November 3rd, 1991

Light.

That's the first thing that Percy perceived when he opened his eyes. Too much light.

The boy let his eyes adjust to the brightness of the room before glancing around to notice that there was nothing weird about his surroundings. Maybe all of this was only a nightmare after all. He was laying in a nice warm bed, with his head on a soft pillow. There were a dozen other beds around, but all of them were empty.

"Ah, I see you're awake !" said a familiar voice.

Percy probably turned his head too quickly, which was a stupid move since a raw blast of pain shot in his head.

Professor Chiron was sitting on a chair, not far from the bed Percy occupied. His eyes were bright and warm, but the young boy noticed that there was something else in them; relief.

"Take it easy, boy! You're still recovering from the battle that you fought. How are you doing ?"

A battle ?

'My head hurts, my mouth feels like a scorpion had been using it for a nest. My tongue is dry and nasty and every one of my teeth hurt.' wanted to answer the young boy. Instead he managed to choke out a strangled: "Fine."

"Umm, I see. Mister Apollo left this glass for you, he told me to make sure you drink from it as soon as you awoke."

The middle-aged man gestured to the bedside table next to Percy's bed, where a tall drink that looked like iced apple juice, with a green straw and a paper parasol stuck through a maraschino cherry was sitting.

Percy's hand was so weak that he almost dropped the glass once he got his fingers around it. "Careful," said Chiron, "here let me help you."

The Headmaster then helped the young boy hold his glass to his mouth and put the straw to his lips. Percy took a careful sip, expecting it to taste like apple juice, so surprised would be an understatement since it wasn't that at all. It was chocolate-chip cookies. Liquid cookies.And not just any cookies his mom's homemade blue chocolate-chip cookies, buttery and hot, with the chips still melting.

Before he knew it, the young boy had drained the glass. Drinking it, his whole body felt warm and good, full of energy.

"Chocolate-chip cookies ?" he asked turning his head to look at the Headmaster.

"That's what it tasted like ? Wouldn't surprise me, Nectar tastes differently to everyone. It's supposed to be comforting, in a way, reminds you of the best moments. It's a very complex potion, and its healing properties do not match any other. But in excessive doses, it can cause undeniable damage." he said, taking the glass from the boy's hand. "And now, how are you feeling?"

"Like I could throw Nancy Bobofit a hundred yards." responded Percy without thinking. After registering what he had said, his eyes got wide and his ears tinted pink. But Chiron only smiled with kind eyes. "I assume that you don't like this Nancy very much." Percy only stared at him, his ears flushed.

"Now that I made sure of your well being I think I can go back to my duties. But first I need to give you something." He grabbed a shoe sized box that was sitting underneath his chair and gave it to the boy in front of him.

"I believe this is yours." said the kind man before heading for the door. "Rest, Mr. Jackson. You won't have to worry about the classes you missed." he continued over his shoulder before exiting the infirmary.

"Hey what do you mean, the classes that I missed ?!" hollered Percy, but the Headmaster was already out of hearing reach.

The green-eyed boy dropped his gaze to the box that was safely sitting on his lap. The Headmaster had given it to him, so he didn't expect anything jumping out of it to kill him. But you can never be too cautious in a world of wizards and magic.

Percy opened the box slowly. Inside was a black-and-white bull's horn, the base jagged from being broken off, the tip splattered with dried blood. It hadn't been a nightmare.

Percy was so focused on the horn that he didn't notice the blond girl entering the infirmary and heading towards him. Well, until she said...

"You drool in your sleep. "

Percy jumped at the sound, making his trophy drop from his lap onto the bed.

"Well hello to you too!" said Percy, faking excitement.

"Oh don't be such a baby."

"A baby ? I've been out for- okay, I don't know how long, and we killed a Minotaur together and the first thing you say after you see me is 'you drool in your sleep' ? What kind of greeting is that ? And how would you even know that?"

"Three days." Annabeth said.

"I beg your pardon ?"

"You said you didn't know for how long you were out. You've been out for three days."

