Chapter 2: Hogwarts
The next morning had passed in a blur of excitement and adventure. Dumbledore himself couldn't take us around Hogsmeade, but Kingsley Shacklebolt and his team showed us the sights of the small magical town and made sure we had everything we needed for the term.
After almost accidentally missing the train, the three of us made it safely.
Kingsley shook my hand. "As always, Percy, an honor."
Percy smiled, but it felt more of a grimace. "Nice meeting you too, Kingsley. I suppose I'll see you next summer."
"We'll most likely meet around Christmastime." Kingsley replied with a small smile.
"See you then." Percy waved to Kingsley as he stepped onto the train, trying to figure out where Annabeth and Silena had disappeared to. He looked into each compartment as he passed, but he didn't catch sight of either girl. At the very last compartment he found them both, talking to a few red-headed boys. One of the boys wasn't talking, and was hiding behind a huge newspaper. "Sorry I'm late," He said to them.
"No worries. This is my brother, Percy." Annabeth said to the boys, patting the seat beside me as I sat.
"Your brother?" One of the kids asked. "Is he your twin too?"
"Twin?" Percy echoed.
"Yeah." The boy smiled. He had baggy, long red hair, but he still matched exactly with the boy sitting beside him. "I'm Fred. This is George."
"We're twins." Fred and George said together.
The boys looked to be exactly the same. They both had mischievous smiles, glints in their brown eyes, right down to the shirts they were wearing. Two sweaters: One had an F on it, the other had a G.
Percy shared a glance with Annabeth. She smiled, nodding faintly. "Yeah. We're twins, but we're not identical." He spoke to the boys.
"Obviously you're not identical." George said.
Silena tilted her head. "How does anyone tell you apart?"
"Well," Fred said, "I'm the more attractive of the two of us—"
"Am not!" George protested.
"Am too!" Fred declared.
There was a crinkling of papers as a figure in the corner put down a newspaper. "If you two don't stop arguing I'm going to write Mum."
If possible, the twins paled.
"You wouldn't." George said.
"I would." The boy said. He looked to be around 17, with long red hair that cascaded down his back. He leaned forward, shaking our hands one by one. "I'm Charlie Weasley. Nice to meet you all."
"Nice to meet you. I'm Annabeth, and this is my brother Percy, and our good friend Silena." Annabeth said, then admitted sheepishly, "I forgot you were sitting there."
"What are you reading?" Percy asked Charlie curiously.
"The Daily Prophet." Charlie replied with a scoff. "Their writing is terrible these days; it's all rubbish."
"Can I see it?" Annabeth asked him.
Charlie handed over the newspaper without complaint. "What house are you hoping to be sorted into?" He asked the three of us.
"There's no way that Annabeth will be in any house but Ravenclaw." Silena replied with a laugh. "For me? I'm hoping for maybe Hufflepuff or Gryffindor."
"You want to be sorted into Hufflepuff?" George asked.
"Sure." Silena shrugged. "What's so bad about it?"
"Hufflepuffs are a bunch of pushovers. I'd say Gryffindor will be your best bet!" Fred replied.
Charlie shrugged, stretching. "Any house is acceptable as long as it's not Slytherin."
"What's wrong with Slytherin?" Percy asked him.
"Well," Charlie leaned forward, his voice dropping. "It's where all the evil wizards go. You-Know-Who's followers are all pure-blood Slytherins."
He frowned, looking at Silena and Annabeth. "Uh, who's You-Know-Who?" He asked.
All three of the red-headed Weasley siblings gasped.
"You don't know who You-Know-Who is?" Charlie asked curiously.
"Well, we're American." Silena replied. "Remember? We told you when we first came in here."
Annabeth nodded in agreement. "We haven't had any dark wizards take over in America."
"Consider yourselves lucky then." Charlie said.
"Yeah, just the thought of You-Know-Who makes me want to hide." George shuddered.
"There's worse things out there then You-Know-Who." Percy rolled his eyes. Annabeth nudged his arm, and he quickly realized his slip. "Like evil teachers. That's enough to instill fear in anyone."
The three students didn't seem to notice anything out of the ordinary. He sighed in relief, looking over at Silena. Her light blue eyes swam as if she were in thought. "What if you're sorted into Slytherin?" He asked her.
