A/N: Thanks to my reviewer and to all you lovely people who followed and favorited. Review!

POVs: Percy

Disclaimer: I don't own Diagon Alley, Gringotts, Harry Potter or Percy Jackson and the Olympians.


Chapter 4

Annabeth and I had a brief talk with Chiron before we left. I wondered about why he'd transformed into a white stallion (well, half white stallion) in front of Dumbledore as he led us back into the Big House. Before I could make any theories, he started talking to us, and a worried frown overtook his kind face.

"We've decided to send Rachel because we are unsure of whether or not she will be giving any more prophecies during your couple-year-long stay at Hogwarts. She gave a continuation of yesterday's prophecy just this morning, and I am not sure as to whether or not she will be giving any more continuations. For this reason, you must take her with you. I hope you understand." The worried look suddenly disappeared from Chiron's face, and he smiled warmly at the two of us, patting each of us on the shoulder.

"I will miss the two of you. Come back to camp over the summers if you can. Oh, and one more thing — if you should find any demigods at Hogwarts, please contact me as soon as possible."

"Of course," Annabeth assured him. And with a final smile, he clopped off further into the Big House, leaving the two of us with nothing but the thought of a journey about to begin.

We walked out of the blue Big House and into camp, where the daily activities were already beginning. We had been inside so long that we'd already missed breakfast at the pavilion. We wouldn't have enough time to say goodbye to the whole camp, as Dumbledore had told us that time was of the essence, and so we walked off in the direction of the cabins, turning our back on the beautiful strawberry fields and azure blue sky over the camp.

I accompanied Annabeth to her cabin first, even though I knew that we should be splitting up to save time. There was no one inside, thankfully, but a strange small bag sat on the floor next to Annabeth's bed, a note from Dumbledore atop it, scribbled in fancy handwriting:

Pack what you need and some mortal clothes; we will buy your school robes and supplies in Diagon Alley today.

- Professor Dumbledore

I didn't see how all of Annabeth's things could fit in the tiny little handbag, but it must have had undetectable magic sewn into it, because she stuffed everything in just fine. Annabeth packed her camp-clothes, some warmer clothes that she had in her dresser in case she needed to stay for the winter, Daedalus's silver laptop, and her Celestial bronze dagger. I couldn't see how that weapon would be allowed at Hogwarts, but I let it pass. There could be monsters anywhere, and we would need Celestial Bronze to fight them.

Right as we were walking out of the Athena cabin, Annabeth holding the small bag, we walked into her half-brother Malcolm. She stopped to say goodbye to him, telling him that Chiron would explain everything, as I walked off towards the Poseidon cabin. Unsurprisingly, Tyson was there. He greeted me and I told him that I had to go somewhere for a while, but that I'd be back next summer.

"I'm sorry, big guy. Are you going back to the forges?"

"Yes!" He clapped his hands together, his big brown eye full of excitement. "We will see each other again next summer." I was glad he hadn't taken it badly. Tyson helped me pack all of my things — which basically consisted of my extra clothes and Riptide — in another small bag from Dumbledore.

I walked outside, where Annabeth was waiting for me, and we both set off towards the top of the hill where Thalia's pine tree stood tall and proud. I looked back once more at the strawberry fields and the campers, the woods and the canoe lake, before turning away and walking up to Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Professor Dumbledore. Rachel was already up there with them, standing silently with another bag in her hand.

"Very well. You have all of your things, I presume?" Dumbledore asked us.

"Yes. But, sir, how are we supposed to get to London from here in a day?" Annabeth asked politely, though she probably had a few theories about magic already.

"Oh, we'll be using a Portkey. I'll explain it later. It's all already set up, with some of the help from Ms. Granger here… non-magic, of course... " Hermione blushed slightly. "Anyway. Here it is. Everyone must hold on to it the entire time — never, ever let go." I saw what the silver-bearded professor was pointing at; it was a simple cardboard box with nothing inside. "Very well, then. Everyone, quickly, grab onto the box."

I did as Dumbledore said, though I was utterly confused. What was going on?

Suddenly, I had the strangest feeling as though someone had pulled me up into the air and set me down way too fast. And then the azure blue skies and rolling green hills of Camp Half-Blood were gone. I was standing in the middle of a cobblestone street with small buildings and shops on both sides, an unfriendly gray sky looming overhead. We all rushed to the sidewalk just before a bright red double-decker bus drove past right in front of me.

We were in London.

I barely had enough time to take it all in. We were probably in some more suburban-ish part of the city, with the smaller shops and the cobblestone instead of pavement, but it was definitely London. I found myself staring in awe at the street around me, at the people walking back and forth, until I noticed something odd. In front of our little group was a smallish shop with a sign saying The Leaky Cauldron hanging over the door, but all of the people who passed us on the sidewalk seemed unconscious of the place. Their eyes just slid from the bookshop on one side to the next shop, ignoring the Leaky Cauldron.

"Come, follow me," said Dumbledore, walking to the Leaky Cauldron and entering, then waving at us to follow. Rachel, Annabeth and I immediately ran over to the door and went inside.

