Title: Headmaster Snape and The Percy Jackson Books
Rating: T
Summary: Harry, Hermione, the Weasley's, the Malfoy's, and the Order land in a room that was once used by the Founders. They were summoned by Headmaster Snape and told, in-order to leave, they must read the five books that detail Percy Jackson's adventures. Why does Snape want them to read these books about some kid? In the end, they will all find out. Crossover of Percy Jackson.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of Rowling or Riordan's characters and I'm making nothing from this.
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To Rasi10: Thanks for your review.
To jazmincita716: Thanks for your review.
To Alejandra459: Glad your enjoying it.
To The Goodie Ravenclaw: I hope this chapter makes you happy.
To Mr. Popo: This will be a very long story, covering all five books, and you'll find out everything. I hope that you will enjoy the ending as much as I'll enjoying writing it.
To P. JacksonPotter: Thanks for your review.
To AnnabethChase 117: Thanks for your review.
To Faeyre: I hope that you will enjoy this chapter.
To Dark: Thanks.
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Chapter 3: Three Old Ladies Knit the Socks of Death
"That title is even stranger than the last," Hermione commented. "How does three old ladies knit the shocks of death?"
"Don't look at me, this is Snape's reading choice."
"Just continue," Harry said. "I want to get out of here before I get old."
I was use to the occasional weird experience, but usually they were over quickly. This twenty-four/seven hallucination was more than I could handle. For the rest of the school year, the entire campus seemed to be playing some kind of trick on me.
"Oh I wonder why he thinks that," Narcissa said with sarcasm in her voice.
The students acted as if they were completely and totally convinced that Mrs. Kerr-a perky blond woman whom I'd never seen in my life until she got on our bus at the end of the field trip-had been our pre-algebra teacher since Christmas.
"I'm surprised that Weasley could say pre-algebra," Draco teased.
"Shut up, Malfoy, I do listen to Hermione."
Draco rolled his eyes.
Every so often I would spring a Mrs. Dodds reference on somebody, just to see if I could trip them up, but they would stare at me like I was psycho.
"What's a psycho?"
"What Bellatrix is?" Lucius answered.
"Yeah, going to agree with that," Neville said, shuttering.
It got so I almost believed them-Mrs. Dodds had never existed.
Almost
But Grover couldn't fool me. When I mentioned the name Dodds to him, he would hesitate, then claim she didn't exist. But I knew he was lying.
"Grover really needs to get better at lying," Ginny said.
Something was going on. Something had happened at the museum.
I didn't have much time to think about it during the days, but at night, visions of Mrs. Dodds with talons and leathery wings would wake me up in a cold sweat.
"Poor Percy," Ginny said.
"Yeah, reminds me too much of myself," Harry stated.
The freak weather continued, which didn't help my mood. One night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows in my dorm room. A few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in the Hudson Valley touched down only fifty miles from Yancy Academy. One of the current events we studied in social studies class was the unusual number of small planes-
"What's a plane?" Ron asked Harry.
"What muggles use to fly from one place to the next," Harry said, "It's like being on a broom but you have food and drink delivered to you and people are annoying."
"Ah, what muggles come up with," Mr. Weasley sighed.
"Continue reading," Mrs. Weasley said, glaring at her husband.
"Yeah, sorry," Ron said.
That had gone down in sudden squalls in the Atlantic that year.
"Once again Weasley is proving that he can actually pronounce words correctly."
"Draco, stop taunting him," Lucius said, "As Potter said, I would like to get out of here before I get old."
I started to feel cranky and irritable most of the time. My grades slipped from Ds to Fs. I got into more fights with Nancy Bobofit and her friends. I was sent out into the hallway in almost every class.
"And we thought Harry had a temper," Fred remarked.
Finally, when our English teacher, Mr. Nicoll, asked me for the millionth time why I was too lazy to study for spelling tests, I snapped, I called him an old sot. I wasn't even sure what it meant, but it sounded good.
The Headmaster sent my mom a letter the following week, making it official: I would not be invited back next year to Yancy Academy.
Fine, I told myself. Just fine.
I was homesick.
