Chapter Text
Do you know those situations where you think that your life is currently semi-stable and on an upwards path and then, everything goes to sh*t? That was exactly what was happening to Percy right now. He had turned 18, which was a pretty big milestone in a demigod’s life (honestly, every birthday was), without dying. He was going to study marine biology in New Rome. On top of that, he was planning to propose to Annabeth.
But no, then a certain goddess had to show up. A certain Greek goddess of magic, in fact. And now he was standing in the praetors’ office, together with Annabeth, Hazel, Frank, Piper, Jason, Thalia, Nico, as well as Will Solace.
“Greetings, Heroes,” the goddess spoke. “I am relieved to find all of you in good health. Why I am here and have summoned you all, you may ask? I am here to assign a quest.”
“You are here to assign a quest?” Frank asked, incredulously.
“That is what I said, isn’t it? This quest is slightly out of the ordinary, though, compared to the rest of your quests.”
“How do you mean that, my lady?” The suspicion was obvious in Annabeth’s voice. It made her seem dangerous, which served to make her the most amazing girlfriend one could have.
“For one, there will not be a prophecy given by the oracle. Nor is it in the Sybilline Books, for that matter. Furthermore, there are six heroes assigned to this quest, not the customary three.”
“You do remember what happened the last time a quest for more than three was issued? ANd I'm not talking about the 'Quest of the Seven', to make things clear”, Percy asked. He would not let something like that happen again – there wouldn’t be anything like that again, not as long as he lived.
“I’m with Percy here.” Thalia seemed angered, and he hoped she wouldn’t shock him, or anyone for that matter. “Last time, Bianca – “ She caught herself. Nico’s expression had darkened and the air was growing colder.
“Lord Apollo personally assured me that none of those on the quest would be killed. If I may continue uninterrupted now, the ones chosen for this quest are Perseus Jackson, Thalia Grace, Jason Grace, Hazel Levesque, Nico di Angelo, and Piper McLean. I will leave you two days’ time to get your affairs in order. Have a good afternoon. And Hazel?”
“Yes, my Lady?”
“You will be the one to lead the quest.”
And with that she vanished, leaving the demigods behind.
Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore fancied himself quite the well-read man, but discovering the fact that gods existed and had made wizards was news to him. He had been researching certain… things ever since the whole affair with Quirrel, but he’d had that particular big breakthrough a good two years ago, when the honest-to-Merlin Greek goddess Hecate had showed up. Personally. And claimed him as her grandson.
A good year later, she had told him of Voldemort’s impending rise and of a plan on how to stop it. A plan of sending some of the gods’ mightiest children to help them win and kill Voldemort. Maybe that meant that Harry wouldn’t have to die, but prophecies still were prophecies, weren’t they? But maybe, they could prevent an all-out war or at least finish it quickly.
Hecate had given him a list with six names on it.
- Perseus
- Thalia
- Hazel
- Nico
- Piper
- Jason
And now, they would be sent over soon.
He searched through the papers stacked on his desk until he found it. There it was, the paper and golden ink pristine as ever. Then, he took the letter he had written, explaining things (Only a little, though. An old man needed his fun being cryptic.) Smiling to himself, he went over to where Fawkes was seated.
“Fawkes, if you could do me a small favour and deliver this letter to Sirius Black?”
Fawkes squawked, as if to say “I am not your messenger bird, old man”.
Dumbledore simply looked at the bird and if it could, it would have rolled its eyes. Then it took the letter and flew out of the window, vanishing quickly into the afternoon sun.
In Annabeth’s and Percy’s apartment in New Rome, all was not well.
“Percy, you have to go.”
“Annabeth, I promised you I would never leave you, not again. Not if I can help it.”
“But you can’t, Percy for gods’ sake! If I were given a quest and refused to go, what would you say?”
“As if you would ever put down the opportunity to go on a quest.”
“Percy, you know what I mean. I know this is gonna be hard for us, but please. I don’t want you to be gone, either, and I sure as Hades don’t want you to get harmed while gone! But the gods gave us this quest and it seems to be important, so please do me favour and be the bigger person here!”
“I’m scared, Annabeth. Of how you’re going to be doing and I still can’t sleep properly and neither can you and I’m just scared of what might happen if I lose control and… Annabeth, there’s something important I wanted to ask you.”
“What is it, Percy?”
“Can I ask you a completely wild, nonsensical question?”
“That’s the complete basis of our relationship, isn’t it?”
“Kind of.” He laughed. “Annabeth, I know we’re young and I’m not the most financially well-off guy, but maybe we don’t have a whole lot of time anymore and…” his gaze trailed off. “Annabeth, do you want to marry me?”
“Sorry, but I’m already betrothed.” She cringed internally at that sentence. Of course, that’s what she had to blurt out. Real smooth, Annabeth, real smooth. But well… technically, yes.
A look of utter confusion crossed Percy’s face. “What?” he managed to ask. “To who?”
“To you, of course, you Seaweed Brain.”
He just blinked, to stunned to say a thing.
“You do know that throwing an apple in ancient Greece counted as a marriage proposal?”
“Yeah?”
“And what were we playing hacky sack with on our first quest?”
“How do you even remember stuff like that? Was it an apple?”
“Photographic memory, and yes, exactly.”
Recognition dawned on his face. “Wait, does that mean we’re engaged to Grover, too?”
They both burst out laughing. When she was almost crying from laughter, Annabeth managed to squeeze out “Oh gods, I never even thought about that!”
It took multiple minutes for the laughter to dissipate. Then, when she had calmed down, Annabeth asked Percy, “So? Are you going or…?”
“Yeah, guess so.” There it was again, that sadness that she hated seeing on his face.
“Guess we have to make it work long-distance then. Promise you’ll call me over Iris Message as often as you can, Seaweed Brain.”
“Will do, Wise Girl.”
And then, he moved in to kiss her.
“Dumbledore, what the actual f*cking hell”, Sirius Black muttered to himself. He’d just spent the last year proving himself not guilty in front of the Wizengamot and reintegrating into society, but then, Dumbledore had to send him this. “This” being a short letter and a list of names. The letter just said something about the “true origins of our magic” and “foreign help coming to our aid”. What was he even supposed to do with that?
And so it came that the heir of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black was laying with his head in his boyfriend’s lap and complaining about a certain headmaster of Hogwarts.
