Percy stepped out of the Hogwarts express tingling with excitement. This was it, he was here. He looked around in wonder. There was a giant late, a forest, and a huge castle and best of all, he could feel the place brimming with magic. And he could see Ron and Harry doing much of the same.
Suddenly he heard, "Firs' years! Firs' years gather round!" and turned to see a large jovial man waving.
"That's Hagrid!" Harry exclaimed, "He's the keeper of keys and groundskeeper of Hogwarts."
Percy and Ron nodded following Harry, who had called out a greeting to the groundskeeper. When the pair got to them they saw that Harry and Hagrid were exchanging pleasantries, clearly, they knew each other. Finally, Hagrid nodded and brought them to a dock full of boats at the lake, telling them to have no more than three people per boat. The trio got into the boat and they took off.
Percy could hear the fish and magical creatures alike talking under them in his mind. He heard the little lord and this is certainly interesting and he's the first to ever be here. He almost jumped when he saw a mermaid wave at him from the other side of the lake. It was a good thing the other students were too busy being mesmerized by the castle to notice the strange behaviours of the inhabitants of the lake.
Soon they had passed the lake and Hagrid was leading them up the stairs of the castle. Once they got into the halls a strict and stern-looking teacher walked in.
"I'll leave them to you then Professor McGonagall," Hagrid said.
"Right then Hagrid, you can go now. Students," she now turned to them, "At Hogwarts, you will be sorted into four houses. Gryffindor, the house of the brave, bold and charming. Ravenclaw, the house of the intelligent, wise and quick-witted. Hufflepuff, the house of the loyal, hard-working and honest. Slytherin, the house of the ambitious, cunning and resourceful. Each house has its own noble history and has all produced a number of outstanding and well-known witches and wizards. While at Hogwarts, your house will be your extended family, you will share living quarters and classes with them. Good deeds will earn you points and wrongdoings will lose you points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points will be awarded the house cup."
The second the newly introduced professor finished, the clutter of students around Percy broke into whispers.
"How do you think we'll be sorted?" Harry asked.
"Fred and George told me that we have to fight a troll," Ron answered, clearly nervous.
"They were probably joking, I doubt they would let new students fight monsters," Percy answered. It was rather comforting for him to know that if they really did have to fight a troll, it won't even be close to the most dangerous thing he's done. Well, once you've fought the Minotaur and escaped Hades, fear for trolls really just flies out of the window.
"Now," the Professor spoke once more, startling the students, "We will be ready for you momentarily, in the meantime I suggest you smarten up."
When she left the students broke out in whispers again and then suddenly they heard speaking.
"Forgive and forget, I say! I think we should still give him a chance."
"My dear friar! Just how many chances have we given him! He makes all of us look bad, and he's not even really a ghost!"
And through the wall, came floating out pearly white figures. Ghosts. Everyone gasped and Percy was sure he was the only one not frightened. They still surprised him, coming out of the wall like that, but they barely scared him, he had seen a fair amount of ghosts waiting to be judged in the underworld. The two ghosts looked like they came from centuries ago, Percy had to remind himself that they probably did die centuries ago.
The ghosts finally noticed they were there and turned around.
The Fat Friar smiled kindly down at them, "New students! About to be sorted I suppose?"
Some students nodded their heads mutely.
"Well I do hope to see you in Hufflepuff," said Friar. My old house you know."
"Move along," said a sharp voice. "The sorting ceremony is about to begin."
After getting them to form a line, the Professor led them into the Great Hall.
Percy looked around, mesmerized by every bit of the hall. There were candles floating around and the ceiling looked like the beautiful night sky. Percy-someone who had been to Olympus-felt marvelled by the sheer amount of magic at display and the beauty of the place. Percy could distantly hear Hermione whisper that it was bewitched to look like the sky.
They suddenly stopped moving and Percy looked to see McGonagall come back with an old patchy hat, putting it on a stool in front of them.
Everyone in the Hall was now staring at it and Percy wondered if they had to make the hat fly or something. For a brief moment, nothing happened. Then suddenly, there was a rip and the brim of the hat opened like a mouth. Then of all the things, it started singing. It sang about the four houses and gave a thorough retelling and said a few things about itself. The most important and worrisome thing was that apparently, it can see inside your head. This was worrying because Hecate had warned him to keep quiet about the world of the gods. Just how was he supposed to keep a secret from a MIND-READING hat?!
Professor McGonagall called out names and people stepped forward and after a few seconds the hat would shout out a house and the student would go to the house as it cheered for him or her.
Then the professor called out "Jackson, Perseus."
Percy gulped and walked up to the hat not knowing what was supposed to happen if the hat found out about the gods. He sat down and McGonagall put the hat on him, the edges just draping over his eyes.
Hello, he heard inside his head.
So I assume you'll talk with me to understand which house I should be in?
Yes, I'll also look inside your mind. My My, a demigod.
Percy held his breath
Don't worry, I know of the Gods. You must not forget that the last demigod, Merlin, was sorted by me. Even beyond that, I've known of the gods since I became sentient.