It turned out that the Leaky Cauldron was a pub. Dumbledore led us through the dark and shabby shop, staying well away from a couple of intoxicated men in the corner who were laughing their heads off at nothing. He led us out of the bar and into a courtyard with a plain brick wall with a trash can and some nasty weeds next to it. "Are you ready, Percy, Annabeth?" he asked. We nodded silently, wondering what was next. Dumbledore took out his wand and tapped a brick around the middle of the wall three times, and a small hole appeared where the tip of his wand had touched it. The hole got bigger and bigger until, suddenly, it was an enormous arch leading to a curvy shop-lined cobbled street.

"Here we are," announced Dumbledore. "Diagon Alley."

I didn't know where to look first — there were so many wizarding shops — cauldrons, Apothecary (what?), a shop with a sign saying Eeylops Owl Emporium, a window with broomsticks inside (again - what?), and a million other shops that I would have never seen anywhere else, much less in Manhattan. People bustled everywhere, wearing the same cloaks as Dumbledore was but in a variety of colors, buying things. The only thing unsettling about the place was the WANTED posters everywhere — depicting moving white and black pictures of criminals who I assumed had sided with Voldemort. The posters' pictures were moving. As if they were actually videos on paper. I was stunned.

Harry nudged me with his elbow. "I know it's a lot to take in. I felt the same the first time I came here. But first you need money. Speaking of which… Professor Dumbledore, how are we going to get Rachel, Annabeth and Percy money? They don't have vaults at Gringotts," Harry said, turning towards the older man.

"Oh, but you see," said Dumbledore, his blue eyes twinkling, "they actually do."

Dumbledore led us to a pure white building that was enormous compared to the rest of Diagon Alley. It had large bronze doors, and inside, another equally large set of silver doors, with a warning etched over it:

Enter, stranger, but take heed

Of what awaits the sin of greed,

For those who take, but do not earn,

Must pay most dearly in their turn.

So if you seek beneath our floors

A treasure that was never yours,

Thief, you have been warned, beware

Of finding more than treasure there.

Rachel frowned at it, then muttered quietly, "It sounds like a prophecy."

We walked in the silver doors, and then were in a huge marble hall, with a long counter seating dozens of little — what were they?

"They're goblins. Don't get on their bad side," Harry whispered in my ear. I gulped.

There were many doors leading out of the chandelier-lit hall, and more goblins coming out of those. Dumbledore led us to the counter and spoke briefly and quietly with a goblin sitting there. The little creature nodded and hopped off his stool, leading all seven of us through one of the side doors and into a dark passageway with what seemed to be two mine carts sitting on rail tracks. We all crammed into the two carts and hurtled off into a series of winding passageways. It was impossible to remember where we were going at the speed we were going at. The cart kept going, deeper and deeper into the ground, until it finally stopped with a lurch. In front of us was a blue-metal door, with a trident over it. That was most likely Poseidon's vault — why he had a vault in the wizarding world I had no idea. The goblin hopped out of the cart and led me over to it, then unlocked the door. I gasped at what I saw.

Mountains of gold and silver and bronze coins were in front of me. At first, I thought that all of the golden coins were the same, but then I realized that some of them were the Galleons that Harry, Ron, and Hermione had told me about, and some were ancient Greek drachmas. I grabbed a handful of drachmas, Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts each, and put them in the baggage-bag I was still holding, then got back into the cart as the goblin locked Poseidon's vault again.

Annabeth's mother, Athena's, vault, was very similar to mine, but it had an owl over it and had silver Athenian coins as well. For what, I didn't know, but Annabeth grabbed some of everything before getting back in the cart. Rachel took some money from Apollo's vault — I hoped he wouldn't be offended.

We then visited Harry, Ron, and Hermione's vaults, where they all took out some money with their keys, and then were whisked back to the upper world by the magic minecart.

We left Gringotts, the wizarding bank, as Harry, Ron, and Hermione explained the wizarding money to us again.

"There's seventeen Sickles in a Galleon, twenty-nine Knuts in a Sickle," said Hermione quickly.

"Right," I said, hoping that I could remember that easily. Before we went into any of the shops, Dumbledore handed each of us a card written in emerald-green ink. It was the list of school supplies for us - the uniform, all of the spellbooks and textbooks for classes, and equipment for those classes. At the bottom was a note saying, IF YOU ARE PLANNING ON JOINING QUIDDITCH OR ARE IN QUIDDITCH ALREADY, IT IS RECOMMENDED YOU SUPPLY YOUR OWN BROOM.

"What's Quidditch?" Annabeth asked before I could.

"It's the wizarding sport. Seven players, all on broomsticks in the air, and four balls —" Ron began, but Hermione cut him off.

"I wouldn't worry about it. If you need a Quidditch broom, they can supply one for tryouts and then you can buy one over the holidays," she explained hurriedly. "Now, should we visit Madam Malkin's first?" We walked over to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions to buy our robes and all waited as Madam Malkin, a short plump witch, sized us up to give us our robes. Hermione was the only one who didn't need new robes, as she hadn't grown much since the last year, but Ron and Harry were both much taller. After receiving a brand-new set of black robes for the school year, we all walked into Flourish and Blotts to buy our schoolbooks. Personally, I was a bit bored with the spellbooks, and not at all excited to learn that I would have to read in English again with my dyslexia, but Hermione and Annabeth were already poring over a dozen spellbooks that weren't even on our school supply list. They were getting along really well already, and I wasn't surprised — they were both bookworms, and smart, and loved to learn.

