We try some roasted phoenix
Third-Person PoV: The Wyvern Estate
"It's a pleasure to meet you your Majesties, I am-"
"We know who you are." Hazel cut him off, her gold eyes seemed to flash with danger as she looked them all in the eye, like she was assessing the enemy making them all feel uncomfortable and fidget in their seats. "Who you all are, we would greatly appreciate it if we could leave the introductions and skip straight to the real reason behind this meeting Dumbledore." The Order raised their eyebrows at the level of authority that this 14-year-old had, I mean who does she think she is, he's the greatest wizard of all time!
The rest of the demigods fought to keep the smirks off their faces at how proud they all felt of Hazel at that moment, but Nico didn't even bother to keep the shit-eating grin that he wore across his face, Frank placed a hand on Hazel's shoulder allowing a small smirk to show on his face.
Moody glared and slammed a fist on the table glaring at the young girl. "Do you even know who you were just talking to like that girl? You best show some respect?" He growled at her.
"I do believe that respect is a thing that is earned, and of course, we know who he is Alastor, do you honestly believe that our parents would send us somewhere completely blindfolded?" Thalia let out a humorless laugh as she took out a dagger and twirled it in her hands. "And her name isn't girl, it's Princess Hazel Levesque, and if anything you should be the ones respecting her, Hazel is gifted with...powerful magic." Lightning lit the world up outside as thunder boomed in the sky.
"Well I do believe that Princess Hazel is right Alastor, let's begin this meeting." Dumbledore clapped his hands together.
"The Ministry has tried to shut down the fact that Volde-"
"Has returned? Oh we know, my mother, you know Duchess Hecate, informed us weeks ago. And Miss Wyvern, Mr. Zabini, and Mr. Malfoy debriefed us further of the situation at hand." Lou Ellen interrupted.
"Why would you listen to him!" Harry frowned at them. "He's probably lying to you!" He protested.
"So you're saying that people aren't worthy to listen to just because of their birthright?" Annabeth spoke from behind Percy, an eyebrow raised, Harry blushed in embarrassment and sat back down
"What would you know? If you knew what he and his family did and what he's done then you'd be on our side." Ron glowered at them, Annabeth's jaw was set hard and the grip she had on Percy's chair tightened, Percy reached for her hand and grasped it in his own and gave it a kiss effectively calming her down.
"We know what they've done. He's admitted to his mistakes, he's taken ownership of them and acknowledged the fact that what he's done was wrong, if he's willing to do that and work towards being a better person then I don't see why. His actions are already starting to speak larger than his apologies. He's never done anything to us, so please leave us out of your petty rivalry." Katie replied. Draco gave her a tense smile in thanks.
"And what we know? Don't get me started. There's already too much drama in our family to begin with." Nico let out a barren laugh.
"Are you saying that she shouldn't have had another chance when she realised that her belief wasn't the right way in the end just because she was manipulated onto the wrong side just to make sure the love of her life survived?" Clarisse bit out.
"That we didn't deserve a second chance just because we thought that our cause would get our parents the respect that they deserve and that we would actually be noticed?" Lou Ellen asked.
"That he didn't deserve any more chances regardless of the number of times that he tried to kill me when he finally decided to do the right thing in the end?" Percy questioned.
"Even though he poisoned me to the point where I nearly died and put the family he once had in danger of being killed?" Thalia continued.
"Should we not forgive him just because he thought that his way would guarantee everyone happiness, sure he did terrible things, sure he manipulated us to reach his goal, sure he nearly broke the family apart and I'll never forgive him fully for what he's done but if they're willing to do the right thing, to make the right choice in the end and own up to what they've done shouldn't we give him a choice to better what they've done?" Annabeth glared, Ron sunk in his seat at the number of glares that were sent his way.
"He was still able to escape the consequences of his actions though..." Clarisse huffed under her breath. They all still heard.
"In our lives, we've learned that hating people doesn't get you nowhere, it just creates more obstacles to get through and more people that want to kill you." Jason moved his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "If we want to survive we have to grin and bear with who we work with and eventually you'll come to see them as an ally."
"You all talk as if you have to fight for your lives all the time?" Mrs. Weasley worriedly looked at them.
"We do, from the moment we are born we are hunted down, we rarely live to see our thirteenth birthday, its fight or die, kill or be killed," Butch grunted with folded arms. Mrs. Weasley looked ready to burst into tears, in fact, most of them did, and if not they were sending them pitying looks.
"Surely your parents would protect you from whoever's hunting you down," Hermione said.
"Unfortunately it isn't that easy Miss Granger, after all, it is what started the first war after all." Katie bit her lip and looked down into her lap, her voice not as quiet as she hoped for it to be as she muttered.