"I think you're way more likely." Silena said after a short silence.
"You think I'm going to be Slytherin?" He asked her.
"Yes. You're very cunning and mysterious." She said, twirling a chapstick tube around in her fingers.
At Silena's small movement, he noticed that Annabeth was tapping her foot, while he was tapping his fingers against his leg without realizing it. Three ADHD demigods on a train was a terrible idea.
"How much longer are we going to be on the train?" He asked Charlie.
Charlie looked out the window. "Couple hours. The train usually doesn't reach Hogwarts until nightfall,"
"Wonderful, let's just hope it passes by quickly." Silena muttered.
"Time flies fast when you're having fun." Annabeth mumbled, almost against her will. That saying was Thalia's favorite. She was always saying it. Monster killing? Catchphrase. TV? Catchphrase.
"What?" Fred asked. "I didn't hear what you said."
"Just something our sister likes to say." Percy rolled his eyes. He wondered what Thalia and Luke would think of this place.
"How many siblings do you two have?" George asked.
He tapped his fingers against his chin. "There's two more of us."
"Are they at Hogwarts too?" Fred asked.
"No." Annabeth replied. "They're No-Maj's."
"No-Maj?" Charlie raised his eyebrow.
"Muggle." Annabeth replied.
"Ah." Charlie said.
"You have muggles in your family?" Fred asked curiously. "Don't they feel left out when you practice magic?"
"I think Luke does, our brother," He frowned, remembering the look that Luke had given when he discovered the magic world after being adopted by Mom-and not being able to be part of it. "But there was an exception made for him, and he works in the muggle government overseeing the Magic relations."
"Our sister, Thalia, works with him in government also, but in a different department." Annabeth replied.
"Have you ever been there? What's it like?" George asked.
"It's different. A good difference though, it's how we stay up to date with the No-Maj world, to have two No-Maj siblings." He told them. "Silena hangs out with us a lot, just recently we went out with her half-sister, Piper, to an ice cream shop in lower New York."
"Piper's dad is a famous wizard out in California, and it's made her super rich," Silena smiled. "So she pays for everything and doesn't even complain. The poor girl."
Fred and George exchanged a glance, but said nothing about Silena's rich comment.
"What are you reading?" Charlie asked Annabeth curiously. "I can't read the title of it."
Annabeth quickly looked at her book cover and blushed. "It's a study book that my mom gave to me. I'm brushing up on my Ancient Greek, my mother told me it would help in Ancient Runes class, since magic spells are derived from Greek."
Charlie nodded approvingly. "Spoken like a Ravenclaw." He said with a wink.
"Hey, I think we're there!" George suddenly said, smashing his face against the window.
"Let me see! Get out of the way!" Fred shoved George.
As the twins shoved each other for a better view of the window, Annabeth put the book inside her bag, and pulled out her carry-on bag which had each of their set of robes for school. Percy shrugged off his jacket, as did Silena and Annabeth, and they pulled on the robes.
Moments later, the train stopped, and the door opened. Annabeth left her bag on the seat, placing their jackets into the bag. She left the bag where her name could be read from any angle: 'Annabeth Jackson'.
We hopped off the bus as a group. We looked around with unease, not knowing what to do after this point.
"Firs' years!" a loud, booming voice called. "Firs' years, over here!"
He looked towards the sound of the voice. A giant man was waving an arm, corralling a bunch of 11 year-olds into a small circle. From the height of the man, Percy had to guess that he was a half-giant. Not that he was judging the man, he would make his own assumptions, but he'd heard all sorts of terrible things from other wizards about half-breeds, even though he was one himself. The man had long, bushy, tangled black hair that mingled with his equally tangled beard. He heard Silena mutter something about his outfit, which was a worn brown shirt with darker brown pants and a very large overcoat.
"Just a hunch, but I think we follow him." He pointed.
"Sounds good." Annabeth said, and Silena agreed.
Fred and George followed them over to the giant, where a bunch of other first years were crowding around the man's feet. The man led them to small rowboats that spread out across a huge lake. Percy could feel the power of the water below his feet as he stepped into the boat. He tried to not look too relieved at the thought of heading to the school in a boat. Annabeth shuffled behind him into the small boat, leaving Silena to travel with another first year in a second boat.
