A/N - Ok, so this is the first story I've attempted. As known, it's a crossover between PJO (HOO) and HP. It takes place after The Trials of Apollo so some spoilers there, and for HP, it takes place after the last book. Harry, Ron, and Hermione are going back to redo their seventh year along with the rest of the surviving students. Hopefully, it's not horrible. I'll upload the next chapter soon.
Disclaimer! - The characters and background plots do not belong to me and are purely repeats of the works of JKR and Rick Riordan. There may be some original characters of my own (or slight tweaking of backstories) and the plot is purely my own. Enjoy!
Chapter one – The Appearance
Waking up half-concealed by grass was not how I expected his day to start off. Shivering, I sat up, wrapping my arms tightly around me hopeful for some semblance of warmth. My eyes swept across the open field I had appeared in, taking into account the numerous towering mountains towards the east and the vast gleaming tarn in the west. Unbeknownst to me, my companions had started to rise behind me. My mind registered their mutterings the same instant I voiced the query: "where are we?"
"I'm terribly sorry to interrupt your slumber, but really this is just inappropriate." The snarky comment brought me back to my senses, however, Annabeth stole the questions right out of my mouth:
"Who are you and where are we!" She took up a defensive stance which I knew meant trouble would arrive if the mysterious foreign lady didn't answer her questions soon.
"Well Miss, you are currently standing on the grounds of Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, and as for who I am…" The unknown cranky lady stood up even taller (if that was possible), pursed her lips and looked down at the gathered group through thin spectacles, "I am Professor Minerva McGonagall, Headmistress of the school you are currently trespassing on. Now if you could kindly explain who you all are and your intended business here, we can smooth out any misunderstandings."
I glanced around, becoming finally aware of who stood beside me, not to mention the ginormous crowd that had gathered behind the scary lady. I came to the conclusion that a good impression is better than no impression, so I stepped forward, drawing scary lady's hawk-like stare like a magnet.
"I'm Percy Jackson and this is Annabeth Chase," I point out my companions as I list off their names, "that's Leo Valdez, Nico Di Angelo, Will Solace, Frank Zhang, Hazel Levesque, Piper McLean, and…a…" I stutter off as I remember why we were originally all together…and who was supposed to be here but wasn't. Jason. His unspoken name hovered in the air around us, immediately bringing us all crashing back to the reality that he was dead and gone forever, that our group was not assembled for just any random reason. McGonagall seemed to sense the sudden shift in the atmosphere and called out to the steadily growing crowd.
"Alright, that's enough students! Go back to the Great Hall at once! Anyone caught outside will get house points deducted and a week's worth of detentions! THAT MEANS NOW!" The students scrambled away from their Headmistress and the strange arrivals, curious but not stupid enough to disregard a direct dismissal.
"Now," McGonagall walked closer towards us, "why don't you follow me to my office and we can discuss this situation in private?" With that she marched off towards the brightly lit castle behind us, giving the rest of us no other option than to follow.
"This castle is amazing! The workmanship and detail that has gone into it are unbelievable. I wonder how long it took to construct!" Annabeth continued uttering nonsense the entire trip to the Headmistress's office. As much as I would have liked to understand what she was saying, all I could do was nod and hope my eyes didn't look as glazed as they felt. My ADHD was kicking in, I couldn't stop my mind from wandering as we passed through corridors covered in tapestries and WOW! Was that painting moving! The others seemed to be in various states of awe and disbelief, minus Leo, who for some reason looked slightly blank, he wasn't even building anything out of his toolbelt.
"Leo?" I muttered, slowing down to match the younger boy's shorter strides, "are you ok?" He glanced up at me before looking outside, gazing towards the far-reaching mountain ranges in the distance.
"I didn't even get to say a proper goodbye." Those few words made me feel like I'd been punched. Of course, I'm such an idiot, the funeral. Leo directed his gaze back to the carpeted stone floor and muttered spitefully, "we had finally gotten the opportunity to say goodbye, all of us together, but of course," he huffed a shallow laugh, "of course something would cause us to get swept to somewhere unknown without giving a proper goodbye." He scoffed again and clenched his hands, looking angrily at his surroundings. However, I didn't fail to glimpse the horrible sorrow filling his eyes, a sorrow that resounded within me. I didn't get the opportunity to say something to comfort him, and myself, due to our arrival at a doorway flanked by stone gargoyles.
