Chapter 2
HER FIRST IMPRESSION OF THE WIZARDING WORLD WASN’T THE BEST.
Honestly, even though she was on a quest, she was excited to see what sort of architecture the wizarding world had to offer - especially considering all the beautiful sights in the United Kingdom. So, before she had to meet up with her grandfather, she decided to check out their shopping center, which supposedly had beautiful buildings.
… Well, they would’ve been beautiful if the buildings weren’t obviously built like complete dog shit!
Look, Annabeth understands that everyone has their preference, but who in the world decided that it was a good idea to use taxidermied troll legs as support beams for their supposedly “high-class” restaurant?
If Percy hadn’t been there to hold her back, she feared what she would’ve done to the abomination.
Secondly, they apparently had giant, talking, man-eating spiders!? Annabeth is all for preserving and protecting species, but why they hadn’t nuked that entire species, she wasn’t sure.
Finally, they stopped at a bookstore. Annabeth had walked away from Percy, her eyes having caught something that intrigued her. It was only five minutes later when a large group of people swarmed into the store, surrounding something or someone. Tucking her book under her arm, she made her way over to the crowd, where she saw several reporters and cameras surrounding her boyfriend.
“Harry!”
“Mr. Potter, a word!”
“Smile for the camera!-”
“I’m not Harry Potter!” Her boyfriend shouted, shoving the eager people off of him. “I don’t even know who that is!”
Grabbing one of the eager reporters, Annabeth pushed them to the ground, standing in front of her boyfriend. Reaching up to Percy’s head, she pulled his hair back from his forehead, showing off his lightning-bolt scar-free head. “Happy?” She asked, her nostrils flared with irritation. “Even if he was Harry Potter, why would he be shopping out in Diagon Alley in the middle of the school year?”
The crowd stopped, apparently not having thought about that before they hounded him. A few of them winced, and several of them flushed in embarrassment. Annabeth waved them off, giving them a frightening stare until they all backed off and left. Her shoulders slumped, turning her attention to her boyfriend, who looked adorably confused.
“Uh, Annabeth… what just happened?” Percy asked, his hand casually resting in the pocket where Riptide sat.
She sighed, tucking a blonde curl behind her ear. “Reporters, Percy… that’s what just happened.” She explained, done with the entire day already. “They thought you were Harry Potter, a famous teenager who defeated my grandpa when he was a year old. I mean, besides the dark hair, and the similar eyes, you look nothing alike. The only thing you both really have in common is the saving people thing.”
“...Okay. I feel kinda stupid for not assuming that a kid would be some hero in the wizarding world as well; I really should’ve expected that.”
Annabeth snorted, nodding her head in agreement. Glancing down at her watch, she saw that their meeting was about to happen soon. “Let’s go check out,” She said, “We have to go meet an evil grandpa.”
Now, you might be wondering how Annabeth and Percy had landed in this particular situation.
Well, it was quite simple - at least, Annabeth thinks so.
“I’ll just send him a letter!” Annabeth exclaimed, pushing her curls out of her face as she pulled her writing utensils out.
“By having Leo build a self-destructing, non-trackable, robot owl?” Her boyfriend blinked, sounding more confused with each word that exited his mouth. Sure, Annabeth had given him the basic rundown (“hey, guess who also has an evil grandfather?!”) but he was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that sticks were apparently lethal weapons.
Annabeth rolled her eyes, giving her boyfriend a playful shove, “I know it sounds crazy, but you have to fight crazy with crazy! Plus, I don’t want him to know where Camp Half Blood is, so having a magic-resistant, self-destructive owl is a perfect idea!”
“Uh, if you say so, Wise Girl…”
However, her crazy plan actually managed to pull off, and within a week, they had gotten a reply and had been invited to meet him.
Well, technically just Annabeth, but she threatened to do some not-so-nice things if they didn’t allow her boyfriend to come.
Staring up at the manor, she wiped her sweaty palms down her dress pants, wearing a nice suit to meet her genocidal grandpa. She had to make a good impression, okay?!
Percy grabbed her hand, locking their fingers together and giving her a slight squeeze. “Don’t worry. You got this in the bag, Wise Girl. And if something does go wrong? At least I have my badass girlfriend by my side.” Percy encouraged.
