Harry Potter and the Greek Gods

{5} Number 12 Grimmauld Place

PERCY'S POV

We had only just gotten to our feet when a stranger approached us. He was a very strange stranger. He had long silver hair and a long silver bear, as well as long robes and half-moon spectacles.

"Hello." He said simply.

I got the feeling with just that one word that he was a lot like Chiron. Old, wise, and probably a teacher.

"Are you Professor Dumbledore?" Annabeth asked.

He simply smiled.

"We're sorry Professor Dumbledore, but Harry was-" Piper began.

"I am aware that Harry just came face to face with dementors."

"What do we do now?" I wondered.

"You all can come with me."

I froze suspiciously. It was never a good thing when an adult said, 'you can come with me'. I generally meant that they were a monster and wanted to take you somewhere private to eat you. But everyone else seemed to trust him, so I guess it was just my nerves playing up.

"Where are we going?" Leo asked.

"The Headquarters."

"For what?" I frowned.

"The Order of the Phoenix."

"What else would it be Prissy?" Clarisse snapped.

"I thought I had left that nickname behind," I grumbled.

"I don't think you'll ever leave a nickname behind, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth teased.

"Oh, you're on Wise Girl!"

"How about we wait until we get to headquarters before we enter a full-on nickname battle?" Piper suggested.

"Fine," I conceded, "But where is this headquarters place?"

"It's a secret," Annabeth answered pompously.

"Then how come you know where it is?"

"I don't."

"What?" My jaw dropped, "You don't know something?"

"Oh, be quiet you." She rolled her eyes.

"You know, if you two would stop bickering for even a minute we would be there already," Nico interjected.

"How are we getting there?" I inquired.

"Shadow Travel," Nico said, as though it was obvious.

And it probably was. We spread out into a circle and joined hands. I was beside Annabeth and Hazel. Because of how large the group was, Nico and Hazel would have to work together to get us all there in one piece.

"Mr Di Angelo, I trust you know where to go?" Dumbledore questioned him.

Nico nodded.

"Then I shall see you there."

He turned, and in a flash of light, he was gone.

"What?" Leo gaped at where he had vanished.

"Wizard shadow travel," Annabeth explained.

"Oh." Leo nodded like he understood.

"Three," Nico began, "Two, one."

And we disappeared into darkness.

HAZEL'S POV

I had never gotten used to shadow travel. It always twists my stomach inside out and seems to leave my insides in a dozen different places. As soon as we disappeared into the void, I started to panic. What if I had done something wrong? What if we were stuck? Just as I started to really freak out, we materialised in a new place. It was a square or something, with a lot of houses. There was a sign, but I couldn't read what it said.

"Frank." I nudged him, "What does the sign say?"

"Grimmauld Place."

"What kind of a name is that?" Percy snorted.

"It's not any worse than Hogwarts." Leo laughed.

"Gather round," Dumbledore instructed.

Remembering what Chiron had told us about him, how he was the headmaster of Hogwarts, I really hoped he hadn't heard what Leo had said. We gathered around him, in a very tight huddle. Like penguins in a blizzard.

"The headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix are located at Number 12 Grimmauld Place." He whispered.

I frowned, puzzled. Why was this such a big revelation? Frank seemed even more confused than me.

"Professor? The numbers, they jump from number 11 to number 13. Where's number 12?"

Dumbledore smiled, a twinkle in his eye and a look on his face that said, wait and see. So we did, and all of a sudden, like magic, the houses began to rumble and split apart. In between what I guessed was 11 and 13, and another house was appearing out of nowhere.

"Wow." Annabeth gasped.

From the look on her face, I could guess that she was probably trying to figure out how it all worked.

"Come on." Dumbledore gestured for us to follow him.

He opened the seemingly normal door, and we got our first glimpse into the top-secret headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix.