Chapter Text
Remus Lupin did not exactly have a normal life. For one, he transformed into a bloodthirsty werewolf once every month.
When he was young, he was locked up in a cellar charmed to death with protective spells when he transformed. There hadn't been much to do in an empty cellar and the intense, insistent urge to eat, kill, attack, tear, shred wouldn't let go of Remus, he ended up attacking himself. Even with magical healing (their family couldn't afford St. Mungo's treatment each month and the healers there often refused to treat a werewolf; they had to make do with whatever healing magic his father could manage), he spent more than a week every month bed-ridden and utterly bored.
Of course, he became a major bookwork. Of course, he had read the Percy Jackson and associated series. Of course, he got knee deep into fanfictions when he discovered them. It was only natural.
After coming to Hogwarts, with better medical facilities, he got healthy (as healthy as a werewolf can get, what with complete anatomical rearrangement process every month) in a couple of days instead of a week every month. When his friends became animagi the previous year, his injuries became next to none. Moreover, being a marauder didn’t leave him much time to be bored.
But the love for reading remained.
It was during the vacation after the fifth year. The marauders had come over to Remus’s house for a few days of sleepover. Despite being the smallest of the four, Remus' house often ended up being the gathering spot. Sirius' house was out of question, Peter's mom was "annoyingly overbearing" as Sirius put it. Jame's house was nice, but Remus's parents were "cool" as Jame's put it, and so here they were.
The marauders were messing around in the woods; James had transformed and was hiding somewhere in the woods. He, Sirius and Peter were looking for him. ("it's just hide and seek" Remus tells them. "Does hide and seek have shapeshifting deers, Moony? Huh? Huh?" )
“Hello,” a voice awkwardly spoke somewhere away from them in the forest. “Could you show me the directions to a nearby settlement? Or tell me where I am? Or, if you can, just send me home?”
The voice sounded American. The three marauders exchanged confused glances and started walking towards the voice.
“Is the dude talking to Prongs?” Peter whispered.
“Don’t be stupid,” Sirius said, “why would a muggle talk to a deer?”
“I don’t think he’s a muggle though," Remus whispered, "how would a muggle 'send him home'? It's like he's expecting magical means of transport” But then again, wizards don’t go about talking to random animals either.
They could see the boy now. He wore a faded orange T-Shirt and was clutching something in his jeans pocket. He was, indeed, talking to James. The boy noticed their arrival and frowned at them.
“Can we help you?” Remus asked.
“Dude, why were you talking to a deer?” Sirius asked at the same time.
The boy was staring at them confusedly. He looked to James and then back to the marauders.
“Because, uh,” he said, looking at James, “he’s your friend, isn’t he? Prongs, I think?”
Within a blink of an eye, Sirius had his wand out and was pointing it at Percy. “How do you know that? Who are you?”
Remus cringed internally. Sirius being the drama queen he was easily raised to the bait. They could have salvaged their secret. The boy could have been taking a random guess or making a joke, or something.
“Dude! Chill out!” The boy said, turning towards Sirius. He held up one hand in surrender. He didn't seem too surprised about the fact that Sirius was threatening him with a tiny wooden stick. His other hand was still firmly in his pocket, holding something.
That’s when Remus noticed the faded but distinctive picture of a winged horse on his T-Shirt, and the words ‘CAMP HALF-BLOOD’.
“Camp half-blood?” Remus whispered, almost to himself. He then noticed the necklace with five beads, and the sea-green-blue eyes. “Percy Jackson?”
Now all members of the little party turned to him with surprise. Now that Remus made the connection, he also noticed the streak of grey hair on his head. 'Oh! That's why he keeps his hand in his pocket! He's holding riptide'
“Yes.” Percy said warily.
“What?” Sirius asked. James also turned his snout to him enquiringly.
“It’s this book I read when I was younger. Percy Jackson is a demigod, like, half-god half-mortal.”
“So you’re saying,” Sirius said slowly and just a little sarcastically, “that a character from a book, jumped out of the book and is standing right here in front of us?”
Remus paused, having not thought that far, “When you say it like that... I don’t know! Wait, how do you know that's James?” Remus asked.
Percy shrugged, “I have been dreaming about you guys.”
“What!” Peter squeaked. James turned his snout enquiringly towards him.
“Demigod visions. They predict the future, in a way.” Remus explained. “Hold on! If you’re Percy Jackson, where’s Annabeth?”
“Let me see,” Percy said, miming and patting his pant pockets, as if looking for something, “huh! I must have forgotten her in my desk drawer.”
Sirius laughed. “Who is Annabeth?” he asked Remus.
“My girlfriend.” Percy answered. He turned to James, “Can you become human again? You are kind of weirding me out there, standing like that.”
In one swift motion, Prongs transformed into a human, grinning. Remus has, of course, seen the process a million times. But he still marvelled at the smooth transition from a bulky stag to the short, lanky human.
Percy grinned, amused. “Woah, dude! Nice!”
“I thought you already saw that in your dreams.” Sirius asked suspiciously. He still hadn't put his wand away, though he had lowered it.
“It’s not like dreams have HD vision.” Percy explained.
Remus was confused. People transforming into animals should be normal for Percy. He was friends with Frank. Why was he so impressed?
"What does HD mean?" James asked. ("It's a TV thing" Peter explained. "What's a Teevee?")
Remus ignored the conversation. Now that he thought about it, Percy seemed young. “How old are you?”
“Sixteen.”
“Oh.”
That explains it, Remus thought. The Gods of Olympus haven’t started yet.
Remus was suddenly struck with the realization that he was meeting Percy freaking Jackson. He turned abruptly to Percy.
“Can you control water? Can you give a demonstration, please?” Remus said, as he bounced on his feet.
“Dude, you are a wizard.” James pointed out, “You can control water too.”
Oh.
Right.
“Wait! Oh, Merlin, you still have your Achilles curse!”
Percy frowned, “What do you mean ‘still’? Do I lose it? You know my future?”
Remus grimaced, forgetting (like many others) that Percy was deceptively observant. “I… don’t think I should tell you that.” Remus wasn't quite sure why he didn't tell him. Maybe it was all those lessons warning against "disruption of known reality due to time travel". Does this even count as time travel?
Percy nodded, “Fair.”
“Achilles curse?” Sirius asked, “The old Greek hero Achilles, with the vulnerable ankle and all?”
Sirius may not have read the books, but he had had a classical education, unwilling though it was.
“Yeah. Except Percy’s on his back.” Percy looked uncomfortable at his secret discussed so casually, something only Grover, his mother and Annabeth knew.
“Does your curse work on magic? Like, if I shoot a curse at you, would it work?” Sirius asked.
("What's an Achille's curse?" Peter asked. He was ignored.)
“I think it wouldn’t. I think the monsters count as magic and they can’t hurt him so…” Remus mused.
“We should try it out!” James said, already reaching for his wand.
“Guys!” Percy interjected, “Can we first try to figure out how I got here? And how I can go back?”
“And we are underage, so no magic!" Remus said, "It could be the work of a monster. Or goddess.” thinking of Hera and her tendency to randomly make people disappear.
“Goddess? Why goddess specifically? Not a god?” Peter asked. Percy looked thoughtfully at Peter, a little sadly even.
Before Remus could think too much about it a growl interrupted their conversation. Remus grinned at the sight of the monster, momentarily happy about looking at an actual Greek monster before recognizing the dangers of the situation.
Percy muttered angrily under his breath, taking out riptide.
Remus wasn't too concerned about the huge, dinosaur-like creature towering over them. Percy was with them; he'll handle it. Remus could enjoy the show.
Their holidays just got a whole lot more interesting.