o0o Chapter Eight o0o

He was back in Greece. Giants surrounding him, gods and goddesses frantically flying around, his friends fighting alongside them. He was on his own -no god had joined him yet- trying to fend off Polybotes while the giant taunted him. They fought for what seemed like hours, and yet no one came to help. The world was fading around them, and they fought still, neither winning nor losing.

Suddenly, they were underwater, and yet, they did not cease. Soon, black clouds rose around the duo, Polybotes grew more energized, bigger, stronger. Percy fought on.

The clouds closed in, enveloping them, all he could see was black.

It filled his lungs.

He sucked in the poison, hoping for his breath to return, only to further intoxicate himself.

He couldn't breathe.

There was no air.

He was drowning.

Surrounded by foul black.

Water around him.

Out of air, but still gasping.

He felt it fill him.

Fill his lungs.

His head went light.

His lungs exploded.

Gasping for air, he woke up. Still the feeling in his lungs lingered. He sat upright in bed, gasping and panting for what seemed like an eternity before he got his breath back.

Coming to his senses, he noticed a chill in the air, the cold sweat covering his body did nothing to help. He shivered and lay back down, pulling the covers over himself, despite knowing that trying to sleep was futile.

Percy laid in his bed, reliving his dream, lying still, thinking. He finally decided to get up when he saw light coming from the window on the other side of the dorm, growing stronger and illuminating the room. Since it wasn't ridiculously early this time, he grabbed his stuff and went to shower.

By the time he was showered, dressed, and ready, everyone else was getting up. He began the trek down to the Great Hall – he had heard someone call it that yesterday, and was quite thankful for a name. It was only when he was halfway down that he realized there might not be breakfast this early. It was hardly seven o'clock, so it wasn't really that early, but it had been almost eight when he had eaten yesterday.

He let out a small sigh of relief as the smell of food wafted through open doors towards him. Walking towards his spot at the table, he saw the eyes of multiple students swing towards him. Even though there was hardly anyone there, the demigod still disliked the attention. He sat down towards the back, near the doors, and looked around at the food. Not feeling too hungry, he poured himself a small bowl of cereal accompanied by some milk.

As he ate, the hall slowly began to fill up. A few Gryffindors sat close to him, but none next to him, as if he were some alien to be feared. He truly didn't want to get attached to anyone or anything here, so although Percy knew this was probably for the best, he still wished some people would talk to him. In school, even though he was never Mr. Popular, he always managed to make some friends. Being with The Seven and camp, he had felt at home, he knew everyone. This place was such a stark contrast, so different, and it all felt so wrong to him.

Here, it was all so dissimilar, he wouldn't even attempt to make friends for fear of losing them at this school. The saddest part was Percy thought he was actually going to get peace after he fought his second war. Apparently though, he wasn't allowed to take a break, enjoy himself, be with who he loved. No, he was given things to do. And as much as he would like to say no, he couldn't help but think about who else might be put in his place.

They would suffer just as much, and they deserved just as much as he did. Or what about the world he was assigned to protect? Hecate believed him to be the best, she had to have had some reasoning. She had her own children to pick from, or even Hazel who she mentored. But she had picked him. There must have been something she saw in him that could do best for this world.

So he suffered. He suffered, and he took it without complaint. Now those around him wouldn't have to suffer, he did it for them. Percy only hoped his mom and Annabeth were holding up okay. Paul was there for her, he could help her through this, as long as he was there, Percy knew it would be fine. Maybe not good as it could be, but she would be fine. And Annabeth…

He couldn't stop thinking about her, he only hoped she was doing better. She was the strongest person he knew, scratch that, had ever known, or heard about, or anything. She was the smartest, strongest, most beautiful person to ever live, and he broke knowing she was alone. To be taken away from his love again, it struck him hard.

It was hard to make any of it seem good. He didn't want to be here, but he was helping people by being here: both the ones in Hogwarts, and the people who would've taken the quest if he hadn't- he couldn't let them die. At the same time though, he was hurting people by not being with them.

Enough people had been killed because of his mistakes; he hadn't done all he could have in the past. He wouldn't let it happen again, he had been given a chance to help these people, to save them. And he couldn't refuse. As much as he wanted to leave, as much as the others might want him to leave and be with them, he couldn't. Lives were on the line, and if he played this right, he could possibly save them this time.

