I GO ON AN ADVENTURE WITH GANDALF
'WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?' I screamed at Sirius.
'Sheesh, a simple I missed you would have been enough' he said grinning.
'It's not funny asshole, I thought you left because of who my family was,' I told him the last part as low as a whisper.
'Percy look… well we can't do that so listen carefully, I have grown attached to you little brat that you are and I would be the biggest hypocrite if judged you on the basis of your name,' said Sirius.
Despite myself I grinned at him for saying that and trying to lighten the mood.
'Thank you for coming with me,' I told him honestly, making him smile.
'It wasn't really a choice it was either this or go to the afterlife,' said Sirius shrugging his shoulders hiding the smile.
'What were you doing until now?' I asked him.
'Important stuff, I will tell you later when we are alone,' he said cryptically.
"Professor Dumbledore, please come in, I am having breakfast ready," my mother said from the door, making me smile.
"I am sorry I am early dear but I had to help you sign some forms for Percy's transfer," said Professor Dumbledore.
"It's alright," said my mother.
"What forms?" I asked curiously.
"You accepted the Flamels inheritance, your mother agreeing to the transfer. Simple stuff like that," said Professor Dumbledore nodding.
I nodded my head. That was when I took in Professor Dumbledore's robes and I had to do my best not to burst out laughing.
Professor Dumbledore had wonderful choices in robes. He was wearing a robe that looked like mint and chocolate flavoured ice cream.
'I saw him wearing a pink robe once,' said Sirius, grinning as a picture of Albus Dumbledore in a pink robe came to me.
I suppressed my smile at the ridiculous coloured robes. 'For some reason this sounds exceptionally ordinary for Dumbledore,'
'Oh yes, it is. The man is barking mad yet bloody brilliant. Half of what he says sometimes makes no sense,' said Sirius.
'Hey Sirius, who holds the power in Wizengamot, whose butt must I kick,' I asked him the thoughts about Dumbledore going to the one place was on my mind as much as Hogwarts and Camp Half-Blood.
'Well, there is Umbridge, Malfoy, Parkinson, Selwyn and Odgen if you want to change the world or something. Longbottom, Bones and Abbott might be good allies and so would the Smiths if they are around. Of course there is Dumbledore as Chief Warlock,' said Sirius.
'Umbridge. Isn't she that horrible woman who tormented Remus or something,' I asked Sirius, concentrating on that name while remembering the rest of them. They were old pureblood family names and could be useful.
'Not torment Remus exactly. She hated almost all sorts of humanoid magical creatures and was a bigot of the highest order,' said Sirius.
'Oh, what did she do?' I asked Sirius but before he could answer Dumbledore spoke.
"Are you alright Percy?" asked Professor Dumbledore looking at me, giving me a smile and his eyes twinkled.
"I am fine Professor, just lost in thought," I told him.
"I find being lost in thought being the best way to be lost and when putting these thoughts out the next time you get lost you have a better chance of finding your path," said Dumbledore. He added as an afterthought, "Though I suppose I could also be a simple old fool."
I didn't know what to say so wisely shut up and thought about things, trying to rearrange my thoughts so that I wouldn't lie or say too much and make him suspicious.
"I was thinking about the Wizengamot and my seat there for the most ancient and noble house of Peverell," I told him.
"How do you know about the Wizengamot?" asked Dumbledore his eyes hard.
I took out the books Chiron gave me and showed them to Professor Dumbledore. "I have been reading them for the past two days," I had placed them in the Hermes bag I was wearing currently.
Dumbledore's eyes lost a little of their hardness, "I must tell you Percy you don't have to claim these seats because your family is forcing you too. You can make your own choices."
"I am Professor, I want to change things. Some of the things in the book sound so backward it makes me want to puke. I want to make sure no one else feels like puking," I told him grinning slightly.
Dumbledore looked into my eyes for a few moments before smiling a bright smile. I felt a probe in my head and let him look to find the truth of things.
His eyes were twinkling in merriment, "That's a noble goal Percy. I am sure you will figure something out,"
"Thank you, Professor," I told him honestly.
We sat in compatible silence for some time before my mom arrived with a plate of blue pancakes and a glass full of my favourite blue cola.
Professor Dumbledore looked quizzingly at the blue coloured food.
"It was an inside joke between me and Percy since he was six," my mother explained and nodded his head.
"Ah very well then," said Dumbledore before cutting into the pancakes and eating them. His eyes lit up and he declared, "Truly marvellous. I must ask the Hogwarts's house elf's from Hogwarts to get this recipe,"
I was about to dig in when professor Dumbledore stopped us.
"I have to say we have a few pesky forms to get out of the way before we get enamoured with this wonderful breakfast. Shall we get started?" asked Professor Dumbledore.
It took us a full five minutes to sign all of them and I had to struggle to use the Quill but Professor Dumbledore guided me through it a little, helping it become legible instead of looking like a chicken scrawl. My mom had no problem with the Quill.
'Remind me to buy some pens,' I told Sirius.
'I will once we are in Hogsmeade for the first time,' he told me. I nodded my head
After all of them were signed we dug in.
After a few moments my mother asked Professor Dumbledore, "Where are you going to get the supplies Professor?".
It seemed she had caught him unaware because he looked slightly sheepish and said, "Could you repeat, Miss. Jackson?"
"Where are we getting these, Professor? I am not entirely sure where you find the Monster Book of Monsters or a telescope or for that matter a wand," my mom asked the Professor.
"There is a rather charming place called Diagon Alley in London where we can find all we need but we could also find them in Merpet Corner in Brooklyn," he told us.
He added after that, "I would prefer Diagon Alley since it is directly tied with Hogwarts for supplies making it easier for us to find things, not to mention Ollivander's is the second best wandmaker in the world only beaten out by the Magisk's in Norway,"
"Now we have another thirty minutes before I have to leave so I will happily answer any questions about Hogwarts for you," said Dumbledore smiling.
