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So uh, yeah, uh. I'm back. I think? I'm going into Senior Year of my college degree, but I do have this chapter so that's cool. It's been a very difficult year since I updated.
To address a couple things.
First off, Percy has lost the Curse of Achilles because his anchor, Annabeth, died. That is why the goblin knife pricked his skin. He just hasn't noticed that the Curse is gone yet. He will soon, when he gets injured. Nice job to those of you who caught that hint in the previous chapter.
Secondly, several people asked about Sally and how she fits into the Evans sisters age-wise. Petunia is only listed as older, without a specific age being identified. At the birth of Harry, for the purposes of this story, Petunia was 25, Sally was 23, and Lily was 20. Sally isn't known about in the Wizarding World except by a select few, such as Dumbledore, Sirius and Remus, to name a few. The Dursley's are barely known about by the Wizarding World and they are the British Muggles that raised Harry, the Boy-Who-Lived. An American Muggle who never returned to Britain and went into hiding in New York City when Lily asked by changing her name? She is only known about by people who were close enough with Lily that she would have spoken about Sally to. It's also been a good 13 or so years since Lily died, so everyone has had 13 years to forget all about Lily's sister who moved away.
Percy is 16, as this is just weeks after the end of the Titan War. Harry is 14, as this is going into his fourth year. I got several questions about age.
Finally, now that we are in the books officially, I'll be using a mix of J.K. Rowling's dialogue and my own.
Chapter 5- Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes
Percy found himself underneath the lake at Camp Half-Blood, swimming in the dark water lazily. The cool underwater currents gently pushed against him. He swam along, no direction in mind. The water was refreshing and cool, crisp against his skin. His clothes were still dry as normal. He was in swim trunks and a camp t-shirt. His feet were bare, and his bead necklace was around his neck.
Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a flash of blonde hair. Annabeth. Wise Girl. He had to save her. Kronos. He turned, spotting her swimming away from him, disappearing into the murky lake waters. She wasn't getting away from him again. He pushed off the lakebed, jetting through the water after her.
He caught up to Annabeth almost immediately. He came to a stop just behind her. She was wearing a grey bathing suit, the one that matched her eyes and made him swallow his tongue when she wore it for that day at the beach a month ago. Her hair was flowly freely in the water, and he could see the grey streak of hair in her hair that was beginning to fade with age. He knew, because his was fading slowly as well.
He reached out a hand towards her, but stopped short, just inches from her shoulder. He failed her. She died. Would she want him? Would she forgive him? He hesitated, doubting himself, before steeling himself, not doubting her. She would smack him for blaming himself for her death. Right? He touched her shoulder.
She turned, and her clothes morphed from that breath stealing bathing suit into an orange t-shirt and skinny jeans underneath full Greek armor and a helmet with a blue horse hair plume. Her eyes, still as grey as thunderclouds, caught his. Her expression was that damned smirk, the one she always gave him whenever he did something stupid. His heart stopped, leaping into his throat.
The smirk melted off her face, and she met his gaze, glaring at him. She opened her mouth, and suddenly coughed, blood coming out, running down her chin and into the water around her. The wound in her chest opened up, blood blossoming from the rent hole in her armor, staining her shirt and billowing out around her in a cloud, undulating slowly with the underwater currents. Words spilled from her mouth, but they weren't her voice.
"Percy, you failed her. You failed me, and you couldn't save her," came Luke's voice from Annabeth's mouth.
"No…" Percy denied weakly, not believing his words.
"Yes. She died because of you, and you killed me for your mistakes," Luke's voice mocked.
"No."
"Who will be next? Nico? Thals? What about Harry? Does he know that you're supposed to keep him alive? You did a standup job last time, I'm sure he's completely safe with you."
