With my new story posted I need to give a few thanks – and explanations. I normally won't write ultra big AN's but this is the starting one.
Ok this is a Percy Jackson Harry Potter x-over and I posted it in the PJ section because it stays on the first page more longer than on the Harry Potter page AND because there are more Percy Jackson people that read Harry Potter than there are Harry Potter people that read Percy Jackson.
At the moment you'll also notice there is nilch on Percy. All I have to say is – next chapter. You'll also recognise pretty much everything that happens in this chapter. So no I'm not stealing Jk's plot and changing the words around – this is where I need to start to get all of the info in. Some of the changes are significant to later revelations so look out for them (not that hard).
Finally I need to offer my thanks to two of my best friends – Jackson Dowie and Duke Shin who came up with a lot of the plot and idea – then trusted it into me to write out. I hope I haven't let them down.
Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own any thing you can recognise from Harry Potter, Percy Jackson or any other copyrighted book/movie etc. in this story – nor am I making any profit from my writing. It is purely for pleasure.
Harry Potter had always had a miserable life. Growing up (literally) beneath his huge cousin's shadow, and fist, he didn't have much of a chance to be happy. Lucky for him that was all about to change.
"BOY!"
Harry was startled out of his half-sleep state, and quickly scrambled to the cupboard door. He fumbled with the lock, and to his surprise, just when he thought it was jammed it flew open. Blinking at the bright light he ducked under the doorframe and hurried to the living room, following his Uncle's voice.
Stumbling through the doorway, still rubbing sleep from his eyes, Harry entered the living room.
"Breakfast. Now," barked Uncle Vernon, bushy brow bristling at the sight of the boy.
Harry entered the kitchen, pulling various pots and pans out to cook the usual bacon and eggs. He could hear his Aunt and Uncle speaking in the next room.
"Is Dudley up yet?"
"No, I just checked and he's still fast asleep. He looks so sweet I couldn't bear to wake him."
"Little tyke. It's his birthday, we'll let him sleep."
"Oh my, Duddykins! He's growing up so fast! Twelve already!"
Harry's stomach had dropped at these last remarks. Dudley's birthday! How could have he forgotten! It seemed as though he'd be spending another day in the company of Mrs Figgs.
Ever since he could remember he'd been dumped with Mrs Figgs while Dudley was off on his birthday trips. Each year Dudley would take his best friend on a trip to the movies or the pools for his birthday. Harry, meanwhile, was left with Mrs Figgs, and old cat-loving lady who would feed him cold tea and stale biscuits, while showing him pictures of her haggard-looking cats.
Harry was snapped out of his thoughts by the ringing phone and he listened to his Aunts tinny voice answer the call.
After a minute or so of disjointed conversation Aunt Petunia slammed down the phone.
"She can't take him," she spat bitterly.
"Take who?"
"The boy. Mrs Figgs broke her leg."
"What are we supposed to do with him then?" asked Uncle Vernon, panic rising in his voice.
"Supposed to do with who?" Dudley's thick, sleepy voice grunted from the doorway.
"Dudders!"
Harry – laden with steaming plates watched his Aunt fly at Dudley with her arms open while he came in from the kitchen.
Dudley endured the kisses she planted on his fat cheeks, but stuck to his question as soon as she back off.
"Who are you talking about?" Dudley persisted.
"Oh, no one Duddykins, how about you open your presents?" Aunt Petunia said quickly in an attempt to change the subject.
Dudley seemed to be holding an inner war – between the fun of pushing his parents and his greed for presents. He chose the presents.
Soon the living room was drowning in wrapping paper as Dudley unwrapped present after present, while the food was left forgotten.
After a surprisingly short amount of time, considering the large amount of presents, Dudley had finished unwrapping and was staring coldly down at his gifts.
"47" he stated, his vice quivering. "That's three less than last year."
Harry looked nervously up from his empty plate – foreseeing a Dudley temper tantrum.