The boats started to move by themselves after everyone was seated. He heard Annabeth gasp and grab the sides of the boat to keep from tipping. "This is amazing!" She said, pointing at different parts of the landscape as we puttered along. He turned to see where she was pointing—an enormous tree not far inland. Its branches seemed to move on it's own—when a low hanging branch smacked him in the back of the head, leaving an angry bruise.
"Oops. My bad." Annabeth laughed.
He rubbed the back of his head with a hand. "Yeah, no worries…"
As the boats stationed themselves at the end of the dock, the students all climbed out without anyone managing to fall into the lake. The half-giant, who had addressed himself as Hagrid, led them into the castle through a set of enormous doors. A woman was waiting for them. She was tall and thin, with her brown hair tied up in a bun. The woman's lips were pressed together tightly as their group approached her.
"Professor McGonagall," Hagrid said.
"Hagrid." Professor McGonagall said stiffly. She waved her arm, leaving the group to follow her. She led them into an empty corridor, but Percy could still hear the sounds from the Great Hall just a few feet away. "Welcome to Hogwarts. Now, you all will be sorted into your houses. While you are in your House, you will bond like family. You will earn points together, live together, and have your classes together. When we start to move, stand in a straight line single filed."
Percy looked at Annabeth and Silena. This lady seemed to be so stiff, not at all what he had expected of Hogwarts professors. But then again, what did he expect? Pointy hats and witches' brooms? Well, he had gotten the pointy hat thing right. You know what? It didn't matter.
McGonagall started to walk towards the doors, and he moved behind Annabeth, with Silena behind him. As they got closer to the front of the room, Percy took the opportunity to study the room. There were thousands of floating candles that lined the ceiling, giving the room an eerie kind of light. There was no ceiling that he could see, but he knew that couldn't be logical. He supposed it had been bewitched, leaving it to look like a cloudless sky. There were four long tables with a banner on top of each table: Slytherin, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff.
He noticed at the last second that the entire room had gone dead silent. Every person in the room was staring at a tattered old hat sitting on a stool. He briefly wondered if it was going to explode. His hand inched towards his pants pocket where he kept Riptide. Just when he thought he couldn't take any more of the silence, the hat ripped open as if it had a mouth and began to sing:
Wear me and I'll tell you where to go,
Are you brave, cunning or smart?
I've done this job for centuries
On every student's head I've sat
Of thoughts I take inventories
For I'm the famous Sorting Hat.
The room was silent for another minute before Professor McGonagall pulled out a long sheet of paper. She fixed her glasses on her nose and read out the first name. "Andor, Cassie!"
A young-looking girl pushed her way through the crowd. She sat on the stool and McGonagall had barely placed the hat on her head when it screamed, "HUFFLEPUFF!"
The girl, looking relieved, ran to the Hufflepuff table.
"Beauregard, Silena!"
Silena smiled nervously before running to get the hat placed onto her head. Percy gave her a thumbs up as the hat screamed "SLYTHERIN!"
Silena looked surprised, but didn't question it. She promptly ran over to the Slytherin table, sitting beside a tall boy with dark hair.
This went on for a while. Roger Davies became a Ravenclaw. Cedric Diggory became a Hufflepuff. Until finally—
"Jackson, Annabeth!"
Annabeth took another look at him before running to get the hat placed onto her head. The hat barely touched her head before screaming "RAVENCLAW!"
She rubbed her hands nervously before running to the Ravenclaw table, where she sat beside Roger Davies.
"Jackson, Perseus!"
"Percy," He automatically corrected under his breath before heading to the stool. The hat sat on his head, and almost as if McGonagall was expecting it to immediately shout a name, she kept her hand onto it.
A son of Poseidon, huh? The voice whispered into his ear.
He jumped, almost ripping the hat off his head in haste.
Relax. I'm only in your head. The hat laughed. I see lots of courage in your head, yes, but also an immense loyalty to your friends. But I also see your burning desire to be recognized. Let it be—
"SLYTHERIN!" the hat shouted, almost making his ear numb.
The hat came off his head, and he ran over to where Silena had sat. He locked eyes with Annabeth as he took a seat. She actually looked a bit sad that she was the only one of us to go to Ravenclaw, but she didn't look surprised.
