DISCLAIMER: - ALL RIGHTS BELONG TO JK ROWLING AND RICK RIORDAN
NOTE: - Well, this was originally supposed to be just a Halloween one-shot but unfortunately I couldn't fit the whole story in a single chapter, so I guess; now it'll have a couple of chapters more. But I am going to complete this story before continuing with my other stories. Don't worry though, I'll be posting up the chapters of my other stories soon enough, ^_^.
Percy's P.O.V:-
Percy Jackson was sitting in Dumbledore's office, along with his friends Annabeth, Leo, Nico, Hazel, and Frank. The demigods had been sent to Hogwarts by Chiron to help his best friend Albus Dumbledore in a war against some dark wizard named Voldemort, and if that wasn't enough, they were also supposed to help the students of Hogwarts, who were in danger because of this war.
To be honest, Percy didn't mind this quest at all. It was way better than going about killing insane immortal monsters in his opinion. He and the other demigods had immediately become great friends with most of the Hogwarts students in their year, especially the Gryffindors. However, there was a certain person in the Gryffindor house who seemed to have a problem with them, or to be precise, he had a problem only with Percy. He really couldn't understand what was wrong with the said person, and he often wondered as to why he always avoided and ignored Percy. His behavior used to leave Percy feeling all hurt, angered and confused.
As Percy was lost in these thoughts, a loud crack echoed in the office and Dumbledore appeared, clutching the tail of Fawkes, his phoenix.
"I thought it wasn't possible to apparate or disapparate within the grounds of Hogwarts?" Annabeth asked him, immediately reciting the stuff told to her by her newest best friend, Hermione Granger.
"Oh well, Fawkes is a totally different case," Dumbledore replied airily, "I hope you all didn't had to wait for a long time, right?"
Well, the truth was, Percy and co. had been waiting for almost an hour in the office, but by now they had learned to just ignore the many eccentricities of one Albus Dumbledore.
"No, Professor Dumbledore, we really didn't have to wait a lot," Hazel replied in a very polite voice.
"But why have we all been called over here?" Nico asked him.
However, before Dumbledore could answer, the door of his office burst open and in stepped a group of Hogwarts students.
Standing at the front of the group was Hermione Granger who beamed brightly at Annabeth. Percy couldn't help himself from rolling his eyes as he saw Annabeth nod back at her with a smile. 'These two just have to be related in some way! After all, they are so similar!' he thought to himself.
Standing behind her were Ronald Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Ginny Weasley, Luna Lovegood and, Percy's heart did a double-take as Percy saw him, Harry Potter. The emerald eyed boy was standing at the end of the group and was trying to peer inside to get a better look at things. He was smiling at the group of demigods that is until his eyes met Percy's.
For a second, Percy almost felt that Harry had blushed upon seeing him, but the next moment it was replaced by an angry glare and Harry turned to look away from him.
"Ah! Harry! Good that you and your friends came over here. I had wanted to discuss something important with all of you," Dumbledore said cheerfully and casually waved his wand, making extra seats appear for all of them.
Percy continued to stare at Harry as the other boy sat down, wondering what was wrong with him. It had been like this ever since the demigods had arrived at Hogwarts. Harry was actually quite nice and polite towards the other demigods, but while interacting with Percy he behaved like a totally different person. Some people felt that Harry might be jealous of him or something, but Percy knew that theory was totally ridiculous.
Also, there was the fact that even Percy felt a little strange whenever he looked at Harry. He couldn't describe it in words, but he always had this really stupid feeling upon seeing that boy. Percy was brought out from his thoughts, as Albus Dumbledore started speaking,
"So, I think you all must be already aware of the fact that this year Hogwarts has decided to keep a special party for Halloween."
"No! We didn't know that!" Ron shouted, looking excited at the prospect of a Halloween party.
"Wow! So they throw parties over here too!" Leo whispered loud enough for everyone to hear.
"What sort of a party is it going to be professor?" Ginny asked him.
