There's Nothing Sweeter
Disclaimer: I own neither 'Harry Potter' or 'Percy Jackson'. All recognisable characters, content or locations belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.
Chapter Two:
After an uninteresting, extensive tour of the Camp Halfblood grounds, Gwen was unceremoniously situated in the Hermes cabin, allocated a two by four foot space of floor that had probably seen better days and afterwards, informed of what was expected of her as a temporary occupant of the Hermes Cabin.
"We lie, we prank, we steal things. Easy enough?"
"Like pie."
An hour later, Gwen was sprawled out across a marble bench, eyes on the sky and her thoughts on all that she'd learned since she'd woken up that morning. The Olympic Pantheon existed, she was somehow the daughter of James Potter and Zeus, she was in a camp for demigod children, she was a hero in more ways than one and Gwen wasn't even sure if she remembered what a normal life was like.
"See anything interesting up there?"
Gwen looked at Lee Fletcher, tall and handsome and swoon worthy, shrugged and sat up. The son of Apollo settled in the space she'd vacated, cast a fond eye across the camp and turned back to Gwen, a smile on his face.
"Did you settle in alright?"
"Aside from being indoctrinated into the faith of the born-again kleptomaniacs? I settled in just fine."
"That's good, I'm glad," Lee acknowledged, "I saw Chiron giving you a tour earlier. Do you want the real tour now?"
"Oh, thank fuck, I thought this place was actually that boring."
Lee led her to all of the fun places, like the pot circle on the roof of the Demeter cabin, and the hook up place behind the cabin of Aphrodite. There was the skinny dipping pool in the woods, and the poop pile, which was actually called Zeus' Fist to anyone not ballsy enough to desecrate a divine monument, if only in name. There was the illicit electronics room beneath the Hephaestus cabin, and the prohibited stash of alcohol beneath the Dionysus cabin porch.
"It almost seems like… sacrilege," Gwen commented, "It's excellent."
"Glad you think so," Lee answered, "Caster and Pollux would have had to alter your memory, otherwise. Anyway, there's a stash of porn beneath the Artemus cabin porch-"
"How ironic," Gwen interjected glibly.
"-and the Hermes cabin has accumulated this absolutely ridiculous stash of cash, stolen goods and other such bits and pieces, purely for the purpose of purchasing more prohibited things."
"Naturally."
"So what do you think?"
"I think I'll like it here."
With a pleased grin, Lee led Gwen to the dining pavilion, handed her over to the Stoll twins, Connor and Travis, promised he'd see her later and retreated to the Apollo table, where he was at once accosted by his brothers and sister.
"How old are you?" Gwen queried, squeezed between the twins after they'd each made offerings to the gods.
"We're fifteen," Travis replied, "There's a few of us our age at camp, actually. Katie Gardener, from Demeter-"
"Travis only knows that because he has a crush on her," Connor interjected.
"-and Michael yew from Apollo. There's Clarisse, who is nearly sixteen, Caster and Pollux are already sixteen, Luke's nineteen. Chuck Beckendorf is seventeen, so is Silena Beauregard. How old are you?"
"I don't know half those names," Gwen informed them blankly, "And I'm fifteen in July."
"And what are your thoughts on demigods, and what have you?"
In truth, Gwen hadn't had much time to form an opinion on her newfound status, but as Connor and Travis eyed her, expectant, Gwen made an attempt to genuinely consider her feelings on the matter. She was angry, though that was somewhat for the fact that she'd not known about this aspect of her heritage, but Gwen was also unimpressed by her divine father's absence in her life thus far. Where was he when her mortal parents had been tortured into madness, or when the Dursleys' abuse was at its worst? Gwen didn't have answers to those questions, but she'd be damned if she didn't get some.
"It was a surprise, I suppose," she answered, "I kind of resent the fact I've only found out today. It somewhat stings, as well. I could have used a parent in my life, on occasion."
"Shitty home life, then?" Connor queried, "That bites, shorty."
Gwen shrugged, speared a piece of chicken on her fork and chewed slowly. She didn't really have anything else to say on the topic, so the subject changed to other things, like music, and television programs, and favourite pastimes, until finally, the dinner dishes were cleared away, and Mr D got to his feet. he rattled off a series of notifications, as well as an insincere welcome to Gwen, before they were dismissed for the campfires.
"Does this happen every night?" Gwen queried, "Because I'm afraid I can't bullshit that much cheer in one week."
"Yes," Connor answered, "But its not mandatory - or supervised. Most of us use the opportunity for stargazing on the Demeter Cabin roof."
"Is that what they're calling it now?" Gwen snarked.
Connor gave her a wink and tapped the side of his nose, and they continued on their way to the fire pit between the cabins. Hestia, who tended the fire there, was gone, but the fire crackled merrily all the same and through the flames, she could see Lee tuning the strings of a battered acoustic guitar.
"The sons of Apollo take turns performing," Travis informed Gwen, "Lee, Mick and Will, I mean. Austen's kind of shy, and Kayla's too young, but damn, Fletcher's got some mean guitar skills. You're in for a treat, Shorty."
"Is that a man crush I hear?" Gwen teased. Travis elbowed her in the side, light enough to be harmless, but with just enough pressure to make Gwen squirm. She laughed, kicked her feet into Connor's lap and marvelled at just how comfortable she'd become in their company. They reminded her of the Weasley twins, fun and cheerful and oh so mischievous, and she wondered how they'd be as beaters, or fighters, or pseudo older brothers whom, most of the time, Gwen couldn't stand but loved irrevocably anyway.
As everyone gathered around, even the belligerent Aries campers, Lee began to play his guitar and his voice soon followed, clear and sensual, like crushed velvet or caramel coated chocolate. It was delicious and warm and all good things, and Gwen listened, enraptured, as Lee performed Ron Pope songs almost better than the artist himself.