"NO!" Percy declared, sitting straight up in bed. It was dark. His skin was clammy, and he was drenched in a cold sweat. The blankets were tangled and thrown off to the side, as if he'd been fighting with them. The alarm clock read 5:47. It was still dark outside as he glanced out the window curtains. He glanced down as he felt cold metal in his right hand, only to find Annabeth's dagger clasped firmly in his palm, ready to stab someone. He had taken to sleeping with it under his pillow, just in case.
"Fuck," Percy swore lightly, collapsing back into his pillow. A nightmare, again. Like he was surprised. It was probably going to haunt him until the day he dies.
Percy sat back up in bed, pulling the sheath out from under his pillow, sheathing the dagger before setting it on his nightstand. He stood, walking to the corner of the room where his stuff was stored.
Now that Harry's secret of being a wizard had been revealed, Harry hadn't felt the need to hide his things. Now two additional piles of things stood in the room. Percy and Harry each had a trunk in a separate corner of the room, surrounded by school things like books and potions ingredients and trinkets. Each of their owls were in unlocked cages near the window, and the windows were open, allowing them to fly in and out as they pleased.
Percy's trunk was in the process of being organized. The dog whistle was kept hidden in a safe pocket in the trunk. Oddly, the platinum drachma on him functioned like Riptide. It stayed in his pocket and followed him, no matter how far he threw it. He had yet to figure out what it did. Those, along with everything from his Carry-on had been added to the trunk for school. He was in the process of sorting his school things and packing them so they would be ready for school.
A stack of books had also been crammed inside. Harry had mentioned that the books were from a variety of years at Hogwarts and that Percy was probably going to be getting a specialized education to help him catch up to people his age sooner. He had read through the books some, but they had been confusing, so he had decided to wait until he reached Hogwarts to learn. The Ancient Runes books he got had actually been pretty simple. There was some magical theory stuff that was hard to understand, but a lot of the runes had already been covered when he was learning Greek and Latin at camp.
Athena, his new owl, wasn't there. Harry had explained how to use Owls and mail letters, so Percy had sent Athena with a letter to his mom, delivering the large amount of American dollars he had withdrawn for her from his Gringotts vault. He had already taken a liking to Athena. She seemed to understand him already, and her brown eyes had the same intelligent, calculating look that both her namesake and her namesake's daughter had. It had been a little weird, adjusting to owning an owl, but she had grown on him already.
Percy pulled his wand out of his trunk, where it sat in its green box from Ollivander's. He opened the box, pulling the Koa wand out of the box. He turned it over in his hand, running his finger along the carvings engraved into the handle, admiring the seashell and wave design. It was very fitting. Holding it felt right, as if it was a piece of him that was missing whenever he wasn't holding it.
He didn't know magic, so it was pointless carrying the wand around, but it was about to become a very important part of him. He needed to be ready. Harry was in danger. He had to protect Harry, and that meant learning how to use the wand. Learning magic would be another part of his training. He had always struggled with school. Books were hard with dyslexia after all, and because of that, he never took school seriously. Now though? School was going to become a part of his training, something he was very serious about.
He had always taken demigod training seriously, as it was the difference between life or death. School and studying out of books had never been important. At first, he had been trying to survive Smelly Gabe's belt. He hadn't cared much about school then. His dream back then had been to become a captain of a sailboat and go find his father. After that, he had become a demigod. As a demigod, he had been told that he had a very short life expectancy. Typical demigods rarely hit their twenties, and he was more powerful than anyone in camp, which meant more danger. In addition, the Great Prophecy had essentially labeled him for death. Fighting monsters and loving the life he had left seemed far more important than figuring out how far apart two trains would be if they left the station at the same time going in opposite directions.
Now it was different. Now school was important, maybe more important than demigod training. There weren't monsters here. Poseidon, one of the three most powerful Olympian gods, had struggled to send Percy a note. Somehow, the Greek world didn't scare him anymore, not in the same way. No, it was dark wizards he had to fear now. He didn't have a proper idea of how dangerous they were, but the way everyone spoke, Voldemort was the Kronos of Wizards. Maybe that was true, maybe it wasn't, but it could be fatal to underestimate him.