My mom asked him a bunch of questions about Hogwarts, the ground and the subjects. Professor Dumbledore answered all her questions, about quidditch, about the houses, about the subjects, about the owlery and also about the dragon nest that was a part of Hogwarts.
'Wait, Dragon Nest, that's not normal,' said Sirius.
"Wait, Professor, did you say Dragon Nest?" I asked him, looking bewildered.
"I sure did, Percy, how else did you expect to follow your Dragon Studies without dragons," asked Professor Dumbledore completely seriously.
"I assumed you would explain about how they are taken care of and all that. Not actually hanging out and getting to know about dragons in a nest," I said.
"That was how the class started but there was an influx in the dragon population in Greece in recent times and I happened to be good friends with Adamos Drakos who handled the reserve there. He was more than happy to help create a reserve in the extended grounds for Hogwarts for educating my students," said Dumbledore very cheerfully.
"Wow, actually that sounds awesome," I told him in awe.
'I have never been so jealous in my whole life,' said Sirius. I just stuck my tongue out at him.
Professor Dumbledore described the huge ball room that had been recently constructed along with a pitch for the defence club. He talked about the Whomping Willow and the Black Lake and the giant Squid and the mermen in the lake. He described Hogsmeade to us.
Hogwarts was also the home for one of the largest magical national parks in the whole world and how the Gamekeeper Rubeus Hagrid took care of the magical creatures and how a dear friend of Professor Dumbledore's Newt Scamander had helped construct the park.
'I am starting to get really jealous,' said Sirius, making me smirk.
"Oh, dear lord, it's getting late, we have to leave Percy now if we want to catch our portkey out of here," said Professor Dumbledore.
"Okay," I said and turned to my mom, giving her a smile while I retrieved my duffle bag, my Hermes backpack full of my equipment for training and posters and Zee from my room.
I already told Dumbledore about how Zee was attached to me and he was quite happy to allow Zee to Hogwarts. He said, "She might even enjoy the Black Lake in Hogwarts,"
I wasn't so sure about that but it didn't hurt to try.
As soon as we were ready, my mom hugged me.
"Promise me, you will at least give Hogwarts a chance. It sounds like a wonderful place and it might be good for you,"
"Yes mom," I managed to crack out. It's not like I had another option, I was going to get a clue about one of Kronos's aspects in Hogwarts so even if I hated it I had to stay there.
'Oh Percy, trust me you will love it, even if you get sorted into Slytherin,'
"And promise you will stay out of trouble and do your best in class," said my mom.
"Yes mom," I told her. I was about to learn magic. I might want to work if it was interesting enough. She hugged me a little harder and I felt like my ribs were cracking.
"Can't breathe," I told her and she let go of me, chuckling to herself slightly.
"Sorry," she told me.
"Don't be, it's nice to know how much you miss me," I told her, making her smile a little fuller.
She gave me the money that I was to use for my supplies but if Sirius was to be believed I might already have money in the bank. I just had to wait.
"This is a lot of money mom, Are you sure?" I asked her.
"I am Percy, now I want you to use this for both your supplies and for the school year," I tried to protest but she stopped me.
"I won't hear it, I want you to have fun in Hogwarts and Hog whatever it was," said my mom, making me smile.
"Thanks Mom," I told her and I carried the duffle bag with my clothes towards Dumbledore while Zee rested in my other hand.
"Here let me help with that," said Dumbledore and pointed his wand at the bag making it shrink until it was pocket sized.
I just stared in awe for a few moments before panicking. Oh my god, so much of my stuff was in there. I must have just placed all of them in my Hermes Bag instead of only my training equipment.
"Not to worry, Percy, all your stuff has been shrunk, it's still there. This is just to make it more travel friendly," said Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling.
"Now shall we be off," he asked me and I nodded.
We got out of the house but before I left, I ran back and hugged my mom one last time.
"I love you and I am going to miss you," I told her.
She hugged me back just as fiercely and said the same thing. We shared one last teary-eyed goodbye before descending the stairs. I saw my dad when I exited the complex. He was across the street and he gave me a nod before vanishing.
LINE BREAK
"May I be the first one to welcome you to England, Percy," said Professor Dumbledore while I was still in awe of the spinning ride from the portkey. At least I was, Zee wasn't so impressed.
'Stupid two feet and their stupid technology,' said Zee mumbling unhappily and complaining.
"That was so cool, can we do that again?" I asked him.
"I will see to it that you get to do so for your return home during Christmas," said Dumbledore chuckling.
"Where are we Professor?"
"The Ministry of Magic, the governing body for all of Magical Britain. It's similar to the MACUSA, I mentioned," said Professor Dumbledore.
I nodded my head happily looking around.
'You sound like an adorable puppy,' said Sirius cooing in my head.
'Shut up, I am still angry at you,' I told him while walking beside Professor Dumbledore.
"Where exactly are we, Professor?" I asked him.
"We are in the Ministry of Magic, Percy," said Dumbledore as he walked down the path from the room, we arrived in. It was made of green coloured stone and had torches lining its path.
At the end of the hall sat a woman, her table full of papers and a box beside her full of random stuff like shoes, tyres, trash cans and empty chocolate boxes.
Professor dropped the airless football into the junk and handed the woman some of the papers with him. She accepted and wished them good morning.
"Good morning, Grenda," said Dumbledore, smiling. "I see life after Hogwarts has treated you well,"
"It has a professor but I will remember Hogwarts fondly," she said looking over the paperwork and turning to me.
"I see you picked up an extra traveller," she told us.
"I did, he is Percy Jackson from the States. The paperwork for him and his pet kelpie Zee are right here," said Professor Dumbledore giving them to her.
"He will be joining us in Hogwarts this year," he added after that.
