The Vanishing Glass
[The scar's glow immediately dies down, and the camera pans to see Euphemia, who is now 10 years old, still sleeping. Then, the light turns on outside her bedroom cupboard under the stairs]
"Up! Get up!" Petunia knocks on her closet door repeatedly. "Now!" She smacks the door of the closet before walking into the living room.
Everyone is shocked, staring at the screen while Amary sinks in her seat, not wanting this to be seen.
George is horrified that he never knew it was this bad. He snaps his head at the shying woman. "Euphemia Potter." His serious voice echoed around the eerily quiet room.
Said woman just wants the world to swallow her whole, but she looks to her pseudo brother who looks angry and upset. "Yes?" She says in a sheepishly quiet voice. The majority hasn't heard her talk in that tone before. Only a few have, and most of them are dead.
George is one of them who has heard her talk in that tone, realizing that, he softens his tone now understanding some of why she acts a certain way, "Why did you never tell anyone about this?" He's so upset, but even he doesn't know just how bad it is.
"I-I don't know. I've tried while in the muggle world, but they never did anything, and I just got in trouble, so I just stopped." She just shrugs lightly, unsure about the situation. This makes people frown, especially the twin immortal protectors of children, wondering why they didn't step in.
Poseidon, Percy, and Teddy frown upset that she had to sleep in a cupboard. Draco frowns, knowing this wasn't anything like how he thought she grew up. He feels even more guilty about the way he treated people, especially her.
"Who was that woman?" Nico questions. This makes people also curious about who that was.
"My aunt, Petunia. She's my mother's sister." Amary frowns.
[Euphemia wakes up, turns on her bedroom light, and puts on her glasses with tape on the bridge, indicating that it was partly damaged. On her arm, there is a large bruise, the shape of a man's hand.]
Those who saw the bruise look shocked and horrified, having an idea of how she got it.
[A large, tubby boy, Dudley Dursley, suddenly comes running down the stairs above the closet. He stops halfway down and goes back, jumping on the staircase.]
"Wake up, cousin! We're going to the zoo!" Dudley shouts.
[Euphemia looks up to the joint works of the stairs with small amounts of dust rising. Dudley laughs, comes down the stairs, and runs for the kitchen. Euphemia tries to come out of the closet but is pushed back in by Dudley, hitting her head on the wall. Petunia is in the kitchen, where Dudley has gone.]
People shout at the boy while Amary just sits there uncomfortable. Poseidon, Percy, Teddy, and George are stewing with anger.
"Here he comes, the birthday boy!" Petunia cheers.
"Happy birthday, son." Vernon says.
[Petunia and Dudley giggle together. Euphemia comes into the kitchen, dressed in outgrown clothes.]
"Did they not give you any clothes of your own?" Aphrodite speaks up, noticing the clothes are those typical of a little boy.
Amary shakes her head, "No, they just gave me Dudley's old clothes to wear. The first time I actually wore a skirt was when I went to Hogwarts."
The wizarding people are shocked by her confession, "That was the first time?" Luna's soft voice speaks up. Amary nods.
"Why don't you just cook breakfast and try not to burn anything." Petunia says to Euphemia unpleasantly.
"How long have you been cooking?" Hestia softly asks the woman.
"Since I could reach." She gives the woman a soft, awkward smile.
Teddy and Percy wonder if that's why she always did the cooking for them, even if she did teach them how to cook.
"Yes, Aunt Petunia." Euphemia says quietly as she starts to work on cooking the bacon.
"I want everything to be perfect for my Dudley's special day." Petunia states.
"Hurry up! Bring my coffee, girl!" Vernon yells at Euphemia, who is rushing to place the bacon on the three plates.
"Yes, Uncle Vernon." Euphemia flinches, making her spill the hot coffee on her hand, making her wince.
People yell at the man, but everyone pauses when Euphemia flinches on screen, making her spill the coffee on herself.
"Has he ever hit you?" Artemis hesitates to ask the woman. Amary just stays silent while looking at the ground, not making eye contact with anyone, answering her question.
Teddy and Percy whimper, "Mom..." They quickly get up and sit by her, squeezing her between them. She holds them close to comfort them and herself. She hasn't seen or heard about the Dursley's in years, so she's extremely uncomfortable seeing her past with them being displayed in front of everyone.
Poseidon sat beside his mortal family, spewing with anger and pain. Wondering how dare they lay their hands on the woman he loves, even if he didn't know her yet. He makes eye contact with said woman when she rests her head on Percy's. She can see the anger and pain in his eyes, so she rests her hand on his arm and slightly pulls him closer. He holds his family close, reassuring himself that she's okay now.