"Your parents were the cause of your first war?" Remus asked astonished. Reyna and Annabeth exchanged looks, sometimes looking at another demigod, they both caught Travis and Connor's pleading eyes which they sighed and nodded to.
"The laws of our family have been enforced since Ancient times when we were formed when becoming King, a Royal Duke/Duchess or a Duke/Duchess they must take an unbreakable vow to obey these rules. Some of these rules prevent them from directly interfering in our lives, and of course, there's been no change to them for centuries so eventually some of us had enough." Connor started, his usually mischievous face was set hard and serious.
"While the war, named the Second Titan War, took place last year the tensions towards the war built up four years ago. Our elder brother, Luke was the person who made a start with it, he was bitter and angry at our parents and wanted change like the rest of us he felt tired of being used as a pawn and their grandfather, after believed to be dead, manipulated his wishes," Travis indicated to the six royals "when he ruled he was known as Kronos, no-one else outside of America knows of what he did while he ruled as the Council did everything in their power to ensure word never left the States, we were lucky enough that they were able to cooperate with the President of the US to keep it all under wraps with the No-Maj side."
"A lot of us were led astray and followed Luke, w-we believed that that was the only way to make us all feel wanted by our parent and be respected." Lou Ellen continued. "Of course it wasn't till the year after we joined him that some of us realized that Luke's way, no Kronos' way was the wrong way to go around it, but by then we were too ashamed to return back to our families and too deep in to just up and leave, so we grinned and bore it till the war came."
"In the years following up to the war we were all hurt some way and because of that everyone faced a lot of psychological and mental trauma. Whether it's from survivor's guilt, PTSD, or depression we've all been permanently scarred. Were you thinking of recruiting us to help fight your war?" Percy gave Dumbledore a wolf glare, his voice was eerily calm, you could barely notice the liquid trembling in the goblets or the storm that had suddenly picked up outside.
"Not fight for us my boy but fight alongside us, with your help-"
"I am not your boy, it's Prince Perseus." His eyes glowering further at the old wizard, a face of fret washed over his face for a second before it vanished, the others were just thankful that it wasn't directed towards them, Harry shivered his glare terrified him it literally spoke whatever you think of me I'm worse.
"I never thought that you would like anyone to call you that seaweed brain." Annabeth laughed.
"Annabeth! You're ruining my image." Percy whined, his personality doing a complete 180.
"Well Princess is right Prissy, you always throw a hissy fit whenever someone does, besides we all know that you're an absolute dork." Clarisse grinned at him.
"I am not a dork." He puffed out his cheeks in annoyance.
"That's 'cause you're my dork," Annabeth said, Piper chuckled into her hand muttering something about Athens while Thalia faked being sick.
"You two are so disgustingly in love it hurts." She grumbled at the two.
"I think they just might also win the best couple award too," Cedella smirked.
"True, but Nico and Will comes quite close," Hazel spoke.
"Shut up Hazel!" Nico growled at her, face a hot mess.
"Oh come on death boy, why can't we be like that?"
"That's because you're a peasant."
"Wow someone's a tsundere." Lou Ellen sassed him before Nico could turn his anger to her Reyna interrupted.
"Perhaps we should get back on topic." They all begrudgingly nodded, only looking slightly ashamed. "I apologize, a lot of us have ADHD, we tend to get off of topic a lot."
"What is-"
"ADHD?" The Weasley twins asked, tilting their heads to the side in unison. It creepily reminded the demigods of the Stolls oddly enough.
"Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is a behavioral disorder that typically causes those who suffer from it to have problems concentrating, staying still, or an inability to control themselves," Annabeth responded. "Now about the war..." A calculating look crossed her face and the stormy look in her eyes seemed to swirl.
"Marquess Solace." Will stood up straighter from behind Nico, Percy kept his eyes on Dumbledore and kept on talking. "Please give me a report on the status of the Hoplite Phalanx."
"Of course your Highness." Will nodded and donned a mask of solemnity. "The soldiers of the Hoplite Phalanx are all currently physically well from my assessment as of the day before we departed to England. However, the vast majority are suffering mentally with other conditions, most having PTSD, depression, anxiety or suffer from Survivors Guilt, especially with the younger members. While the Hoplite Phalanx are physically well we are not mentally prepared for the strains of another war."
"Thank you Marquess Solace. Praetor Ramírez-Arellano, Praetor Zhang, please provide a report of the Twelfth Legion Fulminata." Jason instructed.
"The health of the Legion is very much like that of the Hoplite Phalanx, the injured have been tended to and looked after from the war and are ready to fight if necessary, the Centurions of the cohorts have reported that many of the individuals are suffering from some mental health issues." Frank seemed more war-like, quite different from the gentle image they had seen of him.
"While the Legion is fully prepared to fight and help defend the Kingdom I don't recommend that we join another so soon after the end of the last one." Reyna finished.
