Percy's POV

I could hear The Fates laughing on top of Olympus as they knitted more unnecessary magic into my life. If there was one aspect of the mythological world that made me ~really~ anxious, it was magic. 

Magic was such a broad term, but to be honest,
very little of it was actually helpful (or pleasant). The Mist, something magical that has acted as a relative constant in my life, brought a multitude of inconvenience with it. Plus there was the whole magically making all the mortals in New York lose consciousness thing, during the Titan War. Not to mention the more recent Egyptian Magicians, Norse magic, magic curses (not to mention the Death Mist). Some of these things were so alien to me that I barely understood them, even though I witnessed them first hand.

   But, this magic, the magic that the 'wizards' used, was complicated. Really, their whole lives revolved around 'magic'— like that wasn't weird at all.

During the Uber ride to the restaurant we were stopping at for lunch, Mom and Paul filled me in on what was going on with my cousin. Paul was sitting close to my mom, his voice raised slightly higher than normal as he attempted to both talk and (not so) discreetly examine her for damage.

    Meanwhile, I snapped my fingers and concentrated on what would've been an enthralling conversation about the weather, chess and our President, Matthew Ellis. I crossed my fingers, hoping that my slight application of the Mist, combined with the driver's rap music would prevent the driver from listening in on our conversation . I didn't think that the wizardry was automatically covered by the Mist.

"—So pretty much there's a wizard Hitler," I summarized,"Who's set on killing Harry and basically everyone who isn't a 'pure' enough wizard?"

   Mom sent me the stink eye at my crude summary, while Paul let out a small, derisive laugh at my words-

"Lets just hope that they don't let history repeat itself-"

We all looked at each other for a moment, the driver's rap music continuing to blare over the car's speakers eerily as we turned down another street. Mom interrupted, rolling her eyes and gave a small, incredible snort.  

"Don't be dramatic; these Order Of The Phoenix people must know what they are doing,"

   The car slowed to a stop, parking on the street next to the restaurant. The driver begrudgingly lowered the volume of his music, looking almost pained as he turned around to give us the bill. I sat, turning my own wallet around in my hand, as Paul handed a £20 note to the driver

   I felt torn, as Paul automatically paid. On one hand, I appreciated not being expected to pay automatically. On the other hand, there were plenty of other uses for his money– like his future daughter.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

"What's the plan for the next two days?" Paul asked suddenly as we flipped through our menus at the restaurant.

   It was a quaint place with contemporary, blue decor, pleasant wait staff and inexpensive pricing. All in all, my kind of restaurant. Too bad it wasn't located in New York City, though, that would be the real cherry on top.

"We should probably head back to Surrey to —talk— with Petunia," Mom said, pausing for a moment.

Paul nodded his head in agreement, oblivious to the bing of my phone in my pocket as I quickly silenced it.

"It would be nice of you to speak with Dudley, Perce," Paul encouraged, "It would do him some good to have a positive influence."

"Me, a positive influence?" I gasped dramatically, ignoring continued buzzing of my phone, "Have you seen my record?"

"It's not like anyone needs to know," Mom said, winking at us conspiringly before excusing herself to go to the bathroom.

"Honestly, I'm just going to advise Dudley to take child psychology and offer to tutor him in Latin, or something."

   Paul frowned and shook his head, looking mildly disappointed, but didn't comment, choosing instead to discuss another issue from our newfound buffet.

"I think Harry's custody is going to be the real issue here,"

"With everything going on, New York is off the table," I interjected.

"It's all alien to me... We'll figure something out–"

Paul trailed off, eyes widening slightly, as a sheet of some soft mist gathered in the center of our booth. I found myself rolling my eyes at both Paul's surprised reaction and Leo's bright, overly cheerful smile as he interrupted our lunch. Hopefully Mom didn't get lost on her way to the bathroom and made her way back soon.

'Hey, Perce,' Leo began, fidgeting on his bed in our shared room back in Manhattan,'I just sent you a text-"

"That I ignored for all of five minutes..."

'-After I found out you had a funeral after that Mount Saint Helens thing a few years back,'

Paul inhaled sharply at this exclamation (I couldn't blame him, the context was weird) while I noted duly that Leo's half of the room appeared to be spreading towards my half.

'And that's rough, man, but then I remembered that Frank mentioned jokingly in passing that in New Rome people can only get one funeral. Y'know, like don't be greedy about it,

'But you, my only foster brother, ignored my messages,' He continued dramatically, 'So I hacked your phone for your location and IMed you instead to warn about the hazards everyone will face when planning your funeral if you die.'

I stared at Leo through the Mist, gaping, as I thought of a reply to this truly astonishing rant. Paul looked like he was preparing to interrupt this little heart felt discussion with some careful words, but then Mom came back to our booth.

"Oh- Leo!" She exclaimed, sitting down next to me to be visible in the Iris Message, "We've been meaning to call but things are really hectic here at the moment... Do you need anything? Is everything okay?"

'Everything's fine over here, it's just...' He rushed to reassure, voice cracking slightly, 'I've really missed you guys.'

"We've missed you too, kid," Paul comforted from the other side of the table.

"We'll be back in time for capture the flag and movie night on Friday," I added.

  Though I hoped that Leo's stunt with hacking my phone didn't sent too many monsters after me before then. I was really getting sick of fighting without backup.

   There was a soft knocking sound from Leo's side of the call.

'Thanks guys, Calypso is here so I've gotta go, I really miss you,'

"Bye Leo," Mom, Paul and I chorused as he swiped his hand through the mist, ending the call.

   'Family sure is weird,' was my only thought on the topic as the waitress came around to take our orders.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

   Thanks for reading! Sorry for the long time between chapters, I have no real excuse but I'll try to make up for in the upcoming weeks.

   There are a few hints through out this chapter on what was going on in New York City that has Percy worried about Harry moving over the pond. I have a side story that will elaborate on this. Any guesses? 

   If it wasn't clear, Percy's family is fostering Leo, since he is super smart but still needs a legal guardian.

  For age reference, Percy and Annabeth are 18 (or almost 18 in Percy's case). Piper and Jason are around 17 (I don't know their exact birthdays). Frank and Leo are just a bit younger then them, probably around 16 and a half. Hazel is around 15. (This is just my perception based on the books and the time frame.)

   Once again thanks for reading and sorry for the wait! <3