o0o Chapter Four o0o
He slipped in at around ten thirty, going unnoticed among the hundreds of people busting around. You would think it would be odd to walk straight through a brick wall, but after being around Nico and Mrs. O' Leary for so long, he was well passed the, 'I should be able to go through that' mentality. It might come back to haunt him, but if you told him he would be able to walk through some wall, he would try it.
He now was laden with the trunk Hecate had given him. On the clothes front he had some stuff from his cabin – a few basic outfits but mostly socks, shoes, underwear and stuff like that – as for the uniform, Hecate had taken the liberty to get his, which was comprised of robes, nice white shirts, black pants, and a fricking sweater vest.
As for the school stuff, there was a crap ton of books in there. All piled into a magical box that was fit for one book but held the over thirty that it contained. As much he disliked the ideas of a bunch of books, Percy had to admit it was pretty cool, all the book names were listed on the back and changed as the contents did. All he had to do was think about the one he wanted, and it appeared at the top, when he opened the lid there it was. He was going to give this to Annabeth when this was over.
That was pretty much it, but it still weighed quite a bit, and he was having to push it. On the other side of the oh-so-solid brick wall there was another train, but this one was differed from all of the others. The normal station was bland, full of grays, blacks, and some brick. This one was burst with life, orange brick everywhere, people with all sorts of clothing, some had very interesting - what he guessed was - imitations of normal clothes, some with robes, some that had what might be the wizarding alternative causal wear (maybe it was just British clothes though), and some that actually looked normal.
There was a crimson steam engine in from of him, billowing white smoke, students were boarding it, lugging their heavy trucks in with them. He followed suit, soon he was seated in an empty compartment with his trunk shoved above him.
:-:-:-:
Ginny had found Luna and was proceeding to get on the train, there was only three minutes until it left. Meaning all the compartments would be full.
She and Luna hunted for a little, finding all sorts of years, houses, and people. Somehow, she managed to find one that was quiet, a telltale sign it was empty.
Ginny opened the door, just to be proven wrong. In the compartment sat a teen, he was looking out the window, all she could see was his back, he had messy black hair, a gray jacket, and jeans on.
"Oh, sorry, I didn't realize you were in here, mind if we join you?"
"Depends on who 'we' is," said the teen turning around. "Earlier some dude with bleach blonde hair came in and very kindly requested that I vacate so he and his friends could have the space to themselves. Apparently, I didn't need it as much as him, I shoved 'em out the door. And I could swear I hear him muttering something about his telling daddy about me, I was flattered."
He had an odd accent, and Ginny didn't think she'd ever seen him before but laughed, nevertheless.
"Well I'm Ginny Weasley, that's Luna Lovegood, and I believe you've had a run in with the ever-annoying Draco Malfoy."
He chucked and gestured to the seats across from him.
"Good, you don't seem like total assholes. I'm Percy Jackson by the way."
"Nice to meet you." Ginny said as she and Luna sat down. "I don't think I've seen you at Hogwarts before, what year are you in?"
"That's probably because I haven't ever been at Hogwarts before, and I believe I'll be in the sixth year."
"We're a year bellow you, in the fifth. Where are you from, you have a bit of an accent?"
"Do I really? I'm from America, and I'm guessing you're from here, so I have a pressing question. Do all of you brits like tea? Is there going to be like, an official teatime at school, when everyone can just have tea or…"
"No! Where did you even get that idea from?" Ginny said while laughing.
"Then it must just be a no-maj thing…"
"A what thing?"
"People without magic, it must be their thing, because it's a fact that brits love tea."
"One, that's not a fact, and two, we call them muggles."
"Okay, say what you will, but I swear it's a thing." Percy said, voice completely serious, now that she could get a good look at him, he looked kind of like Harry. With green eyes and black hair, but that's where it ended, this kid looked more filled out, whereas Harry was a bit more on the scrawny side, she couldn't see because of the sweatshirt, but he seemed like he would be strong. He was tan and even though his face was serious there was a glint in his eye that let you know he was joking.
Not the worst person to have sit with, she thought, aside from the weird accent, this American is pretty decent.
As soon, as the conversation was over, he turned to Luna, she was reading her dad's magazine upside-down. Ginny watched as Percy turned to her, waiting to hear what he would say. A lot of people don't know what to do around her, with her beet earrings, cork necklace, the fact that she was reading upside down, and all her other weird tendencies.
"Whatcha reading?" was all Percy said, he didn't even look at her weird, just acted normal.
Go new kid.