Percy didn't reply. He still tried to wrap his mind around the fact that he had missed three days of schools, and that he didn't even enjoy his time! But his silence didn't seem to be a problem for Annabeth, since she continued on the same tone.

"Besides, you killed the Minotaur. And I had to save your sorry ass from getting punished." she said, staring pointedly in the boy's eyes.

"Wait what ?!"

She sighted, "Consider it a return of the favour. When you oh-so-heroically passed out, the teachers had to ask me what happened. I told them that I went searching for the Minotaur and that you saved me. They granted Gryffindor fifteen points for your bravery and they took five from Ravenclaw, for my recklessness and they gave me detention. "

"But that's absolutely not what happened!"

"What did you want me to say? That I was crying in the bathroom like a damsel in distress and that I had to wait for a charming prince to comfort me?! And that after that, I literally sent a student to his death by telling him to kill the Minotaur?! Or maybe I should've told them that it was an accident, and we just happened to cross paths with a terrifying beast ?!" screamed Annabeth at Percy's face.

"You shouldn't have told them the truth, but you shouldn't have lied that badly either," she opened her mouth to argue but Percy continued anyway, "you could've told them that we stumbled across the Minotaur, yes stumbled totally unwillingly across beefhead, then that we fought the beast together and that I passed out."

"Yeah, and take advantage of the fact that you passed out to pretend that I had killed the beast, so that I could be praised for it. Yeah, not happening."

"But it wasn't your fault either-"

"Percy. Can we just stop talking about this ?"

The young boy didn't fail to notice that she had called him by his first name, something that didn't happen in two months of knowing her. It was usually Jackson or Seaweed brain, or even Kelp Head. But never Percy.

"They didn't go too hard on you in detention, did they?" Percy felt a newfound concern for his new acquaintance (Acquaintance sounded about right to him since she clearly wasn't a friend. Yet.)

"Oh it was absolutely horrifying! I will never forget the trauma that will come from that experience. Listen attentively 'cause this is so mortifying that I will not repeat it a second time. They. Had. Me. Feeding. You. Ambrosia. And. Nectar. For. Three. DAYS! Oh , I'll never forget this tiresome and fearfull duty of watching you drool-"

"Enough, enough, I understood thank you very much!" he answered sarcastically. His ears were crimson red and he felt the irritating need to scratch his neck, but he managed to refrain himself. Oh poor boy, he gets frustrated so easily.

*

When Percy finally got out of the infirmary, he understood what Chiron had meant by 'not to worry about the classes he missed'. Because as a part of her punishment, Annabeth had to write notes for him in every single subject that he missed, and she had to make sure that he understood full well the lessons. Of course, it meant spending more time with Miss Brainiac but Percy told himself that it was for the best.

His friends also had very different reactions when he came out of the infirmary. Reyna punched him, which was really no surprise. She also called him an idiot multiple times, which was also no surprise...

Grover was full on sobbing, sniffling and saying that he would've lost his first friend.

And Frank was again, too hard on himself. Saying that he could've done something to prevent Percy from having a free pass to the infirmary. But the young boy made sure to tell them that he was alright, and that he'd try to not become a resident in Mister Apollo's infirmary, (especially to Reyna, because; 'Ouch, that hurt!')

*

As the middle of November showed his head, the weather turned very cold. The mountains around the school became icy grey and the lake like chilled steel. Every morning the ground was covered in frost. The keeper of the keys, Bob, could be seen from the upstairs windows, defrosting broomsticks on the Quidditch pitch, bundled up in a long and tattered blue overcoat, his wild Einstein silver hair sticking up in every direction, and his silver eyes matching the pale grey of the clouds.

The Quidditch season had begun. On Saturday, Percy would be playing in his first match after weeks of training: Gryffindor versus Slytherin. If Gryffindor won, they would move up into second place in the House Championship, and to say that Percy was anxious about his first Quidditch match would be an understatement.

