Disclaimer: I do not own any Percy Jackson storylines, nor any Harry Potter storylines and characters. The only thing I own is this story plot. Everything else belongs to Rick Riordan and J. K. Rowling.
"I can read next," Fred offered as all of their giggling and chuckling died down.
"Here," Luna slid the book across the table for the Weasley twin to pick up.
He flipped through the pages and came to the next chapter. "My Dinner Goes Up In Smoke."
Ron frowned. "What does that mean?"
"Well, Ron, if you let me read more than the chapter title, we can find out," Fred said patronizingly.
Ron flushed in embarrassment as the other teens either chuckled or laughed.
Word of the bathroom incident...still pretty much dripping wet.
Hermione frowned. "So she was just walking around in wet clothes? Couldn't she have gone to her cabin and changed?"
Her questions were met with shrugs.
She showed me a few more places…(where kids were forging their own swords)
"Wicked," Harry and Ron murmured, starstruck.
The arts and crafts room...statue of a goat-man)
And the climbing wall...the top fast enough.
"Well," Neville spoke up, his face pale, "that sounds terrifying."
"Nah," George shook his head, "that sounds awesome."
Finally, we returned...trail back to the cabins.
"I've got training to do...to the mess hall."
"Ooh, she sounds irritated."
Ginny gave her brother a Look. "She was blasted with toilet water, Ronald. I can't imagine you would be skipping and singing if that happened to you."
Ron's ears burned red as the other teens laughed at him.
"Annabeth, I'm...the toilets."
"Whatever."
"It wasn't my fault."
"I think it was, mate."
She looked at me skeptically...become one with the plumbing.
Harry snorted. "I guess that's one way of putting it."
"You need to...Oracle," Annabeth said.
Luna frowned. "The Oracle?" she asked. "Who is that?"
"I'm not sure," Neville frowned.
"Who?"
"Not who. What...I'll ask Chiron."
"What did she mean by 'what'?" Molly asked nervously.
Remus shook his head. "There is no way of knowing if we stop reading. Please continue, Mister Weasley."
I stared into the lake...a straight answer for once.
"I know how he feels," Harry muttered.
I wasn't expecting anybody to be looking back at me...at the base of the pier, about twenty feet below.
"Mermaids?" Ginny asked.
"I don't think so," Hermione said thoughtfully. "They sound familiar, though."
They wore blue jeans...darted in and out.
They smiled and waved...were a long-lost friend.
Snape frowned and stored that bit of information away for later.
He noticed Lupin frowning at the book as well, his face arranged into a look Snape recognized as his 'thinking face.'
I didn't know...I waved back.
"Don't encourage them...are terrible flirts."
"So that's what they are called," Luna murmured to herself.
"I wonder how they differ from mermaids," Neville said thoughtfully.
"Naiads," I repeated...want to go home now."
"I guess that was when it all began to sink in for him," Molly said with sympathy. "The poor dear."
"I can completely relate," Harry added.
"Me as well," Hermione nodded in agreement.
Annabeth frowned. "Don't you get it, Percy?...place on earth for kids like us."
Remus sighed. "That camp sounds nice, but being the only safe place for them to be must be constrictive at times."
"You mean...disturbed kids?"
"I mean not human...Half-human."
"Half-human and half what?"
"I think you know."
I didn't want to admit it...my mom talked about my dad.
"God," I said. "Half-god."
"Seems like he's finally accepting it," Ginny said, and there were nods of agreement.
Annabeth nodded...one of the Olympians."
"That's...crazy."
"We think so too Percy-"
"-but it's still pretty cool."
The other teens nodded in agreement while the adults just sighed.
"Is it? What's the...in the old stories?
"They ran around falling in love...habits in the last millennia?"
Molly scowled. "Cheating on their spouses to have affairs and children with other people..." she trailed off, too angry to form words.
Harry shifted uncomfortably. "Mrs. Weasley, I'm not speaking for the gods that are married, but it must be hard to live forever. Maybe some of them really do fall in love with mortals."
"True," Neville agreed with Harry. "They're living forever; it must get really lonely every once in a while."
The matriarch of the Weasley pursed her lips but didn't respond.
"But those are just - " I almost said myths…"But if all the kids here are half-gods-"
"Demigods," Annabeth said...Or half-bloods."