"A foreign student," the woman asked surprised.
"It doesn't happen often but Percy here is a special case, I am pretty sure you will find out why in a few days," said Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling.
The woman smiled and shook her head as if used to Dumbledore being weird and cryptic.
'Everyone from Hogwarts is,' said Sirius and I snorted slightly but said nothing.
"Do you, Perseus or Zee have anything to declare?" asked Grenda.
"No, Miss. Grenada," I told her while Zee neighed.
'Yeah, I declare this stupid and you boring,' she said making me almost burst out laughing. I had to control myself at the last minute.
"I think the Port key didn't agree with Zee," I said, making Grenda laugh.
'What you laughing at, Blonde?' said Zee threateningly.
"Everything is in order, Professor. I will make sure these reach the right hand and don't worry about anything, you will love Hogwarts," she told me smiling.
'Don't say stuff like that Zee. She was nice,' I told her as we walked away from her.
"No, Percy you just have a soft spot for blonds,' said Zee making me splutter slightly.
Sirius burst out laughing in my head while Dumbledore turned back concerned.
"Are you okay, Percy?" he asked me.
"I am fine Professor, just a little aftereffect from the portkey," I told him.
He nodded his head before gesturing me forward. I moved in front of him and into an elevator with a bunch of people. Two of them were young. No older than twenty while the other man had fading red hair and blue eyes. He had a slight belly and he had smile lines all over his face.
'I don't have a soft spot for blonds,' I hissed at Zee and Sirius as we walked into the elevator. The younger ones offered a polite greeting to Professor Dumbledore.
'You kind of do boss,' said Zee.
'Don't try to disagree, Annabeth, that cheerleader, what was her name Wanda, Emilia Clark, Margot Robbie, Jennifer Lawrence. You are partial to blonds even when they are animated and a cartoon,' Sirius said trying to control his laughter.
"Albus," said an elderly man putting his hand out for Dumbledore to shake.
"Arthur, it's good to see you again," he told him.
'Emilia Clark isn't blond,' I told them.
'She is in Game of Thrones,' said Zee, making me scowl.
Zee was rather taken with Sirius for some reason. I didn't get them but they worked well to annoy the crap out of me.
'I bet you Ten Galleons, the first blond you meet in Hogwarts will have your knickers in a twist,' said Sirius.
'I have Annabeth, I don't need anyone else,' I told him.
"You too, you too," said the man named Arthur.
"How are the Children?" asked Dumbledore.
"They are doing wonderful; Neville and Harry came by yesterday to meet and talk with Ginny. We are having Hermione over today and Ginny is going with her to meet Luna the day after. Fred and George are keeping us entertained while Percy is waiting for his NEWTS results. Charlie came by the day before. Showed us some wonderful pictures of Lion Tailed Lava Head that they were going to place in Hogwarts during the summer," he told Professor Dumbledore beaming.
'That's odd,' said Sirius.
'What is odd?' I asked.
'Nothing never minds,' said Sirius.
"What about Delphinus, Arthur?" asked Dumbledore.
"He has gone to Spain with his mother. She was taking part in the International Duelling Championship being sponsored by the St. Peters to raise money for helping fight griffin bones. He said he would be there to celebrate Harry's birthday," said Arthur.
"That's good to know, Harry needs his friends right now," said Dumbledore, smiling kindly.
'This is really confusing and for the record, people sometimes stare, they can't help themselves and well... I better keep this a surprise,' said Sirius.
'I don't like your surprises, what did you do?' I asked him.
'Relax, I did nothing and this is a surprise. I have a birthday gift for you and I went to collect it for the last two days,' he told me.
"Do you know what to do about his guardianship, while Augusta or myself and Molly are quite happy to take him in, there will be legal issues," said Arthur.
"I am working on it Arthur, I am working on it," said Dumbledore.
Before anything else could happen, the elevator dinged and the doors opened. Arthur and the two others said goodbye and left the elevator.
"Who was that professor?" I asked Mr. Dumbledore.
"That was Arthur Weasley, his daughter starts third year in Hogwarts this year, he has a pair of twins in their fifth year while his third son is going to start seventh year," said Professor Dumbledore.
"Oh, well he seems nice, to want to take in whoever this Harry is," I told him.
"He is, and I'm pretty sure you will meet this Harry when in Hogwarts. He will be in your year too," he told me smiling.
The elevator dinged again and opened up saying Atrium. I walked out with Professor Dumbledore to what looked like the largest hall I had ever seen.
While Olympus puts it to shame, the Atrium of the Ministry was still grand.
They were standing at one end of a very long and splendid hall with a highly polished, dark wood floor. The peacock-blue ceiling was inlaid with gleaming golden symbols that were continually moving and changing like some enormous heavenly notice board. The walls on each side were panelled in shiny dark wood and had many gilded fireplaces set into them. Every few seconds a witch or wizard would emerge from one of the left-hand fireplaces with a soft whoosh; on the right-hand side, short queues of wizards were forming before each fireplace, waiting to depart.
Halfway down the hall was a fountain. A group of golden statues, larger than life-size, stood in the middle of a circular pool. Tallest of them all was a noble-looking wizard with his wand pointing straight up in the air. Grouped around him were a beautiful witch, a centaur, a goblin, and a short elf like creature. The last three were all looking adoringly up at the witch and wizard. Glittering jets of water were flying from the ends of the two wands, the point of the centaur's arrow, the tip of the goblin's hat, and each of the elf ears, so that the tinkling hiss of falling water was added to the pops and cracks of Apparators and the clatter of footsteps as hundreds of witches and wizards, most of whom were wearing glum, early-morning looks, strode toward a set of golden gates at the far end of the hall.
I felt sick as soon as I saw the fountain. It made me feel unclean. Even the Witch was sort of looking at the Wizard with awe. I knew bigotry, racism and gender bias ran very deep in the society but to so blatantly show it off, it made me want to hurl.