One thing was for sure. Percy would need practical teachers if he was going to succeed. He would need to tell Dumbledore that at some point. Annabeth had helped Percy learn Greek and Latin practically, and it had helped so much more than any book about verbs or an English-Ancient Greek dictionary from the Camp store.
Him being serious about school, that was a new one that made him chuckle. Annabeth was most definitely laughing her ass off at him in Elysium. He had always the kid that had that 'look,' the one that teachers could spot a mile away that just screamed 'troublemaker' to them. He had certainly done nothing to discourage that. Blowing up school buses and bisecting math teachers with a Greek pen sword doesn't help your reputation much. It certainly had been a headache for both Paul and his mom over the years.
His mom and Paul would be coming out to England in early November, when the lease ran out. They were still looking for a house or an apartment and jobs, but they were making progress. Sally Blofis, author extraordinaire, would still be writing her novels, which had been doing well. His mom had been surprised last year by the books' success, but Paul and Percy had just shared a look, knowing how talented she was.
Percy had always wanted her to write a book. She had always been the one to tell him stories at night about heroes and myths. She had been a natural born storyteller. Between that and her baking skills, she could probably conquer the world. The phone call the previous day had been the last time he could call her. International calls were expensive, and according to Harry, phones and other technology didn't work at Hogwarts and in the Magical World. Apparently, wizards followed the same rules as demigods. So now, he would be talking to her using Athena delivered letters to tell her everything going on in the Wizarding World.
Of course, he hadn't told his mom that he was serious about school or why he was. Dark wizards? She would have him on a plane to the opposite side of the world so fast, his head would spin. She couldn't ship him back to camp, but she would do her best to keep Percy away. In her eyes, Percy had suffered far too much, and now she had a way to protect him from danger.
When Aunt Lily had gone into hiding because of a dark wizard, Sally Evans had become Sally Jackson to help protect her sister, in case those dark wizards turned up on her doorstep to torture her for information. According to his mom, they had been dangerous. Percy had, obviously, sugarcoated just about everything about the Wizarding World. As far as she was aware, Percy just happened to inherit the same gift his aunt did, and everything was fine and dandy. Percy was most definitely not about to start preparing to fight dangerous dark lords with strange names to protect his cousin.
Percy put the wand back in its case, tucking it away in his trunk. He pulled out the photos of his friends and Annabeth, shuffling through them once more, smiling at the memories. Percy's mind had been blown at the idea of moving portraits, and Harry had promised him that there was a way to make these pictures move as well. He wasn't completely sure that was possible, but he was fast discovering that a lot less was impossible with a wand. If so, he couldn't wait for more realistic photos of friends.
When he came to the photo of Annabeth and him, his smile didn't fade, but it did turn melancholic. He set the rest of the photos back in the trunk and carried Annabeth's picture back to the bed, sitting down on the edge as he examined the picture.
How would she have reacted to a magical world? She probably would have questioned Dumbledore endlessly for an explanation of everything, and promptly understood most of what he was talking about because she was just that smart. She would have loved the architecture of Gringotts and hated the entrance to Diagon Alley purely because it broke the laws of physics.
Percy chuckled to himself suddenly and wiped at his watery eyes quickly, leaning back slightly. He pressed two fingers to his lips before touching them to Annabeth's image.
Miss you, Wise Girl.
He set the photo on his nightstand and exchanged it for her knife, picking it up. He unsheathed it, examining the blade, turning it over in his hands. The Celestial Bronze glinted slightly in the rays of sun that were just beginning to peek through the window blinds. He sheathed it before standing to pack the knife away in his school trunk. Would Hogwarts allow knives? Was that an issue for wizards?
Harry sat up straight in bed very suddenly, scaring the crap out of Percy, who stumbled backwards, drawing Annabeth's dagger out of sheer instinct. Seeing it was just Harry, he sheathed it again, before hastily tucking the knife into his trunk before Harry noticed it. Knives made of odd metals would just draw unwanted questions at this point.