Luna looked up, "I'm reading the Quibbler, my father writes it, I'm on a very interesting bit about Crumple-horned Snorkacks."
"What are they?" She waited for some reaction from the teen sitting across from her.
Nada.
"They're an almost extinct species in Sweden, most people don't think they're real. My father and I are going to go look for them some time."
"I've never been there, or heard of them, sounds interesting though."
"It really is." Then Luna's head disappeared back behind the magazine.
Percy leaned toward Ginny and whispered, "I am I supposed to know what that is?"
She only laughed and shook her head.
"Do you know how to play Quidditch? We have teams at Hogwarts."
"Quite-itch, what even is that? Are you magicked itchy and the last one to itch wins?"
"What?! Are you kidding? Do you seriously not have Quidditch?"
"Uh, no?"
"Well then, I'm giving you a crash course, keep up." Without leaving any room for argument, Ginny started to explain Quidditch.
"There are seven players per team, three chasers, a keeper, a seeker, and two beaters. There are four balls, the Quaffle, the Snitch, and two Bludgers. It's all played in the air on a 500 by 80 foot pitch, at both ends there are three goals, which are big circles about thirty feet off the ground."
"Nope."
"Excuse me?"
"I do not do heights."
"Scarred?"
"Maybe."
"Whatever.
"The chasers handle the Quaffle, which is red, and about the size of your head. They try to toss it through one of the hoops and score ten points. The other chasers try to prevent this or do the same. The keeper stays at the goals and defends them, they attempt to keep out the Quaffle. I'm a Chaser on my team."
"So, it's like soccer? With offense, defense, and a goalie?"
"What's soccer?"
"Forget it."
"No, seriously, what's soccer? I think I've heard Neville mention it."
"I'll explain that after you explain this, it's a no-maj game though."
"I'll finish soon, just be quiet.
"The beaters deal with the Bludgers, which are little black balls, about two times the size of your fist, and are enchanted to fly around the pitch and knock people off their brooms."
"So, like mean little, flying baseballs, and I bet they hurt just as much..."
"What's a baseball?"
"Later, finish."
"If you would only let me!
"The beaters use bats to either keep the Bludgers away from players on their team or aim them at the other team, or both.
"Yeah, so a lot like baseball, except meaner and more magical."
"I'm just going to try and ignore you.
"The seeker deals with the Snitch, it's a tiny golden ball, around the size of a walnut, and it's enchanted to fly. The seeker flies around the pitch searching for it, when it's caught the game ends and the team who caught it is awarded 150 points."
"Doesn't that seem like overkill? A lot of points for one small part of the game."
"No."
"Okay then, one question, how is this in the air? You said it's like really high up, but how? Does everyone just magically levitate somehow or…?
"Brooms! We ride on brooms! Are you really this clueless?"
Percy just started laughing, and Ginny didn't understand why, of all things he would start laughing at that.
"Percy why the bloody hell is that so funny?"
"It's just that in no-maj – or muggy whatever you said – stories, witches always fly on brooms, and real witches are not at all like the fake witches, I just can't believe you actually fly on brooms." He said in between chuckles.
"How can it be that funny? She asked a minute later to the the still chucking Percy.
"Well in the stories, witches are green and warty and wear all black, ratty dresses and…" He burst out in a another fit of laughter.
"It's not that funny. What's soccer?"
"Soccer? I used to play when I was little, it's a no-maj game, it has one ball, a soccer ball. There are eleven people on each side, it's played on a field, on the ground, and there's a goal at each end, they're rectangles, the front is open and the rest of it is netting. You have to kick the soccer ball, you can't use your hands, and you have to get the ball in the goal, but in front of the goal is a goalie, they do the same as a keeper, basically everyone else is like a chaser."
While he talked Ginny observed him and picked up on some things she didn't notice before. His knee was bouncing up and down constantly, he was picking at thread on his sleeve with one hand, and every now and then he would glance at the door, out the window, and even sometimes beside him.
"You seem to know a lot about muggle stuff, are you muggle-born?"
"Um, I don't think so…"
"Well, were both your parents muggles?"
"I don't think so."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I think my dad was a wizard, that's what my mom thinks at least."
"You mean he won't tell you?"
"He's lost at sea, never met him. So, yeah, I'm not sure."
A small 'oh' was all Ginny could muster in response.
"But my mom's a mor- no-maj, and I've been raised by her."
"My dad is obsessed with everything-"
Ginny was cut off by the compartment door slamming open, by someone she would rather not be seeing. Zacharias Smith: tallish kid, strawberry blonde hair, Hufflepuff, and very annoying.