Even if hardly anyone had seen him play, (Hylla wanted to keep her secret weapon, well, secret.) he often heard people telling him he'd be brilliant or people telling him they'd be running around underneath him, holding a mattress.

So when Saturday came around, Percy's nerves were definitely not cooperating. He had woken up earlier than he wanted, and he knew that he couldn't go back to sleep even if he wanted. So, he decided to do something productive for once; wander around the castle until he found a more interesting occupation.

Well, I never said that he has good ideas...

*

Percy was off of thesecond-floor corridor, near astaircaseto thefirst-floor corridor when something interesting finally happened. He heard two male voices, coming from the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher's office, and not unfamiliar voices.

The young boy wasn't big on eavesdropping, but what would Professor Ares want to talk to Castellan about at six in the morning, when no one else was awake ?

Percy approached the door of the office carefully, before noticing that it was slightly ajar. In front of him, a scenery that he never had thought possible was happening.

"I told you to not approach it, kid. But you didn't listen-"

"Are we going to have this conversation again? It's been more than a week! Besides my leg is healing fine."

"I'm not sure if it would be a good idea to play today, kiddo. Not that I care, obviously. You only got what you deserved." said the Professor, still swishing his wand in the direction of Luke's leg.

"It was not my fault! It was that damn dog's!"

Because yes, in front of him was sitting Luke Castellan on a stool, the left side of his pants was rolled up to expose his left leg, and the visual wasn't pretty. There was newly scarred tissue at a place where a recent wound had been but some deep scratches were still bleeding, and Professor Ares was trying to heal them as best as he could.

Percy tried to get nearer to see the shape of the wound, or should he say wounds. But just when he was getting closer-

"JACKSON!"

The young boy jumped, his eyes widening, his heart rate speeding and his ears flushing. He tried to conceal his surprise but to no avail.

"What do you think you are doing, boy ?!"

Luke was hazardly covering up his leg with anything he could, trying not to touch the sensitive areas.

"Uhh, I came here to... ask about...euh, some-something."

"At six in the morning ?"

"Knowledge doesn't wait ?", as soon as those words were out of his mouth, Percy wanted to face-plam. Really? Knowledge doesn't wait? Besides, it sounded more like a question than an affirmation.

The red-eyed man was trying to control his anger, and we couldn't exactly say that he was succeeding. His fists were clenched tightly at his sides and his eyes showed pure fury.

The teacher's voice was shaking when he asked, "And what was this question?".

"You know what, I'll just ask Professor Hermes, he'll probably know the answer-"

"THEN WHAT ARE YOU STILL DOING HERE?! OUT OF MY OFFICE!"

Percy didn't need to be told twice, he sprinted as fast as he could towards the Gryffindor tower and he didn't stop until he reached the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Monster Donut-" he said gasping for air.

*

When Percy entered the Great Hall after a couple hours, the sun was already up, and he was hit with the delicious smell of fried sausages, and the cheerful chatter of everyone looking forward to a good Quidditch match.

He took place next to Grover and Frank, who were both sitting at the Gryffindor table, chatting with Reyna.

"What's up with the long face?" asked the young girl.

"Um? Oh nothing, I just have a lot on my mind." replied Percy vaguely.

"Don't worry about the match, we all know that you're going to be brilliant!", said Frank, "besides, even the Ravenclaws are rooting for Gryffindor. Must mean something, don't you think?"

At that additional information, Percy finally raised his head to look at the other students. The majority of them were displaying red and golden colors; Gryffondor colors. The Slytherins, on the other hand, weren't pleased by the new color arrangements. Frank was right apparently, both Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw were rooting for Gryffindor, and that didn't fail to warm Percy's heart.

Percy's eyes met Annabeth's, and he sent her a silent message with his eyes; 'Can I talk to you?'. Fortunately, she seemed to get it, because the next second, she slowly rose up from her chair and headed out of the Great Hall. Percy followed her as subtly as possible, even though his friends must've noticed his change of demeanor. He'll talk to them later, now what he needed was information.

'Annabeth is popular,' he told himself, she'll surely be able to help him.