"Voldemort. Wormtail?" Harry muttered, clutching at his forehead with one hand, the other scrabbling along his own nightstand, searching for his glasses.
"Woah, Harry, you okay man?" Percy asked, looking on in concern.
"Percy? Y-yeah. I just…I…Bad dream. It was nothing," Harry said, eyeing him as if he was searching for some answer in Percy's face.
"You said Voldemort. Doesn't sound like nothing," Percy said easily, sitting on the floor. "You wanna talk?"
Harry said nothing for a moment, instead swinging his legs off the side of the bed. He eyed Percy again, still looking for an answer to some unasked question.
"What's your favorite memory of your mother?" Harry asked suddenly, taking Percy off balance with the odd question.
"That's- Okay, wasn't what I was expecting you to ask, but okay."
"Sorry," Harry apologized, looking sheepish for a second.
"Don't worry about it, just took me by surprise," Percy said, waving his apology aside. "Favorite memory of mom. Hmmm. Probably this one time back when I was like ten. I had just gotten expelled from another school. I'd explain why, but that's a separate story entirely. Mom decided that we'd take our trip to the beach early, and we packed up and drove to Montauk. That's this place in New York with a great beach. We gorged ourselves on her baking and a bunch of free candy from the store she worked at. Those trips were the best parts of growing up with her. What about you?" Percy said, finishing his story and leaning back. Harry didn't say anything for a second. Percy eyed him curiously as he slowly began his story.
"You're lucky. I don't have memories of my mom, not really. Definitely not any that I can enjoy. The only one I have is of the night Voldemort killed her," he said sadly. Percy winced, cursing himself silently for being unobservant.
"Well, you can meet my mom when she gets here. She'd love to have you for the summer, a lot more than the Dursley's."
"I'd like that, thank you."
"No problem," Percy said, standing and turning to get dressed for the day. Harry's next words turned him back around.
"Do you ever get nightmares?" Percy turned around to find Harry looking at him hopefully.
"Course. Everyone has nightmares."
"No, not like normal nightmares. Nightmares that seem real, and you aren't sure that they aren't real. Do you ever have those?" Oh. So that's why he had woken up like the girl from The Ring had crawled out of the broken tv in the corner. Did wizards get demigod dreams? Shit. That's really not good.
"Yeah, I've had a few. You just have one?"
"Yeah, I dreamed of Voldemort and Wormtail. Wormtail is a long story, but he betrayed my parents to Voldemort and became a follower of him. Me and my friends fought him last summer. What's weird is that my scar was hurting."
"Why is that weird? Don't scars occasionally hurt?"
"Maybe, but last time my scar was hurting, Voldemort was nearby, trying to kill me."
Every single hair on the back of Percy's neck stood straight up and his fingers drifted unconsciously towards his pocket.
Harry had ended up writing a letter and sending it to his Godfather. The rest of the morning had been spent by Harry filling in Percy about his school adventures, which sounded just about as bad as demigod quests. Percy was understanding more and more why Dumbledore thought he needed all the friends and family he could get. Basilisks, a mass murderer turned innocent godfather, and a two faced professor was enough to kill anyone, but somehow his cousin had survived, not only those things, but other incidents as well, such as a troll.
With that morning came another letter that caused another Dursley meltdown, this time addressed to Harry. Percy hadn't understood everything that was said, but from what he understood, one of Harry's friends had invited Harry and Percy to finish the summer out living at his house instead of Privet Drive. Additionally, Harry was invited to go to the World Cup of a wizard sport. Harry had tried explaining. From what he understood it sounded like a mix of basketball and soccer played on broomsticks, or basketball and football for the heathens. No offense Dudley.