I wanted to be with my mom in our little apartment on the Upper East Side, even if I had to go to public school and put up with my obnoxious stepfather and his stupid poker parties.
And yet…there were things I'd miss at Yancy. The view of the woods out my dorm window, the Hudson River in the distance, the smell of pine trees. I'd miss Grover, who'd been a good friend, even if he was a little strange. I worried how he'd survive next year without me.
"Now that's a true friend," Hermione said.
I'd miss Latin class, too-Mr. Brunner's crazy tournament days and his faith that I could do well.
As exam week got closer, Latin was the only test I studied for. I hadn't forgotten what Mr. Brunner had told me about this subject being life and death for me. I wasn't sure why, but I'd started to believe him.
"Yeah, after that Fury, I would believe him to," Harry said.
The evening before my final, I got so frustrated I threw the Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology across my dorm room.
"What's Cambridge?"
"It's a school," Hermione answered.
Words had started swimming off the page, circling my head, the letters doing one-eighties as if they were riding skateboards.
"What's a skateboard?"
"It's what teens ride on and get their skulls broken," Hermione snapped.
"Someone doesn't like them."
"Never mind," Hermione muttered and she motioned Ron to continue.
There was no way that I was going to remember the difference between Cheron-.
"Chiron," Hermione corrected and she came over and pulled the book out of his hands. "And this is Charon."
"Thanks," Ron said, going pink.
Or Polydictes and Polydeuces.
She handed it back to Ron, who continued.
And conjugating those Latin verbs? Forget it.
I paced the room, feeling like ants were crawling around inside my shirt.
I remembered Mr. Brunner's serious expression, his thousand-year-old eyes. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson.
I took a deep breath. I picked up the mythology book.
I never asked a teacher for help before. Maybe if I talked to Mr. Brunner, he could give me some pointers. At least I could apologize for the big fat F I was about to score on his exam. I didn't want to leave Yancy Academy with him thinking I hadn't tried.
I walked downstairs to the faculty offices. Most of them were dark and empty, but Mr. Brunner's door was ajar, light from his window stretching across the hallway floor.
"Glad to see that he's actually asking for help," Hermione said.
I was three steps from the door handle when I heard voices inside the office. Mr. Brunner asked a question. A voice that was definitely Grover's said, "…worried about Percy, sir."
I froze.
"Why are they talking about him?" Harry asked aloud.
"Don't look at me, I'm just reading."
I'm not usually an eavesdropper, but I dare you try not listening if you hear your best friend talking about you to an adult.
I inched closer.
"He's so going to get caught," Hermione cried out.
"….alone this summer," Grover was saying, "I mean, a Kindly One in the school! Now that we know for sure, and they know too-"
"We would only make matters worse by rushing him," Mr. Brunner said. "We need the boy to mature more."
"But he may not have time. The summer solstice deadline-"
"Will have to be resolved without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can."
"Sir, he saw her…"
"His imagination," Mr. Brunner insisted. "The Mist-."
"What mist?" Fred asked.
"Maybe it's like at the school in the States," Lucius said, "They use so much enchantments that it looks like mist. It hides the school from muggles."
"Maybe that's what the book means."
Over the students and staff will be enough to convince him of that."
"Sir-I…I can't fail in my duties again." Grover's voice was choked with emotion. "You know what that would mean."
"You haven't failed, Grover," Mr. Brunner said kindly. "I should have seen her for what she was. Now let's just worry about keeping Percy alive until next fall-."
The mythology book dropped out of my hand and hit the floor with a thud.
Mr. Brunner went silent.
"He's so busted," Tonks said.
My heart hammering, I picked up the book and backed down the hall.
"He's going to get caught," George said.
A shadow slid across the lighted glass of Brunner's office door, the shadow of something much taller than my wheelchair bound teacher, holding something that looked suspiciously like an archer's bow.
"He's dead," Ginny cried out.
I opened the nearest door and slipped inside.
"I would have run back to bed," Draco said.
A few seconds later I heard a slow clop-clop-clop, like muffled wood blocks, then a sound like an animal sniffling right outside my door. A large, dark shape paused in front of the glass, then moved on.
"Whatever it is will yank that door open. You can't hide your scent from an animal," Remus said.