He grimaced as the faces of the dead flashed across his eyes, he kept his face straight as he had learned to with practice, but it was hard. He felt like crying as he remembered all he couldn't save, so many had died for his sake, or the quest's sake or so, but if he had made the right decision on time, or been quicker, or gone instead of them, he could have saved them. Leo was ever present in his mind. The fiery demigod and best friend that had sacrificed himself to kill Gaea.

Percy missed him so much. The son of Hephaestus had always found a way to lighten the mood, make everyone smile somehow. He really needed that right now. Tearing his mind away from thoughts he knew would get him nowhere and shaking his head to clear his mind, he stood up. He needed a change of scenery, something else to focus on, so he started outside in search of the Herbology class.

Soon, he was standing in front of seven identical greenhouses. He waited for the class to start a few yards away, under the shade of a large oak tree. The slight breeze was pleasant and welcomed as he slumped down against the trunk of the tree and down to the ground.

After a few minutes, students began to gather around the glass buildings, and after another few minutes, a stout woman came bustling towards them. Percy could only assume was their teacher. She had frizzy grey hair that fell to her shoulders, beige patched robes surrounding her, and a pointed witch's hat that sat atop her head.

"Greenhouse four everyone! Come on, come on, we don't have all day!" the lady's voice rang out loud and clear across the lawn. Percy heaved himself up as everyone started heading into class. He was the last through the door, which earned him a look of slight annoyance from the teacher.

Believe it or not, Percy had never been in a greenhouse before, It sounds weird, but living in New York didn't guarantee things like that. He loved it, the earthy smell, the way the light flitted in through the hazy glass around him, the warmth, and plants around him. It really wasn't anything special, but he enjoyed it nonetheless.

The teacher began class, but he found it hard to listen. He was surrounded by weird and magical plants; Percy couldn't help but turn his focus to them. He saw one with neon orange buds, one with a purple stem, and something that resembled a Venus Fly Trap - though it was snapping its mouth open and closed repeatedly, larger and a more numerous count of teeth showing as its jaws bit at the air.

As he observed the plants, he was faintly aware of the teacher explaining everything she planned on teaching them, as well as the tests they took and would have to take and such. Eventually, she began the real lesson by saying they would be weeding through her supply of knotgrass.

She gestured towards a long rectangular wooden bin that contained a bunch of tiny plants, all green with short little stems, and a few leaves per plant. They were all crowded together, creating a small canopy of tiny green leaves. However, in a few places he could see light green sprouts shooting up past the other plants, and he assumed there were more of these weeds underneath the canopy that he couldn't see.

The rest of the class passed quickly with dirty hands, lots of weed pulling, and green. He enjoyed the activity, it reminded him of all the times he had helped the satyrs in the strawberry fields at camp, or when he would sometimes help one of the Demeter kids with their garden- typically after it suffered trampling by demigods, or a prank courtesy of the Stolls.

He had Care of Magical Creatures next, and he was pretty excited for it. Percy always had loved animals, which was inconvenient since he lived in New York, and with Gabe so long. He never did get that puppy he wanted. The only problem was he had no idea where to go. It was easy to get to Herbology, you could see the greenhouses from the doors, but now that he was back at said doors, the path to his destination wasn't nearly as clear.

After staring out onto the lawn for another few seconds, trying to find an obvious stop for the class, he ducked inside and asked one of the kids that was walking by. The dude just looked at him weird before pointing down to a small hut across the lawn. He walked off, but not without glancing back at Percy, looking a bit confused.

The demigod checked that his robes were fine, patted his head, and combed out his hair, to check that he looked normal. It took him a minute to figure out that his accent was what probably confused the kid, or maybe a seventh year asking for directions could have been it… Either way, Percy was glad that he looked fine, the amount of times he had been pranked by the Stolls got him immediately checking himself if anyone gave him an odd glance.

When he arrived at the bottom of the hill he could finally see the structure clearly. There were already a few students standing about the yard in front of a wooden hut. On the steps sat a man, if he stood up, Percy guessed he would be around the size of a titan, except much thicker.

