Leo Finds Some Familiarity

Darkness. Trees. Alone. Mom. Drakon. Festus. Festus. FESTUS.

"Festus!" Leo yells, bolting upright. Leo is still not completely conscious since he fails to notice that he had just knocked someone over who tried to make him drink something, shattering whatever-it-is on the ground, making everyone in the room panic for a bit.

Leo couldn't lose Festus, too—not after everyone had abandoned him and left him alone for months. Festus is the only one he has left—the only one left who cares about him… and he would not let some stupid monsters take him away.

Panting as if he had just run a fifty-mile marathon, he unseeingly looks around the stony room in a panic as he hurriedly tries to break free of the chains which are preventing him from getting to his bronze companion. The key word being tries.

Not noticing the people standing up on the bed beside him and surrounding him, he burns the soft restraints he is currently trying to get away from. He has to go to Festus and he doesn't care about the freaking consequences. No one takes his family away from him.

Now free from his restraints, he jumps up—trying (and failing) to stop himself from falling from what he now deemed is actually a bed. Finally, after what seems like an embarrassingly long time but is actually less than a second, he lands in an ungodly heap at the foot of a certain green-eyed son of Poseidon…

The green-eyed son of Poseidon whose companion, the bushy-brown-haired daughter of Pluto, is yelling something at their red-headed companion who suddenly shoves a vial of something down his throat, making him spit it out immediately.

"Holy Hades, what is that?" Leo asks, coughing and trying to get the taste out of his mouth. "It tastes like Cabin Five's old gym socks! Well… I don't actually know how it tastes like, you know… but in theory—just a theory—it would probably taste something like this because that is freaking nasty as schist."

Finally staring up from his position and actually taking a good look at the people surrounding him, Leo blinks profusely before coming to a realization.

Because he is right in front of a raven-haired green-eyed boy who definitely looks like Percy… but wait a second; he was pretty sure that Percy is with Annabeth right now studying at school in New York, which meant that this dude he was talking to was definitely NOT Percy… unless something happened? Or he's in the future?

Oh gods, how long has he been out?

"Percy?" he starts cautiously.

The moment he uttered the name, he already confirmed that the boy in front of him is definitely not Percy because all three of them glance at each other the same way he and the other six demigods did when they were faced with trouble that they are bound to solve in some way or another.

"You want… my brother?" the redhead asks.

"Er, no, I—" he stumbles before looking at the green-eyed Percy-look-alike. "You're not Percy," Leo finally manages to say, even though he's just stating the sad sad obvious.

To his surprise, the green-eyed boy snorts in reply. "No, I am definitely not Percy. No way, no."

Beside him, the redhead chuckles as well before they are berated by the Hazel-haired girl. Her brown eyes even look gold from time to time when the light shines on her eyes.

"Am I dead?" he jokes instead.

"Nope, very much alive," the redhead says.

Leo's brows scrunch up in confusion before his whole face turns into one of horror because oh gods, what if this is a trick or something?

Sitting up a bit, he raises his hands a bit to defend himself in case something bad happens. He sighs in relief when he feels his toolbelt still around his waist and grabs a ball-peen hammer from it to hold on to.

"Okay, tell me: who are you?" he demands.

"Please calm down—" the Hazel-haired-girl begins at the same time the redhead wonders out loud, "Where did he get a—" but Leo interrupts them both.

"No! No. I want to know who you are first 'cause I might be a bit banged up or whatever but I have all my memories and I know I don't know you… and look at you! Right there, talking to me and stuff," he demands, straightening better.

"Mate, put the hammer down—" Percy-look-alike starts but Leo ignores him.

"You know what? Better question: where in the Doors of Death am I? Because I don't know where I am, and trust me, I've been to a lot of places," he finishes.

"Come on, mate, we just found you—"

Leo's eyes immediately fall to the Hazel-haired-girl's hand, which is now holding a stick—a wand. "You're wizards," he finally says.

"Yeah, mate," Percy-look-alike says, giving an easy laugh that reminds Leo of Percy himself. Maybe like Frank, this dude is a son of a deity and a descendant of another—son of Poseidon and descendant of Hecate or something?

Having thought that, Leo instantly relaxes. His instincts tell him that these people aren't monsters anyway, and from the nice look on their faces, he'll be fine.