"You look very uncomfortable," noted Professor Dumbledore very dryly.
"I feel unclean looking at the statues," I told him honestly.
"Yes, the Fountain of Magical Brethren, there are a lot of the brethren missing there but I am glad they are absent, I might actually vomit if there was any more of it. No amount of Lemon Drops could solve the problem with that," said Dumbledore.
"If there is any change, I want to do first it would be to blast that statue apart," I told Professor Dumbledore while making a face at the statue.
"I think we can make that happen," he told me, smiling. I looked closer and I figured out I didn't know what that small creature with pointed ears was.
"Who is the small creature, Professor?" I asked as we walked across the hall.
"Ah, fascinating and rather wonderful creature's house elves are," said Professor Dumbledore.
"They serve old Wizarding families, taking care of their manors and estates,"
"Oh, wait, so you like don't do any chores," I asked shocked
'I didn't work a day in my life until I was eighteen,' said Sirius.
"Not all families can maintain a house elf or huge manors and most importantly the elves have to follow everything the family of the wizard tells you," said Dumbledore.
"That sounds like slavery," I told him.
'It's not, not in your terms atleast,' said Sirius.
"I guess you can call it slavery but you have to understand Percy before throwing around accusation is that house elves culture is very different and they actually seek punishments when they fail their tasks," said Dumbledore.
"It still doesn't make me want to throw up any less or it more justified," I told Professor Dumbledore remembering all my history classes.
"I guess better terms of working conditions would be useful," said Dumbledore.
The statute moved out of my sight and then I turned to my conversation with Sirius.
'Now that, I don't have to see that horrifying image, what did you mean when you said you went to collect it,' I asked him.
'Oh that, as it turns out, I can move out of your body. I went looking for something in one of the Black Family Vaults and found something you needed,' he told me.
'You are kidding me,' I said in surprise.
'Not really, I mean it's hard and I feel a horrible pull to myself in Azkaban but I managed and stole what I needed to from Gringotts and have it ready to give you,' he told me smiling.
'What is it?' I asked him and he shook his head and just grinned, making me huff before turning back to Professor Dumbledore who was talking to a guard at the end of the hall a few feet away from me.
The guard looked at me and the Zee and she huffed in irritation. I adjusted my bag in nervousness as my hand started the thrum to the beat of Natural while I hummed it.
It was a nervous habit of mine I picked up recently ever since I heard that song for the first time.
"Come along, Percy," said Dumbledore as the guard shifted his focus elsewhere.
I walked to stand beside Dumbledore and he placed his hand on my shoulder.
Suddenly everything went black and white and my eyes lost focus, my feet were lifted off the ground and my head spun as I felt suffocated like I was being squeezed through a straw.
When the effect was gone and my feet touched solid ground I was double over wheezing and taking in huge gasps of air. I looked at Dumbledore who was giving me his hand.
I rearranged the bag before taking it and getting myself pulled up. Zee looked dizzy and fell asleep. I transferred her to my bag. If Dumbledore found this odd, he didn't say anything.
I looked to Dumbledore and asked,
"What was that?"
"Apparition, I took you along with me, once you are sixteen and have a licence you can do it too. It's a form of wizard transport," said Dumbledore.
'Sixteen, no that sounds wrong,' said Sirius but I ignored him.
"I don't really like it," I told Dumbledore. "I preferred the pork key,"
"You did well actually, most people vomit the first time. It gets easier and it's better if it's only you and it's port key Percy," said Dumbledore.
"You could have warned me, professor," I told him, a little annoyed.
"Where is the fun in that?" he asked me, smiling, making me scowl and wanting to grin at the same time.
I looked around to where I was to see it was an abandoned alleyway. Professor Dumbledore walked to the end of the alleyway and I followed him and when he pulled out his wand and tapped a few bricks on the wall at the end opposite from the dark door I waited and the wait was worth it.
"Percy Jackson, welcome to Diagon Alley," said Albus Dumbledore and I had my jaw hanging loose looking around at the place.
'Close your mouth aqua,' said Sirius and I did it with a little difficulty.
I wish I had about eight more eyes. I turned in every direction as I walked up the street, trying to look at everything at once: the shops, the things outside them, the people doing their shopping. A plump woman outside an Apothecary was shaking her head as they passed, saying, "Boomslang skin, two galleons an ounce, they're mad…"
A low, soft hooting came from a dark shop with a sign in such horrible cursive I just got a headache looking at it. Tawny, Screech, Barn, Brown, and Snowy every sort of owl was visible through the window (the disadvantage of knowing a child of Athena). The owls saw me and they went crazy hooting and shooing me off some of them looked downright murderous. Dumbledore chuckled from beside me.
"Your family never got along with owls," he told me.
"Yeah, I know Theo was fine with my mum but tried to bite me when I got close," I told Professor Dumbledore who nodded. We moved forward.
Several boys of about my age had their noses pressed against a window with broomsticks in it. "Look," I heard one of them say, "the new Firebolt — fastest ever —" There were shops selling robes, shops selling telescopes and strange silver instruments I had never seen before, windows stacked with barrels of bat spleens and eels' eyes, tottering piles of spell books, quills, and rolls of parchment, potion bottles, globes of the moon…
"How did I communicate with Wizards if we didn't get along with the Owls Professor," I asked him.
"Well, your family used ravens to communicate before the floo was invented. It was one of the reasons the birds got such a bad reputation. Seriously misunderstood creatures, ravens are," he told me.
We walked for a little while more and I could see a sign that said "KOCKYFUWN SELLU" which made no sense. As we walked some people stopped us and talked to Professor for some time before moving on. Lots of kid my age or a little older seemed to watching the broomstick shop. I was getting twitchy and my fingers started thrumming again and this time my powers reacted, water started forming around my finger and started spinning around it. I looked on in wonder and when I changed the song to Treat you Better the water formed five rings on each finger and they started vibrating.