"What do you want?" she asked as soon as he stepped out of the Great Hall.

"Um, can I ask you something?"

"You just did, but I'll give you another try."

"Do you know anything about Castellan?"

Her eyes got strangely defensive at the mention of the Slytherin. "What about him?"

"I just wanted to know if he was alright-" started Percy.

"And you came to the conclusion that I'll know the answer of your question because ?"

"Well," he started, "you know a lot of things?"

"That strangely sounded like a question."

"Will you answer my question or not?" asked Percy, exasperated.

"He's a family friend, we used to play together a lot when we were younger. But he became kind of distant recently, like if something disturbed him. And no, before you ask I don't know what that something is."she responded.

"Okay, thank you-"

"I want a favour."she said.

"You should've asked me about that favour before you answered my-"

"Win the match." She interrupted him again, her eyes shining.

"Wait what?"

"I want you to win the match," she repeated.

"But why? Don't you have friends in Slytherin?"

"Oh, I do. And that's exactly the point. Piper, Bianca and Thalia betted me ten galleons each that Slytherin was going to win. Plus fifteen galleons from Malcolm, my cousin, and five from Jason Grace, if you win I'll have fifty galleons." she smiled. "Isn't it a win-win? Besides, my mother doesn't like you much, and if you win I could rub it in her face for at least a week."

'Because she called you incompetent', thought Percy.

"I'll do my best." said Percy.

"Oh please, you killed a Minotaur. I'm not worried." Annabeth said before she walked off, leaving a star-struck Percy.

*

By eleven o'clock the whole school seemed to be out in the stands around the Quidditch pitch. Many students had binoculars. The seats might be raised high in the air but it was still difficult to see what was going on sometimes.

In the changing rooms, Percy and the rest of the team were changing into their scarlet Quidditch robes (Slytherin would be playing in green).

Hylla cleared his throat for silence.

"OK, Gryffondors,"she said. "This is the moment we've been training so hard for. The first match is usually the hardest, the houses are fighting to have the advantage and we are no exception. Last year, we missed the Quidditch cup by inches, we are not going to make the same mistakes this year. We have the best team possible. We are going to win. I know it."

"And if we don't?" asked Travis Stoll.

"Losing isn't an option, Stolls." She glared harshly at the two beaters."The Slytherins think they're going to beat us by using trickery and cheating, but we aren't going down without a fight. Let's show those snakes what the Lions stand for!"

Charles Beckendorf whistled loudly at that, closely followed by the clapping of the rest of the team. Hylla surely knew how to motivate her teammates.

They exited the changing room, confident smiles on their faces.

"Percy." Hylla called up to him, she fastened up her pace to catch up to him. " In this game, nobody knows how you play," she whispered in his ear. "You're the secret weapon, which also means the biggest target. The Stolls are going to keep the Bludgers away from you, but be careful."

"If they're going to take care of the Bludgers, then what do I have to worry about ?"he whispered back.

"The players." she said simply." Especially Ethan Nakamura. He's a 4th year and he is as vicious and ambitious as a snake. He doesn't play by the rules. He is the Slytherin's Seeker. But I know as a matter of a fact that you are better than him, he doesn't know that yet but when he does, he's going to do everything he can to win. All's fair in love and war."

"But this is a game?!" said Percy, disrupted by the girl's words.

"Not for him." She said before walking ahead of him towards the referee.

Mister Aeolus was refereeing. He stood in the middle of the pitch, waiting for the two teams, his broom in his hand.

"Now, I want a nice fair game, all of you," he said, once they were all gathered around him. Percy noticed that he seemed to be speaking to a Slytherin in particular, a boy with an eyepatch and glossy black hair. Ethan Nakamura thought Percy.

"Mount your brooms, please."

Percy climbed on his Nimbus Two Thousand and Mister Aeolus gave a loud blast on his sky blue whistle.

Fifteen brooms rose up, high, high into the air. They were off.

"And the Quaffle is taken immediately by Gryffindor captain, Hylla Ramirez-Arellano- an excellent Chaser that girl is, and really attractive, too -"

"MICHAEL!"