"You must have really hit your head hard from that fall," the redhead adds.

"Oh no, what about the Blood Potion?" the girl gasps.

Percy-look-alike stares at Leo intently. "Mate, we want you to keep calm, okay? You kinda threw away the medicine we're supposed to give you earlier."

"What medicine?!" Leo asks, confused and lost at what's happening.

"What if he actually is a Muggle?" the red-headed boy whispers to the girl.

"I'm not a Muggle!" Leo says, remembering all he learned about their society, just as the Hazel-haired girl berates the red-headed boy by saying, "He just used accidental magic. Weren't you paying attention?"

Percy-look-alike starts, "How come we've never seen you before?"

"I'm American," Leo replies.

"There's a Wizarding School in America?" Percy-look-alike exclaims while the other two both nod at him in confirmation.

"Guess there's no need to kill you with this, then," Leo jokes, gesturing to the hammer in his hands before putting it back in his toolbelt.

Hazel-haired-girl looks down at her own weapon before starting, "Look, your wand—well, we didn't see anything when we found you—"

"Oh, it's—er—it's okay… I'm more of a wandless-magic-user kind of guy…" The trio all widen their eyes at what he said so he immediately adds, "but don't tell anyone. It seems like a really big deal here in Europe and—"

Suddenly, a pair of redheaded twins enters the infirmary sporting some scrapes, bruises, and too many wrinkles—distracting Leo from his suspicions. Leo, being the only one who could see them from his angle, brings them to attention.

"Whoa-hoa-hoa, what happened to you, guys?" he asks, chuckling. "Not that the beaten-up aesthetic doesn't look good on you but aren't you a bit old to even be having them? Unless you two are like—I don't know—Magneto and Professor X or whatever. Shouldn't there be rules amongst the elders against fighting or something? I mean, no offense, but you do seem pretty beat up…"

"Not as bad as you look, mate," one of the twins says in reply.

"Yeah, I don't know about you but I happen to know that we look absolutely smashing," the other twin continued.

Something triggers inside Leo at the reminder of his predicament.

"Oh gods, oh gods, Festus," he starts, grabbing materials from his toolbelt and begins making materials out of it. "I left him all alone. Oh man, where did you find me? I got to get to him! I bet someone's behind this! I mean serpents and drakons side-by-side. I gotta have the worst luck ever, then again, I did have Tia Callida as a babysitter and I was visited by Dirt-Face herself when I was 8, so I'm not surprised but still! I mean, what does a mechanic have to do to just get some peace and quiet with his ese! I mean, really!" [1]1

Dumbfounded, the trio and the pair of twins stare helplessly at one another as they turn to the strange individual who continues ranting and building things from scratch which he doesn't seem to know that he's doing.

"…and so we were there, just minding our own business when all of a sudden BOOM! HELLO!—these dark creatures just came down at us like some crazy eagles finding fishes flying in the middle of the sea! I could have probably taken them, you know—I mean, face it: I'm awesome… but I just had to get weird in the head like some wimp now, hadn't I? I fell and Festus got in a fight and now we're separated, and oh gods, have you seen him by any chance? He's like family to me and I really need to find him and what am I even still doing here?!"

With that final question, Leo finally stops and takes a deep breath. He realizes that he is still sitting down on the floor where he landed on a few moments earlier. Slowly and wincing, he tries to stand up, determination filling him up in the hopes of finding Festus as soon as possible, wincing a bit as he does so.

Madre de los dioses, he practically yells every Spanish curse in his head. For his sake, he hopes he didn't give too much away. He really needs to find Festus immediately. Although, a few moments ago, he would probably be lighting this whole room on fire in a panicked state. He had probably killed everyone in this room already just to quickly leave the room and find his friend.

"Festus is missing. I should be panicking, right?" he mumbles to himself. Why am I not panicking as much as I should have had?

He looks up in surprise when the red-headed boy speaks up. "The only thing we managed to give you was some calming draught, mate. But, it didn't seem to work for some reason," he adds, scratching his head.

Leo hums. "I don't know… I think that calming draught or whatever worked pretty well, actually. I don't think I've ever been this calm in my life… considering, er—yeah…" he stops himself before he spills any more of his past.