Percy wasn't a huge sports fan, but he did enjoy watching the Mets or the Yankees when he could. Harry had warned Percy that his friend Ron was obsessed with Quibbit. Quidding? Quidditich? It was another one of those blasted wizard names that seemed designed to cause his dyslexia to get upset with his eyes.
Whatever the case was, Percy had watched, amused, as the Dursley's panicked over the thought of wizards arriving at the house again to pick up Harry and Percy. It was like watching cockroaches suddenly finding themselves in a spotlight. They scurried around the house, peering out windows fearfully, in between cleaning the house continuously all day. It was as if the news had announced that a rabid lion was wandering around the suburb. Dudley and Vernon were certainly sweating as if they had run from said lion.
The day after had been just as amusing, as the Dursley's had gotten dressed up in their best clothes and had sat tense all day, waiting for Ron's family to arrive. Percy and Harry meanwhile, spent the day packing their school things. Hedwig sat in her cage. Athena, meanwhile, was still gone. Harry had assured Percy that if they left before she arrived, she could still find them at the Weasley's house.
Around five o'clock, Percy and Harry went down to wait for the Weasley's. Percy was wearing his leather jacket over a Rolling Stones t-shirt. He had loaned Harry a hoodie and some pants that fit better than his Dudley hand downs. Percy sat in the couch, Harry next to him. The Dursley's were pacing and muttering.
The minutes had begun to tick by. The Dursley's were sitting and angrily muttering about punctuality. Harry was looking worried, as though his friends had left him there. Meanwhile Percy couldn't blame Harry's friend for being late. After all, who willingly visited the Dursley family while knowing what they were like? It had took him some nerve to climb into their car, and they were obligated to be nice to him. A bunch of "freaks" visiting the house that had no protection from that treatment? Percy didn't mind if they took a bit of time. He spent the time staring at Dudley, his smirk growing bigger every time his cousin glanced at him before fearfully glancing away.
Suddenly, there was a thump, from the opposite side of the living room. Everyone slowly turned to face the wall across the room, which had an electric fireplace in front of a neatly boarded up fireplace. A faint plume of plaster fell from the ceiling as there was a second thump, followed by muffled cursing. The Dursley's glanced at the wall with a sense of impending doom, identical looks of dawning horror appearing on their faces.
Percy stared at the wall, wondering what was going on. Harry, meanwhile, looked like he was trying hard not to laugh, as he walked over to the fireplace. There was some thumping on the wall, as if someone was pounding with their fists.
"Harry? Harry, can you hear us?" came a very muffled male voice. The Dursley's glared at Harry, and Vernon opened his mouth to yell, but Percy froze him in place with a glare of his own. His uncle's mouth closed like a fish and he turned slightly more red.
"Mr. Weasley, can you hear me?" Harry called through the boards. The banging on the fireplace ceased, and someone inside shushed the others. How did they get into the fireplace? Was it something like Santa Claus, where people could travel by fire?
"Mr. Weasley, it's Harry. The fireplace has been blocked up. You won't be able to get through there." There was a pause before the muffled voice said something that Percy couldn't make out.
"They've got an electric fire," Harry said in response. The muffled response was distinctly louder and Percy could hear the man.
"Really? Ecklectic, you say? With a plug? Gracious, I must see that. Let's see- ouch, Ron!"
"Ecklectic?" Percy asked Harry quietly as the newcomers to the fireplace cursed.
"Mr. Weasley loves Muggle things like electricity and rubber ducks. Don't be surprised if you get asked a lot of questions that have seemingly obvious answers," Harry answered patiently.
"Got it. How'd they get in the fire?"
"Floo Powder. It's dust that you throw in a fire. The fire turns green and you can use it to travel between fireplaces or send messages." So he was right, it was like Santa.
"Stand back Harry," Mr. Weasley's voice called from the other side. Percy and Harry hastily backed up from the fireplace. Vernon stepped forward however, ignoring the man's warning.
"Wait a moment! What exactly are you going to-?!"