Aunt Petunia could also sense the coming danger.
"Some of your presents are quite a bit bigger than last year Duddykins" she stammered, trying to save the situation.
Dudley's bottom lip trembled ominously.
"We can buy him four more while we're at the zoo can't we Petunia?" said Uncle Vernon gruffly.
"Yes, yes of course," said Aunt Petunia in a relieved sort of voice. "Anything for my little Dudders on his special day."
Dudley seemed to relax and sat down on one of the sofas.
"So who has to come with us?" he asked again.
Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia shared a glance. I was obvious to Harry they were thinking – now or never.
"Well Duddy dear," started Aunt Petunia, "Mrs Figgs broke her leg and Harry has to…" she was cut short by Dudley's horrified gasp.
"He'll ruin everything, it's not fair! It's my birthday and…" it seemed to be too much for Dudley to bear and he collapsed onto his mother, blubbering loudly.
Harry however knew that Dudley hadn't cried properly for years now and was pouring on the water works in an attempt to stop Harry from coming to the zoo.
"It's not fair," he sobbed again.
"I know Dudders but there but there isn't…" she froze and craned her neck, trying to hear something. "Was that the doorbell? They're here! Vernon get the door and bring them in!"
Dudley immediately stopped crying. He would never let one of his friends see him like that.
Uncle Vernon lead Dudley's friend through to the living room. With a jolt of recognition Harry watched as Piers greeted Dudley. He was a small, mousy boy who'd normally hold the person's arms when Dudley decided to punch them.
Dudley and Piers immediately started to talk loudly about his presents and what video games each other owned. Petunia and Vernon looked proudly on as their son pretended to shoot Piers with his fake gun, and pranced about in his new jacket.
"Well, I suppose we should…" Petunia started after a while. "Gosh, look at the time! Into the car boys!" and with that she shepherded Dudley and Piers towards the front door.
Harry looked up nervously at his Uncle, unsure of what he should do.
"Now boy," began Uncle Vernon grimly. "There's to be no funny business today understand?"
Harry nodded.
"You're to behave, and not ruin Dudley's day"
Harry nodded again and this time Uncle Vernon seemed to relax.
"Into the car then, and not a word, clear?" he growled.
Harry nodded for the third time and hurried off to the car
HPPJ
The trip to the zoo went uneventfully and they were soon wandering through the zoo.
The water exhibits were closed for the day for 'cleaning' which got Dudley in a great huff.
Aunt Petunia quickly pointed them to a nearby ice-cream store to cheer him up. Dudley and Piers got the biggest ice-creams on the menu and set off to the 'Africa' section of the zoo while Harry followed miserably.
Once they got to the lions Dudley and Piers pranced around – pulling faces and roaring at the huge beasts. Harry had to sit on a bench and 'behave' while Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon glared repeatedly at him – as though they were angry he even existed.
The same sort of thing happened at the monkey enclosure – there was zoo keepers with monkeys – letting children pat them and hold them and while Dudley and Piers went back time after time to pat the monkeys Harry had to sit aside and pretend he wasn't interested.
It seemed as though the trip to the zoo wasn't going to go as well as he'd imagined.
To Harry's surprise, however, when they walked past the zebra enclosure all the animals flocked towards him. At this strange occurrence Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon quickly hurried them on while throwing worried glances at Harry. Harry was sure that he heard the zebras whispering before he had to leave something that sounded like 'Master'…
Something similar happened – this time at the farm animal petting zoo.
Harry had just stepped through the gate to the petting zoo when all the horses in the enclosure lifted their heads and rushed towards him. Harry stood there helplessly as they fought and fawned over him and he definitely heard them saying 'Master' over and over.
Uncle Vernon – red-faced with anger over these two ordeals led them towards the reptile house muttering "Nothing horsey here, no more freakiness!"