A bead of sweat trickled down my neck.
"Reminds me of myself," Harry said, not looking at Snape as he spoke.
Somewhere in the hallway, Mr. Brunner spoke. "Nothing," He muttered. "My nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice."
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
"Mine neither," Grover said. "But I could have sworn."
"Go back to your dorm," Mr. Brunner told him. "You've got a long day of exams tomorrow."
"Don't remind me."
The lights went out in Mr. Brunner's office.
I waited in the dark for what seemed like forever.
Finally, I slipped out into the hallway and made my way back up to the dorm.
Grover was lying on his bed, studying his Latin exam notes like he'd been there all night.
"Hay," he said, bleary-eyed. "You going to be ready for this test?"
I didn't answer.
"You look awful." He frowned. "Is everything okay?"
"Oh yeah, everything is just fine," McGonagall said. "I mean, it's not like he didn't just hear himself the center of a conversation."
"Just tired."
I turned so that he couldn't read my expression, and started to get ready for bed.
I didn't understand what I'd overheard downstairs. I wanted to believe I'd imagined the whole thing.
But one thing was clear: Grover and Mr. Brunner were talking about me behind my back. They thought I was in some kind of danger.
Ron groaned and a glass of water appeared and he drank it.
"I really wish I had pumpkin juice."
The water vanished and a glass of juice appeared.
"Is this room like the Room of Requirement?" Harry wondered.
"I believe that this room and the Room of Requirement might have been established by the same person," Severus told him.
"So they'll be beds," Hermione said and Severus nodded.
Ron looked down at the book and began again.
The next afternoon, as I was leaving the three-hour long Latin exam.
"THREE HOURS," Fred, George, and Ginny screamed.
"Oh honestly," Hermione muttered.
"Poor Percy, three hours of having to think," Ron said and McGonagall glared at him.
My eyes swimming with all the Greek and Roman names I'd misspelled, Mr. Brunner called me back inside.
For a moment, I was worried he'd found out about my eavesdropping the night before, but that didn't seem to be the problem.
"Percy," he said, "Don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's…it's for the best."
His tone was kind, but the words still embarrassed me. Even though he was speaking quietly, the other kids finishing the test could hear. Nancy Bobofit smirked at me and made sarcastic little kissing motions with her lips.
"Is that even possible to make a kissing sound sound sarcastic?"
"I guess with this muggle you can," Narcissa said.
I mumbled, "Okay, sir."
"I mean…" Mr. Brunner wheeled his chair back and forth, like he wasn't sure what to say. "This isn't the right place for you. It was only a matter of time."
My eyes stung.
"Poor Percy," Hermione muttered.
Here was my favorite teacher, in front of the class, telling me I couldn't handle it. After saying he believed in me all year, now he was telling me I was destined to get kicked out.
"Right," I said, trembling.
"No, no," Mr. Brunner said. "Oh, confound it all. What I'm trying to say…you're not normal, Percy. That's nothing to be-."
"Thanks," I blurted out. "Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me."
"That was totally rude," Hermione said, crossing her arms and looking at the book as though it was some kind of enemy.
"Percy-."
But I was already gone.
"That's not something that I would have told him," Severus remarked. "Chiron lacks the ability to say what he feels, he just puts his foot in his mouth way too much."
"And you know him?"
"I met him, several times, when I went to the States," he said. "I can't this year as the Ministry has put a hold on international travel."
"Is this chapter almost over?" Ron asked everyone.
"It should be," Severus said.
Ron returned to the book.
On the last day of the term, I shoved my clothes into my suitcase.
The other guys were joking around, talking about their vacation plans. One of them was going on a hiking trip to Switzerland. Another was cruising the Caribbean for a month.
"Oh I love the Caribbean," Hermione said. "And I've been skiing in Switzerland. They have an amazing magical community over there."
"Oh lucky you," Ron muttered.
"Just start reading," Harry said, "The sooner we finish this chapter the sooner we can close the book."
Ron sighed and turned his attention back to the book.
They were juvenile delinquents, like me, but they were rich juvenile delinquents. Their daddies were executives, or ambassadors, or celebrities. I was a nobody, from a family of nobodies.