Dark, warm brown eyes were shaded by thick eyebrows, and almost hidden by the grizzly brown hair that surrounded his face and hung below his chin. As Percy closed the distance, he realized this was a mixed class. He spotted three kids in yellow, two in red, and one in blue, at least so far. He went up to Luna, who was wearing blue and had her back turned away from him, talking with one of the yellow robed kids.

"Hey," Percy said, suddenly feeling quite awkward.

"Oh, hi Percy. I didn't think you were actually going to come, I'm glad you could make it."

"Yeah, I'm uh, glad we could be in the same class," the demigod started rubbing the back of his neck. This situation, it just felt awkward, he didn't even know why, maybe it was the way he just walked up to her, or how she was talking, and the doubt she had for him.

Whatever the reason, he was thankful when the man who was sitting on the steps of the cabin got up and cleared his throat signifying the start of class,"Good mornin' to yer all. And welcome ter Care o' Magical Creatures. Today ter start out, I thought I'd introduce yer all to the Knarl it's a tiny li'l creature, an' sweet unless angered. It has li'l spikes on its back, they're very soft ter the touch, as long as you treat 'em right. If yer do somefin wrong all of them'll pop up, anything they touch'll start to bleed. The older, more mature Knarl the worse it is.

"Just listen closely an' yer gonna be fine. Ther very particular, only pet them with three fingers, be very gentle, o' course. Start from the head and go down their back, they sometimes like to be pet behin' the ears. Before yeh go off, I'll give each of yer some Sweetgrass. which is what they typically eat, had ter gather it myself las' night from the forest. Feed it to 'em, palm out, slowly ease it in fron' of 'em, and remember to get down to their level on the ground. If they feel frightened er angered at you, ther back will spike up, and some of them can shoot the spikes at yeh, so I suggest to back up if yeh think yeh did somefin wrong."

So, like extra dangerous, extra peculiar hedgehogs, Percy thought.

After the tiny speech, the teacher brought out multiple little boxes, and when the class walked up in a group, Percy saw the creatures were indeed like hedgehogs, only a bit bigger.

The entire class was practically Luna and Percy chatting while petting the Knarls, only one kid got hurt during the entire thing, which was a plus. After it was over, the demigod and the Ravenclaw (Percy was thankful, over the conversation, he finally learned all the house names and colors) said their goodbyes and went their separate ways.

After checking his schedule, Percy was pleasantly surprised to see this was his free period. Knowing that he had nothing better to do, he headed back to the library. He quickly cast the spell and headed to the defensive section, wanting to learn more spells that were actually meant for fighting.

He scanned the shelves looking for the right book until his eyes fell on 'A Complete Set of all the Defensive Spells (1800-1900).' Percy took it and headed for the nearest table. This time, he took out his own sheet of parchment to tear up, and began reading. He got pretty far into the book, marking pages as he went, and trying to remember what he planned to do later. After a while though, he was interrupted.

"Fancy seeing you here," a voice came from behind him, one he recognized from the day before.

"Yeah, um, hi Olivia, what brings you to the library?"

"I could ask the same thing of you, I thought you couldn't read?"

"Well, I fixed that, sort of… anyway, I'm just doing some extra… uh, research, because here, I thought there might be more for me to read up on about the different spells and such. My old library was small, plus I think the brits use some different stuff…"

Percy felt stupid, but he didn't like questions, even back in normal school, after he knew he was a demigod and monsters came after him, he always felt like he had to keep a cover. Questions almost always led to something he couldn't talk about.

"Right, well I'm here to do a bit of homework. You want to put that down and do some of the work you were actually assigned?"

"Um, yeah, that might be a good idea."

"Possibly. You mind if I sit with you?"

"Of course. Not. I mean, I don't mind if you sit here," he said in a rush, while clearing off the table of all his ripped pieces of paper.

She just giggled and pulled out a chair, Percy shoved his book to the side and grabbed his Herbology one. The assignment was a bit stupid in his opinion, but he had to do it anyway. It sounded like something he would have gotten in middle school, like some weird essay topic. He had to write about his favorite plant: why it was his favorite, how to take care of it, and if he had/has one, what he would do with it/what he did with it, and why he would have it/has it.

