The British Investigation

The Burrow

Ron POV
The living room was full by the time everyone had made their was through.
"Wait here," I instructed, "I'll go get my mum."
Before I could leave, she bustled in, smiling.
"Oh," her eyes widened when she saw our extra guests, "a few more that I was expecting."
"Sorry Molly," Harry apologised, " These are the American transfer students we were telling you about. Nico here had a bit of an adverse reaction to apparating, can they stay here tonight?"
Mum turned to look. Her eyes widened when she saw Nico, who was still semi-conscious, propped between Will and Percy. "Oh my poor boy, of course you're all welcome! Come," she gestured at Nico, "sit down. Let me get you a drink."
Confusion flickered across Nico's face. He looked almost the same as Harry had the first time Molly had shown him any kindness- almost as if he wasn't used to a kind motherly figure.
As mum gave him a glass of water, the rest of the exchange students introduced themselves. She smiled warmly at them.
"I always enjoy having guests." She told them. "Besides, it will be easier for you to catch the train tomorrow from here."
"The train?" Jason asked.
"Gosh, have they not told you? The Hogwarts Express of course!"

A few hours later, we had had a meal and it was getting late. Nico was looking much better when Annabeth brought up sleeping arrangements.
"Now Nico is feeling better, we don't mind camping in the garden." She told us, "I know we just sort of dropped in on you and you might not have enough space for all of us."
"No, no," mum told her, "we will find space, don't you worry. Some of you can stay in Ginny's room with her and Hermione, some with Ron and Harry, and some with Fred and George." She paused "Girls and boys separate, of course."
I saw Annabeth and Percy look at each other. My guess was that that wasn't their usual sleeping arrangements, but they didn't object.
It was decided that Percy, Nico and Will would stay with me and Harry, Leo, Jason and Frank would be with Fred and George and the girls would be with Ginny and Hermione. With that we headed to bed.

A few hours later, I lay awake in bed. It was hard to sleep with so many people in my room, particularly since I didn't particularly trust some of them.
Speaking of not trusting them, as I lay their thinking, Percy sat up with a gasp, I pretended to be asleep but I could see him sat panting. It could have been the light but he looked paler than before.
"You okay?" I heard Will whisper to him.
"Yeah, I'm just going to get a drink."
I heard will turn over and Percy got up and crept out of the room. I gave Will a few minutes to fall back asleep then crept out myself.
As I reached the bottom of the stairs, I heard voices in the kitchen.
"Hey..." that sounded like Annabeth.
"Hey," Percy replied, "you had nightmares too?"
"Yeah, the usual." There was a moment of silence.
"It's gonna be hard, you know, being at Hogwarts." Percy broke the silence.
"I know."
"Sometimes I just wish we were normal, you know. If we were just normal kids, life would be so much easier."
"Yeah, but we wouldn't have met then Seaweed Brain."
"I know, and the thing is, it's all worth it for you. The Styx, the battles, Tartarus. I love you Wise Girl."
"I love you too."
I crept away quietly, my brain trying to process some of the words I had just heard: Styx, Tartarus, of course I knew what a battle was, but what battles were they referring to- it can't have been the Battle of Hogwarts or else we would know, but I hadn't heard of any other wizarding battles recently.
My head spinning, I slid into bed- we all had a busy day ahead of us so I figured it would be best to get some sleep. I drifted off, my thoughts full of questions and ideas.