I MOVED HIS BIRTHDAY FOR A REASON. MONTH AT LEAST. AND THE PERSONALITY AND MANY OTHER THINGS WILL CHANGE FOR PERCY WILL CHANGE A BIT. MILD MENTIONS OF ABUSE (MENTAL, PHYSICAL, AND/OR EMOTIONAL) IN SOME OF THE CHAPTERS (LIKE FLASHBACKS TO THEM OR MILD DESCRIPTIONS OF SOME IN CHAPTERS) THEY WON'T BE LONG.
Percy woke up on July 18th not even realizing anything about what day it is. The room he sleeps in is no different. The same smell of smoke and booze, the sound of Smelly Gabe snoring in the living room. So why should it matter what day it is if he has nothing to look forward to. As he looked at the calendar and saw what day it was he silently cried and celebrated at the same time. This day is his birthday, both a time for him to celebrate and mourn. Celebrate his 11th birthday and mourn the death of his mother, Sally Jackson. He remembers the day she died like it was yesterday. Considering it happened four years ago and traumatized him seeing as it was the man that he is living with that killed his mother and moved them to London.
Percy's real dad introduced himself to Percy after Sally's death. That and explained what he was, the demigod part that is since he knew about being a wizard and how he was from a noble family in the wizarding world, and after that he went to camp for a while after the introductions. Poseidon also explained that since he was only seven that he would have to wait until he was seventeen until he could leave Gabe. Well it was that or have monsters chase him because of how delectable he smelled to them. Percy knows that his mother only married Gabe because of his smell, so he thinks he can stay with the walrus man until he was seventeen. But he does go to camp occasionally. There he has gotten help to read through his Dyslexia, at his request, and has learned to fight. Gabe doesn't know that he goes to America for a camp. He thinks that Percy is going to a boarding school.
As he got up to do his regular routine before Gabe woke up. Wash himself and cook breakfast for Gabe. Even though Gabe plays the part of 'loving father' in public, he doesn't in private. Percy has the scars from Gabe Ugliano to prove otherwise, including one that goes across his face. Knowing that breakfast was done, and he was clean Percy went back to his 'room.' Otherwise known as Gabe's study to the inhabitants of the house. Anyways he went to gather his stuff because it's routine for him to leave the house because Gabe doesn't want to see the 'freak.' He was labeled that because of the odd things that happen around him. Percy knows why too. It's his magic gained from his mother that made the things happen, it was just his magic acting up. Percy remembers his mother using magic before Gabe. How she always entertained Percy with it. With the sparks or the chores that needed to be completed. And he remembers the letter he got before he left.
Percy pulled his hood over his head and left to go to the park that was close by. As soon as he sat on the swings he saw the familiar fiery red hair and the greasy black one heading towards the park. Percy personally didn't know them. Mainly because he avoids them seeing as he doesn't want their pity or to scare them away. This day seems to be different because as he is gathering his stuff to leave he sees the red head dragging her friend towards him and he hurries to gather his stuff. It is routine for him to do this but today seems to be an off day or the Fates just hate him on this day.
"Hello. I'm Lily." The red headed girl says as they are in front of him now. She sounds demanding, but he knows she is hurrying so he won't leave. He won't though, she is interesting him. "And this is Severus. You've left every time we've started approaching you in the past four years. What's your name?" She said it in such a rush Percy was barely able to keep up.
"Perseus Jackson. Though I like to be called Percy." Percy said in a hoarse voice. The minimal use since his mother's death has made it hoarse. Severus looked like he recognized his last name. Percy looked away as Lily tried to look at his face.
"If you don't mind, could you pull your hood off your head? I'd like to put a face to the name." Lily states. Percy hesitates, and Severus seems to sense this and speaks for the first time since their encounter.
"Lily, he may have a reason for the hood." Severus says in a slightly nasally voice. Percy assumes it was because of his nose, how big it was. Percy got off track and didn't hear the rest that Severus says and zones back in as he finished.
"I'm sorry, Percy. I didn't want to make you uncomfortable." Lily says.
"It's alright. I can take the hood off." Percy says. "Just… let me gather my thoughts please." Percy says and Lily nods. Percy is taking his hood off mainly because he can't have it on in Hogwarts seeing as that was what the letter was for and he told them that he'd need an escort. Percy finally takes a breath and pulls his hood down. He can tell the first thing they notice is the scar that runs over his right eye. They don't linger on that and Percy is thankful.