"If I ask him to marry me, do you think he'll say yes?"
"Why yes," Connor answered primly, "Yes I do."
"I think you just had your first religious experience, Shorty," Travis declared.
Gwen didn't bother denying it, though she was pretty sure what she and Blaise Zabini had gotten up to in Professor Snape's supply cupboard during the Yule Ball could be classed as one. She'd certainly seen stars, but Gwen was never one to kiss and tell - or cum and tell, as the case may be - so she had no particular interest in enlightening the twins on that experience.
"Check it out," Connor murmured, a while later, "Sil and Chuck have already bounced. Should we go?"
Gwen watched Lee's dexterous fingers, expertly shredding his guitar strings, and wondered what those fingers would be like against her skin. The thought made her shiver, and Gwen got to her feet, ready to leave before she did something undeniably stupid.
On the Demeter cabin roof, Gwen was unceremoniously introduced to Silena Beauregard, daughter of Aphrodite, and Charles Beckendorf, son of Hephaestus, offered a seat and offered a blunt all within three minutes of her appearance on the grass covered roof, wedged between Connor and Travis. She accepted both the seat and the blunt, lit up and took a drag with the ease of long time practise, before she handed the joint to Travis, exhaled smoke into the star studded sky and smiled, content.
"So is your godly parent your mom or your dad?" Silena queried.
"My father," Gwen answered, "Why do you ask?"
Silena hummed curiously, eyes on the stars. "You're really pretty. I'd have pegged you for a daughter of Aphrodite, is all."
Gwen reached over and pressed a finger to Silna's cheek, satin soft and blemish free. Her blonde hair was aglow in the moonlight, her blue eyes were bright, and if Gwen was compared to the beauty of a daughter of Aphrodite, she had to be pretty indeed - even if Gwen didn't believe it herself.
"Thanks, blondie," she acknowledged, a confident smirk on her face that she didn't really feel, "I know I'm a babe."
"Modest, too," Connor quipped dryly. He handed the joint back to Gwen, who took another hit and laughed, shameless. She flipped her haphazard braid over her shoulder, leant back on her hands and curled her fingers into the grassy roof. She closed her eyes and breathed in the familiar scent of weed and hummed to herself, thoughtful.
"What is it?" Silena queried lazily. She was stretched out on the grass, her head in Chuck's lap as the son of Hephaestus took a hit from the joint they shared.
"A storm's coming," she answered, "I can feel it."
"Is that a euphemism?" Travis mumbled, confused, and Gwen threw her shoe at him, unimpressed. "Hey now! Violence against demigods, Travis Stoll says no."
"And you know what I say to that?" Gwen retorted, and gave him the finger. Travis adopted a mock wounded expression, pressed his hand to his heart and ignored the snickers coming from Connor, Chuck and Sil.
"How can you feel a storm coming?" Silena queried, "Camp Halfblood doesn't get storms."
Gwen shrugged, accepted the last of the blunt and dropped the burning embers to the grass. "I've just always been able to. I don't know how I can. I just do."
As she spoke, they were joined by Clarisse LaRue, daughter of Aries, and Michael yew, son of Apollo, who produced a bong from actually nowhere, packed the bowl with dried leaves and lit up, chattering with their friends all the while. Perhaps if she wasn't so stoned - seriously, the weed was strong - she might have felt excluded, but as it was, Gwen only watched with mild curiosity, bemused by these very different people getting along as well as they did.
"We'd better go, Shorty," Connor sighed, "Don't want anyone to notice so many of us gone."
"Sure," Gwen agreed, and followed them down the rickety staircase alongside the Demeter cabin wall. They returned to the campfire, Gwen leant against Connor and listened, detached but enthralled, as Lee played his guitar. He'd stopped singing, but the campers still lingered, apparently content to roast marshmallows and talk before curfew fell. It was mostly the younger ones, but Luke Castellan was there, his thousand mile stare on the crackling flames.
"I'm buggered," she declared, "What's the time?"
"About nine," Travis answered.
"No wonder, it's about two in the morning in Britain," Gwen answered. She got to her feet and stretched. "I'm going to go to bed."
"Alright," Connor acknowledged, "If you get sick of the floor, you can always join me."
He waggled his eyebrows, gave a lascivious smile and let his hands wander to Gwen's waist.
"You're a pig," she laughed, and stepped out of his reach, "Good night."
"Night, Shorty," Connor and Travis chorused, and watched her leave.
In the Hermes Cabin, Gwen took the opportunity of momentary solitude to change into a pair of rainbow patterned pyjama shorts and a plain black tank top, deposited her dirty clothes in her Hogwarts laundry bag and wondered about where she could clean her clothes around here. With a shrug, Gwen told herself she'd worry about it in the morning, clambered into her Camp Halfblood provided sleeping bag and fell into Morpheus' waiting embrace, her last thought on what the coming days would bring. All Gwen knew was that it would be like nothing she had known before, but nevertheless, the witch couldn't deny that she was rather looking forward to trying something new.
Author's Note: I told myself to wait until Monday/Sunday to update, but apparently I can't help myself. I technically should be writing a History speech, or planning a Literature assignment, or pre-reading for my Human Ethics course, but meh, they're not as exciting as this.
Oh, also, don't do drugs. Or drink alcohol. Or, you know, have an orgasm in your Potions Professor's supply cupboard. Or else you'll get Chlamydia and die. You've been warned.
Thanks for reading, I hope you've enjoyed. To those who have, thanks for reviewing, favouriting, alerting, community-adding and what have you. it's all very much appreciated.
Until next time, -t.