And So They Came Along…

Percy loved the smell of hot breakfast in the morning. In front of him sat a large plate with three pancakes, scrambled eggs, and three, freshly cooked, pieces of steaming bacon. His mouth watered just by looking at it.

He smiled, "I love you, breakfast." And the thirteen year old began to devour his breakfast Gods, was it good! How he loved this…

After he ordered his second plate, his two best friends decided to join him.

"Hi," Percy said with his mouth full.

"Swallow that, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth said.

"Sorry." Percy apologized.

"By the way," Grover placed two letters next to the plate. The top one had the Hogwarts symbol on it.

"You're not planning to go back, right?" Annabeth asked nervously.

The image of a laughing Kristiann crossed his mind. It made him so angry he didn't realize he had clawed his fork into the wooden table. His jaw hardened, "No."

"Yeah, we didn't think you'd return to the school of their kind after what Chiron told us." The blonde girl placed a lock of hair behind her ear and that move had made his anger go away because, despite their differences in looks, that reminded him a lot Cecily.

Oh, how he wanted to see her. So many things he wanted to tell her since it had taken him the entire summer to accumulate enough bravery to tell her how he felt. Then, Draco crossed his mind and how he liked her as much as Percy did.

Love Drama, something Percy never believed he'd live to experience.

"Hellooooo," Grover waved his hand in front of Percy's face, "Earth to Percy! Is anybody there?"

"Sorry…" He managed a small smile, "What were you saying."

"Today there's Capture the Flag…"

"Yes, yes and I'll be there playing, of course."

Annabeth nodded in agreement and she decided to change the topic, "So, how was it to spend your thirteen birthday with, um, them." She obviously tried hard not to sound disgusted when she said 'them'. Percy immediately knew she was talking about wizards.

He understood why she'd feel that way. During the Winter Break, Felix Cassedine, disguised as Damien Lestrange, had attacked Annabeth and he drank her blood for greater power. He could see the small tint of traumatization in her grey eyes meaning that as time had passed since then, the memory of that night had come back.

"Well, it wasn't all that bad…" He said, "I got a broom."

Grover looked amazed, "You got over your fear of flying?"

Percy shook his head, "Not really, when I fly my stomach still feels weird." It was true. Though he never admitted this to nobody, not even his best friend Draco Malfoy, when he would fly, his head felt light, and his body would think it was a good idea to add invisible weight to his quidditch suit.

"Anyways," He decided to continue, "Anything I should be aware of?"

The trio heard Chiron's voice, "Heroes, Listen U—"

The door opened and a boy with bright red hair and freckled cheeks, that reminded him a lot of Ron Weasley, walked in. Annabeth blushed, "That's Erik," she whispered to Grover and Percy. Yeah, Percy remembered who he was since that was one of the many things she talked about repeatedly.

Erik cleaned the sweat from his forehead before he pointed to the boy sitting next to the blonde girl. "You! She asked for you!"

Percy stood up, "W-who asked for me?!"

"This really attractive blonde!" He ran his fingers through his flaming hair.

Everyone that was in the room rapidly stood up, grabbed knives and forks (some even grabbed spoons) in case this sudden stranger decided to get things started.

It was hard for this thirteen year old to move through the crowd since everybody wanted to see this 'attractive blonde'.

Next to the archery section was a shiny black sports car of the year. The door opened and the first thing to be seen was a perfectly manicured hand with silver nail polish holding a sapphire colored handbag. Good for a first impression but many boys hoped that a beautiful hand came with a beautiful woman.

And they weren't wrong. The first thing that was noticed of this girl was her wavy blonde hair. Her short sleeveless dress was the same color as her purse. Her high heels were black and ribbons of the same color wrapped around her white skin to stop two inches below her knees. Her red lips stood out a lot in her beautiful face. Someone like her could've passed as Aphrodite.

She took off her designer sunglasses, "Where is Percy Jackson?" Her musical voice asked.

Everyone turned to the blushing black-haired boy.

He raised his hand, "I-I'm Percy Jackson."

Her smile was just as dashing as she was. She signaled him to come closer and he obeyed. As soon as he was close, she pulled him in for a hug. This tall statuesque smelled like strawberries. Many of the boys watching were jealous.

"Oh, I'm so glad to see you alive! I thought Kristiann might've eliminated you!" She backed away, "I'm Skylar Phoenix…nice to meet you."