"I finally found you, I've been looking all over. As a D.A. member I need to know what happened at the ministry."
Ginny did not feel like talking about it, especially this kid. "Get out Smith," she said shortly.
"Come on you have to tell me; all the members should get to know. It's not fair that only some of you got to go."
"You're talking about it as it were some field trip. News flash, it wasn't. People died, a lot of others almost did, go away." She tried to stay strong, but she could hear a hint of emotion behind her words, behind her angry tone, she didn't like it.
Zacharias turned to Luna, "And I bet you just waited outside, I don't know what good you could ever do against you-know-who."
"No, that's not what happened. I was inside." Luna said, not at all phased.
"Ginny you have to tell me, I should be informed of things like this."
"You don't need to know anything about what happened at the ministry, and you asking won't help. They don't want to talk, and they aren't going to. It would be best for all of us if you would turn around and walk out. Including yourself."
Ginny was surprised Percy said anything, he had just been sitting quietly, observing. This seemed so out of the blue, early he seemed very laid back, the type of guy to stay out of any type of fight, yet here he was, butting his way into this, in defense of people he really didn't know.
"Is that a threat?" He asked as he turned around, "Who are you, and why is you voice so annoying?
"Percy, I'm American, if that's what you're asking, and yes that was a threat."
"And what are you going to do?"
"Me? Nothing, I don't think I have the right qualifications to get you out of here."
"Then what's going to happen?" Smith looked more and more amused as this went on, Ginny got angrier and angrier at him. Confused as she was by what Percy was saying she just wanted him out, Ginny didn't even realize until now that she was gripping her wand very tightly in her pocket.
"Oh, she'll hex the begeezus out of you if you don't leave soon."
Ginny pulled out her wand as she understood what she was saying, knowing full well that without Percy, it would have already happened, at least he was trying to be civil.
The Hufflepuff turned around again, he now had Ginny's wand pointed at his face.
"You have ten seconds Smith."
"No, tell me what happened."
A twist of her wand and Zacharias was out the door with little green bats flying out of his nose. It was more satisfying then she expected, serves him right for being such a prick last year, she thought.
"Nice hex." She turned to face a grinning American, she returned the grin. Sure, she had missed being able to hex people at the burrow when she wasn't allowed to, but she forgot just how fun it was, how good it felt to just get rid of the annoying person and give them a lesson at the same time.
The moment was ruined before she even sat down, Zacharias had returned, but this time he was accompanied by a man about three times his, only a little bit taller but out matched with greatly when looking at width. The man, who she guessed to be a professor, looked to be in his 60s or so. He was wearing a brown waistcoat, accompanied by the same color vest and pants, on his head there was a small amount of thinning gray hair, and on his face was a huge gray mustache.
Wow.
Dentition before school even started, but she couldn't regret it completely. Because even though she knew she would get a howler later, it was a very satisfying thing to watch as the kid in front of her swatted at, and attempted the on-slot of bats flying out of his nose, the color on his cheeks rising.
"Who is responsible for this?" The teacher inquired, the weird thing about it though, was that he sounded actually interested, rather than the typical teacher, bordley asking so they could dish out the punishment.
Just as she was about to speak up Percy beat her to it.
"It was me sir." He stared at Percy a bit oddly, she guessed it was because of the accent. She started at him oddly because of what he said though, he was not at all responsible for this.
"I hexed him professor." Ginny, as much as she wanted to avoid any howlers, she just couldn't let the new kid get blamed.
As soon as he got over his brief confusion, he said something that confused Ginny, more than any accent could ever confuse anyone. "Very good wandmanship, this hex was executed very well. I'd like to invite you lunch today, my compartment, don't be late, here." He handed her a rolled-up parchment which she took numbly. "And I will have to ask you to refrain from hexing any other students, as good as they might be, after this warning it will cost you house points. And you," he said turning towards the boy standing beside him, "should refrain from asking about things that ought not to be asked about, especially if people don't want to talk about it, it was you who he was bothering, correct?" He turned to face Ginny at the last part.
"Yes."
"Good, now that that is resolved, what is your name?"
"Ginny Weasley."
"Nice to meet you, nice to meet you, I'm your new professor, Horace Slughorn." They shook hands and then the professor left. In turn leaving a fuming Zacharias Smith, "I'll get you back for this Weasley, even if the teacher won't give you what you deserve, you'll get it." With that he turned on his heel and slammed the door closed.
"Well at least he's gone." Percy voice chirped from his seat.