"Sorry, Professor."

Michael Yew, a Gryffindor, was doing the commentary for the match, closely watched by Professor Hermes.

"And she's shooting at an incredible speed towards the Goalposts, a neat pass to Chaser Zoe Nightshade, a tough one that girl is, I tried to ask her out last year but it didn't work-"

"We all wonder why." said Professor Hermes, sending the 3th year a glare. Michael put a hand on his heart, pretending to be offended, before he continued.

"-back to Ramirez and - no, Slytherin have taken the Quaffle, Chaser Luke Castellan gains possession of the Quaffle and off he goes -"

Percy turned his head to watch at the mention of Castellan. The boy was flying like an eagle towards Beckendorf, but Percy couldn't bring himself to be surprised. He personally thought that Hylla was a much better Chaser, but whatever.

"-and the Bludgers heading towards Seeker Jackson who has been distracted, if he doesn't move out of the way it's going to hurt."

Percy barely had the time to catch the handle of his broom and pull it up, before two Bludgers shot straight in the place where his head and left leg were just seconds ago.

"Sorry Jackson!" Screamed the Stoll brothers before each one of them belted towards a different Bludger.

Percy really had to focus on the game if he wanted to head out of the Quidditch pitch with all his teeth and most importantly, an intact dignity. He steadied himself of his broom and started doing laps around the pitch, searching for a glimpse of gold.

"And the Quaffle is to Rodriguez, he's heading towards Gryffindor's Keeper. He's going to sc- no, stopped by an excellent move by Gryffindor Keeper Charles Beckendorf and Gryffindor take the Quaffle - that's Chaser Ramirez there, nice dive around Castellan , off up the field and - OH !- she was barely saved from a hit in the back of the head by a Bludger by Travis Stoll! Or was it Connor? I really can't make a difference- Nevermind, the Quaffle is to Nightshade and she dives around Pollux, then dodges Castor- AND SHE SCORED ! THE FIRST TEN POINTS OF THE GAME ARE FOR GRYFFINDOR!"

Gryffindor cheers filled the cold air, with howls and moans from the Slytherins.

"Slytherins in possession of the Quaffle, heading towards Gryffin-Oh and is that the Golden Snitch?!"

Luckily, Percy had caught a glimmer of the Snitch just before Michael Yew announced it to the spectators, meaning that he had a good advance on Nakamura.

"And Percy Jackson is bolting towards the Snitch at incredible speed- who knew that boy could fly that well? He dodges a Bludger sent by Pollux, Stoll sends back that Bludger with as much force toward Luke Castellan. Nakamura is chasing behind Jackson but he cannot get close to the secret weapon of Gryffindor- Jackson makes a sharp turn to follow the Snitch and -"

Percy was so close to catching the Golden Snitch, his hand was outstretched towards the little ball and he started to feel the fluttering golden wings on his palm, but he wasn't paying attention to his surroundings. That's exactly why he didn't see the green of that player's robes heading towards him, until he felt a brutal force collide with him and eject himfrom his broom.

"OHH DID YOU SEE THAT?! ETHAN NAKAMURA JUST COLLIDED AT FULL SPEED WITH SEEKER PERCY JACKSON! JACKSON IS KNOCKED OFF HIS BROOM WITH ONLY HIS HANDS TO RETAIN HIM FROM A ONE HUNDRED YARD FALL! THAT WAS AN INTENTIONAL DISDAIN OF THE RULES, SUSPEND THAT LITTLE PIECE OF SHI-"

"MICHAEL!"

"Sorry Professor, but did you see that ?!"

Mister Aeolus whistled loudly, "Nakamura! Do that again and you will be suspended from the next Quidditch match! You know I can do it so don't test me boy! Penalty to Gryffondor."

But the little stunt that the Slytherin had pulled worked, even though Percy was back on his broom he had no idea where the Golden Snitch went. He raised his head to meet the smirk of non-other than Nakamura, Percy glared at him as hard as he could and he must've been pretty scary because Ethan's eyes widened and he turned around and set off in the other direction. Percy sighted, this is going to be a long game.