Skylar noticed how everyone stared at them and she grinned, "Hello Everyone!" She waved, "Sorry for just coming here out of nowhere." The guys nodded dumbly and the girls just rolled their eyes in annoyance.

"Um, why are you here?"

"Oh, don't be foolish, Percy!" She laughed and all the boys watching, sighed. "I was sent here to bring you back to Hogwarts!"

Everyone gasped.

"No, I'm not going back."

Her eyes widened, "Percy you must."

"No." His jaw hardened, "Besides, how do I know you're not working for him." He sounded as disgusted as Annabeth did when she talked about wizards.

Sadness reflected in her eyes. Percy knew he'd hit the spot that hurt the most but she quickly made it disappear with a smile, "Because…I've brought him."

Skylar pointed to her sports car and made a 'come here' sign. Percy, with the things he had experienced in the past, wouldn't have been surprised if the car was one of the Transformers and it simply walked to their direction.

That didn't happen.

The passenger door of the black car opened and a tall boy in a white T-shirt, jeans, and red Converse walked out. His messy hair was black except for that long blond braid that ran down the side of his face. His blue eyes looked around, as if all these camp weapons were a brand new race of animals. He looked healthier than in his memories.

"Damien?"

Lestrange turned to look at him but didn't say anything. Not even did he smile.

"Yeah, Percy, he still has a hard time with communicating since it's been six years since he last said a word. So, don't look forward to him actually saying something."

Looking at Damien in those clothes made him look like any regular teenager but both, Percy and Skylar, knew he wasn't.

He grabbed a sword and looked at it. It was obviously amazing him because it made him smile. Damien was like a child.

"Adorable, isn't he?"

"A little bit, yeah." Percy admitted. It was the most adorable thing he had seen. It was cute how Damien ran his finger through the edges, looking at it with his big blue eyes. "But even so, how do I know he's not a Polyjuice version of someone else?"

Damien had obviously heard that because he ran towards them, still holding the sword in his hand, and he took off the leather bracelets he was wearing. His skin had chain marks.

"Oh," said Percy.

"So!" Skylar turned to the large group of demigods that stared at her with amazement, "What demigod game do you all play?"

-.-.-.-.-.-

No girl wanted for Skylar to play, and no boy wanted for Damien to play either. Percy didn't mind the pair.

Skylar and Damien both changed their clothes for the occasion after Chiron finished explaining the rules for Capture the Flag.

"Alright, I'm ready." Skylar said as she picked up her hair in a ponytail. The breastplate seemed a bit small for her but she didn't mind.

"Erik hid the flag, which for us is blue." They had Hermes, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, and Athena on their side and it wasn't such a bad team. Their opposing team, Apollo (a golden banner) got the remaining cabins.

Damien held a bronze sword and he smiled at Skylar, who held a bow and had a quiver full of arrows in her back, wishing her luck.

They all heard the conch horn blow. Yells were heard from a distance.

Skylar ran past him to throw her first arrow. It hit a blond boy with acne issues.

"Nice shot." Annabeth complimented as she passed by the other blonde.

Percy held his shield tighter. It didn't seem as big as it used to; it actually fit him perfectly now!

He started to run; his reflexes had improved a lot since the incident at Hogwarts. Every obstacle and every branch that got in his way, Percy would pass then as if they were nothing. He surpassed everything.

Except for that boulder. That was the best way to describe Damien. The man looked down to stare at the fallen Percy. His lips curved into a smile as he offered his pale hand.

Damien's hand was cold, strangely firm and strong for someone who spent six years in prison. He signalled him to follow him.

The two walked to the creek. Just across it, was a tall golden banner with the Apollo symbol, a lyre, in the middle. Percy couldn't believe it! Yes, he did want to win but he didn't expect for the game to end this fast.

When Percy turned to thank Damien, the twenty-two year old man was not there. Struggling sounds were heard behind a large tree not so far away from where he stood.

"No," He ran to where the sounds came. Roots were dragging Damien to where a girl with short brown hair was standing. No results were found. Emma, he remembered, daughter of the Goddess Demeter. She was sixteen and new at camp.

The scene reminded Percy of the time Kristiann had wrapped him in rope as he killed Jared Stryker. Maybe that was the reason of why his body suddenly froze.

Weeds moved around his mouth and neck to bury him on the ground. Damien's nails stabbed themselves onto the wet soil, hoping that would make a difference but it didn't.