Annabeth nodded, pushing the nerves away. “You’re right,” Annabeth replied, “I’m the freaking architect of Olympus. This should be a cakewalk to me.”
Off to the side, a flock of peacocks squawked indignantly at the trespassers. Percy let out a yelp when one of the birds attempted to bite his arm, dodging out of the way of the large and powerful bird.
“Miss Chase?” A squeaky voice asked. In front of them stood a small creature, with big, flappy ears and buggy eyes. “T-Truffle will escort Miss Chase and her plus one to meet the Dark Lord.”
“...Okay,” Annabeth replied, following the house elf into the manor. Now, this is what Annabeth would call true architecture. It was beautiful, with a dark theme and green accents. Sure, even though they might be racist assholes, at least they had one good quality, and that was good taste.
When they finally stop at a door, it’s a scene worthy of a (rather bad) horror movie: dim lighting, shadowy figures lurking in the background, and an ominous organ playing hauntingly in the background, for some odd reason. If Annabeth had been someone else, she probably would’ve burst out laughing at the scene, but she withheld her chuckles.
At the end of a ridiculously long table sat her apparent grandfather. He… He looked every part of an evil wizard she perfected him to be. She could tell Percy wanted to laugh, his jaw clenched and lips twitching. Clearing her throat, Annabeth stood tall and proud. “Grandfather,” She greeted, the words slipping out of her mouth with ease.
His thin, cracked lips twitched into what Annabeth assumed to be a smile. Although, it was clear to not only herself but Percy as well, that he was failing spectacularly at it. “Ah, my dear Annabeth, it is lovely to meet you once and for all.” He replied, gesturing towards the table for the two of them to sit. “You as well, Mr. Jackson. I have heard much about you two.”
“Oh, uh, that’s cool, I guess,” Percy pulled out a chair for Annabeth before sitting down in his own chair. “You know, I can totally see the family resemblance. Your noses, they’re… practically identical.”
Voldemort smiled, a hint of amusement flashing through his eyes. “You don’t need to try and flatter me, Mr. Jackson. You already impressed me.” He leaned back in his chair (more like a throne) and locked his unnaturally long fingers together.
A pleased look flashed across his face as he watched Percy purse his lips awkwardly. He turned his attention towards Annabeth, who stared him down with a cold and calculating gaze. “He wasn’t wrong about the nose. My… son seemed to have skipped that gene and passed it on to you. Other than that, I’d say you’re completely your mother’s daughter, aren’t you?”
“Like mother, like daughter. But I’m much more than just my mother’s daughter.” Annabeth replied.
“Yes, I suppose you’re right,” Voldemort shrugged gracefully, somehow making it look alluring and horrifying at the same time. “I know all about you and your achievements.”
“Do you?” Annabeth challenged (because if there was one thing she loved to do, it was to challenge authority figures and what they thought).
He stood up from his throne, slowly stalking over to her like a predator watching their prey. “Annabeth Chase, Daughter of Frederick Chase and the Greek Goddess, Athena. At the age of seven, you ran away from your home in Virginia.. At age 12, you helped retrieve Zeus’s missing lightning bolt. From then onwards, you have done the impossible - one after the other.” He grabbed the grey strand of her hair, holding it gently between his fingers. “You even held up the sky. Much like my own, your mind is… exceptional. Tactical. Ruthless, when necessary.”
“Is this supposed to be leading to something, or are you just talking because you love the sound of your voice?” She snapped, grabbing his wrist and pulling it away from her hair.
He ignored her, continuing on with his monologue (a classic villain cliche. It was a requirement for all villains to have at least one monologue a day).
“A child of intelligence, but surrounded by others that bore you to no end. A strategist among warriors. A leader among followers. Aren’t you tired of others slowing you down, constantly putting a stop to what you want?”
Annabeth clenched her jaw, shoulders tensed up. He smirked, trailing back over to his throne. “I was like that as well. As a boy, I found myself displeased with the world and how it worked; I knew I could do better. That’s what you want, right? To make things better?” He asked, voice soft and high.
Annabeth twitched in her seat, her hand gripping Percy’s hand under the table tightly. She hesitated to say anything, but Voldemort picked it up. The truth she didn’t want to say out loud, because if she did, admitting it out loud would make it real.