As soon as they entered the house Dudley scooted off to find the biggest snake with Piers hot on his heels. Harry tired followed the two – while his thoughts were on the events that had just recently happened. He stopped behind Dudley in front of the enclosure of a sleeping boa constrictor.
Dudley and Piers began to bang on the glass – ignoring the 'Please do not hit the glass' signs – in an attempt to wake the huge boa constrictor.
They soon gave up and wandered off to another enclosure, muttering 'Stupid snake'. Harry sat down beside the boa constrictor's enclosure and – for reasons unknown to him – began to talk to it.
"Sorry about them. They don't know what it's like to be locked up with nowhere to go," he apologised.
To Harry's utmost surprise the python gave a little flick of its head as if to say 'I get that all the time'.
'You're the third animal I've communicated with today," he said gloomily. "S'pose I'm going mad."
This time Harry heard the snake reply – though how he heard through the thick glass Harry wasn't sure.
"You're not mad," hissed the snake. "Just… different."
Harry laughed.
"Yeah I suppose I am."
Harry heard a shout and Piers came running over.
"Hey Dudley, come look at the snake now!"
Dudley rushed over and pressed himself against the glass with Piers – looking greedily into the enclosure.
All of a sudden the glass completely vanished and Dudley and Piers went toppling into the exhibit. Harry stepped back – shocked – and watched as the huge boa constrictor slithered out of the enclosure.
"Thanks. See you later," hissed the snake.
"Yeah, see you later" replied Harry rather dazedly as the snake slid away.
Still shocked Harry looked up to see a beetroot-red Vernon Dursley glaring down at him.
"You…talk…" he choked then stopped.
"Up!" he hissed and grabbed Harry's arm pulling him up and dragging him towards the zoo exit.
"Vernon!" squealed Aunt Petunia as she struggled to pull Dudley out of the enclosure.
"I'll be right there dear," Vernon yelled. "Just putting this one in the car" and with that he dragged Harry out of the zoo – to the shock and worry of many of the zoo goers – shoved him in the car and slammed the door shut before striding off to the entranced again.
Harry waited for over an hour with a growing sense of dread. Whatever had happened with the snake had pushed Uncle Vernon over the edge and Harry knew what that meant – punishment.
Sure enough as soon as they got home and waved Piers goodbye, Uncle Vernon choked with rage managed to speak just six words.
"Petunia…brandy. Boy…cupboard. No food."
HPPJ
Harry sat alone in the cupboard, his stomach grumbling loudly and his head throbbing in pain and confusion over the day's events.
Had Harry really cause everything that had happened? How could he talk to the snake? Why did the horses all call him master, and how did he understand them in the first place?
Harry soon fell into a fitful sleep filled with hissing snakes, talking horses and a strange green light.
For the next week Harry was locked in his stuffy little cupboard, with Aunt Petunia shoving his meals in three times a day. When he was finally let out the Dursleys did not speak to him, although Dudley would occasionally throw him nervous looks. Harry therefore spent this part of his summer in his cupboard or wandering the streets near Privet Drive.
Harry woke one morning prepared for another long, hot and boring day hanging around Privet Drive.
He slowly rose from his unstable camp bed, reluctant to face the Dursleys' orders. Opening the door as quietly as he could Harry slowly crept towards the front door, hoping to slip out before the Dursleys noticed.
"Boy! Get the mail!"
Harry sighed and headed to the mail slot in the front door dejectedly.
Scooping up the mail pile he began to file through. Bill, bill, bill, postcard to Aunt Petunia, couple of letters to Uncle Vernon and a letter to a Mr H.J. Potter! Harry stopped dead in his tracks and stared at his letter.
It was an unusually heavy and made of a strange thick sort of parchment. What was even stranger was the address on the envelope. It said:
Mr H.J. Potter
Cupboard Under the Stairs
4 Privet Drive
Little Whinging
How did they know where Harry slept? Was whoever sent Harry this letter watching him? What was…
"BOY! How long does it take to bring in the mail?!"