Percy's mind clouded in confusion.
A yes, Hecate hasn't told you much has she?
No, she said she was forbidden.
Ah well, I guess a history lesson is in order. Do you know of mortals who can see through the mist other than wizards?
Well, my mother, I guess?
Yes, your mother is a good example. She is what we call a clear-sighted mortal. A mortal that can see through the mist better than even demigods. These mortals are unaffected by any sort of godly mind tricks, the likes of which even demigods fall susceptible to. As a demigod, you should know that back in the days of ancient Greece, the gods were able to freely interact with mortals. Back then the gods and mortals often worked together. Gods would patron cities and protect and guide them. In exchange, the cities would offer sacrifices and worship. Gods would choose heroes and champions, demigod or mortal, who they'd bless and support and in return their champions would complete tasks for them. Ever wondered how so many mortals used to be clear-sighted?
I guess.
The answer to that question is that it was the fallout to the age of the titans. Back then, the titan war had just finished and godly energy was still thick in the air. This was when the gods decided to get Hecate to implement the mist. But because of how much supernatural energy there was in the world, almost everyone was clear-sighted. When starting off, Hecate put a massive amount of the mist into the world to remedy this, but after realizing that clear-sighted mortals won't be blinded by the mist no matter how much there was, she gave up. This was when wizards were born. You see, people were born with a bit of mist inside them and it gave them the ability to harness the most basic form of magic. This is the reason muggleborns are much rarer now because the mist has settled and is much less thick in the world than it once was.
So you're saying that purebloods also started as muggleborns.
Yes, ironic isn't it? Anyway, moving to the founding of Hogwarts. Hogwarts was founded during a time when the gods had moved on to Rome and had stopped freely mingling with mortals but still did with wizards. It was a time when magicals were being prosecuted and hunted down as law. The four founders, Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, Salazar Slytherin and Helga Hufflepuff were four powerful witches and wizards who were blessed by the gods. Gryffindor by Zeus, Rowena by Athena, Salazar by Poseidon and Helga by Hestia. They sought to create a school where the gift of magic could be preserved and perfected.
Ollivander told me my wand was the first one to have a pegasi core since the founders. Which of them had it?
It was Godric who had a pegasi wand core. Each of the founders managed to tame a powerful mythical creature to be his or her familiar. Godric's was a pegasus. Back to the founding. With their blessings, they had enhanced magical abilities and were able to create Hogwarts with so many secrets, hidden rooms and artefacts that even today, many haven't been discovered. Now that we're done with your history lesson, it's time to sort you. You would fit into both Gryffindor of the brave and Hufflepuff of the loyal. DO you have a preference?
Wait, didn't you say that Slytherin had the blessing of my father?
Yes.
Then wouldn't my house be Slytherin?
A word of wisdom to you kid. Judge people on them, not their fathers and on what they do with their powers, not their powers themselves.
Percy nodded, that sounds like good advice
It is, it is something a lot of people do not understand.
So what house should I be in?
I've told you. It's up to you whether you want Gryffindor or Hufflepuff.
Percy thought of how Ron and Harry both wanted to be in Gryffindor. Gryffindor.
And so as you say, you shall be in Gryffindor!
It took Percy a moment to realize that the hat had said that out loud rather than in his head. Then he stood up, took off the hat and walked to the Gryffindors, who were now cheering for him.
Afterwards, he cheered for the other students who also joined Gryffindor and as he'd hoped, Ron and Harry soon joined him in Gryffindor.
McGonagall soon called out the last name ("Zabini, Blaise") and Dumbledore gave a speech of four words-Nitwit, Blubber, Oddment, Tweak-whatever that meant.
Them out of nowhere, food appeared on the dishes and it was the most delicious meal he'd ever had and briefly wondered if this was what ambrosia tasted like to the gods. He joined in a conversation with the other first years about their families. The other first years laughed as he told them how he somehow shot his fifth-grade class school bus with a cannon (he had to explain what a cannon was to a few of them) and the others were mystified when he'd told them that Dumbledore himself had gone to pick him up.
After they finished the feast Dumbledore got everyone to sing the school song. Which happened to be the worst school anthem he'd ever heard and that was coming from someone who'd been in seven schools. Then the prefects (who Percy learnt were people who'd done well in school and had been promoted to essentially keep an eye on the other students to make sure they don't do anything too stupid) led them to their dormitories and showed them their rooms.
Percy fell asleep in his bed, sinking into the warm and soft mattress thinking that for once he was happy and had not a care in the world.
I don't want to be pushy but, please review. It's hard to get an outside perspective of my writing even in my rereads so it'd be nice if some of you could point out any flaws you see (except OOC because we all have our own takes on the character) and give me some ideas that I could work into the story.
Also, I'm seeing a lot of authors addressing reviews in ANs so tell me if I should do that. If I do I still won't be addressing everything so it won't be super long like a lot of the other authors' are. It'll only address important talking points/ideas and I'll PM the others.