LEGIONS IN LEGENDS [PJO X HP]

EIGHTEEN: A SECRET EVERYONE KNOWS

IT WAS LATE WHEN HARRY AND RON RETURNED TO the Gryffindor Common Room. At first, Hermione had worried that maybe the Eidolon had done something to them, but it turns out that they both just wanted to practice Quidditch in their free time.

"That's stupid," she said bluntly. "You know that Harry could be possessed at any moment and your life would possibly be in danger, and you decide to play Quidditch? Why am I friends with such meatheads?"

An elvish grin settled on Ron's face. "Don't worry, 'Mione. Nothing strange happened at Quidditch! Although, something did happen when we were coming back..."

Harry cast his eyes downwards. "Luna's missing, apparently."

"What?"

"Ron and I were walking back to the Common Room, and I heard Padma say that she's nowhere to be found." He shrugged. "I don't exactly know if that's odd behaviour for Luna, but it's still a cause for concern."

Hermione nodded slowly. "Travis was last seen with Luna. We need to tell Katie- she'd know what to do."

She went to stand, and Harry tugged her arm hurriedly. "You think it's a good idea to tell Katie? We don't know her much, and this Eidolon stuff is sensitive information."

Hermione removed her hand from his grasp. "She knows already. I'll wake her up."

Katie didn't need any waking. She had been up for almost an hour, tossing and turning in her bed, hoping sleep would overcome her but to no avail. Every time her eyelids shut, she could only see flashes of the Second Giant War, and that alone was enough to steer her away from slumber.

"Katie?" Hermione whispered, tapping her on the shoulder. "We need to talk."

The Daughter of Demeter sat up, still tired and very much pained. "Hermione? Yeah, what's up?"

"Well, don't talk here, go to the Common Room or something," grumbled one of Katie's roommates. She turned over and placed a pillow over her ears.

"Sarah gets grumpy when she's tired," Katie provided. She slipped out of her duvet and followed Hermione down to the Common Room. Once they reached the bottom of the stairs, she found two certain boys waiting there, seeming unsure and nervous.

"Okay... What's going on?"

Ron exchanged glances with Harry. "'Mione said you knew about Eidolons, right?"

Katie stiffened, but she allowed him to continue speaking.

"Well, Luna's been missing for half the day, and we were starting to get worried. Hermione wanted you to help us, if you'd like."

"Oh." The demigod furrowed her brows. "Luna was last seen with—"

"Travis, exactly," Hermione interjected. "Do you know what could've happened to them? I know Travis is a prankster of some sort, but I have a bad feeling about this."

Katie nodded her head. "So do I. I'd like to assume that Travis just pulled a stupid prank on her, but there might be another answer."

The Golden Trio leaned in, eagerly waiting for her response.

She sighed. "I hate to think that this is even an option, but there's a chance that Travis has been possessed by an Eidolon."

No one said anything for a moment, all of them soaking up the information that Katie had just provided. It was complicated enough that Harry had been possessed, but Travis, too? That was just a recipe for disaster; a pot of soup filled with rotten ingredients that threatened to blow up and consume the students of Hogwarts. Soup was meant for consuming on a nice rainy day, not for consuming the entire student body of a magical school.

"Is there anything we can do to get rid of them? The Eidolons, I mean," Harry asked quietly. He detested the idea that his free will had been robbed completely, and he didn't wish for the possessive spirit to remain in his head for any longer.

Katie grimaced. How would she explain Charmspeak to them without exposing the undercover identity of the demigods? She wanted to help, sure, but she had rules to follow and orders to execute. She wasn't supposed to share her heritage unless it was absolutely necessary or inevitable, and she wasn't entirely sure if this was the right time.

"I don't know," she lied, for now. "I'll have to talk to the others about it."

"'The others'?" Ron repeated. His mouth opened wide and a yawn escaped his lips, before he spoke again. "Surely you don't mean telling Percy and the rest of them?"

She winced. "I do mean that."

"You think it's safe to?" Harry said curiously. "I mean, this is all a lot. If telling them about the Eidolons compromised their safety..."

Katie cleared her throat. She knew a lot about compromising people's safety, and she knew even more about dangerous secrecies. It was kinda funny how the Golden Trio was worried for the demigods, when ultimately they were the ones who had a giant secret to keep.

"They've known for a while, too," she said. Her hand left her pockets and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. "And we know how to take care of ourselves, trust me."

Irony was Katie Gardner, Daughter of Demeter, telling them to trust her. Guilt was her as well, but instead it was because she felt like she had told them too little.

Hermione could feel that the Gryffindor wasn't providing the whole truth, but she did not voice out her observation. Rather, she bobbed her head and allowed Katie to head back up to her dormitory, where she would hopefully fall asleep peacefully this time.

Once she was gone, Harry exhaled loudly and sank into one of the Common Room's many love seats. "I don't know if it's the Eidolon's doing, but sometimes I get this feeling that we shouldn't trust them as much as we do."

"Who, Katie and her friends?"

He nodded. "I dont know. It feels like they're hiding something from us, doesn't it?"

Hermione bit the inside of her cheeks. "Even if they are, let's hope we're making the right decision in trusting them."

But what the Golden Trio failed to understand was that the demigods were not a matter of 'right' or 'wrong'. They were on a scale of grey colours, spending their lives determining whether they were on one side or the other.

Soon enough, the wizards would have to learn that they, too, couldn't congregate each other into the 'good' and the 'bad'. Despite fighting for their respective sides during the Wizarding War, sometimes the heroes could slip up, and more rarely, the villains would redeem themselves.