The resulting explosion ripped out most of the wall of the living room. The electric fireplace was reduced to a twisted pile of metal, plastic, and wires. Plaster, insulation, bricks, mortar, and plywood chips were scattered across the room, coating everything in a thin layer of dust. Vernon dove for cover, grabbing Petunia, as they both gawked at the damage to their living room.
Four redheads were expelled onto the floor in front of the fireplace. Two were identical and close to Percy's age. One was Harry's age. The final one was Mr. Weasley more than likely, as he looked like the other three's father. Mr. Weasley and the others stood, brushing themselves off. The identical two, twins more than likely, instantly gave Percy a reminder of Travis and Connor Stoll. Identical pranksters and troublemakers. Like himself, they had a look that screamed rebels.
"That's better," Mr. Weasley said, dusting off his clothes and readjusting his spectacles. "Ah, hello. You must be Percy. Arthur Weasley. Dumbledore mentioned you'd be staying with us as well," he said, extending his hand to Percy, who shook it.
"Nice to meet you. Thanks for having us," Percy said.
"And you must be their aunt and uncle," Mr. Weasley continued, taking his hand from Percy and extending it to Vernon and Petunia, who looked at him like he was offering them a dead fish, before backing up slowly, still covered in plaster dust from the wall.
"Oh, er- yes, sorry about that. It's all my fault, it just didn't occur to me that we wouldn't be able to get out at the other end. I had your fireplace connected to the Floo Network, you see- just for an afternoon, you know, so we could get Harry. Muggle fireplaces aren't supposed to be connected, strictly speaking, but I've got a useful contact at the Floo Regulation Panel and he fixed it for me. I can put it right in a jiffy though, don't worry. I'll light a fire to send the boys back, and then I can repair your fireplace before I Disapparate."
Percy stared, along with the Dursley's. None of what was said made sense, much like the rest of the Wizarding World. He was at the point where he was just accepting everything at the moment. Harry seemed to understand what was being said, as did the three redhead boys. The Dursley's, on the other hand, inched away from Mr. Weasley.
"Hello Harry, got your trunks ready?" Mr. Weasley said, spotting Harry in the back of the room where he had taken cover from the fireplace explosion.
"They're upstairs, in our bedroom," Harry said, nodding to Percy. The twins behind Arthur gave identical smirks, before stepping forward.
"We'll grab them," they said, exchanging a knowing look.
"I'll help," Percy said, leading them out of the living room and up the stairs. He led them up to the bedroom, where Harry and Percy's things were tucked in the corner. As soon as the door was shut, he turned to face the both of them.
"Alright, I'll bite. What are you planning?" Percy asked, looking over the both of them. The two seemed momentarily taken aback.
"What do you mean? We aren't-" The first twin started.
"-up to anything. We're just helping." The second twin finished. Percy stared at both of them, not fazed at all by the antics. It was literally just like Travis and Connor. The identical smirks, the finishing sentences, and more than likely, the laundry list of amazing pranks.
"Oh, well if it's nothing then I'll leave you be. I just thought you'd be pranking Dudley, and I was going to suggest using food. He's been on a diet and he's rather upset about that fact," Percy said, shrugging and smirking at them. The twins' surprised looks twisted into matching smirks again, and they held out their hands.
"He's Fred." The one on the right said.
"He's George." The one on the left replied, presumably Fred. If they were like the Stoll brothers, they probably also swapped names occasionally.
"Percy Jackson. Harry's older cousin."
"You know what I'm thinking, brother of mine?" Fred asked.
"That this Percy is much more like us than our Percy, and that kidnapping him and adopting him by force is in our best interests?" George replied.
"Oh that too, but also that we've got a new partner in crime. After all, how could he be doing magical pranks? He's a Muggleborn who doesn't know magic yet," Fred said.
"Oh this is going to be a beautiful year. Maybe we could actually try mailing home a toilet seat this year."
Percy was looking forward to Hogwarts more and more.