"Then who's your dad?"
"Now this I go to hear," Ron commented as he leaned forward.
"I must admit I am curious as well," Remus confessed.
Everyone agreed with them - sans Dumbledore who already knew - even Snape.
Her hands tightened...a sensitive subject.
"Ooh, more family drama."
Molly glared at the twins for their comment.
My dad is a professor at West Point...I was very small. He teaches American History."
"Huh," Ginny said in consideration. "It looks like her godly parent is her mother, not her father."
"Excellent," Hermione piped up with a smug smile.
"He's human."
"What? You assume it...How sexist is that?"
"Who's your mom then?"
Everyone unconsciously leaned forward, even the adults.
"Cabin six."
"Meaning?"
Annabeth straightened. "Athena...wisdom and battle."
"Annabeth's mom is the goddess of wisdom and battle?" George repeated as soon as his twin finished reading the sentence.
"Impressive," Luna said, her eyes wide. Though it was unclear if it was in awe or her usual expression.
Hermione nodded. "It's nice to know that a woman holds that much power and significance."
All the females agreed.
"Don't forget to write her name down, Ginny," Neville mentioned.
"Way ahead of you," the redhead replied as she finished jotting the name down.
Okay, I thought. Why not?
"And my dad?"
"Undetermined," Annabeth said...Nobody knows."
"Except my mother. She knew."
"Maybe not, Percy...reveal their identities."
"What?!" Molly was horrified. "You mean that they don't even tell their partners that they're a god or goddess? They just leave them in the dark about why mythological creatures are attacking them and their children?"
"Calm down, Molly," Remus soothed. "Annabeth could have meant that they don't tell their partners which god or goddess they are."
"Omitting the truth is still lying Remus! If their partners are going to raise their kids, they at least deserve to be told the truth!"
"My dad would have. He loved her."
Annabeth gave me a cautious look...burst my bubble.
"Maybe you're right...Sometimes it happens."
"You mean sometimes it doesn't?"
Molly's face twisted into a dark frown.
Annabeth ran her palm along the rail...don't care about us, Percy. They ignore us."
"What?" Molly's voice was low and dark, causing her kids to send her concerned looks. "They ignore their own children? They don't give a rat's arse about them at all?"
While the Weasley children had shocked looks upon their faces from hearing their mother's tone and words, the other teens' expressions had twisted furiously, especially Neville's and Harry's.
The other adults were similarly affected. While Dumbledore hid his emotions under a bland facade, both Remus and Snape wore sinister looks on their faces as they glared at the book in Fred's hands.
"I know that there are some families out there who treat their kids wrong," Luna said into the silence, her voice quiet but firm, "but the gods and goddesses should know better."
No one disagreed.
I thought of some of the kids...a call that would never come.
I'd known kids like that at Yancy Academy...didn't have the time to deal with them.
But gods should behave better.
"Damn straight."
"So I'm stuck here...rest of my life?"
"It depends," Annabeth said...child Aphrodite or Demeter, you're probably not a really powerful force.
"Wait," Ron interrupted Fred's reading. "We already know who Appo...Afro…"
"Aphrodite," Harry supplied helpfully.
"Right, her," Ron said. "Harry already told us which goddess she is. Who is this Demeter person?"
"If I remember correctly," Hermione replied slowly as she thought out her answer, "Demeter is the goddess of agriculture."
"Agriculture?"
"Farming and the like," Harry answered George's question.
"Oh."
"So a goddess of love and a goddess of farming," Ron spoke up again. "No wonder Annabeth thinks a child of theirs wouldn't be powerful."
"Do not forget Ron that despite what you or Annabeth think, those two are still part of the Olympians," Ginny pointed out.
"And I don't think love isn't powerful," Luna said softly as she stared at the book in Fred's hands. "Love is a powerful motivator, whether it's romantic love or familial love."
Molly, who has seven children - nine if she counted Harry and Hermione - and would do anything to protect them, nodded in agreement.
The monsters might ignore you...the rest of the year.
But for some...too dangerous to leave.
We're year-rounders. In the mortal world...or they get killed off.
A few manage to survive...you'd know them.
Some don't even realize...very few are like that."
"As I said before, the camp sounds lovely," Remus said. "But it must be suffocating to never see the outside world because you'll get killed as soon as you leave."