"Bloody hell, mate! If that's your version of calm, I don't want to see how you really are when you're not!" the redhead exclaims with wide eyes. At this outburst the Percy-look-alike and the Hazel-haired girl both nod in agreement.

"Really? I think you'd find that I'm much more awesome than I am right now," Leo adds, wincing when he tried to straighten up more.

I didn't take some ambrosia yet, did I? I didn't have an Archimedes Sphere to break my fall this time either. Man, falling that high is seriously not good for my spine, he thinks, grimacing at the discomfort on his back.

"We don't even know your first name," Hazel-haired-girl states, distracting Leo by taking control of the dominance in the room. Leo instantly knew she would work best with Annabeth. She's like a weird combination of Hazel and Annabeth.

"I'm Leo."

"Valdez? Right?" the redhead asks. He turns beet-red when everyone turns to look at him—almost as bright red as his hair. "We only heard your last name earlier… er, yeah… I'm Ron," he squeaks.

"What our ickle little brother meant to say—

"—is that his true name is ickle little Ronniekins."

"No, it's not!" Ron, Ronniekins or whatever-his-name-is, says but the twins both ignore him.

"Fred."

"George."

"Weasley. At your service," the twins ended simultaneously with a bow.

"How long since you two decided to settle with that phrase?" Leo asks the two amusedly. "I'm a bit impressed, I can tell you that."

"They've been doing it since forever," redhead-with-many-names says.

"Hold on, you said brother," Leo tells the twins before turning to the youngest redhead. "You're brothers with old men?"

Definitely half-brothers with a god or something? Or Hecate herself? I mean, they do all have freckles, and they are all redheads…

"A prank gone wrong, probably," Percy-look-alike chimes in.

Leo seriously needs to know the other two's names.

"That reminds me, I never knew your names either," Leo adds, nodding at the other two occupants of the room. "It's getting a bit hard to keep calling you two Percy-look-alike and Hazel-haired-girl."

While Hazel-haired-girl mutters on about how the color of her hair could not possibly be that light enough to be hazel-brown, all three brothers suddenly burst into deep laughter with Percy-look-alike glaring at them but trying hard not to laugh.

When Leo turns to look at them questioningly, they wave him off, saying something about an inside joke, family, and something about a perfect or prefect or whatever-goes-along-those-lines. Anyway, accepting it, albeit a bit reluctantly, Leo turns back to the ones he addressed, asking them for their names again.

"I'm Harry. Harry Potter." Percy-look-alike—Harry finally says with an easy smile, and looking like he seems ecstatic that Leo doesn't know who he is.

"I'm Hermione Granger." Hazel-haired-girl—Hermione states.

Before Leo asks another question, Ronniekins butts in, "My name's Ron, by the way—just Ron."

"Ronald, stop being so rude," Hermione reprimands him.

He was about to reply before he turns to Leo. "Ronald Weasley's my full name but it's Ron, okay?" Turning, Ron asks his brothers. "What are you two doing here?"

"Well, in case you weren't aware, dear beloved brother of ours—" Fred starts.

"—we do actually go to school here, you know," George finishes.

"I mean we knew you were unobservant—"

"—but we think you should see someone to help you—"

"—with your little condition," both twins finish jokingly.

"Seriously!" Ron sighs in exasperation.

"We have no idea what you are seeing, ickle Ronnie—" Fred starts.

"—but we are pretty sure that Sirius and Lee aren't here," George continues.

"Unless they've suddenly mastered the art of invisibility, that is," Fred adds.

"Hey! That gives me an idea!" they both exclaim before saying, "Jinx! Jinx! Jinx!" over and over as they continue to squabble over who said it first.

"Ugh, you know what I mean!" Ron yells through their squabbling, thoroughly fed-up with how his brothers keep messing with him.

"We all know I mastered that since First Year," Harry adds, making the twins stop before all three of them start talking about who did crazier things in their First Year with Ron backing Harry up.

"Are they always like this?" Leo asks Hermione and she nods.

Reminds me of Percy and Tyson having fun with the Stoll brothers, Leo thinks, except Tyson is a cyclops and his hair's not red, and Percy isn't a wizard, and Travis and Connor aren't twins… and they both don't look like the elderly.