"Poor Annabeth," Silena whispered.
He nodded. "She's going to give us Hades for this."
"Most definitely."
"Johnson, Angelina!"
He watched as a dark-skinned girl sat on the stool. The hat was silent for a moment, just as it had been with him. "Gryffindor!" The hat shouted.
Lee Jordan became a Gryffindor. Other names were called as the list went on. Finally, the last two names were called.
"Weasley, Fred!"
"Gryffindor!" The hat shouted as soon as it touched Fred's head.
"Weasley, George!"
"Gryffindor!" The hat shouted again.
McGonagall rolled up the scroll and took her seat beside the Headmaster. He looked up at Dumbledore, who was smiling widely.
"Welcome to Hogwarts," Dumbledore said. "And to our returning students, welcome back. I will just say a few words before we begin our feast. Lemon tart. Gum drop. Lollipop. Now, tuck in!"
He waved his arms, and at once the tables filled with food.
Percy looked at Dumbledore curiously. He opened his mouth to say something when Silena gasped. "Wow, it's like magic!"
"Well, how else would they cook in a school for magic?" He asked her.
"…Shut up, Jackson."
Hiding a smile, he started to grab food off of the plates to eat. There was a lot of exotic British food which he stayed far from. He wasn't about to start trying weird food. He piled his plate high with various forms of food and dug into it.
For a daughter of Aphrodite, Silena could eat. She piled her plate almost as high as his was, but actually finished before him. Part of him wondered where she put all the food. Part of him was impressed.
He could hear someone walking over to them. McGonagall leaned close to their ears to not be heard by anyone else. "You two report to Dumbledore's office after the feast is over. I'll send a Prefect to collect you and Miss Jackson before you all head to bed."
Before he could even process what she said, she was gone.
"I bet this is about the 'stuff' we were talking about before we left your mom's house." Silena whispered.
He nodded. "Most likely."
He looked back up at the front of the room where the teachers were sitting. Most of the teachers were pretty standard. They all wore black robes, but a few had ties from the different Houses. I would've guessed them to be the Heads of House. Two teachers sat side by side who looked like brothers from this distance. The first teacher had long black hair, with a hooked nose and dark eyes. The second was younger than the first, with short black hair, dark eyes, and a small nose. The second teacher was tapping his fingers against the seat while the first one talked.
The younger teacher locked eyes with him. It was only a second, but he could see his face contort the smallest amount. He wasn't sure if it was anger or loathing. Considering he'd never talked to the wizard before, he wasn't sure what he could've done to make him mad. Then he looked away—back to the other teacher.
Silena had followed my gaze to the two teachers at my silence. "You think they know?" She asked softly.
"Not sure." He replied. "Maybe he just hates Americans."
She snorted laughter, her pumpkin juice coming out her nose. "Yeah. I'm sure that's it."
He placed a finger on her shoulder, expelling any juice left in her system. To anyone else it would've just looked like a friendly touch.
"Heh. Thanks." She said.
"Don't mention it." He replied.
"Can you pass the gravy?" a first-year boy asked in a heavy British accent.
"Huh? Oh, sure." Percy passed him the silver bowl.
"I'm Adrian Pucey." The boy said, shaking his hand.
"Percy Jackson." He smiled slightly. "And this is Silena Beauregard."
"Are you by chance American?" Adrian asked.
"Yes." Silena said. "We're from New York City."
"Wow," Adrian breathed. "I've never been out of Britain before; you know this school is in Scotland, so this is my first time out of the country."
"Ours too." He replied with a laugh. "My mom likes to keep me close, and so does her dad."
Adrian nodded as if this wasn't anything new to him. "Yeah, my gran likes to overprotect me."
"You were raised by your grandma?" She asked him.
He nodded sadly. "Yeah. My parents were killed by You-Know-Who."
He frowned. There was that name again. You-Know-Who. Who is You-Know-Who?
"I'm sorry to hear that." Percy said genuinely.
Adrian sighed. "It's okay. My gran's been good to me even after everything that's happened, you know? I was just lucky to be with her that night otherwise I'd probably be with my parents now too."
"Why'd he go after your parents?" Silena asked Adrian. "Aren't Slytherins supposed to be in his gang?"