There were nods of assent at his words.
"So monsters can't get in here?"
Annabeth shook her head...somebody on the inside."
"Why would...summon a monster?"
"Practice fights. Practical jokes."
"Practical jokes?"
Fred stopped reading and frowned. "Okay, I get the practice fights part. But why would they summon a monster that could kill someone as a practical joke?"
George nodded. "Yeah, not even we would go that far."
"Who knows," Nevile shrugged.
"The point is, the borders are sealed...see nothing unusual, just a strawberry farm."
"So kind of like the wards that make Hogwarts look old and run-down," Remus said thoughtfully.
"So...you're a year-rounder?"
Annabeth nodded.
From under the collar of her T-shirt...gold ring strung on it, like a college ring.
"I've been here since I was seven...the counselors, and they're all in college."
"Why did you come so young?"
She twisted the ring… "None of your business."
"Definitely family drama," George whispered to his twin.
"Oh." I stood there...now if I wanted to?"
"It would be suicide...end of the summer session unless…"
"Unless?"
"You were granted a quest...the last time…"
"Granted a quest?" Neville repeated, his tone confused.
"A quest is like a mission given to demigods," Hermione explained.
Harry snorted. "Me, you, and Ron have been going on 'quests'," he said, making quotations when he said the word quest, "since we came to Hogwarts. I think I'll pass."
"Same," Ron said.
Molly sighed. "Well at least they don't go actively look for trouble," she muttered.
Remus, who heard her comment, couldn't help but whisper back, "But trouble usual finds them anyway."
"That doesn't help, Remus."
Her voice trailed off...hadn't gone well.
A few of them tensed. It sounded bad.
"Back in the sick room...feeding me that stuff-"
"Ambrosia."
"Yeah. You asked...the summer solstice."
Annabeth's shoulders tensed...know something?"
"Well, from reading his thoughts I think it is safe to say that Percy is clueless about pretty much everything," Neville said thoughtfully.
"Well, maybe not everything," Ginny countered. "He may not know about current events, but he still knows some of the stuff that happened in Greek Mythology. That should be useful down the line."
"Well, when you put it like that…"
"Well...no. Back at my old school...What did that mean?"
"Mate, we'd all like to know."
She clenched her fists...everything seemed so normal."
"Wait, she's been too Olympus?" Ron asked in awe.
"You've been to Olympus?"
It got quiet.
Harry then let out a sigh. "Ron, mate, maybe you should stop talking. This is getting sad."
"OI! It's not like I try to do it!"
Some of us year-rounders...the gods have their big annual council."
"But...how did you get there?"
"The Long Island Railroad, of course...You are a New Yorker, right?"
"Oh, sure."...not to point that out.
"Fascinating," Remus murmured.
Snape rolled his eyes. "For being a daughter of a wisdom goddess, the girl is acting like a dunderhead. It is clear that Mister Jackson is new to everything and yet she keeps treating him like he should know things that he clearly doesn't."
"I agree with Professor Snape," Luna piped up with a smile, ignoring the many shocked looks sent her direction. "The location of Olympus wouldn't be common knowledge to demigods just learning about their world. It was short-sighted of her."
Hermione hummed. "I guess I can see your point."
"Right after we visited,"...gods had started fighting.
An uneasy silence fell over the group. "The Gods fighting?" Fred said, his tone tense.
"That really doesn't sound good," George followed up.
A couple of times since...something important was stolen.
'Something was stolen?' Hermione, Luna, Remus, and Snape thought to themselves in unison.
When you came...the rivalry with Poseidon.
"Poseidon?" Neville echoed in confusion.
"Oh!" Hermione gasped, "now I remember! Poseidon is Zeus' brother and part of the Olympians."
"Zeus' brother?" Ginny repeated with a gasp. "He must be pretty powerful then. What is he the god of?"
"Oh, um," Hermione began to say, but then caught Harry's gaze. He gave a very subtle shake of his head, his eyes warning her to not speak.
'That's right,' Hermione realized. 'Poseidon is the god of the seas, which means he has control over water. The same control Percy seems to have.'
"Hermione?" Remus interrupted her thoughts, a frown on his face. "Everything okay?"
"O-Oh, I'm fine," Hermione lied. "I just couldn't remember which Olympian God he is."