"Why do they look like that?" he asks Hermione.

"I suspect," she starts loudly to bring everyone's attention to her, "they're here because of the whole age limit thing." Hermione states.

"Aww, what gave it away?" George starts. "Was it the wrinkles?"

"Or the bruises?"

"But if you must actually know, Granger, we're here not only to get rid of these charm-enhancing wrinkles but also because Filch can't exactly blame us when we're not even in the room where he found the potions."

"And he can't blame us for a prank that was executed in a room we're not in either. That's just favouritism, now," Fred finishes.

"I don't get it. How could you even do a prank from all the way here?" Harry asks them, genuinely curious.

"Those are trade secrets, I'm afraid."

"We can't just tell anybody after all."

Watching the twins, Leo begins to think about the parallels between him and the Stoll brothers, and how much he himself actually had some fun with the two sons of Hermes, not noticing that he is currently still staring at the twins as he goes over his mind with both light and dark memories.

The twins, however, did notice his stare.

"I know that we're good-looking, Forge," Fred starts, grinning at his twin.

"Very good-looking, Gred," George replies. "So much we always get stared at!" He smirks at his brother, placing a delicate hand on his chest while Fred does the same to his forehead, imitating a fake faint, as they lean their shoulders together.

Leo blinks back from his own memories, realizing what's going on before giving his usual mischievous smile.

"Oh no, it's fine," Leo tells them with a shrug. "If I wanted to see someone really good-looking, I can always just look at a mirror. I just thought that you, guys, had—I don't know—something on your face," he finishes, touching his wrinkle-less face.

The twins look at each other while the trio exchange looks that clearly means, Uh oh, just as the twins offer their hands to the son of Hephaestus—who takes both hands by crossing his arms and shaking them.

"Oh, we like you—" George tells him.

"—and if you have any need for our services—" Fred continues.

"—don't hesitate to find us," they end.

"Thanks, I guess," Leo says, cocking his head. "You, guys, seem cool… for a pair of old men, I suppose."

Before the twins could reply, Hermione gasps as she checks the time.

"Well, this all seems well and good but unfortunately, the three of us do have some studying to do with Potions—"

Both Ron and Harry mumble about slimy snakes for some reason. Leo, on the other hand, actually marvel at the fact that wizards use potions and have classes for it as well. It's like learning about Camp Half-Blood all over again except it focuses more on freaking magic.

"Why couldn't he cancel his class for tomorrow like Flitwick?" Ron sighs.

"Because, Ronald," Hermione starts, "Professor Flitwick's one of the professors helping with the living arrangements for the other schools—not Professor Snape."

"Slimy git," Ron grumbles under his breath.

"I'm just glad we're free from Potions classes," Fred comments.

"But that doesn't stop you from making some, does it?" Harry adds. "I heard someone nicked some ingredients from him again."

Before Fred or George reply, Hermione interrupts them. "Look, we can all talk about this later but we really need to start studying for tomorrow's small quiz," she reminds them, making the younger two boys grumble.

"Sorry, mate. We'll come back to check on you later, though. Bye!" Ron says just as Harry tells him, "See you soon!" while they are both being dragged out the doors by Hermione, waving back towards Leo.

"Well, I do not want to be with them right now," Leo tells no one in particular, collapsing back on the bed with a small wince at the pain on his leg as well.

I forgot to take ambrosia! Ugh, and I just told myself to eat some immediately! Freaking ADHD making me forget stuff. Ugh.

"Don't think anybody would, to be honest," George says. The twins both shake their heads, both of their eyes fixed on the now-closed doors of the Infirmary.

"Granger's a right force to reckon with—especially when it comes to studying." Fred shudders.

Leo clicks his tongue before asking, "So this place—it's your school?"

The twins snort. "Where have you been in that head of yours, mate?" Fred asks him with a smile.

"I was unconscious before you two came."

"What did happen to you anyway?" George asks.

Leo shrugs. "I don't know. Harry, Ron, and Hermione probably found me, from the few moments we talked… I just remember falling and here I am." As he tries to sit up again, he gasps at the pain in his body.

Gods, how badly did he fall? He hasn't felt this much pain since he… died.

