"Alright then let's get on with it," Hecate said in a surprisingly cheerful tone, "So what happens now is that you come me and I will touch your right temple and insert the basic knowledge of magic as well as my blessing upon you."
Percy nodded and walked over to her and dipped his head.
"As a heads up," Hecate warned, her index finger up against his temple, "This will hurt."
Percy nodded again and closed his eyes bracing himself. And with a jolt, he felt energy rushing through him and felt as if his head was on fire. As quick and sudden as the pain started, it stopped.
Percy opened his eyes again to see Hecate with a face of satisfaction and his mother with one of worry.
"Are you okay Percy?" his mom asked in a worrisome voice.
"Yes, I'm okay now."
"Now Percy," Hecate said, "There are a few things I must explain to you. The first thing is that the wizarding world is a completely different world from the greek one so it would be best that you don't reveal your true heritage. Secondly, the gods are not allowed to interfere with the wizarding world, even I am only allowed indirect interference despite it being in my domain."
"So this is why you can't help me further," Percy muttered.
"Yes," Hecate replied, "The third thing is that the gods have moved on from Britain so you'll be able to do stuff like flying without fear of being disintegrated. In addition, even if you were to fly in America, as long as you are using wizarding means of flight Eus won't be able to zap you as being a wizard, flying on wizarding devices is your birthright, just as much as pegasi are."
"Sweet," Percy replied, thinking how cool it would be to zoom around the skies without fear of death.
"Indeed," Hecate went on, "the last thing is that, do you remember who Albus Dumbledore is?"
"Yeah," Percy answered, "Didn't you say that he was the only wizard to know about Olympus? And that he was powerful and was like the headmaster of Hogwads?"
"Hogwarts," Hecate corrected, "But yes you are correct. Anyways, as you said, he knows of us gods and he'll be the one coming to take you to the school. I'll be contacting him as soon as I leave and he will be here to take you tomorrow."
"Wait, I'm leaving this early?" Percy asked, still a bit bamboozled by the whole situation.
"Yes," Hecate replied, "I did say that the new term starts in a week. And on this note, I'll be leaving. Good day!"
"Well today was a hell of a day wasn't it mom?"
"It definitely was Percy," Sally replied, wrapping Percy in her arms, "But I'm happy for you Percy. You'll finally be able to find a permanent school now. And not to mention, now you'll be able to settle down peacefully when you grow up!"
"Yeah, it sure is great," Percy murmured, "Anyways, I'll go pack."
Percy woke up in bed the next morning feeling like last afternoon was a dream. He and his mom had gotten a food delivery yesterday and had both turned in early, clearly both still in shock of what happened yesterday. When he walked into the living room seeing his mother in thought, he knew for sure that last night was no overly animated demigod dream.
"When do you think the Headmaster will come?" Percy wondered out loud, breaking the silence
Just as his mother opened her mouth to speak, the doorbell rang.
"That must be him then," Sally said, surprised.
And indeed when they opened the door, they saw a tall elderly man with long flowing silver hair and beard, wearing a red and black robe and a pointed hat to match. All in all, he looked like the ideal wizard, the kind you see in kids' storybooks.
"May I come in?" He asked.
"Yes of course," Percy replied.
As soon as the man who Percy had now dubbed Gandalf walked into the room, Sally called out.
"You must be the headmaster!"
"Yes I am," Gandalf/Dumbledore answered, "And you must be the Jacksons, please call me Professor Dumbledore.
"Right, so Professor," Percy wondered aloud, "Have you come to take me to England?"
"Yes, I have," Professor Dumbledore replied, "Have you packed everything?"
"Yeah," Percy said, rather excited, "I'm ready to go!"
"Alright then, hold your things and grab my arm."
Percy nodded and grabbed his duffel bag and went over to hug his mom.
"Make me proud Percy," she whispered, her eyes brimming with tears.
"I will mom," Percy murmured, "I will.'
Then Percy walked to Dumbledore, waved at his mother and then held onto Dumbledore's arm.
"Brace yourself, this may be a bit nauseous," Dumbledore said, eyes twinkling.
Suddenly, the world around Percy swirled and he felt he was falling out of the world. Then it swirled again and they were in the middle of a street. Percy stumbled a bit, his head spinning and almost doubling over.
"This doesn't look anywhere near a school," Percy said, once he was steady on his feet again, confusion clear in his voice.
