The hall light was on when Percy and Harry finally made it back to the house. Dudley was still extremely pale, his mouth opening and closing but no sound coming from it. Harry had been quiet the whole walk back, a thoughtful look on his face, leaving Percy to try to direct them. Luckily this part of Surrey was well signposted, otherwise they probably would have gotten very lost and that would have had Sally and Petunia calling the police to find them. Harry stowed away his stick in the waistband of his jeans as they walked up the path to the front door. Reaching out, Percy rang the doorbell, then stepped back, hoisting Dudley a little so he could better shoulder the other boy's weight.

"Diddy! And about time too, I was getting quite – Diddy, what's the matter?" Petunia had opened the door. As one, Percy and Harry looked sideways at their cousin, and ducked out just in time. Dudley swayed for a moment, before falling to his knees, opening his mouth, and vomiting all over the welcome mat. "Vernon! VERNON!" Petunia's voice was a shriek, and brought all the adults out of the living room. Sally headed the ground, and when she saw the three teenagers, her face paled and her hand flew to her mouth. Her eyes met Percy's, asking questions silently to which Percy could only shake his head and shrug in return. Vernon and Paul helped to bring Dudley into the house, avoiding the puddle of sick. Percy and Harry nipped in just behind them, carefully dodging the sick themselves. Someone would really need to clean that up, but the adults were all more focused on the ill Dudley.

"You haven't been mugged, have you son?" Vernon's voice was filled with care, which actually surprised Percy a little. He wasn't surprised by Petunia's scream, or her rambled yelling about getting the phone, running around the main room without really doing anything helpful. She was in shock, and people in shock tended to do odd things. Apart from Sally's silent questioning, he and Harry hadn't really been noticed, so he took the opportunity to grab Harry's arm.

"Think we should have that little talk now, don't you?" he asked. Harry looked into the room where Dudley was sitting, and then looked back at Percy. He nodded.

"Yeah, alright, but can we make it quick, 'cause..."

"BOY! COME HERE!" Harry winced, and slowing turned and walked into the room, Percy followed behind. After the darkness they had just been through, everything here seemed too bright and too clean but it didn't really occur to him to mention it. He was still slightly on fight mode, and his nerves tingled, waiting for a new monster to fight. Judging by the anger that had been in the yell from Vernon, he might just get one. He tried to block out Sally's panicked look as he determinedly stepped behind Harry, ready for anything. Vernon was a walrus, an overgrown one, and the anger was turning him purple. "What have you done to my son?" The question was asked in such a menacing growl that Percy's fingers twitched automatically.

"Nothing," said Harry. Harry knew perfectly well that unless he said exactly what Vernon wanted to hear, he wouldn't be believed. Frankly, he was in no mood to claim responsibility for something the Dementors did, and even if he had been in the mood, he knew better than to put himself in a position that would end up with him probably in a hospital bed, or out on the streets. Even if it was likely that either of those situations were probably going to happen anyway, if he was any decent judge of his Uncle's mood. Petunia continued to fret over Dudley, asking him in a high-pitched and loud voice what had happened to him.

"Did he use – his thing?" It was interesting, Harry noted, how she managed to make her voice so loud but so quiet and fearful at the same time. He wondered if it was a special trick of mothers, he was sure Mrs Weasley had used a similar tone last summer after the Death Eater attack at the Quidditch World Cup. Though still unable to talk, Dudley was slowly coming back round to being himself again, and could comprehend the questions he was being asked. Harry wasn't really surprised, not really, when Dudley nodded slowly.

"I didn't! I didn't do anything to him, it wasn't me, it was-" Harry tried to protest but Vernon's fists were already raised. He felt himself being pulled back, and then Percy was stood in front of him, stance defensive. Harry blinked, jumping a little when he felt gentle hands on his shoulders. He turned, and was surprised to see Sally's look of concern. One of her hands reached up, and touched his cheek lightly, eyes asking the question that any responsible guardian would have asked: are you okay? He nodded, and was given a nod in return, her smile tight. He found himself distracted though, by just what Percy was saying.

