(A/N) I'm so so so so so so sorry for not updating in months D: It's just that I haven't read the books in forever (anime has occupied my life for the past year), and so I forgot a lot important stuff. This is only the first part of the chapter, that's why it's short, but I decided to at least give you guys something. Again, I'm sorry, and I'll try to get more up in January. Until then: I don't own PJO or HP.

Thalia shoved a knotted-up T-shirt into the deep recesses of her cluttered suitcase, growling in frustration when it wouldn't fit right. She realized that packing more neatly and orderly might've behooved her in the long run, but ignored it stubbornly and made another attempt at squeezing in a pair of jeans. It had been four days since the attack and they were expected to take a flight back to New York the next day. Thalia found this quite fortunate, as she was sick of dreary-old-England. There wasn't a thing to do and she couldn't stand staying at the Dursley residence much longer. Much too tidy, in her opinion. All of it just gave her a big headache. Unfortunately, though, she had withheld packing until currently, having opted to laze about and bother her fellow demigods instead during the span of the past days. Apparently, the Dursleys had won some lawn-related something or other (Thalia didn't even care what it was, it just sounded lame) and Sally thought it polite to accompany her sister and her sister's family to the event.
Even though she herself would be going, Sally, bless her heart, thought that it wasn't necessary for her three charges to come along with her. In place of that, they were assigned various duties while the event-goers were absent. Not Harry, though. Harry (and Thalia didn't find this peculiar in the least considering he was a teenager, after all) had taken sanctuary in his bedroom and refused to come out for some emo reason or another. Great, Thalia had thought drily, another Nico, we all need plenty of those.
Some time later, not quite feeling the need for sleep just yet, Thalia, Nico, and Percy sat awake in their temporary bedroom. Nico and Thalia had remained in their daytime clothing, too lazy to fetch something more sleep appropriate from their suitcases, and were both occupied by their respective technology. Percy, having just exited a much needed shower (and no, he wasn't lacking hygiene, the son of Poseidon just felt dehydrated), was lying on the floor in just his pajama bottoms, staring at the ceiling in boredom. The lights in the room were off, Nico's Nintendo DS and Thalia's IPod screens illuminating the room just enough to make out forms. They had been lulled into a tranquil stillness from the unfamiliar ease of it all, and had not in the slightest expected the sudden and sharp noise that sliced the silence.
CRASH
What?! Percy and Nico gave a painful start, recovering quickly and focusing their ears on the noises from downstairs. Unknown voices reached their senses, their eyes narrowing in confusion. Thalia, who had been listening Breaking Benjamin, did not hear the noise that caused her cousins to react. Instead, she noticed their forms jumping, as if startled, and yanked out her earphones, letting the headphones play against the bedspread. Also hearing the noises, she joined the others on the floor.
They heard light footsteps creak gently against the hallway's floorboards and they, curious as to what was going on and suspecting who was near, inched the door open slightly ajar to get a better look. Nico, paranoid of being found out and not able to catch a glimpse of the occurrences downstairs, cloaked him and the other two in shadows and urged them to slip out into the hallway discretely.
Once there, they spotted a familiar bespectacled, tousle-haired raven standing at the top of the stairs. A gruff voice was barking at him below, and the trio noted that a soft light glowed at the tip of something Harry was holding. Harry responded questioningly, saying a name the three thought they heard wrong. The name wasn't exactly unbelievable, but the shadows seemed to muffle their hearing a tad and they couldn't read Harry's lips from their angle. Stepping forward cautiously and peering over the Potter's shoulder at the congregation below, the half-bloods couldn't make out any distinguishing features the people of the group possessed. 'Twas too dark to see anything, really.
"I don't know so much about 'Professor'" the gruff voice said "never got around to much teaching did I? Now, get down here, we want to see you properly." Harry lowered the glowing stick a fraction, but remained wary. A hoarse voice called up to them
"Its alright Harry, we've come to take you away"
"Why are we all standing around in the dark? Lumos" a feminine voice said, and the area was brightened.
Finally, Nico thought. The son of Hades had avoided confronting Harry about what occurred days before, waiting to see if an explanation unfolded without his interference. He hadn't even told the others about what he knew, refraining even through the constant pestering for answers he had to endure.
Percy, not surprisingly, was extremely confused. Though recognizing the objects the others held, he still could not make out what they were. And who were these people? They all looked like characters out of a book, unique and very characteristic, and were distracting in appearance. The sea-eyed boy blanked out from the conversation the group held with his cousin, only to break his stupor when Nico started pulling them down the stairs, into the kitchen, where the strangers stood with his cousin. They started introductions, and Percy couldn't keep up with it all. A purple-haired girl named Tanks, a shabby guy named Loopin, a man with a weird eye named Allstar Moody. There was also a woman named Hestia, like the goddess. Was she the one with the green shawl, or the other one? Percy hadn't been paying very good attention. Why was he so tired? His brain felt muddled, but he fought to keep his concentration.
The guy with wolfish features, that was Lupie, kept glancing at the stairs, where the cloaked demigods might've stood before. He was looked like he was looking for something else, expectantly.
"Say, Harry, about your letter concerning another aunt, Salvia was it?" Lapin started, and the demigods stiffened. Harry nodded, just remembering having sent a note, and anxiously wondered if they had woken the Jacksons up with their commotion. "Could you please tell us about it?"