"This isn't Hogwarts Percy," Dumbledore replied, "This is the Leaky Caudron," he pointed to a rundown pub, "This is the entrance to Diagon alley, the Wizard equivalent of what muggles call a supermall. Come on, follow me, Percy."
As Percy followed him into the pub, Percy began noticing the magic. Utensils were flying around and chairs moving out of people's way.
Dumbledore stopped at the front desk, and the person there greeted him, "Dumbledore! A pleasure to see you! What brings you here?"
"Hello, Tom," Dumbledore replied, "I'm here to help Percy here get his supplies. Percy here is a transfer student from the U.S. Percy, this is Tom, the owner of the Leaky Caudron."
Tom stuck out his hand and Percy shook it. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Tom."
"You too Percy, you too," Tom replied.
"Well it was nice seeing you again Tom, but we'll be going to get Percy his supplies now."
"Alright see you, Dumbledore."
And so Percy followed Dumbledore to the back of the store where the barrels and boxes were. In front of them was a wall.
"No offence Professor, but are you sure we're at the right place?" Percy asked, confused for the umpteenth time that day.
"Yes, Percy," Dumbledore said patiently, "Just watch."
Percy watched as the Professor took out his wand and tapped a few of the bricks on the wall. Percy's expression of confusion turned to one of pure awe as the wall split in two, revealing a huge alley of strange stores.
"Woah...This is so cool!" Percy exclaimed, looking at everything around them.
As they walked down the alley Percy saw all the different stores, and each felt more wizardy than the next. They went past a dragons blood store and then a broom store and Percy heard them talking about how fast the new one was gonna be.
"Wait, wizards fly on brooms?" Percy asked incredulously.
"Yes," Dumbledore said, amusement twinkling in his eyes, "You'll find that muggles weren't that wrong about us. After all the famous children's tales of magic came from the ancient times, before the Statute of Secrecy, back when wizards and muggles mingled."
Percy nodded mutely, his eyes still glued to the stores and their signs, which now showed things like "Candied Quills!" and "Astronomy Globe, never need to look up again!". Finally, Dumbledore stopped. Percy looked around and his jaw dropped and he saw a giant snow-white building, with the word Gringotts emblazed on the roof. Dumbledore went in and Percy followed, still failing to pick up his jaw. As they walked in, Percy saw the carvings in the door, though he couldn't read it, he knew they were no doubt a warning. When they walked in, they saw tens of short human-like creatures, goblins he knew because they looked much like their depictions in the muggle world(except the fact that they weren't green).
"Where are we?" Percy asked awestruck.
"This is the wizarding bank, Percy. It's run by goblins, creatures easily on par with humans. They, like I, know the existence of the gods.
Dumbledore lead him to the podium in the middle, and said to the goblin there, "We would like to make a withdrawal for young Percy here. Now Percy, hand me your bag, I'll vanish it till you need it again."
Percy gave him his bag and Dumbledore waved his wand and it was gone. Then he realized Dumbledore mentioned a vault and was about to protest that he had no money when the goblin nodded and called out, "Griphook, take the kid to his father's vault."
The goblin known as Griphook walked up and said "Follow me."
Percy nodded and followed. One long(and surprisingly fun) minecart ride later they got to the vault of Poseidon.
"I thought the gods weren't allowed to interfere with the wizarding world," Percy asked, remembering his earlier conversation with Hecate.
"Not anymore," Griphook the goblin replied "But these were built a millennia ago, back before their pact. Now, put your hand onto the door, it will evaluate your blood."
Percy nodded and placed his palm onto the door and he felt his hand tingle. Then the doors opened to reveal mounds upon mounds of gold, mountains of silver and copper and a rack of weaponry. There were daggers, spears, swords, tridents, all made of iron, celestial bronze, silver or some type of gold-there were so many different weapons that had Percy not known better he would've thought it was an armoury instead of a bank vault. Then he turned and saw a table holding an array of leather-looking pouches. These must be the wizarding version of a wallet, he thought to himself. He grabbed a handful of the drachma and reached inside the pouch to put them in when he realised that it was only after he'd extended almost his entire arm in the pouch did he touch the bottom.
"What the heck?" He wondered out loud.
