25 Cost

"Alright... Voldermort?" Percy pondered for a moment. Then as an after thought he said. "What a stupid name."

This was not the response Hermione had been use to hearing all her life. It was usually 'Voldermort... gasp!' She couldn't help but laugh at his response. It was honestly so funny she wanted to fall down laughing, but before she could let herself lose control and confuse the innocent boy in front of her further. she composed herself.

"So what is this guy's deal some half human monster that terrorizes the wizard world?

"No, he was once a normal wizard, but... Honestly this might be better coming from Harry. It's kind of his story to tell."

He didn't like not knowing the full story but he trusted Hermione. Therefore he will speak with her friend.

"Well that means out destination is going to have to change..."

Hermione nodded. She wanted to visit her friends anyway. No offense to the Demigods but she felt safer having her people with her.

So it's all real, isn't it?" Hermione said in a small voice, "The gods, Hecate, all of it…"

"Afraid so," Percy grimaced, "It's not all doom and gloom, though. I can control water and talk to horses and without those parts of my life I'm not sure who I'd be"

Hermione's eyes sparkled, "Harry can talk to snakes, maybe that is something you guys have in common."

"Oh, really?" Percy was thoughtful for a moment that ability reminded him of a goddess... Athena has the twin snake staff, hmm. Percy wasn't sure.

"Well" A voice said from behind them interrupting their thoughts "I can talk to the dead." Hermione jumped setting up straight and looked wildly around in a near panic. She couldn't help it. Those words were eerie and the voice was so nonchalant.

Percy turned his head looking nonplussed "Hermione meet Nico Di Angelo. Son of Hades and a very good friend."

Hermione froze for a second but relaxed when she realized there wasn't any danger. Nico had shaggy, messy black hair, olive skin and dark brown eyes. He looked to be 17 or 18 and wore a black t-shirt and dark black pants. He was playing with what looked like a cell phone, hardly looking up as he smiled down at it with concentration.

"Nico here is our ride to...Where ever it is your friends are."

The dark haired kid looked up from his phone and made a small wave but didn't keep his gaze on them as he quickly went back to reading and texting on his phone.

Percy seemed to brighten up a little when he seen this. "Oh, are you using Leo's Demi-phone?

"Of course do you see me wanting to attract more lamures to the camp?

Percy sensing Hermione's confusion explained. "Another quirk about being a demigod is not being able to use regular technology. Luckily we have a smart friend that has worked a way around that."

Understanding she nodded her head letting the weirdness wash over her as they kept coming.

"What do you mean about him being our ride?"

"Nico has an ability to travel from one space to another in an instant. It's called 'Shadow traveling' I personally don't like it much but since we are in a time crunch, having..." Percy mentally counted for a second "Wow... uh, three days" He shook his head. "We will need to rush a bit."

"Ok, understood."

Hermione felt a strange kinship with this world, like she somehow belonged just as much as the wizarding world. It felt so intense she couldn't help but feel a deep connection, and for a moment – she thought maybe just maybe with Percy, this could work, they could help each other get through this weird prophecy together.

Sadly, the moment wasn't meant to last.

-Hermione-

Hermione had told the two boys that she had a similar ability to Nico's 'shadow traveling'. They decided that it was best that Nico take care of his sister Hazel, and Hermione would Apparite both Percy and herself to London. Percy promised to keep in touch via the Demi-phone and Nico left taking the time to repair the massive hole in the Jupiter camp.

Holding hands and bracing themselves for the twist, push and pull of Apparition, they approached the corner where no one would see them, and soon they were being squeezed through an unfathomable space, traveling away. Seconds later their feet had landed in a shaded road with a thud.

"Where are we?" Percy asked, looking around in both sickness from the Apparition and awe of its convenience.

"Orange Street behind the Gallery," Hermione answered with a smile, "It's usually dark and less crowded at this point of time. Now, if we're going to-"

Before Hermione could finish, a group of darkly clad men, all with masked, unidentifiable faces, surrounded them. They all raised a wand in their hands in one practiced motion and aimed it at the couple before them. They had come prepared. Hermione, her war-worn instincts kicking back in quickly, pulled out her own wand immediately. She stole a glance backward to see that Percy had taken a pen out from somewhere and was holding it in his hand like one would a wand. She frowned at the notion but she refocused her attention to the assailants.

"Who are you? What do you want?" She shouted.

A short and stout man, seemingly the leader of the group, stepped up a little more and growled out behind the white glossy mask, "We do not answer to you, mudblood!"