"Whoa, mate, take it easy," Fred tells him immediately. "George?"

"On it," the other says, grabbing his wand and muttering, "Alohomora," to unlock the Nurse's Office, quickly grabbing some vials from one of the cabinets.

"Looks like you've done this before," Leo comments.

"Only nearly every day," Fred says as George hands his twin two things—a vial with purple liquid in it, and some sort of jar.

"What are these?" Leo asks suspiciously as George also hands him two vials—one is green and the other is red.

"The green one is the Wiggenweld Potion, cures some damage," George informs him. "The red one's the Blood-Replenishing Potion, in case you have internal injuries and everything… From the mess on the floor, it seems that you failed to drink the first dose."

Leo looks at the other side of the bed to see spilled red potion and broken glass on the floor which George manages to clean with a wave of his wand.

"This one," Fred starts, raising the vial with the purple liquid in his hand, "is the Wound-cleaning Potion and I think the name speaks for itself. This one," he raises the jar and George takes the lid off for him, "Star Grass Salve—soothes injuries."

As much as he is touched by the gesture, he's still not sure what those things can do and it's probably not safe to demigods like him if they are usually used for wizards. If they are descendants, that means Leo still has more godly DNA in him in comparison to everyone. Plus, from what he was given earlier, he does not want to drink something so vile, thank you very much.

Leo clears his throat before handing the vials he was given to George. "Er, thanks, and all, but—I'd rather not."

"What? You want to be bedridden the whole day? That it?"

"No, no, I just have to eat this," Leo starts, looking through his toolbelt to find the airtight bag filled with ambrosia squares he kept just in case.

Taking one, he is immediately met by the taco taste ambrosia has. A warm feeling courses through his body as it dissolves in his mouth, making him feel like he can carry the twins on his arms and run a mile.

He sighs, jumping up from the bed. "There, see? Better."

"Whoa, what's that—?" Fred asks, reaching towards the bag before Leo closes it and puts it back in his toolbelt.

"Can't have some. You'll die if you do," Leo replies.

"Why?" George asks amusedly.

"Because," Leo replies lazily, smirking before he is hit by a minor wave of dizziness, making the twins hold him up almost immediately.

Those dark creatures must have really weaken me… It's the only explanation why I took that fall harder than I should have had… The only time I was almost as weak as this was when the eidolon finally left my body. Even then, it wasn't as bad as this was… What in Dirt-Face's Ugly Smile were those things anyway?

Leo shudders before removing their grip to make his point clear that he is fine though the twins don't seem to believe him.

He can't risk taking another square, however, unless he wants his bones to turn to sand and his body to disintegrate.

"So, do you, guys, mind pointing me to the exit? I really need to find Festus," Leo asks them. "Help a foreigner out?"

The twins share a brief look.

"You're not seriously thinking of leaving the Hospital Wing, are you?" George asks in concern. "You were pale a few seconds ago!"

"Yeah, well, now I'm fine," Leo insists.

"He's even worse than Harry," Fred comments and George hums in agreement. "Suppose we can't really stop you, now, can we?"

"Nope. So are you gonna tell me how to leave this school of yours or what?" Leo asks them after finally steadying himself and rearranging his torn-up clothes to look decent.

"Oh, we could do you something better, mate. We'll help you!" Fred starts.

"What? No, I—" Leo starts but George interrupts him.

"After all, we can't leave someone who is injured all by their lonesome. It is absolutely unacceptable."

"We'll leave after Georgie and I get ourselves sorted—become young again."

"Tell us, Leonardo—"

"My name's not—"

George ignores him, continuing, "—where exactly is this friend of yours?"

Leo sighs. "Er—I don't know, exactly… The last thing I remember seeing were trees, though. I don't suppose you have a forest around here?"

"Hey Feorge, you don't think?"

"That is exactly what I think, Gred."

"The Forbidden Forest," they say, both thinking it would be an interesting time but also agreeing that it might not be good for Leo and his current predicament.

"Oh great, another monster-infested forest, I'm guessing?" Leo mumbles.

"Another?!"

"Yeah, I'm kinda used to nightly-walks in a dangerous forest," Leo replies with a shrug. "Reminds me of home, you know?"

The twins smile at him before both muttering. "Wicked."