Hades is angry. He actually likes Amary. She's never thought bad about him for being the god of the underworld and the dead. If anything, she's been kind like she knows the toll it has on him.
George and Ginny feel guilty that they never knew she was being hit, they know she's been locked in the house before as the twins and Ron have rescued her during her second year but they never suspect them of hitting her. Looking back, there were some signs, but Euphemia was good at hiding it.
Draco is horrified to find out that Potter was hit. His bullying and remarks didn't help her situation at all.
Apollo and Artemis share a look wondering why they did not step in.
[Petunia leads Dudley over to the family room, where there are a vast amount of presents. Dudley stares.]
"Aren't they wonderful, darling?" Petunia coos.
"How many are there?" Dudley asks.
"Count them yourself." Thalia, Percy, Clarisse, and Ginny say. They all share looks while Clarisse gives Percy a side eye.
"36. Counted 'em myself." Vernon proudly states.
"Congratulations, you can count." Dionysus says as he flips through his magazine.
"You've been watching?" Hermes asks the wine god.
"No." Dionysus states, not looking at the man. The ones who know him just shake their heads.
"36?! But last year... last year I had 37!!" Dudley shouts at his parents.
"How dare he talk to his parents like that." Hera sneers. Even the majority don't like her, they agree.
"And I thought I was spoiled." Draco states.
"You are spoiled, Mr. My-Father-Will-Hear-About-This." Amary says. The wizarding people, except Teddy, laugh, knowing what she's talking about. Draco turns red, embarrassed. Everyone else just looks at them confused.
"Err, yes, well, some of them are quite a bit bigger than last year." Vernon stutters.
"I don't care how big they are!" Dudley shouts.
"Oh, now, now, now. This is what we're going to do, is that when we go out, we're going to buy you two new presents! How's that, pumpkin?" Petunia coddles the boy, calming him down.
"Don't indulge him!" People shout at the screen.
"This will be a lovely day at the zoo. I'm really looking forward to it." Petunia says while walking to the car the next morning.
[Euphemia then goes to go in the car, but Vernon stops her, pointing his keys at her. Making her flinch back.]
"I'm warning you now, girl. Any funny business, any at all, and you won't have any meals for a week. Get in." Vernon sneers at the girl.
"How dare he! He didn't actually do that, did he?" Ginny asks her almost sister.
Now, no longer hugging her sons who are still sitting close, Amary's lips thin at the question, and she tilts her head back and forth, not wanting to answer her question, but her hesitation is answer enough.
"Growing children need their grains, it's very important to their growth." Demeter says while her brothers groan about her talking about it again.
"You're quite right. They are important." Luna's dreamy soft voice speaks from the other side of the room as the goddess as she nods along with the goddess as she rants.
Once she's done ranting, Teddy speaks up, "Mom. Is that why you would always make sure we're completely full?" His question gained everyone's attention. When the demigods think about it, every time they visit Percy's house, Amary will always make sure that they are fed and well rested.
Amary pauses before speaking, "Yeah, I wanted to make sure you both had what I didn't while I was there. A full belly, and not completely full of sweets." She pauses to look at Teddy who sheepishly smiles as people chuckle, "Someone to listen and feel safe with, someone to comfort you and love you, and I tried to avoid yelling but sometimes you boys are chaotic." They both sheepishly wince while people laugh.
"You did the same for me when I visited." Nico says. The other demigods nod except Clarisse, who's never met Amary before now and has only heard about her. Their parents give the woman a thankful look.
"I wanted you all to feel welcome. However, that's not strictly from my past with the Dursleys." Amary states.
"What do you mean?" Thalia questions.
"When I met Mrs. Weasley, she did the same for me. She made me feel welcome and she fed me and treated me like a daughter, all the while she yelled at the twins and Ron for stealing their fathers flying car and leaving in the night to come rescue me. The Burrow became like my home." She chuckles. George and Ginny smile at what she said.
People laugh at the thought of them getting in trouble for sneaking out and stealing the car.
[At the London Zoo, the Dursley family is in the reptile house, looking at a large Boa constrictor.]
Grover frowns, seeing the animal locked up in a zoo instead of the wild.
"Make it move." Dudley tells his father.
"Move!" Vernon taps the glass of the cage.
"MOVE!" Dudley taps the glass much harder, and Vernon nervously winces.
"He's asleep." Euphemia mumbles.
"He's boring." Dudley says while he and his parents head over to another enclosure. Euphemia is left with the snake.
"Sorry about him. He doesn't understand what it's like, lying there day after day, having people press their ugly faces in on you." The snake looks up and blinks. "Can you...hear me?" The snake nods.
