Happy first day of spring, everybody!
Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or Harry Potter.
This was edited by Mellie Erdmann.
Go check out "Percy Jackson and the Sorcerer's Stone" before reading this one (or "Harry Potter and the Lightning Thief"). Sirius-ly. Or, if you don't want to, just read the blurb for it-
Percy Jackson has never, ever wanted to fly on a broomstick. He's never worn a cloak of any sort, befriended a giant, or helped hatch a dragon. All Percy knows is that he woke up in a tiny closet under the stairs instead of on a bus heading to NYC. Now he's in Britain with no idea how to get back.
But once Percy stumbles upon a place called the Burrow, he learns that he's been roped into going somewhere he never would have believed existed. There he finds friends, incredible creatures, and magic wherever he looks; but there's also the issue of pretending to be the magical savior to everyone- even to the worse wizard of the century.
Chapter One: The Worst Birthday
After a year at Hogwarts, Percy Jackson thought the wizarding world could no longer surprise him. Apparently he was wrong, because the wizarding world had zoos like Muggle ones but with magical beasts.
Perseus 'Percy' Jackson had once been a fairly normal boy- okay, one with ADHD, dyslexia, and occasional flashes of otherworldly powers. Then again, Percy might have never been normal but until a little over a year ago he had thought so.
Then he had switched places with a young orphaned wizard named Harry Potter, who was famous for somehow causing Lord Voldemort's defeat when he was just one year old, after Lord Voldemort and his followers had slaughtered a good portion of Great Britain's population, including Harry's parents. So now Percy had to pretend to be Harry in public with only a select few knowing the truth. This illusion had caused him to confront a weak but still dangerous Lord Voldemort just a month ago, but he had come away from the attack with his true identity a secret from the evil wizard. In short, he was as abnormal as it was possible to be by anyone's standards.
Today was his friend Neville Longbottom's twelfth birthday, so he was having a birthday party at the Sodwall Island Zoo. It was an island between England and the Isle of Man, concealed from Muggles or nonmagical folk. A few of Neville's cousins, his grandmother, the Weasley family, Dean Thomas, Seamus Finnegan, Hannah Abbott, Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy, and Percy were all there. First they were having a luncheon before exploring the zoo. Percy hadn't gone to a zoo in a while, but he had no idea what to expect from a magical zoo.
The bushy-haired Hermione was reading a small red book as she ate her fish and chips, listing off facts about various magical creatures to redheaded Ron. Pale-haired Draco was attempting to make conservation with Ron and Neville's dorm mates Seamus and Dean, but since they were Gryffindors and Draco was a Slytherin it was going poorly. Hogwarts, Britain's academy for young wizards and witches, had the four 'houses' of Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Percy himself was a Hufflepuff, and was wearing a yellow T-shirt with black slacks in honor of that fact.
The birthday boy had opened his presents from his friends and family and was eating with his cousins as they caught up with one another.
The formidable Augusta Longbottom had softened slightly when Mrs. Weasley let her hold tiny Uther for a time. The Weasley twins, Fred and George, had finished eating and were now climbing an oak tree to get a peek at the zoo.
The picnic tables were situated just outside the high cobbled walls where a chorus of strange noises and human chatter came from. Sitting across from Percy, Ron grinned, "This is going to be fun! We haven't been to a zoo in ages."
"I've never been to a magical zoo before," agreed Percy. "This should be fun."
"Yeah," agreed Hannah bouncily. "Harry, Ron, tell me about McGonagall's giant chess set again?"
Looking rather pleased at the request Ron complied, with Percy adding in details now and then. It had been stressful at the time, but looking back Percy couldn't help but hope that he'd have another adventure soon.
Finally Mrs. Longbottom bought their tickets and they went into the zoo. First they got magical animal-shaped balloon hats, ones that made the proper calls of the beast they looked like. Percy got a grey Pegasus one that flapped its wings as well as occasionally whinnied.
Then they went to the petting zoo. There were just one X and two X creatures there (the X system marked how tame or dangerous a magical creature was): dodos (though they were actually teleporting Diricawls), ugly flobberworms, mushroom-shaped horklumps, fluffy custard-colored Puffskeins, tiny humanoid imps with sharp senses of humor, and even a beautiful if shy Mooncalf.
From there they explored the rest of the zoo. Percy hadn't realized just how many magical beasts there were, most of which were highly unusual and/or dangerous. There were even two dragons, a Hebridean Black who had lost a wing as a baby and thus could not survive in the wild and a Chinese Fireball on loan from its sister zoo in Tibet. Percy was highly impressed, though he stayed far away from their magically reinforced glass domes. He had gotten enough of being close to a dragon with the renamed Norberta. While Bill and Charlie had been visiting earlier in the month to meet Percy and Uther, the latter had checked on Hagrid's dragon to discover that Norbert was actually a girl.
While everyone else oohed and aahed over the acrobatic Chinese Fireball, Percy wandered off to the exhibit across from the dragons. It was a deep lagoon with one side held up by glass so that visitors could see what was going on under the water. Curiously Percy approached.
"Hello!" came a voice. Though he hadn't experimented with it much, Percy apparently had always been able to talk to aquatic and equine creatures but Harry's powers had added snakes to that list.
"Hello." Percy returned the sentiment. A gorgeous creature, one with the forequarters of a palomino mare and the hindquarters of a golden fish, came into view. More like it, but in different colors, appeared to greet Percy as well.