Percy really didn't want to do this, but since he had to, he figured he might as well have fun with it. He remembered reading about a plant back in the cube, a fanged flower or something, and he remembered thinking 'what if these were in my room?' He found that funny because the plant bites people, just imagining his mom trying to clean with that made him want to laugh. So, when Percy first heard her talk about the assignment, he realized the plant was perfect for it.

He quickly looked it up in his book and set to work getting the essentials in his head. The plant was called a Fanged Geranium, it was green with blue (or red) flowers which had sharp teeth. Simple enough. Next, it was his favorite because it was amusing. The demigod quickly discovered that magic plants were weird when he checked how to take care of it, you apparently needed to give it fifteen milliliters of water every Wednesday (only Wednesday), and you had to know where to give it the water, or it would bite you. You also had to gain its trust beforehand for it not to bite you. Their bites apparently hurt… ish. He figured it was best not to lie, so he officially did not have one, and if he did… well, he figured he needed a better reason to have it than because it was amusing.

After a bit more reading, Percy found that its fangs were used in a lot of potions and apparently some recipes. Now all he needed to do was dress all of that up, add a bunch of useless words, and make it sound fancy enough for a teacher. He had just about succeeded by the time Olivia called quits (they did end up getting distracted and talking every now and then as a break from the boring work), about fifteen minutes before class.

Just as she was getting up, she asked a question that seemed to have been brewing in the back of her mind for a while, judging by her tone, "Hey Percy?"

"Yeah?"

"How did you get here before me? I mean, I hardly ate, and I was quick… but you were here before me and you seemed to have already started…"

"Right, well my free period is right before this, and I skipped lunch. I will say though, thanks for sitting with me, and forcing me to do boring work, it truly had to be done. And talking to a human like a normal person once and while can be fun too," he chuckled with forced mirth.

"Oh, okay. But yeah, it's fun doing work with people who aren't so crazy about it. I mean I respect getting it done, but you should see my common room. I think it's worse than this library with the amount of shushing that happens if multiple people are in there working, and there often are to be honest. Well, bye I guess, see you around."

"See ya," he said as he packed up his stuff and watched as she walked out. He went up to the front quickly, checked his book out, and started the jog to the potion's classroom, which he (sort of) remembered the location of.

The demigod surprisingly got there pretty early, and decided he'd rather be there right on time because with ADHD, waiting for a class to start took forever, plus it was awkward. Just standing there having no one to talk to as people trickled into the slowly crowding hallway.

Eventually the door did open, Slughorn greeted them and waved them in, and Percy headed straight for his table in the back. The kid who had sat next to him yesterday found a spot he apparently liked better, because today it was just Percy at the circular potions table. He couldn't help but think it was a bit rude, it wasn't like they had talked much yesterday, but he still thought it wasn't all that nice to abandon someone.

From the teacher's ramblings, he found that today they were making a Pepperup potion, which apparently acted as a cure for colds and such - but made the people who drank it steam from the ears, which Percy desperately wanted to see.

The lesson was, for the most part, uneventful. Percy managed to get the potion close to the example specified in the book, he did however jump pretty bad when his potion started to steam and explode on the top, which according to the book sometimes happened and was perfectly fine.

He followed the other Gryffindors out, hoping they had Transfiguration next, because he was too tired and embarrassed to ask them, or anyone else really. Thankfully, when he arrived, Professor McGonagall was standing there, and somehow, he had learned that she taught Transfiguration, so he was indeed in the right place.

Class started about a minute after he got there and went by in a flurry of annoyance and talking (done by the teacher of course.) McGonagall had taken the first part of the lesson reciting rules and such. Percy probably learned the most important thing he ever would in this class during that speech – that McGonagall was IIIII strict IIIII. She seemed to be a harsh, but reasonable teacher, he could respect that, he just knew he would have to watch himself (well at least to the best of his ability) in that class.

The rest of the lesson was spent trying to turn his (very loud) ferret into a dam clock, struggling, and wondering when he would ever, ever need this. By the end, he had managed a furry clock with ferret ears, which was enough for him. It got extremely frustrating though, because he would try and try, but the stupid ferret kept amusingly squeaking at him. Percy could swear, if Grover were there, he would have been able to clearly translate those sounds into an outright laugh right at the demigod.