Adrian put down his fork. "Well, I'm actually the first Slytherin in the family. Both of my parents were Hufflepuffs."
"Really?" Percy asked him curiously.
Adrian nodded. "Yeah."
"Funny how those things work out, huh?" He mused. "I thought for sure you'd be a Gryffindor, Silena, yet here we both are at the Slytherin table."
"Don't you have a sister too?" Adrian asked. "I could've sworn there were two Jacksons called."
"Yeah. Annabeth." He said, nodding to the direction of the Ravenclaw table. "My twin."
Silena started laughing, but it turned into a cough after he kicked her under the table.
"You all right?" Adrian asked her.
She nodded. "Yeah. I'm good."
"So what did McGonagall say to you two?"
He exchanged a glance with Silena. "She wants to talk to us after the feast. Something about the transfer from Ilvermorny, I suppose."
"That's the American school, right?" Adrian asked.
He nodded. "Right."
"So what made you all come here?"
"We moved to Britain." Silena answered before he could. "We wanted a different culture."
Adrian nodded. "I get that. I probably would've done the same thing."
"So what do you want to do when you grow up?" Silena asked him, changing the topic.
"An Auror." Adrian replied immediately. "I want to learn to defend myself in the best way possible so I can stand a chance to help defeat You-Know-Who."
He nodded. "Makes sense with your background and all. I don't doubt you can do it."
"Gran believes in me." Adrian said, a tearful look in his eyes. "I'll do it for her."
Silena smiled encouragingly. "I know you can do it."
"So. Friends?" Adrian asked.
"Definitely friends." Silena agreed.
He nodded. "We would've stopped talking to you a long time ago if we didn't want to be friends."
"How long have you two known each other?" Adrian asked. "You two seem close."
He tapped my fingers against my chin. "Maybe four years?" He said, unsure.
"Three and a half." She responded.
"How'd you meet?"
"My dad knows her mom." He replied simply. It wasn't a lie. It just wasn't the full truth.
"Oh, alright." Adrian shrugged, stretching. "I don't think I can eat another bite."
He looked down at his empty plate, then over at the desserts that had appeared. He grabbed a brownie, and started to munch on it.
Silena turned around. "Looks like a Prefect heading our way."
Percy nodded. "We'll see you in the common room, Adrian. Nice meeting you."
"You also." Adrian replied, getting up and following the other Slytherins out.
"Silena and Percy?" The boy asked, and we nodded. "I'm Barnaby Lee, and I'll be showing you to Dumbledore's office."
He got to his feet, stretching his arms. "Good, I could use a walk."
Barnaby was silent. Percy couldn't tell if Barnaby was just the silent type, or didn't like them. "Wait by the door, I'll get Annabeth."
Moments later Annabeth appeared trailing behind Barnaby. She waved to the two of us.
"Okay. I gotta ask. Why the twin thing?" Silena muttered to Annabeth low enough where Barnaby wouldn't hear.
"I don't want people to know I'm adopted. I don't care if the teachers know, just not the students." Annabeth replied back in the same low voice. "I don't want their pity, and besides this will probably be easier."
"You have different birthdays." Silena pointed out. "Yours in July, and his in August."
"Nobody has to know." Annabeth shrugged.
Silena shrugged. "Whatever."
"How's Ravenclaw?" Percy asked Annabeth.
"Oh my gods. It's amazing. I was just talking to Roger Davies, you know that other first year, and his wit is almost at level with mine and I'm wisdom's daughter." Annabeth gushed. "The way people talk there, it's almost like I'm back in camp with my siblings."
"Well, I'm glad you like it there." He replied. "We were worried you'd be lonely."
"It's not as if I'll be there for five minutes." She huffed. "It's forever. Might as well make friends in my own House. Speaking of new friends, who was that boy you two were talking to?"
"Adrian Pucey, another first year." Silena said. "He's fun to talk to."
"We told him we moved to Britain." He told her.
"Good that our cover story matches." Annabeth said. "That's what I told Roger."
"Great minds think alike." Silena smiled.
Barnaby had led them around the Great Hall, up a few sets of stairs. After what seemed like an hour of climbing circular stairs, they stopped in front of a door with a stone gargoyle in front of it. Percy was getting huge Medusa vibes from the statue, accidentally shying away from it.