Before I could do more Professor Dumbledore stopped and I did so with him.
"Gringotts," said Professor Dumbledore.
They had reached a snowy white building that towered over the other little shops. Standing beside its burnished bronze doors, wearing a uniform of scarlet and gold, was —
"Yes, that's a goblin. Be careful around them," said Professor Dumbledore quietly as they walked up the white stone steps toward him. The goblin was about two and a half heads shorter than I was.
He had a swarthy, clever face, a pointed beard and very long fingers and feet. He bowed as they walked inside. I bowed back as did Professor Dumbledore and he looked shocked by this. A few questions were on the tip of my tongue but I never got them out since something either took away my focus or someone stopped to talk with Professor Dumbledore.
Now we were facing a second pair of doors, silver this time, with words engraved upon them. I couldn't read the first time but it soon changed to Greek.
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.
I stopped at the hallway as we walked and Professor Dumbledore stopped and turned back to me.
"What is wrong Percy?" asked Professor Dumbledore.
"What is this place, Professor and why are we here?" I asked him.
"Gringotts is a wizarding bank, Percy. Most witches and wizards have their transactions here, we will have to exchange the muggle money for wizarding money here, there are three kinds of coins, galleons, sickles and knuts and seventeen sickles make a galleon and 33 knuts make a sickle," said Professor Dumbledore.
"Why are the conversions so difficult?" I whined to Dumbledore and he smiled before ruffling my hair slightly.
"I think they did it so that the Goblins can be the ones who always handle our money, you see Wizards are generally lazy," said Professor Dumbledore chuckling to himself.
I just nodded my head and asked about the goblins.
"Proud and powerful creatures, they are excellent smiths and weapon makers, their magic is unique and different and something we wizards could never recreate just like that of a house elf," said Professor Dumbledore.
He added after that, "Never disrespect a Goblin, Percy, it might as well be the last thing you ever do,"
We walked a little more before a pair of goblins bowed us through the silver doors. I bowed back again and their expression was downright comical. Their eyes went wide and eyebrows shot to their hairline.
We were led into a vast marble hall. About a hundred more goblins were sitting on high stools behind a long counter, scribbling in large ledgers, weighing coins in brass scales, examining precious stones through eyeglasses. There were too many doors to count leading off the hall, and yet more goblins were showing people in and out of these.
Everyone in the hall turned towards the two of us. The Wizards and Witches were all looking at Professor Dumbledore but I had a feeling that the Goblins were watching me.
Professor Dumbledore paid all of it no mind and I followed him as he walked towards a counter,
"Mr. Jackson wishes to make an exchange from American Muggle currency," said Professor Dumbledore.
The Goblin peered at us from his teller before saying, "Yes sir, but it might interest Mr. Jackson in knowing his father insists he has a blood and ability test before doing this,"
"My father asked me to do what?" I asked the Goblin looking bewildered.
"A blood and ability test Mr. Jackson, it helps identify your magical house and access that vault and claim the ring if you are an heir or lord of the house," said Goblin.
"The ability test on the other hand, " said Professor Dumbledore, "It helps identify family gifts like your hydro kinesis," said Professor Dumbledore.
'Say yes, if you have a Peverell vault it will be invaluable to us, it would be good if you got anything else,' said Sirius.
I accepted it and the Goblin called another Goblin called Griphook. We bowed when Griphook bowed, surprising the Goblin.
The Goblin at the top told Griphook to lead us to the Gramlock in the test department. We walked towards a set of doors to the right and I asked about different kinds of abilities and Professor Dumbledore explained how some families had special kinds of abilities and artefacts that were passed down.
"What kinds of abilities, Professor?" I asked.
"Lots of them, Elementalism, Wandless magic, Metamorphmagus, Warging, Leaf speak, Mind Arts, Seers, Parseltongue and all sorts of abilities," said Professor Dumbledore and he explained what each of them was. How rare they were. What a Metamorphmagus or Warlock were. We followed Griphook up a set of stairs as we stopped in front of the door with the name of Gramlock.
The door opened and I was walking in but Professor Dumbledore stopped outside.
"Are you not coming, Professor?" I asked him.
"This is a private matter, Percy. I don't want to intrude," said Professor Dumbledore.
I was pushed into the door by Griphook and before the door closed, I asked the Professor one last question.
"Does your family have any abilities, Professor?" I asked him.
"Growing very long beards, Percy," said Professor Dumbledore very seriously and I was not sure if he was joking or not.
'He is joking right,' I asked Sirius.
'Who knows?' said Sirius.
The door closed and I turned around to see a single table in the middle with loads of parchment all over it. There was a glass wall in the back and the underground mines of the bank were quite clearly visible. There were book shelves in the back by the glass wall full of dusty tomes. The walls were decorated with hunting trophies and silver weapons. I looked over the multiple weapons in complete awe missing the Goblin who had taken a seat at the chair with parchment and a beautifully inscribed knife.
"Ahem, Ahem," said the goblin Gramlock, breaking me out of my awe and turning to him blushing slightly. I bowed to him and the Goblin looked shocked before he chuckled and said something in his own language.
'He said I must expect nothing less from the son of the sea god,' said Sirius.
I shuddered. Keeping the Godly World, a secret would not be easy.
"Please take a seat Mr. Jackson," said Gramlock.
"Thank You, sir," I said and if the Gramlock who looked as old as Chiron is with a completely bald head, long nose and sharp black eyes thought that was odd he didn't say anything.
'Goblins are natural at Mind Arts they can hide their emotions well,' said Sirius and I gulped and nodded.