The vines were getting into position to snap his neck when an arrow ripped through them. Two more arrows followed, the first hit the roots again and the second hit Emma.

"Damien!" Skylar helped by cleaning the dirt from his armor. "Are you okay?" Damien swallowed hard and nodded.

Cheering was heard from across the creek. The children of Athena and Hephaestus carried the new boy, Erik Levine, son of Hermes.

"Looks like we've won." Skylar said.

"Yeah." Percy said with a smile.

"Damien?" The sound of Skylar's voice made him turn. His head had dropped, like if he had fallen asleep. Sky shook his shoulders, fearing something bad happened to him.

"What happened?" Percy asked just as nervous as Skylar.

She shrugged.

Damien's arms rose to his arms, covering them as if he wanted to prevent sound from entering. He started to shake his head in denial but didn't say anything.

"Quick! We must take him to the hospital wing!" Percy commanded when Annabeth showed up after celebrating Erik's victory.

Annabeth helped Skylar with Damien. Percy felt a chill run down his spine when Lestrange opened his eyes. They weren't blue. They were purple.

"Oh no, Percy," Annabeth said, her voice filling up with fear, "He's been struck with the Dionysus' Mad Dust."

"What?"

"Yeah, I know it sounds stupid…I mean, I thought it was just all a stupid story, but obviously it's real…" She noticed how Percy and Skylar were looking at her in confusion, "Dionysus' Mad Dust creates images in their eyes of their worst fear…He's apparently a victim due to the way his eyes changed from green to purple." She pointed at Alice Buckingham, daughter of the God of Wine, "She's Mr. D's kid and her eyes aren't purple." Annabeth had a point. "Someone must've given him this curse."

After that situation was over, night had come by quicker than anybody would've expected. Skylar had spent the remainder of the night by Damien's bedside.

It was difficult for Percy to concentrate since capture the flag. Who could've done such thing to an innocent man?

He sighed. Percy was so confused. Should he go back to Hogwarts or should he stay in camp? This thought irritated him in every extreme. He took a chair to the camp's beach, sat, and opened a coke.

"Y-y-you m-must go b-back." They voice wad forced and almost whispered, barely audible. Percy turned and faced Damien in shock. Had he just spoken? After six years of silence, had this man just spoken to insist for his return to Hogwarts?

"Damien, you—"

"Y-you a-a-are in d-dan-danger here."

"What do you mean?" He felt as if he was asking for too much. Damien had worked so hard to say little thing and he was demanding for more.

Damien looked at him as if wanting to say, 'Please don't make me talk again'. Percy understood to perfection.

"That's fine…does Skylar know? Will she be able to tell the reason of why I'm in danger?"

He nodded.

"Oh," Percy looked down to look at his half-finished soda.

"Please." His voice's volume rose. It didn't sound like the timid boy he seemed. He sounded like a courageous man who had come back from battle. "Go back to Hogwarts." A violent cough followed.

Damien's effort to sound confident created a smile on Percy's face. He was sure that if he returned this year, something would happen that wouldn't make it different form the last.

Percy made a decision. Gods, help me out on this one…especially you, dad! He thought. "Fine, I'll go."

-.-.-.-.-.-

**Author's Note: YAY! I'm back! Hope you guys liked the chapter because I sure did enjoy writing it. Um…oh yes! I wanted to tell you guys about this new character I wanted to introduce. His name is Erik Levine (I had to take the last name from one of the characters of the 'book' I'm writing). I wanted to tell all of my followers this: I will write a story about him and how his life is compared to Percy Jackson (after the, of course, the son of Poseidon gets taken to Hogwarts a second time). But will he be the role model to look up to or just be another hero wannabe? He will be Annabeth's new love interest since Percy will be gone for Hogwarts and their romance won't have enough spotlights to develop. I will be writing his adventures whenever I am not busy with either my own original idea that I call a 'book' –air quotations- OR with my other fanfics. Another thing…my Tumblr that I recently created for all of my drawings is by the username of cadlg7 (or it could be CADLG or cadlg without the seven)…you could also follow me on my personal Tumblr with the username worldrulerfromcanada with the picture of Brittany Murphy as Harley Quinn. Oh, Harley, how I love you…Anyhow, or as a friend says, ANYWHORE, please Read and Review! Goodbye!