"As Lieutenant of Lady Diana's Hunters, I will say that we are effectively in the same state as the Hoplite Phalanx and the Twelfth Legion. We suffered a great loss in our numbers during the first war which left a heavy blow in the heart of the remaining survivors. We did build up our numbers between last year and the second war but it has taken a heavy toll on my sisters." Thalia inputted.
"Strategos La Rue, what is your opinion, as the general of the Hoplite Phalanx, on us joining the cause for this war?" Katie asked, a few eyebrows were raised at the position that Clarisse held, it truly dawned on them that they were child soldiers, having already lead other children to war. A real war. Two wars.
"My honest opinion on this all?" Katie nodded and the daughter of the war god tapped her dagger on the table. "I get why the old man is asking us to join, I mean we do have four armies with trained troops who are skilled in combat, with or without a wand, and are prepared to kill if necessary." Her eyes darkened as she stopped playing with her dagger. "But fight in another war?" She snorted and shook her head. "Not our country, not our problem, we're only here to strengthen the relationship between our countries, not fight for or with you."
"So you're just going to leave us all to die here? What about the students of Hogwarts? Voldemort won't hesitate to kill them first." Sirius snarled raising from his seat.
"We don't want to put any of our younger troops in danger again, in the Hoplite Phalanx the youngest is 8, joined just before the war broke out. In the Twelfth Legion they join at 10, we have kids we want to protect as well." Clarisse waved him off.
"How could you be so cruel and selfish? You're just gonna leave us here to fend for ourselves just to save yourselves?" Hermione seethed, tears of frustration starting to bubble up in her eyes.
Nico started laughing and would have fallen off his chair if Will hadn't caught him. "Is she honestly calling us selfish?" Thalia asked, almost amused.
"I'm a bit confused? How is putting the safety of our people first selfish?" Leo quizzed as he let go of a small helicopter he had been building.
"I'm more concerned about the fact that they allow 8 and 10-year-olds to fight wars," McGonagall stated.
"Oh believe me if I could we wouldn't but it's the best way for them to learn how to defend themselves, there are no adults to protect us so we must learn ourselves. Although if it does make you feel better whenever possible we try to put the younger members more towards the back when on the battlefield or encourage them to be near someone who's older or a more experienced fighter so that they'll have their back." Percy responded.
"Then you'll understand that it's only the right thing-"
"No." Katie's one-worded answer was effective. "We won't be helping you in this war. Does anyone have anything else to say?" Her voice held finality in it.
"I do." Rachel's voice became raspy and her eyes glowed green, green mist poured out of her mouth and spilled around the room, a chill began to ache into their bones as the redhead turned to lock eyes with Harry. The demigods tensed.
"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches...
Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies...
And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not...
And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives...
The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies..." Her eyes rolled back and she collapsed in her seat, the mist was sucked back into her mouth and she let out a gasp. "I said another prophecy didn't I?"
"Thankfully, it wasn't for us, and it was fairly straight forward," Butch grumbled.
"I-is that the prophecy? The one about me and Voldemort?" Harry turned to Dumbledore. The old man sighed and nodded.
"So why did you ask us to help you then? The prophecy clearly stated what would happen, are you even training Harry to handle the prophecy?"
"The Dark Lord heard of you when the Ministry invited you over, we just didn't want to have you on the wrong side. You would prove to be powerful enemies." Snape slowly answered.
"I do get your point, well we assure you that we won't join Voldemort." Some of the audience let out sighs of relief. "However we still refuse to fight in your war, but we will offer you some help in training Harry."
"Training him?" Scepticism laced Sirius' voice.
"Marchioness Annabeth is correct, Harry will need to be more careful this year if he wants to protect others," Rachel spoke up, eyes flashing green for a few seconds.
"What sort of help are you offering?" Tonks queried.
"Just some basics: teaching him a few advanced spells that may help, nonverbal magic, Legilimency, Occlumency, hand to hand combat and using a weapon. We may also need to train him in strategy, he'll be a key player in your war so people may look up to him as a leader." Annabeth then began to start mumbling to herself.
"And why should I allow you lot to train my godson when you refuse to give us help in our time of need?"
"Because it may very well depend on a lot of lives, especially yours Sirius Black, your death draws near." Nico ominously answered.
"Is that a threat?!" His hand itched for his wand.
"No, it's a fact, I can sense when someone is going to die. If Harry isn't careful you'll be dead by the end of the school year." Silence enveloped the room as Nico's words sunk in.
"Well now that it has been cleared, I'll have to ask all non-members of the Order of the Phoenix to leave the room." The half-bloods raised their eyebrows at the demand, the Weasley twins already starting to argue with their mother.