Ginny, sat down, baring even listening, she had absolutely no idea what just happened. One minute she was sure she was getting detention the next she was invited to some weird lunch with a professor.
She unenrolled the parchment, after glancing at it, she realized there was seven minutes until the lunch began, even though the parchment had the compartment number on she had no idea where to go.
"Oh bloody hell." She muttered aloud.
"Hhm?"
"He's called it The Slug Club; I do not want to go to this. I would really like to steer clear of dentition though, this can't be worse than dentition can it?"
"Only one way to find out, sorry about this though, about getting you (almost) in trouble and all."
"Not your fault at all, no need to say that, but I have to get going. It starts soon, I have no idea where it is and I don't want to be late, there's detention on the line." With that Ginny begrudgingly got up and left the compartment, closing the door behind her.
:-:-:-:
Percy sat there for a while. Staring out the window and pondering Hecate's words from the pervious morning.
'You will be safe, a border - much like the one at your camp - will protect you there, I put I up myself.'
'You will not contact your friends much, each time it will be a huge risk,
possibly letting people see your world. This risk is one you should not take lightly, and to make sure it is not, you will have to be passing your classes, only then will I grant you permission every so often to contact your friends.'
'You will be there for an entire year. Your purpose is to protect the school and its inhabitants, make sure to inform me of anything odd.'
He didn't want to think about it. He didn't want to be away from Annabeth. He didn't want to be away from his mom. He didn't want to be away from camp. He didn't want to be on a train. He didn't want to go to a magical school.
He wanted to be in his apartment, with Annabeth and his mom, getting ready to go back to Goode with his Wise Girl. He wanted to be close to camp, visit it. He wanted to be with those he lived, hear their voices, talk to them.
"Are you all right?" A serine voice floated from the other side of compartment, breaking him out his retrieve. The frown was more prominent than he realized. Quickly replacing it with a smile he looked up at the only other person sitting with him.
Luna was looking at him, staring from above her upside-down magazine.
"Of course, I am a bit bored I must admit. Anything else interesting in that magazine of yours?"
:-:-:-:
And that's how he learned all about the elusive Blibbering Humdinger, the intriguing Nargle, and the very annoying Wrackspurt, an animal that was supposedly invisible and in the compartment with them. Some of what she said made sense or Percy, the other half did not. Nevertheless, the demigod was actually quite interested now in all the magical animals in the wizarding world.
"What all is in the forest?" Percy was pretty surprised at the fact that they had a forest filled with creatures, and a lake – which he made a mental note to swim in at some point – that also held multiple magical beings.
"Oh, all kinds of things, you know there is a Care of Magical Creatures class at Hogwarts, some people don't like it, but I love meeting all the animals. Hagrid got the job as professor a few years ago, he brings out all sorts of interesting animals from the forest, they like him. It's all outside, and there isn't much homework from Hagrid, it's one of my favorite classes"
"That sounds like an actually enjoyable class, I don't know much about Hogwarts, but I'll see if I can join you. Always good to see a familiar face."
(A/N Yes, I know they're in different years, but I picture that since that class probably isn't the most popular so some of the classes are mixed. So, that's my reasoning, deal with it or be annoyed for all of eternity.)
Percy wanted a break during the day, outside classes, animals, and nice teachers seemed like the way to go, and like he said, maybe he would know someone in the class, that's always a plus in his book.
"Does he ever bring his classes down the lake?"
"No, it's called the Black Lake, no one really goes in there. It's freezing cold and some of the animals aren't very kind, Hagrid has no way of getting the animals to come up so he can teach, otherwise, I'm sure he would."
"That's a shame, I love water."
As Luna dived into another Magazine, he looked back out the window.
He couldn't stop thinking about Annabeth.
He tried to study the landscapes passing by. He tried to think about all the positives of his situation. He tried to think about this new school he was going to. He tried to think about the similarities between this works and his own. He tried to think about a lot of things, but one thought wouldn't leave his mind, Annabeth.
He felt terrible leaving her. He had left her so many times, and now he was just doing it again. When they first met neither cared, but it didn't change the fact that they only spent the summer together for four years. Even then, when they were fourteen, he had spent the summer trying to find her, and the next year she thought he was dead for two weeks, and then the year after that he snuck off with Nico. After they finally got together, he had left her a few months later. Now after a little bit of peace with her he was leaving again. He didn't deserve her, and she definitely didn't deserve this. She deserved someone better, someone who could stay with her.
He also felt like he needed to protect her, he couldn't do that here. Percy knew she could protect herself easily, but after the pit, he just wanted to be with her, look after her, enjoy her presence.