I took a seat and waited a few moments as Gramlock cleared his desk a little. He placed a silver bowl by my side and a knife beside it. He passed me a beautiful red quill and a piece of ancient looking paper which I think Annabeth called Parchment.
He instructed me to write my full name and when I said there was no ink, he just looked at me with a look that said, 'Either you think I am an idiot or you are an idiot,'
'He thinks you are an idiot, now get on with it,' said Sirius.
I took the Quill and wrote my name at the top beside where he pointed.
PERSEUS ACHILLES JACKSON.
I let out a gasp of pain. The words had appeared on the parchment in what appeared to be shining red ink. At the same time, the words had appeared on the back of my left hand, cut into my skin as though traced there by a scalpel — yet even as I stared at the shining cut, the skin healed over again, leaving the place where it had been slightly redder than before but quite smooth.
"That's all now put it aside," said Gramlock and I did it without needing to be told twice.
He then gave me the knife and told me three drops would suffice. I carefully cut my finger and squeezed about six drops before I dropped the knife and placed the finger in my mouth only the blood was gone. The cut and the words written faded and I looked at my hand in awe,
'How the hell did that happen?' I asked Sirius.
'I reckon the knife is enchanted to heal the wound after being used. Goblins could make a dagger made of silver that could sprout wings and fly if they wanted too,' said Sirius.
"Well you are done, Mr. Peverell-Flamel," said Gramlock, making me turn to him. He pointed at the parchment and my name had changed.
The Parchment said,
PERSEUS ACHILLES PEVERELL-FLAMEL.
Seigneur de l'ancien ordre des Flamel (regent).
Heir to the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Gaunt.
Lord of the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Peverell.
Abilities
Aerokinesis
Hydrokinesis
Mind Arts
Parseltongue
Pyrokinesis
Gaunt Vault Number :290 and 900
Flamel Vault Numbers 5, 175, 250, 300, 700 and 990
Peverell Vault Number: 2, 7, 11, 33, 77, 99, 100.
LINE BREAK
Never in my weird life had I seen so much gold.
I had walked out of the office a little dazed and unsure and showed the parchment to Professor Dumbledore who nodded and told me it was expected and told me I could check the other vaults later and to just go to one and get my gold.
I did. I walked into Vault 990 and my mind was blown. Galleons, sickles and knuts. Heaps and heaps of it and I filled my pouch with as much as I could. On my way out I talked to the Goblin and like Sirius suggested told them to get me an account manager. That took another ten minutes and some haggling on Sirius's part before we were leaving having saved almost thousand Galleons a year.
Before we left the vaults were linked to my blood and I was given two rings to represent the Peverell's and the Gaunt's. The Flamel ring was with the regent.
Professor Dumbledore didn't join him claiming his old knees couldn't take it.
Sirius also told him to pick up a hip holster that was in the Vault and put it on my hip. I did as he told me.
I walked along with Dumbledore down the Alley to Madam Malkin's first. He told me it would be a good place to start.
I knew about them but still couldn't help but have a groan escape my mouth.
"Why can't I just wear my normal clothes, my shirts and shorts and my hoodies?"
"I never said you couldn't wear them. I just said the robes were needed. Not to mention they are extremely comfortable," said Dumbledore.
I looked down into my letter again and as Professor Dumbledore said I didn't have to only wear robes. Sure, many people around me were wearing them but some people were also dressed in normal clothing.
Anger coursed through my veins as Sirius burst out laughing in my head.
'YOU ARE DEAD OLD MAN,' I SCREAMED INTO HIS MIND.
'OLD MAN, HOW DARE YOU, I AM IN MY BEST YEARS,' SAID SIRIUS JUST AS FIERCELY.
I snorted, 'Yeah if you were a house elf,'
'You dare, take that back right now you arse,'
'Okay, I do, Oldfoot,' I told him with a grin.
'FRIENDSHIP OVER,' screamed Sirius.
'You also have a little white hair,' I added after that and Sirius just flipped me off.
I walked with Professor Dumbledore and was poked and prodded by Madam Malkin's assistant as Madam Malkin made small talk with Professor Dumbledore.
I walked out of the shop with a few school robes, my uniform, a pointed Wizards hat and two sets of dress robes which I had half a desire to burn to crisp.
We went into Potage's Cauldron Shop and got ourselves a brass, pewter and silver cauldron after that.
Amanuensis Quills were next for ink and quills. I got a self-inking quill on Professor Dumbledore's insistence and I also got good amounts of some fancy blue ink. Parchment, I got from Scribbulus Writing Instruments before moving to Flourish and Blotts.
The shop was one of the few very busy shops other than the Broomstick, Ice cream and the Apothecaries. The woman had gone off in search of the books that were needed for my third year while I explored the shop. After looking around I had found three books I thought could help me or more like Sirius pointed them out while I went around trying to distract myself.
Duels: Everything you need to know to win by Filius Flitwick, Why is the Magical World Never at Peace by Batilda Bagshot and Magic of the Others by Joyce Kim.
I also felt a pull towards a book called Advanced Potions making but I didn't know why.
Professor Dumbledore approved of my choices and we left the shop and moved across the street to Slugs and Jiggers Apothecary.
The minute I walked into the shop my mind was blown away. The power in the air was the most empowering thing I had ever felt. It was like I was on a Red Bull high eating Ambrosia while swimming in the sea.
I felt like I could take on the Whole Titan Army on my own. The smells, the sights, the taste in the air, the magic tingling on my hand, all my senses were tingling. It was the most awesome thing I had ever felt.
I asked a million questions as the shopkeeper gave me all the ingredients. The shopkeeper wasn't happy with the questions but Professor Dumbledore answered all the questions happily with his eyes twinkling. I took a few extra ingredients that struck my fancy and Professor Dumbledore didn't object. I ran back to Flourish and Blotts and got the advanced potions making book and came back.