"That is a dragonhide pouch capable of resisting most spells and fire. It has an unnoticeable extension charm on the inside, hence the size. I believe it is about twice the size of the bag you held earlier. It also has an auto organising function so you'll be able to grab anything you put in there without searching as well as being charmed to have the original weight despite what you put in," sweet, Percy thought to himself, "Now as for the money, twenty-nine bronze knuts to a sickle and seventeen silver sickles for a gold galleon," Griphook explained, standing outside.
Percy nodded and then thought to ask "What about the drachma?"
"Well," Griphook replied, "Wizards don't use drachma at all but you'll be able to trade them in here at Gringotts. Here drachmas are worth twelve galleons."
Percy nodded and then went to get the coins, scooping in sickles as he thought of how much money he now had. After successfully filling the bag and failing to dent the mountain that was the money, he went over to check the weapons. He didn't like spears and while the trident was his father's chosen weapon, it didn't feel right to him. He already had Riptide so he decided to just take a silver dagger that turned into a coin with a drawing of the dagger carved in and threw it in with his other coins. Then he grabbed another pouch just in case and nodded to Griphook and another long minecart ride later they were back at the bank.
Before he left he took out a drachma and gave it to Griphook and said, "Here's your tip."
Griphook looked at him curiously and said, "Most wizards wouldn't do that."
Percy thought about it and replied, "I think I appreciate you guys more because I spent the last summer fighting the brainless brutes known as monsters, so I'm real glad to see a clever and organized non-human species."
"You are one of a kind, Mister Jackson," said Griphook, who then walked off.
"Why does everyone just have to be so ominous," Percy thought to himself.
He walked back outside the bank to find Dumbledore whistling outside.
"You found everything you needed?" The Professor asked.
"Yes sir."
"Good, now we'll be going to get your school supplies, here's the list," Dumbledore said, handing him a slip of paper.
"Err... I can't read it, Professor."
"Oh, pardon me, I forgot about your dyslexia," Dumbledore apologized, before conjuring up a pair of eyeglasses and handing it to him, "These are charmed to help people who have reading disabilities, try them on."
Percy put them on and looked back down at the paper. He could now tell that it said:
Uniform:
Three sets of plain work robes (Black)
One pointed hat (Black)
One pair of protective gloves (Dragonhide or similar)
One winter cloak
Please note that all pupils' clothes should include nametags
Course Books:
The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1)
A History of Magic
Magical Theory
A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration
One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi
Magical Drafts and Potions
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self Protection
All students should have a copy of each aforementioned book
Other Equipment:
1 wand
1 cauldron (pewter)
1 telescope
1 set brass scales
Students may also bring an owl or toad or cat
PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICK
"This is so cool," Percy said to Dumbledore gleefully.
"Yes," He replied, his eyes twinkling, "Magic is truly a brilliant thing."
First Dumbledore took Percy to Madam Malkin's Robes For All Occasions where they met Madam Malkin, a squat, smiling witch, and Percy was introduced to wizarding fashion, which was about what Percy expected it to be. She greeted Dumbledore and asked who Percy was.
To which he replied, "Percy Jackson, Madam, I'm a transfer student," and shook her hand.
"Yes," Dumbledore agreed, "I'm here to show him around, didn't want to send Minerva all the way to the states."
To which Madam Malkin laughed merrily at and measured Percy with a couple of flying tape measurers and Percy was left there standing, wondering for the umpteenth time that day whether he should be surprised, awed or confused, and in the end just decided to accept it.
Afterwards, they got Percy's books at a store called Flourish and Blotts, where there were books made of literally everything a book could be made of. There were books that had rune-looking symbols on them and a sign that said Invisible Book of Invisibility, which Percy was certain had no books behind.
Next, they went to the apothecary where Dumbledore helped him get some basic potions ingredients.
"This place stinks," Percy complained, squinting at the unicorn hair.
"Well yes, but the powerful mixtures these ingredients can make are marvellous," Dumbledore replied.
"Is there a potion that could revive people?" Percy, who was now examining the powdered Hellebore, asked.
"No, no magic can bring back the dead, though there are powerful potions that the healers at St. Mungles use which can save someone from near-death conditions."
"Good to know that if I leave this place alive, at least it will be useful."
"Indeed," Dumbledore said, thoroughly amused.
After that, they got the went and got the pewter cauldron after Dumbledore wouldn't let him get a gold one ("Guess I can't have all the good things in life") though he did let him get his name engraved on it in big print. They also got a set of brass scales and settled on a teacup-sized, bigger-on-the-inside golden pouch for the telescope when Dumbledore wouldn't let him get an astroglobe ("Those are for professionals").