Everyone excepted her answer, Ginny even wrote the name down on the list of gods and goddesses she had, and Harry secretly smiled at her in thanks.
Everyone - except the Head of Slytherin and lone Ravenclaw of the group. However, they decided to just store the information away for later and see what happens.
'I wonder why she lied,' Luna thought to herself whimsically.
But, I mean, aside from that...I thought you might know something."
I shook my head...to ask any more questions.
Harry and Hermione sent understanding looks to the book in Fred's hands.
"I've got to get a quest...tell me the problem…"
Snape sneered at that.
I could smell barbecue smoke...as if drawing a battle plan.
"Page break here," Fred said before he continued reading.
Back at cabin eleven...waiting for dinner.
For the first time...teachers would peg as troublemakers.
"That cabin really is like a bunch of Freds and Georges," Neville commented with a shake of his head.
The aforementioned twins merely smiled in glee as everyone else groaned.
Dumbledore simply waited in his seat for the rest of the chapter to be read.
Thankfully, nobody paid much attention...plopped down with my minotaur horn.
The counselor, Luke, came over...his smile was intact.
"Found you a sleeping bag...toiletries from the camp store.
I couldn't tell...the stealing part.
Ron snorted. "Probably not."
I said, "Thanks."
"No prob...Tough first day?"
"I don't belong here...believe in gods."
"Well, regardless of whether he believed in the gods or not, he does belong there," Luna said thoughtfully. "I guess it's still overwhelming for him even after accepting it."
"He's just been introduced to a new society that he is a part of," Remus reasoned. "One that is dangerous as well. I'm not surprised that he's feeling out of place."
"Yeah," he said...It doesn't get any easier."
The bitterness in his voice surprised me...handle just about anything.
"So your dad is Hermes?" I asked.
He pulled a switchblade...going to gut me
All the females gasped as the male teens' eyes widened and the adults narrowed theirs.
But he just…"Yeah. Hermes."
"The wing-footed messenger guy."
Ginny giggled. "I guess that's one way of describing a god."
The others laughed.
"That's him. Messengers. Medicine. Travelers, merchants, thieves...Hermes isn't picky about who he sponsors."
Neville, whose eyes were widening with each new description of Hermes, suddenly narrowed. "Wait, did that sound off to anyone else?"
"A little," Hermione admitted, with Luna in agreement.
All the other teens just shrugged.
I figured Luke didn't...a lot on his mind.
"You ever meet your dad?" I asked.
"Once."
I waited, thinking that...how he got his scar.
Molly's nostrils flared in anger. "It better bloody well not be."
Luke looked up and managed a smile...We take care of each other."
"That sounds nice," Harry spoke up.
The twins nodded.
He seemed to understand how lost I felt...an uncool middle schooler like me.
But Luke had welcomed me...nicest thing anybody had done for me all day.
"At least he has someone watching out for him," Remus said.
I decided to ask him my last big question...What was that about?"
"Yeah, what was that about," Neville muttered to himself.
Luke folded his knife. "I hate prophecies."
"Join the bloody club," Harry growled.
"What do you mean?"
His face twitched around the scar...somebody special came to the camp."
"I'm betting his quest is how he got his scar," Hermione reasoned.
Snape thought back to the end of chapter four. "Her words make sense now," he murmured.
Remus heard him. "What do you mean, Severus?" His question caused all heads to turn towards the potions master.
Snape sneered reflexively but answered the question. "The end of chapter four has this Annabeth saying 'He's the one'. If what this Luke character said is correct, then she suspects Mister Jackson in the one that will get her out of camp and on a quest."
Remus hummed in contemplation. "I see what you mean."
Harry, Hermione, and Luna nodded in agreement.
"Somebody special?"
"Don't worry about it kid...Now, come on, it's dinnertime."
The moment he said it...I'd never heard one before.
Harry and Hermione were the only ones who understood why Harry was able to identify the type of horn, although Remus, Snape, and Luna took note of it.
Luke yelled, "Eleven, fall in!"
The whole cabin, about twenty of us,
"Twenty?!" Molly shrieked. "One person had twenty kids?!"
"Uh, Mrs. Weasley," Hermione said hesitantly. "Remember that not all of them are Hermes' kids."
Molly fumed but didn't say anything more.
Filed into the commons yard...glow silver as the sun went down.