*

The second time the Snitch was perceived, Percy wasn't proud to say that he hadn't seen it himself. While he was doing his laps, Ethan Nakamura shot towards the ground. It took a couple seconds for Percy to realise what was happening, a couple seconds too late.

He shot after Nakamura as fast as he could, the wind was blasting in his ears, the reason why he didn't hear the uproar of the crowd. He didn't see Grover covering his eyes or Reyna and Frank shouting his name. Neither did he see that the game around him had stopped, the players focusing only on the Seekers.

Nakamura was at least twenty yards ahead of the younger boy. Oh to hades!, thought Percy before speeding up even more.

Now, he was barely behind Nakamura, but the older boy already had his hand outstretched, ready to catch the Snitch that was only two feet away.

Percy had done a fair share of dumb things in his life, he could probably list them if he was not so concentrated on the Snitch. But this one was certainly number one. Later on, he would blame it on the pressure.

Nakamura's hand was getting closer to the Snitch and so was Percy, but the son of Poseidon was too far to try and catch it. On the count of three, he thought. One, Percy readied his legs on his broom. Two, he outstretched his legs only a little to give him a better position. Ethan's hand was so close to the Snitch, but Percy's mind was already set. Three, Percy pushed as hard as he could with his legs and jumped. An audible gasp could be heard from the audience, and even Michel Yew was staring at the green-eyed boy, open-mouthed. Ethan, startled by the sudden movement, moved out of Percy's trajectory and that's exactly what the younger boy wanted.

He stretched out his hand, and closed it around the tiny ball that was the Golden Snitch. A smile graced his features, before he realised, that he was free-falling.

CRACK!

Percy crashed on the ground, a blast of pain shooting from his left shoulder, but right now he couldn't care less.

"OH MY GODS- DID YOU SEE THAT ?! PERCY JACKSON JUST PURPOSEFULLY JUMPED FROM HIS BROOM AND DID A FIFTEEN FOOT FALL. BUT WHERE IS THE GOLDEN SNITCH?!"

Percy slowly raised his right hand in the air, showing off the tiny ball that was tightly imprisoned in his hand.

"PERCY JACKSON CAUGHT THE SNITCH! GRYFFINDOR WIIINS!"

The stands erupted in cheers and the Gryffindor team landed around Percy, big smiles on their faces.

"Are you okay ?" asked Hylla out of good measure. The brightness of her eyes showed that she didn't care as much about his answer than about the ball in his hand.

"I couldn't be better!" exclaimed Percy.

"The angle of your arm says otherwise."

The young boy didn't even realise that Frank, Reyna and Grover had gotten off the stands and were now standing at his side.

Percy looked down to see that his arm was indeed, bent on a weird angle.

"Who cares, I just caught my first Snitch!" he said.

"JACKSON! JACKSON! JACKSON! JACKSON! JACKSON! JACKSON! JACKSON!" started chanting the students.

And even though his arm was probably broken, and sweat was running down his face, he felt a weird tangling feeling.

The students had accepted him, sure, they only did after he killed a Minotaur and won a Quidditch game but they accepted him nonetheless.

That's probably why he didn't notice the angry look that a Professor was sending his way...

Hello! How are you doing ?

Well that's it for this chapter, that took a lot of time to write (especially since I had no inspiration) I hope you still like it though.

Sorry for the curse words, I think it's the first chapter where I use one. But well, this story is rated T so...

Anyway, in this Chapter we learn that Percy drools in his sleep and that Luke has a booboo on his leg :(I wonder what caused that...

Ethan Nakamura also make an apparition, kinda messed up but who cares?

I also used reference from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone but also The lighting thief, so a lot of credit goes to Rick Riordan and J.K Rowling. (But you already know that...)

I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I hope to see you for the next chapters.

But until then,

Peace out!

(It's not possible to end a chapter withoud saying peace out.)