We went to Twilfitt and Tattings for our last stop before going to Ollivander's for my wand.
We decided against the pets since the Owls seem to be waiting for me so that they could peck my eyes out. Not to mention I had Zee.
A magic wand… this was what I had been really looking forward to since I had seen Professor McGonagall use it.
The last shop was narrow and shabby. Peeling gold letters over the door read Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C. A single wand lay on a faded purple cushion in the dusty window.
A tinkling bell rang somewhere in the depths of the shop as they stepped inside. It was a tiny place, empty except for a single, spindly chair that Professor Dumbledore sat on to wait. I felt strange as though I had entered a very strict library; I swallowed a lot of new questions that had just occurred and looked instead at the thousands of narrow boxes piled neatly right up to the ceiling. For some reason, the back of my neck prickled. The very dust and silence in here seemed to tingle with some secret magic.
"Good afternoon," said a soft voice. I jumped and yelped a sound that sounded entirely too girly.
An old man was standing before us, his wide, pale eyes shining like moons through the gloom of the shop. I was stuck staring as the man shuffled around to the front desk.
"Garrick, it's good to see you again," said Dumbledore, smiling at him moving
"Albus, it has been so long, 12 inches cherry wood with a feather of a thunderbird, you got it a little after your fight against Grindelwald when your first wand was broken," said Garrick.
"I remember every wand I ever sold Albus, every wand and yours was one of the first and one of my finest," he told him with a slight smile.
Professor Dumbledore ducked his head down in acceptance.
'Garrick Ollivander, one of the best if not the best Wandmakers in all of history. He quite literally reworked the understanding of wand lore,' supplied Sirius.
I nodded thanks to Sirius while looking at the man. He turned his eyes to me and I got a very uncomfortable feeling that he was looking through me.
"Who might you be, young Man?" he asked me.
"Percy Jackson, sir," I told him, standing straight.
"An American but still familiar, we will have to see," said Ollivander.
"He looks older, Albus," said Mr. Ollivander.
"He is older, Garrick, almost thirteen, the MACUSA isn't as good with Muggleborns as we are. Some slip through the cracks," said Professor Dumbledore.
"He has ancient Wizarding blood, Albus, what are you hiding?" said Garrick while not taking his eyes off me.
"I am a Peverell," I told him, not able to hold back my mouth. The whole thing was making me antsy.
Ollivander's eyebrows rose comically as he took me in. His eyes were shining slightly and he almost looked giddy when the shock wore off.
"Oh, the opportunity to sell a wand to a Peverell and a Gaunt, my father would have been jealous," said Ollivander.
"I didn't say anything...," I started.
"You didn't have to, my dear boy. I know a parseltongue when I see one. You remind me of another boy I had in this shop, not long ago, yes, Yew thirteen and a half inches with a phoenix feather. Dangerous wand that was in even more dangerous hands,"
I didn't know what to say and stood silently. Mr. Ollivander shuffled around a little before Dumbledore spoke, "He has a Flamel blood in him,"
"Ah, your grandfather had his wand from here. 12 inches, redwood with a hint of dragon flame and a griffin feather, that was a unique wand,"
"You knew," said Professor Dumbledore.
"I did," said Ollivander simply.
Neither of them said anything as Sirius cursed Ollivander.
'What happened?' I asked unsure.
'Ollivander knew about the Flamels and Blackfyre's and the Jackson's,' said Sirius cursing again.
'Why didn't he say anything?' I asked.
'I don't know,' said Sirius.
"Hold out your wand hand, Mr. Jackson," said Ollivander, breaking me out of my mind. He pulled out his wand and tapped the tape as he walked away into his shelves.
I pulled out my right hand as the tape rose to life and was taking my measurements. Ollivander was talking from inside the shop.
"Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance, Mr. Jackson. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers, the heartstrings of dragons, Thunderbird wing feathers, Thestral tail hair, Manticore heart string and many other magical creatures. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two magical creatures or trees are quite the same. And of course, you will never get such good results with another wizard's wand."
"That will do," he said, and the tape measure crumpled into a heap on the floor.
"Right then, Mr. Potter. Try this one. Beechwood and dragon heartstring. Nine inches. Nice and flexible. just take it and give it a wave."
I took the wand out of the box and feeling very foolish and gave it a wave. The glass on the door was blasted apart and I immediately dropped the wand.
Mr. Ollivander waved his wand and the wand I used floated to the box and he placed it aside and gave me another.
"Eight inches, Ginko and Hippogriff toenails and rather free spirited," said Mr. Oliivander.
I picked up the wand but before I could wave it he pulled it away and replaced it with
"Ten Inches, Mahogany and Eurampet Horn, strong and resilient," said Mr. Ollivander.
I took the wand and waved it again. Mr. Dumbledore's chair along with the wall behind it was blown away and the Shop started creaking. Mr. Dumbledore fixed the shop with a wave of his wand.
"No, no — here, ebony and unicorn hair, eight and a half inches, springy. Go on, go on, try it out," said Mr. Ollivander giving it to me.
I tried. And tried. I had no idea what Mr. Ollivander was waiting for. The pile of tried wands was mounting higher and higher on the spindly chair, but the more wands Mr. Ollivander pulled from the shelves, the happier he seemed to become.
Sirius was being awfully close mouthed and I was now becoming desperate and pissed off.
We went onto try more wands. One of them turned Ollivander's hair blue and another blew all the wands of their shelves. Another bellowed like an elephant while another somehow had a plush toy growing out of its tip. The last one had jumped out of my hand rolled away from me.
I was worried now when a thought struck me a dangerous thought. What if I don't have a wand. What if this is a mistake.
Dying screams filled my ears as the Battle of Manhattan played in my head and over all the sound another voice spoke out, the voice of one of Albus Dumbledore.