"You wanna hit someone?" Percy was directly in front of Harry, and was not going to be moved easily. "You hit me then. I'm more your size anyway," he made a move as if to jut forward, just to see if it would scare Vernon any. "Harry said he didn't do anything, and he didn't. I was there too, or are you forgetting that so you can show how much of a big man you are by hitting a kid?" Paul had moved forward by this point, touching Percy's shoulder to tell him enough. Percy shrugged him off, and continued to glare fiercely at Vernon, who was now looking like it didn't quite matter which of the dark haired, green eyed boys he hit, as long as he got to hit one of them. Percy wasn't bothered. Let the walrus hit him, he could hit back harder.

At that moment, before things could escalate any further, an owl flew in through the kitchen window. Percy looked confused, mostly because he was wondering why Athena would have a problem with him standing up for someone getting hit for no reason, but the owl flew past Vernon's head, dropping the thing it was carrying between Percy and Harry, directly at Harry's feet. It then turned and left, though not before throwing Percy a look that let him know that yes, he was being watched. He didn't throw the hand gesture at the owl he wanted to.

"OWLS! OWLS AGAIN! I WILL NOT HAVE ANY MORE OWLS IN MY HOUSE!" Vernon bellowed, rushing to the kitchen window and slamming it shut with such a force that the glass shook in its pane. If it had shattered, none present would have been at all surprised. Harry's heart was beating in his throat as he picked up the parchment with nervous, shaking fingers. He opened it, and read through the letter. "EVERYTHING TO DO WITH THAT BOY-"

"Vernon!" Petunia said sharply, jerking her head in the direction of their guests who were still there, and looking completely confused by the turn of events. Well, Sally and Paul were looking confused, Percy still looked angry and kept shooting glances out of the window, like he was expecting someone to appear out of nowhere. Petunia assumed this was just because the boy – misguided as he was, if sticking up for the Freak was any suggestion – was confused by the sight of the owl. She expected they didn't really see them much in New York, not unless they went to one of those overpriced zoos. Terrible, messy, smelly things, zoos were. If it hadn't been for her Dudders keen interest in animals when he was younger, they would have never stepped foot into that zoo all those years ago. That zoo trip had started all this trouble. She should have stuck with her instincts and taken Dudders and Piers to the cinema instead, but Dudders was so keen, and they did say an interest in animals was a good sign, educationally speaking. She stood, placing down the cloth she'd been trying to wash Dudley up with. "Sally, Paul," she said, "perhaps you had better call for that taxi..."

"We're not going anywhere," Percy answered for them.

"Percy!" Sally shot at him. Percy looked up at his Mom, but fell silent, looking towards the ground, fists clenching and unclenching, as his jaw tightened, clear he wanted to say something but knew better than to go against his Mom when she used that tone. "Percy's right." Sally's voice was calm, but with a definite edge to it. It was an edge that, some would say, could make the Gods themselves tremble. The fact that it had actually made Poseidon consider momentarily just how immortal 'immortal' actually meant was neither here nor there. "We're not going anywhere till we all get to the bottom of what happened tonight." Petunia missed the slight glance Sally gave Percy. If she had caught it, she would immediately have latched on to the idea that it was all the fault of her cousin's delinquent son and thrown him from the house. "Now, if we all just remain calm..."

"Exactly," Paul put in his words of support. "Calm, and reasonable, and I'm sure we'll get a clear answer from the bo-"

"Where d'you think you're going? I haven't finished with you boy!" Vernon bellowed at Harry, who had turned away from the group, and pulled out that stick thing again, Percy noticed, and moved to leave the kitchen. There was an odd look on Harry's face, like he wasn't completely aware of what he was doing, but knew it had to be done anyway. Annabeth called it going through the motions, and said it was an automatic instinct, usually in response to some kind of shock. Percy bent to pick up the letter, wondering what was in it that would have made Harry so shocked that he'd go into an automatic situation. He didn't read the letter. One glance at the writing on the heavy parchment – yes, he could tell it was parchment – showed it to be small, and crushed. In short: the type of handwriting that was not particularly good for a demigod to try to be reading in English. If it had been in Ancient Greek, then he might have stood a chance.