"Oh, it will be like the usual Halloween parties Miss Weasley, complete with a fancy dress ball. It is open for all students from fifth year and above, so I think, you all would be able to attend it," Dumbledore replied.
Everyone looked quite happy and excited after hearing this, everyone except Harry. Percy didn't understand as to why the mention of Halloween had such an effect on the boy.
"Is it necessary to attend it?" Harry asked sounding quite glum.
"I am afraid that you will have to attend it Harry that is if you want to help your house in getting more points. Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick have arranged a set of inter-house games for the party. All the students are supposed to divide themselves in teams of two and the winning team will be rewarded with two hundred points for their houses and the permission to use the prefects' bathroom for the whole year."
"That's not much for us considering that we are already prefects," Ron said, pointing towards himself and Hermione.
"But two hundred points! Just think about that!" Neville whispered excitedly, "I wouldn't have to worry even if Snape continues to take points from me for the whole year."
"This certainly sounds interesting," Frank agreed.
"Professor, surely you wouldn't have called all of us over here just to give us a party invitation?" Percy asked him, feeling quite curious about the true intentions of the headmaster.
"Ah! No, you are right Mr. Jackson," Dumbledore said, "I decided to inform you all in advance about this party, because I myself want to decide who should team up with whom from you all, for the games during the party."
"But why'd you want to decide that?" Percy asked, now feeling even more confused.
"Because I am a meddling old coot who loves to interfere in the decisions taken by students," Dumbledore answered with a wink.
"As if we didn't know that one already," Ron muttered.
"Can you please provide us with a more logical reason?" Nico asked, sounding quite irritated.
"Alright, if you say so Mr. Di Angelo," Dumbledore replied, "The real reason for me wanting to decide your teams is that, this will help you work better with your partner, and will improve the unity in our little group of wizards and demigods."
Dumbledore's tone became a little graver as he added, "The second wizarding war has begin already. And if we really want to defeat Lord Voldemort, then we all must be united from within. I want to see you all working together as friends who understand and care about each other, and not just mere accomplices, who have been bunched up together for defeating an enemy."
"We all have already become great friends Professor," Hermione said earnestly, "But if you really want, then we are ready with whatever teams you come up with."
"Thank you Miss Granger," Dumbledore said, smiling at her and continuing, "So, let's see, I think that you should team up with Miss Chase for the party."
Hermione beamed upon hearing Dumbledore's suggestion. She shot a look at Annabeth, who was also looking extremely happy.
"That would be awesome Professor!" Annabeth exclaimed.
Dumbledore smiled at both of them before continuing, "And I think Mr. Zhang can team up with Miss Weasley, and Miss Levesque can team up with Mr. Weasley."
Ron and Hazel nodded at each other, both looking a little apprehensive as they didn't know each other that well. Frank and Ginny also smiled at each other a little awkwardly.
Continuing with his little pairings, Dumbledore added, "Mr. Valdez can team up with Mr. Longbottom and Miss Lovegood can team up with Mr. Di Angelo."
Leo gave thumbs up to Neville, who seemed quite nervous about being paired up with Leo. Nico looked a little confusedly towards Luna, who smiled back in her usual dreamy way.
Suddenly Percy saw Harry staring at him once again, this time with a horrified expression on his face. Percy couldn't understand what was wrong, that is until he realized that he and Harry were the only ones left without a team mate.
Percy realized what Dumbledore was going to say, just as the old man opened his mouth to speak again,
"And I think Harry, you should team up with Percy for the games," Dumbledore finished in a calm tone.
A stunned silence followed his words. Everyone in the room had shocked expressions on their faces, as they all were aware of the fact that Harry and Percy had some sort of 'problem' with each other.
"What?! No way!" Harry yelled.
Percy's anger increased further on seeing Harry's reaction, so he too shouted, "Yeah, I don't want to get paired up with him!"
"And that is exactly why I want you two to get together," Dumbledore answered, "I want the wizards and demigods to have a unity between themselves, but the two of you are not making things easier, at least from what your friends have been telling me."