"You can talk to snakes?" Hermes questions. Amary nods.
"How?" Athena asks while everyone else also looks curious, especially Hermes and Annabeth.
"Basically, it's a rare skill that witches and wizards can use but it only follows one bloodline but how I got it will be explained more in the second movie as it's a whole thing which causes issues for me." Amary nods. Ginny shivers, remembering that time, George pulls Ginny close, knowing that her time then still makes her uncomfortable.
"Does that mean I also have the skill?" Percy questions. Trying to think back to when he encountered snakes.
"Maybe, I'm unsure if you do and if I can even pass on that ability since I wasn't born with it." Amary states.
"Can you test it? What does it sound like?" Annabeth asks, with an excited glint in her eye.
Everyone else looks curious except Ginny, who looks uncomfortable. "If Percy wants to." Percy nods excitedly.
"Okay," Amary looks at Ginny, "Do you want noise canceling headphones?"
Ginny stands and walks towards the soundproof room, "I'm just going to go in there. Come get me when you're done." She closes the door behind her, when Amary turns back around the Greeks, and Teddy looks confused.
"Bad memories." Amary states. "Anyway, Percy, are you ready?" He nodded while the Greeks and Teddy leaned in. Teddy doesn't know all of his moms past, so he's very curious.
"Did your brother sneak into my room last night and take the chocolate that I hid from him?" The others are shocked by the eerie hissing coming from her.
Everyone looks at Percy for his reply while said boy glances at his brother, who makes eye contact with him. "No, Teddy was asleep before I was. Don't you remember, We all shared the chocolate the day before." Percy's voice is understood by everyone in the room, which makes them sigh, disappointed.
Teddy looks wide-eyed, knowing he's been caught. He thought he could get away with it, but it's hard to sneak up on his mom and Percy.
"Nice try, but I saw him last night. Don't cover for him." Amary says to Percy before looking at her other son, "You got caught. No more chocolate for a few days."
Percy winces, "Sorry." Teddy sighs and covers his face with his hands, which makes people laugh.
"Luna, can you get Ginny?" Amary asks. The blonde gets up and prances her way to the door.
Once they both get to their seats, "So could he speak it?" Ginny asks.
"No, but he could understand it." Neville tells her. Ginny nods, a little glad.
"It's just...I've never talked to a snake before. Do you...I mean...do you talk to people often?" The snake shakes its head. "You're from Burma, aren't you? Was it nice there? Do you miss your family?"
The snake turns its head in the direction of a sign, which says, Bred in Captivity. "I see. That's me as well. I never knew my parents, either."
"Did you compare yourself to a snake in the zoo?" Draco questions.
"Yeah, I was ten. What do you expect?" Amary raises her arms with a confused look. Percy nods, seeing her point.
[The now awake snake has attracted Dudley's attention. He comes over to the glass, elbowing Euphemia in the ribs, making her wince and knocking her to the floor.]
People shout at the boy on screen while Poseidon looks furious.
"Mummy, dad, come here! You won't believe what this snake is doing!" Dudley puts his hands on the glass wall. With his back turned, Euphemia scowls at him. Suddenly, the glass disappears, causing Dudley to wretch forward, losing his balance.]
"Whoa! Ahh! Ahh!!" Dudley falls into the snake enclosure with a shout, sputtering in a pool of water.
Everyone laughs. The boy deserves that for being mean and hurting Amary/Euphemia.
[Euphemia chuckles at what she saw. The snake gets out of the exhibit, stopping in front of her.]
"Thanksss." The snake hisses.
"Anytime." Euphemia replies, watching the snake slither off to the exit.
"SNAKE!" A man shouts. There are a lot of people screaming throughout the reptile house as the snake heads for freedom.
[Dudley gets up to get out, but the glass is now back over the enclosure. Seeing that he is now trapped, he pounds the glass in panic.]
"Mum, mummy!" Dudley shouts for his mother.
"AHH!" Petunia screeches when she notices him in the exhibit.
"Mum, help! Help me!" Dudley yells.
"My darling boy! How did you get in there?! How did you get in there? Dudley, oh, Dudley!" Petunia looks around for an exit.
[Euphemia sports a small smile which Vernon notices and glares down at her. Euphemia's smile disappears, knowing that she is in trouble with Vernon.]
"He better not do anything to you!" Poseidon says furious. Amary glances at him, then at the floor sinking down, knowing what's coming next.
They worry for the girl. They look towards the woman who is sinking in her seat. Glances are shared, knowing it's going to be bad.
George and Ginny share a look of worry for their sister. The gods and goddess glance at Poseidon's furious form and share worried looks.