"If you don't get out of my way, I'm going to jinx you." Harry had raised the stick thing by this point, as he and Vernon had continued talking while Percy had taken the time to stared blankly at the parchment. Jinx him? Then... Harry was a child of Hecate. They used jinxes, though Percy was almost completely totally sure that he'd never seen any of those kids using a stick – it must be a wand, his mind suggested – to use their magic. He'd ask Lou-Ellen, next time he was talking to her. Wait. When Hecate kids jinxed someone, it was a big thing. Chiron had been very, very vocal about how jinxes were to only be used in the right circumstances and not because there was a prank war with the Hermes kids. Even if the rest of the Camp had bets on. Especially if the rest of the Camp had bets on.

"Harry, you don't have to jinx anyone," Percy stepped forward. "Just put down the, ah, you guys call it a wand, right?" He gestured at the wand with a bit of confusion. He hadn't not heard of Hecate kids using a wand, but the few that he'd known personally... Well, they hadn't exactly been fighting on the same side. "Put it down, and we'll be able to deal."

"You know about this freakishness?" Vernon's anger had turned on Percy for a moment. Percy stepped forward, and the older man seemed to rethink whatever he was going to say to him. Vernon jerked a thumb in the direction of Harry. "The boy can't pull that one on me anyway, I know he's not allowed to do magic outside of that madhouse he calls a school." Percy paused, and turned to stare at his Mom's cousin's husband – and yeah, thinking of him that way kept a difference that Percy needed to keep. Whatever was in that stare of Percy's, it made Vernon step back, if only for a moment, face pale.

"How about you just shut up, and let someone who actually gives a damn try to deal with the kid?" Percy's fingers were digging into his palms. He wanted to punch Vernon, a lot, and he wasn't entirely sure that his Mom would be able to stop him if he started. "Or you just looking for an easy target? How about I give you a bit of a challenge instead, wouldn't that be a difference?" Yeah, okay, once he had calmed down and was able to look at this moment with the benefit of hindsight, Percy would remark that he really should have signed up for those anger management sessions Chiron had suggested, but at that particular moment, he was fine with the anger rushing through him.

So fine with it, in fact, that he was happily ignorant of the fact that Sally and Paul were both trying to pull him back, and that Harry still had a grip like death on his wand, face a whiter shade of pale, and that Petunia was still shrieking over Dudley who was slowly coming back round to himself but still looked like he had tried to go a round with the Hulk because his title meant he was better than the huge green guy. Actually, it was a surprise that – considering the noise levels within the walls of number 4, Privet Drive - none of the neighbours had come banging on the doors to demand to know what was wrong, or the police hadn't been called because clearly something illicit was going on and must have had something to do with the criminal boy poor Mr. and Mrs Dursley tried their best to care for. What did manage to grab Percy's attention was an entirely new voice, from just outside in the hall, speaking clearly.

"You know, it's been a while since I've personally been in England, but I'm almost positive this kind of decorating was consigned to the history books then." To be fair to Percy, that actually managed to grab everyone's attention. "I mean, it's charming, very... charming, but not really my tastes. Now... Jackson? Where are you, kid? I've got a message for you, and oh boy, this one's a biggie." And with that, Hermes stepped into the living-slash-dining room that made up the front room of number four. "Well, as I am immortal and send messages, Sally Jackson! You have just refused to age a day since Uncle Poseidon laid eyes on you, haven't you? Paul, you're a lucky, lucky man. Treat her well, she's a keeper." Sally blinked, her mouth opening and closing a couple of times, taken aback by this, and Paul just looked a bit confused – a sight that some of his students would have paid good money to see.