Harry glared a little at his friends before responding to Dumbledore, "You can't force us to work together!" he exclaimed.
"I am afraid that you don't have an option over there Harry. Besides, there's the fact that you and Percy are two extremely powerful heroes, the sort of which are necessary for our side to win the war. That's the reason why I want both of you to put your differences aside and work together as a team."
"But…" Percy started.
"No Mr. Jackson," Dumbledore interrupted him before he could speak, "I have already made up my mind and I am not going to change my decision." He continued, "Now you all may go back to your respective common rooms. Oh, and don't forget to make your preparations for the upcoming party."
Ten minutes later found the group of demigods and wizards walking briskly towards their common rooms as it was quite late and they didn't wanted to take the risk of running into Filch or Mrs. Norris.
Percy was still fuming with anger. He just couldn't understand as to why he had been paired up with the one person in the castle who loved avoiding him like plague. He turned around to see Harry muttering something to Ron and Hermione.
"Don't worry Harry," Hermione was speaking in a soothing tone, "The two of you would get along fine. You just need to understand each other a little better."
"Bu-but I can't stand him! You don't understand Hermione, this is quite complicated and…" Harry cut off as he saw Percy staring at him, and hastily sped up in the direction of the Gryffindor tower
Percy was left staring stock still after the boy, feeling so angry that he was sure he was going to cause a serious flood in the Hogwarts bathrooms. Percy didn't know why but he didn't liked the idea of being ignored by Harry Potter. For some unknown reason he wanted the other boy to notice him, talk to him, smile at him in the same brilliant manner as he smiled at his friends, allow Percy to hold his hand and stare deeply in his eyes just before they kissed,… okay, perhaps he was being really weird now. Percy couldn't even understand why such stupid thoughts were getting filled up in his head. Maybe Aphrodite was messing up with his brain or something?
Percy was snapped out from these thoughts, as he heard Nico saying goodnight to all of them and heading towards the dungeons where the Slytherin common room was situated.
Moments later Annabeth said goodnight to the group, especially to Hermione ('These two seem to have become the latest BFFs of Hogwarts', Percy thought to himself) and hurried towards the Ravenclaw tower along with Luna.
A short while later, Hazel separated from the group and went towards the basement where the Hufflepuf common room was situated.
"So guys, looks like it's gonna be, a busy day tomorrow, isn't it?" Leo asked them.
"What do you mean?" Ron asked him, "Tomorrow's holiday right? And we haven't got much homework to do either."
"He is talking about the party and the games Ron," Hermione spoke, rolling her eyes.
"Yeah, I mean we'll have to get our costumes and all. Plus everyone will have to practice a bit with their partners, isn't it?" Leo said.
"Yeah, I guess so," Percy muttered, not really feeling enthusiastic about practising with his 'partner'.
Hermione was smiling at him with some sort of a knowing look on her face.
"What?" he asked her.
"Boys," she said, rolling her eyes, "The two of you are totally impossible!"
They soon reached the Gryffindor tower, and in the next few minutes Percy had crossed the length of the common room, hurried towards the boys' dormitory and almost jumped into his four-poster bed.
He could hear the other boys entering now, chatting a little and laughing at whatever new jokes Leo was making.
Percy however pulled the curtains of his four-poster bed tightly shut and just pretended to sleep. He really didn't want to be bothered by all of them right now. Tomorrow was going to be quite a difficult day for him, and he needed all the rest that he could get for that.
A.N:- Well, Hermione and Annabeth might sound a little OOC in this story. Also, just to make it clear, there isn't any Harry bashing in this story (How could there be? He is like my most favorite character from the HP series! Just like Percy is from the PJ series.), the reason for his behavior would be explained in the later chapters. Although, I think that if you are smart enough you might have already guessed why he's being rude towards Percy! :P
I wrote this because I wanted to write a Percy/Harry Halloween story for such a long time… *sighs dramatically*, anyways, hope you liked this chapter…PLEASE REVIEW!