They asked me what I'd be doing this summer and I told them I was going back to the city.
What I didn't tell them was that I'd have to get a summer job walking dogs or selling magazine sub-
"Hermione, what's this word?" Ron asked.
Hermione came over and took the book from Ron's hands.
"Subscriptions," she said, handing the book back.
"Thanks," he said.
And spend my free time worrying about where I'd go to school in the fall.
"Oh," one of the guys said. "That's cool."
They went back to their conversation as if I'd never existed.
"Poor Percy," Luna said.
The only person I dreaded saying good-bye to was Grover, but as it turned out, I didn't have to. He'd book a ticked to Manhattan on the same Greyhound that I had, so there we were, together again, heading into the city.
During the whole bus ride, Grover kept glancing nervously down the aisle, watching the other passengers.
"Grover is really strange," Tonks remarked.
It occurred to me that he'd always acted nervous and fidgety when we left Yancy, as if he expected something bad to happen. Before, I'd always assumed he was worried about getting teased. But there was nobody to tease him on the Greyhound.
Finally I couldn't stand it anymore.
I said, "Looking for Kindly Ones?"
Ginny snickered for some reason.
Grover nearly jumped out of his seat. "Wha-what do you mean?"
I confessed about eavesdropping on him and Mr. Brunner the night before the exam.
Grover's eye twitched. "How much did you hear?"
"Oh…not much. What's the summer solstice deadline?"
He winced.
"Busted," Fred said.
"Look, Percy…I was just worried for you, see? I mean, hallucinating about demon math teachers…"
"Grover-."
"And I was telling Mr. Brunner that maybe you were overstressed or something, because there was no such person as Mrs. Dodds, and…"
"Grover, you're a really, really, bad liar."
His ears turned pink.
Everyone in the room laughed and Hermione said, "He acts like Ron when his ears turn pink."
"I do not," Ron protested. "Can we please finish this chapter so that I can get this book away from me?"
"Yeah, okay," Tonks said.
From his shirt pocket, he fished out a grubby business card. "Just take this, okay? In case you need me this summer."
The card was in fancy script, which was murder on my dyslexic eyes, but I finally made out something like:
Grover Underwood, Keeper, Half-blood Hill, Long Island, New York; 800 009 009
"What's Half-"
"Don't say it aloud!" he yelped. "That's my, um…summer address."
My heart sank. Grover had a summer home. I'd never considered that his family might be as rich as the others at Yancy.
"Okay," I said glumly. "So, like, if I want to come visit your mansion."
He nodded. "Or..or if you need me."
"Why would I need you?"
It came out harsher than I meant it to.
"Don't act like that around your friend," Kingsley remarked.
Grover blushed right down to his Adam's apple. "Look, Percy, the truth is, I-I kind of have to protect you."
I stared at him.
All year long, I'd gotten into fights, keeping bullies away from him. I'd lost sleep worrying that he'd get beaten up next year without me. And here he was acting as though he was the one who defended me.
"Grover," I said, "what exactly are you protecting me from?"
There was a huge grinding noise under our feet. Black smoke poured from the dashboard and the whole bus filled with the smell like rotten eggs. The driver cursed and limped the Greyhound over to the side of the highway.
After a few minutes clanking around in the engine compartment, the driver announced that we'd all have to get off. Grover and I filed outside with everybody else.
We were on a stretch of country road-no place you'd notice if you didn't break down there. On our side of the highway where was nothing but maple trees and litter from passing cars. On the other side, across four lanes of asphalt shimmer with afternoon heat, was an old fashion fruit stand.
The stuff on sale looked really good: heaping boxes of bloodred cherries and apples, walnuts and apricots, jugs of cider in a clawfoot tub filled with ice.
"This stand is making me hungry," Ron moaned.
"A naked tutu dancer could make you hungry," Hermione countered.
"Hay," Ron said.
"Oh just finish the damn chapter," Kingsley said, "We'll make sure the room gives you apples."
Ron glared at him and went back to the book.
There were no customers, just three old ladies sitting in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree, knitting the biggest pair of socks I'd ever seen.
I mean these socks were the size of sweaters, but they were clearly socks. The lady on the right knitted one of them. The lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric-blue yarn.