When they got out Percy checked his list.
"It's just the wand now," he said to the Professor excitedly.
"Right then, I'll take you to Ollivander's, he's widely considered the best wand maker in all of Britain.
When they got there Dumbledore told him to go in and that he'll wait outside. When Percy walked in, he looked around and saw rows upon rows of boxes, which he assumed contained wands.
"Good afternoon," said a soft voice. Percy stumbled back a bit, and looked to see a man who looked as old as Dumbledore himself, realizing that he must have been too engrossed in the wands to notice his approach.
"H-hi, you must be Ollivander."
"Yes," he replied in the same soft voice, "And who might you be?"
"Percy Jackson, sir."
He nodded and asked, "Which is your wand arm?"
"Uhm... I'm right-handed?"
"Right then, hold out your arm." He measured Percy's arm in what seemed to be every way possible. As he measured, he explained, " Every Ollivanders wand uses a powerful magical core. We most often use phoenix tail feathers, the heartstrings of dragons, the hair of unicorns and the occasional other like mermaid scales and griffin claws. Every Ollivander wand is unique. No two Ollivanders wands are alike. And of course, the wand chooses the wizard Mr Jackson, so you'll never get results quite as good on a wand not your own."
Then Ollivander went to the back and got a wand out and handed it to Percy.
"Cedar and phoenix feather. Six inches. Swishy. Give it a wave.
Percy took the wand and nodded. He waved it and nothing happened. He was about to ask about it when Ollivander snatched it and gave him another.
"Hazel and dragon heartstring. Ten inches. Very flexible.
Percy waved it again and nothing happened. Ollivander snatched it at once and handed him a third.
"Mahogany and unicorn hair. Fifteen inches. Slightly bendy."
Percy waved it and nothing. Percy waved and waved and waved. And nothing ever happened. The pile of tried wands went higher and higher but still no result.
When Percy was sure he'd tried half the wands in the store, Ollivander said, "Maybe this is a sign that you need a more unorthodox wand." He went and pulled out a another wand and gave it to him.
"Yew and thunderbird feather. Fourteen inches. Unyielding.
Percy waved it and a vase fell to the ground. "No," Ollivander muttered, taking it back. Then he came out again with another wand.
"Beachwood and pegasus feather. Twelve inches. Springy.
Percy waved it again and he suddenly felt stronger, like he was in water and light and a small drizzle of water emitted out of the tip.
"Good, good...Interesting…" Ollivander muttered.
"Err-what's interesting?"
"Well Mr Jackson, this is perhaps the only pegasus feather wand in the world. You see, pegasus feather wands aren't traditional as pegasus wand cores are very unpredictable. I almost died when making this and it's been sitting in my store for sixty years. The only other wand in known history is the wand of one of the four founders of Hogwarts. We do not know who, but we do know it was one of them. I think we can expect great things from you, Percy Jackson, make sure to stay on the right path." Ollivander finished with a whisper.
Percy payed and left, meeting Dumbledore at the doorsteps. Feeling both joyful and uncomfortable.
"Tricky customer?" Dumbledore asked.
"Yes, how did you know."
"My boy, you were in there for thirty minutes," Dumbledore replied, voice laced with amusement.
"Oh, sorry Professor," Percy said, turning a little red.
"It's alright Percy. You don't get to my age without learning some patience. Now, more importantly, would you like a pet?"
"Definitely."
Dumbledore nodded and led him to the Animal Emporium. There were all sorts of animals, magical and non-magical.
"Are we allowed anything other than the ones listed?" Percy asked.
"Yes as long as they are similar to the ones listed. For example some students bring rats instead of toads or crows instead of owls."
Percy nodded, looking at the mass of creatures. And went to look at an owl and was surprised when it didn't shy away or peck at him.
"Why don't they dislike me? These are Athena's sacred animals." Percy wondered allowed.
"It's because your part of our world now Percy," Dumbledore replied, "And owls are also considered part of our world."
Percy nodded and chose a midnight black owl with sea green eyes similar to his own.
After all of that, it was nighttime and so Dumbledore helped get him a room in the Leaky cauldron and Percy got himself a big juicy burger. That night as he went to sleep, Percy thought to himself, the wizarding world is awesome.