We marched up the hill...come skipping up the hill.
In all, there were...wood nymphs and naiads.
Molly frowned at how many kids were there, but she kept her mouth shut.
At the pavilion...half of my butt hanging off.
"I didn't need that image in my head," George exclaimed dramatically, and Fred couldn't stop his laugh.
I saw Grover sitting at table twelve...being way too small for a centaur.
"Huh," Ron said, "I guess Mr. D has some kids too."
"And there's only two," Neville stated, "A big difference than the others."
Molly sniffed. "At least he showed restraint."
Snape rolled his eyes. 'These people are gods and goddesses', he thought to himself. 'They are not like the rest of us. The sooner the woman realizes that the better'.
Annabeth sat at table six...gray eyes and honey-blond hair.
Clarisse sat behind me at Ares' table...right alongside her friends.
"Her sisters," Luna corrected absentmindedly as the other ladies wrinkled their noses at her manners.
Finally, Chiron pounded his hoof… "To the gods!'
"To the gods!" the twins, Harry, Ron, and Neville repeated joyfully to the amusement of the others.
Well, other than Snape, but that was a given.
Everybody raised…"To the gods!"
Wood nymphs came forward...nonalcoholic, of course."
"That sounds nice," Ron said with a grin.
"Of course you would say that," Hermione shook her head.
I said, "Cherry Coke."
The glass filled...caramel liquid.
Then I had an idea. "Blue Cherry Coke."
The soda turned...shade of cobalt.
I took a cautious sip. Perfect.
I drank a toast to my mother.
There was a moment of silence as they all took in that last sentence.
Harry, Neville, and Luna all were staring at the book with sad eyes.
She's not gone...the someday…"
Everyone groaned.
"I had forgotten about his idea," Ginny groused.
"Here you go...platter of smoked brisket.
I loaded my plate...going for dessert or something.
"Come on," Luke told me.
As I got closer...most buttery roll.
"They're just dropping the food into the fire?" Ron asked, aghast.
The twins and Harry snickered at his reaction.
Luke murmured...They like the smell."
Neville raised a skeptical brow. "Seriously?"
"You're kidding."
His looked warned me not to take this lightly...all-powerful being would like the smell of burning food.
"We're confused too, mate."
Luke approached the fire...red grapes. "Hermes."
I was next.
I wished...name to say.
Finally, I made...tell me. Please.
I scraped...into the flames.
When I caught...I didn't gag.
It smelled nothing like burning food...the gods could live off that smoke.
Everyone paused. "Huh," Hermione broke the silence. "That is...interesting."
"Do you think if we offered food to the gods our food would smell like that?" Ginny asked.
"I'm not willing to find out," Ron declared intensely.
When everybody had returned...for our attention.
Mr. D got up with a huge sigh...Cabin Five holds the laurels."
A bunch of...the Ares table.
"Personally," Mr. D continued...Peter Johnson."
Chiron murmured something.
"Er, Percy Jackson...silly campfire. Go on."
"Are you sure you don't want a new friend Professor?" Fred asked 'innocently'.
Snape glared menacingly at him and his snickering twin.
"Just checking."
Everybody cheered. We all headed down...I felt that I was home.
All those who had ever felt at home at Hogwarts couldn't help smiling at that.
Later in the evening, when the sparks from the campfire...how exhausted I was until I collapsed on my borrowed sleeping bag.
My fingers curled around the Minotaur's horn...tell me not to let the bedbugs bite.
When I closed...fell asleep instantly.
That was...Camp Half-Blood.
I wish I'd known...to enjoy my new home.
"Wait what?" Molly exclaimed.
"That was the end of the chapter," Fred said.
"Oh come on," Neville complained. "Can't the kid ever catch a break?"
"I so know how that feels," Harry said with sympathy,
Remus sighed. "Let's just read the next chapter."
George nudged his twin. "I'll read next, Forge."
Fred grinned. "But of course my good sir."
He handed the book off to his twin, and everyone settled in to hear another chapter about the life of Percy Jackson.
Oh. My. God.
That took FOREVER! This chapter has been the hardest to write so far and I don't even know why!
Anyway, I'm glad I finally cranked this out, I hope you all enjoyed it. Also, thank you all for the reviews you have been leaving, it boosted my confidence.
Until next time!