Percy groaned when he checked his schedule and found that his last class was Defense Against the Dark Arts, a class he originally thought he would like, and didn't doubt he would if there were only a different teacher. After just two days, Percy had grown to hate Snape. The slimy, greasy, arrogant, tyrant, idiot teacher that he was.

As soon as Percy arrived at the classroom, Snape's eyes swiveled to him. The teacher immediately changed his look from 'unimpressed and bored with all of you dimwits' to a hard set glare.

"I see that Mr. Jackson has deemed it worthy of his time to join us for class. Can you tell me, Mr. Jackson, why you believe my class to be important, but when I assign you detention, you think you can skip it?"

Slow realization came to Percy's mind, with all the research he had on his mind, he had completely forgotten his week's detention with Snape. He kept his face blank though; he was all too used to reactions like this. It was most certainly not the first time he'd skipped a detention, whether it be on purpose or because of his ADHD, so he knew what to do - and that was to accept whatever stupid shit the teacher threw at him like it was no big deal, because in the grand scheme of things it truly wasn't.

"I forgot sir."

"You forgot? I think that is very unlikely. Know that you are equal to everyone else in this class, you may be new, but that is no excuse. You will now come every day until this month is over, my office, at eight o'clock sharp."

Percy mutely nodded before heading to his table in the back. Keeping all his thoughts firmly in his mind and off his tongue. His thoughts on the inequality of the class, the unjust punishments, and the teacher, all of which would have dragged him deeper down into trouble.

At the front of the classroom Snape began to drawl on about nonverbal spells again, which of course came back to him jabbing at the class. He ended with some new spells that he quickly shared and demonstrated, much too fast for anyone to learn, and then proceeded to tell them to practice. As soon as he stood up, Percy felt the teacher's glare swivel back to him.

"And Mr. Jackson, because you seem to be unable to perform even basic spells or remember anything, you may read chapter seven, eight, nine, and ten of your book. I don't want anyone else having the chance to be partners with someone who will waste their time."

That's how Percy wasted an entire class period reading the book Snape assigned. The chapter was about needing smarts to win battles. Jokes on him, Percy knew most of it, and found the rest interesting. After class was let out he went straight up and out. He arrived on the lawn without much trouble (meaning he actually remembered his way this time), and looked around. His plan was to practice, especially since he seemed to not have much time in the actual class to do so.

He realized though, that everyone – which wasn't really that many people – looked to be doing homework of some sort. Percy knew he wasn't allowed to do magic except in class, or at least that's what he understood from the opening speech the headmaster had given. He also wasn't supposed to go into the forest, but staring at it from across the field, Percy knew that it was the answer.

If he was careful, no one would see him, and he would be able to practice anything he wanted without attracting unwanted attention. The demigod made his way across the grass, making it look as if he were just taking a walk, he walked along the side of the forest, just a few yards away until he saw a path going in. He slowly started drifting closer until he got there, and just slipped in.

Percy got on the path and walked a little ways inside before branching off once he saw a thinner patch. He walked farther out until he found a small clearing. Percy knew he had just lucked out in finding this, it was perfect. He could easily practice here, there wasn't that much room - just enough to move around - and that honestly was all he needed. If it was bigger there would be more chance of discovery, which is the last thing he wanted.

Percy set his bag against a tree and got out the defense and charms book he had marked to practice with. The demigod quickly studied an incantation and the movements before attempting a spell. This one was Accio, it wasn't supposed to be hard, and it didn't do too much. And yet, he still couldn't get it right. He had even practiced it before. On the sixth try, he managed to get a pebble to fly into his hand.

The next few hours flew by in a similar state, Percy repeatedly trying spells until he managed to get the magic to bend to his will. After around three hours, Percy was frustrated and tired. Magic felt very forced compared to his powers. Those, with a bit of urging, worked for him, even when he was first learning. They started small, and were a bit hard to muster, but it had felt easier to get them to obey, and much more natural. With the magic he practiced it felt so unnatural, so wrong, and so absolutely forced.