"...Hermes?" Percy sounded a bit unusual. A rather perfect mix of confusion, anger, and sheer dumb founded '...what'. Not that anyone could really hear that, not over Vernon. It could be well neigh impossible to hear anything when Vernon got started. Considering that, people could well be forgiven for wondering why the police had never been called to number four before. Perhaps they had been, but like had once happened to the teacher that had called the social services out of concern for Percy, nothing had come of it. For those with unusual talents, unusual things tended to happen. To put it into as simple terms a possible.

"HOW DARE YOU ENTER MY HOME!" Vernon's face was purple and so overinflated that Percy could picture it popping right there and then. Really, really, he knew he should have warned his Mom's cousin's husband about yelling at a God but... the guy was ready for hitting Harry over a monster attack, and since both his Mom's cousin and her husband seemed to be aware of the fact that Harry was a child of Hecate, yeah, Percy was just kind of regretting that he didn't have popcorn for the inevitable smiting that was going to happen. Yeah, he knew that was more Zeus' domain, but no God likes being yelled at by a mortal. "I DON'T KNOW WHAT PASSES FOR MANNERS AMONG YOU FREAKS..." Hermes got a vaguely annoyed look on his face and flicked two fingers in Vernon's direction. While the walrus continued to yell, no noise came out.

"I'm sorry, but that voice just grates, and I really don't have a lot of time here. Tight schedule, important message, and a strong warning that this had to be done personally rather than by one of my helpers," Hermes rubbed his forehead, looking for all the world as if he were just a normal guy trying to stave off an incoming migraine. "So, Jackson, grab your lookalike cousin, because we have places to be and we should have been there about five minutes ago." At that he gave a grimace. "Magical wards, they always mess up the directions." Hermes looked out at the group, who were just looking back at him. "You may begin your questions now."

"What do you mean, we've got places to go?" Percy said. That was overlapped by Harry's angry voice.

"I'm not going anywhere that I don't chose to go!" Fair enough, Hermes was a relative stranger to the guy, but it was Petunia who caught the attention of the God.

"What on Earth have you done to my husband?!" Bonus points, Hermes' arrival had finally made her stop her shrieking. Instead she spoke with a quiet, fearful, wavering voice as she looked with worry over at Vernon who was opening and closing his mouth, expecting noise to come but none would. He looked over at Petunia pleadingly, not daring to look in the direction of the 'freak' – his words – that did this to him, because knowing those types of people, it was only the beginning – he could still remember that horrible giant oaf of a man giving their poor Dudley a pig's tail. Of all things! "I don't know who you think you are," Petunia's voice shook more as she spoke, and she shook herself, but she was still standing her ground, making Percy realise that yeah, she really was related to his Mom, "but in this household we do not use that... unnatural behaviour on other people!"

"And locking a child under a staircase for, let's say, eleven years – it wasn't even a month off it anyway," Hermes said, "do we define that as unnatural behaviour among you mortals or have I missed some new parenting trend?" Sally let out a noise of rage, turning with fury on her face to her cousin. Hermes, seemingly unaware to the bombshell he just revealed, wandered over to the fireplace and picked up one of the pictures, wrinkling his nose at it, before sitting it down again. "'Cause I got to tell you, either way, Uncle Hades is really not pleased about the whole locking one of his grandkids under the stairs thing."

"You locked him under the stairs?! For nearly eleven years?!" Sally all but screamed. "Petunia Evans, how could you even think of doing that to your sister's son! Her only child!" She turned to Harry, eyes wide with concern, worry, shame, and apologies that could never make up for what had been done to him. "Oh Harry, Harry." Her voice broke looking at her young cousin. His eyes were so like his mother's. "Lily would never have... If I knew... If someone told me..." her voice faltered, as her hand covered her mouth, turning to Paul as she shook with tears that wouldn't fall. Paul didn't speak – what could he say? He looked over at Harry, who seemed to be frozen to the spot. Harry hadn't told anyone about living under the stairs, not even Ron, and he was his best friend. When the letter from Hogwarts came with his cupboard already written on it... Well, okay, so he had later learned that the letters were addressed by an auto-Quill, but it had made it clear in his mind not to let anyone know. And, somehow, this man, this complete stranger, knew?!