"Lemon tarts." Barnaby said, as the Gargoyle moved. "I will be back here in an hour to pick you three up and escort you to your common rooms."
Percy nodded to him, and together we climbed the second staircase. He could hear soft voices coming from the office as they entered.
Dumbledore sat in his chair in front of an enormous clawed desk. There were quite a few chairs around the room, most of which were already occupied. Everyone had turned to look at them as they entered the room. McGonagall sat near Dumbledore, and the next chair over from her was occupied by a young adult wizard. It was the same wizard that Percy had stared at in the Great Hall. Now that we were closer, Percy noticed that he had a dark aura. Beside him sat the other black-haired man, but he looked like he hadn't showered in 10 years. His hair was greasy, but not as greasy as his face was. His expression turned from a grimace into a scowl at our entrance.
Finally, beside the last wizard sat a witch. She was blonde, with startling green eyes. She pushed up her glasses further up her nose as we entered and took our seats.
"Hello again, students." Dumbledore said, then turned to the elder wizards. "These are the American demigods. Silena Beauregard, daughter of Aphrodite, and Annabeth Jackson, daughter of Athena, and Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon."
Percy waved shyly at the wizards. He wasn't used to having so many people stare at him at once.
"The wizards that you see before you are also demigods." Dumbledore said as we took our seats. "Nico di Angelo, son of Hades."
The short-haired man waved. "I teach Defense against the Dark Arts." He mumbled.
"Then we have Severus Snape, legacy of Pluto."
The greasy man didn't look thrilled at his introduction. He didn't wave or speak, he just glared in our direction, his arms folded tightly across his chest.
"Professor Snape teaches Potions." Dumbledore said after a brief silence. "Then we have Rita Skeeter. Daughter of Ares. While Minerva isn't a demigod herself, she is trusted to be in this room. " Dumbledore finished.
Rita shook Percy's hand with such force that he thought she was going to break it. "Nice to meet you. I write for the Daily Prophet."
He smiled. "Nice to meet you too."
"Now, what we're going to tell you here doesn't leave this room." Dumbledore said finally. "You might remember I once told you that you couldn't use any of your powers on school grounds. However, I'm adding that you also cannot tell anyone of your true parentage. It could cause an uproar."
Annabeth frowned. "Why?"
"If the students knew that potential half-god students resided amongst them, they might think that it's unfair that you three are more powerful than them." McGonagall replied.
He nodded. "I understand."
Dumbledore stretched out a piece of parchment across his desk, holding out a quill. "I need each of you to sign on the dotted lines beside your name."
"What's this for?" Silena asked.
"This is the Demigod's Order." Dumbledore explained. "It's a current list of every demigod in the country, their parentage, location and abilities. It helps the government keep track of each demigod in case there is ever an issue."
He looked at the page and the brief explanation beside his name.
PERSEUS A. JACKSON, SON OF POSEIDON
KNOWN ABILITIES:
Hydrokinesis
Vitakinesis
Geokinesis
LEVEL: 4
He frowned at the page. His list wasn't long; he'd have to work on that. He continued on down the page, reading Annabeth's explanation then Silena's.
ANNABETH CHASE (JACKSON), DAUGHTER OF ATHENA
KNOWN ABILITIES:
Genius Intellect
Audiokinesis
Mystiokinesis
LEVEL: 4
SILENA BEAUREGARD, DAUGHTER OF APHRODITE
KNOWN ABILITIES:
Amokinesis
Charmspeak
LEVEL: 3
Percy took the quill from Dumbledore, signing his name. Silena and Annabeth followed suit. Dumbledore rolled up the parchment, putting it into his desk at the flick of his wand. "If you ever have any problems with your abilities or any questions about your Greek side, these are the two teachers you can ask. If you don't feel comfortable asking one of these three, you can always ask me. As a son of Hecate, I'd be more than willing to answer any questions you may have."
"You're a son of Hecate?" Silena asked him.
"Naturally." Dumbledore smiled. "It's one of the reasons I am so powerful as a wizard."
"Now, off to bed with you three. It is quite late and you have class in the morning." McGonagall stood, and led them to the door.