"Lemon drops." The gargoyles leapt aside at McGonagall's words and we filed in behind her onto a spiral staircase that began to circle upwards, depositing us in front of a grand set of oak doors. McGonagall didn't pause and gracefully swept into a confounding office. Tiny devices were scattered everywhere – on tables, bookshelves, desks, windowsills. Each made soft ticking noises, creating a comforting backing track to what was about to be a difficult conversation.
We gathered around the large mahogany desk McGonagall has situated herself at and took our seats. She simply laced her fingers together upon the desk and stared expectantly at them. Annabeth cleared her throat and launched into an explanation of what had happened the hours leading up to our unexplainable arrival at Hogwarts' doorstep.
"Well, Professor McGonagall, to put it simply, we have no idea why or how we came to be here. I'm not sure if you are aware or not, but the Greek gods exist and sometimes have children. We are all children of the gods, otherwise known as demigods. We were at Camp Jupiter (a safe haven for us) in America, in the midst of the funeral of a dear friend of ours, Jason. We were all standing around, mostly in silence. People kept coming up to us offering their condolences and patting us on our backs for our good work." Annabeth's voice gained a slightly disgusted tone as we all remembered how the adults had simply brushed off Jason's death as an 'unfortunate accident that could not have been avoided'. Stifling her emotions, she took a deep breath and continued. "We then left to get some fresh air and just be with each other…an..and then, I don't know, we somehow woke up on the other side of the world, on the property of a school that, in our minds, could not possibly exist."
Professor McGonagall continued to peer at us in her disconcerting manner, taking in our disheveled, distraught appearances. Piper and Hazel's eyes were still red from countless tears, Leo remained motionless and gazing blankly at the ground. Frank looked as if he didn't know what to do with himself, he kept readjusting in his chair with a sad, confused look on his face. Nico and Will were holding hands tightly while examining the professor with just as much concentration. I glanced at Annabeth and saw her watching me wistfully, before reaching out and squeezing my hand reassuringly, both of us keeping an equally tight grip on the other.
"Well, until we are notified of any specific reasons as to your appearance, I say it would only be fitting for you all to attend this school in the meantime. We will tell the other students that you are transfers from America. You will be sorted into houses accordingly at the start of term feast, which should be beginning shortly. Just for your information, last year we were involved in a devastating battle that brought forth many casualties as well as a thankful victory. Most of the students involved are still currently studying here and a few have returned to repeat the year they missed due to the ongoing war. Among these returnees is Harry Potter. Now, he has been the centre of attention for too much of his life, so I would appreciate it if you could all extend an olive branch of friendship towards him and the others who were involved." Professor McGonagall paused briefly to gauge their reactions, before continuing in the same strict tone: "I'm aware that you all probably have harrowing stories of your own, judging by your lack of reaction to the acknowledgement of a war, so feel free to tell students your stories in your own time, if at all. Everything you need will be provided for you tomorrow. Do you have any questions regarding this arrangement?"
"Actually yes, Professor," Annabeth glanced around at her companions before continuing, "this is a school of magic, but we don't have magic. The others have abilities such as controlling water, the weather, fire, etc. But how do you expect us to perform the same tasks as the rest of the students?" I looked towards McGonagall as she considered this conundrum.
"I believe it would be easiest to simply tell them your school focused more specifically on elemental magic than direct charms and hexes. This way the students will not question the use of other, more comfortable abilities. I shall notify the other teachers of this and request that they prepare an alternative set of tasks for you to accomplish." She glanced around once more and seemed satisfied with our lack of dispute. "Now, if we are finished here, it's best we head down to the Great Hall, the other students will be wondering where their dinner is." With that, she stood up and lead us out of the office towards what I believed would be the hardest challenge – school.
A/N - Sooooo, that's the first chapter done. I'm not going to do these at the end of every chapter, but I hope you guys enjoyed it. Stuff will actually start happening in the next chapter so maybe it won't be as boring...? Who knows? Sorry about the Jason btw, I know most people loved him - but it's tragically canon, so, as they say: 'the show must go on'...