All three woman looked ancient, with pale faces wrinkled like fruit leather, silver hair tied back in white bandannas, bony arms sticking out of bleached cotton dresses.
The weirdest thing was, they seemed to be looking right at me.
"Did you just say three woman?" Harry asked Ron.
"That's what the book says," Ron said and Harry groaned. "What?"
"This might be a book filled with bloody monsters and figures from Greek myth. I think those three woman are the Fates. Read on, and I'll tell you if I'm right."
I looked over at Grover to say something about this and saw that the blood had drained from his face. His nose was twitching.
"Grover," I said. "Hay, man-."
"Tell me they're not looking at you. They are, aren't they?"
"Yeah. Weird, huh? You think those socks would fit me?"
"Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all."
"I'm going to guess that Percy isn't the brightest apple in the barrel," Hermione reasoned.
The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors-gold and silver, long-bladed, like shears. I heard Grover catch his breath.
"We're getting on the bus," he told me. "Come on."
"What?" I said. "It's like a thousand degrees in there."
"Come on!" He pried open the door and climbed inside, but I stayed back.
Across the road, the old ladies were still watching me. The middle one cut the yarn, and I swear I could hear that snip across four lanes of traffic. Her two friends balled up the electric-blue socks, leaving me wondering who they could possibly be fore-Sasquatch or Godzilla.
"What is Sasquatch and Godzilla?" Ron asked Hermione.
"Godzilla is a movie monster and Sasquatch is believe to live in the States," Hermione answered.
"And those three woman are the Fates," Harry said, "Merlin, and I thought I had bad luck."
"What are the Fates?" Kingsley asked.
"Three woman from Greek myth that measure a person's life, weaves it, and then cuts it when you're about to die," Harry explained. "They control every person's life."
"And they know that Percy is going to die?"
"Or it could mean that he'll have really bad luck," Hermione reasoned and then she turned to Severus. "Is this the only book?"
"No, there are four others."
"We are going to be in here for a long time," Ron moaned.
"Not if you don't finish the chapter," Remus said.
Ron returned to the book.
At the rear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine compartment. The bus shuddered, and the engine roared back to life.
The passengers cheered.
"Darn, right!" yelled the driver. He slapped the bus with his hat. "Everybody, back on board."
Once we got going, I started feeling feverish, as if I'd caught the flu.
Grover didn't look much better. He was shivering and his teeth were chattering.
"Grover?"
"Yeah?"
"What are you not telling me?"
He dabbed his forehead with his shirt sleeve. "Percy, what did you see back at the fruit stand?"
"You mean the old ladies? What is it about them, man? They're not like…Mrs. Dodds, are they?"
His expression was hard to read, but I got the feeling that the fruit-stand ladies were something much, much worse than Mrs. Dodds. He said, "Just tell me what you saw."
"The middle one too out her scissors, and she cut the yarn."
He closed his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers that might've been crossing himself, but it wasn't. It was something else, something almost-older.
He said, "You saw her snip the cord."
"Yeah, so?" But even as I said it, I knew it was a big deal.
"This is not happening," Grover mumbled. He started chewing at his thumb. "I don't want this to be like the last time."
"What last time?"
"Always sixth grade, They never get past sixth."
"Grover," I said, because he was really starting to scare me. "What are you talking about?"
"Let me walk you home from the bus station. Promise me."
This seemed like a strange request to me, but I promised he could.
"Is this like a superstition or something?" I asked.
No answer.
"Grover-that snipping of the yarn. Does that mean somebody is going to die?"
He looked at me mournfully, like he was already picking the kind of flowers I'd like best on my coffin.
Ron closed the book, taking a drink of juice.
"That's the end of the chapter, thank Merlin," he said.
"I think that we all need a rest," Remus said.
"And he's hungry," Fred added.
"He's always hungry," Hermione muttered.
"I think that should be it, for now," Severus said and Ron gave the book back to Hermione, as though it had some kind of disease or something.
Food suddenly appeared and they all went to fill their plates. None of them noticed, until later, that Severus was gone.
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A/N: Severus is the only one that can leave whenever he wants. Have a Marry Christmas.