Harry walked into the kitchen still staring at the letter. It was shut on the back with a red wax seal in the shape of a shield – it had a lion, raven badger and snake taking up all four corners of the shield.
"Dad, Harry's got a letter," whined Dudley looking over Harry's shoulder.
"Give me the mail boy," Uncle Vernon growled.
Harry passed him the mail – minus his letter.
"And the rest"
"But it's my letter you shouldn't read…" Before Harry could finish Uncle Vernon stood and snatched the letter out of his hand and promptly ripped it open.
Harry watched as Uncle Vernon's eyes scanned the page, his face getting whiter and whiter before he croaked in a terrified sort of way, "Petunia…it's them…"
Aunt Petunia gasped and rushed over to Uncle Vernon, which Harry found rather strange behaviour for a measly letter addressed to him of all people. After reading Harry's letter quickly Aunt Petunia seemed to realise that Harry and Dudley were there and promptly snapped at them.
"Dudley! Harry! Out of the room now!"
Cries of protest sprung from the boys at her words.
"It's my letter! I deserve to read it or at least know what it's about!"
"Muuuum, I want to see the letter too its not fair why can't I…"
"OUT!" bellowed Uncle Vernon, cutting over the complaints, while Aunt Petunia pushed Harry and Dudley out the door and slammed it behind them.
Dudley stood staring at the door with his mouth opening and closing noiselessly. For the first time in his life his parents hadn't listened to him, they actually ignored him, and he was shocked beyond words.
While Dudley was standing there frozen, Harry ran to the keyhole and peered through.
He could see his Aunt and Uncle bent over what he assumed was his letter, while they muttered quietly to each other. Harry only caught tiny bits of what they were saying, though he couldn't make much sense of what he did hear.
"Didn't want this nonsense…can't they leave us…stupid school…who do they think they are?"
School? thought Harry. Was this letter inviting me to a school? Why are they making so much fuss over a letter to a school!
While Harry was thing this Dudley overcame his stupor and pushed Harry aside, in want for the keyhole. Unfortunately for Dudley Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon heard the thump of Harry hitting the ground just outside the door and promptly stopped talking.
When they were allowed back in Uncle Vernon was ripping up Harry's letter. At Harry's shocked face he said:
"Oh it was nothing. Junk mail," and proceeded to rip the letter into tiny pieces. Once he was done he then swept what was left of the letter into the bin. He (along with Aunt Petunia) then pretended that the past 10 minutes hadn't happened and began to waffle on about drills.
Harry went to bed that night confused and angry, he hadn't been able to read his letter and he didn't even know what it was about, except that it had something to do with a school.
But why would a school be writing a letter to him? He'd never been that good at school – especially in subjects with lots of reading. He still did better than Dudley however so he'd have to do really badly or Uncle Vernon would tell him off for showing off and trying to look better than Dudley, so Harry was always careful not to stand out.
So why would a school want him?
The next morning it was Dudley who fetched the mail and he came back waving another letter for Harry trumpeting, "There's another one! Says to Mr H.J. Potter, Cupboard Under the Stairs!"
Uncle Vernon quickly snatched the letter from Dudley's fat fingers and promptly threw it into the fire. Before Harry could say anything Uncle Vernon glared at him and sent him to his cupboard before turning back to his toast.
Over the next week they were bombarded with letters, despite Uncle Vernon's best efforts to stop them.
He boarded up every hole, crack and opening in the house – so as a very surprised postman found out the only way for anything (or anyone) to get in or out of the house was through the front window. But still the letters came – in the post, in the milk. After sitting down for tea on the Sunday after the week of letters Uncle Vernon sighed happily. "No post today," he said and Harry's heart sunk. Whoever wanted to contact him had obviously given up and now Harry would never get to read his letter.
