SEA GREEN [PERCY JACKSON X HARRY POTTER]

#44

In the Great Hall, snow was delicately falling from the ceiling, with Christmas trees at every corner, presents spilling out onto the floor.

When the group entered the hall, they found only a couple of students, as well as all the teachers sitting at their table.

Nico was among them, downing cups of pumpkin juice and munching of mince pies. He had a dollop of cream smeared on his cheek.

Gathering at the Gryffindor Table, Nico almost choked on his food as he spotted Reyna, and he immediately got up from the table to greet his friends. McGonagall did the same, the remaining students watching her stand to walk over to a group of mostly unknown teenagers.

"I assume you are the friends from camp?" McGonagall inquired, outstretching her hand to the one who looked most like the leader.

Reyna took her hand. "Yes. I am Praetor Ramírez-Arellano. Daughter of Bellona. You know of our current situation?"

"Of course." There was a twinkle in McGonagall's eyes. A knowing look spread across her features. "I'm a Roman demigod myself."

Many of the campers' head shot up, apparently surprised that an older demigod would be in their midst.

Frank smiled politely. "Daughter of...?"

"Minerva," McGonagall said. She noted how the first and fifth cohort hung to Frank's words. She nodded at Frank. "And you are praetor?"

"Praetor Zhang," Frank confirmed. "Call me Frank."

McGonagall pressed her lips together. "Welcome to Hogwarts. I'm afraid you won't be able to get sorted, for your mortal parents are most likely not a wizard or witch, but I would be happy to grant all of you sanctuary in my school. You are safe here."

A boy with blonde hair nodded. "Thank you, Professor."

McGonagall eyed the boy. He spoke like a Roman, nothing similar to how Percy, Annabeth, Travis, Katie and Nico phrased their sentences. But he seemed Greek. His aura was complicated. She guessed that he was Roman from his SPQR tattoo, but also attended the Greek camp, for his orange shirt read "Camp Half-Blood."

"You are very welcome. What is your name, boy?"

"Jason," Jason said firmly. "Jason Grace. Son of Jupiter. Brother of Thalia Grace."

"The Hunter?"

"Yeah, the Hunter," he replied, a smile tracing his lips. He gestured at the campers behind him. "Let's start with introductions, shall we?"

McGonagall nodded. Jason began to spew out the names of everyone, and though McGonagall had a sharp mind, she had trouble remembering all of them.

Luckily, she got the hang of it, and could call all of them by name and state their godly parent. Remembering their ages was tough, but she was working on it.

From the first cohort, multiple strong warriors sat in a neat line on the benches of the Gryffindor Table, responding to questions aimed specifically at them and nodding along to conversations.

The fifth cohort, however, was a different story. The centurion, Hazel Levesque, looked like a brilliant girl with an excellent mind, and indeed she proved McGonagall right, for she contributed to the conversation frequently, always seeming to have the right idea in mind. But the girl was wild, that she could tell. Hazel was polite and well-mannered, but by her posture, McGonagall could guess that she was vicious when it came to monsters.

The boy sitting next to her named Dakota seemed to be half-listening to their discussion, and McGonagall couldn't help but feel the urge to wipe his mouth clean of kool-aid stains. The rest of the members of the fifth cohort seemed very restless, and she could almost feel them buzzing with excitement.

The Greek camp was the one McGonagall found messy.

They were constantly up and about, talking loudly until someone shushed them.

In fact, the Romans and Greeks were so different that McGonagall found it surprising when Connor Stoll cracked a joke that made Hazel Levesque giggle.

Oh, Connor Stoll. He was a whole nightmare and a half.

He and Travis suggested explosives as the solution to every problem nonstop, and their mischievous and playful nature reminded her too much of Fred and George Weasley.

The comparison made McGonagall sad, but she moved on with their talk nevertheless.

She had found many other great demigods that were not Jason Grace or Hazel Levesque.

For example, Clovis from the Hypnos Cabin seemed lazy to her, but she knew that he was actually quite bright and had great potential to become the brains of a team- if, of course, he stopped snoozing midway during their conversation.

McGonagall also favoured Malcom Pace a lot, though if it was because he was incredibly smart or because he was a Son of Athena, she didn't know. The two options seemed to overlap with each other.

Piper McLean was another one that stood out to McGonagall. She appeared fierce and determined, and seemed extremely brave. She had the ability to calm the crowd whenever they thought of Luke's immense power, and she herself managed to stay calm even while knowing of the dark future before her.

She also managed to tolerate Drew Tanaka, who seemed to pester Piper for the whole duration of their meeting.

Grover Underwood, though not a demigod, was also one that she especially liked. Caring and kind, Grover had qualities that would've made her see him as a leader, and she could tell that he was always going out of his way to make his friends happy. This became clear to her when Clarisse La Rue was recounting their experience just outside the Forbidden Forest, and the Daughter of Ares mentioned Grover controlling many of the magical beasts and stalling time for the others to run through.

It was only then did McGonagall notice how tired he looked, for he plastered a smile on his face and spoke with an upbeat tone to direct any attention away from him.

Lastly, McGonagall enjoyed the presence of Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano.

Reyna acted like a true leader, shooting down absurd ideas and improving potential ones. She enlightened her comrades of better strategies to kill specific monsters, all the while refraining from losing her patience when someone decided to test her temper.

She emitted a kind of dangerous serenity- the type that could be broken the moment anyone stepped out of line. McGonagall appreciated that. She liked the way everyone respected Reyna, never daring to go out of boundaries.

Watching Reyna made McGonagall think of the times when she was still part of Camp Jupiter, when she was a member of the first cohort.

She could tell the twelfth legion was powerful. Filled with demigods who were willing to set the world right again. They did not fear the possibility of death. They accepted that it was their fate as a demigod, and their responsibility as the middle of the two worlds. They were all driven to survive, but most of all, they all were motivated to let the world live, to protect it from the hands of evil.

Camp Half-Blood was a different kind of strong, but still the same in a way.

They were united, trusting of each other. They had each other's back, all of them different people with a common goal. All of them with different brains but the same mindset. All of them with different opinions but the same methods.

All of them separated by little details, but brought together by a bigger cause. They were not forced together by their godly parents. Their morals had bestowed upon them a friendship that was worth more than anything money could buy.

And, as McGonagall scanned the faces of every single wizard, witch and demigod, she realised that these were the faces of heroes, whether or not it was their first time saving the world or their third. Tyson, Grover and Calypso as well.

Their faces were those of determined souls, and, most importantly, they were determined to find light in the darkness.

Even if they had to fight to their deaths for it.