“You want to know what I think?” Voldemort crooned, his thin lips pulling back into a smile, revealing his far-too-sharp teeth. “I believe that you’re aware of just how similar we are, but you’re too afraid to admit it.”
“You don’t know anything about me.” She snapped, voice steady but there’s no hiding the unmistakable edge to it.
His red eyes gleamed, penetrating through her body. With the dim glow of the room, his eyes almost seemed to be glowing - pupils long and sharp like a snake. “You and I both know what it is like to be underestimated. To know that you’re destined for more, but always looked over for the bigger thing…” He gestured towards Percy, who shot daggers at Voldemort - eyes rapidly changing like a violent storm. “So, you follow in hopes of being recognized for your worth, and just when you think that you might have finally achieved what you wanted, you’re pushed aside and forgotten about for the next big thing… Until that is, you’re needed.”
Annabeth’s hands clenched into fists at her sides, her expression unreadable as she stared down at the table.
“Okay. Nope. We’re not doing the ‘we’re not so different, you and I’ speech.” Percy deadpanned, looking between the two of them. “Annie? You… okay?”
Voldemort, seemingly taking pity on Annabeth, stops his prodding. Spreading his hands, his voice shifts into a smooth and persuasive tone. “Let us set aside… the usual hostilities, shall we? After all, we are family, and families shouldn’t fight.” This change in tone seemed to snap Annabeth out of whatever funk she had gotten herself into. She sat up straight, eyes alert and sharp as she glared down at her grandfather. “Ever since I found out about you, I have been… curious, to say the least. As a boy, I grew up an orphan, with no family whatsoever. It brought me such joy to find that I finally had a family.”
“You have a family - you just choose to ignore their existence.” Annabeth shot back, arms crossed over her chest.
He shrugged, waving a hand to shrug it off. “Yes, well, nobody is perfect.” He replied. “But, my interest in you solidified when you sent me that letter with that… marvelous invention. I had figured you had wished to have nothing to do with me or did not know of my existence, so it was a pleasant surprise to find that you had contacted me first.”
“Know your enemy first.” Annabeth pursed her lips.
He smiled, looking almost proud… in a narcissistic kind of way. It wasn’t as if he was proud of her, and her thought process - he was proud of the fact that someone so smart could be related to him, and surely, she wouldn’t be as smart as she is if she wasn’t related to him. “I wish to offer you an opportunity. A… mutually beneficial arrangement.” He proposed to the two of them.
Percy leaned towards Annabeth, whispering, “This is starting to sound like the time Hermes tried to get me to buy NFTs.”
Annabeth shook her head slightly, leaning down to mutter back, “No, no, this is way worse. This is giving ‘cult denying the fact that it’s a cult’ vibes.” Percy hummed back in agreement, pulling back from Annabeth and sitting back up normally.
Voldemort continued, ignoring the fact that the two of them had been talking to each other. “You both are in a unique situation. You aren’t just bound to one world, and that is what makes you valuable, Annabeth.”
“And if we refuse? Do we become dinner for the giant snake over there?” Annabeth asked, brow raised and sounding utterly unimpressed with his sales’ pitch. His eyes trailed over to the giant snake, who was sleeping soundly near a lit fireplace.
“Nagini? No, I fear you aren’t her preference.” He replied, flicking his wand and summoning cups and wine. “Wine? I believe Lucius said this one has been aging for 60 years.”
“No, thanks.” Percy and Annabeth both said, pushing the wine glasses away from themselves. Voldemort shrugged, waving his wand and sending the extra glasses away. He poured himself a glass, bringing it up to his nose and swishing the glass around - the wine’s aroma drifting up to his nose. Finally, he took a sip of his drink, before setting it down gracefully on the wooden table.
“Even so, I understand intelligence, and I will not waste my time threatening minds as sharp as yours, Annabeth.”
Percy raised his hand, before pointing to himself. “Uh, and me? Am I not an intellectual asset too?”
A look of disdain and annoyance crossed Voldemort’s face, and with a voice as flat as some people believed the earth to be, he replied, “No.”
Percy winced, brows lifted to the top of his forehead as he shook his head. “Ouch. I can’t tell if I should be flattered or offended by that.” The son of Posideon said.