He glanced over at the exhibit's label, since a charm on his thick-rimmed glasses negated his carried-over dyslexia. These were hippocampi.
"You are wonderful creatures," Percy told them sincerely. Flattered, they swam around. He asked, "Are you happy here?"
"Of course- we put on shows twice a day, and everyone cheers," said a black male hippocampus smugly.
The palomino mare nudged the black stallion playfully in the neck. "We have plenty of companions, plenty of space to swim, lots to eat, and the caretakers are nice. Thank you for your concern."
"You all are lovely," went Percy, placing a hand on the cool glass. Just then Percival came up to him. "Come on, P- Harry. We're moving on. There are winged horse rides!"
"Really? Are there hippocampus rides too?" Percy asked once he said farewell to the hippocampi. As they hurried to rejoin the group the older boy replied, "I doubt it. People would get drenched…"
Percy felt a little sulky after this, but he perked up when he saw the winged horses swooping around in their domed arena. There were grey ones, chestnut ones, huge palominos, and more.
"Wow," went Draco. "So do we get to pick or…?"
"I think there's a group of Aethonans we can choose from," said Mrs. Weasley, adjusting a sleepy Uther in his sling. "Come along."
Percy didn't particularly care for heights, but he couldn't give up a chance to ride a real winged horse. For a minute he just closed his eyes and listened to the winged horses talk to one another. Quietly Hermione asked, "What are they saying?"
"Oh, just talking about flying and food and which subtype of Pegasus is the best."
"They're called winged horses, Harry."
"Sorry, winged horse," Percy corrected himself at Hermione's glare. He knew he'd still call them Pegasus in his mind. It was what they had always been called in Mr. Brunner's Latin class.
But before they reached the wizard in charge of the ride he heard Neville timidly tell his grandmother, "I'm not sure about this, Grandmother."
"Nonsense, Neville. Neither of your parents would be worried about riding a winged horse."
"I'd rather go see the conservatory," Neville confessed anxiously, eying the winged horses dubiously. Percy had to admit he wasn't a huge fan of flying either, but he did like horses. However, Neville clearly didn't want to fly at all.
So he spoke up, "Mrs. Longbottom, I wouldn't mind going off with Neville to see the plants while everyone else rides the winged horses."
"Are you sure, Potter?"
"I wouldn't have suggested it if I wasn't," shrugged Percy. "Come on, Neville."
With evident relief Neville followed Percy out of the arena. As they walked towards the conservatory Neville sighed wearily. Quietly Percy asked, "Does she compare you to your parents a lot?"
"Yes."
Percy wasn't quite sure how to phrase his next question without being insensitive or tactless but Neville took a bit of pity on him. "She's raised me since I was about one and a half."
"What happened? I mean, all Mom told me about my dad was that he went on a business trip by boat and got lost at sea when I was tiny…"
Neville stopped in front of the griffin exhibit. He stuck his hands into his pockets and stared down at the floor. Awkwardly Percy said, "You don't have to tell me. Let's go to the conservatory."
Neville did perk up somewhat surrounded by all the rare and magical plants, but something was still bugging him. Percy finally commented, "Come on, Neville. It's your twelfth birthday! Be happy."
"I'm trying… it's just we're going to go visit my parents this evening, Gran and I, just like we do every birthday. Well, it's usually the last Saturday of the month but except on my birthday and now that I'm at Hogwarts she goes alone…"
Percy didn't quite get it. Neville shrugged uneasily. "I… I don't want to talk about it."
"Right, sorry. Come on, let's see if they have any Devil's Snare."
Percy only partially listened to Neville's ramblings on the various plants, instead wondering why Mrs. Longbottom persisted in the visits if they consistently ruined Neville's birthday for the boy.
He eyed Harry's reflection in a glass pane. Harry was small for someone who was a day younger than Neville, with bright green eyes and the messiest black hair Percy had ever seen. Of course, he had a lightning-bolt shaped scar left from when You Know Who had tried to kill Harry at the age of one year old right after killing Harry's parents.
Nearly no one spoke his name, even all these years after his powers had failed in the moment he had tried to kill Harry Potter. Although Percy had faced him, he still didn't feel right saying that name, because names did have power.
It would be another month before Percy and his friends would return to Hogwarts. Percy couldn't wait- it was the first time pretty much ever he had gone to the same school for more than a year. And Hogwarts was magical in and of itself, which had caused Percy and his friends to have quite a few adventures. Hopefully there'd be more adventures this year but Percy was also hoping that they'd be less life-threatening.
"What are you thinking about?" Neville interrupted his thoughts.
"Thinking about what might happen this year…"
"Yeah, I hope I get to come along on some adventures this year," Neville commented. "I mean, I would have been scared but how scared could I get with you guys there with me?"
"True. Having you along would have helped with Sprout's challenge at least," observed Percy, nodding at the well-penned Devil's Snare ahead. Neville just blushed and smiled.
About half an hour later Percival came and got them. "We're done riding the winged horses- we're going to go see the Niffler colony now."
"Great," went Neville.
As he followed them, Percy mumbled to himself, "Nifflers? What is it with wizards and weird names? At least with mythology it's just another language…"
The rest of the zoo trip passed smoothly, and before long everyone went their separate ways by way of the Floo Network after saying some final 'happy birthdays' to Neville.