We then needed to buy some ingredients for our potions class at the Apothecary (ohhh, that's what that is). There were tons of jars full of slimy stuff and herbs everywhere, and it smelled absolutely horrible. Then we visited yet another shop to buy cauldrons, scales to weigh potions ingredients, and telescopes (for what class I wasn't sure) for Rachel, Annabeth and I, as Harry, Ron, and Hermione all already had their own.

Finally, we all visited the wand shop. The sign on the door said: Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C. The shop was desolate and dusty, its only inhabitant being Mr. Ollivander, a man with creepy silvery eyes and an even creepier flowing voice. "Hello there, Albus," he said, greeting Dumbledore. "Harry Potter. Holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple, if I'm not mistaken?" Mr. Ollivander wheeled on Harry, immediately remembering what his wand was. The three wizards had previously explained to all of us the types of wand — different woods, with a core of either unicorn hair, a phoenix feather, or a dragon heartstring.

I was anxious to get my wand at last, but first, Dumbledore had to speak to Ollivander about the circumstances.

"Ah. Very well, then. We will see which wand chooses each of you." Mr. Ollivander turned on Annabeth first. "Your wand arm, please?" Annabeth held out her right arm, looking a bit scared of Mr. Ollivander. I couldn't blame her. After measuring her with a magical measuring tape, Mr. Ollivander took out some boxes from the shelves behind them and handed the first one over to her.

"Let's see, Ms. Chase. How about this one? Cherry, dragon heartstring, nine inches." He handed the wand to Annabeth and told her to wave it. Nothing happened. Mr. Ollivander handed her another wand. "Let's see — oak, unicorn tail hair, nine and a half inches, very brittle…" Still nothing happened. Mr. Ollivander handed her a third wand, this one with the front half in a slight spiral — "Hmm. Maybe this one: ash, phoenix feather, nine and three-quarter inches, flexible…" Annabeth took the gray-brown-colored wand and waved it, and a shot of gray sparks flew out of the tip.

Mr. Ollivander, Dumbledore, and the three wizards all clapped. "Wonderful, wonderful! I have never had a customer whose wand was the third she tried!" Mr. Ollivander cried with delight. Annabeth paid him seven Galleons before he turned to me.

"Ah, yes. Mr. Jackson. Let's see… I have the strangest feeling about your wand…" Mr. Ollivander handed me wand after wand, each one of them different. On the tenth wand that I tried, I had a strange fear hit me. What if I would never receive a wand and would just keep waving them until the man with the silvery eyes said, "Nope, sorry, I guess you don't have a wand."? By the eleventh wand, I was really worried. "Here. Sycamore and sea-dragon heartstring, eleven inches, slightly bendy." I took the half-knotted wand and swished it, and a burst of blue-green sparks came out of the end, signaling my success. I only then registered what Mr. Ollivander had said about the wand.

Sea-dragon heartstring. I started laughing internally at the irony of it all before paying seven Galleons for my wand and watching as Rachel tried for hers. It turned out to be black walnut and unicorn tail hair, nine inches, surprisingly swishy. We finally walked out of the dusty wand shop and into the sunlit Diagon Alley.

"Well, we have everything that your list requires, unless you wish to buy a pet," said Dumbledore, signaling towards Eeylops Owl Emporium. Annabeth and I both nodded, while Rachel stood stubbornly. She sent me a look that said, no way am I getting a magical pet too. I shrugged at her.

We walked into the Owl Emporium, and Annabeth was immediately attacked by none other than owls. They were all over her, maybe thinking that she was their queen and that they needed to protect her, flocking around her until she was just a figure of feathers and dark black eyes. One of them, a great horned owl, seemed to want to nest in her hair. It took a while, but with all of us, we managed to get the owls away from Annabeth and back into their cages. By then, her hair and mouth was full of feathers, but at least she hadn't been scratched by any talons.

We chose our pets — Annabeth a beautiful black great horned owl, the symbol of her mother, Athena, and I a sleek black cat with green eyes. Rachel refused to buy a pet, standing by the door as she waited for us.

By the time we were completely done with all of our shopping, it was almost already two in the afternoon. We followed Dumbledore out of Diagon Alley and back into the Leaky Cauldron. "Well, this day has been a lot of excitement, children. Until the start of term in a week, you will be staying with all of Ron's relatives, the Weasleys, and Harry's godfather, Sirius Black, at 12 Grimmauld Place. We will be taking a Portkey back there, and then I will leave you. Rachel, Percy, and Annabeth, I will be teaching you the basics of magic to get you caught up to where you should be as sixth-years. Any questions?"

"Just one, sir," said Annabeth. "How do we get to Hogwarts?"

"Ron, Harry, and Hermione will explain it all to you. Are you ready to take the Portkey?" And so we all grabbed onto a pot and were whisked away once again by magic.