The Dark Lord continued, ignoring Percy’s antics with a practiced ease. “I understand that you are new to the wizarding world, and may not be up to speed with everything, so I shall educate you. There is a group opposing my mission called The Order of The Phoenix, which is run by a very powerful man by the name of Albus Dumbledore. A very noble, and strong group, but tragically naive. They believe that war is won through goodness and being fair, but you know better, don’t you? A war is not won with rainbows and smiles; it is won with strategy; with foresight, and meticulous planning. In order to win, you have to play by your own set of rules, and that, my dear, is where the two of you come in.”
“Uh huh, and… I’m assuming you want us to be your spies?” Annabeth asked, her grey eyes skeptical and wary.
He smirked, pleased with how fast she caught on. “Correct. I wish for you to be my spies at Hogwarts, which is a school for magic. Albus Dumbledore is the headmaster there.”
Percy snapped his fingers, eyes wide as he remembered something, “Doesn’t that kid who defeated you as a baby go there, too?” He exclaimed, his eyes questioning.
Voldemort chuckled, which looked wrong coming from the man. “I suppose you aren’t just a pretty face, after all.” He retorted, the insult sharp and subtle.
Annabeth squeezed Percy’s knee under the table, hoping that her touch would at least give him the slightest amount of comfort. “And… how do you know we won’t just take whatever information we learn and hand it over to the Order instead?” She squinted, judging him from her seat.
He smiled, eyes gleaming with glee. “That’s exactly what I expect you to do, granddaughter.”
.
.
.
“Wait, so you want us to betray you? Dude, that makes zero sense.”
Voldemort took another sip of his wine, letting the two teenagers sit in the uncomfortable silence. Finally, he placed his glass down once more, and as if the two were his students and he was the teacher, he began to explain: “You two will be my double agents. The two of you will feed the Order information, proving yourselves to be loyal members of the group… while secretly, you will be telling me the truth.”
“But how will we know if you’re telling us the truth, and not misleading us?” Annabeth pressed, skeptical about the whole situation. It just screamed bullshit, and she was itching to find out the truth.
Her grandfather smirked slightly, his form relaxing in his chair as Nagini slid over to him, climbing up onto the man and draping herself over him before going back to sleep. “Do you see? That is why I chose you. My followers do what I say without question, but you? You question. Analyze.” He exclaimed, looking like a child finding all the presents Santa had left underneath the tree. “Even If I did give you false information, it wouldn’t last for long. You’re far too intelligent to be misled for long. So, I will instead give you the truth… because what is truth if not the most dangerous of things?”
A beat of silence.
Percy leaned over to Annabeth, eyes wide as he whispered to his girlfriend, “I think he’s trying to reverse psychology you.”
She shook her head, slow and precise. “No… he’s respecting my intelligence.” She muttered back, sounding slightly flattered.
“Think of yourselves as freelance agents. You’re entirely independent, and you decide what is worth sharing and what isn’t. In turn, you gain access to both sides of the war, and hold the keys to both victory and survival…” He leaned forward, lips curled up into a devious smile, “Tell me—who else has such an advantage if not the smartest?”
She paused, playing with her fingers as she considered what he said. Percy looked slightly alarmed but he stayed quiet, trusting his girlfriend to know what she was doing.
“...And what, exactly, would we get out of it?”
“Protection. Power. Finally, you wouldn’t be pawns in some gods’ game. It would be your decision on who wins, and who loses.” Voldemort whispered.
Percy scoffed, rolling his eyes, “Okay, and what’s to say you won’t just kill us after we stop being useful, huh?”
Voldemort huffed, a faint, amused smile crossing his face. “Because that would be foolish. Why would you leave your queen unprotected in a game of chess?” He shrugged, taking a sip once more of his glass of wine. Annabeth hummed, a serious considering look on his face.
Percy kicked her leg, sending her a nervous look. He leaned in, eyes wide as he harshly whispered, “Are you insane? Please don’t tell me you’re actually thinking of working for him?!”
“I know, I know. But, here's the thing - we’d have access to everything. He knows that this is a risk, but he’s too far up his ass to think that we’d actually have the guts to betray him!”
“So,” Percy frowned, “We pretend to work for him while actually doing the opposite?”
Annabeth grinned, the smile growing slow on her face. “Exactly.”
The two of them pulled back, staring at Voldemort. “I believe we have come to an understanding?”
“Yes,” Annabeth replied, her ‘you-fucked-up’ smile on her face, “We have.”