The door slid open a little while later, breaking out of his thoughts.
"Luna, I found Harry's compartment. He was there too, so was Hermione." As Luna got up, as an afterthought Ginny added, "You can come too Percy."
"I'm good, I don't want to intrude."
"Sure, just remember to put your robes on before we get there," she was out the door, "oh, and don't forget to leave your trunk in the train. See ya at school Mr. America."
The door slid closed behind them.
That was the first time he had thought of his wizard dresses since getting on the train. He stood up and opened his truck, figuring it was best to change before anyone else could come in, plus it gave him time to get a feel for the odd clothes.
He slid off his shirt and slipped on the white dress shirt, it was stiff and uncomfortable, the pants were the same. Now came the stupid shoes, boring, fancy, black shoes. He kept his sneakers. He threw the sweater vest back in the trunk as soon as he pulled it out, it was way too itchy and stupid. Next was the dress, he slipped that on and immediately wanted to take it off, he wore it though, it was much too big of a difference to ignore. At the bottom, oh joy, there was belt. Uncomfortable thing, he thought as weaved it through the loops.
As he tucked the shirt in and sat down, he thought about how long it had been since he had worn a uniform. Eighth grade, that was it, his mom had sent him to a private school that ha a uniform similar to this, minus the cape with sleeves.
His mom. He missed her; he hadn't seen her in over a year. He was about to back before being abducted again. The demigod was waiting to be 'better', after the pit he had been a bit odd, not feeling quite like his old self. He had talked to mom over IMs all the time, but it wasn't the same. This was like a punch in the gut, he knew she was waiting for him. This news was going to crush her, she had waited and waited for her son to come home. Now he wasn't. It hit him just as hard.
Not daring to risk sleep, he stared out the window and attempted to clear his mind.
:-:-:-:
When the train finally stopped, he stayed in the compartment for a little bit, hoping to miss the rush. When he stepped out only a few people were still straggling out. As he walked by one compartment something was just off. He stopped in front of it and found he heard a voice, he couldn't hear it well enough to understand what ever was being said, it didn't sound like a friendly chat though, In addition the blindsy things were drawn.
In case anything happened, he decided to stay behind and stand in the compartment next to it until the students left, just in case. He knew from experience that school fights could get ugly.
A minute later he heard the door slide open but only one pair of feet could be heard going down the aisle. After the sound faded, he stepped out and walked into the compartment sound had come from.
Weirdly enough, no one was in there. Percy looked around suspiciously, on the ground a trickle of blood was coming from nothing. Moving his foot forward, he hit that nothing. He kneeled down and reached towards The Nothing, he pulled up and revealed a person, covered by a cloak, frozen.
"Can you move?"
He knew the id wasn't knocked out because his green eyes were open. Reaching in the back of his mind he tried to recall what he learned.
"Reparifors," he said while twisting his wand at the figure on the floor. Nothing happened, he tried again, on the third attempt a little yellow jet of light hit the kid on the floor. Thankfully, he shifted. Percy offered him a hand, which he took.
"Thank goodness that worked, I'm actually quite terrible at getting this stick to do crap. I'm Percy by the way."
"Harry, and thanks, but I have to ask, how did you find me?"
"Suspicious voices, closed curtains, and the blood from nowhere, plus I'm a curious person. Now let's get going, I don't want to be later than I already am. Hopefully you share the same sentiment though, because I don't know where to go."
"Sure, but can I ask why you don't know where you're going?"
"On the way," Percy said as he walked out and gestured for Harry to lead, "American exchange student, no idea what I'm doing." He said as the scrawny black hair kid walked in front of him and began to lead Percy out of the train.
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Well, that was long. Hopefully, this trend (that's not a trend yet) will keep going though, I did think the chapters might get longer as I go, either that's what's happening or I'm just really inconsistent. And yes, I realize that that wasn't actually that long, but for me it was so whatever. I'm also aware that entire chapter was really bad, with cringy interactions everywhere, but that seriously was me doing my best, you'll have to deal with it for now though. Once I figure out how to write I'll come back and fix up the worst.
Now onto something you may have noticed, I took down the prologue. Yes, it was on purpose, no I won't tell you why.
Lastly, I want to thank all of you that reviewed, favorited, or followed. It means a lot and makes my day every time I see it. Currently I'm doing school from home, I'm on my computer all day, and I see right away when something happens, it seriously makes my day.
Yeah, I think that's it, so I hoped you liked it, thanks for reading, and peace out BBB :) (10/18/2020)