All of a sudden there was a popping noise and a letter appeared in front of Harry. Uncle Vernon – beetroot red with rage – grabbed it but with another pop another letter took its place. Soon the room was full of letters that had all arrived in the same way.
Harry reached out to get one but Uncle Vernon grabbed him and threw him into his cupboard before bellowing. "I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS RUBBISH! PACK YOUR THINGS, WE'RE LEAVING!"
By the end of the day they were packed and in the car, Harry with his small satchel of belongings sat squashed in the corner while Dudley had his many suitcases and bags of stuff.
Uncle Vernon had a strange twitch of happiness in his eye as they pulled out of the driveway.
"Now" he said. "I know how these people's minds work. They are obviously too thick to understand we don't want the letter and hiding somewhere they know is no good either. So because these people are from England hiding in their home country is useless – we can't stay in England. I've got the tickets and the plane leaves at 10. We're moving to America."
Dudley seemed to choke on nothing. "But…but" he stammered. "My friends…my TV, I can't watch my favourite shows over there!" He was too shocked to go on and fell limp in his seat.
Aunt Petunia seemed just as surprised. "But, darling," she said in the tone of one speaking to a mad person. "Your job, our home – what will we do for money?"
"I've got that sorted out," said Uncle Vernon smugly. "I've got a one year promotion to start a branch of my company in New York – and then we can move back – as by then these people will know we're not interested."
A shocked silence filled the car before Aunt Petunia piped up, "Honey, dear, how did you organise this in such short notice?"
"Well I'd been offered the job on Friday and had been told to think about it over the weekend. All I had to do was ring and say yes and they got us on the soonest plane to New York."
Nobody talked for the rest of the trip, though Dudley whimpered quietly in the back and Uncle Vernon hummed happily quite a bit.
Well, thought Harry as they boarded the plane. This is it. I'll never know what the letters were about. Uncle Vernon is right. They'll stop now we've moved country. Soon he Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and Dudley were seated in business class seats – courtesy of Uncle Vernon's company.
The hours merged into one timeless ride – full of an ever-eating Dudley, a snoring Uncle Vernon and an Aunt Petunia determined to suck every free gift out of the flight. Harry however stared blankly at the seat in front of him, his heart sinking more and more as they got further away from London.
Before he knew it they were departing the plane in New York and bustling through customs before attempting to hail a taxi to their new home. Colours and details were blurred through the dirty windows of the taxi and Harry had only just begun to take in what he had seen of New York when the cab stopped outside a shabby block of apartments.
"Its all they could get on short notice," said Uncle Vernon after paying the taxi driver. "But it's fully furnished and has four bedrooms."
They started lugging their belongings up the stairs to apartment 7 and were halfway done when a boy came out of apartment 6. He looks just like me! thought Harry, and he did – he was about the same height and age as Harry, had the same slim build, and face shape – and even Harry's messy black hair. The only things different were his eyes which were a sea green rather than Harry's emerald green (and weren't framed by glasses) and the absence of a lightening scar on his forehead.
The other boy froze and stared at Harry. "You look almost exactly like me!" he said shakily.
"Yeah," said Harry rather lamely – then he blushed for some reason unknown to him.
The other boy craned his head to look behind Harry and saw Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon and Dudley staring at him – gob smacked – and still clutching their suitcases.
"Have you just moved here from England?" he asked.
"Yes," said Harry before remembering his manners. "I'm Harry Potter and this is my Aunt and Uncle and my cousin Dudley."
"Nice to meet you," said the other boy good-naturedly, but with a twinge of amazement still in his voice. "I'm Percy Jackson."
Did you like it? If so tell me. Did you hate it? Let me know. Can you guess anything about the future for this story or have any ideas to make it better? There's only one thing you can do, and that is REVIEW! P.S. I'll probably update this every 2 weeks-1month so don't expect anytime too soon. (even though I have the next chapter done. Aren't I evil leaving you on a cliffie.