"I find being lost in thought being the best way to be lost and when putting these thoughts out the next time you get lost you have a better chance of finding your path," said Dumbledore.
I conveyed my thoughts to the people and they just chuckled.
Mr Ollivander than said, "The Wand chooses the Wizard, Mr. Jackson and you are just a tricky customer," he looked back again lost in thought as he started to mutter.
"Could it be... Had lost hope... Can he...I wonder, well perhaps... could give me a moment Mr. Jackson?" asked Ollivander and I nodded and he said he would be back in some time.
I spent almost ten whole minutes fidgeting awkwardly while Dumbledore just stood there scanning around. My errant and panicked thoughts didn't make things better.
Mr. Ollivander walked in than carrying a box so full of dust and cobwebs it must have been here since the shop was established.
He opened the box and gave it to me.
The wand was white in colour and long. It had a handle that looked more like sword hilt and the wood was surrounded by spirals of black colour.
I took the wand and then the world suddenly went into high definition, there were colours and fireworks bursting around me while I could make out the clear scent of a thunderstorms and also if I concentrated death. My wand felt wonderfully warm and I felt like I found a part of me I never knew was missing.
"Elder wood, 15 and half inches with a Thunderbird wing Feather, Kelpie mane strands and spiralled and held together by a Thestral tail hair. It's unrestrainable, uncompromisable and unbelievably loyal. This is a special wand Mr. Peverell-Flamel, your ancestors Ishismus Peverell had asked for one to be made to be held by his family and my family has been trying to sell it to yours since than. It looked like your line died out before it could go to yours. It has gone over the hands of Potters, Gaunts, Mages and even the Bones the families know to hold his blood. Finally, it has chosen and I happy to know it is with the family it was supposed to be," said Mr. Ollivander.
I looked to wand in awe while I heard the story of the wand. It was beautiful and to know it had been made so long ago for my family of sorts blew my mind.
"Thank you, Mr. Ollivander," I told him honestly while going in looking for my money pouch and placing the wand in the holster like I had seen Sirius do.
"Oh no, Mr. Jackson, it was paid for by Ishismus but maybe I could intrest you in a wand polishing and service kit," said Mr. Ollivander.
I took the kit and listened as Ollivander gave me directions to clean it. He told me to do it every Sunday to keep it clean.
As I walked away and out of the shop Mr. Ollivander stopped me.
"I want you to remember Mr. Jackson, that some things are meant to happen the way they were and this was meant to happen the way it did," he told me before going back into the shop.
I walked out of the place a little lighter and with a few more supplies and my mind occupied. Our last stop had been trying the pet shop one last time. We avoided Owl Emporium and went to Griley's pet shop for a pet.
I wasn't convinced first.
"I don't need a pet, I have Zee, Professor," I told him.
"Zee is a Kelpie, Percy, she is young now but by the end of the year she will grow and when she is mature, she would be about 14 feet tall. She doesn't really make the ideal pet," said Professor Dumbledore.
"But owl's hate me Professor," I told him honestly.
"I know they do, I have seen it and heard it but Owls are not the only options. You could have a cat or a toad. They are very good pets too," said Professor Dumbledore.
"Why are you insisting I do this so much Professor?" I asked him suspiciously.
He was silent for a few moments before talking.
"I want you to have the full Hogwarts experience Percy, I found you and convinced you to come, I will do everything in my power to make this true even if it involves having to sneeze due to cat hair," he told me and despite myself I chuckled.
The concept of a cat didn't excite me. Sure, I wanted to tame the Nemean Lion but that was more like a shit and giggles idea not something that had to be done. In all honesty I was a very much a dog person.
The toad while would be good pet, there would be a lot of hero worship.
I walked in with Professor Dumbledore to the shop.
It was a dark place with cats walking around on the floor and lounging on the tables and in pillows. There were cages with some birds while others were on perches. There were a few glass cases with toads in the corner and a counter in the end.
Every owl in the shop had turned to me and gave looks of annoyance or anger or plain unconcern.
The woman at the counter with long blue hair just about lost her head when she looked at us.
"Professor Dumbledore, I wasn't expecting this, I mean you, I mean...,"
"It's nice to see you again, Bella, my friend is in need of a pet," said Professor Dumbledore and an eagle owl in the cage gave out a hoot of anger and directed what could be called a glare at me.
I glared back at the huge Owl with just as much ferocity before a glaring match ensured.
The large hazel intelligent eyes of the owl were slightly unnerving but I held fast. I could feel the unsure stare of the woman at the counter and Professor Dumbledore's amused and twinkling face was visible through the owls' eyes.
My eyes were starting to tear up before the Owl teared it's eyes away and I grinned triumphantly.
"Maybe not an owl," said Bella and she took us around the shop showing us cats. I considered my options and I liked a cat that looked like the one from Bolt but really couldn't get myself to take it. But they were much better than the toads.
All of them started leaping and jumping asking me to pick them. I walked away from them hoping the other batch would be better. I was just about to decide on my toad when one of the Owls figured out how to open a bird cage.
I get why they are Lady Athena's symbols.
I would say I stood there and faced the birds but the truth was I ran out the minute it got out with Sirius laughing in my head. The chaos the ensued after that I watched from outside the shop. The Owls were clearly out for my blood while the cats went crazy due to the birds. I could hear the toad's anger at wanting to attack their prince and they broke the glass of their case and attacked the birds.
Professor Dumbledore made it out ten minutes later after having helped the shopkeeper fix her shop. He walked away out and looked at me while I gave him my best innocent look. A few seconds later the two of us burst out laughing.
"That's a no on the pet," said Professor Dumbledore.
"I did tell you, Professor," I told him grinning making him shake his head.
"Come on, Percy, let's have lunch and then head to Hogwarts," said Professor Dumbledore walking towards the exit of Diagon Alley me following him with a large trunk with all my magical supplies.