"Wait," Percy sounded confused. "What's Hades got to do with this?" He was asking the man, who he seemed to be on a more familiar basis with. There was something about the man that did make Harry feel... well, small. Also, did he use the word 'mortals'? People actually used that word? Harry had usually placed that word in the lexicon of cliché evil that seemed to be in nearly every movie he heard Dudley watch – though he did want to check out Star Wars, actually, that one sounded pretty good. Maybe 'mortals' was a bit more Ming the Merciless. Didn't seem like a word this man – who was in a well tailored suit, even if he did look a bit on the exhausted side and it was kind of late at night to still be in business attire – would be using. "Harry's one of Hecate's, isn't he?"

"Hec-who?" Harry asked, looking at Percy with confusion. "I'm nobody's... whatever it is you think I am. I'm a wizard." Petunia let out a little screech at the word, a response which made both Harry and Percy throw her annoyed looks. "I have no idea what anyone is talking about, and I'm not going anywhere except out of this house, and as far away from the Dursleys as I can get." The anger on his face was very clear, but unfortunately he found himself immediately distracted by the appearance of an owl; which flew in through the front window and paused in front of the man Percy called Hermes. If Harry didn't know any better, he would say the owl looked a little worried, and almost like it didn't want to deliver its message. But... that was impossible, right?

"A messenger owl?" Hermes laughed. "You know, I haven't seen one of these in years." He grinned a little at the owl, who was still flapping its wings as it waited in its spot, clearly seeking some sort of order. That wasn't anything Harry had ever seen before, and honestly, it made him a little wary of the people Percy seemed to know. "Oh, right, you've got a message. Well, if it's for the boy, you don't need to worry about it. Anyone else in the house, you go right ahead and deliver." The owl gave a hoot and flew back out the window. Hermes blinked. "Well, lookalike, you've got people looking for you already. We really need to get moving."

"I told you I'm not going anywhere!" Harry snapped. Hermes just looked, and then turned to Percy who held his hands up in a gesture that clearly meant that he was taking nothing to do with Harry's attitude. Actually, truth be told, Percy was pretty glad to see another demigod – wait, no, hang on...

"Wait, did you say a wizard?" Percy asked suddenly. There was another muttered shriek from Petunia who by this point had collapsed beside Vernon on the couch. For their part, Sally and Paul were sitting back at the dining table. Paul was talking quietly to Sally, who apparently was blaming herself for never trying to check in after she had heard – very belatedly – the news that Lily and her husband had passed, meaning that Petunia and Vernon had treated Harry so shamefully for all those years. Sally Jackson was an incredibly strong woman, and seeing his Mom so upset didn't exactly endear Percy to the person he already wanted to punch. "Is... that what you call a child of Hecate over here? Lou-Ellen said that you guys sometimes take different titles, but I figured that was more a whole... ego trip type thing?"

"What is he on about?" Petunia snapped, turning to Sally. "Well? What is it with this 'child of Hecate' rubbish when the boy is just a dangerous freak!" She breathed out, and shot a venomous look at Percy, the expression on her face making it seem as though he just brought the foulest thing possible into her house and left it sitting at her feet for her to deal with. "And judging by that language, he's not the only freak here. You never did tell us who his father was – at least Lily had the decency to marry the man whose child she got herself pregnant with..."

"Hey!" Percy yelled, stepping forward, though Hermes quickly held him back. Percy wasn't the only one that had moved, however. Paul had shot from his seat, yelling the same thing as his step-son, and looking far more angry than Percy could ever remember seeing the guy – and that included after some seniors nearly landed a visiting middle schooler in hospital after thinking it would be fun to 'accidentally' trip the kid near the stairs. As for Sally herself, well, it turned out it wasn't just a shotgun she was strangely adept with.