It felt as if he had the magical ability of an ice cube, and to do a spell he had to melt it into a lake. He wasn't ever able to do magic quickly and had yet to produce a strong spell. Sure, it hadn't been long, but with the time he put in, and how much he practiced, he thought he would at least be able to produce a decent simple charm; but no, that seemed impossible.

The Accio that the demigod produced worked after some time, but he couldn't get anything more than five feet away to do anything more than shake faintly. He kept at it anyway, working at a spell until he could no longer stand it, then he would move on to a new one to try.

After a little over three hours of this, Percy felt tired and hungry, but most of all he felt a weight pressing down on him, a voice in the back of his head. Knowing he had missed dinner, he went straight for Snape's office, which a kind painting did end up showing him to, and not a minute too soon. When he arrived, Snape was standing there looking impatient, "You arrived right on time Mr. Jackson, very slim timing indeed, I was sure you were going to be late, ten points off for shaving it so closely."

Percy could have, but he didn't have it in him to argue with the teacher right that moment, he gave a cheeky smile to make sure the Professor didn't see anything different, and walked right past him into the office. The place was in the dungeons, but carried the same dark, gloomy feel from his classroom, the effect was actually worsened by the stone walls and humidity.

"This year I have the displeasure of teaching you in the dark arts, last year I taught potions here, though I believe having you in that class may have been worse if possible," the professor drawled. "I do however, still like to keep my own personal stores, and recently I have gotten some restocking for my shelves. Today you are to do as this paper instructs you to, and get these ingredients appropriate for, and on my shelves."

Percy worked through the list for hours. It was gross work, and some of it was kind of hard after a while. He had to powder some ingredients, some he had to slowly turn to liquid state, some he had to pickle, or set to dry, other times he just had to find the thing's spot on the shelf - which he had to do for each regardless, along with other things. It was long and boring work, and sometimes quite disgusting.

All the time Percy was left to think, and that voice in the back of his head grew louder and stronger. He couldn't stop thinking about his magical prowess, how utterly weak and useless it was against everything he was sent here to fight. There was no way he could just whip Riptide out instead when problems arose, or use the abilities he'd worked on for years. There was no way he stood a chance himself – much less of one to help others – in his current state. Everything he tried was forced, unnatural, slow, and weak, all of which are huge disadvantages. Knowing there was no way he could help the people he needed to hurt him, especially because he could be with others he knew he could help, and with others that could help him.

He was let out of the office five minutes before curfew and headed straight for his dormitory. When he got through the portrait hole there were too many people in the common room than he could deal with, and it was much too loud. normally he wouldn't have cared, but Percy happened to be in a foul mood, he truly could not deal with anyone bugging him at the moment.

He sat on his bed in the empty dormitory, soaking in the silence and Snapelessness for a minute before shoving his books into the trunk at the end of the bed and bringing out the Care of Magical Creatures book that had mystically appeared in his trunk earlier that morning.

Done with spells and magic for the night, Percy wasted his time on reading through the book to get some background, mainly trying to bring his mind away from matters he'd rather not think about, and succeeded; at least for the time being. He spent his night that way, in the same position, reading, until exhaustion began to seep into his brain to where even his spell was rendered useless in helping him read, quite possibly because it wasn't being done right, or strongly enough by then.

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Um, sorry for being a bit late, but hey, life. I was on break last week, and I really didn't work on it as much as I thought I would. Plus, the weekend is when I get most of my writing done, I hardly had any time on either. I hope you're liking this so far; it's been fun writing it out, I hope it's just as fun to read.

You may notice that this is mostly in Percy's perspective, and it is, and will probably stay that way, I'll mix some trio in, and other's possibly, but that'll happen more later, when things start veering away from the canon. You've heard this all through Harry before though, I'm telling you, it's no fun writing or reading something that you already know. Review all your thoughts, good or bad, it's welcome and encouraged. Thank you to all that have reviewed, favorited, or followed, it means the world to me.

Guest – Glad to hear it!

A special thanks to ZriptideZ who was taken the time to proofread my mess and make it better. :) She pointed out more than I thought possible in this chapter.

That's all for today folks, thanks for reading and peace out :) - BBB (12/1/2020)