SEA GREEN [PERCY JACKSON X HARRY POTTER]

#42

"So Luke Castellan wishes to wreck havoc upon us because he wants Miss Chase to love him back?" McGonagall frowned.

"Pretty much," Silena said, having just told McGonagall of Luke's plans. By then, it was already 6am. "Luke planned to keep Annabeth locked away, later then blaming it on Eidolons because he knew that she was aware of them lurking in Hogwarts. After that, he would blame the deaths of everyone that could tell Annabeth the truth on either stray monsters or the Eidolons. When Annabeth grieves for the loss of her friends, Luke will stay by her side and comfort her until she falls in love with him."

"That's creepy," Ron clarified. Murmurs of agreement could be heard. Annabeth's expression was hard. Her eyes were hard to read. "Too bad it won't work, though. Drew already got rid of the Eidolons. Shouldn't Luke already know that?"

"Perhaps he came up with another plan," Hermione said.

"How did you two get out of the Underworld, anyway? Won't Pluto notice?" McGonagall inquired, directing her question at Silena.

Silena shook her head. "He is too busy dealing with the unsettled souls at the Fields of Punishment."

"Unsettled souls?"

"After the Giant War," Silena explained, "many were sent to the Fields of Punishment. However, some of the souls have tried to escape, and one has succeeded in doing so. Hades and Thanatos are currently working on finding him and securing Tartarus more carefully. Thanatos is setting up more security systems to ensure the Doors of Death are never chained again."

"How did you know about this soul?" Percy asked. "Who is it?"

"Luke told me about it a few days ago when I asked why Hades hadn't looked for us yet." Silena fumbled with her words. "As for the identity of the person who escaped, all I know is that he's a demigod."

"Ethan wasn't sent to the Field of Punishment, was he?" Travis asked.

"No," Silena answered. "He got sent to the Fields of Asphodel, I think. The judges probably didn't think his last moments were heroic enough to measure out with his previous actions."

Not bothering to question who Ethan was, and what he had done during his life, McGonagall sipped her tea.

She folded her hands together. "What makes Luke so threatening, then? From what I can tell, he is merely one person. Even his forces you mentioned seem to be easily defeated."

"You don't understand." Katie chewed the inside of her cheek. "He threw monsters at us from left to right, and I have the feeling that's more where that came from."

"And," Annabeth continued, "he manages to actually tame the monsters. They follow his command and only attack him when he tells them to. I don't know how he managed to acquire their loyalty, but it's not safe with that large number of monsters lurking around."

McGonagall sighed. "That probably isn't all, is it?"

"It isn't," Harry confirmed. "Luke has former Death Eaters on his side. Two of whom we have established are Lucius and Draco Malfoy, but it seems Draco is willing to change. Lucius, not so much."

"Many of the Death Eaters are already locked up in Azkaban. I doubt he will have many mortals under his control," McGonagall sniffed.

Hermione seemed jittery. She said, "What if he has magical monsters as well? Like Boggarts or Werewolves?"

McGonagall pursed her lips. "If he does, it'd be a real problem."

"And what about Dementors?" Ron's hands trembled slightly. "What if they show up?"

Harry gritted his teeth. "With both the magical and mythological world combining, I don't think our school will be able to defend against them ourselves. Especially if we only have ten demigods to help-"

"That's enough!" McGonagall shouted, just as discomfort began to stir in the group and Harry managed to voice out her exact thoughts. She leaned back into her chair when everyone had shifted their attention to her. "Listen. Despite the dilemma we are facing, let's not forget that we not only have Hogwarts, but also demigods. I can call my camp-"

"We can, too," Percy interjected. "If we call upon both Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter, we'll have enough forces to defeat Luke and his army."

"Friends will come! I can see Ella!" Tyson cheered happily. His face lit up at the mention of the Harpy.

"We can't leave the camps defenceless, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth reminded her boyfriend. "There has to be enough campers staying to fight against any forces that decide to strike during this period of time."

"Does that mean the praetors can't come?"
Leo played with something that looked too much like an explosive for everyone's own liking in his hands. "Frank has to come. Man, I miss him. And Reyna has to come, too. Without her, we'd be useless."

Annabeth's eyes glittered. "Camp Jupiter can manage without their praetors. We'll ask Hazel to come, too."

"And Ella!" Tyson chimed in.

"And Ella and Rachel." Katie nodded.

Percy looked worried. "You think she'll be okay coming here? With her past of her mother being labelled as a witch?"

"She'll be fine," Katie assured. "Hazel's strong. She'll be able to handle it."

Percy still looked uncomfortable with the idea of asking Hazel to come to a place that reminded her of bad memories, but he didn't speak about it after that.

"The first and whatever cohort Hazel is in can come," McGonagall offered. She smiled fondly. "I was in the first cohort."

"I can tell," Travis said, implying that McGonagall seemed like a ruthless killer. "So that means the first and fifth cohort will come to Hogwarts. How about Camp Half-Blood?"

"How about two from each cabin?" Luna suggested. "That'll give us sixteen or so campers."

"I can count it roughly. Zeus' Cabin is empty unless you count Jason, but he's in the fifth cohort anyway. There's still no one in Hera's Cabin, because no one likes her-"

Thunder rumbled in the distance. Percy made no effort to apologise or look remorseful. He carried on, "Then there's Demeter, Ares, Athena, Apollo, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, and Hermes. We've only got two Dionysus kids, so that'll work out. We've also got new cabins, like Hades- though it's empty besides Nico and Hazel- and Hecate. And Artemis' Cabin is still empty, but the Hunters can come say hi."

"Are the Hunters really necessary-"

"Having Thalia and Artemis' Hunters are always a plus," Percy said. McGonagall looked confused at the mention of Artemis' Hunters, having never heard of anything like it before. The wizards didn't fare any better. They looked a hundred times more lost than their Headmistress, but they let the demigods discuss amongst themselves without interrupting.

"Yeah, but if we bring the Hunters, the Amazons might get wind of it," Annabeth reasoned. "You know Hylla's troops would be offended if we didn't invite them to a mass murder scene."

"Then the Amazons could come along-"

"And snag all the males in the vicinity?" Annabeth finished. She shook her head. "The forces from Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter will be enough. There is no need to bring the Hunters and Amazons into this, as much as I want to meet Thalia again. They're probably busy recruiting members because of the whole... Orion thing."

Harry's head perked up. "Orion? Orion was my godfather's dad."

Percy cocked a brow. "Think you got the wrong Orion, Harry. Sorry. The Orion we're talking about is the giant, not human."

"It's fine." Harry waved off Percy's apology. "It's a good thing we won't see him, anyway. Sirius' dad was a horrible person."

"As horrible as a giant killing girls for being strong?"

"He hated Sirius because he had different views from him," Harry said. "Sirius left his family because they were toxic."

"Bad, then," Travis decided. He turned to his friends, clasping his hands together. "Now, who's ready to call on some half insane demigods who like drinking too much kool-aid?"