"And what gives you the authority to decide who can reside in what room, especially when you let yourselves into my premises." Lady Wyvern stated. "But since I'm so nice I'll allow it this once, Cedella darling, why don't you lead everyone into the living room." Cedella nodded and indicated for everyone to follow. The Gryffindor students reluctantly followed, the remaining arguments they had were met with equally good ones.
She shut the door behind them and lay across Blaise's and Draco's laps.
"So we're not even gonna know what's going on?" Ginny scowled.
"Well I don't know about you lot but we will."
"And how exactly will you be doing that?" Hermione haughtily asked.
"My mother never calls me darling."
"All she calls us now is Headache 1,2,3 and 4." Agape sighed.
"Wow, I can feel her love for you over here," Harry said sarcastically.
"She just has her own way of showing us her love, every parent does." Aiden rolled his eyes.
"I still refuse to forgive you and mum for that prank you did on me." Annabeth sighed and rolled her eyes.
"It was a harmless seaweed brain, you got your cookies back afterward."
"Yeah but it was blue cookies, you don't joke with those." The other demigods nodded, blue cookies were taken seriously in the Greek/Roman world.
"Blue cookies?" Ron's baffled voice questioned.
"Uhhh it's a bit of an inside joke between me and my mum, it kinda just stuck really." Percy blushed and scratched his cheek, Annabeth giggled and kissed his cheek in return Percy gave her a chaste kiss.
"Seriously bro, are you trying to outdo all of us here?" Jason quirked an eyebrow.
"Bro, you know I never would." They stared at each other intensely for a couple of seconds they then nodded solemnly.
Thalia turned to look at Piper and Annabeth who already looked ready to jump out the window "It's never too late to join the Hunters." She deadpanned.
"Hah, you guys don't have anything on me and Frank's bromance." Leo threw an arm around Frank who already looked uncomfortable.
"Don't touch me, and we don't have a bromance Valdez." The Latino boy deflated.
"That's because ours clearly outshines yours." The Stolls said in unison, mischievous grins spread across their faces.
The Weasley twins gasped. "Gred what is this?"
"I'm afraid that I don't know Feorge?"
"Is this perhaps another set of twins-"
"-that think they can outshine us?"
"You all might as well back down, we all know that Nico and I would win," Reyna said, they were all about to argue but a dangerous glint shone in her dark eyes forcing them all to begrudgingly agree.
Thalia snorted and folded her arms, crossing one leg over the other. "Do you honestly think that you have something more than Annie-"
"Don't call me that!"
"-and I have, you might as well back down Arellano." A wicked grin grew onto her face.
"Come on Haze, we can't let them beat us." Piper wrapped an arm around the poor girl.
"I'm good thanks, Piper." She murmured.
"Are we gonna compete too Drakes? I know for sure we have a pretty good bromance going on." Blaise winked at the blonde.
"We have a romance Zabini, at least get the phrasing right. Besides I have a better bromance with Pansy or Luna." He glared at his boyfriend who threw an arm around him and reluctantly snuggled into him.
"Would you look at that dear brother-"
"-I do believe that we have won the bet."
"What bet?" Cedella turned her blank face to the Weasley twins.
"Lavender Brown has a betting pool set up of Hogwarts most likely couples. You guys have been quite the topic in the gossip of last year." Ginny supplied.
"Even our dear Ickle Ronnikins is in one." Ron scowled at George.
"I'm bored. Got any good horror films?" Lou Ellen stretched out on one of the sofa's, putting her feet up on the sleeping Clovis' lap.
"Ooh, let's watch the Hannibal series."
"We watch that all the time Cedella, how about Coraline."
"No, Get Out and then Us, those are good ones."
"The Shining is a classic though!"
"Ummm Hereditary anyone?"
"It's rated an 18, I'm not risking mum coming for my eyes."
"...Why the eyes? Isn't it usually the head?" Piper squinted her eyes at the squabbling siblings.
Before any of the Wyvern's could answer the door opened to reveal Remus. "The meeting has ended, it's time to go back now."
"Good riddance." Cedella waved at them, the Golden Trio scowled at her before following Remus out of the room.
"Cedella, how could you be so cruel?" Fred began.
"Who wouldn't want to see these lovely faces?" George held his face in his hands, sticking out his bottom lip and fluttering his eyelashes at her. Cedella snorted at him, shaking her head at them.
"You're both annoying, see you at school." She nodded her head as the twins mocked bowed and dashed out, Ginny nodded her head at the older girl who nodded right back.
"So, I was thinking we start with the Shining and then go onto Midsommar, the cover looks quite pretty." Lou Ellen flicked through the options available on T.V.
"Lou! Midsommar is rated at 18, we can't watch that!" Will scolded her.
Dana nodded, "It had a lot of blood and graphic violence scenes in it, they kicked me out halfway through." She accusingly pointed a finger at her older siblings.
"There are some things that you shouldn't see in that Dana, preserve your innocence."