, I say we try it tomorrow."

"Alright," Percy said with a yawn. "I call bottom bunk." He grabbed Ron's legs and pulled him onto the ground before dusting off his covers.

"Hey!" Ron protested as he landed on the carpet, sending a billow of dust around. Even if they had lived in and magically cleaned up the place, it was still fairly dirty. Granted, that could be because Sirius's brother was messy, because the girls slept in Narcissa and Bellatrix's room, and that was fine.

"Goodnight," Hermione said as she reached up and pulled Ron out of the room by his ear.

Piper sighed. "Young love."

Percy snorted in disbelief. "Ron and Hermione? Love?"

Thalia sighed in an excellent imitation of Piper. "Ignorant boys."

Nico scoffed. "Oh, like you're more educated in love than Percy is."

Thalia turned her nose up in a sort of dignified way as she stood up from her spot on the top bunk. "I know enough," she said before walking out the door to Bellatrix's room.

"And that, ladies and gentlemen, is a Thalia Grace with no comeback," Percy said in an announcer's voice.

"Shut up!" Thalia yelled from the hallway.

There was a sound of curtains being ripped back. "MUDBLOODS! FILTH! HOW DARE YOU BEFOUL THE HOUSE OF MY FATHERS--" The voice from the portrait of Mrs. Black rang through the house, clearly as if she was standing right beside them (thank the gods she wasn't).

Jason sighed and floated up to his bunk. "This is gonna be a long summer."