"It's nice to see you, Percy." Lily says a little teasing in her voice. Percy knows not to take it personally and it makes him smile for the first time in four years. Lily smiles at herself obviously pleased with herself at making him smile. Percy asks the time and when he gets it he jumps up in a bit of a panic. He must be at the house in five minutes, so he can cook lunch for Gabe and clean what he can of the house before supper.
"It was nice to meet you, Lily, Severus. But I must be going. I might be able to see you tomorrow. Depends on how tonight goes…" Percy trails off knowing he said too much and starts walking off cursing his ADHD, he doesn't know that they are following him. As he walks up the stairs twenty minutes late he sees Gabe watching out of the window. Percy knew that as soon as he was through the door that he would be in a lot of trouble. So, he gathered his wits and walked through the door. As he walked through the door he saw Gabe with a beer bottle and knew he was drunk. That also means physical wounds along with mental. The emotional has stopped affecting him for a while.
"What are you doing out so late, Freak?" Gabe says as he smashes the end of the bottle on the wall and jabs his arm with it. Even though it is a minor wound compared to others, this one stung because of the alcohol still on the bottle. Next thing Percy he is slashed at with the bottle and he is on the ground with a gash on his collarbone. Just as Gabe is about to strike again there is a knock on the door. "Get the door, Freak." Gabe says and waddles over to his recliner and sits while Percy struggles to his feet. As Percy gets to the door and opens it he sees a stern looking woman in some dark grey robes with her dark brown hair in a strict-looking bun and some glaring eyes.
"Hello Mr. Jackson. I'm Professor Minerva McGonagall, deputy headmistress of Hogwarts. I am-." The Professor stops as she sees the state of the boy and after that the house.
"Who's at the door, Freak?" Percy flinches a little as he sees the professor's eyes harden after she hears Gabe.
"Can I come in, Percy." She says in a soft voice. Percy nods and steps out of her way. He can only imagine her thoughts as she steps through the doorway to the living room. "Percy go gather your things. I'm going to take you somewhere safe." McGonagall says to him glaring at the walrus-like man.
As Percy comes back he sees Gabe standing with a raised hand about to hit the unsuspecting professor. Percy drops his backpack that holds his stuff and darts over to the professor and gets hit instead of her. McGonagall looks shocked as Percy sees her through the daze of being hit. Gabe quickly recovers from hitting the boy and grabs a beer bottle and brakes it. He quickly slashes the boy, coincidentally getting him on his scar over his eye. Percy can feel this one is going to be worse and is going to make the old scar look bad.
The deputy headmistress of Hogwarts grabs the boys stuff as Percy kicks Gabe back into his chair with all his might, knowing that it will take him forever to get back up. Percy hurriedly got up and ran to McGonagall. They quickly left the house and went towards the park. Lily and Severus wasn't there when they got there, and Percy was thankful that they weren't, which Percy was glad for. Percy sat down on a swing to catch his breath. Getting hit hard and knocking Gabe over took a lot of breath and then practically speed walking right after that didn't help at all. Not including the cut over his eye. He starts to tend to that.
"Are you alright, Perseus?" McGonagall asked Percy, who flinched at his full name.
"I'll be fine, Professor. But please call me Percy." McGonagall nodded at his request and decided to not question the flinching part. The boy's well-being is part of her concern, she is grateful that he had stood in front of a hit that was meant for her. She knows that she won't send him back to stay with that man.
"Give me a minute to send a message. Then we will go get school supplies and other things." Now, McGonagall doesn't normally buy things for future students, but this one she feels like she owes. Even though it was only a slap, it could have given her a nasty bruise. But he also saved her from that bottle. McGonagall quickly sends a message to Dumbledore and Madame Pomfrey for them to meet her at the Leaky Cauldron. She quickly moves over to the boy and moves his hands. She wasn't too surprised, more of the burst of protectiveness she feels at that moment, to find that he had it mostly taken care of. She pulled out her wand and summoned some clean rags for the boy to hold to his face. "Let's go. We need to meet some people. We are going to Apparate so we can get there faster. It'll be disorienting at first." She says in a softer voice than normal. Percy nods and stands and grabs his bag, slings it over one of his shoulders and nods at the professor. She offers her arm, he grabs it and they quickly leave.