"Petunia Evans, don't you dare say a word against my son," she breathed. "And you can stop pretending that you don't know what's going on when I know for a fact you're as Clear-Sighted as I am." Now, that was a surprise, as Petunia looked at Sally with a pale expression. "Oh, you think I had never noticed? That's the thing about being Clear-Sighted, you notice everything." The whole room was focused on the two woman, or more precisely, on Sally Jackson finally, though no one knew it but her and Petunia and possibly Hermes but he wouldn't say either way, standing up to her cousin. "And if you think you can make like you don't recognise a God when you see one standing in your own home, then maybe that monster attack tonight was deserved – because you never took the time to warn your own child!"

"How dare you!" Petunia stood and screamed back at Sally. Vernon's eyes had widened, and Dudley was now just being very, very quiet, looking at the floor. "I have spent my life trying to keep from the freakish behaviour you and Lily insisted on waving in my face. I will not have you use it to say that I would not protect my son! If it wasn't for Lily's precious son, then Dudders would never have been in any danger! That man might be a God, but that boy," a long, bony finger was pointed viciously at Harry at this point, "is no demigod!"

"But I am." Percy said. "And if you yell at my Mom again, it'll be the last thing you do." His voice was quiet, and it was the quiet that did it. All the mortal adults turned to look at Percy, who was standing tall, and for a moment, Harry saw his Aunt's eyes widen in genuine fear. "Hermes," Percy kept his eyes on Petunia, but placed a hand on Harry's shoulder, "if we've got to be somewhere, then we'll go. But you got to make me a promise – just one."

Hermes gave a small nod. "I guess I can stretch to one favour for the Hero of Olympus," he said. The use of the title was deliberate, Percy knew that, but he just didn't know the reason why. Especially when that war was the last thing he wanted in his mind at that moment. He wouldn't dare to take a guess about Hermes' thoughts on the whole thing. "So, what are you asking for, kid? I feel like I should quickly point out that the little gift Dad offered is something I can't, for obvious reasons and y'know, don't really want him getting angry at me – you've seen what his punishments can be like." Percy gave a mirthless laugh.

"Nothing that big," he said. He looked at Harry. "You don't want to live here?" Slowly, Harry nodded. Frankly, he was reeling a bit. Percy was a demigod. Gods were real, and Percy was the son of one. So... when he kept calling the man Hermes, then was the Hermes standing in the Dursley's living room the Hermes that Harry had read about back in primary school? And he – Harry – was somehow related, he thought Hermes said, to a God himself? None of it made any sense. "And they haven't ever wanted you here?" Percy was checking, and again Harry nodded. There was a darkness in his cousin's green eyes that reminded Harry of a storm. "Fine. Hermes? The only thing I want is any help we need to get Harry into Mom's custody." Percy looked over at Petunia and Vernon. "They don't want him? Fine. We're not assholes, and like you said... family's complicated, but it's still family. He can live with us."

Percy didn't need to look to know that his Mom would agree, and that Paul would agree as well. Hermes was quiet for a moment – probably because Percy threw his own words at him, but desperate times. "That I can't promise, kid," Percy shot his head round, eyes narrowing. Hermes looked apologetic. "There's more to this, and much as I'd like to get lookalike out from this house, I'm under orders. You'll get the reason tonight, that I can promise you." Another owl flew through the window, this one carrying a red letter. "And going by that sign, we need to go. Now." Hermes placed a hand on Percy's shoulder, and one on Harry's. "My advice? Close your eyes. God-travel is a bit blinding. And yeah, I do mean everyone close your eyes."

The rest barely had time to get their eyes shut when the bright light started, and Percy, Harry, and Hermes were gone. Vernon found his voice had returned, though from all the shock he could barely speak. Eventually he managed out a soft, "Petunia? Petunia, pet, what did that man mean? Gods? Demigods, all stories... aren't they?" He found himself on the end of a very scathing look from Sally Jackson, and a slightly more sympathetic one from Paul Blofis. "...Aren't they?"

"It's... a long story," Paul said. "And it's not mine to tell you." Petunia's gaze hadn't lifted from the red letter that the owl had dropped into her lap. It shrunk in its smoulder and she jumped in her seat.

"Remember my last, Petunia."

"Looks like there's more than one story needing told," Sally said. "Who wants to put on the coffee?"