Having not heard such term in a while since the war, Hermione flinched but recovered quickly as she remembered the case files she had heard from Harry. She knew that these men must be related in someway to the neo-Death Eater movement that had been spreading recently. Quite a number of young, romantic wizards and witches, unaware of what Voldemort and his Death Eaters really idealized and how dangerous it all was, had become corrupted by the vague idea of wizarding prestige, she heard, but she did not realize how boldly they would act out. How she would become their next target.

She tried again. "Why are you doing this?"

The leader among them spoke again, "Should have known your place, mudblood."

At the end of the remark, all members of the group raised their wand in motion of one clearly life threatening spell or another, each seemingly different, making it difficult for Hermione to come up with a counter spell. Hermione readied herself to shout protego; surely, a great dome of shield should protect her and Percy from most aggressive spells. But whilst she busied her brain so to come up with an exit plan afterwards, one of the members near her back, quite hidden from her view, quickly casted expelliarmus, flicking her wand out of her hand. Startled, Hermione let out a small cry as her wand landed near the foot of the group's leader. She tried to calm her mind and accio her wand back, but the man before her had picked up her wand already and, almost cackling, broke it in half.

"NO!" Hermione shouted, her tears seeping out instantly. Percy watched, his own body as tense as hers, how the broken stick, which he knew was her wand, fall down in two pieces on the tiled road. He was not quite aware of what was happening, but he knew that they were under attack and that the best wielding weapon for Hermione had just been destroyed. He could feel sweat collecting in his fisted palms, his head gearing all the circumstances together to come up with his next moves. The leader, sensing Percy's presence, scoffed.

"I see you've chosen a company of your own kind. Predictable, aren't you? Well, now you know better than to..."

The leader went on for a little more, and this interlude before the attack gave Percy just enough time to collect his thoughts and come up with a plan. He sensed a great amount of water nearby, he could feel it running beneath his feet. He could possibly draw water from there, but it would also definitely draw the attention of the people visiting the attraction this weekend. But hopefully the mist would mask it in some way because Percy was not about to sacrifice both his and Hermione's lives on saving the secret of the Olympians. Hermione sent a worrying glance his way, and Percy give his best reassuring smile, the sight of her giving him confirmation as to what he should do.

He dared not close his eyes in fear of giving advantage to their assailants but focused on that presence of water he felt near and tugged at it until he recalled that familiar sensation in his gut. Soon, a coiling length of water he gripped on the control, one he hasn't relished in for so long, and waved it over the group of men surrounding him and Hermione, who just began to widen their eyes as the water rumbled above them, sweeping them off their feet and washing them away to the other end of the street.

Some men tried to retaliate by throwing spells at the body of water, but it only absorbed the magic, unaffected at all, and chased the men according to Percy's control like missiles locked on targets. Some tendrils that caught the men swirled them up and then dropped them, knocking them unconscious, and others simply punched the bodies randomly. In a minute, a lot of the attackers had Disapparated, and one of them even dropped his wand as he fled the sight by foot in haste. Percy quickly glanced around for any more threat he needed to take care of and after confirming none released his water back to the fountains. Somewhere away he heard amazed gasps, and Percy let out a sigh of relief, thinking that the Mist must have worked and the people out there saw an unexpected fountain show or something instead of flying glob of water. He turned around to look for Hermione, only to see her kneeling down two pieces of her wand in hand.

Hermione admitted that seeing her wand, the wand she'd been using and trusting since the war, made broken right before her took quite a bit of her mentality to overcome. But she was not a war hero for nothing she stood up feeling a little sad but no worst for ware.

After a while they arrived at a strange house that literally popped out of another house. But honestly it wasn't the craziest thing he had ever seen so Percy shrugged and followed Hermione inside.

"Hello dear, how are you?" Was the first thing Percy heard when he entered the Order's headquarters, "Who's that?" The question came from a motherly looking woman with fiery red hair. The next questions came from another redhead, this one being a girl about Percy's age, and again another red haired boy who looked a little older in age than the last redhead. 'Damn what is with all the red heads have the Irish invaded London?' Percy briefly thought before greeting them with politeness.

Planning on discussing information with Hermione's friends before returning to Long Island to meet with his mother and her husband Paul and explain why he might be out of touch for a few days. Percy found himself walking into a creepy place that he swore Hades had the same decorator with this place's. "Great" Now he was now stuck with a whole bunch of 'wizards' who seemed to think he was a Muggle which now he knew was a non magic mortal.

One redhead seemed to be glaring at him while Harry was frowning at the him in reproach.

"Wow, he's hot." Ginny said giggling then he caught Hermione glared at her while making Percy blush. But at least it seemed to make everyone laugh breaking some of the mention in the room. Harry also seemed to laugh though he noted was a little forced and did not last nearly as long as everyone else.